Starter Poll 14: Poison

[Greninja The Mario Karter]

If you haven't seen my post involving choosing a starter for every type, I would like to refresh you with some criteria I made, and the first criterion is mandatory. Here is the mandatory criterion. I'll be doing each of the eighteen types in poll form to see what everyone thinks.

• The Pokemon in question has to evolve twice (meaning it has to have a three stage evolutionary line), and it has to maintain its specified type throughout its entire line.

Here are the general targets that I hope to aim for.

1. I want Pokemon to get within or as close to starter base stat total ranges as possible. The ranges are 307-320 for base forms, 405-420 for middle forms, and 525-535 for final forms.
2. The Pokemon should ideally evolve via level up all the way through, and even more ideal, its first evolution should occur in the teens (level 10-19) while its second evolution should occur in the thirties (level 30 to 39). I will allow for non-level up evolutions, but I will try to avoid trade evolutions whenever possible.
3. I want to pick the Pokemon that looks and feels the most like a starter to me. I will allow for dual typed base forms if necessary, but I would prefer to avoid them if possible.

Going in alphabetical order, fourteenth is Poison. There are nine options in this poll, but three stand above the rest.

If you want to see my doc on this ordeal, click this link here.

Picking a Starter for Every Type Using Existing Pokemon

Picking a Starter for Every Type Using Existing Pokemon Criteria for Starter Pokemon Mandatory Criterion The Pokemon must evolve twice, meaning it has to have a three stage evolutionary line, and it must maintain its specified type throughout its entire line. General Targets I want Pokemon to get...

docs.google.com

 

[Greninja The Mario Karter]

I would like to eliminate Budew and Gastly since they're the Grass and Ghost starters respectively, and I would also like to eliminate Oddish, Bellsprout, Weedle, and Venipede because they feel a lot more like one type than the other. This leaves the Nidorans and Zubat.

I like that the Nidorans evolve at level 16 and their pure Poison type base forms, but I don't like Nidoking and Nidoqueen's lower base stat totals and stone evolution. For Zubat, I like that Crobat is within the final stage BST range, but I don't like Zubat having low stats, Golbat having high stats, the friendship evolution, and the persistent Flying type.

It's tough to decide, but I'll go with Zubat as the Poison starter. The friendship evolution is a smaller problem as a later evolution than an earlier evolution, because getting your Zubat up to level 22 already builds some friendship, and Crobat is the proper strength for a starter. Also, if I had to choose a Nidoran, I'm not sure how I would choose.