Project Bronze Forever Starter Tier List

Professor Cypress offers every generation’s starter in Mitis Town. That looks generous until you remember the gym order in Project Bronze Forever: Electric, Fire, Water, Flying, Ground, Grass, Dark, Ghost. The starter guide covers how to pick and where extra starters cost Robux. This page ranks the lines that actually change your first ten hours. It is opinionated and it is justified by matchups, not by National Dex nostalgia.

If you already locked a pick, stay with it and catch coverage. The type chart and gym walkthrough will save a bad starter faster than a reset. If you have not chosen yet, read S through C, then fight Jake’s Eevee and walk Route 1.

S tier

Mudkip / Swampert. Ground answers Chad’s Electric gym in Silvent before you own a dedicated Ground catch. Water then answers Sebastian’s Fire gym in Brimber after Team Eclipse steals the Red Orb and you are already tired from lava parkour. Marshtomp and Swampert keep Ground STAB into Stephen’s Flying hangar and Ryan’s Ground gym is the first real brick — you pivot to Grass or Water coverage there. Later, Water Pulse / Surf / Earthquake still do work. This is the cleanest story line in the region.

Rowlet / Decidueye. Grass is awkward into Chad if you only throw STAB, so catch a Ground or Electric sponge on Route 1–3. Once you have that patch, Rowlet eats Quentin’s Water gym, threatens Ryan, and Decidueye’s Ghost/Grass dual typing is one of the few starter lines that arrives already built for Captain B. Zeek’s Dark gym is not free — Ghost hits some of his dual types and loses to others — but you are not dead in Crescent the way a pure Water starter can be.

Piplup / Empoleon. Water grounds Sebastian the same way Mudkip does. Steel on Empoleon later resists Flying and Fairy chips, and it gives you a unique answer into Frostveil’s Dark roster that still hates Fighting. Chad is the tax: Electric hits Water for super effective damage, so you need a Geodude, a Pawmi line, or any Ground type before Silvent. Pay that tax and Empoleon is a gym six and gym seven monster.

A tier

Bulbasaur. Grass/Poison walls Quentin and helps versus Ryan’s Ground core. Chad is a fight you play with coverage, not with Vine Whip. Sebastian’s Fire gym is the scare; keep a Water catch from Rosecove Beach in the wings. Venusaur’s later Mega-adjacent bulk is why Fissy still feels fair.

Treecko. Speed and special Grass attacks make Quentin and Ryan comfortable. Chad and Sebastian both want a partner. Sceptile never becomes a bad Pokemon. It becomes a specialist you refuse to send into Fire and Flying without a plan.

Froakie. Water into Sebastian is the same gift Piplup gets. Protean / Torrent Greninja later shreds Fissy and has Dark STAB that Zeek does not enjoy seeing. Gym 1 is the problem: Electric versus Water. If you refuse to catch a Ground type, do not pick Froakie.

Sprigatito. Grass into Water and Ground is honest. Fire and Flying gyms demand partners. Meowscarada’s Dark/Grass final typing is a late-game gift versus Zeek that Rowlet does not copy exactly. Treat mid-game as a coverage puzzle and this line belongs in A.

Charmander. This is the honest A. Silvent is miserable. Electric resists Fire and hits some of your early partners. You will grind. After Chad, Charmander explodes: Fire eats Fissy’s Grass greenhouse, threatens Frostveil’s Grass dual types, and Charizard’s Flying split helps versus Fighting fillers. If you can survive gym 1, the rest of Roria pays you back.

B tier

Squirtle. Water is correct versus Sebastian and fine versus Ryan’s Ground. Chad still slaps you. Blastoise is a slower Empoleon without the Steel resists. Perfectly viable, just less efficient than Mudkip or Piplup.

Torchic. Fire/Fighting Blaziken is a late-game hammer versus Zeek’s Dark gym and a decent Fissy answer. Gym 1 is still Electric. Gym 2 is a Fire mirror in a volcano. You will spend extra hours in Brimber. The payoff is real if you like physical sweepers.

Scorbunny. Cinderace is fast and hits Dark and Grass cores later. Same early taxes as every Fire starter: Chad first, Sebastian second. Keep it if you enjoy the line. Do not pick it to “save time.”

Fuecoco. Special Fire with later Ghost flavor on Skeledirge looks custom-built for Captain B. The first two gyms do not care. Pack a Water partner before Brimber or you will reset the lava puzzle in a bad mood.

C tier

Tepig. Fire versus Sebastian is the whole argument. You climb a parkour volcano to fight a Fire specialist while your starter resists nothing he does. Emboar’s Fighting split is excellent versus Zeek and fine versus Dark grunts, but you have to live that long. Only pick Tepig if you already know Brimber’s Water catches.

Litten. Fire versus Sebastian again, and Incineroar’s Dark/Fire split is a Crescent and Colosseum star that still enters gym 2 as a Magmar snack. Intimidate is not a gym 2 strategy when every hit is Fire. Catch a Tentacool or any Water type before you challenge the Brimstone Badge, or pick a different starter.

First three gyms, in type language

Chad is Electric. Ground is immune. Grass resists. Water and Flying get deleted. That is why Mudkip is S and Charmander is a tax. Sebastian is Fire. Water and Ground are the win buttons. Grass and Ice melt. Quentin is Water. Grass and Electric are the win buttons. Fire is a joke. If your starter plus one early catch can cover those three sentences, you will reach Anthian with sanity left. If they cannot, you will overlevel a Route 3 random and still feel behind.

Use this table as a pocket check before you spend Rare Candy:

Starter type	Chad (Electric)	Sebastian (Fire)	Quentin (Water)
Water (Mudkip, Piplup, Froakie, Squirtle)	Weak unless you brought Ground	Strong	Neutral to poor
Grass (Rowlet, Bulbasaur, Treecko, Sprigatito)	Resists, low damage	Weak	Strong
Fire (Charmander, Torchic, Scorbunny, Fuecoco, Tepig, Litten)	Poor	Mirror, often worse	Weak

After gym 3, stop ranking the starter in isolation. Build a six-slot plan on the team comps page, check gym leaders for HMs, and train EVs only when you care about Colosseum or a set legendary. New players should still start with getting started so Cut, the RTD, and codes are not mysteries when Silvent opens. If a copy moved, confirm it on game status and Discord before you spend candy. Birds and titans wait until you have False Swipe; see legendary birds and Regis only after the early gyms.