6 Recommended Pokemon to Build your Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Team
Those who have ventured into the Sinnoh region back in 2006 when the original Diamond and Pearl Pokemon games were released can probably visualise what sort of team they are going for with the remakes.
That said, many Pokemon lovers out there might not have the luxury of playing these classics and might be taking their first step towards the Sinnoh region with the current remakes. In short, they are going into these games blind.
No worries! We’re here to help! Without spoiling much, we came up with a list of Pokemons that you would definitely want to include in your Sinnoh adventure!
1. Your Starter
This is almost a given. Like all mainline Pokemon games, your starter will most likely stay with you until the end of the game. Plus, the starter you choose will also be the centre of your team, meaning you would have to build a team around it.
While we do advise you to choose any starter that you prefer, we’ve stated each of the starters’ strengths and weaknesses below.
Chimchar
Type: Fire
Fire-type starters will always be a solid pick for the Pokemon games. Generally, the Fire types provide rich offensive coverage and they are strong against many typings for a general playthrough.
Additionally, Chimcar’s evolution line grants him a secondary Fighting typing that provides defensive coverage against Rock and Dark moves.
In terms of stats, the Chimchar is like a glass cannon, boasting extremely powerful good Speed and Attack/Sp.Attack stats but falls behind on the defensive side.
Piplup
Type: Water
Similar to its Fire counterpart, the Water starters are also good picks but are often overlooked due to Water types being commonly available throughout the game.
But this cute little penguin-bird Pokemon is more than what meets the eye. Its rare typing during its final evolution being Water/Steel type is extremely useful.
As for stats, the Piplup line is all in all very well-rounded with above-average Special stats.
Turtwig
Type: Grass
Grass-type Pokemons are sadly one of the least popular types out there. This is because most Grass Pokemons are frail and don’t provide much offensive threat.
This is, however, a little bit different for Turtwig. This is because once you reach its final evolution, it will attain a secondary Ground typing.
Ground-type is already well-rounded and pairing it with a Grass-type is a match made in heaven.
As Ground-type is able to check many annoying typing like Poison and Steel, its typing can also serve as a good defensive veil for the frail Grass-type.
2. Staraptor
Type: Normal/Flying
The bird-like Pokemon from the early routes are always a good pickup’ more so for the later Gens and Staraptor is one of the better ones.
Players will be able to get Starly early into the game and having a Flying-type early will always be good for type diversity.
And once you get it to evolve into a Staravia, it will gain a new ability called Intimidate which lowers your opponent Attack stat by one stage. This is one of the best abilities in the game as you basically have an advantage at the start of the fight without doing anything.
For its final evolution, it gains access to moves like Close Combat and Brave Bird which are both extremely powerful moves that can most likely one-shot a Pokemon in one turn.
Easy to train and catch, Staraptor is a bird that you definitely want flying amongst your team.
3. Lucario
Type: Steel/Fighting
Lucario is the poster Pokemon for many creative works and it is not only for show as Lucario packs a huge punch.
The best thing about it is that you can get Riolu while doing a storyline quest which we will not spoil and you can evolve Riolu into the very versatile Lucario.
To evolve Riolu into Lucario, you would need to have Riolu’s friendship maxed out and level it up once during the day.
For its stats and movesets, in general, Lucario has overall above-average stats and you would need to build your moves around its nature.
Luckily, Lucario’s TM pool is huge and you can build him based on a Physical moveset or a Special one.
4. Crobat
Type: Flying/Poison
Poison types are like the Grass types, overlooked due to them being weak offensively. Crobat is the exception.
Boasting insane Speed and decent offence and defence, Crobat has been an underrated pick since its debut in Hoenn.
One of its perks is that you can get Zubat very early and levelling it up isn’t the hardest as Exp Share affects the whole party now.
Similar to Riolu, you would need to max out Golbat’s friendship and level him up once to get it to evolve into Crobat.
5. Gallade
Type: Fighting/Psychic
Gallade has a very unique dual typing that is powerful against many counters to Psychic like Dark types.
Its movepool is decent with a good mix of strong physical-based Psychic and Fighting moves with good initial stats to back it up.
However, do note that evolving Ralts to Gallade can be a little tricky as Gallade is gender-locked and you can only get Gallade if you are raising a male Ralts.
Plus, to evolve Kirlia—Ralts’ second form—you would need to use a Dawn Stone to get it to evolve into a Gallade.
6. Garchomp
Type: Dragon/Ground
Being one of the pseudo-legendaries of its generation, Garchomp is a certified beast. A strong Garchomp can almost carry you through the entire game and in some instances, even the post-game.
Combining an insane HP stat and powerful speed and offensive stats, Garchomp is so strong that it is banned by Nuzlockers and sits at the OU (Overused) tier in competitive play.
One caveat is that levelling it from Gible is very difficult and you won’t have access to Gible in the early stages of the game.
That said, its reward is unsurmountable and is very rewarding if you are willing to put in the time in raising it.
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