Thread: Clash of the Grass-starters!

I agree. Sceptile is definitely the second best one there. This is due to it's high speed, great Sp. Atk, Swords Dance to boost it's good Atk and a wide movepool (widest of all the Grass Starters, I think)

Third would be Torterra. STAB Earthquake is very nice. As is the ability to play both in the sun and in the sand. Access to Stone Edge and Stealth Rock are also selling points.

Meganium is fourth. By far the bulkiest Starter here. She's great for team support and can play a number of support options. SubSeeding, Screen Support, Dual Screen Support, Cleric (Aromatherapy) and just all around wall. She enjoys the sun even more now that she has Leaf Guard and Synthesis.

Jaroda is, sadly last. He's a very good SubSeeder and Perversity is a Godsend, but everything else is either subpar (his offensive stats) or outclassed by something better (defensive stats: Meganium, Speed: Sceptile). It's horrid movepool doesn't help either. The only noteworthy moves it has are Coil and Calm Mind (every other Grass Starter gets Leech Seed and Leaf Storm, so those don't count). It makes Meganium's movepool look like Mew's for God's sake. Too bad too, because he is definitely one fly looking dude.

Sadly, most of Sceaptile's move pool is physical, while its Attack stat is decent, it leaves a lot to be desired. Too bad Leaf Blade became physical in Gen 4.

I choose Sceptile, good sweeper, looks cool...

Originally Posted by Envoy

I agree. Sceptile is definitely the second best one there. This is due to it's high speed, great Sp. Atk, Swords Dance to boost it's good Atk and a wide movepool (widest of all the Grass Starters, I think)

Third would be Torterra. STAB Earthquake is very nice. As is the ability to play both in the sun and in the sand. Access to Stone Edge and Stealth Rock are also selling points.

Meganium is fourth. By far the bulkiest Starter here. She's great fro team support and can play a number of support options. SubSeeding, Screen Support, Dual Screen Support, Cleric (Aromatherapy) and just all around wall. She enjoys the sun even more now that she has Leaf Guard and Synthesis.

Jaroda is, sadly last. He's a very good SubSeeder and Perversity is a Godsend, but every thing else is either subpar (his offensive stats) or outclassed by something better (defensive stats: Meganium, Speed: Sceptile). It's horrid movepool doesn't help either. The only noteworthy moves it has are Coil and Calm Mind (every other Grass Starter gets Leech Seed and Leaf Storm, so those don't count). It makes Meganium's movepool look like Mew's for God's sake. Too bad too, because he is definitely one fly looking dude.

Woajh ypu put him after Meginuim? He's 20x's better then her. You can't outrite offense wit him bu tyou can use stat moves

Coil raises Attack Defese and Accracy making him far beter then Meganium as not only does it raise his already high defense but raises his low attack as well. Plus he's faster then Meganium

Here is a good move-set for Jaroda

Coil
Leaf-Blade
Leech-Seed
Rest+Lum Berry

He can be a powerful wall and Pysical sweeper at the same time because of Coil... Meganium has a sucky move-pool

I'm going with Sceptile. It's just a good pokemon, and looks awesome.

Jaroda; looks awesome and with perversity and leaf storm is ultra powerful.

Originally Posted by Articwolf10

Woajh ypu put him after Meginuim? He's 20x's better then her. You can't outrite offense wit him bu tyou can use stat moves

Coil raises Attack Defese and Accracy making him far beter then Meganium as not only does it raise his already high defense but raises his low attack as well. Plus he's faster then Meganium

Here is a good move-set for Jaroda

Coil
Leaf-Blade
Leech-Seed
Rest+Lum Berry

He can be a powerful wall and Pysical sweeper at the same time because of Coil... Meganium has a sucky move-pool

You put too much faith on Coil. fact is, it's only one move. It doesn't make or break him. I'mma let you in on a little secret too: Jaroda can't use Perversity and Coil on the same set. It'll just screw him over badly. It's two greatest assets can't even be used at the same time. How much does that suck?

Meganium can raise her Defense too (along with that of her entire team) with Reflect. She can also raise her Special Defense (again, along with that of her whole team) and her (much better) Attack as well with Swords Dance. Furthermore, you severely underestimate Meganium because of her appearance (she's the girly looking starter, thus most people don't like her. I'd get into the psychology behind that reasoning but this post is already long enough). She's a cleric, she's a wall, she can tank and she can subseed. Adittionally, Meganium has Safeguard to protect her team and is outright immune to status under the sun (Leaf Guard). She performs her role much better than Jaroda performs his. Did I mention she's also naturally bulkier? She's quite possibly the worst of the first four Generations, but she's definitely better than Jaroda.

Jaroda's completely outclassed by other Pokemon (Meganium included) in everything outside it's niche roles. That is to say, Subseeding and possibly, possibly Perversity abuse. Even then, Pokemon with better offensive stats will most likely be chosen over Jaroda despite Perversity. To give Grass Starter examples, both Venusaur and Sceptile are much more viable as special attackers due to their much higher Sp. Atk stat, their typing (Venusaur) and their movepool (Sceptile). If we extend this to all Grass types, Jaroda has competition from Roserade, Ludicolo Sunflora under Trick Room, Exeggutor, and on the physical side Breloom. And that's not even including the Gen V Grass types. Take into account all Pokemon and you've got Salamence, Dragonite, Kingdra, Tyranitar, the monkey, Blaziken, Starmie and a slew of Legendary Pokemon that rape Jaroda in the Special Attacker role, to name a few.

This means that Jaroda is really only useful for SubSeeding. Whereas Meganium is useful for walling, tanking, as a cleric and just overall support. Tell me who's better now?

Oh, and on a related note, Meganium's speed is 80, it is by no means bad. Jaroda's faster, yes, but defensive Pokemon don't give a damn about speed. That's why they're defensive. They don't need to outrun the opponent, they can just take the hit, shrug it off and continue what they were doing with little to no trouble. Meganium can do that flawlessly, therefore, she doesn't need the extra speed. To be honest, neither does Jaroda. If GF really wanted to make him useful, they would have traded it's Speed and HP stats. That would have made him considerably more bulky than Meganium and able to abuse it's assets better. Alas, they wasted a delicious base 113 on a stat that's really nigh useless for the role Jaroda wants to fulfill, leaving it with only a niche role to it's name. Oh, and by the by, Jaroda has a crap movepool too. Sorry to burst your bubble.

That said, please don't assume I don't like Jaroda. I do, I really do. Problem is that he got screwed over by GF and, weather you like it or not, is one of the weakest Starters out there. I hate to say it, but it's true. It's quite arguably the most boss looking Starter of all time (and my personal favorite Isshu choice), but it really does kind of suck.

Am I the only one who refers to Meganium as 'he' and not 'she' like most of you? ^_^

Here's my list:
2) Venusaur: A solid pokemon. Very deadly. Though I like Ivysaur more in the looks department.

3) Torterra: STAB Earthquake kills stuff easily with that great attack stat. Really cool design too. World Turtle thingy!

4) Jaroda: Looks cool but thats about it.
Ryuutakeshi once said, "Smugleaf is all looks, no substance" after he regretted having picked Smug in BW and restarted with Wotter.

5) Meganium: I won't say he's useless. But his style of play is not an appealing one to me. I don't like how it looks either. Bayleaf looked cooler, imo.

Meganium's always been my fave starter.

Oh gosh, Its almost impossible for me to choose between Jaroda and Meganium. But I'll choose Meganium because I've never actually used Jaroda and Meganium has been my friend for years :3

Sceptile! It's the only time I've wanted to choose a grass starter.

Originally Posted by Envoy

Meganium can raise her Defense too (along with that of her entire team) with Reflect. She can also raise her Special Defense (again, along with that of her whole team) and her (much better) Attack as well with Swords Dance. Furthermore, you severely underestimate Meganium because of her appearance (she's the girly looking starter, thus most people don't like her. I'd get into the psychology behind that reasoning but this post is already long enough). She's a cleric, she's a wall, she can tank and she can subseed. Adittionally, Meganium has Safeguard to protect her team and is outright immune to status under the sun (Leaf Guard). She performs her role much better than Jaroda performs his. Did I mention she's also naturally bulkier? She's quite possibly the worst of the first four Generations, but she's definitely better than Jaroda.

Well, just to add a side note: Jaroda can Taunt Meganium before anything so, in that sense, it disables Meganium's strategy ( ignoring the fact that Meganium learns Magic coat in Hg/Ss from Move tutor, althought it's not common )

Originally Posted by Zervah

Well, just to add a side note: Jaroda can Taunt Meganium before anything so, in that sense, it disables Meganium's strategy ( ignoring the fact that Meganium learns Magic coat in Hg/Ss from Move tutor, althought it's not common )

True, but I'm not pitting them against each other in battle. I'm just comparing the two Pokemon's assets in relation to the overall usefulness they present. Meganium may lose to Jaroda in battle (it would be a pretty boring battle to watch actually. The best they could each do to each other is hit with resisted STAB attacks), she still defeats him in terms of overall usefulness.

Originally Posted by Envoy

True, but I'm not pitting them against each other in battle. I'm just comparing the two Pokemon's assets in relation to the overall usefulness they present. Meganium may lose to Jaroda in battle (it would be a pretty boring battle to watch actually. The best they could each do to each other is hit with resisted STAB attacks), she still defeats him in terms of overall usefulness.

Or he could send her home with Dragon tail! :D jk, and, just to wrap all this, Venusaur is the top plant. I liked your reviews about them, and the other starters too, you gave me new ideas.

I'm going to have to arbitrarily pick Venusaur here, though I've really liked all the Grass-type starters' final evos with the sole exception of Sceptile.