Cobblemon Best Starter Pokemon Guide 2026

The best starter in Cobblemon for most players is Mudkip: its final form Swampert has the highest base stat total of all the starters (535) and, as a Water and Ground type, only one weakness. Pick Charmander or Squirtle instead if you want a mount, because Charizard flies and Blastoise can be ridden on land, through water and in the air.

Everyone chooses one starter when they first join a world or server, from 32 Pokémon at level 10 plus a Random button, and the choice is locked once you press "I choose you!". Everything below is checked against Cobblemon 1.8.3, released on 25 October 2026: the starter list comes from the mod's StarterConfig source file, and the evolution levels, types and stats from its species data.

All Cobblemon Starters

The selection screen opens when you press the summary key, M by default. It has eleven categories:

The Random button sits in the Special category and draws from every starter in every category, so it can hand you anything from the list above. These are the defaults. A server or modpack can change the list and the starting level, which is why some servers show other Pokémon. Cobbleverse is one example; its list is further down, after the spawn table.

Which Starter Should You Pick?

• Best overall: Mudkip. Swampert ends with 535 base stats, the highest of any starter, and Grass is its only weakness. It learns Earthquake by level up and Stealth Rock and Flip Turn from TMs, so it stays useful from the first gym-style fights on a server to PvP.
• Best to ride: Charmander or Squirtle. Charizard flies like a bird and walks on land. Blastoise has three ride modes: land, underwater and a rocket-style flight. Venusaur and Serperior are land mounts. No other final starter can be ridden in 1.8.3.
• Fastest to its final form: Totodile. Feraligatr arrives at level 30, earlier than any other Grass, Fire or Water starter. Cyndaquil and Chimchar have the earliest first evolution, at level 14. (Pikachu and Eevee do not evolve by level: Pikachu needs a Thunder Stone, Eevee a stone or high friendship.)
• Best for PvP: Meowscarada or Swampert. Meowscarada is the fastest of the Grass, Fire and Water starters at 123 Speed, and Flower Trick, which it can use from the moment it evolves, always lands a critical hit.
• Hardest hitters: Of the Grass, Fire and Water starters, Primarina has the highest Special Attack (126) and Rillaboom the highest Attack (125). Eevee goes higher if you pick the right evolution: Espeon and Glaceon reach 130 Special Attack, Flareon 130 Attack and Jolteon 130 Speed.
• Most flexible: Eevee. It evolves into Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon, Leafeon or Glaceon with a Water, Thunder, Fire, Leaf or Ice Stone, into Espeon or Umbreon at 160 friendship by day or by night, and into Sylveon at 160 friendship once it knows a Fairy move.

On a multiplayer server, also look at what the rest of your group picked. Three different types between friends cover more early fights than three Fire starters.

Cobblemon Starter Tier List

This ranking is for survival play on Cobblemon 1.8.3 and weighs three things: how quickly the starter gets strong, how good its final form is in Cobblemon's battle engine with the regular ability every starter gets, and what it does for you outside battle. Several famous starters drop a tier here because their best ability is a hidden ability, and Cobblemon never gives a starter its hidden ability (more on that below).

Eevee depends on what you turn it into, so it sits outside the tiers.

Starters You Can Ride

Riding arrived in Cobblemon 1.7.0: shift and right-click your Pokémon and choose the ride option (Cobblemon changelog). In the 1.8.3 species data, four final starters have ride settings:

None of the middle stages can be ridden, so the mount arrives at level 36 for Charizard and Blastoise, 32 for Venusaur and 36 for Serperior.

Hisuian Starters

The Hisui category gives you Rowlet, Cyndaquil or Oshawott in an Ancient Poké Ball. They evolve into Hisuian Decidueye (Grass/Fighting), Hisuian Typhlosion (Fire/Ghost) or Hisuian Samurott (Water/Dark) at level 36, wherever they level up.

A regular Rowlet, Cyndaquil or Oshawott can also end up in its Hisuian form. Cobblemon offers the Hisuian evolution at level 36 when the second stage levels up in a biome it links to Hisui: a snowy taiga or a grove for Dartrix, a taiga or the Crimson Forest in the Nether for Quilava, and a beach (snowy beaches included), a stony shore or a cold ocean for Dewott. Level-up evolutions in Cobblemon wait until you start them, so a regular Dartrix that is offered Decidueye at 34 can still hold out for 36 in the snow. The same system offers Alolan Raichu (Electric/Psychic) when you use the Thunder Stone on Pikachu while you stand on a beach.

What Every Starter Gets in Cobblemon

• The regular ability only. In the 1.8.3 source, the code that picks an ability never chooses a hidden ability, so your starter has Overgrow, Blaze or Torrent (Pikachu has Static, Eevee Run Away or Adaptability). The Ability Patch item exists, but it has no crafting recipe in 1.8.3.
• Its signature move after evolving. Flower Trick, Torch Song, Aqua Step, Spirit Shackle and the other signature moves are level 1 moves of the final form, and Cobblemon lets a Pokémon swap in any level-up move up to its current level from the summary screen.
• Its strongest type move by TM. Since 1.8.0, every shipwreck cove has a guaranteed TM in its main treasure chest: Blast Burn in the Magma Cove, Frenzy Plant in the Lush Cove and Hydro Cannon in the Submerged Cove. The final form of every Grass, Fire and Water starter, Hisuian forms included, can learn the one that matches its type. Eevee's evolutions cannot.
• A fixable Nature. Every Nature that changes a stat has a mint with a crafting recipe in 1.8.3, so a bad Nature on your starter is not a reason to restart. The IV, EV and Nature guide covers what each one changes.

Training Your Starter

1. Send it out first in wild battles, so it is the Pokémon that fights and earns the experience.
2. Fainted Pokémon get no experience by default. Since 1.8.0 a server can change that with the awardExperienceToFaintedPokemon option.
3. Give it an Exp. Share if you want it to level while another Pokémon does the fighting.
4. Fight the species whose EV yield matches the build you want, and use a Power item (Anklet, Band, Belt, Bracer, Lens or Weight) to speed that up.
5. Save Rare Candies and Exp. Candies for the last levels before an evolution you are waiting for, such as 36 for a Charizard mount.

Catch the Starters You Did Not Pick

Base Cobblemon has no breeding, so you cannot hatch a second starter (the breeding guide explains what the Pasture Block does instead). You can catch them, though: every starter has a wild spawn in 1.8.3. Almost all of them are ultra-rare spawns at levels 5 to 31 or 32. Pikachu and Eevee are easier to find, and Litten turns up more often near witch huts. Chikorita, Chimchar and Fennekin only appear near a Poké Snack, the spawn bait you cook in a Campfire Pot from honey and berries, so place one in the right biome and wait.

Ultra-rare means you will search for a while. The spawn locations chart covers where the rest of your team spawns by biome.

Starters in Cobbleverse

Cobbleverse 1.7.42, the current release on Modrinth (21 July 2026), runs Cobblemon 1.7.3 instead of 1.8 and replaces the starter list with its own config/cobblemon/starters.json:

• The same 30 Grass, Fire and Water starters in the ten regional categories, Hisui included, but at level 5 instead of 10.
• Pallet: Pikachu with Thunder Shock, Eevee and an Alola-leaning Pichu.
• Lumya: Bagon, a female Azurill and a female Budew, each in a Great Ball.
• Cosplay: five Cosplay Pikachu (Belle, Libre, Ph. D., Pop Star and Rock Star).

There is no Random button, because Cobblemon added it in 1.8.0, and the shipwreck cove TMs from 1.8.0 are not part of Cobblemon 1.7.3 (the pack has its own TM mod, TMCraft). The pack's Cobblemon config also sets the shiny rate to 1 in 2048 instead of the default 1 in 8192.

Mudkip is still the safest pick in Cobbleverse. Two things in the pack's mod list change the picture: Mega Showdown, which gives Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise, Sceptile, Blaziken and Swampert a Mega Evolution for the late game, and Cobbreeding, which adds the breeding that base Cobblemon does not have.

Server Settings for Starters

Server owners can change the whole starter screen:

• Edit the list. Set exportStarterConfig to true in config/cobblemon/main.json and restart. Cobblemon then writes config/cobblemon/starters.json with the eleven categories. Change a line such as Bulbasaur level=10 to another Pokémon or level, then restart again. Since 1.7.0 a datapack can also define starter categories in data/<namespace>/starters/.
• Shiny starters. /gamerule doShinyStarters true makes every new starter shiny. Without it, the default shiny rate in the config is 1 in 8192.
• Open the screen for a player. /openstarterscreen PlayerName opens it for someone who has not chosen yet.
• Let someone choose again. /pokemonrestartother PlayerName true resets that player's starter choice, and /pokemonrestart true does the same for yourself. Both also empty the party and the PC, and without true the starter choice stays locked. Use it only on a new player.

If you want to decide these settings yourself instead of living with someone else's, you need your own server. A group of up to 10 friends on plain Cobblemon fits in 8GB, which is MC Diamond at €7.20 a month on our Cobblemon server hosting. Between 10 and 25 players, or with sidemods on top, pick 12GB (MC Special 1, €10.80).

FAQ

Can I change my starter in Cobblemon? Not on your own. Once you press "I choose you!", the game answers any new attempt with "You already selected a starter!". A server admin can reset the choice with /pokemonrestartother PlayerName true, but that also wipes the player's party and PC.

What level are starters in Cobblemon? Level 10 with the default settings. A server can change the level in starters.json or with a datapack.

Does my starter choice matter? For the first 30 or so levels, yes, because your starter carries most early fights. Long term your full team matters more, and you can catch every other starter in the wild.

Can I get the other starters later? Yes. Every starter has a wild spawn in Cobblemon 1.8.3, almost all of them ultra-rare in specific biomes (see the table above), and Chikorita, Chimchar and Fennekin only near a Poké Snack. Base Cobblemon has no breeding, so catching them is the way. Cobbleverse adds breeding through the Cobbreeding mod.

How do I get a shiny starter? With default settings your starter has the normal shiny chance of 1 in 8192. A server admin can run /gamerule doShinyStarters true, after which every new starter is shiny.

What level do starters evolve in Cobblemon? Most at 16 and 36, and the table at the top lists every line. The first evolution comes at 14 for Cyndaquil and Chimchar, at 17 for the Unova and Alola starters and at 18 for Totodile and Turtwig. The final one comes at 30 for Totodile, 32 for Bulbasaur, Chikorita and Turtwig, 34 for the Alola starters and 35 for the Galar starters. Hisuian forms always finish at 36.

Why can I not choose a starter? If you caught or received a Pokémon before choosing, Cobblemon asks you to put all your Pokémon in a PC first and then press the summary key again. On some servers the admins lock the screen or hand out starters themselves.

What is the best starter in Cobbleverse? Mudkip, for the same reasons as in base Cobblemon, and Swampert also gets a Mega Evolution there. Cobbleverse starts every starter at level 5 and adds three extra categories with Pichu, Bagon, Azurill, Budew and Cosplay Pikachu; the Cobbleverse section above lists them.

Do starter IVs matter? For casual play, no. For PvP, check the IVs on the summary screen before you invest in EV training. Since 1.7.0, Cobblemon has Hyper Training candies that raise one IV by 1 each, such as the Quick Candy for Speed. You cook them in a Campfire Pot from an Exp. Candy L, four Honeycombs and four of the matching berry (Tamato Berries for the Quick Candy); an Exp. Candy XL makes three. Natures are fixed with mints.

Related: Cobblemon best teams, Cobblemon controls guide, Cobblemon spawn locations, Cobblemon breeding guide, What changed in Cobblemon 1.8, Best Minecraft mods in 2026

En español: mejor inicial y mejor equipo PvP de Cobblemon