Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

The original set for the Pokémon Generation IV games. When HeartGold & SoulSilver are released in the contries outside of Japan, move this page (and HeartGold/SoulSilver) to the Generation IV engine page and make it a clickable link to this page.

Diamond and Pearl

Starters

Turtwig

Pros:

• A Grass type PKMN that knows Earthquake naturally at level 32.

• Nice physical tank (High HP, Attack, Defence)

• It evolves to Torterra at level 32, pretty early compared to most starters.

Cons:

• It evolves to Grotle at level 18, pretty late compared to most starters.

• Poor attacking movepool (needs to be Torterra to know Stone Edge/Rock Slide to counter Flying types). It can only learn Normal, Grass and Dark moves by level up.

• Slowest Starter out of all 12 starters in the franchise. Heavy luck manipulation with Quick Claw to make up for it.

Overall: One the worst types for speedrunning Pokémon thanks to it's bad type coverage and it's limited offensive movepool.

Piplup

Pros:

• Evolves to a Water/Steel type that has incredible defensive typing.

• Can learn a Ice move (Ice Beam/Blizzard) to counter Grass and Ground moves to counter Electic types.

• Knows Surf by HM which is always nice.

• Highest Special Attack stat of all Water Starter types.

Cons:

• It's low base speed makes Torrent sweeping a bit difficult

• Movepool is pretty bad at the early game, especially in DP where s/he learns Bubblebeam at level 22 or 24 (depending if the Pokémon is Piplup or Prinplup).

• Limited Special Movepool (Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Grass Knot, Flash Cannon and the occasional Hidden Power [ELEC]).

Chimchar

Pros:

• One of the 2 Fire Types familes in the Sinnoh Reigon, the other is Ponyta.

• Can evolve pretty early at Level 14 and learn Mach Punch to easily win the first Gym.

• Can learn some powerful fighting types (Mach Punch, Drain Punch, Brick Break, Close Combat) to defeat Normal, Dark, Rock, Ice, & Steel types.

• Learning Fire Types moves can KO Bronzors & Bronzongs without any hassle.

• High Attack, Special Attack and Speed makes it a good mixed sweeper and a fantastic Wall Breaker.

• Knows Grass Knot, Stone Edge, Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace and Solarbeam.

Cons:

• Pretty frail, meaning using an X-Item is pretty risky.

• Exposed to Water Types and Ground Types, making Quagsire a good counter.

• Gyrados, Crobat, Garchomp and Milotic are the biggest threats.

Notable differenes between the two, for speed running

Strategies

Important Battles