The Worst Pokemon Winds and Waves Starter is Already Clear (Based on Leaks)

Pokemon Winds and Waves may not rear their heads again this year, with more news and content to show ahead of their 2027 release, but there have been a few interesting leaks so far. Among them is one allegedly showing the full extent of the map, including different locations on each island making up the archipelago, as well as various sea or ocean areas that are presumably going to be explorable underwater. The concept doesn’t seem too different from what Pokemon Scarlet and Violet did, with various biomes and their respective achievements or Gym battles, meaning that Pokemon Winds and Waves could give players equal or greater freedom in how they choose to explore.

It’s unclear exactly what the islands will feature in terms of new Pokemon, exact challenges, and possible equivalents to Gen 9’s “Titan Pokemon” story boss battles. However, Pokemon Winds and Waves‘ starters can already be pitched against what this map features in terms of Gym battles, and if this leak is true, then it’s clear that one of the three starters will be worse than the others in some capacity. Stats, abilities, and movesets always make for a big part of how good a Pokemon can be, but so does its type or type combination. In this case, Browt is already primed to be the worst.

Why Browt is The Worst Starter in Pokemon Winds and Waves

Pokemon Winds and Waves‘ leaked map comes with a list of locations for each island, and while it’s currently unclear whether there will be level scaling or how free exploration will truly be, the Gym battles favor Pombon quite heavily. The Gyms are:

• Grass Gym (Island 1)
• Poison Gym (Island 2)
• Flying Gym (Island 6)
• Fighting Gym (Island 7)
• Dark Gym (Island 8)
• Normal Gym (Island 9)
• Steel Gym (Island 11)
• Fairy Gym (Island 14)

Again, it’s hard to say whether there will be level scaling and whether one will need to challenge the Gyms in this exact order, but regardless of these two points, Pokemon Winds and Waves‘ Pombon is clearly the best starter to deal with them, while Browt is the worst. The reasons are as follows:

• Grass Gym – Best Pokemon: Pombon
  • Browt is a Grass-type Pokemon, meaning the first Gym resists its STAB attacks. Pombon is a Fire Pokemon, so it takes less damage from this Gym and deals more damage, too. Gecqua deals less damage to Grass Pokemon and also takes double the damage from them due to its Water type.
• Poison Gym – Best Pokemon: Pombon and Gecqua
  • Browt is weak to Poison and also deals reduced damage to it with Grass moves. Pombon is neutral against Poison both offensively and defensively, and so is Gecqua.
• Flying Gym – Best Pokemon: Pombon and Gecqua
  • Browt is weak to Flying, and deals reduced damage to it with STAB moves. Both Pombon and Gecqua are neutral against Flying.
• Fighting Gym – Best Pokemon: All Starters Equally
  • All three starters are neutral both offensively and defensively against Fighting-type moves.
• Dark Gym – Best Pokemon: All Starters Equally
  • Browt, Pombon, and Gecqua all deal and take neutral damage against Dark.
• Normal Gym – Best Pokemon: All Starters Equally
  • Again, all three starters are neutral against Normal Pokemon.
• Steel Gym – Best Pokemon: Pombon
  • Much like the first Gym, Pombon is the best starter here because it deals supereffective damage against Steel-type Pokemon, while also resisting it. Instead, both Browt and Gecqua deal half the damage to Steel Pokemon, but are neutral against them defensively.
• Fairy Gym – Best Pokemon: Pombon
  • While all three starters are neutral against Fairy-type Pokemon offensively, Pombon’s Fire type means it resists Fairy attacks.

Why Pombon is the Best Starter in Gen 10

Image via The Pokemon Company

Furthermore, Pombon is primed to be the first-ever Fire/Fairy Pokemon, which could slightly change the match-ups. It would be neutral offensively and weak defensively against the Poison Gym, but it would resist the Fighting and Dark Gyms, instead. It would lose its resistance to Steel and only be neutral defensively against it, but still supereffective offensively with Fire moves. This is more based on the Pokemon’s design than actual leaks, so it’s very speculative in nature.

Pokemon Winds and Waves’ Leaked Map Makes Browt the Worst Starter

However, if the leaked map is correct, it means that the worst starter to explore Pokemon Winds and Waves‘ region is Browt, at least when it comes to Gyms. While Pombon would have a significant advantage against three Gyms that the other two starters don’t, and it would be good against all others, even if it’s not supereffective against them, Browt is in the opposite situation. Browt is poised to be the worst starter in Gen 10 as far as its type goes, as it would struggle against the first three Gyms quite heavily, and it would have no upper hand against all the remaining ones. In fact, it would also struggle against the Steel Gym.

Unfortunately, Grass is a very bad type defensively, and Browt’s only saving grace may be its evolutions. For example, if Pokemon Winds and Waves‘ starter trifecta skips Fighting, it could be something like Grass/Dragon for Browt, Fire/Fairy for Pombon, and Water/Poison for Gecqua. Still, if the leaked map proves to be the actual in-game map, it’s hard to argue against Pombon as a starter as much as it’s hard to argue in Browt’s favor.

Systems

Released

2027

Multiplayer

Online Co-Op, Online Multiplayer