Pokemon Winds and Waves May Finally Ditch The Starter Trifecta (With No Fighting-Type)

Although Pokemon Winds and Waves have been revealed earlier than usual for new Pokemon games, with their release currently scheduled for 2027, the community is buzzing with excitement after the reveal of the starter trio for Gen 10. Browt, Pombon, and Gecqua have all stolen fans’ hearts, though the Pomeranian-like Fire-type may be leading the charge with how cute and guileless it looks, as it has already become the most searched of the bunch online. Very little is known about the three critters so far, but Pokemon Winds and Waves‘ new starter details emerged on the official website recently, with each Pokemon’s Pokedex description.

Ever since, and even before then, fans have been speculating about what the possible final evolutions for each starter could be, what they could look like, what kind of type combinations they might have, and so on. This is an interesting discourse because Pokemon Winds and Waves may be primed for new type combos for their starters, or even a new type entirely, with theories saying Sound may be added to the chart. However, there’s a problem with the current type triangles in the series, where some types are simply mandatory for a good trifecta to work. Fighting is one of them, but Gen 10 may finally bid farewell to the Fighting-type starter curse of recent games.

Pokemon Winds and Waves Fan Shares Awesome Final Evolution Design for Browt

A Pokemon Winds and Waves fan shares their own design for the final evolution of Browt, showing off a fearsome final stage for the Grass bird.

How Pokemon Winds and Waves Can Break Away From Fighting-Type Starters

The concept of type trifecta is interesting, as it means having three different types, each dealing more damage to one and taking more damage from the other. Grass, Fire, and Water do exactly that, with Grass dealing 2x damage to Water and 0.5x to Fire, Fire dealing 2x damage to Grass and 0.5x to Water, and Water dealing 2x damage to Fire and 0.5x to Grass. It works perfectly for starters, but things get more complicated when something like this needs to happen with secondary types as well, which has been the case for every game since Gen 8. Pokemon Winds and Waves‘ starters have a chance to do things differently, and get secondary types that are not tied to a type triangle.

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Pokemon Type Trifectas Explained

As it stands, there are several type trifectas in Pokemon games that do not include the main starter types (Grass, Fire, and Water), but they have either been used in the past or have Fighting in the mix. These are:

Psychic, Fighting, Dark
Fighting, Steel, Fairy
Flying, Fighting, Ice
Rock, Flying, Fighting
Ice, Ground, Rock
Ground, Steel, Ice

These trifectas work because each type is strong against one and weak against another, with the “best” triangle being Rock, Flying, and Fighting because each type also resists one of the others. Yet, the problem is that these Pokemon type combos use Fighting in four instances out of six. Pokemon Winds and Waves‘ Pombon as a Fire/Fighting critter would be a sin the community wouldn’t easily forgive, especially with the Fire/Fighting curse of Gen 3, 4, and 5 in a row. Sure, it has been 15 years since the last Fire/Fighting starter, but it may never be a good time again.

But still, Fighting has been very much a staple of the last few games, even outside of Fire-type starter Pokemon:

Pokemon Legends: Arceus – Grass/Fighting, Fire/Ghost, Water/Dark
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet – Grass/Dark, Fire/Ghost, Water/Fighting
Pokemon Legends: Z-A (counting Mega Evolutions) – Grass/Fairy, Fire/Fighting, Water/Dragon

Pokemon Winds and Waves’ Starter Final Evolutions Are Already Clear

Based on their Pokedex entries and designs, though, the starters for Gen 10 games may finally break away from Fighting reliance. Browt could be an amazing Grass/Flying starter, and while not the first due to Rowlett and Dartrix, it would be the first final evolution for a starter with this type combination. Pombon is a perfect candidate for the first-ever Fire/Fairy Pokemon due to its temperament and appearance. Finally, Pokemon Winds and Waves Gecqua fan art and possible evolutions paint it as a Water/Psychic hybrid due to its intelligence and “third eye” design. These types wouldn’t really form a trifecta, and the starters would be free from Fighting.

Even more interesting is the option where Gecqua actually becomes Water/Ghost, and that’s because Flying, Fairy, and Ghost have no interaction whatsoever with each other, be it resistances, weaknesses, or immunities. This would be a reverse triangle, in a way, making the concept deeper and more interesting than the same old type combinations in recent titles. It remains to be seen how things will evolve from here on out, but there’s a good chance that Pokemon Winds and Waves‘ setting will influence the three starters more than a gameplay component like the type chart.

Interestingly, there are only seven Grass/Flying Pokemon in the series (Hoppip, Skiploom, Jumpluff, Tropius, Shaymin, Rowlett, Dartrix), three Water/Ghost Pokemon (Frillish, Jellicent, Basculegion), and no Fire/Fairy.