Squirtle: The House Favorite

Every gaming house has a favorite at the table, and ours wears a shell. Specimen №007 is the percentage play: no brutal early walls like the dragon, no late game fade like the garden. Water is the best attacking type in classic Kanto — almost nothing resists it that you cannot answer — and Blastoise's defenses let you make mistakes and live to laugh about them. You picked the turtle because you came to finish the run.

The line at a glance

| Stage | Typing | Arrives | Calling card | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Squirtle | Water | Starter | Best defensive base of the three | | Wartortle | Water | Level 16 | Bite and a steady climb | | Blastoise | Water | Level 36 | 100 Defense, 105 Special Defense |

One type, no baggage. Pure Water means exactly two weaknesses all game — Grass and Electric — and both are easy to see coming. Compare that to the dragon's Rock problem or the garden's Psychic problem and you start to understand the house's affection.

Why pick this line

The argument for Squirtle is coverage and composure.

• Water plus Ice Beam answers nearly the whole region. One TM turns Blastoise into a two type artillery piece that threatens Grass, Flying, Ground, Rock, Fire, and — crucially — Dragons.
• The bulk is real. With 100 Defense and 105 Special Defense in its final form, Blastoise wins wars of attrition that would delete its rivals.
• Surf is a required field move anyway. Your starter doubles as travel infrastructure, and Surf is also one of the best attacks in the game. Efficiency the house can respect.

The tradeoff is ceiling. Blastoise does not hit as hard as Charizard or control fights like Venusaur. It just keeps making correct, boring, winning trades. Some players find that dull. Those players also lose more runs.

The road through Kanto

• Brock (Rock). Bubble and Water Gun wash the gym out. An easy first badge.
• Misty (Water). A mirror. Her Starmie is the best Pokémon in the building, so this is a fight about your supporting cast — a Pikachu or an Oddish settles it cleanly.
• Lt. Surge (Electric). Your worst room in the region. Electric hits Water hard. Catch a Diglett next door first; Dig turns Surge's whole gym off.
• Erika (Grass). Your other bad letter. Wartortle sits this one out while a Flying, Fire, or Poison teammate collects the badge.
• Koga (Poison). Neutral and comfortable. Bite — Normal in the very first games, Dark in the remakes — gives you honest work against his tricks.
• Sabrina (Psychic). Neutral. Blastoise tanks her hits better than almost anything you could field. Trade patiently.
• Blaine (Fire). Surf. Collect badge. Wave on the way out.
• Giovanni (Ground). His whole gym is weak to water. The shell closes the circuit in style.

At the Elite Four, you resist Lorelei's Ice, Surf handles Bruno's rock work, and Ice Beam is the single best answer in the game to Lance's dragons. The turtle finishes runs.

Moves that matter

Early: Bubble and Water Gun keep you scoring through the first stretch, and Withdraw can stonewall early physical threats while you chip. Tail Whip is better than it looks when your offense is still modest.

Mid: Bite arrives in the Wartortle era for reliable neutral damage. Surf replaces everything the moment you can teach it — it is both your boat and your best move.

Late: The classic Blastoise ledger reads Surf, Ice Beam, Earthquake from the TM case, and Body Slam or Rest in the last slot. Ice Beam is non negotiable; it is the move that turns good coverage into total coverage. Hydro Pump is there if you want drama, but Surf's reliability is the house position.

Build the squad around it

Blastoise needs partners for two letters and one fish story: Grass, Electric, and the rare bulky Water mirror.

• A Grass or Electric type of your own answers enemy Water and handles the Surge problem. Oddish lines, Victreebel, or a Jolteon all do honest work.
• A Ground type — Dugtrio is the period classic — blanks Electric attacks entirely and speeds past most of Koga's roster.
• A strong Normal type like Snorlax gives you a second wall and a Body Slam dealer for Sabrina's gym, where nothing on your starter's card is super effective.

House verdict

Squirtle is the percentage pick: the calmest early game, exactly two predictable weak rooms, and a final form whose answer sheet covers the entire endgame. It will not post the flashiest numbers at the table — it will still be sitting there, fully stacked, when the flashier hands have gone bust.

Filed under: the house favorite.