So you chose Chikorita? Building the perfect Pokémon Legends: Z-A team around your starter

So, you chose Chikorita as your starter for Pokémon Legends: Z-A? First, great choice. Chikorita is an adorable Pokémon that has been around since Gold and Silver, and it really deserves some time in the spotlight. To be clear, there is no wrong choice about what Pokémon to put on your team, but if you’re looking for some suggestions to help support your start in the best ways possible, this guide should lend a helping hand.

Which Pokémon should you add to your team to support your starter, Chikorita?

As a disclaimer, there are potential spoilers ahead. This guide will do its best to avoid story spoilers, but if you are concerned about spoiling what Pokémon you can find in the early and mid-game of Pokémon Legends: Z-A, be cautious when reading ahead. Plus, if you’re already well into your playthrough and starting to earn some higher rankings in the Z-A Royale or taking on some rogue Mega Evolutions, you may have already found a team with good synergy. However, this guide could still offer helpful insights into how to best support your chosen partner Pokémon.

If you’re looking for guides on how to build a team around Tepig or Totodile, we have guides for those starters as well.

• Which Pokémon should you add to your team to support your starter, Chikorita?
• Strengths & Weaknesses
• Early Game Partners
• Chikorita’s Final Evolution (Spoilers Ahead)
• Conclusion

Strengths & Weaknesses

Chikorita is a Grass-type Pokémon. This unfortunately means it is one of two types with the most weaknesses in the game. Grass-types are weak to five different types: Fire, Flying, Bug, Poison, and Ice. Unfortunately, most of these will also be fairly common in the early game. Thankfully, you also have some key resistances as a Grass-type. Chikorita will resist incoming Water, Grass, Ground, and Electric attacks. Your Grass-type attacks will also be super effective against Water, Ground, and Rock types, while opposing Grass, Fire, Flying, Poison, Bug, and Dragon types will resist them.

So, what makes a good partner for a Grass-type like Chikorita? It would be perfect if you could take all three starters, because two of the types that synergize the best with Grass are Fire and Water. Especially in the early game, it’s going to be tough to try to cover all five of Chikorita’s weaknesses. But, with a Water type on the team, it will be able to handle any threatening Fire types, and will also eventually help you take on Ice types when those start showing up. Water-types also appreciate that Grass-types can take on both of their two weaknesses, Grass and Electric. Meanwhile, Fire is an incredible partnership. Fire-types are weak to Water, Ground, and Rock, which are all three types that Chikorita will deal super effective damage to. Fire types are also great at handling opposing Grass types, which could give Chikorita trouble, and taking on Bug and Ice types as well.

Throughout the game, as Chikorita evolves into Bayleef and eventually Meganium, these concepts will stay true because at no point do Chikorita’s evolutions stop being pure Grass types. All this theorizing is great, but what are some good examples of actual Pokémon to add to your team?

Early Game Partners

Fortunately, the early game is full of great potential partners. If you want to find some easy fixes, there’s always the elemental monkeys. Keep an eye out for the Water-type Panpour and the Fire-type Pansear hanging out in the trees of the early game.

Binacle has some particularly good synergies with Chikorita.Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Developer: Gamefreak

By the time you reach Wild Zone 2, you’ll start getting access to more Water types, such as Magikarp, Staryu, and Binacle. These are all great picks, but Binacle in particular enjoys having Chikorita as a partner because of its double weakness to Grass that Chikorita can cover. Binacle’s Rock typing will also resist incoming Flying and Poison-type attacks for Chikorita, which are not the easiest to cover otherwise.

Litleo is a great option for an early Fire-type teammate.Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Developer: Gamefreak

Fire types are somewhat less common, but you will be able to find Litleo in Wild Zone 3, as well as Houndour later on in Wild Zone 6. But don’t forget that one of the small birds you can find in the early game, Fletchling, will eventually evolve into a Fire-type when it becomes Fletchinder.

Chikorita’s Final Evolution (Spoilers Ahead)

Thankfully, since Chikorita will remain a Grass-type throughout its evolutions, much of these partners and ideas will remain useful throughout the mid-game, and even into the late game. But there is one potentially spoiler-heavy topic we need to discuss. You have been warned.

Chikorita’s final stage, Meganium, gets a Mega Evolution in Pokémon Legends: Z-A. This won’t be unlocked until the mid-game, and of course, you will need to evolve Chikorita to Bayleef, and then to Meganium, and have the correct Mega Stone in order to use it.

This temporary form introduces a new typing as well, the Fairy type. This is arguably one of the best types in the game, providing Mega Meganium with two new resistances to Fighting and Dark, as well as neutralizing its Bug weakness, plus immunity to Dragon-type attacks. Fairy-type also only introduces one new weakness in Steel and doubles its pre-existing weakness to Poison.

While this is a temporary form, it is one you may end up relying on for tough rogue Mega Evolutions and challenging Promotion Matches. So, what would make a good partner for your new Grass and Fairy-type Mega Meganium?

Honedge just has such great typing, it's hard not to fit on a team.Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Developer: Gamefreak

One of the best types to pair with Mega Meganium will be Steel. It is not only immune to the highly threatening Poison-type attacks, but it also provides resistances to Steel, Flying, Bug, and Ice. This practically covers all of Meganium’s weaknesses, mega form or not. Your Steel-type will also appreciate Meganium taking care of opposing Ground types. Steel-type Pokémon are not the easiest to come by, but you can find Honedge in Wild Zone 4 fairly early in the game. Just remember that it only shows up at night.

There is one flaw in this Steel-type plan, however, and that’s the mutual weakness to Fire. This is where you can lean on your earlier picks for a Fire or Water-type. If you held onto your Magikarp and evolved it into a Gyarados, or your Staryu and evolved it into a Starmie, those are great options. Binacle’s evolution, Barbaracle, continues to stand out, though, thanks to its Rock-typing providing useful resistances. It will also appreciate Mega Meganium’s new Fairy-typing to handle its Fighting-type weakness.

Conclusion

So, there you go. Utilize some of the advice in this guide, and you’ll be well on your way to crafting the perfect team around your starter choice. Of course, this is far from the only way to play Pokémon Legends: Z-A. You can create a team of all your favorite Pokémon and ignore the advice in this guide and have a great time. Pokémon games do a great job of making it hard to go wrong with your team of six.

Good luck climbing the ranks of the Z-A Royale!

Pokemon Legends: Z-A

October 16, 2025

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