Best Pokemon to Befriend First in Pokopia: Starter Guide

Starting Pokopia can feel overwhelming with hundreds of Pokemon available to befriend. Prioritizing the right Pokemon early makes your paradise building journey significantly smoother. This guide identifies essential early-game Pokemon and explains why befriending them should be your first priority.

Understanding Pokemon Priorities

Not all Pokemon are created equal in Pokopia, at least not when it comes to early game utility. Some Pokemon teach abilities that unlock critical gameplay functions, while others provide specialized skills you won't need until later. Smart progression means befriending Pokemon whose abilities you'll use constantly before pursuing those with niche applications.

Consider your immediate needs. Early game focuses on basic survival – building shelter, establishing food sources, and gathering fundamental resources. Pokemon who help with these tasks should be your first friendships. Decorative abilities and specialized skills can wait until you have a functional base established.

Top Priority: Squirtle

Squirtle should be your absolute first priority Pokemon to befriend in Pokopia. Water Gun, Squirtle's signature move, is essential for virtually every day of gameplay. You'll use it to water crops, fill containers, clean surfaces, and create water features. No other ability gets used more frequently.

Gardens are central to Pokopia, providing food and attracting other Pokemon. Without Squirtle's Water Gun, you'll manually carry water to plants constantly – tedious and time-consuming. Befriending Squirtle immediately transforms gardening from a chore into an enjoyable activity.

Squirtle is typically easy to find near water sources like streams, ponds, or beaches. The friendship requirements are straightforward – provide water-type berries, keep the area clean, and interact daily. Most players can befriend Squirtle within the first few in-game days with minimal effort.

Second Priority: Bulbasaur

After securing water capabilities, focus on Bulbasaur for plant growth abilities. Leafage accelerates vegetation growth, helping establish gardens faster and reviving struggling plants. This ability complements Squirtle's Water Gun perfectly – water plants with Squirtle, boost growth with Bulbasaur.

Landscaping benefits enormously from Leafage. Transform bare ground into lush grass quickly, establish decorative plants around buildings, or create natural barriers with dense vegetation. Early game paradise building relies heavily on making your island look welcoming, and Bulbasaur enables rapid beautification.

Bulbasaur prefers shaded, forested areas. Look for it near trees and vegetation rather than open spaces. Friendship requirements focus on growing plants – establish a small garden before seeking Bulbasaur, as having plants to tend makes befriending easier.

Third Priority: Timburr

Construction defines much of Pokopia gameplay, and Timburr is your construction teacher. Without Timburr's Hammer Arm ability and carpentry lessons, you're limited to extremely basic structures. Befriending Timburr unlocks proper building techniques, furniture crafting, and multi-room structures.

Timburr isn't always immediately available – you may need to complete tutorial construction first or reach a certain progression point. Once Timburr appears, prioritize befriending immediately. The sooner you unlock advanced construction, the faster your paradise develops.

Finding Timburr typically involves exploring construction sites or areas with lots of wood and building materials. Timburr appreciates hard work, so actively building (even simple projects) and gathering materials demonstrates the dedication Timburr respects.

Fourth Priority: Drilbur

Terrain manipulation becomes important once basic building is established. Drilbur's digging abilities let you till large areas for farming, excavate for resources, create irrigation channels, and generally reshape land. This unlocks larger-scale projects and efficient resource gathering.

Agricultural expansion depends on Drilbur. Transforming rough ground into productive farmland requires serious digging effort. Doing this manually is exhausting, but Drilbur makes it trivial. Plan to expand farming operations? Befriend Drilbur first.

Drilbur inhabits caves, underground areas, and rocky terrain. You may need to explore beyond your starting area to find one. Bring rock and ground-type berries, demonstrate persistence in exploring difficult terrain, and Drilbur will gradually warm to you.

Fifth Priority: Hitmonchan

Breaking rocks and shaping terrain requires fighting power. Hitmonchan's punches demolish boulders, break apart stone, and clear rock obstacles. This ability is essential for gathering stone building materials and serious terraforming projects.

Early game you can work around lacking Hitmonchan by avoiding rock-heavy areas, but eventually you'll need stone for construction. Durable buildings, stone pathways, and rock walls all require materials only accessible through Rock Smash abilities.

Hitmonchan tends to appear in mountainous or rocky regions. Demonstrating physical fitness through active gameplay and completing challenging tasks earns Hitmonchan's respect. This Pokemon values strength and determination.

Sixth Priority: Scyther

Vegetation management becomes increasingly important as your paradise grows. Scyther's Cut ability efficiently clears foliage, fells trees for lumber, and maintains paths through dense vegetation. While not immediately essential, you'll want this ability before vegetation overgrowth becomes problematic.

Lumber production depends on Cut for efficient forestry. Manually harvesting trees is possible but slow. Scyther makes resource gathering quick and sustainable, allowing selective harvesting without devastating forests.

Scyther lives in forested areas and is attracted to movement. Be active in forests – clearing brush, establishing paths, and generally working in vegetation brings Scyther to investigate. Demonstrate responsible resource use and Scyther will eventually befriend you.

Additional Useful Early Pokemon

Beyond the essential six, several other Pokemon provide helpful abilities for early-game players, though they're lower priority than the fundamentals.

Pidgey or other early flying Pokemon help with scouting and navigation. Their abilities may assist with reaching high places or getting overview perspectives of your paradise. Useful but not critical initially.

Oddish adds variety to gardening with flower-specific growth abilities. If you prioritize ornamental gardens, Oddish moves up the priority list. For players focused on vegetable farming first, Oddish can wait.

Machop's Strength allows moving heavy objects and handling large building materials. Important for major construction but not needed for basic buildings. Befriend once you're planning large-scale projects.

Pokemon to Postpone

Some Pokemon are valuable but not early-game priorities. Save these friendships for later when their specialized abilities become relevant.

Rare or legendary Pokemon require significant time investment to befriend. While their abilities may be powerful, the effort could better spent befriending multiple common Pokemon with practical abilities.

Highly specialized Pokemon like electric or psychic types often have niche applications. Wait until specific projects require their unique skills rather than befriending speculatively.

Evolution-stage Pokemon like Conkeldurr or Gurdurr teach advanced techniques but require befriending their pre-evolutions first. Focus on Timburr initially; you can pursue evolutions later when tackling complex construction.

Friendship Building Tips

Regardless of which Pokemon you're befriending, several strategies speed up the process. Different Pokemon have different preferences, but general friendship mechanics apply universally.

Daily interaction matters most. Talk to Pokemon regularly, even briefly. Consistent small interactions build friendship faster than occasional long sessions.

Provide preferred foods. Every Pokemon has favorite berries or items. Discovering and providing these accelerates friendship significantly. Experiment with different offerings to find preferences.

Create suitable habitats. Pokemon are more friendly when they have comfortable living conditions. Build appropriate homes and environments for Pokemon you're courting.

Complete Pokemon-specific requests. Many Pokemon ask for help with tasks. Completing these requests provides major friendship boosts and demonstrates your reliability.

Balancing Breadth vs. Depth

Should you focus on deeply befriending a few Pokemon or spread attention across many? Both approaches have merits, and the best strategy combines elements of both.

Deep friendship with essential Pokemon unlocks advanced versions of their abilities. A strong Squirtle friendship might upgrade Water Gun's range or power. Prioritize deepening bonds with your most-used Pokemon.

Breadth of friendships provides versatility. Having basic relationships with many Pokemon gives access to diverse abilities for different projects. Once core Pokemon are befriended, expanding your friend group adds options.

A balanced approach befriends the six essential Pokemon to basic levels first, then deepens relationships with your most-used three while gradually expanding to other Pokemon. This ensures fundamental capabilities while building toward advanced techniques.

Conclusion

Smart Pokemon friendship priorities set you up for Pokopia success. Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Timburr, Drilbur, Hitmonchan, and Scyther form the essential early-game team, providing abilities you'll use constantly. Befriend these Pokemon first, deepen those relationships, then expand to specialized Pokemon as projects demand. With this foundation, your paradise building journey starts strong and progresses smoothly.