When playing through any Pokemon game, it’s easy to find guides that will show you the best Pokemon based on a number of factors — movepools, abilities, stats, and anything else. However, most of the time, these guides focus on fully-evolved Pokemon, since their stats are higher than their unevolved pre-evolutions.
Before reaching the later parts of a game, you’ll be stuck with these unevolved forms. So, which ones should you add to your team? Fewer guides and walkthroughs focus on these unevolved forms, so this list will look at some of your options. If you like fast Pokemon, here are the Pokemon that have not yet evolved with the highest speed stats.
10 Meowth
Whether you’re playing in Alola or Kanto, the Meowth you find will have the same base speed stat of 90. The two regional forms of this cat Pokemon have different stat distributions, but they come up equal in terms of speed. Evolving either of them will still retain this equality in speed. Both Kantonian and Alolan Persian have a base speed of 115.
Galarian Meowth, the third regional form for Meowth, is much slower, with a base speed of 40.
9 Alolan Diglett
While the Kantonian and Alolan counterparts of Meowth have equal speed, the same cannot be said for Diglett. In its Alolan form, it has much lower base speed than its Kantonian counterpart, but it’s still very fast with a base speed stat of 90.
Evolve either of the forms of Diglett and you’ll have a very fast one Pokemon — one of the fastest, actually. Still slightly slower than its Kantonian counterpart, Alolan Dugtrio has a very respectable 110 base speed.
8 Pikachu
As the mascot of the entire series and a faithful companion to the anime protagonist Ash Ketchum, Pikachu is actually a pretty disappointing battler in many contexts. However, it cannot be faulted for its speed, because it’s surprisingly fast.
Pikachu has a nice speed stat of 90. Even better than this, though, is the Partner Pikachu from Let’s Go Pikachu, which has a base speed of 120. The Partner Pikachu is actually faster than both Kantonian and Alolan Raichu, who each have a base speed of 110.
7 Murkrow
Before going on to receive a powerful evolution in Generation IV, Murkrow was one of the fastest non-Legendary Pokemon in the Johto region. It still has a very respectable speed stat, especially for a now-unevolved Pokemon since Honchkrow’s introduction. Murkrow sits just a point ahead of the above entries on this list with 91 base speed.
Evolve it into Honchkrow and it actually drops in speed to a base 71. Of course, other stats go up, like special attack, but you’re looking at a much slower bird upon evolution.
6 Elekid
Electric-type Pokemon are typically fast, so it’s no surprise that the only Baby Pokemon who appears on this list is the Electric-type Elekid. This small Generation II Pokemon is fast after it evolves, too, but only temporarily.
Elekid has a nice base speed stat of 95, which bumps up to a very impressive 105 when it evolves into Electabuzz. However, evolve it again and it becomes slower, as Electivire’s base speed stat is only 95, returning it to Elekid’s same speed.
5 Yanma
If you’ve ever tried to watch a dragonfly in real life, you’ll know that they’re very hard to keep an eye on, darting back and forth at crazy speeds. The same is true for the dragonfly of the Pokemon world: Yanma.
This Bug/Flying-type from Generation II has an impressive 95 base speed. Less impressive is that it keeps that speed — Yanmega, its evolution, still has 95 base speed. It’s still a nice stat, but it’s unfortunate that it doesn’t increase.
4 Diglett
We’ve already seen the Alolan counterpart to Diglett on this list, and now, even higher, is Kantonian Diglett. This small Ground-type has a surprisingly-high speed stat, as does its evolution, Dugtrio, who is infamously one of the fastest Pokemon.
Kantonian Diglett has a base speed stat of 95, making it five points faster than Alolan Diglett. Kantonian Dugtrio is also faster than its Alolan counterpart by a few points, sitting at a nice 120 base speed.
3 Voltorb
On the subject of surprisingly-fast Pokemon, Dugtrio has a friend in Electrode, who, to this day, is still in the top ten for the fastest Pokemon to exist. Electrode is tied for the fifth-fastest Pokemon with a base speed stat of 150, sitting just behind Pheromosa and ahead of Mega Beedrill, Zeraora, and Dragapult.
It’s no surprise, then, that its pre-evolution Voltorb is also shockingly fast. Voltorb, despite basically just being a Poke Ball with a face, somehow manages to have a base speed stat of 100.
2 Scyther
Scyther famously has the exact same base stat total as its evolution, Scizor, with a base stat total of 500 — the only evolutionary family with this trait. However, their stats are distributed rather differently.
Scyther heavily favors speed, with a base speed stat of 105. Scizor, on the other hand, favors attack and defense, with its base speed dropping to a measly 65. Both of these Pokemon are equally-viable for different purposes, and if you’re looking for speed, you’d best not evolve that Scyther.
1 Sneasel
The fastest unevolved Pokemon is yet another species that received an evolution in a later generation, like many entries on this list. Sneasel, which originally functioned as a non-evolving single-stage Pokemon, has a fantastic speed stat of 115.
Unlike Murkrow and Electabuzz, Sneasel doesn’t lose speed points when it evolves. It actually becomes even faster, as Weavile is a very fast Pokemon. Weavile has a base speed stat of 125, putting it in pace with Noivern, Marshadow, Mega Pidgeot, and other super fast Pokemon.
NEXT: Pokemon: 10 Weird Things in the Games That Everyone Just Ignores
