Digimon World 1 Rookie Tier List

I love Kunemon, and part of the reason is how you get him. Take an In-Training Digimon to Kunemon’s Bed, let it fall asleep, and you’ve got a 50% chance of waking up with Kunemon. That’s it. Half the time you get your weird little bug, and the other half you try again.

The best part is that I can spend that In-Training time pumping HP and MP instead of worrying so much about which stat needs to win an evolution check. I end up with a Rookie that can actually afford to keep attacking, and Kunemon has some of the best attacks you could possibly give him.

Megalo Spark and Poison Claw. On a Rookie. He also gets Poison Powder. Poison Claw is great early on because enemies hate being interrupted and poisoned, and Megalo Spark is one of those moves that makes me wonder why the developers let this little guy have it. Give him a good MP pool and he’s going to use it.

He gets back up quickly after a knockdown, too, and his finisher hits harder than almost every other Rookie’s. Even if I completely ignored his evolutions, I’d still put him near the top. But then you’ve got Bakemon, Kabuterimon, and Kuwagamon, with routes toward Piximon and HerculesKabuterimon. I really have to reach to find something wrong with him.

My first Kunemon was named Kune. I still remember that guy from when I was a kid. We had some good times together, right up until I forgot to feed him and he starved to death.

Anyway, SS tier. Sorry, Kune.

Biyomon is a little machine gun. I know that sounds ridiculous when you’re talking about a pink bird, but watch her in battle for a while. Wind Cutter, Spinning Shot, Spit Fire, another attack, then another. Sometimes I’m sitting there waiting for the enemy to do something and Biyomon has already interrupted it again.

I used her while going back through the game for this series and came away much more impressed than I expected. She can tear through early enemies, and I’ve had her deal with bosses before becoming a Champion. For a Rookie, that’s pretty damn good.

Now, I don’t rate Wind Cutter or Spinning Shot alongside Megalo Spark, Poison Claw, or my other top techniques. They’re useful, and there’s a difference. What makes Biyomon work for me is how much pressure she can put out with them. Plus, I like where she can go next. Birdramon, Airdramon, Kokatorimon, and Kabuterimon give me plenty of reasons to keep raising her.

And please tell me you’ve watched her run. She throws her wings back and does this tiny sprint across File Island that makes me laugh every time. I never noticed it much when I was younger, and now I can’t stop looking at it. The animators really went out of their way for a Digimon that’s basically a round bird with legs.

S tier. I should’ve given Biyomon more of a chance years ago.

I spent around 15 hours playing with Palmon while recording footage for these tier lists. Fifteen hours. You would think I’d get sick of seeing that flower bobbing around my screen, but she made it really hard to complain about anything.

My strategy wasn’t complicated. Train a bit, give her Poison Claw, and go fight something. Poison Claw barely costs any MP, and between the interruptions and poison, a lot of early enemies just can’t handle it. I was getting through parts of the game with a Rookie where I’d normally already be thinking about Digivolving.

Then I looked at the finisher numbers. Palmon’s Poison Ivy has the highest listed base power of any Rookie finisher. I don’t know who decided the flower with a face deserved that, but I’m not going to argue. Her Champion choices are good, too. Whamon, Coelamon, and Kuwagamon can take her toward some Digimon I rate very highly.

If there’s one thing I don’t like about Palmon, it has nothing to do with fighting. She creeps me out. It’s the face, I think, or maybe the fact that there’s a giant flower coming out of her head. I honestly can’t explain it. I’ve just spent enough time looking at her that it doesn’t bother me quite as much anymore.

Palmon is S tier. Poison Claw alone did enough work to earn it.

I rarely had Elecmon growing up, and I know exactly why. I was obsessed with Defense training. I thought if I kept making a Digimon harder to kill, eventually every problem in the game would go away. Great plan, except Defense doesn’t get you Elecmon.

So I never really knew what I was missing. Going back to him for this list was one of the nicest surprises I’ve had while making these videos, because he’s fantastic in battle. You get Megalo Spark and Wind Cutter on the same Rookie. Megalo Spark is the big reason I’m excited, but Wind Cutter comes out quickly and helps keep enemies from settling into their own attacks.

He also feels good to move around with. When he attacks, there’s a quickness to him that I notice right away, especially after spending time with some of the Rookies farther down this list. And his finisher has the second-highest listed base power in the Rookie group. I’m starting to think younger me missed out on a lot by refusing to stop training Defense.

His Champions don’t give me much to complain about either. Bakemon, Angemon, Leomon, and Kokatorimon are all interesting options. Kokatorimon can lead to Piximon, and there’s that unusual Angemon-to-Devimon evolution if you want to go chasing a different route. I wouldn’t pretend the special evolution is something you’ll casually get every run, but I like having the possibility.

I went back and forth between S and SS for Elecmon. If I were ranking them purely on how much fun I had during this recent playthrough, he might have taken the top spot. But Kunemon’s moveset is just too stupidly good.

S tier. Please raise an Elecmon if you’ve been ignoring him the way I did.

Before anything else, I need to talk about Betamon’s walk. Look at him. He doesn’t walk so much as commit to a full-body waddle, and every couple of steps he looks mildly exhausted. Like he’s got something on his mind and really doesn’t want to discuss it with anybody.

I could follow him around File Island for an embarrassing amount of time. The fact that he’s actually a pretty good Rookie only makes it better.

Winter Blast gives him area damage, and Ice Needle can interrupt enemies before they get an attack out. I know Ice Needle isn’t one of my five top techniques, but I still enjoy using it. The bigger prize comes when Betamon Digivolves. Coelamon, Shellmon, and Whamon can use Ice Statue, which is one of the moves I love most in this game. There are also routes toward Megadramon and HerculesKabuterimon depending on which Champion you raise.

He’s not as comfortable in a fight as Kunemon or Elecmon, though. Sometimes he gets knocked down and takes his sweet time standing up. Other times he’s wandering around while I’m sitting there asking him to please, for the love of God, do something. And then I look at his face and think, yeah, that’s about right.

There’s a lot to like here, but the sluggish moments keep him out of S for me. A tier. I love Betamon.

Penguinmon is my guy. He looks like he’s late for a meeting he didn’t want to attend, and the longer I work on this list, the more I realize I really like Digimon that look mildly annoyed about existing.

He’s better in a fight than I think people give him credit for. Ice Needle fires quickly and gets in the opponent’s way, which is something I’ll always appreciate. I’d rather use it than Spit Fire most of the time. And he can learn Poison Claw, one of the five moves I actually consider top tier. That’s a fantastic attack for a Rookie to have while you’re still trying to get through the early game.

His evolution paths also happen to include Whamon, Shellmon, and Garurumon. Garurumon is one of my favorite Champions in Digimon World, and Shellmon gives you a path toward HerculesKabuterimon. I can work with that.

The problem is that Penguinmon doesn’t always recover very quickly when he gets knocked down. I also wish he had a little more to offer in the rest of his moveset. He can interrupt things and he can poison them, but I don’t find him quite as flexible as the Rookies sitting above him.

Still, I’m happy to have him around. A tier for Penguinmon.

Agumon is aggressively average in Digimon World, and I hate having to say that about him. He’s the mascot. He’s probably the first Digimon a lot of us raised. When I think about Digimon as a kid, I think about Agumon.

Then I actually use him and there’s nothing that really blows me away. Spit Fire is decent at interrupting enemies. Magma Bomb and Heat Laser are fine. I can get through battles with them. But after using Kunemon and Elecmon, going back to Agumon just feels a little dull. He’ll do the job, sure. I just wish he had something that made me excited to pick him.

And Pepper Breath. Poor Pepper Breath. It’s one of the attacks I remember most from the anime, and its raw power is near the bottom of the Rookie finishers. I expected so much more out of it the first time I played this game.

His Champion options are split pretty evenly for me. I love Greymon, and Birdramon is a great option. But Tyrannomon, Monochromon, and Meramon aren’t Digimon I get particularly excited about raising. Tyrannomon can eventually lead to Megadramon, which is worth keeping in mind, but I’m still not excited about the time I’m spending with Tyrannomon to get there.

I’m sure plenty of people have had great Agumon runs. So have I. There’s nothing wrong with using him. He’s just standing next to some Rookies that can do much more interesting things before they ever Digivolve.

B tier. Agumon shows up, does his job, and goes home.

When I first got Patamon in Digimon World, I was dead set on getting Angemon. I’d watched the first season of the anime, and I wanted that moment where Patamon finally Digivolves and suddenly Angemon is this enormous deal. I had a whole scene playing out in my head. All I needed was the game to cooperate.

As a Rookie, though, Patamon just doesn’t do much for me. He gets Wind Cutter and Spinning Shot, which are both useful. But neither is in my personal top five, and I have to keep that consistent with what I said about Biyomon. Biyomon gets more mileage out of her overall attack options and feels more active in battle to me. Patamon hops around and somehow manages to feel awkward despite being so tiny.

Then there’s his finisher. Boom Bubble has the lowest listed base power of any Rookie finisher in the game. I know I shouldn’t care so much about that, but it’s Patamon. I wanted him to be amazing.

At least his Champion options help. Angemon, Ogremon, and Leomon are all Digimon I like. If you’re raising him mainly because you want one of those Champions, I’m not going to talk you out of it. I just think the Rookie stage itself is weaker than most of the others here.

B tier. And yes, this one stings. I still remember spamming Boom Bubble in Digimon Rumble Arena and having the best time. That’s probably why I wanted him to do so much better.

I have rewritten this section more than any other. Gabumon was my favorite Digimon growing up. I had the toys, the figurines, and a completely unreasonable amount of love for MetalGarurumon. If you told me as a kid that one day I’d put Gabumon at the bottom of a Digimon tier list, I would’ve thought you were insane.

But I keep starting new games with Gabumon, and I keep struggling. More than I do with Agumon, who I’ve already called average about ten times. I desperately wanted to find some move or trick that would change my mind, because I don’t enjoy saying bad things about a Digimon I’ve loved for this long.

His Fighting techniques are a huge part of the problem. I think they’re some of the worst moves in the game. Fire Tower and Heat Laser don’t help enough, and there’s something about his movement in battle that makes the whole thing worse. He’ll run around while I’m sitting there waiting for him to attack, and the enemy gets another chance to do whatever it wants. It’s like playing on hard mode for no particular reward.

Then I look at his Champion options. Garurumon is excellent. I rate him S tier, and he’s a big reason I still like raising Gabumon at all. Centarumon and Ogremon are good too. But I really don’t enjoy Monochromon, Tyrannomon, or Drimogemon. Yes, Tyrannomon can lead to Megadramon. I know. I would just rather be fighting with a Digimon I actually like along the way.

I’ve beaten Digimon World with Gabumon, so of course you can make him work. I almost put him in D tier, but that felt a little much when Agumon is sitting right above him in B. He’s weaker in my experience, just not that much weaker.

So Gabumon goes in C tier. I hate it. If you’ve found a way to make him feel great as a Rookie, come tell me, because I’d genuinely love to be wrong.