Best Starter Characters In One Piece: Bounty Rush

Key Takeaways

• Starter characters in One Piece: Bounty Rush are balanced and help players understand the game mechanics.
• By focusing on characters like Shanks, Chopper, and Usopp initially, players can effectively progress in the game.
• Characters like Luffytaro, Sanji, Nami, Zoro, and Luffy offer different strengths and abilities for various roles in the game.

Every player gains access to up to 20 starter characters at the very beginning of One Piece: Bounty Rush. Most of these characters have well-balanced stats, so players can choose whichever class they wish to try, including attackers, defenders, or runners. All of them provide enough skills to understand the basic mechanics of the game and unlock more advanced characters.

Of course, starter characters have lower power and are considered less competitive, so it’s advisable to use and upgrade them up until characters of higher tiers become available. But even the team of these very early treasure hunters can be quite effective if it’s well composed.

1 Captain Shanks

Best Starter For Dodging

• HP: 1,550
• ATK: 306
• DEF: 388

Shanks is a defender character with a rather strong dodging mechanic, which is more effective if his HP stays over 70%. In that case, he gets a 50% cooldown reduction on this technique, which can save a lot of health. More than that, Shanks gets a 30% damage reduction when standing in the treasure area.

He’s also very good at inflicting a Knockback status effect when he attacks, as well as nullifying Stagger. This makes Shanks a very good starter character for practicing dodging.

2 Tony Tony Chopper

Best Starter For Capturing Treasure

• HP: 1,842
• ATK: 402
• DEF: 374

Chopper is by far the best runner character for the early game due to his ability to increase the treasure gauge when capturing treasure. He’s also insured from the loss of treasure, so when his team has more treasure secured, his cooldown times are reduced by 50%.

Chopper also serves as the team’s supporter, boosting the speed of his allies with the help of I’m a Doctor skill. He also can heal his allies with the help of the Lie Back Down ability.

3 Usopp Sharp Shooter

Best Starter For Burn Damage

• HP: 1,046
• ATK: 254
• DEF: 305

Usopp’s best skill is the Fire Star, which is a long-range attack that sets enemies Aflame, triggering damage over time burning effect. It may not eliminate a target at once, but it’ll definitely distract them and reduce HP. Another cool attack that he can use is the Lead Star, which inflicts Stun.

Usopp himself is immune to negative status effects, and the damage he receives in the treasure zone is automatically reduced by 30%. That’s why it’s a good idea to have him on a team as a starter runner character.

4 Luffytaro

Best Starter For Nullifying Status Effects

• HP: 1,874
• ATK: 488
• DEF: 406

This is one of Luffy’s strongest early versions, having some of the highest stats for any starter character. But most importantly, Luffytaro is completely immune to such negative status effects as Shock and Entrance. He’s also a solid supporter, who reduces all incoming damage of the friendly defenders in the treasure area by 50%.

His strongest attack is Gum-Gum Elephant Gun, which deals damage to enemies regardless of their defense stats. Although Luffytaro is primarily an attacker, he’s got some cool support and defensive skills.

5 Sanji Cook

Best Starter For Close Range Combat

• HP: 1,193
• ATK: 319
• DEF: 287

Sanji may not have the strongest attacks by default, but he’s got plenty of traits that buff his base damage and critical hits. He becomes especially dangerous in the treasure zone, where his damage is automatically increased by 30%. Once his boost trait is unlocked, all his critical damage is increased by another 10%.

All of his attacks are effective only at close range, so be sure to approach enemies without fear. Of course, he needs to work with a supporter on his side who’d be able to heal him.

6 Nami Climate Baton

Best Starter Midrange Attacker

• HP: 1,300
• ATK: 315
• DEF: 330

A similar trait that many attackers have is that their damage is increased in the treasure zone, and Nami is not an exception. But she can also summon thunderbolts that inflict Shock on enemies, temporarily reducing their defense. Her other attack summons a cyclone that’s a perfect midrange attack.

Nami can also be very useful to runner characters, as one of her traits allows her to boost the capture speed of allies by 50% when they’re in the process of capturing treasure.

7 Roronoa Zoro

Best Starter For Defense

• HP: 1,223
• ATK: 313
• DEF: 306

Every team needs a defender who can stand against enemies and help make way for their allies. Zoro is by far the best starter defender character in One Piece: Bounty Rush. His attack damage is increased by 30% in the treasure zone, and his skills often inflict serious negative status effects on enemies.

His best attack is Dragon Twister, which allows him to deal with a whole group of enemies, quickly spinning and slashing with his double katana sword.

8 Monkey D. Luffy

Most Overpowered Starter Character

• HP: 2,089
• ATK: 358
• DEF: 513

It should come as no surprise that the Raid on Onigashima version of Luffy serves as the face of the franchise. The developer uses it to let its player base know which character they should choose at the beginning of the game. Since Luffy can successfully negate the effects of both the Entrance and Shock status effects, he’s by far the greatest option for a beginner attacker.

But Luffy’s strongest attack is Gum-Gum Hawk Gatling, which fires off a quick series of punches that inflict Stun and Knockback status effects on enemies. Note that the damage dealt depends on the enemy’s HP levels.