How to unlock Torchic
Torchic is one of the free starters: pick it from the starter selector at the start of a run and it costs no tickets. Later copies come from the Hoenn banner, where it sits in the 1★ pool. The 1★ band takes 45% of all pulls and holds 233 partners, so one specific Torchic works out to about 0.1931% per draw. The 70-pull pity counter only applies to 5★ results, so Torchic has no floor of its own and no targeted pull. A duplicate Torchic refunds 15 coins at the 1★ rate.
Torchic stats and rank
Torchic reads 90 HP, 97 speed, ×1.08 attack, ×1.03 physical, ×1.08 special, 40 defense and 50 special defense, for a 310 base-stat total. On the three-stat percentile this is 21.8 out of 100, which puts Torchic at rank 806 of 966 and in tier C. The relative picture matters more than the total: its strongest slot is special multiplier (55th percentile) and its weakest is defense (8th percentile), so it is a specialist rather than an all-rounder.
Best moves in Torchic's pool
At move level 5 the pool is led by Fire Spin at 33.6 damage per 0.30s (121.1 effective DPS, ×1.08 multiplier), then Body Slam at 75.6 damage per 0.71s (109.3 effective DPS, ×1.03 multiplier), then Tackle at 33.6 damage per 0.38s (92.3 effective DPS, ×1.03 multiplier). 7 of its 14 damaging moves scale with the physical multiplier and 7 with the special one, alongside 4 support moves. Its special multiplier is the higher of the two (×1.08 against ×1.03), so special moves convert better. The top option beats the second by 11.8 DPS, which decides slot one and leaves slot two as a judgement call. Effective DPS is damage over cooldown times the matching multiplier; it ignores range and area, so a lower-DPS cone can still clear faster than a single-target melee.
Evolution cards for Torchic
Its starting move, Ember, evolves into Fire Blast once the move is at level 5 and you hold the Power card, which boosts attack for that run. Menu upgrades use a separate system and never stand in for Power. 14 of its 18 moves carry an evolution card, across 6 distinct cards (Vigor, Sprint, Power, Reflexes, Armor and Synthesis). The strongest of them is Fire Spin at 121.1 effective DPS, so that is the one worth holding a card for first.
Torchic compared to similar partners
The two closest stat lines in the roster are Croagunk (+2 HP, +2 speed, -0.04 attack, -10 total) and Capsakid (+2 HP, +2 speed, -0.04 attack, -6 total). Against Croagunk, Croagunk is 2 speed faster and Torchic hits harder by ×0.04, and the rank gap is 13 places. Read those deltas as swap costs, because a gain on one line is usually paid for on another, so neither side is a strict upgrade and the move pools have to break the tie.