Galek is the worst starter, but he is not off by much. They're all pretty close to eachother in terms of relative strength, Kael being the #1 due to his CB prowess and the rest trailing closely behind.

IMO it's Kael > Elhain (2x aoes are OP in arena early on) > Athel (lowered cd on her aoe thanks to the extra turn she gets + the extra stats) > Galek

I would argue Kael > Athel > Elhain > Galek.

The reason Kael is rated #1 is, as AirMaxx mentioned, because of his utility early on in CB. The four poisons help you get to some important milestones in CB damage, and while he's ultimately replaceable just about everywhere else, he does retain some of his usefulness in arena, because of his high damage multiplier and bonus crit rate on his A2.

Athel I'd put at #2 for two reasons - first, she can work well as an arena nuker because of her A3 giving her an increase ATK buff, which lets you avoid needing a dedicated ATK buffer on your arena team. Secondly, her A1 is very good for CB - three attacks will let you get Giantslayer to proc more reliably, and weaken boosts your team damage considerably.

Elhain is third since she doesn't really outdo the others anywhere except possibly as a campaign farmer due to her two AOE nukes.

And Galek is last simply because he doesn't outdo any of the others anywhere. His A2 has a lower multiplier than Kael's, his A1 hits less often than Athel's and doesn't debuff with weaken, and he doesn't have the two AOE nukes that Elhain has. The only real thing he has going for him is that his A3 does a decrease DEF and his A2 does an increase speed, but those aren't enough to compensate for what he's lacking.

"Athel I'd put at #2 for two reasons - first, she can work well as an arena nuker because of her A3 giving her an increase ATK buff, which lets you avoid needing a dedicated ATK buffer on your arena team. Secondly, her A1 is very good for CB - three attacks will let you get Warmaster to proc more reliably, and weaken boosts your team damage considerably. "

Actually 3 attacks do not affect warmaster procs, they do affect giant slayer procs and that's why we take giant slayer for everyone who does 3 or more hits on their A1. 

Yeah I always mix the two up, hadn't bothered to look up which was which. Edited to correct.

I agree. Kael is better because of early CB. All 4 starter champions are pretty much at same level otherwise. One can debate here and there for different reasons. A simple fact is, all of them will be replaced by other champions later on. None of them will stay till end game but they are very helpful early game (that's why they are 'starter' champions). So pick one and level up to 60 at very beginning but not worth to get others to lv 60 unless you are so unlucky to pull other good champs.

I agree. Kael is better because of early CB. All 4 starter champions are pretty much at same level otherwise. One can debate here and there for different reasons. A simple fact is, all of them will be replaced by other champions later on. None of them will stay till end game but they are very helpful early game (that's why they are 'starter' champions). So pick one and level up to 60 at very beginning but not worth to get others to lv 60 unless you are so unlucky to pull other good champs. 

Kael gives early clan boss poisons, but apart from that all the starter champs seem similar quality to me,  i still have one of each for FW 

your all discounting Athel ,,, Her ability to fully self Heal with her 3 hit A 1 while in Life steal is by far the better of all 4 starters ,, 

Elhain Falls off really fast after Brutal But as a farmer in 12-3 or 12-6 Not Bad ,

 and KAEL is a Weak Farmer and his 2.5% Poison really dosnt cut it much at all really ,,,

BUT as a NUKER not Bad in Arena as Long as your getting the First Kill Shots 

Galek ? well Its Galek right ! 

I  think  Kramaswamy order  is  correct.

Galek is fine.

Sees use by me in faction wars, that doom tower secret room about only using rares, and even subs in for one of my dps in clan boss when i get the daily "use a rare against the clan boss".

I don't think Kael is that good. Poison is so easy to get from other champs, an Outlaw Monk is better than Kael in CB-poisoning. Kael's A3 booked 50% chance to land a poison with 4 hits = 2 poisons estimated, 4 turns cooldown. Outlaw Monk's A2 places 2 poisons, 3 turns cooldown.

"And why use Kael? You can just use FB or Bad El!"

ah yes... why mess with your starter champ at all when you can just use Bad El...

I have Galek so that makes him bad.

That's not a valid argument to push Kael. All starter champs have 15% increased critrate on their A2.

You are correct.  Brain fart. Kael is still best of 4 lol.

Galek is fine. I pulled Galek and like him, esp with dec defence and inc speed. 

 I would like to mention that Elhein a1 can proc warmaster twice (source HellHades). she is also the only 1 out of the 4 who can 1 shot the first two waves becuase of two aoes.

I suppose kael is good at cb in early game, but once you progress, his a1 sucks. Outlaw monk is easier to book, lower cooldown, 100% reliable 5%s.

I feel like Athel is the worst out of them, because she is good nuker, but her a2 has no buffs/debuffs and is 1 hitter, so that falls behind the other's 3 turns, and the buffss get confusing when you can't use them for a2 because a2 can 1 shot so it would be a waste of a3 then a3 can't buff a2. Note I tested Athel in another account. She was messy, only good for arena and Cb compared to others thx to a3+a2 and weaken.

very early game: kael>elhain>galek>athel

early-mid game: elhain>galek>kael>athel

arena: athel>elhain>galek>kael

Kael best, Galek worst. 

I  remember  somewhere  that  Athel  used  to  be  to  overpowered  of  a  starter  champion  so  they  nerfed  her  but  buffed  the  rest.  I  don't  think  that  you  can  openly  rank  all  of  the  overall  too  well,  because  they  have  different  strengths  in  different  areas.  If  I  were  to  try  to  rank  them  overall,  I  would  say  Kael,  Athel,  Elhain,  then  Galek.  They  are  designed  to  be  even  so  someone  who  picks  one  won't  be  considerably  behind  someone  who  picks the  other.  If  you  were  to  rank  them  in  specific  areas;  however,  the  rankings  would  vary.  For  example:

Campaign:  Elhain,  Athel,  Kael,  Galek

(Elhain  has  the  most  AOEs,  and  Athel  has  a  reduced  cooldown  with  Extra  Turn)

Dragon:  Kael,  Athel,  Galek,  Elhain

(Ordered  by  their  helpful  Debuffs)

Fire  Knight:  Athel,  Elhain,  Galek,  Kael

(Multi-hitters  are  best  plus  some  bring  important  Debuffs)

Spider:  Athel,  Kael,  Elhain,  Galek

(This  one  is  tough  to  rank  due  to  each  of  them  not  really  having  the  key  components  to  take  the  Spider  down.  It  comes  down  to  AOE  damage  and  important  Debuffs)

Ice  Golem:  Kael,  Athel,  Elhain,  Galek

(Poison  is  great  for  Ice  Golem,  and  I  like  Athel  because  of  her  Weaken  and  buffs)

Arena:  Elhain,  Kael,  Athel,  Galek

(It's  close  here.  Kael  is  nice  because  of  turn  meter  off  kills,  but  so  is  Elhain  because  of  double  AOEs)

Clan  Boss:  Kael,  Athel,  Galek,  Elhain

(Most  to  least  important  Debuffs)

Potion  Keeps:  Athel,  Kael,  Elhain,  Galek

(Most  to  least  utility  and  damage)

Taht  is  my  overall  insight.  Feel  free  to  comment  if  you  think  I  am  mistaken!

I think you are wrong about arena. Athel can buff herself with 25% atk buff, that's great in early arena. Kael has the best damage multiplier on his A2, that's great in early arena teams using champs like Spirithost for atk buff. Both fare more usefull than Elhain.

I agree to the rest of your list. But I still think it shows clearly that Athel is the best of them - if you take into account how easy they can be replaced. Kael is good because of his poisons. A poisoner for CB is easy to acquire, Outlaw Monk as free example, or Frozen Banshee as rare. 

A better arena nuker than Athel comes in Dark Elhain at day 120. I don't see any easy to obtain champ (max rank rare, non-void) that can deal more damage in arena than Athel before that. And I don't see any easy to obtain, overall usefull champ with big version of weaken debuff. Of course you can have a lucky pull, but that's allways the case. Like somebody wrote before: Why bother wich starter champ, if you can use Bad-El?

Unless you get such a lucky pull, Athel + Outlaw Monk work as team. Kael + ??? could replace that?

I  still  dont  think  Outlaw  Monk  is  worth  it,  because  even  Kael's  small  posions  are  useful  in  early  game  when  you  dont  get  the  debuff  bar  full.  He  also  shines  in  the  top  areas  of  the  game  for  early-mid  game  players-  dragon  and  clan  boss.

I  now  agree  with  you  on  Arena  though.  I  was  thinking  that  most  Arena  fights  early  are  prolonged  so  Elhain  would  have  time  for  her  double  AOEs.  But  Athel  brings  the  buff  and  Extra  Turn,  and  Kael  still  shines.

So  I  would  probably  change  it  to  Kael,  Athel,  Elhain,  then  Galek.