Top 100 Pokemon #96: Weavile

Among my top 100 Pokemon are going to be a number of Pokemon that debuted before Gen IV, who I did not care much for until Gen IV came around and either gave them a new evolution or gave them a massive improvement thanks to the Physical/Special split.

Now, I realize there might be a handful of readers who have no idea about some of the battle terminology I throw out here, for whatever reason, so allow me to give an explanation: Before Diamond and Pearl came out, whether an attack used the user's Attack or Special Attack (and consequently whether it hit the opponent's Defense or Special Defense) depended entirely on the type of the attack. Fire, Water, Electric, Grass, Ice, Psychic, Dragon, and Dark attacks were all classified as Special attacks and used Special Attack, while all other types used (physical) Attack.

This can be a problem for some Pokemon, whose Special Attack stats are really low, but whose typing are both Special types. Now, if a Pokemon uses an attack that matches its type, the power of that attack is multiplied by 1.5 times. This is known as the Same Type Attack Bonus, also known as STAB because it is like an extra stab at the opponent. Unfortunately, if a Pokemon's typing is a Special type and that Pokemon does not have a very high Special Attack stat, that Pokemon would likely have to lose out on STAB attacks. (This can happen the opposite way, too, if a Pokemon's type is physical but their physical Attack is low.)

However, Diamond and Pearl revolutionized battling by classifying each individual attack as Physical or Special, so, for example, a move like Flamethrower would still be special, while Fire Punch would be physical, and both would be Fire-type attacks. This was huge for many Pokemon, who could now use STAB attacks that work off their stronger Attack stat, making them much more competitively viable.

Our next Pokemon is a shining example of desperately needing that Physical/Special split in order to have some proper physical attacks to gain STAB off of. But his stats were such that he would need more than that to become a good Pokemon; he would also need an evolution. And what do you know, Gen IV gave him both!

And they said I would never use my Dark and Ice STABs. They'll get a nice stab from my Ice Punch now.

#96: Sneasel/Weavile

Sneasel debuted in Gen II, with no evolution but with a very unique typing in Dark/Ice. He is, as his name suggests, based on a weasel. More specifically, though, he seems to be based on the Kamaitachi, a weasel-demon from Japanese folklore. A solid choice for one of the many inaugural Dark-types of Gold and Silver.

One of Pokemon's many shining examples of trollface.

His evolution, Weavile, debuted in Gen IV, and it simply requires Sneasel to level up at night while holding a Razor Claw. Weavile looks even more sinister, while also having just a bit of Egyptian flair to his design.

Sneak like an Egyptian.

I guess I should mention this right now, just to get all the flak I know I'm going to get for this out of the way right now, but I am not really a big fan of Dark-types. Something about their often conniving, evil ways just isn't the sort of thing I am a fan of. Despite this, there are still a fair number of Dark-types on my list (11 total), so don't worry if you are a fan of these bad boys. Most of them are dual-types, making their way onto my list in part due to their interesting type-combinations, and Sneasel and Weavile are no exception; Dark/Ice is a type combination still not held by any other Pokemon, three generations after Dark-types debuted. Still, I suppose my not being a Dark-type fan is what keeps him from ranking higher.

Enough of that, though. Let's talk about his battle capabilities. Looking at Sneasel, his stats already have some standout points: a solid Base 95 Attack and a great Base 115 Speed. Weavile improves those two stats to an amazing Base 120 Attack and Base 125 Speed, which makes him a vicious offensive threat. However, there is a pretty clear problem in his stats, at least from a pre-Gen IV perspective: Sneasel and Weavile's Special Attack are Base 35 and 45, respectively. To put it simply, that is pitiful. And at a time when both Dark and Ice were Special, that meant no STAB for these weasels.

Thankfully, with Gen IV, the split occured and they could use physical Dark and Ice attacks. Admittedly, their movepools kind of limit them here; none of their STAB attacks have a base power greater than 80. What they do get are Night Slash and Ice Punch as their main weapons, and two lower-power but useful moves in Pursuit and Ice Shard. The former means Psychic- and Ghost-types cannot run away from him without taking an often-fatal hit, and the latter is a priority attack that means he can put a quick stop to many Dragon Dancing or Choice Scarfed Dragons before they Outrage through your entire team.

Hide your psychics, hide your ghosts, and hide your dragons, 'cause he's revenge-killin' everybody out here.

Other attacks Weavile gets include Swords Dance, just to make him even more of an offensive powerhouse, and Low Kick to trip up Steel-types and other heavy Pokemon. However, Weavile's defensive stats are lacking; add in that 4x weakness to Fighting as well as weaknesses to Fire, Bug, Steel, and Stealth Rock and Weavile is not going to want to be taking hits if he can help it.

Weavile also kind of got the short end of the stick in the way of abilities. Pressure is better on a Pokemon like Suicune who can take a lot of hits and drain a lot of PP over time; on a Pokemon that dies to one Close Combat, not so much. Pickpocket is an odd Dream World ability; it steals an item if an opponent hits him with a contact move and he does not have an item already. It has a very situational use if Weavile holds a Focus Sash, switches in to something like Close Combat, and steals a Choice Band or something before he Ice Shards the opponent on the way out. Still, this is a very situational ability, and Weavile is better off with Pressure otherwise, just so he can use the item he wants to use.

To cap things off, Weavile is a slick Pokemon with a cool design, a unique typing and a strong offensive presence. Not much else to be said, really, so I guess I'll let Weavile have one final pic as his sendoff...

"This is for saying you don't really like Dark-types. Nyeh."

...wait, Weavile? Where are you going with my money? Come back here! ...Darn that Weavile and his Base 125 Speed. Am I going to get this kind of treatment from the other 10 Dark-types on my list as well?

"Probably."

Oh, you're back already. Where'd you put the money?

"Oh, Pokemon #95 on your list just snatched it from me. Probably took it to his lair, inside those thunderclouds."

...This is going to take some extra preparation. Which means I probably won't be covering #95 right away... so! Instead, there will be a special presentation from Pixie Theater about these past 5 Pokemon I covered, their use in the competitive metagame, and suggested uses for them in-game. After that, I go into the thunderclouds in search of my money, and the next Pokemon on my list...