---
#64: Sharpedo
Here’s what you need to know about this guy. First of all, he’s a shark crossed with a torpedo. That alone is both awesome and terrifying. Second, he has great Attack and respectable Special Attack but paper-thin defenses, making him the very definition of a glass cannon (the addition of physical Water and Dark moves in Gen IV help him a lot here). Third, he can create earthquakes. And finally, because this isn’t scary enough (at least not with his kinda-low Base 95 Speed), in Gen V, GameFreak gave him freaking Speed Boost from the Dream World. So we have an accelerating torpedo shark that hits brutally hard, creates earthquakes, and gets harder to get away from the longer he’s alive. If a bunch of these guys ever form a tornado, we’re screwed.
#63: Meloetta
I admittedly have not had much chance yet to actually play around with Meloetta, but there’s still a lot I love about her. She has a very cool concept, in which through singing a Relic Song, she turns from the singing, specially-offensive Aria Forme to the dancing, physically-offensive Pirouette Forme. Her design remains elegant and musical-themed throughout all this, and this ability combined with very good stats for both forms makes her a unique sort of threat in battle. That said, I’m mostly a fan of her concept and design, which all come off as very interesting.
#62: Sawsbuck (and Deerling)
A number of things stand out about Sawsbuck. There’s his different appearances in different seasons, which is a very cool design concept. He also has two nice abilities in Chlorophyll and Sap Sipper, the former making him a good member of Sun teams, and the latter making him good at warding off opposing Grass-types. He has a signature move, Horn Leech (a physical Giga Drain), which is cool, as well as a more extensive movepool including things like Jump Kick, Wild Charge, and Nature Power. The combination of his various designs and his somewhat unique presence as a physical Grass-type with a Normal touch put this guy (and his adorable pre-evolution) on this list.
#61: Magnezone (and pre-evolutions)
As I am a fan of Electric-types, it should come as no surprise that I would have room for Magnezone on my list. There are a number of cool attributes about him. For one, he’s got a unique ability in Magnet Pull, which keeps Steel-types from escaping; in competitive battling, this means Magnezone is a great way of getting rid of Steel-types that are giving you and your dragons trouble. In-game it’s not as notable, since no one bothers switching out in-game, but it does have the side bonus of making it easier to encounter Steel-types in the wild, which is useful when hunting down some of the rarer Steel-types. Magnezone also gets the upgraded Sturdy to live through at least one earthquake, or Analytic from the Dream World, which works because Magnezone is rather slow. He has a pretty killer Special Attack, though, and he can easily electrify the competition with moves like Thunderbolt and Flash Cannon. He’s also the first Pokemon to change types across generations, being one of the heralds of the Steel-type. And finally, anyone who’s wanted more out of Join Avenue in BW2 should know the value of the Magnemite Coil, in which Magnemites are placed on the GTS to be traded for each other and thus rack up visitors.
#60: Excadrill
The Simon to Krookodile’s Kamina, Excadrill is a drilling mole with a steel helmet that will tear through the opposition without mercy. The guy already looks ferocious, but his incredible Attack and ability to double his speed in sandstorm through Sand Rush make him so powerful that he was actually banned from Smogon’s OU tier and is considered an Uber! Add in Swords Dance and Rapid Spin and you have a Pokemon that can stand up even to Uber’s domineering giants. This guy must run on Spiral Power or something.
#59: Clefable (and pre-evolutions)
Clefable and her pre-evolutions have always been favorites of mine. For starters, they were the first to be known for Metronome, by far the most fun attack in the game; sometimes, one wants to do nothing more than just spam Metronome and see what crazy moves come up, or even coordinate a Metronome Battle where everyone’s just throwing out whatever move the RNG wants to give them. However, should you want to use her in battle, she’s also capable of fighting seriously, thanks to her ability Magic Guard (which she alone possessed when she was given the ability in Gen IV). Magic Guard’s ability to prevent all passive damage means that Clefable can do everything from batter things with recoil-free Double-Edge, launch fearsome attacks from a Life Orb without pain, hold a Toxic Orb and be immune to any status that actually cripples her while launching powerful Facades, slot in comfortably on Sandstorm or Hail teams, or just enjoy all the various benefits of this powerful ability while doing stuff from her absolutely insane movepool.
#58: Crawdaunt
I’ve spent some of my childhood in Louisiana and have a love of crawfish as a result, but rest assured that my love for Crawdaunt has nothing to do with wanting to eat him. Rather, it has to do with his cool design and his battle prowess, in which he takes a high Attack stat, a Dream World ability of Adaptability (and he’s easily the best user of the ability, as Water and Dark have really good coverage between the two of them), and the ability to overcome his low Speed with Dragon Dance, all to create a fearsome crawfish that is more likely to make a meal out of the opponent.
#57: Mienshao (and Mienfoo)
A design and concept based on Chinese martial arts is already one major point for these guys. They’re also really cool in battle. Mienshao has an incredibly high Attack and great Speed, allowing him to hit hard and hit fast, especially with Hi Jump Kick. (He even has good Special Attack, though that’s more interesting for simulator battles where he can run Hidden Power Ice to hit some threats.) He has nice abilities; Regenerator is probably the most interesting, restoring 1/3 of his HP upon switching out, which synergizes well with U-Turn and Baton Pass, both of which he can learn. His Dream World ability Reckless makes Hi Jump Kick even more powerful, and Inner Focus is most useful in Doubles, where he can use Fake Out and be safe from opposing Fake Outs. Even his pre-evolution, Mienfoo, is an absolute terror in Smogon’s Little Cup, being considered possibly the best Pokemon there. Finally, one other thing I like about Mienshao is how stylish he is for a Fighting-type.
#56: Staraptor
Smogon describes this guy as an Angry Bird, and I find the description rather fitting. He flies headlong into battle, causes massive destruction very quickly, then just as quickly disappears in a puff of feathers (back into your Pokeball). Staraptor looks awesomely fearsome, but he is best known for breaking the trend of “starter birds” being generally not too good; he has the Attack and Speed needed to be offensively strong, and he has a great movepool that includes Close Combat to hit opponents that resist his other moves. However, I find the kamikaze nature of Staraptor’s battling style most interesting; his best STAB moves, Double-Edge and Brave Bird, are both recoil moves, and even Close Combat fits this style, as it lowers his defenses afterwards. Couple all this with low Defense stats and you have a Pokemon that won’t last long on the battlefield, but will completely tear up that field as long as it’s out there. It does get Intimidate to help mitigate its low Defense, or you can go with his Dream World ability Reckless, which fits this kamikaze battling style even better. This is a Pokemon whose battling style gives it quite a bit of personality, and in addition to his design and being by far the best of the starter birds makes Staraptor a truly awesome bird of prey.
#55: Terrakion
The first of the “musketeers” legendary trio, which is overall my favorite legendary trio (or quartet), Terrakion is actually my third favorite out of the four (Cobalion was the one that got left out). There’s plenty of reason to like this guy. He’s clearly the offensive powerhouse of the four, with an incredibly high Attack and great Speed, while his only really lacking stat is Special Attack, which is easy to ignore. He has a unique type, Rock/Fighting, that has incredible coverage with very few Pokemon that can resist both types of attacks, and he definitely has attacks to use, such as Close Combat, Sacred Sword, Stone Edge, and Rock Slide for doubles. The incredible coverage Terrakion has from just two moves means he has little use for coverage moves, allowing him to use remaining moveslots for stuff like Swords Dance, Rock Polish, Quick Attack, Stealth Rock, or what have you. His design is the more brutish of the four, fitting his concept of being based on Porthos from the original The Three Musketeers, though I do like the designs of the two musketeers later to come more. Still, with his incredible offensive presence, he is a great Pokemon; there’s a reason I kept a spot on my team open for him in White2.
No comments:
Post a Comment