Pokemon Focus: #130 - Gyarados

Prologue Note

This analysis and all that follow are all still 4th-generation analyses. The 5th-gen analyses will start once the "main team" 4th-gen analyses are done. In the meantime, notes on 5th-gen usage will be added at the end of each analysis, in the Future Sight section.

Introduction

I've had major problems in the past with using Gyarados. The biggest one was that I could not accept using a Water-type without Water attacks, and Gyarados being very much physically-based instead of specially-based meant Water attacks were out of the question. This has all changed though, with the addition of physical Waterfall. Now, Gyarados is one of the greatest threats of all time, and I don't have to feel guilty about giving up Water attacks on it!




Make no mistake, Gyarados is monstrous. High Attack power, access to Dragon Dance, solid Special Defense, Intimidate to cushion physical blows... about the only bad part about Gyarados is that Electric attacks knock it out easily. But that is hardly a problem, as it can easily team up with Pokemon that are immune to, or better yet, take advantage of Electric attacks; there's a reason partnering it with Electivire was a common move, and partnering it with Jolteon is still common. All in all, let Gyarados set up, and the opponent will fall.



Capture/Training

One thing's for sure; catching a Magikarp is not a problem. It's just the matter of training it to level 20 where it can evolve. And there is definitely no point in delaying its evolution, unless you really want Flail.

Stats

95 HP, 125 Atk, 79 Def, 60 SpA, 100 SpD, 81 Spe

These are some dangerous stats. High attack is obvious; low Special Attack is no longer a concern due to Gyarados getting physical STAB off Water, low Defense is mitigated by Intimidate, and average Speed can be boosted by Dragon Dance. All this makes Gyarados powerful both offensively and defensively.

Abilities

Intimidate is a great ability. It gives Gyarados ease of switching into physical threats and mitigates its otherwise low Defense, and gives it an easier time setting up.

Moves



Waterfall hurts. As a physical Water move, it can be absolutely devastating just from Gyarados's raw power alone, and if the opponent manages to survive, there's still a 20% chance of flinching. Technically, Aqua Tail is even more powerful, but the lower accuracy and lack of additional effects makes it less appealing. Gyarados has minimal options for Flying STAB, but Bounce is fairly valid, as not much will want to switch in on a move with a 30% paralysis chance.



Gyarados is not lacking in secondary options. Stone Edge, despite shaky accuracy, hits hard and gets super-effective hits on many opponents. Earthquake can mess up Electric-types trying to prey on your 4x weakness. Ice Fang is your best bet against many Grass-types and 4x-weak Dragons. Bite and Payback hits Psychics and Ghosts. Finally, if you want neutral coverage, you can't go wrong with Return, which is only resisted by Empoleon and Shedinja in conjunction with your Water attack.

Dragon Dance will be your stat-up move of choice. With it, Gyarados can increase its low Speed while boosting its already-high Attack, allowing you to sweep teams.

Bulkier variants of Gyarados will want to make use of Taunt, forcing opponents, particularly Intimidated ones, to attack and letting Gyarados pull off multiple Dragon Dances.

Gyarados can also be a user of the Rest-Sleep Talk combo.

Effective Movesets

1. The Dance of the Rampaging Red Dragon
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake/Bounce
EVs: Max Attack and Speed, Adamant/Jolly nature preferred
Notes: The Rampaging Red Gyarados, angry and in full attempt to destroy everything in its path. It dances, outspeeds its foes, and tears through all in its path. Jolly trades attack power for the ability to outspeed even more enemies.

2. The Dance of the Wise Blue Dragon
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Taunt
- Stone Edge/Bounce
EVs: More defensively spread out; distribute a fair amount to HP and some to Defense; put rest in Attack and Speed. Adamant nature preferred.
Notes: The Wise Blue Gyarados knows that patience and craftiness is the way to outwit its foes. It taunts its opponents to attack it directly, resists their attacks, and conducts its intricate dances in its face, doing so multiple times so as to overwhelm its foes.

3. The Choice of the Sea Serpent
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Payback
- Earthquake/Ice Fang
EVs: Max Attack, but put some EVs in HP before throwing the rest in Speed.
Item: Choice Band

The Monochrome World

Dream World Gyarados has Moxie, which makes it potentially a snowballing dragon of power, although it can still be outsped. Lack of Intimidate reduces its switch-in opportunities, though.

In the new generation, Gyarados has to compete against many new sweepers that are even more destructive than itself. Here, Gyarados can instead go a defensive route, using its solid defensive stats and Intimidate to go up against threatening Fighting and Ground types, and use the new Dragon Tail attack to switch teams around. Use in conjunction with entry hazards for best effect.

Pokemon Focus: #181 - Ampharos

Introduction

Ampharos, a.k.a. "Miss Lighthouse", is a personal favorite of mine from 2nd Gen. It was somewhat of an unusual Electric-type: it wasn't very fast--in fact, it's actually really slow, but on the other hand, it had good defenses. The generation shift hurt it a bit by making many previously special moves in its movepool physical, and only giving back a handful of new special moves to use, but overall it is still a very effective Pokemon.

Capture/Training

Mareep can be caught really early; in fact, you can get one before fighting Falkner! After that, it's a matter of training it up. Evolving it into Flaafy at Level 15 is fine, but if so, wait one level to Level 31 before evolving it into Ampharos, to learn Discharge a couple levels early (Ampharos won't miss ThunderPunch now that it's physical).

Stats

90 HP, 75 Atk, 75 Def, 115 SpA, 90 SpD, 55 Spe

Ampharos broke the mold for Electric-types, presenting one that was slow but bulky. It's unfortunately not quite enough to go up against the big boys of the metagame, but in-game it works perfectly fine.

Abilities

Static: While on many Pokemon the move is at best a consolation prize if your Pokemon gets knocked out by anything not named Earthquake, on the relatively bulky Ampharos it could actually have use. However, it does not strictly need the ability, with plenty of ways to spread paralysis around itself.

Moves

No Ampharos is complete without its obligatory Electric attacks. Running off base 115 Special Attack, such moves are guaranteed to hurt. Thunderbolt is the obligatory mention, but with Ampharos's bulk, it can make good use of Discharge and its 30% paralysis chance. The third obligatory mention is Thunder, to be used in rain. Charge Beam could work as a SubCharge set.

Ampharos has the following secondary attacks to use. Focus Blast is probably the big one. 70% accuracy is hard to work with, but a Base 120 power Fighting attack off Base 115 Special Attack is hard to argue against. Signal Beam is somewhat filler but could work. Power Gem does not really get significant coverage with Ampharos's Electric attacks, but it is an option. Of course, Hidden Power could also be an option.

Ampharos's base 75 physical attack isn't breaking through walls anytime soon, but that does not mean physical attacks are completely out of the question. The big one is Focus Punch; a powerful 150 base power makes up for the lack of raw physical power here.

Ampharos can set up both screens, a.k.a. Reflect and Light Screen; his bulk makes him a decent screener. Safeguard is also an option.

Thunder Wave allows Ampharos to inflict status more directly, if you don't want to rely on Static and Discharge. Toxic is obviously another status option.

On the contrary, Heal Bell allows Ampharos to heal status, namely its teammates'.

Substitute is a classic move and has plenty of uses.

Effective Movesets

1. Why Ampharos Don't Have Wool

- Thunderbolt

- Focus Blast

- Hidden Power/Signal Beam/Power Gem

- Substitute

Item: Life Orb

2. AmpharoBoah

- Substitute

- Focus Punch

- Thunderbolt

- Hidden Power/Signal Beam/Power Gem

3. Lighthouse on the Horizon

- Discharge

- Heal Bell

- Reflect/Light Screen

- Focus Blast/Light Screen/Reflect

4. Bespecticled Lighthouse

- Thunderbolt

- Focus Blast

- Signal Beam

- Power Gem/Hidden Power

5. Lighthouse in the Rain

- Rain Dance

- Thunder

- Heal Bell/Safeguard/Reflect/Light Screen

- Heal Bell/Safeguard/Reflect/Light Screen

Item: Damp Rock/Leftovers

Note: If Hidden Power is Water, go ahead and use that.

Closing Notes

Ampharos is not a massive presence in the metagame, but it is still a fun Pokemon to play with, especially in-game.

Future Sight

Not much will change for Ampharos. Volt Change is a fun new move, and Cotton Guard could be interesting on defensive sets.

Pokemon Focus: #94 - Gengar

Introduction

Gengar - the very first Ghost Pokemon, at a time when the Ghost-type was mostly a joke, aside from their immunities to Normal and Fighting. After all, they were meant to be super-effective against the broken Psychics, but not only did a bug mean their moves were ineffective instead (to say nothing of the complete lack of actual Ghost attacks), but also because of their Poison-type, they were weak to the very Psychics they were facing! And yet, despite all this, Gengar still proved to be a strong Pokemon, due to high special offensive stats and a wide movepool. Future generations would slowly but surely add to its power; the Ghost-type being physical and Gengar having low Attack meant Shadow Ball would at best be a consolation move on rare physical builds, but Gengar's large movepool gave him plenty of choices otherwise, anyways. In 4th-generation, Shadow Ball became special-type, and Gengar procured usable STAB. His movepool remained massive, and he is now a potent offensive threat; add in three immunities to common types that give him many switch-in opportunities and Gengar is all set to take on the world.

Capture/Training

The first and easiest place to capture Gastly in HG/SS is Sprout Tower.

In training, Gastly evolves into Haunter at Level 25. Delaying said evolution 4 levels to learn Shadow Ball 4 levels earlier is suggested, as Gastly has a bit of a hard time doing damage otherwise. Moves past Shadow Ball in the level-up set aren't much to speak of. After that, it's just a matter of doing the trade that brings about Gengar.

Stats

60 HP, 65 Atk, 60 Def, 130 SpA, 75 SpD, 110 Spe

Dangerously powerful Special Attack and high Speed makes Gengar a prime candidate for a special sweeper. Defenses are low, though, so don't let him get hit a lot.

Abilities

Levitate is already one of the best abilities in the game, but Gengar especially enjoys the ability: it removes one of its weaknesses (and to a common type, at that) and even makes it an immunity, giving Gengar an easy switch-in opportunity right there. Add on its Normal and Fighting immunities and Gengar will easily find switch-in opportunities despite its poor defenses.

Moves

First things first: Shadow Ball. Its power is destructive, and its coverage is solid. Technically, Gengar's other (newly-Special) STAB move, Sludge Bomb is even more powerful, but it really lacks coverage.

Gengar has a great secondary attack movepool. Of those attacks, probably his most important is Focus Blast. Horrible accuracy notwithstanding, it combines well with Shadow Ball to dish out at least neutral damage to everything; it also nicely deals with the Dark and Steel types that commonly give it trouble. Of the remaining moves, Thunderbolt is always good (while Thunder is good in the rain), and Energy Ball is decent too. Hidden Power is always an option if you're lucky enough to get a good type (Fire is probably best). Icy Wind has certain niche uses.

While Gengar isn't much of a physical attacker with only base 65 Attack, he nevertheless has a couple of physical attacks to use. Focus Punch hits certain troublesome specially-defensive Normal-types hard. And, of course, there's always Explosion.

Support moves for Gengar are as follows. First, Hypnosis. Even with the accuracy drop back to 60%, it's still a good move for potentially shutting down an opponent. Will-o-Wisp is also an option, to help reduce the impact of physical moves on Gengar.

Substitute is always an option, but particularly in the metagame, where it acts as a useful buffer for prediction against certain Pursuit-using threats.

Pain Split is an oddball option, and Gengar's only real way of healing.

Destiny Bond is good for taking opponents down with you.

Mean Look has its uses in-game.

Effective Movesets

1. A doppleganger's doppleganger

- Substitute

- Shadow Ball

- Focus Blast

- Thunderbolt/Hidden Power/Hypnosis

Comments: This set works effectively in the metagame (use Hidden Power Fire if possible there). Substitute is an important move, serving as a buffer against common Pursuit users and allowing you to see what they will use, and/or simply allowing you to pummel one to the ground. Shadow Ball and Focus Blast already have unresisted coverage, so the last move is for more specific targets you want to take out.

2. This doppleganger shares your pain

- Substitute

- Pain Split

- Shadow Ball

- Focus Blast

Item: Life Orb

Comments: Gengar can use Pain Split along with Substitute and the Life Orb recoil to heal itself and beat out certain defensive threats (namely Blissey).

3. Sleepy doppleganger

- Hypnosis

- Shadow Ball

- Focus Blast

- Thunderbolt

4. Did I ever wear scarves?

- Shadow Ball

- Focus Blast

- Thunderbolt

- Trick/Explosion/Hidden Power

Item: Choice Scarf

Note: This Gengar is meant to be a revenge killer against various dangerous threats.

5. Your lead is getting the chills...

- Icy Wind

- Shadow Ball

- Counter

- Focus Blast/Taunt

Item: Focus Sash

Note: If possible, have this Gengar's Defense as low as possible. Counter comes from 3rd-gen; if it is not readily available, take the alternate move from the last slot and use it instead. This set will beat many common leads.

6. MYSTICgar

- Protect

- Shadow Ball

- Focus Blast

- Hidden Power/Thunderbolt/Hypnosis

Item: Life Orb

Note: This is an alternate way of dealing with Pursuit users. Gengar can use Protect to scout for Pursuit, strike back if they use the move, and switch out if they don't.

7. Focus... Punch?

- Substitute

- Shadow Ball

- Focus Punch

- Hypnosis

Note: Gengar might not have a lot of attack power, but Focus Punch is so powerful as it is that it arguably does not need too much. Hypnosis and Substitute are both good ways to fire off unhindered Focus Punches.

8. A Gengar for capturing wandering Legendaries and others

- Hypnosis

- Mean Look

- Night Shade

- Double Team

Note: This Gengar is meant for capturing Pokemon, particularly the wandering Legendaries via Mean Look. Night Shade helps Gengar control the amount of damage it is doing to the opponent.

Closing Notes

Gengar is definitely a top-tier threat. With great power and speed, a number of possible moveset options, and ways of dealing with its worst enemies, Gengar is a monstrosity that is frightening to try to counter.

Future Sight

Gengar did not get much of anything in the new generation, but on the other hand, it does not need much of anything; everything it ever needed is arguably already in its movepool (save for Aura Sphere or something). Gengar is still as dangerous of a threat as ever.

Pokemon Focus: #151 - Mew

Introduction

(This is going to be a pain...) Welcome to the official coverage on Mew, in honor of the recent 10th Anniversary Mew event.

Mew, the very first event legendary. The infamous #151 could learn every single TM in existence. And once Move Tutors were included, she could learn all of those, too. This leads Mew to have the single most massive movepool besides Smeargle (and because Smeargle can't use half of his movepool since he has poor attack power, Mew's effective movepool is arguably larger). This means that Mew has so many different movesets that it's pretty much going to be impossible to list them all here. It is the jack-of-all-trades, and perhaps even the master of one of them.

Capture/Training

There are actually two ways of acquiring a Mew.

First, is to get one from an event, such as the HG/SS one that recently occurred. This Mew comes at Level 5.

Second, is to get one from My Pokemon Ranch. This $10 bit of WiiWare lets you store excess Pokemon from your Diamond and Pearl games (unfortunately, not Platinum or HG/SS), and if you store 999 Pokemon there, the manager Hayley will trade you a Mew for any Egg. (Hint: spam Magikarp.) This Mew comes at Level 50. (And yes, you are essentially paying $10 for a Mew, because the software is otherwise quite bad.)

Stats

100 HP, 100 Atk, 100 Def, 100 SpA, 100 SpD, 100 Spe

We've seen this before, but in Pokemon history, Mew was the first to acquire this particular set of stats. It lends itself well to Mew's ends, allowing it to be offensive, defensive, physically-oriented, specially oriented, a fast supporter, or... really, anything.

Abilities

Synchronize is all you get. It sets up the opponent with poison/paralysis/burn if Mew gets the corresponding condition. It's very situational, and probably best in catching paralysis users by surprise. It could also be useful on a Heal Bell-using Mew.

Moves

Oh boy... here we go.

First, off: Psychic. STAB, special, fine move in-game, not so recommended in the metagame, but oh well. Zen Headbutt, Mew's only physical STAB option. Learn it from the Platinum/HG/SS move tutors.

Now, instead of covering moves by type, we are going to take an in-depth look at the different avenues Mew can learn moves, starting from level-up moves.

Transform (start) can actually theoretically work on Mew. Unlike Ditto, whose pitiful HP remains when Transformed, Mew has the HP to complete the transformation, after which it simply copies the other critical stats of the opponent.

Metronome (Lv. 20) is always fun. If you are not too concerned with competitive battling and just want to mess around, a MetroMew is a good way to let off steam.

Me First (Lv. 70) would mainly be used to surprise random Ghosts with a taste of their own medicine; it can also be used on Dragons.

Baton Pass (Lv. 80) - This is Mew's true forte. Mew can pass a +2 boost in any stat (except accuracy and evasion, but oh well):

Attack: Swords Dance (TM 75)

Defense: Barrier (Lv. 40)

Special Attack: Nasty Plot (Lv. 90)

Special Defense: Amnesia (Lv. 60)

Speed: Rock Polish (TM 69)

It can pass various other things, such as an all-stat-boost from Ancientpower.

The above moves can be used on their own for Mew's own stat-boosting needs, too.

Aura Sphere is a great compliment move for Mew, as it takes out Dark-types and Steel-types that would otherwise give her trouble. However, it is not learned until Level 100. Make sure EVs are set where you want them beforehand.

On a final note, the Mew that comes from Hayley knows, among other things, Hypnosis. It is Mew's only sleep-inducing move and is good on that end despite shaky accuracy.

Now, here's a look at the TMs and HMs available. Priority will be given to replenishable TMs.

Focus Punch starts off the party with a powerful physical Fighting move that could make Dark-types think twice before they switch in to it. It requires prediction to work well, although a Substitute or Hypnosis can be used to ease prediction.

Dragon Claw does solid Dragon-type physical damage without drawbacks.

Calm Mind is always useful, and it can also be Baton Passed.

Toxic is always an option.

Bulk Up does for Attack and Defense what Calm Mind does for their special counterparts. Again, it can be Baton Passed.

Hidden Power can always be used if you're lacking that one type for coverage...

Mew can set up Sunny Day if it's not in an environment where Groudon commonly appears.

Taunt is as useful as always.

Ice Beam does great Ice damage. Blizzard is even more powerful, but its low accuracy discourages its use outside of Hail.

Mew can be a good Pokemon to set up Light Screen.

Protect can have its uses.

Rain Dance can also be set up by Mew, if Kyogre isn't a common sight.

SolarBeam is great if sunlight is in play.

Thunderbolt is a solid Electric attack. If rain is in play, Thunder is a good move.

Earthquake is as good of a move as ever.

Return provides strong neutral damage without drawbacks.

Shadow Ball can be used to hit Psychics and Ghosts.

Brick Break is an alternate way to deal Fighting damage to Dark and Steel types. It lacks the power of Aura Sphere and Focus Punch but is more reliable than the latter and doesn't require waiting until level 100.

Reflect forms the second half of Dual Screens.

Flamethrower does solid Fire-type damage, good for hitting Steels. Fire Blast can hit for massive damage, at the cost of some accuracy.

Rest could be used on a Rest-Talk or other similarly-comboed set.

Focus Blast can be a temporary stand-in for Aura Sphere until you reach level 100.

Energy Ball provides reliable Grass-type damage.

False Swipe would be used for catching purposes.

Brine could be deadly against a half-HP foe. Use in conjunction with Super Fang.

Charge Beam is an alternate way for Mew to increase its Special Attack.

Dragon Pulse provides a strong Dragon special attack.

Will-o-Wisp can be used to burn physical threats.

Silver Wind can kick up a +1 to all stats that can be Baton Passed.

Explosion may be non-replenishable, but it is so powerful as it is that it might still be worth it to use.

Shadow Claw deals physical Ghost damage; an alternate way to deal with Psychics and Ghosts.

Rock Polish was covered earlier as Mew's way to pass a +2 speed boost.

Stone Edge is a powerful physical Rock attack, and Mew's only really noteworthy attack of that type.

Avalanche is a strong physical Ice attack, but it does make Mew go last.

Thunder Wave can be used for paralysis support.

Swords Dance is how Mew passes a +2 Attack boost.

Stealth Rock is always a useful support option, and it makes Mew a great lead.

Psych Up can be situationally useful.

Dark Pulse is a good Dark attack to use against Ghosts and Psychics.

X-Scissor is a strong Bug move, and it hits Psychics and Darks, both of which could otherwise give Mew trouble.

Sleep Talk can be used on a Rest-Talk set.

Grass Knot hits heavyweight Pokemon hard.

U-Turn makes a great scouting move, especially against Dark-types that want to switch in on you.

Substitute is as great of a move as ever.

Fly is odd on Mew, but in-game, it's a decent Flying-type move.

Surf and Waterfall are both great Water-type attacks.

Moving on to Move Tutor attacks...

Fire Punch is your only physical attack option.

Ice Punch is a physical Ice attack option and the only drawback-free one.

Icy Wind has niche uses if you want to lower Speed.

Knock Off is a support move used to rid the opponent of an item.

Ominous Wind can give Mew a +1 stat boost to all stats to be Baton Passed.

Sucker Punch is one of Mew's only priority move options. It requires some prediction, but can catch opposing Psychics and Ghosts by surprise.

Trick can throw unwanted items at the opponent, or rid them of their wanted items.

ThunderPunch is Mew's only physical Electric attack option.

Vacuum Wave is Mew's other priority move option. This move can catch Dark and Steel-types by surprise.

Synthesis is Mew's only healing option if you can't get Softboiled from 3rd-gen or if you don't want to use the non-replenishable Roost. It also comes pre-learned on Hayley's Mew.

Aqua Tail is an alternative to Waterfall if you think the latter lacks power.

Bounce is an alternative to Fly, and has the ability to paralyze opponents.

Earth Power is a special alternative to Earthquake.

Endeavor is a move that can catch certain opponents unawares. It also ironically allows Mew to pull off a "F.E.A.R." set, with Focus Sash, Endeavor, and Vacuum Wave.

Heat Wave is a Doubles alternative to Flamethrower/Fire Blast.

Outrage is a powerful Dragon-type attack.

Seed Bomb is a physical Grass attack.

Signal Beam is a special Bug attack, for dealing with Psychics and Darks.

Superpower deals heavy Fighting-type physical damage, at the cost of an Attack and Defense drop.

Super Fang is an interesting option. It cuts the opponent's HP in half from the start, and can be used in conjunction with Brine.

Pain Split is an alternate way of having Mew recover HP.

Tailwind and Gravity are both useful support options, the latter mostly in Doubles.

Worry Seed, Magic Coat, and Role Play are all situationally-useful moves.

Heal Bell rids your team of status, which can be helpful.

Low Kick also hits heavyweights hard.

Finally, Block traps the opponent, and allows Mew to Baton Pass this "trap" to a counter.

Moves In Summary

Now, we rundown the moves according to type...

1. Attacks

Normal - Physical: Return; Unique: False Swipe, Explosion, Endeavor, Super Fang

Fire - Physical: Fire Punch; Special: Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Heat Wave

Water - Physical: Waterfall, Aqua Tail; Special: Surf, Brine

Electric - Physical: ThunderPunch; Special: Thunderbolt, Thunder; Unique: Charge Beam

Grass - Physical: Seed Bomb; Special: Energy Ball, SolarBeam, Grass Knot

Ice - Physical: Ice Punch, Avalanche; Special: Ice Beam, Blizzard; Unique: Icy Wind

Fighting - Physical: Brick Break, Superpower, Focus Punch, Low Kick; Special: Aura Sphere, Focus Blast; Unique: Vacuum Wave

Ground - Physical: Earthquake; Special: Earth Power

Flying - Physical: Fly, Bounce

Psychic - Physical: Zen Headbutt, Special: Psychic

Bug - Physical: X-Scissor; Special: Signal Beam; Unique: U-Turn, Silver Wind

Rock - Physical: Stone Edge; Unique: Ancientpower

Ghost - Physical: Shadow Claw; Special: Shadow Ball; Unique: Ominous Wind

Dragon - Physical: Dragon Claw, Outrage; Special: Dragon Pulse

Dark - Physical: Sucker Punch; Special: Dark Pulse

Any: Hidden Power

2. Baton-Passable

Baton Pass +

Attack: Swords Dance

Defense: Barrier

Special Attack: Nasty Plot, Charge Beam

Special Defense: Amnesia

Speed: Rock Polish

Attack + Defense: Bulk Up

Special Attack + Special Defense: Calm Mind

All: Ancientpower, Silver Wind, Ominous Wind

Various: Psych Up

Substitute

Block

3. Status/Disruptors

Poison: Toxic

Sleep: Hypnosis

Paralysis: Thunder Wave

Burn: Will-o-Wisp

Item Disruption: Knock Off, Trick

Taunt

Worry Seed

4. Team Support

Weather: Sunny Day, Rain Dance

Screens: Light Screen, Reflect

Assorted: Gravity, Tailwind

Stealth Rock

Heal Bell

5. Self-Support

Healing: Synthesis, Roost, Softboiled, Pain Split, Rest (+Sleep Talk)

Protect

Magic Coat

Role Play

6. Miscellaneous

Metronome

Transform

Me First

Effective Movesets

There are way too many effective movesets to be mentioned here. Instead, I'll make some general comments on a small sampling of the sorts of movesets possible with Mew.

1. Physical Attacker

- Zen Headbutt

- Earthquake

- Swords Dance

- Sucker Punch

Concept: A Mew specializing in physical attacks. Exact moves can be switched out as wished, and complimented with various support moves if one wishes. Adding a Choice Band or Scarf is an option, too.

2. Special Attacker

- Psychic

- Ice Beam

- Vacuum Wave

- Nasty Plot

Concept: The same as the above, but with special moves.

3. Mixed Attacker

- Psychic

- Superpower

- Thunderbolt

- U-Turn

Concept: Mix physical and special moves.

4. Baton Passer

- Nasty Plot

- Rock Polish

- Taunt

- Baton Pass

Concept: A Mew dedicated to Baton Passing. Choose moves from the above Baton Pass list. Feel free to add in some attacks, too.

5. Lead

- Stealth Rock

- Taunt

- U-Turn

- Explosion

Concept: A lead-off Mew to get Stealth Rock on the field, and Taunt opponents so they can't set up their hazards. More useful in the metagame.

6. Status

- Thunder Wave

- Will-o-Wisp

- U-Turn

- Synthesis

Concept: A Mew designed to spread status and disrupt foes.

7. This Mew is more than meets the eye...

- Reflect

- Explosion

- Hypnosis

- Transform

Concept: Mew can actually use Transform?

And finally...

8. To the rhythm...

- Metronome

- Metronome

- Metronome

- Metronome

Concept: ...

Conclusion

The above sets barely even touch the possibilities with Mew. Mess around with it and see what you can come up with!

A Look Into The Future

Next generation, Mew will have even more TMs (and theoretically, move tutors) to take advantage of, so make the most of them. However, in-game, the coolest change by far is the change that makes all TMs reusable. This means Mew's moveset can be switched around in an instant, making her a great in-game utility counter.

Pokemon Focus: #257 - Blaziken

Introduction

Blaziken is a solid Pokemon, seemingly outclassed by Infernape in the fourth generation, and now coming up against yet another Fire-Fighting starter (seriously, why?), although with a secret trick up its sleeve to even up with the competition. But that's in the future. Let's talk about the now, where Blaziken, despite facing serious competition from Infernape, still can be a very useful and powerful Pokemon if you know how to use it (or, if you metagame, use it in UU where it is outclassed by no one). It has great offensive stats on both physical and special ends, which, combined with excellent type coverage, means few can withstand its assaults.

Capture/Training

Grab it if you want when offered along with the other Hoenn starters after beating Red, or trade it over from someone else.

Stats

80 HP, 120 Atk, 70 Def, 110 SpA, 70 SpD, 80 Spe

Great offensive stats. What makes it fall behind Infernape is its average Speed. Manage that and Blaziken doesn't have much standing in its way.

Ability

Blaze is by no means a bad ability, although making a set around it is risky (though one exists). At any rate, if Blaziken gets below that 1/3 point, watch out, as those Fire moves get a nice kick in power.

Moves

The scary thing about Blaziken is that it can unleash strong attacks from either the physical or special side. With Fire attacks, it has the whole spectrum of both physical and special attacks: Fire Punch, Blaze Kick, and Flare Blitz for physical and Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Overheat, Blast Burn, and Heat Wave for special. On the Fighting side, Blaziken's moveset is similarly varied. With no Close Combat, he has to resort to Superpower for heavy-hitting strength, while Brick Break is there for reliable damage, and Sky Uppercut does solid damage at the cost of some accuracy. Low Kick is situational but powerful against many heavyweights. Reversal can be used along with Blaze for destructive power. Focus Punch is also available. Special options are very limited; Focus Blast is the only real special move, although Vacuum Wave, as the lone Special priority move, is a great choice in its own way.

Blaziken has some secondary attacks it can make use of. Most are physical. ThunderPunch works well in fending off the Water- and Flying- types that can threaten it, while Stone Edge can also threaten Flying-types while putting dents in many other Pokemon that resist its moves. Shadow Claw gets a mention because Fighting + Ghost have perfect coverage, while Night Slash also offers similar coverage against Psychics and Ghosts. Past that, Earthquake and Brave Bird are both powerful moves, but offer little in the way of additional coverage. Special secondary attacks are very limited, really to just SolarBeam, on Sunny Day teams. However, if luck (or breeding) is on your side, Hidden Power works well; ideal types are Grass, Electric, Ice, and Rock.

Blaziken gets various boosting moves; Agility helps correct its low Speed, Swords Dance makes it a physical monstrosity, and Bulk Up allows it to defend and attack. Conveniently, Blaziken can also Baton Pass these boosts (see Baton Pass notes).

Endure and Substitute are to be used on Reversal sets as means to get to 1 HP; otherwise, Substitute can be used on Baton Pass sets.

Effective Movesets

Notes: Fire attacks and Fighting attacks can be exchanged with other moves of their type within reason.

1. Standard Mixed Attacker

- Fire Blast

- Superpower

- Vacuum Wave

- Shadow Claw/Stone Edge/Hidden Power

Item: Life Orb

Notes: Two Base 120 attacks with STAB, a STAB priority attack, and the ability to muscle past many of the worst threats out there. If your Hidden Power is of a good type and power, use that here.

2. Agility Mixed Attacker

- Agility

- Fire Blast

- Superpower

- Shadow Claw/Stone Edge/Hidden Power

Item: Life Orb/Expert Belt

Notes: Mollifies Blaziken's low speed before it starts tearing foes apart with its mixed moves. Again, use a Hidden Power if possible.

3. Physical Choice

- Flare Blitz

- Superpower/Low Kick

- ThunderPunch

- Stone Edge/Blaze Kick/Shadow Claw

Item: Choice Band/Choice Scarf

Notes: A physical Blaziken.

4. Mixed Choice

- Fire Blast/Overheat

- Superpower

- ThunderPunch

- Hidden Power/Shadow Claw/Stone Edge

Item: Choice Scarf

5. Swords Dance

- Swords Dance

- Flare Blitz

- Sky Uppercut/Low Kick

- ThunderPunch

Item: Life Orb

6. Reversal

- Endure/Substitute

- Swords Dance/Agility

- Reversal

- Blaze Kick

Item: Salac Berry/Liechi Berry

Note: Use Salac with Swords Dance, Liechi with Agility.

7. Bulk Up Baton Pass

- Bulk Up

- Baton Pass

- Blaze Kick

- Sky Uppercut/Substitute

Notes: Of all the stats to pass, Bulk Up is probably the best option due to the lack of other users of the move. Substitute can also be used alongside Blaze and Blaze Kick before being passed along.

8. Sunny Day Teammate

- Fire Blast

- SolarBeam

- Flare Blitz/Blaze Kick

- Superpower

Notes: Blaziken can be a great Sunny Day teammate, although the actual job of setting up Sunny Day should go to someone else since Blaziken himself isn't very sturdily-built and is better off using its time to attack.

Baton Pass Notes

Since Blaziken belongs to the Ground egg group, it's easy enough to just Sketch the combination of moves to pass along. Here are some other combinations that can be passed with ease:

Agility + Reversal: Growlithe

Baton Pass + Agility: Aipom, Girafarig, Buneary, Jolteon (evolved w/Baton Pass)

Conclusion

While it lacked the speed necessary to top Infernape, Blaziken is still invaluable as a monster-chicken capable of plowing its way past the sturdiest of walls. He is very well suited for teams seeking a powerful offensive force capable of hitting hard both physically and specially.

A Look Into The Future

In the wake of yet another Fire-Fighting starter, how does Blaziken up the ante against its competition?

Two words: Speed Boost.

It remains to be seen just what kinds of monstrosities can emerge from Speed Boost Blaziken, considering its weakness of low Speed will no longer be a weakness...

Pokemon Focus: #462 - Magnezone

Introduction

The magnet of doom is back and better than ever. A new evolution gave it a massive base 130 Special Attack and decent defenses, while maintaining the same ability that makes sure any Steel-type within its reach won't be leaving anytime soon (albeit with more powerful Steel-types roaming around, that ability is now more useful than ever).

Capture/Training

The best place to find Magnemite is Route 38, to the left of Ecruteak. In addition to the usual ways of selectively finding Pokemon with a certain ability, one method here is to switch to a Steel-type somewhere along the line and try to escape. Just make sure your Steel-type can defeat Magnemite once it finds out it can't escape...

Magnemite evolves into Magneton at Level 30. There are notable moves worth delaying the evolution for, due to the lack of a large level difference at which the two learn moves.

Magneton must be traded to Diamond/Pearl/Platinum and taken to Mt. Coronet, where if it levels up, it will evolve to Magnezone. If you want to, use a Heart Scale on Magneton to teach it Tri Attack before trading it over.

Stats

70 HP, 70 Atk, 115 Def, 130 SpA, 90 SpD, 60 Spe

Base 130 Special Attack is killer, for sure. It also has decent defensive stats, which work well with its large set of resistances. Interestingly enough, its low Speed is actually lower than Magneton's by 10 points...

Abilities

Magnet Pull is the main attraction *cough* here. The ability to keep a Steel-type from escaping is really handy in competitive battling, and even though its in-battle use in-game isn't much, the ability to draw out Steel-types in the wild (particularly Skarmory) makes it worthwhile in the end.

Sturdy isn't much at the moment; it protects Magnezone from one-hit KO attacks like Sheer Cold, which are rare. However, in Black and White, Sturdy will have a Focus Sash effect, leaving Magnezone at 1 HP if hit at full health with a Ground-type attack (or any other move that would KO it in one hit). This makes the ability worth considering, as it means a stray Earthquake won't finish it off too quickly.

Moves

Starting things off, of course, is the classic Thunderbolt. As always, this move can be replaced with Discharge for paralysis or Thunder if used in rain (or Ubers, where rain is common even if it's not your own). The physical/special split allowed Magnezone to play with special Steel-type moves, namely Flash Cannon. The coverage between the two moves is actually not that bad; only Electric-types and certain Steel-resistant Ground-types will give Magnezone trouble.

Magnezone does not have much else in the way of secondary attacks. The best you're going to be able to do is using a Hidden Power to take out certain Steel-types you might trap; Fire in particular is effective for this purpose. Past that, you might look into Signal Beam to lay a smack-down on those weak to the move (namely, a certain Celebi). Tri Attack isn't going to be worth much in competitive battling, but it is a special attack now, and still has a fun secondary effect, making it fine for in-game havoc.

Charge Beam is an attack meant for powering up Magnezone to deadly levels. Magnezone's subpar base 70 attack means normal physical attacks are out of the question, but there's still the option of a nice, powerful Explosion.

Aside from these attack options, Magnezone has a decent set of support options meant to make its job easier. Magnet Rise is actually quite effective on Magnezone; it temporarily removes its crippling 4x Ground-weakness, which means after trapping a Steel-type, it can Rise and stop any of their plans to quake it down.

Metal Sound is situational but can work, either at forcing switches or just crippling an enemy.

For status-crippling, you can use Toxic or Thunder Wave.

Mirror Coat can flip moves back to the opponent, most notably Fire moves. Magic Coat does the same for status moves.

Rain Dance is an option for rain support on Rain teams. Gravity provides a support of an entirely different sort, and opens up the option of Zap Cannon, a move normally with way too low accuracy to be of use but now becomes a decently-accurate move with a paralysis effect if it hits.

Magnezone can also pursue a dual-screen strategy involving Reflect and Light Screen.

Of course, Substitute is always an option.

Effective Movesets

1. Standard Magnet

- Thunderbolt

- Flash Cannon

- Substitute

- Magnet Rise/Explosion

Ability: Magnet Rise

Notes: The concept of this set is a Steel-trapper: switch into Steel-types it can defeat and blast them away while they can't pull out. (Not that in-game opponents typically pull out anyways, and if you're going into the metagame, you'll want a Hidden Power, which is beyond my scope here.) Substitute allows you to scope attacks, and if your opposing Steel is one with Ground-type attacks, Magnet Rise can protect you further. All things considered, though, this set functions perfectly fine as a perfectly normal Magnezone.

2. Attack Magnet

- Thunderbolt

- Flash Cannon

- Tri Attack/Signal Beam/Hidden Power

- Explosion

Item: Choice Scarf/Choice Specs/Life Orb

Note: If your Hidden Power is a good one, use it; otherwise, go for one of the other two. Very effective whether you use Scarf or Specs, although the first works better if you want to go the Magnet Pull route and use this as a Steel-trapper. Life Orb is available for more flexibility at the cost of health.

3. SubCharge the Supermagnet

- Substitute

- Charge Beam

- Thunderbolt

- Flash Cannon/Hidden Power

Item: Leftovers/Salac Berry

Note: Salac Berry can be a fun choice if you have some to spare.

4. Screeching Magnet

- Thunderbolt

- Flash Cannon

- Hidden Power/Tri Attack/Magnet Rise

- Metal Sound

Item: Life Orb

Note: Metal Sound allows for an alternate way to weaken foes.

5. Dual Screen Magnet

- Reflect

- Light Screen

- Thunderbolt/Discharge

- Explosion/Flash Cannon

Item: Light Clay

Closing Notes

Magneton's latest evolution is more powerful than ever, and solid defenses and a great defensive typing only helps it out. Magnezone is one killer magnet, and Steel-types in particular will do well to stay far away from it.

Pokemon Focus: #358 - Jirachi

Introduction

I think this is a good time to cover Jirachi, considering the current event going on that is giving away these wish-makers over Wi-Fi. Jirachi is the first of the event legendaries from 3rd Gen, and that generation's resident all-base-100-stats pixie. Also like its predecessors, it is Psychic-type and has a large movepool and a matching large moveset.

Its differences? First, a great typing that removes the weaknesses usually associated with Psychic, has a massive number of resistances, and ultimately makes it only deal with two weaknesses. Second, an amazing ability that easily allows it to topple foes.

The generation shift started without a huge change in the already-excellent Jirachi, but the addition of the Platinum move tutors really threw Jirachi into the spotlight by opening up its physical movepool, particularly with the excellent (read: flinch-hax-happy) Iron Head. This pretty much doubled Jirachi's effective movesets. All-in-all, an excellent Pokemon.

Capture/Training

Thanks to recent Nintendo events, there are currently two Jirachi floating around. One is Modest, the other is Jolly; hence, one for special, one for physical. Each will have their separate movesets later on.

No evolutions.

Stats

100 HP, 100 Atk, 100 Def, 100 SpA, 100 SpD, 100 Spe

All 100s, all the time! Solid stats that give Jirachi quite some versatility.

Abilities

Serene Grace is the only ability here. Thankfully, it's a great one. With both Shaymin and Togekiss previously covered, I don't think much else needs to be said for this ability's usefulness, except for the fact that Jirachi's pet move to abuse here is Iron Head.

Moves

Well, let's start with STAB options. On physical, Iron Head and Zen Headbutt give you both power and a nice flinch-rate boosted by Serene Grace; in particular, the 60% flinch rate from Iron Head is guaranteed to be annoying. On the Special side, Psychic and Flash Cannon are classic attacks that get a small but noticeable boost from Serene Grace, now having a 20% chance of lowering Special Defense.

The rest of Jirachi's attack moveset is quite large. On the physical side, all three elemental punches (Fire Punch, Ice Punch, ThunderPunch) add a tremendous amount of coverage, and come with their increased 20% chance of their added status inflictions. Secret Power is an acceptable move, thanks to a 60% chance of an added effect (notably Paralysis). U-Turn is a useful attack in many situations. On the special side, Thunderbolt is always a great attack, while the odd Rain Dance Jirachi can abuse Thunder with its 60% paralysis rate. Shadow Ball can hit other Psychics hard, and the 40% Special Defense drop rate is great. Both Energy Ball and Grass Knot are available, the former also getting that 20% SpD drop rate. Signal Beam can catch Dark-types and other Psychics by surprise. You can even try Water Pulse for a 60% confuse rate (particularly in rain) and Ancientpower for a 20% chance of a full-stat boost. Finally, the event Jirachi come with Draco Meteor to blast away Dragons.

Doom Desire is an odd move: it gets no STAB and cannot hit anyone super-effectively; it also uses the current opponent's Special Defense regardless of who the opponent switches to later on. It's a strange move and can fit on novelty sets.

Jirachi comes with a massive list of support options. To start things off, access to Stealth Rock makes Jirachi a good choice for a lead.

Calm Mind allows Jirachi to boost its stats further, making it a dangerous offensive and defensive threat. Cosmic Power allows Jirachi to boost its defenses directly.

Wish is, in a way, Jirachi's signature move, since Jirachi was based on the classic Japanese tradition of putting "wish slips" (that's what those things on Jirachi's head are) on trees during Tanabata, as well as the worldwide tradition of wishing upon a star. That, and it's outright called the Wish Pokemon. At any rate, make a wish on Jirachi and it can heal 50% of the health of the active Pokemon, whether that be Jirachi or a teammate. This makes Jirachi a great supporter or gives it a way to heal itself. On another wish note, Healing Wish allows Jirachi to... er, go back to sleep (a.k.a. faint itself), in exchange for the next Pokemon having all its health restored.

Thunder Wave allows Jirachi to paralyze foes, which works well with Jirachi's flinch-inducing attacks. Trick is an alternate way to mess up opponents, particularly in the Battle Frontier.

Reflect and Light Screen allow Jirachi to serve as a dual-screener.

Jirachi can set up weather, most notably Rain Dance.

And, of course, Jirachi can Substitute.

Effective Movesets

(Physical)

1. Choice

- Iron Head

- Fire Punch

- Zen Headbutt/Ice Punch

- U-Turn/ThunderPunch/Trick (Frontier only)

2. Substitute + Thunder Wave

- Substitute

- Thunder Wave

- Iron Head

- Fire Punch

3. Wish Support

- Wish

- U-Turn

- Iron Head

- Thunder Wave

4. Dual Screen

- Reflect

- Light Screen

- U-Turn

- Wish

Item: Light Clay

5. Lead

- Stealth Rock

- Iron Head

- U-Turn

- Fire Punch

(Special)

6. Wish + Calm Mind

- Wish

- Calm Mind

- Psychic/Flash Cannon

- Thunderbolt

7. Calm Mind + Substitute

- Substitute

- Calm Mind

- Psychic/Flash Cannon

- Thunderbolt

8. Calm Mind Sweeper (Superachi!)

- Calm Mind

- Psychic

- Flash Cannon

- Thunderbolt

9. Rain Dance

- Rain Dance

- Psychic

- Thunder

- Wish

10. Gravity

- Gravity

- Psychic

- Wish

- U-Turn

Closing Notes

One of the most versatile Pokemon around, Jirachi is certainly the game's little superstar. Whether hitting with strong Special-oriented sets or annoying the opponent with high-Flinch-rate moves, Jirachi is set to take on pretty much any Pokemon out there.

Pokemon Focus: #59 - Arcanine

Introduction

Arcanine is yet another Pokemon we have mostly ignored until the physical/special split allowed it some firepower *cough* from its high Attack stat. Now, this Chinese-fire-tiger-dog finally has its time to shine on our main team. It always had good stats; it's the Pokemon with the highest base stat total aside from legendaries and the 600-total pseudo-legendaries. And its Special Attack is nothing to scoff at, so special and mixed movesets are still an option. It has two great abilities, too. Its moveset grew quite a bit, and it's still a great user of ExtremeSpeed, which it was the first Pokemon to get way back in Gold and Silver. Overall, it's a great Pokemon worth using.

Training

Once Growlithe evolves into Arcanine, there is no turning back, so make sure Growlithe has learned everything it needs to know before using the Fire Stone. Some possible markers include: Flamethrower at Lv. 34, Crunch at Lv. 42, Heat Wave at Lv. 45, and Flare Blitz at Lv. 48.

Stats

90 HP, 110 Atk, 80 Def, 100 SpA, 80 SpD, 95 Spe

These stats are great. Solid power and solid bulk allow Arcanine to function both as a straight-up sweeper and as a bulky sweeper.

Abilities

Arcanine has two great abilities to choose from. Flash Fire is always fun: it gives Arcanine a Fire immunity, and if you get the switch, you can then proceed to tear through the opponents with your attacks. It's great for sweeper variants.

On the other hand, Intimidate is one of the best abilities, period. Being able to drop the opponent's Attack power instantly is amazing, and works well with Arcanine's decent bulk; in particular, bulky variants of Arcanine will want this ability.

Moves

Starting with Arcanine's Fire attacks, its new Flare Blitz will be the strongest attack it has against foes. It does come with that 1/3-damage recoil, though, so watch out. Arcanine has decent enough Special Attack to make use of the standard Special options, Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Heat Wave, and Overheat.

For other physical options, let's start with Arcanine's previous signature move of old times, ExtremeSpeed. The move is still great as (tied for) the strongest priority move in the game, and easily picks off weakened foes. Other physical options for coverage are Thunder Fang, Iron Head, and Crunch.

Other Special options are typically limited to Dragon Pulse (which actually works well with Arcanine's fire attacks, only having trouble with Heatran) and Hidden Power. SolarBeam is a specific option open to Arcanine on Sunny Day teams.

Arcanine has a fair amount of bulk as he is, which means the fact that he can heal himself with Morning Sun can make him even harder to take down.

Status is something else Arcanine can do, and he does it with Will-o-Wisp and Toxic.

When looking to shuffle things 'round, Roar is readily available for Arcanine's use.

Arcanine can either expect Sunny Day support, or set it up himself. Sunny Day also works in increasing the healing from Morning Sun.

Effective Movesets

1. Morning Glory

- Morning Sun

- Flare Blitz

- ExtremeSpeed

- Will-o-Wisp/Toxic/SolarBeam

Ability: Intimidate

Notes: This bulkier Arcanine dishes out damage and can take it, too. Use with sunlight support for maximum effect.

2. Physical Choice

- Flare Blitz

- ExtremeSpeed

- Thunder Fang

- Iron Head/Crunch

Item: Choice Band/Choice Scarf

3. Special Choice

- Flamethrower/Fire Blast

- Dragon Pulse

- Overheat

- ExtremeSpeed

Item: Choice Specs/Choice Scarf

4. Bulky Special Status Shuffler

- Flamethrower/Fire Blast

- Dragon Pulse

- Will-o-Wisp

- Roar

Ability: Intimidate

5. Sunny Day

- Sunny Day

- Flamethrower/Flare Blitz

- SolarBeam

- Morning Sun

Item: Heat Rock

Note: Arcanine can either abuse Sunny Day himself or provide it as support to teammates. If the latter, Heat Rock works well in tandem with Intimidate, which allows it to switch in more often to wreak its havoc. Flash Fire, on the other hand, gives a ridiculous x3.375 power boost to Fire-type moves with STAB, the Sunny Day boost, and the Flash Fire boost, making it a good option for a stand-alone Sunny Day abuser.

Closing Notes

With great all-around stats and (finally) access to powerful moves on both physical and special accounts, Arcanine is now quite a threat to deal with. Have fun with the canine of legend.

Pokemon Focus: #71 - Victreebel

Introduction

Victreebel is a Grass-type Pokemon who has struggled a bit with having the right moves for its stat distribution. Having such high Attack was okay last generation when Poison was physical, but the lack of type coverage hurt. Its Special Attack is still high enough that special attacks work, which is definitely a good thing since in the generation shift, Sludge Bomb became Special and aside from Razor Leaf, Victreebel got none of the new physical Grass moves, nor did it get Poison Jab. That has since been rectified with the addition of Leaf Blade.

Past that, though, it has some interesting options. Sunny Day is almost a given, and its strong attacking stats on both ends give it a fair amount of options to work with. Having access to Sleep Powder, the most reliable Sleep move this side of Spore/Dark Void, is also great for this Pokemon. Overall, it's a fun Pokemon to use, and should by no means be underestimated.

Capture/Training

These guys are everywhere. Just catch one.

Weepinbell, for whatever reason, learns moves at the same rate as Bellsprout. Victreebel has its movepool limited, but since Razor Leaf is Heart Scale-able, you don't need to wait too long. Ironically, the only move worth delaying Weepinbell's evolution for is Knock Off, learned at Level 27, which can be a useful support move, particularly in the Battle Tower. All-in-all, not hard to manage if you want it.

Stats

80 HP, 105 Atk, 65 Def, 100 SpA, 60 SpD, 70 Spe

Pretty good stats overall. Attacking stats are nice and high. Speed can be an issue, but Chlorophyll can resolve that.

Ability

Chlorophyll doubles Victreebel's speed in sunlight, solving its low speed issue and letting it slot nicely into Sunny Day teams.

Moves

On the physical side, Leaf Blade is the only option really worth considering, considering it has the same PP and accuracy as Seed Bomb but with more power and an increased crit rate. On the special side, the usual options are available: Energy Ball for consistency, Grass Knot to hit heavyweights, Leaf Storm to hit hard once, and, of course, SolarBeam in the sun. Remembering that Victreebel has no physical Poison moves to work with, on the special side Sludge Bomb is still quite powerful.

Going into its secondary movepool, Victreebel somehow has access to Sucker Punch. Being a priority move on par with ExtremeSpeed, it will do great damage to those who don't resist it (particularly Psychic-types) and helps compensate for its low Speed, so long as you predict an attack correctly. It doesn't have any other notable physical moves, though, other than Return. On the special side, one of Victreebel's more interesting options is Weather Ball. In sunlight, it becomes a Fire-type attack, gets the Sunlight boost, and helps take care of those Steel-types that tend to stop Victreebel in its tracks. Like its physical side, though, it doesn't have any alternate Special attacks besides Hidden Power.

Victreebel also has access to various status moves. Sleep Powder is one of the best at what it does, although Stun Spore also has its uses, particularly if you think Victreebel is moving a bit too slow. It also has Toxic and Teeter Dance.

Swords Dance is Victreebel's method of kicking up its Attack power. It also has Growth if it wants to increase its Special Attack, albeit at a slower rate. Stockpile can help with defenses.

Knock Off is a good support move, removing an item from the opponent's hands.

Victreebel can cripple opponents with Encore, as well. Gastro Acid and Worry Seed mess up Pokemon reliant on their abilities.

Synthesis gets a mention as a healing move, although Victreebel is a bit fragile to use it much.

Effective Movesets

1. Sunny Day

- Sunny Day

- SolarBeam

- Weather Ball

- Sleep Powder

Item: Life Orb/Heat Rock

2. Swords Dance

- Swords Dance

- Leaf Blade

- Sucker Punch

- Sleep Powder

3. Mixed Swords Dance

- Swords Dance

- Leaf Blade

- Sucker Punch

- Leaf Storm

Note: Differentiated from the above, as this set should not use a Sp. Atk-hindering nature, instead opting for a nature like Naughty.

4. Choice Specs

- Leaf Storm

- Sludge Bomb

- Weather Ball

- Sleep Powder

Item: Choice Specs

5. Support

- Knock Off

- Sleep Powder

- Stun Spore

- Energy Ball

Closing Notes

The generation shift was a bit slow to give Victreebel what it needed to work, but it got some good attacks and now has various ways it can mess up its opponents. Have fun with it.

Pokemon Focus: #468 - Togekiss

Introduction

Togekiss is Togetic's new evolution from 4th-generation. It represents a major jump in stats, which allow the Jubilee Pokemon to fulfill the various roles its pre-evolution could not. Serene Grace is absolutely ridiculous on Togekiss, to be sure; it has many ways of abusing the ability. It also has many other tricks up its sleeve, making it quite fun to battle with this Pokemon.

Capture/Training

Nothing really to say about capturing it; we already have one from early-game, and getting more is really just a matter of breeding.

There's a possible alternative available sometime in the future: import a Togepi from Pokemon XD. The main advantage of this is that this Togepi will have the awesome Tri Attack. Getting multiple of these Togepi is somewhat troublesome, though. Also, due to some weird glitch, Togepi actually switches ability once transferred and evolved, which means if you want Serene Grace Tri Attack Togekiss, you're going to have to live with Hustle Togepi for a bit, if that's okay with you.

Evolve Togepi via friendship to Togetic as soon as possible. Togekiss learns none of Togetic's moves, so make sure Togetic knows whatever moves you want it to know before using the Shiny Stone. Possible benchmarks include Encore at Lv. 19, Wish at Lv. 28, and Baton Pass at Lv. 42.

Stats

85 HP, 50 Atk, 95 Def, 120 SpA, 115 SpD, 80 Spe

Great stats. 120 Special Attack makes it a great attacker, while 85/95/115 defenses are very solid for taking hits. All these combine to make a very solid special attacker. Despite the low Attack, physical attacks aren't completely out of the question due to Hustle, although they are more novelty than anything.

Abilities

As mentioned briefly before, Hustle is an option, albeit a novelty one. There's no point using it without an attacking-boosting nature, as the boost is too low, but at the same time there's no point putting Aura Sphere and a high Special Attack to waste, either, so go mixed if using this strategy. Aerial Ace helps alleviate the 80% accuracy woes, while ExtremeSpeed remains the physical move of choice for getting the jump on opponents.

Serene Grace, though, is the real winner here. With access to STAB Air Slash, Togekiss has a 60% chance of flinching an opponent, which works incredibly well with paralysis. It also has all sorts of other moves that benefit, including various standard moves whose normal 10% effect chances double to a respectable 20%.

Moves

Air Slash is Togekiss's most well-known move. Decent power boosted by STAB, a relatively reliable 95% accuracy, and most importantly, a 60% flinch rate designed to annoy opponents to no end all make it Togekiss's most common and useful attack, and can be found on almost every competitive Togekiss in existence. As it stands, there are extremely few special Normal attacks, with the only really notable one being the aforementioned Tri Attack. It won't be seen much due to how hard it is to obtain, as well as not being strictly necessary on its own; however, as mentioned in the Porygon-Z article, it is one of my favorite moves; it also gets STAB, and its secondary effect, which is cool as it is, becomes truly awesome with Serene Grace making the opponent suffer some kind of debilitating status 40% of the time.

Physical moves, as mentioned before, are not out of the question. That said, there are two kinds of physical moves: those to be used with Hustle and those to be used with Serene Grace solely for their secondary effects. Of the former, the best bets are ExtremeSpeed for that first strike and Aerial Ace to take advantage of its perfect accuracy. Of the latter, the most notable moves are those that cause paralysis, as they have an advantage over Thunder Wave in being able to hit Ground-types and Volt Absorbers. The ideal choice is Body Slam; however, that is a 3rd-gen move tutor move and isn't readily available. The alternative, Secret Power, is plenty good on its own, with a 60% chance of all sorts of secondary effects, paralysis being the most common.

Togekiss has an absolutely humongous secondary attack movepool. The most notable move is Aura Sphere. It combines extremely well with Air Slash, as the two together are unresisted by all Pokemon not named Zapdos or Rotom. The fact that it always hits makes it invaluable in-game, as well as on Hustle Togekiss. Water Pulse has a 40% chance of confusion, which means, if you can pull it off, you could potentially have a paralyzed and confused Pokemon, at which point Air Slash means it will be attacking a grand total of 15% of the time. Ouch. Somewhat impractical, but fun if you can pull it off. Shadow Ball is a solid move on its own, has perfect coverage with Aura Sphere, and comes with a 40% chance of a Special Defense drop. Psychic-type moves are available if you want them; Psychic has a 20% chance of a SpD drop, while Extrasensory has a 20% flinch rate. Both Flamethrower and Fire Blast are solid Fire-type attacks that have great coverage and a 20% chance of burning an opponent; your choice depends on whether you want power or accuracy If 2vs2 is a concern, Heat Wave is a third option in this vein. Grass Knot might not have any cool secondary effects to go with it, but it is unrivaled in its ability to take down heavyweights. Togekiss is one of the few Pokemon to have access to all three "stat-super-boost" moves: Ancientpower, Silver Wind, and Ominous Wind. With Serene Grace, it has a 20% chance of all its stats getting boosted, which is nothing to scoff at.

One other move worth consideration is Snore. Normally not suggested due to its low power, it does have worth on Togekiss with its 60% flinch rate, meaning there's a decent chance the opponent won't be able to do anything to Togekiss while it's resting, and even if it does, STAB and 120 base Special Attack means it will still leave a dent.

Thunder Wave will likely be the status of choice for Togekiss, as Paraflinch is as effective of a strategy as ever. Yawn is more for switch-forcing. Encore is yet another fun way to wreak havoc on opponents.

Healing is appreciated on a Pokemon like Togekiss, who can take a few attacks. Ideally, Roost would be used for its instant healing and the ability to temporarily shed Flying-type weaknesses. However, obtaining Roost can be difficult since it's a one-time TM and can't be bred onto Togepi. Wish is an acceptable alternative in this case. Wish can also be used for team support. Speaking of such, it can also use Heal Bell for similar clerical support.

With some Egg Move support, Togekiss can go down the dark road of Nasty Plotting. Even better, it can then Baton Pass those plots to a teammate.

Light Screen, Reflect, and Safeguard are all available for additional team support. It can even set up Sunny Day and Rain Dance.

Of course, Substitute is always an option.

Effective Movesets

1. Paraflinch

- Thunder Wave

- Air Slash

- Aura Sphere

- Secret Power

Note: A few moves can go in the last slot; I went with a move that can paralyze Ground-types and other Thunder Wave-immune folks. After paralyzing, go to town with Air Slash. Should be fun, albeit annoying if used against humans. You know, for the other human. Computer characters won't care.

2. Nasty Plot Sweeper

- Nasty Plot

- Air Slash

- Aura Sphere

- Shadow Ball

3. Nasty Plot Baton Passer

- Nasty Plot

- Air Slash

- Encore

- Baton Pass

4. Choice

- Air Slash

- Aura Sphere

- Tri Attack

- Flamethrower

5. Encore Wish Support

- Encore

- Wish

- Air Slash

- Thunder Wave

6. Ancientpower SubPasser

- Ancientpower

- Baton Pass

- Encore

- Substitute

Note: A variant on Baton Passing. Set up a Sub, encore a harmless move, and start using Ancientpower in the hopes you get a full stat boost. Once you get it, pass it off to a teammate. Any teammate. Potentially deadly.

7. Mixed Sweeper

- ExtremeSpeed

- Aerial Ace

- Aura Sphere

- Shadow Ball

Ability: Hustle

Note: The rare Hustle Togekiss. Sort of a gimmick, but it could work.

8. ...

- (a move)

- (another move)

- (a move that works well with one of the above two moves)

- (a good move of any sort)

Note: ...and that pretty much describes Togekiss. So many moves, so many options, just pick some and go.

Closing Notes

Togekiss is a real step up from Togetic. Being able to run so many effective sets is no joke. It's one of the most fun Pokemon to play as, for sure, and you're sure to enjoy the ride on the Jubilee Pokemon.

Pokemon Focus: #445 - Garchomp

Introduction

By now, everyone knows about Garchomp: it was the non-Uber that was banished into Ubers because it was just too strong. Not like Wobbuffet, who was just cheap, or any of the actual Ubers whose base stats are just too high for standard competition. It's more comparable to Latios, really, who has been decided to be unsuitable for standard play even without his signature Soul Dew item, as well as possibly Shaymin's Sky Forme. (As of this writing, his sister Latias is undergoing strict crutiny over possibly having the same fate.)

So, why Garchomp? Quite simply, it was just too strong. Its stats are in just the right place for it to be effective, and with the right combination of items and moves, it is near unstoppable. Not that it can't be stopped at all, but it was so powerful that at one point, pretty much every team needed Garchomp, some Garchomp supporters, and a Garchomp counter. It was just that good.

What about in-game, then? Well, there is only one thing to say there: Cynthia's Garchomp. It's one of the most difficult Pokemon to take down, even with a somewhat subpar moveset. It is powerful and can knock out your entire team if you can't handle it. (And in the anime, it does just that to Paul... without him even getting a hit back.) Lance's Garchomp in his rematch could easily be a similar contender, so watch out there.

Quite simply, Garchomp is powerful. Almost too powerful. Does such a Pokemon have a place in our more-focused-on-personal-favorites team? Maybe not, but hey; it's a killer land shark that looks like someone put torpedoes on a jet plane. Tell me that's not cool.

Capture/Training

It's another Safari Zone Pokemon. With the additional difficulty of properly leveling blocks up while day-abusing, it might be easier to just have one transferred over from Diamond.

Gible evolves into Gabite at Level 24, and into Garchomp at Level 48. You may want to delay Gible's evolution three levels to learn Dragon Claw first, but definitely evolve Gabite at the first chance, as Dragon Rush isn't that good and Garchomp learns Crunch right at the evolution point.

Stats

108 HP, 130 Atk, 95 Def, 80 SpA, 85 SpD, 102 Spe

These stats are arguably placed right where they need to be. Plenty of Attack power, great Speed, and great defensive stats as well. Garchomp is, for all it is concerned with, set to sweep its way past any Pokemon in the game.

With that said, there's pretty much no doubt Garchomp wants as much in Attack and Speed as it can get. Although 80 SpA is workable, if you really want.

Ability

Sand Veil is Garchomp's only ability. It will only come into play during a sandstorm, but that 20% evasion increase could very well mean the difference between an Ice Beam knocking Garchomp out and Garchomp Outraging the opponent out first. Definitely consider pairing Garchomp with Tyranitar (or Hippowdon) to take advantage of this ability.

Moves

Well, let's start with the obvious offensive physical moves: Earthquake and Outrage and/or Dragon Claw (the latter being far less powerful but without the locking/confusion drawbacks; it's not at all a bad idea to run both, in fact). The two have great coverage on their own, only really running into trouble when faced with Skarmory, levitating Steels, or Shedinja. There really isn't much else to throw on there. A gimmick mixed set can run Draco Meteor.

It's not like Garchomp has much in the way of secondary moves, either. Crunch isn't a bad option at all, and might give you a surprise hit on Bronzong. Stone Edge can nail Skarmory for extra damage, and hits other Flyers that Earthquake can't reach hard. Both Steels can be hit really hard by Fire Fang, though the move is otherwise rather weak. (However, it does manage to break past Wonder Guard regardless of type, so you could use it to beat random WonderTombs.) Past that, though, you just have Aqua Tail for neutral coverage with Outrage/Dragon Claw, which combined with Earthquake, only leaves Shedinja to deal with.

Fire Blast is an option over Fire Fang to hit Ground-immune Steels hard, as well. Whatever Garchomp is lacking in special attack power is often made up by Fire Blast's high Base 120 power and the fact that many of its targets have lower Special Defense than Defense. That's really it from its special movepool, though; unlike many of its fellow pseudo-Ubers, Garchomp wasn't really ever meant to use a mixed set.

Garchomp's support moves aren't much, either. Just Swords Dance, Toxic, and Substitute, really. However, Swords Dance is often all you need to absolutely demolish a team.

Effective Movesets

1. Choice

- Outrage

- Earthquake

- Dragon Claw

- Crunch/Stone Edge

Item: Choice Scarf/Choice Band

Note: With a Choice Scarf, Garchomp serves well as a revenge-killer. With a Choice Band, he works well as an offensive force that can still outpace many slower foes. The fourth slot can go to whichever secondary attack you want.

2. Swords Dance

- Swords Dance

- Outrage/Dragon Claw

- Earthquake

- Crunch/Stone Edge/Fire Fang

Item: Life Orb/Yache Berry

Note: Yache Berry gets a mention for one thing it notably does: keep Ice Shard users from knocking it out prematurely. That can often mean the difference between victory and defeat.

3. Mixed

- Outrage

- Earthquake

- Fire Blast/Fire Fang

- Draco Meteor

4. SubSalac (Battle Frontier only)

- Substitute

- Swords Dance

- Dragon Claw/Outrage

- Earthquake

Item: Salac Berry

Note: Nothing says "sweep" quite like this set. Make sure Garchomp's HP will be divisible by 4 after the level adjustment.

Closing Notes

Garchomp so far has the fewest effective movesets of all our main team Pokemon. However, it is arguably one of the best at what it does: absolutely demolish opposing teams. There's a reason it was banned in standard play, after all.

Pokemon Focus: #493 - Arceus

Introduction

It was only a matter of time before we covered Arceus, currently the true deity of Pokemon. Regardless of whether the religious implications of such are good or not, one thing's for sure: Arceus is powerful. Really powerful. Do not ever take it lightly.

Capture/Training

Arceus has yet to be given out at any U.S. event. Stay tuned for developments, though.

One thing about Arceus is that it is captured at Level 100. On one hand, that means no need to train it. On the other hand, that limits its EV training; it can only use vitamins, and as such can only get 100 in any stat. This does rather limit its potential in any actual battling environment, but in-game, there still won't be anything that can stand up to it.

Stay tuned, though. If anything so much as a Level 99 one becomes available in the future, you can guarantee the destruction of all around it.

Stats

120 HP, 120 Atk, 120 Def, 120 SpA, 120 SpD, 120 Spe

Yeah, deadly stats across the board. The only-100-EVs-in-any-one-stat thing keeps those stats from reaching their full potential, though. Still quite powerful. How you want to distribute those vitamins is up to you.

Ability

Multitype is Arceus's little trick. Give it a Plate, and it immediately becomes the Plate's type. This gives Arceus much variety as to what it can assume. It also makes Arceus the only Pokemon that can become a somewhat-stable pure-Flying type...

Moves

With so many types Arceus can assume, it's hard to say there is a "primary" move type for it to use. There is, however, Judgment. This move assumes the same type as Arceus's plate, and by consequence, Arceus himself. This has two benefits: because it matches the plate type, it gets the 20% bonus from the plate, and because it matches Arceus, it gets a STAB bonus as well. Expect Judgment to be an extremely powerful attack in whatever type you have it as.

As for physical moves, its primary "attack" will be whichever of the following attacks match its type. Normal obviously gets Return, but you'll also love ExtremeSpeed and its priority-hitting powers. Arceus can also get Waterfall and Aqua Tail for Water needs. Ice? Play around with Avalanche. Fighting? Smack enemies around with a Brick Break. Poison? Try Poison Jab. Ground? Did you really think it wouldn't get Earthquake? Flying? Well, Arceus can Fly, and considering it isn't entering any competitive environment anytime soon, it'll do just fine in-game. Psychic? Use Zen Headbutt. Bug? I'd like an explanation for how Arceus can use X-Scissor, but I'm not likely to get one, so... enjoy it. Rock? Stone Edge away. Ghost? You can go for Shadow Claw, or even Shadow Force if you get the one that comes with the giveaway. Dragon? Go for reliability with Dragon Claw, or hit hard with Outrage. Dark? Hit stat-boosters hard with Punishment. Steel? Iron Head for reliability, Iron Tail for power. No good physical moves exist for Fire, Electric, or Grass, though.

For Arceus, secondary attacks are, well, secondary to whatever type Judgment is. Here is the full list of choices. If you really want a Normal special attack, Hyper Voice is available. Fire? Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Overheat, or Heat Wave in doubles. Water? Surf. Electric? Thunderbolt or Thunder in rain. Grass? Energy Ball or Grass Knot, or SolarBeam in sunlight. Ice? Ice Beam or Blizzard in hail. Fighting? You'll have to make do with Focus Blast. Poison? Sludge Bomb. Ground? Earth Power. Psychic? Self-explanatory. Bug? You'll have to make do with Signal Beam. Rock? AncientPower will have to suffice. Ghost? Shadow Ball away. Dragon? Dragon Pulse and Draco Meteor are available readily, or you can get the giveaway Arceus and use Spatial Rend. Dark? Dark Pulse. Steel? Flash Cannon.

With so many attack options as it is, it's crazy to think Arceus might have other attacks to use, but it does have one more: Seismic Toss is great for when nothing else really works. Expect it to land a 100-HP hit without fail (except against Ghost types, that is).

From here, Arceus also has a large list of support moves. Recover is a good move to have, restoring half of its health with no drawbacks.

Arceus has a few ways of powering itself up. Calm Mind is its main source of Special power, while access to Swords Dance allows it to quickly power up its Attack power. Cosmic Power works on the defensive side, making Arceus near-impossible to take down.

Arceus can team-support with Gravity, which opens up the use of its less accurate attacks as well. It also supports with Light Screen and Reflect. It also has Sunny Day and Rain Dance for support options, though they are somewhat redundant in Uber battling with Groudon and Kyogre around.

Perish Song can mess up opponents nicely. Stealth Rock is a fun move to have. Magic Coat forces certain moves back to opponents, namely status moves and stat drops.

All your standard status moves are out there: Toxic, Thunder Wave, and Will-o-Wisp.


Protect and Substitute have their uses, as always.

Effective Movesets


1. All-Purpose Arceus (Special Attacker)

- Judgment
- Ice Beam/Psychic
- Thunderbolt/Energy Ball
- Earth Power/Flamethrower/Calm Mind

Note: The idea here is to use the ever-reliable BoltBeam strategy to hit most foes when your Judgment type doesn't work. Earth Power hits two of the main Pokemon that resist BoltBeam, Magnezone and Lanturn, whereas Flamethrower hits Magnezone and also Shedinja, and is arguably the better choice is the Judgment type is already good at hitting Lanturn. If your Judgment type hits Shedinja, or you're not too worried about it, go ahead and use Earth Power. If you're not worried about any of the three particularly, you can use Calm Mind to just power up. If using Ice- or Electric- Arceus, go ahead and replace the corresponding move with the slashed move; it will help cover the weaknesses of that type.

2. Normal: Extreme Killer
- Swords Dance
- ExtremeSpeed
- Earthquake
- Shadow Claw/Judgment
Item: Silk Scarf/Life Orb
Note: This is an example of a workable Normal Arceus, showing Arceus doesn't need to assume any other type.

3. Fire: Sunny Day
- Judgment
- Solarbeam
- Recover
- Draco Meteor/Sunny Day
Note: Fire Arceus works best in the sunlight. If you can't provide your own, try to have a teammate set it up.

4. Water: Rain Dance
- Judgment
- Thunder
- Waterfall
- Recover/ExtremeSpeed/Dragon Claw
Note: Similar idea here as above, but with rain instead of sun. You can go a BoltBeam route, but this set is designed to differentiate itself from Kyogre: it can use both special and physical moves, and has the option of a Water/Normal or Water/Dragon combo on the physical side that is nearly unresisted.

5. Electric: Mixed BoltBeam
- Judgment
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- ExtremeSpeed
Note: A different take on BoltBeam. Use ExtremeSpeed to pick off opponents, or to potentially hurt Blissey.

6. Grass
- Judgment
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power/Thunderbolt/Calm Mind
- Recover

7. Ice
- Judgment
- Thunderbolt
- Earth Power
- Recover

8. Fighting
- Judgment
- Shadow Ball/Dark Pulse
- Recover
- Brick Break
Note: Judgment+Shadow Ball is completely unresisted, while the Pokemon that resist Judgment+Dark Pulse are few and far between (think Heracross).

9. Poison
- Judgment
- Flamethrower/Fire Blast
- Recover
- Calm Mind
Note: Poison is a hard type to use, but it works pretty well defensively against Fighting-types.

10. Ground: Mixed Edgequake
- Judgment
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance/Recover

11. Flying: The only pure Flyer
- Judgment
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Recover

12. Psychic
- Judgment
- Will-o-Wisp
- Ice Beam
- Recover
Note: You want something to differentiate this Psychic-type from practically every other psychic Uber? How about access to Will-o-Wisp to cripple Pursuiters?

13. Bug
- Judgment
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Calm Mind

14. Rock: Mixed
- Judgment
- Ice Beam
- Stone Edge
- Recover
Note: There are really few special Rock attackers (to say nothing of the lack of actual special Rock attacks worth a dime), so this could be an interesting change of pace.

15. Ghost: Mixed
- Judgment
- Shadow Claw
- Brick Break
- Swords Dance
Note: More mixed fun. Nothing resists Ghost+Fighting, by the way.

16. Dragon: Mono-Attacker
- Judgment/Dragon Claw
- Recover
- Calm Mind/Swords Dance
- Substitute
Note: Dragon is probably the only type that could viably run a mono-attack set. Steel-types can give trouble, but few will have a good way of forcing Arceus out anyways, and can be beat after multiple stat-ups.

17. Dark: Punisher
- Judgment
- Punishment
- Psychic/Focus Blast/Brick Break
- Recover

18. Steel: Defensive
- Judgment
- Earth Power
- Recover
- Calm Mind

Closing Notes

There are way too many more possible sets Arceus can run than just the above; they just give a few examples of its sheer versatility. It truly is the Omega Pokemon, in that regard.

Pokemon Focus: #492 - Shaymin

Introduction

The other Grass event legendary, Shaymin seems for the most part to play kind of like Celebi... until the Sky Forme makes its appearance. Whereas Land Forme Shaymin plays with a very balanced style that adapts to many situations, Sky Forme is an all-out sweeper capable of abusing Serene Grace to demolish teams before they have the chance to touch it. Overall, Shaymin is yet another event-legendary with a variety of options to choose from, although it is its Sky Forme that really steals the spotlight competitively.

Capture/Training

Event Pokemon, so unless an event occurs, you'll have to trade for it.

A note is to be made about Shaymin's Sky Forme, as it has specific conditions for activating, and has different moves it can learn (which can be kept in Land Forme). Sky Forme can be activated using a Key Item called the Gracidea Flower, which the Goldenrod Flower Shop girl will give you. It is only available from 8am to 5pm, and will revert back to Land Forme if frozen or put in the Box.

Shaymin in both forms is a little difficult to train, thanks to the high levels at which it learns moves, not learning its signature Seed Flare until level 100. As such, it is more of an exhibition Pokemon that should hopefully make training easier for your lower-level Pokemon.

Stats

Land Forme:
100 HP, 100 Atk, 100 Def, 100 SpA, 100 SpD, 100 Spe

Sky Forme:
100 HP, 103 Atk, 75 Def, 120 SpA, 75 SpD, 127 Spe

Two different forms, two different stat spreads. Whereas Land Forme Shaymin has the same spread as pretty much every other "fairy" event Legendary, Sky Forme is much more offensively built, with a strong Special Attack stat and the tenth highest Speed Stat of any Pokemon. It's much more frail, though, so be careful.

EV-ing this Pokemon is somewhat tricky, since once it learns Seed Flare, it won't be able to gain any more EVs, so be careful how you go about it. Since Celebi works better as a defensive Grass fairy, it might be best to just go all-out offense for Shaymin.

Abilities

This Pokemon's abilities also change with its form changes. In Land Forme, Shaymin only has access to Natural Cure. This ability works just as well on Shaymin as it does on Celebi in curing it of its status simply with a switch-out.

Upon attaining Sky Forme, Shaymin switches out Natural Cure for Serene Grace. This is where Shaymin starts to get deadly. Seed Flare's 40% chance to drop Special Defense becomes a ridiculous 80% chance. Not only that, but Shaymin also gets access to Air Slash with a 60% flinch rate. Needless to say, both are quite fearsome ways to turn the tides of a battle, and really highlight Shaymin-S's offensive qualities.

Moves

One cannot start reviewing Shaymin's offensive options without mentioning its signature move, Seed Flare. This attack is monstrous. 120 Base Power and 85% accuracy is generally considered the balancing point between massive power and workable accuracy, but what really makes the move dangerous is its secondary effect: a 40% chance of dropping the opponent's Special Defense two levels. This makes it hard to just resist a hit, as even the hardiest of special walls (read: Blissey) can fall to two of these flares after the first cuts its Special Defense in half. And that's before you factor in Sky Forme, whose Serene Grace kicks the chance of this happening to a whopping 80%! The only downside, really, is that Shaymin does not learn this move until level 100. Until then, it will have to make do with the usual assortment of special Grass toys: Energy Ball, Grass Knot, Leaf Storm, and SolarBeam (in sunlight). Due to Seed Flare's low PP, Shaymin can also use one of these moves in addition to Seed Flare. Physical Grass attacks are also something of an option, thanks to decent Attack stats: Seed Bomb is your only option here, though.

Sky Forme Shaymin gains the Flying-type and a few Special STAB moves to go with it; the move can be kept on Land Forme Shaymin, despite it not really being Flying-type. That said, the only real notable move here is Air Slash. Decent power and a 30% chance to flinch works well with both forms, but especially Sky Forme who can abuse Serene Grace for 60% flinch rates.

As for Shaymin's other moves, the best is by far Earth Power. Covering Shaymin's Fire weakness and inability to hit Steels, as well as many of Shaymin's other weaknesses, it really rounds out its coverage... and there's nothing wrong with that 20% chance of a (single-level) Special Defense drop, either. As for other moves, there is just Psychic (basically a Psychic-typed Earth Power), and Ominous Wind, for a 20% chance of a full-stat boost. And, if it works out, Hidden Power. Despite its decent physical power, it really does not get much in the way of physical attacks. Your best bet here is to make the most of Serene Grace: abuse Headbutt's and Zen Headbutt's flinch rate and Secret Power's... all sorts of secondary effects.

Quick Attack isn't much, but it might mess up someone. And there's probably nothing funnier than a Shaymin pulling off the infamous Focus Sash-Endeavor-Quick Attack combo. Snore is another joke move to be used with Rest, especially if you can successfully pull off two flinches (and at 30% flinch rate, 60% with Serene Grace, that is possible).

Leech Seed is a great move to have on a Pokemon with Shaymin's speed. In addition to being a very successful SubSeeder, it also works as a good way to cripple an opponent and/or force a switch. Worry Seed is a more situational way of messing someone up. Of course, Toxic is also available.

Aromatherapy is a great support move. It generally works better on Land Forme, with its better bulk.

GrassWhistle is an unreliable but potentially useful way to completely mess up an opponent. However, there is a catch; it only learns the move in Diamond/Pearl. Be sure to trade Shaymin over to Diamond version before teaching it this move.

Synthesis heals, and is great in sunlight. Rest works on Land Forme, where a simple switch cures Shaymin of its sleep.

Growth is Shaymin's main way of powering up. Swords Dance is the main outlet for a physical Shaymin.

Psych Up is another situationally useful move.

Safeguard protects Shaymin from status for a while.

Healing Wish allows Shaymin to give one last gift to a teammate.

Effective Movesets

1. Choice
- Seed Flare
- Air Slash
- Earth Power
- Psychic/Rest
Item: Choice Scarf/Choice Specs
Note: The first three moves are pretty much necessary, but the last is flexible. Rest should only be used on Land Forme.

2. Rest-Sweeper (Land Forme)
- Seed Flare
- Earth Power
- Leech Seed
- Rest
Item: Life Orb

3. Support (Land Forme)
- Seed Flare
- Rest
- Aromatherapy
- Leech Seed
Note: Due to Sky Forme not really being built to take hits, this set works best as Land Forme.

4. SubSeed
- Substitute
- Leech Seed
- Seed Flare
- Air Slash/Earth Power
Note: Air Slash is preferable for hitting Grass-types hard, but Earth Power is acceptable, particularly on Land Forme.

5. Growth
- Growth
- Seed Flare
- Earth Power
- Air Slash

6. Healing Wish
- Seed Flare
- Earth Power
- Air Slash
- Healing Wish

7. Serene Grace Abuse
- Seed Flare
- Air Slash
- Secret Power
- Ominous Wind/Earth Power

Closing Notes

Seed Flare is a powerful attack, but that's about where the distinctions between Land Forme Shaymin and Celebi stop, really. Thankfully, Sky Forme brings a whole new level of pain, thanks to its ability to cripple teams with Serene Grace-boosted moves and great offensive stats. When the Gracidea Flower blooms, do not underestimate the Pokemon of Gratitude.

Future Sight

The only notable change for Shaymin is that Growth now increases both Attack and Special Attack by 1 stage, and by 2 stages in sunlight. This will be more useful on the generally bulkier Land Forme.