My Top 5 Pokemon of All Time (...for now)

One more day until Pokemon X and Y! My copy of Pokemon X will be picked up tomorrow morning, and I can't wait! For now, though, it's time to talk about the absolute best Pokemon out there right now... my top 5 Pokemon of all time.

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#5: Ninetales (and Vulpix)

This first-generation Pokemon is based on the kitsune, which is one of my favorite mythological creatures. This concept meant that Ninetales was quite different from normal Fire-types. Especially before the Chandelure family appeared, Vulpix and Ninetales were notable for having a movepool more reminiscent of Ghost-types, with moves like Confuse Ray, Grudge, Hypnosis, and others. This made these two firefoxes very interesting to me, and I enjoyed using their disruptive attacks in-game. I also really liked these two in the anime, especially with all the weird things that happened with Ninetales, and like Gardevoir, I also really liked Ninetales's role in the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games. So right from the start, I was in love with these foxes... even though Ninetales was rather mediocre in the metagame.

The disregard for Ninetales in the metagame for four generations, though, seems to have caused her tail to get pulled, and Ninetales decided to bring a thousand-year curse upon the metagame... in the form of a Drought. Ninetales got Drought from the Dream World, and in an instant, the OU metagame was turned on its head as Sun teams turned from a mildly-effective gimmick into a very viable and dangerous team archetype. Thanks to Ninetales's Drought, Pokemon like Venusaur and Volcarona stormed upon the metagame, while many Pokemon with Chlorophyll that are technically in lower tiers, including NU, can peek their head into OU to sweep through opponents as well. Ninetales's role in those teams may only be to provide that sunlight, but it is quite fitting that a Pokemon like Ninetales would shake up a metagame not with raw firepower, but with something far more far-reaching, and that's why she's one of my favorite Pokemon of all time.

#4: Celebi

Here it is, my favorite legendary, favorite pixie, and my fourth favorite Pokemon of all time. Celebi takes the cute pixie design and incorporates a plant motif, and then conceptually makes her a time traveler, because why not? Celebi's Grass/Psychic typing may give her numerous weaknesses, but it also gives her quite a number of very nice resistances that allow her to target certain dangerous Pokemon, as well as Rain teams in general, and keep them from running over your team. She also has the excellent Natural Cure ability, which means status does not affect her much. Celebi has an incredible movepool, and while it's not as extensive as Mew's, it still allows for a ton of versatility in Celebi's movesets. She has her STAB moves, like Giga Drain, Leaf Storm, Psychic, Psyshock, and various physical equivalents if you want to play around with a physical set, and she can get additional coverage from Earth Power or make a quick getaway with U-Turn. Celebi has all sorts of tricks in her support movepool, though. She can heal with Recover, she can boost with Calm Mind or Nasty Plot, she can pass those boosts with Baton Pass, she can cripple opponents with Thunder Wave, or set up Stealth Rock, she can Trick opponents bad items, and she can even cause all sorts of havoc with Perish Song, U-Turning or Baton Passing her way out before the song can fall on her ears. And that's just the stuff that Smogon considers competitively viable! She can also use Heal Bell, Reflect/Light Screen, Healing Wish, and more... Celebi is just so much fun to use, and she's just such a nice Pokemon aside from that, that she takes the #4 spot on my list.

#3: Rotom

Hoo boy. Rotom is easily the most complex Pokemon out of all the Pokemon on my list (with perhaps the exception of Arceus). Rotom's base form is a cute little electric ghost, with an appropriately unique Electric/Ghost type and the Levitate ability that removes the Electric half's lone weakness, giving him a really neat set of immunities and resistances. In this base form, Rotom has okay stats but mainly uses his set of immunities and resistances to block Rapid Spinners and annoy opponents in general. He hangs out in RU where he uses STAB Thunderbolt and Shadow Ball as well as Volt Switch, and messes with opponents with Pain Split, Will-o-Wisp, or Trick.

His unique gimmick, though, is that he can possess one of five different "appliances", at which point he loses his Ghost secondary typing (though not in Gen IV), gains a new secondary typing, and also gains a new STAB move to use. His stats also change, mostly for the better as he gets much higher Defense, Special Attack, and Special Defense, in exchange for a bit of Speed. What's really cool is that many of these new Rotom forms have unique or nearly-unique typings, and that Levitate ability remains, which really helps some of these Pokemon. Frost Rotom is Rotom possessing a refrigerator, giving him an Electric/Ice typing and Blizzard. This Rotom is notable for having STAB on a BoltBeam-type combo, meaning he gets rather widespread coverage, though with Blizzard being Blizzard, he functions best in hail. Known as Rotom-F in the metagame, he's classified as NU but can function in higher tiers if a Snow Warning Pokemon is there.

Fan Rotom (known as Rotom-S in the metagame) gets a bit of flak for not only having the least unique typing in Electric/Flying, but also for being the first Flying-type with Levitate. But hey, if someone uses Soak or Reflect Type on him, he still keeps his Ground immunity! A useless ability aside, Fan Rotom gets Air Slash, which is the least powerful of Rotom's additional moves but also the one with the fewest drawbacks. Fan Rotom mainly resides in NU away from his generally more capable other forms, where his Thunderbolt and Air Slash do a fair amount of damage to things there. He can also use Discharge for paralysis, at which point the flinching side effect of Air Slash provide an annoying paraflinching strategy to keep the opponent from attacking. If you only care about annoying the opponent, you can throw Confuse Ray in there and force the opponent to attack a mere 27% of the time... definitely a fun thing for this little fan.

Going back up to RU where normal Rotom resides, we also find Mow Rotom (also known as Rotom-C). Mow Rotom, in possessing a lawn mower, bears the unique Electric/Grass type, and while that type would normally be neutral to Ground (as opposed to weak to it), the Levitate immunity is still cool to have. Electric/Grass also comes with some other cool resistances, such as to Water, Electric, and Grass, and makes him a great way of taking down Water-types. His unique move is Leaf Storm, which can definitely mow down all sorts of opponents that would normally stop a Volt Switching Electric-type in their tracks, and that makes Rotom-C a top-tier threat in the RU metagame. (Also, doesn't this form's design make him look like a total madman? I find that rather awesome.)

Going further up to UU, we find Heat Rotom (Rotom-H), who possess an oven and gains the unique Electric/Fire typing. The first thing to note is that this typing would normally be 4x weak to Ground, but Levitate completely negates that, making Heat Rotom the Rotom form that most appreciates Levitate. (Just watch out for Gravity.) Heat Rotom gets Overheat to do heavy damage with, especially to Grass-types that normally resist his Electric attacks. Meanwhile, being part Electric means this is one Fire-type that Water-types are not quick to go extinguish. If what you want from your Rotom form is something to just burn everything down with, Heat Rotom is a great choice. You also got to love how his red electrical appendages form oven mitts.

And finally, we arrive at Wash Rotom (Rotom-W), the lone OU Rotom form and my favorite of his forms. Wash Rotom possesses a washing machine and has a rare Electric/Water type held by only one other Pokemon family. This typing provides all sorts of resistances, and has its normal Ground weakness negated by Levitate to boot, but it's also an incredible combination offensively. Wash Rotom gets Hydro Pump for his special move, and he easily uses the move to wash away any Ground-types looking to get in the way of his Volt Switches. Overall, Rotom is one of the greatest Pokemon to have ever been created; his concept and versatility in his different forms make him a lot of fun to use and just overall a really awesome Pokemon. So what two Pokemon could be better than this guy?

#2: Starmie (and Staryu)

How about the Pokemon that is right there in my blog title? Starmie has been a favorite Pokemon of mine from the very first generation of Pokemon and has remained so until today. It's really not hard to see why. Starmie definitely has one of the cooler designs of the first generation, and that already helps his case a lot. In battle, though, Starmie is a true superstar. Starmie is the only other Pokemon aside from Gengar to be OU for every single generation, and in Starmie's case, nothing has really changed for him since the first generation. Starmie has a good Special Attack and great Speed, along with decent Defenses, and he has a fantastic movepool to make the most of his stats. In addition to the standard Water and Psychic STAB attacks (Hydro Pump, Surf, Scald, Psychic, Psyshock), he has BoltBeam (Thunderbolt/Thunder and Ice Beam) for coverage moves. All these different moves have such good coverage together that there is very little out there that can safely stand up to Starmie's onslaught. Not only that, but Recover means that Starmie is difficult to take down as well, especially given his decent defenses. And then there is the move Starmie is most valuable for: Rapid Spin. While not particularly useful in-game, in the metagame, Starmie makes for the perfect Pokemon to get rid of entry hazards with, since he easily defeats any Ghosts that try to stop him. Starmie's Natural Cure ability just makes him even harder to take down, as status doesn't always slow him down much. Analytic might seem like a useless ability on a Pokemon as fast as Starmie, but the power boost it gives does trigger if the opponent switches, and while in-game trainers don't switch Pokemon much, the ability can be quite the surprise when used against human opponents. Starmie is a real superstar, being consistently a top-tier threat that spins about and throws out a whole rainbow of attacks, making him both lots of fun and incredibly powerful, and as such, Starmie is my second favorite Pokemon of all time, as well as my favorite Pokemon from the original 151.

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So, what is my favorite Pokemon of all time? Well, as a hint, note which of the Rotom forms is my favorite. Note that form's type, because it is my favorite type combination and the other Pokemon family to bear that combination is...

#1. Lanturn (and Chinchou)

(source unknown)

To preface this entry for my favorite Pokemon of all time, here's a story. Many, many years ago, in a time before information on Pokemon was all over the internet, I was playing my Silver version and decided to fish around Vermillion City with my Good Rod for fun. What I fished up was a Chinchou, which looked rather cool and besides, it's a new Pokemon, so I had to capture it. Well, I did, and I looked at what exactly it was, and... whoa, wait, he's a Water/Electric-type? Is that type combination even legal? Well, right then and there, I decided to train this guy, and he was just a lot of fun to play with, especially once I learned how Rain made Thunder perfectly accurate. He soon evolved into Lanturn, and the rest is history. Concept-wise, Chinchou and Lanturn's being based off bioluminescent deep sea fish is great, and as for their designs, well, they're actually quite cute. And I definitely like cute Pokemon.

Lanturn's Water/Electric typing is already a great typing, providing numerous resistances as well as being offensively potent, but Lanturn got another trick in Gen III when he got Volt Absorb for an ability, turning his Electric neutrality into an immunity and becoming a water type most Electric-types don't want to face. His stats aren't too good aside from a really good HP, but that HP plus his typing gives him everything he needs to be a strong defensive Pokemon. Lanturn is an RU resident in the metagame, where he is best known for being an effective user of Volt Switch; like Rotom-W in OU, he can scare away most Ground-types that try to get in his way with his various Water-type attacks, and as a bonus, he is slow, which can actually be a good thing with Volt Switch as Lanturn can take an attack and then switch out, protecting the incoming teammate from attack. Lanturn can do all sorts of other things aside from serving as a pivot. He can inflict status with Thunder Wave and Scald, or heal his own team from status with Heal Bell. He may not have strong attacking stats, but the combination of his STAB attacks plus Ice Beam is so nearly unresisted that offensive Lanturn wielding Choice Specs or a Life Orb can be seen, striking a balance between offensive power and staying power. Perhaps my favorite role for Lanturn, though, is that of a Rain Dance setter. In lower tiers where Drizzle does not exist, as well as in-game, Lanturn makes for a great Rain Dance user for one big reason: he himself can make great use of the rain to not only make his Water-type attacks stronger, but also to make his STAB Thunder perfectly accurate. His good bulk and ability to slow-Volt Switch in a Rain sweeper just makes him even more suited to the role. Lanturn might not look like the best competitive Pokemon, but he can actually be quite useful and is definitely worth trying out.

As an additional note, Chinchou is actually very effective in the Little Cup, being one of the most frequently used Pokemon there.

Of course, as you might expect for my #1 Pokemon, Lanturn does have a lot of just plain love and nostalgia going for him. However, his roles in battle are not to be underestimated, and overall, Lanturn is everything I could want in a Pokemon, and is such my favorite Pokemon of all time.

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So, there you have it. And now I get to play Pokemon X and discover all new Pokemon to fall in love with, or possibly find old Pokemon gain new things that make me love them more. All these things could potentially shake up this list of favorite Pokemon. So with that, join me in about a year or two when I cover the Top 120 Pokemon across six generations, and see how that list is different from this one.

Until then, I'm off to hide myself from spoilers...

Top 100 Pokemon "Countdown to Pokemon X & Y" Edition #3 & 2: #15-#6

I apologize for being late with this and missing one day. This will be a double entry with 10 Pokemon to make up for that. As we approach and break into the top 10, the following Pokemon are ones that I can say are among my absolute favorites.

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#15: Espeon (and Eevee)

Espeon is my favorite of the Eeveelutions for several reasons. For one thing, she has by far the best design and concept of the Eeveelutions, being based on a nekomata and all. Beyond that, she's got a strong Special Attack and good Speed, though without much of a movepool, she hasn't gotten much use in the past. However, Gen V gave her something incredible that immediately sent her from NU into OU: the ability Magic Bounce. Being able to send any non-damaging offensive move back to the opponent instantly is huge; it protects the team from entry hazards, it blocks Taunt and status moves, and it knocks back Roars and Whirlwinds... make no mistake, Magic Bounce is an amazing ability. With it, Espeon can set up Reflect and Light Screen without worrying about Taunt, or just present herself as a dangerous offensive threat while still bouncing entry hazards back to the opponent. Magic Bounce also means Espeon has an incredibly important role on Baton Pass teams, as she can prevent the opponent from being able to Taunt the team or Roar/Whirlwind away the boosts, among other things. Being able to boost herself with Calm Mind, and use those boosts alongside any other boosts passed to her to power up Stored Power, means she can contribute both boosts and offensive capabilities to such teams as well. Her unique role in competition definitely helps to make her my favorite Eeveelution.

I've talked a lot about the Eeveelutions, but I think it's also worthwhile here to talk about their shared progenitor, Eevee. The whole concept of having several related Pokemon evolve from one Pokemon is a neat concept that over the generations has worked out quite well, and in addition to the three in this list (Leafeon, Jolteon, and Espeon), there's also great Pokemon like Vaporeon, who can support the team with massive Wishes or stall with a Hydration/Rest combo under Rain, Umbreon, who serves as a defensive cleric in UU, and Glaceon, whom you do not want to face in hail. (There's also Flareon, who desperately needs Flare Blitz...) That all the Eeveelutions can learn Baton Pass is also really cool, and many of them can use the move in various ways to pass along various things. Eevee herself is an adorable little Pokemon, and can even function in the Little Cup with her Adaptability ability making her Returns incredibly powerful, as well as having a stronger-than-normal Quick Attack. Eevee and her family of evolutions have always been very popular in the Pokemon world, and with a new Fairy-type evolution coming next generation, it does not look like that will change.

#14: Lapras

There are just some Pokemon that you just love. Lapras is that Pokemon for me. She's not a particularly notable combatant, being an NU Pokemon and even then being among the "underused of NU", but this is one case where it's not her battle capabilities that I love about her, but rather, just what she is as a Pokemon. She has a neat concept based on the infamous Loch Ness monster, she has a very lovely design, and she is pretty much the Pokemon you think of when you think of Surfing over water. That they are intelligent and can understand human speech is just another cool thing about them. Lapras isn't helpless on the battlefield, either; she has good stats including a high HP and solid stats except for Speed, and has a very nice movepool with all the requisite Water and Ice STAB moves plus moves like Thunderbolt, Dragon Dance, Perish Song (though good luck trying to capture a Lapras that knows that move!), and Heal Bell, among many, many others. But in the end, Lapras is just a really great Pokemon, and that's all she needs to be.

#13: Galvantula (and Joltik)

This electric tarantula takes my favorite type, Electric, and adds some very nice flavor to it. He has a cool design and a very unique Electric/Bug typing. He also really makes the most out of his Compoundeyes ability, which increases the accuracy of moves by a multiplicative factor of 30%; notably, this means he can use Thunder with a very respectable 91% accuracy (especially for a base 120 power Electric move with no drawbacks and a 30% paralysis chance). Add in Bug Buzz and Energy Ball/Giga Drain for coverage, as well as Volt Switch, and you have a very solid Pokemon overall. Galvantula is absolutely incredible in-game, where Electric and Bug hit a ton of things super effectively, and throwing around Thunders outside of Rain is rarely as fun as it is when it has 91% accuracy. Between White and White2 I experimented with some different Pokemon on my main team, but Galvantula had a place on my team in both games, and for very good reason.

#12: Absol

If other Dark-types have perhaps been a bit too... shady for my tastes, Absol goes against all of that by instead being very much a good Pokemon (albeit one that's still willing to Sucker Punch an unsuspecting foe). He has a very cool concept based on the Chinese bai ze of mythology (also known as the hakutaku). Having a strong sense of duty and being able to sense oncoming disasters, he is instead mistaken for bringing those disasters himself, which does make you sorry for the poor guy. Not so much in-battle, mind you, where his incredibly high Attack and his Super Luck ability (which doubles his chances of getting a Critical Hit) mean most of his opponents will get caved by this beast. His strong Sucker Punch is a major threat to any attacker, while moves like Night Slash and coverage moves like Psycho Cut and Stone Edge combo well with Super Luck for some potentially heavy damage. Absol also has Superpower as coverage and can boost with Swords Dance or trap certain opponents with Pursuit, and while his Base 75 Special Attack isn't too good, he has an incredible Special movepool, and while most of it is irrelevant, don't be surprised if one sends a dangerous Fire Blast your way. Absol is just such a great Pokemon, and I'm sure that one day, the people of the Pokemon world will learn to love him as well.

#11: Gallade

#10: Gardevoir (and pre-evolutions)

The one convenient thing about combining these two days’ posts is that I can talk about these two together, which I kind of need to do since they are so closely related to each other. The Ralts family was introduced in Gen III when Wally was lucky enough to catch one on his very first wild Pokemon encounter (while you had to wander around for an hour or so to find one), and became famous for the designs that resembled a human female that have caused quite some… interesting things in various fan works (this despite the fact that the family is 50% male and not technically part of the Humanshape egg group). Gallade was introduced in Gen IV as a special branch evolution from Kirlia, the middle form, and required said Kirlia to be male.

Shedding off his feminine appearance and going for a more masculine form, Gallade adopts a Psychic/Fighting type and has very good Attack and Special Defense stats. What I particularly like about Gallade is how his concept gives him blades on his elbows, and how he gets a general “sword” theme overall, which is really cool. Gallade has decent abilities in Steadfast and Justified (from the Dream World) and has an incredible movepool. STAB attacks include Psycho Cut, Close Combat, and Drain Punch, and he has an incredible set of coverage moves based off his blade concept, with moves like Night Slash, Leaf Blade, and Stone Edge; he also gets Shadow Sneak for priority. He can boost with moves like Swords Dance (naturally) and Bulk Up, and he can even go a defensive/support role with Wish and Will-o-Wisp. Gallade has a good amount of versatility and is a great addition to the Ralts family.

I confess: I like Gardevoir’s feminine appearance a lot. (I’m also fine with the fact that half of them are male, as my male Gardevoir nicknamed Bridget can attest to.) I also really like her very protective nature, as well as the role she has in the original Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games. Gardevoir’s stats are the same as Gallade’s but with Attack and Special Attack switched, and she can use the very useful ability Trace, which can screw over certain Pokemon depending on their ability. Gardevoir has an incredibly huge movepool; she has her Psychic for STAB and coverage moves in Signal Beam, Focus Blast, and Thunderbolt, and has a massive number of support moves. She can boost with Calm Mind, set up Reflect and Light Screen, burn opponents with Will-o-Wisp, serve as a cleric with Wish or Heal Bell, or even use Destiny Bond, Healing Wish, or Memento to either take an opponent down with her or sacrifice herself to pave the way for the teammate ahead of her. Really, the entire Ralts family is fantastic and well worth putting on your team.

#9: Lilligant (and Petilil)

Here’s another Pokemon with an elegant, feminine design (and this time, there are no traps to worry about: all Lilligant are female). In addition to her design, Lilligant has a fun concept of being a dancer, while also being very much a Grass-type. This is all well and good, but behind her charming looks lies an incredibly fierce fighter. As a dancer, Lilligant gets all sorts of “Dance” moves… and that includes Quiver Dance. She already has a high Special Attack and okay Speed, and with just a single boost, she can become incredibly fast and powerful. Having Sleep Powder just makes it easier for her to dance up, and if she gets multiple boosts, not even Pokemon that resist her attacks can stand up to her. It really says something that Lilligant only needs her Grass-type STAB—either Giga Drain to last longer or Petal Dance for more damage—in order to be threatening. She can use Chlorophyll for an extra speed boost in Sun or Own Tempo to use Petal Dance without getting confused afterwards; from there, it’s just putting an opponent to sleep, then using Quiver Dance and sweeping through an entire team. She is an incredible Pokemon in-game and has been a lot of fun to use. Lilligant’s charming design and threatening presence in the battlefield has danced her way into my heart to become one of my top 10 Pokemon, as well as my favorite of all Gen V Pokemon.

#8: Blastoise (and pre-evolutions)

Squirtle was my very first Pokemon. Somehow, in my younger days of Pokemon, the little water-type turtle was the one that attracted me the most. That he evolves into a tortoise with giant water cannons is just an added bonus. As far as "awesome" Pokemon designs go, Blastoise is probably my favorite, being simple yet still totally rocking those water cannons. In the metagame, Blastoise is best known as UU's best Rapid Spinner, being able to Scald Ghost-types or even use Foresight to be able to still pull off a Rapid Spin against them to get rid of entry hazards. He doesn't do too much else there; he can use Roar or Dragon Tail for phazing, or use Toxic, but otherwise he sticks to his main role of team spinner. He's a lot more fun to use in-game, though, where you can blast opponents with all sorts of water attacks, including Water Spout. Blastoise definitely holds huge nostalgia value for me, and those awesome cannons just seal the deal as my favorite starter Pokemon and one of my favorite Pokemon of all time.

#7: Skarmory

There was no way I wasn't going to love this Pokemon. Skarmory was one of the crazier discoveries I made in my Silver playthrough, and from the start I found this steel bird awesome. He has a great design--not quite as full of sheer awesomeness as Blastoise, but he definitely comes close--and he's absolutely incredible in-battle. He has an incredible Base 140 Defense, which is already really nice, but his Steel/Flying typing only makes that high Defense even harder to crack; he has multiple resistances and immunities and only two weaknesses in Fire and Electric. Before Gen III, those two types were always Special, which meant Skarmory was essentially impenetrable as a physical wall. Even when Gen IV provided physical moves in those types, Skarmory was still the premier physical wall, as he gained Roost for healing, could escape from Magnet Pull with a Shed Shell, and besides, physical Fire and Electric attacks weren't that common. Gen V gave him one more boost by improving his Sturdy ability to allow him to take an otherwise lethal hit if he's at full health. Skarmory typically wields only a handful of moves in the metagame, though they are all effective; he lays entry hazards (usually Spikes, as he can easily last long enough to lay down multiple layers, though Stealth Rock is also an option), he Whirlwinds opponents away to rack up damage on those hazards, he Taunts opponents, he heals with Roost, and he goes for some solid damage with Brave Bird (or Drill Peck if you don't like recoil). In-game, he makes for a great Fly user (hint: teach him Taunt and the opponent will be forced to futilely attack you while you're in the air) and you can also use Steel Wing for additional STAB. This steel bird of doom is quite simply incredible no matter how you look at him. 

#6: Latias

The Lati twins together are both cool, but I've decided only to put one of them here in my top list, and the one that takes a place as my favorite non-event legendary, favorite Gen III Pokemon, and also one of my top 10 Pokemon of all time, is the sister, Latias. Both of the Lati twins have a very unique design, with Latias having that extra feminine charm to her (yes, I like feminine charm, you have a problem with that?). To add to that, Latias is incredible in battle. Latias appears in the metagame in two forms, one without her and her brother's signature item, Soul Dew, that is solidly OU, and one with the Soul Dew that is definitively Uber. Even without her Soul Dew, Latias has a very high Special Defense and great Special Attack and Speed; note that Latios has the same stats as Latias but with Special Attack and Special Defense switched, making Latias the more defensive of the twins. She still has an incredible offensive presence, though. With a Soul Dew, her Special stats get a 50% boost, making her absolutely terrifying. In both tiers, Latias can launch powerful STAB attacks, particularly Draco Meteor, or the more reliable Dragon Pulse and the "pseudo-mixed attacker" move Psyshock. Her coverage moves include Surf and Thunder, which notably are moves that work well in rain, which is plentiful in both tiers. Then there is her large support movepool. Latias makes for a deadly Calm Mind user, as she become nearly impenetrable on the special side while also being incredibly powerful. She can also use Roost or Recover to restore her health. She can set up Reflect and Light Screen, she can sacrifice herself to heal a teammate with Healing Wish, and she can even Roar away opponents.

Also, you know how I like Pokemon that are humanlike and can take feminine forms? Well...

You all can have pair him with Misty, May, Dawn, Iris, or whomever; I will always ship Ash x Latias.

I REGRET NOTHING. (Art by amanda amada)

Top 100 Pokemon "Countdown to Pokemon X & Y" Edition #4: #20-#16

4 more days... and five more incredible Pokemon to talk about.

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#20: Gengar  (and pre-evolutions)

Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar have the distinction of being the first Ghost-types to ever exist. Spearheading the Pokemon type that would soon become full of great spooky apparitions such as Froslass and Jellicent, this family of ghosts function great as ghosts; Gengar, especially, is cool as a "doppleganger" Pokemon that likes to hide in shadows. It's on the battlefield, though, where Gengar is truly fearsome. Gengar is one of only two Pokemon to have been OU in every generation, a fact made more interesting by how vastly different he has been for four of those generations. In Gen I, Ghost was a really bad offensive type (the only Ghost-type attack affected by type matchups was Lick), but Gengar had its role in being a fast sleep inducer and having immunity to Normal attacks, which were incredibly common and powerful back then. Ghost still wasn't a good attacking type in Gen II due to Gengar's low Attack, but made up for it with a huge movepool that could threaten anything in the game, as well as the ability to use a Mean Look + Perish Song combo. Gen III gave Gengar Levitate, negating one of its weaknesses, as well as Will-o-Wisp, making him more of a status spreader that could still hit hard. Gen IV, though, turned his Shadow Balls into Special attacks, and finally made him into an overall powerful attacker that was both strong and fast, not to mention having nearly perfect coverage with Focus Blast. Finally, we come to Gen V, where he's very much the same, having strong attacks and not being afraid to use them. He gets one additional tool: with Disable now having perfect accuracy, it's actually a viable move now. Otherwise, Gengar is still the best Pokemon for straight-up striking fear into the hearts of Trainers everywhere.

#19: Dragonite (and pre-evolutions)

Yeah, I like this guy. Sure, he's not exactly the sort of Pokemon you think of when you think of "fearsome Dragon" (and his family spearheads the Dragons much like Gengar's family spearheads the Ghosts), but he's still cute while still being ferocious (especially in the anime). However, it's in battle where Dragonite really shines, especially in Gen V with the light now shining off his Multiscale. This new Dream World ability halves the damage he takes if he's at full health, allowing him to tank weaker Ice attacks and either squeeze in more Dragon Dances or just stay alive longer (especially with Roost). He still gets all sorts of powerful physical attacks like Outrage/Dragon Claw, ExtremeSpeed, Earthquake, Superpower, Fire Punch, and Waterfall/Aqua Tail to launch from his incredible Attack stat, and while his good Special Attack gives him a particularly interesting moveset to use in Rain teams, which involve a STAB Hurricane, Thunder, and possibly Surf. He can also use Dragon Tail to shuffle around the opposing team while causing damage, preventing any one opponent from racking up boosts. There are seriously a ton of things Dragonite can do, and that is why he is one of my favorite Pokemon. 

#18: Volcarona

Tired of mediocre moth-based Pokemon? Try Volcarona, a Pokemon that proves that neither being a moth nor being 4x-weak to Stealth Rock is enough to keep a Pokemon from destroying the opposition. A couple of things allow Volcarona to be incredibly threatening in a metagame where Stealth Rocks float all over the place. First, he learns Quiver Dance, a move that boosts his Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed all at once--a deadly combination that quickly turns Volcarona into a powerful, fast, and hard-to-defeat opponent. (And his Special Attack is already incredibly high.) He gets powerful attacks in Bug Buzz and Fire Blast, as well as Fiery Dance, which has the fun 50% chance of boosting his Special Attack even further. Roost gives him an option to heal and get even more Quiver Dance boosts. His Flame Body ability is also cool, and it not only allows him to switch in to Fighting-types relatively safely, but give them a crippling burn in the process. And if you thought putting a fire moth in rain was a bad idea, having Hurricane means Volcarona can either take a place on Rain teams or threaten them. That his concept revolves around the sun as well as being a giant moth of doom just makes this Mothra that much more awesome.

#17: Jirachi

This star-shaped pixie is so awesome. She's adorable, has a very neat concept based on wishing on shooting stars as well as having a big Tanabata influence, and is incredible in battle. She gets a lot of mileage out of her Serene Grace ability and Base 100 across-the-board stats. She can use either special or physical sets; special sets can boost with Calm Mind and use STAB Psychic/Psyshock and Flash Cannon, and can also fit on Rain teams with Thunder, which has a 60% chance of paralysis, and Water Pulse, which has a 40% chance of confusion--combine the two for best results. Thunderbolt can also be used for more general reliability. Then there is her physical sets, which wield a STAB Iron Head that has a 60% chance of flinching and is probably the most annoying thing to face this side of Shaymin-S. Other physical moves she can use include Fire Punch, Ice Punch, and Body Slam (from Gen III). She can also run mixed sets, and on top of that heal with Wish or revitalize a teammate with Healing Wish at the cost of her own battle life. Jirachi is easily one of the best Pokemon out there, so why not make a wish on one today?  

#16: Heracross

Here's a Pokemon that I instantly fell in love with upon first discovering it. Its cool concept based on the hercules beetle and great design, its unique Bug/Fighting typing, and its power on the battlefield all serve to make him a great Pokemon, especially with a high Attack, strong STAB moves like Megahorn and Close Combat that both deal a ton of damage, combined with Stone Edge and Earthquake for coverage and Swords Dance for more power, and abilities like Guts and Moxie that turn him into something even more fearful when statused or after taking down an opponent (Guts makes him a particularly effective Sleep Talk user). Heracross is a great Pokemon to bring into battle and even better to have on an in-game team, as he does not need to evolve to be strong, and can immediately start smashing things to bits, and will remain useful throughout the game. This guy is definitely an incredible Pokemon and one that will not disappoint.

Top 100 Pokemon "Countdown to Pokemon X & Y" Edition #5: #25-#21

5 more days until Pokemon X and Y come out! Some absolutely incredible Pokemon will be covered in this section.

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#25: Mew

The very first event-only legendary pixie. Mew has a simple but cute design, a simple mono-Psychic type, solid Base 100 stats across the board, and one simple but dangerous gimmick: she can learn any TM, HM, or Move Tutor move except for a handful of "exclusive" Move Tutor moves. Because of this, Mew has an incredible amount of versatility, rivaled only by Smeargle (and unlike Smeargle, Mew can actually attack). She's particularly fun to play with in-game in Gen V, where you can swap around TM moves all you want thanks to infinite-use TMs. There's no point in going over Mew's TM/Move Tutor moves (that would take way too long), but Mew's level-up movepool contains some really neat moves as well: Aura Sphere, Nasty Plot, Baton Pass (note that Mew can pass a +2 boost in any stat), Transform, and, of course, Metronome. Mew is an adorable pixie of surprises; you never quite know what will come next from her.

#24: Mamoswine (and pre-evolutions)

Piloswine wasn't my favorite Pokemon out of the ones that ended up on my "main team", but his unique Ice/Ground typing and interesting blend of moves still gave him a spot on my team. That said, I was definitely happy about the evolution he received in Gen IV, giving him much better stats to go into battle with. The physical/special split didn't do too much at first, as the only physical Ice moves he got were Ice Fang and Ice Shard... except that latter move, combined with his incredible Attack, allowed him to knock out many dangerous Dragons that were 4x-weak to Ice, no matter how fast they tried to be. This was on top of having one of the strongest Earthquakes around, and Superpower for extra coverage (not that it needs it much, as Ground + Ice has incredible coverage as it is). Gen V did many things to make him even more dangerous: he got Icicle Crash for a more powerful standard STAB, an improved Icicle Spear, and the ability Thick Fat from the Dream World, which removed his Fire weakness and gave him an Ice resistance. Mamoswine is an incredible Pokemon, and one that has really become a favorite of mine in recent generations. 

#23: Jolteon

Jolteon, though, has always been a favorite Pokemon of mine. Being an Electric-type helps--in fact, I'd consider Jolteon to be the shining example of an Electric-type, notably holding the one trait that characterizes them the most: he is blazingly fast. He has one of the highest base Speed stats of non-legendary Pokemon, and in addition to that, he has a very good Special Attack as well. He uses a lot of standard Electric-type moves, including Volt Switch, and can use a Substitute/Baton Pass combo as well. He has some various coverage moves, though mostly in his Hidden Power choice, but Jolteon is just best at running circles around his opponents before shocking them into oblivion. As pretty much the embodiment of my favorite type, Jolteon easily takes a high spot on my list of favorite Pokemon.

#22: Breloom

More Grass-types! Breloom is a Pokemon that the game developers must have been high on to develop--who would think of making a fighting mushroom?--but the end result is a Pokemon that is surprisingly good at what it does. This mainly came about in Gen IV when he got Poison Heal as an ability, which gave him surprising lasting power (especially by equipping a Toxic Orb), from which he could use Spore and wreak havoc in general with strong attacks coming off his incredible Attack stat. Gen V gave it one more deadly path it could go, by gaining Technician from the Dream World; this powered up Mach Punch, an improved Bullet Seed, and even Low Sweep for a more reliable STAB that comes with a neat effect of cutting the opponent's Speed. And, of course, his Poison Heal sets, which frequently involve using a combo of Substitute and Focus Punch alongside Spore, are as deadly as ever. Breloom has a lot of flair to it, even if GameFreak was on one Shroomish too many to come up with him.

#21: Torterra (and pre-evolutions)

Instead of the usual sprite on the side, I'm going to post a bit of fanart instead...

Art by tasaku (bixbite)

Torterra is my favorite Grass-type starter; his concept of essentially being a living continent is just full of awesome. He also has a unique Grass/Ground typing, high Attack and Defense, and some nice moves in Wood Hammer, Earthquake, and Stone Edge, as well as Stealth Rock, Rock Polish, and Synthesis. But seriously, he's a giant landmass that Pokemon can live on. If that isn't awesome enough, maybe some extra fanart will convince you...

This is how I imagine a hypothetical Mega Torterra to look. Art by harvester.

Top 100 Pokemon "Countdown to Pokemon X & Y" Edition #6: #30-#26

Six days until Pokemon X and Y! And we're getting into some really good Pokemon here to celebrate. As it turns out, they're mostly Grass-types this time around.

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#30: Victreebel (and pre-evolutions)

The pitcher plant is one of my favorite plants, for its carnivorous nature and interesting design. Naturally, a Pokemon based on the pitcher plant will be one of my favorites, too. (Constantly trying to get a taste of James's head is a nice bonus.) In combat, Victreebel has good Attack and Special Attack and has Chlorophyll and Growth, making him mainly a Pokemon to be used in Sun, and being good for either physical, special, or mixed sets. Making Victreebel even more dangerous in Sun is Weather Ball, which becomes a base 100 Fire-type attack that gets boosted by the sun and allows Victreebel to get past Pokemon that normally wall him. Victreebel commonly runs Leaf Blade (and occasionally Power Whip) for a physical Grass STAB and Sludge Bomb for a special Poison STAB, with some running SolarBeam and going for an all-Special set. Some non-Sun variants use Swords Dance and go all-physical, and access to Sucker Punch makes such a Pokemon surprisingly dangerous. Having Sleep Powder just makes Victreebel even harder to take care of. Victreebel is a really cool Pokemon, but when it gets hot is when Victreebel really shines.

#29: Alakazam (and pre-evolutions)

Abra was one of the most annoying Pokemon to capture in the original games and also pretty hard to train without TMs, but once he evolved, he'd become this cool looking spoon-wielder, and then with a trade, he'd evolve again into an even cooler dual-spoon-wielder with an epic mustache. And back in Gen I, with its weird mechanics, Alakazam could be considered the strongest non-legendary Pokemon, with his insane Special stat and high Speed that led to many Critical Hits. Then the mechanics changed to make him less broken, and as more and more things threatened Alakazam, his presence in the metagame dropped accordingly. However, something incredible happened in Gen V: he got Magic Guard from the Dream World. I've talked about how great this ability is on Clefable, Reuniclus, and Sigilyph, but while those Pokemon leaned more towards defensive, Alakazam is pure offense, and uses this incredible ability in different ways. On one hand, he can just equip a Life Orb and completely wreck the opposition with his powerful attacks; that other various residual damage doesn't harm him allows him to last a bit longer, too. On the other hand, he can equip a Focus Sash, which can't be broken with things like weather and entry hazards, and become a revenge killer that is impossible to knock out in one hit. Having access to Psyshock means that not even his former nemeses, Chansey and Blissey, can stop him. Alakazam might not be quite the dominant Pokemon he was back in Gen I, but he's definitely still a top-tier threat, and one with a lot more style than before, too.

#28: Virizion

My personal favorite of the Swords of Justice, Virizion is based on Aramis from the original The Three Musketeers, and is fittingly the elegant one. Her design is my favorite of this Legendary group, and being a Grass-type is also a big plus, as Grass is one of my favorite types. Virizion is the specially defensive member of the trio, with solid offensive stats to go with it. As such, Virizion can go one of two ways: she can take a physical set that uses Leaf Blade and Close Combat or Sacred Sword plus Stone Edge for coverage, while using Swords Dance to boost her attack, or he can go the special route, using Calm Mind to boost her stats and then attacking with Giga Drain and Focus Blast. Ultimately, though, it is Virizion's elegance that makes her my favorite of this group and one of my favorite Pokemon overall.

#27: Cinccino (and Minccino)

This is one adorable Pokemon. Incredibly adorable. If I only rated Pokemon based on adorableness, Cincinno would be in the top 5. And her adorability is partly why she's as high as she is on this list. However, hiding behind this cute chinchilla's smile and fur scarf is a surprisingly deadly Pokemon. She might not look like it, having great Speed but only okay Attack, low defenses, a plain Normal-typing and a limited movepool, but she has one ability that makes her incredibly threatening: Skill Link. The ability turns her signature Tail Slap, along with Bullet Seed and Rock Blast, into base 125 power attacks that can break Substitutes and Focus Sashes and just cause a lot of havoc all-around. For a fourth attack, you can use Aqua Tail or U-Turn. You can even use Technician, which while isn't as powerful overall when using her multi-hit attacks, can potentially do a lot more damage if it hits 4 or 5 times, and can also boost her Wake-Up Slap. If you want a Pokemon that is both adorable and deadly, look no further than Cinccino.

#26: Venusaur (and pre-evolutions)

Venusaur represents everything that is awesome about Grass-types. An awesome design, a movepool full of fun options for both damaging and just generally annoying the opponent, and the ability to become terrifying under sunlight thanks to Chlorophyll, which for Venusaur is a Dream World ability. Venusaur has solid overall stats, but under sunlight with Chlorophyll, he becomes incredibly fast, and can use Growth to instantly double both his attacking stats at once (though it's worth noting that he's typically a special attacker, especially since Power Whip is illegal with Chlorophyll). Being able to use Sleep Powder to put an enemy Pokemon under helps a lot, too, and from there, Venusaur can use Giga Drain or SolarBeam, Sludge Bomb, and Hidden Power Fire (for metagame players) to cause lots of damage. The SubSeed variant (using Substitute and Leech Seed) also appears from time to time. With sunlight-inducing partners like Ninetales in OU and Groudon in Ubers, Venusaur has found his turn in the sun, and has emerged to become one of the biggest threats from a Sun team.

Top 100 Pokemon "Countdown to Pokemon X & Y" Edition 7: #35-#31

The release of Pokemon X and Y is just a week away! In counting down this last week until the game is released, I will be posting one five-Pokemon list a day. The Pokemon from here on out are all fantastic and ones that I absolutely love. So, without further ado, let's start!

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#35: Blaziken

My favorite Gen III starter, Blaziken is a fighting chicken on fire, which is already awesome. His design is also great. That said, Blaziken’s claim to fame is in getting Speed Boost from Dream World, a change that rocketed this bird from UU and into Ubers. Even there, where he has to face up to Pokemon’s most terrifying beasts, Blaziken can hold his own; he just needs to get a Speed Boost or two to outpace everyone, get in a Swords Dance, and then start throwing around his powerful STAB moves in Hi Jump Kick and Flare Blitz. He has some coverage moves too, particularly Shadow Claw, if you want to use them. Otherwise, Blaziken is a Pokemon that finally got his time to shine in Gen V, and did so by smashing and burning everything in his path at such speeds that you’ll never want to eat fried chicken again.

#34: Gliscor (and Gligar)

First, just look at this guy. His very design is just full of so much win. Aside from his design, he has an interesting Ground/Flying typing and great stats, with a high Defense and decent Attack, and a serviceable Speed for a defensive Pokemon. Getting Poison Heal from the Dream World, though, really makes him killer, as he can hold a Toxic Orb and suddenly gain incredible healing every turn. Gliscor has many moves he can use in the meantime; he can attack with Earthquake, inflict status with Toxic, heal with Roost, or even use Baton Pass. You might even see some offensive Hyper Cutter variants that use Swords Dance before throwing out the deadly Flying Gem + Acrobatics combo. Truly a terrifying menace. That he could easily pass for the Batman of the Pokemon world is just a nice bonus.

#33: Lucario (and Riolu)

Lucario is a Pokemon that's a lot of fun to use in-game, while also being strong competitively, albeit in a much more limited way. In the competitive metagame, Lucario is a powerful OU threat that uses Swords Dance to boost its already high Attack, and then smacks opponents around with Close Combat or gets the jump on them with ExtremeSpeed. He can then gain additional coverage with either Ice Punch or Crunch, or take another priority attack in Bullet Punch, mainly to hit Ghost- and Rock-types. In-game, he's more versatile and actually gets quite a lot of cool attacks. He actually has a higher Special Attack than Attack, and has moves like Aura Sphere, Vacuum Wave, Dark Pulse, and Shadow Ball, and he can use either Calm Mind or Nasty Plot to boost his Special Attack. He can also be a fun mixed attacker. Don't expect those special sets to work too well in the metagame, but in-game, they're great.

Lucario is also just one cool dog, with his neat design, Aura-based abilities and just generally cool demeanor. He's one of the Pokemon that's shown in the anime to be more humanlike, even being able to telepathically speak human language in the eighth movie. And, of course, there's his appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, where he's a fun risk/reward fighter for whom certain attacks get stronger the more damage he takes.

A special shout-out goes out to Riolu, his pre-evolution, who got Prankster from the Dream World. What makes him dangerous is that he gets Copycat, which Prankster gives priority to; a well-timed Copycat can cause all sorts of havoc, up to and including priority Roar, which if entry hazards are on the field and the opponent doesn't have any way of getting past it, is essentially an instant win, making this little guy usable even in upper tiers, including OU!

#32: Arcanine (and Growlithe)

The very first Legendary Pokemon, at least if the Pokedex is to be believed. While Arcanine himself isn't technically a Legendary in the traditional sense, he does have a higher Base Stat Total than most non-legendary Pokemon, distributed fairly evenly with a good amount put into his Attack and Special Attack. He has two fantastic abilities, Intimidate and Flash Fire, and he has a very impressive movepool that not only contain both physical and special STAB in Flare Blitz and Flamethrower/Fire Blast respectively, but also great coverage moves in Wild Charge, Close Combat, and Crunch, priority in ExtremeSpeed, and even healing in Morning Sun. He fits well on Sun teams, using SolarBeam to good effect there, and can even serve a defensive role with solid defensive stats, Intimidate, and Morning Sun. All this makes him quite a nice Pokemon in combat. Of course, he's also a giant dog, which should appeal very well to dog lovers...

#31: Houndoom (and Houndour)

...this particular entry has really gone to the dogs, hasn't it? Houndoom is much more of a menacing Pokemon than the ones above it, with his very devilish design and Pokedex entry that states that if you are burned by his fire, the pain will never go away. (Though, for some reason, that sounds oddly... romantic?) In battle, Houndoom's strong Special Attack and good Attack make him a nice mixed attacker that can hit with both strong physical Dark moves like Sucker Punch, Crunch, and Pursuit while also striking hard with special attacks like Flamethrower/Fire Blast and Dark Pulse. He can also go a more straight-up special attacker route with Nasty Plot. Houndoom was one of the Pokemon I fell in love with during my initial Silver playthrough, and I made a point of making sure I got one traded to me for SoulSilver, because as much as I'm the nice guy saving the world from an evil team's schemes, it's also fun to take a hellhound around and burning everything down.