Disclaimer: This is, technically, my own personal Pokemon blog, written purely for my own reference and enjoyment. All who stumble upon this are welcome to read, but I do not take responsibility if any advice given here fails to win you battles.
Oh, and also, I currently do not battle in the metagame; this entire site is mostly based on in-game battling and any metagame notes are entirely based on very limited observation.
As far as controversial Pokemon go, perhaps few are as controversial as this guy. In the history of Pokemon, he was the first Pokemon that was not an actual legendary Pokemon to be deemed too powerful for standard competitive play and thus banned out of OU and into the Uber tier. (And no, it's not Wobbuffet or Wynaut, who just had a stupidly broken combination of moves and ability that got him banned.)
That's right, it's that crazy land shark, Garchomp!
The OU tier can't handle his awesomeness.
#93: Garchomp
Meet Garchomp, the strongest non-legendary Pokemon from Generation IV. Concept and design-wise, he combines a dragon with a hammerhead shark with a jet plane, and then puts him at home on land because putting a shark in water isn't cool enough. Seriously, though, if that does not sound awesome, just look at him.
"Attention all passengers. You will soon be experiencing some major turbulence on this jet ride."
As absolutely ferocious as this guy is, though, it seems only fitting that he is the signature Pokemon of Cynthia, the Champion of Sinnoh. Aside from being a good strong Pokemon to go with the strongest trainer of the region, having such a menacing beast tamed by a trainer as nice as Cynthia (who is one of my favorite Champions) is quite appropriate.
"You're such a cute dragon-jet-land-shark, yes you are!"
Oh, but now we get to talk about Garchomp in competitive play. To understand how he got banned, we first look at his stats. Garchomp might not actually be a legendary Pokemon, but he does belong to the "pseudo-legendary" class of Pokemon, occupied by such folks as Dragonite, Tyranitar, Salamence, and Metagross: they have a Base Stat Total of 600, which is the same as Legendaries such as Mew and Latios. Garchomp specifically has a very nice stat distribution: a brutal Base 130 Attack, a Base 102 Speed that is not only fairly fast on its own, but also outspeeds the multiple Pokemon at Base 100, and very good defensive stats, with Base 108 HP, Base 95 Defense, and Base 85 Special Defense, meaning he hits hard, hits fast, and takes hits well. Now, there's also his typing, Ground/Dragon, which lacks notable weaknesses outside of 4x-Ice and the 2x-Dragon weaknesses; offensively, there is very little that resists both Ground and Dragon (currently, only Skarmory and Levitate Bronzong, though other Steels might get a temporary respite with an Air Balloon or Magnet Rise). Swords Dance means Garchomp needs only a moment to set up and then almost nothing can stop his Outrages and Earthquakes. In fact, a Yache Berry means not even an Ice Shard user can stop him. And, there is his ability, Sand Veil. All Garchomp needs is a Tyranitar or Hippowdon on his team to set up a sandstorm, and then he has that 20% chance of dodging that Ice Beam or Ice Shard that was otherwise supposed to stop him.
All this added up to a Pokemon that was just too much to handle, so in both Gen IV and early Gen V, he was banned from standard OU play and into Ubers. Recently, though, he's been let back into OU on one condition: he use his Dream World ability of Rough Skin instead of Sand Veil. Under that condition, he does become a little more manageable, though you'd be a fool to think he's not a big threat still.
I'm back, and this time I ain't hidin' from your Ice Beams!
And speaking of Ubers, Garchomp does just fine fighting the titans that live there, as well. Yeah, he's just that good.
And there you have it: one of the strongest Pokemon out there, period. He looks menacing and plays menacingly; in fact, if I had to put a reason why he's not higher, it probably is because he's a bit too overwhelmingly powerful. Cynthia aside, there just isn't really room to talk about Garchomp in any other way than his crazy design or how good he is in battle. Still, those two things are definitely why Garchomp has ranked in this Top 100 ranking in the first place, so go ahead and take one last good look at this guy before he Outrages on out...
Swords Dancing in the rain.
Next time: This Pokemon's headbutt can derail a train.
Making a good first impression is always important, which is why the starter Pokemon are always among the most important Pokemon in a generation. They are among the first Pokemon ever revealed for a given generation, are the first Pokemon the player will pick up, and will very likely become the trainer’s companion for the rest of the game. For this reason, GameFreak usually puts additional effort into designing these Pokemon and making them competitive, and they are frequently mentioned among a fan's favorite Pokemon. This is no different for me, as of the 15 starter Pokemon lines, I'd have to say that I really like 11 of them, and of those 11, 8 have made it into this list. Making it at #94 on my list is, unfortunately for all you Gen V fans, the only line of the three there to make it onto my list. Not that the other two are bad (well, okay, Emboar is tiring out my tolerance for Fire/Fighting starters), but this is the guy that broke into the top listing...
Serperior? I saw him over at the Dream World trying to be Contrary.
#94: Oshawott/Dewott/Samurott This is a cool line of Pokemon. Their names indicate a basis on otters, which are cute animals, and Oshawott does not disappoint in realizing this design to maximum cuteness potential.
Those eyes can steal a soul.
Now, typically, the middle stages of three-stage-evolution Pokemon, starters included, don't get a whole lot of attention. They typically don't have particularly memorable designs and serve more as a bridge between the cuter first form and the more powerful-looking last form. Dewott, though, is one of the few that does remain fairly memorable, finding just that right balance of looking both adorable and badass.
You'll want to hug him and he'll want to cut you up with his Razor Shells.
So then we move on to the final form and... ...wait a second, what happened to the sea otter concept? Somehow, we switched to sea lions instead. Yeah, the evolution of Dewott into Samurott is kind of an awkward jump, and is part of the reason why Samurott isn't any higher. Though he still has a cool, samurai-inspired design. It can be a bit hard to tell exactly how a quadruped like Samurott is supposed to dual-wield the swords on his legs, though, so a visualization is in order here...
Badass = ability to switch from quadriped to biped in the blink of an eye.
Okay, I've got nothing else to say about Samurott's design. Even without the otter base, it's pretty clear how awesome it is. So let's talk combat capabilities. Samurott is a balanced Water-type with a good Base 100 Attack and Base 108 Special Attack, and solid stats elsewhere. Base 70 Speed is a bit on the slow side, though it's still good for lower tiers. He is a well-balanced Pokemon that has good attacks on both the physical and special side. Physically, he can use Swords Dance to power up attacks like Waterfall, Megahorn, and Aqua Jet. On the special side, he gets to use his slightly higher attacking stat to hit hard right off the bat with the usual moves like Surf, Hydro Pump, and Ice Beam. He can also go mixed, such as having a special set with Aqua Jet to pick off weakened foes. Unfortunately, there's not much else to this guy. He's cool and a good, solid Pokemon all-around competitively, though nothing particularly standout, and that does partially hurt him in these rankings. In the competitive scene he's a major threat in NU, especially with Swords Dance, and that's about as interesting as this guy gets. In-game, though, he's the best starter, at least in my opinion, and his overall strength and ability to learn strong moves like Razor Shell early will make him a top performer throughout your game. That's all I have for this guy; a pretty short entry all things considered. So have another picture of awesome bipedal Samurott.
Crouching sea lion, not-so-hidden samurai.
And, a picture showing that Samurott needs not exclude himself from the adorability of his former forms.
Okay, I'm back with #95 of my Top 100 Pokemon. If you may recall, last time, Pokemon #96, Weavile, snatched away my money, but then another Pokemon, the one we look at today, snatched it from him and took it to his lair in the thunderclouds. Well, now I am about to go in to face this Pokemon, and I have all the preparations I need: myself, a Fly user, and an Electric type.
That's right, in order to safely enter thunderclouds, I am using that infamous distortion of gameplay known as Thunder Armor. Flame me now.
Anyways, this Pokemon will be the first Legendary Pokemon on our list. And what do you know, he is also the first Legendary Pokemon you could ever meet without using a glitch!
"What is that strange electricity-producing building down there?"
#95: Zapdos
That’s right, #95 is none other than the electric bird of the original trio of legendary birds, Zapdos! And he is the earliest one you can encounter, going way back to the original Red and Blue and needing nothing more than the Soul Badge and HM03 Surf to access the Power Plant on Route 10 and find him at the end. So in many ways, Zapdos was the very first Legendary Pokemon a player could ever encounter… and sure enough, he was my first.
One can imagine what it must have been like to face down that beast way back in Red and Blue. You walk all the way to the end of the Power Plant, and see this little sprite of a bird, the same one that is used to represent all the other Flying-types on your team. Then you face it, press A, and then, this shriek plays, the Wild Pokemon music plays, and you go into battle to see…
...that's no Spearow, that's for sure.
That’s when you know this is not just any ol’ Pokemon. This guy looks menacing. Based on the thunderbird of Native American legend, he has in my opinion the coolest design of the three original legendary birds. Moltres’s is just too plain, Articuno’s isn’t too bad, but Zapdos’s design just screams “legendary bird”.
In addition, this was the only dual-typed Electric-type you’d meet (Magnemite’s family didn’t acquire their Steel-typing until the next generation), and boy, was it a doozy! Electric/Flying meant you could not even touch it with the Ground-type attacks you’ve used to hit every other Electric type so far. If you had a Geodude-family, an Onix, or a Rhyhorn-family, you would still be in shape, but if not, watch out! At level 50, this guy was probably the highest-leveled opponent you would have faced, and his powerful Drill Pecks and non-negligible Thundershocks were dangerous to anyone who did not resist them.
And then once you did weaken him to a sliver, it came time to try to capture him. So you’d throw an Ultra Ball… and he would pop out immediately. You’d throw another… and another… and another…
…and another…
I can't weaken you any further! Can't you at least shake the ball once or something?
If you did not run out of Poke Balls and had to reset your game in frustration (or worse, you’d accidentally KO him and he would disappear for good!), one of those balls would finally stop shut, and you could finally see what this guy was actually like in battle... and he was a beast! He would learn Thunder quickly, and then the destruction started, and would never stop until the game finished.
That was back in Gen I. What about in Gen V? Well, over the years, he has been competitively in the OverUsed (OU) tier every generation except the current one, where due to the power creep, he finally fell into the next tier down. Still, every generation he has gained new tricks to keep up with the times and he is every bit as much of a powerhouse now as he was way back in Red and Blue.
We start with his stats, and boy, are they good! As a Legendary Pokemon, his stats would naturally be among the best, and with a Base Stat Total of 580 where most Pokemon would be glad to break 500, there is no denying that this guy was strong. His highlights are a Base 125 Special Attack and a Base 100 Speed, and his lowest stat was a Base 85 Defense. Every other stat sits cleanly at a solid Base 90. Stat-wise, there is no obvious weak point to exploit against Zapdos.
Typing-wise, he was an Electric-type that did not fear Ground-type attacks and a Flying-type that is not weak to Electric-type attacks, which is cool. He does still have a weakness to Ice and Stealth Rock, though at least the latter is not a 4x weakness like his fellow legendary birds have to deal with. Pressure is pretty good on this Pokemon as his solid defensive stats mean opponents will likely spend many turns trying to take him down, sapping a lot of PP in the process. His hidden ability, Lightningrod, has yet to be released, though that will be arguably even better as it turns his Electric neutrality into an immunity that can also boost his already-high Special Attack through the roof. In fact, data from the “Dream World OU” metagame on Smogon suggests that, with Lightningrod, Zapdos could very well find his way back into OU.
Even now, though, Zapdos has plenty of tricks in his movepool. The one thing he does lack, though, is a good Special Flying STAB; he got left out of learning Hurricane in BW2, even though both Articuno and Moltres got it.
Not as bad as Flareon's still not getting Flare Blitz, but still, Zapdos is angry.
That means he only has Hidden Power Flying to work with. He does get other great moves, though, such as Heat Wave, Roost, and of course, powerful Electric attacks like Thunderbolt, Discharge, Thunder, and Volt Switch. And in-game, moves like Drill Peck and Fly are perfectly viable, thanks to Zapdos’s decent Base 90 Attack. You may even be able to transfer over one with Baton Pass , caught in Pokemon XD.
This means Zapdos can fulfill a variety of roles. He can go on the offensive, play defensive, possibly fit into a Baton Pass team, or be a solid Doubles partner. Yep, this thunderbird’s still as strong as ever.
And now the clouds are parting, which means it’s time to face the legendary beast myself.
Hello there. What have you done with my money?
“The Kanto Power Plant needed a stimulus to research green energy.”
…I don’t really want to go there, but… why didn’t you ask the Kanto government?
“What government?”
…good question, actually. I do need my money, though, so if you could kindly return it to me…
“I already gave it all out.”
Darn.
“But if you want, you can catch me and then use me to beat the Elite Four multiple times over and get more money that way!”
You know this isn’t Red and Blue anymore. The Elite Four and Champion are tougher than ever.
“That’s okay. I learned how to convert my energy into heat waves! Come on now, no one has visited me in the last two years at all!”
Because you have still yet to actually appear in the Gen V games… wait a second… have you been… lonely?
“That blasted Thundurus stole my thunder… I’m now an UU Pokemon… they won’t even let me use my cool new Lightningrod ability… now my Defense has gotten even worse…”
"My physical Attack did get stronger, though..."
…all right. Well, Lightningrod Zapdos, I am afraid I cannot capture you yet, since you are not yet legally available, but if you would like, we can hang out and go looking for Nuggets or something…
“No, it’s fine. Just promise to come for me right away if they ever do release me.”
Okay. Man, you have to feel for the poor guy. Hopefully GameFreak releases Lightningrod Zapdos soon. As for my money, guess I’ll go make a couple more cult classic movies at Pokestar Studios…
Next time: …I’ve got nothing hint-wise this time. I will say this, though: he’s a starter.
Welcome to Pixie Theater! Here are your hosts, Celebi and Jirachi!
Now with 100% more capacity for communication in English!
Jirachi: Hello everyone, and welcome to Pixie Theater, the place where we talk about Pokemon in various battling aspects! I am Jirachi, and over there, playing her Black 2 version, is Celebi!
Celebi: Hold on, I almost caught Virizion here...
J: Cel, can't that hold off for a bit? We have a show to do here...
C: What? Oh, come on, that was a crit-capture and it still broke out?! So what are we doing?
J: We talk about Pokemon and battling! How often various Pokemon are used in different tiers, what moves are popular in the metagame, that kind of stuff.
C: Ew, the metagame. I can't stand that stuff. You talk about that if you want.
J: What do you have against the metagame? You've been OU at the least for every generation since your debut!
C: Yeah, and do you know how hard it is to maintain that? Especially when they decided to create that U-Turn attack... ugh, I shudder just to think about it. And then recently there was this Genesect that was always buzzing around... thank Arceus he became Uber...
J: ...well, if it makes you better, how about you talk about in-game movesets and whatnot?
C: Sure, I'll do that. Wait, you don't actually play in the metagame...
J: ...I can still look up statistics! And pretend like I know what I am talking about!
C: Well, do what you want. Who's up first?
J: Leafeon!
J: According to the stats for November 2012, Leafeon was used in the following tiers with the following frequencies:
OU: 0.528%, tied for 142nd place
UU Suspect...
C: Whoa, wait a second, UU Suspect? Why that instead of the normal?
J: A lot more battles took place on Suspect, actually, so it will be more accurate.
C: What's the difference between normal UU and UU Suspect?
J: Snover with Snow Warning and thus hail is allowed in Suspect.
C: Ohh.
J: Anyways...
UU Suspect: 0.235%, tied for 161st place
C: Wha? That's even worse than OU!
J: Probably because in OU a couple of folks are using Chlorophyll Leafeon with Drought Ninetales. Beyond that...
RU: 0.318%, 144th place
NU: 2.782%, 73rd place
C: Wow, that means Leafeon isn't even in the OU for NU. Poor guy.
J: Yeah, having to compete with Sawsbuck as a Chlorophyll sweeper isn't easy. Well, Leafeon does have his perks, namely his ridiculous Defense, so he still has a niche. He's resident of NU, so shall we pull up his moveset statistics?
C: Sure.
J: Looking at ability usage first... 53.4% run Leaf Guard, while 46.6% run Chlorophyll.
C: What? More people run Leaf Guard than Chlorophyll?
J: I guess a lot of Leafeon are support Leafeon that invest more in defenses and care more about defending against status than gaining a speed advantage. Even Smogon's analysis recommends Leaf Guard for the Utility set.
C: Item usage?
J: Leftovers is the overwhelming favorite, at 71.8%. Life Orb gets 9.4% and the rest is pretty random stuff.
C: Natures?
J: Impish at 32.4%, Jolly at 29.9%, Adamant at 28.8%. Impish is recommended on the support set, so as I thought, a good number of Leafeon are that.
C: What movesets are recommended on Leafeon in the metagame, anyways?
96.6%: Leaf Blade. No surprise here; even support Leafeon want some way to hit for some damage.
60.1%: Swords Dance. Odd that there are so many, considering only about 75% of them are running Chlorophyll, probably. Maybe some are on dedicated Baton Pass sets?
41.6%: X-Scissor. That one's not actually in the analysis suggestions, except as alternate options. I guess it is pretty good for coverage.
34.3%: Substitute. Good for setting up or for Baton Passing. Speaking of which...
26.2%: Baton Pass.
25.3%: Heal Bell. Utility all the way.
21.5%: Return. Another coverage move.
Both Wish and Synthesis are around 16.5%. Roar can be found on 14.6% of them, too.
Anyways, enough of that. Celebi, take us away with the in-game evaluation.
C: Great, now for something actually useful!
J: ...No comment. Though, what exactly differentiates this in-game talk from the metagame talk?
C: In-game sets that I talk about will be geared more to everyday travel and in-game enemies, as well as facilities like the Battle Subway and the Pokemon World Tournament. The two big things are that I will not include Hidden Power, since trying to get the perfect one in-game is ridiculously arduous, and that I will not cover too many sets that rely on consumable items, since it would only make sense to use them in the battle facilities.
J: No Hidden Power? Man, in-gamers must have it rough. I mean, what would you do without Hidden Power Fire?
C: Probably just switch to a Fire-type. It's not like Scizor are everywhere in-game as well...
J: So what about Leafeon, then? I mean, how do you even get one in the first place?
C: You don't know?
J: I don't know the location of every Pokemon in the game, okay?
C: All right... You can catch Eevee in the park in Castelia City in Black 2 and White 2; those will evolve into Leaf Guard Leafeon. You can get one that will evolve into Chlorophyll Leafeon as a gift from Fennel's assistant in Castelia City after beating the Elite Four, but that one is always male, so you won't be able to teach it any Egg Moves... so no Wish Chlorophyll Leafeon there.
J: Aww... though I'd say Wish is better with Leaf Guard anyways. Still, any way to get a female Eevee with her hidden ability?
C: ...There's going to be some available in Japan later in the year through hidden grottos and a Funfest Mission. We'll have to stay tuned to see if they also do anything like this for outside of Japan. Until then, you can look on the GTS and hope someone has a reasonable offer, make the trade, and then hope she has the hidden ability Anticipation.
J: Well, I guess we should put that aside; it's not that important. Suggested movesets?
C: All right, now we're talking! To start, you can always go for the good ol' Baton Pass set:
C: They're all TMs; just switch them around however you want. There's nothing too unusual about this set. Honestly, the natures and ability here aren't set in stone. Any ability that hinders Special Attack or does not hinder Attack, Defense or Speed will work.
However, this is important: do not evolve Eevee into Leafeon until Level 36 when he learns Baton Pass. (As a reminder, Eevee evolves into Leafeon when he is leveled up at Moss Rock in Pinwheel Forest.)
If you don't have the Swords Dance TM, after evolving Leafeon you can use a Heart Scale to learn Swords Dance. Leafeon learns Leaf Blade at Level 45. Mind you, this is only in Black 2 and White 2; in any other game, Leafeon does not learn Leaf Blade until level 71.
J: Yikes. Is that the only set you recommend?
C: There are some other ones. You can replace Baton Pass in the above set with something like Synthesis if you want to try to stay in and sweep. Another choice is to just use a support set, with Leaf Guard, Leaf Blade and support moves like Wish (egg move), Heal Bell (move tutor), Knock Off (move tutor), or Sunny Day (TM). You can even try to make Leafeon his own Sunny Day sweeper with Sunny Day, Synthesis, Leaf Blade, and a coverage move.
J: And since Wish is an egg move, just how would one get it onto Eevee anyways?
C: Uh... Smeargle? Beyond that, you'd have to have a Togetic with the move breed it onto a Pikachu, Skitty, Girafarig, or Spinda, and then breed him with Eevee.
J: Kinda complicated. How about we go on to the next Pokemon?
J: Zangoose's metagame usage:
OU: 0.230%, 199th place
UU Suspect: 0.405%, 129th place
RU: 1.297%, 76th place
NU: 8.095%, 17th place
C: So an NU resident, and a fairly popular one at that. So let's talk about Zangoose's usage in NU. How about ability usage?
J: Toxic Boost: 94.1%, Immunity: 5.9%.
C: I see the vast majority of players understand just how important Toxic Boost is to Zangoose. Wonder what that 5.9% is thinking, though...
J: Actually, there's an interesting thing down in the stats. First, though, natures: Jolly 81.4%, Adamant 15.5%. Now, as for items, 93.1% are using Toxic Orb.
C: Which means 1% of players are trying to activate Toxic Boost by, what, having the opponent poison them? How about the rest, though?
J: Ah, that's the thing. Of the remainder, 3% run Focus Sash.
C: ...wait a second. Go down to the move usage for a moment. How many people are running Flail?
J: ...2.86%.
C: I see. And here I thought Sash-Flailing was long dead. I suppose Immunity might help with that if all there is is Toxic Spikes or something... Still, what about all the sane people? Their move usage?
J: Pretty simple.
92.2%: Facade. Obvious and consistent with the Toxic Boost/Toxic Orb data.
87.6%: Close Combat.
79.3%: Both Quick Attack and Night Slash.
31.0%: Swords Dance
5.6% run Protect, and 2.7% run Pursuit.
C: This guy is pretty straightforward. My turn now?
J: The floor is yours.
C: In Black 2 and White 2, Toxic Boost Zangoose can be found in one of two Hidden Grottos: the one on Route 7, and the one on Route 23, both with a 7.5% chance of appearing.
J: Explain that for those not in the know.
C: Inside any given Hidden Grotto, you may either find an item ball, a hidden item in the center of the square (the Dowsing Machine will detect it), or a Pokemon. After picking up the item and catching or defeating the Pokemon, the grotto will be empty; however, every 256 steps you take, that grotto has a 5% chance of spawning a new item or Pokemon. So when the grottos on Routes 7 or 23 respawn, they have a 7.5% chance of spawning a Zangoose. Ah, but within that chance, there's only a 30% chance it will spawn female, and you can't soft-reset to change the gender.
J: Yikes, that is, what, a total of 2.25% of getting a female Zangoose? And that's important because Night Slash is an Egg Move and hidden abilities can only be passed by females, huh...
C: Yep. If you are lucky enough to find a female, breed her with any Ground-group Pokemon that can learn Night Slash.
J: Cool. Who's the easiest one to do that with? That is, easiest to find one and learns it the earliest?
C: ...
J: ...what's with that awkward silence?
C: ...well, there's a Pokemon that can be caught starting at Route 7 and learns it at Level 31...
J: Which one?
C: ...Seviper.
J: ...you're telling me not only is Zangoose able to breed with her sworn rival, but that you're recommending that players do so in order to give Zangoose a useful Egg Move?
C: Hey, if you really don't want to go that route, just catch a high-level Liepard or something. And that's only presuming you find that female Zangoose in the hidden grotto.
J: All right. So if that Zangoose is male, are players plumb out of luck?
C: Not really. First of all, you can soft-reset for a good nature. And second, Zangoose can learn Shadow Claw, which has that same increased crit-rate and serves the same purpose of hitting Ghosts (and Psychics) extra-hard.
J: So Seviper-breeding isn't necessary at all, then! Give us a moveset!
C: You asked for it!
Zangoose: Jolly/Adamant w/Toxic Orb
Ability: Toxic Boost
- Facade
- Close Combat
- Night Slash/Shadow Claw
- Quick Attack
I would not really recommend Swords Dance, except maybe for WiFi or in a battle facility. For in-game travels, though, Zangoose is probably best not staying in for too many turns at a time, just to keep down the damage from Toxic; otherwise, you'll burn through healing items quickly.
J: Okay. So that was pretty simple. How about we take a quick break? We have our first-generation pixie friend, Mew, here with her collection of music, and she'll play one for us...
Mew: Hello everyone! I've got us a great track to start things off! This is Entei's battle theme in Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver. Listen to that fiery passion!
J: Mew... did you have to pick out one of those 15-minute extended versions?
M: Just turn down the volume a bit and it will make a great background tune for your show!
C: Fine... let's continue on, shall we?
J: Braviary's metagame usage:
OU: 0.249%, 194th place
UU Suspect: 0.318%, 144th place
RU: 1.274%, 77th place
NU: 10.079%, 10th place
C: Pretty similar to Zangoose; a popular NU native, so we should go into his usage there. Abilities?
J: 55.9% run Defiant, 33.1% run Sheer Force, and 11.0% run Keen Eye.
C: Huh, that is a lot more Sheer Force than I would have thought. I suppose we'll have to look into move usage for more clues. No idea what's with those 11% that run Keen Eye...
J: Noobs afraid of being hit by Sand-Attack? Who knows. Items... 37.6%: Leftovers, 23.9% Choice Scarf, 20.0% Choice Band, and 13.6% Life Orb. Worth noting is that each one corresponds to a different set on Smogon's analysis, the Leftovers set being the Bulk Up set, so this essentially shows how many people run each different set.
Natures... Adamant 34.2%, Careful 33.0%, Jolly 27.6%. Careful is probably for the Bulk Up set, which corresponds well with the Leftovers numbers.
Moves:
97.6%: Brave Bird. No surprise.
56.7%: Superpower. Important attack for coverage, though I can understand why the Bulk Up users don't want to use that move, since it'd essentially erase one Bulk Up boost each use.
51.4%: U-Turn. Recommended for the two Choice sets, and the percentages add up fairly close as in the item usage.
45.3%: Roost. This one is recommended for the Bulk Up and Life Orb sets, and again, the percentages just about add up the same as in the item usage.
39.2%: Return.
39.1%: Bulk Up. Again, pretty close to the previously determined percentages for Leftovers and Careful nature.
34.9%: Substitute. Another one that mainly appears on the Bulk Up set.
25.5%: Rock Slide. That about explains the Sheer Force numbers, I guess.
C: Another pretty straightforward Pokemon. Can we talk in-game now?
J: All right...
C: Yay! For all who are looking for Defiant Braviary, in White 2, one appears behind a building on Route 4 every Monday. He cannot be obtained at all in Black 2, where Weak Armor Mandibuzz appears instead, so try to find a friend to trade for it instead.
J: Any chance of it being female to breed for Egg Moves?
C: ...uh, Braviary are all male. They don't have Egg Moves.
J: ...oh, right. In that case, just give us a moveset.
Roost is recommended if you're using a Life Orb. Both are good in-game. Like Zangoose, very straightforward. Ah, but he doesn't learn Superpower until Level 51, or Brave Bird until Level 63. For the latter, Fly is a good in-game STAB option in the interim. For the former, if you really want Braviary to know it earlier and have 10 Blue Shards on hand, a Move Tutor in Lentimas Town can teach Superpower to him early.
All in all, Braviary is great in-game. You can get him fairly early (you do have to beat Burgh first, though) at Level 25, he learns Fly and Strength so he can provide HM utility, and if you can teach Superpower to him, he'll be deadly. Definitely a useful Pokemon for the main game.
J: Cool. Not much else, so let's move on, shall we? We've got our first not-NU Pokemon coming up...
Kabutops:
OU: 0.374%, 169th place
UU Suspect: 1.116%, 83rd place
RU: 10.259%, 16th place
Ubers: 4.058%, 32nd place
C: Wow, that would make Kabutops in the OU of Ubers. Must be all that Drizzle.
J: Yeah. So, since Kabutops plays no small role in Ubers, I will cover data for both RU, where he is native, and Ubers. Let's start with abilities...
In RU, 45.9% run Swift Swim, 38.7% run Weak Armor, and 15.4% run Battle Armor.
In Ubers, 99.2% run Swift Swim, with the rest running one of the other two.
C: Wow, I guess having Drizzle available just makes that much more of a difference for Kabutops.
J: Weak Armor isn't that bad, especially if you're not running a Rain team yourself, so that frequency isn't bad. And I guess 15% of RU players are sick and tired of crithax.
Item-wise, in RU, 54.8% run Life Orb, and 19.4% run Leftovers. In Ubers, 75.1% run Life Orb, and 11.9% run Choice Band.
C: Support Kabutops just doesn't work that well in Ubers, I guess.
J: Natures... In RU, 59.6% are Adamant, while 27.8% are Jolly. However, in Ubers, 88.1% are Adamant, while only 7.9% are Jolly.
C: So when constant rain is readily available, the extra Speed from Jolly isn't as necessary. How about moves?
J: In RU:
85.1%: Stone Edge.
74.5%: Rapid Spin. Kabutops does make a good offensive Spinner.
66.5%: Aqua Jet. Priority is always nice.
63.0%: Waterfall. Are people running Aqua Jet as their main Water STAB or something?
56.5%: Swords Dance.
15.9% run the ever-dreaded Stealth Rock, and 13.2% run Superpower.
In Ubers:
97.0%: Waterfall. Here, if you don't have something like Waterfall for a main STAB, you're just being silly.
93.2%: Stone Edge. Of course, Rock STAB is just as important.
74.8%: Low Kick. Lots of heavyweights in Ubers that this can hit hard, to be sure.
41.1%: Aqua Jet. Priority is still cool here.
35.2%: Rapid Spin. I guess Kabutops isn't as good of a spinner in Ubers, though still pretty good.
32.0%: Swords Dance.
...and that's all I have. In-game Kabutops is all yours, Celebi.
C: Okay. First, to get a Kabuto, you need a Dome Fossil. In all Gen V games (Black, White, Black 2, and White 2), after beating the Elite Four and acquiring the National Pokedex, a guy in Twist Mountain will give you a random fossil every day, including the Dome Fossil. In Black 2 and White 2, the Antique Shop of Join Avenue may give you one as well from one of those "Rock" items. If you want one with the hidden ability of Weak Armor, they can be found right away in the Sparkling Sea.
Kabuto evolves into Kabutops at Level 40. There's no point in delaying his evolution, as he doesn't really learn any of his good moves leveling up except Aqua Jet at level 31.
Moveset time!
Kabutops: Jolly/Adamant
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge/Rock Slide
- Aqua Jet
- Swords Dance/Rain Dance
Stone Edge does have low PP, which is why I offer Rock Slide as an alternative. The latter is also good if you're using Kabutops more for doubles or triples. If you don't have a Drizzle Politoed, you can have Kabutops set up his own Rain for a Speed boost and extra power to Waterfall and Aqua Tail. You can give him a Damp Rock if this is the case, if you want that rain support to spread to others as well.
Nothing much else to say. Shall we move on? We only have one more Pokemon left!
J: Indeed we do.
Weavile:
OU: 2.105%, 66th place
UU Suspect: 7.251%, 33rd place
C: Say, now that that bastar-I mean, Genesect is gone, think Weavile might go back into OU like he was last generation?
J: Who knows; he probably will rise in usage there all the same. Now for Weavile's UU Suspect stats...
Abilities: 88.3% run Pressure, 11.7% run Pickpocket.
Items: 38.9% use Life Orb, 17.9% use Choice Band, and 17.0% use Focus Sash.
C: I guess it's those Focus Sashers that are running Pickpocket. How many just run nothing at all?
J: Only 1.7%.
Natures: 82.2% are Jolly, 15.0% are Adamant.
Moves:
82.4%: Night Slash
69.4%: Ice Shard
68.8%: Ice Punch
56.5%: Low Kick
44.1%: Swords Dance
24.7%: Pursuit. I guess not that many people are using Weavile as a Psychic/Ghost trapper.
18.3% run Brick Break, and 10.2% run Fake Out.
C: No more comments?
J: Nope. Nothing that unusual here, either.
C: That means it's in-game time!
In all Gen V games, Sneasel can be found inside the caves of the Giant Chasm; 10% chance of encounter in Black and White, and 20% in Black 2 and White 2. The hidden grotto at the Giant Chasm also has a 2% chance of spawning a Sneasel with Pickpocket, if you really want to use that ability; there's only a 30% chance of it being female, though.
Sneasel evolves into Weavile when holding a Razor Claw and leveled up at night. However, don't evolve Sneasel until level 51 in Black and White or level 47 in Black 2 and White 2, or else he won't be able to learn Ice Shard, unless he already knew the move as an Egg Move. Speaking of which, both Ice Punch and Ice Shard are Egg Moves, so if you have a male Sneasel or Weavile and have already taught him Ice Punch through the BW2 move tutor and Ice Shard, it's easy to get more Sneasel that already know the two moves, and you can evolve that Sneasel early. Only Weavile can learn Night Slash, and he learns it at Level 38 in BW and 35 in BW2, so use a Heart Scale if necessary.
Brick Break is more reliable in-game where not every Fighting-weak Pokemon is heavy.
J: Oh, Mew, you have something?
C: Hey, that's my Weavile trophy in my Super Smash Bros. Brawl trophy collection! Why'd you bring it here?
M: You'll see.
C: Hmm... well, the description says...
A Sharp Claw Pokémon. The crown on its head resembles a fully opened folding fan. Its sharp, hooked claws and outstanding speed are its most memorable features. It's one of the Pokémon that can be expected to perform well in the front lines of a battle. There are many Trainers who teach it the TM False Swipe and travel with it to catch rare Pokémon.
C: ...okay, so I guess False Swipe is also an option, too!
Anyways, that's all I have. Can I go back to trying to capture Virizion now?
J: All right, go on.
That is all for Pixie Theater! This is Jirachi, and for my co-host Celebi, may we see you whenever Nintendo decides to distribute us! Goodbye, and stay tuned for Top 100 Pokemon #95 coming up next!
Among my top 100 Pokemon are going to be a number of Pokemon that debuted before Gen IV, who I did not care much for until Gen IV came around and either gave them a new evolution or gave them a massive improvement thanks to the Physical/Special split.
Now, I realize there might be a handful of readers who have no idea about some of the battle terminology I throw out here, for whatever reason, so allow me to give an explanation: Before Diamond and Pearl came out, whether an attack used the user's Attack or Special Attack (and consequently whether it hit the opponent's Defense or Special Defense) depended entirely on the type of the attack. Fire, Water, Electric, Grass, Ice, Psychic, Dragon, and Dark attacks were all classified as Special attacks and used Special Attack, while all other types used (physical) Attack.
This can be a problem for some Pokemon, whose Special Attack stats are really low, but whose typing are both Special types. Now, if a Pokemon uses an attack that matches its type, the power of that attack is multiplied by 1.5 times. This is known as the Same Type Attack Bonus, also known as STAB because it is like an extra stab at the opponent. Unfortunately, if a Pokemon's typing is a Special type and that Pokemon does not have a very high Special Attack stat, that Pokemon would likely have to lose out on STAB attacks. (This can happen the opposite way, too, if a Pokemon's type is physical but their physical Attack is low.)
However, Diamond and Pearl revolutionized battling by classifying each individual attack as Physical or Special, so, for example, a move like Flamethrower would still be special, while Fire Punch would be physical, and both would be Fire-type attacks. This was huge for many Pokemon, who could now use STAB attacks that work off their stronger Attack stat, making them much more competitively viable.
Our next Pokemon is a shining example of desperately needing that Physical/Special split in order to have some proper physical attacks to gain STAB off of. But his stats were such that he would need more than that to become a good Pokemon; he would also need an evolution. And what do you know, Gen IV gave him both!
And they said I would never use my Dark and Ice STABs. They'll get a nice stab from my Ice Punch now.
#96: Sneasel/Weavile
Sneasel debuted in Gen II, with no evolution but with a very unique typing in Dark/Ice. He is, as his name suggests, based on a weasel. More specifically, though, he seems to be based on the Kamaitachi, a weasel-demon from Japanese folklore. A solid choice for one of the many inaugural Dark-types of Gold and Silver.
One of Pokemon's many shining examples of trollface.
His evolution, Weavile, debuted in Gen IV, and it simply requires Sneasel to level up at night while holding a Razor Claw. Weavile looks even more sinister, while also having just a bit of Egyptian flair to his design.
Sneak like an Egyptian.
I guess I should mention this right now, just to get all the flak I know I'm going to get for this out of the way right now, but I am not really a big fan of Dark-types. Something about their often conniving, evil ways just isn't the sort of thing I am a fan of. Despite this, there are still a fair number of Dark-types on my list (11 total), so don't worry if you are a fan of these bad boys. Most of them are dual-types, making their way onto my list in part due to their interesting type-combinations, and Sneasel and Weavile are no exception; Dark/Ice is a type combination still not held by any other Pokemon, three generations after Dark-types debuted. Still, I suppose my not being a Dark-type fan is what keeps him from ranking higher.
Enough of that, though. Let's talk about his battle capabilities. Looking at Sneasel, his stats already have some standout points: a solid Base 95 Attack and a great Base 115 Speed. Weavile improves those two stats to an amazing Base 120 Attack and Base 125 Speed, which makes him a vicious offensive threat. However, there is a pretty clear problem in his stats, at least from a pre-Gen IV perspective: Sneasel and Weavile's Special Attack are Base 35 and 45, respectively. To put it simply, that is pitiful. And at a time when both Dark and Ice were Special, that meant no STAB for these weasels.
Thankfully, with Gen IV, the split occured and they could use physical Dark and Ice attacks. Admittedly, their movepools kind of limit them here; none of their STAB attacks have a base power greater than 80. What they do get are Night Slash and Ice Punch as their main weapons, and two lower-power but useful moves in Pursuit and Ice Shard. The former means Psychic- and Ghost-types cannot run away from him without taking an often-fatal hit, and the latter is a priority attack that means he can put a quick stop to many Dragon Dancing or Choice Scarfed Dragons before they Outrage through your entire team.
Hide your psychics, hide your ghosts, and hide your dragons, 'cause he's revenge-killin' everybody out here.
Other attacks Weavile gets include Swords Dance, just to make him even more of an offensive powerhouse, and Low Kick to trip up Steel-types and other heavy Pokemon. However, Weavile's defensive stats are lacking; add in that 4x weakness to Fighting as well as weaknesses to Fire, Bug, Steel, and Stealth Rock and Weavile is not going to want to be taking hits if he can help it.
Weavile also kind of got the short end of the stick in the way of abilities. Pressure is better on a Pokemon like Suicune who can take a lot of hits and drain a lot of PP over time; on a Pokemon that dies to one Close Combat, not so much. Pickpocket is an odd Dream World ability; it steals an item if an opponent hits him with a contact move and he does not have an item already. It has a very situational use if Weavile holds a Focus Sash, switches in to something like Close Combat, and steals a Choice Band or something before he Ice Shards the opponent on the way out. Still, this is a very situational ability, and Weavile is better off with Pressure otherwise, just so he can use the item he wants to use.
To cap things off, Weavile is a slick Pokemon with a cool design, a unique typing and a strong offensive presence. Not much else to be said, really, so I guess I'll let Weavile have one final pic as his sendoff...
"This is for saying you don't really like Dark-types. Nyeh."
...wait, Weavile? Where are you going with my money? Come back here! ...Darn that Weavile and his Base 125 Speed. Am I going to get this kind of treatment from the other 10 Dark-types on my list as well?
"Probably."
Oh, you're back already. Where'd you put the money?
"Oh, Pokemon #95 on your list just snatched it from me. Probably took it to his lair, inside those thunderclouds."
...This is going to take some extra preparation. Which means I probably won't be covering #95 right away... so! Instead, there will be a special presentation from Pixie Theater about these past 5 Pokemon I covered, their use in the competitive metagame, and suggested uses for them in-game. After that, I go into the thunderclouds in search of my money, and the next Pokemon on my list...
Prehistoric Pokemon are fairly interesting, some perhaps moreso than others. The first generation's trio of de-fossilized Pokemon are all among the better designs and concepts of the first generation, and while I do like all three of them, only one of them managed to slice his way into the top 100.
Not what I expected when I asked for someone to cut the lawn.
#97: Kabutops
Meet Kabutops, the Shellfish Pokemon. Kabutops is based on the eurypterid, a prehistoric creature that already looks pretty darn cool.
That is a "Put me in a Pokemon game or I will chew out your throats" look right there.
Of course, GameFreak decided Kabutops wasn't quite intimidating enough as he was, so hey, let's give him some scythes for arms!
The official art is all I need to illustrate just how awesome of an idea that was.
Make no mistake, Kabutops looks downright badass. He looks like someone you do not want to cross paths with, lest he rip you apart and suck out your body fluids. Oh yeah, did I mention that Kabutops's Pokedex entry says he rips apart his prey and sucks out their body fluids? Of course, just how accurate Pokedex entries are is always up for debate, but still... dang. Definitely one of the most ferocious Pokemon to come out of Gen I.
Competitively, Kabutops has always been a ferocious physical threat with Base 115 Attack and Base 105 Defense, plus Swords Dance for a massive attack boost. However, starting out, Kabutops didn't have much in the way of STAB attacks; Water-type attacks were all Special before Gen IV and while Rock was physical, Kabutops for some reason did not learn Rock Slide, for Arceus knows what reason. And all Gen II did was give him Ancientpower, which was something, I guess.
Gen III did give him access to Rock Slide, though, and also gave him a neat ability in Swift Swim. Kabutops's Base Speed of 80 is okay, but having that speed doubled in rain makes him incredibly fast, and means he can tear through teams with STAB Rock Slide, among other potent physical attacks. Still, Kabutops definitely appreciated the physical/special split of Gen IV, allowing him to add a physical Waterfall or Aqua Tail to his arsenal. (Though, Kabutops does not really have that much of a tail...) Stone Edge is a cool new physical Rock attack to use, as well. He also got Aqua Jet, which is a cool Water-type priority attack to hit first if rain is not there or if the opponent also has priority to hit with.
Finally, in Gen V, a Drizzle Politoed arrived on the scene, proving the perfect partner to go with Kabutops and Swift Swim... at least as long as you weren't playing in the competitive community where Drizzle and Swift Swim on the same team is banned.
A partnership that was too much to handle.
Due to that ban, Kabutops is now a resident of the RarelyUsed (RU) tier, and he has more roles than just a Rain Dance sweeper. He can learn Rapid Spin to clear away entry hazards, and his offensive power is such that he can tear past most Ghost-types that try to stop him after a Swords Dance. (Alternatively, he can use Foresight to ensure that he can spin even against Ghosts.) In any tier, though, if rain is available, he can be threatening, and yes, that means he can buddy up with Kyogre and take on the legendary Ubers.
Eat Stone Edge, Rayquaza.
So yeah, Kabutops is an awesome Pokemon, and honestly, all I can really say for why he is only at #97 is that there are 96 other Pokemon I like better.
As a parting shot, I'm sure some have thought of trying to make Kabutops even more awesome, like, say, encasing him in metal and giving him a blaster cannon on his back...
...oh crap.
Next time: This Pokemon communicates by clawing signs into boulders.
The Normal/Flying dual type is one that gets some amount of flak, for various reasons. First of all, in Gen I, Normal/Flying was the only dual type assigned to Normal, and given that no natural pure-Flying type appeared until Gen V and Tornadus (or you can count Gen IV's Arceus w/Sky Plate if you really want to), the Normal-type was the dual-type assigned to Flying to indicate that the Pokemon was a, well, normal, run-of-the-mill bird Pokemon. Then, every generation has added a Normal/Flying Pokemon that appears all across the region, adding some degree of annoyance to the equation for those who don't want to see another Pidgey ever again. In addition, the Pokemon that were Normal/Flying, while not necessarily bad, tended to be on the weaker side competitively. Gen III and IV tried to buck the trend by making sure that at least some Normal/Flying birds that could be competitive. Gen V, however, brought the Pidove line, which went right back to subpar Normal/Flying types. If only there was a hero that could save us from Normal/Flying mediocrity...
...what's that in the sky? It's a bird! It's a plane!
It's... a bird!
#98: Rufflet/Braviary Rufflet and Braviary are eagle-based Pokemon designed to have a very American flavor. You know, since the bald eagle is the representative bird of the USA. Rufflet recklessly fights foes stronger than he is, while Braviary is a valiant Pokemon that will stand up for his friends.
The concept is pretty good, but why did GameFreak make them male-only? It is kind of silly to keep this "valiant American hero" Pokemon to be male only (moreso to make Mandibuzz a female-only counterpart). This is probably the main thing I don't like about this Pokemon's concept, and the big reason why he does not rank any higher.
That aside, though, the rest of the Pokemon is solid. Both Rufflet and Braviary combine the eaglet/eagle concept with a red-white-blue color scheme (very fitting, of course). Feathers around the head give a reference to Native Americans, which is a nice touch. Rufflet is definitely a cute pre-evolution, while Braviary is designed to be somewhat reminiscent of a Superman-like superhero.
"When I grow up, I'm gonna be like my dad and save the world from defensive walls!
Okay, time to talk competitive. Braviary has very good stats overall. His worst is Special Attack at Base 57, so forget about using him as a special attacker. His best stat is Attack at a nice Base 123, which will definitely do some serious damage. He has a solid Base 100 HP and Base 75 for both Defenses, meaning he can take hits okay. Speed is at Base 80, so he will outspeed many defensive Pokemon, though he might not be able to sweep comfortably.
The main problem with Normal/Flying types like Braviary, though, is that their STAB types are both resisted by Rock and Steel types. The good ones have ways around this, and Braviary, fittingly enough for a heroic Pokemon, has a Superpower.
I break through Rock and Steel types with a Base 120 power Fighting attack. What's your superpower?
Now, this isn't quite as good as Staraptor's Close Combat, since it does drop Braviary's Attack as well as Defense, meaning his next hits won't be as powerful. But while he's in there, the perfect coverage between Superpower, Brave Bird, and Return means that nothing can safely switch into Braviary without possibly taking massive damage, especially if Braviary has a Choice Band. This makes Braviary a great wallbreaker, designed to break through defensive walls and punish anyone that tries to stop him, especially in lower tiers.
Other good moves in Braviary's arsenal include U-Turn, Bulk Up, and Roost. The first allows him to scout for potential switches or to make an escape while still doing damage. The second actually works okay with Braviary's defensive stats, and Roost works with either Bulk Up or with a Life Orb and to recover damage from Stealth Rock or Brave Bird recoil.
Braviary's best ability is his Dream World one, Defiant. (If you have White 2, a Braviary with Defiant appears on Mondays on Route 4.) It keeps him from being affected by Intimidate, which gives him +1 in Attack instead; it also might kick in at other random times, especially in-game. Keep in mind that Defiant is affected neither by Superpower's stat drops or by ones inflicted by his teammates. Keen Eye isn't particularly useful unless all your friends like using Sand-Attack on you, and while Sheer Force is a great ability, the only attack Braviary can really use that would get a boost is Rock Slide, or maybe Sky Attack in-game.
Overall, this is to say that Rufflet and Braviary are very worthy additions to the Normal/Flying family despite being an all-male species. Use one next time you want a true American hero on your team.
The land of the free, and the home of the Brave Bird.
