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.

Top 100 Pokemon: Digest Version #44-#36

Apparently, I skipped a Pokemon in my list. Go back to the #75-#65 post for a writeup on Nidoking at #70; the numbers for the Pokemon ahead of him have been updated as well.

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#44: Empoleon (and pre-evolutions)

Another starter Pokemon, this time from Gen IV. Empoleon is a steel-clad penguin, which already screams “awesome”. Water/Steel is a great type, too, in particular resisting such attack combinations as Water/Dragon that otherwise have wide neutral coverage. He also has great Special Attack and good Special Defense, and while his Speed is low, he can use Agility to remedy that. Empoleon is best known for the dangerous SubPetaya set, in which he uses Agility to boost his Speed, then uses Substitute to get to 25% health, which not only triggers the Petaya Berry and gives him a Special Attack boost, but also triggers his Torrent ability, further boosting his Water-type attacks and leading to one of the most powerful special attackers out there. He mainly gets Ice Beam and Grass Knot for coverage, and can use defensive sets that, among other things, can set up Stealth Rock. Empoleon looks like he is a king, and his presence on the battlefield is definitely a kingly one.

#43: Yanmega

Bug/Flying is such a common typing that it can be hard to take any of its members seriously. Yanmega is a huge exception. The guy himself is huge—I certainly do not want to run into a six-foot-long dragonfly, especially one that can tear me apart with the shockwaves from his wings—and looks absolutely menacing. In battle, Yanmega has a very high Special Attack, but is mostly dangerous because of his two abilities. Speed Boost will quickly turn Yanmega into a fast dragonfly of doom, while Tinted Lens is an ability that turns not-very-effective moves into neutral moves (and the rare 4x-not-very-effective move to a regular not-very-effective move), giving Yanmega incredible coverage from STAB alone. Those STAB moves are Bug Buzz and Air Slash, and both do plenty of damage regardless of the ability chosen; Yanmega also can learn U-Turn, which is handy to make a getaway (more useful with Tinted Lens) and Psychic. Whether it is by accelerating to unstoppable speeds or tearing through opponents that think they can resist him, Yanmega is a dragonfly that is much more dragon than fly.

#42: Gorebyss

Here’s an elegant, seemingly low-level Pokemon that is much more fearsome than one might suspect at first sight. I like Gorebyss’s elegant design more than that of Huntail, as it makes it that much more awesome that when this Pokemon comes out of her shell (by forcibly smashing it herself—it’s best not to think of what shell it smashes), she becomes an absolutely ferocious sea monster. Shell Smash is possibly the best stat-boosting move in the game, boosting Attack, Special Attack, and Speed by two levels, simply in exchange for lowering Defense and Special Defense by one level (which can be remedied with a White Herb). It’s a bit weird that of all the Pokemon that can learn this killer move, Gorebyss is the only one in my Top 100 (aside from Smeargle; others were close to entering the top 100, though), though compared to others, Gorebyss does have one additional trick up her sleeve: she can Baton Pass those boosts to a teammate that can really make use of those boosts to tear through the opposition. It really says something that, despite being an NU Pokemon, Gorebyss has an analysis for every tier up through OU and even Ubers! Definitely do not underestimate this pink fish.

#41: Jellicent (and Frillish)

I like jellyfish a lot. Blame Kuragehime. I also like the concept of a water ghost a lot. Blame Captain Murasa. Combining these two concepts? Genius. The obvious sexual dimorphism is cool in its own way; the male form’s epic moustache is particularly great. In battle, Jellicent mainly serves as a specially-defensive Pokemon, thanks to good HP and Special Defense stats, that can disrupt enemies. His unique typing gives him numerous resistances and immunities, while his abilities, Water Absorb and Cursed Body (may disable any attack that hits it), are both cool in their own ways. His movepool is best suited for defensively-oriented attacks like Scald, Will-o-Wisp, Recover, Taunt, and Night Shade, though he can also attack with moves like Shadow Ball, Water Spout, Ice Beam, and Energy Ball. But most importantly, Jellicent is a ghost jellyfish. That’s plenty for me.

#40: Ampharos (and pre-evolutions)

Oh, cool, an electric sheep! Mareep was an early favorite in my Silver playthrough, and I enjoyed training him and evolving him into Flaaffy and then… wait, what is this guy?! Ampharos is a puzzling final evolution to these electric sheep, looking less like a sheep and more like… actually, I have no idea what Ampharos is supposed to look like. He’s just kind of… weird. He’s rather cute, though. Anyway, Ampharos is also unusual for being more of a defensive Electric-type, having a fairly low Speed but decent defensive stats to go with his good Special Attack. That this Pokemon functions as a lighthouse beacon is probably the coolest part of his concept. Beyond that, though, there’s just a lot of fond nostalgia for this guy, who was my main Electric-type through much of Silver.

#39: Metagross

One of two pseudo-Legendaries in Gen III, Metagross has a lot of cool things going for him. He has an awesome design, a neat concept based on a supercomputer, a cool Steel/Psychic typing, killer stats, and an awesome movepool. He’s one of the very few Pokemon to learn Meteor Mash (only he and Clefairy can learn it leveling up, plus two others in events), which is just a cool-sounding move, and he gets various Psychic attacks, Earthquake, Agility, and even Explosion, back when that was good.

#38: Keldeo

Of the Swords of Justice Pokemon, Keldeo, the event Pokemon of the group, is definitely the cutest. Taking inspiration from the kelpie and the kirin for the design, Keldeo is primarily based on d’Artagnan from the original The Three Musketeers. D’Artagnan, like Keldeo, is actually the “fourth musketeer” that joins the group the latest and is the youngest, and like d’Artagnan, Keldeo is mentored and watched over by the other Swords of Justice. In battle, he has the unique position among the group of being the special attacker, with an incredibly high Special Attack but not so good Attack; basically, the opposite of Terrakion. That said, Keldeo has a secret weapon—specifically, a Secret Sword—that uses his high Special Attack but hits the opponent on their Defense stat, allowing him to get by various special walls (particularly those whose name end in –sey). With that move as his main Fighting-type STAB and the standard Surf/Hydro Pump for a Water-type STAB, as well as the good Speed that all the Swords of Justice have, Keldeo can easily storm through opposing teams with powerful attacks. He’s particularly fearsome in rain. Not bad for a cute water pony.

#37: Azelf

The Lake Trio is an interesting group of legendaries, although I’m not too keen on how they’re all pure Psychic—hence, why only one of them makes the list. Azelf is cool for various reasons. Conceptually, while the others are based on knowledge and emotion, which are neat but pretty standard, Azelf is based on willpower, something that is very interesting as a part of the human psyche. Azelf is also by far the most offensive of the group (very fitting for his being based on willpower, which is the most active of the three), with very high Attack and Special Attack and a very good Speed to go along with it. To go with that, Azelf has a nice movepool with all sorts of attacks, both physical and special, and including moves like U-Turn and Explosion, the latter of which admittedly isn’t too good now but still has its uses. Competitively, Azelf’s access to Taunt and Stealth Rock make him usable as a lead, and he can also set up Reflect and Light Screen quickly, or he can go a more straight-out offensive route, either by powering up with Nasty Plot or just putting four attacks together and going to town. Azelf’s combination of speed and power and his concept of representing willpower make him my favorite of the Lake Trio and gives him a high spot on this list.

#36: Shaymin

This grass pixie does admittedly face competition with Celebi, but he’s got plenty to like about him. He’s definitely adorable in his base form, and he can also transform into a part-Flying Sky Forme with exposure to the Gracidea Flower, at least during daytime hours. In his base form, Shaymin has the standard base 100 stats across the board that make him overall versatile, and he gets a very nice STAB signature attack in Seed Flare, which is basically a Grass-type Fire Blast, but with an incredible secondary effect in that it has a 40% chance of dropping the opponent’s Special Defense by two levels, allowing Shaymin to plow through even some opponents that think they can tank the little hedgehog. Add in some nice coverage moves in Psychic, Earth Power, and Air Slash (carried over from his Sky Forme) and you have a Pokemon that is already quite solid. However, Shaymin becomes absolutely terrifying in his Sky Forme. His stats get skewed towards having great Special Attack and incredible Speed (in exchange for lower defenses), and to make things worse, his ability changes from Natural Cure to Serene Grace, which brings Seed Flare’s chance of cutting Special Defense to 80%, and also gives him an Air Slash with a 60% chance of flinching the opponent, which combined with his speed, makes him a great way to annoy your opponent with repeated flinches. And he still has all those great coverage options. Some beasts become terrifying at night, but this is one Pokemon that you don’t want to have to face during daytime.

Top 100 Pokemon Digest Version: #54-#45

We're crossing the halfway mark with this list. Needless to say, there are some really incredible Pokemon to follow, though the best is still yet to come.

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#54: Scrafty (and Scraggy)

These guys have style, in a way only a lizard that wears its molted skin like high school kids wear baggy pants can have style. They have a unique Dark/Fighting type, a typing that has incredible neutral coverage. He has good defensive stats, allowing him to play a role of a bulky sweeper, and while he doesn’t have that high an Attack stat, he can boost it easily with moves like Dragon Dance (which also boosts his low Speed) and Bulk Up, as well as his ability Moxie. He also can have the Shed Skin ability, as a way to shrug off status, possibly even giving him an early wake-up from Rest. From the Dream World, he gets Intimidate, which has its uses as well. All this makes Scrafty a stylish Pokemon that can very easily beat down his opponents.

#53: Chandelure (and pre-evolutions)

This guy’s a ghost chandelier. That in and of itself is a huge win, concept-wise. He’s a major competitive force, too; he has an absolutely insane base Special Attack of 145. To put that in perspective, that is only 5 points below the Special Attack of freaking Reshiram. He also gets Flash Fire to punish anyone throwing out Fire attacks willy-nilly (and making his own Fire attacks that much more devastating), or Flame Body to punish physical attackers. This is an awesome Pokemon with a great concept and absolutely devastating firepower (literally!). It’s also worth noting that he has, of all things, Shadow Tag as a Dream World ability, which makes him so broken that Chandelure is actually one of the very few non-starter, non-legendary Pokemon not yet to be officially release with his Dream World ability. Even Nintendo could tell how overpowered he’d be.

#52: Reuniclus (and pre-evolutions)

Check out this funky guy. His concept is based on organic cells, which is a very interesting concept that comes with a very unique design. He has a very high Special Attack, which is normal for Psychic-types, and very good overall defensive stats, which is not normal. His only “weak” stat is an incredibly low base Speed, which is actually a blessing in disguise as it makes Reuniclus possibly the best Pokemon to use Trick Room. What really makes Reuniclus dangerous is his Magic Guard ability, which I mentioned earlier with Clefable as being an amazing ability, and keeps Reuniclus safe from Life Orb recoil, entry hazard damage, weather damage, and Toxic/Burn damage; this combined with Recover, Calm Mind, and Reuniclus’s solid defenses make him incredibly difficult to knock out. Whether you want to use him for Trick Room or a more standard Calm Mind set, this funky guy will not disappoint.

#51: Scizor

Hoo boy. This guy is the #1 Pokemon in Smogon’s standard OU, and for good reason. First of all, he has an awesome design that definitely looks like he tears apart everything in his path. His Bug/Steel typing is very good, giving him numerous resistances and a lone (albeit crippling) weakness to Fire. He has a very high Attack stat and solid defenses; his Speed is a bit low, but this ends up not being that much of a problem. His Technician ability is one of his biggest draws, especially as he learns Bullet Punch, a Steel-type Quick Attack that is normally pretty weak, but with STAB, Technician, and Scizor’s high Attack, it becomes his best attack, bypassing his low Speed and dealing a good amount of damage quickly, making him great at picking off weakened opponents. Other attacks in his arsenal include U-turn, a very useful move that allows him to scout out opponents and make a switch while still doing good damage, Bug Bite, his strongest Bug-type attack factoring in Technician, Pursuit, and Superpower. He also gets Swords Dance to power up his moves, as well as Roost if you want to go a more defensive route. Heck, he even gets Baton Pass and Iron Defense if you want to use him on a Baton Pass team! There’s no doubt why this guy’s the most popular Pokemon in the competitive scene, and the only reason he isn’t higher is because, honestly, I’m not a huge fan of super-powerful Pokemon. And yet, I cannot ignore how cool Scizor is, and everything he is capable of on the battlefield.

#50: Sigilyph

…what is up with this guy’s design? Probably the strangest, funkiest-looking Pokemon in the entire game, Sigilyph exists to be the weird guy. And just like the previously-mentioned funky Pokemon, Reuniclus, this guy gets the awesome ability Magic Guard, removing his Stealth Rock weakness entirely and making him hard to take down. Sigilyph does have decent offensive stats and a good movepool with Psychic, Psyshock, Air Slash, Heat Wave, and Energy Ball, as well as Roost combined with okay defenses and Magic Guard, that make a straight up offensive set with a Life Orb effective. You can also go a trickier route with Sigilyph, by taking advantage of Magic Guard and giving him a Flame Orb, giving him a burn that has no effect on him and keeps him safe from more dangerous status effects, and then using Psycho Shift to throw that burn onto an opponent. He also has a dangerous combo in which he uses Cosmic Power to increase his overall defenses, and then attacks with Stored Power, an attack that grows more powerful the more stat boosts he has; combined with the aforementioned Psycho Shift-burning strategy, Magic Guard, and Roost, makes it easy to get all six boosts and end up with an attack with a Base Power of 260 (390 with STAB), all while being impossible to knock out. This guy is definitely one of the funkiest Pokemon out there, in both his design and his unusual but deadly battle strategies.

#49: Togekiss (and Togepi)

As cute as Togepi is, with her Metronome-happy ways, her initial evolution in Togetic is kind of awkward-looking. With lackluster stats, Togetic is overall a disappointment. Thankfully, in Gen IV, she gets a new evolution in Togekiss. Togekiss’s design is nicer and more elegant, and her stats are far better, having very nice defensive stats (particularly Special Defense) while also having a high Special Attack. That said, as cute as Togekiss is, she is secretly a monster, wielding an Air Slash that, combined with her Serene Grace ability, gives her a 60% chance of flinching an opponent—and that’s not accounting for all the Nasty Plotting she’s doing beforehand! She’s nice enough to your team, though, with access to Heal Bell. She also has some cool additional coverage moves in Aura Sphere and Flamethrower/Fire Blast, and access to Roost just makes her that much harder to take down. And, of course, there’s always Metronome for random fun!

#48: Sceptile (and pre-evolutions)

The next starter Pokemon enters my list, and it is Gen III’s grass lizard Sceptile. Sceptile is unusual among Grass-types in that he’s a fast, offensive Grass-type that does not need to rely on sun for his speed. A good Special Attack with nice moves like Giga Drain, Leaf Storm, and an excellent coverage move in Focus Blast makes Sceptile a strong special attacker. However, Sceptile can make a potentially threatening physical attacker despite his rather average Attack stat, as he can use Swords Dance and has moves like Leaf Blade, Drain Punch, Earthquake, and Rock Slide; furthermore, if you got one with the Dream World ability Unburden, you can use the killer Flying Gem + Acrobatics combo and get a doubled speed on top of all of that! His design is also awesome.

#47: Froslass

Snorunt was kind of neat, but Glalie is a boring ball of ice with all Base 80 stats. Thankfully, in Gen IV GameFreak gave Snorunt an awesome new evolution in Froslass. Froslass is based on the yuki-onna, a Japanese mythical being that preys upon those lost in the cold. Froslass has the unique and very neat typing of Ghost/Ice, and while most of her stats are still rather average, she does have a much higher Base Speed. In competitive battling, this gives her one particular niche: she can easily lay down Spikes, she has a fast Taunt to stop others from stopping her from using Spikes, and being a Ghost-type, she automatically foils any attempts to Rapid Spin those Spikes away. This may not seem like much, but it was enough to get her banned from the UU tier, as she was just too good at her job. Overall, though, Froslass is a very interesting, unique Pokemon. (There; I refrained from ever using the word “cool” to describe Froslass.)

#46: Kingdra

The second Dragon to come to existence, and even back in Gen II when he had nothing in the way of a movepool, Kingdra was a significant improvement over Seadra, especially as it lacked notable weaknesses (pretty much no one used Dragon attacks in Gen II). Across the span of Gen IV, it got better as it gained new moves to use outside of Surf; it had a physical Water STAB in Waterfall that could be boosted with Dragon Dance, it had a notable Dragon STAB in Draco Meteor and Dragon Pulse, and then it got Outrage for a physical Dragon STAB. What really made Kingdra threatening was that the only Pokemon that resisted both Water and Dragon were Empoleon and Shedinja, meaning it didn't need much else other than its STAB attacks, leaving room for things like Dragon Dance, Rain Dance (to take advantage of Swift Swim), and other supporting moves. While now the dangerous Ferrothorn is among the list of Water/Dragon resistors, and in Smogon's OU tier it cannot be on the same team as Drizzle Politoed, it is still a major threat, especially as it can easily turn a rain team's weather against them. Of course, in-game no one cares if you use him with Drizzle--and the same applies with Ubers, where Kingdra actually does quite well. All in all, Kingdra is a perfect representative of the water dragons, especially with how he dominates in Rain. 

#45: Porygon-Z (and pre-evolutions)

This is really an entry for Porygon2 and Porygon-Z, who are in many ways very different Pokemon. Porygon2 has solid defensive stats, but more importantly, he can equip an Eviolite to become particularly difficult to take down. His good Special Attack means that he can dish out damage as well as take it, and he has three great abilities to use: Download, against the right opponent, can net him a free Special Attack boost; Trace is a very neat ability that allows him to particularly counter certain Pokemon (or just get a really nice ability to sweep with); Dream World ability Analytic is an ability that works well with Porygon2's low Speed to power up his attacks most of the time.

While Porygon2 is a bulky attacker, Porygon-Z is an outright glass cannon. His defensive stats aren't horrible, but compared to Porygon2 they're much worse, especially considering the lack of Eviolite. In exchange, he has a bit better Speed and much higher Special Attack. Porygon-Z is an oddball computerized duck of destruction. In addition to Porygon2's Download (and Analytic, though it isn't quite as good with his higher Speed), he also gets Adaptability, which takes his Normal-type Tri Attack STAB and gives it a boost in power, allowing him to do a ton of damage.

Both Porygon2 and Porygon-Z get all sorts of cool moves to attack with, such as Ice Beam, Thunderbolt/Discharge, Dark Pulse, and assorted extra moves like Recover, Toxic, and Trick Room for the slower, defensive Porygon2 or Agility, Nasty Plot, and Trick for the more offensive Porygon-Z. Both also use Tri Attack for STAB, which is a fun move that can either burn, freeze, or paralyze an opponent. These are definitely very interesting electronic ducks.

Top 100 Pokemon: Digest Edition #64-#55

Here's the next set of Pokemon from my Top 100.

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#64: Sharpedo

Here’s what you need to know about this guy. First of all, he’s a shark crossed with a torpedo. That alone is both awesome and terrifying. Second, he has great Attack and respectable Special Attack but paper-thin defenses, making him the very definition of a glass cannon (the addition of physical Water and Dark moves in Gen IV help him a lot here). Third, he can create earthquakes. And finally, because this isn’t scary enough (at least not with his kinda-low Base 95 Speed), in Gen V, GameFreak gave him freaking Speed Boost from the Dream World. So we have an accelerating torpedo shark that hits brutally hard, creates earthquakes, and gets harder to get away from the longer he’s alive. If a bunch of these guys ever form a tornado, we’re screwed.

#63: Meloetta

I admittedly have not had much chance yet to actually play around with Meloetta, but there’s still a lot I love about her. She has a very cool concept, in which through singing a Relic Song, she turns from the singing, specially-offensive Aria Forme to the dancing, physically-offensive Pirouette Forme. Her design remains elegant and musical-themed throughout all this, and this ability combined with very good stats for both forms makes her a unique sort of threat in battle. That said, I’m mostly a fan of her concept and design, which all come off as very interesting.

#62: Sawsbuck (and Deerling)

A number of things stand out about Sawsbuck. There’s his different appearances in different seasons, which is a very cool design concept. He also has two nice abilities in Chlorophyll and Sap Sipper, the former making him a good member of Sun teams, and the latter making him good at warding off opposing Grass-types. He has a signature move, Horn Leech (a physical Giga Drain), which is cool, as well as a more extensive movepool including things like Jump Kick, Wild Charge, and Nature Power. The combination of his various designs and his somewhat unique presence as a physical Grass-type with a Normal touch put this guy (and his adorable pre-evolution) on this list.

#61: Magnezone (and pre-evolutions)

As I am a fan of Electric-types, it should come as no surprise that I would have room for Magnezone on my list. There are a number of cool attributes about him. For one, he’s got a unique ability in Magnet Pull, which keeps Steel-types from escaping; in competitive battling, this means Magnezone is a great way of getting rid of Steel-types that are giving you and your dragons trouble. In-game it’s not as notable, since no one bothers switching out in-game, but it does have the side bonus of making it easier to encounter Steel-types in the wild, which is useful when hunting down some of the rarer Steel-types. Magnezone also gets the upgraded Sturdy to live through at least one earthquake, or Analytic from the Dream World, which works because Magnezone is rather slow. He has a pretty killer Special Attack, though, and he can easily electrify the competition with moves like Thunderbolt and Flash Cannon. He’s also the first Pokemon to change types across generations, being one of the heralds of the Steel-type. And finally, anyone who’s wanted more out of Join Avenue in BW2 should know the value of the Magnemite Coil, in which Magnemites are placed on the GTS to be traded for each other and thus rack up visitors.

#60: Excadrill

The Simon to Krookodile’s Kamina, Excadrill is a drilling mole with a steel helmet that will tear through the opposition without mercy. The guy already looks ferocious, but his incredible Attack and ability to double his speed in sandstorm through Sand Rush make him so powerful that he was actually banned from Smogon’s OU tier and is considered an Uber! Add in Swords Dance and Rapid Spin and you have a Pokemon that can stand up even to Uber’s domineering giants. This guy must run on Spiral Power or something.

#59: Clefable (and pre-evolutions)

Clefable and her pre-evolutions have always been favorites of mine. For starters, they were the first to be known for Metronome, by far the most fun attack in the game; sometimes, one wants to do nothing more than just spam Metronome and see what crazy moves come up, or even coordinate a Metronome Battle where everyone’s just throwing out whatever move the RNG wants to give them. However, should you want to use her in battle, she’s also capable of fighting seriously, thanks to her ability Magic Guard (which she alone possessed when she was given the ability in Gen IV). Magic Guard’s ability to prevent all passive damage means that Clefable can do everything from batter things with recoil-free Double-Edge, launch fearsome attacks from a Life Orb without pain, hold a Toxic Orb and be immune to any status that actually cripples her while launching powerful Facades, slot in comfortably on Sandstorm or Hail teams, or just enjoy all the various benefits of this powerful ability while doing stuff from her absolutely insane movepool.

#58: Crawdaunt

I’ve spent some of my childhood in Louisiana and have a love of crawfish as a result, but rest assured that my love for Crawdaunt has nothing to do with wanting to eat him. Rather, it has to do with his cool design and his battle prowess, in which he takes a high Attack stat, a Dream World ability of Adaptability (and he’s easily the best user of the ability, as Water and Dark have really good coverage between the two of them), and the ability to overcome his low Speed with Dragon Dance, all to create a fearsome crawfish that is more likely to make a meal out of the opponent.

#57: Mienshao (and Mienfoo)

A design and concept based on Chinese martial arts is already one major point for these guys. They’re also really cool in battle. Mienshao has an incredibly high Attack and great Speed, allowing him to hit hard and hit fast, especially with Hi Jump Kick. (He even has good Special Attack, though that’s more interesting for simulator battles where he can run Hidden Power Ice to hit some threats.) He has nice abilities; Regenerator is probably the most interesting, restoring 1/3 of his HP upon switching out, which synergizes well with U-Turn and Baton Pass, both of which he can learn. His Dream World ability Reckless makes Hi Jump Kick even more powerful, and Inner Focus is most useful in Doubles, where he can use Fake Out and be safe from opposing Fake Outs. Even his pre-evolution, Mienfoo, is an absolute terror in Smogon’s Little Cup, being considered possibly the best Pokemon there. Finally, one other thing I like about Mienshao is how stylish he is for a Fighting-type.

#56: Staraptor

Smogon describes this guy as an Angry Bird, and I find the description rather fitting. He flies headlong into battle, causes massive destruction very quickly, then just as quickly disappears in a puff of feathers (back into your Pokeball). Staraptor looks awesomely fearsome, but he is best known for breaking the trend of “starter birds” being generally not too good; he has the Attack and Speed needed to be offensively strong, and he has a great movepool that includes Close Combat to hit opponents that resist his other moves. However, I find the kamikaze nature of Staraptor’s battling style most interesting; his best STAB moves, Double-Edge and Brave Bird, are both recoil moves, and even Close Combat fits this style, as it lowers his defenses afterwards. Couple all this with low Defense stats and you have a Pokemon that won’t last long on the battlefield, but will completely tear up that field as long as it’s out there. It does get Intimidate to help mitigate its low Defense, or you can go with his Dream World ability Reckless, which fits this kamikaze battling style even better. This is a Pokemon whose battling style gives it quite a bit of personality, and in addition to his design and being by far the best of the starter birds makes Staraptor a truly awesome bird of prey.

#55: Terrakion

The first of the “musketeers” legendary trio, which is overall my favorite legendary trio (or quartet), Terrakion is actually my third favorite out of the four (Cobalion was the one that got left out). There’s plenty of reason to like this guy. He’s clearly the offensive powerhouse of the four, with an incredibly high Attack and great Speed, while his only really lacking stat is Special Attack, which is easy to ignore. He has a unique type, Rock/Fighting, that has incredible coverage with very few Pokemon that can resist both types of attacks, and he definitely has attacks to use, such as Close Combat, Sacred Sword, Stone Edge, and Rock Slide for doubles. The incredible coverage Terrakion has from just two moves means he has little use for coverage moves, allowing him to use remaining moveslots for stuff like Swords Dance, Rock Polish, Quick Attack, Stealth Rock, or what have you. His design is the more brutish of the four, fitting his concept of being based on Porthos from the original The Three Musketeers, though I do like the designs of the two musketeers later to come more. Still, with his incredible offensive presence, he is a great Pokemon; there’s a reason I kept a spot on my team open for him in White2.