XY Ramblings #3: New Dual-Types

One of the things I look forward to in any new generation of Pokemon is not just the new Pokemon, but new, unique dual-typings for those Pokemon. Some of my favorite Pokemon to be introduced each generation in the past had unusual type pairings that made them particularly interesting. Gen VI is no exception, though with the introduction of the Fairy-type, a large number of these “new” dual-types are Fairy dual-types, which are definitely cool, though I’ve already covered them in my last ramblings, so they will not be covered here. Here, though, are the new dual-types of Pokemon X and Y outside of all those fairies…

 

Normal paired with all sorts of types: Besides Fairy, Normal was surprisingly the type to get a number of dual-types. In fact, Normal has now been paired with more types than Fairy, and the same number of types as Poison! In particular, there are three new part-Normal dual-types.Note that defensively, they all gain a Fighting weakness and a Ghost immunity.

 

Diggersby, the evolved form of Bunnelby, is a Normal/Ground-type. He is in a way the Rattata/Zigzagoon/Bidoof/Patrat of this generation, being a common Normal-type that has a single evolution and statwise isn’t much to speak of. That said, he has the hidden ability Huge Power, which means he is potentially quite dangerous, wielding one of the strongest Earthquakes in the game. Typing-wise, he does have the advantage of hitting most Rock- and Steel-types his Normal STAB isn’t effective against, though he will struggle against ones that are part Flying or have Levitate, as well as Ghosts with those properties.

 

Pyroar and his pre-evolution Litleo are Fire/Normal-types. (Yes, Normal is their secondary type.) He has a cool design and has solid Special Attack and Speed, although not much else to distinguish him from other Fire-types, aside from currently being the only Pokemon to resist both Fairy and Ghost. He’ll struggle against Rock-types, too, though at least most Steel-types won’t give much trouble.

 

And then there is Heliolisk and his pre-evolution Helioptile, who are Electric/Normal-types. He has good Special Attack and Speed like Pyroar, and also has some interesting abilities, such as Sand Veil, Dry Skin, and even Solar Power for a hidden ability. He also has a movepool that includes, among other things, Surf, because being based on a basilisk lizard, he can run across water; the move also complements his STAB coverage pretty well. Pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. Electric-types have always been cool, though; it’s just too bad that he’s the only new one outside of Mega Evolutions and Dedenne.

 

Ghost/Steel: One of the more notable dual-types to come out of this generation, Ghost/Steel is the typing of the family of possessed swords, Honedge, Doublade, and Aegislash. The type comes with numerous resistances and immunities, though Steel no longer resisting Ghost and Dark means that both of Ghost’s weaknesses remain. Still, a Steel-type that is completely immune to Fighting is always cool. (Aegislash is cool for another reason, which I will ramble about later.) Offensively, these blades get Sacred Sword for that still-near-perfect Ghost/Fighting coverage, which is only stopped by any Normal-type that had Trick-or-Treat used on them.

 

Dark/Psychic: The type of Inkay and Malamar, who have their unique aspects outside of their typing (Contrary Superpower, anyone?). Dark/Psychic has only a few weaknesses, but one of those is a 4x weakness to Bug, meaning you have to watch out for U-Turns. Fairy-type moves are also super-effective. The type also lacks any resistances outside of its Psychic immunity. So it’s a cool type, but defensively not really the best for competitive play. Still, Contrary Superpower.

 

Poison/Dragon: This typing only applies for Dragalge, the evolved form of Skrelp (who is a Water/Poison-type). Dragalge is one of the few Pokemon not to be completely screwed over by Fairy-types, as he is neutral to their attacks and can hit them back with STAB super-effective Poison attacks. Having a high Special Defense also helps a lot, and can learn Water-type attacks to deal with Steel/Fairy-types. (Just watch out for Ferrothorn.)

 

Rock/Dragon: Once again, the new Pokemon generation brings with it new fossil Pokemon that are Rock-types, this time with two new dual-types. Tyrunt and Tyrantrum are Rock/Dragon types, and finally provide Pokemon with a proper T.Rex Pokemon. He has great Attack and Defense, and looks fearsome to boot. Just watch out, as he does still have a fair number of weaknesses, even with Rock’s normal weaknesses of Water and Grass neutralized.

 

Rock/Ice: The other fossil Pokemon, Amaura and Aurorus, feature the unique Rock/Ice type. As cool as this typing is, keep in mind that both Rock and Ice are known for having numerous weaknesses, and combined, the only weaknesses that get neutralized is Ice’s weakness to Fire. Meanwhile, it has weaknesses to Water, Grass, Ground and Rock and 4x-weaknesses to Fighting and Steel, while only resisting Normal, Ice, Poison, and Flying. But that’s enough that’s bad about these icy dinosaurs’ typing. They have a good offensive typing and can use their Refrigerate ability to turn their Nature Power-turned-Tri Attack into an Ice-type attack, making it the only Ice-type attack that can cause a burn. He also has a unique move, Freeze Dry, which is an Ice-type attack that is super-effective against Water-types. And above all, he’s a dinosaur of auroras and ice, and looks really elegant. Probably not a Pokemon that’ll shake up the competitive scene, but he’s still cool.

 

Fighting/Flying: One of the most long-awaited dual-types, Fighting/Flying is the type of Hawlucha, the luchador hawk. “Luchador hawk” is already full of win, and as a bonus, Fighting/Flying has very solid offensive coverage, currently only resisted by Electric/Flying-types, base form Rotom, and Aegislash. Defensively, he gets a number of useful resistances, including a 4x-resistance to Bug, as well as a Ground immunity; plus, he’s a Flying-type that is not weak to Stealth Rock. This plus Hawlucha’s high Speed and solid Attack make him quite a threatening little guy. As for why he’s so highly requested, Fighting was the one type to not have been paired with Flying as of Gen V, and now between Hawlucha and Togekiss’s becoming a Fairy-type, Flying has now been paired with every single other type.

 

Ghost/Grass: Gardenia’s worst nightmare has come true as there are not one but two families of Ghost/Grass-types. First of all, there is Phantump and Trevenant, who are based on ents/treants with an extra flavor of ghost possession (Phantumps are possessed by the souls of children who got lost in the forest… GameFreak, always providing plenty of Nightmare Fuel with their Ghost-types). They have great Attack and decent defenses but low Speed. The other Ghost/Grass-types are Pumpkaboo and Gourgeist, based off the classic Halloween item known as the jack-o-lantern. They are unusual in that they can come in four different sizes, each with varying stats; larger ones are stronger but slower, while smaller ones are weaker but faster. Regardless of size, they all have great defenses and attack primarily physically. Both of these families learn Phantom Force, which is basically a weaker Shadow Force, with the same property of attacking past Protect-type moves. Their typing removes Grass’s normal Poison and Bug weaknesses too. They’re both cool Pokemon and I’m sure Gardenia will come to love them eventually (once she stops being scared of them).

 

These are all the new dual-types introduced in this game. Now to look at what’s left as far as unmatched dual-types…

This chart notes all the possible Dual-types (and mono-types) in Pokemon and in which generation the first fully evolved (non-Arceus) Pokemon of that dual-type appeared:

Red = Red/Blue, Orange = Gold/Silver, Yellow = Ruby/Sapphire, Green = Diamond/Pearl, Blue = Black/White, Purple = X/Y

Notes:

*1: Only appears as an alternate Forme of Meloetta, who is normally a Normal/Psychic and can only turn into Normal/Fighting in-battle after using Relic Song.

*2: These Pokemon (the alternate Rotom forms, Magneton, and the various “new” Fairy-types) existed in previous generations but gained the indicated typing in the corresponding generation.

*3: There currently exists an unevolved Pokemon of this type (Surskit), but no fully-evolved Pokemon with this type.

*4: Before the indicated generation, there were unevolved and not-fully-evolved Pokemon of this type (Nincada for Bug/Ground, Dratini/Dragonair for pure Dragon).

*5: Before Gen V, it was possible to have an Arceus form with this mono-type. It was also possible for Kecleon to temporarily become this type through Color Change, or for a member of the Porygon family to become this type through Conversion2.

So that's all for dual-typed Pokemon. The next question, though, is given all these new types, what are the best two-type attack combos to get the most neutral coverage against all these Pokemon, especially the new Fairy-types? That will be the subject of my next ramblings...

But first, an intermission!

Ramblings #3.5: Random Changes to Types

Three fun little changes have been made to three types:

Electric-types can no longer be paralyzed.

Grass-types are immune to any "Powder" or "Spore" moves.

Ghost-types cannot be trapped by any move or ability. (This includes Magnet Pull for Aegislash.)

Not much else to say, except that the Grass-type buff is also clearly to nerf the dominance of Spore.

XY Ramblings #2: The Fairy-Type

One of the big new changes for Gen VI is the introduction of the new Fairy-type. This is the first new type introduced to Pokemon since Dark and Steel were introduced in Gen II, and not only are several of the new Pokemon of this type, but several older Pokemon have either had Fairy added to their typing or had their typing completely overwritten to Fairy-type.

 

First, let’s look at how the Fairy-type fares in battle, as far as type advantages and disadvantages go.

 

Offensively, Fairy-type attacks are…

Super-effective against: Fighting, Dragon, Dark

Not very effective against: Fire, Poison, Steel

 

Defensively, Fairy-types are…

Weak to: Poison, Steel

Resistant to: Fighting, Bug, Dark

Immune to: Dragon

 

Conceptually, the mystical Fairy-type is actually pretty close to the frequently-requested Light-type, especially with moves like Dazzling Gleam and Moonblast, which does offer some explanation for their strength against Dark and, to some extent, Fighting. Fairies being weak to Steel is an important conceptual point; faeries in folklore traditionally had a weakness to “cold iron”, which is like poison to them. That poison itself is also one of their weaknesses is probably just as fitting. As for their complete dominance over Dragons, that’s mainly attributable to their overall mystical power, I suppose.

 

Competitively, though, the Fairy-type was intended to keep Dragon-types from being broken, which is clearly in effect with their complete immunity to Dragon-type attacks. Their strength against Fighting-types also helps balance out what is another strong typing in the game. Their strength against Dark-types may be more of a conceptual thing, but it also helps balance out a particular buff Dark-type attacks got, not to mention that Dark-type attacks are common and frequently used as coverage alongside Fighting.

 

Another notable balancing aspect is Fairy’s weaknesses; Poison and Steel are notable for being among the weakest offensive types in the game. Outside of Fairy-types, Poison is only super-effective against Grass, while many Pokemon are resistant to it and Steel-types are outright immune. Steel only has weaknesses to Ice and Rock, which already have numerous weaknesses, and are resisted by some common types, particularly Water. This change gives those two types some more offensive presence.

 

Now, you may be thinking that Steel doesn’t need yet another type that it resists. However, in exchange for resisting Fairy-type attacks, Steel-types are no longer resistant to Ghost- and Dark-type attacks, now taking neutral damage from them. This new advantage to Dark helps balance out their weakness to Fairy, but Ghost-types only benefit from this, as now their attacks are only resisted by Normal (immunity) and Dark. I will talk about this more in a later Rambling about dual-types and their offensive coverage.

 

For now, though, let’s take a look at notable Fairy-type Pokemon and moves.

 

First of all, offensively, there are really only three notable Fairy-type attacks. There is only one physical Fairy-type attack: Play Rough. It’s a solid attack, with 90 base power, 90% accuracy, and a 10% chance of lowering the target’s Attack. Given the lack of alternatives, it works; kind of like Aqua Tail but with a secondary effect. On the special side, there is Dazzling Gleam, which has 80 base power, 100% accuracy, and no side effect, and is a TM, and Moonblast, which has 95 base power, 100% accuracy, and a 30% chance of lowering the opponent’s Special Attack. Moonblast is kind of odd, in that it’s stronger than Dazzling Gleam in every way and has more PP (15 vs. 10); there’s also how it has 95 BP, when many other special attacks with that power (Surf, Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam) were reduced to 90 BP. Definitely an oddity. Dazzling Gleam probably has the lone advantage of better distribution, as it is a TM, but many Fairy-types will learn Moonblast already.

 

Now for some new Fairy-type Pokemon. Here are all the Pokemon that were introduced this generation that are Fairy-type:

 

Flabebe/Floette/Florges: These flower-based Fairy-types that are totally not Grass-type are among the more notable new Pokemon of this type. They have high Special Defense and numerous Grass-type moves, and are solid Pokemon overall. Also, Floette is absolutely adorable. Wish I could say the same for Florges, though, who just looks weird… Also, Flower Veil and Symbiosis are useless in singles, but might be useful in doubles/triples… actually, that’s a thing that will come up a lot.

 

Sylveon: Probably the most notable new Fairy-type, in part because she is the new Eeveelution. Sylveon has an incredible Special Defense and good Special Attack, plus decent HP. She can probably make a solid Calm Mind user with Moonblast and Shadow Ball… and then you might as well have Skill Swap because let’s be honest, you’re probably not going to get a whole lot of mileage out of Cute Charm. Though Sylveon is definitely cute. Probably my favorite of the new Fairy-types.

 

Spritzee/Aromatisse: These aroma-based Pokemon have decent defensive stats and an okay Special Attack, but incredibly low Speed. Their Healer and Aroma Veil abilities, while interesting, are only useful in double/triples; GameFreak does seem to be going for a thing where many of their Fairy-types are to be supporters in multi-battles.

 

Swirlix/Slurpuff: These sugary Pokemon are definitely a jack-of-all-stats, master of none family of Pokemon. Again, Sweet Veil is only useful in doubles/triples, though at least their hidden ability, Unburden, has use in singles. Still not exactly one of the better Fairy-types in the game.

 

Dedenne: Every generation has had a new Pokemon that is some sort of cute electric Pikachu-like rodent, with Pichu in Gen II, Plusle and Minun in III, Pachirisu in IV, and Emolga in V. This generation has Dedenne, who is also part-Fairy and is rather reminiscent of a tinier Raichu. Cute as he is, like others before him, his stats keep him from being a particularly good Pokemon.

 

Carbink: As a Rock/Fairy type, Carbink isn’t weak to Poison but takes quadruple damage from Steel. Carbink’s most notable quality is his stat build that is similar to Shuckle, having a high Base 150 Defense and Special Defense but rather poor base 50 stats elsewhere. There are some uses for this guy, especially if he has his hidden ability Sturdy, as he can set up Stealth Rock pretty reliably. He’s also based on a carbuncle, which is pretty cool.

 

Klefki: Probably my second favorite of the new Fairy-types. Klefki is a Fairy/Steel type, which is cool in that he becomes immune to the Poison-type attacks Fairy is normally weak against, and loses the Steel weakness as well, while Fairy negates Steel’s Fighting weakness. That leaves Fire and Ground as his lone weaknesses. Klefki’s stats aren’t too impressive, but he has one cool trick up his sleeve: Prankster. Prankster is a fun ability that Klefki can definitely put to use, especially with Spikes. That he’s basically an animate keyring is just funny.

 

Xerneas: Naturally, one of the new Legendaries of this game is a Fairy-type. Xerneas has overall high stats with particularly high Attack and Special Attack, and his Fairy Aura ability gives his Fairy-type moves extra power. He has an unusual signature move, Geomancy, which has a charge turn like Solarbeam and Sky Attack, except that rather than attacking, on the next turn, his Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed go up 2 levels each (basically he gets 2 Quiver Dances). It’s probably one of the better charge-turn moves as you can’t just switch in a Pokemon resistant to the incoming attack, though you can interrupt it with Taunt or sleep. Xerneas also has a very pretty design, especially with all the multicolored gems on his antlers. Overall, he’s a cool Legendary.

 

Now for some of the various Pokemon that have become Fairy-type…

 

Cleffa/Clefairy/Clefable: Clefable is one of my favorite Pokemon, and it’s definitely cool, if not expected, that she’d become a Fairy-type. In fact, Clefable completely loses her Normal typing and is a pure Fairy-type. That said, aside from the extra ability to slay Dragons, Clefable still remains cool for her past abilities, namely causing all sorts of havoc with Magic Guard, or potentially messing with stat-boosters with Unaware. As a bonus, Clefable’s Special Attack got a slight boost from base 85 to base 95.

 

Igglybuff/Jigglypuff/Wigglytuff: Unlike Clefable, Wigglytuff has her Fairy-typing added to her Normal-typing. Wigglytuff also gets a slight boost to her Special Attack, from 75 to 85; in addition, she gets another, non-hidden ability, Competitive, which boosts her Special Attack if her stats drop, which is better than Cute Charm at least. Wigglytuff probably isn’t going to rock the competitive scene anytime soon still, but at least her new typing and boosts might make give her more of a role in NU.

 

Mime Jr./Mr. Mime: These mimes’ Psychic/Fairy typing is an interesting one, as Fairy negates Psychic’s Bug and Dark weaknesses, meaning Mr. Mime has less to fear from U-Turn and Pursuit. He’s also a great anti-Fighting-type, and can attempt to hit Poison-types with a super-effective Psychic-type attack. Mr. Mime can potentially make more use of his abilities, too; Soundproof can help as sound-based attacks can otherwise pass through Substitutes, while Technician can be used with Hidden Power, which is now locked at 60 Base Power. Again, probably won’t shake up the metagame too much, but definitely an improvement.

 

Togepi/Togetic/Togekiss: Like Clefable, these Pokemon have their Normal-typing replaced with Fairy, which also makes Togetic and Togekiss Fairy/Flying. This makes them completely immune to the Dragon/Ground combination that is popular with Pokemon like Garchomp. Togekiss is still a favorite Pokemon of mine, and being able to stand up to one of the most monstrous Pokemon of past generations just makes her that much cooler.

 

Azurill/Marill/Azumarill: Now Water/Fairy-type, Azumarill is best known for having Huge Power, which makes her actually incredibly powerful despite a seemingly low Base 50 Attack. (Remember that all stat points from EVs and IVs get boosted as well!) In addition to this, Water/Fairy has surprisingly good neutral coverage, only being resisted by Water/Poison, Water/Steel, Grass/Poison, and Grass/Steel. One additional boost that Azumarill gets is that, because females can now pass down Egg Moves, Azumarill may finally be able to use a Belly Drum + Aqua Jet combo, combining what would be an absolutely terrifying Attack stat with a priority move to absolutely demolish foes. Azumarill may be one of those Pokemon who becomes a favorite of mine after all these little changes.

 

Snubbull/Granbull: Like the Clefairy family, Snubbull and Granbull are classified as Fairy Pokemon in the Pokedex, and as such, they lose their Normal-typing completely to become pure Fairy. Not much has changed with them otherwise. It’s pretty fitting, though, for a pair of bulldogs to like to Play Rough.

 

Ralts/Kirlia/Gardevoir: My 10^th favorite Pokemon of all time pre-Gen VI, Gardevoir gains a Fairy-typing that benefits her quite a bit. Gardevoir’s biggest change, though, is that she gets a Mega Evolution that really buffs up her stats. Gardevoir should easily remain one of my favorite Pokemon of all time, and is definitely my favorite Fairy-type.

 

Mawile: Now a Steel/Fairy type, Mawile is still fairly unremarkable if not for her Mega Evolution, which increases her stats and gives her Huge Power, and running off base 100 Attack to start! Given Mawile’s lack of weaknesses and Intimidate to switch in easier, she can easily get in to Mega Evolve and start wrecking things.

 

Whimsicott: Note that in this case, only Whimsicott gains the additional Fairy-type to become Grass/Fairy; Cottonee is still pure Grass. Also, Whimsicott hasn’t really changed much; she’s still a complete Prankster that would rather mess with the opponent with random priority status moves than attack with her low attacking stats.

 

Arceus: Finally, let’s not forget that Arceus can now become a Fairy-type with a Pixie Plate. In Ubers, which is full of Dragon-types, Fairy Arceus could be a good anti-Dragon Pokemon.

 

There are other old Pokemon that can potentially become Fairy-type (mainly Legendaries), which we will find out when Pokemon Bank is released December 25^th.

 

Overall, I think the Fairy-type is a cool type and a great addition to Pokemon. It’d be nice if there were more notable attacks and some better Pokemon with the typing, as right now most of the best Fairy-types are from older generations. Some further development with this type could help shape it to be one of my favorite types, as there’s already a lot about the mystical nature of Fairy-types that I like conceptually, and there are some potentially interesting dual-types that can come out of this (as already demonstrated with Klefki).

 

For now, though, I’ll just have fun destroying everything with Azumarill and Mega Gardevoir.

 

Next time, we look at what new, interesting dual-types have appeared, and which ones have yet to officially show up still.

XY Ramblings #1: Introduction

In this series, I ramble about different notable things about Pokemon X and Y. (Mainly X, since that's the version I've played and beaten already.)

Overall, I'm enjoying this game a lot. There are definitely things it has improved on compared to last generation, and things that I feel are either a step backwards or just perhaps not really executed that well. Still, it's a good game that I'll definitely enjoy for a good while.

Here are some fun facts about my X version playthrough:

As I have always done starting from Gen III, I played as the female character for my first playthrough. I chose the light-skinned, blonde initial character and named her Karen, after Karen Kujo from the anime series Kin-iro Mosaic. Nicknames for many of my team members are also taken from that show.

My team that beat the Champion was:

- Delphox ("Curry", because curry is spicy)
- Blastoise ("Wataru", because it sounds kind of like Water)
- Florges ("Aya", the most fairy-like of the Kinmosa girls)
- Doublade/Aegislash (never did realize I could use a Dusk Stone to evolve him until after beating the game; "Shinobu" because that's the one name of the five girls that could still be a male name for the male Doublade; justified after fighting a male Black Belt with that name)
- Hawlucha ("Youko", the most energetic of the girls)
- Ampharos ("Alice", because she's golden)

Aegislash and Hawlucha are the top contenders for favorite new Gen VI Pokemon. All the Starters are great as well.

Next time, I will talk about the new type that was introduced this Gen... the mystical Fairy-type!

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

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

---

#5: Ninetales (and Vulpix)

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

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

#4: Celebi

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

#3: Rotom

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

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

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

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

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

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

#2: Starmie (and Staryu)

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

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

#1. Lanturn (and Chinchou)

(source unknown)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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#15: Espeon (and Eevee)

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

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

#14: Lapras

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

#13: Galvantula (and Joltik)

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

#12: Absol

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

#11: Gallade

#10: Gardevoir (and pre-evolutions)

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

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

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

#9: Lilligant (and Petilil)

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

#8: Blastoise (and pre-evolutions)

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

#7: Skarmory

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

#6: Latias

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

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

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

I REGRET NOTHING. (Art by amanda amada)