Top 100 Pokemon #87: Tangrowth

Tangela was a relatively interesting Pokemon introduced in the first batch of 151 that had an odd stat distribution in that he was a pure Grass type with an abnormally high physical Defense. He also had a fairly high Special stat, which back then meant he took Special attacks pretty well too, but the Special split of Gen II ruined that by completely tanking his Special Defense. Still, he was an interesting, if odd, Pokemon; after all, it was a walking bundle of vines.

Then Gen IV gave it an evolution that is just beyond words.

What.

#87: Tangrowth

Seriously, Tangrowth is beyond my ability to describe him properly. The most I can gather is that he evolves from Tangela when leveled up while knowing AncientPower, so there's some kind of prehistoric theme going on here, perhaps that of a caveman... and that's all I got.

Tangrowth is a very perplexing Pokemon, in a fascinating sort of way. Who or what is that face behind all those vines? Do we really want to know? One thing's for sure, Tangrowth is by no means boring.

He's just a giant bundle of fun.

The real highlight of Tangrowth lies in his competitive aspects. Tangrowth has the highest Base Stat Total of any non-legendary Grass-type at 535; a good amount of that goes into his Defense, sitting at a nice, high Base 125. That is the third-highest Defense stat among all Grass-types, behind only Ferrothorn and the previously-covered Leafeon. Though unlike Leafeon, it's perhaps a bit more understandable why his Defense is that high; those vines look awfully dense. Not only that, but Tangrowth's Base 100 HP means his overall physical bulk is arguably the best of all Grass-types, with only the possible exception of Grass Arceus. Simply put, this guy will tank physical hits all day.

And like a tank, he not only takes a lot of damage, but dishes out a lot, too. Base 100 Attack and Base 110 Special Attack mean that he'll inflict quite a bit of pain with either physical or special moves, and that's not factoring in boosting moves like Swords Dance and Growth! His two big weaknesses, though, are a low Base 50 Special Defense and Speed; he'll fall pretty easily to special attacks, and his Speed is even lower than that of his pre-evolution, Tangela.

Now, Tangrowth does get Chlorophyll as an ability, which helps the Speed issue a bit if sun is available. Just remember that even with the doubler, a Base 50 Speed isn't going to outspeed everything. Still, Tangrowth can fit well onto sun teams with his high bulk and powerful attacks. Outside of sun, though, Tangrowth has a special tool thanks to the Dream World: the ability Regenerator. This ability restores 1/3 of his health upon switching out, which just makes him that much harder to take down.

Tangrowth's movepool has a lot of cool moves, the most notable being Power Whip. A Base 120 physical Grass move off Base 100 Attack will hurt, for sure. More than that, though, Tangrowth can use Swords Dance or Growth in the sun to raise his Attack sky-high, and with his bulk, he will easily gather a number of these boosts. After that, Power Whip will just mow down the competition.

Fierce Tangrowth is not something you want to have to face.

He also gets other great physical moves like Earthquake and Rock Slide for additional coverage.

On the other hand, if you want to use Tangrowth's higher Special Attack stat, there are plenty of options there, too. Giga Drain is a perfect fit for Tangrowth's tank role, restoring the HP lost to taking hits and making Tangrowth last even longer, all while doing solid damage against opponents. If more all-out offense is your style, Tangrowth learns Leaf Storm, a Base 140 attack that, off Base 115 Special Attack, is the single most powerful move in Tangrowth's arsenal with no stat boosts or drops. He also learns Focus Blast, of all things.

Tangrowth's support options are, like most Grass-types, numerous. Sleep Powder is obviously always a great move, and Leech Seed is yet another way Tangrowth can stay healthy for a long time. Synthesis also provides a lot of healing, though it is most effective when Tangrowth is part of a Sun team, or if you know other weather won't be around to disrupt it. He gets Knock Off just to screw with opponents that rely on items, and of course, there's the aforementioned boosting moves, Swords Dance and Growth, turning Tangrowth into a truly vicious threat.

Tangrowth is a Pokemon that is very perplexing in a charming way. We may never know just what is underneath all those vines (and some of us don't want to know), but he's cool all the same. He even has class, as evidenced by his anime appearance where he would randomly attack Pokemon that wandered into his forest with Absorb... and then leave his target a Berry to heal back up, because all he wanted to do was to get the energy to restore a dying tree.

As game-mechanic-defying as that plan is, it still cannot ignore the fact that trying to Absorb a Synthesis-using Grotle won't work that well because Synthesis has too little PP. 

And, of course, there is nothing perplexing about his competitive strength.

Next time: This Pokemon will claim an entire mountain as his territory.