Top 100 Pokemon #84: Marowak

While a lot of Pokemon concept from the original 151 were fairly simplistic, that does not mean that they aren't creative. Take this next Pokemon family for instance. Stick a skull on a critter and give him a bone as a weapon. Simple, yet surprisingly creative, in part due to some interesting (if sometimes confusing) flavor and also through some interesting battle capabilities.

Speak softly and carry a Thick Club.

#84: Cubone/Marowak

These prehistoric-looking Pokemon have a simple yet effective concept and some pretty cool designs. Pokemon that go around clubbing foes with a bone and flinging them like boomerangs is still unique. These two Pokemon also have some... interesting Pokedex flavor text. Cubone's skull is actually supposedly the skull of his dead mother... which brings up the question of where newly-hatched Cubone get their skulls from. He also frequently cries for his dead mother, which as puzzling as it is, does make you want to just hug him and tell him that it's okay; his mother is the Marowak you have in your Box.

It's okay, son; I'm still alive and that skull isn't mine.

Perhaps the "dead mother" Cubone actually cries for is an ancestral Marowak, one that is fairly well-known especially among those who have played since the beginning: in the original Red and Blue, your progress through Lavender Tower gets blocked by a mysterious ghost that you cannot damage nor capture. If you return with a Silph Scope, the ghost is revealed to be a Marowak (making Marowak a ghost that was not a Ghost-type), who was killed by Team Rocket and whose spirit was wandering in unrest until you defeat it...

...wait a second, that's kind of brutal.

Cubone all over are then left to cry for this Marowak in sympathy.

But wait... another Pokedex entry says that there might be a Marowak graveyard where Marowak gets her bones... just what is going on with this Pokemon, anyways?

Cubone and Marowak... one of the eternal mysteries of Pokemon.

Let's talk about something much less mysterious: their battle capabilities. Though, Marowak's battle capability might seem mysterious at first glance at his Base Stats; his only standout stat is a Base 110 Defense, and his Attack is only Base 80. So how does Marowak make a competitive presence in battle? The answer is in a special hold item only he and Cubone can use: the Thick Club.

In their hands, the Thick Club doubles Marowak's Attack stat. Now, this doesn't mean that Marowak's Base Attack is 160, because it is his actual stat that doubles, and yes, that includes the additional stat points from IVs and EVs, for those who know what those are. To put this in perspective, a Marowak with absolute maximum Attack has an Attack of 568 while holding a Thick Club; Deoxys in his Attack form, the Pokemon with the highest Base Attack, has an absolute maximum Attack of 504. Simply put, Marowak with a Thick Club has the highest unboosted Attack of all Pokemon (yes, that includes Pokemon with Huge Power and Pure Power).

Mind you, that is unboosted. Marowak can learn Swords Dance, which in one use can double that stat again to a ridiculous 1136 in one turn! A Swords Dancing Marowak is so ridiculously strong that in Gen II, if your Marowak was of maximum Attack, a Swords Dance would raise his Attack so high that the game couldn't properly hold the resulting stat and it would overflow and give him an Attack stat of... 8.

So strong he's literally a Game Breaker.

His abilities are Rock Head, Lightningrod, and the Dream World ability Battle Armor. Marowak can learn Double-Edge on his own and it does offer some good neutral coverage, so Rock Head is a good ability there. Lightningrod is useless in singles as Marowak is already immune to Electric attacks, which also prevents the Special Attack boost the ability now can provide (not that Marowak should be using special attacks to start with), but it is useful in doubles and triples where he can be a good partner to Pokemon like Gyarados. Battle Armor is there in case you're not using Double-Edge and not using Marowak in doubles or triples.

Marowak's massive Attack would go to waste if he didn't have strong attacks to go with it, but he's definitely not lacking in that department. Marowak can learn Earthquake, of course, although he also has his signature move Bonemerang as an alternative. Bonemerang hits twice at Base 50 power each, making the power the same as Earthquake. The attack does have slightly lower accuracy at 90%, but can get in a hit past a Substitute and can break past Focus Sash and Sturdy. He also has Stone Edge, which provides great coverage alongside Marowak's STAB of choice. There is the aforementioned Double-Edge, which is a strong move that goes well with Rock Head and additional coverage moves like Fire Punch and ThunderPunch. He gets the aforementioned Swords Dance, if you really want to make Marowak a fearsome opponent. Marowak's high Defense and decent Base 80 Special Defense means he can go a somewhat defensive route, too, using moves like Stealth Rock and Toxic.

It's also worth noting that his Base 45 Speed, while really low, makes him a great Pokemon to use in a Trick Room.

Finally, one last mystery regarding these two: what do they look like without their skull coverings? There are some interesting pictures out there depicting various artists' guesses, as well as the crazy idea that maybe a Cubone without his cover is a... baby Kangaskhan?

...well, it's about as crazy as Kabutops -> Genesect, I guess.

Next time: _ _ _ _ _ R T _ R