#41 + #42 + #169: Zubat, Golbat and Crobat

So, we have the most common annoyance Pokemon. If you get through a cave, statistically speaking, you will have encountered 83.4 trillion Zubat before reaching daylight once more. I guess from the overwhelming encounter rate, it should be bad, but is it?

As itself, yeah, probably, because it's an unevolved Pokemon. But for a first evolution, it's quite quick (55) and the attack isn't depressingly poor (45), so it isn't so bad that you should just write it off (which would be an error considering it gained a third evolution in generation two). The issue is, that with those ok stats, the rest are indifferent at best (40 special defence and HP, 35 defence and only 30 special attack), meaning that there's only one way to use it and it can't take a hit. A one trick pony that's a glass cannon isn't always bad (see Mega Beedrill), but since the attack and speed aren't in the region of 120ish then it isn't that scary.

You've probably seen this enough times to not need the picture...

Zubat is poison/flying-type, which is ok I guess. It has just two abilities (one normal and one hidden): inner focus (normal) and infiltrator (hidden). Inner focus prevents flinching (unless affected by mold breaker, turboblaze or teravolt), whilst infiltrator ignores screens light safeguard, reflect, light screen, mist and substitute, which is actually very handy. Neither ability is bad, but infiltrator can be a ruinous ability to unleash on your foes, so if you can get it, it can be very VERY good.

You can evolve Zubat to Golbat at level 22, so what moves do you get before then? Well, leech life is fairly weak but gives you health back, which I guess is pretty good but not all that viable since you have no defence and you'll just get shredded anyway. More interesting moves are bite (you'll probably hit first, and you get a good chunk of physical attack power (60) with the chance to cause a flinch), wing attack (decent physical STAB on the flying side of things) and confuse ray (100% chance to confuse, and it directly replaces supersonic, which you may already have had). Air cutter, though similarly powered to wing attack and with the chance to flinch, is special, and since your special attacks hit about as hard as a newborn kitten, it isn't really worth it for now (maybe later Golbat and Crobat have huge leaps on special, but even then, physical is much better). You also get access to astonish, which is weak but again with a decent flinch chance and gives ghost-type coverage. No more moves are learned before you could evolve, but some are still there.

At 23, you get access to swift, again special. Poison fang is decent (base 55, STAB poison physical with a chance to inflict status), mean look prevents opponents escaping (which can be handy in catching roaming legendaries, or trapping Pokemon into situations where they can't really do anything to you, making them waste moves and then struggle, which is a nice sadistic plan), haze resets all stat boosts or reductions to zero (punish those baton pass teams!) and quick guard (which prevents being hit by most priority moves like quick attack). You can also pick up air slash and my beloved venoshock, but these are both special, so unless you want to run a special variant of the evolved forms (sacrificing a better attack stat for a surprise) then don't bother. The last level-up move to mention is quite interesting. Whilst wing attack has decent power and a huge PP (35), acrobatics carries only 55 base and 15PP, so why bother mentioning it? Both moves can hit non-adjacent foes in triple battles, but acrobatics get double the base power when you don't have an item, making it hit pretty hard!

TM wise, you get a lot of the standards like protect, hidden power, sunny day/rain dance, toxic, double team, rest, sleep talk, swagger, substitute, facade (but since you're immune to poison, burn reduces attack drastically and paralyze wrecks your speed then it isn't worth existing with a status affliction here so you just get the decent base 70 from a normal-type move) and all the ones that litter every entry so far. You can also get roost (heals but removes flying-type for a short while, exposing you to earthquake which will hit you hard), aerial ace, steel wing, fly (so if you're running with an item then it's this or wing attack, and this hits harder but is two turns) and u-turn, which hits hard as a bug move and switches you out, so good in emergencies, allowing switches whilst still hurting them. You get a smattering of good special attacks, but are they worth it? Sludge bomb (hits hard), shadow ball (for coverage and also can drop their special defence when they get hit) and venoshock and hidden power. Payback as a physical move may be worthwhile, but then again, you'll most likely outspeed and not take advantage of this.

You can breed in the heavy hitting (but recoiling) brave bird if you wish, along with curse and defog (clearing up the entry hazards that may already have scorched you somewhat). Pursuit and zen headbutt are also possibly worthwhile, but I would say that the other moves available through breeding aren't worth the effort due to being weaker versions of what you have or special. You could go for giga drain, but even though this is a good move, it's not great for the Zubat family.

Again you find giga drain AND zen headbutt from the tutor (so why breed unless you struggle with item hunting), as well as super fang and another couple of special moves that are high base power and thus wasted on Zubat. You can also get tailwind as a support move, so that isn't out of the question.

So you now have Golbat, I'm guessing. You gets significant boosts to basically every stat, making Golbat a decent Pokemon before Crobat was added, and it only got better as an option with eviolite. 90 speed, 75HP, 80 attack, 70 and 75 for the defences (+50% each with eviolite) and 65 special attack (a sizeable boost) makes for respectable reading. You'll hit fast and fairly hard, even if it is only in lower tiers. And since you have access to some decent moves as already outlined, then even though you'll have been plagued by these nuisances, catching them isn't something to forget.

Nothing screams 'I want to be friends' less than that face...

Abilities, typing, level up moves (though the levels change a bit), tutor moves and breeding all stay the same (which is great for me in terms of typing this stuff out) and the only additions by TM/HM are hyper beam and giga impact, which I hate...

The biggest problem (aside from the plaguing in caves) that I have is with needing friendship to evolve to Crobat, both because it's annoying and because it makes no sense...

Crobat's a bit of a monster, really... With EV investment and a good nature, you could maybe outspeed Mega Beedrill, and at the very least, not many things will strike first. 90 attack is not bad, with 80 in both defences and 85 HP meaning you could well stick around a bit. 70 special attack is the main drawback, but you could risk it with some monstrous moves or a well set venoshock as a nice curveball tactic to catch people out.

Ok it no longer has legs, but this is seriously badass...

Aside from gaining access to cross-poison, X-scissor and dark pulse by TM, as well as sky attack by tutor, not much changes other than the stat boosts and the cooler looking Pokemon appearance, which could be considered a shame, but why fix something already pretty decent (especially when it means less to think about).

All in all, Zubat could well be the most underrated Pokemon because it can evolve into a bit of a beast, yet we all disregard it half the time as just a pest. So much potential masked by so much annoyance. Crobat is worth a thought, at least for a second or two.

(All artwork presented by Ken Sugimori, taken from the Bulbapedia image archives)