#54 + #55: Psyduck and Golduck

Ok, these two Pokemons' names were supposed to be the other way around, so we're already off to a great start...

Psyduck, the duck with a permanent headache, and whose name lies to you: it's not psychic-type, just water. It's fairly cute, so that may be why some people might choose to use it, since its stats are pretty average, a jack of all trades and master of none, really... Actually, that may be unkind, since its special attack is the same as Persian's, and nearly as high as Persian's attack, too (Psyduck has 65 special, Persian (who is fully evolved) only has 70 attack to carry it). The main issue is that it hasn't got anything to couple to: 50 HP and special defence and 48 defence means it's not really survivable, and 55 speed sort of lies in that limbo where it's too slow to be able to outspeed anything, and too quick to really be used on a trick room team. The attack stat, which is now fairly inconsequential, is just 52...

Has he been out drinking again?

With Persian, the poor attack was pretty much made up for by one of the best abilities in the game: technician. With technician, the low attack was sort of compensated by huge boosts to weaker moves that either got decent priority or had high extra effect chances (like bite or water pulse or whatever). Psyduck has some reasonable abilities: damp (isn't one of the reasonable abilities as all it does is shut down self-destruct/explosion and the ability aftermath, so it doesn't get much usage), cloud nine (negates weather effects, so reasonable but remember it can kill your own rain dance) and swift swim (probably the most useful since it doubles your speed in rain, sort of like chlorophyll but it doesn't need to make you insanely vulnerable, other than to increased accuracy thunder, actually). If you run swift swim, remember that you'll probably need another Pokemon to initiate the rain for you (or do it in doubles) since you aren't very survivable. This makes up for the dreadful speed we saw, doubling the base and EV investment. Nice!

So, Psyduck is kind of up in the air at the moment, meaning that the movepool is more a deciding factor... Keep in mind you evolve at level 33, and there are slight changes there, too.

We start with water sport which is pretty unnecessary, as it weakens fire when attacking something that resists fire and thus will never see a fire attack coming its way. You also get scratch and tail whip fairly early on, and then STAB special water gun, which is only base 40 (same as scratch) but at least it's progress. Going with the name but not the actual typing, you can then pick up 50 base special psychic-type confusion, which can be decent as coverage (especially since Chesnaught became a thing), but then you get fury swipes, which I've talked about before: low power hitting as a normal-type phsyical for 2 to 5 turns, so can be good, can be dreadful, but can be a sash breaker...

Moving on up to water pulse, and this could well be one of the better moves you'll have before evolving (base 60 water special with chance to confuse). Disable is a possible move if you work on survivability as it stops the use of the move that last hit you, which can be incredibly frustrating, but mainly works if you can survive fairly well or if they are trying to do a baton pass chain, for example. Screech can work to derail their speed, so not dreadful since it drops it two stages. Aqua tail is pretty powerful, but it is physical (90 base 90% accuracy) and has no secondary effect, unlike zen headbutt, which can flinch but is psychic physical, same accuracy and lower power (80 base). From here, you could evolve.

The first of the moves you could get if you evolve late is soak, which adds water type to a Pokemon, whether friend of foe, so this could have some decent tactical utility. Psych up copies the target's stat changes (both good and bad), amnesia boosts special defence by two stages, hydro pump is a very powerful STAB special attack but with lower accuracy and PP than you may be comfortable with (5PP is pretty worrying, especially if pressure or spite could come into effect), and wonder room swaps defence and special defence, so has some applications.

So far there's a couple of choices, so let's dive into the TM list to see if there's any hope. You do get a lot of the standard fare (hone claws, toxic, return, rest, double team, swagger, sleep talk and all those moves I can no longer force myself to write about or yourself to read about). The more interesting moves are moves like psyshock (80 base special psychic that uses your special attack against their physical defence, which is pretty awesome and can go well for breaking the walls they could send your way) and calm mind (boosts both special stats by a stage). Hail is available, but blizzard and ice beam lend themselves as decent coverage moves against those dastardly grass-types you never see in competitive play. Hidden power is a decent option since it's special, and can be a nice curve ball since its type varies. Light screen, protect and rain dance are all options (protect whilst a partner in doubles sets up rain dance maybe, then you could strike first with swift swim ability). Psychic and round work well, but surf is maybe a great idea since it's both useful in the overworld and one of the best water attacks. If surf doesn't do it for you, take scald at 10 less base (80 not 90) and with the chance of inflicting a burn (I like this move a lot).

Other TM moves you could pick include brick break, dig, facade, aerial ace, shadow claw, strength, power up punch, waterfall and dive. But then we get to breeding: confuse ray, clear smog, cross chop, hypnosis, future sight (beware it doesn't hit right away), mud bomb (ground special to take out electric threats), psybeam, refresh, synchronoise (only hits those of the same type but is psychic, so can hurt water-type opposition) and yawn are all decent ideas. Mud bomb is probably the best, though future sight can hurt a lot...

Going to the tutor can reward you with moves you already have, but you can also get focus punch (goes well with substitute), and icy wind (55 power but slows the foes), signal beam (decent coverage), snore (goes ok with rest), and then some iffy phsyical moves like iron tail and ice punch.

When you evolve into Golduck, you get some very nice stat increases: 80 HP, 82 attack, 90 special attack and 85 speed (consider as well swift swim) with 78 defence and 80 special defence, this makes a fairly serviceable Pokemon. Swift swim does remain as the hidden ability, so this is pretty good, but the other two fairly mediocre abilities stick around too.

Called Golduck, but isn't gold anymore... And looks like there's a sniper after it...

On evolving, you get aqua jet (which works great if you can breed it onto a huge power Marill). Remember when I said things changed? This was it, really. But it is a decent move, since it's basically a slightly more powerful water-type quick attack, so you could finish off a weakened enemy, but then again if you run swift swim in the rain with full EV investment then even Usain Bolt won't outspeed you.

As is typical when you get fully evolved, the TM list gains hyper beam and giga impact to be ignored again, but you can also get focus blast (special fighting base 120 and can lower the foe's special defence). The drawback of focus blast is low PP, whereas the drawback of hyper beam and giga impact is that they force you to miss a turn and will lead to you being screwed over. You also don't get any new moves from the tutor.

Golduck and Psyduck aren't per se bad: Golduck is actually pretty decent as a physical sweeper if you load up on some TMs, and it can be quite terrifying in the rain with swift swim, as you get the huge speed boost and boost to your water attacks (though thunder will hit reliably so you could be dead in the water (badum-tish)). Cloud nine isn't a bad ability, either, but it's a counter to others. Weigh up your options here on a Pokemon that could be pretty decent, in all truth, so long as you get the rain up.

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