#102+ #103: Exeggcute and Exeggutor

I cringe at those names... They're pretty bad. If you hadn't guessed, they have eggs in their design, and I'm leaving it at that.

Exeggcute isn't cute, it's a clutch of angry, cracked eggs. Something else not so cute about it: poor stats. 60HP and 80 defence are actually pretty good, really, but 45 special defence is awful since you're weak to fire, ghost, poison and ice which are predominantly special focused, and you also carry several other weaknesses with being grass/psychic. You get the chlorophyll ability to double your desperate base 40 speed when in the sun (which will just lead to even more powerful fire attacks killing you anyway but softly). 40 attack and 60 special attack means that you won't really hurt anything too much. You at least get an interesting hidden ability in harvest, which 50% of the time (or always in the sun) can return a used or lost berry after each turn, which is actually pretty awesome.

They look rotten. I like eggs, but I wouldn't eat these ones...

Barrage is a weak normal physical move which can hit a few times up to 5, meaning a maximum power of 75, but an average of just 47, though it can be used as a sash breaker if anything is weak enough to actually be damaged by this mess. Uproar packs a decent punch at base 90 as normal special and will last 3 turns, whilst also preventing Pokemon in play from sleeping, which is awkward as the next move on our list is hypnosis. Reflect lasts for 5 turns (unless removed with brick break or defog, and is ignored by infiltrator) and doubles the team's physical defence. Leech seed will sap HP from foes and can be baton passed to team mates, but it can also be removed by rapid spin. Bullet seed is a physical grass move that hits up to 5 times with base 25 power per hit, which is ok until you remember that your attack is pitiful. Stun spore, poison powder and sleep powder are fairly obvious in what they do, but aren't that accurate.

Confusion is a base 50 special psychic with the chance to inflict confusion, and worry seed will temporarily change the foe's ability to insomnia, preventing sleep and awakening it. Why does this Pokemon get moves to both cause and prevent sleep, and not just one of each but two! Natural gift's power and type is determined by the held berry, but it will consume it, so this is pretty rubbish, really. Solar beam is powerful, but the temptation to use in sunlight is a big problem since you really can't even take an ember with special attack backing. Extrasensory is arguably the best move at your disposal as a psychic special attack with base 80 and a flinch chance (I like this move). The last available by level is bestow, which gives the target your held item.

You get the standard array of TM moves, including solar beam again. Here, things like hidden power and return actually stand out as possibly decent moves again. Hidden power could be a saving grace since there are so many things you can't touch and could ruin you that almost any type other than what you have will do the job. Psychic and sludge bomb are decent ideas for moves to take due to high power and being special, and facade is ok-ish, reduced in utility due to awful physical attack. Energy ball is a safer alternative to solar beam but only at base 90 rather than 120. Dream eater goes great with hypnosis or sleep powder but awfully with uproar and worry seed. Grass knot, infestation and strength (somehow) are some of the better options as well.

If for some reason you choose to breed this waste of a Pokeball into existence (maybe for the laugh of hatching some eggs from an egg), then you can get ancient power, which in addition to being a base 60 rock special can boost all your stats by one stage (can, not will). Curse is ok since your speed is around that of a dead house cat anyway, and giga drain is possibly worth the effort if you really want this Pokemon as it does decent damage (base 75 STAB special) and it gives you back some health. Moonlight and synthesis both do the exact same things, granting healing based on weather, both giving back a massive two thirds in, you guessed it, sunlight. Leaf storm would normally be almost inadvisable since it crushes your special attack by two stages after use, but you won't be hanging around long, so a base 130 special STAB attack is worth it in my book. Power split is a great argument for hindering natures and no investment in your attack stats as it averages your offensive stats with those of the foe, which is amazing for tanky Pokemon like Shuckle that do no damage but can take hits like champs, so it may well be worth it here, if only to make the foe less of a threat for the rest of your team.

Why waste time seeing the tutor for this? Yeah, you can get giga drain, skill swap, synthesis and seed bomb, but you won't use this Pokemon.

If you're willing to waste a leaf stone, you get Exeggutor, with the same awful typing and middling abilities, the standard chlorophyll being far better for other Pokemon, like ones that don't suck. I've been a little harsh on Exeggutor: it has decent stats, like 95 HP and attack, 85 defence, 125 special attack, and then it ruins it with 55 speed and only 65 special defence, meaning fire-types will still wreck your day. I guess stats can lie, since with the horrible typing, this Pokemon is still bad.

There are no words to describe how awful this design is...

If you went all the way through the moves of the previous evolution (I refuse to type out that mess of a name again), then you'll possibly want to visit the move relearner, since you get some decent moves at low levels with this, which is something which really annoys me: to get some good moves, you have to stick around to high levels, but then when you use your stone, you've missed out on gems like psyshock (level 17), egg bomb (level 27, physical normal base 100 but a bit inaccurate) and wood hammer (level 37, base 120 grass physical with recoil equal to a third of damage inflicted). Unless you really wanted bestow, you probably won't have missed out on leaf storm (level 47) and I won't describe it again.

You can at least use a TM for psyshock, but this Pokemon is still not forgive for the split movelists. Other than that, hyper beam and giga impact, you basically get nothing new from the TMs, and the tutor only adds low kick and zen headbutt (base 80 psychic physical with the chance to cause a flinch).

As far as training goes, you could make a decent mixed attacker, since the speed is so bad that investment will actually be counter-productive (use a trick room team). The thing is, no matter what you do, this Pokemon will never really be worth your time due to the massive number of weaknesses and the poor special defence. Just don't bother with it.

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