#116+ #117 + #230: Horsea, Seadra and Kingdra

Another classic Pokemon that got a further evolution in the second generation, and water-type fans will be enjoying the next few blogs, but the question remains: is this family any good?

Horsea's kinda sweet, in a way. It's stats aren't, really, though. 30 HP, 40 attack, 25 special defence all seem a bit rubbish, but 60 speed, and 70 defence and special attack, which are actually rather promising. The high defence is cool, but would suggest another physical wall except the speed can pretty much allow for being a special sweeper kinda set: speed and special attack could be a good way to go. Despite being called 'dragon Pokemon', you're actually pure water-type at the moment. Your abilities are, err, ok I guess. Swift swim is arguably the best of the bunch since it doubles your speed in the rain and the rain will also make you hit harder (bonus, this is the most common ability in the game, owned by 38 Pokemon). Sniper is in no way bad, since it doubles the critical hit damage, whilst the hidden ability of damp is rather disappointing, preventing moves like self-destruct.

D'aww!

You actually get very little by level up. Bubble is a base 40 water special move that can lower the speed of the foe, and later on you can get bubble beam, which hits base 65 and has less PP, but is otherwise the same. Smokescreen lowers the target's accuracy, whilst leer drops the target's defence. Water gun is base 40 water special with no added effects and less PP than bubble and is thus vastly inferior since they have the same accuracy, too. Twister is a dragon special move that hits base 40 with a flinch chance and will hit Pokemon on the semi-invulnerable turns of bounce, fly and skydrop, hitting for double damage, which is rather nice. We've already talked about bubble beam, but here, if you have sniper, focus energy could be reasonable since it boosts critical chances. Brine is a base 65 water special attack which doubles in power when hitting a Pokemon that has less than 50% HP remaining. Agility is able to boost your speed, dragon dance raises attack (not your focus, so far at least) and speed, and dragon pulse is a base 85 dragon special move. The last move here is hydro pump, which is useless despite base 110 power as a water special because it lacks accuracy (80) and PP (5).

You get all the standard TMs, along with blizzard and ice bean, hidden power, scald (base 80 water special that can also cause a burn, and is one of my favourite moves), flash cannon (base 80 steel special that can lower the foe's special defence by a stage), surf, dive and waterfall.

You can breed in aurora beam as a special ice option, and clear smog can be chain bred in as a poison special that also resets all the target's stat changes. Muddy water is rather pointless, and so is dragon rage for most occasions but it will always hit for 40HP damage. Dragon breath hits with base 60 dragon special and has the chance to cause paralysis, and you can also take flail and outrage if you need. Octazooka is a decent water special move with 50% chance to lower the foe's accuracy, razor wind is a normal special with base 80 but needs a charging turn before hitting with a greater than average critical hit chance. Signal beam is one of the better bug-type moves in the game (base 65 special), you should all know water pulse, and you could also breed in splash if you want to be mocked. A trip to the tutor can give bounce, dragon pulse, water pulse, icy wind, outrage, signal beam and snore.

You can evolve into Seadra from level 32 for a nice set of stat increases: a 25 boost in all areas, leading to the interesting ones being base 95 for defence and special attack, and 85 for speed. You do, however, lose swift swim, it being replaced by poison point, where contact with you can result in being poisoned. The other abilities and typing remain the same.

Don't stroke this one...

Speaking of remaining the same: the level list. The TM list at least sees the arrival of hyper beam and giga impact, but no more. The tutor also contributes no more.

If you trade whilst holding a dragon scale, Seadra will become Kingdra. Kingdra gets a lot more balancing: HP is now 75, speed stays at 85, and everything else is 95, allowing it to be basically whatever it wants to be, which is rather odd, maybe even a little disappointing. To make up for this, you regain swift swim at the expense of poison point, and you also add dragon to your typing.

Not particularly regal...

That's not all you add, since you can also now learn yawn by level up and draco meteor (base 130 dragon special move that will lower the user's special attack by two stages). Yeah, not much new here either, is there.

All in all, this family is decent. Kingdra offers a fair few options and can be focused on speed with or without rain to outspeed some possible enemies. To be charitable, people may well have no idea what to expect and thus it is easy to catch them off guard, but no stats breaking the hundred base mark is a little depressing. Could be a bulky sweeper, could be a fairly hard hitting semi-tank. The choice is yours.

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