#95 + #208: Onix and Steelix

Oh joy! We get to Onix and Steelix, the latter at least looking more as if it's made of the material it's named for... And it's another addition of a second generation evolution, another trade evolution, and it also needs trading with a held item... Joy, it's the holy trinity!

Onix is a big snake/rock thing, making it susceptible to grass knot or whatever. The thing that immediately leaps out at you is that it has huge physical defence (base 160), and the speed isn't too bad for an unevolved rock/ground Pokemon (base 70). Sadly, that's where the positives end... 35 HP, 45 attack and special defence and just 30 special attack. Also, the reasonable speed means that it isn't really that great on a trick room team, and it's still too slow to be viable. Rock/ground also gives it a myriad of weaknesses, including 4x to water (which is pretty common), and it's also weak to fighting, ground and steel. Yes, it can resist fire and poison fairly well, but on the off chance of grass moves (think grass knot, hidden power, or hidden ability Serperior or a Chesnaught) then you're dead.

Why does it have that ridge on its head? People won't really confuse this with a shark, surely?

As far as abilities go, you get sturdy (allows you to survive a one hit KO, but it's made irrelevant if you have any damage before the hit lands), rock head (prevents move recoil damage, but not from held items like life orb, or even the damage from missing things like jump kick, and also doesn't resist self damage from struggle), and the hidden ability is weak armour (physical attacks lower the defence and buff speed by one stage each for each hit, including each hit as separate in multi-hit attacks). None of these abilities are great, but I don't think the hidden ability is worth it...

Sorry, that got a bit out of hand... And so might this, since there are loads of moves available by level-up... Mud sport, tackle, harden and bind are all on offer at the start, with harden being arguably the best of these as it boosts defence by a stage. Mud sport lowers electric damage, but you're immune as a ground type, so therefore it only works to support allies. Curse will drop your speed a stage (which may be worth it for trick room and gyro ball), and boosts attack and defence by a stage. Rock throw is your first STAB move as a rock-type attack (who would have thought), and it's not too bad (base 50 physical, with no secondary effect) but it is entirely eclipsed by the next move in the level up, rock tomb, which is more powerful (base 60), more accurate (95 instead of 90) and can lower the foe's speed, all whilst having the same PP.

Rage is a terrible move that you shouldn't ever really consider, whilst stealth rock gives Onix a nice niche as a trap setter: throw it out first with sturdy and set the stealth rocks. Rock polish boosts your speed, but gyro ball hits the foe harder the slower you are (so rock polish lowers your damage, whilst curse both boosts your attack and lowers defence). Also, gyro ball is steel, and you can be steel type if you evolve. I like the move smack down even if it is only base 50 physical rock, since it drops levitating and flying foes to the ground, allowing them to be hit by ground moves. Dragon breath is a moderately powerful special move (60) and can paralyse the foe 30% of the time. Slam has base 80 damage as a normal physical, but it has poor accuracy (75). Screech lowers the foe's defence by two stages, rock slide packs a nice punch (base 75 physical with a decent flinch chance), and sand tomb traps them in a damaging storm for a few turns.

The rest of the level set is pretty much packed with high damage moves. Iron tail hits very hard, and will get STAB if you evolve, but it has 75 accuracy (sadly), which pretty much negates the appeal of the chance to lower the foe's defence. Dig is a good move except that it has that semi-invulnerable turn (actually not bad if you've put the foe in a sandstorm for example), but at base 80, it lacks the sheer power of earthquake (base 100). Stone edge is a scarily powerful base 100 rock physical move with an increased critical hit ratio, but it has only 80 accuracy, and double edge is a very powerful (base 120) normal physical move with heavy recoil UNLESS you have the rock head ability, which could work here. The last move you get is sandstorm, so you can summon a sandstorm as weather and hit foes for a little damage per turn, as well as offering speed boosts or evasion boosts to team mates (and foes, actually).

Roar comes in as a TM move, and if you believe you can take a hit or two, get stealth rocks out and then roar, hurting the incoming foe possibly more than your usual attacks will. Instead of roar, however, there is dragon tail, which does the same thing but hits at base 60 physical (except for fairies). A lot of the moves on offer here are those available through level up, like rock throw and dig, but you could take earthquake unless you want the two turns of dig for some reason (hey, I outlined one above). Taunt, protect, return/frustration and swagger could all be of use, and flash cannon is a pretty decent steel special (gaining STAB if you evolve) that can lower the foe's special defence a stage. Payback could work quite well since you're fairly slow and can take a fair degree of physical punishment. Explosion is never really worth it, hidden power could be worth it but will lack significant power, and strength, rock smash and secret power are actually decent coverage options. Bulldoze is also an ok move since it can lower the foe's speed.

Rock climb is an ok move from breeding, as are rock blast and rollout. Heavy slam is a steel physical move that hits harder the heavier you are compared to the target, and since you and your evolution are incredibly heavy, then this is a decent option. Defence curl is obviously ok as it boosts your best stat, and flail isn't bad either. The tutor can give you earth power as a special ground move, and keeping with special moves, dragon pulse is pretty powerful (base 85). Iron head and iron tail are both available here as well.

Trading with a metal coat will get you a Steelix, which obliterates your speed (down to 30), but offers nice boosts elsewhere: 75HP, 85 attack, 200 (yep, two hundred) base defence, 55 special attack and 65 special defence, making you a decent physical wall. Rock head and sturdy remain in place as the standard abilities, but sheer force comes in as the hidden one. Sheer force negates secondary effects of moves (like burn chances and such) to increase the raw power by 30%. Further to all this, you shed your rock type and pick up steel. Great, to add to water and fighting, you're now weak to fire, but you are immune to poison and electric, and have a nice list of semi-common to overused (dragon and fairy) resistances.

WHY DOES IT HAVE WINGS?

Other than the introduction of the elemental fang moves (physical base 65 with a small chance to inflict their status) to the level up list, the only other changes are autotomize (lowers your weight by 220lbs but boosts speed by two stages), crunch (dark physical with base 80 and the chance to lower the foe's defence) as well as the loss of stab on rock-type moves and the addition of STAB to steel ones.

If you were hoping for big changes to the TM list, be disappointed. Dark pulse and cut come in, and STABs change, but that's about it. As far as I'm aware, you don't even get access to hyper beam and giga impact. The tutor now gives magnet rise (yay?) and aqua tail in addition to what they already offered.

We're not done yet, since Steelix, for some reason, got a mega evolution. This gives you a massive 230 defence (one of the best available), and a nice boost to attack (up 40 to 125) as well as 30 more to special defence, meaning you could almost take a couple of fire and water hits, maybe? You now have only one ability when you are mega evolved: sand force (rock, ground and steel moves get a 30% boost to power when in a sandstorm). You also look kinda dumb, as well.

Ok, it has a beard now?

Overall, this is a line I never really bothered with for some reason. It makes for a very good physical wall, and Steelix can offer some damage output as well. Stealth rocks offers a niche, too, as does dragon tail if you want to get everything done in one go, but toxic spikes and spikes would have been welcome as well. Mega Steelix probably isn't worth your one mega evolution on the team, but it isn't as bad as I first thought, other than the design being a bit freaky. Also, shiny Steelix is golden, which actually doesn't look as bad as it sounds. All in all, this isn't a dreadful Pokemon if you can figure out how to use it best.

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