#127: Pinsir

We've seen evidence for bug Pokemon sucking (Venomoth, Caterpie and co.) and also for them being decent (Mega Beedrill and Scyther), so where does this fit in?

So we've already had the spoiler that this is a bug-type but we need more than that. You get base 85 speed, which is a little pokey, but it can outspeed some things, 65 HP and 70 special defence are a little underwhelming too, and it's a good job that the special attack is redundant as it only reaches base 55. The good comes in the form of the physical stats: 100 defence is nice and the 125 attack is pretty ace, especially for a bug. The ability hyper cutter prevents foes from lowering your attack, whereas mould breaker allows your attacks to skip past the foe's ability, like hitting a levitate-Pokemon with earthquake. The hidden ability on offer is moxie, which leads to your attack rising every time you faint a foe with directly inflicted damage. Looks decent so far...

Looks like it's asking a question on Question Time...

Focus energy remains as a rarely useful move to increase the rate of critical hits, but vice grip is a base 55 physical normal move, whilst bind is a normal physical move of base 15 power, but holds the foe in play for the duration (around 5 turns) and hurts them each turn. Seismic toss inflicts damage to a foe based on the level of the user, so you basically ignore the attack and defence stats, but as a normal move then you don't hurt ghosts. Harden gives a one stage boost to your defence, and revenge is a negative priority fighting physical base 60 move that will hit twice as hard if the foe damages you that turn. Vital throw is a base 70 physical fighting move that skips an accuracy check (so it hits unless the foe is in the middle of something like fly), and I've covered things like double hit (base 35 normal physical hitting twice) to death. Brick break is another one we've seen a lot, hitting as a base 75 fighting physical move that removes screens, whilst submission hits a little harder at base 80 physical fighting with lower accuracy (80) and carries recoil, which basically means you should never take submission ever unless you have reckless, and even then, no... Just no...

With no evolution, the break here is totally at random. X-scissor comes in as the STAB move by level: this is a very good bug physical move with base 80, 100 accuracy, 15PP (can max at 24) and no more or less. Storm throw is always a critical unless the foe has shell armour, but then if you have mould breaker then it still hits as a critical (storm throw is base 60 physical fighting). Swords dance gives a two stage attack boost, thrash remains a powerful normal physical move (base 120) that will lead to confusion after a few turns of use, and superpower is a fighting physical move of the same power but leads to a reduction in both physical stats with each use. The final move on the level list is guillotine: a highly inaccurate normal physical move (33 accuracy) which is a OHKO move (one hit kill).

There's no real point in taking things like hyper beam and hidden power, but you still have the standard array of TMs with some nice additions. Return is not a bad call here, especially when we come back to it later, whilst earthquake, smack down and dig are good examples of moves you could take. Facade could well be a good choice, too, rock tomb/slide, stone edge and bulldoze aren't bad, even strength could do well. The moves to ignore are the special ones, like struggle bug, and arguably even the physical giga impact, which may actually be about as useable as it could ever be here and on one or two other Pokemon. You can breed in bug bite, as well as close combat as a slightly more preferable option compared to superpower. Feint, feint attack and flail are all also available from breeding as decent options, and even quick attack can get good in a while. The tutor offers some moves we've seen (bind, bug bite, superpower), but you can also tutor stealth rock, knock off, snore (if you really want a rubbish special move), focus punch and iron defence.

Since generation 6 came out, Pinsir took a bigger step up in standing with the introduction of mega evolution, boosting the speed to 105, special defence to 90, physical defence to 120, attack to 155 (wow) and special attack to 65, with HP staying the same. You get a shiny new ability, aerilate, to go with the addition of flying-type. The new ability bestows a 30% boost in power to normal moves used by the Pokemon, changing them to the flying-type. The boost in power and change of type in their application can be amazing, but then losing all normal-typing can be a bit of a drag: you've lost a generically spammable coverage option.

"That wasn't an answer!!!"

People look down on bug Pokemon as a whole, but Pinsir and its mega, along with Scyther (and Scizor, I guess), Mega Beedrill and a few more we'll see down the line show that you have to look beyond the surface. I'm not saying that there are waves of good bug Pokemon and only the crap gets remembered, since we've barely scratched the surface of awful bug Pokemon, but hey, there's something there to use.

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