#145: Zapdos

You wait forever for a legendary Pokemon to come along and two (well, three, actually, but this is the second one) arrive pretty much at the same time. Again with the legendary Spanish bird trio situation.

Zapdos is the electric one of the bunch, also being flying-type as well. We again get the slightly sad base stat total of 580, which is good, but since this is a legendary, you wouldn't expect ordinary mortals like Dragonite to surpass it. You're a fair bit faster than Articuno was with a base 100 speed, and 125 special attack as a nice damage dealing prospect, maybe even a special sweeper. 90 physical attack is pretty good, allowing for either a mixed attacker or just some coverage like U-turn, whilst the bulk is a little reduced, with the same 90 HP, but only 85 defence and 90 special defence. You again get the pressure ability, which was quite common among legendaries, but you get the hidden static ability, which will paralyse foes that make contact with you.

Why does it look so '80s disco?

The big list of 'superfluous' start moves is not quite so big this time, with roost showing up again, alongside zap cannon (base 120 electric special with only 50 accuracy and a perfect chance to paralyse IF it hits), drill peck (base 80 flying physical and can hit any Pokemon in the field other than the user), and on that theme there is peck (hits anyone, base 35 physical flying) and then there's thundershock (base 40 electric special that has a slight chance of paralysing the foe). When assigned a level, you get thunderwave (paralyses the foe with no damage), detect (basically protect, means that you can't be hit, but successive uses make it less likely to work), pluck (again a physical flying move that can hit anyone on the field, hitting base 60 and also eating a berry carried by the target), ancient power carries on being ancient power, charge boosts the power of the next electric move used whilst also bestowing a one stage boost to special defence that lasts the battle and agility raises your speed.

Level 50 will probably be where you find it these days, at which point it will have learned discharge, which is a base 80 electric special move that hits everything adjacent to you with a 30% chance of paralysing them. You may think it's weird that you get rain dance, but this is for a reason, as after you get lightscreen (boosts the team's special defence for a few turns) and another shot at drill peck, you get thunder, which is powerful (base 110 electric special) but wildly inaccurate (70) other than in the rain, where it bypasses the accuracy check. Couple this with hurricane on Articuno on a rain based multi-team and you can really mess things up, even foes in the middle of flying. After this, roost and zap cannon come back again.

Since this is a legendary again, you get no breeding and thus no egg moves, you do get most of the TM standards. Hidden power and thunderbolt are good special moves, return is there as ever, toxic comes back like the bad penny, roar puts in an appearance, and sandstorm pops up again at random. Aerial ace and facade are also decent physical moves, but you can't be paralysed, so you'd best get poisoned to take advantage of the attack boost. Steel wing, sky drop and giga impact are also there, charge beam (base 50 electric special with a 70% chance of raising the user's special attack), along with the HMs fly, rock smash, and the other TM secret power. More interesting options, however, were alluded to before with U-turn as a base 70 bug physical that kicks you out of the battle, but better would be volt switch as a base 70 electric special (so STAB and stat alignment) along with the same battle switching. I've ignored wild charge because I hate it. If you feel like going to the tutor, you can grab the old familiars of snore, signal beam, tail wind and shock wave (shockingly no water pulse (pun intended)), along with sky attack (you do nothing for a turn then attack with base 140 flying physical power and the chance to make the foe flinch, 90 accuracy, can hit any Pokemon other than yourself, and the use of a power herb can skip charging), and heat wave (base 95 fire special that hits all adjacent foes with a 10% chance of burning them and will destroy background rocks).

Well, it's a bit more offensive than Articuno with a more common offensive type, but it's weaker because it lacks the sneaky kill combo. All round it is pretty good, with a lot of positives, so it may well be worth getting.

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