#185 and #438: Sudowoodo and its baby, Bonsly...

Oh joy... Another old Pokemon with a future introduced baby... Because that makes perfect sense... And to top that off, the baby can only evolve when it levels up with a certain move, a gimmick that permeates a few things through generation four...

Bonsly is an annoying little rock Pokemon with some interesting abilities, namely sturdy (cannot be fainted if it is hit from full HP, so it will be left with 1HP, like a focus sash), rock head (prevents recoil damage from moves like take down, but not from life orb), and it even has a hidden ability, rattled (speed is boosted a stage when hit by bug, dark or ghost moves). On to the stats, and we see a decent physical prowess, with 80 attack and 95 defence, with an indifferent 50HP, an awful 10 special attack (but hey, we can ignore that one, since you only NEED one good attack stat, right?), an abysmal 10 speed (but we can trick room this?) and a poor 45 special defence (ok, so just avoid about 70% of all water-types...).

It looks worried... Maybe about whether it'll be cut down or not

Fake tears and copycat are the only moves you start with, with the former lowering the target's special defence by two stages (but Bonsly won't be hitting their special defence) and the latter copying the last move used in battle, regardless of whether it was your own or not). The first damaging move comes in at level 5, which is flail, a move that hits harder the more injured you are, so you can couple this with the sturdy ability for great effect, I guess, especially since you'll be attacking second and they'll have hurt you a lot with that poor special defence, so you could well revenge kill them straight away, so long as they aren't a ghost as this is a normal physical move, so Gastly will still wreck your day. Low kick hits harder the heavier the foe is, and not in relation to your weight, so just go nuts on using this against Wailord as a fighting physical move. I wonder what type of move rock throw is? Could it be a rock physical with base 50 power, 90 accuracy and tragically nothing else? Yes. Yes it could well be (it is). Next comes the all important mimic, the only way to evolve, a move that is similar to copycat in that it copies the last move, but this time around it is only the move the opponent used, and you get it with 5PP, and don't use it straight away. It's kinda like sketch, which we'll see in the future...

Feint attack is a base 60 dark physical move with no accuracy check, whilst rock tomb is of the same power, also physical and has 95 accuracy (I'm not telling you the type, because seriously...) and there's the nice bonus that it lowers the foe's speed. Block prevents the opponent from being switched out, but they can baton pass or volt switch out, and can be forced out with dragon tail, and since this is normal, it doesn't affect ghosts. Rock slide is a physical move that hits adjacent foes with base 75 power on 90 accuracy and has a decent chance to flinch them, whilst counter is a fighting physical move that returns double the damage of the last received physical attack onto an opponent, so this can really hurt (we'll look into this more when we get to Wobbuffet soon). 2 more moves left, and the first of these is the dark physical sucker punch, that hits a foe readying a damaging move with priority and base 80 power, and double edge is a base 120 normal physical move with recoil, perfect to go with rock head ability.

Calm mind comes in on the TM list to shore up the special side of things, with a single stage boost to both special stats, and there are some other additions to the standard TM allowance. Smack down is a base 50 rock physical move that knocks a foe to the ground if they levitate or fly, and then you can use dig as a base 80 ground physical attack that takes two turns, like fly. Brick break is a base 75 physical fighting move that has the added effect of breaking things like barriers, thief allows you to steal the foe's held item for yourself as well as hurting them on base 60 dark physical damage, you can also summon sandstorm and sunny day and you can rock polish to get your speed up. Then you can explode on a base 250 normal physical move.

In time for breeding, curse acts in the non-ghost version, whereby it lowers speed (so stationary things will now pass you), but both physical stats go up. Defence curl and harden both do the same job and boost your defence, but the former can combo with the base 30 rock physical rollout for increased damage (rollout also gains in power as it lasts a few turns). Headbutt is a base 70 normal physical move (there are a lot of these, like retaliate, facade and secret power, but the first two can double in power under certain conditions and wow I've gone off on a tangent). Self-destruct is a less powerful version of explosion, so there's no point breeding this in since explosion is stronger and this won't leave you any less dead, will it? Sand tomb hits as a fairly weak (base 35) ground physical move with only 85 accuracy, but it traps the target for recurrent damage over a few turns, and stealth rock is a decent niche move that allows you to arena hazard foes, damaging foes who switch in for variable damage. Tutor-wise, you can get after you, block, covet (basically a normal version of thief), earth power (a base 90 ground special move), foul play (base 95 dark physical but uses the foe's attack stat, not yours), helping hand, low kick, role play (copy the foe's ability, which may not be advisable here), stealth rock and uproar.

So you levelled up with mimic and now you are that insanely annoying Sudowoodo, the one that blocks the road in generation two. Base 70 HP is decent, 100 attack is good, 115 defence is even better, 65 special defence is a shaky step in the right direction, but so far this will not go any further since there is no third evolution, 30 special attack and speed also still suck beyond belief. You're still a rock-type with the same abilities.

Not only is it in your way, it's either a regular exhibitionist or from Silence of the Lambs

Take the level set before, and now we get some extras, starting with the base 120 grass physical move wood hammer, which comes with all that jazzy recoil that rock head can ignore. The base 80 normal physical, 75 accuracy slam sneaks in and should probably be ignored for the poor accuracy, and stone edge is a bit better since it's rock and thus STAB, base 100 and 80 accuracy, as well as still being physical. Hammer arm is a base 100, 90 accuracy fighting physical move that lowers the user's speed. Earthquake is now also added to the TM list, along with rock smash and strength, plus bulldoze. Further to this, the elemental punches make their way to the tutor list, along with focus punch. Weirdly, across all this, the only way to have fake tears is to have it on the Bonsly prior to evolving.

In all, this makes a reasonable-ish physical wall, but it really is nothing special. Mono-rock typing is actually a surprise what with being a tree, but I can't really say it's too bad a thing, either... Yeah, not one that really makes much of an impression on me other than it being an annoyance in generation two games...

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

#175-176, #468: Togepi, Togetic and Togekiss

You probably remember receiving Togepi at some point on your adventures through the games, but what you didn't know was that, with the introduction of Togekiss and eviolite, this actually gives two pretty decent Pokemon...

Togepi in itself has some pretty lacklustre stats, with 35 HP, 20 attack and speed, 40 special attack and 65 in both defences, which would be OK-ish if the HP wasn't so crummy... This adorable little fairy-type comes with two standard abilities as well as a hidden one. On the standard side of things, you can get hustle (physical attack power goes up 50% in power, but accuracy drops by 20%) and super luck (doubles the chance of added effects on moves, so a 10% chance of burn/freeze or whatever goes up to 20% and so forth). Moving to the hidden one, you can pick up super luck, which buffs the chance of critical hits.

Ah! So adorable! But why does Misty seem to breastfeed it?

Growl and charm are not really a good start since it stops you from actually attacking anything, instead lowering attack of the foe from both of them, which is really odd: why offer basically the same move twice, with the only differences being that charm is more effective (2 stages) yet has half the PP? Metronome is the first chance for possible damage, but that isn't really that encouraging, since it can do anything, like self-destruct, splash or flatter instead of that flamethrower you really, really need. Sweet kiss has 75 accuracy but when it connects then it will confuse the foe. Yawn will make the foe drowsy and slightly down the line it will put them to sleep, but it could take long enough for you to die in the meantime. Encore will make the foe use the same move again for three turns and can make the foe struggle. Follow me has two stages of priority and diverts incoming moves towards the user rather than the intended targets.

Bestow is an interesting move as it allows you to hand off an item onto the target (so long as they aren't holding anything), which can handicap them by potentially locking them into a choice item and getting stuck on a worthless move, or sticking them with a flame orb or something, or just ruining unburden and acrobatics. Wish is an interesting choice, which heals the Pokemon in play when it comes into effect by half the caster's HP, with it coming into effect at the end of the next turn, allowing swapping to heal an injured team mate, maybe by using volt switch or U-turn. Ancient power is the first guaranteed damaging move as a base 60 rock special that can boost all stats (works even better with serene grace), whilst safeguard prevents the team from getting affected by status conditions. Baton pass will swap out the user for a teammate, passing on all stat changes, whilst double edge and last resort are normal physical moves (base 120 and 140 respectively) that cause recoil damage, with the latter only being usable when all other moves are depleted of PP. Finally we get after you, which makes the target move next, which means you have to be faster than everything for this to be of any use.

Despite a fairly damage-lacking level set, there are a lot of options in the TM list. Forgoing describing the really common ones, we see psyshock, solar beam, psychic, shadow ball, flamethrower/fire blast, incinerate, dream eater, thunder wave, grass knot, rock smash and dazzling gleam, which are all pretty decent. Breeding can also give extrasensory, foresight (which can help overcome the accuracy loss of hustle), future sight (beware that you may die before this lands, it also allows the foe to switch out, but it is very powerful), lucky chant (boosts critical rates), mirror move allows you to bounce attacks back after they've been fired at you (and with more power), morning sun allows healing in the sunshine, nasty plot allows a two stage boost to special attack, peck is a weak flying move, present is a disaster of a move (wait for Delibird!), psycho shift allows you to dump your status problem on the foe, and stored power is ripe for abuse: stored power is a base 20 psychic move that is made stronger by every stat boost you have, including speed, attack, evasion and accuracy, not just special attack, which of course takes even more advantage due to it being a special move, so it can have massive base power with the addition of heavy special attack to back it up. Lastly, the tutor can give a lot of moves: after you, covet, endeavour, heal bell, hyper voice, last resort, magic coat, shockwave, signal beam, snore, trick, uproar, water pulse and zen headbutt, all of which we've seen a few times before.

You evolve by friendliness into Togetic, which got made a lot better with eviolite, which shores up the defences 50% each, which is good since they are pretty good, with 85 physical and 105 special, with the 55HP (which is still a bit lacking), 80 special attack is pretty decent, but 40 speed is still rather disastrous. You also get to add on the flying-type to the pre-existing fairy, but you keep the same abilities, which is pretty good, really, since serene grace is brilliant.

Why has it absorbed the egg shell into its body?

The level set adds in a few moves, with an early one being magical leaf, which is like a grass-type version of swift in that it is a base 60 special attack with no accuracy check. Fairy wind is the other move that pops up, a base 40 fairy special with no added effects. Brick break, aerial ace, hyper beam, steel wing, retaliate and giga impact, along with fly all come in on the TM side of life. The enormous list of tutor moves also gets padded with drain punch, focus punch, heat wave and tail wind.

Finally, if you get exposed to a shiny stone then you can evolve again into the newer Togekiss. 85HP is pretty nice now, with the decent defences (95 physical and 115 special), and now there's some speed (80) that can be supplemented if you get up tail wind, 50 attack remains poor, but 120 special attack is really good. Still fairy/flying with the same abilities, which is good, really. The issue is that there are virtually no new moves available when you evolve: from evolving you can grab after you, extreme speed (base 80 normal physical with a few stages of priority), sky attack (two turns, base 140 flying physical), aura sphere (a good shout, base 80 fighting special) and air slash (base 75 flying special that has a decent flinch chance). No new TMs and not much more added to the tutor that is worth considering.

Like a stealth bomber of light...

Togepi is adorable but a bit pathetic, yet both evolutions are worthwhile for using for one reason or another. This is a line that really got big boosts from Generations 4 onwards, including the switch to fairy-type, which is pretty awesome.

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

#143 + #446: Snorlax and baby Munchlax

Well, here we have two annoyances: another baby that can be bred only using another incense (though it was the first Generation 4 Pokemon revealed), and the world's cuddliest roadblock that got in the way of your wanderings...

We'll start with the baby, little Munchlax. This is the slowest Pokemon there is, tied with Shuckle. It gets the pickup ability, which is great in the overworld as you can find things (just remember to remove them so that you can grab more), along with thick fat (not only appropriate, also useful in that you take reduced ice and fire damage) and the hidden ability of gluttony (bit of an odd one: berries that would normally be eaten at 25% HP are eaten at 50% HP instead). You're a normal-type, with substantial HP (base 135), along with solid attack and special defence (85), but defence and special attack are poor at base 40 each, and speed is FIVE... Which is great for gyro ball or trick room, I guess.

Don't let him near the cake!!!

FIVE... Sorry... On with the moves...

In X/Y you get access to snatch straight away, which basically means you steal the effects of a healing move the foe is using, but in ORAS this is replaced with recycle, meaning you can re-use your berry again, allowing for you to use a chesto berry to wake you from rest repeatedly, cutting downtime on sleeping. You could take last resort if you're weird, but there's also the weak ghost physical move lick (base 30 but can paralyse the foe), as well as metronome, which basically has a random effect, whether that be suddenly using earthquake or self-destruct, you get no control, it picks from a huge list of moves. Odour sleuth allows you to hit ghosts with normal moves, and tackle has been covered too many times. Defence curl is a viable move to patch up your shabby defence, whilst amnesia is also a great idea, giving a two stage boost to special defence, meaning special moves will barely hurt you. Chip away is a base 70 normal physical move that ignores stat modifiers, like to the foe's defence, and screech will lower the target's defence by two stages. Body slam is a base 85 normal physical move that has a 30% chance of paralysing the foe, and hits twice as hard if the foe has used minimise (why would anyone use that move when most Pokemon can get double team?). Stockpile and swallow (but not spit up) appear again, with the former stacking up to three times boosting defence and special defence a stage at a time, and the latter using the stored energy to heal itself (wiping the modifiers when used), healing 25%, 50% or 100% of the HP dependent upon the number of charges.

Rollout is a base 30 rock physical that is boosted by defence curl, and hits harder on subsequent hits, hitting for a few turns (up to 5). Fling is still a stupid move since you throw away your precious item, but belly drum could be useful here, since you have such huge HP and a decent attack stat: belly drum halves your HP (which you can easily recover with a chesto/resto-recycle build) and boosts your attack all the way up to +6, which is 400% of your normal. Scary, since you get STAB return... The last move to consider is natural gift: the move's power and type is affected by the held berry, which will be eaten in the process (chesto berry gives base 80 water).

You naturally get the standard TM list with some additions. I would recommend rest, whether you pair this up with recycle and the chesto berry, or with snore (which is my lowest recommendation on Munchlax of the three options) or with sleep talk (a risk, it picks a move at random of your four). That said, you could survive a few turns asleep if the foe is burned (reduces their physical attack by a half and whittles away their HP) and you boost your defences/HP and not focus attack at all. Sadly, this is one of the few sets where Will-o-wisp is missing, and there is no scald, either. There are too many special moves here (ice beam, hidden power, flamethrower (which can burn but has a low chance), thunderbolt, solar beam (but no weather moves to help/hinder), psychic, shadow ball, surf). You do get STAB return, frustration and facade, so you could be an attacker with focus on HP, too, and equip a toxic orb, which will slowly kill you, but double up the power of facade. Brick break, earthquake and secret power offer less suicidal alternatives, and power-up-punch could be used, especially if you don't want belly drum.

Breeding moves are a mixed bag, with belch being a great move for a berry eater, which is something I would suggest, but this is held back by your physical focus and belch being a special move. Self-destruct is still an awful idea, but curse could work, since your speed has nowhere to go anyway, reducing it is probably a great pay-off for boosting your bulk and your damage output. Counter is also good, since you can tank a hit on your HP, taking a huge value of damage on raw numbers from a physical move, and then sending more than that back, so you could kill a fairly bulky foe yourself. Zen headbutt is a decent base 80 psychic physical move that can flinch the foe, we know pursuit quite well, whirlwind makes no sense at all, and double edge has recoil, which isn't too bad here since you can sponge most things. Fissure can be a OHKO, but with decent attack and counter available, you can kill things rather easily on just regular attacks without dire PP and even worse accuracy. The tutor also offers a fair bit, with after you (which works for team battles), the elemental punches (not shabby), focus punch (you can set up sub-punching quite well here), gunk shot (a powerful poison physical), covet (basically a normal version of thief), seed bomb, zen headbutt again, several special moves that I'm choosing to ignore and both last resort and recycle again.

You get friendly enough for return to be a good option, you'll probably evolve into the roadblock itself: Snorlax. 160 HP, 110 attack and special defence, 65 in defence and special attack and 30 speed. Everything is better, except arguably the speed, but this makes things a bit interesting. You're basically a monster, a better version of Blissey, with much more in the way of threats. The only difference to abilities is that you've kicked out pickup and gained immunity: you cannot be poisoned. You also remain normal and chubby.

"And I thought it smelled bad on the outside..."

A few moves are lost from the level list, but I'd rather talk about what you gain (the ones you don't get can be relearned from the relearner). You can now nab the base 80 dark physical move crunch (bonus: you lower the target's defence, but they may well be dead anyway). Yawn can force the foe to sleep, which can make it safer to put yourself to sleep when they go down, and snore and sleep talk arrive by level up. Giga impact remains not worth it, but block will hold the foe in, and heavy slam is a steel physical move that hurts the foe the lighter they are compared to you, so if they are less than 20% of your weight (good chance considering you're enormous) then it hits at base 120. The TM list now gains the boosts of weather, thunder, blizzard and fire blast in addition to their weaker, more accurate forms, along with smackdown, retaliate (hits twice its base 70 physical when an ally has been KO'd the previous turn), bulldoze, strength, and wild charge (which I still dislike with a small passion). Outrage is now offered by the tutor, and I'll mention here that superpower is, and was on Munchlax. Outrage hits as base 120 dragon physical for a few turns before leaving you confused, if you don't remember.

What you have with this family is an arguably better version of Blissey/Chansey: there's a reason to be afraid of this one, rather than just frustrated. You get a bit less HP, but much better physical defence, and using an assault vest is much more viable here since you have damaging attacks at your disposal. You've got survivability and one of the rare chances to actually use belly drum well, and you can play out as a staller. There's a lot of variety here, you don't even need to kill them quickly since you have good healing options with stockpile/swallow and rest/recycle. Definitely worth waking up and catching, even if it's just for something to cuddle or use as a shelter like Luke Skywalker...

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

Oddly enough, Snorlax opens its eyes when it's KO'd...

(#133) #470 + #471: Leafeon and Glaceon (Eevee part three)

Oh no... there's more, and this isn't even the end of it. Here we have two more Eeveelutions, so we may as well press on with them.

Leafeon and Glaceon are more examples of new evolutionary mechanics. We're starting with Leafeon, which can only be obtained by levelling up in the presence of a mossy rock, which have been added to areas since Generation 4 to allow for this. The question on your minds is no doubt "is this any good?" To start my answer, it's a grass-type, so not a great start, but that said, it could be what the type really needs... The thing is, it's pretty much an exclusively physical beast, with base 110 attack and 130 defence along with 95 speed. Since we have an attack focus, low special attack isn't a deal breaker, so this being 60 is no issue, but special bulk would have been nice since you suffer at the hands of fire (predominantly special), and with only 65 in special defence and 65 in HP, you won't last long at the hands of something with flamethrower. Leaf guard as an ability courts danger, as it only works in the sun, preventing status conditions affecting Leafeon, even stopping you from using rest, which could be a great way of getting shut down by a foe. On the hidden ability side, chlorophyll again needs the sun to activate, but it does double your speed, including EVs and IVs, so nearly base 200 with no investment: that's insane!

It sucks AND it looks bad... Just set it on fire...

After a fairly poor start, maybe a good move pool can save this? In addition to the Eevee standards, you get access to razor leaf (base 55 grass physical with a good critical ratio, also hitting all adjacent foes), grass whistle (puts the target to sleep, and also like sing is only 55 accuracy), magical leaf (tragically a grass special move, so the base 60, no accuracy check attack is of limited use here (think of it as a grass version of swift)), and giga drain (utility of this move is also lowered by the special categorisation, but it exists as a base 75 grass special that drains the foe's health to you). Swords dance gives you a double stage boost to attack, and synthesis is very much like morning sun and moonlight we saw last time, healing you based on the weather (50% normal, 67% sunny and 25% rainy). You get sunny day by level, and then after last resort, we close with leaf blade, a base 90 physical grass move with a good critical ratio once more.

Moving onto the TM list, the interesting additions to the Eevee standards include solar beam (base 120 grass special (sadly) that would be great in the sun as it has no charge turn in bright sunshine), aerial ace (basically a flying physical version of swift), energy ball (another good grass move that falls into the special category), X-scissor (a base 80 bug physical that is well worth consideration) and grass knot (the heavier they are, the harder they fall). In addition to the Eevee tutor set you can pick up giga drain again, knock off, seed bomb (a grass physical with base 80), synthesis and worry seed (effectively replaces the target's ability with insomnia, preventing it sleeping, like loads of foes may do to you with your leaf guard).

Things haven't looked good so far, so moving onto Glaceon, and we have to first admit that the decent ice moves are also available on Vaporeon, so why do we have this? A different stat distribution, STAB on the ice moves, different abilities and arguably less coverage (see later). 130 special attack is similar to Vaporeon, but 110 defence and 95 special defence seem good, but 65 HP and 65 speed are a little sad. 60 attack isn't disastrous, but there are some good physical moves on offer, which is a bit annoying. The new abilities are snow cloak (increases evasion in hail, and since you don't take hail damage, this could be inspired if you invest in the defences and HP as a bulky staller), and the hidden ability of ice body (any Pokemon that makes contact with you gets frozen). If you run the former ability and you are looking for wild Pokemon, don't let it lead in the snow.

It looks like crystals, like a poor man's Suicune!

So again to the level list, and again ignoring the Eevee regulars. This time around we bring in icy wind (base 55 ice special which hits all adjacent foes and lowers their speed a stage), bite (base 60 dark physical, sadly, which can cause flinching), ice fang (again a physical tease, base 65, can cause freezing and flinching), and ice shard, which is basically an ice version of quick attack, which is also on this set... Yeah, this makes me confused. Anyway, we also get barrier (boosts your defence by two stages) and mirror coat (if you're hit by special attack, it will hit the aggressor back with double the damage you sustained unless they are dark-type, since, y'know, this is a psychic move). You also get hail and blizzard either side of last resort, and they combo well, especially with snow cloak.

Onto the TMs, and what we get in addition to the Eevee standards. Pretty slim pickings for offensive variety here, in truth: hidden power and shadow ball that are on that long list we said we'd ignore are two of the better shouts if you wish to deal damage directly, whilst blizzard and hail also pop up again. Sunny day is there if you feel suicidal, as well. Frost breath is a decent shout as a base 60 ice special with basically 100% critical chance, but only 90 accuracy. The tutor offers water pulse and aqua tail, so basically that comes back to the Vaporeon comparison I made earlier, but you also get signal beam again, along with icy wind.

In all, Leafeon is just rubbish: the abilities may as well not exist, since in the sun an ember used by something with minimal special focus will torch you (literally) and as a grass-type, well, you'll be laughed at. Glaceon appears to be rubbish if you look at it and at Vaporeon, and yes, you get a fighting, rock and fire weaknesses, but a good standard ability to use with hail, which in turn boosts blizzard's feeble accuracy to perfect, with a good way to deal consistent damage from hail itself, some good bulk and blizzard itself is a little scary.

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