#111+ #112 + #464: Rhyhorn, Rhydon and Rhyperior

Ok, so we're on the 50th family, and that features the first Pokemon ever unveiled. Also, just before writing this, the blog passed 400 views, which was quite nice, so thank you.

Rhydon has stats that would be great if special didn't exist and speed wasn't an issue. Aside from 25 speed, the 80 HP, 85 attack and 95 defence would make it rather fearsome, even with just 30 special attack. The issue arises in that there may be special attacks coming in your way, hitting your awful special defence of 30. Since you're ground/rock-type, the ability lightning rod is slightly diminished, but it does drag electric attacks towards you, and if it wasn't for the immunity, you would get boosted special attack. Rock head prevents damage from the recoil on moves like double-edge. Reckless, the hidden ability, boosts the power of moves with recoil, which are things I personally don't like.

It looks like it's hiding after eating your toilet roll and shredding a cushion...

You start off with the base 65 normal physical move horn attack, along with tail whip that lowers the foe's defence by a stage. Fury attack carries a mere base 15 as a physical normal move, but it does hit up to 5 times in a turn, so potential 75 base as a sash breaker. Scary face lowers the foe's speed by two stages, and smack down hits as a base 50 rock physical that also removes the ground immunity of Pokemon that are flying, have levitate or have magnet risen, as well as hitting Pokemon that are mid-fly, bounce or sky drop for double damage. Stomp hits as a base 65 normal physical move with the chance to flinch, and also doubles in power against foes that have used minimize, yet that's actually quite rare. Bulldoze is a base 60 ground physical move that can lower the foe's speed, and chip away is a base 70 normal physical move that ignores stat changes. Rock blast is another multi-hitting attack like fury attack, but is rock-type and is base 25, leading to a maximum of base 125. Drill run hits at base 80 as a ground physical with 95 accuracy and an increased critical hit ratio, and take down is the first recoil move that's affected by both rock head and reckless, hitting as a base 90 normal physical with 85 accuracy. Stone edge is a base 100 rock physical move that can flinch and has 80 accuracy.

You'll probably evolve there, but otherwise you can take earthquake, megahorn (base 120 physical bug, 85 accuracy) and horn drill (normal physical OHKO move that gains greater accuracy from the initial 30 the higher level you are than the foe).

Take the standard TM list, and then throw in ice beam and blizzard, thunder/bolt, dig, earthquake, smack down, flamethrower, fire blast, rock tomb, rock polish (boosts your speed), rock slide, poison jab, strength and rock smash. Ignore ice beam, blizzard, thunder/bolt, flamethrower and fire blast as they are useless special attacks and won't hurt the enemy at all, but poison jab is a decent shout, and so is strength, in a way.

You can breed in counter, crunch (I would sorely recommend), crush claw (base 75 and 50% chance of lowering the foe's defence), curse (since you won't miss the loss of speed, this could be good), dragon rush (base 100, 75 accuracy, decent flinch chance and never misses a minimized foe, also hitting them for double damage). Further to these, you can take the elemental fangs, iron tail, metal burst (basically counter, but doesn't work only with physical attacks, it hits for 1.5x the damage you sustained from the last special or physical attack), skull bash is a very heavy hitting recoil move (base 130), and rock climb hits at base 90 with 85 accuracy and can confuse the foe.

For a nice change, the tutor offers an enormous list, featuring aqua tail, dragon pulse, drill run (in case you missed it), earth power, endeavour, icy wind, iron tail, shockwave, snore, spite, stealth rock (which adds a niche), uproar and superpower, which hits hard as a base 120 physical fighting move that lowers your physical stats by a stage.

If you choose to evolve, you get Rhydon (ha, like in the Mafia), which features air bags as standard... I mean upgrades to speed and both specials of 15 (so speed is now 40 and the specials reach the dizzying highs of 45), along with 105 HP, 130 attack and 120 defence. You keep the same types and abilities, so...

FREE HUGS!!!

The level list is the same as above, and of course so is the breeding list, but there are some moves added to the TM pool, such as brick break, focus blast, giga impact, dragon tail, cut, and for some unknown reason, surf. The tutor also adds some move moves to the repertoire, featuring the elemental punches, focus punch, block and outrage (basically the dragon move that hits hard for a few turns and leaves you confused).

If you trade a Rhydon with a protector, it will evolve again to Rhyperior (as of generation four), and now comes with a three CD changer, smart glass sunroof, 115 HP, 140 attack, 130 defence, 55 in the specials, 40 speed and a three year warranty. You lose rock head as an ability and replace it with solid rock, which reduces the damage sustained from super-effective hits by 25%. It's a shame that reckless didn't get replaced.

Captain of the Pokemon darts team...

What's new in the level moves? Well, at level 42 (I've included the level so you don't miss out on this treat), you get the fighting move hammer arm, hitting base 100 physical and lowering your speed by a stage. You can also get rock wrecker, which is basically a rock giga impact spin-off that is neutralised by bullet proof. TM moves: you now get hyper beam, flash cannon, shadow claw, payback, and power-up punch. The tutor disappoints.

Being the first Pokemon drawn does actually raise this a little in my estimation. The massive attack and defence, along with the HP means you can physically wall and do some heavy damage, but you're too susceptible to special attacks, dropping you from a serious contender to just a physical wall or a stealth rocker. Still, that attack is great, and you get good mileage.

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

#104+ #105: Cubone and Marowak

Oh no... We've gone from the rubbishy eggs to something that is arguably weaker but infinitely more interesting in one of the most depressing/terrifying/creepy Pokemon ever. Seriously, it wears it's mother's skull!

Other than a good defence (95), Cubone's stats have nothing really going for them, featuring a mediocre 50HP, 50 attack, 40 special attack, 50 special defence and a rather miserable 35 speed. Taken as an average, that's worse than Exeggcute, however it's pure ground, so it has less crushing weaknesses, and it has some decent abilities. Lightning rod means that all electric attacks will home in on it and raise it's special attack, whilst rock head eliminates recoil from attacks like double edge and whatnot. The hidden ability is pretty boring: battle armour is the same as shell armour in that it prevents being hit by a critical, and that is all. The weird quirk here is that, like with Pikachu, you get a held item for Cubone that doubles its attack, but unlike Pikachu it also works on the evolved form and leaves special attack alone. This item, thick club, makes a bad Pokemon viable.

Mummy?

The level-up move list is pretty dull and offers no coverage, but all attacks play to the slightly better physical side of things (read considerably better with thick club). The moves you start with aren't great, with the first two being growl and tail whip, but again, they aren't entirely useless as you can weaken physical attacks incoming further and then soften the foe up to your physical attacks, so fair play. Next up is bone club, a signature move. Bone club is a base 65 ground physical with a chance to flinch, and is thus a decent choice, at least early on. You also get headbutt, leer and focus energy, followed by the other notable signature: bonemerang. Despite the awful name, bonemerang is a good call, hitting physical ground at base 50 TWICE, with the first hit able to break substitutes and setup the second, as well as acting as a sash breaker. The only other moves before you can evolve are rage (no) and false swipe (only if you're using this as a catcher).

If you hold off evolution then you can take thrash (base 120 normal physical hitting for a few turns but leaving you confused), fling (if you're stupid and want to lose the thick club that makes you relevant (see Marowak below)), bone rush (another signature, ground physical with base 25, hitting for 2 to 5 hits and is consequently a decent sash breaker but averages out at 79 base, so lesser to bonemerang and consequently not worth taking, really...), endeavour (you'll drag the foe's HP down to yours), double edge (a powerful base 120 physical normal attack with recoil, unless you have rock head, which makes this a great move, and better than thrash since there's no confusion), and retaliate, because a Pokemon that carries around parts of its dead mother should obviously have a move that hits harder in memoriam of a recently fallen comrade.

Ok, typical TM moves are here again, so toxic, rest, blah blah blah. You can take earthquake, which was suspiciously absent from the level list, but bonemerang may actually be a better choice due to the sash breaking potential unless you're aiming for hitting the field in multi-battles. Dig is weaker but has that turn out, so could be useful if you foresee something or other, like maybe a solar beam? I dunno, take bonemerang or earthquake for more obvious choices. What's really odd is that you get access to both blizzard and ice beam (I guess they're useful for the flying weakness, but as special moves they're of limited use, and they just seem really out of place). Instead of the ice moves, smackdown can handily deal with flying foes, and though the base power is only 50, rather than 90 or 110, the massive gulf between attack stats when a thick club is applied means that it will likely hit harder AND knock them out of the air in case they survive. If you don't fancy a base 50 move, then rock slide could be the perfect thing other than the 90 accuracy, and rock tomb is 95 accuracy but 60 power, so not much better than smackdown. It's like bulldoze (also available): uninspiring.

No point taking hidden power unless you REALLY want it, and the same applies for overheat, flamethrower, fire blast and sunny day (since it allows spammable solar beams at you, and none of these moves make any sense), and remember fling is utterly awful, and so is thief since you'll be holding an item. While round and echoed voice are also useless, facade could be a good one to have (say if you're poisoned), return is potentially good (if it loves you then it smashes things), as is strength and secret power, which covers decent physical normal moves if you don't have rock head and don't want thrash. Brick break and power-up punch offer decent fighting moves (rock smash is the same power as power-up punch but doesn't make you stronger), whilst aerial ace, though absurd to have it here, is a good physical flying move. 

Breeding can net you belly-drum, which could be absolutely amazing... if you had the HP to cover for it. Also you can get ancient power, which would be amazing if it was physical since it a) is rock type and covers flying issues and b) can boost every stat. Chip away is another solid normal physical (base 70, ignores stat changes), endure (you'll survive the next hit, and can couple with endeavour if you know that they won't just finish you off), detect (basically protect), iron head (again a recoil move, steel physical but only base 80), perish song (I'm going to pretend that wasn't there since it's so morbid) and skull bash (first turn raises your defence, next turn hits for base 130 physical normal) since you sort of have two skulls. Sorry, that was a little sick...

The tutor offers quite a lot, really. Icy wind is pretty worthless, however (no STAB, indifferent power, special), and since earth power is less powerful than both hits of bonemerang or one earthquake and is special, then it's no use. Thunder and fire punch offer good utility (flying and ice coverage respectively) and are of decent physical power (base 75), whilst focus punch is still pretty much a waste of time despite the power. Iron head has been discussed, and iron tail is inaccurate, so ignore them, and uproar, snore and even low kick are pretty dull and impotent. Really, iron defence is a great shout to buff your defence, whilst stealth rock usually has a place in everyone's team these days. The other move is knock off, which is also always worth considering as it has a fair punch and can remove the foe's item without interfering with your own.

Marowak looks less sad and more vengeful when compared to Cubone, and with 80 attack, it's pretty scary. What, you mean you've forgotten already? Right, 80 attack is good, but stick on a thick club and it's a scary 160 base (*@£!) plus double IV and EV investment... 110 regular and 80 special defence is also pretty nice, and you could be forgiven for going assault vest if you really had to. 60 HP still sucks and prevents a horrifying belly drum set, the 50 special attack is utterly irrelevant, and the 45 speed is still a little tragic unless you're on a trick room team... Same ground-type and abilities, by the way.

"You killed my mother, now I kill you! Wait, you didn't? Well, I'll kill you anyway, it helps take my mind off the grief and crippling loneliness..."

Hey, you know what trend we haven't seen enough of? A total lack of change in movesets on evolving. Yeah, at least it keeps it nice and simple. The real issue is when the TM list doesn't change. Thankfully, there are some changes. Well, adding in focus blast (special and thus worthless), hyper beam (always worthless), giga impact (physical and so a little less worthless, but still pretty worthless), sandstorm (eh...), and stone edge (powerful (100) but a little hit and miss (80 accuracy)). The tutor now offers outrage, which is the same as thrash except it's dragon-type rather than normal.

Ok, so you have the wearing the dead mother's skull, and the link to Kangaskhan being it's mother (I can't remember or care for all of that), but more importantly, you have that attack with thick club. The average base stat is far lower than Exeggutor, but this Pokemon is so much better: even without thick club you have far better typing and far better (and more options in) abilities. Factor in the much better special defence than the egg monstrosities, the better movepool, and that scary thick club and Marowak is actually pretty damn good, especially with trick room active. Fairly decent at survival, and very good at killing, this little orphan can whoop a lot of things.

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

#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)

#74 - #76: Geodude, Graveler and Golem

Yay! Another evolve by trade from generation one that didn't get a mega evolution. Geodude and co, you can queue for sympathy with Machop.

Geodude... Hmm... For a first evolution you get really good attack (80) and defence (100) and that about covers it. The speed is dreadful at 20, but this works on a trick room team, so that's that. 40 HP and 30 in both specials means you aren't a tank but a physical wall that could do some physical damage in return. You get the main abilities of rock head (prevents move recoil damage, so not things like life orb, but things like double edge or brave bird), and sturdy (basically a focus sash: you can't die in one hit from full health), as well as the hidden ability of sand veil (evasion of the Pokemon increases by 25% in a sandstorm and decreases wild encounter rate in sandstorm afflicted routes). Take your pick for how you'll play. You're rock/ground-type, by the way, so not great but not terrible.

It looks like rabbit poo with arms...

I'm not going to describe tackle, but you get defence curl AND rollout, which combo ok. Mud sport nulls electricity, which you are immune to, so worthless for singles battles, really. Rock polish boosts your speed, which won't make a difference since even at +6 you're dreadfully slow. Magnitude may be worth taking quite early on as a STAB physical to pair with defence curl/rollout combo. Rock throw is an ok rock move, but so is smackdown, which removes immunity to the ground attacks too. Bulldoze is meh-ish but can slow the foe a little, and you get to choose between self-destruct (200) and explosion (250) that kill you straight away. You also get rock blast (2 to 5 attacks base 25), earthquake and stone edge as physical STAB moves, and you can also take advantage of rock head ability with double edge (120 base). One of the main attractions will be stealth rock, too.

TM-wise you can supplement things with the standard array, as well as dig, brick break, return, facade, giga impact, gyro ball (hits harder if you're slower), strength, power-up punch and secret power as physical moves, and a totally useless array of special moves, some of them fairly decent, like flamethrower. Even as Golem, special attack is 55 and not worth your time.

If you feel like sticking on some Barry White and mood lighting, you can breed for a few moves: autotomize (boosts speed by two stages and dramatically reduces weight), block (prevent switching but not things like U-turn), curse (will reduce your speed for other gains, which is pretty good for a gyroball set), endure (means you'll survive the next hit), flail, focus punch, hammer arm (not a bad shout with base 100 power as a fighting move for coverage), mega punch (base 80 normal physical), rock climb and wide guard.

Earth power and snore are kinda worthless due to the dreadful special attack, but you could take things like fire punch, iron defence, superpower and thunder punch from the tutor, so not awful...

Graveler doesn't change abilities or typing, which means that you're still stuck with some crippling weaknesses to popular types, such as water, steel, ground and fighting. You do gain in the stats department, however: 55 HP, 95 attack, 115 defence, 45 in both specials, and 35 speed. That's +15 in everything, and the boost to speed isn't all that welcome, in my opinion.

It's going for a cannonball dive...

You know what else is disappointing: there's NOTHING new for the movelists...

Let's move on to Golem, which is the coolest, most mythological name for this tree... No new typing or abilities. You do now get heavy slam (like the inverse of grass knot it hits the harder the heavier you are) and steamroller (base 60 bug move (physical like everything else it gets) that ruins people who used minimize). TMs and the tutor give you nothing. You also gain some stats: 80 HP is suddenly acceptable, 120 attack and 130 defence are both nothing to turn your nose up at, 55 special attack is worth just flatly ignoring, and 65 special defence means that a water-type attack will kill you since they are mostly special as well as 4x effective, and the speed is still bad enough to be on a trick room team on 45.

Ah yes, the originality of being a ball with limbs... Like Jigglypuff, Clefairy and the previous evolutions...

This family is basically just a physical wall with some revenge damage unless you're determined on a trick room team. The massive water weakness and mediocre special defence basically leave you in serious hell, so this isn't really all that good.

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

#50 + #51: Diglett and Dugtrio

Ok, this evolutionary line kinda straddles the border between cute maybe disturbing on the first glance, but I guess more importantly there's the question of how good it is...

So, Diglett is ground-type and has access to three abilities including the hidden ability: sand veil (increases evasion in a sandstorm and decreases the wild Pokemon encounter rate in a sandstorm), arena trap (prevents Pokemon from fleeing or switching out unless they are immune to ground-type moves or are ghosts) and sand force (boosts the power of rock, steel and ground-type moves in a sandstorm).

I can't decide if this is an adorable little thing, poo or the protrusion of a planet destroyer...

Stat-wise, the main thing here is the incredible (and slightly baffling) speed stat with base 95 as an unevolved Pokemon. To put this into perspective, Charizard only has 100, Arcanine is 95, and both Rapidash and Scyther (well known for being quick) only get to 105. Hell, Diglett dramatically outpaces Blaziken and Absol, and is nearly as fast as the Mega-Blaziken, as well as getting a tie with Sharpedo (which is a shark, so you'd expect it to be quite fast)... But enough about this amazing speed: aside from 55 attack and 45 special defence, you have nothing to offer. 25 defence and 35 special attack let this Pokemon down a little, but the worst is the pathetic HP with only 10. Yikes...

Diglett evolves at level 26, basically when it gets mud bomb, meaning good moves will probably come in for Dugtrio instead, but this is no concern, really. You get access to sand attack and growl in an attempt to hinder the opponent, but since you won't survive a hit from an enemy unless you're sashed or behind screens then this isn't necessarily wise unless there is a good plan in place. There are some good moves available with secondary effects like bulldoze which can drop speed on the foe. Scratch is fairly pointless unless you can't think of anything better and have no TMs at hand in which case this may be your only cover, and you're willing to die in two turns. Astonish hits without much force (30) but does give another type as coverage (ghost) and also can cause flinching, meaning you may get chance to do a little damage.

As a direct replacement for sand attack you could take mud slap (you're trading normal for ground, so remember what this conveys in terms of typing). Mud slap is base 20 damage but also can drop accuracy one stage. For sheer damage output, you can get bulldoze and sucker punch (only works if the foe is readying an attack, and is dark-type), or take a chance on magnitude: this attack has a wide range of powers that it can randomly draw from ranging from magnitude 4 (5% chance hitting at just base 10) all the way to magnitude 10 (again 5% chance hitting at a devastating 150), with the most common being at base 70 as magnitude 7. Mud bomb (basically a harder hitting mud slap) hits at a good 65 base, but is special, and is thus wasted here, as is earth power, but you'll probably evolve before then, so we'll come back to the others in a little while.

So we go to the TM list. You get quite a bit of the standard fare like toxic, return, sunny day (no danger here since you won't really see many fire moves coming your way) and protect. More interesting options are things like earthquake, though you can get this by level up, and dig, which hits with less force and means that if you are underground earthquake and magnitude will hit twice as hard BUT it has uses in the field and also can be of use having that turn hidden out of the way. Sandstorm can work quite well with the abilities you have and the lack of damage you take from it, and as coverage you maybe should consider rock tomb and facade (remember that if you have an ailment then it will hit with double the power at a terrifying 140). One move that baffles me that you can get here is aerial ace, since Diglett is hidden underground (largely) then how the hell can it learn flying moves?! Absurd!

With that mini-rant over, you could get shadow claw (pretty powerful ghost move) and rock slide. For use in the field then you can take secret power (which opens secret bases and hits fairly hard) as well as rock smash (not really worth it) and cut. From breeding you could pick up ancient power if you (for some reason) focus special attack, and beat up and feint attack allow for decent dark type attacks. Pursuit, reversal and headbutt are all also possibly viable, but with reversal, this is only really worth it if you know you can take a heavy hit, so maybe use a focus sash, go down to low health and guarantee that you won't be outsped...

You may choose to go see the tutor, who will only give you earth power (which is available at level 29), snore (which goes with rest on the TM list, but neither are worth it) and stealth rock, which can allow Diglett a nice niche as the trap setter as a lead off Pokemon, so long as you don't mind it being wiped out pretty much straight away.

Dugtrio has some very messed up fan-art for what's under the ground, so do yourself a favour and never look for this. You remember how good the speed was on Diglett? Well, Dugtrio gets a nice healthy boost to a massive 120, which leaves a large number of sweepers behind, excepting some of the mega evolutions. You also get nice boosts to attack (making this a possible sweeper if you choose the right moves and the right item), special defence (70) means that you can almost take a hit if it wasn't for the poor HP (35), but the defence and special attack (both 50) aren't something to work with. Oh, you're also still mono-ground-type and keep the same abilities.

Does it have three heads, or are there just three Digletts? Maybe to evolve it decapitated others... Damn...

The introduction of tri-attack is almost heartbreaking since it hits quite hard, is quite rare but is a special attack, and since my own special attack stat is higher than that of Dugtrio (seriously, I'm an absolute monster). To make things worse (well, more disappointing), there's a 20% chance of inflicting one of three status afflictions on the enemy, so there's temptation to take this move that won't hit very hard due to no special attack here. Night slash is a more welcome addition as a pretty good dark attack (70 base with a better chance of a critical). The other sudden addition is rototiller, which may lead to your destruction as it gives boosts to all grass-type Pokemon on the field. The last move snuck in is sand tomb. Sand tomb is a low power ground (so with STAB) physical that traps the opponent for a few turns, inflicting routine damage.

Going back to the ones we skipped over before, you can take earth power if you don't understand the difference between special and physical attacks by this point (really, think this through). More likely you'll be looking at dig, slash and earthquake. Slash is an interesting proposition as it hits fairly hard (70) with a good critical chance and in being normal it hits most things neutrally. Additions to the TM list are almost universally pointless due to them being special type and not that good, but stone edge is a very hard hitting rock-type coverage move, so a decent idea, maybe.

Since the tutor offers nothing more, then I will just say it: I like Diglett and Dugtrio. They're dorky looking and throwing a crisp at them could knock them out, but they are surprisingly fast with decent attack and some nice moves available (though mainly only normal, ground, rock, dark and ghost, plus aerial ace for some unknowable reason, so you are fairly restricted). The thing is, this is a Pokemon for a lower tier, and this makes it viable for those reasons: it won't be facing a Ho-Oh or Mega-Charizard unless you have special plans for it in tiers that are maybe a little high. All in all, it's not a bad shout to have one trained and on hand.

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

#29 - #31: Nidoran (M), Nidorino and Nidoking

This may be rather familiar... Remember that for ease of differentiating, male Nidoran will be listed as NidoM, and corresponds to NidoF.

So, as mentioned, NidoM is a faster, harder hitting, but squishier version of NidoF. Only at this stage can either line breed, and they can breed with each other.

Looking shifty... 

Stats wise, NidoM is a pretty decent physical threat with 57 attack base, with 50 speed, but only 40 across special attack, defence and special defence, with a fairly fragile 46 HP. Again, this is pure poison with ground and psychic weaknesses, and the same abilities of poison point and rivalry with the hidden ability hustle. Don't bother with rivalry, as it's too easy to mess you up...

Level moves differ a little from NidoF, since you get the flying physical peck for some reason as an initial attack, along with leer, before progressing to focus energy, double kick and poison sting before level 16 and when you may want to evolve. From these, I'd recommend double kick as a coverage move, poison sting as a fairly weak STAB and peck as it covers the ground weakness, but TMs will offer other ideas. If you decide to hold off on evolution, or are building a NidoM to be a NidoM, then you can progress to fury attack (no, don't bother), horn attack (a bit dull, but nice 65 base physical normal-type attack as neutral coverage), toxic spikes (a move I really like, but you have to think how NidoM or the later evolutions will work for you), poison jab (pretty good) and the one-hit KO move horn drill, which is a risk, since despite ignoring all accuracy changes in the round, it has only a 30% chance of landing, and in the times you miss, you can get minced. You can also get moves like helping hand, captivate and flatter, but these are arguably better on NidoF, who is better suited to walling and tanking.

Since the moves so far, at least at the lower end of things, are a little disappointing, TMs are a good way forward, but remember that with poor special attack, question if they are worth it, such as with blizzard and ice beam, or venoshock. Toxic works better with a staller, so maybe this isn't the best option, nor are thunder and thunderbolt really since they are once again special, but dig is a consideration due to decent power, future STAB application and the ability to escape from caves, though remember that earthquake will kill you more if you are underground (and with poor defence and a weakness to ground, you may need to watch out). Facade is an ok move I have discussed before (boosted by status conditions) but you cannot be poisoned, so shadow claw is maybe a better option, as is the STAB move poison jab if you can't wait for it by level up (or you miss it). Secret power, cut and strength provide decent physical attacks, and rock smash offers a rather weedy fighting attack.

Breeding offers a similar array to what we say for NidoF and family, with moves like iron and poison tail on offer and worth considering, but confusion is confusing as a psychic special move which you probably should avoid. Sucker punch is good, but can fail quite easily, whilst take down hurts, but then you aren't really building to survive hits, so a little recoil isn't awful. Chip away is a good move to consider, as is head smash (if you don't mind enormous recoil (50% of what they suffer).

Tutoring wise, you can get drill run (decent and hits steel which is immune to poison), as well as iron tail and super fang, but the other options are special attacks and a bit worthless...

Nidorino is the same story, moves wise, but with a decent degree more physical punch (respectable at 72 rather than the mediocre 55 special stats), and defence now stands at 57, two points better than special, so consider this when switching in. Speed isn't great at 65, and HP is still a concern. With the defences the way they are, a 50% boost from eviolite would be handy, but maybe someone else on the team is more deserving, so maybe consider boosting speed and risking choice scarf.

Why so mad?

There's nothing more to say about Nidorino, so get out another moon stone and welcome the king... The Nidoking that is... Ok, that wasn't funny, clever or original...

Nidoking is a little monstrous for lower tiers, what with moderate bulk and 102 base attack giving it the highest base attack of all Pokemon (bar megas) I have reviewed so far... Respect, sir! 85 special attack isn't too awful, really, and with 77 and 75 for the defences and 81 HP, you could maybe take a hit or two, which is good if you want to dodge choicing, since the speed isn't all that threatening at 85... You also now replace your hidden ability with sheer force, which boosts attack damage at the expense of added effects except things like recoil and dropping your own stats or confusing yourself.

Your highness?

Moves wise, the level up list is fairly short, so bring forward what you need, relearn, tutor or TM/HM... The only new STAB move for your shiny new ground-typing is earth power, a special attack, and so this maybe should be dodged for earthquake or dig, the former more powerful and the latter slightly less. You can get thrash, which hits very hard for a few turns but then leaves you confused, but you could have gutted an opposing team by this point, so it may be worth a risk, despite being normal-type. You also could pick up the very powerful bug move, megahorn, which is a decent idea, with it being physical and all. You could also keep peck, but it's rather weak, and water pulse (even if it is special) is maybe a better shout to hurt ground since it could confuse (unless you have sheer force, in which case it hits even harder).

Moving away from the levelling, you get a huge library of TMs, now allowing earthquake, and the rock-type move smackdown, which cripples fliers and levitators by both hitting hard (special effective on flying) and bringing them to the ground to be hit by ground attacks. Hone claws slightly buffs both accuracy and attack, so if you can survive and outpace, this could maybe setup a sweep. Brick break is a good fighting move, and rock slide can wipe out flying-types, stone edge even moreso. Giga impact is ruined by the recharge turn, and focus blast, though awesomely powerful is still a special attack, so maybe not worth it. Surf is now available, as is power up punch, which is low damage, but as the name suggests powers up your attack...

Ice punch is a nice tutor move to have, since it can wreck flying, but thunder punch moreso since it can ruin water, too. Focus punch only really works if you know you won't get hit (say if they are healing, buffing, switching, or slacking off/sleeping whatever, or you have a good substitute up, or something to draw attacks). Outrage is basically a dragon version of thrash, aqua tail is a viable physical water attack, stealth rock could go well with toxic spikes for a setup build, and superpower is powerful but shouldn't be overused since it depletes attack and defence. Fire punch is fire punch, a good physical attack that busts the ice Pokemon that may prey on you...

Despite not having the bulk, and thus arguably the versatility of Nidoqueen, this is a decent Pokemon...

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

#29 - #31: Nidoran (F), Nidorina and Nidoqueen

I know that this came before genders were introduced in Pokemon, but it's still rather annoying for me to write this and not get confused.

Nidoran (F), which I will call NidoF for this post, and the male version as NidoM, as I will probably compare a little as a teaser for the next post, is a pure poison, 100% female ratio Pokemon. Will that do? The Nidos are Pokemon I always forget about, and I'm not really sure why...

As the baby of the family, NidoF has decent bulk in terms of HP and physical defence, and though lower, the special defence isn't awful, but it doesn't really hit too hard. The constant theme of the Nidos is that the females have more survivability but less threat, that is their HP is a little higher but their speed is lower by the same amount (9 point difference), and their defences are higher with the attack being lower by the same amount (discrepancy of 10, here). Both lines are more physically inclined, but not by too much, making them viable as mixed defence or mixed attack, and since a 10 point discrepancy isn't much, then they could basically swap for each other.

It does look kinda pathetic and forgettable

NidoF is fairly slow, 41 base speed only just beating Sandshrew (40), and the defence is pretty mediocre compared to the 'mouse Pokemon' (don't know why they didn't go with 'shrew Pokemon'...). The thing is, 52 physical and 40 special defence isn't too poor for a first evolution that isn't either a starter or late game pseudo-legendary, so it doesn't draw too much ire, yet it also doesn't set the world ablaze. 55 HP is nice, but 47 physical and 40 special attack means that it won't be doing much damage output compared to Spearow or Charmander. All in all, decent but unspectacular stats.

Ability-wise you get poison point or rivalry as the more common ones, with hustle as hidden. Poison point is kind of cool in that if a Pokemon makes contact when attacking, there is a 30% chance of it being poisoned, so that could make up for the reduced damage output that makes way for the bulk (remember that not everything can be poisoned, however). Rivalry is a bit dangerous, since it buffs base power of moves by 25% if facing a same gendered Pokemon, but reduces by 25% if facing the opposite gender, so there is risk If your opponent is genderless, it has no effect. Hustle is also risky, since it boosts the attack stat by 50% but reduces physical accuracy by 20%, leaving special and status alone, so it's almost like being swaggered only without self-damage (or Nick Young of the LA Lakers).

Remembering that being pure poison gives weakness to both ground and psychic makes learning bite and crunch quite useful for the latter weakness (especially since Nidorans and family on both sides are more physically oriented), but since you evolve at level 16, and bite only comes in at 21, you'll probably not have these until you are Nidorina. Instead you get scratch (a rather pathetic normal move that is now weaker than tackle), double kick (a not dreadful fighting move since it can sash break hitting twice at base 30) and poison sting, which is weak, but STAB and physical, with the chance to poison. Also before level 16 you can pick up growl and tail whip...

For over the evolution level if you continue, you get access to bite an crunch as stated, as well as toxic spikes, which is pretty cool as an entry hazard, as well as poison fang, flatter and captivate (I'm choosing to ignore helping hand and fury swipes). You can pick up venoshock from TMs, but special attack here isn't a strong point, so don't. Ice beam and blizzard are also available and special, but do at least check ground opponents. Thunderbolt and thunder can be found, but I'm not sure why. Dig isn't a bad shout, especially if you go all the way up the chain and gain ground typing with Nidoqueen. Sludge bomb isn't worth while since it's special and you can take poison jab, as well as aerial ace to also check ground types in a more reliable (if more confusing) choice over the special ice attacks. Shadow claw and thief also make viable options, along with return/frustration. Facade is a possibility, but more interesting would be things like rest and sleep talk if you run for defence and just grinding out, and swagger is a possibility as it boosts their attack (unless they run something like contrary) whilst confusing them, causing them to hit themselves quite hard.

While I wouldn't take rest, sleep talk and swagger since there would be a 75% chance of not actually doing anything during a sleep turn and also limiting you to next to nothing attack wise, there are some options here for not going all out attack, which I don't consider enough myself, and I should, as should you. These strategies could also work well on Blastoise and Venusaur if you play them that way... But for now I'm telling you more about attack-wise things, since I will do a blog specifically on decent defensive moves when I understand them better get to the end of a generation and do a special post that isn't about favourites and least favourites.

NidoF can get rock smash, cut and strength from HMs, but I've given my thoughts on these before, so... Egg moves: you get beat up (dark and the way it works confuses me greatly, but it can work as a sash breaker... I'm very confused about the damage calculations here...), iron tail isn't bad in power but has crappy power, and chip away is pretty cool, poison tail and pursuit aren't bad, though poison tail isn't as good as poison jab, and pursuit is weak unless done right, skull bash and take down hit hard but hit you as well, and if you're trying to withstand damage then they unnecessarily weaken you, and venom drench is an odd one, since it does no damage, and relies on the target being poisoned, but can really cripple their stats. Tutor moves are mainly special other than iron tail and super fang, though water pulse hurts ground and can confuse.

So you've now reached level 16 and evolved, but lost the ability to breed... Hmm... Well, to make up for this, you get a nice rise in stats such as a fairly respectable 70 HP and 67 defence, but still nothing really stands out. Eviolite can make a good held item here if you want to be tanky, with base special at 55 which isn't dreadful but does need boosting, really. 62/55/56 for attack, special attack and speed still means no real sweeping here.

It's maybe coming back to me now...

You get basically the same moveset as before, so you're either thinking about hard hitters (attack isn't so bad that you can't think about being a bulky attacker like if Homer Simpson could at least punch as hard as the average human when he was a boxer) or you're thinking about withstanding and grinding, so you could run toxic and either take a coverage move or pray nobody runs steel and or poison against you whilst buffing your defences with nothing other than just using protect every few turns, or ruining their damage output with things like confide and captivate (which relies on gender being opposite, NOT NEUTRAL or the same but does two stages instead of one) for special, or growl and charm (egg move) for physical.

You can run sets that make use of flatter (boosts special attack of opponent but confuses them) and swagger (boosts physical but confuses them) so you could make the opponents self-destruct a little (not literally in terms of the move). Supersonic from egg moves confuses them without the risk of a killer attack slipping the net, but there are other uses, since you could attack a team mate with say swagger in a multi-battle, if you have a berry on the recipient to remove confusion or if you have own tempo. Bear in mind two things: upping their stats makes themselves self-damage with greater impact, and confusion can be baton-passed, so if you can sneak it in you can possible ruin their sweeper. Also worth thinking about if you're running as a multi-battle assistant: you get access to helping hand which hikes base power of the next move of the team mate by 50% (coming with a huge +5 priority, so it'll even get in before extreme speed), and things like sunny day and rain dance.

Now you've considered the strategies and maybe levelled to 58 to get poison fang, then you use your moon stone to get Nidoqueen and swear loudly that you missed out on level up moves chip away (which was available from breeding but now is from level 23 if you must have it rather than crunch at level 43), body slam (level 35) and earth power at the same damn level as crunch on Nidorina... DAMN! If you can live without chip away and body slam (though chip away can be bred in, remember), then level NidoF to 37 for crunch, then evolve and get earth power if you want it, since with the final evolution special attack gets up to 75. Thing is I guess it isn't really worth getting earth power, since you can't breed, and either going with the defences all the way or focusing the 92 base physical attack are probably more worth it unless you are aiming to surprise...

Wait, yes, the Pokemon they drew boobs on...

On top of the mentioned boosts to attacks, 87/85 defences are good, not great, with the same applying to 90 HP. 76 speed is rather disappointing. It is quite nice that you get superpower at level 58, but don't overuse this since it reduces your attack and defence each time and has limited PP, even if it hits at base 120! The TM list here is also gigantic, with far too many to cover, so see before, and I'll give you the more worthwhile additions, such as earthquake to go with that fancy new ground-typing you add to poison, giga impact if you don't mind it being normal and needing a recharge turn, stone edge if you don't mind iffy accuracy (80%) for good power (100), though you could take rock slide (90% and 70 power but with the chance to flinch), brick break and dragon tail, which will basically hit last, hit fairly hard (60), and knock the opponent out of battle, ending wild encounters or bringing in their next.

HM wise, you can get surf for overworld usage. Tutor wise, you are again spoiled for choice. Hey, if you missed out on earth power to get crunch (I don't blame you), then you can tutor it if you want to waste resources. You could instead get drill run (80, 95% accuracy and STAB physical), ice punch (possibly an ok idea as it hurts flying and takes advantage of the better physical attack) or thunder punch (pretty much the same and kills water). Fire punch can wreck the ice-types looking to punish your new groundiness, and aqua tail is a fairly powerful choice. Hey, it's up to you... Just be wary if you take focus punch, since I don't recall substitute being available unless you baton pass it on or draw attention with something else in doubles...

NidoF and Nidorina have a nice array of moves for support, tanking (except they have no defence buff moves) and support (in a way), whereas Nidoqueen can royally screw people over with an enormous movepool that keeps them all guessing, not to mention running scared due to seriously heavy hitting moves.

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

#27 + #28: Sandshrew and Sandslash

After the instantly recognisable Pikachu, we get the first Pokemon I ever really had a connection with: Sandshrew.

When I was a primary school child I got what was basically a pog with a Sandshrew on it, and a few days later, for the first time, I saw the anime, and it was the one where the guy macho-brace trained the Sandshrew and then it handed Team Rocket a severe beating (which made me laugh a little).

SandSHREW: "the MOUSE Pokemon"...?

Sandshrew is, at stat level, not terrible, or at least physically... It has 75 base attack, which a significant number of evolutionary lines don't reach, and 85 physical defence, but only 50 HP, limiting use as a wall somewhat. Specials wise, it's bleak, with only 20 special attack and 30 special defence. Remember that eviolite can apply, making an actually very decent physical wall since you gain 50% on each defence, but even so, the special defence is a poor 45, and since it's weak to water and ice (as a ground type), where a lot of moves are special, it kinda dies of a little there.

Coupled with these slightly awkward stats, you get two abilities: sand veil and sand rush. The former boosts evasion in a sand storm, and makes wild encounters less likely when in a sandstorm environment (think the desert in ORAS), and sand rush doubles your speed in a sandstorm (from a dire 40 to a slightly respectable 80). Neither ability is great since you would need to be either in a doubles battle or self-trigger sandstorm with a move slot, which I don't find too appealing. You could skill swap the abilities, but if a Gardevoir traces the ability, then they become immune to a sandstorm and also gain the bonuses, meaning you are dead in the water...

Aside from the mentioned sandstorm, you do get access to rapid spin, meaning you can clear entry hazards nicely. You also gain access to the variably powered physical ground move magnitude, and earthquake, which is a great move. There are a few stat boost moves, such as defence curl, which can combo with rollout to hit a little harder in the first combo added to Pokemon, and if you are running a physical wall, this may not be a terrible idea to take defence curl. Swords dance is another status move that can be considered, offering a good boost to your attack. Slash and dig are both reasonable ideas, as is maybe fury cutter as a bug-type for coverage, but it is weak, so this and poison sting are rather forgettable, as is the special attack swift, despite it not missing. Gyro ball is a good option if you are running low speed, so that isn't too bad an investment as a potentially heavy hitting steel-type physical.

The TM list for Sandshrew is rather huge, allowing for early learning of some later level moves, rock tomb (which slows and kills ice type rather well), and for some unknown reason you can get aerial ace... Right... Brick break is a fine fighting move, hitting hard and breaking screens, poison jab is a nice one, as well, rock slide hits pretty hard (especially on ice and flying) and shadow claw is pretty decent. Strength and secret power are decent considerations, allowing some work to be done in the overworld, where rock smash is also applicable, but not good enough in terms of power if you are running a Sandshrew.

Rock climb, night slash, crush claw and chip away are all decent shouts for egg moves, and rototiller is an odd one, boosting all grass moves in the field, which doubles something that hits you pretty hard.

With the same abilities and pretty much the same movepool, you get Sandslash, which looks pretty menacing. Sunny day is an interesting addition to the TM list, since it boosts fire, which you resist, so could be a good support move, but enables multiple incoming, no charge turn as warning solar beams to destroy you. Oh, and in both cases you can use return or frustration, but with very few exceptions everything gets these, so I'll only mention them when something cool happens with them...

Like Wolverine, only not so obnoxious and over-worshipped by fans... and missing a claw

The thing about Sandslash is, with sand rush, it is fast: 130 base from the doubling (and double any IV or odd EV investment). Base 65 speed is pretty crap, since it's too slow to be good, but not bad enough to work on a trick room team if the opposition has also setup for this. 100 attack and 110 defence makes this a pretty decent physical wall with 75 HP being nothing dreadful, but then nothing to write home about. The problem really is still the special side of life, with a poor 55 special defence. Special attack is low, but this isn't really a problem since there are very few good special moves (hidden power if you get a good one and earth power from the tutor).

All in all, Sandlash has potential as a physical wall, and could shrug off a lot of physical based Pokemons' special coverage attacks. Iron tail, knock off and super fang are nice ideas from the tutor, but you could run a rapid spin and stealth rock set: if you manage to start with Sandslash against something with sandstream then you can rapidly place stealth rock and hit hard and fast with some physical moves, clearing their hazards too, until a surf comes in and washes you away. This Pokemon that I have fond memories of away from the games is decent, but certainly not fit to join Mega Blastoise or Mega Beedrill at the top table, though certainly better than Butterfree if used right.

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