#158-160: Totodile, Croconaw, Feraligatr

We've had the top and bottom of the base stat total starters of generation two, so we're now visiting the middle one, the water one. And it's like a crocodile...

Totodile is a rather sweet sounding name, but carries that edge of hostility when you connect it with the surviving dinosaurs that have been known to eat whole villages when their usual prey has gone. You get this as a mono-type water Pokemon with the standard ability (torrent boosts water moves by 1.5x when your HP is 1/3rd or less), and hidden ability-wise you get sheer force (ignores moves' secondary effects for a boost in power). Stats: 50HP, 65 attack, 64 defence, 44 special attack, 48 special defence and 43 speed. Physical wall? Maybe...

"Aww! Cute!"

For once, you don't start with tackle, but instead you have the base 40 scratch (still physical normal), accompanied by leer to lower the foe's defence by a stage again. Water gun (guess the type) is a base 40 special move. Rage is a base 20 normal physical move that, if used consecutively, can allow for a boost to the attack stat when damaged by the opponent. The next move is bite, a base 60 dark physical move that can cause flinching. You can evolve at level 18 (quite high), so the last move before that joyous occasion is scary face, which drops the target's speed. We may as well carry on here for the moment: ice fang is next, which is a base 65 physical move (ice-type of course) with 95 accuracy and the chance to freeze, which is rather nice. Flail is up next, which is a variable powered normal physical move, where the less HP you have, the harder you hit (1-4% HP remaining leads to base 200), so this is pretty handy I guess. The next move is crunch, a base 80 dark move that can drop the foe's defence, so a pretty nice move, which would have been awesome if you got secondary type dark.

Trundling along, you get chip away, which is a base 70 physical normal move which ignores stat modifiers (so lowered attack on your part or buffed defence on their's), which is followed by slash, another base 70 normal physical move which also boasts an increased critical hit ratio. Screech has 85 accuracy but lowers the target's defence by two stages, hitting any adjacent target you please (which could work well on a contrary teammate). Thrash is devastatingly powerful, base 120 physical normal, but after being locked in for a few turns of this, you become confused. Aqua tail is base 90 in power and 90 in accuracy as a water physical move, which could well be your primary STAB attack if you don't mind the accuracy drop, and superpower is a base 120 physical fighting move that drops both physical stats by one stage. Hydro pump is the last move on the learnset and is one not to be used here in all honestly: base 110 is good, 80 accuracy isn't, water-type is good, special focus isn't.

Not content with being like the other starters with the same type things appearing on the generic TM lists. Here, you also get the ice ones, so hail, blizzard and ice beam. Hone claws also pops up (attack and accuracy boosted by a stage each), with dragon claw (base 80 dragon physical move), shadow claw (base 70 ghost physical with increased critical hit ratio), scald (base 80 special water move with the chance to burn the foe), dig, brick break, rock slide, rock tomb, aerial ace, power-up punch, surf, dive, and arguably the best of the bunch in waterfall (base 80 water physical with 100 accuracy and a flinch chance).

Breeding time! Ancient power is maybe a bit wasted here, but aqua jet could be brilliant as your priority move (base 40 water physical with one stage boosted priority), dragon dance, ice punch (hits harder and more accurately than ice fang at base 75 power and 100 accuracy, still ice physical), mud sport nerfs electricity, and water pulse, but that again is wasted here. You get some other moves, but they either have come up before or are questionably useful. If you want to head to the tutor, you can nab water pulse, aqua tail, ice punch, icy wind, uproar, superpower, spite (remove PP of the last move that hit you), iron tail, low kick, focus punch and block. You also get, of course, water pledge, which can combine with the other pledges for double power again (base 80 special as the standard) and the making of a speed halving swamp (with grass) and a rainbow that increases added effect chance (which is messed up by sheer force) for four turns.

Croconaw only sticks about between levels 18 and 30. 15 point boosts to every stat other than defence, which gets 16 instead, so now HP is 65, physical stats are 80, 59 special attack, 63 special defence and 58 speed. Same abilities, same typing, same moves.

"Eurgh, horrible!"

After Croconaw's short stay you then get to Feraligatr. Stat boosts are now 20, except attack, which has got 25, so now 90 HP, 105 attack, 100 defence, 79 special attack, 83 special defence and 78 speed. Same type, same abilities, but a vastly different moveset: you can get agility by level, hyper beam, giga impact, earthquake, focus blast and dragon tail from TM, and focus punch and outrage by tutoring, so that's actually a lot of additions.

"AAAAH! Ryuk from DeathNote!!!!"

You may lack the speed and coolness of Typhlosion, but this actually has a really nice, fairly diverse moveset. You may not have great bulk, but it's good. This Pokemon isn't that bad, actually, but it still just lags behind Typhlosion.

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

#152-154: Chikorita, Bayleef and Meganium

Ok, so to rip-off Professor Sprout: "Welcome to Greenhouse 3, second gen!" Yeah, because we're kicking off gen two with the grass-type starter!

Chikorita was one of the starters in Gold, Silver and Crystal, the latter being the first Pokemon game I played. I did say I was late to the party. Anyway, it was one of the starters I overlooked, so it'll be interesting to see what I missed out on (except that was a long time ago and it's now utterly different). As I've mentioned, you're a grass-type, but you have rather disappointing stats, with some 40s (45 in HP and speed, 49 in the attacks) and some indifferent defence (65 in both). It suffers from the balance issue, clearly. You get the ability overgrow (boosts grass attacks to 1.5x power when your health falls to a third), with the hidden ability of leaf guard (in sunlight, you are immune to status conditions, including self-induces sleep by use of rest). Neither ability is that great, to be honest.

You can see why I didn't take it...

Is there any point in telling you that you start with tackle and growl, or any point in describing them? Go back and look at virtually any one I've written so far, I'll wait... Back? Good. Razor leaf comes in at level 6, hitting as a grass physical move with base 55 power, 95 accuracy, a boosted critical hit rate, the ability to hit all adjacent foes and the ability to cut grass in generation 6 battlefields. Poison powder carries 75 accuracy but will lead to the foe being poisoned (unless immune for whatever reason), and synthesis heals you, with the amount of healing being based on the weather (2/3rds max for sunshine, half for normal and quarter for rain), so this could be useful if you have leaf guard and can't rest...

You evolve a little early at level 16, so reflect coming in at 17 suggests that it probably belongs in another paragraph. Reflect effectively halves physical damage that would be sustained by the team for five turns. Magical leaf ignores the accuracy check and is a special move, so therefore is basically a grass version of swift, whilst natural gift hits with different powers and typings based on the berry you are holding. There are lots of berries... Sweet scent lowers the foe's evasiveness, and if used in the overworld (like you would use an HM) when in the grass, it will cause a wild Pokemon to attack, in some places provoking a horde battle. Remember a couple of lines ago I mentioned reflect? Well take that, swap physical for special and for some reason add 10 PP and you get light screen instead. Body slam is fairly powerful at base 85 (doubled if the foe is minimized), with a 30% chance to paralyse a foe as a 100 accuracy normal physical move. Safeguard protects the team for a few turns from the chance of picking up status problems (did someone forget leaf guard), and aromatherapy heals the whole party of status issues. The last level move is solar beam (you know the drill: base 120 grass special move with a charge turn unless used in sunshine). Why are there so many things that work with sunshine?

As far as TMs go, you get a rather standard array, with toxic included to make poison powder rather irrelevant. You can pick up sunny day here if you like the risk, hidden power can be used for coverage, protect could be useful, return/frustration depend on how much you love it. The thing is, you don't get the moves like thunder, flamethrower and ice beam, so every damaging move seems to be normal or grass... Hmm... Rest does nothing with sunny leaf guard, round, echoed voice and energy ball (base 90 grass special) all pop up, along with swords dance of all things. Substitute is there to shield you from fire damage for a nano-second, swagger and confide are there, and so is cut.

Breeding can grant you ancient power, which does base 60 rock special damage and can boost all your stats, which is ace, and you can also grab counter since you're really slow (but you lack the HP to allow it to work), flail can be used to go well with your terrible HP and ok defences as it hits harder the weaker you are. Leaf storm is there as a base 130 grass special move that will drop your special attack by a couple of stages, heal pulse and ingrain can be used as running a tanky set, as can leech seed, which can drain some health from the foe each turn. Aside from that, the rest are pretty dull and uninspired. The tutor is fairly similar, with iron tail, worry seed, synthesis and snore cropping up. However, you can pick up seed bomb as a base 80 grass physical move, giga drain as a base 75 grass special move that will also heal you a bit, and grass pledge (guess the type) as a base 80 special move that can be combined in multi-battles with water and fire pledge, doubling the power output, and creating a hazard foe the foes: water+grass gives a swamp that drops speed, fire+grass gives a fire that does 1/8th HP damage per turn.

I mentioned you evolve at 16, and you become a Bayleef. You're still a disappointment. 60 HP and speed, 62 physical and 63 special attack and 80 in the defences. Still nothing really looking too good. Also no change to abilities. You know what else doesn't change? The movelists... Boring...

It looks like a crappy dinosaur with a sword in its head...

It may be boring, but that means we can skip straight ahead to level 32 and Meganium. It has mega in the name, so it has to be good, right? Right? The base stat total is lower than both the other starters of the gen (they nail 530 and 534, this caps at 525), but that doesn't make it bad. The spread of stats makes it bad. Add 20 to all the stats of Bayleef and you're there. Not enough bulk to tank, not enough defence in either to really wall too well, not enough speed or offence to offer a sweep. Jack of all trades, master of none: this is pretty much right, but it doesn't really offer much in any format due to the stats, the abilities and the poor movesets. Wow! I've summed it up already. It also lacks a mega as of writing.

Just... What?

Yeah, this is probably the weakest starter ever. I'll leave it at that since I've bashed it a fair bit already...

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

#25 + #26 + #172: Pikachu, Raichu and the baby Pichu...

So we did #24, Arbok, so now we go to #172... Because that figures... Damn I hate the baby Pokemon insertion...

So Pichu was added to the evolutionary line of Pikachu in the subsequent generation and was generally pointless. It gets static and lightning rod, which are decent(ish) abilities. Static means that any move that makes contact with it can result in paralysis of the attacker (unless they are already hit with a status or immune) whilst lightning rod is cool for multi-battles as it takes the electric attacks to itself, so say someone's throwing thunderbolt at your Blastoise, take the hit with Pichu instead. This hidden ability also grants immunity to electric moves, and will also boost your special attack when hit.

It just looks all wrongly proportioned and creepy

Despite having decent base speed and attack (60 and 40), Pichu is just awful. The fact that you have to breed Pikachu or Raichu to get it means you've only got it for completion, or nature/IV breeding. 35 on both specials isn't good, and going with base 15 defence and 20 HP, it's going to die fast. By levelling, the only damaging move it learns is thundershock, a fairly weak electric attack that uses its special attack, so it's that little bit weaker still. It can get some excellent moves by TM, such as thunder, or thunderbolt if you'd rather the accuracy, volt switch is a rather nice move as you can swap out on it using a fairly decent damage attack, but these are all special. Physical attacks wise, wild charge is a decent STAB move, but has recoil, and Pichu has basically no HP...

You can pick up return, but that won't work too well since with a high enough friendship to get decent power out of it you'll evolve into the far better Pikachu. You could run frustration since you could be getting fainted ALL THE TIME, or you could take either facade or ORAS's secret power for physical coverage moves. If going the special route, you can take round or hidden power. You could also run rain dance to up the accuracy of thunder.

Through breeding, you could take volt tackle or thunder punch as physical STAB moves but the former has heavy recoil. There are some interesting support moves, such as wish kicking about, but you can also get special fairy move disarming voice so you can mess up dragons a bit, yet it has low power...

So we move on to Pikachu, probably the most recognisable, and very much the mascot of the franchise. Despite (now) being an evolved Pokemon, I think it's a lot cuter than Pichu, and it has a brilliant rip-off in the adult cartoon series Drawn Together in the guise of the sociopathic Ling-Ling.

You know this one too well... You don't need this picture...

Pikachu gets an across the board bump in stats, giving it a decent 90 base speed, but only 55 attack and 50 special attack. There's still no HP, and with 40/50 defences, you won't survive much unless you go with eviolite to buff the defences a little. Bang on a lightball instead, and you now have 110 attack and 100 special, which makes Pikachu just about viable, hitting harder than Raichu, which cannot have the light ball. Light ball is probably a better shout, since eviolite will only a 50% boost to defences, so take the attack and be a glass cannon: light ball is specifically for Pikachu.

With the boosted stats, Pikachu now actually gets a movepool, but on levelling it is almost exclusively special electric moves and quick attack, feint and slam. You also get the ever frustrating thunder wave, which is rather useful even if it does no damage. Remember, paralysis halves speed and has a chance to make the afflicted unable to move for a turn. Spark and nuzzle provide the electric physical moves, the former being rather powerful, the latter being low damage but will paralyse the opponent, so that's kinda cool.

Looking at the upper levels, you get access to wild charge, which I'm not sold on, since with 100 special, I'd take thunder or thuderbolt, and if you go physical you can breed in or tutor thunder punch, which is weaker but no recoil.

You now have access to a better TM list, with moves like dig, strength, rock smash/brick break and grass knot potentially viable. The moveset isn't the best in the world, but not awful. If you look to the tutors you could risk focus punch, take iron tail and signal beam as well as thunder punch, or go magnet rise so you avoid ground types, which is pretty awesome since an earthquake will wipe you out.

Another cool quirk of Pikachu from ORAS is the cosplay edition, which comes with special moves depending on the outfit it wears, as well as being basically the best option for contests due to amazing starting conditions. Rock star Pikachu (cool) gets the steel physical move meteor mash (which lowers your stats but hits hard), Belle (beauty) gets icicle crash (ice-type physical that hits hard and can cause flinching), pop star (cute) gets draining kiss (fairy special that is lower power but gives a huge 75% of the damage as recovery), Ph.D (smart) gets electric terrain (prevents sleep and boosts electric power of those Pokemon on the ground by 50%) and Pikachu Libre (dressed like a Hawlucha for tough) gets flying press (an interesting move that is fighting type, but also works out damage using flying as a consideration, so STAB fighting with chance of flying damage, with 80 base power doubled on hitting a minimised target).

If you evolve to Raichu, you get a nice speed of 110, a decent HP boost to 60 (from 35), as well as defensive stats of 55 and 80, the latter of which doesn't worry me too much about it. The thing is, you may as well run light ball Pikachu with 110 and 100 attack stats rather than 90 and 90, and the likelihood of facing weaker opponents (I can't remember the tiers off the top of my head but I guess they will differ).

Still cuter than Pichu...

If you prefer the faster, bulkier Raichu, which actually isn't a bad trade-off (both are VERY even really when you weigh them both up), then you will be expending a thunderstone for access to knock off by tutor. Also wait until you've learned what you want from the level learnset, since Raichu learns NOTHING by level up.

All in all, this evolutinary line isn't too bad. We get a lot of nostalgia for the adorable little Pikachu, a little less for Raichu, and then probably some dislike for Pichu (terrible in this game and somehow worse in Smash Bros. Melee, and also messing up the numbering system...). Pikachu can't take a hit but sure can deal some damage. Raichu could take a little damage, and gets there faster, but doesn't pack quite the same punch. With decent at best stats as focal points, you have a decent electric type with a fairly shallow move list to fight in lower tiers or just look adorable. But please just walk around and get Pichu massaged, otherwise you'll get stuck with the useless thing...

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

#7 - #9: Squirtle, Wartortle and Blastoise

Since we've done Charmander and co., it's now time for his rival family, Squirtle and fam.

After being introduced with the Squirtle Squad, this Pokemon is bound to be a happy memory for you (until he went home and broke all our hearts...). This little Pokemon packs pretty good defences at the expense of any kind of speed. 65 def, and 64 special defence, as well as the rather unspectacular base 44 HP (one less than Bulbasaur) sets it out as a bit of a tank, with rather mediocre (50 and below) offensive stats. By level up it learns a couple of OK STAB specials such as water gun (of base 40 power isn't too disgraceful but is very much an early learner or story progress PP bulk move from higher level usage), bubble, water pulse (which I rather like since it has power to confuse and will be detailed when I get to the mega Blastoise and it's ability) and hydro pump (these last two, however, are at higher levels than Squirtle should still be Squirtle at). You also get a STAB physical of aqua tail.

Cute, cool, and useful if the town is burning down, but disappointingly weak and slow...

As far as TMs and HMs go, Squirtle could make a passable HM guy, with surf, strength, waterfall and rock smash, and with the TMs you can get decent coverage (a few ice moves, toxic, gyro ball so your lack of speed works in benefit, dig, return/frustration, and substitute and focus punch if you want to run the now slightly archaic yet still marginally worthwhile sub/punch routine). You also get scald, which I love: strong special water move that can result in a burn? I put that on my Primal Kyogre!

You also can get access to aqua jet (not kidding this move can be broken in the right hands), water spout, brine, and a few coverage moves through breeding.

Moving on to Wartortle (which I could never decide if this was a cooler name than Blastoise), you get a nice jump to 80 on the defences and 59 HP (which is still a bit poor), but couple that with eviolite and this could make a reasonable tank for lower tiers and the unevolved corner.

Seriously, with a name like Wartortle, that sounds like it should be more terrifying!

Carrying in a decent movepool from breeding and Squirtle and increases to both attack stats of 15, you can hit a little harder, but not with any real power. You get access to protect, which can work situationally and can work wonders to annoy the life out of your opponent, as well as the high damage skull bash on the brink of evolution. You also get access to a surprisingly deep and diverse pool of moves from the ORAS tutor, and through breeding you may go for aqua ring which gives 1/16 healing per turn and can be baton passed if you have the move. Aqua ring offers ok support on a tanky set as an equivalent of leftovers, so if you run eviolite, you can get basically leftovers from a move, and if you have leftovers, you can get it doubled, so not too shabby. Couple this with the evolutionary line's hidden ability rain dish, where in the rain you get another 1/16th of your health back, you can stick around for a while...

So now for Blastoise...100 defence and 105 special defence means that it is a passable, but not great tank unless you can get in some boosts, since the HP lounges around at 79. A low speed, and attack stats in the 80s means you won't be sweeping. You do get some decent moves that make a decent set, but you don't get much of a damage output. So why do you see Blastoise in online battles?

Pretty bad ass, and pretty useful.

The thing that makes Blastoise a decent choice (like Wartortle before it) is that they learn RAPID SPIN! So it's only 20 base power and can't hit ghosts... You aren't doing it for the damage, really. It clears entry hazards, like stealth rock and toxic spikes which can ruin your team if left lying around with no resistances to it. Clear them up, soak up a few hits, maybe drag some out, and then if you go down, you've left a clear path for the killing machine that is Mega Charizard Y, for example, or even a retaliate from something like a Terrakion or Slaking that will hit hard and fast (especially with scarves or whatnot).

Moving on from this, we now have a mega as of 2013. Mega Blastoise still has rubbish speed (78 is too slow to strike fast, and too fast to be on trick room and gyro ball sets) and HP (79 is not the best in the world), but you do get pretty impressive defensive stats (120 defence, 115 special defence), and a sudden jump 103 attack and 130 special attack, which put it into the realm of a heavy hitter. Damn, with surf on this thing you can hit things like a small train and come away with chance to fight another couple of turns!

Finally! A truly worthwhile mega!

You also get a new ability replacing torrent (standard junk starter ability that boosts your primary type damage in 'a pinch') or rain dish: Mega Launcher. I love mega launcher, particularly on Clauncher/Clawitzer, as it boosts the power of certain moves by 50%. The moves affected are: aura sphere, dark pulse, dragon pulse, water pulse and heal pulse. Blastoise can have all of these except heal pulse. Water pulse is the weakest at base 60, but with the boost and STAB it can be pretty devastating. The others are 80 (well, dragon is 85) and so offer some hard hitting coverage with reasonable PP. If you can't wait for Clauncher or whatever else gets heal pulse and it being worth mentioning, it can recover 50% of your health, and with mega launcher this goes up to a very respectable 75%.

All in all, I would say that this evolutionary line is one to seriously consider. With a decent bulk in each step of the chain, decent moves (including the useful rapid spin) and two (maybe three) nice abilities, it allows you some great flexibility to setup as you please, and this allows you to catch people off guard, which is always pretty damned nice. Also, with pure water typing, you don't have too much to be afraid of (especially not since you can get some ace ice-type moves to kill off grass threats, leaving electric as your main worry). I would even say that this was worth considering mega evolving, which is interesting since there are some excellent ones coming soon...

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

#4 - #6: Charmander, Charmeleon and Charizard

After doing the Bulbasaur line, there's only one logical place to go, and that is to the next starter in National Dex order: Charmander.

This was likely one of the very first Pokemon people used: the cute little fire-type that had such a sad introduction to the anime series, both adorable yet with the promise of power. If you started with it, you probably love it, and if you started with Bulbasaur, you probably don't like it anywhere near as much...

To start off with, Charmander is appreciably weaker than Bulbasaur, with a more mixed-attacking outlook, yet dramatically inferior HP and defence but with more speed than Ivysaur, in fact. Attack and special attack are both decent in value for a first evolution (52 and 60 respectively), yet by level up it's small moveset offers a decent array of special attacks that align well with this to make a decent special attacking Pokemon, only offering two moderately serviceable physical attacks (slash and fire fang). No decent attacks become available until well after you should have evolved it, however.

So cute!!!

The TM list is fairly deep and diverse, offering another smattering of STAB fire-type moves, as well as things like aerial ace, which become STAB when evolving up to Charizard. Also on offer are some claw based moved, such as both dragon and shadow claw, and the stat boosting hone claws, and the basically ever present return/frustration and toxic. I'm still not sure why anyone would ever have frustration on their Pokemon since the act of walking to the next battle can lower its damage output...

From breeding, this evolutionary line actually gets a lot of good moves, too many to go too deep into, but you can get things like bite (not bad, but not great) and crunch (pretty good), dragon pulse, ancient power and air cutter. It can also get belly drum, but putting belly drum on a Charmander is just asking to get one-shotted since the defences and HP stats are in the toilet...

Charmeleon can be fitted with eviolite, making it a moderate option in lower-middle tier battles and still has a good movepool of special attacks and a good special attack (80) to make the most of this, whilst having an indifferent attack stat (62) and still a small set of moves that work with it (it can get fire punch from tutoring in ORAS).

What's with the bump on his head?

Now to the main event: Charizard and it's mega evolutions... Which you will probably see in competitive play far more than they deserve...

All the way through the evolutionary line, you have two abilities: Blaze, which is like the standard starter abilities in that it buffs type damage output for the primary typing (fire) a bit when you're on the verge of death (may work with belly drum if your opponent is useless) and solar power, which is sort of like having a life orb that only works in the sun and only on the special attack stat, so there is no reason to focus attack unless you're trying to catch someone by surprise or aren't using the hidden ability. Mega evolution brings in different abilities, but I'll get to that in a bit.

Looks like a big badass, is smaller than mid/late teens..

Charizard is 'blessed' with flying typing and can learn fly, so in the story it can get a bit of use as your HM-'slave'. Attack gets to a moderately respectable 84, but is still too low to be properly viable with 109 special attack and not the best defence and HP to cover for not OHKOing everything. Speed is also very respectable at base 100, but there are many faster options out there.

With evolution comes an expanded movepool to account for flying, but only two flying moves get added, one of which is physical and thus pretty useless unless you go for the X-mega. Other than that, the movepool is not really much deeper than before, and so for straight Charziard and Charizard Y, either give it flamethrower, air slash, and then maybe solar beam and ancient power, since Y gets drought, giving 5 turns of charge free solar beam. Charizard Y gets not only this nice ability, but also a little more defensive bulk and a huge 159 base special attack... Too bad it sucks, since if it comes in on stealth rock, it's dead. Minimal HP, inferior defences and it being so overused means that it'll be surrounded by Pokemon that will deal with it swiftly and painfully: rock teams, dragons that will laugh off most of the attacks it learns, and a few teams specifically with countering Charizard Y in mind, all because it is popular and powerful...

Pretty cool design, devastating power, killed by leaving Lego around... Charizard Y

For Charizard X, you get a change in typing to fire/dragon, and a split attack front with both regular and special going to 130, not something to be looked down on too much, but with lacking HP and only 85 special defence, you may not be sticking around too long, especially not if you go Speed and then Attack EVs. If you run attack, fly is a decent option (even without STAB it covers the ground weakness), though not outstanding, and you can also take advantage of crunch, dragon/shadow claw and flare blitz. Running attack, as well, also allows belly drum to not be the worst move possible, but it's still an awful choice...

Finally a dragon after nearly two decades, but is it worth it? Charizard X

Overall, I find myself thinking Charizard is one of the most overrated Pokemon ever. Charmander is adorable, Charmeleon is pretty hideous, and Charizard may look awesome, but is shorter than me: it's only 5'7". It's also too frail: regular and Y get ruined by one of the more usual entry hazards (stealth rock) and X gets nicely demolished by ground and fairy (which are also pretty damn common) as well as getting hit still quite hard by stealth rock, spikes and toxic spikes. Take no offence: Charizard is a great Pokemon, but there are too many easily sorted checks for it. If you manage to clear all of them out of the way, you can run rampant... Also, I don't really like there being two megas...

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

#1 - #3: Bulbasaur, Ivysaur and Venusaur

If you're going to start something, may as well go from the beginning, and so for my first assignment, I am reviewing the generation one grass-type starter and first in the national Pokedex, Bulbasaur and it's evolutionary line. (Please note that stat totals and learnsets will only be for Generation Six (X, Y Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.)

I came to Pokemon quite late, getting Crystal version for Christmas in 2001 with a brand new Gameboy Colour, so regrettably I didn't have much to do with these generation one starters until a fair while later. However, for the vast majority of players of my age/generation, Bulbasaur may well have been their starter (such as my girlfriend over at http://lizziedailyblog.blogspot.com), or their rival's starter if they picked Squirtle, and I guess many people will be familiar with many Pokemon from the anime, which regrettably I never really saw until the release of X and Y when we watched a few episodes online when we started those games together.

Bulbasaur and it's evolutionary line will always hold a special place in the heart of those who chose it as a starter, I'm sure, but I myself have put it on a different pedestal (fire-type all the way for me): I see it as being a very rare case of a good grass-type Pokemon, and with recent developments like mega-evolution and the introduction of fairy-type, along with the allowance for dual-typing (not so recent), this 'mon has just got better with age. Bulbasaur itself has a rare base stat total only share by Turtwig and Chikorita, two other grass-type starters, which I thought was fairly interesting.

Being a first evolution, Bulbasaur will mainly only be used in progress through the game or in niche multiplayer battle tiers such as little cup, taking advantage of decent special stats, both special attack and special defence leading the way in terms of the Pokemon's stat levels at base 65, yet level-based learnset for Bulbasaur doesn't take advantage of the greater special than regular attack giving a movepool entirely devoted to status and physical moves.

Admittedly, some of the status moves could prove very useful, such as the powder moves (poison and sleep) and leech seed for draining your enemies' health and restoring your own, but if you plan on taking full advantage of this 'mon, either evolve it up and up, or use it's fairly impressive TM list, including one of my favourite moves: venoshock. Couple venoshock with the poison powder (if you can take a hit after powder or two hits if you're (quite probably) outsped), as when the target is poisoned, venoshock doubles in power from a strong STAB (same type attack bonus) move to something utterly devastating (which I have spammed to oblivion on the online from Pokemon Y).

You can also pick up the moderately risky solar beam (more on that later) and a few other powerful STAB moves like sludge bomb (a good poison attack that deals damage and has the potential to poison, so maybe drop powder for this unless you need to inflict the status, but then you could just take the TM for toxic which can multilayer) and energy ball as a grass-type move. You can also stick on the situational grass knot, which hits heavier opponents harder, you also get round, which is a move I kinda like for some reason, as a coverage option (though it cannot hit ghosts or Pokemon with the ability soundproof, and will be non-STAB neutral at best on most other things other than rock-type which resists it). There's also a few moves that can allow you to go tanky or setup role, as well as some decent moves via breeding, such as giga drain, leaf storm and petal dance for example.

Moving on to the less cute, more deadly Ivysaur, which was likely the first time you saw an evolution in the games unless you power levelled bug-types. Ivysaur comes with a significant boost to all stats, especially those already decent special stats, now boosted to 80, yet still not learning any decent special moves until level 44 by level up (solar beam, if you count that as decent), so again you'd be looking at the TM lists or breeding, which I believe are unchanged. Also, in both cases, it is possible in some versions to get move tutor moves, such as grass pledge.

As far as battling goes, Ivysaur falls into some reasonable tier levels and can be equipped with eviolite to boost defences (this item only works on Pokemon which aren't fully evolved, and so makes Scyther ludicrous, though more on that in a later blog).

Now onto Venusaur, which now has a barely workable physical stat (82) yet still a much more preferable 100 in each special categories. If you let it evolve at level 32, the first opportunity, you're just in time for a decent special move in petal dance (not to be confused with the physical move petal blizzard learned a little while later). If petal dance and solar beam don't do it for you, you can still scavenge a decent TM list (which has several decent poison moves and a few coverage moves scattered through) and a smattering of tutor moves such as grass pledge, giga drain and the heavy damage dealing frenzy plant (heavy hitting but with a fair few drawbacks, such as low PP, 90% accuracy and a recharge turn).

I you're building a Venusaur, you'll probably consider breeding, in which case you may want to breed in something like giga drain as it has a decent attack level, a good accuracy and also heals you, though there are some very high damage moves available through level up such as petal dance. You'll also probably want to pick up the TM for earthquake as a coverage option to hit fire-types which can wreck your day, especially if you're running a solar-beam set with sunny day to remove charging turns, or even just sunny day to take advantage of the speed boost chlorophyll bestows (doubles speed of your pokemon, so for Venusaur it would go from a fairly mediocre 80 to a monstrous 160). Remember, however, that sunny day boosts fire-type attacks, and can leave you very vulnerable, since it will also come with the double damage of type effectiveness and probably STAB boost from something like a Charizard.

Chlorophyll as a hidden ability works well if you are running the solar beam set as a single battle, or if popped in safety in a multi-battle from an assistant. Running a chlorophyll Venusaur, you could stick on a life orb, which boosts damage output by a delightful 30%, yet hits the holder for 10% of its maximum HP.

If you choose to run Mega Venusaur with it's nice boost to stats once again, giving boosts to all bar speed and HP, then you also get the rather nice thick fat ability, covering the weaknesses to fire and ice and rendering them neutral damage (but not to flying or psychic). The leap to base 100 attack means that earthquake is a viable option without EV investment into attack, still focusing a special set, or even a fairly tanky set, as physical defence leaps 40 points to 123, overtaking special stats at 120. Mega Venusaur packs decent power with reasonable bulk (HP is not so amazing at 80, meaning a true tank set is not necessarily the best option).

Personally, I don't really use Venusaur, let alone Mega Venusaur, yet this is for no particular reason. If I were to do so, I would be hoping to run a special attack set chlorophyll Venusaur of a sunny day team, whether that is switching in in a singles game or pairing up in a multi-battle. I'm not knocking Mega Venusaur, it is very usable as a wall or tank or whatever, but I personally prefer other options for my Mega Evolution.

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