#123+ #212: Scyther and Scizor

Well, we've escaped the horror of Mr. Mime and find ourselves safe and what the hell is that? A giant mantis and his robot friend!!!

Just going to say this now: I like Scyther. Despite being bug/flying, there is a decent amount to like, starting with a reasonable 70 base HP, 80 in both defences, 105 speed and 110 attack, with the throw away special attack at 55. So what if you won't be a mixed attacker, you can hit pretty hard and fast with those stats. You also get the technician ability again (boost the power of moves base 60 or lower by 1.5x, moves affected denoted by *), along with swarm (ups the power of bug-type moves by 1.5x when your HP is below 1/3rd) and the hidden ability steadfast (boosts your already impressive speed by one stage when you get flinched). So what if two of the abilities may as well not be there? Steadfast isn't that common, and ability capsules exist.

Looks safer than the clown...

You start off with the special fighting move vacuum wave* (base 40) which is pretty forgettable since, y'know, it's special, but it does get priority, like, I dunno, quick attack* which you can also get, hitting as a base 40 physical normal with the same priority. Leer drops the defence of the foe, focus energy boosts critical changes, and pursuit (sorta *) hits as a base 40 dark move that can hit foes who are switching out for double damage, gaining priority only when the foe tries switching out. False swipe* is a normal physical base 40 attack that uses restraint and will leave the foe alive, agility boosts your speed, and wing attack* is your first STAB move as a base 60 physical flying move which can also hit any foe in a multi-battle. Fury cutter* comes hot on its heels as another STAB move, this time a base 40 physical bug move increasing in power with successive uses up to a maximum 160, which is pretty scary if you can keep on hitting with its 95 accuracy and lack of initial damage leaving you open to death. Slash is an ever serviceable base 70 normal physical move (just too high for technician) that has a decent critical ratio, whilst razor wind is a shade more powerful at 80, but is normal special move with a charging turn, which ruins the appeal of the high critical ratio.

Double-team boosts your evasiveness, which can be nice, whilst X-scissor is a nicely powerful bug physical move (base 80) and night slash is a good dark physical with base 70 and an increased critical hit ratio. Double hit* hits twice (wow!) with base 35 normal physical power on each hit within the turn, air slash is a base 75 flying special (STAB but wrong stat category) that has a decent flinch chance, swords dance boosts your attack by two stages and feint* hits base 30 normal physical as a priority move that also lifts the effects of the foe's protect, detect, spiky shield and whatnot.

In addition to all the scattered stuff you normally get from TMs (here, return could be great, by the way), you get hyper beam if you wan't to waste a move slot (the same being said for giga impact, but that at least is physical), brick break, aerial ace* (and STAB, too), thief*, steel wing (which gets STAB if you evolve), struggle bug* (but despite STAB is special), X-scissor (again), U-turn (bug physical and allows you to switch out when you hit, so potentially awesome), cut* and rock smash*. Why no fly? Especially when you get roost...

To go with things like swords dance and agility, you can breed in baton pass and pass these moves onto something even more horrifying (you can also get substitute from TMs of course), and you can also get counter. Bug buzz is special and so is less valuable than it could be, defog carries utility but it probably better on another Pokemon, reversal is decent, and the tutor can give knock off and bug bite, as well as snore and tail wind.

If you didn't use the metal coat on Onix (or you had a spare), then you can trade Scyther with it to get Scizor. Both Pokemon have the same base stat total, but here we have reassigned some of that wonderful speed to other areas, mainly the defence, which shoots up to 100, the attack gets an extra 20 as well, going to 130, with the speed now lagging behind at 65. You also trade out your flying-type to steel, making you more weak to fire, and since lots of fast fire-types hang around as special or mixed sweepers, this could be a poor call. Steadfast also makes way, granting light metal, which halves your weight.

Is Hugh Jackman motion controlling this?

Instead of vacuum wave, you get the much better bullet punch*, which is basically a steel equivalent to quick attack so you get STAB. The other two obligatory steel moves that pop up in the level list are metal claw*, a base 50 physical move that has a slight chance of raising your attack by a stage, and iron head, a base 80 physical move that carries a decent chance of flinching the foe. Fling and acrobatics are there on the TM list as a potential combo, as acrobatics starts as base 55* until you lose your item, at which point it doubles to 110. Flash cannon is normally a decent move, but not with 55 base special attack, strength may be more advisable. Iron defence, iron head and superpower are added by the tutor, with the latter hitting hard but reducing both of your physical stats by a stage for each use.

We're not quite done yet, as Scizor has been blessed by a mega evolution. Mega Scizor gets a much needed boost in stats and a really dumb design. 150 attack is great, so is 140 defence, even the 20 more to special defence is nice, but adding 10 to special attack and only adding the same to speed is really insulting: add 20 to speed, nothing to special attack, then maybe it could be good. You get technician as the sole ability, but the remaining lack of speed, the massive weakness to fire (in place of less significant weaknesses to ice and poison) are just baffling with the massive speed loss from the original Scyther.

What?

I'll finish wrapping up in the designated paragraph: I like Scyther a lot, but I don't really like Scizor that much. Scizor is just not fast enough to carry enough of a threat. Even with technician, the priority moves available aren't anything ground breaking, so to do real damage, you'll be attacking later. Sure, a STAB bullet punch with technician could save you, but it may not be enough to make me like this Pokemon as much as its original form.

(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)

#81, #82 + #462: Magnemite, Magneton and Magnezone

Well, we have our highest number so far in the Pokedex as we have a first generation family with a fourth generation addition, for some reason. To make this weirder, it's one of those 'evolve in a specific location' deals for generation four.

Magnemite is a magnet, which is highly shocking and original. It's electric and steel, so ground attacks will wreck it, along with being weak to fighting and fire, but it does have poison immunity and a huge list of resistances. You get basically no HP (25 base), low speed (45) and minimal attack (35). The rest of the stats are ok, with 55 special defence (could be worse), 70 defence and a really nice 95 special attack. Magnet pull is an ability that prevents steel-types switching out, and in the overworld can make finding steel-types more likely. A possibly more appealing option is sturdy, which is now a little infamous for a few gimmick teams which will be detailed in a separate post, since it basically acts like a focus sash, preventing being killed in one hit from full HP. The hidden ability is analytic: if you attack a Pokemon that has already moved during the turn then you get a 30% power boost.

Don't 'screw' with me! Haha...

From the level-up movelist, you start with tackle. You also get early access to supersonic, which confuses the foe, whilst thundershock is a mediocre (base 40) electric special attack that carries a chance to paralyse. Sonic boom is basically a waste of time as it hits anything other than ghosts for 20HP only. Thunderwave is evil: it has 100 accuracy and will paralyse the recipient, crushing effectiveness, and is a decent weapon to use, especially with hex on the team. Magnet bomb (60) and spark (65) are physical moves (the former steel and the latter electric) which basically aren't worthwhile since you have rubbish physical attack. Mirror shot is of decent power (65) but poor accuracy (85) but with the added bonus of a 30% chance of lowering their accuracy. Metal sound (drops the foe's special defence by two stages) and electro ball (hits harder the faster you are compared to the enemy, so pretty worthless here) are the last moves before you can evolve (metal sound is actually worth consideration).

If you hold off evolving, you can pick up flash cannon (low PP but accurate steel special with 80 power and a chance to lower the target's special defence), screech (drops the foe's defence by two stages, so could be more useful if running a setup or on a multi-battle team), discharge (electric special base 80 that hits allies, too, with a fair chance to paralyse), lock on (makes sure the next attack lands other than through protect), magnet rise (lifts you off the ground, basically levitating you), gyro ball (steel physical that hits harder the slower you are) and zap cannon (hugely powerful, with only 50 accuracy (couple this with lock on) with only 5 PP and will paralyse the foe).

I will never understand why this Pokemon gets toxic, but hidden power is a decent choice, along with thunderbolt, and thunder could work with rain dance (available) or lock on. Round and charge beam could be options, but physical moves like return are pretty much worthless. Light screen, reflect, things like swagger, rest ad sleep talk could all be worthwhile, and if you take explosion then you deserve to lose. Instead, take volt switch.

Magnemite cannot be bred, so there are no egg moves, but there are a couple of tutor moves like electroweb, iron defence, recycle and signal beam (as well as the obligatory snore).

When you reach level 30 and attach more magnets, you get a bit better: 50HP, 60 attack (still not worth considering), 95 defence (solid), 120 special attack and 70 in both special defence and speed, which isn't too bad. You keep the same types and abilities, too.

Real funny, guys, but c'mon, just unscrew and let us go!

You wanna know what else you keep? The same lack of egg moves (of course), the same tutor moves and the same TM list but with the obvious hyper beam and giga impact. You also only add tri-attack (hits with fire, ice and electricity, with each having a small chance to cause their status ailment as well as being pretty powerful) and electric terrain, which makes Pokemon on the floor unable to fall asleep and boosts electric attacks for 5 turns.

Now you can go to Mt. Coronet, Chargestone Cave, Kalos route 13 or New Mauville to level up which brings the final evolution of Magnezone.

Actually a pretty cool design change...

No change in abilities or typing again, and you lose speed (down to 60) but you get a little more special attack (base 130), with 70 HP and attack (still ignore attack), and 115 defence with 90 special defence, making you fairly hard hitting and fairly robust. Go with the hidden ability if you can to dish out more damage and capitalise on the poor speed.

Magnetic flux raises the defences of allies with the abilities plus and minus, and barrier and magic coat are also added to the levelling roster. Aside from these questionably useful moves, there's nothing more to add other than the conclusion that these are decent Pokemon if you aren't looking for speed. You have bulk, you can hurt others, not many things can touch you (really) but the movepools are a little restricted.

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