#132: Ditto

Ok, settle in for a long one here... Wait, Ditto comes before Eevee and its endless evolutions... Well, here we go with Ditto.

Ditto is an amorphous purple mass (blue if you get the shiny) that takes on normal-typing to start with and the rather basic stat array of 48 in everything. It's commonly found with the ability limber, which prevents it from being paralysed, but from time to time, it gets the ability imposter, which basically does what its move does.

Well, hello there...

You read that right, it gets one move: transform. Ditto is there to copy the appearance of the foe, and in doing so, it copies the form, moves (but only granting 5PP on each), stats, mega evolution and weight. Where imposter falls down is that it only copies the Pokemon directly opposite in multi-battles (no change if there is nothing directly opposite) whilst transform works to copy all adjacent Pokemon. The other issues that arise: craft shield blocks this, as do substitutes and Pokemon with illusion.

There's very little to say in terms of battling here, but the main uses for Ditto are in breeding, where you can breed natures and IVs down to offspring from most other Pokemon, even Manaphy, the generation 4 legendary (which actually gives Phione). Most Pokemon can breed with a Ditto, the list that can't basically covers legendaries, and Pokemon of mono-gendered species like Kangaskhan can only breed by breeding with a Ditto. Using an everstone on the Ditto will increase the chance of the Ditto's nature being passed on, whilst destiny knot can cause more IVs to be passed on to the successor.

Ditto is far from an easy battler, but is a great utility Pokemon for sticking in a daycare with another lonely little Pokemon, stick on some Barry White, and then walk around with the resulting egg.

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

#131: Lapras

Did you ever play Pokemon Snap and subsequently curse this beast for being camera shy? Here's the scoop on Lapras...

One thing that immediately jumps out is the HP stat of base 130, which is moderately well supported by base 80 physical and 95 special defences. 85 in both attack stats is a little low but allows decent damage output from either side, but a speed of 60 will see you massively outsped. Issues arise with the typing: water is generally good, but ice is a let down, and brings in rock and fighting weaknesses to the electric and grass, these two new ones being fairly common in online play. Your resistance to water is further boosted by the ability water absorb, which means that water moves will not hurt you, in fact it will heal you. The next ability is shell armour, which prevents being hit by critical hits, whilst the hidden ability of hydration can cure your status afflictions at the end of each turn when you're in the rain.

NESSIE!

Sing can put foes to sleep and growl lowers the foe's defence, but water gun is the only damaging move you start with as a base 40 water special. Very soon after you get mist which prevents the foe from lowering your stats, and confuse ray confuses your opponent. Ice shard is a base 40 ice physical move with priority, like an ice quick attack, and water pulse is yet another STAB move as a water physical move base 60 which can cause confusion. Body slam is a normal physical move with base 85 power with a chance to paralyse the foe and will always hit a minimized foe, hitting them as base 170 as well. Rain dance will boost your water-type moves whilst also activating hydration, and perish song will kill anything which hears it within a few turns, which could be great or a disaster. Ice beam is another great STAB special with base 90 as an ice move (who would have guessed). Brine hits base 65 as a water special move that doubles in power when the foe's health is below 50%, safeguard protects your team from status conditions, and hydro pump is a base 110 water special attack with poor accuracy and thus is not necessarily worth picking. Sheer cold is another one hit KO move, but that means it also very rarely hits.

You keep getting all the old TM moves, and hail could be taken for persistent damage and making blizzard a viable option over ice beam, so you'd get a fully accurate base 110 attack that would normally have 70 accuracy. Hyper beam is still of minimal worth, as is giga impact. Thunder/bolt are also options you could take, thunder going well with rain dance, like blizzard with hail. Somehow, this water/ice Plesiosaur-a-like gets psychic (it just doesn't look the type to me), yet this is always a good thing, really. Bulldoze comes up instead of earthquake, but frost breath is available as base 60 ice special (90 accuracy) which will always get a critical hit unless the foe's ability (such as shell armour) negates it. HM-wise, you can get surf, waterfall, dive, strength and rock smash, making this a utility vehicle extraordinaire, but for in battle, strength is ok if you run a physical set, waterfall is a decent move, too, with the same power as dive. Dive has the semi-invulnerable turn, whilst waterfall can cause a flinch. Neither packs quite as much power as surf, which runs on the special side of things and will hit everyone around it.

As far as breeding goes, ancient power could be a good investment as a special rock move (base 60) that can grant a boost to all stats, whilst dragon pulse offers a base 90 dragon special move. Fissure offers another chance to waste a move slot on a OHKO move, and freeze dry is a baffling new move with base 70 power: it always is super effective against water-types despite being an ice move, all the while carrying a slight chance to paralyse the foe. Numerous options present themselves at the tutor, such as water pulse (again), dragon pulse, hyper voice, icy wind, shock wave, signal beam and snore as the special choices, and then aqua tail, drill run, iron head/tail, outrage and zen headbutt as the physical side. You can also pick up block and heal bell.

Lapras will no doubt have a lot of special places in hearts, but it isn't the greatest Pokemon by a long shot. It lacks the natural bulk to really go out as a mixed attacker, and lacks the major bulk to be a true tank, whilst the middling attacks need investment to be a threat in any significant way. It's not a bad Pokemon, in fact it's brilliant for getting about, but know its limits.

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

#129 + #130: Magikarp and Gyarados

There's a good chance that people remember Magikarp for being just about the worst Pokemon, but then they remember Gyarados as being one of the better ones of the time. Let's see how that holds up.

Magikarp itself is a pure water-type, with dreadful stats other than a decent speed (base 80), which then gets further boosted by the swift swim ability in the rain. You get a pathetic base 20 HP, a laughable base 10 attack, base 55 defence, pitiful base 15 special attack and fragile base 20 special defence. Your other ability, which is the hidden ability, is rattled, which raises speed one stage when hit by bug, dark or ghost moves, if you survive.

The face of ambition...

As far as moves go: splash (my all time favourite move as it does literally nothing), tackle (as primitive as ever) and flail, which is the only way to inflict real damage when you're on low health. You can tutor on bounce, which may be a good idea, as this is a flying physical move with base 85 power and a flinch chance.

Level this excuse for a Pokemon up to level 20 and you get the reward for the dedication and loyalty you have shown, the so-called atrocious Pokemon, Gyarados. You only gain a token point in speed (up to 81), but everything else explodes: 95HP, 125 attack, 79 defence, 60 special attack, 100 special defence (which is the defence it needs more considering weaknesses). You add flying to your typing (rather than dragon) and you also swap abilities out: intimidate comes in in place of swift swim and moxie comes in to replace rattled (moxie boosts your attack by a stage when you KO a foe).

It doesn't look too happy to see you...

You start off with thrash (base 120 physical normal that leaves you confused after a few turns of use), and you soon get bite, a dark physical move with base 60 power and the chance to flinch (you will get STAB later...) and dragon rage, which always does 40 damage. Leer will drop the foe's defence by a stage, and twister again teases as a dragon move with base 40 special, hits berry trees in battles, hits flying/etc. foes and can flinch the enemy. Ice fang is a base 65 ice (wow, shocker) physical move with a slight chance to freeze AND a slight chance to flinch the foe, whilst aqua tail is a base 90 physical water move that carries STAB. Rain dance is also on the move list to boost your water attacks and support team mates, but it means that thunder will hit you all the time and likely obliterate you. Crunch was a welcome new addition to ORAS as a base 80 dark physical (like a boosted bite) with the chance to lower the foe's defence. Hydro pump is basically a bit of a waste as a fairly inaccurate water special with good base power (110), hyper beam also comes up and is similarly useless, but between them is dragon dance, which boosts both attack and speed by a stage.

You should really avoid special moves from the TM list, such as ice beam/blizzard, thunder/bolt, flamethrower and fire blast (how does it use these?), surf, incinerate, dark pulse and even scald. Instead, you can take return and other physicals from the standard sets, as well as substitute as a potential cover for running a dragon dance set. Earthquake is probably a good one to take to hit electric types and just for a nice powerful move. Payback would work quite well since you get decent bulk and a low priority move isn't a disaster since you're slow to start off with. Stone edge packs a serious (base 100) punch and can also flinch the foe but lacks some accuracy, dragon tail hits base 60 physical and forces the foe to switch (with negative priority) and bulldoze can cut down their speed a little whilst your at it. Strength is a reasonable shout as a normal base 80 physical which can carry some coverage, dive is a decent call with the same power and alignment but as a STAB water move that has the semi-invulnerable stage, but waterfall is probably where it's at: more accurate than aqua tail with a little less power (80) but with a decent flinch chance.

If you choose to hit up the tutor due to the lack of breeding moves, you can again get bounce (now with added STAB), aqua tail (in case you missed it), outrage (dragon thrash, basically), iron tail and iron head, spite and a mess of special moves that you'd be best off ignoring.

As I mentioned, dark moves could get STAB, and this is with the mega evolution. You swap out flying-type for dark and you take the ability mould breaker, which neutralises the foe's ability with regards to you attack them. HP and speed stay the same, and there's a useless boost of 10 to special attack, but the defence get nice boosts along with attack (all up by 30 to 155 attack, 109 defence and 130 special defence). No speed, but good bulk and awesome physical attack power. You should really consider this having a place on your team.

Based on river spirits that are often dragons, twice denied dragon-type, now is a sailboat...

Some trivia, by the way: you can catch Gyarados at any level (between 1 and 100) in Black and White 2 after the 'King of the Lake' guff in Pokemon Platinum, where you could catch Magikarp in the high 90s. Also, the stat changes from Magikarp to Gyarados in total are huge: the total change is 340, tied with Milotic (from Feebas) as the biggest change. Also, Gyarados was likely the first shiny many of you saw, before we really knew shinies were a thing.

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

#128: Tauros

Some will say that I should include Miltank in this post, but since they aren't connected in evolution and have different setups entirely then those people are wrong, I'm afraid to say. Hope I have't upset you too much with my bullishness (get it?). I guess the connection is that this is all male, Miltank is all female...

After reviewing Pinsir last time, we've got another fairly short shift, and this one doesn't even get a mega. Tauros is a normal-type Pokemon with a definite focus on the physical side of things (probably a throwback to the days before types could be both special and physical). This physical nature manifests in base 95 defence and 100 attack, which is joined by 110 speed and a medium 75HP. The special side of life is lacking with base 40 special attack and an indifferent 70 special defence. Moving on from the numbers game, we get the abilities intimidate (lowers the foe's attack by a stage), anger point (when this Pokemon is hit by a critical, its attack is maximised, basically boosted up 6 stages from neutral, or, more generally, boosted to 400% of normal) and the hidden ability of sheer force (bonus effects of moves like the stat boosts acquired from ancient power or the flinch of bite or even things like ember's burn are removed, boosting the power of the move by 30%). Recoil will still apply to sheer force-d moves.

Designers: add a few extras onto an existing animal and it's totally new!

As a normal Pokemon, you naturally start with tackle (base 50 physical normal and utterly unremarkable), and as a Pokemon with 3 tails you also get tail whip to lower the foe's defence. Rage remains rather useless as a move, starting at base 20 normal physical, but it gets stronger if you get hurt AND you keep on using it (but you'll get killed before it really gets up to power). Horn attack hits with a reasonable base 65 as a STAB physical normal move with decent PP, but it's still nothing you couldn't live without, whilst scary face (candidate for the worst move name ever) lowers the target's speed stat by two stages. Pursuit is the first move to really shake things up here: it's a dark physical move that hits as base 40, but if the foe tries to switch out then you strike before they can and with base 80. Rest will put you to sleep but fully heal you (most rest users will do one of the following: use it as a one off with a chesto berry to immediately wake them up, use it with the chesto berry and the move recycle, use it with sleep talk (which can select itself or rest, so you'll get an actual move only half the time), use it with snore, use it when they know they can wake back up before there's any danger or use it and then get pummelled and die anyway).

Payback is another move that bucks a trend in that it's again dark-type rather than normal, but it has low priority and deals double its base 50 in damage if the foe hurts you in that turn. Again, payback isn't all that great. Work up raises both attack stats by a stage, which is quite nice, in a way, I guess. Zen headbutt lacks a little in accuracy at 90, but is a psychic physical move that hits with base 80 power and can flinch the foe, or hits for 104 with sheer force, but no flinch. Take down is base 90 in power, 85 in accuracy and hurts the user, too, so it barely seems worth it. Swagger boosts the foe's attack by two stages and confuses them, so their confusion hurts them more than it normally would, too. Thrash is a base 120 normal physical move that hits for 2 or 3 turns before leaving the user confused, but I find this to be preferable to both take down, and the last level move, giga impact. Giga impact hits with an impressive base 150 normal physical and is 90 accuracy, but when you use it, you miss your next turn to recharge.

The TM list for Tauros is a massive slog, to be honest. Return is a great shout, in truth, and the rest of the normal ones are there. There's also a huge list of special moves for some reason, and you probably shouldn't ever consider these as they will be less Goku's amazing Kamehamehas that blasted Vegeta into the sky and more like the little farty Kamehamehas from Dragon Ball Evolution. Dreadful films aside, there's no point in taking good moves like ice beam, flamethrower, thunder/bolt, solar beam, hidden power or surf (unless you need and HM slave, as it can also get strength and rock smash, as well as secret power to open your secret base). There are some good physical moves on offer, like return, facade, earthquake, rock tomb, rock slide, stone edge, bulldoze and even wild charge, if you're that desperate.

If you want little baby bulls that have shiny egg moves, think again, buddy. With no egg moves and most of the good from the TM list being in the special-and-thus-doing-less-damage-than-a-mediocre-physical-move category, the tutor is the last bastion of freedom hope for some more useful moves. The issue is, they offer a wide selection of special moves (icy wind, shockwave, snore, water pulse, uproar) and moves you should have (zen headbutt, and outrage is just thrash from a dragon perspective). The moves you can get are ok, I guess: iron tail hits hard but lacks accuracy, iron head is basically a steel version of zen headbutt, spite can slash the PP of a move that threatens you, endeavour drags the foe's HP down to yours, helping hand can help a teammate in multi-battles (but is otherwise useless), and role play can copy the foe's ability onto you.

The issue I have here is the major lack of variety in physical moves. Earthquake is a good shout for a physical attacker, and return is decent, plus with the loss of added effects from sheer force, things like zen headbutt and iron head have 104 power, though the flinches aren't a bad thing, but the teasing of fire, ice and electric moves that turn out to be special (I don't like wild charge so I'm ignoring it) is a bit of a tease. The lack of egg moves is a little disappointing, but then I guess it makes breeding to perfection a lot easier. All in all, you don't really threaten too much, but you hit ok with nice speed to get you there.

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

#127: Pinsir

We've seen evidence for bug Pokemon sucking (Venomoth, Caterpie and co.) and also for them being decent (Mega Beedrill and Scyther), so where does this fit in?

So we've already had the spoiler that this is a bug-type but we need more than that. You get base 85 speed, which is a little pokey, but it can outspeed some things, 65 HP and 70 special defence are a little underwhelming too, and it's a good job that the special attack is redundant as it only reaches base 55. The good comes in the form of the physical stats: 100 defence is nice and the 125 attack is pretty ace, especially for a bug. The ability hyper cutter prevents foes from lowering your attack, whereas mould breaker allows your attacks to skip past the foe's ability, like hitting a levitate-Pokemon with earthquake. The hidden ability on offer is moxie, which leads to your attack rising every time you faint a foe with directly inflicted damage. Looks decent so far...

Looks like it's asking a question on Question Time...

Focus energy remains as a rarely useful move to increase the rate of critical hits, but vice grip is a base 55 physical normal move, whilst bind is a normal physical move of base 15 power, but holds the foe in play for the duration (around 5 turns) and hurts them each turn. Seismic toss inflicts damage to a foe based on the level of the user, so you basically ignore the attack and defence stats, but as a normal move then you don't hurt ghosts. Harden gives a one stage boost to your defence, and revenge is a negative priority fighting physical base 60 move that will hit twice as hard if the foe damages you that turn. Vital throw is a base 70 physical fighting move that skips an accuracy check (so it hits unless the foe is in the middle of something like fly), and I've covered things like double hit (base 35 normal physical hitting twice) to death. Brick break is another one we've seen a lot, hitting as a base 75 fighting physical move that removes screens, whilst submission hits a little harder at base 80 physical fighting with lower accuracy (80) and carries recoil, which basically means you should never take submission ever unless you have reckless, and even then, no... Just no...

With no evolution, the break here is totally at random. X-scissor comes in as the STAB move by level: this is a very good bug physical move with base 80, 100 accuracy, 15PP (can max at 24) and no more or less. Storm throw is always a critical unless the foe has shell armour, but then if you have mould breaker then it still hits as a critical (storm throw is base 60 physical fighting). Swords dance gives a two stage attack boost, thrash remains a powerful normal physical move (base 120) that will lead to confusion after a few turns of use, and superpower is a fighting physical move of the same power but leads to a reduction in both physical stats with each use. The final move on the level list is guillotine: a highly inaccurate normal physical move (33 accuracy) which is a OHKO move (one hit kill).

There's no real point in taking things like hyper beam and hidden power, but you still have the standard array of TMs with some nice additions. Return is not a bad call here, especially when we come back to it later, whilst earthquake, smack down and dig are good examples of moves you could take. Facade could well be a good choice, too, rock tomb/slide, stone edge and bulldoze aren't bad, even strength could do well. The moves to ignore are the special ones, like struggle bug, and arguably even the physical giga impact, which may actually be about as useable as it could ever be here and on one or two other Pokemon. You can breed in bug bite, as well as close combat as a slightly more preferable option compared to superpower. Feint, feint attack and flail are all also available from breeding as decent options, and even quick attack can get good in a while. The tutor offers some moves we've seen (bind, bug bite, superpower), but you can also tutor stealth rock, knock off, snore (if you really want a rubbish special move), focus punch and iron defence.

Since generation 6 came out, Pinsir took a bigger step up in standing with the introduction of mega evolution, boosting the speed to 105, special defence to 90, physical defence to 120, attack to 155 (wow) and special attack to 65, with HP staying the same. You get a shiny new ability, aerilate, to go with the addition of flying-type. The new ability bestows a 30% boost in power to normal moves used by the Pokemon, changing them to the flying-type. The boost in power and change of type in their application can be amazing, but then losing all normal-typing can be a bit of a drag: you've lost a generically spammable coverage option.

"That wasn't an answer!!!"

People look down on bug Pokemon as a whole, but Pinsir and its mega, along with Scyther (and Scizor, I guess), Mega Beedrill and a few more we'll see down the line show that you have to look beyond the surface. I'm not saying that there are waves of good bug Pokemon and only the crap gets remembered, since we've barely scratched the surface of awful bug Pokemon, but hey, there's something there to use.

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

#126, #240 + #467: Magmar, baby Magby and the newer one, Magmortar

Ok, so we had Electabuzz and co last time, and now we get the similar one, the one that got add-ons at the same time, the ones that also have the same hidden ability and very similar main ability, and also evolve using a trade with an item using '-izer' in the name. Dear Arceus they got lazy, like me using that joke again...

Magby: prediction here, it's fairly nippy with mixed damaging prowess and wobbly defences. Now I'll look it up and... Ok, so it's a bit slower with higher attack stats, but the bulk is still a little low. 75 physical attack and 70 special attack is the other way around, but still decent and mixed-available, with 83 speed a little lower but not awful for a baby. 45 HP, 37 defence and 55 special defence is the same. Vital spirit is there as the hidden ability (can't be put to sleep), whilst the main ability is flame body, so rather than contact causing paralysis, you cause a burn here. Pure fire-type, as well.

Is that Fellaini?

Smog is a base 30 special poison move that can cause poisoning 40% of the time, so we're off to an ok start. Leer is there to lower the foe's defence, but there's only one STAB physical move coming by level (I'll let you guess until we get there). Ember is a fairly weak (base 40) fire special move with a chance to burn, and smokescreen lowers the foe's accuracy, before feint attack offers a rare physical move as dark base 60 which ignores accuracy and evasion modifiers. Fire spin is a base 35 fire special move that traps the target in a burning ring of fire for a few turns, inflicting damage and preventing escape. Clear smog is another poison special, this time base 50 and removing stat changes to the target. Flame burst is a base 70 fire special move that causes fire splash damage to the foe's teammates on either side. Confuse ray is an annoying move that confuses the enemy, and fire punch is that move you should have guess, base 75 fire physical.

If you skip evolving at level 30, lava plume is a base 80 fire special move that hits all adjacent Pokemon and can burn them, whilst also destroying rocks in the background. Sunny day not only boosts your fire attacks but allows chargeless sunny day, which could be handy against those pesky ground and water enemies. Flamethrower and fire blast is like the thunder/bolt debate: flamethrower has 100 accuracy, more PP and 90 power, fire blast has 110 power, less PP and 85 accuracy (so better than thunder but weather has no effect other than on the impact power).

Standard TMs appear with hidden power and toxic, no solar beam, but flamethrower and fire blast are there with overheat (base 130 special fire that lowers the user's special attack 2 stages). Incinerate will burn off the foe's berry, psychic and brick break are back, and base 50 physical fire move flame charge can boost your speed a stage. Will-o-wisp will burn the target, and power-up punch does the same as always.

If you eat a berry, egg move belch can make that a weapon for the battle as a base 120 special poison move, whilst belly drum will take half your health but give all six stages of boost to attack. Cross chop and dynamic punch return alongside karate chop, and mach punch is basically a fighting version of quick attack. Thunder punch is there without ice punch, flare blitz is a base 120 fire physical with recoil, and iron tail exists here, too. The tutor gives a similar list to Elekid, with the standards all there (such as signal beam), dual chop is here, too, as is thunder punch, along with iron tail and heat wave (base 95 fire special that hits all adjacent opponents with a chance to burn and can break rocks).

If you get to level 30 again, you can become Magmar. Again we have the attack inversion whilst remaining close, 95 physical attack, 100 special attack. Speed inches up to 93, HP to 65, and the same defences as on Electabuzz, too, with 57 physical and 85 special. Lord Helix is this dull... No change in type, no change in abilities and the only changes to the attacks are hyper beam, giga impact and focus blast being added to TMs. Again, looks cheap but was the first.

I never really liked this design, not sure why...

Again when trading with a held item ending in '-izer', this time magmarizer, you evolve into a newer one that was all the rage in gen 4. Magmortar again drops the speed back to that of the baby at base 83, and messes with the attacks, this time going more logically to special with special attack at 125, physical attack at 95, HP at 75, defence at 67 and special defence at 95. There is more logic evolving here than there was with Electabuzz. The abilities and type remain the same, the level list gains thunder punch and hyper beam, thunderbolt, solar beam, rock tomb/slide and bulldoze are added to the TM list with earthquake and strength and the tutor adds nothing new.

Samus broke into the cake tin...

This is a better one to go for the final evolution, as the loss of speed is not so disappointing, the defences both change, and the chosen attack stat correlates better with the move available. It's still your choice, Magmar with eviolite isn't dreadful.

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

#125, #239 + #466: Electabuzz, baby Elekid and the pretty much unnecessary additional Electivire

I hate this. They took a one-off Pokemon of good if unspectacular power, gave it a baby in Generation two, which wasn't needed, and then added a third form in Generation four since that was all the rage... Grr...

We'll start with the baby: Elekid. I remember rumours going round that Elekid was better than Electabuzz because it was harder to get (you had to breed it). This made little sense at the time, and though eviolite came in to maybe make it better without looking at the stats, Electivire also appeared and meant that Electabuzz also got that boost.

The plug that ran away

Elekid has one thing really going for it with base 95 speed, but neither attack stat is too bad at 63 physical and 65 special, meaning a fast curveball which doesn't overly lack power as a baby. The issues arise with 45HP, 55 special defence and a rather worrying 37 base defence, since being electric-type you're weak to ground, and most good ground attacks are physical in form. If you look a little deeper (at the abilities) you find you get access to static (if the foe makes contact then that can paralyse them) and the hidden ability vital spirit (prevents you from being put to sleep). Neither ability is terrible, but neither really shines that bright either, so it's a bit of a toss up.

The level list is rather restricted towards physical attacks, but you do start with quick attack (base 40 physical normal with priority), and leer is there to drop their defences. Thundershock comes in as a STAB electric special with base 40 with a chance of paralysing a non-electric-type foe. Low kick is a rare physical move here of the fighting persuasion, where the power of the move is determined by the weight of the target. Swift and shockwave are both base 60 special attacks, the former being normal and not missing, the latter being electric (so STAB) and a chance to paralyse. How good would technician have been here, hey? Nevermind, you at least get the irritation of thunderwave that will paralyse the foe (unless they're immune due to typing and ability), and electroball is another electric special attack that hits harder the faster you are compared to the foe. Light screen we have covered before, acting as a screen that protects your team from incoming special damage to an extent (but you really needed physical protection here), and thunderpunch is an electric physical move with base 75 power and the chance to paralyse - this move is arguably useful enough to spec physical and run a surprise (since you could also stick on return etc. from the TMs).

If you forgo evolution for a while, you can take discharge, which is another electric special move that damages all adjacent Pokemon (even team mates) in multi-battles and carries a decent paralysis chance. Screech is another move that doesn't really fit here as it lowers the foe's defence by two stages (better than leer) and thunderbolt hits base 90 as an electric special attack, whilst thunder is more powerful but is 70 accuracy rather than 100 (except in rain, where it boosts the accuracy of thunder), making thunderbolt arguably a better choice. This move list is odd in the fact that it gives you ways of lowering the target's physical defence but few ways to actually hit them on it, instead preferring to hit them with special attacks, and patching up your much better and less necessary special defence with light screen over than the poor defence which is more likely to be slammed.

Thank Arceus for the TM list: you get the usual ones (including toxic, hidden power (which is advisable) and return), and you also get thunder/bolt in case you didn't pick them up. Psychic and brick break offer interesting choices (base 90 psychic special and base 75 physical fighting with the ability to remove screens, respectively). I personally hate wild charge as a move due to only 90 base power for a recoil move, but volt switch is a good move allowing you to hit at base 70 special electric and then get out of the way before the incoming hit from the foe (you're pretty quick, you'll likely hit first). Charge beam carries an indifferent base 50 special electric attack but has a great 70% chance of raising your special attack, power-up punch is similar in that it lacks power as a base 40 physical fighting move but does increase the corresponding attack stat by a stage.

If we move onto breeding, you can get both fire and ice punch to join thunder punch, which suggests a decent reason for running physical, and you can also get dynamic punch (50 accuracy for a base 100 fighting physical move which will confuse the recipient doesn't really seem all that worth it, since the confusion may not apply if you kill them), and cross chop (boosted critical hit ratio for a base 100 physical fighting move with 80 accuracy). Hammer arm is there if you don't mind losing speed, it's a decent attack fairly accurate with 100 power, and focus punch is also there, but I personally prefer the elemental punches as a theme with decent coverage.

The tutor list is sufficiently large here that it gets its own paragraph! The elemental punches make another appearance alongside old standards like snore, uproar, covet, focus punch and signal beam, whilst shockwave and low kick were there before. Electroweb hits all adjacent foes, causing a
 base 55 special electric damage and slowing them down a stage, and dual chop is a double hitting dragon physical move with base 40 physical power on each of the hits, allowing it to sash break. Magnet rise basically instills levitation and ground immunity, which is pretty good, and helping hand buffs the next attack of an ally in multi-battles.

Elekid evolves at level 30 into the original Electabuzz, which sees a disparity in the attack stats, with physical attack only advancing to base 83, and special boosting to 95. Speed has also gone up a bit to 105, taking HP to 65, special defence to a respectable 85 and physical defence to a less lamentable 57 (still rubbish). Typing, abilities and move list don't change other than strength, hyper beam and giga impact coming in to the TM/HM list and iron tail being added to the tutor list, for some reason. It seems disappointing it adds nothing, but don't forget that this was here first.

The 'human-like' egg group disturbs me in many ways...

If you trade Electabuzz with an electrizer attached, it'll evolve into Electivire. This one annoys me a bit: you started with Elekid's fairly balances offensive prowess before grooming that into a special attacker, and now the scales have firmly tipped into a physical sweeper kinda realm. Base 123 physical attack out of nowhere, with a rather tragic loss of speed back down to Elekid levels of 95, with 95 special attack 75 HP, 67 physical defence and the same 85 special defence. Static is replaced by motor drive (speed boosted by a stage if hit with an electric attack).

I'm sure I've seen this guy on TV presenting something?

A few new moves appear, such as electric terrain (I don't really like the terrain moves, stops Pokemon on the floor from going to sleep, boosts electric power by 50%, and changes moves like nature power to electric-type rather than what the environment would normally give), and ion deluge (all normal attacks in the turn this +1 priority move hits become electric-type). Some moves we've already seen now infiltrate the level list, such as fire punch (but not the more useful ice punch to deal with ground), giga impact (still annoying), and all the moves we could have had before, meaning it's still more geared to special.

Rock tomb, rock slide, bulldoze and low sweep are the new physical moves to come in to the TM list, but none are really that great when compare to thunderbolt, whilst focus blast comes in as a base 120 fighting special move, just to annoy you. The tutor stays the same as before.

Other than for Pokedex completion, I'm not sure why you would evolve your Electabuzz. Sure the attack of Electivire is significantly higher, but I'd miss the speed, and Electabuzz can out-bulk with eviolite now, with both defences now standing better and the HP only 10 lower. Electivire could still be used as a special attacker to make use of the much better array of special moves, but why bother when Electabuzz actually does it better?

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