Pokémon X and Y/Species Strategies (Generation I Families)

This page contains information on every Pokémon family first introduced in Generation I, including stats, recommended movesets and evolutionary lines. All evolutionary lines are put together, even if an evolution or pre-evolution was not introduced in the same Generation as other members of its evolutionary family.

Bulbasaur, Ivysaur and Venusaur
The original Grass starter doesn't have much going for it in its base form. One of its best traits was its hidden ability Chlorophyll, which makes Venusaur one of the fastest Pokémon in sunny weather. However, Venusaur still suffered from average stats, which didn't make it stand out enough to be a popular Pokémon in battle. This generation further reduced Cholrophyll Venusaur's usefulness due to the reworked weather mechanics, but it gave Venusaur a powerful new tool, the Mega Evolution.

While regular Venusaur is mainly a special attacker that relies on Chlorophyll to become a significant threat, Mega Venusaur is a defensive behemoth, boasting excellent defenses on both the physical and special fronts. It gains Thick Fat, which complements its Grass/Poison typing amazingly well, outright neutralizing two of Venusaur's weaknesses. With Thick Fat and its normal typing, Mega Venusaur gets useful resistances to Grass, Water, Electric, Fighting and Fairy, while only having to fear Flying and Psychic attacks. It also has a respectable 122 Special Attack, so it can do more than just soak up attacks. With an array of healing and status moves, Mega Venusaur can be one tough foe to take down. The fact that Mega Stones can't be removed through Knock Off also makes Mega Venusaur a great fit for purely defensive teams, which are often reliant on held items like Eviolite or Leftovers for maximum survivability.

Giga Drain is doubtlessly the ideal STAB move for Mega Venusaur. While there are stronger alternatives, the life-leeching aspect of the move keeps Mega Venusaur alive as long as possible. Sludge Bomb is its Poison-type STAB, useful for knocking out Fairy-types that dare stand against it. Synthesis is a common status move on Mega Venusaur, extending its lifespan instantly by refilling half of its maximum health. Leech Seed and Sleep Powder are also useful status moves for a defensive Mega Venusaur. Leech Seed provides yet some more additional healing as well as chip damage on the opposing Pokémon, while Sleep Powder can temporarily shut down a potential counter, although it has poor accuracy.

Charmander, Charmeleon and Charizard
As the final evolution of Charmander, Charizard is definitely one of the most popular and recognizable Pokémon of the first generation. However, it was always considered mediocre in battle, with a crippling Rock-type weakness and being outclassed by other fire special attackers. In the sixth generation, it doesn't get one, but two Mega Evolutions, not only greatly increasing its viability, but also giving it an element of unpredictability, since foes will never know which Mega Evolution this draconian fire-breather will run until it actually Mega Evolves. Without evolutions, Charizard is still hampered by its usual weaknesses, though it can be a fairly powerful sweeper in Sunny weather with Solar Power.

Strategies
Ability: Solar Power/Tough Claws (Mega Evolution), Item: Charizardite X, Nature: Adamant/Jolly, EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spe, 4 Def
 * Mega Charizard X
 * Moveset
 * Dragon Dance
 * Flare Blitz
 * Dragon Claw/Outrage
 * Earthquake/Roost

With Mega Charizard X for the X version, Charizard becomes a Fire and Dragon-type Pokémon and can become a powerful physical sweeper thanks to it Tough Claws ability, which boosts the power of contact moves. This lets it take advantage of its great physical movepool, including the amazing Dragon Dance. After a Dragon Dance boost, Mega Charizard X becomes extremely dangerous and it only takes a OHKO or a few hits to KO many Pokémon who aren't good at being physically defensive. It's Flare Blitz, coming off from a STAB 120 base power, hits immensely hard on anything that doesn't resist but at the cost of some recoil damage. Roost can be an option to recover some of that lost health. Defensively, Mega Charizard X's Fire/Dragon typing is also a blessing, nullifying its infamous 4x weakness to Stealth Rock as well as removing the Dragon-type's weakness to Ice and Fairy.

Ability: Solar Power/Drought (Mega Evolution), Item: Charizardite Y, Nature: Timid, EVs: 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Spe, 4 HP
 * Mega Charizard Y
 * Moveset
 * Fire Blast
 * Solar Beam
 * Air Slash/Roost
 * Focus Blast/Dragon Pulse

With Mega Charizard Y for the Y version, Charizard keeps it's typing but it's Special Attack is now gigantic (even a bit higher than a regular Mewtwo's Special Attack per se). With Drought ability on its side (which makes the weather Sunny), Mega Charizard Y is also a terrifying special sweeper. STAB Fire Blast, backed by a Sunny weather, disintegrates many that don't resist Fire-type attacks, while a Solar Beam, which skips the charging turn and attacks on the turn selected due to Drought, will tear apart Water and Rock-type Pokémon traditionally used to counter Charizard. However, Mega Charizard Y is still extremely vulnerable to Rock-type attacks, including Stealth Rock, so it can be hard getting it in battle without using it as a lead. Fortunately, it can learn the newly-buffed Defog, which lets it clear away entry hazards on both sides, giving it more opportunities to switch in and wreak havoc.

Diglett and Dugtrio
Diglett and Dugtrio are unique Ground-type Pokémon, as their stat distributions are very different from most Ground-types. While the typical Ground-type is strong, tough but slow, Dugtrio has blazing Speed, average Attack and horrible defenses, having one of the lowest HP stat of any fully evolved Pokémon. While its frailty and lack of power doesn't make it very appealing, it has the excellent Arena Trap ability, which prevents foes other than Flying-types or Pokémon with Levitate from escaping when it is in battle. Although it could work well in a sandstorm with its other abilities, extending its longevity with Sand Veil or its power through Sand Force, Arena Trap is definitely its best option.

The strategy to using Dugtrio is simple. It should be use to trap an enemy threat, hopefully one that is weak to Ground-type attacks due to Dugtrio's otherwise poor damage output, then eliminate its target with Earthquake. Its Speed lets it attack most Pokémon before they can hit back and severely injure it, letting it hopefully faint the opponent in one hit. However, its average Attack stat can make it difficult to do so, meaning that you must give it Attack boosting items or something like a Focus Sash so it gets another chance to KO. Dugtrio can't do much else outside of trapping and KOing its opponents. Stone Edge has excellent coverage with Earthquake, but Dugtrio shouldn't be fighting Flying-types due to their immunity to Arena Trap. Since Dugtrio will likely become useless once it has taken out one target, sacrificial moves can be quite effective. Reversal, learned through breeding, is a pretty nice option when used with a Focus Sash, as Dugtrio will often be left with 1 HP if hit by any strong attack. Memento, another egg move, is also usable if you don't need Dugtrio after it has done its work, letting it severely weaken an incoming Pokémon from the opposing team.

Abra, Kadabra and Alakazam
The Abra family has always been one of the stronger Psychic-types ever since their creation, being a perfect example of a frail but powerful special attacker. It has all of the tools it needs to play its role effectively, with excellent Special Attack and high Speed to get the first hit and take the opponent down quickly, a narrow but effective movepool that covers types that resist Psychic, and a wonderful ability in Magic Guard, which prevents opponents from chipping at its health with entry hazards, weather or status ailments. Magic Guard not only protects Alakazam from common sources of residual damage, which it does not appreciate due to its poor survivability, but also enables Alakazam to boost its moves with a Life Orb without suffering from Life Orb's recoil like other Pokémon.

However, Alakazam does have noticeable flaws. As stated before, it can't survive a lot of attacks, and a moderately strong physical attack can easily bring it down in one hit due to its poor Defense. Users of priority attacks are also quite common, which ignores Alakazam's speed advantage and mostly aim at its weaker Defense stat. Sucker Punch and Shadow Sneak in particular are also super effective on Alakazam, so it must definitely avoid potential users of these moves. Alakazam has no problems making an impact offensively, as it has Psychic or Psyshock as its main STAB attack, Shadow Ball to bring down Ghost-types and fellow Psychic-types, and finally Focus Blast as a slightly inaccurate but usable attack against Dark and Steel types. It also learns moves of other types as well as few useful status moves like Recover and Calm Mind, but they aren't too needed due to the coverage it already gains with Psychic, Shadow Ball and Focus Blast, while it is too frail too afford to use up turns for utilizing status moves.

Alakazam gets a nice Mega Evolution that further increases its Special Attack and Speed, while slightly patching up its subpar Defense. It becomes almost impossible to outspeed without any Speed-boosting items or moves, and even its neutral attacks will be extremely painful. However, it is still vulnerable to priority attacks and frail as ever despite the minor Defense boost. Even worse, it loses Magic Guard for the pretty good but more situational Trace, meaning it must be more careful switching into entry hazards and status-inducers. Alakazam is even more of a glass cannon in this Mega form, so while you could freely bring a normal Alakazam in to destroy its opponents with Life Orb-boosted attacks, you need to be more conservative with letting Mega Alakazam out into battle. However, if you can still work around its flaws, it is certainly one of the deadliest special attackers around.

Farfetch'd
Farfetch'd is one of the Pokémon in the series infamous for being terrible. None of its stats are good, it has a common typing without any particular benefits and is hopelessly outclassed by tons of better Pokémon. Farfetch'd is based on a Japanese proverb meaning a rare and fortunate occurance, and encountering one in player battles is certainly one such occurance...for Farfetch'd's opponents. While it has never been good ever since its inception, it does gain an interesting gimmick with the revamped mechanics of this generation.

Farfetch'd has a signature item associated with it, the Stick, which can very rarely be found on wild Farfetch'd. When held, it increases Farfetch'd's critical hit ratio by two. The new critical mechanics of Gen VI makes all of a Pokémon's attacks be critical hits if its critical hit ratio is raised by 3 or more, and Farfetch'd gets a bunch of increased critical hit ratio moves, learning Slash, Air Cutter and Night Slash by level-up as well as Leaf Blade through breeding. Using any of these moves with a Stick equipped is absolutely guaranteed to become a critical hit, effectively making all of these attacks do 150% damage while ignoring the foe's Defense boosts. This feature certainly sounds exciting, as Farfetch'd attacks would actually do marginally threatening damage, but its terrible defenses and poor Speed means that Farfetch'd is still likely to get outsped by just about any fully evolved Pokémon, then get fainted in one hit.

Happiny, Chansey and Blissey
Looking at the Blissey family's stats, their extremely high HP and great Special Defense are immediate highlights. Their poor Defense and severe lack of offensive potential is also highly apparent. It is easily obvious that this line is best suited for the role of a special wall, being able to tank countless hits from special attackers. They have an excellent defensive and support movepool, with reliable status inducing and healing moves. They also sport the excellent Natural Cure ability, which means they can shrug off status effects aimed at them by switching out, as well as letting them act as effective status absorbers for the whole team. Due to Eviolite, both Chansey and Blissey are equally usable, with Chansey arguably better at this specific role. While Blissey gets to hold Leftovers for some passive healing, Chansey's defenses exceeds Blissey with an eviolite, making it one of the bulkiest Pokémon in the game. Both pink blobs still have exploitable weaknesses. Their lack of power means that they are vulnerable to setup sweepers and other walls, who can use boosting moves or support moves respectively if Chansey or Blissey does not pose enough of a threat to their survival. They also have abysmal physical Defense and a weakness to common Fighting-type attacks, but this problem can be alleviated with the right teammates.

Chansey and Blissey have an impressive array of support moves that ensure they can perform their jobs well. They have Soft-Boiled to keep themselves healthy, Aromatherapy or Heal Bell to cure the entire team of status ailments, effective status affliction moves with Thunder Wave and Toxic, as well as a sadistic evasion-boosting move with Minimize. More uncommon support moves are Stealth Rock, Light Screen and Reflect. Wish is a difficult to obtain event move, but it is amazing on Chansey and Blissey due to their immense HP, ensuring the Pokémon on the receiving end to almost always be fully healed. For more direct forms of damage, Seismic Toss is probably capable of doing more damage than any other move, especially at high levels, while Counter can surprise and certainly take down any physical attackers that try to muscle past them. They also have some use in double or triple battles, with Heal Pulse and Helping Hand to support their teammates.

Kangaskhan
Kangaskhan used to be a pretty forgettable Pokémon, being one of the many decent but not outstanding Normal-types with fairly decent balanced stats. The main draw to using her was the ability Scrappy, which let her hit Ghost-types with her STAb attacks, but even then there were other Scrappy users she had to compete with. However, with the introduction of Mega Evolutions, Kangaskhan is thrust straight into the limelight. Mega Evolving Kangaskhan lets her child fight alongside her, gaining much better stats as well as the unique ability Parental Bonds, which lets Kangaskhan hit twice with a non-multihit or spread attack in one turn, the second attack dealing 50% of the initial attack's damage.

Mega Kangaskhan has many perks, the most obvious of which is her high power, with 125 base Attack and the bonus damage caused by Parental Bond, making her one of the hardest hitting Normal-types in the game, causing a max happiness Return to hit extremely hard. Parental Bond's double-hitting nature lets it hit an opponent after breaking its Substitute, and enables it to bypass Sturdy and Focus Sash users. With above average defensive stats and a typing that gives it very few weaknesses and one immunity, it can be difficult to take out before it KOs back.

Parental Bond also gives Kangaskhan some unique move interactions, turning normally manageable moves into threatening attacks. It can learn the new Power-Up Punch by TM, which effectively becomes a 60 Base Power damage-dealing Swords Dance, chipping away a fair amount of the opponent's health while boosting Kangaskhan's high Attack to unstoppable heights. Additionally, if you trade a Gen III Kangaskhan that has learned Seismic Toss from Move Tutor, it can be a borderline broken attack. Since Seismic Toss does set damage, it isn't reduced by Parental Bond. At level 100, Kangaskhan can easily do 200 damage in one turn regardless of the foe's Defense, making her very hard to wall. In a nutshell, Kangaskhan is an excellent choice for any team's Mega Evolution spot, providing a balance of both extreme power and good defense to turn it into a nearly unstoppable threat.

Staryu and Starmie
Despite its odd appearance, Starmie has always been a consistently good Pokémon for battles. Boasting a good Special Attack stat and a high Speed, second only to Greninja among Water-types, Starmie is no doubt a good offensive Pokémon. However, what makes it stand out among the sea of Water-type attackers is its access to Rapid Spin, giving it some utility to go along with its nice attacks. Its movepool is also one of its great attributes, with Water-type being a reliable STAB and access to the Thunderbolt and Ice Beam combination to expand its coverage. Starmie's abilities help it even further, with Natural Cure letting it shrug off status effects and Analytic to capitalize hard on predicted switches.

Starmie does have its fair share of weaknesses. While it maintains an offensive presence for a rapid spinner, its defenses are pretty average, and its Psychic-typing leaves it vulnerable to Pursuit users, hindering its ability to switch in and out to remove hazards, as well as Ghost-types that are usually used to counter Rapid Spin. It is also rather outclassed if it doesn't have Rapid Spin, since there are certainly other Water-types that can hit harder.

Starmie's moveset will often include both Thunderbolt and Ice Beam due to the excellent type coverage they provide. In fact, you can get away with not using STAB moves at all, though Water-type attacks have pretty good coverage themselves. It's a choice between Surf or Hydro Pump if you do want to use a Water-type attack, whether you want accuracy or power. Rapid Spin is a must for Starmie as stated before, letting it support the team by removing hazards, as well as scaring off opposing Pokémon that try to prevent that with its other attacks. Recover is another option for more defensive Starmie, letting you keep it alive so that you have the option to remove hazards again later in the battle. For your ability, Analytic is the preferred choice despite Starmie's high Speed, since its coverage and power can often cause switches, boosting the strength of its attacks if it predicts a switch correctly. Natural Cure is a valid alternative if you're not good at prediction though, and it synergizes well with Starmie's role as a hazard remover, given that it often switches in and out.

Articuno
Articuno is the first of the legendary birds, but its flaws make it difficult to use effectively, even against non-legendary foes. It is the most defensive of the three legendary birds, but it is stuck with the worst typing out of the three. Its type combination gives it a terrible quad resistance to Rock-type attacks, causing it to lose half of its health if it switches into Stealth Rock, not to mention weaknesses to common Fire and Steel types. Its attacking stats are also pretty poor for a legendary Pokémon, though both of its STABs actually give it a fair amount of type coverage.

In terms of movepool, Articuno has Ice Beam or Blizzard for Ice STAB and Hurricane as its most reliable Flying STAB. Unfortunately, Blizzard and Hurricane are all rather inaccurate without being boosted by hail or rain respectively. Freeze Dry is an interesting option that can surprise Water-types. Sadly, it lacks an attack that can help it deal with Steel-types, which not only resist both of its STABs but can also hit back super effectively. However, Articuno does have the interesting combination of Mind Reader and Sheer Cold. Sheer Cold always OHKOs regardless of the opponent's defenses but has horrible accuracy, while Mind Reader ensures an attack will hit on the following turn. This means that Articuno can OHKO almost any Pokémon if it gets to set up this combination, since nothing is immune to Sheer Cold other than those with the Sturdy ability. Don't expect this combo to sweep any time soon, as you always need two turns to pull it off, during which an opponent can easily knock Articuno out with a super effective attack. For status moves, Articuno has Roost to heal off damage, and Substitute, Tailwind, Toxic, Roar, Haze, Defog and Heal Bell, but its poor defensive typing means that there are many Pokémon that are better at running those attacks.