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

This page contains information on every Pokémon family first introduced in Generation II, 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.

Wynaut and Wobbuffet
Wobbuffet looks like a punching bag, and its role is quite similar to one too. It has one of the most limited movepools of any fully evolved Pokémon, but these few moves let it play this role as good as it can. Wobbuffet gets both no attacking moves, but it does get Counter and Mirror Coat which, in conjunction with its high HP, lets it counter both physical and special attacks back at its opponent, and it can learn Encore as Wynaut to ease prediction. It also gets the very rare Shadow Tag, which prevents opposing Pokémon other than Ghost-types and Shadow Tag users from switching out, meaning it can easily trap a foe, encore an attack and counter all of those attacks. It also gets Destiny Bond so that it can take down a major threat on the opponent's team, meaning that a Shadow Tagged foe will likely be knocked out either way.

Wobbuffet's playstyle is simple and effective, but it's also extremely predictable due to the limited moves it can learn. Hence, any moderately experienced opponents will know exactly what your strategy is once Wobbuffet appears on the team preview. Even when trapped, opponents can always use a status move to avoid getting Encored and countered to fainting. Ghost-types and any other Pokémon that possesses Shadow Tag also have the obvious advantage of being able to switch out at any time. Despite these flaws, Wobbuffet is still a respectable threat, and it's almost guaranteed to KO a Pokémon or two if switched in against the right target.

Dunsparce
Dunsparce is just one of the many obscure Johto Pokémon that is odd-looking and mediocre in battle. Its stats are bad but just not bad enough to turn it into a joke Pokémon. With so many Normal-types with better power or different niches, Dunsparce lacks anything that makes it stand out. Its defenses are slightly above average, it has mediocre offensive stats and its Speed is pretty terrible. It does have a cool ability in Serene Grace, which increases the chance of secondary effects of a move to occur, but it is far from the best user of it. If you really want to use Dunsparce for whatever reason, Serene Grace is probably the best feature to base your strategy around.

For moves that can take advantage of Serene Grace, Rock Slide or Headbutt can have a pretty high flinch chance, although Dunsparce will rarely outspeed a foe. Body Slam can only be learned from a previous generation game, but it boasts a pretty high chance of paralysis with Serene Grace, making it arguably your best STAB option. Ancient Power is gimmicky, but the occasional boost will make Dunsparce much more usable. For coverage, Earthquake can be used to hit Pokémon that resist Normal-types, Zen Headbutt can surprise Fighting-types and Shadow Ball is your best option against Ghost-types, though it uses Dunsparce's worse Special Attack. Dunsparce can also learn Roost, Coil and Substitute, which can be part of a defensive or boosting set, but there is nothing it can do that a better Pokémon can't.