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.

Chikorita, Bayleef and Meganium
The pure Grass Meganium remains as one of the least popular starter Pokemon when it comes to battles. Meganium has an obvious focus on defense and regeneration. It has useful resistances owing to its typing, nice bulk physically and specially, and learns a variety of healing and support moves that makes it a fairly resilient Pokemon. Unfortunately, it is outclassed by a lot of other Pokemon whether it comes to sponging hits or supporting teammates, even by its fellow Grass-types. Meganium's offenses are pretty poor, so it is forced to be fairly passive in battle, giving the opponent a chance to set up or bring frailer threats on to the field. Its pure Grass typing is a mixed bag defensively, with Flying and Ice types being more prevalent than ever and U-turn being a staple of offensive teams, and struggles to compete with other Grass-types. To add salt in the wound, Meganium's newly-released Hidden Ability is the worst of the Johto starters, requiring too much support for its rather unimpressive effect.

Giga Drain is Meganium's best STAB move, since Meganium's offenses are too poor to utilize stronger Grass moves effectively, so Giga Drain's life leeching is more helpful to it. Dragon Tail is a must for a secondary attack, since it keeps enemies from setting up on Meganium due to its poor damage output. Toxic is usually Meganium's best option for wearing down bulkier foes, keeping them from staying on the field for long and weakening them for the rest of the match. Synthesis is a quick and reliable recovery move to keep Meganium healthy. Leech Seed is another form of recovery that also hurts the opponent and encourages them to switch out. Aromatherapy gives Meganium a form of team support by removing status ailments. Finally, Meganium can set up both Light Screen and Reflect to reduce incoming damage.

Cyndaquil, Quilava and Typhlosion
Typhlosion shares its stats with regular Charizard, and plays pretty much the same, being a swift specially attacking Fire-type. The game has no shortage of Fire-types of its archetype, but Typhlosion stands out with its nearly exclusive combination of Flash Fire and Eruption. Flash Fire helps Typhlosion switch in despite its frailty, while powering up its STAB moves ar the same time. At full health, Eruption reaches a brutal 150 Base Power, which lets it severely dent its targets even with resisted hits. Unfortunately, its weakness to Stealth Rock, susceptibility to all entry hazards, middling speed and the prevalence of priority moves all makes it difficult for Typhlosion to keep its HP full, which undermines the strength of its strongest attack. Its special attack isn't exceptionally high, so it has trouble breaking through bulky Pokemon if it can't hit them super effectively, which is compounded by its lackluster movepool. Finally, Typhlosion is fairly frail, and its typing leaves it weak to common attacking types like Ground, Rock and Water.

As stated before, Typhlosion is one of the few Pokemon that can learn Eruption, and this move is pretty much the entire reason to use it in the first place. Eruption has extreme power at full health, but its damage drops off dramatically the less HP Typhlosion has, so it is definitely necessary to keep it healthy. Flamethrower or Fire Blast are good backup STAB moves that maintain their power when Typhlosion is close to fainting. Focus Blast is the only other notable coverage move Typhlosion gets, useful for crushing Rock-types. The rest of Typhlosion's attacks are mostly physical, though it can use Hidden Power to cover any type weaknesses it desperately needs.

Totodile, Croconaw and Feraligatr
Out of all the Johto starters, Feraligatr benefits the most from receiving its Hidden Ability in this generation. Sheer Force boosts the power of any moves with a secondary effect but prevents said effects from triggering, and Feraligatr has the stats and moveset to become the top physical Sheer Force user. Like other users of Sheer Force, Feraligatr can also use Life Orb to increase its damage without inflicting any recoil on any Sheer Force enhanced move, making it strike much harder than its base 105 Attack might suggest. It also has access to a variety of boosting moves that help it sweep or break down bulky Pokemon. However, Feraligatr suffers from poor Speed, necessitating several boosts to sweep comfortably. Other than speed issues, Feraligatr's Special Defense is also lackluster, which further hinders setting up.

Feraligatr's main STAB move is Waterfall. This Water move not only uses its superior Attack stat, but is also affected by Sheer Force, resulting in a respectably strong primary attack. Ice Punch is also affected by Sheer Force, providing useful coverage against Grass and Dragon types, though it is a bit weaker than Feraligatr's other attacks. Crunch is another strong Sheer Force boosted move that provides extra coverage against Ghosts and Psychics. Earthquake and Superpower are not boosted by Sheer Force, but they provide Feraligatr with further coverage. Aqua Jet gives Feraligatr useful priority, particularly on sets that don't run speed boosting moves. Speaking of boosting moves, Feraligatr has three to choose from. Dragon Dance makes it a formidable sweeper, while Swords Dance makes it a brutal wallbreaker. Agility is the least used boosting move, but it does let Feraligatr clean up enemy teams late in the game.

Sentret and Furret
Being an early-game mammal, Furret is terribly uninteresting with nothing that really makes it worth using in battles. Its only useful ability is Frisk, which at least lets it reveal the items, and consequently the sets, of its opponents. Otherwise, Furret is a heavily outclassed Normal-type with terrible stats. Its only good stat is Speed, which is still rather poor, it struggles to deal damage with a puny base 76 Attack, while it is incredibly frail. To make the best of Furret's limited stat spread, it's advisable to build it as a speedy physical attacker.

Furret's STAB move is pretty standard, a choice between Return and Double-Edge. Return is fairly strong and has no drawbacks at max happiness, while Double-Edge does significantly more damage but does recoil damage. Knock Off is a great utility move, letting Furret weaken opponents it doesn't have the power to actually take down. U-turn is another must-have move, giving Furret the ability to maintain the team's offensive momentum while doing chip damage. Quick Attack and Sucker Punch are both priority attacks to finish off Pokemon, especially faster foes. Furret also has a range of coverage moves such as Brick Break, the three elemental punches and Aqua Tail, but their damage is rather lacking.

Hoothoot and Noctowl
Noctowl has a pretty common Normal/Flying type combination, though oddly for a Pokemon of its typing, it leans more toward the special side. Unfortunately, being specially bulky is about the only thing Noctowl is good at, as the rest of its stats are pretty bad. It relies on a poor Special Attack stat for offense, which also gives it a weaker selection of STAB moves, is very frail physically, while its bad Speed hinders its viability on both offense or support. Noctowl does have the uncommon Insomnia, giving a helpful Sleep immunity. It gets Tinted Lens and a bunch of uncommon coverage moves for a Flying-type, but its Special Attack is too weak to be a dedicated attacker. It can also learn the standard Flying-type support moves like Defog or Tailwind, but as far as Flying-types go it is quite outclassed.

Hyper Voice is a powerful STAB move for Noctowl that hits through Substitutes, while Air Slash is its strongest Flying STAB that has a helpful chance to cause flinching. However, considering that Noctowl has as much Special Attack as Blissey, the fixed damage Night Shade may be its best bet at dealing damage at higher levels. Defog removes entry hazards from the field, good for single battles, while Tailwind provides adequate team support in doubles by boosting your side's Speed. Roost keeps Noctowl healthy, helping it sponge special attacks while doing its support duties. Toxic gives Noctowl a way to wear down enemy walls that it has no chance of harming otherwise with its poor damage output. Noctowl also has some coverage moves in Shadow Ball, Psychic and Heat Wave, but its Special Attack is so mediocre the extra damage rarely matters.

Ledyba and Ledian
Ledian is simply an unfortunate joke of a Pokemon. Its only good stat is a pretty high Special Defense, though its support movepool is really lacking. It gets a wide variety of punching moves, and it even gets the Iron Fist ability to power them up, but it has the one of the worst physical Attack stats of any fully evolved Pokemon. Not that its Special Attack is any better, making it limited to a pure support role. Ledian still faces trouble even then, as its physical Defense is terrible, it is vulnerable to Taunt due to its middling Speed, and it loses half of its health when switching into Stealth Rock.

U-turn is the only damaging move worth using on Ledian, and even then it's only because of its utility, letting Ledian switch out against dangerous foes while dealing chip damage. Knock Off is another utility move that could be used, although the damage boost when knocking off an item would be much more significant on a Pokemon with a usable attack stat. Ledian's can support its team with Light Screen, Reflect, Safeguard and Tailwind, while it can mess with the enemy with Swagger or Encore. It could also be a dedicated Baton Passer passing Agility or Swords Dance boosts.

Spinarak and Ariados
As an arachnid Pokemon, Ariados is one of the few Pokemon in the game that learns Sticky Web, a rare but strong entry hazard that lowers the speed of any grounded enemy Pokemon that switches in. It also has an exclusive combination of Sticky Web and Toxic Spikes, making it a unique hazard setting lead. Unfortunately, it is one of the worst Sticky Web users in the game, since it is very slow, making it easy to shut down with Taunt, and doesn't have the bulk to make up for it. It at least has a usable Attack stat that is powered up by Swarm, which can let it deal surprising damage when sporting a Focus Sash. Alternatively, it also has Insomnia to block Sleep, which can be handy against certain other dedicated leads.

Sticky Web is the biggest reason to use Ariados, and your primary priority when sending it out. Its Speed lowering effect can severely hinder heavily offensive teams, as they typically depend on their speed to control the match. Toxic Spikes is Ariados's secondary entry hazard that has the useful effect of poisoning any Pokemon that switches in, effective against defensive foes. Megahorn is its strongest STAB move that deals good damage with its decent Attack, but can be a bit inaccurate. Poison Jab is much weaker but has perfect accuracy and high Poison chance. Shadow Sneak and Sucker Punch gives Ariados some priority, letting it bypass its horrendous Speed.

Chinchou and Lanturn
Lanturn is known for having one of the best defensive typings in the game, a combination of Water/Electric, which gives it 5 resistances to common moves for only two weaknesses. This strong typing is further enhanced by two abilities that give it an extra immunity, Volt Absorb and Water Absorb, with Volt Absorb being the more common choice. It also packs a variety of excellent utility moves, making it a nice support Pokemon. While Lanturn has a huge HP stat, it has poor defenses, particularly against physical moves, so it often has to rely on its typing to wall Pokemon. It also lacks any form of recovery outside of Rest, so it can be slowly worn down by chip damage. Finally, Lanturn is almost completely outshined by the only other Water/Electric type in the game, Rotom-Wash, which happens to be one of the most popular battling Pokemon online.

Lanturn has pretty weak offenses, so any attacks it runs is usually chosen for utility over damage. Scald is the best Water-type STAB move for this purpose, as it is a spammable move with a high burn chance that can render physical attackers useless. Volt Switch is its Electric STAB, and it makes excellent use of the move due to its amazing typing and low Speed, letting it function as an effective pivot. Heal Bell is a must-have support move on Lanturn, curing the whole team of status ailments. Toxic is a helpful status move for whittling down bulky Pokemon that Lanturn's weak attacks can't break. Meanwhile, Thunder Wave is a status move meant for crippling offensive foes by cutting their Speed.

Togepi, Togetic and Togekiss
Togekiss is one of several existing Pokemon that benefitted from the introduction of the Fairy-type, gaining the exclusive type combination of Fairy and Flying. However, it still plays pretty much the same as in the past, only with a slew of new resistances. Togekiss is known for being one of the most annoying Pokemon to fight, due to what is known as the paraflinch tactic. It has the ability Serene Grace, which gives Air Slash a ridiculous 60% chance to flinch, while it can also paralyze foes with Thunder Wave, all-in-all letting it stunlock foes to death with good enough luck. Other than that, Togekiss also sports excellent bulk and a variety of utility moves that lets it play a support role as well. While Togekiss's typing is quite good, it is still weak to 5 types, some of which are pretty common offensively. Electric-types in particular are a big pain, since they resist Air Slash and are immune to Thunder Wave, while being able to strike back super effectively.

As mentioned above, Togekiss is well-known for two moves: Air Slash and Thunder Wave. When used with Serene Grace, Air Slash will cause the opponent to flinch very often, so Togekiss can just wear its foes down with repeated flinches if it is faster. Thunder Wave helps it maintain the advantage in Speed by paralyzing its target, while the occasional full paralysis can be even more of a nuisance for the enemy. Dazzling Gleam is its strongest Fairy move, and can give it some extra coverage. In doubles, Togekiss is also a good user of Follow Me, redirecting attacks away from teammates and sponging them with its bulk and typing. When it comes to support moves other than Thunder Wave, Roost is a vital move that maintains Togekiss's health. Heal Bell rids its team of status ailments while Tailwind grants its whole team a speed boost. It is also a great user of Nasty Plot due to the switches caused by its typing, and can sharply increase its damage output.

Azurill, Marill and Azumarill
The original pikaclone, the Azumarill line has been getting gradual buffs ever since its introduction, finally becoming a major threat in Gen VI. Azumarill's stats are mediocre at a glance, being a below average defensive Pokémon with terrible offenses. However, it is one of the very few that gets the ability Huge Power, turning it into a respectably bulky powerhouse. With a unique Water/Fairy-type, it has a bunch of resistances, few weaknesses and great STAB coverage. Revised breeding mechanics let Azumarill use move combinations not previously possible. All of these small benefits combine to make Azumarill one of the most threatening physical sweepers there is.

Azumarill is most notorious for its Belly Drum and Aqua Jet combination. While most users of Belly Drum lack the Speed or general viability to make full use of it, Azumarill has Aqua Jet to negate its lackluster Speed. In just one turn, Azumarill can become extremely deadly, fainting most Pokémon with a fully-boosted Aqua Jet before they can even respond. Play Rough is Azumarill's Fairy-type STAB, which can deal massive damage to Pokémon that Aqua Jet cannot threaten. Aqua Tail is the strongest physical Water-type move Azumarill learns, and is used to hit harder than Aqua Jet. Waterfall is less powerful, but more accurate than Aqua Tail. Superpower is a neat coverage move that is especially useful against Steel-types. Knock Off is another good option for physical attacker, letting Azumarill support while leaving a dent in the opposing team.

Unown
Unown is a mysterious Pokemon, said to have immense power when large number of them congregate. Unfortunately, a singular Unown is very weak, one of the most useless Pokemon in the game that cannot evolve further. Its strongest stats are its Attack and Special Attack, which are well below average, while it has abysmal bulk and poor Speed, which means that Unown will have trouble even pulling an attack off. A Psychic typing doesn't help in its survival at all, as Bug, Dark and Ghost type attacks are all common attacking and utility moves.

Unown's strength is that it has Levitate, so it can at least switch into Ground attacks without instantly getting KO'd. Furthermore, Unown only learns one move, Hidden Power, which can become any type except Fairy. Since it doesn't have any other moves to choose from, it can comfortably hold Choice Specs or a Choice Scarf to augment its power or speed. Hidden Power Psychic hits the hardest due to STAB, but Unown can use other types of Hidden Power instead to deal with specific threats. Of course, with a base Special Attack of 72 on a move with a Base Power of 60, Unown struggles to KO even Pokemon weak to its attack.

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.

Skarmory
Five generations after its introduction, Skarmory remains as one of the best physical walls in the game. With 140 Defense and an amazing defensive typing, Skarmory is a natural fit in defensive teams, while being a great support Pokémon for any kind of team. Its Steel/Flying type leaves it with only two weaknesses, Fire and Electric, 8 resistances and immunities to Ground and Poison. This makes it unable to be worn down by Toxic poison and sandstorm damage, as well as giving it a neutrality to Stealth Rock and immunity to every other entry hazard. Skarmory's main flaw is its subpar Special Defense, and there are more than a few popular special attackers that carry attacks it is weak to. Nevertheless, Skarmory is among the best walls you can have when going up against any physical attacker.

Skarmory has plenty of support options. Toxic is an obvious choice to wear down opposing Pokémon. It is one of the few users of Defog that isn't weak to Stealth Rock, so the move is great on it for hazard removal. It has access to entry hazards itself in Spikes and Stealth Rock, but these moves shouldn't be used with Defog as it removes your own entry hazards too. Brave Bird is the only attack Skarmory needs, putting some offensive pressure on the opponent and as an emergency move if Skarmory is Taunted. Roost lets Skarmory do its job better, healing off any damage it has taken as well as the recoil from Brave Bird. Whirlwind can be used to shuffle the opponent's Pokémon, forcing them to take entry hazard damage. It can also be used as an emergency stop to an enemy setup sweeper if Sturdy is intact by sponging a hit and using Whirlwind to force the sweeper out, making it lose its boosts. Lastly, Tailwind is another usable support option, but it has to compete with the aforementioned moves for a move slot.

Smeargle
Smeargle is one of the most unique Pokémon in the game, and one of the few gimmick Pokémon that can actually make use of its designated gimmick in a serious battle. The gimmick is question is the move Sketch, Smeargle's signature move. It lets Smeargle permanently learn a move its opponent uses, which effectively means Smeargle can learn any move in the game. This feature certainly sounds amazing, even overpowered, until you take a look at Smeargle's stats. Its abysmal offenses prevent it from running any useful attacking moves, its poor bulk means it's not likely to survive more than two turns and its mediocre Speed means it's forced to use a Focus Sash if it wishes to even pull off a move. Smeargle can still be an excellent support Pokémon due to its infinite movepool, which lets it find a space on many teams with move combination exclusive to it.

Smeargle is most commonly seen running two types of sets, setting up hazards or baton passing boosts. Regardless of which set it runs, it should always have a sleep-inducing move, as it gives Smeargle more time to use its support moves. Spore is the most accurate move for this purpose, while Dark Void can affect Grass-types and potentially incapacitate multiple Pokémon in double or triple battles. Stealth Rock and Spikes are obvious entry hazards, while Sticky Web is a great choice against offensive teams. For Baton Passing movesets, Shell Smash would be the best move for this purpose, giving its recipient an awesome attack and speed boost. Ingrain is also a good choice for more dedicated Baton Pass teams, as it lets your team rack up boosts without having to worry about getting forced out by something like Whirlwind or Roar. Finally, Smeargle can also keep a move like Memento or Endeavor, giving it some more use after it has done its intended job and will soon get KO'd.

Ho-Oh
Part of the first pair of cover legendaries, the guardian of the skies is still a force to be reckoned with. With 154 Special Defense, Ho-Oh can shrug off plenty of specially attacks which, combined with its great HP and excellent Regenerator ability, makes Ho-Oh a very bulky Pokémon. Ho-Oh is no slouch offensively either. With an 130 Attack and an awesome offensive typing, it can do some serious damage. While it is no longer the only Pokémon that learns Sacred Fire, it is still an amazing user of the move, being able to inflict crippling burns on any physical attackers trying to exploit its weaker Defense. As big of a threat Ho-Oh is, it still has some flaws, the biggest of which being a double weakness to Rock. It especially fears Stealth Rock, losing half of its health every time it enters the battle with the entry hazard on the field. Its Speed is also rather average, but its other stats more than make up for this.

For STAB attacks, Brave Bird and Sacred Fire is your best choice. Brave Bird has wonderful coverage and can hit anything that doesn't resist it very hard. Sacred Fire is the strongest Fire type attack in Ho-Oh's movepool that uses its superior Attack stat, and its high 50% burn chance can discourage physical attackers from facing it due to the threat of burns halving the power of their attacks. It also makes up for Ho-Oh's relatively poor Defense stat, and can be used to destroy Steel-types that resist Brave Bird. For other attacks, Earthquake is a wonderful choice as it can break down Rock-types that can threaten to KO it with Rock attacks while resisting Ho-Oh's STABs. For its final slot, you can choose from two recovery moves, Recover and Roost. Roost makes it less vulnerable to Rock attacks and removes some of its other weaknesses, but exposes it to Ground-type moves. Recover keeps it in the air, but still leaves it with its usual weaknesses.

Celebi
Being a mythical Pokemon, Celebi has excellent all-around stats combined with a varied movepool that lets it support allies or hit hard. Celebi's Psychic/Grass typing is a mixed bag, but gives it several useful resistances and decent STAB coverage, letting it wall or threaten some popular Pokemon. It also has the Natural Cure ability, which lets it freely take status moves for its team. Celebi's main weakness is its typing, as it gives Celebi a worrying 7 weaknesses, including types commonly found in utility and coverage attacks.

Celebi has an impressive range of support moves to choose from. It can set up Stealth Rock, spread status with Thunder Wave or Toxic, cure status conditions with Heal Bell, completely restore a teammate with Healing Wish, boost its stats with Swords Dance, Calm Mind or Nasty Plot, and even pass them on with Baton Pass. It also has other miscellaneous status moves such as Reflect, Light Screen, Safeguard, Helping Hand, Leech Seed, and Perish Song. It also has a reliable healing move in the form of Recover. For attacks, Celebi typically doesn't run more than one damaging move so that it has space for more support moves. Giga Drain is preferred for its health leeching, though Energy Ball and Leaf Storm are stronger choices. Psychic is strong against Poison and Fighting types. Earth Power and Hidden Power Fire both grant coverage against foes that resist both of Celebi's STAB moves. For a more surprising physical moveset, Celebi has Seed Bomb and Zen Headbutt for STAB, Sucker Punch for priority and U-turn to preserve momentum, though overall it's inferior to using a support or special attacking moveset.