Pokémon Black and White/Species Strategies (Gen V Families)

This page contains information on every Pokémon family introduced in Generation V, including stats, 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.

Snivy, Servine, and Serperior
Snivy is one of the three starter Pokémon, and is a pure Grass type from start to finish. It focuses on Speed, Defense, and Special Defense, and uses a variety of Grass type attacks. It should mainly be used to stall your opponents rather than an all out attacker, and can learn some useful defensive moves such as Reflect and Light Screen as well as whittle down HP with Toxic and Leech Seed.

Both Physical attacks such as Vine Whip and Leaf Blade and Special attacks such as Leaf Tornado and Giga Drain are learned at a fairly regular pace, and are accompanied by other useful moves such as Growth and Coil, which help compensate for its lack of offensive power. However, it's pure Grass typing gives it a myriad of weaknesses, and the lack of non-Grass type attacks, even using TMs, means that you'll frequently have to use other Pokémon. Out of the three Unova starters, Snivy is probably the least useful.

Snivy, Servine and Serperior's all have the Overgrow Ability, like all Grass type Starter Pokemon, but their Hidden Ability is Contrary which means they will gain stat boosts whenever it or the opponent uses a move that would normally lower stats. This is excellent when combined with Leaf Storm because it will raise Serperior's Special Attack by two levels instead of causing it to drop two levels.

Moveset 1

 * Coil
 * Leaf Blade
 * Slam
 * Dragon Tail

Moveset 2

 * Glare
 * Leaf Tornado
 * Hidden Power (Fire)
 * Leech Seed

Moveset 3

 * Leaf Storm
 * Frenzy Plant
 * Hidden Power (Rock)
 * Dragon Pulse

Tepig, Pignite, and Emboar
Tepig starts as a pure Fire type, but becomes part-fighting once it evolves into Pignite, much like its counterparts in Generations 3 and 4. It emphasizes HP and raw power at the expense of Speed and defensive strength, making it Snivy's rough opposite. Overall, Tepig is a solid Pokémon in a region that has no surplus of solid Fire Pokémon. Although it has trouble fully taking advantage of its typing and stats without TMs, it has enough things going for it to make it a worthy team member. Once it's an Emboar is gains a neutrality to Rock type moves, at the expense of a weakness to Flying and Psychic types.

Tepig starts a bit slowly, not learning its first truly powerful moves until levels 15 to 17. At this point, it learns the useful physical Fire move Flame Charge, which also boosts speed, evolves into Pignite, and gains the useful Arm Thrust, which is particularly excellent for the second gym. Afterwards, it learns a variety of attacks, covering multiple types, until it eventually learns staples such as Flamethrower. Additionally, it can learn a wide variety of TMs, including more Fire and Fighting moves.

Tepig, Pignite and Emboar all have Blaze, powering up its Fire type moves when it's tired and its Hidden Ability is Reckless which can work extremely well since it can learn Flare Blitz, Head Smash and Wild Charge. However the recoil damage will wear it down quickly.

Moveset 1

 * Flare Blitz
 * Hammer Arm
 * Wild Charge
 * Head Smash

Moveset 2

 * Flame Charge
 * Arm Thrust
 * Bulk Up
 * Stone Edge

Moveset 3

 * Flame Charge
 * Blast Burn
 * Brick Break
 * Rock Slide

Oshawott, Dewott, and Samurott
Oshawott is a Water type Pokémon that, like Snivy, remains monotyped throughout its evolution.It is the most balanced of the starting Pokémon, despite an emphasis on Special Attack. Oshawott, as a whole, is a recommended choice for beginners. Its balanced stats, lack of weaknesses, and useful moves make it an easy pick.

Oshawott quickly learns Water Gun, which works well with its stats. When it evolves into Dewott at level 17, it gains the mighty Razor Shell, a powerful physical Water move that remains useful the entire game. Over the long run, it learns better Special Water moves to replace Water Gun, such as Water Pulse and Surf by TM, as well as a few other useful moves such as Revenge. Its TM options are less than Tepig's but there are still valuable options, such as some powerful Ice attacks.

Torrent powers up their Water type moves and you won't want to bother getting its Hidden Ability. Serperior and Emboar both have good Hidden Abilities but Samurott is stuck with the less useful Shell Armour.

Moveset 1

 * Razor Shell
 * Megahorn
 * Aqua Jet
 * Swords Dance

Moveset 2

 * Hydro Cannon
 * Ice Beam
 * Hydro Pump
 * Hidden Power (Ground)

Moveset 3

 * Hydro Pump
 * Megahorn
 * Aqua Jet
 * Revenge

Patrat and Watchog
Reminiscent of Rattata before it, Patrat is a common Normal type Pokémon that evolves at level 20. It has lower attack power than its chief competitor for the pure-Normal niche, Lillipup, and lacks the third stage of evolution.

What distinguishes Patrat and Watchog from the Lillipup line is its moves. Bite and Crunch are learned early on, and Hypnosis makes it a category of one early in the game. Once it evolves, Watchog further distinguishes. Rather than focusing on an all-out attack, Watchog uses moves like Confuse Ray and Super Fang, to deal proportional damage. It learns Hyper Fang to help finish off foes at level 32, at which point it stops learning powerful new moves. However, it does learn Baton Pass, and can be taught enough status-based TMs to work with it.

Patrat and Watchog are not conventional fighters, with their subpar stats and lack of obviously powerful moves. However, their use of Confuse Ray and Super Fang is very formidable when used properly, allowing it to take on surprisingly powerful foes. So long as you realize what you're working with, it is a fine addition to a team, particularly one that relies on close cooperation between Pokémon.

Moveset 1

 * Super Fang
 * Crunch
 * Low Kick
 * Confuse Ray

Moveset 2

 * Hyper Fang
 * Crunch
 * Psych Up
 * Baton Pass

Moveset 3

 * Super Fang
 * Crunch
 * Hyper Fang
 * Confuse Ray

Lillipup, Herdier, and Stoutland
The Lillipup line is the other common Normal type Pokémon family in Black and White. It is generally balanced, save for its poor Special Attack. Lillipup can have either Vital Spirit or Pickup as its Special Ability. It is interesting to note that although Herdier and Stoutland can have the Sand Rush ability, which increases their Speed in a Sandstorm, they are not capable of learning Sandstorm. They can also have Intimidate to lower Attack. Lillipup's Hidden Ability is Run Away while Herdier and Stoudland can use their Hidden Ability, Scrappy, to hit Ghost types with Normal type moves.

Lillipup starts with Tackle, a move that it uses well thanks to its Attack power and typing. It learns the Dark type Bite at level 8, which balances out its arsenal. It learns Take Down at level 15, which is very powerful for the early game, but the 25% recoil makes it a move of last resort. After evolving at level 16, Herdier will learn little of use save for Crunch, a step up from Bite. However, once it evolves into Stoutland at level 32, it gains access to extremely powerful moves such as Giga Impact. The entire family can also use TMs such as Return and Strength to fill out its movelist.

The Lillipup family is at its best in the early game, suffers from a poor midgame, and ultimately flourishes again at high levels. Teach it Strength or Return to replace Tackle and/or Take Down, and you'll have a dependable, if somewhat predictable, Normal type powerhouse with few weaknesses. Just bear in mind that it's all but helpless against Fighting types.

Moveset 1

 * Giga Impact
 * Thunder Fang
 * Fire Fang
 * Ice Fang

Moveset 2

 * Giga Impact
 * Crunch
 * Snarl
 * Dig

Moveset 3

 * Retaliate
 * Crunch
 * Endure
 * Reversal

Purrloin and Liepard
The first Dark type Pokémon available, Purrlion, is distinct from its Normal type neighbors in the early game. Its family focuses on speed, at the expense of defense.

In the early game, Purrloin's greatest weakness is a reliance on Normal type moves. These do not give it the "Same Type Attack Bonus," or "STAB," that Lillipup and Patrat have. Its first Dark type move, Pursuit, does not come until level 15, although the TM for Thief comes early enough in the game so that it might also be an option. After evolving at level 20, Liepard starts standing out more. Fake Out is a Normal move that essentially gives it a free hit at the start of a battle. Hone Claws increases both Attack and Accuracy, which works well combined with Fury Swipes, which it learns as a Purrloin. Eventually, Pursuit can be replaced by Assurance and then Night Slash. Learning Slash and Sucker Punch also give it options.

Ultimately though, Purrloin and Liepard are not particularly impressive. They're the only pure Dark Pokémon that's easy to find, but are easily overshadowed by other Pokémon, both in the early game and in the Dark typing. It can function reasonably well as a party member, but is unlikely to excel.

Moveset 1
Night Slash

Fake Out

Hone Claws

Fury Swipes

Moveset 2
Dark Pulse

Nasty Plot

Torment

Hyper Beam

Moveset 3
Night Slash

Snatch

Snarl

Aerial Ace

Pansage and Simisage
Pansage, the Grass Monkey Pokémon, is automatically given to the player if they started with Tepig. It's line emphasizes offensive power at the expense of defense. Like the other members of the Monkey Trio, it requires a special Stone to evolve.

Given to the player at level 10, Pansage will already know Vine Whip, a physical Grass move that works well with Pansage. By Level 22, it will have learned a fairly direct upgrade, Seed Bomb, in addition to other moves such as the ever popular Bite and Leech Seed. At this point though, it stops learning very many useful moves, making it a good idea to evolve it, despite the fact that Pokémon evolved by stones don't usually learn moves automatically by leveling up.

Fortunately, Simisage can learn enough moves by TM to compensate for the lack of level-based moves. Sunny Day and Solarbeam is a powerful combination, Energy Ball is a viable alternative, and it can also learn plenty of non-Grass moves to shake up opponents.

Ultimately, Pansage and Tepig are the best combo of Pokémon, thanks to their potential to share the effects of Sunny Day and their mutual usefulness. Like the other monkeys, it is not the best at its job, but at least it is versatile enough to take on foes that would normally trump the Snivy family.

Gluttony is a virtually useless Ability but Pansage and Simisage have Overgrow as their Hidden Ability which makes their Grass type moves stronger when they're tired.

Moveset1

 * Seed Bomb
 * Acrobatics
 * Crunch
 * Grass Knot

Moveset 2

 * Solarbeam
 * Acrobatics
 * Sunny Day
 * Low Sweep

Pansear and Simisear
Pansear, the Fire Monkey Pokémon, is automatically given to the player if they started with Oshawott. It's line emphasizes speed and offensive power at the expense of defense. Like the other members of the Monkey Trio, it requires a special Stone to evolve.

Pansear starts with the unremarkable Incinerate attack, which is notably weaker than Water Gun or Vine Whip. This puts it at a relative disadvantage until level 16, when it learns the useful Yawn attack, which puts opponents to sleep at the end of the next turn. Flame Burst, a moderately useful move, can replace Incinerate at level 22, and it might be worth learning Amnesia at level 25 for extra defensive power. However, unless you're willing to wait until level 34 for Fire Blast, a move with very limited uses, it is a good idea to evolve Pansear into a Simisear around this time.

As a Simisear, it can learn several TMs that take advantage of its typing. Sunny Day will power up its Fire attacks and turn Solarbeam into a move-turn move. Flamethrower is a viable alternative to your other Fire moves. Overall, Pansear is a bit inconvenient, but is, like Tepig, a useful Fire Pokémon in a region where Fire Pokémon are simultaneously uncommon and useful.

Pansear normally has Gluttony but can have the far more useful Blaze if you get one with its Hidden Ability.

Moveset 1

 * Fire Blast
 * Acrobatics
 * Flame Burst
 * Crunch

Moveset 2

 * Fire Blast
 * Sunny Day
 * Solarbeam
 * Low Sweep

Panpour and Simipour
Panpour, the Water Monkey Pokémon, is automatically given to the player if they started with Snivy. It's line emphasizes speed and offensive power at the expense of defense. Like the other members of the Monkey Trio, it requires a special Stone to evolve.

Panpour starts with Water Gun, its primary move throughout the early game. It learns some interesting secondary moves like Bite and Fury Swipes, but its most interesting move is Scald, which is twice as strong as Water Gun and is learned at level 22. Like its monkey cousins, it becomes a good idea to evolve it around this time. Useful TMs include Rain Dance, Surf, and Ice Beam.

Panpour and Simipour are solid Water Pokémon, with solid Special Water attacks. It's only flaw is its low defenses and the fact you have to pick Snivy in the beginning to get one.

Like all of the Elemental Monkey's Gluttony is their Special Ability but their Hidden Ability is Torrent.

Moveset 1

 * Scald
 * Acrobatics
 * Brine
 * Crunch

Moveset 2

 * Scald
 * Rain Dance
 * Ice Beam
 * Low Sweep

Pidove, Tranquill, and Unfezant
Finally, the Pidgey expy for this game! Like countless Pokémon before it, Pidove is a Normal/Flying type bird. It's line specializes in Attack and Speed at the expense of both Special stats.

Pidove are initially available at around level 10. It should already know Gust and may even know Quick Attack, a move that is a solid fit. Unfortunately, its low Special Attack makes Gust a subpar attack unless being used against a Pokémon with a type disadvantage. This is a recurring theme, as the Pidove family only learns a physical Flying move at level 66, instead receiving incompetent Special Flying attacks. Furthermore, it can't learn the very useful TM Acrobatics, and instead will have to rely on Aerial Ace and Fly.

The good news is, the Pidove line learns some good support moves. Roost allows it to regain health, Detect allows it to avoid the enemy's attack, a great delaying tactic, and Taunt prevents opponents from using their own support moves. And in the late game, Feather Dance and Swagger are great at cutting an enemy's Attack in half and causing dangerous confusion respectively.

It's just a shame that the Pidove family lacks the Special stats to take advantage of its moveset, not to mention powerful Normal moves until later on. For these reasons, players should be wary about turning Pidove into a permanent part of the team.

Moveset 1
Sky Attack

Double Team

Steel Wing

Roost

Moveset 2
Aerial Ace

Façade

U-Turn

Fly

Moveset 3
Aerial Ace

Feather Dance

U-Turn

Roost

Woobat and Swoobat
Unlike Zubat, Woobat is neither annoyingly common nor part Poison. Instead, this family is a Psychic/Flying combo, with an emphasis on Speed. In order to evolve, it needs to be very happy and then gain a level. This is generally accomplished by walking with it in your party, winning battles, and making sure it doesn't faint.

Woobat comes with Confusion and Gust, two moves that work well enough considering its typing. At level 15, it learns its signatue move, Heart Stamp. This physical Psychic attack has a chance of making an opponent flinch, making it similar to Bite. Air Cutter can replace Gust at level 21, players can pick from Amnesia or Calm Mind at level 29 to boost stats (I suggest Calm Mind), and at level 32, Air Slash can become Woobat's chief Flying-type attack. At level 41, it finally learns Psychic, giving it a full array of abilities.

However, Woobat and even Swoobat suffer from one particular problem: Sigilyph. Sigilyph appears later in the game than Woobat, but has identical typing and generally superior stats save for Swoobat's Speed. In other words, Woobat, though useful early on, becomes redundant before you're halfway through the game. This is a shame, since Woobat and Swoobat on their own are perfectly competent party members until the very end of the game.

Moveset 1
Heart Stamp

Air Slash

Psychic

Attract

Moveset 2
Calm Mind

Air Slash

Psychic

Flatter

Moveset 3
Calm Mind

Air Slash

Double Team

Stored Power

Audino
A pure Normal type Pokémon, Audino is this generation's answer to Chansey. Although it won't evolve, it does have some nice stats for the early game, particularly its HP and defenses. However, it must be noted that what you see is what you get.

Audino starts with Pound, which is a surprisingly good move in the early game thanks to STAB and a Base Attack power of 60. As soon as level 10, it learns Double Slap, a good replacement for Pound if you prefer power to reliability. Afterwards though, Audino learns fairly few useful moves. You have the versatile Secret Power at level 20, the mighty Take Down at level 30, and the restorative Heal Pulse at level 35. However, Audino lacks the Attack power to use those first two moves well, and as useful as Heal Pulse may be in the metagame, it has limited use in single player due to the accessibility of potions.

On the TM side of things, Audino fares a bit better. Hyper Beam, Facade, Return, and Retaliate are all available at some point or another, and make good use of Audino's STAB. At very least, its Special Attack is no lower than its physical Attack. Furthermore, Audino can learn some valuable support moves, such as Reflect, Light Screen, which can benefit other party members. And if all else fails, some of the possible TMs and HMs are quite powerful, including Ice Beam, Surf, Thunderbolt, Psychic, Shadow Ball, and Flamethrower.

Ultimately, Audino is hurt by its subpar offensive stats and lack of an evolution. However, that does not make it necessarily a bad choice. Audino can be a valuable party member provided it fights as a member of a larger team, rather than an individual. Its bulkiness combined with a wide number of support moves make it a solid choice in a support role.

Tympole, Palpitoad, and Seismitoad
Do not deny it. Tympole is adorable. But is this Water/Ground hybrid also powerful? Well, to start with, its family has some nice stats. Despite a focus on HP and physical Attack later on, there are no holes to be easily exploited, and it evolutions at levels 25 and 36 give it the power boosts necessary to keep up with the competition.

By the time you capture a Tympole, it will already know the mighty Bubblebeam, giving it a useful Water attack that never goes entirely obsolete. At level 16, it picks up Mud Shot, a similarly powerful Special Ground move. Uproar gives it a nice Normal type attack, and Aqua Ring works well if you're into that sort of thing. After your Tympole evolves into a Palpitoad, replace Bubblebeam with Muddy Water and, eventually, Surf. Late in the game, Seismitoad learns a nice variety of powerful moves, including Drain Punch, Hydro Pump, and Hyper Voice. Furthermore, in addition to the already mentioned Surf, Seismitoad can also use TMs to learn Poison and Ice type moves, giving it the upper hand against its only weakness, Grass Pokémon.

The Tympole family's only real weakness is having more Special moves than Physical moves, despite its preference towards Attack power later on. Nevertheless, its great typing, balanced stats, and delightful moveset make it an easy recommendation for anyone looking for a Water or Ground type Pokémon.

Sawk
Sawk is a Fighting Pokémon with some real competition. By this point in the game, it has to compete with Pignite, the Timburr family, and Throh for the Fighting niche on your team. Can its phenomenal Attack power overcome its horrid Special Attack? Yes.

Sawk has no evolutions, but it doesn't need one. It already has stats on par with mid to late game Pokémon. However, its stats are balanced particularly well. Sawk's phenomenal Attack has a great relationship with its moveset, which matches it perfectly.

From the word go, it will learn the useful Fighting type Double Kick at level 13. However, better moves keep on coming, including Low Sweep at level 17, Karate Chop at 25, Brick Break at 29, and eventually Close Combat at level 49. These moves take great advantage of both Sawk's typing and its stellar Attack stat. A few stat-based moves such as Focus Energy and Bulk Up supplement this list. Admittedly, Sawk learns few non-Fighting moves on its own. However, it works well with several TMs, including Rock moves to counter Flying types, Strength to deal some Normal damage, and Earthquake to take out a variety of foes.

Sawk can't do everything, but it's stellar at what it can do. Despite Unova's plethora of Fighting Pokémon, it still has a lot going for it, both in the short and the long term. This is a Pokémon that can win against both Lenora and one or two of the Elite Four members. Just make sure to never teach it a Special attack.

Venipede, Whirlipede, and Scolipede
At a glance, Venipede looks like a Weedle knock off. In fact, it is its own distinct kind of Bug/Poison Pokémon. Generally speaking, this family focuses on Speed and Physical stats, though Whirlipede instead focuses on defenses. But is it worth training a Bug Pokémon that doesn't evolve until levels 22 and 30?

Early on, Venipede will rely upon Poison Sting, Screech, and Pursuit. This is a dark time, as Poison Sting is garbage and Pursuit doesn't take advantage of Venipede's typing. Fortunately, it learns Protect at level 15 and Poison Tail at level 19. This is when its unique strategy comes into play; the Venipede family specializes in poisoning opponents and taking advantage of this. Early on, this is done by using a Poison type attack, hoping it poisons an enemy, and using Protect to delay the battle, weakening the foe. Level 22 is very eventful, as Venipede learns Bug Bite, a must-have attack for it, evolves into Whirlipede, and then immediately learns Iron Defense. Level 28's Venoshock is doubly powerful against poisoned opponents, but Whirlipede and Scolipede usually lack the Special Attack to use it well. After evolving at level 30, Scolipede will eventually learn Agility, which will make it extremely fast, Toxic, which works well as part of the previously mentioned Poison/Protect strategy, and a couple of physical Normal moves.

TMs are very useful for Scolipede. X-Scissor and Poison Jab are obvious improvements over Bug Bite and Poison Tail, and Toxic can theoretically be taught early. Swords Dance is a good choice since it allows players to use an extremely fast and powerful attacker with good Poison and Bug moves. Substitute works well with the Poison/Protect strategy.

Ultimately, Venipede is a good choice for a Bug or Poison Pokémon, but is not necessarily the best. Unova has plenty of Bug Pokémon, so if this doesn't tickle your fancy, feel free to leave it behind. On the other hand, if its Poison/Protect strategy combined with solid attacks sounds appealing, feel free to catch it.

Scraggy and Scrafty
Scraggy is an oddity in the world of Pokémon. A rare Dark/Fighting hybrid, it evolves at level 39. Its line focuses on physical Attack like many Fighting Pokémon, but also on both physical and Special Defenses. It has a good typing too, making it weak against only other Fighting Pokémon and Flying types. But can it make up for a late evolution?

Scraggy has one of two abilities: Shed Skin and Moxie. The first gives it a 30% chance to get rid of a status ailment at the end of the turn, while the second raises its attack power temporarily after KOing an opponent. Both are very handy in specific situations.

By the time you catch a Scraggy at Level 16 or so, it will already know Headbutt, Faint Attack, and Swagger, three great moves. However, it will have forgotten Low Kick, and won't learn a new Fighting move, Brick Break until level 20. The good news is, those four moves provide a great base to start with, taking advantage of its physical prowess and giving it something to use against just about any type of opponent.

The game changer is Hi Jump Kick at level 31. It gives Scraggy a Fighting move with 130 base power. Taking STAB into consideration, that's almost 200 power! Unfortunately, the move has a 1 in 10 chance of backfiring. That said, the move is still so powerful, it's worth the risk, especially considering how Scraggy's defenses make suicide less likely. Furthermore, there are items that can improve accuracy, notably X Accuracy for one-time uses and Wide Lens, so there are workarounds.

At level 38, Scraggy learns Crunch to replace Faint Attack, and it evolves just a level later. Afterwards, there are a few powerful moves such as Rock Climb and Focus Punch left, but nothing tops the Hi Jump Kick and Crunch combo. That said, there are some useful TMs that introduce variety. Rock Smash is a great move for Scraggy in the very early going, until it learns Brick Break. Strength and Return are suitable alternatives to Headbutt. And buffing moves such as Work Up and Bulk Up work fairly well.

Ultimately, Scraggy is not for everyone, thanks to its late evolution and somewhat risky Hi Jump Kick strategy. Those that stick with it, however, will end up with a Pokémon with a sizable niche, particularly as a counter-Psychic member of a team. Stick through the hard times, and you'll have a truly remarkable Pokémon.

Archen and Archeops
Nintendo's first-ever incarnation of the archaeopteryx from the age of the dinosaurs has quite a lot going for it. Even has massive attack, special attack, great speed, and quite the moves. You will receive it first as a Plume Fossil if you pick it in Relic Castle. You can go to Relic Castle before you've beaten the Nimbasa City Gym because the lady that gives it to you is in the accessible part of the Castle at the point. From there, return to Nacrene City (or wait until you get Fly if you'd like, but then you have some training to do), go to the museum, and revive your fossil. will be at level 25 with Pluck (great move all-around), Ancientpower (great move too), Agility (useful for becoming even faster), and Quick Guard (not too useful, but don't worry).

You do have to wait until level 37 for your Archen to evolve into the beastly, who boasts absolutely ridiculous attack that rivals that of even Haxorus, great special attack, and blazing speed. Plus, can learn so many moves. As an, you might want to consider these level up moves, all learned before level 37: Acrobatics, Dragonbreath, Crunch, Endeavor. As an, try these: U-turn, Rock Slide, Dragon Claw! Archeops is not slouch when it comes to TMs either. How about these moves?: Hone Claws, Hyper Beam, Smack Down, Earthquake, Return, Dig, Aerial Ace, Focus Blast, Shadow Claw, Giga Impact, Stone Edge, Bulldoze, Dragon Tail, Fly. Archeops can cover a myriad of types and is definitely a worthy addition to your team...except for one thing. Archeops is cursed with one of the worst abilities ever invented: Defeatist. At half HP, Archeops will suffer from halved attack AND special attack. Keep your Potions with you so that if Archeops's health begins to fall, you can heal up quickly. Use Archeops with caution against stronger opponents--its defenses are frail. But as long as you keep that in mind, Archeops will almost always have a successful rampage down the warpath.

Zorua and Zoroark
Oh the mind games you can do with these two. When they hit the field, they show the Illusion appearance/name/ball of whatever Pokémon is last in your party (unless you send out Zorua/Zoroark from the last slot; don't do that). The Illusion only breaks once you take actual combat damage from an attack (weather, poison, etc. won't break the illusion), so if you use Zoroark's amazing Special Attack and Speed along with the right variety of attacks, you can totally trick you opponent into giving you 1-2 practically free KO's.

Just remember, they are very much glass cannons: they have lower HP and defences than many Pokémon, but amazing Speed and Special Attack. You could use their Attack stat, but their best attack, Night Daze, is a Special Attack anyway.

Moveset 1
Night Daze

Snarl

Extrasensory

Hidden Power (Flying)

Moveset 2
Night Daze

U-Turn

Focus Blast

Flamethrower

Moveset 3
Night Slash

U-Turn

Hone Claws

Fury Swipes

Vanillite, Vanillish and Vanilluxe
Yes, it's an ice cream cone Pokemon. No, GameFreak did not go insane. This pure Ice type Pokemon is first found in the wild around level 20, and evolves at levels 35 and 47. Can its exceptional Special Attack overcome its low HP, poor defensive typing, and unusual premise?

As a pure-Ice types, the Vanillite family is weak against Fighting, Rock, Steel, and Fire attacks, while resisting only Ice attacks. Combined with its unremarkable defenses and relatively low HP, this makes it the glass cannon of this generation's Ice Pokemon. Fortunately, it has the ability Ice Body. This recovers 1/16 of its health every turn it hails, and becomes useful later in the game.

By the time you get a Vanillite, it should be at least level 20, although depending on how much you explore, you might not find one before level 25 or later. By level 20, it should have Icy Wind and Avalanche, which deal Special and Physical Ice damage respectively. Icy Wind has a chance of lowering speed, which contradicts with Avalanche's effect; doubling power if the user takes damage earlier in the turn. Therefore, only one of these moves should be used per opponent. That said, both are quite useful in the midgame, and should serve well.

Before evolving into Vanillish, Vanillite will learn Taunt, Mirror Shot, and Acid Armor. Taunt is mostly useless, but Mirror Shot, a Special Steel-type move, provides a decent alternative to Ice attacks until you get something better. Acid Armor, meanwhile, doubles Vanillite's defense, making it a valuable move throughout the game and even in multiplayer.

As soon as it evolves, Vanillish will learn Ice Beam, aka this family's best individual move, considering the Special Power of the move combined with the family's natural stats. At level 42, Vanillish learns Hail, which will heal it by 1/16th of its health every turn, damage all non-Ice Pokemon by 1/16th of their health, and, best of all, gives the move Blizzard perfect accuracy. After evolving again at level 47, Vanilluxe will finally learn Blizzard, the most powerful Ice move in the game, and Sheer Cold, which has terrible accuracy, but KOs opponents in one hit.

On the TM and HM side of things, the Vanilluxe family can potentially learn Ice Beam, Hail, and Blizzard early, can learn basic non-Ice Physical and Special moves such as Flash Cannon, Facade, and Hyper Beam to balance it out, and can also learn status based moves like Toxic, Swagger, and Substitute for more complex strategies.

Ultimately, the Vanilluxe family is best at using Special Ice-based moves, and does this very well. It will prove to be very useful in the mid-to-late game, where these attacks will be super effective against Ground, Flying, and Dragon types, while its Steel moves will be a good counter for other Ice types. Just remember that its specialization makes it useless unless you have other team members to deal with its weaknesses and to inflict physical damage.

Moveset 1
Ice Beam

Flash Cannon

Acid Armour

Mirror Coat

Moveset 2
Sheer Cold

Flash Cannon

Blizzard

Hail

Moveset 3
Frost Breath

Weather Ball

Rain Dance

Mirror Coat

Klink, Klang and Klinklang
The Klink family is an odd one, consisting of some of the only pure-Steel type Pokemon ever created. Its line focuses on Attack and Defense, at the expense of HP and Special Attack. Evolutions to Klang and Klinklang occur at levels 38 and 49 respectively.

Possibly the best attribute of the Klink family is its pure Steel typing. This gives it weaknesses to Fighting, Fire, and Ground attacks, but makes it resistant to eleven types of attacks: Bug, Dark, Dragon, Flying, Ghost, Grass, Ice, Normal, Psychic, Rock, and Steel. And it provides an immunity to all poison damage. Combined with its high defenses, although it admittedly has mediocre HP, this makes the Klink family a hard one to take down.

As for moves, Klink starts out knowing Gear Grind, its signature move. This Steel attack hits twice at 50 damage with 85% accuracy, making it essentially on par with moves like Body Slam and Iron Tail. If it hasn't already, it soon learns Charge Beam, a special electric attack with a 70% chance of raising special attack by a stage, making it useful for Special-oriented fighters. Autotomize is learned at level 31, and doubles speed, making it a great move for longer fights. At level 36, Klink learns Mirror Shot, a Special move that doesn't work great with its stats, but is great when used after a Charge Beam. After evolving at level 38, Klang learns Screech at 40, which cuts enemy defense in half, and Discharge at 44, which does moderate Electric damage. One level before evolving, Klang also learns Metal Sound, which cuts Special Defense in half. Finally, in the late game, Klinklang learns powerful moves such as Shift Gear, which doubles Speed and raises Attack, Lock-On, which ensures that a move will hit, and the very powerful Special Attacks Zap Cannon and Hyper Beam, which deal massive Electric and Normal damage.

In contrast to its fairly diverse moveset from leveling up, the Klink family learns relatively few useful TMs. Giga Impact, Facade, and Return are the only useful physical moves, and none of these Normal moves take advantage of the family's typing. The only Steel move learnable is the Special move called Flash Cannon, which does a base 80 damage and has a slight chance of lowering Special Defense. Thunder Wave could also be useful.

Ultimately, Klinklang can be used as either a Physical or a Special Fighter. However, it lacks the moveset to do the first well and the stats to do the second. On the other hand, its typing is still very good, and it has enough stat-boosting moves to compensate for its problems. In the end, Klinklang will be a great member of any team, but is incapable of fulfilling any niche particularly well.

Moveset 1
Gear Grind

Shift Gear

Charge Beam

Hyper Beam

Moveset 2
Gear Grind

Lock On

Zap Cannon

Hyper Beam

Moveset 3
Metal Sound

Shift Gear

Discharge

Flash Cannon

Litwick, Lampent and Chandelure
Litwick evolves into Lampent at level 41 and when you use a Dusk Stone you get Chandelure which is a Pokemon full of raw power. It has the highest Special Attack of all Fire-types, as well as all Ghost Types (other than Giratina Origin Forme). Its got bulky defenses, good HP, a great typing, and an evil (for the opponent, not the user) Hidden Ability Shadow Tag making it impossible for the opponent to escape it's wrath unless they disable, or in Skill Swap's case swap, the Ability. Chandelure's Special Abilities are Flash Fire and Flame Body but since it can learn Will-O-Wisp and won't be bothered much by Fire type moves anyway, Shadow Tag is the best Ability to use. Only its Speed is lacking, and badly at that. But used right, and you'll be punching holes or solid KO's with this tank of a Pokémon.

Moveset 1
Will-O-Wisp

Hex

Fire Blast

Pain Split

Moveset 2
Shadow Ball

Trick Room

Overheat

Psychic

Moveset 3
Shadow Ball

Confuse Ray

Fire Blast

Energy Ball

Axew, Fraxure and Haxorus
Almost like Chandelure's physical incarnate, only faster and frailer. Haxorus has the highest base Attack of any non-legendary Dragon-type (legendary: Zekrom, Rayquaza) and the fact that it's a Dragon means that it already has a lot going for it: natural resistances to Water, Fire, Electricity, and Grass, neutral damage against everything except Dragon (super effective hit) and Steel (not very effective hit), and a pretty decent movepool. Haxorus does learn some special moves like Dragon Pulse via level up and Surf via TM, but Haxorus is not a special attacker, so don't waste a moveslot.

You can capture an Axew right after you gain the Surf TM. Simply surf up to Mistralton Cave, search around, and you'll find yourself an Axew. In the mid-30s, Axew will already pack some pretty powerful moves like Dragon Claw, which is an excellent move that deserves a permanent moveslot, False Swipe for those pesky legendaries, and possibly even Dragon Dance to boost Attack and Speed to even higher levels.

At level 38, Axew evolves into Fraxure. Nothing too stellar. But at level 48, Fraxure evolves into Haxorus. With Dragon Claw alone, Haxorus can already rip things apart, and access to TM moves like Dig and Earthquake make it even better because now the dragon can handle most non-flying, non-Levitating Steel-types. Brick Break is another good move to have for destroying Dark-types or Normal-types (although Dragon Claw should be good enough). False Swipe is good as ever for legendaries, although if you've captured them all, False Swipe loses its usefulness except to capture Pokemon you want to capture that are at low levels. If you're patient through the post-game and level Haxorus up to the mid-60s, you will be bestowed with Outrage. Watch your opponents melt before you as Haxorus rages down the warpath, destroying everything in sight except Steel-types. Just watch out for that confusion.

Haxorus also has a killer ability: Mold Breaker. Abilities are nullified. Haxorus doesn't care about Sturdy, it will one-hit KO those Boldores and Roggenrolas anyways. Haxorus doesn't care about Levitators, it will murder them with Earthquake (do note that Flying Pokemon are still immune to Earthquake). Rivalry is also a good ability if your Haxorus happens to be the same gender as your opponent, but by far Mold Breaker is the best.

Moveset 1
Dragon Claw

Dragon Dance

Dig

False Swipe

Moveset 2
Dragon Claw

Dragon Dance

Earthquake

Giga Impact

Moveset 3
Outrage

Stone Edge

Earthquake

Giga Impact