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

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

Treecko, Grovyle and Sceptile
Sceptile is a departure from the usual Grass-types, playing more like a glass cannon than a typical bulky attacker or support. It has good mixed attacking stats and speed, as well as a very useful ability in Unburden to make it a fast and frail fighter. With this generation, Sceptile gained a handy Mega Evolution to augment its offensive prowess. Both of its attacking stats are increased significantly and it now has blazing fast speed. It also gets a secondary Dragon-type, gaining three double resistances to Grass, Electric and Water in the process. Its Lightningrod ability negates Electric moves entirely, and can power Mega Sceptile up dangerously if it switches in on a predicted Electric move, not to mention a godsend of an immunity to Thunder Wave. In spite of its offensive buffs, Mega Sceptile's bulk is not much better than its normal form. The Dragon-type also gives Sceptile some additional weaknesses like Fairy and Dragon, and it is still vulnerable to Ice and Flying priority moves that ignore its Speed.

For its Grass-type STAB, Sceptile can choose between Leaf Storm, Energy Ball and Giga Drain. Leaf Storm is the strongest but halves Sceptile's Special Attack afterward, Giga Drain heals Sceptile at the cost of power, while Energy Ball has no special features with good base power. Dragon Pulse is a great secondary STAB move for Mega Sceptile with wide neutral coverage, and is quite effective against opposing Dragons since Mega Sceptile outspeeds them all if their Speed is not boosted. Earthquake and Focus Blast lets it break through Steel-types that can resist both of its STAB moves. If using a more traditional Unburden Sceptile, it can equip a Sitrus Berry and use Substitute to bring its health down so it can consume the berry. Unburden Sceptile usually run a more physical moveset instead, since Acrobatics becomes very powerful without an item. It has Swords Dance to boost its Attack stat, and Leaf Blase for a physical STAB move as well.

Torchic, Combusken and Blaziken
The Torchic line is probably the only line of starters since the original three to make a lasting impression among much of the series' fans, and it isn't hard to see why. With its good attacking stats and the amazing Speed Boost ability, Blaziken is a terrifying force in battles. Its two STABs give it a lot of coverage, and it certainly has the movepool to make use of it. Hi-Jump Kick and Flare Blitz is the ideal combination, letting it tear through opponents that don't resist its STAB moves, and it gets Swords Dance and Baton Pass to take advantage of its Speed Boost ability. Finally, in this new generation, it also gains a Mega Evolution, raising all of its best stats to deadly levels, turning it into one of the most dangerous threats in the game.

Blaziken's greatest strength is arguably its hidden ability Speed Boost, which sets it apart from other Fire-type starters. Speed Boost lets it gain Speed for every turn it survives, turning its Speed from average to unrivaled, and it can learn Protect or Substitute to guarantee it gets a boost. Opportunistic players can even make use of free turns, such as when an opposing foe switches out, to get a Swords Dance boost and make Blaziken an even greater threat. With enough boosts, Blaziken can become potentially unstoppable, being both difficult to wall due to its power, and impossible to outspeed with several turns of Speed Boost. Even when Blaziken does meet its match, it has access to Baton Pass, which can let it pass on all of its accumulated boosts to another offensive Pokémon, indirectly continuing its reign of destruction.

Even an unstoppable force like Blaziken still has its weaknesses, although they are difficult to take advantage of. It takes a bit of time to reach its peak due to its middling 80 base Speed, during which one can still attempt to take it out, though this is mitigated when it mega evolves. Its defenses are also pretty poor, so one can still take out an opposing Pokémon if it is hit by a sufficiently strong attack before it accumulates too many boosts. Priority attacks also ignore Blaziken's Speed no matter how high it becomes, with Aqua Jet and Water Shuriken in particular being great choices due to being super effective on Blaziken.

Mudkip, Marshtomp and Swampert
Swampert is a fairly strong Pokemon that combines great survivability with power. It has good defensive stats and an excellent ability in Water/Ground, which gives it an immunity to Electric and a double weakness to Grass, a fairly uncommon coverage move. It also hits fairly hard with good Attack, useful STAB combination and sufficient coverage moves. Swampert also gets a Mega Evolution, which buffs up its Attack and make it even bulkier. It gains the Swift Swim ability to make Mega Swampert a deadly sweeper in the rain, and it is notably the only Swift Swim user that can't be paralyzed with Thunder Wave. However, for all of its bulk, Swampert lacks a good recovery move to stay healthy. Both forms of Swampert are also rather slow outside of rain, which hampers its effectiveness offensively.

Waterfall is Swampert's main STAB move, being a strong physical Water attack. It's also boosted by rain, and Mega Swampert's Swift Swim lets it make use of the move's flinch chance. Alternatively, Scald can be used for more defensive Swampert for its high burn chance. Earthquake has some coverage overlap with Waterfall, but it hits more Pokemon super-effectively and is stronger than Waterfall outside of rain. Ice Punch completes Swampert's coverage marvelously, extremely useful for taking down Grass, Flying and Dragon types that resist one or both of its STAB moves. Swampert's bulk and typing makes it a nice hazard setter, and it can rack up entry hazard damage with Roar. Mega Swampert can also use Rain Dance to trigger Swift Swim by itself if it lacks rain support from teammates.

Poochyena and Mightyena
Mightyena is a fairly mediocre Pokemon, due to a poor stat spread. It has middling Attack, poor bulk and poor Speed, so while it is best played offensively, it has trouble making an impact. Mightyena is blessed with two useful abilities: Intimidate and Moxie. The Attack-lowering effect of Intimidate helps Mightyena take hits due to its poor Defense, but Moxie fits an offensive playstyle more by letting Mightyena pick up momentum, and it could end a game for you if the opposing team has all been weakened. Despite its poor Speed, Mightyena gets STAB on Sucker Punch to get the jump on faster attackers. Alas, all of these traits aren't terribly useful with Mightyena's bad stats. It also faces a lot of trouble against faster Fighting-types, as they don't fear Sucker Punch and can retaliate with a likely lethal attack.

Sucker Punch is really the highlight of Moxie Mightyena. It is pretty slow, so Sucker Punch lets it strike first against faster offensive Pokemon. Crunch hits exactly as hard as Sucker Punch, but while it lacks priority it doesn't fail if the enemy doesn't use an attacking move. Play Rough is a great coverage attack, as it deals with Fighting and fellow Dark-types nicely. Iron Tail lets it take down Fairy-types instead. Addtionally, Mightyena can learn the three elemental fangs for extra coverage. Finally, Mightyena can use Taunt and Toxic to have a better chance against strong walls, but it has to sacrifice a coverage move that Mightyena desperately needs to do so.

Zigzagoon and Linoone
Linoone would be an unremarkable early-game Normal-type, if not for its exclusive access to a combination of Belly Drum and Extreme Speed, though the latter move must be obtained from an event. Usually Belly Drum is a risky boosting move, since sacrificing so much health makes the user easy to KO if the foe outspeeds or has priority. Using Extreme Speed eliminates this problem completely, as it ensures Linoone will practically always get the first hit. Unfortunately, this strong tactic can't salvage a Pokemon with terrible stats, as even full boost off of a base 70 Attack can only do so much. Linoone is also extremely frail for a Belly Drum user, so it has issues getting a boost and surviving in the first place. Linoone also lacks good coverage moves, so its sweep can be quickly stopped by anything that resists Extreme Speed.

The aforementioned Belly Drum and Extreme Speed combo is a must-have for Linoone, and is pretty much the only reason to use this Pokemon in serious battling. Linoone defenses are very poor and its moveset is predictable to any reasonably experienced trainers, so team support is necessary to give Linoone the space to use Belly Drum. After that, it's simply a matter of spamming Extreme Speed and hoping the foe falls. Shadow Claw is a nice coverage move for Linoone when up against Normal-immune Ghost-types. Seed Bomb helps against Rock-types, but Linoone has no good options against Steel-types, either having to use the impractical Dig or the very weak Rock Smash.

Wurmple, Silcoon, Cascoon, Beautifly and Dustox
Beautifly suffers from the curse of all early-game Bug-types, being a generally weak Pokemon when compared to many other fully-evolved Pokemon. Like many of its peers, Beautifly at least has a saving grace with Quiver Dance, but even then it is one of the worst users of the move. Beautifly's stand-out trait is its relatively high Special Attack, but its bulk is abysmal and its Speed is poor even after a boost. Its abilities are vastly worse than other Quiver Dance users as well. While it has a decent range of special attacks like Bug Buzz, Energy Ball, Psychic and Shadow Ball, they don't offer a lot of coverage, forcing Beautifly to use Hidden Power Ground for most of its Bug resists. It also lacks Sleep Powder, a crucial move for some other weak Quiver Dancers to help themselves boost. All of these weaknesses coupled with a hard time switching in due to a double weakness to Stealth Rock makes Beautifly a terrible Pokemon to use in general.

Although it has much better bulk and a usable defensive typing, Dustox isn't a very good user of Quiver Dance either. Having actually decent bulk forces it to sacrifice its offenses, so Dustox actually needs Quiver Dance to hit as hard as the average utility Pokemon, keeping it from pulling off sweeps. Like Beautifly, it similarly lacks good coverage moves or Sleep Powder. With decent defenses and the Shield Dust ability, Dustox can be played as a defensive Quiver Dance user that shrugs off status. Since it's not going to KO a lot of Pokemon anyway, it could stick to an STAB combination of Bug Buzz and Sludge Bomb, replacing a coverage move with Roost, Substitute or even Iron Defense. Ultimately, having horribly low power even with Quiver Dance boosts makes this Pokemon a rather pointless to a team.

Lotad, Lombre and Ludicolo
The Ludicolo line is the only Pokemon that has the unique Water/Grass typing, a decent defensive combination due to many of either types' resistances and weaknesses canceling each other out. Ludicolo's STAB combination also gives it impressive neutral coverage with just some extra attacks. Ludicolo's decent Speed and Swift Swim makes it a good Pokemon to use in rain teams, since its typing isn't weak to the usual answers to rain-abusing Pokemon. Unfortunately, Ludicolo's stats are pretty mediocre overall, and it needs rain to give it the Speed and power to function well. It's also weak to common Bug and Flying types, and has trouble with priority moves that ignore the Swift Swim boost and hit its weaker Defense stat.

Hydro Pump is very powerful when used in the rain, but Surf is a great alternative for a STAB move due its higher accuracy and spread. Scald's burn chance is pretty helpful as well, but it's more suited for a supportive set which is less useful due to rain's limited duration. Energy Ball and Giga Drain are both good options for a secondary STAB. Energy Ball has more power, but Giga Drain provides additional utility by keeping Ludicolo healthy. Ice Beam provides great coverage especially against Grass and Dragon types that do not fear either of Ludicolo's STAB moves, and lets Ludicolo hit practically any Pokemon at least neutrally in conjunction with its STAB attacks. Lastly, Focus Blast helps Ludicolo hit Steel-types harder, which resist both Grass and Ice while taking only neutral damage from Water.

Seedot, Nuzleaf and Shiftry
Shiftry is a pretty good mixed attacker, having nice offensive stats, decent Speed, and an amazing offensive typing. It also has the movepool to make use of its offensive prowess, with a wealth of attacks both physical and special, as well as two boosting moves for focusing on either of its attacking stats. Shiftry is also a good candidate for sun teams, as it is incredibly speedy when boosted by Chlorophyll. However, Shiftry's defenses are very poor, and its Speed is underwhelming outside of the sun, so it is easy to wear down and take out. Its typing is also a mixed bag, giving it useful resistances against Psychic, Dark, Ghost, Electric and Ground but also weaknesses to common Fire, Flying, Fighting, Ice, Fairy and Bug attacks.

Shiftry's main STAB move is, unusually, Knock Off, since it's the most reliable physical Dark-type move Shiftry can use, and its ability to remove items is much appreciated as well. Sucker Punch is also often run for its higher power and vital priority to deal with offensive opponents, especially because Shiftry's Speed isn't that great. Seed Bomb and Bullet Seed are nice choices for a secondary STAB move, the former providing consistency while the other having better potential damage and capable of breaking Substitutes, Sturdy and Focus Sashes. Rock Slide flinches and takes out Fire and Flying Pokemon, while it can also go out spectacularly with an Explosion. On the special side, Shiftry can flinch with Dark Pulse or deal massive damage with Leaf Storm, with Extrasensory as a great coverage move against Fighting-types. It has both Swords Dance and Nasty Plot to boost the move of choice. Lastly, it has access to Tailwind and Defog, useful support options undermined by Shiftry's terrible bulk.

Mawile
Mawile was one of many single stage evolutions introduced throughout the generations, and its below average stats and awkward typing kept it from ever being a significant threat. Even with the added Fairy typing, it wouldn't be very popular if not for its Mega Evolution. When Mega Evolved, Mawile gains much better Attack and defensive stats, but most importantly, it gets Huge Power, giving it the highest effective Attack in the game. This makes Mawile a significant offensive threat, being able to punch through even the toughest of walls. It's increased defenses lets it better take advantage of its great Steel/Fairy type. Unfortunately, Mega Mawile is still saddled with a poor 50 Speed, although it can circumvent this problem with priority attacks.

Although you should only use Mawile in its Mega form, you can still utilize its Intimidate ability before mega-evolving to weaken opposing physical attackers. Play Rough is its main STAB, giving it good coverage against a fair amount of Pokémon. Iron Head is a nice secondary STAB, able to hit other Fairies as well as maybe flinching threats. Sucker Punch is another great attack, ignoring Mawile's Speed and defeating offensive threats that might try to stop its sweep. Finally, Swords Dance is an amazing boosting move, shooting Mawile's Attack to the stratosphere, letting it pull off a deadly sweep.

Volbeat
Volbeat and Illumise have a similar relationship with Plusle and Minun, being meant to be paired in a double battle but having poor synergy with each other and pretty terrible Pokémon themselves. Within the duo, Volbeat specializes in physical attacks. Volbeat's stats are pretty terrible, with subpar Attack, poor defenses and mediocre Speed. However, he is one of two Pokémon that learns Tail Glow, which raises his Special Attack by 3 stages. While Volbeat's Special Attack stat is absolutely abysmal to make use of it, he can also get Baton Pass as an egg move, letting him Baton Pass the effects of one of the best boosting moves in the game to a special attacker that can make good use of it. Volbeat's hidden ability, Prankster, also helps it immensely in this role, guaranteeing it can pass a Tail Glow boost at least once if it can survive one attack, which it usually can with Focus Sash.

If you want to use Volbeat, Tail Glow and Baton Pass are necessary moves, as Volbeat is simply too weak and too frail to do anything else. Prankster and Focus Sash is also a necessity on Volbeat, since it will ensure that Volbeat can pass a boost at least once, provided that he has not taken damage prior to using Tail Glow. His remaining two moves can be anything you like, but be forewarned that you likely won't get the chance to use them ever. Double Edge, Return or U-Turn are probably Volbeat's most damaging attacks, as its physical movepool is horribly barren. Encore is interesting if you can catch someone using a status move, giving you some more turns to set up boosts. For other support options, you can look into using Toxic, Thunder Wave, Light Screen, Swagger and Trick, all of which are affected by Prankster, but note that there are better Prankster users of these moves.

Illumise
Volbeat and Illumise are similar to Plusle and Minun, being meant to be paired up in double battles but having poor synergy and being pretty terrible Pokémon themselves. In this duo, Illumise is better at special attacking. Like Volbeat, Illumise has pretty poor stats, with her strongest attack stat being quite low, pitiful defenses and mediocre Speed. Even worst, Illumise lacks Tail Glow, meaning that there is even less reason to use her over her male counterpart. Illumise still gets Prankster for priority status moves, but she has to compete with all other Prankster Pokémon, including Volbeat.

There really isn't mush Illumise can do that other Pokémon can't. Its best feature is Prankster, so be sure to take advantage of it as much as you can. Encore, Light Screen, Swagger, Thunder Wave, Toxic and Tailwind are all fairly good status moves you can use. Additionally, it can get a unique combination of Baton Pass and Growth through breeding, and can also learn Sunny Day to double Growth's effect, but it is still inferior to the huge boost that Tail Glow Volbeat provides. In terms of attacks, Bug Buzz is Illumise's strongest STAB attack, though U-Turn is more useful for switching out after she has set up her status moves.

Kyogre
Kyogre has always been one of the strongest Pokemon in the game, but with the additions of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, its counterpart Groudon is starting to get the upper hand. Kyogre itself gained a nice Primal Reversion that inflates its special stats even further, as well as bolstering its Attack. The boost by Primordial Sea further augments the power of its new Origin Pulse, and its pure Water-typing and massive Special Defense lets it sponge special moves comfortably. However, Kyogre's Defense is relatively low among legendaries, and there are several threatening Pokemon that can target this weak spot. Most of all, it fears its counterpart Primal Groudon, whose Desolate Land ability vaporizes Kyogre's water moves and whose physical Precipice Blades tears through its Defense.

Kyogre has a pretty decent movepool that provides it with enough power and coverage to make it a huge threat. Its STAB move of choice is usually Origin Pulse, although Surf is a weaker but accurate alternative. It is also one of the few Pokémon that gets Water Spout, a highly accurate STAB attack that does immense damage as long as Kyogre remains healthy. Scald can also be used for a more defensive Kyogre, which can inflict burns to weaken any physical attackers trying to target its lower Defense. Thunder is an excellent coverage option, gaining perfect accuracy from the rain while striking fellow Water-types that might try to sponge its STAB attacks. Ice Beam is another wonderful coverage attack, letting it hit Dragon-types that manage to resist both its STAB and Thunder. Earthquake is an option for surprising Primal Groudon, and it is quite powerful coming off Primal Kyogre's 150 base Attack. Other than these common moves, Kyogre can also learn Calm Mind to boost two of its best stats, as well as Rest, Sleep Talk or even Aqua Ring for defensive sets.

Groudon
Groudon is a hard-hitting physical attacker that benefits greatly from Primal Reversion. While Primal Groudon gains a secondary Fire-type, it also gets Desolate Land, a longer-lasting Drought that crucially neutralizes any Water moves your opponent tries to use. Its new Precipice Blades is humongously powerful and isn't blocked by its counterpart Primal Kyogre's Primordial Sea. The combination of Ground and Fire makes it immune to burn and paralysis, two status moves that usually cripple physical attackers. It also has a humongous Defense stat to tank hits and make use of its support moves, while its Fire/Ground typing gives it several useful resistances. Its has poor Special Defense, a problematic issue since some of the hardest-hitting attackers in the game are special. It also has to watch out for Primal Kyogre, as it can remove Groudon's defense against water by switching in later and changing the weather to Primordial Sea. Nevertheless, Primal Groudon is still one of the best physical attackers in the game that can still support its team while wreaking havoc.

Groudon's main STAB is a choice between Precipice Blades and Earthquake. Precipice Blades is stronger and doesn't hit Groudon's partners, but Earthquake is more accurate. Unfortunately, Groudon's best fire STAB moves are all special, but it at least has a powerful 150 Special Attack stat and the sunlight to use them. Fire Blast is humongously powerful, while Lava Plume has a high burn chance to weaken opposing physical attackers. Alternatively, Fire Punch is the strongest physical Fire move Groudon gets. Dragon Claw is great coverage to hit Dragon-types that resist Fire, especially those immune to Ground. Stone Edge also punctures Flying-types, particularly Ho-oh, while Rock Slide is better in doubles. Groudon can also use either Rock Polish or Swords Dance, the former patching up its poor Speed while the latter making it obscenely powerful. It has the Defense to set up Stealth Rock which also has the benefit of deterring Flying and Fire types from switching in. Lastly, it can use Thunder Wave to neuter faster Pokemon if your team doesn't have another supporter to do so.

Rayquaza
Of the weather trio, Rayquaza has always been the glass cannon, overwhelming its foes with brute strength. The changes in ORAS turns it into one of the most threatening Pokemon hands down. With the addition of Dragon Ascent, it now has a powerful physical Flying-type STAB move, but more importantly, it also gains the best Mega Evolution in the game. Mega Rayquaza gets every one of its stats except HP boosted, particularly its offensive stats, so it is better than ever at ripping through opponents, and its higher Speed means it is less vulnerable to other offensive Pokemon that can outspeed and shatter its relatively poor defenses. Speaking of defense, Mega Rayquaza's Delta Stream negates all Flying-type weaknesses while it is in the battle, so it no longer fears Rock and Ice-type attacks as much. Lastly, Mega Rayquaza does not need to hold a Mega Stone, so it can further augment its obscene power with other items like Life Orb. Mega Rayquaza's weaknesses are still its comparatively low defensive stats, so it can be worn down by a combined effort, but its sheer power and increased survivability means that it can severely tear through enemy teams before finally being taken down.

While both of Rayquaza's attacking stats are the same, it tends to prefer physical moves due to its movepool and because they can be boosted by both Swords Dance and Dragon Dance. Dragon Ascent is a staple move on Rayquaza, not just because of its power but also because it lets Rayquaza Mega Evolve. While Rayquaza has several powerful Dragon STAB moves lie Outrage, Draco Meteor and Dragon Claw, they are not usually used as they don't provide a lot of coverage with Dragon Ascent. However, Draco Meteor is sometimes seen to nuke physically defensive walls trying to sponge its attacks. Earthquake is commonly used as a coverage move, being highly effective against the Rock and Steel types that resist Dragon Ascent. Rayquaza can learn V-Create through event which also helps against Steel-types, but it hits as hard as STAB Dragon Ascent for a bigger drawback, so it's not seen often. Extreme Speed is an excellent priority move, letting Mega Rayquaza get an upper hand against faster foes trying to finish it off.

Deoxys
Deoxys is an interesting legendary Pokémon in that there are four different forms it can take, which it can freely switch between by checking the meteorites in Ambrette Town's fossil research center. By default, Deoxys is a simple glass cannon, boasting high attack stats and high Speed but poor defenses. Attack Forme Deoxys emphasizes these traits even further, letting Deoxys hit very hard but gives it the toughness of a Rattata. Defense Forme Deoxys inverts these stats, turning it into a defensive behemoth, but leaving it with below average attacking stats and Speed. Finally, Speed Forme Deoxys gives it a pretty balanced set of stats, but boasts the highest Speed of any Pokémon in the game.

Due to the sheer difference of stats between formes, it is obvious that every Deoxys forme has a different playstyle. Normal Deoxys is mostly outclassed by Attack Deoxys as they're both built as glass cannons, with Attack Deoxys being stronger in this regard, though Normal Deoxys has the advantage of actually being able to survive some attacks. Defense Deoxys is obviously made to tank attacks and wear down the opponent, but its high defenses also lets it support its team by setting up entry hazards or spreading status ailments while shrugging off attacks. Speed Deoxys is purely supportive, using its unrivaled speed to use as many entry hazards and status effects as possible before it goes down. However, the popularity of priority attacks really hinder it from doing this role effectively, so it struggles a bit to compete with Defense Deoxys in this role.

Deoxys's movepool is not shabby at all, with plenty of good moves that are usable for every one of its formes. Deoxys has a different level up movepool depending on its forme, but since it can switch between them any time it wants, you can actually get moves learned by one forme to be used by the other. For Normal and Attack Formes, there are tons of attacks it can choose to cover a wide range of types, including access to the strongest Psychic-type attack in the game, Psycho Boost, as well as Extreme Speed to guarantee that it hits first against priority attackers. A stalling Defense Forme Deoxys can utilize Toxic and Recover very well. Support moves for both Defense and Speed Formes include Taunt, Knock Off, Reflect, Light Screen, Spikes, Stealth Rock and Thunder Wave, all of which are reasonably effective on either forme.