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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Squirtle, Wartortle and Blastoise
While Mega Venusaur is a supreme wall and Mega Charizard boasts atomic strength, Mega Blastoise is more of a balance between power and utility. In fact, Mega Blastoise is pretty much played like an extension of normal Blastoise, which is as a bulky hazard remover. Normal Blastoise has good bulk, a nice typing and a good movepool to deal with both hazard setters and Rapid Spin blockers, but faces too much competition from other bulky Water-types. Mega Blastoise stands out from the competition with Mega Launcher, which increases the power of Pulse and Sphere moves by 50%. This ability makes Mega Blastoise's coverage moves stronger, which when combined with its improved defenses, augments its role as a Rapid Spinner. Unfortunately, Mega Blastoise suffers from poor speed like its normal form, and the lack of recovery means it's prone to being worn down by status and entry hazards, which is especially problematic for a utility Pokemon.

As stated repeatedly before, Rapid Spin is a great utility move for Mega Blastoise due to its combination of bulk and power, letting Mega Blastoise remove entry hazards comfortably. For Blastoise's STAB move, Hydro Pump is very strong, but Scald provides additional utility due to its high chance of causing burns. Mega Blastoise also happens to be the strongest Pokemon that learns the powerful Water Spout other than Kyogre, but the move is a bit impractical as its power diminished when Blastoise's health drops low. Dark Pulse is an excellent coverage move to keep Ghost-types from switching in, since they are typically used to stop the Normal-type Rapid Spin. It is also boosted by Mega Launcher, making it especially threatening. Aura Sphere is another attack powered up by Mega Launcher, and has good type coverage alongside Dark Pulse. Dragon Pulse is another Mega Launcher boosted move, but doesn't offer much other than its sheer power. Lastly, Ice Beam allows Mega Blastoise to strike Grass and Dragon Pokemon which would resist its Water-type attacks.

Caterpie, Metapod and Butterfree
As an early-game Bug Pokemon, one of the first in the series in fact, Butterfree is pretty much doomed to mediocrity. It is very frail and lacks speed, while it struggles to do damage with its middiling base 90 Special Attack. It is one of the few Pokemon that can learn Quiver Dance, but it is also unfortunately among the weakest. Butterfree also has Tinted Lens which effectively ignores resistances on enemies, but once again it shares this ability with better Pokemon. Butterfree's Bug/Flying type is vulnerable to common attacks, including a x4 weakness to Rock which causes it to lose half of its health alone from Stealth Rock. Butterfree is a heavily outclassed Pokemon, and while there are certainly worse fully-evolved Pokemon, Butterfree won't likely find itself on any serious teams.

Quiver Dance is a necessary move on Butterfree, as it is too weak and far too slow to be used effectively otherwise. Setting up Quiver Dance in the first place is a difficult task due to Butterfree's poor stats, but it could find an opportunity to do so by setting up a Substitute or incapacitating an opponent with Sleep Powder. Bug Buzz is the strongest STAB move Butterfree can learn, while the only strong coverage moves it gets are Psychic and Energy Ball. Psychic is effective against Fighting and Poison types that resist Bug Buzz, while Energy Ball hits Rock-types hard.

Weedle, Kakuna and Beedrill
Beedrill was originally another terrible and forgettable Bug-type, but then Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire gave it a Mega Evolution, turning it into a deadly threat in one transformation. Mega Beedrill sacrifices its useless Special Attack stat to go all out on offense, having an incredibly high Attack and Speed stat to make it a glass cannon. It even gets Adaptability to double the power of its STAB attacks, making it deal ludicrous damage that can seriously dent tough walls. However, don't forget that a glass cannon is still made of glass, and Mega Beedrill might as well be made of paper due to how frail it is. In spite of its high speed, it can still be outsped by decently quick Choice Scarf users or simple priority attacks, and if Mega Beedrill doesn't get the first hit in, it will likely be KO'd soon after.

Due to Beedrill's poor initial Speed and frailty, Protect is an absolutely mandatory move to have, as it gives Beedrill a free turn to Mega Evolve. U-turn is an awesome utility move for scouting out the enemy and maintaining offensive momentum, but Mega Beedrill's U-turn has the bonus of being extremely powerful, so it can severely weaken the enemy team while pivoting in and out. When brute force is needed, Mega Beedrill's Poison Jab is its strongest attack. Drill Run is a popular coverage move on Mega Beedrill, as it hits Steel-types that resist both Bug and Poison super effectively. Knock Off is a utility-focused alternative, and fits well with a U-turn-heavy Mega Beedrill so that it can weaken its foes in more ways than one when it enters the field.

Pidgey, Pidgeotto and Pidgeot
Pidgeot is another one of many forgotten Pokemon that was elevated back to relevancy with the introduction of Mega Evolution. Mega Pidgeot has great Speed and great Special Attack, which lets it take on a unique role of special-based Flying-type fighter. It also gets No Guard, which functions incredibly well with the strongest special Flying move it gets: Hurricane. Hurricane is normally an unreliable attack due to its poor accuracy, but No Guard ensures it will always hit, letting Pidgeot consistently buffet foes with 110 Base Power attacks. Unfortunately Mega Pidgeot's movepool is poor, so it can be walled out by some popular defensive Pokemon due to lacking the proper coverage. It also faces a lot of competition from other powerful Mega Pokemon. Lastly, No Guard is a double-edged sword, since it also guarantees that all attacks will hit Mega Pidgeot, worrisome considering its average bulk, particularly Stone Edge, which normally has a high miss chance.

Hurricane can be considered Mega Pidgeot's signature move, as its normally 70% accuracy is increased to 100%. This move is almost as strong as its physical equivalent, Brave Bird, but doesn't deal recoil damage and even has a 30% chance of inflicting confusion. Therefore, Mega Pidgeot has better survivability than most popular Flying-type attackers, since it doesn't expend health when using its attacks. Heat Wave has nice type coverage with Hurricane, mainly used to incinerate Steel-types that resist Hurricane. That's where Mega Pidgeot's coverage moves end however, as none of its other special moves are strong enough. If you're willing to go through the trouble of fiddling with IVs, Hidden Power can give Mega Pidgeot some extra coverage. Hyper Beam is a surprisingly common sight on Mega Pidgeot, as its sheer power can take down enemies Hurricane has no hope of breaking through, though its recharge turn means that it should only be used as a last resort. Roost and U-turn are two good utility moves to keep Mega Pidgeot alive, while Defog and Tailwind are usable support options.

Rattata and Raticate
As a common nuisance in many past regions, you wouldn't expect Rattata or Raticate to be anything more than mediocre in battle, and you'd be right. Raticate is rather uninteresting even for a Normal-type, with middling Speed and Attack as well as terrible defenses. It has both the Guts ability and STAB Facade, which is its main selling point, but there are many Pokemon that can use Guts better. Guts still gives it a helpful immunity to status moves while holding a Flame Orb or Toxic Orb, which is certainly useful for a physical attacker, but consequently puts a timer on how long Raticate can remain on the field. Raticate also has some trouble breaking past Rock, Steel and Ghost types, as well as sufficiently bulky walls due to its poor Attack.

The aforementioned Guts and Facade combo is pretty much necessary to make Raticate usable, with Flame Orb or Toxic Orb to trigger Guts automatically. Guts boost Raticate's Attack when statused, while Facade gains Base Power while statused, so a status condition provides multiple boosts to this one move. Raticate is the only Guts user that has Sucker Punch, giving it a useful tool to hit Ghost-types and makes up for its average Speed. Unfortunately, the only coverage moves Raticate has against Rock and Steel types are Reversal and Revenge, but it may also use Super Fang to deal fixed damage to them. U-turn allows Raticate to maintain offensive momentum and bring in better allies. Raticate might be able to use Pursuit to trap Pokemon, and Swords Dance could actually make it a respectably powerful threat, that is, if it ever gets the chance to set up.

Spearow and Fearow
Being an offensive Flying-type, Fearow is badly outclassed by a lot of popular Pokemon. Its Attack and Speed stats are both decent, but it has terrible bulk. Its Normal/Flying type is very generic, and gives it an undesirable weakness to Stealth Rock. Its movepool is also pretty disappointing, lacking the signature Brave Bird attack most offensive birds carry, but its access to Drill Run makes it one of the few birds with good answer to Rock and Steel-types. It also has the hidden ability Sniper which, while luck-based and unreliable, gives it a chance to deal big damage and bring down Pokemon it can't usually faint. Still, with the lack of a strong Flying-type move or outstanding Speed, Fearow is not going to find itself on teams over the more popular Flying-type Pokemon any time soon.

Drill Peck is Fearow's strongest Flying-type STAB move, although 80 Base Power is rather disappointing compared to Brave Bird. Double-Edge is the better choice for dealing massive damage to foes that don't resist it, as it also gains STAB and has more power, but the recoil makes Fearow even more frail. Return is a good alternative STAB move that doesn't deal recoil at the cost of some damage. Drill Run is Fearow's best coverage move, targeting Rock and Steel types that resist its STAB attacks. While not as strong as Earthquake, Drill Run has a high critical hit rate, so it could potentially be very powerful when boosted by Sniper. U-turn is a nice utility move to smoothly switch out into more favorable matchups, while Fearow can also be used to Pursuit trap, although its poor bulk means this tactic could backfire if the victim decides to fight back.

Ekans and Arbok
With a range of balanced, mediocre stats, Arbok is not exactly a powerful Pokemon. However, it is one of the very few Pokemon in the game that can learn the boosting move Coil, which increases its Attack, Defense and accuracy in one turn. It also has some fairly good abilities, with Intimidate to weaken physical attackers or Shed Skin to give it a chance to shrug off burns and use Rest more effectively. Arbok's movepool is also quite decent, as it has several coverage moves to get around Pokemon that resist Poison. Arbok's poor Speed is its biggest weakness, since it keeps it from sweeping after some Coil boosts. Its Poison typing also makes it weak to common Ground-type moves, while its poor bulk means it is easy to wear down or outright KO without a couple of Coil boosts.

Coil is the star attraction here, raising Arbok's Attack to passable levels, while patching up its Defense. Gunk Shot is Arbok's strongest STAB move, benefiting from the accuracy boost from Coil to hit consistently and reliably. Earthquake deals with both the Steel-types that can effortlessly absorb Gunk Shot as well as fellow Poison-types. Seed Bomb can be used to hit Rock and Ground types instead, a helpful tool due to Arbok's own Ground-type weakness. Sucker Punch ignores Arbok's mediocre Speed and lets it bring down faster but frailer offensive threats. While Intimidate is the most commonly used ability on Arbok, Shed Skin may be used in conjunction of Rest to give Arbok a strong recovery move that leaves it incapacitated for a shorter time.

Pichu, Pikachu and Raichu
There's no doubt that the Pikachu line is the most popular line of Pokemon ever, but the electric mice are not very suited for battle. Pikachu actually deals more damage than Raichu if holding a Light Ball, but Raichu's slightly better defenses, superior speed and ability to hold other items make it the superior choice, as it needs every bit of help to contribute to the battle. As is standard for Electric-types, Raichu is a fast but very frail attacker. Its Lightning Rod ability is not uncommon, but still useful for keeping teammates safe from Electric moves while giving Raichu a free power-up. With access to Nasty Plot and a decent base Special Attack of 90, Raichu can actually hit fairly hard, but its abysmal bulk gives it a lot of difficulty to set up, and it is vulnerable to numerous faster Pokemon and priority attacks, which limits the contributions it can make before getting fainted.

Thunderbolt is Raichu's most reliable Electric STAB attack, doing nice and consistent damage. Alternatively, Raichu can use its signature Volt Tackle for a more physical set, but the recoil damage further hampers Raichu's terrible survivability. Focus Blast is a powerful move for hitting Steel and Rock-types, many of which usually threatens Raichu with strong attacks. Grass Knot is a somewhat unreliable move to deal with Ground-types as it deals damage depending on the opposing Pokemon's weight, but Signal Beam is reasonably effective against Grass-types that resist Electric. If you manage to obtain an event Pikachu with Surf, that Water-type move would be the best answer to Ground-types overall due to its constant Base Power and super effective damage. Nasty Plot is a good boosting move if Raichu can find the space to set up. Finally, Knock Off and Volt Switch can be added on for utility.

Sandshrew and Sandslash
When it comes to strong Ground-type Pokemon, Sandslash isn't exactly the first Pokemon to come to mind. While it has decent Attack and good physical bulk, its poor Speed keeps it from being a strong physical attacker, and it falls easily to special moves. Its Ground-typing also gives it common weaknesses to Grass, Ice and Water types. However, Sandslash can be made much better in a Sandstorm. Sand Veil raises its evasion in sand, which nullifies its poor special bulk a bit, while Sand Rush makes it respectfully fast. Sadly, Sandslash is the slowest fully-evolved Pokemon with Sand Rush, so it is outclassed by other Ground-types, particularly Excadrill.

Earthquake is naturally Sandslash's STAB move of choice. Stone Edge has great coverage with Earthquake, with its main use being to hit Flying types immune to Earthquake. X-Scissor is also an option for dealing with Grass-types. Rapid Spin lets Sandslash clear away hazards, and though it's not even the best Ground-type for the role, Sandslash has sufficient Defense to work as a Rapid Spinner. Sandslash happens to learn Stealth Rock as well. Knock Off is an excellent utility move on any Pokemon, and Sandslash is no exception, especially if the opponent attempts to use Ghost-types to block Rapid Spin. Sandslash also gets Swords Dance, but it has trouble sweeping due to its frailty and slowness unless boosted by Sand Rush.

Nidoran♀, Nidorina and Nidoqueen
As opposite gender counterparts of each other, Nidoqueen and Nidoking play fairly similarly. Nidoqueen has an advantage in bulk, while Nidoking has the advantage in offense. Nidoqueen has Sheer Force and an excellent movepool to use it, which gives her deceptive power with a Life Orb despite her middling offensive stats. She also has nice bulk and a great Poison/Ground typing, which grants her important resistances to Rock, Fighting and Fairy attacks as well as a total immunity to Electric moves and Toxic. Nidoqueen also has a wide support movepool which works well with her good bulk. However, Nidoqueen's Speed is quite poor, and she is prone to getting setup on by special walls since her power, while usable, is not outstanding. Her typing gives her weaknesses to common Water, Ice and Ground types, and she lacks a good recovery move, so she is prone to getting worn down.

While Nidoqueen's Attack is higher than its Special Attack, its can take advantage of Sheer Force better using its special movepool. As with all Sheer Force users, Nidoqueen can equip a Life Orb without any drawbacks, as she will not receive any recoil damage if using an attack boosted by Sheer Force. Her primary STAB moves are Earth Power and Sludge Wave, although Sludge Wave can be replaced with a coverage move unless you really want to get rid of Fairies. Ice Beam, Flamethrower and Thunderbolt are all good coverage moves boosted by Sheer Force. She can use both Toxic Spikes and Stealth Rock, while coincidentally having a resistance to either move, so she can be serve as a hazard setter. Nidoqueen also has Taunt to disrupt enemy support Pokemon, as well as Roar to stop foes from setting up while racking up entry hazard damage.

Nidoran♂, Nidorino and Nidoking
As opposite gender counterparts of each other, Nidoqueen and Nidoking play fairly similarly. Nidoqueen has an advantage in bulk, while Nidoking has the advantage in offense. Nidoking has Sheer Force and an excellent movepool to use it, which lets him boost his strength significantly when equipped with a Life Orb. His great Poison/Ground typing grants him important resistances to Rock, Fighting and Fairy attacks, and keeps him from getting crippled by Thunder Wave or worn down by Toxic. However, Nidoking's Speed and bulk is below average, so he has difficulty holding his own against stronger offensive Pokemon. His typing also gives him weaknesses to common Water, Ice and Ground types, so he is more suited to break down more defensive Pokemon with his sheer power.

While Nidoking's Attack is higher than his Special Attack, he can take advantage of Sheer Force better using his special movepool. As with all Sheer Force users, Nidoking can equip a Life Orb without any drawbacks, as he will not receive any recoil damage if using an attack boosted by Sheer Force. Earth Power is Nidoking's primary STAB move, accomplishing the purpose of Earthquake for other Ground-type Pokemon. Sludge Wave is the preferred Poison STAB move for dealing with Fairies. Ice Beam has amazing coverage with Earth Power, while Thunderbolt gives Nidoking even greater coverage in conjunction with Ice Beam. Flamethrower or Fire Blast can be used to hit Steel-types with a neutrality to Earth Power, such as Scizor and Ferrothorn. In the physical department, Nidoking can use Superpower to surprise special walls, while Sucker Punch helps it against offensive Pokemon by circumventing its middling Speed. Lastly, Nidoking can play more of a support role by setting up Stealth Rock or Toxic Spikes, using its respectable strength to keep hazard removers at bay.

Cleffa, Clefairy and Clefable
Clefable is one of the most versatile Fairy-types in the game, owing to its absolutely massive support movepool and two amazing abilities: Magic Guard and Unaware. Magic Guard protects Clefable from being worn down by status moves and entry hazards, which makes supporting its team easier. It also blocks Life Orb damage, so Clefable can even be played as a bulky attacker. On the other hand, Unaware lets it ignore the boosts of opposing Pokemon, so it can prevent sweepers from setting up on Clefable while it does its thing. Both of these are supplemented by Clefable's impressive movepool, which lets it set up hazards, spread status, boost its power or heal its teammates. However, its great traits can only carry Clefable so far, as its average stats means that it can be overwhelmed with enough power.

Clefable really only uses Moonblast to attack, as its other moveslots are usually reserved for support moves. Flamethrower and Fire Blast complements Moonblast by searing popular Steel-types. As mentioned before, Clefable has a myriad of ways to support its team. It can use the debilitating Thunder Wave to stop offensive opponents, or set up Stealth Rock to limit its opponent's switches. It also has both Wish and Heal Bell to restore its allies' health and remove debuffs. It can also use Encore to lock a foe into an undesirable move, while it has the bulk to redirect attacks in doubles using Follow Me. It also gets Helping Hand and Heal Pulse for use in doubles. Clefable's bulk and abilities let it use Calm Mind effectively, which can make it nearly unstoppable after a few boosts. Finally, Clefable has Soft-Boiled and Moonlight as a form of recovery, a vital tool for any defensive or support Pokemon.

Vulpix and Ninetales
As the only non-legendary Pokemon that gets the Drought ability, Ninetales has an immediate and obvious function for a team despite its poor stat spread. Due to its ability to automatically set up sunny weather upon entering the field, it is a necessity on sun teams, supporting Fire-type attackers and Chlorophyll Pokemon. Unfortunately, Drought is now only a temporary weather as opposed to lasting the whole match, so Ninetales and sun teams in general is a lot less effective. Ninetales is also a pretty bad Pokemon outside of providing sun, as its only good stats are Special Defense and Speed while it is outclassed by other utility Pokemon and special attackers.

Ninetales's Fire STAB move is a choice between Fire Blast and Flamethrower, depending on whether sheer power or reliability is needed more. Solar Beam is an immensely powerful move against typings that typically counter Fire, and Ninetales's free sunny weather lets it fire without charging. Will-O-Wisp is a nice support move to weaken physical attackers, especially considering Ninetales's poor physical bulk. Toxic is a good alternative status ailment, being more effective at wearing down tough walls. Pain Split gives Ninetales an iffy but appreciated form of recovery, since its survival is often crucial on sun teams. Finally, Ninetales can use a Nasty Plot boosting stat instead for a more offensive set, but its middling bulk makes it a questionable choice.

Igglybuff, Jigglypuff, Wigglytuff
Wigglytuff is one of the several preexisting Pokemon to receive the Fairy typing, but unlike Clefable and Granbull, Wigglybuff's Fairy type is added on to its Normal type rather than replacing it, which gives it a nice immunity to Ghost in addition to Dragon. It has a huge HP stat, which lets it pass juicy Wishes on to its teammates. It also has a nice selection of attacks and status moves, while its uncommon Competitive ability can let it hit hard if it's hit by Intimidate or Defog. Unfortunately, Wigglytuff's odd stats prevent it from playing an offensive or defensive role effectively. Its abysmal defenses negate the benefits its high HP provides. Its poor Speed also hinders it when playing more supportively or offensively, as it can be shut down or taken out quickly by faster Pokemon.

For a specially-inclined Fairy-type Pokemon, Wigglytuff oddly lacks Moonblast in its arsenal, being limited to only Dazzling Gleam for its Fairy-type move. Hyper Voice is Wigglytuff's best special Normal-type move, as it comes with nice power and ignores enemy Substitutes. While both of Wigglytuff's STAB moves are resisted by Steel, it can use Focus Blast, Fire Blast or Flamethrower to get around them, while Thunderbolt and Ice Beam can be used for extra coverage. Wigglytuff's enormous HP makes it a good Wish user, and it can use Protect to stall a turn if it needs the Wish for itself. It can also set up Stealth Rock while discouraging the use of Defog with Competitive. Lastly, Wigglytuff learns both Reflect and Light Screen for boosting its team's defenses.

Zubat, Golbat and Crobat
Hailing from a family that caused much frustration to trainers trekking through caves, Crobat is a highly effective support Pokemon. It is one of the faster Pokemon in the game with 130 base Speed and its bulk, while not amazing, is sufficient for a speedy annoyer. Crobat even gets the Infiltrator, letting it inflict status moves on foes hiding behind Substitutes. Its rare Poison/Flying type gives it double resistances to Bug, Fighting and Grass-types, so it can find may opportunities to switch in and set up. Its movepool is excellent for a support Pokemon as well, while its Attack stat is high enough to soften tanks with the right moves. Crobat's stats, while balanced enough it let it do its thing, means it has trouble smashing down hardy walls or to survive attacks, so it must still be used carefully and intelligently.

One of Crobat's best traits is that it can learn both Defog and Taunt for strong hazard control. Defog removes any entry hazards on the field, while Taunt serves to keep entry hazards from being set down at all. Fitting for a Poison-type, Crobat can make use of an always accurate Toxic to stop defensive teams. U-turn lets Crobat's team maintain offensive momentum, while Roost is its preferred method of healing. For attacks, Crobat really only needs Brave Bird to intimidate the Grass and Fighting types it switches into. Cross Poison is its strongest Poison-type STAB, but it's weaker, and doesn't fit well into a support Crobat's moveset.

Oddish, Gloom, Vileplume and Bellosom
Vileplume is a Grass/Poison type with Chlorophyll, which inevitably causes it to be compared to Venusaur, and the only stats Vileplume has that are better than Venusaur's is a small increase in Defense and Special Attack. Vileplume also lacks a powerful defensive Mega Evolution, so it is not an often-seen Pokemon. Its Grass/Poison type gives it important resistances to Electric, Water, Fairy and Fighting, but a weakness to Fire, Ice and Flying are pretty major cons. Vileplume typically plays the role of a tanky attacker with good bulk and hard hitting moves, but its poor Speed reduces its survivability. Vileplume can also be played as a Chlorophyll sweeper, but it is outclassed by Venusaur for this role.

On the other hand, Vileplume's pure Grass-type sister faces even more competition from Grass-types, and has a harder time standing out. While it has better defenses than Vileplume, its pure Grass typing doesn't give it as many useful resistances, and there are a bunch of pure Grass-types that can serve as better defensive Pokemon than it. Bellosom also has Chlorophyll to boost its Speed during sunny weather, but its middling Special Attacks means it struggles to faint Pokemon. All in all, while Bellosom is made to be a more defensive counterpart to Vileplume, it just turns out to be a worse Vileplume in practise, both offensively and defensively.

Vileplume and Bellosom share similar playstyles and nearly identical movepools, so the moves suggested here can be used for both of them. Energy Ball is their strongest Grass-type STAB move, but Giga Drain is usually preferred since it extends their longevity. Solar Beam is a good option on sun teams, as it is much stronger than Energy Ball that activates in a single turn in sunny weather. Sludge Bomb is a stronger STAB for Vileplume, which lets it deal with Fairy-types nicely. Incidentally, the line is capable of learning Moonblast as well, but its type coverage with Grass is unimpressive. Moonlight is a useful move to keep them alive and restores more health in sunny weather. They can also spread status with Stun Spore or Sleep Powder, but it is inaccurate and their low Speed is problematic. Vileplume specifically also gets Aromatherapy to heal the team of status, which ironically makes it better than Bellosom at both defense and support.

Paras and Parasect
With middling Attack, poor bulk and terrible Speed, Parasect is not a very good Pokemon. Its main flaw is its horrible Bug/Grass typing, which makes it weak to common Ice and Rock moves, as well as doubly weak to popular Fire and Flying types. It is one of the very few Pokemon to get Spore, the most accurate sleep-inducing move in the game, but its outclassed by other Spore users. It has Dry Skin that lets it absorb Water moves or heal up in the rain, but the Pokemon carrying the Water-moves it can switch into usually also have super effective coverage moves due to Parasect's plethora weaknesses. Dry Skin also makes Parasect even more weak to Fire, meaning even a weak Ember can spell doom for the mushroom crab.

Spore is really the only reason to use Parasect, even though it's not the best user of it. Being able to consistent put foes to sleep is nice, but Parasect's poor Speed and bulk makes it difficult to even use the move. Parasect also lack the power or the typing to force switches, not to mention that Spore can be blocked by other better Grass-types. Seed Bomb is Parasect's best Grass-type STAB, while X-Scissor can be used to take down opposing Grass-types. Parasect also has a choice between Synthesis and Leech Seed for healing, though Synthesis's immediate healing is usually the better option. Aromatherapy is a nice support option, but Parasect lacks the bulk to be a healer. It can at least learn Knock Off, which gives it a limited amount of extra utility.

Venonat and Venomoth
Being a winged insect, Venomoth is one of several Pokemon in the game that gets the incredible Quiver Dance, which boosts its Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed all at once. Due to its stats, it is also one of the better Pokemon that learns Quiver Dance. Despite the rather poor offensive coverage of its Bug/Poison STABs, it has Tinted Lens to double the damage of resisted hits, so it can strike hard against Pokemon of any type. It also has just enough Speed and Special Attack to turn it into a threat once Quiver Dance is used. Venomoth's poor physical bulk and weaknesses to common types like Fire, Rock, Flying and Ice makes it easy to take down, and its middling Special Attack stat means it can still be walled after setting up, holding it back as a setup sweeper.

Quiver Dance is a staple move on Venomoth, boosting three of its stats in the span of one turn. Sleep Powder is a decent status move that can buy Venomoth some space to set up. Bug Buzz and Sludge Bomb are equally strong STAB moves, although Bug Buzz would likely be used more since nothing but Shedinja is immune to it. Tinted Lens makes both of these moves harder to defend against, since most Pokemon that resist it take neutral damage instead. Substitute helps with setting up and spreading status, while keeping Venomoth safe from opposing status moves as well. Roost helps Venomoth stay alive due to its poor bulk and many weaknesses. It may even use Baton Pass to pass Quiver Dance boosts to its teammates. Venomoth also learns a good range of other support moves like Defog, Refresh, Rage Powder, Swagger, Tailwind and Toxic Spikes, though it is much more suited to a fast, offensive playstyle due to its poor bulk.

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

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

Meowth and Persian
Persian is a really fast Pokemon. Unfortunately, that's pretty much the only good thing about it. The rest of its stats are mediocre; it doesn't hit hard or takes hits well. Its Technician ability gives some of its moves a nice boost, but it's still not much coming off of its mediocre attacking stats. It may also use Limber to keep its high Speed from being cut by paralysis, though it's not going to help Persian much. While its high Speed makes it good to use as a support, it's not amazing and Persian can still be outsped relatively easily, not to mention how prevalent strong priority attacks are. All in all, Persian is a really bad Pokemon.

Fake Out is a nice utility move due to the boost from Technician and STAB, in addition to its guaranteed flinch. Return would be Persian's main physical STAB move, while U-turn can be used to scout out the foe and maintain momentum. Knock Off is a nice utility move to remove items, and allows Persian to hit Ghost-types super effectively. Taunt is another good support move for Persian as it can use its high speed to shut down most slower walls. Since both of its attacking stats are nearly the same, Persian can become a special attacker instead by using Nasty Plot, upping its Special Attack from horrible to respectable, if it even finds the chance to use it. It can run Hypnosis to make setting up easier, but the move has terrible accuracy. Hyper Voice will be Persian's primary special STAB attack, and it at least penetrates Substitutes. Additionally, Shadow Ball, Dark Pulse and Water Pulse give it decent coverage.

Psyduck and Golduck
Golduck is one of the many Water-types in the game, and while none of its stats are particularly outstanding, Golduck's specialty is in weather control. It is one of few Pokemon that gets the Cloud Nine ability, which dispels the effects of weather. This trait is especially effective against sun teams, as there are at least a few Fire-types that fear Golduck's STAB moves once the sun is gone. Golduck works well in rain teams to, being as fast as Kingdra for a Swift Swim user. Unfortunately, weather teams are not very common, and Golduck is outclassed by other Water-types outside of weather due to its middling stats, so it's rarely seen on teams.

Golduck's main STAB move is a choice between Hydro Pump and Surf, depending on whether power or accuracy is more important. Ice Beam provides the necessary coverage against Grass-types, while being a good coverage move in general. Other than these two moves, Golduck's coverage is rather disappointing. Notably, it learns several Psychic-type moves despite not being a Psychic itself. Psyshock helps Golduck get past special walls, while Synchronoise can be surprisingly effective given the sheer number of Water-types in the game. Golduck may also try to set up with Calm Mind for sweeping, although it is way far from one of the best Calm Mind users in the game.

Mankey and Primeape
Sitting at 95 Base Speed, Primeape is one of the faster Fighting-types in the game. Primeape fits the bill of a speedy and frail Fighting-type pretty well, with good Speed and Attack, but it tends to get overshadowed by much stronger glass cannon Fighters like Lucario, Infernape or Mienshao. It is the only Fighting-type to get Defiant, so it can boost its Attack just by switching into Defog or getting affected by Intimidate. Unfortunately, Primeape's Speed is simply not high enough for a Pokemon built as a glass cannon, and it has horrible defenses so it really cannot afford to trade hits too often.

Close Combat is Primeape's best STAB move, as it does a ton of damage at the cost of lowering Primeape's defenses, something Primeape doesn't need anyway. U-turn is a common move on Primeape, letting it hit Psychic-types super effectively and maintain favorable matchups. Earthquake, Stone Edge or Ice Punch rounds out Primeape's coverage moves. Earthquake is a great move in general and is particularly good against Poison-types, while Stone Edge brings down Flying and Bug-types. Ice Punch is usually used to hit Poison and Bug-types that don't fear Primeape's other coverage moves due to their type combination.

Growlithe and Arcanine
Arcanine is one of the better Fire-type Pokemon in the game, due to a combination of well-rounded, offensively-inclined stats and highly effective abilities. Arcanine can make use of two excellent abilities. It is one of the most popular users of Intimidate, which reduces its opponents' Attack whenever it switches in, weakening physical attackers with its mere presence. A more uncommon choice is with Flash Fire, which lets Arcanine switch in to Fire moves to receive a boost to its own Fire attacks. Arcanine also has an impressive movepool that includes powerful coverage moves and priority attacks, as well as defensive tools to keep it healthy or cripple foes. Unfortunately, while its pure Fire typing gives Arcanine plenty of resistances, it also saddles it with common weaknesses to Ground, Rock and Water. Its bulk is decent but not outstanding, so it can be worn down by hazards as well as by recoil damage from its strongest attacks.

Arcanine has good enough offensive stats to become either type of attacker, but physical attacking sets are more popular due to Arcanine's physical movepool having stronger moves and greater coverage. Flare Blitz is the signature STAB option of every physical Fire-type, and the same applies to Arcanine. Wild Charge provides incredible coverage with Flare Blitz, notably letting Arcanine strike Water-types hard. Close Combat is another powerful coverage move mainly for dealing with Rock-types. Arcanine is also one of few fortunate Pokemon to get Extreme Speed, a strong priority move that always goes before other priority attacks. Will-O-Wisp gives Arcanine an additional method to shut down physical attackers, one that can't usually be removed by switching out. Morning Sun lets Arcanine heal itself to improve its longevity.

Poliwag, Poliwhirl, Poliwrath and Politoed
Despite hailing from the same evolutionary line, Poliwrath and Politoed are used and played very differently from each other. Poliwrath is a decent physical Water-type that is generally played defensively. This is due to Poliwrath's excellent and rare Water/Fighting, type which gives it a large number of resistances, as well as an important water immunity if it is using Water Absorb. Poliwrath also has good mixed bulk, although the only recovery move it has is Rest, which limits its effectiveness at sponging hits. Politoed is a bit more popular, known for being the only non-legendary Pokemon with Drizzle. This makes Politoed a necessary member of rain teams, and it usually takes advantage of its Special Defense to provide additional support outside of rain.

Since Poliwrath is usually built to take hits, Scald is a natural STAB move for it, letting it spread burns to cripple offensive foes. For more offensive variants, it can choose to use Waterfall instead. Circle Throw is a common move on Poliwrath letting it force enemies out and stack hazard damage. The Rest and Sleep Talk combination is often used on defensive sets to keep Poliwrath healthy, but it is a bit unreliable. Earthquake and Ice Punch provide decent coverage. Poliwrath can also use Focus Punch to fire off powerful blows, using a combination of good bulk and Substitute to keep its focus, but it is fairly predictable once the tactic is used and gives the opponent time to set up by themselves. An even riskier set is to maximize Poliwrath's Attack with Belly Drum, then sweep in rain with help from Swift Swim.

Politoed is useful enough just by staying alive and switching in to provide rain, so its moves are often very safe and supportive in nature. As mentioned above, Scald is the perfect STAB move for a defensive Water-type, and the burns it spreads can weaken physical attackers aiming to hit Politoed's weaker Defense stat. Toxic is a great secondary status move, used to wear down foes that either don't mind burns. Since Politoed's survival is imperative, Rest and Sleep Talk can prolong its life just a bit longer. Even if Politoed is asleep, so as long as it's alive and can bring the rain, it's done its job. Politoed can also use Encore to shut down foes attempting to use its poor offensive presence to set up.

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

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

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

Machop, Machoke and Machamp
Machamp is the poster boy of Fighting-types, having a great Attack stat and typing to punch its way through enemies, and good bulk to keep it in the fight. However, Machamp is often overshadowed by its spiritual descendant Conkeldurr, which sacrifices a bit of bulk to consistently hit harder. While Machamp can use Guts and a Flame/Toxic Orb or Assault Vest to boost its offense and defense respectively, Conkeldurr fits the role better due to its higher Attack. Fortunately, Machamp is the only Pokemon with a combination of No Guard and STAB Dynamic Punch. This combo lets Machamp deal heavy damage without any drawbacks and a guaranteed confuse. Outside of this combo, Machamp is a straightforward physical attacker, using its STAB move combined with some coverage attacks to hit a range of opponents. Its poor Speed is one of its major weaknesses, and it has to settle with Bullet Punch for priority unlike Conkeldurr. Like many other Fighting-types, Machamp's type weaknesses all have popular representatives, and it dislikes really bulky physical walls and burns.

Dynamic Punch is Machamp's STAB move of choice. While it is very impractical for other Pokemon due to its coin-flip accuracy, No Guard lets Machamp land a hit every time, giving it an 100 Base Power STAB move that always confuses its target. Close Combat hits harder for a drop in both defenses and lets Machamp use Guts to boost its power more, but as stated above, its hard to justify using Guts Machamp when Guts Conkeldurr plays very similarly but with more power. Knock Off is an amazing utility move and attack that not only weakens foes by removing their items, but also makes Psychic-types think twice before switching in. Stone Edge lets Machamp hit Flying-type out of the air and has perfect accuracy with No Guard, but sometimes Ice Punch is used instead to deal with specific threats doubly weak to Ice. Bullet Punch is a priority move to bypass Machamp's terrible Speed and hits Fairy-types for nice damage. Lastly, Machamp can use Bulk Up to setup, which it will get many chance to do so due to Dynamic Punch's confusion or forcing switches.

Bellsprout, Weepinbell and Victreebel
Victreebel is another Grass/Poison type that gets Chlorophyll, and it stands out from other Chlorophyll users with its power. Both of its offensive stats are quite usable, and its Speed becomes really respectable under the effects of Chlorophyll. It also has a nice movepool to complement Victreebel's offenses, including Growth for boosting and the rare Weather Ball move. Outside of sun, Victreebel is pretty unremarkable, and its poor bulk and Speed would give it a tough time as an offensive Pokemon. Victreebel also faces competition as a Chlorophyll user from Venusaur, which has better bulk and Speed at the somewhat negligible cost of lower Attack.

Victreebel has the stats to plas as a mixed attacker, although it tends toward the special side due to having a better special movepool. Power Whip and Leaf Blade are strong STAB options, with Power Whip being stronger while Leaf Blade hitting more consistently. For special STAB, Victreebel can choose between Energy Ball, Giga Drain or Solar Beam instead. Energy Ball is the most balanced move, but Giga Drain heals Victreebel while Solar Beam charges instantly in the sun. Weather Ball becomes a strong Fire-type move under the sun, allowing Victreebel to roast opposing Grass and Steel types. Sludge Bomb is a decent secondary STAB that deals with Fairies nicely, and may be the only practical attack Victreebel has outside of sunlight if using both Solar Beam and Weather Ball. Growth also works well in intense sun, doubling both attacking stats in a single turn. Additionally, Victreebel can use Sleep Powder to disable enemies, Knock Off for its general utility, or Sunny Day in case the team's primary sun setter falls.

Tentacool and Tentacruel
Tentacruel is one of the better supportive Water-types in the game. Sporting a Water/Poison typing, it has a phenomenal 8 resistances, great Special Defense and excellent Speed for playing a support role. Tentacruel also has a really good support movepool that includes Rapid Spin and Toxic Spikes, which lets it help its team in a diverse set of ways. Additionally, it has the very uncommon Liquid Ooze ability that lets it harm users of leeching moves like Giga Drain or Drain Punch. Tentacruel lacks physical bulk, a method of quick recovery, and it's weak to fairly common attacks, which hinders its defensive prowess. Its offensive stats are rather mediocre as well, so it has trouble breaking past sufficiently bulky Pokemon and could give the enemy a chance to setup.

Scald is the premier Water-type STAB for a Water-type supporter, as its high burn chance can weaken physical attackers and wear down walls. Sludge Bomb is a decent secondary STAB that hits harder than Scald, but is often replaced by a status move. Ice Beam is an excellent coverage move with Scald, but again Tentacruel prefers status moves over attacks. Rapid Spin is an excellent utility move for removing hazards, and Tentacruel makes a nice rapid spinner due to its myriad of resistances. Knock Off is useful on every Pokemon that learns it, helping Tentacruel remove enemy items and hit Psychic-types super-effectively, although it's not going to do a lot of damage with base 70 Attack. Tentacruel can also set up hazards itself with Toxic Spikes, or just directly status the enemy using Toxic. Lastly, Tentacruel can use Haze to stop setup sweepers by removing their buffs.

Geodude, Graveler and Golem
Golem shares a typing with Rhyperior, but with slightly worse bulk and abilities, so it's hard to justify using it over Rhyperior. Nevertheless, Golem is one of two fully-evolved Pokemon with the combination of Rock and Ground STAB, giving it amazing coverage and power in conjunction with its high Attack stat. Golem also has Sturdy to ensure it can pull of at least one move despite its poor defensive typing, which can be used with a Custap Berry to guarantee two moves if it can't take down an enemy. The typing that gave Golem amazing STAB coverage is also its biggest flaw, as it gives Golem several common weaknesses, including two double weaknesses to Water and Grass. Golem's poor Speed forces it to rely on Sturdy to get a hit in, and the lack of a reliable recovery move also keeps it from utilizing its high Defense to wall foes.

Earthquake is Golem's Ground-type STAB, having great power and excellent coverage. Stone Edge is the best Rock-type STAB for Golem and complements Earthquake extremely well, being highly effective against targets resisting or immune to Earthquake.. Golem can set up Stealth Rock for the team despite its poor survivability, and its Rock-type STAB may scare off common defoggers. Sucker Punch is a wonderful attack for a Pokemon as slow as Golem, giving it a crucial priority move against faster foes. Golem can also use Explosion as a last resort, which has the potential to hit really hard due to Golem's base 120 Attack.

Ponyta and Rapidash
Rapidash is one of the few Fire-types that relies heavily on physical attacks. With fairly high Attack and Speed, Rapidash is a straightforward, glass cannon-style attacker. It also has access to a variety of coverage moves to hold its own against a wide range of typings. Flash Fire allows for Rapidash to switch into Fire moves to increase the power of its own Fire attacks. However, Rapidash has terrible bulk, which gives it major issues with survival especially since Rapidash's stronger attacks deal recoil damage to itself. Rapidash's best stats are also not outstandingly high, leading to it being outclassed by similar Pokemon like Darmanitan.

Being a physical Fire-type, Rapidash's best STAB move is undoubtedly Flare Blitz, dealing huge damage at the cost of some recoil. Its electric counterpart Wild Charge makes for a nice coverage move to shock Water-types. Drill Run gives Rapidash more coverage, this time hitting Rock-types super effectively. Rapidash can also notably learn Megahorn, a powerful but inaccurate Bug-type move, and Horn Drill, an unreliable attack that causes an instant knockout if it hits. Additionally, it can learn Will-O-Wisp to weaken foes, Morning Sun to heal itself and Baton Pass to safely switch out.

Slowpoke, Slowbro and Slowking
Although Slowbro and Slowking share really similar stats, with Slowpoke having better physical Defense while Slowking being more specially-inclined, Slowbro has always found more use. Its high Defense works better with its Water/Psychic typing, particularly when it comes to sponging Fighting, Fire and Water moves that are commonly physical. It also has one of the best abilities a defensive Pokemon can ask for in Regenerator, healing a chunk of health every time it switches out. As if to further confirm Slowbro's higher popularity, it gets a Mega Evolution that exclusively increases its Defense and Special Attack, letting it play more like a bulky attacker. While it loses Regenerator, Mega Slowbro's Shell Armor ability ensures it can't fall to a lucky critical hit when using a boosting move.

Slowking shares many of Slowbro's great traits. It has a great Water/Psychic typing, a movepool that fits its playstyle, and passive healing just by switching out courtesy of Regenerator. However, prioritizing Special Defense over Defense means it is less effective at handling common threats than Slowbro, although it can sponge attacks from certain Pokemon that Slowbro can't. Slowbro and Slowking have similar weaknesses as well. Their typing gives them several weaknesses, particularly to popular Electric and Dark moves. The vulnerability to Dark-types is especially bad due to the prevalence of Knock Off, and it makes Slowbro and Slowking prone to getting Pursuit trapped. Finally, Slowbro and Slowking both have horrendous Speed, so they are almost always forced to sponge attacks before they can use their own moves.

Slowbro and Slowking can make use of the same moves well, since the main difference between them is the Pokemon they can defend against. Scald is a wonderful STAB move for a defensive Water-type, letting them spread burns while still dealing good damage. They are the original users of Slack Off, which keeps them healthy in conjunction with Regenerator. They can spread status with either Thunder Wave or Toxic, the former completely neutering speedy attackers while the latter wearing down foes in general. Slowbro and Slowking are good users of Calm Mind to make themselves stronger and bulkier, which also leads to a slightly more offensive moveset. Psychic or Psyshock are great secondary STAB moves, while Ice Beam, Fire Blast or Grass Knot can be tacked on for more coverage.

Magnemite, Magneton and Magnezone
The Magnezone line is one of two evolutionary families that has the rare Magnet Pull ability, which gives Magnezone a specific but useful role as a Steel-type trapper. Using Magnet Pull, Magnezone can keep a Steel-type from switching out then KO it with a highly specialized moveset, which can be a massive boon to any teammates facing problems from Magnezone's targets. Outside of trapping with Magnet Pull, Magnezone can also use Analytic with its poor Speed to hit incredibly hard, but it is often overshadowed by other offensive Electric-types. Even though Magnezone's exclusive Electric/Steel type gives it 11 resistances and 1 immunity, the most of any existing type combination, its weakness to offensive types, particularly a severe weakness to Ground, is a massive drawback. Magnezone's low Speed also hinders it from functioning effectively as a conventional special attacker.

Magnezone may seem like an odd choice when it comes to taking out Steel-types, since it lacks attacks Steel-types are weak to, but Hidden Power Fire is sufficient to threaten them due to Magnezone's high Special Attack. Volt Switch is a common attack on Magnezone to let it switch out and maintain a favorable matchup, but watch out for incoming Ground-types that can stop the move. Flash Cannon and Thunderbolt are straightforward STAB moves for attacking most other Pokemon. Finally, Magnet Rise is a somewhat gimmicky option that removes Magnezone's worst weakness, letting it deal with Ground-types, particularly Excadrill, a bit better.

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

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

Doduo and Dodrio
Dodrio is as simple and straightforward as a physical Flying-type gets. It has a very common Normal/Flying type, all the strong attacks expected from Flying types, and a stat spread designed for pure offense. Unfortunately, its simplicity is also its downfall, since Dodrio has nothing to offer over its competition, which consists of a myriad of powerful and versatile Flying-type threats. Dodrio's bulk is also horrendous and its typing's weaknesses are well-known and used as coverage moves, so even without taking the other bird Pokemon into consideration, Dodrio's frailty makes it hard to justify putting it on any team.

Brave Bird is the obvious Flying-type STAB move to deal heavy damage. Double Edge has identical power and recoil, but Return is usually used as a secondary STAB move instead because Dodrio really can't take any damage at all, including wearing itself down with recoil. Quick Attack is used to finish off weakened foes that Dodrio cannot outspeed. Knock Off is useful for removing items and isn't resisted by Rock and Steel types, while Pursuit shares its type but has the advantage of trapping Psychic foes. Dodrio has other utility moves like Agility, Roost, Baton Pass, Work Up, and Haze, but it is much too frail to use them well.

Seel and Dewgong
Sporting poor stats and a mediocre defensive typing, Dewgong is heavily outclassed not just by the enormous range of defensive Water-types, but also its fellow Water/Ice type Pokemon like Lapras and Walrein. It at least has Thick Fat for an additional resistance to Fire, as well as usable defenses. Unfortunately, it can only restore health using Rest, which is very impractical unless using it in rain with Hydration, and there are still some Pokemon that works better with that combination. Dewgong's offensive stats are also terrible, so the only way to wear down its foes is by stalling out turns for Toxic or Perish Song, during which the opponent has the chance to trigger their own status moves or set up for a sweep.

Dewgong's main form of threatening its foes is with Toxic, so it hopes to sponge hits from foes long enough for Toxic to chip away at their health, or force switches to spread Toxic more. For enemies that don't fear Toxic, it can force them out instead using Perish Song. Protect is often used for the purpose of this passive stalling, which can waste more turns for Toxic and Perish Song if the opponent insists on staying in. It can also use Encore to lock an opponent into a bad move, such as if they go for a boosting move. Surf or Ice Beam keeps Dewgong from getting completely shut down if it's taunted, but its not going to much damage due to Dewgong's bad offensive stats.

Grimer and Muk
Muk is a fairly bulky offensive Poison-type with two very interesting abilities. Its Sticky Hold ability lets it hang on to its item no matter what, which is quite helpful with the prevalence of Knock Off. However, Poison Touch is an uncommon ability more fitting for its playstyle. Poison Touch gives every contact move a chance to Poison its foes, helping Muk chip away at its opponent. With its high HP and great Special Defense, Muk has pretty good bulk and can use its typing's numerous resistances to get in. Unfortunately, Poison isn't the greatest offensive typing, and Muk struggles to find strong coverage moves, so its damage is pretty disappointing. Muk's poor Speed and low Defense exposes it to faster physical attackers, so it is prone to getting worn down against more offensive teams.

While Gunk Shot is the stronger Poison STAB move, Muk usually prefers Poison Jab since it makes contact, giving it an increased chance of inflicting Poison due to Poison Touch. Shadow Sneak is a great tool seldom found on Poison-types, giving Muk both a way to overcome its poor Speed and letting it handle Psychic-types effectively. Ice Punch gives coverage against Ground-types while Fire Punch and Brick Break hits Steel-types hard. These moves are all fairly weak, but they also all make contact, increasing the chances of triggering Poison Touch. Curse is a boosting move that works well with Muk's stats, increasing its strength and patching up its Defense at the cost of its already poor Speed. Once Muk has expended its usefulness, you can choose to use Explosion or Memento to leave a mark on the enemy. Explosion hits extremely hard while Memento neuters the opposing Pokemon's offense, letting a teammate come in to set up a sweep.

Shellder and Cloyster
With an enormous base 180 Defense stat, Cloyster might seem like a defensive behemoth at first glance, but its poor HP, abysmal Special Defense and terrible defensive typing suggests otherwise. Instead, Cloyster is a deadly Shell Smash sweeper and cleaner, using its high Base Power moves to chip large chunks of HP out of the enemy. This is because Cloyster has the very uncommon Skill Link ability, which effectively increases the strength of multi-hit attacks by always guaranteeing all five hits. However, as stated before, Cloyster's poor typing and other defensive stats make it rather frail despite its monstrous Defense stat, especially with the penalty from Shell Smash, so Cloyster cannot be used carelessly.

Shell Smash is what makes Cloyster a major threat, doubling its offensive stats and Speed in a single turn at the cost of its defenses. Icicle Spear is Cloyster's main STAB move, having an effective Base Power of 125 due to Skill Link, and has the bonus trait of ignoring Focus Sashes and Sturdy. Rock Blast is another attack boosted by Skill Link and gives excellent coverage. Ice Shard is a nice priority attack that can threaten certain revenge killers. Hydro Pump or Razor Shell are good secondary STABs to use against Steel-types. Explosion lets Cloyster go out in a blaze of glory to severely soften its enemy. Finally, Cloyster can do hazard control and setting with Rapid Spin, Spikes or Toxic Spikes, but it has trouble fitting it on to an offensive moveset, and it is very frail for a dedicated support.

Gastly, Haunter and Gengar
Gengar is still one of the best Ghost-type Pokemon available, and it only got better this generation. The introduction of Fairy-types makes its secondary Poison type more useful, and Gengar even gets a Mega Evolution, considered one of the deadliest Mega Evolutions in the game. Mega Gengar's Special Attack and Speed and raised sky high, but most importantly is the Shadow Tag ability it gains. While Mega Gengar has a newfound Ground weakness, Shadow Tag lets it trap a non-Ghost type and take its target out, either with brute force or by taking the foe down with it using Destiny Bond or Perish Song. The normal form of Gengar is still very useful, being a fast and powerful special attacker in its own right, while having plenty of nasty support options. Despite its strengths, Gengar is still a glass cannon weak to Dark and Ghost types, and even Mega Gengar has to fear a strong Shadow Sneak, Pursuit or Sucker Punch.

Shadow Ball and Sludge Wave covers both of Gengar's STAB choices. Shadow Ball would be Gengar's primary move, while Sludge Wave is used to threaten popular Fairy-types. Gengar may also sometimes use Focus Blast to deal with Dark-types. When using Mega Gengar, Protect is occasionally used to let Gengar Mega Evolve safely. When trapping Pokemon, Mega Gengar can either use Destiny Bond or Perish Song to take down threats it can't normally defeat with its attacks alone. Destiny Bond is the more offensive option to bring down an otherwise stronger threat, while Perish Song requires a more defensive playstyle to stall out the perish turns. Substitute, Protect and Disable are sometimes used with Perish Song, as it lets Mega Gengar survive long enough for the song to take effect. Taunt is a great status move overall on both Gengar and Mega Gengar due to their speed, which lets it stop both walls and setup sweepers. Will-O-Wisp is another excellent status to cripple physical attackers, and lets Gengar run Hex to hit harder than Shadow Ball.

Onix and Steelix
With its incredible base 200 Defense, Steelix is one of the physically toughest Pokemon in the game, but its middling Attack made it easy to set up on and its poor Special Defense was an exploitable weakness. Now, Steelix gains a Mega Evolution that patches up its Special Defense, raises its Attack to respectable levels and increases its Defense even further. Given its lack of reliable recovery, Mega Steelix is best played as a tanky attacker and support, using its sheer bulk and great typing to switch in and do its job. Improved defenses lets Mega Steelix sponge both physical and special hits, helped by an excellent Steel/Ground typing that gives 8 resistances and 2 immunities. Its Attack is also high, which helps it exert offensive pressure on the opposing Pokemon. Unfortunately, its otherwise great typing gives it weaknesses to common attacks, which undermines its bulk a little. Mega Steelix also struggles to compete for a Mega slot with Aggron, which boasts the same Defense stat but with better strength and ability.

Mega Steelix is one of the few Pokemon that can make good use of Heavy Slam, being one of the heaviest Pokemon in the game. Earthquake is a stronger STAB move that has nice type coverage with Heavy Slam. Alternatively, Stone Edge can be used for better super effective coverage with Earthquake, but it is weaker unresisted and has poorer accuracy. Due to Mega Steelix's sheer toughness and resistance to two common entry hazards, it makes a great Stealth Rock setter. Mega Steelix's bulk also makes it a good user of Roar or Dragon Tail to shuffle the opposing side around and rack up Stealth Rock damage. Toxic is another common status move on Mega Steelix, letting it wear down certain tough walls on the opposing team.

Drowzee and Hypno
As far as Psychic-types go, Hypno is pretty terrible. All of its stats are mediocre save for its decently high Special Defense. Therefore, Hypno doesn't really have a choice other than playing as a really passive special wall. Hypno's poor attacking stats mean it has little to no offensive presence, so it is prone to getting set up on by opposing Pokemon and also means it can be rendered useless with a moderately fast Taunt. Its poor Defense and Speed hinders it from being a good defensive Pokemon, as it can still fall to decently powerful physical hits. Hypno's pure Psychic typing is also bad defensively, as it has weaknesses to very common moves, particularly Knock Off. Lastly, it has no form of recovery outside of Wish and Rest, so it can be worn down by chip damage as well.

Hypno's terrible offensive stats mean that it is usually better off using Seismic Toss or Foul Play for dealing damage. Hypno has numerous ways to mess with the opponent, but it isn't excellent at any of them. Thunder Wave and Toxic are the most reliable moves for inflicting status. Swagger is also a decent but somewhat unreliable option that works well with Foul Play. Ironically, Hypnosis, the move Hypno is themed around, is one of its poorer support options due to its poor accuracy. Hypno also gets Wish via event, but its low HP stat makes it a poor candidate for passing heals. Protect can be used to stall out a single turn and guarantee Hypno gets healed by its own Wish, though.

Krabby and Kingler
Kingler is a straightforward Water-type that can hit very hard thanks to its high Attack stat. Unfortunately, other than both of its physical stats, the rest of its stat spread is pretty horrible, most importantly including its Speed. It has access to two strictly offensive boosting moves and is complemented with nice coverage attacks, so it can make a fairly effective sweeper, although it can still make use of its good strength to punch holes in walls. Unfortunately, Kingler's abysmal Special Defense is a glaring weakness, and its low HP undermines the benefit of its high Defense. Kingler's Speed is also subpar without any boosts, which gives it some difficulty setting up.

Kingler can choose from two excellent boosting moves, Agility and Swords Dance. Agility patches up its middling Speed to make it a respectable sweeper, while Swords Dance gives it enormous power. It also has access to the nearly exclusive, high Base Power Crabhammer, the best choice for Kingler's STAB move. X-Scissor gives Kingler coverage against Grass-types. Superpower, Return or Double-Edge are pretty good neutral coverage options as well. Lastly, Knock Off provides excellent utility, while hitting very hard due to Kingler's great Attack stat.

Voltorb and Electrode
Electrode has a lone outstanding trait, and that is its incredible Speed. Sadly, that's all there really is to Electrode, since its bulk and offensive stats are pretty mediocre. Therefore, Electrode is usually played as a support or utility Pokemon, abusing its incredible Speed to throw out status moves. Electrode also has the rare Aftermath ability to damage any foe that takes it down, which is useful due to its frailty. Alternatively, its Soundproof ability grants it immunities to some uncommon moves, but its use its situational. Its poor movepool is a big hindrance, making it rather predictable when it comes to movesets. It also has trouble against priority attacks, which ignore its high Speed, due to its poor bulk.

Thunderbolt is Electrode's main STAB move that can deal OK damage with base 80 Special Attack. Volt Switch is also a common supplementary move, letting Electrode quickly escape an unfavorable matchup. Against Electric's weaknesses, Electrode can use Signal Beam to hit Grass-types harder, but it depends solely on Hidden Power Ice or Grass for a Ground-type answer. While Explosion is canonically what Electrode is most well-known for, its damage is disappointing coming from base 50 Attack. However, it does let Electrode rack on extra damage if fainting is inevitable. Electrode has a decent selection of support moves. Taunt is the most obvious choice, since Electrode can make use of its great Speed to stop opposing support Pokemon before they make their move. Electrode's high Speed also makes it a nice user for spreading status with Thunder Wave or Toxic. Electrode can also set up rain with Rain Dance, and it benefits immediately from the rain if it's using Thunder.

Exeggcute and Exeggutor
Exeggutor is a fairly variable Pokemon that works best under the sun. Both of its offensive stats are pretty good, and it gets the Cholorophyll ability under the sun, making it a decent sun sweeper. Alternatively, Exeggutor can soak up status moves and reasonably strong hits for its team and heal using a Rest + Lum Berry set, which it can use consistently under the sun if it has the Harvest ability instead. Unfortunately, Exeggutor is saddled with several flaws, chiefly of which is its poor defensive typing. While its Grass/Psychic type gives it 6 useful resistances, it also leaves it with 7 weaknesses of varying rarity, particularly with Knock Off, Flying-types and Ice moves being as ubiquitous as they are. Another flaw with Exeggutor is its bad Special Defense that hinders its survivability further. Exeggutor's Speed is also lackluster even when boosted by Chlorophyll, so it will have some trouble cleaning up.

Leaf Storm, Energy Ball or Giga Drain are the main choices for Exeggutor's STAB move, depending on how much power or stayability it needs. Solar Beam is also an option if Exeggutor is expected to fight under the sun. Psychic or Psyshock is the preferred secondary STAB move, and lets Exeggutor intimidate Fighting and Poison types. Alternatively, Exeggutor has enough Attack to run a physical set with Wood Hammer and Zen Headbutt, especially if it can find the space to set up a Swords Dance beforehand. Exeggutor lacks a normal move to break through Steel-types, which resist both of its STABs, so getting Hidden Power Fire would be really helpful. Sleep Powder has shaky accuracy, but lets Exeggutor shut down the opponent for some free damage. Synthesis is a nice healing move to keep Exeggutor healthy. Rest is a better healing move when used with Lum Berry and the Harvest ability in the sun, as it will fully heal Exeggutor without any penalty.

Cubone and Marowak
Marowak is fairly unique, in that it's a Pokemon whose playstyle is defined by its signature item: the Thick Club. When held, Marowak's Attack stat doubles, letting it hit insanely hard. It also gets an exclusive attack, the Bonemerang, that lets it break through Substitute, Sturdy and Focus Sash users. Its bulk is also pretty good, especially in the physical department. However, Marowak's poor Speed holds it back as a powerful attacker, as it is easily outsped by many Pokemon. Its pure Ground typing also gives it some common weaknesses. Lastly, its heavy reliance on Thick Club to deal good damage means that a single Knock Off can ruin any game plan with Marowak.

Bonemerang is Marowak's prefered STAB move. It has as much effective Base Power as Earthquake, but the damage is dealt in two hits, which lets it bypass Sturdy and Focus Sashes, as well as hit an opponent after its Substitute fades. Stone Edge has great coverage against Bonemerang, mainly to strike down Flying-types. Double-Edge doesn't offer a lot of coverage, but hits really hard and deals no recoil damage if Marowak has the Rock Head ability. Last but not least, Knock Off is an excellent utility move that doubles as an attack. Marowak can run Swords Dance to boost its Attack to unimaginable levels, but its poor Speed keeps it from sweeping effectively. It can also set up Stealth Rock, but it's better to go all-out offensive with Marowak, and there are way more Pokemon with better bulk to function as a hazard setter.

Tyrogue, Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan and Hitmontop
The Hitmons are all Fighting-types that boast good Special Defense, though they are differentiated by slightly different stat spreads and different abilities. Hitmonlee is the most offensive of the trio, trading Defense for maximum Attack and Speed. He's known for his immensely strong High Jump Kicks, which are powered up greatly from Reckless. He can also use a combo of Endure, Liechi Berry and Unburden to boost both his Speed and Attack, letting him sweep with Reversal. Unfortunately, Hitmonlee's Speed is not very high for an offensive Pokemon, and his Defense is very poor, so he can be revenge killed by priority or faster Pokemon. Stone Edge and Knock Off are common coverage moves for Hitmonlee, with Knock Off having added utility. Mach Punch bypass Hitmonlee's middling Speed, while Rapid Spin lets Hitmonlee get rid of hazards.

On the other hand, Hitmonchan struggles to find his spot on teams over his two brothers. He lacks the sheer power of Hitmonlee and the nice bulk of Hitmontop, being like an odd balance between the two. Hitmonchan's most notable trait is his Iron Fist ability, which boosts the power of his punching moves, and he certainly has the movepool to use it. Drain Punch hits respectably hard with Iron Fist and has no drawbacks, but it is weaker than Close Combat. Iron Fist-boosted Mach Punch is another highlight of Hitmonchan, giving him a priority move that ignores his mediocre Speed. He can also make use of all three elemental punches, but Ice Punch is usually the most common pick to maximize Hitmonchan's coverage. Lastly, Hitmonchan can use Rapid Spin like his brothers for clearing hazards.

Out of the three Hitmons, Hitmontop is the most commonly seen due to a mix of balanced stats, great abilities and useful movepool. Hitmontop's bulk is the best among his brothers, and he gets Intimidate to protect against physical attacks even more. Hitmontop's usually played as a utility Pokemon, using his bulk and Foresight to reliably pull off Rapid Spins in singles. In double or triple battles, Intimidate is especially helpful, while Hitmontop can provide more support with Fake Out, Quick Guard and Wide Guard. These moves are usually supplemented by Close Combat, Stone Edge and the occasional Sucker Punch, which hits decently hard with base 95 Attack. While much more uncommon than Intimidate, some Hitmontop have Technician as their ability, which they can make use of with Fake Out, Mach Punch and Bullet Punch. As a utility Pokemon, Hitmontop's main problem is a lack of reliable recovery, so he can be worn down fairly quickly.

Lickitung and Lickilicky
With its great defensive stats, Lickilicky is often played as a defensive and utility Pokemon, although it packs some surprising power. Out of all Pokemon with the ability, Lickilicky benefits the most from the buff to Oblivious, which now gives Lickilicky an immunity to Taunt, the bane of many support Pokemon. Lickilicky has a large HP stat for a Wish user and it gets Heal Bell, so it is typically used to heal its team. Lickilicky also has a selection of useful attacks that are nothing to scoff at. Unfortunately, Lickilicky's Normal typing and poor Speed hinders its defensive prowess, and it has big trouble competing with many other walls like Chansey and Alomomola.

With an impressive base 110 HP stat, Lickilicky is certainly one of the better users of Wish. However, since it lacks a quick form of self-recovery, using Protect is advisable to ensure Lickilicky can heal itself with its own Wish if necessary. Another helpful support move is Heal Bell, which cures Lickilicky's team of status effects. It can also spread poison status with Toxic to wear down opposing walls. When it comes to attacks, Body Slam is Lickilicky's strongest and most reliable STAB move, having no drawbacks and a good chance to paralyze its target. Knock Off is very useful for removing items and hitting Ghost-types. Dragon Tail forces out foes trying to set up on Lickilicky, but it's completely useless on Fairy-types. Lastly, Lickilicky is the only Explosion user that gets STAB on the move, making it a very hard-hitting attack, though it's inadvisable to have a self-KO button on the team healer.

Koffing and Weezing
Among the myriad of Poison-type Pokemon, Weezing is one of the few that really highlights the defensive power of its typing, which includes crucial resistances to Fairy and Fighting attacks. It has a great 120 Defense to serve as a physical wall, and it is the only pure Poison-type with a Ground immunity through Levitate, which crucially alleviates one of the Poison-type's biggest weaknesses. Weezing also has a useful utility movepool to help it weaken foes, while it has decent attacking stats if it needs to retaliate directly. While Weezing's Defense is great, it has poor Special Defense and worse Speed, so it has trouble facing specially offensive Pokemon. Weezing also lacks a reliable form of recovery, having to rely on Pain Split to keep its health up, which reduces its longevity as a wall.

Weeing has several ways with which to disrupt and impede its opponents while sponging their attacks. While Toxic is the obvious choice for a Poison-type Pokemon, Weezing can use Will-O-Wisp instead to cripple the physical attackers it likes to switch into. Weezing is also a good user of Toxic Spikes, an uncommon but very effective entry hazard. Haze keeps sweepers from setting up on Weezing, while Taunt does the same in addition to shutting down opposing walls, though Weezing doesn't have the Speed to use it well. Pain Split is a vital move on Weezing, as it has no other method of directly healing itself outside of an iffy Rest. For attacks, Sludge Bomb is a strong STAB move while Flamethrower is a nice alternative for roasting Steel-types immune to Poison. A rare option is to use Explosion to bring Weezing's foe down with it, but it can also use Memento instead to severely weaken its opponent while letting a setup sweeper come in for free.

Rhyhorn, Rhydon and Rhyperior
Rhyperior rocks one of the best offensive type combinations in the game, Ground/Rock, giving it impressive coverage just from its STAB moves alone. While its typing is plagued with many common weaknesses, it is also one of the few Pokemon that has Solid Rock, letting it weather through super effective attacks. With its high 130 Defense and 140 Attack, Rhyperior is a full stop to several popular Fire or Flying types, while being able to retaliate with its deadly STAB combination. It stays a dangerous threat in double or triple battles due to Lightning Rod, able to tear through teams in Trick Room while passively shielding its teammates from Electric moves. Rhyperior's main drawback is the myriad of weaknesses its typing is weak to, especially two double weaknesses to Water and Grass, and Solid Rock can also help so much. It also has very poor Speed and Special Defense, so even neutral hits from offensive special attackers can hit it hard.

Earthquake and Stone Edge are one of the most well-known combination of attacks due to their excellent coverage together, and Rhyperior's typing gives both moves STAB. Rock Blast can be used over Stone Edge for its better accuracy and ability to break through Substitutes, Sturdy and Focus Sash, but its damage is inconsistent. Megahorn is an immensely powerful move to use against troublesome Grass-types, but be warned of its iffy accuracy. Ice Punch is a weaker move but covers a lot more Pokemon other than Grass. Horn Drill guarantees a KO if it hits, but has horrendous accuracy. Rhyperior's physical bulk makes it a good candidate for setting up Stealth Rock, and its typing lets it threaten common Defog users pretty well. While situational, Rhyperior appreciates the brief invulnerability provided by Protect, which lets it scout for potentially deadly coverage moves.

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

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

Tangela and Tangrowth
Tangrowth is a bulky Grass-type that can function as an effective pivot due to a combination of its typing and the extremely useful Regenerator, which heals Tangrowth every time it switches out. Tangrowth has excellent physical bulk, and its pure Grass typing gives it important resistances to Water, Ground and Electric, so it can find many opportunities to switch in. For a tanky Pokemon, its offensive stats are not bad either. However, Tangrowth has trouble maintaining an offensive presence, as it doesn't have the best coverage on its moves and is prone to getting set up on. Defensively, Tangrowth's typing gives it problematic weaknesses to Fire, Flying and Ice moves, and its Special Defense is abysmal.

Leaf Storm and Giga Drain are the most common STAB moves found on Tangrowth. Leaf Storm is powerful and its Special Attack drop doesn't affect Tangrowth too badly, since it's built to switch in and out repeatedly. Giga Drain is weaker but more reliable, leeching health from the target to keep Tangrowth healthy. Focus Blast is a good coverage move for hitting Steel-types, although Earthquake is a more physically-inclined move that hits both Steel and Fire-types. Knock Off is a generally useful move that removes the item of Tangrowth's target. For more coverage, consider getting the IVs for Hidden Power Fire or Hidden Power Ice, the former letting Tangrowth hit popular Steel-types neutral to Ground and Fighting, while the latter hitting Dragon, Flying and opposing Grass types hard. In the status department, Tangrowth has Leech Seed or Synthesis to keep itself alive, while Sleep Powder lets it incapacitate its target.

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

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

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

Horsea, Seadra and Kingdra
Kingdra is known for being one of the deadliest Swift Swim users in the game. It has a really high 85 Speed for a Swift Swim user, so it's very hard to outspeed Kingdra in the rain. Kingdra's Water/Dragon typing is also very useful on rain teams, as it is not weak to the Grass and Electric moves that rain users typically share. Both of Kingdra's attacking stats are pretty good, letting it rip through frailer enemies while punching sizable holes in opposing walls. Alternatively, Kingdra can make use of Sniper and Scope Lens to guarantee powered-up critical hits, which is really gimmicky but deadly if pulled off. While Kingdra has well-rounded stats, this ultimately turns out to be a drawback, as it doesn't have overwhelming power or significant bulk. The generational leap also brought Kingdra down several notches, as losing permanent Drizzle limits its Swift Swim abuse and the introduction of Fairy-types gives it a newfound weakness.

Hydro Pump is Kingdra's STAB move of choice, given its high Base Power that it powered up even further by rain. Draco Meteor makes a good secondary STAB for burning massive chunks of enemy health, but forces out Kingdra after its use. Dragon Pulse is an alternative that doesn't lower Kingdra's Special Attack, but it does significantly lower damage. Ice Beam is an excellent coverage move for hitting foes that resist Kingdra's STAB attacks. Scald is usually used along with Hydro Pump as a more reliable STAB, and Kingdra needs the burn chance to neuter the common Pokemon that wall it. Kingdra can attempt to sweep with Dragon Dance, Waterfall and Outrage, though its base Attack and Speed outside of rain is inferior to more popular Dragon sweepers. Lastly, a gimmicky option is to use Focus Energy when equipped with Scope Lens to guarantee every strike is a critical hit. When used with Sniper, Kingdra can fire off countless critical Draco Meteors while ignoring its Special Attack drops.

Goldeen and Seaking
As far as Water-types go, the only feature that makes Seaking stand out is Lightning Rod. Seaking can claim to be the only pure Water-type in the game to be totally immune to Electric, but it's pretty generic otherwise. Seaking fits into the oddly common mold of physical attacker with good Special Defense, but its Speed is severely lacking and its overall bulk is pretty bad. Its Attack stat is greatly overshadowed by many other offensive Water-types, and Lightning Rod's other effect of raising Seaking's Special Attack is useless due to its terrible base Special Attack.

Aqua Tail is the preferred STAB move for Seaking, being a strong physical move. Megahorn can be used to hit Grass-types super effectively, but its accuracy is iffy. Poison Jab is much weaker, but more accurate and also hits Fairies hard. Drill Run has some redundant coverage with Water, but it hits a bit more Pokemon super effectively, and Seaking is pretty starved for coverage moves as it is. Knock Off is a good attack with an excellent side effect that's useful on any Pokemon, even one as limited as Seaking. Seaking gets Agility to boost its poor Speed to acceptable levels, but even then it's not going to be a notable Pokemon. While extremely gimmmicky, Seaking is one of two Pokemon that can make good use of Soak in doubles and triples, since it can use Lightning Rod to keep itself safe as it Soaks its foes while an ally spams Discharge.

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

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

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

Mime Jr. and Mr. Mime
Mr. Mime is one of several Pokemon that benefited from the inclusion of Fairy types, given that it now has an additional Fairy subtype. Its Psychic/Fairy typing gives it a couple of powerful resistances and patches out most of Psychic's weaknesses as well. Unfortunately, Mr. Mime is completely outclassed by Gardevoir, a fellow Psychic/Fairy type, as it hits harder and has a Mega Evolution to boot. Mr. Mime is a straightforward special attacker, having high special stats and really good Speed. It also has several useful abilities, either Soundproof to block certain attacks or Filter for extra protection against its uncommon weaknesses. Unfortunately, with a terrible HP stat and poor Defense, Mr. Mime is very vulnerable to fast physical attackers, as well as strong priority attacks.

Mr. Mime's moveset is pretty common special Psychic fare. Psychic and Psyshock both have their merits, with Psychic being stronger than Dazzling Gleam and Psychock bypassing special walls. For a Fairy-type STAB, Mr. Mime is sadly limited to Dazzling Gleam, which is noticeable weaker than Moonblast. Focus Blast hits Steel-types super effectively, which would otherwise be able to take both of Mr. Mime's STAB moves. Shadow Ball rounds out its coverage, hitting opposing Ghosts and Psychics hard. Mr. Mime can serve as a decent Baton Passer, as it has Nasty Plot, Calm Mind, dual screens and an immunity to Roar with Soundproof, but Espeon is a far better candidate. Lastly, Healing Wish is a great support move that lets Mr. Mime help its teammates after it has expended its usefulness, completely restoring one of its allies to full health.

Scyther and Scizor
Scizor is one of the few Pokemon with a Mega Evolution that doesn't need its Mega to perform well. With an amazing Bug/Steel typing that leaves it with only one weakness, high attack stat, good priority moves and the Technician ability, it is both hard to wear down Scizor and hard to weather hits from it. While Mega Scizor gains a sizable increase in Attack and bulk, the only real benefit to using its Mega form is for its bulk, since regular Scizor can hit harder if it equips a Life Orb or Choice Band instead. Scizor also has an excellent movepool, being one of the most popular Pokemon that uses Bullet Punch, and learning a variety of utility and support moves. Scizor's main weakness is obviously its double weakness to Fire, so it must be wary of any Pokemon that might carry Fire-type moves for coverage. For a Pokemon that relies heavily on its Attack stat, Scizor can also be neutered by burns, so try to avoid Will-O-Wisp and Scald as well.

Bullet Punch seems like a move made specifically for Scizor. It is boosted both by STAB and the Technician ability, so it can hit very hard. It is also a priority attack, circumventing Scizor's poor speed. Bug Bite is Scizor's strongest Bug attack after being boosted by Technician, but U-turn is more useful on support sets as it lets Scizor bring in other Pokemon safely. Scizor's poor Speed is actually beneficial when using U-turn, as it can take a hit from the enemy before bringing in its teammate on the same turn. Superpower is all the coverage Scizor needs, useful for hitting enemy Steel-types. Scizor's high bulk and power makes it an excellent user of Swords Dance, as it can stay alive long enough to rack up boosts and sweep with Bullet Punch. Knock Off and Pursuit are good utility moves if you find the space to use it. It has Roost to restore its health, a handy tool on both bulky offensive sets and support sets. Scizor also both learns Defog and lacks a weakness to Stealth Rock, so it is a great defogger especially in its Mega form.

Smoochum and Jynx
Jynx is the textbook example of a glass cannon. It has one of the worst defensive typings in the game, as Ice gives it numerous weaknesses while Psychic leaves it with fewer but very common weaknesses as well, totalling to 6 weaknesses for a measly 2 resistances. However, it is also a very good offensive STAB combination, and Jynx can boast itself as one of the few speedy Ice-type attackers in the game. It has the stats to match, with great Special Attack and Speed and surprising special bulk. Jynx can also make good use of Dry Skin to switch into Water moves for free, alleviating the usual difficulty of bringing in a frail attacker unharmed.

As mentioned before, Jynx is a glass cannon, and it can really sometimes feel more glass than cannon. With horrendous physical bulk and weaknesses to very popular offensive types like Fire, Dark and Rock, Jynx will have severe trouble against anything it can't KO immediately. Its Speed is relatively poor for an offensive Pokemon and it's vulnerable to priority, particularly Sucker Punch and Shadow Sneak, which makes Jynx very easy to revenge kill as well, so even if it manages to take down a Pokemon or two, the opponent can easily stop Jynx right in its tracks.

Jynx's main STAB move is Ice Beam, being the representative attack of one of the best attacking types in the game. This is usually supplemented by either Psychic or Psyshock, though Psyshock is usually preferred over Psychic despite being weaker, as it helps Jynx muscle past special walls. Focus Blast is a key coverage move to keep Steel-types at bay, who would otherwise sponge both of Jynx's STAB moves while threatening to hit back with a super-effective Steel move of their own. Jynx is the only Pokemon to get Lovely Kiss, which is essentially Sleep Powder that can affect Grass-types and Overcoat users. This sleep-inducing move has iffy accuracy, but can shut down potential Jynx counters. Jynx can also make use of Trick and Choice Scarf to cripple opposing walls. Jynx can set up with Nasty Plot or Calm Mind, but it is way too frail to function as a set up sweeper.

Elekid, Electabuzz and Electivire
Electivire is one of the few Electric-type attackers that lean primarily to the physical side. It is most notable for having an amazingly diverse attacking movepool, giving it unparalleled super effective coverage. While its Speed is only decent for an offensive Pokemon, it has the uncommon Motor Drive ability to boost its Speed if it switches into an Electric move. While its physical Attack stat is higher, it has enough Special Attack to go mixed as well to surprise physical walls. The main thing keeping Electivire from being a top threat is its underwhelming stats. It has trouble breaking through very bulky Pokemon, particularly if they only fear its weaker coverage moves. Defensively, Electivire's bulk and speed is middling before Motor Drive, so it tends to get outsped by stronger, dangerous threats.

Electivire's main asset is its incredible coverage. Wild Charge is Electivire's main STAB move, dealing a lot of damage at the cost of recoil. Earthquake is a popular coverage move due to the wide number of Pokemon weak to Ground, particularly Steel-types. While weaker neutrally than the other two moves, Ice Punch is highly effective against the Dragon, Grass and Ground types that resist Wild Charge. Fire Punch is a more limited coverage move, but works well against popular Steel dual-types neutral to Earthquake. While it overlaps in coverage with some other moves, Cross Chop's Fighting type is particularly useful against Rock, Normal and Dark types. Iron Tail is inaccurate, but helps Electivire combat Fairy-types. Electivire can mix in some special attacks as well, mainly using Thunderbolt over Wild Charge for its lack of recoil, and Flamethrower over Fire Punch for higher base power.

Magby, Magmar and Magmortar
As a specially-inclined Fire-type attacker, Magmortar's selling point over the other Pokemon of this archetype is in its coverage. Magmortar has a pretty good movepool, packing moves that are moderately uncommon for most Fire-types. It also has a sizable Attack stat to make use of some of its physical coverage moves as well. Magmortar's primary weakness is its difficulty switching in, as it's weak to common attacking types and Stealth Rock, while its Defense stat is really poor. Magmortar's poor Speed is another troublesome weakness, as it is easily revenge killed by many faster offensive Pokemon.

Fire Blast is Magmortar's main STAB move for its high damage. While Flamethrower or Heat Wave can be used, Magmortar appreciates all the extra power it gets. It is the only pure Fire-type to get Thunderbolt, which gives it a nice answer to Water-types. Focus Blast is another helpful coverage move, primarily for breaking down Rock-types. For Ground-types, Magmortar's best bet is with Hidden Power Ice or Hidden Power Grass. Will-O-Wisp lets Magmortar neuter the offensive Pokemon that likes to switch in against it. Magmortar can also be a reasonably strong physical attacker, with Flare Blitz, Earthquake and Mach Punch being notable moves it can use, but it's far outclassed by dedicated physical Fire-types.

Pinsir
Normally, Pinsir is a decent but not particularly outstanding physical Bug-type. It has a nice movepool, Attack stat and a slew of useful abilities. Hyper Cutter gives it an immunity to Intimidate, Mold Breaker lets it use Earthquake on Levitate users and set up Stealth Rock against Magic Bounce, while Moxie makes it a deadly sweeper that gains more momentum with each KO. However, with its Mega Evolution, Pinsir becomes a top Flying-type attacker with a powerful Aerilate ability. With a massive Attack stat, good Speed, a boosting move in Swords Dance, decent bulk and great moves to abuse Aerilate with, Mega Pinsir is a lethal offensive powerhouse. It can still utilize regular Pinsir's abilities before Mega Evolving, usually to ignore Intimidate with Hyper Cutter or grab a single Moxie boost with Quick Attack.

As strong as Mega Pinsir is, it still has some sizable weaknesses. Rock-types are the bane of Mega Pinsir. Gaining a Flying type when it Mega Evolves, Mega Pinsir loses half of its health when it switches in if Stealth Rock is on the field, and it is very weak to Rock attacks in general. Its reliance on powerful Flying-type moves gives it trouble when facing Rock, Electric and Steel types, with top representatives of these types usually being able to take Mega Pinsir's coverage moves. It is also weak to powerful priority moves, particularly Gale Wings-boosted Flying moves and Ice Shard. Lastly, like any physical sweeper, it despises both Burns and Paralysis, as they take away two of its most important traits.

Return is Mega Pinsir's STAB move of choice, being a high-powered move at max happiness with zero drawbacks. Quick Attack is a useful secondary Flying move, giving Mega Pinsir a powerful Flying-type priority attack against frailer foes that outspeed it. X-Scissor is the strongest Bug move for Pinsir, although Mega Pinsir rarely uses Bug-type moves at all. Close Combat and Earthquake are popular coverage moves for Mega Pinsir, hitting Rock and Steel types for super effective damage, with Earthquake also hitting Electric types hard. A notable but impractical move Mega Pinsir can use is the OHKO Guillotine, which now hits Ghost-types due to Aerilate, but it has abysmal accuracy. Finally, Swords Dance turns Mega Pinsir into a truly devastating sweeper, and it can find many opportunities to set up with its good bulk and ability to force switches.

Tauros
Tauros is a fairly forgettable Normal-type physical attacker. It is blessed with good Attack, great Speed and two useful abilities. Intimidate is an amazing ability for crippling physical attackers, which works well with Tauros's good physical bulk. However, Sheer Force is undoubtedly the more popular choice, as it lets Tauros boost its power significantly with Life Orb while suffering no recoil with the right attacks. Unfortunately, Tauros has a terrible Special Attack stat for a Sheer Force user, which keeps it from being able to use its range of effective Sheer Force-boosted coverage moves. Tauros's attacks don't give it a lot of super effective coverage overall, so it tends to get walled by many bulky Pokemon. Its poor special bulk and weakness to Fighting are exploitable defensive vulnerabilities. It is also weak to burns and paralysis status as well as priority moves, a weakness it shares with many other speedy attackers.

Unlike other physical Normal-types, Tauros's preferred STAB move is Rock Climb. While this move is usually forgotten due to its iffy accuracy and lower Base Power than Return, its power is greatly boosted by Sheer Force. Double-Edge can be used instead for its power, but it does sizable recoil damage. Earthquake isn't boosted by Sheer Force, but it gives Tauros crucial coverage against Normal resists, them being Rock and Steel types. Zen Headbutt is powered-up by Sheer Force, used primarily to ward off Fighting-types. Tauros can use Pursuit to cover Ghost-types and trap Pokemon, but its another move that isn't boosted by Sheer Force. Lastly, although it uses Tauros's horrendous base 40 Sp. Attack, Fire Blast is surprisingly common for hitting certain bulky Steel and Grass types.

Magikarp and Gyarados
Gyarados is one of several Pokemon with Mega Evolutions that can has excellent traits in both its normal form and after Mega Evolving. As a sweeper, Gyarados sports above average bulk due to its high Special Defense and an incredibly useful Intimidate ability that neuters physical attackers. Alternatively, it could sacrifice its physical protection for its potent Moxie ability, which can gain it a lot of momentum for a sweep. Mega Gyarados improves on Gyarados's main features, mainly its bulk and Attack. Its typing also changes and it gets the Mold Breaker ability, letting it Earthquake Levitate users and preserve its boosts against Unaware.

While both versions of Gyarados are usually played as setup sweepers, normal Gyarados is picked for its bulk while Mega Gyarados is chosen for its strength. However, since there are significant differences between Gyarados and Mega Gyarados's type matchups, as well as regular Gyarados's Intimidate, it's often a wise move to delay Mega Evolving Gyarados to maintain certain resistances and psych out the opponent. Because of this, it can be tricky to retaliate against Gyarados using super effective attacks alone, although Electric-types hit both forms of Gyarados hard. Gyarados also has poor Speed for a sweeper, so it needs to secure boosts and can still be revenge killed then, especially with Mega Gyarados's weakness to priority Mach Punch. As a physical sweeper, Gyarados dislikes status as well, since Paralysis cuts its already middling Speed while Burns cripple its strength.

Gyarados is a capable Dragon Dance sweeper, as it has the bulk to set up boosts. It also really appreciates the enhancements from Dragon Dance, patching its problematic Speed while powering up its already high Attack. Waterfall is Gyarados's STAB move, since it packs both power and a nice flinch chance. Bounce is unwieldy but is Gyarados's only option for a Flying-type STAB move. Mega Gyarados can make use of Crunch as a secondary STAB move instead. Ice Fang crushes Dragons and Grass-types while boasting good coverage in general. Earthquake is another common coverage move for Gyarados, especially with Mega Gyarados's Mold Breaker ability. Additionally, Gyarados's good bulk lets it use standard status moves effectively. Substitute is the most common for dodging status and helping Gyarados setup. It is also decently fast for a Taunt user, while it can spread status or entry hazard damage with Thunder Wave and Roar, respectively.

Lapras
Lapras is a pretty forgettable bulky Water-type that is usually used as special attacker. While its attacking stats are rather mediocre, Lapras has the advantage of sheer bulk, with its enormous HP stat letting it take a lot of punishment. Further improving its survivability is Lapras's Water Absorb ability, which lets it switch into Water moves to heal itself. Unfortunately, Lapras has a poor defensive typing, and its poor Speed makes it easy to revenge kill. It is also weak to Stealth Rock, which prevents it from switching freely, and the lack of a quick recovery move outside of Rest with Hydration in rain keeps it from using its bulk as a support Pokemon.

Hydro Pump will be the STAB move Lapras uses the most, boasting incredible power despite Lapras's marginally passable Special Attack. Surf is a weaker move, but more accurate and hits multiple Pokemon in double or triple battles. Freeze-Dry is a helpful Ice-type STAB move since it's super effective against opposing Water-types, giving Lapras great type coverage, but Ice Beam can be added or replace it if Freeze-Dry's lack of power is troublesome. Ice Shard gives Lapras priority chip damage to finish off faster opponents. Lastly, Lapras can learn 3 different OHKO moves as well as Foresight, though Sheer Cold is the best choice for this rather gimmicky strategy since nothing it immune to it.

Ditto
Ditto is an extremely simple Pokemon in battle. It is one of the few Pokemon that learns Transform, in fact it's the only move Ditto has, which can turn it into the opposing Pokemon, copying all the target's stats except HP, the target's moves, as well as the boosts the target has accumulated. However, Ditto should never need to use the move, as its hidden ability Imposter does that automatically so that Ditto doesn't have to waste a turn transforming. Since Ditto's HP is carried over, it will always be more frail than the Pokemon it mimics, so Ditto's role is mainly limited to revenge killing. Equipped with a Choice Scarf, Ditto can come in after a Pokemon on your team is KO'd, copy all the enemy's boosts, then retaliate first due to Choice Scarf's speed increase. Ditto's use is limited to this role and it can be played around, such as by using a Substitute, but it is a gimmick that works effectively

Eevee, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon, Espeon, Umbreon, Leafeon, Glaceon and Sylveon
Eevee is known for having the greatest number of evolutions in the game, and the number is only growing. Vaporeon's best stats are its HP, Special Attack and Special Defense. With that bulk and a very helpful Water Absorb ability, Vaporeon is typically put in a support role, due to its ability to pass Wishes with its enormous HP stat. Heal Bell gives it additional utility as the team cleric, letting it cure its teammates of status. Baton Pass also functions well with Wish due to Vaporeon's low Speed, as it can sponge a hit to bring in a teammate, letting them receive Wish without taking damage. Scald is a wonderful Water-type support attack for spreading burns, and keeps Vaporeon from being completely useless if Taunted. Ice Beam has nice coverage with Water. Roar and Haze keeps opponents from setting up on Vaporeon, which its foes can otherwise do due to Vaporeon's passive playstyle.

Jolteon's best trait is its lightning speed, backed up by good special stats. It uses this speed and offense to function as a sweeper and revenge killer, but it has terrible physical bulk. Priority moves are one of Jolteon's worst enemies, since many of them are physical in nature and override Jolteon's speed. Thunderbolt is Jolteon's best STAB attack, boasting a balance of power and accuracy. It can also use Volt Switch to maintain offensive momentum, bringing in teammates with a favorable matchup to the current foe. Jolteon lacks conventional coverage moves to hit its weaknesses, so it must rely on either Hidden Power Ice or Grass to do so. Signal Beam is an option against Grass-types specifically, while Shadow Ball is effective against numerous Psychic and Ghost types.

Flareon is often considered the unloved eeveelution, and while it finally gets Flare Blitz in this generation, it's still not very good. Flareon is meant to be an offensive powerhouse that prefers physical hits while being capable of sponging special attacks. However, its terrible Speed is a major drawback for an offensive Pokemon, which isn't helped by its abysmal physical bulk and common weaknesses. Lastly, despite having Attack as its best stat, it's starved for physical coverage moves. Flareon usually uses a combination of Flare Blitz and Superpower for their decent offensive synergy. Double-Edge gives Flareon additional neutral coverage, but it dislikes taking recoil damage along with Flare Blitz. Quick Attack lets Flareon circumvent its poor Speed, but its not very strong. Baton Pass is another common choice to let Flareon retreat safely and bring in teammates.

Espeon's highest stats are its Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed. Although it's nothing special for a special attacker, Espeon is a vital component of dedicated Baton Pass teams. It's Magic Bounce ability provides protection for its whole team against common Baton Past counters, so allies can bring in Espeon to bounce back predicted entry hazards as well as Roar or Whirlwind. Espeon also has several great boosting moves to pass along, including Calm Mind, Double Team, Reflect and Light Screen. More importantly, it also gets Stored Power, an attack which increases in power the more Espeon boosts, turning Espeon into an unstoppable sweeper at the end of a Baton Pass chain. While its poor physical bulk and weakness to common attacks are obvious weaknesses, Espeon is usually packed with Defense and Evasion boosts when it switches in, which makes it a tough Pokemon to bring down.

Umbreon is focused on pure defense, having all of its strongest stats being defensive ones, at the cost of offensive presence. Due to this stat spread, Umbreon is often used as an extremely passive utility Pokemon. Umbreon usually plays the role of a cleric, healing its teammates with Wish and Heal Bell. Its Synchronize ability works pretty well with Heal Bell in particular, as it can turn the tables on opponents trying to wear it down with status. A slow Baton Pass works well with Wish, letting Umbreon take a hit for its Wish recipient. Umbreon can also use Moonlight for direct self-healing. Toxic lets Umbreon wear down bulky foes where its weak attacks have no chance of doing so. Foul Play should be the only attack Umbreon uses, keeping it from being rendered useless by Taunt, as well as keeping frail physical sweepers from setting up on it freely.

Leafeon's strong points is its Attack, Defense and Speed, and unlike Flareon it has Swords Dance to improve its high Attack. Leafeon's Grass typing isn't the best offensively or defensively, and it still struggles to compete with other Grass-types. Its movepool and Speed is also underwhelming, which makes Leafeon one of the more uncommon eeveelutions in battles. Leafeon's strongest and most consistent STAB move is Leaf Blade, though Bullet Seed has the chance to hit harder as well as breaking Substitutes, Sturdy and Focus Sashes. Knock Off provides decent coverage and utility, weakening foes by removing their items. X-Scissor can be used to tear through opposing Grass-types, while Dig is a fairly impractical move to threaten Fire and Poison types. Leafeon can also use Baton Pass to escape unfavorable matchups while passing on its Swords Dance boosts. Its high Defense and access to moves like Synthesis, Wish and Heal Bell, lets Leafeon play a support role, but it is outclassed by other other defensive Grass-types.

Glaceon combines good bulk with a very high Special Attack, which makes it a fairly dangerous bulky attacker due to Ice's good coverage by itself. Unfortunately, Glaceon suffers from a common pitfall of bulky Ice-types, as its pure Ice typing makes it weak to a lot of common moves and undermines Glaceon's high defenses. It has poor Speed which further reduces its survivability, and it has a terrible special movepool. Ice Beam would be Glaceon's main STAB move. Shadow Ball provides good neutral coverage as well as scaring off Ghost and Psychic types. Lacking Focus Blast, Hidden Power Fighting is its best answer to Rock and Steel types. Baton Pass lets it bring in a teammate when faced with an unfavorable matchup. Glaceon can also use the usual Wish and Heal Bell combo due to its good bulk, but its poor typing limits its effectiveness as a utility Pokemon.

Sylveon is the poster girl of the newly-introduced Fairy type, and it certainly does a great job of showing the power of Fairies. Sylveon has a similar stat spread with Vaporeon, boasting high HP and special stats, so it can both function as a bulky attacker or support. However, Sylveon faces competition with several other popular Fairy-types, and its poor Speed and Defense are also problematic. While most Fairies settle for Moonblast, Sylveon can use Pixilate-boosted Hyper Voice as its STAB move, which hits harder and bypasses Substitutes. Psyshock lets Sylveon bypass special walls and hits Poison-types heavily. Shadow Ball provides decent neutral coverage, though you can go for Hidden Power Ground or Fire to deal with Steel-types. Sylveon can also use Wish and Heal Bell, as well as a slow Baton Pass, to function as an effective healer as well.

Porygon, Porygon2 and Porygon-Z
Despite being consecutive members of an evolutionary line, both Porygon2 and Porygon-Z have their uses. Porygon2 is valued for its impressive bulk with Eviolite, along with a very useful defensive ability in Trace, an ability that mostly comes in handy when the opponent has immunity-granting abilities to their main attacks like Volt Absorb or Flash Fire. Porygon2 has several ways to support, such as setting up Trick Room and spreading status with Thunder Wave or Toxic. It can also heal itself with Recover, and it is less vulnerable to Taunt due to its good Special Attack and coverage, which is usually some combo of Thunderbolt, Ice Beam and Tri Attack, though it struggles to bring down bulky sweepers. Porygon2 can also play like a bulky attacker when using Download or Analytic, with Analytic providing a consistent boost while Download requiring some prediction for a higher boost. Avoid Knock Off at all costs, since Porygon2's bulk drops sharply without Eviolite.

As reflected in its stats, Porygon-Z sacrifices defenses for strength and speed, being one of few Normal-type special attackers in the game. In lieu of Trace, it has Adaptability, which gives it a very powerful Tri Attack as an STAB move. Dark Pulse and Shadow Ball are both options to hit Normal-immune Ghost-types. Dark Pulse has a decent chance to cause flinching, while Shadow Ball does more damage to Fighting-types, a common foe of Porygon-Z. Unfortunately, it has no direct way of threatening Rock and Steel types bar Hidden Power Fighting. Thunderbolt and Ice Beam both provide amazing extra coverage if there's space in Porygon-Z's moveset. Porygon-Z also has two great boosting moves, Nasty Plot for crushing its opposition with force and Agility to outpace more offensively built foes. Lastly, since Porygon-Z has a lot of trouble overcoming the bulk of special walls, Trick coupled with a Choice item can shut down their support and render them useless.

Omanyte and Omastar
Omastar has a variety of good traits going for it. It's one of the few Pokemon with Shell Smash, which is among the best offensive boosting moves in the game. It also has the Weak Armor ability, which lets Omastar sponge physical moves with its high Defense to increase its poor Speed. However, Omastar's claim to fame is being a potent specially-based Swift Swim user, and while base 115 Special Attack might not seem like much, a Water-move in rain will be boosted to deadly levels. As Omastar's Speed isn't excellent even under rain, it is more commonly used to power through bulky foes rather than sweep. Due to the aforementioned average speed, Omastar must also watch out for very fast attackers and priority moves, especially due to its weakness to Mach Punch. Omastar's typing inevitably compounds the weaknesses of rain teams as well, being weak to Electric and Grass.

Hydro Pump is obscenely powerful in the rain, so it's Omastar's trump card for breaking through bulky foes. Scald is usually kept as a more accurate alternative, and its high Burn chance helps Omastar support its teammates without sacrificing too much power. Ice Beam is an incredible coverage move, most importantly for threatening Grass-types, who can otherwise deal massive damage to Omastar. Shell Smash makes Omastar a threatening offensive force, but it's still vulnerable to priority and it uses up a rain turn. Knock Off isn't going to be very strong off of base 60 Attack, but has good utility regardless. Omastar also has an impressive array of entry hazards, capable of learning Spikes, Toxic Spikes and Stealth Rock, but setting up hazards wastes a turn in rain when it could otherwise be doing damage, and a more supportive set is outclassed by other hazard setters.

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

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

Mewtwo
Mewtwo is a Pokemon designed to be a killing machine, and it has only gotten better with the introduction of two new Mega Evolutions. Mega Mewtwo X gains a Fighting sub-type, improved defenses and and massive boost in physical Attack. Meanwhile, Mega Mewtwo Y is faster and has heavily increased Special Attack. The ability to choose between a powerful physical set and a deadly special one makes Mewtwo very unpredictable, and bringing out the wrong counter against the wrong moveset could spell disaster. Even regular Mewtwo is still a threat, able to hit harder than Mega Mewtwo Y with a Life Orb while preserving its Defense. Combined with a wide physical and special movepool, Mewtwo is easily one of the most flexible and deadly Pokemon in the game. However, as strong as it is, its defenses are still poor for a legendary, and its Psychic typing gives it some undesirable weaknesses, especially to Sucker Punch, so don't get too carried away with its power.

For a historically special-based attacker, Mewtwo learns a surprising range of physical attacks that Mega Mewtwo can make good use of. Its physical STAB moves are a bit dissapointing, as the most reliable Fighting and Psychic moves Mewtwo has are Brick Break and Zen Headbutt. However, Low Kick is actually quite effective if you're regularly taking on other legendary Pokemon, which are often heavyweight behemoths. Mewtwo also learns the Earthquake and Stone Edge combo for wide type coverage. Ice Punch is highly effective against the numerous Flying and Dragon types that rival Mewtwo's strength. It even gets Poison Jab and Iron Tail to give Fairy-types targeting its new weakness a nasty surprise.

Regular Mewtwo and Mega Mewtwo Y play very similarly, given that both are powerful special attackers with a lot of speed. Psystike is the best STAB move Mewtwo gets, dealing tons of damage and preventing special walls from freely sponging Mewtwo's attacks. Focus Blast has nice coverage with Psystrike, letting Mewtwo break through Steel and Dark types that can resist Psystrike. Shadow Ball rounds up its coverage for Ghost types and the rare Psychic type. Fire Blast is an alternative for hitting some Steel-types like Scizor and Ferrothorn harder, while Ice Beam brings down the myriad of powerful Dragon types in the game. Mewtwo can use Calm Mind to increase its power and bulk much more, and it can use Recover to keep it alive on more bulky sets. Finally, Mewtwo is one of the fastest users of Taunt there is, which can stop opposing defensive Pokemon and keep it from being afflicted with a crippling paralysis or burn.

Mew
As the first mythical Pokemon ever introduced, Mew is the series' classic jack-of-all-trades, capable of learning any TM and HM, as well as being able to learn attacks from most move tutors. This trait has caused it to amass an impressive array of attacks over the years, making Mew a very versatile Pokemon. It also has great balanced stats, with base 100 stats all across. Unfortunately, Mew has gradually found itself outclassed by more specialized Pokemon, mainly due to the power creep of each successive generation. Its Psychic typing is also pretty poor both offensively and defensively, leaving it with weaknesses to common attacks, particularly Knock Off. Nevertheless, Mew still finds use as a flexible support Pokemon, owing to its massive movepool and excellent stats.

Since Mew's movepool is so big, it can be hard to pick just four for battle. While Mew learns many attacks across multiple types, its true highlight is its range of status moves. Taunt and Will-O-Wisp are excellent support moves that disrupts defensive and offensive teams, respectively. Mew can also both set up hazards with Stealth Rock and remove them with Defog, though running both together is a bit self-defeating. Soft-Boiled lets Mew keep itself healthy so it can get more opportunities to support the team. Additionally, Mew can use Substitute to use set up moves like Rock Polish, Swords Dance or Nasty Plot safely, then Baton Pass it to another teammate. Mew often has to carry at least one attack to account for the occasional fast Taunt. Psychic and Psyshock are Mew's best STAB options, while Knock Off gives Mew further utility.