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

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

Bulbasaur, Ivysaur and Venusaur

Bulbasaur, Ivysaur and Venusaur are all Grass and Poison types and specialize in Special Attack and Special Defence, although they also have access to many Physical Attacks such as Power Whip, Seed Bomb and Double-Edge and can pull off these moves reasonably well. Bulbasaur is the only member of its family that can learn Seed Bomb by leveling up.

They also have access to many status moves including Poison Powder and Sleep Powder, as well as being able to use Leech Seed, so they don't have to rely on raw power alone in order to win a battle. However all three of them are somewhat held back by their lack of Speed. They all have Overgrow to power up their Grass type moves when they're tired. They're Hidden Ability, Chlorophyll, increases their Speed when Sunny Day is in effect.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Sleep Powder
• Solarbeam
• Sludge Bomb
• Earthquake

Moveset 2

• Seed Bomb
• Frenzy Plant
• Leech Seed
• Earthquake

Moveset 3

• Sunny Day
• Solarbeam
• Sludge Bomb
• Synthesis

Charmander, Charmeleon and Charizard

Charmander, Charmeleon and Charizard are Special Attackers and unlike Bulbasaur, Ivysaur and Venusaur they are fast enough to sweep in the right circumstances. Charizard in particular, suffers from a huge weakness to Rock types, and although it can learn Steel Wing and Metal Claw, it doesn't have enough Physical Attack power to use them to great effect. However Charizard is still a force to be reckoned with, and the only Pokémon it really fears are Rock types because a well trained Charizard can deal with Water and Electric types.

Charmander and Charmeleon have a fairly good movepool which includes Dragon Rage, but it's not until they gain the Flying type characteristics and superior power of Charizard that they can be truly formidable. All three have the Blaze ability to give their Fire type moves a boost. Their Hidden Ability is less useful. Solar Power increases their Special Attack but costs them HP on every turn, and with several weaknesses, they need all the HP they can get.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1 (Charmeleon)

• Flamethrower
• Metal Claw
• Dragon Rage
• Will-O-Wisp

Moveset 2 (Charizard)

• Flamethrower
• Seismic Toss
• Will-O-Wisp
• Air Slash

Moveset 3 (Charizard)

• Blast Burn
• Heat Wave
• Dragon Pulse
• Air Slash

Moveset 4 (Charizard)

• Blast Burn
• Flamethrower
• Steel Wing
• Dragon Claw

Squirtle, Wartortle and Blastoise

Squirtle, Wartortle and Blastoise are strong defensively and can learn moves such as Ice Beam and Earthquake to cover their weaknesses. They are three of the extreme few Pokémon that are capable of using the powerful Skull Bash, which also increases they're already good Defense before they hit the opponent.

Blastoise is the only non-Steel type who can learn Flash Cannon without a TM. Torrent is this evolutionary lines Special Ability, increasing the power of their Water type moves when they're tired, while their Hidden Ability is Rain Dish which allows them to restore a little bit of health when it is raining.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Hydro Pump
• Skull Bash
• Bite
• Yawn

Moveset 2

• Hydro Pump
• Skull Bash
• Hydro Cannon
• Flash Cannon

Moveset 3

• Hydro Pump
• Skull Bash
• Ice Beam
• Earthquake

Caterpie, Metapod and Butterfree

The only good thing about Caterpie and Metapod is that Caterpie evolves at level 7 and Metapod evolves at level 10. Butterfree is far from the strongest of Pokémon but it does have a useful Ability called Compoundeyes which makes the appallingly inaccurate Supersonic 30% more accurate. Its Hidden Ability is Tinted Lens which can also be useful since it makes its attacks cause more damage to Pokémon that resist its moves.

Butterfree's stats are not particularly impressive so normally it's better to rely on its wide variety of status moves rather than raw power. However it can learn the very useful Quiver Dance to raise its Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed all at once.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Supersonic
• Stun Spore
• Bug Buzz
• Air Cutter

Moveset 2

• Supersonic
• Poison Powder
• Bug Buzz
• Psychic

Moveset 3

• Supersonic
• Quiver Dance
• Bug Buzz
• Psychic

Weedle, Kakuna and Beedrill

Like Caterpie and Metapod, Weedle and Kakuna evolve at levels 7 and 10 respectively. Beedrill is arguably weaker than Butterfree, without Quiver Dance or as many status moves, and despite having wings it can be hit by Ground type moves, but it does have a higher Attack stat than its counterpart and the very rare Twineedle move, which allows it to hit twice and both strikes have a chance of inflicting poison. Beedrill is also fairly agile and has a means of raising its Speed via Agility.

Another way in which Beedrill is inferior to Butterfree is that its Special Ability and Hidden Ability are less useful. Swarm can come in handy when Beedrill's tired and give its Bug type moves a boost but when tired it's probably best to just use Endeavour anyway. Sniper increases the chances of a Critical Hit, which can actually work well with Focus Energy, but still isn't as useful as Tinted Lens.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Twineedle
• Toxic Spikes
• Poison Jab
• Endeavour

Moveset 2

• Twineedle
• Swords Dance
• Poison Jab
• Brick Break

Moveset 3

• Twineedle
• Focus Energy
• Poison Jab
• Drill Run

Pidgey, Pidgeotto and Pidgeot

Pidgey, Pidgeotto and Pidgeot are outclassed by many other Flying types, but Pidgeot was still considered strong enough to be Falkner and Blue's strongest Pokémon in Heart Gold and Soul Silver. However none of their stats are exceptional, not even Speed even though Pidgeot is said to go at Mach 2 speed.

Pidgey evolves at level 18 and Pidgeotto evolves at level 36. Neither of their Special Abilities are hugely useful. Keen Eye prevents loss of accuracy but moves that cause loss of accuracy are rare anyway, plus Aerial Ace never misses. It is interesting to note that this evolutionary family cannot learn Aerial Ace by themselves. Tangled Feet is slightly more useful, making them harder to hit when they're confused but there is still a chance they will just beat themselves up. Their Hidden Ability is Big Pecks which is probably the most useful since it makes it impossible for the foe to drop their Defense. This works well with Feather Dance and the potential increase of Defense provided by Steel Wing.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Aerial Ace
• Steel Wing
• Roost
• Fly

Moveset 2

• Aerial Ace
• U-Turn
• Giga Impact
• Feather Dance

Moveset 3

• Brave Bird
• Steel Wing
• Roost
• Double Team

Rattata and Raticate

Although they are reasonably fast and have a fairly good Attack stat, Rattata and Raticate are nothing special. Rattata evolves at level 20 and there is a very slight difference in it and Raticate's movesets; Rattata can learn Focus Energy while Raticate can learn Scary Face. The best thing about these two rats is that they can decrease even a Steel and Rock types HP to half their original amount by using Super Fang. Hyper Fang is a strong STAB move.

Rattata and Raticate can have Run Away but the only thing that's good for is fleeing from wild Pokémon, so get one with Guts since that will increase their Attack power when they are burned, paralyzed or poisoned. Their Hidden Ability is Hustle. Although that makes their attacks stronger without needing to be afflicted with a status condition, the loss of Accuracy can be problematic.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Super Fang
• Hyper Fang
• Crunch
• Endeavour

Moveset 2

• Super Fang
• Façade
• Crunch
• Quick Attack

Moveset 3

• Swords Dance
• Hyper Fang
• Crunch
• Wild Charge

Spearow and Fearow

Spearow and Fearow have good Attack and Speed, but are easily outclassed by the majority of other Flying type Pokémon. Spearow evolves at level 20. They have an almost useless Special Ability, Keen Eye, which prevents loss of Accuracy but usually opponents prefer to raise their Evasiveness rather than reduce Accuracy. The Hidden Ability Sniper is slightly more useful due to the increased chance of a Critical Hit. Due to a rather limited movepool, you could easily fit Fly into Fearow's moveset so you can get from place to place.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Drill Peck
• Drill Run
• Roost
• Fly

Moveset 2

• Drill Peck
• Faint Attack
• Roost
• U-Turn

Moveset 3

• Drill Peck
• Steel Wing
• Roost
• Fly

Ekans and Arbok

Ekans and Arbok are not particularly powerful, but they do have a couple of useful Abilities; Shed Skin to heal status problems and Intimidate to lower Attack. Their Hidden Ability is Unnerve, but that only prevents the foe from using a berry.

Ekans evolves at level 22 and after becoming Arbok, it can learn all three of the Elemental Fangs which can be very useful since it can have many different types and use them super effectively. Thanks to acceptable Speed, the ability to decrease an opponent's Speed through Glare, and a good Attack stat, Arbok can hold its own but it won't be the most challenging of opponents.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Gunk Shot
• Glare
• Iron Tail
• Crunch

Moveset 2

• Poison Tail
• Fire Fang
• Ice Fang
• Thunder Fang

Moveset 3

• Gunk Shot
• Coil
• Earthquake
• Crunch

Pichu, Pikachu and Raichu

As everyone knows, Pikachu is the mascot of the Pokémon series and Ash's Pikachu from the anime is one of his strongest Pokémon. Unfortunately Pikachu is far weaker in the games than it is in the anime. Raichu evolves from Pikachu via a Thunderstone but unfortunately many of its attacks can only be learned as a Pichu or Pikachu. That said, Raichu does have superior stats, although it does not get any power boost from a Light Ball.

Pichu has some useful moves that it can't learn as a Pikachu or Raichu including Sweet Kiss. It evolves into Pikachu via friendship. Pikachu has pathetic defenses although it does have Static to paralyze Physical Attackers and Light Screen to weaken Special Attacks. One thing that makes Pikachu unique, apart from it being the mascot of Pokémon, is the Light Ball which is rare but gives it vastly superior Attack and Special Attack and also gives its child access to Volt Tackle when it is bred.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Volt Tackle
• Thunderbolt
• Iron Tail
• Quick Attack

Moveset 2

• Volt Tackle
• Thunderbolt
• Iron Tail
• Light Screen

Moveset 3

• Volt Tackle
• Thunderbolt
• Brick Break
• Sweet Kiss

Moveset 4

• Nasty Plot
• Thunderbolt
• Charm
• Grass Knot

Sandshrew and Sandslash

Sandshrew evolves into Sandslash at level 22. Considering the size if a Sandslash's claws, it is obvious that it has a high Attack stat but its best stat is its Defence obviously because of those nasty looking spines on its back. Sandslash can use Swords Dance to raise its already high Attack by two levels with each use. Unfortunately it suffers from lack of Speed, although its ability to use Gyro Ball somewhat makes up for that weakness.

Their Special Ability is Sand Veil which increases their evasiveness in a Sandstorm. Their Hidden Ability is Sand Rush which increases their Speed in a Sandstorm.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Earthquake
• Shadow Claw
• Sandstorm
• Crush Claw

Moveset 2

• Dig
• Swords Dance
• Gyro Ball
• Crush Claw

Moveset 3

• Dig
• Shadow Claw
• X-Scissor
• Cut

Nidoran, Nidorina and Nidoqueen

The female side of the Nido family do not have great stats, the highest being HP which is still somewhat limited when compared with Pokémon such as Blissey. They have slightly better Defense than their male counterparts and this can give them a better chance of activating Poison Point. Rivalry is a situational Special Ability which depends on whether you're facing a male or female opponent and therefore can be turned against the Nido family by a pokemon of the opposite gender. Nidoran and Nidorina have Hustle as their Hidden Ability which increases their Attack but decreases Accuracy and Nidoqueen has Sheer Force which gives her superior raw power at the cost of ensuring that moves such as Poison Fang or Earth Power will never activate their useful side effects.

Nidoran evolves into Nidorina at level 16 and Nidorina evolves into Nidoqueen via a Moon stone. Nidoqueen has a very large movepool and although her offensive stats are not brilliant, unless she has Sheer Force or is facing a female Pokémon if she has Rivalry, she can make up for this with many powerful moves.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1 (Nidorina)

• Poison Fang
• Crunch
• Double Kick
• Flatter

Moveset 2 (Nidoqueen)

• Poison Fang
• Crunch
• Superpower
• Body Slam

Moveset 3 (Nidoqueen)

• Sludge Bomb
• Earth Power
• Superpower
• Ice Beam

Moveset 4 (Nidoqueen)

• Poison Fang
• Crunch
• Earthquake
• Flatter

Nidoran, Nidorino and Nidoking

The male side of the Nido family have the same Abilities as their female counterparts and evolve at the same level and with the same stone but they have better Attack than the females at the cost of lower defensive capabilities. Their movepool, while retaining a few similarities such as Double Kick and Flatter, has some different moves and they can even learn the highly dangerous but frustratingly inaccurate Horn Drill.

Like their female counterparts, the male Nido's have a large movepool, especially Nidoking. One thing that sets the apart from the females is that they can use Drill Run, whereas Nidoqueen, despite being known as the Drill Pokémon, cannot.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1 (Nidorino)

• Poison Jab
• Horn Drill
• Double Kick
• Flatter

Moveset 2 (Nidoking)

• Poison Jab
• Horn Drill
• Drill Run
• Megahorn

Moveset 3 (Nidoking)

• Sludge Bomb
• Earth Power
• Flamethrower
• Megahorn

Moveset 4 (Nidoking)

• Poison Jab
• Horn Drill
• Drill Run
• Flatter

Cleffa, Clefairy and Clefable

Cleffa has a few moves that Clefairy and Clefable can't learn, notably Magical Leaf and Sweet Kiss. It evolves into Clefairy via friendship and Clefairy evolves into Clefable via a Moon Stone. One thing that sets Clefairy and Clefable apart from all other Pokémon, apart from Metang, Metagross and Smeargle, is their ability to learn Meteor Mash. Their Attack isn't brilliant but it can get better thanks to Meteor Mash's side effect.

Clefable can serve as a good Special wall, having access to Light Screen and Cosmic Power. It can also learn Reflect to increase its mediocre Defense stat. This evolutionary family is all rather slow and not particularly strong offensively but they do have a few useful skills that allow them to hold their own. They are also gifted with two useful Special Abilities. The first is Cute Charm which can act as a free Attract when they are hit by Physical Attacks. The second blows Cute Charm out of the water as far as awesomeness is concerned. Magic Guard blocks any damage that is not caused directly. A Cleffa, Clefairy or Clefable with Magic Guard is perfectly comfortable in Sandstorm or Hail, allowing them to work well on teams that rely on Sand Stream or Snow Warning, will shrug off Leech Seed or poison, even the severe kind caused by Toxic or Poison Fang, and doesn't suffer any damage from burn, although the decrease in Attack power remains. Magic Guard does have its limits however, and they can still be paralyzed, put to sleep or frozen. Cleffa and Clefairy's Hidden Ability is Friend Guard which decreases the damage their allies take in double or triple battles while Clefable's Hidden Ability is Unaware which is good for preventing the opponent from raising their stats. However neither of these Abilities are even close to being as useful as Magic Guard.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Meteor Mash
• Cosmic Power
• Stored Power
• Shadow Ball

Moveset 2

• Meteor Mash
• Light Screen
• Reflect
• Metronome

Moveset 3

• Meteor Mash
• Cosmic Power
• Magical Leaf
• Sweet Kiss

Vulpix and Ninetails

Vulpix evolves into Ninetails via a Fire Stone. Ninetails has good Speed and Special Defense and also benefits from being able to use a combination of Nasty Plot and Overheat. None of its other stats are particularly high but it can learn many status moves including Confuse Ray and Will-O-Wisp. Vulpix and Ninetails are also two of the few Fire types capable of using Energy Ball, which covers all of their type weaknesses.

Vulpix and Ninetails have Flash Fire as their Special Ability. This is great for getting a free power boost when hit with a Fire type move but their Hidden Ability is more useful. Drought, an ability that until generation V could only be used by Groudon, acts as a free and everlasting Sunny Day, unless another weather condition is used or a Pokémon has an Ability that prevents weather from working.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Overheat
• Nasty Plot
• Energy Ball
• Confuse Ray

Moveset 2

• Flamethrower
• Safeguard
• Extrasensory
• Confuse Ray

Moveset 3

• Flamethrower
• Solarbeam
• Extrasensory
• Will-O-Wisp

Igglybuff, Jigglypuff and Wigglytuff

Igglybuff, Jigglypuff and Wigglytuff are not very strong, their only notable stat being their very high HP but they don't have the Defense or Special Defense to back it up, unless using moves that raise these stats. Igglybuff evolved through friendship and Jigglypuff evolved via a Moon Stone, but should be raised in its middle form in order for it to get the best moves.

All three of them have Cute Charm as their Special Ability which has a chance of causing infatuation if the foe makes physical contact. Igglybuff and Jigglypuff have Friend Guard as their Hidden Ability, decreasing the damage their allies take in double and triple battles, while Wigglytuff has Frisk allowing it to see what its opponents item is before the item is used.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Shadow Ball
• Gravity
• Sing
• Body Slam

Moveset 2

• Light Screen
• Reflect
• Mimic
• Body Slam

Moveset 3

• Shadow Ball
• Grass Knot
• Hyper Voice
• Covet

Zubat, Golbat and Crobat

Zubat is weak but annoying because of its insanely inaccurate Supersonic, which can still be irritating if it hits. Nobody in their right mind would keep Supersonic when Confuse Ray is an option because of its terrible accuracy. Zubat evolves into the much stronger Golbat at level 22 and Golbat evolves into Crobat through friendship. Crobat is extremely fast but none of its other stats stand out so much, although it can be a fairly good Physical Attacker.

All three of the bats have Inner Focus as their Special Ability making it impossible for them to flinch unless the Ability is disabled. Infiltrator, their Hidden Ability, is much more useful because their Confuse Rays will get through Safeguard, Screech will not be bothered by Mist, and Reflect and Light Screen won't weaken the power of their attacks.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Aerial Ace
• Poison Fang
• Confuse Ray
• Mean Look

Moveset 2

• Wing Attack
• Cross Poison
• U-Turn
• Screech

Moveset 3

• Wing Attack
• Cross Poison
• Confuse Ray
• Bite

Oddish, Gloom, Vileplume and Bellossom

Oddish evolves into Gloom at level 21 and Gloom can evolve into either Vileplume or Bellossom with a Leaf Stone or Sun Stone respectively. All four of these Pokémon have Chlorophyll as their Special Ability, increasing their Speed in sunlight. Oddish's Hidden Ability is Run Away, allowing it to flee from any wild Pokémon. Gloom has Stench as its Hidden Ability which decreases the chances of a wild Pokémon bothering you and can cause flinching when it attacks. Vileplume has Effect Spore which has a chance of randomly putting the opponent to sleep or paralyzing or poisoning it whenever it makes physical contact. Finally Bellossom has Healer which can sometimes heal an ally's status condition at the end of each turn.

Vileplume specializes in Special Attack while Bellossom specializes in Special Defense. Their other stats are all the same. Vileplume is arguably the stronger of the two since it's Poison type characteristics give it a resistance to Poison and Bug types, both of which are super effective on Bellossom. However Bellossom doesn't have Vileplume's weakness to Psychic types. Both of them have rather small movepools but they include some powerful Grass and Poison type moves as well as a wide variety of status techniques.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1 (Vileplume)

• Sleep Powder
• Solarbeam
• Sludge Bomb
• Giga Drain

Moveset 2 (Vileplume)

• Poison Powder
• Petal Dance
• Sludge Bomb
• Giga Drain

Moveset 3 (Vileplume)

• Stun Spore
• Petal Dance
• Natural Gift
• Acid

Moveset 4 (Bellossom)

• Sunny Day
• Solarbeam
• Hidden Power (Rock)
• Giga Drain

Moveset 5 (Bellossom)

• Stun Spore
• Magical Leaf
• Hidden Power (Rock)
• Giga Drain

Moveset 6 (Bellossom)

• Stun Spore
• Petal Dance
• Natural Gift
• Acid

Paras and Parasect

Paras and Parasect are virtually useless against Fire and Flying types. Parasect has a reasonable Attack stat and its Defense and Special Defense aren't terrible but it has many weaknesses. It evolves from Paras at level 24. Both Pokémon can have either Effect Spore or Dry Skin as their Special Ability. Effect Spore can somewhat work against Parasect because it really benefits from its Spore and if hit with a Physical Attack it risks poisoning or paralyzing the foe, although if you're lucky it might put it to sleep. Dry Skin means that almost any Fire type move will obliterate Parasect in one hit and it looses energy when the sun is bright. On the bright side it does act like Water Absorb and Rain Dish rolled into one but being part Grass type, Parasect has the advantage over Water types anyway. Their Hidden Ability is Damp which prevents Explosion or Selfdestruct from working.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Spore
• X-Scissor
• Giga Drain
• Cut

Moveset 2

• Spore
• X-Scissor
• Swords Dance
• Cross Poison

Moveset 3

• Spore
• X-Scissor
• False Swipe
• Cross Poison

Venonat and Venomoth

Venonat evolves into Venomoth at level 31 and has a considerably smaller moveset. However it is the only one of the duo who can use a reasonably reliable Supersonic thanks to Compoundeye which increases its accuracy. Both of them can have the Ability Tinted Lens, which gives their offensive moves a bit more power. Venomoth can also have Shield Dust which protects it from the side effects of attacks, such as flinching and status conditions, although moves designed specifically to cause status conditions can get through Shield Dust. Venonat has Run Away as it's Hidden Ability and Venomoth has Wonder Skin making status moves miss half the time. Although Venomoth has wings it can still be affected by Ground type moves, which is ridiculous. Neither Venonat nor Venomoth have any particularly high stats, but they do have a wide variety of status moves.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1 (Venonat)

• Supersonic
• Signal Beam
• Stun Spore
• Disable

Moveset 2 (Venomoth)

• Psychic
• Bug Buzz
• Stun Spore
• Disable

Moveset 3 (Venomoth)

• Psychic
• Bug Buzz
• Quiver Dance
• Sleep Powder

Moveset 4 (Venomoth)

• Psychic
• Silver Wind
• Toxic
• Venoshock

Diglett and Dugtrio

Diglett and Dugtrio are both very fast and are decent Physical Attackers but their other stats are unimpressive. Diglett gains three heads at level 26. Both of them have either Sand Veil or Arena Trap as their Special Ability, with Sand Veil making them harder to hit in a Sandstorm and Arena Trap ensuring that any Pokémon that can't fly, Levitate or disable its opponents Ability will be trapped until the battle is over. Their Hidden Ability is Sand Force which increases the power of Rock, Ground and (though neither Diglett nor Dugtrio can learn them) Steel type moves.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1 (Diglett)

• Fissure
• Dig
• Astonish
• Rock Slide

Moveset 2 (Dugtrio)

• Fissure
• Dig
• Tri Attack
• Stone Edge

Moveset 3 (Dugtrio)

• Earthquake
• Sludge Bomb
• Tri Attack
• Stone Edge

Moveset 4 (Dugtrio)

• Earthquake
• Sandstorm
• Night Slash
• Stone Edge

Meowth and Persian

Meowth can give you a bit of extra cash after a battle thanks to Pay Day. It evolves into Persian at level 28. Meowth has high Speed and can randomly pick up items using Pickup. Like Persian, it can also have Technician which gives more power to its weaker moves. Persian's other Special Ability is Limber, making it immune to paralysis which is very useful since Speed is the stat Persian uses the best. Both of them have Unnerve as their Hidden Ability but this only prevents berries from being used.

Despite their Speed, the other stats of these felines are rather low, with their second highest, Attack, still being considerably lower than their Speed. Persian also looses the ability to use Pay Day after evolution despite the fact that Pay Day was the signature move of both of them in earlier generations. They have a wide movepool but lack the stats necessary to make them truly dangerous.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1 (Meowth)

• Pay Day
• Faint Attack
• Fake Out
• Screech

Moveset 2 (Persian)

• Slash
• Night Slash
• Fake Out
• U-Turn

Moveset 3 (Persian)

• Hyper Beam
• Nasty Plot
• Thunderbolt
• Power Gem

Moveset 4 (Persian)

• Slash
• Night Slash
• Dig
• Screech

Psyduck and Golduck

Despite being able to learn many Psychic type moves, Psyduck and Golduck are both pure Water types. Psyduck evolves at level 33. Neither it nor Golduck are extremely powerful and lack of STAB Psychic type moves makes them less appealing than Pokémon like Starmie, but they are the only Pokémon that can have Cloud Nine as a Special Ability (although Lickitung, Lickilicky, Swablu and Altaria have it as their Hidden Ability). Cloud Nine prevents Sandstorm, Hail and Sunny Day from working but the bad thing is it also means Golduck's Water type moves won't be made more powerful by Rain Dance. Damp only prevents Explosion and Selfdestruct from working. These two ducks have Swift Swim as their Hidden Ability, which means they can actually make use of Rain Dance, not only from making their Water type moves stronger but also from raising their not terrible but not good Speed. Golduck also has access to Aqua Jet to allow it to strike first.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Aqua Jet
• Zen Headbutt
• Shadow Claw
• Screech

Moveset 2

• Hydro Pump
• Psychic
• Calm Mind
• Ice Beam

Moveset 3

• Hydro Pump
• Psychic
• Rain Dance
• Psych Up

Mankey and Primeape

Mankey and Primeape are both proficient and agile Physical Attackers but they suffer from low defensive stats. Mankey evolves at level 28. Although Primeape can be reasonably deadly in Physical combat it can't take hits very well; however if a Primeape has Anger Point and manages to resist a Critical Hit, it's Attack will automatically reach its highest level, which can allow it to sweep entire teams with ease. Vital Spirit is arguably even more useful and you won't need to worry about being put to Sleep. Primeape is one of the few Pokémon who always has a useful Ability, as its Hidden Ability is Defiant which raises its Attack by two stages when the opponent lowers any stat, including when it tries to lower Attack. However don't forget that Primeape can't activate Defiant by using Close Combat.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Close Combat
• Rock Slide
• Mega Kick
• Payback

Moveset 2

• Cross Chop
• Seismic Toss
• Smack Down
• Earthquake

Moveset 3

• Close Combat
• Rock Slide
• Acrobatics
• Fling

Growlithe and Arcanine

Growlithe is not very powerful but it can learn many moves that Arcanine can't and thus should be raised in its base form before being evolved via a Fire Stone. Arcanine can be quite a deadly Pokémon in the right hands and has a fairly wide variety of moves, even if many of them need to be learned as Growlithe. One move Arcanine is famous for is ExtremeSpeed which is a more powerful version of Quick Attack.

Furthermore all of their Abilities are useful. Their Special Abilities are Intimidate and Flash Fire, with Intimidate automatically lowering the opponents Attack and Flash Fire increasing the power of their Fire type moves if hit by a Fire type attack. Justified works similar to Flash Fire, except without the immunity, and raises the power of all Physical Attacks when hit by a Dark type move.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Flare Blitz
• Thunder Fang
• Crunch
• ExtremeSpeed

Moveset 2

• Flare Blitz
• Close Combat
• Outrage
• ExtremeSpeed

Moveset 3

• Flamethrower
• Thunder Fang
• Iron Tail
• ExtremeSpeed

Poliwag, Poliwhirl, Poliwrath and Politoad

Poliwag is surprisingly fast and evolves into Poliwhirl at level 25. Poliwhirl evolves into Poliwrath via a Water Stone and into Politoad by trading it while it's holding a Kings Rock. All members of the evolutionary family have either Water Absorb, to restore energy when hit by Water type moves, or Damp, to prevent Explosion and Selfdestruct from working, as their Special Abilities. Poliwag, Poliwhirl and Poliwrath all have Swift Swim as their Hidden Ability, increasing their Speed in rain, while Politoad has Drizzle which summons a rain that won't end until the battle has ended or another weather condition is used.

Poliwrath is the only member of this family to not be a pure Water type, and is part Fighting type with access to some very powerful Fighting type moves such as DynamicPunch and Focus Punch. However none of its stats are particularly noteworthy. Politoad has a slightly stronger Special Defense stat but none of its other stats are notable, but it does have some useful and powerful moves such as Swagger and Hyper Voice.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1 (Poliwrath)

• DynamicPunch
• Mind Reader
• Waterfall
• Body Slam

Moveset 2 (Poliwrath)

• Focus Punch
• Mind Reader
• Hydro Pump
• Hypnosis

Moveset 3 (Poliwrath)

• Submission
• Rock Slide
• Waterfall
• Rain Dance

Moveset 4 (Politoad)

• Hyper Voice
• Bounce
• Hydro Pump
• Swagger

Moveset 5 (Politoad)

• Whirlpool
• Bounce
• Hydro Pump
• Perish Song

Moveset 6 (Politoad)

• Echoed Voice
• Mud Bomb
• Surf
• Hypnosis

Abra, Kadabra and Alakazam

Abra evolves into Kadabra at level 16 and Kadabra evolves into Alakazam via trading. These Psychic types are Special Sweepers, although Abra can only learn the useless Teleport via level up. Kadabra and Alakazam are the only Pokémon apart from Smeargle that can learn Kinesis, which lowers accuracy but since they are weak defensively, Kinesis is unreliable and therefore should only be used in the early stages of the games, where the opponents are weaker. All three of these Pokémon can be immune to flinching through Inner Focus, can turn status conditions against the foe with Synchronise, or best of all, can be completely immune to indirect damage thanks to Magic Guard, which is their Hidden Ability.

Alakazam is one of the strongest non-legendary Psychic types, capable of tearing teams apart with its devastating Special Attack and Speed. However it suffers from terrible Defense; fortunately it can learn Reflect. It's Special Defense isn't awful, but it's nothing special so Light Screen or Calm Mind are options. Even with these moves however, it's better to decimate the foe as fast as possible. Focus Blast is a move that Alakazam uses almost as much as Psychic, despite only being able to learn it through TM. However Focus Blast is inaccurate.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1 (Abra)

• Psychic
• Signal Beam
• Reflect
• Hidden Power (dark)

Moveset 2 (Alakazam)

• Psychic
• Focus Blast
• Shadow Ball
• Recover

Moveset 3 (Alakazam)

• Psychic
• Signal Beam
• Reflect
• Light Screen

Moveset 4 (Alakazam)

• Psychic
• Signal Beam
• Calm Mind
• Recover

Machop, Machoke and Machamp

Machamps four arms and massive muscles make it a force to be reckoned with when it comes to raw Physical Attack power. None of its other stats are noteworthy but it's sheer brute strength makes it dangerous. It evolves from Machoke via trading and Machoke evolves from Machop at level 28.

The best thing about Machamp is it's awesome Special Ability No Guard. Forget about Guts; No Guard is an Ability all Machamp should have because it means that every single move it makes will always hit the opponent, unless they are immune to said move. An opponent has used Double Team six times? Machamp can pinpoint the opponent and decimate it. Even Flying and Digging Pokémon can't escape from a Machamp with No Guard. However there is one drawback to this awesome ability; Machamp's moves will always hit the opponent but their moves will also always hit Machamp. Machamp's Hidden Ability is Steadfast which can be somewhat useful when it flinches because of its low Speed, but No Guard is by far its best Ability.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• DynamicPunch
• Stone Edge
• Bullet Punch
• Cross Chop

Moveset 2

• Dynamic Punch
• Rock Tomb
• Strength
• Cross Chop

Moveset 3

• Bulk Up
• Stone Edge
• Strength
• Cross Chop

Bellsprout, Weepinbell and Victreebel

Bellsprout evolves into Weepinbel at level 21 and Weepinbel evolves into Victreebel via a Leaf Stone. Weepinbel has many moves that Victreebel can't learn including Wring Out. All three of them have Chlorophyll as their Special Ability, increasing their Speed in sunlight and their Hidden Ability is the useless Gluttony.

Victreebel has good Attack and only slightly lower Special Attack. However it's not resilient and outside sunlight it's also rather slow.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Leaf Storm
• Leaf Blade
• Sludge Bomb
• Wring Out

Moveset 2

• Sunny Day
• Solarbeam
• Sludge Bomb
• Weather Ball

Moveset 3

• Sleep Powder
• Leaf Tornado
• Acid
• Wring Out

Tentacool and Tentacruel

Tentacool and Tentacruel can be fairly good walls. Tentacool evolves at level 30. Tentacruel has a high Special Defense stat, good Speed, and the ability to use Barrier to raise its rather low Defense by two levels with each use. Offensively Tentacruel is nothing special although it's better at using Special Attacks than Physical Attacks. A good strategy would be weaken the foe with moves that don't cause direct damage, such as Toxic or Confuse Ray, whilst Tentacruel absorbs Special Attacks and weakens Physical ones with Barrier.

Tentacool and Tentacruel can both have the Clear Body Ability which prevents their stats from being lowered. They can also have Liquid Ooze so if the opponent uses moves such as Giga Drain or Leech Seed they will lose energy rather than restore it, although Tentacruel will be hurt too. Tentacool and Tentacruel's Hidden Ability is Rain Dish which restores a little bit of energy on each turn while it's raining.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Toxic
• Confuse Ray
• Barrier
• Surf

Moveset 2

• Hydro Pump
• Sludge Wave
• Barrier
• Wring Out

Moveset 3

• Waterfall
• Screech
• Barrier
• Poison Jab

Geodude, Graveller and Golem

Geodude, Graveller and Golem all suffer from massive weaknesses to Water and Grass type moves as well as having pitiful Special Defense, terrible Speed and Special Attack which is even lower than their Special Defense. However Golem is a very sturdy Pokémon on the Physical side (literally in the cases of Golem with the Sturdy ability) and can make use of its terrible speed with Gyro Ball. As one of the heaviest Pokémon around, Golem is also capable of an extremely powerful Heavy Slam attack. Therefore it can be a worthy Pokémon if trained well.

Geodude evolves into Graveller at level 25 and Graveller evolves into Golem by trading. As mentioned above, Golem can have Sturdy which finally became genuinely useful in Generation 5 because even Grass and Water type moves won't knock it out with one blow. Geodude and Graveller can have the Ability too. Rock Head is only useful if you teach Golem Double-Edge because it prevents recoil damage. Sand Veil can help in a Sandstorm by raising evasiveness and Sandstorm will also raise Golem's Special Defense slightly at the same time due to it being a Rock type.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Stone Edge
• Earthquake
• Hammer Arm
• Gyro Ball

Moveset 2

• Stone Edge
• Earthquake
• Steamroller
• Heavy Slam

Moveset 3

• Stealth Rock
• Earthquake
• Explosion
• Brick Break

Ponyta and Rapidash

Ponyta and Rapidash cannot learn a wide variety of moves but they are fast and strong Physical Attackers with access to powerful moves such as Flare Blitz. Ponyta evolves into Rapidash at level 40 and due to its horn it gets access to Megahorn after evolution. Ponyta has no horn but it can learn Horn Drill through breeding.

Run Away is a useless Ability and can only be used for fleeing from wild battles. Flash Fire is more useful because it gives Ponyta and Rapidash's Fire type moves a power boost when they are hit by a Fire type move. However the Hidden Ability Flame Body is by far the most useful and can make up for their rather weak Defense stat due to burning lowering the Attack power of the opponent.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1 (Ponyta)

• Flare Blitz
• Bounce
• Stomp
• Flame Charge

Moveset 2 (Rapidash)

• Flare Blitz
• Bounce
• Megahorn
• Drill Run

Moveset 3 (Rapidash)

• Flare Blitz
• Bounce
• Megahorn
• Fire Blast

Moveset 4 (Rapidash)

• Flare Blitz
• Bounce
• Megahorn
• Horn Drill

Slowpoke, Slowbro and Slowking

Slowpoke has two methods of evolution. The first is to simply raise it to level 37 where it evolves into Slowbro and the second is to trade it with a Kings Rock so it evolves into Slowking. All three members of this family can have Oblivious, which prevents Attract, Captivate and Cute Charm from working, Own Tempo, which blocks confusion and their Hidden Ability is Regenerator which automatically restores 33.3% of their HP when they are recalled.

Slowbro is arguably the stronger of Slowpoke's evolutions which is shown by the fact that Will uses one despite the fact that Slowking was introduced in the same Generation as him. Slowbro has high Defense and Special Attack as well as the ability to learn Slack Off, an ability Slowking lacks unless it learns it as a Slowpoke. Slowbro backs up its Defense with good HP and its Special Defense, while not great, is good enough for it to take hits and can be increased through Calm Mind or Amnesia. Slowking has some moves Slowbro can't learn including Power Gem and Nasty Plot. While Slowbro specializes in Defense, Slowking's best stat is its Special Defense. It is just as strong as Slowbro as far as Special Attack is concerned; actually Slowking is just as strong as Slowbro, if you can be bothered to teach is Slack Off before evolving it.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1 (Slowbro)

• Psychic
• Water Pulse
• Calm Mind
• Slack Off

Moveset 2 (Slowbro)

• Psychic
• Surf
• Yawn
• Amnesia

Moveset 3 (Slowbro)

• Psychic
• Surf
• Shadow Ball
• Ice Beam

Moveset 4 (Slowking)

• Psychic
• Water Pulse
• Nasty Plot
• Slack Off

Moveset 5 (Slowking)

• Psychic
• Water Pulse
• Nasty Plot
• Power Gem

Moveset 6 (Slowking)

• Psychic
• Surf
• Swagger
• Trump Card

Magnemite, Magneton and Magnezone

Magnemite evolves into Magneton at level 30 and Magneton evolves into Magnezone when leveled up in Mount Coronet or Chargestone Cave. Despite being clearly capable of levitation all three of them lack the Levitate Ability although Magnet Rise can make up for this. Their Special Abilities are Sturdy, leaving them with 1 HP even if hit by a Ground type move, and Magnet Pull making it impossible for enemy Steel types to escape. Their Hidden Ability is Analytic which makes their moves more powerful if they move second. Magnemite

Magneton is not as powerful as Magnezone but it is capable of learning Tri Attack. Magneton's only really notable stat is its high Special Attack. It's Defense is decent but it still won't last long against a Ground type unless it knows Magnet Rise. Magnazone's Special Attack is higher than Magneton's and it also has more Defense and Special Defense as well as the ability to learn both Barrier and Mirror Coat, making it quite solid defensively and making Special Attacks dangerous to use against it. Offense is where Magnezone really shines however.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1 (Magneton)

• Zap Cannon
• Lock On
• Tri Attack
• Mirror Shot

Moveset 2 (Magneton)

• Discharge
• Lock On
• Tri Attack
• Supersonic

Moveset 3 (Magneton)

• Discharge
• Magnet Rise
• Tri Attack
• Magnet Bomb

Moveset 4 (Magnezone)

• Zap Cannon
• Lock On
• Mirror Coat
• Flash Cannon

Moveset 5 (Magnezone)

• Discharge
• Magnet Rise
• Mirror Coat
• Flash Cannon

Moveset 5 (Magnezone)

• Discharge
• Barrier
• Mirror Coat
• Magnet Bomb

Farfetch'd

Farfetch'd is a rather weak pokemon. It's highest stat, its Attack, is still nothing special. It does not even have any particularly useful Special Abilities but Inner Focus is better than Keen Eye because it works against Fake Out and other flinching moves. Since Farfetch'd can use Aerial Ace, it doesn't need to worry about the opponent lowering its accuracy therefore making Keen Eye worthless. Fortunately Farfetch'd does have a good Hidden Ability, Defiant which raises it's Attack by two levels if the opponent tries to lower its stats. However Farfetch'd stats are so low anyway, that the opponent probably won't bother using stat lowering moves and just crush it with raw power.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Aerial Ace
• Swords Dance
• Night Slash
• Slash

Moveset 2

• Aerial Ace
• Swords Dance
• Night Slash
• U-Turn

Moveset 3

• Brave Bird
• Swords Dance
• Night Slash
• Retaliate

Doduo and Dodrio

Although strictly speaking, Doduo and Dodrio are unable to fly, they are good jumpers and based off birds therefore leading them to be considered Flying types. Doduo evolves into Dodrio at level 31. If one wants to teach Dodrio Double Hit, they can only do so while it is a Doduo; it learns Double Hit one level after its evolution level.

Doduo and Dodrio have virtually useless abilities. Pokémon without Early Bird are capable of waking up from sleep after a single turn, so it makes the ability rather worthless. Run Away is even worse, at least competitively, since it can only be used to escape from wild Pokémon. Doduo and Dodrio's Hidden Ability is slightly better because when Tangled Feet is activated by confusion, Dodrio becomes harder to hit. This can work extremely well with Thrash although the confusion itself is still a problem.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Drill Peck
• Thrash
• Double Hit
• Tri Attack

Moveset 2

• Drill Peck
• Quick Attack
• Endeavour
• Tri Attack

Moveset 3

• Drill Peck
• Faint Attack
• Pluck
• Tri Attack

Seel and Dewgong

Seel is a pure Water type but it evolves into the half Ice type Dewgong at level 34, therefore allowing it to gain STAB for its numerous Ice type moves. Seel and Dewgong do not have exceptional stats but they can have an excellent Ability called Hydration which automatically heals all status problems, including self inflicted ones such as the sleep caused by Rest, when it is raining. By combining Rest and Rain Dance, Dewgong is quite good at stalling the opponent and its Special Defense, while not something to write home about, is good enough for it to hold its ground. Thick Fat is useless in comparison; Dewgong is virtually immune to Ice type moves anyway and as a Water type it already has some resistance to Fire type moves. Dewgong's Hidden Ability is Ice Body, which restores a little bit of health in a hailstorm, but Hydration is by far its best Ability.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Ice Beam
• Surf
• Rain Dance
• Rest

Moveset 2

• Ice Beam
• Surf
• Sheer Cold
• Signal Beam

Moveset 3

• Blizzard
• Hail
• Brine
• Signal Beam

Grimer and Muk

Grimer and Muk are made of sludge but although the anime has shown Ash's Muk take physical attacks effortlessly, Muk's Defense is actually lower than its Special Defense. It evolves from Grimer at level 38. Muk has solid HP and Attack but is often used for stalling and wearing down the enemy slowly rather than simply bombarding them with attacks. A unique thing about Muk and Grimer is that they are the only non-Ghost types that can learn Shadow Punch, which never misses. Shadow Sneak is also a possibility to make up for their terrible Speed. Both of these moves can only be learned through breeding.

Grimer and Muk's Special Abilities are Stench, which makes you less likely to run into wild Pokémon and occasionally causes flinching, even with moves that normally wouldn't cause flinching, and Sticky Hold which makes it hard for the opponent to steal a held item. Their Hidden Ability is Poison Touch which can allow them to poison the target if they make physical contact. However Toxic might be better for poisoning the foe since its poison increases its damage on each turn.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Gunk Shot
• Shadow Punch
• Toxic
• Minimize

Moveset 2

• Acid Armor
• Brick Break
• Toxic
• Minimize

Moveset 3

• Gunk Shot
• Brick Break
• Screech
• Shadow Sneak

Shellder and Cloyster

Shellder evolves into Cloyster with a Water Stone. However if you evolve it too early Cloyster won't be able to learn some of the moves it could learn in as a Shellder. Shellder and Cloyster can have Shell Armor to block Critical Hits but their other Special Ability is far more useful. Skill Link allows Spike Cannon, Icicle Spear and Rock Blast to hit the opponent five times every time, unless the foe it knocked out before the fifth blow. Their Hidden Ability is Overcoat which protects them from Hail and Sandstorm, although Cloyster is immune to Hail anyway.

Due to their shells, Shellder and Cloyster both have high Defense. With a good Special Attack stat, a better Physical Attack stat and Skill Link, Cloyster can also be a powerful offensive force. However its HP and Special Defense are both quite pitiful and it isn't very fast either.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Shell Smash
• Icicle Crash
• Explosion
• Hydro Pump

Moveset 2

• Icicle Spear
• Spike Cannon
• Rock Blast
• Toxic Spikes

Moveset 3

• Icicle Spear
• Protect
• Brine
• Hail

Ghastly, Haunter and Gengar

Ghastly, Haunter and Gengar were the very first Ghost Pokémon but despite being around since the very first generation of Pokémon, these three, especially Gengar, are still very popular battlers. Ghastly evolves into Haunter at level 25, gaining hands and the ability to use Shadow Punch in the process, and Haunter evolves into Gengar when traded to another game. One bad thing about these three, especially Gengar due to its very noticeable legs, is that they have only one Ability and that is Levitate which, while useful for avoiding Ground type moves, is somewhat disappointing when one considers that most Pokémon get Hidden Abilities.

Gengar uses great Speed and devastating Special Attack power to decimate its foes and has a wide movepool which can allow it to cover all of its weaknesses. However it has weak defenses and low HP so without recovery moves such as Dream Eater (which of course only works when the opponent's asleep) it can't withstand attacks for a long period of time. Gengar also has low Attack power. Despite its flaws, Gengar is still extremely capable in battle and can be a deadly opponent.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Shadow Ball
• Hypnosis
• Dream Eater
• Focus Blast

Moveset 2

• Shadow Ball
• Confuse Ray
• Sludge Bomb
• Destiny Bond

Moveset 3

• Shadow Ball
• Thunderbolt
• Skill Swap
• Focus Blast

Onix and Steelix

Onix evolves into Steelix when it is traded whilst holding a Metal Coat but it is not uncommon for it to remain in its base form which shows that it can hold its own without evolving. It has less offensive power than Steelix but has greater Speed. Both Onix and Steelix have very high Defense.

Onix and Steelix can use Rock Head to prevent recoil damage from Double-Edge. However Sturdy is the more useful Ability because it means that they will be able to take at least one attack, no matter how powerful or what type it is, unless Sturdy is disabled. Onix's Hidden Ability is Weak Armor which lowers its high Defense and increases its mediocre Speed when it is hit with a Physical Attack. Steelix's Hidden Ability is Sheer Force which gives any move that has a secondary effect, such as Iron Tail, more power but ensures that the secondary effect will never happen.

Recommended Movesets

Moveset 1 (Onix)

• Rock Slide
• Sandstorm
• Roar
• Stealth Rock

Moveset 2 (Onix)

• Double Edge
• Screech
• Iron Tail
• Earthquake

Moveset 3 (Onix)

• Rock Slide
• Screech
• Iron Tail
• Earthquake

Moveset 4 (Steelix)

• Stealth Rock
• Roar
• Iron Tail
• Earthquake

Moveset 5 (Steelix)

• Crunch
• Screech
• Iron Tail
• Earthquake

Moveset 6 (Steelix)

• Crunch
• Double Edge
• Iron Tail
• Earthquake

Moveset 7 (Steelix)

• Thunder Fang
• Fire Fang
• Ice Fang
• Earthquake

Drowzee and Hypno

Drowzee evolves into Hypno at level 26. Hypno has high Special Defense but none of its other stats are particularly impressive. Its name implies that it will use Hypnosis and it can learn it through level up, but Hypnosis has bad Accuracy. Drowzee and Hypno's Special Abilities are Forewarn, which warns you which move on the opponents moveset is the strongest, and Insomnia which prevents Drowzee and Hypno from being put to sleep. Their Hidden Ability is Inner Focus which prevents flinching.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Hypnosis
• Dream Eater
• Focus Punch
• Shadow Ball

Moveset 2

• Hypnosis
• Dream Eater
• Focus Blast
• Telekinesis

Moveset 3

• Psychic
• Poison Gas
• Focus Blast
• Telekinesis

Krabby and Kingler

Krabby evolves into Kingler at level 28. As Kingler's magnificent claw implies, it has an enormous Physical Attack stat, with great Physical Defense to boot. However, its HP and both of its special stats are absolutely terrible, and its Speed isn't too impressive. Fortunately, it can learn Agility as an Egg Move to increase its Speed, making it a strong physical sweeper. Krabby and Kingler are also one of the four Pokémon that learns Crabhammer, a strong but slightly inaccurate physical move that benefits from their high Physical Attack, as well as being more likely to land critical hits. Any strong special sweepers are still a big threat, as Kingler seriously cannot take hits from special moves.

Both Pokémon can have Hyper Cutter or Shell Armor as their normal ability. Hyper Cutter is easily the better of the two abilities, as you don't have to worry about enemies lowering its best stat. Shell Armor prevents critical hits from occurring, but Kingler has good enough Defense to survive one from physical moves and too little Special Defense for it to matter against special moves. Sheer Force boosts the power of moves with secondary effects like Ice Beam, but prevents those effects from ever happening. It still isn't as useful as Hyper Cutter, as Kingler doesn't learn any noteworthy moves with secondary effects anyway.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1

• Crabhammer
• Swords Dance
• Brick Break
• Metal Claw

Moveset 2

• Crabhammer
• Hone Claws
• Guillotine
• Rock Tomb

Moveset 3

• Crabhammer
• Agility
• Brick Break
• Metal Claw

Voltorb and Electrode

Voltorb evolves into Electrode at level 30. Being the fastest Pokémon when it was first introduced, Electrode's amazing Speed is still its most notable feature. The rest of its stats are decent, with a particularly bad Physical Attack. It can still be a somewhat good special sweeper, even though it doesn't high that high of a Special Attack. While it is known to use Explosion, its poor Attack stat means that you're better off using more conventional Electric-type moves like Thunderbolt and Electro Ball. Strangely, both Pokémon can also learn Gyro Ball naturally, which is completely useless due to their high Speed.

Both Pokémon can have either Soundproof or Static as their normal ability as well as Aftermath as their hidden ability. Soundproof's effects are a bit too specific to be consistently useful, so Static or Aftermath is a better choice. Static has a chance of paralyzing the opponents when they use a move that makes contact with you, but Electrode isn't bulky enough to take many hits, and it can already outspeed most Pokémon without having to paralyze them. Aftermath causes the opponent to take damage equal to 25% of their maximum health if Electrode is knocked out with a contact move, which acts a bit like a passive Explosion. Both of them still aren't that useful, since they only activate when Electrode is hit by an opponent, with Aftermath actually requiring it to faint to be used.

Exeggcute and Exeggutor

Exeggutor evolves from Exeggcute through a Leaf Stone. Exeggcute has good HP, Defense and Special Attack but Exeggutor shifts its focus to both Attack stats, with a great Special Attack and a fair amount of Physical Attack and HP. However, it still has a mediocre Special Defense, and its poor Speed makes it very hard to make use of its high Special Attack. Both Pokémon are the only ones that can learn Barrage, which is a physical multi-hit move, but its low power and unimpressive accuracy means there are better moves you can use.

Both Pokémon in this evolutionary line can have Chlorophyll as their normal ability, or Harvest as their hidden ability, both of which benefit from sunny weather. It also learns Sunny Day by TM to take advantage of them. Chlorophyll doubles its speed in the sun, which temporary removes the issue of its low Speed, making it a strong sweeper. Harvest gives it a 50% chance to obtain a berry it has previously used after a turn, which becomes a certain occurrence during sunny weather. Although having Harvest means it won't be getting the speed boost from Chlorophyll, Harvest can come in handy for certain movesets, such as if it has a Chesto or Lum Berry as well as Rest.

Cubone and Marowak

Cubone evolves into Marowak at level 28. Marowak has good Defense and average Special Defense as well as Attack, but other stats aren't nearly as good. However, Cubone and Marowak are the only Pokémon that can hold the Thick Club item, which will double their Attack, making them a powerful offensive threat. Additionally, the evolutionary line gets two signature moves: Bone Club and Bonemerang. Bone Club is a decent attack with a low chance to flinch, but it is way outclassed by Bonemerang, which does as much damage as Earthquake. Bonemerang also hits twice, which can break through Pokémon with Sturdy or Focus Sash.

Both Pokémon share the same three abilities. The first ability is Rock Head, which removes recoil damage from moves that has them. This enables Marowak to use the powerful Double-Edge without taking the 33% recoil damage that it does. Their second ability is Lightningrod, which will draw in all Electric-type moves to Cubone or Marowak. Although it is redundant in single battles due to Marowak's Ground typing, it can come in handy for stopping Electric attacks in double or triple battles, but note that it also draws in allied attacks. Their hidden ability is Battle Armor, which prevents Critical Hits from occurring. While it isn't overly useful, it is better then either normal abilities when not using Double Edge.

Tyrogue, Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan and Hitmontop

Tyrogue has a rather unique evolution. At level 20, depending on its stat distribution it can evolve into three different Pokémon. If its Attack exceeds its Defense, it evolves into Hitmonlee. If its Defense exceeds it Attack, it evolves into Hitmonchan. If its Attack and Defense are exactly the same, it evolves into Hitmontop. Tyrogue itself is pretty mediocre, with each of its base stats at a mediocre 35, so you should quickly evolve it into one of the three Hitmons. Hitmonlee has amazing Attack as well as great Speed for it to sweep effectively, but it is very frail against physical attacks. Hitmonchan sacrifices a bit of Attack and Speed for better Defense. Hitmontop lowers its Attack and Speed even more to even out its Attack and Defense, as well as learning certain moves that the other two cannot. Tyrogue has Guts and Steadfast as normal abilities as well as Vital Spirit as its hidden ability. While a speed boost from flinching and immunity to sleep is not too bad, Guts is almost always a better choice, since Tyrogue has a poor Attack stat.

Hitmonlee can have Limber or Reckless for its ability and Unburden as its hidden ability. Limber is easily overshadowed by Reckless and Unburden. Reckless makes its recoil moves stronger at the cost of causing the recoil to hurt more. However, since Hi Jump Kick's recoil upon missing deals proportional damage, Reckless only increases its power, not its recoil damage, making Hi Jump Kick one of Hitmonlee's most dangerous moves. Unburden can make Hitmonlee's Speed greater if you can work in an item and a way to get rid of said item into its moveset.

Meanwhile, Hitmonchan has Keen Eye and Iron Fist as its normal abilities, or it can have Inner Focus as its hidden ability. Iron Fist is really the only ability that makes it stand out, since Hitmonchan can learn a lot of punching moves like Mach Punch, Focus Punch and the elemental punches to take advantage of their power boost provided by Iron Fist.

Finally, Hitmontop can have Intimidate or Technician as standard abilities, or Steadfast as its hidden ability. Intimidate works well with its good Defense for weakening threatening physical attackers, while Hitmontop learns a fair number of priority attacks that is boosted by Technician. Steadfast increases speed after flinching, but it is outclassed by its other two abilities.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1 (Tyrogue)

• Bulk Up
• Brick Break
• Façade
• Foresight

Moveset 2 (Hitmonlee)

• Hi Jump Kick
• Blaze Kick
• Fake Out
• Mega Kick

Moveset 3 (Hitmonlee)

• Bulk Up
• Blaze Kick
• Close Combat
• Mega Kick

Moveset 4 (Hitmonlee)

• Hi Jump Kick
• Blaze Kick
• Swagger
• Rock Slide

Moveset 5 (Hitmonchan)

• Thunder Punch
• Fire Punch
• Ice Punch
• Mach Punch

Moveset 6 (Hitmonchan)

• Substitute
• Bullet Punch
• Focus Punch
• Drain Punch

Moveset 7 (Hitmonchan)

• Mega Punch
• Bullet Punch
• Counter
• Drain Punch

Moveset 8 (Hitmontop)

• Triple Kick
• Quick Attack
• Rapid Spin
• Dig

Moveset 9 (Hitmontop)

• Close Combat
• Quick Attack
• Endeavour
• Stone Edge

Moveset 10 (Hitmontop)

• Close Combat
• Drill Run
• Counter
• Stone Edge

Lickitung and Lickilicky

Lickitung evolves into Lickilicky when it levels up while knowing Rollout. They are primarily defensive Pokémon, with high HP, Defense and Special Defense. However, they can also learn a lot of different attacks, being one of the few Pokémon that can learn Power Whip, and both of their Attack stats aren't too shabby. However, its Speed is quite poor, making it one of the slower Pokémon in the game.

Both Pokémon share the same abilities, with Own Tempo or Oblivious as normal abilities and Cloud Nine as a hidden ability. Own Tempo grants it an immunity to confusion, while Oblivious prevents it from getting infatuated. Cloud Nine is the most preferable ability, however, as it prevents weather effects from occurring, which can seriously hinder the strategic playstyle of certain Pokémon.

Koffing and Weezing

Koffing evolves into Weezing at level 35. Weezing is a great defensive Pokémon, with a high Defense stat even before it evolves. Its Poison typing and Levitate ability also gives it several a couple of resistances, with Levitate in particular turning its Ground-type weakness into an immunity. However, it doesn't have a lot of Special Defense or HP, so it does have to watch out for special attacks.

Rhyhorn, Rhydon and Rhyperior

Rhyhorn evolves into Rhydon at level 42, but you'll need to trade Rhydon while its holding a Protector to evolve it into Rhyperior. The entire evolutionary family emphasizes survivability and physical power, with amazing HP, Attack and Defense, but abysmal Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed. Their Ground/Rock typing means they have quite a few weaknesses, but also gives them the powerful Stone Edge and Earthquake combination, which they can learn through level-up. They can also learn the strong Bug-type Megahorn, the OHKO Horn Drill and Rhyperior itself is one of the very few Pokémon that learns Rock Wrecker. While Rhydon is very obviously stronger than Rhyhorn, it is not much weaker than Rhyperior, since it can make use of Eviolite. With an Eviolite, Rhydon effectively trades slightly higher HP and Attack for humongous Defense, although it still has to watch out for its common weaknesses.

All of the Pokémon in the family have the same abilities, except for Rhyperior, and all the shared abilities are pretty useless. The first ability shared by all is Lightningrod, which draws Electric-type moves toward the user. Since Rhyperior is part Ground-type, it is immune to Electric attacks anyway, but it could come in handy in double or triple battles for turning Electric moves useless. Rhyhorn and Rhydon's alternate ability is Rock Head, which isn't very useful since the only recoil attack they learn is Take Down, which is weaker than Stone Edge or Earthquake. Rhyperior gets the better Solid Rock for its second ability, which reduces damage taken from super effective attacks, which makes up for its large number of weaknesses. Finally, the hidden ability, which all three Pokémon share, is Reckless, which increases the damage dealt by recoil moves but also indirectly increases recoil damage. It suffers from the same problem as Rock Head, in that the only move they learn that does recoil damage is Take Down.

Happiny, Chansey and Blissey

Happiny evolves into Chansey by leveling up during the day while holding an Oval Stone, which evolves into Blissey when leveled up with high friendship. Chansey or Blissey must be holding a Luck Incense in order to breed Happiny, otherwise the egg will just hatch into another Chansey. The evolutionary line is well-known for their extremely high HP, as well as their good Special Defense, as well as being the signature users of the healing move Softboiled. However, they can't do a lot of damage with a low Special Attack stat, and their Attack and Defense stats are nearly nonexistent. This means that they rely on Toxic to do damage, and can easily be defeated despite their enormous HP by physical attackers as well as wielders of Psyshock.

With Eviolite, Chansey's defenses become ridiculously high, but Blissey still has slightly more HP and more freedom in held items. The line can have Natural Cure or Serene Grace, although Natural Cure is much more useful. Natural Cure heals status conditions above switching out, which helps them sponge up attacks. Serene Grace increases the chance of a move's secondary effects from happening, but is mostly outclassed by Natural Cure since Chansey and Blissey don't really have any notable moves that possess secondary effects. Happiny's hidden ability is Friend Guard, which reduces damage taken by allies in double or triple battles. It's obviously not very useful, since it requires you to use a completely unevolved Pokémon in battle. Chansey and Blissey's hidden ability is Healer, which gives them a 30% chance to removes status conditions from adjacent allies at the end of a turn. It is obviously useless in single battles, but can be quite helpful in double and triple battles.

Tangela and Tangrowth

Tangela evolves into Tangrowth while knowing Ancientpower, which it learns by level-up. While this gives it a slight increase in most stats, its Speed actually gets slightly lower as a Tangrowth. While Tangela boasts better defenses with Eviolite, Tangrowth has a lot more HP as well as a much better Attack. Both Tangela and Tangrowth's best stats are Defense and Special Attack, which lets it absorb quite a few attacks while being capable of doling out damage in return. It also learns status moves like Sleep Powder and Stun Spore, as well as strong grass type moves like Giga Drain, which increases its survivability, and the rare and strong Power Whip.

Tangela and Tangrowth share the same abilities. The first ability they can have is Chlorophyll, which doubles their speed in sunlight. This nullifies Tangrowth's terrible speed, turning it into a strong and bulky attacker in the sun. Their alternate normal ability is Leaf Guard, which protects them from status effects in sunlight. It's not a bad ability, but Chlorophyll is often better to take advantage of Tangrowth's strong attack stats. Their hidden ability is Regenerator, which heals 1/3 health when a Pokémon with the ability is switched out. While Chlorophyll should be considered when using Tangrowth in an offensive role, Regenerator is the ability you want if you're using it to take hits.

Kangaskhan

Kangaskhan's stats are fairly balanced. With decent defenses, good Speed, strong Attack and nice HP, Kangaskhan can hit hard and live long enough to do some serious damage. She also learns several good moves, like Dizzy Punch, which has a chance of causing confusion, Crunch and Sucker Punch, which lets her hit Ghost-types for super-effective damage, and Earthquake through TM, letting her hit the two types that resists her STAB hard. Kangaskhan is also one of the few non-Dragon-type Pokémon that learns Outrage by level-up.

Out of the three abilities Kangaskhan gets, only Scrappy is really worth using. Early Bird lets her wake up from sleep earlier, while Scrappy lets her hit Ghost-types with Normal and Fighting-type moves. Her hidden ability is Inner Focus, which prevents flinching. Early Bird is pretty useless since she has a chance to wake up early anyway, and Inner Focus only grants immunity to an uncommon secondary effect. Scrappy is much more helpful, letting Kangaskhan hit Pokémon that would normally be immune to its STAB attacks. She is one of the only two Pokémon that gets the ability normally.

Horsea, Seadra and Kingdra

Horsea evolves into Seadra at level 32, which evolves into Kingdra by trade if it is holding a Dragon Scale. Horsea and Seadra have great Defense and Special Attack, while Kingdra balances out its stats by bringing its Attack and Special Defense up to par with its two best stats, as well as gaining a Dragon typing. Being Water/Dragon type, Kingdra can learn Draco Meteor. The entire line can also learn Dragon Dance by level up, as well as Hydro Pump. Kingdra's unique typing also leaves it with just one weakness to Dragon-types, while having an STAB combination that is unresisted by most Pokémon.

Horsea and Kingdra's first ability is Swift Swim, which doubles their speed in rain. Combined with their excellent Special Attack stat, it can turn them into deadly attackers. Seadra gets Poison Point instead, which has a chance of poisoning opponents that attack it directly. While it is somewhat useful, it doesn't give Seadra as much offensive power as Swift Swim would. The entire family shares their alternate and hidden ability, though neither are very useful. Sniper, which increases the damage dealt by critical hits, is very luck-dependant, while Damp, which prevents self-fainting attacks like Explosion from occurring, only blocks out some very specific attacks.

Goldeen and Seaking

Goldeen evolves into Seaking at level 33. Although its stats are nothing special, with its only remarkable one being Attack, its horn gives it several horn-based attacks, including the OHKO Horn Drill and the rare Megahorn. However, it has a rather poor movepool, with only Waterfall and Aqua Tail as its strongest Water-type attack. It has the ability Swift Swim, which doubles its speed in rain, though it is usually outclassed by other Swift Swim users. Alternatively, it can also get Water Veil, which gives it an immunity to burns that could lower its best stat, but still isn't useful for a lot of situations. However, its hidden ability is Lightningrod, which draws in Electric-type attacks to it, boosting its Special Attack. Since Goldeen and Seaking are the only Water-types that gets this ability, it effectively removes one of their common weaknesses.

Staryu and Starmie

Staryu evolves into Starmie with a Water Stone, gaining a Psychic type as it does. Starmie learns a variety of great moves like Rapid Spin, Hydro Pump and Recover by level-up, and it can also get the rare Thunderbolt and Ice Beam combination from TMs. With a strong Special Attack and great Speed, it can hit hard while keeping the field clear from entry hazards with Rapid Spin. Starmie's can have either Illuminate or Natural Cure as its ability. Illuminate makes you more likely to encounter wild Pokémon, which is useless in trainer battles, though Natural Cure is great for letting it remain effective longer. Its hidden ability is Analytic, which makes its attacks more powerful if it moves last. Starmie's high speed means that you aren't likely to get the boost often, but it makes Starmie do quite some damage when you do.

Mime Jr. and Mr. Mime

Mime Jr. evolves into Mr. Mime by leveling-up while knowing Mimic, which it learns at level 15 or 18 depending on the game, while Mr. Mimes can breed Mime Jr.s if they are holding an Odd Incense. Mr. Mime has an obvious focus on special moves, with a great Special Attack, a better Special Defense and decent Speed. Unfortunately, it is outclassed as a offensive Psychic-type, mostly by Alakazam. However, it does learn plenty of status moves, such as Substitute by level-up, Light Screen, Reflect, Calm Mind, Nasty Plot through breeding, and Baton Pass.

Mr. Mime's abilities are Soundproof and Filter. Soundproof grants it immunity to a very specific set of moves, making it a bit situational. Filter is an ability exclusive to Mime Jr. and Mr. Mime, reducing damage taken from super effective attacks, letting them leave just a bit longer. Its hidden ability is Technician, which increases the power of moves with a BP lower than 60. This ability isn't seen as much, as it is usually best to just use Psychic as its main attack.

Scyther and Scizor

Scyther evolves into Scizor by trading it while holding a Metal Coat, after which it ditches its Flying typing to become a Bug/Steel type. Scizor also has the same base stat total as Scyther, but trades some points in Speed for increases in Attack and Defense. Scyther can also learn some Flying-type moves that Scizor can't, such as Wing Attack and Air Slash. While Scyther's higher speed make it better suited for sweeping, it is easily outclassed by Scizor, whose Bug/Steel type gives it only one weakness, which is to Fire. Scizor is also the only non-legendary that gets STAB U-Turn. Scizor's lower Speed can also be compensated by Bullet Punch.

Scizor's abilities are Swarm and Technician, although Technician is used the most. Swarm simply boosts Bug-type attacks when Scizor's health is low. Technician increases the power of weaker attacks, most notably Scizor's Bullet Punch. Scizor's hidden ability is the relatively useless Light Metal, which reduces damage it takes from Grass Knot and Low Kick, but increases damage from Heat Crash and Heavy Slam.

Smoochum and Jynx

Smoochum evolves into Jynx at level 30. Smoochum and Jynx possess a very unique Ice/Psychic typing, although the type combination only negates the Fighting-type weakness of Ice, leaving them with six weaknesses. Jynx is an excellent special sweeper, with great Special Attack and Speed, but don't expect her to survive for long with a poor Defense and her slew of weaknesses. Jynx is the signature user of Lovely Kiss, which is a somewhat accurate Sleep-inducing move that works well with her high Speed.

Smoochum and Jynx have Oblivious and Forewarn as their abilities. Oblivious grants immunity to infatuation, but it is almost never used due to how rare and impractical infatuation-inducing abilities are. Forewarn alerts them to the strongest move the opponent has, which can be used to scout out opposing movesets and potentially uncover any hidden threats. Smoochum's hidden ability is Hydration, which removes any status ailments in the rain. Jynx gets Dry Skin as a hidden ability instead, which makes her take more damage from Fire-type attacks but heals her when attacked with a Water-type move. It also heals her in the rain, but damages her in strong sunlight.

Elekid, Electabuzz and Electivire

Elekid evolves into Electabuzz at level 30, which evolves into Electivire when traded while holding an Electirizer, though losing a bit of speed when it reaches its final evolution. As is the norm among Electric-types, Electivire has great speed and attack stats, making it a great offensive Pokémon. However, Electivire's Attack is actually higher than its Special Attack, unusual for an Electric-type, but it can still use a mix of physical and special moves effectively. It also has a great movepool, able to learn all three elemental punches as well as plenty of other attacks that lets it hit Pokémon that otherwise resist Electric.

Elekid and Electabuzz's ability is Static, which has a chance to cause paralysis when an opposing Pokémon attacks with a contact move. Given that both Pokémon don't have a lot of defense, it is difficult to take advantage of this ability. Electivire gets the Motor Drive ability instead, which grants it an immunity to Electric-type attacks and increases its Speed if it is struck by one. It can be quite handy if you predict an opponent's Electric move and switch in Electivire at the same turn. All three Pokémon get Vital Spirit as their hidden ability, which grants them an immunity to sleep. While Elekid and Electabuzz prefer Vital Spirit over Static, Electivire is definitely mush more fearsome with Motor Drive.

Magby, Magmar and Magmortar

Magby evolves into Magmar at level 30, which evolves into Magmortar when traded while holding a Magmarizer, losing a little Speed upon the final evolution. The entire evolutionary family is a Fure-type counterpart to the Elekid line, but with Special Attack as the higher of their two attack stats. Like Electivire, Magmortar has a pretty wide movepool spanning several types, notably being one of the few Fire-types that learn Thunderbolt.

The three Pokémon all have Flame Body as their ability, which has a chance of inflicting burns on an opponent that attacks with a contact move. Magmortar's defenses aren't too stellar, so it isn't as commonly seen as its hidden ability, Vital Spirit, which grants it an immunity to sleep.

Pinsir

Pinsir is a pure Bug-type, and a very unusual one at that. Its high Attack stat is backed by the ability to learn many Fighting-type moves, as well as the strong Bug-type X-Scissor, the power-boosting Sword Dance and even the OHKO Guillotine. With nice Speed and decent defenses, Pinsir is a threatening physical sweeper. Pinsir also has several useful abilities. Its first ability is Hyper Cutter, which prevents its Attack, the stat it relies most on, from being lowered. Its other ability is Mold Breaker, which ensures that its powerful attacks will not be affected by the abilities of the opposing Pokémon. Pinsir's hidden ability is Moxie, which increases its Attack every time it faints an opposing Pokémon. With Moxie, Pinsir can potentially become an unstoppable threat once it knocks out a few Pokémon.

Tauros

Tauros is a simple Normal-type physical attacker, with a high Attack, great Speed and decent defenses. He also learns several great moves, such as Thrash, Giga Impact and Zen Headbutt by level-up, to Stone Edge and Earthquake via TMs. The combination of Stone Edge and Earthquake is resisted by very few Pokémon, and Zen Headbutt lets Tauros hit Fighting-types for super effective damage. Tauros is also gifted with abilities that make him a better attacker.

His first ability is Intimidate, which automatically lowers the opponent's Attack, helping Tauros outdamage an opposing physical attacker. His second ability is Anger Point, which maxes Tauros's Attack whenever he takes a critical hit. While the Attack boost is very attractive, critical hits don't happen very often, and Tauros needs to actually survive one to take advantage of the boost. Tauros's hidden ability is Sheer Force, which increases the power of moves with secondary effects, at the cost of the secondary effects of the move never occurring. It can be quite useful with Zen Headbutt in particular, which trades a 20% chance to flinch an opponent for a 30% power increase.

Magikarp and Gyarados

Magikarp is notorious for being the weakest Pokémon in the game. It doesn't learn any attacks until level 15, and its stats are pathetic. However, raise it to level 20 and it will turn to Gyarados, a strong Water/Flying type with great power. Gyarados has an immensely high Attack stat, above average defenses and decent Speed, making it one of the few offensive physical Water-types in the game. Its Water/Flying type lets it hit just about any Pokémon with its STAB moves for at least neutral damage, and leaves it with few weaknesses and quite a few resistances, though it still has a problematic double weakness to Electric-types. While Gyarados learns plenty of Water-type moves like Water Tail and Hydro Pump, its only Flying-type move is Bounce, which must be tutored to it in Black and White 2. It also learns the fantastic Dragon Dance by level-up, which can turn it into an almost unstoppable monster after a few boosts.

Magikarp's abilities both increase its Speed stat, which is frankly its only decent stat. Swift Swim doubles its Speed in rainfall, but Magikarp is probably the worst user of the ability. Its hidden ability is Rattled, which increses its Speed if hit by a Bug-, Dark- or Ghost-type move. While it is neither weak to nor resist any of these types, its defenses are so bad that it probably won't live long enough to make use of the ability. On the other hand, Gyarados's abilities benefit it greatly. Intimidate lets Gyarados weaken other physical attackers and defeat them before they faint it, especially with Gyarados's good defenses. For its hidden ability, Gyarados gets Moxie, which boosts its Attack if it knocks out an opposing Pokémon. As Gyarados has no trouble knocking out other Pokémon, it can become an unstoppable threat once it starts getting a KOing streak.

Lapras

Lapras is a defensive Water/Ice type, with excellent HP and decent stats all around, including both of its attack stats. However, its Speed is rather poor, and its Ice typing nullifies some of Water's resistances and gives it some additional weaknesses. It can utilize the Ice Beam and Thunderbolt combination, as well as learn the OHKO Sheer Cold. Lapras's first ability is Water Absorb, which replenishes its health when it is hit by a Water-type attack, letting it fare better against other Water-type Pokémon. Its second ability is Shell Armor, which prevents opponents from landing critical hits, though critical hits aren't common enough to justify using it over its other abilities. Lapras gets Hydration as its hidden ability, letting it heal any status ailments in the rain.

Ditto

Ditto can use Transform to turn into any Pokémon and get their stats and movesets, but until generation 5 it was forced to waste a turn in order to do so which put it at a disadvantage. In generation 5 however it was blessed with a Hidden Ability called Imposter, allowing it to transform instantly. This means that Ditto actually doesn't need a moveset at all in its natural form.

Eevee, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon, Espeon, Umbreon, Glaceon and Leafeon

Eevee has more evolutions than any other Pokémon in existence and this alone makes it a Pokémon worth catching seven times over, eight if you want to also have an Eevee in its base form. Eevee is not particularly powerful as none of its stats are very high but it does have some useful moves that it can't learn in any of its other forms such as Baton Pass, Last Resort and Trump Card. A notable thing about Eevee and its evolutions is that every single one of them can use Shadow Ball which is quite a useful and powerful move.

Vaporeon has a vast amount of HP, a high Special Attack stat and reasonable Special Defense. It's Defense is nothing to write home about, unless if knows Acid Armor which can increase it by two levels in one turn. You can also make use of its massive HP by having Aqua Ring restore it on every turn. Vaporeon's Special Ability is Water Absorb which makes it restore energy when hit by Water type moves. It's Hidden Ability is Hydration which works well with Rain Dance and instantly allows it to recover from any status techniques, including Rest.

Jolteon is the fastest Eeveelution with a great amount of Special Attack and good Special Defense. However although it can learn a variety of Physical Attacks such as Double Kick and Pin Missile its Attack stat is terrible. Jolteon works best as a swift offensive threat, combining a large amount of electrical power with moves like Shadow Ball to overwhelm the opposition. It doesn't have the biggest movepool around but it has enough to get the job done and its Special Ability, Volt Absorb, restores energy when it's hit with an Electric attack. It's Hidden Ability is Quick Feet but due to it already having phenomenal Speed, it doesn't need it.

Flareon is a Physical Attacker that somewhat falls short of its potential mainly due to its inability to use Flare Blitz. While it does have an acceptable Special Attack stat and access to Fire Blast and Overheat, raw Attack power is where Flareon would really shine if it could learn Flare Blitz. Flareon does have access to some other powerful Physical Attacks however such as Superpower and Giga Impact, and its Quick Attack makes up for its lack of Speed. Flareon's Special Ability is Flash Fire which makes it immune to Fire type moves and gives its own Fire type moves a boost. It's Hidden Ability is Guts which works well if it's paralyzed or poisoned; being a Fire type it is immune to burning.

Espeon is a fast Special sweeper who can overwhelm the opponents with a variety of Special Attacks. Calm Mind can turn Espeon into a deadly adversary due to its already good Special Defense and amazing Special Attack, both of which will be increased on the same turn. It has low Defense but can make up for this with Reflect. Espeon's Special Ability is Synchronise so it will pass paralysis, poison or burns back onto the opponent unless they are immune to these conditions. Its Hidden Ability, Magic Bounce, is even more useful and reflects entry hazards, stat lowering moves (apart from Memento), Taunt, Torment and status conditions back onto the user.

Umbreon is the most defensive of the Eevee family, and makes up for its lack of raw power with good HP, high Defense and even higher Special Defense. Umbreon is better at causing indirect damage through moves like Confuse Ray and Toxic and Mean Look can be used to prevent Natural Cure users from escaping. Like Espeon, Umbreon's Special Ability is Synchronise. It's Hidden Ability is Inner Focus but this is only really useful against Fake Out users since other moves that cause flinching only do so uncommonly unless the Pokémon has Serene Grace.

Leafeon has a very high Defense stat and a good Attack stat thus suiting it to physical combat. It has decent Speed and some good Physical Attacks such as Leaf Blade. It is notable for being the only member of Eevee's family that can use Aerial Ace, which covers its weakness to Bug types. Furthermore it can use Swords Dance to raise its Attack even further. Both Leafeon's Special and Hidden Ability are activated in sunlight, thus making Sunny Day useful. Leaf Guard basically acts as Safeguard when Sunny Day is activated and Chlorophyll raises Leafeon's Speed.

Glaceon has a very high Special Attack stat and a high Special Defense stat, two things it shares with Espeon. Unlike Espeon however, Glaceon also has a solid Defense stat without needing to rely on a move to increase it, although if you like you could teach it Barrier. Glaceon is in its element when it uses its Hail, making it harder to hit through its Special Ability, Snow Cloak, and allowing it to restore a bit of energy through its Hidden Ability, Ice Body. Furthermore Hail gives its powerful Blizzard attack 100% accuracy.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1 (Eevee)

• Double-Edge
• Shadow Ball
• Double Team
• Last Resort

Moveset 2 (Eevee)

• Trump Card
• Shadow Ball
• Double Team
• Dig

Moveset 3 (Vaporeon)

• Surf
• Acid Armour
• Aqua Ring
• Ice Beam

Moveset 4 (Vaporeon)

• Hydro Pump
• Acid Armour
• Aurora Beam
• Shadow Ball

Moveset 5 (Vaporeon)

• Surf
• Rain Dance
• Rest
• Ice Beam

Moveset 6 (Jolteon)

• Thunder
• Charge Beam
• Shadow Ball
• Hyper Beam

Moveset 7 (Jolteon)

• Thunderbolt
• Double Kick
• Pin Missile
• Last Resort

Moveset 8 (Jolteon)

• Thunderbolt
• Thunder
• Shadow Ball
• Hidden Power (Water)

Moveset 9 (Flareon)

• Fire Blast
• Dig
• Quick Attack
• Will-O-Wisp

Moveset 10 (Flareon)

• Fire Blast
• Superpower
• Quick Attack
• Will-O-Wisp

Moveset 11 (Flareon)

• Fire Fang
• Iron Tail
• Flame Charge
• Giga Impact

Moveset 12 (Espeon)

• Psychic
• Signal Beam
• Shadow Ball
• Swift

Moveset 13 (Espeon)

• Psychic
• Reflect
• Shadow Ball
• Calm Mind

Moveset 14 (Espeon)

• Psychic
• Signal Beam
• Shadow Ball
• Calm Mind

Moveset 15 (Umbreon)

• Dark Pulse
• Toxic
• Confuse Ray
• Mean Look

Moveset 16 (Umbreon)

• Faint Attack
• Screech
• Confuse Ray
• Quick Attack

Moveset 17 (Umbreon)

• Dark Pulse
• Psychic
• Confuse Ray
• Double Team

Moveset 18 (Leafeon)

• Leaf Blade
• Aerial Ace
• Swords Dance
• Sunny Day

Moveset 19 (Leafeon)

• Leaf Blade
• Aerial Ace
• Last Resort
• Sunny Day

Moveset 20 (Leafeon)

• Leaf Blade
• Aerial Ace
• Last Resort
• Dig

Moveset 21 (Glaceon)

• Blizzard
• Hail
• Mirror Coat
• Water Pulse

Moveset 22 (Glaceon)

• Ice Beam
• Hidden Power (Ground)
• Mirror Coat
• Shadow Ball

Moveset 23 (Glaceon)

• Ice Beam
• Barrier
• Mirror Coat
• Water Pulse

Porygon, Porygon2 and Porygon-Z

Porygon is one of the more annoying Pokémon to evolve, as it requires itself to be traded while holding an item every time it does so. To becomes Porygon2, it needs to hold an Up-Grade, while evolving it to Porygon-Z requires it to hold a Dubious Disk. While Porygon2 is quite literally an upgrade over Porygon, Porygon-Z is more like a modification of Porygon2, sacrificing some of its defenses to boost its Speed and Special Attack. While Porygon2 works well as a tough attacker while holding an Eviolite, Porygon-Z certainly packs significantly more punch. The Porygon line are the only Pokémon to learn Conversion as well as Conversion 2. The former lets it change its type to that of one of its moves while the latter changes its type into one that resists the opponents last attack. The line also learns the rare Tri Attack, as well as a variety of moves with different types to make use of Conversion.

Porygon and Porygon2's first ability is Trace, which lets them copy their opponent's ability. This grants them access to a lot of unique abilities, and can even make them immune to certain Pokémon with Water Absorb or Lightningrod. Meanwhile, Porygon-Z gets Adaptability instead, which increases the power of its STAB moves. It certainly fits well with Porygon-Z's offensive playstyle, and also works well with Conversion. The line's second ability is Download, which raises one of the user's attack stats depending on the opponent's weaker defense stat. For example, if the opposing Pokémon has more Defense than Special Defense, your Pokémon will receive a boost to its Special Attack to target that lower stat. Considering that the only other Pokémon with the ability is the legendary Genesect, Download is certainly a helpful ability, though a Special Attack boost is much more desirable than a physical one. The line's hidden ability is Analytic, which increases the power of attacks if they happen to move last. While Porygon and Porygon2 are pretty slow, the entire line's other abilities are much better.

Omanyte and Omastar

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Kabuto and Kabutops

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Aerodactyle

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Munchlax and Snorlax

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Articuno

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Zapdos

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Moltres

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Dratini, Dragonair and Dragonite

Dragonite is the first pseudo-Legendary Pokémon ever invented. It evolves from Dragonair at level 55 and Dragonair evolves from Dratini at level 30. Dratini and Dragonair are pure Dragon types, while Dragonite is part Flying type. Unfortunately Dragonite's second type leaves it even more vulnerable to Ice type moves than its pre evolved forms. Nonetheless Dragonite is certainly a very powerful Pokémon, although most are stuck with Inner Focus which is only really useful against Fake Out since other moves that cause flinching do so uncommonly unless the Pokémon using them has Serene Grace. However Dragonite's Hidden Ability is Multiscale, an ability that only itself and Lugia can obtain and this weakens attacks by half when it is at maximum HP which is fantastic since it gives it a good chance of taking even a Blizzard attack.

Dragonite is the powerhouse of this evolutionary family, but Dragonair can be a fairly formidable opponent too, and unlike Dragonite its Special Ability, Shed Skin, is actually useful since it heals status conditions. It's Hidden Ability is slightly less useful but Marvel Scale will raise Dragonair's Defense when it's affected by a status conditions, but overall it won't stop the condition from hindering its performance in battle. Dragonair has a much smaller moveset than Dragonite, mainly due to it lacking limbs, but it is one of the few Pokémon that doesn't need to be in its final evolutionary stage in order to learn Hyper Beam, something that Dratini can also boast about, although Dratini isn't really worth keeping in its base form. Dragonair's lack of Flying type also theoretically gives it a slightly better resistance to Ice type moves, although now that Dragonite can have Mulitiscale, this advantage isn't as notable as it was in earlier generations. It also lacks Dragonite's weakness to Rock type moves.

Recommended movesets

Moveset 1 (Dragonair)

• Hyper Beam
• Dragon Rush
• Flamethrower
• Thunderbolt

Moveset 2 (Dragonair)

• ExtremeSpeed
• Draco Meteor
• Aqua Tail
• Iron Tail

Moveset 3 (Dragonite)

• ExtremeSpeed
• Draco Meteor
• Fire Punch
• Thunder Punch

Moveset 4 (Dragonite)

• Hyper Beam
• Outrage
• Aqua Tail
• Wing Attack

Moveset 5 (Dragonite)

• Hyper Beam
• Dragon Rush
• Safeguard
• Iron Tail

Mewtwo

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Mew

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