(Insert Tarzan Call here)
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Feebas/Milotic
Type: Water
Ability(s): Swift Swim (Feebas), Marvel Scale (Milotic)
Feebas is like Magikarp if he could use TM moves, but was over 9000 times harder to find and had a convoluted evolution method.
Another Pokemon that you can get via fishing, Feebas is one of those
things that GameFreak made to troll unsuspecting players. The first
issue with Feebas is how insanely rare he is. You know how some Pokemon
in this game have like a 2% chance or less of spawning? Well, Feebas is
nothing like that. In order to find one, you need to fish in one of six random tiles... on Route 119, which is probably the longest fucking stretch of water this side of the ocean. What? The? Fuck?
Are you fucking telling me that in order to single out the tiles that
contain Feebas on this route, you have to fish in literally every single
fucking tile on the route, which can take anywhere from a minute to an
hour, depending on how lucky you are? Oh, and guess what determines
which tiles have Feebas? The fucking trendy phrase all the way back in
Dewford Town, that's what. And it is not like entering a certain phrase
will cause Feebas to spawn in a specific spot either. No, instead, the
fucking tiles re-randomize every time you change the fucking phase! So yeah, it is a big guessing game as to where the Feebas tiles are in your file.
Once you somehow get yourself a Feebas, do not even get me fucking
started on how to evolve him, because leveling him up sure as hell will
not work. So, how do we evolve Feebas, you ask? I'll tell you: max out
his beauty stat (or get it to 170). To begin with, that's a pain in the
ass, as you need to make blue or indigo PokeBlocks that are sufficient
to raise his beauty. Now, this wouldn't bother me so fucking much if you
could make PokeBlocks before setting out for Fortree, but no. Of course
not. Instead, you have to wait until you get your ass over to Lilycove
before you get the damn PokeBlock case, which equates to Feebas
essentially being dead weight against Winona due to Magikarp like base
stats. And what makes this even worse is that you can only feed him ten
PokeBlocks, and if you miss the 170 threshold, you can't evolve him and will have to do that shit all over again. And if your Feebas has one of these natures (Adamant, Impish, Careful, Jolly), don't even bother.
Now, let's ask ourselves, is Milotic worth all the crap we went through
to locate one of those fucking tiles, then force feeding the bastard
candy that probably tastes like shit? Statwise, Milotic is very
specially bulky with 95/125 special bulk making him very hard to kill
with special attackers, even with something like a STAB Thunderbolt. He's no slouch on the physical end of the defensive spectrum either,
with 79 defense and access to Recover at Lv30, as well as Marvel Scale
boosting that by 50% if he is afflicted by a status condition. On
offense, he has 100 SpA/81 Spe, which is actually rather good despite
his special offense consisting of Surf and Ice Beam (as well as non-STAB
Twister...). However, this isn't anything special as pretty much all
the other water types you can get up to this point have something other
than lol Surf/Ice Beam (Sharpedo is maining STAB Crunch against psychics,
Swampert and Whiscash have STAB ground moves, Crawdaunt can pull off a
Swords Dance sweep, etc, etc), so Milotic is basically left in the dust.
In other words, Feebas sucks.
0/10
Tropius
Type: Grass/Flying
Ability(s): Chlorophyll
Available to players looking in the tall grass on Route 119, Tropius is
an interesting Pokemon indeed. The most striking thing about him is that grass/flying typing he has, which as of the fifth generation, only two
other fully evolved Pokemon have. Offensively, the typing is quite good,
hitting the grass and bug types you will find on this route and the
next route super effectively, as well as his grass typing getting the
majority of the things you'll find in the ocean. It is also great
against Juan and Wallace, but not so great against Winona or Drake.
Defensively, he has the same water resistances as other grass types, but
he also sports a resistance to fighting, neutrality to bug, and an
immunity to ground in exchange for a 4x ice weakness. Unfortunately,
this weakness is represented in both the gyms and the elites, with two
of Juan's Pokes and three of Wallace's having ice moves, as well as
Glacia specializing in ice types, so his boss performance can be best
described as hit or miss in the places where he can actually hit things
super effectively.
Tropius's stats aren't exactly up to scratch for something that joins in
the lategame, considering we've met Pokemon with much better stats up
to this point. On offense, we have 68 attack, 72 special attack, and 51
speed. Right... Despite coming with Razor Leaf right off the bat and
getting Magical Leaf at Lv31, this thing is running around with
offensive stats similar to what Claydol had (Claydol's offensive bases
suck), and not helping matters is that most of the good grass and flying
moves have low base power (strongest no drawback grass move he gets is
60 BP and strongest flying move he gets period has 70 BP). What this
means is that Tropius has issues damaging things that he doesn't hit
super effectively or have weak defenses. At least he is respectably
tanky with 99 HP and 83/87 defenses, but as I mentioned in other
ratings, grass is a terrible defensive typing to have.
Tropius's level up movepool isn't the worst I've seen, but it could be
far better. He already starts with Razor Leaf, and gets Magic Leaf at
Lv31 as well as Body Slam at Lv37, which is pretty much the best thing
to say about his natural movepool. Lv41 Solar Beam is a more powerful
option than Magic Leaf, but you will need Sunny Day support to get the
most out of it, as the one turn lag on that move blows. That being said,
what he lacks in a natural learnset, he makes up for in TMs and HMs,
and unfortunately, the one he wants (Earthquake) is highly contested and
not worth using on something with 68/72 offenses. Speaking of HMs, he
can learn 5 out of the 8 obtainable HMs in this game (he doesn't get the
water-based ones, unsurprisingly). This in turn makes him one of the
best HM mules you can possibly get in this game, and that is saying
quite a lot.
Basically, this thing's utility stems more from the fact that he can learn more than half the game's HMs then his actual combat.
6/10
Castform
Type: Normal
Ability(s): Forecast
Castform is like Spinda, if he had slightly better stats in every area and a more interesting gimmick than spot combinations.
Castform is your prize for routing the Aqua Grunts in the weather
institute, and at first glance, he looks like something that you would
just collect, put in your PC, and never let see the light of day again.
Coming at Lv25, he comes with Powder Snow and every weather inducing
move except Sandstorm, which honestly isn't all that great of a natural
moveset (the moves he gets through relearner are Tackle, Ember, and
Water Gun), and it certainly isn't good with only 70s in each stat. Lv30
grants Castform the Weather Ball technique, which at first glance is a
weak normal type move with no added effects. However, as one might
guess, there is far more to Castform than meets the eye.
To fully explain Castform's gimmick, you first need to know what
Forecast does. What this ability does is change Castform's appearance
and typing to match the on-field weather effect, with harsh sun turning
him into a fire type, heavy rain making him water, and hail making him
ice (sandstorm does not, however, change him into a rock type). On top
of this, Weather Ball will also change type under the corresponding
weather (sun=fire, rain=water, sand=rock, hail=ice) and double in power,
basically turning it into an Earthquake clone.
How can this be applied in a reasonably efficient run? If one was to
take a rain-based approach, Castform's Weather Ball will turn into an
attack that is slightly stronger than Surf before applying rain bonuses
(after factoring them in, it's as strong as a full HP Water Spout), as
well as having swift-accurate Thunder, making him a good candidate for
taking on Juan, Glacia, and Wallace, as well as having Ice Beam access
for Drake. Not bad in all honesty. Even a sun-based approach isn't out
of the question either, with your Weather Ball being as strong as a
fully empowered Eruption and also having a no-charge Solar Beam to
tackle any weaknesses fire might have (fun fact of the day: grass hits
every type that fire is weak to). While you probably could work it, a
hail-based approach isn't exactly ideal due to hail giving absolutely no
benefits outside of giving you a 100 BP ice move and ice being awful
defensive typing (plus ice is only really useful in like two fights).
Even with all these advantages, Castform is not without his faults. The
first strike is that he is utterly dependent on weather to function.
Since you do not have access to permanent weather until postgame, you
will have only 4 turns to play around with your weather condition (this
does not include the turn used to actually activate it), which can
sometimes be an issue in longer fights (Water kings come to mind),
and when it runs out, his mediocre defensive parameters basically equate
to him becoming a punching bag while you refresh your weather (and you
will more often than not be outsped if it happens if any 85+ base speed
Pokemon is out).
Basically, this chap has a rather usable gimmick, but even with that, he
still has mediocre stats all around and absolutely needs weather to
function.
5/10
Kecleon
Type: Normal
Ability(s): Color Change
While some might say I totally forgot about Kecleon, I didn't. Kecleon
can technically be found in the grasses between Mauville and Lilycove,
but since the chance of encountering one is a measly 1%, I decided to
skip rating him until I got to the Route 120 Pokemon, when you can catch
one relatively easy at Lv30 using the Devon scope (the ones you catch
normally are Lv25, which gave me even more of a reason to skip Kecleon
until now).
Anyway, Kecleon comes at Lv30, around what your party should be at if
not slightly lower, so as far as level is concerned, he needs little
training to get his ass on par with your party, and being only one level
from learning Slash certainly helps (and even so, the Strength HM has
existed for about 3 gyms now). Statwise, he's as specially bulky as
Claydol without the terrible defensive typing (by lategame Hoenn
standards, as Ground/Psychic was solid in the 3rd gen metagame), with
the same attack as Mightyena, which allows him to take on most of the
special based lategame by himself. However, he isn't without his flaws,
notably his speed which happens to be the same as Camerupt's, so expect
him to take damage before he attacks. And while special attacks are of
little concern, his physical defense is quite paltry in comparison with
only 70 base.
Now, let's talk about Color Change. Like with Castform's Forecast, this
ability is Kecleon's gimmick, if you will, so I feel that it deserves an
explanation. What this ability does is that it will alter Kecleon's
typing to match the typing of the last damaging attack that he was hit
by. Most of the time, this is beneficial as a lot of types are resisted
by themselves, effectively giving Kecleon a resistance to whatever move
he got hit by, though this can backfire if the enemy has a move that
hits your new typing super effectively, or if the enemy has a ghost
(note: Kecleon will need to get hit with something else since he's
immune to ghost normally) or dragon type attack, since either of those
attack types will hit itself super effectively. This makes Kecleon very
good against the last two gym leaders as well as Sid, Glacia, and the
champion, but Drake will tear your ass up, high special bulk or no, and Phoebe
can do the same thing if she uses Shadow Ball after she uses another
attack.
Kecleon, like a lot of other normal types, has a very expansive
movepool. While his level up movepool is nothing to write home about, he
does get Substitute naturally, which can open up some 'possibilities'
if you will, such as utilizing the SubPunch combo against Sid and Glacia
or just shielding yourself from nonvolatile status. He also gets Shadow
Ball, Brick Break and Aerial Ace through TM, allowing him to round off
his moveset that way. And as a normal type, he can utilize many forms of
STAB (well, as long as he doesn't get hit), though Strength will still
remain the norm due to its high BP and the fact that it's an HM. He also
gets a crapton of special moves, but you aren't doing much with them
off a 60 base special attack, so don't bother.
Outside of Color Change, Kecleon can be best described as a mage killer
(with mages referring to psychic types as well as most other special
oriented Pokemon) that is still outclassed by most other Pokemon. Still,
he isn't all bad.
4.5/10
Absol
Type: Dark
Ability(s): Pressure
Absol is like Mightyena if he came later, but had superior stats and movepool.
Route 120 may be one of the muggiest places in Hoenn, but on this route,
you have the opportunity to catch a rare pure dark-type called Absol.
Now, one is wondering how Absol distinguishes himself from all the other
dark types available to you at this point in the game, considering
Cacturne and Shiftry have the ever-so-useful-lategame grass typing,
Sableye has no weaknesses under normal conditions, and Sharpedo and
Crawdaunt have water typing and Ice Beam access?
Absol can be best described as a powerhouse. 130 attack is
freakishly high by the standards of Gen III (out of the Pokemon to exist
in Gen III, the only non-uber mons to have a higher base attack than
Absol are the pseudo legends and Slaking) and he gets Swords Dance right
off the bat to boost this further, allowing him to cause absurd amounts
of damage. However, his physical movepool is somewhat lacking,
consisting of only normal type moves, Shadow Ball, and Aerial Ace. While
that is disheartening, his special movepool is quite expansive, with
access to STAB Bite, the elemental beams, and Water Pulse, with Calm
Mind to boost this further, and unlike Mightyena, he has a usable 75
base special attack. Speed is a little on the low side at 75, but Absol
should still be fast enough to outspeed most threats of note.
Absol's durability is quite sad, with only 65 in HP and 60's in either
defensive stat, so he can end up getting 2HKO'd by some of the stronger
STAB attacks that may show up during the lategame stages. Thankfully, he
does have dark typing in his favor, giving him a crucial immunity to
psychic as well as resistances to ghost and dark, which make him quite
useful in the earlier stages of the elite four, and his weaknesses
(fighting and bug) are quite rare at this point in the game.
In a nutshell, while Absol is essentially a better version of Mightyena,
the fact remains that he is slightly outclassed by the dual typed dark
types. Still, don't overlook 130 base attack and Swords Dance access.
6/10
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