Pokemon Contest Commentary

I just wanted to post a commentary on the pokemon contest. Saw a lotta pokemon listed, and I just wanted to get a discussion going on why you chose your choices. Common pokemon that I saw, or that are just plain commonly used overall:


Fire
Blaziken
Charizard
Ninetales

Water
Milotic
Vaporeon
Lapras
Sharpedo
Swampert
Blastoise

Grass
Sceptile

Bug
Shedinja
Scizor

Poison
Gengar

Flying
Dragonite
Salamence
Staraptor

Electric
Luxray

Ground
Garchomp
Swampert

Ice
Lapras
Glaceon

Rock
Aggron
Tyranitar

Steel
Aggron
Gigigear
Metagross
Scizor

Fighting
Hitmonchan
Gallade

Psychic
Espeon
Alakazam
Metagross
Gallade

Ghost
Gengar
Shedinja

Dark
Tyranitar
Absol
Sazandora
Sharpedo

Dragon
Dragonite
Salamence
Flygon
Garchomp
Ononokusu
Sazandora

Normal
Zangoose
Staraptor
Tauros
Ditto
Snorlax


Out of personal preference, I wouldn't use a lot of the pokemon above XD Although most of my top-6 team can be found there.

My Starting 6
Typhlosion
Milotic
Magnezone
Gengar
Tyranitar
Garchomp

Well, I guess I'll just start off with my favorite pokemon- Gengar. First of all, he looks like a bad-ass, and his laugh can scare the hell out of a five year old :p Kekekeke.......Anyways, now to actual skill. Gengar has a cool combination of ghost type moves, strentgh, poision, ice fire thunder (the punches) and a couple of more elements! Who doesn't want that many moves ? While it's hit rate might not be so high, you can call a pokemon K.O.'ed if Gengar puts it ot sleep once it's hp is down more than half. Dream eater and nightmare? You're chancey is going to piss in in it's pants pouch :p So, yeah, that's about it. Expect more!

Almost every good team has a dragon of some sort in it. Face it, we love 'em. They've only got two weaknesses: ice, and dragon. Most people hardly ever use ice, mainly because extremely good ice pokemon are few and far between, and non-ice pokemon with ice moves usually don't do too well without the STAB. Which leaves other dragons. The ones listed below are the primary dragons in play that I know about. I'm leaving out legendaries and some of the newer ones that I don't know too much about. So, here goes.

Dragonite - The first of the bunch. Yeah, you gotta hand it to dragonite. When you were playing pokemon red and blue, you drooled over just obtaining this pokemon, which at the time, evolved to its final form at the unheard of lv. 55. In gold and silver, you saved up everything you had and more just to buy that dratini from the gambling joint, but you probably never got beyond dragonair before you had to face the elite four. Dragonites are hard to train up for, but the damage they pack is staggering, with the absolute maximum attack somewhere just above 400 at level 100, with the right nature and plenty of calciums. Typical layouts for dragonite, from pokemon silver onwards, had outrage and thunder wave in its attack lineup. I threw in iron tail and fly for a good mix. Weaknesses can get a little annoying at times, with the dragon and flying combo leaving you especially vulnerable to ice, with rock and dragon also a considerable hazard. But face it, dragonites have it all, with an above-average defense to boot and a healthy number of hp. Just about the only thing about dragonite that was less than amazing was its slightly-below-average speed and its special ability. Inner Focus is a nice ability, but flinching isn't that big of a worry.

Kingdra - Annoying to fight, mainly because the combination of dragon and water leaves only one weakness open: dragon. Yet the stats aren't that great, and the attack combinations rarely get above the average level 100 water type. In all honesty, leave the dragon type for some other pokemon to fill in, and get yourself a decent water type, like one of the starters, a lapras, a vaporeon if you feel like wasting an eevee, or if you're up for a challenge, a milotic.

Altaria - It's a bird with cloud wings. Mediocre stats, same types as dragonite but worse on all counts except speed, and lacking the attacks that made dragonite so special. Honestly, find yourself a better deal.

Flygon - A wonderful pokemon in some aspects, but in others, not quite perfect. Its combination of dragon and ground once again leaves it extremely vulnerable to ice types, as was the case with the dragon and flying of before. But, the immunity to electric types is nice, and with the levitate ability, the immunity to ground types is thrown in. Two immunities makes up for stats that don't quite shape up to those of dragonite, or as seen later on, salamence. However, flygon is fairly easy to catch in the Hoenn region, and has pretty good attacks when all's said and done. Sadly, the best ground attack, earthquake, must be taught by TM. Play around with this pokemon in your starter lineup, but don't expect it to hold its end against some of the heavies.

Salamence - To many, this pokemon was looking to be better than dragonite. It has the same types, with a very slight attack edge over dragonite, not to mention a considerable speed advantage. It is also the first dragon to look the part. Gone are the cute looks of dragonite, altaria, flygon, or the weirdness of kingdra. Instead, it looks beast in every way, other than some oversimplified wings and a bit of a paunchiness in the belly. In addition, its intimidate ability is one of the best, making it great at going head-to-head against other physical brutes, and coming out on top. However, what it lacks are the good attacks. Like dragonite, the best physical flying attack it can learn is fly, which is severely underpowered for a pokemon of its caliber. In addition, it doesn't get the ultimate dragon move: outrage. Instead, it has to settle for dragon claw, which is weak enough so that another attack: double-edge, becomes salamence's regular damage dealer. And double-edge is no good when considering how it also damages the user. So in the end, is salamence really better than dragonite? If you want speed and intimidate, sure, go for it! Otherwise, I'd stick with dragonite and its outrage.

Garchomp - Finally, a powerful dragon and ground pokemon! Similar to flygon in many ways, except better, garchomp allows for a bit more oomf in a dragon pokemon. It levels up more easily, at level 48, than the difficult level 50 for salamence or the agonizing level 55 for dragonite. It also is the first pokemon to learn dragon rush, an attack that was, for a short time, stronger than outrage. Unfortunately, dragon rage is also annoyingly inaccurate, and when settling for secondary attacks, garchomp once again requires a TM to learn the ultimate ground-type earthquake, while dragon claw and dig make for disappoint. Stat-wise, garchomp is a step away from the usual mentality. Its attack is a little less than that of dragonite's or salamence's, further hurting it when it's already lacking the right attacks. However, it's faster than salamence and has more defense and hp, making it quite a ways harder to kill and putting it on par defensive-wise with dragonite, since dragonite has more defense/sp. defense but less hp. Unfortunately, the last bone I have to pick with garchomp is that its special ability, sand veil, is useless unless you're in a sandstorm. Sandstorms tend to be messy when you're in double or triple battles, severely limiting your choice of party members. Final decision: good, but not better than the others.

Sazandora - At first glance, this pokemon looks beast. It certainly is a good ways scarier looking than anything else we've seen so far. Of the other three viable dragon contenders, dragonite looked too cute, salamence looked too fat, and garchomp had that annoying hammerhead obstructing its vision. So sazandora it is in the beast-looking dragon contest. Its types and abilities are also appealing. dark and dragon makes it immune to psychic, without the overlap that makes it ultra-weak against ice as was the case with all of the others. In addition, its special ability of levitate makes it immune to ground. What's not to love? Its stats. See, Sazandora is the first "pseudo-legendary", or non-legendary with two types and 600+ stats, with a stronger special attack than regular attack. The other pseudo-legendaries: dragonite, tyranitar, salamence, metagross, and garchomp, had 400+ or near-400 attack stats as their highest possible. The only problem with Sazandora focusing on special attack? The strongest special attack it can learn is dragon pulse, which isn't on par with outrage in terms of full-up ability. It doesn't even get a good dark special attack to learn to round off its attack set. The strongest dark attack it learns is crunch, a physical attack. Adding onto this, sazandora's stats in general are neither here nor there. It has defense and special defense barely above that of salamence, with hp around the same level, and a speed that's virtually the same. But its special attack, which it focuses on, is nowhere near that of the other pseudo-legendaries' physical attack, meaning that in general, it does less damage. So with no good attacks, an attack stat that's behind, and no other stats to back it up, Sazandora is a great choice, but definitely not the best choice, for a dragon type.

The Verdict - Really, it's all up to personal taste. For the strongest all-out attack, dragonite is your best bet, with outrage. In Generation V, it learns a new flying attack, Gale, with 120 power, making it the strongest flying attack besides sky attack, but without the one-turn charge-up. Dragonite clearly comes out ahead as the best dragon pokemon in terms of raw damage and ties with garchomp on defense. However, its lower speed can be crippling when one hit is all it takes to knock out a pokemon. Salamence looks great as the other dragon/flying type, with intimidate and a slightly higher physical attack, but it lacks the attacks moves to truly make it stand out. The same goes for Garchomp, which has the highest speed of the dragons and the highest hp, with defense that makes it tie overall with dragonite. Sadly, its attack is second only to the lowest on our list, Sazandora. While sazandora has two immunities and a host of other good abilities, it fails to stand out against the other dragons on our list, and works only if you feel you have use for its unique abilities and its combo.

Personally, I'm tied between Dragonite and Garchomp, but the choice is really up to you. Go with what you think is best, and hell, make it work.

My favorite would be Alakazam, obviously. Highest Sp. Atk rating EVER, tied with only one pokemon(forgot which one) that is 3rd or 4th generation. High speed as well. It has terrible defenses, so I gave it Thunder Wave in Diamond, to give it at least a small chance to survive should the opposing pokemon be lucky enough to survive an attack from this powerhouse. It was always my high hitter, with Focus Blast(good for Dark Types) and Psychic. It also had Psycho Cut, just in case if I needed a physical attack. Alakazam was often my last resort, so it was necessary. I was able to beat a ton of players with ONLY Alakazam, many of whom had level 100's.

Flygon and Dragonite were always fun to use together in team battles. Despite both being incredibly weak against Ice, Flygon's impressive speed(for a Dragon), along with Dragonite's dangerous physical power, makes for a great team. With Dragonite, it had all physical attacks(Diamond/Pearl's physical/special system): Brick Break, Thunderpunch, Fire Punch and Outrage. Flygon had Fly(not a surprise there), Dragon Pulse, Earthquake, and Giga Drain.

Milotic was mostly included so I could use Surf. I eventually turned it into a powerhouse of its own. GAve it Surf(of course), Water Pulse, Attract, and Ice Beam. I even gave it a leftovers, making it my best survivor. It was my only female aside from Gengar.

Ah, Gengar... Just a bit behind Alakazam in Sp. Atk and speed, but with slightly better defenses. It's also able to learn a LOT of different moves, which is why I used it. Gave it Dark Pulse, Shadow Ball, Energy Ball, and Poison Jab or whatever it was called. Can't resist a chance to poison >:3(I'd use Toxic, but its less accurate, and starts off slow.)

Last and least, Absol. Despite it looking cooltastic, it isn't so impressive. Attack was high, everything else, meh. had psycho cut, night slash, dark pulse(I think. don't remember...), and swords dance. Only used it when battling psychic and ghost types, mostly. Nevertheless, it always came through. It was a shiny btw :3

*The movesets are from my file on pokemon diamond, which i had sold a while ago.

I only use 3 pokemon. Only ever did, though the 3 varied a lot. Here was my team from Diamond.

Rhyperior-
Epic pokemon in general. High defense and attack, which made it a great powerhouse. I had it decked with Earthquake, Stone Edge, Hammer Arm, and Rock Wrecker. The only bad side was that, because it was a ground/rock type, it was superly (wat) effected by more things than it was resistant to, which sucked majorly. Its nickname was Rocky <3.

Electivire-
High everything but HP, electivire was usually first in my party. If someone got by it, they were usually wrecked by my last two pokemon, usually Rhyperior, who was always second. Its moveset made it incredibly hard to beat. Thunder, Earthquake, Psychic, and Flamethrower. I loved it because, one, I named it Sparky, and two, its moveset was so diverse that I could use a Super Effective move on just about anything I came across. Epic.

Magmortar-
Yes, as your realizing, I had a classic lineup of no starter, 4th gen epic pokemon. Its moveset was good and diverse, but the important part was that they were all special type moves. Magmortar has an incredibly high special attack stat, thats why it was my last lineup pokemon. Its nickname was Flamer, and its moveset was Solar Beam, Fire Blast, Focus Blast, and ThunderBolt. Simply epic when it attacked, because there were usually crap loads of damage to be done.

As soon as I beat the 4th gym that's what I gained as a dream team. By the time I was about to beat the elite four, all of them were level 100, so I flew through. The only thing hard about it was the training. I had to find chanseys with Lucky Eggs, then I trained each separate while the other two were in day care. Epic times. xD

I used an Action Replay to catch them, level to 100, and EV train them. I did NOT use any cheats to guarantee wins, only to get the maximum potential allowed, that was possible without cheating. Put simply, I only did it to save time, nothing more, nothing less. :3

Tyranitar- Looks awesome, and quite powerful. That's why.

Salamence- As said before, dragons rule.

Zangoose- Zangoose has always been one of my three absolute favourites. I was thinking with my heart rather than my head when I chose it.

Gigigiaru- Ever seen it? It's the most stupid-looking pokemon I've ever seen. Plus, it has a name that sounds like you are stammering.

Absol- Darkness, plus white fur? EPIC!

Blaziken- Simply cool. And fire power.

Hm, I don't really have reasons why I choose my pokemon other than personal preference.

Dragonair: I liked how dragonair looked. But I guess it does serves its purpose as a dragon type pokemon and can also cover my electric moves.

Haunter: Again the looks as I think it looks cooler than Gengar. I guess battle wise it helps cause it covers my ghost, dark, and status affect moves.

Hitmonchan: It's a pokemon does boxing and is my favorite pokemon. I guess it can cover a lot of type attacks with its wide variety of punches.

Charizard: Classic pokemon and my first starter when I played Pokemon Red. Battle wise I guess it serves as a okay special attacker, but it really seems to be weak against a good number of types

Alakazam: In my opinion the coolest psychic type pokemon. Dunno what makes it so useful except acts as a psychic pokemon if you don't already have one.

Lapras: I choose it cause it seems like the ideal pokemon to surf with . In a way it can serve as a water and ice type attacker?

Yeah, my pokemon seem pretty bad if I were to use them competetively...

Blizz made a good commentary on dragons, although i think he underestimated Flygon slightly(eh, its all opinion anyway). It's a great well-rounded Dragon in my opinion :3 I'll make a commentary on popular Psychic/Ghost/Dark types(fully evolved)

Alakazam- Just have to do this one first. Highest Sp. Attack in the game, and pretty high speed surpassed by very few, Alakazam is a must-have if you want a Sp. Attack powerhouse. With the ability to learn a variety of moves, it is quite adaptable to most situations. Unfortunately, Defense and Sp. Defense are horrible, especially Defense. Attack is REALLY low but that hardly matters. Its ability to share status ailments with its opponent is great if you want to even the odds when some jerk decides to use Thunder Wave, Toxic, or Will-o-wisp. HP is a bit on the low side too... It's shortcomings aside, Alakazam is an incredibly dangerous force to be reckoned with. In Diamond, my Alakazam's Sp. Attack was a staggering 405, Speed at 371.

Espeon and Umbreon- Both have good speed, decent defenses, more or less. They may not be insane powerhouses, given their learnset, but quite useful with their passive and supportive moves! They can actuallybe a MAJOR annoyance when fighting them. They look cute, but if you fight one in an online match, watch out. They are surprisingly hard to kill, and they will slowly cut away at your HP as you struggle to kill them. They don't kill particularly fast, but they are almost certain to do it.

Wobbuffet- This pokemon is beyond desciption, really. It's stats look pathetic aside from its ridiculous HP, but its moves make it a major pain in the ass. Don't underestimate it, it is deadly with its countering abilities. Probably one of the best Psychic types out there, despite its retarded looks. I never used it because I favored Alakazam's quick, almost sure-fire killing potential over counterattacking. Too risky, but I'll admit, it is quite effective if you guess what kind of move your opponent is going to use next :3

Metagross- Psychic and Steel, interesting combo. Staggering Attack, max is 405. Speed isn't great, but makes up for it with high defense and a decent Sp. Defense. Basically a Tank. Learns a variety of powerful Psychic and Steel moves, so you won't have to worry about missing out on STAB. It's lack of speed makes it rather vulnerable against some powerhouses that have higher speed, so it's best to only use it when fighting a more defensive pokemon, or slower heavy hitters.

Gardevoir/Gallade- Gardevoir is focused on Sp. Attack and Sp. Defense. It has a bunch of nice moves in its Learnset, even Magical Leaf, although that does lack the STAB you might want(of course, you don't necessarily need the STAB in every fight). Gallade centers around Attack and Sp. Defense. it is also Fighting type along with Psychic, so it could stand a slightly better chance against those pesky Dark types! Only learns one fighting type attack on it's own, so better sift through TMs to find another, if you wish. Since it is also Fighting type, it adds on more weaknesses yet again, most notably Flying, which is always quite popular.

Gengar- A popular pokemon, and with good reason too! High Sp. Attack, high Speed, and the capability to learn MANY TM moves. Sadly, it is also Poison type, which makes it weak against Psychic type, ruining the whole point of Ghosts being strong against Psychics. It's Defenses are also a bit lackluster. An excellent pokemon nonetheless. It will not disappoint.

Sableye- First ever pokemon to be completely immune to super effective hits directed towards it, as it is Dark as well as Ghost type. Max stats hover around the 200s, so it's a hefty trade-off. Is it worth it? I don't think so. Would you want a pokemon that can still get killed easily? Do you want a pokemon that cannot deal very much damage or have a good chance at making the first move? I think not.

Spiritomb- Just like Sableye; both Dark and Ghost. Good defense and decent power(in the 300s max), it is seriously lacking in speed(max in the 180s), and most attacks it learns on its own just aren't that great. Break out the TMs... again.

Dusknoir- Both defenses can max out at 405!! Power and Speed suffer, however. Learns a nice variety of moves, so it is useful in some situations. With it's impenetrable defenses, Curse is a bit less risky with Dusknoir than other Ghost types. An impressive defensive pokemon that you can feel safe with. May be a bit tough for it to smash the opponent quickly, though.

Absol- One of the few pure Dark types that isn't brand new, and is actually very popular. It has extremely high Attack for a small creature(394 max o.O), half-decent Speed and Sp. attack, and somewhat lacking defenses. If you find an Absol with Super Luck, you're in for a treat, because it just makes Absol that much more deadly! It is a critical-hit mastermind, with a number of high crit rate moves. Super Luck further boosts crit rate! Give it a scope lens and watch those critical hits happen like there's no tomorrow! While Attack is its only strong stat, it's moveset and critical hit specialty make up for its shortcomings. A decent pokemon in its own right.

The Verdict--

Best Psychic- It's a close one. I'd prefer Alakazam. Wobbuffet is a close 2nd. If you want to kill off your opponents quickly and easily, Alakazam is your best bet. If you want more safety and enjoy making your opponent rage hard, Wobbuffet is the way to go.

Best Ghost- Gengar, hands down. Sableye and Spiritomb are either too slow, or just pathetic in every sense of the word. Dusknoir is a great defensive player, but not suited for dealing heavy damage. Gengar is really the best choice overall. Anything else is just not going to cut it in my opinion. Go with whatever you like, of course.

Best Dark- Umbreon. No doubt about it. While it's offensive capability isn't great, it makes up for it in strategic ability, and a rather annoying one at that. Absol may be a high-hitting critical hit psychopath, but against Umbreon? It wouldn't stand a chance. Again, choose whatever you prefer. It's all a matter of opinion.



*I did not include legendaries(most of them aren't that great anyway) or those stupid-looking brand new pokemon(Don't know much about them). Did you see them? Sazandora looks the best out of all of them, and even that one just seems like it has some birth defect or something.

I use powerhouse Pokemon, most of which have already been included here. A couple of other ones:

Aggron: At the lower levels, this Tyranitar wannabe looks pretty pathetic, and rightly so. It's offensive abilities are pretty awful - my max level EV trained Aggron has an attack of 274. And don't get me started over the special attack. However, it's strength is it's defense - again using my Aggron as an example...it has a defense of 455. Combine this with Metal Burst, a move that does 1.5 times the base power of the attack directed at you. Can be good, but you have to ensure that you take a hit in that round. Recommend hanging on to an iron ball to make that easier. On the other hand, countering is the only REALLY effective method for this guy. He can learn a large number of TMs, but his natural moveset is rubbish. Make sure you get an Aggron with the Rock Head ability to enable the effective use of Double Edge.

Snorlax! - The big guy can be quite good. High HP, not bad attack and strong SP. defense makes him fun to play with. No longer one of the best, but always interesting. Fatal weakness, of course, is simple physical Fighting moves. Which are common. :/

As mentioned earlier, I like Dragon and Steel. I have a full team of Metagross, all of which have moves that enable the party as a whole to counter any type! (All having Meteor Mash and Zen Headbutt as standard).

Question: What's YOUR favourite Normal type?

Zekrom wrote:

Question: What's YOUR favourite Normal type?

That would be Vigoroth. Did I spell it right? You know, that Pokemon Norman uses in Ruby version? Oh well I just like it's move set. On to my favorites.

Blaziken: Oh yes, this Pokemon's got everything you're looking for in a Fire type. He's capable of learning both Fire and Fighting type attacks and has a decent evasion rate(is that what you call it? lol I haven't been playing in years). Other than that, he's the final evolved form of Torchic, which is definitely my favorite.

Grovyle: Yes, Grovyle, not Skeptile, I remember cancelling Grovyle's evolution before. Ah, it was a relief I did. My friend was willing to trade me a Mudkip for a Grovyle, so that led to my completion of the Pokedex. All in memory, my reason is.

Rayquaza: Yeah he's legendary but so what? He is bad ass looking and he's the one Pokemon that's given me trouble catching and defeating.

Abra: Hahaha yes Abra. I just love the playful attitude of this Pokemon, always teleporting and stuff.

Eevee: Various evolutions in one Pokemon! I had three of these little tykes and had a Jolteon, Flareon, and a Vaporeon. That, to go along with Blaziken, Swampert and Lunatone, yeah.

last and definitely not the least:

Ninetales: Heck, I just love it.

yeah I know, pretty lame choices, but my childhood was fun because of em so yeah, those are what I call Pokemon.

Zekrom wrote:

Question: What's YOUR favourite Normal type?

Zangoose. No doubt.

Zekrom wrote:

Question: What's YOUR favourite Normal type?

Ooh, tough one. I rarely ever used Normal Types. They kinda get in the way when fighting Ghosts... I'll have to go with Kangaskhan. Has a nice, unique learnset, which makes up for the well-known shortcomings of most Normal types. I kinda like Tauros too. Decent power for a Normal.

I just adore the Water Starter pokemon, especially Empoleon!

Empoleon- A great water/steel type, it has a great balance with power and defence making it a force to be rekoned with. Great agenst almost every single type, exept for grass, and if you give Empoleon some different moves, then your set! My favorite pokemon EVAH.

I dislike Pokemon.......

Bulbasaur wrote:

I dislike Pokemon.......

...says the guy who clearly knows what a Bulbasaur is.

Everyone knows bulbasaur.

Darkrai wrote:

I just adore the Water Starter pokemon, especially Empoleon!

Empoleon- A great water/steel type, it has a great balance with power and defence making it a force to be rekoned with. Great agenst almost every single type, exept for grass, and if you give Empoleon some different moves, then your set! My favorite pokemon EVAH.

Yeah he's a good starter pokemon also it can also beat it's weaknesses because it's possible to teach him some
flying type moves like drill peck so that it can beat some grass type pokemon.

Skull wrote:

Darkrai wrote:

I just adore the Water Starter pokemon, especially Empoleon!

Empoleon- A great water/steel type, it has a great balance with power and defence making it a force to be rekoned with. Great agenst almost every single type, exept for grass, and if you give Empoleon some different moves, then your set! My favorite pokemon EVAH.

Yeah he's a good starter pokemon also it can also beat it's weaknesses because it's possible to teach him some
flying type moves like drill peck so that it can beat some grass type pokemon.

Can teach it earthquake too, to ruin poison types. :3

Alakazam wrote:

Skull wrote:

Darkrai wrote:

I just adore the Water Starter pokemon, especially Empoleon!

Empoleon- A great water/steel type, it has a great balance with power and defence making it a force to be rekoned with. Great agenst almost every single type, exept for grass, and if you give Empoleon some different moves, then your set! My favorite pokemon EVAH.

Yeah he's a good starter pokemon also it can also beat it's weaknesses because it's possible to teach him some
flying type moves like drill peck so that it can beat some grass type pokemon.

Can teach it earthquake too, to ruin poison types. :3

Plus it can beat electric type pokemon :3
So basically it's a really good pokemon to have :3

Empoleon or Torterra both own.

Infernape just....it seems like a let down. Come to think of it, Blaziken was to for the most part =/