Croagunk, the Toxic Mouth Pokemon

Toxicroak has proven to be one of my best breeds for the Battle Subway, particularly because of his Dream World ability of Poison Touch. Here's how I work my Toxicroak;

Fake Out
Sucker Punch
Drain Punch
Dual Chop

IVs: 31 HP, 31 Attack, 31 Speed
EVs: 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP

Have him hold a King's Rock. That item combined with the Poison Touch ability lets each of his attacks have a chance to Poison and/or Flinch the opponent (30% chance to Poison, 10% to Flinch). Fake Out will Flinch regardless. Sucker Punch is there for priority, and you never know when you'll get lucky and get a life-saving Flinch from that. Dual Chop is a two-hit move, so you doubke your chances of getting the Poison and Flinch, plus it's a Dragon-type move, so it's only resisted by Steel (and Fairy in gen VI). Drain Punch is mostly for a strong Fighting STAB with dependable accuracy. He has other options, but I feel Drain Punch was the best all-around. You may prefer Cross Chop, Dynamic Punch, Brick Break, or Low Sweep, depending on your supporting team and personal preferences.

So how do you get this lovable trickster?

(1) Breed a female DW Croagunk with a male Mienfoo that knows Drain Punch and Fake Out.
(2) Aim for an Adamant Nature. Teach Dual Chop via a B2W2 move tutor. If you do not have access to B2W2, then go for Poison Jab for another STAB move with a high Poison chance.

This Toxicroak works wonders for me in single trains, essentially freezing the opponent with Flinches while the Poison dwindles their health. A great teammate for him would be Hydreigon or Honchkrow, as they are immune to two of Toxicroak's most common weaknesses (Ground and Psychic). This build also works great for double battles too, serving something of a support role by immobilizing one target so your partner can safely attack. Just avoid using him against Crobats, he has a hard time with those.

Brock out.

Lapras, the Transport Pokemon

Everybody loves the Loch Ness monster! Here's a beautiful build for the blue beast!

Whirlpool
Perish Song
Rest
Thunder

IVs: 31 HP, 31 Defense, 31 Sp. Defense
EVs: 24 HP, 252 Defense, 232 Sp. Defense

You want the Dream World (DW) Ability Hydration for this build. The big idea here is to trap the opponent with Whirlpool, then follow up with a Perish Song that they cannot escape! Just be sure to withdraw before the Perish Song count is up or you're going down as well. The other moves make him capable of tanking in the Rain. Rest will provide healing without the 2-turn sleep, and Thunder will never miss, and will have the 30% chance to Paralyze the target. Rain will also add to Whirlpool's initial damage, which is nice. For an item, good options would be a Leftovers for healing purposes, or a Binding Band to double the damage Whirlpool does over time (from 1/16 per turn to 1/8 per turn, and Whirlpool lasts 4-5 turns).

How do you get this elegant trapping tank?

(1) Teach a male Piplup Whirlpool by level up (lv 32) and Rest through the TM. Breed it with a female Lapras that has its DW Ability.
(2) Aim for a Bold Nature. You want the Hydration Ability for this build, but if you do not have access to it, aim for Shell Armor, and definitely hold the Leftovers over the Binding Band.

So there is Lapras, the Pokemon that understand human speech. A flaw to this is other trappers trapping you into your own Perish Song. If you have any questions or comments feel free to comment below.

Brock out.

Tribute to the Pseudo-Legendaries

I don't normally do Pseudo-Legendaries, just because they're overpowered and take some of the fun out of it. But they are legal, and certainly usable, so to get them out of the way and to make up for inactivity, I shall do them all in this post! Like the Support Pokemon Tribute post, not all of these require breeding, but breeding for IVs and Nature is always highly recommended. (Note: these builds are all based from Gen V games since I still lack Gen VI).

Dratini, the Dragon Pokemon

The original Pseudo, Dratini has a few ideas to follow, and I'm going to list two of them. First:

Rain Dance/Dragon Claw/Outrage/Dragon Tail
Thunder
Hurricane
Aqua Tail

IVs: 31 HP, 31 Attack, 31 Sp. Attack
EVs: 160 HP, 96 Attack, 252 Sp. Attack (This is assuming a Quiet Nature)

This is a mixed Rain tank build, certainly designed to cause big damage and side effects in the Rain. EVs are distributed in a manner that equalizes Attack and Sp. Attack. If you have a DW Politoed or another Pokemon setting up the Rain, then you obviously do not need Rain Dance and should replace it with one of the physical Dragon moves he can learn, which would let you have a STAB physical attack as well as a STAB special attack.

The other build I have for him is for if he has his Multiscale Ability.

Dragon Dance
Aqua Jet
Outrage/Dragon Claw
Aerial Ace/Roost

IVs: 31 HP, 31 Attack, 31 Speed
EVs: 120 HP, 252 Attack, 136 Speed

Aim for an Adamant or Jolly Nature. For an item, try Leftovers, Water Gem, or Life Orb. With Multiscale is is pretty much guaranteed a free turn to Dragon Dance. So do that, and now you have options fit for most situations. Need brute force to punish the foe? Use STAB +1 Outrage. Need priority even after the Dragon Dance? Either use it again or go for the +1 Aqua Jet. Need to really not miss that next hit? STAB +1 Aerial Ace is there for you. Want to try to get that Multiscale protection again, or can't afford to take a 4x Ice attack? Try Roost instead for healing and removing that Flying from your typing for the remainder of the turn. Use whichever build suits your style.

Larvitar, the Rock Skin Pokemon

The Pseudo of the Sand, Tyranitar, has potential for tank or wall builds. I don't care for him outside of his aesthetic design, so I'm not gonna spend much time on him. Here's my build for him:

Payback
Curse
Stone Edge/Rock Slide
Aerial Ace

IVs: 31 HP, 31 Attack, 31 Defense
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Attack, 252 Defense

An Adamant or Brave Nature would be ideal. Hold Leftovers for healing. Curse for your Attack and Defense boosts, and STAB Payback for massive damage. Aerial Ace was chosen just because it fought 3 of his weaknesses, change it if you think it's too weak to be viable. Moving on to better pseudos...

Bagon, the Rock Head Pokemon

This Pokemon is one of my favorites just because it's such a success story; a Pokemon dreams of taking to the skies, and after much hard work, realizes that dream. It brings a tear to my eye, really. I use the following build for him:

Fire Blast
Hydro Pump
Dragon Claw
Earthquake

IVs: 31 Attack, 31 Sp. Attack, 31 Speed
EVs: See below.

It's a mixed sweeper style build. The EV spread is up to you. If your going to have the Intimidate Ability, just even out the Attack & Sp. Attack stats and dump the rest in Speed. I use one with Moxie, and I have a bit more Sp. Attack than Attack since Moxie will compensate for the difference (much like my Krookodile build, my Moxie Salamence has been known to kill one or two of his partners for the boost). I generally have mine hold a Lum Berry, just because experience has shown that to be the better option.

Beldum, the Iron Ball Pokemon

My personal favorite of the Pseudos, Metagross is a tank of his own class. A solid build for this guy goes:

Zen Headbutt
Bullet Punch
Ice Punch
Earthquake

IVs: 31 Attack, 31 Sp. Defense, 31 Defense or HP
EVs: 100 HP, 252 Attack, 100 Sp. Defense, 56 Defense

I designed this build with one goal in mind; make a single Pokemon that can deal massive damage against all Pseudo-Legendaries (Codename: "Pseudo-Pslayer"). His Clear Body Ability protects him from Intimidate Attack-drops, or any drops for that matter, and his Steel/Psychic typing leaves him with just 2 weaknesses (Fire and Ground). Bullet Punch provides a powerful STAB priority move, and everything else is mostly for coverage. I've used 3 items for this guy and they all fair pretty well: Steel Gem (for a stronger Bullet Punch when you need it), Life Orb (for stronger moves in general), and Leftovers (for being around longer to deal more damage). The item you choose depends on your play style.  (Note: getting 3 IVs on genderless Pokemon is a pain in the rear end, I settled for just the Attack and Sp. Defense IVs and he works great, and this is why my EV spread is bit weird). I use a Careful Nature, but an Adamant should prove useful as well.

Gible, the Land Shark Pokemon

Sinnoh's Pseudo is pretty cool, a big time physical sweeper. But I'm not big on straight-forward builds like this guy specializes in, so I'm not gonna spend much time on him. Here it is:

Dual Chop
Earthquake
Rock Climb/Body Slam
Fire Fang/Double Team/Swords Dance

IVs: 31 HP, 31 Attack, 31 Speed
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Attack, 252 Speed

Dual Chop is good for Study/Focus Sashers, since it hits twice. Rock Climb or Body Slam can inflict Confusion or Paralysis respectively, nice to have. Fire Fang adds to coverage, Double Team works with the Sand Veil ability of you're in a Sandstorm, and Swords Dance is a nice +2 boost to Attack that everyone loves.

Deino, the Irate Pokemon

This little guy turns into Hydreigon, the first Pseudo to really focus on Special-based attacks. My favorite build for this guy is:

Dragon Pulse
Dark Pulse
Focus Energy
Flamethrower

IVs: 31 HP, 31 Sp. Attack, 31 Speed
EVs: 252 Sp. Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP

Have a Modest Nature, hold a Scope Lens. After you use Focus Energy, you're critical hit ratio stands at a mighty 25%! Very few things can take a critical hit from a Modest Hydreigon, especially its STAB Dragon Pulse and Dark Pulse. Just be careful when you use Focus Energy. I normally send mine in with my Togekiss from the Support Pokemon Tribute build, that way Hydreigon gets a free turn to use Focus Energy. The only block to this build, theoretically-speaking, is Heatran. I can verify the effectiveness of this build, I use one, and mine doesn't even have Dark Pulse, it has a Dark Hidden Power of 68 power! (For Dark Pulse to be learned, you need to use a Move Tutor, or breed with a Dragon-egg group Pokemon that learned it from a move tutor or Gen IV TM). The EVs I listed go with the IVs I say to go for, but my Hydreigon actually has IVs in Defense, Sp. Attack, Sp. Defense, and Speed, so I did my spread a bit differently (252 Sp. Attack, 220 Speed, and 36 HP).

Goomy, the Soft Tissue Pokemon

This is the Gen VI pseudo, and the first pseudo to be just a single type. It also makes use of a new kind of evolution, in which is must be raining when you level up past lv 50. So naturally this is gonna be a Rain build:

Rain Dance/Muddy Water
Acid Armor
Rest
Dragon Pulse

IVs: See below.
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Defense, 4 Sp. Defense

Hydration Ability of course, and aim for a Calm Nature. Use Acid Armor to boost up your Defense, Rest for sleepless healing, Dragon Pulse for offense. Rain Dance if you don't already have a user for it, if you do then go Muddy Water for a Rain-boosted special attack. I'm unfamiliar with Gen VI so I don't want to get too into him without learning more, but basically my thought here is mixed tank. Because of new breeding mechanics, you can carry down 5 IVs from the parent Pokemon, so it is not even worth putting that section really, but go for all but I Defense or Speed I suppose, your call.

That should absolve me from having to look at pseudo legendaries until the next generation, unless rumors of DLC Pokemon are true. Questions and comments are welcome of course.

Brock out.

Chansey, the Egg Pokemon

Hipster Chansey: "I had eggs BEFORE they were a thing". It only makes sense that we cover it in this blog. The build I use is...

Counter
Protect
Softboiled
Toxic

IVs: 31 HP, 31 Sp. Defense, 31 Speed
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Sp. Defense, 4 Speed

It's essentially a stall wall build. Hold a Focus Sash. First turn use Protect, to judge which type of build the opponent will be using. If the opponent is a special attacker, use Toxic and stall using Softboiled healing and Protect. If the opponent uses a physical attack, use Counter and it's practically a guaranteed knockout because of Blissey's insanely high HP.

This build is intended for single battles only. Additionally, if the opponent is Abomasnow, Tyranitar, or Hippowdon, get out of there before taking weather damage! After a Counter-kill, you'll most likely be at 1 HP. The major benefit of this build is that you get the switch-in advantage, meaning whatever your opponent sends in after finishing off that 1 HP, you get to see what it is and send out your next Pokemon accordingly. But if your Blissey is faster than what he sends in, either heal with Softboiled if you know it's a special attacker, or if it's a physical attacker use Toxic to give it something to remember you by! But the main idea behind the build is get a kill and have the switch-in advantage. Anything else this Blissey manages to accomplish should be considered icing on the cake.

To get Blissey...

(1) Breed a male Breloom that knows Counter, Toxic, and Protect with a Chansey or Blissey.
(2) Aim for either a Timid, Hasty, Calm, or Gentle Nature, depending on your personal preference (Timid & Hasty boost Speed, Calm & Gentle boost Sp. Defense). The Natural Cure ability is best for it. Level up to teach it Softboiled. You may prefer to have Rest for your healing over Softboiled, it is entirely up to you. I use Softboiled myself.

Again, do not expect great results from this guy in Double Battles, he is designed for Single Battles.

And on an administrative note, my apologies for lack of posting, college is intense lately. I'll try to update more over the upcoming winter break. Also, I'm still on Gen V games until I can afford a 3DS. Just be patient, once I get to play X & Y I'll update everything accordingly. Until then, I did post updated breeding mechanics for Gen VI a bit over a month ago.

Brock out.