Hey, AiB! How are you all on this fine day? This is lightlanayru (Trish)
here, but not as your Head of Ladder Content. I am here as a fellow
member of the Pokémon community with a couple of awesome announcements!
You have read the title of this article, and now... let the hype unveil
itself!
After
many weeks of planning and preparation, I am proud to announce the
grand opening of the official AiB Pokémon League for the 5th Generation!
There
have been some changes for this Pokémon League as compared to the 4th
generation. Not to worry, though! Your objective to conquer the league
remains the same, and your battles can be done either through your DS
(if you have Black or White) or Pokémon Online (
download the simulator here).
There will be badges and cards given out to those who have proven
themselves victorious over the Champion. The rules of the league, as
well as more in-depth information are provided in the official group.
So, if you are up for a rigorous challenge,
join the AiB 5th Gen Pokémon League group now!
In
addition to the grand opening of the 5th Gen Pokémon League... haha,
you do realize what today is, yes? Indeed, today is the official release
date of Pokémon Black & White! Well actually, today is Europe's
release date for the 5th generation installments on the DS, but do not
fret! I trust that the Americans can survive 48 hours or less of waiting
for Pokémon Black & White to come out. They come out this weekend,
after all. Also, in case you were probably unaware, there is still a
mall tour going on (until March 20th) throughout the U.S. for the
promotion of these games, and I do highly recommend going to one of
these if you can't wait to try them out. This is a once-in-a-lifetime
chance, and I was lucky enough to go! You can check out
my blog for more info on the Pokémon Black & White mall tour!
Anyway,
with the English versions of Black and White coming out, you will be
embarking on a journey to the Unova region! New features have also been
added into these games, such as having triple or rotation battles, as
well as gaining access to the Global Link to obtain the Dream
World abilities for your Pokémon! There are over 150 new Pokémon in the
5th generation to look out for, and of course, you will be conquering
the gyms and the Pokémon League while you encounter some trouble on the
way! You will be traveling with a traditional starter Pokémon, and you
have a choice of choosing between Snivy (the grass-type), Tepig (the
fire-type), and Oshawott (the water-type). If you are one of those
indecisive trainers who can't decide on what starter to choose, we have
an in-game analysis for each of the starters in their final-evolution
forms, respectively written by lightlanayru, Mangporeyawn and Midnite.
Serperior is, indeed, the royal snake of
the starters. While it lacks a secondary type, it has a decent base
speed of 113 and its other base stats are well-rounded. Sadly,
Serperior's movepool is a little poor (especially outside of its Dream
World ability, Perversity), but it still has some useful moves. In its
base evolution form, Snivy learns Leaf Tornado at level 16 before it
evolves into Servine at level 17, which is a pretty decent attacking
move to use (with a chance of lowering the target's accuracy) throughout
the beginning/middle of the game. Your best attacking moves for STAB
are Leaf Blade and Leaf Storm / Solarbeam, but it depends on your
preference of either attacking physically or specially. Energy Ball is
also a good attacking move (with an added small chance of lowering the
target's special defense), and Serperior learns this through TMs. To
take advantage of Serperior's defenses, Leech Seed is definitely a must
if you prefer to heal some HP each turn, and it also learns Giga Drain
to heal itself more effectively. Serperior can also use Toxic for
status-inflicting purposes, but it has its downsides against steel and
poison-types, as they can resist grass and poison type attacks. Outside
of STAB, its possible useful move (besides Return) is Dragon Tail, which
is also learned through TMs. When using Dragon Tail, not only does it
inflict damage, but the target is forced back in its pokeball and the
trainer is forced to send out a different random pokemon in his/her
party. In addition, this is Serperior's only attacking move that can
take care of dragon-types.
By the end of the game, Serperior's possible best moveset is this:
Sunny Day / Double Team / Growth / Coil
Leech Seed / Giga Drain / Wrap
Leaf Blade / Dragon Tail / Return / Wrap
Grass Knot / Energy Ball / Solarbeam / Leaf Storm
With
Serperior's shallow movepool and its despise towards fire types, it
does enjoy some company with water types. Luckily, you should be able to
obtain the water monkey, Panpour, early in the game. Sadly, there are
not that much water-types to see after Panpour, though unless you have
obtained Surf, you would be able to encounter Alomomola, Frillish, and
Jellicent on the seas. Otherwise, you can have a ground type aid with
Serperior, such as obtaining a Drilbur, Sandile, or Golett, and evolve
them all the way into Excadrill, Krookodile, or Golurk respectively.
If
you prefer to choose a different starter, there are quite a few
grass-type Pokemon to note. You have Cottonee (in Black) and Petlil (in
White) to go after. Sewaddle is also a notable grass type, as it can
evolve all the way into a Leavanny, which has decent base attack and
speed stats. Then, there is Deerling and Sawsbuck you can catch, as they
have access to fighting-type moves, Megahorn, and Wild Bolt for type
coverage. Of course, you also have access to Ferroseed and Ferrothorn
for annoyance purposes.
Emboar is the definition of big and
bad...no, not literally. Emboar is the strongest of the three starters
boasting both a 123 base attack and a 100 base special attack, but
there's a catch, a 65 base speed leaves it moving second in battle to
many Pokemon. Luckily, Tepig learns a move at level 15 that cures the
speed problem. Flame Charge is a physical Fire-type move that always
increases your Pokemon's speed when used, so teaching it to Tepig will
be worthwhile. Another thing that makes Emboar useful is its secondary
Fighting-type, which it gets after Tepig evolves into Pignite. Many
Pokemon you'll encounter throughout the game have weaknesses to
Fighting-type moves. Only downside is that it only learns Arm Thrust
through leveling, a 15 base power multi-hit attack. Prepare to rely on
TMs to give it some better Fighting-type moves. Speaking of TMs, Emboar
is one of, if not the only, Fire-Type Pokemon to learn a Water-Type
move. It is capable of learning Scald through TM, which is fairly
strong, and has a chance to burn. It also learns Wild Charge, which is a
pretty powerful Electric-type move, though you should be careful when
using it since it deals recoil damage.
Here's a few move sets you can use on Emboar near the end of the game to take full use of his skills:
Flame Charge/Wild Charge/Scald/Brick Break
Flare Blitz/Head Smash/Earthquake/Hammer Arm
Heat Crash/Hammer Arm/Overheat
Sunny Day/Solarbeam/Fire Blast
As
a Fire-type, Emboar really hates Water-types. A simple remedy to this
is to get the Grass-type Pokemon, Pansage, which you can get pretty
easily and pretty early in the game. If you miss Pansage, you always
have the chance to pick up either a Cottonee or a Petilil, which are
version exclusive Grass-type Pokemon. Cottonee for Black and Petilil for
White. Also, if you'd rather have the other exclusive Grass-type
Pokemon, there's an in-game trade that'll give you the exclusive from
the game opposite of yours. A good Dark-type like Purrloin can be
obtained pretty early in the game to counter Psychic-type Pokemon trying
to hit Emboar for super effective damage.
If you
don't choose Emboar as your starter, it's not too hard to find a
different Fire-type, unlike how Diamond and Pearl only had one Fir-type
outside of the Chimchar evolutionary line before the National Pokedex.
Darumaka is an excellent Fire-type available a little before halfway
through the game. Not only is its evolution stronger that Emboar, but
it's faster as well, and it learns nearly all of the same moves Emboar
does. There are a few other Fire-type Pokemon available, but none really
stand out in non-competitive environments. Chandelure is a pretty cool
Fire/Ghost-type Pokemon with 145 base special attack, but not only does
its first evolution take place at level 41, you also need to obtain a
Dusk Stone to fully evolve it.
Samurott is well-rounded. It has nice
attacking stats and reasonable bulk, but it's only slightly faster than
Emboar. Oshawott does a decent job early on. However, by the time it
evolves into Dewott, it starts to fall behind, as it doesn't gain many
good non-water moves outside of Fury Cutter and Revenge, making it
harder to use. When it evolves into Samurott, it's... well, not exactly
showtime yet. It really only gains Slash ad Aqua Tail by level. However,
as you gain more TMs, you'll find them great asset for Samurott.
Gaining the TMs for Ice Beam/Blizzard, Grass Knot, Scald, X-Scissor, and
Dragon Tail help a lot. If you have a spare Heart Scale, you can also
teach it Megahorn from the move relearner!
By end-game, the best moveset for Samurott is around the lines of:
Surf/Scald/Aqua Tail/Waterfall
Ice Beam/Grass Knot
Megahorn/Slash/Dragon Tail
Revenge/Slash/Dragon Tail
Samurott
enjoys the company of a fire type to handle Grass types. You're given
Pansear early. Darumaka/Darumantan also has great synergy if you skipped
Pansear. A Grass type in Lilligant, Sawsbuck, or Maractus, or a Ground
type in Krookodile, Excadrill, or Golurk will also help in the long-run,
as they handle electric attacks.
If you don't
plan on starting with Samurott, there aren't that many other notable
water type in Unova. If you started with Snivy, you get Panpour. If you
started with Tepig, there's Carracosta, Jelicent, and Seismitoad to
consider. I would like to note that Carracosta has access to Shell Smash
at a relatively early level of 40, which is a great offensive asset.
I believe that's
about all I have for you. Are you ready for another adventure in the
Pokémon world? This is your time now! I await to see what you've all
got! Until next time, see ya~ :]