The rest of the Legendary Crew

 

 Continuing on from our Legendary discussion with all the Volcarona varieties, let's take a look at what other Legendary Pokemon will be rounding out the Bugmerald roster. After reviewing the candidates, I've landed on the following alien, supernatural, and rogue scientist roster. Genesect, as the only proper Bug type Mythical, was always going to be here. Then hailing from the bizarre worlds of the Ultra-Wormholes are Buzzwole, Pheromosa, and Naganadel. They'll be hard to find and certainly hard to catch, and Genesect for sure will have quite the role in the Bugmerald story. Just what that is, remains to be seen. But we can see how they'll perform differently in-game!

1. Stats and Typing

Genesect will of course remain the robotic Bug/Steel type you know and love, and Buzzwole will maintain its identity as the bizarre Bug/Fighting body building macho posing meathead. Pheromosa is getting a change to Bug/Ice to better capture its aloofness and icy attitude, and Naganadel is swapping its Dragon half to Bug to get the Bug/Poison typing its terrifying shiny design has always evoked. 

For stats, I'm granting Genesect a boost up to 640 base stat total to reflect its truly Legendary status and to set it apart from all the other Legendaries that hover around 600. Boosts to HP and both Defenses accomplish this neatly. The Ultra Beasts are getting boosted up to 600, except for Naganadel who sits at 590 because I had trouble getting its individual stats to remain prime numbers at 600. Buzzwole gets a bit of help with its crippling Sp. Defense and Pheromosa sacrifices a little bit of Speed and offense to get some much needed love in her anemic defensive stats. She still won't be tanking anything but at least she won't explode at an errant sneeze. Naganadel just gets some minor buffs across the board, it knows what it wants to do and it is pretty good at it.

2. Abilities

Genesect keeps Download, it's a very fitting and powerful ability for it. Love it.

The Ultra Beasts, on the other hand, can get a little more interesting than Beast Boost. They have all this great lore that is just not expressed anywhere in the gameplay. I think we can fix that.

• Protein Drain: The first time Buzzwole heals HP in battle, its Attack and Defense are boosted one stage.
• Intoxicating Scent: When Pheromosa enters battle, all opposing Pokemon become infatuated.
• Toxic Glue: Poisoned Pokemon become unable to switch out

Now we have some fun abilities that actually reference fun details about the Pokemon. Boosting once was the only way I could think of to balance Protein Drain, because Buzzwole is specifically stated to gain both strength and defense boosts when it drains other Pokemon. Intoxicating Scent maintains the usual limitations of Attract, it won't effect genderless Pokemon or Pokemon with abilities that normally block Attract. Even still, I may need to nerf this somehow, perhaps by reducing the chance of "immobilized by love" to 30-40% instead of 50%. Toxic Glue I think is honestly not that great in-game, but it certainly is a fun reference to Naganadel's adhesive poison. And let's be honset, Naganadel is already insanely strong, it doesn't need a Beast Boost to be giving it any more stat buffs.

3. Movepool

Pheromosa has some very easy additions. Glaciate, Ice Shard, Chilly Reception, Aurora Veil, Ice Spinner and Frost Breath are all very applicable and useful for its new Ice type. Trop Kick fits is kicking style and it already gets access to Triple Axel. With Snow boosting its defense and Quiver Dance as an option to boost Sp. Def. it could be a very threatening force in the snow. Of course, while it only has three weaknesses, its Fire and Rock weaknesses are both x4 which certainly limits its ability to take hits.

Buzzwole needs very little. It will have access to Leech Life, and with its ability, Bulk Up, and Power Up Punch, it is very easy for it to boost up to dangerous levels. While it has plenty of coverage moves, I'll add one for fun: Heavy Slam. After it absorbs energy, its muscles are known to be denser and harder than steel, so it's quite fitting. Plus Buzzwole is the heaviest Bug type in the game, so it can make good use of it.

Naganadel will get access to Fell Stinger, Signal Beam, and Bug Buzz. Otherwise it has everything it needs to leave a path of ruin behind it.

Genesect, likewise, is very comfortable in the Uber tier with the moves it already gets. Any additions will be purely for flavor/fun.

Conclusion

I'm very excited to incorporate these legendaries and some quests to obtain them into the game. I think with the above changes, players will find them very exciting to use! I never did get the chance to grab a Genesect back in the day, so it will be quite fun for me to give it a spin in Bugmerald.