Volbeat you're a Fiiiiiiirefly

 

 Some Pokemon have such a strong motif that it immediately becomes apparent what would have been different if they debuted in a later generation. With their design, movepool, and abilities, Volbeat and Illumise are just screaming to be Bug/Fairy types and it honestly shocks me that they did not get included in the Fairy reworks when that type was introduced. Especially shocking considering you could catch them in X and Y. Fireflies have such a strong link to fairies in the European tradition, we're going to let both of these mons be the fairies they always wanted to be.

Stats

Volbeat and Illumise have always been pretty lacking in the stats department, with only 400 for base stat totals when they debuted. A modest boost to 430 certainly didn't do much for them either. We'll be bumping them all the way up to 469 and shuffling their stat distributions around quite a bit so they can actually perform a bit in battle outside of Prankster shenanigans. 

Volbeat will be the offensively focused partner with a big boost to Sp. Attack and Speed. It will still want to boost with Tail Glow but now it will have an attacking stat that can actually utilize the boost. He'll also be getting 10 points to Defense to stay on the field a bit longer.

Illumise will be taking a slight hit to Speed to massively buff its HP.  Who needs Speed anyway when you have Prankster? She'll grab some small boosts to Sp. Attack and Defense too, but survivability will be key to her success as a support-oriented Pokemon.

Abilities

Prankster remains an incredible ability even after being nerfed against Dark types, and Volbeat and Illumise are the only Bug types that get access to it. The other abilities could use some work, of course, so you at least have an option to run something slightly different.

For Volbeat:

• Illuminate
• Tinted Lens
• Prankster

 It always struck me as odd that 1. Volbeat had such a gutter Sp. Attack stat when it always had Tail Glow in its arsenal and 2. that Illumise got Tinted Lens of all things when it is not set up to hit any kind of hard physically or specially. Easy fix here by moving Tinted Lens over to the newly offensive-focused Volbeat. 

I also can't in good faith take away Illuminate from a literal firefly, so we'll buff the ability instead. Scarlet and Violet meagerly tried to give it some kind of in-battle effect to match Keen Eye, but I think the nature of the ability should give it a stronger effect. Volbeat is lighting up the arena with its butt lamp, and everyone should be benefiting. Illuminate now gives a 20% accuracy boost to all Pokemon on the field, ally and enemy alike. Less extreme than No Guard but it affects every battler to set it apart. I like that this gives Volbeat something to offer on the team even if there is no chance for it to boost itself up with Tail Glow.

For Illumise:

• Supersweet Syrup
• Sweet Veil
• Prankster

Honestly, Prankster is going to be Illumise's preferred ability 90% of the time. As a slower, bulkier Pokemon with lots of useful status moves,why would you want anything else? Supersweet Syrup fits with the Pokedex flavor, at least, and can work well as an opening gambit to give a hard-hitting partner the ability to throw out powerful inaccurate moves. 

Sweet Veil rounds out Illumise's options by giving your team immunity to one of the most dangerous status conditions in the game. It might still be a little lackluster, though, so I'm toying with the idea of having it also wake up sleeping Pokemon when Illumise switches in. This would give it some synergy with Rest or with healing allies that got put to sleep when Illumise was off the field, but that might be a little too powerful. Not that Illumise really has the stats to make this a broken strategy. We'll see how testing goes.

Movepool

First off, easy change, Moonblast! They're fairies now, and they dance in the moonlight while also having Moonlight in their movepool already, let's make this happen. I'm also throwing in almost all the Fairy type status moves: Charm, Aromatic Mist (for Illumise only), Crafty Shield, Decorate, Fairy Lock, Floral Healing, Misty Terrain, and Sweet Kiss. 

The above is already a crazy buff, but I'm also adding Follow Me for both Pokemon because it fits so well with both design and their battle plan. You will find Bug types that are a lot mightier and tankier, but these guys are going to mess you up if you give them a chance with their Fairy tricks.

Their movepool is already rounded out with strong options such as Encore, Substitute, Trick, Tailwind, and Helping Hand. They are going to be a menace in the Double Battles format of Bugmerald if you let them get going. Only their mediocre bulk is holding them back.

Summary

I wanted to keep the identities of Volbeat and Illumise as Bug type pranksters that can fire off a multitude of priority status moves to disrupt the field and give opportunities to their allies. I think we've succeeded beautifully in that goal here, with a little extra bulk to help them survive more than a single turn in a fight and expanding their moves and abilities even further. While Fairy is one of the strongest types in the game, you'll be very limited in your Fairy type options in this game. All the more reason to consider giving these fireflies a chance to shine on your team.

Fight! Heracross and...Falinks?

 

 

Remember back in Gen 2 when they finally introduced a power Bug move in Megahorn? Finally, Psychic types could be hit hard for super effective damage! And Heracross was such an excellent user of the move, good defenses, great attack, workable speed. But wait, what's this? It's WEAK to Psychic moves because of its secondary Fighting type? Well so much for THAT. These days it is even harder for Heracross to stand out with Fairy types and power creep running amok. Fortunately, we can fix a few of these problems here.

First off, Heracross and its newly added Bug/Fighting comrade, Falinks, benefit a lot from the type matchup changes getting added to Bugmerald. No longer are they weak to Psychic moves, taking only neutral damage. Plus with Rock gaining resistance to Bug moves, the Fighting type coverage they provide is even more valuable. While neither of these Pokemon are going to be sweeping the enemy team alone, the double battle nature of this game will provide plenty of opportunities they never had in single player before such as Tailwind, Rage Powder, and other utility moves. With this help, I think players will find their boosted Bug/Fighting partners will be hitting dangerously hard and surviving far longer then they should. You'll just need to watch out for birds!

 1. Stats

Heracross is getting some very modest boosts to Defense, Sp. Defense, and a 5 point boost to Speed to bring it up to 525 from 500 base stat total. In the same vein, Falinks is receiving some small boosts to HP, Sp. Attack and Sp. Defense to bring it up to an even 500 base stat total.

 2. Abilities

Heracross is keeping Guts and Moxie as very fitting abilities. Swarm will be replaced by Inner Focus, giving it an option to be immune to both flinching and Intimidate to help its offense.

Falinks will likewise keep access to Battle Armor (buffed to now reduce damage to Steel and Rock moves) and Defiant. For a third Ability, I'm throwing in Stalwart. It fits nicely from a thematic standpoint with No Retreat, and it gives a boosted Falinks the ability to ensure elimination of high-priority targets regardless of things like Follow Me or Rage Powder.

3. Movepool

Heracross gets access to Mat Block and Storm Throw and gains back access to Bullet Seed and Pin Missile. Having some utility options to protect its teammates serves Heracross well in the double battles of the Bugmerald world, especially a rare move like Mat Block. And while it is missing Skill Link, the new Loaded Die item is a great option for players wanting to use multi-hit moves.

Otherwise, Heracross is in a great place. It gets powerful Fighting and Bug moves, all sorts of coverage options like Facade, Rock Slide, Earthquake, and Shadow Claw. It can boost itself with Bulk Up to become unstoppable on the physical front. Its only real weakness is its middling speed, but throw a Tailwind on your side of the field or a Sticky Web on the opponent's side and suddenly Heracross is mowing down opponents left and right.

Falinks gets Smart Strike, Wide Guard, Attack Order and Defend Order. Especially now that it is a Bug type, its crazy how well the Order moves fit. Heal Order, though, will be reserved for Vespiquen alone. For Special moves to use with its buffed Sp. Attack combined with No Retreat, I'm adding Scale Shot and Clanging Scales to go with the modified Attack Order which is now a special move. I love the idea of these tiny guys beating their little shields to cause a ruckus or chucking them at opponents. 

As one final bonus, Falinks will get access to Beat Up, but gets a perk in that Falinks itself will proc Beat Up five times, for a total of up to 10 hits (The Brass will not dirty its hands to get a last hit in here). This takes it from an incredibly niche move that is extremely hampered by party composition to a very powerful Dark type onslaught. Falinks does not get stab on this move or this would never be ok, but as is I think it offers some fun options for the player and makes it use-able even if your team is mostly Sp. Attackers.

Conclusion

I honestly have never used either of these Pokemon in-game very often. Heracross because its always been butts hard to find anywhere, hidden behind headbutted or honey-slathered tree mechanics. Falinks just enters the game too late to provide much in a first play-through. I haven't decided for this game how exactly the player will be encountering them, but it will definitely be easier and earlier for both. With all the changes detailed above, I think you'll find quite a bit of value by trying one out on your team!

I'd Like My Sandwich without the Crustle, Please

 

 

What if you had a Gigalith but underneath was a weird grumpy crab beetle? Meet this sour guy. They fight each other for territory and the one that gets his giant rock broken apart is the loser. Their massive claws can break Rhyperior armor. So this is a top-tier physical attacker, right? Well, it managed to get all the way up to RU in it debut generation I guess? And it hasn't been seen since outside of PU/ZU. For a Bug strong enough to carry this gigantic honking rock, I feel like it should at least have a little more strength to offer than Scyther. Let's see what we can do. 

1. Stats

I don't want to do a whole lot here. All the pieces are present for an effective battler, I'm just tweaking the best parts a little more. HP is increasing from 70 to 95, and Attack is getting a bump from 95 to 105 (lol, even Game Freak realized their mistake here) to 115. Everything else is staying the same, stat-wise, so abilities and moves will have to pick up any other slack.

2. Abilities

Sturdy works pretty well here in conjunction with Crustle's option to Shell Smash so it can always tank at least one hit while boosting or after boosting. Likewise, Shell Armor was previously awful but now will eliminate its Steel and Rock weaknesses, so we're keeping that. Weak Armor, though? I can't think of a single Pokemon that has been able to make Weak Armor work. Shell Smash is already ten times the option that Weak Armor wishes it could be. Instead, let's reference a very explicit fact that the Pokedex makes clear by giving it Tough Claws as a hidden ability. Crustle is famous for these tough claws that break rocks and it doesn't get Tough Claws? They thick, they mighty, and now they putting a 1.3x damage multiplier on contact moves.

3. Movepool

Crustle has some great moves already, I mostly just want to move a lot of egg moves over into level-up and tutor options instead. Curse, Knock Off, Wide Guard, Hone Claws are all fantastic options for Crustle that should be available in the first play-through without worrying about breeding moves onto your team. I think we can do better than Rock-Wrecker in the final spot, though. I want something that is actually going to take a chunk out of Rhyperior's hide.

Introducing: Sledge Claw. A base 95 power, 95 Accuracy Bug type move that is Super Effective against Rock type Pokemon. This takes Crustle from perhaps 5 hit KOing a Rhyperior without leftovers, to ensuring a 2 hit KO in all circumstances. This is a Pokemon that carves out huge slabs of rock and carries them on its back, then fights and breaks the huge rock slabs of other Crustle. It should have a move that is pretty effective at hitting rocks. 

Conclusion

I said it before, all the pieces are there for Crustle to be very effective in battle. It just gets outclassed in any single regard by other stronger, bulkier, faster Pokemon. These changes should help it carve out its own niches in Bugmerald, especially as the only Bug that gets access to (and can actually use it effectively, sorry Shuckle) Shell Smash.

You Best Not Fuckle

 

 

 Full disclosure: Shuckle is my favorite Bug type in any game. I love this little guy so much. I try really hard not to show blatant favoritism in the game I'm building, but today is the day where I break that rule. Shuckle is getting some FUCKLED buffs and I'm not sorry at all. 

1. Stats and Typing

While it seems like there are a lot of Bug/Rock types available, Shuckle was the first and he is keeping his signature typing combo. Stat-wise, Shuckle already boasts the highest standard deviation between stats of any Pokemon with sky high defenses and bottom barrel everything else. As I'm looking at my stat spreadsheet, I'm leaning into this dichotomy even harder. Introducing Shuckle with truly top-tier defenses that no other Pokemon ever made can match. 255/255 and a buff to 50 HP means Shuckle is rocking out harder than ever. We're dropping Attack and Sp. Attack down to 5 to match his speed too. Bask in the glory that is Shuckle.

2. Abilities

Shuckle has some weird abilities. Sturdy on a Pokemon that will never be knocked out in one hit? Gluttony? Contrary? I think it's time to rewrite the book here. Introducing the new ability spread:

• Rough Skin
• Shell Armor
• Supersweet Syrup

Shuckle is nested in a ridiculously hard, craggy rock. It does not feel good to punch. Opponents can start taking damage when they do. Shell Armor is self explanatory and serves to nullify Shuckle's weaknesses to Rock and Steel, meaning it only has a weakness to Water. Supersweet Syrup references the delicious fermenting berry juice that Shuckles work to produce and share with their friends, lowering evasion for stronger allies to benefit.

3. Movepool

Shuckle already has everything it needs to succeed with these new abilities. Infestation does incredible damage over time and can be paired with Toxic to prevent escape. Power Split essentially eliminates a whole opponent by neutering its damage output, and if it has been hit by Infestation it literally can't do anything. Guard Split can massively buff an ally when Shuckle is on the rocks, and Sticky Web helps its allies out-speed any foes that want to switch in because of a Power Split. I may bring back some old moves it had access to like Captivate for fun, and I am on the fence about giving it access to Slack Off. Even for me that may be too much. Regardless, Shuckle has plenty to do to disrupt foes and buff allies.

Conclusion

Shuckle has never been good, I know that. But gosh was it fun to use and bamboozle opponents with the old Infestation, Power Split, Toxic trick. Now you can enjoy all that fun and much more with the newly buffed Shuckle. You know what they say!

 

Ninjas and Knights: The Bug pair from Unova

 

 

 

As someone who had to drive 30 minutes to get to the house of the only friend I had that still played Pokemon when Black and White released, you can imagine I wasn't a huge fan of trade evolutions. You always have to love when Game Freak doubles down on an idea by adding barely differing iterations. Oh, you have to trade to evolve your Haunter. Now you have to trade AND have Electabuzz hold an item to get it to evolve. Now you have to trade your Karrablast specifically for a Shelmet to have them both evolve. Blah, at least there haven't been any weird new trade evolutions since our buggy friends hit the scene.

The above notwithstanding, Escavalier and Accelgor are actually pretty cool. The former Unova champion is even known to have used both at times. They fall directly into the slow but tanky and fast but frail archetype, respectively, and I honestly did not have a good idea of what to do with them when I started this project. Looking at their competitive history, they actually both were able to carve out a niche in the RU tier for a while, but both have since dropped to the bottom tiers as new, stronger threats keep emerging. While I could just double down and make Escavalier tankier and Accelgor hit harder, I'm taking a different route here. I want to lean into their designs and use some Abilities to make them feel more like their namesakes. To that end, I'm going to mix it up and start with a discussion of Abilities first as this will play into how we want to structure their stats and movepools.

1. Abilities

Let me just say woof, these Pokemon did not last so long in RU because of their Abilities. These things are doing nothing. Sticky Hold? Swarm? It will not be hard to think up better options. For Accelgor,  I definitely want to play more into its ninja attributes. It should be able to do something unique that other Pokemon can't with a ninja-esque ability or two. Here are my ideas:

• Master of Disguise: Doubles the HP of created Substitutes
• Master of Traps: Intensifies field effect moves
• Dry Skin

Master of Disguise is pretty straightforward and gives Accelgor fantastic opportunities to survive longer and set up whatever it wants with some of the bulkiest substitutes in the game. Master of Traps I think I need to explain more in depth. By "field effect moves" I am talking about anything that is changing conditions on the field for multiple turns that is not weather or terrain. Moves like Gravity, Trick Room, Wonder Room, Magic Room, Water Sport, Mud Sport, and the secondary effects of Water/Grass/Fire Pledge affect how moves or stats work on both sides of the battle. To also give credit to the trap side, this ability is also affecting moves like Spikes, Toxic Spikes, Sticky Web, and Stealth Rock.

So now we know what moves are affected by Master of Traps, but what does intensify mean? In most cases, this is just an extension of turns that the field effect remains on the field. All the "Room" moves, Water/Mud Sport, Gravity, and the Pledge move effects will have their turns increased to 8 from 5 (or 4 for the Pledge moves). Of course, the hazard moves like Spikes do not have a turn limit, so those moves will instead have their effect boosted in various ways. A Pokemon with this ability will put down two layers of Spikes and Toxic Spikes instead of 1 whenever it uses the move, Sticky Web will sharply decrease speed, and Stealth Rock will have its damage boosted by 25% for each damage stage. Note that Accelgor will not have access to Sticky Web and Stealth Rock, but perhaps you'll run into an enemy with those moves and this ability.

I know it all comes across as pretty messy, and if it is it's because Game Freak has never grouped these moves together in a category before so I'm blazing new trails here. I'm probably even missing some relevant moves here because it's so hard to search for moves that affect the battlefield. Short of Trick Room and the hazard rooms, none of these moves have seen the light of day despite having really cool effects. Accelgor makes an ideal user of these moves, being fast enough to get things set up quickly, and Master of Traps extends the duration enough to make them actually worth considering. 

Finally, Dry Skin. Just flavor to go with its Pokedex entries that I think is more interesting than Hydration. Phew, ok, time for Escavalier!

• Lightning Charge: Doubles speed when using piercing moves
• Stalwart
• Shell Armor

Escavalier gets its own fancy new ability here with Lightning Charge. Once again, I'm introducing a new category of "piercing" moves, and whenever Escavalier presses the attack with one of these moves it gets doubled speed for that turn to dish out big damage fast. Moves like Megahorn, Smart Strike, Poison Jab, Fell Stinger, and Drill Run will all fall into this category. Essentially, if it is a move that entails Escavalier stabbing you head on with its massive lances, it will be a piercing move. This ability not only plays into its design (and its species name is literally the "cavalry Pokemon") but also gives credence to the Pokedex entries talking about how it flies around at high speed. Yeah, it was never doing that with a base 20 Speed stat. In the next section, we'll look at how we'll be padding up Escavalier's Speed slightly so it can actually make good use of this ability.

A quick aside, I did consider having this ability just give +1 priority to piercing moves. It would be easier to code, but I think it would be far too powerful. Having priority on such high base power moves that span multiple types would be too oppressive and the only counter would be an enemy with their own priority moves, most of which would be far weaker than the moves Escavalier gets access to. Having this ability double Speed instead allows natural out-speeding by the opponent and opens up counter-play through things like Paralysis and other forms of speed control.

Stalwart is a fitting ability to any knightly Pokemon and strikes me as an ability Escavalier would have started with if it had existed in Gen 5. It also lets the player ensure that a high priority target is taken out with Escavalier's high Attack regardless of shenanigans by the opponent. Finally, Shell/Battle Armor is a great fit for teams that need that defensive edge. It's buff that reduces damage from Steel and Rock moves make Escavalier one of the only Pokemon in the whole game that can actually resist Rock types and could make this ability worth considering over the offensive power of Lightning Charge.

Ok, that's a wrap! Geeze, what a wall of text. Now that we have some new and/or improved roles defined for Escavalier and Accelgor, let's see how we can support these design goals in their stats and movepools.

2. Stats

Escavalier is getting its bottom of the barrel Speed stat boosted to...33! While this barely seems like an improvement, looking at the math tells a very different story. Assuming a neutral Nature and a player that doesn't EV train at all and only picks up EV points naturally through the game, we'd expect Escavalier to end up somewhere around 46ish speed by level 50. This is enough, when doubled via Lightning Charge, to outspeed Pokemon with 85 base speed such as Nidoking. Not too shabby. Now let's assume that the player actually puts some effort into raising Escavalier's speed. This would let it cap out as high as 85 speed at level 50. Boosting this with Lightning Charge has Escavalier out-speeding Pokemon with base Speed stats of 115, or even 120 if the opponent's speed is not maxed! If you give Escavalier a Speed-boosting nature, it can now always out-speed base Speed 120 Pokemon with neutral natures or base Speed 115 Pokemon with Speed-boosting natures. That's pretty dang fast! If the player knows to invest in Speed, Escavalier is swinging as fast as the speedsters, and even without investment it is far out-speeding any other tanky, defensively oriented opponents.

With the above in mind, I am nerfing Escavalier's base Attack from 135 to 115 so it is not too overpowered. To compensate, I've improved its bulk with base 90 HP from base 70. These changes should allow Escavalier to comfortably tank hits with ease if the player focuses on defense or hit hard and fast while still being decently bulky if the player opts to use Lightning Charge.

For Accelgor, we're dropping its Speed a bit to 129 (which still leaves it only second to Ninjask among non-legendary Bug types) so we can pad out its survivability. I'm only buffing its defenses to 65 from 60 Defense and Sp. Defense, but I'm ratcheting up HP to a whopping 109. Combined with Master of Disguise, we are looking at some absolutely massive Substitutes that Accelgor can set up. This is balanced by Accelgor's mediocre offenses and lack of good boosting moves. 

3. Movepool

Escavalier essentially has everything it already needs in the moves department. To add some defensive utility, I'll throw in Wide Guard so it can provide some additional support to its allies. I don't think it needs anything more for offensive moves unless I later think of another cool move that would work with Lightning Charge. Icicle Spear perhaps?

Accelgor will get a few more changes to let it properly utilize its new abilities. Substitute will now be part of its level-up learnset, and it will either directly learn or get access to via tutor the Pledge moves, Gravity, Trick, Wonder, and Magic Room, and Spikes/Toxic Spikes. I'm also going to throw in Flattery so it can do some shenanigans with Flattery and Power Swap. Everything else we will leave as is with strong options like Encore, Giga Drain, Water Shuriken, Yawn, and Toxic.

Conclusion

I'm finding something interesting as we progress through the list. More and more as the generations go on and the list of Pokemon keeps getting longer, Game Freak is leaning more into Abilities as a way to differentiate Pokemon that would otherwise be surprisingly similar. We did the same here with Accelgor very clearly differentiating itself from Ninjask and Escavalier stepping away from its slow and bulky brethren too. While I don't want to overly rely on spiffy custom abilities, there will definitely be more times in the future where this will be necessary so every Bug type in this game can have a chance to shine.

Scourge of the Ancient Skies: Yanmega

 

 Yanmega, a dragonfly big and strong enough to lift a human and carry them away. A terrifying prehistoric force unlocked by having Yanma tap into primordial energies. Time and power-creep have not been kind to this beast, but we're going to restore its spot in the upper echelon of Bug types. You'll remember that when discussing Spidops, I was on the fence about giving it a move that used the word garrote, a wire or cloth used to strangle someone to death. Meanwhile, the Pokedex doesn't mince any words when it says Yanmega likes to capture its prey, fly away at breakneck speeds and then crush the prey's head into bits with its massive jaws. And the Pokedex makes sure you know that Yanmega can fly away with you too. Geeze, Game Freak. 

1. Stats and Typing

To begin, while Bug/Flying is of course appropriate to describe a dragonfly I think we can do something more interesting. Yanmega would have been absolutely uncontested in its prime, an apex predator. Something this colossal and powerful deserves a typing to match. In Bugmerald, Yanmega will be one of only two families to utilize the Bug/Dragon typing along with Flygon. While there may not have been classic European dragons in the Pokemon caveman days, they still had to worry about this Dragonfly swooping down to bite apart their skulls and carry them away to its lair.

Yanmega is already in a pretty good place stats-wise, so we'll just be buffing up some weak points to keep it competitive with the field. Speed is getting boosted to 101 to give it the jump on the classic base 100 tier without any Speed Boost procs. Sp. Defense is getting a little love to bring it up to 65, hopefully letting it avoiding an immediate one-shot KO by a powerful Special spread move. Defense is actually dropping slightly to 82 to give room to an Attack boost up to 89. All these changes move Yanmega up to a solid 539 base stat total. To compensate, Ancient Power will be moving to a higher level in Yanma's learnset so it evolves a bit later in the game.

2. Abilities

Yanmega already has two incredible abilities with Speed Boost and Tinted Lens. While decently fast, Yanmega is still outsped by a lot of threats and Speed Boost quickly eliminates that problem. Otherwise, Tinted Lens can make it incredibly difficult for any foe to defend itself by doubling the power of resisted moves. I'll definitely be keeping these incredible options, but for the third I'm going to mix it up a bit. Instead of the underwhelming Frisk, Yanmega will now have access to Strong Jaw, which along with the boost we gave to its Attack stat will allow it to live up to those legendary Pokedex entries. Yanmega biting your head off is not just a metaphorical threat anymore.

3. Movepool

Yanmega has traditionally suffered from a limited movepool that forced it to rely on Tinted Lens to do much damage. I don't want to give it the keys to the kingdom here, but I do want to offer some more options for players that are looking to use Yanmega in-game. An easy add is the elemental fang trio, working nicely with the new Strong Jaw ability. Yanmega also has access to several Psychic moves so I feel fine adding Psychic Fangs to the mix. Ancient Power is getting a buff so Yanmega can actually utilize it as an offensive option.

For status moves, Yanmega is pretty lacking and only really gets access to Swords Dance. I'm adding two extra options for players to use: Work Up and Clangorous Soul. Work Up is relatively slow as it only boosts offenses by one stage, but with Yanmega's improved physical Attack options it can now choose to threaten foes on both defensive sides very effectively if it gets the opportunity to boost. Clangorous Soul of course is more of a clanging-scales reference, but as a dragon type that also is known for its incredible noise-producing wings I still think it is appropriate to give Yanmega access to the move. While it requires an HP investment to pull off, it lets Yanmega boost across the board and immediately become much more threatening offensively and defensively. If you can set up your team to provide Yanmega the necessary support, it can pay off spectacularly.

Conclusion

I like the balance that we've arrived at as everything seems to come with a cost. The player can amplify speed or offense with the available abilities, but not both. Yanmega has much more coverage now, but a lot of those moves rely on its weaker Attack stat which may force a player to run Strong Jaw or a physical boosting move. It can boost both stats repeatedly with Work Up, but the process is slow and could leave Yanmega vulnerable. Clangourous Soul provides a huge up-front power boost, but the HP sacrifice could leave Yanmega in danger even with its improved defenses. It will be up to the player to properly utilize Yanmega's strengths and utility to solve the problem at hand.

In any case, Yanmega is now a true offensive threat once more and has even lost its 4x weakness to Rock as a bonus. While the player may need to raise Yanma longer to see this ancient threat come to life, the payoff should now be well worth the wait.

Crustaceans Come Crashing In

 

 

I discussed in a previous post how I'll be expanding the roster of Bug types in this game to bring in every Pokemon inspired by arthropods. The biggest group affected by this change happens to be crustaceans. Specifically, we're looking at the quirky group of Krabby, Corphish, Clauncher, and Crabrawler and their evolutions. How will they be typed? What moves will they get access to? Are they getting any buffs? Let's take a moment to find out!

1. Stats

Kingler, Crawduant, and Clawitzer have never been close to the highest tiers of competition. They've had moments of greatness down in the lower tiers, but power creep continues to leave them further behind the competition. Crawdaunt at least was able to hang on to RU status? They'll definitely need some stat buffs to maintain their edge in the cruel world of Bugmerald.

All three of the aquatic crustaceans fall into a comfortably distinct role. Kingler dishes and receives hits well on the physical side, Clawitzer on the Special side, while Crawdaunt is the slowest but is a juggernaut that can do a little bit of everything. Kingler and Clawitzer are getting their Speed buffed to 85 and 89 respectively, with Clawitzer sacrificing a bit of Defense to hit that higher Speed tier. Crawdaunt is keeping its suspect 55 Speed but is getting boosted defenses and an HP buff up to 101.

As the sole terrestrial crustacean here, Crabominable walks a similar path to Kingler but with a lot more bulk and a lot less speed. Its defenses are being buffed to 107/87/87, while it retains its terrible Speed stat and phenomenal Attack.

Typing-wise, Kingler and Crawdaunt are maintaining their offensive moves with Bug/Water typing, while Crawdaunt is opting for Bug/Dark for a bit of variety. I may still consider Bug/Water for Crawdaunt, but there are already quite a few Bug/Waters at this point and only 3 Bug/Dark, so I think Dark makes the best fit here for game balance. Crabominable will be keeping the Ice type to live up to its namesake.

2. Abilities

Battle/Shell Armor is receiving a buff that not only gives immunity to critical hits, but also halves damage from Rock and Steel type moves. With Rock an omni-present threat in the Bugmerald world, the player actually has a good reason to utilize Shell Armor for once. Hyper Cutter is remaining an option for Kingler and Crawdaunt to check the doubles threat of Intimidate, and Sheer Force or Adaptability remain incredibly potent offensive powerhouses that they can access as Hidden Abilities. Clawitzer of course maintains its Mega Launcher ability to make the most of its offense. We'll throw in some extra options in Berserk and Storm Drain. There are quite a few Bug/Rock and Bug/Ground types that would love protection from water moves, and Clawitzer itself can always make use of a Sp. Attack boost through either ability.

Crabominable keeps Hyper Cutter and Iron Fist, protecting its offense or boosting it at the player's discretion. For the Hidden Ability, however, we're subbing in some more Shell Armor, baby. More than any other crab here, Crabominable's Bug/Ice typing is loving any protection it can get from Rock and Steel moves.

3. Movepool

Not much needs to be said here, honestly. These Pokemon have some great moves already. We'll be grabbing some egg moves such as Dragon Dance and moving them over to TMs or Tutors, and throwing in some Bug moves at appropriate levels. Pounce, and Struggle Bug at the lower levels, graduating into things like Leech Life, X-Scissor and Megahorn at the bottom of the level-up learnset. No need to mess with anything that's not broken!

Conclusion

We've got quite a few new Bug types that we'll be getting to in the future, but I think these buffs and adjustments do our krabby friends quite well as an introduction into Bugmerald. Keep an eye out for them rounding out the wild Pokemon found while fishing, surfing, and diving!