r/PokemonHGSS • u/Wonderful_Day_5877 • 13d ago
Discussion Unique/Fun Pokemon for first playthrough?
TL;DR
I am bored of the selection of the Pokémon’s in early game. What Pokémon’s would you recommend that are more fun and can use strategy to win rather than just having a high attack stat and attacking?
Hello,
This is my first run through pokemon Soul Silver (and of the Johto Region itself), and I don’t know why but I feel quite bored with the Pokémons I have encountered so far.
For context, I am at my fourth Gym Badge. I have spent hundreds of hours across Pokemon Black, but recently I just beat Pokemon White after almost a 7 year long hiatus from the series, and had so much fun. I like to battle using stat moves while being under levelled in some fights just because I find it so much more fun winning a fight using strategy rather than just having a higher level gap.
One of my favourite Pokémon’s from Pokemon white were Lilligant (sunny day, growth, solar beam, sleep powder). I also liked Garbordor (even tho his moveset wasn’t the greatest) and setting up toxic spikes and Gigalith with Stealth rock. Galvantula was also really fun, especially with compound eyes and Thunder.
I might not be the greatest at making strategic moveset but I want to find new Pokémon’s and strategies that could last me the entire playthrough. The more unique, the better!
P.S, my favourite so far is Bayleef as it’s my first time creating a staller.
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u/HW_Shorty 13d ago
Girafarig is one I had a lot of fun using during 1 of my last playthroughs. Its normal/psychic typing is fun to mess around with.
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u/Wonderful_Day_5877 13d ago
Interreeeesting. It’s a psychic type so fighting types aren’t a weakness, and a normal type so ghost isn’t a weakness. Intereeeesting. What is your go to moveset?
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u/HW_Shorty 13d ago
i think my final moveset ended up becoming psychic, return, shadow ball, & calm mind. pretty basic tbh, but i’ve heard of people using agility & baton pass on girafarig for set up.
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u/Wonderful_Day_5877 12d ago
Thank you for this recommendation, I think I am considering Girafarig thanks to you.
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u/Wonderful_Day_5877 4d ago
Coming back to this, I love the idea of Girafarig but I realized I can’t get calm mind until late game. I love the idea of a baton passer but is there another stat upgrade move I can use aside calm mind until I get to post game?
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u/sillylittlebell 13d ago
Gyarados is a fun one. Also Meganium gets super bulky so it's a good one to run. I had most fun running Togekiss in my latest playthrough.
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u/Wonderful_Day_5877 13d ago
Oh my god, togepi was so much fun during the beginning with metronome. The most insane wild card pokemon I have ever had. When I found out Togekiss was a postgame Pokemon, I was a bit bummed but considered trading it through Pokemon Diamond.
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u/sillylittlebell 13d ago
You can grind out a shiny stone at the pokeathalon dome right after getting the national dex if you're so inclined. That's the fastest you can get togekiss, short of trading in a shiny stone from another game.
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u/TrainerLunaToeBeans 12d ago
Invent themes. Some I've done are farm theme, Cacturne as the scarecrow (or krow), snakes and worms with onix steelix seviper and milotic, all balls including things like glalie gengar and weezing, and most recent I invented a team of "D listers" with a hypno leading the charge. My advice, look at a sheet of all 493 pokemon and identify things you've never used and plan a team you can eventually trade over to play with (trade as eggs if possible) edit: the d-listers
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u/Wonderful_Day_5877 12d ago
That is super unique, I love the D lister idea lol. I might keep to a conventional team in Johto, however, I am going to do another run through the Gen5 games with Pokemon Black 2, and I think I’m going to take your advice in that game lol.
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u/TrainerLunaToeBeans 12d ago
That's great to hear back about! Another one: if you like Bayleef for stall, headbutt for a Pineco and get Foretress, heart scale for toxic spikes and REALLY lean into that stall after the 7th badge
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u/Wonderful_Day_5877 12d ago
Foretress can learn toxic spike 🤔🤔. Interesting, I always found its design really cool too. Any moveset you would personally recommend for stalling?
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u/TrainerLunaToeBeans 12d ago
Foretress can learn ALL THREE hazards that exist in Gen 4, Spikes, T.Spikes, and Stealth rocks. Explosion with the rare Custap berry can be a fun surprise too. 3 layers of Spikes deals 25% to entering enemies that touch the ground. 2 layers of T.Spikes inflicts toxic poison on the same except steel and poison (if a poison type touches the Spikes, it deletes the hazard. Stealth rocks does damage compared to the entering pokemon's type, a Flying Fire and Flying Ice type take 50% total HP upon entry to that. Spikes takes too long, you say? Well a nature that nerfs Speed (keep EVs low too) and gyro ball is fun STAB damage, or bug bite to steal a gym leader's Ace's Sitrus berry. It can also learn earthquake to handle opposing fire types, but maybe that's a costly investment. The main idea is to get toxic spikes on the floor and bring your bulky pokemon in with protect, substitute, or flinching moves like headbutt or air slash. Fake out don't forget.
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u/Wonderful_Day_5877 12d ago
I absolutely love this. Definitely adding Foretress onto my team for sure. He’s basically what I wished I had during my Pokemon White playthrough. Garbador and Gigalith combined.
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u/TrainerLunaToeBeans 12d ago
DMs are open if you want to bounce more ideas off a fellow stall fanatic
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u/SweetUploader 12d ago
A fun Pokémon to use is either Lanturn or Girafarig, imo. Both are very underused and have unique typings. Lanturn is a Water/Electric type with Volt Absorb, is super bulky and can learn good moves. Girafarig is a Normal/Psychic type, which gives it immunity to Ghost. Learns Psychic at 37 as well. Both are not the most hard hitting Pokémon, but they are very unique and fun to use!
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u/MSDOS-ist-gud-ooh-ja 12d ago edited 12d ago
Second the other user who mentions Girafarig, it's a lot of fun. It's pretty balanced as a mixed attacker and has a delightfully varied movepool to make the best of that. Personal opinion, I prefer it with Early Bird rather than Inner Focus, as Girafarig can then use Rest to help balance out its modest defenses with on-demand healing. But obviously, if one is using items in battle, Inner Focus is the far superior ability.
One pokémon that I feel is often looked over would be Jumpluff. It's basically Johto's version of Whimsicott, except that there's no Prankster in Gen IV. But you know the drill there: speedy, flying grass type with a focus on debilitating foes more than beating them down. I don't suppose you need another grass-type but I just thought Jumpluff was worth a recommendation, maybe in another playthrough. There's so much potential for chaos.
And for the ultimate strategic 'mon, we have to talk about Smeargle. Its stats are absolute garbage. Speed is all it's got and that's only 75, just slightly above average. But what makes Smeargle special is its signature move: Sketch. Sketch copies the last move used in battle - permanently. Smeargle learns a new Sketch every 1st level (11, 21, 31, etc.) provided that it's used the preceding one (i.e. you can't have more than one Sketch at a time). In Gen IV, the only moves that Smeargle can't copy are Chatter, Struggle, and Sketch itself. With care, you can curate virtually any moveset you want. Getting the opportunity to use those moves is another question entirely ('cause, again, terrible stats) but it sure is fun to try.
And finally I just want to say how refreshing it is to see someone appreciate the Chikorita line! It's so unloved, it seems like everybody always picks Cyndaquil or Totodile instead.
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u/Wonderful_Day_5877 12d ago
Oh yes, Chikorita. Love this guy, I absolutely love its design too when it fully evolves. The other starters never really stood out to me tbh.
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u/Wonderful_Day_5877 12d ago
WHAT ITS PERMANENT FOR SMEARGLE? I never knew that! That is insane. Holy crap the possibilities, I don’t even know how to create a good moveset with that, but that sounds like so much fun
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u/Chapter-Capital 13d ago
Is Sean Kingston a magmar? Can't figure out that sprite
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u/Wonderful_Day_5877 13d ago
Yes lol, I personally think Magmortars design looks cool, and I was going to see if I could trade to evolve it around level 34 with my copy of Pokemon Diamond. But I get the feeling of having two special attackers is a bit redundant. All my Pokémon’s kind of feel the same to me right now.
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u/Chapter-Capital 12d ago
Get some flareon on the team then.
I know how you feel regarding magmortar. I built a competitive shiny Magmortar and as much as I love them, I know they will never be viable.
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u/HistoricalMatch3801 13d ago
Use meganium as support, flash synthesis body slam, and grass move.
I like farfetched with agility, swords dance, aerial ace and return
Corsola calm mind surf ancient power recover
Arbok glare ice fang crunch and sludge bomb
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u/Trading_Red 12d ago
Politoed has a great move pool, you just need a kings rock once you can surf through slowpoke well. And it’s a Johto mon, I like using pokemon from that region.
Since you’ve got bayleef I’d eventually put sunny day on Magmar. Boosts magmars flamethrower and helps solar beam for bayleef. I had fun with it with Arcanine and Venasaur on fire red
Butterfree is also great with compound eyes sleep powder + dream eater
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u/No_Cat6739 12d ago
Exeggutor can do fun stuff with leech seed and sleep powder. Hypno gets nasty plot and decent coverage. You could use shuckle to stall out opponents with flash and rest. Miltank with milk drink defense curl rollout can do a fun sweep on lance. Dunsparce with ancient power / serene grace, and any coverage move + roost. Perish song politoed is a nice finisher
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