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Birdie's Pokemon Review Thread |Alolan Edition| - 809 And Counting
- Thread starter Birdie
- Start date
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So I have an anecdote related to why folks dislike fish Pokemon as I said before with Bruxish.
Wanted to use Barboach in an ORAS playthrough. But you actually need to get Surf first just to get the Good Rod. Ugh, that seems backwards.
I guess Gym 5 isn't too bad but still that's annoying for what is otherwise a pretty basic Pokemon.
Wanted to use Barboach in an ORAS playthrough. But you actually need to get Surf first just to get the Good Rod. Ugh, that seems backwards.
I guess Gym 5 isn't too bad but still that's annoying for what is otherwise a pretty basic Pokemon.
I used barboach, and this whiscash, in my original black2 run. I made him the star of Poke'star studios. I used him to complete almost every possible movie, I think. That made him get some special entry animation into battles. I thought it was hilarious at the time that a dopey catfish was some super hollywood elite that took the time to pose every time he entered the scene.
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# 780 - Drampa
Normal/Dragon
The Moon and Ultra Moon counterpart to Turtonator, like it it's another one of those single-stage Dragon-type Pokemon alongside Druddigon and possibly the upcoming Duraludon. Unfortunately it's not available in the same place that Turtonator is, Blush Mountain, but is instead only available at Victory Road, making it one of those Pokemon that probably won't make it to your main squad unless you specifically go after it which is always a bit of a shame. It also happens to be the first ever Normal/Dragon Pokemon, which led to some early speculation that it was secretly an evolution of Dunsparce due to that and its similar color-scheme though, in the end, they're completely unrelated. Normal/Dragon seems like one of those paradoxical combinations---I mean, how can a dragon be "normal"?---and apart from an added immunity to the Ghost-type, doesn't really do much for Drampa.
Like Turtonator, Drampa's stats aren't particularly noteworthy, though it does boast an impressive Special Attack of 135 allowing it to do some serious damage. Unfortunately, like most Alola Pokemon, it's held back by its pitiful Speed of 36, and none of its other stats surpass 100. It's bulky enough to probably survive a hit in most cases, though, so it can probably get off a powerful attack before it goes down. In terms of attacks, it comes with two decent STAB moves in Dragon Pulse and Hyper Voice, and by the time you can obtain one you can head over to Seafolk Village to teach it Draco Meteor to give it an amazingly powerful Dragon-type Special STAB to make use of. And, like many Normal-type Pokemon, it has a wide array of TM compatibility so if you do decide to catch one on Victory Road, it can certainly help out tremendously against the Elite Four.
In terms of Abilities, by default it has either Sap Sipper or the unique Ability, Berserk. In-game usage, I'd probably go with Berserk. Berserk boosts Drampa's already great Special Attack even higher whenever its HP drops below half, and when combined with Roost, Drampa can heal itself to repeatedly fall below the HP threshold to activate the buff multiple times. Considering Drampa will likely always go last, it's quite possible that Berserk will be activated by the opponent's attack allowing it to get in a revenge kill. Note that Berserk only activates when Drampa drops below half HP due to direct damage, so you can't cause it to self-activate with an item or recoil damage. On the other hand, if Drampa is holding a healing Berry, Berserk will activate prior to the heal allowing Drampa to jump back over the half point and then have Berserk activate again on the next turn. Outside of Sap Sipper, there's also Cloud Nine as a Hidden Ability.
Competitively, well, Drampa ain't great. A weakness to the Fighting-type isn't good especially when you're slow, and apart from its high Special Attack there's nothing particularly notable about it meaning it ends up in the lower tiers. That's kind of cool having more low level Dragon-type Pokemon to choose from without being seen as "cheap" for choosing arguably the best Type in the game, so I don't particularly mind Drampa not being an amazing Dragon-type Pokemon. Though Berserk seems more promising of an Ability due to the Special boost, it seems Sap Sipper is quite popular due to allowing Drampa to switch into Grass-type Pokemon, though as a Dragon-type Pokemon it doesn't necessarily need this but being able to shut down your opponent by absorbing their attack is never a bad thing.
Drampa is literally a grandpa dragon, which is kind of silly but not too out there since dragons in Chinese mythology are often depicted as looking quite wizened with some, such as the Zhulong, even going so far as to have human faces. Drampa thankfully isn't that humanoid, but still gives off the impression of a friendly old geezer. I also gotta say pretty much every name for this Pokemon makes me chuckle, but its German name, Sen-long (senior + Shenlong), definitely takes the cake. Anyway, Drampa is sort of one of those "ancient masters" you might see in a Wuxia film who typically lives in isolation, but will descend to pick berries and play with children. It's a little creepy, but as far as we know it doesn't do anything too untoward. However, it also is pretty frightening if upset, going so far as to burn down the house of any bullies.
When Drampa was first revealed, despite being part of an odd Generation and cross-gen evolutions seemingly being a thing of the past since Generation V (though I guess not anymore!), some folks thought it evolved from Dunsparce due to a similar color scheme and sharing the Normal-type. Needless to say, they were wrong. Anyway, at first glance I'm not much of a fan of Drampa, something about its design doesn't really mesh with me, and I've never really cared much for it. Nothing is wrong with its design, it pulls off what it's going for and kind of brings to mind Falkor from Neverending Story, but it just looks goofy in a bad way. It looks a little cooler when it gets angry and shows off its claws, such as the awesome Drampa GX card showing it in such a pose.
In the show, there was a reoccurring Drampa known as "Grandpa Forest" who Mallow and Lana met as kids and, in present days, saved Lana's twin sisters when theywere lost. Team Rocket attempts to capture it and, well, if you've seen Drampa angry you can imagine what happens next. Thankfully it didn't go after them and burn their base down, though considering they were squatting with Bewear in Alola that might have ended badly for Drampa. It made a few cameos throughout Alola, but ultimately never did much. Will it make a reappearance when Ash and Gou visit Alola?
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#781 - Dhelmise
Ghost/Grass
One of the rarest Pokemon in the Alola Region, Dhelmise isn't too hard to locate since it only appears in the sole fishing spot in Seafolk Village, but in Sun and Moon it only has a 5% chance appearing, and that's only if you see a bubbling fishing spot. Otherwise it has a 1% chance, so you're best off exiting the screen through the boat you need to pass through to get to the fishing spot and going back out till you see the bubbles. Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon boost the encounter rate to 5% and 35%. Since it's completely missable---you won't encounter one otherwise until you see it under the ownership of Acerola during the Elite Four---and available fairly late, not surprisingly it probably didn't make it to a lot of folks' team.
Dhelmise also debuts in a Generation where one of the Starters shares its typing, so that also means a third of players likely will have no use for it in-game as Decidueye covers the same Type as it does. But that's not to say that Dhelmise is rendered completely redundant, as it plays quite differently from its feathered friend. For one, its Ability Steelworker grants it a third STAB in the form of Steel, and it has quite the impressive amount of Attack putting its signature move, Anchor Shot, to great use. With 80BP and the effect to trap a foe, if Dhelmise traps the right opponent they're be in quite a bit of trouble. And later on its its moveset, it'll pick up the powerful Phantom Force and Power Whip giving it three deadly STAB moves. Maybe those aren't the greatest offensive STAB to have, but it gives it some nice versatility.
There's actually a bit of a debate about who is the "redundant" one between Decidueye and Dhelmise, and I've seen some folks declare it's in reality the former. Though Decidueye is faster than Dhelmise, it's an Alolan Pokemon, so in the overall grand scheme of things it's still quite slow, and doesn't have any stats that really shine like Dhelmise's impressive Attack. Dhelmise also has an interesting Ability in the form of Steelworker while Decidueye has the rather pointless Long Reach, so I've seen a lot of folks declare themselves #TeamDhelmise. Decidueye probably sees more usage overall since as a Starter Pokemon it has more fans willing to experiment with it and try to make it work, but personally count me among those Dhelmise lovers.
Competitively, Dhelmise seems to enjoy two roles in the lower tiers as either a powerful attacker, armed with STAB Power Whip and Anchor Shot, alongside Earthquake and Knock Off, though its slow Speed means that it might have a bit of trouble if matched against the wrong Pokemon. Incidentally though it may have bested one of the Alolan Starters, it has an absolutely rough time against the ever popular Incineroar. More interestingly is its support options, as a Ghost-type Rapid Spin user it's great at preventing hazards as well as keeping its own side's hazards safe from Rapid Spin, and it can heal itself with Synthesis allowing it to potentially whittle away at an opponent with an Anchor Shot combo followed up by Power Whip. Certain Pokemon may prove dangerous to it, but the right match-up and it can do pretty well. It doesn't seem to do that well in Doubles, however, though once again that's likely due to the proliferation of Infernape.
Anyway, I don't want to delve too much into Sword and Shield spoilers, but I will say I'm extremely excited Dhelmise made it in---and may actually prove useful due to the lack of certain counters it once had---and am considering perhaps making it my first competitive project if the Sword and Shield mechanics make it easier to craft a strong, competitive-ready Pokemon without too much fuss. I'm also still crossing my fingers for a Gigantamax Form, because there's a ton of ideas I could see them going with. Anyway, I legit at the time of writing this do not know anything about what Dhelmise got in Sword and Shield, or even where it appears, just that it's in.
Dhelmise at first glance appears to be an object Pokemon, but it actually isn't. Sort of. Dhelmise is simply the seaweed, "haunted seaweed" that is. Well, it's the "soul of seaweed", whatever that means. Considering that seaweed is often depicted as sort of growing wildly and overtaking shipwrecked boats and the like, I think it's quite fitting to make it a Ghost-type, because under the right circumstances there is something a bit creepy about algae and all. It's believed it's specifically based off the Codium fragile, a species of green algae that originated in the Pacific ocean and has since become an invasive species elsewhere, such as around Great Britain. It's also known as the "dead man fingers", another likely origin of Dhelmise's Ghost-type. I'll be completely honest I know nothing about seaweed and reading up on it confused me, but Game Freak really did a unique twist on it. Unlike actual seaweed, this seaweed can absorb the life force of animals---in this case it goes after Wailord. It also seems to protect Skrelp by allowing it to hide amongst its seaweed, though this seems a bit odd as Skrelp is said to feast on seaweed so I'm not quite sure. Finally in terms of seaweed, the Shiny form takes on the appearance of red seaweed.
But, Dhelmise also incorporates an object in the form of the anchor and ship's wheel its seaweed has entangled, and this is where the design really shines in my opinion. The little compass serving as the eye and allowing Dhelmise to "emote", and the anchor's bottom working to give the impression of a mouth somewhat is a very clever design choice that makes Dhelmise a bit more creative than the usual "stick eyes on object" Pokemon that we typically get. Not that I mind those, I enjoy simplistic ones such as Voltorb, but I really feel they went above and beyond when designing Dhelmise and it's a bit of a shame it's barely relevant and so rare in Sun and Moon that not a lot of people talk about it. On the bright side, I don't see any overwhelming hate for it so as far as object-based Pokemon go it can count itself pretty lucky. I remember a few folks disliked it when it first leaked when folks legit thought it was just a spooky anchor, but opinions on it seemed to improve when we learned it was actually the seaweed that was the Pokemon.
My biggest issue with Dhelmise is I so wish Game Freak used it better in Sun and Moon---imagine exploring a decrepit ship covered in seaweed, that's basically being controlled by Dhelmise. That'd be awesome. The show didn't do much with poor Dhelmise either, it was just a "jerk Pokemon of the day" that caused trouble for Ash and co. when they were treasure hunting. When it was revealed, it was a Pokemon I was hoping would end up with Team Rocket, because it just seemed like it'd be cool to see them with. Unfortunately that didn't happen, and Dhelmise never appeared again.
Dhelmise was too rare. It ends up being forgettable because it's not really something a player would stumble on accidentally and use on their team
Grass/Ghost has some of my favorite Pokémon of either type, as I think Gourgeist, Trevenant, Decidueye, and Dhelmise are all great.
Dhelmise is still too lacking in emotive capabilities for my liking.
Then again I've never taken one into refresh so maybe I've missed something
Then again I've never taken one into refresh so maybe I've missed something
I'm also in the camp that thinks Dhelmise isn't expressive enough. It seems less expressive than, say, magnemite, and lacks a coherent "body" like, say, roggenrola. Doesn't mean I don't like the idea, he just isn't something that I see myself growing attached to, and I've never used him in game.
Have you ever thought or planned to continue this thread? Talk about Galar? Even more with the new generation announced already.