B+UP #7Written by: Fusion
Editor: Terradude
Illustrator: Diddgery
Pokémon Pick: Lanturn
As much as I tend to rail against some of the Johto era designs, I really like the Water-types. While it wasn't enough to relieve the annoyance of endless hordes of Tentacool, it's certainly better than Shellder Rehash and a Pokémon based on an animal I can find by going to a garbage dump (note to Gamefreak: Never make a region half ocean routes ever again). Chinchou/Lanturn's possibly my favorite out of the Gen-II fish, mostly because it's a typing that hasn't been seen before or since (they had the opportunity with Finneon/Lumineon, and they wasted it).
Type: Water/Electric's unique, and pretty useful. Water alone allows you to resist Fire, Ice, and Water attacks, and combined with the Volt Absorb ability, you're immune to Electricity. This gives you a ton of resistance against special attackers, especially the common Ice Beam/Thunderbolt combo.
Stats: 125 base HP is a hell of a lot, putting Lanturn alongside other hefty Water-types like Lapras and Vaporeon. However, the rest of Lanturn's stats aren't so hot. While its physical stats as well as its speed is roughly on par with the aforementioned Vaporeon, it doesn't have nearly as much Special Attack or Special Defense.
Moves: For attacking, you've got Surf, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, and Signal Beam, always a solid combination. Aqua Ring and Charge, and Amnesia are available as support options. Where Lanturn truly shines *ahem*, however, is irritating the opponent: a combined Thunder Wave and Confuse Ray can nearly shut down something on the offense.
Ability: Illuminate's worthless; I can't imagine you needing to encounter MORE wild Pokémon. What makes Lanturn so appealing is Volt Absorb; the ability to heal off of electric attacks enhances its ability to tank special attacks and support other Water-types.
Summary: A Pokémon slightly below the high bar set for competitive play, but still a viable choice for casual play.
Fail of the Week: Mantine
It's amazing how what could be concievably a good competitive Pokémon is destroyed by awful typing. I don't think it gets worse than Magcargo's Rock/Fire, but we still have wonderful things like Rock/Steel that keep being tried even though it's clear that they don't work as well as they should. So what happens when we wind up with something intended to tank special attacks but is 4x weak to Thunderbolt, you ask?
Typing: Ahh, Water/Flying. Here's where we start struggling right off the bat. Yes, Gyarados has that 4x Electric weakness too, but it can use Earthquake to defend itself, something Mantine doesn't have the Attack to pull off.
Stats: Mantine's stat spread is literally Skarmory's with the physical and special stats swapped, making that awful typing even more infuriating when you realize that Mantine could theoretically do something with its stats. 140 Special Defense is fairly hefty (on par with Kyogre), but when you realize you're going down the second a Thunderbolt hits, it doesn't matter so much. 80 Special Attack and 70 Speed are workable.
Moves: At this point, is there any Water-type besides Magikarp and Feebas that can't use the Surf/Ice Beam combo? You also have the option for Signal Beam and Hidden Power. On support, you have Aqua Ring, Agility, and Confuse Ray.
Ability: Mantine has a choice of two abilities here. Water Absorb allows it to heal damage when hit by a Water-type move, while Swift Swim doubles its speed in rain. Neither of these abilities really make it worth choosing Mantine over anything else; the superior Vaporeon gets Water Absorb, while Swift Swim is on a lot of better Pokémon.
Summary: What could have been an adequate special tank was immediately scuttled right away by some of the worst typing for the job.
TCG Pick: Platinum #92, Shuppet
For a little bit I'm going to stop focusing exclusively on the main games, and write a little about the side-games and the TCG. This issue I'm reviewing a TCG card selected by the resident expert on the subject, ShukuenShinobi (apparently this one has caused him so much trouble
he set fire to one of the damn things)
This version of Shuppet is a common Psychic-type with 50HP. For the cost of only one energy, Fade Out hits the opponent for 30 damage, then returns Shuppet and any attached Energy and/or Trainer cards to your hand. Fade Out can be combined with PlusPower to increase your attack power and negate the requirement to discard PlusPower. You may also use Expert Belt to boost Shuppet further, increasing HP and attack power.
With the maximum four PlusPowers attached plus one Expert Belt, Fade Out does 90 damage, enough to OHKO anything with a Psychic weakness and to severely weaken anything else for what you bring off the Bench afterward. You can then bring out Shuppet again with no damage, making it effective for hit-and-run tactics.
Dunsparce from the HG/SS set works pretty much the same way and has the advantage of being Colorless, but it's less common and does 10 less damage with Fade Out.
Next week, I go after the ones that got away: Water-types that have managed to elude my memory time after time.
