6 new Pokemon you need in your Scarlet/Violet playthrough

New people who are into the Pokémon fandom or old players joining once again usually have a hard time adjusting to the widely new amount of pokemon, and the newer games have some sort of game mechanic ranging from Mega Evolution, and Z-moves to Gigantamaxing and Terastilizing. With these new gimmicks, it makes it where you can’t just use the old-school battle tactics that some of the older players did back in the day. 

Before I jump in here are a few things you should know about the Pokémon community and about the Pokémon franchise itself. A play-through is when you play a Pokémon main series game from beginning to end and you use a total max of six Pokémon at a time. Below I use words like “dual type, ghost, poison, grass, bug, and fairy” and many more that newcomers to the Pokémon community may not know. In the Pokémon franchise, there are 18 different types of Pokémon (grass, fire, water, bug, fighting, dark, dragon, electric, fairy, normal, flying, ghost, ground, ice, poison, psychic, rock, and steel) and each Pokémon can have up to two types. A Pokémon that has two types is called or categorized as a dual-type Pokémon.

In my experience as a Pokémon player, dual-type Pokémon are better because they have more access to other moves than Pokémon with only one type. Every Pokémon has a type and with that comes weaknesses and advantages, especially in battle with others Pokémon. Advantages are not that hard to figure out as they play a big part in our everyday life. For instance, fire is strong against grass because when fire touches any plant or plant material it burns and Water is strong against Fire because Water extinguishes it so on and so forth. The world of Pokémon is super exciting, below are 6 Pokémon that are great to use in a play-through, hope this helps! 

6. Armarouge/ Ceruledge 

We have the version exclusives Armarouge and Ceruledge. These two fierce flames both evolve from the same pokemon (Charcadet). The way you get these super cool Pokemon is by defeating 10 bronzers and trading their fragments to a man in Zapapico city. Armarouge & Ceruledge both have an ok base stat of 525 but Armarouge makes it up by having most of its stats be pretty balanced and the same with Ceruledge. The only main difference is that Armarouge has 125 for its special attack with Ceruledge has 125 for its physical attack. While most people would think these Pokemon are mid overall but here’s what sets them apart, their defense and special defense. Armarouge has great defense while Ceruledge has a special defense. If your Armarouge has weak armor as an ability every time you get hit with a physical move you drop the defense but you gain speed by two stages which are great and if you give it a life orb will increase its special attack which is huge for a person one with huge special attack anyways. While with Ceruledge if you give it a focus sash and it has the ability weak armor it can drop its physical defense by one and if it gets hit by a physical attack the focus will help it live on one HP and it can then do big damage. Then this is why this Pokémon is one of the best newest Scarlet and Violet Pokémon.

5. Anihilape

This ferocious rage monkey Anihilape is an evolution from the old school gen 1 Primeape. The way you get Primeape to Anihilape is by using its new signature Rage Fist move 20 times which it learns at level 35. When Primeape evolves into Anihilape it gains ghost with its regular fighting typing. Anihilape is an overall very decent pokemon when it comes down to stats, strengths, weaknesses, and move pool coverage. Anihilape has a base stat total of 535 which isn’t the best but it spreads them out very well, having attack and HP be its strongest stats and the second best are speed and special defense. Due to the gain in the Ghost typing, Anihilape is now immune to both Normal and Fighting types and is resistant to Poison, Bug, and Rock types. Even though it has a few weaknesses being Flying, Psychic, Ghost, and Fairy Anihilape can learn moves such as Rage fist to deal with Ghost, Poison Jab for Fairies, Assurance for the Psychic types, And Rock Side to help deal with Flying types. While Anihilape at first glance may not be the best choice. It’s still past the potential to be a real force to be reckoned with.

4. Palafin

Palafin is a very unique Pokémon especially when it comes down to its ability. At first, glance when it evolves it looks like it hasn’t changed at all except it has a red heart on its stomach, but when you switch out this Palafin that has already been entered into the battlefield once it will switch from its zero form to its hero form.

While its zero form is very underwhelming with a base that totals 457. Its hero form is worth talking about with a base battle of 650 which can even rival some legendaries. When it and its hero form its attack stat reaches a max of 160 which is incredible. When it comes down to it this Pokémon is resisted by four types Fire, Water, Ice, and Steel. Palafin is weak to two types Electric and Grass but with the move, it learns on evolution (flip turn) which allows it to switch the Pokémon out right after it’s attacked. It’s not just its attack that is very good, its speed is 100, a special attack is 106, HP is 100, and defense is 97. While its ability can be slightly annoying, If you could find the right way to use it, It would be a great candidate for your final team.

3. Baxcalibur

In third place, we have the newest Pseudo-Legendary Baxcalibur. Baxcalibur is the first non-legendary Dragon/Ice Pokemon. Baxcalibur can only be touched by Fighting, Rock, Dragon, Steel, and Fairy types. And while this is a lot of types to be weak to with Scarlet and Violet’s new gimmick(Teralization) you can change its type and not only get a stab on the new typing but you still keep your original type stab making Baxcalibur a beast for taking out those really strong dragon pokemon. The best Tera type for Baxcalibur is Fire to negate the Fighting, Dragon, Steel, and Fairy. Baxcalibur has an amazing base stat total of 600 and all of its stats are very well-rounded. Its attack stat is an outstanding 145 while its defense is 92 which is pretty decent. While this Pokémon is not Terastallize most of them have the ability Thermal Exchange making it where if a fire type hits them It boosts their attack making their moves stronger. Also as a bonus, Baxcalibur learns Glaive Rush as its signature move which has an outstanding 120 physical attack that is always accurate. Baxcalibur is good for taking care of those pesky dragon-type Pokemon and that’s why it’s in third place.

2. Roaring Moon

This amazingly strong Pokémon is the paradox of the past version of Salamence which is called Roaring Moon. Roaring Moon has an incredible base stats total of 590 which is insane for a fully evolved Pokemon. Roaring Moon has a great attack stat of 139 and having a good speed of 119 and a decent special defense of 101. While special attack and defense are kind of low. It’s really good for outspeeding other opponents and KO-ing them quickly. Not to mention this Pokémon’s really good typing of Dragon/Dark making it where it resists Fire, Water, Electric, Grass, Ghost, and Dark types But has immunity to Psychic types. The only things that can touch it are Bug, Ice, Fighting, Dragon. and Fairy. Don’t honestly those typings aren’t a problem because Roaring Moon can learn Fire Fang to help take care of Bug and Ice Pokémon and also learn a bunch of Flying-type moves so it can deal with the Fighting type. For Dragon and Fairy types, this Pokémon is very fast so it can quickly outspeed them and use a move like Iron Claw to take care of Fairy types, and can use a Dragon-type move to help take care of those other Dragon types. The only bad thing I can say about this Pokémon would probably be the fact that it comes very late in the game but you can get it before the elite and you’ll be able to kick some serious butt with it.

1. Iron Valiant

This quick and powerful in both attack and special attack Pokémon is called the Iron Valiant which is the paradoxical future Pokémon of Gardevoir and Gallade. This Pokémon was built to outspeed KOS as quickly as possible. This Pokémon has 130 in attack, 120 in special attack, and 116 in speed. This Pokémon was built to be a fast and hard hitter. And not just its stats good it’s typing is fantastic with it being the very first Fairy/Fighting, the Iron Valiant resists Fighting, Dark, Bug, and Rock, and is immune to Dragon. The only real thing I can touch is Poison, Steel, Fairy, Flying, and Psychic types. This incredible Pokémon can learn almost any type of move, meaning whatever opponent it’s going up against it can easily plan ahead and quickly change its move typing around to make sure it has the upper advantage even if the Pokemon is super effective against it.

Hopefully, with the knowledge and information you learned throughout this article, you will have a better and easier time trying to decide what Pokémon you should use while playthrough.