In the moonlight (n°1): the Porygons

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Porygon is known as a quite rare Gen1 Pokemon. Its base stats are quite low (total 395) considering it was first released without an evolved form. 310 under its then final form (SpA and SpD were one stat) is somewhat weak. Yet, things have changed, and one can see it as powerful among Pokemon that can evolve twice, it has indeed a base SpA of 85, HP of 65, Defense of 70 and SpD of 75, which means high power and good bulk, especially with the item eviolite (+50% in Def and SpD of whoever can evolve).  It learns various and powerful moves such as Thunder, Solar Beam, Blizzard, Psychic, Foul Play, Hyper Beam, Dream Eater…
Its abilities are helpful too, since you can choose between Trace, Download and Analytic. Trace copies the opponent’s ability, which means it can trace Magic Guard and you basically can’t outstall it, or Adaptability and increase the power of Hyper Beam or Tri Attack, or even Normalize when facing a Skitty (that is, if you ever see one) and give STAB boost to Thunder, Blizzard, Psychic and other strong moves of his.  Download raises it’s attack OR special attack stat by one stage in response to the opponent’s lower defensive stat value, and if that is special defense, Porygon shall gain special attack and hit you really hard, if you have fought a Genesect you know you can’t take that ability lightly. Finally Analytic raises its offensive moves’ power by 30% if Porygon is the last one to move.

Comparing it to its evolved forms: Porygon2, released in Gen2, is a really good evolved form with well risen stats which go up to 515 in total, with a base special attack of 105, defense of 90, special defense of 95 and HP of 85. You get it, Porygon2 is really soid with an eviolite, if you don’t forget to teach it Recover. The abilities remain the same.  Porygon-Z however, is one of what I see as the failed evolved forms from Gen4, since the stats don’t rise enough for me to call that “true evolution”. Indeed the base stat total goes from 515 to 535, which gives eviolite Porygon2 more potential than Porygon -Z. I could say the same about Rhyperior; Dusknoir, Togekiss (which compensates by being a hax god, a.k.a a coward), Magmortar, Electivire…  Like raising its BST by 20 isn’t enough, it actually LOSES bulk, getting its Def and SpD down to Porygon’s bases., and its HP stay the same, which means Porygon2 is bulkier than Porygon-Z without even an eviolite. Its SpA and speed though rise quite well, going from 60 to 90 (speed) and from 105 to 135 (SpA), but heck, who cares about speed when you have great bulk and analytic? One point to Porygon2. The only argument in favor of Porygon-Z is its new ability, Adaptability which replaces Trace and double the power of STAB moves instead of rising it by 50%, which makes it decent with a choice scarf.

How to play them?


Porygon: LC tier, with first evolution stage Pokemon. You can also play it in PU, NU where it actually stands a chance, thanks to eviolite. You can also try RU but you might encounter Registeel, Mega-Abomasnow and other tough Pokemon Porygon just can’t defeat. Unfortunately, Analytic isn’t compatible with its moves in this form (they are compatible in the evolved forms though), so you’ll have to get Download instead, and pray for your foe to have lower SpD than defense. Give it eviolite of course to complete its bulk, lower its speed to 0 IVs. 252 EV in special attack, 248 in HP, 8 in defense, quiet nature (+ SpA – speed). Make it a bulky special sweeper with Tri-Attack, base power 80, 156 with STAB + analytic and a small chance of burning, paralyzing or freezing the foe. Get Recover to last, and two filler offensive moves, like Thunder and Blizzard if you prefer power, or Ice Beam and Thunderbolt if you prefer accuracy. You can also choose Psychic, Signal Beam, Discharge, it’s up to you. You can also outstall a toxic-poisoned foe by using Endure if you have low HP left, making it lose one turn (and possibly faint). Porygon offers many possibilities.


Porygon2: UU tier. You can even play it in OU, it’s a good tank there, as much as Porygon in NU, with the exact same set, besides the ability: pick Analytic and lower its speed to minimum. With Ice Beam, Porygon2 OHKO a specially defensive Gliscor after taking an Earthquake with ease, a scarfed Moxie Salamence needs a +2Atk to get a 6,3% chance to OHKO Porygon2, and doesn’t survive Ice Beam. Mega-Gyarados needs a +4Atk to OHKO Porygon2 with Waterfall, and faints with two Thunderbolts. Celebi, even with max HP, needs special defense investment to survive a Signal Beam from Porygon2, and that means its special attack won’t enable it to hit back hard enough (possible 7HKO with Giga Drain and Porygon2 has Recover anyway). Fast Mega-Alakazam 3HKO Porygon2 with Psychic and gets 2HKO with Signal Beam in return.  Huge Power Azumarill can’t afford to use Belly Drum since Thunderbolt always deal over 50% damage, and Azumarill can’t OHKO or even 2HKO Porygon2 (Play Rough) without an attack boost (and it already has Huge Power). However, Azumarill can 2HKO with Superpower if it's taught that move, even with the attack drop.  A jolly Mega-Pinsir 2HKO Porygon2 without swords dance (Close Combat), but takes at least 96.6% on Thunderbolt, not counting the SpD drop.  Never underestimate Porygon2.



Porygon-Z: UU tier. Yes, the same as Porygon2. Not lower, I’m quite surprised. It may have decent speed and high SpA, it’s still paper. It doesn’t stand a chance against, let’s say, Regice (yet a PU Pokemon), or any assault vest holder. As Porygon-Z isn’t meant to last long, make it a monster so it can at least beat one or two Pokemon before fainting, go YOLO if needed. First the ability: either Download or Adaptability. I’d choose Download, which can also increase the power of Thunderbolt, Psychic, Ice Beam while Adaptability only applies to STAB moves. However, if you send Porygon-Z against a Pokemon with a lower defense than SpD, Download will rise your attack, useless. Though, if you absolutely want it, combine Adaptability with Hyper Beam, YOLO.  For the item, choose either Life Orb for power (+30% power but you lose 10% HP at each attack you use) or choice scarf to outspeed main threats (but it locks you in the first move you’ll use). If you want to combine choice specs with Download, be my guest and tell me the outcome, like how many OHKOs  Keep in mind that in case the foe survives, you are likely to be OHKO. About the moves, get Tri-Attack, and three coverage moves, or two + Trick if you want to give the scarf to someone else. You can already do good things with a 90 base speed.
Scarfed Porygon-Z with Download can OHKO Mega-Pinsir with Thunderbolt. With Download + specs, OHKO Mega-Alakazam with Dark Pulse (if Focus Blast from Alakazam misses), OHKO Salamence with Ice Beam (if survives Outrage), or even a Multiscale Dragonite (if no bulk investment). OHKO Garchomp with Ice Beam after barely surviving Outrage (can’t beat Mega-Garchomp though, that one still outspeeds and OHKO Porygon-Z with Outrage).

Even if I like combining brute strength and speed, I also like offensive walls and counterattacks, which is the reason I always choose Porygon2 over Porygon-Z. While playing Porygon-Z, you encounter a lot of “what if” you won’t find with Porygon2. What if it doesn’t OHKO, what if he doesn’t survive, what if the foe doesn’t miss, what if the foe outspeeds? What if my husband was the duke of York? (That one's obviously a joke, thumbs up if you get the reference )Porygon2 is safer, with way better bulk + access to eviolite, and Analytic makes it surpass Porygon-Z in power if Download doesn’t rise SpA. To better show the gap between them, let them fight: Porygon2 (set above) vs Porygon-Z.

If Porygon-Z is scarfed: its best moves are Tri-Attack and Hyper Beam (Adaptability). Tri-Attack does a maximum of 43.9% damage, and Porygon2 retaliates with its own Tri-Attack, minimum 65.5% damage (Analytic). Porygon-Z 3HKO while Porygon2 2HKO, Porygon2 wins by KO.
If Porygon-Z chooses Hyper Beam: does a maximum of 81.5% damage, Porygon2 retaliates with Tri-Attack twice since Porygon-Z has to recharge. Porygon2 wins by KO.
If Porygon-Z has specs + Adaptability: Tri-Attack 2HKO Porygon2, and Porygon-Z hits first. Porygon-Z wins by KO.
If Porygon-Z has life orb + adaptability: Porygon-Z has a 89.5% chance to 2HKO while Porygon2 always 2HKO with Tri-Attack. Porygon2 wins by higher probabilities.
Life orb + Adaptability + Hyper Beam: 37.5% chance to OHKO, as Hyper Beam involves a turn of recharge it’s the same as another move with a 37.5% chance to 2HKO, and as Porygon2 always 2HKO…  Porygon2 wins by higher probabilities.
Porygon-Z vs Porygon2: 1-4
As you can see, Porygon2's superior bulk, enhanced by an eviolite, and its gain in power via Analytic give him a certain advantage over its evolved form, not to forget it's defense stat value, lower than its special defense, that avoids it a special Download by Porygon-Z. That being shown, I hope Porygon-Z gets a Mega in order to compensate its failed evolution. That is, to me, its only chance to surpass Porygon2.



By Champion Blackwolf. (I do not own the images)
P.S. I haven't forgotten the special illustration I told you about: I've decided to add it later, as I have a criminal law test tomorrow. Thank you for understanding

Great article! But please remove any pictures with bad words in them, it's banned in the forums :>.

Hm ok, the Porygon2 image has been replaced, sorry, I didn't realize that (I could have erased the word via Paint but oh well)

Coming on Tuesday: Scyther and Scizor

Also include thunder wave and recover on porygon2.
This is out of ou and uu topic but porygon2 can actually survive a close combat from a jolly natured mega lucario.

Hm, Recover was implied with Porygon2 ("exact same set" as Porygon, besides the ability). Thunder Wave is also an option yes, combined with Download, I could have included that set too. Yet, Thunder Wave and Analytic are strategically not compatible, and I find the Analytic set safer than the Download+T-Wave set. Analytic applies to every faster Pokemon, while Download only applies to Pokemon with SpD lower than Def, which means against an opponent with a reasonably high SpD (I said reasonably high, not a Chansey), you get no boost at all when you need it the most (that's how I happened to lose with a Genesect). Also, I just don't like to use Thunder-Wave, but that's still an option other players have, so why not.

Hm, the Mega-Lucario thing is interesting, but Porygon2 only survives one Cloce Combat from Adaptability jolly Mega-Lucario with a physically defensive set, which weakens its counterattacks. However, when Porygon2 survives Close Combat from ML, it's only once, and as it has nothing to OHKO Mega-Lucario, the latter wins anyway.

the lucario thing is just showing how bulky porygon2 is, they are in two completely different meta anyway. If they battle each other, porygon2 would t-wave or switch.

most defensive porygon 2 actually run trace, as it can turn pokemon like gyarado's ability against themself. Porygon 2 is a wall/defensive tank so offense is not really as important.

By the way, are you going to do all viable evolution lines?

I'm actually going to do every single Pokemon, no matter how long it takes me. I have written 38 articles so far. Even the non-viable ones, explaining why they're weak. Like Sunflora, that one's a real disappointment. I mean seriously, Chlorophyll with a base speed of 30?

Do you mind I do some Pokémon for you? I probably can't do terrible Pokémon, I might be able to do some good ones.

I'll think about it You can still name a Pokemon and I can tell you whether I have written about it

Do you mind if I do some stuff like this but with VGC rather than singles?

Really nice, thanks for sharing!

KyuremFreeze: be my guest, I'm focused on silgnes anyway
(yet, the day I write about Weavile, Terrakion, Venusaur, Charizard, I'm going to talk about doubles too)

Charizistic: hey thanks

Due to unexoected events, the second article is coming late, sorry

Article on Scizor (and the third one, Aggron) still on their way. My hard drive crashed, which means I can't use my pc anymore. My apologies.

P.S: I have a save of my articles

Oh well, bad luck. What pokemon do you want me to do?

Very good information and help. Great job!

I don't know yet Woyaojinkela. Until then, the second article is (finally) out, go check

I don't think it is as good as the Porygon one, but I will do better for my translation of the third article, Aggron