By Emily
The last of the three starter Pokemon of the fifth generation, Oshawott stands out as the oddest character of the three. Its body doesn’t flow like Snivy’s. It looks much more jumbled together compared to the Fire Pig Tepig. But Oshawott does have one major advantage, and that’s in its truly awesome stage 2 evolution, Samurott. Not only does Samurott look strong, its stat spread and fairly versatile move pool options allow this character to carve out a special niche in a team.
Like the other Unova starter Pokemon, Oshawott has a fairly decent stat spread, with Special Attack being by far its greatest asset. As it evolves into Samurott, Attack catches up and in the end both physical and special type moves are viable options for Samurott. Despite the great attack stats, Speed and Special Defense lack a bit of luster. Such a comparatively low Speed stat will require being able to hit hard and the unappealing Special Defense means that Samurott has to have a back-up plan in the event that the opponent uses a strong special attack against it.
Defense-wise, Encore can be used to get the opponent to use only one move for multiple turns, which may in the end prove to be very useful. This attack can possibly be used in junction with Revenge if the opponent’s last move did little damage to Samurott. A base power of 120 can be more than enough to make plenty of Pokemon faint. Other strong physical attacks such as the egg move Night Slash or HM move Waterfall can vie as possible alternatives for defeating more types of Pokemon, though the other TM options are too numerous to list.
Oshawott’s signature move Razor Shell has slightly lower accuracy than most other attacks, but with the added possibility of lowering the opponent’s Defense, considering this attack my be worth-while. With help from the Move Tutor, Samurott can also learn the very strong attack Megahorn. It sacrifices accuracy for power, but it can be used against a multitude of Pokemon and do quite a bit of damage.
Since Oshawott is a starter Pokemon, the only way to get one in the game without trading is at the beginning of the game. But with trading and breeding, many good egg moves can be passed on to a hatched Oshawott. Breeding one of these three Pokemon with another Pokemon from a foreign game will increase the odds of a shiny Oshawott being hatched. Currently no event has been announced in the Dream World for one of these characters, so passing on the Dream World ability Shell Armor through breeding is not possible at this time.
Oshawott has an incredible amount of merchandise featuring it, including the large life size Pokemon Center plush. For a short time during the Pokemon Black and White Tour in America a regular size Oshawott Pokémon Center plush was sold with a misprinted tag. The error tags said “Oshawatt” instead of this character’s correct name, and were eventually covered by a sticker with Oshawott’s correct name. A decent amount of merchandise is available for Dewott and Samurott, and both will eventually have their own My Pokemon Collection plush like Oshawott has.
Despite its looks, Oshawott is still an extremely popular starter, and excels in battles thanks to its versatility. Standing out is difficult for a Water type Pokemon as so many exist, but all three characters easily manage to stay ahead of many other water Pokemon from all generations. Whether they are used as an HM slave or for taking down opponents, these Pokemon are excellent additions to a team and are great for players of any level.
Tags: Dewott, Generation V, Nintendo DS, Oshawott, Plush toys, Pokemon Black & White, Samurott