By Harry Ackerman
First off starting this article I will only be talking about 3 Pokemon instead of 4 in each article I make, because first of all with that much I need to do I feel really burned out whenever I finish one, which then takes me a while to make another, and often takes a lot of the fun out of writing them. Second of all with 4 Pokemon per article the word count has been going far over 1000 every time so there is plenty of room for a small cut back, and more articles with a slightly lower amount of words each would make everyone a bit happier. 🙂
I’ll still do articles with 4 Pokemon on the rare occasion that some how writing about only 3 makes me short on words (under 700), or sometimes for special “exclusive” articles. 🙂
Now back to the actual article, as usual I’ll be talking about good natures for your Pokemon to have if it doesn’t have that one specific best nature recommended by someone, what some bad natures could be, and some good attacks (in my opinion at least) for them to know.
I also thought I should state that 99% of the information I put in my articles is based around the 5th generation Pokemon games (Black and White version). A lot of it could probably be used in previous versions but might not be 100% compatible with the workings of the older games (for example, learn-able moves, TMs , etc).
This time I shall talk about Luxray, Lapras, and Typhlosion. 🙂
Starting off Luxray! 🙂
Almost all the attacks Luxray can learn are physical moves and all but one of them it learns while leveling up are physical attacks, so physical attack raising nature would be the best. Especially because Luxray has base Attack of 120 which is pretty impressive if you ask me. The best stat of Luxray’s to be lowered by a nature would probably be Special Attack since you’re going to be using only physical attacks. If you can’t manage to get the nature that raises Attack and lowers Special Attack (the Adamant nature) then Speed would be a good second choice stat to lower. 🙂
As for attacks Luxray does learn a few good moves while leveling up, but so few that unless you taught it different moves in a special way (for example with TMs or by breeding) you’re only going to see a good Luxray know these moves. The attacks are Crunch, Thunder Fang, and Wild Charge then a fourth move that would probably vary from Luxray to Luxray.
Iron Tail is a great move to teach your Luxray but unfortunately can only be taught in the 4th gen games, so if you want to teach Iron Tail to your Luxray you’re going to have to teach it that on one of the 4th gen games and then migrate it to Black or White version.
What I really like about Luxray’s egg moves is that it can learn Fire Fang and Ice Fang. Nothing really comes to mind on how those moves could stop super effective attacks from hitting your Luxray but they’d be pretty nice to have to throw your opponent off guard, and if you breed it correctly you might be able to teach it both moves. 😉 (I have one that knows Fire Fang :3 )
Now with Magnet Rise some say Luxray could only learn it in the 4th generation, but I know for a fact that some dream world Shinxs can know Magnet Rise when you catch them also. 😉
Next off Lapras,
Lapras’s base Attack and Special Attack are both equal (at 85) but I’d recommend putting your EVs in Special Attack if your going for an offensive Lapras because most of the best moves Lapras can learn are special attacks. As for some good natures, since Lapras’s Special Defense stat is the highest nature boost-able stat with a base of 95, so that would be a good choice, and also like I said before Special Attack would be another good stat to boost. 🙂 As for a stat to lower, Speed would probably be the best. That is if you teach your Lapras physical and special attacks, otherwise if you only taught it special moves then of course Attack would be a good option for that too. 🙂
All of lapras’s base stats are pretty even though, so a neutral nature wouldn’t be a bad thing for your Lapras to have either.
Lapras can learn a huge variety of moves, and I mean HUGE. It may not seem like much with only Lapras’s level up learn-able moves but when you add the TMs, 4th generation moves, and egg moves Lapras can learn the variety is just awesome. There are tons of good moves you could teach your Lapras but I managed to pick out some of the best ones which are Surf, Ice Beam, Perish Song, Confuse Ray, Bulldoze, Thunderbolt, and Psychic.
Now out of those the best ones are probably Surf, Ice Beam, and Perish Song.
Surf and Ice Beam because they’d be Lapras’s ‘stab’ attacks and they’re the best attack of each of their types, and Perish Song because it’s an awesome move and if used well enough can guarantee to faint a Pokemon in 3 turns, and if not used that well at least it forces switching. As for Confuse Ray it has an accuracy of 100 and confusion is always super annoying to deal with. Bulldoze is great because it takes care of two of the super effective types that could be used against Lapras (electric and rock type) along with lowering the opponents speed as well. Psychic because it takes care of annoying Fighting types (except the pants lizard ;D) and it has a change to lower the opponent’s special defense, and finally Thunderbolt mostly because it would be an epic move to teach your Lapras and could really through your opponent off guard in some cases.
And finally Typhlosion,
First of all a nature that boosts Special Attack or Speed would be best for Typhlosion since those are it’s highest stats and you’d most likely want to take advantage of those as much as you can. Attack isn’t too far behind though and Typhlosion can learn some pretty good physical attacks along with special attacks so if you can’t get a Special Attack or Speed boosting nature Attack would be a good runner-up choice. 🙂 You’d never really want to have a nature that lowers a defense stat but since Typhlosion’s Physical Defense is it’s lowest stat, it would be a choice to lower if you didn’t want a nature that lowered Attack or Special Attack.
As for almost all fire type Pokemon, Flamethrower is a must teach move. Other good attacks to teach your Typhlosion would be Focus Blast, Wild Charge, and Blast Burn.
Focus Blast is best used to stop rock and ground types from hurting your Typhlosion to badly and because it’s a special attack it’ll do even more damage since Rock and Ground types usually have a high Defense and a low Special Defense. If you’re too worried about Focus Blast’s semi-low accuracy though then I’d recommended teaching Typhlosion Brick Break instead. If you do this though remember that Brick Break is a physical attack and a rock or ground type’s Physical defense is often much higher than it’s special defense so it’s not going to do as much damage by far. Wild Charge get’s rid of any water type that could stand it it’s way, and if you don’t want to have to deal with the recoil of that attack but still want to teach Typhlosion a Electric attack, then I’d recommended you teach it Thunder Punch. Typhlosion can only learn Thunder Punch on 4th generation games (through the Move Tutor on Platinum, Soul Silver, or Heart Gold) so if you want a Typhlosion that knows that move on Black or White version then you have to teach it Thunder Punch before you migrate it. As for Blast Burn it’s a good attack to teach your Typhlosion when Flamethrower just isn’t strong enough, but if you teach it Blast Burn you’re probably going to want to teach it Flamethrower as well since Blast Burn requires recharge on the next turn (just like Hyper Beam would).
Earthquake would be another choice since it’s a really good move, and one of the best physical moves there is. Fire Pledge is another decent move you could teach it if you’re going for that Pledge attack combo.
Until next time – Harry Ackerman
aka. DrDude25
aka. Xeerinare
Tags: Nintendo DS, Pokemon Black & White