Focus On: Ground-Type

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To start things off we have #529 Moguryu, the Mole Pokemon, and #530 Doryuzu, the Deep Earth Pokemon. Moguryu evolves into Doryuzu at level 31, and goes from being a pure Ground-type to being a Ground/Steel-Type. In terms of appearance, both Pokemon are awesome. Moguryu is the perfect design for a mole Pokemon, I really like the tiger stripe like pattern he has going for him and I also like that his claws open and close in his sprite’s animation. Moguryu still does a great job keeping the design of a mole Pokemon, but really shows off how he gained that Steel typing with metallic claws. I also like that he kept the opening and closing of his claws with his sprite. But in terms of stats, Doryuzu is just plain awesome. He boasts 110 base HP, 135 base Attack, and a somewhat decent 88 base speed, but its main attractions are its HP and Attack. His regular abilities are well suited for Sandstorm teams since they both revolve around Sandstorm. Sand Paddle doubles its Speed during a Sandstorm, which makes it a force to be reckoned with, and Sand Power boosts the power of Rock, Ground, and Steel type moves, two of which are its type, by 30%. When it comes to attacks, Doryuzu doesn’t disappoint. It learns powerful attacks such as Earthquake by level up, and can boost its outrageous Attack by learning Swords Dance by level up. It can learn many attacks by TM that are physically oriented. It also can learn the new physical Ground-type attack introduced in Generation V, Drill Liner, by level up, which has a decent power level, and Doryuzu gains STAB from this. All in all, Moguryu and Doryuzu are a great start for the new Ground-type Pokemon introduced in Generation V. It has amazing HP and Attack and is for sure going to be a force to be reckoned with online.

Next up we have #551 Meguroco, the Desert Crocodile Pokemon, #552 Waruvile, the Desert Crocodile Pokemon, and #552 Waruvial, the Menacing Pokemon. All three Pokemon are Ground/Dark-type and Meguroco evolves in Waruvile at level 29 and Waruvile into Waruvial at level 40. In terms of design, besides the Moguryu/Doryuzu line, these guys are my favorite Ground-type Pokemon introduced in Generation V. I like how they all have black around their eyes to show off their dark typing, and how they maintain the striped pattern throughout the entire evolutionary line. But let’s talk about each Pokemon individually. When Meguroco was first introduced, I fell in love with the little guy. Like I said before, I like how he has black around his eyes to show of his dark typing, and I like how he looks like how I would exactly want a desert crocodile to look. In terms of design, Waruvile continues what I liked about Meguroco, but instead begins bipedal, which reminds me of Feraligtar, my favorite Water-type starter. Finally we have Waruvial, and I have to say I’m quite impressed. He retains all of the things I liked about Meguroco and Waruvile, and instead of having a tan color, he turns red, which I believe is fitting since he seems a lot more evil compared to his previous two forms. Going along with this sinister look, the look in his eyes and how he clenches his fists during his animation also remind me of this. But when it comes to stats, Waruvial is a pretty cool guy. The biggest thing that catches your eye is its 117 base Attack, and other mentionable stats that it has are 95 base HP and 92 base Speed. With this kind of design, Waruvial is designed to hit fast and hard, and it can do this with being able to learn attacks such as Earthquake and Outrage by level up, the first gaining STAB and the later being an extremely powerful physical attack. It also has a wide variety of physical attacks available to it through learning it by TM, so Waruvial can suite a lot of possible situations. The only thing that is crippling this cool Pokemon is that its defenses aren’t the greatest, and with a weakness to Fighting, Bug, Water, Grass, and Ice, this could pose a threat. So for what its worth the Waruvial line is an interesting bunch and I can’t wait to see Meguroko in the anime on Ash’s team.

The next Pokemon we have is in my opinion one of the more different Pokemon introduced in Generation V. Ladies and Gentlemen I give you #618 Maggyo, the Trap Pokemon. When I say different, I really don’t mean this in a good way. Maggyo is just plain ugly to me. I mean it’s a fish, but it’s Ground/Electric type, which is the opposite of what I would expect for a fish like Pokemon to be typed. And I don’t enjoy the color scheme for him, I mean I know it makes sense that it’s Brown and Yellow due to it being Ground/Electric, but I mean come on, make it look cooler or something. The other thing that irks me is it sounds like a fart for its cry. Enough with talking about why I don’t like this guy, let’s talk about stats. In terms of stats, Maggyo seems to be a tad more defensive instead of being offensive with 109 base HP, 84 base Defense, and 99 base Special Defense. The only other stat worth noting is its 81 base Special Attack. With this combination of stats, Maggyo makes for a somewhat interesting Pokemon. It learns a few good special attacks by level up, mainly Thunderbolt, Discharge, and Muddy Water. By TM Maggyo can learn a few other attacks that may help it in battle such as Slime Wave, Surf, and if you don’t mind inaccuracy, Thunder. The major thing that is crippling Maggyo into the failure Pokemon that it is, is a base stat of 32 Speed, and weaknesses to Ground, Water, Grass, and Ice. With all of these things holding it back, in terms of stats and appearance, I don’t like Maggyo at all. It’s a very ugly Pokemon and just sucks all together.
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After that massive failure, I need a Ground-type that will help lighten my mood, and thankfully we do. I’d like to introduce some of my other favorites from Generation V #622 Gobitto, the Golem Pokemon, and #623 Goruugu, who is also known as the Golem Pokemon. Gobitto evolves into Goruugu at level 43 and is catchable in the Dragon Spiral Tower. In terms of design, I love both of these Pokemon. If you didn’t know I have a thing for robots, and even though these two are classified as Golem Pokemon, they remind me of robots. Gobitto reminds me of a tin robo, and requires you to wind him up in order to make him go, and the combination of metal and wood around his chest is pretty cool. I also dig the pattern on its chest. Goruugu continues this coolness by getting larger and spreading the pattern all over its body. It also reminds me of one of my favorite robots, Gigantor. Just like the Gigantor the Space Age Robot, Goruugu’s power is at your hands due to the fact of it being a much more physically oriented Ghost Pokemon, which is very interesting. But let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Goruugu comes into play with 124 base Attack, and 80 base Defense/Special Defense, so obviously this guy is physical oriented and can take a couple hits before going down. To go with this offensive orientation, Goruugu learns a lot of physical moves that can help it out such as Earthquake, Shadow Punch, and a new attack called Heavy Bomber, which power is determined by how much heavier Goruggu is than its opponent. So with a weight of 727.5 pounds, Goruggu can use Heavy Bomber pretty well against a lot of Pokemon, unless its squaring off against like Snorlax or Groudon. For what it’s worth Goruggu is interesting since he’s a physically oriented Ghost Pokemon, and has some pretty good attacks to help it out with that physical nature, plus he looks awesome so he gets bonus points.

Sadly, we only have one more Ground-type Pokemon left to focus on, and that is the Ground/Flying legendary Pokemon, #645 Landlos, the Fertility Pokemon. In terms of design I like Landlos, because of the history he is based off on. Landlos is based on Inari, the Japanese kami of fertility, rice, agriculture, foxes, industry, and worldy success. I like this because I like Pokemon that trace back to Japanese culture, like his fellow Generation V Pokemon Voltolos and Tornelos. What else I like about Landlos are how awesome he looks in his sprite, and his overall color scheme, since it relates to his Ground/Flying typing well. But in terms of stats, Landlos has quite a few things that caught my attention. These include his 125 base Attack, his 115 base Special Attack, and 101 base Speed. With these stats, Landlos can be pretty tough, despite having weaknesses to Ice and Water types. The moves it can learn via level up worth noting include Earth Power, Earthquake, Stone Edge, and Outrage. By TM it can learn numerous attacks for it to dominate with, including Slime Wave, Focus Blast, and stat boosting moves Bulk Up and Calm Mind. The only major concern when it comes to Landlos is its 90 base Defense and 80 base Special Defense. This is because with its 4x weakness to Ice-type moves, Landlos can become a victim of a powerful Ice-type attack, and can be done before it can even get started. Other than that, Landlos is a strong Pokemon, and could possibly be pretty tough competitively. All in all, I like Landlos a lot as the last Ground-type Pokemon in the newly established National Pokedex, I like that he traces back to Japanese history, and all together is very cool.

In my last article I forgot to mention Pokemon who had Dragon as their secondary type, I won’t in this article. The only Pokemon introduced in Generation V that have Ground as their secondary type are Gamaguru, and Gamageroge.

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