Introduction
Ah, Porygon. This
Pokemon has had a large amount of history behind it, and an even larger
movepool. Yet, one move in particular has been closely linked to it: Tri-Attack.
This quirky move has had other users, mostly Pokemon who come in "threes", like
Dodrio, Dugtrio, and Magneton. At first, the move was just a regular ol'
Normal-type move that looked kinda cool but otherwise was indistinguishable from
Strength, really. Generation II introduced a quirk to it that made it somewhat
interesting: it had a 20% chance of either paralyzing, burning, or freezing the
enemy. Any one of those three could shut down an opponent, and the fact that the
exact effect was random added a bit of unpredictable fun to it. That said, Tri
Attack was still an inferior Normal-type move to Return. The same problem
existed in third generation.
Then came fourth generation and the
Physical/Special split. This split was somewhat of a double-edged sword for the
move. On one hand, the fact that the move now drew upon Special Attack meant
that two/three of its users, Dodrio and Dugtrio (and Fearow), had zero use for
the move completely. On the other hand, said split was the only way the move was
ever going to get any distinction from Return, and the split allowed Magneton
(or rather, Magnezone) to take full advantage of the move. And yet, no
Pokemon puts the move to better use than a certain new evolution of Porygon,
thus returning the move back to its signature owner, really.
So, why am I
spending so much time talking about Tri Attack when this article is supposed to
be about a Pokemon? Because, it is a key
part of the Pokemon featured here, Porygon-Z. This new evolution of Porygon2 is
distinguished by a massive Special Attack stat. This alone would allow it to make Tri
Attack a ridiculously powerful attack, especially in the absence of any other
reliable special-type Normal attack. However, it got one other neat boost with
Porygon-Z's ability, Adaptability. This move increases the STAB bonus from 1.5x
to 2x (essentially a 33% power boost), presumably to work with the Conversion
moves. In practice, it just makes Tri Attack ridiculously powerful, capable of
one-shotting many foes and having a good chance of leaving those it can't finish
off with a crippling status of some sort. Add in the possibility of Nasty Plot,
and you can say Nitey Nite!
Of course, Porygon-Z is far from limited to Tri Attack. That's
just the coolest attack it has, its most powerful and yet its most reliable.
About the Pokemon
The story of
Frankenstein, with virtual-reality programming of a Pokemon. At first, Porygon
was a neat little experiment: a Pokemon that was fully functional in battle and
can move freely through cyberspace. Then its creators wanted to fully explore
the realms of virtual-reality artificial intelligence, particularly to see if a
Pokemon that can fly into space can be created. Thus, Porygon2 was formed. It
had the ability to learn new gestures and emotions on its own, and of course,
power-wise was stronger than Porygon. However, it still could not fly, nor
travel into space. Furthermore, scientists noticed that it started exhibiting
behavior completely beyond what was programmed into it, even its abilities to
learn the aforementioned gestures and emotions. Was this a bug? A virus? The
development of a "soul"?
At any rate, some rogue programmers decided to
try to upgrade Porygon once more, this time to travel across dimensions. This
third, rather dubious upgrade led to the creation of Porygon-Z. Despite major
improvements in battle and artificial intelligence abilities, the Pokemon still
could not travel as they had wanted it to, and exhibited even odder
behaviors.
Still, Porygon remains a popular Pokemon for collectors, and
has been a staple "top prize" for Game Corners across the Pokemon
world.
Height: 2'11"; Weight: 75 lbs.
Capture/Training
Well, here's the deal.
Once again, Porygon can be bought at the Celadon Game Corner. And once again, it
costs 9999 coins.
The difference? That Psychic TM? Or that Ice Beam TM
from Goldenrod? Costs 10000 coins.
Clearly, what has happened here is
that, like Diamond and Pearl, it is *much* easier to win coins from playing the
slots. While the mechanics aren't the same as in D/P, the slot machines are
still designed to help you out if you haven't won anything in a while, as well
as allowing you to play Bonus Rounds for extra coinage (though these Bonus
Rounds are much more skill-based.). In the end, it's not all that hard to amass
9999 coins.
Evolution requires the trading of this Porygon while holding
an Up-Grade and a Dubious Disc, in that order. There's no real need to delay
this evolution any bit as the level-up moves are learned at the same levels, and
the moves exclusive to the unevolved forms aren't that good, save for possibly
Sharpen (which is a starting move anyway).
Like all Pokemon obtainable
as a "gift", soft-resetting to get desired IVs, Nature, and ability is
acceptable.
Statistics
85
HP, 80 Atk, 70 Def, 135 Sp. Atk, 75 Sp. Def, 90 Spd
Yeah, that is some
killer Special Attack right there, tied with Alakazam for highest amongst
non-legendaries. The other stats are okay, but it's that Special Attack that is
the highlight.
Nature- and IV-wise, obviously we want to avoid those
detrimental to Special Attack. Other than that, Speed is the other stat that
could do with some help. Attack is probably the stat that is most expendable.
This can be taken into account during EV refocusing as well.
Movesets
Abilities, first: Adaptability, as previously mentioned,
increases the STAB bonus from 1.5x to 2x. It's very good for powering up Tri
Attack and, if you want to use it, Hyper Beam. Download works best if you can send Porygon-Z
out against a Pokemon with low Special Defense, as Porygon-Z will get a nice
boost there. It's also generally usable as a "mixed sweeper", though you might
still want that 2x Adaptability STAB for physical Normal attacks.
So,
let's kick this attack list off, then, shall we? Tri Attack.
I said enough about it in
the introduction. All I'm going to add here is that this is your primary special
attack. Now, for a nice long list of secondary special
attacks.
Dark Pulse is probably
the best one here, as it hits the Ghosts that would otherwise dodge Tri Attack,
plus hits Psychics for nice damage. Of course, Shadow Ball works the same way, but could run
into trouble against other Normal-types if it's predicted. That, and Dark
Pulse's side effect of flinching is arguably better than a Special Defense drop
that is kind of superfluous on a Pokemon that is going to one- or two-hit KO
most enemies anyway (all that, and it's more easily accessible.). Ice Beam
is always good for its wide range of type-trumping goodness, especially against
Dragons. Thunderbolt hits hard on a
number of types, most notably assorted Steel-types (fans of the BoltBeam combo
can combine the two.). If you just want to have some fun with assorted special
attacks: Signal Beam could take down some
odd-types. Psychic will give
Fighting-types a nice scare. And, of course, Hidden Power gives an assortment of other
types to play around with. Hint: Types strong against Steel are
preferable.
Some specialized special attacks are available, too. Hyper Beam gets the Adaptability bonus and hits
extremely hard, making it a viable option in Porygon-Z's case. Meanwhile, Swift also gets Adaptability bonus and serves
as a move for hitting super-evasive enemies. While not conventional, a
Physical attack is an option. Return gets
a nice Adaptability bonus, after all.
Porygon-Z does have some other
options. Though, due to its build as a sweeper, they are mainly buffing options
that help it sweep. Namely, Nasty Plot to
kick its Special Attack to ridiculous heights, and Agility if it needs help outrunning faster
opponents (its Speed isn't bad, but it's not the best). Both moves are good for
compensating in a stat that was not boosted by its Nature. Sharpen is an oddball option to be used in
conjunction with Return. Substitute is always an option, if you want to
block a crippling status.
Porygon-Z does have some options for supportive
attacks, like Recover if it needs to
heal, and Magic Coat to mess around with
enemies trying to use crippling, non-damaging attacks. However, Porygon2 is
usable on its own and has less of a Sweeper build and more of a supportive
build, so such moves would probably work better on it.
General Moveset
- Tri Attack
- (secondary
attack)
- (secondary attack)
- (secondary attack)/(buffing
move)
Really, pretty much any moveset will fall under this build. Dark
Pulse (or Shadow Ball) is recommended for at least one of the secondary attacks.
One of the secondary attacks can be Return if you want to pursue a physical
option, or one of the specialized Normal attacks. Buffing move can be Nasty
Plot, Agility, or Substitute. If you use four attacks, Choice Specs or Choice
Scarf can obviously come into play.
Effective Movesets
1. Choice
- Tri Attack
- Dark Pulse
-
Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
Item: Choice Scarf/Choice Specs
2. Nasty Plot
- Tri Attack
- Nasty
Plot
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam/Thunderbolt/Psychic
3. Agility
- Agility
- Tri Attack
-
Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam/Thunderbolt/Psychic
4. SubPlot
- Substitute
- Nasty Plot
-
Tri Attack
- Dark Pulse
Item: Salac Berry (Battle Tower only)
5.
Mixed
- Tri Attack
- Return
- Dark Pulse/Ice
Beam/Thunderbolt
- Sharpen
6.
Anti-Evasive Striker (In-Game)
- Nasty Plot
- Swift
- Tri
Attack
- Dark Pulse
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