Everybody remembers the good ol' Pokémon of
the Day Guy, right? Well, once Gold and Silver hit the shores of the US
and all the hype had died down a bit, he decided to move to the top of
Mount Kilimanjaro to seek enlightenment. Now that every self-respecting
Pokémaniac has Ruby and Sapphire on the brain, however, it's high
time we revitalize the age-old tradition of bringing you your Pokémon
of the Day! And, as everyone knows, there's only one thing better than
a Pokémon of the Day Guy...a Pokémon of the Day Chick!
Each and every day we'll be taking a close and personal look at one of these unique creatures called Pokémon. Here you'll find all the moves you could ever want (learned, hereditary and all compatible TMs/HMs from G/S/C and R/B/Y, if applicable), breeding chains for hereditary moves, Pokédex entries, general descriptions, max stats, in-game locations, weaknesses and resistances, gameplay tips and one or more suggested movesets (SUGGESTED, people; I'm not telling you what to do) to get the most bang for your Pokébuck. ===============================INTRODUCTION============================== Today's Pokemon is Poliwhirl, the fifth and final Water type to
grace the front page of IGNFAQs this week. Good thing, too; Water isn't
exactly my favorite type and I was beginning to get bored. You know what
I don't get about Poliwhirl? Its popularity among marketers. As far as
I know the thing isn't that cute nor useable and thus isn't too hot among
the trainer demographic, yet in terms of the sheer number of toys and other
such promotional items available Poliwhirl is seemingly second only to
Pikachu and Jigglypuff as far as popularity goes. When are you PR people
going to figure out that nobody likes Poliwhirl? It barely even qualifies
as having a face!
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NAME: Poliwhirl
TYPE: Tadpole (Water) HEIGHT: 3' 3" WEIGHT: 44 lbs. | |
EVOLUTION: evolves from Poliwag at level 25 AVAILIBLE IN: Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal LOCATION: Red and Blue owners can fish for wild Poliwhirl in Celadon City, while Yellow players should check out Route 22. In GSC trainers will find Poliwhirl by surfing in Silver Cave, Violet City, Ecruteak City, Viridian City and Routes 22, 28, 30, 31 and 44...if you're playing Crystal you don't even have to use Surf; wild Poliwhirl can be found in abundance simply by wandering the grasses at the base of Mt. Silver at night. ==================================MOVES================================== | |
Learned Moves: | |
R/B/Y
Bubble - Basic Hypnosis - lvl 16 Water Gun- lvl 19 Doubleslap - lvl 26 Body Slam - lvl 33 Amnesia - lvl 41 Hydro Pump - lvl 49 | G/S/C
Bubble - Basic Hypnosis - lvl 7 Water Gun - lvl 13 Doubleslap - lvl 19 Rain Dance - lvl 27 Body Slam - lvl 35 Belly Drum - lvl 43 Hydro Pump - lvl 51 |
Compatible TMs: | |
R/B/Y
TM01 - Mega Punch TM05 - Mega Kick TM06 - Toxic TM08 - Body Slam TM09 - Take Down TM10 - Double-Edge TM11 - Bubblebeam TM12 - Water Gun TM13 - Ice Beam TM14 - Blizzard TM17 - Submission TM18 - Counter TM19 - Seismic Toss TM20 - Rage TM26 - Earthquake TM27 - Fissure TM29 - Psychic TM31 - Mimic TM32 - Double Team TM34 - Bide TM35 - Metronome TM40 - Skull Bash TM44 - Rest TM46 - Psywave TM50 - Substitute HM03 - Surf HM04 - Strength | G/S/C
TM02 - Headbutt TM03 - Curse TM06 - Toxic TM08 - Rock Smash TM10 - Hidden Power TM13 - Snore TM14 - Blizzard TM16 - Icy Wind TM17 - Protect TM18 - Rain Dance TM20 - Endure TM21 - Frustration TM26 - Earthquake TM27 - Return TM29 - Psychic TM31 - Mud-Slap TM32 - Double Team TM33 - Ice Punch TM34 - Swagger TM35 - Sleep Talk TM40 - Defense Curl TM43 - Detect TM44 - Rest TM45 - Attract TM46 - Thief HM03 - Surf HM04 - Strength HM06 - Whirlpool HM07 - Waterfall |
Hereditary Moves (G/S/C only): | |
Bubblebeam: Breed a female Poliwag/Poliwhirl/Poliwrath/Politoed with a male Corsola, Mantine, Marill/Azumarill or Remoraid/Octillery. Haze: Breed with a male Wooper/Quagsire. Mind Reader: Breed with a male Poliwrath. Mist: Breed with a male Lapras or Wooper/Quagsire. Splash: Breed a male Magikarp with a female Horsea/Seadra/Kingdra, then breed the resulting male Horsea with Splash to a female Poliwag/Poliwhirl/Poliwrath/Politoed. Ice Beam: Poliwhirl can also learn Ice Beam via the Move Tutor in Goldenrod City (Crystal only). ===============================IN BATTLE================================
Poliwhirl is yet another Pokemon that I just want to kick repeatedly for learning quite a few interesting and powerful moves yet not having the stats to employ them. Well, I suppose I should say I want to kick his designers, since it really isn't his fault he's weak. And hey, Poliwhirl IS a middle stage evolution, so his stats ARE scheduled to improve upon evolving. Not by much, though, unfortunately. I had almost decided to scrap the "interesting" movesets altogether and just stick Poliwhirl with a standard generic Water type set, but I figured I was never going to recommend Belly Drum on any other Pokemon so I might as well take a look at the move as long as I'm here. I mean, it's not like anyone's ever going to use Poliwhirl in a serious battle anyway; this is pretty much just for fun. Belly Drum is a rather cool move that few (if any) Pokemon can use effectively. This move sacrifices half the user's HP in order to max out their Attack stat (the full 999 if I'm not mistaken; somebody correct me if I'm wrong). The reason you don't see this move all that often is because the very few Pokemon that can learn it are almost all exceedingly slow and sport crummy defenses; Charizard is obviously an exception but he learns too many other great moves to take up a move slot with Belly Drum. If you're going to use a Belly Drumming Poliwhirl you should absolutely have an Agility and an Amnesia Baton Passed to him beforehand. Though Poliwhirl's Speed is actually very good for a quasi-evolved Pokemon and he happens to learn Amnesia on his own, you can't afford to take chances when you're using a move that costs half your HP before you even have a chance to attack. Passing a Barrier wouldn't hurt either, or you could elect a Pokemon like Alakazam to pseudo-pass both Light Screen and Reflect (which should last just long enough for Poliwhirl to get set up). If Poliwhirl is actually still alive after both using Belly Drum and absorbing his opponent's subsequent attack, it's time for a little Minty Resting. This of course means using Rest to refill your HP and utilizing Mint Berry to wake up immediately without suffering the two-round sleep penalty. If you did manage to Baton Pass Agility and Amnesia to Poliwhirl early on (which I'm assuming you did, or else you wouldn't have survived your setup in the first place), at this point Poliwhirl should be nearly unstoppable. Full HP, maxed out Attack, inflated Speed and a padded Special Defense...your only real concern would be Poliwhirl's still-crappy Defense, though Reflect should be able to take care of that (Barrier would be better, as I said, though I realize it's harder to find a Baton Passer for that move than either Amnesia or Agility). Once Poliwhirl's Attack is as high as it can possibly go you're going to want a couple of powerful physical attacks to take advantage of it, right? Body Slam is one of the best as it affords Poliwhirl that 30% chance of paralysis, and you wouldn't even have to travel back to RBY for the move since Poliwhirl learns it on his own. After an Agility Poliwhirl doesn't really need for its opponent to be paralyzed (not to mention the fact that many Pokemon won't survive a single Body Slam from a Poliwhirl bearing the effects of Belly Drum), but leaving an opponent paralyzed is a nice gesture for the rest of your party should you need to switch out or find Poliwhirl KO'd by an errant Thunderbolt/Hyper Beam/what-have-you. You might prefer Double-Edge in this slot as it will be able to KO more Pokemon in a single blow, but if you choose to go that route remember that you must send Poliwhirl back to RBY for the TM before he learns Belly Drum at level 43. I've chosen Earthquake for the last move because it's the only other non-set damage physical move that Poliwhirl can learn (aside from redundant Normal type moves). The fact that Earthquake is super-effective against many popular types (unlike Normal type moves), including the Electric types that Poliwhirl generally fears, only sweetens the deal. Earthquake will KO more Pokemon in one hit than Body Slam as it boasts a higher base power, so use it against anything that isn't specifically resistant to it or that you don't particularly care about paralyzing. Since I already explained the significance of Mint Berry, I suppose it's time to delve into Poliwhirl's alternate move options. Certainly one of the most popular combos for Poliwhirl is Mind Reader/Fissure, as this seemingly guaranteed OHKO is currently unique to the Poliwhirl line. Many people scoff at the combo as Poliwhirl's stats will never allow him to pull it off in time, but I can't in good conscience tell you that Mind Reader/Fissure won't work and then in the next breath say that a Belly Drum set WILL...any set can be made to work so long as the Pokemon in question is sufficiently prepped beforehand; the only reason I don't like Mind Reader/Fissure is because it's so blasted cheap. I mean come on, they made these OHKO moves only 30% accurate for a reason, people. You do have another option in utilizing Poliwhirl as a "standard" Water type, as I mentioned earlier. In such a case you'd probably want to go with Surf and Ice Beam along with Earthquake, Substitute, Body Slam, Amnesia or Counter. Actually though, I find Counter works better on Poliwrath as he gains a physical weakness in Flying types upon evolving. I don't really care for Special Attacks on Poliwhirl (even if they do get STAB) since his Special Attack is so pitiful, but it's certainly something to consider if the typical risky Mind Reader and Belly Drum sets don't appeal to you (and perhaps Ice Beam can scare off those nasty Grass types). While I adore many underrated Pokemon with sub-par stats as long as they learn some cool moves (this generally applies to annoyers in my case), Poliwhirl is not one of them. He can't use Confuse Ray to even the odds against a stronger opponent, for example; all he can do is rely on other Pokemon in his party to provide him with support moves before using his own OHKO or Attack-maxing moves and subsequently taking all the credit. Don't even bother taking this thing into a serious battle unless you have a couple of solid Baton Passers or pseudo-passers ready and waiting to baby him through it; he'll never survive without them. And yet...I find myself in a jolly good mood knowing that this week of wretched Water Pokemon is now behind me. So, what the heck! Why DON'T you try training Poliwhirl and seeing what it can do in battle? The worst that could happen is that he'll die right away and you'll lose a mere one Pokemon out of six, right? And at least your team will be somewhat original since seemingly no one else wants to train the thing. We might as well give Poliwhirl a chance...he isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread, of course, but there are certainly WORSE Water types out there. Perhaps you can use this weekend to look into the possibilities with this spunky spiraled specimen, and don't forget to come back on Monday as we unveil yet another brand new week of Pokemon of the Day!
Please email any questions or comments to pokemonofthedaychick@ign.com, or drop me a line if you just wanna say hello! I'm always up for a rousing Pokémon chat. And, as always, feel free to visit us on IGN's dedicated Pokémon Board. See you there! |