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============================== You asked for it, you begged for it, and now you've got it! Over the last couple of weeks I've had a surprising amount of requests for the mighty Golem, the poster child of the overpopulated Rock/Ground brigade who is far more popular than one might expect, given his ho-hum stats and move options. I personally don't know why anyone would use something with two quad weaknesses to popular special type attacks and suck wretched Speed and Special Defense with which to compensate for them, though. Well actually, I suppose I DO have an inkling...KABLOOEY!! Heh heh. Anyway, if nothing else I suppose Golem is a decent enough party
filler should you find yourself training that Geodude you caught five minutes
after beginning the game longer than you had anticipated.
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NAME: Golem
TYPE: Megaton (Rock/Ground) HEIGHT: 4' 7" WEIGHT: 662 lbs. | |
EVOLUTION: evolves from Graveler when Graveler is traded to another Pokemon cartridge via a GameBoy Link Cable or Pokemon Stadium Transfer Pak AVAILIBLE IN: Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal LOCATION: Golem can't be found in the wild, but you can find a Graveler to evolve in Victory Road in every version, the Unknown Dungeon in Yellow, Route 45 and inside Mt. Silver in GSC, and in Dark cave and Mt. Mortar solely in Crystal. ==================================MOVES================================== | |
Learned Moves: | |
R/B/Y
Tackle - Basic Defense Curl - lvl 11 Rock Throw - lvl 16 Selfdestruct - lvl 21 Harden - lvl 29 Earthquake - lvl 36 Explosion - lvl 43 | G/S/C
Tackle - Basic Defense Curl - lvl 6 Rock Throw - lvl 11 Magnitude - lvl 16 Selfdestruct - lvl 21 Harden - lvl 27 Rollout - lvl 34 Earthquake - lvl 41 Explosion - lvl 48 |
Compatible TMs: | |
R/B/Y
TM01 - Mega Punch TM05 - Mega Kick TM06 - Toxic TM08 - Body Slam TM09 - Take Down TM10 - Double-Edge TM15 - Hyper Beam TM17 - Submission TM18 - Counter TM19 - Seismic Toss TM20 - Rage TM26 - Earthquake TM27 - Fissure TM28 - Dig TM31 - Mimic TM32 - Double Team TM34 - Bide TM35 - Metronome TM36 - Selfdestruct TM38 - Fire Blast TM44 - Rest TM47 - Explosion TM48 - Rock Slide TM50 - Substitute HM04 - Strength | G/S/C
TM01 - Dynamicpunch TM02 - Headbutt TM03 - Curse TM04 - Rollout TM05 - Roar TM06 - Toxic TM08 - Rock Smash TM10 - Hidden Power TM11 - Sunny Day TM13 - Snore TM15 - Hyper Beam TM17 - Protect TM20 - Endure TM21 - Frustration TM26 - Earthquake TM27 - Return TM28 - Dig TM31 - Mud-Slap TM32 - Double Team TM34 - Swagger TM35 - Sleep Talk TM37 - Sandstorm TM38 - Fire Blast TM40 - Defense Curl TM44 - Rest TM45 - Attract TM48 - Fire Punch TM49 - Fury Cutter HM04 - Strength |
Hereditary Moves (G/S/C only): | |
Mega Punch: Teach R/B/Y TM01 (Mega Punch) to Geodude/Graveler/Golem. Trade to G/S and, if male, breed with a female Geodude/Graveler/Golem. Rock Slide: Breed with a male Sudowoodo. Flamethrower: Graveler can also learn Flamethrower via the Move Tutor in Goldenrod City (Crystal only). ===============================IN BATTLE================================
After much internal debate, I've decided to go with the same exact moveset I suggested for Graveler. I looked back to that article specifically so I could take Golem in a different direction and be somewhat original, but there really is no better moveset for this particular evolutionary chain. The Golem family isn't about using finesse to outwit their opponent; they're all about hitting hard with powerful STABed attacks and then taking their own lives in order to inflict massive damage on the opposition as the icing on the cake. Golem does have a few other viable move option which we'll talk about in a bit, but this is for the most part the only set you should be using on any Graveler/Golem in a serious battle. Substitute gives Golem a fighting chance against those horrid Water and Grass types he's exceptionally weak to, in addition to the understated Ice types out there. I'm not usually too worried about Fighting, Ground and Steel types as Graveler's Defense is amazing, but with a 228 max Special Defense those elemental attackers will very likely pose a problem for him (well, at least they raised his Special Defense a bit from RBY's pathetic 208). Use Substitute when your opponent has something on the field that isn't capable of killing Golem outright; this will give you an opportunity to decide whether you want attack, attack or...uh...attack. Okay, so Golem's moves aren't exactly varied in nature (read: they're all designed to flat-out kick but, with no fancy-schmancy side effects), but at least they're all extremely effective in various situations. If nothing else Substitute will buy you the time you need to Explode once your opponent DOES send out their main Water or Grass type. Earthquake is a happy little move for Golem; you'll never hear me complaining about STAB, power or accuracy, and Golem's Attack is top notch. So long as he actually survives long enough to use Earthquake, Golem is going to be rattling quite a few heads with the move. Aside from being Golem's "standard" attack, you'll probably find yourself using Earthquake to fend off Steel types and your fellow Rock/Ground types who want to take advantage of a Rock type's weakness to Ground type moves (even though they know Golem itself is just as effective against their Pokemon as it is against him...eh; you'll find logic seldom comes into play with some people). If you can find a Fire or Electric type stupid enough to stay in against Golem then Earthquake should be exceptionally fun (one-hit KO's usually are!), but don't count on seeing any. You're going to need Rock Slide for the Flying types that are out of the reach of Golem's Ground side, in addition to the Bug types that are resistant to Ground type moves and the Ice types that Ground type Pokemon are weak against. Though the compounded weaknesses resulting from a marriage such as Rock/Ground are altogether hideous, I must admit their offensive capabilities compliment one another nicely. This is another attack which Golem receives STAB for and should be at least moderately useful against anything that happens to be resistant to Ground type moves. And hey, if you get lucky with Quick Claw you might even land a flinch on your opponent. Okay, so that isn't too likely, but it's interesting to consider. And now we come to the "KABLOOEY!!" part of the analysis. Explosion is a fun move, it truly is. I never enjoy seeing one of my own Pokemon bite the dust but, as we all know, dust-biting is ultimately inevitable in the Pokemon universe so you might as well go out with a bang, no? Explosion is by far the most powerful purely offensive attack in the game, not to mention it looks really cool in Pokemon Stadium 2 (heh). The time to use Explosion is after your Substitute is toast and you know your opponent's next attack will KO Golem (actually you'll be wanting to take all of this into account the turn before to compensate for Golem's incredible lack of Speed)...deny them the satisfaction! Bwahahahahaaa. Of course everyone kinda EXPECTS to see an Exploding Golem these days, so make sure you've dispatched your opponent's Steel type/Ghost type/Shuckle/etc. before attempting to employ the move (or bringing Golem out at all) if you have a choice. If I actually have to explain Quick Claw I'm going to be incredibly disappointed in you :p. Golem is slow as a rock (who woulda thunk it?); Quick Claw might actually give him a chance to see what going first in battle is like. Really, Quick Claw is the only item I personally would use on Golem, though if you're dead set against it for some reason I suppose I would recommend Focus Band or Bright Powder. As impressive as Golem's mammoth Defense may be, he'll never live long enough to make use of Leftovers unless you have the insane luck to face off against someone with NO elemental attackers on their team (or if their only elemental attackers are Fire or Electric types, naturally). As for alternate moves, there are only two that immediately spring to mind for Golem: Submission and Double-Edge. You see (SPOILER), in Ruby and Sapphire Golem has a new characteristic called "Rock Head" which eliminates the recoil damage from moves such as Double-Edge and Submission (END SPOILER). Both attacks are powerful and useful in their own right, though Submission's poor accuracy happens to turn me off. I suppose you might also consider Counter given Golem's weakness to the popular Ground type, but his Defense is so high that Counter likely won't do as much damage as you would expect. Truly, I wasn't lying when I said this was just about the ONLY great Golem set...but heck, at least it does what it's supposed to, which is more than one can say for a surprising number of Pokemon. What have we learned today, ladies and gentlemen? Easy; we've learned that the Pokemon of the Day Chick is an expert at rehashing old articles to make them seem new. Don't blame me; I ain't the one who wanted to see this thing analyzed. I suppose we've also learned that Golem is a no-nonsense powerhouse who will die quickly (most likely by his own hand) but will probably dish out quite a bit of punishment as long as he's actually around. Golem happens to be a tad too boring for my particular taste (plus I have Marowak for all my Ground type needs), but I guess Golem is a decent enough Pokemon if you feel you HAVE to have a Rock/Ground type. I mean, at least he's better than Rhydon or Onix...err, IMHO *wards off indignant emails*. Have fun getting to know this ponderous overgrown pebble, and I'll see you all tomorrow with another brand new 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! |