Tag Archives: Pokemon Shield

Best Pokemon Games for a Flying Type Run

Would you be surprised if I told you that the Flying Type in Pokemon is among the best types ever to do a Monotype Run?? In fact, it’s so good, I’d rate it as the third best behind Water and Normal Type. Why is that? Well, you can find a plethora of Flying Pokemon throughout the games, with very few exceptions you can catch your first Flying Type before the first gym (and even as a Starter!), and it’s surprisingly easy to cover their weaknesses. The diversity Flying Pokemon have is absolutely amazing and they were the first of the 18 types to be paired with every other type. You will have a fun time with this often overlooked team of Pokemon. Let’s take a look at the best and worst games in the series for a Flying Type Run and which Pokemon you should be looking out for!

Rules

Only Pokémon of a certain type may be caught and trained.
You must catch the first Pokémon available of that type if your starter does not match that type (you’ll then have to discard that starter).
You may train a Pokémon that evolves to said type as long as you do it ASAP.
No trading allowed.
Mega Pokémon count as long as you Mega Evolve them as soon as they appear on the battlefield.
Only Pokémon caught before Elite Four are counted.

Best Games

Okay, so here’s the thing. There’s quite a few Pokemon games that I would recommend for a Flying Type Run, in fact if you go to my game-specific articles, you will frequently find Flying as among the best types in each game. So writing about every single game that does well would be time consuming and frankly bloated so let’s keep it short.

Old school games hold up well here but I really like the Kanto and Johto games as their Flying diversity is almost unparalleled and you can train the likes of the Legendary Birds, Charizard, and Aerodactyl in Kanto and Xatu, Skarmory/Gligar, Crobat, and Ho-oh/Lugia in Johto. In both games you can also train Gyarados, Dragonite, a host of Normal/Flying Pokemon, and many bugs as well. The Johto remakes, HGSS, also get a boost with the likes of Yanmega, Honchkrow, and Gliscor (all of which I love, love, love, love!).

If I had to pick one series of games that are the best it would be Pokemon XY. No other games in the entire series comes close to matching the diversity of Flying Pokemon here as you can train over 30 unique families!! This diversity means you can constantly switch in and out certain Pokemon and pick a whole host of favorites without feeling too constrained by type weaknesses. The fact you can get a Charizard, Aerodactyl, Yanmega, Gliscor, and Salamence really sells it for me.

Worst Games

Pokemon Black/White are the worst games for a Flying Type Run. What’s funny is that this team is not necessarily bad just not as good as other games. The biggest drawback is that “late” first Pokemon which you can only get after the first gym (Black/White are the only games in the entire series to do this). This is also the game with the lowest amount of Pokemon you can train and you’re exposed to your weaknesses. Still though, you can get a full team of unique flyers and you can train the likes of Sigilyph, Archeops, and Emolga. Ironically, Black and White are also the only games in the series where you can catch either a Tornadus (Black) or Thundurus (White) before the Championship and they’re really good Flying Pokemon. B2W2 are so much better so you should go for those. You can train a Gliscor, Skarmory, Vespiquen, and many others!

Pokemon Games and their Flying Teams

Pokemon RBY and FRLG
Ideal Team: Charizard, Dragonite, Aerodactyl, Gyarados, Zapdos, Articuno
Optional: Pidgeot, Fearow, Dodrio, Scyther (Red, FireRed, Yellow), Moltres, Butterfree, Golbat, Farfetch’d
First Pokémon: Charmander via starter or Pidgey (Yellow) via Route 1.
Covers Weaknesses? No, Rock is not covered.

Pokemon GSC and HGSS
Ideal Team: Gyarados, Dragonite, Gligar/Gliscor (G, C, HG)/Skarmory (S, C, SS), Murkrow/Honchkrow, Jumpluff/Togekiss (HGSS), Xatu
Optional: Dodrio, Pidgeot, Spearow, Mantine (G, C, HG), Crobat, Yanma/Yanmega, Scyther, Ledian, Butterfree (G, C, HG), Farfetch’d, Ho-Oh (G, HG), Lugia (S, SS)
First Pokémon: Pidgey and Hoothoot via Route 29 before the first gym.
Via Pokewalker Pidgey (Refreshing Field at 0+ steps), Doduo (Refreshing Field at 2000+ steps), Spearow (Noisy Forest at 0+ steps), Hoothoot (Rugged Field at 0+ steps and Suburban Area at 0+ steps), Murkrow (Suburban Area at 1000+ steps), Zubat (Dim Cave at 0+ steps), and Dratini (Blue Lake at 5000+ steps) are available.
Covers Weaknesses? Yes, regardless of your version

Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, and ORAS
Ideal Team: Gyarados, Salamence, Swellow, Ninjask, Skarmory, Xatu
Optional: Beautifly, Masquerain (R, S, ORAS), Pelipper, Crobat, Altaria, Tropius, Honchkrow (ORAS), Drifblim (ORAS), Mega-Pinsir (ORAS), Mandibuzz (ORAS), Chatot (ORAS), Unfezant (ORAS), Pidgeot (ORAS), Braviary (ORAS), Rayquaza (Emerald)
First Pokémon: Wurmple via Route 101
Covers Weaknesses? Yes

Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum
Ideal Team: Gyarados, Vespiquen/Yanmega (Platinum), Drifblim, Honchkrow (Diamond), Gliscor (Platinum), Tropius (Platinum)
Optional: Staraptor/Noctowl/Chatot/Togekiss (Platinum), Pelipper/Mantine
First Pokémon: Starly via Route 201
Covers Weaknesses? Only in Platinum, in Diamond and Pearl the Electric and Rock types are not neutralized.

Pokemon Black/White and Black2/White2
BW Ideal Team: Tornadus (B)/Thundurus (W), Sigilyph, Archeops, Emolga, Swanna, Braviary (W)/Mandibuzz (B)
Optional: Swoobat, Unfezant
First Pokémon: Pidove via Route 3 after the first gym
Cover weaknesses? No, Rock is not neutralized.

B2W2 Ideal Team: Skarmory, Gliscor, Emolga, Altaria, Swanna, Sigilyph
Optional: Swoobat, Crobat, Unfezant, Drifblim, Mantine, Pelipper, Mandibuzz (B2)/Braviary (W2), Delibird, Vespiquen
First Pokémon: Pidove via Route 20 before the first gym
Cover weaknesses? Yes

Pokemon XY
Ideal Team: Talonflame/Charizard, Gyarados, Gliscor, Salamence/Dragonite, Aerodactyl, Honchkrow
Optional: Ninjask, Mothim, Butterfree, Swanna, Pelipper, Swellow, Vivillon, Jumpluff, Swoobat, Crobat, Drifblim, Emolga, Hawlucha, Sigilyph, Staraptor, Mantine, Fan Rotom, Skarmory, Noivern, Pidgeot, Altaria, Scyther, Yanmega, Delibird
First Pokémon: Pidgey, Scatterbug, and Fletchling via Route 2
Weaknesses Covered? Yes, and in more ways than one. You can have several different team matchups and still have your bases covered.

Pokemon Sun/Moon and Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon
SM Ideal Team: Toucannon, Gyarados, Drifblim, Aerodactyl, Salamence, Skarmory
Optional: Braviary (Sun)/Mandibuzz (Moon), Crobat, Talonflame, Masquerain, Honchkrow, Minior, Fearow, Staraptor (scan), Oricorio (4 forms), Dartrix
First Pokémon: Rowlett via Starter
Cover weaknesses? Yes

USUM Ideal Team: Toucannon, Gyarados, Charizard (scan), Aerodactyl, Salamence, Skarmory
Optional: Braviary (US)/Mandibuzz (UM), Crobat, Talonflame, Masquerain, Honchkrow, Minior, Xatu, Tropius, Hawlucha, Noivern, Pidgeot, Fearow, Noctowl, Drifblim, Oricorio (4 forms), Dartrix
First Pokémon: Rowlett via Starter
Cover weaknesses? Yes

Pokemon Sword and Shield
Ideal Team: Corviknight, Noivern, Sigilyph, Togekiss, Gyarados, Hawlucha
Optional: Swoobat, Braviary (Sword), Mandibuzz (Shield), Xatu, Noctowl, Unfezant, Butterfree, Pelipper, Delibird, Ninjask, Vespiquen, Drifblim, Fan Rotom, Cramorant, Mantine
First Pokémon: Rookidee by overworld (30%) and Hoothoot and Caterpie by random encounters (5% and 15%) via Route 1.
Weaknesses Covered? Yes

MVPs (Most Valuable Pokemon)

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The Early Bird

In every single Pokemon game, excluding Pokemon Black and White, you can catch a Flying Pokemon on the first route. These birds are the primary reason why the Flying type is amazing for a Monotype Run. They evolve into a strong final form who can pack quite a punch! Most of them can learn Dark, Bug, Fighting, and Steel moves which is nice. Really the biggest thing that’s holding (most of) them back is their Normal typing which doesn’t offer much for diversity and defense.

One thing I’m beginning to notice about these birds is that Gamefreak is making them more and more unique in later generations. Up until Generation 5 they were pretty similar but in Gen 6 we got Talonflame with its nice Fire/Flying combo, Toucannon has a super high Attack stat which goes well with Beak Blast, and now Corviknight offers an amazing defense with its Steel/Flying. They really make those later generations that much better for a Flying run.

Available in: Every game’s first route except BW who only appear after the first gym.

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Gyarados (and other Water/Flying Pokemon)

There since Generation 1, Water/Flying Pokemon are rather ubiquitous in their occurrences. Six out of the so far eight generations have introduced at least one new Water/Flying Pokemon and every game contains at least one catchable family. The Water typing gives your team access to moves you may otherwise lack mainly Water and Ice attacks. You also get a nifty neutralization from Ice moves and a STAB attack against Rock Pokemon with the trade off being that 4x weakness to Electric (which honestly, as far as problems go, this one is at least manageable). Although Swanna and the others are fine the best one by far is also the most common and of course I’m talking about Gyarados.

I cannot stress how important it is to have Gyarados on your team, especially starting Gen 4 onwards. The physical/special split really benefited Gyarados’ high Attack stats so it can use Waterfall incredibly well. Although Gyarados’ Flying movepool is pretty poor, that’s okay as you have at least five other team members who can more than make up for this. You can teach Gyarados anything from Outrage to Iron Head, Ice Fang to Crunch, and most delicious of them all, Dragon Dance. I would say your biggest problem is its Magikarp stage but given that it evolves at level 20 it’s honestly not even that big of a deal considering you would be at your second or third gym by then.

Available in: Every game. Gyarados can be found in every game except Black/White and B2W2.

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Gliscor/Gligar

So once you get your Gyarados the next question you should ask is, can I get a Gligar or Gliscor? Gliscor pairs amazingly well with your Water Pokemon thanks to its immunity to Electric moves (which is really nice) and Rock neutralization. Not only that, a STAB Earthquake attack is sooooo gooooooood and can really stick it to any Electric or Rock Pokemon that trouble you. Gliscor also knows a variety of elemental fang attacks, Rock Slide (nice), Poison Jab (Poison is surprisingly rare for Flyers), and some very strong Dark and Bug moves.

Like Gyarados, Gliscor suffers from an okay selection of Flying moves and a 4x weakness, this time to Ice attacks (this is not too bad as Gliscor will already be avoiding Water Pokemon anyway). Gliscor is also not that common so pay attention to that when you pick your games. And finally, Gliscor did not become available until gen 4 so if you’re playing Gen 2 then you’re stuck with Gligar. Thankfully, don’t fret about your Electric or Rock weaknesses as there are other Pokemon to help you out like…

Available in: Gold, Crystal, Platinum, HeartGold, B2W2, and XY

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Dragon/Flying Pokemon

Neutralizing your Electric problems (with a 4x weakness to Ice moves) are the Dragons who are amazing additions to your team. The four Pokemon are really common and it would be hard to miss one for your team. Salamence and Dragonite are the strongest, non-Legendary, non-Mega Flying Pokemon. They can deliver powerful attacks both physical and special, they are fast, and they can take the hits. You also have the plethora of moves they can learn which adds a lot of necessary diversity to your team. They both can learn Earthquake to take care of your Electric foes. They are frankly wonderful. Your biggest downsides for these two are their late game appearances compounded by late evolutions which means you’ll have to be very patient if you want one on your team.

On the flip side you have Noivern and Altaria, who trade their lower stats for easier training and commonality. Altaria…it’s alright…nothing too special, but it does learn Moonblast, one of the few Flying Pokemon that can learn a strong Flying move. Noivern is definitely where its at though both with speed and design. Its decent Special Attack stat means you can use some great moves like Boomburst, Flamethrower, Psychic, and Shadow Ball. I also like how you can catch Noibat relatively early in Pokemon SWSH.

Available in: RBY and FRLG (Dragonite), GSC and HGSS (Dragonite), RSE and ORAS (Salamence and Altaria), B2W2 (Altaria), XY (all four), SM (Salamence), USUM (Salamence and Noivern), SWSH (Noivern)

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Skarmory and Corviknight

Taking care of your Rock and Ice weaknesses (pairs nicely with your dragons…) are Skarmory and Corviknight. Steel/Flying is one of those type combos that works so extremely well. The Flying type is immune to Ground and neutralizes the Fighting weakness and the Steel neutralizes Ice and Rock attacks. Of the two, you’re more likely to run into Skarmory, who’s surprisingly common, compared to the very recent Corviknight. Your main advantage in carrying these guys is defense so if you have a tricky opponent you can throw them out to stall or to dish out status-based moves. Admittedly, their movepool selection is rather small but they can still learn the standard Steel moves which is nice to have against Rock and, especially, Ice Pokemon.

Available in: Skarmory in Silver, Crystal, RSE, SoulSilver, B2W2, ORAS, XY, SM, USUM. Corviknight in SWSH

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Charizard

I don’t think you’ll need me to convince you to train a Charizard! It’s Charizard! Who wouldn’t want to train one??

But it goes deeper than just pure joy of having one on your team. First, Charizard, of course, is a starter. You pick Charmander in RBY or FRLG and you’re good to go! You can also catch one just before Mount Moon in Let’s Go and get one from a trainer after Mount Moon in Yellow. So Charmander can be found relatively early if not the start of your game. But! It can also be found outside of Kanto! You can train one in both XY (with the bonus Mega Evolutions) and in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon via Island Scan. That’s nice. But you know what’s also nice??? That movepool diversity is delicious. Fire moves are stellar and all but you also have Dragon Pulse, Rock Slide, Earthquake, Thunder Punch, Shadow Claw, and Brick Break. Excellent. Biggest thing to worry about are Rock moves which are killer. The Ice resistance is appreciated but a Pokemon that can learn an Ice move may be a Water type so that’s a bit rough. Regardless, Gamefreak’s affection towards their favorite starter means you’ll have a nice time with your fiery buddy.

Available in: RBY and FRLG (Starter), LG and Yellow, XY, and USUM (Via Island Scan), SWSH (via max raid battle but they are extremely rare, you can check it out here)

Best Pokemon Games for an Ice Type Run

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As of Generation VIII, the Ice Type is the rarest Pokemon type and, as you can imagine, is very difficult to pull off a Monotype Run. The type generally appears late in the games, they are exposed to numerous weaknesses, and are so uncommon that it’s unlikely you can form a full team of six unique Ice Pokemon, especially in the earlier games. Nevertheless, there are a select few games in the Pokemon series that give you amazing opportunities for an Ice Type Team. In fact, Ice Pokemon have probably the richest potential, out of any Pokemon type, to utilize their abilities and work together as a team. Let’s take a look!

Rules

Only Pokémon of a certain type may be caught and trained.
You must catch the first Pokémon available of that type if your starter does not match that type (you’ll then have to discard that starter).
You may train a Pokémon that evolves to said type as long as you do it ASAP.
No trading allowed.
Mega Pokémon count as long as you Mega Evolve them as soon as they appear on the battlefield.
Only Pokémon caught before Elite Four are counted.

The Best Games

Pokemon Sword and Shield (SWSH) are undoubtedly the best games in the entire series for an Ice Type Run thanks to the Wild Area! As soon as you enter the Wild Area you can catch a plethora of Ice Pokemon like Snover, Snorunt, Swinub, Vanillite, Delibird, and Shellder. Boom! Very quickly you have a team of six unique Ice Pokemon (seven counting Snorunt’s split evolution) with your weaknesses covered! AND…Snover and Vanillite’s evolution have the ability Snow Warning so you can have a constant stream of Hail shivering your opponents as you destroy them with Blizzard and gain the advantage with Hail-related abilities like Ice Body and Snow Cloak. There’s other Pokemon to catch as well like the Fossil Pokemon and Rotom so you can continue to switch out your Pokemon and add others in their place. So go out there and obliterate Hop’s hopes and dreams like a flower in liquid nitrogen!

There are a few other games in the Pokemon series that are pretty good but nowhere near as stellar as SWSH. USUM give you Crabrawler relatively early and shortly afterwards Shellder, Smoochum, and Delibird. Unfortunately, a lot of your Ice-team members will show up near the end of the game so you will be playing with a less-than-stellar team for much of the run. If you still have your Pokewalker then HeartGold and SoulSilver are surprisingly decent games for an Ice Run! You can catch a Shellder and a Smoochum in the Pokewalker which means you have two very nice Pokemon on your team by the first gym (which is Flying)! Add a Lapras later on followed by a Swinub and this team is looking pretty great! If you can stomach it you can even train a Delibird!

Worst Games

I’d pretty much avoid the other games in the series unless you’re desperate. Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, and Diamond and Pearl are absolute trash as these Pokemon are caught after the sixth gym AND you can only catch TWO DIFFERENT FAMILIES IN EACH GAME!! RSE has Glalie and Walrein while Diamond and Pearl has Abomasnow and Weavile. Just don’t even bother with it.

You probably thought about Pokemon XY but I would caution against it as although the games neutralizes Ice’s weaknesses, your team will initially be incredibly small since your first Pokemon, Eevee, is after the first gym followed much later with Amaura and much later again with Shellder and Lapras. I don’t personally think it’s worth it.

Ice Teams in Pokemon Games

Pokemon RBY and FRLG
Ideal Team: Lapras, Articuno, Dewgong, Jynx (all versions except Yellow), Cloyster (all versions except LeafGreen)
First Pokémon: Shellder via the Super Rod (from Route 12 from a fisherman), attainable after you complete Lavender Tower and move the Snorlax. Shellder can be fished in various areas of Kanto. In LeafGreen, use the Super Rod to fish a Poliwhirl (found in various areas) and trade it to an NPC in Cerulean City for his Jynx.
Covers weaknesses? No, Rock is not neutralized.

Pokemon GSC and HGSS
Ideal Team: Piloswine/Mamoswine, Lapras, Dewgong, Cloyster, Jynx, Delibird (S, C, SS)
First Pokémon: Lapras in Union Cave after the fourth gym or Smoochum (Dim Cave at 5000+ steps) and Shelldar (Blue Lake at 500+ steps) via Pokewalker
Covers Weaknesses? Surprisingly yes

Pokemon RSE and ORAS
Ideal Team: Walrein, Glalie, Glaceon (ORAS), Beartic (ORAS), Dewgong (ORAS), Delibird (ORAS)
First Pokémon: Snorunt via Shoal Cave, before 7th gym
Covers Weaknesses? No, Rock is not neutralized and Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald are additionally weak to Fighting.

Pokemon DPP
Ideal Team: Abomasnow, Weavile, Glaceon (Platinum), Mamoswine (Platinum), Froslass (Platinum), Glalie (Platinum)
First Pokémon: Snover/Sneasel in Diamond and Pearl on Route 216 after the sixth gym or Eevee in Hearthome City in Platinum just before the third gym.
Covers Weaknesses? No, all versions weak to Fire and Steel. Diamond/Pearl additionally weak to Rock and Fighting

Pokemon BW and B2W2
BW Ideal Team: Vanilluxe, Beartic, Cryogonal
First Pokémon: Vanillite, via Cold Storage, shortly before the fifth gym
Cover weaknesses? No, Fire, Fighting, Steel, and Rock are not neutralized.

B2W2 Ideal Team: Beartic, Walrein, Lapras, Mamoswine, Weavile, Delibird
Optional: Vanilluxe, Dewgong, Glaceon
First Pokémon: Eevee via Castelia Park before the third gym
Cover weaknesses? Yes

Pokemon XY
Ideal Team: Aurorus, Frost Rotom, Cloyster (Y)/Lapras, Mamoswine, Jynx, Abomasnow
Optional: Glaceon, Beartic, Avalugg, Weavile, Vanilluxe, Delibird, Cryogonal
First Pokémon: Eevee via Trade in Camphrier Town after the first gym.
Weaknesses Covered? Yes

Pokemon SM and USUM
SM Ideal Team: Froslass, Vanilluxe, Sandslash(Moon)/Ninetales (Sun), Mamoswine (scan), Cloyster/Lapras/Walrein(scan), Crabominable
Optional: Delibird, Glaceon, Weavile
First Pokémon: Crabrawler via Route 2, just before the first trial
Cover weaknesses? Surprisingly yes regardless of version differences.

USUM Ideal Team: Jynx, Vanilluxe, Sandslash(UM)/Ninetales (US), Mamoswine (scan), Cloyster/Lapras/Walrein(scan), Crabominable
Optional: Delibird, Glaceon, Dewgong, Aurorus (UM), Weavile, Froslass
First Pokémon: Crabrawler via Route 2, just before the first trial
Cover weaknesses? Surprisingly yes regardless of version differences.

Pokemon SWSH
Ideal Team: Abomasnow, Froslass, Mamoswine, Cloyster, Mr. Rime, Frost Rotom
Optional: Glalie, Delibird, Glaceon, Vanilluxe, Beartic, Weavile, Frosmoth, Avalugg, Lapras, Darmanitan (Sword), Eiscue (Shield), Arctovish, Arctozolt
First Pokémon: You are guaranteed to find an Ice type Pokemon if it’s Snowing in the Wild Area. Find an area that’s snowing and start searching! The Pokemon you can find include Snover, Snorunt, Swinub, Vanillite, Delibird, and Shellder (fishing) via Wild Area. Look for Sneasel in Den 35 at West Lake Axewell for Max Raid battles. This can all be done before the first gym.
Weaknesses Covered? Yes, and it’s taken care of well before the first gym!

MVP (Most Valuable Pokemon)

Snow Warning Users

Unfortunately, the Ice Type is probably the worst Pokemon type due to its plague of weaknesses and lack of resistances so your team will need all the help it can get. That’s where Abomasnow, and later Vanilluxe starting Generation VII, comes in! Their ability, Snow Warning, whips up a hailstorm that can immensely improve your winning chances. Hailstorm whittles away your opponents’ health, makes Blizzard 100% accurate, and triggers a whole host of Ice Pokemon abilities (more on that in a moment). Couldn’t you use just the move Hail and be done with it? Yes, but you’d lose a valuable turn which can expose you to weaknesses. Hailstorm is definitely a long-term strategy and you need all the short cuts you can get.

However, Abomasnow and Vanilluxe aren’t that good even compared to other Ice Pokemon. Abomasnow has a whole list of weaknesses (and that 4x weakness to Fire is rough) and Vanilluxe suffers from a really limited movepool. Snow Warning was also nerfed in Generation VI and is now active for five turns unless you’re holding an Icy Rock. Still, a guaranteed 100% accurate Blizzard move is pretty sweet!

Available in: DPP (Abomasnow) XY (Abomasnow), SM and USUM (Vanilluxe), SWSH (Abomasnow and Vanilluxe)

Hail Users

As of Generation 8, out of the 49 Ice Pokemon, 27 have an ability that is affected by Hail (this includes hidden ability users). This is incredibly high for a type and is the number one reason why you should have a Pokemon with Snow Warning. There are three Hail-related abilities; Slush Rush (which increases the user’s speed), Hail Body (which steadily regenerates HP), and Snow Cloak (which increases evasion). Of the three, Slush Rush will be the rarest as most Pokemon who can learn it have it as a hidden ability. Beartic can learn it naturally though so you can have a fast attacker on your hand.

The other two will be more profitable for your crew. I love Snow Cloak as its a soft counter to the tons of weaknesses Ice Pokemon have, I think Froslass, Alolan Ninetales, Piloswine, Glaceon use this the best. Hail Body is also a nice defensive ability and a great way to “weather” battles. The tanky Avalugg and Walrein use Hail Body very well.

Of course, your biggest flaw is that Hail factor, once it’s gone the abilities go with it. So it might be helpful to have an extra Pokemon know the move Hailstorm in case you want to reactivate it and/or your Snow Warning user has fainted.

Available in: Generation 4 and onwards.

Water/Ice Pokemon

Water/Ice Pokemon are incredibly important for your team and they are absent in only a few games (Lapras is the most common Ice type as of Gen VIII in 20 games!). First, that Water pairing neutralizes your Fire and Steel weakness and gives you a nice counter against Rock and Fire types via Surf or Waterfall. Lapras can learn Psychic and Thunderbolt which is super cool, Walrein is a beast of a tank in Hail, and Cloyster has that sweet Skill Link Ability making it a prime candidate for Rock Blast or Icicle Spear.

Really you’ll just have to watch for that Electric weakness which can be tricky. Mamoswine can back you up if you run into that problem but beyond that quite a few Ice Pokemon can learn Earthquake or other Ground moves so just keep that in your back pocket for emergencies.

Available in: RBY, FRLG, GSC, and HGSS (Lapras, Cloyster (except LG), and Dewgong), RSE (Walrein), B2W2 (Lapras, Walrein and Dewgong), ORAS (Walrein and Dewgong), XY (Cloyster in Y and Lapras in both), SM (Cloyster, Lapras, and Walrein), USUM (Cloyster, Lapras, Walrein, and Dewgong), SWSH (Cloyster, Lapras, and Arctovish)

Piloswine/Mamoswine

These last two Pokemon are here for their commonality and late-blooming strength. First, Mamoswine’s Ground type offers viable protections for your team especially for your Water Pokemon. Additionally, it offers a crucial resistance to Rock moves and can deliver a STAB Earthquake right back at them! A STAB Ice Shard is also always appreciated and with Mamoswine’s stellar Attack stat, you don’t need speed to finish your opponent off. I always get a lot of joy finding a Swinub in the games because I know I can have a wonderful time with the hairy furball!

Biggest disadvantage? Not a lot of move variability, it’s basically going to be Ice, Rock, or Ground moves for you and that’s about it. Even then, Mamoswine can learn a lot of Special Attack moves and that’s frustrating. Later generations definitely boost Mamoswine up a bit but he’s a little rough around the edges early on. The Ground weaknesses are also problematic but as long as you have Snow Cloak then you have a chance to avoid your opponent’s awful moves.

Available in: GSC (just Piloswine), Platinum, HGSS, B2W2, XY, SM, USUM, and SWSH

Weavile

Despite its Generation 2 popularity, Sneasel unfortunately doesn’t appear in GSC and HGSS until the very end of the game! Gah! It’s so frustrating! I want to train one and I couldn’t! But! Other games have thankfully remedied this problem so now we can finally train a Sneasel and evolve it to a Weavile before fighting the Champion.

Weavile is an Ice Cannon through and through. Super fast, super physically strong but middling defenses. Ice Shard on this guy is fun but you’re so fast I’d say go for Ice Punch! You also have all those nice Dark STAB moves which is good and you can teach it Brick Break and Low Sweep which is crucial against your tricky Rock and Steel foes. Like Mamoswine, Weavile suffers from learning Special Attack moves that it can’t quite pull off. But the moves it can learn is great AND in Generation VIII it can learn Psycho Cut via TM which is soooooooo gooooooooood. That in itself makes it top tier.

Available in: DPP, B2W2, XY, SM, USUM, and SWSH

Best Monotype Runs for Pokemon Sword and Shield

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TLDR: Pokemon SWSH are the best games in the series for a Monotype Run. You can catch every type before the first gym. Water, Flying, Steel, Psychic, and Bug are probably the best whereas Fire and Dragon are the worst. The full list of teams is at the end of this article.

Without a doubt, Pokemon Sword and Shield (SWSH) are the best games in the entire Pokemon franchise for a Monotype Run (also called Single Type). A Monotype Run is a self-imposed challenge where you play a Pokemon game with only one type, sort of like a gym leader. You pick a type, like Dark, and catch the first Pokemon that matches that type, in this case Nickit, and from there only catch Pokemon of that type and progress your way to the Champion. The Pokemon diversity in SWSH is absolutely incredible as you can catch every type before the first gym (compared to XY’s 14 types)! Additionally, out of 18 types and two games, 32 of 36 team combinations have all their weaknesses covered which is INSANE (XY ties it for the best). As such any type you pick will basically be a winner! I have a list of full teams below but first let’s take a look at the rules.

Rules

A type must be selected before starting the game. Upon playing the game the player must make all attempts to capture a Pokémon of that type as soon as possible. Once captured, the previous Pokémon of the party must be disregarded if they are not of that type.
Pokémon that have yet to evolve into that type (e.g., Chewtle for a Rock type run) may be caught but must be evolved as soon as possible.
Out-of-game trading is not allowed
Only Pokemon caught before you fight the Champion are counted

Optional Rules
Many folks have commented that SWSH are among the easiest games in the series. If you find that to be the case with your Monotype team I encourage you to make it more difficult by imposing such rules as

Changing the battle from “shift” to “set” so you won’t have an advantage on your opponent
Not teaching your Pokemon TM, TR, or Move Relearner moves
Avoid potions and other healing items
And any other rules you think may give you a more challenging, but still fun, playthrough

Best Types

I could go on and on why all these types are amazing so I’ll do my best to keep it short and to the point. The short of it is that any type is pretty great because you can catch a Pokemon from EVERY TYPE before the first gym! No other game has come close to this perfection! The Wild Area is the main factor as, in some cases, you can have a full team of Pokemon of your type before hitting the first gym. But what about the best? Water, Steel, Psychic, Bug, and Flying are probably the best due to their extreme early availability and amazing diversity. There are so many team combinations that to say that one is the “best” is a mute point. My interpretation of a type’s ideal team will certainly be different from yours and I think that’s what makes these types so great.

Weather Teams are also really wonderful as you can catch Pokemon that will trigger weather conditions on the battlefield. Ground is excellent, as usual, but I want to focus on Ice and Rock. SWSH are probably the best games in the series for an Ice and Rock run. For Ice, you can catch a Snover and Vanillite at the Wild Area whereas for Rock you can catch a Larvitar in Shield and a Gigalith in both versions. These Pokemon’s abilities will trigger weather conditions that you can use to full advantage. I strongly recommend you to catch a Darmanitan in Sword as its ability Gorilla Tactics makes it a fast, physical sweeper.

Worst Types

Unfortunately, Sword and Shield came SO CLOSE to getting a perfect record! Despite your starter, Fire is probably the worst type due to its inability to cover weaknesses. In Shield you are exposed to Rock and Water moves whereas in Sword it’s just Rock thanks to the version exclusive Turtonator. Granted, Fire traditionally has a tough time covering weaknesses and has only pulled it off a few times. If a SWSH sequel comes out Gamefreak just needs to add Camerupt or one of the fire starters and it’s perfect. Still though, this is a pretty good team! You got a Torkoal with Drought, which is excellent, and combined with such Pokemon as Chandelure, Centiskorch, and Coalossal you’ll have a great team! Finally, Ghost in both versions and Fairy in Shield have a weakness exposed so be prepared.

Hmm, if I have to pick one more type it would be Dragon as it’s comparatively “bad” even though SWSH are the best games in the entire series for a Dragon run. It has two main pitfalls. Finding your first Dragon Pokemon can be a draaaaag. Initially, Dragon Pokemon only spawn from this one specific Den (37/64)in the Wild Area so if it’s not going you need to buy a few Wishing Stones to spawn them in Max Raid Battles. Thankfully, you’ll start with good team members like Trapinch, Axew, Noibat and Jangmo-o (Sword) or Goomy (Shield). Second, you will be wide open to your weaknesses until near the end of the game thanks to the late-appearing Duraludon so that Fairy and Ice Gym is going to be rooooooooough.

Wild Area and Your First Pokemon
Usually, finding your first Pokemon is pretty straightforward. Is it your starter? If not, what’s the first route it shows up on? That’s it.

Sword and Shield’s Wild Area has thrown that out of the window and was by far the most time consuming part of my research. I’m glad that 11 out of the 18 types can be found before the Wild Area because those were super easy. But those other seven types were rough so here’s how I broke it down. I wrote down what Pokemon were easiest or most likely to find first and then wrote other Pokemon you can find that are rarer but still possible to find. If there’s a Pokemon you can find only in Max Raid battles, I took note of that and wrote down their den numbers which were provided by Serebii.

Also, so we’re on the same page, random encounters are encounters with the “!” symbol whereas overworld encounters are Pokemon just walking around.

Type Teams

Bug
Ideal Team: Crustle, Centiskorch, Durant, Orbeetle, Galvantula, Araquanid/Golisopod
Optional: Butterfree, Vikavolt, Shedinja, Ninjask, Escavalier (Sword Raid), Accelgor (Shield Raid), Ribombee, Vespiquen, Shuckle, Frosmoth
First Pokémon: Blipbug, Caterpie, Grubbin by random encounters (30%, 15%, and 10%) via Route 1.
Weaknesses Covered? Yes, and it’s taken care of before the first gym!

Dark
Ideal Team: Drapion, Grimmsnarl, Malamar, Bisharp, Scrafty (Sword)/Pangoro, Mandibuzz (Shield)/Crawdaunt
Optional: Thievul, Liepard, Shiftry (Sword), Obstagoon, Skuntank, Umbreon, Weavile, Morpeko, Tyranitar (Shield), Hydreigon (Sword)
First Pokémon: Nickit by overworld (5%) via Route 1. Route 2 is more productive with Zigzagoon and Nickit by overworld (2% and 15%) and Purrloin and Seedot (Sword) by random encounters (10% and 20%).
Weaknesses Covered? Yes

Dragon
Ideal Team: Flygon, Dracovish, Turtonator (Sword)/Haxorus, Kommo-o (Sword)/Drampa (Shield), Duraludon, Dragapult
Optional: Goodra (Shield), Flapple (Sword)/Appletun (Shield), Dracozolt, Hydreigon (Sword)
First Pokémon: In Rolling Fields, you can always find Dragon Pokemon by Max Raids at Den 37/64. These include Noibat, Trapinch, Axew, Jangmo-o (Sword), Goomy (Shield) and sometimes Applin and Dreepy.
Weaknesses Covered? Yes, thanks to Duraludon who’s unfortunately catchable near the end of the game.

Electric
Ideal Team: Vikavolt, Toxtricity, Wash Rotom, Galvantula, Dracozolt, Arctozolt
Optional: Manectric, Jolteon, Other Rotom Forms, Boltund, Raichu, Morpeko, Togedemaru, Pincurchin, Heliolisk
First Pokémon: Grubbin by random encounters (10%) via Route 1. Yamper will follow soon after on Route 2 by overworld (5%).
Weaknesses Covered? Yes

Fairy
Ideal Team: Weezing, Togekiss, Gardevoir, Mawile (Sword)/Sylveon, Mimikyu, Grimmsnarl
Optional: Clefable, Shiinotic, Slurpuff (Sword), Ribombee, Whimsicott, Alcremie, Aromatisse (Shield), Hatterene, Rapidash (Shield)
First Pokémon: You can find a Ralts in Overcast random encounters in Rolling Fields. In Rolling Fields, Den 33/62 will always spawn Fairy Pokemon (Cleffa, Togepi, Cutiefly, Swirlix, Clefairy, Morelull and sometimes Impidimp and Ralts).
Weaknesses Covered? Only in Sword thanks to Mawile. In Shield, Fairy is exposed to Steel type moves.

Fighting
Ideal Team: Scrafty (Sword)/Pangoro, Lucario, Toxicroak (Shield)/Kommo-o (Sword), Gallade, Bewear, Hawlucha
Optional: Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee, Hitmontop, Gurdurr, Machamp, Sirfetch’d (Sword), Throh, Sawk, Passimian (Sword), Falinks, Grapploct
First Pokémon: You can always find Tyrogue by overworld encounters in the Rolling Fields and you can always find Pancham in the Rolling Hills’ western most grasses by overworld. In the East Lake Axewell, you can always find a Stufful by overworld encounters and sometimes by random encounters. Look out for Machop at South Lake Miloch as you can find them in most weather conditions. Finally, Ralts is rarer but you can find them in Overcast encounters at Rolling Fields. In Rolling Fields, Den 1/48 will always spawn Fighting Pokemon for Max Raid battles such as Scraggy (Sword), Croagunk (Shield), Timburr, and sometimes Riolu. This is before the first gym.
Weaknesses Covered? Yes, and you can accomplish this before the first gym!

Fire
Ideal Team: Cinderace, Torkoal, Centiskorch, Coalossal, Heat Rotom, Turtonator (Sword)/Arcanine
Optional: Flareon, Ninetales, Salazzle, Chandelure, Heatmor, technically Darmanitan in Zen Mode
First Pokémon: Scorbunny via Starter
Weaknesses Covered? Sadly no, Shield is weak to Water and Rock. Sword is weak to just Rock thanks to Turtonator.

Flying
Ideal Team: Corviknight, Noivern, Sigilyph, Togekiss, Gyarados, Hawlucha
Optional: Swoobat, Braviary (Sword), Mandibuzz (Shield), Xatu, Noctowl, Unfezant, Butterfree, Pelipper, Delibird, Ninjask, Vespiquen, Drifblim, Fan Rotom, Cramorant, Mantine
First Pokémon: Rookidee by overworld (30%) and Hoothoot and Caterpie by random encounters (5% and 15%) via Route 1.
Weaknesses Covered? Yes

Ghost
Ideal Team: Golurk, Dragapult, Dusknoir, Mimikyu, Gengar, Aegislash
Optional Pokémon: Runerigus, Cofagrigus, Shedinja, Gourgeist, Froslass, Polteageist, Rotom, Cursola (Shield), Chandelure, Jellicent, Trevanant (Raid), Dhelmise, Drifblim, Eternatus
First Pokémon: Watchtower Ruins is your best bet. Regardless of weather you will find a Duskull, Drifloon, Gastly, or Golett by random encounters. You can also find a Nincada at South Lake Miloch by Intense Sun random encounter. Finally, you will always catch Ghosts in Den 6/47 at Watchtower Ruins for Max Raid battles.
Weaknesses Covered? Unfortunately no as both are exposed to Ghost weaknesses (and Sableye is only available after the championship in Shield).

Grass
Ideal Team: Rillaboom, Ludicolo (Shield)/Dhelmise, Flapple (Sword)/Appletun (Shield), Roserade, Ferrothorn, Mow Rotom
Optional: Vileplume, Gourgeist, Cherrim, Shiftry (Sword), Eldegoss, Whimsicott, Shiinotic, Bellossom, Trevanant (Raid), Leafeon, Tsareena, Abomasnow, Maractus
First Pokémon: Grooky via Starter
Weaknesses Covered? Yes

Ground
Ideal Team: Flygon, Hippowdon, Golurk, Gastrodon, Excadrill, Sandaconda
Optional: Diggersby, Mudsdale, Onix, Whiscash, Steelix, Quagsire, Runerigus, Seismitoad, Rhyperior (Raid), Dugtrio, Claydol, Stunfisk, Mamoswine
First Pokémon: In the Rolling Fields, you will find Bunnelby in the overworld in every weather except Snowstorm and Thunderstorm; additionally, you will always find them by random encounter. You can also find Nincada, Mudbray, Baltoy, Golett, and Diggersby in random encounters throughout the Wild Area. They are most common in Sandstorms and Intense Sun (although Sandstorms won’t be unlocked until after the third gym). Look for Swinub when it’s Snowing, Barboach fishing in South Lake Miloch, and Tympole and Wooper in West Lake Axewell. You can also find Ground Pokemon for Den 16/52 in Rolling Fields for Max Raid Battles including the aforementioned Pokemon as well as Diglett and Yamask. There’s also a chance to find a Trapinch by Max Raid battles in Rolling Fields. This is before the first gym.
Weaknesses Covered? Yes

Ice
Ideal Team: Abomasnow, Froslass, Mamoswine, Cloyster, Mr. Rime, Frost Rotom
Optional: Glalie, Delibird, Glaceon, Vanilluxe, Beartic, Weavile, Frosmoth, Avalugg, Lapras, Darmanitan (Sword), Eiscue (Shield), Arctovish, Arctozolt
First Pokémon: You are guaranteed to find an Ice type Pokemon if it’s Snowing in the Wild Area. Find an area that’s snowing and start searching! The Pokemon you can find include Snover, Snorunt, Swinub, Vanillite, Delibird, and Shellder (fishing) via Wild Area. Look for Sneasel in Den 35 at West Lake Axewell for Max Raid battles. This can all be done before the first gym.
Weaknesses Covered? Yes, and it’s taken care of well before the first gym!

Normal
Ideal Team: Bewear, Heliolisk, Unfezant, Oranguru (Shield)/Indeedee, Drampa (Shield)/Obstagoon, Snorlax
Optional: Diggersby, Noctowl, Braviary (Sword), Greedent, Dubwool, Cinccino, Persian, Ditto
First Pokémon: Wooloo and Skwovet by overworld (15% and 50%) and Hoothoot and Skwovet by random encounters (5% and 50%) via Route 1.
Weaknesses Covered? Yes

Poison
Ideal Team: Drapion, Roserade, Toxapex, Weezing, Toxicroak (Shield)/Toxtricity, Gengar
Optional: Vileplume, Skuntank, Garbodor, Salazzle (Shield), Qwilfish, Toxtricity, Eternatus
First Pokémon: You can always find Stunky in random encounters at North Lake Miloch. Keep an eye out for Oddish, Gastly, Budew, and Roselia as they can be found throughout the Wild Area. Finally, Den 29/86 at East Lake Axewell will always spawn Poison Pokemon for Max Raid Battles.
Weaknesses Covered? Yes, and it’s taken care of before the first gym!

Psychic
Ideal Team: Orbeetle, Sigilyph, Bronzong, Gardevoir, Gallade, Malamar
Optional: Swoobat, Musharna, Solrock (Sword)/Lunatone (Shield), Meowstic, Reuniclus (Shield), Gothitelle (Sword), Hatterene, Mr. Rime, Espeon, Claydol, Xatu, Wobbuffet, Beheeyem, Rapidash (Shield), Indeedee, Oranguru (Shield)
First Pokémon: Blipbug by random encounters (30%) via Route 1
Weaknesses Covered? Yes, and it’s taken care of before the first gym!

Rock
Ideal Team: Crustle, Drednaw, Coalossal, Stonjourner (Sword)/Tyranitar (Shield), Gigalith, Solrock (Sword)/Lunatone (Shield)
Optional: Sudowoodo, Rhyperior (Raid), Shuckle, Onix, Barbaracle
First Pokémon: Chewtle by overworld (10%) via Route 2.
Weaknesses Covered? Yes, and it’s taken care of before the first gym! Which is good because it’s Grass, see if you can evolve your Rolycoly before you fight Milo otherwise you might need to lean on Dwebble. Also, get the Sandstream Ability from Gigalith.

Steel
Ideal Team: Corviknight, Excadrill, Bronzong, Ferrothorn, Aegislash, Duraludon
Optional: Perrserker, Steelix, Klinklang, Stunfisk, Bisharp, Mawile (Sword), Lucario, Copperajah, Durant, Togedemaru, Escavalier (Sword Raid)
First Pokémon: Rookidee by overworld (30%) via Route 1
Weaknesses Covered? Yes

Water
Ideal Team: Inteleon, Gyarados, Gastrodon, Dracovish, Araquanid, Ludicolo (Shield)/Cloyster
Optional: Crawdaunt, Drednaw, Quagsire, Seismitoad, Golisopod, Qwilfish, Toxapex, Whiscash, Wishiwashi, Pyukumuku, Barraskewda, Milotic, Wailord, Lanturn, Mantine, Basculin, Vaporeon, Pelipper, Kingler, Seaking, Octillery, Wash Rotom, Cramorant, Lapras, Jellicent, Arctovish
First Pokémon: Sobble via Starter
Weaknesses Covered? Yes, and it can be taken care before the first gym! Which is good because the first gym is Grass. You might want to consider a Rain team with Pelipper’s Drizzle ability.

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Games
Red/Blue/Yellow
Gold/Silver/Crystal
Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald
FireRed/LeafGreen
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum
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Black/White/Black2/White2
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OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire
Sun/Moon
Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon
Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee
Sword/Shield

Types
Bug
Dark
Dragon
Electric
Fairy
Fighting
Fire
Flying
Ghost
Grass
Ground
Ice
Normal
Poison
Psychic
Rock
Steel
Water

Pokemon Sword and Shield’s Amazing Potential to Honor the History of Paleontology

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So, Pokemon Sword and Shield have an amazing opportunity that Gamefreak shouldn’t pass up. And that opportunity is fossils.

As a fossil maniac, I appreciate the many different fossil Pokemon Gamefreak has designed over the years. Some of them are based on more popular ancient animals, like the T-Rex, and others not as much, like the crinoid and Anomalocaris. I was very disappointed that Pokemon Sun and Moon didn’t introduce new fossil Pokemon. But I can begrudgingly accept this as Hawaii isn’t really known for its fossils. As a string of recent land masses, Hawaii does not have a long biological history. What fossil are preserved are destroyed as the ocean washes away the oldest islands.

But Galar is different because it’s set in England. Not only does England have fossils but it represents the beginnings of paleontology and the birthplace of the word “dinosaur.” Since practically ancient times, humans knew about the existence of fossils but didn’t fully understand what they represented. They could have been mythological beasts or animals once present in the Garden of Eden. It wasn’t until the Enlightenment era that scientists, such as anatomist Georges Cuvier, realized that these fossils belonged to animals that were thousands if not millions of years old. That through gradual change over many, many years, animals come and go and create a succession, of sorts, to the modern era. Even more astonishingly, some of these animals were unlike anything alive today; they were so wild and out there they deserved their own classification.

Ichthyosaurus. Image credit: John Sibbick/Science Photo Library

A Plesiosaur

By the early 1800s, English scientists were pushing the field of paleontology from a curious idea to a serious subject. One notable collector was Mary Anning whose achievements include finding the first Ichthyosaurus (a fish-like reptile), two nearly complete Plesiosaurus (a long-neck swimming reptile), and other fossils such as shells and a Pterosaur. The Plesiosaurus were especially important as only bits and pieces were found until her discovery. These additions continued speculation on what these animals are, or were, and how they fit in Earth’s history.

The curious animals became more comprehensive as new specimens came to light. In 1824, two different fossilized animals were found and described as Megalosaurus and Iguanodon. These animals, along with the aforementioned Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus, were the inspiration of English scientist Gideon Mantell’s famous paper titled “Age of Reptiles” where he placed these animals in this era and divided it up into three periods which later became known as the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous. Just a year after this publication Mantell founded and described another ancient reptile which he named Hylaeosaurus in 1832. However, it wasn’t until 1841 when famed anatomist Sir Richard Owen united Megalosaurus, Iguanodon, and Hylaeosaurus into one branch which he named “Dinosauria,” terrible lizard.

This of course is a rather brief review of Paleontology’s early history. I encourage you to look into as it’s very fascinating. I like the interpretation of Iguanodon as a lumbering, rhino-like giant iguana, to its modern appearance as a gracile, slender animal with a prominent thumb spike. There’s also the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs which was possibly one of the first, large-scale interpretations of ancient animals. The park contains all the previously mentioned animals and more.

Image result for crystal palace dinosaurs dinner

While the park dinosaurs were being built, a New Year’s Eve dinner was held inside the still incomplete Iguanodon specimen which is quite frankly, a great way to start the new year!

But I would like to instead pivot back to the matter at hand. The fossil Pokemon of Galar. It would be very remiss of Gamefreak not to include any of these animals as Pokemon Sword and Shield’s fossils. The way I see it we can go down two, neatly packaged, routes.

The first route is to have fossil Pokemon based on Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus with their respective fossils being Tail and Flipper. These two animals lived in the same time period in the same habitat so it wouldn’t be surprising to find fossils of them next to each other. As for typing…well that’s probably the major downside to them.

Rock/Water is the fourth most common dual type combination in Pokemon as of Generation VII. Both of these Pokemon would solidly be in that category (as a side note, I have very mixed feelings about Fossil Pokemon’s Rock typing so we’re ignoring that for now). But would our Pokemon have to be Rock/Water? Sure in Generation I both Kabutops and Omastar were Rock/Water while in Generation III, Armaldo was Rock/Bug and Cradily was Rock/Grass even though their respective animal was definitely aquatic.

With that in mind I would still give the Ichthyosaur Pokemon a Rock/Water typing since it’s just too much like a fish. It fits it so well! Yet for our Plesiosaur Pokemon I think we can give it Rock/Dragon without batting an eye. Just like Armaldo it could still learn Water attacks but it would stay close to home with its dual typing. But mark my words!!! If it wasn’t for the Rock requirement our Plesiosaur would be Water/Dragon easily and it would be soooooo gooooood.

Let’s turn our attention to our three English Dinosaurs; Megalosaurus, Iguanodon, and Hylaeosaurus. Hmm…right away I can see a problem…there’s three of them. Now you could do a scenario where there’s two “regular” fossils and one “special” one like in Generation I but I don’t think we have to worry about that. Megalosaurus is a therapod dinosaur. A very iconic group of dinosaurs who were (about 99% of the time) carnivorous and bipedal. Some had small heads and long arms, others had large heads and short arms but they all had similar body plans. And as I’m sure you folks can see where I’m going with this, we already have a therapod Pokemon, Tyrantrum.

Left, a modern interpretation of Megalosaurus. Right, the mid-1800’s interpretation of Megalosaurus. Image credit: Mark Garlick/University of Warwick.

Unfortunately, as best as we can tell, Megalosaurus was a rather “average” looking therapod. Nothing wrong with that but it doesn’t really stand out compared to the more outlandish therapods like Spinosaurus or Therizinosaurus. And although Gamefreak doesn’t mind reusing animals multiple times (and even using a Monkey Grass Pokemon twice!), I think it would be a waste of time for them to reuse a standard therapod when the paleontological record offers so much more.

As a side note, it would be balls awesome if Gamefreak gave us Megalosaurus but based on its original interpretation as a quadrupedal carnivore with a fat-crocodile mouth and a dragging tail. It would be kind of horrifying and sad for the Megalosaurus Pokemon but really cool! Like, the lore would be that due to an incomplete skeleton, the reconstructed dinosaur could not resume its original shape and instead pieced together what it had to make its now misaligned form. That would be wild.

Iguanodon

Anyway, that leaves us with Iguanodon (Thumbspike Fossil) and Hylaeosaurus (Plate Fossil) and luckily we haven’t had dinosaurs based on them yet! This is perfect and their body variation can really lend itself well to some cool type combinations. First, Iguanodon, I imagined three different type combos with them. Rock/Normal would be my initial suggestion as these guys are one of the most common dinosaurs you can find, they were basically the elk of the dinosaur world. But you also have that trademark thumbspike that is so well known on Iguanodon that you just have to use it somehow. Perhaps as an electrical rod? So maybe Rock/Electric? Maybe it can be used to inject poison into its foes so Rock/Poison? Any of these three suggestions would be interesting.

Hylaeosaurus

As for Hylaeosaurus, the armor plating, trademark of all Ankylosauria, immediately suggests a Rock/Steel type which is a nice fallback. Hylaeosaurus also had spikes protruding from its sides which suggests a porcupine-esque defense so Rock/Poison would be delightful. I could also imagine Gamefreak throwing a curveball and making it Rock/Fire similar to how they made Aurorus Rock/Ice.

If I had my druthers I would make Fossil Pokemon out of Iguanodon and Hylaeosaurus and make the Plesiosaur a modern Pokemon. This works very well thanks to the folklore surrounding Nessie and the occurrence of modern fossil-based Pokemon like Aggron and Tropius. And the Plesiosaur can be Water/Dragon which would be great!

So there you have it. Will it happen? I’m banking on no unfortunately. Although Gamefreak has been doing very well lately designing Pokemon that are inspired by their respective region, I can’t imagine them going the extra mile to put that paleontology flavor in. Now a Pokemon based on the Loch Ness Monster? Sure, I can buy that but I won’t be holding my breath. We shall see. Fingers crossed!

Future of Monotype Run Articles

Best Pokemon Games for a Ghost Type Run

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Update 12/30/2019: The article is now updated to include Pokemon Sword and Shield

I know what you’re thinking.

Yes, it CAN be done! BUT! If you want to do a Ghost Type Run you’ll have to do a little research first before you dive in because a Ghost Type run can be really rough. Ghost Pokemon have a habit of showing up around mid-game but the biggest problem by far is their limited diversity which can be very debilitating. They are the second rarest type ranking just above Ice Type. Because of which, trying to find a full team AND neutralize all your weaknesses can be a big challenge. Fortunately, there are a few great Pokemon games where you can have a fantastic Ghost team who’ll curse your opponents and haunt your way to victory! Let’s take a look which Pokemon games will be great for a Monotype Run (or Single Type Run) for you and your Ghost Pokemon. But first…

Rules

Only Pokémon of a certain type may be caught and trained.
You must catch the first Pokémon available of that type if your starter does not match that type (you’ll then have to discard that starter).
You may train a Pokémon that evolves to said type as long as you do it ASAP.
No trading allowed.
Mega Pokémon count as long as you Mega Evolve them as soon as they appear on the battlefield.
Only Pokémon caught before Elite Four are counted.

Best Games

The best games, by far, for a Ghost Type Run have to be Pokemon Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon. These games just nail it on every front. First, they have the highest amount of Ghost Pokemon as of Generation VII. There are 13 unique Ghost families in Sun and Moon and 16 in USUM. And they are really good Ghosts like Golurk, Gengar, Alolan Marowak, Palossand, Aegislash, and Decidueye. You also have a nice abundance of Ghost Pokemon on the first island thanks to Hau’oli Cemetery and later Sableye on Ten Carat Hill. You also have Rowlett as your starter which evolves into a Ghost type which is FREAKING AWESOME. So far, it’s the only starter that can evolve into a Ghost which makes these games a lot less frustrating for a Ghost run. Finally, as of Generation VII, these are the only games in the series where you can catch a Gengar. That’s right! No need to trade! Go to the Thrifty Megamart, find a Haunter, use an adrenaline orb on it, chip its health down, and just sit and wait for it to call a Gengar. It will take awhile (as seen in this handy video) but you will eventually catch one. It’s because of these reasons that the Sun and Moon games are the best, by far, Ghost run games.

However, it will be tricky, especially at the beginning because Bite and Pursuit is very common for low level Pokemon so they can easily destroy the fragile Ghosts. Also, the first Totem Pokemon can be an Alolan Raticate so that’s rough. Thankfully, Rowlett would not evolve into Decidueye by then so you’ll be on equal footing by the time you face off against them. There’s also a huge abundance of Dark Pokemon on your first island so you’ll need to tread carefully as you gather your team.

There are a few other games you can consider but they rank in “B” territory for me. Pokemon XY can cover your weaknesses and give you variety but your first Pokemon, Nincada and Honedge, won’t come until after the first gym so you’ll need to be patient. On the flip side, you can catch a Nincada in ORAS before the first gym but you’ll be starved of Ghost Pokemon until the end of the game (made even worse if you’re playing OmegaRuby as Sableye is exclusive to AlphaSapphire). Pokemon Sword and Shield are really fantastic and you catch Dragapult who’s the strongest non-Legendary Ghost Pokemon but both are exposed to Ghost weaknesses (Sableye is catchable after the Championship in Shield). Still though, you can train a Golett very early and really, who wouldn’t?

Worst Games

Yeah…just avoid Red, Blue, Yellow, FireRed, LeafGreen. You only got the Gengar line which is available long after the third gym and you can’t get a Gengar unless you trade. This is a very terrible run for Ghosts. Please avoid for your own sake.

I’d also avoid the Johto games as well. Gold, Silver, and Crystal gives you a Gastly via Sprout Tower before the first gym but you’re still gonna just have that Haunter (HGSS gives you a Misdreavus at least in the Safari Zone). Black, White, and B2W2, give you a decent selection of Ghosts but you’ll have to wait until after the third gym to catch one. Finally, Ruby and Pearl are inferior games to their already flawed counterparts due to version-exclusive Ghosts.

Ghost Teams in Pokemon Games

Pokemon RBY and FRLG
Ideal Team: Haunter
First available Pokémon: Gastly at Lavender Tower, after the third gym
Covers weaknesses? No, Ghost and Dark moves are not covered

Pokemon GSC and HGSS
Ideal Team: Haunter, Misdreavus (HGSS via Safari Zone)
First Pokémon: Gastly via Sprout Tower (or at night at Route 30 in Pokémon Crystal) before the first gym; Gastly can also be caught on the Pokewalker.
Covers Weaknesses? No, Ghost and Dark not neutralized

Pokemon RSE and ORAS
Ideal Team: Shedinja, Sableye (S, E, AS)/Spiritomb (ORAS), Drifblim (ORAS), Trevanant (ORAS), Froslass (ORAS), Jellicent (ORAS)
Optional Pokémon: Banette, Dusclops, Cofagrigus (ORAS), Mismagius (ORAS)
First Pokémon: Nincada in Route 116 before the first gym
Covers Weaknesses? Yes for Sapphire, Emerald, and ORAS. However, in Ruby, Ghost and Dark are not neutralized.

Pokemon DPP
Ideal Team: Haunter, Drifblim, Dusclops (Platinum)/Mismagius (Diamond), Rotom (Platinum), Froslass (Platinum)
Optional Pokémon: Giratina (Platinum)
First Pokémon: Drifloon on Fridays at the Valley Windworks before the second gym
Covers Weaknesses? No, Ghost and Dark moves are not neutralized

Pokemon BW and B2W2
BW Ideal Team: Cofagrigus, Chandelure, Jellicent, Golurk
First Pokémon: Yamask via Relic Castle after the third gym
Cover weaknesses? No, Dark and Ghost moves not neutralized

B2W2 Ideal Team: Cofagrigus, Chandelure, Banette, Drifblim, Jellicent, Golurk
First Pokémon: Yamask via Relic Castle after the third gym
Cover weaknesses? No, Dark and Ghost moves not neutralized

Pokemon XY
Ideal Team: Shedinja, Aegislash, Rotom, Golurk, Sableye, Chandelure
Optional Pokémon: Haunter, Phantump/Pumpkaboo, Drifblim, Banette
First Pokémon: Nincada and Honedge via Route 6 after the first gym.
Weaknesses Covered? Yes

Pokemon SM and USUM
SM Ideal Team: Decidueye, Sableye, Palossand, Aegislash(scan), Gengar (S.O.S. by Haunter in Thrifty Megamark after the Ula’ula Trials), Mimikyu
Optional: Trevanant, Dhelmise, Froslass, Drifblim, Chandelure (scan), Mismagius, Alolan Marowak
First Pokémon: Rowlett via Starter
Cover weaknesses? Yes

USUM Ideal Team: Decidueye, Sableye, Palossand/Golurk (US), Aegislash(scan), Gengar (S.O.S. by Haunter in Thrifty Megamark after the Ula’ula Trials), Mimikyu
Optional: Trevanant, Dhelmise, Froslass, Drifblim, Chandelure (scan), Mismagius, Banette, Jellicent, Alolan Marowak
First Pokémon: Rowlett via Starter
Cover weaknesses? Yes

Pokemon Sword and Shield
Ideal Team: Golurk, Dragapult, Dusknoir, Mimikyu, Gengar, Aegislash
Optional Pokémon: Runerigus, Cofagrigus, Shedinja, Gourgeist, Froslass, Polteageist, Rotom, Cursola (Shield), Chandelure, Jellicent, Trevanant (Raid), Dhelmise, Drifblim, Eternatus
First Pokémon: Watchtower Ruins is your best bet. Regardless of weather you will find a Duskull, Drifloon, Gastly, or Golett by random encounters. You can also find a Nincada at West Lake Axewell by Sandstorm random encounter or South Lake Miloch by Sandstorm or Intense Sun random encounter. Finally, you will always catch Ghosts in Den 6/47 at Watchtower Ruins for Max Raid battles.
Weaknesses Covered? Unfortunately no as they are exposed to Ghost weaknesses (Sableye is catchable after the Championship in Shield).

MVP (Most Valuable Pokemon)

Decidueye

At the top of our list is Decidueye, with only four in-game appearances there is a lot going for him. Mainly, Decidueye is one of the strongest non-Legendary, non-Mega Ghost Pokemon. This combined with their status as a starter Pokemon means you have your strongest team member right from the get-go.

I think your biggest flaw with Decidueye is his rather low movepool diversity. Don’t get me wrong, the moves it can learn are strong and rather exclusive but…not very diverse type-wise and that’s probably the Grass pairing weighing him down. Also, there is the elephant in the room with Decidueye being a starter from a later generation so availability is very limited at this time.

As a side note, I feel sorry about Dhelmise which was also introduced in this generation and is also very strong. Hopefully, you’ll get a chance to shine later, anchor-buddy!

Available in: SM and USUM

Sableye (and to an extent Spiritomb)

At the time of this writing, there are unfortunately no Ghost/Normal Pokemon officially released. Which is a shame as that pairing can give you a Pokemon that’s totally immune to Ghost moves. Thankfully, we have Sableye (and I guess Spiritomb) who can solve both your Ghost AND Dark problems!

Spiritomb’s availability is very limited but Sableye is much more common which is why we’re primarily focusing on Sableye. It’s stats are…okay…and honestly really lacking if I have to be honest. But it’s a trade off. You get subpar stats for a much-needed defensive typing and a decent moveset. Sabeleye can learn Dazzling Gleam which is ballin’ so take that Dark types! And those Dark and Ghost moves are really nice to stick it to Ghost enemies who may take you down with one hit.

Why not both? If you want Spiritomb and Sableye you can pick up AlphaSapphire. It’s one of the few games where you can pick up Spiritomb and not go through all sorts of crazy, underground, shenanigans. You can capture one before the Elite Four which is nice but…why not train a Mega Sableye instead??? Instantly Sableye’s medicore stats are boosted and you get a great defensive Pokemon ready to shield your attacks. Poor Spiritomb…at least you got OmegaRuby?

Available in: Ruby and Emerald (Sableye), XY (Sableye), OmegaRuby (Spiritomb), AlphaSapphire (Spiritomb and Sableye), SM and USUM (Sableye)

Aegislash

Aegislash’s arrival came a hair too late as Steel lost its resistances to Dark and Ghost in Generation VI. Very unfortunate but not the end of the world. Aegislash has some of the best stats either offensive or defensive for any Ghost Pokemon. Many competitive players use Aegislash’s form change to strike hard and strong and play defensive and cool. It’s super versatile and damn is it a cool Pokemon. Like Decidueye, its movepool is alright but who cares?? Those attack stats are out of this world (150)! A STAB Iron Head or Shadow Ball (and to an extent the priority move Shadow Sneak) can just obliterate opponents, throw in Sacred Sword and your golden.

Main issues here are its HP and Speed which are lackluster. So if you’re in Blade Forme and get hit by something you’re probably out of here. Bye bye. Still, the move King’s Shield can lower an opponents Attack stat so you can have them suffer. Open yourself back up and swish, slash!

Available in: XY, SM and USUM (Island Scan), SWSH

Chandelure

Chandelure is a fantastic, and surprisingly common, Pokemon in its own right and should always be considered when doing a Ghost run. It has a whopping 145 Special Attack stat which is just incredible. A STAB Shadow Ball and Flamethrower is enough to carry Chandulure around. If you want, you can burn your opponents with Will-o-wisp and use Hex which doubles its power to 130 (by comparison, Shadow Ball’s power is 80).

Hex can also be used with one of Chandelure’s abilities, Flame Body which has a 30% of burning an opponent if it physically attacks you. On the flip side, the Flash Fire ability makes you immune to Fire attacks and charges up your Fire moves instead. This can work very well if you have Shedinja, Decidueye, Trevanant, Dhelmise, Gourgeist, Froslass, or Aegislash on your team as you can bait an enemy Fire Pokemon, switch to Chandelure, take the hit and use Shadow Ball on them.

Only faults? This is minor but Chandelure’s Speed and bulk are okay. Not bad, not good, just average. You also won’t get an incredible move diversity out of Chandelure besides the usual Ghost, Dark, and Psychic moves that practically all Ghost Pokemon have. The Grass-move Energy Ball is nice though as well as its plethora of Fire moves. And who needs diversity when you have Calm Mind? Use that once or twice and just go to town!

Available in: BW, B2W2, XY, SM and USUM (Island Scan), SWSH

Golurk

When you’re doing a Monotype Run, you want to find the oddballs. The Pokemon who get off the bandwagon and do their own thing. These Pokemon, like Golurk, can round out your team and give you diversity that’s not just about weakness-neutralization. Golurk is, to put it simply, everything a Ghost Pokemon is not. It’s bulky, not particularly fast, has very low Special Attack, and it has high Physical Attack. Like, really high. 124 to be exact. Few other regular Ghost Pokemon, like my beloved Dhelmise, exceed that stat.

Here’s the thing. Golurk can actually use this stat to its full advantage! Dhelmise and Aegislash, and a lot of other Ghosts for that matter, struggle to reach the movepool that Golurk has achieved. This combined with Golurk’s Iron Fist ability makes him a BEAST. Hammer Arm, Shadow Punch, Dynamic Punch, and Focus Punch can be learned by leveling up while the elemental punches and Drain Punch can be taught by Move Tutor (best used in B2W2, US, or SWSH). Golurk can also learn Earthquake, Rock Slide, and Heavy Slam; physical moves that other Ghosts don’t even have a chance, a dream, to properly use or learn.

Available in: BW, B2W2, XY, US, SWSH

Gengar/Haunter

The Gengar line in Pokemon is such a twisted, crazy mess that I debated whether to include them or not. The biggest thing, by far, that’s holding them back is the required trading to evolve your Haunter which breaks the rules of the run. If it wasn’t for that they would be top of this list, no doubt. But they’re not and we have to sort through this to understand why Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar can still be very important to you and your team.

Of course, they are the first Ghosts that were introduced in Pokemon. And this early introduction combined with Ghosts’ scarcity, makes them the most common Ghost line in all the Pokemon games by far. They are catchable before the Elite Four in 21 games as of Sword and Shield (the next most common line, Chandelure, in catchable in 12 games). A few of these games are pretty early too! In the Johto and Galar games you can catch a Gastly before the first gym, in Sinnoh it’s shortly after the first gym, and Alola you can get them in the cemetery shortly before the first trial.

Haunter and Gengar can also learn some nice moves like Thunderbolt and Dazzling Gleam. If you’re training one before Generation IV you can teach them Ice, Thunder, and Fire Punch which they will use very well thanks to their high Special Attack. Gengar can also learn Focus Blast too. Sludge Bomb is also great for potential poison damage.

Despite being a second stage, Haunter is quite fast and has a really nice Special Attack stat (115). However, it’s incredibly fragile and a decent physical attack move can shut it down. But still, Haunter is really cool! I’ve trained Haunter several times when I was much younger on Pokemon Blue and it was great!

There’s also some good news for you Gengar purists. If you want a Gengar you can catch one in SM, USUM, and SWSH! In the Sun and Moon games if you go to the Thrifty Megamart after its trial and force a Haunter to call for help, there’s a chance it will call a Gengar. However, this is a very tedious process so be prepared to hang tight and be patient. This video demonstrates the procedure and how long it takes. SWSH is a bit easier as you can find Gengars in the Wild Area. All in all, once you catch your Gengar, you are ready to go to town on your opponents with a very powerful, and iconic, Ghost Pokemon!

Available in: RBY, GSC, FRLG, DPP, HGSS, XY, SM, USUM, SWSH

Mimikyu

Mimikyu has become one of the big stars of the Sun and Moon games. Besides the starters, it seems like Mimikyu is the most frequent Gen VII Pokemon seen in toys, art, and promotional materials. Thankfully, its inclusion in SWSH continues its popularity and makes it a worthy addition to your team.

Mimikyu’s very fun and very unique Ghost/Fairy combo gives your team a much needed resistance to Dark which otherwise is quite hard to pull off. It even beats Sableye as it has the power and moves to take out Dark Pokemon. It’s decent Physical Attack gives it access to moves that other Ghost Pokemon struggle to use like X-Scissor, Play Rough, Drain Punch, and Shadow Sneak (all of which can fight off your enemies). It also has pretty good bulk which ties nicely to its signature ability, Disguise. Biggest downside is that very low Special Attack but you got other Ghosts that can handle that easily so no need to worry. Don’t forget to pick up Mimikium Z in USUM!

Available in: SM, USUM, SWSH

Best Pokemon Games for a Fighting Type Run

The Best Pokemon Games for a Normal Type Run

Best Pokemon Games for a Dark Type Run

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Update 1/14/2020: This article now contains Pokemon Sword and Shield Teams

Oh the Dark type. I place it in that special category of types like Psychic, Steel, and Ghost of types you don’t see too often but are pretty cool. For a type as…prestigious…as Dark, you may be surprise to learn that it’s actually a good type for a Monotype (or Single Type) Run. Earlier generations not as much but the later games offer some premium teams that you can train and have fun with (what’s funny is that Dark type has the worst type run in the entire series as well as one of the best!). Dark Pokemon are also just plain fun! Crawdaunt, Krookodile, Hydreigon, and Scrafty are just a few of the amazing Pokemon you can train. The games also cover your weaknesses and they offer a very diverse set of moves that make other types envious. What are those games? Let’s dive in and find out!

RULES

Only Pokémon of a certain type may be caught and trained.
You must catch the first Pokémon available of that type if your starter does not match that type (you’ll then have to disregard that starter).
You may train a Pokémon that evolves to said type as long as you do it ASAP.
No trading allowed.
Mega Pokémon count as long as you Mega Evolve them as soon as they appear on the battlefield.
Only Pokémon caught before Elite Four are counted.

The Worst Games

In general, the first four generations will not offer very many, if at all, satisfying Dark-type runs. Most of these earlier generations see Dark Pokemon in few numbers or appearing late in the games. Of course, Kanto games are the worst example of this as there are no Dark Pokemon catchable in these regions. This makes a Dark type run in FireRed and LeafGreen the worst Monotype Run in the entire franchise. Dang!

It’s not all gloom and doom. Emerald and Sapphire are actually quite good as they offer a diverse team that covers your weaknesses and you can have two Pokemon that evolve into a dark type by the time you hit your first gym (Poochyena and Nuzleaf) and your neutralizer Sableye before your second gym. But why play Emerald or Sapphire when you have their remakes…

The Best Games

Starting from Pokemon Black to SWSH you get a series of games that are very high quality for a Dark playthrough (with the exception of Pokemon White due to the absence of Mandibuzz which your mileage may vary for that one). These games hit all the good marks; an early available Pokemon, a full and diverse team, all the weaknesses are covered, and there’s a nice distribution throughout the routes. The best games by far are Pokemon USUM followed by XY but the other Generation V and on games are really good.

XY and USUM’s diversity is on a whole another level, like God-tier level. You can catch about 12 different type combinations from each game which is ridiculous. The amount of Dark Pokemon you can train is insane in X (19), Y (20), US (17), and UM (18). The Pokemon are also spread nicely throughout the games (and not all bunched up at the end like ORAS). Finally, you get a starter that evolves into a Dark type which equates these games to a near-perfect Monotype Run.

The reason why I edge USUM over XY is the weakness-neutralization that’s done near the start of the game. First, your starter, Litten, will be a Fire/Dark type which takes care of Bug and Fairy weaknesses (and SE against Bug types). Quickly following that you can catch an Inkay near Professor Kukui’s lab which neutralizes the Fighting weakness (Psychic/Dark and it’s SE against Fighting). These weaknesses are further taken care one after the other with an Alolan Grimer at the Trainer School (Poison/Dark which neutralizes ALL the weaknesses and is SE against Fairies), Murkrow in the Hau’oli Cemetery (Flying/Dark neutralizes Fighting and Bug and SE against the two), and a Sableye at Ten Carat Hill (Ghost/Dark which is immune to Fighting and neutralizes Bug). That’s FIVE Pokemon on just the first island alone! And that’s not counting Alolan Raticate, Alolan Persian, and the very rare Zoroark! You could have a full team by the time you get off the island and take it to the Elite Four with no problem! Did I say near-perfect run? Forget that! A Dark type run in USUM is as perfect of a run as you can get in the entire Pokemon Series. Don’t pass it up! I played with this one and it was great!

Dark Teams in Pokemon Games

Pokemon GSC and HGSS
Ideal Team: Murkrow, Umbreon, Tyranitar (HGSS via Safari)
First Pokémon: Eevee given by Bill in Goldenrod after the third gym or Murkrow via Pokewalker.
Covers Weaknesses? Yes, thanks to Murkrow and Fairy not being introduced yet

Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, ORAS
Ideal Team: Crawdaunt/Sharpedo, Honchkrow (ORAS), Krookodile (ORAS), Drapion (ORAS), Hydreigon (ORAS), Scrafty (ORAS)
Optional Pokémon: Absol, Mightyena, Umbreon (ORAS), Zoroark (ORAS), Mega-Gyarados (ORAS), Spiritomb (ORAS), Sabeleye (S, E, AS), Shiftry (R, E, OR)/Cacturne
First Pokémon: Poochyena via Route 101
Covers Weaknesses? Yes for all versions except Pokemon Ruby

Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum
Ideal Team: Drapion, Weavile
Optional Pokémon: Absol (Platinum), Honchkrow (Diamond), Stuntank (Diamond), Houndoom (Platinum), Umbreon (Platinum)
First Pokémon: Murkrow can be caught at Eterna Forest after the first gym in Diamond. In Pearl, you can catch a Skorupi in the Great Marsh well after the third gym. In Platinum, you can acquire an Eevee in Hearthome City just before the third gym.
Covers Weaknesses? Yes

Pokemon Black, White, and B2W2
BW Ideal Team: Liepard, Scrafty, Krookodile, Bisharp, Mandibuzz (B), Hydreigon
First Pokémon: Purrloin via Route 2 before the first gym
Cover weaknesses? Only for Pokemon Black, in Pokemon White Fighting is not neutralized.

B2W2 Ideal Team: Hydreigon, Mandibuzz (B2)/Weavile, Krookodile, Scrafty, Drapion, Bisharp
Optional: Liepard, Umbreon, Absol, Zoroark
First Pokémon: Purrloin via Route 19 before the first gym
Cover weaknesses? Yes, thanks to Drapion

Pokemon XY
Ideal Team: Greninja, Pangoro/Scrafty, Malamar, Honchkrow, Houndoom (X)/Bisharp, Drapion/Skuntank
Optional Pokémon: Crawdaunt, Sharpedo, Absol, Umbreon, Sableye, Liepard (Y)/Mightyena (X), Krookodile, Weavile, Tyranitar (Y), Hydreigon (Y), Zoroark
First Pokémon: Froakie via Starter
Covers Weaknesses? Yes

Pokemon SM and USUM
SM Ideal Team: Incineroar, Honchkrow, Muk, Pangoro, Hydregion (scan), Sabeleye
Optional: Krookodile, Absol, Weavile, Raticate, Sharpedo, Mandibuzz (Moon), Umbreon, Persian
First Pokémon: Litten via Starter
Covers Weaknesses? Yes

USUM Ideal Team: Incineroar, Malamar, Bisharp, Honchkrow, Muk, Pangoro
Optional: Krookodile, Absol, Weavile, Raticate, Sharpedo/Crawdaunt/Greninja (scan), Tyranitar, Scrafty, Sabeleye, Mandibuzz (UM), Umbreon, Houndoom (US), Persian
First Pokémon: Litten via Starter
Covers Weaknesses? Yes

Pokemon Sword and Shield
Ideal Team: Drapion, Grimmsnarl, Malamar, Bisharp, Scrafty (Sword)/Pangoro, Mandibuzz (Shield)/Crawdaunt
Optional Pokémon: Thievul, Liepard, Shiftry (Sword), Obstagoon, Skuntank, Umbreon, Weavile, Morpeko, Tyranitar (Shield), Hydreigon (Sword)
First Pokémon: Nickit by overworld (5%) via Route 1. Route 2 is more productive with Zigzagoon and Nickit by overworld (2% and 15%) and Purrloin and Seedot (Sword) by random encounters (10% and 20%).
Weaknesses Covered? Yes

MVP (Most Valuable Pokemon)

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Poison/Dark Pokemon

Monotype runs can be difficult. So finding that one Pokemon that can neutralize all your weaknesses is like hitting the jackpot. The Dark type has three of them.

One of the best type combos in the games, Poison/Dark is a fantastic combination for Dark Pokemon as Poison neutralizes ALL its weaknesses and you get a STAB super-effective move against the Fairies. Having one of these Pokemon on your team guarantees you a wall against a tricky opponent. But the other reason why this is #1 on our list is their prevalence. Drapion, Skuntank, and Alolan Muk are catchable in every game starting from Pokemon Diamond and Pearl onwards with the exception being Pokemon Black and White. You can find these guys in all the other games before the Elite Four. These three can also fight your enemies well. For instance, Alolan Muk can learn Rock Slide and Flamethrower, Drapion can learn Fire Fang, Aerial Ace, Iron Tail, and Rock Slide, and Skuntank can learn Iron Tail and Flamethrower.

Disadvantages? Hm, well, they sometimes show up late in the games. Um, Muk and Drapion’s move diversity is good…but Skuntank’s is okay. They also have a…Ground weakness…? But it’s just the one so just…not fight against a Steelix? These Pokemon are also strong (Muk and Drapion have 500 Total Base Stats while Skuntank has 479) but nothing to write home about. Really, the only major qualm I have is they don’t show up in earlier games, but those games aren’t even that good for a Dark type run to begin with so that’s not the worst thing ever.

Yeah, these guys are sweet.

Available in: DPP (Skuntank in Diamond and Drapion for all), B2W2 (Drapion), XY (Drapion and Skuntank), ORAS (Drapion), SM and USUM (Muk), SWSH (Drapion and Skuntank)

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Umbreon

After the Poison/Dark Pokemon, all other MVPs fight for second place. They will give you support, diversity, and availability where the previous Pokemon fail.

One of those is Umbreon. Umbreon is a widely popular Pokemon and the recent, Reddit survey of favorite Pokemon had placed it 6th place (607 people out of 52,725 voted for it) making it the most popular Eevee family member. But what makes Umbreon special is not its popularity but its availability and stats. First, Eevee is a very common Pokemon in the games. And depending on the version, you can catch one in every region (except for the Kanto remakes which is pbbbbbtttt). Umbreon also has some impressive stats and its highest of which are on its defenses and third highest in its HP. Umbreon is thus the ideal tank to have if you’re worried about being one-shot by an opponent.

As such, Umbreon is not one for attacking, more for defense and status-inflicting moves. Even its moveset reflects this as it barely knows any moves that are not Dark type. Still, Umbreon does its job very well and will be a lovely partner for you through thick and thin.

Available in: GSC, Platinum, HGSS, B2W2, XY, ORAS, SM, USUM, SWSH

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Honchkrow and Mandibuzz

When I’m doing a Dark type run, these are the guys I make a beeline towards as quick as I can. Flying pairs nicely for Dark type as it neutralizes its Bug and Fighting weakness and provides Super Effective STAB moves to boot. In fact, if you’re playing any game before Generation 6, having one of these guys on your team will guarantee you weakness coverage since Fairy wasn’t introduced yet. Because of which, Mandibuzz’s absence in Pokemon White demotes a Dark type run from fantastic to decent.

Since Murkrow was introduced in Generation 2, we get to see these guys pop up all over the place so you’re likely to run into them in later generations. Murkrow’s evolution, Honchkrow, arrives in Generation 4 providing a strong boost to this family. In fact, both of these bad birds total base stats are over 500 which is really nice. Mandibuzz is on the tanky side so if you want an attacker go for Honchkrow. Honchkrow can even learn Steel Wing so if you want to give Fairies the middle finger you can surprise them with this move.

Your big fault here is the move diversity. Flying Pokemon in general have poor movepools so Mandibuzz and Honchkrow suffer. Embarrassingly, Honchkrow’s only strong Flying move by TM or Level Up is Fly and that’s it. Honchkrow can still learn Psychic and Shadowball though so it’s not all bad news (and Nasty Plot is nice). However, if you have a move tutor your movepool expands greatly so look out for them in B2W2, USUM, and SWSH.

Available in: GSC (Murkrow), Diamond (Honchkrow), HGSS (Honchkrow), Black and Black 2 (Mandibuzz), XY (Honchkrow), ORAS (Honchkrow and Mandibuzz), SM and USUM (Honchkrow in all and Mandibuzz in Moon and UM), Shield (Mandibuzz)

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Pangoro and Scrafty

Both Scrafty and Pangoro are incredible Pokemon for their own reasons but the main reason why you want to carry them is not their Bug resistance but their move diversity. Elemental punches, Outrage, Earthquake, X-Scissor, and of course, Fighting moves give you nice coverage. Pangoro can also learn Bullet Punch by level up which is nice to surprise Fairies. These guys are stroooong and with their nice abilities you can be an effective attacker (Pangoro) or a tank (Scrafty). However, watch out for those Fairy weaknesses, they can mess you up!

Available in: BW and B2W2 (Scrafty), XY (Pangoro and Scrafty), ORAS (Scrafty), SM (Pangoro), and USUM (Pangoro and Scrafty), SWSH (Pangoro for both and Scrafty for Sword)

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Your Starter

Greninja and Incineroar are both starters for their respective series, XY for Greninja and SM and USUM for Incineroar. They are what make their respective games amazing for a Dark type run. You have your Pokemon and you don’t need to wait and catch one. This makes them very ideal to have on your team and they’re both so good. Greninja is fast, learns Water Shuriken, and can learn a variety of moves. Incineroar’s Fire type neutralizes Bug and Fairy weaknesses, and can learn some strong Fighting moves. If you’re torn between the two, why not both? They both appear in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon! Really, their only downfall is that they don’t appear in all the games!

Available in: XY (Greninja), SM (Incineroar), USUM (Incineroar and Greninja)

sableye-mega

Sabeleye (and if you’re lucky, Spiritomb)

In the old days, Spiritomb and Sabeleye had no weaknesses due to their type combinations. When Gamefreak made them they were either weak (Sableye) or had a limited movepool (Spiritomb). Now they have a Fairy weakness but unfortunately, neither problem was fixed with the exception of Sableye’s Mega Evolution. Still, that Ghost type is really nice for them as you have an immunity to Fighting and a neutralization for Bug. Of the two, I pick Sabeleye as it’s more common and it learns some nice moves. It will learn Zen Headbutt and Power Gem via level up so you can counter your foes easily. Sabeleye is also available usually early on so keep an eye out for it! Spiritomb, meanwhile, will only show up legitimately in ORAS but why catch him when you got a sweet Mega-Sabeleye?

Available in: Sapphire and Emerald (Sabeleye), XY (Sabeleye), ORAS (Sabeleye in Sapphire and Spiritomb in both), SM and USUM (Sabeleye)

krookodile

Krookodile

The last MVP Pokemon is a bit subjective but hear me out on this. Although Krookodile does not neutralize any weaknesses, it makes up for it by stats, moves, abilities, and commonality. Krookodile’s strength is just behind the starters and Umbreon sitting at a BST of 519. Intimidate pairs well for its average defenses but it’s Moxie that sells it with Krookodile’s great speed which can make him a Juggernaut. Krookodile can learn the various Earth-based moves, of course, but it can also learn Outrage, Thunder and Fire Fang, Shadow Claw, and Aqua Tail. Finally, it is found in every game between Pokemon BW to Pokemon USUM. Again, another reason why the later games are best for a Dark type run!

Available in: BW, B2W2, XY, ORAS, SM, USUM

Best Pokemon Games for a Ground Type Run

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Image result for ground pokemon

Update 12/31/2019: This article now includes Sword and Shield

A top-tier Monotype Run (or Single Type) in Pokemon would be the Ground Type. There are few types that have a better record in delivering solid team after solid team in the main line games. Even going back to Pokemon Red and Blue you can craft a team that is sturdy and strong like its namesake.

What makes Ground Type such a fun run to do is the plentiful type combos that neutralize two of its three weaknesses (i.e., Water, Grass, Fire, Dragon, and Steel). There are a lot of Water/Ground Pokemon while Steel and Dragon duos make a surprisingly strong showing in the later games. Ironically, some of these duos trade these resistances for 4x weaknesses! Once you have one of these combos you can pair it with another Pokemon and finish off the last weakness easily.

Only a few games have a poor Ground Type run so in this article, we’re going to cover which games are the very best for a Ground Type run and which Pokemon you should look out for.

Rules

Only Pokémon of a certain type may be caught and trained.
You must catch the first Pokémon available of that type if your starter does not match that type (you’ll then have to disregard that starter).
You may train a Pokémon that evolves to said type as long as you do it ASAP.
No out-of-game trading allowed.
Mega Pokémon count as long as you Mega Evolve them as soon as they appear on the battlefield.
Only Pokémon caught before Elite Four are counted.

Best Games
The Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Kalos, Alola, and Galar games all have very nice teams. The Sun and Moon games you’ll have to wait a little while before your first Pokemon (Alolan Diglett) but it still has a nice set with Palossand being a great new addition. I also like the “classic” feel in Pokemon Gold with Quagsire, the Nidos, and Gligar making a strong team. Pokemon ORAS also gives a lot of a late game Ground diversity like Excadrill and it’s nice to have Mudkip right from the getgo.

Subjectively, the best games are probably Pokemon Platinum, Pokemon XY, and Pokemon SWSH. This is thanks to their huge diversity, early availability and more importantly, Hippowdon! We’ll talk about Hippowdon in a moment but this hippo makes Ground Type runs extra fun and extra sweet. Hippowdon has Sand Stream which triggers a sandstorm, because of which you can easily use the Pokemon from these games to take advantage of the storm and go to town on your opponents. It’s fun!

Worst Games
I would say Pokemon BW and B2W2 are probably the worst games in the series for a Ground Type Run. In BW there are less than six unique Pokemon on your team and in B2W2 the first Pokemon you can catch is after the second gym. I should say though that all the BW games still neutralize their weaknesses despite the flaws. The Kanto games are also just okay. Sure the Nidos are there at the beginning to help you out but after that you have a lot of Ground/Rocks to train which compounds on your Water and Grass weaknesses. It’s doable but be prepared for some headaches!

Ground Teams in Pokemon Games

Red/Blue/Yellow and FireRed/LeafGreen
Ideal Team: Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Rhydon, Onix, Dugtrio, Sandslash (Blue, LeafGreen, and Yellow)
Optional: Graveler
First Pokémon: Nidorans in Route 22
Covers weaknesses? No, Water and Ice are not neutralized.

Gold/Silver/Crystal and HeartGold/SoulSilver
Ideal Team: Quagsire, Dugtrio, Rhydon, Nidoking/Nidoqueen, Mammoswine/Piloswine, Gligar (G, HG)
Optional: Graveler, Onix, Donphan (G, C, HG), Sandslash (G, C, HG or by slotmachines in S and SS)
First Pokémon: Geodude via the southern route of Route 46 before the first gym and in Crystal you can catch a Phanpy and Geodude on Route 46.
Via Pokewalker Geodude (Rugged Road in 0+ steps), Onix (Rugged Road in 4000+ steps or Dim Cave in 1000+ steps), the Nidorans (Refreshing Field in 500+ steps), and Wooper (Beautiful Beach in 0+ steps) are available.
Covers Weaknesses? Regardless of your version, all weaknesses are covered

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald and OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphrie
Ideal Team: Swampert, Rhydon, Flygon/Garchomp (ORAS), Krookodile (ORAS), Camerupt, Excadrill (ORAS)
Optional: Graveler, Donphan, Claydol, Whiscash/Seismitoad (ORAS)/Gastrodon (ORAS), Dugtrio (ORAS), Groudon (Ruby and OR)
First Pokémon: Mudkip via starter
Covers Weaknesses? Yes

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum
Ideal Team: Torterra, Hippowdon, Garchomp, Gastrodon/Quagsire/Whiscash, Gliscor (Platinum)/Steelix, Mammoswine (Platinum)
Optional: Graveler, Onix, Wormadam
First Pokémon: Turtwig via starter
Covers Weaknesses? Yes

Black/White and Black2/White2
BW Ideal Team: Excadrill, Seismitoad, Stunfisk, Krookodile, Golurk
First Pokémon: Drilbur via Wellspring Cave after first gym
Cover weaknesses? Yes

B2W2 Ideal Team: Krookodile, Camerupt (W2)/Golurk, Flygon, Gliscor, Excadrill, Claydol
Optional: Sandslash, Onix
First Pokémon: Onix and Drilbur via Relic Passage (Castelia City side) after the second gym
Cover weaknesses? Yes

XY
Ideal Team: Hippowdon, Nidoqueen/Nidoking, Gliscor, Golurk, Steelix, Garchomp
Optional: Diggersby, Marowak, Dugtrio, Rhydon, Quagsire, Graveler, Stunfisk, Whiscash, Mamoswine, Sandslash, Krookodile, Wormadam
First Pokémon: Bunnelby via Route 2, before the first gym
Weaknesses Covered? Yes, and you can even interchange some of these pokemon and still cover weaknesses fine.

Sun/Moon and UltraSun/UltraMoon
SM Ideal Team: Dugtrio, Gastrodon, Mamoswine (scan), Palossand, Krookodile, Garchomp
Optional: Mudsdale, Flygon, Rhydon (scan),
First Pokémon: Diglett in Verdant Cavern after completion of first trial
Cover weaknesses? Yes

USUM Ideal Team: Dugtrio, Gastrodon, Mamoswine (scan), Palossand, Krookodile, Garchomp
Optional: Mudsdale, Flygon, Rhydon (scan), Claydol (UM), Golurk (US), Swampert (scan), Torterra (scan), Onix (scan)
First Pokémon: Diglett in Verdant Cavern after completion of first trial
Cover weaknesses? Yes

Sword/Shield
Ideal Team: Flygon, Hippowdon, Golurk, Gastrodon, Excadrill, Sandaconda
Optional: Diggersby, Mudsdale, Onix, Whiscash, Steelix, Quagsire, Runerigus, Seismitoad, Rhyperior (Raid), Dugtrio, Claydol, Stunfisk, Mamoswine
First Pokémon: In the Rolling Fields, you will find Bunnelby in the overworld in every weather except Snowstorm and Thunderstorm; additionally, you will always find them by random encounter. You can also find Nincada, Mudbray, Baltoy, Golett, and Diggersby in random encounters throughout the Wild Area. They are most common in Sandstorms and Intense Sun (although Sandstorms won’t be unlocked until after the third gym). Look for Swinub when it’s Snowing, Barboach fishing in South Lake Miloch, and Tympole and Wooper in West Lake Axewell. You can also find Ground Pokemon for Den 16/52 in Rolling Fields for Max Raid Battles including the aforementioned Pokemon as well as Diglett and Yamask. There’s also a chance to find a Trapinch by Max Raid battles in Rolling Fields. This is before the first gym.
Weaknesses Covered? Yes

MVP (Most Valuable Pokemon)

Image result for gastrodon
Water/Ground Pokemon

The Water/Ground combo is one of the best type duos in Pokemon. Ground’s immunity to Electric attacks and Water’s resistances to itself and Ice make it an acceptable addition to any team. Water/Ground Pokemon are also quite common and are available pre-Elite Four in every game after Pokemon Yellow except FRLG and B2W2. I just love these guys in general. They have a great move diversity and they have some fantastic abilities like Gastrodon’s Storm Drain and Quagsire’s Water Absorb (which further nullify that Water weakness).

Your big issue is that 4x weakness to Grass attacks. THANKFULLY, and surprisingly, every Pokemon game has a Ground type that neutralizes its Grass weakness. Whether it’s a Nidoran, Gliscor, or Excadrill, you’ll find a Pokemon that can cover your bases.

Available in: All games except Pokemon RBY, FRLG, B2W2

Torterra and Swampert

A lot of starters evolve into dual types and thankfully, you’ll have a few games with a Ground-based starter. Enter Mudkip and Turtwig. Both starters hail from vastly different regions but evolve into your Ground Pokemon. They also give you handy resistances to a couple of your weaknesses. Of the two, Torterra seems to get the short end of the stick as there are a lot of weaknesses to watch out for but it makes up for it with its sweet design and recovery moves. If you have ORAS, you can mega evolve your Swampert which is a nice bonus. It’s also great that both of these starters are in games with diverse Ground Pokemon so you took your first easy step for your fantastic Ground team! For you USUM players, use Island Scan and find these respective Pokemon in your game. How’s that for awesome sauce?

Available in: Pokemon RSE, DPP, ORAS, and USUM (Island Scan)

Trapinch artwork by Ken Sugimori Gible artwork by Ken Sugimori

Ground/Dragon Pokemon

Starting in Generation 3 onwards you can find a Ground/Dragon Pokemon in every main series game except FRLG, HGSS, and BW (a track record only exceeded by Ground/Water). Although the 4x weakness to Ice stinks, the resistances to Fire and neutralization of Water and Grass are appreciated. Flygon’s Levitate and Garchomp’s Sand Veil are both useful abilities for your team. Garchomp is also the strongest, non-Legendary, non-Mega, Ground Pokemon so you’ll have the powerhouse on your team.

The real reason why they should be on your team though is there incredible move diversity, especially for move tutoring and TMs. They can learn at least a dozen strong moves from different types ranging from Crunch to Flamethrower, from Bug Buzz to Shadow Claw, and from Thunderpunch to Steel Wing. This is essential for your team! You may be packing a lot of Rock, Steel, and Fighting moves but you’ll be severely lacking in other categories. Definitely get one of these two. They’re awesome.

However, besides the 4x Ice weakness, the two other major issues with these guys are their mid to late game availability and their evolution delay. You’ll be waiting quite awhile before you get some good moves so expect to carry these guys and babysit them for awhile.

Available in: RSE (Flygon), DPP (Garchomp), B2W2 (Flygon), XY (Flygon and Garchomp), SM (Garchomp), USUM (Garchomp and Flygon), and SWSH (Flygon)

Hippowdon

I’m highly bias towards Hippowdon so take this entry for what you will but I think this beautiful creature is a very important member in any Ground team. Sand Stream automatically generates a Sandstorm upon battle entry and, if you’re playing before Generation 6, will go on forever until it’s changed for a different weather. As such, you can incorporate many Ground Pokemon’s abilities that rely on Sandstorm into your team very nicely! Garchomp and Gliscor have Sand Veil, and Excadrill has Sand Force and Sand Rush. Sandstorm’s boost towards Rock’s defenses makes it appealing and you can whittle down your opponent’s teams!

Hippowdon does fantastically well as a tank, I have trained one several times in competitive teams for this reason alone. Teach it Roar and combine it with Stealth Rock via TM in Gen 4 and you have an annoying beast! Crunch and a STAB Earthquake rounds things off well with your Pokemon. Hippowdon is also among the strongest Ground Pokemon so it’s going to be pulling its weight well.

Hippowdon does suffer from relatively low game occurrences so the chances of you running into one are unfortunately slim. Hippowdon additionally suffers from low movepool diversity. This is not surprising given its monotype nature. Speaking of which, Hippowdon can’t bestow any additional resistances or immunities to your team so the other members will have to pick up the slack.

But come on, Sand Stream, it more than makes up for it.

Available in: DPP, XY, SWSH

Steelix artwork by Ken Sugimori Excadrill artwork by Ken Sugimori Image result for alolan dugtrio

Ground/Steel Pokemon

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that I placed the Steel type on this list. They are super defensive and eliminate Ground’s two of three weaknesses without trading it with a 4x weakness. They are also very common in the later games so expect to find one from Generation 6 and on. You can even catch Steelix in some of those games! You don’t need another game to trade an Onix with a Steel Coat, you can get one yourself! I find this very curious but I’m not complaining! Alolan Diglet is also among the first Ground Pokemon you can get in the Sun and Moon games so you’re starting strong with a fast attacker.

They’re all nice in their own way. Excadrill is probably the MVP of the three due to its sandstorm-related abilities and really powerful attack. The main thing that’s holding all three of them back would be their limited movepool. Mainly Fighting, Dark, Ground, Rock, and Steel moves. Which is not bad but a lot of other Ground Pokemon can learn them. If you have a Steelix for Sword and Shield teach it Body Press as it has a maaaaaaaaasive Defense stat and can use the move extremely well!

Available in: DPP (Steelix), BW and B2W2 (Excadrill), XY (Excadrill and Steelix), ORAS (Excadrill), SM and USUM (Dugtrio), SWSH (Steelix, Stunfisk, Excadrill)

Image result for Nidoking and nidoqueen

Nidoqueen and Nidoking

Bless these rabbit-like, therapsids, for they are glorious and fun to train. Besides the obvious neutralization of Grass weakness, the Nidos are fantastic as they are among the best Ground Pokemon for move diversity, rivaled only by the likes of Garchomp, Flygon, and Golurk. They also have decent Special Attack stats, something that other Ground Pokemon lack, and thus are equipped for that Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, or Flamethrower you have prepared for them. Of course, a Poison STAB means you can handle your Grass Pokemon well (and it pairs nicely with Quagsire in the Johto games) (and don’t forget about Nidoking’s Megahorn too!).

Your biggest drawback is their rarity which almost kicked them off this list. Although the Nidos save the Kanto games from being almost unplayable for a Ground Type Run, they don’t make many other appearances. Thankfully, GSC and especially XY are great Ground Type runs and its partially thanks for their inclusions. Depending on your game, you may additionally have trouble finding a Moon Rock to evolve your respective Nidoran so be prepared for that.

Available in: RBY, GSC, FRLG, HGSS, XY

Krookodile

Krookodile has one of the highest occurrences of Ground Type Pokemon which is the biggest reason it’s on this list. It’s also here because of its strength and diversity. Besides it’s own STAB moves, it can learn strong Dragon, Fighting, Water, Ghost, and Poison moves giving it diversity that other Ground Pokemon lack. It’s Intimidate and Moxie abilities are also top notch and sets itself well for a great revenge killer or wall. Although that Dark pairing won’t save your team from any weaknesses, it’s still nice to have especially when you have to deal with Psychics or Ghosts.

Available in: BW, B2W2, ORAS, XY, SM, and USUM

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Tag Archives: Pokemon Shield

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Best Monotype Runs for Pokemon Sword and Shield

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Future of Monotype Run Articles

Best Pokemon Games for a Ghost Type Run

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The Best Pokemon Games for a Normal Type Run

Best Pokemon Games for a Dark Type Run

Best Pokemon Games for a Ground Type Run