#encounter poll

Sandshrew

Pros:

- gets stab earthquake

- decently offensively

- pretty good defensively

Cons:

- Overall just worse than sandile

- also a strict downgrade to excadrill, which is better in pretty much every regard other than physical defense

- being a strict downgrade to the best pokemon in the game is Not Very Good

Sandile

- go look at the previous post pretty please 😭

Darumaka

- previous post too 😭😭

Maractus

Pros:

- pretty good special attacker

- gets acupressure for cheese

- good level-up moveset (acess to sunny day solar beam and synthesis)

Cons:

- we already have a good grass type in snivy

- not that great against a lot of the enemies in this game

- might just die to a random flying type wild pokemon because it's kinda slow and kinda frail 💔

Dwebble

Pros:

- sturdy shell smash is a great combo

- this guy is tanky

- pretty well rounded pokemon overall

- buge. I enjoy

Cons:

- there's not many i fear

- can't really do much against water types but that's kind of it

- carcinization was right this guy really is the perfect life form

Scraggy

- previous post too 😭😭😭

Trapinch

Pros:

- dragon types are always pretty good at a bare minimum

- trapinch actually has the same attack stat as flygon before evolving so its not unusable at all

- stab earthquake

- really good movepool too

Cons:

- also not a lot of them

- takes a while to become good since it evolves kinda late

- overlaps in role with excadrill, which means it wont be our best option pretfy much ever unless drilbur loses its poll

Sigyliph

Pros:

- Not many good special attackers in this game so far

- fast, strong, good movepool

- magic guard is a contender for best ability in the gane

-blog runner REALLY likez this guy

- it's strong early game and doesn't tend to fall off very much due to its coverage

Cons:

- won't be good against a lot of the upcoming major fights due to then having resists and pokemon that are atrong against it

Trubbish

(Check my route 4 encounter poll!!)

Minccino

Pros:

- really fast

- okayish damage

- deceptively good movepool

Cons:

- Catching it on this route would be kinda dumb since we can get a guaranteed one with a hidden ability on route 5

- it's not the best at actually killing things

Gothita

Pros:

- bulky attacker

- can support

- can setup

Cons:

- pretty slow

- weak to dark (vv bad in gen 5)

Cinccino

Pros:

- all of Minccino's

Cons:

- Wont have it's hidden ability skill link (VV GOOD ABILITY!!!)

- might miss out on some good level up moves

Emolga

Pros:

- fast

- has paralysis support

- ground immunity is always good

Cons:

- not very strong

- super frail

Audino

Pros:

- All the ones cited in my Castelia Garden poll

- Additionally, this route has way fewer cool pokémon, so it's less of an opportunity cost

Cons:

- available literally everywhere else in the game

- pretty tm dependant

Pineco

Pros:

- severely underrated

- great defensive typing

- great utility

- pivot potential with the volt switch tm from Elesa

Cons:

- Blog runner has literally no fucking clue on how to catch this thing

Rattata

(Go look at the sewer post)

Onix

Pros:

- Insane physical defense

- okay-ish speed

Cons:

- everything else sucks

- this guy has less attack than sewaddle

Roggenrola

Pros:

- pretty much just a better onix in every regard

- hits hard

- decent against burgh's team and skyla's team

- Gigalith has some crazy stats ngl

Woobat

Pros:

- really fast

- can put in some work against a couple major fights

- good in the early game

Cons:

- really bad stats

- we have acess to a stronger and faster bat pokemon directly before it 😭

Timburr

Pros:

- hits really hard

- bulky

- fighting types are pretty good in unova

Cons:

- like none of those pros apply untill we evolve

Drilbur

Pros:

- this is objectively the best pokemon in this game

- access to early earthquake and steel/ground typing is disgusting when it evolves

- really strong, decently bulky and relatively fast

- blog runner thinks it looks cool

Cons:

- still solid before evolving considering the overall lower power level, but not as good

Rattata

(Check post the post directly before this one on my blog)

Eevee

Pros:

- every single evolution is pretty solid

- a cutie

- i could run a separate poll to decide what we evolve it into

Cons:

- i think some evos are post game locked?

Buneary

Pros:

- Good learnset

- matches up well against most fights in the game

Cons:

- a nightmare to evolve

- there is literally NO reason to go for buneary when lopunny is available on the same route outside of making blog runner's life more difficult

- isnt that great offensively

Pidove

Pros:

- there's not a lot of flying types available in these games

- it doesnt suck

Cons:

- its not insanely good either

Cottonee

Pros:

- good pokemon overall

- decent bulk and great utility

Cons:

- we could just catch whimsicott instead

Whimsicott

Pros:

- all of cottonee's pros

Cons:

- we miss out on some of cottonee's good level up moves (pretty much just giga drain and energy ball tbh)

Lopunny

Pros:

- all of buneary's pros except better since you're that strong at baseline

Cons:

- isnt that good offensively

Audino

Pros:

- Actually a pretty great defensive pokemon

- great support

- if we roll one with regenerator thats HUGE

Cons: