History DiscOneNuke / Pokemon

* One of the Bunnelby/ Zigzagoon line's two normal abilities is Pickup, which means an automatic 10% chance of them picking up something useful, like a Poké Ball, Potion, Full Heal, or Escape Rope after every battle ending with the player victorious.[[note]]This ability was actually {{Nerf}}ed from earlier generations by tying the quality of item to the Pokémon's level.[[/note]] Higher-level Bunnelby/ Zigzagoon or Diggersby/ Linoone with this ability can pick up things like Ultra Balls, Max Revives, Full Restores, Rare Candies, and Leftovers. This makes the entire Bunnelby and Zigzagoon lines useful even as {{Utility Party Member}}s, as they will spend their time in the player's party occasionally picking up items that the player will more than often find to be of great use.

* ''Pawmi''. It can be found as soon as you finish the catching tutorial, and evolves into Pawmo at level ''18''. While evolving it can be a case of GuideDangIt, getting it to Pawmot will land you a Pokemon on par with a ''FULLY EVOLVED STARTER''!

** Hidden Ability Shroomish with [[SpamAttack Bullet Seed]], or Shroomish in general with moves like [[BareFistedMonk Focus Punch]], [[LifeDrain Drain Punch]], early Seed Bomb, and so on. When it evolves into Breloom it will gain the coveted Technician ability that go so well with some of its best moves.

** In ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet'', due to the ability to learn and re-learn any move a Pokemon has learned on command being brought over from ''Legends: Arceus'', Gyarados gains access to Ice Fang the moment it evolves. Combined with the level 21 Waterfall, Gyarados will have a solid physical Water-type move and physical Ice-Type coverage to hit Grasses right off the bat. And you probably haven't even fought the first Team Star boss yet.

* Right before the second gym, you can get a ''freaking [[OlympusMons Mew]]'' via abusing a [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Mew_glitch certain glitch]]. It has very high stats, with 100 points in every stat. Sure, when you first get it, it only knows the weak Pound, but it can learn ''any TM'' to make up for this, and it learns the fairly powerful Mega Punch at level 20. Further, should you happen to do this in a particular way (use Growl six times on the last Pokemon you fight before Mew), you can get a level 1 Mew. Make this Mew gain less than 52 experience points in one battle, and it will immediately grow to level 100 due to a second glitch. You now have a level 100 Mythical Pokemon which can learn any TM or HM before the ''second gym''. You will feel like a god.

* In ''Crystal'', you can pick up Growlithe on Route 36 before the first gym, and they are quite strong against Sprout Tower and Bugsy owing to their stats. The real kicker is when you get to Goldenrod, where you can obtain a Fire Stone from a Schoolboy near the Sudowoodo if you get his number and immediately evolve Growlithe into the fearsome ''Arcanine'' even before you fight Whitney, giving you a Pokemon with excellent offenses and Speed, decent versatility, and reasonable bulk. It can steamroll the dreaded Gym Leader with ''Headbutt'' alone at comparable levels and perform to great effect against the remaining gyms, utterly decimating most trainers along the way. Once other Pokémon catch up later in the game, it is no longer a "nuke", but continues to perform well enough to earn a spot in late-game teams.

* Drilbur. It can be acquired as early Wellspring Cave (right before the second Gym Leader). At level 31, it evolves from a mediocre Pokemon into Excadrill, a LightningBruiser that can be ''twice'' as fast when a sandstorm is in effect (or have powered-up Ground/Rock/Steel-type moves) and if you delay its evolution, learns ''Earthquake'' at level ''33'', roughly 20 levels before anything else naturally learns it.

* Axew (to Fraxure and to Haxorus) that can be caught in Mistralton Cave. Haxorus' base stats (147 ATK and 97 Speed) are no joke. Throughout power-leveling journey as the main Pokémon, learning Dragon Claw (80 Power) off the bat, Dragon Dance (ATK + Speed up) 1-2 levels later, Swords Dance (ATK up x2) at Lvl 50, and Outrage at Lvl 66 means [[CurbStompBattle this Pokemon almost always goes first while being able to kill in one hit]]. If Steel types are present, Haxorus can use [=TMs=] to learn Brick Break and [[DishingOutDirt Dig/Earthquake]] to continue the rampage.

** What's more is that the forest also has a Breeder who carries both Herdier and Liepard, both of which have fairly high EXP yields. Here's the thing: Breeders can be rematched whenever you leave the area, so you can continually enter and exit the forest and have your Pokemon all levelled up in no time, making it a great training area before the fourth gym.
* At one point during ''Black 2'' and ''White 2'' you're shown a hidden cave with a male Minccino with his hidden Skill Link ability inside. Catch him, train him, and evolve him into a Cinccino, and he's [[KillerRabbit surprisingly powerful]]- TailSlap, BulletSeed, and Rock Blast all hit exactly 5 times for lots of damage. STAB Tail Slap alone does ''188'' base damage [[note]]For comparison, that's just slightly weaker than '''[[ActionBomb Selfdestruct]]'''. And much more practical, too.[[/note]], and the latter two deal 250 if they're super-effective. Pokemon weak to Rock or Grass? Taken down very fast. Substitute or Focus Sash users? They don't stand a chance. Steel-types? Just slap them silly with Wake-Up Slap, which he also learns. And he's damn fast and packs a punch, too. The kicker? He can be encountered before the 4th gym and is a forced battle, and though he needs the Move Relearner to access his coverage options, said [=NPC=] resides in the very next town.
* If you use the Memory Link, you can encounter a level 35 Darmanitan that used to belong to N in the Desert Resort. Even in challenge mode, your enemies don't reach that level for another two gyms. The only thing stopping it from being a GameBreaker is it has the rather lousy ability Zen Mode instead of the amazing Sheer Force. Not only that, but this Darmanitan, along with all of N's other Pokemon all have [=IV=]s of 30 across the board. Making them exceptionally strong compared to other wild Pokemon.

* Pokémon-Amie is available right from the start, and using it to max out a Pokémon's affection only takes about half an hour's worth of minigames, petting, and tasty treats. Doing so will reward you with a Pokémon that has a chance of shrugging off status ailments, surviving an attack with 1 HP that would've knocked it out, gets critical hits much more often, and gets the same experience boost that traded Pokémon do. With a little time and effort, you can effectively have an entire team of lesser nukes by the time you get to the second town. Isn't ThePowerOfFriendship great? Even better, Pokemon used in the Pokémon-Amie will remember you and their friendship level even if transferred to another game through Pokemon Bank (since that information is tied to your Nintendo ID account). This means that your level 97 Charizard you raised in XY with maxed-out affection will be ready and raring to go in ORAS and will be overjoyed to see you again. Likewise with the new Super Training feature, which lets you EV train your Pokémon any way you like without having to search for specific wild Pokémon to fight. Want to have a fully EV trained starter Pokémon before you even have your first wild encounter? Now you can!

* In the Route immediately after you can find a Bagon. Bagon doesn't learn Dragon Breath until 31, but is still a fairly strong pokemon in it's own right, as Dragon types tend to be. Its final evolution is Salamence, who's faster than Haxorus with a MUCH higher special attack while being marginally weaker in Attack.

* From Route 6, players can catch Honedge, a Pokemon that has ''nine resistances and three immunities''. When combined with a Defense that's impressive by endgame standards, it'll walk right over anything that's not super-effective or a powerful special sweeper. Even better, it resists the [[DishingOutDirt second]] and [[GreenThumb fourth]] gyms while completely [[NoSell no selling]] the [[GoodOldFisticuffs third]]. Its final evolution Aegislash retains the same resistances and immunities, but its Stance Change ability and the corresponding King's Shield move, while coupled with Leftovers, means your Aegislash will be nigh invulnerable. Shield Forme Aegislash have high high defenses but mediocre attacks, while Blade Forme Aegislash swap the attack and defense stats. Stance Change makes Aegislash enter Shield Forme if King's Shield is to be used, and switch to Blade Forme if an attacking move is to be used. King's Shield is almost equivalent to Protect albeit unable to defend from status moves. One strategy is to use King's Shield to switch to Shield Forme in the beginning, and start racking up attack buffs using Sword Dances, before start spamming attacks in Blade Forme. This strategy allows Aegislash to sweep Champion Diantha 6-0, and ended up booting Aegislash to the Uber tier along with the legendaries in competitive gaming scene.

* While ultimately a crapshoot, Wonder Trade can become this as soon as you're able to catch more Pokemon. If you're lucky, you might get something that can very easily carry you to the endgame. If you didn't get something useful, you can always Wonder Trade until you do.
* Route 7 has the Battle Chateau, where you can LevelGrind all the Pokemon mentioned above. If you [[SidetrackedByTheGoldSaucer screw around]] long enough (about 150 battles) and reach the rank of Marquis/ Marchioness you can battle Furisode Girls who have two ExperiencePoint heavy level 35 Audino. Or go compeletly nuts and get the rank of Duke/ Dutchess Furisode Girls have three level 45 Audino.

** Hidden Ability Makuhita with Bullet Punch (although [=DexNav=] Pokemon in caves are a bit more trickier if don't have lots of repels).
** Hidden Ability Zubat with Brave Bird (it makes the fighting gym easy as pie, too), an immensely high base power early on in the game for a normally lacklustre Pokemon.
** Aron (with possibly the Rock Head ability) having freakin' ''Head Smash''.

* The Obsidian Fieldlands, the game's [[GreenHillZone first area]], has multiple Pokémon that evolve without level requirements including Scyther and Stantler, which have new Hisuian evolutions in Kleavor (evolved with a piece of Black Augerite which can be dropped by the Graveler near Oreburrow Tunnel) and Wyrdeer (evolved by using Psyshield Bash enough times), respectively. Catching and evolving them early will give you a heavy hitter who should trivialize most battles through the next area or two. Even if you don't have the rank for full obedience of these Pokemon yet, catching higher level Pokemon in this area first thing like Beautifly and Staraptor (Who have levels in the 40s) can also help with gaining bursts of EXP of your team.

* Unlike ''Sword and Shield'', here there are no pesky restrictions holding you back from catching high-level 'mons right off the bat, though catch rates and team obedience improves as you unlock more badges on the Victory Road storyline. If you're patient, have luck on your side and plenty of items, you could easily explore the region for a bit and find a suitably high-leveled Pokémon to add to your team. HOWEVER, there are Terastalized Pokémon that have higher levels than normal even in the early game. If you can lower its HP enough against a Terastalized Pokémon, it is possible to catch them. And if you do, you'll be in for a power trip provided your Pokémon would listen to you should you get your Pokemon's level near the current obedience cap.

** Pokemon with Dragon Rage are this in Warlord storylines where they can be used from the beginning (Kotaro, for example, starts with Deino in his own storyline). The 40 HP in damage will easily one- or two-hit KO ennemy Pokemon encountered early in the storylines.

** In Generation I, Magikarp is first made accessible through the [[SchmuckBait Magikarp Salesman]] in the Pokémon Center outside of Mt. Moon as soon as you beat the first gym. While 500 Pokédollars for a [[JokeCharacter Magikarp]] might seem like a waste at first, and Generation I is easily the hardest generation to raise a Magikarp due to the lack of Exp. Share, some babying will evolve it into Gyarados, which can be taught [=BubbleBeam=] (obtainable as a TM from Misty) to give it a powerful STAB attack that abuses its (then) high Special attack. This will allow Gyarados to ''plow'' through opponents even deep into the game. In fact, a freshly-evolved Gyarados is actually the best weapon against Misty's Starmie, being able to tank its Bubblebeams due to also having 100 Special ''and'' resisting its own type, and already being slower means it's not hampered by the Speed reduction[[note]]By contrast, one would have to overgrind any of the available [[GreenThumb Grass-types]] by that point or Pikachu, possibly close to or beyond level 30 just so their own Special-powered moves will actually make enough of a dent before Starmie tears them apart with Bubblebeam[[/note]]. It arguably acts as a much better InfinityMinusOneSword than Dragonite, due to having far more options and accessibility; Dragonite's only real viability for all that insane effort to obtain one is its high Attack stat allowing it to spam Wrap and fuel Hyper Beam, which, while not insignificant, is something Gyarados would probably have been able to already do much sooner.

* The Ralts line returns in this role, and is a Psychic/Fairy type now, giving it a boost. The two types complement themselves greatly, with the Fairy typing patching up its weaknesses to Bug and Dark as well as Psychic being strong against the Fairy-type's weakness to Poison. The only issue is Steel-types, and Dark-type moves are now neutral to them as well. With the Exp. Share, Ralts can now be [[MagikarpPower easily trained up in the background until it can take care of itself]]. Later in the game, the Gardevoirite can be obtained once you face the box art legendary, and Mega Gardevoir has a blistering 165 base Special Attack. You could solo the Elite Four with it alone (minus Steven) with just Psychic, Moonblast, Thunderbolt and Shadow Ball.

* A Heracross can be captured after the first gym, which by then you'll also have the Rock Smash HM, though using [[ScrappyMechanic honey]] to try to catch one requires a lot of patience. It has great gym match ups and coverage moves.

* In ''Platinum'', you can get the TM for Earthquake (a Ground-type move with 100 base power and 100% accuracy; its only real drawback is that it will also strike your ally in a Double Battle) after obtaining the second badge. All you have to do is find the hidden entrance to Wayward Cave underneath the Cycling Road and explore the cave. The hidden part of Wayward Cave is also the only place in the game where you can capture a [[MagikarpPower Gible]], a Ground/Dragon-type that will evolve into one of the best non-legendary Pokémon in the game. Gible is also quite strong for an unevolved Pokémon, makes great use of the Earthquake TM you'll find in the same cave you catch Gible in, and knows Dragon Rage upon capture, a move which will [[FixedDamageAttack always deal 40 HP worth of damage]], which will easily defeat most opponents in two hits for quite a while. And the moment Dragon Rage starts to become less effective, it will learn the powerful Dragon Claw move by itself.
** Hell, you could teach TM 26 Earthquake many other Pokemon quite early in the game. These include for STAB (e.g. Gligar) or for a coverage move (e.g. Cranidos, Gyarados, etc.)

* The Ralts line returns in this role, and is a Psychic/Fairy type now, giving it a boost. The two types complement themselves greatly, with the Fairy typing patching up its weaknesses to Bug and Dark as well as Psychic being strong against the Fairy-type's weakness to Poison. The only issue is Steel-types, and Dark-type moves are now neutral to them as well. With the Exp. Share, Ralts can now be [[MagikarpPower easily trained up in the background until it can take care of itself]]. Later in the game, the Gardevoirite can be obtained once you face the box art legendary, and Mega Gardevoir has a blistering 165 base Special Attack. You could solo the Elite Four with it alone (minus Steven) with Psychic, Moonblast, Thunderbolt and Shadow Ball.

* You can catch an Inkay just outside Professor Kukui's lab, and it can make the early game a breeze. It comes with the Contrary ability, which turns the million-and-a-half stat-reducing moves you'll be dealing with into stat boosts, and Reflect, which halves the damage dealt by Physical moves at a point where almost all the attacks you'll be dealing with are Physical. And a couple levels after that, it learns Foul Play, which is miles stronger than just about anything you'll have access to at that point. Its signature move, Topsy-Turvy, is also obtained relatively early on and is useful against any buff-happy opponents you come across; considering the games' storyline, you'll have plenty of opportunities to use it.

** The Nidoran line of each gender can still be caught west of Viridian City very early on, and evolve into Nidorina/Nidorino at level 16. With a Moon Stone found in Mt. Moon, one can get a Nidoqueen or Nidoking before the second Gym, and as a fully-evolved Pokémon with solidly above-average stats it will breeze through the early game, and pull its weight even in the later stages. In the past, their pitiful movesets were the only downside to this early evolution, though it could be made up with their ability to learn a wide variety of [=TMs=]. Here, in addition to great TM coverage, they learn additional moves by level up such as the powerful Megahorn and Superpower.

* Wishiwashi can be caught immediately once you reach the first Trial site on the second island. While its normal form is among the weakest of all Pokémon, upon reaching level 20 it gains access to its School Form as long as its HP is above 25%. Despite its low HP and speed, the rest of School Form's base stats are 130-140. Furthermore, the TM for Scald, one of the best Water-type moves in the game, can be found in the same route as Wishiwashi, and a Z-Move with Scald as its power reaches 160, one-shot almost anything that doesn't resist Water-type. The developers decided this was a bit excessive and moved the Scald TM all the way to Poni Island in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', requiring Wishiwashi to use Brine for the Hydro Vortex base until it gets Dive at level 30 or is tutored Aqua Tail on Ula'Ula Island.

** Taillow, knowing Boomburst or Brave Bird (the latter makes the 2nd gym a cakewalk), with both moves having extremely high base power early on in the game.

* A Rockruff with Own Tempo for its Ability was released via Wi-Fi at launch until January 10th, 2018. It comes with [[PlayingWithFire Fire Fang]] or Thunder Fang, two reasonably powerful moves for that point in the game, Happy Hour to give the player more money at the end of Trainer battles, and it can evolve into Dusk Lycanroc--which hits very hard with Tough Claws and moves very fast at base 110 speed. Its usefulness is offset by the extremely specific conditions under which it evolves (only between 5:00 and 5:59[[note]](p.m. in Ultra Sun, ''a.m.'' in Ultra Moon)[[/note]]) and the fact that its defenses are below average later in the game. Thankfully, it can breed to create more Own Tempo Rockruff, but those can never learn Happy Hour.

** Signal Beam, Giga Drain, and Fire Punch are available as soon as you get to Akala Island, all of which are strong moves and low BP costs that can be obtained easily with a few Mantine Surf runs.

* Before the fourth Gym, a Scyther can be caught in the National Park's Bug Catching Contest each Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Get one with the Technician ability (boosts the power of weaker moves) and it will power up Wing Attack on top of the STAB boost, as well as Quick Attack and Pursuit. This alone will allow Scyther to slice through most opponents without breaking a sweat. Further, you can acquire a Metal Coat from the wild Magnemite on Routes 38 and 39, trade Scyther holding it back and forth with a friend, and evolve it into [[MightyGlacier Scizor]]. With its Steel-type, [[KillItWithFire only one weakness]], and no notable Trainers that make primary use of the type, Scizor can clear house like nobody's business.

* Bagon have a 1% encounter rate in the wild on the first island. If you're lucky/patient enough to catch one, you can give it an Eviolite (boosts the defenses of Pokémon who haven't fully evolved) and have a strong MightyGlacier as a Shelgon until it fully evolves into [[InfinityMinusOneSword Salamence]]. If you [[LuckBasedMission really want to push your luck]], allow Bagon to call for help and there's a 1% chance it will call a Salamence that is 40 levels lower than when it naturally evolves. Salamence practically erases all early-game difficulty, as there's nothing that threatens a 600 BST Dragon/Flying 'Mon until the second Grand Trial and it can remain a quality party member into the endgame.

* With a bit of luck, it's possible to obtain a Nidoran (of either sex) with its Hidden Ability shortly after the second gym and obtain a Moon Stone to evolve it in the cave immediately afterwards for a Sheer Force Nidoqueen/king with plenty of moves that go with it.

* A Rockruff with Own Tempo for its Ability was released via Wi-Fi at launch until January 10th, 2018. It comes with Fire Fang or Thunder Fang, two reasonably powerful moves for that point in the game, Happy Hour to give the player more money at the end of Trainer battles, and it can evolve into Dusk Lycanroc--which hits very hard with Tough Claws and moves very fast at base 110 speed. Its usefulness is offset by the extremely specific conditions under which it evolves (only between 5:00 and 5:59[[note]](p.m. in Ultra Sun, ''a.m.'' in Ultra Moon)[[/note]]) and the fact that its defenses are below average later in the game. Thankfully, it can breed to create more Own Tempo Rockruff, but those can never learn Happy Hour.

* The TM awarded for beating Brock contains Headbutt, a 70 base power Normal-type move that can cause flinching with no drawbacks. The starter Eevee gets STAB damage using it and can steamroll anything that doesn't resist it through the next several areas, while it will be an upgrade to the early moveset of ''any'' decent physical attacker who can learn it since it can be used repeatedly.

* In the same area, you can find Whismur. It learns Uproar at Level 5, as a Normal-type move it gets STAB, and as of Generation V Uproar has a power of 90. The result, your little Level 5 Whismur can throw around 135 base-power attacks with no drawback, for three turns in a row, with the added benefit of being immune to Sleep while Uproar is active. If you're lucky you can find one with a Hidden Ability in the Horde that eventually becomes Scrappy when it becomes Exploud, allowing it hit Ghost-types with its Boomburst.

* ''The Teal Mask'' DLC can be played even before the main game is completed, as long as the Treasure Hunt has begun. Completing that part of the DLC gifts you Ogerpon, a Grass-type [[OlympusMons Legendary]] Pokémon with stats worthy of one (at 120 Attack and 110 Speed, nothing outspeeds it and those that do are still decked hard with an Ivy Cudgel) and the ability to hold Masks to change her type for each upcoming fight, with each mask having an advantage over a major battle[[note]]'''Teal Mask''' beats the Water Gym and Rock Titan, and counters the Electric Gym and False Dragon Titan; '''Hearthflame''' beats the Bug, Grass and Ice gyms and the Steel and Ground Titans (the latter only in ''Violet''), and counters Team Star's Ortega who uses Fairy; '''Wellspring''' beats the Rock and Ground Titans (the latter only in ''Scarlet''), as well as Team Star's Mela who uses Fire; and '''Cornerstone''' also beats Team Star's Mela, turns the matchup upside down against the Flying Titan, and counters the Normal Gym[[/note]]. The only problem is that you'll want to hold off on leveling her up fast since obedience requires you to have the appropriate number of badges, but once you know how to pace yourself, you'll have a mon that will clean up house, with with the sole exceptions being Team Star's Atticus (as Poison counters Grass and Cornerstone Mask's Rock-type turns it into a neutraility) and TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon (as the type variety will have you use your entire team in equal parts).

* Magikarp is typically available early in the game, usually as soon as you obtain the Old Rod. Although being the TropeNamer for MagikarpPower would suggest that it would take a long time to make Magikarp good, it actually evolves into the powerful [[LightningBruiser Gyarados]] at an early level 20, allowing you to slaughter your way through the competition starting from the early-mid game, and it still remains an exceptionally strong Pokémon even in the late game. While in earlier generations getting Magikarp to Level 20 actually took a lot of effort, successive generations made it increasingly easier to level up Pokémon you don't actively use in battle, making Gyarados a nuke you can easily access without much effort (like Bulldoze, Poison Jab, Thunderbolt, etc.).

* The Obsidian Fieldlands, the game's [[GreenHillZone first area]], has multiple Pokémon that evolve without level requirements including Scyther and Stantler, which have new Hisuian evolutions in Kleavor (evolved with a piece of Black Augerite which can be dropped by the Graveler near Oreburrow Tunnel) and Wyrdeer (evolved by using Psyshield Bash enough times), respectively. Catching and evolving them early will give you a heavy hitter who should trivialize most battles through the next area or two. Even if you don't have the rank for full obedience of these Pokemon yet, catching higher level Pokemon in this area first thing like Beautifly and Starraptor (Who have levels in the 40s) can also help with gaining bursts of EXP of your team.