Top 5: Galar Pokémon

Pokémon Sword and Shield has been out now for a while, but I needed quite a bit longer to finally complete my pokedex. Now that, that is done it is time to rank them. Which ones do I love the most. To keep the feelings of as many pokémon possible safe, we are only going to use pokémon (currently) exclusive to the Galar region, so tyrogue doesn’t have to worry how I feel about it or feel bad that it did not make the cut. That being said I love waaaaay more pokémon than just these five. Gen VIII did a great job in coming up with new pokémon. My method of selecting my favorites is not based on anything in particular, just my general love for them. One can enter the list because it’s adorable or because I really want to use it in competitive play all the same. So let’s get started with my number 5.

Number 5: Dracovish

Galar has THE best fossil pokémon in the entire series. Conceptually at the very least. Of course this not include lord helix, praise be to lord helix, father of all. Archeops had always been my favorite fossil pokémon and that had a very bad ability but now there is an amazing pokémon, with an even more amazing ability. Dracovish is such a derpy looking pokémon that endears me to it. It looks .. and basically is .. a fish head on a dragon’s body, and while it probably suffers just from existing.. man do I just want to give it a hug and yell out that wonderfully pun-like attack of his. First let me explain it’s existence a bit. Normally fossil resurrectors are respected scientists who revive your fossil with the respect it deserves. In Galar all fossils are in bad quality and have broken in half. The fossil scientist rather than letting you find two matching pieces to resurrect lets you  created 4 sets of mis matches from the dinosaur fossil, the dragon fossil, the bird fossil and the fish fossil. You can not combine two fish fossils, no sir.. you can only make a fish combo with the dinosaur and the dragon. if you choose the dragon and the fish…we get Dracovish. 

On first glance he seems a bit mediocre with a 505 base stat jack of all trade. However he actually has a solid enough speed stat which makes him a viable target for a choice scarf. This makes Dracovish completely broken and OP. You see it gets the move Fishious Rend (I love that name) a Water Type bite attack that has an 85 base power that doubles if you strike first. Now a 170 base power move is already impressive for a physical attack but this little fishy also gets access to the ability Strong Jaw, which increases the the power of biting type moves by 50% .. this effect applies after doubling. So now the move is a crazy 255 base power. I think I have not mentioned yet that Dracovish is a Water-Dragon type yet. even though it might have seemed obvious. This means Dracovish gets the Same Type Attack Bonus on Fishious Rend increasing it with another 50% occuring after Strong Jaw. Meaning this move.. when outspeeding a pokémon is 380 (I think there is no 2 option) THis already makes it one of the strongest moves in the game..but it gets even better. In Galar setting the weather to rain is extremely easy due to Dynamax Water pokémon setting up on default, the wild area featuring a lot of rain and the fact that there is plenty of rain users. Inside the rain.. the power of water moves is increased by another 50% making the base-power of Dracovish in competitive a terrifying 570. The strongest move we ever saw in a pokémon game. Set your EV’s to attack and speed, equip it with a Sash and it can even oneshot plenty of pokémon that resist the attack. What can I say.. I really love when powerhouses look this derpy.

Number 4:  Wooloo

Luckily this pokémon needs a lot less explanation why I like it so much, it’s just cute as a button and I wish it was real. Wooloo has been done to death in memes, which is a sign that is generally well liked. While I am not the biggest fan of it’s evolution I really like how gamefreak made Wooloo such a staple of the Galar region. Up until the first gym, which is about two hours into the game they are everywhere. They play a big role in Galar and they are just too adorable to ignore. Wooloo are able to walk but their preferred method of traveling is rolling up as a fluffy ball and tumbling into objects they want out of their way or rolling around to their destination of choice. It is just so cute. To an extend  Hop (your main rival) even gets a bit of a story arc. We see it from being his beloved pokémon, to being outcast because Hop needs power, when Bede makes him lose his way. We see Wooloo being swapped of Hop’s team and feel the painful decision he had to make. As a pokémon player at one point or another you could make the choice between power and friendship with your pokemon.. and most of us will at least at one point have chosen power instead.

Wooloo is that one pokemon we all actually really love but still cast aside to have a better team. Luckily eventually Hop gets him back and will after that always use Dubwool (the evolution) as the first pokémon he sends out. (Protip..it rarely has non normal moves.. so when fighting Hop lead a set-up/buffing ghost and you will always win) showing he chose his love for pokemon over his desire to wield the strongest. This little arc made me so happy for that little pokémon that I loved it even more. I am currently in the process of Shiny Hunting a Wooloo, because it’s shiny looks amazing. Wooloo is great.
Grookey is Green, Sobble is Blue. Wooloo I love… Woolooloo and now you love it too!

Number 3 : Galarian Rapidash

I thought this would become my favorite pokémon ever when I saw Galarian Ponyta and while it really loved it, it did not resonate with me as much as it could have had. It’s face is just a bit to smug and it just isn’t as lovable as i would have wanted. That being said it’s still an amazing pokémon. It can learn such a wide moveset that it is completely customisable.  During my run I ran with a very unbalanced team, (lots of fairies, heavy poison weakness , few steel counters) but my Galarian Rapidash covered for that. It ran with a psychic type, ground type, electric type and dark type move. Covering all it’s own weaknesses plus electricity for fun. A solid physical attack that looks pretty and elegant and best of all is a unicorn! I mean I can tell you about it’s abilities , how it’s a great scout when you run it with anticipation, or how pastel veil which protects all your pokemon from poison, makes it great for double battle. Yet thats not why it is on my list. It is here because it is a unicorn. I could tell you that it can also run, fire, bug grass, fairy and normal moves and has plenty of set-up utility as well so it’s a very versatile to use pokémon. Yet it is on this list for no other reason than that it is a unicorn.  I could tell you about it’s pale white shiny which kind of makes it look like the pale horse, the horseman death rides upon at the time of the apocalypse. Yet .. unicorn. I could tell you that it’s a unicorn but …. oh.. I guess I am finished with this bit.

Truth be told Galarian Rapidash is something you either love or hate. It not a high tier pokemon for competitive but it’s a wonderfully customisable pokemon that you can truly make it  your own. I love this in a pokémon but at the same time Galarian Rapidash falls into that same trap hole all those others do. It doesn’t have a lot of flavoring on its own thus I will always end up really liking these kind of pokemon but they can never be my number one.  But hey it’s design goes a long way for me, I can have my rainbow unicorn.. and that rainbow also applies to it’s typings.

Number 2: Polteageist

Half of my team I used for the last chunk of the game , came from Glimwood Tangle. A mysterious fairy tale forest that holds some incredibly powerful and useful pokémon. Honourable mention goes to Hattrem and Hatterene who are incredibly powerful pokémon. Yet these two I will save for another post on Galar coming up in the near future. Another Glimwood Tangle pokemon I liked was Sinistea. A cute little teacup pokemon that can evolve into a teapot when you pour it’s tea into .. a teapot. When it evolves into said teapot it becomes my favorite ghost type ever and to boot my favorite teapot ever.  Polteageist is a beast of a pokémon very much suited for competitive play. I named my Polteageist Earl Grave…after the tea..but dead. I ran it with a simple said, Willow Wisp to cause burns and harm their physical damage , which Polteageist can be vulerable too. Shell Smash to boost my offensive and speed stats in trade for lowering my defence, Giga Drain for recovery and Shadow Ball for STAB raw attack power. However I did not realise Polteageist’s true potential yet.

You see if you take it to the move reminder it can learn the move Stored Power. A psychuc type move that upgrades for each stat boost you get.  Since this pokemon has the ability weak armor, which buff’s it speed but lowers it defence for each hit it takes, it is quite easy to buff out already. Shell Smash however raises 3 stats. So in a single turn you can already power this move up by A LOT. Willow Wisp helps it survive some hits, and give you even more boosts. It can sweep entire teams if you manage to swap it into a sleeping pokemon or just be a bt creative with t. While it doesn’t have the best shiny in the game, it does have a PINK shiny which makes shiny hunting well worth it ..for me at least. Wether you are a competitive battler o collector of cute pokémon, this mon definitely will be your cup of tea.

Number 1: Allcreamie

It isn’t that competitively it doesn’t have a vey wide moveset, it doesn’t even have a very nice shiny it doesn’t fit it’s theme very well. It’s also NOT a unicorn. Yet for reasons I can not  fully explain I adore this little whipped cream pokémon. I just love it’s design, it’s cry, it’s mannerisms it’s flavoring.My love for the pokémon started early when it was announced. A desert pokémon that is a fairy type that you can decorate and give a sort of custom look .. seemed quite amazing.  Since then my love only deepened. I encountered my Whippy.. my beloved Allcreamie on Route 4 near the first gym..still a Milcery back then. The cutest little cream pokémon. Reading up about it I immediately fell in love with it’s evolution method. You give it sweet to decorate it with.. then while it is dancing with joy, you spin around…to whip that blob of cream. Depending on how long you spin , when you spin , what direction you spin and more you can give it different types of flavors and colourings. It’s amazing, it’s fairly european, it’s cute and completely unique to allcreamie.

This most likely will also mean that this might be the only game it will be in, unless you transfer it. Galar is all about dramatic poses and the spin will allow your character to do that.. Jojo Style. If you can not spin in the next game… maybe we can not get 28 different varieties of Allcreamie.   I already fear this saying something about how much I like this pokemon. It has been my most trusty companion on my pokémon journey and has a nice enough moveset. If I could take any pokemon from the game and make it real, I would choose Whippy. I would choose it over wooloo or over my unicorn. When I choose a bowl of whipped cream over a unicorn or a floofy ball off love, that whipped Cream is something truly scrumptious, even if I can not fully explain why. I guess that’s just how love works sometimes.