Trapinch, Vibrava, Flygon (SM)

I have nothing to say.

Location: Haina Desert (Sand Ambushes)

## Stats, Evolutions

Trapinch was one of the hardest Pokémon to use back in the 3rd gen. It was grossly underleveled (you get it at level 21 max, and you just fought Flannery, who had Pokémon in the very late 20's). If you have the patience to train it up, Flygon was not that bad, but its level-up movepool undermines it. Trapinch was (and still is) very frail. Lots of attack, very little of everything else. Its speed in particular is horrid. ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING outspeeds it (except for Pyukumuku and Munchlax). But as frail as it may be, it can do quite a bit of damage if its attacks manage to connect. Plus, you don't have to wait as much for it to evolve as in RSE and B2W2, four levels or so.

Speaking of its evolution: It evolves into Vibrava at level 35. Its stats obviously get better, but its attack stat goes from great to mediocre. What a shame, but it's kinda understandable. Vibrava, unfortunately, is only slightly better than the first-stage starters. You don't have to wait for long until it evolves into Flygon, though.

It does so at level 45. 10 levels away, but because of the level spike at the Aether Foundation, they go by rather quickly. Flygon finally has stats befitting a final-stage Pokémon, and they're quite balanced too. Most of its stats are the same, except for its attack and speed, which are really good.

## Movepool, Abilities, Typing

Trapinch got em moves. All of the moves it already has are good, except for Feint, which is situational and even in that certain situation it's a terrible move. At level 33 it gets Earthquake, easily the best attack for its line. That's all it gets before evolving, although you can hold it off and have it get Sandstorm at level 36.

Vibrava also gets Sandstorm at the same level. Upon evolving, it gets Dragon Breath, a move that gets STAB from Vibrava's newfound dragon typing, but it won't do much damage because it's a special move that uses its inferior special attack stat. It also gets Uproar and Hyper Beam, two moves that are still special moves, although quite powerful. But if you hold its evolution off until level 47, it gets Boomburst, the most powerful special attack in the game with no drawbacks. Its special attack is still subpar, but evolution boosts it into the average category.

Flygon can get Dragon Rush and Dragon Claw too if you hold its evolution until level 47. Combine it with Earthquake, which it ~~must~~ may already have, and now you know how to wreck the rest of the game. That's all it gets, though.

Don't bother about Trapinch for TM moves since you'll be babying it instead of using it to battle. Vibrava gets quite a bit of physical moves to make up for its special-focused level up movepool; U-turn, Rock Slide, Rock Tomb, Facade, Bulldoze, Steel Wing, Fly... Flygon gets some interesting moves that Vibrava can't get, but except for Roost, Dragon Tail, and maybe Flamethrower + Sunny Day none of them are particularly worthwhile.

Trapinch's abilities are Hyper Cutter (Can't lower its attack), and Arena Trap (Traps the opponent unless they're airborne). Arena Trap is the better one, clearly. Its evolutions get Levitate, which makes them immune to ground moves, and it's a great ability.

Trapinch's type is pure ground. It's a great typing, but Trapinch's fraility holds that back. Its evolutions are ground/dragon. Aside from that 4x weakness to Ice, it's not a bad typing, and it has two immunities with Levitate. Shame that it resists so little things.

## Important battles

USE IT USE IT USE IT.

* Nanu: But not here, though, because Flygon will still be a Vibrava, although Nanu doesn't exactly have strong Pokémon, and Vibrava has Earthquake. You're still better off using a Fighting or Bug type.
* Hapu: Not only it's immune to Ground moves, it can hit two of her Pokémon super-effectively! A great choice for this fight.
* Totem Kommo-o: Flygon will outspeed it, and it can hit Kommo-o super-effectively. You should still be careful, because Kommo-o has a lot of defense and it can hit Flygon super-effectively too with Clanging Scales, which hurts quite a bit. Still, you should consider it.
* Hala: Decent, but Primeape has Outrage and Crabominable has Ice Hammer. You should teach it Aerial Ace or Fly if you want to use it here THAT badly.
* Olivia: Pretty much the same as Kommo-o, except they're rock-types, and it's a team of five. Be wary of Carbink though, because it has Moonblast, although it won't do too much damage because of Carbink's poor special attack.
* Acerola: If you still have Crunch, it's safe to use it, otherwise it's just okay. Froslass outspeeds Flygon if they're at the same level, and since Froslass has Ice-type STAB moves...
* Kahili: It's already a problem since all of her Pokémon are flying-types, so Flygon can't use Earthquake until all of the birds' wings clip. The main problem is Skarmory, who completely walls Flygon with its typing and impossibly high defenses.
* Kukui: Flygon can hit Lycanroc, Incineroar and Magnezone super-effectively and do decently against its other Pokémon. Avoid Ninetales, though.

## Conclusion

Make it evolve early, give it easy access to powerful moves like Earthquake and Dragon Claw, et voila, you've fixed every significant problem with these dragonfly thing critters in previous games, and SM does just that. It's still not perfect, but it's pretty good at everything it does remotely well. Great option.

Rating: 85%