The basic premise of Pokémon never really changes. Catch ‘em all. Win all the battles. In doing that, trainers are bound to come across some Pokémon that may not be the most…shall we say, useful? And yet, we know that a lot of Pokémon take a bit of work and TLC and eventually you’ll have yourself something that can really shine whether that’s in battle or just in your collection to show off to your friends. This is a list of just that; twenty horrible Pokémon that you can’t wait to evolve.
Before we jump in, I do want to clarify: horrible is a phrase used fairly loosely here. I mean, what first stage Pokémon in a three stage evolutionary line is going to be stellar, you know? That being said, I am going to have to bag on them just a little bit. It’s nothing personal, just the fact that their fully evolved forms are cooler, more desirable, and generally all around better. Got that? Cool.
Let’s jump right in.
20 Pidgey
We’re going to start this list off with the simplest of simple, the most basic of basic, a Pokémon that won the title of “first ever encountered” for so many of us all those years ago; Pidgey. Aside from the simple fact that you encounter it so early, there’s not much of an argument that can be made for Pidgey itself. It’s frail, it’s delicate, and it’s not going to do you many favors in the Pewter City gym.
Pidgey’s final evolved form, Pidgeot, though? That’s reason in and of itself to pick up a Pidgey as soon as you step out of Pallet Town. On top of just being pretty imposing and badass as the granddaddy OG of early game flying types, Generation Six grants Pidgeot a Mega Evolution, a gift that lets it shine in the Overused tier of the Pokémon metagame especially in Generation Seven. When it comes to badass bird Pokémon, if we discount legendaries then Pidgeot easily reigns supreme.
19 Zubat
Zubat is that friend that’s always around when you never ever want them to be. Always in your face, never able to take a hint, and somehow always able to get off that exact Supersonic that’s enough to make you rage quit. Even its second evolution, Golbat, is silly looking and equally as annoying, more often than not being tied to some in-game villain or something like that. So you may be wondering; why is Zubat on this list?
Well to be honest, if it stopped at Golbat, it wouldn’t be here. But Gold and Silver gave us the chance to treat that big mouthed bat to a bit of friendship and introduced us to a much cooler final evolution, Crobat. From the sheer aesthetic differences between Golbat and Crobat, you can see why it would be worth the time of any trainer who felt the need to snag a Zubat when they saw one. The thing is a bit of a speed demon, too, letting it really put the hurt on anything unfortunate enough to come up against it in battle. Zubat is annoying. Crobat makes it worth it.
18 Gastly
Gastly isn’t horrible, it just falls victim to the same fate that so many on this list suffer: it’s not really great. It’s an easy catch, and training him may take a bit of work to get him up to level 25 where he evolves into Haunter. From there, though, you had to whip out your link cable back in the day, have mom drop you off at your friend’s house, and trade your Haunter away before forcing your friend to trade back that iconic purple mass of awesome that has a spot in practically everyone’s list of favorite Pokémon.
Gengar is a worthwhile investment and addition onto any team. It’s fast, and packs a pretty damn impressive base 130 special attack as well. Not to mention it just looks cool, too. I mean, that grin could make any trainer quake in their boots. As if Gengar wasn’t badass enough, X and Y introduced Mega Gengar into the fray, giving Gengar an impressive stat boost that earns him a spot in the Uber tier of the competitive metagame, which is the highest tier possible. Whenever Gengar is a candidate for your team, it’s no wonder you want to get him leveled up as fast as you can.
17 Torchic
Let me just go ahead and warn you all right now; if I ever get my hands on a Pokémon related article where I can talk about this Pokémon I absolutely will, because this evolutionary line leads to my all-time favorite. Why, then, would I consider Torchic to be horrible? Well, here’s the thing: regardless of whether you picked up Ruby or Sapphire, Torchic was always the worst starter to opt for. Team Magma specialized in rounding their teams of usual Pokémon villain staples with fire types where Mudkip would have been so much more useful, and Team Aqua boasted water types where Treecko would have excelled. In terms of gym leader progression too, there’s no logical justification of starting with a Torchic; there’s nothing it’s going to truly shine against until about the fifth gym, by which time you will have hopefully gotten him past level sixteen and evolved into a Combusken and taught him a fighting move or two.
By level thirty-six, though, your Combusken will evolve into what I’m going to hail as the most badass Pokémon of all, Blaziken. Blaziken boasts an impressive base attack of 120, and a special attack trailing not too far behind at 110, meaning you have options when it comes to setting it up as a physical or special attacker. With the right moveset and strategic thinking, Blaziken can plow through practically anything, and when you’re in a pinch, Blaziken’s mega evolution grants it a speed boost each turn and sends its attack stat through the roof. I don’t know about the rest of you, but whenever I fire up a Generation Three game, Blaziken stays in that first slot of my team at all times.
16 Beldum
Beldum, the starting form of one of Hoenn’s two psuedo-legendaries, is only available after you beat the Elite Four and its champion the first time around, gifted to you in Mossdeep City. Beldum is rough, because it has only one move: take down. Without the rock head ability to nullify recoil damage, that’s not going to keep it in the fight very long. I don’t know how though, but after slamming itself into other Pokémon over and over again it ends up evolving into Metang at level twenty, which opens up more move options (thank goodness) to make the grind up to level 45 hopefully a little bit easier.
When you finally get there, Metagross is a force to be reckoned with, as if you didn’t get that from him being the cornerstone of Champion Steven’s team, the chance to have one on your side will definitely bring you around. Metagross may be a bit on the slow side, but what it lacks in speed it makes up for in durability in the form of high defense and power in the form of a high attack stat. If that’s still not enough for you, throw in a mega evolution to really ruin your opponent’s day.
15 Tyrunt
Pokémon’s fossil game was always a little odd to me, and with the exception of Aerodactyl, I was never really sold on any of the fossil Pokémon; nothing ever really struck me as something that I absolutely had to have. Then a certain fossil based evolution line came around and finally gave us what I think every region’s fossil maniac was looking for: a fossil Pokémon based off of a dang T-rex. It’s so simple, I have no idea why they didn’t do it in generation one. Once you revive Tyrunt from a jaw fossil and level it up to 39 during the day, the little runt will evolve into one of the coolest Pokémon in the game.
And if you’re going to have a Tyrantrum in your party for any reason at all, I bet nine times out of ten it will be because he’s just so damn cool. A tyrannosaurus with a unique rock and dragon typing, this beast has a sturdy defense stat to compliment its massive attack, allowing it to be a physical powerhouse with the right moveset. This is without a doubt the type of Pokémon we want to see coming out of fossils from here on out.
14 Jangmo-o
Oh look, another pseudo-legendary. I told you you were going to see them, and Sun and Moon’s end game three stage Pokémon is up to bat. Jangmo-o is a little different in that the level that you find them at in Vast Poni Canyon is generally pretty high, so it doesn’t take long to get it to evolve from its weaker form to its second evolution Hakamo-o. From there, it’s usually not many more levels till a Kommo-o is yours.
With a unique dragon and fighting typing, Kommo-o can round off any team by filling the role of jack of all trades. Its stats are the most well-rounded out of all the pseudo-legendaries meaning it’s versatile and that’s great news for any trainer. On top of that, it’s super imposing to look at which makes catching a Jangmo-o and training it up that much more worth it.
13 Magikarp
Let’s be real, you read the title of this article and knew that this Pokémon would show up SOMEWHERE on the list, right? Of course you did. We know how it goes. Old Rod it up in literally any body of water and up comes a Magikarp for you to love and call your own and yell at it to splash, tackle, or flail as much as your little heart desires all the way up to level 20.
Now, straight out the level twenty gate, Gyarados may still only be strapped with Splash, Tackle and Flail, but dangit you’ve got yourself a Gyarados and if that’s not worth something then why are we even playing Pokémon in the first place, right? And that’s exactly why Magikarp/Gyarados makes this list; it’s a testament to the spirit of the game by training weak Pokémon to meet their potential. And when their potential is a wicked looking sea serpent, well more power to ya.
12 Eevee
If Magikarp wasn’t your first thought on this list, then maybe it was Eevee? You know, potential to evolve into a bajillion different evolutionary forms is a pretty impressive potential. One so impressive that you may even wonder “Why bother keeping Eevee as it is? Might as well evolve it immediately and then start training so I can have it doing what I need it to do as soon as possible.”
And what you need it to do can be literally almost anything. From choosing a Jolteon to deal with type coverage to Sylveon as one of your primary special attackers, Eevee reigns supreme when it comes to versatility with its evolutions and as long as whatever special conditions your evolution of choice requires are met (be it an evolutionary stone or maxing out a stat at a certain time of day) evolving Eevee can be done exceptionally quickly. If you have holes in your team you need to fill, an Eevee-lution can always be considered.
11 Lotad
While I may be a bit more partial to Lotad’s cousin Pokémon, the Ruby version-specific Seedot and its evolutionary line, Lotad makes the list for a reason I’ll get to momentarily. More to the point, you start finding Lotads very early on in Sapphire, and they aren’t all that impressive fighters at level 3. Or beyond that really, and even after they hit level 14 and evolve into Lombre, it’s still not going to pack that much of a punch against anything,
Once your Lombre is substantially leveled and learned some decent moves, however, take a water stone to it and see what Ludicolo, as ridiculous of a Pokémon as it is, can do for your team. While on paper it may not look like much and it doesn’t really have much of a place in the metagame, I’ve battled my own teams against enough Ludicolos to know that these Pokémon are sturdy. With a decent defense and a slightly better special defense coupled with its Water/Grass typing, it’s only hit super effectively by flying moves, poison moves, and bug type moves and if you don’t have a Pokémon on your team that has a flying move in its set, then you probably won’t have either of the other two either. If you’re a fan of weird Pokémon and can appreciate a decent defense against all of the more common offensive types, Lotad is a Pokémon worth training and evolving.
10 Larvitar
Make no mistake, you’ll be seeing a couple of endgame three stage pseudo-legendaries on this list. Larvitar is first up, and this little one’s bark is much worse than its bite. While there’s something to be said about its tough looking exterior, this Pokémon requires a lot of work to get it where you want it. Its base stats are kind of lousy (but that’s to be expected with any first stage), so it’s really not going to work in your favor if you think your Larvitar is going to bring you to the top. Put in the work to get it to level 30 where it will evolve into a Pupitar, then get ready to grind out twenty five more levels to get to the real prize.
Once your Pupitar hits level 55, Tyranitar is all yours for you to run amok with. To say that Tyranitar is a powerhouse is a bit of an understatement. I mean, look at the thing; it doesn’t really leave anything up to speculation about what it will do to you if you mess with it, and most of its Pokédex entries mention something about its ability to bring down mountains just because. Tyranitar is also fortunate enough to have a Mega Evolution, as if between the design and the sheer satisfaction of finally evolving one we needed any other reason to pick up this second generation all star.
9 Gible
Do you believe what I was saying about those Pseudo-legendaries yet?
Gible isn’t as horrible as Beldum, but it’s nothing spectacular either, which is annoying considering the amount of work you have to put in to get to that secret entrance of the Wayward Cave in Sinnoh region. Even then, walking out of the Wayward Cave with a Gible in hand is only half the battle; you have to grind him up same as the rest of your party, so be prepared. It evolves into Gabite at level 24, and 24 levels later then you’ll be in business.
The ace of the Sinnoh league champion’s team, you know Garchomp is not to be messed with. Just look at the thing. I call a lot of other Pokémon imposing for lack of a better word, but out of all the pseudo-legendaries this one definitely takes the title of most imposing of all. It’s all teeth and scythes and on top of that it’s a dragon/ground type which goes so nicely with its high speed, high attack, and high HP stats. Not surprisingly, it also has a mega evolution. Not that it needs one to run train on anything unfortunate enough to cross it.
8 Trapinch
Trapinch is a test of patience and endurance that pays off in dividends if you aren’t interested in waiting till late game for you to snag yourself a dragon type. There’s one thing in particular that makes Trapinch insufferable, though; it has a lousy base speed of 10, and even if you manage to convince yourself that can be mitigated with its not too shabby base attack stat of 100, you’re still probably going to find yourself rushing to a Pokémon Center time after time. That's because it really has a hard time making it to level 35, where it will evolve into the more tolerable Vibrava and stay as such for another ten levels.
Flygon is a very cool Pokémon; neat enough that Drake, Hoenn’s Dragon master, sees fit to stay strapped with two in his party. It’s pretty versatile and has some decent stats that may not let it shine terribly brightly in the metagame, but lets it hold its own just fine in story-related stuff, and sometimes that’s reason enough to pick up a certain Pokémon. Its movepool is wide, which lets it hit a wide amount of foes (if you see fit), and to top it all off it’s got the same typing as Garchomp. While it may not be pseudo-legendary status, it’s still worth something, and infinitely better than its pre-evolved form Trapinch.
7 Larvesta
Larvesta is also a testament to patience and my god, what a grind it is to reach your prize here. Its typing is cool enough: the bug/fire thing is pretty different and pretty neat for trainers not afraid to try something new. The problem with Larvesta isn’t its mediocre stat distribution (which we’d honestly expect from any unevolved or low level Pokémon) but rather the fact that it just takes so long to level. Evolving at level 59, it has the longest time between evolutions out of any Pokémon in the series. That’s saying something.
For anyone patient enough to put the work into raising this little Pokémon up that high, Volcarona is a pretty awesome trophy. Decent speed, an amazing special attack stat, and access pretty threatening sweeper in the metagame’s Overused tier as long as you manage to switch it into something it can easily take on.
6 Abra
We know this story and we know it well. Abra’s a pain in the ass to catch, and a pain to try and train as well. Only knowing teleport means you’re definitely going to have to dip into your TMs and HMs otherwise you’re going to be starting with Abra and switching him out all the way up to level 16. From there, Kadabra does a better job of being more useful, but consider keeping him at this stage till it’s learned some of the more impressive moves of its set, then break out that link cable once again; you’re going to need to trade him away before you can get your Alakazam.
Alakazam is a too impressive to ignore, even when Gary… er, Blue, had one as the Elite Four champion in the first generation games, and it stayed on his team throughout the series since. And why not? Alakazam has a ridiculous special attack that only gets boosted after it mega evolves, making it another massive threat in the OU metagame. If you come against an Alakazam, try and take it down quick. If it sticks around long enough it could cause you a lot of trouble.
5 Honedge
Honedge is an alright Pokémon at best. It’s highly defensive, has a really cool steel/ghost typing, and is a freaking sword. But, unfortunately, that’s about it. Ground types and fire types can hit it really hard and there isn’t all that much it will be able to do about it. Still, if you can hold on and get it to level 35, it will evolve into Doublade. From there, keep training and when you’re ready use a dusk stone on it and watch the magic unfold.
What makes Aegislash amazing is the fantastic ability Stance Change. In Base Mode, its defense and special defense are insane and in Blade Mode its attack and special attack go through the roof. This type of versatility and the ability to switch between modes during battle makes for an incredibly adaptable and wickedly versatile Pokémon with an awesome typing and awesome design. It’s no wonder it's earned itself a spot in the metagame’s highest Uber tier.
4 Bagon
I won’t even comment, I’ll just get right into it. Bagon suffers the same fate of the other pseudo-legendaries in that it’s a late game find that doesn’t reach its final evolution until a relatively high level and takes tons of work to get to. That’s what makes training Bagon so difficult; its moveset is fine, it just takes a whole damn lot of work. Also, it has the lowest special defense of any dragon type. That kind of sucks. At level 30, Bagon evolves into Shelgon, and it’s a twenty level grind from there till your newly evolved Salamence.
Hoenn Region’s Elite Four dragon trainer Drake has a Salamence as the ace of his team, and it’s also personally my dragon type of choice (have you noticed I’m heavily biased towards Hoenn Pokémon?) Fully evolved, its attack is monstrously high and when mega evolved it turns into an even more vicious Uber tier sweeper with generous buffs to attack, defense, special attack, and speed. That’s not a bad tradeoff considering its mega evolved form looks a little silly.
3 Wimpod
When it comes to Pokémon and you ask “what’s in a name?” I’ll point you to Wimpod. Not only does the little thing look helpless, its ability is called “Wimp Out.” If your Wimpod’s health falls below half, it will automatically switch out during battle. Not exactly a shining example of bravery and courage. Then again, if your Wimpod is fortunate enough to be one of the little Wimpods that could and makes it to level 30, it evolves into Golisopod, which at least looks cooler and packs a bit more punch.
Golisopod isn’t really the best, but it’s got a high attack and defense, meaning it can dish out physical attacks and take a bit of physical punishment too. Plus it looks way cool, and in the world of Pokémon that’s always worth something. Is it a must catch? Nah. In fact, you may get enough entertainment just from dealing with Guzma’s Golisopod the couple of times that you do. Still, I figured I’d give some of the later games some love too. They deserve it.
2 Ralts
Ralts is Abra in a lot of ways. It's psychic type, you find them pretty early on despite being relatively elusive, and it's tough to train up; though less tough in that Ralts can actually learn some moves, and getting Confusion on one can work wonders in Brawly’s gym in Dewford town. Ralts evolves into Kirlia at level 20, and at level 30 things get interesting.
Kirlia has the option of evolving into either Gardevoir if leveled up, or into Gallade if your Kirlia is male and is exposed to a Dawn Stone and both are pretty awesome. Gallade has a high attack stat to complement its half fighting typing and its special defense is pretty good too. Gardevoir boasts a high special attack and special defense so if you want either or on your team you can get some pretty good coverage. Though I guess there’s really nothing stopping you from picking up both. Oh, and did I mention they both have mega evolutions? Talk about spoiled.
1 Feebas
Ah, Feebas. The Pokémon universe’s Ugly Duckling story. Except you have to tear your hair out trying to find this duckling before you were able to do what you needed to do to it to get it to evolve. Feebas’s big thing was how elusive it was, and back in the day when the internet wasn’t riddled with videos that showed you exactly where to be to catch one, finding that one specific water tile in on Hoenn’s Route 119 was so incredibly unlikely. Of course, if you persevered and nabbed yourself one, you knew you had to max out that beauty stat. From generation five onwards, simply trading one with a Prism Scale did the trick and really, that seems a whole lot less rewarding.
Milotic is an incredible reward, with such a high special defense that made trying to take it down with special attacks quite the challenge. On top of that, its special attack is enough to put some serious hurt down too, a trait that is pretty easy for any good trainer to take advantage of. Of all the Pokémon on this list, Milotic is a lot of work to try and get, but once you have one you’re definitely going to want to brag about it.