Pokemon is usually a what-you-see-is-what-you-get affair. Most Pokemon species come in a package everyone is familiar with and can identify. However, some Pokemon have the ability to mix things up with different forms that not only have different designs, but can do different things on the battlefield.

RELATED: Every Starter Pokemon Mega Evolution, Ranked

While most Pokemon with form differences are Legendary or Mythical, this list will shine the spotlight on the little guys. Some non-Legendary Pokemon nonetheless stand out with different forms, whether permanent or interchangeable within a battle. These fourteen have it the best, with certain form differences that make a bigger difference than others, some of them even giving their species notable competitive viability.

Updated February 15, 2023 by Kyle Laurel: Say what you will about their designs, but a few new Scarlet and Violet Pokemon came with multiple forms to their name, functionally different in their own right. Here's an updated list with entries for some of the strongest multi-form Pokemon to date.

This list will not include regional variants, Mega Evolutions, Gigantamax forms, or Terastalized forms.

15 Squawkabilly

squawkabilly green plumage in open world, pokemon scarlet and violet

Aesthetically, Squawkabilly comes in four forms, but in terms of battling capabilities, it practically only has two. Even then, the differences between the two battling builds are quite minimal.

Paldea's Flying Taxi comes in four colors, or "plumages": green, blue, yellow, and white, each with their own lore, personality, and rarity according to the PokeDex. However, their only real battling difference is their hidden abilities, and two plumages share one each; green and blue get Guts, while yellow and white get Sheer Force. When looking at viability, this does give you room to play with different sets involving either of the hidden abilities, but the plumage really doesn't matter if you're going with Hustle or Intimidate.

14 Cramorant

Cramorant devouring a Pikachu in Pok

Cramorant has a bunch of different forms that work in tandem with its Gulp Missile ability. The easy way to explain it is to use Surf or Dive, get a Pokemon caught in your throat, take a hit, and spit the Pokemon at your attacker for some extra damage.

What that Pokemon is depends on the Cramorant's health. If Cramorant has at least half of its HP, it catches an Arrokuda, which, when hurled at an attacker, drops their Defense by a stage alongside the extra damage. If its HP is below half, Cramorant catches a Pikachu, which inflicts paralysis on an attacker instead of a Defense drop.

13 Basculegion

Pokemon Legends Arceus Trailer 2 Hisuian Hisui

Basculin’s Hisuian evolution is just one example of a Pokemon with functionally significant gender differences, with Meowstic, Indeedee, and Oinkologne also deserving mentions. Male and female Basculegion differ not only in design, but in stats as well.

While they share the same base stat total, male Basculegion is a better physical attacker, while female is a better special attacker.

Although there are certainly merits to using either form, male is generally better, as it is more specialized in its respective attacking category (112 Attack), and most of the best moves in Basculegion can learn are physical (Wave Crash, Aqua Jet, etc.).

12 Minior

minior

Minior's stats during a battle are very dependent on the form it takes on, which is either the Meteor Form or Core Form. That's a product of its Shields Down ability, and, in turn, is also dependent on whether its HP is above or below half.

RELATED: JRPG Creatures That Could Be Pokemon

Minior starts a battle in its Meteor Form, which is a purely defensive form (high Defense and Special Defense). As the battle goes on and its HP drops to below half, it breaks out and turns into its Core Form, which is a purely offensive form (high Attack, Special Attack, and Speed).

11 Tatsugiri

A trio of Tatsugiri stand on grass by the water

Tatsugiri comes in three different-colored and shaped forms: Curly, Droopy, and Stretchy, and all three can be found at Casseroya Lake. While the differences between the three are purely aesthetic if you use them in a Singles battle, that’s not the case if either one is used alongside Dondozo in a double battle.

The form affects which of Dondozo’s stats is boosted when Dondozo uses Order Up with it in its mouth (via the Commander ability); a Curly Tatsugiri boosts Attack, Droopy Defense, and Stretchy Speed.

Tatsugiri and Dondozo have become early Doubles favorites among competitive players, thanks to the massive boost the former gives to the latter.

10 Gourgeist

Anime XYZ Kalos Super Large Small

The first spectrum of alternate forms based solely on the Pokemon's size, Gourgeist comes in four sizes: Small, Average, Large, and Super. They have a bearing on the Gourgeist's stats, particularly with HP, Attack, and Speed. How those stats are distributed are about what you'd expect; the bigger the Gourgeist, the higher the HP and Attack, and the lower the Speed.

Each size is useful in its own right, but the one-size-fits-all concept is kind of true with Gourgeist's movesets. No matter what size it is, it's best to run it as an attacker; the size mainly determines whether Gourgeist is a mid-level sweeper or tanky wallbreaker.

9 Oricorio

The Gamer, All Forms Of Oricorio From Pokemon

Aside from the Legendary Island Guardians, Alola also has this bird species as a unique way to distinguish between its four islands. Oricorio's style generally depends on where it was caught, and that changes both its primary type and the type of its signature move, Revelation Dance.

The Electric-type Pom-Pom style can be found in Melemele Island, the Fire-type Baile style in Ula'ula, the Psychic-type Pa'u style in Akala, and the Ghost-type Sensu style in Poni. All their stats are the same, so whichever one is more viable kind of depends on their typing.

In a vacuum, that would make Pom-Pom the winner, with Electric/Flying being an excellent type combo.

8 Mimikyu

Mimikyu looking sad with its ears down in the Pokemon anime

While Mimikyu ticks quite differently compared to the other Pokemon on this list that just have straightforward different forms, it's nonetheless become a difficult Pokemon to deal with.

Its Disguise ability technically constitutes a form change, with base form (also known as Disguised Form) Mimikyu turning into its Busted Form after taking a hit and preventing it from taking any damage.

While the two forms in question are barely different from each other from both a design and stats standpoint, the ability to take a free hit virtually unscathed is huge. It turns Mimikyu from an otherwise mediocre Pokemon to an unexpected candidate to sweep your team, as that free turn allows for either setting up or dealing extra damage.

7 Darmanitan

Pokemon Journeys Goh Darmanitan

This doesn't refer to the Unovan and Galarian regional variants of Darmanitan, but rather, the Zen Mode that each of them takes on when they run with their hidden abilities. Both regional variants' Zen Mode forms function quite differently in respect to their base forms.

Unovan Darmanitan's Zen Mode switches its Attack and Speed stat investment into Special Attack and the two types of defenses, while Galarian Darmanitan's boosts its Attack and Speed stat further.

Both also gain extra types, with the Unovan becoming a Fire/Psychic-type and the Galarian becoming an Ice/Fire-type. While the former is a bit taxing thanks to the drastic stat switch-up, the latter is incredibly powerful and an excellent alternative to its Choice Band-esque Gorilla Tactics ability.

6 Lycanroc

All Forms Formes Lycanroc Howling, Ash, Gladion, Olivia, Dusk Midday Midnight Pokemon Sun Moon Anime

Rockruff and Lycanroc are on par with Eevee, Espeon, and Umbreon when it comes to Pokemon with time-based evolution methods. The two or three forms of your choosing really make you think about what time of the day you want to evolve a Rockruff.

RELATED: The Best Pokemon To Have The Flying Tera Type

There are two forms of Lycanroc that can be achieved relatively normally: Midday Form, which is achieved when leveled up to level 25 in the daytime, and Midnight Form, which is achieved when leveled up at night.

There's also the event-exclusive Dusk Form, which is only achievable with an Own Tempo (its hidden ability) Rockruff that levels up between 5:00 and 5:59 PM. While Dusk Form is the competitive standout, all are excellent Rock-type options for playthroughs.

5 Paldean Tauros

A herd of Paldean Tauros roaming the fields.

Tauros came with a new Paldean regional variant in Scarlet and Violet, and that variant comes in three forms of its own: the Combat, Blaze, and Aqua Breeds.

All three forms are different types (Fighting, Fighting/Fire, and Fighting/Water respectively) and also change the type of the usually Normal-type signature move, Raging Bull (into Fighting, Fire, and Water respectively).

While the pure Fighting-type Combat Breed is nothing to write home about, the two dual-typed breeds create way more offensive potential for Tauros’s statistical build, giving it an extra STAB type and widening its learnset.

As such, Blaze and Aqua Breed Tauros have gotten some decent use in competitive battling as of late.

4 Rotom

Row Motom, or Rotom-M, surging electricity while posessing a Lawn Mower

The little appliance possessor has Lycanroc beat in terms of having multiple forms with different functions. Hardly anyone in the competitive scene even uses Rotom's base form anymore; it's all about which of the five enhanced forms suit your fancy.

Of course, said five forms change Rotom's secondary type and main attacking move. Heat Rotom is a Fire-type with Overheat, Wash Rotom a Water-type with Hydro Pump, Frost Rotom an Ice-type with Blizzard, Mow Rotom a Grass-type with Leaf Storm, and Fan Rotom a Flying-type with Air Slash.

All forms aside from the base form share the same stat spread, which gives them nice bulk and defenses.

3 Aegislash

aegislash base form pokken

Not many Pokemon switch between alternate forms as often as Aegislash. That's thanks to its signature ability, Stance Change, and the move that works in conjunction with that — King's Shield.

Of course, the two forms in question are its Shield Form, which has high defenses, and its Blade Forme, which has high attacking stats.

The ability to switch between a defensive stance to an offensive stance and vice versa in a snap has made Aegislash incredibly viable over the years. It's essentially a defensive wall and an offensive freight train all at once, and is much harder to stop because of it.

2 Greninja

Ash and his Battle Bond Greninja in the Pokemon Anime

After its absence throughout Gen Eight, Greninja returned with considerable nerfs in Scarlet and Violet. Not only was its hidden Protean ability repurposed to only change the Pokemon’s type on the first move, the Battle Bond ability no longer gives it access to the fabled Ash-Greninja form.

Instead of transforming into Ash-Greninja, Battle Bond raises Greninja’s Attack, Special Attack and Speed by a stage, and that can only happen once per battle. It also loses the boost it gives to Greninja's signature move, Water Shuriken.

While it’s understandable to make this change – Ash-Greninja would be overpowered in a generation without Mega Evolution or Dynamaxing – it’s a damn shame to lose the iconic form, one that made the Kalos starter immensely popular.

1 Palafin

Palafin and Finizen gathered in the ocean as Palafin flexes with its chest puffed out.
via Game Freak

The series' first dolphin line essentially replaces Greninja as the Water-type Pokemon with an overpowered, activated-in-battle secondary form. It's so overpowered, in fact, that it's already banned from regular competitive Singles battles.

Palafin's base form has essentially the same design as its pre-evolution Finizen’s, save for a heart symbol on its chest. The secondary form comes via the Zero to Hero ability; Palafin must switch out once after entering the battlefield, and it will come out next time as the much stronger, 650 base stat total form. Palafin's Hero Form is an absolute offensive menace, thanks mainly to its 160 Attack stat and movepool that includes priority Jet Punch and high-powered Wave Crash and Close Combat.

NEXT: Pokemon Starters And Their Star Athlete Equivalents