One of the most exciting parts of playing any Pokemon game is watching your Pokemon evolve. Finally, after hours, sometimes days of training and endless battles, your little Charmander finally grows up to be a Charizard! In a few strange cases, however, some Pokemon are better off not evolving.
In terms of competitive viability, there are several Pokemon that are more useful before they evolve than after. This is usually due to a change in stats, a change in typing or a change in what items the Pokemon can use post-evolution. Whatever the reason, here are some examples of Pokemon you should consider pulling out that Everstone for.
Updated November 1, 2021 by Jerrad Wyche: Pokemon continues to release games fall in love with on an almost annual basis. In 2021 the franchise sees the release of Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, remakes of the fourth generation mainline games. These will be followed up by the first entry in a new series called Pokemon Legends, with the first game titled Pokemon Legends: Arceus. With new Pokemon being revealed, it's important to know which ones should never be evolved under any circumstances.
12 Ivysaur To Venusaur
The Bulbasaur evolution line doesn't have a whole lot of positives going for it as it happens to be the third most popular of the original three starting Pokemon of the Kanto region. One thing it has is that it has the best middle evolution design in Ivysaur, as both Charmeleon and Wartortle are awkward and a bit ugly.
Unfortunately for Ivysaur, it evolves into arguably the ugliest final form of any starter Pokemon in Venusaur. This giant toad lacks any sort of intrigue or cool factor in its design. Just give your Ivysaur an Everstone and let it live a life in which it is loved and cherished.
11 Yamper To Boltund
Pokemon does a really good job at designing creatures that are either really cool or are extremely adorable. Yamper is an Electric-type corgi-inspired Pokemon from the eighth generation of games and certainly falls in the latter group of those two design philosophies.
It evolves into a Pokemon named Boltund at level 25, and in addition to it losing any of its cuteness-related appeal, its final evolutionary form does nothing much to make it enticing. It doesn't gain an additional typing nor does it add bonuses to its base stats that would have you as a trainer overlook the fact that you gave up your Yamper for a rather basic, but larger dog.
10 Murkrow To Honchkrow
In terms of stats, Honchkrow certainly outclasses Murkrow in many areas. It has a solid base 125 Attack, outclassing Murkrow's base 85. It also has more HP and defenses. However, Murkrow has access to one of the best abilities in the game, Prankster, giving all status moves +1 priority. This gives Murkrow greatly needed utility, with access to priority Defog, confuse ray, Perish Song, substitute, swagger, and Taunt to name just a few.
Murkrow's other great asset is its ability to take advantage of Eviolite, and while its base defenses aren't great, with HP of 60 and Def/SpD of 42 each, Eviolite helps Murkrow stay alive for at least a turn or two, and makes it at least bulkier than Honchkrow.
9 Garchomp To Mega-Garchomp
We're sure this will turn some heads, but hear us out. Mega-evolving gives Garchomp some more meat on its bones, buffing its defenses by about 20 each and its attack from base 130 to a whopping 170. Even its SpA is buffed from 80 to 120. Seems all good, right?
The crux of this mega evolution is the loss of 10 points to base speed, lowering Mega Garchomp to a base speed of 92 combined with the inability to carry a choice scarf. While 92 isn't the worst, any sweeper worth its salt will have no trouble out speeding it and OHKOing it with a 4x effective ice attack. Garchomp has enough sweeper advantage over his mega counterpart to earn him a spot on this list.
8 Vigoroth To Slaking
When it comes to middle evolutions, Vigoroth has considerably high stats, with a base total of 440. Its somewhat bulky, with an HP of 80, a Def of 80 and a SpD of only 55, but with the ability to hold Eviolite. It's also immune to sleep thanks to its ability Vital Spirit.
Its evolution, Slaking, has the curse of Truant, the worst ability in the game. Slaking's base stat total of 600 is not so impressive when it can only attack every other turn, forcing its trainer to constantly switch it in and out at inopportune times. If you want more control over your Pokemon mixed with some decent bulk and flexibility, Vigoroth is a much better choice than Slaking.
7 Pikachu To Raichu
Way back in the '90s, when Ash lost to Lt. Surge's Raichu, he was contemplating evolving his Pikachu. Ultimately, he decided against it. Now, 20 years later, the debate still goes on among trainers: to evolve, or not to evolve Pikachu?
Pikachu's ability to utilize its signature item, the light ball, doubling its 50 base attack and 55 base SpA to a solid 100 and 110 respectively puts Pikachu above Raichu's 90 Attack and 90 SpA. Another advantage Pikachu has over Raichu is its signature Z-move, Catastropika, which is an upgraded version of Volt Tackle sporting a base power of 210 with no recoil. After the boost from light ball, this is a devastating blow to any Pokemon that isn't ground type.
6 Charjabug To Vikavolt
Vikavolt, the final evolution in its family, sports an enormous base 145 SpA and is decently bulky with bases of 77 HP, 90 Defense, and 75 SpD. Unfortunately for Vikavolt, its base speed of 43 dooms it to oblivion, in addition to its horrible defensive bug typing.
Its pre-evolution Charjabug is a different story, and actually has some skills to bring to the table when it comes to Double Battles. Charjabug has the unique ability Battery, which boosts its allies' special attacks by 1.3, making it an incredibly useful partner for a special sweeper. His defenses are also better than his older brother; his base HP of 57 is made up for by his Def of 95, his SpD of 75, and his ability to buff those with Eviolite.
5 Clamperl To Huntail/Gorebyss
In the competitive scene, neither Huntail nor Gorebyss have seen much play, with their only real strategies being Baton Passing Shell Smashes onto the team's sweeper. Clamperl, on the other hand, is the hidden gem, or should I say, Pearl, of this bizarre evolutionary triangle. Its stats may seem harmless with a SpA of 74.
However, Clamperl's signature item, Deep Sea Tooth, doubles its SpA when held in battle, boosting its base to a whopping 148. Pair this with Shell Smash, which doubles its SpA again along with its speed, and you have some real meme potential. After one shell smash, Clamperl is going to be dunking on nearly everything in Little Cup, and could even pose a threat in standard play with a lot of support. I mean, a lot of support.
4 Dusclops To Dusknoir
Dusclops already rocks a Def and SpD of 130, making it a very capable wall despite its abysmal base 40 HP stat. But with an eviolite, Dusknoir's base DEF and SpD are a walloping 195, nearly rivaling the likes of Shuckle and other defensive mammoths.
This enormous eviolite buff clearly outweighs the benefits of evolving into Dusknoir, which only gives it an extra five points to its base DEF, SpD, and HP. The only argument for playing with Dusknoir over Dusclops is Dusknoir's base 100 Atk overpowering Dusclops' base 70, along with Dusknoir's ability to run leftovers. In terms of raw defensive bulk, Dusclops is better off just being himself, and leaving the evolving to the other 900-something Pokemon.
3 Porygon2 To Porygon-Z
When evolving Porygon2 to Porygon-Z, there is a decent boost to SpA, from Porygon2's 105 to Porygon-Z's 135, as well as a speed boost from 60 to 90. However, evolving into Porygon-Z sacrifices 20 points of Defense and Special Defense (90 to 70 and 95 to 75, respectively).
And while Porygon-Z has a higher base-stat total, (535 vs 515) this is nothing when you factor in Porygon2's ability to utilize Eviolite, which boosts its base Def of 135 and a SpD of 142. With a solid HP of 85 and an ability to use Recover, Porygon2 is able to tank hits like a champion, while still dishing out some powerful Tri-Attacks, Ice Beams, and Thunderbolts with its 105 SpA.
2 Chansey To Blissey
Chansey is a similar case to Dusclops, but far more extreme. With a godlike HP stat of 250 and a SpD stat of 105, Chansey is arguably the best special wall in the game. But with eviolite, hoo boy, Chansey can eat focus blasts for breakfasts, allowing it to consistently prove itself among the ranks of OU and even Uber tier lists.
Evolving into Blissey gives it five points to its base HP, 30 points to base SpD, and five points to base Def, and while Blissey can hold leftovers, Chansey's eviolite defenses still outshine Blissey's considerably. And leftovers become less important when Chansey has great healing options like Soft-boiled and Wish.
1 Level One Aron
Yes... Aron. Little Aron. The amount of gimmick potential with little Aron is off the charts. This is because Aron has a very unique combination of typing, ability, and move set that allows him to take down foes light years out of his league.
Aron is blessed with the ability Sturdy, allowing him to survive any attack from full health that would normally OHKO him. He also can learn Endeavor, bringing any foe's health down to whatever his is. For a level one Aron, every attack will bring him down to one HP,
so you can always set the foe's health to one. Now, if you give Aron a Shell Bell, which restores a percentage of health to Aron equal to how much he dealt, using Endeavor on any Pokemon will always be enough to fully restore Aron's health, allowing him to survive another hit with Sturdy. This strategy is hilarious and surprisingly effective.