Stoutland ranks very high with the good dogs of Pokémon not unlike that of Arcanine, Lycanroc, and Houndoom. With that long flowing mane and staunch pose, he's very much the pinnacle of fancy. He's as popular as he is majestic, having been spotlighted in the anime as the partner of the Unova Gym Leader Lenora before being featured in a very bittersweet Sun & Moon episode as the good friend of Ash's Litten. Stoutland are common ride Pokémon in the Alola region and are known to excel at sniffing up hidden items. Now you can catch one in the DLC area of Pokémon Sword and Shield. They might be a normal-type, but keep reading to learn why this pup is anything but normal.

Location And How To Evolve

This Pokemon begins life as a Lillipup, becoming a Herdier before taking on its final form as Stoutland. You can find one in the Training Lowlands in Isle of Armor via a random grass or visible encounter. Typically they will appear in all climates but you have a slightly higher chance of finding one in sunny weather. If you did not purchase Isle of Armor, you can get one by bringing it in from a previous game through Pokémon Home (the Pokémon storing software which can be downloaded as a mobile app). They can be found all over the region in both the original Pokémon Sun and Moon and in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon via routes four, five, and six or Paniola Ranch. You'll need to put it into Pokémon Bank, the cloud storing software for the 3DS games, before sending it over to Home, where you can then put it into your Sword and Shield game. Just make sure before proceeding that you have a Switch and Nintendo account already linked to the app and do so if not.

Related: Pokémon Isle Of Armor: The Best Cram-O-Matic Recipes

Lillipup has a simple evolution line, evolving first at level sixteen and then at level thirty-two. You don't have to wait to evolve it since Herdier itself learns some good moves such as Baby Doll Eyes, Play Rough, and Crunch. All of these make it well able to hold its own in battle. As a Stoutland, it doesn't learn anything particularly noteworthy minus Take Down at level thirty-eight, so you'll have to step in with some TMs to utilize the full extent of this canine's power. He can learn the strong Giga Impact at level seventy-eight, but obviously, that would take a long time to progress to and we trainers just don't have time for that right?

How To Use Stoutland

Hyper Beam is a better choice as opposed to Giga Impact since its a Special attack and can be purchased in Wyndon for 50,000 Pokémon dollars. This seems costly but between all the valuable items you can get in-game now and what you can make in the Cram-O-Matic machine, its fairly simple to rack up the coins for it. Do keep in mind that the user of this has to recharge for a turn after using it. Superpower (TR 39) is another strong choice, being a fighting-type move and can be purchased from a trader for 8000 watts. As far as support moves go, you'll want to teach it Protect because as a normal-type, it is vulnerable to several different other types. This can be purchased in Motostoke for 10,000 Pokémon dollars. Play Rough, the fairy move that it would have learned early on is something to definitely keep even as Stoutland grows stronger.

Looking for more unique Pokémon? Check out our growing guide for all things evolution, locations, and battle in the Find 'Em All page!

Next: Pokémon Sword & Shield: The Isle Of Armor - Every Alola Pokémon That Has Been Brought Back