In today’s article, I’ll outline some of the ways to improve certain Pokémon who could use some improvements. There are a lot of Normal-types who could use an improvement, but because I can’t be overseeing every one of them, I’ll be picking 10 fully-evolved Normal-types that have potential to be better, and a potential Mega Evolution for each of them. Because of this, any Pokémon with a Mega Evolution is immediately disqualified.
To find out the Pokémon I picked, please continue on.
Fearow
Problem(s): Although Fearow’s best stats are Attack and Speed, Dodrio’s stats meant that it could be a better attacker since it has the same Speed, but more Attack. It’s true that Fearow has Drill Run to differentiate it, but it’s only just one attack, which is not enough to counteract Dodrio’s ability to learn Knock Off. Besides that, Fearow’s stats are overall lacklustre.
Why this Pokémon has potential: One thing that distinguishes Fearow is Sniper, which will work well with moves that has a high critical hit ratio.
Improvement(s): In order to properly take advantage of Sniper, it needs to have Focus Energy, which it surprisingly doesn’t currently have. The only two relevant moves that work with this ability that it gets are Drill Run and Sky Attack, so let’s add Night Slash for Ghost-types. Certainly, it could use Scope Lens to reduce dependency on high critical hit ratio moves, so it needs a slight boost in Speed to do its job more reliably, or a boost in Attack to hit harder.
Mega Evolution: A theoretical Fearow Mega Evolution should take advantage of Fearow’s best stats: Attack and Speed. As such, it should have about +30 in Speed and +50 in Attack, with the remaining added to its defences. The ability that Fearow should get is Aerilate, so that it could use its Flying STAB well. Of course, it won’t be able to use its Normal STAB, so its type should change to either Dark or Ground for another STAB to use.
Persian
Problem(s): Besides Speed, Persian’s stats are unremarkable. Although it has Technician to boost its attacks, its offensive stats are low to be able to fully take advantage of this.
Why this Pokémon has potential: As mentioned, its Speed is its best trait, but to properly utilise this, it needs to be able to properly take advantage of Technician, and if that’s not possible, it should get another ability.
Improvement(s): It’s difficult to properly improve Persian with what we got, since its Technician-compatible Special attacks are already at the optimal level, while its Physical attacks could do with a few additions. The additions I am referring to are Tail Slap and Beat Up. In the case of stat boosts, Persian could use more Special attack because that’s where most of its potential lies. If all else fails, a Mega Evolution is the way to go.
Mega Evolution: Perhaps it could be a speedy set-up attacker, so Simple could be its ability of choice. That way, it could use Work Up well, allowing it to be threatening on both offensive sides. To be able to use it, all of Persian’s stats need an upgrade, with a slight edge towards its attack stats and Speed. Since it learns several Dark attacks, it could have an extra Dark type to have good neutral coverage. In order to increase flexibility in its offensive versatility, Swords Dance could be an extra move it learns.
Girafarig
Problem(s): Girafarig’s stats are the main obstacle, since they’re subpar all around, with its attack stats and Speed being the highest ones. Besides that, Meloetta makes a better Normal/Psychic-type than Girafarig.
Why this Pokémon has potential: Girafarig could form an alternative role as a Normal/Psychic-type.
Improvement(s): The only improvement that could make Girafarig better is an alternate Parental Bond, basically attacking twice. This will give Girafarig a lot of viability, much like how Kecleon gets a lot of viability when it got Protean. With “Parental Bond”, it could use Bulldoze twice for lowering Speed twice, use Foul Play to attack at full power twice, or just act as an attack booster in general.
Mega Evolution: Due to Girafarig having all ability slots taken, the “Parental Bond” idea could be applied here. To prevent Girafarig from being too good like Mega Kangaskhan, its main boosts should be under defences, with its offences and Speed getting slight boosts.
Dunsparce
Problem(s): Dunsparce’s stats are overall quite low. Moreover, it is a pretty slow Pokémon.
Why this Pokémon has potential: Dunsparce has a really good movepool. It’s got a lot of good attacks, a way to boost them, and even a good array of support moves.
Improvement(s): The only way to improve Dunsparce is to give it a stat boost, and a viable, yet minor suggestion includes giving it another type. Thus, it’s one of the Pokémon who could benefit from an actual evolution, or perhaps a Mega Evolution.
Mega Evolution: A Mega Dunsparce could have extra stats in all areas except Speed, since Dunsparce is already really slow. An extra Poison-type on Dunsparce is to give it some defensive type. It’s also because Dunsparce is kind of a snake, which has a history of Poison-types variants. For my ability of choice, I decided to go with Simple, due to Dunsparce’s access to Coil and Calm Mind. Its offensive moves are quite plentiful, and it has recovery, so there is no shortage of moves you could choose on Dunsparce. The problem is to fit everything you want to do with four moves, but that adds to Dunsparce’s unpredictability.
Stantler
Problem(s): Much like Girafarig, Stantler’s stats are subpar all around, with only its attack stats and Speed being the highest. It also has little to help it stand out as an offensive Pokémon.
Why this Pokémon has potential: Even though there is no clear direction on where Stantler should go to be great, that is precisely the reason it has potential: you could go to many directions and it won’t compromise on what it truly needs.
Improvement(s): No Guard has a lot of potential, and it could be useful for Stantler because it has a few powerful attacks that it wish it could use, not to mention Hypnosis. To complement this, it should get Mega Kick, which is a big improvement as its STAB. If No Guard is overpowered, then Magic Bounce is the next best thing, preventing Taunt or some stray status moves from affecting it. For either ability, it has Skill Swap, so it could very well give that ability to another Pokémon, especially if it’s No Guard.
Mega Evolution: To truly differentiate Stantler from other Pokémon, it should have an extra type that is rarely taken. Psychic is a good choice, but it clashes with Girafarig, so perhaps Ghost is a good type to use. As for its ability, it could use both of the abilities I mentioned earlier (No Guard or Magic Bounce), except this time, No Guard won’t be as broken because there are restrictions with Mega Evolutions to balance it.
Spinda
Problem(s): Although Spinda has Contrary, one of the best abilities in the game, it doesn’t have any move to take advantage of it. Remember that Superpower is an Event move, so it cannot be part of a regular moveset. Moreover, its stats are really low.
Why this Pokémon has potential: It has Contrary, as well as some miscellaneous moves to take advantage of it, such as Skill Swap.
Improvement(s): The best one could do to improve Spinda is to give it a move that purposely lowers its stats, so Superpower should be a natural move it learns. In addition to this, Close Combat is another move that should be added. For outlandish moves, there’s Psycho Boost. While this won’t automatically boost Spinda’s viability, it would at least make it more useful. The only true way to make Spinda better is through Mega Evolution
Mega Evolution: Since Spinda’s stats are subpar, the only way to make it more powerful is to reduce some of its stats and distribute the rest to Attack and Speed. Therefore, a risky proposition is to reduce Defence and Special Defence by 20 each and Special Attack by 50, so that its Attack could be boosted by 100 and Speed boosted by 90. It could also get a new Fighting-type to gain Fighting STAB, much like Mega Lopunny. As for the ability, Hustle, Iron Fist or Sheer Force could be used to emphasise its extra power. Sure, it sounds like it would make Spinda too good, but opponents get a change at its frailty (though Sucker Punch is something to watch out for).
Ambipom
Problem(s): Despite what looks like well-rounded stats and Technician, Ambipom is often not a threatening attacker. Moreover, it has Skill Link, yet lacks moves to use it with.
Why this Pokémon has potential: Ambipom has decent Attack and great Speed, so we need to allow it to be able to properly take advantage of this.
Improvement(s): For Ambipom, Skill Link is useless, so Sheer Force should have been its ability (its two tails looks powerful enough). Besides, it would have been redundant with Cinccino’s ability (which it does better). If Ambipom has Sheer Force, it could become a formidable attacker, who could use its coverage well. The only thing it lacks now is a Normal STAB to use Sheer Force with, so we could add Rock Climb. If this is a bit overpowered, there’s always giving it to a Mega Evolution.
Mega Evolution: As stated above, Sheer Force could do wonders to Ambipom, so to properly take advantage of it, it should gain more Attack and Speed, with a bit more defences. Unlike Tauros, Ambipom doesn’t learn many Special attacks, so increasing Special Attack is pointless.
Regigigas
Problem(s): Regigigas would have been really good, but Slow Start hinders its abilities greatly. Moreover, it lacks any sort of moves to really make its task in stalling out turns easier.
Why this Pokémon has potential: It has high stats, which is befitting for a legendary.
Improvement(s): First and foremost, Slow Start needs to be tweaked so that Regigigas could have an easier time. One way is to save the turns so that the effort in stalling isn’t wasted, much like how Sleep doesn’t reset. Another way is to lower the stalling turns to about 2 to 3 turns, which will at least make it more viable. Finally, Regigigas could at least learn Rest and Protect, because the game is now shaped in such a way that makes it not overpowered.
Mega Evolution: Obviously, a Mega Regigigas would be very powerful if it were to get another ability, so perhaps an ability that discourages it from staying in too long is encouraged. The way this ability could work is that Regigigas would have lowered Attack and Speed if time is up, similar to Slow Start’s initial effect.
Unfezant
Problem(s): Unfezant’s role is really similar to other early-game bird Pokémon: a Physical attack with good Speed (even its expanded stat is Attack)! Unfortunately, Unfezant doesn’t learn a lot of Physical Flying moves, so it is not up to par with the others.
Why this Pokémon has potential: Unfezant’s unconventional design could have lent itself to a different role from the others, similar to Noctowl. Since it has a different look for both genders, both Pokémon could have different roles, with the males being more defensively-oriented while the females being offensively-oriented.
Improvement(s): Overhauling Unfezant’s stats would turn it into a different Pokémon, so the best we could do is to give it some extra moves to differentiate both Pokémon. The males could learn a move that would prevent the opponent from using the first attack they will use until they leave, while the females could get a move with a higher critical-hit ratio (+2) so that it is always a critical hit with Super Luck, and it should be Flying STAB. Finally, both should get Brave Bird since they lack a powerful Flying attack (Sky Attack is not quite reliable).
Mega Evolution: A Mega Evolution is always an opportunity to change a Pokémon’s stat, so this is an opportunity to truly differentiate both Pokémon. The male Unfezant could have +40 in Defence, +50 in Special Defence and +10 in Attack and use Regenerator to better support with Wish while acting as a tank. The females could use Adaptability and have a +40 in Attack, +40 in Speed and +10 in each defence stat.
Furfrou
Problem(s): While Furfrou has some offensive and defensive potential, it ultimately doesn’t stand out in either. Offensively, its Speed is alright, but it learns few powerful moves. Defensively, it cannot recover its HP without Rest.
Why this Pokémon has potential: It is the only Pokémon with Fur Coat, which makes it quite bulky.
Improvement(s): Since Furfrou has this unique ability, it should use it to its fullest potential. One way to achieve this is to give it a way to recover its HP, so it could have Moonlight since Recover might be too good. In order to be a tank, it could have something like Bulk Up to work as a boosting attacker.
Mega Evolution: One could be tempted to make it defensive since that is its best trait, but it has offensive potential, so turning it into a tank is the route to go. It will still retain Fur Coat, but its Attack is increased to allow it to hit harder. A stat increase of +55 Attack, +20 Defence, +20 Special Defence and +5 Speed would be ideal for Furfrou to fulfil that task.
That’s it for my take on the Normal-types that could use an improvement. My suggestions might not be perfect, so maybe there’s always something better to make each of these Pokémon better. What kind of improvements would you have preferred for your favourite Normal-types who aren’t good enough?
Tune in next time for the next Normal-type article. Until then, I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I have writing it.
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