Subspace Dimension Zone

It's been a while but welcome back to... A Gamers Review of the Bug Type

I put in a request for a new banner a while ago at DarkDreams banner shop but it isn't finished yet. Hpefully it will be by the next review.

This time we'll look into four Gen III Bugs: Volbeat & Illumise, and Anorith & Armaldo, and identify different things about them and there competitive abilities.

Thankyou for being patitent, Enjoy.

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#313 Volbeat & #314 Illumise
Volbeat is... eh, an ok Pokemon by NU standards. While it has a great movepool and good enough speed the rest of its stats are really lacklustre, especially its horrible Sp.Attack which its movepool is oriented towards. This proves problems for the Firefly Pokemon and makes it inferior to Illumise in some aspects, which has stats in better places. Still Volbeat had an excellent support movepool and is an excellent Baton Passer with access to Tail Glow (Now in Gen V a +3 boost to Sp.Attack), Substitute, Encore, Light Screen (but no Reflect...); Thunder Wave and U-Turn, and the hepful Charge Beam and Trick. He (as Volbeat is a male only species, compared to Illumise who is female only) also gets the handy Helping Hand, which is good for Doubles.

Really, though Volbeat is quite lacklustre, and if not for Tail Glow it would be easily overlooked. Its abilities are both useless as Illuminate does nothing in-battle and Swarm is useless on a support Pokemon. Its new ability Teasing Heart however is great and it allows you to get all non attacking moves in first, an excellent thing on any Support Pokemon. Unfortunately it is put to better use on the new Jumpluff - Elfuun, the much improved Sableye, and the after mentioned Illumise.

A lot of things lay waste to Volbeat. Illumise has better stats and Tinted Lens, Minum is a better Baton Passer and has no Stealth Rock weakness, and Venomoth is a better attacker. Really the only thing Volbeat has over Illumise is a stronger U-Turn and Tail Glow, nothing to really brag about, especially in NU. Still, I quite like this little 1950’s inspired Greaser-Bug and it looks pretty epic, with its glowing tail and I don’t care looks.


Illumise is not that much better than Volbeat really though, as it is an inferior Sp.Attacker to Venomoth, and an inferior Baton Passer to many others. But still, she does have some interesting options. Her alternative to Volbeat’s Tail Glow is the newly improved Growth and along with that Wish and Fake Tears, but the rest is more or less the same. She does get Tinted Lens though, which with Bug buzz and Thunderbolt gets neutral coverage on everyone barring Shedinja. The Bug STAB is useful as it means premier UU walls Hypno and Grumpig can’t wall you. Encore also helps in her Sp.Attacking role as it lets you set up on Sweepers attempting to set up on you. This requires great prediction though so be careful kids, don’t try this at home.

She’s okay I guess, and is better than Volbeat, but I don’t like her as much for some reason. Maybe it’s because even though she’s based off a Firefly she doesn’t have a light bulb tail... eh, she’s still a cool Bug Type and is based off the ‘Flappers’, a 1920’s woman style. I especially like her yellow antennas which match her bow tie-thingy.




#347 Anorith & #348 Armaldo
Anorith & Armaldo are weird because they’re just so different. Rock/Bug is not a common typing and to put it planely, they’re prehistoric looking. This suits them well though as they’re Fossil Pokemon, and one of the lesser used ones at that. While Anorith is fast for an unevolved Pokemon, Armaldo is dead-weight slow, slower than Anorith at that, and this is a problem only somewhat rectified by Swift Swim. You see, when you Baton Pass a Snorlax an Agility boost, what happens? It’s still slow. Some things are too slow, and Armaldo is one of them. This can be beneficial though, as a Sword Dance sweeper under Trick Room can be deadly. This is further benefited by Armaldo’s great STAB’s, Rock and Bug, providing a vicious Stone Edge/X-Scissor combo.

However Trick Room teams aren’t that common and besides Armalo’s good Attack and Defence, not much is keepin him from droppin’ into obscurity. Still, Armaldo’s movepool is ok and Rock Blast, Earthquake and the rather redundant Brick Break are helpful. He also gets some boosting moves in Curse, Sword Dance, Rock Polish and Iron Defence, and some Defensive ones in Screech, Knock Off and Rapid Spin. Substitute and the new Hone Claws also help on the attacking side of things.

While an awesome Pokemon and one of the best Bugs design wise, I just wish it had a few things. First is Aqua Jet. Seriously, if Kabuto can get it why can’t Anorith? I know there’s a vast amount of difference between Kabutops and Armaldo, but at this unevolved stage the pair are quite similar. I also wish for a better Bug move. I know he’ll never get Megahorn, but some other Bug type move should be made, one with similar effect and power. Still, I just can’t help but feel they made Rhyperior just in spite of Armaldo. Out of the Fossil’s Armaldo got the short straw (but not as short as Rampardos) but I still like it and think it a usable Pokemon. It’s certainly no Tyranitar, but it’s no Macargo either. No, it’s a midpoint for the Rock types and it does its specific jobs well.
Plus it has a Fricken’ awesome design! Who wouldn’t want a giant living Fossil that beats the crap out of things with shooting stones and its massive claws!!!


Well, I hoped you liked this Review, and I thank you for actually managing to read all of it. Next time will be the first to feature Gen IV Bugs so stay tuned.

Thank you for reading a Gamers Review of the Bug Type. Until next time, adios ~ GengarEatBanana