Pokemon That You've Grown To Like Recently

[MegaFlareon]

Back when I played FireRed, I hated how its Special Attack is so low that it can't use its Water STAB properly. It's Attack is high but all it has for physical moves were Normal attacks and Rock Slide.

The physical/special split benefitted Kingler a lot in terms of in-game viability. When I used it in my Pokemon Shield playthrough, it was surprisingly effective. It was the hardest hitter in my team thanks to its powerful Crabhammers and a base 130 Attack stat. Its physical movepool even got expanded this generation, giving it coverage such as High Horsepower. It also learns Protect via level up which allowed me to stall out Leon's Charizard's G-Max turns before Dynamaxing and beating it with a Max Geyser. An incredibly fun Pokémon to use and very much worthy of a teamslot.

 

[Dargad]

Yeah, the physical/special split was beneficial to a lot of Pokemon with unfavourable STAB, like Flareon, Gyarados (to some extent), Venomoth, Poliwrath, Kabutops, Sneasel, Breloom, Absol and Metagross.

I never really cared for Feraligatr, with a mediocre 79 SpA, but after the split, it could make use of its 105 Atk and became much more efficient to use in-game.

 

[PokePoindexter]

Yeah, the physical/special split was beneficial to a lot of Pokemon with unfavourable STAB, like Flareon, Gyarados (to some extent), Venomoth, Poliwrath, Kabutops, Sneasel, Breloom, Absol and Metagross.

Not to mention things like Nihilego, Beartic, Sawsbuck, Ribombee, Barraskewda, Morpeko, and Yanmega that would be far worse off without said split.

On that note, I've recently replayed Platinum with a team of six mons I had never previously used on an in-game team, and I have a new addition of my own:

I think my biggest reason for not training a Yanmega before amounted to either having to slog through the Great Marsh to get it or preferring Ribombee and Volcarona over it in other games. I probably still do, but Yanmega is probably a strong third among Bug-types now. It was pretty unimpressive as a Yanma, but almost immediately once it evolved, it turned into a full-on bazooka. You just can't overstate how devastating Tinted Lens and Base 116 Sp. Atk can be, especially if you give it the Choice Specs (get it in Celestic Town during the morning).

Plus, it's a dragonfly. You know, only the coolest type of insect in the universe.

 

[bdt2002]

I never really cared for Feraligatr, with a mediocre 79 SpA, but after the split, it could make use of its 105 Atk and became much more efficient to use in-game.

Yeah, honestly, if I was a Gen 2 kid I don't think I would have been quite as attached to my all time favorite Pokemon as I became. That being said I still love its versatility and next to unrivaled consistency across the games it's in. GSC gives it some neat tools to use early, it's incredible in Colloseum as Croconaw, HGSS gives it the physical special split, heck, even Sun and Moon's AR Scanner thing lets it abuse Waterium Z off of the Scald TM just like Popplio can.

Not to mention things like Nihilego, Beartic, Sawsbuck, Ribombee, Barraskewda, Morpeko, and Yanmega that would be far worse off without said split.

On that note, I've recently replayed Platinum with a team of six mons I had never previously used on an in-game team, and I have a new addition of my own:

I think my biggest reason for not training a Yanmega before amounted to either having to slog through the Great Marsh to get it or preferring Ribombee and Volcarona over it in other games. I probably still do, but Yanmega is probably a strong third among Bug-types now. It was pretty unimpressive as a Yanma, but almost immediately once it evolved, it turned into a full-on bazooka. You just can't overstate how devastating Tinted Lens and Base 116 Sp. Atk can be, especially if you give it the Choice Specs (get it in Celestic Town during the morning).

Plus, it's a dragonfly. You know, only the coolest type of insect in the universe.

One of my best friends' first successfully caught Shiny was actually an Ultra Wormhole Yanmega they got on their birthday. I dunno, I just thought I'd mention that. I personally love how it can actually leverage its Speed and invest to become a good special hit-and-runner type of Pokemon. The Gen 4 meta was actually really kind to it outside of Stealth Rock being added if you think about it.