Beedrill2001 Presents : Let's Talk Pokémon

#465 - Tangrowth

It's a hard knock life being a mono grass type, especially in Johto where it seems everything is either super effective against you or resists your strongest attacks.

That being said, I can't help but love Tangrowth, even if it has a lot of things working against it.

Tangrowth and its pre-evolved form Tangela have simple designs, but once again, simple does not equate to being bad.

Just a pair of vine monsters, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Since Tangela is technically a fully evolved pokémon depending on what game you're playing, I'll briefly go over it before getting to Tangrowth.

If you look at Tangela's Generation 1 stats, you'd be surprised how solid they actually are.

With base stats like 55 attack (which admittedly sucks not gonna lie), 115 defense, 100 special, and 60 speed, Tangela can tank hits surprisingly well and deal good damage back in return, but only with special moves of course.

Keep in mind this only applies in gen 1 before the special stat split in two the very next generation, because that point on Tangela has an abysmal 40 base special defense.

Since Tangela gets the exact same abilities as Tangrowth, I don't feel the need going over them here.

Tangela was a pokémon that really needed an evolution, and luckily it got once in gen 4, which leads me to Tangrowth.

If you recall back in the Xatu chapter, I stated that I used a Tangrowth on my team the very first time I beat SoulSilver.

While I don't regret having Tangrowth as a team member, it was definitely a challenge using it throughout the game for reasons I'll get into later.

Right now though, it's time to go over Tangrowth's stats.

As you'd expect of a new evolution to an older pokémon, Tangrowth is basically its pre-evolved form but with increased stats....for better or for worse.

Tangrowth's base stats are 100 attack, 125 defense, 110 special attack, 50 special defense, and 50 speed.

While its attack, defense, and special attack are great, Tangrowth has terrible special defense and speed just like Tangela does, the latter even dropping by 10 points from its pre-evolution's base 60.

Having awful special defense is very problematic for a grass type because two of its weaknesses, those being fire and ice, have a variety of powerful special attacking moves, which will bring the poor vine monster to a quick chilly/fiery end.

On a more positive note, those attacking stats are fantastic, allowing Tangrowth to be a quite effective mixed attacker.

Both of Tangrowth's (and by extension Tangela's) natural abilities involve having Sunny Day in effect, those being Chlorophyll and Leaf Guard.

Chlorophyll doubles Tangrowth's speed in the sun while Leaf Guard keeps it from getting status conditions in the sun.

Both of these are incredibly useful abilities, as Chlorophyll helps to mitigate Tangrowth's slowness, but being immune to moves like Toxic and Thunder Wave due to Leaf Guard is also great, so which ever one you prefer is up to your preference.

I should also mention that Sunny Day being in effect can be dangerous for a grass type since it doubles the power of fire moves, so be mindful of your opponent's pokémon when setting up harsh sunlight.

Tangrowth's hidden ability is Regenerator, which restores 33.3% maximum HP when switched out.

Recovery is always nice to have, but this ability isn't all that necessary because Tangrowth already gets access to moves like Giga Drain, which restores HP while also dealing damage, so I'd say stick with either Chlorophyll or Leaf Guard.

Moving on to moves, Tangrowth gets coverage like Knock Off, Poison Jab, Earthquake, Sludge Bomb, Ancient Power, Focus Blast, and Bulldoze, along with useful status moves like Amnesia, Tickle, and Grassy Terrain.

(On the topic of Ancient Power, keep in mind that your Tangela needs to know this move to evolve into Tangrowth, which it learns through level up.)

Earlier I mentioned that it was difficult using Tangrowth in SoulSilver, so allow me to explain why that is.

First off, Johto is a very hostile region towards grass types by having flying, bug, ghost/poison, steel, ice, and dragon type gym leaders, along with a champion who's entire team is part flying and all have at least one attack in their moveset that's strong against grass (the only exception being one of Lance's Dragonite that has Thunder while the other two have Blizzard and Fire Blast).

Secondly, you don't get access to Tangela until really late in the game, more specifically the route right before entering the Ice Path, which leads to the city where the 8th gym is.

Thirdly, Tangela and Tangrowth's moveset in HGSS is just bad.

How bad you may be wondering?

Well, let's just say the strongest grass attacks Tangrowth got before the post game are Vine Whip and Mega Drain.....yeah.

(Granted, Tangrowth does learn Solar Beam via TM, but that either takes a turn to charge, or requires setting up Sunny Day, which isn't a good idea because one of the Elite Four has a Houndoom as her ace, so boosting fire attacks even if you have a pokémon that resists them isn't ideal.)

That being said, Tangrowth wasn't useless by any means.

Tickle was incredibly useful against scary physical pokémon, like Bruno's Machamp and Lance's Garchomp in the rematch.

Also, once Tangrowth got Power Whip at level 54, all the struggles up to that point became worth it.

Tangrowth, depending on the game you're using it in, is very much a pokémon akin to the likes of Zubat and Magikarp in that it's an uphill battle trying to raise one, but you're patience is ultimately rewarded.

Against all the odds and factors working against it, Tangrowth has its vines wrapped around my heart throughout my experiences using it in SoulSilver, and you know something, this vine monster has definitely earned the right.