The Best; Don’t worry bout the rest
By Anton Le Platte for Walimu.gg
Anton checking in. I’m the host of the popular Atlanta gaming podcast Cheesy Controller and your Gamer in Residence here at Walimu.gg. As we all know, Pokemon is all the rage and as of writing Ive caught all 400 Pokemon. available in Pokemon sword. I put this list together so that you don’t have to to figure out which Pokemon will be worthy of joining your team along this 45+ hour adventure. Please keep in mind this list is subjective and entirely my opinion…but it should be your opinion as well.
10: Boltund
Starting off the list I chose Boltund because not only can you get its first evolution step, the adorable Yamper, extremely early in the story so you won’t have to wait until end game to add it to your party. It will have the type-advantage for the second gym so it will be useful if you didn’t pick Grookey as your starter. It’s design is so cool they put it on bags and clothing in game.
9: Flapple
Pokemon number two is probably one of the most divisive Pokemon I’ve seen this generation. As one of the first dragon Pokemon you’ll encounter, Flapple’s pre evolution, the apple shaped Applin, you’ll want to add this Pokemon to your team because honestly, who doesn’t want to harness the power of dragon type Pokemon to decimate foes? Now this Pokemon’s first form isn’t exactly the type of Pokemon you were imagining when you just thought Dragon Type Pokemon decimating people on the war path. But if you evolve this Pokemon maybe it’ll fit that image a bit more especially in sword version.
8: Grapploct
So my first question when I encountered this Pokemon in the wild and started battling was, “Wait? This isn’t a water type?” This fighting type Pokemon proves itself useful as a powerful tool against normal, ice, rock, dark, and steel Pokemon; all of which you’ll face in the latter half of the game.
7: Hatterene
This Pokemon can be caught once you are able to ride across bodies of water with your Rotom bike and cross the lake of outrage in the wild area. Hatterene can be a powerful tool against the dragon type Pokemon in the final gym. It’s a bipedal Pokemon that makes any end game team look powerful visually.
6: Sirfetch’d
I must be biased but another sword exclusive; Sirfetch’d was a huge part of the initial marketing for Pokémon sword and it’s another powerful fighting type Pokemon. To evolve a Galarian to this Pokemon, achieve 3 critical hits in one battle.
5: Falinks
Falinks’ design will be one of the most iconic of this generation because it’s very unlike any Pokemon we’ve seen before. It’s a caterpillar made of six separate organisms that function as one Pokemon with the one that acts like that head controlling the other body parts. This is another surprising fighting-type. Despite its looks, don’t add Falinks to your party expecting a fire type later in the game. It does not evolve so if you manage to catch it, what you see is what you get.
4: Frosmoth
Now this Pokemon was difficult to add to this list because an ice bug type wouldn’t stand a chance against my fire focused team. However, I wanted to add this to the list because i feel like game freak robbed this Frosmoth of the Gigantimax form it deserved, giving it to Butterfree. Now initially, I understood the decision to give Butterfree a Gigantimax. It’s one of the most iconic non starter Pokemon around. BUT, if the inspiration for the concept of Gigantimaxing are Kaiju and you want to represent Mothra, wouldn’t it be better to use your moth Pokemon instead of a butterfly? They’re different species!!! This isn’t the same as previous generations where new Pokemon got the short end of the stick with mega evolutions. The next Pokemon on my list is brand new and has a Gigantimax form.
3: Duraludon
Finally, were getting to the Top 3 Best New Pokemon of this generation. Now, the reason I chose Duraludon is because of the new Pokemon in this game, they make the most out of this Pokemon. It’s a powerful dragon, it gets a Gigantimax form, it is used by the dragon gym leader and its design is unmistakably a Pokemon. Its not like they added eyes to an inanimate object; this looks like a creature that could have appeared as early as generation two and would still fit in and be understood as a Pokemon
2: Cinderace, Rillaboom, and Inteleon
Now odds are you have kept your starter Pokemon in your team all the way through the entire main campaign. After all, this was probably your most powerful Pokemon your entire adventure. For me, my Cinderace never left my party and was essential in my journey to become champion of the Galar region. By the end of the game, I received a Sobble and a Grookey via surprise trade. An in-game mechanic lets you connect to the internet and trade any of your Pokemon for a randomly selected Pokemon from someone else online. y the time I completed the game, I had all three fully evolved starter Pokemon in my team.
1: Zacian and Zamazenta
These two legendary Pokemon are not only the cover stars of these games (which should already be a reason to pick up either sword or shield version), but they are also the ancient guardians of the Galar region and the central Pokemon focus in the post-game story. Now I don’t want to spoil anything so I’ll just leave you with the knowledge that it’s not a major decision which legendary you want. More-so, just pick the one you prefer aesthetically because they’ll both make powerful additions to your team.
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