AOTW: Moxie
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It’s here, trainers! Pokemon Black and White Versions have officially dropped in the States, and kudos if you’ve been able to tear yourself away from it long enough to come to Ability class! I promise not to keep you for long this week, so you can get back to being much further along in the game than I am. To celebrate the release of generation five, this week we’re talking about one of the Abilities new to the game, and boy howdy could this sucker be a useful one, especially in the post-game. Give your DS’s a break and settle in, folks. This is Ability of the Week: Moxie!
As I said, Moxie is a newly introduced Ability as of Black and White, and it could very well be your team’s Sweeper’s best friend. If you knock out your opponent’s pokémon with a direct attack (read: no Toxic, Hail or Sandstorms), Moxie will increase the user’s Attack stat by one stage when the defending pokémon faints. Only two evolutionary lines can have this Ability naturally, both of whom are new to gen five. Krookodile and Scrafty both have this as a secondary Ability, and both of them have high Attack stats to begin with. Between TM’s and breeding both have reasonably diverse move pools, but the one thing that prevents these two from being nigh unstoppable is poor Speed stats on both, and neither can learn Agility. If you plan on using these guys, you might consider adding an Agility Baton Passer to your team. Once the Dream World becomes available, even more possibilities will open up for Moxie. Some awesome battlers from previous generations can get this Ability there, like Heracross, Gyarados, and Salamence. If you play your cards right, you can get your pokémon to build up momentum and steamroll your opponent’s entire team!
Short article this week, but hey, it’s a pretty simple Ability to understand. I should warn you, class, that Ability of the Week MAY take an unscheduled hiatus for a bit. As you know, we’ve got two conventions coming up on back-to-back weekends, and I don’t know that I’ll be able to find the time to write any articles in advance. I know that I won’t find the time once I depart for Chicago, so in the event that you don’t see me for a couple of weeks, I apologize. On that note, though, I’d like to remind everyone that in addition to the live podcast taking place on Sunday the 20th, my comics group Lonely Robot Comics will also have a booth at C2E2, where you can pick up my comic book, The Redeemers! If you stop by the booth and pick up any two of our various titles and say that you listen to It’s Super Effective, I’ll even throw in a free pencil sketch of you with your favorite pokémon! (Please have a reference picture ready if possible, just in case.) Here’s a map of where to find us, and I’ll see you at the convention!
