PotW: Wobbuffet

Hey, fellow Pokemon enthusiasts, and welcome to another exciting adventure through Pokemon mythos and origins in this week’s Pokemon of the Week article! Well, it may not be exciting, or an adventure, but I’m sure you’ll like it nonetheless.

This week’s spotlight will be on the incredibly formidable, but somewhat mysterious Pokemon from Generation 2, Wobbuffet. Now, let me lay down the basics with this monster. Firstly, he has incredibly low Attack, Special Attack, and Speed, and Defense and Special Defense stats that leave much to be desired. Now, what if I told you that his entire movepool consisted of eight moves, three of which are only obtainable as egg moves of his pre-evolution? People who’ve never seen this poke in action are surely wondering what makes this guy even worth the PC space, but let me assure you, he’s good. So good, in fact, that he’s been placed in the uber tier by Smogon. While his other stats are very low, his HP stat sits at a sizeable base 190. The four moves that almost every Wobbuffet player runs are Counter,  Mirror Coat, Safeguard, and Destiny Bond. Starting to get the idea? If not, lemme lay it out for you.

Your main means of damage are the moves Counter and Mirror Coat. Counter, only working if you go second, after being hit by a Physical move, deals double the damage you just received to your opponent. Mirror Coat does the same thing, except with Special moves. This means that if you can predict the damage category of the move your opponent is about to use, you can smack them for double what they just did, turning Wobuffet into a great wall who can take hits and hit back.

When you look at the Pokemon, you see a big blue punching bag-esque creature with a flustered expression and big, floppy arms. Plus, he has a little black tail with eyes. There’s no doubt that this Pokemon looks interesting, to say the least. But what I think is most interesting about Wobbuffet are his Pokedex entries. Let’s take a look, shall we?

“To keep its pitch-black tail hidden, it lives quietly in the darkness. It is never first to attack.”

“It hates light and shock. If attacked, it inflates its body to pump up its counterstrike.”

“Wobbuffet does nothing but endure attacks - it won't attack on its own. However, it won't endure an attack on its tail. When that happens, the Pokémon will try to take the foe with it using Destiny Bond.”

Hmm... It seems that Wobbuffet’s tail is very important to it. Could it be that what most think of as Wobbuffet’s body is nothing more than means of protection created by a much smaller and weaker creature, its “tail”? It’s easier to see this if we look at its pre-evolution, Wynaut. If we think of Wobbuffet as an inflatable sack, it’s easy to see Wynaut as simply an under inflated Wobbuffet. You can clearly see the loose “skin” at the top of his head, and what are soon to be Wobbuffet’s arms that look like Wynaut’s ears.

Well, folks, that concludes another installment of Pokemon of the Week. I hope you’ve enjoyed! If you have any suggestions for a Pokemon that I should write about, feel free to email me at davedwtho@gmail.com. Until next time, I wish you the best of luck in your Poke-pursuits, and may your Pokeballs will always be full of powerful monsters.