PKMN of the Week: Terrakion
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I have owned my home for about ten years now. It's a nice one bedroom condo on the second floor of a six unit building - basically I have one family below me and one family above me. Most of the years I have lived here have been quiet. The condo below mine is usually empty and the one above me was occupied by an older woman.
Then the older woman moved out and Rolling Thunder moved in.
In human development, when children first learn to walk they lack the grace and finesse that we, as adults, exercise in moving across a room. The value of each individual step's success far outweighs the artistry of, say, not stomping everywhere you go. She's about one and a half years old and two feet high but I think she must weigh about 200 pounds (that's about 14.25 stone for those of you with even less useful systems of measurement). Stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp. I know when Rolling Thunder wakes up in the morning and when she goes to bed at night - all other hours are a constant stream of pounding assaults on the peace and serenity of my home. Some days I feel like Frank Grimes.
All of that noise puts me in mind of my Terrakion, Terrakion. What a mystery that dude is. I always give my Pokémon names. Fun names. Names that say something, much like a say something hat. Not Terrakion, though. Well, what can I remember? I know I certainly had a difficult time catching the dude. I had to reset a few times before I knocked the bro into a Great Ball. I'm pretty certain that it was late when I finally caught him and I was sleepy. I am the original trainer, though, so I can take him to Castelia city and have the name rater change his name if I want to. I don't know - Terrakion the Terrakion makes a certain kind of sense, doesn't it?
I am not having an ice cream sandwich tonight. I know, it's ok, I had a parfait from Whole Foods instead but it just says something about the kind of day it has been. A "no ice cream sandwich" kind of day.
What are the deets on Terrakion the Terrakion?
Well, he has a Calm nature which isn't so great, his Special Defense is boosted and his Attack is hindered. I mean, dude has a lot of weaknesses (Fighting, Ground, Steel, Water, Grass, and Psychic) so maybe sacrificing a lil Attack isn't so bad. He likes to relax, has relatively superior potential, and his HP is fantastic. What does this mean? HIs highest IV is in his HP and that number is somewhere between 26 and 30. Because his characteristic is "Likes to relax," we know his HP IV is 29. Being relatively superior means that the sum of his IVs is somewhere between 121 and 150. So, at best, the rest of his IVs average 24, at worst, 18. For sure there are IV calculators that would spit out the real deal.
He's at level 51, yes, just over the line for competitive and his stats currently sit at HP 169, Attack 134, Defense 116, Special Attack 91, Special Defense 121, and Speed 127. The only place he's really lagging is Special Attack. So how did I outfit him? Swords Dance (almost a given on this dude), Stone Edge (no one is immune to Rock-type attacks), Rock Slide (for flinchies), and Sacred Sword (I mean, he's one of the Musketeers, right?). That's not the worst possible.
Honestly, since Nationals, I have removed his item and I don't remember what it was. Let's just say, Rocky Helmet. Sure. Rocky Helmets are cool. Go away River Song. Terakion the Terrakion was kind of on my team as a fluke, I never intended to use him. I did once have a strategy of poking a Terrakion with a dark type move to bump up his Attack stat but, I don't know. Not chill to smack around a bro just to bulk him up, you know?
So what could we do to fix up Terrakion the Terrakion? Well, if you're about to get a Terrakion (you get one) save right before you battle him. Once you do, check his nature and IVs, etc. If they aren't good or along the lines of what you want - reset your game. In Black and White Terrakion lives in a cave along Victory road and in Black 2/White 2 he is somewhere else but I didn't hear anything about that potentially from a Kiwi who currently lives in Osaka because, if I did, I would have to cause him physical harm. So we'll just leave that. If you accidentally knock out Terrakion without catching him in a Pokéball - and a Dusk Ball is legit since he hangs out in a cave - just go and battle the Elite Four again and he'll reappear. Please don't do that. Please save before you enter his chamber. If you do knock him out without the ability to reset, well, call yourself Will Anderson.
So - a better nature is in order. Here is an FYI - out of 52 attacks that Terrakion can learn, only four of them are Special so . . . focus on Attack, destroy Special Attack. Adamant nature. I mean, you could be the game changer and outfit your Terrakion with Hidden Power, Hyper Beam, Round and Focus Blast, umm, go ahead. See how that works out for you. For a really sweet Terrakion, train up that Attack stat and give him Close Combat (Fighting-type for STAB, 120 base power), Stone Edge is good for causing a flinch plus gets Rock-type STAB, throw in a Poison Jab or Aerial Ace for weird unexpected type effects, and Swords Dance is the stat booster to grab since it raises the Attack stat by two stages (Work Up raises Attack and Special Attack each by one stage, but Special Attack boosts are kind of wasted here).
I don't think there is any way to target a hold item for Terrakion that will work defensively, so boost up that Attack even more. You could Choice item him since no one is immune to Rock-type attacks. Then again, there is always that pesky Life Orb, if you have one. In discussions with Kidd Starck, he tentatively agrees. We are currently Time Zone Buddies. Shell Bell could be a unique twist if you feel Terrakion will be doing a lot of damage.
In the TCG the Terrakion card is highly recommended as the Darkrai EX killer. All you need to know is that it carries the attack Land Crush which, for two fighting energies and one colorless energy deals 90 damage (normally). Darkrai EX is 2X weak to fighting attacks and has 180 HP, so, in VGC terms it's a OHKO. Unfortunately for me, with my skill level in TCG, my Terrakion just kind of sits there like a goon, never gets charged up, and eventually gets knocked out.
