PKMN of the Week: Stunfisk

I may or may not have mentioned this before, but I spent the majority of my youth split between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.  I went to elementary school in Kaneohe, Hawaii and then finished my pre-college education in Port Chester, New York.  My father was obsessed with sailing and we spent every weekend on the boat.  While I have now lived in Washington, DC for over 20 years I miss the influence of the ocean on my daily life every day.

Although I have a great affinity for the ocean, I am not the biggest fan of its myriad creatures.  Let's be frank, fish are gross.  It took me about 33 years before I learned to enjoy sushi and I still have difficulty with cooked fish.  Living fish skeeve me out.  I have a tale about why I am such an ichthyophobe but that is for another day.

One thing I don't have very much experience with is lakes and lake fish.  I've never been to Minnesota or visited the Great Salt Lake so I am not sure how lake fish are different from ocean fish.  I do know one thing though:

Flounder are not a lake fish.

Be that as it may, our Pokémon of the week is that odd and unique flounder dude, Stunfisk.  It's appropriate that Stunfisk itself is a unique Pokémon, seeing as flounder are a unique fish.  Did you know, when flounder are born they have eyes on each side of their head?  Then, as they grow up, one eye travels ("migrates") around to the other side and they have two eyes on one side of their head.  Freaky!

Stunfisk's typing is what makes it unique - Ground/Electric.  The unexperienced will stumble over Stunfisk in the future and think that it is weak to Electric-type attacks (much like Whiscash) and it is actually immune.  It can use some awesome electric type moves though and can be a fun addition if you want to build an Electric-type team.  Don't let yourself be confused, though - Stunfisk actually has a weakness to Water and Ground-type attacks.

Let's look at Stunfisk's, the Trap Pokémon, base stats.  Highest is HP and lowest is Speed.  As SBJ has mentioned, this makes him ideal for a Trick Room team.  Battle stats give him an edge in defense - 99 Special Defense and 84 Defense.  Finally, the edge is towards specials with Special Attack at 81 and Attack being the lowest base stat at 66.  If you are thinking of making Stunfisk part of your trick room team think about boosting that Special Attack and dropping the Attack with a Modest nature.  Split your EVs among HP, Special Attack, and Special Defense and you've got yourself a player!

There aren't a lot of special category Ground-type attacks available to Stunfisk.  Avoid Mud Shot if you are thinking Trick Room - it is guaranteed to reduce the target's speed.  If you feel you must have a Ground-type move, go for Mud Bomb (ugh, low accuracy and low power) or Fissure.  Fissure is awesome!  For an Electric-type move, definitely include Discharge (it is the Surf/Earthquake of Electric-type moves) and Thunderbolt has good accuracy and power.  Stunfisk can learn both Rain Dance and Sandstorm if you would like to do a weather team - if you go for Rain Dance then add Thunder (120 power and 100% accuracy in rain).  If you have a Dream World Stunfisk with the Sand Veil ability then go for Sandstorm.  You'll get a 25% increase in evasion.

An Air Balloon will temporarily prevent super effective ground type attacks.  If you are doing Sandstorm/Sand Veil you could have Stunfisk hold BrightPowder and increase evasion even more.  A Damp Rock will work with a Rain Dance Stunfisk to maximize the effectiveness of Thunder.  Stunfisk is surprisingly versatile in the different ways he can be outfitted.

The current (Dragon's Exalted) Stunfisk is strangely designed to be a counter to Lightning (what we normals call Electric-type) Pokémon (the dreaded "Eels" with Dynamotor).  For one fighting energy it will do 40 damage to any of your opponent's Lightning Pokémon (even one on the bench).  Since Tynamo have 40 HP it is a quick knock out.  You can quash your opponent's efforts before they can even get Dynamotor going.

As they say in Unova - don't discount those weird Pokémon and don't walk through the Moor of Icirrus barefoot!