Pok�mon of the Week

Tangrowth, The Vine Pok�mon. Its arms are made of plants that bind themselves to things. They grow back right away if cut. It ensnares prey by extending arms made of vines. Losing arms to predators does not trouble it. When it remains still, it appears to be a large shrub. Unsuspecting prey that wander near get ensnared by its vines. Its vines grow so profusely that, in the warm season, you can't even see its eyes.

Tangrowth is a cool Pokemon. In Diamond and Pearl it didn't stand out much. It had immense physical bulk and a great movepool but no real recovery (Synthesis sucks). While it made its home in the Underused tier it could never really handle itself in standard play. That and there weren't really any good reasons to use it over Celebi. Black and White changed all that.. well no, not really. Its still for the most part an inferior Celebi but now it gets a few tools to help it set itself apart. Regenerator is a huge one. It now can survive catastrophic hits, and return from the brink of death to fight again. It also gets a boost with Drought Ninetales allowing it's Chlorophyll set to become a real terror. While Tangrowth actually dropped a tier since last gen it in fact improved massively. The schoolgirl's worst nightmare is something you will always want to keep an eye out for.

Chlorophyll: In sunlight Tangrowth's speed doubles. With Growth now doubling both your attacking stats in the sun this becomes a potent ability.
Leaf Guard: Oh wow. This is terrible. Preventing status in sunlight? Hydration works because you can spam one turn Rests in Rain but leaf Guard disables Rest all together. Don't use this!
Regenerator: Best ability by far. Every time Tangrowth switches out it heals one third of its max HP. One of the best abilities in the game. One which turns makes Tangrowth go from a bulky tank to a deathless immortal that can take a Scizor U-turn and heal much of it off. Play Tangrowth right and it will literally never die.

- Giga Drain / Power Whipf
- Sleep Powderf
- Hidden Power [Ice] / [Fire]f
- Leech Seed / Knock Off / Stun Spore
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) / Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)

Feast your eyes on a defensive titan. A Pokemon that has greater physical durability than even Dialga. One who can stand up to even Choice Band Terrakion with no fear. The key to this set's infinite lifespan is Regenerator. This heals one third of Tangrowth's HP every time it switches out. So given enough time and care even a Tangrowth at 1 HP will recover itself enough to continue the fight. The first move choice is that of a STAB move. Giga Drain is relatively weak but it heals and is still strong enough to OHKO a -1 Terrakion (sometimes). Power Whip is a stronger alternative to blow a hole in Tyranitar and Politoed. Use Relaxed if you end up running Power Whip. Sleep Powder is almost required as it allows Tangrowth to put down its primary counter. Due to the new sleep mechanics this is usually permanent. The next move is the Hidden Power of choice. Ice decimates dragons and Landorus / Gliscor but HP fire beats annoying Steel / Bug types while letting Tangrowth defend itself against Skarmory. The final slot is the support move. Leech Seed slows down tanks and walls while helping you beat Heatran over long games. Knock Off completely screws Choiced users out of their item. It also prevents Specially Defensive Heatran from healing. Stun Spore is the last option as Paralysis is always welcome and nothing enjoys it.

- Growth
- Power Whip
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Rock Slide / Earthquake
Item Attached: Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP /252 Atk / 252 Spd
Naughty Nature (+Atk, -SDef)

Get it? Tan.. GROWTH? Eh? Eh??... OK fine, no more puns. While Sweeper Tangrowth is rarely used due to Regenerator being so awesome and other Chlorophyll competing with it, Tangrowth is still a huge offensive threat. Growth doubles Attack and Special Attack in sunlight making it an incredible tool in sweeping. The key to using this is to find what Tangrowth can do that other Chlorophyll users can't. Immense physical bulk is always nice.. Scizor Bullet Punch doesn't even 3HKO without a boost. Power Whip is a terrifying offensive move, after a Growth boost it blows away even Latios in one hit (Latios resists it). Hidden Power Fire melts basically anything weak to fire, even Specially Defensive Jirachi takes 75% minimum. The final slot is Rock Slide.. an unusual choice but one which allows Tangrowth to remove a ton of threats that other sun sweepers can't. While the traditional move is Earthquake it has somewhat redundant coverage. Rock Slide allows you to beat Dragonite, Salamence, Volcarona, Ninetales and Tornadeus without running a different Hidden Power or Earthquake. Heatran, the only thing Earthquake really hits is actually handled fairly well by Rock Slide. Taking into account flinch, crits and misses Rock Slide has about a 45% chance to KO an incoming Balloon Heatran.. something Earthquake has virtually no chance to do so (due to the Air Balloon). Of course it does actually get Earthquake so if you want you can use that.. if you're lame.

Tangrowth
Defensive sets want max HP and max Defense. You can try to invest in Special Defense but its a waste of Tangrowth's insane physical bulk. Bold if running Giga Drain, Relaxed if using Power Whip. The Growth set needs max speed and attack with Naughty nature. Naughty nature hits 398 Speed, enough to outrun all non-Scarfed Pokemon in standard play.

Not too much. Synthesis, Toxic, Bulldoze, Endeavor / Substitute, Leaf Storm, Seed Bomb, Insect Plate / Hidden Power Bug and Shock Wave
-If Regenerator, Leech Seed, Leftovers, and Giga Drain aren't enough to keep you healthy Synthesis is a worthwhile move. The healing is a bit overboard though and in most cases that you need health you can just switch out and let Regenerator do its work.
-Toxic can slow down most non Steel or Poison types, but Leech Seed does that too.
-Bulldoze can smack an incoming steel (especially Heatran) and lower their speed so you can counter them more easily. Not very useful compared to Knock off or Stun Spore though.
-Endeavor can be paired with Substitute for a funny gimmick. Sub against something that can't hurt you like Terrakion. As they switch in a counter like Hydreigon keep Subbing until you are low on health. Endeavor at a low HP as they break your final Sub then switch out. Regenerator will eventually allow you to restore yourself while they took huge damage from Endeavor. Useless gimmick though.
-Seed Bomb is a more reliable Power Whip. Its not legal with Regenerator and Power Whip is one of the main reasons to use Tangrowth over Venusaur.
-Insect Plate / Hidden Power Bug can be one of the most obscure Celebi lures to have ever existed. Just kidding, don't ever use this.
-Shock Wave can be used against Gyarados if you want but Hidden Power Electric is stronger and Tangrowth fairs badly against Sub Bounce sets anyway.

None really. Tangrowth is pretty bad in Doubles / Triples. Its main niche, Regenerator, is largely useless in the high speed-minimal switching Doubles / Triples metagame while it's not particularly dangerous as a Chlorophyll sweeper. Stick to singles with this one.

The most obvious one is Slowking. Slowking also gets Regenerator and can survive the strong Ice and Fire attacks Tangrowth can't while the tentacle ball can take Grass moves like they're nothing. It doesn't really work as perfectly in reality though when anything with Thunderbolt /Ice Beam coverage or bug moves punishes the combo. In terms of defensive typing Heatran pairs fantastically with Tangrowth. They resist or otherwise wall all the common weaknesses of each other. Heatran also takes Special hits extremely well. Chansey or Blissey can also cover Tangrowth's special defense deficit as well as supporting it with Wish and Heal Bell.

Not that hard in the traditional sense. Send in Special Attacker and boom; dead tentacle monster. In reality though Tangrowth will Leech Seed your counter and switch out with little to no fear. Or maybe it will smack you with Sleep Powder, ruining something on your team. Tangrowth can be defeated by taking advantage of its ability. Every time it switches out the opposing team is doing nothing. They heal 33% yet do absolutely nothing to you. Punish them every time they give you a free turn. Set up that Volcarona, Spike with that Skarmory, throw around Outrages with that Choice Band Haxorus. Killing Tangrowth outright is very difficult. Unless your opponent lets you take it out it will probably be one of the last things to faint on the opponent's team. Tangrowth can run and hide all it wants but one thing that really hurts it is Toxic Spikes. This makes Regenrator healing almost negligible and prevents it from staying in long. Stealth Rocks, Sandstorm and Spikes also keeps the pressure up on Tangrowth's switch happy tactics. "Volt-turn" teams that abuse U-turn and Volt Switch can hurt Tangrowth badly, as it is too slow to beat their maneuverable offensive.

Pre-Evolution Corner

Pre-Evolution

- Giga Drain
- Sleep Powder
- Hidden Power [Rock] / [Ice]
- Leech Seed / Knock Off
Item Attached: Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)

Reach, Defender, 0/3... Oh wait, wrong game. Sorry. Tangela is usable in every tier Tangrowth isn't. Its also a lot cuter. Tangela reaches slightly higher defenses due to Eviolite yet Leftovers plus better offenses and movepool means Tangrowth is overall a better choice. However If you're playing the Neverused Tangela is a nightmare for physical attackers. Giga Drain is the STAB of choice as Power Whip is junk off its 55 base attack. Sleep Powder is always useful to cripple a counter. Hidden Power Rock is the best type to use in Neverused due to the higher concentration of Bug and Fire types, but if you are having trouble with Altaria you can run Ice. Leech Seed as always is an option to wear down primary counters but Knock Off is good for beating strong Choice Band or Scarf Pokemon like Braviary.

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game .

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game.

Colosseum/XD:
Not in game.

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Evolve Tangela (Platinum)
Transfer Tangela and evolve (Diamond/Pearl)

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Evolve Tangela

Black/White:
Route 13 & Giant Chasm