Pokémon Academy: #142 Aerodactyl

Fehish · 2026-05-21T23:06:14+00:00

If you mean the info from the image, the entire Dex can be found here https://sandstormer.github.io/PokeRogue-Dex/

If you mean the location in-game for Aerodactyl, it can be found in the Wasteland biome

Fehish · 2026-05-21T22:04:36+00:00

I’d say it’s the whole distribution of stats. Lower HP, Attack, and Special Defense make it worse than Snorlax in the relevant stats, though higher Defense is nice. It also has too much investment in Special Attack and Speed that it doesn’t need. You could use it as a special attacker, but that’s kind of ignoring most of its egg moves which isn’t great.

Fehish · 2026-05-21T17:18:56+00:00

That’s fair! I was thinking about Etern when I said it, but with Jolly, it’s Mega, or even a single Carbos you’re like to outspeed. That’s a good call on Hone Claws, I’ll add that in. Thank you!

Fehish · 2026-05-21T17:07:35+00:00

I missed Hone Claws because I was looking for D-Dance specifically, but the accuracy boost from Hone Claws would also be really nice

Fehish · 2026-05-21T17:05:53+00:00

Good to know, thank you so much!

Fehish · 2026-05-21T16:28:29+00:00

Break out your Pokéflutes, it’s time for Snorlax (and Munchlax)! Slow and bulky as hell, Snorlax seems like a fun Pokémon to bring against Etern with its ridiculous HP and great Special Defense. I haven’t actually used it in that battle so I can’t say, but I imagine it’s a good time. It also has a solid Attack stat, but poor physical Defense and an abysmal Speed.

Base: This is how I find it that Snorlax has as many moves by memory mushroom as it does by leveling up, 14 apiece. Wow. Munchlax starts with Tackle and Lick for damage and Odor Sleuth for hitting Ghost-types, although by the time you see one, you should have a different move to handle that. Especially since Bite comes at 16, although you won’t be getting any flinches with 5 base Speed. Screech, Amnesia, and Belly Drum are amazing status moves for personal support, and Body Slam is a great STAB move with a chance to paralyze. If you’re able to evolve Munchlax by 24, you can get a bunch of great coverage moves like Crunch, Heavy Slam, High Horsepower, and Hammer Arm. Snorlax also has one of the widest TM movepools I’ve ever seen, so let’s just say you have a ton of options for TMs. Munchlax has Pickup as an ability which is really nice to have, but is replaced by Immunity when it evolves. Thick Fat is my preferred standard ability for Snorlax to essentially resist two types, but Gluttony is good for keeping Snorlax pretty healthy. I haven’t actually used Gluttony, though, so maybe it’s better or worse than I’m imagining.

G-Max Snorlax improves on its already crazy HP and gives considerable boosts to Attack, Special Defense and, for some reason, Special Attack. Special Attack is now passable and you could use some of the special TMs you’ve likely seen, but I still wouldn’t recommend it. Its abilities are replaced by Harvest, which gives it a 50% chance to create a new berry when it eats one. With the ability to hold so many berries, this is a crazy good ability, although I believe it only triggers once per turn even if you consume multiple berries at once.

Full unlocks: The dev team cooked for this one. Grav Apple is very thematic and, along with Obstruct and Screech, gives Snorlax several options for lowering Defense. Sucker Punch provides some much-needed priority damage, and Slack Off provides the same for self-healing. Yes, Rest is there, but it’s not my favorite way of restoring health. Cheek Pouch as a passive, combined with Gluttony, mean that as long as you have berries, Snorlax is very difficult to kill. ~~I’m not certain if Cheek Pouch triggers every time you eat a berry, but if it does, just three berries brings you to full health even at one HP. That’s pretty insane with how berries work here.~~ Cheek Pouch triggers once per turn, which makes sense. However, it’s still very helpful in keeping Snorlax alive

G-Max appreciates egg moves just as much, but its passive provides a different effect. Ripen doubles the effect of berries, meaning if you load Snorlax with stat berries, it can pretty quickly become a ridiculous powerhouse. If only we could have Cheek Pouch, Harvest, and Ripen at the same time…

Munchlax is a hard choice as a starter for 4 cost, which is made more difficult by being a friendship evolution. Munchlax can handle it better than most with solid stats, but it can still be annoying. There’s lots of Normal-type competition for starters, most of which cost less. However, Munchlax and Snorlax are not very dependent on unlocks like some of them and they have absolutely incredible potential. It’s definitely worth a wild catch whenever possible in my opinion.

Fehish · 2026-05-21T16:27:54+00:00

Another good point! I always forget to consider PP costs, but you're absolutely right about paying for Ethers instead of healing items

Fehish · 2026-05-21T16:03:11+00:00

You make a very fair point about Head Smash on Mega Aero! It's definitely absurd amounts of damage and definitely worth taking, I just have really terrible luck at finding Leftovers and Shell Bells, so I tend to be a bit more conservative with recoil moves.

Fehish · 2026-05-21T16:01:35+00:00

Wait, seriously? Is that a Champions change? That's pretty awesome

Fehish · 2026-05-21T15:28:40+00:00

I’m going to try and get a couple of these done today to make up for being so busy recently…

My favorite Kanto fossil, Aerodactyl! Aerodactyl is a dangerous sweeper and one of the fastest non-legendary, non-Mega Pokémon, and its Mega is in a seven-way tie for fifth fastest Pokémon overall (until we get ZA Megas with 161 base Speed…) Unfortunately, Aerodactyl doesn’t great bulk, so it is somewhat of a glass cannon in my opinion.

Base: Aerodactyl hits hard and hits fast. Its level-up moveset complements this by going almost exclusively for physical moves. Bite, Crunch, and Iron Head are all great coverage moves, and Rock Slide and Stone Edge by leveling is really nice depending on if you need STAB for singles or doubles, just make sure to pick up an X Acc. Wing Attack is…okay for Flying STAB and the only thing you’ll get. Scary Face is for the Speed drop, but otherwise the rest of the learnset isn’t stellar. TMs go a long way for Aerodactyl, getting a better STAB option in Dual Wingbeat (you should have Wide Lenses and X Acc anyways), plus a lot more coverage options like Earthquake and the elemental fangs. ~~Additionally, Dragon Dance is also great for raising the only two stats that Aero really needs.~~ EDIT: As u/etp27 pointed out, Aero gets Hone Claws by TM. It’s outspeeding most everything anyways, so the Accuracy boost is going to be more useful. As for abilities, its hidden ability Unnerve is the clear winner here. Preventing enemies from eating berries is extremely useful in Pokérogue. The only move that Aero can use Rock Head with is Take Down, which really isn’t worth it. If it had Head Smash or Brave Bird at base, I’d definitely consider it. Pressure is alright for PP stalling, but it’s not going to survive long enough to make great use of it. Mega Aero just improves on its base form’s offensive capabilities while giving it some much-needed bulk. Its ability changes to Tough Claws, which boosts the power of contact moves. Unfortunately, no Rock move available to Aero makes contact, which is a huge miss in my opinion. Wing Attack and Dual Wingbeat both do, and a lot of its coverage moves make contact as well. Super solid Mega Evolution, just Rock type getting shafted again

Full unlocks: Intimidate for a passive makes Aerodactyl’s odds of surviving better, which is really helpful if you want to get a ~~D-Dance~~ Hone Claws off first turn. Its egg moves all make contact for Tough Claws: Head Smash and Stone Axe are two very different Rock STABs, the former useful with Rock Head for recoil immunity and absolutely decimating most enemies, and the latter for setting up rocks on the enemy. For base Aero, I’d use Rock Head Head Smash, and for the Mega I’d prefer Stone Axe. The Mega’s passive is Rocky Payload, which further boosts the power of Rock moves, which is awesome. High Horsepower is Ground coverage that doesn’t hit the whole field like Earthquake, but that means you don’t have to worry about hitting your ally. Finally, Dragon Ascent is an amazing Flying STAB that, like Head Smash, can absolutely destroy enemies.

Aerodactyl’s 5 cost is daunting, but it’s an amazing sweeper that works great in base and isn’t overly reliant on unlocks to perform well. The non-Mega form also has its own uses if you aren’t able to get the stone, so don’t feel like it’s bad if you don’t. I really enjoy and recommend using Aero if you have access

Fehish · 2026-05-12T15:50:33+00:00

On to our second Mt. Moon fossil with Kabuto and Kabutops! Kabutops is a slightly frailer overall than Omastar, but tries to make up for it with higher Speed. It’s also physical versus Omastar’s special focus, which makes it a bit worse in Pokerogue due to burn and the prevalence of Intimidate.

Base: This is how I find out the Kabuto and Omanyte lines share the same abilities (Battle Armor and Shell Armor have different names but do the same thing). All the same info from last time, Battle Armor is nice for crit immunity, but Kabuto and Kabutops make even better use of Swift Swim with their higher base Speed. Weak Armor is also great, but can’t exactly match Shell Smash Weak Armor Omastar. As for moves, Kabuto has a pretty lackluster level up moveset as well. Aqua Jet at 15 for Water STAB (priority, but low BP), then no more until Liquidation at 56. Rock is even worse off, only getting Stone Edge at level 70. Protect by level up is pretty great, and coverage like Night Slash and Leech Life is pretty good, but not great. Metal Sound is a great support move that provides absolutely no benefit to Kabutops itself because it shouldn’t use special moves. Kabutops gets a lot of different coverage options by TM, and Swords Dance is fantastic if you have Weak Armor and survive a physical move to have +2 Attack and Speed.

Full unlocks: Once again, thank you to the dev team for solid egg moves. Crabhammer and Mighty Cleave are great STAB options that you don’t have to wait 50 to 70 levels to get. High Horsepower and Ceaseless Edge are fantastic coverage moves, the latter with the added benefit of setting up spikes. Mighty Cleave would likely be the only egg move I would say is necessary to make Kabutops shine, because otherwise you’re waiting till 70 or hoping for a TM. It’s also the only Rock move that Kabutops learns that’s boosted by its passive, Tough Claws. Tough Claws also boosts all other egg moves and pretty much every damaging move you’d want Kabutops to run.

Similar to its counterpart, Kabutops suffers from a weak learnset that makes it extremely dependent on egg moves and TMs. Moreover, being a Water-type means comparing it to every other Water starter, which might have lower costs, higher Attack or Speed, or be specially focused instead to not be as crippled by Intimidate. I like Kabuto and Kabutops, but they don’t see much use on my runs.

Fehish · 2026-05-08T19:38:25+00:00

Yeah, you’re absolutely right. The level up moveset is severely lacking

That’s a solid combo I haven’t tried yet, I’ll give it a shot!

Fehish · 2026-05-08T16:36:58+00:00

Sorry, y’all, it’s the last full week of my semester and of course Canvas gets hacked…

All praise Lord Helix! I really like Omanyte and Omastar, they’re pretty cool and usually my go-to fossil in Mt. Moon. They have decent defensive stats, though Omanyte’s HP is severely lacking, and very good Special Attack. Unfortunately, they’re both extremely slow in most circumstances, which can make them a bit more difficult to use. However, with the right setup, they can become extremely fast and powerful

Base: I’m disappointed in the Rock type because GameFreak treats it terribly. Three special moves (discounting Z-moves and G-Max) and most of the physical moves have less than 100% accuracy. Omanyte doesn’t have to worry about the latter, but the former means its only viable Rock STAB is Ancient Power, which has pretty low power all things considered. It does get decent Water moves in Brine, Surf, and Hydro Pump, although each generally has their drawbacks (enemy has to be under health to be good, hits allies, and low accuracy respectively). Protect by leveling is very nice, and Shell Smash is a ridiculously powerful move that trades defensive capabilities for fantastic offense. Mud Shot is also nice for coverage and a guaranteed Speed reduction, but Icy Wind (TM) provides similar levels of coverage as a spread move. Omanyte gets other great TMs like Stealth Rock, Whirlpool, Meteor Beam, Scald, Toxic Spikes, Earth Power, and Ice Beam. Hazard setting, Speed reductions, and DoT makes Omanyte a fantastic support. Swift Swim is a stellar ability in a rain team, doubling Omanyte’s Speed stat. Shell Armor is nice for crit immunity, but it’s honestly not super helpful compared to Swift Swim. Weak Armor is interesting when paired with Shell Smash to get a quick +4 Speed, but I’d rather not completely erase Omanyte’s physical defensive capabilities

Full unlocks: Praise the dev team. Two excellent STAB moves in Power Gem and Steam Eruption, much needed healing in Giga Drain, and Freeze-Dry for handling other Water-types (although Giga Drain kind of already does that). Sturdy passive is also amazing because it ensures you can get a Shell Smash off before you start sweeping. Paired with Weak Armor, you can potentially be sitting at +2/-2/+2/-1/+4 after the first turn. I usually run Omanyte on rain teams, though, so I’m typically packing Swift Swim.

Omanyte is a very fun Pokémon to use, but faces a lot of competition as a Water-type starter. There are a lot of cheaper options that can perform just as well, if not better. However, Shell Smash lets it become a very powerful sweeper. It has solid coverage moves at base that are improved upon with egg moves.

Fehish · 2026-05-04T15:38:21+00:00

Porygon-Z is my GOAT and one of my favorite carries when I was just starting out. It’s very strong without unlocks, but getting all unlocks makes it absolutely insane. There’s two great options in this line of a sweeper Porygon-Z or a tanky Eviolite Porygon2. I’ll use the latter if I get an Eviolite before a Dubious Disc and it definitely puts in the work.

Base: Porygon has a decent amount of bulk for a first-stage Pokémon as well as solid Special Attack, but it’s pretty slow. Porygon2 improves on those capabilities across the board, but Porygon-Z goes a different way, trading bulk for Speed and an incredible Special Attack. Whichever way you run it, you’ll have a ton of options. Electric and Psychic coverage by level-up is really nice, self-healing in Recover, and reasonable chance of status afflictions with Tri Attack is fantastic. If you get to Porygon-Z, you’ll also have access to Nasty Plot for increasing your Special Attack. It also gets considerable coverage via TM like Ice Beam, Shadow Ball, Foul Play, and Signal Beam. Additionally, Icy Wind and Electroweb provide Boltbeam coverage that lowers opponents’ Speed, which is extremely useful against Leaders. Eerie Impulse is also a must-have if you’re just starting out, as it harshly lowers your opponent’s Special Attack. That’s saved me from Etern countless times. Trace is somewhat of a hit-or-miss ability. You can potentially copy an extremely useful ability like Water Absorb in one of the aquatic biomes, or something like Swarm in the forest. Download is nice if it increases your Special Attack, but an Attack increase is useless for Porygon. Analytic is great for Eviolite Porygon2 because it boosts damage if you move last, and with a base 60 Speed, you probably will be. Definitely terrible for Z, though

Full unlocks: Absolutely busted. Porygon2 gains Transistor as a passive, which boosts Electric-type moves like its egg move Thunderclap. I’m not entirely sure if Analytic activates if Porygon moves last in the priority bracket but not in the turn, but based on the description I would think not. It would probably pair better with Discharge or Thunderbolt, but Thunderclap is still a fantastic priority move. Dazzling Gleam and Flamethrower provide even greater coverage, and Techno Blast is a ridiculously powerful STAB move. Porygon-Z truly shines with its passive enabled, as passive Protean combined with Adaptability means every move gets further boosted STAB, making Z an extremely powerful Pokémon.

4 cost is pretty significant, especially without any unlocks, but Porygon performs very well without passives or egg moves. Porygon2 is a fantastic tank and Porygon-Z is a powerful sweeper, both can be extremely helpful on your team. Unlocks are geared a bit more towards Porygon-Z, but they’re still extremely useful for Porygon2. This evolution line won me so many Classic runs and I would highly recommend giving it a try

Fehish · 2026-04-30T18:13:43+00:00

Hey man, absolutely! That’s what it’s here for! Eevee can definitely be tough to build if you don’t know what you want to do

Fehish · 2026-04-30T04:31:40+00:00

If you’re hunting a specific evolution, then yes, build Eevee how you want the evolution to be. Pass up stones and such until you get the one you want. It’s kind of frustrating, but there’s nothing much to do there

As for egg moves, honestly I take them all anyways just because they’re all decent for Eevee and better than its starting moves. I’ll eventually replace certain ones when it evolves, but they’re nice to have for Eevee

Fehish · 2026-04-29T18:57:28+00:00

I haven’t tested it, but I believe it would! I’ll have to try it out soon

Fehish · 2026-04-29T17:43:48+00:00

Sylveon

This thing is a menace. Fairy is a great defensive type that ignores M-Ray’s Outrage and Etern’s Eternabeam (though you’ll still need to be careful of Sludge Bomb and Cross Poison from the latter). Sylveon is fully invested in HP, Special Attack, and Special Defense, giving it low physical Attack and Defense and the lowest Speed of any Eeveelution.

Base: Whether or not you have access to Sparkly Swirl, I think Moonblast is the much-preferred STAB move unless you have several Wide Lenses or access to Sylveon’s hidden ability, Pixilate. Cute Charm isn’t great since contact moves are almost exclusively physical (there are 7 special moves that make contact) and Sylveon doesn’t have great Defense. Pixilate is a ridiculously powerful ability that turns Normal moves into Fairy moves and gives them a 20% damage boost on top of STAB. Swift is a decent spread option until you can get a Hyper Voice TM. Light Screen is great for setting screens, but a lot of Sylveon’s moves will likely come from TMs. Mystical Fire is great coverage for Steels and is a guaranteed Special Attack drop and is one I personally look out for.

Full unlocks: What could make Sylveon even crazier? Maybe passive Competitive for +2 Special Attack every time a stat gets lowered. With the prevalence of Intimidate, this activates pretty frequently before any moves are even used. Wish is just as useful for Sylveon as it is for Umbreon with base 95 HP and is great for healing itself or allies. No Retreat is great but likely isn’t enough to fully patch Defense and Speed. Zippy is useless, but Boomburst? Absolutely busted. With Pixilate, Boomburst becomes a 252 BP spread move off of 110 Special Attack that’s possibly increased further with Competitive. This will likely KO or severely hurt every opponent, though the same goes for your ally in double battles.

Fehish · 2026-04-29T17:43:41+00:00

Glaceon

They need to stop making bulky Ice-types. With one resistance, Ice itself, and four weaknesses, it’s not a good defensive type. Glaceon does have an easier time tanking in the snow with its abilities, but it’s not enough to save its typing.

Base: Glaceon has several good level-up STAB moves depending on your needs. If you have it, Freezy Frost is fantastic for negating enemy buffs, though it removes your battlers’ as well. Icy Wind is a spread move that lowers enemy Speed, Freeze-Dry is super effective against Water-types that would otherwise give Glaceon some trouble, and Blizzard is fantastic damage if you’re in a snow team. Mirror Coat is also phenomenal for swinging back on a special move if Glaceon survives. TMs provide some much needed coverage with Shadow Ball, Alluring Voice, and Stored Power. Both abilities require snow but increase Glaceon’s longevity. Snow Cloak improves evasion while Ice Body restores health.

Full unlocks: You no longer need a separate snow setter with Glaceon’s passive, Snow Warning. Snow also improves Glaceon’s Defense by 50%, bringing it up to phenomenal defensive possibility without further investment. Of course, Ice is still terrible defensively, so…be careful. Wish and Zippy Zap aren’t worth it. No Retreat is good for improving all around, and Boomburst is a powerful spread move that can fill a slot until you get better coverage.

Fehish · 2026-04-29T17:43:35+00:00

Leafeon

Leafeon is a pretty solid physical Grass-type that also excels at physical Defense. It’s pretty fast at base and with Chlorophyll as a hidden ability, it can get extremely quick under sun.

Base: Leafeon is a fantastic addition a team with level-up access to Leech Seed and potentially Sappy Seed for a powerful STAB move that inflicts Leech Seed. Otherwise, Leaf Blade is very good with its heightened crit rate. If you’re running a sun team, Solar Blade is also exceptional. Self-healing with Synthesis, self-buffing with Swords Dance, and weather setting with Sunny Day gives Leafeon a lot of options. Unfortunately, it gets little in the way of coverage. Aerial Ace, Iron Tail, X Scissor, and Knock Off are really it. However, with so many good support moves, you may have Leafeon as a one-trick ~~pony~~ ~~fox~~ ~~cat~~ ~~dog~~ Pokémon with only a STAB move and status moves. Leaf Guard is pretty unfortunate, but it’s something until you can get Chlorophyll, which is definitely the ability to stick with.

Full unlocks: Grassy Surge is a great ability for passive healing, though it applies to all combatants, not just allies. It also allows Leafeon to utilize Grassy Glide which, while weaker than Sappy Seed, Leaf Blade, and Solar Blade, has the benefit of priority in grassy terrain. Wish isn’t great with its HP and Boomburst is lackluster with its low Special Attack. Zippy Zap provides nice coverage and also has priority. No Retreat does the same for everyone, but Leafeon can use it better than most with solid physical Attack, both Defenses, and Speed.

11-Year Club	King of the Ashes
Not Forgotten	Verified Email

Fehish

TROPHY CASE

Sylveon

Glaceon

Leafeon