Duosion, Reuniclus (SM)

wow cells gamefreak is definitely running out of ideas i missed when we had balls and sludge and generic animals

Location: Route 16 (Island Scan on Tuesday)

Stats, Evolutions
Duosion is a middle-stager. Surprisingly unbalanced. It has a very big special attack which is just 10 points away from Alakazam, but everything else goes from mediocre (special defense) to bad (defense, attack) to REALLY BAD (speed). Forget about the Eviolite as an option, this guy needs the Eviolite.

But Duosion is not far away from evolution at all. It evolves into Reuniclus at level 41. It has very high HP, and its special attack didn't change, while it also has manageable attack and defenses. Its speed is very low, but as long as you can resist a hit it doesn't matter if you're slow. And Reuniclus can do just that.

Movepool, Abilities, Typing
Duosion's unique move is Night Shade. The damage it does depends on the user's level. Good for Pokémon with otherwise low damage output. Problem is, Duosion HAS a good damage output, which makes having this move pointless. It also gets Psyshock, which is a Special move that does Physical damage, Endeavor cuts the opponent's HP to match that of the user's (useful for when you're low on HP) and Future Sight attacks two turns after it's selected. Destructive if set up well. At level 34 it gets Pain Split. It averages the HP of the user and the opponent, divides them by two and adds that value to the HP of both combatants, which is useful for when you are low on HP. It's either this or Endeavor. The last thing it gets before evolving is Psychic at level 39. Don't hold it off for Skill Swap.

It gets no other noteworthy moves by level up after evolving, but to celebrate the fact that it has arms now, it gets Dizzy Punch upon evolving. Eh... At level 59 (veeeery late) it gets Wonder Room, which switches everyone's defensive stats around for a few turns. Only useful in combos with Psyshock.

TMs are not bad. It has access to powerful moves like Hyper Beam and Focus Blast, as well as being able to make a combo with Rain Dance + Thunder, and it also has Grass Knot, Energy Ball and Flash Cannon. Gyro Ball sounds ideal given its dreadfully low speed, but it won't do much damage since its attack stat is mediocre. It also gets Calm Mind, an invaluable move for all special attackers because of those boosts and Thunder Wave. Ghost coverage? Shadow Ball.

Its abilities are Overcoat (prevents weather damage) and Magic Guard (prevents residual damage in general). The better one is obvious.

Its type is pure Psychic. You already know about it.

Important Battles
The best thing about Duosion is that you get it when Ula'Ula is about to end, which is great for a psychic-type. Bad for Nanu and Elite Four Acerola, but great for Kommo-o and Hala. Decent everywhere else.

Conclusion
Reuniclus is actually a very reliable pokemon, especially against passive pokemon like Toxapex and Ferrothorn. It sports a powerful 125 base Spatk, and a very bulky hp and spdef stat. It has an ability in magic guard, making it unstoppable against passive pokemon. It also has good recovery in recover, and good coverage in signal beam. A good set is bold with max Def and Hp, with calm mind, psyshock, recover, and signal beam/acid armor. This set makes it a very good sweeper, not taking any damage unless it is a critical hit or physical (with signal beam set).

Rating: 9/10