Wailmer, Wailord (SM)

Wailord has a height of 47 foot 7 inches (14'5 meters), the biggest Pokémon and about as big as a telephone pole. Is bigger = better here? Let's see.

First Location: Seafolk Village.

Stats, Evolutions
Wailmer appears from levels 10-43 at the Seafolk Village and in the Poni Breaker Coast. It's quite likely that he won't catch up for a long time, but you can find them at decent levels in the Poni Wilds in water splashes. Don't bother about Wailmer, because you can evolve it right away into the immense Wailord if you catch it there. (It evolves at 40)

Wailord is huge in size, but just moderately good in stats. Aside from its lots of HP, there's nothing to call home about. Decent attack stats, horrid defenses and bad speed. It's funny that his HP is among the highest of the game, but its defenses are terrible just to "balance" that out.

Moveset, Abilities, Typing
If you get it at level 40, it won't have Dive, and it will have Brine instead. It can get both moves without the help of the relearner if you get it at that level (Dive at level 41), and both moves are good anyway. (The former is powerful at 80 power and it attacks the next turn it's chosen, and Brine's power of 65 doubles if the opponent is at half health). It also has Rest, Amnesia, and Water Spout when you catch it. Rest and Amnesia are good defensive moves, and Water Spout is very powerful, but you won't get it to the maximum power because of how frail it is. (The move's strength depends on how much HP Wailord has. If you try to use it at the start of the battle, there's a chance Wailord will get hit first), It gets Bounce at level 51, which is Dive AS A FLYING TYPE MOVE! WITH MORE POWER! AND LESS ACCURACY! It's good for coverage, at least. After that, it gets Hydro Pump at level 58, a very powerful Water type move that also gets STAB, and it's the only move it gets before the League. It gets Heavy Slam at level 65, a Steel move that becomes stronger the heavier the user is compared to the opponent. It will do a lot of damage since Wailord is, well, a whale.

TMs don't exactly give him a whale of a time. It gets Ice Beam and Blizzard like, almost every other Water type Pokémon to exist. Rain Dance powers up Water attacks, Scald is a water move with a chance of burning the opponent, and Earthquake/Bulldoze being Ground type coverage moves. You don't have many other great options at this point of the game.

Its two abilities are Water Veil (prevents burning) and Oblivious (prevents Wailord from doing Hot Sk-- from falling in love.) Either ability is useless, so go with either one.

Its type is pure Water. Bland, but not bad. You already know about it.

Important Battles
Insert bad whale pun here
 * Totem Kommo-o: Only if it has Bounce.
 * Hala: Only if it has Bounce.
 * Olivia: Only if it has-- Just kidding. Most of Olivia's Pokémon have the type disadvantage, but they pack particularly nasty tricks for Wailord up their sleeves. Use at your own risk.
 * Acerola: Palossand has Water Compaction as an ability, and Dhelmise resists water moves (though it is weak to Bounce). Aside from that, it won't do too badly.
 * Kahili: Perfect for defeating Oricorio and to a lesser extent Skarmory, but some of her other Pokémon pack some nasty tricks up their sleeves. Toucannon in particular has Bullet Seed, which combined with its high attack will do a lot of damage.
 * Kukui: Wailord will have an advantage over Lycanroc and to a lesser extent Alolan Ninetales, but that's about it. It also has an advantage to Incineroar if you chose Rowlet.
 * Extra bullet point for no reason! Yay!

Conclusion
Wailord is a meh Pokémon. Aside from those crazy high HP, there is nothing that makes Wailord truly stand out. Even those impossibly high HP are offset by its terrible defenses. In the end, you have a Pokémon that doesn't really have anything to it. An average Pokémon isn't so bad, but when you consider that there are many great water type wonders out in Alola, that's poor. Not even its movepool or abilities help it.

Rating: 44%