What’s up, trainers! Welcome back to Ability class! Sorry for the brief hiatus, but convention season can really take a lot out of you. This week, appropriately enough, we’re discussing an Ability that can help to refresh your pokémon and give you a few extra turns in battle! We’re learning when to strategically retreat this time- this is Ability of the Week: Regenerator!
The funny thing about writing this article every week is that some of these Abilities turn up, and the immediate reaction is “Ooh! This would go great on [insert pokémon here]”. But more often than not, the pokémon that you’d immediately like to have use the Ability is incapable of learning it. Such is life, and such is the case with Regenerator; this Ability automatically makes the user recover 1/3rd of its health upon switching out of battle. Now, your immediate reaction might be, “hey! That’d be great on an HP beast like Blissey!” Well, your hopes will quickly be dashed, dear reader. Of the fifteen pokémon that may have this Ability (3 in the normal game, and 12 in the Dream World), none of them seem to be great candidates for walls. However, that certainly doesn’t mean that Regenerator lacks value. There are a few useful gems in there. First, let’s discuss the three pokémon that can have this Ability normally: Audino, Mienfoo, and its evolution, Mienshao.
Audino has relatively respectable HP and defensive stats of 103 and 86 for both Defense and Special Defense. Audino has access to both Reflect and Light Screen, which bolsters its defenses (and as a Normal type, a solid Brick Break would probably OHKO it anyway, so why not?) In addition, Audino may learn Façade via TM42, so an Audino with Regenerator is an ideal candidate for a Toxic Orb. You wouldn’t go amiss with a Wish, Thunder Wave, Substitute, etcetera, either.
This brings us to Mienfoo and Mienshao. With these two, you can use Regenerator in a completely different sort of way. These two Fighting types boast high base attack (125 on Mienshao) and base speed (105 on Mienshao), and that makes them all about getting in, scoring a big hit, and getting out. These guys have access to some big time attacks, like Stone Edge, Poison Jab, and a STAB’d High Jump Kick. Oh, and just to compliment the Ability, how about a juicy U-Turn to round things out? Another route you may be interested in traveling with these two is to make them Regenerating Baton Passers, as they have access to moves like Calm Mind, Swords Dance, and Work Up. If none of these guys interest you, though, some noteworthy Dream World Regenerator-users include Ho-Oh, Tangrowth, Slowbro, Slowking, Reuinculus and Alomomola.
I think that that about does it for me, kids. Hope this was a bit enlightening for you. We’ll see you next week! Same poke-time, same poke-channel!