Some of the strongest Poison-types make appearances on Elite Four teams and Champion teams in almost every game – and your team could follow that trend. Here are my picks for the best of this criminally underrated type, specifically in Gen IV’s HG/SS.
3. Gengar
Gengar may be the best Ghost-type in this game, but it doesn’t make it the best Poison-type. While Gengar is an amazing Pokémon to have on your team, it doesn’t excel in the Poison department. So here we’ll be building Gengar primarily around its Ghost-type moves, since its lineup of Poison-type moves is sorely lacking. It can still learn the best Poison-type status move in the game though, so we can start by teaching it Toxic through the TM found in the Battle Frontier Shop. For some Ghost-type STAB, be sure to let Gengar (or Haunter) learn Shadow Ball at level 33. Then let’s move on to covering Gengar’s shortcomings – starting with its main weakness, Dark-type attacks. Focus Blast is the best choice for countering this, and it’s available as early as the Goldenrod Department Store. Since Gengar has the levitate ability, we won’t have to bother with covering the Ground-type weakness, so we can use the final move slot to cover its low defenses. Since Gengar doesn’t have any moves that will directly buff its defenses, we’ll instead make do with an indirect buff. Will-o-wisp is a Fire-type move that is guaranteed to burn the opponent if it hits, bringing along with it the attack drop that comes with being burned. This will effectively double the amount of hits Gengar can take from a physical attacking opponent. You’ll find Will-o-wisp (TM61) in the Battle Frontier Shop. How to catch: Catch a Gastly in Sprout Tower, and evolve it into Haunter at level 25. Trade Haunter to another Gen 4 game and back again to get your Gengar.
2. Roserade
First things first, Roserade learns no moves by level up. So be careful not to evolve Roselia until you’ve finished building its move set. With that out of the way, let’s get into how to build Roserade. We’ll be putting Roserade’s huge special attack stat to use with huge Grass and Poison-type moves, as well as teaching it some utility to back up its low HP stat. Let’s start with Toxic, which is learned naturally at level 37 (no grinding in the Battle Frontier here!) We’ll also be giving Roserade two Grass-type STAB moves, which will act as its main damage-dealing moves. At level 25 Roselia will learn Giga Drain, which will return half of the damage it deals back to us, healing Roserade’s otherwise frail HP bar. Then at level 40 we’ll teach Roselia Petal Dance, a Grass-type cousin to Outrage which deals special damage for two to three turns before confusing Roselia. Petal Dance can go through both Misty and Brock’s Gym Teams with one use, so be sure not to evolve Roselia before level 40. For our final move, we can either choose to spend a turn curing our team of status effects with Aromatherapy, or Paralyze the opponent with Stun Spore. Both moves are learned by level up, at level 43 and 10 respectively. Personally, I build Roserade with Aromatherapy, since paralyzing a Pokémon with Stun Spore will overwrite any poison that has been inflicted on it – negating the effects of Toxic. How to catch: After beating the Elite Four for the first time and receiving the National Pokedex, you can tune into the Pokémon March radio station on your PokeGear on Thursdays for news about Sinnoh Pokémon appearing across Johto and Kanto. Head to Ilex Forest or Viridian Forest on a Thursday, and tune into this station to get information on Pokémon that may appear in the grass. Make sure to check the radio each time you come out of battle until you eventually encounter a Budew. Once you have Budew, train it until it reaches a high happiness level – then level it up in the daytime to get a Roselia. Once you have your final levelup move with Roselia, get a Shiny Stone by winning the National Park Bug Catching Contest. Use it on Roselia to evolve it into Roserade.
1. Crobat
Both Crobat and Roserade could have topped this list, but I’ve decided to give the top spot to Crobat for a few reasons. White it might not be quite as strong as Roserade, Crobat is a <>much more versatile Pokémon>, with a spot on just about any team. Regardless of what starter you picked, you can still make room for a Crobat, even if only to outspeed and confuse just about every Pokémon in the game. Confuse Ray is one of Crobat’s biggest selling points, since its 100% accuracy rate means it’s all but guaranteed to confuse any opponent you use it against. Every member of the Crobat line learns Confuse Ray naturally at level 21. For Poison infliction we’ll (of course) be using Toxic, learned by TM from the Battle Frontier Shop. Then we’ll back this up with some offensive Poison-type STAB with Cross Poison, which can be taught by the move reminder in Blackthorn City in exchange for a Heart Scale. For Flying-type STAB we have a couple of options. Aerial Ace is the best choice if you want to prioritize damage, whereas Fly is a decent move that’s nearly essential for your journey through the overworld. You can find Aerial Ace (TM40) in Mt. Mortar, and the HM for Fly during the main story after beating Cianwood City Gym. How to catch: You can catch a Zubat in dozens of locations, with the earliest being Dark Cave. Raise Zubat to level 22 to evolve it into Golbat, and then raise Golbat’s happiness until it evolves into Crobat.
