Pokemon X: The Zangoose Solo Run

When I mentioned in my Seviper solo run report that I expected the snake and the mangoose of the Pokemon world to be polar opposites in terms of capabilities and fighting style, little did I know how utterly right and on the mark I was. While Seviper is a total pushover with useless features and very few good fighting options, Zangoose is a powerhouse with stats that go through the roof and the widest learnset of them all. This is a 'Mon tailor-made for solo runs, and I had tremendous amounts of fun cruising Kalos with that feline bipedal creature. In fact, I daresay that not only is my Zangoose solo run one of my best Gen VI solo runs, but it's also one of my best Pokemon solo runs full stop. Zangoose is on par with the best of them 'Mons — think Piplup or Primarina levels of brokenness and awesomeness — and can pretty much one-shoot its way through any obstacle. Heck, now I want to cruise solo with it in Ruby and see if it's as irresistible in its home region as in Kalos.

Zangoose's two main assets stats-wise are its high Speed and its ridiculously high Attack, which pretty much always allow it to strike first and one-shoot opponents — because hey, who wouldn't one-shoot everything that moves with an base Attack of bloody 115? My Zangoose had a Naughty Nature to boot, which meant an even impossibly higher Attack. At the end of my run at lv. 100, she boasted an attack of 331, which I'm pretty sure is one of the highest Attack — if not the highest — of all the 'Mons I ever ran solo with; Roggenrola and Charizard, which were already pretty broken in that department, don't even come close to my Zangoose's sheer offensive power. And what better to compliment such an impossibly high Attack than a learnset bristling with Physical Moves — and ludicrously powerful ones at that? All, and I mean all the offensive Moves Zangoose learns by levelling up are Physical Moves: no trolling à la Pidove, Zangoose is a pure physical attacker — and a beautifully efficient one at that, with Moves that boast a lot of PP and insane accuracy (100% for all Moves, bar two with 95%).

All this talk about Moves segues nicely into the next segment, which will be all about Zangoose's Type coverage. More like Zangoose's insane, ludicrous, completely broken Type coverage, really. Fun fact: before that run, I was pretty sure that Zangoose was an Ice 'Mon, due to his fluffiness and colour scheme. I was a trifle disappointed when I realized that I was actually dealing with a Normal 'Mon; but that disappointment evaporated upon discovering the sheer scale of Zangoose's learnset. Zangoose has its fingers in so many pies when it comes to Type coverage that it's actually faster to quote the few Types it cannot dabble in — and that would be Psychic, Water, Dragon, Fairy and Steel. This means a 72% coverage of the Type spectrum, and that's nothing to be sniffed at. While Zangoose's offensive leveling-up learnset comprises solely Normal, Fighting, Bug and Dark Moves, it can gain access to the other nine Types through TMs. For the record, I settled upon Rock Tomb, X-Scissor, Shadow Claw and Return in the late stages of my run, after experimenting with many Moves just for the sheer fun of it. And my, was it a blast.

My ode to Zangoose's sheer awesomeness wouldn't be complete without mentioning my intense fondness for that 'Mon. As a solo runner, I'm bound to get attached to my One and Only no matter what; however, there are undoubtedly 'Mons that I end up loving more than others, and Zangoose scores very high on my personal 'Mon Love Chart. So very high, in fact, that it can now claim the honour of being one of my favourite 'Mons ever. I love everything about the Cat Ferret Pokemon, from its colour scheme to its haughty air, without forgetting its wonderfully fluffy tail. I find it unbearably lovely despite its aggressive demeanour, and I couldn't resist petting my little Ivoire a bit in Pokemon Amie. (Although I got her affection up by two hearts only, that was enough to grant her extra XP in battle; combined to her erratic level-up rate, this allowed me to skip many Trainers during the last third of the game, confident that I would hit the big 100 anyway.) And sure, Zangoose is a bipedal 'Mon, and I'm usually not too fond of those; but unlike other 'Mons I won't mention here to preserve their dignity, it's not anthropomorphized to the point of looking ridiculous.

Long story short, I love Zangoose to pieces, my solo run with it was pure delight from beginning to end, and I'm totally going to cruise with it again. Heck, I'll even cruise with it in all the games it graces with its forbidding presence if I can pull it off. Thanks for reading as usual, dear fellow gamers, and drop by anytime!