Pokemon Y: The Pangoro Solo Run

Here's my second 'Readers' suggestions' solo run of the summer, starring the cute-turned-badass panda of the Pokemon world. That candidate came from my fellow Pokefan Sieg; and lucky me, Pancham had been on my Solo Run Material List for quite some time. It was thus my pleasure to run with him, all the more so as he soon turned out to be stellar solo run material indeed. 

My little Tuxedo also boasts the honour of being my first-ever traded Egg — should have named him Louise Brown, now shouldn't I? Things went sailingly on all fronts: my Tuxedo was blessed with a Naive Nature, and I was more than grateful for the Speed boost, which counterbalanced the Pancham line's naturally low Speed. He only knew Tackle and Leer right out of the Egg; however, his (already) high Attack gave him a good start in life — and battle, letting him exploit Tackle's power to the fullest. 

And talking about Moves, I had a real blast on that front. While leveling-up, Tuxedo learnt Fighting and Normal Moves like it was going out of fashion. Arm Thrust, Karate Chop, Circle Throw, Vital Throw, Sky Uppercut, Hammer Arm, Slash, Comet Punch, Body Slam: he learnt 'em all and wielded 'em all, if only for a couple of battles. Aerial Ace and Shadow Claw also stayed a while (how a 136 kg panda can master Aerial Ace, I have no idea), before I finally settled for Sky Uppercut, Return, Crunch and Earthquake in the late stages of my run. Needless to say, the Elite Four was mostly a one-shooting fest with such a Move pool — it was especially thrilling to take down Diantha's mega-evolved Gardevoir in one smooth, neat Crunch. 

This segues nicely into my impressions of Pangoro's added-in-evolution Dark Type. My experience of secondary Dark Type so far is that is add little and removes a lot — and Pangoro keeps up with that trend. The added Dark Type gives him a Fighting weakness, of all weaknesses — how very ironic — and doubles his Fairy weakness. Not all is lost though, as he loses his Psychic weakness and gains complete immunity in the process. As you may imagine, the back-to-back Laverre Fairy Gym and Anistar Psychic Gym were night and day: while I avoided every Trainer bar Valerie in the former and doped Tuxedo with a couple of Battle Items to make it out alive, I blazed through the latter without taking a single HP of damage. Still, I'm not yet convinced by Dark as a secondary Typing, and I'm still pinning for the 'Mon that will make me change my mind. 

Long story short, that run was pure delight from beginning to end. Pancham/Pangoro seriously packs a punch: with an Attack of 296 at lv. 100, Tuxedo definitely lounges in my Top 5 Most Powerful Physical Attackers — and it has the learnset to match too, with a crap ton of Physical Moves at his clawtips. So, here's to you, Sieg: a successful and delighful Pangoro Solo Run for the summer! Bet you didn't expect anything less, did ya? I'll see with soon with the third and last (so far) run of the feature, dear fellow gamers; until then, keep playing and take care!