Ariados

Its legs end in hooks, and that grip lets it run along vertical walls and ceilings without falling off. It is 1.1 metres tall and weighs 33.5 kilograms: medium-dog size for something that, seen from the front, is a spider with a painted face on its abdomen.

It spins thread from two places at once, its abdomen and its mouth, and several Pokédex entries insist on the same thing — it is difficult to tell which end the thread comes from. What it does with that silk is what sets it apart from most of Johto’s Bug-types. It is not only for catching prey. It attaches a thread to one, lets it go and then follows it until it finds the rest of the group, which is a fairly unpleasant way to hunt. When it goes after prey directly, it comes out at night: it immobilises it, sinks in its fangs and slowly feeds on the fluids in its body.

One of the entries takes a different route and says that, in certain regions, its web is used for weaving, and that the resulting fabric is known for being tough.

It evolves from Spinarak, and that is where the line ends: two stages, nothing beyond it. Its official category is the Long Leg Pokémon.

Four hundred points spread around without any clear strength. Its 90 Attack is the high figure; HP, Defense and Special Defense are stuck at 70, Special Attack at 60 and Speed at 40. That leaves it moving last against almost everything, and taking the first hit with 70 and 70 comes at a price.

Sniper, its Hidden Ability, boosts critical-hit damage to 2.25 times instead of 1.5. It sounds better than it is, because it has no move with a guaranteed critical hit and the only way to raise its critical-hit ratio is Focus Energy, which costs a turn. Insomnia, its regular Ability, does more work: it shuts the door on Sleep Powder, Hypnosis and Spore.

What keeps it afloat is entry hazards. Sticky Web at level 54 and Toxic Spikes by TM, and few species can set both; that job does not require good stats, only surviving one turn. Megahorn, a 120-power Egg Move, gives it a proper hit on the way out, while it gets Foul Play and X-Scissor by TM for everything else.

The problem is on the other side. Bug and Poison leaves it with four weaknesses — Fire, Flying, Rock and Psychic — and the first three usually come from opponents that move first. Poison also does nothing to Steel, so half its offence goes dark against anything metallic. In Scarlet and Violet it sits in ZU, the lowest tier on Smogon’s list. In a normal playthrough, the story changes: it hits Psychic, Dark and Grass-types hard, while Poison Jab and Toxic deal with opponents that take a lot and do little.

A single Egg Group, Bug, one of the most populated in the Pokédex, which lets it breed with almost any insect. The gender ratio is 50%, so two wild specimens are enough to get started without relying on a Ditto.

Fifteen incubation cycles come to about 4080 steps, which is low by the usual standards. Five moves can come from the Egg, and one matters more than the other four: Megahorn, a 120-power physical Bug-type move that it cannot get any other way. The others are Disable, Night Slash, Rage Powder and Body Slam. Rage Powder makes sense in Doubles, because it redirects attacks aimed at its partner.

The evolution has no trick to it. Spinarak reaches level 22 and that is it: no items, no time of day, no friendship, no strange conditions. Its growth rate is Fast, so it reaches that level before most of what surrounds it on the routes.

Its habitat is the forest. A catch rate of 90 puts it in comfortable territory, far from the triviality of 255 and the struggle of 45; a regular Poké Ball with the opponent somewhat weakened will usually do. Defeating it awards 2 effort points in Attack and 140 base experience.