Burmy

It looks like a little bag of leaves, but underneath the shell is a larva that makes and repairs it. Burmy is a Bagworm Pokémon and wears a covering made of branches and leaves to protect itself from the cold winter winds. If its shell breaks during a battle, it gathers any nearby material and quickly rebuilds it.

Its most distinctive trait has less to do with strength than with the way its appearance reflects its life. It doesn’t need a burrow or natural armor: it turns whatever it finds into a mobile shelter. That dependence on materials from its surroundings makes it more like a constructing caterpillar than a combatant built for battle.

It occupies the first stage of a branched evolutionary line. When they reach level 20, females evolve into Wormadam and males into Mothim. As a result, catching several specimens lets you obtain two different evolutions without changing the species you started with.

Burmy isn’t competitive. Its base stats are very low: 40 HP, 29 Attack, 45 Defense, 29 Special Attack, 45 Special Defense, and 36 Speed, for a total of 224. This spread gives it slightly more resilience on the physical and special sides than offensive ability, but none of its numbers are enough to make up for its low damage and poor Speed.

The Ability Shed Skin cures status conditions when it sheds its skin. It’s useful when a burn, paralysis, or poison threatens to cut its time on the field short, although it depends on the cure activating. Overcoat, as its Hidden Ability, protects it from powder, sand, and hail; its effect is more specific, but it doesn’t fix Burmy’s stat shortcomings either.

Its Bug typing hits Grass, Psychic, and Dark types super effectively. Defensively, it resists Grass, Fighting, and Ground, but is weak to Fire, Flying, and Rock. In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, it starts with Struggle Bug at level 1, a special Bug-type move with 50 power. That move lets it make use of its typing, although its 29 Special Attack limits the result.

In a normal playthrough, it works as a temporary early-game capture, especially against opponents weak to Bug. It’s best to evolve it at level 20 as soon as you decide which branch you want, because keeping it unevolved leaves very little room against enemies with better stats.

Burmy belongs to the Bug Egg Group and has an even gender ratio: 50% female and 50% male. Its Eggs need 15 cycles to hatch, equivalent to approximately 4080 steps using the usual conversion.

Its evolution depends exactly on its sex. A female evolves into Wormadam when it levels up to level 20, while a male evolves into Mothim when it levels up to level 20. The cloak the female is wearing determines which Wormadam form it will get, so it’s worth deciding which specimen to use before evolving it. Males always lead to Mothim.

Its catch rate is 120. That puts it at an intermediate difficulty to catch: it doesn’t require the effort of species with a catch rate of 45, but it isn’t among the trivial catches near 255 either. Breeding lets you calmly prepare the gender needed for the evolution you’re after.