Golduck

Rivers at dusk are its time, and the banks of lakes are its dining room: it dives for fish Pokémon, then comes ashore to enjoy its feast in peace. Its webbed feet and elongated body support the rest of its reputation. The Pokédex calls it the fastest swimmer of all Pokémon and credits it with effortless journeys through choppy waters during storms, as well as the occasional rescue of shipwreck survivors out at sea.

The animal it is based on is not quite a duck, despite the bill and the official category, Duck Pokémon. It is 1.70 m tall, weighs 76.6 kg and walks upright, with three toes and webbing on its hands and feet, four horns at the back of its head and a red gem in the middle of its forehead. That gem carries the ugly part of its history. It shines when it uses telekinetic powers, and there was a time when it was hunted without restraint because people spread the rumour that whoever possessed it would inherit those powers.

It evolves from Psyduck at level 33, and the contrast between the two is the whole point of the line: one lives with a permanent headache and unleashes its mind without knowing what it is doing; the other has its body under control and a clear head. This is where the chain ends. There is no third form or regional variant.

Its 500 base points are spread out without any real peak: 95 Special Attack, 85 Speed, 82 Attack, 80 HP, 80 Special Defense and 78 Defense. That 95 is the best number on the sheet, and it is not enough to sweep anything on its own; the 85 Speed leaves it in the bracket where almost everything that matters moves first.

What changes its role is Swift Swim, its hidden ability: in rain, its Speed doubles, turning that 85 into a figure that almost nobody can reach without priority. There is a plan there. Hydro Pump, learned at level 40, rises to 110 power and also benefits from the rain boost; Ice Beam from a TM covers the Dragon-, Grass- and Flying-types that would otherwise stop it; and Nasty Plot, also from a TM, is how it makes up for Special Attack that does not break anything on its own without boosts. In the 2017 VGC format, it was considered the best Swift Swim user available, and it still shows up on rain teams in Scarlet and Violet.

Outside rain, the whole thing falls apart. Rain Dance from a TM lets it set the weather itself, but it spends a turn doing so and the clock starts ticking as soon as it does, so in practice it depends on someone else setting it up: Politoed is the usual setter. Its pure Water typing does nothing to help it defend against what hunts it most — Electric-types — and its 78 Defense can barely take anything from the physical side. Its other two abilities are marginal: Damp prevents other Pokémon from self-destructing, while Cloud Nine cancels the weather, which is exactly the opposite of what it wants.

It belongs to the Water 1 and Field Egg Groups, a broad combination that lets it breed with much of the aquatic wildlife and nearly anything quadrupedal on land. The gender ratio is 50%, so finding a female is no problem. Its 20 Egg Cycles amount to around 5355 steps.

It has no Egg Moves of its own in Scarlet and Violet: the list is empty, and the same goes for tutor moves. Everything it learns comes from levelling up or TMs, and the TM list is where the interesting stuff is — Ice Beam, Psychic, Nasty Plot, Focus Blast, Liquidation.

The evolution has no trick to it: Psyduck reaches level 33 and that is it. No items, no friendship, no time of day. Its growth rate is Medium Fast, the most straightforward of the six, with no delays at the start or accelerations at the end.

Its habitat is the waterside, meaning the banks of rivers and lakes, which is exactly where the Pokédex entries place it. Its Catch Rate is 75: neither the 45 of Pokémon that take several Ultra Balls nor the 255 of those that fall to the first Poké Ball, but an intermediate value that in practice is solved with a couple of balls and some prior damage. Defeating it awards 2 Special Attack EVs and 175 base experience.