Gurdurr

It looks like a construction worker, but its speciality isn't building: Gurdurr excels at knocking buildings down. It carries a steel beam in its arms and uses it as a training tool, while its developed muscles let it swing it without difficulty. Its grey body, bulging veins and red nose reinforce the image of a sturdy worker, although its Pokédex entries portray it as more interested in competing for strength than helping out on a construction site.

It usually stands 1.2 metres tall and weighs 40 kg. It doesn't flinch even when facing several fighters, and competitions with its own kind or with Machoke have one clear rule: whoever loses must hide for a while. It occupies the middle stage of its evolutionary line. It evolves from Timburr upon reaching level 25 and becomes Conkeldurr through trading. That position explains its appearance as a fully trained worker, still tied to a single beam rather than the demolition tools of its final evolution.

Gurdurr has a clear role: a sturdy physical attacker that needs to switch into physical hits, build up power with Bulk Up and recover health with Drain Punch. Its base stats are 85 HP, 105 Attack and 85 Defense, but also 40 Special Attack, 50 Special Defense and 40 Speed. The spread favours direct contact; on the special side and against fast opponents, it is left very exposed.

Guts is its defining ability: it raises its Attack if it suffers from a status condition. That makes poison, paralysis or burn less comfortable risks for the opponent, although it doesn't fix its low Speed. Sheer Force increases power and removes secondary effects, while Iron Fist boosts punching moves. The latter ability fits Drain Punch and Focus Punch, but it is hidden.

Its Fighting type lets it pressure Normal-, Ice-, Rock-, Dark- and Steel-type Pokémon, and gives it resistances to Bug, Rock and Dark. In return, it takes super effective damage from Fairy, Flying and Psychic. Stone Edge covers part of the problem with Flying types, while Knock Off punishes switches and targets that rely on an item. Even so, it isn't a generally competitive choice: its low Speed, 40 Special Defense and the pressure from special attackers hold it back. Its most useful place is in lower-tier formats or in a normal playthrough, when Fairy-, Flying- and Psychic-type opponents have been weakened.

Gurdurr belongs to the Human-Like Egg Group. Its gender ratio is 25% female, so finding a female is less common than finding a male. Its Eggs need 20 cycles, equivalent to approximately 5355 steps. Its catch rate is 90: it isn't an effortless catch, but it doesn't demand the difficulty of species with very low catch rates either.

Among the Egg Moves worth noting are Counter, which takes advantage of its HP and physical bulk; Mach Punch, a priority Fighting-type move; Detect, useful for protecting itself through a risky turn; and Wide Guard, especially relevant in Double Battles. Defog rounds out the group with a less offensive support option.

In a normal evolutionary chain, Timburr evolves into Gurdurr when it reaches level 25. Afterwards, Gurdurr evolves into Conkeldurr through trading. It is commonly associated with construction sites, where its strength is more useful for demolition than for putting structures up.