Ledian

Four arms ending in something very much like boxing gloves, two antennae, and a red shell speckled with black spots. The reference is a ladybug, stretched until it is almost humanoid and stood upright: 1.40 m tall, taller than many Trainers, and weighing 35.6 kg.

The six Pokédex entries nearly always talk about the same things. The spots on its back “grow and shrink depending on the stars in the night sky”, and when those stars twinkle, the Pokémon sways and sheds a sparkling powder. The game’s explanation is that it uses starlight as an energy source, which is why large populations live in areas with clean air where the sky is clearly visible. During the day, it sleeps wrapped in a blanket of grass. It also loves Berries. And as for the reasons behind the shell’s markings, one of the entries gives up and admits that their connection to the stars “remains a complete mystery”.

Its way of fighting is described by the Pokédex itself, without dressing it up: it throws punches with all four arms, and “its blows aren’t very powerful, but they are very effective when it attacks in a flurry”. It closes a two-line evolution above Ledyba, and the official category, Five Star Pokémon, is nothing more than a count of the spots on its back.

A peak and a hole. The peak is Special Defense, 110, the only decent figure on the whole sheet. The hole is Attack, 35. In between are 55 HP, 50 Defense, 55 Special Attack, and 85 Speed, for a total of 390.

Its hidden Ability is Iron Fist, which powers up punching moves, and the irony explains itself: it learns Mach Punch at level 15, and gets Drain Punch, Focus Punch, and Rock Smash through TMs, but powering up moves that come from an Attack stat of 35 fixes nothing. The other two, Swarm and Early Bird, don’t help either.

Bug and Flying defend better than you might expect: immunity to Ground, a quarter damage taken from Fighting and Grass, and half damage from Bug. The price is high. Rock hits four times as hard, so Stealth Rock takes half its HP the moment it comes in, while Fire, Ice, Electric, and Flying deal double damage.

It has nothing to work with offensively. Bug Buzz, at level 38, is its best attack, with 90 power backed by 55 Special Attack. Air Slash, at 42, drops to 75. Double-Edge, at 47, has 120 power and an Attack stat of 35 behind it, which is the definition of a wasted move.

Where it does have a use is support. At level 12, it learns Light Screen, Reflect, and Safeguard all at once: three team screens at the same level. With 110 Special Defense, it can take a special hit while setting them up. Agility at 33 and Baton Pass at 29 are the obvious pairing: raise Speed and pass it to someone else. To get out, it has U-turn through TM.

It belongs to a single Egg Group, Bug, which cuts down the list of possible partners quite a bit. The gender split is 50% female, so breeding doesn’t depend on luck or on a Ditto. Its 15 Egg Cycles amount to about 4080 steps, at the lower end of the scale.

The species’ Egg Move list is empty: everything it knows comes from levelling up or TMs. Anything inherited has to be taught to Ledyba before it evolves, because afterwards there is no way to get it in.

The evolution is straightforward. Reach level 18, with no stones, held items, time windows, or friendship requirements. With its Fast experience growth rate, it reaches that level earlier than most, and keeps the advantage throughout the game.

Its habitat is the forest. A catch rate of 90 leaves it in no-man’s-land: it isn’t a 45 that forces you to weaken it and put it to sleep, nor a 255 that drops into the first Poké Ball, but rather takes a couple of attempts with a Great Ball. Defeating it awards 2 Effort Points in Special Defense and 137 base experience, and its starting friendship is 70.