Marowak

The only stage above Cubone, and also the last one: the line ends at level 28, with no third stage waiting further ahead. What changes in that jump isn’t its size — exactly one metre, 45 kilos — but its temperament. The Pokédex entries always tell the same story, and they tell it in two parts: first, a small, weak creature that cries beneath its dead mother’s skull; then, the animal that has overcome that grief and become aggressive. The bone marks the boundary. When it started using it, one of the entries says, it became more violent.

The grudge also has a named target. Two separate entries identify Mandibuzz as its natural enemy and explain that it throws the bone like a boomerang to bring it down, taking revenge for its mother. It’s one of the few cases where the Pokédex establishes a rivalry between specific species instead of leaving things vague.

The design doesn’t imitate any recognisable animal. Upright stance, brown skin, a thick tail and a skull used as a helmet: the reference is more a primitive warrior with a club than a species from the real world. The official category, Bone Keeper Pokémon, and the item carried by wild specimens, the Thick Club, point in the same direction.

Its 425-point spread leans very clearly in one direction: 110 Defense, 80 Attack, 80 Special Defense, 60 HP, 50 Special Attack and 45 Speed. Those 45 are the underlying problem. With 60 HP as well, the 110 Defense delivers less than it promises, because there isn’t enough health for it to work with.

What throws the numbers off is the Thick Club, an item that only works on this species and Cubone and doubles Attack. Eighty becomes an effective one hundred and sixty, and suddenly Earthquake comes out with the power of a top-tier attacker. The other piece is Rock Head, which prevents it from damaging itself with its own moves: that makes Double-Edge, learned at level 60 with 120 power, and Thrash, from level 54, with the same figure, effectively free. Swords Dance via TM doubles Attack again from an already doubled base.

Pure Ground attacks well and defends poorly. Immunity to Electric, resistance to Rock and Poison, and three weaknesses — Water, Grass and Ice — that in practice cover half the Pokédex. With no secondary offensive option beyond Rock Slide or Stone Edge, any Flying-type leaves it with nothing to do.

With that Speed, its realistic use is twofold. In double battles, Lightning Rod absorbs Electric-type moves aimed at its partner, although the Special Attack boost that comes with the effect is useless with a base stat of 50. And in a normal Kanto playthrough, it’s a mid-adventure hammer: Bone Rush at level 48 hits twice with 50 power each time, and Earthquake comes through TM much earlier.

It belongs to a single Egg Group, Monster, which pairs it with the Grass- and Fire-type starters and a good portion of the first generation’s larger reptiles. The gender split is clean, 50% female, so breeding your own line doesn’t depend on getting lucky with the sex of the specimen you caught. Twenty Egg Cycles are around 5355 steps, an intermediate figure.

It has no Egg Moves in the reference game, which is unusual: everything it learns comes through levelling up or TMs, and its level-up list already includes the important stuff. Stomping Tantrum at 24, Bone Rush at 31 and Bonemerang at 48. What is worth checking is the item: wild specimens carry Thick Club, and it’s the most direct way to obtain one without relying on shops.

The evolution is a simple one. Cubone reaches level 28 and that’s it, with no items, friendship or trading involved. The only variant is geographical: in Alola, reaching that same level 28 at night produces the regional form instead of the Kanto one.

Its habitat is the mountain, and its catch rate is 75, an awkward value — neither the triviality of a 255 nor the wall of a 45. It grows at a medium pace, gives 2 Defense EVs and awards 149 base experience when defeated.