Pansage

It occupies the first position in its evolutionary line and evolves into Simisage when exposed to a Leaf Stone. Its design is based on a small monkey, with the leafy growth on its head turned into its main feature: it looks like a leafy crown and brings to mind tender leaves or a culinary herb. Its broad, rounded hands fit the food theme of Unova's elemental monkeys, alongside Pansear and Panpour.

Pokédex entries present it as a sociable creature. It easily searches for Berries and shares them with its companions, while the leaves on its head ease the fatigue of exhausted Pokémon. It does more than store food: it shares what it finds and uses its own vegetation as a support resource. The English name combines “Pan”, referring to the chimpanzee genus, and “sage”, which alludes to an aromatic herb and a wise person. Its Japanese name is Yanappu (ヤナップ).

It is not a strong competitive choice outside low-level formats. Its stats are spread fairly evenly: 50 HP, 53 Attack, 48 Defense, 53 Special Attack, 48 Special Defense and 64 Speed, for a total of 316. Speed is its best stat, but both of its offensive stats fall short and its defenses do not let it switch in many times.

It has a little more to offer in Little Cup. Grass hits Water, Ground and Rock for super effective damage, and moves such as Seed Bomb, Energy Ball and Leaf Tornado make use of that typing. It also has Bite, Crunch, Acrobatics and Low Sweep to cover targets that resist Grass. Its usual ability, Gluttony, makes it consume its held Berry earlier, allowing it to benefit from recovery or a defensive effect sooner. Overgrow, its hidden ability, boosts Grass-type attacks when it is in trouble.

Defensively, it resists Water, Electric, Grass and Ground, but is weak to Fire, Ice, Poison, Flying and Bug. That list of weaknesses, together with its modest HP and defenses, limits its opportunities to switch in. It can be useful during a normal playthrough to pressure Water- or Ground-type opponents and make use of Leech Seed, but its evolution offers much more offensive power.

It belongs to the Field Egg Group and has a gender ratio of 87.5% male and 12.5% female. Its Eggs require 20 cycles to hatch, equivalent to approximately 5355 steps using the usual conversion. Breeding allows it to obtain resources that do not appear in its level-up learnset, such as Low Kick, Mimic, Astonish, Snore, Tickle and Bullet Seed. Nasty Plot, Leaf Storm and Spiky Shield also stand out for more specific offensive or support strategies.

Its evolution is straightforward: use a Leaf Stone on Pansage. It does not depend on level or friendship, and after evolving it becomes Simisage.

Its catch rate is 190, a relatively accessible figure: it is not trivial to catch in the early encounters, but it does not require any special preparation either. It can be found holding a Sitrus Berry or an Occa Berry as a wild item. Its Egg Group allows it to breed with compatible species in the Field Egg Group, as long as the gender ratio is respected.