Seel

The horn it carries on its head is no ornament. It uses that sharp protuberance to open holes in ice plates so it can breathe while hunting underneath, and to break through the frozen crust when it wants to get out. Almost every Pokédex entry comes back to the same detail, because it is what lets Seel live where it does: under the ice, without coming to the surface for long stretches of time.

The rest of its body follows the same logic. Blue fur, thick, coarse skin, and a layer of fat that keeps it active at forty degrees below zero. The temperature it is said to enjoy is ten below zero. As soon as the weather warms up, that same fat gives it hot flushes, which is why it has always been considered a cold-water species; its appearance in Alola is listed in the Pokédex as an unsolved mystery.

It stands 1.1 metres tall and weighs 90 kilos, a build that makes it short and compact rather than large. Its official category is Sea Lion Pokémon, although the reference animal is a seal rather than a sea lion. It is the first half of a two-stage line: at level 34 it evolves into Dewgong, and that is when the creature finally gains the Ice type its description has been suggesting from the start.

325 points spread without a single spike. The highest figure is 70 Special Defense, followed by 65 HP, 55 Defense, and a trio of 45s in Attack, Special Attack, and Speed. It takes a mediocre special hit and gives nothing back.

It is pure Water, and that matters more than it might seem with its abilities. Thick Fat weakens Fire and Ice attacks, two types Water already resists by default, so the ability does not fix any weakness: it only pushes two attacks that were already dealing half damage even lower. Against Grass and Electric, its two real weak points, Thick Fat does nothing. Hydration is more interesting — it cures status conditions if it is raining — and it fits with Rest, learned at level 21, and Rain Dance via TM: it falls asleep, heals, and wakes up in the same turn. The problem is that after waking up it still has 45 Special Attack with which to punish someone.

Offensively, there is nothing to work with. Surf and Hydro Pump come with Water STAB and a stat that cannot make use of it, while its best Ice moves — Ice Beam at level 47 and Blizzard via TM — do not get a type bonus, because the Ice type arrives with the evolution and not before. Aqua Jet, at 31, gives it priority with 40 power and 45 Attack behind it; it is a symbolic finisher.

It only really works for a normal playthrough, and within a narrow window: the middle levels of a sea-based journey, where Aurora Beam at 27 and Brine at 33 are enough, and where its list of Water moves makes it the sea-transport Pokémon of the moment. Past level 34, there is no reason not to evolve it.

It belongs to two Egg Groups, Water 1 and Field, a broad combination that lets it breed with much of the aquatic fauna and almost all the land mammals in the Pokédex. The gender split is 50%, so finding a female does not take much effort. Its 20 Egg cycles amount to roughly 5355 steps.

From the Egg Move list, the ones worth mentioning are Perish Song, which forces everything on the field to faint in three turns and gives the slower Seel something to do with its bulk, and the Stockpile, Spit Up, and Swallow trio, which lets it build up and then recover health. Belch reaches 120 power, but requires it to have eaten a Berry first, while Entrainment raises six stats at once for a teammate. Disable, Horn Drill, Lick, and Fake Out round out the list without adding much.

The evolution has no trick to it: reach level 34 and it becomes Dewgong. No items, no time of day, no friendship conditions. It grows at the Medium Slow rate, the most predictable of the six.

Its recorded habitat is the sea, and with a catch rate of 190 it is much closer to trivial than difficult — an ordinary Poké Ball after a couple of hits is usually enough. In the wild, it can be holding an Aspear Berry or Mystic Water, the latter useful precisely for the teammate that can actually make good use of Water attacks.