Tangela

The official category, Vine Pokémon, names neither an animal nor a plant: it names a knot. Nothing has ever been seen beneath the tangle of blue vines, and Pokédex entries admit it plainly — no one yet knows what it looks like without them. The only things sticking out below are two reddish feet that support the whole mass and move it around.

The vines grow throughout its entire life and keep growing even when they come loose. And they come loose at the slightest touch: simply grab them and they give way without hurting it, leaving whoever tries to hold it with a handful of stems while the rest gets away. By the next day, new ones have grown back. With that same mass, it tangles up anything moving nearby, although the Pokédex's description is gentler than it sounds: a delicate swaying that tickles.

One metre tall and 35 kilos for a round silhouette that blends into vegetation through no trick other than looking like it. The vines give off a peculiar fragrance and are used as a garnish in one part of Galar.

It's the first half of a two-stage line. The tangle keeps growing until Tangrowth, which already has arms.

Its 435 base stat points are distributed so unevenly that the sheet can be read at a glance: 115 Defense, 100 Special Attack, then a plunge down to 40 Special Defense. With 65 HP behind it, it takes physical hits without breaking a sweat and folds to almost any decent special attack. Its Speed, 60, leaves it moving last against most opponents.

Regenerator, its Hidden Ability, is what keeps it standing: it restores HP whenever it leaves battle, so it can switch in to stop a physical attacker, switch out and come back in better shape. Eviolite helps too, since it still has an evolution ahead of it and raises both defenses at once; the problem is that a 50% boost to 40 is still not much. Its other two abilities depend on sunlight: Chlorophyll doubles its Speed while the sun lasts, and Leaf Guard prevents status problems during that time.

As a pure Grass type, it carries five weaknesses — Fire, Ice, Flying, Poison and Bug — and in return resists Water, Electric, Ground and Grass, exactly what a dedicated physical wall needs to eat physical attacks. Its own movepool is short: Energy Ball at level 25 as a reliable attack, Stun Spore at 6 and Sleep Powder at 43 to leave standing whatever it cannot KO. Ancient Power, at 34, has 60 power and is more useful for evolving than fighting.

What really holds it back is not an opponent: it's its own evolution, with the same ability, the same typing and a hundred more stat points.

One Egg Group, Grass, and a clean 50/50 gender split, without the lottery that follows other lines. Its 20 incubation cycles come to roughly 5355 steps, a high figure for a species that is neither Legendary nor Mythical.

What it has at birth is what it learns by level: Absorb to start, Stun Spore at 6, PoisonPowder at 11, Acid Spray at 15 and Energy Ball at 25.

Its evolution does not depend on level but on a move. You have to level it up while it knows Ancient Power, which it learns by itself at 34; if you let it forget that attack, it will not evolve no matter how much it keeps growing. It is best not to fill all four move slots too early.

In the wild, it lives in grasslands and usually carries a Miracle Seed. Its catch rate is 45, on the low side — the same figure as the Kanto starters, and a long way from the 255 of what you catch on the first route with the free Poké Ball. It grows at an average rate and gives one Defense EV when defeated.