Togetic in depth
Spikes, chick, and a shell that won’t come off
The Japanese name, トゲチック (Togechick), combines 刺 toge, spike or thorn, with the English word chick. The English name does the same thing by trimming it down: Togetic keeps the toge and reduces the chick to -tic. The design is built into both halves of the name: a fairy and a chick that has just hatched, with a white body and the shell’s coloured markings still on it. It is a chick that has not quite finished hatching, and that is the visual joke running through the whole line.
The day it stopped being Normal
Until Generation V, this was a Normal- and Flying-type Pokémon. Generation VI reclassified it as Fairy and Flying along with the rest of the line, and the change was not cosmetic. It lost the immunity to Ghost that Normal gave it and gained immunity to Dragon. It became resistant to Dark, and its resistance to Fighting, which had previously ended up neutral because Normal cancelled it out, became quarter damage. In return, it picked up two new weaknesses, Poison and Steel, on top of the three it already carried from Flying. Its Fairy-type moves, which had not existed as such before then, also began benefiting from STAB: Fairy Wind at 6, Draining Kiss at 11, and Moonblast at 43.
The stone that took two generations
In Gold, Silver, and Crystal, Togetic was the end of the line. There was nothing beyond it, and with 405 base stat points that left it in an awkward position: an intermediate stage with final-stage drawbacks. Generation IV introduced the Shiny Stone and Togekiss with it, and the whole line was suddenly rearranged. It is one of the few cases where a species that had been terminal for two generations became a pre-evolution without a single number being changed.
That delay has one useful side effect. Because it can evolve, it qualifies for Eviolite, which Togekiss cannot use. It is the only real advantage it has over its own evolution.
Taking turns off the opponent in a normal playthrough
The plan that works best starts with Calm Mind at level 18, which raises Special Attack and Special Defense at the same time and turns that 105 into something almost impenetrable on the side that matters. From there, Air Slash at 25 and the flinch chance doubled by Serene Grace do the dirty work. Baby-Doll Eyes, learned at that same level 25, lowers the opponent’s Attack and has priority, so it lets Togetic switch into a physical attacker without taking the full hit first. Draining Kiss, at 11, restores half the damage dealt and covers its lack of recovery in the early stages.
There is a minor detail involving the hidden ability: Air Cutter, the move it comes with, already has a high critical-hit ratio, and Super Luck raises it another step. It is not worth giving up Serene Grace, but it is the only combination in which that ability does anything measurable.
Sharing Serene Grace puts it in the same group as Jirachi, which has made the best use of the ability over the years. The difference is the typing: Jirachi’s Steel typing resists Togetic’s Fairy attacks and hits it super effectively, which sums up quite neatly what Togetic should not be brought in against.