Solid Little Guy 🥺

Solid little guy 🥺

Pokerating Day 30, Lotad!

Charm: Idk what a lotad really is and that adds to its charm. It's clearly similar to lilypads, maybe a mimic to them for camoflauge? But otherwise? Idk. This could be some bird, it could be some weird bug, a small mammal, who knows. All I know is that its small, friendly, has six nubby lil nub legs it scoots around on, and is goddamn adorable. 10/10.

Care: So the main factor in housing a lotad is the environment its in. It needs clean, pure water, as it needs to both be able to free-float and safely consume the water. If it does not have access to this fundamental need the leaf on its head will wilt and die. Needless to say, that's a very bad sign. While it is capable of moving on land, it is exhausted easily doing so due to how heavy its leaf is (and how stubby its legs are). If you frequently find your lotad on land it can be a sign of poor water conditions. Some lotad do just like to travel more than others though so keep your tad's habits in mind. They consume mostly sunlight via photosynthesis and the rest of their nutrients are obtained via the water it drinks. Nutritional supplements designed for aquaponic systems should be added to water if not kept in a well established pond ecosystem. 4/10, aquatic mons are always harder to keep but lotad also is incredibly dependent on water quality. Lotad also really like to socialize with other pokemon, regardless if they're other lotad or any other pokemon thats small enough to not scare them. Good playmates include: small baby pokemon like igglybuff and togepi, pleasant-tempered aquatic or semi-aquatic pokemon like Johtonian wooper or surskit, and other non-boisterous pokemon like ralts and bounsweet. Avoid corphish, the two may often cohabitate in the wild but corphish will predate on lotad and tend to dirty the water with all of their excavation. The only reason corphish don't usually decimate lotad populations is bc they tend to occupy different vertical levels of the water. Both also migrate under poor water conditions, causing them to disperse and spread similarly, causing notable habitat range overlap.

Safety: Worst it can do is spit water in your face and waddle away. 10/10.

Utility: Learns surf (somehow), flash, and whirlpool. Ludicolo, however, learns surf, flash, whirlpool, rock smash, waterfall, dive, rock climb, and strength! Thats almost every field move! Most flying types can cover the rest of the field moves (cut, fly, defog). It also gets sweet scent, which, while far more niche, is still a field move. Lotad does have one other use though, which is as a small pokemon lifeguard! This is a habit that requires no teaching. It's a standard quality of lotad as a species. If they spot a small pokemon drowning they scoot over and scoop it up on their pad. This is particularly useful for people who keep having rattata and other small mons fall into their ponds (which is a common thing apparently?). Ludicolo can also be great actual lifeguards, albeit they don't like pools (chlorine) and saltwater, so application is limited. Ludicolo are also very intelligent and can be trained to do quite a lot. They're often trained as dancers, but they can do a lot more than just that! I've seen one working the register at a store before actually. It was.... strange, but not unwelcome. Friendly fella, that one. Only thing to look out for when training them is their NEED to dance if they hear upbeat music. But a lotta the time thie just results in fun little dance breaks. 9/10, a real jack of all trades pokemon! Great for travel assistance And day-to-day help! Only thing better would be if it could like... time travel. Or teleport you across the planet.

Battle: Ludicolo has been a staple of the double battle for as long as it existed. It's typing is solid, leaving it weak to only bug, flying, and poison, all of which are niche offensive types. It resists ground and water too, which are great resists cause earthquake and water spout are really really common in doubles. It has a respectable level of bulk to it too, and it learns just enough moves to have good coverage. It also gets The double battle move of all time, fake out, as well as scald. Where it shines, though, is in the ability Swift Swim. This doubles its' speed when its raining, making it blisteringly fast, as well as boosting the damage of its water type moves. The only issue is that it shares a lot about its niche with a few other great pokemon, namely mega swampert, seismitoad, kingdra, and more. However, that doesn't make it worse, no pokemon should really encompass every single competitive meta generation, thats just borderline impossible. 7/10, cause while its only used in double battles under rain, it's absolutely exceptional when doing so.

Oh and a note for people who wanna train lotad: get yours from a breeder. They don't learn any decent moves as a lotad outside of egg moves (and tm moves I guess). Get yours from a breeder so you can start with at least water gun. Otherwise it Will evolve far before naturally learning any water type move, which can make training a slog. Lotad breeders are pretty common cause its a common pond ornamental and most of those breeders will breed some egg moves onto the lotad so they defend themselves better from predators.

Scores:

Charm: 10/10

Care: 4/10

Safety: 10/10

Utility: 9/10

Battle: 7/10

Final Score: 40/50(!!!)

Pet Score: 24/30

Trainer Score: 16/20

Notes: I love lotad. They aren't very common up here cause its a little cold for them but they do pop up from time to time and I love seeing them. They got an exceptionally amazing score too! The only real bad trait is that they have a few unique needs that makes care difficult.