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Pokémon Scarlet and Violet (2022)

Duration: 29:49

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The next Pokémon that I do for Surprise Trade is Zangoose, and in the area that I did the Surprise Trade in, South Province Area Five, I did not know Flittle can appear there. To go over Surprise Trade, I breed for 31 IVs in at least 4 or 5 stats, I went with Jolly for the Nature, while Zangoose does feel like an average Pokémon, Attack is its best stat, and its Speed is decent, but it's not that great when you compare Zangoose to the top sweepers in the competitive scene. Zangoose is the only Pokémon to get Toxic Boost, which is its Hidden Ability and it gains a 50% boost to its Attack stat when poisoned, while identical to Guts, it only activates when Zangoose is poisoned.
For some strange reason, Zangoose doesn't get any Egg Moves, instead the moves it would learn as them are learned through the Move Reminder, those moves are Double Kick, Disable, Counter, Fury Swipes, Curse, Flail, Belly Drum, Feint, Night Slash, Double Hit, Quick Guard, and Final Gambit. Out of all these, Double Hit, Night Slash, Double Kick, and Curse are the ones that stand out when using a Zangoose in a Surprise Trade challenge, and the ones that I have know the standard moves of Scratch and Leer.
Zangoose does not evolve, and to go over its level up moves, it can get Quick Attack, Fury Cutter, Metal Claw, Hone Claws, Slash, Power Trip, Crush Claw, False Swipe, Switcheroo, Detect, X-Scissor, Taunt, Swords Dance, and Close Combat.
Next are TMs, it can learn Agility, Low Kick, Thief, Aerial Ace, Rock Tomb, Low Sweep, Dig, Brick Break, Zen Headbutt, Shadow Claw, Body Slam, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunder Punch, Seed Bomb, Poison Jab, Rock Slide, Gunk Shot, Giga Impact, Tera Blast, Knock Off, Focus Punch, Double-Edge, Throat Chop, and Upper Hand. Despite learning some special moves like Aura Sphere, Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, Surf, Shadow Ball, Ice Beam, Hyper Beam, Solar Beam, and a few others, Zangoose does not have a good Special Attack stat to put them to use.
I have done Seviper on Surprise Trade, and now I am doing its counterpart, and about when I went over that Seviper had nothing going for it and how it was in need for an evolution, that would mean that Zangoose would get an evolution as well. Zangoose is at least decent, but the downside is it is outclassed by better Normal-types like Ursaring, Cinccino, Maushold, Cyclizar, and many others. Zangoose does have a niche with the Toxic Orb to boost its Attack stat with Toxic Boost, and combined with Swords Dance and Facade, it can deal some massive damage, but the downside is that Ursaring has a higher Attack stat than Zangoose, and if that wasn't enough, they gave Ursaring an evolution in Ursaluna which is even more devastating. Zangoose does have decent Speed, and some good coverage options like Knock Off and Close Combat, and it can get priority in Quick Attack, and with the Normal Tera Type, its Facade can hit extremely hard, while it does at least stand out for a Normal-type, it has a lot of competition.
Zangoose has no viability in Double Battles, this is because Ursaluna exists and it is a force in Trick Room teams, but the downside is that Ursaluna is not an easy to access Pokémon as you need Pokémon Legends: Arceus to even obtain it in the first place. It faces Normal-type competition from Maushold, Porygon2, Smeargle, and a few other Pokémon.
There is one thing that Zangoose is good in, and that is when going through the game, Zangoose is a solid option for a Normal-type, it has a good Attack stat, and it has decent Speed, while it can work as a temporary member, it can even work when going through the main game. Zangoose learns some good physical moves like Slash, Close Combat, and X-Scissor for level up moves, and it has some good TM access to the Elemental Punches, Body Slam, Shadow Claw, and many others. As with Tera Raid Battles, Zangoose can use Belly Drum to maximize its Attack and hit hard with Facade, and while it did have a niche back when we had the Ditto Tera Raid Event, Zangoose was a decent pick if you have Shadow Claw as the only Ghost-type move, that way Ditto wouldn't do anything against Zangoose. The downside is that Ursaluna outclasses Zangoose in Tera Raid Battles, and even Ursaring which is more accessible than Ursaluna is a solid pick for a Normal-type, and there are other good Normal-types like Snorlax which can also learn Belly Drum, but it can get Screech and Last Resort.
When I went over how Seviper could use an evolution as it has no hope in online battles, Zangoose is at least usable, it has good stats at least, but it is outclassed by better Pokémon and while its stats are good for the main game, in online battles, it is kind of an average Normal-type, but it can work if you can put it to use.

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