#316 - #317: Gulpin & Swalot

I apologize for the lack of posts lately, but I was in the process of moving out and I only now have time to write another entry for this blog.

A drooling Gulpin. I wanna bet you should not touch its saliva.

So next up on my list are Gulpin and Swalot, and I have to say they aren't anything special. As Gulpin is a giant green sac, it is probably based on a gallbladder, this green sac-like organ we have to store gastric acid; and since its stomach comprises most of its body, it has the ability to swallow anything of its own size whole. That's nasty. Even nastier is the fact that vile, overpowering gases are expelled from Gulpin's body when its stomach is digesting its food. So it's basically a burping gallbladder with a humongous stomach creating special enzymes that allows it to dissolve anything Gulpin swallows. I'm sorry, Game Freak, but you won't win me over with such stomach-churning antics, if you'll excuse the pun. Unfortunately, Swalot's flavor (no pun intended this time) doesn't differ much from Gulpin's; it's bigger and it's able to swallow bigger things, but its stomach is as digestive as Gulpin's - containing the very same special enzymes with the very same dissolving qualities - and the poison it secretes from its pores (toxic sweat?) to capture living prey with is probably as poisonous as the gases Gulpin emits when its food is being digested. The only thing Swalot can do is expand or contract its body at will so that it can swallow big things, which doesn't surprise me from a creature that is mostly composed of a stomach in the first place.

If you can't find any purpose to Swalot, you can always
use the thing as a beanbag, as May is doing here. 

But can this poisonous gland do anything more than just be disgusting? Well, yes. With base 100 HP and base 83 defenses it is actually kind of a bulky Pokémon in the competitive metagame, but despite the fact that Swalot's attacking stats are somewhat subpar, it is often used as a bulky offensive Pokémon. While a Quiet nature increases its special attack a little (but limits its speed, which doesn't matter because it's slow anyway and you need its attack stat), an Assault Vest boosts its special defense by 50% instantly and the Sticky Hold ability allows it to hold onto its item when the opponent tries to get rid of it, its moveset is actually a mix of special and physical attacks: for STAB you can use either Sludge Bomb or Sludge Wave (the latter is stronger, but Sludge Bomb has a higher chance of poisoning the foe), while it has access to some neat type coverage moves like Giga Drain (its only reliable way of recovery), Ice Beam, Shadow Ball, Seed Bomb, the elemental punches and Earthquake, the latter being physical and the reason why you should run a Quiet nature over a Modest one. However, I recommend using a Swalot with either a Bold or a Calm nature, rocking the Leftovers and a moveset of mostly support moves. The Toxic/Protect combo is a classic stalling tactic, Pain Split is nice to have when Swalot runs out of HP and the opposing Pokémon still has plenty of HP left, and Sludge Bomb - or, yet again, Sludge Wave - is a good move to let Swalot attack with. If you'd rather put the foe to sleep so you can safely switch out to another Pokémon that can handle it, Yawn may be a good option instead of Protect. Steer away from any moves that raise its defenses (such as Stockpile, Amnesia and Acid Armor), as they seem nice but won't make much of a difference in Swalot's case.

Just a Swalot. Nothing interesting to see here.

While I'm not exactly a fan of this line, I don't hate or dislike Gulpin and Swalot in any way. It's a nice concept Game Freak came up with for these Pokémon, but their execution is just so... bland. I know I always say that a plain design can be very effective on a Pokémon (less is more, Persian is a perfect example of that), but right now I wish there was more to Gulpin and Swalot. I would like to explain it to you guys, but I don't think I really have an explanation. However, Swalot isn't completely useless and very narrowly escapes a bad rating because it's purple.

P.S.: What's with the weird whiskers, anyway?

Rating: 3/5