#548 - #549: Petilil & Lilligant

Petilil (left) and Lilligant (right).

While Cottonee and Whimsicott are dual grass/fairy types, the pure grass-type Pokémon Petilil and Lilligant look more like fairies than their counterparts do. In reality, though, Petilil is just a plant bulb and prefers living in soil abundant in moisture and nutrients - in short, it's a plant that needs rich and fertile soil to grow. How incredibly enlightening. Granted, the leaves on its head have revitalizing effects and drive away weariness, even to the point that they're very popular with the elderly, but they taste so bitter that they can presumably cause dizziness. Petilil is based on a plant bulb from the liliaceae family; most of its foreign names suggest that the tulip was the inspiration for Petilil, but its evolution Lilligant (who can be obtained by using a Sun Stone on Petilil) is clearly based on a lily instead. Lilies are often considered pretty and elegant yet fragile flowers, and it's no surprise that Lilligant was designed to be beautiful and regal-looking as a result, donning a scarlet flower on its head complete with yellow filaments and red anther resembling a crown in the middle. Lilligant's beauty makes it very popular with female celebrities, and the 'crown' and 'dress' derived from 18th-century Western high-class women's fashion definitely contributes to that, although it is suggested that the 'dress' actually resembles a ball gown and Lilligant is based on a dancer instead - which isn't such a farfetched theory to begin with, as several of the moves it learns by leveling up (Petal Dance, Quiver Dance and Teeter Dance; it also learns Swords Dance by TM) are about dancing. To coincide with the lily's apparent fragility, the flower on Lilligant's head is very difficult to coax into bloom even for veteran Trainers and will wilt if Lilligant is neglected, but once it does bloom it emits a sweet-smelling aroma that has a relaxing effect on those exposed to the scent.

Elegant and innocent Lilligant.

Competitively... well, I wouldn't recommend using Lilligant in a competitive setting, but should you insist, you'll have to rely on the move Quiver Dance. This is a move with the powerful effect of raising your Pokémon's special attack, special defense and speed stats simultaneously, and only butterflies, moths, a bee fly family and one powerful-ass cockroach can learn the move - as well as Lilligant and Bellossom, apparently. Lilligant already kinda stole Bellossom's dancing shtick and improved on it, as it is faster and stronger than Bellossom, making it a more effective sweeper. The downside to using Lilligant over Bellossom is that it isn't as bulky or versatile; while Bellossom can quite effectively live a hit and then use Quiver Dance and fire away with moves like Energy Ball/Giga Drain, Sludge Bomb and Moonblast, which fill up the rest of its moveset, Lilligant literally only has grass-type special moves in its offensive arsenal and nothing else. Pokémaniacal sums it up perfectly: "Lilligant, unfortunately, doesn’t have a nagging gap in her offensive coverage so much as nagging offensive coverage in her gap." With base 110 special attack and 90 speed, Lilligant could have been a decent sweeper, but it's just no use using a moveset consisting of Quiver Dance, Giga Drain, Petal Dance and Energy Ball, just to come up with something. Sure, there's Hidden Power (rock covers a few of its weaknesses), but that move isn't strong enough for Lilligant to compensate for its lack of offensive moves, and the Sleep Powder/Dream Eater combo is simply too... laughable. Sleep Powder is horribly inaccurate to begin with, and an opponent can always withdraw a sleeping Pokémon at any given moment, making Dream Eater way too unreliable.

Oh, you want set details? Uh huh, well, how does a Timid nature sound? It's a way to make Lilligant as fast as possible, at least. And you want it to have the Chlorophyll ability as well, you say? I mean, if you want to make Lilligant extra weak to fire, go right ahead. It's usually redundant in combination with a move like Quiver Dance and I'd recommend Own Tempo instead, an ability that prevents confusion and therefore works great with Petal Dance. What did you say you want Lilligant to hold? A Life Orb or Grassium Z? Grass is one of the worst offensive typings, but sure... why not? It's not like Lilligant has anything better to make use of, right? There's the Focus Sash, but Lilligant isn't that frail and it outspeeds quite a few things after a Quiver Dance boost anyway, so most of the time it doesn't have to worry about getting hit first.

This artist has done a great job portraying Lilligant in different states and positions,
including a completely withered one. They even threw a Petilil into the mix as well.

Man, man, man, I really wish Lilligant would be a better Pokémon. The worst thing is that Game Freak designed this thing with the intention to make it good in battle, judging by the fact they gave it Quiver Dance and Petal Dance as well as the Own Tempo ability. Lilligant just turned out to be a huge disappointment competitively - or just offensively in general, because even in a playthrough it's just okay. Not that its offensive presence and strong STAB in Petal Dance makes it the worst Pokémon by any means, but its lack of versatility just completely kills the potential it had - and still has, as it's not too late to give Lilligant some sort of type coverage. Come on, Game Freak, Bellossom looks just as fey as Lilligant does, and it has access to both Dazzling Gleam and Moonblast - and Sludge Bomb, for that matter, but that can be attributed to its pre-evolutions Oddish and Gloom being poison types.

But granting Lilligant access to even Dazzling Gleam is just too much to ask, as Game Freak couldn't even get Lilligant's flavor right: Lilligant's Moon entry states that the flower on its head darkens, droops and withers away as soon as it finds a male to be its partner - and Lilligant is a female-only species. I mean, it could get a Pokémon from entirely another species as its partner, but I don't think that's what the Pokédex meant. It's such a shame Lilligant wasn't thought through all that well, because I absolutely love its design and concept, but in the end I'll have to subtract half a point from it. I cannot in good conscience call Lilligant a perfect Pokémon and thereby call it one of my absolute favorites. Not with so many things about it that I critiqued.

Rating: 4.5/5