Blastoise

Meet Blastoise, the Shellfish Pokemon

Number 9 is the final form of the Squirtle line and one of the three starter aces from Generation 1. It is a pure Water type, it comes from a Wartortle, and the abilities are Torrent up front with Rain Dish as the hidden option. Nothing evolves past it.

The design does most of the explaining: a shell with two water cannons mounted on it, which the games treat as the source of its ranged Water attacks. The cannons are not decoration either; the Pokedex treats them as an actual weapon with real range. It was also one of the first starters to get a mega form, which is worth knowing if you are reading older team guides.

Water typing on one sheet

Two types beat it: Electric and Grass. Four come back reduced: Fire, Water, Ice and Steel. There is no immunity anywhere on this chart, which makes it one of the more predictable Pokemon in the dex to plan around.

Grass is the one that turns up most often in practice, since a lot of trainers keep a Grass move as coverage. Electric is rarer but far more punishing when it lands, which is worth remembering before leaving it in against something with a Thunderbolt. Neither of them is common enough to make the Pokemon a liability, which is the point of the typing.

Reading the 530 total

Nothing in the spread is a wasted column, and nothing is spectacular either. 79 HP, 83 Attack, 100 Defense, 85 Special Attack, 105 Special Defense and 78 Speed add up to a Pokemon that is good at everything and best at nothing in particular.

That evenness is the appeal. It does not have an exploitable hole on either defensive side, so it can sit in front of most of the dex, and its two attacking stats are close enough that a physical or special set both work without changing the Pokemon's role. Nothing about it is a specialist, and on a starter that is usually a feature rather than a flaw.

Torrent and Rain Dish

Torrent boosts Water-type moves once the Pokemon drops below a third of its health, which turns a defensive wall into a dangerous attacker exactly when it looks finished. It is the standard ability and it fires on almost every set at some point in a long fight.

Rain Dish heals a fraction of the health back each turn while rain is active, so the hidden ability is only as good as the weather on your team. On a rain squad it is the better pick; anywhere else, Torrent does more work without needing support.

From Squirtle to Blastoise

The line is a straight three-stage climb: Squirtle at 16 becomes Wartortle, and Wartortle at 36 becomes Blastoise. No stones, no trades, no friendship requirement, which makes it the simplest of the three Kanto starter lines to finish.

The middle stage is the awkward part. Wartortle spends twenty levels without the stat total to justify its slot, so a run that picks Squirtle is committing to a slow build before the payoff arrives.

Team setup and the reference pages

Start with the Nuzlocke Team Builder if the run has rules attached, or the Pokemon Team Picker for a normal playthrough. Any slot still empty after that is a job for the Random Pokemon Picker.

Two pages handle the arithmetic: the Pokemon Nature Chart for the nature choice and the Pokemon IV Calculator for the actual numbers behind it. Where the answer truly does not matter, the Pokemon Wheel Spinner will pick for you.

Then the extras. Who's That Pokemon and the Random Mega Pokemon Generator cover the guessing and the big forms, Pokemon Shiny Odds explains how rare the recolours are, and the Random Shiny Pokemon Generator will run the search for you.

How it plays in a fight

Blastoise is a switch-in Pokemon. It comes in on a Fire, Water, Ice or Steel attack, takes a small amount of damage, and then sits there while the opponent works out that it is not going to fall over quickly. With 100 Defense and 105 Special Defense it can absorb from both sides.

The counterplay is as simple as its sheet: Grass and Electric moves, or anything with enough raw power to push through the balanced defences. A Water type with no immunity and no resistances above half damage is easy to plan against, and that cuts both ways.

Is it still worth a slot

On raw stats it has been overtaken many times over. What keeps Blastoise usable is the combination of a harmless defensive chart and two workable attacking stats: it is never the best Pokemon on a team and it is rarely the reason one loses. For a Water type that has to hold a slot for an entire run, that reliability is the whole pitch.

For a starter-focused run that is exactly the profile you want from a Water type. It does not need support to function, it does not create a weakness the rest of the team has to cover, and it can stay in against most of what the game throws at it.