A Pokemon of Unown Potential; Part 3

Unown Shuriken Forme

This week I have been exploring the implications of giving Unown a new forme. The reasons why, at least in terms of battle strength, are obvious. Unown couldn't Hidden Power its way out of a wet paper bag that also has a giant hole in it. I would go so far as to say that Unown's Hidden Power is so well hidden that not even Unown itself can find it. It's sad, because I think the lore and mystery of this pokemon warrants at least SOME battle potential, if only for the sake that it's just so weird. Over the last two days, I have written why I think it deserves a new forme and to be considered legendary as well as how I think those new formes should be handled. The final thing I want to touch on is moveset. This will be brief, as there's isn't anything to change... just attacks to add!

STRENGTH IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

Actually, it's not. It's put up or shut up. Good thing Unown lacks a mouth, because it'll be really easy to shut up. Yesterday, I talked about how I think the Unown should change formes based on the words they spell. I'm not going to reiterate that, so if you missed it just go back and read yesterday's article. I make some good jokes. Instead, today we are going to focus on Unown's laughable movepool.

Did I say laughable? I meant nonexistent. Unown can only know Hidden Power, which itself is pretty weak coming in at a low 60 base power. The type is variable, depending on the stats (IVs) of the individual. On the right pokemon, and with the right type, Hidden Power can cover a weakness or increase coverage of other types. Many electric types that are used competitively are bred to have Hidden Power (ICE) to cover Ground types. Unfortunately for Unown, the only type that matters is Psychic. It needs that type so it can at least hit for the STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus). With the addition of new formes that add a secondary type, however, then having Hidden Power of other types become somewhat worth it. The new formes would also add new attacks, which is something Unown desperately needs.

BY THE POWER OF GREY SKULL!!

Unown is a gimmick pokemon. If you go and change it to be some amazing crazy battler, it takes something away from it. It needs to still be gimmicky, but could be somewhat formidable in certain scenarios. To extend it's gimmickyness, I think it should only learn 3 kinds of moves: Power moves, Eye moves, and Battlefield moves. Basically, it will be able to learn different types of "power" like Hidden Power, Secret Power, or Nature Power. Next, Unown is all about being a giant eyeball so I think we should play that up, and show everyone that Unown is really good at staring. Finally, as we saw in "Pokemon the 3rd Movie", Unown is really good at creating different mirage-like environments, so moves that change the terrain or weather would be fun. Most of the time, this would likely mean Unown Incantation (the name I gave the new forme(s) yesterday) would probably be used often as team support. Below is the list of moves I think Unown Incantation should learn, regardless of which particular Incantation it is.

Level                                     Attack                           Type                 Physical/Special/Status
-                                             Decipher                      Normal                           Special
-                                             Hidden Power              Normal                           Special
-                                             Leer                             Normal                            Status
-                                             Mean Look                  Normal                            Status
-                                             Baby-Doll Eyes           Fairy                               Status
15                                          Ancient Power             Rock                              Special
20                                          Glare                            Normal                           Status
25                                          Electric Terrain           Electric                            Status
30                                          Nature Power              Normal                            Special
30                                          Secret Power               Normal                          Physical
33                                          Power Split                 Psychic                            Status
39                                          Miracle Eye                Psychic                            Status
39                                          Future Sight                Psychic                           Special
40                                          Grass Terrain               Grass                               Status
45                                          Power Whip                 Grass                             Physical
47                                          Power Trick                Psychic                             Status
47                                          Power Swap               Psychic                              Status
50                                          Misty Terrain               Fairy                                Status
53                                          Earth Power                Ground                             Special
56                                          Super Power               Fighting                           Physical
63                                          Stored Power              Psychic                             Special
65                                          Decipher                     Normal                             Special

As you can see, the only new move that I have come up with is "Decipher". In my mind, this would be Unown Incantation's signature move. It would be similar to Arceus' Judgement in that it would depend on Unown Incantation's type, in this case it's secondary type. It wouldn't be as powerful as Judgement though with only a base power of 90. At least it would always give Unown Incantation a second STAB move behind all of it's Psychic moves and allow it to be offensive if need be. In terms of TMs or Tutor moves, I doubt Unown Incantation would be able to learn many. In my mind, it would only be able to learn certain energy based attacks similar to pokemon like Kadabra. In that case, I wouldn't be surprised to see it being able to TM for things like Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, and Psyshock as well as a few status moves like Calm Mind. Unlike most pokemon, however, it wouldn't be able to learn any moves for recovery and have to rely on items.

Anyway, I hope that you all have enjoyed my articles on Unown's untapped potential! I don't expect any of this to ever happen, but I can always hope!

Go to Part 1 | Go to Part 2