Contest Contest-of-the-Week: Exploud vs Slaking

[Winterdaze]

Welcome to Contest-of-the-Week! With the release of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire on the horizon, the attention of Pokémon fans everywhere turns to Hoenn, and all the cool and interesting Pokemon that live there.

Every week, we'll be looking at a few of the many Pokémon you'll meet along your journey through the Hoenn region, and asking for your opinions on them and how they stack up next to their counterparts or rival Pokemon looking to fill the same spot on your team.

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To earn your fifth badge, you'll have to return to Petalburg City and defeat your father. The quickest way to backtrack is through Rusturf Tunnel and Petalburg Woods. Both of these areas are home to a Normal type that is part of a three stage evolutionary line, so if you haven't picked up a Whismur or a Slakoth yet, now is as good a time as any to do so. You'll be facing off against your father's Slaking in the Petalburg Gym either way.

Exploud is a quintessential jack of all trades. It can use both special and physical moves with equal competence, which along with its expansive movepool allows it to easily fit in to any kind of team. It doesn't excel at anything in particular though, being somewhat slow and average at both dishing out and taking hits. Slaking on the other hand, excels at everything, with good speed, outstanding bulk and a colossal 160 base attack stat. That power comes at a price however, as Slaking can only attack half of the time, which can let you down at the worst possible time.

Which Normal type do you prefer, and why?

-Which has the better design?
-Which one is easier to train?
-Which is more useful throughout the game?
-Which do you think will be better in ORAS?
-Which is more useful in the competitive environment?
-Do you think Exploud would have a been better signature Pokemon for Norman, or not?

Let the contest begin!

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Next week:Milotic vs Gyarados

[url]http://i.imgur.com/Tdiwxlq.png/IMG][/url]

[SPOILER] (This particular image contains spoilers regarding an ORAS mega evolution -- an issue I did not consider when making these images. If you don't want to be spoiled, here is the url: )
[noparse]http://i.imgur.com/vQZsFgq.png[/noparse]

While I will accept this particular shortened URL, remember that otherwise I want the URL from my Photobucket which the shortened URL should link you to

[SPOILER]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/vQZsFgq.png
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Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
(the answer to this riddle can be found on the pedia)

(This particular riddle is a bit peculiar (in two ways, really). I believe it might be peculiarly hard to figure out on its own, so I'm leaving you a hint: the answer is related to pokemon abilities or moves)
[/SPOILER]

 

[Peeko]

Which Normal type do you prefer, and why?
Exploud, mainly because of Boomburst, and its decent design.

-Which has the better design?
Exploud. Slaking is just a monkey lying down. Not original at all.

-Which one is easier to train?
Exploud. Slaking's ability makes it nearly impossible to grind with.

-Which is more useful throughout the game?
See above. Truant makes Slaking completely unusable.

-Which do you think will be better in ORAS?
Exploud. Once again, Truant is the killer for this decision.

-Which is more useful in the competitive environment?
Exploud. See above for why.

-Do you think Exploud would have a been better signature Pokemon for Norman, or not?
No. The rest of Norman's team is way too easy if you have a Combusken, and the Slaking actually provides somewhat of a challenge to beat, unlike Exploud.

 

[Life]

-Which has the better design?

I prefer Exploud's design. It kinda reminds me of an organ. Not that I really like organs, but the reference is cool I suppose.

-Which one is easier to train?

No idea.

-Which is more useful throughout the game?

Probably Exploud, because of Slaking's horrible ability.

-Which do you think will be better in ORAS?

^^^

-Which is more useful in the competitive environment?

I have seen both used relatively well. Again Slaking is held back because of its ability, but it does hit really strong. I've also seen Exploud using the Boomburst and Scrappy combo, and that does okay.

-Do you think Exploud would have a been better signature Pokemon for Norman, or not?

Ehh, not really. Slaking just seems to fit Normal a lot better, imo.

 

[ocelotlrama jaguar]

-Which has the better design?
Slaking. There's just something about him I find charming.

-Which one is easier to train?
Probably Exploud as he doesn't have Truant.

-Which is more useful throughout the game?
Exploud, because of said Truant.

-Which do you think will be better in ORAS?
Don't know.

-Which is more useful in the competitive environment?
Slaking has his uses, and while Exploud could be good, I've never trained them to know this personally.

-Do you think Exploud would have a been better signature Pokemon for Norman, or not?
Maybe? I don't know. I do prefer Slaking.

Both are good, but Slaking for me. Yeah, he has Truant, but he has that charm factor I like.

 

[Lysson]

-Which has the better design?
Both looks pretty ugly to me but Exploud has a more appealing design.

-Which one is easier to train?
Exploud.

-Which is more useful throughout the game?
I haven't used either in game, but probably Exploud.

-Which do you think will be better in ORAS?
Probably the same as past games, Exploud.

-Which is more useful in the competitive environment?
Haven't used either but I'll assume Exploud.

-Do you think Exploud would have a been better signature Pokemon for Norman, or not?
Nah, I think Slaking fits pretty well. Norman needs that bulk as he's a Normal type gym leader.

 

[Sakuraa]

Which has the better design?
Hm, big purple pipe organ or big, fat gorilla? Exploud.

Which one is easier to train?
I've never trained either, but I'd guess Exploud simply because Slaking has Traunt which prolongs battles and leaves it open to attacks. I don't think the lower stats automatically make Exploud a worse choice than Slaking.

Which is more useful throughout the game?/Which do you think will be better in ORAS?
I'd say same as above, but some players might be able to handle Slaking if they can manage Traunt. Not to mention, Slaking's stats are much better.

Do you think Exploud would have a been better signature Pokemon for Norman, or not?
No, not by a long shot. Norman is always depicted as being this super awesome amazingly strong Gym Leader. I think it fits perfectly that he has one of the strongest normal-types on his team as his signature.

My vote goes to the awesome looking, albeit weaker (not that I really care that much) Exploud.

 

[Kane]

-Which has the better design? Exploud.
-Which one is easier to train? Exploud.
-Which is more useful throughout the game? Slaking.
-Which do you think will be better in ORAS? Slaking.
-Which is more useful in the competitive environment? Slaking.
-Do you think Exploud would have a been better signature Pokemon for Norman, or not? No.

 

[Arc Blader]

Oh wow, the two Normal-types I'm stuck between for my ORAS team.

-Which has the better design?
That's tough. I'm going to give it to Exploud by a hair, given how it doesn't resemble much of anything before or after it.

-Which one is easier to train?
I'd say Exploud. Slaking's stronger, in theory making it easier, but Truant makes it way more time consuming.

-Which is more useful throughout the game?
I'd say Slaking, but not by much. Exploud does more, Slaking does less but much better; Exploud is more consistent, Slaking's highs are higher and its lows lower. I'm saying Slaking simply because, in-game, it's fairly easy to sort of build around Truant - there are ways of minimizing its impact.

-Which do you think will be better in ORAS?
Not sure. Can't really say one's gotten more in the way of buffing than the other.

-Which is more useful in the competitive environment?
Exploud probably. Truant is significantly more of a handicap against human players. Last I checked neither were relevant competitively, but I'd imagine Exploud's more consistent nature would give it the edge.

-Do you think Exploud would have a been better signature Pokemon for Norman, or not?
Not at all. Slaking made for a memorably grueling gym battle with some interesting twists to it - those twists being Truant, pretty much.

Final Verdict: While I've enjoyed using both, I'm gonna have to give Slaking the vote here. Exploud is fun, but figuring out Slaking and having it work for you on all cylinders... that's magical. Mechanically, it's almost a totally unique experience. Slaking wins.

 

[Rainami]

-Which has the better design? Exploud
-Which one is easier to train? Exploud
-Which is more useful throughout the game? exploud I guess
-Which do you think will be better in ORAS? exploud I guess
-Which is more useful in the competitive environment? exploud, boomburst, but more importantly, it can move twice in a row
-Do you think Exploud would have a been better signature Pokemon for Norman, or not? Tough call. Not sure, though being able to teach any Pokemon protect to easily win against his Slaking is sort of dumb

 

[Dragon Master]

Exploud for everything but what set him apart is that Scrappy! I love the ability and it took me forever to get a decent one