Contest Contest-of-the-Week: Swellow vs Pelipper

[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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After leaving Petalburg city, the path to Rustboro city and your first badge will take you past Route 104 through the Petaburg Woods. This gives you ample opportunities to catch a Taillow, Hoenn's incarnation of the early game Normal/Flying bird. Also on Route 104 is the home of Mr Briney and his Wingull Peeko, a Pokemon you've already had the chance to catch back on Route 103.

These two birds have identical base stat totals and evolve early, making them a great choice for anyone who needs Pokemon that can Fly. Prior to Gen VI, Swellow had the highest base speed of all the early game birds at a lightning quick 125, which allows it to outspeed virtually every opponent you'll face in the game. The Guts ability combined with Facade also lets it put some serious hurt on anything foolish enough to status it. In contrast Pelipper is a slow and tanky flier, whose main selling point is versatility. A Pokemon that can use both Surf and Fly is handy to have around, and it can serve as a decent Water type for those who didn't choose Mudkip.

Which early game bird 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?
-How do these Pokemon stack up compared to the early game birds from other games?

Let the contest begin!

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Next week: Ninjask vs Shedinja

 

[TaiCrunch]

How is Pelipper even able to fly with those flipper things? Swellow all the way.

 

[Skittypaws]

I prefer Pelipper over Swellow, but I usually get Swellow because I start the team with Mudkip.

Pelipper isn't a very intimidating wild Pokemon, but unlike Swellow it has more of a advantage over ice types due to its typing. It has more moves to cause irritation to the opponents, like confuse ray. It does have a big disadvantage point later in the game because it cannot learn the move Dive, which is essentially during the final part of the game.

I wouldn't recommend it to someone who wants to get through the story ASAP.

 

[Team Gaara]

I had no idea these two were even counterparts. Though I guess they're as much counterparts as Mightyena and Linoone. To me, Swellow has a much better design, though I do like Pelipper, as well. I've always had a soft spot for it since it is my state's bird. Now, I've never trained a Pelipper, so I can't say how hard or easy it is to train compared to Swellow, but I can say Swellow isn't too easy or too hard to train. It seems just about right.

I'd have to say Swellow is more useful in game. I know Pelipper can Fly and Surf, but Swellow exceeds as just being a good Pokemon to have on your team. It's fast and hits hard, while Pelipper suffers from that 4X weakness to Electricity and doesn't have the same speed and power as Swellow. That said, I think it'll be more useful in ORAS.

As for competitive, it's pretty clear that Swellow is a better Pokemon. It can use Guts+Facade and apparently can even use Boomburst with Specs, while I don't even really see Pelipper outside of in-game teams, sad to say. In comparison to the other first route birds, both are nowhere near as good as Staraptor. That's all I can say~

 

[Zeb]

I like both, but I gotta admit I like Pelipper slightly more. Swellow is pretty cool, but Pelipper has a cute and slightly goofy design with the over exaggerated beak. Wingull is also super cute and one of my favourite pre-evos. I used both on in-game teams in Gen III and they both do great. I remember in one playthrough Pelipper did well against Steven's team, getting me the win. Swellow has Guts to counteract the random status you can sometimes get, which is handy, and also Facade to blow holes throw NPC teams.

I'd have to say Swellow is more useful in game. I know Pelipper can Fly and Surf, but Swellow exceeds as just being a good Pokemon to have on your team. It's fast and hits hard, while Pelipper suffers from that 4X weakness to Electricity and doesn't have the same speed and power as Swellow. That said, I think it'll be more useful in ORAS.

If Swellow hits hard then so does Pelipper; Swellow has base 85 Attack and Pelipper has base 85 Sp.Atk lol

As for competitive, it's pretty clear that Swellow is a better Pokemon. It can use Guts+Facade and apparently can even use Boomburst with Specs, while I don't even really see Pelipper outside of in-game teams, sad to say.

They both do different things, so it's a little unfair to say Swellow is strictly better (even though I will agree Swellow has more overall use since Pelipper is a little awkward stat-wise). Pelipper has a better typing, Knock Off, Defog, Roost, U-turn, Scald, Tailwind, also has Hurricane and Rain Dish if you want to use it in rain. Swellow has better things to be doing than supporting the team, so won't be running Roost, Defog or Tailwind usually and doesn't get Knock Off or Scald at all. Water + Flying is only resisted by Rotom-Wash, Lanturn, Empoleon and Dialga (iirc), so its STAB is pretty much unresisted in lower tiers, meaning you can run other moves easily if you want, whereas Swellow can't say the same about its Normal/Flying coverage and ends up struggling against most Rock and Steel types. It has quite a few pros over Swellow tbh, even though it's clear Swellow is the winner in general.

In comparison to the other first route birds, both are nowhere near as good as Staraptor. That's all I can say~

And Staraptor is nowhere near as good as Talonflame

 

[Alti]

I have to go with Swellow. I like his design more, and he's much more useful in game and competitively in my opinion. I still like Staraptor and Talonflame more than them though.

 

[BigBadKuma]

Pelipper. As someone who normally starts with Torchic, he always finds a good spot on my team. Granted I normally end up replacing him later on, but he's definetly hopeful in the early going. Though I do like Swellow's slick look, I just have a harder time fitting him in.

 

[cityvillain]

I already decided I'm using Pelipper in my OR playthrough I've never used that big guy a lot so I wanna explore him a bit more. I've seen him being used in some wifi battles and he is pretty decent. But I'll have him defensively in my team though and my Surfer since I'll be picking Treecko as my starter. I'm so hyped for this lol.

In terms of designs, I prefer Pelipper's quirky odd design. It's simple but quirky enough to say Pelipper looks like a Pokemon. I'm not saying Swellow doesn't but he looks bland to me.

 

[Karpi]

Pelipper is one of my all time favorites! In Sapphire I had a Pelipper that won every possible contest ribbon (at the expense of many, many TMs), and he was on my main team as well.

Plus, when was there ever an in-game Swellow that frustrated you? I know there was never one more annoying than the Pelippers levels 33-46, which knew Mist/Protect/Stockpile/Swallow. I know you all remember!

Although, now that every pokemon has tons of moves now, I've been wanting to try out a Rain Dish Pelipper with Rain Dance/Hurricane/Surf/Roost, since the rain gives you double benefits. But I'm not exactly sure how Hidden Abilities are acquired in 6th gen (as I don't have one of the games yet).

This was really never even a contest for me. My pelican buddy will always be one of my favorites!

 

[Enzap]

I've always been a fan of Pelipper. It has such a quirky design, and while Swellow doesn't look bad, it doesn't stand out as much as Pelipper. Pelipper has also served me better in-game. Its access to powerful move like Surf and Ice Beam help it a ton, plus it can still learn Fly. Its a great defensive type for RSE, since electric and rock types are relatively rare later in the game, save for the occasional Rock Slide on an E4 Pokemon. Plus it has a massive defensive stat for such an easy to find Pokemon, especially for its typing. It eats Fighting and Ground types for breakfast. These days, competitively, Swellow does have an upper hand with its infamous Guts + Facade combo and insane speed. I doubt this will transfer well over to ORAS though, as it still lacks good coverage moves, meaning I'll likely be using Pelipper for both nostalgia purposes and I'm probably using Treecko as my starter.

 

[EvilChameleon]

Going to say this right now; Pelipper will be on my team my first run of Alpha Sapphire. Love how early you can get it too. Well, Wingull that is.

 

[aliveatnight]

Oh no...that's a hard one. For a while I only used Swellow, didn't really care for Wingull/Pelipper. However, during a Nuzlocke run I happened to catch a Wingull, and now I really adore Pelipper (and Pelipper is cuter).
He also has that nice little water type going for him, which helps wipe out even more Pokemon.

 

[the_may_fan]

Pretty fair matchup, considering both birds have the same BST and evolve early as mentioned in the original post. I'd have to pick Swellow though and be the tie breaking vote at the moment (9-8). I give it the edge in terms of design and stat distribution. On an in-game team, Swellow's speed almost always ensures at least one or two hits on the opponent before fainting and competitively speaking Guts + Facade always impressed me in terms of attacking power. As someone already mentioned, I find Pelipper's stat distribution somewhat awkward. Sure, the lack of speed is compensated by considerably more bulk (100 Def, 70 Sp. Def.) and it has good typing, but I prefer having a fast Swellow that can dish damage and switch to an appropriate counter.

 

[Sakuraa]

Which has the better design?
I like both. Swellow's line is cool while Pelipper's is cute. But overall, I'd have to choose cool Swellow.

Which one is easier to train?
I've only trained Swellow and it was pretty easy. For me I'd say Swellow would be easier since I do better with attackers more than tanky Pokémon.

Which is more useful throughout the game?
It really depends on what your team is and how much coverage you have. In general I'd have to say Pelipper since it can provide more Super-effective damage and it learns both Surf and Fly.

How do these Pokemon stack up compared to the early game birds from other games?
I personally prefer Staraptor and Pidgeot appearance-wise.

So +2 for Swellow and +1 for Pelipper. My vote goes to Swellow.