POTW Pokémon of the Week #45: Lotad, Lombre, & Ludicolo

Maniacal Engineer · May 5, 2017

Buenos dias! In the World of Pokémon, there lives a vast number and variety of amazing creatures to befriend and collect. Every week, we will be focusing on a single one of these Pokémon or evolutionary line and talking about what makes it special. This week, in honor of Cinco de Mayo, it's the Lotad family.

Being Water/Grass type Pokémon, the Lotad family has unique typing. Lotad is based on the idea of a lily pad, Lombre builds on that idea but is also partially inspired by the kappa of Japanese mythology. Ludicolo is based on a pineapple and a Mexican dancer wearing a sombrero.

In the anime, Brock catches a Lotad during the Advanced Generation series, which he used as one of his main Pokémon. Lotad later evolved into a Lombre and then into a Ludicolo. Ultimately, Ludicolo was left at the Pewter City Gym with Brock's parents, and they even took it along with them when they went on vacation.

The Lotad family's most notable appearance, however, occurs not in the core series games, but in Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD Gale of Darkness, where they are the signature Pokémon of the notorious villain, Miror B. Although it is somwhat implied that his first team of Ludicolo was gifted to him by Team Cipher and was taken away after he was no longer a Cipher Admin, the Poké Ball afro'd rapscallion was not to be daunted. He struck out on his own and formed Team Miror B, gathering a new team of Lombre and Ludicolo.

In game, this Pokémon appears very early on in Sapphire, Emerald, and AlphaSapphire. With its unique Water/Grass typing, it is an excellent teammate for those trainers who started with Torchic, although they will both ultimately share a weakness to Flying types. It is also a useful companion for trainers who started with Mudkip, despite the type overlap, since it doesn't share any weaknesses with Swampert. Ludicolo also performs particularly well on rain teams, with its abilities of Swift Swim and Rain Dish, being the only Pokémon to receive Rain Dish as a non-Hidden ability.Unfortunately, it evolves with a Water Stone which means it may take a while to evolve and it doesn't learn many new moves after evolution by level up.

Competitively, Ludicolo learns a diverse amount of moves, including Scald, Hydro Pump, Giga Drain, Ice Beam, and Focus Blast, but it can also run a decent physical set with moves like Sword Dance, Waterfall, Seed Bomb, Brick Break, Drain Punch, Knock Off, and the elemental punches. Additionally, Ludicolo works best in the rain, either as an offensive sweeper, with Swift Swim, or as a bulky Pokémon with moves like Giga Drain, Leech Seed, Fake Out, and Toxic with the Rain Dish ability. Due to its typing, Ludicolo only has three weaknesses, Bug, Poison, and Flying.

Here are some questions to consider to get conversation rolling. You don't have to answer all of them or any of them in your post as long as you're staying on topic and within global forum rules.
-Do you like or dislike this Pokémon? Why?
-How is this Pokémon in-game?
-How is this Pokémon in competitive play? Are there any interesting strategies you like to use for them?
-Do you like this Pokémon's representation in the anime? Are there any moments or qualities in particular you enjoy/dislike?
-How do you think this Pokémon would interact with our world?
-If given the power to, would you change anything about this Pokémon and if so, what would you change?
-Do you think that the Lotad family represents its Water/Grass typing well?
-Would you like to see more Pokémon with the Water/Grass typing?
-Would you like to emulate the great Miror B, and design a team based around multiple Ludicolo?

If you have any suggestions for Pokémon you'd like to discuss in the future just leave your ideas at the bottom of your post. Make sure you give your thoughts about the current Pokémon first!

Previous Pokémon of the Week:

Zeb · May 5, 2017

I absolutely love Ludicolo, it's one of my favourite Pokemon. It's just fun in every way and full of character. Anyone who's played Colosseum won't forget the battles against Miror B either.

If I were to change it, I'd probably give it a tiny bit more Def and Sp.Atk. It's mostly used under rain, so its Speed being lower than average isn't a huge deal. It has a pretty wide movepool, so I don't think there's anything to be added there - its even possible to use a Swords Dance Ludicolo if you really wanted to, but special in rain tends to be how its used most.

I'd be down for more Water/Grass types for sure. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet with how much potential and choice there is out there for it.

Dragging Lombre through Hoenn until you can get a Water Stone is kinda annoying though.

Zexy · May 7, 2017

-Do you like or dislike this Pokémon? Why?
Yes. Great typing, nice design, early availability in the Hoenn games it is in.
-How is this Pokémon in-game?
Very nice, available early in the Hoenn games it is in, great typing for the Hoenn games. Can be part of great in-game rain teams/monotype Water teams. ~~I'm getting dejavu from the Wingull PotW as of writing this~~ Could use some Water moves before you get Surf, though.
-How is this Pokémon in competitive play? Are there any interesting strategies you like to use for them?
Swift Swim attacker in rain teams. Haven't tried to use very interesting strategies, I'll let ME do this

-Do you like this Pokémon's representation in the anime? Are there any moments or qualities in particular you enjoy/dislike?
I liked Brock's Ludicolo a lot

-How do you think this Pokémon would interact with our world?
People would like Ludicolo for its dance.
-If given the power to, would you change anything about this Pokémon and if so, what would you change?
Better stats and moveset.
-Do you think that the Lotad family represents its Water/Grass typing well?
Definitely!
-Would you like to see more Pokémon with the Water/Grass typing?
Yes, it is a really nice combination.
-Would you like to emulate the great Miror B, and design a team based around multiple Ludicolo?
No, I'll let ME do this too

Sahma · May 7, 2017

Maniacal Engineer said:
-Do you like or dislike this Pokémon? Why? I don't like it because it really doesn't have the advantages a true fusion of water and grass would have, it clearly sides more to water with grass being an extra.
-How is this Pokémon in-game? In game it's fairly good to start off in the Hoenn region, if you get the right IV's and EV's and perfect nature it would be good for competitive pokemon, but it still is terrible.
-How is this Pokémon in competitive play? Are there any interesting strategies you like to use for them? I don't play competitive, so I wouldn't know.
-Do you like this Pokémon's representation in the anime? Are there any moments or qualities in particular you enjoy/dislike? I do enjoy the anime representation. Especially with Brock opening-up to non-Rock/Ground pokemon.
-How do you think this Pokémon would interact with our world? It could enter pokemon contests, maybe be a dancer and could provide to be a valuable friend, but I wouldn't expect it battling.
-If given the power to, would you change anything about this Pokémon and if so, what would you change? I'd make it more balanced of grass and water, instead of water with a tad of grass.
-Do you think that the Lotad family represents its Water/Grass typing well? Yes
-Would you like to see more Pokémon with the Water/Grass typing? Yes
-Would you like to emulate the great Miror B, and design a team based around multiple Ludicolo? Miror B doesn't have a snag machine, so he doesn't have an option in the Orre Region.

Sakuraa · May 10, 2017

Do you like or dislike this Pokémon? Why?
Honestly, I only really like Lombre. Lotad is just average in terms of design and Ludicolo is kind of ugly so I don't like them. Lombre has this nice, appealing charm to it though. It's role in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon might also have an effect on why I like it so much.

How is this Pokémon in-game?
Never used one.

Do you like this Pokémon's representation in the anime? Are there any moments or qualities in particular you enjoy/dislike?
Meh, Brock's was pretty lame. Barely had a personality until it made it to Ludicolo and even then it was still pretty bland.

How do you think this Pokémon would interact with our world?
Lotad and Lombre, like lilypads. Ludicolo, like a dancer.

If given the power to, would you change anything about this Pokémon and if so, what would you change?
I'd make them cuter. Seriously, their designs, while not horrible, are just very unappealing overall. Lombre is the only one that looks decent, but even he could be much better.

Do you think that the Lotad family represents its Water/Grass typing well?
I guess. Are there even any other water/grass-types?

Would you like to see more Pokémon with the Water/Grass typing?
TBH, I don't really care. I guess it's a nice type combo, but it's not like I'm dying to have more of them.

RTLfan · May 12, 2017

Two words: racist stereotype.
What were they thinking creating this after the whole mess about Jynx in generation 1.

Nicolas721 · May 12, 2017

Lotad is one of my favourite Hoenn Pokemon. It has Psyduck's "dumb duck" face, complimented with good colors and a cute small body. However, Lombre is boring, and Ludicolo...I don't really know why I don't like it, maybe it's a lttle bit ugly.

I liked how they were the only Pokemon with two starter types during 3 generations, it made them very unique. Also, I liked that Ludicolo was a bit difficult to take down in Emerald, as you couldn't the use the first weakness that came to your mind because of its combination.

In the anime, I just remember that Lotad had a cute voice in the dub. He wasn't used much.

Camille · Jul 14, 2021

Lotad and Lombre are pretty ugly, but Ludicolo, while still not amazing design-wise, is much better than its pre-evolved forms. I like its typing, too, and while I've never used one in a playthrough, I remember struggling to beat it in Battle Frontier due to it spamming Toxic, Leech Seed, and Double Team, since I had no Pokemon with Taunt/Aerial Ace on my team. I think it should either have more Attack, since its physical movepool is actually large, or better special-baseed movepool. Otherwise, I'm fine with its stat distribution.

POTW Pokémon of the Week #45: Lotad, Lombre, & Ludicolo

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Maniacal Engineer

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Zeb

what is your spaghetti policy here?

Zexy

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Sahma

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Sakuraa

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RTLfan

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Nicolas721

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Camille

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