Since it’s the 20th anniversary of Pokemon’s creation and Pokemon Sun and Moon were just announced, we decided to go through each generation of Pokemon and put together dream teams. Sticking to the Pokemon new to each generation and ignoring Legendaries and Megas, we chose the strongest Pokemon for each Stat according to Base Stats only. (Sorry EV trainers). We’ve also created some recommended movesets for each of the Pokemon to help you craft the ultimate team.

Generation III

In 2002 (Japan)/2003 (Worldwide), Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire came to the Gameboy Advance with even more awesome Pokemon and fantastic graphics. Many still consider these games to be the peak of Pokemon.

HP: WAILORD

Wailord is awesome. His massive HP makes him rather tanklike despite his low defense, and his attack is high enough to do some serious damage.

Recommended Moves:

Waterspout: MASSIVE amounts of damage in one turn and STAB, but you can only use it 5 times.

Hydropump: STAB and slightly less massive amounts of damage in one turn, but you can still only use it 5 times.

Rest: This move will frustrate your opponents to no end. Restoring all of that HP in 2 turns? Wailord will start to seem invincible.

Rollout: 5 turns of increasing damage. Your opponent is going down.

Earthquake: This attack does a large amount of damage, but it hits everyone on the field so strategize if you’re using it in a battle where you have multiple Pokemon out at the same time.

Attack: SLAKING

Somehow the King of Slackers has one of the highest attacks in this generation. Don’t be too impressed though, this giant sloth can only attack once every two turns.

Recommended Moves:

Ice Beam: lots of damage with the potential for freezing the opponent

Thunder/Thunderbolt: There are pros and cons to both of these so you’ll have to decide which one fits your playing style better in questions of PP vs Attack vs Accuracy, but either way, these moves will do a lot of damage and they might even paralyze your opponent.

Slack Off: This recovers half of Slakings HP in one turn and is great for your non-attack turns.

Counter: This retaliates any physical hit Slaking takes with double the power. This has the potential to do A LOT of damage.

Amnesia: Another great non-attack turn move. It allows Slaking to forget something while simultaneously raising his special defense.

Defense: AGGRON

With the highest Defense in Gen 3, Aggron is a TANK. A tank with ridiculously high attack power that puts even Wailord to shame.

Recommended Moves:

Iron Tail: STAB attack that does a large amount of damage with Aggron’s rock-hard tail.

Headbutt: Rams the opposing Pokemon hard enough to potentially cause flinching.

Metal Claw: Claw attack that doesn’t do the most damage, but it does raise your Attack and gives you STAB.

Rest: Chill out for 2 turns and restore Aggron’s HP and status.

Mud Slap: Aggron literally slaps the opposing Pokemon in the face with mud to do some damage and reduce its accuracy

Special Attack: GARDEVOIR

Our winner for Special Attack is Gardevoir. And while her Special Defense didn’t make the top three for this generation, it’s pretty close.  

Recommended Moves:

Psychic: Powerful STAB attack that also lowers Special Defense

Thunderbolt: A lot of damage and the potential to paralyze your opponent.

Shadow Ball: Another attack that does damage and lowers Special Defense

Calm Mind: Raises Special Attack and Special Defense

Reflect: Create a wall that weakens physical attacks.

Special Defense: MILOTIC

Milotic was actually 2nd highest for Special Defense, losing by only 5 points to Dusclops. We went with Milotic because it has over double the HP and triple the Speed that Dusclops has.  

Recommended Moves:

Iron Tail: Hurts the opponent with its tail and potentially lowers defense.

Rain Dance: Makes water moves more powerful for 5 turns.

Hydro Pump: Extremely powerful STAB attack, but it can only be used 5 times.

Recover: Recovers up to half of Milotic’s Max HP

Surf: Attacks the opponent with a giant wave and gets STAB

Speed: NINJASK

This ninja bug is not only the fastest Pokemon of this Generation, but of all of the Pokemon we cover on this list. It’s no wonder that Ninjask is considered to be almost invisible.

Recommended Moves:

Slash: Fairly powerful attack that has a high critical-hit ratio.

Fury Swipes: Hits the opposing Pokemon 2-5 times.

Giga Drain: This attack steals half of the damage it does. Kill your opponent and heal yourself at the same time. Double win.

Swords Dance: Dance that raises your attack 2 stages.

Toxic: Poisons the opposing Pokemon with an intensifying toxin.

Post By: Yifan Zhao,Tommy Wiliams, and Catherine Wilson