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I was thinking about getting a Pineco for my party on SS because I think it'd be a great Pokemon for my party.

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You know who would be better?

Forretress.
But forretress 4x damage against fire!
But only weak to fire.
Scizor is better if you can trade

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Due to its length, this answer will be split into two parts. Please use the table of contents to jump to a specific section.

1. Introduction
2. Obtaining and levelling
3. Movepool and playstyle
4. Matchups against important Johto Trainers
5. Matchups against important Kanto Trainers
6. In Summary

Introduction

Forretress is best known as a hazard spreader and pivoter with high Defense in previous generations’ competitive play. In-game, where offense matters much more, how does Forretress measure up? This hopes to be an in-depth guide on Forretress’ strengths and weaknesses, and whether it should be considered for a HeartGold & SoulSilver playthrough.

Obtaining and levelling

Pineco is first obtainable after defeating Bugsy and gaining access to the Headbutt Move Tutor in Ilex Forest. It can be found commonly in Headbutt trees all over Johto, and is immediately catchable once you receive Headbutt. This means it’s fairly easy to obtain given enough time. It may be prudent to wait to catch Pineco until Route 34, however, as it will come with Bug Bite, making it much easier to grind to be on par with the rest of your team.

Assuming you catch a Pineco on Route 34, it will be at Level 9 or 10 and come with the moveset Bug Bite, Selfdestruct, Protect, and Tackle. While Johto’s level curve is infamously terrible, and levelling up Pineco will take quite a bit of grinding, Bug Bite will help. Due to the prevalence of Drowzee (and Abra) on Route 34, it’s fairly simple to spam super effective STAB Bug Bite until you’ve reached a sufficient level. After this point in the game, it should be fairly hassle-free to level it up the same way you would any other team member.

Movepool and playstyle

Pineco has a very shallow movepool, with its most noteworthy techniques being Payback, Explosion, and Gyro Ball. Forretress isn’t much better – there aren’t any good moves it learns that Pineco doesn’t (unless you want to shell out a Heart Scale for Toxic Spikes). While Bug Bite is a solid move when you first obtain Pineco, it drops off as the game progresses. As this is the only Bug type move the two learn in HeartGold and SoulSilver (excluding Pin Missile from breeding), it means Forretress will be left without good STAB for most of the game. The Steel side isn’t great either – while Bug/Steel is a fantastic defensive typing, Forretress can only learn Mirror Shot, Gyro Ball, and Flash Cannon. Forretress can take hits well, but with its Special Attack being too worthless to use, and Gyro Ball having such low PP, it can’t dish out a lot of damage.

Even in HeartGold and SoulSilver, known for being some of the slowest games in the entire series, hyper offense is still a more effective playstyle than the defensive game that Forretress is tailored towards. Its main function is to set up hazards, which aren’t nearly as useful in-game as they are in competitive. Explosion can let the bugs pack a punch, but it’s impractical to keep returning to the Pokemon Center. Gyro Ball and Bug Bite are the most effective attacks you’ll have for the majority of the game, but they can be fairly lackluster.

Forretress’ most prominent advantage is its high physical Defense. This makes it an effective wall against many opponents, especially since its only weakness is to Fire (and eight other types are ineffective against it). If it can’t be used to deal much damage, it can instead sponge a few physical hits while other Pokemon on the team are being healed. It’s important to be mindful of special attackers – Forretress’ Special Defense is much worse than its Defense.

Matchups against important Johto Trainers

Whitney: Pineco is okay, but it isn’t the best against her fearsome Miltank. With fairly high Defense, it can survive a Stomp or two, and Protect allows it to break Rollout chains. Alongside this, Bug Bite is helpful in removing Miltank’s Lum Berry – though that turn may be better spent on simply inflicting a status condition twice. However, it’s weak to Rollout, so it’s an inconsistent answer at best. Additionally, it often cannot do enough damage to Miltank, so the latter will stay around with Milk Drink (and most likely eventually KO Pineco). SelfDestruct is an option to hit Miltank for some big damage if you don’t care about Pineco getting the EXP from the battle.

Morty: Pineco isn’t an effective Pokemon against Morty. Its Special Defense isn’t enough to withstand Gengar’s Shadow Ball, and its only attack learned via level-up that can hit any of his Pokemon is Bug Bite, which all four resist anyways. Its best use is as fodder to heal up a weakened team member if necessary.

Chuck: If Pineco hasn’t evolved by this point, it will resist both Primeape’s and Poliwrath’s Focus Punches. It will have to be wary of Primeape’s Rock Slide and Poliwrath’s Body Slam, however, as the former can hit Pineco super effectively and the latter deals heavy damage (plus a chance of paralysis). If Pineco has evolved into Forretress by this point, it will arguably have an easier time against both Pokemon – Rock Slide and Body Slam are not as problematic with the added Steel typing. It’s important to be wary of Primeape’s Double Team + Focus Punch, which can be harder to deal with due to Forretress’ low Speed.

Jasmine: If you teach Forretress Dig or Bulldoze via TM, it can effectively deal with both Magnemites, and to a lesser extent Steelix. While it is able to OHKO the two Magnemite, it probably won’t outspeed, and as such it’ll suffer confusion, paralysis, or some damage from Thunderbolt. Steelix cannot do too much to Forretress, but the reverse is also true. For this reason, while Forretress can beat it, it’s more effective to use a special attacker like Tentacruel.

Pryce: While at first glance the Steel type Forretress may appear good against Pryce’s Ice types, this illusion starts to fracture when you realise two of his Pokemon aren’t weak to Steel, the only Steel type move you’ll likely have by this point is Metal Burst, all his Pokemon can target Forretress’ weaker Special Defense, and Rest on his Seel and Dewgong make it so Forretress can’t reliably KO them without PP stalling. In this battle, Forretress is best used as fodder to heal Pokemon that are better equipped to deal with Pryce’s special attackers.

Clair: Forretress may be able to defeat Clair’s Gyarados with little issue, but the rest of her Pokemon are stronger. In particular, her Fire Blast Dragonair and fearsome Kingdra can do massive amounts of damage to Forretress’ special side, and it doesn’t get to use its high Defense very well in this battle. Clair’s fight is one of the few in the game where hazards could be useful, so Forretress is best used to set up Spikes to chip away at Kingdra’s health (though Bug Bite can be helpful for Kingdra’s Sitrus Berry if Forretress manages to stick around that long).

Will: Teaching Forretress Payback can be helpful for this battle, as it has more PP than Gyro Ball and will often do more damage than it as well. As a whole, it’s very easy to defeat Will with anything that has a Dark type move, so the battle shouldn’t be too much of a hassle.

Koga: Being immune to Poison moves is a boon in this battle, but the main problem Forretress has is exemplified against Koga’s team. It simply cannot do enough damage to reliably KO opponents, and while it can be helpful as fodder for healing, it’s better to lead with a strong Psychic or Ground type instead.

Bruno: Forretress just about automatically loses to Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan because of Blaze Kick and Fire Punch. If it does manage to survive, it most likely cannot OHKO in return, meaning (again) its best use is as healing. While it does fine against Hitmontop and Machamp, Counter and Cross Chop are potentially terrifying moves that can end Forretress’ time on the field.

Karen: Bug Bite can be helpful against Umbreon, but that’s about all Forretress is good for in this battle. It can wall Vileplume, but Moonlight makes it so the latter can’t be KOed by the former very easily. Houndoom can OHKO with Flamethrower and Gengar can do big damage with Focus Blast, so Forretress is off the table for those. You can plug away with Bug Bite against Murkrow, but that’s generally less effective than just using a Rock or Electric type (or move) you’ll likely have at this point.

Lance: Essentially the only thing Forretress can do against Lance is use Explosion. Spikes and Dig are useless and Bug Bite is resisted by every member of Lance’s team. On top of this, his Charizard and Dragonite #3 can easily take out Forretress with Fire Blast, while the other four Pokemon likely won’t have much of an issue either. It’s better to use a fast sweeper that can actually do some damage. As usual, Forretress is best used as a sponge while you heal other Pokemon (but it can’t even do that well in this battle).

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This is part two of the answer.

Matchups against important Kanto Trainers

Brock: If you get the Giga Drain TM from Erika before fighting Brock, Forretress can hit all of Brock’s Pokemon for 4x super effective damage. Keep in mind that Forretress’ Special Attack is below average, however, and Giga Drain might be better spent elsewhere. Super effective STAB in Gyro Ball might do more, but Brock’s Pokemon all have high Defense and are slow enough to prevent Gyro Ball from having high power.

Misty: Bug Bite can do solid damage against Starmie (and steal its Sitrus Berry), but the rest of Misty’s team does very well against Forretress. All of her Water moves pack a punch against its low Special Defense, especially if Quagsire manages to set up the rain. Couple that with Disable, Sing, Confuse Ray and Recover, and the slow bagworm is in for a bad time. Giga Drain can be of assistance, especially against Quagsire, but it’s likely a better idea to teach a stronger Pokemon Giga Drain and have that Pokemon sweep the Gym instead.

Lt. Surge: Teaching Forretress Dig or Bulldoze can let it do good damage to Lt. Surge’s Pokemon, and Bug Bite can steal Electabuzz's Sitrus Berry. Though Forretress may not be the best choice for taking on Lt. Surge, he’s one of its better Kanto matchups.

Erika: Bug Bite hits Tangela and Bellossom super effectively and steals the latter’s Sitrus Berry. While Bug Bite is horrendously weak by this point in the game, it’s better than nothing. Victreebel and Jumpluff aren’t hit super effectively by Bug Bite, so they’re harder to take care of. Jumpluff’s Leech Seed, Tangela’s Sleep Powder, and Bellossom’s Synthesis could all be issues if you can’t take them out quickly enough. Erika rewards you with Giga Drain, which could be helpful against Brock and Misty if you haven’t already fought them – however, the TM is probably better suited to a stronger member of your team.

Janine: What was said about Koga applies here as well. Forretress can’t reliably do enough damage to KO Janine’s Pokemon, seeing as all resist (or are immune to) Bug and Ground. Forretress’ best use is either to heal or use Explosion for some damage against one of Janine’s Pokemon, but it should by no means be used as your main answer to her.

Sabrina: If you held onto Payback, it’ll do a lot of damage against Sabrina’s physically frail, fast Psychic types. Bug Bite is similarly helpful, as it’s STAB and can take Alakazam’s Sitrus Berry. As long as Espeon isn’t allowed to set up Calm Minds, Forretress should do decently here (even with its low Special Defense).

Blaine: There is no reason to use Forretress against its biggest weakness. All three of Blaine’s Pokemon know the ridiculously powerful Overheat, and the only one you have a hope of outspeeding is Magcargo (which will OHKO Forretress after the latter inevitably fails to OHKO first). Do not expect Forretress to perform well here.

Blue: Forretress loses to his Arcanine, but can win a 1v1 against his Exeggutor with Bug Bite. The Trick Room that Exeggutor sets up can be a boon to the very slow Forretress, but it’s unlikely to be a game-changer – while Giga Drain can do well against Rhydon, Blue’s other Pokemon will stop Forretress in its tracks. It simply can’t do enough damage to Gyarados, Machamp, or Pidgeot (unless it’s incredibly overlevelled and knows Zap Cannon), so Forretress’ best use is against Exeggutor with Bug Bite.

Red: Forretress loses to Red’s Charizard. Snorlax is too bulky and Forretress doesn’t know any damaging moves that can effectively deal with it. If you chose to teach Zap Cannon to Forretress (inadvisable), it can hit Blastoise and Lapras super effectively, but the low accuracy, low PP, and Forretress’ low Special Attack all mean it’s unlikely to KO. Pikachu is just a Pikachu, and Forretress might be able to handle it with Dig, but Light Ball Thunderbolt hits very hard. Venusaur and Forretress both can’t do much against the other, so that matchup is a very tedious stalemate. Forretress’ best use in this battle is to use Explosion against one of Red’s Pokemon. Alternatively, if you’re willing to grind the Battle Frontier, you can purchase the TM for Toxic, and Forretress can effectively spread Toxic through a few members of Red’s team.

In Summary

Pineco and Forretress are not very good choices for HG/SS. This is because they’re fairly weak, mainly rely on passive damage, and have very few good moves against major Trainers. Forretress’ best use is either to sponge attacks while you heal other party members, Explode on an opponent for some damage, or spread Toxic in some battles to make Pokemon like Red’s Snorlax easier to deal with.

I would not recommend using Forretress in-game, as there’s a lot of Pokemon that can perform better. If you have your heart set on it, though, good luck – you might have a better time with it than expected.

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You really did not need to write a 2,340 word answer explaining why a certain Pokemon is not useful for in-game. However, it probably is worth mentioning that the "a lot of Pokemon that can perform better" specifically includes Scyther, Pinsir, Heracross, and Magneton.
im just seeing this and what the hell Amethyst