Why does Whimsicott have lower Special Attack than Toxicroak?

Question

I was looking at Whimsicott's stats and thought, hey, none of these stats are that great except Speed. Its Special Attack is 77, I believe. But Toxicroak's Special Attack is 86. A Poison/Fighting type has higher Special Attack than a Grass/Fairy type. A fairy with plant-like features is pretty much guaranteed to have strong powers relating to nature and stuff.

Comments

Every Pokemon has some kind of supernatural power. Maybe the game designers just randomly decided to give Toxicroak some amazing mud powers.

Answer 1

Just because a Pokemon is Fairy/Psychic/etc doesn't mean its good in attacking special-wise. Whimsicott, as evidenced by its Pokedex entries, it preferably rides the wind, since it isn't very strong so it should be quick.

Also shown in the entries, its speed, and its ability, Whimsicott is a prankster. A support role in an RPG. It isn't meant to hit very hard, rather to buff it's own team and cripple the enemy.

Toxicroak on the other hand, fits very well the attacking role. Its best played physically but despite this that doesn't make Toxicroak weak special-wise. It also has moves like mud bomb and sludge bomb, which I assume is deployed from its mouth like in the anime.

Comparing Whimsicott and Toxicroak is like comparing a Healer Sorcerer and a knight who happens to have a laser cannon. Both have different roles, so they have different stats.

Comments

Ninja'd! Your answer's really good, specially love the comparison at the end! :D

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Thanks! Yours is great too, especially since you touched on points I didn't add on my answer.

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I know that, but also looking at their designs makes me think, Whimsicott must have higher Special Attack.

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Looks aren't everything. Besides, if you were to see them in real life you probably wouldn't think the same way because they're actually quite small and non-threatening. They're cute for some. Or pests for others. They don't have some sort unlimited power source or anything, they're just average everyday pokemon. Also before Gen VI, they were pure Grass Type.

Answer 2

First of all, GameFreak Logic. They're not known to be super specific as to how stat distribution is done. It's not uncommon to see other cases where X Pokemon ought to have a higher stat than Y Pokemon, but doesn't, and so on. That said,

• Whimsicott is based off of sentient cotton, so that limits how offensive it can be, design wise.
• It is more "playful" and its stats and abilities all make it more a support Pokemon than one that can be used for battling and KOing opposite Pokemon
• Most of its moves are support moves, anyway
• Toxicroak on the other hand is based off of deadly, toxic frogs that are known to be fatal. Its stats and typing suggest that it's meant to be used to KO other Pokemon rather than play a support role.
• It gets access to both Nasty Plot and Swords Dance, and can deal some serious damage to an unprepared team.
• Perhaps the devs wanted it to be able to use Special moves properly as well, either to showcase its movepool or to demonstrate the power of poison toads/frogs

One can't really 100% sure, but Pokemon design and origin might have played a role into it. And if movepools are decided before stats, then stats are probably likewise adjusted to fit the Pokemon better.