Donphan or Mamoswine for HeartGold in-game?

Question

I've recently started playing HeartGold. My starter is Cyndaquil and I plan on using Tauros as well. Could you please give me which is better for in-game and the rest of a complete team? Thanks in advance.

Comments

I'm pretty sure Mamoswine is better because it has better stats and can learn ice fang.

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I'd rather suggest quagsire

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It would be biased of me to say Donphan, so I'd say go for Mamoswine. Mamoswine gets a few better stats later on than Donphan and it has a lot more potential with its moveset choices than Donphan.

The only thing is that you won't encounter either one until much later.

But it's good to remember there are also other good ground types in HG & SS to choose from too.

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Well Donphan is better I would say

Answer 1

Id go for Mamoswine, as others have said, mamoswine has better overall stats than Donphan.

Though you’ll have to wait much later to get Swinub, it’s worth the wait. The only thing, unless you plan to make an Ice type team, don’t use a Mamoswine with Snow Cloak, you’ll waste a move to use Hail and then you’ll get only 20% evasion for 5 turns. No, Oblivious is better in my opinion.

Here’s a nice moveset you can use on Mamoswine Ingame.

Mamoswine
Ability :- Oblivious

Moves :-
Earthquake - STAB move, high power, nice accuracy. With Mamoswine’s high attack it’s gonna do lots of damage.

Avalanche - I prefer avalanche to ice fang, because, thanks to Mamoswine’s relatively slow speed, it makes him a physical Sweeper.

Amnesia - The only drawback with Mamoswine is his low Special Defense, but you can quickly cover this with Amnesia.

Ice Shard - This might seem like a filler, but Ice Shard can be really useful if Mamoswine comes across a Tank and manages to damage him only to red. Ice Shard saves the situation.

Comments

Swinub becomes available before Phanpy.

Answer 2

I dunno about Mamoswine. Yeah, he's extremely strong, and he naturally learns Earthquake by leveling up, but so can Donphan. Plus, I already have Lapras with Ice Beam on my team, and I feel that adding a second Ice Type would be a mistake in the end.

Donphan, on the other hand, can learn Fangs of both Fire and Thunder, resist any physical attack with high HP and Defense, and has less weaknesses in the end; Mamoswine gets his ass handed to him by all three starters, and Donphan can beat Typhlosion and hold off Feraligatr temporarily. And if Ice Shard is so important, did you know that Donphan can get Ice Shard as an egg move? Just grab a Level 17 Seel, a Level 28 Swinub, Level 49 Sneasel, or even a Level 36 Glaceon (though you probably won't have those last two).

Anyway, to sum up, Donphan has less weaknesses, goes down with more of a fight, and can do everything Mamoswine can do and more.

Comments

* If Ice Shard is important, then you'd want it on the Pokemon with the higher Attack stat and Ice STAB. Donphan doesn't replace that utility, much less when you must spend time breeding to get it in the first place.
* If you're going to mention starters, then you should also mention Mamoswine matches better than Donphan against Meganium. There is also the Dragon gym that comes up just after Swinub becomes available.
* I don't think Lapras should be used as a mark against Mamoswine. Maybe for your own team, but you're not providing advice to other people about your own team.