Noctowl or Crobat for HeartGold playthrough?

Question

I haven’t started training either one yet, but I wanted to see what other people though before I went ahead with anything. Whichever one doesn’t end up on my team will be replaced with Umbreon later.

Comments

Why would you use either of them when you can use Scyther? Scyther's physical attack and ability are better than Noctowl's and Crobat's.

Answer 1

Crobat

Pros
- Ridiculously fast
- Solid Attack
- Learns U-turn
- Aerial Ace is a decent move
- Can be good against Bruno, Erika, and to an extent, Giovanni

Cons
- Only decent defenses and HP
- Not too many options for physical attacks
- Friendship evolutions are a pain

Noctowl

Pros
- Great HP and Special Defense
- Decent Special Attack
- Can learn things like Extrasensory, Air Slash, Hypnosis, Reflect, and Shadow Ball
- Can be good against Bruno, Will, Erika, Koga, and to an extent, Giovanni

Cons
- Middling Speed
- Garbage Defense

It may seem like Noctowl is better, but I would choose Crobat. It's got a better typing, it's faster, and it can reliably deal with foes. Hope I helped!

Comments

Pointing out couple points: Noctowl gets Reflect to somehow patch its defense + support team. Also gets hypnosis quite early.

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Good points, thanks.

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I still would like Crobat as Poison-Flying gives it immunity to Ground, and I think the friendship evolution can be handled (hopefully). But I guess Noctowl is good, too.

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Honestly, anything works ingame. Both are good for Heartgold, but I think Crobat has a slight edge over Noctowl.

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Thanks! I decided to go with Crobat, so I appreciate your input!

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You're welcome, happy to help!