#9: Darmanitan

Darmanitan is not at number 9 in my list of favorite Pokémon because of its design, that's for sure. Yeah, it's a very weird Pokémon indeed, but it's a good weird. And its design is definitely not bad, it's actually very nice! The reason that Darmanitan is one of my favorite Pokémon, however, is because its attack stat is absolutely NUTTERS!!! When playing Black, White, Black 2 or White 2, I always catch myself a Darumaka to get through the game with. Always. It will eventually evolve into the monstrous Darmanitan, which has the ability Sheer Force. This ability takes away the added effects of moves and adds 30% extra power to those moves. Let's take a Darmanitan with Sheer Force and a Charcoal or Flame Plate attached to it. Instead of 75 power, Fire Punch does much more damage. The 50% boost from STAB, the 30% boost from Sheer Force after taking away the chance to inflict a burn and the 20% boost from the Charcoal or Flame Plate make Fire Punch end up as a 175,5 power move. Crazy!!! Imagine what happens to Flare Blitz, which has a base power of 120 and which Darmanitan is also capable of learning (as a Darumaka). Also, a risky move for Darmanitan to have is Belly Drum, which halves its attack but MAXIMIZES ITS ATTACK STAT BOOST BY A FLIPPING 6 STAGES!!! Darmanitan does not have great defenses, though, so you might want to use a potion during the turn afterward. But a combination of STAB moves, Sheer Force, Charcoal or Flame Plate and Belly Drum makes Darmanitan an excellent sweeper in any team! And any strong physical-based attack would be a great addition to its movepool, too, even if it's not a fire-type one. I'm happy this Pokémon exist, and I always use it when getting through the game once more.

There also exist some Darmanitan with the Zen Mode ability (see image below). When their HP reach half or less, these Darmanitan pretty much curl up in a blue egg-like stone statue. In fact, these are the ancient Darmanitan statues you can find in the Desert Resort, next to the Relic Castle. Give one of those statues a RageCandyBar and you will be able to fight it and catch it if you want. When changed into its Zen Mode form, Darmanitan becomes a very strong special-based attacker (the special attack stat of the standard form is downright awful, but you didn't need that stat, anyway), plus it gains the additional psychic-type. That comes in handy with Belly Drum and three special-based moves, preferably two of them STAB moves. I recommend it to have Belly Drum to cut its HP in half, either Fire Blast or Flamethrower (it can also learn Heat Wave through a Move Tutor if you want it), Psychic, and another strong special-based move like Focust Blast or SolarBeam. You shouldn't worry that your Zen Mode Darmanitan will be knocked out after having used Belly Drum, because it gets some very nice defenses once your normal Darmanitan has changed into its Zen Mode form. It becomes much slower, though, but it should be able to take a hit, anyway.

Both the Zen Mode strategy and Sheer Force strategy are fine, but I prefer the latter. Those Belly Drum and Sheer Force boosts are really nice, while that Zen Mode form only has its base special attack stat ready to attack with. You'll find the Sheer Force Darmanitan (in other words: the normal one) much more efficient when using it against ordinary trainers in the games. Darmanitan is a monster and it's the strongest Pokémon in my team every time again. No exceptions...