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3rd Gen Poochyena: Good or Bad?

  • Thread starter Pokémon Trainer 188
  • Start date

Pokémon Trainer 188

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Ok so I'm not sure if it's meant to be here but...

Did any of you catch Poochyena at the start of the game and did you think it was any good I just started a game and caught one because it's my favorite Pokemon but it's not very good in battle yet :/

What do you think? :D
 

Pokémon Trainer 188

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It does learn Shadow Ball via TM later on and Ghost Moves are Physical in Gen III so that makes it a lot more useful :D
 

Lucky1Yena

Just some guy
156
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11
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It was a Mightyena that saved me from Tate and Liza, so I think it's pretty good. Still, I think it should have another evolution stage. And as a Poochyena it's kinda weak, but that adds to the challenge.
 
1,254
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  • Seen Sep 12, 2016
You may use Poochyena > Mightyena then switch it to Absol, upon reaching Fortree. ;)

Leave the Shadow Ball to Absol if you're gonna use him as Mightyena's replacement!
 
12,284
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  • Seen Oct 22, 2023
I love Poochyena. It's a very cute-looking Pokémon. I caught one of these at the beginning of Pokémon Ruby, and surprisingly, it ended up helping me in my journey more than I expected. When it evolved into Mightyena, it was able to take down a couple of gym leaders completely by itself (Watson and Flannery). It was also able to defeat one of the Elite Four members, but I just don't remember who, exactly~
 
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Sydian

fake your death.
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In gen III, it's not something I recommend. Takes a while to get Poochyena to be decent in battle and then when you do evolve it, you don't have this plethora of Dark moves for Mightyena to make use of. Shadow Ball is better to use, and even then, you don't get STAB. But at least it's physical. Dark was still special at the time, which Poochyena's line doesn't really have much of. I like them both design wise though, especially Poochyena. So cute.

I still use them, though. I tend to go by Pokemon I want to use rather than what's the strongest.
 

PhoenixWright77

Pokémaster Attorney
69
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11
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  • Seen May 17, 2015
I remember using him on my first run of Pokemon Ruby. My friends and I thought he was the coolest pokemon around and everyone had to use him or they were not cool enough.

All in all, Poochyena and it's evolution are decent Pokemon to use but there are other better dark types such as Absol.
 
43
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  • Age 24
  • Seen May 20, 2015
If you haven't reached someplace far, I suggest you play the game again but this time it's Physical/Special Plot version. That way, Mightyena could very well be a beast.
 
3,105
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  • Age 22
  • Seen May 23, 2023
Mightyena is one of those Pokemon that can cope fairly well early in the game but gets heavily outclassed towards the end. I mean it was one of the stronger Pokemon at the start alongside Beautifly but that was probably because they evolved early, had pretty good moves and there weren't many things that could stand in their way. As the game progresses on however, stronger and better Pokemon are introduced. There are floods of all sorts of Pokemon and pretty much all of them have better stats. Mightyena has tough competition and I'd only recommend it for early-game use. Anything after that and it'd probably fall behind.

Generally though its outclassed by better dark-types. Absol is a good example and while Intimidate certainly comes in handy, you've got cactuses and sharks and wolf cats that can all do so much more. Its design is really cool but overall not a Pokemon that I'd find myself using any time soon. ):
 

pokemasta92

3rd Gen. Enthusiast
322
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  • Age 31
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  • Seen Dec 28, 2021
Mightyena is awesome! Maybe not for competitive battling, but for the game it's great. Any Pokémon that is trained well and has good moves can get through the games with ease. I pick all of my Pokémon based on looks, not power.
 

Elaitenstile

I am legend
1,908
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  • Age 24
  • Seen Feb 27, 2015
Poochyena isn't anywhere near my long lists of party choices in RSE, but I did train one once. On account of Poochey being so cute and the striking resemblance to a dog-wolf, I think it's a really nice critter. Anyone who "takes the Pokémon he likes" wouldn't be at all disappointed if he took Poochyena.
 
4,181
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10
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Poochyena and Mightyena are one of those annoying Pokemon that every other grunt in the game has. If you ask any Soft Resetter about Poochyena they'll hate it because of that uncatchable shiny.
 
5,281
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14
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  • Age 29
  • Seen yesterday
I love Poochyena / Mightyena! I always dismissed them because Team Aqua/Magma used them, but they're surprisingly good. As people said, they're sometimes a little outclassed late-game. However, Intimidate is an amazing ability to have in-game (my Luxray's Intimidate on Garchomp in Diamond is the only reason I beat the Champion) in any generation. Plus, it gets Shadow Ball as a tm, and Dig and Double-Edge to round out its physical moves.
 
41,092
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17
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I caught and used it, yeah! But don't know how long it stayed on my team. Once I completed the story I got another Poochyena and trained it up until it was in its 70s. Not the strongest Pokemon but awesome design-wise. ^^
 

Altair1

Willpower
578
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11
Years
My first run through Ruby, it was the first Pokemon I caught. It was much more interesting than Sentret or Rattata! I used it throughout the whole game, no problems at all.
 
50
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10
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  • Age 30
  • Seen Apr 20, 2014
I remember I caught it just because it was like a dark dog, and at that times I used to love the dark type. I used it to fight until I discovered Houndour at the Safari Zone. That Houndour replaced my Poochyena, just because I liked it more. Poor Poochyena:(
 

Magic Magikarp

Magikarp is terrifying
43
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  • Age 32
  • Seen Oct 8, 2013
I know its been said before but stick with an Absol, I did not even bother with Mightyena and I just stuck with an Absol. Looks cool but sadly dark is special attack in gen 3, so I just taught him Hyper Beam, Iron Tail, Return and Swords Dance. Good luck if you go with your Poochyena though.
 

flufflepuff

Fluffle Puff
8
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10
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  • Seen Sep 8, 2013
Eh, Poochyena's pretty weak. Lots of trainers might of caught it as their first captured Pokémon, but after a while it usually ends up in your pc or the back of your party.
 
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