#171 - Lanturn

                                    

                                          
If you recall back in the Xatu chapter, I went over the team I had when I first beat SoulSilver, which of course Lanturn was a part of. 
Lanturn is a pokémon that means a great deal to me and is basically my go to water type whenever I play a Generation 4 Johto game if Feraligatr isn't my starter...or if I'm not using Ampharos. 
Lanturn's role on my team was to single-handedly beat all six of Lance's pokémon, but especially his three Dragonite. 
Surf deals with both Charizard and Aerodactyl, any electric attack takes care of Gyarados, and the trio of dragon/flying types meet a terrible icy fate because of Lanturn's Blizzard, plus a certain move I'll go over later that really makes Lanturn a near unbeatable instrument of destruction.
Before I get into stats and abilities as per usual, I'll take a moment to gush over Lanturn's design.
I don't know how he did it, but Ken Sugimori managed to make a pokémon based off an Anglerfish, one of the scariest looking animals in the ocean, look absolutely adorable! 
(Remember that scene from Finding Nemo? Anglerfish are terrifying!) 
Seriously, Lanturn looks so happy and playful, also kinda like a sentient rubber bath toy, but that might just be me. 
On to Lanturn as a pokémon though, I'll put my love for it aside and be unbiased in saying it competes with Tropus for the title of most mediocre pokémon in terms of stats, with a sole exception of having a massive base 125 HP stat. 
Having a base 58 attack (which it admittedly doesn't care about), 58 defense, 76 special attack, 76 special defense, and 67 speed, Lanturn doesn't really excel at being strong offensively or defensively, HP not withstanding. 
What Lanturn lacks in terms of stats, it more than makes up for with its moveset. 
Besides a good array of strong water and electric attacks, Lanturn gets some good coverage and status moves like Ice Beam, Blizzard (aka Dragonite's kryptonite), Signal Beam, Confuse Ray, and the absolutely godsend that is Stockpile, which is the move I was alluding to earlier.
The strategy to make Lanturn an absolute tank is as follows :
1.) Set up Stockpile several times while facing a pokémon that doesn't present too much of a threat to Lanturn like Lance's Gyarados or Red's Pikachu.
2.) Use a healing item if too much damage starts to accumulate (critical hits are always something to watch out for).
3.) Then just spam an electric, water, or ice move while Lanturn shrugs off any attack due to its now monstrous defenses that pair really well with that enormous HP stat.
Follow these steps and victory should be assured. 
Moving on to abilities, both of Lanturn's natural abilities are on opposite ends of the usefulness spectrum, one of which being really good while the other is complete garbage. 
The good one is Volt Absorb, which makes Lanturn immune to electric attacks while also restoring HP when hit by one. 
Having an immunity to a certain type is always good to have, so Volt Absorb is definitely the ability your Lanturn should have. 
Lanturn's other ability....is Illuminate, which increases the chance of encountering wild pokémon. 
Why does this exist? 
Besides being completely useless in a battle, why would you want to run into more wild pokémon when you most likely have a repel up? 
Use a Lanturn that has Volt Absorb, Illuminate just flat out sucks. 
On a more positive note, Lanturn's hidden ability is Water Absorb, which does the same thing as Volt Absorb but with water moves instead of electricity.
Everything I said about Volt Absorb applies to Water Absorb, but I feel the former is the undisputed best ability for Lanturn in terms of accessibility and usefulness, but Water Absorb is still a wonderful ability to have nonetheless. 
Out of all the water types available in HeartGold and SoulSilver, Lanturn is the one I use the most, and will continue using to making Lance cry at the sight of his team being swept by a cheerful blue fish for many years to come.