#Seriously Alola is full of Ariados and just has almost no Spinarak

[askkrenko]

Krenko’s Guide to Pokemon: Spinarak Line

Don’t count the legs, just trust that it’s a spider

DESIGN:

Spinarak is an amalgam spider with various bits from different real-world spiders, like coloring, face designs, and general build, coming together in a creature that can be read as a spider despite being a heavily unique design. It’s cute, but just a bit creepy, looks both friendly and dangerous, and gives this strange feeling that I both want to hug it and don’t want it anywhere near me.  It manages to be the generic spider enemy for the Pokemon games while not being the same generic spider enemy that shows up in every other game.

Ariados just looks cool and badass, still functioning as an amalgam spider that comes up very distinct from any other spider design. Despite the strong recolor, it’s thematically similar enough to Spinarak that you can tell it’s the evolved form, with a larger horn, longer legs, and less rounded features in general.  The extra appendages sticking out of its back add a great visual, and its low stance makes it look ready to charge or leap. Ariados has to be the result of designers just taking spider traits and throwing them together without actually attempting to make a specific spider, and it came together great.

Art by TsaoShin

ECOLOGY:

Spinarak live throughout the forests of Johto and Kanto, spawning and swarming during autumn, though only a tiny percentage of them will survive through spring. They primarily feed off the Caterpie that are so common in those regions as well as smaller insects. Spinarak catch prey by spinning webs and by ambush rather than being particularly good at self defense. They’re easily caught by Spearow, Pidgey, and other predatory birds.

Those that survive to evolve into Ariados leave Johto and Kanto in the spring in one of the great mysteries of the Pokemon world. Fully-grown Ariados travel across the ocean to Alola, despite the fact that they can neither fly nor swim. Some theorize they craft gliders out of their webs, though this behavior has only ever been recorded in the smallest spiders. Others suggest they travel through shadows, through an underground tunnel, or along the world wide web. As reasonable and ridiculous as any given theory might be, none have actually observed direct evidence of the Ariados migration, only the end result.

Art by Dawn Breaker

TYPING:

Bug/Poison has some decent resistances, including a few doubles, though it does have to worry about being weak to the commonly-used Rock type. Defensively, it’s pretty fine. Offensively, though, these are two of the worst types. Combined, they only hit four types Super Effectively  and are resisted by far too many, with Poison, Ghost, and Steel resisting attacks from both types.

STATS:

At 400 total, Ariados is basically just leaning on a 90 Attack, which is good, but not enough to carry a Pokemon. 40 speed is painful, and its three defensive stats are all 70 which isn’t nothing, but also isn’t anything. It’s not a bad allotment of stats, it’s just that the numbers are pretty low overall. 

Art by ShinySketches

ABILITIES:

Swarm is still bad. Moving on.

Insomnia, as mentioned before, has its uses and can save you in a pinch, but can’t be leveraged and is usually considered a plan B for a Pokemon without actual good abilities.

Sniper significantly increases the damage dealt on a critical hit. Ariados has Cross Poison by level-up and can be bred with Night Slash. As Cross Poison is one of Ariados’ best attacks anyway, this is a great option if you want to build your Ariados to attack. 

Art by Sunnyfish

MOVES:

In the past, the first step to building an Ariados was to get a Heracross, but thankfully Megahorn is now a TR. Slap that thing on Ariados and you have a 120 power STAB attack that, admittedly, gets resisted by far too many things.

For a poison attack, Cross Poison with Sniper, or Poison Jab without. 

Ariados’ STAB moves don’t work on Poison, Ghost, or Steel types, so if you want coverage, you’re going to need to go digging. But not for Dig, because while you can get it, it’s too easily dodged. Throat Chop can be found via move tutor, and you can breed for Night Slash to use with Sniper… but with Ariados’ low speed, you’re generally better off using Sucker Punch, which it learns naturally, to ensure the first hit.

All that said, Ariados just isn’t a heavy enough hitter to be used as a primary attacker and doesn’t have the durability or speed to set up with Swords Dance if it’s built for attacking. 

What Ariados can do, though, is combine the rarely seen Spider Web with Toxic Spikes, creating serious entry hazards when trained for defense. This will end with Ariados taken down relatively easily on the opponent’s part, but should make the fight easier for the rest of your team. Toxic Thread, its signature move, can also deliver poison and slow an opponent, making it easier for your next Pokemon to defeat.

Art by SmolSammich

OVERALL:

Spinarak and Ariados are great designs with a lot of cool mechanics and interesting build options that are just too weak because they’re early route Pokemon. Ariados is stronger than Ledian both because it has a better stat distribution and because in Gen 7, the devs gave it another 10 stat points just because. Why Ledian didn’t get that, too, I don’t know.  I don’t have any actual complaints about this pair, they’re just not going to be able to do anything without a larger stat total. Bug/Poison is a pretty weak type combination, but that’s more a fault of the types not being created equal and Bug being horribly underpowered than anything Ariados is doing.

Art by TheMadJip