Poliwag can be found in both games in the following locations with a Fishing Rod: Route 6, 22, 23, 25, Four Island, Fuschia City, Viridian City, Berry Forest, Cape Brink, Cerulean Cave, Icefall Cave, Ruin Valley, Safari Zone
Poliwhirl can be found in both games in the following locations with a Fishing Rod: Route 6, 22, 23, 25, Four Island, Viridian City, Cape Brink, Cerulean Cave, Icefall Cave, Ruin Valley, Safari Zone
Water Stones can be found in Seafoam Island, but it can be bought much earlier in the Celadon Department Store.
The earliest Poliwag can be obtained depends on whether the player finds the Good or Super Rod first.
Because the King's Rock can only be obtained in Sevault Canyon and Trainer Tower, Politoed cannot be obtained until the post-game section.
Wait, you DIDN'T trade this holy frog for a scary witch frost lady? Wow, this is a first, but the holy frog lost its luster until you put in Water Absorb, Which can turn this land into a slaughterhouse for your enemies. Keep the frog alive for crying out loud!
Gym #5 - Koga (Fuschia City, Poison-type): Muk is a dangerous boi with toxic to stall and minimize to be painful and Weezing/Koffing have SelfDestruct. Are you dumb? Do you want your precious tadpole boi to die, Use a dang Psychic type.
Fighting Dojo (Saffron City, Fighting-type): Poliwrath and ONLY Poliwrath should be allowed to attempt this. Surf will kill everything as long as you can manage between a ThunderPunch.
Rival (Silph Co.): Starters are a no-go and his flying/grass/psychic types aren't a good idea
Giovanni (Silph Co., Ground-type): EXP? WHO NEEDS THAT? but for real this idiot is going up against a water type with ground types, Flay his team.
Gym #6 - Sabrina (Saffron City, Psychic-type): HA! no.
Gym #7 - Blaine (Cinnabar Island, Fire-type):EZ
Gym #8 - Giovanni (Viridian City, Ground-type):EVEN EZER
Rival (Route 22, pre-Elite Four): Keep Poliwrath FAR AWAY from Pidgeot, Alakazam and Exeggcute/Venusaur, for obvious reasons. Rhyhorn and Growlithe die instantly to Surf, but steer clear of Charizard because it's packing Wing Attack. Gyarados/Blastoise depends on your Poliwrath's ability. For a Water Absorb Poliwrath, Gyarados/Blastoise's will just be free experience. A Damp Poliwrath will struggle a little more, but may still be capable of taking them out with some effort.
Elite Four Lorelei (Indigo Plateau, Ice-type): This is a slaughter! finally after a tough battle you have something easy! (As long as body slam doesn't paralyze, but who ever has had bad luck in a nuzlocke?)
Elite Four Bruno (Indigo Plateau, Fighting-type): Onixes is easy but the rest you should leave to a psychic type, Someone remind me why he has two onixes? like he is the fighting type elite four member and he carries around two onixes.
Elite Four Agatha (Indigo Plateau, Poison-type): NOPE! you can't really hit her with anything other than surf! trust me, it would be better if you let your resident dark types deal with this.
Champion Rival (Indigo Plateau): The poor thing should not tackle the starters, Pidgeot, Exeggutor, Alakazam, or Gyarados, But Arcanine and Rhydon? This is why you chose the holy frog. Arcanine has intimidate but let's be honest, Surf can easily destroy the poor fire borker. and for Rhydon? Surf, Profit.
Post-Game:HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA no.
Moves[]
The Poliwag line has a decent learnpool, having access to moves like Rain Dance at Level 25 which boosts its STAB Water moves. Surf helps it stay afloat and wreck everything weak to it that is out there. Outside Water moves, Poliwag learns Hypnosis extremely early and is guaranteed to have it at the level you catch it. DoubleSlap is decent, but what really shines is Body Slam, which hits quite hard, but is a risky choice for Level up since if you delay Poliwhirl's evolution after Level 34 means Poliwrath won't be able to learn Submission, it's only level up fighting type move, but you can still learn Body Slam later on by move tutor. I would recommend to get Submission, but the original creator of the article thinks otherwise, so it's up to you, the reader. Poliwrath later learns Mind Reader at Level 51, which should be ignored. And that's all for the learnpool, now over to the TM movepool, which is, AMAZING.
Poliwrath can learn most of the great TMs in the game. Having access to even PSYCHIC. Early on, Water Pulse should be taught to Poliwag if not used already. Anyway, For Poliwrath, Brick Break is a must have, since Submission has recoil damage and isn't always reliable. Strength is good but not STAB. Ice Beam can take care of pesky flying types if you're willing to spend the money for it. Focus Punch is good to have if you have a team member who can abuse sleep, but be wary that in most moments outside of sleep it will most likely not hit. Bulk Up is great for setting up a sweep and lastly Double Edge and Blizzard hit hard if you taught it with the move tutor and TM.
Recommended movesets: Brick Break/Surf/Body Slam/Ice Beam or Blizzard
Recommended Teammates[]
Grass types. Anything that can deal with water types is a friend
Good Pokémon that fit this description include, among others: Venusaur, Victreebel, Bellossom, Vileplume,
Other[]
Poliwag's stats[]
Stat
Range
At Lv. 50
At Lv. 100
HP:
40
100 - 147
190 - 284
Attack:
50
49 - 112
94 - 218
Defense:
40
40 - 101
76 - 196
Sp.Atk:
40
40 - 101
76 - 196
Sp.Def:
40
40 - 101
76 - 196
Speed:
90
85 - 156
166 - 306
Total:
300
Other Pokémon with this total
Minimum stats are calculated with 0 EVs, IVs of 0, and a hindering nature, if applicable.
Maximum stats are calculated with 252 EVs, IVs of 31, and a helpful nature, if applicable.
Poliwhirl's stats[]
Stat
Range
At Lv. 50
At Lv. 100
HP:
65
125 - 172
240 - 334
Attack:
65
63 - 128
121 - 251
Defense:
65
63 - 128
121 - 251
Sp.Atk:
50
49 - 112
94 - 218
Sp.Def:
50
49 - 112
94 - 218
Speed:
90
85 - 156
166 - 306
Total:
385
Other Pokémon with this total
Minimum stats are calculated with 0 EVs, IVs of 0, and a hindering nature, if applicable.
Maximum stats are calculated with 252 EVs, IVs of 31, and a helpful nature, if applicable.
Poliwrath's stats[]
Stat
Range
At Lv. 50
At Lv. 100
HP:
90
150 - 197
290 - 384
Attack:
85
81 - 150
157 - 295
Defense:
95
90 - 161
175 - 317
Sp.Atk:
70
67 - 134
130 - 262
Sp.Def:
90
85 - 156
166 - 306
Speed:
70
67 - 134
130 - 262
Total:
500
Other Pokémon with this total
Minimum stats are calculated with 0 EVs, IVs of 0, and a hindering nature, if applicable.
Maximum stats are calculated with 252 EVs, IVs of 31, and a helpful nature, if applicable.
Poliwrath Ratings
Availability
Matchups
Movepool
Survivability
Type Usefulness
Team Role
Offensive Utility
Defensive Utility
Tankiness
Fun Factor
Overall
What Nature do I want? Adamant nature is good if your willing to focus more on the physical side of Poliwrath, but Quiet is for players who'd like to focus on the special side of Poliwrath.
Which Ability do I want? In any other game one might take priority over the other, but in FRLG, it's more of a toss-up. It'd be tempting to think Water Absorb is the better ability, making Poliwrath effectively immune to any Water-type moves and allowing it free heals when hit by them. However, Damp gives it an immunity to Self-Destruct and Explosion, making it an excellent counter for Team Rocket and their obsession with exploding Koffings.
At what point in the game should I be evolved? Should be a Poliwag after Surge if you delayed the fight. If not, right after you catch it. You'll most likely have it in a time where the evolutionary stones are available at Celadon letting you evolve Poliwhirl into Poliwrath.
How good is the Poliwag line in a Nuzlocke? Poliwrath is a decent High C to low B tier Kanto mon. It has low Sp. Atk, but since its a fighting type, its expected. It also has a great movepool which allows it to have versatile movesets.
Weaknesses: Grass, Electric, Psychic, Flying
Resistances: Rock, Bug, Dark, Steel, Fire, Ice, Water (Damp)
