Farfetch'd, The Wild Duck Pokémon. The sprig of green onions it holds is its weapon. It is used much like a metal sword. Lives where reedy plants grow. They are rarely seen, so it's thought their numbers are decreasing. If anyone tries to disturb where the essential plant sticks grow, it uses its own stick to thwart them. If it eats the plant stick it carries as emergency rations, it runs off in search of a new stick. In order to prevent their extinction, more people have made an effort to breed these Pokémon. It is always seen with a stick from a plant. Apparently, there are good sticks and bad sticks. This Pokémon occasionally fights with others over choice sticks. It can't live without the stalk it holds.
Overview
Does anyone remember how you would obtain Farfetch'd in R/B? That's right! There was only one in all of Kanto, and some little kid owned it and would happily trade it for the super-common Spearow. At first it seemed like the deal of a lifetime, but it's actually a deal more devious than that of the evil Magikarp salesman. Spearow actually evolves into a fairly usable Pokémon, Fearow. Farfetch'd on the other hand..? Well, it's somehow trodden through four generations without an evolution, and whilst Fearow has competitive viability, Farfetch'd rots in the Never-Used environment alongside the likes of Luvdisc and Unown.
Every one of Farfetch'd stats are below average, comparable to a not-fully-evolved (NFE) Pokémon. Its move-pool isn't too bad, but a decent move-pool doesn't redeem its awful stats. When you consider that Gamefreak has blessed us with (too) many Normal-Flying types, almost all of which have superior stats and similar move-pools, the only real 'reason' to use Farfecth'd is for the novelty of using it.
Ability
Inner Focus: is the more worthwhile ability. It prevents flinches, and whilst flinches are unpredictable (and not overly common), preventing flinches is significantly more useful than preventing accuracy lowering moves.
Keen Eye: prevents accuracy lowering moves…like Sand Attack…which are never used…much like Farfecth'd actually… Well, anyhow, it's a pretty useless ability, so stick with Inner Focus.
Move Sets
Flail
- Flail
- Endure / Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Night Slash
Item Attached: Salac Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
Of Farfetch'd's many unviable options, this is probably the most usable. Flail becomes a 200 base power STAB move at 1% HP (which is where you intend to end up). You can back that up with a Swords Dance, and even with Farfetch'd's immensely sub-par attacking stats, it stacks enough power to become a respectable offensive threat (particularly by NU standards).
There are two ways to forcibly get down to that desirable 1% HP. You can Endure a hit that would OHKO, or you can use Substitute repeatedly to drop your HP by 25% per Sub (just remember, you don't want your HP to be divisible by four, otherwise you're stuck at 25%). During this HP shedding routine you can kick off a Salac boost, sending your Speed up to respectable levels (which importantly means you'll be outrunning the majority of your opposition…and at 1% HP, this is a necessity).
Night Slash rounds off the move-set. Ghosts are immune to Flail, so it gives you a super-effective move to use against them.
CH-Abuse
- Slash
- Night Slash
- Steel Wing
- Agility / Swords Dance / Aerial Ace / Quick Attack
Item Attached: Stick
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) / Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
If you're using Farfetch'd, you're probably not one to shy away from the novelty of chance. Stick is Farfetch'd's signature item, raising its critical-hit ratio by two stages. Critical-hits are unreliable things, but for an in-depth guide to them, I refer you to the Game Mechanics page on them.
Slash and Night Slash are both moves at stage 2 of critical-hit chances (12.5% chance of a critical-hit). Since Stick raises you a further two stages, you have a 33.3% chance of landing a critical-hit with these two moves. You have Steel Wing for hurting Rock types, which is a stage 3 critical-hit move with Stick's assistance (25% chance of a critical hit). You can round off the set with either Agility to give you the opportunity to strike first, Swords Dance to pack a bit more power behind your attacks, Aerial Ace for some Flying STAB or Quick Attack for a priority move (in the case of the latter two, like Steel Wing, they'll have a 25% chance of landing a critical-hit).
EVs and Nature:
As I'm sure you can imagine, defensive EVs are wasted on this unfortunate Pokémon. It's always 252/252, but with a choice between Jolly and Adamant. Your max Speed with Adamant is 219 (328 after a Salac boost) and your max with Jolly is 240 (360 after a Salac boost). On the Flail set, you're best off with the extra Speed, since striking first is a priority, but on any other move-set, it's all really optional. If you're using Sub-Salac, be sure to tweak your HP EVs so that you don't end up with a number divisible by four (which shouldn't occur if you have max IVs).
Other Options
Knock Off, Air Cutter, Air Slash, Swift, Heat Wave, Ominous Wind, Choice Specs, U-Turn, Choice Band.
It's a bit defeatist, but Knock Off is probably Farfetch'd's best move. You deprive your opponent of an item, which is always an hindrance. However, if you want a Pokémon that'll hassle your opponents by removing their items, there are many, many better options.
Air Cutter starts off at the same critical-hit stage as Slash and Night Slash, giving it a fair bit of synergy with the Stick item. Farfetch'd's Special Attack is only a few points short of its Attack stat, so Special Attacks are just as viable (which is a reflection on Farfetch'd's awful stats more than any sort of balance). With viable special moves in mind, you also have Air Slash for potential Flying STAB, Swift for Normal STAB, Heat Wave for some Fire coverage on Steels and Ominous Wind for some coverage on Ghosts. All of that is enough to cobble together a Choice Specs move-set, but you won't be impressing anyone with it.
U-Turn is a physical move that's gone without mention, but it's quite neat. You get a hit and then you can freely switch out of play.
Farfetch'd can easily cobble together a Choice Band move-set, but the phrase 'inferiority complex' comes to mind immediately as you start to take a glance at all the other Normal-Flying types, who can both run the same move-set, just with better stats.
Countering Farfetch'd
This is far from a difficult task. With stats comparable to a NFE Pokémon, it isn't all that much of a threat. A Dance-boosted Flail can hurt, same for the odd CH, but otherwise, its damage potential is rather limited. Rock and Steel types are the obvious counters due to their resistances to its STAB moves (although Rocks may have a problem with Steel Wing and Steels a problem with Heat Wave).
Since there isn't an official “Never-Used battling environment”, naming counters is best done by looking at some Underused Pokémon who don't see much usage in the UU environment. With that in mind, Golem, Sudowoodo, Mawile and Bastiodon are examples of some scarcely used “Underused Pokémon” (the kind that would probably be accepted into a Never-Used environment). You've also got Sableye, who's immune to Normal moves and doesn't pick up a Night Slash weakness due to its typing.
Locations in Games
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Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald Trade from FRLGXD Colosseum/XD Trade from FRLGXD (Col.)Snagged from Cipher Admin Lovrina in Citadark Isle (XD) Fire Red/Leaf Green Trade for Spearow in Vermillion City Diamond/Pearl/Platinum Swarm in Route 221
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Animé Appearences
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Farfetch'd has had a few Animé Appearences. First one was used to steal things off of Nearby Trainers. After that one was used in Ilex Forest to Cut and Create Charcoal. Later, Brock's Tag Battle partner used one in their battle against Ash & Paul
Episode 049: So Near Yet So Farfetch'd! |
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