Wormadam Sandy Cloak, The Bagworm Pokémon. When Burmy evolved, its cloak became a part of this Pokémon's body. The cloak is never shed. Its appearance changes depending on where it evolved. The materials on hand become a part of its body. When evolving, its body takes in surrounding materials. As a result, there are many body variations. ť
Overview
Today I review Wormadam's Ground form, also known as Wormadam Sandy Cloak or the one I will be referring to it as, Wormadam-G. For those curious, the Grass form is simply called Wormadam and the Steel form is Wormadam-S. With the naming complications out of the way, let's get onto the rather unnecessary overview of it. It's a Bug-Ground type, with decent stats and something of a shallow move-pool. Whilst it isn't pitiful, it doesn't have much to make it a worthwhile Pokémon and is probably the worst of the three. It comfortably slots into the “Never-used” (NU) environment, since it doesn't really have enough at its disposal to take a real shot at making itself a worthwhile choice in the Underused (UU) tier.
Ability
Anticipation: displays a message if the opponent is carrying either a super-effective attack (excluding Hidden Power), a One-Hit-KO move (e.g. Sheer Cold) or Explosion or Selfdestruct. It's an okay ability, and in some cases can show something revealing about the opponent's move-set, but it's not spectacular.
Move Sets
Attacker
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast
- Sucker Punch
- Toxic / Endeavour
Item Attached: Leftovers / Life Orb
Ability: Anticipation
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
When I said its move-pool was shallow, I wasn't kidding. Not even a good ol' fashion Stealth Rock blesses its move-pool. Earthquake is your most potent attacking move, with Rock Blast serving to cover Flying and Bug types. Sucker Punch is a gift from Platinum that adds an extra dimension to your attacking options. Without STAB it isn't a huge threat, but it gives you the opportunity to strike first, which is a blessing when you're grounded at a 36 Base Speed. Toxic is your best bet at threatening bulky opposition, particularly opposing Water types. Whilst Endeavour doesn't combine too well with your awful Speed stat, some wise timing could make the move payoff.
Leftovers is an obvious choice, but you don't really have much walling potential with Wormadam-G. Life Orb may cost HP, but the power boost can help to make Wormadam-G something of a threat.
EVs and Nature:
Your HP stat is its poorest and will need to be maximised to give some semblance of defensive durability. Simply because you don't have the raw stats to be a wall (despite possessing decent defensive stats), you're probably best off spending the rest of your EVs maximising your Attack stat to give your offences some punch.
Other Options
Bug Bite, Protect, Rest, Sleep Talk, Choice Band
You are really low on options here. Bug Bite gets STAB, but it'll still have a rather low base power and will generally require a super-effective hit to do worthwhile damage. If you can catch a berry it's worthwhile, otherwise it's pretty useless. Protect can work in tandem with Toxic and is a passable filler move. You can even try and pick up some synergy with Anticipation to make the opponent waste Explosions, but otherwise it's nothing more than a filler. Rest and Sleep-Talk pair together to give you your only source of viable healing, but Wormadam-G makes for a rather mediocre wall.
You have just enough to cobble together a Choice Band set, but the versatility afforded by Life Orb simply makes it a superior item choice.
Countering Wormadam Sandy Cloak
I'll start out by listing the weaknesses: Fire, Water, Ice and Flying; not huge in number but all four being very common within the UU and NU environment. Water types make for some of the best counters since they don't have to concern themselves with weaknesses (well, most of them don't at least). Just about anything with a Ground resistance without an associated Rock or Dark weakness should also suffice, at least one-on-one when Toxic isn't a factor.
Locations in Games
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Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald Not in Game Colosseum/XD Not in Game Fire Red/Leaf Green Not in Game Diamond/Pearl/Platinum Evolve Burmy Sandy Cloak
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Animé Appearences
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Wormadam Sandy Cloak has had a couple of Animé Appearences. First, Cheryl had one when she met up with Ash & Co. After that, Urara used one in her Pokémon Contest Appeal.
Episode 498: Some Enchanted Sweetening |
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