Everything We Know About Pokemon Go's New "Gen 3" Pokemon

The Starter Pokemon

The "face" of this batch of new Pokemon are the starter Pokemon Treecko, Torchic, and Mudkip. In Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, players picked one of these three Pokemon as their first partner, similar to how players chose between Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle in Pokemon Red and Blue or Chikorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile in Pokemon Gold and Silver.

Similar to other Starter Pokemon, Treecko, Torchic, and Mudkip all evolve twice. Treecko evolves into Grovyle and then Sceptile. Torchic becomes Combusken and then Blaziken. And Mudkup evolves into Marshtomp and then Swampert.

Of these three sets of Pokemon, Sceptile should actually have the most relevance in gyms and battles. Sceptile will slot in as one of the game's strongest Grass-Type attackers, falling just under Exeggutor in terms of total damage potential. Swampert should also be useful, but mainly as a Ground-Type attacker as its Water-Type attacks are a bit lacking.

The most disappointing Pokemon of the trio is Blaziken. Blaziken could have been the best Fighting-Type Pokemon in Pokemon Go, but it wasn't given a Fighting-Type charge move, which totally wipes out its usefulness.

The New Bug

A whopping 10% of the new Pokemon are all related to one evolutionary line. Wurmple is a caterpillar-like Pokemon that evolves into two divergent sets of Pokemon. Once players have 12 candies, they can evolve Wurmple into either Cascoon or Silcoon. Cascoon evolves into the moth-like Dustox, while Silcoon evolves into Beautifly.

As of right now, there doesn't appear to be a way to "force" Wurmple's evolution into one its two potential choices. It's evolution appears to be totally random, similar to Eevee's random evolution into Vaporeon, Jolteon, or Flareon.

Luckily, it only takes 12 candies to evolve Wurmple, so players shouldn't have to work too hard to get both sets of new Pokemon.

A New Dragon Killer

One of the "must have" Pokemon in this new batch is Gardevoir, a powerful Fairy/Psychic dual-type Pokemon. Gardevoir is the final evolution of Ralts, which appears to be a pretty rare spawn so far. Ralts evolves into Kirilia, which then evolves into Gardevoir.

Gardevoir is the most powerful Fairy-Type Pokemon in Pokemon Go, especially when armed with the move Dazzling Gleam. Fairy-Type Pokemon are super effective against Fighting-Type Pokemon, Dragon-Type Pokemon, and Dark-Type Pokemon. Sadly, Gardevoir can't learn any fast Fairy-Type moves (since there aren't any fast Fairy-Type moves in Pokemon Go) but this is still a Pokemon you'll want when facing Dragonite.

A New Bulky Fighting-Type Pokemon

While Blaziken doesn't really work as a Fighting-Type Pokemon, Pokemon Go still added a useful new Fighting-Type Pokemon. Hariyama is a new Fighting-Type Pokemon that has more bulk than Machamp, but isn't quite as strong.

While Hariyama can't match Machamp in terms of raw power, it still has some benefits to it. Hariyama will last a bit longer in battle in Machamp due to its superior stamina and can also generate energy a bit faster.

It's also easier to evolve than Machamp, as it only takes 50 Candies to evolve Makuhita into Hariyama as opposed to 125 to evolve Machop all the way into Machamp. Mind you, Machamp can also be found as a raid boss, but Hariyama should still be a good Fighting-Type option moving forward.

A New Top CP Pokemon

Move over Ho-Oh and Mewtwo, there's a new CP powerhouse in Pokemon Go.

We reported on Friday that Slaking is the new "king" of Pokemon Go, with a maximum CP of 4548. That's a higher CP than Mewtwo, Ho-Oh, and all the other Legendary Pokemon in the game. Slaking's attack stat is also insanely high, falling just short of the game's top attackers Mewtwo and Alakazam.

So, why shouldn't players be on the lookout for Slaking? Because it's immense strength is stymied by its fast move "Yawn." Yawn is one of two attacks that does zero damage, and it also only generates a little bit of energy per use. Because of Slaking's lack of a usable fast move, its "damage per second" stat is actually lower than worthless Pokemon like Furret.

Other Decent Attackers

So what other Pokemon should players be on the lookout for?

The Seedot line (Seedot, Nuzleaf, and Shiftry) becomes a decent secondary attacker for both Grass and Dark-Types, although it doesn't stack up to top tier attackers of either type.

Breloom is another intriguing Pokemon. It's a Grass/Fighting Pokemon that has a higher Attack stat than Machamp, but a significant lack of Stamina or defense. Breloom is a glass cannon, great for short battles but not reliable in long drawn out raids.

There's also Manectric, a new Electric-Type Pokemon that's basically a watered down version of Jolteon. Manectric shouldn't be your first choice when picking out an Electric-Type Pokemon team, but it could be useful filling out a final slot.

Collectible Pokemon Only

Sadly, the bulk of the Pokemon added to Pokemon Go are "collectible" Pokemon only - they're fun to catch, but don't have much use outside of gyms.

Here's some of the other Pokemon you'll now find in the wild:

• Poochyena and Mightyena (discount Dark-Type Pokemon)
• Zigzagoon and Linoone (equivalent to Rattata or Sentret)
• Skitty and Delcatty (equivalent to Meowth)
• Meditite and Medicham (Fighting/Psychic type, but with weak overall stats)
• Gulpin and Swalot (filler Poison-Type Pokemon)
• Spoink and Grumpig (the new Drowsee and Hypno)
• Roselia (useless on its own, but it does pick up an evolution in Gen 4, so stockpile those candies!)

Regional Exclusives

There are a total of four new regional-exclusive Pokemon in Pokemon Go: Plusle, Minun, Zangoose, and Seviper. Plusle and Minun are "related" Pokemon - a pair of nearly identical Electric-Type Pokemon that look very similar to Pichu. On the other hand, Zangoose and Seviper are mortal enemies.

Depending on where you live, you'll be able to find two of the four new regional-exclusive Pokemon in your area. Plusle and Zangoose can be found in North America, South America, and Africa. Minun and Seviper are located in Europe, Asia, and Australia. There does appear to be some overlap between the two regions...but only in Northern Africa and Israel.

Two New Raid Bosses

Pokemon Go has also added two new raid bosses, Absol and Mawile. Unlike other raid bosses, neither Absol nor Mawile can currently be found in the wild, so you'll need to actually participate in a raid if you want to add both these Pokemon to your collection.

If that's not incentive enough, both Absol and Mawile have Shiny variations that randomly appear after beating them in a Raid Battle. You won't know if an Absol or a Mawile is Shiny until they appear in the catch screen, so you can't just check out a raid before entering to try to grab these two new Shiny Pokemon.

Eggs

Pokemon Go also has two new Baby Pokemon that can only be found in eggs. Azurill (the pre-evolved form of Marill) and Wynaut (the pre-evolved form of Wobbuffet) can be found in 5 KM eggs.

The following new Pokemon also appear in various types of eggs:

2 KM Eggs: Gulpin, Poochyena, Zigzagoon, Wurmple, Spoink

5 KM Eggs: Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip, Shroomish, Skitty, Makuhita, Seedot

10 KM Eggs: Ralts, Slakoth

Please note that this list is likely not comprehensive and there could be other new Pokemon that can also hatch from eggs!