10 Weakest Pokémon by Stats (Updated for Gen VIII)

 

The Pokédex mentions Magikarp to be “horribly weak” and “virtually useless in battle.”

Some entries even say that it is the “weakest Pokémon.”

Apparently, that’s not true!

Although Magikarp is definitely weak, it’s not the weakest of all. In fact, it only ranks 11th weakest and wasn’t able to join this list.

Curious which Pokémon are even weaker than Magikarp? Here are the 10 weakest Pokémon by stats.

10th: Ralts

Total Base Stats: 198

If you’ve played the original Gen III games, you’re probably very familiar with this Pokémon. Ralts is a memorable Pokémon in the series as the first-ever Pokémon by Wally.

It was your dad, Norman, who lent him his Zigzagoon and gave him a Poké Ball to catch his first Pokémon, which will turn out to be Ralts.

Further in the story, Wally goes on the same adventure as you and becomes a strong and worthy rival toward the end.

Ralts is a Psychic/Fairy-type Pokémon that’s usually found near the beginner routes of the main series games. It has a total base stat of only 198, making it the 10th weakest Pokémon in the franchise.

Although Ralts eventually becomes more powerful and evolves into either Gardevoir or Gallade, it still needs A LOT of babysitting first before it’s prepared to battle.

The good thing is it’s relatively easy to obtain Ralts in the main series games. It’s often found around the beginning areas, so you can add it to your team very early on.

This gives you more than enough time to train it to become stronger. Hopefully, it gets to evolve eventually as you face tougher opponents.

9th/8th: Caterpie & Weedle

Total Base Stats: 195

Next on this list are the generic Bug-type duo of Kanto.

Caterpie and Weedle can be considered as counterparts to each other, especially in Gen I when weak Bug-types weren’t that abundant yet.

They are both Bug-Types, they can be found in the first few routes of Kanto, and they both evolve starting at level seven and next at level 10.

Also, their evolutionary lines both resemble metamorphosis, going from larva (Caterpie/Weedle) to pupa (Metapod/Kakuna) and finally, to adult (Butterfree/Beedrill).

Admittedly, though, Weedle is much more of a pain than Caterpie in the beginning due to its Poison Sting, which can inflict poison on your Pokémon.

And we all know how annoying it is to have your whole party succumb to poison while you helplessly walk toward the Pokémon Center.

Both Caterpie and Weedle have a total base stat of 195, just three points lower than Ralts. They also have the lowest Special Defense stat of all Pokémon, tied with a few others.

They are also Bug-types, which isn’t a great type in competitive battling. It’s a mediocre type in terms of defense, and it’s an awful type in terms of offense.

Bug has three weaknesses and three resistances, which kind of evens itself out. However, it’s super effective only against three types but not very effective against a total of seven types!

Speaking of Bug-types…

7th: Wurmple

Total Base Stats: 195

Wurmple is pretty much the same as Weedle and Caterpie. It has the same total base stats as the Kanto Bug-type duo at 195, has a three-stage evolutionary line, and it evolves starting at the seven and then next at level ten.

I only placed it separately in this list because, unlike the previous two bugs, Wurmple has two different evolutionary lines.

Contrary to popular belief, Wurmple’s evolution does not depend on its gender.

Instead, it’s entirely based on its personality value, which is practically just a fancy way of saying “random.” Though, this evolution condition is unique to Wurmple.

It can evolve into either Cascoon or Silcoon, which will then evolve into Dustox or Beautifly, respectively.

What makes Wurmples a little bit better than the two Kanto bugs is it has slightly better defensive stats—not that having 45, 35, and 30 defensive stats will let it survive any averaged-powered move from a decent Pokémon.

It also has two possible evolutionary lines, which is more interesting than just having one, of course.

But other than that, Wurmple is sadly just another generic beginner bug Pokémon that doesn’t offer anything in battle until it evolves (twice!).

6th: Kricketot

Total Base Stats: 194

Yay! Another Bug Pokémon…

But this time, it’s actually much worse and uninteresting than the previous Bug-types.

Kricketot’s total base stat of 194 puts it in its rightful place as the 6th weakest Pokémon.

Aside from being a point lower in total base stats, Kricketot’s evolutionary line only has two stages, and its final stage also has one of the worst total base stats of all fully-evolved Pokémon.

At least it learns more moves than the other worms! (Not that they’re good moves by any means.)

There’s really nothing else interesting to say about Kricketot, except maybe that it’s based on the cricket insect, which I don’t really think many people would find “interesting.”

The only redeeming factor that this Pokémon has is its cuteness. Just look at that charming nose and cute antennas. Fortunately, they do not look creepy, unlike the real-life bugs that we know of.

Due to its pitiful offensive stats, it’s much better if Kricketot just stays as an adorable companion or pet and never touches the battlefield.

5th: Azurill

Total Base Stats: 190

Among all the Pokémon on this list, Azurill has the most acceptable reason as to why it is this weak.

Azurill is a baby Pokémon, which means it’s the lowest stage of an evolutionary line and is unable to breed. This also means that it’s understandably weaker than other lowest evolutionary stage Pokémon.

Most of the time, producing an egg containing a baby Pokémon involves meeting specific requirements first, such as one parent holding a certain incense.

Baby Pokémon also need to meet specific conditions to evolve. Most of them have to reach a certain level of happiness first before they can evolve during their next level up.

Azurill’s total base stat of 190 makes it the 5th weakest Pokémon, and we can’t really complain about that.

Like with most baby Pokémon, at least Azurill looks charming and lovable.

Its design is intentionally made to be extra cute since it’s a “baby” Pokémon. Just leave the battling to adults.

4th: Snom

Total Base Stats: 185

Just when you thought the bugs are gone, another one enters the list.

Snom is also known as the “Worm Pokémon,” a category it shares with Caterpie and Wurmple. Though, Snom brings a bit more to the table due to its unique typing.

Only Snom and its evolved form, Frosmoth, has the Ice/Bug-type combination. But just because it’s unique, doesn’t mean that it’s better.

Snom’s typing is actually worse because it gets more weaknesses without having any significant upside.

Ice/Bug is not only weak to Flying- and Steel-type, but it’s also extremely weaker against Fire- and Rock-type moves. Its 4x weakness to Fire and Rock guarantees that it instantly gets knocked out by a measly Ember or Rock Throw.

Good thing Frosmoth has enough Special Attack to take advantage of its Ice-typing with its STAB-boosted moves.

Snom’s total base stat of 185 means that it’s even weaker than the baby Pokémon Azurill. It also has the lowest base stat of all Ice-types, which should give you an idea of how just weak this Pokémon is.

In hindsight, it does make sense that these Pokémon are weak and have very low base stats, considering that they’re based on real-life insects that are frail and squishy.

At least Game Freak was able to make them cuter than they actually are.

2nd/3rd: Blipbug & Sunkern

Total Base Stats: 180

Unfortunately, we still have one remaining Bug-type Pokémon on this list. Tied for 2nd and 3rd place are Blipbug and Sunkern. 

Unlike the generic Bug duo of Kanto, these two don’t really have that many similarities aside from both being very weak and having an abysmal total base stat of just 180.

Blipbug is your typical Bug-type Pokémon that is useless in battle until it gets to evolve into something stronger.

It also only learns a single move via level up. It doesn’t learn anything other than Struggle Bug, which is its default move, and you can’t teach it any TM/TR or via move tutors.

The only way for Blipbug to learn anything else is either via breeding egg moves or leveling it up until it evolves.

Meanwhile, Sunkern is an actual seed. It’s literally known as the “Seed Pokémon,” and its body is basically a seed with a small leaf sprouting on top of it.

Surprisingly, Sunkern has a relatively large movepool. It has a lot of level-up moves and can learn multiple strong TMs, such as Energy Ball, Sludge Bomb, and Grass Knot.

It also has well-balanced (yet awful) stats, having 30 points in all aspects.

Sunkern evolves into Sunflora when exposed to a Sun Stone. Unfortunately, Sunflora isn’t that much better either.

I mean, it’s technically “stronger” than Sunkern. But its stats still leave much to be desired, especially when you compare it to other fully-evolved Pokémon.

1st: Wishiwashi

Total Base Stats (Solo Form): 175

Finally, the weakest Pokémon is Wishiwashi with a total base stat of only 175.

However, there’s more to Wishiwashi than just having awful stats.

The truth is this Pokémon actually has two forms, and it changes forms depending on its level and current HP.

Due to its ability, Schooling, Wishiwashi can either stay in Solo Form or transform into School Form if the requirements are met.

Solo Form Wishiwashi is what we first see on this list. It’s just a small fish with horribly weak stats.

Its face even looks like it’s crying in disappointment over its own frailty.

On the other hand, School Form Wishiwashi is very far from the weak and puny Solo Form.

In School Form, Wishiwashi gets an enormous boost in its strength and defenses. Its total base stats increase from 175 to a massive 620!

Total Base Stats (School Form): 620

From only 20 points in Attack and Defense and 25 in Special Attack and Special Defense, its School Form gets a total of 140 Attack and Special Attack, 130 Defense, and 135 Special Defense—that’s more than 400 total base stat increase!

The only downside is it gets 10 less Speed upon transformation, but that’s practically negligible compared to how high its increases are in its other stats.

However, there are two requirements that Wishiwashi has to fulfill first before being able to transform via Schooling and stay in School Form.

First, it needs to be at least level 20. So Wishiwashi that are level 19 and below will never be able to transform despite having the ability. You’ll have to train and level them up to at least level 20 first.

Second, even if Wishiwashi is already level 20 and currently in School Form, it has to stay above 25%  of its maximum HP to maintain this form.

If it gets lower than 25% of its total HP at the end of the turn, it will transform back to Solo Form, losing more than 80% of its total stats.

Imagine having a Solo Form Wishiwashi at less than 25% total HP. That’s as useless as a knocked-out Pokémon!

It won’t be able to deal any significant damage, and it will probably get knocked out by a weak gust of wind.

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