As you’ll surely remember, Game Freak brought down the wrath, fury, and ire of the community with the infamous National Pokédex cuts of Pokémon Sword and Shield. The debate about the practicality of featuring every critter ever and the reason for the decision raged on, but there it was. Some fan-favorite creatures just didn’t make the cut.
One curious critter that did, however, was Gothita. Along with its evolutions Gothorita and Gothitelle, this Generation V Psychic-type is a very interesting case study. Today, we’re going to discuss how players can find it in the Nintendo Switch titles, as well as some other interesting details about it.
10 Journey To The Giant’s Cap
For starters, you’ll need to have made a fair amount of progress through the main adventure in order to catch yourself a Gothita. It’s found in the Wild Area, and while you’re free to roam most of the area from your very first visit, much of the place is still a no-go area in a roundabout way (unless you enjoy being crushed into sad, soggy hunks of defeated human spam by angry level 50 Machokes).
Once you’re ready, though, you proceed to the Giant’s Cap, where the tall grass has a 40% chance to yield a Gothita during foggy weather. It’ll be level 28-30. Before you get too eager, though, you’ll have to be playing the right version of the game in order to find one.
9 It’s Exclusive to Pokémon Sword
That’s right, friends. The Pokémon franchise has always revolved around two key concepts: the whole gotta catch ‘em all thing and multiplayer with fellow trainers. In order to cater to these tenets, as always, some Pokémon are exclusive to one version of the game or the other.
In this case, the Gothita line is found only in Pokémon Sword. These days, trading is easier than ever and Pokémon Home is now available to help you out, but that’s still a bit of a pain if you were hoping to nab yourself one right away.
8 Solosis Is Its Counterpart In Pokémon Shield
So. There you are, entirely Gothita-less and just a little bit peeved about the whole situation. Worry not, though, because the Pokémon games giveth just as readily as they taketh away.
If you’re playing Pokémon Shield, a different exclusive Psychic-type will be available in the tall grass of the Giant’s Cap (yep, 40% chance in fog): Solosis. This evolution line has a lot in common with Gothita and its evolutions, as we’re about to see.
7 Gothita And Solosis Are Like Peas In A Strange Psychic-Type Pod
Solosis, as fans will know, has a three-stage evolution family itself: from Duosion to Reuniclus. They were both introduced in Generation V and serve as very nice bulky/boosting Psychic types with great utility, but there’s much more to their similarities than this.
As Bulbapedia reports, Gothita and Solosis share an uncanny amount in common. They both evolve at levels 32 and 41, have the same base stat total (290) and are exclusive Pokémon in their original games too: Gothita is found only in Pokémon Black/Black 2 while Solosis is exclusive to Pokémon White/White 2.
6 It’s A Whole Lot Scarier Than It Looks
There’s something about Psychic-type Pokémon, isn’t there? Unlike Fighting-types, which wear their strength on the sleeves (in their absurd Arnold Schwarzenegger-esque biceps, in Machamp’s case), Psychic Pokémon have incredible amounts of power that you just wouldn’t expect at first glance.
The innocuous-looking Espurr, for instance, desperately tries to hold its power in check at all times so it doesn’t leak out and destroy whole continents. Gothita, too, has an incredible amount of potential. “Though they’re still only babies, there’s psychic power stored in their ribbonlike feelers, and sometimes they use that power to fight,” reports Pokémon Sword’s Pokédex. As we’ll see a little later, its abilities become infinitely scarier as it evolves.
5 Gothitelle Is A Fantastic And Versatile Pokémon
We’ve already covered the location where players can find Gothita, but here’s something else important to consider: why would you want to in the first place? How do you use it? Is it any good? Let’s take a look.
On evolution into Gothitelle, it has base 95 Defense and Special Attack and base 110 Special Defense. Its HP is only average and its Speed and Attack are very sub-par, but with these stats and its good movepool, it can perform a couple of different roles well. With Choice Specs, it can take a purely offensive route while absorbing a hit or two in the process. Alternatively, it serves as a nice bulky booster with Cosmic Power. Then, of course, there’s its specialty: trapping.
4 It’s An Enormous Pain With Its Shadow Tag Shenanigans
That’s right. Speaking of trapping, everyone who’s played much competitive Pokémon since Gothitelle’s introduction knows where we’re going with this. When this thing’s around, you know that it’s usually about to mess with you using its fiendish Hidden Ability: Shadow Tag.
This Ability’s effect is simple: the opponent (or adjacent opponents) can’t switch out. Gothitelle is usually quite passive, so it doesn’t often get a huge amount of use from this itself, but in doubles play? The opponent’s in for a world of pain. When teamed up with a Perish Song user or simply an ally with an advantage, it can utilize great support moves like Helping Hand and Heal Pulse to trap key opponents and secure the win.
3 It Seems To Have Frightening Links To The Supernatural
Typically, of course, it’s Ghost Pokémon that have the most frightening Pokédex entries around. Between the ghastly things Gengar gets up to and whatever the heck it is that’s hidden under Mimikyu’s Pikachu disguise, it’s best not to really think about it. Pokémon sure does get super dark at times, doesn’t it?
In the case of the Gothita line, the dex entries are more subtle, though still darn frightening. Gothita’s entry from Pokémon Y reads, “They intently observe both Trainers and Pokémon. Apparently, they are looking at something only Gothita can see.”Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 dial up the creepy several notches by stating of Gothorita, “According to many old tales, it creates friends for itself by controlling sleeping children on starry nights.” Some refer to it as the Witch of Punishment, so that’s… well, horrifying, but we guess it’s always nice to have a cool nickname.
2 Gothitelle Is Very, Very (Very) Closely Linked To Its Trainer
So, yes. We’ve learned that the tiny, adorable Gothita you’ve lovingly raised is actually the Witch of Punishment, a malevolent monster that makes sleeping children its involuntary scarecrow-friends because nobody likes it. You’re probably questioning all sorts of life decisions right now.
The even worse news is, on evolving once more into Gothitelle, this thing really does pull out all of the stops. Feast your eyes on Gothitelle’s dex entry from Pokémon Black: “Starry skies thousands of light-years away are visible in the space distorted by their intense psychic power.” And, indeed, this one, from Black 2/White 2: “It can see the future from the movement of the stars. When it learns its Trainer’s life span, it cries in sadness.” Well, that got darn dark darn quickly. Whichever way you slice it, though, this is a creature with astonishing might and potential.
1 It Can Throw Down With The Strongest Pokémon Ever
Over the series’ long span to date, Game Freak has introduced some brilliant, ridiculous, and brilliantly ridiculous Pokémon. Some have been so overwhelmingly powerful that they’ve shaped entire metagames around themselves (such as Mega Kangaskhan). On the other side of the scale, we have utterly worthless, feeble excuses for Pokémon like Luvdisc.
Competitive communities like Smogon try to address this great imbalance by enforcing tiers, making Pokémon play as even as it really can be. The Ubers tier is where all-powerful Legendary Pokémon tend to reside, but some proved too overwhelming even for that, which is why the Anything Goes tier was created. In the Pokémon Sun and Moon generation, which ‘mon could be found ruthlessly stalling out defensive threats and buffing up its super-strong allies? That’s right: our terrifying friend Gothitelle.
NEXT: Pokémon: 10 Pieces Of Psychic Fanart We Love
