Top 100 Pokemon #90: Miltank

There are a number of ways for a Pokemon to gain notoriety. Whether it be by a memorable role or appearance in the anime, or by having a unique competitive presence, these Pokemon are ones that many Pokemon fans know about.

This one, though, gains her notoriety for being used in one of the single most difficult in-game battles one will ever come across. She is a Pokemon that has infuriated Trainers all over with her ridiculous stats (especially for how early in the game one fights her) and a collection of rage-inducing moves. That's right, this Pokemon, famously used by a Gym Leader of Johto named Whitney, is none other than Miltank.

That lovin', stompin', rollin', milk-drinkin' Scrappy. Not even ghosts are safe.

#90: Miltank

Now, I'm not going to be judging Miltank based on any supposed bad memories I have of fighting Whitney (she did give me moderate trouble, which is more than I can say for most Gym Leaders). Rather, I will evaluate Miltank based on her own merits.

There's not too much to say about Miltank design- and concept-wise. She's a cow. She looks like a cow. Sure, she's bipedal and extra pink, but she's still very much a cow. She is a Gen II Pokemon, during a time when Pokemon designs generally leaned towards being more simplistic. Nothing wrong with that; the design works, even if it is nothing spectacular.

The most interesting thing about Miltank's concept is that she's no slow bovine. She can curl up into a ball and roll around at high speeds. It does make her more interesting than her male "counterpart", Tauros, who is basically just a bull. Even if it leads to one annoying Rollout attack.

They see me rollin'. They hatin'.

Competitively, Miltank has a number of nice qualities. Her stats lean towards defensive, with a Base 95 HP and Base 105 Defense; however, as mentioned before, she is surprisingly fast, boasting a Base 100 Speed. She also has not one, not two, but three great abilities to choose from. Thick Fat adds resistances to Fire and Ice, which always helps a defensive Pokemon. Scrappy allows Miltank to hit Ghost-types with her Normal-type STAB attacks, which can help reduce her need for coverage. Finally, Sap Sipper, her Dream World ability, gives her an immunity to Grass moves, including Sleep Powder/Spore and Leech Seed, while giving her an Attack boost.

Dreaming of eating those delicious Wood Hammers.

Miltank's movepool contains a number of cool support moves. Milk Drink is her signature move, providing instant 50% healing to boost her survivability. It also has some use in-game where she can donate 20% of her max HP to a teammate--she can then use the move herself to restore her lost health back. Heal Bell is her other great support move, allowing her to instantly cure her team of status. She also has access to Stealth Rock and status-inducing moves like Toxic and Thunder Wave.

Her offensive options are plentiful, and her decent Base 80 Attack can be put to good use with them to make an offensive presence. For STAB, Body Slam works well to not only do damage but also paralyze the opponent, making it the move of choice for support-oriented sets. Meanwhile, she also has Return and Double-Edge for more damage. For coverage, Miltank has moves like Earthquake, Hammer Arm, Brick Break, Zen Headbutt, and Punishment if you're not using Scrappy. Miltank can also boost her stats with Curse, even though this does drop her good Speed; however, with Scrappy, she can run just her Normal STAB with Curse, Milk Drink, and Heal Bell and not worry about Ghosts in her way.

All this makes Miltank as great of a member for your own team as she was for Whitney, and that is why she makes my list. Though a question comes up... how does Milk Drink even work?

To be fair, Chansey's Softboiled is just as much of a headscratcher.

Next time: Pokemon's most knightly thief.