Games - Houndoom

	Games - Houndoom

Houndoom (ヘルガー Herugā in Japanese, Hundemon in German and Demolosse in French) is a fictional character of the Pokémon franchise.

"Houndoom" is a portmanteau of the words hound, which refers to dogs, and doom, which means unavoidable misfortune and destruction.

Appearance

Houndoom is canine in appearance, resembling the Dobermann breed, but some of its features closely match the stereotypical image of the Hellhound, a monster once believed to torment and feed on the souls of sinners in Hell. Houndoom has two long curved horns on its head, a tail that ends in a spaded tip, and two bony rings around each ankle. It also has three bony semicircles on its back and a bony collar around its neck. A Houndoom's fur is mostly black, but its muzzle and underbelly are red. Its "Shining Pokémon" color is a dark blue instead of black, which is sometimes also seen in Dobermanns.

Biology

Houndooms live in packs, whose leader is decided by fierce fighting among its members. The leader develops horns sharply raked towards its back to display its dominant status.

Houndoom's body is filled with toxins. It releases these in the form of a toxic gas through it's mouth, which, if inhaled by a pokemon is quite deadly.

The Houndoom is one of the most feared predators among Pokémon. Just the sound of its howl is enough to send all other Pokémon which hear it hurrying back to the safety of their nests.

Houndoom is particularly infamous for its fire breath. While many Fire-type Pokémon have the ability to breathe fire, Houndoom's flame has a special property.

Thanks to the toxins in its body, a burn inflicted by a Houndoom's pungent flame will cause pain that can never be alleviated. This is why Houndoom is feared; if it burns you, you burn painfully for all eternity. Nevertheless, a Burn status ailment caused by a Houndoom in the video games behaves in the same way as all other Burns.

In the video games

In Pokémon Colosseum, Houndoom is a Shadow Pokémon that can be Snagged in Realgam Tower. Otherwise, Houndoom cannot be found in the wild. It can be evolved from Houndour though, so the availability of the latter dictates the availability of the former.

Houndoom is a very popular Pokémon thanks to its above-average stats and knowledge of powerful attacks. The most common moveset is Crunch, Flamethrower, Hidden Power, Pursuit,Crunch and Flamethrower are all around attacking moves, Hidden Power grass covers Houndoom's major weaknesses: Rock, Ground, and Water, and it works well against dual weak opponents such as Swampert, Quagsire, Golem, and Rhydon, which would otherwise defeat Houndoom with ease. Pursuit is used against opponents that will likely switch out, as it inflicts extra damage on exiting pokemon, and hits them before they leave. Another moveset is the "Sunnybeamer" one, with Sunny Day, Flamethrower, Solarbeam, Crunch. Sunny Day benefits both Flamethrower and Solarbeam. Crunch is there for STAB, and can be substituted for Will-O-Wisp if the player wants to fix its Defense problem.

One of Houndoom's main drawbacks is its low defense, so that a strong Ground, Rock or Fighting-type attack will put it in big trouble.

In Pokemon XD it can be captured in Houndour's form at one of Cipher's lairs.

In the animé

Houndoom has made a fair number of appearances. In episode #152 (Houndoom's Special Delivery) a Houndoom used as a courier helps Misty's Togepi when it is lost in a forest. It has been used by a Pokemon Hunter in the fourth Pokémon movie (Celebi: Voice of the Forest), Harrison against Ash in the Silver Conference (episode #274-Johto Photo Finish), and Team Magma in episode #303 (A three Team scheme).

In the trading card game

Houndoom has a rather absurd amount of cards under its name, as evidenced by the following list of expansion sets where it has appeared in:

Neo Discovery (Dark-type)
Neo Revelation (Dark-type)
Neo Destiny (Fire-type, as Dark Houndoom)
Aquapolis (Dark-type)
Aquapolis (Fire-type)
Skyridge (Dark-type)
EX Dragon (Dark-type)
EX: Team Magma vs. Team Aqua (Fire-type, as Team Magma's Houndoom)
EX: Team Magma vs. Team Aqua (Dark/Fire-type, as Team Magma's Houndoom)
EX: Team Rocket Returns (Dark/Fire-type, as Dark Houndoom)
EX: Team Rocket Returns (Dark/Fire-type, as Dark Houndoom)
EX: Unseen Forces (Fire-type)

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Houndoom ]

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