Games - Slaking

	Games - Slaking

Slaking (ケッキング Kekking in Japan, Letarking in Germany and Monaflemit in France) is a fictional character in the game series of Pokémon. Its National Pokédex number is 289. Its Hoenn Pokédex number is 38.

Its name originates from "slack off", meaning to loaf around, and "king." Not to be confused with Slowking, a regal Slowpoke evoution, and Seaking, a regal evolution to Goldeen.

Appearance/Biology

Slaking, though it evolves out of Sloth Pokémon and is indeed the most slothful Pokémon of all, is actually far closer to the anatomy of a gorilla than a sloth. It is a very large gorilla that weighs nearly 300 pounds and has a pair of lumbering arms with hands just like those of a real ape.

Slaking, a diurnal herbivore, is inarguably the laziest of all Pokémon, beating even Snorlax because, while Snorlax hibernates for long periods of time, Slaking’s laziness is done voluntarily. Each day of its uneventful life it spends lying around in grassy fields, consuming whatever grass is in its reach. Once it has consumed all the grass in its immediate spot, it reluctantly gets up to move to another spot in the meadow. It leaves behind rings of empty grass over a yard in diameter. In a few points throughout history, some of these rings have actually been confused with crop circles.

Sometimes, it is difficult to discern when Slaking is being lazy or just merely patient. When seasons change and fruit trees start bearing fruits, hordes of Slaking gather in meadows and multiple Slaking gather around each tree, waiting for ripened fruits to fall to the ground for them to consume.

The aspect about Slaking that ultimately causes people to exercise extreme caution in its presence is its ability to store up surplus energy over any amount of time and make use of it at will. Slaking’s muscles apparently do not atrophy and their bodies do not turn obese even with the complete lack of physical activity in Slaking’s daily routine, aside from eating and sleeping, yet it accumulates an astronomical amount of pent-up energy within. In battle, it stands upright on its two legs and exerts horrifying power stored in its crushingly powerful arms, which it uses to thoroughly pummel any opponent, no matter how large or tough.

In the video games

Slaking can only be obtained by evolving Vigoroth at level 36, which in turn evolves out of Slakoth, an uncommon Pokemon in the wild. These make Slaking relatively hard to obtain.

Battle Strategy

Slaking is known as one of the most powerful Pokémon in the game. It would be considered an über Pokémon if it didn't have the Truant ability–it can only attack once every 2 turns.

In 1-on-1 battles, Choice Banded Slaking is about the only thing you can do with it. It is known as the 'Hit and Run' Pokemon because it cannot attack the next turn. However, since it is such a beast when it hits it really doesn't matter that much. Hyper Beam is NOT a very good move on it due to the fact that the following turn you cannot switch out, thus ruining the purpose of the 'Hit and Run' strategy and making you vulnerable to being knocked out. With a Choice Bander this powerful, you do not want to be KOed.

In 2-on-2 battles, there is one powerful strategy that can be used with Slaking. By using the attack Skill Swap, a team-mate can switch abilities with Slaking, removing the constrictions of the Truant ability. What's even better is that Truant can then be passed onto an opponent by using Skill Swap once more. The best Pokemon you can Skill Swap with would have to be Gengar; it can pass the Levitate ability, thus making it immune to any threat of the ever-popular Earthquake attack, and then you just switch out Gengar to something else. This tactic only works in Pokémon Colosseum because only Colosseum allows Skill Swapping of the two abilities Truant and Wonder Guard.

Once free from Truant, it becomes a very powerful Physical Sweeper, with such attacks as Reversal, Earthquake, Shadow Ball, Focus Punch and Return.

In the anime

Gym Leader Norman uses a Slaking to battle Ash for his battle of his fifth Hoenn badge. Slaking is his most powerful Pokemon, but Ash was able to defeat it.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Slaking ]

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