Due to its length, this answer will be split into two parts. Please use the table of contents to jump to a specific section.
1. Introduction
2. Obtaining and levelling
3. Movepool and playstyle
4. Matchups against important Johto Trainers
5. Matchups against important Kanto Trainers
6. In Summary
Introduction
Forretress is best known as a hazard spreader and pivoter with high Defense in previous generations’ competitive play. In-game, where offense matters much more, how does Forretress measure up? This hopes to be an in-depth guide on Forretress’ strengths and weaknesses, and whether it should be considered for a HeartGold & SoulSilver playthrough.
Obtaining and levelling
Pineco is first obtainable after defeating Bugsy and gaining access to the Headbutt Move Tutor in Ilex Forest. It can be found commonly in Headbutt trees all over Johto, and is immediately catchable once you receive Headbutt. This means it’s fairly easy to obtain given enough time. It may be prudent to wait to catch Pineco until Route 34, however, as it will come with Bug Bite, making it much easier to grind to be on par with the rest of your team.
Assuming you catch a Pineco on Route 34, it will be at Level 9 or 10 and come with the moveset Bug Bite, Selfdestruct, Protect, and Tackle. While Johto’s level curve is infamously terrible, and levelling up Pineco will take quite a bit of grinding, Bug Bite will help. Due to the prevalence of Drowzee (and Abra) on Route 34, it’s fairly simple to spam super effective STAB Bug Bite until you’ve reached a sufficient level. After this point in the game, it should be fairly hassle-free to level it up the same way you would any other team member.
Movepool and playstyle
Pineco has a very shallow movepool, with its most noteworthy techniques being Payback, Explosion, and Gyro Ball. Forretress isn’t much better – there aren’t any good moves it learns that Pineco doesn’t (unless you want to shell out a Heart Scale for Toxic Spikes). While Bug Bite is a solid move when you first obtain Pineco, it drops off as the game progresses. As this is the only Bug type move the two learn in HeartGold and SoulSilver (excluding Pin Missile from breeding), it means Forretress will be left without good STAB for most of the game. The Steel side isn’t great either – while Bug/Steel is a fantastic defensive typing, Forretress can only learn Mirror Shot, Gyro Ball, and Flash Cannon. Forretress can take hits well, but with its Special Attack being too worthless to use, and Gyro Ball having such low PP, it can’t dish out a lot of damage.
Even in HeartGold and SoulSilver, known for being some of the slowest games in the entire series, hyper offense is still a more effective playstyle than the defensive game that Forretress is tailored towards. Its main function is to set up hazards, which aren’t nearly as useful in-game as they are in competitive. Explosion can let the bugs pack a punch, but it’s impractical to keep returning to the Pokemon Center. Gyro Ball and Bug Bite are the most effective attacks you’ll have for the majority of the game, but they can be fairly lackluster.
Forretress’ most prominent advantage is its high physical Defense. This makes it an effective wall against many opponents, especially since its only weakness is to Fire (and eight other types are ineffective against it). If it can’t be used to deal much damage, it can instead sponge a few physical hits while other Pokemon on the team are being healed. It’s important to be mindful of special attackers – Forretress’ Special Defense is much worse than its Defense.
Matchups against important Johto Trainers
Whitney: Pineco is okay, but it isn’t the best against her fearsome Miltank. With fairly high Defense, it can survive a Stomp or two, and Protect allows it to break Rollout chains. Alongside this, Bug Bite is helpful in removing Miltank’s Lum Berry – though that turn may be better spent on simply inflicting a status condition twice. However, it’s weak to Rollout, so it’s an inconsistent answer at best. Additionally, it often cannot do enough damage to Miltank, so the latter will stay around with Milk Drink (and most likely eventually KO Pineco). SelfDestruct is an option to hit Miltank for some big damage if you don’t care about Pineco getting the EXP from the battle.
Morty: Pineco isn’t an effective Pokemon against Morty. Its Special Defense isn’t enough to withstand Gengar’s Shadow Ball, and its only attack learned via level-up that can hit any of his Pokemon is Bug Bite, which all four resist anyways. Its best use is as fodder to heal up a weakened team member if necessary.
Chuck: If Pineco hasn’t evolved by this point, it will resist both Primeape’s and Poliwrath’s Focus Punches. It will have to be wary of Primeape’s Rock Slide and Poliwrath’s Body Slam, however, as the former can hit Pineco super effectively and the latter deals heavy damage (plus a chance of paralysis). If Pineco has evolved into Forretress by this point, it will arguably have an easier time against both Pokemon – Rock Slide and Body Slam are not as problematic with the added Steel typing. It’s important to be wary of Primeape’s Double Team + Focus Punch, which can be harder to deal with due to Forretress’ low Speed.
Jasmine: If you teach Forretress Dig or Bulldoze via TM, it can effectively deal with both Magnemites, and to a lesser extent Steelix. While it is able to OHKO the two Magnemite, it probably won’t outspeed, and as such it’ll suffer confusion, paralysis, or some damage from Thunderbolt. Steelix cannot do too much to Forretress, but the reverse is also true. For this reason, while Forretress can beat it, it’s more effective to use a special attacker like Tentacruel.
Pryce: While at first glance the Steel type Forretress may appear good against Pryce’s Ice types, this illusion starts to fracture when you realise two of his Pokemon aren’t weak to Steel, the only Steel type move you’ll likely have by this point is Metal Burst, all his Pokemon can target Forretress’ weaker Special Defense, and Rest on his Seel and Dewgong make it so Forretress can’t reliably KO them without PP stalling. In this battle, Forretress is best used as fodder to heal Pokemon that are better equipped to deal with Pryce’s special attackers.
Clair: Forretress may be able to defeat Clair’s Gyarados with little issue, but the rest of her Pokemon are stronger. In particular, her Fire Blast Dragonair and fearsome Kingdra can do massive amounts of damage to Forretress’ special side, and it doesn’t get to use its high Defense very well in this battle. Clair’s fight is one of the few in the game where hazards could be useful, so Forretress is best used to set up Spikes to chip away at Kingdra’s health (though Bug Bite can be helpful for Kingdra’s Sitrus Berry if Forretress manages to stick around that long).
Will: Teaching Forretress Payback can be helpful for this battle, as it has more PP than Gyro Ball and will often do more damage than it as well. As a whole, it’s very easy to defeat Will with anything that has a Dark type move, so the battle shouldn’t be too much of a hassle.
Koga: Being immune to Poison moves is a boon in this battle, but the main problem Forretress has is exemplified against Koga’s team. It simply cannot do enough damage to reliably KO opponents, and while it can be helpful as fodder for healing, it’s better to lead with a strong Psychic or Ground type instead.
Bruno: Forretress just about automatically loses to Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan because of Blaze Kick and Fire Punch. If it does manage to survive, it most likely cannot OHKO in return, meaning (again) its best use is as healing. While it does fine against Hitmontop and Machamp, Counter and Cross Chop are potentially terrifying moves that can end Forretress’ time on the field.
Karen: Bug Bite can be helpful against Umbreon, but that’s about all Forretress is good for in this battle. It can wall Vileplume, but Moonlight makes it so the latter can’t be KOed by the former very easily. Houndoom can OHKO with Flamethrower and Gengar can do big damage with Focus Blast, so Forretress is off the table for those. You can plug away with Bug Bite against Murkrow, but that’s generally less effective than just using a Rock or Electric type (or move) you’ll likely have at this point.
Lance: Essentially the only thing Forretress can do against Lance is use Explosion. Spikes and Dig are useless and Bug Bite is resisted by every member of Lance’s team. On top of this, his Charizard and Dragonite #3 can easily take out Forretress with Fire Blast, while the other four Pokemon likely won’t have much of an issue either. It’s better to use a fast sweeper that can actually do some damage. As usual, Forretress is best used as a sponge while you heal other Pokemon (but it can’t even do that well in this battle).
