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Poliwrath (Japanese: ニョロボン Nyorobon) is a dual-type Water/Fighting Pokémon introduced in Generation I.

It evolves from Poliwhirl when exposed to a Water Stone. It is one of Poliwag's final forms, the other being Politoed.

Biology

Poliwrath is a blue, bipedal Pokémon with a round body and muscular arms. It has bulbous eyes that protrude from the top of its head and its belly is covered by a white and black swirl. There appear to be white gloves on its hands, and it has rounded, digit-less feet.

Poliwrath's body is almost entirely muscle, and the muscles in its arms and legs never tire. It also has zero percent body-fat. When it swims, it uses all of the muscles in its body and is able to swim vast distances with minimal breathing. It is even capable of briefly running on the water's surface. It can also smash through ice and plow forward using its strong arms. Poliwrath is capable of out-swimming even world-class swimmers. Poliwrath is also skilled at martial arts. It can launch powerful square punches capable of crushing boulders into dust. Many children learn how to swim by replicating Poliwrath's movement. It is one of the most gifted swimmers of all Water-type Pokémon.

Being the result of an evolution via Evolution stone, Poliwrath is rarely found in the wild. When found, it is usually seen living on dry land near the water's edge, despite it being an excellent swimmer. In Alola, Poliwrath found are strong enough to use the breaststroke while swimming.

In the anime

Major appearances

In Charizard Chills, Tad used a Poliwrath in his battle against Ash. It was able to defeat both Pikachu and Charizard easily. Later, Charizard managed to defeat Poliwrath in a rematch. It reappeared in a flashback in The Fires of a Red-Hot Reunion!.

In Hook, Line, and Stinker, Andreas's Poliwrath participated in a Seaking Catching contest. It later battled Misty's Poliwhirl to decide who would win the contest and was defeated.

In Machoke, Machoke Man, Chuck used a Poliwrath during his Gym battle against Ash. It quickly defeated Pikachu with Double Slap, but then lost to Bayleef's Body Slam.

In Outrageous Fortunes, Delaney's Poliwrath upheld an excelling winning streak, prompting an impressed Team Rocket to target it.

In A Young Royal Flame Ignites!, the Revengers own a Poliwrath. It helped Viren during his Battle Royal by distracting Incineroar.

In Kicking It from Here Into Tomorrow!, James pulled a Poliwrath from the Rocket Prize Master. It was used to battle Ash and Goh when the latter intruded on Team Rocket's base, but it was soon defeated.

Minor appearances

In The Punchy Pokémon, a Poliwrath competed in the P1 Grand Prix.

In The Battling Eevee Brothers!, a Poliwrath evolved from a Poliwhirl during the evolution party in Stone Town.

A Poliwrath was depicted in the Pokémon League entrance exam in the dubbed version of The Ultimate Test.

A Poliwrath appeared in The Breeding Center Secret.

In Pikachu's Vacation, a Poliwrath was at the Pokémon Theme Park.

In Lights, Camera, Quack-tion, a Poliwrath was part of the cast for the movie "Pokémon in Love".

A Poliwrath appeared in Marina's fantasy in Bye Bye Psyduck.

In The Power of One, multiple Poliwrath sensed the disturbance caused by Lawrence III.

In Wired for Battle!, a Poliwrath was in Muramasa's dojo.

In Ring Masters, a Poliwrath competed in Rikishii Town's Sumo Conference.

In Got Miltank?, a Poliwrath lived at a Pokémon-exclusive oasis.

A Poliwrath appeared in Extreme Pokémon!, under the ownership of a participant in the Extreme Pokémon Race.

In Pop Goes The Sneasel, a Trainer's Poliwrath was knocked out off-screen after training near the place where the Sacred Fire of Ho-Oh was kept.

A Poliwrath appeared in Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias, under the ownership of a competitor in the Tour de Alto Mare.

In Journey to the Starting Line!, a Poliwrath was at Professor Oak's Laboratory.

Multiple Poliwrath appeared in A Six Pack Attack!.

In One Team, Two Team, Red Team, Blue Team!, the Pokémon Summer Academy temporarily lent a Poliwrath to one of the students for the second leg of the Pokémon Triathlon.

A Poliwrath appeared in a flashback or a fantasy in The Forest Champion!.

In Battle Royal 151!, a Trainer's Poliwrath competed in the Battle Royal preliminary round of the Manalo Conference but was defeated by Ash's Pikachu.

In Caring for a Mystery!, a Poliwrath battled a wild Riolu after it attacked it.

A Trainer's Poliwrath appeared in JN025.

Pokédex entries

Episode Pokémon Source Entry EP105 Poliwrath Ash's Pokédex Poliwrath, the Tadpole Pokémon. Poliwrath is an excellent swimmer and its powerful muscles make its attacks extremely effective.

In the manga

In the Pocket Monsters manga

In JNM06, a Poliwrath was used by Team Rocket through the Rocket Prize Master, like in the anime.

A Poliwrath appeared in JNM08.

In the Pocket Monsters DP manga

A Poliwrath appeared in PMDP16.

In the Pokémon Adventures manga

Main article: Poli

Poliwrath debuted in Buzz Off, Electabuzz! when Red's Poliwhirl Poli evolved into it to save his Trainer from drowning. His evolution wasn't explained until the Yellow chapter, where it was revealed there were four Evolution stones that could be used without any limit.

A Poliwrath appeared in Gold's fantasy after seeing Polibo evolved into Politoed in Ampharos Amore.

Chuck, Blue's own master, owns a Poliwrath, as seen in Scrappy Skarmory. It was first seen training with him and his Primeape. Together with Primeape, it used Dynamic Punch to reveal Suicune's presence in the ocean off the Cianwood coast, but the Gym Leader was defeated in the end, even after being joined by a friend.

A Poliwrath appeared alongside a Venusaur in PSs1, kidnapping Pibu.

Magnus's Poliwrath first appeared in Attaway, Aipom!.

A Trainer's Poliwrath appeared in Weavile Wobbles But It Won't Fall Down as one of the Pokémon seen at the Safari Zone.

A Trainer's Poliwrath appeared in Truth and the Mastermind Behind Team Skull.

In the Pokémon Battle Frontier manga

A Poliwrath appeared in Aim for the Top!.

In the Pokémon Gold & Silver: The Golden Boys manga

A Poliwrath first appeared in The Secret Of The Fighting Type Pokémon, under the ownership of Chuck.

A Poliwrath appeared in a flashback in Let's Fight For The Future!!.

In the Pokémon Gotta Catch 'Em All manga

A Poliwrath appeared in GDZ36.

A Poliwrath appeared in GDZ51.

In the Pokémon Pocket Monsters manga

Green's Poliwrath debuted in The Big Battle In The Viridian Forest!!.

A Poliwrath appeared in Part-Time Job At The Swimming Pool!!.

One of Giovanni's Poliwhirl appeared in The Thrill of a Perfect Score, Big Rampage at the Amusement Park!, where it evolved into a Poliwrath in order to get rid of Red and his Clefairy and Pikachu when they went to the amusement park that he built.

Professor Oak owns a Poliwrath, which debuted in Save the Pokémon Zoo!!.

In the TCG

Game data

Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon: Three Poliwrath, along with a Poliwag, appear as the boss of Poliwrath River.

Pokédex entries

Game locations

In side games

Held items

Stats

Base stats

Generations I-V

Generation VI onward

Pokéathlon stats

Type effectiveness

Learnset

Generation VIII Other generations: II - III - IV - V - VI - VII Game Move Type Cat. Pwr. Acc. PP Sw Sh IoA Coaching Fighting Status — —% 10 Bold indicates a move that gets STAB when used by Poliwrath

indicates a move that gets when used by Poliwrath Italic indicates a move that gets STAB only when used by an evolution of Poliwrath

indicates a move that gets STAB only when used by an evolution of Poliwrath Click on the generation numbers at the top to see Move Tutor moves from other generations

By a prior evolution

Generation VIII Other generations: I - II - III - IV - V - VI - VII Stage Move Type Cat. Pwr. Acc. PP This Pokémon has no moves exclusive to prior evolutions. Bold indicates a move that gets STAB when used by Poliwrath

indicates a move that gets when used by Poliwrath Italic indicates a move that gets STAB only when used by an evolution of Poliwrath

indicates a move that gets STAB only when used by an evolution of Poliwrath Click on the generation numbers at the top to see moves from other generations

Side game data

Evolution

Sprites

Trivia

Poliwrath's early design, Nyosuka

In Generation II and Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, a man in Celadon City with a Poliwrath says that he hopes that it will evolve into a frog Pokémon one day. Although the Pokémon he was thinking of is most likely Politoed, it is too late, as it is Poliwhirl, not Poliwrath, that evolves into Politoed when traded while holding a King's Rock.

An early design of Poliwrath revealed on Game Freak's official Japanese website circa 1997 depicts it wearing a crown, similar to the King's Rock which is necessary to evolve Poliwhirl into Politoed.

Poliwrath shares its category with Poliwag, Poliwhirl, and Tympole. They are all known as the Tadpole Pokémon.

In some illustrations, Poliwrath is depicted with four fingers instead of three.

Origin

Poliwrath is based on a glass frog. The spiral pattern on its belly is supposed to represent how the organs of these frogs and other tadpoles can sometimes be seen through their transparent skin. It may also be based on amphibian neoteny, as it stays in tadpole form and does not metamorphose into a frog. Its brawny body and newfound Fighting-type could be an interpretation of the frogs' bulky bodies and vastly heightened muscle mass and strength in comparison to the infant tadpole.

Name origin

Poliwrath is a combination of polliwog (another name for a tadpole), and wrath (anger).

Nyorobon is a combination of ニョロニョロ nyoronyoro (the sound of slithering) and an alternate reading of 洪 kō (deluge or flood) is hon (relative to bon).

In other languages

Language Title Meaning Japanese ニョロボン Nyorobon From ニョロニョロ nyoronyoro and 洪 kō which can also be read as hon or bon French Tartard From Tartares , tarte (twice) and têtard Spanish Poliwrath Same as English name German Quappo From Kaulquappe Italian Poliwrath Same as English name Korean 강챙이 Gangchaengi From 강 gang and 올챙이 olchaeng'i Cantonese Chinese 大力蛙 Daaihlihk'wā Means "Great strength frog" or "Energetic frog" Mandarin Chinese 快泳蛙 Kuàiyǒngwā Literally "Fast swimming frog" More languages Hindi पॉलीव्राथ Poliwrath Transcription of English name Lithuanian Polivratas From English name Russian Поливрат Polivrat Transcription of English name Thai เนียวโรบอน Nyorobon Transcription of Japanese name





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