Pokemon Sword and Shield Pokedex spoilers ahead. Please keep in mind that the picture quality of each entry isn’t great as I believe they were taken on the leaker’s phone before being uploaded to the internet, and subsequently screen grabbed by me.

Well, the generation 8 Pokemon for Sword and Shield leaked, and personally I couldn’t be happier. I had next to no interest in these games as the new Pokemon designs shown off by Game Freak in the trailers were, in my opinion, mediocre. It has become apparent that this may have been intentional as the majority of the designs and new dual types leaked have been very impressive! While I decide if it is worth purchasing a Nintendo Switch for, and to vent some of my excitement, I want to talk about my top five new Pokemon designs that are coming up in Sword and Shield.

5) Orbeetle (Psychic / Bug)

A dual type I didn’t know I needed until I saw it; I think the combination of Psychic and Bug is a great concept. Orbeetle has an imposing and memorable design that I’m already a big fan of, and I hope that its basic form, Blipbug, will make an appearance early in the game so I can start levelling it up as quickly as possible.

More recent generations of Pokemon games have been excellent at putting usually late game type appearances (Psychic, Dark, Dragon) earlier on in the game than in previous eras. A great example of this is Inkay in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, which could be found inside the first hour of gameplay, as its evolved form Malamar (Dark/Psychic) is a must have addition to any team that I had a great time using.

Having a Psychic/Bug Pokemon potentially introduced at the very beginning of the game will make it an absolute necessity for a first playthrough, and one I am looking forward to trying out!

4) Clobbopus / Grapploct (Fighting)

With a name like CLOBBOPUS, how could this not be in the top five?! It’s evolved form, Grapploct, looks great too, even if I do prefer the name ‘Clobbopus’. I rarely use Fighting types as I find they usually have lazier designs when compared to other types, and while they naturally have great attack and pretty good speed, they usually can’t take more than a couple of hits. I used Hawlucha in Pokemon X, and while she was great in early game, her stats were underwhelming come the grind to level 100.

My ‘lazy designs’ point definitely doesn’t apply here, and I love how Grapploct has foregone one of its own tentacles to form a makeshift belt around its waist. I’m a bit surprised that an octopus Pokemon doesn’t also have Water typing (like Octillery from gen 2) but as Poliwrath and Keldeo already exist it isn’t as if it would be a new idea, and dropping the Water typing means less weaknesses for Clobbopus and Grapploct.

3) Grimmsnarl (Dark / Fairy)

This new Pokemon not only looks badass, but its evolution chain packs its own unique dual typing. I was intrigued by Impidimp (the basic form of Grimmsnarl) when it was first shown off at the E3 2019 demo, and I was very happy to learn that it has a three tier evolution, which by designs alone look like a very fun set of Pokemon to use. I haven’t been the biggest user of Dark or Fairy Pokemon in previous generations, but I have a suspicion that this will change following the arrival of generation 8 on 15th of November.

Frosmoth (Ice / Bug)

Ice Pokemon are always interesting to use (though not my favourite type) and an Ice / Bug combination is a brilliant idea. Ice Pokemon are fun to use in any situation, as freezing opponents in battle (the second most irritating status condition after infatuation) never stops being satisfying. Bug Pokemon are typically very strong and quick with poor defence, so the possibility of freezing other Pokemon before they can even get their first move in will certainly provide a (frozen) solid advantage.

1) Toxtricity (Poison / Electric)

I was torn between Frosmoth and Toxtricity for the top spot, but as Poison is my go-to type, and I always endeavour to always have a Poison type on my team, Toxtricity had to be the winner here. Scolipede, Toxicroak and Muk (preferably Alolan) are my best Poison types, and I am always tremendously excited when a new dual type featuring Poison is added. For Generation 8, to follow Salazzle (Poison / Fire) added in Generation 7, they’ve added Toxtricity to bring an extra jolt of electricity to proceedings.

The whole idea of Toxtricity is brilliant, from its name to its appearance, and I can guarantee this Pokemon will be immediately added to my team when I first find its pre-evolved form, Toxel.

I will post a rundown of my team when I complete my first Sword / Shield playthrough, and I have high hopes that Toxtricity will be the MVP (Most Valuable Pokemon) of my first adventure in generation 8!

Special mentions to Dragapult for its unique typing of Dragon/Ghost, and Arctozolt which is Electric/Ice.

Thank you for reading my favourite designs for generation 8 Pokemon. There are lots of others that I am a big fan of, but these are my clear favourites to be on my team. Let me know your picks in the comments, as well as the version you’ll be picking up, or why you won’t be bothering. You can follow me on Twitter @MaliceVER and I will be back with more Pokemon related articles. I’ll catch you soon!