G/S/C Noctowl or Xatu?

I HATE MAKING TEAMS. By the way, this is for in-game use.

Anyway, I can't decide who should be my Flying type and Psychic user; I'm torn between Xatu and Noctowl. Xatu has superior Speed and Spc. Atk, but doesn't learn Psychic until level 65, and I can't get the TM for it until much later in Kanto. Being able to use Psychic was the main point of using Xatu, and it doesn't learn ANY other damaging Psychic attack besides Future Sight. Noctowl, on the other hand, is slower and less powerful than Xatu, but is a very sturdy, defensive Pokemon. It learns useful moves like Reflect and Hypnosis, and learns Confusion naturally. But, it doesn't learn Confusion until level 41, and has no STAB and only 76 base Spc. Atk to work off of. The other redeeming factor is that mine is Shiny.

Help me decide! This is driving me CRAZY!

I'd say Noctowl. It has much more of a movepool, and it gains the wonderful addition of the Hypnosis - Dream Eater combo. It does require a bit of training, but it learns Dream Eater at level 57, eight levels before Xatu learns Psychic.

Plus, think of it this way; Xatu can dish out a hit, but it takes a long time and it can't take too many hits, whereas Noctowl can dish out a decent amount of damage, and can take many more hits.

Noctowl has worse base Attack than Xatu, which means that it can't use Flying moves as well, and its Special Attack isn't that great either. But it's a fairly nice defensive one that can use Hypnosis/Dream Eater (something Xatu can't do) and Reflect. I used a Noctowl in both my Crystal and Platinum team, and it's likely the worst member of my team in both (although I'm still going to use one in HG because my HG team is going to be my old Crystal team). I'd actually recommend Xatu, even though you can't get it for a little while later than you can get Noctowl.

Alright, I've decided: I'm going with Noctowl. I can't believe I forgot Dream Eater! The Hypnosis-Dream Eater combo is one of my favorite in-game strategies, and Hypnosis alone is useful anyway while Dream Eater has more power than Psychic, although it has no STAB. Plus, it will even out my team: I'll have 3 fast hard-hitters and 3 slow defensive Pokemon. I can't get a Natu until I get the 4th Badge, but with Noctowl I can have all 6 team members before Whitney. Plus my Hoohoot's shiny, so it has somewhat above average stats. I love using the underdogs, too.

So while we're here, here's the moveset I plan to use:

Noctowl (Lucky) @ Leftovers
-Hypnosis
-Dream Eater
-Reflect
-Fly

Hypnosis is useful for giving Noctowl the advantage it oh so needs against the opponent. Dream Eater gives me my Psychic attack and a source of healing for Noctowl. Reflect is to help raise Noctowl's pitiful 50 Base Defense. Fly is there strictly to get around in-game and I guess STAB for dire situations and Heracross (which I believe NO in-game trainer has, but Stadium 2's Bruno does), not that 50 Base Attack is gonna do anything much to anything BUT a 4x weakness. Leftovers to work with Dream Eater recovery.

How's it look?

glitchedgamer said:

Plus my Hoohoot's shiny, so it was somewhat above average stats.

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I thought G/S/C shinies had less-than-average stats?

Leafpool said:

I thought G/S/C shinies had less-than-average stats?

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I've heard both stories, actually. Bulbapedia has the exact IVs needed for a Pokemon to be shiny, so you can check there. Personally, I think they make the Pokemon more balanced, not more powerful. Then again, I know nothing about IVs in the 2nd Gen, so I could be dead wrong O_o.

shinies have 10 each of def,spc,spd, and about half the attack values. They also have 8 or 0 effective hp iv's.

I say use both. Birds!

sreservoir said:

shinies have 10 each of def,spc,spd, and about half the attack values. They also have 8 or 0 effective hp iv's.

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When you say attack values, does that also mean Special Attack? If it's just attack, I have nothing to worry about since Noctowl has 50 base attack anyway.

Noctowl for hypnois & dream eater.
He can withstand alot more attacks xatu.

glitchedgamer said:

When you say attack values, does that also mean Special Attack? If it's just attack, I have nothing to worry about since Noctowl has 50 base attack anyway.

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attack can be any of eight values, but I can't be bothered to do the research. speacial stats shere an iv in gen 2.

Ok, thanks.