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Salamence (Boomander ボーマンダ Bōmanda in Japanese, Brutalanda in German and Drattak in French) is a fictional character from the Pokémon franchise. It is similar to Dragonite, Tyranitar, and Metagross in that it is one of the most powerful entities in the Pokémon video games (Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald).

Its name is a portmanteu of salamander and menace. Interestingly, the French name for Charmander is Salameche.

Characteristics

Salamence is a large, quadrupedal dragon with two large, red, semi-circular wings. Salamence is the final form for the evolutionary line of Bagon, which can be considered its "Larval" form, and Shelgon, its pupal state. The process by which Shelgon evolves into Salamence is rather emotive; The Pokémon has had a long-held dream since birth as a Bagon to grow wings and fly. As a Shelgon, its many long years of desiring wings apparently causes its evolution into Salamence, in which a sudden mutation of the Pokémon's cells causes the newly formed Salamence to sprout its imposing wings. This evolutionary process parallels myths of Chinese dragons, who gain wings after one thousand years of life.

At any rate, once Salamence is fully formed, it is very joyful at its successful acquisition and expresses its feelings by soaring all over the sky, blowing fire from its mouth. Salamence is just as easily expressive when enraged: When angered, it loses all thought and destroys everything around it with its fire powers and its shredding claws.

In the video games

Salamence is obtained by evolution of a Shelgon at level 50, and Shelgon in turn is evolved from Bagon, a wild Pokémon found only in a secluded chamber in Meteor Falls in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire and Pokémon Emerald. In addition, in Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, a Shadow Salamence can be snagged from Cipher Admin Eldes at Citadark Isle.

Salamence is among fellow stage-2 Pokémon Dragonite, Tyranitar, and Metagross as the apex of power, and is probably the most powerful, popular, and overused Pokémon of all Pokémon allowed in competitive play. Statistically, it is nearly identical to Dragonite, but with slightly higher special attack and speed statistics in exchange for slightly lowered defenses. Most consider this an improvement, as Salamence can hit harder and faster, yet even its defenses are not particularly low, with base stats of 80. Though Salamence’s movepool is wide, including Flamethrower, Dragon Claw, Earthquake, Rock Slide, Aerial Ace, and Crunch, Dragonite has access to the equally powerful Thunderbolt and Ice Beam attacks, which Salamence does not have. Nonetheless, Salamence is often successfully used as a direct attacker favoring force over strategy, and a common moveset includes three offensive moves and Dragon Dance, a move that upgrades both its Attack and Speed stats. All these qualities are compounded by Salamence’s Intimidate ability, which automatically lower the attack stats of the opponents. Aside from the Dragon Dancing Salamence, a Salamence with Choice Band can pack a massive wallop. Fast enough to outspeed a lot of pokemon and with average defenses, Salamence isn't that difficult to bring in. With a Choice Band, Salamence makes powerful hit and runs that can dent a lot of stuff on your opponent's team. Overall, Salamence is easily one of the most feared Pokémon to battle in the entire franchise.

Theoretically, if Salamence were encountered as a wild Pokémon, it would be holding the Dragon’s Scale item 5% of the time. But alas, Salamence is never found in the wild.

In the animé

Three trainers in the animé own a Salamence. In the sixth movie, one is owned by Butler, and is used to both help and battle Ash. Another Salamence is owned by Drake of the Hoenn Elite Four.

The third is owned by an older trainer named Silver (no connection to the Pokémon Adventures character of the same name) in Pokémon Chronicles that searched for Moltres with Richie in The Search for a Legend. It also appeared in Vanity Affair.

In other properties

Salamence has appeared on four trading cards, always as a Stage 2 Pokemon.

• EX Dragon (Holo-card, Colorless)
• EX Dragon (Rare card, Colorless)
• EX Deoxys (As Salamence EX, Colorless)
• EX Delta Species (As a Steel/Fire dual type)

The Energy cards its attacks require are Fire and Water. This follows a tradition in the card game to give Dragon-type Pokemon multi-energy attacks to separate them from Normal and Flying-type Pokemon, who are also colorless.

References

• The following games and their instruction manuals: Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue; Pokémon Yellow; Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Stadium 2; Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal; Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald; Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen; Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness

Publications

• Barbo, Maria. The Official Pokémon Handbook. Scholastic Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0439154049.
• Loe, Casey, ed. Pokémon Special Pikachu Edition Official Perfect Guide. Sunnydale, CA: Empire 21 Publishing, 1999. ISBN 130206151.
• Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., August 2004. ISBN 193020650X
• Mylonas, Eric. Pokémon Pokédex Collector’s Edition: Prima’s Official Pokémon Guide. Prima Games, September 21 2004. ISBN 0761547614
• Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon Emerald Version Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., April 2005. ISBN 1930206585

External links

• Official Pokémon website
• Bulbapedia (a Pokémon-centric Wiki)’s article about Salamence as a species
• Template:Serebiidex
• Pokémon Dungeon Pokédex entry, full of statistics analysis
• PsyPoke - Salamence Pokédex entry and Usage Overview
• Smogon.com - Salamence Tactical Data
• Template:WikiKnowledge

• Fictional dragons