The rock-type Pokemon Lycanroc is one of the few Pokemon that has multiple forms. Many strong Pokemon has many forms like legendaries but Lycanroc is just a normal Pokemon that has three different forms it can take!
About Lycanroc
| First appearance in anime | In the Sun and Moon series episode ‘The Island Whisperer!’ |
| First appearance in game | Sun and Moon |
| Region | Alola |
| Evolution | Rockruff → Lycanroc |
| 1st Evo Level | 25 |
| Pokedex Entry | Midday Form: This Lycanroc is calm and cautious. The rocks jutting from its mane are razor sharp. With swift movements, this Pokémon gradually backs its prey into a corner. Lycanroc's fangs are always aimed toward opponents' weak spots. Midnight Form: This form of Lycanroc is reckless. It charges headlong at its opponents, attacking without any care about what injuries it might receive. It's invigorated by powerful opponents–the stronger the better. A full-force headbutt from one of these Lycanroc can shatter giant boulders. Dusk Form: This form of Lycanroc is normally calm and quiet. Once a battle begins, however, this Pokémon displays a ferocious fighting spirit. These Pokémon have both calm and ferocious qualities. Their temperamental nature makes them a difficult species to raise. |
Lycanroc’s Base Stats
Midday form
| HP | 75 |
| Attack | 115 |
| Defense | 65 |
| Sp. Attack | 55 |
| Ap. Defense | 65 |
| Speed | 112 |
Midnight form
| HP | 85 |
| Attack | 115 |
| Defense | 75 |
| Sp. Attack | 55 |
| Ap. Defense | 75 |
| Speed | 82 |
Dusk form
| HP | 75 |
| Attack | 117 |
| Defense | 65 |
| Sp. Attack | 55 |
| Ap. Defense | 65 |
| Speed | 110 |
Appearance of Lycanroc
With Lycanroc’s many forms, it obviously has many designs. However, each design shares a few defining characteristics. Lycanroc in all its forms is covered in dark grey spikes that jut out from its fur. Its fur is also consistent, being a light cream color and tending to be large fluffy masses around its neck, back, and on its tail.
Behavior of Lycanroc
Lycanroc behaves differently in different forms. In its Midday form, while it is a sharp and skilled hunter, it's a very cautious Pokemon. Its Midnight form is the exact opposite, being jumpy and reckless. Its Dusk form is a midpoint between the two, being calm but still headstrong and confident.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Lycanroc is a pure rock type in every form so it's strong against normal, flying, poison, and fire type moves and takes half damage from them. Its weaknesses all do double damage to it and are fighting, ground, steel, water, and grass-type moves.
Lycanroc Forms
When a Rockruff evolves into a Lycanroc, it can evolve into one of three Lycanroc forms. These Lycanroc forms differ depending on the time the Rockruff evolves as well as in their stats, abilities, and movesets. Most people will only see one of the Lycanroc Forms, the Midday form, but other Lycanroc forms can be seen easier in games like Pokemon Moon where the time of day is inverted and results in more Midnight form Lycanrocs.
Lycanroc Midday Form
A Rockruff will evolve into Lycanroc Midday form when it evolves during the day. Lycanroc Midday form is the form that closest resembles Rockruff the most, being the same light brown color. Lycanroc Midday form also has the least pronounced fur fluff, having a spiked but understated mane.
Lycanroc Midnight Form
Lycanroc Midnight Form is the opposite of the Midday form. A Rockruff that evolves during the night will turn into a Lycanroc Midnight Form. Lycanroc Midnight Form is very different from Rockruff, with its red eyes and fur as well as its fur tufts being larger and coming from its back over its head like a mohawk. A Lycanroc Midnight form also has a much shorter tail than other forms and stands on its hind legs rather than being on all fours.
Lycanroc Dusk Form
Lycanroc Dusk Form is the rarest of the three forms. Introduced in the Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon games, the Lycanroc Dusk form takes much more effort to obtain. A Rockruff with the ability to Own a Tempo that evolved between 7 PM and 7:59 PM in real-time will evolve into a Lycanroc Dusk form. Lycanroc Dusk Form is incredibly similar to the Midday form, having almost the exact same design with only a few more dark grey spikes to make it more resemble the Midnight form. The main difference Lycanroc Dusk form has is that its fur is a bright orange color rather than the Midday’s light brown.
Lycanroc Dawn Form
Though it was theorized about after the release of the Dusk form, Lycanroc Dawn form is not a real Pokemon and it's unlikely it ever will be. No Pokemon game has had any reference to Lycanroc Dawn form and it's unclear what the Lycanroc Dawn form would even look like. There are pieces of fanart of it but that is probably as far as this form will ever go in being seen.
Shiny Lycanroc
The incredibly rare recolor of Lycanroc, Shiny Lycanroc, affects every single form of Lycanroc. Shiny Lycanroc on the midday form turns its fur a dull blue color. The Midnight form Shiny Lycanroc is a darker blue, and the Dusk form Shiny Lycanroc is a deeper blue but not as dark as the Midnight form. Overall, Shiny Lycanroc is just a blue form of whatever Lycanroc form its taken.
Best Movesets for Lycanroc
Swords Dance Setup: Lycanroc is very fast and has an exceptional attack stat. This makes it a perfect candidate for a setup sweeper, a Pokemon which boosts its attacking stats then attempts to one-hit KO as many opposing Pokemon as possible. For Lycanroc, this means combining Swords Dance with powerful STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus) moves.
| Swords Dance | Stone Edge |
| Brick Break/Fire Fang | Accelerock |
Status Offensive: Lycanroc can also forego setup moves and just go on the attack with powerful rock-type moves combined with extra damage from Stealth Rock and Toxic to take out its bulkier opponents.
| Stealth Rock | Stone Edge |
| Accelerock | Toxic |
How to Catch Lycanroc in Pokemon Go
Lycanroc and its pre-evolution Rockruff do not appear in Pokemon Go, however, it's easy to speculate on how to obtain it. Lycanroc is not mythical or legendary so it will likely not be found in raids, instead, it will probably be obtained from evolving Rockruff. Pokemon Go also has a time of day system so its likely that the Lycanroc forms will be handled the same way as in the mainline games, with the Midday form being obtained by evolving a Rockruff during the day, the Midnight form from evolving a Rockruff at night, and the Dusk form from evolving a Rockruff at dusk.
Trivia
Lycanroc has 6 possible abilities between all of its forms, the only other Pokemon with this many abilities is Mr. Mime.
Using the Rotom Dex’s QR Code feature to generate a code for the Lycanroc Dusk form actually results in the same QR Code for the Lycanroc Midday form.
FAQs
Q. Is there a Lycanroc in Pokemon go?
Lycanroc does not appear in Pokemon Go but likely will in the future along with all its forms which will likely behave exactly the same way as they do in the mainline games.
Q. What is Lycanroc Z's move?
A Lycanroc holding Lycanium Z and knowing the move Stone Edge can use the Z Move Splintered Stormshards. This move is effectively a powered-up version of Stone Edge which deals massive damage and also removes any terrain modifiers from the battlefield.
Q. Which Lycanroc form is best?
In competitive play, Lycanroc is not particularly spectacular but its Dusk form is considered the best due to its Tough Claws ability. The ability is a boost to physical moves, powering them up by 30% which is incredible for Lycanroc as it's an incredibly speedy physical attacker.
Conclusion
Lycanroc may not be the most powerful Pokemon out there but in any of its forms, it can hold its ground. And its multiple forms alone are special enough, even if the Dusk form is underwhelming the Midday and Midnight forms are interesting opposites which each create slightly different playstyles.
