Why Lilligant is not worth using in Pokemon GO

Introduced with the rest of the Unova Region Pokemon, Lilligant has been in Pokemon GO for some time now. Evolving from the Grass-type Pokemon, Petilil, many players may wonder if going through the effort to collect 50 candies and use the Sun Stone would be worth it.

Introduced in the main series titles, Pokemon Black and Pokemon White, Lilligant was a Pokemon many veterans to the series are acquainted with. In the main series, Lilligant was best known for its utility by using the move Leech Seed paired with its Chlorophyl ability to increase its speed in sunny weather. This was a great quality for any Pokemon to have in the weather-dominated Black and White's online metagame.

Leech Seed is not a move that exists in Pokemon GO and neither are abilities like Chlorophyl. Does this completely delete Lilligant's relevancy? Is Lilligant not even worth the effort of obtaining and using?

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Why Lilligant is bad in Pokemon GO

Lilligant and Petilil as they appear in Pokemon Sword and Shield (Image via Game Freak)

In Pokemon GO, what makes a Pokemon good is completely different from what makes a Pokemon good in the main series games. Stunfisk is a great example of this as Stunfisk is unusable in battle in the main series but completely dominates in Pokemon GO.

But what makes Lilligant so bad in Pokemon GO is not as simple to explain as "Its stats are bad" or "It has no good moves". What makes Lilligant bad in Pokemon GO is the sheer number of other Grass-types in the game.

With over 900 Pokemon in the franchise, power creep is bound to happen. Power creep is when newer content of a game slowly becomes better than the previous older content of a game. Pokemon is one of the most notorious video game series to suffer from this concept due to the constant addition of new Pokemon with every new entry in the franchise.

Another factor contributing to Lilligant's lack of usage is that it has a very slow moveset. While Lilligant's speed stat in the main series is slightly above average, the speed of how fast a Pokemon can move in Pokemon GO is determined by the move rather than a stat. Lilligant's fast attacks are simply not that fast and do not generate energy very efficiently.

Lilligant also lacks the bulk to take damage like other Grass-types like Torterra or Venusaur. Especially for a Pokemon as slow as Lilligant, having bulk is important as it can allow the Pokemon to stay in battle long enough to at the very least land one charged attack. Lilligant only has a defense stat of 152 and a stamina stat of 177.

Unfortunately, Lilligant is only good for filling its spot in the Pokedex. If Lilligant had a quicker fast attack it might be better, but due to the power creep of the Pokemon franchise, Pokemon become irrelevant fast. Players are better off using the Sun Stone on Petilil's counterpart, Cottenee as its evolution Whimsicott is usable in Great League.