Hoenn’s own brave bird of prey! Swellow is the evolved form of Taillow and known as the Swallow Pokemon. It is known for its razor sharp talons and high end top speed, allowing it to dive down onto unsuspecting prey. It is extremely fast in the games proper and with good attack stats and movepool. Not only that, it’s an excellent Pokemon to have from the early onset of your journey in games its available. It evolves from Taillow at level 22.
About Swellow
Swellow would make its first appearance in the third generation of Pokemon games in Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire and as the evolution of the common regional bird, is commonly found on most teams early on. It’s main series anime debut would come in “That's Just Swellow”, where Ash’s Taillow evolves near the end of the episode.
| First appearance in anime | “That’s just Swellow” |
| First appearance in game | Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire |
| Region | Hoenn |
| Evolution | Taillow->Swellow |
| 1st Evo level | 22 |
| 2nd Evo level | N/A |
| Pokedex Entry | Omega Ruby:Swellow flies high above our heads, making graceful arcs in the sky. This Pokémon dives at a steep angle as soon as it spots its prey. The hapless prey is tightly grasped by Swellow's clawed feet, preventing escape. Alpha Sapphire:Swellow is very conscientious about the upkeep of its glossy wings. Once two Swellow are gathered, they diligently take care of cleaning each other's wings. |
Swellow Base stats
| HP | 60 |
| ATTACK | 85 |
| DEFENCE | 60 |
| SP. ATTACK | 50 |
| SP. DEFENCE | 50 |
| SPEED | 120 |
| TOTAL | 430 |
Appearance
Swellow’s body is largely a dark blue color with its white breast feathers and red accents along its face, neck, and the tips of its tail. It has a pointed yellow beak and sharp black talons with three toes to hunt with great effectiveness. Similarly to Taillow it has two twin tail feathers that have grown dramatically in size with its evolution. This is also the case for its height and weight, at 2 feet 4 inches and nearly 44 pounds it is twice as tall and nearly eight times the size of its pre-evolution.
Behavior
Swellow are excellent at tracking and hunting, as evidenced by their keen eyesights and sharp beak and talons. It dives down from the skies at impressive speeds in order to catch its targets off guard. It takes great pride in cleaning itself and will partner with other fellow Swellow in taking care of its plumage. It prefers to make its home in forests and meadows.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Swellow’s exceptional speed makes it so it is almost certainly going to go first in any matchup, giving it free reign to use some of its power physical based moves like Brave Bird. In a pinch, it can even learn Endeavor, forcing its opponent to match its own HP as a last ditch revenge play. However, Swellow is on the fragile side defensively, and just about any super effective hit spells certain doom for it.
Furthermore, as a dual Normal and Flying type Pokemon, Swellow is weak to Rock, Electric and Ice type moves, taking double the normal damage. It is immune to both Ground and Ghost types, and resistant to Bug and Grass type moves.
Where to find Swellow?
Pokemon Sun/Moon and Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon
Swellow can be found in Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon in the Space Cliff Wilds.
Pokemon Sword/Shield
Swellow is currently unobtainable in generation VIII Pokemon games, although this may change in the near future!
Best moveset
Swellow can deal sizable STAB damage with Brave Bird, but will naturally whittle itself down thanks to the sizable recoil damage of the move. In order to counteract this, Roost can be run in order to heal up. U-Turn helps to quickly dip out of unfavorable matchups, and facing near fainting, Swellow can turn the tides against enemies with Endeavor
| Brave Bird | Roost |
| U-Turn | Endeavor |
How to catch Swellow in Pokemon Go?
Swellow was released as a part of the Hoenn-region Sky-themed Pokémon set on February 9th, 2018. It can typically be found in the wild in forest and grassland areas.
It was formerly available as a Tier 3 Raid Battle as well as a reward for completing research tasks. It takes 50 candies to evolve Taillow into Swellow
Trivia
- Swellow’s name comes from a combination of swell (to grow larger, or good) and Swallow
- Swellow was the first pokemon caught by Ash in the Hoenn region, when it started as a Taillow
- Swellow’s twin tail feathers resemble the fins of modern day fighter aircraft, like the F-22 Raptor
FAQs
What is Swellow weak to?
Swellow is relatively fragile overall, so any super effective hits from rock, electric, or ice types will certainly knock it out. It also struggles with pokemon that have strong physical defense.
What is Swellow based on?
Swellow, in both name and body structure, is definitely inspired by swallows. Although it does take some characteristics from other birds like falcons
What is Swellow’s hidden ability?
Scrappy, which allows it to hit Ghost type Pokemon with Fighting and Normal type moves it would normally be immune to.
Conclusion
Swellow is a capable addition to any team, with it being relatively easy to acquire in its respective games, simple yet effective moveset and good stat spread allowing it to be an effective attacker. It has clear weaknesses in terms of it being limited against its counters in Rock and Steel types, but these can easily be managed with trainer skill and knowledge.
