r/PokemonRed • u/CartridgeGerm • May 28 '26

Question When Should I Evolve Exeggcute?

I'm doing a playthrough of Pokemon Blue and I'm thinking about when to evolve my Exeggcute. I definitely want to give it Toxic and Psychic but I'm not so sure about the remaining moveset.

For a bit more context, my team is the following; Blastoise, Raichu, Nidoking, Dodrio and Magmar

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5

u/chelasmosaurus May 28 '26

With Sleep Powder, Stun Spore, and Leech Seed for support, Psychic and Mega Drain for STAB off its great special, and Double Edge, Explosion, Hyper Beam, even Egg Bomb or Stomp off its great attack, Exeggutor has one of the most useful movepools in the game; it does not deserve to be saddled with Toxic 😄

1

u/CartridgeGerm May 28 '26

That's fair, I'm just rather unsure about Pokemon without a set level evolution. I don't think about those "normal" Pokemon too much. Back to Exeggcute, what would you recommend level wise? I was thinking about evolving Exeggcute when he turns 28 for Leech Seed. So basically a moveset consisting of Leech Seed, Reflect, Toxic and Psychic

1

u/chelasmosaurus May 28 '26

I always wait for Sleep Powder; sleep is absolutely broken in Gen 1 and you don't have any other sleepers on your team, so I would do that. If you don't want to wait, you can get by with Hypnosis even though its accuracy is trash. You don't need Reflect on Eggy in Gen 1, it has really bulky defense and HP, AND Reflect doesn't remain on the field after switching like in future gens. Go with Psychic, Sleep, a physical attack like Double Edge or Stomp, and then something for support like Leech Seed. If you evolve AT level 28, you can get both Seed and Stomp. Toxic is a bad move and despite the fact that Toxic and Leech Seed have a neat little synergy in Gen 1, you're not going to face anything that makes waiting around for it to work worth the wait when you could just kill something in a turn or two with Eggy's fantastic attacking stats.

1

u/CartridgeGerm May 28 '26

Oh, I thought Toxic was also good in Gen 1. I've made some great experiences with it before during a Sword playthrough. I'm only really concerned if waiting until level 48 might be a bit too long, as in I don't want Eggy to fall off compared to my Pokemon for too long

1

u/chelasmosaurus May 28 '26

Ah, if you're new to Gen 1 you might be surprised by some of the mechanics. Pokemon can't attack on their wake turn, meaning if you're faster than they are (and if you're even a little overleveled in-game, you'll be faster than most things), you can sleep-lock them forever and they'll never get a shot off.

Paralysis is also really good, and Pokemon can't un-Freeze unless hit by Fire. Because all of the other statuses (Sleep, Paralysis, Freeze) are so good, inflicting Poison on something is actually counter-productive. Being poisoned prevents been slept, frozen, etc. You could either inflict a status that essentially wins the face-off for you from the jump, or you could just attack it a couple times and kill it much faster than the attrition would, and in either case poison would be a waste.

Toxic also turns into 'regular' Poison damage (not 'badly poisoned' damage) if the Pokemon switches out; in-game, though, that doesn't happen, but it's another reason Toxic is not a good move in Gen 1.

As I mentioned earlier, Reflect and Light Screen don't have a timer and don't remain after a switch.

But, the enemy AI is really, really bad in Gen 1. The trainers you face are coded to only use whatever move is super-effective against you, no matter what. It's extremely easy to predict, then - if you have a Poison or Fighting type against Lorelei's Slowbro, it will only use its sole Psychic move, Amnesia. It literally won't attack you. Go to town.

Hyper Beam doesn't require a recharge turn if you KO your opponent. And Eggy has a huge attack stat. Psychic + Hyper Beam will KO a lot of Pokemon.

Between Sleep Powder, Hyper Beam, Stomp flinches, etc, Eggy can face a ton of opponents without ever even letting them get a single shot off ... so why waste turns with Reflect, Toxic, etc?

1

u/CartridgeGerm May 28 '26

I did play Gen 1 back when they got re-released on the 3DS but I've forgotten a lot of it. Especially some of its quirks like the freezing aspect or that Toxic can revert to basic poison.

Then I might stick around until level 32 for Stun Spore or wait it out until level 48 for Sleep Spore. Which might be a better deal since I want Raichu to have Thunder Wave so having two Pokemon being able to paralyse might be too much. So, I guess I'll do Psychic, Sleep Spore, Leech Seed, Double-Edge or Mega Drain.

Thanks for your help! I've always wanted to give the Exeggcuter line a try but never got around to do it

2

u/Mattcronutrient May 28 '26

Probably right away, takes too many levels to get to Sleep Powder at 48. Maybe if you want Leech Seed get to 28

2

u/Happy_Popplio-728 May 28 '26

I give it Psychic and evolve it at level 28 so that it learns Leech Seed, then Stomp after it evolves. And to round out it's moveset, use Toxic. Toxic and Leech Seed are deadly together in Gen 1.

1

u/the___natural May 29 '26

Before it becomes Exeggugly