Poliwrath is a blue, bipedal Pokémon with a round body and muscular arms. It has bulbous eyes that protrude from the top of its head and its belly is covered by a white and black swirl. There appear to be white gloves on its hands, and it has rounded, digit-less feet. Poliwrath's body is almost entirely muscle, and the muscles in its arms and legs never tire. When it swims, it uses all the muscles in its body and is able to swim vast distances with minimal breathing. It is even capable of briefly running on the water's surface. Being the result of an evolution via evolutionary stone, Poliwrath is rarely found in the wild, but when found, it is usually seen living on dry land near the water's edge, despite it being an excellent swimmer.
A Poliwrath appeared in Charizard Chills, under the ownership of Tad. It was in Tad's battle against Ash, where it was able to defeat both Pikachu and Charizard easily. Later, Charizard managed to defeat Poliwrath in a rematch. It reappeared in The Fires of a Red-Hot Reunion! during a flashback.
A Poliwrath appeared in Hook, Line, and Stinker, under the ownership of Andreas. It participated in a Seaking Catching contest. It later battled Misty's Poliwhirl to decide who would win the contest and was defeated.
A Poliwrath appeared in Outrageous Fortunes, under the ownership of Delaney. It upheld an excelling winning streak, prompting an impressed Team Rocket to target it.
A Trainer's Poliwrath appeared in Pop Goes The Sneasel. It was knocked out off-screen after training near the place where the Sacred Fire of Ho-Oh was kept.
Poliwrath debuts in Buzz Off, Electabuzz! when Red's Poli evolves into one to save his Trainer from drowning. His evolution wasn't explained until the Yellow arc, where it was revealed there were four evolutionary stones that could be used without any limit.
A Poliwrath appeared in Gold's fantasy after seeing Polibo evolved into Politoed in Ampharos Amore.
Chuck, Blue's own master, owns a Poliwrath, as seen in Scrappy Skarmory. It was first seen training with him and his Primeape. Together with Primeape, it used Dynamic Punch to reveal Suicune's presence in the ocean off the Cianwood coast, but the Gym Leader was defeated in the end, even after being joined by a friend.
A Poliwrath appeared alongside a Venusaur in PSs1, kidnapping Pibu.
Poliwrath's highly developed, brawny muscles never grow fatigued, however much it exercises. It is so tirelessly strong, this Pokémon can swim back and forth across the Pacific Ocean without effort.
Its highly developed muscles never grow fatigued, however much it exercises. This Pokémon can swim back and forth across the Pacific Ocean without effort.
Poliwrath's highly developed, brawny muscles never grow fatigued, however much it exercises. It is so tirelessly strong, this Pokémon can swim back and forth across the ocean without effort.
In Generation II and Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, a man in Celadon City with a Poliwrath says that he hopes that it will evolve into a frog Pokémon one day. Although the Pokémon he was thinking of is most likely Politoed, it is too late, as it is Poliwhirl, not Poliwrath, that evolves into Politoed when traded while holding a King's Rock.
An early design of Poliwrath revealed on Game Freak's official Japanese website circa 1997 depicts it wearing a crown, similar to the King's Rock which is necessary to evolve Poliwhirl into Politoed.
Poliwrath is based on a glass frog. The spiral pattern on its belly is supposed to represent how the organs of these frogs and other tadpoles can sometimes be seen through their transparent skin. It may also be based on amphibian neoteny, as it stays in tadpole form and does not metamorphose into a frog.
Name origin
Poliwrath is a combination of polliwog and wrath (anger).
Nyorobon is a combination of ニョロニョロ nyoronyoro (the sound of slithering) and an alternate reading of 洪 kō (deluge or flood) is hon (relative to bon).
In other languages
Language
Title
Meaning
Japanese
ニョロボン Nyorobon
From ニョロニョロ nyoronyoro and 洪 kō which can also be read as hon or bon
This Pokémon article is part of Project Pokédex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon species, as well as Pokémon groups and forms.