You can imagine the sheer logistical nightmare of balancing the Pokémon games for competitive battling. This isn’t a fighting game with a simple roster of 25 characters, after all (not that they can get this concept right either, a lot of the time). We’ve got over two decades’ worth of Pokémon, and they just can’t all be created equal.

There’s more to the equation here, though: things aren’t supposed to be balanced. Should baby Pokémon be able to compete with the best Legendaries? Of course not. Many have terrible stats because they’re supposed to. Not that this will comfort those on this list of Pokémon with the lowest base Special Defense ever.

10 Bunnelby: Base 36 Special Defense

Now, you can never judge a Pokémon by its appearance. Teeny, adorable little Bunnelby here, for instance, evolves into Diggersby, and that’s a 3’03” bunny powerhouse you just don’t want to mess with. The Huge Power Ability allows it to hit so much harder than you’d think it could on paper.

Having said that, though, Diggersby’s stats are all-around super average. Bunnelby’s Special Defense is only base 36, which rises to just base 77 on evolution.

9 Pidgey (And 24 Others): Base 35 Special Defense

So, yes. We may have thrown a little shade at Bunnelby and its meager Special Defense, but consider this: it’s the best of the worst, which… probably counts for something. Imagine how high and mighty Bunnelby must feel, knowing that it’s beaten out these 25 challengers by a single base stat point.

That’s right, friends: Pidgey, Rattata, Alolan Rattata, Alolan Sandshrew, Machop, Doduo, Gastly, Pichu, Pineco, Remoraid, Tyrogue, Ralts, Slakoth, Skitty, Wailmer, Corphish, Timburr, Sandile, Dwebble, Bergmite, Fomantis, Meltan, Skwovet, Rookidee and Toxel all have just base 35 Special Defense.

8 Shinx: Base 34 Special Defense

Now that the Base 35 Brigade are dealt with and we’ve all moved on with our lives, we’ve got a much less complicated entry to deal with. Shinx is our next Pokémon, the only one in the series to date to have base 34 Special Defense.

This humble little Electric-type doesn’t look like it can really take a hit, and that’s because it darn well can’t. Even two evolutions later, Luxray’s base 79 Defense and Special Defense won’t do it much good. It does have the fantastic Intimidate Ability in its final form, though, so that helps a little on the physical side.

7 Shuppet: Base 33 Special Defense

As a general rule, Ghost Pokémon aren’t known for their defensive prowess. There are exceptions, of course (once Dusclops hits the field with its Eviolite attached, even Egon and his buddies couldn’t get rid of it), but they’re usually more offensive.

Banette is surprisingly powerful –especially its Mega Evolution—but lacks the Speed to really do very well. This also leaves it open to huge damage with its meager defenses, as its pre-evolution shows here.

6 Blitzle: Base 32 Special Defense

Electric Pokémon don’t usually bring much to the table in terms of defenses either. They’re usually defined by being fast and hard-hitting.

Our friend Blitzle here is a prime example of this, gaining 30 base points in both defenses on evolution and still not really being able to tank much of anything at all. While its base Speed of 116 is quite nice, it has only average Attack and few interesting moves with which to use it.

5 Kartana, Spearow, And Cosmog: Base 31 Special Defense

Well, here’s a strange assortment of Pokémon. You never thought you’d see the day when an Ultra Beast was lumped in with Spearow, did you? What a time to be alive.

The Ultra Beasts, as fans will know, tend to have oddly skewed base stat spreads. Very strong in some areas, hilariously weak in others. The Grass/Steel Kartana, for instance, has an absurd Attack of 181 and Defense of 131. Its Special Defense, meanwhile, is so bad that it’d fold to so much as a light breeze (which is appropriate, as it’s made of paper). Meanwhile, Spearow and Cosmog are… well, Spearow and Cosmog. We wouldn’t really expect any better from them.

4 Sandshrew (And 26 Others): Base 30 Special Defense

Oh, dang it. It’s getting super crowded in here again. It turns out that Alolan Sandshrew has just slightly higher Special Defense than its regular sandy counterpart. For reasons best known to themselves, it looks as though 26 other Pokémon are here to tell us the news and share in its woeful stats.

Bellsprout, Geodude, Alolan Geodude, Rhyhorn, Sunkern, Swinub, Poochyena, Wurmple, Seedot, Taillow, Wingull, Nincada, Shedinja, Makuhita, Bagon, Starly, Cranidos, Buizel, Pidove, Spewpa, Pikipek, Yungoos, Wimpod, Arrokuda, Snom and Dreepy are mostly unevolved forms of frail Pokémon, so there’s nothing surprising here. The only thing to mention is that Snom and Frosmoth have the Hidden Ability Ice Scales, which halves damage from special attacks.

3 Metapod (And 11 Others): Base 25 Special Defense

Once again, a lot of Pokémon seem to be clamoring to share a dubious honor. This time, twelve different critters all seem desperate to hold the title of third-worst Special Defense in Pokémon history.

Metapod, Kakuna, Jigglypuff, Shellder, Krabby, Horsea, Wooper, Silcoon, Cascoon, Roggenrola, Scatterbug and Wishiwashi all have a base stat of just 25 in this area. Is there a common theme here? Well, Bug-types, for one, and generation one Pokémon. Still, we all know what Game Freak seems to think about Bug-types, don’t we?

2 Whismur: Base 23 Special Defense

The penultimate stop on our tour of the most especially frail Pokémon ever is the Normal-type Whismur. This little critter’s Defense is equally bad, at base 23, and its only remotely redeeming factor is its decent HP.

The good news, however, is that Whismur has two evolutions to go through. By the time it evolves into Exploud, its Defense and Special Defense are… well, still on the ropey side, but it’s become quite the powerhouse. Its stats are nothing impressive on paper, but you won’t be laughing when this thing is Boomburst-ing your team into the year 2075.

1 Caterpie (And 6 Others): Base 20 Special Defense

Well, it’s been a wild ride, but here we are: the elevator’s finally made it all the way down to the very bottom of the barrel. As of right now, base 20 is the lowest Special Defense in the game, and a small group of Pokémon tie for the record: Caterpie, Weedle, Magikarp, Igglybuff, Carvanha, Deoxys (Attack Forme) and Stonjourner.

As we pointed out in our rundown of Pokémon with the lowest Defense (see below), Deoxys is the odd one out here. Its Attack Forme, as you’d expect, is super strong but has absolutely zero defenses, hence its appearance here. Stonjourner, too, is an interesting one: a new Generation VIII addition with beastly physical stats and hilarious special ones. The only other surprising thing here is that Caterpie’s Defense was just barely too high to appear on that list, but it’s right down at the bottom when it comes to Special Defense.

NEXT: 10 Pokémon With The Worst Defense Stat, Ranked