How to unlock Buzzwole
Getting Buzzwole means pulling the Alola banner and hitting its 4★ slot. The 4★ band takes 6.5% of all pulls and holds 211 partners, so one specific Buzzwole works out to about 0.0308% per draw. The 70-pull pity counter only applies to 5★ results, so Buzzwole has no floor of its own and no targeted pull. A duplicate Buzzwole refunds 120 coins at the 4★ rate.
Buzzwole stats and rank
Buzzwole carries 118 HP, 111 speed, a ×1.46 attack multiplier, ×1.46 physical, ×0.99 special, 139 defense and 53 special defense, 570 in total. On the three-stat percentile this is 84.6 out of 100, which puts Buzzwole at rank 44 of 966 and in tier S. What separates it from its neighbours is shape, not size: its strongest slot is physical multiplier (98th percentile) and its weakest is special defense (29th percentile), so it is a specialist rather than an all-rounder.
Best moves in Buzzwole's pool
At move level 5 the pool is led by Karate Chop at 46.2 damage per 0.38s (179.9 effective DPS, ×1.46 multiplier), then Body Slam at 75.6 damage per 0.71s (154.9 effective DPS, ×1.46 multiplier), then Tackle at 33.6 damage per 0.38s (130.8 effective DPS, ×1.46 multiplier). 11 of its 17 damaging moves scale with the physical multiplier and 6 with the special one, alongside 4 support moves. Its physical multiplier is the higher of the two (×1.46 against ×0.99), so physical moves convert better. The top option beats the second by 25.0 DPS, which decides slot one and leaves slot two as a judgement call.
Evolution cards for Buzzwole
Its starting move, Bug Bite, evolves into X-Scissor once the move is at level 5 and you hold the Power card, which boosts attack for that run. The permanent menu cannot substitute: only a Power card picked during the run unlocks the evolution. 17 of its 21 moves carry an evolution card, across 6 distinct cards (Vigor, Sprint, Power, Reflexes, Armor and Synthesis). The strongest of them is Karate Chop at 179.9 effective DPS, so that is the one worth holding a card for first.
Buzzwole compared to similar partners
The two closest stat lines in the roster are Great Tusk (+4 HP, +4 speed, -0.04 attack, +0 total) and Rhyperior (+4 HP, -16 speed, +0.01 attack, -35 total). Against Great Tusk, Great Tusk is 4 speed faster and Buzzwole hits harder by ×0.04, and the rank gap is 10 places. Every one of those numbers cuts both ways, so the decision is about which stat the run needs, so neither side is a strict upgrade and the move pools have to break the tie.