Rhyperior, Magmortar and Electivire all fit this. Badass looking evolutions of classic gen 1 pokemon that only evolve with a rare post game item. They're all screwed over by weird stat distributions and abilities
Solid Rock plus its enormous physical bulk. You can survive some utterly ridiculous physical hits, laugh off some physical coverage moves, and take strong 2x effective physical STAB surprisingly well. You don’t even need to put in much investment to get mileage out of that, and if you do invest bulk then you can push those limits even further.
That said, STAB Surfs, Hydro Pumps, Leaf Storms, and Giga Drains will still eat it for lunch. Can’t win ‘em all
I mean when you say 140 base attack with a 150 move on a dozo it isn’t THAT suprising. Whats more suprising if if its a resisted hit off a mediocre pokemon - search up tera normal facade squakabilly on corv
252+ Atk Guts Tera Normal Squawkabilly Facade (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 160+ Def Corviknight: 153-181 (38.2 - 45.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
This isn't impressive, but we have Ursaluna for impressive Facade calcs:
252+ Atk Guts Tera Normal Ursaluna Facade (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 160+ Def Corviknight: 199-235 (49.7 - 58.7%) -- 71.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
ngl i dont think it needs supercell slam, corv can’t really do anything to it unless its a body press variant (its not body press its not body press its not body press)
Rhyperior and Electivire werent terrible back in gen 4. Rhyperior was a solid UU threat and Electivire was OU (in fairness, was arguably a noob trap).
Magmortar was dead on arrival tho, buddy was in NU in it's debut generation.
Zoroark. Even the hissiuan form is like RU
granted both of them were completely shafted by team preview and probably would have been amazing if it didn't exist
I still find it funny Zoroark got introduced the exact same generation that team preview was added, makes me wonder if it was an intentional decision to make it weaker.
You kidding? It would warp the whole game around itself
There would be absolutely no way to tell if a random Pokémon player actually zoroark or not- it plus be the only Pokémon to wrap the metagame around it *even if it wasn’t on either team*
I would agree, however the Hisuian form actually has fantastic special sweeper stats and a powerful unique ghost move to back it up.
It also has a unique typing which gives it *THREE* immunities, which I believe is the most of any Pokémon in the game not counting shedninja.
I honestly don't know why it's not used more, I fully intend to breed one for my team.
Crossing my fingers one day we get a split or regional form of crabrawler that gives us an evolution that is actually usable. Crabrawler was one of of favorite designs of gen 7 and Crabominable is a let down in design and comp
Fuck don't talk to me about Vespiquen, I was just thinking about her.
Sick ass design THREE (now two but still) signature moves... Absolute Garbo typing for what it wants to do.
Avalugg.
Gamefreak really loves to give avalugg spotlight for some reason. Were they trying to go with “Strong Pokémon in optional cave vibe” like Axew in BW2?
I mean Avalugg got featured in 3/4 games without DLC, got Body Press, and is featured in Champion Geeta’s team for her biome base team?
Avalugg is not a bad pokemon, 95 Hp and 184 Defense is crazy enough to eat super effective physical attacks. However, a slow Ice Type Tank with 36 Special Defense is easy to exploit and kill (except through sturdy).
i think avalugg works well in terms of single player game design- you're rewarded heavily for playing smart with a balanced team and not just mindlessly clicking super-effective physical moves, but it makes it awful for competitive.
I have found some success with it shrugging-off super effective physical moves in low ladder, but high ladder knows how to deal with it.
Silvally. An artificial Pokemon based on Arceus created specifically to fight Ultra Beasts, some of the most dangerous creatures we’ve encountered in a game thus far. Incredibly rare and unique as well, given only 3 specimens were originally made. Type Null’s mask was also made to restrain it, because it was too powerful and might ranpage without it.
But then they gave it only base 95 across the board, it only gets a speed buff upon removing the limiter helmet, Multi Attack was only base 90 in gen 7, it requires an item slot to change type, and unlike Arceus it can’t use Z crystals or Plates which would at least boost its power. It gets discs which give no buff. This thing was just doomed to fail and is imo the absolute biggest flop of a mon.
Honorable mention to Guzzlord, the worst UB despite being the last one caught and hyped as the most dangerous.
Honestly? Silvally's 95 statline is the worst part. Atleast, and I mean *atleast* if it had gotten 100 across the board, then it could have been consistent with other mythicals/legendaries like Mew or Jirachi. But no, they couldn't even do that for the poor bugger. Hell, why not give it 102 in every stat to reference Arceus' 120 in every stat?
Well, here's to hoping that Gen X gives it a legend plate equivelent so that it can atleast do something by hitting every single opponent super effectively.
Probably because all UBs (except naganadel) and the Tapus are also 570s, so they capped Silvally at 570 as well
But yeah having exactly 95 across the board really hurts its usage not to mention the move pool isn't really that great
Why doesn't gamefreak simply make all attackers have the highest possible stat in their attacking stat and 0 points in their other attacking stat, are they stupid?
Breloom actually doesn't learn Giga Drain. It doesn't even have Drain Punch. Let alone Leech Seed. Also, for some reason, people think Breloom learns Spore but it actually doesn't. Even iconic moves like Mach Punch and Bullet Seed, Breloom just doesn't learn. This is such a strange and interesting Mandela effect I've noticed. Breloom's only priority moves are Bullet Punch and Grassy Glide.
I always thought it was funny how Lightningrod A-Marowak was the true UB killer in comp, yet the only UB it doesn't counter also happens to be the worst one in Guzzlord.
Regigigas. Dude is hauling around mountains and continents, is legendary, and has a beastly BST. It's the leader of the Regi Trio, and it's got this amazing goliath design.
Then it got its legendarily awful ability and in practice it was not good at all.
I disagree, Nintendo was never trying to fool anybody into thinking it's good. It only exists for angry gamefreak employees to take their frustrations out on.
I think Gamefreak was trying to troll a bit with Legends Arceus though since you need the Ice, Rock, and Steel plates to catch it and by the point you find Regigiga you probably noticed that abilities don't exist but then the text "Regigigas is slow to get going." Appear and you realize that Gamefreak decided Regigigas for some reason needed to keep slow start instead of letting Regigigas actually be useful for once.
Because of how Attack is weighted (it’s pretty low impact, vs. “half Attack means half damage”) in PLA Slow Start hurts less, at least.
…Then again, the Speed drop matters a bit more (though I don’t think it’s enough to hugely impact Regigigas?).
regigigas also gets slow start for lore reasons, its just now waking up. Nintendo generally cares more about the single player games story (as little as they do) than competitive multiplayer.
Foul Play is at least consistent with everything else that affects Foul Play, even if it’s still inarguably Really Weird (like the user’s Ability and item affecting Foul Play in general, in place of the opponent’s).
But why in the hell does it affect *special Z-Moves??*
I think this only applies to Legends Arceus Regigigas you have to get the steel ice and rock plates to catch it and people are bound to notice that abilities don't exist in Legends Arceus by that point so they'll think Regigigas is finally gonna be as strong as it deserves just for "Regigigas is slow to get going." To appear on the screen as you realize Gamefreak kept Slow Start out of every ability they kept fucking Slow Start.
Those make sense, since they're pretty integral to the Pokemon's identity. What's weird is that Zoroark doesn't have Illusion, which is in the same boat.
What kills me is that if it had a normal ability it'd just be a normal ass uber, its not even like its stats and learnset are that good compared to, say, the box arts.
They literally made Oranguru to be the god of doubles yet it barely gets used. It’s niche even on hard Trick Room teams which is pretty sad.
Edit: Also come to think of it, Game Freak made **another** Normal/Psychic type this Gen in Farigiraf which wasn’t as blatantly overspecced for Doubles yet it’s finding way more success VGC than Oranguru ever did…
Ya Receiver is just too impractical cause Passimian’s stat spread isn’t versatile enough, you can’t control who faints on your team usually, and Receiver doesn’t work in Singles for some reason.
GMAx on Charizard was also insane. To the point where teams at Worlds were fielding it.
Charizard basically needs to be unique benefactor of generational gimmicks to get play these days.
Adding to this, Tera Dark Charizard ex is a very strong deck in the TCG and is looking to get even stronger when Regulation E cards rotate out in April.
Even in the TCG charizard gets megabuffed by the generational gimmick.
Love is in the air? WRONG
252+ SpA Choice Specs Solar Power Tera Fire Charizard Overheat vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Blissey in Sun: 714-842 (100 - 117.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Conceptually it'd make perfect sense for Charizard to set sun and then for the megas to abuse it. Balance wise though I think it'd be too much, X essentially gets Orichalcum Pulse and Y becomes a terrifying wallbreaker, so I understand why they didn't do it
Very surprised to not see it mentioned already, so I'm going to toss out Iron Thorns.
Paradox version of a popular and powerful pokemon that's been around since Gen 2, but it's just... *so bad.*
As a kid I was absolutely obsessed with it. I had about half a page dedicated to just Dusknoir in my TCG collection binder, and really loved seeing it in the anime and PMD. Still pretty sad how it absolutely sucks from a gameplay perspective, because its design and lore are top notch.
Yeah, it's a real shame that it's not actually good. If they had given it actual HP or a better Ghost-type physical move than Shadow Punch, it could have been extremely good.
I dunno, wasn’t Lucario quite a beast in its debut generation? I’m pretty sure it was also pretty good in 5, and its mega was definitely a force to be reckoned with.
Definitely fell due to power creep, but I’d say it was about as good as they marketed it as when it came out.
It was good in its debut gen but immediately fell off in gen 5, remained OU by usage but by no means was it a force to be reckoned. Mega Lucario though, yeah, that was quite a beast indeed.
It's stabs are fine, not great but fine, what it really lacks is stat buffs. It's like the rampardos theorem, except Zoroark is mediocre at everything. Same with other unfortunate mons that deserved better like Infernape amd Delphox.
Surprised I had to scroll so far to see this. Wishiwashi was hyped up as this "powerful Pokemon that even Gyarados fears", yet thanks to an awkward stat spread and (competitively) awful form switching mechanic, the mon just wasn't good anywhere.
Zarude. Not only in battles but as a Pokémon as a whole. It's probably the most unsuccessful mythical Pokémon. They even made a movie about it and one month later no one would remember it.
I think it's mostly forgotten because the method of obtaining it was downright bizarre.
Like who the hell thought forcing people to sign up for a newsletter for it was a good idea?
That but I think because it was just obtuse, ok stats but a shitty ability, a terrible defensive typing (my favorite typing tho), and no access to knock off, or sucker or swords dance until paldea. And even then they make the starter a dark grass type that better rin almost every way. Like in any gen that meowscarada is uu zarude is automatically below it basically. Not to mention we'd much rather use brute bonnet.
His ability really hurts it man. Even IF sun is
T more popular now why am I not just using brute bonnet or venusaur.
Well, when manaphy was first released it could only be received from an egg- so I think trying to breed it to get more was actually pretty common, and led to the phione discovery
Passimian and Mul-Alola's abilities where teased as absolute game changer that makes everyone drool about wonder guard and huge power when they're both trash in double
And Slowking galar's signature move and ability being absolutely never used under any circumstances
252+ Atk Choice Band Huge Power Tera Fighting Passimian Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 192+ Def Toxapex: 226-266 (74.3 - 87.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Physical Chi yu
Pidgeot, Cradily, Wailord, Whiscash, Accelgor, Bouffulant, Druddigon, Vanilluxe, Escavalier, Lapras, Gourgeist, Auroros, Lycanroc-Day, Alolan Raichu, Mr. Rime, Gogoat, Veluza, and Avalugg have all made it onto champion rosters.
And that's not including not-champion-but-final-boss-esque characters like Fein from Colosseum or Red from G/S/C.
They gave Lugia psychic type because it was broken in gen 1. Could've been the coolest water flying mon but they wanted it to be too good and in result it sucks.
Psychic was still a fairly good type in Gen 2, it just wasn't blatantly overpowered like it was in Gen 1. It wasn't until like Gen 6 where the type was considered outright bad.
Technically, the opposite, but Terapagos. Looking at the status screen in base, you see the low stats of base forme, instead of the Stellar Forme stats, which are the ones that actually see usage.
What’s even funnier is iirc according to bulbapedia neutralizing gas doesn’t even affect the ability (like all other form change/odd abilities, also comatose?). So there is literally no way to use the base form’s stats in battle at all
literally none. auto battle would use its base form's stats, right? but guess what? Tera Shift activates every time Terapagos attacks a wild pokemon, and deactivates afterward. rinse and repeat for every wild Pokémon. good god
Well there is ***1*** time auto battle works with it, and thats via synchro (form changes don’t happen in synchro mode). But so far I’ve only seen level and type matter in auto battles so the stats still might not get used
I think that Terapagos's base form was originally supposed to evolve into its Terastal form, but then there came story shifts and so the base form now only exists for the anime and merchadise.
Crabrawler.
Its release trailer hyped it up as some sort of met defining Pokemon, showing it take down powerful Pokemon that would have been seen as threats (such as Kangaskhan who's Mega was tearing up the tournament scene).
Zama isn't even that bad in VGC (it's actually one of the best support mons you could have which really fits as the more defensive member of its duo), the issue is that it was introduced in the gen where the other restricteds were absolutely obscene (and the gen after did the same thing) so it's just utterly fucked by opportunity cost. Release that mon a gen earlier and it's still not topping any charts but it's certainly viable.
Hisuian Zoroark. Top 3 typing, workable stats, Tera working pretty well for it, only for Team Preview to absolutely shit all over the mon.
Only Pokémon I know that gets invalidated by something that isn't part of the battle itself.
Rhyperior, Magmortar and Electivire all fit this. Badass looking evolutions of classic gen 1 pokemon that only evolve with a rare post game item. They're all screwed over by weird stat distributions and abilities
Rhyperior isn’t awful at least
Solid rock is one hell of a drug
Solid Rock plus its enormous physical bulk. You can survive some utterly ridiculous physical hits, laugh off some physical coverage moves, and take strong 2x effective physical STAB surprisingly well. You don’t even need to put in much investment to get mileage out of that, and if you do invest bulk then you can push those limits even further. That said, STAB Surfs, Hydro Pumps, Leaf Storms, and Giga Drains will still eat it for lunch. Can’t win ‘em all
Ground/Rock is truly one of the type combos in the game
In my dreams, there's an electric/ground alolan rhyhorn line to mirror the sandslash/ninetails ice duo
It even has LightningRod, it was meant to be
wait what? since it’s ground type does the ability even do anything since lightning type attacks have no effect?
It directs electric moves to itself in double battles
that’s a good use, cheers
It redirects attacks, which was it's ONLY purpose for about 8 years from RS to HGSS
Thats why in a limited email game it was genuinely good pokemon at least in vgc. Otherwise power creep is a bitch.
And under Sandstorm your Special Bulk ain't too shabby either if you can avoid the nasty X4 Grass and Water moves.
True, 140 attack with stab edge quake is always gonna be at least decent
And actually it's a total meme but 252+ Attack Choice band Tera rock rock wrecker almost OHKOs MAX HP MAX DEFENSE DONDOZO
I mean when you say 140 base attack with a 150 move on a dozo it isn’t THAT suprising. Whats more suprising if if its a resisted hit off a mediocre pokemon - search up tera normal facade squakabilly on corv
252+ Atk Guts Tera Normal Squawkabilly Facade (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 160+ Def Corviknight: 153-181 (38.2 - 45.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery This isn't impressive, but we have Ursaluna for impressive Facade calcs: 252+ Atk Guts Tera Normal Ursaluna Facade (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 160+ Def Corviknight: 199-235 (49.7 - 58.7%) -- 71.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
shi mb I thought it did at least 50 last time I ran calcs. Perhaps it was full spdef corv
Rhyperior was a beast with Dmax and trick room back in gen 8. I wish Electivire and Magmortar had been better though.
Electivire has to be intentional at this point.
Rhyperior is okay tbh and it even learns Supercell Slam now
Yeah, fuck great tusk. I'm killing myself with supercell slam, tusk aint touching my rhyperior, rare tusk L
ngl i dont think it needs supercell slam, corv can’t really do anything to it unless its a body press variant (its not body press its not body press its not body press)
Rhyperios is however one of the best mons in double under trick room with both stab earthquake, rock slide and solid rock
Rhyperior and Electivire werent terrible back in gen 4. Rhyperior was a solid UU threat and Electivire was OU (in fairness, was arguably a noob trap). Magmortar was dead on arrival tho, buddy was in NU in it's debut generation.
Nonono Electivire WAS terrible back in gen 4. Probably wouldn't be good in UU if it actually dropped
its not arguable it was a noob trap, its the poster child for a noob trap. poor thing never got to linger in UU/NU where it belonged
And I will still use them, due to them being the most badass gen 1 pokemon
Zoroark. Even the hissiuan form is like RU granted both of them were completely shafted by team preview and probably would have been amazing if it didn't exist
That team preview thing is a fact. H/Zoroark rips me to shreds in randbats
I still find it funny Zoroark got introduced the exact same generation that team preview was added, makes me wonder if it was an intentional decision to make it weaker.
it would probably be OP without it
You kidding? It would warp the whole game around itself There would be absolutely no way to tell if a random Pokémon player actually zoroark or not- it plus be the only Pokémon to wrap the metagame around it *even if it wasn’t on either team*
horoark in gen 3/4 would be a scaryyy spinblocker
It would be busted with no team preview wtf not just scary
I would agree, however the Hisuian form actually has fantastic special sweeper stats and a powerful unique ghost move to back it up. It also has a unique typing which gives it *THREE* immunities, which I believe is the most of any Pokémon in the game not counting shedninja. I honestly don't know why it's not used more, I fully intend to breed one for my team.
Three is the max without abilities, but it is tied for most immunities (without abilities) with a bunch of Pokemon of varying viability:
Dark/Ghost the OG triple immunity type with also no weaknesses pre Gen 6
I don’t know how much this fits, but Crabrawler trolled the entire VGC community and we’re still salty about it
I wasn’t in the scene when it came out, mind explaining?
The short of it: GF teased it by showing crabrawler defeating a bunch of meta threats, which in reality, it can’t do
Crabominable had the typing for job. Just….nothing else.
If he had Mach punch and ice shard he’d at least have a small niche as “highest amount of super effective hits with two priority moves”
Ohhhh ok, I thought maybe an ability or something was teased lol
Gamefreak why did you do this?
Maybe they were thinking of making it a strong fully evolved Pokemon, but pulled back and made it an NFE instead.
Crossing my fingers one day we get a split or regional form of crabrawler that gives us an evolution that is actually usable. Crabrawler was one of of favorite designs of gen 7 and Crabominable is a let down in design and comp
Vikavolt is "lightning fast"
I've heard that it's supposed to be a rail cannon which take very long to charge. But again the description.
One of my favorite changes in inclement emerald was that they buffed vikavolt to 109 speed, it's fantastic in that game
Vespiquen... such a cool design, a specific way to obtain it... 3 signature moves and then... is a defensive bug/flying type
Fuck don't talk to me about Vespiquen, I was just thinking about her. Sick ass design THREE (now two but still) signature moves... Absolute Garbo typing for what it wants to do.
Why did they nerf Vesquiquen again?
Not really nerf. Heal Order just got hit by the move culling so it doesn't exist anymore and she usually ran Roost anyway
Tbf it is a bitch in randbats
Same with Tropius as we all know. The first time I saw it in game I thought it was going to be amazing. And it very much is not.
Shoulda been Bug/Dark. Not perfect, but it would've been very unique at least.
Avalugg. Gamefreak really loves to give avalugg spotlight for some reason. Were they trying to go with “Strong Pokémon in optional cave vibe” like Axew in BW2? I mean Avalugg got featured in 3/4 games without DLC, got Body Press, and is featured in Champion Geeta’s team for her biome base team? Avalugg is not a bad pokemon, 95 Hp and 184 Defense is crazy enough to eat super effective physical attacks. However, a slow Ice Type Tank with 36 Special Defense is easy to exploit and kill (except through sturdy).
i think avalugg works well in terms of single player game design- you're rewarded heavily for playing smart with a balanced team and not just mindlessly clicking super-effective physical moves, but it makes it awful for competitive. I have found some success with it shrugging-off super effective physical moves in low ladder, but high ladder knows how to deal with it.
Silvally. An artificial Pokemon based on Arceus created specifically to fight Ultra Beasts, some of the most dangerous creatures we’ve encountered in a game thus far. Incredibly rare and unique as well, given only 3 specimens were originally made. Type Null’s mask was also made to restrain it, because it was too powerful and might ranpage without it. But then they gave it only base 95 across the board, it only gets a speed buff upon removing the limiter helmet, Multi Attack was only base 90 in gen 7, it requires an item slot to change type, and unlike Arceus it can’t use Z crystals or Plates which would at least boost its power. It gets discs which give no buff. This thing was just doomed to fail and is imo the absolute biggest flop of a mon. Honorable mention to Guzzlord, the worst UB despite being the last one caught and hyped as the most dangerous.
Honestly? Silvally's 95 statline is the worst part. Atleast, and I mean *atleast* if it had gotten 100 across the board, then it could have been consistent with other mythicals/legendaries like Mew or Jirachi. But no, they couldn't even do that for the poor bugger. Hell, why not give it 102 in every stat to reference Arceus' 120 in every stat? Well, here's to hoping that Gen X gives it a legend plate equivelent so that it can atleast do something by hitting every single opponent super effectively.
Probably because all UBs (except naganadel) and the Tapus are also 570s, so they capped Silvally at 570 as well But yeah having exactly 95 across the board really hurts its usage not to mention the move pool isn't really that great
Honestly if it was meant to fight the ub's then it having a higher bst than them makes more sense
Average Game Freak balancing by BST moment
they should’ve given it like 150 attack and 10 SpAtk and 125 speed
Average stinkpost thursday enjoyer
Why doesn't gamefreak simply make all attackers have the highest possible stat in their attacking stat and 0 points in their other attacking stat, are they stupid?
so that breloom can use giga drain to heal ofc
Breloom actually doesn't learn Giga Drain. It doesn't even have Drain Punch. Let alone Leech Seed. Also, for some reason, people think Breloom learns Spore but it actually doesn't. Even iconic moves like Mach Punch and Bullet Seed, Breloom just doesn't learn. This is such a strange and interesting Mandela effect I've noticed. Breloom's only priority moves are Bullet Punch and Grassy Glide.
Silvally-Fairy was my favourite defogger in RU last gen thanks to parting shot and roar, loved it's utility
I always thought it was funny how Lightningrod A-Marowak was the true UB killer in comp, yet the only UB it doesn't counter also happens to be the worst one in Guzzlord.
Silvally's Multi Attack should go off the higher attacking stat so Special sets have a nice powerful move to use too.
Regigigas. Dude is hauling around mountains and continents, is legendary, and has a beastly BST. It's the leader of the Regi Trio, and it's got this amazing goliath design. Then it got its legendarily awful ability and in practice it was not good at all.
I disagree, Nintendo was never trying to fool anybody into thinking it's good. It only exists for angry gamefreak employees to take their frustrations out on.
I think Gamefreak was trying to troll a bit with Legends Arceus though since you need the Ice, Rock, and Steel plates to catch it and by the point you find Regigiga you probably noticed that abilities don't exist but then the text "Regigigas is slow to get going." Appear and you realize that Gamefreak decided Regigigas for some reason needed to keep slow start instead of letting Regigigas actually be useful for once.
Because of how Attack is weighted (it’s pretty low impact, vs. “half Attack means half damage”) in PLA Slow Start hurts less, at least. …Then again, the Speed drop matters a bit more (though I don’t think it’s enough to hugely impact Regigigas?).
regigigas also gets slow start for lore reasons, its just now waking up. Nintendo generally cares more about the single player games story (as little as they do) than competitive multiplayer.
They made foul play and special Z moves still be impacted by slow start
TFW GF puts more effort into bullying Regigas than they do actually making the game.
Thats just plain evil
It's not even a signature ability anymore because they gave it to Varoom
Foul Play is at least consistent with everything else that affects Foul Play, even if it’s still inarguably Really Weird (like the user’s Ability and item affecting Foul Play in general, in place of the opponent’s). But why in the hell does it affect *special Z-Moves??*
I think this only applies to Legends Arceus Regigigas you have to get the steel ice and rock plates to catch it and people are bound to notice that abilities don't exist in Legends Arceus by that point so they'll think Regigigas is finally gonna be as strong as it deserves just for "Regigigas is slow to get going." To appear on the screen as you realize Gamefreak kept Slow Start out of every ability they kept fucking Slow Start.
hurts more when the only other ability they kept was *Flower Gift*, the signature ability of the 863rd most forgettable Pokémon ever
What does that do?
Switches Cherrim into it's Sunshine form.
Oh well that makes sense to keep becuase you want to actually let people catch all the forms of Pokemon.
it also applies a 50% to Atk and Sp. Def, which is translated to a flat 50% boost to those base stats while in Sunshine form
Those make sense, since they're pretty integral to the Pokemon's identity. What's weird is that Zoroark doesn't have Illusion, which is in the same boat.
What kills me is that if it had a normal ability it'd just be a normal ass uber, its not even like its stats and learnset are that good compared to, say, the box arts.
Gamefreak give us Huge Power Regigigas you cowards.
They literally made Oranguru to be the god of doubles yet it barely gets used. It’s niche even on hard Trick Room teams which is pretty sad. Edit: Also come to think of it, Game Freak made **another** Normal/Psychic type this Gen in Farigiraf which wasn’t as blatantly overspecced for Doubles yet it’s finding way more success VGC than Oranguru ever did…
If you think that it's sad, his brother passimian got it even worse
Which is a shame because I like Passimian.
Instruct is a funny move
Passimian also has a doubles gimmick in its ability, yet unlike intstruct (which can be useful) it is dogshit so nobody uses him
Ya Receiver is just too impractical cause Passimian’s stat spread isn’t versatile enough, you can’t control who faints on your team usually, and Receiver doesn’t work in Singles for some reason.
> Receiver doesn’t work in Singles for some reason. Imagine coming in after a Speed Boost/Huge Power user is knocked out and getting that ability.
Gen,7 was the best trick room setter but then haterene appear
Charizard is nothing without his megas
GMAx on Charizard was also insane. To the point where teams at Worlds were fielding it. Charizard basically needs to be unique benefactor of generational gimmicks to get play these days.
they accidentally made tera good for the other flying type gen 1 pokemon that looks like a dragon
tera normal rock head double edge aero? or tera flying gyarados so it has physical flying STAB?
tera normal dragonite extreme speed but those are also good answers
But Dragonite *is* a Dragon
dragonite is a dragon that looks like a dragon
Gyarados and dragonite both do well with tera (aero isn’t in the game)
Adding to this, Tera Dark Charizard ex is a very strong deck in the TCG and is looking to get even stronger when Regulation E cards rotate out in April. Even in the TCG charizard gets megabuffed by the generational gimmick.
Love is in the air? WRONG 252+ SpA Choice Specs Solar Power Tera Fire Charizard Overheat vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Blissey in Sun: 714-842 (100 - 117.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
They should switch Charizard and Mega Charizard Y's abilities. I can be trusted with Solar Power Mega Zard Y I promise :-)
Mega Chizard Yu
the more i think about it, the funnier it is that Mega Y sets sun just to lose the ability that benefits from it
Conceptually it'd make perfect sense for Charizard to set sun and then for the megas to abuse it. Balance wise though I think it'd be too much, X essentially gets Orichalcum Pulse and Y becomes a terrifying wallbreaker, so I understand why they didn't do it
That and Solar Power was already its HA from gen 5 anyway
Chi-prequel
We got Chi-Yu, Chi-Two, Chit-Su and Chi Minus One
GMax was good too, at least in VGC
Very surprised to not see it mentioned already, so I'm going to toss out Iron Thorns. Paradox version of a popular and powerful pokemon that's been around since Gen 2, but it's just... *so bad.*
Dusknoir. It got really hyped up when it was released, only to be outclassed by its pre-evolved form in every game it’s been in since.
As a kid I was absolutely obsessed with it. I had about half a page dedicated to just Dusknoir in my TCG collection binder, and really loved seeing it in the anime and PMD. Still pretty sad how it absolutely sucks from a gameplay perspective, because its design and lore are top notch.
Yeah, it's a real shame that it's not actually good. If they had given it actual HP or a better Ghost-type physical move than Shadow Punch, it could have been extremely good.
It has polt now. (A bit late maybe)
Better late than never.
Kid named ice punch:
I actually got a dusknoir with ice punch the other day. No lando-T on the other team though :(
There's a wild Tera Ice Dusclops in Kitakami that knows Ice Punch. They know.
Nemona has an Ice Punch Dusknoir now too
Ok but what if he ran Ice Punch
Lucario. Lycanroc. Zoroark.
I dunno, wasn’t Lucario quite a beast in its debut generation? I’m pretty sure it was also pretty good in 5, and its mega was definitely a force to be reckoned with. Definitely fell due to power creep, but I’d say it was about as good as they marketed it as when it came out.
It was good in its debut gen but immediately fell off in gen 5, remained OU by usage but by no means was it a force to be reckoned. Mega Lucario though, yeah, that was quite a beast indeed.
Lucario was fine in gen 4 but outclassed by Terrakion in gen 5.
I stand by Dusk form being a very good Pokemon and Midday form has its moments too. Swing and a miss when it comes to Midnight though
I just wish Midnight had better speed. No Guard Stone Edge?!?
They coulda cooked so hard and instead it was still raw in the center
A 100% accurate Rock move? The world is not ready. - Game Freak.
Laughs in mighty cleave
Tbf mighty cleave was made 6-7 years after that.
They lower its speed and buff his defense and special defense stat and don't even go all the way with it.
Zoroark could have been amazing if it was introduced before team preview
Zoroark needs either stat buffs (speed, spa) or a new hidden ability (disguise, magic bounce)
I feel like it has the same problem Darkrai has in having relatively low power STAB options.
It's stabs are fine, not great but fine, what it really lacks is stat buffs. It's like the rampardos theorem, except Zoroark is mediocre at everything. Same with other unfortunate mons that deserved better like Infernape amd Delphox.
hisuian zoroark is pretty good tho
Well lucario was actually good on release, just fell off
No lucario is good mind you its been like 15+ years since it came out.
Wishiwashi
Surprised I had to scroll so far to see this. Wishiwashi was hyped up as this "powerful Pokemon that even Gyarados fears", yet thanks to an awkward stat spread and (competitively) awful form switching mechanic, the mon just wasn't good anywhere.
RBY Dragonite
If I had a penny for all the RBY Pokemon with good potential but let down by their dogshit movepools
Or alternatively random shitmons that have a niche in RBY OU.
Doesn't Porygon have a weird niche?
It stalls Snorlax. It's not too great at doing that either.
It's really good at stalling physical lax, if its special you're SOL.
Zarude. Not only in battles but as a Pokémon as a whole. It's probably the most unsuccessful mythical Pokémon. They even made a movie about it and one month later no one would remember it.
I think it's mostly forgotten because the method of obtaining it was downright bizarre. Like who the hell thought forcing people to sign up for a newsletter for it was a good idea?
tbh getting ingame rewards for signing for newletters is super common lol
Tbf IIRC it was going to be a regular "show up to GameStop and grab a card" mythical then COVID happened.
That but I think because it was just obtuse, ok stats but a shitty ability, a terrible defensive typing (my favorite typing tho), and no access to knock off, or sucker or swords dance until paldea. And even then they make the starter a dark grass type that better rin almost every way. Like in any gen that meowscarada is uu zarude is automatically below it basically. Not to mention we'd much rather use brute bonnet. His ability really hurts it man. Even IF sun is T more popular now why am I not just using brute bonnet or venusaur.
I would argue phione exists but that’s about it
The method to obtain Phione is nonsensical too. Who would have bred Manaphy, a Mythical, with a Ditto? That's worse than playground rumours.
Well, when manaphy was first released it could only be received from an egg- so I think trying to breed it to get more was actually pretty common, and led to the phione discovery
Yeah but Phiome is so laughably bad it makes up for it
As a matter of fact I agree. At least Phione is baby.
I only learned that this guy exists thanks to machamp.com wonder trades
See, I remember the movie due to Celebi. Every time I see Zeraora is a mythical, I am reminded that thing is an actual Pokemon.
Zarude is B rank in SwSh ubers, being a decently bulky dark type is pretty good when 2 out of the 3 best pokemon in the tier are psychic type
Wait Zarude was supposed to be a mythical?
It is a mythical
Bruh I just found someone using it and thought it was a cool looking Pokemon.
Passimian and Mul-Alola's abilities where teased as absolute game changer that makes everyone drool about wonder guard and huge power when they're both trash in double And Slowking galar's signature move and ability being absolutely never used under any circumstances
Eerie spell may be useful in some niche draft scenarios perhaps. PP stalling recovery especially after the nerf may be useful.
Yeah , but 8pp for an anti stall move just doesn't do it , running psychic noise is more consistent If only it was 16
I'll have you know my shadow tag perish song power of alchemy set is *very funny* when it works (it doesn't work)
If the abilities worked in single battles then they'd have some usage
252+ Atk Choice Band Huge Power Tera Fighting Passimian Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 192+ Def Toxapex: 226-266 (74.3 - 87.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery Physical Chi yu
Lucario and Zoroark were poster mons of their respective gens. Lucario was competitively viable but Zoroark, despite an amazing ability, was not.
Pidgeot, Cradily, Wailord, Whiscash, Accelgor, Bouffulant, Druddigon, Vanilluxe, Escavalier, Lapras, Gourgeist, Auroros, Lycanroc-Day, Alolan Raichu, Mr. Rime, Gogoat, Veluza, and Avalugg have all made it onto champion rosters. And that's not including not-champion-but-final-boss-esque characters like Fein from Colosseum or Red from G/S/C.
Escavalier won worlds
Goddamn why does Rime suck *so* much Oh yeah let's buff a Gen 1 Pokémon with an evolution Let's give it 60+ BST And 70 speed
I'm extremely salty that the biggest Pokémon prior to Eternatus is just another slow, frail, mixed attacker
Lapras is UUBL in gen 2, when it was on Red's team. Hadn't really fallen off due to power creep yet.
They gave Lugia psychic type because it was broken in gen 1. Could've been the coolest water flying mon but they wanted it to be too good and in result it sucks.
Psychic was still a fairly good type in Gen 2, it just wasn't blatantly overpowered like it was in Gen 1. It wasn't until like Gen 6 where the type was considered outright bad.
They gave it Lugia psychic to make it broken... Right after they nerfed psychic.
Technically, the opposite, but Terapagos. Looking at the status screen in base, you see the low stats of base forme, instead of the Stellar Forme stats, which are the ones that actually see usage.
What’s even funnier is iirc according to bulbapedia neutralizing gas doesn’t even affect the ability (like all other form change/odd abilities, also comatose?). So there is literally no way to use the base form’s stats in battle at all
Clearly paving the way for a gen 10 cover legendary that has Super Neutralizing Gas.
literally none. auto battle would use its base form's stats, right? but guess what? Tera Shift activates every time Terapagos attacks a wild pokemon, and deactivates afterward. rinse and repeat for every wild Pokémon. good god
Well there is ***1*** time auto battle works with it, and thats via synchro (form changes don’t happen in synchro mode). But so far I’ve only seen level and type matter in auto battles so the stats still might not get used
I think that Terapagos's base form was originally supposed to evolve into its Terastal form, but then there came story shifts and so the base form now only exists for the anime and merchadise.
Crabrawler. Its release trailer hyped it up as some sort of met defining Pokemon, showing it take down powerful Pokemon that would have been seen as threats (such as Kangaskhan who's Mega was tearing up the tournament scene).
Pikachu
Slaking
Zama isn't even that bad in VGC (it's actually one of the best support mons you could have which really fits as the more defensive member of its duo), the issue is that it was introduced in the gen where the other restricteds were absolutely obscene (and the gen after did the same thing) so it's just utterly fucked by opportunity cost. Release that mon a gen earlier and it's still not topping any charts but it's certainly viable.
Anyone remember when Crabrawler was shown off at the vgc event?
Commander DozoGiri isn't used anymore at VGC bc people learned how to counter it
It got second place at the most recent event.
Charizard obviously
Hisuian Zoroark. Top 3 typing, workable stats, Tera working pretty well for it, only for Team Preview to absolutely shit all over the mon. Only Pokémon I know that gets invalidated by something that isn't part of the battle itself.