I only recently learned that Close Combat wasn't added until Gen 4 and suddenly Fighting Types struggling in Gens 1-3 makes a whole lot more sense. Most Fighting Type Pokemon didn't have a 100% accurate STAB or were using STAB lacking in damage.
@@HomeCookinMTG High Jump Kick and Low Kick existed. Low kick was very inconsistent for in-game, fairly useful in competitive. High Jump Kick was available to only a few Pokémon and it posed the recoil risk.
Baton Pass should be mentioned in the gen 2 because how much trouble it leaved in singles. Also, even it's spiritual sucessor - shed tail - make quite a mess too.
But Shed Tail isn't as op as Baton Pass. It can make a free substitute at the cost of half the user's hp and cannot transfer stat buffs like Baton Pass. Also the only two that use Shed Tail are Orthworm and Cyclazar
@@Kali_Krause The hell you talking about? Shed Tail is Ubers now because of the users having the ability to gain health back because of switching in case of Cyclizar or healing from Ground type moves in the case of Orthworm.
@@GoinGreninja It is of course good or rather great but not the level of insanity that baton pass could lead which banned it even from ubers and I guess it is banned from anything goes too
@@GoinGreninjashed tail is ubers, meanwhile baton is pre-banned every single Gen. One is definitly better than the other. We're not saying she'd tail is bad, but you need to start realizing that being worse than baton pass is not an insult. You just don't know what it's capable of cause you're a casual.
@@philtess3126 I know Baton Pass gets banned whenever it gets the chance. I wrote it months ago. What did you genuinely expect? Sometimes it takes people time to learn. Why bring out the casual stuff out of nowhere?
Imagine talking about the buffed Knock Off but not the buffed Defog. In Gens 4-5, only lowers evasiveness of the opponent by one stage. But Gen 6 onwards, it gets rid of entry hazards like Stealth Rocks and Spikes
I think Stealth Rock goes rather understated here. Yeah, it's mentioned, but almost in passing, like "yeah this exists too moving on". Stealth Rock has single-handedly overhauled the meta based specifically around "I hope you're not weak to stealth rock" ever since its introduction. It is the move that has had, IMO, the single most _devastating_ effect on the meta in the franchise's entire history. And I hate it.
It massively crippled the viability of a lot of Pokemon simply because they're weak to Rock. Of course, some are still good enough that they see play in spite of that. The introduction of Heavy Duty Boots helps though.
It's funny that you mention Shed Tail, considering the Smogon Singles format has recently banned the move, and I heard they are also going to be banning Last Respects too once the Home update is going to drop next week as this move can be bred onto basculegion
@@Castersvarog tbh when home drops, I was certain that male basculegion was going to break Last Respects in the rain, and despite me not being competitive, for those who do 6v6 Singles, this is for the best that Smogon bans the move
Knock off being bad before it’s gen 6 buff is a common misconception. It saw a decent amount of use just because the item removing effect is so powerful, especially in the contexts of gen 3, 4, and 5 specifically where sand was very prevalent so being able to remove a mon’s leftovers, forcing them to take the sand chip, was huge progress. I think that knock off in it’s current state is very over tuned. It does big damage with a game-changing effect that no one, not even resists, wants to switch in on. Somewhat like u-turn, it’s literally never the wrong move.
Can't believe you didn't mention Power Up Punch, was so busted on Mega Kangaskhan, popular with Assault vest users and was quickly taken off the TM list despite having such a large amount of pokemon who can learn it. Honestly I wonder how many Pokemon from gens 7-9 would have been better with this move.
Surprised you didn't mention Bullet Punch in Gen IV. It almost singlehandedly (not completely singlehandedly, because paired with Technician) elevated Scizor from crap to the most popular Pokemon in competitive back then, and Scizor continues to be good to this day because of it. Also Pokemon like Lucario and Metagross get Bullet Punch, Mega evolution on top of that - *chef's kiss*. And it's worth noting that many Fighting type Pokemon have access to it, giving them priority and coverage against Fairy types.
The physical special split in general was kind to Scizor. Physical Pursuit, the new moves added in the generation shift (X-Scissor, Iron Head, Night Slash), Technician boosting moves like Aerial Ace, Quick Attack and yes, even Pursuit into more powerful moves. It didn't gain Bullet Punch until Platinum and that made it top tier for most of the remainder of Gen 4 along with Superpower (major improvement over Brick Break for Fighting coverage and despite being somewhat counterintuitive had legitimate use on Swords Dance sets because it could actually get past Skarmory with it) and when HGSS came out, Bug Bite for a Bug move stronger than X-Scissor after Technician. I'd argue it was probably the most buffed Pokemon in Gen 4.
My guess on why Pursuit was removed was because it required its own function/check to use. Most of the moves that were removed seemed to fall into that category. Pursuit, Return, Hidden Power, Wring Out, Trump Card, Smelling Salts, Snatch, Foresight, etc. It's not like their isn't moves that don't require similar things but they either didn't want to or couldn't have so many different moves all requiring unique functions.
Yep, one of the most hated strategies to ever exist alongside Tera Electric Air Balloon Shedinja. They were so bad that National Dex AG was not used as Ubers and they've their own new Ubers tier as well.
@@GoinGreninjaTera electric air balloon Shedinja sounds hilariously stupid. Since hail got removed for snow in the gen 9, the only option to get rid of it is sandstorm or entry hazards right?
A couple I think deserve a mention- Baton Pass- Being able to pass stat boosts around has been so inherently busted that it’s either heavily regulated or straight out banned most gens. Ninjask in any gen comes to mind. Body Press- Giving pure walls a way to do damage(uses Def as Atk in damage calc) has been critical for Pokémon like Corvinight and Ferro in comp play. Allows for these defensive Pokémon to act as walls and attacking threats. Calm Mind/Nasty Plot- Both insane setup moves akin to DDance, but for special attackers. QD may be the best overall, but Calm Mind has such insane distribution it’s kinda scary. Defog- While this was a plain ol’ buffed move in gen 6, it redefined hazard removal, and gave Bisharp an entire OU niche as a Defog abuser. If it kept the same distribution today, it’d still be common to see where Rapid Spin couldn’t fit. Explosion/SD- Boom had a massive place as a pure wall removal strategy before its damage calc removed the halved defense. Metagross seriously ran it, as did many others. Protect- I think Protect goes overlooked, but I mean, come on, it’s Protect. Every VGC mon HAS to have it. It’s THE defensive move. Don’t want to get hurt this turn? Use protect. That’s all. It’s on almost everything, too. Every mon can just say “I’m not taking damage this turn” and that be that. Substitute- Stuff taking damage for you. Protects from status, allows for free Focus Punch. Has been abused endlessly throughout the gens. Trick/Switcheroo- I think this one’s also underrated. Goes SO well with choice items, it’s almost not even funny. Switching items around always messes up strategy, and it’s always had its place in every gen it’s been in. T-Wave- I feel like T-Wave is more obnoxious than burn. People like the burn damage off scald not always because it halved attack, but because it does stuff like negate leftovers, and out mon without Lefties on a set timer. Sort of like gen 3 sandstorm. Halving speed can be so much more universally annoying to any offensive mon, however. And not moving randomly is SO much more annoying than burn. A free turn is super crucial in Pokémon, especially in crucial situations. Wish- The prime healing move. Period. Recover is good, but Wish heals EVERYONE when switching is involved. Gen 8 teleport spam enabled this so much it wasn’t even funny.
I know that it should be common knowledge, but the new attacking moves introduced in gen 4 deserve more than a passing mention. Pretty much all of them have become the bread and butter of casual playthroughs.
Bug type had it rough in gen 1 as the only attacking moves were Twinneedle, Leech Life, and Pin Missile, all of which are weak. Thankfully, Bug got a huge buff in Megahorn when gen 2 came around. Fighting also had it rough because they didn't have a move that could bypass evasion until gen 4 with Aura Sphere and didn't have moves that had 100% accuracy until gen 3 with Focus Punch and Brick Break could now destroy Reflect and Light Screen
Bug in general has had a very rough life, was terrible in gen's 1-3 (megahorn which was introduced in gen 2 was nice...but the only bug to learn it was heracross, and to this day there's only a small number of bugs who learn it with heracross, escavalier, ariados and scolipede, seriously it took until gen 5 for this move to be passed on to other bug's) got a bit better in gen 4, was given a huge buff in gen 5 and has been pretty okay since
@@Kali_Krause That's technically true, but there are 2 main ways that it can actually deal more damage than you might expect: for starters, it can hit up to 5 times in a row if you're lucky, which is devastating when used against something that 4x weak to bug. Secondly, also consider that in gen1, your critical hit rate was based on your Pokemon's speed stat (I believe the base speed is used to calculate it), so something as fast as Jolteon can crit surprisingly easily; this becomes even more insane when you realize that in gen1, if you score a critical hit with a move that hits multiple times, every hit that you land will count as a crit. These factors together make it surprisingly easy for Jolteon to use it to break through Exeggutor
@@matthewkuscienko4616 Yep, and why it has somewhat of a chance against Rhydon with Double Kick. Far from reliable or even good but still. Against pure Psychics like Alakazam you were better off using Thunderbolt though.
Expanding Force is arguably way more broken of a terrain move. 80 base power + 1.5x if Psy. Terrain is up + ANOTHER 1.3x for being a Psychic move with Psy. Terrain up. And if it does get that boost then it hits both opponents. This is effectively a 157 power move (before spread reduction). Currently, Armarouge is the only Pokemon that gets it, and I still get completely swept by it if I’m not careful.
and yet out of all the gen 8 tutor moves, it was Grassy Glide that got nerfed in gen 9 where it's power was reduced to 60 which makes it weaker overall
Honestly, that's fine. Psychic is a mediocre typing both offensively and defensively and giving them powerful moves like Expanding Force compensates for their lackluster offense. At least Dark types effectively wall off Expanding Force while Steel types resist it so it's isn't as OP as it looks.
No mentions of defog, sucker punch or sticky web... Also a correction. Knock Off is one of the most important moves from gen 3 and 4 stall teams. And gen 5 uses knock off in every team.
An honorable mention for Gen 5 mostly in that it was, like Sleep Talk in Gen 2, only a major player in its debut generation, should be Acrobatics. While it still sees some use on Unburden Pokémon as those are among the ones most likely to be using a consumable item, Flying Gem-boosted Acrobatics in Gen 5 was basically a Z-Move before there were Z-Moves, hitting 165 base power even before STAB and type effectiveness were taken into account.
Baton Pass has been (rightfully) banned or restricted in some way in singles for every gen, and it's a lot harder to use in doubles, so it generally doesn't see usage.
@@enoyna1001 wasn't Leech Life buffed in Gen 7? also Yawn and Encore have their uses and only now do they actually give Power Gem to most rock-types in Gen 9
I just want to add that using the battle revolution battle themes sounds just so smoooooth. Omg baton Pass in gen2. Seriously, in singles this move is impossible to balance out, passing stats is way too good in a singles metagame.
Knock off was used pre-Gen 6 (obviously not to the same degree as it was on support mons whereas later it was used on both support and offensive mons). Hariyama, Tentacruel, Cofagrigus, Clefable, and others used it. Also, it got better distribution as the generations went on.
i have never and i repeat never not been burned by scald. every single time it's been used on me in the unova games i'm burnt. that 30% is apparently 100% on my cartridges lol
I wanted to go over all the gens and add some honorable mentions on top of the ones already mentioned: Gen 1: - Body Slam needs to be mentioned for being one of the most spammed moves of gen 1 competitive. It has fallen off significantly due to Normal not nearly being as good an offensive type anymore, but Body Slam was arguably a top 5 move in gen 1. - Similarly, Psychic deserves a special mention among the 'good STABs for the cost' list bc Psychic types were broken. - I've seen Leech Life being mentioned in the comments as one of the best buffed moves of gen 1, but may I propose LGPE's buff to Teleport? Pivot moves are powerful and a negative priority one to give a free switch to any Pokémon is even more so, becoming a staple in the Sw/Sh meta. - Substitute is a great support move in both singles and doubles and deserves at least the smallest honorable mention. - Finally, Explosion pre-nerf was a nuke (pun slightly intended) of a move, unrivaled to this day by all but an overbuffed stored power or last respects. Gen 2: Offensively, there's not a lot more to mention. Outrage maybe, but it has since fallen off. Defensively though, three moves come to mind: - Baton Pass, the broken strategy in singles - Protect, the most mandatory move in doubles, and - Belly Drum, Knocked off its throne as the number 1 scariest by now (Shell Smash), but still one of the most dangerous setup moves. Gen 3: - Fake Out, arguably one of the strongest moves in doubles. - Defensively, nothing really comes close to DDance, Taunt or WoW in terms of impact, but I do think Wish deserves minor mention. - Gen 4: - Follow Me (and Gen 5's rage powder) are similalry one of the strongest doubles moves ever. Redirection is often a large deal to the point where several mons see use almost solely for their ability to redirect, like Chansey and our lord Pachirisu. - Already often mentioned, but Defog redefined singles after its buff and if you mention Knock Off, you really should mention Defog. Gen 5: Nothing to add here tbh, Hurricane, Foul Play and Psyshock deserve a little credit, but nothing too spectecular. Gen 6: Boomburst. Thinly spread as it is, it's the strongest move with no downside and it's not even close. Gen 7: Strength Sap is an insane move in its healing and support, and deserves a minor mention. But yeah, sig moves galore. Gen 8: again, sig moves galore. Gen 9: If we have to mention sig moves, Rage Fist is also high on the list of very powerful moves. Not much beyond that.
Another good option for gen 5 is Ally Switch, which was apparently extremely broken and annoying in VGC (to the point that it got nerfed, with the "can fail if used in succession" treatment)
Last Respects is only kind of a signature move. Basculegion also gets it when it's released on home, and it's probably an even better abuser of the move than Houndstone, especially since rain is already extremely strong. I expect this move to get banned pretty quick after Home.
@@GoinGreninja didn't know that until you posted this. Makes sense to me. Don't know why we had to have Houndstone banned for months then if we all already knew that it was last respects that was the issue.
I’m a 27 year old Pokémon fan, got a wife and kids, I love that you speak to your audience like they’re your peers. Keep up the great work, I look forward to your vids.
You forgot to mention the at the time newly buffed Defog in Gen 6 and Leech Life in Gen 7 respectively EDIT: and Baton Pass, how can you not mention Baton Pass in Gen 2 when it caused so much trouble in Singles for so many gens
No fake out??? That move is BROKEN for stalling out reflect/other lasting effects, getting chip damage to break sash and sturdy, and just shut down Pokémon entirely in doubles
Surprised at no mention of return, its gone now of course but 102 power with no drawback meant that no physical normal move other than facade and occasionally double edge was worth a slot, and EVERYTHING learned it.
Return had the friendship mechanic deal. They could've easily just kept it as Normal type Earthquake. Double Edge was basically if you need the extra power so if a Normal move was either not more powerful or didn't do something Return couldn't do that was worth trading a bit of power (Body Slam comes to mind), it was certainly the best Normal move.
Maybe now the competitives can be layered on by the above perhaps accompanied by a Frostbite equivalent of Scald souls that status ever come back and/or if Scald did beyond Vocanion?
While they weren't super important in Gen 2 itself, Shadow Ball, Giga Drain and Sludge Bomb are still some of the more solid coverage options for their types to this day.
Giga Drain wasn't always good because of its low base power. Grass types pretty much had to use it until Gen 4 if they didn't want to lose out on coverage from Hidden Power.
To put Gen 1 Amnesia in modern context: when Xerneas gots its signature status move in Gen 6, which raised both its Sp. Attack and Sp. Defense two stages, it required a charging turn (or use of Power Herb). Gen 1 Amnesia did the same thing without the charge.
Similar, but different concept, moves best moves from each generation, but they have to be good throughout the entire history of competitive singles. Gen 1- Earthquake Gen 2- Rapid Spin Gen 3- Knock Off (yes, even in gens 3-5, Knock Off started as a tool no one used, but became an amazing tool for item removal in gens with permanent sand and 12.5% burns) Gen 4- Stealth Rock Gen 5- Scald Gen 6- Moonblast Gen 7- Psychic Fangs (not including Z moves or exclusive moves made this gen very limited. Since this is singles, i went for Psychic Fangs instead of Pollen Puff, which would've also been behind Throat Chop) Gen 8- Flip Turn Gen 9- Tera Blast (another copout because gen 9 good moves are either signature or only learned by two evolutionary lines). It's a free stab coverage move for whatever type you change to
@@jo_jo_jo with how limited the distribution of Spore is, still being only 7 fully evolved pokemon, it didn't really make sense to choose it, especially when only like 2 of its users are actually good in Amoongus and Breloom. Smeargle is nothing more than a gimmick, Shiinotic is unviable, Parasect is unviable, Brute Bonnet isn't close to OU material, Toedscruel isn't close to OU material
@@typhlosion7872 Yeah, but the move itself is still good. In fact, is that good, that it's only given to mediocre Pokémon because, otherwise, it would be broken. The few that aren't, base their whole strategy on it.
@@jo_jo_jo That's also what holds it back, though. Take a look at the other moves. Most of them have one thing in common, they're abused by multiple different pokemon and most of those pokemon are at least solid and can go all the way up to amazing whereas Spore users just go up to good. That's also why I didn't choose Rage Fist for gen 9. Distribution is a huge part of what can make and break moves. For instance, look at how many bulky waters dropped out of existence before Scald returned. How much more dominant hazard stacking became, even before Hisuirrot, because of the Defog purge. A move may be broken in a vacuum, but if it has too limited of distribution, that's where I'd choose to disqualify it
But only in singles, it's somewhat risky in doubles since it hits every other pokemon, including your ally unless they have Levitate or the Flying type. Not to mention that it's a physical attack, which might not mean much until you realise that many pokemon weak to ground usually have good defence. In some situations, Earth Power is better since it's a strong attack that's special, meaning it exploits the weakness of pokemon weak to Ground better than Earthquake. Still, Earthquake is to Pokemon what Fireball is to D&D 5e.
yoooo Thatsaplusone made it to the video! I think you forgetting about shadow ball how it is still one of the best ghost moves to this day and crazy how it first appeared in the anime with mewtwo but became available in gen 2!
You got the Brothehood episode half wrong. I'd say 4 and 5, given what we first witness and the learn next episode. Though I remember it as a different set of episodes. Mostly because I saw the original series.
I managed to add Close Combat (and Dragon Ascent; mega not included) to my FireRed decompilation hack and I'm super proud of it. Sure, all I did was modify the code of Superpower to make it lower Special Defence instead of Attack, but that's besides the point.
Surprised you didn't mention Gigaton Hammer. Yes, I do understand it is early in the generation so for now it is the signature move of Tinkaton, who has an ABYSMAL attack stat (and it will likely always be this way), but it's till worth talking about... to think how bad it'd be if it was given to a better mon. Mind you, a mon still with Steel STAB (very common insane defensive type btw). At 160 base power at 100 accuracy it's nothing to laugh at. And the only drawback is you can't use it twice... Which is perfectly solved by using Protect every other turn. Insane for Singles and still decent for Doubles I think. Loved the vid btw Edit: to clarify I just meant at least a mention since it is a hypothetical. It's obviously not the best.
I am surprised you didn't mention fake out Fake out single handedly changed the landscape of VGC doubles A mon's viability instantly increases if it has fake out Incineroar is a demon in VGC for a reason
They need to bring back Pursuit. I understand Hidden Power being taken out, but Pursuit should be added back to mons like Scizor and Tyranitar. (But not Kingambit)
No thank you. That move made using Ghost and Psychic types such a pain and without it, it's so much fun to use them. But if it has to come back, then make it 60BP with 5PP which can fail if the opponent doesn't switch.
What move do you think changed Pokemon the most?
Dark void or sketch
Today is the Last day of school
Z-Celebrate
Gen 7 Leech Life
Brick Break
You forgot to mention that Leech Life is an actually good move now
Wasn’t it 40 power😂😂
@@apexslayer997415 actually
Gigs Drain should have gotten 80 BP just to balance out the drain moves.
@@shironasama0445 leech life is actually the "unbalanced" one here, being 80 BP instead of 75 like Giga Drain and Drain Punch
@@breloommaster12 let the bug type have that W
Hold Hands is *obviously* the most important move in the entire franchise, where would the competitive scene be without it?
ur right I need to reupload this asap
i think protect is the most valuable move in the entire game if you’re talking about competitive
@@nickjay2501 bro he’s joking💀
Splash is the OG!
You're joking but it was actually pretty good (if not practical) with Normalium Z.
I only recently learned that Close Combat wasn't added until Gen 4 and suddenly Fighting Types struggling in Gens 1-3 makes a whole lot more sense. Most Fighting Type Pokemon didn't have a 100% accurate STAB or were using STAB lacking in damage.
And Focus Punch is very situational
Nothing with Stab on it got superpower in gen 3 either. It was exclusive to legendaries with the exception of Nidoqueen of all things.
Fighting types were rock resistant at least which is a + trait in gen 3
Yeah prior to close combat the best fighting move was probably brick break.
@@HomeCookinMTG High Jump Kick and Low Kick existed. Low kick was very inconsistent for in-game, fairly useful in competitive. High Jump Kick was available to only a few Pokémon and it posed the recoil risk.
Body Press from Gen 8 was a pretty damn good move giving defensive Mons some good damage
Too bad Zamazenta didn't get it in gen 8
@Duskstar89 It got it this gen and competitive players are currently suffering the consequences of that lol
I hop onyx coms back because tara ice snow eviolite body press
Baton Pass should be mentioned in the gen 2 because how much trouble it leaved in singles. Also, even it's spiritual sucessor - shed tail - make quite a mess too.
But Shed Tail isn't as op as Baton Pass. It can make a free substitute at the cost of half the user's hp and cannot transfer stat buffs like Baton Pass. Also the only two that use Shed Tail are Orthworm and Cyclazar
@@Kali_Krause The hell you talking about? Shed Tail is Ubers now because of the users having the ability to gain health back because of switching in case of Cyclizar or healing from Ground type moves in the case of Orthworm.
@@GoinGreninja It is of course good or rather great but not the level of insanity that baton pass could lead which banned it even from ubers and I guess it is banned from anything goes too
@@GoinGreninjashed tail is ubers, meanwhile baton is pre-banned every single Gen. One is definitly better than the other. We're not saying she'd tail is bad, but you need to start realizing that being worse than baton pass is not an insult. You just don't know what it's capable of cause you're a casual.
@@philtess3126 I know Baton Pass gets banned whenever it gets the chance. I wrote it months ago. What did you genuinely expect? Sometimes it takes people time to learn. Why bring out the casual stuff out of nowhere?
For gen 5, I think an honorable mention should go to Psyshock, letting some special attackers hit those special walls hard.
Psyshock was dreamt up by the Anti-Pink Blob Party after Blissey Soft Boiled all over them.
Imagine talking about the buffed Knock Off but not the buffed Defog. In Gens 4-5, only lowers evasiveness of the opponent by one stage. But Gen 6 onwards, it gets rid of entry hazards like Stealth Rocks and Spikes
It also gets rid of the entry hazards of the *opposite* side
and screens and later terrain too
@@goGothitaLOL yeah but i was talking about how crappy it was before the gen 6 buff.
Sad how Weavile losses access to Knock Off in gen 9. In fact, a lot of pokemon lost access to Knock Off from previous generations
@@Kali_KrauseI guess it's because Knock Off is considered too strong a move. At least it'll get access to Triple Axel when Home comes by on the 30th.
Generation 5 has the moves like Jagger. Generation 3 has the move It Move It
The TM87, the TM87.
gen 9 has the thug shaker
@@jeremyrennerpornotruth Where’s the Move?
@@DigiRangerScott thug hunters
Here's your like, get out.
Don't think I saw Fake Out being mentioned, wich became a huge move for VGC during next generations
I think Stealth Rock goes rather understated here. Yeah, it's mentioned, but almost in passing, like "yeah this exists too moving on".
Stealth Rock has single-handedly overhauled the meta based specifically around "I hope you're not weak to stealth rock" ever since its introduction. It is the move that has had, IMO, the single most _devastating_ effect on the meta in the franchise's entire history. And I hate it.
It massively crippled the viability of a lot of Pokemon simply because they're weak to Rock. Of course, some are still good enough that they see play in spite of that. The introduction of Heavy Duty Boots helps though.
It's funny that you mention Shed Tail, considering the Smogon Singles format has recently banned the move, and I heard they are also going to be banning Last Respects too once the Home update is going to drop next week as this move can be bred onto basculegion
You are correct, and it was a unanimous vote at that
@@Castersvarog tbh when home drops, I was certain that male basculegion was going to break Last Respects in the rain, and despite me not being competitive, for those who do 6v6 Singles, this is for the best that Smogon bans the move
Bro Home update still hasn't dropped?
@@lipika2841Yeah, and? Sometimes they take decisions early if it's considered obviously overpowered, like with the case with Last Respects.
@@GoinGreninja I think he meant “bro, has the home update really not dropped yet?” lol
Knock off being bad before it’s gen 6 buff is a common misconception. It saw a decent amount of use just because the item removing effect is so powerful, especially in the contexts of gen 3, 4, and 5 specifically where sand was very prevalent so being able to remove a mon’s leftovers, forcing them to take the sand chip, was huge progress. I think that knock off in it’s current state is very over tuned. It does big damage with a game-changing effect that no one, not even resists, wants to switch in on. Somewhat like u-turn, it’s literally never the wrong move.
Can't believe you didn't mention Power Up Punch, was so busted on Mega Kangaskhan, popular with Assault vest users and was quickly taken off the TM list despite having such a large amount of pokemon who can learn it. Honestly I wonder how many Pokemon from gens 7-9 would have been better with this move.
That has more to do with Mega Kangaskhan being broken than Power-Up Punch being remotely good
Close Combat really said: I’m gonna be the representative for all fighting types and there’s nothing you can do about it
Removing pursuit really opened competitive meta a lot for psychic types and Ghost types. Was just too easy to set up sometimes.
Nice video. I think leech life should be an honorable mention as a move that got a major buff in Gen 7.
Surprised you didn't mention Bullet Punch in Gen IV. It almost singlehandedly (not completely singlehandedly, because paired with Technician) elevated Scizor from crap to the most popular Pokemon in competitive back then, and Scizor continues to be good to this day because of it. Also Pokemon like Lucario and Metagross get Bullet Punch, Mega evolution on top of that - *chef's kiss*. And it's worth noting that many Fighting type Pokemon have access to it, giving them priority and coverage against Fairy types.
The physical special split in general was kind to Scizor. Physical Pursuit, the new moves added in the generation shift (X-Scissor, Iron Head, Night Slash), Technician boosting moves like Aerial Ace, Quick Attack and yes, even Pursuit into more powerful moves. It didn't gain Bullet Punch until Platinum and that made it top tier for most of the remainder of Gen 4 along with Superpower (major improvement over Brick Break for Fighting coverage and despite being somewhat counterintuitive had legitimate use on Swords Dance sets because it could actually get past Skarmory with it) and when HGSS came out, Bug Bite for a Bug move stronger than X-Scissor after Technician. I'd argue it was probably the most buffed Pokemon in Gen 4.
My guess on why Pursuit was removed was because it required its own function/check to use. Most of the moves that were removed seemed to fall into that category. Pursuit, Return, Hidden Power, Wring Out, Trump Card, Smelling Salts, Snatch, Foresight, etc. It's not like their isn't moves that don't require similar things but they either didn't want to or couldn't have so many different moves all requiring unique functions.
The way they removed Pursuit is the reason why Ghost type is the probably the best type in ths current meta.
And why Ttar is no longer OU. If he still had it, Dragapult and so many other ghosts would be a lot more wary.
I've always wanted an analysis of the buffs and nerfs of Metronome through the generations!
It is important to note Assist can pick Revival Blessing, which leads to the hilariously broken Revival Cats teams
Yep, one of the most hated strategies to ever exist alongside Tera Electric Air Balloon Shedinja. They were so bad that National Dex AG was not used as Ubers and they've their own new Ubers tier as well.
@@GoinGreninjaTera electric air balloon Shedinja sounds hilariously stupid. Since hail got removed for snow in the gen 9, the only option to get rid of it is sandstorm or entry hazards right?
@@NeroLordofChaos Essentially yes. That's why it's so freaking hated.
@@NeroLordofChaos Or a Pokémon with Mold Breaker (and its variations)
@@MyHeartIsOhMyGod Or Sunsteel Strike/Moongeist Beam.
A couple I think deserve a mention-
Baton Pass- Being able to pass stat boosts around has been so inherently busted that it’s either heavily regulated or straight out banned most gens. Ninjask in any gen comes to mind.
Body Press- Giving pure walls a way to do damage(uses Def as Atk in damage calc) has been critical for Pokémon like Corvinight and Ferro in comp play. Allows for these defensive Pokémon to act as walls and attacking threats.
Calm Mind/Nasty Plot- Both insane setup moves akin to DDance, but for special attackers. QD may be the best overall, but Calm Mind has such insane distribution it’s kinda scary.
Defog- While this was a plain ol’ buffed move in gen 6, it redefined hazard removal, and gave Bisharp an entire OU niche as a Defog abuser. If it kept the same distribution today, it’d still be common to see where Rapid Spin couldn’t fit.
Explosion/SD- Boom had a massive place as a pure wall removal strategy before its damage calc removed the halved defense. Metagross seriously ran it, as did many others.
Protect- I think Protect goes overlooked, but I mean, come on, it’s Protect. Every VGC mon HAS to have it. It’s THE defensive move. Don’t want to get hurt this turn? Use protect. That’s all. It’s on almost everything, too. Every mon can just say “I’m not taking damage this turn” and that be that.
Substitute- Stuff taking damage for you. Protects from status, allows for free Focus Punch. Has been abused endlessly throughout the gens.
Trick/Switcheroo- I think this one’s also underrated. Goes SO well with choice items, it’s almost not even funny. Switching items around always messes up strategy, and it’s always had its place in every gen it’s been in.
T-Wave- I feel like T-Wave is more obnoxious than burn. People like the burn damage off scald not always because it halved attack, but because it does stuff like negate leftovers, and out mon without Lefties on a set timer. Sort of like gen 3 sandstorm. Halving speed can be so much more universally annoying to any offensive mon, however. And not moving randomly is SO much more annoying than burn. A free turn is super crucial in Pokémon, especially in crucial situations.
Wish- The prime healing move. Period. Recover is good, but Wish heals EVERYONE when switching is involved. Gen 8 teleport spam enabled this so much it wasn’t even funny.
I’d like to add that gen 3 had a lot of moves very relevant to vgc like the helping hands, follow me, fake out, and yawn
Encore and Baton Pass for Gen 2, Taunt and Tailwind for Gen 4 would be some other moves worth a mention.
Taunt is from gen 3
Gen 1 psychic had a 33% chance to drop special (which was special offense & defense in one stat). 90 bp & 100 accuracy. One of the best in that game
And Psychic in Gen 1 being super good offensively only resisting itself. Basically like Dragon type in Gens 4 and 5.
My theory on pursuit is that it negated two whole types. I seldom saw psychic or ghost types in competitive because of pursuit
Psychic kind of, Ghost was still good because spin blocking
I know that it should be common knowledge, but the new attacking moves introduced in gen 4 deserve more than a passing mention. Pretty much all of them have become the bread and butter of casual playthroughs.
Bug type had it rough in gen 1 as the only attacking moves were Twinneedle, Leech Life, and Pin Missile, all of which are weak. Thankfully, Bug got a huge buff in Megahorn when gen 2 came around. Fighting also had it rough because they didn't have a move that could bypass evasion until gen 4 with Aura Sphere and didn't have moves that had 100% accuracy until gen 3 with Focus Punch and Brick Break could now destroy Reflect and Light Screen
Bug in general has had a very rough life, was terrible in gen's 1-3 (megahorn which was introduced in gen 2 was nice...but the only bug to learn it was heracross, and to this day there's only a small number of bugs who learn it with heracross, escavalier, ariados and scolipede, seriously it took until gen 5 for this move to be passed on to other bug's) got a bit better in gen 4, was given a huge buff in gen 5 and has been pretty okay since
its funny because the best user of a bug type move in gen 1 is Jolteon. It often runs pin missile to hit Exeggutor
@Boop What makes it even funnier is that Jolteon has a base 65 Attack 😂
@@Kali_Krause That's technically true, but there are 2 main ways that it can actually deal more damage than you might expect: for starters, it can hit up to 5 times in a row if you're lucky, which is devastating when used against something that 4x weak to bug. Secondly, also consider that in gen1, your critical hit rate was based on your Pokemon's speed stat (I believe the base speed is used to calculate it), so something as fast as Jolteon can crit surprisingly easily; this becomes even more insane when you realize that in gen1, if you score a critical hit with a move that hits multiple times, every hit that you land will count as a crit. These factors together make it surprisingly easy for Jolteon to use it to break through Exeggutor
@@matthewkuscienko4616 Yep, and why it has somewhat of a chance against Rhydon with Double Kick. Far from reliable or even good but still. Against pure Psychics like Alakazam you were better off using Thunderbolt though.
Expanding Force is arguably way more broken of a terrain move. 80 base power + 1.5x if Psy. Terrain is up + ANOTHER 1.3x for being a Psychic move with Psy. Terrain up. And if it does get that boost then it hits both opponents. This is effectively a 157 power move (before spread reduction).
Currently, Armarouge is the only Pokemon that gets it, and I still get completely swept by it if I’m not careful.
and yet out of all the gen 8 tutor moves, it was Grassy Glide that got nerfed in gen 9 where it's power was reduced to 60 which makes it weaker overall
Honestly, that's fine. Psychic is a mediocre typing both offensively and defensively and giving them powerful moves like Expanding Force compensates for their lackluster offense. At least Dark types effectively wall off Expanding Force while Steel types resist it so it's isn't as OP as it looks.
No mentions of defog, sucker punch or sticky web...
Also a correction. Knock Off is one of the most important moves from gen 3 and 4 stall teams. And gen 5 uses knock off in every team.
The Knock Off buff is honestly one of the biggest mistakes Game Freak has ever made.
Agreed. Should've been 50BP with the 1.5x boost. With this, it's decently strong but doesn't replace other Dark type moves for damage dealing.
You forgot about the defog buff in gen 6 and protect
An honorable mention for Gen 5 mostly in that it was, like Sleep Talk in Gen 2, only a major player in its debut generation, should be Acrobatics. While it still sees some use on Unburden Pokémon as those are among the ones most likely to be using a consumable item, Flying Gem-boosted Acrobatics in Gen 5 was basically a Z-Move before there were Z-Moves, hitting 165 base power even before STAB and type effectiveness were taken into account.
Awesome video
Curious why Baton Pass wasn't mentioned?
Will you do best Held Items of each Gen video too?
Baton Pass has been (rightfully) banned or restricted in some way in singles for every gen, and it's a lot harder to use in doubles, so it generally doesn't see usage.
@@NotAnElk makes sense
Thanks
Pretty sure Will-o-wisp was in gen 2 as an exclusive move for Misdreavus if memory serves
Maybe for a next video "best Abilities" from every Gen
Almost every gen
@@robertleite6650 yeah 😂
3:50 Well Hidden Power is still a move, just got changed and locked for Unown. Tera Blast replacing it as great alternative.
…. So gen 2-3 we just skipping baton pass that move was so broken that it was banned repeatedly banned
Baton Pass not getting mentioned is a crime.
Video Idea: Pokémon Moves that get very little Recognition
Disable, Mirror Move, Leech Life, Thief, Curse, Perish Song, Endure, Encore, Beat Up, Focus Punch, Nature Power, Yawn, Skill Swap, Poison Fang, Doom Desire, Gravity, Assurance, Psycho Shift, Me First, Power Gem, Vacuum Wave, Switcheroo, Psycho Cut, Hone Claws, Smack Down, Acid Spray, Sky Drop, Wild Charge, Burn Up, 😊😊😊
@@enoyna1001 wasn't Leech Life buffed in Gen 7?
also Yawn and Encore have their uses and only now do they actually give Power Gem to most rock-types in Gen 9
I just want to add that using the battle revolution battle themes sounds just so smoooooth.
Omg baton Pass in gen2. Seriously, in singles this move is impossible to balance out, passing stats is way too good in a singles metagame.
Knock off was used pre-Gen 6 (obviously not to the same degree as it was on support mons whereas later it was used on both support and offensive mons). Hariyama, Tentacruel, Cofagrigus, Clefable, and others used it. Also, it got better distribution as the generations went on.
i have never and i repeat never not been burned by scald. every single time it's been used on me in the unova games i'm burnt. that 30% is apparently 100% on my cartridges lol
I wanted to go over all the gens and add some honorable mentions on top of the ones already mentioned:
Gen 1:
- Body Slam needs to be mentioned for being one of the most spammed moves of gen 1 competitive. It has fallen off significantly due to Normal not nearly being as good an offensive type anymore, but Body Slam was arguably a top 5 move in gen 1.
- Similarly, Psychic deserves a special mention among the 'good STABs for the cost' list bc Psychic types were broken.
- I've seen Leech Life being mentioned in the comments as one of the best buffed moves of gen 1, but may I propose LGPE's buff to Teleport? Pivot moves are powerful and a negative priority one to give a free switch to any Pokémon is even more so, becoming a staple in the Sw/Sh meta.
- Substitute is a great support move in both singles and doubles and deserves at least the smallest honorable mention.
- Finally, Explosion pre-nerf was a nuke (pun slightly intended) of a move, unrivaled to this day by all but an overbuffed stored power or last respects.
Gen 2: Offensively, there's not a lot more to mention. Outrage maybe, but it has since fallen off. Defensively though, three moves come to mind:
- Baton Pass, the broken strategy in singles
- Protect, the most mandatory move in doubles, and
- Belly Drum, Knocked off its throne as the number 1 scariest by now (Shell Smash), but still one of the most dangerous setup moves.
Gen 3:
- Fake Out, arguably one of the strongest moves in doubles.
- Defensively, nothing really comes close to DDance, Taunt or WoW in terms of impact, but I do think Wish deserves minor mention.
- Gen 4:
- Follow Me (and Gen 5's rage powder) are similalry one of the strongest doubles moves ever. Redirection is often a large deal to the point where several mons see use almost solely for their ability to redirect, like Chansey and our lord Pachirisu.
- Already often mentioned, but Defog redefined singles after its buff and if you mention Knock Off, you really should mention Defog.
Gen 5: Nothing to add here tbh, Hurricane, Foul Play and Psyshock deserve a little credit, but nothing too spectecular.
Gen 6: Boomburst. Thinly spread as it is, it's the strongest move with no downside and it's not even close.
Gen 7: Strength Sap is an insane move in its healing and support, and deserves a minor mention. But yeah, sig moves galore.
Gen 8: again, sig moves galore.
Gen 9: If we have to mention sig moves, Rage Fist is also high on the list of very powerful moves. Not much beyond that.
this is the list! all very important moves
Another good option for gen 5 is Ally Switch, which was apparently extremely broken and annoying in VGC (to the point that it got nerfed, with the "can fail if used in succession" treatment)
I just want to say, great video and I loved that you used Kingdom of Uraya so so much
Love the fmab reference, and an accurate one at that
I was looking in the comments to see if someone else knows that episode
Last Respects is only kind of a signature move. Basculegion also gets it when it's released on home, and it's probably an even better abuser of the move than Houndstone, especially since rain is already extremely strong. I expect this move to get banned pretty quick after Home.
It already got banned because everyone knows how much of a mess it'd be.
@@GoinGreninja didn't know that until you posted this. Makes sense to me. Don't know why we had to have Houndstone banned for months then if we all already knew that it was last respects that was the issue.
@@Lankpants Agreed...
Please, Scald. Never come back the way it was. It is good as it its now.
9:46 can we talk about it’s name
Sorry I won’t even try to spell its actual name
I’m a 27 year old Pokémon fan, got a wife and kids, I love that you speak to your audience like they’re your peers. Keep up the great work, I look forward to your vids.
How old is your Kid since you are 27.
To answer the gen 2 question, Pursuit was taken out because it "wasnt fun." Even casually.
Can't believe Protect wasn't mentioned. It first came out in Gen 2, but it's the most used move in Doubles, and has been since forever.
I like that Pokemon Battle Revolution music.
You forgot to mention the at the time newly buffed Defog in Gen 6 and Leech Life in Gen 7 respectively
EDIT: and Baton Pass, how can you not mention Baton Pass in Gen 2 when it caused so much trouble in Singles for so many gens
No fake out??? That move is BROKEN for stalling out reflect/other lasting effects, getting chip damage to break sash and sturdy, and just shut down Pokémon entirely in doubles
Whoever edited agni bomb voice line during “make it rain” is my goat
9:36 We gonna talk about that Ferrothorn named S3x Toy? Or nah?
how did you forgot shadow ball and sludge bomb in gen 2
those are literally _the_ staple ghost and poison moves
Because they sucked in gen 2
4:00 I lost my 5 leveled flareon because of a pursuit from wild sparrow yesterday. It's so pissed me off! Nuzlock's random encounters so deadly!
To note, Superpower is even more powerful on Pokemon that have the ability Contrary, which causes stats to go up, like with Malamar.
or Lurantis, remember when it could still learn Superpower?
@@theamazingspooderman2697 It can still do so thanks to Pokémon Home and its Move Tutor.
Videos about best and worst Abilities, in case you haven't done them already (can't remember)?
pretty sure he did a video on bad abilities
i think the best move from gen 2 was Protect. even today you never see a team without it.
@6:02 well akchually it's episode 4 of Brotherhood, though it is chapter 5 of the manga
I can that Battle Revolution music when you started talking about gen 3!
Surprised at no mention of return, its gone now of course but 102 power with no drawback meant that no physical normal move other than facade and occasionally double edge was worth a slot, and EVERYTHING learned it.
Return had the friendship mechanic deal. They could've easily just kept it as Normal type Earthquake. Double Edge was basically if you need the extra power so if a Normal move was either not more powerful or didn't do something Return couldn't do that was worth trading a bit of power (Body Slam comes to mind), it was certainly the best Normal move.
Day One of Asking;
Best and Worst MOVIE of each generation?
(Or Special like the Pikachu adventures or holiday specials!)
I'm probably one of 5 people who noticed but I truly appreciate the little Swagni make it rain voice line at Gholdengo's move. Iykyk
Maybe now the competitives can be layered on by the above perhaps accompanied by a Frostbite equivalent of Scald souls that status ever come back and/or if Scald did beyond Vocanion?
While they weren't super important in Gen 2 itself, Shadow Ball, Giga Drain and Sludge Bomb are still some of the more solid coverage options for their types to this day.
Giga Drain wasn't always good because of its low base power. Grass types pretty much had to use it until Gen 4 if they didn't want to lose out on coverage from Hidden Power.
Was that a Swagni voice line for make it rain? Never thought I'd hear that in a pokemon video, awesome!
Knock off is another huge one, brave bird and flare Blitz are also some heavy hitters
Gen 1: Swords Dance
Gen 2: Spikes
Gen 3: unsure
Gen 4: Stealth Rocks
To put Gen 1 Amnesia in modern context: when Xerneas gots its signature status move in Gen 6, which raised both its Sp. Attack and Sp. Defense two stages, it required a charging turn (or use of Power Herb). Gen 1 Amnesia did the same thing without the charge.
Amnesia didn't also boost Speed though.
Similar, but different concept, moves best moves from each generation, but they have to be good throughout the entire history of competitive singles.
Gen 1- Earthquake
Gen 2- Rapid Spin
Gen 3- Knock Off (yes, even in gens 3-5, Knock Off started as a tool no one used, but became an amazing tool for item removal in gens with permanent sand and 12.5% burns)
Gen 4- Stealth Rock
Gen 5- Scald
Gen 6- Moonblast
Gen 7- Psychic Fangs (not including Z moves or exclusive moves made this gen very limited. Since this is singles, i went for Psychic Fangs instead of Pollen Puff, which would've also been behind Throat Chop)
Gen 8- Flip Turn
Gen 9- Tera Blast (another copout because gen 9 good moves are either signature or only learned by two evolutionary lines). It's a free stab coverage move for whatever type you change to
Gen 1: Spore. Spore all across the board.
@@jo_jo_jo with how limited the distribution of Spore is, still being only 7 fully evolved pokemon, it didn't really make sense to choose it, especially when only like 2 of its users are actually good in Amoongus and Breloom. Smeargle is nothing more than a gimmick, Shiinotic is unviable, Parasect is unviable, Brute Bonnet isn't close to OU material, Toedscruel isn't close to OU material
@@typhlosion7872 Yeah, but the move itself is still good. In fact, is that good, that it's only given to mediocre Pokémon because, otherwise, it would be broken. The few that aren't, base their whole strategy on it.
@@jo_jo_jo That's also what holds it back, though. Take a look at the other moves. Most of them have one thing in common, they're abused by multiple different pokemon and most of those pokemon are at least solid and can go all the way up to amazing whereas Spore users just go up to good. That's also why I didn't choose Rage Fist for gen 9. Distribution is a huge part of what can make and break moves. For instance, look at how many bulky waters dropped out of existence before Scald returned. How much more dominant hazard stacking became, even before Hisuirrot, because of the Defog purge. A move may be broken in a vacuum, but if it has too limited of distribution, that's where I'd choose to disqualify it
Apparently they've given Last Respects to Basculegion... who has Adaptability
Encore, defog and moonblast are notable tbh
Earthquake in general hands down is probably the best move ever.
At the very worst it's the best physical attack in the game.
But only in singles, it's somewhat risky in doubles since it hits every other pokemon, including your ally unless they have Levitate or the Flying type. Not to mention that it's a physical attack, which might not mean much until you realise that many pokemon weak to ground usually have good defence. In some situations, Earth Power is better since it's a strong attack that's special, meaning it exploits the weakness of pokemon weak to Ground better than Earthquake. Still, Earthquake is to Pokemon what Fireball is to D&D 5e.
yoooo Thatsaplusone made it to the video! I think you forgetting about shadow ball how it is still one of the best ghost moves to this day and crazy how it first appeared in the anime with mewtwo but became available in gen 2!
Wait was sticky web not a move sooner or was it just not as good b4 Gen 6?
Didn't exist before Gen 6.
@@GoinGreninja ohh wait I just realized I'm probably confusing it with string shot
@@316ray2 Yeah, that's from Gen 1 and it sucks!
Bro won't make a wine joke but drops the FMAB horror scene 😂
Protect, trick room, toxic, old version explosion, old hypnosis accuracy, tailwind, waterspout.
9:36 what's with the pokemon name 💀😂
You got the Brothehood episode half wrong. I'd say 4 and 5, given what we first witness and the learn next episode. Though I remember it as a different set of episodes. Mostly because I saw the original series.
I managed to add Close Combat (and Dragon Ascent; mega not included) to my FireRed decompilation hack and I'm super proud of it. Sure, all I did was modify the code of Superpower to make it lower Special Defence instead of Attack, but that's besides the point.
Surprised you didn't mention Gigaton Hammer. Yes, I do understand it is early in the generation so for now it is the signature move of Tinkaton, who has an ABYSMAL attack stat (and it will likely always be this way), but it's till worth talking about... to think how bad it'd be if it was given to a better mon. Mind you, a mon still with Steel STAB (very common insane defensive type btw). At 160 base power at 100 accuracy it's nothing to laugh at. And the only drawback is you can't use it twice... Which is perfectly solved by using Protect every other turn. Insane for Singles and still decent for Doubles I think.
Loved the vid btw
Edit: to clarify I just meant at least a mention since it is a hypothetical. It's obviously not the best.
In my brilliant diamond playthrough, 2 volt switch luxrays carried me to victory in the water gym.
im suprised you didnt mention self-destruct/explosion and reflect/light screen
What background tracks did you use for this video? Just got a new sub of that , awesome content
I'm pretty sure I heard Agni from smite in one frame.
No mention of Quiver Dance in gen 5? It's a special attacker version of Dragon Dance with added defensive value. It made _Venomoth_ a solid Pokemon.
I've heard youtubers claim that pursuit was removed because it was causing issues when interacting with dynamax
I am surprised you didn't mention fake out
Fake out single handedly changed the landscape of VGC doubles
A mon's viability instantly increases if it has fake out
Incineroar is a demon in VGC for a reason
Remember how Slowpokes shed their tails and it's used to make food? So why can't the Slowpoke line learn shed tail?
Why was protect or detect not on here 💀
crunch from gen 2? did you forget, a staple dark type stab move, rage in gen 2 is like rage fist
They need to bring back Pursuit. I understand Hidden Power being taken out, but Pursuit should be added back to mons like Scizor and Tyranitar. (But not Kingambit)
No thank you. That move made using Ghost and Psychic types such a pain and without it, it's so much fun to use them. But if it has to come back, then make it 60BP with 5PP which can fail if the opponent doesn't switch.
@GoinGreninja 40bp was fine and the move was never overpowered before gen 5
@@thunderhog45 Yeah, exactly why it needs a nerf.
Bro went the entire video without mentioning Baton Pass once 💀 (and no, him bringing it up alongside Shed Tail doesn’t count)
Tackle for the win
the classic
@@JPRPokeTrainer98Rhyhorn's signature move since Gen 1 😂
The buffed defog in gen 6 maybe should have been included with knockoff