Fun fact: even though tapu fini’s ability prevented scald burns in most cases, fini *still ran scald* to potentially burn flying types. That’s how stupid this move was.
The nerf to Scald distribution is very intentional. When people think of the "Defog distribution nerf" for example, they usually don't think of _how_ these Pokémon lost the move. As of now, Defog is still not a TM, so Pokémon that could only learn the move via TM still do not have access to it. This is unlike with what we see with Scald. Pokemon that did use to have access to the Scald TM, like Toxapex and Gastrodon as mentioned in the video, suddenly cannot learn the TM this time around, which actually makes this the first Generation where a case of Pokemon losing TM compatibility has happened. A similar instance occurs with Knock Off, but unlike Scald, the large majority of Pokémon who learned Knock Off via tutor in previous Gens can still learn this new Knock Off TM. However, one exception is Bisharp, who lost compatibility with Knock Off, which is a very intentional design choice entirely attributed to the developers wanting to keep Kingambit under control.
@@windwaker0rulesthat's stupid, do you know how many ridiculous moves there are that are intentionally balanced around selective distribution? Should we nerf gholdengo because he'd be broken if he had shell smash?
@@gnomefrompinkerton I am talking about pokemon that had moves previously and lost them because of a move delete like bisharp. It would've been better to make better knock off and scald counters such as more facade users or give sticky hold some other good effects instead of just deleting moves, also they could've made kinggambit less overkill maybe? Its not hard not to make pokemon like Chi-yu or palafin. how is that bad design philosophy in a RPG monster collecting game?
@@zannax351 maybe read what was said this whole section is about pokemon that lost moves because "balance", what does gholdengo have to do with anything!
As long as it's not OHKO or causes fucking death, I'm fine with scald being used as a move. I mean, pokemon fighting you won't flamethrower after you faint so it's fair, and scorching sands is way worse to feel even tho it has less bp. Tbh I'd rather get scalded in a fight than go through the pain of accidentally turning on the water way too much and not dying for 1 inch of free space that allowed me to not get hit, but yeah irl scalds, scorching sands and flamethrowers are way more overkill than pokemon ones, specially because that huge fire Z move won't kill a pokemon but being stuck in fire does
The reason scald is so insane is because you can't just send in a fire type and nullify the burn chance, you have to send in something else. It's essentially riskless.
@longnameincoming1219 Water is a much better conductor of heat than air is, and the water will stick to your skin and continue burning you. You can pass your hand safely through an open flame if you're quick enough, or even extinguish a candle by punching the wick with your bare fingers and you won't get burned, but if boiling water so much as touches your skin, you're getting second or third degree burns every time.
Things that Covert Cloak helpd against: Scald, Lava Plume (from Heatran), Discharge (from defensive Zapdos), Dire Claw, Sludge Bomb (from Amoongus), and especially Salt Cure (obviously Garganacl). It's gotten less use ever since Home dropped for some reason despite the item just getting better Edit: My mind completely just forgot it blocks from Iron Head flinches from Gambit and Rachi as well as Icicle Crash flinches from Mamoswine and if Weavile decides to run Crash over Spear
Fake Out is especially notable as blocked by covert cloak in doubles because there’s always that chance they click their funny Fake Out button but erm nuh uh, get Covert Cloaked
@@yarc9fine enough compared to what? Fire Blast is more accurate AND still has a Burn chance. Thunder is less accurate, but has both a paralysis chance of 30% and conditions where it is 100% accurate Moves with the same power as Surf also come with secondary conditions. Even if Scald was only a 10% chance, there is literally no other decent powered Water type move with a usable secondary effect. Water Pulse is it, 60 BP with confusion, not even something that sticks after switching. Of course Scald would see usage, what else is there?
@@JABofLEGENDSWho says moves need secondary effects? Water types are limited to Surf and Hydro Pump in gens 3 & 4, yet this is perfectly fine, water is still one of the best types.
@@CantusTropus Water Types are good for two reasons, one it's defensive profile and its useable in rain. Hydro Pump only really works for Pokemon with already High Sp.Atk, or the few who can risk a miss because of their bulk since its lower accuracy means running it over Surf for pokemon who have 80 or less in their Sp.Atk and have to be the defensive wall for their teams makes them set up fodder without something like Toxic. Look at the Water types in Gen 3. Swampert's Defensive power was its main draw, with the threat being its higher Atk, not Sp.Atk, so much so the recommended sets for him have Hydro Pump as an optional move. Suicine's was its set up, and often needed help since Leftovers was cancelled out by Sandstorm. Kingdra is only used in Rain because of Swift Swim, AFTER putting as many points into its Sp.Atk as possible. Compared to Fire having Burn, and Grass not just having more status options, but being more likely to have reliable recovery moves, something a lot of Water types, especially defensive ones, still do not have. Surf and Hydro Pump are not enough specifically because if you aren't using Water as a High Sp.Atk option, then it's only to not be passive. Scald allows for that better than Surf does. So even if Scald was 60BP with only a 10% Burn chance, it would still be used by most defensive Water Types. It is why water is going need something to add to Surf and Hydro with a secondary effect if Scald is going to be replaced. And you know what, Game Freak agrees with me. They made the move Chilling Water the same gen as taking out Scald from most Pokes, with it not being a Signature Move of a specific Pokemon line. It was clearly made to be the widespread Scald replacement, since it also lowers Attack. The only problem is its too low in power with its secondary effect being temporary, not status. If Chilling Water was say 70 instead, or sharply lowered Attack the way Acid Spray sharply lowers Sp.Def, it'd be more useful.
Burn was fine for generations as a side effect to fire moves, or in the specific use case of Will-o-Wisp. But Scald was so dominant they had to nerf burn damage because scald spam was too effective.
@Skullhawk13 I stand by the idea that Frozen should've been reworked into Frostbite like it was in Legends. Only make it more like Para with a chance to not move and still halving Sp.Atk.
It's also noteworthy how the very similar move Lava plume has never had the same issue. I think the reason is because the main switch against burn would be fire types, but Scald is a water move!
The main difference is that 12 fully-evolved Pokémon have ever learned lava plume and pretty much none of them would want to run it anyway because the only defensive one is torkoal (and sometimes Heatran)
1) Lava plume actually has safe counterplay 2) Defensive fire-types are extremely rare both because fire isn't a very good defensive typing and because 99% of fire types have more offensive-oriented stats 3) As others pointed out it's not nearly as widespread Meanwhile Scald 1) Is still one of the most spammable moves ever even after more than 10 years of powercreep 2) Defensive water types already were a staple in most metagames and only became much better with this new tool 3) Pretty much every Pokemon with any competitive relevance could learn it, boosting said relevance by quite a lot
Imagine they actually do replace Freeze with Frostbite at some point, and make Chilly Water inflict that instead of having the Attack drop. Imagine two Scald's existing, one for Physical attackers and another for Special attackers.
Most teams should run some form of heal bell/aromatherapy. The fact they don't is simply the battler being unprepared for status, which is ludicrous in a game where paralysis and sleep put you in a turn deficit.
@@allihavearepasta-basedthou2890those moves don't have the best distribution overall and current gen doesn't have a aromatherapy, the moves should be used more but a modern meta where most teams have a bilssy doesn't stay that way for very long
@@naganut9718 Yes. The distribution is less, but "balance" was the reason they gave for the move cull before; and not Scald is back. But you can't get the TM unless you shell out for the DLC!
scald's proc rate is actually based entirely on how much you believe it will happen and how much your opponent hates the move. If you are confident it will proc and your opponent despises scald, it'll happen about 80% of the time. if you do not think it will proc when you need it to, it will not happen.
I liked Scald back in Gen 5, but it's definitely too good. I think restricting it's distribution is a good change, and I'm surprised they didn't just nerf it's damage.
Scald distribution cut was such a good choice, or they could have cut the chance to 10% only the biggest of big stall members think being able to prevent 90% of physical attackers from coming in was healthy
@@Takkunda brother u forgot about the fact that it’s a damage dealing move, T waves accuracy, and that electric/ground types exist in one RUclips comment
@@jadonteino3438 yes, and the difference is 30% instead of 85% accuracy @ 100% thats why you nerf the BP. Fire type mons are immune to burn, so you literally make them immune to scald or make it the opposite of freeze dry where they are resistant to scald.
I feel like the new restriction of Scald is pretty smart. It seems to be given to Pokémon that “make sense” to have a hot water attack, rather than, every water mon. In particular, giving Scald to stuff like Sinistcha, Vaporeoon, or Coalossal is fun.
Hear me out, any Pokémon with hands could be able to use scald, it’s just boiling water. Also it should be super effective against steel, since fire is.
I love how scald has limited distribution now. I really like the move, but giving it to every mon makes it way too annoying. The mategame is better if Toxapex can't learn it. One more reason why Gen 9 singles is my favorite.
I love Scald, but I always felt it was too widely distributed. I’d have preferred they kept it a rarer move to give certain water type special attackers, especially gen one holdovers, a nice niche. For example, Vaporeon benefits immensely from Scald. It helps make up for its lacklustre base defence, while utilizing its 110 base special attack, and gives it a level of team utility that most Eeveelutions can only dream of. Comparatively, I’m not sure ALL the water Starters needed it. Blastoise for sure - but Greninja??? There’s no rule that says it has to be available to every water type. It makes no intuitive sense to me for, say, Lapras to have access to Scald. Or Gastrodon. Or Toxapex. I’d love for them to just pick a few mons who could use a buff anyway, give them access to a rarer Scald, and see what happens.
I stopped competitive battling at the end of generation six. So you can only imagine my reaction when in sun and moon you can get scald as early as the second trial; which apparently someone at game freak realize that was a horrible mistake and move the TM to near the end of the game in the sequels. I don’t remember if you can get the TM in brilliant diamond and shining pearl but considering that you can get bonkers stuff like flamethrower and thunderbolt as early as the third gym, it wouldn’t put it past me if it was somewhere in the grand under ground.
I for one liked Scald, the one thing I could spam on steel types and especially Corviknight which walled everything. Like Toxapex vs Corviknight you had a standing chance, one of the few counters to it. Also, is it too safe? Yes, but was easy to build teams around, and I think that’s one of the main (“centralization”) things people are complaining about.
I think nerfing its base power would be a good change because it's stupid that this move was used as the main STAB for water types. It would (almost) be like the move Nuzzle. A move with low BP that can (and will) inflict status.
I genuinely don't belive that the rework done in the distribution of moves like scald and toxic was made with balance in mind but just for some idiotic reason, like to be lore accurate. One day someone in gamefreak realised that it doesn't make any sense that every single fking creature in that world is deadly venomous so only the true toxic pokemon now learn toxic and one day someone realized that it doesn't make any sense that every single water pokemon can puke steaming hot water so now only a few pokemon that could puke super hot water learn scald
Oh wow I actually never knew it was so hated. I started competitively playing in gen 5 and always just considered it a force of nature. I love slapping Scald onto mons to deal with physical attackers. It feels like an equalizer, especially with even Dragon Dancers in OU at the time, followed by big Megas in Gens 6 and 7 and aggressive Physical beaters in Gen 8. I missed it against Chien Pao and non-Fire Ogerpon too. Such a great move to cover those mon. I was so used to having it in the game that I was flustered when it was gone, and rejoiced when it came back. Scald is awesome, but I can definitely see it having been overtuned. Maybe if it was 60 BP it would have been more manageable. I was always more upset about Stealth Rock than Scald.
@@gnomefrompinkerton Oh no no I liked Scald because of the distribution being mon that couldn't normally threaten something like a Burn, meaning they often were not weak to Stealth Rock or Knock Off like Will-O-Wisp users
Scald was so good that even offensive greninja, commonly ran scald + hydro instead of surf. the 10 BP drop rarely matters compared to the crippling 30% potential burn with 100% accuracy
If I had the opportunity, I’d reduce Scald’s BP to 60 and/or reduce its burn chance to 10%. Most moves with 80 BP only have a 10% secondary chance. I’d also keep its distribution to defensive water types who, lore-wise, has access to hot water.
The thing that always gets me with with scald is that they put the highest chance to burn on a move that not only isn't fire type but is super effective against fire types too, why you undermining fire types like that for? Can we now get a fire move with a 30% chance to freeze?
@JABofLEGENDS are they distributed and used as much as scald? If you want to burn something you use scald or will o wisp and will o wisp can miss. You're not getting sacred fire off ho-oh so what even is your point?
@@jive238 My point is simple. Even if Scald was weaken to 60 or had only a 10% chance, people would still run it because the difference in that, especially after Toxic was taken from so many, that most defensive Water types can't inflict status, and since their moves are weaker, comparatively anyways, having a way to do something is basically required. Also, both Fire Blast and Lava Plume have 30%, in addition to more niche moves like Victini's Searing Shot. Even in cases like that, Victini literally has a 180 power move to use instead. If water types want that level of power, only Water Spout comes close, and that requires Max HP. Also, you asked about a fire type move with a chance to freeze. Right, like Water wasn't just given a SECOND move that specifically is to be used against them by Pokemon who they should beat, type wise. Oh, here's a Rock type, specifically with a move meant to fuck with waters, many of which still don't have any good recovery, even after recovery was nerf. If you doubt me that Pokemon would still run a weakened Scald, look at Freeze Dry. How many Pokemon who run it can still run Ice Beam or Blizzard? Only Pokemon whose Snow would use Blizzard, so the chance to hit waters with it is worth the extra damage lost. See how that works?
@@JABofLEGENDS I had to go check but fire blast it a 10% and a chance to miss and lava plume is on a handful of pokemon. Scald is a tm and it can be learned by just about any water type, you know how many water types there are? i'm saying scald devalues fire moves just like toxic devalued poison move when everyone could learn toxic. Salt cure is on literally one pokemon line. Let the bulky waters go cry a river.
It has to be intentional, Toxapex didn't get access to Scald and Knock-off which was half of it's meta moveset. They did the same thing to Toxic by removing it as a TM then returning it with much less pokemon being able to learn it. It seems that Game Freak removes a TM from the game so they can go through all the pokemon that learned the move and reorganise its distribution so they can return it at a later date. Although that's not always the case with moves such as Hidden Power.
@@windwaker0rules lovely kiss and sketch weren’t removed, they’re just signature moves. Hidden power was a balance nightmare. Return was too good, Signal beam I concede but the rest were signature moves of removed mons, too powerful, or too weak. Power up punch was only ever good on mega mommy
@@Skullhawk13Wasn't lovely kiss on like 3-4 pokemon? Also I disagree with HP, Tera blast is even more powerful while HP required certain IV thresholds as a limiter and at least 10 BP lower. I also don't get your claim on Return.
@@mikelhendrickson5119 lovely is Jynx. Tera blast is one Gen seasonal power and also isn’t special only nor is it useful for more than one Pokémon. A move slot isn’t nearly as big of a commitment as who gets to Terra. Return is too good because of abilities that turn it into better types. It was on everything. It also made literally every other physical normal move garbage. It had high base power AND power points. I agree it could’ve been just made normal type only but it was on everything.
Giving it the Toxic treatment of vastly reduced availability was a good plan. If only they'd done the same thing with Knock Off, that crap was and remains utterly ridiculous in a generation without Mega Stones and Z-Crystals.
Water types just became stronger with Scald returning. It also brings back pokemon that were defensive that relied on that before. Keep the Toxic tm away. But bring back Scald? Sounds great to me.
Gamefreak really are something else. The water type was always one of the best types in the game, so naturally they decided to make a water move with serviceable base power and lava plume’s 30% burn rate while giving it near universal water type distribution. If you ever want proof Gamefreak is run by clowns, there it is.
As a Competitive Ground Type Monotype player since XY I can only say this Scald ruined my life… I told my friends that it was too broken to use and they constantly said otherwise, if they reduced the burn chance to 10% or limit the distribution it wouldn’t be as problematic but it was just too much during those ten years of my competitive career
I feel like Scald shld make the burn be 20% instead. 30%, risk free and even quite strong move shld not exist. Another way could be to just nerf the base power to like 60, similar to icy wind.
What if scald had 100% chance to burn but it would only apply the secondary effect against fire weak pokemon? You could at least switch your dragons and waters to resist without the rng to get burned but still discorages grass types to show up
Scald was a nightmare. It made showdown less fun. Strats revolved around spamming scald rather than generating momentum. And every water type could use it. 80 BP is way too much. At that BP, it made no sense to run surf, so every water's STAB could also burn. Which buffed an already amazing defensive type. I think scald should be learnable by pokemon that make sense using it. So not ice/water types e.g. It should also have the same accuracy as Will-o'-wisp and half the BP.
It wasn't just water types with Scald! Mons like Emboar, Raikou, and Stunfisk got it by TM. How much of gen 6 was some version of Keldeo trying to wear down Amoonguss. Jellicent's chance to shine, crippled by 97 power Knock Off and 80 power Sucker.
Burning was ridiculous in the early generation, not only crippling a strong physical threat, but doing 12% damage each turn. If the burned Pokemon didn't carry leftovers, it could be annoying to deal with.
I think they should have kept the move to volcanion and move from this terrible choice. Water is already one of the best types in the game and having a move that competes with Fire niches effect is so dumb. Despite being so limited now , I don't think it's a healthy move of the game
Honestly I don’t understand why they continually choose to make water types really good with their moves. Like this move, then flip turn in gen 8, then wave crash in gen 9 is just a crazy choice given how good water is as a type
I'm hosting a $2800+ Gen 3 OU Tournament. Check out the commentary here:
www.youtube.com/@jimothygaming/videos
‘Aw
Fun fact: even though tapu fini’s ability prevented scald burns in most cases, fini *still ran scald* to potentially burn flying types. That’s how stupid this move was.
Also for bulus on switch in
@@samtheshow39oh, that's brilliant 👏
And for other tapus switching in on it
Fun fact: scald was so insane they actually made a scaldless ladder in ORAS UU
Thank you for the information Mr. Craw I hope the agency has been treating you well 📞📞📞
Holy crap THE adaptability rain sweeper mr craw himself 😮😮😮
Of all types that they want to insert burning effect into, they picked water. Seems like the guy who funded gamefreak the most is a water Pokemon fan
I remember the weather less and stealth rock less ladders being much less popular in gens 5 and 4 respectively.
Yeah it dosen't help that Scald is learnt by, and STAB on, what is already one of the best types in the game.
The nerf to Scald distribution is very intentional. When people think of the "Defog distribution nerf" for example, they usually don't think of _how_ these Pokémon lost the move. As of now, Defog is still not a TM, so Pokémon that could only learn the move via TM still do not have access to it.
This is unlike with what we see with Scald. Pokemon that did use to have access to the Scald TM, like Toxapex and Gastrodon as mentioned in the video, suddenly cannot learn the TM this time around, which actually makes this the first Generation where a case of Pokemon losing TM compatibility has happened. A similar instance occurs with Knock Off, but unlike Scald, the large majority of Pokémon who learned Knock Off via tutor in previous Gens can still learn this new Knock Off TM. However, one exception is Bisharp, who lost compatibility with Knock Off, which is a very intentional design choice entirely attributed to the developers wanting to keep Kingambit under control.
i would say just design pokemon not to be broken with X move but what do i know im not a bad developer.
@@windwaker0rulesthat's stupid, do you know how many ridiculous moves there are that are intentionally balanced around selective distribution? Should we nerf gholdengo because he'd be broken if he had shell smash?
Toxic is in the same case.
@@gnomefrompinkerton I am talking about pokemon that had moves previously and lost them because of a move delete like bisharp.
It would've been better to make better knock off and scald counters such as more facade users or give sticky hold some other good effects instead of just deleting moves, also they could've made kinggambit less overkill maybe? Its not hard not to make pokemon like Chi-yu or palafin.
how is that bad design philosophy in a RPG monster collecting game?
@@zannax351 maybe read what was said this whole section is about pokemon that lost moves because "balance", what does gholdengo have to do with anything!
As somebody who has been scalded irl, i would never subject an innocent Pokemon to such an experience
i would
😈
Only fire burns are acceptable (and maybe hot sand too)
As long as it's not OHKO or causes fucking death, I'm fine with scald being used as a move. I mean, pokemon fighting you won't flamethrower after you faint so it's fair, and scorching sands is way worse to feel even tho it has less bp. Tbh I'd rather get scalded in a fight than go through the pain of accidentally turning on the water way too much and not dying for 1 inch of free space that allowed me to not get hit, but yeah irl scalds, scorching sands and flamethrowers are way more overkill than pokemon ones, specially because that huge fire Z move won't kill a pokemon but being stuck in fire does
The reason scald is so insane is because you can't just send in a fire type and nullify the burn chance, you have to send in something else. It's essentially riskless.
Volcanion:
@@SporianSummitby the way, Volcanion:
Hydro Pump: 110 base power, no add. effect, 80% accuracy
Scald: 80 power, 100 accuracy, 30% chance
Steam eruption: 110 power, 30% chance to burn, 95% accuracy
Bro got two moves in one 💀💀
@@Leo-nm1ne exactly, bro is both the cheese and the anti-cheese at the same time 😈
@@SporianSummit Bro is the stinkiest cheese
Mons with the guts ability and similar:
Are we a joke to you?
that's hot water
we goin straight to the top w/ this one
Dat hawt watah!!!
Imagine making a Water Move that is better at burning than actual Fire type moves
You're more likely to get burned by hot water than by fire, so it makes sense.
@@getsinged7631I’m sorry what?
@longnameincoming1219 Water is a much better conductor of heat than air is, and the water will stick to your skin and continue burning you. You can pass your hand safely through an open flame if you're quick enough, or even extinguish a candle by punching the wick with your bare fingers and you won't get burned, but if boiling water so much as touches your skin, you're getting second or third degree burns every time.
I spilled my tea on my arm and burned myself yesterday. This never would have happened in Gen III OU
I hope you’re joking but if not I hope you recover soon. Scalds suck
Things that Covert Cloak helpd against: Scald, Lava Plume (from Heatran), Discharge (from defensive Zapdos), Dire Claw, Sludge Bomb (from Amoongus), and especially Salt Cure (obviously Garganacl). It's gotten less use ever since Home dropped for some reason despite the item just getting better
Edit: My mind completely just forgot it blocks from Iron Head flinches from Gambit and Rachi as well as Icicle Crash flinches from Mamoswine and if Weavile decides to run Crash over Spear
Fake Out is especially notable as blocked by covert cloak in doubles because there’s always that chance they click their funny Fake Out button but erm nuh uh, get Covert Cloaked
@@byzantine5761omg i didn’t even think of fake out. Gonna run me some covert cloak users
In a Draft League I was apart of recently, Covert Cloak Annihilape was actually really funny into Mega Lopunnys Fake Out.
@@zardichar3903 that is honestly heat. Free Rage Fist boost+turn to hit hard, set up, or U-Turn out
"Oh look, Water type is the best type. How about we give most of them a move that competes with Fire's arsenal while making them EVEN bulkier."
that make sense
That why water Type Pokémon don’t need scald all they need is surf and hydro pump their fine enough moves
@@yarc9fine enough compared to what? Fire Blast is more accurate AND still has a Burn chance. Thunder is less accurate, but has both a paralysis chance of 30% and conditions where it is 100% accurate
Moves with the same power as Surf also come with secondary conditions.
Even if Scald was only a 10% chance, there is literally no other decent powered Water type move with a usable secondary effect. Water Pulse is it, 60 BP with confusion, not even something that sticks after switching.
Of course Scald would see usage, what else is there?
@@JABofLEGENDSWho says moves need secondary effects? Water types are limited to Surf and Hydro Pump in gens 3 & 4, yet this is perfectly fine, water is still one of the best types.
@@CantusTropus Water Types are good for two reasons, one it's defensive profile and its useable in rain. Hydro Pump only really works for Pokemon with already High Sp.Atk, or the few who can risk a miss because of their bulk since its lower accuracy means running it over Surf for pokemon who have 80 or less in their Sp.Atk and have to be the defensive wall for their teams makes them set up fodder without something like Toxic.
Look at the Water types in Gen 3.
Swampert's Defensive power was its main draw, with the threat being its higher Atk, not Sp.Atk, so much so the recommended sets for him have Hydro Pump as an optional move.
Suicine's was its set up, and often needed help since Leftovers was cancelled out by Sandstorm.
Kingdra is only used in Rain because of Swift Swim, AFTER putting as many points into its Sp.Atk as possible.
Compared to Fire having Burn, and Grass not just having more status options, but being more likely to have reliable recovery moves, something a lot of Water types, especially defensive ones, still do not have. Surf and Hydro Pump are not enough specifically because if you aren't using Water as a High Sp.Atk option, then it's only to not be passive. Scald allows for that better than Surf does. So even if Scald was 60BP with only a 10% Burn chance, it would still be used by most defensive Water Types. It is why water is going need something to add to Surf and Hydro with a secondary effect if Scald is going to be replaced.
And you know what, Game Freak agrees with me. They made the move Chilling Water the same gen as taking out Scald from most Pokes, with it not being a Signature Move of a specific Pokemon line. It was clearly made to be the widespread Scald replacement, since it also lowers Attack. The only problem is its too low in power with its secondary effect being temporary, not status. If Chilling Water was say 70 instead, or sharply lowered Attack the way Acid Spray sharply lowers Sp.Def, it'd be more useful.
Burn was fine for generations as a side effect to fire moves, or in the specific use case of Will-o-Wisp. But Scald was so dominant they had to nerf burn damage because scald spam was too effective.
They nerfed burn to make poison a useful status instead of just “burn that doesn’t halve attack”
@@gregariositycould’ve made poison half Sp atk
They didn't nerf burn because of scald, they nerfed burn to set it apart from poison. Gamefreak doesn't give a single care about competitive Pokemon.
@Skullhawk13 I stand by the idea that Frozen should've been reworked into Frostbite like it was in Legends. Only make it more like Para with a chance to not move and still halving Sp.Atk.
@@Skullhawk13 That would be stupidly broken considering that Toxic Spikes is a thing
It's also noteworthy how the very similar move Lava plume has never had the same issue. I think the reason is because the main switch against burn would be fire types, but Scald is a water move!
The main difference is that 12 fully-evolved Pokémon have ever learned lava plume and pretty much none of them would want to run it anyway because the only defensive one is torkoal (and sometimes Heatran)
It's also because Lava Plume isn't a TM with a wide distribution. Rotom-H and Moltres would definitely use it if they had access to it.
Also, lava plume is a spread move so in doubles the safe uses for it are very limited unless you are willying to burn your own mon
1) Lava plume actually has safe counterplay
2) Defensive fire-types are extremely rare both because fire isn't a very good defensive typing and because 99% of fire types have more offensive-oriented stats
3) As others pointed out it's not nearly as widespread
Meanwhile Scald
1) Is still one of the most spammable moves ever even after more than 10 years of powercreep
2) Defensive water types already were a staple in most metagames and only became much better with this new tool
3) Pretty much every Pokemon with any competitive relevance could learn it, boosting said relevance by quite a lot
Imagine they actually do replace Freeze with Frostbite at some point, and make Chilly Water inflict that instead of having the Attack drop. Imagine two Scald's existing, one for Physical attackers and another for Special attackers.
On one hand that's a neat idea, on the other hand, that sounds like a nightmarish start of making excruciating stall strategies even more excruciating
Most teams should run some form of heal bell/aromatherapy. The fact they don't is simply the battler being unprepared for status, which is ludicrous in a game where paralysis and sleep put you in a turn deficit.
@@allihavearepasta-basedthou2890those moves don't have the best distribution overall and current gen doesn't have a aromatherapy, the moves should be used more but a modern meta where most teams have a bilssy doesn't stay that way for very long
Gamefreak: We removed Scald access for balance
Also Gamefreak: Shell out for the DLC and you can have Scald back.
Did you watch the video?
@@naganut9718 Yes. The distribution is less, but "balance" was the reason they gave for the move cull before; and not Scald is back. But you can't get the TM unless you shell out for the DLC!
@@raikaria3090 you can just trade for with other players that have them
@@raikaria3090they restricted pokemon that can learn it from TM
scald's proc rate is actually based entirely on how much you believe it will happen and how much your opponent hates the move. If you are confident it will proc and your opponent despises scald, it'll happen about 80% of the time. if you do not think it will proc when you need it to, it will not happen.
Legit, the other day, I used it 7 times in a row, before finally getting a burn. My trust in that move is irrevocably shattered now
Scald is the only move powerful enough to stop Iron Fellow from completing his hostile takeover of Gholdengo Financing
Scald is one of the most controversial moves in competitive singles. Cheers mate.
Was bro there when scald ludicolo and politoed existed
If you mean gen 5 ou, I ABUSED scald in rain up until drizzle + swift swim got banned and I switched to sand/dragmag lol@@ZeBanded
My idea for a Scald nerf would be to give it a Freezedry like effect of being resisted by Fire.
Same with Scorching Sands.
It’s fine the way it is
@eduardoramosflores8281 Is it? When almost every water type uses the same move, it might be an indication that it isn't fine.
scorching sands is at least blocked by levitators (including flying types)
@@frankchen4229 It's still a ridiculously optimal Sp.Attack Ground Type attack. It having limited distribution is the only thing keeping it in check.
@@eddietheguy13you’re literally commenting on a video about how not okay it is lmao
When you have a move whose secondary effect is strong but won’t activate on many Pokémon that are WEAK to the move, that’s a problem.
I liked Scald back in Gen 5, but it's definitely too good. I think restricting it's distribution is a good change, and I'm surprised they didn't just nerf it's damage.
I blame iron mugulis for the return of scald, but i also give respect to iron Chugulis to limiting how many pokemon learn it
Scald distribution cut was such a good choice, or they could have cut the chance to 10% only the biggest of big stall members think being able to prevent 90% of physical attackers from coming in was healthy
No different from t-waving or will-o-wisping on switch.
They should've nerfed the BP to 50, or leave BP but made fire mons immune to it, or both.
@@Takkunda brother u forgot about the fact that it’s a damage dealing move, T waves accuracy, and that electric/ground types exist in one RUclips comment
@@jadonteino3438i was just gonna say, huge difference lmao
@@jadonteino3438 yes, and the difference is 30% instead of 85% accuracy @ 100% thats why you nerf the BP.
Fire type mons are immune to burn, so you literally make them immune to scald or make it the opposite of freeze dry where they are resistant to scald.
@@Takkundathen it's different from wisp and T-wave if you're calling on lowering the damage so that it's not significant anymore
I think it's not as bad now that fewer things have it. Still very strong though.
It's like the move ITSELF has coverage which is so so crazy
00:51 Good Lord. That cut from Gen 3 Pert's refined, well respect sprite into Gen 5 'wampert throwing it back like he don't know nobody was shocking
Its crazy how this is basically the best Water move. Youd expect it be a giant wave-like surf or wave crash, but no its just boiled water
I feel like the new restriction of Scald is pretty smart. It seems to be given to Pokémon that “make sense” to have a hot water attack, rather than, every water mon. In particular, giving Scald to stuff like Sinistcha, Vaporeoon, or Coalossal is fun.
That's a funny way of saying Ceasless Edge, Salt Cure, Last Respects, Rage Fist.
Hear me out, any Pokémon with hands could be able to use scald, it’s just boiling water. Also it should be super effective against steel, since fire is.
It could also have a chance to flinch. Boiling water hurts.
it could also disable sound type moves because when i drink boiling water my tongue hurts :(
ah yes, a water type move that hits steel types super effectively how balanced.
Should 1OHKO ice types cause whos gonna put ice on hot tea⁉️
Boiling water hurts all living things. So, lore wise it should be effective against all mons.
bro i loved scald man wdym
Get out of here Politoed.
@@jimothycool I JUST got here through the DLC man :(
Anyways its not like im being used for anything outside Gen 5 OU
7:17 Yeah walking wake with scald is worse because of opposing sun teams
I love how scald has limited distribution now. I really like the move, but giving it to every mon makes it way too annoying. The mategame is better if Toxapex can't learn it.
One more reason why Gen 9 singles is my favorite.
I love Scald, but I always felt it was too widely distributed. I’d have preferred they kept it a rarer move to give certain water type special attackers, especially gen one holdovers, a nice niche.
For example, Vaporeon benefits immensely from Scald. It helps make up for its lacklustre base defence, while utilizing its 110 base special attack, and gives it a level of team utility that most Eeveelutions can only dream of. Comparatively, I’m not sure ALL the water Starters needed it. Blastoise for sure - but Greninja???
There’s no rule that says it has to be available to every water type. It makes no intuitive sense to me for, say, Lapras to have access to Scald. Or Gastrodon. Or Toxapex. I’d love for them to just pick a few mons who could use a buff anyway, give them access to a rarer Scald, and see what happens.
Agreed, but scald doesn't make sense on vaporeon too thematically.
just saying, what's vaporeon using to boil the water?
Lapras. Dewgong, and Walrein doesn't learn scald because they're ice types
The move was fine the way it was
@@MKL874 The same thing that Politoed is using
I stopped competitive battling at the end of generation six.
So you can only imagine my reaction when in sun and moon you can get scald as early as the second trial; which apparently someone at game freak realize that was a horrible mistake and move the TM to near the end of the game in the sequels.
I don’t remember if you can get the TM in brilliant diamond and shining pearl but considering that you can get bonkers stuff like flamethrower and thunderbolt as early as the third gym, it wouldn’t put it past me if it was somewhere in the grand under ground.
I for one liked Scald, the one thing I could spam on steel types and especially Corviknight which walled everything. Like Toxapex vs Corviknight you had a standing chance, one of the few counters to it. Also, is it too safe? Yes, but was easy to build teams around, and I think that’s one of the main (“centralization”) things people are complaining about.
Covert Cloak now has a bigger purpose
Not gonna lie, I hope Lapras gets scaled when they come back in Indigo Disk. Definitely need it since dynamaxing is gone.
Ah, love not having to care about my opponent switching to a physical fire type. The bane of Will-o-Wisp.
I think nerfing its base power would be a good change because it's stupid that this move was used as the main STAB for water types.
It would (almost) be like the move Nuzzle. A move with low BP that can (and will) inflict status.
Recently tried a 6-Star Tera Bug Heatproof Sinistcha Raid.
Scald, Matcha Gotcha, Hex, and Stun Spore. All I could think was, yeah, it has begun.
Hey big fan of your content! My favorite meta game is gen 9 ou national dex I would love similar content about that tier specifically!
Scald is op cause water types are so good for no reason .-.
Gamefreak on their way to remove pursuit but maintain scald: 🤡🤡🤡
I genuinely don't belive that the rework done in the distribution of moves like scald and toxic was made with balance in mind but just for some idiotic reason, like to be lore accurate. One day someone in gamefreak realised that it doesn't make any sense that every single fking creature in that world is deadly venomous so only the true toxic pokemon now learn toxic and one day someone realized that it doesn't make any sense that every single water pokemon can puke steaming hot water so now only a few pokemon that could puke super hot water learn scald
There are so many things im glad i dont have to deal with as a gsc player and this is certainly one of them
Oh wow I actually never knew it was so hated. I started competitively playing in gen 5 and always just considered it a force of nature. I love slapping Scald onto mons to deal with physical attackers. It feels like an equalizer, especially with even Dragon Dancers in OU at the time, followed by big Megas in Gens 6 and 7 and aggressive Physical beaters in Gen 8. I missed it against Chien Pao and non-Fire Ogerpon too. Such a great move to cover those mon.
I was so used to having it in the game that I was flustered when it was gone, and rejoiced when it came back.
Scald is awesome, but I can definitely see it having been overtuned. Maybe if it was 60 BP it would have been more manageable.
I was always more upset about Stealth Rock than Scald.
@@gnomefrompinkerton Oh no no I liked Scald because of the distribution being mon that couldn't normally threaten something like a Burn, meaning they often were not weak to Stealth Rock or Knock Off like Will-O-Wisp users
when a water type move has higher chance to burn than most fire type move.
Scald Spam is like PK Fire spam in Smash. You have to watch helpless as a the opponent burns you and makes you useless.
Scald was so good that even offensive greninja, commonly ran scald + hydro instead of surf. the 10 BP drop rarely matters compared to the crippling 30% potential burn with 100% accuracy
Substitute/Focus Punch Breloom is my favorite shit
The presence is scald is a nice buff to guts
If I had the opportunity, I’d reduce Scald’s BP to 60 and/or reduce its burn chance to 10%. Most moves with 80 BP only have a 10% secondary chance. I’d also keep its distribution to defensive water types who, lore-wise, has access to hot water.
Jimothy, I think that it would be very interesting to do an interview collaboration with the amazing creator PokeaimMD.
The move more toxic than toxic.
Toxic, coincidentally, whose usage got drastically reduced as well.
The thing that always gets me with with scald is that they put the highest chance to burn on a move that not only isn't fire type but is super effective against fire types too, why you undermining fire types like that for? Can we now get a fire move with a 30% chance to freeze?
You do realize more than one Fire type move has the same chance to burn, right?
@JABofLEGENDS are they distributed and used as much as scald? If you want to burn something you use scald or will o wisp and will o wisp can miss. You're not getting sacred fire off ho-oh so what even is your point?
@@jive238 My point is simple. Even if Scald was weaken to 60 or had only a 10% chance, people would still run it because the difference in that, especially after Toxic was taken from so many, that most defensive Water types can't inflict status, and since their moves are weaker, comparatively anyways, having a way to do something is basically required.
Also, both Fire Blast and Lava Plume have 30%, in addition to more niche moves like Victini's Searing Shot. Even in cases like that, Victini literally has a 180 power move to use instead. If water types want that level of power, only Water Spout comes close, and that requires Max HP.
Also, you asked about a fire type move with a chance to freeze. Right, like Water wasn't just given a SECOND move that specifically is to be used against them by Pokemon who they should beat, type wise. Oh, here's a Rock type, specifically with a move meant to fuck with waters, many of which still don't have any good recovery, even after recovery was nerf.
If you doubt me that Pokemon would still run a weakened Scald, look at Freeze Dry. How many Pokemon who run it can still run Ice Beam or Blizzard? Only Pokemon whose Snow would use Blizzard, so the chance to hit waters with it is worth the extra damage lost. See how that works?
@@JABofLEGENDS I had to go check but fire blast it a 10% and a chance to miss and lava plume is on a handful of pokemon. Scald is a tm and it can be learned by just about any water type, you know how many water types there are? i'm saying scald devalues fire moves just like toxic devalued poison move when everyone could learn toxic. Salt cure is on literally one pokemon line. Let the bulky waters go cry a river.
Given Stealth Rock was allowed in the tier since DPP, I assumed any overcentralizing and restrictive BS was tolerated
In a way, it is proof why fire+water type is so good.
Don’t think scald was ever the issue it was how accessible it was
Scald: How to make someone mald.
Skill issue was never a bad move
Even with the reduced distro I can’t believe they brought this shit back
I think the actual issue is burn being too op more than scald itself.
It has to be intentional, Toxapex didn't get access to Scald and Knock-off which was half of it's meta moveset. They did the same thing to Toxic by removing it as a TM then returning it with much less pokemon being able to learn it. It seems that Game Freak removes a TM from the game so they can go through all the pokemon that learned the move and reorganise its distribution so they can return it at a later date. Although that's not always the case with moves such as Hidden Power.
hey jim do you plan on covering obscure competitve pokemon facts?
I love how all those people who were ok with game freak removing moves justified it with stuff like: at least they got rid of scald.
To be fair, with the exception of EXACTLY pursuit, which removed move was a great but balanced one?
@@Skullhawk13 Return, Dragon Rage, Barrier, Mirror Move, Lovely Kiss, Sketch. Hidden Power, Refresh/Aroma, Signal Beam, Psycho Shift, Storm Throw, Ominous Wind/Silver Wind, and Power up Punch?
@@windwaker0rules lovely kiss and sketch weren’t removed, they’re just signature moves. Hidden power was a balance nightmare. Return was too good, Signal beam I concede but the rest were signature moves of removed mons, too powerful, or too weak. Power up punch was only ever good on mega mommy
@@Skullhawk13Wasn't lovely kiss on like 3-4 pokemon? Also I disagree with HP, Tera blast is even more powerful while HP required certain IV thresholds as a limiter and at least 10 BP lower. I also don't get your claim on Return.
@@mikelhendrickson5119 lovely is Jynx. Tera blast is one Gen seasonal power and also isn’t special only nor is it useful for more than one Pokémon. A move slot isn’t nearly as big of a commitment as who gets to Terra. Return is too good because of abilities that turn it into better types. It was on everything. It also made literally every other physical normal move garbage. It had high base power AND power points. I agree it could’ve been just made normal type only but it was on everything.
Bulky Milotic + Flame Orb + Defensive Tera + Scald is the only build in the game that I consistently lose to.
Thank god covert cloak exists now
Giving it the Toxic treatment of vastly reduced availability was a good plan. If only they'd done the same thing with Knock Off, that crap was and remains utterly ridiculous in a generation without Mega Stones and Z-Crystals.
The more tame version of BKC‘s rant on scald
get this man to 50k already
Water types just became stronger with Scald returning. It also brings back pokemon that were defensive that relied on that before. Keep the Toxic tm away. But bring back Scald? Sounds great to me.
Gamefreak really are something else. The water type was always one of the best types in the game, so naturally they decided to make a water move with serviceable base power and lava plume’s 30% burn rate while giving it near universal water type distribution. If you ever want proof Gamefreak is run by clowns, there it is.
As a Competitive Ground Type Monotype player since XY I can only say this
Scald ruined my life…
I told my friends that it was too broken to use and they constantly said otherwise, if they reduced the burn chance to 10% or limit the distribution it wouldn’t be as problematic but it was just too much during those ten years of my competitive career
Use refresh seismitoad
If Frostbite ever comes back they should make Chilling Water a Scald that can Frostbite
I feel like Scald shld make the burn be 20% instead. 30%, risk free and even quite strong move shld not exist. Another way could be to just nerf the base power to like 60, similar to icy wind.
The move is fine the way it is
Never forget when blunder got reverse swept by a pex cause Melmetal got burned
1:25 only deals 1/16th since gen 7
What if scald had 100% chance to burn but it would only apply the secondary effect against fire weak pokemon?
You could at least switch your dragons and waters to resist without the rng to get burned but still discorages grass types to show up
Scald was a nightmare. It made showdown less fun. Strats revolved around spamming scald rather than generating momentum. And every water type could use it. 80 BP is way too much. At that BP, it made no sense to run surf, so every water's STAB could also burn. Which buffed an already amazing defensive type.
I think scald should be learnable by pokemon that make sense using it. So not ice/water types e.g. It should also have the same accuracy as Will-o'-wisp and half the BP.
The amount of Pokémon currently in OU with access to scald is limited. Fixed that for you
Scald is the favored move of the evil Iron Mugulis.
Real ones remember the lum berry swords dance garchomp to beat scald spammers
One thing to note is that Burn damage was changed to 1/16 of damage starting in Gen 7, so it’s not as valuable to inflict on a special attacker.
sv ou water spam just got even better
Scald and Knock Off are thr best moves to ever exist
It wasn't just water types with Scald! Mons like Emboar, Raikou, and Stunfisk got it by TM. How much of gen 6 was some version of Keldeo trying to wear down Amoonguss. Jellicent's chance to shine, crippled by 97 power Knock Off and 80 power Sucker.
… is it just me, or is Dragonite missing an antenna in the thumbnail?
Move idea: a base 60damage grass type attatck that has a 20% chance to cause sleep make it a grass type
No
And of course they gave this to walking wake and not empoleon, I am kinda mad on missing hydro pumps
Still crazy Water types are the best burners. A flamethrower ir fire blast has a lower chance to leave a burn than a water move.
Burning was ridiculous in the early generation, not only crippling a strong physical threat, but doing 12% damage each turn. If the burned Pokemon didn't carry leftovers, it could be annoying to deal with.
Scald is 1/16 hp for a few gens now but it’s still too good lmao
I think they should have kept the move to volcanion and move from this terrible choice. Water is already one of the best types in the game and having a move that competes with Fire niches effect is so dumb. Despite being so limited now , I don't think it's a healthy move of the game
if landorus therian was a move, it would be scald
Honestly I don’t understand why they continually choose to make water types really good with their moves. Like this move, then flip turn in gen 8, then wave crash in gen 9 is just a crazy choice given how good water is as a type
Flamethrower (literal fire) - 10% burn chance
Scald (hot water) - 30% burn chance 🫠🤯🤯
Scald should have only been learn by Pokémon that get both a fire and water move like Slowbro and Gyrados
Good video
Just wait for Smeargle return.