Daily Pokemon Discussions

[LuckyLapras' Duck]

Vespiquen. Hard to get. That is all

 

[Keldeo]

Heal Order Defense Order Attack Order so many signature moves
It's also hard to get. I don't remember how many male Combees I went through trying to get one.

 

[Spatz]

YOU. KNOW. WHAT'S. WORSE? IT's. A. TERRIBLE. BATTLER.

*coughrantcoughrantcough*

Anyways, yeah, not fond of it, doesn't have much going for it honestly...

 

[Cerberus87]

I love Vespiquen but her type is not suited to walling. Still, hits pretty decently with Attack Order. Actually if Stealth Rock didn't exist she could be much more effective.

I don't know why the competitive community didn't ban Stealth Rock since almost every team has it and it kills the usefulness of a lot of Pokémon. I mean, a Pokémon like Charizard doesn't deserve to be NU just because of a stupid move. Same thing with Snorlax in GSC; every team had one and no one had the balls to ban it because they were too comfortable using Curselax and Drumlax. I mean, a guy on Smogon even admitted there's no direct counter to Drumlax. How can you allow something to exist in the metagame if you can't counter it effectively?

Luckily the players nowadays are more conscientious, banning stuff like Excadrill which is impossible to counter with Sand Stream support.

[/rant]

 

[sv_01]

Slowest Flying-type ever... with high defensive stats? Interesting... Pokémon with her type combination are usually fragile.

Wait, shouldn't she have Swarm?

That Pressure ability might cause problems if the best Rock-type move you have is Ancientpower... At least Dialga has the type resistances. (and also Pressure)

What's the matter with Vespiquen and Beedrill? Beedrill has a bee name but is more like a wasp, while Vespiquen has a wasp name and is an obvious bee.

 

[bobandbill]

Not a biggest fan of it just because it was annoying to get in the first place back in DP. Darn you, male combees.

Then I learnt about soft resetting, but still it seems a bit too annoying a way to get it. Guess that's why I never used it!

 

[Adriane]

I don't know why the competitive community didn't ban Stealth Rock since almost every team has it and it kills the usefulness of a lot of Pokémon. I mean, a Pokémon like Charizard doesn't deserve to be NU just because of a stupid move.

Stealth Rock weakness definitely hurts, but it's not an instant ticket to lower tiers if there's other redeemable qualities. Volcarona is just as weak to SR as Charizard is... and it's OU. Very few of the starter Pokémon are actually competitively great -- only Venusaur and Infernape remain in OU since Swampert and Empoleon were demoted. Well, Blaziken is uber, but if it didn't have Speed Boost, it certainly wouldn't be even OU.

Same thing with Snorlax in GSC; every team had one and no one had the balls to ban it because they were too comfortable using Curselax and Drumlax. I mean, a guy on Smogon even admitted there's no direct counter to Drumlax. How can you allow something to exist in the metagame if you can't counter it effectively?

You have to remember the GSC metagame happened forever ago now and the community's changed a lot since. Also there can be Pokémon in play without outright counters if it's still reasonably beatable. (That said, Haze/Roar were pretty mandatory in those days.)

Luckily the players nowadays are more conscientious, banning stuff like Excadrill which is impossible to counter with Sand Stream support.

I really don't understand why they didn't just ban abilities that work with Sand Stream instead of banning Excadrill outright like they did with Drizzle + Swift Swim... but I guess Garchomp's banned, too.

 

[Cerberus87]

Stealth Rock weakness definitely hurts, but it's not an instant ticket to lower tiers if there's other redeemable qualities. Volcarona is just as weak to SR as Charizard is... and it's OU. Very few of the starter Pokémon are actually competitively great -- only Venusaur and Infernape remain in OU since Swampert and Empoleon were demoted. Well, Blaziken is uber, but if it didn't have Speed Boost, it certainly wouldn't be even OU.

Volcarona is almost a pseudo-legendary and has a move that boosts three of its stats at the same time. That compensates for Stealth Rock weakness.

Actually Volcarona is the only Pokémon in Gen V to have a double weakness to Rock and be OU at the same time. Double weakness is harsh on a Pokémon's usability but shouldn't be that large a factor. There's tons of Pokémon in OU with crippling double weaknesses like Scizor, Tyranitar, etc., but only those 4x weak to Rock get demoted, because of Stealth Rock. If there was a Fire-type Stealth Rock you'd see a lot less Scizor in OU, I assure you.

You have to remember the GSC metagame happened forever ago now and the community's changed a lot since. Also there can be Pokémon in play without outright counters if it's still reasonably beatable. (That said, Haze/Roar were pretty mandatory in those days.)

Roar didn't work against Drumlax since it always goes last and naturally Snorlax would kill you before you Roared, and all the Hazers sucked apart from Dragonite, but Haze on Dragonite is a waste of a moveslot anyway.

I really don't understand why they didn't just ban abilities that work with Sand Stream instead of banning Excadrill outright like they did with Drizzle + Swift Swim... but I guess Garchomp's banned, too.

Sandslash and Cacturne aren't broken despite having abilities that work in sandstorm.

 

[Adriane]

Volcarona is almost a pseudo-legendary and has a move that boosts three of its stats at the same time. That compensates for Stealth Rock weakness.

Actually Volcarona is the only Pokémon in Gen V to have a double weakness to Rock and be OU at the same time. Double weakness is harsh on a Pokémon's usability but shouldn't be that large a factor. There's tons of Pokémon in OU with crippling double weaknesses like Scizor, Tyranitar, etc., but only those 4x weak to Rock get demoted, because of Stealth Rock. If there was a Fire-type Stealth Rock you'd see a lot less Scizor in OU, I assure you.

I never said SR weakness wasn't an awful thing to have, because it is -- it's still not an instant ticket to lower tiers. Volcarona can manage less because of Quiver Dance and more because of Morning Sun. Charizard is BST 534, Volcarona is BST 550 -- a difference of 16 BST. And there are plenty of 580+ in the likes of even NU. The simple fact is that there are better Fire-types than Charizard. Also Tyranitar is instant OU the same way Ninetales and Politoed are: for having an invaluable ability, not to mention it's pretty hard to kill without Fighting-moves. And yes, Scizor happily runs rampant with the lack of Fire hazards or priority. (That said, I'd love for there to be a Fire-type priority move.)

Roar didn't work against Drumlax since it always goes last and naturally Snorlax would kill you before you Roared, and all the Hazers sucked apart from Dragonite, but Haze on Dragonite is a waste of a moveslot anyway.

Snorlax is also slower than anything not named Shuckle. With Belly Drum in the set, Sleep Talk is not a very feasible option. Yes, Snorlax was basically the #1 Pokémon in GSC; it was still perfectly beatable. I was more afraid of regular Curselax, really. And Skarmory pretty much handled any non-mixed Snorlax.

Oh, and Acid Armour/Haze Vaporeon do exist!

Sandslash and Cacturne aren't broken despite having abilities that work in sandstorm.

Neither is Seaking.

 

[K'yoril]

Simipour: Probably my favorite monkey, not that I like any of them all that much. I personally think her color is atrocious. Cress-color would have been much better.

Vespiquen: Looks awesome in my opinion, but I've never used one simply because of how annoying it is to get.

 

[Mai]

VESPIQUEN

YES

(Really vespiquen isn't that great, but BEES)

I may edit in a recap of old ones fairly soon, but eh.

 

[1. Luftballon]

VESPIQUEN

YES

(Really vespiquen isn't that great, but BEES)

I may edit in a recap of old ones fairly soon, but eh.

wasps

 

[Mai]

wasps

WASPS is less shoutable than BEES.

 

[1. Luftballon]

that's probably just because you find it difficult to make the sound of an sps!

WASPS! see, WASPS! confer BEES!

 

[Connoiseusse Burgundy]

Seaking time.

^(The bottom one)

I like Seaking. I looks derpy and cool at the same time. I used one in Platinum. it was pretty cool. I also used one on a competitive NU team. It was also cool, because it gets Lightningrod from the Dream World, giving you one weakness.

 

[Keldeo]

It's one of the six Pokemon with "king" in the name: Nidoking, Slaking, Kingler, Kingdra, Slowking, and... Seaking!
It has a horn! It's orange and white! And looks derpy, but is cool, like so many other Pokemon.

 

[sv_01]

Ugly fish with a horn.

The name is slightly misleading because it doesn't live in the sea.

I still remember how the line didn't learn any Water-type moves until level 41.

I like to think of it as a counterpart to Lumineon. Even the gender differences suggest it.

 

[Keldeo]

Because Seaking isn't that popular...
I think it's time for a new Pokemon :P

HURR DURR ITS GURDURR! Gurdurr always looked kinda silly to me because of that clown nose and its lack of mouth in the game sprites, but it has a mouth as you can see in the image above. I've never used it in-game, partly because I always chose Tepig (so I already had a fighting-type) and also because I just hated its design (Conkeldurr's okay, and I think Timburr's the best out of the three, but Gurdurr... Ew.) The bulging muscles on its arms... what were you thinking o.O

 

[LuckyLapras' Duck]

Gurrdurr, meh. Never used it. Didn't appeal to me. Too bumpy

 

[Byrus]

Seaking - I like Goldfish/Koi a lot, so Seaking is pretty cool in my book.

Gurdurr - Its name is pretty funny. Not really what I was expecting for a clown Pokémon, but it still has an inventive design that I like.