Pokémon that are great competitively but suck in-game (and vice versa)

There are some Pokémon that are amazing powerhouses in the metagame, but are far from optimal when you roll through the in-game storyline with them. Sometimes it's cause of abilities, sometimes cause of low PP moves, long strategies, there can be a lot of reasons, but let's discuss them!

Conversely, I'm sure there are Pokémon that are overlooked in the metagame but great in-game. Maybe we can find a surprising new Pokémon to have fun with when we next go through the story.

Just to clarify, I'm not talking about the in-game competitive aspects of Pokémon here, like Battle Tower or Wi-Fi battling. Also, I'm aware that you can p. much beat the game with any Pokémon, but some are more disappointing than others for sure.

A Pokémon that immediately comes to mind for me is Scolipede. It's the backbone of Baton Pass teams in the metagame right now, but in-game, Speed Boost is a fairly negligible ability. Sure, it might be able to help you in big battles, but when training with wild Pokés and when fighting regular trainers, there isn't going to be a lot outspeeding Scolipede. Disregarding Speed Boost, its other abilities are even worse. Combine that with an overdone typing and an average attacking stat and you have a less-than optimal member in a well balanced story team.

What do you think?
 

Codraroll

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Wobbuffet. Competitively, it was so good it was deemed broken for two generations. In-game, however, I think it's hard to find a worse Pokémon. Even Magikarp can at least deal damage consistently, and it actually improves as it levels up.

Ditto is also pretty bad, even with Imposter.

And another mention should go to Dragonite and Salamence. They are good... once past lvl. 55 and 50, respectively. Until then, however, they are disappointingly weak, slow and all-around annoying to train. Use them in your game playthrough, and they'll be good for nothing but cannon fodder until you're ready to take on the Elite Four.
 
And another mention should go to Dragonite and Salamence. They are good... once past lvl. 55 and 50, respectively. Until then, however, they are disappointingly weak, slow and all-around annoying to train. Use them in your game playthrough, and they'll be good for nothing but cannon fodder until you're ready to take on the Elite Four.
Very good points. This is also an issue for several otherwise good Pokémon introduced in Gen V, whose evolution levels were ridiculously high. For example, Volcarona (whose base form is not only trash, but utilizes the opposite offensive stat to its superior form) and Mienshao. I really would love to go through a game with a Volcarona, but trash until Level 70 makes it p. much impossible. At least with Dragonite/Salamence, you can do some heavy grinding to evolve them before the E4.

EDIT: My bad, Larvesta evolves at Level 59, but that's still unacceptable.
 
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Very good points. This is also an issue for several otherwise good Pokémon introduced in Gen V, whose evolution levels were ridiculously high. For example, Volcarona (whose base form is not only trash, but utilizes the opposite offensive stat to its superior form) and Mienshao. I really would love to go through a game with a Volcarona, but trash until Level 70 makes it p. much impossible. At least with Dragonite/Salamence, you can do some heavy grinding to evolve them at least before the E4.
At least in Gen V, Volcarona can be found under-leveled. If only that feature stayed for high-level Pokemon overall.
 
Bibarel.
In game: The best HM slave there is
Competitively: A joke in NU.

Ditto.
In game: Good for breeding
Competitively: Only good against BP teams (very good counter, passes the boosts to a normally good pokemon) and setup sweepers. Unfortunately, it does not copy HP and it ends up with the wrong items.
 

cant say

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Agreeing on Wobuffet, I once took one through soul silver and while it was pretty clutch against the gym leaders (especially Claire) it just sucked while travelling. It needs to be hit to hit back (so it needs constant healing) and you need to guess right otherwise you've wasted a turn, not to mention the AI just chooses moves randomly so you couldn't make an educated guess anyway.

Anyway, pretty much any defensive/supportive 'mon usually sucks in-game. Smeargle may be able to spam dark void in VGC and use literally any support moves but that doesn't help one bit on a playthrough (don't bother making it an HM slave either. You may think it'll be fun to have a flying, surfing, cutting and strengthing(?) Smeargle but it's not). Even if you managed to get prankster on a Sableye in a normal run it's not going to hurt much, priority status moves aren't going to get you to the next town any time soon. Just hope you get keen eye instead of stall! Chansey/Blissey are slow as balls and can't really do much damage either. Actually most slow things are a pain in-game just because of all the healing you have to do.

As for good in-game but not-so competitively? Like every starter except Blaziken and Greninja? lol. But seriously, Sawk is real good in-game. And while Magnezone is far from bad, it certainly doesn't live up to the 'god-tier' talk we had of Magnemite in BW2
 
Unfezant for 5th gen games it has a good move pool and spamming air cutter plus super luck is overpowered early in the game haha
 
Stealth Rocks weakness means nothing in game so you can use stuff like Articuno better.

I find the AI rarely invests fully in speed, so your max IV, max EV nature boosted pokemon will outspeed most of the opponents, making mediocre base speed powerhouses like Porygon Z and Gallade a lot better.
 
Unfezant for 5th gen games it has a good move pool and spamming air cutter plus super luck is overpowered early in the game haha
Wow, never thought I'd see a use for Unfezant. I might have to give it a shot sometime. Another bird that works better than you might think for similar reasons is Farfetch'd, esp. with Gen VI critical hit mechanics. Sure, it isn't gonna sweep the E4 anytime soon, but for in-game, there are definitely worse options.
 
Wow, never thought I'd see a use for Unfezant. I might have to give it a shot sometime. Another bird that works better than you might think for similar reasons is Farfetch'd, esp. with Gen VI critical hit mechanics. Sure, it isn't gonna sweep the E4 anytime soon, but for in-game, there are definitely worse options.
Yea farfetchd was solid for a while on my team during my x playthrough I used it instead of fletching instead since I had talon flame on my original first run through of y.
 
Going back to Volcarona, it was actually very, VERY horrible in BW2 - only BW2 specifically. It seems a really good deal at first - get a Pokémon with a fantastic typing, fantastic stats and a decent movepool, right? It would easily fit right into your team as a powerhouse.
Then you realize what moves it has available to it. At Level 35, the level you catch it at, it knows Fire Spin, Leech Life, String Shot and Gust. Yes, your best option is FUCKING GUST. Well that's not so bad, right? Just feed it some TMs? Well, the only good TM you can give it at that time... is Struggle Bug. And amazingly, THAT IS IT'S BEST OPTION AT THE TIME. Struggle Bug is your powerhouse's most dangerous move, folks. Have fun.
Level Up? Well, it gets Whirlwind at Level 40, obviously useless. It gets Silver Wind at Level 50, which at least does good damage but has absolutely dire PP and is still just 60 Base Power. Level 59 FINALLY gives you something good, Quiver Dance - however, by that point you should be at the E4 and that's only if you've overgrinded. Granted, Quiver Dance is only really good for bosses.
Future TMs? Well, Fire Blast is available... just before Gym 7. Did I mention Gyms 7 and 8 are resistant to Fire? Fire Blast is also still just 5PP, so... yeah. You FINALLY get a good, spammable STAB move on the way to victory road in the form of Flamethrower. It's still incredibly late so again, not much potency there. You also get TM29 Psychic just after Undella, which will basically be your main move for a long while.
I went through absolute torture using Relic Castle's Volcarona in BW2, having been tricked into thinking it's a powerhouse and a quick way to blast through the game. Never again. Keep it for Competitive, where it truly shines as an absolute monster that proves itself as UU-Banworthy.
 

The Avalanches

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Braviary can be found after the third gym on Route 4 in White 2 on Mondays at Level 25 with Defiant as its ability. Getting something with base 125 Attack that early in a game is earth-shattering. It can use two HMs without diminishing its power (Strength and Fly, STAB on both, and the amount of Intimidate users you'll encounter in-game makes Defiant very worthwhile.

Competitively, it is for the most part outshined by every Flying type bar the crappy ones. It was useful in NU last gen, but it wasn't anything special.
 

Age of Kings

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Any defensive, stally Pokemon is either frustrating to use or awful for in-game runs. Ferrothorn, Slowpoke family, and Chansey family are some of the things that come to mind, despite being very good in competitive play. Stuff that requires trade evolution like Scizor and Conkeldurr are also not liable to be used for in-game runs for logistical reasons.

I generally use in-game to play extensively with things I wouldn't competitively. After all, almost anything can succeed in-game with just a little bit of overleveling. Go Delcatty, Mightyena, Pidgeot, etc.
 
At Level 35, the level you catch it at, it knows Fire Spin, Leech Life, String Shot and Gust. Yes, your best option is FUCKING GUST. Well that's not so bad, right? Just feed it some TMs? Well, the only good TM you can give it at that time... is Struggle Bug. And amazingly, THAT IS IT'S BEST OPTION AT THE TIME. Struggle Bug is your powerhouse's most dangerous move, folks. Have fun.
Level Up? Well, it gets Whirlwind at Level 40, obviously useless. It gets Silver Wind at Level 50, which at least does good damage but has absolutely dire PP and is still just 60 Base Power. Level 59 FINALLY gives you something good, Quiver Dance - however, by that point you should be at the E4 and that's only if you've overgrinded. Granted, Quiver Dance is only really good for bosses.
Future TMs? Well, Fire Blast is available... just before Gym 7. Did I mention Gyms 7 and 8 are resistant to Fire? Fire Blast is also still just 5PP, so... yeah. You FINALLY get a good, spammable STAB move on the way to victory road in the form of Flamethrower. It's still incredibly late so again, not much potency there. You also get TM29 Psychic just after Undella, which will basically be your main move for a long while.
Wow, I don't think I want to go through the game with Volcarona anymore.

An option that's actually bad both in-game and competitively is Jumpluff. It's starting move is Splash, and it doesn't get an attacking move until Level 8 in Tackle, and then Fairy Wind at Level 10 (as of X/Y). So, no STAB moves. Any Pokémon will struggle beating even wild Pokémon without STAB, let alone something as frail and weak as Hoppip. So, moving on, it gets several spore moves up until Level 20, when it (now a Skiploom) learns Bullet Seed. Yay, STAB. Weak, unreliable STAB. In fact, this line doesn't get anything decent until Level 34, as a Jumpluff when it finally learns Acrobatics, which is still a fairly low base power move for a Pokémon at this stage. Unfortunately, it doesn't learn another STAB attacking move after this until Level 59, when it gains Giga Drain.

So, yeah, all in all, I don't think I'd wanna raise a Hoppip ever because the struggle isn't worth the trade-off.
 

The Avalanches

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Gligar has been underwhelming in-game in every appearance it has ever made. In Gold/Heartgold, you cannot catch one until you reach Blackthorn City, and by that time, 85 Base Attack simply doesn't cut it - especially as you cannot evolve it in those games. Even in the games you can catch and evolve it (Platinum, BW2, XY) it is quite unimpressive, as it is recieved far too late in those games, and gets virtually no moves of use in those games, as you won't be getting TM26 in time to make it useful.

Competitively, Gliscor has stalled nearly every single competitive battler into frustration at one point or another. It's hidden ability (something you will never use in-game) let it stall for years. Gligar also has some competitive success. It is one of only eight LC Uber Pokemon, and it has some use in lower tiers with a great support move pool and bulk with Eviolite.
 
Sawk in Pokemon Black and White. SO if any of you used this thing in game then you know how good it is. It is available right before Lenora and it will bring you a helpful type advantage since Lenora can be pretty difficult to defeat. It comes at a generally decent level to the point where you sometimes don't even need to grind it one bit because it will be around the same level as the rest of your team. It learns useful moves upon level up like Brick Break and Close Combat while also being able to learn some nice TM moves like Earthquake and Rock Slide. Sawk is extremely strong in the beginning of the game and stays strong until the very end making it a useful Pokemon. However Sawk in competetive play is kind of meh. Do not get me wrong Sawk is good in NU but it really struggles to do much outside of NU and maybe RU.

Gliscor in game is a whole other story however. In nearly all of the games you can get him he generally comes late in the game sometimes to the point where you already have a full team. It's level up movepool isn't very good and it needs TM's and move tutor move to be of any use. Also even though it is a Flying type it can't learn Fly which is bad because you will either need another Flying type or one of the few non Flying type Pokemon with acces to Fly. Ow yes and evolving Gligar into Gliscor is also a pain in the butt. You will need to caugh up a Razor Fang which is an extremely rare item that is sometimes only available in post game. Then you have to level it up during the night meaning that if you are using an emulator without day and night mechanics you are pretty much screwed. It is an alright Pokemon once you did all of that but generally isn't worth the effort.

EDIT: Dammit someone said Gliscor right before me lol.

Other Pokemon that are good in game but not so competetively include most starter Pokemon, Luxray, Golem, most regional birds and bugs, Dugtrio, Victreebell and Rampardos.

Different Pokemon that are bad in game but good competeively are Volcarona, most psuedo legendaries excluding Garchomp, Weavile, Bisharp, Scizor and Chansey.

Pokemon that can do neither include Luvdisc, Torkoal, Relicanth, Dusknoir, Lunatone, Illumise, Volbeat, Plusle, Minun, Pachirisu and Emolga.

Lastly Pokemon that do both categorys well are Staraptor, most cover legendarys, Infernape, Greninja, Aegislash, Talonflame Nidoking and Nidoqueen.
 
Gligar has been underwhelming in-game in every appearance it has ever made. In Gold/Heartgold, you cannot catch one until you reach Blackthorn City, and by that time, 85 Base Attack simply doesn't cut it - especially as you cannot evolve it in those games. Even in the games you can catch and evolve it (Platinum, BW2, XY) it is quite unimpressive, as it is recieved far too late in those games, and gets virtually no moves of use in those games, as you won't be getting TM26 in time to make it useful.
Woah now mate lemme stop you there
Everything you said is pretty much true... except for Platinum.
In Platinum it is incredibly easy to get - it's under the cycling bridge, which you can access right after beating Galactic's Eterna HQ - i.e. when you have two badges. So not rare or late at all.
TMs? Well, go into Wayward Cave which is RIGHT NEXT to said route with Gligar, and you can find TM26 Earthquake. So suddenly it's actually pretty good. It also gets other TMs it can make decent use of throughout the adventure - Aerial Ace, X-scissor, Brick Break and Rock Slide are the most notable. You can also get Aqua Tail through the first Move Tutor if you like.
As for level-up? Well, it's nothing to write home about, but it's got some decent tools to carry it through the game. It starts off slow with Quick Attack and Knock Off when you get it, but even those can be decent enough until you get Earthquake and then hit Level 23 for Faint Attack - perfect for the next gym, Ghost. Level 31 it gets Slash which is pretty decent, and then Level 34 gets you Swords Dance - a surprisingly amazing tool for bosses.
By this level, you should have found a Razor Fang on the route below Veilstone - use it to evolve your Gligar which really isn't hard since 'night' begins at 8, and you're a lot more powerful and bulky. Then through Pastoria's move relearner which isn't far away, you get access to great moves like Poison Jab, elemental fangs, and most notably Night Slash.
Admittedly the rest of it's level up movepool isn't that great. U-turn is nice at 38, X-scissor at 42 if you used the TM on something else, and then you get Guillotine at 45 which yeah you're not gonna use.
Yes, Gligar is pretty dire in other games - Johto and Kalos you can't even evolve it until the aftergame which is ridiculous and thus cannot be recommended other than for challenge mode, and Unova... well, I don't know about Unova. But I'll tell you right now, I used a Gliscor in one of my Platinum playthroughs and she was SO good - she never let me down, she was a great team member, and she even managed to sweep Cynthia with three swords dances, an X-speed and her great bulk. In other games, yeah, pretty bad - in Platinum, it can really surprise you.
 

bugmaniacbob

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Going back to Volcarona, it was actually very, VERY horrible in BW2 - only BW2 specifically. It seems a really good deal at first - get a Pokémon with a fantastic typing, fantastic stats and a decent movepool, right? It would easily fit right into your team as a powerhouse.
Then you realize what moves it has available to it. At Level 35, the level you catch it at, it knows Fire Spin, Leech Life, String Shot and Gust. Yes, your best option is FUCKING GUST. Well that's not so bad, right? Just feed it some TMs? Well, the only good TM you can give it at that time... is Struggle Bug. And amazingly, THAT IS IT'S BEST OPTION AT THE TIME. Struggle Bug is your powerhouse's most dangerous move, folks. Have fun.
Level Up? Well, it gets Whirlwind at Level 40, obviously useless. It gets Silver Wind at Level 50, which at least does good damage but has absolutely dire PP and is still just 60 Base Power. Level 59 FINALLY gives you something good, Quiver Dance - however, by that point you should be at the E4 and that's only if you've overgrinded. Granted, Quiver Dance is only really good for bosses.
Future TMs? Well, Fire Blast is available... just before Gym 7. Did I mention Gyms 7 and 8 are resistant to Fire? Fire Blast is also still just 5PP, so... yeah. You FINALLY get a good, spammable STAB move on the way to victory road in the form of Flamethrower. It's still incredibly late so again, not much potency there. You also get TM29 Psychic just after Undella, which will basically be your main move for a long while.
I went through absolute torture using Relic Castle's Volcarona in BW2, having been tricked into thinking it's a powerhouse and a quick way to blast through the game. Never again. Keep it for Competitive, where it truly shines as an absolute monster that proves itself as UU-Banworthy.
Wrong.

Volcarona's first spammable STAB move is Signal Beam through the Driftveil Move Tutor, which you can get immediately after catching Volcarona (and you get 10 red shards for free at Nimbasa). This plus Fire Spin is literally all Volcarona needs to, if not wreck the game, at least pull its weight and then some.

If you didn't give it Signal Beam you simply were not using it properly.
 
Have you ever used Weavile ingame? It's actually... pretty good.
Yeah I used it but the main problem is it's movepool and availibility for me. While Weavile does not have many problems finding Dark type STAB with Night Slash and Faint Attack he does however have trouble getting a good Ice type STAB. I mean unless you are playing gen 4 and have an Avalanche TM he either has to rely on weak special attacks or Ice Shard. Even with base 120 attack Ice Shard won't be that strong. As for availibilty it usually comes late game like most Ice types which is pretty bad.
 
Yeah I used it but the main problem is it's movepool and availibility for me. While Weavile does not have many problems finding Dark type STAB with Night Slash and Faint Attack he does however have trouble getting a good Ice type STAB. I mean unless you are playing gen 4 and have an Avalanche TM he either has to rely on weak special attacks or Ice Shard. Even with base 120 attack Ice Shard won't be that strong. As for availibilty it usually comes late game like most Ice types which is pretty bad.
BW2 and Platinum tutors give it Ice Punch.

Wrong.

Volcarona's first spammable STAB move is Signal Beam through the Driftveil Move Tutor, which you can get immediately after catching Volcarona (and you get 10 red shards for free at Nimbasa). This plus Fire Spin is literally all Volcarona needs to, if not wreck the game, at least pull its weight and then some.

If you didn't give it Signal Beam you simply were not using it properly.
Fair enough, forgot about Signal Beam.
It's still really not enough; you're giving Fire Spin too much credit - the Volcarona I had even had a special attack boosting nature luckily enough, and Fire Spin was still doing very meager damage. Signal Beam I -GUESS- is okay... but when you really have to run around collecting shards and then waste them on a move you're not going to keep in the aftergame just to make this one Pokémon usable during your adventure? I'll pass.
 

The Avalanches

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I think the in-game Pokemon that is far more trouble than it's worth, but still useful competitively is Hydriegon.

You can get Zweilous no earlier than Victory Road in any game. You'll catch it at around Level 50 and, haha, have fun grinding to level sixtygoddamnmotherfuckinfour to evolve this thing with Body Slam and Dragon Rush, missing so often with the poor accuracy compounded by Hustle that you want to throw your damn DS into the wall.

When you finally hit 327,680 experience points, you get to see Zweilous sprout another emo head and you think to yourself, "Shit, I could have easily taken down the Elite Four by now."

You'd think it's completely barren move pool would improve a little more substantially, but really, Dragon Pulse, Fire Blast and Dark Pulse are about all you can use on this thing.

I guess that doesn't matter, as you are dizzyingly over-leveled at this point.
 

Tomy

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And another mention should go to Dragonite and Salamence. They are good... once past lvl. 55 and 50, respectively. Until then, however, they are disappointingly weak, slow and all-around annoying to train. Use them in your game playthrough, and they'll be good for nothing but cannon fodder until you're ready to take on the Elite Four.
Hydreigon belongs in this group.

While Deino is obtainable at level~40, and Zweilous hits hard with Hustle, they're painful to raise as Zweilous evolves at level 64 (?!). Lucky Egg helps its cause a little bit, but wow, raising this thing was tedious as hell. At least it was a powerhouse vs Elite 4. Oh, did I mention than Hydreigon, when it evolves, focuses on Special Attack, unlike its previous evolutions? Yeah...

Competitively Hydreigon is no slouch, though, but in-game you have to grind A LOT to have it.

EDIT: I'm talking about BW, while The Avalanches ' message is about BW2 :p
 
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cant say

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Signal Beam I -GUESS- is okay... but when you really have to run around collecting shards and then waste them on a move you're not going to keep in the aftergame just to make this one Pokémon usable during your adventure? I'll pass.

Signal beam only costs 4 red shards and you get 10 for free right off the bat, so unless you want to teach something an elemental punch (costs all 10) then you get it for free... But you're right, Volcarona is very mediocre in-game. We did vote it mid-tier in the BW2 tier list after all

One thing we're all forgetting though that's great in-game but not competitively... Farfetch'd Quacklin'! That dude is OP. Best in-game trade ever imo

Edit: whoops
 
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One thing we're all forgetting though that's great in-game but not competitively... Farfetch'd Quacklin'! That dude is OP. Best in-game trade ever imo
Another bird that works better than you might think for similar reasons is Farfetch'd, esp. with Gen VI critical hit mechanics. Sure, it isn't gonna sweep the E4 anytime soon, but for in-game, there are definitely worse options.
Not quite forgotten, no.
 

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