LC's Wannabes: Little Cup's Move Defectives

Introduction

In general, Little Cup Pokémon have a lot in common with their evolutions. They usually have similar typings, similar base stat distributions, and mostly the same movepools. Sometimes, though, due to various incompatibilities and breeding mechanics, a Pokémon lacks a portion of the moves its big, bad brother can learn. This handicap can hinder these Pokémon from truly shining in the Little Cup metagame and can even influence the viability of certain team types. In this article, we will be focusing on a few of these unlucky children who can't quite get the hang of certain moves.

Fletchling + Rufflet

Two of LC's cutest birds miss out on an Egg-cellent move from their big, bad avian evolutions: Brave Bird. Fletchling doesn't get Brave Bird as an Egg Move, so it is forced to run an itemless Acrobatics set to maximize its damage and take advantage of Gale Wings. Rufflet is male only, so not only does it not inherit Brave Bird, it has an exceptionally shallow movepool that forces it to run Aerial Ace as its Flying-type STAB move. With either of these Pokémon's arsenal open to Brave Bird, stopping Flying-types would become next to impossible in LC. In the current metagame, over fifty Pokémon avoid the 2HKO from Fletchling's Acrobatics. Upon acquiring Brave Bird, Fletchling would be able to carry a Life Orb to further boost its power, taking that previous 50 down to a measly 15. With a Swords Dance boost under its wings, only four Pokémon—Rhyhorn, Shieldon, Aron, and Tirtouga—could attempt to switch into Fletchling. Rufflet, blessed with a higher base Attack, a powerful ability in Hustle, and access to Superpower, could potentially become one of LC's biggest bullies. Only one Pokémon, Honedge, could stand up to Choice Scarf Rufflet were it to get Brave Bird. Both of these baby birds are reminiscent of Murkrow, a Pokémon long banished from Little Cup for its impressive Brave Bird. Brave Bird Rufflet would hit far harder than Murkrow and could easily brush aside Rock- and Steel-types with its Superpower. Fletchling, while less overwhelming, is blessed with priority behind its Flying-type moves, making them even more difficult to deal with. In the end, if they got Brave Bird, both of these Pokémon would likely suffer the same fate as Murkrow—banishment from Little Cup.

Joltik

Poor Joltik is the embodiment of everything people don't like about spiders: it's jittery, creepy, and has too many legs. And yet, Joltik can't even spin a web, the coolest thing any spider can do. Unlike its evolution, Galvantula, Joltik cannot learn the move Sticky Web. Were it to get Sticky Web, the viability of Sticky Web teams in Little Cup would change completely. Joltik boasts higher stats than Surskit, the Sticky Web setter of choice in Little Cup, in every category; it also has a deep movepool and an offensive typing that gives it good coverage against the entire metagame. Joltik's webs would be more difficult to remove than Surskit's; the primary Rapid Spin users in the tier, Staryu and Drilbur, both lose to Joltik, as does almost every Defog user. With a Sticky Web coming from Joltik, Webs teams would no longer have to play against six viable Pokémon with only five, which would be everything a team running Webs ever asked for.

Bunnelby

Bunnelby may have gotten the worst draw on this list, because it is denied the single most dominant, most useful, and most spammable move in LC: Knock Off. How Bunnelby does not learn this gem is beyond comprehension (Ferroseed and Gastly learn Knock Off, and neither of them have arms), but because of it, the hard-hitting bunny is relegated to middle-of-the-road usage in LC. It struggles to break past heavily defensive Pokémon and Ghost-types. With Knock Off, our long-eared friend could kiss both of those problems goodbye. Walls would no longer want to switch into Bunnelby and be deprived of their precious Eviolites, and Ghost-types would no longer be able to freely switch in at risk of being KOed. Seeing a Bunnelby on an opposing team would become a frightening experience, instead of just a cuteness overload. Being able to break past anything in the metagame would lead to Bunnelby becoming one of the top Little Cup Pokémon, with its only flaws being its middling Speed and poor bulk.

Phanpy

The Long Nose Pokémon (yes, that is its official species) has pretty good stats for Little Cup, and it has a huge coverage movepool, including Play Rough, Gunk Shot, and Knock Off. Unfortunately for the baby pachyderm, it lacks one of the most coveted moves in Pokémon: Rapid Spin. Were Phanpy to gain access to this move, it would be able to take advantage of it readily thanks to its access to Knock Off to hit spinblockers hard. With its other coverage moves, Phanpy could force switches, giving it free opportunities to spin and set hazards. Unfortunately, as might be expected from an elephant, Phanpy is quite slow, so it would still be outclassed by Drilbur on some teams. Were it to get Rapid Spin, Phanpy would most likely end up a relevant but not overwhelming threat in the LC tier.

Torchic

Unfortunately for Torchic, it seems to have left some of its Egg Moves back in the egg it came from. Though Torchic inherits a plethora of stat-boosting moves, including Swords Dance and Curse, which it can use alongside Speed Boost and Baton Pass, the baby fire chicken ends up being setup bait for many Pokémon in Little Cup. If Torchic's movepool opened up so that it could use the same moves as its parent, Blaziken, nothing would be able to use Torchic as bait. With access to such moves as High Jump Kick, Flare Blitz, Earthquake, and Brave Bird, backed by a good base 60 Attack stat, Torchic would have terrific coverage against the entire tier. Considering that after just one turn Torchic outspeeds the entire unboosted metagame, and that if it gets into a tight spot it can Baton Pass its Speed boosts to give a teammate a chance to complete the sweep, a Torchic with an expanded movepool would be near impossible to stop in LC.

Natu / Venipede / Clamperl

What do a Native American bird, a poisonous centipede, and a seashell all have in common? None of them inherit the same key move from their evolutions: Baton Pass. The ability to pass stats to a teammate is especially missed considering how easy a time these Pokémon have of grabbing boosts for themselves. Like its evolutions, Venipede gets Speed Boost, allowing it to ramp up its Speed without even using a move. It also has a nice typing for LC, considering that the metagame is dominated by Fighting-types. At the moment, though, the vibrant little bug is limited to stacking Spikes with its boosts. Were it to get Baton Pass, Venipede could get these boosts to a teammate, making it a prominent lead in the LC metagame and a great alternative to Torchic, the metagame's current Speed passer.

Natu, on the other hand, can't grab boosts all that easily on its own. Possessing one of the most coveted abilities—Magic Bounce—could instead protect its teammates from destructive status moves such as Taunt or Whirlwind, keeping its Baton Pass chain intact. This would exponentially boost the viablity of Baton Pass in LC, which would eventually lead to the same sentence as in upper tiers—the banhammer.

Lastly, Clamperl, like so many other sea crustaceans of the Pokémon universe, is endowed with the pearl of boosting moves—Shell Smash. Unfortunately, the seashell is weak to priority moves and often lacks the bulk to pull off a successful sweep. Were it played right, though, with access to Baton Pass, Clamperl could get rid of its shell and pass its boosts off to a teammate. Its vulnerability to priority attacks would hold it back considerably, though, so of the three, Clamperl would probably benefit the least.

Honorable Mentions

If these Pokémon learned the moves we all really wish they did, it would boost their viability. However, they wouldn't have the same impact on the metagame as the above threats.

Klink learns almost no moves due to its lack of a gender. Because of this, it cannot use Shift Gear, Gear Grind, or Wild Charge at Level 5.

Croagunk dreams of access to Swords Dance, which it would find ample opportunities to set up thanks to its great typing and ability.

Dratini has access to no Dragon-type STAB move except Outrage, which makes it difficult to deal reliable damage.

Clauncher has a potentially useful ability in Mega Launcher, but it doesn't learn Aura Sphere or Dark Pulse to make use of it.

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