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(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon
- Thread starter BriarRose
- Start date
Electro ball is cool, and most electrics are fast, but it's still essentially bad. Some of this is para spe nerf...being nerfed. Um and I sorta get annoyed when I can't get extra exp with new ish rule of if it can evolve with level but hasn't, it gets more exp. This happens with lots of mons, like if they don't Evo or if they go with stone. So then I end up not really using those...in any playthrough.
How often are you keeping a Pokemon unevolved past its level requirement that you feel like you cant use unevolving or non-level up evolving mons because of the "missed" EXP?
With Z-A almost out megas have obviously been all the rage and mannnnn I forgot how disappointing Banette's mega was.
I mean, the design is great. And Prankster's a nice ability.
but they dumped 50 points into attack, 20 into special attack and then 10 in the other stats. Banette's stats aside from Attack were not exactly great to begin with and aren't exactly great after this. Why go so hard into Attack? Was the gameplan just spam its priority moves + prankster giving it priority status? I dunno it just feels like it's missing something.
I mean, the design is great. And Prankster's a nice ability.
but they dumped 50 points into attack, 20 into special attack and then 10 in the other stats. Banette's stats aside from Attack were not exactly great to begin with and aren't exactly great after this. Why go so hard into Attack? Was the gameplan just spam its priority moves + prankster giving it priority status? I dunno it just feels like it's missing something.
I sort of get the idea because Banette's "thing" was being a Physical Ghost in Gen 3 when the type was, but the problem is that distribution doesn't play to its strengths because 10 points in anything besides ATK and Speed are basically a waste at that point. Even if not Beedrill level min-maxing, you could have taken 10-20 points from its ATK and the SpA + a defense investment, get it up to 105 Speed, and it could have maybe worked something interesting like SD + Status (Burn or now Thunder Wave) to set itself up for a sweep with Ghost's neutral output (and it NEEDS Swords Dance due to Shadow Claw, as a balancing mechanism). It'd be functional enough for RU or UU while doing a job rather than cobbling together Prankster junk.
Banette is a favorite of mine so I'm also very bummed it's not particularly good at anything. Can we give this thing a Base 80-90 no-gimmick Ghost STAB (and not stuff like Mimikyu or Dragapult so it doesn't get nerf-batted later)?
The gameplan was being the only user of Prankster Destiny Bond. The high Attack means you can't easily stall out Destiny Bond by ignoring it, and the middling Speed means it could alternate attacking and Bonding to always have the effect active against faster opponents, a playstyle that was later enforced in Gen 7.
If only Banette got the Beedrill treatment (a extremely minmaxed meta) it may have worked.
All that huge attack falls flat when your best stab has 70 BP, your speed sucks and you're stuck with non-stab Sucker Punch or 40 BP shadow claw as only workaround, with no real coverage either. And all of that while taking your mega slot.
Conceptually yeh, the "I will destiny bond and if you ignore me i'm going to just kill you with brute force" on a ghost type is solid. Execution wise it'd have worked better if Banette was either a fast glass cannon or slow bulky pokemon, and not a slow glass cannon
On positive note, all this may not matter in LA. The speed shouldn't be a big issue with how the combat work, and the shit bulk shouldn't matter if you can execute skill issue and not be hit. So maybe it's going to be its time to shine!
All that huge attack falls flat when your best stab has 70 BP, your speed sucks and you're stuck with non-stab Sucker Punch or 40 BP shadow claw as only workaround, with no real coverage either. And all of that while taking your mega slot.
Conceptually yeh, the "I will destiny bond and if you ignore me i'm going to just kill you with brute force" on a ghost type is solid. Execution wise it'd have worked better if Banette was either a fast glass cannon or slow bulky pokemon, and not a slow glass cannon
On positive note, all this may not matter in LA. The speed shouldn't be a big issue with how the combat work, and the shit bulk shouldn't matter if you can execute skill issue and not be hit. So maybe it's going to be its time to shine!
They gave swellow scrappy and boomburst, but unlike the similar, in that regard, exploud, it has awful stats almost everywhere. It is FRAILER than zoroark, I knew it wasn't bulky, but this part I didn't recall, so as a mon I wanted to use(well I go nfe always but nvm) in oras replay, it was a sad shock. Still using it, but less enthusiasm for sure. I guess you use this when you want a fighting neutral, fast exploud, but with less everything else including coverage? Yeah it isn't right. And I'm just using exploud as a reference cause they're alike-it didn't take bss by storm back when either for me. But you can't even touch swellow there when they existed and be halfway viable:( starter birds aren't usually that bad, that's usually the starter rodents xp
Eh, actually, I'd say Swellow is a case where despite its relatively low overall stats in a vacuum, it's still a very usable Pokémon. Sure, it's not rocking competitive higher tiers by any means, but it's historically been a fun lower-tier Pokémon and also a fun in-game pick for Hoenn games in particular. 125 Speed is strikingly fast, and 85 Attack isn't bad to use, especially in tandem with Guts, which with Facade is generally quite fun, constant 140 BP STAB that hits hard in lower tiers, and in-game its Speed is a valuable tool, and it has pretty strong attacks like Brave Bird later on too. In later gens its Special Attack got buffed to 75 and with Scrappy Boomburst it can be fun, especially since it's so damn fast. Its average offenses are made up for by incredible high-power spammable moves and its high Speed making it strike first a lot. Sure, its frailty means it will go down in one blow, making it a do-or-die glass cannon, but it's fun. It's a case where stats aren't everything: it's what tools Swellow has at its disposal and having good stats in the places it wants to have them that make it usable.
For in-game purposes you also have to consider that stats in a vacuum don't pain the whole picture as to how viable a Pokemon is for in-game. Taillow evolves fairly early at Level 22, and Swellow's stats are perfectly fine for that point of the game, good even. Not to mention it's in the Medium Slow Experience group which levels up at a surprisingly solid rate. Sure, it tapers off a little towards the endgame, but its high Speed and access to Brave Bird in ORAS make it continue to be valuable. Not to mention being a good Fly user which is always valuable in the Hoenn games whether it be RSE or ORAS. It's actually quite a good Pokemon for RSE and ORAS in-game playthroughs and I'd encourage you to still try it.
Moderately annoyed that one of Zygarde's signature moves, Core Enforcer, is a Special attack when Zygarde is clearly meant to be physical sweeper. Zygarde-Complete technically has a somewhat usable Special Attack stat, but you'd still never want to use Core Enforcer even taking that into account.
(I was originally also going to complain about Land's Wrath being worthless, but I double checked and it being single target means it has an actual reason to exist compared to Thousand Arrows and Earthquake for the purposes of Doubles.)
(I was originally also going to complain about Land's Wrath being worthless, but I double checked and it being single target means it has an actual reason to exist compared to Thousand Arrows and Earthquake for the purposes of Doubles.)
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O sure I am ty! I actually spent a long time breeding lol, even just for replay. Not that I settled on great, didn't breed for more than nature, and still just hasty...ha boomburst though. Well put, it's the good moves that make it ok, not so much the stats.
It's somewhat remarkable how effective the Hoenn early-game mons are in-game, despite clearly deserving the "early game derp" label. Swellow is fast and offensive, which is always good in-game, but Guts(+Facade) is a great cushion when the RNG decides that status is going to ruin your day. Zigzagoon gets STAB Strength and evolves at lvl 20, keeping it useful for more than just HMs for just a while longer, and even when it is retired to the back of your party for HMs(and/or Thief), Pickup is a steady benefit. Poochyena with Run Away early game/Intimidate late game is, again, great utility, while also having a useful typing. Beautifly is another butterfly with great early stats and the ability to spread status, which can result in it staying in your party forever as a catching/anti-boss aid.
Like, none of those are useful in competitive, they're certainly not Talonflame, and they've all been outmatched by about gym 5(except Swellow). Which I think is a good thing for early route mons. But there's reasons to catch each of them even as an experienced player, and reasons to keep them on your team until close to the endgame. Not perfectly optimal, sure, but if you bring Mightyena to the League to Intimidate specific targets, or use Swellow for route-sweeping all the way to Victory Road, you certainly won't regret those decisions.
Like, none of those are useful in competitive, they're certainly not Talonflame, and they've all been outmatched by about gym 5(except Swellow). Which I think is a good thing for early route mons. But there's reasons to catch each of them even as an experienced player, and reasons to keep them on your team until close to the endgame. Not perfectly optimal, sure, but if you bring Mightyena to the League to Intimidate specific targets, or use Swellow for route-sweeping all the way to Victory Road, you certainly won't regret those decisions.