Pokémon Movepool Oddities & Explanations

Hey, both Butterfree and Venomoth learn psychic moves so it totally makes sense for them; Arcanine is suppoused to be fast in-world its actual Speed stat be damned just like Pidgeot and Escavalier

Don't ask me why Cloyster or Magneton leant it (PSYCHIC CLAMS AND MAGNETS)
 
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Pikachu315111

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Hey, both Butterfree and Venomoth learn psychic moves so i totally makes sense for them; Arcanine is suppoused to be fast in-world its actual Speed stat be damned just like Pidgeot and Escavalier

Don't ask me why Cloyster or Magneton leant it (PSYCHIC CLAMS AND MAGNETS)
Well teleportation is also connected with technology, even Sabrina's Gym uses teleport pads. So makes sense for a Pokemon seemingly made of technology, Magneton, to learn it. You could say it uses its electromagnetism to fling itself at light speed.

No idea for Cloyster. Maybe when it closes its shell it can create its own isolation tank, allowing it to concentrate on its innate psychic powers. And since its a defensive Pokemon, it'll uses it psychic powers to help it escape.
 

deetah

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Wooper can learn Ice Punch despite having no arms!
Elgyem and Beheeyem can both learn Steel Wing despite having no wings.
Gastly can learn Thunder Punch, Ice Punch, Fire Punch, etc, with no hands.
Volcarona can learn Magnet Rise for some reason.
Gogoat, Rhydon, and Pangoro can learn Surf.

However, Zangoose cannot learn Cut.
Decidueye cannot learn Thousand Arrows despite it's archer-like design. (Even if it is Zygarde's signature move)
Gliscor cannot learn Fly.
 
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Codraroll

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What are some Pokemon that you feel learn moves they shouldn't be able to? Or, Pokemon that don't learn moves you feel they should? Here are a few examples:

Wooper can learn Ice Punch despite having no arms!
Elgyem and Beheeyem can both learn Steel Wing despite having no wings.
Gastly can learn Thunder Punch, Ice Punch, Fire Punch, etc, with no hands.
Volcarona can learn Magnet Rise for some reason.
Gogoat, Rhydon, and Pangoro can learn Surf.

However, Zangoose cannot learn Cut.
Decidueye cannot learn Thousand Arrows despite it's archer-like design. (Even if it is Zygarde's signature move)
Gliscor cannot learn Fly.

The list continues... What are some moves you think Pokemon should and shouldn't be able to learn?
We already have the Movepool Oddities thread. I merged your thread with that one.
 

Pikachu315111

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Wooper can learn Ice Punch despite having no arms!
Elgyem and Beheeyem can both learn Steel Wing despite having no wings.
Gastly can learn Thunder Punch, Ice Punch, Fire Punch, etc, with no hands.
Volcarona can learn Magnet Rise for some reason.
Gogoat, Rhydon, and Pangoro can learn Surf.

However, Zangoose cannot learn Cut.
Decidueye cannot learn Thousand Arrows despite it's archer-like design. (Even if it is Zygarde's signature move)
Gliscor cannot learn Fly.
We went over possible explanations for a lot of these:

Wooper/Gastly: An oddity caused by their evolutions having arms and them not wanting to exclude them from learning these moves (which makes sense for Quagsire, though not so much for Gengar).
Elgyem/Beheeyem: Two explanations for this. In Gen V it learns Steel Wing via through TM51. Now, one explanation for why is the Elgyem family's connection with the number 51 because of the famous Area 51. Another explanation is that in Gen IV TM51 taught Ally Switch and it's due to an error. Now it's been two more gens since and the Elgyem's family retained learning TM51 so it seems to be the former explanation, though it might have been a happy accident that they kept to make it look like it was originally done on purpose.
Volcarona: Volcarona gives off enough light and heat that it can replace the sun temporarily. It's not that far-fetched to also think it can generate electromagnetic waves/pulses which it can use to levitate with Magnet Rise.
Gogoat/Rhydon/Pangoro: Based on animals can swim. And with Surf being an HM up to Gen VI they wanted to give it to as many as Pokemon as possible to not limit the player's choice.
Decidueye: As you said, it's one of Zygarde's Signature move. Also, how it works makes it so only Zygarde can use it, Zygardes sends out its cells like arrows to ground flying targets. "Arrow" is really just a descriptor in how the cells are being launched into the air, there's no actual arrows.
Gliscor: Gligar and Gliscor glide, they don't fly. Though I would ask why they doesn't get Bounce (aka the "Fly" for Pokemon who can't fly but can lift themselves into the air in some other way for a short period of time, like gliding).

No reason Zangoose couldn't learn Cut, that is odd, especially for an HM move it would get STAB from.
 
Elgyem/Beheeyem is based on a UFO ... so it learns Steel Wing ... That's normal
This is actually due to a programming oversight! In Gen 5, Elgyem and Beheeyem could learn Ally Swap from TM51; which is pretty normal and not out the ordinary. However, in Gen 6 TM51 stopped being Ally Switch and instead became Steel Wing -- and it seems someone forgot to remove whatever code says "can learn TM51" from Elgyem and Beheeyem, because it can still use that TM!
 
An oddity caused by their evolutions having arms and them not wanting to exclude them from learning these moves (which makes sense for Quagsire, though not so much for Gengar).
There was actually a reason for this, and it possibly was because in gen 2 Punch TMs were limited, they never reappeared, and tutors did not exist until gen 4 iirc, so the only way to keep the punches in the evolutionary family was that.
(Remember that prior to gen 4, the elemental punches were indeed Special type, so perfectly usable by Gengar and Alakazam)
 
There was actually a reason for this, and it possibly was because in gen 2 Punch TMs were limited, they never reappeared, and tutors did not exist until gen 4 iirc, so the only way to keep the punches in the evolutionary family was that.
(Remember that prior to gen 4, the elemental punches were indeed Special type, so perfectly usable by Gengar and Alakazam)
Actually, the elemental punch TMs were one of the few TMs that are in fact unlimited, since you can buy them in Goldenrod City.

Tutors existed (very limited) in Crystal and FR/LG were the first to incorporate them in the frequency were are used to now.
 
octillerys insane movepool, i get its based off a tank, and it helps it alot, but alot of these seem weird to me. ill list some of my favorites.
-------------
signal beam
bounce
seismic toss
icy wind
psychic
aurora beam
ice beam
flamethrower
gunk shot
rock blast.
 
Several of those aren't as weird as they sound: ultimately he's based on a cannon, and lot of those shoot projectiles / lazorbeams... or fire. Why not fire.
 

Pikachu315111

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but then again he gets things like seismic toss, bounce and psychic. which i found funny but also questionable (esp. bounce)
Hmm, let's see:

Bounce: Maybe it propels itself into the air by aiming a blast towards the ground, essentially rocket jumping.

Seismic Toss: This move has always been weird in the way its presented, mainly due to the anime making it the "signature" move of Ash's Charizard. All it is is a powerful toss, usually having swung the opponent around to build up momentum (like what Mario does with Bowser in Super Mario 64). So with that in mind shouldn't be to much of a problem for an octopus to do it. I imagine Octillery grappling the opponent and starts to spin on its head.

Psychic: Could just be a natural skill. Octopus are pretty smart so this could have translated to Octillery by it being smart enough to access latent psychic powers.
 
Psychic was probably just someone going “Well, it learns Psybeam for some reason, it probably should learn Psychic too.” Note that back in Gen II, it wasn’t compatible with TM 29, that was added later.
 

Pikachu315111

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Here's something I always found odd: The Zygarde Cube can teach Zygarde five moves. Core Enforcer, Thousand Arrows, Thousand Waves, Dragon Dance... and Extreme Speed? Extreme Speed always seem liked an odd choice, like I would have expected an easier way to reteach Land's Wrath or something like Fissure.
 
Here's something I always found odd: The Zygarde Cube can teach Zygarde five moves. Core Enforcer, Thousand Arrows, Thousand Waves, Dragon Dance... and Extreme Speed? Extreme Speed always seem liked an odd choice, like I would have expected an easier way to reteach Land's Wrath or something like Fissure.
The Zygarde Cube moves are very strange as many of them are moves Zygarde could learn completely on its own in Gen VI, but for some reason, you now need the Cube to teach said moves.
 

Pikachu315111

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Mareanie can use the Flyinium Z
There are plenty of more odd/funny choices for Flyinium Z/Supersonic Skystrike:
Others include Groudon, Regigigas, Wailord, Aggron, Mamoswine, Tyrantrum, Registeel, Tyranitar, Crustle, Slaking, Kangaskhan, Swadloon, Grubbin, Charjabug, Larvesta, Magikarp, Stunfisk, Komala, Maractus, Tangrowth, Paras, Parasect, & Dhelmise

Note a lot of these are thanks to moves like Acrobatics, Aerial Ace, and Bounce. AKA moves a lot of non-Flying-types can learn since they're about being nimble, is a slashing technique, and just being able to jump high.

Another odd Z-Moves thought: In order to use Buginium Z/Savage Spin-Out the Pokemon has to be able to create silk. Well, while you might be able to argue that in the Pokemon world that all Bug-types in general seem to be able to do this... there's plenty of non-Bug-types that learn Bug-type moves.
 
Several of those aren't as weird as they sound: ultimately he's based on a cannon, and lot of those shoot projectiles / lazorbeams... or fire. Why not fire.
So... why the heck does Octillery lack Shadow Ball?

EDIT: It doesn't have Focus Blast either. Actually, there's quite a few projectiles that it lacks.
 
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Pikachu315111

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So... why the heck does Octillery lack Shadow Ball?
Is strange, Shadow Ball is one of those TMs they like to give out like candy. Also Octillery can learn Energy Ball, the (former) Grass-type Shadow Ball. It's either an oversight or, with how much coverage it already gets, they figured that Shadow Ball either doesn't really help Octillery much or its to give some Types (namely Psychic and Ghost) a more guaranteed safer match-up as Octillery's other options to deal with them aren't as good as Shadow Ball. If we're to look at what moves Octillery has to handle every type:

Normal: None
Fighting: Psychic, Bounce
Flying: Ice Beam, Blizzard, Charge Beam, Rock Blast
Poison: Psychic, Mud Shot
Ground: Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Energy Ball
Rock: Surf, Hydro Pump, Energy Ball, Flash Cannon
Bug: Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Rock Blast, Bounce
Ghost: Thief, Payback
Steel: Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Mud Shot
Grass: Ice Beam, Blizzard, Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Signal Beam, Bounce, Sludge Wave, Sludge Bomb
Fire: Surf, Hydro Pump, Rock Blast, Mud Shot
Water: Energy Ball, Charge Beam
Electric: Mud Shot
Psychic: Signal Beam, Thief, Payback
Ice: Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Rock Blast, Flash Cannon
Dragon: Ice Beam, Blizzard
Dark: Signal Beam
Fairy: Sludge Wave, Sludge Bomb

While some options are better than others, Octillery is no one trick pony when it comes to coverage. Honestly it needs Focus Blast (or Aura Sphere) more than Shadow Ball so it can claim having a move to do super effective damage to every single type.
 

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