Oh yeah, Honchkrow also has Assurance, which not only has the potential to be much stronger than Knock Off, but is also way cooler.
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(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon
- Thread starter BriarRose
- Start date
Thanks to the fact it used to have the distribution you'd expect for a 20 BP move.
Even with its low base power, it was still incredibly powerful just by virtue of item removal alone, and was commonly run on the Pokemon that learned it.
Yeah, of course, but at least it was used because of its utility, not because it was the most powerful reliable widespread physical Dark-type move.
QuentinQuonce
formerly green_typhlosion
Embargo says hi, though it's not as permanent. I don't think it needed to be a status move, it just didn't need the power boost.
Embargo is so close to being interesting it hurts. All it needs is to either be self-targeting (like Imprison) or be an effect put over the opponent's side of the field. Basically, if it wasn't easily gotten rid of by switching, it could be a sidegrade to Knock Off, where instead of removing one Pokemon's item permanently, you prevent all of your opponent's Pokemon from using items for five turns.
This is especially the case against story NPCs, because Embargo also denies the use of bag items. In its current state, Embargo shuts down X items (get fucked speedrunners) as well as healing your active Pokemon with potions, but it does nothing to stop you from healing or reviving the rest of your party. If Embargo blocked your from using any items for the entire five turns, suddenly the biggest mechanical advantage you have over NPCs is just gone.
It sounds like you just want Magic Room, the 5 turn field effect that disables all items.
The most interesting thing about Embargo for me is honestly that it wasn’t Movexited. It was clearly designed for one purpose — Wonder Launcher. That battle mode in Gen IV (and V?) where you earn tokens to buy items with during battle. Embargo prevents the use of those items, often forcing a switch. And Wonder Launcher was only a PvP mode so it was intended to be competitive.
But Wonder Launcher isn’t a thing any more, so Embargo probably shouldn’t be either.
But Embargo was introduced in Gen IV and Wonder Launcher was only present in Gen V. So no, it wasn't made with that purpose.
….huh, I guess you’re right. I’ve literally always assumed the two were created at the same time, because Embargo is a pretty pointless move to be introduced a gen later than Knock Off.
Yeah never mind, Embargo was just a mistake. Should still probably have been a Movexited.
Personal opinion is that these sentences are too recursively descriptive and are obsessed with forcing a two-phrase structure.
I'd use a lot more gerunds if I was writing these.
QuentinQuonce
formerly green_typhlosion
It was. Unless it was brought back in BDSP?
BDSP only brought back Hidden Power (& only for Unown until Home update hits) & any legendary signature move that was needed for a legend.
A lot of moves/abilities are like this, it's so weird. The Japanese ones seem more or less similar, too so while the specific sentence structure (it x, and then y) is localization the general gist (attack X: it x so y) is present in both.
It's like they realized they had more space for stuff around gen 6/7 but just wrote it longer and more tautological for the sake of it.
In terms of non-signature moves, Flash, Rock Climb, and Tail Glow also came back. The latter is good news for Xurkitree if the moves get patched back in to SwSh with the Home update later this year, but it's other two Users, Volbeat and Manaphy, are in BDSP.
Edit: Also Psycho Boost and Heart Swap can each be learned by one other Pokemon besides the ones most well known for having them(Lugia for the former and Magearna for the latter, but like with Tail Glow Heart Swap would have to be patched in to SwSh.
But that's crap in singles, especially for wallbreaking, and to even potentially take advantage of it Honchkrow needs to move after a Life Orb or recoil user, which it's not living with its frail defenses, or (again) risk Swagger which is too unreliable. Saying Assurance is an acceptable physical Dark STAB for Honchkrow is like saying Avalanche is an acceptable physical Ice STAB for Weavile
The hazard spammer in me is required to point out that Assurance can be used to on predicted switches to get the boost from hazard damage, having it work as something of an inverted Pursuit.
Would work better for that in a non-Dark mon admitttedly since the opponent is probably sending out a dark-type answer.
The Diglett counter in BDSP.
The intent was obvious - Game Freak wanted players to interact and explore the Grand Underground to the benefit of all. The problems:
The intent was obvious - Game Freak wanted players to interact and explore the Grand Underground to the benefit of all. The problems:
- The encounter rate is super low.
- The bonus (shiny Pokémon are 1/2048 and all Boxes dug up are Gorgeous) only lasts four minutes, which is enough for like three digs if you get good luck on spawns. Once it runs out, you and the other people you’re online with have to run around and find another 40 Diglett to get the bonus again.
- Nowhere in the game does it explain any of this, I looked this up on Bulbapedia.
Here's something about the games that's always annoyed me. I'm reminded of it because of BDSP, but my frustration dates back to just about the original DPP. (This does go into competitive territory, but I'm hoping it's okay.)
There are many Pokemon that I would call "badly designed" - not from a visual or a lore perspective, but from a gameplay one. Pokemon where the design intent is clear, but they fail to measure up for one reason or another. Things like Sceptile not being a Physical attacker, Vikavolt being incredibly slow, and Aegislash being a better Special attacker than Physical (at least for awhile) all come to mind, but one Pokemon to me rises above the rest in terms of missing the mark.
Dusknoir. This Pokemon has so many things going for it - it's one of the coolest Ghost-types, with not only a menacing design but also eerie lore. Most of all, of course, we can't discuss this Pokemon without bringing up its role in Mystery Dungeon, where it remains to this day as one of the most interesting antagonists the franchise has seen.
And yet... every time I look at it, I can't help but wonder: why is it so bad?
It's clear that the Duskull line are meant to be slow, bulky Physical attackers. Dusknoir in particular sports incredible twin 135 defenses, combined with a decent (at the time) base 100 Attack. It's meant to take hits and then hit hard in return, or set up Trick Room to turn its low Speed into an advantage. It's also one of the best users of the Pressure ability, able to sponge hits and stall out PP. The trouble is the, uhh, everything about it: first of all, those great defenses are completely undermined by its abysmal base 45 HP, meaning that it can't actually take many hits in practice. Second, it hasn't got any form of recovery outside of Rest, meaning it's very vulnerable to chip damage. But the most damning thing about this Pokemon is that right up until the Isle of Armor, its strongest Physical STAB move was Shadow Punch, a move with a whopping 60 Base Power. It doesn't even get Phantom Force.
I want to like Dusknoir so badly. It's clear that it was meant to be strong, and it has such amazing design and lore. In all, it's a Pokemon that was designed to fill a specific role, and then given exactly zero of the tools it would need to actually perform that role. Ironically, its largest contribution is existing at all, and allowing Dusclops to use the Eviolite to be a great Trick Room setter in Doubles.
There are many Pokemon that I would call "badly designed" - not from a visual or a lore perspective, but from a gameplay one. Pokemon where the design intent is clear, but they fail to measure up for one reason or another. Things like Sceptile not being a Physical attacker, Vikavolt being incredibly slow, and Aegislash being a better Special attacker than Physical (at least for awhile) all come to mind, but one Pokemon to me rises above the rest in terms of missing the mark.
Dusknoir. This Pokemon has so many things going for it - it's one of the coolest Ghost-types, with not only a menacing design but also eerie lore. Most of all, of course, we can't discuss this Pokemon without bringing up its role in Mystery Dungeon, where it remains to this day as one of the most interesting antagonists the franchise has seen.
And yet... every time I look at it, I can't help but wonder: why is it so bad?
It's clear that the Duskull line are meant to be slow, bulky Physical attackers. Dusknoir in particular sports incredible twin 135 defenses, combined with a decent (at the time) base 100 Attack. It's meant to take hits and then hit hard in return, or set up Trick Room to turn its low Speed into an advantage. It's also one of the best users of the Pressure ability, able to sponge hits and stall out PP. The trouble is the, uhh, everything about it: first of all, those great defenses are completely undermined by its abysmal base 45 HP, meaning that it can't actually take many hits in practice. Second, it hasn't got any form of recovery outside of Rest, meaning it's very vulnerable to chip damage. But the most damning thing about this Pokemon is that right up until the Isle of Armor, its strongest Physical STAB move was Shadow Punch, a move with a whopping 60 Base Power. It doesn't even get Phantom Force.
I want to like Dusknoir so badly. It's clear that it was meant to be strong, and it has such amazing design and lore. In all, it's a Pokemon that was designed to fill a specific role, and then given exactly zero of the tools it would need to actually perform that role. Ironically, its largest contribution is existing at all, and allowing Dusclops to use the Eviolite to be a great Trick Room setter in Doubles.
That post belongs more into ”Pokémon that disappointed you in-game despite looking good initially” but there’s no denying that Pokémon like Dusknoir had such a severe missed opportunity in terms of specialty that caused their in-game viability to plunge to bottom tier, and same goes in competitive.
The fact that Pokémon like Dusknoir, Sceptile and several single-stage Pokémon are all style, no substance, and the fact that there is a lot more relatively unviable Pokémon in the latest generations comparable to Gen 2 and 3 irks me a lot.
In other words, we are getting more and more Pokémon that are straight up unviable to a faster rate in comparison to the rate we get obnoxiously overpowered Pokémon.
I could go on and on about how to fix Dusknoir but I reckon that might stray too far into wishlisting, so I'll just say that it has an intended job but lacks the tools to actually do it.
Toxapex and the Rotom appliances have base 50 HP, and they're pretty good at taking hits. Rotom actually takes hits worse than Dusknoir.