pokemon attacks you didn't know existed until you went on serebii for one thing but found them instead

Albatross

Loosely Resembling Some Variety Of Bird
is a Top Artistis a Community Contributor
#2: Fury Cutter. This move gets stronger as you use it more times in a row, capping out at 160 power. Unfortunately you can usually just use a different move to achieve the same results, though the multiplier effect can be effective in niche earlygame situations. Originally this move only had 10 base power and was buffed twice over the generations to actually be usable. Interestingly enough, in Gen 2's development days, originally Fury Cutter would cap out at 255 BP, then nerfed to 5 boosts at 240 (with 15 BP as a base), then nerfed down to the 10 BP of vanilla Gen 2. There's a similar concept in Rollout, but Rollout has the better Rock-typing and doesn't cap out, even being buffed by Defense Curl. Also, Rollout has a much scarier reputation thanks to Whitney's Miltank. I think it's more that the AI is locked into the move and can't mess up, while the AI probably doesn't even know how to use Fury Cutter properly. Even the Metronome item exists as a weaker effect, but you can use with on a good move instead.
Shoutout to XY Honedge, comes equipped with Fury Cutter, Swords Dance and No Guard right from the get-go. Fairly decent in the early game but it drops off pretty fast


i somehow know all of these due to regularly playing triples hackmons cup against abyssal bot
triples hackmons cup
i saw 80% of the moves in this thread there
Dynamic Punch: If you play BH
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The only reason I know most of these moves is because I like to scroll through Wikipedias in my spare time. Yeah I'm a huge loser, I know. A few I know from making my own fakemons/subs for Petmods as well, which is neat.
Anyways here are my new contributions for the whole "knew about it but never used" thing:

Teeter Dance: Used to be Spinda's signature move. It confuses all adjacent Pokemon. That's it. I don't know why this survived Dexit, but it did, so now you can see Teeter Dance performed in glorious HD instead of, say Pursuit. Or Return

Light of Ruin: I don't know if this counts since it's unreleased, but Light of Ruin is pretty cool. Apparently its the only special move with recoil damage, which is neat ig

Teatime: Gimmick move, who cares. Makes all Pokemon of the field eat their berries ig. Maybe last gen this could've been ok because of the gen 8 pinch berry nerf, but other than that its real bad
 

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shadowpea

everyone is lonely sometimes
is a Tiering Contributor
Teeter Dance: Used to be Spinda's signature move. It confuses all adjacent Pokemon. That's it. I don't know why this survived Dexit, but it did, so now you can see Teeter Dance performed in glorious HD instead of, say Pursuit. Or Return

Light of Ruin: I don't know if this counts since it's unreleased, but Light of Ruin is pretty cool. Apparently its the only special move with recoil damage, which is neat ig

Teatime: Gimmick move, who cares. Makes all Pokemon of the field eat their berries ig. Maybe last gen this could've been ok because of the gen 8 pinch berry nerf, but other than that its real bad
Teeter dance: this stupid article

I'm happy to say that I've seen LOR in BH and Teatime in Triple Hackmons Cup as well :)/
 

Dorron

BLU LOBSTAH
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I am a fucking nerd and I knew all of these moves, as I usually play in the Spanish Game Corner room and randmoves are usually required.

Also, I've seen nobody posted this move, so I want a reward.


Bro who the fuck has ever used this move.


Only shit mons have Plus or Minus, and if they do, they have more abilities, so let's create a move based on Plus/Minus!
 
I am a fucking nerd and I knew all of these moves, as I usually play in the Spanish Game Corner room and randmoves are usually required.

Also, I've seen nobody posted this move, so I want a reward.


Bro who the fuck has ever used this move.


Only shit mons have Plus or Minus, and if they do, they have more abilities, so let's create a move based on Plus/Minus!
Holy crap I never knew of Chip Away! Where'd you get that info from LOL
 
I am a fucking nerd and I knew all of these moves, as I usually play in the Spanish Game Corner room and randmoves are usually required.

Also, I've seen nobody posted this move, so I want a reward.


Bro who the fuck has ever used this move.

Only shit mons have Plus or Minus, and if they do, they have more abilities, so let's create a move based on Plus/Minus!



i used it once during XY playthrough on snorlax lel
 
I think Shell Trap and Prismatic Laser haven't been mentioned yet. Belch and Wring Out are more interesting/useless moves. And did you know Crabominable has a signature move in Ice Hammer? It hits x4 to the only two Pokemon that learn this other move, Dragon Hammer. One of those two Pokemon, Exeggutor-Alola, belongs to the evolutionary line of the only Pokemon that learn Barrage.

Back to status moves, we have Venom Drench.
na bro prismatic laser in often used in 1v1 for necrozma
 

shadowpea

everyone is lonely sometimes
is a Tiering Contributor
I am a fucking nerd and I knew all of these moves, as I usually play in the Spanish Game Corner room and randmoves are usually required.

Also, I've seen nobody posted this move, so I want a reward.


Bro who the fuck has ever used this move.


Only shit mons have Plus or Minus, and if they do, they have more abilities, so let's create a move based on Plus/Minus!
Chip Away: used it on Nidoking in a fan game. Idk why.
Gear Up: Triples Hackmons Cup, the GOAT metagame.
I think Shell Trap and Prismatic Laser haven't been mentioned yet. Belch and Wring Out are more interesting/useless moves. And did you know Crabominable has a signature move in Ice Hammer? It hits x4 to the only two Pokemon that learn this other move, Dragon Hammer. One of those two Pokemon, Exeggutor-Alola, belongs to the evolutionary line of the only Pokemon that learn Barrage.

Back to status moves, we have Venom Drench.
Shell Trap: For some reason Abyssal Bot have this move in 1/4 of our games, but it never work. lmao.
Prismatic Laser: Metronome Battles!
Belch: Someone made a Poisonium Z set with Belch... Hydreigon, I think? Also, I filtered all Poison-typed moves in BH by power for my Mega Beedrill, and Belch (along with Gunk Shot) showed up at the top. Too bad its practically useless.
Wring Out: THC. lmao.
Ice Hammer: A lot of Pokemon in BH, like Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Beedrill, use it to manhandle Zygarde-C.
Dragon Hammer: Dragon-types in BH use this move as their best physcial STAB. Physical dragon sweepers are pretty rare though, and they usually don't even bother with their Dragon STAB.
Barrage: THC. Again.
Venom Drench: You guessed it. Triples Hackmons Cup.
 
These are some of the more obscure moves introduced in Gen 5 in my opinion.

Work Up. This is a move that boosts Attack and Special Attack. Unlike Bulk Up and Calm Mind, only half of this move is useful unless you're a mixed attacker. In early game you don't really need setup though it can be useful, and later on there are so many other better choices for setup moves that this move just gets overshadowed most of the time. Not even that many mons actually get this move to be honest.

Retaliate. This move does double damage after being used after a faint. Even if you don't kill off your pokemon often, this move would still be a reliable Normal move with its base 70 BP, if it weren't for the fact it only has 5 PP. (EDIT: Even Facade has 20 PP and an easier requirement to fulfill, with the same exact power 2 gens earlier.) Not much reason to use this but it got a better animation in gen 6.

Venoshock. This move does double damage on poisoned enemies. This isn't that bad, but it means you have to have a way of poisoning to use this at full power or just run a regular Poison move. On top of that, Acid Spray is a similar move from the same generation that debuffs SpD instead, so at least you can spam that for greater effect or support.

Struggle Bug. This is a bad move named after another bad move. It at least has an effect of debuffing Special Attack, which would be unique in its base generation if it weren't for the fact that Snarl existed and also Struggle Bug only had 30 BP. Imagine being a bug with this as your best stab option. At that point you may as well just use Return or a move with actual power. The worst part is that this move is not even good as a coverage option, as barely any non-bugs learn it and so there's never a reason to use this move. It would be better if they combined Tackle and Growl instead, since most attacks in the earlygame are physical and by the time you see regular special attacks there's not much point in still having this move.

Bulldoze. Technically I remember Bulldoze because it always underperforms ingame. This is a midgame ground move that can act as coverage, but I never end up really wanting to use it over good old Dig or wait for an actual ground move by levelup. The one place in Gen 5 where this move would be most useful is against Elesa, but it's impossible to have anything learn it at that point. Also it has the most forgettable move animation in Gen 5, which is just shaking the screen up and down like something out of Gen 1. Earthquake is pretty bad too, but at least there's a zoom effect and some rock particles.

Sky Drop. This is like Fly but with worse power and also you can't use it on heavy pokemon (EDIT: or Flying types). This move was actually pretty known in Gen 5 because it was banned forever in wifi due to a gamebreaking glitch, but in the present day it doesn't even exist in Gen 8.

Frost Breath. This is an ice move that criticals instead of freezes. Ironically Storm Throw used to be a signature move with the same effect, but now more (3) evolutionary lines learn it in Gen 8 than the generic clone version (2).

Dragon Tail. This move is Roar/Whirlwind but does damage. Personally I never see or use these moves ingame but I guess it has some use in competitive, though it doesn't have much distribution. Also this is another clone of another Throh signature move. Thank you game freak.
 
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Razor Wind

This has to be one of the most obscure. It's TM02 in Gen I, and was never on the TM list in any other gen. I thought I knew all the moves, why has no one brought this up before?

Type: Normal
PP: 10
BP: 80
Accuracy: 75
A two-turn attack with the wind attack in the second turn. Learned by many FLYING-type Pokemon.

oh...
 
Razor Wind

This has to be one of the most obscure. It's TM02 in Gen I, and was never on the TM list in any other gen. I thought I knew all the moves, why has no one brought this up before?

Type: Normal
PP: 10
BP: 80
Accuracy: 75
A two-turn attack with the wind attack in the second turn. Learned by many FLYING-type Pokemon.

oh...
Hilariously, they dropped the 'learned by many Flying types' from the description after the stadium games because it was no longer true.
 
Hilariously, they dropped the 'learned by many Flying types' from the description after the stadium games because it was no longer true.
Lol

I did an extra few minutes of research. By Gen 3 they finally realized how bad this was, and bumped it up to 100 accuracy, with a secondary effect of having a high critical hit ratio. They also made it hit both opponents in doubles. Then in Gen 4 it became a special attack during the split, and stayed the same until finally being cut for Sw/Sh.
Very few things actually learned it at all, and most of the things that got it had it as an egg move. In Gen 4, the Horsea line had the privilege of receiving it as a new move via breeding.
THAT's what I should have used on my Kingdra for my awesome doubles rain team. Would have smoked so many n00bs on PBR with Scope Lens Razor Wind.
 

shadowpea

everyone is lonely sometimes
is a Tiering Contributor
These are some of the more obscure moves introduced in Gen 5 in my opinion.

Work Up. This is a move that boosts Attack and Special Attack. Unlike Bulk Up and Calm Mind, only half of this move is useful unless you're a mixed attacker. In early game you don't really need setup though it can be useful, and later on there are so many other better choices for setup moves that this move just gets overshadowed most of the time. Not even that many mons actually get this move to be honest.

Retaliate. This move does double damage after being used after a faint. Even if you don't kill off your pokemon often, this move would still be a reliable Normal move with its base 70 BP, if it weren't for the fact it only has 5 PP. (EDIT: Even Facade has 20 PP and an easier requirement to fulfill, with the same exact power 2 gens earlier.) Not much reason to use this but it got a better animation in gen 6.

Venoshock. This move does double damage on poisoned enemies. This isn't that bad, but it means you have to have a way of poisoning to use this at full power or just run a regular Poison move. On top of that, Acid Spray is a similar move from the same generation that debuffs SpD instead, so at least you can spam that for greater effect or support.

Struggle Bug. This is a bad move named after another bad move. It at least has an effect of debuffing Special Attack, which would be unique in its base generation if it weren't for the fact that Snarl existed and also Struggle Bug only had 30 BP. Imagine being a bug with this as your best stab option. At that point you may as well just use Return or a move with actual power. The worst part is that this move is not even good as a coverage option, as barely any non-bugs learn it and so there's never a reason to use this move. It would be better if they combined Tackle and Growl instead, since most attacks in the earlygame are physical and by the time you see regular special attacks there's not much point in still having this move.

Bulldoze. Technically I remember Bulldoze because it always underperforms ingame. This is a midgame ground move that can act as coverage, but I never end up really wanting to use it over good old Dig or wait for an actual ground move by levelup. The one place in Gen 5 where this move would be most useful is against Elesa, but it's impossible to have anything learn it at that point. Also it has the most forgettable move animation in Gen 5, which is just shaking the screen up and down like something out of Gen 1. Earthquake is pretty bad too, but at least there's a zoom effect and some rock particles.

Sky Drop. This is like Fly but with worse power and also you can't use it on heavy pokemon (EDIT: or Flying types). This move was actually pretty known in Gen 5 because it was banned forever in wifi due to a gamebreaking glitch, but in the present day it doesn't even exist in Gen 8.

Frost Breath. This is an ice move that criticals instead of freezes. Ironically Storm Throw used to be a signature move with the same effect, but now more (3) evolutionary lines learn it in Gen 8 than the generic clone version (2).

Dragon Tail. This move is Roar/Whirlwind but does damage. Personally I never see or use these moves ingame but I guess it has some use in competitive, though it doesn't have much distribution. Also this is another clone of another Throh signature move. Thank you game freak.
Work Up: Something about Work Up Zamazenta as a possible candidate for OU or Work Up Electro Ball Cinderace to break Slowbro and such.
Retaliate: God this move so annoying to fight again in THC because I'm better than the bot and always get kills :bloblul:
Venoshock: Tons of bullcrap about Merciless Venoshock Blizzard Toxapex on April Fools.
Struggle Bug: THC, FFA Randbats, and Finch's video about how Volcarona is broken.
Bulldoze: Used it on Nidoking (or was it Golem or Dugtrio?) in a fangame.
Sky Drop: THC
Frost Breath: Technician MMX in Balanced Hackmons run it to break Zygarde and friends. Also THC.
Dragon Tail: ...dude this move is all over the place, albeit a bit obscure and not many runs run it. But in almost every meta that has this move at least one Pokemon may runs it.
Razor Wind

This has to be one of the most obscure. It's TM02 in Gen I, and was never on the TM list in any other gen. I thought I knew all the moves, why has no one brought this up before?

Type: Normal
PP: 10
BP: 80
Accuracy: 75
A two-turn attack with the wind attack in the second turn. Learned by many FLYING-type Pokemon.

oh...
THC.
A two-turn move with only 80 BP and 75% accuracy? Why the hell did GF even make this move?
 

Albatross

Loosely Resembling Some Variety Of Bird
is a Top Artistis a Community Contributor
These are some of the more obscure moves introduced in Gen 5 in my opinion.

Work Up. This is a move that boosts Attack and Special Attack. Unlike Bulk Up and Calm Mind, only half of this move is useful unless you're a mixed attacker. In early game you don't really need setup though it can be useful, and later on there are so many other better choices for setup moves that this move just gets overshadowed most of the time. Not even that many mons actually get this move to be honest.

Retaliate. This move does double damage after being used after a faint. Even if you don't kill off your pokemon often, this move would still be a reliable Normal move with its base 70 BP, if it weren't for the fact it only has 5 PP. (EDIT: Even Facade has 20 PP and an easier requirement to fulfill, with the same exact power 2 gens earlier.) Not much reason to use this but it got a better animation in gen 6.
Dude, broski, fam, you literally did not play gen 5. The second gym of BW had that fucking Retaliate Watchog that murdered children's hopes and dreams, and the first gym has a level 13 Lilipup that Work Ups in your face and sweeps. Nothing uses it competitively, sure, but I will never forget being mown down by the first few gyms specifically because of those two moves

Maybe infant me was just really bad at the game lol
 
Dude, broski, fam, you literally did not play gen 5. The second gym of BW had that fucking Retaliate Watchog that murdered children's hopes and dreams, and the first gym has a level 13 Lilipup that Work Ups in your face and sweeps. Nothing uses it competitively, sure, but I will never forget being mown down by the first few gyms specifically because of those two moves

Maybe infant me was just really bad at the game lol
B2W2 is part of Gen 5 too.

Harden is one of the most obscure moves in the games when you think about it. People mainly know this move because of metapod jokes, but evolving a Caterpie or Weedle in RB does not even get you a cocoon with Harden because they only learn Harden at level 1 and not 7. Try naming a non metapod/kakuna mon that learns Harden. Since its inception, Harden has been removed from 5 pokemon learnsets. I think gamefreak has basically replaced this move with Iron Defense nowadays since the descriptions are pretty much the same.

Cotton Spore is one of the many obscure Gen 2 moves that you never see if you don't use the evolutionary line that learns it. All it does is lower speed by 2 which you can just use Thunder Wave or Stun Spore to do. It is based on cotton, so gamefreak has to keep making cotton-related pokemon like Cottonee and Eldegoss to keep it relevant. Cotton Guard is also part of this problem, but people actually know that because of its unique effect. Also Eldegoss uses these as an annoyer/supporter in Unite and it's actually really good.

Barrier is also one of the most obscure moves in the games. No non-gen 1 evolutionary family learns this move by level up. People mainly know this move because of Lance having a Barrier Dragonite that gamefreak retroactively made legal. The most distribution this move ever got is from Let's Go Pikachu, and only as a level 1 move on some evolved mons that you would have to relearn on. I think this is supposed to be Mr. Mime's main move, but it's not even selectable in gen 8 anymore.

Withdraw is also one of the more obscure moves in the games since only mons with shells learn it, though a couple are starters so it's less obscure. Personally I think Withdraw and Shell Smash should have equal availability. Try naming a gen 6+ mon that learns Withdraw.

Acid Armor is one of the more obscure moves in the games in my opinion. This move is the opposite of Harden in flavour, yet it is better than it. You would think by the name a lot of poison types get this move, but it only went on Muk for a long time until Gen 8 when they gave it to Tentacool. Game freak isn't even paying attention to this move's distribution most of the time. Jellicent learns it at level 1 but Frillish gets it as an egg move. Cryogonal goes from learning it at level 29 to 17 to 52 in the span of 3 gens. It goes from being a midgame move to a very late learn on some mons for some reason, when it's outclassed by X Defense anyway.
 
Acid Armor is one of the more obscure moves in the games in my opinion. This move is the opposite of Harden in flavour, yet it is better than it. You would think by the name a lot of poison types get this move, but it only went on Muk for a long time until Gen 8 when they gave it to Tentacool. Game freak isn't even paying attention to this move's distribution most of the time. Jellicent learns it at level 1 but Frillish gets it as an egg move. Cryogonal goes from learning it at level 29 to 17 to 52 in the span of 3 gens. It goes from being a midgame move to a very late learn on some mons for some reason, when it's outclassed by X Defense anyway.
Acid armor calm mind recover psyshock reuniclus :afrostar:
 

Plague von Karma

Banned deucer.
I tend to forget the Latis have their own special moves: Luster Purge for Latios, Mist Ball for Latias. It's not that I don't know they exist, I just always forget. Have these ever seen competitive use? I don't recall seeing them except on low ladder where kids go "ooo sig move must be good!!!".
1622013402833.png

They're not bad moves, they just shouldn't be on the Latis. Maybe give them higher base power?
 

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