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

Colonel M

I COULD BE BORED!
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
Honestly, I think Toxic Thread just wins for a multitude of reasons.

First, it's on an obscure and bad Pokemon. Ariados isn't a Pokemon you first think of even at the below depths of a metagame, I bet.

Secondly, the move is just... awful. Like let's break it down. We have a move that regular poisons, so not even Toxic poison. We also have a move that reduces Speed by 1 stage only. Meanwhile, String Shot reduces Speed by 2 stages. So we have a move that is inferior to a few separate moves. It isn't even like Spider Web where it's just another Mean Look clone. This is a move that somehow takes components from a stat and status effect of similar moves that exist and somehow manages to be fucking worse. You can't even meme Venoshock and Sniper. Ariados has 60 base SpA.

By the way, all of this ignores that Ariados learns Agility. Yes Ariados is piss slow to use Agility, but before we consider Toxic Thread, much less String Shot, we need to consider this first.

Like yeah moves like Rototiller are very forgettable and are garbage in their own right. Yet somehow this move finds a way to be downright awful in a very oddly spectacular way. The worst part? This isn't even a move like Constrict, which is one of the worst moves in the game. In fairness many Pokemon learn Constrict very early (when the move existed), so while garbage you could argue it was just one of those semi-useless earlygame moves. Spinirak and Ariados don't even learn these moves until Level 54 and 63, respectively.
 
Gear Up and Magnetic Flux. These moves only work in a double battle and only on ally Pokemon with the Plus or Minus ability, so they are extremely situational. They have extremely narrow distribution and half the pokemon that learn these moves don't even get Plus or Minus. The effects of these moves aren't even that good, since they only raise the Attack and Special Attack / Defense and Special Defense of an Ally pokemon by one stage.
 

MZ

And now for something completely different
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Honestly, I think Toxic Thread just wins for a multitude of reasons.

First, it's on an obscure and bad Pokemon. Ariados isn't a Pokemon you first think of even at the below depths of a metagame, I bet.

Secondly, the move is just... awful. Like let's break it down. We have a move that regular poisons, so not even Toxic poison. We also have a move that reduces Speed by 1 stage only. Meanwhile, String Shot reduces Speed by 2 stages. So we have a move that is inferior to a few separate moves. It isn't even like Spider Web where it's just another Mean Look clone. This is a move that somehow takes components from a stat and status effect of similar moves that exist and somehow manages to be fucking worse. You can't even meme Venoshock and Sniper. Ariados has 60 base SpA.

By the way, all of this ignores that Ariados learns Agility. Yes Ariados is piss slow to use Agility, but before we consider Toxic Thread, much less String Shot, we need to consider this first.

Like yeah moves like Rototiller are very forgettable and are garbage in their own right. Yet somehow this move finds a way to be downright awful in a very oddly spectacular way. The worst part? This isn't even a move like Constrict, which is one of the worst moves in the game. In fairness many Pokemon learn Constrict very early (when the move existed), so while garbage you could argue it was just one of those semi-useless earlygame moves. Spinirak and Ariados don't even learn these moves until Level 54 and 63, respectively.
Toxic Thread shows up on Smeargle's SM Ubers analysis as an actually decent moveset option which I think should qualify it as at least a less garbage forgettable move than Rototiller.
 

Colonel M

I COULD BE BORED!
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
Toxic Thread shows up on Smeargle's SM Ubers analysis as an actually decent moveset option which I think should qualify it as at least a less garbage forgettable move than Rototiller.
Not totally discrediting this because you're not wrong. It just feels like a stretch since we're also talking about Smeargle, a Pokemon that can use an infinite combination of moves to satisfy the set it wants.

Moves like Rototiller are also Doubles exclusive, so it's either Doubles, VGC, 2v2, or bust.
 

Gravity Monkey

Que des barz comme si jtais au hebs
is a Top Artist
You can kinda know who hasn't played BH by reading posts in this thread. You don't get out of there not knowing what Entrainment does.

Also I genuinely thought I couldn't be surprised by anything considering the unhealthy amount of time I pass on dex.pokemonshowdown.com but apparently Flower Shield proved me wrong wtf is that move
 

Blitz

Mightiest of Cleaves
is a Member of Senior Staffis a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Discord Leader
Some of these are hella obscure for sure but if you’ve played enough in-game or Metronome, you’ve seen them.

That said, no one’s mentioned garbage like Bestow, Land’s Wrath, Odor Sleuth, Camouflage, Crafty Shield, Extrasensory, or Eerie Impulse. In a way, I’m kinda glad the move dexit happened because there’s legitimately a non-exhaustive list of god awful and situational moves and snapping most of those away was a good thing.
 
Some of these are hella obscure for sure but if you’ve played enough in-game or Metronome, you’ve seen them.

That said, no one’s mentioned garbage like Bestow, Land’s Wrath, Odor Sleuth, Camouflage, Crafty Shield, Extrasensory, or Eerie Impulse. In a way, I’m kinda glad the move dexit happened because there’s legitimately a non-exhaustive list of god awful and situational moves and snapping most of those away was a good thing.
Isn't that because the main criterion is that they're obscure, not that they're useless? I'm pretty sure anybody who's played a Hoenn game knows about Odor Sleuth.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top