The Biggest Loser: Pokemon gen IV edition

Sadly, I haven't gotten any of my article ideas off the ground for Bulbanews but I hope to...eventually. But for now, I might as well post my reflection here. I dunno why I feel like sitting in front of the computer and typing up pages of dialogue about fuckin' Pokemon, but I guess I am that bored this summer. I need a car and a job.

Without further ado, top 5 biggest losers of the fourth generation of Pokemon, divided into the old and the new. Feel free to flame me about my opinions if you wish by leaving a comment or some other medium you can contact me with.

Biggest losers:

Old:
1. Alakazam: I was debating between this and Gengar over who should deserve the top spot, but I ultimately went with Alakazam on virtue of losing much more. Besides having to contend with physical Pursuit, Sucker Punch, and increased physical priority, it lost the punches (which beat the shit out of HP, power and IV wise), it lost its niches as a Tricker and Encorer due to Platinum and Heartgold respectively (though it retains its status as the fast user of Encore in the game), and it’s pretty sad when Espeon outclasses you as a CMer in the lower tiers. Oh, and it failed to get Vacuum Wave or Aura Sphere, instead relying on the 70% accurate Focus Blast. And for the final nail in the coffin, Azelf outclasses it in nearly every way. Sure, it retains good usage in the lower tiers, but Alakazam’s golden age has long passed us.

2. Gengar: WAT GENGAR IS IN THE TOP 10 I DON’T EVEN. Trust me, Gengar deserves to be here, and I am equal opportunity in nominating both OU and non-OU Pokemon. On one hand, Gengar received a tremendous boost in receiving dual STAB this generation and started out with a more accurate Hypnosis; on the other hand, like Alakazam, it lost its punches, is plagued by priority and Pursuit, and relies on the shaky Focus Blast for coverage and it still fails to beat Tar. How does Gengar manage to stay in high usage? Firstly, it boasts a far superior typing to Zam; secondly, while fragile, Gengar has superior physical defense which prevents it from dying to a light bitch slap; thirdly, and probably the most likely/most prominent reason, Explosion. Granted, Gengar’s Explosion is weak, but it’s enough to stop people from being trigger happy with Blissey or Snorlax or some other generic special wall although people are using Tar and Heatran more for this purpose. But…yeah. Did I mention Hypnosis reverted back to 60% accuracy in Platinum?

3. Heracross: Poor Heracross; it had everything going for it when this generation started out, gaining CC in addition to monstrous Megahorn, Choice Scarf to rectify its dismal speed, and a few other goodies. Now it’s on the brink of dropping to UU and inevitably condemned to the usage hell known as BL (if only people played BL more). Most competitive players, including myself, really can’t definitively answer why Heracross took such a downward fall or “why didn’t you use Heracross on your last team?” “idk because I didn’t have room”. Besides the whole “ONG GLISCOR IS COUNTER” bullshit, it’s pretty easy to switch in to and less convenient or easy to use like Scizor. Heracross can enjoy niche use as something to piss off stall users who make the mistake of setting up one layer of Toxic Spikes or use Toxic with their Blissey, beats some of the things that would normally be a stop to Scizor (primarily Heatran and Magnezone), and can legitimately switch in to pretty much anything Tar does but otherwise most people dismiss Heracross as a washed up former star. Don’t want to name any real life examples…. *coughcough*

4. Raikou: WHY DID THEY MAKE IT RASH JKASHDJKLASSDA. Alas, Aura Sphere Raikou’s bid for late OU status was sadly put down due to Gamefreak’s bad decisions to a) make the event shiny and b) give it Extremespeed and a shitty nature. In ADV and 4th gen UU, Raikou was a holy terror, boasting great speed, excellent typing (though one generation before the steel move spam), and decent bulk. It managed to do all of this with the grand total of 6 moves and a couple of items in variance; Thunderbolt, Hidden Power, CM, Substitute, Crunch/Shadow Ball, and sometimes Rest. Sadly, the single largest cause of Raikou’s demise was, like many other unfortunate special attackers, the 1.5x Sandstorm boost. Entry hazards, SS, and all kinds of passive damage plus metagame changes meant that Raikou was on the out. And the one thing that could’ve saved it, Aura Sphere, is ruined by a less than optimal nature.

5. Walls: I thought about this and most of the Pokemon I thought of in this slot fit into this general category so I just ended up with this. In general, Pokemon with the specific purpose of taking hits from either side of the spectrum have been on the decline, owing to choice items, Life Orb, easier access to boosting moves and better STAB, the physical/special split, the increase of mixed attackers….I could go on and on. Passive damage doesn’t help matters. Pokemon are simply taking too much damage to consider pure walling an option anymore, and had to reinvent themselves for some other purpose. Chief among these are the former SkarmBliss combo, Weezing, and Donphan and even some newcomers like Gliscor, Cresselia, and Hippowdon. All in all, this is a testament to a metagame that is far more offensive than what we’ve seen in previous generations.

Honorable mention: Dugtrio; started as OU but usage was never really high and gradually declined and dropped due to prevalence of priority moves. Ubersect gets an honorable honorable mention.

New:
Note: No overhyped evolutions of old Pokemon are included, unless they enjoyed significant popularity; therefore, Pokemon like Electivire and Rhyperior are omitted.

1. Weavile: Unlike the other pre-D/P hyped Pokemon, Weavile took a bit of time to take a fall. At the beginning of D/P, it was one of the foremost of revenge killers with perfect dual STAB to carry out said task and blistering speed. Rocks were a detriment, but not the deal breaker. What brought Weavile down was first and foremost pitiful STAB that barely outdamaged Return (112.5 BP for STAB Ice Punch vs 102 BP for Return) and there were plenty of better alternatives. Secondly, Platinum. Just Platinum. No more explanation needed. It retains some of its revenging niche from early D/P, but is relegated to the bottom of the OU tier.

2. Everything weak to Rock: Stealth Rock pretty much hurt them badly but the wide distribution of Stone Edge also hurts. It’s very feasible that Moltres would have a good shot at being OU if the damn rocks weren’t everywhere, but everything else is pretty much badly affected too. The plague doesn’t spare Pokemon like Salamence and Gyarados who stay where they are by virtue of their otherwise absurdly good qualities, and probably the biggest obstacle facing Salamence for ubers fanatics. I could write so much more on Rocks but everyone knows about it, so I’ll just end it here before it gets too long.

3. Spiritomb: Ok, I’ll be honest, I was hard pressed to think of new Pokemon that didn’t fall under “overhyped evolution” or something already covered. While Spiritomb kinda fits into “overhyped” and “wall”, it did have some time in the spotlight early D/P, notably part of Obi’s legendary stall team and as the infamous hacker whore known as Wondertomb. The main selling point of Spiritomb was its typing, but as the Smog aptly put it, resistances as well as lack of weaknesses are important for a stall team member and here Spiritomb faltered. Most people realized that Dark/Ghost isn’t all it’s cut up to be. Its decline was gradual, but solidified by the Rotom form’s ascension in Platinum and inferior defenses to Dusknoir when the Rotom forms are not available. Even its UU usage has fallen a bit since Gallade and Froslass were banned. All in all, Spiritomb misses its glory days.

4. Cresselia: Unlike Weavile and Spiritomb, people more or less expected Cresselia’s downfall and thus it is lower on the list. People damn well knew that SS cut into Moonlight’s effectiveness and that Pursuit further cut into its durability and was just as easily walled as Blissey was if not more. It was once known as the thing that could take a hit and barely getting the revenge kill or using X support move, but people were pretty much over Cresselia by the time Platinum was released; Garchomp was banned, Trick screwed around with it, and of course Scizor. It finally dropped down to UU in early 2010 due to low usage and probably had the quickest ban in the history of the UU suspect test. It sits in BL and enjoy niche uses in OU and ubers, but is more or less like a retired old woman in a vacation home, waiting patiently until she is needed for Social Security paperwork or other such shit.

5. Bronzong: While still a solid OU with a ton of support options, the rise of Taunt using suicide leads have hurt Bronzong tremendously. It is outclassed as a lead by Metagross. Like Cresselia, its usage fell when Garchomp was banned and Scizor took its place as the #1 OU. The “Steel immune to ground” niche has long since worn off its popularity and Trick Room has never quite caught on and Bronzong sits in relative obscurity despite this being a metagame dominated by steels. If only it had better HP. Or auto-heal.

Honorable mentions: People gave only a fleeting fuck about those overhyped evos, but the vast majority never amounted to much. Only Gliscor enjoys lasting popularity. Hippowdon was an early D/P favorite and usage has fallen significantly, but never was a large force in the metagame.


*insert conclusion I'm too lazy to type up* Leave comments please, whether they're flames or critiques or whatever. I'm always willing to answer them. :) And yes, I can defend my thoughts, except perhaps why I filed walls under old, and things with a Rock weakness under the new. I really don't know why, but just take them at face value.