The Worst Best Pokémon
| « Previous Article | Next Article » |
Art by MamOwOswine.
Among the hundreds of Pokémon discovered throughout the lands are a handful of elite monsters whose power far exceeds that of what is seen in a typical battle. They are beasts — legendary, mythical, Mega, even Ultra — that have been shackled to a realm of their own, a kingdom of Ubers where they can do battle with their own kind. But among the strongest of the strong are Pokémon that live in the shadow of even greater foes. Despite their immense power and potential, said Pokémon rarely see battle in this kingdom of Ubers, as they have little to no justifiable niche and struggle to ever get by. They are the worst best Pokémon. Formes such as the infamous Deoxys and the horribly bad Arceus-Psychic are not included among them, as they suffer more from being outclassed by their very similar and superior brethren, rather than failing via their abysmally useless niches.
Pheromosa
| 
| 
Notable Held Items: 
Notable Moves: U-turn, Low Kick, High Jump Kick, Ice Beam, Rapid Spin, Taunt
- HP [71]
- Attack [137]
- Def [37]
- Special Attack [137]
- SpD [37]
- Speed [151]
Pheromosa is one the best Ultra Beasts in the game, far above the likes of Guzzlord, Stakataka, and even Kartana, yet it struggles to ever find utilization in the Uber tier. Its Deoxys-like stats of 137 offenses and 151 Speed combined with an uncommon offensive typing and rare moves such as Rapid Spin and Taunt are unfortunately not enough to make it stand out. Teams have far better options for anti-offense techniques, ranging from the super dominant Marshadow, to Choice Scarf users like Xerneas, Yveltal, and Ditto, to priority attacks and Speed-boosting setup sweepers like Primal Groudon and Necrozma-DM. Even more specialized archetypes such as Trick Room and Sticky Web prove to be more effective and viable than Pheromosa. As a defensive Pokémon, Pheromosa has virtually no merit and cannot hope to make much use of its Ground- and Dark-type resistances due to poor defenses, lack of staying power, and vulnerability to other coverage. Pheromosa's best chance at making it onto a team is via its combination of U-turn and solid offensive stats, potentially being able to be an annoying Pokémon for opposing offense to face while being able to pivot into bulky powerhouses that can punish the strong defensive Pokémon that it can force out.
Mega Kangaskhan
| 
| 
Notable Held Items: 
Notable Moves: Fake Out, Body Slam, Seismic Toss, Crunch, Earthquake, Power Up Punch, Ice Punch, Wish
- HP [105]
- Attack [125]
- Defense [100]
- SpA [60]
- Special Defense [100]
- Speed [100]
Banned to Ubers since its introduction in XY, Mega Kangaskhan once had a solid niche in the tier as a strong anti-offense Pokémon thanks to its combination of priority moves and absurdly useful ability, Parental Bond. However, ever since those days, Mega Kangaskhan has dropped to abysmal usage, as it's seen a nerf to said ability and struggles more than ever to compete with new Mega Evolutions and offensive behemoths. Like all of the Pokémon on this list, the bottom line is that Mega Kangaskhan struggles to ever justify itself on a team. While its combination of offensive stats, STAB and coverage moves, and ability isn't terrible, it simply isn't noteworthy enough to justify its use as a Pokémon with highly limited utility and defensive synergy. At best, Mega Kangaskhan's defensive prowess is limited to its ability to pivot into Ghost-types, its ability to revenge kill severely weakened threats, and its access to Wish. A set that utilizes Body Slam and Seismic Toss makes good use of Parental Bond despite the nerf, is able to actually break down some defensive threats, and potentially synergizes well with other teammates.
Solgaleo
| 
| 
Notable Held Items: 
Notable Moves: Sunsteel Strike, Morning Sun, Flare Blitz, Earthquake, Superpower, Stone Edge, Wild Charge, Zen Headbutt, Endeavor
- HP [137]
- Attack [137]
- Defense [107]
- Special Attack [113]
- Special Defense [89]
- Speed [97]
Solgaleo, despite being a solid check to Xerneas, has never been a good Pokémon in Ubers. This is largely due to its limited movepool, lackluster typing, and mostly useless ability. With the release of Necrozma-DM, Solgaleo is now virtually impossible to justify, with all of its offensive and defensive sets being worse in comparison to it. Necrozma-DM aside, Solgaleo is easily exploited by Ground-, Fire-, Dark-, and Ghost-types, which are some of the most fearsome threats in the tier. Additionally, it's not very good at role compression, as its only real notable quality is the fact it checks Xerneas, whereas other Xerneas checks are able to do this and more. Its only potential advantages over Necrozma-DM, its vastly superior cousin, are access to Flare Blitz and a slightly higher base Speed stat, meaning that its best chance at utilization is with a Choice Scarf.
Genesect
|
| Notable Held Items: 
Notable Moves: U-turn, Iron Head, Techno Blast, Extreme Speed, Explosion, Blaze Kick, Ice Beam, Flamethrower, Flash Cannon, Thunder
- HP [71]
- Attack [120]
- Defense [95]
- Special Attack [120]
- Special Defense [95]
- Speed [99]
As one of the fiercest threats in BW Ubers, Genesect has seen a steady decline in viability, especially after the transition to ORAS. Today, virtually all teams in Ubers have strong methods of dealing with its U-turn and Iron Head, so they don't have much to be afraid of. From a defensive viewpoint, Genesect is even worse off. It is a Steel-type that cannot check Geomancy Xerneas very well or handle Pokémon such as Mega Salamence and Necrozma-DM. Genesect is also easily threatened by Pokémon such as Primal Groudon, Ho-Oh, and Primal Kyogre, leaving it in a poor matchup against the biggest threats in Ubers. Although it has a Toxic immunity, Genesect is not able to punish the typical spewing users well at all, and certainly not on the level that other Toxic-immune Pokémon in the tier can. Genesect's best attempt at being viable is to upset balance staples via a Choice Specs set that utilizes Download alongside the power of Techno Blast.
Reshiram
| 
| 
Notable Held Items: 
Notable Moves: Blue Flare, Draco Meteor, Stone Edge, Roost, Solar Beam, Earth Power
- HP [100]
- Attack [120]
- Defense [100]
- Special Attack [150]
- Special Defense [120]
- Speed [90]
With the lowest usage of any non-Arceus or Deoxys forme, Reshiram sits at the bottom of this list and among the worst of the best Pokémon. For the last two generations, Reshiram has struggled to ever make it onto serious Ubers teams despite its high offensive stats and nuclear-powered Fire-type moves. A big reason as to why this is from an offensive perspective is due to a lack of Speed and how its STAB options on a move-by-move basis are relatively easy to address. Virtually all Ubers teams have strong counterplay to Fire-type moves due to the prevalence of Primal Groudon and Ho-Oh, but while these can excel via their other STAB move and excellence as defensive threats, Reshiram cannot. Its other STAB move, Draco Meteor, is typically resisted by every team in Ubers, often by multiple team members. The result is a Pokémon with poor defensive synergy that can struggle to break opposing teams well, especially when accuracy and predictions are factored in. Reshiram's best bet is to utilize Grassium Z alongside Solar Beam in order to smash common bulky Water-type responses such as Arceus-Water and Primal Kyogre.
| « Previous Article | Next Article » |