For basically no reason at all, Paras has been able to learn Psybeam via breeding since Gen 2. They can't learn Psychic or anything, just Psybeam, the move designed to be that middle-ground between Confusion and Psychic. I suppose they get Screens, but...eh?
And looking into it deeper, Chinchou and Koffing also have this quality...and maybe a few others, but I'm tired.
Psybeam's distribution is much more specific than the middle-ground between Confusion and Psychic... or it used to be, anyway. Outside of Psychic-Type Pokémon who do require it in their movesets for gameplay reasons, it's rather exclusively given to Pokémon who may be capable of psyching their opponents out through some type of illusion or deception, but not through actual psychic ability. It's even called "Illusory Beam" in Chinese, and "Psyche-Beam" in Japanese specifically.
Of the Pokémon who learn Psybeam via breeding, they pretty much all employ this technique:
- Goldeen's "tail fin billows like an elegant ballroom dress" (Red), which " is why it is known as the water dancer" (Gold). This could certainly prove a distraction to opponents, particularly in underwater battles.
- Ledyba is a tough one, but they "join together and use Reflect to protect their nest" (Ultra Moon) which could certainly psych opponents out from attacking it. After all, they have paltry physical defence and Reflect only halves damage received -- most predators would still easily be able to take on a nest, but simply having the wall of light there as a deterrent suffices since Ledyba somehow aren't extinct (yet).
- Spinarak is much easier. It uses its huge face on its back to psych opponents out. BTW, if Masquerain got Intimidate, Ariados should've done too, but that's beside the point.
- Chinchou uses its lights to distract and psych opponents out. It also learns Signal Beam, for instance, which has a similar "chance of confusion" effect, not to mention Confuse Ray itself.
- Surskit "secretes an oil that enables it to walk on water as if it were skating", which is a pretty intimidating illusion. No other Pokémon can appear to skate on top of the water, so it could certainly confuse an unprepared foe.
- Finneon is the same as Chinchou -- it uses its lights to confuse and intimidate its foe. Like Chinchou, it also learns both Confuse Ray and Signal Beam, so this is fine.
- Paras uses a variety of powder and spore moves to inflict opponents (and its bug host) with status. Given its whole design philosophy is about scrambling both its own organism's and its opponent's brains, moves like Psybeam and Confuse Ray (which it admittedly doesn't learn, but should) seem fine here.
Koffing, though, is certainly an odd case. It's worth noting that it also learned Psywave from Gen I -> Gen VII, before having it removed from its learnset in SwSh. The only justification I can think of is that it psychs opponents out via its permanent threat of explosion, but then Voltorb should be able to learn it too.
Actually, a lot more Pokémon should be able to learn this move. It seems like GameFreak gave up on this attack pretty early into the series, as after Gen IV there have only been 2 new non-Psychic-Type Pokémon to learn this move at all -- Vivillon, which fits into the many other butterfly/moth Pokémon who learn it (all of them except Beautifly, Volcarona, and Frosmoth), and Magearna, who learns every move somewhat related to light because... it's reflective?
Regardless, I'd argue that pretty much every Pokémon with Intimidate or Unnerve should get this attack, as well as any with an association with light. But I suppose, considering it's pretty weak, that Game Freak figured it wasn't worth putting any more thought into its distribution than just sticking it as a mid-range attack on Psychic-Type Pokémon at a fairly low level. From Gen V all the way up to SwSh, every new Pokémon who learns Psybeam via level-up does so between levels 15-21 which, besides being strangely consistent, contrasts massively with Pokémon from older generations who usually learn it between the late 20s and 30s.
The exception to this was Girafarig, who learned it at level 41 in Gen II and 43 in Gen III before Gen IV reduced it to level 19, where it's remained since. I think this trajectory is pretty indicative of Psybeam's trajectory within the series as a whole. 65BP was never amazing
, but it was serviceable if a Pokémon really wanted to use a particular type to attack with. With power creep, 65BP is simply too weak, and so the weaker moves that don't get revamped simply get forgotten about. Why give a new Pokémon Psybeam, even if it fits thematically, when they can gaslight the audience into thinking it makes sense for that Pokémon to use Psychic? I think that's why the distribution of Psybeam seems odd, because it never got fleshed out enough. Looking in a vacuum I think the move's fine as a neat coverage option for Pokémon who use mind games and psych out opponents, but without enough prowess to learn Psychic itself. But with the justifications that are given for these moves, there are many new Pokémon who should also learn it but just skipped to Psychic instead. Volcarona is a key example, as one of 3 moth/butterfly Pokémon not to learn Psybeam, as it does learn Psychic. Blacephalon (lights), Aurorus (lights), Mimikyu (decoy), Alomomola (lights), Chandelure (lights), and Jellicent (illusion like Goldeen) should certainly all learn Psybeam if they can learn Psychic -- which they all can -- but inexplicably they don't. And Minior's in the same boat but... should it learn either Psychic or Psybeam? That one's lost on me.
On the note of moves being lost to powercreep, though, you know that the most recent Pokémon to learn Sludge, another 65BP move, is Garbodor (the sole Gen V Pokémon to learn it)? Comparatively, there are 19 Pokémon introduced in Gen VI or later who learn Sludge
Bomb. Also since Gen V, Sludge and Sludge Bomb have had identical in-game text. Another bomb move -- Mud Bomb -- has been given to Stunfisk, Tympole, and Mudbray since Gen V, and then got cut in SwSh entirely. Mirror Shot suffered a similar fate, being given only to Klefki, Necrozma, and Magearna in Gen VI and VII before being cut in SwSh.
TL;DR We're frankly lucky that Psybeam wasn't cut entirely, too. It's clear that GameFreak don't care about the move any more to give any thought to its distribution, preferring to just use Psychic instead for its new Pokémon, and most of the other moves that were cut fit into the same category. This is primarily why the distribution of Psybeam doesn't make sense looking back -- not because there's no justification at all, but because the justification is handled inconsistently across different generations of Pokémon, undermining its existence in the first place.
#JusticeForPsybeam
Edit: I just remembered the reason why Koffing no longer learns Psywave is because it was cut in SwSh too. So uhhh, #JusticeForPsywave as well, Bronzor sucks in ZU without it.
Bouncy Bubble: 60 power, 100% accuracy
Buzzy Buzz: 60 power, 100% accuracy
Sizzly Slide: 60 power, 100% accuracy
Glitzy Glow: 80 power, 95% accuracy
Baddy Bad: 80 power, 95% accuracy
Sappy Seed: 100 power, 90% accuracy
Freezy Frost: 100 power, 90% accuracy
Sparkly Swirl: 120 power, 85% accuracy
