Pokemon that disappointed you in-game despite looking good initially?

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Side note, but even if Pinsir was part Fighting-type it still wouldn't have been that good in Gen 1 OU. Gen 1 is dominated by Psychic-types and Fighting was considered a very underwhelming type in Gen 1 because it got absolutely mauled by the dominant Psychic-types in the tier, including stuff like Alakazam, Jynx, Slowbro, etc. Pinsir wouldn't have fared any better especially since it lacked Bug STAB so it wouldn't have had a way to bypass them with a super effective Bug move. Part of the reason Dark and Steel were introduced in Gen 2 was not only to nerf Psychic-types, but also to add value to Fighting-type as an offensive type: Dark and Steel were deliberately made weak to Fighting so that the type had more offensive value.

Anyway, onto two Pokemon of my own:

Let's talk about Heracross in the original GSC, continuning on the trend of Bug-types in the earlier generations. I don't know if you guys have ever used one in-game, but let me tell you, this thing is actually pretty unimpressive in the original GSC. First of all is the fact that it's an extraordinarily rare encounter. You only find it in a select few Headbutt trees in the game, and you have to actively search every Headbutt tree you can find in its route locations to find where it is. It's a lot of time to try to find one.

And then when you actually get it...it's not exactly all that rewarding. Despite having immediately good stats, its level-up movepool is hilariously pathetic and it consists almost purely of Normal-type moves like Fury Attack, Horn Attack, etc. It's not exactly a remarkable Pokemon, and while it's kind of strong early on, it's going to quickly fall off. It doesn't do anything against Morty, it's not all that useful against Chuck, and because it has no good Fighting STAB at all for most of the game, it's not going to do well against Jasmine or Pryce despite being a Fighting-type. It lacks good STAB on both of its types until Level 44-ish with Reversal, which is inconsistent and dependent on Heracross having low HP, and Megahorn at Level 54. Heracross before then is basically a Normal-type without STAB, in which case, why not just use Tauros or Miltank at that point. Not to mention Reversal at Level 44 is its only Fighting STAB since it does not learn DynamicPunch whatsoever, let alone Submission, so that's also another issue with it. Granted, it's probably okay against the Kanto gyms since it can use its Bug STAB and Reversal but getting there is an underwhelming experience.

As for another one entirely,

Talonflame in X and Y. It's one of the coolest regional birds so far, and it was well known for how fantastic it was in Gen 6 Smogon OU and across several VGCs even now. But in-game...this thing is honestly not all that great in X and Y. Fletchling isn't technically bad to start, as it's decent early in the game and does well against Viola. But from there, it just starts to fall off. It has no chance against Grant for one, but the entire Fletchinder phase honestly blows. It's insanely frail and is stuck with Ember and Peck as its best STABs for a great deal of the game, which eventually falls off pretty hard until it get Fly mid-game. It struggles against Clemont and even Korrina because her Machoke has Rock Tomb. Another big problem is that it also doesn't do well against the many Fighting-type trainers in-game because almost all of them carry a Rock-type move. I've recounted several instances where I've tried to use it to take down Fighting-types only for Talonflame to get wrecked by a Rock-type move. In general it just does not hit hard enough either, and it's stuck with pretty mediocre STAB (stuff like Ember and Flame Charge for Fire STAB lol) for a great deal of the game until late in the game. As redemption it's pretty decent against Wikstrom, but it also doesn't stand a chance against Siebold and Drasna, plus Diantha has plenty of ways to destroy Talonflame minus her Gourgeist.

(this is *especially* the case if you're using it with EXP Share off, as trying to baby this Pokemon throughout the game was honestly a pain).

 

[R_N]

Side note, but even if Pinsir was part Fighting-type it still wouldn't have been that good in Gen 1 OU. Gen 1 is dominated by Psychic-types and Fighting was considered a very underwhelming type in Gen 1 because it got absolutely mauled by the dominant Psychic-types in the tier, including stuff like Alakazam, Jynx, Slowbro, etc. Pinsir wouldn't have fared any better especially since it lacked Bug STAB so it wouldn't have had a way to bypass them with a super effective Bug move. Part of the reason Dark and Steel were introduced in Gen 2 was not only to nerf Psychic-types, but also to add value to Fighting-type as an offensive type: Dark and Steel were deliberately made weak to Fighting so that the type had more offensive value.

Anyway, onto two Pokemon of my own:

Let's talk about Heracross in the original GSC, continuning on the trend of Bug-types in the earlier generations. I don't know if you guys have ever used one in-game, but let me tell you, this thing is actually pretty unimpressive in the original GSC. First of all is the fact that it's an extraordinarily rare encounter. You only find it in a select few Headbutt trees in the game, and you have to actively search every Headbutt tree you can find in its route locations to find where it is. It's a lot of time to try to find one.

And then when you actually get it...it's not exactly all that rewarding. Despite having immediately good stats, its level-up movepool is hilariously pathetic and it consists almost purely of Normal-type moves like Fury Attack, Horn Attack, etc. It's not exactly a remarkable Pokemon, and while it's kind of strong early on, it's going to quickly fall off. It doesn't do anything against Morty, it's not all that useful against Chuck, and because it has no good Fighting STAB at all for most of the game, it's not going to do well against Jasmine or Pryce despite being a Fighting-type. It lacks good STAB on both of its types until Level 44-ish with Reversal, which is inconsistent and dependent on Heracross having low HP, and Megahorn at Level 54. Heracross before then is basically a Normal-type without STAB, in which case, why not just use Tauros or Miltank at that point. Not to mention Reversal at Level 44 is its only Fighting STAB since it does not learn DynamicPunch whatsoever, let alone Submission, so that's also another issue with it. Granted, it's probably okay against the Kanto gyms since it can use its Bug STAB and Reversal but getting there is an underwhelming experience.

Strictly speaking, it does have one other fighting stab



Rock Smash


Which is 20 BP in this generation

 

[Plague von Karma]

Side note, but even if Pinsir was part Fighting-type it still wouldn't have been that good in Gen 1 OU. Gen 1 is dominated by Psychic-types and Fighting was considered a very underwhelming type in Gen 1 because it got absolutely mauled by the dominant Psychic-types in the tier, including stuff like Alakazam, Jynx, Slowbro, etc. Pinsir wouldn't have fared any better especially since it lacked Bug STAB so it wouldn't have had a way to bypass them with a super effective Bug move. Part of the reason Dark and Steel were introduced in Gen 2 was not only to nerf Psychic-types, but also to add value to Fighting-type as an offensive type: Dark and Steel were deliberately made weak to Fighting so that the type had more offensive value.

I never said "good", I said "has a shot". If it were OU, it would be somewhere along the lines of Victreebel, who isn't exactly in the best place. It absolutely would be mauled by Psychic-types, and chances are it would heavily rely on the opposing team being paralyzed. Which, in OU, is kind of an inevitability sometimes. If Pinsir is paralyzed even now, becomes very noticeably weaker; its Speed is among its best traits.

Also, I literally said it has no Bug STAB and acknowledge it has other issues? Hell, I could talk about them if you want me to. Pinsir has piss poor Special bulk, only has 65/55. This makes Pokemon like Starmie gigantic threats who will frequently lambast teams with its two moves of choice. There's also the matter of Reflect, which effectively nullifies a Swords Dance boost, thereby making Chansey and Snorlax have better ways of dealing with it.

I'm not sure why things I've already mentioned are being bought up alongside the Dark and Steel-types here. Like yeah, Psychic was broken and these types are both weak to Fighting. This did in fact make it more worthwhile to carry, but in RBY in a vacuum, it was already good. It hits Rhydon, Lapras and the big 3 Normal-types. It just didn't have good abusers or move distribution, with many being forced to use the inconsistent Submission. I am fully aware of the type's issues.

 

[Sonikku A]

I'm not sure why things I've already mentioned are being bought up alongside the Dark and Steel-types here. Like yeah, Psychic was broken and these types are both weak to Fighting. This did in fact make it more worthwhile to carry, but in RBY in a vacuum, it was already good. It hits Rhydon, Lapras and the big 3 Normal-types. It just didn't have good abusers or move distribution, with many being forced to use the inconsistent Submission. I am fully aware of the type's issues.

It also ironically made Bug more irrelevant, despie Dark being weak to it

 

[Plague von Karma]

It also ironically made Bug more irrelevant, despie Dark being weak to it

From a viability standpoint, I can get that. Steel-types ended up having a significant chokehold over the offensive metagame, while Dark-types were a bit less common for a hot minute. That would be chalked up to the poor distribution of Dark-types at first, while Steel-types had the ever-present Skarmory, Forretress and Steelix right out the gate, setting the tone for the future. Hell, Scizor and Magneton, the other two, would become great later on. On the other hand, there were only 4 evolved Dark-types: the incredible Tyranitar, Umbreon, Houndoom and...Sneasel, who makes me cry myself to sleep every night. Houndoom takes neutral from Bug too, which further reduces the initial impact Dark's addition to the type pool had. It really wasn't a big change.

 

[Nokocchi]

On the other hand, there were only 4 evolved Dark-types: the incredible Tyranitar, Umbreon, Houndoom and...Sneasel, who makes me cry myself to sleep every night. Houndoom takes neutral from Bug too, which further reduces the initial impact Dark's addition to the type pool had. It really wasn't a big change.

You forgot Murkrow, who also was neutral to Bug

 

[Plague von Karma]

Threw a dart at my board and it's time to riff on Parasect.

All I can say here is...why? Parasect is easily one of the worst fully evolved Pokemon of all time, which is a shame as the concept is amazing. I can sort of understand it; it's a half-dead bug kept alive almost solely by the fungus on its back...but why? Why are its stats that bad, and why does it have to have that typing? I have only seen Parasect have like...4 decent moments in my entire time playing Pokemon.

In my opinion, Parasect was a missed opportunity for a Bug/Ghost type. This would have actually been pretty damn good, switching in on Normal-types to threaten with Spore while having a significantly better typing. But no, it's Bug/Grass, and because of being slow, it'll choke on air if you look at it in the wrong way. Hell, it may even spontaneously combust if you get too close.

The worst part is, Parasect's movepool isn't even that bad, even in RBY. Slash, Spore, Stun Spore, Swords Dance, Body Slam...it's legit set up for success. By RBY standards its Attack is also not the worst. 80 Special is...passable, I suppose. You have multiple possible sets by virtue of Slash and Swords Dance being interchangeable, and then a few small options available. If it wasn't slower than the thought process of a low ladder OU Hyper Offense player, it would probably be ok.

Even in later generations, Parasect gains more and more super cool qualities. It's got Dry Skin to add a Water immunity, Knock Off recovery in Synthesis, and doubles tech in Wide Guard and Rage Powder. It even has surprisingly good coverage. However, because it somehow has arguably the worst typing in the game and the same Speed as Magcargo, it will rarely get a chance to use it. This thing is outsped by fucking Rhydon, dude. Rhydon! And then it dies because it tripped over a pebble! This Pokemon is the very meaning of slow and frail. God.

 

[Magcargo]

Threw a dart at my board and it's time to riff on Parasect.

All I can say here is...why? Parasect is easily one of the worst fully evolved Pokemon of all time, which is a shame as the concept is amazing. I can sort of understand it; it's a half-dead bug kept alive almost solely by the fungus on its back...but why? Why are its stats that bad, and why does it have to have that typing? I have only seen Parasect have like...4 decent moments in my entire time playing Pokemon.

In my opinion, Parasect was a missed opportunity for a Bug/Ghost type. This would have actually been pretty damn good, switching in on Normal-types to threaten with Spore while having a significantly better typing. But no, it's Bug/Grass, and because of being slow, it'll choke on air if you look at it in the wrong way. Hell, it may even spontaneously combust if you get too close.

The worst part is, Parasect's movepool isn't even that bad, even in RBY. Slash, Spore, Stun Spore, Swords Dance, Body Slam...it's legit set up for success. By RBY standards its Attack is also not the worst. 80 Special is...passable, I suppose. You have multiple possible sets by virtue of Slash and Swords Dance being interchangeable, and then a few small options available. If it wasn't slower than the thought process of a low ladder OU Hyper Offense player, it would probably be ok.

Even in later generations, Parasect gains more and more super cool qualities. It's got Dry Skin to add a Water immunity, Knock Off recovery in Synthesis, and doubles tech in Wide Guard and Rage Powder. It even has surprisingly good coverage. However, because it somehow has arguably the worst typing in the game and the same Speed as Magcargo, it will rarely get a chance to use it. This thing is outsped by fucking Rhydon, dude. Rhydon! And then it dies because it tripped over a pebble! This Pokemon is the very meaning of slow and frail. God.

To add insult to injury, its also the only Pokemon that has ever had a 3 4x weaknesses in Gen 1 since poison was super effective against Bug back then. Granted, its weakness to Flying and Posion didn't really matter since almost every Poison and Flying move was trash, but it just goes to show how unfortunate of a hand Parasect was dealt.

While Parasect was mostly bad throughout the generations, it could be a fun option on rain teams in Gen 5 OU. Dry Skin + Leftovers + Leech Seed recovered an absurd amount of health and it could switch into Keldeo & Breloom's STABs. It was still mostly outclassed by other mons like Breloom and Amoongus, but it wasn't entirely useless like it normally is.

 

[Cobalt Empoleon]

I think Parasect was designed around the Bug/Grass typing and its stats make sense for what it is. These two factors basically doomed it, but that was an inevitable result of all the external factors that determined what the most useful typings and stat distributions would be. Parasect has unique tools that can make it fun (if frustrating at times) to use in-game, so I don’t mind that it’s not very good overall.

For the purpose of Pokémon types, fungi are lumped together with plants under the very broad concept of Grass-types. It’s weird but it suits a layperson’s intuition about what mushrooms are. Thus, the Grass-type represents the fungus and the Bug-type represents the bug. Assigning the Ghost-typing only makes sense if you think Parasect is just the bug rather than the bug/fungus combo, because the combo is undoubtedly alive.

I feel like a Bug/Ghost typing would ignore the fungus, with one type representing the bug and the other representing the ‘deadness’ of the bug.

 

[Plague von Karma]

You're gifted with Wrap, the ability to paralyze Ground-types without Body Slam, QuakeSlide coverage and the potential to run multiple movesets. What could go wrong?

A lot, actually.

Arbok had the potential to be a really, really good Pokemon. Glare is an incredible move, and the buffs it's received over the years have only solidified this. Its movepool set it up for success, with Normal/Ground coverage hitting everything but uh...Aerodactyl, I think? The issue? Arbok fucking sucks.

The Poison-type, as everyone knows, wasn't good until Gen 6, and by then, it was already too late for Arbok. In Gen 1, where it's among the worst types of all time, Psychic is omnipresent and Arbok lacks the stats to make up for it, or even take a single Psychic attack. Arbok's Wrap in Gen 1 dealt like 3% per hit due to a lack of STAB and mediocre Attack at best. As a result, it took ages to cheese something. To make matters worse, unlike Weezing and Muk, who at least had Sludge as STAB, Arbok had Acid, which it learns at a ridiculously high level. It's not even worth it.

It's a shame too, as in later generations, literally everything has gone right for it. Intimidate, an Attack buff in Gen 6/7, Gunk Shot became a move, hell it got Coil. But none of it matters, because Arbok got destroyed in the stat department. Not one stat is above 100. It's a shame it couldn't have kept its decent SpA in Gen 2's beta, as it looked like it could have pulled it off. But nope, Arbok has to have ass stats. They gave Charizard a second Mega, and also have Megas to pseudo-legendaries who clearly didn't need them. But not Arbok, a cornerstone of old Pokemon media with tons of design depth? Is it just forgotten? It could have been some sick Poison/Dark type or something!

And to think this is one of my favourite Pokemon, man...

 

[Sonikku A]

Dang, he's worse than Golduck stats wise
Let's talk about more recent gens
Basculin (more specifically Blue striped because, rock head)

Main game it's surprisingly easy to find, with a terrific ability to nullify recoil. Moveset wise its a bit iffy for coverage, but for early game it's OK
The problem? Similar to Arbok and Golduck, none of its stats are over 100. For speed this is drastically mediocre for OU, as its defenses and hp are low as, learned moveset doesn't get GOOD until post 40s, and mono typing means the poor coverage is even more hampered
Comp wise due to low move coverage it's pretty predictable. But dang, none recoil Head Smash is cool
Weirdly Smogon has no recommended moveset for it, despite Red Stripe having it
I guess this is more "it's disappointing no one really wants to use it" despite some decent qualities

 

[MegaFlareon]

Whenever I see Basculin, I see a Pokemon that looks REALLY good on paper. Killer design, useful typing, three great abilities, a movepool that synergizes well with its abilities, it feels like it has everything going for it. But yeah, other factors come to bite it as well: mainly stats, the fact that it can have only one of its three abilities, and competition with the very common and good Water-types.

 

[Skore]

90% of these posts just boil down to "needs another 40 BST injected somewhere". Basculin, Arbok, Parasect being the examples just on this page.

Dunno, will never happen; but we would have the most intricate meta ever if GF ever sat down and re-thought the BST of most mons in conjuction with their move pool.

 

[DrumstickGaming]

Whoa whoa whoa, Basculin is great in-game.

Adaptability Aqua Tail / Waterfall makes it hilarious to use.

Sure, it’s not an amazing Water in a vacuum, but I’d take it over the crappy Seismitoad and Swanna any day of the week. Too bad Basculin’s Adaptability availability sucks, but aside from that it served me just fine in BW1, it’s like Simipour with mono Water on steroids.

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Weirdly Smogon has no recommended moveset for it, despite Red Stripe having it
I guess this is more "it's disappointing no one really wants to use it" despite some decent qualities

It's more that Red and Blue Striped Basculin are treated as fundamentally the same Pokemon for tiering and usage purposes as well as movesets. The difference between them is minimal at best and in both cases you almost always want the shared ability between them (Adaptability) as its niche regardless of which form you are using is as an Adaptability nuke hitting with 2x Power Water moves. So even though they have different dex pages they only bother to upload to one of them since the ideal movesets for Basculin are identical regardless of form so anything that the Red Stripe does also applies to the Blue Stripe Basculin. Rock Head and Reckless is the only real difference between them, and that's more akin to the same Pokemon having three different abilities to have (four if you count their shared Hidden Ability) rather than the two forms being different Pokemon. So the movesets on Smogon for Basculin are not actually "specifically for Red Striped" but for Basculin as a whole, whether it's Red or Blue Striped.

Toxtricity is a similar case in that it is also more or less tiered with both of its forms together since there's little difference between them to warrant separating them in the tiers and in terms of moveset. Granted, there has been a bit of discussion about these recently in Policy Review but nothing really significant to warrant any change. (Granted, only the Amped one can use Shift Gear and only the Low Key can use Magnetic Flux, but whether that's a significant difference is arguably debatable).

 

[Pikachu315111]

Dunno, will never happen; but we would have the most intricate meta ever if GF ever sat down and re-thought the BST of most mons in conjuction with their move pool.

Every Gen GF has been giving Pokemon a small stat increase boost here and there, so I wouldn't say it'll never happen (though it may not get the big push we all want to see these Pokemon get).

Whoa whoa whoa, Basculin is great in-game.

I think that's what we're all saying just in different ways. It's good main game, but take it into any competitive scene and, well, I hope you like fried bass.

 

[Deleted User 465389]

Threw a dart at my board and it's time to riff on Parasect.

All I can say here is...why? Parasect is easily one of the worst fully evolved Pokemon of all time, which is a shame as the concept is amazing. I can sort of understand it; it's a half-dead bug kept alive almost solely by the fungus on its back...but why? Why are its stats that bad, and why does it have to have that typing? I have only seen Parasect have like...4 decent moments in my entire time playing Pokemon.

In my opinion, Parasect was a missed opportunity for a Bug/Ghost type. This would have actually been pretty damn good, switching in on Normal-types to threaten with Spore while having a significantly better typing. But no, it's Bug/Grass, and because of being slow, it'll choke on air if you look at it in the wrong way. Hell, it may even spontaneously combust if you get too close.

The worst part is, Parasect's movepool isn't even that bad, even in RBY. Slash, Spore, Stun Spore, Swords Dance, Body Slam...it's legit set up for success. By RBY standards its Attack is also not the worst. 80 Special is...passable, I suppose. You have multiple possible sets by virtue of Slash and Swords Dance being interchangeable, and then a few small options available. If it wasn't slower than the thought process of a low ladder OU Hyper Offense player, it would probably be ok.

Even in later generations, Parasect gains more and more super cool qualities. It's got Dry Skin to add a Water immunity, Knock Off recovery in Synthesis, and doubles tech in Wide Guard and Rage Powder. It even has surprisingly good coverage. However, because it somehow has arguably the worst typing in the game and the same Speed as Magcargo, it will rarely get a chance to use it. This thing is outsped by fucking Rhydon, dude. Rhydon! And then it dies because it tripped over a pebble! This Pokemon is the very meaning of slow and frail. God.

*checks primal groudons matchup vs parasect
+6 252+ Atk Groudon-Primal Helping Hand Fire Punch vs. 0 HP / 0- Def Dry Skin Parasect in Harsh Sunshine: 10384-12220 (3978.5 - 4681.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
......well

 

[DrumstickGaming]

I think that's what we're all saying just in different ways. It's good main game, but take it into any competitive scene and, well, I hope you like fried bass.

Yeah it sucks competitively, won't deny that. But in-game I think Basculin is better than it looks if you give it a chance. I just think the last-minute-inclusion trivia and their design not doing anything particularly interesting causes some people to ignore it. Doesn't help it's best gotten after you have Surf already, either.

 

[Ironmage]

*checks primal groudons matchup vs parasect
+6 252+ Atk Groudon-Primal Helping Hand Fire Punch vs. 0 HP / 0- Def Dry Skin Parasect in Harsh Sunshine: 10384-12220 (3978.5 - 4681.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
......well

Seems a little low, might want to use Tar Shot first.

 

[R_N]

Yeah it sucks competitively, won't deny that. But in-game I think Basculin is better than it looks if you give it a chance. I just think the last-minute-inclusion trivia and their design not doing anything particularly interesting causes some people to ignore it. Doesn't help it's best gotten after you have Surf already, either.

You can get Basculin by trade in Driftveil, for what it's worth. That's actually a fair amount of time before you get surf (gotta beat the gym, the route after, chargestone, the route after that, the tower, skyla then head to twist mountain to get surf iirc)

 

[CoolMan6001]

(gotta beat the gym, the route after, chargestone, the route after that, the tower, skyla then head to twist mountain to get surf iirc)

It must stink to be Axew, considering the very next gym you use it at is an Ice-Type gym... (Granted Victory Road still has a Fraxure encounter for what that's worth)

EDIT: For context, Axew is first found in a cave that requires Surf to acess.

 

[Pikachu315111]

You can get Basculin by trade in Driftveil, for what it's worth. That's actually a fair amount of time before you get surf (gotta beat the gym, the route after, chargestone, the route after that, the tower, skyla then head to twist mountain to get surf iirc)

I recalled there being a trade due to a little mistake:

In BW, both Basculin have the Abilities Reckless & Adaptability (and Hidden Ability Mold Breaker). Now in Black the trade gives you a Red-Striped with Reckless, but in White it gives you a Blue-Striped with Rock Head (the Pokedex 3D also listed both their Abilities as Reckless & Adaptability). Not quite sure how that happened, but in B2W2 they attmped to correct their mistake by making Blue-Striped have Rock Head as one of their standard Abilities instead of Reckless which was made exclusive to Re-Striped. However, Blue-Striped bred in B2W2 would still only hatch with either Reckless of Adaptability, only wild caught Blue-Striped could have Rock Head (The Pokedex 3D Pro though now mentions the difference in Abilities). However if you think you can transfer up your Reckless Blue-Striped Basculin up, think again: Pokemon Bank will correct any Blue-Basculin with Reckless to being Rock Head. But for a short while Blue-Striped Basculin was the only Pokemon that could have four Abilities.

 

[DrumstickGaming]

You can get Basculin by trade in Driftveil, for what it's worth. That's actually a fair amount of time before you get surf (gotta beat the gym, the route after, chargestone, the route after that, the tower, skyla then head to twist mountain to get surf iirc)

Yes but like the post above alludes to, it doesn’t have Adaptability.

 

[mertyville]

Unova has a lot of surprisingly good Pokemon to use. Usually ones I didn't expect to perform like anything worth such as Pidove were really useless, but then you have Patrat which can learn Crunch and Hypnosis (and Return in BW2 very early). Even Pokemon that evolve very late such as Dakurama do a good job carrying you through the game. Surely I won't grind for Hydreigon to fight N.

So I thought were there any Pokemon that disappointed me? Well, here is Litwick from Black and White

I was excited to use this cute candle. It's the first Ghost/Fire type and the first 3 state non-Starter Fire Type not counting Magmar. Sadly this thing is very weak. You will have to grind it with an EXP-Share and despite just needing around 10 levels once I caught it, it took a long while to get to 41.
Your best move is flame burst and hex. Shadow Ball and Flamethrower you have to grind for or wait post game. Fire Blast is very prices and I guess it's worth once you reached that point.
Once it evolved, it was still to slow to do anything of worth.
From here on I don't recall what I did, but your options are clear:
- Evolve it with Dusk Stone for more power and speed but trade off some neat lv up moves
- grind for Shadow Ball at lv53 or Overheat lv69 but still be outspeed by quiet a few things. I think my poor Lampent was always 2HKOed by something.

 

[Ironmage]

Unova has a lot of surprisingly good Pokemon to use. Usually ones I didn't expect to perform like anything worth such as Pidove were really useless, but then you have Patrat which can learn Crunch and Hypnosis (and Return in BW2 very early). Even Pokemon that evolve very late such as Dakurama do a good job carrying you through the game. Surely I won't grind for Hydreigon to fight N.

So I thought were there any Pokemon that disappointed me? Well, here is Litwick from Black and White
View attachment 279919
I was excited to use this cute candle. It's the first Ghost/Fire type and the first 3 state non-Starter Fire Type not counting Magmar. Sadly this thing is very weak. You will have to grind it with an EXP-Share and despite just needing around 10 levels once I caught it, it took a long while to get to 41.
Your best move is flame burst and hex. Shadow Ball and Flamethrower you have to grind for or wait post game. Fire Blast is very prices and I guess it's worth once you reached that point.
Once it evolved, it was still to slow to do anything of worth.
From here on I don't recall what I did, but your options are clear:
- Evolve it with Dusk Stone for more power and speed but trade off some neat lv up moves
- grind for Shadow Ball at lv53 or Overheat lv69 but still be outspeed by quiet a few things. I think my poor Lampent was always 2HKOed by something.

This is very different from my experience with the line in my first playthrough. I got easy Exp off of the ice gym immidiately after you can catch it, and had shadow ball by the time I figured out I needed a dusk stone. I always rushed TM purchases so I had no problem with fire blast and flame burst didn't feel inadequate either (I kept it as a higher-PP move for the rest of ingame). Chandelure absolutely teared through the E4, and my biggest regret was swapping it for reshiram because I didn't know I was getting healed against N.