Into the Trash Heap: The Most Overrated RU Pokémon
| « Previous Article | Home | Next Article » |
Introduction
RU is a versatile tier filled with all kinds of hidden gems that can be effective when used well. Ladder and tournament players alike take advantage of this, often attempting to use underrated Pokémon to their fullest to try and get the jump on the opponent. But while there are definitely a lot of underrated threats, there are always some that are just the opposite: incredibly overrated and simply ineffective Pokémon that continue to get use despite being mediocre. Some of these Pokémon are merely outclassed, technically being viable, but are overshadowed so badly by something that's better overall that there's little reason to use them. Others look good at first, but have some crippling flaws that prevent them from being as effective, and others still are simply bad to the bone. This article is a countdown of the absolute worst of the worst; Pokémon you should only be using under rare circumstances, if at all. We'll explain just how ineffective they are, why they're ineffective, and if possible suggest some Pokémon that are simply better options. Thus, we finally dive into the trash heap, and start off our countdown at #5!
#5
Jellicent
Coming in at #5 on this list is Jellicent. A few newer players might be confused as to why it's listed here, because on paper Jellicent honestly looks pretty good: It's very very bulky, has a solid support movepool and typing, and has access to reliable recovery in the form of well, Recover. Jellicent's mediocrity doesn't come from its actual effectiveness, though, it comes from competition for a teamslot. When it all comes down to it, Jellicent receives a massive amount of competition from Slowking, which has a very similar stat spread and typing, but also has a much better Special Attack stat, arguably better coverage options, and one of the best abilities in the game in Regenerator tacked onto that as well, leaving Jellicent in the dust. Of course Jellicent still does have some small advantages over Slowking that give it some use in niche roles, such as access to a (slow) Taunt, a more reliable method of burning opponents than Scald in the form of Will-O-Wisp, and a Bug-type resistance instead of a weakness (note: every relevant Normal-type in RU either has access to Knock Off or the ability Scrappy, making the immunity to Normal-type moves mostly moot; the same goes for Rapid Spinners). But if your specific team doesn't need any of these small goodies to work effectively, there's no real reason to use this jellyfish over Slowking, which is why it reaches #5 on our countdown.
#4
Tyrantrum
The "coveted" #4 spot belongs to Tyrantrum. Tyrantrum is a special case, as unlike the other Pokémon on this list nothing in RU outclasses it per se, it's just that what Tyrantrum does do will often leave you extremely underwhelmed. On paper Tyrantrum actually looks promising. It has a great base 121 Attack, 119 base Defense and is the only Dragon-type Pokémon in RU to have access to Dragon Dance. Unfortunately being good on paper doesn't always convert to being good in practice, and its poor special bulk, mediocre defensive typing, and poor matchup against some of the most common RU Pokémon, such as Rhyperior, Doublade, Cobalion, Hitmonlee, Hitmontop, and Alomomola, will often make it difficult to set up and have a significant impact on battles. Overall the metagame just isn't kind to Tyrantrum at the moment and that's the reason why it finds itself #4 on the list. Maybe it'll be better once its hidden ability Rock Head is released.
#3
Ambipom
Despite consistently being in the top 5 most used Pokémon in unweighted usage stats, Ambipom is an almost worthless addition to an RU team. While STAB Technician-boosted Fake Out makes it appealing to newer players, its counters are some of the most common Pokémon in RU. Most good offensive teams in RU feature either Doublade or Rhyperior, both of which laugh at Fake Out and can switch into Ambipom essentially for free, completely handing the momentum of Ambipom's team into the hands of the other player. As badly as it performs against offensive teams, it fairs even worse against defensive ones, as it is completely and utterly walled by staples of RU stall such as Alomomola and Registeel. If you're looking for a fast Normal-type, Cincinno is a far better option. While it lacks Fake Out, Fake Out is a rather useless move in RU anyway, and it makes up for it in having a much stronger STAB move in Tail Slap, Bullet Seed to hit Rhyperior, and is incredibly cute, unlike Ambipom. While it might seem odd that with all of these flaws Ambipom is only #3 on our countdown, Ambipom at the very least isn't 100% eclipsed by several other Pokémon or completely unable to do its one and only job, unlike the atrocities at #2 and #1.
#2
Hitmonchan
The #2 spot on our countdown goes to Hitmonchan. While Hitmonchan isn't all that great of a Pokémon to begin with, its biggest flaw is that it is hopelessly outclassed in everything that it can do. The main reason for this is its inability to learn Knock Off, which means that it is hard walled by the most common spinblocker (and Pokémon in general) in RU, Doublade. This means that it is awful at removing entry hazards because any team that runs Doublade (read: the ones that are the most likely to use a lot of hazards) can completely prevent Hitmonchan from spinning at all. If a team desperately needs hazards to be off the field in order to succeed, relying on Hitmonchan to remove them is one of the fastest ways to ensure that it doesn't. At this point you may be thinking "Okay, so Hitmonchan isn't good at removing hazards, but it is still good as a bulky Fighting-type, right?". However, this is not the case.
As if it weren't outclassed enough at Rapid Spinning, Hitmonchan is horrifically outclassed by another Pokémon: Gurdurr. Gurdurr has many advantages over Hitmonchan, but none are more important than its ability to learn Knock Off. This one move lets Fighting-types go from being hopelessly walled by the most common and one of the most important Pokémon in the tier to being able to beat it with relative ease. Gurdurr is also bulkier than Hitmonchan, especially physically, thanks to its much higher defensive stats and ability to hold Eviolite. Gurdurr can also make for a good status absorber thanks to Guts, while Hitmonchan is crippled by burn and does not like other types of status either.
Even outside of Gurdurr, there are still Pokémon that outdo Hitmonchan completely. Hitmontop is a better bulky Fighting-type thanks to Intimidate, and it is a better spinner too because it can find the room to run Foresight, unlike Hitmonchan. Hitmonlee is better if you want an offensive Fighting-type, as thanks to Knock Off, it can bypass spinblockers, while its access to Reckless High Jump Kick means that it hits much, much harder than Hitmonchan overall. If you want a Fighting-type Assault Vest user, then Gallade is much bulkier and has access to Knock Off. In short, Hitmonchan is not only bad at what it does but is also hopelessly outclassed by every other Fighting-type in the tier. There is literally zero reason to ever use Hitmonchan in the RU tier, and doing so will bring you nothing but scorn, ridicule, and immense disappointment.
Huh? There's More?
So, we're finally there, we're finally ready to talk about what's #1 on this countdown of mediocrity. Some of you might be thinking "you must have counted wrong!", "There's nothing that can possibly be worse than Hitmonchan in RU!" But whether you want to believe it or not, there's one thing that achieves this, one abomination that has consistently proven itself to be so horrifyingly bad, that even Hitmonchan shamelessly laughs in its face. After diving through this immense trash heap, we're finally ready to scrape the bottom of the dumpster. The #1 Pokémon on this countdown is.......
#1
Claydol
Ugh, where do I even start. At first, it might not look that bad to some of you: access to Stealth Rock and Rapid Spin with a resistance to all entry hazards has to count for something right? But when you take a closer look at Claydol itself and the metagame around it, it quickly becomes undeniable that this thing is garbage to the core. Rapid Spin might seem appealing at first, but Claydol's lack of offensive presence stops it from getting around 90% of spinblockers effectively, making it very hard to get a Rapid Spin off when you really need to. This same lack of offensive presence makes it incredibly easy to take advantage of Claydol, and most Pokémon that aren't weak to Earth Power can easily set up on it, meaning the Claydol user still ends up in a bad position regardless.
At this point you might be thinking "alright, so its offenses suck, big whoop, look at those awesome defenses," but let me tell you, those defenses are deceptive, and Claydol actually has trouble walling much of anything. In fact, it struggles to take hits from most of the tier. This is all thanks to its poor typing, which grants Claydol weaknesses to Water-, Ice-, Grass- , Ghost-, Bug-, and Dark-type moves, all of which are common offensive types in the RU metagame. This doesn't just make it annoyingly hard to switch Claydol in to attempt to pull off a Rapid Spin in the first place, but also means that even if Claydol somehow gets past an opposing Ghost-type, it's quite easy to simply force it out anyway just by switching in a Pokémon with one of these moves, delaying the Rapid Spin even further. It's like wearing a "kick me" sign in the middle of a karate class: not a good situation. Usually by the time Claydol gets an opportunity to Rapid Spin (if it gets an opportunity at all), it is quite late in the game, and by that point the entry hazards it's been trying to remove all game have already done their job, and because of the nature of Rapid Spin and Claydol's lack of offensive presence, it probably granted the Claydol user's opponent a free turn in the process.
To top it all off, Claydol isn't just bad at doing its job, but it's also outclassed as a whole. Gligar can do pretty much everything Claydol can do effectively, except its entry hazard removal can't be blocked, it's way bulkier, it has a better typing, and it has access to reliable recovery in the form of Roost along with other goodies such as U-turn and Knock Off to stay alive throughout the game and further support its team, respectively. Even Sandslash makes Claydol look like a joke, using its actual offensive presence and ability to use Knock Off to get past pretty much every relevant Ghost-type Pokémon with ease, leaving Claydol in the dust.
Conclusion
So to sum it all up, Claydol is an unfortunate case. It has a complete lack of offensive presence of any kind that makes it hard for it to do its job and often grants its opponents free turns, its otherwise solid defensive stats are completely hampered by a terrible defensive typing, and to to make matters worse, it's not even unique in its role, and at least two other Pokémon can do what Claydol does, but oh so much better. The combination of all of these factors is what makes Claydol so poor in this metagame, and is what lands it the #1 spot on our countdown.
| « Previous Article | Home | Next Article » |