Competitive Pokemon History A-K Trivia

1. Amoonguss had a rough start to the fifth generation, but upon the release of "Black and White 2" it gained a new ability that helped it greatly. What ability did it gain here?

From Quiz Competitive Pokémon History - Amoonguss

Answer: Regenerator

Regenerator allows the user to recover 33% of its max HP anytime it switches out. This did wonders reducing Amoonguss' passivity, reducing the need for it to use up turns healing itself and instead allowing it to pressure the opponent more commonly. It also gave it good value as a pivot, letting it switch into threats and passively healing most, if not all of the damage taken in the process.

From Quiz Competitive Pokémon History - Bisharp

Answer: 125

125 with access to Swords Dance can make Bisharp very threatening against defensive teams- its Steel typing grants it an immunity to Toxic, which can also make it hard for stall teams to immediately threaten it. As a result, it became a deadly threat in UU off the strength of this stat.

From Quiz Competitive Pokémon History - Kyurem B & W

Answer: 170

At 170, both forms were terrifying for defensive teams to tackle. Kyurem-B could easily overwhelm Skarmory and other physical walls, and while Kyurem-W could have some trouble with Chansey, Chansey has to stay in virtually perfect health to deal with it consistently, and anything else trying to deal with Kyurem-W defensively will get annihilated.

From Quiz Competitive Pokémon History - Kyurem

Answer: UnderUsed's banned list

In standard play, Kyurem was completely outmatched and was basically never worth the team slot. It was outgunned as a wallbreaker, its typing and bulk weren't good enough for any sort of defensive role, and as a stallbreaker, it cannot break through Chansey or Blissey whatsoever. As a result, Kyurem was a hopeless, terrible Pokémon who never saw any appreciable use. In UU, Kyurem was overwhelming to the max. The only check it had was Blissey, and teams without Blissey crumpled to it. This blatant overcentralization made it an easy ban candidate.

From Quiz Competitive Pokémon History - Keldeo

Answer: 129

Much like Terrakion, this allowed Keldeo to be quite the menace to bulky teams. It was well complemented by its good base 108 Speed, enabling it to outrun prominent faces such as Garchomp, Salamence and Volcarona.

From Quiz Competitive Pokémon History - Drifblim

Answer: Aftermath

Aftermath makes it so that if Drifblim is KOed by a move which makes physical contact with it, the user of that move loses 1/4th of their maximum HP as Drifblim goes down. This could allow Drifblim to punish priority users who sought to cut off its sweep, as it could often do enough damage to them to potentially take them down with it.

From Quiz Competitive Pokémon History - Heracross

Answer: Simply deals a ton of damage

With a massive 120 base power, Megahorn has never needed a secondary effect to put in some good work, even with its iffy 85% accuracy. Off the strength of Heracross' meaty attack stat, and it was pretty simple to see how best to use it- bring Heracross into play, and click this move unless you have an incredibly good reason not to, such as if predicting a Skarmory switch in or something like that.

From Quiz Competitive Pokémon History - Arceus-Steel

Answer: Twelve

None of the selection of Bug, Dark, Dragon, Flying, Ghost, Grass, Ice, Normal, Psychic, Rock or Steel itself would do appreciable damage to Arceus-Steel due to its impressive bulk and resistances to all of them. Additionally, Poison would do absolutely nothing to it, as Steel is immune to Poison. This gave Arceus-Steel plenty of leeway to switch into targets and begin to do its job.

From Quiz Competitive Pokémon History - Arceus-Poison

Answer: Five

Rock, Ground, Ghost, and Poison itself resisted Poison, while Steel was completely immune to it. Steel types in particular were very common in Ubers, but the other four types all had prominent representatives as well. This meant that Arceus-Poison had a very difficult time building up offensive momentum, and it was generally quite offensively deficient without copious amounts of time afforded to it to boost with Calm Mind or Swords Dance.

From Quiz Competitive Pokemon History - Arceus-Ground

Answer: Boost its Special Attack

Out of every Ground type in the game, none of them had access to Nasty Plot or Tail Glow and only Claydol and Arceus-Ground had access to Calm Mind. While seemingly overspecific, the Ground type has historically been one of the most potent offensive typings, predominantly physically offensive, so defensive teams seeking to keep it at bay would frequently use physically defensive countermeasures. Thus, Arceus-Ground could exploit this dynamic and become an effective Calm Mind sweeper in the fourth generation era of Ubers.

From Quiz Competitive Pokemon History - Arceus-Fighting

Answer: Stall teams

On paper, most offensive Arceus formes tend to fit faster playstyles better, so Arceus-Fighting would seem to follow suit. However, it has a lot of unique qualities that make it highly appreciable on stall teams. Chief among them would be its excellent matchup against a lot of scary stallbreaking threats. The list includes Darkrai, Dialga, Arceus-Dark, Tyranitar and Heatran. The second notable quality is its resistance to Stealth Rock, easing the need to keep entry hazards off the field at all times. Finally, Arceus-Fighting made for a great win condition for stall teams. As these teams passively wore the opponent down, Arceus-Fighting could come in, boost with Calm Mind once or twice, and finish the game for them. This unique and highly valuable set of niches made Arceus-Fighting a good Pokémon in fourth generation Ubers.

From Quiz Competitive Pokemon History - Giratina-O

Answer: Compatability issues with the game itself

Giratina-O was a newcomer to the fourth generation when "Pokémon Platinum" released. Unfortunately, "Pokémon Pearl" and "Pokémon Diamond" came out well before Platinum did. In Pearl and Diamond, Giratina-O simply does not exist. Only Giratina's Altered forme exists in those games. Rather than ban Pearl and Diamond players, the majority of online competitions opted to instead ban Giratina-O, as to afford more accessibility to the playerbase. Fortunately, in offline link battles, Giratina-O can be used and function even against a Pearl or Diamond player, so this did not hinder its status during in-person tournaments.

From Quiz Competitive Pokemon History - Dusknoir

Answer: 130

With 130/130 defenses, Dusclops was respectfully tanky if it heavily invested in its bulk. Sadly, this was thoroughly undermined by its pathetic Base 40 HP, which made its overall uninvested bulk out to be akin to that of Onix, rather than bulky behemoths like Lugia.

From Quiz Competitive Pokemon History - Giratina-A

Answer: Spin-blocker

At the time, entry hazards like Stealth Rock or Spikes could only be removed with Rapid Spin. Ghost types block Rapid Spin, or "spin-block" which gives the typing n inherent defensive niche even on the frailest of Ghosts. As easily the bulkiest Ghost in all of franchise history, this meant that entry hazards basically were never removed if one had a healthy Giratina-A on their party. Forretress and Starmie had zero chance of ever prevailing in removing hazards from their side against Giratina-A, as it was so absurdly bulky that they could do nothing but flail at it while it slowly whittled them away. As an emphasis for how amazing Giratina-A was at spin-blocking, Cloyster, a Pokémon who was otherwise pathetically useless in Ubers, actually started to see usage since it was the only Rapid Spinner in the game who could hit Giratina-A super effectively with its STAB Ice type attacks. Even then, Giratina-A would often prevail!

From Quiz Competitive Pokemon History - Kecleon

Answer: Changes Kecleon's typing to that of the move it was hit by

This move actually gave Kecleon some interesting defensive utility. For example, it could take a Metagross' Meteor Mash and eat about 70% of its health for the hit, use Rest, and then, with its newlyfound Steel typing and resistance to the move, resist repeated uses of the move from the pseudo-legendary, and thus take a lot less damage from it until Metagross switched moves. On the other hand, if it came onto the field as a Venusaur used Giga Drain, the follow up Sludge Bomb or Hidden Power Fire would hit it for super effective damage, so it was definitely inconsistent, but could produce amusing results in some situations.

From Quiz Competitive Pokemon History - Absol

Answer: 130

At a Base 130, Absol could hit rather hard by standard play, third generation standards. It had enough of a colorful movepool to make up for its shortcomings otherwise, combined with this stat, to become usable in standard play.

From Quiz Competitive Pokemon History - Deoxys-A

Answer: 180

180 for attacking stats is just absurd, giving Deoxys-A stellar mixed offenses and preventing anything from reliably walling it. Combined with an amazing Base 150 Speed, and Deoxys-A was going to take something out whenever it came in, practically guaranteed. This made it into a major threat in third generation Ubers.

From Quiz Competitive Pokemon History - Deoxys-D

Answer: Entry hazard setter

With access to the lowly distributed Spikes, Deoxys-D even put Skarmory to shame with how good it was at setting this hazard. It had access to instant, reliable recovery, which Skarmory didn't have at the time. It was also essentially immune to trapping, as it could defeat Magneton (who stupidly countered Skarmory) and Dugtrio one-on-one, making it very consistent at performing the act.

From Quiz Competitive Pokemon History - Claydol

Answer: Rapid Spinner

Claydol's 70/70 offenses were very bad, but it had just the right assortment of moves and great bulk with which to make the set work. Thanks to its good bulk and decent defensive typing, Claydol made for a good check to top tier threats such as Tyranitar, Salamence and Jirachi. Sadly, Claydol's offenses were so low that it would often be setup fodder for various setup sweepers not weak to its moves, such as Gyarados, Celebi, Suicune and Snorlax. This meant that Claydol could really only fit on stall teams that could adequately deal with setup sweepers. Still, its immunity to Spikes, Sandstorm damage, and ability to both offensively and defensively check huge threats made it a great fit on these teams.

From Quiz Competitive Pokemon History - Deoxys-N

Answer: Deoxys-Attack

Deoxys-N and Deoxys-A had very similar statspreads, and were fittingly played very similarly. Deoxys-A simply has better attacking stats. Deoxys-N is bulkier, but being bulkier than a Pokemon with base 20s for defenses is like claiming to be a slightly less smelly turd. Deoxys-N still can't take a hit to save its life (literally) and does less damage than Deoxys-A, making it genuinely inferior in every way.

From Quiz Competitive Pokemon History - Groudon

Answer: 150

Matching Kyogre's Base 150 Special Attack, Groudon can likewise put in great work as a physically offensive wallbreaker. Its Earthquakes boast second-to-none type power, and are pretty much impossible to switch into without an outright immunity, or a bulky Pokemon which also resists the move. For those which meet the criteria, be warned- Groudon has three other moveslots to deal with them.

From Quiz Competitive Pokemon History - Kyogre

Answer: Drizzle

In the third generation, Drizzle automatically summons permanent rain whenever Kyogre enters the field of play. This meant that allied Swift Swimmers, such as Kingdra or Ludicolo, were Uber-viable strictly because of the existence and prominence of Kyogre. Additionally, threats weak to Fire, such as Metagross and Jirachi, appreciated Kyogre's rain effectively removing this deficiency, giving the ability defensive utility as well.

From Quiz Competitive Pokemon History - Feraligatr

Answer: Its stats are in the wrong place

Feraligatr's base 105 Attack complemented by good defenses and a good mono-Water defensive typing looks good, until you realize it doesn't actually get a STAB move to benefit off of that meaty Attack stat. In addition, Feraligatr's Special Attack stat is a paltry base 79, and its Speed is a mediocre base 78. Its bulk is decent, and it does have access to a decent physical movepool, with options such as Earthquake, Rock Slide, Dynamic Punch and the user's choice of a physical Hidden Power. However, none of these options get STAB on Feraligatr, meaning it has to be hitting super effectively to do good damage most of the time. Feraligatr would've been better suited with higher Special Attack than Attack, and because its stats are poorly aligned, it never had a chance to see the light of day in standard play during its debut generation.

From Quiz Competitive Pokemon History - Houndoom

Answer: It actually has the right stats to be effective, unlike most Fire types

Due to the lack of a physical/special split, all Fire type attacks could only be specially offensive, even moves such as Fire Punch. Houndoom's excellent base 110 Special Attack was second only to Moltres for Fire types, and Houndoom's secondary Dark typing and good base 95 speed allowed it to shine alongside its good movepool, which are two traits Moltres lacked. Because of this, Houndoom has an important niche as a threatening special wallbreaker for standard play in its debut generation.

From Quiz Competitive Pokemon History - Chansey + Blissey

Answer: Being a special wall who could take on Psychic types

The Psychic type was without question the strongest typing in the first generation. The lack of Dark or Steel typing along with the lack of good Ghost or Bug moves to offensively deal with Psychic types meant that attempting to conquer Pokemon like Alakazam with a type advantage was impractical. Chansey's special bulk was so astronomical that it could handle these threats off of sheer base stats alone, which was an enormous niche to have. In general, Chansey made for a great special wall. Because the Special stat crammed special defense and special attack into one, Chansey's offensive presence was actually somewhat appreciable too, with a decent 105 Special stat. This meant that it would not be a massive loss of momentum when it hit the field, enabling it to fit offensive teams as well as defensive ones.

From Quiz Competitive Pokemon History - Celebi

Answer: Perish Song

Celebi did not yet have access to Swords Dance or Baton Pass, and Guillotine has always been illegal in competitive play. Reminiscent of the Perish Song antics Misdreavus could pull, Celebi too was an amazing Perish Song Pokemon. The secret to its success was its access to instant healing in Recover, allowing it to easily stall out Perish Song's 3 turn build-up. This meant that Celebi could always handle any last-Pokemon sweeper looking to pull a comeback, most notably Curse Snorlax and Shadow Ball-less Curse Mewtwo.

From Quiz Competitive Pokemon History - Ho-Oh

Answer: 154

A special defense stat of 154 was easily the highest special defense stat in the whole game, eclipsing that of renowned special walls and tanks such as Blissey and Snorlax- though Ho-Oh's base 106 HP stat was far shorter than theirs. Because of this, Ho-Oh could serve as an excellent special tank itself- sponging special attacks all day and retaliating with strong attacks off of its great 130 Attack or usable 110 Special Attack stat.

From Quiz Competitive Pokemon History - Gyarados

Answer: Versatile movepool full of decent options

In a time where most Pokémon knew maybe four or five decent moves if they were lucky, Gyarados had a lot more versatility. While its standard moveset was usually Blizzard or Surf/Thunderbolt/Hyper Beam/Body Slam, it had a number of other genuinely good options as alternatives to these three. Hydro Pump was a bit of a roll of the dice to use instead of Surf, but was a lot stronger and thereby a viable choice to boot. Fire Blast had burn potential and offered a stronger hit against Articuno than Thunderbolt did. Gyarados could try out a neat Substitute + 3 Attacks moveset to take advantage of the numerous switches it forced; this let it use risky moves like Hydro Pump and Thunder with a lot less risk, and usually a lot more reward. Finally, Gyarados could even run Leer to put Chansey and Tauros into OHKO range with Hyper Beam; either forcing them to switch, or stay in and die. Simply put, Gyarados was the one Pokémon not named Mew (and became alone when Mew was banned) that had a large amount of tricks up its sleeve, giving it a strong start to its competitive career in standard play.

From Quiz Competitive Pokémon History - Durant

Answer: 109

At 109, Durant crucially outsped big name threats in UU such as Cobalion and Galvantula. In RU, this involved Moltres, Entei and Rotom. This allowed it to best put its meaty Attack stat to use.

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