Competitive Pokémon History - Kyurem B & W Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Both Kyurem forms had massive offensive potential. The Black form's highest stat was Attack while White specialized in Special Attack, both harboring the same number. What was it?

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.

2. Kyurem-B wasn't actually an Ubers threat despite its high octane offenses, settling into standard play. Despite its high stat product, it was flawed enough to avoid the ban hammer. What was one of Kyurem-B's weaknesses?

Answer: Movepool

Lacking access to a usable Ice type physical attack, the only physically offensive move Kyurem-B had that did particularly great damage to neutral targets was Outrage, a move with an enormous drawback of its own in causing self confusion. Fusion Bolt was good coverage, but it didn't hit Steel types which resisted Dragon hard enough to fend them off most of the time.

3. Kyurem-W was absolutely an Ubers threat in the fifth generation. It's enormous offenses and respectable bulk made it a terror to deal with. That said, most Pokémon in competitive play have counters or, Pokémon who can reliably switch in and defeat the threat. Kyurem-W was no exception, though countering it was actually incredibly hard. Which of the following countered Kyurem-W?

Answer: Chansey

Chansey was the only Pokémon in the whole entire game which could guarantee avoiding the 2HKO from any move Kyurem-W could possibly use while taking Stealth Rock damage switching in. Chansey can then use Toxic and then simply stall Kyurem-W to death.

Even other bulky behemoths such as Blissey, Ho-Oh, Lugia or a defensive Arceus form cannot make that claim. Kyurem-W's ultra high Special Attack makes switching directly into it typically a death sentence, unless you've got a Chansey handy.

4. Both Kyurem forms have signature moves. Kyurem-B has Freeze Shock while Kyurem-W has Ice Burn. However, neither move would see any sort of serious use on the competitive scene, as they were both genuinely bad moves. Why was this?

Answer: They required a turn to charge before use

Freeze Shock and Ice Burn both have base 140 power, the former working off of Kyurem-B's massive Attack stat, the latter based off of Kyurem-W's overwhelming Special Attack. Sadly, these are both charged moves, meaning it will cost two whole turns to actually use either of them. Kyurem-W has access to Ice Beam, a 95 base power move which immediately deals damage and doesn't force Kyurem-W into being a sitting duck for two turns. Kyurem-B didn't get an Ice type alternative for a physical move, which was mostly why it never got banned to Ubers. Still, a charged move is a big no-go in fast paced competitive play, where the opponent could easily switch into something like Heatran or a defensive Steel type to easily take the hit.

Unfortunately, this meant Freeze Shock and Ice Burn were genuinely poor moves for competitive play.

5. Kyurem-W had issues with a counter in sixth generation Ubers. Kyurem-B spent another generation as a fantastic standard play threat. Did it have any counters, capable of reliably switching into it and winning?

Answer: No

Kyurem-B had a few "if it doesn't do *this specific thing* then this can counter it" but nothing that could reliably pull it off. Defensive Steel types could do it if Kyurem-B didn't have Hidden Power Fire or Earth Power. Clefable could do it if Kyurem-B didn't have Iron Head or Choice Specs with Ice Beam.

Unfortunately, all of these options were relatively common for Kyurem-B, meaning nothing could reliably counter it.

6. Kyurem-W was ultimately still viable in Ubers, though it encountered some severe problems that set it back several notches. Which of the following was a problem Kyurem-W had to contend with here?

Answer: Introduction of Fairy types

Xerneas was chief among Fairy types, but Arceus-Fairy, Klefki and even the occasional Mega Altaria provided major issues for Kyurem-W. It's Choice Specs set was significantly riskier for a trainer to use, as these Fairies earned free switch-ins on Draco Meteor, making this powerful nuking move far easier to handle.

7. A curious development was made regarding Kyurem-W in seventh generation Ubers. On paper, it looked initially as though Kyurem-W would finally fade away into obscurity as an unviable threat. It was later discovered, however, that it was actually quite lethal on one particular team type. What type was this?

Answer: Stall

Stall seems like a weird team pick at first glance, as Kyurem-W's defensive typing was horrible and it's bulk was iffy. However, Kyurem-W wouldn't be trying to wall threats out, instead using its massive immediate offenses to close games out once its team had sufficiently worn the opponent down. It's high immediate offenses also meant it could potentially serve as an emergency check to something which otherwise threatened to get out of control. For example, a Primal Groudon with a couple Swords Dance boosts that would ordinarily be well out of control can be stopped by Kyurem-W, due to P-Don's average Special Defense and Kyurem-W's higher Speed.

Hyper Offense may seem like a good pick on paper due to Kyurem-W's high offensive potential. However, Kyurem-W had egregious issues becoming setup fodder after using Draco Meteor, and hyper offense is unable to afford giving any free turns to the opponent, ceding momentum in switching Kyurem-W out, nor do these team builds carry bulky enough Pokémon to switch into play in the first place. As such, Hyper Offense was not a good idea for Kyurem-W here.

8. Kyurem-B finally made the jump up to Ubers in the eighth generation. It finally gained access to a usable physical Ice type move. However, it also got a good offensive boosting move that pushed it over the top and made it too strong to be left for standard play. What boosting move was this?

Answer: Dragon Dance

Dragon Dance gave another boost to Kyurem-B's humongous Attack stat while also bringing up its average 95 in Speed to scary heights. After a single boost, it was firmly game over if used in standard play, as nothing could hold up against a Kyurem-B with but a single boost. As such, it was an easy ban candidate and finally ended up in Ubers as a result.

9. Kyurem-W didn't go empty handed in the eighth generation, gaining a meaningful move it could use to hit Water types super effectively with STAB. What move was this?

Answer: Freeze-Dry

The very same move which made Kyurem's base form too strong to be allowed in standard play similarly made Kyurem-W even harder to beat defensively. If you didn't have a Chansey, you'd better have a good offensive check to Kyurem-W or it could very easily rip down half your team in just a few moves. Thanks to Freeze-Dry, Kyogre was no longer capable of checking Kyurem-W, which in itself was incredibly useful.

10. Unfortunately, despite their new gains, there were no Kyurem forms, base, White or Black that made a meaningful impact in eighth generation Ubers. They were fully unviable here, and this was largely due to the prominence of multiple incredibly popular checks to the Kyurem forms. Which of the following is an example?

Answer: Eternatus

Eternarus outsped all Kyurem forms and could annihilate them with a single super effective Dynamax Cannon. Necrozma-DM walled Kyurem-B and base endlessly, hard countering them, while being able to tank a super effective Fusion flare from Kyurem-W and OHKO in return with a super effective Sunsteel Strike.

These were not the only two top tier threats capable of offensively dealing with the Kyurem forms, as they were simply overwhelmed by a multitude of the meta and couldn't perform as well as their contemporaries. Calyrex-Shadow, for example, was more offensive potent than Kyurem-W. Eternatus was as well, and neither of them carried anywhere near the drawbacks the Kyurem forms did.

Unfortunately, this meant none of the three experienced any real success in eighth generation Ubers.

Source: Author cavalier87

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor kyleisalive before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Competitive Pokémon History - Kyurem B & W Quiz

Kyurem's split forms have both had remarkable journeys on the competitive scene. See what you know about them here, generations 5-8.

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