Competitive Pokemon History - Entei Quiz

Answer: First legendary to ever enter UnderUsed per usage statistics

Entei was sadly not too strong in standard play. Its stats, like many other Fire types, were in the wrong places; it has an incredibly strong Base 115 Attack stat which suggests it would be a shoo-in for a role as an elite physical wallbreaker or sweeper, but because Fire attacks could only be specially offensive, Entei's only moves it could use to take advantage of its meaty Attack stat were the uninspiring non-STAB Return and Hidden Power Fighting. As its physical movepool was sparse, Entei was generally forced to try to utilize its so-so 90 Base Special Attack to become a threatening Sunny Day wallbreaker, running the move alongside Fire Blast and Solar Beam to try to break down walls. Sadly, Entei failed completely in doing this; it wasn't as strong as Moltres, as it failed to 3HKO Snorlax with Fire Blast even when the move was getting boosted by the sun. It did have the teeniest of tiny niches of being a special attacker who could defeat Blissey with Hidden Power Fighting, but overall, Entei was outclassed by Moltres- who notably 3HKOed Snorlax with a sun boosted Fire Blast, was immune to Ground (Entei was weak to it by comparison) and could threaten a lot more of the meta than Entei could as a result. Sadly, it would be a stretch to say that Entei was a viable Pokémon in second generation standard play.

It would drop to UnderUsed, due to it lacking usage statistics to be OverUsed. In UU, Entei was at least absurdly overpowered- so much so that it only lasted in the tier for eleven hours before being very quickly banned to UnderUsed's ban list. Entei had no real checks in UU- the queen of the tier, Nidoqueen, failed to OHKO Entei with Earthquake, while Entei could put up Sunny Day, tank the Earthquake, and destroy Nidoqueen with Solar Beam before proceeding to sweep even healthy teams. It could often be a team's lead, and proceed to straight up 6-0 the opposing team that lacked an Entei of their own.

Sadly, Entei was in a state of Pokémon purgatory in its debut generation; it was way, way too strong for UU play but way, way too weak to make a consistently meaningful impact in standard play.

Answer: It could overcome Blissey while threatening more of the overall meta than Suicune

Both Entei and Suicune had the same exact ability in Pressure, rendering that option incorrect. It certainly did not hard counter Suicune; the reverse was arguably the case.

Entei could semi-reliably defeat Blissey with this set. In order to do so, Entei must be at full health, it must be on the battlefield before Blissey, and the weather must not be sandy. That, of course, means that the existence of Tyranitar (an incredibly common Pokémon) ruins Entei's efforts almost entirely, which is why the set was niche at best. Still, if these reasonable conditions were met, Entei could put up a Substitute in Blissey's face, assuredly have it survive a Seismic Toss, boost with Calm Mind freely, and alternate between putting up replacement Substitutes and boosting with Calm Mind, while Leftovers kept Entei healthy as it did this.

While Suicune could defeat Blissey in this way, Entei's niche over Suicune was that Flamethrower + Hidden Power Grass attained better coverage against common defensive Pokémon than anything Suicune could put together. For example, a Hidden Power Grass backed by a few Calm Minds is going to maim a Water or Rock type that attempts to check Entei. By comparison, any viable move Suicune could run aside from its obligatory STAB Surf was not helping it overcome defensive teams too much.

Still, Suicune's more renowned CroCune set arguably fared better against defensive teams anyway, which is why one had to look far and wide to find a well built team which Entei's set fit better on. This, unfortunately, is why Entei was once again an underwhelming pick for the tier.

Answer: NeverUsed's banned list

Sadly, despite receiving these excellent buffs, Entei was promptly demoted to NeverUsed for a brief spell during the fourth generation. Entei's sheer dominance over fourth generation NU was akin to its brief destruction of second generation's UU tier; it destroyed everything in sight without struggling, and was quickly banned up to UnderUsed. There, Entei was nowhere close to being too powerful to receive a ban from the tier this time, and thus settled in as an overall decent Pokémon.

Answer: Flare Blitz

When equipping a Choice Band, Entei was finally the elite physical wallbreaker it had always wanted to be, though it did have the tendency to "burn out" rather quickly due to the large recoil Flare Blitz incurred. As a point of reference, specially defensive Slowking and even physically defensive Milotic- bulky Water types who resisted Flare Blitz- were cleanly 2HKOed by a Choice Band-boosted Flare Blitz from Entei. It truly had no safe switch-ins.

To top it off, Entei gained other neat physical tools for its Choice Band set. Stone Edge let Entei deal with fellow Fire types without attaining the recoil Flare Blitz forced it to take. Because Arcanine and Houndoom with Flash Fire were immune to Flare Blitz entirely, this let Entei check them instead of being hard countered by them. It also got Extremespeed, which it used effectively. This move gave Entei utility against offensive teams, as well as offering its team good revenge killing use as a whole.

Overall, Entei was a fine choice for offensive teams in need of a powerful wallbreaker, as it truly had almost no safe switch ins.

Answer: Its moveset was event locked into an Adamant nature

Like Suicune and Raikou, Entei was one of many Pokémon to be featured in a giveaway during the "Pokémon Heartgold and Soulsilver" era. It was distributed via online Mystery Gifts from Nintendo. It was given out with a 100% chance to have an Adamant nature, meaning an Entei could not possibly have Flare Blitz or Extremespeed with any other nature.

While Adamant is not by any means the worst nature Entei could have, Jolly would just about always be better. Entei's base 100 Speed has a lot of competition, and as Entei is an offensive Pokémon, it is always better suited moving first- even at the expense of a little bit of power.

Its ability to run Extremespeed patches this moderate deficiency up somewhat, but because Flare Blitz is the showcased move, Entei would be better suited running Jolly, were it possible to do so.

Answer: RarelyUsed

Notably, this would be the first time Entei did not get banned from a tier it received enough usage to be in. In RU, Entei was a fantastic Pokémon, but it was not overpowered due to the unique state of the meta. Omastar was the king of the tier, and it could take advantage of an Entei locked into just about any move, boost in its face with Shell Smash, use its normal resistance to stave off Entei if it came back later to try to revenge kill with Extremespeed, and clean house. Offensive Water types were plentiful, and could check Entei, leaving it with enough counterplay to be great, but reasonable as well.

Still, Entei had very few reliable switch ins. The aforementioned Omastar was one, using its 4x resistance to Flare Blitz to come in on that move fairly reliably. However, as Entei's movepool was pretty shallow, it often ran Hidden Power Grass solely to hit Omastar with. Even with an Adamant nature and no specially offensive EVs, the move OHKOed Omastar after Stealth Rock damage, rendering it a risky switch in.

Answer: Sacred Fire

Entei received access to Sacred Fire, which is cover legendary Ho-Oh's signature move. This move represented a massive upgrade over the already good Flare Blitz Entei had, meaning it had even less switch ins and was immensely more threatening as a whole.

Answer: Yes

Entei's immense wallbreaking power and offensive utility would now be combined with Sacred Fire's massive burn chance, while Entei's status as a physical wallbreaker that could not be burned and could easily overcome Skarmory gave it a genuine niche over its competition. Notably, Entei could check both Mega Charizard forms by resisting Fire, being able to tank an Earthquake or Outrage from the X variant if need be, and OHKOing either with a Stone Edge in response. It could also revenge kill a reasonably weakened X form with Extremespeed if the X form gained enough Dragon Dance or Swords Dance boosts to otherwise sweep the team.

However, Entei was not OverUsed per usage statistics just yet. It suffered from having a rather sparse movepool, which had the side effect of also making it predictable. Outside of Sacred Fire, it could only viably fit Extremespeed, Stone Edge, and the mediocre Bulldoze on its moveset. It also really needed a Choice Band to reach truly terrifying power. While its power was indeed impressive and gave it unique advantages against defensive teams it sought to destroy, it also meant that Entei's lesser moves it locked itself into occasionally, such as Bulldoze, could be exploited by an observational opponent, who could setup on Entei if it locked into the wrong move. Finally, as a physically offensive Fire wallbreaker, Entei faced lots of competition from Heatran, Talonflame, and the Mega Charizards. However, Entei was bulkier and more immediately threatening than the former two, had better longevity and less reliable counterplay than Mega Charizard Y, and did not take up a team's Mega slot than either of the Mega Charizards did, allowing it to hold down a niche in the tier.

Answer: RarelyUsed's ban list

Entei would be banned from the seventh generation's RarelyUsed tier. Sadly, Entei was not even viable in UU anymore due to the overall state of the meta. Top tier threats in Mega Altaria, Primarina and Latias walled it very effectively, while other top tier threats in Mega Aerodactyl, Krookodile and Mega Sharpedo can effectively outspeed and KO Entei before it can get very far. Finally, Entei was overall outclassed by Infernape and Moltres as wallbreaker; the former had a useful secondary typing, offensively and defensive, while also being able to boast versatility as a potential special or physical attacker, while the latter was stronger, had reliable recovery to get more longevity, and was more threatening to common teambuilds as a whole.

Sadly, Entei once again found itself in Pokémon purgatory- too strong for RU, too weak for UU. And certainly not strong enough for standard play.

Answer: No

Seeing as how Entei does not exist in the eighth generation, it clearly never got the chance to try and succeed. As such, it will wait patiently for the ninth generation to come around, where it may yet return and hope to become relevant again.