Competitive Pokemon History - Politoed Quiz

Answer: No

Politoed's base stats are simply not enough. Its movepool, while containing interesting options such as Belly Drum and Lovely Kiss, is not enough to make up for this deficiency. Politoed is thoroughly outclassed as a defensive Water type by Suicune, and because Zapdos and Raikou were so common, running Politoed in tandem with Suicune was often ill-advised, as well as outclassed by Vaporeon who was more offensively threatening than Politoed.

As an offensive Water type, Politoed is outclassed by Tentacruel and, again, Vaporeon. Politoed is also hard countered by numerous big players in the meta, such as Snorlax, Zapdos and Raikou. Because of all of this, Politoed has simply no chance of meaningfully contributing to a standard play game in its debut generation.

Answer: Belly Drum sweeper

Politoed's access to Belly Drum and Lovely Kiss gave it a niche in UU. The strategy was simple- get bulky Grass types and speedier Electric types out of the way, then bring Politoed in. Lovely Kiss something to put it to sleep, then boost with Belly Drum as it switches out, or stays in and wastes a turn sleeping. Then, proceed to clean house. Body Slam was Politoed's only usable physical attack for the set. At +6, however, it packed a respectable punch. Politoed's access to Surf, gaining STAB on the move as well, allowed it to plow over Rock and Steel types which resisted Body Slam.

The main selling point to using Politoed in this capacity was its ability to check the queen of the tier, Nidoqueen, with its reasonably strong STAB Surfs. Its usable 90/75/100 bulk and good defensive mono Water typing also let it take a hit in return if Nidoqueen was not sufficiently weakened for Surf to OHKO.

Answer: Lovely Kiss

Politoed retained access to Belly Drum, while the other two options are moves Politoed has never had access to. Politoed was only able to gain access to Lovely Kiss as a result of the 2001 "Gotta Catch 'Em All" series hosted by the now-defunct New York Pokemon Center. In 2001, this organization would hold weekly events where they would either give out a shiny Pokemon, or a Pokemon with a move learned exclusively through these giveaways. Politoed with Lovely Kiss was one of such exclusive giveaways. Because it is impossible to transfer Pokemon from second generation games to third generation games, Lovely Kiss unfortunately was left behind in the second generation.

Politoed's new alternative this generation was Hypnosis. Sadly, Hypnosis was 15% less accurate than Lovely Kiss with no beneficial trade off, representing an all-around downgrade.

Answer: Water Absorb

Water Absorb heals the user by 25% of their max HP anytime they are hit by a Water type attack. In UU, this turned Politoed into an excellent Blastoise check, and could even hard counter Blastoise that did not pack Hidden Power Electric. As Blastoise was a top 5 Pokemon in third generation UU, this was a useful niche to have.

Answer: It was simply outclassed by other Water types

There is simply no reason to use Politoed over Milotic, Blastoise or Slowbro. Milotic also has access to Hypnosis and Haze, has better bulk, instant recovery in Recover and higher offensive potential. Blastoise's access to Rapid Spin lets it offer more utility than Politoed while boasting a similar statbuild. Meanwhile, Slowbro also has instant recovery in Slack Off and has a more broad offensive movepool to threaten more of the meta with, including options like Fire Blast, Psychic and Thunder Wave.

It also has far more bulk than Politoed does. Politoed's access to Encore is unique amongst the competition, but Politoed lacks the Speed to effectively make use of the move. Because of this, Politoed is outclassed in the tier and unviable as a whole.

Answer: Drizzle

Politoed, alongside Tyranitar and Ninetales, was the face of fifth generation's "weather wars"- an absolute standard play staple that any serious trainer had to account for. The ability to automatically summon permanent rain is an advantage that cannot be understated. For one, this offers massive amounts of support to numerous offensive a defensive Pokemon alike. Offensive Pokemon, such as Kingdra, Ludicolo, Tornadus, Volcarona and even Moltres suddenly become terrifyingly powerful threats with rain support on their side, and can easily mow over a team with this support in the blink of an eye. Politoed's talents also extend to defensively oriented teams as well. Ferrothorn and Scizor's only 4x weakness to Fire suddenly becomes a much more manageable single-staged weakness under rain. Jirachi sheds its weakness to Fire altogether, and Tentacruel's Rain Dish ability, combined with the black sludge item, lets it recover nearly 1/5th of its HP in a single turn, letting it finally abuse its good bulk and excellent typing.

Politoed can even use Rain to give itself some support. Its Choice Specs, Rain-boosted Hydro Pumps are no joke and get good coverage on the overall meta.

Simply put, Politoed went from zero to hero, as it was no doubt the highest overall beneficiary of the generation's Dream World abilities.

Answer: No

Politoed was sadly completely outclassed by the behemoth in Kyogre, who had been doing what Politoed did in standard play, as an Ubers staple since its inception in the third generation. However, being outclassed by a titanic cover legendary like Kyogre is nothing for Politoed to hang its hat on. Politoed could simply utilize its talents to devastating use in standard play.

Answer: Weather setting abilities no longer granted permanent weather

Drizzle was now effectively a built-in Rain Dance instead of a glorified Rain Dance. This did not by any means make Politoed or rain based teams bad in standard play, but it made them a lot less effective and more niche than they were in the previous generation.

Answer: Politoed itself wasn't banned from lower tiers

Politoed is only viable in standard play because of Drizzle. Drizzle itself is banned from tiers lower than standard play, and because Drizzle-less Politoed is certainly not overpowering in lower tiers, Politoed itself is not banned from them. In PU, Politoed is a solid bulky Water type that can do a respectable job of checking most of the tier's big threats.

Answer: It was now outclassed by something else

Pelipper gained access to Drizzle in the seventh generation. Unlike Politoed, Pelipper has instant, reliable recovery in Roost and a secondary Flying typing, which are both huge. The former lets Pelipper comfortably run Damp Rock for an item, to keep rain up and allow Pelipper to stick around in the long haul.

The latter gives Pelipper access to a STAB, 100% accurate Hurricane to pound what would otherwise be Grass type checks with. Finally, Pelipper's access to U-Turn means it can immediately bring in Rain sweepers such as Kingdra, as to best make use of the turns rain is up for.

In contrast, Politoed has none of those advantages, leaving it in a position it began its competitive career in- outclassed and ultimately useless in standard play.