Competitive Pokemon History - Sharpedo Multiple Choice Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. In its debut generation, Sharpedo initially looks like a great choice for a physical wallbreaker, with great offensive stats and a good offensive typing, even if its defenses were quite lacking. However, it was not to be, and Sharpedo was nowhere close to standard play viable. Why was this?

Answer: Terrible physical movepool

Sharpedo's Base 120 Attack and good Water/Dark typing are initially quite promising. However, due to a lack of physical/special split, both Water and Dark type moves were strictly specially offensive, and Sharpedo's Base 95 Special Attack was a lot less impressive.

Moreover, the only usable physical moves Sharpedo had access to were a physical Hidden Power, Earthquake and Return. Unfortunately, this meant Sharpedo died way too easily and didn't hit hard enough to compensate, and was an incredibly poor choice for third generation standard play.

2. Sharpedo's ability was a strange selection, and synergized very poorly with its statbuild. What ability was this?

Answer: Rough Skin

Rough Skin causes any Pokemon which makes contact with the user to lose 1/16th of their health. As Sharpedo's defenses were flat out terrible, this generally meant that anytime Rough Skin triggered, Sharpedo would faint right afterward, preventing it from getting any significant use out of the ability.

3. While Sharpedo's ability was genuinely worthless for the most part, in third generation UnderUsed, it actually filled a pretty interesting niche that let Sharpedo at least be usable. What niche was this?

Answer: Checking Flail/Reversal users

Flail and Reversal were moves which got more powerful the less HP the user had. They also made contact when used. The idea behind a good Flail or Reversal user was to use Substitute four times to reach 1 HP, then sweep with Flail or Reversal. Sharpedo's access to Endure meant that, if the user correctly predicted the usage of Flail or Reversal, Sharpedo could survive the move, and Rough Skin would activate, causing the Flail or Reversal user to faint. Given how prominent Flail/Reversal users were in the meta, this gave Sharpedo an interesting niche that other physical wallbreakers giving it competition, like Fearow or Aggron, could not reliably fill.

4. Sharpedo received a gift from Arceus in the fourth generation making it a far better overall Pokemon. What was this?

Answer: Physical/Special split

The physical/special split made some of Sharpedo's best moves, namely Waterfall and Crunch, now play off of Sharpedo's Base 120 Attack stat. This was huge, enabling Sharpedo to be far more offensively threatening.

5. Even with its new attribute, Sharpedo was stuck in UU. There, it was a fine physical wallbreaker, but it had severe issues facing opposing offensive teams due to its lackluster Speed and horrendous Defenses. What was Sharpedo's Speed stat?

Answer: 95

Base 95 wouldn't have been the end of the world on most Pokemon, but Sharpedo's pathetic 70/40/40 bulk meant that if it ever got outsped, it would be forced to switch or be left for dead by a moderately strong attack. It did get access to Aqua Jet, a priority move, to slightly mitigate this problem, but as Aqua Jet was a fairly weak move, even with STAB, it had to be hitting super effectively to deal particularly noteworthy damage.

6. Arceus, recognizing that His gift was not quite enough, bestowed upon Sharpedo a real treat from His divine Dream World. What new ability did Sharpedo get?

Answer: Speed Boost

Speed Boost raises the user's Speed by one stage every turn. Sharpedo's iffy Base 95 Speed was no longer an issue at all. Better yet, Sharpedo users could now run an Adamant nature instead of a Jolly one, for more power as well. This was just what Sharpedo needed to finally become usable in standard play during the fifth generation, putting its good offenses and suddenly great Speed to good use.

7. Sharpedo finally rose to the challenge and joined the big boys in fifth generation standard play. However, it was plagued by two Pokemon, one newcomer, who would serve as counters to it. As a counter is defined as a Pokemon who can reliably switch in and defeat the target, who fit the bill to stop Sharpedo in its tracks?

Answer: Ferrothorn and Empoleon

The newcomer Ferrothorn resisted both of Sharpedo's STABs and could slaughter it with a super effective Grass move in response, while sponging hits competently due to said resistances and phenomenal bulk. Empoleon also resisted practically anything Sharpedo could throw at it apart from Earthquake (which Sharpedo just about never ran) and could even take that move reasonably well. If Earthquake was absent, Empoleon would have time to boost with Agility before blowing past Sharpedo and possibly even threatening a sweep. Even if Sharpedo had Earthquake, Empoleon's frequent usage of Grass Knot meant it had no trouble taking a couple of Earthquakes and then destroying Sharpedo with this move.

Thus, both were definite counters to Sharpedo in fifth generation standard play.

8. As if Sharpedo had dirt on Arceus or something, it would be the beneficiary of His blessings for a third straight generation, being granted a Mega Evolution. With a Base 140 Attack, the only thing it needed upon Mega Evolving was a good ability, which it definitely got. What was Mega Sharpedo's ability?

Answer: Strong Jaw

Strong Jaws, alongside the buff to Mega Sharpedo's Attack stat, gave its bite-based attacks, Crunch in particular, amazing power. Crunch hit so hard that it had a small chance to 2HKO Skarmory after Stealth Rock, which would become guaranteed from full HP if Skarmory had a specially defensive EV spread!

Mega Sharpedo's great Attacking stats and ability now ensured it could not be countered. It could be checked with strong priority moves, or bulky offensive Pokemon who could take a hit and retaliate, but it was now undoubtedly a deadly standard play threat thanks to its Mega Evolution.

9. Normally, Pokemon who get Mega Evolutions waste no time making use of the mechanic (if their trainer actually used their Mega Evolution) and would Mega Evolve right from turn one. However, when using Mega Sharpedo, it is actually pretty much mandatory to wait one turn as base Sharpedo, then Mega Evolve on turn two. Why was this?

Answer: Base Sharpedo's Speed Boost was inaccessible after Mega Evolving, and it needed one turn to get the boost

Mega Sharpedo's Base 105 Speed is okay, but its bulk is still really bad, and it can't afford to take a hit first. So, on turn one, it is a good idea to hold off on Mega Evolving, use Protect to assuredly get the Speed Boost, then Mega Evolve with the +1 to Speed and clean house.

10. Sadly, Mega Sharpedo's time in the standard play limelight came to an end in the seventh generation. It dropped to UU. There, it would once again attract the attention of a counter. Who was this?

Answer: Mega Altaria

Mega Altaria resisted both of Mega Sharpedo's STABs, had high bulk, and could destroy it with a super effective Fairy move in response. Unfortunately, Mega Altaria was very popular in seventh generation UU, and single handedly hindered Mega Sharpedo's viability by a lot. Mega Sharpedo would've probably been a top tier Pokemon if Mega Altaria didn't exist, or was banned from UU.

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 Pokemon History - Sharpedo Quiz

Now we have the Team Aqua signature Pokemon, Sharpedo! Try to gnaw on this quiz, and hopefully you won't bite off more than you can chew! For generations 3-7!

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