Are any Pokemon so bad that no-one can use them effectively?

Question

I just wanted to know what pokémon people cannot use however hard they try e.g. I cannot use kecleon because people can just use a grass type move on me and then kill me with flamethrower.

Comments

Most of the Pokemon on Fizz's list are pretty good in-game, but I suppose almost anything is. If Flygon is looking for a Pokemon so bad it can't even be used in-game and won't evolve into something better, then I'd like to nominate Unown, Luvdisc, and of course the infamous male Combee.

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All 3 of those will work if the player level grinds them enough.

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Awwww, c'mon. I've used an Avalugg successfully in AG. (Ever gone for a banded Avalanche on Mega Ray?)

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@sumwun Going to be honest, a lot of bad stuff really can't work ingame unless it's an upwards of nearly 30-40 levels ahead because inevitably their poor stats will catch up. Unown can even get totally stonewalled if its Hidden Power turns out to be ineffective on a target, while Combee gets walled by anything remotely related to Steel.

@[MEGA]StellarLucario That's actually pretty impressive considering Mega Rayquaza has to run Choice Band just to potentially kill max defense Avalugg. Outside of that, Avalugg's counters are nearly ad infinitum in any sort of competitive play, simply because slow defensive ice types really don't work.

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252 SpA Combee Air Cutter vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD [level 60] Lucario: 88-105 (51.1 - 61%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Answer 1

Oh, nonsense. You mentioned Kecleon in your question and in the tag, so I thought I could show you that Kecleon can be good in the right situations. Just don't give it Color Change, silly. :)

Geico (Kecleon) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Atk / 176 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Tail
- Drain Punch
- Power-Up Punch
- Sucker Punch

Since he gets STAB from every move, Drain Punch is now a pretty nice move, allowing him to live longer. Sucker Punch gets that nice priority, Power-Up Punch makes up for what little attack he has, and Aqua Tail is coverage.

Now, I would never recommend using him any higher than NU. His viability wears out kinda quickly. But it's fun to mess with people on this set. As soon as someone powers up a Psychic move, you Sucker Punch them (no matter how effective). In fact, you could do this for Aqua Tail as well. Sucker Punch works as a sort of defense mechanism.

On to your real question: The list Fizz has given you sums it up mostly. And he's right, there are some surprising additions on there. Several of them have potential for use in low-end tiers like NU and PU. Some of my favorites of those include Ampharos, Electivire (!?), Crustle, Gorebyss, Huntail, and Trevenant; however, the vast majority have almost nothing. Several have usable, viable stat pools or movepools, but nothing else to supplement it, and thus they are inferior to other choices. Electivire in particular once was listed as high as UU, but it's taken a steep fall since Gen 5.

Answer 2

Every Pokemon can be used for switching into an attack, fainting, and letting a teammate switch in safely. The person who asked this question never said this doesn't count as "using effectively".

Comments

True. Thats a bit of a team slot waste though

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Well then what does count as "use them effectively"?

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If you like playing 6-5 then sure Cosmog is finally viable for something aside from terrible bag jokes I guess

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Is there a correlation between terrible bag jokes and effectiveness? Nobody ever told me there was.

Answer 3

To put it bluntly, most non-fully evolved Pokemon are pretty unusable in competitive play. Fizz's list is a pretty decent example, but we can do worse. Some ones that come to mind for "absolutely unsalvageable" include the following:

-Most first-stage and second-stage Pokemon outside of LC and lower tiers
-Baby Pokemon outside of LC
-Luvdisc
-Delibird
-Castform
-Ditto (without Imposter)
-Solo Wishiwashi
-Cosmoem
-Unown

I think the absolute bottom of the barrel has gotta be Cosmog. With a whopping 200 base stat total and access to only two moves in the game that do nothing in battle, and no way to harm the opponent whatsoever, it truly is the worst Pokemon in the game. At least Cosmoem gets to use Cosmic Power until it dies or gets set up on, and at least Unown gets to learn an attacking move.

On that note, Kecleon isn't that terrible. With Color Change, it's definitely a contender, but thanks to Protean, it can actually function as a poor man's Greninja in the lower tiers, though anything in Never Used or above will beat it outright. A myriad of Pokemon aren't lower tiered for being bad, for some it's moreso an issue of being totally outclassed and unable to adapt to a changing climate. Milotic comes to mind with this, being an amazing wall in earlier generations, but being unable to keep up with the stronger and stronger threats being able to blow holes into it. With the list of Pokemon above, let's face it: I don't think it's possible to make them work, ever.

Comments

Sunkern's a close second to Cosmog