Ranking Pokemon's BEST Moves (Gen 3)

Pokemon Competitive Singles in Gen 3 has a long history.
Moves such as Spikes, Spore, Explosion and Thunder Wave define this metagame.
Let's rank all of the funny moves that are utilized in the good game. Yeah, that's a smart thing to do. I'll be doing that.
Is this insane? Absolutely.
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Some will never figure out how to get Roselia in Cacturne Scarlet and Cacturne Violet. But famous player Jim Cool is well aware of the Best Cacturne Moveset in Competitive, and even how to Cacturne Shiny Farm. Many aren't and never will be. That's just the unfortunate reality of the world.
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#competitivepokemon #pokemonshowdown #gen3

[@jimothycool]

Outro Music by Pete S. Check out his other music here - open.spotify.com/track/1x5XyA7jac3Hv8ha0ra76G?si=6aZiwsiVSPSCP1-Bq89b-w Jim's Good Mugs - jimothycool.com/

[@ceemac9631]

Hey Jimothy, this link goes to some guy named “kel james.” I believe the link is incorrect. Could you drop another link perchance

[@adventurer3288]

Imaginary Technique: V- Create

[@marcelomelo9977]

"Throughout Ubers and OU I alone am the victorious one"

[@why3994]

​​@@AdminAbusethe thing that your food goes into when you swallow

[@DrogenFruit]

Are you tyranitar because you are the best Pokémon in ou or are you the best Pokémon in ou because you are tyranitar

[@marcelomelo9977]

@@AdminAbuse i'm not american, and the pronounciation of that word is messed up

[@y8knsnsnzmzz]

​@@marcelomelo9977lifehack, you can say it like "threw out" like "i threw out the trash"

[@petrie911]

Earthquake, Ice Beam, and Thunderbolt probably deserve a mention for just being great consistent damage.

[@jimothycool]

Best attacks could be a separate list I think

[@fogwzu1939]

​@@jimothycool Explosion on its way to be the most Gigachad energy move of all time.

[@its_me_jamie]

I would love that Jim​@@jimothycool

[@theedslanky1235]

@jimothycool it will be a separate list I hope

[@Rumielle]

The best move you can POSSIBLY do is subscribing to Jimothy Cool for mostly Pokemon related entertainment videos and sometimes eating worms

[@blunderpolicy]

The strongest move is obviously Heracross’ signature move, Closet Crunch.

[@liampouncy7808]

This is insane.

[@erm_5557]

This is insane.

[@boomguy2]

not the swarm boosted bug 🤯

[@Caseyscreations1]

2x dmg against mons who were hit with attract by a mon of the same gender

[@TheMightyNaryar]

Along with it's second signature move, Salac Eat

[@nilsdaniel9012]

Crazy how they nerfed Recover, TWave and Explosion but decided "yeah let's give good mons a superior version of spike and let's make knock off so strong that the utility would just be a secondary effect".

[@hunter00143]

The powercreep is insane gen 6 onwards doesnt exist

[@EggscellentTree]

I like explosion , but it is kinda insane on metagross , most mons that do get it are pretty mediocre which I like about it. Golem, muk and metagross are the only mons that get it in gen 3 with an attack stat above 100

[@EggscellentTree]

Would be crazy to see unnerfed explosion on landorus-t with 145 attack , probably would destroy VGC xD

[@the_blahhh]

In knock off's defense, knock off was considered niche in older generations (esp by non-top players) and only once it was buffed in gen 6 was when most players started to realize how absurd it was even in older gens.

[@ronz7665]

"Knock off is good because there's nothing you can do about it." (Muk laughing in sticky hold)

[@raho500]

It is obviously astonish.

[@Yousef77077]

I’m astonished

[@BusinessSkrub]

:0

[@hessiankyojin]

Nah, it's Constrict.

[@liampouncy7808]

11:23 "these French Pokemon" - Alakazam and Jumpluff nationality confirmed.

[@叶子逍]

I don't get it😢why they are French

[@heheheiamasupahstarslam5397]

​@@叶子逍encore is a French word

[@ben-wm6yc]

Did he actually say French I thought I misheard “fringe”

[@liampouncy7808]

@@ben-wm6yc He did say fringe, but I thought it was amusing that I misheard the first time as they sounded similar enough. :P

[@liampouncy7808]

@@叶子逍 I ask the same thing about the entire country, daily. :P

[@imcarolean]

before watching: explosion

[@troykv96]

I like how even to this day, Smeargle remains the fastest* user of Spore, is like GF recognizes that giving that move to anyone that isn't taking hits is unhealthy. *Technically Toedscruel is faster, but it's ability makes it unable to do Spore cheese.

[@marcustulliuscicero5443]

I feel like Substitute should have made at least the honorable mentions.

[@jimothycool]

I think Sub enhances Mons that are already good. Access to Sub is not a huge deal in itself, it's a very common move

[@DeckKnight]

Probably Spikes, the entire metagame and a whole team archetype revolves around adressing/ignoring them. Which wouldn't be viable or necessary if the move were not crazy powerful.

[@hibbs1712]

I own a Cradily plush. Im serious about Cradily. Cradily is a /ramping special wall/ and it especially shines in gens 5-6 with its storm drain. Ramp storm drain and watch your opponent panic as you bomb nuclear giga drains and ancient powers. I use one on my doubles team along with a leech seed mega Venusaur. Grass is one of the bulkiest types if you control it’s weaknesses.

[@HugeZorse]

Constrict but yall ain’t ready for the truth

[@GoreyCore]

In RBY probably

[@skeletorthebest7204]

Gen 3 Jynx looks like she’s being held at gunpoint

[@i90sknd75]

I can't unsee it!

[@williamdrum9899]

RSE had horrendous sprites for gen 1 pokemon that weren't Hoenn native... they barely tried

[@luiegiii]

I don’t even play this game.

[@Blazin_Tundra]

Then the game has played you

[@luiegiii]

@@Blazin_Tundra It was enjoyable

[@naturalharmoniagropius4486]

Hidden Power in Gen 3? Hidden Power gives coverage that most mons don't like HP Bug for most Physical attackers against Celebi, Tyranitar, Starmie, etc.

[@kadabraguy9846]

The list is going through the most impactful moves on a mon's viability, so it's prioritizing moves which are rare but would make any Pokémon that got them viable almost solely thanks to that move. Since nearly every Pokémon in the game learns Hidden Power it doesn't really work in this context

[@spookyscarylamppost3431]

Counterpoint: Hidden power is based on your IV’s which may lead to awkward choices of running a lower ev on certain stats to get the desired HP typing, even if the IV’s are merely lowered by one point.

[@LiveTwinReaction]

@@spookyscarylamppost3431 hidden power fire is one of the biggest cases of unintentional balance I can think of. If I remember right it always required 30 speed IV at best. I kind of liked that tradeoff but I could see how it would be annoying

[@alexandersmerage4931]

I’m not sure it counts as powerful in a vacuum in the same way as most of the moves on this list, but I feel like Roar deserves at least an honorable mention. Especially given the prevalence of spikes, the ability to reliably deal with something trying to set up is extremely valuable

[@leafypotatostyle]

For Gen 3 OU, spikes. For all of Gen 3, Explosion.

[@MrSups1]

one of the biggest factors that determines a pokemon's viability is their movepool

[@MarcusMcGrizz]

Predicting these are the best moves: Spikes, Protect, Baton Pass. In that order!

[@jixelblock]

honestly you were pretty close

[@kaloncpu57]

I think Protect would be a great honorable mention. If this was for a doubles format, it would also definitely make the list.

[@tatri292]

Protect loses a lot of its value in this context, you'd never use a mon just because it knows protect. Defensively weak pokemon, or ones without leftovers have comparatively little reason to click it.

[@scatmanjohn2681]

I don’t see how toxic doesn’t crack the top 10. Huge impact and every Pokémon and their mothers get it. I suppose steal is immune to it, but you can have a Blissey, Skarmory and Swampert all on one team all spamming toxic, and it can work. It’s such a good and ubiquitous move that just the threat of constantly forces switches, and even Pokémon like Blissey and Celibi are put on a timer and have to be careful about leaving the field quickly, but also with enough health to come back in.

[@isuckatgaming1873]

What about roar/whirldwind? They are super important for dealing with boosting threats, applies pressure through spikes chip, can sometimes save a pokemon from a trapper and gathers information for later in the game

[@nimrod06]

It is super important. It breaks boosters, subs, and scouts switch-ins, stacks spike damage, etc. Just an anecdote but if I have roar on regice, I would probably have it over T-wave.

[@sheepwithshadesgaming4717]

I can’t believe you forgot splash

[@Spidapida006]

Splash

[@theschnozzler]

Splish splash

[@SwizzleMix]

Balatro soundtrack enters the Jimothy Cool OST. This is insane.

[@curiousplatypus]

I do think that Spore should be higher than Explosion if distribution of the move doesn't impact it's value in the rankings. If Breloom had explosion instead of Spore, it would be much worse. There are plenty of pokemon with explosion that would be much better if they traded it for spore though. Imagine how much better Gengar would be.

[@nimrod06]

Yup, explosion highly overrated. It is good but there are many ways to go around it.

[@deeznoots6241]

lol gengar with spore would be sent straight to ubers

[@Mortyst]

I'd love to see a mention of memento. It's the ultimate momentum move: While a fast explosion only takes one turn away from your opponent, a memento may force them to spends a second turn switching out.

[@nimrod06]

The problem is that we don't really see many examples of it. The only fast memento user is Gardevoir, which is hardly impactful. Maybe bodyslam Dusclops could be a set?

[@loftilywrongly3483]

In my opinion the honorable mentions should have come a bit later in the video, maybe after #6 or #2. Listening to reasons why certain moves aren't included makes a lot more sense after seeing a few of the moves that are included, not to mention increasing suspense and getting to the main part of the video faster.

[@MarcBrightside]

Some ideas: Whirlwind: Denies setup sweepers, punishes an opponent who has found setup opportunities through good planning and racks up further residual damage from Spikes, revealing their team in the process. Useless in a last man standing situation, though. Ice Beam: Free damage with no immunities, and even low-offence Pokemon like Blissey can be threatening with this move due to the 10% freeze chance. Freeze cannot be reliably dispelled or 'counted down' like sleep, which removes consistency from the affected player's turn and makes switching in on Ice Beam a daunting task, even for resists like Metagross. Protect: Free stalling on hardcore defensive teams, stacks passive damage, allows the user to scout unexpected or off-meta move choices. Can be easily punished once revealed. Perish Song: Forces switches, denies setup sweepers, can auto-win against last man standing sweepers like Snorlax and Suicune. However, can cost the user momentum and may not always have value. Hidden Power: Free type coverage for anyone who needs it, usable BP, however does come at the expense of IVs and can force some hard decisions when team building.

[@wowwt]

Can't believe you didn't talk about Sleep powder on Butterfree. Butterfree is the most broken mon of all time.

[@xxzmaster04xx29]

For like the last week I've been addicted to gen 3 OU, and honestly it's been fun. Still getting the basics, and damn making a full team from scratch is far from easy. I tried to make one with Choice Band Doom Desire Jirachi, and it may sound like a meme but I love it

[@nothankyou4859]

The huddled masses of the world cry out in yearning for a Qwilfish video. Please consider such a thing.

[@888legends]

Thanks for the shout outs to encore. Machamp encore was surprisingly very fun to use.

[@ihsaningersoll9232]

crazy to say giving spore to a bad pokemon would make it shoot up the tiers when parasect is right there

[@Luna-Lux]

Before watching: It's gonna be spikes Sticky web in new games

[@Luna-Lux]

😎😎😎

[@ultimateaura7629]

I think substitute deserved an honourable mention. From being able to make yourself immune to status or substituting down to a berry or pinch effects like torrent it can be very powerful if your opponent doesn't have the right counterplay to it

[@DrXtreme777]

23 minutes of Jimothy Cool, is a midsummer Christmas gift. Ty

[@xBC90x]

Idea for another video; a similar video to this, but talking about Pokemon that would be good/ better if they had a certain move or just a better movepool in general.

[@Rubbly]

After watching, I'm pretty sure Spore is gonna be on this list!

[@amazingkool]

Roar/whirlwind probably deserve an honerable mention for synergizing with the best move, answering setup sweepers AND scouting the enemy team.

[@Ali-tm7rd]

this is insane

[@azeria1]

Knock off I really like it since less pokemon have it and it was before game freak buffed it which just makes it boring no downside no risk and reward

[@redtube8667]

The downside was doing dogass damage, Knock Off needed the buff

[@lottabee]

fart gaming

[@Voidmager]

I love reading the video title, saying aloud "it's Spikes," then being told "yeah its Spikes."

[@SilverMK]

21:11 is so true, same reason people hate landorus-t and incineroar

[@nimrod06]

Roar/Whirlwind definitely worths a mention here. Skarmory without roar will at best be a UUBL. And also consider that Mr. Mime, a mediocre pokemon, is banned because of immunity to this move. It is also worth mentioning no proper special wall has access to roar/whirlwind. Blissey, snorlax and regice all lack access to it. It makes sub on Raikou/Zapdos much more viable. Another move to mention is Wish. This is best move to heal your teammates up, which is very value in boosting the stall values of your teammates. It is almost a standard move in stall teams in the current meta game, for it to heal yourself and to heal teammates.

[@lucienfelten8439]

10:22 true enough, encore is often the only reason to be running french pokemon. Otherwise, local pokemon will do just fine

[@echo5172]

Mr Jimothy, is there stall in gen 3 OU? I've been looking to get into some old-gen stall

[@timmaia5082]

That Breloom called bo1 advocate LMAO

[@a.guy.named.erik.]

I may have missed it since I was playing runescape on my second monitor while listening but I'm surprised that Roar/Whirlwind wasn't on the list. is it not as highly valued in the gen 3 OU metagame as I thought?

[@BusinessSkrub]

Nah, instead of using roar/whirlwind/Haze, they just cry until whatever's bugging them gets banned :)

[@darienwest4748]

Roar probably should've gotten an honorable mention but its not single-handedly making any mons viable. Skarmory, Swampert, Zapdos, Suicune, are all already great and they still would be even without Roar.

[@aldrichunfaithful3589]

i think taunt should've been on the list, gengar can use it to massively disrupt blissey, and any fast spikes leads can use it to safely deny enemy spikes since skarm commonly runs no attacks (i think someone got fed up with our beloved glalie coz yesterday at 1400 elo i taunted a skarm which did 70% to me with steel wing lol). but i definitely agree with spikes being number 1, it really is perfectly balanced, and the way pokemon are balanced around their ability to set spikes, remove spikes, ignore spikes, trap spikes users, block spinners and trap spin blockers is a big part of why gen 3 is so fun to play

[@arson55]

As a jumpluff user, you don't have to sell me on encore. That move is so powerful and forces so many switches on its own. And racking up spikes chip is like jumpluff's main thing.

[@juliner4036]

At first I questioned the number 1 spot because of superman teams being unaffected by spikes, but they exist in the first place because of spikes, so.. ye.

[@mikeleddyphoto]

How in god’s name could Knock Off only take 5% of that frail ass Gengar’s health

[@jaketerpening3284]

It's gen 3 so knockoff is a 20 power special move coming off of Hariyama's 40 base special attack. Also, gen 3 Gengar's frequenly run bulk investment, so it's not really that frail of a pokemon.

[@mikeleddyphoto]

@@jaketerpening3284 the exact kind of answer I was hoping for! Thank you sm

[@emblemadefuego20]

Leech seed, Substitute, Dragon Dance, Spore, Explosion, Spikes, Roar, Baton Pass.

[@MichaelA-cu8zg]

I’m surprised Roar wasn’t somewhere in the top 10

[@randaljr.8581]

ah good call. roar/whirlwind

[@benjulesrun9057]

Smeargle, the Pokemon that can choose from any move in the game, frequently uses some of these

[@cpopppp]

heres a clear Jimplication of Jim's gen 3 knowledge

[@sarasaland4709]

I still wonder why Will-o-Wisp and Sleep Powder have the accuracy downside but Thunder Wave is learned by everything ever and has 100 accuracy.

[@donlyphans7801]

Great video! Would it make sense to do a video discussing the value of running protect vs substitute?

[@slappydave4241]

I was expecting the number one move being to switch in Tyranitar for Sandstream

[@waitingfortheequinnox]

How have these moves aged over time: 10 - It only exists on two Pokémon - Blissey and Chimecho. One might not be able to run it and the other is garbage. 9 - ThunderWave got its accuracy nerfed, Paralysis itself got nerfed, it’s still good. 8 - BatonPass is banned. 7 - Encore has had its distribution greatly increased but may not always be worth using. 6 - The speed boost makes RapidSpin genuinely deadly. 5 - Thanks to a certain VGC player, Will-o-Wisp is 85% accurate 4 - 65 BP lmao 3 - Spore is… in ScVi Sleep Moves are banned. 2 - Explosion had its power halved. On the other hand, some Abilities give Explosion supereffective power. 1 - Stealth Rock exists

[@masteraryan3250]

Tbh i never saw heal bell getting stalled out even if you play 80-100 moves game heal bell is definitely better than no 10

[@GameFreakuser]

You don't have to convince me how good Encore is; I remember Wobbuffet's brief appearance in Gen 4 OU, and that thing was a menace due to how Encore made setup sweepers so easy to run. In fact, Wobbuffet is still powerful exactly for that reason.

[@Bonecrusher1022]

I remember when I got back into following competitive pokemon and I was dumbfounded and how powerful they made Knock Off

[@Pyronix18]

Calling it now, its Stealth rock or earthquake. Its always earthquake or steakth rock. Maybe spikes

[@yupa5221]

I'm not a native English speaker and this video made me look up the phrase "in a vacuum".

[@northsouteastwesk3435]

Love the haircut

[@typhlosion7872]

The only move I think was missed is Toxic. Even with steel types and Gengar, there's no way it shouldn't be an honorable mention. I understand why no top 10, but not even an HM is crazy

[@johnhenton8172]

23 mins? Slowly moving towards BKC territory.

[@frankyquilavafireblast895]

Correct me if I’m wrong but I’m pretty sure grass types blocking powder moves wasn’t a thing until generation six or seven

[@jimothycool]

You're right, pretty sure I clarified I was talking about later gens. My mistake if not

[@roofb1612]

yo where can i go to enter gen 3 ou tourneys and see results/teams to get better ideas about team building? all the sample teams i can find seem p dated

[@ben-wm6yc]

11:20 thought you said “french” Pokémon when describing Pokémon with access to encore

[@pantslesswrock]

I ended up ordering in McDonalds yesterday and am regretting it now

[@sharkronical]

16:42 yeah yeah imagine a world where Knock Off is even more of a free click, very consistent, and even does really high damage? Imagine if half the metagame knows the move! Imagine, right guys? Thankfully no such world exists. Ever.

[@je19493]

Just wondering, were you ranking baton pass as it's current allowed version or in it's full not nerfed state? Since I would think that full strength baton pass would be significantly better than spikes in the "allows crap pokemon to be good" sense.

[@ekos8282]

15:00 I was told gen 3 meta didn't use knock off that much. But whem it got a buff in gen 6, people realised that despite only 20 bp removing item is insanely handy.

[@frogwhisperer4268]

In gen 3 it's basically only available on Hariyama and Armaldo. Hariyama is much more respected nowadays than back then though.

[@kieraaaaaaaaaa]

With the other commentator, yeah another thing is knock off has a very limited amount of mons it can be on, and most of those are shitmons like Farfetch'd and Lickitung. Hariyama is the best user probably, but it's really just that or armaldo. Item removal is insanely good but i dont think youd want it on stuff like kabutops or kingler.

[@spookyscarylamppost3431]

This just shows what an adaptable game competitive Pokemon can be. A game version released from 2013 - 2014 can affect older version of the same franchise that is almost a decade old. I’d be hard pressed to name another game or franchise capable of doing the same.

[@cianmacgabhann6692]

15:12 ah yes, pre-nerf knock off. As in the nerf to ghost and psychic types because after knock off became 90-something power they just get deleted

[@peacebone8112]

Hard disagree on recover hm. It’s better than at least half of your top 10 in my mind. Yes you need some bulk for it to be helpful, but think about how many Pokémon would be bannable or way more viable if they had recover (basically any steel type, a lot of spinners/spinblockers) So many Pokémon would gladly trade twave or heal bell for recover in their move pool.

[@typhlosion7872]

Spikes and it's unquestionable imo

[@Skylark0000]

Very cool Jim

[@ThatOneGuy8305]

Knock off one of the best moves of all time quick we gotta buff it and give it to every pokemon with arms and half the pokemon without arms

[@lucaslourenco4528]

Could you make a video theorizing what gen3 OU would be like if attacks that make contact were considered physical and attacks that don't make contact were considered special, just like in current generations?

[@Guimhj]

Not all physical moves are contact moves o.O

[@lucaslourenco4528]

@@Guimhj Sorry, I don't realy know how to ask the question in the best way possible because my English is terrible, but I think you understand what I meant...

[@EggscellentTree]

Moves like earthquake, shadow ball and rock slide are physical moves but dont make contact.

[@zumberburg6527]

"Qwilfish and Omastar would be the least common I think" Cacturne:

[@EggscellentTree]

The mon that got banned because of how strong he is.

[@zumberburg6527]

@@EggscellentTree yeah I know

[@EggscellentTree]

@@zumberburg6527 Oh I misunderstood , thought you meant that he was less viable

[@rasmusgarbonzo1411]

do this for every gen plz

[@cocomunga]

Before i watch the video im going to guess- calm mind

[@windwaker0rules]

The best move is ice beam when you are a luck god.

[@JforJonas]

Coming from a person with a degree in audio, your type of microphone seems to be pointed in the wrong direction giving you some artifacts on your voice. If you point it towards your mouth instead (from the same off-axis position) you should still avoid the loud plosives, especially with that pop-filter. Epic video though.

[@MK-yg2np]

Why isnt thief used instead of knock off?

[@ValidationOff]

Thief makes you forced to not use an item. It can also be inconsistent since you can get an item that can lock you badly into an item like Choice Band. Its also not splashable on most pokemon movesets since you need to free an item slot and move slot just to take one pokemons item while Knock Off can threaten any pokemons item.

[@Borax_Sensei]

Rapid Spin Stealth rock Spikes Extreme speed Belly drum Recover Uhh...

[@y8knsnsnzmzz]

Top tier gaming knowledge sir

[@kirbymontrey3897]

Has iron mugulis been defeated?

[@jaketerpening3284]

I think he won in that he came over into the real world, but then he became a good guy after making it. I don't remember which video that part of the lore was though so I can't confirm.

[@paulh462]

Spore #1

[@buubaku]

Forgot to mention mud sport

[@DragapultRules]

I would love an Iron Mugulis but I live in Singapore :(

[@Bean._.]

Hazards being commonly distributed isn't insane to me, but every single mon having knock off in gen 9 is absolutely absurd. I strongly feel like that move has singlehandedly made mons less fun

[@edgargaebolg9307]

Didn't Tyranitar of all people lose it? Or did the DLCs give it back?

[@joesmith00]

Water spout would be pretty good

[@randaljr.8581]

before watching: hidden power or spikes

[@wentoneisendon6502]

"these French pokemon" lmao