The Worst Gen 5 Pokémon

Pokémon Black and White are some of the best main games in the Pokémon lineup, and this is more than evident when you look at the 156 Pokémon introduced in this generation. Most of them are very impressive, even if just for casual playthrough. However, as always, there's always going to be a few that can't be considered anything other than the WORST of the Generation. In this video I'll be going over what I consider to be the worst Pokémon in the Gen 5 games.

[@thepuppet4321]

The biggest blow of all to Patrat is that it would’ve been useful early game…..if Lillipup didn’t exist in the exact same route, because Stoutland, even freaking Herdier, being a better Watchog in every way. Early game Tackle to level 15 Take Down, Crunch at level 24, Intimidate being one of the best abilities in the game, being able to use Eviolite as a Herdier to make it even tankier than Watchog can dream of, evolve levels being roughly like Venusaur and Meganium, and stats that are very respectable even at late game. Stoutland is basically like an unofficial normal type starter.

[@shepskydad]

Way too true. Stoutland is the Pokémon that made me realize how good normal types could be. Hits like a truck 🛻

[@MamaTrixxieAsmr]

Honestly though, lillipup doesn’t stop the annoyance that is the watchogs that like every plasma grunt is carrying that all have the same annoying moveset Someone on gen 5’s dev team was evil laughing to themselves with the watchog movesets

[@Gilbert_Dice_Gottfried]

Well watchog can learn hypnosis and confuse Ray. That’s the only benefit watchog over the Stoutland can have but at least that’s something.

[@leftlegleg]

@@shepskydad The serperior callout was both wrong and correct, as your starter isn’t your only pokemon, and a good normal or flying type can stop most of its weaknesses, but lategame, especially with its contrary ability it’s pretty overpowered with leaf storm, draco meteor, etc.

[@shardtheduraludon]

@@leftleglegyou don’t get Hidden Abilities on your starter, and there’s literally no way to change that during a Unova playthrough Also Serperior doesn’t even get Draco Meteor

[@Aliya_Akane]

the funniest thing about heatmor is that its bad sure, but if you look at its stats its clearly 100% devoted to smiting durant SPECIFICALLY, this guy gave up on everything else in life just to have his favorite snack more often

[@paiprguy]

The funniest but is it got a new signature move in a generation it can't be caught in. And then the following generation where it can be caught, the move is no longer exclusive to it.

[@TransformersFanCo328]

I think the call to make the Patrat line extinct might actually be heeded, since the last time you could get one was in X and Y, and it's not looking like the Indigo Disk is going to change that, making the line two of the very few Pokemon that you can't have on any of the mainline entries on Switch.

[@shepskydad]

Imagine performing so terribly that the company who made you doesn’t care about you anymore.

[@ParasocialCatgirl]

RIP Watchy Watchog, I still miss watching you on the Unovan TV 😢

[@ezracohen3859]

No they still appear in TCG and anime

[@BlazedKiller308]

​@@ezracohen3859yeah but he meant last appearance in a mainline game

[@zoelindwall637]

@@shepskydad I also gen 5 is when Pokémon copy cat Pokémon becomes a thing

[@josephcirrincone9596]

Who would've thought that freaking Watchog would've been your savior?

[@shepskydad]

Makes me feel bad for putting the #MakeWatchogExtinct in there. Not bad enough to take it out, but still a little bad lol

[@josephcirrincone9596]

@@shepskydad yeah

[@cactneir]

Correction watchhog is the annoyance that everybody remembers playing gen 5. Won't stop showing up. Wait every generation of grunts does this crap.........😢 and they're always low tier pokemon 😂😂😂😂😂

[@nachoroman2001]

. . ​@@shepskydad

[@nachoroman2001]

. . ​@@shepskydad

[@dialzza4902]

Honestly if we’re talking about in-game black and white I gotta give my vote to Deino. It can’t evolve until level 52, and then again at 64, meaning you’re taking a baby into the elite four. And it’s available in victory road so you don’t even get to use it vs other babies earlygame. Hydreigon is awesome when you can use it but the main game’s been over for ages before you get a chance.

[@shepskydad]

Pseudo-legendaries are always weird for these videos. They’re almost always unattainable before post-game, but that’s also the point. I err on the side of not pissing off pseudo-legendary lovers 😂

[@dialzza4902]

Fair, but I think Deino is a special case here even among Pseudos- pretty much every other pseudo is available at a lower level than the champion, while Deino is just becoming a zweilous at Ghetsis' levels, nevermind the elite 4 where it's still cleanly a Deino. Garchomp, Salamence, Dragonite, Goodra, Kommo-o, and Baxcalibur are all very cleanly usable in time for the final stretch of the game, and many are available early enough for you to use their second stage as well. Deino just suffers. @@shepskydad

[@InquisitorThomas]

Also Deino has an awful ability, sure you get an attack boost, but you also get an accuracy debuff.

[@MoosemeIon]

I used one during my White 2 Playthrough(and traded a deino egg from my other save to get it early) and oh my God it was so useless until the e4, it was an amazing team in the end, but damn did it suck

[@eightcoins4401]

Iirc Bagon is only avaible AFTER the Elite 4 in Hoenn. Same with Beldum.

[@SmashingPichu]

Your Watchog had so much plot armor. Definitely the main character.

[@alexfischer7876]

Imagine _Watchog Team Six_ kind of playthrough... if *Spheal Team Six* worked, why not let have other Generations jump on the fun?

[@Xpwnxage]

Honestly man, I would love to see you go back and do every "worst Pokemon of gen x" this way. Completing the game with a subpar team helps show your rhetoric.

[@Andrew-xv8zq]

Bro just had sub par gameplay ngl

[@ianmcandrew7893]

its too simplifying to just say Serperior has bad offense. It's offensive stats are low because it's fantasy is of a grass snake that whittles opponents down with moves like wrap and leech seed while being hard to take down due to high defense and mega drain (and again leech seed). The games would be pretty boring if every pokemons fantasy/playstyle was "me hit with big stick". Think of a boa constrictor slowly choking out its opponent rather than say a grizzly bear ripping out your throat. Both get the job done but by different means. Variety is the spice of life

[@shepskydad]

I really like the way you presented this. Too often the games turn into “hit with big stick” and I need to appreciate the subtleties in a Pokémon’s entire conception more than just seeing if it has a big stick (pause). Thanks for the insight :)

[@yungmuney5903]

But that's just plain tedious and not efficient like at all, it'd be one thing if we're talking about competitive multiplayer but this is a playthrough, having to deal with constant fodder trainers, the time you have to spend whittling down adds up a lot. Other grass starters can do this too while still able to dent for some quick progress, look at Venusaur, but Serperior? That's pretty much all it can really do, which doesn't make for fun gameplay imo.

[@ianmcandrew7893]

@@yungmuney5903 thats your opinion. grab sawsbuck or simisage if you want a more traditional beatstick. not everyone is speedrunning

[@nyoron39]

That would work if they were bulkier, but since that's not the case, nobody used them until they got Contrary and could abuse the "hit with big stick" strat by spamming Leaf storm

[@ianmcandrew7893]

@@nyoron39 I think you are referring to the competitive scene, which is a different discussion than an in game playthrough

[@JanusHoW]

For Alomamola's last move slot, you'd want to run Scald alongside Toxic, Wish and Protect. Being able to inflict two types of damaging negative status is incredible in multiplayer, especially if you like running stall. That gargantuan HP, great mono Water typing will make the pink sunfish into an excellent defensive pivot against anything that isn't a Grass or Electric type given defensive investment. It's even doing well in Gen 9 singles.

[@RadicalJawzFunnyMoments]

Exactly alomamola is so good I can’t believe it’s on this list. It’s a beast in black and white honestly

[@Andrew-xv8zq]

@@RadicalJawzFunnyMomentsthis guy doesn’t know pokemon

[@RadicalJawzFunnyMoments]

@@Andrew-xv8zq agreed. XD

[@MooseKINGstudios]

As a kid, I unironically used Alomomola in my final team. She just called out to me as my water team member.

[@HerwakNic]

I had a Watchog on my very first playthrough of Pokemon Black, and it even carried me through Shauntal and Caitlin in the E4, so asking for Watchog to go extinct is actually offensive to me 😭

[@diegoxavier9107]

The thing about Watchog is that it's completely unnecessary and has no niche even in an in-game playthrough. Stoutland is on the same routes and actually scales well into late game, performing better in every battle at every stage of the game.

[@AdmiralHippster]

​@diegoxavier9107 Well in b2 I use as vm slave so it has niche

[@CaelWhiz]

​@@diegoxavier9107 I actually had both a Stoutland and a Watchog in my first play through. Watchog was status/tactic themed, and Stoutland was brute force themed...I just liked them both and wanted to have them w me throughout the game, so I did.

[@CaelWhiz]

I had both Watchog and Stoutland in my first playthrough, and I loved them. So I also dislike the whole 'make them go instinct cause another Pokemon does what it does better' mentality

[@MikipatamBR]

Krookodile: Lowers your Attack with Intimidate Also Krookodile: Uses Foul Play

[@spimax12]

When you mentioned Maractus the first thing I thought of the only time I've ever thought about that Pokemon was because it was the first shiny I've ran into ever despite playing since Gen 3, in SWSH. And then you mentioned you guaranteed no one has seen it. I believe I am the only person who's seen a shiny Maractus before this video

[@sendwings8474]

actually, ive also seen it!! but thats only because i play pokemon go and find maractus fairly often in the wild. but yeah, not a very well known shiny

[@matchamitminze]

No, I hatched a shiny Maractus in White 2 because I love the Pokemon 🫶 it was part of my shiny dream team alongside Samurott, Emolga, Zoroark, Chandelure, and Haxorus. It was part of one of my favorite shiny dream teams; it took Whimsicott’s place, who saw the spotlight in Alpha Sapphire

[@GabrielleSticca]

Happened the same to me. Then I had the awful idea of build a team around it, but in my defence it was such a pretty shiny 😭

[@tdarkhorse4]

i specifically hunted one down for my shiny dex!

[@morganmatthews2222]

I used a maractus on my E4 team in my first play through of radical red. Completely carried for Lorelei's water team

[@gusteen3292]

Alomamola is a good example of a Pokemon good in competitive but sucks in-game, in competitive it is one of the best walls to use in the Smogon lower tiers with Regen + Wish healing massive amounts of HP to Mola and the team, and in Gen 9 it is even OU ranked, maybe make a video of good competitive Pokemon that arent good in-game, that would an interesting watch.

[@shepskydad]

I appreciate that there is a balance of good in competitive/bad in game (or the opposite) for some Pokemon. It feels like they really try to have every Pokémon be useful in some way even if it’s nowhere near the best. I like the idea for the video!!!

[@gusteen3292]

@@shepskydad Yeah there are a ton of other Pokemon off the top of my head that follow that concept, I imagine Blissey isn't the most commonly used Pokemon in playthroughs, especially considering how much of pain it was to get in the early gens. Smeargul is a fun novelty at best during an in-game playthrough but not worth a team slot in-game. Sabeleye is a Pokemon that just exists in-game but is the most infuriating thing to face when under an experienced player. Mamoswine is an odd case in that I imagine it would be a good playthrough mon, if it wasn't so much of a pain to evolve it with the whole needing to remember Ancient Power despite not being learned naturally, thus taking a possibly longer process than necessary compared to other Pokemon.

[@robertlupa8273]

@@gusteen3292 Blissey is pretty hard to get in-game, but once you get it, it invalidates basically all special attackers you face (or at least so I've heard). You almost always get Piloswine after getting access to the Move Reminder. *Platinum:* 2 gyms earlier. *HGSS:* the town right after the cave you find it in. *B2W2:* 3 gyms earlier. *XY:* literally next to the cave you get it in. *SM/USUM:* exception - you have to wait until the League for the Reminder. *SWSH:* you can move remind in every Pokecenter. *LA & ScVi:* you can move remind literally anywhere, anytime.

[@gusteen3292]

@@robertlupa8273 Well to a player they may not know they even need Ancient Power to evolve Pilo into Mamo, so it would make sense for them to learn the move naturally, but it isn't, so there is a lack of guidance to that, especially since Yanma can learn Ancient Power via level up as well, so why not Pilo

[@Amelia4111]

Alomomola is spelled with 3 O's, not 3 A's!

[@florence8146]

Loved the video! Gen 5 is my absolute favourite with White being my first Pokémon game as a kid, and I have a particular soft spot for its many single stage Pokémon!! I'm also a fan of doing challenging playthroughs so, while frustrating at times, the low stats of many of these Pokémon don't bother me so much. It just forced me to use interesting strategies and made me really emotionally attached! I think most of Unova's single stage Pokémon suffer most through their availability. Since I had both Black and White as a kid I would borrow my sister's DS to trade over eggs at the start of the game (or use the conveniently early day care!), allowing me to use Pokémon like Heatmor and Alomomola effectively as starters, where they have a chance to really shine through the early and midgame!! One of my favourite playthroughs I did a while back consisted of a team of Durant (as a pseudo-starter), Musharna, Throh, Maractus, Emolga, Basculin and Cryogonal. It was definitely tough but I managed to beat the game with level caps and no items in battle. As I said before, it was so fun to find unique strategies that allowed this team to succeed, and made me love all of them by the end. I also once did a solo run with just a single Stunfisk (including beating post game Cynthia at lvl100 with no items in battle), which is one of my most memorable and fun playthroughs to this day!!

[@shepskydad]

The solo run with Stunfisk sounds like chaos and a ton of fun 😂 Glad you enjoyed!

[@InfernoGamer007]

Thank you for fighting the Elite 4 with these pokemon for our entertainment. Makes me want to try doing a run similar to this myself, but with slightly different pokemon! The Doggo pic at the end was also amazing.

[@theskeptic777]

Its crazy how competitively and over the generations literally all of these pokemon have gotten buffed. Except watchog.

[@goldenhydreigon4727]

The fact Watchog knocked out Hydreigon makes Watchog even more worthy of extinction

[@pogggaming4470]

You really love Hydreigon that much?

[@MirageIslander]

@@pogggaming4470 hydreigon is cool

[@alexfischer7876]

Let alone for knocking out _freakin ZEKROM._

[@samdilophosaur9787]

1:54 actually, I’m using mandibuzz in black 2 rn, and she’s been really helpful for my team. She enables my other mons, like seismitoad and darmanitan, and can deal with most lead Pokémon either with tailwind + u-turn, or using snarl to shut down the special attackers that can harm my slow and bulky mons like conkeldurr and cofagrigus. Weak armor even helps against the really fast mons that might try to prevent tailwind and u-turn

[@josephcirrincone9596]

1:52 plus Whimsicott actually has quite a name in the competitive scene thanks to the ability Prankster plus it's clearly support focused set

[@shepskydad]

It definitely does! It’s unfortunate that it’s less useful in game since the AI is garbage half the time.

[@josephcirrincone9596]

@@shepskydad true

[@XyrnaTheTrainer]

I remember looking at Ducklett when playing Black for the first time and thinking… what

[@awesomeocelot7475]

I literally bred a Heatmor (with N’s Zoarark so it would have faint attack and night slash) so that I could use it during a playthrough as it’s my favorite fire type Pokémon.

[@buzzpeep8695]

I can think of 2 gen five pokemon that weren't mentioned being Stunfisk and Garbodor. Stunfisk lacks a good ground type move for its more prominent offensive stat, and by the time you get to it you'll have had access electric types that are either just as good or better than it and Eelektross just does its job of being a bulky electric type better. Garbodor has decent stats, but it doesn't get any physical poison type moves until level 54 and basically only has normal type moves for its better offensive stat.

[@LGThatcher]

Serperior’s high speed stat kind of hurts it. It’s attack isn’t high enough to capitalise and those points could be better allocated to its defences or HP if that is the direction you want to take it.

[@shepskydad]

Exactly. If you’re going to make it defensive/support based, give it the stats in needs to fit in that role. It’s too averaged.

[@Amelia4111]

We don't use the word its as a pronoun if there's an apostrophe in it! And the C in defense is supposed to be an S!

[@Mr_Nerelevantny]

The fact that he actually won using the "6 worst gen 5 Pokemon" just shows us that it doesn't actually care, remember kids, Pokemon isn't a hard game, so use any pokemon you like!

[@peteypiranalover]

Its funny how Serperior in game playthrough vs competitive changes from trash to amazing thanks to high level hidden ability. Access to a late game move with HA is everything

[@rahuhe4102]

I feel like Emolga was supposed to benefit from Volt Switch as a "Hit and Run" type character, but with those stats it kinda fails the "Hit" part

[@LucOfLegends]

I feel like you can explicitly break down the ranking within the team over who is truly the worst of all, which I think safely goes to Watchog. - Serperior and Alomamola are the MVPs, as they have the best defense and sustain that allows them to wear down a lot of the foes in E4 with Leech Seed and Toxic respectively. Of the two, I'd probably say Alomamola is better but its close. - Maractus got waaay more mileage out of Sucker Punch than was expected as it ended up cleaning up a bunch of foes (if only it got Zekrom too rip). It also having an actual set of offensive stats probably also helped against Shauntal and Ghetsis. - Emolga has some fun tricks and STAB Acrobatics with a good speed stat does help, but that stuff seems to only take it so far. It was probably one of your most consistent damage dealers though for the gauntlet. - Heatmor was initially what I thought was the worst, but really thinking on it made me realize that while the number of things it could actually fight was very few and it did end up letting you down in the end, breaking down those Steel-types was actually super important for the team, especially if you could get Flamethrower on it before N (since Zekrom is 52 and Heatmor learns it at 51 I would consider it fair game for level caps). It really is just a matter of being at the wrong part of the game, which is unfortunately the only part of the game one can get Heatmor. - Watchog...kinda really just got lucky or won as a matter of circumstance, because it literally just got atomized every other time, and I seriously doubt how effective it could be using its utility. It's just a very...blahh mon and I think this shows it even with its few very lucky wins. Even still, seeing which shatmons end up surprising me is one of my favorite things about playing mons nowadays. Was utterly flabbergasted at how good Klawf was in SV, and I am very excited to my Uncommon Mark Maractus in a newish SwSh playthrough.

[@shepskydad]

I’m loving the in depth analysis. I couldn’t agree with you more. - Serperior became consistent only after evolving, but once it did it really came in handy. Kind of wish I kept Coil but the Leech Seed/Giga Drain combo, it filled it’s role well - Alomomola’s Aqua Jet was NOT something I expected to be useful, but it was incredibly helpful. Toxic was really the MVP move at the end of the day. - Maractus impressed me with it’s damage output. Sucker Punch was especially helpful since they team was fairly slow. It says a lot that it did well even when Serp was right there. - I joked about hating Emolga, but I actually respect it more now. Outside of stats, it doesn’t have any other huge downsides. Helpful moveset! - Heatmor… yeah I wish I could have had Durant 😂 Flamethrower would have made the difference for some kills, but it’s speed is rough, and there are too many good fire types otherwise The more I play Pokémon, the more I find appreciation for the really average or underexplored mons. They have a unique charm to them :) Thanks for watching!

[@Doggo.Ahlgren]

The saddest part of heatmor is that his signature move is made in gen 6 but he doesn’t get it until gen 7 when he’s actually in the dex

[@Jlaps941]

You mean Gen 7 and 8 right? Fire lash wasn’t made until Gen 7, and Heatmor was in Galar not Alola

[@Doggo.Ahlgren]

@@Jlaps941 yeah you’re right

[@lyncario5515]

One thing to note about Whimsicott and Lilligant is that while they're version exclusive in the wild, you can trade their base form for each others, effectivelly making them not be version exclusives. But yeah, they do not belong on that list, especially not Lilligant. Also Emolga on that list is mega cap. It's way better than the massive dissapoitment that is Zebstrika that it ends up outdamaging very quickly because acrobatics is better than Zebstrika's entire level up moveset.

[@lyncario5515]

Also I just realised that you said that surf was the best water stab in the generation that introduced scald. What the fuck are you blabling on about.

[@osets2117]

Emolga is weak to even more things than zebstrika and has less coverage. He said surf is "one of the best water moves", not every water type can learn scald and a lot of non water types and water types can learn surf. The only person capping here is you

[@lyncario5515]

@@osets2117 Every water types in Unova do learn scald tho. And it was speaken within the context of being a water stab, so no need to bring up non water types in this conversation. And while Emolga gets weaknesses from it's flying type, it also gains more resistances, you bozo. Zebstrika has 2 resist + 1 immunity thanks to it's abilities converting it's electric resistance into an immunity, while Emolga has 5 resistances + 1 immunity. Furthermore, woah, what a great coverage movepool Zebstrika gets, the 50 base power flame charge with a stat buff that doesn't matter because Zebstrika already outspeeds nearly everything in BW1, the 40 base power rock smash, and normal type moves with no super effective coverage? Oh no, that's totally better than the effective 110 base power STAB move Emolga gets by level up in Acrobatics. Oh, woe is me. TL;DR, go check your facts on Bulbapedia before posting garbage like that.

[@justakathings]

I’ve used emolga on so many teams in gen 5 and it’s always been amazing. It’s carried me so many time so I love emolga. I was excited to use it in sword and shield but was quickly disappointed at how bad it is in them games. I’m guessing it’s because of how many Pokémon that can now check it. I want emolga to be good again lol

[@jeanlouisdelossantos5347]

In Black and White, you can actually get an Emolga at Route 7 by trading it with a Boldore.

[@yukiizura]

I fully agree that my beloved Serperior sucks compared to the other two starters, and isn't all that good generally. But Leech Seed gives it some utility in the mid-game, and when it finally gets Coil and Leaf Blade, it can definitely start pulling it's weight. But yeah... we shouldn't have to wait that long 😭 Otherwise I agree with everything said. Emolga and Alomolola are especially tragic, because Emolga just falls once again into the useless Pikaclone trend, and competitive shows us how effective Alomolola CAN be in the right situation. Poor Maractus manages to be worse *and* less cool than Cacturne, and Heatmor needs to get in the bin where it belongs. But I'm glad we can all agree on #MakeWatchogExtinct. Getting to see the actual run at the end was a really nice addition! Definitely gave a good idea of just how crappy these Pokémon are in-game.

[@lewisgregory1996]

Even with coil, it's still terrible because so many Pokémon resist grass

[@oscen335]

If it makes you feel better serperior is a really good pokemon in gen9 ou cause of contrary leaf storm and is best starter in gen9 compared to other unovan starters

[@TunaBear64]

They make Beartic look like a good pick for Unova, and using Beartic in Unova is unbearable.

[@user-mp9pn9bz3z]

The ironic thing is that by getting the worst starter (which is Snivy, obviously) you get Pampour as the gifted elemental monkey which evolves into Simipour, literally the best Water type of the game. Even more ironically, since the other 2 starters and the 2 other elemental monkeys are either average or mediocre the most connvenient thing to do is: get Snivy as starter just so you can get Panpour, then abandon Snivy in the box.

[@flameconvoy7424]

24:59 I haven’t heard that song in so long, thanks for the nostalgia hit

[@fortello7219]

Hey now! I care about Alomomola! Actually, when I first placed B/W I found that some of my favorites were: Serperior, Maractus, Heatmor, Alomomola, Jellicent, and Vanilluxe. If I had to choose my least favorites however, I would definitely pick Pidove's evolutions (but not pidove itself), and Vullaby

[@noahpatterson2850]

Whats the name of the song at 24:59? I havent heard that in years

[@mattguy1773]

if you make a video on the worst gen 6 pokemon you should consider mega evolutions as gen 6 pokemon since it has so little new ones

[@shepskydad]

I love that idea! I’ll be sure to keep it in mind :)

[@shatteredyoshi]

My first run through Gen 5 had me dragging a watchog through the E4 Love the addition of battles at the end!

[@ParasocialCatgirl]

ayyy same here!

[@user-yi1ml5ol5e]

I thought Ghetsis was throwing @ the end there. Nothing like a max revive to bring urself back from the brink lol. Good vid & shout-out 2 Watchhog for clutching up in big spots 👏🏾💯

[@MarcoBeSomething]

I’m finishing my current Black play through and I’m about to rematch the Elite 4. I wanted to use Pokemon I mostly didn’t use on my first play when it first came out. My memory of it is hazy because it’s been so long but I’m positive the only two on my previous team reused on this team were Serperior and Stoutland. My new members were Simipour, Musharna, Zebstrika and Scolipede. I’ve really enjoyed getting to revisit Unova, my team mostly held up but the most disappointing members were Musharna and Zebstrika. I just expected them to be better but they did their parts and helped where needed, my team really was carried by the other 4 but mostly carried by believe it or not Serperior and Simipour. The fight I had the most trouble with was Ghetsis, I believe it took like 3 or 4 attempts because he was higher leveled by a decent amount and my team genuinely isn’t that good but it made the run really fun. I played it with a mostly Nuzlocke ruleset despite it just being a regular play through. All in all I still have this game as my favorite 2D Pokemon game and I gained some new appreciation for it being older; my first play through was when I was 11 and I’m 23 now. I enjoyed the leveling system and how it encourages you to explore more areas with trainers waiting to battle you, it definitely made grinding levels easier and I felt it was pretty balanced. I know people don’t like how linear it is but I think it’s fine considering it hit all its story beats. The postgame is interesting in the sense that you can tackle it how you’d like; I personally visited each area and continued the linear path to grind levels. Then I got all the sages and caught Kyurem, I was even fortunate enough to encounter a shiny Piloswine on my way out of Giant Chasm. The only things I want to do before moving on are: *Beat The League *Beat Cynthia *Get my whole team to level 100

[@Trevor_NewJerusalem]

There are many gen 5 Pokemon I dislike but I don't dislike any of them more than I loathe Jynx.

[@shepskydad]

I feel like there’s a really good story behind this

[@Trevor_NewJerusalem]

@@shepskydad She reminds me of a very disagreeable person who frightened me as a child and I can only see her when I look at Jynx.

[@shepskydad]

@@Trevor_NewJerusalem thank you for sharing ❤️

[@robertlupa8273]

@@Trevor_NewJerusalem Ah, so it's personal, I see.

[@Trevor_NewJerusalem]

@@robertlupa8273 It's also just pretty ugly and gross in general. But yes. 99% personal.

[@jaretco6423]

In my opinion, Gen. 5 introduced the most solid mons out of any gen. They make almost any one of them so balanced without being too overpowered or too weak and most of them are pretty good or even amazing in battle. Yeah. There are few stickers; like Maractus, Stunfisk & Watchog. But even some mediocre mons are not quite as awful as compared to most of the Gen. 2 or Gen. 3 mons has where they are unbelievably worthless. But at the same time, there isn't an mon that felt nearly as broken like the ones in Gen. 8 & 9 where there so O.P., it never goes down and removes any challenge. Also I'm an Serperior fan as well. It's my favorite starter Pokemon as well. But I do agree started in Black & White, it was pretty mediocre. Not as bad as Meganium was in Gen. 2. But it's close. Black 2 & White 2 kinda makes it better. But not by much. Thankfully it gotten so much better in Gen. 6 and onwards thanks to Contrary and other tools it needed.

[@reshi-chat6998]

Personaly, I used 3 of these pokemon: Emolga, Serperior and Alomomola, all at level 48 or 49, I didn't find it difficult because you can have access to some TMs like Thunderbolt, Waterfall and Rain Dance, I used them with Sigilyph, Reshiram/Chandelure and Archeops. It wasn't very difficult because i knew where most TMs are and how to use them. I used Serperior with Leech Seed, Coil, Leaf Blade and Aerial Ace with Rocky Helmet, Emolga with Thunderbolt, Encore, Acrobatics and Volt Switch (if I knew that an ice type move or strong physical attack, I would have switch into Alomomola) and Alomomola with Rain Dance, Aqua jet, Wake up Slap and Waterfall with its ability Hydratation. So if you know how to get the best from them, it will be easier for you. (I also finished pokemon white with some of the worst pokemons Delibird, Smeargle/Zekrom, Furret, Emolga, Chatot and Luvdisc at level 47 or 50 for Emolga. It was really hard.)

[@zoesommers2927]

I admit, I ended up really liking Heatmor after I did a harmonia run of pokemon white (challenge run where you release all pokemon except your starter after each gym battle and can only take on the next gym with pokemon caught in between the two. i believe it's called a harmonia run after N because of how he always challenges you in BW with a team made up of pokemon local to the area you're fighting him in? There's some other rules like only being able to attack a wild pokemon if you attempt to run away first and fail, requirement to immediately heal your pokemon after any battle where they get below 3/4 hp, can't challenge trainers to battles (but they can challenge you). It's...interesting.) Anyways, taking on the elite four, N, and Ghetsis using a team of only pokemon caught on Route 10 and in Victory Road, Heatmor ended up doing a lot of heavy lifting and I gained a new appreciation for it.

[@gabrielmarchena1755]

can you use TM in this run? cause some moves could've beeen optimized

[@samktiago]

what did you say of Alomomother?

[@Orpheolus]

On my first ever playthrough of Black and White I used both Watchog and Serperior, it was a rough playthrough mostly with Clay. In fact Watchog somehow had amazing IVs and Nature and managed to outperform Snivy for much of the game. Eventually it fell off as I stumbled on better pokemon and Cobalion, but it was the little champ that could... I also had more wipes in a playthrough than any other playthrough including Platinum but who's counting?

[@MoarRushPl0x]

Watchog is good for shiny hunting. Illuminate with super fang/hypnosis is really useful.

[@megabits2657]

I hate emolga, especially in Pokemon Go when I hatch 10k eggs and I see the rat fly out.

[@Eminster]

Sounds like a skill issue

[@CaelWhiz]

I like Emolga, because it wasn't ruined for me by GO (lol), and I found it randomly w/o knowing how rare it is in my first playthrough of White, loved the design, and had fun w it on my team.

[@MarioMastar]

XD Loved the part where Heatmor attacks Bisharp and it lives on 1 HP and even GHETSIS himself steps in like "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" That just looked perfect! Like even the AI was like "That was BS..." XD Somehow the trainers coming in mixed with your commentary just matched perfectly. Like Marshal looks like he's swearing on screen cause his stone edge missed. XD

[@wingzero7678]

The only good thing the Patrat line has ever done to me is tanking Lenora's retaliate with detect in my nuzlocke of BW. This one niche is the only reason I bothered to level him up, that way I wouldn't lose any team members

[@HunterTheron]

I want to like Emolga. I honestly think it’s the most interesting Pikachu clone being based on a flying squirrel and being part flying. Why couldn’t it evolve into a flying Raichu?

[@specs.weedle]

I think Emolga deserves at least some credit for at least giving people running mono-electric teams at least something that absorbs ground moves, or for mono-flying teams to have an electric move absorber (at least if you’re not playing online, on a simulator, or if you’re beyond a point where Zapdos is now available in any given game) At least if you’re in a game without gen 9 mons. Kilowattrel completely outclasses it. Feel free to ask yourself whether or not you consider “it’s good if you’re using self imposed restrictions” to count as a compliment or just damning something by faint praise.

[@user-qh3qh3wh2v]

How does this man have only 23 k subs? This guy taught me so much about competitive in less than a day!

[@Mach9Blumpkin]

I am serperior's strongest soldier. it doesn't have a lot of variety but leech seed + coil + leaf blade + return makes for lots of easy sweeps. leech seed makes your defensive stats worth more and setting up coils is easy vs almost anything physical. once you have some boosts you're naturally outspeeding nearly everything and sweeping with +6 leaf blade.

[@Beavie]

You mention Emolga. I for sure think, that of the Pikaclones, it is at least a usable Pikaclone. Its speed is good, and I think its typing helps it a lot. The biggest issue is just it doesn't hit quite hard enough. But I think it has a good role as a pivot on a team. Light Screen and Thunder Wave, switch out with Volt Switch, and an attacking move, can be a Pokemon to set up the field for your team to sweep whether your teammate needs to tank special hits or to slow down the opponent. Ranking the Pikachu/Pikaclone roles. Azumarill (w/Fairy type and Huge power) Pawmi/Pawmot Azumarill (w/o fairy, has Huge Power) Pikachu/Raichu Togedemaru (Steel type + Flinch hax) Emolga Azumarill (Pre abilities) Pachirisu (World Champ, and at least it is one I keep for pickup/team mascot) Dedene Plusle Minum

[@patricklynch4074]

I genuinely really like heatmor

[@eliwoodnguyen1505]

Snivy got burned in here way harsher than flamethrower

[@caramelvictim193]

Its funny you would say Emolga is bad, back in the day my friend absolutely destroyed me with their Emolga, apparently it was the perfect counter to my team 😢

[@anilkarakaya9343]

Rufflet deserves a mention I guess. It is insane even in scarlet. You get starly earlier, staraptor is 25 levels earlier than braviary and rufflet gains exp VERY slowly. Staraptor gets close combat at get go and is more speedy than braviary as well

[@glassbead9339]

Massive cojones to face N & Ghetsis with those six, but for me Simisage, Simisear, Sawk, Throh & Musharna are worse. Not fond of Black & White's early game because of these Pokémon, used Emboar & Roggenrola to get past Lenora instead of Sawk & Throh. It made getting access to Krookodile & Lilligant after the 2nd gym all the more sweeter. Serperior - Poor Smugleaf, Ash's Snivy is great in the anime but Lilligant is a better Grass type set-up sweeper. Still way better than Simisage. Watchog - "Unfortunate" doesn't begin to describe Watchog's role in Gen 5, as the Lillipup line outclasses it as an early game Normal type. Not the worst early-game mon though, as it's better than the mons mentioned above. Maractus - Poor cactus is outclassed by Crustle, Sigilyph, Darmanitan and Krookodile, all of whom are available in the Desert Resort. Still take her over Simisage, though. Alomomola - Scald disqualifies it from any worst list, with 30% burn improving its prospects as a tank. Scald is also why Simipour is better than its siblings. Emolga - Irritating opponent with Static, no item Acrobatics and Volt Switch, definitely better than the early-game mons above. Outclassed by Galvantula, who is also way less annoying. Heatmor - Fire Lash is neat, but Chandelure & Darmanitan are way better. Still better than Simisear, though.

[@robertlupa8273]

Sawk? Really? Why do you think it's worse?

[@shepskydad]

Thanks for the analysis :) Giving us Watchog on the same route as Lillipup was just disrespectful 😂 And I’m surprised to hear that Sawk/Throh are on your list! Musharna I can understand, but with an early Moon Stone it can put in WORK.

[@glassbead9339]

@@shepskydad You're welcome, might have been too harsh on Sawk/Throh. Sawk especially is decent, the issue is that Scraggy/Mienshao/Emboar offer more than them. Watchog's only niche is in the early game, where it can outspeed almost everyone at Lv. 20 and has Bite to flinch rivals. And Gen 5 is just a terrible time for Psychic type in general, too many good Bug, Dark & Ghost types in the game.

[@_httpkirby]

My first playthrough of this generation was with Snivy, and Coil was an invaluable move for me!

[@queerios9925]

Same! Coil made such a difference

[@Daniel-kx3zz]

Gen 5 is my least favorite gen. Yeah, good competitive pokemon and yeah, cooler story but a lot of these pokemon feel like bootleg kanto and hoenn pokemon, and ugly designs. Also, that barrier of b/w of only using Unova pokemon until you get national dex(fixed in b2/w2). Don't forget the frustrating shape of Alomomola, making players think this was an evolution from luvdisc

[@FriedChckn13]

Your description of Emolga made me believe that you really didn’t think it was bad haha. From my playthrough, I used Emolga and it was 100% better than the rest of the choices. Galvantula’s bug typing was terrible, Zebstrika was a phys attacker whose stab was Wild Charge (recoil), and Elektross was incredibly slow.

[@Amelia4111]

Eelektross is supposed to start with 2 E's!

[@ladonmccabe]

Serperior was just so disappointing. Its so cool, and has an amazing hidden ability. But since you cant get its hidden ability in its debut game, its just horrible, with a even worse moveset. None of the starters in 5th gen are necessarily "good," but emboar has a decent typing and stat spread, and Samurott had a great movepool, and a decent stat spread for a mixed attacker (and looks so cool, and got an amazing region variant).

[@r.a.fgattaiguy845]

Alomomola having lots of HP but being bad at defence actually makes sense, the thing is based on a sun fish, who are notorious for being huge yet squishy, often bullied and killed by seals, dolphins, parasites and even seagulls

[@robertlupa8273]

What a great timing! A few days ago I was thinking how there hasn't been a video of this series in a while. 3:52 At least you get Leech Seed! That's pretty good even if you were to faint on the same turn. 7:09 👍 I've used a Maractus on my first playthrough of Black and... yeah, it's definitely a very "mid" Pokemon. It wasn't even that good for Ghetsis's Seismitoad - which is 4x weak to Grass - because it knows Sludge Wave. Sorry buddy, I like you, but I'd rather have Bisharp for my postgame adventures. 11:23 My Sigilyph dodged all of them lol Man, I feel _so_ bad for Heatmor. I really wish it was better, but it has so much going against it. It's stuck being in the same area as the clearly-better Durant, which is usually late and even if it isn't, it's still just too mediocre to use. It's just worse Magmar (and Magmar was "meh" enough to get an evolution). It doesn't even have a good moveset at the level you get it at, so it's not even good for "no new moves" challenge runs. :/ 17:10 I was about to drink, I almost spit it out because of you xD 24:09 "You don't get to be[at] the champion of the Pokemon League without knowing how to spam Full Restores!" :P 28:02 I don't know if Ghetsis is surprised by the turn of events or by the fact that he's getting beated by a team of horrible Pokemon. :D

[@shepskydad]

Omg I love the play by play commentary 😭💙 And I’m glad you didn’t spit all over your screen 😂

[@CinnaSwirls]

Imagine trying to nuzlock with this team.

[@tankermottind]

I appreciated Gen 5 greatly for being the only gen I played (I didn't play anything past X/Y) with a decent Dragon type available in the main story (the Axew) line. As for Serperior, I started with Snivy and I discovered quite quickly that Snivy is shite and its evolutions don't really get any better, and eventually I dropped him off my party entirely. I know by the end I had Victini, Krookodile, Excadrill, Haxorus, Braviary, and Archeops, I think for the post game I benched Archeops too by trading in a Charizard via a three-way trade from FireRed to Diamond to White, because I will never not have a Charizard if I possibly can. (on that note, Y turned me off the series by being an absolutely trivially easy and effort-free game even by Pokemon standards, but it did have one highlight, which was Mega Charizard Y nuking water types with Solar Beam multiple turns in a row. It was borderline unfair, it was unfair, but it was hilarious when I was doing it.

[@TheNateRule]

Alamolo base 160 HP vs Chandler's Base 145 Sp. Atk is insane. Also doesn't it have Energy Ball?

[@trentbraz]

What's up with referring to Caitlin of the Elite 4 as both He and She? Seems like a total editing miss...

[@brendan6555]

The wait is over!

[@jaschabull2365]

Interesting that alomomola is apparently pretty useful in some of the lower tiers of PvP battling. By the sounds of it, it can basically be used like a mini water chansey. One of the best utilities it has is healing other party members with wish, as its incredible HP stat maximizes the healing that can be done on the recipient. I guess that's much less useful in one-player, where you're allowed to heal your pokémon directly, but once the bag option disappears when you face another human being, it apparently becomes invaluable (at least so long as you and your opponent have agreed you won't be busting out the strongest available pokémon, I guess).

[@buchinyan1019]

It's actually in OU right now and is more viable than stuff like walking wake or deoxys speed

[@orlandolazardi9818]

I got a maractus on my first run through like 10 years ago and I still remember it. It was so good. I really liked using it.

[@user-ip8ii7wp4e]

Using Whimsicott during my BW play through was AWESOME. Charm, stun spore, and leech seed spam plus Prankster made trainers like Drayden/Iris a breeze.

[@PaytonPaw124]

Can't wait for gen 6 also everyone I know doesn't like simisear but it actually pulled pretty through with my nuzlocke in x

[@shepskydad]

It gets a lot of hate, but it isn’t terrible. I think a lot of people hate it design wise 😂

[@PaytonPaw124]

@@shepskydad I've grown to like them but yeah I'm not really sure cuz most of the Pokemon I can't really think of except for maybe a masquerade because someone I know said they didn't like them

[@MatthewCenance]

How are you able to eliminate N and Gethsis with "poor tier Pokémon" while I took several days to defeat them while I was 11 with Victini and Reshiram on my team?

[@darwinespinoza3440]

It took me five of your videos to realize you turned your dog into a Pokémon lol

[@chayoto]

You beat the game on the shoulders of mid pokemon. You are both skilled and lucky.

[@TheManManoel]

I miss my shiny Watchog that i got as a Patrat at the dreamyard in pokemon Black... it sucked... mostly because it had iluminate as his ability. But a shiny is a shiny, right?

[@Highstar25]

it's worth mentioning that there is an in-game trade to obtain emolga in all four versions of B/W, which removes the annoyance of actually encountering one and gives you an emolga with boosted EXP gains and guaranteed excellent IVs. That one can be useful, if only because it will outlevel most other mons.

[@TCHcardinal]

I actually used both a watchog and an emolga on my first playthrough of pokemon Black. I love emolga, but I knew it was frail so I taught watchog retaliate to use it as a revenge killer, lol.

[@MrZrbrownie]

I once had the 'pleasure' of finding a Maractus in the desert in a Nuzlocke of White. The run didn't feel the same after that.

[@carriioneater]

Emolga could be pretty useful as only being weak against ice and rock, if a good chunk of the pokemon introduced in gen 5 weren't rock type also i completely forgot that maractus was gen 5 at all

[@maykonbrasileiro761]

What we learned from this video kids? Heatmor is the worst gen v pokemon

[@jalenciagass99]

only commenting to say that a few years ago on my first play through of Unova, the FIRST maractus i ever encountered was a shiny

[@nyambrosial1244]

I have a major vote against serperiors placement on the list and for liepard, now I play with set mode on, capped levels and no items no matter playing casually or nuzlocking which definitely changes the game versus at least using switch mode, but I've had so much trouble getting anything really done with samurott or emboar thanks to them being slow and frail, and having somewhat middling power moveset wise, and with water and especially fighting having abundant competition type wise as well, serperior managing to take the hits to get a good leech seed off or get a coil setup just has usually worked better at least versus the other starters, other grasses are better still but eh. Liepard has my vote though because of how little it actually does, supposed to be an early game Pokémon but watchog actually does what it should, purrloin and leipard suffer so much from how low power most dark moves are and having nothing really of note besides maybe fake out as a turn skipper. Greatest of all it learns nasty plot as an ok boost for its equivalent spatk to physatk (hone claws boosts too slowly for how frail and weak it is) but it can't get any special stab because dark pulse was removed as a tm and snarl is inaccessible legitimately, no foul play in gen 5 for swagplay shenanigans or swords dance or anything to help its 88 base attack night slash to do anything before it faints, actually my vote for the worst pokemon in all of bw (besides the inaccessible hydreigon, mandibuzz and braviary in level caps)

[@bravetree]

When I used Emolga was fun to use bc it learned volt switch via level up and always went first (I know it doesn’t really matter bc you get the TM around the same time but it’s still cool)

[@paiprguy]

I can't express enough how gratifying it is for you to send what you said. Start let me sat, my favorite type is grass type. Every generation I've chosen grass type as my starter, except for Gen5 that is. Superior is a gimmick pokémon which is unfortunate because it's also a starter and it relies 100% on its hidden ability for people to make any argument about it actually being good. Which has made all the more painful by its abysmal practically non-existent a variety and type coverage when it comes to moves. What makes your critique of Serperior even more gratifying is that you didn't mention what is my favorite gen5 pokémon as well as my gen grass type, The one that is the easy target for most people when it comes to generation 5 hate aka Pan/Simisage. So thank you, for this little moment that means so much to me, even though it was un intentional, as well as thia video series, its a fun listen to for sure.

[@TheAzulmagia]

The only thing I remember about Watchog is going from finding Lenora's a bit intimidating early on due to Retaliate to being annoyed that Team Plasma kept sending them out to get one-shot in the later portions of the game. Also, annoyingly accurate Hypnosis spam.

[@antioriginalityguy]

What is the music in the watchog section?

[@shepskydad]

It's Cedric Juniper's theme!

[@antioriginalityguy]

@@shepskydad thx man

[@Buck_Bentley]

Glad you are open about Unfezent

[@manjackson2772]

Mandibuzz is crazy, you're nuts for even mentioning it. It's one of the tankiest things I've ever seen. Even Vullaby is ridiculously tough with an Eviolite.

[@novakitty1619]

Playing Black with Serperior almost made it more memorable for me? I remember struggling SO hard with Skyla especially.

[@jbeezy-ty3em]

I need a medusa inspired alternate serperior form for the new legends game. Grass/ghost with swapped defense/attack stats and a signature move called petrify or something. And keep the french theme somehow

[@Vianyte]

Weird how Liepard isn't even mentioned. I tried a playthrough with a Liepard on my team and I had to drop it because of poor damage and bulk. Serperior isn't great, but it's pretty easy to stack Coils on it so it can be a big threat. That was my tactic when using it.

[@dbzmaster1213]

I agree Emolga is not that great, but tbh if it was stronger Elesa would be an INSANELY difficult fight

[@mprp2348]

Encore emolga with acrobatics carried my monotype electric run

[@karla22ify]

Serperior has been in my team since the first time I played Black. It was actually the main reason I managed to beat Ghetsis. It's fast, and actually hits pretty hard.