Top 5 Most NERFED Pokémon Of All Time

Over the generations we have seen many Pokémon get buffed and nerfed, with some receiving more significant changes than others. Some buffs have had a big impact on the viability of a Pokémon, but some nerfs have done the exact same thing and not in a good way. Today we will be going over the top 5 most nerfed Pokémon of all time and explaining the impact those nerfs had on the viability of those Pokémon in competitive singles and VGC.
CREDITS (Sources & Gameplay)
• Pokemon X&Y / ORAS Wif...
• Nidoking, My Boy | Pok...
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• This Tera Fire Dragon ...
• How GOOD was Mew ACTUA...
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• Hisuian Samurott Gotta...
• How GOOD was Exeggutor...
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#competitivepokemon #pokemonscarletandviolet #pokemonshowdown
#gen9

[@rozepanter007]

Mewtwo definitely does not have the 3rd highest attack stat in gen 1. Don't know how I came to that conclusion.

[@leaffinite3828]

The huge cuts to movepools are always my least favorite nerfs.

[@petrie911]

It's kind of needed, though. 6 generations of TM and move tutor build-up gets bloated fast, and you don't really want a Pokemon's competitive moveset to require, say, a move tutor from FRLG or a gen 4 event move.

[@leaffinite3828]

@@petrie911 more of an indictment of giving pokemon moves exclusively through events or move tutors than of having big movepools tho

[@blazie42069]

Torn-T losing knock off is a crime. But hey, at least it may get to be UUBL

[@wigglytuffenjoyer]

Azumarill losing knock off after the gen 9 home update has hurt me in ways I can never recover from

[@cristobalpinochet]

@@wigglytuffenjoyerwhat really hurts my soul is the fact that they killed frustration and return, they literally killed the viability of my favorite Pokémon Stoutland, now his best stab is strenght, fucking STRENGHT

[@Nako3]

Rip Levitate Gengar

[@williamebf444]

The physical/special split also hurt it a lot

[@derGrolm]

@@williamebf444 How so? It could use ghost stab for the first time.

[@jormungardwe]

​@@derGrolm it took away all the coverage he had with the elemental punches

[@kefkapalazzo1]

The first time I was able to use gengar in game was gen 7. I died a few times trying to switch into ground moves Lmao

[@Imnon00b5]

​@derGrolm and for the most part, even in past generations if gengar did have stab shadow ball, people still wouldn't likely run it commonly.

[@discobites]

The Tapus being introduced also nerfed Thundurus in VGC. Psychic Terrain makes Prankster a liability, Misty Terrain blocks Status, and Koko is already Electric type

[@Saltyape0]

And it can’t even gain recovery in grassy terrain or take advantage of weakened ground moves

[@davidstratton696]

@@Saltyape0It’s a flying type tho so what do u mean can’t benefit from weakened ground moves. I know Grass weakens some ground moves but it’s literally a flying type it’s immune to them so it feels unnecessary to mention that. And if it loses that flying type with like smack down or gravity then it no longer has that flying type and now benefits from the terrain. Unless I read your comment wrong which if I did my bad 😂.

[@Saltyape0]

@@davidstratton696it’s immune to ground moves so weakened eq doesn’t help it at all and is redundant

[@davidstratton696]

@@Saltyape0 Exactly so what was the point in even mentioning it. It’s completely unnecessary to even bring it up for the exact reason u said. It’s redundant to bring that up specifically. Now the heal every turn from it yea that sucks but when your immune to ground moves then taking reduced dmg from ground moves means nothing. Now if it had levitate instead it would be a different story due to mold breaker being a thing but when it comes to typing your either a flying type or not.

[@Saltyape0]

@@davidstratton696it has no benefit from earthquake being weakened because it can’t be hit by eq in the first place

[@timmyreobed5043]

Mew is only ever going to be as good as the TMs and move tutors available.

[@the_bookworm8281]

8:34 Minor correction: the Explosion nerf happened in gen 5, not gen 4. A strong contender for the list goes to Chansey & Blissey in gen 9. The two blobs have always occupied a role in the OU tier since the very beginning, and since gen 6, when one blob is a tier defining mon in OU, the other is a tier defining mon in UU. They would also often have a role in Ubers as well. This all changed in gen 9, where every single movepool change has nerfed them both to the ground. They are both immensely nerfed by the recovery move PP nerf, as they are some of the more passive Pokemon in the game, and the removal of Toxic will prevent it from making any sufficient progress. Teleport and Wish are both removed from them as well, and it didn't even have Heal Bell until HOME released. Even some niche options such as dual screens, Confide, Safeguard, and Counter all got removed from them. Thunder Wave is only status spreading move they still have, and both Heal Bell and Stealth Rock are the only real form of team support they still have. The end result is that they are now a couple of do-nothing Pokemon with a mediocre defensive typing in mono-Normal and in a game where mons can instantly gain an Adaptability boost to blow them back. The introduction of new powerful Fighting type Pokemon such as Great Tusk and Iron Valiant (and Koraidon in Ubers) certainly doesn't help matters. Blissey is currently all the way down in NU, Chansey is even further down in the depths in the PU tier, and they are virtually unviable in Ubers (Blissey is C- in the VR). Arguably the biggest fall from grace out of any Pokemon in any generation.

[@overlord3481]

They deserved it honestly

[@adnan34chowdhary]

Gen 2 Tauros is the absolute saddest case of nerfed Pokemon. From a Mewtwo level threat to barely ou in a single gen

[@MrZahsome]

Tauros, the most nerfed Pokemon in competitive history. -FSG

[@aldwych285]

Aegislash also got nerfed a lot. It's bst was lowered from 520 to 500 and King's Shield drops the targets atk stat by 1 stage instead of 2 stages. It went from Ubers in Gen 6 and 7 to being completely bad in Gen 8.

[@ONLY_RR7]

That’s an exaggeration. It definitely has a niche in Gen 8 ou at the very least

[@aldwych285]

@@ONLY_RR7 ok, then what’s its niche in gen 8?

[@TheLaXandro]

Darkrai got positively nuked because Smeargle was a nuisance.

[@xx_squirtle8621]

Kecleon too from Gren, Cinder, Meow. Gotta love when Pokémon get gutted for something they didn’t even do

[@Metaknighttheloneswordsman]

​@@xx_squirtle8621Zamazenta stat nerf. At least it finally gets Body Press

[@jimtsap04]

​@@xx_squirtle8621kekleon was always trash tho, I think it deserves an evo, who knows maybe it could at least be good in little cup that way

[@chino_7444]

gengar and talonflame had no need to be nerfed for singles

[@pokegarchomp]

Talonflame was banned to ubers lol

[@grandmastr2602]

@@pokegarchompwhat timeline are you in?

[@pokegarchomp]

@@grandmastr2602 wtf what am i remembering 😭 i remember the flying gem acrobatics set being so broken and I coulda sworn it got banned, I even played when it was current gen.

[@pokegarchomp]

@@grandmastr2602 flying gem didnt even exist in gen 6 so im definitely from another timeline

[@goGothitaLOL]

Good contenders for the Top 5 most buffed (Megas and Tera Types not included cause those are temporary): Nidoqueen - Psychic nerfed, Toxic Spikes, Sheer Force, Fairy existing Nidoking - Psychic nerfed, Megahorn, Sheer Force, Fairy type existing Clefable - Magic Guard, Unaware, Stored Power, Fairy typing and 10+ Sp. Atk, buffed Knock Off, buffed Teleport Ninetales - Drought Venomoth - Psychic nerfed, special Bug and Poison STAB, Quiver Dance+Tinted Lens, Fairy existing Cloyster - Spikes, physical STAB, Shell Smash+Skill Link Gyarados- Intimidate+Dragon Dance, physical Water STAB, Moxie Dragonite - Dragon STAB, Dragon Dance, physical Dragon STAB, more accessible Extreme Speed, Multiscale, Weakness Policy, Heavy Duty Boots Azumarill - Huge Power, physical STAB, Aqua Jet, Belly Drum, Fairy typing, Aqua Jet+Belly Drum at once Quagsire - Unaware+Scald Scizor - Technician and then Bullet Punch shortly after, U-Turn, Bug Bite, Superpower, Roost, buffed Defog Blaziken - Speed Boost Pelipper - Drizzle and 10+ Sp. Atk Breloom - physical Grass STAB, Poison Heal, Technician, buffed Drain Punch, Close Combat+Gunk Shot+Bulldoze Torkoal - Drought Crawdaunt - physical STAB, Adaptability, Aqua Jet, buffed Knock Off and Crabhammer Floatzel - Wave Crash Gastrodon - buffed Storm Drain Gallade - Sharpness and Sacred Sword Gigalith - 10+ Sp. Def and then Sand Stream Scolipede - Speed Boost and 10+ Atk Beartic - Play Rough, 20+ Atk, Slush Rush, Liquidation, Close Combat and Earthquake Oricorio - Quiver Dance Kommo-o - Close Combat, Drain Punch, Elemental Punches, Clangorous Soul(blaze), Stealth Rock, Aura Sphere (and Throat Spray held-item), Body Press Rillaboom - Grassy Surge released and then Grassy Glide Drednaw - Shell Smash

[@FiboSai]

Many of those are indeed buffs, but not that interesting to talk about. They could give Drizzle, Drought, Huge Power, Magic Guard or Speed Boost to almost anything and it would be a huge buff. The most interesting ones are the more subtle changes, like Beartic or Kommo-o. Those Pokemon weren't buffed by giving them an obviously powerful ability or move, they just got a solid movepool upgrades and a stat buff for a Pokemon that really needed it.

[@Jordan13299]

Honorable mentions to Gen 9 Blissey and Weavile for being the biggest victims of moveset trimmings and Articuno from Gen 2 onwards because they decided to put his 125 special into SpD instead of SpA like his brothers

[@yescumulus3183]

Great video ! If you ever do another one maybe focus on more recent Pokémon. From the top of my head I have sableye from gen 5 to 7, ttar btw gen 7 and 9, levitate gengar, aegislash various nerfs, my boi talonflame and I think darkrai was totally shutdown in vgc

[@wigglytuffenjoyer]

Idk if I would list mewtwo with these other guys. Yeah he took a notable slap on the wrist, but Mewtwo’s always been a consistently good threat in Ubers, even being really good in Gen 9 Ubers. I would’ve listed either Chansey/Blissey or Tyranitar

[@blazie42069]

Lugia is one of the most nerfed ubers pokemon due to powercreep, went from being the great premier wall in ubers to just an absolutely pitiful when shifting to the crazy powercreep of gen 7. Lugia is the worst pokemon in ubers currently in gen 8 ubers. The amount of walls that outdamage it in ubers are astonishing (Base 90 something attack just doesn't cut it there, or even in OU nowadays most of the time), and being the poor exploitable defensive typing of psychic/flying really showed in gen 7 and gen 8 ubers, where it was outclassed by the other walls. Its gotten to the point where people genuinely want lugia tested for OU because of the fact that its that exploitable of a wall despite the titanic bulk. (Probably won't be tested if tera is a thing though.) Roze, you really should make a video on the downfall of lugia, its honestly kinda crazy that lugia fell off that hard in two gens

[@Bobopoes]

small nitpick, mewtwo didn't have the third highest attack in gen 1, rather the tenth highest. also, in gen 2 it isn't considered to be outclassed by mew, but by snorlax. Otherwise great vid, and generally great work recently. ga zo door man!

[@rozepanter007]

Geen idee hoe ik erop gekomen ben dat mewtwo de 3e hoogste att stat had 💀. Waardeer de support!

[@BelugaTheHutt]

I think you're greatly underestimating how important the ability factor is for Exeggutor. Many pokemon from the first 2 generations were given useful abilities, for example Gyarados or Arcanine with Intimidate, or Tyranitar with Sand Stream. On the other hand, Exeggutor's ability only had niche use, as it is weather-dependent, and even the later addition of Harvest is too unreliable outside of sun to make for a consistent user experience. If it was given a broader ability with universal applicability, there's a significant chance that it would be able to be useful, at least in gens 3 and 4, before power creep got too out of hand. Red and Blue set up Exeggutor as a counterpart of Gyarados and Arcanine by putting it on Gary's team, so it's a pity that they didn't give Exeggutor something like an Intimidate, but for special attack instead of attack. I'm surprised that they did this boy so dirty, given that it was one of the original development team's stated favorites.

[@raymondhahn739]

Weavile losing triple Axel and Knock off and Sneaseler coming on the scene definitely

[@matthewkuscienko4616]

From what I heard, it was more so the introduction of Chien-Pao, not Sneasler that hurt Weavile's viability, as now it was directly outclassed

[@goGothitaLOL]

Weavile and Toxapex as dishonorable mentions Weavile was at the top of the metagame last gen, at his all-time high, he peaked. STAB Knock Off and Triple Axel were so good it even had a niche if not role in Ubers as a Yveltal check -Toxapex was enemy #1 in OU (besides Lando and Clef), rather you like it or (most likely) not Then everything changed when the HOME move removal attacked: -Weavile lost STAB Triple Axel, STAB Knock Off, and even STAB Throat Chop and thus has it settle with either Night Slash or Beat Up for Dark STAB. And to to add salt to the wound they made Chien-Pao. -Toxapex lost Scald, lost Knock Off, and recovery moves like Recover (all but Strength Sap luckily) went from 16 PP max to 8 PP max. It was so bad that Pex now has to settle for a offensive Assault Vest set just to stick around in OU.

[@senny-]

Did you get a new mic? Love it.

[@rozepanter007]

I didn't actually, but I will take that as a compliment

[@matigamer329]

3:27 I'm pretty sure you can paralyze electric types in gen 6 but not the ones with volt absorb or motor drive.

[@goGothitaLOL]

That was Gen 5 The immunity started in Gen 6

[@Royyy13]

Normal is the best type in Gen 1, with Tauros, Snorlax, and Chansey taking up 3 of the top 4 spots in the tier. The move Psychic, however, is one of the best moves.

[@goGothitaLOL]

Articuno suffered worse than Mewtwo At least Mewtwo is still in Ubers whiling Articuno is in PU if not untirerd EDIT: Here’s why: -Articuno used to have 125 Special, but suffered from the special split than Mewtwo ever did going from 125 Sp. Atk to 95 Sp. Atk. At least Mewtwo still has 154 Sp. Atk to this day -The Blizzard nerf that you talked about from 90 Acc. to 70 Acc. -Fire resist Ice now -Steel type existing and thus hard walled ever since and little to no coverage not named Hidden Power nor Tera Blast -Stealth Rock (and in VGC, Rock Slide) -Ice sucking as a defensive type Oh how the mighty have fallen, not even it’s Galatians variant is that great

[@MrZahsome]

Tauros should have kept it's Sp. Atk at 70. With sheer force, life orb and a base 70 special, it's special coverage would still hit pretty good.

[@tysondennis1016]

Smeargle screwed Darkrai over. Dark Void needs 80 accuracy back.

[@Interiorcrocodilealigator10838]

Where’s the lati twins? Went from a corner stone of Ubers to falling down to nat dex RU cuz not in SV

[@BrendonCap]

Thats power creep not nerfs. I suppose soul dew was nerfed, but it was inevitable that they would fall

[@Interiorcrocodilealigator10838]

@@BrendonCap it absolutely was the soul dew nerf. Not power creep. If latis got their soul dew back. They would absolutely be top dog dragons if u were to put them in OU. Sure a phys dragapult is the only drag that’d out gun them. But latis would easily be defensively superior. Aaand why would pursuit not be allowed in a prime lati meta game. If they were THE head honchos for as long as soul dew effectively juiced them in Ubers. Power creep is definitely not the problem.

[@machspeed20]

Gale wings nerf sucks, especially considering that talonflame without the nerf fell off in the gen 6 metagame.

[@Yeefy808]

Afterwards Talonflame was relegated to a defensive defogger since Gen 8. Successful, but relegated.

[@jimtsap04]

​​@@Yeefy808basically crappier moltres lol, often it runs the same moveset just with physical stab instead of special

[@skeetermania3202]

It was probably because of VGC, and imagine dealing with constant priority Tailwind with dynamic speed changes.

[@machspeed20]

@skeetermania3202 who cares, let speedy birb speedy birb. Pretty sure they're prankster mons that do the same exact thing in vgc.

[@wigglytuffenjoyer]

Rip Chansey and Blissey

[@nickolassussybaka437]

I'm still sad about the weavile and toxapex nerf

[@nickolassussybaka437]

But I do like assault vest toxapex though

[@Yeefy808]

Toxapex is still good, though weavile is not.

[@goGothitaLOL]

Can you Love/Heart ❤️ my comment list of official note-worthy buffs again, I was editing

[@MogusMasterSaikawa22]

mewtwo was not nerfed he was removed and replaced with sandwichtwo who has a bst of 680 compared to mewtwo's 744 and mewtwo has a different design. gen 2 onwads is sandwichtwo

[@_Majunior]

I tried looking it up and only found a single image on deviantart, what is the origin of sandwichtwo?

[@MogusMasterSaikawa22]

@@_Majunior it'll take a while to explain I can provide some links if you want? or if you wait until tomorrow I'll have the time to explain thanks for being interested ahsdiof ahsdiof

[@_Majunior]

@@MogusMasterSaikawa22 either or is fine, I'm happy with getting an answer in general

[@MogusMasterSaikawa22]

@@_Majunior thank you well I'm afraid I can't provide the links currently since some of the stuff was taken down unfortunately that'll have to wait but essentially what sandwichtwo is is mewtwo in name only hence the random name sandwichtwo as it is factually not mewtwo whether it be due to visual design, context, writing, story, character and character arc you get it just things that make the distinct character mewtwo who has appeared and was established in pokemon rby and pokemon the first movie also appearing in pokemon puzzle league. but other media twisted his character into something unrecognizable from the original idea. true some of these aren't sandwichtwo's they are mewtwo just a badly written version of him but some should not be called mewtwo at all such as the one from the detective pikachu movie, pokemon movie 16, the players mewtwo in pokemon quest, pokemon x and y mewtwo etc.

[@_Majunior]

@@MogusMasterSaikawa22 okay that makes sense to me. Who started that?

[@killercat241]

Gen 1 mewtwo is the strongest pokemon of all time

[@dream_weaver6207]

The normal type is arguably the best type in gen1. The big 3 (tauros, snorlax & chansey) are all normal type. It also provides both an immunity to body slam paralysis and stab on some of the best attacks in gen 1 (body slam, hyper beam, explosion & maybe double edge). Another example? Imagine if dragonite was normal type. Just calculate some damage ranges if it had stab on its moves. Absolutely terrifying. Also fighting types are a joke in rby. And imagine relying on non stab submission to attack a normal type.

[@melonplaiz5611]

What ya say is true but I gotta disagree with normal being thee best type in gen 1 I say 2nd because thee psychic type in gen 1 was more busted then normal type cuz psychic types basically had no weaknesses as well and a pretty decent defensive type in gen 1 and they were pretty good offensive type as well plus combine that with pokemon like alakazam, executor and starmie who would be good pokemon already but with thee psychic type it boosts that even more and I believe being a special attackers in gen 1 was better even though ya get countered by chansey but chansey not gonna do anything to ya damage wise plus if ya have a phsical attcker even its not super effecttive chansey is gonna lose alot lf health and plus normal is not a great offensive type which sucks cuz it's always just netural damage or not very effective damage not any super effective damage

[@jimtsap04]

Yeah ever since the body slam paralysis immunity discovery I've been heavily leaning towards normal being better than psychic. Stab body slam, hyper beam, self-destruct/explosion, garbage fighting types and moves, and only viable normal resistant or immune mons are weak to many common coverage options so they're basically equally weakness-less to psychic with potentially more upsides

[@gsnamine3958]

where Is zacian? He get in History of Pokemon the biggest Stat downgrade what Is Not Happen via Game mechanic and His ability becomes Like 1000x worse and becomes Like a non ability Type Mon after one Switch Out Not even tauros got nerfed that hard zacian-c Is maybe still top uber but that only Shows how broken Game Freak Made These doggo

[@goGothitaLOL]

Still viable

[@gsnamine3958]

@@goGothitaLOL but still the biggest Nerf that Mon was only so overdesigned thats These extremly nerfs only Push him 1 Tier down i mean Look at weavile it only lose 2 moves and Is dropped Like 2 tiers chansey Drops 4 Tier while lose 2 moves + PP reduction and thats nothing compared the nerfs what zacian-c get

[@honjon666]

Unsubbed so I can resub and like for pt. 2