"USELESS" Moves In Pokemon...

[@castform7]

5:39 Fun little story about Me First. I was recently fighting the Johto Elite 4 for the first time and noticed how Will's first Xatu spammed Me First. Unfortunately for Will, I had a Forretress who knew Spikes (a non damaging move Me First can't use) and Explosion. Watching that bird explode was pretty hilarious.

[@ekos8282]

But then you exploded too XD

[@crarlo]

im pretty sure explosion fails if there is no target, could be wrong tho

[@castform7]

@@ekos8282 I actually didn't. If there's literally no target whatsoever (not just them evading with Fly or Dig) Explosion will fail.

[@jtwk3400]

Hold Hands is the best move in the game

[@notprogamer6]

Yea

[@rpjoca4644]

Nah its Catch those hands

[@cinnamoon423]

​​@@rpjoca4644 Catch all three of these surging strikes

[@wooweihow6975]

Smeargle used Hold Hands, the opposing Kyogre and Regielekirefused to attack and sings Kumbaya. This should be how the move is used, a moves that makes the enemies not to attack .

[@rpjoca4644]

@@wooweihow6975 thats way too broken

[@just_a__]

yo, these thumbnails DO NOT need to go this hard

[@atrixmj]

:3 thank you

[@FlamingZelda3]

the dbz cell style rattata is honestly insane

[@ussxrequin]

They sorta do. That's how you pull on KZbin.

[@palestjade]

If you liked this video, I really suggest the video *(Usually) Useless Moves* by Reverend, it's absolutely hilarious if you're into past gens and singles. Things like Mewtwo using Flash to PP stall other mewtwos in gen 1 and Mamoswine using Peck to send Breloom and Heracross to the shadow realm in gen 4. This was a really interesting video to watch as I really like VGC as well! Keep it up!

[@palestjade]

heart after 32 seconds of the comment upload the devil works faster but Marcos Boosted works faster apparently

[@jetnyan2348]

fuck yeah reverend is like the best yt

[@StickMaster500]

If I'm being pinned into a corner with no way of recovering from a strong team, I know Tackle has got my back

[@randaljr.8581]

unless it misses 😂

[@lipika2841]

@@randaljr.8581 not starting with Gen5.

[@biggestboss1756]

Been a while since a stickmaster post.

[@meticakolli1237]

Its the tf2 guy

[@darthhydreigon820]

4:30 encore is act very good in singles.. seeing use on iron bundle early on, indeedee, iron valiant, tinkaton, etc. it can be useful to screw over setup sweepers and bulky mons

[@gregariosity]

It wasn’t really common until this gen bc it’s one of the three answers to kingambit you need on every team to not autolose

[@TheWizardMus]

​@@gregariosity Nah Encore has been used for years

[@TheWrathAbove]

Hell it's even really good in singleplayer if you're doing a challenge run of any sort. Really just a good move all around.

[@oKnuTo]

@@TheWrathAboveabsolut S tier move in harder nuzlockes.

[@Anonymouss9005]

Encore was partially the reason Wobuffet was so good

[@0liviaSama]

Leer Roaring Moon in reg B and C was just the predecessor to the genies

[@skaapu]

Wtf does this mean lol

[@imnotrealyourenotreal]

@@skaapu roaring moon in rule regulation B and C using leer came before the use of landorus/thundorus/tornadus

[@robertlupa8273]

@@imnotrealyourenotreal the heck is a regulation in this context?

[@imnotrealyourenotreal]

@@robertlupa8273 limited time ruleset for what is allowed and what isn’t. they change every now and then to reflect the new pokemon and changing meta

[@ZazzVGC]

.​@@robertlupa8273name for VGC formats

[@zachpro5475]

Pokémon should make a competitive game mode in witch all good moves are banned

[@lixyo4320]

That kinda reminds me of the “stress cup” that Moxie Boosted did, where all 100% accurate moves were banned. He’s offhandedly mentioned it in a few videos & I’d love to watch it but idk if it’s archived anywhere

[@1020percent]

Play Pokémon stadium 1&2 rentals only to stimulate this

[@General_C]

Tournament where only Randbat sets are allowed? ...I don't know.

[@Endershock1678]

@@General_C Ranbats goes beyond moves, abilities and Tera are the real killers. Freaking Pickpocket Tinkaton stealing a scarf lost me the game. Being Tera Steel especially wasn’t helpful.

[@LunaroseClaire]

It's not an official format I believe, but I play UUM (Usually Useless Moves) where we can only use the moves under the section listed as Usually Useless as moves. Still crazy to get access to stuff like Dragon Rush Salamence.

[@nathanarcher5292]

video starts at 0:00

[@longsocks7798]

Thank you

[@BroBuster]

Thanks

[@Strawb_milk5]

Thank you

[@darkz8004]

Wow thx bro ❤ 😊

[@rpjoca4644]

Thank you

[@st0rmstrid3r]

so what you're saying is: "Moves get better when they effect more than one Pokemon" gotcha.

[@atrixmj]

Don't think too much about the Thumbnail I'm out here inventing mandela effects

[@Brodie-np4te]

I think the Hustle + Ariel Ace combo is pretty cool too.

[@HeavyWalrus2]

Me and the boys bringing our Squakabillys to the Poke Portal to get swept by Lil Timmys full team of legendarys: 😎

[@SKysofRain]

That shit sounds sick, I never considered the "can't miss" line of moves

[@johnpaulcross424]

“Strong moves. Weak moves. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled trainers should try to win with their favorites.” -Moxie Boosted, 2024

[@neevko267]

- Hold Hands - Celebrate - Splash - Explosion

[@KeroseneZanchu]

@@neevko267 One of these things is not like the others

[@beibkk0]

- Rolling Kick - Glaciate - Comet Punch - Spike Cannon

[@Flygoniaks]

I still distinctly remember the time in BW2, where I had taught my Skarmory Cut because I needed _someone_ that knew the HM move. Cut was virtually useless in all my battles, _except_ in exactly one situation against a random trainer with an Umbreon, where Cut's high PP enabled my Skarmory to PP stall her opponent. I guess everything has at least one use case...

[@jonanderlopezcorcobado8155]

Cut 🔥

[@That1GuyKenz]

00:27 who was cooking with Tera fighting water urshifu and thought that’d be the play against Tera psychic expanding force hatterene??

[@tsukainova1928]

The only thing bro cooked was instant ramen, and it got burnt

[@gloweye]

Gotta love the dev that thought "You know which move needs a special Z-move? Splash. I'm gonna make that happen."

[@wuhmi-onhiatusrn6491]

lmao they should've turned it into a belly drum-like boost

[@Wufnik]

I have a history with String Shot because I ran it with Unburden Slurpuff in Sword and Shield to great success! I realized that when paired with U-Turn Rillaboom I could make Slurpuff (With a Grassy Seed) into a physically bulky support mon that could enable slower Pokémon better than Tailwind could thanks to the fact that I could use it multiple times in a row; then swap in a Base 80 speed behemoth like Chandelure to clean up the game. I even made Top 500 on the ladder with that team once. Was it gimmicky? Yes. Was it fun? Absolutely.

[@DoctorSpacebar]

So, funny thing about After You. It works with Focus Punch, meaning if your After You user is fast enough, you can spend a turn to ignore the downside of Focus Punch and just delete something.

[@Beachfiend_]

I love the videos you make like these because it shows how really advanced this game is and how it’s not just a “kids” game. Advanced mechanics like this really made me appreciate the Pokémon games as an adult vs as when I was a kid when my thought process was “my Pokémon is a dinosaur so it’s cool”.

[@espwonder5135]

I know the artist is in the description but I still gotta bring attention to the consistent banger thumbnails.

[@atrixmj]

My goat tysm

[@eydis9554]

One fun thing about Beat Up move. In Gen II if you had frozen pokemon and use beat up on different pokemon in your team, the frozen pokemon *didnt* count for beat up on your side but on the enemy it *did* . This cause desync on both sides and creates a glitch that is worse and worse the game goes on.

[@shadyspiritomb5285]

psywave, counter and beat up are literally the most powerful moves in pokemon. They deal super effective damage against the game itself

[@howdytherestranger2139]

I know very, very little about competitive Pokémon and how to set up a team outside of casual play. That being said, I really think this video is a good example of being accessible to even someone on my level. I doubt I would dabble in competitive play any time soon, but this gave me some ideas of how to start to rethink the games.

[@Rokaalex]

The thumbnail does indeed go hard

[@Jack-jy8fb]

Seen some comments asking why some of these moves are listed under ‘usually useless’. Showdown’s most played meta is OU, a singles meta game. Due to the amount of switching there is in a singles match, stat dropping moves are almost never used. So yeah, most of these moves are totally useless in singles.

[@matthewkuscienko4616]

A funny interaction between 2 of these moves talked about in this video that wasn't mentioned is with gravity: an effect of the move that wasn't mentioned is that it can prevent certain moves from being used during it's duration. Hilariously enough, one such move that gravity prevented from being used was splash, of all possible things, and the funniest part is that in gen7, due to the +3 attack boost you can get from Z-splash, that might actually make this interaction somewhat useful

[@JackitK]

Funny enough, for me, Charm is iconic for how much of an offensive power house it is in Pokemon Go. There were basically no offensive fairy "fast moves" in Go, so they decided to break cannon and make it an attack. Ontop of that it's in a category of moves, like counter, that do the highest amount of damage in the shortest period of time. At the cost of taking longer to use your "charge moves".

[@lanceams483]

I love the venn diagram between moves often used in casual games, moves often used on competitive, and moves used in challenge runs of games/nuzlockes. Moves like Close Combat and flamethower are most often used in casual games, but competitive still uses those powerful moves plus the "useless" moves like reflect or howl. Nuzlockes will also use some of the "useless" moves but also uses unique moves very often like charm or stealth rocks, while also deeming the super-powerful moves like hydro-pump useless because of their unreliability that the other styles of play would love to use. That doesn't even cover abilities or the pokemon themselves! A casual might hate "useless" abilities like chlorophyll, competitive users might love it for specific teams, and Nuzlockers might find a niche use for it in difficult matchups. The ability to have multiple ways of playing with certain pokemon is what makes the game so special to me, I love all three+ variations of play.

[@moe5177]

5:40 Hey, Moxie, you do get STAB with any moves copied by Me First. It boosts them by 50%

[@ryanp.2669]

I sometimes wonder about baby doll eyes. It seems kind of like intimidate, but it uses a move to do it.

[@Bladius_]

Clefairy gets it; could be good if there's particular meta physical threats you team hates, especially if they like to spam spread moves which you can't follow me away from the partner. -1 att + friend guard could really screw up some calcs.

[@wolfekupo5651]

I ran it on my Furfrou in gen 6, Return, Thunder Wave, Baby Doll Eyes, Protect good times

[@keysmash_roa]

The problem with it is that you'd really just rather have an incineroar fill that role because you can switch it out and back in to retrigger the attack lowering effect AND restore fake out pressure

[@mariofan1ish]

Why are Encore and Disable here? Gengar is infamous for it's sub-disable sets in older generations, and Encore is a threatening utility move to this day.

[@Dabuddah]

Hittata can't hurt you Hittata:

[@mhx5071]

It also looks like the Goku Stare meme lol

[@Bluish_moon]

Find

[@laika6202]

yo that translation goes hard

[@21stCenturySchizoidGirl]

I’m still waiting for the bubble urshifu tech to become meta.

[@mrJLJ66]

My favorite Usually Useless Move is Soak. Soak turns the target into a water type. Back in Gen 5, I used the move on Alomomola and other bulky waters alongside toxic to poison Poison and Steel types. It also had the secondary effect of removing STAB from the target until they switched out. The poison would remain on the Pokemon even if they swapped out. The only Pokemon who were immune to it at the time were Pokemon like Tentacruel with a secondary water typing. It wasn't the best of strategies, but it was amazing to see people rage at it and got me a lot of wins.

[@sonicducktheinoccent]

Moxie is Prof. Kukui confirmed

[@MoxieBoosted]

I'm tryna be built like him

[@sonicducktheinoccent]

@MoxieBoosted Pull up to the next Charlotte Regional since full lab coat drip

[@AntMediaUK]

Prankster Encore-ing protect is the best play

[@endsu]

the silence regarding persian running growl in rby ou is deafening

[@incandescence5547]

There was a move tutor in HGSS that taught string shot to a bunch of random stuff. I only know this because I brought String Shot Mega Venusaur to like 5 games in a draft league once. It was great

[@Wappl26]

Honestly I’m really enjoying this new form of content. Each video feels more alive than just playing vgc in my opinion

[@MoxieBoosted]

I've been doing this sort of content for a year

[@typemasters2871]

These “useless” moves reminds me of how some moves are “useless” in main series but are actually quite handy in Pokemon Masters due to battles going from turn based with PP to real time strategy using gauge I.E. Leer lowers defence for 1 gauge (all moves being between 0 gauge to 4 gauge, 0 gauge moves usually having caveats like having a requirement or having PP (usually 3 PP or less)) so it provides debuff support whilst leaving gauge for a unit with a high damaging 3 or 4 gauge attack

[@omeganemo4838]

1:58 this sound effect made me think someone invaded my home while I was watching it in the middle of the night

[@myhairhasamindofitsown]

Fun ting about gravity: It also increases the power of Grav Apple from 80 to 120.

[@skeetermania3202]

3:34 If you tell BKC or Jimothy Cool this, he’ll probably say something like how Beat Up is used sometimes in ADV OU by Dugtrio and Charizard to catch Blissey on the switch and/or ignore Counter. Beat Up is coded as a Dark type move, and all Dark moves were special back in Gen 3. Additionally, Beat Up did damage based on not only the user and its allies base Attack stats, but the opponent’s base Defense stat as well. So even though Blissey always invests heavily in physical bulk, her minuscule 10 Defense leaves her prone to annihilation from Beat Up, especially with healthy teammates.

[@tsukainova1928]

Jumping a pink immortal egg with the power of friendship and intrusive thoughts

[@caiofiuzaseixas9027]

Me when i was 12 yeas old "A move that has no attack power why would i take that? Thats useless"

[@904funny]

There should be a usually useless move format in Showdown

[@ohhReina]

I’m mad late, but I didn’t see Synchronoise on there. Now that move is the most useless move, if I’ve ever seen one.

[@ImmaFarmerInMalaysia]

9:23 Leer has always targeted both Pokemon ever since double battles were introduced

[@dadiscoverychannel]

3:20 Beat Up can actually be run in Gen 3 OU because it's weird mechanics mean it 2 hit KO's every Blissey set.

[@peco595]

A good to know fact about gravity's interaction with ground type attacks: it makes any targets that are dropped out of the air take 1× damage from ground type attacks regardless of the pokemon's type. So using gravity to get Thunderus out of the air for a ground type attack to hit it is just going to result in neutral damage. Same would go for like, Tropius or something.

[@slashmator6065]

I critically enjoy these types of videos. Thank you for that!

[@arininquotes8396]

You forgot the most usually useless move of all: whichever ones I have clicked 😔

[@fatyoshi696]

the moves i personally find the most fascinating are the absolute bottom of the dumpster moves, ones that are so ridiculously niche and low distribution they're pretty much completely useless even in the context of a casual playthrough, garbage like purify (pyukumuku's signature move that heals your partner's status condition), ion deluge (turns all normal type moves used this turn into electric type, only learned by a couple of low tier electric types), worry seed (turns the opponent's ability into insomnia) and powder (a move only available in gens 6 and 7 exclusive to vivillon and ribombee, which covers the target in powder and if they try to use a fire type move that turn it fails and they take 25% damage)

[@manjackson2772]

Worry Seed has uses. It absolutely ruins rest tanks.

[@BlueRenown]

​@@manjackson2772 not only that, it also does the funny thing of making gliscor hate itself ( or poison healers in general )

[@Imamotherfreakingavocado]

The soak strategy reminds me of when I was fighting Piers, and I wanted to use Pumpkaboo because it had been in my team without much use, so I used trick or treat on Piers' Pokémon so they'd be weak to ghost and then knocked them out with ghost moves lol (Pumpkaboo didn't last long in that fight for obvious reasons, but I was happy my bullcrap strat worked)

[@vTheStranger]

man. i was listening to this and vacuuming my place at 4pm. not late but like. idk i usually only vacuum at noon. and i felt bad about it. then 1:59 played. you gave me a heart attack

[@MajicMiranda]

Big props to whomever put the goggles on the Arcanine in the graphic. Made me giggle a lot

[@lordinfernape4753]

Charm doesnt halve your attack, it decreases it by two stages It only halves it for unboosted Pokemon

[@krislee3155]

I had a Alolan Persian with Charm as her signature move during my mono Dark run of Scarlet. That alongside Snarl made her the MVP of getting her teammates on the field safely to wreak havoc.

[@MariotheAnimator]

I've always wanted some of the useless "one stat +1" moves to be buffed to become "2 stats +1" specifically the combinations that don't exist yet: Meditate should be +1 Attack and +1 SpDef Withdraw should be +1 Defense and +1 SpAtk Defense Curl should be +1 Defense and +1 Speed Autotomize should be +1 SpAtk and +1 Speed instead of +2 Speed since Agility and Rock Polish already exist Charge should be +1 SpDef and +1 Speed

[@asuramaru8180]

Sableye gets prankster leer and it’s lowkey really good

[@mjdxp5688]

One of my favorites is when Dragonite used to run Fly in singles to keep it from getting hit for a turn, thus giving it more Leftovers healing and making it more likely to heal to full HP, which activates Multiscale.

[@Volkaroar]

It would be interesting to see a competitive format with the rules being only usually useless moves to be used. May be aggravating, captivating, or just hilarious to watch

[@TheRealMyan]

My guy forgot Z-Happy Hour (I check if it was banned in vgc and it isn’t)

[@mpregsonic5874]

There was a 2 v 2 tourney in gen 8 where the catch was one of your Pokémon had to be magikarp. Everyone ran tackle, flail, hydro pump, and bounce except for Wolfley who opted for splash in place of one of those moves. This was so he could have max guard if magikarp needed to max.

[@ziauddinzahir3309]

The end is at 13:40

[@schaffs2]

I love the move Celebrate and the fact that it's locked on exclusive event Pokemon, I love the fact that I can't get the move registered in Pokemon Home

[@MontyNorman-y6e]

Remember be careful with anything electric as they could be harmful and or lethal to you and or other people and or start a fire along with causing other things.

[@bunsintodreams]

My favorite move in the game is Sludge Bomb. Idk why it just is.

[@Error403HRD]

As a Vanilluxe main (when I'm not using mono bug), Showdown puts Hail down as usually useless. I have hail because I use Ice Body Vanilluxe lol. Each move has its own use-case, which is why team-building is very fun!

[@g.williams2047]

I like how they are slowly buffing the old stat based moves like leer and string shot. They’re still early game moves like ember or razor leaf, but they are able to be used in VGC now. Always nice to see more options.

[@GylleneGott]

I like using mousehold's population bomb on annihilape while holding the loaded dice to get around a +7 boost to rage fist

[@javierdurini]

This thumbnails go hard

[@Blackheartgamer1]

When i think about useless moves, i think about moves like mud sport, water sport, and powder… But i feel in the new generation they might actually have some use for some reason 🤔. 67% damage reduction sounds pretty good and powder does have some use against eruption users. (Fire moves in general)

[@fin3662]

not sure if its considered usually useless but I adore running whimsicott with fake tears and a blaze infernape with overheat u-turn and whatever filler moves you need

[@pengoschwortz4734]

Just found your content last night and you’re severely underrated

[@Neogeddon]

"Recently" like Leer hasn't hit both opponents since the debut of double battles themselves 😭

[@MartyrPandaGaming]

I have been a fan of a Screech and Metal Sound for decades, even in VGC sometimes. They can be so unexpected, especially when your team has the speed advantage.

[@zemufinman1639]

7:37 The 2 types where changing the opponent's type to yours are dragon and ghost because they are super effective against themselves

[@The_D_ray]

In Gen 4 I remember using Copy Cat to chain Explosion. Basically, one Pokémon would explode and the others would follow the next turn (if the opponent was slow enough).

[@frustratedsquirrel]

something you missed about Splash: back in early metas, I think gen 4 and up or so, people would very rarely use Splash in a Wobbuffet moveset combined with encore and shadow tag to PP stall certain pokemon who couldn't fight back.

[@guardingcross4792]

This is why I run self destruct on wheezing and golem. Keep your opponents guessing lol

[@T4N7]

Smogon Legend Spammers: "Mostly Useless Moves" Stall Players: "My Bread n Butter Moves"

[@curtisharder7112]

My first competitive VGC team that I made was a Murkrow/Quaquaval team. My Murkrow had Screech to lower my opponents' phys def allowing Quaquaval to pick off pokemon with Aqua Step giving him a pseudo Dragon Dance with Moxie. I know that Chien-pao essentially is Screech as an ability that affects all pokemon on the field, but when Murkrow was all the rage, I didn't see Screech being utilized in its first meta.

[@Femboymercy]

I love vids like this. Def have a new fan

[@otbaht]

i can only think of one useless move when i think of it (i dont consider stuff like splash as that was its purpose) gen 1 focus energy was worse than useless as it actively hindered you.

[@daniela4738]

Beat up was a very viable option in gen 3 as a way to deal with blissey. Notable users such as Charizard and Dugtrio. Also in gen 8, Weavile is a good user of Beat-up with choice band in the ubers tier.

[@notprogamer6]

Can you do most used or useful one next, I know it’ll be a lot harder but it would be cool to see what are the most common moves in general

[@MorseLevv]

Finally somebody recognizes my boy charjabug

[@sinteleon]

MEanwhile encore trickroom while the opposing mon is trapped.

[@pabloschmidt3704]

6:34 k9 pure gold with that goggles

[@josephmiles1392]

OMG, i was the one who started uproar feraferig . It had a second usage. It also broke substitute.

[@Dsrikers]

String shot was amazing for my smeargle only Ultra Moon run it made it easy to get the moves I wanted at any time

[@donnovanash2334]

I could have sworn splash actually worked in rain, I remember it happening at some point, but it’s been years and I might have just not paid enough attention

[@MonoHerobrine]

I didn't know rattata was a saiyan. XD

[@MortChrist]

Can't wait for the Water & Mud Sport breakdown

[@joanguersonruiz2810]

9:48 wait you are telling me you are NOT called Marcos Boosted? Unsuscribing, shame on you, "Perez"

[@pezyg]

For me its Abilities. The fact that having one or another can make or break a pokemon, and allow different combos is amazing

[@Moss_Dude]

I've used Wonder Room on Primarina once or twice

[@petelee2477]

11:49 actually it turns you into the type of move you used the previous turn. It defaults to the first move in your move slot if you were not on the field the previous turn.

[@glitch9643]

This is intriguing. For example, the move Mud-Slap really has nothing going for it, in theory, at least. When equipped with a Groundium Z and the moveset of Calm Mind/Mud-Slap/Ice Beam or Thunder Wave/Origin Pulse, Kyogre can pull an uno reverse vs Primal Groudon by clicking Calm Mind as you force it in due to the threat of Choice Scarf Water Spout or Specs boosted attacks then nuking it with a +1 Tectonic Rage; thus, kissing the "Kyogre check" goodbye... lol. Just hilarious how it's under "Usually useless moves" Let's also not forget Scary Face Grimmsnarl back in SS

[@ImmaFarmerInMalaysia]

In generation 4, I used Natural Gift on a few Pokemon to good effect. It's basically a really bad physical alternative to Hidden Power, but Occa Berry Scizor can use the move for the OHKO against opposing Scizor with Natural Gift Fire, which is even boosted from 60 BP to 90 thanks to Technician. I also used it on Salac Berry Leafeon for Natural Gift Fighting to hit Steel types as it has no other options to threaten them with, and Liechi Berry Entei for Natural Gift Grass to hit Water and Rock types hard. In both cases, if I don't have a target to hit them with, I can always just use the pinch boost instead, which can be fallen into naturally with either Double-Edge or Flare Blitz respectively

[@nixastra1745]

They still need to add a pokemon with an ability that sets up gravity, as it would be really cool