Why Is The BUG TYPE So Bad?

I'm looking at what makes the bug type so bad and how we can maybe fix it
Socials
X: / prophetblack96
Twitch: / prophetblack_
business enquires: [e-mail]
#pokemon #pokemonscarletandviolet #bugtype #discussion

[@josephbulkin9222]

Those are some strong words for someone in the range of Heracross's Megahorn.

[@MrGust-wc2jo]

i fell like it was stupid to make fairy resist bug, its so unnecessary and makes the type worst for no reason

[@mukariz]

I feel the fairy type should be weak to bug if anything.

[@Castersvarog]

Honestly, I blame Uturn, it’s so ubiquitous and if a Mon can get it odds are it’ll use it. Making fairy resist bug types at least help hold back that moves prevalence at the cost of nerfing an already weak type

[@selfloveybear5556]

​@@mukariznaww that don't even make sense😶‍🌫️

[@justordinaryguy8407]

​@@selfloveybear5556 And how dragon being weak to ice makes sense?

[@selfloveybear5556]

@@justordinaryguy8407 thats because dragons are reptiles and since reptiles are cold blooded they don't do well with cold temperatures.

[@aldoushuxley5953]

Bug/ Steel is much better than mono Steel as a typing. Offensively, you gain STAB U-Turn, nice, but defensively, you get rid of the Ground and Fighting weaknesses. You only have one weakness, and still eight resistances and an immunity. You gain no additional weaknesses, but the Fire weakness becomes a 4x weakness. But so what? 4x weaknesses are not bad, you would not have stayed in against fire Pokemon anyways. compare this to Water/ Ground as a typing, where, again, you remove the Electric weakness but gain a 4x weakness to Grass. Pokemon like Gastrodon or Swampert are used precisely because of this great typing

[@mr_blupper3729]

Just telling ya that fire is one of the best offense typing maybe the best but u do have a point

[@aldoushuxley5953]

@@mr_blupper3729 Ferrothorn is famously a horrible defensive Pokemon because of its typing ;)

[@mr_blupper3729]

@@aldoushuxley5953 I thought that was ou hm?

[@aldoushuxley5953]

@@mr_blupper3729 I was joking :) Fire is a great offensive typing, but a fire weakness is still very manageable

[@astropult9377]

Bug type should resist fairy type moves and be immune to powder moves. It’s not much but it’s something that could make a handful of bug types viable. If that isn’t enough for you, make bug types resist dark, ghost, and/or poison. If that still isn’t enough, make it immune to being trapped. If that STILL isn’t enough then idk what is. We want it to be balanced not broken.

[@kenkr9449]

Dude poison type is bad type offensive already. Why u make it worse?!

[@atumegaenter9139]

for me the problem comes from defensive overlap, bug resist fighting, grass and ground which is good, but it completly overlap's with flying, they resist fighting, grass, bug and total inmunity to ground (and spikes too). you almost never need a bug type because of this.

[@cradiculous]

I think bug should have a full immunity to fairy. The worst type being able to switch in for free against the best type would really shake things up

[@Seetiyan]

Fairy resisting Bug was entirely unnecessary, adding insult to injury. It's created dental as egregious quad resistances. They should: - remove Fairy's resistance - remove Ghost's resistance. Ghosts already have TWO immunities, plus they're immune to trapping moves. That's PLENTY. - give bugs a meta-immunity like Dark or Poison have. Like making them immune to powder moves, for instance. - take U-Turn away from a few of the non-Bug types that have it, to thereby increase the value of bug types that do. - take stealth rock away from some of the random non-rock types that have it. - give us a few more bugs with decent BST's. - no more Bug/Flying types. We've got plenty.

[@z-leigh6554]

I would further suggest making stealth rocks damage flat. It would still be an amazing move, and steel/ground types have had it too good while fire, flying, bug, and ice mons have languished for years. (Note that the fire types that are good are good because of boots existing, and having absurd options, note gen 8 Cinderace, Volcarona, Volcarona with tera, and chi-yu have absurd advantages, and are almost always offensive powerhouses. Heatran is a steel type and therefore not weak to stealth rock.) Volcarona may be considered harder to deal with, but more reasonable counters to it (gyrados maybe?) would likely emerge with the freeing of more flying types.

[@nabi7701]

To make bug types more viable (while nerfing some OP types) I would personally make it super effective against fairy while making ot resist fairy. But I know they probably won't ever change type matchups unless a new type is added again. But being able to counter the dominant fairy type would give them a great niche.

[@ProphetPokemon]

@@nabi7701 I reckon bug could beat fairy

[@gx9183]

Or have bug resist fairy so they resist each other like bug resisting fighting, that way it could give them a nice defensive niche.

[@volbla]

Seriously, who do you think would win in a fight between Tinkerbell and a wasp? Exactly.

[@logan_wolf]

@@volbla The wasp. At that size, those things would be terrifying.

[@king_of_rats_Monfernep]

The biggest thing I don't like about beetles is that they are treated like ordinary beetles in typing (For a second, Caterpie is larger than the largest butterflies in our world, not to mention Genesect, which is a force of mass destruction) Therefore, the beetle's capabilities are almost equal to those of an ordinary creature - it can trample fire or slam the Flutterr Maid.Insects differ from others only because of their exoskeleton. I would like to remove the ineffectiveness against fairies, steel, ghosts, poison and flying, leaving the Fighting type (Machamp will block Butterfries Lunge) and put a rock in same way (Steel bends, while stone can only be split with bigger effort.). And,I will repeat like others, adding the Fairy type in efficiency, while not giving resistance to them.And most importantly - WEAKNESS TO POISON. Lol,it would be funny,return of Parasekt's 3rd 4x weakness, and now it hits us even harder than the fairy)) (probably,fire need resistance to Bug...)

[@logan_wolf]

To answer the title: um, because they're bugs, and you squish them.

[@nathanieljones8043]

Early on it was on purpose that was the point the games were balanced around singleplayer not multi-player but at least 3 gens now have been built from the ground up with pvp in mind their isn't any excuse to simply remove a not very effective or weakness. Or a give a fancy effect like ghost being immune to getting trapped.

[@josephbulkin9222]

if it was designed around single player, why are more than half the mons so bad for that purpose?

[@kaptinkitten3683]

I feel like fairy resisting bug is a response to popular bug moves on non bug types. They need to make bug also resist fairy, that would atleast balancing things out giving bug a little more important defensive utility.

[@PKgiannycarlo]

Honestly a chunk of the bugs feel like they just fell victim to "Early Route Syndrome", where because they're available before you even have a single badge, Game Freak tries to fit them into a niche where they're good for the early game but fall off super hard soon after. I say "tries to" because a lot of the times it feels like they overcorrect, especially since some of the first gyms are Rock type, making the Bugs already hard to justify using, even after their power spike. 4 straight generations of the early bugs not even breaking 400 BST after fully evolving really did a number on the perception of the type as a whole. Gen 5 felt like they finally wanted to make some decent early bugs with Leavanny and Scolipede, which were at least a step up from the rest, even if they are available way later compared to their buggy brethren. But then they made yet another Butterfree in Gen 6 anyway, though with slightly higher stats at least. I haven't played either of the mainline Switch games myself, but Lokix feels like what I've always wanted from an early Bug type. Not the strongest thing ever, but still powerful if used right. If I were to change the game to try and buff the Bug type, there's a great video by KZbinr CammyMeleeTea that goes over adjusting the type chart for several weak types that I think has some good ideas. They suggested making Bug neutral to Fairy while resisting Fairy, having it resist Poison, removing Ghost's resistance to it, and making it so that Bug types can't be confused, similar to how Electric types can't be paralyzed. I could honestly see those type chart changes alone helping the type a bit, but I also think that Game Freak needs to stop being so afraid of the early game mons being too strong, especially as we've seen more examples of decent early game mons that don't completely take over the meta.

[@lochsys]

Justice for bug types!

[@nabi7701]

Volcarona and Scizor hard carry the bug type imo

[@ProphetPokemon]

@@nabi7701 fully agree

[@MontyMoleLoreMaster]

I always felt like what made the Bug type so fun to use was how it sort of felt like the underdog (where you have to use creative strategies or think outside of the box to win). Butterfree and Vivillon are good sleep setters that can abuse Quiver Dance to sweep a team, and Ninjask can use Sword’s Dance and recover most of its hp by using Leech Life (which is both powerful and can heal any damage you taken while setting up). This is mainly talking about a regular playthrough, since obviously competitive is a whole different story.

[@mintx1720]

The problem is offensive synergy, because bug + almost any type is bad coverage (except maybe ghost) it requires a third "stab" like close combat to work. For what it's worth Kleavor runs this concept pretty well in lower tiers.

[@z-leigh6554]

They need to limit u-turn distribution, fix the base stats, and make stealth rocks flat, or maybe even only effect levitating pokemon, but do more damage in turn. Making fairy type as good as it is only hurt. Perhaps make both bug and psychic resist fairy?

[@M3rtyville]

gamefreak probably fears that a certain buff could make u-turn overpowered. To be honest, bugs need better unity abilities that are worth using. Like how annoying real life insects are. You can't make something great again if it was never good to begin with.

[@paulbond8828]

Easy fixes for the Bug type: Full immunity to confusion and redirection effects. Swap the weak/resist it has with Fairy, change the effects of the Swarm ability from its pitiful state to something which ignores evasion boosts of foes and accuracy drops on the user. Oh and bring back both Steamroller and Powder, give both to more pokes. Even sticking with butterfly, moth and other flying/bugs for Powder eligibility and Steamroller for an acceptable enough physical option, perhaps boost the move's power and decrease its usage total down to 10. Powder though would upend the everpresent terror of Fire type coverage into one of strategy while leaving the Rock weakness utterly alone to still offer viable threat response and would immediately see an uptick in both bugs and rock types while thinning out the constant litany of Fire types. That or start using secondary typings that actually have a chance of decent resistances.

[@ProphetPokemon]

mans just cooked for real

[@paulbond8828]

I've also done an all Bug run for each of my second playthroughs since Gen 2's Bug Catching Contest. However, a point of note is that a good player can use a bad mon and still be able to win through mastery of the basics and careful planning.

[@arcanegale285]

bro wants Swarm to become a crappy no guard lol, Swarm is a great ability, it's just not on great mons Swarm on a mon that can like use quiver with a sash, get into swarm with a sash would make it kinda scary one major issue for the bug type is that the average BST is hella low, even if you remove NFEs and Shedinja, it's still quite low another thing they should've done for bug is for it to be SE against Fairy not NVE as well as Bug itself resisting dark, it makes no sense that dark hits bugs neutrally since bugs are cathemeral and often actually nocturnal too.

[@paulbond8828]

Bug typing should absolutely resist Dark~ The low BST is the glaring key issue but since GF seems adamant that Bug should be so easily stomped, better stat reworks for older mons all through the first few gens would be tough. Moving on they seem curious about how to make them better but we see how long Ice has to wait for even a modicum of notice. But even if not making Swarm a slightly rickety No Guard there's so many ways for the entire type to be improved. Largely I think the rare immunity to certain moves (i.e. grass > powder/seed, soundproof, etc all) would be one of the better options that doesn't require too much individual tweaking. It's why they made those changes to Grass, Electric, Fire, Dark and Ghost

[@bruhvibes5941]

Bug Type is actually pretty decent, hitting darks and psychics is very useful and resisting ground and fighting is also very useful, there just needs to be High BST Bug types without flying type added.

[@kimijian]

The brains/minds of bugs cant comprehend evil deeds, ghosts, or the attack on the the psych so they should resist dark, ghost and psychic type moves. That would be a nice deserving defensive boost.

[@z-leigh6554]

Although psychic type would then continue to be a worse and worse version of the fairy type, so nerf knock off, limit u-turn to bugs in most cases, and make psychic resist fairy as well. (I'd almost go as far to drop dark's immunity to a resistance) Most usage of the psychic type as it is now is because of psychic type mons getting access to ridiculous things (which is increasingly not enough under pokemon like gambit, and many psychic mons would be benefited by dropping the type, not starmie and the lati twins)

[@diegoxavier9107]

I'd say Bug's not the worst type. Rock and Ice, for example, are probably worse

[@ProphetPokemon]

@@diegoxavier9107 ice gets put up higher purely cause of pokemon like Calyrex Ice Rider and Chien-Pao but other than that I’d agree they’re all bottom 3

[@diegoxavier9107]

@@ProphetPokemon Using the individual merit of Pokemon that have a certain type certainly is one of the ways of looking at competitive type viability-- even Bug has its share of Ubers-level threats. I would say a mon like Ice Rider is good *in spite* of its typing due to the insane stats, ability, and moves it has, and that its success doesn't prove the viability of the Ice type.

[@gx9183]

Ice type is still in a much better place than it was before due to the snow rework given them a defense buff. It’s still not the best but far from the bottom that it use to be.

[@VestedUTuber]

It doesn't help that bug type Pokemon as a whole are the weakest type of Pokemon on average, due to all the early-game bugs that evolve early, nuke the first gym leader or two and then drastically fall behind afterwards and the fact that you can count the number of bug type evolutionary lines that don't do that on one hand. Honestly, for bug types to actually be good in any way, there needs to be good bug types first. You can make the bug type itself the best type in the game offensively and defensively, and all that would do is bump the already good bug types up a tier while leaving everything else in ZU or even untiered.

[@aidankeogh9994]

Bug-type _moves_ are pretty great, but Bug-type _Pokemon_ themselves are kind of a tough sell.

[@markflores645]

For me bug must not be weak to rock because you cant hit a butterfly,bees,mosquito a housefly a ladybug etc using a rock so for me if its a dual type(bug/flying)they must resist rock attacks

[@jacobbrown9894]

Honestly I think the two biggest problems with bug are the types that resist them and the designation as the early game type. I actually think it was a fucking travesty Game freak even still has early game and late game types past gen 3 like they still think this is a fuckin three stages removed DnD rip off where you start against giant rats and spiders then build to dragons and liches and not its own franchise. Not only do too many types resist Bug (and Grass) but a lot are like nothingburgers in vibe but just brutally hurt it. Personally I’d not only nix the fairy resisting it but also ghost because I cannot see a single reason ghost would resist it that doesn’t just become “Ghosts should just be immune to all physical or at least contact moves if we’re really doing that.”

[@jacobbrown9894]

My personal changes for bug are actually making good ones, getting rid of fairy and ghost resistance, and confusion immunity. I’m not cutting any of the weaknesses because they make sense and there’s only a few, the better response to “Rock weakness makes stealth rock good” is cutting stealth rock not making being weak to rock verboten. I also introduced basically a bug weather condition that prevents non bugs from eating berries and boosts bug moves by 1.3x but those were aspects of fan region design not core bug mechanic changes.

[@ljmax8693]

Its sad. Bug type is my favourite type. Doing playthroughs with only bug types is challenging. I don't play competitively but i still think that fairy should take normal damage from bug type. Also stat boost and good abilities would help too. I don't want bug to be top tier type, but not the worst one.

[@TaLeng2023]

I want Grass and Bug to resist Fairy while they hit it for neutral. Would give them something to do. For Bug specifically, I want them to have 2 separate type quirks. 1. They ignore the opponent's Evasion and DEF/SDEF boosts. Imagine being assaulted by mosquitoes that find ways into your clothes. 2. Priority Pivot moves. If they use U-Turn, Flip Turn, etc, it gain +1 priority. An indirect buff would be to lower Stealth Rock damage so that it does only 1/3 damage to a Pokemon that's 4x weak to Rock.

[@jimmymackinnon8474]

Stealth Rock is such a pain lol. I wish they would at least cap the damage at 25%

[@jacobbrown9894]

You didn’t buff Bug types you broke them to the point of annoyance. Do not give a whole type unaware lmao

[@brantchristy3490]

I don't think it makes much sense for grass to hit fairy for neutral since fairy types typically love nature. I think it makes more sense for grass and fairy to resist each other while bug could resist fairy and be strong against it.

[@bruhvibes5941]

@@brantchristy3490That would make grass resisted by eight types…bug type copium is so genius lol

[@FinalAgent]

Nerf U-Turn, lowering its accessibility while allowing a lot of Bug Types to get it. Nerf Volcarona by some stat points. Give Bug Types a passive like naturally bypassing Reflect/LightScreen/Veil or Ignoring Entry Hazards due to bugs having an easy time getting in places they shouldn't be. Reverse the type matchup of Bug vs Fairy, Bugs Resist Fairy and deal SE damage to Fairy because a lot of fairies in common depictions use bug elements, so why wouldn't the original beat the copy. For the love of god, give bug types some kind of terrain or weather interaction like "Firefly's Domain : Grants all Bug and Fairy Types the equivalent of one stage of speed, grants Bug Types a 15% boost to all attack calculations (similar to Life Orb, but halved) while this is in effect and grants the Unaware Ability in terms of calculations to all attacks from all parties except Bug Types for the purpose of their attacks. I'm not sure if anything else can give the type's middling mons (not even the lamest ones, just average ones for the type) a niche...

[@jonmiller4575]

Because Pokémon Company and GameFreak refuse to actually give the bug type….realistic buffs. All BUGS should not supper from status results like confusion or paralyzed. Bug should do super affective damage to fairy, ground and water. Bugs in stories defeat fairy types. Bugs dig, tear and eat ground. Bugs drink water and a lot need water to survive and repopulate.

[@jonmiller4575]

Suffer i meant sorry lol🐞🪳

[@armorbearer9702]

Nintendo could be more generous to but types with abilities. Personally, I would like Compound Eyes to be more widely distributed. This will allow bug types to reliably hit with hard to hit moves like Megahorn.

[@Tommybotham]

I was going to argue against your video, but then I remembered that the only reason why I use Volcanora is because it looks cool and has access to Hurricane and Heatwave. When did I ever use Bug Buzz or U-Turn? When did I ever rely on STAB Bug moves or resists....? Ok I guess there is Quiver Dance, but the fire typing is the only thing that makes Volcarona relevant - even if it takes 50% hp to stealth rock..

[@ProphetPokemon]

Someday gamefreak will bless us with a bug type that we use for the bug typing

[@echidnaralsei1473]

yes but U-turn

[@ProphetPokemon]

@@echidnaralsei1473 U-turn, the best bug move not utilised by bugs

[@thunnus_albacares]

Just bring the power to the same level as Flip Turn

[@eekajmoneybaby9309]

If bugs resist or were effective to fairy they could see more use they are polar opposites why is fairy resistant if poison n steel are dangerous to beautiful nature invasive pest should also be on that weakness scale along with fire. Would love to see a pokemon like araqanid get a mega &get more bulk and speed and become a orge face spider or net trapping spider, I know we technically got a very similar pokemon in spidots but it was bad because it wasn't a araqanid variant, that keeps water bubble and become a dark bug type make it look like a upside down version of dewpider. 90 HP 112 atk 92 def 50 satk 120sdef and 100 SPD. this should give it offensive potential while still having staying potential. Was even thinking of reducing special to 30 for 120 attack and 100hp or boosting speed to 120. With moves like grassy glide, poison jab, liquidation and leech life/ crunch they would have good coverage and one less weakness add a weakness policy or leftovers or life orb they could be quite good. Would like to hear other people's ideas to make new mega bugs with stats abilities and design ideas.

[@joshuafoote5144]

It’s not bad considering that no less than three types are weak to it.

[@lochsys]

Woooooooooooh! 4:10

[@angel_of_rust]

klaus schwab

[@AidenMinseokKim]

2:10 AMOONGUS

[@hylje]

Amogus type matrix

[@lochsys]

Snom boss on a bench 3:01

[@ProphetPokemon]

@@lochsys SNOM ON A BENCH

[@Socialism_on_Roids]

Bug Types are my favorite type if only because succeeding with Bugs in Pokemon is like succeeding with India in AOE3. They're the hard mode for anyone who wants to put themselves through hell.

[@ProphetPokemon]

I do love the bug type. You’re right though Depending on the region it could be a challenge mode if you use only bugs

[@Socialism_on_Roids]

@@ProphetPokemon Back in Alpha Sapphire, I did a Bug only competitive battling phase. Managed to fight a whole team of legendaries in a multi-battle down to the last Poke'mon. My opponent had Primal Groudon, Kyogre, Reshirim, Kyurum, Palkia, and Cobalion. At the end of the bout, his Groudon was the only one left standing.