History Characters / PokemonGenerationIIITreeckoToSharpedo

* NoSell: Immune to powder-based moves from Generation VI onwards.

* BigBadassWolf: Manectric is based on the wolf form of Raiju.

* PoorPredictableRock: Despite having high Special Attack, Sceptile has a much better ''physical'' movepool. That said, there's always Swords Dance and MinMaxing.

* SuperMode: Blaziken gains a Mega Evolution in Generation VI.

* AwesomeYetPractical: Swampert is statistically the strongest of the starters, and it's also one of the most useful ones. Unlike every other starter, it has remained consistently popular and useful in the competitive scene since its debut, though it has taken a bit of a hit in usefulness in Generation V.

* ActionInitiative: Learns Sucker Punch naturally. As mentioned below, it can be adept with Me First as well.

* DiscOneNuke: Has the Pickup Ability that gives you free items just for being in your party. That includes [[VendorTrash Nuggets]], Ultra Balls, Max Revives, [[RareCandy Rare Candies]], and King's Rocks.
** {{Nerf}}: In ''[=FireRed=]'' and ''[=LeafGreen=]'' the drop lists and chances were changed so it would mostly get you Berries - still useful, but not Nuke-level - and from ''Emerald'' on, Pickup's rewards were scaled based on the Pickup Pokémon's level.

* UrbanLegendOfZelda: Whether your Wurmple evolves into a Silcoon or a Cascoon is based on the personality value, hidden normally, not by gender, stats, time of day, etc.

* ActionInitiative: Shadow Sneak can be bred onto them.

* ArmorPiercingAttack: Infamously, Hyper Voice can bypass Substitutes, and, if taught from a TM, Psyshock can take Gardevoir's high Special Attack and turn it into a physical-damage attack for that turn, which can devastate [[MageKiller enemies who focus on high Special Defense rather than Defense.]]

* BreakoutCharacter: What was once just an {{Expy}} of the Abra line got diversified into a unique alternate second stage evolution, and in Generation VI Gardevoir not only got a Mega Evolution, but such is the Champion's signature Pokémon.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The Gardevoir line is the only line aside from the Porygons to get Trace as an ability, copying the opponent's Ability and, if applicable, activating it instantly. Have fun using Gyarados's own Intimidate to cripple it, or copying Swift Swim or Chlorophyll to rob the enemy's Speed advantage in weather. Fire, Electric and Water types commonly have abilities like Flash Fire and Lightningrod that render them immune to attacks of their typing, letting Gardevoir NoSell their STAB and potentially grabbing a free stat boost on a switch-in.

** [[FridgeBrilliance Of course it can't learn Gravity. If it could, it wouldn't be ignoring it, now would it?]]

* DisabilitySuperpower: When those with Poison Heal get poisoned, they regain health instead of losing it. Unlike other Abilities that invoke this trope, though, Breloom suffers absolutely ''no'' drawbacks as a result of making use of it, as Poison's [[DamageOverTime only effect]] is negated entirely. For a time, Poison Heal was considered ''the best'' Ability in the game, and still ranks up there even now.

* ForMassiveDamage: Breloom to Flying attacks.

* LethalJokeCharacter: Breloom has mostly awful stats and a poor defensive typing. However, it has monstrously high Attack, on-par with the infamous Garchomp, and access to great abilities in Technician and Poison Heal. Coupled with the coveted 100% accuracy Spore, Leech Seed, and Bullet Seed and Mach Punch to abuse with Technician, and Breloom is surprisingly dangerous in spite of what seems at first glance like a dead weight Grass-type. It may have low Speed, but being that Mach Punch always goes first its Speed won't matter unless it faces another priority user, and that Mach Punch is going to ''hurt''.

* MegatonPunch: The most famous moveset variants for Brelooms in the Third and Fourth generations revolve around the TM Focus Punch, typically combined with Spore and/or Substitute.

* {{Nerf}}: Generation VI was not kind to it. Spore now has no effect on Grass-types, Low Sweep had its power increased ''just'' enough so Technician doesn't power it up, and now Substitute can't block sound-based moves or enemies with the Infiltrator ability.

Notorious for its "ability" to stop attacking every other turn, Slakoth isn't very useful besides its high Attack for an early Pokémon. Its evolution, Vigoroth, is an all-around great team member, with ''monstrous'' Attack and HP, plus solid Speed and Defense. Vigoroth also defies the laziness of its previous form by growing extremely hyperactive, and so it temporarily dumps Truant for Vital Spirit, the ability to not fall asleep, so it's basically the peppy adolescent stage. Slaking, however, regains the Truant ability, but its ''incredible'' Attack and Defense makes up for it.

%%* {{Ninja}}: And Ninjask has {{Samurai}} elements as well.
%%* NoBiologicalSex: Shedinja.

%%* SoulPower: Shedinja

** This also applies to trained Kyogre, where Shedinja is an amusing counter since most Kyogre forget to pack a move that can hurt Shedinja, and the ones that ''can'' hurt it are firecrackers compared to the nukes like Water Spout and Thunder it usually throws around. [[note]]Outside of Hidden Power, the only moves super-effective against Shedinja are Rock Tomb (terrible damage and low accuracy), Rock Slide (somewhat okay base damage but uses its inferior physical Attack, like Rock Tomb), and [=AncientPower=] (which, while working off its Special Attack, has at the most 8 uses and only has 60 base power)[[/note]].
* UrbanLegendOfZelda: You can have ANY kind of ball to get Shedinja, you do not need a Pokéball... In Generation III at least. In Generation IV, V and VI, you ''do'' need a regular Pokéball.

* WhosLaughingNow: While extremely convoluted, there is a technique to change a Shedinja's ability to [[LastChanceHitPoint Sturdy]] in Doubles and Triples play. Sturdy always procs when a Pokemon is supposed to go from maximum HP to no HP, but Shedinja only has a single hit point to begin with, [[NighInvulnerable thus keeping it at a perpetual "last" chance]]. It's also a common strategy to give Shedinja Paralysis [[CursedWithAwesome just to prevent Poison or Burn from ruining its day]], and the new [[GogglesDoSomethingUnusual Safety Goggles]] held item in Gen VI prevent weather damage; what is normally a GlassCannon annoyance becomes a nigh-immortal GradualGrinder that is almost impossible to stop.[[note]]It is, however, not immune to self-damage (like from being Confused) or [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman Leech Seed's]] LifeDrain. That's about it though.[[/note]] Expertly demonstrated [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ciuAcwbny6w in this battle]].

* FanNickname: Whismur has been jokingly refered to as "Pumbloom" by some people due to WebVideo/GameGrumps.

* ScissorsCutsRock: Its Hidden Ability is Scrappy, which lets it hit Ghost-types with Normal and Fighting-type moves.

** NoSell: Ignores the Attack cutting effect of burns.
** StandardStatusEffects: With Guts, getting afflicted by these makes it stronger.

* MakingASplash: Strangely, Hariyama learns Brine naturally (albeit only with help from a Move Relearner).

* StandardStatusEffects: Defied with its Hidden Ability of Sheer Force. Any attacks that have a chance to inflict these drop that chance for a power boost, along with the ability to not cause Life Orb recoil.

* ForMassiveDamage: Fighting and Ground attacks. The latter can be averted with Magnet Rise.

* ShownTheirWork: Probopass is based on what the Moai statues originally looked like in both design and paint scheme, based on recent research and paint analysis.

%%* JackOfAllStats

* AllYourPowersCombined: Is often used in Baton Pass chains, due to it being one of the few Steel-types with Baton Pass (and thus being immune to Clear Smog), and it has some handy boosting moves at its disposal.

* CuteMonsterGirl: Just try to ignore that growth on its back. (And the fact that half of them are male.)

%%* AwesomeButImpractical: Incredibly high physical defense, solid offense (most especially with Head Smash), quadruple resistance against Normal and Flying, lots of resistances... despite its very high defenses, though, it gets utterly trashed by Fighting and Ground attacks (two of the most common and useful attacking types), and most special attackers, especially Water-types, that may OneHitKill them with ease. Let's say that this line just [[DifficultButAwesome should be used very carefully]] if you want them to shine.

* GlassCannon: Both of them hit hard (Gardevoir with Special Attack, Gallade with physical Attack) and have great Special Defense, but low HP, Defense, and average speed (which is easy to outrun). Mega Gardevoir is far stronger and faster, but its physical Defense and HP remain poor.

* NotCompletelyUseless: Mega Gardevoir's Ability Pixilate, which turns Normal type moves into Fairy type and boosts them by 30%. It sounds great on paper, except that Gardevoir is a special attacker whereas the majority of the Normal movepool is ''physical'', and while a boosted Hyper Beam is tempting, [[AwesomeYetImpractical the two-turn waiting period is very undesirable on something so fragile]]. This said, however, it has a cool niche in Hyper Voice: after Pixilate and STAB, it boasts a whopping ''175'' base power and naturally flies past Substitutes, which coming off of its massive Sp. Atk stat means it will reliably oneshot or twoshot anything that doesn't resist Fairy and isn't named [[StoneWall Chansey or Blissey]]. This requires access to the Pokémon Bank, however, as an X/Y native Gardevoir has no access to Hyper Voice. Echoed Voice can also potentially serve this purpose if Mega Gardevoir survives long enough to chain them.

* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Mega Medicham uses its psychic powers to manifest two additional pairs of arms.

* UrbanLegendOfZelda: You can have ANY kind of ball to get Shedinja, you do not need a Pokéball... In Generation III at least. In Generation IV and V, you ''do'' need a regular Pokéball.

* BirdPeople: Blaziken resembles a person with chicken-like features then an actual chicken.

* {{Badass}}: Gallade thanks to his insane movepool, honourable nature, and blades on his elbows.

%%* CripplingOverspecialization: Despite the myriad ways to defeat it, Shedinja can still take down Uber staples Kyogre and Palkia with little trouble. [[KryptoniteIsEverywhere Assuming there are no pointy floating stones involved]]...
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Ninjask has the ability to take out several legendaries in one-hit, including Attack Forme Deoxys and Mewtwo Y.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulu: Ninjask has the ability to take out several legendaries in one-hit including Attack form Deoxys and Mewtwo Y

!!Poochyena and Mightyena

* [[BigBadassWolf Big Badass Hyena]]: Mightyena is this incarnate. Poochyena tries to be this, but has a penchant for running away from anything that fights back.

* MasterOfNone: Although regular Mawile's Attack and Defense are somewhat fine, everything else is terrible. It has one of the lowest base stat totals of any fully-evolved Pokémon. However...
* MightyGlacier: Its new Mega Evolved state has much higher offensive and defensive stats to fit its fantastic typing, but its base Speed stat remains at that terrible 50 (though this can be bypassed with a well-timed [[ActionInitiative Sucker Punch]]).

* NoSell: To Poison attacks. Gen VI adds Dragon attacks to the list.
** Its Hyper Cutter Ability ignores Attack drops.

** On the other hand, Blaziken manages to do this ''in spades'' to Emboar. Seriously, the only stat that's significantly higher for Emboar than for Blaziken is HP, and high HP doesn't amount to much when paper-thin defenses mean that any attack from a powerful opponent inflicts massive damage anyways. (Emboar also has slightly higher Attack, but it's going to have a hard time putting that to use with its low Speed and defenses.)

* TheMedic: Gardevoir has access to Wish, Healing Wish, Heal Bell (albeit via Move Tutor), and Heal Pulse. Gallade can use the last of those, potentially making him a CombatMedic.

* TookALevelInBadass: Blaziken iss one of the few known mons to have access to a Mega Evolution form.

* MoreDeadlyThanTheMale: Even though they aren't always female, Gardevoir can be considered this to Gallade now as of Generation VI with their Fairy typing and access to a Mega Evolution, allowing Gardevoir to potentially overshadow Gallade.

* MoreDeadlyThanTheMale: Even though they aren't always male, Gardevoir can be considered this to Gallade now as of Generation VI with their Fairy typing and access to a Mega Evolution, allowing Gardevoir to potentially overshadow Gallade.

* {{Nerf}}: Priority Recover, priority Will-O-Wisp and having no type weaknesses made Prankster Sableye an absolute ''monster'' in Gen V. The introduction of the Fairy-type in Gen VI corrected this.

* OvershadowedByAwesome: Blaziken was mostly outclassed by Infernape in almost every way in the Generation IV games; while Blaziken could hit harder than Infernape (especially in terms of physical attacks), Infernape's superior speed (and, to a lesser extent, its ''marginally'' superior defenses), along with respectable offensive might on both the physical and special spectrums, made it significantly more useful to most competitive teams. Generation V seems to have corrected this; while Infernape is still a formidable opponent, Blaziken's new StatusBuff potential placed it, arguably, among the best Pokémon in the metagame.

* TookALevelInBadass:
** Blaziken. Blaziken ''oh so much''. Upon getting not only Speed Boost but also the drastically buffed Hi Jump Kick, Blaziken went right from being an "inferior Infernape" of sorts to being the first starter Pokémon to ever be put in the Uber tiers (two generations in a row!), pitting it against the likes of Mewtwo, Lugia, Rayquaza, and even ''[[{{God}} Arceus]]'' (who, depending on the type of Plate it's holding, Blaziken ''[[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu actually has an advantage over]]''). If that isn't a level in badass being taken, I don't know what is.
** [[UpToEleven It's also one of the few known mons to have access to a Mega Evolution form.]]

* TookALevelInBadass: A bit. Both Dustox and Beautifly gained Quiver Dance in Gen V. Unfortunately, they do still tend to get [[OvershadowedByAwesome overshadowed]] by other bugs that can abuse it better, like Butterfree[[note]]with Compoundeyes-boosted Status-inducing moves to create openings in which to set up Quiver Dance[[/note]], Masquerain[[note]]with moves like [[MakingASplash Hydro Pump]] and [[AnIcePerson Ice Beam]] to attack with, or being the only one in NU that can Baton Pass the buff[[/note]], or Mothim[[note]]which boasts slightly better Special Attack than other Quiver Dance users, as well as the Tinted Lens ability to make the most of its attack coverage.[[/note]]

* TookALevelInBadass: Aside from its great typing, it wasn't really the best. At least, until Politoed got the Drizzle ability. Then it became part of the [[GameBreaker "broken trio"]] (Kingdra, Ludicolo, and Kabutops) that dominated the competitive scheme and led to the extensive debate and usage of weather teams. Which led to its...
** {{Nerf}}: In Generation 6, indirectly, due to Drizzle no longer being permanent but lasting eight turns at most.

** Played ''very'' straight in Gen V, which gave it the new, powerful StatusBuff Quiver Dance. Even better, Masquerain is one of only two Pokémon to get both Quiver Dance ''and'' Baton Pass, the other being Venomoth, which Masquerain no longer has to compete with in Smogon. Masquerain's Intimidate ability even makes it pretty good at setting up, either giving it a free turn as the opposing player switches out, or leaving said player with a weakened Pokémon.

* BoringButPractical: Like Mew, Ninjask is mostly used for [[MinMaxing Baton Passing]] {{Status Buff}}s; its Attack is decent, but outclassed by a lot, and its defenses are too horrendous for it to survive for very long. As mentioned below, it ''can'' pack a punch, but this relies on the element of surprise.[[note]]in competitive play, a Ninjask is almost instantly assumed to be MinMaxing, so this works better than you'd think... [[ItOnlyWorksOnce for one KO, anyways.]][[/note]]
** Likewise, Shedinja can be thrown out as a shield against the horribly-damaging moves Self-Destruct and Explosion without a scratch on it.
* CripplingOverspecialization: Despite the myriad ways to defeat it, Shedinja can still take down Uber staples Kyogre and Palkia with little trouble. [[KryptoniteIsEverywhere Assuming there are no pointy floating stones involved]]...

* DishingOutDirt: Nincada.

* {{Ninja}}: And Ninjask has {{Samurai}} elements as well.
* NoBiologicalSex: Shedinja.

* NotCompletelyUseless: Dig, for Ninjask. In the metagame, Dig is seen as a risky move that can easily be countered with Protect or switching to a Flying-type/Levitator. However, using Dig gives it immunity to all damage (well, except for No Guard users) for that turn, in which time Speed Boost will kick in. No player with any kind of typing knowledge would try to use Earthquake on a Flying-type, and since they'll strike last, there's no time to predict that. Opponent used Protect? They just gave Ninjask an extra turn to build up speed.

* OvershadowedByAwesome:
** Ninjask was quite useful in Gens III and IV because of its use as a Baton Passer, but its niche in this area has taken a major hit in V thanks to Shell Smash and Quiver Dance along with its passers.
** Gen VI put the nail in the coffin by giving Speed Boost to [[Characters/PokemonGenerationVVictiniToZoroark Scolipede]]. Scolipede can do everything Ninjask can do and more with its better overall bulk, higher Attack, and better movepool. Ninjask's only advantages are its much higher Speed before Speed Boost kicks in and immunity to Ground-type moves and ground-based hazards.
* SoulPower: Shedinja

* JackOfAllStats: This doesn't make it a top threat, though, as its stats (and being outclassed by [[OvershadowedByAwesome another mon using the typing better]]) keep it in the lower tiers.
** With Prankster, it now occupies a decidedly different niche, being a frustratingly slippery status inflicter who can easily stop the rampage of physical sweepers short with a single well-placed Will-O-Wisp and keep annoyers and walls from being able to do anything with a priority Taunt; bring in something capable of killing it or seriously hurting it, and it risks getting pulverized with a Foul Play. It's not a staple by any means, but when it comes to inconveniencing things, Sableye is very, very good at it.

* TookALevelInBadass: Its Hidden Ability, Prankster, increases the ActionInitiative of non-damaging moves, turning it into a [[GoddamnBats Goddamn Bat]] in competitive play.

* KryptoniteIsEverywhere: Thanks to Mega Charizard Y giving rise to a plethora of Sun teams, Fire must now always be accounted for in the metagame. As a Steel/Fairy, Fire-type Pokemon are the main thorn in Mawile's side due to being 1) weak to Fire-type moves, and 2) both of Mawile's [=STABs=] being ineffective against Fire-types; Mega Mawile not being able to hold an [[KryptoniteProofSuit Occa Berry]] with the Mawilite doesn't help. It's entirely possible for Mega Mawile to remove such threats with [[ActionInitiative Sucker Punch]] or [[ForMassiveDamage Rock]] [[HerdHittingAttack Slide]], but extreme caution must still be employed.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Incredibly high physical defense, solid offense (most especially with Head Smash), quadruple resistance against Normal and Flying, lots of resistances... despite its very high defenses, though, it gets utterly trashed by Fighting and Ground attacks (two of the most common and useful attacking types), and most special attackers, especially Water-types, that may OneHitKill them with ease. Let's say that this line just [[DifficultButAwesome should be used very carefully]] if you want them to shine.

* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Aron.

* OvershadowedByAwesome: One of the few Electric types introduced in Hoenn. If Pikachu, Voltorb, and Magnemite weren't around, it ''might'' get more love.

* KryptoniteIsEverywhere: Thanks for Mega Charizard Y giving rise to a plethora of Sun teams, Fire must now always be accounted for in the metagame. As a Steel/Fairy, Fire-type Pokemon are the main thorn in Mawile's side due to being 1) weak to Fire-type moves, and 2) both of Mawile's [=STABs=] being ineffective against Fire-types; Mega Mawile not being able to hold an [[KryptoniteProofSuit Occa Berry]] with the Mawilite doesn't help. It's still entirely possible for Mega Mawile to remove such threats with [[ActionInitiative Sucker Punch]] or [[ForMassiveDamage Rock]] [[HerdHittingAttack Slide]], but extreme caution must still be employed.

* {{Nerf}}: Gen VI's introducing the Fairy-type, thus removing its coveted "No weaknesses" status.

** Subverted in that Mawile gets a Mega Evolution and a type advantage over Sableye (who is weak against Fairy type moves) in Gen VI where they are also caught in the same game.