Moves that are great, but are completely unusable.

[jackatlasred]

So this is a thread to hear about everyone's opinion on moves that you saw, though they were great, but are unusable, since they can only be used by weak pokemon. Or moves that you saw were great, and pokemon you love can use, but they weren't meant for it.

So a move I always liked was magnet bomb, yeah it's one of those moves that never miss, but it's got decent power for being a steel type. Unfortunately all the pokemon that can learn it specialize in sp. attack or an event legendary, making the move worthless.

Volt tackle is also great, but it's only used by the pikachu line making it a waste.

Everyone has different moves that they think are worthless not because they're weak, but because there just isn't a pokemon who can use it.

 

[PaulTheProtist]

Hyper Beam and Giga Impact. The fact that they leave you open for a turn is not worth the damage.

 

[TeaWest]

I would say Sketch; it's nice to learn other Pokemon's moves, but you can only use it once and it's gone! :'( That's what I would call unusable haha.

 

[Aggron989]

I'd say Frustration. When I first caught my Buneary, it'd KO pretty much everything with Frustration, but the move kept getting weaker and weaker until Buneary finally evolved. The move is kind of useless in the long run.

 

[Tyrfing]

In-game, anything with 5 PP or less. Hell, I can hardly get through routes without burning up most of my moves with 15 PP.

From a pure battle standpoint, definitely Frustration. Return is the same thing, but easier to get. At least Hyper Beam and Giga Impact can be used to score the final kill at the end of the battle.

 

[Krash]

Hyper Beam and Giga Impact. The fact that they leave you open for a turn is not worth the damage.

Exactly what I was going to reply with. May I also add Precipice Blades and Origin Pulse? Yes, the moves are strong and they look wonderful, but the Primals can be taken down so easily that they don't really have a use competitively.

 

[GhostFingers]

I would say Sketch; it's nice to learn other Pokemon's moves, but you can only use it once and it's gone! :'( That's what I would call unusable haha.

You're kidding, right? You know that Smeargle a. learns Sketch over again at every level ending in a 1, b. can be re-taught Sketch using heart scales after it's been used.

Zap Cannon. Sure, it has great damage and it always paralyzes the opponent, but I can't make it not miss.

Lock-on or Mind reader. That's what those moves were invented to do.

Similarly to that though, Inferno. Zap Cannon (as of gen 6) has higher base power than thunder, and is therefore somewhat worth the effort of a move combo. Dynamic punch, while weaker, has use on No Guard Machamp. Inferno is still lagging in the power stakes, as a slightly more powerful yet horribly inaccurate version of Flamethrower, and none of the pokemon that learn it can learn lock-on, mind reader or have no guard (without Skill swap or something like that). In gens 2 & 3 Zap Cannon was exactly the same. Thunderbolt was preferred for the similar power and much higher accuracy.

 

[The Infidel]

Hyper Beam and Giga Impact. The fact that they leave you open for a turn is not worth the damage.

Don't be so sure, I've turned a few heads in the past with my Pixilated, hyper beam using mega gardevoir.
It's really good as a cannon to instantly take out almost anything other than a steel type. they then faint and sure they land a hit next turn, but its just the one, unless they are faster than you

 

[TeaWest]

You're kidding, right? You know that Smeargle a. learns Sketch over again at every level ending in a 1, b. can be re-taught Sketch using heart scales after it's been used.

True, I forgot about heart scales, but my point was that Smeargle only gets the move ten times, and it's only used once. So if you wanted to be technical you could say that while Sketch is good, you can only use it at a maximum of ten times for any Smeargle in an ENTIRE GAME, if you didn't use heart scales. ;D

It's unusable in that sense because it's only used once and the poof! It's gone. I think it speaks to the un-usablility of the move to be forced to use a Heart Scale just to get 1 PP of the move back, then to lose it again.

EDIT: I'd also have to add Last Resort to the list. It's got dat power and accuracy, but it's use requires so many stipulations that it's not worth it. And you can't just have it as the only move on your Pokemon, you have to use all other moves before you can use it. Being a normal type move doesn't do it any favors either.

 

[Osprey]

Just about any move with 5 PP. They might be powerful, but they almost always have a major drawback, like lowering the user's stats, forcing the user to skip a turn before or after, or they just simply have unreliable accuracy. That Fire Blast or Thunder that you were relying on the finish the battle will let you down, often.

 

[godiego]

Synchronoise anyone? 120 power but only hits targets of the same type as the user, even those on your side?

 

[Norzan]

You're kidding, right? You know that Smeargle a. learns Sketch over again at every level ending in a 1, b. can be re-taught Sketch using heart scales after it's been used.

True, I forgot about heart scales, but my point was that Smeargle only gets the move ten times, and it's only used once. So if you wanted to be technical you could say that while Sketch is good, you can only use it at a maximum of ten times for any Smeargle in an ENTIRE GAME, if you didn't use heart scales. ;D

It's unusable in that sense because it's only used once and the poof! It's gone. I think it speaks to the un-usablility of the move to be forced to use a Heart Scale just to get 1 PP of the move back, then to lose it again.

I think that's the point of Sketch. Sure, it's gone when it's used, but because of it Smeargle can learn every move in the game including moves like Dark Void (best sleep inducing move in the game) and event only moves.

 

[jackatlasred]

You're kidding, right? You know that Smeargle a. learns Sketch over again at every level ending in a 1, b. can be re-taught Sketch using heart scales after it's been used.

True, I forgot about heart scales, but my point was that Smeargle only gets the move ten times, and it's only used once. So if you wanted to be technical you could say that while Sketch is good, you can only use it at a maximum of ten times for any Smeargle in an ENTIRE GAME, if you didn't use heart scales. ;D

It's unusable in that sense because it's only used once and the poof! It's gone. I think it speaks to the un-usablility of the move to be forced to use a Heart Scale just to get 1 PP of the move back, then to lose it again.

I think that's the point of Sketch. Sure, it's gone when it's used, but because of it Smeargle can learn every move in the game including moves like Dark Void (best sleep inducing move in the game) and event only moves.

I guess since spore doesn't effect grass types. But smeargle has terrible stats making it not useful at all.

 

[Four/Tris]

Focus Punch. It's amazingly powerful but the fact that it needs a turn to charge without being attacked first in order to work makes it hard to use.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Any OHKO move. The accuracy is so low to the point where they only have decent accuracy if you're so much stronger than your opponent that you could probably OHKO them anyway. Unless you're lucky enough to have access to Mind Reader or Lock-On or something.

 

[TeaWest]

You're kidding, right? You know that Smeargle a. learns Sketch over again at every level ending in a 1, b. can be re-taught Sketch using heart scales after it's been used.

True, I forgot about heart scales, but my point was that Smeargle only gets the move ten times, and it's only used once. So if you wanted to be technical you could say that while Sketch is good, you can only use it at a maximum of ten times for any Smeargle in an ENTIRE GAME, if you didn't use heart scales. ;D

It's unusable in that sense because it's only used once and the poof! It's gone. I think it speaks to the un-usablility of the move to be forced to use a Heart Scale just to get 1 PP of the move back, then to lose it again.

I think that's the point of Sketch. Sure, it's gone when it's used, but because of it Smeargle can learn every move in the game including moves like Dark Void (best sleep inducing move in the game) and event only moves.

Yeah, I totally agree that's what makes Sketch an awesome move! But it was my interpretation that this thread was for moves that are really good on the face of it but are marred by other stipulations like terrible accuracy, the need of certain conditions, etc. That's why I ultimately picked Sketch: really great, awesome move, but severely handicapped because of the limited times you can use it.

 

[King Robert]

There's this move that, in the past, could only hit IF the opponent used Detect or Protect...but since 99% of opponents I run into don't even have that move, it's useless...and I believe now, the move can hit regardless of whether or not the opponent became "invincible".

 

[Steel_Justice]

There's this move that, in the past, could only hit IF the opponent used Detect or Protect...but since 99% of opponents I run into don't even have that move, it's useless...and I believe now, the move can hit regardless of whether or not the opponent became "invincible".

That move would be Feint and outside of hitting through shield moves it is a very underwhelming priority attack.

Aeroblast is one of those attacks that is amazing on paper. High base power, high crit chance, accurate and is a good attacking type. A real shame that Lugia doesn't have good special attack to use it with. If you want to see Aeroblast done right then you need to go to Palkia and Spacial Rend.

 

[skyradiant]

Hyper Beam and Giga Impact. The fact that they leave you open for a turn is not worth the damage.

Not to mention Roar of Time and the elemental Hyper Beams (Blast Burn, Frenzy Plant and Hydro Cannon).
Freeze Shock and Ice Burn are in a similar boat, since the charge turn means that Black/White Kyurem becomes easy to take down.

 

[Jimmy 3 People 0]

Synchronoise anyone? 120 power but only hits targets of the same type as the user, even those on your side?

Came here to say this. It'd be much better if it was retooled to do 65 damage normally, and then double that if the opponent has the same type.