Moves that Pokemon should/should not be able to learn

[Nicolas721]

Dragon Rage being Dragon-type is irrelevant since its fixed damage ignores resistances and STAB.

I thought the nostalgia came from it being in Charmander's moveset in Gen 3 but apparently it wasn't obtainable until level 43, and in general it feels very limited to Dragon types even in Gen 7. That coupled with the fact that the move had zero strategic value probably lead to its demise.

 

[EmpoleonProd]

Just thought of this one recently, but why can't Swampert learn Fake Out? He's got those huge arms for physical attacks, and learns other common moves learned by other (often Fighting-type) Fake Out users, like Rock Throw, Rock Smash, Hammer Arm, Facade, Brick Break, and so on... It just seems well within Swampert's nature to learn Fake Out so I think it should, I also think this would vastly increase the viability of Swampert in battle, a bulky Pokemon with an immunity, four resistances, and only one weakness having Fake Out is very strong.

I like Mudkipz

 

[Enzo]

I was replaying Pokémon Black, and something came to my mind: I think Excadrill should've been able to learn Dragon Claw. Now, hear me out on this one, cuz I know how this sounds.

You see, one of Excadrill's most defining traits is it's huge claws. Most of it's dex entries talks about how powerful they are, as they are able to cut through extremely thick metal as if it was butter, and based off how fast it can dig, and even it's Attack stat (!), it's easy to see how powerful these claws are.

Besides, look at all those slashing/cutting/claw-based moves it gets: Scratch, Hone Claws, Fury Swipes, Metal Claw, Crush Claw, Shadow Claw, Poison Jab, X-Scissor, Slash and Cut. 10 moves that it has access to because of how huge and powerful it's claws are. And there might be even more if you use your imagination to infer how it uses them, especially considering it digs by putting it's claws and horn together.

And what about Dragon Claw, you may ask?

The user slashes the target with huge, sharp claws.

Sharp, huge claws hook and slash the foe quickly and with great power.

And even if you'd argue "Its because it's not a dragon nor has any connections with Dragons!",,, then welll,,, why the fuck does Arceus, Eelektross, Chesnaught, Pangoro, Barbaracle, Yvetal, Bewear and Syvally have access to it then? Oh yeah. It's cuz they have huge and/or powerful claws. But it's not like Excadrill has any, of course...

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

And even if you'd argue "Its because it's not a dragon nor has any connections with Dragons!",,, then welll,,, why the fuck does Arceus, Eelektross, Chesnaught, Pangoro, Barbaracle, Yvetal, Bewear and Syvally have access to it then? Oh yeah. It's cuz they have huge and/or powerful claws. But it's not like Excadrill has any, of course...

Well, Arceus's entire thing is that it's the creator of the universe and can harness any elemental type it pleases, so of course it'd have access to a few Dragon attacks. It's not just "it's got powerful claws". Silvally was created to emulate Arceus, so the same justifications apply to it. Essentially, Arceus and Silvally both have connections to the Dragon-type in-universe, so them getting Dragon Claw is more than justified. The others you listed getting Dragon Claw is certainly more debatable, though. But I guess Yveltal could be argued to be vaguely wyvern-like and that's why it can use Dragon Claw.

All that said, Excadrill getting Dragon Claw actually would make sense, as its Japanese name does have the word "dragon" in it (moles are apparently called "earth dragons" in Japan), and that's even the entire reason Iris even had one in the anime. So... yeah. Excadrill should totally be able to learn Dragon Claw.

 

[nickdt]

Well.. some learnsets should be expanded upon. Look at Lapras, especially late game, it needs to rely on TM's or TR to be viable in battle. The only late game move it learns by lvl up that is viable is Ice Beam, while it needs to depend on Hydro Pump for Water coverage (Or Surf, Waterfall and Liquidation, but those are TR and Waterfall and Liquidation are physical, while Lapras most likely gets a special build, due to the amount of special moves it can learn). So at least give it acces to Scald in the mid-late game instead of relying on Water Pulse until lvl 55.

 

[Enzo]

Lol replaying gen V and revisiting the unovan mons really made me think of some moves I think they should get.

Which leads me to think something: Why is that Gothita doesn't gets Baby-Doll Eyes?

I mean, it already looks a baby-doll and has large, expressive eyes. Even most of it's Dex entries talk about how it likes to stare at people and such, meaning it's eyes are an important part of it's design/lore.

On the same vein, it should also get Tearful Look. Besides it also seemingly being based off a baby, it's evolution Gothorita is also said to be manipulative (I mean, it's called the Manipulate Pokémon). Pretending to cry do deceive opponents seem right up on it's lane.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Now that Spirit Break is no longer a Grimmsnarl signature in SV (it was given to a new Pokemon that I will not be specifying at this time due to the current SV spoiler policy), they should start handing it out to some of the other physical Fairies like Mawile, Azumarill, and Granbull. Play Rough is a great physical Fairy move for competitive but because of its higher BP, it's typically not accessible until later levels (for the Pokemon in question, it's their only Fairy type moves by level up and they mainly learn it around Lv. 40ish except Azumarill who gets it Lv. 25). Giving these Pokemon Spirit Break would allow them to have a physical STAB earlier in the game and make them more usable in the story. Like maybe if you could give them Spirit Break in the 20s and Play Rough in the 40s, you wouldn't have to go so long in the story without being able to take advantage of Fairy STAB.

 

[Enzo]

Now that Spirit Break is no longer a Grimmsnarl signature in SV (it was given to a new Pokemon that I will not be specifying at this time due to the current SV spoiler policy), they should start handing it out to some of the other physical Fairies like Mawile, Azumarill, and Granbull. Play Rough is a great physical Fairy move for competitive but because of its higher BP, it's typically not accessible until later levels (for the Pokemon in question, it's their only Fairy type moves by level up and they mainly learn it around Lv. 40ish except Azumarill who gets it Lv. 25). Giving these Pokemon Spirit Break would allow them to have a physical STAB earlier in the game and make them more usable in the story. Like maybe if you could give them Spirit Break in the 20s and Play Rough in the 40s, you wouldn't have to go so long in the story without being able to take advantage of Fairy STAB.

Also it kinda sucks a little bit because Play Rough only has 90% accuracy, so while very powerful, it's not as reliable as Spirit Break.

Off-topic but I suspect the only reason SB wasn't given to Granbull is because it's not (currently, as we don't know about any potential dlcs) in the SV dex.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Now that the spoiler policy is no longer in effect I can talk about that new Pokemon here, because I have some gripes about their moveset too. Iron Valiant is another physical Fairy type and gets Spirit Break at Lv. 91 as its only physical Fairy type move, and doesn't get Play Rough at all, not even through TM. Spirit Break should be much earlier (Lv. 50ish maybe) and Play Rough should be Lv. 91.

 

[Enzo]

Okay this is absolutely not on-topic and prob is not even fitting with the thread but god it's so stupid the Fairy-type has existed since 2013, 10 freaking years, 3 generations, and a whooping 9 core series games ago and there's still only 2 physical Fairy moves. This is so stupid.

 

[Tood]

Gholdengo needs to be able to learn Surf. It has a literal surfboard of money that it uses to ride across water, and its Japanese name is Surfgo.

If Rampardos and Tauros can do it, so can the funny cheese string monster.

 

[team_____grunt]

there's a sword/shield glitch where tapu koko doesn't know nature's madness. very annoying.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

I know that they've been Dexited in Gen 9, but if/when they return, it'd be awesome for Delcatty, Furfrou, and Cinccino to get Tidy Up, since it fits them perfectly and would give them some much needed buffs.

 

[Nichole the Otter]

Okay this is absolutely not on-topic and prob is not even fitting with the thread but god it's so stupid the Fairy-type has existed since 2013, 10 freaking years, 3 generations, and a whooping 9 core series games ago and there's still only 2 physical Fairy moves. This is so stupid.

I feel it's so weird we haven't gotten that many physical Fairy-type moves. I really hope Gen 10 can patch that up a lot.

 

[RK9]

I feel it's so weird we haven't gotten that many physical Fairy-type moves. I really hope Gen 10 can patch that up a lot.

To be honest, it's not that the Special moves are that much better off. The only 'usable' ones late game are Draining Kiss (Less power but recovery), Dazzling Gleam and Moonblast, and there are a bunch of Pokémon that don't get Moonblast and are forced to use Dazzling Gleam (Hatterene). There is Misty Explosion but that blows yourself up for a lot less power than Explosion and Self-Destruct if not on Misty Terrain.

From one point of view, it seems they intentionally keep the movepool of Fairy-types quite shallow on purpose to compensate for how good the type is. At the same time, GameFreak has never given a single damn about such stuff, as evident in Mega Rayquaza, the Primals, Zacian Crowned and god knows what else more (This could all be solved if Normal-type moves automatically matched your primary type, smh).

 

[Harryghost]

I know that they've been Dexited in Gen 9, but if/when they return, it'd be awesome for Delcatty, Furfrou, and Cinccino to get Tidy Up, since it fits them perfectly and would give them some much needed buffs.

Tidy Up Cinccino sounds terrifying competitively lol. Now I want to see it.

 

[Bolt Strike]

I've been going through several level up movesets and notice a shocking number of Pokemon that have little to no moves of their types in their level up movesets. I know that TMs are readily available now but you shouldn't have to waste one to fully take advantage of its typing. They really need to fix this. Here are a couple of notable offenders:

Drifloon/Drifblim- The strongest Flying type move they learn by level up is Gust. Seriously? Give them Fly or Hurricane or something.
Togedemaru- Where are the Steel type moves? Give it Iron Tail or Iron Head.
Noibat/Noivern- Okay, I know Dragon is one of the better types in the game but having it wait until Lv. 48 to have a single Dragon type move is overkill. I see no harm in giving Noibat Twister or something at the lower levels.
Turtonator- Similar situation with Noibat. Something like Breaking Swipe around the Lv. 20-30 range would be a big improvement
Roselia/Roserade- Something better than Poison Sting would be great. Maybe Venoshock or Poison Jab?

 

[prog rocker]

Don't forget the Bulbasaur line. How come the only Poison move I can think of that they can learn is Poison Powder? They don't even get Acid.

 

[Greninjaman]

Don't forget the Bulbasaur line. How come the only Poison move I can think of that they can learn is Poison Powder? They don't even get Acid.

They get Sludge Bomb I think. At least in Let's Go I believe.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Roselia/Roserade- Something better than Poison Sting would be great. Maybe Venoshock or Poison Jab?

speaking of these guys in particular, I'd love for them to get more moves that can take advantage of Technician, since the only move they have that does this is Magical Leaf. they did get Hidden Power in Gens 6 and 7, since its reduction to 60 BP made it compatible with Technician, but now that that move has been axed there's nothing else. I say give them stuff like Acid Spray, Mud Shot, and maybe even Water Pulse.