Sleeper Hits

[Cap'n Jack]

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a "sleeper hit" is something that unexpectedly destroys all underestimations. In the context of this thread, I'm asking y'all if there's a Pokemon that you didn't imagine yourself using, but proved to be a bad-ass in disguise. For me, it's Wormadam. I caught a Burmy in Y, and I carefully raised it so that it would become a Trash Cloak Wormadam (purely for the novelty, because Bug/Steel is a much more interesting type combination to me than Bug/Grass or Bug/Ground, being as Steel isn't a type you see every day). Much to my surprise, however, Sap the Trash Wormadam has proven to be a valuable member of my team. If not Sap, then her name is Fairykiller, 'cause she's basically a Fairy-type's worst nightmare. I've raised her in tandem with a Scolipede named Ninjapied as her partner in crime, Ninjapied being a Physical attacker while Sap deals out Special attacks. Putting Ninjapied and Sap together in a double battle has created some of the most satisfying moments in the game for me thus far. If not Fairykiller, then her name is Bonnie and the Scolipede's is Clyde. Fairy-types don't stand a chance.

And you? Who's a valuable member of your team that you didn't see coming?

 

[cityvillain]

That's interesting. Can you share your Wormadan's moveset and ev spread?
Mine is my Garbodor. It's my reliable semi-tank.
I give it Pain Split and Stockpile. Its defenses raises to high levels.
And Toxic to defile your opponent. I really love using it in my team.

 

[Jenneta]

Gardevoir, surprisingly...I never really used a Gardevoir because I just...didn't really like it, I guess. (Probably because of all the weirdos on the Internet and their pervy pictures of the poor thing, like seriously, IT'S A POKEMON!), and with that I just felt...odd to have one on my team. But in X, I decided to give it a try, and MY GOD she's like, the LEADER of my X team! xDD. She's a monster in battle. I think she pretty much took out the whole Elite Four and Diantha just by herself. ^u^ It was pretty epic. She's also the highest leveled, too. You combine her with Xerneas or so, and we got an epic killing machine. ;D She's quickly become one of my favorites.
I'm not sure about any others, though. I'd have to look...But Gardevoir is the only one I remember. o3o.

 

[Zkat]

For me, those Pokemon are:

• Stoutland, Swellow, and Fearow - They were actually really strong considering that they're Pokemon you find in the first routes of the game, especially Stoutland.
• Any Pokemon that has a 4x weakness to something (especially Aggron for having two of them) - At first I was reluctant to use anything with a 4x weakness, but those weaknesses didn't really get in the way as much as I thought they would.
• Drapion - It's a Pokemon that I didn't really think much of until I used one on a dark-type team I was making. It was one of the strongest Pokemon on that team and ended up becoming one of my favorite Pokemon in general. It's even better now that poison is super effective against fairy types. :-D
• Golduck - It was my water type in Platinum, which was my first game. I don't think I would have been able to beat Bertha without it (that was the hardest fight in the game for me). The cloud nine ability helped too because Golduck didn't take damage from the sandstorm.

 

[Peaceful Giraffe]

Oddly enough, Talonflame became the literal leader of my Y team, so much so that I boxed my starter and used Batman.

 

[Fairy Ice Ricky]

I used a Girafarig in Pokémon Emerald once and I did not look back. Its mixed sweeping abilities actually did wonders for me and my team.

Also, my male Meowstic was a pretty strong team player in Pokémon X, especially when you consider that female Meowstic got the better end of the stick in terms of level-up moveset for in-game purposes. He saved in a few situations.

 

[Muur]

Roserade because it looked girly but it ended up becoming my favourite Pokemon.

 

[Julum]

Lunatone. It can't take physical attacks very well, but it killed almost everything in my way.

 

[GhostFingers]

I bought White (1) about a week ago and i'm surprised by how good so many of the "crap" generation are turning out awesome. I thought the same thing about Gen V that a lot of people did; that bin-bags, ice-creams and gears were bad ideas, and that we didn't need another Zubat or Tentacool. Wow was i wrong!

Patrat's crazy eyes notwithstanding, it learned crunch at a stupidly low level and completely saved me on a few occasions. I now love Woobat (which is now a max-friendship Swoobat). Prankster Cottonee is a whiz too.

 

[Teapot Salty]

Azumarill, competativly, I found its attack stat underwhelming, even with huge power. Then I tried it. And holy mother was it good. Tanking hits and dishing out ohkos.

 

[Drakon]

In all honesty, Scolipede. Mainly because I never really liked Bug-types and most of them aren't real powerful or have shitty movesets.

But Scolipede's suprisingly high speed and attack, coupled with a good nature, good IVs, good EVs and a moveset of Poison Jab, EQ, Rock Slide and Megahorn actually does surprisingly well. I remember killing Ghetsis's Hydreigon in one shot with Megahorn — I got the first shot in too!

 

[Winterdaze]

Liepard in my last run of Black 2. From everyone's complaints about the Purrloin line and how useless it is, my expectations weren't high.

But it was an invaluable member of the team, able to dish out lots of free damage with Fake Out and U-turn, and destroy much more powerful opponents with Foul Play.

 

[Peaceful Giraffe]

Actually, I'm playing an X Wonderlocke right now and Mr. Mime is kicking ass.

 

[edmek55555]

Torkoal can easily sweep a whole team with the set I made. I looked in to him a few times and couldnt think of a set then it just hit me! but im not gonna give it away atm. And mandibuzz is infinitely useful against any pokemon in the metagame

 

[Milkapoke]

I trained a Normalize Delcatty in X, and with its only decent attack being Return, it was phenomenal.

Plus, it outspeeds a number of others, which I find very useful.

I was fairly skeptical about it first (For its poor stats), but she turned out to be amazing.

 

[Norzan]

Azumarill, competativly, I found its attack stat underwhelming, even with huge power. Then I tried it. And holy mother was it good. Tanking hits and dishing out ohkos.

224 Attack at level 50 is underwhelming to you? But yeah Azumarill wrecks shit up specially against Dragons.

 

[Johan]

For me, it's Vivillon. I had one in my team in 2 different playthroughs. I'm telling you, it's no coincidence that the thing is number 666 in the Pokédex.

... It blew everything up. Nothing stood a chance. Powder everywhere.

 

[faucin]

Venomoth really surprised me, at first i only used to baton pass some quiver dances and then destroy everything with another member of my team (usually a megazard Y) but despite its not so good defenses it can really wall, trap and/or set up on almost any fairy and some fighting types (and even take some non stab super effective attacks) while doing some damage and proved to be a valuable member of its own in my competitive team.

and in a non competitive way, during a recent play of FireRed i found out that Primeape and Omastar are awesome. i decided to try them out a little with no great hopes, but they ended up being in my final team at the E4.

 

[Silverwynde]

Sawk in Black. I had zero intentions of using it, as I thought it was ugly. But when I needed a Fighting type for Lenora's gym, I was left with either Timburr, Sawk or Throh. On a whim, I tried to catch one of each. I couldn't find a Throh so I skipped it, caught two Timburr then went after a Sawk. It took a bit, but I found one and tried to capture it.

That blasted Sawk cost me five Balls and took out half of my team. Once he finally surrendered, I took him to Lenora's gym and watched him completely demolish the place. That Sawk, Hero, stayed on my team post E4 and is waiting to join me in Kalos. He was a holy terror and because of him, I both love and respect pure Fighting types.

Bisharp in X. I raised a Bisharp in Black 2 and it was hell; that 4x weakness to Fighting is a real hindrance! But I loved the design and didn't give up on it. When X came around, I traded for a female Pawniard as quickly as possible and started raising her. Holy slag, she is a killer! I've often called her the Wolverine of my team as she's the best at what she does and what she does ain't nice. She is a Fairy murderer and can take down nearly anything. When I pair her with my Golurk in a double battle, she's all but invincible. I adore her and she hasn't left my side once.

 

[Toa of Gallifrey]

Liepard. I caught it as a Purrloin in the first route in White 2 and used it as a Cut slave until sometime a little before the 2nd gym when I got into a bit of a pickle and she, while a lower level than the opponent, tore things up. After that she became a pretty important member of my team all the way through the Elites.