ive gotten like 30+ comments about my pronunciation of Slaking and all I'm gonna say is that it fucking slays so its still slay-king in my book 💯 (yes i know i'm very wrong about this)
Klawf suffers from Onix syndrome imo: - Rock types meant to be your first big battle. - Apparently imposing: Onix with its design and physical bulk, Klawf being a Titan and Anger Shell triggering if you don't OHKO it. - Actually crap because, well, they're meant to be a first obstacle
yeah. when pokemon is designed about being an RPG as well as a competitive game, some pokemon are gonna get the shaft in competitive because they're only designed around the RPG.
That's kinda the issue with designing Pokémon in these games: they have to be designed around BOTH Pokémon: the RPG and Pokémon: the competitive game, which leads to some doing well in 1 aspect, while failing in another. Of course, you could solve this by making the Pokémon RPG just like the Pokémon competitive game, but I'm not confident in that idea coming to fruition.
Yes, but why give it the Shell Smash ability? Even more, why not make it a base form with an interesting evolution that can be fun in competitive? They did fix Onix gen 1 problem of it being an atrocious choice that came way too late on the game main story by giving it an evolution in gen 2, after all.
Rotom Fan having an ability that negates Ground type attacks that it already avoids as a flying dual type is the funniest outcome of the Rotom formes ditching the Ghost type after Gen 4
The thing that irks me about Rotom Fan isn't the fact that its ability is completely redundant, its the fact that its the only Rotom form without the nuke version of their STAB. Heat gets Overheat, Mow gets Leaf Storm, Wash gets Hydro Pump, and Fridge gets Blizzard. But Fan, on top of having a worthless ability, it also has Air Slash. I have no idea why Air Slash even exists. Its got low power and imperfect accuracy, seemingly to balance the disgusting flinch chance, but then Iron Head exists with higher base power and perfect accuracy for some reason, so now everyone knows that the only reason to run Air Slash is to hax your way into 5HKO-ing something with consecutive flinches because god knows you'll never 2HKO anything with that move.
Tbf, the moves that all the rotom forms get are inconsistent thematically. Heat and Mow get 130 BP special moves with a -2 sp.atk drawback while Frost and Wash just get 110 BP special moves that are somewhat inaccurate?
@@josephakintoye174 Hurricane fits in perfectly with Hydro Pump and Blizzard. High base power, shaky accuracy. Honestly, the only Rotom form that can't have its STAB switched to fit that theme is Mow. Rotom Heat could be switched to Fire Blast to match the others, but Grass type has no inaccurate, high power move with no drawback.
@@loudwhispre9406problem is that Hurricane didn't exist in Gen 4, when the Rotom forms were introduced. Can't give a Mon a move that didn't even exist yet you know.
Slaking would be totally balanced if Truant were modified to merely skip its first turn each time it was sent into battle loafing around if you try to attack with it. It also still fits the definition of "truancy" being late to the battle so to speak.
There's actually a decent argument to be made that would make Slaking even worse. The first turn a mon is out is really freaking important because presumably if you send a mon out, you're expecting to have a good matchup. If Slaking has to skip that crucial first turn every time it is sent out, that gives your opponent a free swap in to their slaking check every time without even needing to guess what move it's gonna try to nuke you with.
@@webbowser8834 Forcing a switch is technically pretty good though. If your opponent gets a free switch into their Slaking check, then they'll likely use it, which just means that you'll get a free switch on their forced switch, because if they stay in against Slaking, he'll deal a lot of damage. So you'd just use it as a threat and eventually a late-game clean-up. I do think Truant could also be fixed by making it skip every third turn instead of every other turn, so Slaking could attack twice before "loafing around", this would also stop the Protect/ Dig strats, so he'd miss one attack, but get you on the other one.
It would be cool to have truant also have the effects of scrappy. The worst thing about just yolo giga impacting with banded slaking isn't resists, but relatively common spin blocker ghost types.
I'm going to get this comment so I want to answer it in a pinned one first: even though not all Pokemon have to be good, I wish that these guys had their ideas, which were cool, fleshed out/thought through a bit more. edit: i unpinned it for the slaking thing LMFAO
Klawf needed to have an evolution. It works great as an early game boss, but the overall lack of stats to be palletable that early keeps it from working as intended outside of that role.
Dusknoir either needs a physical ghost type giga drain attack, or it needs an ability that grants it hp recovery based on damage done with contact moves called “touch of death” or something.
The mod Energetic Emerald gave the Duskull family an ability they called "Soul Siphon", which adds a one-time Leech Seed effect to the end of each contact move. So whether it uses Shadow Sneak, Thunderpunch, or (my favorite) Leech Life, 1/8th of the defender's HP would be drained after the completion of the attack, and used to heal Dusknoir. It was pretty solid, but definitely didn't FEEL overpowered, at least within the playthrough. I could imagine it being added to vanilla and really spicing up Dusknoir as a pokemon, without making it feel oppressive to fight. Neither of Dusknoir's current abilities add anything interesting to how it functions either competitively or in-game, which is a clear sign that either those abilities need reform, or that Dusknoir needs new abilities. But your idea of a Ghost-type Drain Punch or something is much more likely to happen in vanilla in a future generation, and it sounds as if it would greatly mitigate Dusknoir's problems.
Gen 3 OU Slaking is honestly one of the most fun pokemon I've ever used in competitive. I also love Dusknoir, partially for sentimental reasons, partially because ohko-ing Ttar on a switch by clicking fucking FOCUS PUNCH (the best move GF ever made) is the single biggest serotonin hit in all of pokemon
Focus Punch is such a funny move to me as it is the only move that is completely useless in a casual playthrough (even things like entry hazards are usable in a playthrough just not necessary) but has genuine use in PvP
moxie boosted had the idea of making truant let moves ignore protect on the turns that slaking isn't resting, if urshifu gets it with no drawbacks then i rly don't see why not
The only buff Slaking needs is that Truant shouldn’t be immune to Ability changing moves any more. Doodle is the only move that can take Truant off the board outright, and only the slept on but decent Grafaiai gets Doodle
i like the idea of making Truant essentially force you to use slack off every other turn (even if it isn't in your moveset). still exploitable, but at least your dead turns aren't completely dead.
It’s such a shame Rotom Frost is bad, as it’s so funny to have a literal Combat Fridge, especially in Pokémon world. Like, I’m going out on my journey to beat every gym leader and I brought a bunch of elemental mammals and my whole ass refrigerator. Every battle starts with, “Go, ghost possessing my mother’s Frigidaire, attack them with a literal snowstorm and last night’s Chicken Molé!” But nope. It’s just bad. Apparently refrigerators are just too weak to being punched and set on fire to be good Pokémon. Shame.
They really should just give each Rotom form a hidden ability even if the main ones (Wash/Heat) still use levitate just so that Fan at least gets a non-useless one.
Honestly the most surprising takeaway from this video was that Rotom Mow has a purpose in life. Guess I'll actually commit to throwing one on my grass mono team.
in pokemon inclement emerald, Slaking has Stall and Slow Start available as possible abilities for it instead of just being stuck with truant and holy shit do they make him so much better, while also not making him broken Stall allows slaking to be an imediate threat at the cost of always moving last, which is not devastating for it since it gets access to reliable recovery in Slack Off and has amazing natural bulk Slow Start meanwhile makes it so he is not an immediate threat but allows him to outspeed stuff later on after slow start wears off, which is manageable since slaking, in addition to reliable recovery, has access to bulk up and it's monstrous HP stat lets it set up quite easily with investment in Special Defense to make up for it being somewhat low. Not only that, but after two or three Bulk Ups it can be a threat even if Slow Start hasn't worn off yet due to it's naturally massive attack stat, which it can achieve easily since slaking can threaten the foe with yawn before setting up
I don't understand why GameFreak thinks pokemon with high defense are supposed to have low HP. It doesn't work like that, HP is a more valuable stat than defense. If you lower it, it not only devalues the defense increase, it makes its survivability even worse than it ever was before.
Exactly, it's why stuff like Alomomola and Amoonguss can run defensive or spdef sets successfully. For some reason, Game Freak doesn't like to give Ghost types high HP stats, with a few exceptions like Drifblim and Jellicent.
@@saltator8565 Even then, Drifblim have low Defenses enough to undermine HP to an extent. There’s also Annihilape which has 110 HP and 90s Defense and Special Defense, not something I expected from one that evolved from Primeape, but fits goes (too) well with Rage Fist.
The other day I was watching the Content Creator Pokémon Showdown tournament and all of a sudden I saw Aloan Muk in the VGC format. Your previous video wasn’t about Little Jimmy suffering, it was actually about Little Timmy Cool’s suffering! 🤯
Renegade Platinum (gen 4 rom hack) gave Dusknoir access to Drain Punch. Even in a single player context, this alone combined with Will-O-Wisp made it virtually unkillable on the physical side, and it's not too bad at taking special hits either
i have an idea for slaking, they could buff truant by allowing truant mons to hit through protect. it would still be very hard to use it, since ghosts or bulky steels switch into normal well, but it wouldn't have to worry about random protect so it would at least have a niche. in gen 3 it's actually very good, but swampert and metagross commonly using protect really sucks since they can't be trapped like skarmory. it could also get a signature normal move to make it feel more impactful
Should definitely do more of these! My example would be toucanon. Great design, amazing shiny if not one of the best in the game but terrible execution. Beak blast is an interesting move, except toucanon can't take hits all too well due to it's poor defensive stats. It gets access to boomburst and other powerful special moves but only has 75 base spA. Physical toucanon is a bit better but not by much. It gets access to skill link but it's only stab multi hitting move is fury attack, with 85% accuracy. Also gets rock blast and bullet seed but they're not stab and not the best coverage wise. Sheer force life orb is definitely good as well but the one question is why use toucanon. It doesn't do anything very well. Oh let's use special with sheer force life orb, well why not use another special Mon with boomburst that's way faster and better. Skill link? Why not use another skill link user that's faster and stronger. Want to use a flying type or a normal type? Well there's hundreds more that do it's job but better. Great design, terrible execution for competitive
IMO, it doesn't even have a great design in and of itself, but the rather curt, sassy animations and its actual anime appearances make it gold. Its a bird that identifies as a bazooka and that's glorious. Really justifies the 3D visuals. (except why is its best animation not used for beak blast???)
Used klawf in two draft leagues. Here’s some thoughts: -definitely looks way better in theory than in practice lol as you said -if it got u-turn it would actually be good as a regen pivot ngl. It’s physical bulk is passable enough to where it would probably be half decent in a lower tier -doesn’t get earthquake for some reason but he does get high horsepower which lost me a draft match I probably would’ve won if he didn’t whiff that shit -scarf klawf w regenerator is shockingly good. Again really wish he got u turn
I am not into competitive pokemon at all so I barely have enough context to understand your videos, but I just love the format so much. It might be the autism in me, but we need more clear and concise, informative presentation-type videos. And bonus points for sharing the transcript!!!
Makes me wonder how much more usable Slaking would be if Truant was eventually buffed to increase it's defense. It'd probably still be garbage, but maybe, just maybe, it's descent would be slower?
In defense of Klawf, its Choice Scarf Regenerator set isn't bad in low tiers as it gets some decent coverage. Currently in ZU, it is doing alright for itself there. Granted, its Anger Shell set is far worse than another set-up mon in the tier, Falinks, who has the far more reliable move, No Retreat.
The only change Slacking needs is a change to truant. Make it a random 1/3 chance of activating (the chance could be higher or lower). That way you can’t play around sacking by just protecting every other turn. It’s excellent stats would possibly even make it usable on some teams.
Honestly for me the biggest surprise for me is having no new rotom forms since gen 4 but we still have it as a recurring character. We dont even get rotom phone form to use in battle (idk what type to give it, maby normal). I love it's design and there is so much interesting design space around it. I understand each next game wants to be partially separate from previous games but they are really bringing attention to our electronic ghost boi.
Honestly I think there's one fix to Slaking that doesn't completely negate its gimmick: Make it so Truant allows the pokemon to ignore Protect effects, or at least do chip damage through them. It's not going to completely shatter the metagame, because it still gets half as many moves as other 'mons, but it's not completely walled by a move that every pokemon except Magikarp, Ditto, and some first form bugs can learn.
I've always had the idea of a hidden ability Slaking that has like Vital Spirit or Early Bird where he has a unique stance where he's just stanced up ready to slug you
With the replacement of Hail with Snow and adding Aurora Veil, I think Rotom Frost could get up to some funny business. I mean, Stealth Rocks suck but in VGC, previously godawful Pokemon have seen success due to this change. Looking at you, Articuno. And the pain I feel seeing Dusknoir be bad hurts my soul. Give my man some juice, he needs that bulk.
it's so funny how klawf's best tier is shared power because there it can give anger shell to actual pokemon also it's the only mon with rocks and regenerator so that's cool
Every Pokemon who gets a "you don't take recoil damage" ability, and then it only learns one recoil move extremely late in it's level - all of those Pokemon.
even if slaking would be given the ability Defeatist, it would be super strong, not only can it move every turn now, but it can also compensate getting below half HP with slack off
At least most of these could be fixed with just one or two small changes, in the spirit of Gen 9 balance. Gaining the right move or ability could really turn these guys around.
I love how Slaking is often described as not being allowed a buff to make Truant a bit more manageable because it would be busted, yet they just came out with Palafin who essentially has its stats, but a slap on the wrist for a negative ability and a signature 60 based priority attack.
a ground type with over 130 attack, great speed, fantastic coverage, hazard removal, setup, and an ability that allows it to boost a stat of its choice sounds horrifying but it kinda works.
Anger Shell: Attack rose Anger Shell: Speed rose Anger Shell: Special Attack rose Anger Shell: Special Defense decreased Anger Shell: Defense decreased Anger Shell: Self-esteem decreased Anger Shell: Like count increased Anger Shell: Comment Count increased Anger Shell: Number of good status changes decreased Anger Shell: The length of this comment increased Anger Shell: When will this ability stop displaying dialogue? Anger Shell: I am sorry you had to read this.
If I could, I'd give the worst Rotom forms new moves: Fan would get Hurricane as well as being the only Rotom form to get Motor Drive as an Ability while Frost would get Freeze-Dry since not only would it fit thematically, it'd also give it a way to smack most Electric-Types' mortal enemies: The Water/Ground-Types.
Im suprised you didnt mention archeyops or regigigas in you section with slacking considering that they essentially have the same issues, they have good stats, good movepools and good defensive and offensive types but are completely held back by there cripplingly bad abilities
I used Klawf through the whole game because I knew I would not get much of a chance too later lol. Anger point swordsdance was a funny move to pull on NPC trainers though. Still got stuffed by priority moves even against NPCs lol
Anger Shell should have triggered an actual Shell Smash at half health, instead of being half-baked. Klawf could see some use on psychic surge teams as a sweeper with just that change alone.
SLAKING MENTIONED 🗣️🗣️🗣️ favorite Pokemon ever. While I’d like slaking to have another ability getting a Pokemon with the BST of most legendaries (670) in the first 3 routes of the game would be bonkers and GF knows it. Still hoping for a regional variant tho
Slaking is definitely one of those Pokemons where back during...idk Gen III to V, would have been a nightmare suggestion to change Truant but in the same vein as say, giving Snorlax Slack Off. I think we are well pass the powercrept moment where Slaking Truant should have their drawbacks changed. Like if Game Freak is open to mons like Palafin's Zero to Hero having a mostly negligible drawback (I am aware that it fell off in VGC due to that drawback), then Pokemons like Slaking and Regigigas should get like pittance of buff already. I know it's bad because it robs you the ability to switch but haha, Giga Impact Slaking. so :( sad Rotom Frost, I would hug but it's too cold.
I mean, slaking with weezing would be really good in the beginning of a Pokémon game. Sadly we haven’t seen it since gen 8 never had slaking in and gen 9 got weezing too late.
I say give slaking klutz. Fits with is lazy theming (too lazy to use the item), gets a nice onetime nuke with ironball + fling or give it switcheroo to pass on flameorbs/toxicorbs, and is more balanced since it can’t use choice band or scarf
Fling fails when used by a Klutz user, unfortunately. It was due to Klutz users not being affected by items like burn and toxic orb but being able to fling them, providing damage and a 100% way of inflicting that status. It was quite the reliable strategy, albeit a limited one.
The hilarious part is that Slaking and Regi-kick-ass are MENTAL in hackmons. Imagine how powerful a Slaking with poison heal, toxic orb, and facade is.
Slaking needs an ability that keeps the truant downside but also gives it huge/pure power as a way to keep its identity as an unstoppable monster too lazy to win the fight.
If Slaking had a unique variant/rework of truant it would be a really fun mon. Make it so it's only able to use "lazy" moves every other turn. Then mark a bunch of moves for it to use. - Sleep talk - Yawn - Rest - Stockpile -Swallow If it had anything that it could do to pressure on the off turn it would be a great gimmick pokemon. Even if it was locked into +1 def/spdef every time, it would wreck house as a brick wall. If Dondozo is anything to go by, it's that gimmick pokemon done well are extremely fun and a breath of fresh air. Seeing more unique takes on how certain pokemon battle (abilities) is what sets them apart from being stat blocks with movepools and typings. Also, give my boys plusle and minun a "as one" ability. Combine them in doubles and give them usable stats and a working gimmick. Even if it's ridiculious like +2 evasion or something, poster mice for OG double battles need their time to shine.
Weird that Rotom Fan wasn't ever given Hurricane, or that th y can't learn any other STAB moves. I always thought that since th ey made Rotom breedable they could have had it so it could stay in the form, allowing it to learm TMs with STAB. Even something tjay gave us the OPTION to lock in to do that would have made some of these guys much better. But Scald Rotom Wash does sounds nuts...
And that pairing 's flaws itself soon became clear, namely that you're blaring an alarm saying "I'M TRYING TO REMOVE SLOW START, I'M TRYING TO REMOVE SLOW START SO THIS MON CAN SWEEP" and that just focusing on whatever's removing the abilities collapses the entire thing in one go.
Many of these are gimmick Pokemon with the exception of Dusknoir Klawf is an early game boss, Slaking is a feature showcase for abilities in G3 (and how some are bad), and Rotom has the funny form changes Dusknoir needs more HP and a better ability like Technician or Regenerator
I would personally make it to where Truant doesn't activate if the user performed a Status move, so you can use something like Protect without losing your next turn. Oh, and I'd give Slaking exclusive access to a pre-nerf version of Explosion.
Klawf is giving Mega Potential, tbh. Especially, if they would rebalance it's stats a little, now that its won't be an early game titan anymore. Like if they gave it Sand Stream or equivalent ability that would buff it's Sp. Def - then gave it properly split 100 Mega stats, and then maybe gave it a better offensive ability - it could get more utility. For Dusknoir - it would be cute, if they gave it a signature move and buffed it's stats to be more competitive than Eviolite Dusclops. For Rotoms - I feel like they are late for getting a signature move that changes the typing to match the form. If Oricorio can do this, so should Rotom.
If Rotom got a unique item that gave it 30% bonus attack accuracy and 50% faster move speed, Ice and Fan would be way more viable, while other forms wouldn't want to ditch boots or leftovers. Also, for pokemon like Duskinoir, it would be nice to have a generic item that works like leftovers, but in exchange for chip healing 1/12th and being unremovable, it nullifies all other healing as well as stat boosting. This item would be undesirable for mons with reliable recovery, regenerator, or strong boosting moves, but it would really help out otherwise weak tank pokemon like duskinoir. It would also be nice to see a widely distributed rock move that has negative priority and goes twice per selection, almost like thrash/outrage, but has a substaintial 140 base power. Only slow tanky pokemon with bad move pools and stab options like Duskinoir would want to use it,
I've been saying for years that Rotom-Fan should get Hurricane, and the Filter ability (Air filter pun), and Frost should get either Freeze-Dry or Frost Breath, one for dealing with water types, or the other for guaranteed crits.
ive gotten like 30+ comments about my pronunciation of Slaking and all I'm gonna say is that it fucking slays so its still slay-king in my book 💯 (yes i know i'm very wrong about this)
Are you doing it becuase Wolfey did?
@@tandemvolcano wait did he LOL no this is how i've always pronounced slaking
To be fair, "slaking", which is the present participle of "slake", is pronounced that way.
Uh
I think
@@ElectricWindGirlFriendI also grew it saying it this way LOL
@@alessandragonzales8190 The name is taken from the word "slacking" as in, to slack off.
Pokemon that dont work? Thats like every pokemon except the machop, timburr, and chansey lines. Dont think ive seen a single other pokemon with a job
audinos work in pmc's and corviknights taxi ppl around
Rotom gets forced into electrical appliances. Slavery is kind of like a job, if you think like a war criminal
Vigoroth were movers in pokemon emerald
Technically snorlax was a roadblock before and rotoms sorta counts since they're household appliances
Lmao
Slaking DESPERATELY needs the ability Comatose as an hidden ability.
I'd say that's broken, but looking at the current meta I think it might be balance
We're not ready for sleep talk + last resort choice band slaking
It cant be burned, cant be para, cant be stoped
@@YemitaDeHuevo-uk5iqhave you realized how good normal pokemon are??
@@alejandroromero9813 Gholdengo and Dragapult will be ready
"Game freak forgot the key part of being a bulky attacker : the bulk and the attack"
Ouch lmao
"You're significantly worse than Carbink, settle the fuck down."
"I should know I eat them for a living."
That was AAA cooking. Sableye cooked so hard both kitchen and Dusknoir are on fire.
That Dusknoir displays it ignorance by trying to dunk on Sableye. It only has to Mega Evolve to show Dusknoir a true Ghost Wall, and true suffering.
Klawf suffers from Onix syndrome imo:
- Rock types meant to be your first big battle.
- Apparently imposing: Onix with its design and physical bulk, Klawf being a Titan and Anger Shell triggering if you don't OHKO it.
- Actually crap because, well, they're meant to be a first obstacle
yeah. when pokemon is designed about being an RPG as well as a competitive game, some pokemon are gonna get the shaft in competitive because they're only designed around the RPG.
The difference is klawf is usable
That's kinda the issue with designing Pokémon in these games: they have to be designed around BOTH Pokémon: the RPG and Pokémon: the competitive game, which leads to some doing well in 1 aspect, while failing in another.
Of course, you could solve this by making the Pokémon RPG just like the Pokémon competitive game, but I'm not confident in that idea coming to fruition.
Yes, but why give it the Shell Smash ability? Even more, why not make it a base form with an interesting evolution that can be fun in competitive? They did fix Onix gen 1 problem of it being an atrocious choice that came way too late on the game main story by giving it an evolution in gen 2, after all.
the fix for this is to just buff them next generation, after they've served their time as a tutorial for new players.
this is why we have steelix
Rotom Fan having an ability that negates Ground type attacks that it already avoids as a flying dual type is the funniest outcome of the Rotom formes ditching the Ghost type after Gen 4
For maximum Ground immunity, teach it Magnet Rise and let it hold an Air Balloon. Not even Gravity will stop this thing.
@@TrixterTheFemboy unfortunately gravity still works.
@@gregorymirabella1423what happens if a pure flying mon roosts or is forced to touch the ground, it becomes typeless?
@@Mordecrox iirc from gen V, it becomes normal type for some reason
@@TrixterTheFemboygen 5 randbats used to have an air balloon rotom-fan set for shits and giggles
The thing that irks me about Rotom Fan isn't the fact that its ability is completely redundant, its the fact that its the only Rotom form without the nuke version of their STAB. Heat gets Overheat, Mow gets Leaf Storm, Wash gets Hydro Pump, and Fridge gets Blizzard. But Fan, on top of having a worthless ability, it also has Air Slash. I have no idea why Air Slash even exists. Its got low power and imperfect accuracy, seemingly to balance the disgusting flinch chance, but then Iron Head exists with higher base power and perfect accuracy for some reason, so now everyone knows that the only reason to run Air Slash is to hax your way into 5HKO-ing something with consecutive flinches because god knows you'll never 2HKO anything with that move.
I still don't understand why it didn't get hurricane
Tbf, the moves that all the rotom forms get are inconsistent thematically. Heat and Mow get 130 BP special moves with a -2 sp.atk drawback while Frost and Wash just get 110 BP special moves that are somewhat inaccurate?
@@josephakintoye174 Hurricane fits in perfectly with Hydro Pump and Blizzard. High base power, shaky accuracy. Honestly, the only Rotom form that can't have its STAB switched to fit that theme is Mow. Rotom Heat could be switched to Fire Blast to match the others, but Grass type has no inaccurate, high power move with no drawback.
@@loudwhispre9406problem is that Hurricane didn't exist in Gen 4, when the Rotom forms were introduced. Can't give a Mon a move that didn't even exist yet you know.
@@loudwhispre9406 Technically there's Vine Whip I guess?
The one thing Klawf can do is being adorable (and canonically being eaten by humans)
It shares that niche with Lechonk
@@MacZephyrZand Slowpoke
Nomnomnom
@@hagelgevaret5174 As well as Crabrawler and Clauncher (And Corsola if you are a Mareanie or a Toxapex).
rotom being 6 typings into one is often not spoken about. A big oversight in an amateur perspective.
Meta just hasn't caught on to the secret Tera Flying Rotom-Fan @ Air Balloon tech yet
And magnet rise
Does it at least get roost?
@@CleopatraKing nope
Slaking would be totally balanced if Truant were modified to merely skip its first turn each time it was sent into battle loafing around if you try to attack with it. It also still fits the definition of "truancy" being late to the battle so to speak.
There's actually a decent argument to be made that would make Slaking even worse. The first turn a mon is out is really freaking important because presumably if you send a mon out, you're expecting to have a good matchup. If Slaking has to skip that crucial first turn every time it is sent out, that gives your opponent a free swap in to their slaking check every time without even needing to guess what move it's gonna try to nuke you with.
@@webbowser8834 Forcing a switch is technically pretty good though. If your opponent gets a free switch into their Slaking check, then they'll likely use it, which just means that you'll get a free switch on their forced switch, because if they stay in against Slaking, he'll deal a lot of damage. So you'd just use it as a threat and eventually a late-game clean-up. I do think Truant could also be fixed by making it skip every third turn instead of every other turn, so Slaking could attack twice before "loafing around", this would also stop the Protect/ Dig strats, so he'd miss one attack, but get you on the other one.
It would be cool to have truant also have the effects of scrappy. The worst thing about just yolo giga impacting with banded slaking isn't resists, but relatively common spin blocker ghost types.
I'm going to get this comment so I want to answer it in a pinned one first: even though not all Pokemon have to be good, I wish that these guys had their ideas, which were cool, fleshed out/thought through a bit more.
edit: i unpinned it for the slaking thing LMFAO
Klawf needed to have an evolution. It works great as an early game boss, but the overall lack of stats to be palletable that early keeps it from working as intended outside of that role.
@@samuelniesen8929 It's in the same position as onix.
Remember when they'd put Air Balloon on Rotom-Fan?
you gotta be triple sure you're immune to ground
Now if only it learned Magnet Rise. Gotta be quadruple sure
Dusknoir either needs a physical ghost type giga drain attack, or it needs an ability that grants it hp recovery based on damage done with contact moves called “touch of death” or something.
The mod Energetic Emerald gave the Duskull family an ability they called "Soul Siphon", which adds a one-time Leech Seed effect to the end of each contact move. So whether it uses Shadow Sneak, Thunderpunch, or (my favorite) Leech Life, 1/8th of the defender's HP would be drained after the completion of the attack, and used to heal Dusknoir.
It was pretty solid, but definitely didn't FEEL overpowered, at least within the playthrough. I could imagine it being added to vanilla and really spicing up Dusknoir as a pokemon, without making it feel oppressive to fight. Neither of Dusknoir's current abilities add anything interesting to how it functions either competitively or in-game, which is a clear sign that either those abilities need reform, or that Dusknoir needs new abilities.
But your idea of a Ghost-type Drain Punch or something is much more likely to happen in vanilla in a future generation, and it sounds as if it would greatly mitigate Dusknoir's problems.
ok but counter point
252+ Atk Tera Ice Dusknoir Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Landorus-Therian: 492-580 (128.7 - 151.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Wasted tera that could be used on better mons
@jakariashafin8685 thats the joke, ice punch dusknoir is a meme, the calc doesn't even include intimidate
@@gabriell5164 so how about after intimidate? it's not a guaranteed OHKO anymore?
@@assassinshadow2800 nope, but if you slap a choice band on that bad boy tho...
@@gabriell5164 I cee
Gen 3 OU Slaking is honestly one of the most fun pokemon I've ever used in competitive. I also love Dusknoir, partially for sentimental reasons, partially because ohko-ing Ttar on a switch by clicking fucking FOCUS PUNCH (the best move GF ever made) is the single biggest serotonin hit in all of pokemon
Focus Punch is such a funny move to me as it is the only move that is completely useless in a casual playthrough (even things like entry hazards are usable in a playthrough just not necessary) but has genuine use in PvP
moxie boosted had the idea of making truant let moves ignore protect on the turns that slaking isn't resting, if urshifu gets it with no drawbacks then i rly don't see why not
Keep making more of "Pokemon That Don't Work." There are tons of gimmicky Pokemon that face similar issues, like Rampardos for example.
The only buff Slaking needs is that Truant shouldn’t be immune to Ability changing moves any more. Doodle is the only move that can take Truant off the board outright, and only the slept on but decent Grafaiai gets Doodle
Note: dusknoir gets leech life now on top of pain split. Does this save it? Not even close. Does it have more recovery now? Yes...
the good thing with rotom fan is that thanks to tera its ability is less useless than usual.
Read the title as “Powerpoint that doesn’t work” and thought this was going to be a joke video.
i like the idea of making Truant essentially force you to use slack off every other turn (even if it isn't in your moveset). still exploitable, but at least your dead turns aren't completely dead.
It’s such a shame Rotom Frost is bad, as it’s so funny to have a literal Combat Fridge, especially in Pokémon world.
Like, I’m going out on my journey to beat every gym leader and I brought a bunch of elemental mammals and my whole ass refrigerator.
Every battle starts with, “Go, ghost possessing my mother’s Frigidaire, attack them with a literal snowstorm and last night’s Chicken Molé!”
But nope. It’s just bad. Apparently refrigerators are just too weak to being punched and set on fire to be good Pokémon. Shame.
I don’t even play Pokémon, haven’t for like 10 years - but honestly your enthusiasm is just fun to listen to and watch while I work
:) thank you!
So what you mean to say is that you came here for the Palestine stuff and Pokemon really means very little to you
They really should just give each Rotom form a hidden ability even if the main ones (Wash/Heat) still use levitate just so that Fan at least gets a non-useless one.
Honestly the most surprising takeaway from this video was that Rotom Mow has a purpose in life. Guess I'll actually commit to throwing one on my grass mono team.
Dusknoir should have a Dragon’s Maw equivalent for Ghost types, and make it an offensive monster in TR
in pokemon inclement emerald, Slaking has Stall and Slow Start available as possible abilities for it instead of just being stuck with truant and holy shit do they make him so much better, while also not making him broken
Stall allows slaking to be an imediate threat at the cost of always moving last, which is not devastating for it since it gets access to reliable recovery in Slack Off and has amazing natural bulk
Slow Start meanwhile makes it so he is not an immediate threat but allows him to outspeed stuff later on after slow start wears off, which is manageable since slaking, in addition to reliable recovery, has access to bulk up and it's monstrous HP stat lets it set up quite easily with investment in Special Defense to make up for it being somewhat low. Not only that, but after two or three Bulk Ups it can be a threat even if Slow Start hasn't worn off yet due to it's naturally massive attack stat, which it can achieve easily since slaking can threaten the foe with yawn before setting up
lmao that's so funny that giving slaking the other two worst abilities in the game actually fixes him somewhat
I don't understand why GameFreak thinks pokemon with high defense are supposed to have low HP.
It doesn't work like that, HP is a more valuable stat than defense. If you lower it, it not only devalues the defense increase, it makes its survivability even worse than it ever was before.
Exactly, it's why stuff like Alomomola and Amoonguss can run defensive or spdef sets successfully. For some reason, Game Freak doesn't like to give Ghost types high HP stats, with a few exceptions like Drifblim and Jellicent.
@@saltator8565 Even then, Drifblim have low Defenses enough to undermine HP to an extent.
There’s also Annihilape which has 110 HP and 90s Defense and Special Defense, not something I expected from one that evolved from Primeape, but fits goes (too) well with Rage Fist.
The other day I was watching the Content Creator Pokémon Showdown tournament and all of a sudden I saw Aloan Muk in the VGC format.
Your previous video wasn’t about Little Jimmy suffering, it was actually about Little Timmy Cool’s suffering! 🤯
Renegade Platinum (gen 4 rom hack) gave Dusknoir access to Drain Punch. Even in a single player context, this alone combined with Will-O-Wisp made it virtually unkillable on the physical side, and it's not too bad at taking special hits either
i have an idea for slaking, they could buff truant by allowing truant mons to hit through protect. it would still be very hard to use it, since ghosts or bulky steels switch into normal well, but it wouldn't have to worry about random protect so it would at least have a niche. in gen 3 it's actually very good, but swampert and metagross commonly using protect really sucks since they can't be trapped like skarmory. it could also get a signature normal move to make it feel more impactful
Rotom frost in the thumbnail is the biggest pun in yt history.
Should definitely do more of these!
My example would be toucanon. Great design, amazing shiny if not one of the best in the game but terrible execution.
Beak blast is an interesting move, except toucanon can't take hits all too well due to it's poor defensive stats.
It gets access to boomburst and other powerful special moves but only has 75 base spA.
Physical toucanon is a bit better but not by much. It gets access to skill link but it's only stab multi hitting move is fury attack, with 85% accuracy. Also gets rock blast and bullet seed but they're not stab and not the best coverage wise.
Sheer force life orb is definitely good as well but the one question is why use toucanon. It doesn't do anything very well. Oh let's use special with sheer force life orb, well why not use another special Mon with boomburst that's way faster and better. Skill link? Why not use another skill link user that's faster and stronger. Want to use a flying type or a normal type? Well there's hundreds more that do it's job but better.
Great design, terrible execution for competitive
IMO, it doesn't even have a great design in and of itself, but the rather curt, sassy animations and its actual anime appearances make it gold.
Its a bird that identifies as a bazooka and that's glorious. Really justifies the 3D visuals. (except why is its best animation not used for beak blast???)
Kind of sad how bad klawf is seeing how it has 3 great abilities...
they shuda given angershell to cornerstone
As much as I don't want to make ogerpon even stronger, cornerstone could really use something like this to balance the forms
Used klawf in two draft leagues. Here’s some thoughts:
-definitely looks way better in theory than in practice lol as you said
-if it got u-turn it would actually be good as a regen pivot ngl. It’s physical bulk is passable enough to where it would probably be half decent in a lower tier
-doesn’t get earthquake for some reason but he does get high horsepower which lost me a draft match I probably would’ve won if he didn’t whiff that shit
-scarf klawf w regenerator is shockingly good. Again really wish he got u turn
I am not into competitive pokemon at all so I barely have enough context to understand your videos, but I just love the format so much. It might be the autism in me, but we need more clear and concise, informative presentation-type videos. And bonus points for sharing the transcript!!!
Makes me wonder how much more usable Slaking would be if Truant was eventually buffed to increase it's defense. It'd probably still be garbage, but maybe, just maybe, it's descent would be slower?
I LOVE this concept for a video. Would love to see a part 2.
I would love a presentation on that “Good/Bad Plan/Execution” chart you had in that one slide.
For some reason I was waiting for a 3:05 video of someone convincing me that this list of Pokémon don't like to work, like, Jobs and such
In defense of Klawf, its Choice Scarf Regenerator set isn't bad in low tiers as it gets some decent coverage. Currently in ZU, it is doing alright for itself there. Granted, its Anger Shell set is far worse than another set-up mon in the tier, Falinks, who has the far more reliable move, No Retreat.
The only change Slacking needs is a change to truant. Make it a random 1/3 chance of activating (the chance could be higher or lower). That way you can’t play around sacking by just protecting every other turn. It’s excellent stats would possibly even make it usable on some teams.
Surprisingly solid and informative video, keep it up!
They could at least give slaking defeatist. It still works thematically and reigns in that 670 bst
Klawf was usable in mono rock during early sv but not for anger shell, but for regenerator
Honestly for me the biggest surprise for me is having no new rotom forms since gen 4 but we still have it as a recurring character. We dont even get rotom phone form to use in battle (idk what type to give it, maby normal). I love it's design and there is so much interesting design space around it. I understand each next game wants to be partially separate from previous games but they are really bringing attention to our electronic ghost boi.
1:18 The pokemon company: "We hear you loud and clear."
"Slow start."
Does Sunflora count, or did it just not have an idea?
Or was the idea that some Pokemon didn't need to be fighters?
the real crime here is the pronunciation of slaking.
this is on the same wave length of me enunciating everything
Honestly I think there's one fix to Slaking that doesn't completely negate its gimmick: Make it so Truant allows the pokemon to ignore Protect effects, or at least do chip damage through them. It's not going to completely shatter the metagame, because it still gets half as many moves as other 'mons, but it's not completely walled by a move that every pokemon except Magikarp, Ditto, and some first form bugs can learn.
I've always had the idea of a hidden ability Slaking that has like Vital Spirit or Early Bird where he has a unique stance where he's just stanced up ready to slug you
With the replacement of Hail with Snow and adding Aurora Veil, I think Rotom Frost could get up to some funny business. I mean, Stealth Rocks suck but in VGC, previously godawful Pokemon have seen success due to this change. Looking at you, Articuno.
And the pain I feel seeing Dusknoir be bad hurts my soul. Give my man some juice, he needs that bulk.
KLAWF MY BELOVED D:
The way you pronounce slaking is wild
it's so funny how klawf's best tier is shared power because there it can give anger shell to actual pokemon
also it's the only mon with rocks and regenerator so that's cool
For a while I've wondered how much better Slaking would be if Slack Off counted as a truant turn and could even be used on the turn it should loaf.
Every Pokemon who gets a "you don't take recoil damage" ability, and then it only learns one recoil move extremely late in it's level - all of those Pokemon.
even if slaking would be given the ability Defeatist, it would be super strong, not only can it move every turn now, but it can also compensate getting below half HP with slack off
At least most of these could be fixed with just one or two small changes, in the spirit of Gen 9 balance. Gaining the right move or ability could really turn these guys around.
this video genuinely reminded me that Klawf exists like I literally forgot about it
I love how Slaking is often described as not being allowed a buff to make Truant a bit more manageable because it would be busted, yet they just came out with Palafin who essentially has its stats, but a slap on the wrist for a negative ability and a signature 60 based priority attack.
I don't understand the "plan/execution" part of the Slaking slide?
Consider Rotom Frost on a Snow team, doing similar things to Articuno but also having Discharge next to Mamoswine.
Im genuinely curios, how is tusk a bad plan?
I get the good execution part but bad plan?
1:00 if u wanna check
a ground type with over 130 attack, great speed, fantastic coverage, hazard removal, setup, and an ability that allows it to boost a stat of its choice sounds horrifying but it kinda works.
Anger Shell: Attack rose
Anger Shell: Speed rose
Anger Shell: Special Attack rose
Anger Shell: Special Defense decreased
Anger Shell: Defense decreased
Anger Shell: Self-esteem decreased
Anger Shell: Like count increased
Anger Shell: Comment Count increased
Anger Shell: Number of good status changes decreased
Anger Shell: The length of this comment increased
Anger Shell: When will this ability stop displaying dialogue?
Anger Shell: I am sorry you had to read this.
If I could, I'd give the worst Rotom forms new moves: Fan would get Hurricane as well as being the only Rotom form to get Motor Drive as an Ability while Frost would get Freeze-Dry since not only would it fit thematically, it'd also give it a way to smack most Electric-Types' mortal enemies: The Water/Ground-Types.
Im suprised you didnt mention archeyops or regigigas in you section with slacking considering that they essentially have the same issues, they have good stats, good movepools and good defensive and offensive types but are completely held back by there cripplingly bad abilities
I used Klawf through the whole game because I knew I would not get much of a chance too later lol. Anger point swordsdance was a funny move to pull on NPC trainers though. Still got stuffed by priority moves even against NPCs lol
Anger Shell should have triggered an actual Shell Smash at half health, instead of being half-baked. Klawf could see some use on psychic surge teams as a sweeper with just that change alone.
Give it Shell Smash as well to really hammer it home. I don't know why it didn't get Shell Smash to begin with.
Why have I been testing a team with rotom fridge and you make a video with him as the thumbnail😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
SLAKING MENTIONED 🗣️🗣️🗣️ favorite Pokemon ever. While I’d like slaking to have another ability getting a Pokemon with the BST of most legendaries (670) in the first 3 routes of the game would be bonkers and GF knows it. Still hoping for a regional variant tho
Excellent video! Love this idea :)
Slaking is definitely one of those Pokemons where back during...idk Gen III to V, would have been a nightmare suggestion to change Truant but in the same vein as say, giving Snorlax Slack Off. I think we are well pass the powercrept moment where Slaking Truant should have their drawbacks changed. Like if Game Freak is open to mons like Palafin's Zero to Hero having a mostly negligible drawback (I am aware that it fell off in VGC due to that drawback), then Pokemons like Slaking and Regigigas should get like pittance of buff already.
I know it's bad because it robs you the ability to switch but haha, Giga Impact Slaking.
so :( sad Rotom Frost, I would hug but it's too cold.
Rotom-frost isn't great but if you give it tera-electric it can be somewhat viable
"Nobody wants to work anymore"
Even the Pokemon that don't work are fighting for their lives out here, man
I mean, slaking with weezing would be really good in the beginning of a Pokémon game. Sadly we haven’t seen it since gen 8 never had slaking in and gen 9 got weezing too late.
"Slay King"
If this doesn’t have rotom fan in this video I’m going to be slightly mad
Edit: :)
I say give slaking klutz. Fits with is lazy theming (too lazy to use the item), gets a nice onetime nuke with ironball + fling or give it switcheroo to pass on flameorbs/toxicorbs, and is more balanced since it can’t use choice band or scarf
Fling fails when used by a Klutz user, unfortunately. It was due to Klutz users not being affected by items like burn and toxic orb but being able to fling them, providing damage and a 100% way of inflicting that status. It was quite the reliable strategy, albeit a limited one.
The hilarious part is that Slaking and Regi-kick-ass are MENTAL in hackmons. Imagine how powerful a Slaking with poison heal, toxic orb, and facade is.
Slaking needs an ability that keeps the truant downside but also gives it huge/pure power as a way to keep its identity as an unstoppable monster too lazy to win the fight.
If Slaking had a unique variant/rework of truant it would be a really fun mon.
Make it so it's only able to use "lazy" moves every other turn. Then mark a bunch of moves for it to use.
- Sleep talk
- Yawn
- Rest
- Stockpile
-Swallow
If it had anything that it could do to pressure on the off turn it would be a great gimmick pokemon. Even if it was locked into +1 def/spdef every time, it would wreck house as a brick wall.
If Dondozo is anything to go by, it's that gimmick pokemon done well are extremely fun and a breath of fresh air. Seeing more unique takes on how certain pokemon battle (abilities) is what sets them apart from being stat blocks with movepools and typings.
Also, give my boys plusle and minun a "as one" ability. Combine them in doubles and give them usable stats and a working gimmick. Even if it's ridiculious like +2 evasion or something, poster mice for OG double battles need their time to shine.
Weird that Rotom Fan wasn't ever given Hurricane, or that th y can't learn any other STAB moves. I always thought that since th ey made Rotom breedable they could have had it so it could stay in the form, allowing it to learm TMs with STAB.
Even something tjay gave us the OPTION to lock in to do that would have made some of these guys much better.
But Scald Rotom Wash does sounds nuts...
The saddest part about Slaking is that by the time it could be paired with something that turns off Abilities, Regigigas was there anyway
And that pairing 's flaws itself soon became clear, namely that you're blaring an alarm saying "I'M TRYING TO REMOVE SLOW START, I'M TRYING TO REMOVE SLOW START SO THIS MON CAN SWEEP" and that just focusing on whatever's removing the abilities collapses the entire thing in one go.
Many of these are gimmick Pokemon with the exception of Dusknoir
Klawf is an early game boss, Slaking is a feature showcase for abilities in G3 (and how some are bad), and Rotom has the funny form changes
Dusknoir needs more HP and a better ability like Technician or Regenerator
Why did I expect this to be about Pokémon that don’t do manual labor… like some Pokémon just have jobs, conkeldurr, corviknight, etc
Fix Rotoms Fridge and Fan by giving Fridge Ice Beam or frost breath as the signiture move, and give Fan Hurricane.
When you pronounced it as Slay-king I died
I would personally make it to where Truant doesn't activate if the user performed a Status move, so you can use something like Protect without losing your next turn.
Oh, and I'd give Slaking exclusive access to a pre-nerf version of Explosion.
Klawf is giving Mega Potential, tbh. Especially, if they would rebalance it's stats a little, now that its won't be an early game titan anymore.
Like if they gave it Sand Stream or equivalent ability that would buff it's Sp. Def - then gave it properly split 100 Mega stats, and then maybe gave it a better offensive ability - it could get more utility.
For Dusknoir - it would be cute, if they gave it a signature move and buffed it's stats to be more competitive than Eviolite Dusclops.
For Rotoms - I feel like they are late for getting a signature move that changes the typing to match the form. If Oricorio can do this, so should Rotom.
If Rotom got a unique item that gave it 30% bonus attack accuracy and 50% faster move speed, Ice and Fan would be way more viable, while other forms wouldn't want to ditch boots or leftovers.
Also, for pokemon like Duskinoir, it would be nice to have a generic item that works like leftovers, but in exchange for chip healing 1/12th and being unremovable, it nullifies all other healing as well as stat boosting. This item would be undesirable for mons with reliable recovery, regenerator, or strong boosting moves, but it would really help out otherwise weak tank pokemon like duskinoir. It would also be nice to see a widely distributed rock move that has negative priority and goes twice per selection, almost like thrash/outrage, but has a substaintial 140 base power. Only slow tanky pokemon with bad move pools and stab options like Duskinoir would want to use it,
I've been saying for years that Rotom-Fan should get Hurricane, and the Filter ability (Air filter pun), and Frost should get either Freeze-Dry or Frost Breath, one for dealing with water types, or the other for guaranteed crits.
mega dusknoir my boy has a sick design that’s about it ;)
I never catched the fact that your channel's name is EWGF, like in Tekken x)
(I know it's totally a reference but i didnt see it before)
The most important thing about Dusknoir is that it allows Dusclops to use eviolite. Other than that it's completely insignificant
I've never heard it pronounced as "Slay-king" before, I always pronounce it as "Slacking".
That's because he doesn't care about Pokemon, he just cares about the political message at the end.
what i don't understand is how wws rotom wash better than rotom fridge IN GEN 4 when it wasnt an ice type