Useless Useful Spell: Difference between revisions
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* [[Disgaea]] and healing spells. They are useful for much of the game (the entire story mode, for example), but as soon as you start getting into the post-game, battles tend to be [[One Stat to Rule Them All|an offense only affair]]. Eventually both you and the enemies will be so powerful that any attack ''will'' kill in one hit (advantage yours, since you go first), and in-combat healing is meaningless.
** For the same reason, defensive buff spells. Shield is useless late-game, since no matter how high you get your DEF you still can't take hits. Magic Wall is likewise unnecessary, since RES acts like DEF for magic spells (and boosts healing magic, which as stated above is useless). Speed Boost gets a pass, since SPD is a damage dealing stat for Fist and Gun users, and enemies who miss you entirely are still a possibility. Offensive buffs in general remain handy.
*''[[Pokémon]]'' has many creatures that can either learn moves or have certain abilities that are not particular useful to that specific mon. Such examples include:
**Electrode can learn Gyro Ball by levelling up or by TM, but the move only increases damage if the user is slower than its opponent. Not exactly helpful considering: A) Electrode's base 150 Speed stat makes it one of the fastest Pokémon in the game, but B), Gyro Ball runs off of Electrode's pitiful Attack stat. Luckily, it can learn Electro Ball, which not only works the exact opposite of Gyro Ball, not only does it run off Electrode's superior Special Attack, but it also gets STAB from it too.
**The most ridiculous example of this is Frillish and Jellicent having Damp as their Hidden abilities. Preventing the target from self-destructing would be great... if not for this evolution family ''already'' being immune to those moves already thanks to their part Ghost-typing!
**Salazzle's unique ability Corrosion allows it to poison Steel types and fellow Poison types. However, it can only do so using Toxic, and it does not bypass Steel's natural immunity to Poison type attacks like Sludge Bomb. Needless to say, the effects of this ability are...underwhelming. Being a Glass Cannon and a Fragile Speedster, you really don't want to keep Salazzle hanging around trying to whittle your opponent down since it can't take damage itself.
**Cryogonal, Minior, and Dhelmise can all learn Attract. Too bad these three Pokémon are genderless and can't do anything with this move...
**Toxapex's signature move, Baneful Bunker protects it for a turn, with the added effect of poisoning the attacker. However, the poisoning effect only kicks in if the attacker uses a contact move, which isn't always guaranteed, leaving your turn to be wasted on trying to set up. You are better off just using Toxic, which has perfect accuracy when used by Poison types.
**Xurkitree is rather limited with Beast Boost compared to other Ultra Beasts. Xurkitree has a monstrously high Special Attack of 173, easily priming it for Beast Boosting. However, in a case of extreme [[Crippling Overspecialization]], all of Xurkitree's other stats are so low compared to its Sp.Atk, that it is physically impossible for Beast Boost to boost any of its other stats other than Sp.Atk, no matter how you EV it. To make matters worse, its Sp.Atk can be maxed out in two turns anyway with Tail Glow, making Beast Boost incredibly redundant.
**Toucannon gets the popular Sheer Force ability, which boosts the damage of moves with secondary effects by 30%, while also removing said effects. The same thing applies to Life Orb, stacking with the item's damage buff, and negating the 10% damage. Unfortunately for Toucannon, it can only learn four moves that take advantage of this great ability, none of which are very strong; Rock Smash and Flame Charge have low base power, Steel Wing isn't all that accurate, and Flash Cannon runs off its subpar Sp.Atk). You are better off running Toucannon with a more reliable Skill Link set.
**While it can be remedied with Assault Vest and Sandstorm, Rhyperior having Solid Rock isn't as useful as it seems when you realise that 1) it has 4x weaknesses to the mostly special Water and Grass type moves, and 2) its Special Defense absolutely sucks at only base 55!
**Lightning Rod makes the Pokémon immune to Electric type attacks, and boosts their Sp.Atk stat. However, most of the mons with this ability either resist/are immune to Electric moves anyway, making them less likely to be targeted by them in the first place, and even the ones that don't have low Sp.Atk stats.
**Hitmonchan can learn the elemental punches, which have become staples of many physical attackers in recent generations. Prior to Gen IV however, the elemental punches were Special moves, meaning Hitmonchan could not make any use of them because his Sp.Atk is a pathetic 35!
**Gengar has an excellent Sp.Atk stat of 130, boosted to 170 in its Mega Evolved form. Combined with a solid 110 base Speed, Gengar has the hallmarks of a special sweeper. Prior to Gen IV however, Gengar never made full use of its Special prowess due to its Ghost/Poison moves running off the physical attack back then, which is a miserable 65, screwing it over as it could do so little with STAB.
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