Shuca or Chople Berry to survive and then turn Metal Burst back on your opponent. It's a discount/substitute Wobbuffet that when done right, flips the script on your opponents.
I'm gonna have to disagree and say that Rock is a bad defensive typing. Its only relevant resistance is Flying (and Fire to some extent), and it stacks weaknesses with actual good defensive typings like Ground, Water, and Steel to make them significantly worse as tanks.
The defensive typing that has the most weakness in the game, tied with grass Also rock types do sound good offensively, being effective against fire and flying, but they lack reliable moves that cant miss
@@Edujs23 true but ancient power hax are potentialy fun as hell and meteor beam is also quite useful. Rock used to be used more on the phisical but nowadays its equally used if not more on the special side
@@Edujs23 Not to mention the lack of distribution of STAB moves in their special movepool. Meteor Beam is pretty much the only properly distributed special Rock move that's worth anything (sorry Ancient Power). And even then you have to commit your item slot to it as well. Power Gem not being on things like Aurorus is a massive fail on Gamefreak's part imo.
Both it and Rampardos REALLY need a mega evolution, where their strongest stats are buffed by 50% along with some rather decent speed. We already have Mega Steelix with massive defense and somewhat viable offense, so maybe give these two some nice buffs to make them better
Just a normal evolution should be fine. Or in the the new game with time manipulation remove the rock type from all of the fossil pokemon since I think canonically they have rock types because they are infused with rock in fossil form.
Bastiodon: Well at the very least birds will never break my defense! I am the light in the darkness against avians! 🛡 Staraptor: Do you have time to hear about our lord and savior, Close Combat? 🦅
You know what's funny? Fossile pokemons are all rock types because they are resurrected with a fossil wich is a rock meaning bastiodon was supposed to be pure steel he got ruined by science
In _Pokemon Legends: Arceus,_ in the Coronet Highlands region, there is a small cave tunnel where inside you can find the partially unearthed fossilized skeletons of a Bastiodon and a Rampardos. The orientation of the fossils means the Nosepass that spawns next to them always spawns looking at them, and the main entrance of the cave is guarded by an Alpha Probobass. Game Freak sure have a cruel sense of humor.
@@jaretco6423 I don't deny that, but nobody talks about Bastiodon. It's like Flareon or Ledian, people don't openly desecrate Bastiodon for its uselessness.
But if you look at it Bastiodon is actually that bad. It’s just not known as “the worst” because it’s forgotten. Flareon is an Eeveelution so the spotlight is on it, and it has never performed nicely, casually or competitively. Ledian comes from an early route so you may get a Ledian and see how bad it is. Regigigas is a legendary, and Slaking has the stats of a legendary and features with Norman’s team. Ice types are an entire typing and a disadvantage in of itself. Fossils are entirely optional. You could skip the worst fossils in all of Pokémon history by playing Gen 4 (or BDSP, or Gen 7) normally. That is why no one talks about how bad Bastiodon is. It’s not just the worst combo, stats, and moves; you can have it such that you never realize a Bastiodon exists. At least Byron uses a Bastiodon but his gym is also very easy, so he can be forgotten about. Also, no one talks about Bastiodon being the worst because in addition to be obscure by normal Pokémon means, Rampardos is more dramatically bad, you would rather use Probopass, which has a far better design and movepool, the fossils in general are considered bad save the Gen 1 fossils and Gen 8 fossils (and the Gen 8 fossils are mashups so they DON’T have the Rock type, meaning when they got their weather abilities they became good) and Cradily, and Bastiodon is never really featured outside of being Byron’s team. Rampardos at least has mission 9 of Shadows of Almia. What I am saying is that Bastiodon should be actively talked about as one of the worst Pokémon because it is.
They barely buff anything in -vanilla- BDSP, and even then some pokemon's movepools are robbed, as well as heavily and forcefully crippled (most notably Zapdos) BDSP deadass bans transfer-only (as in moves not in their level-up nor egg-move movepools) moves like Hidden Power, Knock Off, Liquidation, Close Combat, Mystical Fire, The 3 Elemental Punches, Hurricane, Wild Charge, Superpower, Iron Head, Gunk Shot, Zen Headbutt, i could go on. That and BDSP has no Move-tutor *cause it's a faithful D/P remake, not a Platinum remake*
If you ever think stats are the only thing that matter- remember that Toxapex and Bastiodon have VERY SIMILAR stat distribution. One is an annoying OU staple the other got buried 6 tiers under like the fossil it is.
I love how fossils are literal and metaphorical in the Pokémon universe. The Pokémon that are fossils literally cannot compete in modern-day Pokémon environments, making them metaphorically fossils as well. Even the fast Aerodactyl is never used and Omastar is only used because it is decently tanky and has Swift Swim, and Cradily was an accident that can heal itself and nullifies Water moves. Except the Galarian fossils, but they’re accidents and probably would have been Rock/Water, Rock/Ice, Rock/Electric, and Rock/Dragon. Of which only the Rock/Water and Rock/Dragon would potentially be the only viable ones when put in sand and rain teams, or many the Rock/Water type overall given the Fishious Rend meme. I’d imagine the Rock/Electric type is too slow for Beak Bolt to be useful, and Rock/Ice is a death sentence unless you’re kitted exactly like Calyrex-Ice Rider.
Stats, typing, movepool and ability are all important, though a great ability and type combination can elevate an otherwise mediocre Pokemon to high usage (Magic Guard Clefable, Unaware Quagsire) or even brokenness (anything with Moody), while a bad ability can drag a Pokemon with godly stats down (Regigigas, Slaking) to the point of utter uselessness.
From both an in game and competitive standpoint, Bastiodon is the worst fossil Pokemon. Rock/Steel and offensive stats on par with basic Pokemon don't really do it any favors.
@Taelin Cusic Rock/Steel is a horrible defensive typing no matter how you slice it. 3 weaknesses to very common attacking types (2x to Water and 4x to Fighting and Ground) outweigh the resistances granted by the Steel type.
I mean post gen 4 sturdy into metal burst works well in the base game, but I wholeheartedly agree about comp, bastiodon gets mollywhopped in any competitive setting
@Taelin Cusic if your team has NO fighting, ground, or water moves, then you're super bad. theyre VERY common typings and most teams have one or several pokemon who can screw you over also: doesnt matter cuz no recovery moves. u can just bash bastiodon's face in with a bunch of attacks in a row that will eventually kill it because leftovers cant outheal actual attacking moves
To pair it with the Rampardos theorem, here is the Bastiodon theorem: If you are an unbreakable wall, you need some way to actually threaten the opponent, otherwise you are a sitting duck, just like Bastiodon.
Let's see.............. Head Smash backed by STAB and a high attack stat while also having rock head to negate recoil and dragon dance (one of the best boosting moves in the game) on top of being part dragon type? Yeah, Tyrantrum is definitely one of the best fossil Pokemon we've ever gotten
Something sad Kellen didn't mention is that Probopass got Body Press, including in BDSP where almost nothing else has it, but Bastiodon didn't and it doesn't look like it will if it ever does come back at this rate. Aggron also got it in swsh, so Probopass and Aggron have yet another tool to outclass Bastiodon with. Pokemon Go really is the only place you could feasibly use Bastiodon.
And even then you need a solid reason to use it over the more consistent Registeel and Galarian Stunfisk, Both of which are far cheaper to power up once you get your hands on one. Least it isn't outclassed by Probopass for once.
I don’t get why Gamefreak gave so many slow defensive Pokémon, that are meant to take multiple hits Sturdy. It directly contradicts their gameplan, since it only does something when your defenses fail.
Something to remember, Sturdy only gained that trait in gen 5 Before that it prevented the pokemon from being affected by OHKO moves, so you can't really apply that logic to Bastiodon when it had the ability before Sturdy became what it is now.
@@OriginalGameteer they could have given him a better more fitting ability with the overhaul. Like solid rock or huge power (less than 60 atk, won’t be a problem)
@@Entelarmer Tbf Azu is a powerhouse because it also gets Belly Drum, which boosts its attack to Deoxys-Attack levels of bullshit. Bastiodon only has curse and no priority, so it woudn't be that strong.
Is Focus Blast really going to be that huge of an issue when it's general Accuracy is 70% and feels like lower than that when any one side tries to use it? For how little people actually give Wide and Zoom Lens a chance to better the odds for such a strong base power move, it's a wonder they still keep trying when you only get 5 shots at it without PP Up usage.
@@stetsonherrick8090 strong moves like focus blast do need to be balanced out with a drawback (lowering the user's stats, low accuracy or the like) sure focus blast is inaccurate as all hell at 70%, but it's worth going for that gamble due to the power this move has, also just because it's PP is 5, you can use PP Up's to increase it to a max of 8 uses
@@jaden8923 not really, rock/bug is actually Unironically a bottom 10 type, offensively it’s already bad (walled by pure steel and fighting and a good chunk of grounds) but here we’re focusing defensively and it’s… arguably worse, bug has two pretty good resists actually being fighting and ground and what does rock do ? Easy it *gets rid of those* while still keeping bug’s most problematic weakness being rock, oh and what does it actually add to the table ? Easy, two resists to the arguably 2 worst offensive types in the game (normal and poison) and that’s it, these whatever resists is all it has and all that for the price of 3 weaknesses, 2 of them being very problematic in water and rock. There’s a reason why armaldo and crustle are usually in the very depths of the tiering rum (shuckle has the privilege of being more niche so not as handicapped) that being mostly their typing because they actually have potential to achieve stuff in the lower tiers (Armaldo as a spinner and Crustle as a shell smash sweeper) but are doomed to fail due to their horrendous typing
@@galvsparks6295 yeah Bug/Rock is not a good type, but I'd also wager that Rock/Grass is also not actually a good defensive type. In exchange for reducing your list of weaknesses from 5 to 4 (and even then Ice and Fighting are still rough types to be weak to), you also lose any useful resistances to Fire, Flying, Water, and Ground that either of the types would have had on their own. Rock/Grass ends up leaving you with resistances to only Normal & Electric, and the only reasons people view Cradily as defensively competent is because it's one of the few Rock-types in existence to have any recovery at all while also having Storm Drain for a very handy immunity, especially for a Rock-type. Most other Rock-types cannot pull off a Rock/Grass defensive typing without the moves and traits that Cradily has
I think it’s cool that we got Roark’s dad’s ace on Father’s Day. Who was the Mother’s Day video for again? Edit: It was Delphox and Snivy, who coincidentally tend to fall more on the feminine side anyways
Steel/Rock isn't a bad offensive combo, since it can make use of its 3 million resists to deal offensive pressure out in return. But unfortunately its always always on slow defensive walls, meaning it's potential is wasted
Everytime I watch an FSG video I get reminded how much I liked Pokemon Battle Revolution. Most animations look still good even till today. Especially Icebeam.
One of the saddest parts about Bastiodon is that it doesn’t have a recovery move outside of Rest, which is something every wall needs to be, y’know, a wall. Without it, Bastiodon just sits there and dies, it’s so sad
At least Rampardos could do things sometimes. But this? There was no hope for Bastiodon. You know you failed as a Steel type when an ICE type is a better physical wall.
At least Aggron had a good attack stat along with rockhead+head smash to hit hard, and when it got its mega, it fixed the issues and became one of the best tanks in UU with some OU viability.
i love bastiodon and have fond memories of it unfortunatly despite it can learn a lot of tm's flamethrower, thunderbolt, but it really should have gotten the move of body press in gen 8
Shieldon and bastiodon will always be my favourite Pokémon. I always struggle to use one on play throughs but it's so rewarding when you beat a champion with one 😍
It honestly doesn’t need hp, this thing in sheer bulk is actually bulkier than *toxapex* Bastiodon 60/168/138 Toxapex 50/152/142 This thing’s stats are able to accomplish stuff. The problem lies in everything else than it’s stats aka typing (awful defensively) movepool (lack of reliable recovery is a death sentence for almost any defensive mon) and abilities (it’s best one is sturdy which isn’t bad but on a defensive pokemon which should be designed to take at the very least one hit is pretty underwhelming) and funnily enough all these three points are ones where toxapex succeeds brilliantly
Unless the Bugs are Unovan or Alolan bugs, or the Ice types are Weavile, Alolan Ninetales, or Calyrex-Ice Rider (though Glastrier is just as good if you have redirectors).
The Mega Evolution potential with this thing was staring Game Freak right in the face & they still didn’t take it. Imagine a giant diamond monster with a metal face the shape of a castle. They could even base the castle on historical castles from whatever real world place the region would be based on.
I actually just remembered I made this stat concept a few years ago when my friend was attempting to make a simulator like Showdown but with a bunch of new Megas, items, abilities, etc: Rock/Steel Ability: Filter HP - 60 Attack - 75 Defense - 250 Special Attack - 25 Special Defense - 180 Speed - 5
It is because it was staring GameFreak in the face that they would never take that route of buffing Bastiodon. Megas, to them, are a route to make more popular already-popular Pokémon, highlight legendaries, and make redundant the Megas of Garchomp and Tyranitar.
@@iantaakalla8180 Looking back on this in hindsight, do you think GameFreak ever realized just how dumb and relatively pandering their choices were? So many others who really did need a massive leg up got screwed. Heck, even if move pools didn't get expanded as much for some others, at least a Mega would give some new ideas and life. And the ones that did get Mega Evolution like Salamence and Rayquaza were basically a statement that they wanted to turn the whole Mega situation into Nuclear Level Offense when there was already enough power floating around. Maybe Megas never continued more designs out of the shame of misusing the concept and the backlash of buffing the wrong Pokemon?
@@vdd1001 And final gambit, encore, and not needing a focus sash to take a hit like other webbers, giving it versatility and ways to annoy mons that are suppose to stop it.
@@skyrander Bastiodon- gets body press before release That one developer that wasn't allowed to put +30 speed on rampardos -"and I took that personally"
Without competition, Bastiodon is most likely the single worst steel type competitively. Also why did you not call the video bad? Maractus who had actual vgc niches or Bastiodon who had nothing?
@@rabeechowdhury You seemingly didn't got my point. Bastiodon never had anywhere a niche, neither singles where it was consistently outclassed or straight up bad or vgc where Pokemon like Stakataka just laugh about you. While Maractus the same fate in singles, had legit VGC niches in gen 5 and 8 respectively despite big competition from the single best Chlorophyll user, while Bastiodon can't even compete with Probopass who fun fact is also unusable in VGC. I didn't compared them in how they work, just Maractus had more use cases than Bastiodon. Comparing them is like saying Water and Air is the same thing. Also what's the point of being a switch in if you can't do anything after that.
"Rock type isn't a bad defensive typing at all - far from it" Genuine question: outside of sandstorm when is Rock type good to have on a defensive Pokemon? Maybe if there was one that's part flying and had good defensive stats. Part Bug types too kinda? Replacing your weaknesses from Flying/Fire to Steel/Water is fine but losing your resistances to Ground/Fighting/Grass for the ability to only resist Normal/Poison? Ehh...
Combining it with Grass, a type that also has more weaknesses than any monotype, does wonders for the end result. Grass neutralises Rock's Water, Grass and Ground weakness while Rock neutralises Grass' Fire, Flying and Poison weakness leaving it with only 2 weaknesses from each type for a total of 4 normal weaknesses.
Rock/Flying has seen use defensively for its resistance to the Flying + Ground combo. Rock's resistances to Fire and Normal have also been traditionally useful in the lower tiers
I've had good OU/UU success with Bastiodon in gen5/6. It is entirely prediction reliant, but I really liked using it as an anti-lead. If the starter was an attacker, Metal Burst and remove the fast sweeper starter. If the opponent was a setup, Stealth Rock and Roar. And most importantly, if the opponent was a setup lead, Magic Coat deflects it back. If they used spikes as setup I can even follow up with Stealth Rock or phase them our with Roar. Sturdy's Buff in Gen 5 helped out a lot alongside the terrible Rock/Steel type since BOTH resisted normal moves meaning fake-out leads did nothing against him as Leftovers could bring it back up to full. And those x4 are a blessing in disguise when you can neuter one of their powerful fighting or ground pokemon in a turn with Metal Burst and max EV HP. It did fail against focus sash, but I had priority moves to back it up. And against defoggers in gen 6, I usually had either a contrary pokemon to turn the evasion drop into a boost (which was usually banned in the form of no double team), or I could swap in Bisharp for a free +2 to it's attack with Defiant. (rapid spin was irrelevant since x4 resist to normal allowed me to use phasing against it). To me I could use it as essentially a 1-time counter against anything the opponent leads with, only losing out really to mold breaker pokemon like excadrill. It wasn't a good pokemon but it was one that perfectly fit my team, even more so than Probopass due to access to Metal Burst allowing it to take an opponent down with it while still being able to deal with opposing leads. If I had to change anything honestly... I would give it a mega evolution that boosts it's defenses and removes it's Rock weakness while giving it a new ability to redirect attacks/damage from it's allies in doubles. Just overall buff it's ability to tank a hit but allow that to apply to allies in doubles since I can't find any use for it there yet. Maybe a new ability that redirects attacks all the time to itself, or Friend Guard that use to be only on baby pokemon to boost it's allies defenses in general. What a good ability that perfectly applies to the shield pokemon who uses it's face to help protect it's young.
I love how that rampardos and bastiodon are by all means terrible in normal games but one of the most coveted in Pokemon Go, with Rampardos as one of the best rock type gym attackers and Bastiodon being a staple in Great League play.
I love this pokemon so much, I tried using it play throughs but he was just weak to every single damn type man! The only thing he could deal with was birds and bugs
2:05 When FSG says Rock is not a bad *defensive* typing, he actually meant *offensive* (as it hits Fire, Flying, Ice, Bug) Defensively, Rock is just dogshit. It has 5 weakness (most of which are common like Water, Ground, Fighting, and even Steel) whiling half of it's 4 resistances (Fire, Flying, and then Normal and Poison lol) are nothing to right home about. It's no wonder nearly any slow ass rock-type (90 spe or less) are useless with the 1 outlier being T-Tar, and even then it's unreliable offensively too because of inaccurate STABs (Rock Slide, Stone Edge) or poorly distributed special STABs among rock-types (Power Gem) or 100% accurate but are just weak (Ancient Power and Smack Down)
Counter: Deals 2× the damage taken. Only works on Physical moves Mirror Coat: Deals 2× the damage taken. Only works on Special moves Metal Burst: Deals 1.5× the damage taken. Works on all damage dealing moves. Bide: Wait 2 turns. Deals 2× the damage taken. Works on all damage dealing moves. Edit: Comeuppance: Deal's 1.5× the damage taken. Works on all damage dealing moves.
Too bad Bastiodon doesn't get Bide. Maybe with some Baton Passed Defense boosts, it could really wreck some stuff. Maybe give it a Red Card to take a huge hit, Survive from Sturdy and force a switch to further screw your opponent's momentum?
since they obviously arent adding more megas, it would be cool to at least see both of these get a 3rd evo in their line. Bastiodon could go to something like 85hp/90atk/175def/30spa/150spd/10spe, keeping the typing it has but gaining an ability that works like the move flying press, where it choses its typing based on whats better for it, so instead of it being neutral to fire its resisted, 4x to ground/fighting? nope just 2x, i think it could go a long way to making it viable if not even busted with that stat distribution
@@robinsimon4176 not necesseraly no, multi scale halves all damage when at 100% and solid rock just makes the attack weaker, this new ability would mean that whaver evo it gets will either be, only rock, only steel, or both, depending on what move hit it, in a sense thats comparable to solid rock but not multi scale
Bastiodon needs a filter like ability. Make 4x effective moves only deal like 3 or 2.5x with that I could even see a weird ou niche if you needed a support Steel who wasn't weak to fire
I’m hoping one day that Gamefreak makes another Ceratopsian Fossilmon in a future Gen. Only it’d be offensive rather than defensive. But not be a glass cannon like Rampardos.
This is saddening, Bastiodon was my favorite fossil on Gen 4 :( I would buff it by giving it Solid Rock, it would keep having a X3 weakness to Fighting and Ground after the Solid Rock effect but it would also gain extra bulk vs water moves. Also buff the Atk stat to like 80, so it doesn't became so passive.
Buff idea time. Firstly, give it more utility moves, like Spikes, Spikey Shield, & regift it Magnet Rise (it lost that move in BDSP). Secondly, nerf it’s Special Attack by 20 and move the over to HP, so it’s HP goes from 60 to 80, then gift it 30 points in Attack, so going from 52 to 82. Thirdly, give it a recovery move, specifically Slack Off. Fourthly, give it two new abilities (and drop soundproof). For the first ability, I’ll just spitball a name like “Shatterproof” or something that’d make Bastiodon immune to Fighting Moves. Secondly, give it Dauntless Shield because the thematic appropriateness is just too good to pass up. But if you don’t like the idea of it get Dauntless Shield because that’s Zamazenta’s thing, Stamina or Solid Rock works as well. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
Bastiodon is usually depicted as this large, immovable wall, unfortunately, as the generations went on, this wall would be moved further and further downhill. Now, with it in untiered, it has nowhere to move, but we will hope it gets something helpful soon enough.
This thing makes me so sad. It's based on one of my favorite species of Dinosaurs, and its design is really cool. I love Bastiodon so much, and yet it's so terrible it's really really sad.
I think the only reason they gave Aerodactyl a Mega was because of two reasons. One: It wasn’t version exclusive prior to post game. Two: It was a one-stage Pokémon while all others are Two-Stage. (Minus Galar, but do they really count the same way??)
@@RedDragonForce2 some Mon are exclusive to different versions and got 1 while the other didn’t. Beedrill got a mega and butter free didn’t. There were 15(mewtwo and charizard got 2 forms)megas out of 46. That’s 6 gens of Pokémon and a third we’re from gen 1. Not counting others like steelix and scizor which evolved from gen 1 Pokémon in gen 2.
This guy may suck for the most part, but in Pokemon GO pvp this thing is a beast. Absolutely dominates a decent portion of 1500 cp with sheer bulk and rock damage. Still terribly weak to fighting and ground but can pretty much win against almost anything else. Big contrast lol. Also, in a twist of fate it pretty much 100% outclasses Probopass in almost every situation in 1500cp pvp
Smack Down, Flamethrower, and Stone Edge walls 90% of types and its part of the backbone of the infamous Grasshole teams. Though ya need a lot of XL candy for it to be good
I absolutely love Bastiodons design, and I would love to use it competitively, but whenever I use it, it just gets OHKO'd by every singular earth and fighting type attacks :(
Filter would make sense thematically to. If it is meant to be like a wall of a castle, that can easily be likened to a filter, and thus Filter is justifiable. Unless Filter is a “fish” Pokémon thingy and Mega Aggron thingy.
@@MidoseitoAkage that would kinda make it a whole other mon though. Unless megas return, the most we can reasonably ask for is some stat buffs and a new ability (the same way they took levitate from gengar, they ought to give some weaker mons better abilities.).
@@vla1ne I’d be fine with that given Bastiodon is so bad that to ask to make Bastiodon good is to not make it itself anymore - it’s outstanding qualities is a one-time nuke with Sturdy/Metal Burst, and that’s it. In fact, it should probably have a Rock or Steel type Explosion since that is all it can basically do, and it has Sturdy.
@@iantaakalla8180 but with sturdy and 10-20 more hp it would be pretty salvageable. Hell, shield bash and gyro ball would make impressively strong attacks on it as well.
Bastiodon is one of my favourite designs, so I always feel like using it in any gen 4 playthrough...then I'm quickly reminded why I never keep it in my team.
I know these series focus on the main series games, but I think it’s worth mentioning how much of an absolute nuisance this thing is in Pokémon Go. It’s important to run a Fighting or Ground Type user just to deal with this thing
There is some amazing irony in this situation. While Steel is one of the best defensive types, Rock is one of the best offensive types. You'd think that'd give Bastiodon perfect balance. But this shouldn't be a surprise, after all, Aggron has the same typing, but he drops one of them (Rock) when he Mega Evolves. He wasn't just on to something, he knew what was coming. Plus it helps that Aggron's move-pool is pretty dang diverse.
