ATTENTION: I missed a VERY important VGC placement for Empoleon, thank you to Toniblast for pointing it out. I am extra disappointed in myself because I've seen Ryuzaki's VGC worlds graphic and the VGC 2009 worlds finals so many times at this point >_
eh, not sure leaving out the fantastic worlds footage & not expounding on the use of Icy Wind in VGC in the main video is really rectified just by linking the match in the comments, but it helps
@Adam Rox In case you didn’t watch the anime, Barry would often make a count down for someone to pay him a fine. My comment is just referencing that. In case you were just being sarcastic, then here is my response: Barry, that’s who.
I don’t sorry. I was just scrolling through my gallery and found it under screenshots. Probably just found it on Discord or something and just screenshotted it
If Empoleon had Competitive instead of Defiant, it would be an incredibly good Stealth Rock Setter, being able to set up Stealth Rock and threaten Defoggers in one go. Even able to remove hazards itself, a utility tool that features a knife. Defiant Bisharp would be jealous.
@@siberiangopnik Was just watching this video and saw this reply. True, maybe they’ll give it roost. Other Pokémon got different moves as well IE Mesprit with recover so we’ll have to see if they keep those moves or not.
@@fulgenzio89 nah Ferrothorn and Skarmory have their uses in the main game. Pokemon good in competitive but useless everywhere else include Pokemon like Chansey and Alomomola.
I remember when I first played pokemon platinum, I choose piplup and not only was it a female which is about 13% chance, but it also had Pokérus (1 in 21,845)
My first Pokémon ever, Chikorita in SS, was actually shiny. I still have him on UltraMoon. Just waiting for SwSh DLCs to add him so he can explore England...
So basically Empoleon was like Infernape, being absolutely amazing and great in it debut generation but dropped in the later generations because of power creep, I thought Empoleon would have some OU niche as a defensive rain mon. At least Empoleon is still good and isn't in NU or PU unlike Torterra whose STAB completely screwed over for its role
The difference is that Empoleon is still perfectly viable in OU and absolutely thrives in the more fast paced metagame of Battle Spot Singles, mostly because of his access to Yawn that only Swampert and Hippowdon can run with a similar effectiveness.
Doesn’t really do much as a defensive rain mon though, especially since that role is always taken up by Ferrothorn which uses rain to cover its fire weakness
You missed Empoleon's greatest accomplishment in VGC 2009! It won Worlds in Seniors (then the highest age division), used by the first official world champion, Kazuyuki Tsuji.
I've never really tried that since Power Trip doesn't exactly patch up any notable holes in Empoleon's coverage as far as I know. If it works for you though, great!
UPDATE: As october 2023, Empoleon is OU in Scarlet & violet. It got roost, flip turn and haze, and its hidden ability is now competitive. It also got some good old moves, like knock off or roar, which arent really common in the gen9 metagame due to poor distribution. It will probably drop to UU, since its only true niche is walling walking wake and roaring manaphy out, but history has been made: empoleon is a legitimate OU pokemon which had more usage than Landorus-therian.
Empoleon certainly had a pretty good competitive career with being in OU for the first two generations it appeared in and then in UU for the next two generations. Being a water/steel type certainly helped against the likes of sandstorm, toxic spikes and stealth rock which gave an edge Empoleon had over other water type Pokémon.
These literally make my entire Sunday. I wait for these like a show you'd never miss. Thank you for giving me something to look forward to every Sunday.
Piplup was technically my first pokemon in a pokemon game I owned so I have a strong connection with it, I also like the colors it has. I was able to get my empoleon in diamond to level 100 with only using two rare candies, Im proud of that cause I dont see many other people do that in my friend groups or in things like pixelmon series.
Just want to say thanks for making these. I volunteer at my local park on sunday; it's hard work and I love coming home and watching your video during dinner
My all time favorite Pokémon. So majestic. Seaking and Kingler wish they could be as regal as Empoleon. Great start in gen 4 OU. Even though it dropped to UU, that’s a very fine tier, and I’m happy to see Empoleon doing well where it ended up
Water/steel is a really unique and interesting dual typing. It`s kind of sad that we have only gotten 1 mon with it so far. Oh well, at least it has managed to put said typing to good use.
Nero the Water User currently Empoleon is higher in the viability rankings (no I’m not just saying that because Empoleon is my favourite Pokémon go check if you want to)
Great video! I would like to add that once Empoleon got defiant, it was used as a niche counter to intimidate users and defog users. It was probably used in vgc to counter intimidate and icy wind users as well. also, it commonly ran a Swords dance/aqua jet/ focus sash/ Torrent set in gen 4.
Torterra was my first and favorite Pokémon ever. So before y’all wanna bash him. He’s NU. I know NU not good . But better than PU and untiered so y’all gotta let him breathe
Torterra isn't really good. 4x weak to ice, and definitely not doing well. Does that mean I hate torterra? No. It's so cute and looks awesome. I never picked torterra, but it looks adorable
Empoleon is my favourite starter! That Water/Steel combination is just so, so awesome, and i love its design. Sinnoh is so cool. For that 2015 VGC placement, i'm surprised you didn't note that due to the presence of Charizard and Torterra that Empeoleon was highly likely to be a Water Pledge set, which is a really important strategy to VGC in general.
Empoleon with Defog in Gen 6 is a hacked pokemon, however, if it originated from Gen 4 it's legal-ish. And Gen 7 reintroduced the move so you can have legal of generation Defog Empoleon.
I actually used empoleon in OU with a iron defense set up so that it could come in on steel types to set up iron defense and hit steel types with a hidden power fire, ice beam, and scald because after a iron defense it can take a earthquake from a choice banded garchomp and its a hard counter to steel types taking their hits and dishing out hidden power fires also taking care of dragons and normal types with relative ease
I actually run assault vest Empoleon... That thing is a beast, not only crushing regular stuff like scizor and hydra, but with 496 sp def it eats up a manectric hit, destroys the nidos (which I actually haven't seen in ages) and slaughters pidgeot. Along with my Umbreon's wish support, Napoleon tends to be the last one standing even if I lose. Probably sunpar, but I didn't want a spinner because none fit on my team and obviously defog stealth rock sets can be annoying to use.
In Gen 7 UU, while it's probably not his best set and rather a niche one, I used him as a sp def pivot in my bulky offensive team. Empoleon @ Waterium Z Ability: Torrent EVs: 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 4 Spe Modest Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Hydro Pump - Defog - Ice Beam - Roar His main role is to deal with powerful special attacker especially against enemy meteor Spamer such as Hydreigon or Latias. At the same time his interesting resistance (rock, bug, steel) allowing him to take strong physical attacks such as stone edge or Scizor's Uturn and bullet punch. Even without investment he can resist a M Beedrill's Drill Run or M Aerodactyl's earthquake and strikes back. What makes him great is that he keeps a good offensive pressure being able to deal with a lot of threats with waterium Z such as Scizor or Sharpedo which are OHKO or win duel against Primarina especially the spec one. Ice Beam is for coverage and Roar allows him to phaze calm mind Latias.
I'd advise people to check out the tornament footage in the description. The way they had tournaments back then were so epic! I wish they held them now like they did back then.
Came back to this video because I played a gen4 game on showdown with a sub petaya empoleon and reverse sweeped a guy from 6-1 down. Unfortunately I didnt get to fully sweep cos they rage quit, but still; Empoleon is a boss
The Chadder Empoleon and Infernape: We have been consistently in either OU or UU in every generation. The Chad Torterra: While I may not be good competitively, I still have a great typing for the base games. The Virgin Meganium: helmp i dom't get good moves
unfortunately never played this poke generation, liked his design though and the typing seemed very interesting aswell thx for the weekly awesome video! alsways looking forward to those
Based on looks and pokedex entry and ignoring competitive viability, it should have its attack and sp attack switched and given a strong, unique physical Steel type move. "Hey! I have wings made of giant blades that cleave apart glaciers! ...hydro pump ice beam lol"
In fairness, the Lati's drops also have something to do with Soul Dew's heavy nerf in Gen 7. It now boosts Dragon and Psychic moves by 20% instead of Special Attack and Special Defense by 50%.
