Interesting Competitive Pokémon Gimmicks 

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Shoutouts to Big yellow teaching me about level 85 chansey

2:15 doo doo

My favorite version of FEAR was probably in gen 5, when weather was still permanent and Sturdy just got buffed. You'd get up sandstorm, then use a level 1 Aron with Endeavor and Shell Bell. The idea was that Endeavor would bring the opponent down to 1 HP (because you survived with Sturdy), the damage from that would immediately heal you to full again through Shell Bell, and then the sand chip damage would ideally kill the opponent, allowing you to the same thing over again on the next mon. Obviously plenty of things that could stop it, but when it works and actually kills more than just one mon (contrary to the regular FEAR, which always just kills one mon at best), it's hilarious.

Dive Cats was also a Gimmick that you didnt go over and was incredibly annoying

2:14 He said doodoo

My favorite gimmick is using shedinja as the most efficient spike sac in the game in gen 3. Basically, by switching in shedinja and having it immediately die, the turn just ends and you can deny a recovery or setup move while getting a completely safe switch into a fast offensive threat one per battle

It's all fun and games until Mega Bannete in National Dex OU is in the vid.

I can’t believe you’ve done this

One time I swept my younger brother with full ubers using a full Level 1 team. It was probably the most hilarious battle I ever had (for me at least lmao)

Protective Pads, Whirlpool, Psychic Fangs Dracovish only for toxapex be like: Double Kick Terrakion only for UBERs Smeargle lol. If you know, you know.

An interesting gimmick that was used in Gen 8 was Grudge Dragapult to remove all the PP on Clefable Moonblast so that it would no long be a check for Urshifu-SingleStrike prior to when it was banned

The only gimmick I knew from this video was the F.E.A.R. Strategy

video starts 4 effing minutes in

Ariados has a gimmicky trap passing set in Generation 2. Normally, Roar/Whirlwind can shut down this strategy, which many defensive Pokémon you may want to trap pass have. But with Protect+Disable, no such problem occurs. Speaking of Ariados, it has a niche set in Gen 4 - specifically, the Uber Tier. It can anti-lead Darkrai really well as Insomnia makes it immune to Dark Void, it threatens to win a direct combat with X-Scissor+Sucker Punch and it can also setup Toxic Spikes. It can also remove TSpikes for your team as well.

I would like to mention Safety Goggles Zoroark as a gimmick. You can use it on a sand/hail team to trick your opponent into thinking it's a different Pokemon, or you can use it to switch into powder moves to bluff being a Grass Type.

Fun fact, Z-Me First was also seen on Pinsir in Gen 7 PU, using basically the same strategy but combining the effect with Moxie as a late game cleaner

appreciate you bringing these to the forefront and giving players more ways to think about the game :D

Did you miss any gimmicks? Go through Weedletwineedle's showdown videos. Simple beam+trace. Wandering spirit+no guard/huge power. Skill swap. Teatime+Harvest. All the good stuff.

My favorite gimmick Poketuber is WeedleTwineedle with Simple+Trace Gardevoir strats

i've got a good one. in gen 3, hidden power can be either physical or special because the physical special split hadn't happened yet. but the base move itself is a normal type physical move, which means if your opponent uses hidden power (the most common attack in the tier) then you can use counter on it even if it's a special attack lol

My Full Assist team used V-Create as the only callable move. I was walled pretty hard by Heatran (trying to knock it out with moves like Covet and Thief), but it was a lot of fun. I had Ninetales to set up permanent sun (this was in the days of the weather wars), then Victini to supply the V-Create. My Assisters were Infernape (STAB V-Create in sun), Spinda (Contrary means V-Create boosts your stats every time you use it, and Copycat ideally lets you steal more good moves (Draco Meteor, say) to sweep with), Liepard (Choice Band Prankster means that the V-Create has +1 priority) and Purrloin (just as a second Liepard, priority V-Create is that strong).

Betterhelp

Please no more sponsors from this company.

Mentioning prankester as well as assist in a gimmick video and not talking about dive cats is wild

Missed dive cats lol

One of the things I used to do in VGC during sword and shield was prankster, trick, ring target on Whimsicott along with regieleki. Gives the opponent NO turns to adjust to becoming electric weak on their Lando and other prominent ground types. This along with fake tears and dynamaxing let regieleki absolutely decimate teams with no switchins. Personally, I piloted it to top 100 on the smogon VGC ladder and only struggled after facing the same players multiple times, which is another reason it is a gimmick in the normal 3 v 3 format, but in a ladder format I found it to be absolutely a legitimate strategy.

This is a rather obscure gimmick, but I came up with an idea with the Natdex OU chat about revive spam (not revive cats). So I use pawmot with a standard revive set, I use rabsca with revive, rest and sleep talk to make it have a 50% chance of calling revive when asleep, which bypasses pp limitations. The rest of the team would be scarf ditto, prankster destiny bond banette, imprison form mew and a random mon. The thought process is that on this team you losing a mon isn't a high price since you can always revive it, so using stuff that guarantees knock outs even through indirect damage is worth it like destiny banette.

I watch weedle twineedle so nothing surprises me

One gimmick I saw and then tried but didn't exactly work all the time was Nightmare Butterfree. Basically a Butterfree equipped with Focus Sash and using Infestation, Sleep Powder, Nightmare and something to deal damage in the fourth slot (Dream Eater, Bug Buzz, Etc). Just Sleep Powder the opponent, which has +/- 99% accuracy because of Butterfree's Compoundeyes, then trap it with Infestation. Next Nightmare it and watch it just wither away. Unless, you know, it wakes up during any of this... on which case Focus Sash can at least buy you 1 more turn if they don't switch too much.

Choice band Ferrothorn in gen 5 ou is funny af. No you don't try to eliminate a counter with this, you genuinely use it offensively. 94 attack and 30 speed aren't great, but 150 power gyroball and huge natural bulk almost makes up for that.

F.E.A.R., level 85 Chansey, and HP-Ground Skarmory i already knew about, those last two were covered by Big Yellow!

Wasnt Copycat + Roar not supposed to function that way on Showdown so they patched it?

6:02 That's actually something I like doing with certain Pokemons. One such set I did was special Ultra Necrozma evolving from Dusk Mane form. Typically, physical Ultra Necrozma evolve from Dusk Mane, and special Ultra Necrozma evolve from Dawn Wings, or Dusk Mane doesn't evolve and stays a physical tank. But my Dusk Mane Necrozma was using a special set with Calm Mind, so they switch upon seeing my Necrozma, see Calm Mind, and then they're completely confused on if I'm just trying to boost my weaker defensive side or if I'm going to evolve and be a special powerhouse. At least, even if they don't fall for it, the Dusk Mane form still gives me some nice bulk to set-up, and they never know when I'll switch typing.

My favorite will always be the Magneton match up fish in Gen 3 OU, where you use torment as Skarm hoping they switch to a mag to counter the skarm, then switch to dugtrio and sand attack the magneton down. You then switch into trace gardevoir so the mag can't leave and sub calm mind up. It's disgusting and hilarious (Jimothy Cool has a video on it)

I knew every one except the copycat shell smash eject button tech that's a lot of layers to fake out into a second setup but the 200 IQ satisfaction must feel great when it works

Mummy Slaking with Pursuit is probably the craziest gimmick...

minimize -> baton pass to smergle with moody ability and the moveset of spore, substitute, accupressure, and baton pass -> setup with accupressures until you have enough boosts -> baton pass to krookadile with power trip and sweep.

As a casual pokemon fan that hasn't kept up with the series in 10 or so years, I really appreciate that you explain what abilities/moves do. In many cases i've either never heard of them, or i've forgotten.

i knew fear and the lvl 85 chansey one, 5 years of competitive pokemon and still have a lot to see

I like Beat-up Justified Lucario.

Honestly, i'd like to think he's being forced to show a possitive image about WorseDisturb because of a contract. Money is money, after all. Not everyone is an Eagleland high class who can just buy new devices every time theirs stop working and don't suffer with student debt. Plus, with how WorseDisturb's reputation is going down the drain, their Payday must give WAY more Pokédollars than other sponsors. That being said, pick your partners better next time, Zai.

I loved using Scarf Anger Point Primeape when Ursh Single Strike was running the OU meta when he was first released

Whirlpool Dracovish, Ring Target Jirachi, Mummy Pursuit Slaking, Block Zyguard, Z-Me First Mienfoo, Truant Protect Dugtrio, Copycat Eject Pack Shell Smash, Present Chansey, and Roar Trick Room were all new interesting niche strategies to me. Great list here!

I did the ring target thing back with Zoroark disguised as Regieleki since it baits Ground types in.

I used Entrainment Durant + Dragonite to completely trivialize the Battle Maison(with mega slowbro with rest + calm mind in the back just in case), really fun strategy that worked way more than it should

Back when espathra was in uu i used torment bisharp to counter it, i forgot how it did but i think it worked suprisingly well

2:24 :(

I think I only knew about the Skarmory HP Ground tactic prior to this video (shout out to Jimothy Cool) Great video!

Kind of love gimmick pokemon like this Makes me feel like a bunch of Pokémon are special

Okay, the Present glitch is insane. Fascinating to learn the crazy information regarding how things worked back then.

4:00 "Generation 3 is well known for being one of the best Defensive Pokémon

I'm impressed I only didn't know four of these I've encountered quite a few when I was playing online

i knew all but one

My favorite gimmick is Magic Room with a Choice Scarf user with SD/Nasty Plot. You set-up Magic Room, swap in the Set-up sweeper, set-up, and when Magic Room is over, you get +2 atk/spA +1 speed, and you try to sweep. Funnier if it is the same pokemon, but "too much set-up". Basically a worse double dance. But funnier ahahaha

My personal favorite gimmick strategy is Arcanine + Wonder Guard + Burn Out. Basically makes him (almost) invincible

I saw most of them on Big Yellow's videos (and I think Reverend?)

I knew all of the accept present blissey. Assist teams were actually my favorite to make back in the day. I was upset when they removed the move but revive cats proved why it may have been necessary.

My fav one was clearly ant and dog You would use the truant tactic with the ant and then change to zygarde-dog to trap them with waves. You could then dragon dance your heart now, and then when you are done, just let the enemy hit you once. The damage will hopefully be enough to transform the dog into the gig-garde...

Gen 1 level 89(?) counter Chansey is another one that could be mentioned

That D-dance Charizard Y strat reminds me of the Charizard X plushie strat that was mentioned in FSG's video, where (I forgot who) brought in a Charizard X plushie to the world tournament only to revela that is was a Charizard Y instead.

lvl comfee tailow magneton and nosepass are all noteworthy at least

Didn’t know 5, but Slaking acc goes crazy when it finally stops skiving and gets some work done

ive done a few gimmicks (or tech, whatever you call it) on my own teams here and there to support my own unique playstyle. For example, running charizard y offense in natdex can be brutally difficult thanks to the dominance of rain, so many zard y players opt to play balance / buly offense and stack counters to rain. instead of doing that, i run a fast hazard remover in iron treads along with HP electric as my fourth move on zard y (fblast, sbeam and scorching sands being the other three) and it is stupendously effective. also helps guarantees kos on mons like moltres since i dont wanna miss fire blast

My whole team is often seen as a gimmick team, being a singles Trick Room + Sun team. Honestly, the team is full of gimmicks. But it has been successful for a number of years, particularly in gen 8 national dex where it peaked at 7th on the ladder. But gimmick I'm going to share is Marowak with a small speed investment. It gives my team a super strong matchup against opposing Trick Room Marowak, which can just win the match on the spot. But I mainly had it set up to outspeed Toxapex. Using a minimum speed Marowak, on the final turn of Trick Room, the typical interaction would be Marowak attacks, then Toxapex Recovers the attack off. Then when Trick Room ends, it hits Marowak hard with Scald. But when you run Marowak faster than Toxapex, instead, Toxapex Recovers first, then takes heavy damage from Marowak, then Marowak gets to finish it off the turn Trick Room wears off.

The only one I didn't know about was Copycat + Shell Smash, but if I saw Eject Pack on a Shell Smash Pojémon I would've been able to guess that Copycat would follow.

I knew maybe less than half haha. Great video!

I was STUMPED when I fell for that Cofagrigus/Slaking strat 😭

I have used FEAR strat a lot in gen 8 and even gen 9 DOU metagame with decent success. Pair up a Togedemau or a Sudowoodo in Trick room with sturdy+shell bell and boom you have unlimited endeavors. I Pair up with a priority blocker as well like the giraffe

didn't know about entrainment truant durant or present blissey. i knew durant had entrainment and some part of my brain didn't want to know that it also had truant lol. the counter-imprison strat is really fucking cool

I love using assist contrary spinda with V create 😂

An adaptation I’ve seen to stop Imprison Trick Room is to Dynamax your Trick Room user and use Trick Room as Max Guard. Your ally can Copycat the Max Guard which turns back to Trick Room. With Prankster Copycat, Trick Room goes up before your opponent can move.

So someone needs help here…

That one video of Assist - V Create on Emvee's channel

Is reverse sticky web/toxic spikes too farfetched? With ability swap magic bounce and then guts pokemon, contrary or even quickfeet

One gimmick possible in gen 7 is Z Mirror Move Blaziken Mirror Move makes the user perform the last move the opponent used. In the Z version, it gives +2 attack and, if the move is a damage dealing one, it does the z version of it (if it's a status move, it misses) So, you can have Blaziken get a +2 attack nuke if you catch an opponent doing a physical move they're vulnerable to, and you're getting speed boost

the fangs and claws of the hategod stand at your gate. you would do well to turn back.

explosion revival blessing is a great gimmick in doubles

I didnt count how many i didn't know, but i'm still leaving a comment for the algorithm x) great video as always !

I only knew fear...

One of the goofiest yet deadliest gimmick sets I remember was boomer remover mew The idea was simple: 1) use block to trap a mon 2) use imprison to shut down their moves 3) use transform and watch them cry It was truly evil, yet oh so hilarious

I liked using z heal block when it was available. As it stops healing moves and gets you a nasty plot.

Here is a gimmic I'm quite fond of: Prankster spore in a double battle. You basically use a prankster skill swap user (either mega shuppet, male meowstic or sableye) and a spore user (preferably amoonguss with regenerator), you use skillswap on your spore user and (starting in gen 8) inmediantly put one of the opponents to sleep. From there one you can put the enemy to sleep before they can use regular moves while a partner defeats them. The reason I consider this a gimmick is because, as a powder, sleep inducing move with prankster priority, It gets stoped by: -Grass type pokemon -Overcoat -Safety googles -Insomnia -Vital spirit -Sweet veil -Leaf guard on sun -Safeguard -Electric terrain -Misty terrain -Chesto berry -Lum berry -Dark type pokemon -Quick guard -Psyquic terrain -Upper hand -Dazzel -Queenly Majesty -Armor tail -Good as gold

It's sad that a lot of these wacky strategies no longer exist thanks to Dexit/Movexit and, as the latest gen, complete moveset formatting

I knew about F.E.A.R., Mummy Slaking, and Criting your own Anger Point mon,

One of my favorite gimmicks is Transform/Block/Imprison Mew. It's only good to take down 1 opposing mon, but it's by far the funniest way to do it.

I'm here for the kekleon theme

Didn't know for Whirlpool Dracovish ; Blissey Present but other then that I knew

I knew all of them but the roar vs imprison one

10:55 If the opponent knew your move, they could almost always counter it lol

Actually, the riolu roar gimmick... wasn't supposed to exist. It doesn't work on console, and it was only on showdown because nobody noticed it.

womp womp

Knowing a thing or two about programming I can't even think how they fucked up that present coding so bad Legit how on earth

Okay now that everyone's gotten the main controversy of the video out of the way, I wanna leave a second comment regarding the actual subject matter of the video My favorite gimmick in Pokemon is, honestly, Neutralizing Gas Weezing (in Doubles especially) A well-timed Weezing can completely negate the enemy's gimmick and even actual, serious play if you know how to use it

what lack of decency for you to "promocionar" Bottom-Heist

I used Treecko instead of Rattata to kick Ultra Necrozma’s light-stealing butt in UM! Wish I nicknamed it Deku. From MHA AND ZELDA.

Not competitive, but I used to have so much fun with my Ion Deluge + Explosion/Boomburst team. Lanturn got Ion Deluge and it refused to go down thanks to Volt Absorb. Too bad they got rid of that move.

I didn't know: Whirlpool Vish Trapdog Present Blissey lv 85 Chansey Semi knew Z-Me First, used it on Koko in OU Copycat Riolu, used it differently, Endure SD Reversal, fun strat but Gen 7's dark type buff made it even less reliable I knew Assist strats are a thing, but no specific ones aside from Revival Cats in NatDex AG

Great video man. I understand that the sponsor is not a very good company, but it is not like you partnered with them knowing that.

Gimmick, hustle squakabilly