The Worst Pokemon Moves in Every Generation 

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If we're counting oversights/glitches, then Gen I's Focus Energy actually lowers your crit chance, rather than increasing it.

So, are we just going to ignore Smog? A 20 BP move as accurate as Focus Miss with a 40% chance to poison? Say what you will about Constrict, at least it had full accuracy.

Every time I hear about Hold Hands I think about that gif of a hacked shiny groudon and kyogre preforming that move together. It’s hysterical.

You forgot the most fun part of synchronoise. Umbreon can learn it. A dark type with a psychic type move that can only hit Pokémon of the same type. Also it can only hit a total of 16 Pokémon for super effective damage.

Refresh was actually a good move in Gen 3 competitive. If you had a Pokemon that wanted to stay on the field for long periods of time, like MIlotic and the Lati twins, that along with Recover gave you extra sticking power.

The most hilarious thing about Constrict is that it was actually nerfed in gen 2. It went from having a 33% chance of lowering speed to a 10% chance.

Another note on Synchronoize, Umbreon can learn it. Enough said

In competitive gen 2 nightmare is actually a solid move as pokemon often spam rest + sleep talk due to sleep talk being able to call rest and restore all your hp. Nightmare takes advantage of that to drain their hp 25% at a time along with any additional attacks that pokemon throws off. The most common user I see is Starmie Unless you arent including competitive in which case yeah it's pretty pointless

In Poxemon X (and only X) there is one in game use for syncronoise. If you want to catch seviper without trading, it appears on route 8 in a horde battle with 4 zangoose. By the time you defeat the zangoose one by one, they will have knocked out the seviper. A normal type syncronoise user will solve that problem. There are no poison types that learn it, so the reverse does not work in Y.

- Nightmare is actually pretty decent on certain Gen 2 competitive sets. With Rest being so common, it's useful for punishing walls that like to fall asleep - Assist, Refresh, and Imprison were only honorable mentions in this video, but all of these moves have great use cases in competitive, especially Imprison in Doubles to stop Trick Room. Assist is the most gimmicky of the three by far, but there's a reason that move is banned in Gen 9 National Dex Singles - As far as Gen 6 support moves go, Mat Block isn't actually that bad in Gen 6 VGC. Greninja's good Speed meant you could get some use out of it - Twin Beam breaks Sashes and Sturdy, and could potentially be a base 120 Psychic move on something with Technician, so you could really go with a lot worse - Quite a few garbage moves have some genuine good use cases with a Z-Crystal glued on. Z-Splash is +3 Atk, Z-Conversion/Celebrate/Happy Hour are omniboosts, etc. Granted, these are only single-time buffs, but you can't knock something like that

Did you forget the part where Focus energy in gen 1 cuts your crit chance by 4 times? I think it's safe to say gen 1 focus energy is the worst move in gen 1.

If we do one for the Best Moves in Every Generation, Gen 1's will be either Body Slam, Hyper Beam, or Blizzard

13:03 Zeraora’s signature move has a similar effect. Plasma Fists, in addition to dealing damage, turns all normal moves into electric type moves, which is another reason why it’s good because Zeraora has Volt Absorb

There are some mistakes... Nightmare was super useful vs Rest Tanks or with a lucky Sleep set up, since you only need to use Nightmare ONCE and then whichever move the following turns, that was the real combination, you wasn't able to take 25% HP from Chansey or Snorlax for instance so easily with special moves.

Grudge actually has some utilities and has seen niche use. The main reason you would use it over destiny bond is to get a clean swap to an ally without your opponent doing the same. You can use the knowlege of the move drained to stat boost.

The advantage of Twin Beam is breaking sashes/sturdy but it really should have been 50 bp

Spicy extract is probably the most unique "bad move" due to it's application with a new item also added in gen 9: Mirror Herb People use spicy extract on something they want to eliminate or a speciall attacker that doesnt benefit from the attack boost and copy said change with mirror herb, usually on a partner Dragapult or a mon with Clear body so that it only copies the attack boost, before quickly decimating the threat

You really mentioned refresh, a move that has seen competitive use

Arguably, Nightmare and Refresh have a use when battling other players. Refresh can be good on stallbreakers to stop stall Pokémon from statusing it when setting up. Nightmare can be good in Gen 2 battles because of how often Rest Pokémon are used.

Twister has always hit in the air, there was a Stadium 2 trainer who only used Dig and Fly, Twister was one of the ways to beat his fliers.

Actually, Twin Beam can have an advantage over Psychic, if attacking an opponent with a Focus Sash or the Sturdy ability.

Natural Gift: "You're giving up the chance to use an actual item for a once per battle attack" So... Z Moves but for coverage? Like a Z Hidden Power? Also Snatch has seen some competitive use as it can steal all positive status moves, not just stat increasing ones. Meaning it could steal Light Screen or Tailwind but not Thunder Wave. In VGC this is potentially very useful, i've seen a couple of Incineroars running it.

Here’s my idea for kinesis: Just make it a completely different move. Psychic type special move, 70 base power, but it does super-effective damage to steel types. It’s lower BP than Psychic and Psyshock so they’d both retain niches. This would basically be a 3rd stab option for Alakazam to potentially smack steel types with at the cost of more general power

Gen 1: splash Gen 2: splash Gen 3: splash Gen 4: splash Gen 5: splash Gen 6: splash Gen 7: splash Gen 8: splash Gen 9: splash

Sure several of these moves were bad, but the fact he kept on going calling all of them outright terrible is also wrong. There are niches around several moves that make them legit usable, sure they're very specific at times, that's why they're called niche lol. The video was good but also a bit misinformed, like how can you call imprison bad when it's actually very strong in a vgc format?

I'm surprised that Generation 1's Focus Energy wasn't mentioned. The move was bugged, so rather than significantly raising your critical hit chance, it significantly lowered it.

Mat Block was actually used on Smeargle in Gen 7. It won a Regional with Z-Conversion Porygon-Z in 2017

4:00 Nightmare is actually usable in gen 2 competitive because rest + sleep talk is so common. it's not great, but it can force a switch sometimes

I disagree greatly on the spicy extract entry. On a fast pokemon with defiant it can be even more horrifying than belly drum since the ally pokemon still gets to move that turn after potentially getting a 4 stage attack boost.

Tea Time can have some legitimate use. If you lead with Polteageist in doubles and use it, you could make your opponent waste their healing berry or a resistance berry right at the start. Sure it's pretty situational but it's far from being bad or useless

Luckily I read some comments about moves like Refresh, Nightmare and a few others to be useful, but don't forget about Natural Gift. A few mons actually used this competitively, especially Gen 6, prime example Talonflame. To top it off, in Draft League format it got used a lot, usually a way to abuse x4 weaknesses.

Fun fact in gen 1, i believe it was almost IMPOSSIBLE for Kadabra to even learn Kinesis. Since in RB, they forgot to put it on the learnset, so it was only avaliable through Metronome. And in Yellow they put it as a base move on WILD Kadabra, meaning the Abra you evolved would never learn it.

real talk nightmare is actually quite useful in gen 2 competitive singles

Idk why but I love Happy Hour, Hold hands and celebration. I know they’re pretty much useless but they feel special to have.

Spicy Extract might be workable for use on physical walls like Steelix or Zazamenta, but why not bring in a specially based equivalent in response? Anyway, given this video, I think we all know what's next coming

Wow, I’ve literally never heard of Magnetic Flux until right now, which is kind of insane because I even knew about weird stuff like Synchronoise, Electrify, and Fairy Lock (which wasn’t featured for some reason, that move is the worst from Gen 6 imo. At least Ion Deluge and Powder do something another move isn’t objectively infinitely better at, Fairy Lock is just Block at home at home and Klefki learns that move, so… why)

Twin Beam has utility. You trade 10 base power to break things like disguise, sash or substitute. There's very few special moves that hit more than once, so it has a really cool niche there, even if it in a flat gamestate is just 11% weaker than psychic.

magic room was very useful since it could nullify drives for techno blast, gems that boosted damage, silvally memory, plates. type enhancing items, and other in-battle effect items. most of the moves you brought up are trash, but some had very good uses and were made to help with mechanics of the generation the move was from like moves like water/mud sport which were made for double battles. in gen 1, speed was heavily used in determining crit hits. so constrict could be very useful if put on a tank-ish pokemon like tentacruel with good hp and special stats. still horrible outside of gen 1 though

Great video Surprised that Snore was included as I always used it with Snorlax in Leaf Green with Rest over Sleep Talk since Sleep Talk would sometimes pick Rest again and fail The rest were interesting to hear about Had no idea Constrict was that bad from Gen 1

Guard split actually had a niche competitive use in VGC. You used it on an eviolite chansey that then used minimize to try to win by stalling the timer lol

In LeafGreen I had a Snorlax with Body Slam, Hyper Beam, Rest and Sleep Talk, and nearly every time I used Sleep Talk it would pick Rest. I ultimately got fed up and replaced Sleep Talk with Snore.

for spicy extract, you can use it into dragapult with clear body and give it a free swords dance

Imprison is actually really good in vgc. You can use it to stop Pokemon from using common moves like protect and trick room.

I would argue a point in favor of Nightmare at least: Going through the main game, its kind of helpful on mons who tend to be tanky and take a while to kill. Putting them to sleep, hitting them with a nightmare, and then wailing on them in conjunction really can speed things along. Its pretty specific instance but it has aided me a good deal when I was younger and didn't know how to play more efficiently. Twister always was hot garbo though.

I would beg to differ on Imprison being bad. In doubles, especially VGC, most Pokemon will have Protect in one of their move slots. Using Imprison with a Pokemon packing Protect itself will prevent their opponent from using the move.

I had no idea constrict lowered speed all this time, that move to me was always a physical version of splash

There were a lot of bad moves in Gen 1-5, but rototiller was the first move that made me think “Why does this even exist?”

How is constrict & kinesis worse than splash? Splash doesn’t even do anything!

Surprised to see Fling isn't on that list when Natural Gift is. Fling is also a move which is a effectively a one-time use as the Pokémon throws its held item at the opponent for x amount of damage depending on the item.

"Timmy's birthday invitational in 2014" I'm CACKLING

9:04) TFS join Ash in the, "Only Trainers who can Effectively use the Chikorita Line," Club

I actually really enjoyed Powder, if more bug types got it they wouldn't have to fear lit matches anymore. So many fun, mostly useless moves gone now. It wouldn't take much effort to retool a lot of these moves into functionality rather than obsolescence.

Personally I love especially those gimmick attacks like Tea Time for example. Sure, most of them are per definition worse than other moves, but I like that they exist. It gives the Pokémon more personality and helps with my immersion. Just like Pokémon themselves - not everything has to be competetively :)

12:54 I remember a False Swipe Gaming video where they shown that a guy in a vgc tournament used this move with some succes, it was very gimmicky and probably used in only that case, but it was used so there is that.

9:39 And even if you wanted to do that, Trump Card has a _very_ limited distribution AND it's learnt at pretty high levels. The only Pokemon that can learn it via level up are: - Eevee at either 45 or *_57_* (which means not evolving it until way after it would learn anything good as an Eeveelution), - Slowking at either 49 or 53 (trade evolution, so you'd need to either change the rules to allow trading just for evolution or modify your game) - Minun at anywhere between 40 and 51 - Magearna at a whopping *_97_* (plus it's a mythical, so you'd have to get it in a randomizer; and even then, it'a already so absurdly strong that you won't need to use Trump Card. Or just use a Z-Move)

For the purposes of leveling in Gen 2, Hypnosis/Nightmare was a decent combo if you were punching well above your weight class.

This is defensive starmie erasure! you can build starmie bulky with a recover build and camoflauge can save you from a super effective hit that may have killed you otherwise

7:50 as someone who’s been DESTROYED by a Mew using Imprison + Transform (leaving me down to Struggle), let me tell you, Imprison is THE WORK OF THE DEVIL 😭

14:05 Happy hour is more of a "utility" move than a bad one, as it gets you more prize money.

"assist" revive cats, dive cats, and gen 4 pre nerf due to figuring something out in the code lucario would like to speak

About gen 1 rock throw, it’s not just about the low lv rock move. It is supposed to balance Brock as a boss that isn’t too OP for that early in the game And synchronoise actually has a use. It has a high BP so on Jolteon, which has terrible coverage, this allowed it to at the very least do good damage to other electric mons so it could be a very niche coverage option. I’ve used it for some solid results back in gen 6

Spicy Extract could be used in tandem with an opportunist mon (though Espathra wouldn’t really benefit) or a Pokémon holding a Mirror Herb, since they’ll copy the attack raise but not the defense lower

I actually found powder to be useful in gen 7 doubles as a way to prevent mega charizard Y's heat wave, among other fire moves.

Moves that change enemy types can be useful for catching pokemon that are immune to false swipe

14:04 As a Halloween enthusiast I cannot accept this slander against Trick-Or-Treat. You will be hearing from my spooky scary skeleton lawyer, sir.

At least Magic Room can keep your opponent’s Pokemon from surviving a one hit ko with a focus sash. How many times have you run into that frustrating scenario?

“Role play is a bad move” *uses role play on a shedinja in doubles* you were saying

I can't believe Razor Wind didn't even warrant a mention. I mean, having to charge two turns just to cause damage equivalent to Strength (also a Normal-type move, and one that can be infinitely taught via HM) is pretty friggin' horrid. And unlike Hyper Beam, the charge takes place on the first turn, giving the opponent a free turn to counter it (Sky Attack and Solar Beam outside of sun is also pretty bad like that, but at least they make up for it in sheer power). Also, aside from an increased critical hit ratio in gen2, it received no buffs before gen8 finally ditched it entirely (in contrast, fellow charging move Skull Bash received an attack increase in gen6, on top of already being a stronger move than Razor Wind AND having a Defense-increasing effect since gen2). If anything, rather than being buffed, gen4 made it even worse by changing it to a special attack instead of a physical attack, given how the majority of Pokemon that learn it lean heavily towards the physical side (BTW, why the hell doesn't Sneasel ever learn it? Not that Sneasel has the stats to use it either, but it would make sense thematically. The attack is called Kamaitachi in Japanese, in reference to the mythological sickle weasel that Sneasel is supposedly based off of). What makes it all the less worthwhile is how elusive the attack is. In gen1, it was exclusive to a TM (albeit one of the few TMs that could be bought indefinitely), and then in gen2, it could only be learned as an egg move after transferring over a Pokemon that learned it in gen1 games (very odd given how all the other former TMs got added to level-up movesets, with Razor Wind being the single exception IIRC). It could FINALLY be learned by level-up from gen3 onward (or until gen8 cut it), but even then, the only Pokemon that could learn it prior to level 20 (and without needing a move re-learner, like Yveltal) was Absol, which is almost always a late-game Pokemon. Like, it'd be one thing if this was an attack that's being used very early game (and even then, the thing would only be equivalent to using two Pound attacks or two Scratch attacks in a row), but having it be learned by Pokemon in their 30s on average? Why? What is the point of having Silvally learn such a horribly underwhelming move at friggin' level 70? On that note, I wouldn't give Twister too much crap. It's effectively just a Dragon-type Ember or Water Gun...... and hell, the Pokemon that have it in their level-up sets typically learn it at a point when their other offensive options are just as under-powered. It's certainly not as common as the likes of Ember and Water Gun, and hardly liable to show up in early-game as a result (early-game and mid-game being when such attacks are most useful), but it has its purpose. Really, the only thing I find questionable about Twister is the fact that it's a tutor move in gen4 (granted, you can't even say it's the worst move that gen4 tutors teach....... I mean, they teach String Shot, of all things).

Natural gift actually was a very common set on talon flame in gen 6. Throw a Watmel berry on a talon flame and you can kill the talonflame check then sweep with priority. Incredibly strong and had solid usage in high ladder OU

I misread the title as "the worst pokemon movies in every generation" 😭 but I guess that could be a great video topic

Fun fact, umbreon, the pure dark type, can learn synchronoise.....for some reason

What about Razor wind in gen 1? A 80 base power flying move sounds great!....oh wait, it's a normal type move? And you have to have to waste an entire turn to charge it? Oh, and after all that it has only 75% chance to hit? At least constrict was meant to be a low level move, what is the point of razor wind?

I use Spicy Extract in raids! you can basically give clear body pokemon or something holding the clear amulet a swords dance without the defense drop. then you can use it on the raid pokemon after that and maximize the damage of your ally

I'm predicting hold hands will be one

Chatot could literally just use Boomburst in like 90% of those synchronoise situations and have more BP

I ran nightmare butterfree for the entire Pokémon gold story and it worked great

Something humorous about synchronoise is that Umbreon can learn it. A dark type, learning a psychic type move, that only hits Pokémon that share share a type with it.

I actually had to look up the Watmel Berry as I had never seen/heard of it before either. Apparently it's exclusively a Poffin ingredient. You could alternatively use an Occa Berry and get a slightly less powerful Fire-type Natural Gift plus some insurance against Fire damage defensively, but at that point why bother?

Spicy extract + Mirror Herb can be great, or if your target is confused they can pretty much take themselves out

Yeah I used Power Split on my Shuckle for support. Was really good. Neutered my opponent's Garchomp for my Pidgeot to run train with Featherdance, Toxic, Roost, and U-Turm.

Imprison is fire, especially in VGC, being able to seal stuff like trick room or tailwind, or encore and other stuff like that

I feel like Gen 1 Rage locking you into only rage is notable.

I think spite does have a place in the game for NPCs. If you wanna throw a wrench at the player and punish them for killing a ghost type Pokemon at the wrong time, getting their bite to 0pp sounds much more reasonable than just killing the mon

Teleport in Gen 1 literally had no use in combat and failed for some reason against wild pokemon

if we count spicy extract foul play strats than a lot of these moves have similar niches, like snatching your allies belly drum or spiting a trump card natural gift has had uses because of super specific meta stuff (when hidden power just didnt quite cut it)

Love that the footage from Gen 4 is just TFS Soul Silver Nuzlocke

Spotlight can be useful if partner pokemon uses move which damages random enemy.

Love you JPR, another great vid 💜

How does spicy extract work on a difiant, competitive or clear body teammate? What about that one move that doubkes in power when your stats are dropped that turn?

a way i spicy extract could be used is if there is a special attacker on the other team and then you raise it's physical attack then their special moves power wont be increased and their defense is also dropped

I guess maybe you could argue that turning something like hyper voice into electric with ion deluge could be cool? But even then why not just attack twice

Today I experienced the terror of being held at gunpoint by Dudunsparce. I don't think I'll ever be the same after this.

I’m gonna defend Snore. I found a VERY niche use on Meloetta. Serene Grace turns it into a 60% flinch STAB attack.

Spicy Extract can be used in conjunction with the Defiant/Competitive Ability and a White Herb. You’ll get a free +5 to your Attack or Special Attack for free in double battles. I know it’s a very niche situation, but it’s basically a free Belly Drum without the cost of HP

Refresh isn't bad in Gen 3 though, Swampert and Milotic sometimes runs it in OU, specially Milotic which is a top tier defensive Pokemon. As you know defensive Pokemon fall to Toxic's fixed damage specially if they run Recover instead of Rest, so Refresh helps Milotic shrug it off.

Ion Deluge was a major part of a world champion’s winning strategy: the one with a Pachirisu

Nightmare isn't the worst. It's just very niche because it won't last long. It's mostly meant to lower HP to soften them. I agree it's pointless on Darkrai because I used it in a challenge but lookjng at the others, they don't handle special walls well at all. I've used it on Red's Snorlax a few times and managed to take it down because its HP was down to half. In fact a lot of these moves aren't terrible, just situational.

7:50 assist mention! homie’s never played against prankster leipard assist-> fly w lagging tail before 😂

Role play is actually fun to use, even if it’s pretty niche it can change the course of a battle for you