Typically, the Pokémon that look cool are very good in battle. Pokémon like Mewtwo, Garchomp, Haxorus, and others look intensely powerful, and they are. But, there are some exceptions to this. There are some Pokémon who look like they’d be really powerful (and in some situations, they are) but are somewhat of a let down in battle.
The disappointment that some of these Pokémon provide is often based in lackluster movesets or bad abilities that hinder their performance. Others are considered “bad” due to their inability to deal with staple moves or Pokémon that are used in the meta-game. Every Pokémon on this list does have its uses, but here are the Pokémon that look cool but aren’t great in battle.
10 Meganium
Poor Chikorita. This Grass-type starter from the Johto region has a reputation of being the worst choice between itself, Cyndaquil, and Totodile. All of the starter Pokémon in each generation have similar stats, and so does Chikorita, but it just doesn’t live up to the potential of its Water- and Fire-type counterparts.
The Chikorita line, which ends with Meganium, does not have access to any amazing Grass-type attacks. Additionally, many of Johto’s gym leaders have type advantages against the Grass-type. There’s an Ice-type leader, a Flying-type leader, a Ghost-type leader that uses Poison-types, and more. With its lackluster move pool and subpar ability to attack, Meganium just falls behind.
9 Bastiodon
With its huge defense stat and visible appearance as a literal wall, many would assume Bastiodon is a great staller or defensive wall in battle. But in reality, it isn’t very useable in the meta-game. Rampardos is often the much-better choice when presented with the two fossils from Sinnoh.
The most glaring problem that Bastiodon faces is its type combination. Steel and Rock being paired together make this Pokémon double-weak to two common types — Ground and Fighting. Earthquake and Close Combat make appearances on many teams and Bastiodon just isn’t able to tank them.
8 Luxray
The design of Luxray makes it a fan-favorite in the Pokémon community, but its competitive viability just doesn’t match up. It’s a pure Electric-type but doesn’t have the typical lightning speed stat that most Electric-types have. It’s definitely fast, but it doesn’t live up to the speed of many other options.
Furthermore, Luxray doesn’t have access to that many good moves that would put it in the top leagues. A lacking speed stat, a subpar special-attack stat, and lack of access to great moves make Luxray disappointing all around.
7 Charizard
It’s very controversial to say in some Pokémon fan circles, but Charizard is not a great Pokémon. Sure, it looks great — a big fiery dragon (but not actually a Dragon-type) with an intense stare and sharp claws. But, its ability to perform in battle does not live up to its iconic status.
Charizard is, unfortunately, Fire/Flying, which makes it extremely vulnerable to the all-too-common Stealth Rock. Other Pokémon like Ho-oh, Primal Groudon, Volcarona, and Heatran are much better choices are Fire-type attackers. Its Mega-Evolutions are great, but regular Charizard just isn’t.
6 Archeops
Archeops, like Bastiodon, is a fossil Pokémon with a terrible problem. While it looks like a strong prehistoric bird with an intimidating presence, Archeops suffers from its horrible ability. The only ability Archeops has access to is Defeatist, which lowers its attack and special attack stats when its health drops below half.
There is no significant obvious advantage to this ability. It only serves to weaken an otherwise great Pokémon. If you can keep its health above half, it’s still very useable. But anytime it drops below that threshold, you’re in trouble.
5 Vikavolt
When first looking at this bug, one might understandably assume that it was extremely fast. Upon learning it is Electric-type, one might believe that even more strongly. Unfortunately, they’d be wrong. Vikavolt is disappointingly-slow. It’s slower than Pokémon like Caterpie, Bulbasaur, Seel, Sealeo, and literally hundreds of others.
Why Game Freak decided to make this thing so slow is not currently understood. It does have a nice special attack stat and an interesting type combination, but when its pre-evolution Grubbin has a higher base speed stat, it’s almost comical trying to use this thing in battle.
4 Abomasnow
Like Charizard, Abomasnow is a cool-looking Pokémon that is effectively ruined by its typing. This large snow-beast is Ice/Grass-type, one of the worst type combinations in the franchise. The combination of these two types gives Abomasnow a double-weakness to Fire and a regular weakness to the very-common Flying- and Rock-types.
Ice/Grass actually ties for the most weaknesses, with seven. Abomasnow has a decent ability with Snow Warning, but it was nerfed in Generation VI so the hail it brings only lasts for five turns. This effectively killed most of the niche use that Abomasnow had left.
3 Kommo-o
As a pseudo-legendary, Kommo-o is far from a bad Pokémon. It has insane stats and an interesting type combination of Fighting/Dragon. Unfortunately, lack of any viable STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus) moves ruins any effectiveness it had to begin with.
Kommo-o only learns one or two Fighting-type moves by level-up, and only has access to a couple more via TMs. Additionally, Kommo-o is double-weak to the new Fairy-type, which was used widely on the Tapus in Generation VII’s competitive scene. All in all, it’s a disappointing let-down for a pseudo-legendary, especially with such an interesting design.
2 Slaking
Slaking has a base stat total that could make your eyes pop right out of your head. At a whopping 670, it’s higher than many legendaries, most Mega Evolutions, and all of the pseudo-legendaries. This total includes a massive 160 attack, 150 HP, and 100 speed.
What’s the catch, many might ask? Slaking has an ability that absolutely limits its viability to almost uselessness. This ability, Truant, makes it so that Slaking can only attack every other turn. This basically has the effect of limiting its attack and HP stats by half. Of course, this can be mitigated, and its attack stat is still amazing. But it’s often too frustrating to deal with.
1 Regigigas
If you thought Slaking was bad in Generation III because of its frustrating ability, Game Freak trolled you hard in Generation IV with the introduction of Regigigas. This legendary Pokémon has one of the most hindering abilities in Pokémon history. This ability is called Slow Start, and the name makes a lot of sense for what it is.
For the first five turns of battle, Regigigas’ attack and speed are cut in half. When it switches out, the counter restarts. Regigigas was also not given access to the move Protect, which would allow it to avoid damage for some of those five turns. This trio master is unfortunately almost entirely useless.
NEXT: Ultimate Force: 15 Pokémon More POWERFUL Than Mewtwo
