History DemonicSpiders / PokemonGo

* Bug type Grunts. They only pack two types of Shadow Pokemon, 1-2 Shadow Scyther and one Shadow Scizor as their ace, but don't underestimate them. First off: These specific Shadow Pokemon are ''[[LightningBruiser fast.]]'' The Scythers pack Air Slash and, due to their [[FridgeBrilliance abnormally inflated]] CP and attacking speed, anything that doesn't resist them ''will'' be cut to shreds. The Scizors are even nastier, as not only are they EliteMook versions of the Scythers, packing CP up to the 6 thousands while keeping the lightning fast attacking speed, they now only have [[AchillesHeel one weakness!]] True, they both have 4x weaknesses to Rock and Fire, respectively, but you ''better'' exploitit and fell them quickly, as otherwise the mons you're using to fight them will take a serious beating, if not [=KOed.=] Thankfully, this is migtated in current reshuffles, where you'll only meet a Scizor at the end of the line while the front 2 mons are way easier ones such as Skorupi and Weedle, and even then it's possible to meet the way easier to deal with Pinsir or Forretress instead of a Scizor.

* Starters are some of the most miserable Pokemon to catch in spite of how common they are in the overworld. They regularly spawn with high CP (500-900 depending on the spawn) and have naturally low catch rates demanding the use of Great or even Ultra Balls backed with a Razz Berry if you want to guarantee the catch.
* When it comes to catching wild Pokémon, attempting to catch the evolved forms of ComMons is a massive DifficultySpike compared to catching their pre-evolved forms, as they commonly show up with high triple and sometimes quadruple-digit CP levels, giving them extremely low capture rates. This goes even further if you decide to catch a ''fully evolved starter'' outside of an event--even a Golden Razz Berry-powered Ultra Ball throw won't be enough to make the catching circle orange, if not yellow, if they sport high enough CP.
* When the species first debuted in 2017, Murkrow was one of the hardest to acquire since it typically spawns with a very high CP and has a pathetic catch rate of 30 (compared to the 255 of most other com-mons and rival Johto bird Natu's 190). Once you unlock Great and Ultra Balls, they'll be downright required to catch the crow if you don't want to pray for RNG or don't have type bonuses for Dark and Flying-types.
* Fellow Johto mon Aipom, while not as common as Murkrow, also spawns with high CP and has a catch rate only a few points higher than Murkrow's: 45.

* The Kalos Fairy-types Swirlix and Spritzee became semi-common spawns following their introduction in mid-2021, and similar to Murkrow they have low catch rates and are both likely to spawn with high CP values, resisting all but the most powerful of catching equipment unless you get really lucky.

* When it comes to catching wild Pokémon, attempting to catch the evolved forms of ComMons is a massive DifficultySpike compared to catching their pre-evolved forms, as they commonly show up with high triple and sometimes quadruple-digit CP levels, giving them extremely low capture rates.
* For a common spawn during certain periods, Murkrow is one of the hardest to acquire since it typically spawns with a very high CP and has a pathetic catch rate of 30 (compared to the 255 of most other com-mons and rival Johto bird Natu's 190). Once you unlock Great and Ultra Balls, they'll be downright required to catch the crow if you don't want to pray for RNG or don't have type bonuses for Dark and Flying-types and save up candies for Honchkrow. Even then, it has a high chance of fleeing, making it one of the most obnoxious ComMons to evolve.

* As of May 2019, due to the new sets of Lure Modules being added, expect anyone to have a Glaceon used in Gyms, as a Gym Defender or an Attacker. Due to Glaceon's considerably high CP and Defense stats, it has surpassed Vaporeon as the most-used Pokémon, due to Mamoswine (the most-powerful Ice-type Pokémon) being harder to obtain in contrast to Glaceon.

* Shadow Dragonite are a very nasty midboss type to deal with. Dragonite is already commonly used in Gyms for its gargantuan CP, and they're already TierInducedScrappy denizens due to this. Now imagine this power ramped up and gaining a big attacking speed boost. What you now have is an absurdly powerful tank on par with some ''[[PurposelyOverpowered Raid Bosses]]'' that can take a beating, even from [[AchillesHeel Ice]] charged attacks. while smashing your monsters into a fine paste. When you see the Grunt display the message that indicates they'll use Dragon types, you better pray to Arceus they don't have a Dragonite on them. And unlike the similar-yet-less threatening Shadow Gyarados, they have a ton of resistances. In earlier rotations, sometimes you'll even encounter ''both.'' To make matters worse, some Flying-type Grunts have a Dragonite as their third and final Pokemon.

* The Kalos fragrance-themed Fairy-types Swirlix and Spritzee became semi-common spawns following their introduction in mid-2021, and similar to Murkrow they have low catch rates and are both likely to spawn with high CP values, resisting all but the most powerful of catching equipment unless you get really lucky.

* Shadow Dragonite are a very nasty midboss type to deal with. Dragonite is already commonly used in Gyms for its gargantuan CP, and they're already TierInducedScrappy denizens due to this. Now imagine this power ramped up and gaining a big attacking speed boost. What you now have is an absurdly powerful tank on par with some ''[[PurposelyOverpowered Raid Bosses]]'' that can take a beating, even from [[AchillesHeel Ice]] charged attacks. while smashing your monsters into a fine paste. When you see the Grunt display the message that indicates they'll use Dragon types, you better pray to Arceus they don't have a Dragonite on them. And unlike the similar-yet-less threatening Shadow Gyarados, they have a ton of resistances. In earlier rotations, sometimes you'll even encounter ''both.''

* Shadow Dragonite are a very nasty midboss type to deal with. Dragonite is already commonly used in Gyms for its gargantuan CP, and they're already TierInducedScrappy denizens due to this. Now imagine this power ramped UpToEleven and gaining a big attacking speed boost. What you now have is an absurdly powerful tank on par with some ''[[PurposelyOverpowered Raid Bosses]]'' that can take a beating, even from [[AchillesHeel Ice]] charged attacks. while smashing your monsters into a fine paste. When you see the Grunt display the message that indicates they'll use Dragon types, you better pray to Arceus they don't have a Dragonite on them. And unlike the similar-yet-less threatening Shadow Gyarados, they have a ton of resistances. In earlier rotations, sometimes you'll even encounter ''both.''

* Certain types of Shadow Snorlax Grunts can become a mixture of this and ThatOneBoss. Snorlax is already a pain to deal with. A Blissey has immense health, [[StoneWall but as a tradeoff, is only]] ''[[StoneWall kinda]]'' [[StoneWall capable of beating you up badly.]] Snorlax is like that, but worse. Their Shadow Snorlax gains a massive increase in its already impressive health, and its already high Attack rises even higher, meaning it isn't completely crippled and therefore pigeonholed into defender status. So you have to dig away at its health, slowly but surely, while it's taking sizable chunks of your health. And you'll possibly have to deal with Shadow Poliwrath or Shadow Gardevoir followed by the aforementioned Gyarados and Dragonite, or even ''multiple'' Snorlax in a row after knocking it out, which, with your now probably very weakened mons, will be like trying to destroy a battleship by throwing ping pong balls at its hull. There's a reason these Grunts say "they've already won" before you fight them. At least you get to catch it unlike the Scizors, Dragonites and Gyarados, and it usually has very high CP for Snorlax standards once Purified. [[SarcasmMode Have fun!]]

* When it comes to catching wild Pokémon, attempting to catch the evolved forms of ComMons is a massive DifficultySpike compared to catching their pre-evolved forms, as they commonly show up with high triple and sometimes quadruple-digit CP levels, giving them extremely low capture rates. Even the more common, unevolved forms are no joke either.

* As mentioned in ComplacentGamingSyndrome, the Eeveelutions are quite commonplace in gyms, although the most annoying of these to deal with is probably Vaporeon. Vaporeon has higher defense than Flareon and Jolteon but no drawback in damage or HP, and its special attacks (Aqua Tail or Hydro Pump) really hurt. There are no commonly-obtainable Grass or Electric types inherently stronger than it (barring Zapdos and Raikou, which are only obtainable for limited periods), making it hard to knock out even if you have a type advantage. And since Eevees are easy to evolve and Vaporeon has high CP, it's not uncommon to find one in nearly any Gym. All this put together means that a powerful Vaporeon can be evolved with minimal cost to the player while a decent counter will usually require a significant investment into a Pokémon that can never be as good. A nerf mercifully toned Vaporeon's normal attacks down, but Vaporeon's ease of access still makes it one of the most common gym defenders.

* Bug type Grunts. They only pack two types of Shadow Pokemon, 1-2 Shadow Scyther and one Shadow Scizor as their ace, but don't underestimate them. First off: These specific Shadow Pokemon are ''[[LightningBruiser fast.]]'' The Scythers pack Air Slash and, due to their [[FridgeBrilliance abnormally inflated]] CP and attacking speed, anything that doesn't resist them ''will'' be cut to shreds. The Scizors are even nastier, as not only are they EliteMook versions of the Scythers, packing CP up to the 6 thousands while keeping the lightning fast attacking speed, they now only have [[AchillesHeel one weakness!]] True, they both have 4x weaknesses to Rock and Fire, respectively, but you ''better'' exploitit and fell them quickly, as otherwise the mons you're using to fight them will take a serious beating, if not [=KOed.=] Mitigated later as Venonat and Venomoth were added to make Bug-focused Grunts easier, but the threat of an all Scyther/Scizor team still looms.
* Shadow Dragonite are a very nasty midboss type to deal with. Dragonite is already commonly used in Gyms for its gargantuan CP, and they're already TierInducedScrappy denizens due to this. Now imagine this power ramped UpToEleven and gaining a big attacking speed boost. What you now have is an absurdly powerful tank on par with some ''[[PurposelyOverpowered Raid Bosses]]'' that can take a beating, even from [[AchillesHeel Ice]] charged attacks. while smashing your monsters into a fine paste. When you see the Grunt display the message that indicates they'll use Dragon types, you better pray to Arceus they don't have a Dragonite on them. And unlike the similar-yet-less threatening Shadow Gyarados, they have a ton of resistances. And sometimes you encounter ''both.''
* Certain types of Shadow Snorlax Grunts can become a mixture of this and ThatOneBoss. Snorlax is already a pain to deal with. A Blissey has immense health, [[StoneWall but as a tradeoff, is only]] ''[[StoneWall kinda]]'' [[StoneWall capable of beating you up badly.]] Snorlax is like that, but worse. It's still just as slow as the original, but has gained a massive increase in its already impressive health. And its already high Attack rises even higher, meaning it isn't completely crippled and therefore pigeonholed into defender status. So you have to dig away at its health, slowly but surely, while it's taking sizable chunks of your health. And you have to deal with both a Shadow Dragonite AND a Shadow Gyarados after knocking it out, which, with your now probably very weakened mons, will be like trying to destroy a battleship by throwing ping pong balls at its hull. There's a reason these Grunts say "they've already won" before you fight them. At least you get to catch it unlike the Scizors, Dragonites and Gyarados, and it usually has very high CP for Snorlax standards once Purified. [[SarcasmMode Have fun!]]

* When it comes to catching wild Pokémon, attempting to catch the evolved forms of ComMons is a massive DifficultySpike compared to catching their pre-evolved forms, as they commonly show up with high triple and sometimes quadruple-digit CP levels, giving them extremely low capture rates.

* Vanillite became the bane of many ''Go'' players' existence when its line debuted in ''Go'' in December 2020, due to having an absurdly low catch rate (of 10(!!!)) and a high flee rate. By comparison, the line's catch rate in the mainline games is a much more reasonable 44%.
* As mentioned in ComplacentGamingSyndrome above, the Eeveelutions are quite commonplace in gyms, although the most annoying of these to deal with is probably Vaporeon. Vaporeon has higher defense than Flareon and Jolteon but no drawback in damage or HP, and its special attacks (Aqua Tail or Hydro Pump) really hurt. There are no commonly-obtainable Grass or Electric types inherently stronger than it (barring Zapdos and Raikou, which are only obtainable for limited periods), making it hard to knock out even if you have a type advantage. And since Eevees are easy to evolve and Vaporeon has high CP, it's not uncommon to find one in nearly any Gym. All this put together means that a powerful Vaporeon can be evolved with minimal cost to the player while a decent counter will usually require a significant investment into a Pokémon that can never be as good. A nerf mercifully toned Vaporeon's normal attacks down, but Vaporeon's ease of access still makes it one of the most common gym defenders.

* Vanillite became the bane of many ''Go'' players' existence when its line debuted in ''Go'' in December 2020, due to (not unlike the Kalos ComMons) having an absurdly low catch rate (of 10(!!!)) and a high flee rate. By comparison, the line's catch rate in the mainline games is a much more reasonable 44%.

* In a bizarre twist, The ComMons of Kalos, especially once they start spawning with higher CP levels, are much tougher to catch than those of prior generations/regions. If one spawns on the higher half of their CP ranges, expect not to catch them easily unless you can get them into a berry-boosted Great Curveball throw with a Great or Ultra Ball. And because they're semi-common spawns outside of events, they're also likely to flee when they break out of failed catches.
* For a common spawn, Murkrow is one of the hardest to acquire since it typically spawns with a very high CP and has a pathetic catch rate of 30 (compared to the 255 of most other com-mons and rival Johto bird Natu's 190). Once you unlock Great and Ultra Balls, they'll be downright required to catch the crow if you don't want to pray for RNG or don't have type bonuses for Dark and Flying-types and save up candies for Honchkrow. Even then, it has a high chance of fleeing, making it one of the most obnoxious ComMons to evolve.

* In a bizarre twist, The ComMons of Kalos, especially once they start spawning with higher CP levels, are much tougher to catch than those of prior generations/regions. And because they're semi-common spawns outside of events, they're also very likely to flee when they break out of failed catches.

** Bug type Grunts. They only pack two types of Shadow Pokemon, 1-2 Shadow Scyther and one Shadow Scizor as their ace, but don't underestimate them. First off: These specific Shadow Pokemon are ''[[LightningBruiser fast.]]'' The Scythers pack Air Slash and, due to their [[FridgeBrilliance abnormally inflated]] CP and attacking speed, anything that doesn't resist them ''will'' be cut to shreds. The Scizors are even nastier, as not only are they EliteMook versions of the Scythers, packing CP up to the 6 thousands while keeping the lightning fast attacking speed, they now only have [[AchillesHeel one weakness!]] True, they both have 4x weaknesses to Rock and Fire, respectively, but you ''better'' exploitit and fell them quickly, as otherwise the mons you're using to fight them will take a serious beating, if not [=KOed.=] Mitigated later as Venonat and Venomoth were added to make Bug-focused Grunts easier, but the threat of an all Scyther/Scizor team still looms.
** Shadow Dragonite are a very nasty midboss type to deal with. Dragonite is already commonly used in Gyms for its gargantuan CP, and they're already TierInducedScrappy denizens due to this. Now imagine this power ramped UpToEleven and gaining a big attacking speed boost. What you now have is an absurdly powerful tank on par with some ''[[PurposelyOverpowered Raid Bosses]]'' that can take a beating, even from [[AchillesHeel Ice]] charged attacks. while smashing your monsters into a fine paste. When you see the Grunt display the message that indicates they'll use Dragon types, you better pray to Arceus they don't have a Dragonite on them. And unlike the similar-yet-less threatening Shadow Gyarados, they have a ton of resistances. And sometimes you encounter ''both.''
** Certain types of Shadow Snorlax Grunts can become a mixture of this and ThatOneBoss. Snorlax is already a pain to deal with. A Blissey has immense health, [[StoneWall but as a tradeoff, is only]] ''[[StoneWall kinda]]'' [[StoneWall capable of beating you up badly.]] Snorlax is like that, but worse. It's still just as slow as the original, but has gained a massive increase in its already impressive health. And its already high Attack rises even higher, meaning it isn't completely crippled and therefore pigeonholed into defender status. So you have to dig away at its health, slowly but surely, while it's taking sizable chunks of your health. And you have to deal with both a Shadow Dragonite AND a Shadow Gyarados after knocking it out, which, with your now probably very weakened mons, will be like trying to destroy a battleship by throwing ping pong balls at its hull. There's a reason these Grunts say "they've already won" before you fight them. At least you get to catch it unlike the Scizors, Dragonites and Gyarados, and it usually has very high CP for Snorlax standards once Purified. [[SarcasmMode Have fun!]]

* Shadow Pokemon and/or specific GO Rocket grunt types:

** Certain types of Shadow Snorlax Grunts can become a mixture of this and ThatOneBoss. Snorlax is already a pain to deal with. A Blissey has immense health, [[StoneWall but as a tradeoff, is only]] ''[[StoneWall kinda]]'' [[StoneWall capable of beating you up badly.]] Snorlax is like that, but worse. It's still just as slow as the original, but has gained a massive increase in its already impressive health. And its already high Attack rises even higher, meaning it isn't completely crippled and therefore pigeonholed into defender status. So you have to dig away at its health, slowly but surely, while it's taking sizable chunks of your health. And you have to deal with both a Shadow Dragonite AND a Shadow Gyarados after knocking it out, which, with your now probably very weakened mons, will be like trying to destroy a battleship by throwing ping pong balls at its hull. There's a reason these Grunts say "they've already won" before you fight them. At least you get to catch it unlike the Scizors, Dragonites and Gyarados, and it usually has very high CP for Snorlax standards once Purified. [[SarcasmMode Have fun!]]
** In a bizarre twist, The ComMons of Kalos, especially once they start spawning with higher CP's, are much tougher to catch than those of prior generations/regions. And because they're semi-common spawns outside of events, they're also very likely to flee when they break out of failed catches.

** Certain types of Shadow Snorlax Grunts can become a mixture of this and ThatOneBoss. Snorlax is already a pain to deal with. A Blissey has immense health, [[StoneWall but as a tradeoff, is only]] ''[[StoneWall kinda]]'' [[StoneWall capable of beating you up badly.]] Snorlax is like that, but worse. It's still just as slow as the original, but has gained a massive increase in its already impressive health. And its already high Attack rises even higher, meaning it isn't completely crippled and therefore pigeonholed into defender status. So you have to dig away at its health, slowly but surely, while it's taking sizable chunks of your health. And you have to deal with both a Shadow Dragonite AND a Shadow Gyarados after knocking it out, which, with your now probably very weakened mons, will be like trying to destroy a battleship by throwing ping pong balls at its hull. There's a reason these Grunts say "they've already won" before you fight them. At least you get to catch it unlike the Scizors, Dragonites and Gyarados, and it usually has very high CP for Snorlax standards once Purified. [[SarcasmMode Have fun!]]