History HighTierScrappy / Pokemon

* '''Toxapex''' is perhaps one of the most hated High-Tier Scrappies ever in competitive play, notorious for being one of the most annoying StoneWall Pokémon to deal with. It's difficult to even come close to [=OHKOing=] Toxapex because its 50/152/142 defenses are absurdly high, it has access to Recover to HealThyself, and its Poison/Water typing gives it only three weaknesses (Ground, Psychic, and Electric). All of its weaknesses, however, happen to have a type that's immune to their attacks (Flying, Dark, and Ground respectively), meaning that it's ridiculously easy to generate free turns for its teammates to switch in; this synergizes horrifyingly well with its Regenerator Ability too, which makes it even more of a hassle to put it in checkmate. The cherry on top is Toxapex's access to support options like Knock Off, Toxic Spikes, Scald and Haze[[labelnote:*]]Eliminates every stat change[[/labelnote]], and the latter two means that it's difficult to set up a StatusBuff move against Toxapex without doing that beforehand. With these traits, Toxapex was singlehandedly responsible for destroying the viability of many wallbreakers from past generations, forcing popular Pokémon like Azumarill, Keldeo, and Mega Charizard Y out of the high-level metagame due to how much of a stop it was to their conventional sets, and nothing ever came out of the clamor for its ban. After an infamously successful debut, Toxapex continued its reign of terror in Gen VIII, being arguably even worse to deal with there because the absence of Mega Evolutions and Z-Moves means less moves it's KO'd by and more items to remove via Knock Off. Gen IX, however, would nerf Toxapex ''hard'', removing its useful tools (namely Scald and Knock Off, which it cannot even learn in the ''Teal Mask'' DLC despite being brought back), losing vital teammates such as Ferrothorn, and suffering a universal nerf to recovery moves; while it has managed to stay in OU during the first year of the metagame due to [[DiscardAndDraw adaptations in its moveset and item choices]] (such as an Assault Vest set emerging), it's nowhere near the defensive nightmare it once was. And as of February 2024, it has dropped to ''UU'', something inconceivable in earlier generations. Regardless, it speaks volumes to how ''this'' single Pokémon revitalized the now {{memetic|Mutation}} claims that ''Website/{{Smogon}}'' [[Memes/{{Smogon}} loves "big stall"]].

* '''Urshifu''' dominates through its Unseen Fist, bypasssing (but not lift) one of the most important move in VGC; Protect. Initially, neither forms see much usage due to both being weak to Max Airstream. However, its '''Single Strike Style''' eventually gets the spotlight as one of the best checks to Dynamaxed Metagross since its super-effective Wicked Blow ignores the defense boosts from Max Steelspike, resulting in Urshifu garnering up in usage fast. Meanwhile, '''Rapid Strike Style''' establishes itself as one of the best way to demolish Incineroar and Landorus-Therian with its Surging Strikes not bothered by Intimidate on top of both of them being weak to Water-type. Urshifu makes a return in Gen IX with no Dynamax to stop their tracks this time around, allowing them to utilize their Unseen Fist ability to its fullest potential[[note]]Max Guard will still block moves affected by Unseen Fist; requiring their G-Max Moves to negate it but Urshifu doesn't frequently Dynamax[[/note]]. Rapid Strike Style finds itself becoming one of Chien-Pao's best ally since the former gleefully takes advantage of its Swords of Ruin as well as eliminating the latter's checks in return. The presence of Urshifu-Rapid resulting in the formely niche Rocky Helmet in VGC rising in popularity, especially on Amoonguss to combat it. Though sidelined for a time, Urshifu-Single would soon prove to be just as wicked as it did before once it found the opportunity. Despite the {{nerf}} done to Wicked Blow in Gen IX, many felt that it wasn't enough to prevent them from wreaking havoc in VGC again. At that point, players had gotten so dick of seeing Urshifu on every team that some had even gone as far as to claim that it outright ''ruined'' the game for them, regardless of any countermeasures that could stop them.

* '''Urshifu''' dominates through its Unseen Fist, bypasssing (but not lift) one of the most important move in VGC; Protect. Initially, neither forms see much usage due to both being weak to Max Airstream. However, its '''Single Strike Style''' eventually gets the spotlight as one of the best checks to Dynamaxed Metagross since its super-effective Wicked Blow ignores the defense boosts from Max Steelspike, resulting in Urshifu garnering up in usage fast. Meanwhile, '''Rapid Strike Style''' establishes itself as one of the best way to demolish Incineroar and Landorus-Therian with its Surging Strikes not bothered by Intimidate on top of both of them being weak to Water-type. Urshifu makes a return in Gen IX with no Dynamax to stop their tracks this time around, allowing them to utilize their Unseen Fist ability to its fullest potential[[note]]Max Guard will still block moves affected by Unseen Fist; requiring their G-Max Moves to negate it but Urshifu doesn't frequently Dynamax[[/note]]. Rapid Strike Style finds itself becoming one of Chien-Pao's best ally since the former gleefully takes advantage of its Swords of Ruin as well as eliminating the latter's checks in return. The presence of Urshifu-Rapid resulting in the formely niche Rocky Helmet in VGC rising in popularity, especially on Amoonguss to combat it. Though sidelined for a time, Urshifu-Single would soon prove to be just as wicked as it did before once it found the opportunity. Despite the {{nerf}} done to Wicked Blow in Gen IX, many felt that it wasn't enough to prevent them from wreaking havoc in VGC again.

* When [[BreakoutCharacter Charizard]]'s Mega Evolutions were revealed, fans rejoiced as they would finally bring the beloved flame dragon to relevance in higher tiers. Mega Charizard X was solid from the start, and gradually fell off in later generations' National Dex formats (albeit not too badly); however, '''Mega Charizard Y''' is infamous for being ''the'' deadliest weather-setting Pokémon ''ever''. With Base 159 Sp. Atk ''and Drought'', this version of Charizard can nuke anything in its path with extremely powerful Fire Blasts and Overheats, also having access to a charge-free Solar Beam for coverage and being able to use the PowerfulButInaccurate Focus Blast to round out its moveset. Although its Fire/Flying typing made it vulnerable to Stealth Rock, this wasn't as much of a problem as it existed in generations and metagames with reliable ways to clear hazards like Defog, Court Change and Tidy Up, and it was also quite tanky on the special side with 115 Sp. Def; aside from its massive Rock weakness, Fire/Flying is a decent defensive typing that offers it a lot of resistances, especially with Drought effectively turning its Water weakness into a neutrality. It got even better in Generation IX National Dex, as its Sun could now power up many Ancient Paradox Pokémon. Mega Charizard Y has remained in high OU viability in every regular OU and National Dex metagame where it's existed, threatening large portions of the metagame with its nuclear-powered Fire-type moves.

* '''[[OurGhostsAreDifferent Ghost]]''' has been decently strong ever since Gen IV, but various changes to the game in following generations have resulted in them entering scrappy territory. It's the only type with two [[NoSell immunities]], to Normal and Fighting, while also resisting Bug and Poison, and being weak only to [[TakesOneToKillOne Ghost itself]] and Dark. While offensively it only hits Psychic and, again, [[TakesOneToKillOne itself]], only the mediocre Normal is [[NoSell immune to it]] while only Dark resists it; as of Gen VI, the Steel-type lost its resistance to Ghost in Gen VI. Since all these three types are weak to Fighting, they're also easily countered by either running Fighting moves on the Ghost-types, or partnering them with other Pokémon with Fighting-type coverage. This, however, was nothing compared to Gen VIII, which saw the removal of Pursuit; previously one of the best moves to put Psychic- and Ghost-type Pokémon in check, the loss of this move resulted in Ghost becoming one of the best offensive types in the game. The early Gen VIII metagame was dominated by strong offense-oriented Ghost-types, and are notable for introducing one of the strongest OU Ghost-type Pokémon ever in Dragapult. The [=DLCs=] only worsened the situation, with the ''Isle of Armor'' giving physical Ghost-types a new move to abuse in [[AnimateInanimateObject Poltergeist]],[[labelnote:*]]A 110 base power, 90% accuracy physical move that works only if the target has a held item, which considering ''every'' Pokémon in competitive holds one...[[/labelnote]] which would later catapult older Ghost-types like Origin Forme Giratina and Mega Banette[[note]]in National Dex formats where it was allowed[[/note]] into relevance, and the ''Crown Tundra'' releasing absolute GameBreaker Shadow Rider Calyrex and the related Pokémon Spectrier. Gen IX would further dial it up with many Pokémon losing access to Knock Off[[note]]Its omnipresence in competitive play isn't just limited to removing items, but also for coverage against Ghost[[/note]] up until ''The Teal Mask'' DLC, the introduction of various powerful Ghost-type Pokémon, and the offensive Normal-types they're immune to finally receiving competitive prevalence again (though it's worth noting this also hinders Ghost, as it's easier to switch into their moves). In bulk, this amounts to a contender for [[InfinityPlusOneElement one of the best types in the franchise]] since Gen VI, with many players thinking that Ghost types need to be nerfed in some way, as there aren't enough types that resist them.

* '''[[OurGhostsAreDifferent Ghost]]''' has been decently strong ever since Gen IV, but various changes to the game in following generations have resulted in them entering scrappy territory. It's the only type with two [[NoSell immunities]], to Normal and Fighting, while also resisting Bug and Poison, and being weak only to [[TakesOneToKillOne Ghost itself]] and Dark. While offensively it only hits Psychic and, again, [[TakesOneToKillOne itself]], only the mediocre Normal is [[NoSell immune to it]] while only Dark resists it; as of Gen VI, the Steel-type lost its resistance to Ghost in Gen VI. Since all these three types are weak to Fighting, they're also easily countered by either running Fighting moves on the Ghost-types, or partnering them with other Pokémon with Fighting-type coverage. This, however, was nothing compared to Gen VIII, which saw the removal of Pursuit; previously one of the best moves to put Psychic- and Ghost-type Pokémon in check, the loss of this move resulted in Ghost becoming one of the best offensive types in the game. The early Gen VIII metagame was dominated by strong offense-oriented Ghost-types, and the [=DLCs=] only worsened the situation, with the ''Isle of Armor'' giving physical Ghost-types a new move to abuse in [[AnimateInanimateObject Poltergeist]],[[labelnote:*]]A 110 base power, 90% accuracy physical move that works only if the target has a held item, which considering ''every'' Pokémon in competitive holds one...[[/labelnote]] which would later catapult older Ghost-types like Origin Forme Giratina and Mega Banette[[note]]in National Dex formats where it was allowed[[/note]] into relevance, and the ''Crown Tundra'' releasing Shadow Rider Calyrex and the related Pokémon Spectrier. Gen IX would further dial it up with many Pokémon losing access to Knock Off[[note]]Its omnipresence in competitive play isn't just limited to removing items, but also for coverage against Ghost[[/note]] up until ''The Teal Mask'' DLC, the introduction of various powerful Ghost-type Pokémon, and the offensive Normal-types they're immune to finally receiving competitive prevalence again (though it's worth noting this also hinders Ghost, as it's easier to switch into their moves). In bulk, this amounts to a contender for [[InfinityPlusOneElement one of the best types in the franchise]] since Gen VI, with many players thinking that Ghost types need to be nerfed in some way, as there aren't enough types that resist them.

* '''[[OurGhostsAreDifferent Ghost]]''' has been decently strong ever since Gen IV, but various changes to the game in following generations have resulted in them entering scrappy territory. It's the only type with two [[NoSell immunities]], to Normal and Fighting, while also resisting Bug and Poison, and being weak only to [[TakesOneToKillOne Ghost itself]] and Dark. While offensively it only hits Psychic and, again, [[TakesOneToKillOne itself]], only the mediocre Normal is [[NoSell immune to it]] while only Dark resists it; as of Gen VI, the Steel-type lost its resistance to Ghost in Gen VI. Since all these three types are weak to Fighting, they're also easily countered by either running Fighting moves on the Ghost-types, or partnering them with other Pokémon with Fighting-type coverage. This, however, was nothing compared to Gen VIII, which saw the removal of Pursuit; previously one of the best moves to put Psychic- and Ghost-type Pokémon in check, the loss of this move resulted in Ghost becoming one of the best offensive types in the game. The early Gen VIII metagame was dominated by strong offense-oriented Ghost-types, and the [=DLCs=] only worsened the situation, with the ''Isle of Armor'' giving physical Ghost-types a new move to abuse in [[AnimateInanimateObject Poltergeist]][[labelnote:*]]A 110 base power, 90% accuracy physical move that works only if the target has a held item, which considering ''every'' Pokémon in competitive holds one...[[/labelnote]], and the ''Crown Tundra'' releasing Shadow Rider Calyrex and the related Pokémon Spectrier. Gen IX would further dial it up with many Pokémon losing access to Knock Off[[note]]Its omnipresence in competitive play isn't just limited to removing items, but also for coverage against Ghost[[/note]] up until ''The Teal Mask'' DLC, the introduction of various powerful Ghost-type Pokémon, and the offensive Normal-types they're immune to finally receiving competitive prevalence again (though it's worth noting this also hinders Ghost, as it's easier to switch into their moves). In bulk, this amounts to a contender for [[InfinityPlusOneElement one of the best types in the franchise]] since Gen VI, with many players thinking that Ghost types need to be nerfed in some way, as there aren't enough types that resist them.