Boring But Practical / Pokémon

Pokémon

• The Com Mons are boring, and generally aren't all that practical either, being weak in terms of stats and outclassed later in the game. However, some of them can prove to be effective throughout the whole game, even if they're not exciting:
  • They don't get much more "bland but effective" than the Spearow line, especially in Kanto. It's a very generic Normal/Flying bird Pokémon that can be caught within the first half-hour of gameplay, but it starts out with the Flying-type move Peck, has solid Attack and Speed, gets the best Flying-type move in the first three generations (Drill Peck) faster than any of its contemporaries, and can pretty much kill any Grass, Bug, or Fighting type you need it to throughout the entire game and serve as your aerial steed once you get Fly. Spearow and Fearow might not get the job done in style, but they will get the job done.
  • Geodude isn't exciting, but it's easy to catch, has high Attack and Defense for a common Pokémon, learns useful Rock- and Ground-type moves early, and evolves into Graveler fairly quickly — and, if you have a friend, can evolve into Golem immediately after. It becomes less practical later in most games due to its low Special Defense and many weaknesses, but in the Johto games, it retains enough use against late-game trainers to avoid being a Crutch Character.
  • Bidoof in the Sinnoh games. Statistically modest, even as a Bibarel, but where it really shines is utility: it's able to learn every HM move in the game except Fly, letting it save your other Pokémon from having to carry weak moves like Cut and Rock Smash. Since many of those HMs are Normal and Water-type, Bibarel gets STAB on them, so in a pinch, it can pack a decent punch using Strength and Waterfall to finish off a weakened foe.
• Some Pokémon that are found early in the game can evolve into powerhouses that can serve the player well even late into the game, even if later Pokémon may be more interesting. Examples include Gyarados in Gen I and several later generations, Ampharos in Gen II, Gardevoir in Gen III, Staraptor in Gen IV, Excadrill in Gen V, Corviknight in Gen VIII, and Azumarill in Gen IX.
• Some Pokémon can be caught just to take on a nearby Gym and that can be their entire job, like Dugtrio in Gen I to fight Lt. Surge or Machop in Gen II to fight Whitney. These Pokémon generally aren't too impressive in terms of stats, but they can still perform well through the rest of the game.
• Starter Pokémon are almost always among the best options for getting through the game, generally having good stats and move pools. They all share an ability (namely a boost to attacks of their base type when their HP is low) that isn't particularly strong, but it certainly can come in handy when the going gets tough. With a few exceptions, they're typically strong throughout the game. Competitive play is much more mixed, as there have been a few very powerful standouts (especially among mega-evolutions), but also many that have never found much success.
• Some single-stage Pokémon, like Zangoose and Flamigo. Their stats aren't especially impressive compared to fully-evolved Pokémon, and it may seem boring to have a Pokémon that never evolves. However, they're ready to battle as soon as you catch them, no Magikarp Power required, and despite the lower stats, can still be perfectly adequate for taking on trainers late in the game.
• The infamous Garchomp and Hydreigon fill this role in higher tiers of competitive play, especially among fellow pseudo-legendaries. While they have some support capabilities with Stealth Rock for the former and Taunt on the latter, they're usually used for their brute force, and they're so good at it they're considered top tier in every game you can get them.

Moves

• Moves like Flamethrower, Ice Beam, and Thunderbolt are all reliable, strong moves with good PP, and they also have a chance of inflicting statuses. They'll do the job just fine, and don't have any drawbacks like the stronger moves do. Moves like Fire Blast, Blizzard, and Thunder all have higher power but lower accuracy (apart from Thunder becoming 100% accurate during rain), while moves like Blast Burn, Sheer Cold, and Volt Tackle are even more powerful but have even greater drawbacks such as requiring a recharge turn, having even worse accuracy, or suffering recoil.
• Flash can serve you well both in the overworld and in battle. In battle, it can occasionally let your opponent miss to help give you a safe turn to set up or avoid damage, but it's also helpful in the overworld to light up dark caves, otherwise you'd need to follow a strategy guide. Later generations also make it a TM rather than an HM, letting you replace it whenever you feel like it.
• Normal type moves on Normal type Pokémon. While most Normal types have a wide array of moves available to them, from elemental attacks to status moves, Normal type has pretty good neutral coverage overall. It's resisted by Rock, Steel, and immune by Ghost types, but it hits every other type at a neutral matchup, and the other types can usually be covered. Some good Normal type moves include Return, which is easy to get to full power as it's based on Friendship, Hyper Voice, which can hit both opponents in a Double Battle, and Double-Edge, which is very powerful although it causes recoil damage.
• Body Slam deals good damage and has a decent chance to paralyze the enemy. It's not super effective against anything, but it does the job well enough that back in Gen 1 when it was a TM, every offensive Pokémon was recommended to have it on their move set.
• The "EdgeQuake" combo, which is a combination of the moves Stone Edge and Earthquake on the same moveset. It's not exactly original and almost every physical attacker uses this type combination or some variation, but these two moves specifically are only resisted by a grand total of nine Pokémon out of 1025, making it useful for coverage.^note For reference, the nine Pokémon the two moves miss are Breloom, Flygon, Torterra, Bronzong with Levitate, Virizion, Chesnaught, Toedscool, Toedscruel, and Orthworm with Earth Eater. Incidentally, all but Bronzong and Orthworm are weak to Ice, which is why Mamoswine (Ground/Ice and can learn Stone Edge) is considered such a dangerous offensive sweeper.
• Status inflicting and other non-damage moves, especially in competitive play. In single player simply using powerful, reliable attacks is generally more than enough to do that job, but competitive play tends to also involve a lot of support, buff and debuff moves. Entry hazards like Stealth Rock or Spike, status moves like Toxic or Thunder Wave, support movies like Wish or Taunt, and stat boosting moves like Swords Dance or Nasty Plot are often as important as actual attacking moves to many Pokémon and teams. Stall teams especially rely primarily on using such moves to gradually wear down opponents rather than directly attacking.
• In a similar vein to EdgeQuake, any Pokémon who can learn good Water and Ice moves can reliably hit any non-Water Pokémon for at least neutral damage (not counting Water which resists both, Ice is resisted by Steel, Fire and Ice, while Water is resisted by Grass and Dragon. However, Water is neutral against Steel and Ice and super effective against Fire, while Grass and Dragon are weak to Ice). And if said Pokémon has Freeze Dry, which is an Ice move that's instead super effective against Water, or any Electric move, it has no resistible attack. To give an example, this Water/Ice interaction is one reason why Iron Bundle, a Water/Ice Pokémon with Freeze Dry, is such a dangerous Glass Cannon.

Mechanics and Items

• The Lucky Egg. It boosts experience when equipped, and there's nothing simpler than just giving your team a few extra levels to face whatever comes next. In Black and White, you acquire this from Professor Juniper midway through the game.
• HM slaves or mules. In games where many HMs are required, it may be a bit much to try and slot them into regular move slots, especially if some are redundant. One thing to do then is to have Pokémon dedicated to these HM moves, which fans usually call HM slaves, so that the rest of the team can keep using their regular, more powerful moves. Some examples of HM slaves include Rhydon, Furret, Tropius, and Bibarel. Bibarel is especially notable, as it can be obtained very early, and learns every HM move except Fly and Defog.
• The Pickup ability. Pokémon like Meowth, Pachirisu, and Zigzagoon have this, and it gives them to chance to find an item after battle to give to the player. Such items usually include healing items, saving the player on some money.
  • A special Zigzagoon from Pokémon Box can be obtained with Extreme Speed, which is a powerful priority move that Zigzagoon gets STAB on. When it evolves into Linoone, which can learn Belly Drum, and it keeps its Pickup ability, you have a pretty decently strong Pokémon that can also give you free items occassionally.
• Type boosting items. These include the likes of Charcoal, Silk Scarf, and Soft Sand. All these items do is provide a 20% boost to a certain type's moves, like Charcoal boosting Fire type moves or Soft Sand boosting Ground type moves. These are far from exciting, but they're usually very easy to find and fit right at home on whichever Pokémon you have that matches its type, basically giving their STAB moves even more of a punch. Miracle Seed, Charcoal, Mystic Water, and Silk Scarf are usually the easiest of these to find, with the former three boosting the power of your starter's STAB moves especially, and the latter helping out the many Normal types that can be found in each game.
• Leftovers have a very simple effect: at the end of each turn, the Pokémon restores 1/16th of its max HP. Still, that passive regeneration can add up over time, especially with the use of moves like Protect, and can prove to be just enough to let your Pokémon take a hit it otherwise couldn't.
• Pokéstar Studios in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 can get boring very quickly, especially if it's not your first time playing. However, it gives healing items not purchasable until much later in the game (Moomoo Milks and Full Restores) or not purchasable ever (Max Revives), in addition to giving large amounts of Shop Fodder, which will be useful in exploiting the shops in Join Avenue.
• Regular Pokéballs. While specialized Pokéballs are often more effective in the specific situation they're made for or have extra effects, Poké, Great, and Ultra Balls work in every situation. Having a good stock of them is a simple and reliable way to make sure you always have something useful on hand.
• In Pokémon X and Y, the Hard level of the Tile Puzzle in Pokémon-Amie doesn't give as high level Pokepuffs (used to increase a Pokémon's affection which gives a lot of useful buffs) as Unlimited does. However, Hard difficulty games can be completed within a minute easily whereas Unlimited can take over 15 minutes for slightly better Pokepuffs.
• While Super Training Pokémon in Gen VI can get boring, it allows players to max out their teams' stats immediately after catching them. Players can also (rarely) gain the reset bag which resets a Pokémon's EVs in case it needs retraining. If one combines this with EV-lowering berries and punching bags, a player can cap off the Pokémon's happiness value and optimize their EVs at the same time; this means you can get something like Mega Lopunny at level 2, if you're determined enough.
• Quickly leveling up Pokémon in Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire is very easy thanks to some players who were kind enough to share secret bases with battles against level 100 Blissey (that don't attack and poison themselves after the first turn), which can be used as Experience Point piñatas earning your mons tens of thousands of exp every battle (a level 1 mon with a Lucky Egg can easily walk out of such a battle at level 42). You're gonna have to wait a while, though, as the game goes through each individual level-up, and you can't just leave your 3DS aside and do something else during this time since you have to confirm any new moves your mon wants to learn.
• Intimidate. When a Pokémon with the ability switches in, it lowers the attack of all opposing Pokémon by one stage. Useful in game, it's even better in competitive play, especially in double matches due to weakening both opposing Pokémon at the same time, sometimes even forcing your opponent to waste a turn switching out one or both Pokémon. In doubles, even Pokémon with amazing alternate abilities such as Moxie are recommended to use Intimidate instead. It was so useful that in Pokémon Sword and Shield it was nerfed by having certain Abilities nullify Intimidate's effect (and only Intimidate's effect, not attack drops in general like with Hyper Cutter).
• Sword and Shield:
  • You have the option to experiment with various Berries when making Curries while camping. That said, there's nothing stopping you from using just one kind of Berry if you're looking to fill out the CurryDex.
  • While you are free to Dynamax/Gigantamax whenever the opportunity arises in a battle or a Max Raid, that's not to say that doing so would be a guaranteed win. Sure, battles where you don't do so at all are more difficult when you're battling a Pokémon known for soaking up damage like a sponge and it becomes able to soak up even more by Dynamaxing, but that's not to say it would be impossible.
  • Gigantamax Pokémon are labeled as superior to their regular counterparts with how they gain access to moves that can apply difficult or impossible effects, such as guaranteed paralysis or automatically applying a damage debuffer, but there are some Pokémon that are recommended to be Dynamaxed if they don't have the Gigantamax Factor. For instance, Gigantamax Corviknight can clear the field of any field hazards, screen moves, and terrains with G-Max Wind Rage, but Max Airstream can boost the Speed of all Pokémon, thus giving any of your slower Pokémon a boost.

Anime

Because the anime isn't limited to the games' hard-coded, turn-based structure, several moves that are usually weak in the games are shown to logically be much more useful in the anime universe.

• Probably the biggest example is Vine Whip. In the games, it's a low power grass move most players will likely replace once they get a better grass move. In the anime, it is easily the most Boring, but Practical Mundane Utility a Grass-type Pokémon can have, due to letting them grab things from long range and giving Pokémon that don't have arms a way to hold something. It's to the point that almost every Pokémon that can learn the move likely will have it in the anime.
• Quick Attack is another such move to be more powerful in the anime as opposed to the games. In-game, while it's a priority move, its weak power leaves it outclassed by Extreme Speed or other priority moves. In the anime however, it becomes one of the best moves bar-none for dodging attacks and escaping bad situations due to the speed it gives the Pokémon in question. It's to the point where once Ash's Pikachu learned it, he kept it for the entirety of Ash's run due to how good of a utility it is.

Other

• Soloing the game. While the games usually encourage catching a variety of Pokémon to cover one another weaknesses, most Pokémon have decent enough stats that just using one Mon throughout the whole game will make said Pokémon so overleveled that it will basically always go first and one shot the opponent, even if technically at a type disadvantage. Even if they do get an opportunity to attack, non-super effective attacks will do almost no damage and even many super-effective hits will not deal enough to be a real threat. Later entries would mitigate this by modifying experience gain so less experience is gained for defeating lower-level opponents, while also changing how Exp. Share works so that it's easier to train full parties of Pokémon, thus making such an approach less enticing.
• Battling every trainer in every area. It's annoying and early on will have players heading back to a Pokémon Center frequently, but it also gives a lot of experience and money, which will make later trainers easier. It also helps in filling out the PokéDex, as there's bound to be the odd Trainer that will have a Pokémon that you haven't encountered yet.
• The Steel type is one of the best types to have in the competitive scene due to the type's sheer amount of resistances, poison immunity, and Sandstorm immunity, despite its mostly-mediocre offensive matchups. Even if the Pokémon doesn't use its Steel-type STAB, the ability to halve or nullify damage from several types is often a difference between surviving and getting KO'd, and most Steel-types tend to have high Defense to tank unresisted physical moves. A major reason why Fire, Fighting and Ground are considered some of the best offensive types is because they hit Steel super-effectively.
• It is possible to trade a Pokémon from one game to another generation game by using Pokémon Home. As such, you can, for example, drop your Pokémon off in Sword or Shield, power level it to level 100 using candies, and then send it back to Scarlet & Violet. Your level 100 Pokémon will make the game an absolute snore-fest since almost nothing will come close to actually hurting you, but it does allow you to finish the game if you're just trying to speed through it.

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