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Competitive Pokemon is on the rise following the release of Scarlet and Violet's first expansion, The Teal Mask. This has turned many's attention to some of the balancing issues that come with the transition between generations. While many good nerfs have been made from generations 8 to 9, there are still some major issues that are yet to be addressed.
There are many moves and attacks that feel a bit unbalanced for competitive play. These moves either have no counterplay, have game-breaking effects, or they could use some slight tuning. So what moves fit into the category of being borderline busted, and how can players make the best use of these attacks?
Pokemon's 5 most overpowered moves
1) Recover
The ability to instantly recover half of a creature's maximum hit points may not seem like a big deal in a casual playthrough, but it has proved to be quite the nuisance in competitive play. Although not game-breaking on offensive picks, the fact that tanks like Garganacl, Toxapex, and Eviolite Porygon2 have access to it makes the game much less engaging.
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Recover makes the stall playstyle much more accessible. With the playstyle being notoriously unfun to play against, nothing makes a trainer groan more than seeing the tank they have been chipping down for five turns restore all of its health. A lot of tanks have their own exclusive healing moves, so removing Recover entirely would only help cut down on the number of stall strategies players can abuse.
2) Make it Rain
Make It Rain was a very large part of why Gholdengo was so good in VGC (Video Game Championships) when Scarlet and Violet first came out. This move has a base power of 120 and hits both of the opponent's monsters if Gholdengo is in a double battle. While this move does have the drawback of lowering Special Attack, it only lowers it by one stage instead of the standard two stages like Leaf Storm or Overheat.
With the expansion bringing a lot more creatures to Scarlet and Violet, power creep proves to be a real threat to Gholdengo. Since it is the only creature with access to Make It Rain, this move has not been a threat for some time now.
3) Protecting moves
Much like Recover, protecting moves like Protect, Detect, and Spiky Shield are not entirely busted on their own but are made incredibly annoying because of how common they are. Protect is a TM in every game, and almost every possible monster can learn it. According to Pikalytics, Protect is the most common move players bring.
The ability to turn all damage off for a turn is incredibly broken in competitive play, where strategy is everything. Creatures with Speed Boost, like Ninjask and Blaziken, can use this move to turn off damage and get a free stat boost while they're at it. The amount of stalling and set-up these moves provide should be moderated a bit better. Limiting those who can learn Protect would be a good place to start.
4) Blood Moon
The newest move to come to the franchise, Blood Moon is already a problem. The signature move of Bloodmoon Ursaluna, Blood Moon deals a massive 140 damage off of Ursaluna's already high Special Attack stat, including the same-type attack bonus as well. To make matters worse, players need to buy the DLC in order to get one.
Bloodmoon Ursaluna has quickly become a metagame staple, marking one of the many scenarios in recent history for the franchise that is blatantly pay-to-win. It will be very interesting to see if Game Freak indirectly nerfs Bloodmoon Ursaluna through the monsters that come to the game following the release of the Indigo Disk.
5) Dire Claw
The signature move of Sneasler, Dire Claw is a very powerful and capable of dealing a ton of damage. This attack not only has a massive 80 base Poison damage but also has a 50% chance to inflict the target with one of three status effects: paralysis, poison, or sleep.
This signature attack is a strong reason why Sneasler is so popular in the metagame right now. A good way to nerf this attack would be to bring it down to the level of Tri Attack, a similar move that has been in the game since the first generation. This would involve taking the status effect chance down from 50% to 30%.
