In every Generation of Pokémon, there are certain creatures that are way too powerful, to the point that they can frustrate many and infuriate those who must face them on a regular basis. Various combinations of abilities, movepools, typing, and stats can make some Pokémon truly overpowered, to the chagrin of many.
Typically, these Pokémon are annoying to face when fighting other real people online or in tournaments, rather than NPCs. But, they can still be powerful to use on your team in a story playthrough, if you’re looking for something that will just demolish all who stand between you and becoming the regional Champion. Here are some of the most overpowered Pokémon in each generation.
8 Generation I: Mewtwo
Before there was broken ability and move combinations with the introduction of abilities in Generation III, there were Pokémon that were just completely broken for other reasons. In Generation I, this is basically anything that is Psychic-type, because the Psychic-type was almost unopposed. It only had two weaknesses at the time — Bug, which was often pretty terrible.
Strong Bug-types were rare and the only good moves they had were Twineedle — exclusive to Beedrill, or Pin Missile, exclusive to Beedrill and Jolteon, the latter of which isn’t even a Bug-type Pokémon. Psychic was also immune to Ghost-type and resisted by only itself. All of this immense power of the Psychic-type combined with Mewtwo’s insane base stat total made it basically unstoppable.
With a remarkably high Special Attack stat of 154 and a wickedly-fast Speed stat of 130, Mewtwo is still one of the deadliest special sweepers in the franchise. Its signature move, Psystrike, is unique in that it calculates damage based on the foe’s Defense stat instead of its Special Defense, meaning that this legendary Gen I Pokémon can break through any kind of wall that isn’t a Dark-type Pokémon.
7 Generation II: Kingdra
By the time Generation II rolled around, there were only four Dragon-type Pokémon — total. The Dragon-type consisted of the Dratini line and Kingdra, a new evolution introduced for Horsea and Seadra. At the time, Dragon’s only weaknesses were itself and Ice, which Kingdra resisted thanks to its Water-typing. It was really, then, only weak to Dragon moves, which were few and far between as well as not very good (yet).
Kingdra’s type combination also made it double-resistant to Water moves and Fire moves, which are common offensive types. Despite not having any base stats over 100, Kingdra had pretty good stats overall and was a very overpowered Pokémon at the time.
Modern Kingdra can be immensely more deadly than their Gen II counterpart, as with the introduction of its ability, Sniper (critical hits do x3 damage instead of x2), and critical hit-chance boosting items and moves, it can demolish almost any foe. It can learn Focus Energy, which raises the chance for criticals (2 stages) by 50%, however, if equipped with a Scope Lens item, it gains another full stage increase in critical hit chances (3 stages, if stacked with Focus Energy), resulting in a 100% chance to deal critical hits with every attack. Since crits ignore stat changes (such as from an opponent buffing and the stat-drop acquired after using Draco Meteor), players can spam the strongest moves and get excellent returns that foes cannot counter aside from using a faster Pokemon to take out one’s Kingdra.
6 Generation III: Salamence
With the introduction of Generation III, abilities came to the Pokémon world. These abilities would shake up the competitive scene entirely, bringing a whole new element to every battle. However, amazingly, the most overpowered Gen III Pokémon would be even without its ability.
Salamence, the Dragon/Flying-type pseudo-legendary from Hoenn, is utterly broken and widely remembered as the strongest Pokémon of its time. It has incredible attack and speed stats, allowing it to quickly sweep through most of its opponent’s team, and it still had a lack of Dragon-types to fear despite being in the third generation of games. While its Intimidate ability isn’t necessary to make it overpowered, it really doesn’t hurt.
Trainers seeking to get the most out of their modern era Salamence should make use of its excellent Attack stat of 135 and its great physical movepool. Outrage is the best move for a devastating 2 to 3 turn rampage, however, before letting loose one’s great dragon ally, be sure to buff with Dragon Dance, as Salamence becomes immensely more dangerous with the added Attack and Speed.
5 Generation IV: Garchomp
Anyone who has ever faced off against Cynthia, Sinnoh’s Champion, knows how terrifying Garchomp can be. The resident pseudo-legendary of Gen IV, Garchomp is a killing machine. This Ground/Dragon-type instills fear in players everywhere for its unbelievable speed and attack power, and access to Same-Type Attack Bonus moves like Earthquake and Dragon Claw really doesn’t hurt it, either.
Many joke that Garchomp is so powerful that it actually suffers from Mega Evolving, mostly due to the fact that its speed stat goes down. When a base form is considered better than its Mega Evolution, you know it’s broken.
Sadly, unlike Salamence, modern Garchomp cannot learn Dragon Dance to make its physical attack power more deadly, however, its partial Ground-typing lets it be an ideal switch-in counter for common Volt Switch users and can really mess up the momentum of the opposing trainer’s strategies. 130 Attack and 102 Speed allow it to be a sufficiently dangerous foe that will make any adversary contemplate their next move carefully.
4 Generation V: Excadrill
There are quite a few Pokémon from Generation V that could make this spot on the list, and Excadrill is just one of them. This Ground/Steel-type is incredible, thanks to its ability, typing, and movepool. Its ability, Sand Rush, raises its Speed in a Sandstorm, which it is immune to the damage from. This is in addition to its already-impressive base speed stat of 88.
An immunity to both Poison and Electric is great (and rare), which means it cannot be paralyzed with Thunder Wave or poisoned with Toxic. On top of all of this, Excadrill has an incredible base attack stat of 135 and access to Swords Dance. With that Attack and Speed combination, plus resistance to many types, Excadrill is a tank that will tear through the competition with ease.
The powerhouse moves it has maintained since being introduced, as well as more modern ones, allow Excadrill to be a force to be reckoned with. Earthquake, which is always a staple for offensive Ground-types, is always handy, though Iron Head in combination with this Pokémon’s high Speed can allow it to flinch-lock foes into submission with a bit of luck.
3 Generation VI: Mega Kangaskhan and Aegislash
This spot on the list goes to a tie, because the most overpowered Pokémon is a Mega Evolution for a Gen I Pokémon, so a Gen VI Pokémon is included as well.
To begin, there are few Pokémon more widely feared and despised than Mega Kangaskhan during the Generation VI meta. Its ability, Parental Bond, basically allows the user to attack twice every turn. This ability also breaks past a Focus Sash and the Sturdy ability, since it technically hits twice. The bonus effects of moves, such as accuracy lowering by Mud Slap, also hit twice. It was so widely-used and infamous in the metagame that it received a hefty nerf by the developers in Gen VII.
Priority moves can be used in this extremely-effective maneuver as well, with Sucker Punch allowing the Normal-type Kangaskhan to hard-counter Ghost-types before they even have a chance to attack.
An actual Gen VI Pokémon that is incredibly overpowered is Aegislash. It could break through stall Pokémon, switch stances with its ability, Stance Change, to suit its needs, and it was immune to three different types. It’s, to this day, the only Pokémon to have its stats lowered in a subsequent generation, which is a direct testament to its power.
Being able to act as both an offensive sweeper and a defensive wall, Aegislash’s utility is undeniable. Its Blade Forme’s 140 in both its Attack and Special Attack yield deadly potential, as its 140 Defense and Special Defense in its Shield Forme grants equally substantial longevity. On top of this, its signature move, King’s Shield, is essentially a better version of Protect that can debuff foes in addition to blocking all incoming damage.
2 Generation VII: Tapu Lele
Tapu Lele, the guardian deity of Akala Island, was widely hated in Gen VII for how broken it was. It essentially served as a better version of Mega Gardevoir without having to hold a Mega Stone, leaving it open for another held item. Its ability to create Psychic Terrain, benefit from the bonuses of it, and then hit its weakness — Dark-types — with STAB Fairy moves is incredible.
130 Special attack for hard-hitting special moves, 115 Special Defense for tanking attacks of a similar nature, and 95 Speed allow Tapu Lele to be incredibly useful in a variety of situations. For some reason, this cute Pokémon can also learn the status move Mean Look, and trap foes who are not wise enough to switch out when they see this dual-type Psychic and Fairy Pokémon appear, which can net an easy takedown and place Tapu Lele’s trainer at an advantage.
1 Generation VIII: Zacian
The newest generation has a few Pokémon that could be considered overpowered, but one of the most popular is definitely the box art Legendary, Zacian. This Steel/Fairy-type (in its Crowned Sword form) is very widely used for things like Max Raid Battles and is pretty overpowered among Galar’s residents.
An incredible Attack stat, very impressive Speed, two immunities, nine resistances, and only two weaknesses make it an already-great Pokémon. But, throw in its ability and signature move (Behemoth Blade does double damage to Dynamaxed or Gigantamaxed opponents), and Zacian is utterly broken. Its ability lets it gain an attack boost to its already insane 170 base Attack, and its movepool and typing allow it to sweep mostly anything.
Make sure to teach one’s Zacian Iron Head, which it can thankfully learn from leveling up or via TR74, as Behemoth Blade can only be used after it appears in this attack’s moveslot when in Crowned Sword form. One should also teach it Play Rough with TR90 to give this legendary a sufficiently powerful physical Fairy-type attack for another devastating STAB moves.
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