8 Pokemon who aren’t as strong as they look

Looks can be deceiving, especially in the world of Pokemon, where flailing orange fish can turn into mythological water dragons and lethargic pink hippos who get bitten on the head by sentient clams can become hyper-geniuses.

Sometimes a Pokemon’s looks can be deceiving in a bad way however; like the following Pokemon whose formidable and fearsome appearance belie their unexpected weaknesses.

Note: While this article is about Pokemon who aren’t as strong as they look, it in no way means we dislike the Pokemon we’ve listed; on the contrary, we really like the Pokemon, enjoy their designs and think they’re fun for a normal playthrough in the game but wish they had stats or movepools for competitive battling to better correlate with their impressive appearances.

Onix

When it comes to Pokemon who aren’t as strong as they look, Onix is the poster monster.

You’re telling me a giant, 20-foot rock-snake made of interlocked boulders that looks and sounds like this hits with the same impact as a Jigglypuff or Butterfree? (Onix, Jigglypuff and Butterfree have the same base 35 Attack stat.)

Or that it’s physically more feeble than a Skwovet, Oddish and Poliwag, which are pretty much an unevolved squirrel, radish and tadpole Pokemon respectively?

Or that it has lower total stats than a Beedrill? Or… well, you get the point.

What makes matters even more disappointing is that Onix has been around since the original Gen 1 games and the early episodes of the anime as Brock’s Rock-type of choice, making it one of the more well-known Pokemon aside from staples like Pikachu and Charizard. Surely such renown should have translated into some modicum of stat love or competitive battling advantage?

I understand that with Brock being the first gym leader in Kanto, Onix is somewhat of a tutorial boss, and couldn’t be made too difficult to beat so as not to dissuade beginners in the game from quitting out of frustration before they even received a Boulder Badge. But why’ve you gotta be so underpowered, Onix?

Perhaps that’s Onix’s fate in Pokemon, relegated to being the series’ equivalent of the TV Tropes Fake Ultimate Mook, which is defined as a monster “whose massive, terrifying appearance is offset by such a massive, terrifying handicap that it rarely presents any threat at all.” Which is fine — we don’t mind Onix having a 4x weakness to Water and Ground; that’s the Pokemon weakness game of rock, paper, scissors after all but hopefully Onix can get some ameliorated stats to match its awesome appearance in a future game.

Seviper

He might not be a ginormous rock-snake, but Seviper is still a menacing-looking, normal-sized snake with an arrow-headed tail, yellow hexagon markings, stalactite-sized fangs and eerie red eyes. Much like its purple-colored brethren Arbok (and Barney the Dinosaur, we suppose) however, Seviper is a whole lot more hiss than bite when it comes to its overall stats and usefulness in competitive battling.

How to bolster Seviper? While Strong Jaw is definitely a useful ability, Seviper might be better served with an ability like Corrosion, which allows Poison status inflicting moves like Toxic to poison Steel-types, who are usually immune. Oh, and it needs a lot better stats too.

Tropius

Ah, Tropius. The Onix of Gen 3 Pokemon.

It figures that Game Freak would make a concept as impressive as a big, banana-tree brontosaurus that can fly thanks to its massive leaf-wings a subpar Pokemon stat-wise. Much like Onix, Tropius is outshined by Pokemon that are preevolutions, far tinier and much more mundane in concept like Bellsprout, for instance (Tropius has 68 base attack and Bellsprout has 75).

Tropius already looks like a fully evolved Pokemon so maybe an evolution isn’t the answer to its woes but Bisharp already looked like a fully-evolved Pokemon in Sword and Shield, and was actually competitively viable in the highest non-Legendary tiers and yet it still got a huge boost in the form of its evolution Kingambit in Scarlet and Violet.

Maybe Game Freak figures that a dinosaur famous for being a plant-eater that’s also made of plants, Tropius would be a huge pacifist. Or maybe they just have some deep-rooted aversion to serpents and sauropods. Whatever the reason, it’d be nice to see Tropius get a boost or some sort of alternative evolution that makes it more viable for competitive battling in a future Pokemon game.

Grapploct

Based off looks, Grapploct was one of our favorite new Pokemon added in Gen VIII. A mean-looking octopus that practices jujutsu and has a pro wrestling luchador eye-mask? It’s like Game Freak personally designed Grapploct with my Pokemon penchants in mind.

That being said, Grapplot isn’t just a grappling pro wrestler – it’s also an octopus. So why in Arceus’ name isn’t Grapploct, the jujutsu pro wrestler octopus Pokemon a Water-type in addition to being a Fighting-type?

While there are worse things in the world of Pokemon than being a Fighting monotype, Grapploct not being a Water/Fighting dual type just seems like a missed opportunity, especially since Water/Fighting isn’t the most common type, being exclusive to Poliwrath, Keldeo and Rapid Strike Urshifu — and we wouldn’t mind seeing Grapploct added to the Water/Fighting dual-type fold to give it a boost in usability.

Guzzlord

Uh oh.

It’s a Lovecraftian horror that’s found its way into the Pokemon universe. The Lord of the Ultra Beasts who has reduced cities to rubble in the Pokemon anime.

And it sounds like this.

We’re doomed.

Or are we? Fortunately, Guzzlord has an absolutely abysmal stat spread, with its high base HP negated by poor defenses and speed. It also has a glaring 4x weakness to Fairy-types, one of the most prevalent and powerful Pokemon types in competitive battling since they were introduced in Pokemon X & Y in 2013.

Zebstrika

Much like his fellow equines Rapidash (Fire-type horse) and Mudsdale (Ground-type Clydesdale), Zebstrika, an Electric-type zebra is one of those perfect marriages of element and animal motif that makes you appreciate being a Pokemon fan.

From its electrified mane to its lightning bolt zebra stripes, Zebstrika just looks cool.

Unfortunately, much like Rapidash and Mudsdale, Zebstrika is one of those Pokemon who aren’t as strong as they look. Though it has an impressive base Speed and commendable base Attack, Zebstrika suffers from being a physical Electric attacker with no real physical Electric moves in its repertoire besides Wild Charge, which is decent enough but causes recoil damage.

While one solution might be giving Zebstrika the Rock Head ability, a more sensible one might be giving Zebstrika the move Zippy Zap, an 80 BP physical Electric attack introduced in Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu.

Mightyena

Is Mightyena a hyena as its name implies? Is it a wolf? Or is it a little bit of both?

Whatever the case, Mightyena looks like a fearsome Pokemon, with its glaring red eyes, sharp fangs and resting growl face. Unfortunately, it’s just one of those Pokemon who aren’t as strong as they look, as it has a 420 base stat total, one of the worst stat totals for fully-evolved Pokemon in the entire series.

Besides bolstering its stats or giving it another evolutionary stage, another way to help out Mightyena would be giving it the Strong Jaw ability, which would make the power of biting moves 50% more effective; a Mightyena with the Strong Jaw ability, Crunch and Jaw Lock would be a decent start and make the Dark-type poochy hit hard enough to make Pokemon think twice about switching into it.

Houndoom

After being traumatized by Psychic-types in Gen 1, Dark-types were my personal saviors by the time Pokemon Gold & Silver rolled out in 1999.

And it made getting Houndoom in Gen 2 all the sweeter.

Although Tyranitar, the Dark/Rock type introduced in Gen 2 would go on to become one of my favorite Pokemon ever (and most used in competitive battling), even a Tyranitar stan as big as myself has to admit that the coolest, most fearsome looking Dark-type introduced in Gen 2 was Houndoom.

Houndoom, the Dark/Fire dual-type Pokemon is perhaps the most congruous, consummate Pokemon design of all-time. A doberman pinscher/demon-horned hellhound conflation with skeletal armor and an imp tail that can breathe fire (and evokes notions of Cerberus from Greek myth and Garmr from Norse myth) is an undeniable crowning achievement in Pokemon design.

Which is what makes the fact that Houndoom is one of those Pokemon who aren’t as strong as they look all the more tragic.

While Tyranitar asserted dominance in the competitive battling meta for several generations, making it pretty much the LeBron or Jon “Bones” Jones of competitive Pokemon battling, Houndoom would always find itself on the cusp of being usable in the main tier… but not quite.

While Houndoom has been useful as a Gengar counter in the past (both Crunch and Pursuit wreak havoc on the Cheshire-grinning ghost), its low base HP and defenses make it extremely frail.

Do you disagree with any of the entries from our list of Pokemon who aren’t as strong as they look? Which Pokemon would you add or omit from the list? Let us know in the comments.