How BAD was Slaking ACTUALLY? - History of Slaking in Competitive Pokemon (Gens 3-7)

how's it going everyone next up we have slacking the lazy Pokemon has been terrifying everyone in spite of its constant loafing around ever since the third generation we're gym leader Norman used it to terrorize his own child chuggaaconroy slacking affectionately named teddy was also unique in its ability to harness the power of the infamous nose laser that's some YouTube history for you right there anyways today we'll be examining if slacking was able to overcome its own slothfulness to blast the competitive scene so we asked how good was slacking actually and in this video we'll be going over these competitive formats in his debut generation slacking only ever used one set choice ban and the power of choice been boosted it's already gargantuan higher than Groudon Attack set to absolutely obscene levels the move restriction wasn't at all a hindrance since it be switching out after it attacked anyway thanks to true and otherwise giving its opponent a completely free turn this wasn't too different from other choice banders which often had to immediately switch out after attacking since the opponent now knew which attack they were using and could resist it appropriately slacking was able to actually utilize this power since it wasn't slow and fragile it boasted an excellent base 100 speed the same as some oh you tier Titans such as salamence and Zapdos and it had a monstrous HP stat of 150 to go alongside quite a solid defense stat of 90 this meant it was naturally far more physically bulky than metagame staple Swampert and there was nothing it couldn't hurt with this choice of a normal stab either return or double-edged depending on how comfortable one was with recoil added on to the common sandstorm in spikes slacking ploughed through absolutely anything that didn't both resist it and have significant defensive investment for instance an offensive Jirachi which is naturally quite bulky regularly took over 50% from return slacking complimented it's normal stab with Shadow Ball 2 exercise Gengar and earthquake to jackhammer steals and Tyranitar the only pokemon that could safely stand up to these moves was Skarmory which slacking could technically threaten with focus punch but most lacking users prefer the more reliable method of moving scarm via Magneton and since focus punch wasn't really useful for anything slacking dropped it and instead used hyper beam and yes you heard that right there was genuine competitive use for hyper beam post Gen 1 it obviously wasn't something slack King often spammed but when it was low on health it could fire one off as sort of a pseudo explosion to deal as much damage as possible before going down and it did truly horrifying damage a one-hit ko is Aerodactyl by a mile despite the resistance doing a minimum of 111 percent so now you may have the image in your mind of slacking as basically the most terrifying thing in the advanced meta game and you may be thinking why is it that instead of slacking I've heard more about Pokemon such as Metagross who is far slower and whose choice banded meteor mash is off 135 attack are basically uu levels of power compared to slack Kings 160 attack returns well a lot of it has to do with slackens middling defensive ability it was definitely physically bulky but it was a normal type and the only move in oh you it resisted was Snorlax as Shadow Ball the reason Snorlax itself did not have this issue was because of its even more immense HP and special bulk that allowed it to easily eat the plethora of serfs Thunderbolts and ice beams in oh you plus it could hold leftovers which was incredibly crucial slackens ability to switch into physical moves wasn't nearly as impressive just off bulk alone as well as the generally higher attack stats and base powers of physical moves not having leftovers not only compounded this issue but also means it was vulnerable to the ever-present sandstorm which wore it down quickly these factors in addition to its inability to invest in its bulk also means it's naturally high HP couldn't make up for its low special defense meaning offense gave it trouble from every direction as far as defensive teams were concerned sandstorm and spikes wearing slacking down meant if one could withstand the initial assault common responses such as Gengar dojo and Aerodactyl would be able to launch a powerful counter-attack and you might be wondering why does that matter because slack Kings job is to bring the pain and surely it's not a problem if it can't switch in that often as long as it leaves the sizable mark right now here's the issue with that idea even an offensive choice banders ability to switch and often with decent longevity was important because that is what allowed it to threaten teams over the course of a game is not enough to just be strong Jax will be resistant and the attacker will be forced out and if you can't reliably force those attacks on the opponent again and again you're not going to have a very useful pokemon this is in part white Tyranitar Metagross and settlements are great choice banders in addition to their numerous resistances alongside their great natural bulk the former two are immune to sandstorm and Salamence is immune to spikes Flygon and Aerodactyl make up for being a little tougher to switch in with immunity to both sandstorm and spikes conversely heracross is vulnerable to both sandstorm and spikes with few good opportunities to safely switch in and as far worse for it despite having stunning power having said all this slacking still had a niche being a fine choice for some magnet on offense teams it just didn't have the all-around excellence of its peers that will let it be a consistent choice in oh you it was severely hurt by the move protect rising in popularity which completely ruined slacking and saw use on Pokemon that's lacking would otherwise threaten to destroy namely Jirachi Metagross and Zapdos however the rise of slow-paced claydol squads where protect is nowhere to be found subtly signaled the return of slackens potential to terrorize teams like little else could overall slacking had severe flaws that required the deft hand of an elite advanced player to wield effectively but the potential upside of it's mind-boggling power was through the stratosphere the fourth generation brought a faster and stronger meta game with Pokemon items and a physical special split but slacking was not going to be keeping up against in furnaces or Rotom appliances and Draco meteor settlements as such slack King wound up in new you and while striking might initially seem way too powerful for a lower tier with 690 attack stab returns good book and it's excellent 100 speed but the reality was lacking was hardly anywhere near overwhelming or even all that good its problems weren't with its power at all of course it was its prediction reliant nature making it difficult to dish out consistent damage which it needed to do when it wasn't switching into battle repeatedly thanks to stealth rock no recovery and its below-average special defense in the tier populated by special attackers with the popularity of registeel and ghosts paired together slacking wouldn't be able to easily spam return and it was difficult to choose the correct coverage move when facing off to make matters worse earthquake wouldn't even ko registeel and thanks to true and flag wouldn't be able to move the next turn so registeel could safely set up stealth rock or do whatever and then switch out to an earthquake immune Pokemon the next turn even teams without the steal and ghost combo we're generally able to handle slacking tactics against it range from general physical defense of Pokemon even those that lack the normal resist such as my low-tech wheezing and donphan to offensive teams packing faster Pokemon such as cycler and swellow between these factors and smaller things such as miss maggie is ensuring and always win a 1v1 taste the substitutes lacking wasn't exactly bad but it was incredibly tough to get consistent mileage out of and as such wasn't used that much slacking dropped to nu where regirock was incredibly common which annoyed slacking to no end given the rock was even bulkier physically than its steel counterpart from you you the tier also had other good rock types and ride on and golem as if it wasn't bad enough cradle wasn't even weak to earthquake and had instant healing and recover and you also had multiple earthquake immune ghost types in Haunter drifblim and miss service who were all solid pokemon and were commonly paired with the rocks presenting slacking with the same dilemma it had faced in you you the existence of dusclops and Sableye didn't help matters either there were even miscellaneous physically bulky pokemon that didn't even have to resist normal to help stave slacking off like glider porygon - and sandslash and you also had no shortage of offense with which to make switching in a difficult task for slacking so in conjunction with their tools to withstand slacking assault it wasn't difficult to play around the great oaf slacking was definitely a potentially scary pokemon it just naturally had the deck stacked against it so it wasn't the most effective or popular pokemon even in nu and I'm sure you know what's coming next with oh you fueled by whether dragons fighting types and Ferrothorn slacking stood no chance and with you you resembling the previous generations oh you slacking also stood no chance there is no hope for the new are you either and offensive teams could easily play around it with offensive pressure while safely falling back on the excellent golurk but the main issue was regenerator tangrowth which was basically the ultimate slacking answer it was able to withstand any hit with ease and effortlessly stay healthy at all times thanks to the incredible regenerator as well as the many recovery moves at its disposal like leech seed Giga Drain and synthesis attained growth on the other team basically insurance lacking will never accomplish anything then eventually aloma mola gained regenerator and alongside wish and protect it was even more impossible to deal with if slacking could have hit them on consecutive turns it would have been a monstrous threat but such as the cruel tragedy of slacking and truant it Felda and you but was useless there too golurk and aloha mola resided there as well as did evo like Tangela which tanks lacking x' hits even better than its evolution leftovers be damned the fifth generation was absolutely ruthless - slacking as there was no legitimate role for it to fill whatsoever and at this point it was a foregone conclusion that oh you you you and are you would pass slacking by and what would Megas power creep and slacking not getting any help etc slacking being unfit for nu was not exactly surprising either it wound up in the new lowest tier PU its issues were reminiscent of its greatest plight in the fourth generations lower tier having to make the difficult prediction of going for earthquake to hit rocks like golem and pro will pass versus going for night / - hit ghost like gourgeist and mischievousness since these Pokemon were effective and common slacking was passed over in favor of Pokemon such as both along with similar offensive traits that could get by these roadblocks consistently while generally being better thanks to not offering opponents completely free turns and not being automatically completely ruined by the often used protect and substitute in practice there was nothing slacking could do that would make it a better choice than stout Lenore Ursaring true it was just that bad so say 'la bad Pokemon gen 7z moose pile it on the power creep everything got better as slacking got worse and so on once again it wasn't even usable in PU and it had the usual issues of being way too prediction reliant as well as being dumped stirred by protect and substitute and of course the gigantic drawback of being complete and utter setup fodder for dangerous threats you didn't want to be giving entirely free turns - it was for this reason that slacking was never ever used by any serious PU player they prefered good Pokemon instead namely kangaskhan and stylin and despite not being normal type cry Bominable would do slacking job better as well as would go lurk like in rock Kabutops an even choice band victreebel this complete lack of use led slacking to drop to the lowest tearing placement possible for a fully evolved Pokemon on tyr meaning it was not recommended for use in any seven tier and fully cementing the gorillas placed as one of the worst pokemon in the game poor slacking higher attacks that than Rayquaza but essentially just as good as lydia and that's it so how bad was slacking actually well it actually wasn't bad in its debut generation but this time we're asking how bad was slacking actually because every subsequent generation saw it not only in the lowest tier possible but also unable to have much of an impact even in those tiers alongside non fully evolved Pokemon slacking sits alongside regigigas which if you haven't watched that video you should go check it out as a pokemon with many similar traits and as one of the worst pokemon in existence another really strong normal type with great stats but a really bad ability i don't get it either oh also we found no notable VGC presence whatsoever a number of VGC players across the generations tried to skill swap it's true and off just like eve isis slowking and pokemon colosseum but that always ended up gimmicky and ineffective also side note unlike regigigas to slow start worry seed actually doesn't affect Shuren so even gimmicks like that weren't an option for slacking so the more of the story is clearly that kids should overcome their laziness and go to school because if they become true instead on't be viable in the competitive meta game thanks for watching everyone and as always if you liked the video and you want to see more be sure to subscribe to false light gaming for more weekly Pokemon content and in the comments I want to know why do you think about competitive slacking how do you think it would do if it didn't have truant like if it just had literally any other abilities well besides slow start whatever it is let me know in the comments also thank you so much to our patrons for continued support of our videos and thank you to everyone else watching as well and follow my crew on these social media platforms and that's all I got see you next time everyone [Music]

Channel: False Swipe Gaming

Views: 947,063

Keywords: Pokemon, Slaking, Slakoth, Vigoroth, Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Pokemon Black, Pokemon White, Pokemon X, Pokemon Y, Competitive Pokemon, Smogon, VGC, False Swipe Gaming

Id: xJdyHyQ2HgE

Length: 13min 4sec (784 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 12 2020