While Pokemon moves keep their general concept intact most of the time, the specifics of how they function aren’t set in stone. Game Freak reserves the right to adjust moves and their many properties, from base power, to accuracy, to the likelihood of certain secondary effects.
That’s the case with these entries; these moves underwent certain adjustments between generations. Specifically, these moves were nerfed, whether it was to keep them in line with a game-wide overhaul, or to simply take away the viability of a move that was wreaking too much havoc competitively.
8 Several Moves In Generation VI
In general, Generation VI was an era of move overhaul. Other than the obvious adjustments such as buffing Knock Off and Defog, many of the game’s most powerful moves were knocked down just a peg, losing around 10 base power.
The most notable moves of this variety include Blizzard, Draco Meteor, Fire Blast, Hurricane, Hydro Pump, Leaf Storm, Overheat, and Thunder. The move Magma Storm has it a bit worse, losing 20 base power, dropping from 120 to 100. All of this was probably done to account for any potential power creep that came with many of Generation VI’s drastic changes, such as adding the Fairy-type and Mega Evolution.
7 Surf
Those who played the Generation III games remember Surf well. It was a very accessible and strong Water-type move thanks to its status as an HM. It was even more useful in a double battle, working as a very strong spread move that attacked both foes; anyone who’s battled Tate and Liza can attest to this.
Unfortunately, Generation IV changed Surf’s targeting, from attacking all foes to attacking all adjacent Pokemon, including your ally. While this is minimally detrimental in a playthrough, it’s no longer as reliable in a competitive double battle, where you want to keep both allies standing for as long as possible.
6 Recover
This is another Generation III to IV nerf, this time involving a move’s Power Points, or PP. Recover, one of the game’s best healing moves, was reduced from 20 PP to 10. This isn’t exactly detrimental to the move’s functionality, but it does lessen its reliability in certain situations.
Especially with respect to most other moves, reducing that PP to 10 lessens its viability as a stalling option. This was most likely done to make battles less of a slog, and to reduce the plausibility of relying on PP stalling. Shamelessly recovering after every other hit is now less likely to get you a win.
5 Fire Blast
To think that a 120 base power move would also have a 30% chance to burn its target seems pretty overpowered now, but Fire Blast had those exact properties in Generation I. Even though it has a somewhat risky 85% accuracy, the payoff was tremendous.
That was short-lived, though, as Fire Blast became one of the first moves to receive a nerf. The very next generation, Generation II, dropped that secondary effect chance from 30% to 10%. At that point, burning the opponent is more of an occasional bonus than an intended side-effect, a la Scald. Not to mention, it also, as aforementioned, dropped from 120 base power to 110 in Generation VI.
4 Thunder Wave
100% accuracy moves are kind of taken for granted, especially because 90% accurate moves exist. They’re reliable through most battles, but that 10% chance to miss can betray you at the wrong time, especially since said moves are sometimes crucial to strategies.
That’s the case with Thunder Wave, which went from 100% accuracy to 90% in Generation VII. Inflicting paralysis on an opponent can be a huge momentum swing, but that pendulum can swing just as hard in the opposite direction now that the Electric-type move could potentially miss. It hasn’t killed the move’s viability by any means, but adding that little hint of RNG makes it more interesting.
3 Blizzard
Another move included in the pool that lost 10 base power in Generation VI, Blizzard had another nerf prior to that in Generation II. It was another accuracy drop, from 90% in Generation I to 70% in Generation II.
It’s crazy to think there was a time when Blizzard didn’t have the reputation it has now of being very strong, but very inaccurate. A 120 base power, 90% accuracy move is incredibly hard to withstand, and was a very commonly used move in Generation I competitive battling. Nowadays, it splits time with other Ice-type moves such as Freeze-Dry and Ice Beam, mainly due to that woeful inaccuracy.
2 Dig
This is another Generation I to Generation II nerf proves that Generation I had a lot to figure out in terms of game balance. This is the first truly drastic base power nerf on the list, with Dig’s 100 base power in Generation I dropping all the way to 60 in Generation II.
Dig wasn’t really a useful move for competitive battling thanks to the fact that it takes two turns, but it’s even less so nowadays thanks to that middling base power. It will always be useful as a mid-playthrough Ground-type placeholder until you get Earthquake, but once having the same base power only to lose it is actually kind of heartbreaking.
1 Dark Void
This is the only truly deliberate nerf to a move after being overused in competitive battling. Darkrai’s signature move, Dark Void, was the bane of VGC battlers as a move that could put both Pokemon on the opposing side of the field to sleep with relatively good accuracy.
Of course, watching two Pokemon sleep for three turns isn’t fun, so Game Freak made the wise decision to knock down its accuracy multiple tiers in Generation VII, from 80% to 50%. It also can no longer be copied by Smeargle’s Sketch, which was how it managed to be used so often in competitive battling despite being the signature of a banned Mythical.
NEXT: 10 Useless Pokemon-To-Ability Combos
