As Pokéfans everywhere know, there’s a unique group of Pokémon we call legendaries. With each new generation of the games, a new band of these guys have been released, starting with the legendary bird trio of Red and Blue and extending all the way to Sun and Moon’s Tapu quartet.

What’s so special about these guys? There are a range of traits that are usually associated with legendary Pokémon, beginning with their rarity. You can’t just hop into the long grass with your level five Charmander and grind up on these things, buddy boy. This isn’t freaking Ratatta. Usually, there’s only one of each legendary species per playthrough, found in one specific area.

Secondly, they are royal pains in the cheeks to catch. Remember the good old days of Mewtwo refusing to get into that ball in Red and Blue? The Up and B spam, it does nothing!

The third-generally-true-but-not-always rule of legendary ‘mon is that they’re darn powerful. Statistically, these things tend to be beasts, making up most of the uber tier (a banlist, essentially) according to competitive community Smogon.

As such, if you spend much time in free battles on Battle Spot, you’ll have come across teams of legendary Pokémon just thrown together randomly, because they’re ‘the best.’ The fact is, though, this isn’t always the case. Hitch up your pants and hop on board as we take a look at the more questionable, craptastic side of legendary Pokémon. I warn you, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

15 Deoxys-Attack, The Glass Joe Of The Pokémon World

Now, sure, I totally hear you. On the one hand, Deoxys Attack is not something you want to screw with. It sports twin offenses of base 180, which puts it right up there with Mega Rayquaza. We’re talking a pissed off Godzilla with a hangover in Tokyo levels of destructive power here. This sort of strength gives the bizarre alien a place on many teams, but it also comes with a super heavy cost.

In return, this form of Deoxys has all the defensive ability of a blind man running at an angry pride of lions, armed with half a chopstick. Its Defense and Special Defense stats are tied at base 20, which is just about the worse in the entire game. A Splash from a Magikarp would probably one shot it, if that were possible. It’s hilarious.

14 Articuno, The Salt Bird

Again, I hear you. You’re probably feeling some kind of way about this entry too. Articuno? When does anybody ever use that thing? The fact that the magnificent Mystic mascot is my favorite Pokémon of all time hasn’t clouded my judgment. I totally get that, competitive-wise, it bites. Against all odds, though, it does have a niche, and it enjoyed a bit of a renaissance lately fulfilling said niche recently.

In tournaments recently, low accuracy OHKO moves like Sheer Cold have seen a resurgence in use. They’re neat little Hail Mary emergency buttons, especially for tanky Pokémon like Lapras who have a spare moveslot.

Over in standard play, Articuno has been showing up as a Sheer Cold fisher, sometimes even one that abuses the extra evasion granted to it by its new ability Snow Cloak. It has the sneaky next-move-won’t-miss attack Mind Reader, too, which forces all kinds of switches.

13 Primal Kyogre: Send This Monstrous Kraken To The Depths

I’ll grant you, this thing’s more of an orca, but this is no time to get pernickety about the nature of ocean creatures. We’re dealing with a sea monster in the truest sense of the expression, right here.

In Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, this almighty mascot legendary was given another, even more powerful form. It is not a mega evolution, by rather a primal reversion. The primal, I guess, can be considered Kyogre’s true, ancient form, and it had the kinds of stats you’d expect of such.

Which brings us to a whole different type of worst legendary with the worst stats. Being so overpowered as to become meta defining is an entirely different sort of problem, but one that I’d say is worse than outright sucking. I really disliked the ORAS meta as a result of this guy.

12 And The Same Goes For Your Sorry Butt, Primal Groudon

Now, of course, we can’t lament the overwhelming force that is Primal Kyogre without mentioning this thing. Its counterpart, encountered only in Omega Ruby, is the super deadly Primal Groudon.

Now, on transforming, this guy adopts the Ground and Fire dual typing. You’d think that, as a result, this 4x weakness to Water would leave it a sorry, soggy hors-d'oeuvre for its rival, but nope. Its ability, Desolate Land, causes a unique kind of sunny weather that causes all Water type attacks to fail entirely.

The result? An ORAS meta that consisted of these two behemoths jockeying for position. Constantly. It was super tedious, but there really was no alternative to running them. It was an awful, awful time, in my eyes, and so I’ve had to put both of these guys on the list.

11 Anything Mew Can Do, I Can Do Better; I Can Do Anything Better Than Mew

Speaking of novelty value, here’s our old buddy Mew. This adorable feline ‘mon has been around for a long time, supposedly lurking under a truck way back in the original titles. Since then, it hasn’t been available in official battles very often, other than when Nintendo gets a little shonky with their one-off Battle Spot tournament rules.

Mew is legal in Smogon OU (reads: standard play), however, and it’s always a common choice.

Its base stats are an entirely-average 100 across the board. This enables it to do a bit of everything, while also preventing it from being truly excellent at anything. There is that factor of unpredictability whenever you see one (learning just about every move in the game, greedy-faced little Garfield cat that it is), but you must take care that you’re not using an inferior version of something else.

10 Cresselia, The Moon Duck That WILL NOT DIE

If you’ve been playing Pokémon competitively for any length of time, you’ll probably have become familiar with the pain in the cheeks that is Cresselia. In many ways, this thing is the perfect support Pokémon. Its defensive stats are incredible, its movepool contains everything it needs to wall effectively, and there isn’t all that much that can happily come in and scare it out.

Needless to say, then, I’ve come to hate this thing, and I’m sure many of you have too. It’s just something that you never want to see on the other side of the field, if you don’t have the perfect answer to it.

It’s all too common, way too good at what it does, and absolutely zero fun as a result.

9 Xerneas: Oh Deer

We’ve already touched on the Pokémon metagame during the ORAS era, but it bears thinking about a little more. During this time, previously banned super-legends were permitted, at a maximum of two per team. This allowed things like the previously-mentioned Primals, both mega Mewtwos and such to make an appearance. Some of which we saw much more of than others.

Xerneas, X and Y’s Yveltal counterpart, was another ubiquitous ‘mon. Its success was largely due to its simplicity of use: Equip Power Herb, use your one-turn Geomancy, and destroy your opponent’s hopes, dreams, soul and entire lineage.

As we’ve established, this is the second kind of ‘awful’ legendary: the type that makes you cry super bitter, salty tears whenever you see it (which was every darn match).

8 The Pain-In-The-Butt New Kid On The Block, Marshadow

What can I say about this little guy? It’s the new and much-ballyhooed event Pokémon to hit Sun and Moon, and as such, everyone is getting in on the action. They’re either on Facebook, begging for a code to unlock Marshadow, or they’re tearing people new bodily orifices with them online.

This is the power of new toy syndrome. When an exclusive event is released, you can be darn sure that you’ll run into it time and again online. Marshadow is undoubtedly formidable, with its dual Ghost/Fighting STAB, speed, and power, but it’s an out-and-out offensive threat that can’t take a hit. When slapped onto a team for the sake of it, it’s going to disappoint. I guess we’ll see where it lands when the novelty wears off.

7 Tapu Lele: Nothing Without The Home Field Advantage

When it comes to teambuilding, I’ve always preferred to have a certain theme to stick with. I struggle to work with supposed goodstuffs teams (simply great Pokémon with good synergy), but I’m right at home building a weather core and keeping it well supported. My favorite is Rain, a super offensive beat-you-to-death archetype that suits my playstyle well.

Over my years playing with these sorts of teams, I’ve found that they really do struggle without their weather of choice. With the advent of the Tapus came a whole new concept: Terrain teams. Each of the four sets up their own terrain on entering battle, and they’re constantly trying to cancel each other out. The mega popular Tapu Lele’s damage output really plummets without Psychic Terrain, and it makes me a little sad.

6 Hey, Zygarde, Do You Still Suck?

The thing about that was, Pokémon X and Y introduced two super powerful mascot legendaries, as per series custom. The Fairy type Xerneas and the Dark/Flying Yveltal are both far too powerful for standard OU play, and were instantly shunted over to the Ubers tier. Do you know who wasn’t? Zygarde, that’s who.

Generally considered inferior to the other Dragon/Ground type, Garchomp, there has typically been little reason to use this thing. Sun and Moon gave it that spangly new form (think Power Rangers’ Megazord on steroids), but it’s awkward to use because of its mechanics. Despite it being seemingly inferior, Zygarde is quite a common Pokémon. Its main niche is its exclusive Thousand Arrows, a Ground attack that is able to hit ‘mon that would usually be immune (ie flyers and levitators).

5 Flinchin’ The Night Away With Jirachi

As fans will know, Mew started a bit of a trend in the games. After its introduction, each subsequent generation saw a legendary Pokémon that had the exact same base stats. 600 in total, with an even 100 in each. Jirachi was added to the roster in generation three (Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire), another jack of all trades Psychic type.

This little guy also does a bit of everything, but can’t truly excel at anything either. Its primary niche comes in the shape of its ability, Serene Grace, which doubles the chance of moves’ additional effects occurring. Combine this factor with Iron Head, and you’ve got a lean, mean flinching machine. I’m sure we’ve all fallen victim to this nefarious strategy at some time or another.

4 Hoopa Confined, The Powerhouse That Really Isn’t

Another event-exclusive Pokémon, Hoopa hit generation six quite a while back. At first glance, it had quite a few traits that instantly attracted players to it. That unique Psychic/Ghost typing, exclusive moves in Hyperspace Hole and Hyperspace Fury (both of which have badass animations that remind me of Mortal Kombat X-Ray attacks, for what that’s worth)… not forgetting that base 150 special attack. This little guy hits like a ballistic missile full of fury, vengeance and the stings of 10,000 wasps.

Despite its raw power, Hoopa’s vanilla form is a pain in the butt to use. It has slim to bupkuss in the way of defense, and is 4x weak to priority like Sucker Punch and Shadow Sneak. These are taking it out instantly from three towns over.

3 Diancie: Like Carbink, But Cuter

Diancie, too, was flavour of the month for a while following its release. As I say, that’s the power of new toy syndrome. Its Rock and Fairy typing is unusual, its defensive stats are sky high; that was more than enough to get many players on the Diancie hype train straight away.

Mega Diancie is another matter entirely, by the vanilla form is very much just a slightly upgraded Carbink. Despite its initial popularity, it soon faded into obscurity. The main problem for Diancie is that it’s a defensive Pokémon that lacks recovery, and is as slow as a one-legged kitten with a limp to boot. This severely limits its utility, as it doesn’t quite have the offenses to serve as an attacker. Not without being outclassed.

2 When Victini Doesn’t Bring Victory As Often As It Really Darn Should

Victini, the Victory Pokémon, was added to the roster with Pokémon Black and White. It’s yet another example of the whole event- Pokémon-with-base-100-in-every-stat trend that Mew started, but it has a couple of traits that set it apart from the others. For one, it’s actually deceptively powerful.

Most of this is due to its V-Create move. At 180 base power, it’s just about the most powerful STAB attack you’ll realistically get to use, and it’s a heck of a thing. The sad part is that this is the little pixie’s only selling point, and it will almost always be found spamming it with a Choice Scarf.

It’s odd that a ‘mon with such average attack power has a move like this at its disposal. If the sun happens to be up at the time, you’re really going to be sweeping Poké-guts, hunks of bone and general bloody flecks away afterwards.

1 Where The Heck Did All Of These Raikou Come From?

If there’s one legendary Pokémon that always manages to surprise me with its popularity, it’s Raikou. It just keeps popping up on opponents’ teams. Like Jason Voorhees or Chucky, this thing cannot and will not be stopped. Nobody’s ever heard of outstaying their welcome over here.

The thing about Raikou is, it isn’t doing any one specific thing. It’s a generic fast and relatively powerful Electric type, but we’re well supplied with those already. It can’t really take any kind of hit, without buffing itself with Calm Mind, and I can’t really understand the popularity.

Raikou’s a darn master of disguise, as well. Just when you thought it had become predictable, it switches it up with something crazy. I’ve seen several dual screen Raikou in my time, and it always blows my mind.