Pokémon features one of the most complex battle systems in gaming history. Not only are there tons of abilities, items, and stats that require a huge learning curve, but the list of possible attacks that each Pokémon can learn is beyond massive. In more competitive environments, predicting which move your opponent plans to use is often the key to victory.
No matter how hard you predict, though, there are always going to be a few moves that are almost always frustrating to deal with. Some of them are so rare that you’ll never see them coming, or just so powerful that they’ll always throw a wrench into your plan. Here are some of the most frustrating moves you can encounter in the Pokémon series.
10 Explosion
In a regular playthrough, a move like Explosion that causes you to faint can seem useless, but this flaw isn’t as terrible as it might seem. As long as the user has a low enough health, it’ll usually be dealing more damage than its user loses, and since a low health Pokémon is likely doomed already, it’s hardly a problem to go out on its own terms.
Most importantly, it deals an obscene amount of damage, with a base power even higher than any of Pokémon Sword & Shield’s G-Max moves. If your opponent times their attack just right, they can easily take you down while still being even on teammates.
9 Aurora Veil
In a strong battle, most powerful Pokémon can usually defeat an opponent in one Super Effective hit, making many battles incredibly fast and intense. There are a few ways to beat this, though, and one of the best are walls like Reflect and Light Screen that decrease damage from either physical or special attacks.
Aurora Veil is significantly more frustrating, though, as this Ice-type move puts up a wall that just weakens both so long as it’s hailing. With this single move, all of your damage is cut in half, making for a depressingly slow battle if you intended to go fast. There are ways around it, such as using an attack like Brick Break, but having this wall can be a huge wrench in anyone’s plans.
8 Destiny Bond
Speaking of going out on its own terms, the unusual Ghost-type move Destiny Bond can do just that. Using this move won’t deal damage on its own, but it will make its opponent faint if the user faints in the same turn the move is used.
Being defeated instantly after a successful move can be extremely infuriating, and since they won’t be attacking otherwise these users can often set up environmental hazards like Spikes or Terrains that only boost the rest of its team further. Just like Explosion, it makes a battle remain perfectly even.
7 Strength Sap
This move from Pokémon Sun & Moon is fairly uncommon, but its effect can often be extremely effective. Not only will it lower the target's Attack stat, but it’ll also heal the user's health equal to that stat's number, meaning it can often recover more health than usual recovery moves like Recover ever could.
Having stats lowered can be a huge problem on its own, but healing nearly its entire health will always put it ahead after use. If you ever see it used against your physical attackers, this move will very often outrun a Pokémon’s damage, leading to an impossible-to-win matchup.
6 Shell Smash
There are few things more frustrating than an inevitable strong attack, and that’s exactly what Shell Smash provides. The move has a major downside in the form of decreased Defense and Special Defence, but it makes up for it by doubling the user’s offensive stats and Speed.
The problem with this move is that its downsides can easily be nullified. Having a White Herb equipped will fully negate the Pokémon’s stats, and abilities like Sturdy will prevent it from dying in one hit anyway. Since these Pokémon are already quite defensive, this boost in power can help sluggish tanks become unstoppable sweepers.
5 Dragon Tail
If you try to use your own stat increases, it can be extremely disappointing to see them disappear without your Pokémon even being defeated. Dragon Tail can do just that, dealing a bit of physical damage while forcing you to switch your Pokémon.
This move is less powerful now than previous games since its switching effect doesn’t work against Dynamaxed Pokémon, but if the opponent is fast enough it might mean you never get to use a move before needing to swap again. If they add an entry hazard like Stealth Rock, this constant switching can only get worse for your Pokémon's health.
4 Trick Room
Most trainers will gravitate towards strong and speedy Pokémon, ignoring defensive stats for quicker and high damage. As a result, running into a foe with Trick Room can ruin this plan, reversing the speed of every Pokémon for the next five turns and letting sluggish Pokémon swing fast.
Fast attacks like Extremespeed can get around this environmental effect by attacking first regardless, but very few of these can deal enough damage to defeat a defensive Trick Room attacker. In a game that normally values speedy and aggressive fighters, having them suddenly move slower can make for a disappointing loss.
3 U-Turn
Predicting your opponent’s moves is hard enough on its own, but when you plan your moves against a specific Pokémon it can be even more irritating to have that Pokémon randomly switched out. This is exactly what U-Turn accomplishes, dealing a surprisingly large amount of damage while letting a user move to a Pokémon that’s immune or better against your partner.
Despite being a Bug-type move, all sorts of Pokémon can learn it, and many of its users can be extremely fast. So long as it hits before you move, you can end up losing some health while having your attack be either mostly or fully negated. In a game all about planning, this move is painfully difficult to perfectly predict.
2 Counter
Deflection moves like Counter can be extremely difficult to use, but there are few things as irritating as having your damage redirected at you. This move deals twice as much damage as its user received just before, so as long as it doesn’t faint it’ll often deal a ridiculous amount of damage.
What’s important about this move, though, is that it only cares about the number of hit points lost, meaning it’ll deal as much damage as possible regardless of your Pokémon’s defenses. If you hit an opponent hard with a physical attack, you better hope they don’t pull out this move to throw it right back.
1 Swagger
When it comes to competitive games, the last thing you want to rely on is luck, and Pokémon is no exception. It’s important to have as much reliability as you can, which is why attacks with poor accuracy are rarely often worth it. As a result, status effects like Confusion that turn every attack into a coinflip can be massively frustrating.
Swagger only makes this forced gamble worse, since Swagger doubles your Pokémon’s attack and makes failed attacks deal even more damage to the confused Pokémon. Sometimes you can get lucky and land every hit, but taking one hit while confused with Swagger can often mean the end for your partner.