What do you think are the traits of a good generalist?
To me there are three:
Super high ATK stat paired with at least ok bulk. By "super high" I mean preferably >250 and the higher the better. Why? Because as a generalist, you are often losing the x1.4 type effectiveness compared to Specialists. You need to make it up by your ATK stat. Multi-bar Charge Move paired with high DPS Fast Move. Again, as a generalist, no matter in gym sweeping or raid DPS rushing, you want flexibility - holding the charge move to avoid overkill and using the charge at least 50% sooner to waste less energy. High DPS Fast Move will do more damage for you while holding your charge move. Typing. Your attacking type should only be resisted by few types in the meta, hence you will be more "general".By the above criteria, there are only two true good generalists:
A) Dragonite, who fits the criteria perfectly - 261 ATK stat with good bulk, powerful DT/DB paired with O/DC and largely unresisted Dragon attacks;
B) The other is Mewtwo - 300 monstrous ATK with also good bulk, powerful Confusion paired with unresisted Shadow Ball, though in gyms you normally wouldn't want Shadow attacks.
All others just lack something. Gengar/Alakazam/Espeon lacks Bulk;
Moltres lacks multi-bar charge move and type coverage, so does Exeggutor;
Raikou's 230(edited: 241) ATK makes its low DPS Thunder Shock worse and Zapdos is no better;
Machamp's moves are perfect but its ATK is not that amazing and Fighting is resisted by some major raid types - especially Psychic;
Vapreon/Lugia/Articuno lacks DPS;
and finally, Tyranitar. His neutral DPS is noticeably lower than that of Dragonite and Mewtwo while he has much more weaknesses, which makes him more a Dark Specialist. As a generalist, T tar is good, but not great.
Welcome to comment.
I agree completely with 1 and 3. #2, not completely when it comes to raids. There I just want the moveset that will do the most damage. Now, for Dragonite, that happens to be a 2 bar charge move, but it doesn't necessarily have to be.
I also agree with your conclusion that there are only 2 great generalists. I don't have a Mewtwo yet, so I use my DT/DC Dragonite probably in 60% of my gym battles. It's awesome.
Agree with most of it, but i think a psycho cut or confusion/psychic or focus blast mewtwo is more a generalist. a lot of gyms have blissey/snorlax/chansey and double resist shadow ball and i see almost never psychics in gyms.
I think that only dragonite is the true generalist
Ice and fairy is very rare in gyms and dragon is weak to dragon. It also resist ground, grass and water which are common in gyms.
Thanks for pointing it out! Should be 241.
His problem is Thunder Shock. Believe it or not it’s not as good a fast move as Confusion or Dragon Breath or Dragon Tail - especially Dragon Tail. TS on Pokémon that is not weak to electric is basically doing nothing, which makes Raikou too dependent on Wild Charge. Wild Charge could some times lead to overkill and that’s the reason why I don’t think Raikou is a great generalist (but still very good).
Not sure how you can say Tyranitar isn't a "true" generalist.
Dragonite is a better generalist than Tyranitar, but that doesn't mean Tyranitar isn't a bad generalist. It mostly fits the same criteria as Dragonite.
High attack, good bulk, multi bar charge move, unresisted by few types. It's just that it's numbers are lower plus it's typing is slightly inferior in my opinion.
Even Mewtwo is lacking with Shadow Ball because Blissey and Snorlax are quite common defenders, which have double resistance to it, and while Focus Blast is SE against them, a Focus Blast Mewtwo is targetted at dealing with things that Shadow Ball Mewtwo is not effective against i.e. specialising against those Pokemon, rather than a general moveset, plus it's a single bar move so less effective at sweeping low motivation gyms.
The best generalists get 'walled' the least. They're Pokemon you want to use for all 6 defenders and just tap the screen until the all the defenders have fainted.
Dragonite gets walled by fairies and Steelix, and somewhat by ice types since you're forced to dodge, which aren't that common in gyms.
Mewtwo gets walled by Blissey, Snorlax and Tyranitar, all 3 are quite popular. Give it Focus Blast and it's less effective against everything else.
Tyranitar gets walled by Machamp and fairies. Fairies are not common and in my experience neither is Machamp, most are using them for attacking.
The problem with ttar is that crunch is a shity move, and ttar is weak to many common defenders such as vape, rhydon and HP Gyarados. With crunch it is very hard to dodge because of the 3 sec cooldown. Raikou is a much better gym sweeper, its dps against neutral targets is higher than B/C ttar, and its SE against many common defenders such as vape, Gyarados and Lapras. Only rhydons pose a problem.
Your list is pretty spot on. I personally prefer Dragon Breath on my Dragon Claw Dragonites, those 2 moves just flow so ridiculously well together....much like Dragont Tail and Outrage.
I normally attack gyms with a strong Dragonite and a strong Machamp. Machamp plows through Blissey, Snorlax, Chansey, Rhydon, and Tyranitar. D’nite handles everything else.
