I remembered when a lot of people complained about it not being in the SWSH dex due to its species being based on dogs native in the UK, until it got added in the DLC. Maybe if Granbull was in it too.
And rightfully so. It's like how they removed Bastiodon and Aegislash from the original SwSh. Yknow, the shield and sword pokemon. Edit: Aegislash was apart of the original SwSh, I misspoke. Apologizes to all 2038429 of you in the comments telling me this lol
I was thinking "oh Stoutland probably decimated SwSh" but then reality hit me like a bullet: Return was straight up deleted. Stoutlands trying its best but sadly GF really screwed it over. Hoping our best boi can do something more in Gen 9
@@sliced8669 Yeah, the sarcasm in that remark is more directed toward the idiots at Game Freak who made that decision in the first place. Probably only even happened because of the *other* idiotic decision to merge the Friendship and Affection mechanics.
@@asanchezdem What do you mean? He was talking about how intimidate was good ability and the fact that he didn't mention it means stoutland was good without it
Ah yes, one of the few pokemon that died in the anime. I also used it in my Pokemon Moon playthrough and it was good! Looking forward to seeing how this good boy preformed!
I was not prepared for that episode. I watched the whole series during covid lockdowns as an escape and then I got to that episode… Why you do this, Pokémon company?
Stoutland always sticks out as the Normal-type that gets to fight in the Sand. It's also interesting that the normally universally excellent Intimidate is Stoutland's least used ability.
I feel the reason why it has never used intimidate is because it's played more as an offensive Pokemon rather than a defensive one. Both Salamence and Gyrados originally had intimidate, but as soon as they gained moxie, it became their preferred ability to help them as sweepers
I had a yorkshire terrier called Buddy growing up, technically it was my sister's but we both took care of him, so whenever I use any member of the stoutland family I nickname it Buddy by default. I kind of miss him tho Edit: Just to clarify my poor choice of words, Buddy isn't actually dead, but we had to leave him with my grandparents because of legal stuff when me and my family moved out of Venezuela, he's living a happy life and has a lot of room to do dog things, but I still miss him because he no longer lives with me, that's all :)
A similar story happened to my, Pokémon white was my first Pokémon game of my own, and in the same year we got a Yorkshire called Paris, and stoutland became basically my starter for that game, my first Pokémon to get to level 100, that was magical at the time. That’s why stoutland is my fav mon, and if you wonder Paris is still fine, an old crazy dog, she is fine tho, she is 12 years old right now
I had a dog called Nina, she died because she was very old and when we rescued her she was living in extremely precarious positions, where she didn't have access to even a covered place to sleep, but she was an amazing dog.
I’m actually surprised how good Stoutland’s bulk is; 90 in both defences is pretty good, not spectacular but respectable. You’re a good boy Chewie, can’t wait to use you on a BW 2 team when I play again
I've used stoutland on my team in White and tbh, it's a very solid normal type, personally for a playthrough I highly recommend getting a lillipup with Vital Spirit for it's ability as when it evolves into herdier, that will turn into Intimidate
Stoutland is the GOATed early game Normal-type for Nuzlockes. I actually reset a run if I don't get it because there's no way Liepard or Unfezant are going to fill its shoes.
The number of mons that got screwed over by Movexit is arguably more egregious than Dexit itself. You know it's bad when even the likes of TYRANITAR suffered from it
@@aurabender150 Magnezone was almost screwed by the removal of Hidden Power but thankfully at least they gave it Body Press to take down the Steel types it traps. But as for everyone else that depended on Hidden Power, well, RIP.
I was one of the pioneers during the early gen 5 Sand days and I remember wrecking the ladder with Hippopatas and Stoutland before others caught on. Game Freak getting rid of Return made absolutely no sense and robbed many Normal types of a good STAB.
They got rid of frustration because giving a pay off for being horrible to your Pokemon was understandably considered not a good idea, so they canned them both since they're a move pair. Thing is though they absolutely didn't need to get rid of both if they got rid of one. Its not like return relied on frustration to work like Spit Up does with Stockpile. No reason not to keep return. Really stupid decision.
Funny that GF got rid of Return, a move that works best on pokemon with high friendship (Which means you need to give your pokemon some love), and in the same gen they did, they introduced a mon that basically broke the game, but is in eternal agony.
Big fan of how Stoutland being a standout celebrity in PU is something to be celebrated. Older videos used to refer to PU as some kind of hell tier where the clowns and mutants dwell, rather than the fierce competition to be the best of the most power crept.
Stoutland's fall from grace just goes to show how merging Amie affection and the regular happiness stat was a fucking mistake. In an instant, practically every normal type in the game went from being _at least_ somewhere in the range of "serviceable single player physical beatstick" to "practically irredeemable outside of whatever secondary STAB it has" because now their best spammable move has a paltry 80 BP. I really wish GameFreak would return to the mode of keeping those two mechanics completely separate, not only for the sakes of those who don't want Amie bonuses ingame, but so that they can bring back Return and make Normal-types viable again.
I'm really glad I'm not the only one who feels this way about the merge. It's not like friendship was a hard stat to max, what with all of the outlets and resources to do it (Soothe Bell, EV reducing berries, vitamins, etc.). I especially dislike the animations (the wiggling/hopping) that your Pokemon do when sent out with high affection, as it gets really jarring when you're doing lots of encounters for shinies/brilliants/etc.
How Stoutland abused Sand Rush makes me hope that one day we get a Mon with similar offensive prowess and coverage despite being Normal type, BUT make it have 3 of the weather speed abilities (Sand Rush, Swift Swim, and Slush Rush). Just imagine a Mon that's an offensive threat in any type of weather with the exception of sun.
it is an absolute beast in playthroughs though as absolutely everything works in its favor there: medium slow experience group, excellent coverage, a lot of power, very reliable defensive profile, good enough speed and potentially intimidate (although the b/w speedrun stoutland has to avoid intimidate because having it activate every fight would lose several minutes - and it will not be able to save those minutes back).
@@INFERN0FIRE Sand Force also protects a Pokémon from sandstorm damage too, but currently there isnt any fully evolved pokemon that aren't rock, ground or steel with this ability quite yet, but figured I should mention that
@@GeneralForster thats very odd cause you'd think they would do that, but perhaps they will need to update that ability to grant that type of protection if a non-ice type ever Slush Rush
Sometimes I wonder if anyone was actually tasked with choosing which moves to get rid of in SwSh or if they just spun the roulette wheel on it. If you were trying to get rid of certain moves that players don't really use (like maybe Switcheroo since Trick already exists) or maybe moves that break the game, that'd make a bit more sense. Here's hoping we get to see Return well...return.
I will always be ok with Mon dexit since realistically having 900 something mond in one game sounds insane but move dexit is a bit much I'm ok if the move gone was a dexit Mons signature but Pursuit l,Hidden Power and Return?
@@yof2210 yeah, that's been my attitude as well. Sure, some of my own favourites were cut, but in return others were firnly in game. Moves tho? Just... why?
Had to have been a roulette. Like, why would they get rid of Signal Beam?! It’s not even a niche move. It was completely unique, being one of few special bug moves and the ONLY bug move that caused confusion, and it was on so many Pokémon!
@@CaptainObliviousV Exactly. Signal Beam was a cool move (although not very useful, I'll admit) and it's probably the move I'm most miffed about being removed, although Hidden Power is up there. Fun fact: Thundurus can't learn any special Flying STAB, not even Gust. If you wanted to use a special Flying move with Thundurus you could only use Hidden Power Flying. They should really give him Air Slash considering the fact that his Therian form has HUGE FUCKING CLAWS. Charmander is out here learning Ancient Power and Wing Attack yet the special attacking Flying type Legendary with giant claws and a spiky tail can't even learn Air Slash or even Acrobatics for that matter.
@@CaptainObliviousV Fierce competition with Bug Buzz and Pollen Puff is way more intesting given it's also a Heal Move if used on an Ally Pokemon. Maybe it coulda been Buffed to be a 120 or 95 Base Power Move. Maybe. But then again, it coulda been way more limited, like the super buffed Leech Life was limited.
13:03 I knew Hayley had tried using Stoutland a few times but I actually didn’t know she got a solid placement with it in 2015 until now lol. I remember facing Stoutland quite a bit in VGC 17
I know she went 7-1 with Protect last resort stoutland in 2015 and was like 4~5th day one. I am pretty sure she got top 16 at a few other regionals too at other events (or at least top 32 for sure) with the dog. I know for a fact that girl has won several PC and Mss events with that dog too(i have been spanked by that dog of hers at nationals before). She is probably the scariest user of it, even though Chefvgc got day 2 at naic with it.
The outright removal of several moves in Generation VIII is still a very bizarre choice, and as a result, it made once great Pokémon become nearly irrelevant.
The worst part is that they did these removals without revamping movesets. Stoutland didn’t get another normal STAB, Vespiquen lost its recovery, Serperior now only really has Dragon and Grass moves, but pokemon like Gyarados gained Power Whip. Their excuse of balance really is the height of BS. Honesty and Transparency would have helped a lot, but nope we gotta talk about balance as we remove a ton of moves and pokemon for balance… but keep Garchomp and Toxapex.
@@graphitetailgrace3870 Some moves like Hidden Power, Pursuit, and Return carried a lot of relevance in competitive, but it was also true that most of the moves on the cut list weren’t seen all that much or were just becoming irrelevant.
Seriously though, what the heck was wrong with Return? It rewards you for being friends with your Pokemon. Definitely a move I hope we see come back some day, among others. It'd be neat if moves, like Pokemon will presumably be, were on a kind of rotation as the games go by.
Game Freak has been making inexplicably birdbrained decisions since 2013. Not one game is just allowed to be an improvement. It's 3 steps forward 4 steps back. In SwSh's case, it's 1.5 steps forward and 80 to 81 steps back, depending on how pedantic you want to be.
It probably was a thing for Dynamax. Maxed out Max Strike sounds pretty busted tbh. Other than that, maybe balance? Return is high base power no drawback and EVERYONE can learn it and while not everyone can use it effectively, those who do are heavily rewarded for it. Dunno, seems like Return removal coulda been handled better if they revamped movesets more throughly.
Honestly, it was a lot better than I anticipated. I thought this was gonna be another meme video about an Untiered Mon, but I thought wrong and I'm happy it found some success.
Im so glad you covered the best pokemon ever made! Stoutland is absolute favorit and been my mascot since i stsrted my channel in gen 6 Fantastic video!!! And cheers!!!
I can attest to that as I've used a stoutland in White (his name was Rex with Intimidate as his ability) and this is one tough doggo to use in Unova where....good normal-type options are very rare since literally your best options are stoutland, sawsbuck and bouffalant
I really like the whole Stoutland evo line. They're based on yorkshire terriers, a dog I once had before having to put him down due to illness. So they hold a place in my heart.
I'm surprised Intimidate isn't used more in lower tiers. I figured that would allow it to really be a pain for PU Physical attackers. Also ouch on the lack of Stab. At least increase the power of Strength if you're gonna gut most normal moves...
Normal is simply not a good physically defensive type. Chansey, lickilicki, etc. were good special defenders due to a scarcity of special fighting Moves, their only weakness.
@@seiromem5708 Normal isn't really a good defensive type in general, in my opinion. There have undoubtedly been good defensive normal types in the past, but I feel that has more to do with their bulk and access to recovery moves to stay healthy with than it does their actual typing. Normal is easily the single most neutral type in the game on both offense and defense, but people need to understand that while such a quality is good for an offensive Pokemon, it's not nearly so valuable for a defensive Pokemon, which is why Spiritomb proved to not be good defensively despite having no weaknesses (at least not for 2 generations, anyways)
@@matthewkuscienko4616 spiritomb would be good with recovery tho (strength sap makes sense I think given its lore) and slightly higher hp would also be useful but not too much
@@seiromem5708 wut? Normal is a fantastic defensive type. Only one weakness, and the ghost immunity gives free switch-ins. The stats have to be good enough to shrug off neutral hits, but when they are, the mon gets to be incredibly bulky. We've only seen a handful of bulky normals, but Snorlax and Blissey have been great in multiple generations. Lickylicky was decent in gen4.
@@YOSHIERIDER Thing is, while having just one weakness and an immunity is great, Normal doesn't resist any of the other types, and I say this as someone who likes Normal types.
Unfortunately, the part where stoutland (and sandslash) mauled SM NU along with Gigalith until Gigalith left wasn’t covered. Don’t remember if it was banned or if it rose to RU, either way sand was definitely a huge deal during that time.
In hindsight, the competitive scene really dealt Sandslash a poor hand. Between only having Sand Veil and largely not being able to use it from other more obnoxious users banning it. And then not getting anything else but Sand Rush for an alternative until Gen 5 didn't help either. It took until Gen 6 to actually get Sand Rush back without Dream World lockouts and it still got shorted. About time it got some love.
I remember seeing him a lot in Gen 5, he was a very dangerous Revenge Killer. I lost quiet a number of Matchups by not protecting my Counters well enough.
Doing 37% minimum to bold suicune with a physical attack is honestly insane and it's impossible to overstate how good Gen 5 Stoutland was. With it's base 90s defenses it could live certain hits with a bit of investment
I’m absurdly fond of this doggo. I’m a cat person, but it’s probably one of my favorite in-game mons and it’s always a joy to use it as the Alolan Itemfinder.
One of my favorite things about BW was that they broke the tradition of early normal type Pokemon always being garbage. It was cool getting an early Pokemon which was actually viable for the entire playthrough. Truly the goodest of good boys 🐕🐕🐕
I wait every week for new content and I'm never let down, you think that after going through most pokemon, that your content would become stale, but no you keep one upping the videos before. Keep doing what you do and know that it's appreciated
Stoutland has been my secret weapon in multiple draft leagues. With sand rush it can way better than you'd expect, combine it with hippowdon or tyranitar and you have a really scary mon.
Stoutland is one of the few Pokemon that you could use in a Gen 5 playthrough where it will hold it's own. It has Take Down as a filler until you get access to Return
After doing Ferrothorn u guys deserve a break as that video was over an hour though it was introduced in Gen 5. Glad the patrons took it easy on u guys. Seems anything with a weather based ability in Gen 5 immediately got a look into the upper tiers
Thank you so much for this series! This is teaching me how to teambuild better in Showdown. I'm decent in OU, UU, and Ubers, but i suck in other tiers.
Stoutland: Hey bro Hippowdon: Yes bro? Stoutland: Close your eyes bro Hippowdon: Ok bro Stoutland: What do you see bro? Hippowdon: Nothing bro Stoutland: That's my life without you bro Hippowdon: Bro...
Yoooooo! Finally! My favorite pokemon! I've heard you mention for a while about how it was really good in some of the lower tiers so I've been looking forward for when you finally did a video on my good dog buddy!
I was watching the Hippowdon episode two days before this released and wondered “hm, what if we got a Stoutland video?” Well, two days after and boom, Stoutland!
I will find the idiot who decided to merge Friendship and Affection and that therefore Return needed to be removed and I will throw them into an endless portal loop.
I think replacing sand rush with fur coat might make Stoutland more viable, and significantly more defensive. However, another solution is giving it a new move called shed fur which boosts a pokemons attack, special attack, and speed by one stage. This new move could be given to other pokemon like ampharose, raticate, persian, and arcanine to name a few who are in need of some buffs.
@@ExcalibeonSwordofEeveelutions True VGC never really used stoutland, and there are better intimidate pokemon like incineroar, staraptor, arcanine, and landorous T.
@@NobodyDungeons Since we're on the topic of abilities, have any other pokemon you can think of that could be buffed with just a few changes or additions? I think the Eeveelutions could use secondary abilities, more specifically I think Flareon should get Fur Coat since out of most of it's flaws that low defense is among one of the most hindering and I think Umbreon should get Magic Guard to counterpart Espeon's Magic Bounce! Also I think Mew should get a hidden ability in Protean and naturally learn the move Sketch!
They will need loads of time to add that since it was as always competitive as Ferrothorn and because they will need to decide how much Among Us jokes they will add.
It’s a Unovan Pokémon. They would give a Unovan Pokémon the time to shine. Lord knows they do not provide that same general fact to other generations since, like Kalos or Alola. And even then it’s effectiveness relied on Return, and nothing good is sacred with Pokémon.
I don't know which pokemon will help Stoutland set up sand in a playthrough of Black and White, but having Intimidate as another ability it has to lower the target's attack stat as it enters into battle is also useful. I love raising an Adamant nature Lillipup to evolve to Stoutland to place it in my team.
It sucks that in Gen. 8, stupid Game Freak butchered Stoutland by getting rid of Return, Fustration & other things that makes it reliable and not give it more coverage moves like Body Slam, Double Edge and whatever to wreck havoc in the lower tiers again. That's almost as bad as nerfing Darkrai's Dark Void accuracy to 50%. What's going on at Gen. 8's competitive anyway? I hope Gen. 9 gives Return & Fustration back to Stoutland, while also given it more coverage moves like Double Edge, Body Slam & more to become great in the lower tier again. Edited: It was an good doggy though.
8th competitive is hilarious so far. We get another AG mon, the generation's gimmick banned everywhere and Pure Hackmons of all things getting screwed by value overflows.
@@skeetermania3202 VGC currently requires dealing with Great Grey Wolf Sif and Dynamaxing, so if you don't like either of those things, why would you like VGC in Gen 8?
Ah stoutland. Gives fond memories of B2W2 where you are given the TM for Return early on, probably not long after you caught a lillipup. Basically gives you a wrecking ball that can help lift you early to mid game, and can still give utility later with strength and thunder wave. Yeah, I'd say our good boy deserves some treats
I still use Stoutland in competitive Doubles. Yeah, it sucks that they got rid of Return but I found some success with it providing support like Howl and Snarl.
I just put my dog down and named my stoutland mellow after my dog and this video is a sign that he is still here with me I miss my boy and I always has a stoutland on my team with sand rush I’m a retired Pokémon trained but makes me want to play again thanks false swipe gaming it’s a sign from above.
I'm surprised about Stoutland. Almost same base stats as Swampert (trading some HP for speed) and 3 really strong abilities. Sad that physical normal types have huge competition
I remembered when a lot of people complained about it not being in the SWSH dex due to its species being based on dogs native in the UK, until it got added in the DLC. Maybe if Granbull was in it too.
As a brit i was indeed annoyed that the goodest Yorkie boy wasnt in swsh
And rightfully so. It's like how they removed Bastiodon and Aegislash from the original SwSh. Yknow, the shield and sword pokemon.
Edit: Aegislash was apart of the original SwSh, I misspoke. Apologizes to all 2038429 of you in the comments telling me this lol
@@TealZero err, wasn't Aegislash in the og SwSh?
@@TealZero Aegislash was in the original SWSH. Just not Bastiodon.
Druddigon not being in is similarly egregious given how based on Welsh dragons it is
Stoutland reminds me of my dog. The difference being that instead of utilizing sand rush, my dog rushes sand onto my couch.
Lmao
Close enough ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Underrated comment
That is Sand, thats Quick 😂
How much of a good boy was Stoutland actually?
A very good boy
The best boi
@i know that DUDE ITS THE FUCKING 100¹⁰²⁴ TIME YOU APPEAR HERE I'LL SEND YOU TO BRAZIL THERE IS NOTHING HEEEEEEEERE (i know its a bot but its funny)
@@PittsburghSonido Sorry Stoutland might be a good boi but Arcanine is best boi
They should have named the title after this smh
Stoutland is an OU good boi
I was thinking "oh Stoutland probably decimated SwSh" but then reality hit me like a bullet: Return was straight up deleted. Stoutlands trying its best but sadly GF really screwed it over. Hoping our best boi can do something more in Gen 9
Game Freak has this weird stigma against Normal types. Ever noticed how there's barely any decent Normal types in competitive?
@@graphitetailgrace3870 and even when there was (Kangaskhan), they removed megas the next gen
@@graphitetailgrace3870 They still have nightmares from Gen 1 = Tauros, Snorlax, Chansey
Why was return removed in the first place
@@microwave8931 they never gave a reason.
It’s beyond shocking how neutered (sorry) Stoutland became in gen 8. It losing Return as a normal stab was a death nail to it
wow it's almost like cutting the best normal move in the game and providing no replacement was a mistake, who could've guessed
@@misirtere9836 yes that literally what I’m saying
@@sliced8669 Yeah, the sarcasm in that remark is more directed toward the idiots at Game Freak who made that decision in the first place.
Probably only even happened because of the *other* idiotic decision to merge the Friendship and Affection mechanics.
It's as bad as how Darkrai was nerfed in Gen. 7 when Dark Void is dropped it's accuracy to 50%.
@@jaretco6423 Smeargle moment
The fact you didn't even mention intimidate shows how generally good Stoutland is
? It always had sand rush, and after scrappy
@@asanchezdem it also has intimidate
@@asanchezdem What do you mean? He was talking about how intimidate was good ability and the fact that he didn't mention it means stoutland was good without it
Ah yes, one of the few pokemon that died in the anime. I also used it in my Pokemon Moon playthrough and it was good! Looking forward to seeing how this good boy preformed!
That episode still hits to this day, even in the future episode where it meets Litten as a Torracat in the afterlife
There have been a few others, mostly in movies though
I was not prepared for that episode. I watched the whole series during covid lockdowns as an escape and then I got to that episode… Why you do this, Pokémon company?
Well, one of the few we saw dying :(
That episode hits close to home especially for dog owners like me.
Stoutland always sticks out as the Normal-type that gets to fight in the Sand. It's also interesting that the normally universally excellent Intimidate is Stoutland's least used ability.
I feel the reason why it has never used intimidate is because it's played more as an offensive Pokemon rather than a defensive one. Both Salamence and Gyrados originally had intimidate, but as soon as they gained moxie, it became their preferred ability to help them as sweepers
Yeah, Intimidate is best on defensive mons or set up sweepers.
I had a yorkshire terrier called Buddy growing up, technically it was my sister's but we both took care of him, so whenever I use any member of the stoutland family I nickname it Buddy by default. I kind of miss him tho
Edit: Just to clarify my poor choice of words, Buddy isn't actually dead, but we had to leave him with my grandparents because of legal stuff when me and my family moved out of Venezuela, he's living a happy life and has a lot of room to do dog things, but I still miss him because he no longer lives with me, that's all :)
My grandma had a cocker spaniel named Stormy, I do the same with the Poochyena line
A similar story happened to my, Pokémon white was my first Pokémon game of my own, and in the same year we got a Yorkshire called Paris, and stoutland became basically my starter for that game, my first Pokémon to get to level 100, that was magical at the time. That’s why stoutland is my fav mon, and if you wonder Paris is still fine, an old crazy dog, she is fine tho, she is 12 years old right now
I had a dog called Nina, she died because she was very old and when we rescued her she was living in extremely precarious positions, where she didn't have access to even a covered place to sleep, but she was an amazing dog.
We had a Yorky called asshole. He was a good boy.
I call my Swampert "Bones" due to a chihuahua I once had.
I’m actually surprised how good Stoutland’s bulk is; 90 in both defences is pretty good, not spectacular but respectable. You’re a good boy Chewie, can’t wait to use you on a BW 2 team when I play again
I've used stoutland on my team in White and tbh, it's a very solid normal type, personally for a playthrough I highly recommend getting a lillipup with Vital Spirit for it's ability as when it evolves into herdier, that will turn into Intimidate
For an early-game Normal type, Stoutland has great stats and abilities, but sadly they just HAD to get rid of Return. :(
Stoutland is the GOATed early game Normal-type for Nuzlockes. I actually reset a run if I don't get it because there's no way Liepard or Unfezant are going to fill its shoes.
@@Skeloperch makes sense, especially unfezant who is complete garbage
@@cintronproductions9430 just play games & showdown metas that aren't SwSh '.'
The number of mons that got screwed over by Movexit is arguably more egregious than Dexit itself. You know it's bad when even the likes of TYRANITAR suffered from it
are the most significant victims of this the removal of Return and Pursuit?
@@SemiHypercube hidden power too
@@SemiHypercube AND Hidden Power. You know, THE move that provided coverage for nearly every Special attacker in the game?
@@aurabender150 Magnezone was almost screwed by the removal of Hidden Power but thankfully at least they gave it Body Press to take down the Steel types it traps. But as for everyone else that depended on Hidden Power, well, RIP.
@@aurabender150 which is a bad thing that any Special attacker had access to
Stoutland: "Was I a good boy?"
FSG: "No. I'm told you were the best."
I was one of the pioneers during the early gen 5 Sand days and I remember wrecking the ladder with Hippopatas and Stoutland before others caught on. Game Freak getting rid of Return made absolutely no sense and robbed many Normal types of a good STAB.
They got rid of frustration because giving a pay off for being horrible to your Pokemon was understandably considered not a good idea, so they canned them both since they're a move pair.
Thing is though they absolutely didn't need to get rid of both if they got rid of one. Its not like return relied on frustration to work like Spit Up does with Stockpile. No reason not to keep return. Really stupid decision.
Funny that GF got rid of Return, a move that works best on pokemon with high friendship (Which means you need to give your pokemon some love), and in the same gen they did, they introduced a mon that basically broke the game, but is in eternal agony.
@@leojamesquiambao1047 what Mon?
@@Gato-be2jr Dracovish.
@@blazefactor6849 dracovish isn't broken. Fishious Rend and Bolt Beak are broken. (though strong jaw REALLY doesnt help)
Stoutland and Hippowdon, one of the most iconic high tier combos, alongside Skarmory and Blissey, and Toxapex and Ferrothorn
@Depp what
@@35.tucongtan64 bot
@@calsalitra4689 thanks
Big fan of how Stoutland being a standout celebrity in PU is something to be celebrated. Older videos used to refer to PU as some kind of hell tier where the clowns and mutants dwell, rather than the fierce competition to be the best of the most power crept.
And then there’s ZU
Stoutland's fall from grace just goes to show how merging Amie affection and the regular happiness stat was a fucking mistake. In an instant, practically every normal type in the game went from being _at least_ somewhere in the range of "serviceable single player physical beatstick" to "practically irredeemable outside of whatever secondary STAB it has" because now their best spammable move has a paltry 80 BP. I really wish GameFreak would return to the mode of keeping those two mechanics completely separate, not only for the sakes of those who don't want Amie bonuses ingame, but so that they can bring back Return and make Normal-types viable again.
I'm really glad I'm not the only one who feels this way about the merge. It's not like friendship was a hard stat to max, what with all of the outlets and resources to do it (Soothe Bell, EV reducing berries, vitamins, etc.). I especially dislike the animations (the wiggling/hopping) that your Pokemon do when sent out with high affection, as it gets really jarring when you're doing lots of encounters for shinies/brilliants/etc.
Sometimes a things that are more realistic are not the best for a game.
Merging friendship with Amie is one one of those things.
Stoutland is such an underrated Mon I love using it and the fact it has Sand Rush is hilarious to me lol
Stoutland gets follow me, snarl, and helping hand so it’s a really cool support Mon
How Stoutland abused Sand Rush makes me hope that one day we get a Mon with similar offensive prowess and coverage despite being Normal type, BUT make it have 3 of the weather speed abilities (Sand Rush, Swift Swim, and Slush Rush). Just imagine a Mon that's an offensive threat in any type of weather with the exception of sun.
it is an absolute beast in playthroughs though as absolutely everything works in its favor there: medium slow experience group, excellent coverage, a lot of power, very reliable defensive profile, good enough speed and potentially intimidate (although the b/w speedrun stoutland has to avoid intimidate because having it activate every fight would lose several minutes - and it will not be able to save those minutes back).
@@Wizard_Lizard_ It hurts Castform didn't get it.
@@Wizard_Lizard_ Castform if it ever evolved
Are we going to forget that Stoutland who passed away in the Sun and Moon anime? That was heart-crushing.
Today I learned that Sand Rush protects against passive damage from Sandstorm.
Sand Veil does as well. Cacnea has that, which means it won't take sandstorm damage when you encounter it in the desert in Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald.
@@INFERN0FIRE Sand Force also protects a Pokémon from sandstorm damage too, but currently there isnt any fully evolved pokemon that aren't rock, ground or steel with this ability quite yet, but figured I should mention that
Slush Rush, oddly enough, doesn't do the same for hail though. Though the very few mons who get it are all Ice anyway.
@@GeneralForster thats very odd cause you'd think they would do that, but perhaps they will need to update that ability to grant that type of protection if a non-ice type ever Slush Rush
@@GeneralForster it's hail. it's always gonna be behind sand because gamefreak hates ice types.
Ash's Torracat/Incineroar: *cries a little... remembering its memories it has with a Stoutland it grew up with as a mentor and parent*
Sometimes I wonder if anyone was actually tasked with choosing which moves to get rid of in SwSh or if they just spun the roulette wheel on it. If you were trying to get rid of certain moves that players don't really use (like maybe Switcheroo since Trick already exists) or maybe moves that break the game, that'd make a bit more sense.
Here's hoping we get to see Return well...return.
I will always be ok with Mon dexit since realistically having 900 something mond in one game sounds insane but move dexit is a bit much I'm ok if the move gone was a dexit Mons signature but Pursuit l,Hidden Power and Return?
@@yof2210 yeah, that's been my attitude as well. Sure, some of my own favourites were cut, but in return others were firnly in game.
Moves tho? Just... why?
Had to have been a roulette. Like, why would they get rid of Signal Beam?! It’s not even a niche move. It was completely unique, being one of few special bug moves and the ONLY bug move that caused confusion, and it was on so many Pokémon!
@@CaptainObliviousV Exactly. Signal Beam was a cool move (although not very useful, I'll admit) and it's probably the move I'm most miffed about being removed, although Hidden Power is up there.
Fun fact: Thundurus can't learn any special Flying STAB, not even Gust. If you wanted to use a special Flying move with Thundurus you could only use Hidden Power Flying. They should really give him Air Slash considering the fact that his Therian form has HUGE FUCKING CLAWS. Charmander is out here learning Ancient Power and Wing Attack yet the special attacking Flying type Legendary with giant claws and a spiky tail can't even learn Air Slash or even Acrobatics for that matter.
@@CaptainObliviousV Fierce competition with Bug Buzz and Pollen Puff is way more intesting given it's also a Heal Move if used on an Ally Pokemon. Maybe it coulda been Buffed to be a 120 or 95 Base Power Move. Maybe. But then again, it coulda been way more limited, like the super buffed Leech Life was limited.
13:03 I knew Hayley had tried using Stoutland a few times but I actually didn’t know she got a solid placement with it in 2015 until now lol. I remember facing Stoutland quite a bit in VGC 17
I know she went 7-1 with Protect last resort stoutland in 2015 and was like 4~5th day one. I am pretty sure she got top 16 at a few other regionals too at other events (or at least top 32 for sure) with the dog.
I know for a fact that girl has won several PC and Mss events with that dog too(i have been spanked by that dog of hers at nationals before). She is probably the scariest user of it, even though Chefvgc got day 2 at naic with it.
I couldn't get that one episode of sun and moon where stoutland had died out of my head for weeks without getting depressed.
I knew it was coming but damn it still hit like a brick
The outright removal of several moves in Generation VIII is still a very bizarre choice, and as a result, it made once great Pokémon become nearly irrelevant.
They took out those moves due to time crunches, right? Because with how Gen 8 competitive looks, I don't believe they did it for balance.
The worst part is that they did these removals without revamping movesets. Stoutland didn’t get another normal STAB, Vespiquen lost its recovery, Serperior now only really has Dragon and Grass moves, but pokemon like Gyarados gained Power Whip. Their excuse of balance really is the height of BS. Honesty and Transparency would have helped a lot, but nope we gotta talk about balance as we remove a ton of moves and pokemon for balance… but keep Garchomp and Toxapex.
@@graphitetailgrace3870 Some moves like Hidden Power, Pursuit, and Return carried a lot of relevance in competitive, but it was also true that most of the moves on the cut list weren’t seen all that much or were just becoming irrelevant.
The Demon. Well it's an good thing Serperior wasn't in Gen. 8.
@@bdt2002gaming pursuit was the bane of peoples existence so it depends on who you're asking if the delete was good or not
dang, crazy how the removal of one move can hit a mon so hard.
2*
@@pierre1069. 2 moves, or 2 pokemon?
@@carnage0685 moves
Seriously though, what the heck was wrong with Return? It rewards you for being friends with your Pokemon. Definitely a move I hope we see come back some day, among others. It'd be neat if moves, like Pokemon will presumably be, were on a kind of rotation as the games go by.
Normal types must suffer, Its the Game Freak way
Maybe because Gamefreak has become soulless and has stopped caring about the games and the fans?
Game Freak has been making inexplicably birdbrained decisions since 2013. Not one game is just allowed to be an improvement. It's 3 steps forward 4 steps back. In SwSh's case, it's 1.5 steps forward and 80 to 81 steps back, depending on how pedantic you want to be.
I mean game freak has tried to nerf em every gen sinve gen 1.
Its horrific!
It probably was a thing for Dynamax. Maxed out Max Strike sounds pretty busted tbh. Other than that, maybe balance? Return is high base power no drawback and EVERYONE can learn it and while not everyone can use it effectively, those who do are heavily rewarded for it. Dunno, seems like Return removal coulda been handled better if they revamped movesets more throughly.
Honestly, it was a lot better than I anticipated. I thought this was gonna be another meme video about an Untiered Mon, but I thought wrong and I'm happy it found some success.
Don’t underestimate best doggo
stoutland shouldn't be taken lightly in all honesty, seriously it's bite is worse then it's bark
Im so glad you covered the best pokemon ever made!
Stoutland is absolute favorit and been my mascot since i stsrted my channel in gen 6
Fantastic video!!! And cheers!!!
One of my fav mons. Let's see how it did.
Stoutland is easily one of the best in-game pokemon you could use in a playthrough. Always such a solid battler, and he's such a good doggo!
I can attest to that as I've used a stoutland in White (his name was Rex with Intimidate as his ability) and this is one tough doggo to use in Unova where....good normal-type options are very rare since literally your best options are stoutland, sawsbuck and bouffalant
Oh yeah. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to give my Stoutland Lily some treats. Maybe a belly rub too
I really like the whole Stoutland evo line.
They're based on yorkshire terriers, a dog I once had before having to put him down due to illness.
So they hold a place in my heart.
Recently did a play through of black /white stoutland was the MVP taking out ghetsis' hydreigon with a crit ice fang
Absolute tank.
I used a Stoutland when I was a kid and Stoutland was probably my star team member thanks to Sand Rush being so useful in Driftveil Gym.
I'm surprised Intimidate isn't used more in lower tiers. I figured that would allow it to really be a pain for PU Physical attackers.
Also ouch on the lack of Stab. At least increase the power of Strength if you're gonna gut most normal moves...
Normal is simply not a good physically defensive type. Chansey, lickilicki, etc. were good special defenders due to a scarcity of special fighting Moves, their only weakness.
@@seiromem5708 Normal isn't really a good defensive type in general, in my opinion. There have undoubtedly been good defensive normal types in the past, but I feel that has more to do with their bulk and access to recovery moves to stay healthy with than it does their actual typing. Normal is easily the single most neutral type in the game on both offense and defense, but people need to understand that while such a quality is good for an offensive Pokemon, it's not nearly so valuable for a defensive Pokemon, which is why Spiritomb proved to not be good defensively despite having no weaknesses (at least not for 2 generations, anyways)
@@matthewkuscienko4616 spiritomb would be good with recovery tho (strength sap makes sense I think given its lore) and slightly higher hp would also be useful but not too much
@@seiromem5708 wut? Normal is a fantastic defensive type. Only one weakness, and the ghost immunity gives free switch-ins.
The stats have to be good enough to shrug off neutral hits, but when they are, the mon gets to be incredibly bulky. We've only seen a handful of bulky normals, but Snorlax and Blissey have been great in multiple generations. Lickylicky was decent in gen4.
@@YOSHIERIDER Thing is, while having just one weakness and an immunity is great, Normal doesn't resist any of the other types, and I say this as someone who likes Normal types.
Unfortunately, the part where stoutland (and sandslash) mauled SM NU along with Gigalith until Gigalith left wasn’t covered. Don’t remember if it was banned or if it rose to RU, either way sand was definitely a huge deal during that time.
In hindsight, the competitive scene really dealt Sandslash a poor hand. Between only having Sand Veil and largely not being able to use it from other more obnoxious users banning it. And then not getting anything else but Sand Rush for an alternative until Gen 5 didn't help either.
It took until Gen 6 to actually get Sand Rush back without Dream World lockouts and it still got shorted. About time it got some love.
i would love to see a remake of the big guns tyranitar or snorlax
He made ferrothorn just a week ago let this man rest a bit
Man Tyranitar would be huge. Best Pokemon from Gen 3 to 5, amazing in every other gen, great in VGC metas and had usage in ubers
I’d love to see a Snorlax remake
If FSG kept remaking videos of mons like Tyranitar or Snorlax, we'll never get to see Gen 7 Pokemons
@@R.Sinnia decidueye: 🗿
I remember seeing him a lot in Gen 5, he was a very dangerous Revenge Killer. I lost quiet a number of Matchups by not protecting my Counters well enough.
Yesterday I hatched a competitively shiny Lillipup and seeing this video made my day!😊
Stoutland is so good in my opinion,I was able to beat BW2(including Cynthia) only using him,Stoutland is such a good boi
Doing 37% minimum to bold suicune with a physical attack is honestly insane and it's impossible to overstate how good Gen 5 Stoutland was. With it's base 90s defenses it could live certain hits with a bit of investment
I've been waiting a long time for this one. Muttstache was my favorite pokemon since the gen 5 leaks.
Finally my favourite Pokemon!! What a good boy. I loved him so much in first black playthrough
I’m absurdly fond of this doggo. I’m a cat person, but it’s probably one of my favorite in-game mons and it’s always a joy to use it as the Alolan Itemfinder.
One of my favorite things about BW was that they broke the tradition of early normal type Pokemon always being garbage. It was cool getting an early Pokemon which was actually viable for the entire playthrough.
Truly the goodest of good boys 🐕🐕🐕
*DO NOT CALL STOUTLAND A F*CKING BOY!*
I wait every week for new content and I'm never let down, you think that after going through most pokemon, that your content would become stale, but no you keep one upping the videos before. Keep doing what you do and know that it's appreciated
it's quite a statement on how powerful weather is that intimidate, one of the best abilities ever that is on stoutland, isn't mentioned at all here.
BW had my least favorite early bird, but it also had this CLEAN early normal type. It’s problem my favorite, nice and powerful dog
The best Doggo ever! My Cypher, my Stoutland in my first ever Nuzlocke (White) died in the final battle against Ghestist. Bless you doggo.
Stoutland has been my secret weapon in multiple draft leagues. With sand rush it can way better than you'd expect, combine it with hippowdon or tyranitar and you have a really scary mon.
Sand Rush Stoutland is my favorite underrated pokemon. Choice Bamd and T-Tar/Sandaconda is really unexpected
When people ask me "What starter did you use for gen 5?" my answer is almost always Stoutland
Stoutland is one of the few Pokemon that you could use in a Gen 5 playthrough where it will hold it's own. It has Take Down as a filler until you get access to Return
"their hippo was no longer broken but their dog certainly was"
I find it funny how Stoutland had access to the amazing Intimidate, and yet Sand Rush was so good it was almost never used.
After doing Ferrothorn u guys deserve a break as that video was over an hour though it was introduced in Gen 5. Glad the patrons took it easy on u guys. Seems anything with a weather based ability in Gen 5 immediately got a look into the upper tiers
Thank you so much for this series! This is teaching me how to teambuild better in Showdown. I'm decent in OU, UU, and Ubers, but i suck in other tiers.
Stoutland: Hey bro
Hippowdon: Yes bro?
Stoutland: Close your eyes bro
Hippowdon: Ok bro
Stoutland: What do you see bro?
Hippowdon: Nothing bro
Stoutland: That's my life without you bro
Hippowdon: Bro...
Never thought I'd find the relationship between a dog and a hippo adorable
I love stoutland. The fang moves give great coverage in a casual play through and is so good.
Yoooooo! Finally! My favorite pokemon! I've heard you mention for a while about how it was really good in some of the lower tiers so I've been looking forward for when you finally did a video on my good dog buddy!
Oh my goodness he’s such a good boy what a good little doggy-woggy awwwwe look at him doing good in gen 5 UU
Nice opening segment
Smogon: “No fun allowed.”
I was watching the Hippowdon episode two days before this released and wondered “hm, what if we got a Stoutland video?”
Well, two days after and boom, Stoutland!
Men i been waiting for this Pokemon for so long.
One of my favorite Pokemon
Unrelated, but I thought I should point out how Stoutland's in-game cry got a big nerf after Generation 5.
Those barks were more audible back then.
This was a video I looked forward tio for a while
I will find the idiot who decided to merge Friendship and Affection and that therefore Return needed to be removed and I will throw them into an endless portal loop.
I think replacing sand rush with fur coat might make Stoutland more viable, and significantly more defensive. However, another solution is giving it a new move called shed fur which boosts a pokemons attack, special attack, and speed by one stage. This new move could be given to other pokemon like ampharose, raticate, persian, and arcanine to name a few who are in need of some buffs.
I'd much rather replace Intimidate, not like it was ever using it.....
@@ExcalibeonSwordofEeveelutions True VGC never really used stoutland, and there are better intimidate pokemon like incineroar, staraptor, arcanine, and landorous T.
@@NobodyDungeons Since we're on the topic of abilities, have any other pokemon you can think of that could be buffed with just a few changes or additions?
I think the Eeveelutions could use secondary abilities, more specifically I think Flareon should get Fur Coat since out of most of it's flaws that low defense is among one of the most hindering and I think Umbreon should get Magic Guard to counterpart Espeon's Magic Bounce!
Also I think Mew should get a hidden ability in Protean and naturally learn the move Sketch!
They did bad to my good boi.
We are getting so close to "How SUS was Amoonguss ACTUALLY?", I feel it in my bones!
They will need loads of time to add that since it was as always competitive as Ferrothorn and because they will need to decide how much Among Us jokes they will add.
Back in the ORAS days I made an Asura's Wrath themed team with Stoutland and Hippowdon as Augus and Wyzen respectively
Game freak destroyed Stoutland faster than me destroying my house trying to figure out how to use the dryer.
I really needed that reminder that GF removed the best physical normal move in the game. I always like getting angry right before bed.
One of my favorites from gen 5.
I’ve been keeping this up for a while and won’t stop now
HOW GOOD WAS SCRAFTY ACTUALLY WE NEED IT NOW
I accidentally misread the title as how good was SCOTLAND actually
The goodest of good boys😤
Its insane how GameFreak decided to give an early mon a perfect stat distribution AND two great abilities
It’s a Unovan Pokémon. They would give a Unovan Pokémon the time to shine. Lord knows they do not provide that same general fact to other generations since, like Kalos or Alola.
And even then it’s effectiveness relied on Return, and nothing good is sacred with Pokémon.
Make that three. There’s also Intimidate to consider.
@@skeetermania3202 I was thinking about Sand Rush and Intimidate...
@@TheBlueArmageddon scrappy is good to
Gotta respect Stoutland for his/her wicked facial hair
I feel like Stoutland is what I’d name a newly discovered continent.
I don't know which pokemon will help Stoutland set up sand in a playthrough of Black and White, but having Intimidate as another ability it has to lower the target's attack stat as it enters into battle is also useful. I love raising an Adamant nature Lillipup to evolve to Stoutland to place it in my team.
I always nickname the Lillipup line Elle named after my little yorkie, Elle. To me, all Yorkshire terriers are Elle.
I forgot they remove Return in SwSh. My dog got neutered.
Giant Furry Good Boi hits like a truck so I’d say pretty darn good 😆😆😆
Thanks for the new vid False Swipe 💙🐱💙
Damn, I was waiting for this one for so long. Thank you VERY much!
It sucks that in Gen. 8, stupid Game Freak butchered Stoutland by getting rid of Return, Fustration & other things that makes it reliable and not give it more coverage moves like Body Slam, Double Edge and whatever to wreck havoc in the lower tiers again. That's almost as bad as nerfing Darkrai's Dark Void accuracy to 50%. What's going on at Gen. 8's competitive anyway? I hope Gen. 9 gives Return & Fustration back to Stoutland, while also given it more coverage moves like Double Edge, Body Slam & more to become great in the lower tier again.
Edited: It was an good doggy though.
8th competitive is hilarious so far. We get another AG mon, the generation's gimmick banned everywhere and Pure Hackmons of all things getting screwed by value overflows.
@@malakimphoros2164 Perhaps you should open yourself to VGC.
@@skeetermania3202 Zacian fucking Crowned is at 65% pickrate, ew
@@malakimphoros2164 Your point?
@@skeetermania3202 VGC currently requires dealing with Great Grey Wolf Sif and Dynamaxing, so if you don't like either of those things, why would you like VGC in Gen 8?
Let's go! Stoutland is such a good pupper, really glad it was good in Gen 5 UU at the very least
At least it taught a Cat Fire Fang one last time
Love this dog. Makes me happy to see another "generic" route 1 regional normal type be successful in competitive play.
i love Stoutland in normal playthroughs, because he has access to all elemental fangs and bite
I’ll never understand why GameFreak got rid of Return and Frustration in Gen 8. Hopefully they’ll come back in Gen 9.
They’re clowns that’s why.
@@Labyrinth6000 They're not clowns, they're the entire circus.
Gamefreak has at times made very strange or outright ludicrous decisions. This is one of them.
They probably didn't want every mon having access to full power max strike
@@baseballs1742 thats called shitty game design and not a good reason.
Good boi.
I have never heard it.
Also that one sun and moon episode
Ah stoutland. Gives fond memories of B2W2 where you are given the TM for Return early on, probably not long after you caught a lillipup. Basically gives you a wrecking ball that can help lift you early to mid game, and can still give utility later with strength and thunder wave. Yeah, I'd say our good boy deserves some treats
back in 2011 I didn't even know homeboy existed until my herdier evolved, it was such an awesome feeling
and then it learned surf? phenomenal
Funnily enough, every time Kellen said "Nope", I started imagining it was Stoutland barking it out ala-Scooby-Doo style by Generation 7.
Ah yes, everyone’s Normal type on their Unova teams!
Unfezant be like
@@williamhuynh869 Unfezant is everyone’s go-to Unova flying type tho.
Its so great to watch a completely early game normal type do so amazing in most of the tier it was
The story of sand rush and competitive pokemon is such a bittersweet romance drama
I still use Stoutland in competitive Doubles. Yeah, it sucks that they got rid of Return but I found some success with it providing support like Howl and Snarl.
I just put my dog down and named my stoutland mellow after my dog and this video is a sign that he is still here with me I miss my boy and I always has a stoutland on my team with sand rush I’m a retired Pokémon trained but makes me want to play again thanks false swipe gaming it’s a sign from above.
I'm surprised about Stoutland. Almost same base stats as Swampert (trading some HP for speed) and 3 really strong abilities. Sad that physical normal types have huge competition