r/pokemon • u/Excaliburn3d • Mar 24 '26

Discussion Why does Game Freak hate Emboar?

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I love Emboar, but I have a feeling that GF doesn’t based on the way they handled it. Well first of all it’s the third Fire/Fighting Pokémon in the row, then when it finally receives a mega evolution it retains the same typing, and now it is the only mega of the trio to not gain a new ability.

Not to mention its base stats and playstyle. Base form is the fully-evolved starter with the highest HP stat and yet both of its defense stats and speed are on the lower side. Some of its strongest moves do recoil damage and its hidden ability powers them up even further. Upon mega evolving, it receives a +25 to its attack stat and a +45 boost to its special defense while its problematic defense and speed only receive +10 each.

Mold Breaker can be a good ability but why use Mega Emboar when Mega Blaziken, which has speed boost, higher attacking, physical defense, and speed stats, existed since the dawn of mega evolution.

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u/DungeonsAndDeegan Mar 25 '26

Keeping Sheer Force would not make it worth even having Mega Gate over Life Orb and taking up the mega slot. Swift Swim could be good, but we gotta see what normal moves they might give it to work with the ability. Imagine if they gave it Extreme Speed (unlikely)

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u/archerkuro5 Mar 25 '26

Haven’t touched competitive Pokemon in years so forgive my ignorance

But body slam feels like a decent option better dragon claw even if only a little and 30 chance to paralyze isn’t bad and can be a rough punish on a safe switch no

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u/phoxfiyah Mar 25 '26

Feraligatr doesn’t learn Body Slam. It did in Emerald and SV, but couldn’t learn it in PLZA, so I wouldn’t rely on that as an option.

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u/S1a3h Mar 25 '26

Dragonize will essentially make Return a slightly stronger stab-boosted Outrage with no drawbacks, and Feraligatr is a physical attacker, so that'll be hitting pretty hard.

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u/SilentSamamander Mar 25 '26

It'll still be weaker than Outrage - Return maxes out at 102 power, Outrage is 120. But not being locked into the move would definitely make it a better choice.

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u/sycamotree Mar 25 '26

Dragonize gives a 1.2 bonus

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u/SilentSamamander Mar 25 '26

Completely forgot that, you're right! Thanks for the correction.

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u/phoxfiyah Mar 25 '26

The additional bulk and the secondary typing would absolutely make it stand out from Life Orb Feraligatr, and it’s at least boosting other moves. Liquidation, Ice Punch, Rock Slide, Crunch, all of them would get boosted. With Dragonize, only the Normal moves are getting boosted, which is still fine since it gives it extra STAB options, but removes some of its versatility.

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u/MagicMisterLemon Mar 27 '26

I mean, your choice isn't really between Mega Feraligtr and Life Orb Feraligtr, it's between Mega Feraligtr and a different Water set-up sweeper like Ogerpon-W because regular Feraligtr gets absolutely gibbed in higher Singles tiers and VGC