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3rd Gen What are some underrated gen 3 Pokemon?

Jacella__2583

Erin, She Who Accrues Shiny Mudkips
8
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5
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I'm surprised no one has mentioned Cacturne yet! Even though its' speed is... laughable... the attack and sp. attack are excellent and it's a freaking cactus scarecrow!

Crawdaunt is another underrated one that I love dearly. Just like Cacturne, its' speed is bad but the attack is incredible, Crabhammer is busted with this lobster.

I really wanna suggest Walrein but it's an Ice type, and Ice types are BAD (seriously, like what can an Ice type do that an Electric or Fire type can't do better? And Ice only has one resistance and 4 FRIGGIN' WEAKNESSES, essentially making your 'mon worse by giving it more weaknesses without a clear cut advantage)
 
10
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5
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  • Age 33
  • USA
  • Seen Jun 13, 2018
For me, Donphan has always been a favorite! Not just for battling, but for winning the "Tough" category of the Pokemon Contest, esp. in the originals.
 

Sydian

fake your death.
33,379
Posts
16
Years
Mawile is fun to use, but difficult without STAB in gen III. It definitely got even more fun in future generations, especially with a Mega and Fairy typing added on. Going to agree with Cacturne as well. It's been a long time since I've used one, but I really enjoyed it. Shiftry is fun, as well. For a long time, I would have to remind myself to not use it because I had played RSE so many times and used it on my team. It's just a really fun Pokemon and gets good variety with what TMs it can learn and it holds its own rather well. It unfortunately gets passed up in favor of Ludicolo, however I think they're both awesome and versatile in their own way.

Big underrated Pokemon is Linoone. Is it amazing? No. Is it crazy strong? No. But he can pick up a heck ton of items and learn a wide variety of moves. May not be able to use them all effectively, but he's there if you're really desperate for coverage. Or a surfer. He's really cute and I love him. Y'all need to quit sleepin on him.
 

Sirfetch’d

Guest
0
Posts
I am 100% biased but Castform! It's not a very strong Pokemon by any means but it can be highly unpredictable and change the weather in an instant to give you a type advantage. Not to mention it can learn so many strong attacks such as Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Flamethrower, and Return.
 

Lemonski

Is already coming for your pizza
328
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8
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It's probably odd for me to say anything since I have no idea about battle strategies, but Dunsparce. Just look at it, what a sweetheart. :t206:
 
2,823
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6
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  • Age 122
  • Seen Jan 27, 2019
Dunsparce is a gen 2 monster though. Still heavily underrated and laughed at by tier lovers.
 
12,867
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6
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  • Age 23
  • Seen today
Near the fourth gym, and I ended up with:

Grovyle
Hariyama
Loudred
Manectric (Actually have never used it on a team)
Gyarados
then...probably Altaria or Flygon was going to be in, but I just kind of quit playing.

I'll probably start over again, I also feel like using Cradily.
 

Zero-G

on the fly
146
Posts
5
Years
Shiftry, Hariyama and especially Volbeat.
When I want to use a Grass type I always look at Shiftry before I look at Sceptile and the others. It's just a shame Shiftry's strongest moves in Gen 3 have such a low base power with the sole exception of Solarbeam - and I don't run Shiftry on Sun teams (I have a strong bias toward Sceptile on those).

Hariyama may be having high HP and Attack, but its moveset (even with TMs) and defenses are just too lackluster, comparing it to the likes of Machamp and ESPEICALLY the duotyped Fighting mons. Hi, Blaziken.

As for Volbeat... seriously. Just breed Baton Pass onto it. It does amazing things for its typing and role.
 
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I love Pelipper, Swalot and Glalie.

I have a love for seagulls, pelicans and other aquatic birds. I also like having a Pelipper in my team.

I like Swalot because of how weird it is.

I generally love ice type pokemon but for some reason Glalie sticks out to me. It's probably because of its unusual design.
 
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5
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  • Age 26
  • Seen Jul 27, 2022
I always liked Claydol, Whiscash, Crawdaunt and Cacturne. Not many people I know share the same thoughts though!
 
37,467
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16
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  • Age 34
  • Seen Jan 2, 2024
Gonna weigh in on behalf of Spoink and Gulpin here! Gulpin I used once, and once they evolved into Swalot, they became quite tanky and pretty hard-hitting with Sludge, too!

As for Spoink, it and Grumpig are just cute Pok?mon and solid Psychic-types that I don't see anyone use or even really talk about!
Swalot was definitely MVP. So tanky and strong poison moves. You don't usually think "Swalot" when you think 3rd gen, so I'd say it's underrated indeed.

Zangoose and Banette

Zangoose is fast and strong and immune to poison, and it looks cool too

Banette is strong but slow, immune to two types and looks cool as well.

I've grown to like those two, even with a mega, Banette is pretty underrated
Zangoose was my favorite 3rd gen mon for long <3 Might still be, really.

I'd say Breloom. Not sure if it's really underrated buuuutttt it's cool and really useful early on (and even later tbh). I don't see many people talk about it so I'm assuming it's underrated buuut if it isn't then hm yep Swalot is definitely really fun to play through with! Been aaages since I used it though.
Breloom is super useful imo! Even with blaziken on my team I appreciated some extra Fighting type.
 
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When I saw Skitty in the anime for the first time, I knew that I wanted to use her and her evolution, Delcatty. They are both seen as mediocre (in competitive play and casual play) and hardly anybody I know uses them. That's why they are underrated to me and in fact, I'm using a Skitty on my Pokemon Sapphire Team. :)
 

Cloche

エスパーレディ
788
Posts
18
Years
Personally, I really enjoy using Tropius. I had one on my team in Emerald and the Remakes. All of my friends hated it, but I loved it to death. It has fruit growing off of it. It's perfect.
 

Midnight Umbreon

Life is a conundrum of esoterica
960
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5
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Serviper.
My entire childhood experience was spent catching hundreds of serviper. So damn much fun
 
3
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6
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  • Age 22
  • Seen Jul 16, 2019
Linoone is a decent pick. gets headbutt early, learns many different moves and gets belly drum through level up, fixing its bad attack stat.
 
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I honestly think Grumpig is a tad underrated. Because Gen 3 is before the physical/special split, this means moves like Fire/Ice/Thunderpunch are considered special moves. Combine that with Calm Mind Boosts, and I think Grumpig turns out to be quite formidable in-game. :o
 
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