Male
Seen March 18th, 2016
Posted November 5th, 2015
31 posts
8.4 Years
Okay we all know what Pokemon are described as walls or meat shields in other words. They are Pokemon with high defenses and HP and they are used to take hits. See? Their role is to get injured and absorb damage. This is what they are meant to do. So, unlike Sweepers that just ravage around killing stuff, wall Pokemon take all the injuries.
Isn't it unfair? Like, they are expected to get hurt to do their job right.

Isn't it cruel and unfair for Pokemon with good HP or defenses to be used to absorb the attacks of opponents? Like, they have to go through all that pain just to guard their team. Like, Blissey is expected to absorb all those flamethrowers and ice beams and thunderbolts. It still hurts for her although she doesnt die. She actually suffers longer. What do you think?

moon

they/them
Seen 10 Hours Ago
Posted 22 Hours Ago
37,443 posts
15.5 Years
Yeah, in a way maybe. But you could also see it as the pokemon really working as a team, using their strengths to balance each other's weaknesses. If Blissey has good SpDefence and high HP, she likely won't hurt quite as much as a fragile Primeape (or something) when a strong attack is incoming.
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Age 28
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Distortion World
Seen December 13th, 2020
Posted February 26th, 2018
2,473 posts
12.9 Years
I always feel bad for them, but I kinda imagine how they dont give 2 fying rats about attacks.

Really though, I feel bad for them just as much as I feel bad for any other Pokemon.

If it makes you guys feel better, in real life Pokemon wouldn't work the way they do in games. It's only a game :)

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Pendraflare

Age 32
Male
Pennsylvania
Seen July 30th, 2021
Posted March 29th, 2021
6,263 posts
9.8 Years
When it comes to competitive battling, these are concepts that I really don't like. It gets so monotonous watching the foe stall out for a while. And in-game they're usually not necessary when you can use basically whatever you like on most opponents.

But in challenges (especially Nuzlockes and Wedlockes), they're a more effective concept, because if your team isn't well suited for a certain type of opponent, a wall of some sort may be what you want for it.

Regardless, this is an understandable complaint. However, in that case you can kind of question why we have Pokémon with crap attacking stats with great defenses to begin with.
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Bounsweet

Fruit Pokémon

Seen September 17th, 2018
Posted October 11th, 2017
2,102 posts
15.6 Years
Lol, I find this topic really interesting actually since most of my teams usually center around really bulky or tanky Pokémon who absorb hits like it's nobody's business.

I've never really given it any thought, honestly. I guess it's just a matter of perspective? Like, if you pinch someone that's going to smart a bit. If you pinch a rock you're just... pinching a rock. So, I guess that could be one way to compare it?

I don't know how special defense would be any difference, but yeah.

Megan

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Online now
Posted 17 Minutes Ago
17,732 posts
10.3 Years
The thing with walls is less like "Ouch, I'm getting hurt!" and more like "Did something hit me or is it just my imagination?" Also an HP bar is no indication weather a Pokemon is alive or not (outside of Nuzlockes). If the HP bar sinks to 0 Pokemon are not gonna die, they are just exhausted because of all the fun playing around with other Pokemon.

If at all the only "jobs" one should complain about are wallbreaker and stallbreaker because these are the ones specifically build to crush walls.
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I wouldn't say it was cruel, since it's what they're designed for. But it IS extremely tedious, and one of the many reasons I don't battle competitively - I don't have the patience to just sit there and pummel away doing negligible damage, or try and stall out an opponent's team cowering behind a Pokemon that functions as a wall...it's just not my idea of fun.

Arylett Charnoa

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Age 31
Female
Seen January 5th, 2023
Posted October 18th, 2017
1,130 posts
9.2 Years
Yeah, I always feel bad about competitive/game concepts like that, because I'm thinking of the Pokemon moreso as real creatures than just video game data. There are a lot of aspects about competitive battling that seem... really kind of cruel and awful if you throw them in a more realistic light. I try not to think of it so much, but the whole concept of Pokemon training as a whole does kind of bother me in that sense.

The tank thing doesn't make me feel so bad though because such Pokemon are made to take hits. For instance, Skarmory is covered in thick steel, and it isn't really affected by physical blows. What would be more cruel is to allow Alakazam to take a painful blow that causes it sure and instant fainting, because I'm sure that hurts a lot more than what Skarmory considers to be mere nicks on its armor.

Hiatus

Seen 1 Day Ago
Posted July 24th, 2021
12,283 posts
10.8 Years
When it comes to actual competitive battling and whatnot, we are required to use walls every once in a while so that we could guarantee ourselves a way of survival, so to speak. Meaning, if our team members fall short in health and such, we could rely on certain walling Pokémon to be helping them recover by using moves such as Wish and Heal Bell.

If it were real life, I don't precisely believe it would be too bad, either. Since they have massive amount of health and defenses, I would imagine attacks to be hurting a lot less on them in comparison to other Pokémon (Lucario, for example, which tends to lean more on offensive side of things, usually).

Though, if this were not the case, it would have indeed seemed a little outrageous to have these Pokémon withstand this much pain.
Seen January 1st, 2023
Posted March 23rd, 2022
3,316 posts
9.2 Years
ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm it's a fictional game.

yeah sure if it was real that would probably be cruel, but Pokemon battling most likely wouldn't be allowed in the first place because that alone would be seen as cruel in the real world. but for now none of this is real so no it's not cruel at all.
Age 31
Male
Seen January 1st, 2016
Posted March 27th, 2015
270 posts
9 Years
What's a Hydro Pump to a Ludicolo though? It's literally just water off a duck's back.

I don't thinking using pokemon as a wall is cruel at all, because the idea is that they can take certain attacks really well. What is more cruel is the the role known in competitive battling as the 'suicide lead'. Azelf for example is a common one where it just sets up Rocks and the uses Explosion. Infact any situation where a pokemon uses Self Destruct or Explosion is cruel as it's the trainer ordering the pokemon to sacrifice itself.

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Seen May 29th, 2017
Posted March 21st, 2017
1,663 posts
8.9 Years
Read the thread title and wondered why this was in this section; but noooow I see. I see now hahah.

Um, I don't think it is - usually, depending on the pokemon. I'd imagine some pokemon wouldn't mind it much at all. Possibly even enjoy it. Steelix is supposedly harder than diamonds according to the dex entry; so physical attacks would be... nigh unnoticeable. And honorable proud warriors like Stunfisk would probably leap at the chance to further their battle prowess by withstanding many mighty blows.
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