Biggest generational buffs & nerfs

[Mobile Tsk]

Over the 6 generations many Pokemon have seen dramatic shifts in tiering and viability due to changes in game mechanics, new moves, type changes and shifting metagames. For you, which generational shifts mark some of the most notable buffs and nerfs for individual Pokemon?

In the change from Gen 1 to Gen 2, I think the special split and added held items gave a lot of Pokemon new life. Notably I think that Marowak benefited the most from this shift, giving it access to its signature item Thick Club. The boosted Attack stat was unheard of back in the days of GSC stall. Meanwhile, new critical hit mechanics ensured that Persian, a former OU powerhouse, was destined forever to stay in the lower tiers, and to be a poor lower tier Pokemon at that.

While most big threats in GSC carried over to the next generation, I think that Magneton probably received the largest buff. Most of the abilities introduced in Gen 3 were not particularly game changing or dramatic. Magneton's addition, however, granted it the ability to disable popular Skarmory and Forretress with ease. Dugtrio and Gengar also received sizable buffs. I think that Golem received a bit of a nerf this generation; its abilities were not very useful and the metagame around it changed just enough to leave it slightly outclassed by Rhydon, a distinction which was not new to it but felt more in Gen 3 than previous gens.

DP changed a ton of things. Notably, it gave huge buffs to many already powerful Pokemon with the new physical/special mechanics. I would say Gyarados received the biggest buff from this change, though there are a ton of candidates for this distinction, like Kingdra and Scizor. I think that Regice and Articuno probably received the biggest nerfs, as their low speed made them more vulnerable to a more offensively-oriented metagame, and Stealth Rock damage further negated their bulk.

I think that the obvious biggest buffs in the move to Gen 5 were Ninetales and Politoed, and they were definitely the biggest nerfs in the move to Gen 6. However, though Politoed is still viable in Gen 6 OU, Ninetales is now outclassed. Due to dramatic changes in available abilities, Espeon also sticks out as a huge buff in the move to Gen 5. Serperior stands out to me as a huge buff in the move to Gen 6, along with Alakazam and Clefable.

What do you think? Do you agree with some of my choices? What are your choices?

 

[Nah]

The biggest changes probably came with Gen 3 and 4 in the introduction of Abilities and the physical/special split, given that a lot of 'mons are good in large part because of their abilities (would anyone really use Talonflame if it didn't have Gale Wings?) and can make better use of their STABs that way. Mega Evolution was huge for a lot of pokes too. The speed creep is something that probably should be mentioned too (I remember back in Gen 5 when ~90 was the primary speed benchmark in OU).

For more individual examples there's like Bisharp. Pretty sure this thing was never used much until this generation since the buffs to Knock Off and the Dark type+Defog now being used was pretty major for it.

Then there's like Gengar, who just keeps getting better (more or less) with every generation.

 

[PlatinumDude]

As already mentioned, the physical/special split affected plenty of Pokemon. Examples are Alakazam, which lost the effective use of the elemental punches, but gained a special Shadow Ball and a stronger way to hit Steels in Focus Blast. Sneasel and Weavile, whose types in Dark and Ice were special in Gens II and III, got physical alternatives of those types.

 

[wolf]

In terms of what affected the viability of individual Pokemon the most, I think the physical and special split fits the best. It drastically changed most Pokemon. The introduction of abilities comes close, but many abilities were very situational or useless.

Gen 5's hidden abilities deserve an honorable mention.

 

[gimmepie]

For me the top things were

1. The physical/special split in gen 4
2. Abilities in gen 3
3. The introduction of the Dark and Steel pokemon
4. The weather nerf going into gen 6
5. Mega-evolutions
6. The introduction of Fairy pokemon
7. The introduction of Bug Bite, Bug Buzz and U-Turn in gen 4
8. The Knock-Off buff
9. The power creep throughout generations
10. Eviolite

I'd say those are the top ten changes to the meta considering buffs and nerfs. All of them made big changes. New types nerfed types that owned the meta disproportionately. Abilities were useless to some pokemon but allowed others to become beasts. New moves and changes to moves completely altered the viability of certain pokemon/types.

The biggest change though, as many have said, was definitely the physical/special split that saw the viability of different pokemon completely change.