Priority is a common and interesting Pokémon mechanic. With such a wide array of useful priority moves, I wanted to see which ones stand out as BEST.
Do you agree with my rankings? Which do you think deserve to be higher/lower?
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Every Protection Variation Ranked: • Ranking EVERY Protect ...
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0:00 Intro
0:52 F Tier
2:50 E Tier
5:28 D Tier
7:39 C Tier
9:04 Lower B Tier
10:58: 15-11
14:20 10-5
17:02 Top 5
The whole time i was waiting for Pursuit, then remembered it's not actually priority...
Technically is the highest priority move in the game, but only if the target switches out
Powder could really pop off if it got distributed more, I think at least. Completely stopping things like trick room torcoal while being able to attack with another Pokémon is kinda crazy
Exactly, with a potential increase in damage 1/3 - 1/2 max hp it would be great. Distribute it to all butterfly Pokémon and maybe also every one that gets rage powder. 25% just doesn’t seem worth it for such a prediction reliant and situational move.
@@MattBudYTgiving it to all butterflies would be cool. Giving it to rage powder mons means Amoongus gets a nice buff. Which I’m not sure is necessary haha
So, speaking of Upper Hand, there was a case where my opponent was about to knock out one of my pokemons (we were doing double battles), and they told me, "you got 2 options, attack me or buff yourself". The reason is because they have sucker punch and mirror herb on their side, and both of their mons were about to double-team one of mine. But when the attacks came in, I told them that I chose option 3, and they were shocked to see Upper Hand as they didn't recall that move. I stopped their sucker punch user and KO their other mon, saving my other mon from being KO since it was on low hp
Upperhand + sucker punch + headbutt = rock paper scissors
Shoutout to Fake Out + Last Resort, it always catches my opponent off guard
wait is last resort priority
@@SSJGUCCI nah
I think one of the not-so-apparent reasons why fake out is so good in the VGC format is that those games have considerably future turns than singles because of them being doubles and only using four pokemon in a given battle. Therefore incapacitating a pokemon for a turn has much greater consequences to the battle as each turn is so much more valuable to the outcome of the battle relative to singles.
While that is true, the bigger reason why its so good in doubles is that it limits what your opponent can do and allows you to make plays you otherwise couldn't. In singles it’s just a move that breaks focus sash/sturdy, its chip damage puts some fragile pokemon in damage ranges or wastes a turn(against weather teams ig?). In doubles in does so much more. Wanted to do a turn 1 K.O by double targeting a pokemon? Nope, one of your moms gets faked out and that chien pao survives, sets up swords dance and can knock out your full health defense invested fluttermane with sucker punch. Wanted to swords dance and trickroom? Nope, your trickroom mon flinches and your slow sword dance Landorus T dies the next turn before it gets off an earthquake/rock slide. You don't even need to click it to get value cause your opponent may play around your fake out by protecting their sash fluttermane, only for you to knock out their amoongus cause you double attacked it. Even if you're playing fast singles formats like little cup or 1v1s, the value fake out has is lower than in VGC.
Negative priority moves next.
If water shuriken wasn't nerfed in gen 9 via removing Ash Greninja it would be a way better jet punch
Not necessarily, yes multi hits are generally better but it's the same BP of 60 and you must activate battle bond to get that consistent good damage
@@Eroil battlebond is kinda easy to activate which is why people run it over protean sometimes. And Greninja's movepool coverage is perfect it can hit almost everything for super effective dmg
@@gavinaaric it can be simple but not always, it's really matchup dependant. In the end it's still a condition that needs to be met vs you always have it at max power. The bonus of being a multi hit move doesn't cover that gap imo
@@Eroil technically Battle bond shuriken his 100 max plus stab since only Greninja has access to it
@@gavinaaric it would be 90 not 100, it's 20 for each hit, always hitting 3 times. So 20 * 3 * 1.5 = 90, which is the same as jet punch being 60 * 1.5 for stab. Also accelgor actually also has access to the move
4:56 Snatch Incineroar actually won 2018 worlds,Paul ruiz used snatch on incin to copy opposing tailwind and belly drum from snorlax (which was everywhere at that time)
I's rank Fake out higher than Extreme speed because it's not just" the best priority move in VGC"; it's one of the best moves in VGC, in general. Extreme speed is useful in both formats, but not meta-changing, while but Fake out is
Ally switch shedinja was a nightmare
6:45 Ironically, that example of Hitmonlee using Endure+Unburden+Reversal being noted to be weak to priority is exactly why the clip you were taking that footage from has Upper Hand on its set. A 1HP Hitmonlee with an Unburden speed boost is begging to be hit by priority, but Upper Hand makes foes hesitant to click their priority once it's revealed, but if they don't use a priority move then they risk taking a full-power Reversal.
Clear Amulet doesn’t prevent flinching…. Covert Cloak does tho as it’s basically the item form of the Shield Dust ability
You should do a video ranking abilities that grant immunities (levitate, flash fire, storm drain, sap sipper, etc.). Keep up the good work!
Good idea! I’ll add it to the list. Thanks for watching bud❤️
the one thing I always liked about Water Shuriken is, since it could hit 2-5 times, was how it could be used with a King's Rock. provided Greninja was under a Sub and the enemy did not attack and/or missed via Greninja double team(the ideal scenarios granted Greninja ain't livin too long), Water Shuriken would have some decent chances to flinch even if the move itself ain't that powerful and Greninja not being that tanky. at least if it flinched the enemy multiple times this way Greninja would be doing a decent amount of chip damage or if lucky enough, secure some kills/weaken the enemy mon greatly. it still a very fun niche strat to use with it for sure even if it deff ain't foolproof 🤲 I still remember when my Greninja in X&Y flinched a Venusaur multiple times in a row with Torrent boosted Water Shuriken+King's rock. it was a moment I still recall fondly back then.
I think you fairly rated ally switch on the tier list. You did a good job covering why it CAN be useless or outplayed. The reason the move is hated is not because it's good but rather that it's uncompetitive. It can often just force a coin flip where getting it right is an instant win but getting it wrong is an instant loss.
Luckily it was also nerfed in Gen IX and has a fail chance like Protect / Endure, so it's no longer a coinflip
"It can often just force a coin flip where getting it right is an instant win but getting it wrong is an instant loss". This sentence, like the video said, applies literally in the same way for Sucker Punch and Thunderclap. I still don't understand why it is hated the way it is. Even the counterplay to Ally Switch is a lot easier and accessible to come by (widespread moves) than it is for Sucker Punch/Thunderclap (redirection or priority blocking). There are moves way more uncompetitive with less or actual zero counterplay that get considerably less hate than this one (Surging Strikes and Wicked Blow just as an example).
Aren't the whole ordeal of competitive Pokémon is to out predict your opponent? What's the difference between using ally switch to redirect dragon damage to a fairy type and just switching out to a fairy type in general? You still waste a move technically in both situations, the only difference is that the Mons on your field is still the same.
Just started getting into comp pokemon any tips?
@@catnoir4670 The main thing is to just play the game, maybe start with pre-built team and slowly understand what each Pokémon is doing until it's common sense you can also use Pokétubers to help you understand how to play, what does that move do, etc then at some point you can start to understand how to build your own team fit to your preferred playstyle However, most importantly, remember that this is a game played for fun, don't quit because you lose a lot when you start or because the RNG actively denies your wins for your entire play session that's it basically, play the game, understand it, then play the game with more knowledge
Commenting for the algorithm first video i seen from you. Good shit ❤
vacuum wave deserves to be higher. it goes nuts on ursaluna blood moon, being one of the only few fighting moves that is a special attack and also 100% accurate. ursaluna blood moon can even use it against ghost types because of it's ability, which allows it to hit ghost types with fighting moves (meaning it hits things like gholdengo for super-effective damage)
20:20 the sprite here is the ability shield, the item that prevents secondary effects on attacks is the covert cloak. Hope this helps :D
It’s clear amulet. Still used the wrong picture though😂
@@MattBudYT clear amulet prevents stat drops from opposing pokemon
I would personally put Water Shuriken above all the other priority moves you mentioned in that upper tier list. Being not only a special move, but a multi hitting one at that, really makes it useful and especially viable as an attack with the addition of Loaded Dice.
Love these types of videos Brother keep up your hard work 💙
Thank you❤️
Sooo. I just learned that bide became a priority move in gen 4 (I haven't used it since Brock used to hand it out back in gen 1)
They really used to hand out the worst moves as reward😂 Psywave from Sabrina comes to mind too
@@MattBudYT Yeah, things were rough back in the Gameboy days. The pain of raising a Gen 2 Heracross and having only reversal and Megahorn as good stab options will never leave me.
Doing negative prioty move differently make sense cause they play so differently then prioty moves in how they are used.
6:18 endure is extremely underrated when used with stuff like weak armor armarogue\ceruledge with beat up to give you instant x4 speed. throw on weakess policy and psychic terrain to block priority and you have an instant sweeper
The ADV OU Vapicuno team w momento/dual screen gardevoir and belly drum/extremespeed linoone is one of the most fun teams ive seen in a pre gen 5 meta
Ally Switch used to be better because you could use it Mimikyu, who used to not take damage when it's disguise was up and had a focus sash so you couldn't two hit it. Others like Cresselia is really annoying to deal with, with how much of a wall it can be. Also your opponent could run protect so you could try to predict the switch and just double into protect / if you try to split damage, the opponent might not switch and now you just did neglible damage into both slots or into protect / wide guard could also be used if you try to play around it with spread moves. The move was also way worse in closed team sheets since you could randomly face stuff like Smeargle running Ally Switch and now your ghost move did no damage.
My favorite signature move is Zippy Zap. It’s one of pikachu’s signature moves and it has +2 priority 50bp and always results in a critical hit.
Busted ass move lol
As a doubles player, the best part of ally switch is not even using it. Just knowing your opponent has it forces mind games and can make you make the wrong move and have the ally switch user do something else. And of course getting ally switched can win the game on the spot in some instances
For ally switch in gen 7 it never failed so imagine if every single turn it was coinflip at best if they used it or not. Gen 8 and onwards the move can fail in succession like protect and almost no one uses it anymore.
another thing I wanted to point out is you were wrong about the Grassy Glide calc for Gen 8. Terrain boosts were nerfed in Gen 8 to be only 1.3x power, meaning Grassy Glide would’ve had a base power of 91 in Gen 8.
Good video now I want to see the negative priority moves
Hitmontop be like Yo im faster than ya regieleki Regieleki: hah! Im over half then ya Hitmontop used fake out *flinches* AHHHHH
13:27 terrain was nerfed going into gen 8 before rila got to use the 1.5 luckily
Been playing pokemon for almost 30 years now and I never knew the move "powder" existed.
I actually like Powder (in concept, I’ve never used it). If it had better distribution it would be a cool doubles tool.
More Rock types need and a few other non-rock types. Accelerock. Rampardos(huge buff) Tyranitar Fossil Pokémon Terrakion Iron Boulder Gigalith Rhyperior Iron Thorns Tyranitar Coalossal H.Arcanine Ting-lu Minior Regirock Regigigas Deoyxs Necrozma Kleavor
Ally switch was nerfed going into Gen 9, but beforehand it was very uncompetitive. It turned every situation into a 50/50, which was made worse with dynamax and setup options. The simple solution is to taunt the opponent, but that’s not always feasible with most ally switch users having a way to block priority, have magic bounce, run mental herb, or just didn’t care. Not to mention, taunting the right slot was also a 50/50
Where would you have Zippy Zap ranked? Electric type, base 50 power, always crits
I don’t recognize those busted Let’s Go moves😂 But definitely top 5 if not top 3
Vacuum wave kartana to beat other kartana was a thing at one point lmao
The burger king foot lettuce reference got you an automatic sub
20:21 out of curiosity were you ment to put the covert cloak instead of the clear amulet as I’m pretty sure the clear amulet doesn’t stop flinching I think 🤔 Over all great video loved learn about new moves and would love to see how more uncommon moves you could buff (the powder buff is perfection!)
Yes, many people pointed this out. I got them mixed up in my head😅 Thanks for watching!
@@MattBudYT ah no worries happens all the time with me to! Have a good rest of the day!
Powder would be so good on a Steel/Bug, since their only weakness is Fire and it's a x4 weakness. I've used it in Hackmons and it's a riot to have your Scizor use Powder on a Pokemon that thinks they can kill you, only to stop them in their tracks.
So bullet punch is super effective against rock, ice and fairy... The super offense glass canon types, well maybe not rock. But that coverage in a priority move is useful af
Thanks for doing my request
No problem, it was a great idea. Can’t believe I forgot to screenshot and include your comment my bad bud😭
@@MattBudYT well can you include me next time with the sequel ranking every negative priority move in Pokémon please
That chills Burger King foot lettuce reference caught me off guard 🤣
ally switch is a funny move since it works with 2 turn attacks like giritina's shadow force
One time I was stuck in a Dina Max Raid with NPCs. One of them was an Eevee that kept spamming Helping Hand onto the other NPC's Wabafett, which kept spamming Counter and doing nothing. The third NPC had a Magicarp that one shoted the enemy with Hydropump.
Ah yes kept one kept "spamming" and one 1 shottes it . Wtf were you fighting after enemy was one shouted so that u said they kept spamming it
One last thing I wanted to mention. Why didn’t you include Protection moves on this list? There’s quite a few, and some have really good secondary effects as well.
0:21 I have another video dedicated to the protection moves
If you're doing priority moves you should do (max abd gmax moves by how broken they are) [I never played SWSH only smogon so I don't know much) or (z moves by their name)
hi my favorite priority move is sucker punch just because it's a Dark-type attack and Dark is my favorite type (i don't play competitive)
Upper hand is good because when i use it on my mega sceptile it catches most people off guard because no one expects mega sceptile to use it it is espe beneficial for ice shard👀🔥
Can you do best shiny of each type (in your opinion)
what about protect and detect?
I may have missed something, but what about Zippy Zap? That’s a partner Pikachu exclusive move that has +2 priority, 50bp, and always crits. Seems like a high placement to me
Those let’s go moves don’t exist to me😂
@@MattBudYT Fair enough lol
stick web magic coat araquanid was so epic sad that it lost it in gen 9
Ally switch on shedinja is the true terror
Just saying that follow me is 10x better than rage powder, since you can avoid rage powder with safety goggles so 😅
The counterplay options are why I put follow me above. Both effective moves though.
You're always my priority!
I wonder which would rank higher in VGC, Protect or Fake Out? I'm thinking Protect because I remember Wolfey saying that Protect is the backbone of VGC. I think it was in his video about how Urshifu is bad for the game. Fake Out is amazing, but Protect is necessary.
Likely protect for importance but hard to compare when one is universally distributed and one is less common. Like it Fake Out was available on every Pokemon it would change the game entirely on first turns. But since we know which mons run Fake Out it’s more manageable.
Snatch was so fun to use in competitive pkmn and it is such a shame for getting rid of it but I guess dark types are already as strong as they are.
A shame they removed such a fun move while keeping Razor Wind in the game
Next video idea: best and worst status moves by type
Upper hand actually sees play in VGC, it should definitely be higher, probably 1 tier up, and I would also drop ally switch down, with the change this generation to the move, it sees almost no play anymore, I have seen more Upper Hands than ally switches this gen.
Im sure you already know but for fake out counters you put clear amulet instead of covert cloak
Good catch😂 got them mixed up
Ally Switch is arguably as important as fake out in fgc
Play Pokémon rock paper scissors with Hitmonchan using focus punch, Mach punch, and upper hand Upper hand makes Mach punch flinch Mach punch makes focus punch break Focus punch ignores upper hand
Umm... I'm wondering, why didn't you put Protect and detect on the list ? They are priority moves (and great ones at that), but they don't make an appearance here ? Am I missing something ?
Yes, you skipped the intro (0:21) when I said I did all protect variations in another video already so I won’t be including them.
@@MattBudYTmy bad, must've forgotten you said that when I reached the end ^^'
I literally only used bide was to match Ash's goodras moveset in an Ash run
Almost agree. Just switch the Mach Punch and Bullet Punch positions.
If bullet punch had more good STAB users it would have more of a case to be higher in my eyes
you put clear amulet instead of covert cloak in the fake out section btw
11:48 Let me introduce to gen 8 ally switch shedinja
I play doubles way more than singles and honestly I thought sucker punch would be extreme speed but I guess I’m wrong.
Reminder that the multihit priorities get rid of the frail focus sash users
Follow me at 6 is probably fair since its useless in singles, but I did want to mention that its one of the all time best moves in doubles right up there with fake out. Its so good that GF really limits its distribution
I think you need to edit that bro 😅
@@toupr4770 thanks
Honestly what if someone put upper hand on a hitmonlee endure reversal set? Feel like that would be pretty decent
That’s the exact set of the Hitmonlee clips I have from the Haydunn video
oh damn my b I was just tuning into the audio lol
Pure hackmons wonder guard scizor using priority powder
I didn't know half of these were Priority moves
Funny thing about Fake Out: In Gen 7, combining Ambipom with Max P. Attack investment, Technician, & Fake Out boosted by a Normal Gem(which you can find a INFINITE number of them, with one respawning every few days), you can boost the 40 BP to 60 from Technician, 90 with STAB, & 135 FROM THE NORMAL GEM. Busted.
Ambipom is definitely the best fake out abuser in singles
@@MattBudYT Right? Even against Pokémon with a 4X Normal-Type Resistance(like the Aron line), it can still do fairly significant damage, to break their Sturdy! Ambipom may be in NU(in SV), but it's still my favorite Mono-Type Technician abuser.
@@ShiningSilvally I used it in my last draft league and just the threat of it’s fake out is enough to force switches and you can get a free sub off. I used this to bait a zamazenta in during playoffs to substitute/focus punch KO it😂
@@MattBudYT BRO, THAT'S FILTHY! A fast WALL, like Zamazenta being taken down by one of the most unintuitive Fighting-Type Moves?! I never use Focus Punch, and you use it against one of the most bulky Legendaries, with a Pokémon with NO STAB?! Bruh. I'm never getting into competitive, with that.
@@ShiningSilvally I had some other techs like Curse A. Marowk that did some work. Here’s the replay if you wanted to see. replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexag-2057865773-vwviypl4vnopwpb03bdiwyvanopmn7spw
This video was on my top priority to watch so where does that rank?
#1 in my heart
What about pursuit?
20:20 I think that's the wrong item. Covert Cloak is the item that blocks secondary effects.
Imagine if Viola's Vivillon knew Powder just to fuck with anyone who chose Fennekin. I'm a Fennekin enjoyer and even I would like that change.
Follow me is better than every other priority move than fake out by a large margin in doubles, and some even see it as the best priority move of all. Follow me/ rage powder should be 3rd and 4th.
Water shuriken loaded dice!
Grassy glide needs to be way higher on the list. Why? It’s on nearly every team in vgc now. Whether it be ogerpon or rillaboom, the moe is broken
Mach punch
for some reason I always think U-turn is a priority move
didn't snatch Incineroar win the 2018 VGC championships?
But have you considered that I really like haydunn’s video using upper hand? Hmmm didn’t think so
I did consider that, that’s why I used it😅
@@MattBudYT S-tier then, no excuses
did I miss kings shield and spiky shield?
0:21 the protection variations have their own video
@@MattBudYT ah you did say that, I think I erased that from my brain when I saw Endure
17:16 bro really searched buff palafin…. U know d*mn well he saw the rule 34 pictures when he searched that too. Hope you liked what ya saw Matt. 😆😆😆😈
The only question is, which one to rank first 🤔
Pursuit?
Didn’t include it because, while it does attack a mon switching out, it generally isn’t classed as a priority move as it will act at 0 priority otherwise.
The best priority move ever has to either be Roost or Brave Bird in gen 6 with Gale Wings
If we open that can of worms then I have to consider every prankster boosted move🫠
Next do negative priority
There’s not a lot of them but it might make for a nice short little video
NO MORE DEX CUT IN ALL THE FUTURE POKEMON GAMES!
Follow Me should have definitely been separated from Rage Powder. Grass and Safety Goggles counter Rage Powder but there is no counter to Follow Me
Pay attention and you’ll see I mentiojed all of that and also had Follow me in the higher slot
@@MattBudYT I should have clarified, that I mean it should have been considerably higher, in my opinion. I understand the argument for RP having more availability, but I think it's a considerable difference to each other, rather than directly next to each other
Where is Protect? This is one of the most influential priority moves of all time. Heck I'd probably put it above Fake Out for Doubles.
0:21 I already ranked all protect variations in a seperate video, feel free to check it out. Too diferent to rank in here plus I recently made that video so it would be redundant to include them here.
Ahh that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the reply!@@MattBudYT
Nah you underate powder. 25% and you don't take damage is very high reward since the mons that have the move are weak to fire they also bait that response out. People did use it in gen 7 vgc every so often.
I don’t think I do. If distribution was better I’d consider it higher, but it needs a distribution and power buff bad.
9:50 how tanky is that driffbloom
Looks like +6 sp.def with Ice Scales ability
Upper Hand easily rank 1
You know shedinja gets ally switch right?