Competitive Pokemon History - Feraligatr Trivia Game

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Feraligatr in its debut generation looks good on paper, but in practice, it is just about totally useless in standard play due to one crippling flaw that it shares with some other unfortunate souls in the meta. What is this flaw?

Answer: Its stats are in the wrong place

Feraligatr's base 105 Attack complemented by good defenses and a good mono-Water defensive typing looks good, until you realize it doesn't actually get a STAB move to benefit off of that meaty Attack stat. In addition, Feraligatr's Special Attack stat is a paltry base 79, and its Speed is a mediocre base 78.

Its bulk is decent, and it does have access to a decent physical movepool, with options such as Earthquake, Rock Slide, Dynamic Punch and the user's choice of a physical Hidden Power. However, none of these options get STAB on Feraligatr, meaning it has to be hitting super effectively to do good damage most of the time. Feraligatr would've been better suited with higher Special Attack than Attack, and because its stats are poorly aligned, it never had a chance to see the light of day in standard play during its debut generation.

2. Overall, what usage based tier was Feraligatr in during its debut generation?

Answer: NeverUsed's Banned List

Feraligatr was mercifully at least legal in UU, where it was actually a pretty decent Pokemon. It checked the queen of the tier in Nidoqueen, and it also checked other titans such as Haunter, Scyther and (barely) Electabuzz. Because of its good bulk, it could afford to trade blows with just about anything.

Unfortunately, Feraligatr doesn't have a defined niche in UU thanks to its awkward statbuild and movepool, which makes it into more of an 'anti meta' selection for most teams. In this context, an anti meta Pokemon is one who fares very well against the meta's best Pokemon, but doesn't do too, too much otherwise- this best describes Feraligatr's UU presence, and also explains why it didn't see enough usage in the tier to be natively UU.

It was tried out in NU, but was found to be far too powerful overall for the tier, and was thus banned to NeverUsed's Banned List in its debut generation.

3. The third generation bestowed upon Feraligatr an ability. What ability was this?

Answer: Torrent

Torrent boosts the user's Water type attacks when their HP falls to 25% or lower. Abilities of this kind were, and have always been, mainstays amongst starter Pokemon, and Feraligatr has been no exception. Sadly, Feraligatr's mediocre Special Attack and Speed holds it back from making the most use of this ability. With its movesets being predominantly physical, it often invests little in its Special Attack, causing its Hydro Pumps to be fairly uninspiring even when getting the Torrent boost.

4. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was Feraligatr's standard play viability built in one generation. Still, it gained one key cog which would help it attain that status in future generations, in the form of a new move in the third generation. What move was this?

Answer: Swords Dance

Swords Dance was a nice add to Feraligatr's repertoire, and allowed its physical attacks, even without STAB, to be pretty threatening. While it wasn't close to making Feraligatr good in standard play, it at least let it be a lot better in UnderUsed, being the tier's premiere mixed attacker.

5. Feraligatr would be built up even more in the fourth generation, among the biggest beneficiaries of a brand new mechanic to the game. What mechanic was this?

Answer: The physical/special split

Stealth Rock and a bigger movepool were both traits which helped Feraligatr, but neither could hold a candle to the physical/special split. Feraligatr could finally run physical STAB moves, enabling it to be even more threatening. Unfortunately, Feraligatr wasn't the only sheriff in town that benefitted from this exact trait- Gyarados also gained this boost, and it was all-around superior to Feraligatr in almost every way.

This stopped Feraligatr from finding use in standard play, but again it would be a pretty effective UnderUsed Pokemon.

6. Fittingly, Feraligatr's movepool received major expansion again. Which of the following is a key new move it got during the fourth generation?

Answer: Aqua Jet

Aqua Jet gave Feraligatr helpful priority to stave off revenge killing attempts, let Feraligatr become a competent revenge killer itself, and let it fare excellently against opposing offensive teams in general. This gave it a niche that was hard to find in other setup sweepers. It also complemented Swords Dance and helped to patch up Feraligatr's low Speed in the process.

7. Feraligatr was set to fall a bit in the fifth generation, but Dream World would come to the rescue and give Feraligatr a sizable boost. What was Feraligatr's new Dream World ability?

Answer: Sheer Force

Sheer Force boosts the user's Attacks if they have secondary effects by one stage, in exchange for preventing those secondary effects from ever occurring. Notably, if an Attack is being effected by Sheer Force and Feraligatr is holding a Life Orb, Feraligatr will not experience the Life Orb's recoil inducing effects.

Not only does this give Feraligatr a lot more power, but it also improves its longevity consideably- making setup opportunities easier to find and far more profitable.

8. While Feraligatr's needle was firmly pointing up, and it was finally seeing standard play viability, this came at the cost of encountering a Pokemon in sixth generation standard play who would function as a counter to it. As a counter is defined as a Pokemon who can reliably switch in, which Pokemon fit this description?

Answer: Mega Venusaur

The other three can somewhat check Feraligatr, but they are far from counters. Mega Venusaur, on the other hand, resists Water, isn't weak to anything Feraligatr can run thanks to Thick Fat, has good bulk to take hits from Feraligatr with, and can take it down with a couple Giga Drains or destroy it with Leaf Storm.

It can do this even if it switches in as Feraligatr sets up a Dragon or Swords Dance, making it a counter by definition.

9. The introduction of Z-Moves and many good abusers of them in the seventh generation gave Feraligatr, who couldn't effectively use them, stiff competition. It did see standard play viability in the fifth and sixth generations, but would that persist in the seventh?

Answer: No

Feraligatr got to enjoy its 15 minutes of standard play viability, but it was no match for the massive power levels of seventh generation standard play. Because it relied on Sheer Force, Feraligatr was generally constrained to running Life Orb for an item.

While it could fit on teams which already had designated a Z-Move user, its power was now somewhat lacking even with Sheer Force, while its Speed was truly abysmal by OU standards for an offensive Pokemon. Still, Feraligatr was a deadly force in UU play, so it was far from a bad overall Pokemon.

10. Feraligatr ended off the seventh generation in mostly the same way it began its competitive career; not strong enough for standard play, but a good UnderUsed threat. However, it gained numerous tools along the way and, where other Pokemon would've sunk into obscurity in lower tiers, Feraligatr remained afloat for the most part. Which of the following is an example of a huge improvement Feraligatr received over its lengthy journey from generations 2-7?

Answer: An excellent new ability

Sheer Force was monumental in elevating Feraligatr to new competitive heights, then in making sure it didn't fall too far when the going got particularly rough from the game's power creep. Feraligatr could've done with more Speed for sure, but overall, there have been many Pokemon who have had it worse.

Source: Author cavalier87

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor kyleisalive before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Competitive Pokemon History - Feraligatr Quiz

Now we've got the king of the "gatrs" and Johto's final evolved form of the Water type starter, it's Feraligatr! See how much you know about this beast on the competitive scene, from generations 2-7!

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