It was an interesting move on Game Freak's part to not include the National PokeDex in Pokemon Sword and Shield. While no Pokemon have been added to༺ that roster since the Crown Tundra DLC, the Brilliant Diamo⛎nd and Shining Pearl roster gave fans access to all Pokemon from the first four generations.
However, that leaves three other generations with Pokemon still completely absent in Generation Eight. While the National Dex's arguable strongest members (i.e. Legendaries and pseudo-Legendaries) are present, some standouts are absent, including a few starters and Mythicals. With how newer games have turned out, it wouldn't be farfetched to see these ten Pokemon return at some point, but they're absent for the meantime.
Updated on December 7, 2021, by Kyle Laurel: With the Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl rosters bringing back some familiar faces, such Pokemon that were once on this list have been removed and others added. If you want to see how those returning Pokemon fare against each other, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:check them out here!
10 Samurott
This Generation Five Water-type doesn't stand a chance against the upper echelon of starter Pokemon. But in lower-tier competitive battling, Samurott can dominate as a wallbreaker and even sweeper given the right circumstance.
It's balanced offensively having both good Attack and Special Attack. Its attacking movepool is quite wide, having coverage options like Megahorn, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Ice Beam, Grass Knot, Air Slash, and Superpower alongside its selection of STAB moves and a set-up move in Swords Dance. It even has a few utility moves like Taunt, Toxic, and Knock Off under its belt. Unfortunately, it doesn't boast much else besides its attacking power, being subpar in terms of both Speed and bulk.
9 Delphox
Generation Six's Fire-type starter is a prototypical special attacker when looking at its stats. It has great Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed, which works great since both the Fire- and Psychic-types have excellent special moves.
Speaking of which, Delphox has great coverage moves to go alongside its STAB moves, with Grass Knot, Shadow Ball, and Dazzling Gleam being good, solid base-power choices, all of which can be boosted further by a turn of Calm Mind. Where it truly lacks is not having a solid ability, especially in comparison to other starters; other Fire-ty🍬pes like Bla🍰ziken, Incineroar, and Cinderace get tons more usage thanks to their excelle🃏ꦿnt hidden abilities.
8 Emboar
Staying on the topics of Fire-type starters and their hidden abilities, Emboar is best known competitively for Reckless, an ability that fits like a glove with moves like STAB Flare Blitz. That and its best coverage option, Wild Charge, are staples, while other solid attacking moves like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Superpower, Earthquake, Stone Edge, and Sucker Punch ro𒀰und out its physical movepool.
That said, it has a hard time making a case for itself over other wallbreakers due to the innately self-destructive nature of its best movesets. It's at its best breaking down slow, high-defense walls, since it has the attack power to put dents in them and they're the best opponents for hiding its low Speed and defensive stats.
7 Meloetta
This Generation Five Mythical really doesn't have access to its Pirouette Forme competitively, with it requiring the use of a subpar attacking move in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the signature Relic Song, but its base Aria Forme can do some work in middle tiers with its relatively high Special Attack and Special Defense. That said, it works best with a little boost 𓂃from either Choice Specs or a turn of Calm Mind, especially with its mediocre 90 Speed holding it back somewhat.
However it rolls, it does so with a very wide movepool, including STAB Hyper Voice, STAB Psychic or Psyshock,💫 and coverage🐷 moves like Focus Blast, Dazzling Gleam, Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt, and Energy Ball.
6 🎐 Chesnaught
Generation Six's Grass-type starter has proven to be 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:underrated in a lot of areas, and that includes its competitive prowess. In the two generations where it was available, it found itself firmly in Smogon's UnderUsed tier, working as a dependable utility Pokemon with solid offensive potential.
It's best known for its physical bulk, the Bulletproof hidden ability, and its access to the offbeat Spikes entry hazard, with other moves like Toxic, Roar, Leech Seed, and its signature Spiky Shield also being good utility options. Offensively, it has a good 107 Attack, employed via good STAB moves like Wood Hammer and Drain Punch. It has terrible Special Defense, so be wary of any special wallbreakers.
5 Alomomola
This Generation Five Water-type is the definition of being better than the sum of your parts. Despite a low 470 base stat total and having OK-to-terrible stats across the board besides HP, it's made a name for itself competitively as an excellent mid-to-high-tier defensive Pokemon, thanks to its excellent defensive typing and access to the Regenerator ability.
Its best stat aside from HP is its Defense, making it a good blanket check to physical attackers. It really doesn't do much offensively from an attacking perspective, but it works as a designated support player and cleric, with Wish and Protect as staples and Toxic, Knock Off, and Scald also being suitable.
4 Florges
Florges is the definition of a special wall, boasting a defensively proficient pure Fairy-typing and a massive 154 Special Defense. It's not just a pure hit-taker, either - it has a surprising amount of tools in its bag from an offensive perspective.
It also has a very good 112 Special Attack, making it good offensively in a pinch with STAB Moonblast as a reliable attacking move. It's an excellent cleric, having access to not only Wish for its teammates, but also the Grass-type Synthesis for more immediate healing and Aromatherapy for status conditions. None of its defensive prowess applies to the physical end, however, with its bad 68 Defense being its main flaw.
3 Hoopa
Hoopa, of course, comes in two forms, Confined and Unbound. Confined is a solid mid-tier wallbreaker, boasting 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:an underrated Psychic/Ghost-typing and a 150 Special Attack stat that doesn't require a boost of any kind to deal good damage. Unbound, however, is considerably more viable thanks to better stats and access to the move Hyperspace Fury.
Despite their considerable power, however, both forms have flaws that really stick out when comparing it to other Legendaries and Mythical༺s with high base stat totals. Both have terrible physical Defense and mediocre Speed, which holds them back from being truly elite wallbreakers. Unbound in particular i⭕s quad-weak to U-Turn, which really limits its potential.
2 Serperior
Out of all the cu♏rrently absent starters, Serperior is squarely the second-most viable, thanks to the shenanigans it can pull off offensively.
What makes 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:this pure Grass-type unique is its hidden ability, Contrary, and the moves that are affected by it. Contrary reverses stat changes, so when paired with the powerful STAB move such as Leaf Storm that usually lowers the user's Special Attack by two stages, it boosts it by two stages instead. Its stat spread doesn't make it particularly stand out as an offensive threat, but when given turns to boost up either of its Attack stats, Serperior can be an excellent sweeper.
1 Greninja
It's wild to think that what was once an honorary mascot of the franchise is not even available to use in the current generation. Greninja is the most alarming Pokemon absence in Generation Eight, competitively and popularity-wise.
Its hidden ability, Protean, is identical to Cinderace's Libero, where it becomes the type of the move it uses. However, whereas Cinderace is more of a physical threat, Greninja is more of a special one, and its movepool reflects that. An equally powerful and arguably more popular alternative is the Ash-Greninja form, which would be even more valuable in Generation Eight's meta where Mega Evolution is completely absent.