How Good Was Ditto Actually

If y'all're familiar with Pokémon's competitive scene, you'll know that there are sure critters that dominate play. In any given metagame, there volition be Pokémon that rise in a higher place the rest and others that are forgotten. Afterwards all, if you want to exist the best (like no-one ever was), you've got to use the best.

In that location are a lot of Pokémon that aren't exactly bad, per se but take a very niche use. Lots of players tend to re-create the more successful competitive teams, which don't oftentimes have room for these quirkier picks. Today, nosotros're throwing the spotlight on one of these niche Pokémon: Ditto. Why should you have ane in your party, and why should y'all avoid information technology?

10 GOOD IDEA: Convenance, Breeding, Convenance

And then, we'll go the most obvious virtue of Ditto out of the fashion right off the bat. If you're a veteran Pokémon player, i thing will come straight to mind when y'all retrieve of Ditto: the number of times you've dropped the squelchy niggling affair off at the Pokémon Twenty-four hours Care.

Yes, Ditto is absolutely invaluable when it comes to convenance. Information technology'southward able to brood with every Pokémon capable of doing then (the just exception being those in the Undiscovered egg group and other Dittos), and can too pass on its Nature and some IVs when holding the right particular. If you're a serious battler, you'll definitely desire to go along an army of Ditto on hand.

9 BAD Idea: It'due south So Inconsistent

There's no doubt this adorable blob of gelatinous cuteness has its uses in the games. When it comes to battles themselves, though, y'all can never be quite sure what you lot're going to get from information technology.

Ditto's whole gimmick, of course, is that information technology transforms into the opponent facing it when it'due south sent out. Needless to say, then, that sort of strategy is going to have mixed results. It's all about the timing. A poorly played Ditto can have absolutely no impact on the friction match at all. Consistency is key in Pokémon (which is why weaker moves that are more accurate tend to exist preferred), and Ditto is very tough to use by nature.

8 Expert Idea: It's Much Better Since It Gained The Imposter Ability

Every bit we know, Ditto itself is capable of learning only one move: Transform. In Generation I through Iv, it was forced to apply this movement on its first turn in society to become a copy of the opponent facing information technology. Sadly, it rarely got the chance to do so, as that usually meant taking a hit with Ditto's own abysmal base of operations defenses.

In short, it was all but impossible to use effectively. Pokémon Blackness and White finally threw Ditto a bone, withal, in the form of its exclusive Hidden Ability: Imposter. With this Power, it automatically transforms into its opponent on striking the field. It'south still very tough to apply, of course, but it'due south really functional now. As far as Ditto itself is concerned, this is right upward in that location with Intimidate every bit one of the all-time Abilities in the series.

7 BAD IDEA: Main Game Coverage Lost

Equally fans know, Pokémon parties consist of simply half dozen members, each with a mere four moveslots. In the main story, just nigh annihilation goes, but competitive battlers will agonize over exactly which part they want each Pokémon to perform (and which moves to requite them to all-time reach that).

Fifty-fifty for the campaign itself, you'll want to exist certain yous've got a good mix of coverage on your team. This is something else that Ditto only cannot evangelize, because it's entirely dependent on what the other team brings to the table. In that regard, y'all're almost playing with a five-Pokémon team.

half-dozen Adept Idea: It Can Be Much, Much Scarier Than You Thought

As we've mentioned, then, Ditto is a very niche pick. It's a Pokémon that can either be crushed into distressing, salty chunks of defeat and failure or singlehandedly flatten the opposing team. Information technology's very hard to apply effectively, yes, just when unleashed at just the correct moment, information technology tin can be an incredible thing to behold.

You meet, Ditto doesn't only imitate its opponent's stats. It imitates their current stats, including whatsoever and all boosts they may have accumulated. Pick Scarf Ditto, then, is an fantabulous revenge killer. Its specialty is instantly turning the tables on setup sweepers, by outspeeding them and taking them downwards with their ain moves.

v BAD Thought: It's Worse Than (Almost) Everything

So, yes. Y'all probably similar the thought of nabbing the other histrion's ain super strong, super fast setup sweeper and sending them careening dorsum into their Poké Brawl so fast it makes their heads spin. Ditto's stat-copying mechanic is a brilliant asset.

There's something you've got to be wary of, though. Whatever happens, Ditto will e'er keep its own HP after transforming. As Ditto's own stats are all a feeble base of operations 48, this essentially guarantees that it volition ever have less HP than the Pokémon it's copying (usually a whole lot less). Couple that with the PP problems we'll get into afterward, and Ditto is essentially always a worse duplicate of the Pokémon it's imitating.

4 GOOD IDEA: The Fear It Causes In Team Preview

No, this ambrosial footling pink clamper of smiling jello probably doesn't await all that terrifying to the untrained centre. Experienced Pokémon players, even so, will know exactly how frightening it can be to see this tiny terror popular upwards on the team preview screen.

Having a Ditto on your squad, knowing that your opponent knows that y'all have it, tin can make for some excellent mind games. It affects the fashion they play if their strategy is built around enabling a cardinal Pokémon's sweep. When volition that Ditto popular up? What'south the game plan for working around it? Ditto isn't especially pop, so it's a factor that oftentimes isn't considered during team-edifice and can throw a real spanner in the works.

3 BAD IDEA: PP Issues

Besides as its middling HP, Ditto has another downside when compared to the original Pokémon it's imitating. It will take the same moveset, of course, but each of the four moves volition just take five PP.

If it stays in the battle for a protracted period, so, information technology's very vulnerable to running out of PP entirely (especially when faced with opponents rocking the Force per unit area Ability, which doubles PP use). This is nevertheless some other thing that makes Ditto such a potential liability (though there is also the possibility of switching around to regain that PP to prevent stalling).

2 Proficient Thought: An Interesting Claiming

As nosotros've seen, then, Ditto is a very unique Pokémon that doesn't play quite similar whatsoever other. This is always refreshing to meet, specially in a competitive environs where the aforementioned picks tend to crop up over and over.

Whether you're playing through the main story or enjoying casual or more serious battles with other players, bringing a Ditto into the mix will brand things much more interesting. Why non effort a Ditto-centric claiming? In Feb 2018, YouTube's Pikasprey Yellow defied the odds and completed a run through Generation I using but a single Ditto!

ane BAD IDEA: It Just Doesn't 'Fit' On A Team

So, there we are. When all'south said and washed, Ditto could be seen as the apotheosis of confirmation bias in the Pokémon scene. This concept revolves effectually the fact that a actor could employ their favorite Pokémon in an obscure way, become some bully results with that odd strategy once or twice, then merits that it really works.

The fact of the matter is, all the times information technology didn't work could have been mitigated if the thespian had opted for a more than standard, tried-and-true team pick. That'south often the instance with Ditto: when it works, it actually, really works, just when information technology doesn't, you'd have been far better off with something else a lot of the time.

Adjacent: Pokémon: 10 Ways You're (Unintentionally) Making The Game Harder On Yourself