Why does Game Freak hate physical attackers?

Imagine if Trick Room or something like it changed all those things to effect Special Attacks instead

Because if not for those things Physical attackers would be like three times better than Special attackers and they're alright slightly better even with those things holding them back

>>28623700
Physical attackers got better buff moves though. Swords Dance is even a TM.

>>28623734
There are very few punishments for being a special attacker. Hell, there are even some special attacks that deal physical damage, such as psyshock or secret sword.

Physical Attackers have:

>huge access to Swords Dance, nearly every fucking pokemon get it whereas fucking no one gets Nasty Plot
>dragon dance has good distribution
>physical attackers get accurate high power moves with less ridiculous drawbacks compared to high powered special moves (HJK, CC, Flare Blitz, Return, Earthquake, Power Whip, Gunk Shot, Brave Bird, Acrobatics, etc etc)
>physical attackers get elemental fangs and punches
>physical attackers don't have to deal with fucking Blissey and Chansey
>physical attackers get U-Turn
>physical attackers get priority
>physical attackers have dedicated abilities that boost physical damage whereas there is no special equivalents
>let me reiterate that physical attackers get FUCKING EARTHQUAKE

The fact that chansey and blissey exist makes special attackers want to end it all.

>>28623790
There are also very few rewards unlike Physical

>>28623734
this, tbhq

>>28623797
>huge access to Swords Dance
You've got me there, but not many of the things that learn it can pull it off successfully.
>dragon dance has good distribution
Good point again, although speaking of boosting moves I'd say that Calm Mind is stronger than Bulk Up due to distribution.
>physical attackers get accurate high power moves
I would prefer fire blast over flare blitz any day. Fair point with HJK and CC, but that's just due to focus blast being ass.
>physical attackers get elemental fangs and punches
What? Plenty of special attackers get ice beam, thunderbolt, or flamethrower / fire blast, all of which are much stronger.
>physical attackers don't have to deal with fucking Blissey and Chansey
But they do have to deal with Ferrothorn, Landorus, Skarmory, Garchomp, etc.
>physical attackers get U-Turn
Special attackers get volt switch.
>physical attackers have dedicated abilities that boost physical damage whereas there is no special equivalents
True, but that's basically suicidal with rocky helmets all over the place. None of the users of those abilities are particularly effective at it.
>let me reiterate that physical attackers get FUCKING EARTHQUAKE
Not that big of a deal anymore, although I agree that it should be 90 base power.

Oh, and how could I forget, the cherry on top, Hidden Power.

Natural Gift is good though right?

>>28623844
Not having any significant disadvantages is a pretty good reward. Chansey and Blissey are pretty much the only thing to deter special attackers.

>>28623963
Every physical attacker that learns Sword Dance uses it successfully. There's only like 10 pokemon in the entire game that don't learn swords dance.

Fucking no one bothers using moves like Fire Blast instead of their lower BP equivalents like Flamethrower. The accuracy hurts too much.
Flare Blitz is huge power for little drawback.

There are maybe 5 pokemon in the entire series that learn every special beam move while nearly every single thing with fists learns the punches.

Chansey and Blissey are a million time harder to deal with for special attackers than any of those are, especially since special attackers are terrible at setting up because lmao no boosting moves.

Volt Switch is ass compared to U-turn. Too many common things are completely immune to it.


>none of those abilities are particularly effective
Tough Claws, Technician and Huge Power aren't effective? You're fucking retarded.

>earthquake isn't that effective anymore
lmao

>>28623963
The only non-electric types with Volt Switch are the Klink Line and... Cobalion and Forretress for some reason, whereas U-Turn has huge distribution

I don't know shit about competitive though

There's also the fact that special attackers typically have non existent move pools while nearly every physical attacker will get fucking QuakeEdge Swords Dance and the punches.

>>28623963
Volt Switch has shit distro and is outright nulled by ground types unlike U-Turn

>>28624076
To be fair, lots of things use Fire Blast. It has 85% accuracy, same as some of the moves you listed like Power Whip and higher accuracy than Gunk Shot. It'd make more sense if you listed Thunder or Blizzard since barely anyone runs those moves without their weather.

>>28623700

Physical attackers also get good movepools with strong and accurate attacks, while Special attackers have to rely on stuff like Focus Blast.

>>28624076
>Every physical attacker that learns Sword Dance uses it successfully
Not really. Anything slow with no priority moves has difficulty making use of it.
>Fucking no one bothers using moves like Fire Blast instead of their lower BP equivalents like Flamethrower
And by nobody you mean everybody? 85 accuracy isn't that bad, it's nearly as good as HJK. I'd say the low PP count is a bigger pain than the accuracy.
>There are maybe 5 pokemon in the entire series that learn every special beam move
Plenty of things learn thunderbolt or ice beam or both, which is all you really need combined with your STAB for good coverage. And even if they don't, everything has hidden power, which is nearly as strong as the elemental fangs you mentioned earlier.
>special attackers are terrible at setting up because lmao no boosting moves
what
>Volt Switch is ass compared to U-turn. Too many common things are completely immune to it.
It's a pretty fair trade off compared to rough skin / rocky helmet shenanigans
>Tough Claws, Technician and Huge Power aren't effective?
Most things with technician or huge power are terrible to make up for having those abilities

>>28623700
>despite all of that stuff you listed, physical attackers are still significantly stronger than special attackers in general
Really makes you think

>>28624474
I think that's mostly due to other factors. A lot of physical attackers have crazy high stats, great types, good abilities, and decent movepools to work with, especially after the ridiculous knock off buff.

Special attackers often have pitiful types, and terrible defenses. Compare Bisharp to something like Gengar, Alakazam, Starmie, or even Thundurus. They really like giving special attackers horrible defenses.

Because most of those drawbacks make sense for physically attacks

If you want to punch a guy with a helmet and spikes in it, you're gonna get hurt

If you want to punch an electric cable, you're gonna get zapped

If you wanna punch a guy That's on FUCKING FIRE, chances are you'll get burned


How do you make it all make sense for special attacks? If you throws a bucket of water at a guy, chances are his spikes won't hurt you. Thinking really hard in the general area of the guy on fire is probably also not gonna backfire because, again, you're not actually touching the fire.

It's literaly all flavor

If you perform a jumping kick at 40 mph, miss, and then crash into a wall your knee caps will explode.

>>28624730
But there are plenty of ways to punish special attackers that can logically exist.

For example, why is there no special equivalent to intimidate? Or how about foul play? Or a status that halves special attack?

>tfw the most of the time, my entire team is just special attackers
It's subconscious. I'm not sure why I would do this because the early game is ripe with attack/speed EVs

>>28623963
>I would prefer fire blast over flare blitz any day.
That just makes you an idiot desu.

>>28623700
Most of those things affect Grass Knot and not Earthquake, so it's really contact v non-contact.

>>28625043
>use flare blitz on ferrothorn
>lose 117 HP, plus 1/8 HP from iron barbs, plus 1/6 HP from rocky helmet

>use fire blast on ferrothorn
>85% of the time it dies and nothing else happens

>>28624642
Well, yeah, that is the balance. Physical attackers have better stats/ options, special attackers don't have to worry about contact move downsides or recoil.

>>28625183
Seems like such an odd way to balance it, though. And it really screws over physical attackers with poor movepools, especially normal types.

>>28625272
Well, don't forget that there are abilities and moves that benefit from contact, as well. Poison touch, for instance.

>>28624076
>There are maybe 5 pokemon in the entire series that learn every special beam move while nearly every single thing with fists learns the punches.
>what are normal types
46 mons learn all the beam moves
Granted a lot more learn all the punches