Despite the fact that there are hundreds of different moves in Pokemon that are spread out between egg moves, Tutor moves, TMs, and TRs, not to mention all of the moves learned via level-up, players tend to fall into the few moves that they are comfortable using. While there are many different Fire-type attacks in Pokemon, most players will choose either Flamethrower or Flare Blitz depending on the Pokemon using it.
That being said, there are plenty of moves in Pokemon that don’t get the love they deserve, either due to them being underpowered, too niche to make a strategy out of, or just being inferior to other similar moves. This doesn’t mean that they should be forgotten altogether, as many of them can be very useful despite their flaws.
10 TM02 Pay Day
Pay Day has been around since Red & Blue and was a great way for players to get extra money in the generation one games. Since there was no way to rematch against trainers, it was possible to soft-lock your progression if you ran out of money before completing the Safari Zone. Found in Motostoke in Sword & Shield, Pay Day can be a great way for players to make some extra money while not having to stop to grind out Watts in the Wild Area or use the Digging Duo over and over again. Although only the Meowth line can learn the move by level up, just about every Pokemon can learn it via TM.
9 TM23 Thief
The only thing as bad as not having enough money to buy Pokeballs, Potions, or other TMs is not having the right held or evolution items you need to power up your team. Like many other TMs, TM23 Thief can be found in Hammerlocke and can help a lot in finding difficult-to-obtain evolution items, such as the Metal Coat or Dragon Scale needed to evolve Scyther, Onix, or Seadra. Nearly every Pokemon in Sword & Shield has a chance to hold some kind of item, so it can be worth using Thief on everything you come across to see what you can get.
8 Weather Condition Moves
While the abilities are generally better, this doesn’t mean you should avoid using Sandstorm, Rain Dance, Sunny Day, or Hail altogether. Since weather condition abilities activate in turn priority order, slower Pokemon often have the advantage over faster ones when it comes to setting up weather conditions, which is a problem for the likes of Pelipper and Alolan Ninetales.
Putting one of these moves on a Pokemon with Prankster can alleviate this issue since they are guaranteed to go first in battle unless they are up against a faster Pokemon that also has the Prankster ability.
7 TM37 Beat Up
Although Beat Up has a unique niche in some competitive teams (using the move to attack one of your own team members that have the Justified ability), it also has a use in the main game itself. Since TM37 can be found relatively early on Route 3, it is particularly useful if players are trying to make the most out of an early-game Dark-type Pokemon like Nuzleaf or Thievul. It also becomes even more powerful as a main attacking move on Alolan Persian, which can also have the Technician ability to power up each hit of the attack.
6 TM41 Helping Hand
Although Helping Hand is essentially useless in the main game, since there are very few mandatory double battles, it becomes much more useful once you have finished the game and unlocked the Battle Tower. Found in Motostoke, this move increases the damage dealt by a teammate in battle by 50%. In Max Raid battles, Helping Hand effects can also be stacked onto one Pokemon for a maximum boost of 237%.
5 TM46 Weather Ball
While Weather Ball has been around for quite a while, usually seen as the signature move of the underwhelming Castform, it made somewhat of a resurgence in Sword & Shield, though not because the move got inherently better.
With the complete lack of Hidden Power in generation eight, it’s a lot harder for Pokemon that relied on it for coverage to have the same move diversity through other attacks, which is where Weather Ball comes in. Not only does it allow the likes of Venusaur to use a Fire-type attack in the Sun to deal with Steel-types, but it also grants Electric-types likes Jolteon a Water-type attack in the Rain, something that helps greatly when dealing with opposing Ground-type Pokemon.
4 Terrain Moves
Like moves that trigger weather conditions, the abilities that trigger them when the Pokemon is sent into battle are generally better in every way, but that doesn’t mean that Grassy, Misty, Psychic, and Electric Terrain shouldn’t be used at all. Considering the lack of Pokemon with the Surge abilities, adding Terrain moves to a Pokemon could benefit them in the long run.
Moves like Grassy Glide, Misty Explosion, and Steel Roller are all decent moves, but they also require a Terrain to be active in order to be effective. While players could simply use one of the newly available Tapus, this isn’t always effective if the opponent is using similar Pokemon themselves.
3 TM82 Electro Web
There’s a reason that Ash’s Pikachu decided to learn this attack rather than keep Electro Ball in the anime. While the damage output leaves a little to be desired, the fact that it always reduces the speed of a Pokemon hit with the attack makes it a great addition to any speedy Pokemon in generation eight, where turn priority can change in the middle of battle rather than only being set at the beginning of the turn. Regieleki can make particularly good use of this move seeing how it is easily the fastest Pokemon in the series, though it can also be leaned by several Bug-type Pokemon for some decent coverage as well.
2 TM98 Stomping Tantrum
For the most part, the best Ground-type moves are Earthquake and Earth Power, depending on whether the Pokemon using it needs a physical or special attack. While High Horsepower is a good single target alternative to Earthquake, its 90 accuracy makes it less reliable than other attacks, such as Stomping Tantrum with an accuracy of 100. Found on Route 10, Stomping Tantrum can be a good alternative to Earthquake, especially if the player is doing a lot of double battles. It not only prevents the partner Pokemon from taking damage but also doubles in damage if it is blocked by Protect.
1 TM99 Breaking Swipe
For the most part, Dragon-type moves are all about dishing out as much damage as possible through the likes of Outrage, Draco Meteor, and, to a lesser extent, Dragon Claw and Dragon Pulse. While Breaking Swipe only has a base power of 60, it shouldn’t be excluded from a Pokemon’s moveset just because it is weaker, as it has the very useful secondary effect of lowering the opponent’s attack by one stage when hit by the move. This makes it particularly useful on bulky Dragon-types like Drampa and Duraludon, the latter of which is the only Pokemon that learns Breaking Swipe via level-up.
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