Is it though? It's stat is weakest not only among the starters, but also below other grass types available in Alola in general.
Apart from Sinister Arrow Raid, Dhelmise is just a better grass/ghost overall.
mind you that decidueye has better speed,owns self-healing move in synthesis which dhelmise lack,get nasty plot to further boosts its sp attack,more flexible in offense 'coz it can use both of its physical and special attack (dhelmise just focused on physical),and decidueye also get access to frenzy plant and grass pledge to widen its battle strategy, making it all-arround better pokemon than dhelmise.
This is absolutely how I feel about Litten/Incineroar. I took one look at Litten, and that HAD TO BE MY STARTER! She was this adorable little girl kitten... who grows up into this thing that wears spandex and has a beard!
Just like the male Primarina owners, it's just too weird having a female Incineroar.
But then again, I'm the sort of person who will make an all-cat party for competitions...
mind you that decidueye has better speed,owns self-healing move in synthesis which dhelmise lack,get nasty plot to further boosts its sp attack,more flexible in offense 'coz it can use both of its physical and special attack (dhelmise just focused on physical),and decidueye also get access to frenzy plant and grass pledge to widen its battle strategy, making it all-arround better pokemon than dhelmise.
Except Decidueye only has Shadow Ball, Energy Ball and Grass Knot as a single viable special attack move, so Nasty Plot is kinda useless on him. Heck, if you run a special Decidueye his Long Reach ability would in turn be rubbish in the process.
Ironically Dhelmise has a much more versatile special movepool in Shadow Ball, Energy Ball, Surf, and Flash Cannon. Though yes, at the end of the day both Decidueye and Dhelmise are just better off as physical fighters through and through.
Frenzy Plant isn't a good move, especially on a physical fighter, it's only cool for its Starter exclusivity factor. And Grass Pledge is downright garbage.
And at 70 VS 45 speed, both are too slow they're going to be outsped by the opponent anyway, so it doesn't actually work in Decidueye's favor. The guy is slower than Venusaur.
Dhelmise has overall better bulk and with Steelworker it essentially has STAB on 3 types. If anything it has a far superior ability already.
This is absolutely how I feel about Litten/Incineroar. I took one look at Litten, and that HAD TO BE MY STARTER! She was this adorable little girl kitten... who grows up into this thing that wears spandex and has a beard!
Just like the male Primarina owners, it's just too weird having a female Incineroar.
But then again, I'm the sort of person who will make an all-cat party for competitions...
Except Decidueye only has Shadow Ball, Energy Ball and Grass Knot as a single viable special attack move, so Nasty Plot is kinda useless on him. Heck, if you run a special Decidueye his Long Reach ability would in turn be rubbish in the process.
Ironically Dhelmise has a much more versatile special movepool in Shadow Ball, Energy Ball, Surf, and Flash Cannon. Though yes, at the end of the day both Decidueye and Dhelmise are just better off as physical fighters through and through.
Frenzy Plant isn't a good move, especially on a physical fighter, it's only cool for its Starter exclusivity factor. And Grass Pledge is downright garbage.
And at 70 VS 45 speed, both are too slow they're going to be outsped by the opponent anyway, so it doesn't actually work in Decidueye's favor. The guy is slower than Venusaur.
Dhelmise has overall better bulk and with Steelworker it essentially has STAB on 3 types. If anything it has a far superior ability already.
i never said that i consider long reach ability is a viable option due to its hidden ability nature and spirit shackle and leafage doesn't make contact anyway.the fact that deci's attack and sp attack doesn't has many difference actually make it more flexible in changing move type especially against foe that excels at tanking physical damage.
the problem with dhelmise is while it has 3 type cover,its attacking output can be put solely in physical attack,rendering shadow ball,energy ball,surf,and flash canon less effective due to its horrible sp attack. which left it with shadow claw ,anchor shot (which both have power almost the same with deci's shackle shot and energy ball),and power whip (which has pretty low 85% accuracy)as reliable attacking options.
frenzy plant actually is a good move to powers bloom doom,and grass pledge is useful in pokemon party that utilize more than one starter.
as for last,deci is a better option because dhelmise is viable to catch pretty later in the game and also very rare,making it harder to find instead of rowlet that's given early at the game. for people that just care about playing the game and less so on competitive,decidueye is clearly a winner in this case.
Not sure who's downvoting our comments or why but whatever.
Of course if you're talking about the story play, then basically any Pokemon can do their job well enough. But then again that still pretty much ended up being "get Earthquake/Ice Beam/any good offensive typing move on as many Pokemons as possible and win".
Dhelmise's special offense isn't terrible, at 85 it's actually workable and a Giga Drain from it can still 2KO Elite Four Pokemons with Grass weakness of the same level. So that also actually covers up on it not having Synthesis.
Also if you're talking about using Frenzy Plant just for Bloom Doom, then it's still no good. Z-Move offensive attacks has base power cap at 200 anyway, also reminder that that would be calculated from Decidueye's special attack, not physical attack, so you're actually better having Leaf Blade on Decidueye and work Bloom Doom with that. On that account, Dhelmise's Bloom Doom via Power Whip would also be stronger than Decidueye's Bloom Doom via Frenzy Plant. Also why would you even choose Bloom Doom over Sinister Arrow Raid anyway?
Grass Pledge still is garbage, sorry. Being able to play synergy strategies doesn't make it viable, especially when it means that Pokemon/move will be garbage without its partner. Plusle and Minun can play synergy strat with each other, but they still sucks as much as humanly possible.
Heck, you don't even see Water Absorb/Volt Absorb teams in VGC because of that, even if they have wonderful synergies, it also means the entire team is far too reliant on having each other and once that delicate balance is broken, the entire team crumbles. You only need 1 ground type with Earthquake to shut the entire Volt Absorb team down.
Even in story play Grass Pledge is still garbage, considering that 99.99% of the battles you will fight will actually be singles. Again, exclusivity does not mean quality.
Also the argument of availability in earlier or later game isn't a legit reason. A Butterfree or Pidgeot being obtainable earlier in the game doesn't make them a better flying type than a Dragonite.
If you're arguing that Decidueye has a better design or concept than Dhelmise, or is a far better "companion" because it's a starter, then I'll respect your opinion, but in gameplay term once it became available to you, Dhelmise is just a better Pokemon, story or competitive.
you said that 86 special attack is workable but you may forget that deci has 100 sp attack PLUS nasty plot to further boost the special attack (unlike dhelmise with no reliable stat boosting)which make it even better bloom doom user than dhelmise.why i pick bloom doom over sinister arrow raid? because it has better power than SAR (via frenzy plant) and grass inflict super-effective damage on more type than ghost (ground,rock,water vs ghost,psychic) also,the difference between its attack and sp attack is just 8 point (100 and 108) it doesn't matter if you want to play it either way unlike dhelmise which is too one-dimensional. on your buterfree x dragonite comparision,there's a gap difference of stat between between them (unlike deci and dhelmise which only has 13 point difference,thus viable to compare). also,i argue that people may pick pidgey or pikipek for flying-type than dragonite due to 1.easier to find on wild. 2.they already aquire flying-type in first evo 3.dragonite's glaring 4x weakness from ice and 4.pidgeot requires less XP into lv100 than dragonite. the point of creating pokemon team in story isn't about to get strongest pokemon in the end but to get a pokemon that can help in battle right from the early game. that's why i argue that decidueye are comparatively better than dhelmise. rowlet and dartrix has flying-type which will help at battling hala and it get changed into ghost to evade olivia's rock type in late game. functionality,that's the point.
I'm trying to be respectful, but you have too many holes in your arguments that it's not funny.
Again, Decidueye's special attack movepool is too shallow to utilize Nasty Plot effectively, and point you can't deny is it is 100% better off as a physical fighter, regardless of comparison to any other Pokemons. That alone already made Bloom Doom with Leaf Blade or Sinister Arrow Raid with Spirit Shackle better than Bloom Doom with Frenzy Plant.
You're basing Decidueye's benefits on the mere fact that it can Bloom Doom Frenzy Plant, which let me remind you for the third time, would be calculated off its 100 S.Attack on 200 Base power, while Dhelmise's Bloom Doom with Power Whip would be 130 Attack on 195 Base power. In this aspect Dhelmise's math is superior already, without having to compromise with having a "bad" move in its 4 slot.
And I ask, how is Dhelmise one-dimensional? 3 STAB types with Giga Drain, it CAN do everything Decidueye can. Anchor Shot = Spirit Shackle, Giga Drain = Synthesis. Bloom Doom / Power Whip >>>>> Bloom Doom / Frenzy Plant.
And again, your argument falls further when you say "people pick Pidgeot over Dragonite", of course being a starting route bird VS a rare Pokemon, more people are going to have Pidgeot than Dragonite, it's the entire point of Dragonite being "rare".
But in terms of performance, you can have Pidgeot, heck, even MEGA Pidgeot and it would perform poorly in contrast to a Dragonite, again either in competitive OR story.
Having 4 times weakness doesn't make Dragonite bad. Tyrannitar, Garchomp, Salamence, Heatran all have 4 times weaknesses, and they're still all OU.
In the reverse, you can get Dhelmise on your team even if you chose Litten or Popplio, you can't do so with Decidueye without having to trade.
You're basing your arguments off gut feelings. You don't even seem to have a clear definition of what a "good" Pokemon" is. If you're saying "Pokemon that are good from the early game", again that would mean that all Legendaries suck, because you can't get them in the early game.
I'm all supportive of people wanting to build teams out of Pokemons they like instead of simply listening to what Smogon tells them, that's why I play NU or UU instead of OU. But like Butterfree VS Dragonite, there are times you will have to admit that the Pokemons you like aren't the best one around.
Updated
What!?
Rowlet is evolving!In Japanese, it's:
"...Oh!?
Rowlet's appareance is...!"NOOOO!!I won't let you evolve!!Secret TechniqueCancelling The Evolution!!*excited**excited*Ah!