"Why Chikorita is so bad"

Chikorita has a reputation as one of the worst starters. Not only is it bad against the first two gyms in Johto, it also has absolutely terrible moves. The problem is Razor Leaf, which lost a tremendous amount of power between the first and second generations. To understand, we need to look at the games before and after Gold/Silver/Crystal, and compare the strongest elemental moves learned by the three starters.In Generation 1, critical hits were based on speed. With Venusaur's base speed of 80, Razor Leaf had a 100% chance of being a critical hit. Charizard's Flamethrower had a 20% critical chance, and Blastoise's Hydro Pump had a 15% critical chance. Despite Razor Leaf's lowly base power of 55, if we calculate the average base power of these three moves and multiply by accuracy, Razor Leaf is almost as strong as the others:Flamethrower: 114 average base powerHydro Pump: 111 average base powerRazor Leaf: 105 average base power.This is much better than Solar Beam, which averaged only 69 power over the two turns it requires to use. Ivysaur even learns the move at level 30, significantly earlier than the other two starters acquire their strongest elemental moves!However, in Generation II, critical hits were reduced significantly. Typical moves had their critical hit ratio reduced to 1 in 16, and moves like Razor Leaf had the chance changed to 1 in 4. Gamefreak didn't do anything to make up for crippling the strongest Grass-type move in the game, so here are the strongest elemental moves learned by each of the starters:Hydro Pump: 102 average base powerFlamethrower: 101 average base powerRazor Leaf: 65 average base powerAlthough Chikorita learns Razor Leaf at level 8, it can never learn a more powerful Grass-type move than that one. Giga Drain had only 60 base power in these games, making that move and Solar Beam both slightly weaker than Razor Leaf in average power. As a result, Meganium will always be a crippled attacker, unable to match the elemental damage output of Typhlosion and Feraligatr.Generation III weakened Razor Leaf again, reducing its critical-hit ratio from 1/4 to 1/8. However, Sceptile gained a new signature move in Leaf Blade at level 29, with 70 base power and 100% accuracy. Although it had only 79 average base power, this is still significantly better than Razor Leaf, and the Grass-type finally got a powerful elemental move to make up for the loss of Razor Leaf.In Heartgold and Soulsilver, the Chikorita line gained several new Grass-Type moves. They could learn the drawback-heavy Petal Dance, or buy the TM for Energy Ball at the Battle Frontier after the rest of the game was over. Other than those moves, Meganium's strongest Grass-Type move was Magical Leaf with an average base power of 64, even weaker than Razor Leaf had been in Gold and Silver. Adding insult to injury, Sceptile's signature move Leaf Blade had its base power increased to 90, making it just as strong as Flamethrower and Hydro Pump.Poor Chikorita. Game Freak never seemed to care that by weakening critical hits in general, they took away the best Grass-type move in the game and failed to give Chikorita a new move to make up for it. via /r/pokemon https://ift.tt/2tQoKjk