Don't Throw Away Those TMs!

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There are a ton of TMs in the Pokemon world. I'm sure a couple of those Technical Machines, most Trainers overlook and forget to use. Today let's try to make some of those less popular ones a bit more useful. While 140 TMs are available, today we will only touch on a couple.

 

Skill Swap | TM 48
Skill Swap will exchange the abilities of the user and the target. Wonder Guard and Multitype are the only abilities that cannot be Skill Swapped.

Why use it?

Let’s say you have a pretty fast Pokémon that just wants to get an edge up on all those lousy Legendary Pokémon that other trainers hide behind. For Example: Take away Palkia’s ability “Pressure” and turn it around on them. Pressure increased the foe’s PP usage every hit. Use this on Pokémon who depend on their abilities. Sometimes in battle, moves are not everything.

Overall though, this is a great way to turn the beginning tides of the battle your way.


Brine | TM 55
Brine inflicts damage, and its power doubles to 130 when the target is at or below 50% health.

Why use it?

Most Trainers with a water-type Pokémon use the move Surf. A no brainer, right? Consider that Surf has 100% accuracy and does 95 damage. Well, Brine normally does 65 damage, but can do 130 damage with 100% accuracy. In most cases, bad Trainers are only and always attack heavy. Meaning your HP will drop below 50% more often then you would like. Take advantage of that!

Brine is a risk yes, but isn’t life?


Explosion | TM 64
Explosion is a damage-dealing Normal-type move introduced in Gen 1. It is currently the most powerful move in terms of its base power. (Power 250 | Accuracy 100%)

Why use it?

Your reading this article, and your telling yourself, “okay, okay, not bad so far”, but now you see we are recommending Explosion as a good TM. What are we _________ thinking?!?! Setting down, let us explain. First off, Explosion is the most powerful move in the game, and it hits everyone on the field, including your ally. Let’s walk and talk... you start your 2 vs 2 battle. You send out Pokémon A (which knows Explosion) and you send out Pokémon B (which knows Protect). Psss... see where we are going here. Make sure Pokémon A is fast, fast enough to start off using Explosion, but have Pokémon B uses Protect.

What happens? You kill off your opponents beginning lineup. Sure you lose a Pokémon, but hey, what an explosive start?


Recycle | TM 67
Recycle allows the user to regain a single-use held item, such as a Berry, once it has been consumed, as many times as it is used. Any requirements needed to activate the item are still required once the item has been recycled. Recycle can recover items consumed by Bug Bite, Fling, Natural Gift, and Pluck, but not items lost by Covet, Knock Off, Switcheroo, Thief, or Trick.

Why use it?

Dream with me, let me put you in this scenario: You have a Snorelax holding a Chesto Berry, which, will instantly wake a Pokémon up from sleep, and your Snorelax uses Rest. Now, you have full-health and your ready to go, but when you need to use Rest again, your going to be out a couple turns, right? Not you, why, because when you wake up, use Recycle to get you Chesto berry back.

That doesn’t belong in the trash anyways. 

 

There you have it. You now have the edge in battle. Sure, you still might not use these moves, but you at least can be aware of what someone else can do with them. You might think your team has the highest stats and the strongest move sets, but hey, strength isn't everything right? Sometimes the slow and steady wins the Pikachu Dreamsicle at the end of the day, and sometimes... knowing is half the battle.