What is Power Creep ACTUALLY?

We throw around the word "Power Creep" a lot but what does it actually mean? In today's video, we look over how Power Creep has affected the single's metagame in every generation. #pokemon

PATREON!

The Official False Swipe Gaming Twitter:

Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
2:30 - GSC/Gen 2
3:52 - ADV/Gen 3
8:24 - DPP/Gen 4
12:53 - BW/Gen 5
15:47 - XY/Gen 6
17:51 - SM/Gen 7
19:24 - SS/Gen 8
21:14 - Outro

Directed by Kellen

Written By
Kevin aka BKC

Edited By
Connor Nguyen aka CDK

VFX Intro By
Ryan Gonzales

Thumbnail:

Sound Designed by
Ryan Gonzales

Game Capture Artist:
DarkMusician

Songs Used (List of ALL Songs used for this series. Some may or may not make it into the video):

My Twitter:

Resources and Historical References

Smogon University:

Maikiri

Aaron Cybertron Zheng:

[Joshuaskehan-mkcj]

The year is 2030, generation 13 has just been released. Mega rayquaza has now dropped from NU to ZU, garchomp is struggling in Triple ZU and super Saiyan ultra mega primal shadow arceus is potentially being banned from UU to OU due to it having a base stat total of 10, 000, 000 and having an OHKO move with 190% accuracy that goes through protect, super protect and double triple quadruple substitute. Lando-T is still in OU and is sitting at S+ in the viability rankings with 99.9999% usage on the ladder and in tournaments.

[SuperStro]

Wish you talked about the cascading effect of how Power Creep absolutely devastates the lower tiers. The Pokemon pushed out of the higher tiers combined with the sheer number of new mons disproportionately wreaks ABSOLUTE HAVOC on the lower tiers and, more often than not, forces the creation of a new low/lowest tier.

[gauravvj]

Power creep is really gonna hit this season seriously, gen 8 had a big one but gen 9 is looking crazy too

[EinDose]

My favorite example of power creep is that Regigigas' stats were so strong that it warranted an ability that nerfed it into near-uselessness.

And Zacian's stats are BETTER, even without factoring in its beneficial ability.

[cradiculous]

I'm looking forward to seeing how the meta handles Ferrothorn not being in Gen 9 by default. Sure it might come back in the DLC, but people have relied so heavily on it that they might not know how to replace it right away. Personally I'm hoping it comes back just so it can fight Forretress, though, because Forretress gets Body Press now and seeing a Forretress completely stomp the pokemon that replaced it in the meta would be glorious.

[ricardoludwig]

An interesting fact is that powercreep affects lower tiers faster than it does higher ones, as the effects of just making more strong tools available get amplified by the new drops. Look at how most pokemon that were UU in gen 4 are already NU, but almost every pokemon in gen 6 NU either fell to PU or became untiered

[shyguysquad]

Power creep is when this comment falls into obscurity because newer and better comments make this one obsolete

[Ash_Yu]

Gen 6 feels like that's when TPC took competitive seriously. Sure megas seem powerful, but there were dozens of small changes that worked to dial back the craziness that took over gen 5

[jesseashton]

Yall been killing it with these videos exploring broader concepts of competitive Pokémon, keep it up!

[noelgusler]

I feel like one big aspect of power creep that wasn't talked about as much was stat distribution. Even if their stat total is the same the way they start Distributing it, especially in Gen 5, made some Pokemon obscenely strong like ferrothorn example. Old Pokémon like Nidoking, even with sheer force, just can't hang anymore because their stat totals are too low.

[entothechesnautknight]

I think what makes gen 8's power creep feel so much worse then other generations is that most other gens only had pokemon fall in viability because the net of power was widened, but in gen 8, the power net was tightened. Pokemon didn't lose viability because opposing pokemon gained options, they lost viability because they *lost* options they needed.

[armorbearer]

I agree. Nintendo should pay more attention to older Pokemon. The new Pokemon are designed to thrive in the new environment. The older ones are sometimes still trying to pull off their old tricks. This normally does not work except if you are Linoone.

[wondersbeyond]

I've been really loveing the recent thumbnail art! It looks so distinct and expressive

[sephikong]

Seeing the stats, typing, movepool and abilities of a ton of the new gen 9 mons, I think we'll see a wave of powercreep of possibly unprecedented level once the games will come out

[boxedwater]

That T tars face in the thumbnail is how I feel everytime I see a Lando T on the other team

[smugsneasel]

Quagsire doesn't understand this concept.

[Matpit]

Power Creep is one of the many main examples of “Out with the Old. In with the New”

[orangegalen]

Power creep isn’t only in the main games, it’s in the TCG as well and I’d say a lot more blatant. Anyone remember EX and Mega EX Pokémon? V and VMax are just them but with better attacks, a third more HP, and not needing to end your turn when you evolved them.

[BestgirlJordanfish]

Right now I'm guessing that Terastal will feel like somewhere between Z-Move power but more and Dynamax flexibility but less. There is such a huge emphasis on power. Straight up doubling damage if it's STAB from original type is just wildly powerful and potentially volatile.

Kinda wish it'd be ×1.3 bonus and ×1.5 bonus if STAB instead of ×1.5 and ×2. Maybe if there was some aura effect for also boosting allies, or a small utility effect like Max Moves got.

[samuell]

Finally a video focus on Power Creep!
And now Gen 9 is coming we can see how Power Creep is gonna continue