>>46987679Yeah, say what you will, but I think even the biggest Garde fan would be willing to admit that they don't like it because of how it plays out in battle. Gardevoir was "decent" in Gen 3 and it sucked ever since. It's got a middling speed tier, no reliable recovery and crippling 4MSS. For a small period of time in Gen 6 the Mega did allow it to be OU, where it did ok, but then Gen 7 made it completely fucking useless because Tapu Lele is literally just "Gardevoir+" to the point where Gardevoir's Gen 7 OU analysis literally says "There is absolutely no reason to use Mega Gardevoir in OU". It's just there because it's trapped in UUBL hell. And then it lost the Mega in Gen 8, cementing it as even more useless than ever before. Sure, Lele also got a little nerfed and lost HP Fire, but Lele also got other moves to make up for it and many other psychic and fairy types came into play to where Gardevoir still can't hope to compete.
The only, literally only, reason Hatterene avoided the pitfall of being outclassed by Lele is because it's specced into playing much differently than how Gardevoir and Lele operate: rather than having passable speed and high special attack with middling bulk it's got abysmal speed, great bulk and a ridiculously high special attack it can afford to fully invest in without being punished for it. Combine that with an amazing ability (MB is god tier no matter what has it), a great move pool that lets it avoid 4MSS, and being able to fill a variety of roles (from Trick Room setter to abuser to suicide leads to even just a bulky CM sweeper) and it's actually damn solid in it's own right, being firmly UU and considered viable in OU and NDOU, enough to even appear in the rankings. It's even good in BSS and VGC and makes a great partner with Indeedee. I'm very thankful she got the good end of the stick.
