Following on from my experiments with Pidgeot, Fearow was a logical choice to include in my next batch of test subjects. After all, it was one of the Pokemon that contributes to the assessment of Pidgeot as being heavily outclassed. Unfortunately, Fearow’s situation isn’t much better. There’s no shortage of wannabe endgame threats (especially fast Normals), all of which are overshadowed by the true king, Tauros.
Of particular note is Dodrio, which almost completely outclasses Fearow. They have the same typing and speed stat, practically the same bulk, but Fearow is significantly less powerful, with base 90 Attack to Dodrio’s 110. The only way you’re ever going to justify using Fearow is by evaluating its movepool against Dodrio’s. And honestly, it’s not great. Here are the moves Fearow has access to that Dodrio does not:
- Swift- has never been viable in competitive play, especially with evasion moves banned
- Razor Wind- possibly one of the worst moves ever designed by Gamefreak
- Leer- a niche tech option that Fearow is unlikely to be able to use effectively
- Mirror Move- a flawed move, but it can theoretically be used to copy things like Earthquake and Sleep Powder
Clearly, Mirror Move is Fearow’s strongest argument for being used. I will admit, I didn’t test Leer, but I think it’s unlikely to sway things one way or the other- if you’re depending on Leer to be viable, that is itself a problem. The kicker to this is that Fearow is actually losing out to Dodrio in terms of Normal STAB, relying on Double Edge where Dodrio can use Body Slam. That honestly may be more valuable than Mirror Move.
If you’re familiar with the RBY viability rankings, you’d know that even Dodrio struggles to find a place, which doesn’t bode well for Fearow. Their Speed stat isn’t quite good enough, only managing to speed-tie Zapdos, while falling short of Tauros, Zam and Starmie. That’s a huge issue when you consider that their bulk is atrocious, further compounded by the numerous significant weaknesses that come with having a Flying typing. Throw in an inability to break Rock types and there are a lot of dicey matchups for the birds.
Honestly, I think it’s a real shame that Gamefreak made so many Pokemon that struggle to stand out from each other. I say that as a competitive player, but I think it holds true for casual play as well. I can somewhat understand the logic if you start with a visual design and then decide on that Pokemon’s attributes based on what seems appropriate. But I can’t help but think that with a gameplay system that offers so many options, you’d surely stop after a certain point and wonder why you’re coming up with multiple iterations of the same Pokemon.
Teambuilding
As I alluded to above, Fearow’s best chance at viability is as a secondary sweeper, run alongside Tauros. Its movepool is fairly limited- Mirror Move is chosen to have a hope of not being entirely inferior to Dodrio. That’s followed by Double-Edge and Hyper Beam as your main attacking options, as well as Drill Peck for STAB coverage.
Tauros is an obvious choice for any RBY team so that gets added without a second thought. In this case, I’m sticking to the standard set, to avoid compounding Fearow’s issues with Rhydon and Gengar. I don’t think dropping any of the Normals is a sound idea, given Fearow’s weaknesses- I decided Chansey should run BoltBeam, to maximise coverage, particularly against Rhydon. Snorlax runs Reflect Ice Beam to maximise its utility against opposing Lax.
For the remaining 2 slots, it honestly wasn’t a complex decision. Exeggutor is an obvious candidate, given that I need sleep, and it balances out Fearow being hard countered by Rhydon. As for the lead, I chose PsyBolt Starmie. Starmie itself provides an Ice resistance, while I decided I could afford to drop Blizzard if I try to switch Fearow into Egg. This leads to the final team below, with the importable available here.
Results
So how did Fearow perform? Well, the comparison that springs to mind is my testing of Pidgeot. One thing that jumped out to me immediately was that I overlooked that Ice Beam Lax synergises well with the Mirror Move birds, as 2 Ice Beams will set up a Mirror Move KO. Beyond that though… it wasn’t that different.
Drill Peck is nice coverage to have, but utilising it is easier said than done. Its strengths are that it offers different coverage to Fearow’s Normal STAB, and it doesn’t inflict recoil damage like Double-Edge. On the other hand, power is usually more of a priority, especially when Fearow dies so easily anyway. And utilising Drill Peck’s coverage isn’t easy either, as Fearow can’t really switch in on Exeggutor (here’s a replay of me trying where I ended up needing a crit to trade) and is still losing badly to Gengar.
Another element to Fearow’s viability is Mirror Move, which is honestly a mixed bag. Because Mirror Move fails if the opponent switches out, its utility is greatly diminished. One of the main applications of Mirror Move is to copy sleep moves, and here Fearow being more threatening to Exeggutor ironically works against it by provoking switches. And yes, if you’re copying sleep moves with Mirror Move, you do indeed fall into the role of dedicated sleep fodder.
Beyond that, most successful Fearow appearances involved it sweeping. It is after all, a fast Normal type and that’s what they’re supposed to do. It hits decently hard if you can provide enough support and clear out its many bleak matchups. However, it always plays a secondary role to Tauros, limiting its impact. Its frailty and lack of defensive utility I also found were restrictive in lategame scenarios.
The last criticism I have of Fearow was that every time I used it, I asked myself if I could instead be running something else. The answer was almost always yes. Dodrio is just too similar to Fearow for Fearow to not be outclassed. If anything, I’m concerned about Dodrio’s viability- it’s a stronger Pokemon, but all of Fearow’s flaws apply to it as well. As for Fearow, it’s not worth using. It’s the least terrible Pokemon in that category, standing above the likes of Venomoth and Marowak. But it’s still unambiguously unviable.
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