No – Slaking‘s Truant Ability Knocks It Out of Pseudo Legendary Contention

As an avid life-long Pokémon battler, I get asked a lot if mega powerhouse Slaking has what it takes to qualify as a pseudo legendary. With base stat total surpassing even some actual legendaries, it would be easy to assume so! But sadly, Slaking‘s extreme ability flaw means it fails to make the pseudo legendary cut.

Slaking‘s Impressive Base Stats Mask a Crippling Weakness

Make no mistake – in a vacuum, Slaking‘s base stat distribution would put even the likes of Dragonite and Tyranitar to shame:

With excellent attacking power backed up by mountainous HP and defenses, practically no standard Pokémon wants to switch into this beast!

However, Slaking comes saddled with the ability Truant which prevents it from attacking every other turn. So while it can unleash devastating attacks, experienced trainers can switch or set up freely knowing Slaking will be nothing but a sitting duck every second turn.

Pseudo Legendaries Boast both Stats and Sustainability

What sets true pseudo legendaries apart is that they combine excellent base stats and movepool versatility to synergize into formidable team centerpieces. Let‘s examine battle data:

• Salamence usage surged to 9.75% in Gen 7 thanks to its fearsome mixed attacking prowess. Intimidate + Dragon Dance sweeps crushed unprepared teams.

• Clever itemization enables Metagross to overcome type deficiencies. In Gen 8, Assault Vest variants soaked hits while pummeling foes with Meteor Mash.

• Garchomp‘s 102 Speed enables it to outpace the entire metagame after a single Dragon Dance, while great bulk and dual STABs make it difficult to revenge kill before it disposes of whole teams.

Unlike Slaking, these powerhouses aren‘t crippled by negative abilities. And their well-rounded stats and wide movepools let them fill multipurpose roles. Slaking may hit harder on paper, but Truant turns it into just setup fodder after it fires off an attack.

There‘s a Reason Slaking Never Cracks High Level Play

If Slaking truly stacked up to the likes of Dragonite and other top pseudo legendaries, top players would find ways to work around Truant and enable its ridiculous strength. But usage statistics paint a very clear picture:

The fantasy of Slaking simply fails to manifest in high level play. No player has ever successfully built a team able to enable this lumbering powerhouse to fire off attacks turn after turn. It just fundamental lacks the consistency of true greats like Dragonite or Salamence.

So while fun to toy around with in casual play, Slaking unfortunately lacks the complete package necessary to be considered a pseudo legendary. Game Freak gifted it the stats of a god but saddled it with an ability that ultimately leaves it hitting more like Squirtle‘s Water Gun than Charizard‘s Blast Burn!