10 Most Annoying Pokémon Ever

With close to a thousand Pokémon around, it’s safe to say they’re not all gems. Many have been taken into our collective hearts, while others have been shunned, cast out and mocked.

Here though, it’s specifically the annoying ones coming under scrutiny. Not the likes of Mr. Mime or Garbodor who often rank high in the unpopularity stakes, nor ones like Jynx whose design has caused controversy.

Finally, being annoying because they’re ‘overrated’ or oversaturated in marketing (Charizard, Pikachu, MewTwo, Greninja, etc) doesn’t count either. Most people actually love these Pokémon, that’s why they’re everywhere. It would be nice if other Pokémon got some more air time, but the fact Luxray and Flygon deserve more love shouldn’t count against Charizard.

No, these are the ones who just frustrate the living Girantina out of you in your playthroughs. Either through irritating battle mechanics, being unnecessarily complicated to catch, impaling you on a difficulty spike or just constantly getting in the way, these Pokémon are the Yanma in the ointment.

Sword & Shield will undoubtably introduce a few more annoying ‘mons, but until then, we’ve still got this lot to contend with.

Voltorb is here representing all those kamikaze Pokémon who jump out at you just to use Explosion or Selfdestruct or other suicidal moves like that. The moves are basically designed to be annoying, so there’s no shock Voltorb winds up on the list here.

These sorts of moves are complete Nuzlocke killers, making them extremely irritating to encounter when your favourite ‘mon is party leader.

Even without Nuzlocke runs though, they’re just a pain. And what’s up with the NPCs who’ll Selfdestruct their Voltorb when it’s the last Pokémon they have you still have five unused? Deliberately losing the battle just so they can vaguely damage your Absol. It’s bonkers.

The final way the Selfdestruct move can be irritating (or rather, heartbreaking) is if you ever encounter a shiny version just to watch it destroy itself rather than be with you. Raw, unfiltered torture, that is.

Away from all that nonsense, Voltorb still isn’t through annoying you though. The Pokémon shared its sprite with items in the earlier games, so sometimes you’d click on an item ball hoping to find a potion or a rare candy, only to to forced into a battle with yet another Voltorb.