One key difference has Pokémon fans claiming Game Freak ‘hates’ Female Basculegion in The Teal Mask

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet The Teal Mask DLC brought back the TM for Scald, arguably one of the best moves in the franchise, with 80 base power, 100 percent accuracy, and a 30 percent chance to burn the target.

This alone had competitive players fearful of Scald’s return, but now they’re upset that a certain Pokémon doesn’t have access to the move—and they’re blaming Game Freak.

In a Sept. 13 thread, one player pointed out how female Basculegion always seems to get the short end of the stick compared to its male counterpart. Aside from designs, the main difference between female and male Basculegion is stats. “Why does [Game Freak] hate female Basculegion so much???” the frustrated player ranted today.

While male Basculegion is a clear physical attacker, female Basculegion is more of a mixed attacker that leans toward Special Attack. This already puts female Basculegion at an offensive disadvantage with a lower Special Attack than the male counterpart’s Attack stat. In other words, male Basculegion should naturally be hitting harder.

And when you look at Basculegion’s move pool, a lot of its best moves are physical like Last Respects, Wave Crash, and Phantom Force. This is fine for the male physical attacker, but it leaves the female mixed attacker with fewer special options to work with.

Back in Legends: Arceus, female Basculegion could at least take advantage of Calm Mind, which boosts its Special Attack and Special Defense. For whatever reason, Calm Mind was removed from Basculegion’s move pool in Scarlet and Violet.

Things only got worse for female Basculegion in The Teal Mask DLC which saw the return of the TM for Scald, one of the best Water-type attacks in the game. Female Basculegion could’ve received a huge buff by having access to Scald, but that just didn’t happen.

In fact, only a small handful of Pokémon can learn Scald in the Gen IX games, and that unfortunately doesn’t include Basculegion.

Related: Where to find White-Striped Basculin in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet The Teal Mask

Between male Basculegion’s more offensive stats and a move pool that favors physical attackers, it really feels like female Basculegion just doesn’t have the tools to compete with its counterpart. If it had at least gained access to Scald in The Teal Mask, perhaps things would be different for the female fish. It still wouldn’t be hitting as hard, but it would’ve at least been able to fish for a 30 percent burn with Scald. That could’ve been a game-changer.