How can you utalize Unown competitively ? (2024)

You can't. Unown is the least viable fully evolved pokémon in any competitive format in the history of pokémon. With only Hidden Power it just doesn't even have a movepool to surprise anyone with anything unorthodox. Unown simply doesn't have any redeeming factors competitively. Its stats are horrid, its movepool is literally the worst in all of pokémon, its typing is nothing spectacular, and its ability is no Wonder Guard either.

To put it quite simply, if you somehow managed to enter a level 100 Unown into a level 50 format, it still wouldn't be all that great. Unown is simply so terrible that even at double the level of everything it's fighting it still can't do too much.

According to Smogon, you can organize a team of them to spell "YOUWIN" or "ILOSE!"

In other words, it's probably not the best Pokemon to use competitively.

WaterTypeStarter said:

Many are responding from a competitive point of view. But what if you wanted to make a team that was unique and wanted to use an Unown not that it was the best choice but just to show that it could be used in some way competitively? Just like people in real life choose to do risky stunts for the sake of the excitement.

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Well I'm not a competitive player, but I'm not sure what you are expecting. It has one attack, useless stats, an ability that does nothing more than protect it from ground moves. That's it. There's nothing else to the Pokemon.

I suppose you could bring it out against a Ground type and hope that said ground type only knows ground type moves, that your opponent has no other Pokemon he can switch in, and then whittle down the ground type with, preferably with a grass, water or ice typed hidden power.
That way, I guess, you could win a fight with an Unown, if those very specific conditions arise.

WaterTypeStarter said:

It does not have to be the only Pokémon just to make clear. If you have five other Pokémon to back it up it may be possible.

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I was working under the assumption that you had a full team of other Pokemon, because you need them to defeat your opponents Pokemon that aren't ground types with only ground moves
In any other situation a team of six Pokemon with an Unown in it just basically turns into a challenge where you only have five Pokemon. You could of course use the other five pokemon to reduce the HP of your opponent's last Pokemon to the red, then change in Unown and whittle down the last few HP, then you technically have won using an Unown.

WaterTypeStarter said:

Unown does not have to be the last standing. It could have contributed to the battle some other way. In other words, winning by a team effort.

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There's really not a whole lot you can do to utilize it no matter how you play, unfortunately. It only knows one move (hidden power, which all Pokemon that can learn TMs are able to learn) and has weak stats. It has levitate, but so do Gengar, Eelektross and Hydreogon, which are all much better choices. But if you absolutely insist, maybe use it to deliver the finishing blow when another Pokemon in your party has whittled down your opponent's health.

Orphalesion said:

Unown is really the one Pokemon they could permanently remove from the rooster and nothing of value would be lost.

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Unown was literally the only non-mythical to be effectively banned from all of Gen 7 VGC series because it doesn't exist with gen 7 origin, and most people never even noticed. So your post is quite literally true.

Orphalesion said:

Unown is really the one Pokemon they could permanently remove from the rooster and nothing of value would be lost.

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If only they gave Unown its anime abilities of creating worlds and being a terrifying alien hivemind.

Captain Jigglypuff said:

Simple change I think could benefit Unown but not make it overpowered is giving it a new line up of moves it can learn. I’m thinking by level up it will naturally have Cosmic Power and Stored Power And as for TM/TR, have it be able to learn Wonder Room, Magic Room, And Trick Room to showcase its reality bending powers without it becoming too strong.

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It would still be totally outclassed by other Stored Power users (Sigilyph, Clefable, etc). Unown would need drastically higher stats in addition to a wider movepool (or some kind of gimmick like Hidden Power being reintroduced as a signature move for Unown that always hits super-effectively) in order to have any use competitively.

Unown does not have to be the last standing. It could have contributed to the battle some other way. In other words, winning by a team effort.

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Yeah, well, that's the thing is there literally is no way for Unown to contribute to a battle in a way that any other Pokemon couldn't do better. That is to say there is no meaningful competitive difference between an Unown and a level 1 Magikarp. They're both useful for exactly the same sole thing; sacrificing to give another Pokemon a free switch. Technically speaking you could build a solid team of 5 Pokemon and stick Unown in the 6th slot and win with it, but Unown will never really contribute anything more than sac fodder to any game.