5 Psychic-type moves to avoid in Pokemon

Psychic-type moves are typically renowned in Pokemon for their power and versatility as well as some of their tricky plays.

However, some of these plays end up falling short of the expected legacy of Psychic-type moves.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the writer's opinion.

5 Psychic-type moves that players should avoid in Pokemon

#5 - Heal Block

This move does exactly what its name implies; it blocks the target from healing through any means (save for a few niche effects). Not too many opposing Pokemon are healed during the course of battle anyways, which goes doubly for casual play.

Heal Block may be useful for gym battles or other significant fights. However, in general, it would be much more useful to just keep attacking or use the opponent's heal turn to set up with a buffing move.

#4 - Magic Room

Magic Room is a cool concept, but it's not that useful overall. Too few items are significant enough to warrant using an entire turn to negate them. And even for items that are worth negating, Magic Room also affects allied Pokemon, so it ends up doing more harm than good in most cases.

In addition, this move is next to useless in casual play since opposing Pokemon rarely hold items in the first place. Even in rare instances where they do, it's uncommon for the player to learn about these items in the first place unless they're using an ability like Frisk.

#3 - Imprison

Imprison, which prevents opponents from using moves known by the player, is not as useful as it sounds. With the sheer number of moves in the Pokemon franchise, having any of the user's moves line up with their opponent's is a decently rare occurrence - especially in casual play.

In competitive play, it's easier to predict what moves the opponent might be using. But unless the opponent is running the exact same moveset, there will always be one move that the opposing Pokemon will still be able to use: whatever move they have instead of Imprison.

#2 - Synchronoise

Synchronoise is a powerful move, having a devastating 120 base power. However, with how often this move can even be used, the base power doesn't really matter that much.

Since Synchronoise can only be used on Pokemon that share at least one type with the user, this leads to situations where the move is typically not very effective, if usable at all. Getting STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus) while also having Synchronosie be super effective is exceedingly rare. In fact, it's much more common for it to be not very effective with STAB.

And while it is possible for many non-Psychic-type Pokemon to learn this move, none of them can make all that effective use of it. The best example of this is Umbreon, a mono-Dark-type Pokemon with a Psychic-type move that can only be used on its own type.

#1 - Kinesis

Kinesis is an exclusive move to the Alakazam family tree, but it certainly does not deserve the honor of being limited to one of the best Psychic-type families in the Pokemon franchise. Kinesis lowers the target Pokemon's accuracy by 1 stage and has 80% accuracy.

This is just a worse version of Sand Attack. Sand attack does the exact same thing but has 100% accuracy. What is the point of Kinesis when it can be outclassed by a move that a level 5 Pidgey has? Kinesis is a pointless move that brings shame to the noble name of Alakazam. Avoid it at all costs.