If you can’t beat them, poison them! That’s one of the oldest unwritten rules of Pokemon battling, and even though this strategy definitely isn’t the best, it’s a very reliable way of cheesing through most of the core games in the series. This is all due to Toxic, one of the few moves capable of inflicting bad poison on opponents.
Badly poison is way stronger than regular poison due to its damage increasing during each of the passing rounds. Inflicting it on your opponent puts an invisible timer above their head telling how much time they have left to live. This alone may not be enough to take the win, but any pressure is good pressure (when it’s not on you).
What makes it even stronger is that almost any Pokemon is able to learn Toxic via TM for some reason, which makes this strategy to be almost always possible. Is this trend still a thing on the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet titles?
Related: Where to Get Moonblast TM in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Can You Get Toxic TM in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet?
The developers seem to have decided that this strategy was indeed too toxic for a battle environment, as the Toxic TM is not available anywhere in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. This has been the case since Sword and Shield, where it was first absent. Its role has been taken over by the Toxic Spikes TM, a move more suited for competitive battles and way easier to deal with than regular Toxic.
TM 091 will teach you Toxic Spikes and can be found in the Tagtree Thicket area in Paldea. You might remember it as where you fought with the Poison Crew from Team Star, so that’s the most appropriate place. A lot of ‘Mons can learn it, but not as much that could learn Toxic.
Toxic is still in the game and can be learned mostly by Poison and some Grass Pokemon. It has seen some better days when it was a more general option for any team, but it’s still viable if you wish to use it.
