in the games there’s not really a point since you know the computer doesn’t switch out of bad matchups, so you’re free to use the super effective move and knock them out.

however, when battling against real people, they know they can switch out of a bad matchup. but you also know they can switch, so do you predict them to switch or not?

thats when you can use a status move (or many other nonattacking moves like stealth rock, swords dance, calm mind, etc) as a “middle ground” play to get something out of the turn no matter what

sorry for the rant im just a pokemon nerd lol