There are few scents in the world more foul and noxious to human and pokemon noses than the spray of a Stunky. In combat, when sprayed in moderation it can distract opposing pokemon and annoy fans alike with its spray, which can make a thousand people at once cover their nose until it dissipates. A prolonged application of Stunky spray is the easiest way to turn any location into no man's land. In the wild, their habitats are marked by a relative lack of other pokemon who rely on smell, and for surviving human expansion with remarkably littler disruption. This fact has been noted since ancient times, and since antiquity people have experimented with ways to turn this power to their own use.

Armies throughout history would use Stunky to seal strategic locations against rival forces, or after a conquest, to render a location such as an enemy capital permanently uninhabitable. Oppressive regimes would surround slave plantations or entire countries with this same scent to dissuade people from leaving. When the wind was favorable, people would break through these barriers of scent, and at times a poor understanding of wind conditions would lead to far more valuable locations being inundated with Stunky odor. Meteorology got its start as the result of research in how to prevent such accidents, and to this day Stunky are often associated with weather forecasters.

Today, Stunky are usually used to protect fools from themselves. Hazardous sites ranging from nuclear accidents to mine fires attract their share of onlookers, and Stunky spray is much more effective than danger signs at keeping people without the proper protective gear away