The new GBL season is right around the corner, and that means a full move rebalance is nigh! And THAT means it’s time for the JRE analysis you’ve been waiting for! Today will be just the first article of likely three necessary to cover it all. Today, we’re looking at moves we already know that are being distributed to new Pokémon, and there is some VERY exciting stuff in here. No time to waste… let’s get started!
Somewhere along the way, I realized that most of my section headers were quotes from famous (or at least infamous) films or shows or even television advertisements of the past. So I decided to lean ALL the way into it and make EVERY section title that way. You’ll quickly see what I mean…. 🙃
Venusaur
GrassPoison
Long-time readers know that one of my inside jokes is over promotion of my first Pokémon love: VENUSAUR. I’ve led nearly every “Nifty Or Thrifty” analysis (where Venusaur is eligible, of course) with it, and long touted that while its Grass moves and type combination are fantastic, that what has always made it the threat that it is comes down to the presence of Sludge Bomb as a great equalizer, not just against opposing Grasses, but as a big neutral beatstick against many things that laugh at Grass damage but HAVE to respect a big Sludge Bomb coming their way. A lazy opponent even with bad-for-Grass Flying and/or Fire types can find the tables quickly turned by not respecting Venusaur and throwing a shield here or there.
Well, that is no more, because Venusaur is literally dropping the bomb… and will now want simply SLUDGE instead. It deals 10 less damage (70) than Sludge Bomb, but also comes 10 energy cheaper (40), giving it far better pacing and spamminess… and it can now be used to bait out a big 45-energy Frenzy Plant rather than sometimes awkwardly having to do the opposite for 50-energy Sludge Bomb.
In the end, this change is rather impactful in Great League. In the standard 1v1 shielding matchups, Venusaur with Sludge picks up wins over Feraligatr (regular or Shadow, and yes, this was a legit loss previously due to Ice Beam!), Golisopod, Charjabug, Shadow Annihilape and Shadow Sableye (even though they resist Poison, the better pacing flips them both), Dunsparce, Shadow Gyarados, and in a true show of how spammier Poison damage helps, Jumpluff.
And in fact, Jumpie is now a consistent (and new) win across all even shield scenarios. Additionally, Venusaur now picks up Furret and Charjabug with shields down, and Jumpluff, Furret, Charjabug, and Shadow Marowak, Morpeko, and Primeape in 2v2 shielding.
That’s all for non-Shadow Venusaur, at least. I think I do lean towards that over Shadow Venusaur, which can uniquely overpower Shadow Gligar in 1shield and Shadow Sableye in 2shield, but drops a lot along the way, like Golisopod, Clodsire, and Shadow Sableye in 1shield, and Lapras, Dewgong, Tinkaton, Primeape, and ShadoWak in 2shield. Ouch!
The upgrade is really more of a sidegrade in Ultra League, however. In 1shield, the only new win is Shadow Feraligatr, and in 0shield, the only difference is actually a new loss, to Galarian Weezing. The wins do finally add up in 2v2 shielding, however, with Sludge adding new wins over regular and Shadow Feraligatr, Shadow Gyarados, and Primeape. I think Sludge is still the new favorite at this level, just not quite as impressively so as in Great League.
METAL SOUND is being added to two new Pokémon, including another thrifty starter!
Empoleon
WaterSteel
EMPOLEON has had a very up and down history in PvP. It was once a nasty counter to Dragons in addition to its Watery role in Ultra League, and has switched back and forth between Steel fast moves (particularly Steel Wing during its own heights of PvP glory) and Waterfall as Steel Wing’s reign came to a crashing, nerf-induced end. (And that was BEFORE Steel Wing was further nerfed in this update!) These days, it’s back to being fringe at best, sometimes popping up in Cups but outside of that, not much to see. And that’s with Metal Claw, as the latest nerf to Steel Wing just makes it nearly unviable.
Well the tides of fortune are tricky (ain’t that right, Captain Sisko?), and Empoleon is right back in it now with Metal Sound. There’s a LOT to look at to see this in Great League, between regular and Shadow, but to try and simplify, I’m just going to look at Steel Wing vs Metal Sound, with Hydro Cannon and Drill Peck as the charge moves, and make some more general statements about what I saw. Do keep in mind that Drill Peck was itself buffed a bit this season (now deals a bit more damage), so that may play into some of these results a bit as well… but we’ll get into Drill Peck a bit more another day. For now, let’s try and make this as simple as possible.
Some general observations:
- In general, Metal Sound seems to up the winrate for non-Shadow Empoleon a little bit more than Shadow. Specifically, while there are always some wins that are unique for non-Shadow (usually holds up better versus Dewgong and Dunsparce, for a couple prominent examples) and then for Shadow (Sableye and Alolan Sandslash, usually), adding Metal Sound allows non-Shadow Empie to often match all the formerly unique wins that Shadow got in the past. About the only things non-Shadow is NOT able to “catch up” to Shadow against are the occasional Dusclops or Galarian Moltres here or there.
- The high energy gains of Metal Sound (4.0 Energy Per Turn) means that things that resist Steel tend to fall with more consistency. These include Waters like Feraligatr, Greninja, Golisopod, Swampert, Blastoise, and Araquanid, Steels like Scizor, Alolan Sandslash, and especially Tinkaton, and several more neutral matchups like Lapras, Dewgong, Galarian Moltres, Mandibuzz, and Sableye.
- Importantly, getting to charge moves that are super effective can flip what are otherwise very bad machups for Empoleon. In this case, that means new wins over Swampert, Quagsire, and Turtonator in 0shield, and Talonflame in 2shield, and Venusaur and Kommo-o in 1shield and 2shield (thanks to Drill Peck).
If it wasn’t already obvious, in Great League, Shadow and non-Shadow Empoleon are basically sidegrades to each other. Here’s a quick rundown of the main differences between them with Metal Sound, Hydro Cannon, and Drill Peck:
- 1shield – Shadow beats Greninja, Blastoise, Shadow Gyarados, Sableye, Shadow Dusclops, and Galarian Moltres; non-Shadow instead outlasts Feraligatr, Diggersby, Dunsparce, Forretress, and Shadow Marowak.
- 0shield – Shadow crosses off Shadow Annihilape, Lapras, Shadow Gary, Shadow Venusaur, and ShadoWak; non-Shadow instead beats Greninja, Blastoise, Quagsire, Diggersby, Furret, Sableye, Dusclops, Corviknight, Guzzlord, and Turtonator.
- 2shield – Shadow overpowers Clodsire, Diggersby, Swampert, Araquanid, Shadow Feraligatr, Shadow Giratina, Furret, and Dedenne; non-Shadow hangs in there to instead overcome Talonflame, Galarian Moltres, Lapras, Dewgong, Blastoise, Shadow Scizor, Galarian Corsola, Dunsparce, and Shadow Dragonite.
Got all that? Hope so, because it’s time to move on to Ultra League! Here I’m going to stick with just Shadow, as it just seems consistently better than the non-Shadow, particularly in 0shield (as compared to non-Shadow and especially in 2shield (seven more wins that non-Shadow). So the side by side is a little easier here, as it’s almost entirely pure upgrades.
- In 1v1 shielding, Metal Sound is (yes, I’m bringing out the overused phrase) strictly better than Metal Claw with new wins over ShadowZard, Cresselia, Feraligatr (regular and Shadow), Golisopod, Kingdra, Kommo-o, Nidoqueen (with the new Mud Slap), Regidrago, Tentacruel, and Tinkaton. That’s 11 additional wins.
- With shields down, Metal Sound is again a straight upgrade, gaining Blastoise, Cresselia, Shadow Drapion, ShadowGatr, Altered Giratina, Kommo-o, Lapras, Galarian Moltres, Regidrago, Turtonator, and Venusaur. Again, +11 wins!
- In 2v2 shielding… yep, another strict upgrade! Metal Sound adds now twelve wins on to Metal Claw‘s total, beating Feraligatr, Altered Giratina, Shadow Gyarados, Kingdra, Kommo-o, Lapras, Scizor, Skeledirge, Talonflame, Tinkaton, and Venusaur. Wowzers.
My initial belief is that there would be reason to keep your existing Empoleons and to just look for Metal Sound as a new addition rather than replacement. Boy, was I wrong. I see little reason NOT to just change all your best Empoleons to Metal Sound now. There are a handful of unique wins Metal Claw still achieves in Great League, but not nearly enough, in my opinion, to be worth holding out for. Go Metal Sound and don’t look back!
Kommo-o
DragonFighting
The other new recipient is KOMMO-O. And while I DO think there’s a decent case for it, I think it will generally be better with the retooled Dragon Tail. And since we’ll be getting into that move more in a future article, I’m going to just put a pin in it for now and keep rolling. Hope that’s okay! I will get there, and in detail, on all the Dragon changes, I promise… proabably will have one entire article dedicated solely to all the meta Dragons affected in this rebalance! Stay tuned.
For now, on to a bunch of other move changes that are more set in… well, stone.
Crustle
BugRock
Little CRUSTLE also once had a lot more viability in PvP before eventually falling off as the meta evolved beyond it, and its Rock Slide was nerfed out from under it as Steel Wing was lessened out from under Empoleon. But since last season, it’s been all good news for Crusty. First there’s the big buff to Fury Cutter last season, but with its charge moves still a bit underwhelming, it has remained rather middling. Now this season, Rock Slide is back to its former glory, but Crustle probably doesn’t even want it anymore… because it instead can now learn the mighty ROCK WRECKER, which costs 5 more energy than Rock Slide, but deals 35 more damage.
What does that kind of raw damage mean? In Great League, Crustle (who operates best at this level as a Shadow… non-Shadow starts dropping wins like Gastrodon, Dusclops, Greninja, Wigglytuff, and Giratina) can now smash Dewgong, Forretress, Wigglytuff, Alolan Sandslash, Shadow Gligar, Araquanid, Dusclops, the new Shadow Altered Giratina, and even Clodsire in 1shield, that same list minus Clodsire and Forret but plus Cradily, Dedenne, and even Shadow Primeape in 0shield, and Galarian Weezing, Galarian Corsola, Jellicent, Araquanid, Stunfisk, and Diggersby in 2shield. That’s at least half a dozen new wins across all even shield scenarios.
The improvement is also notable in Ultra League, where Crusty sees big gains like Shadow Drapion, Dusknoir, Kingdra, Feraligatr, and Samurott in 1shield, Lapras, Gliscor, Skeledirge, Dusknoir, Lugia, and Togekiss in 2shield, and all of the following with shields down: Altered Giratina, Galarian Moltres, Galarian Weezing, Clefable, Bellibolt, Forretress, Shadow Scizor, Lickilicky, Typhlosion, and Tentacruel. At this level I do generally recommend the non-Shadow, which sometimes misses out on neat bonuses like Registeel and (situationally) Skeledirge, but only non-Shadow has the bulk necessary to outlast many others that include Clefable, Tentacruel, Samurott, Golisopod, Pangoro, Zygarde, and Dragonite.
Rock Wrecker is a terrifying move, perhaps only underappreciated to this point because you basically never see it outside of Master League since Rhyperior is the only other Pokémon that even HAS the move. That, I think, is about to change in a big way. Crustle should be smacking things around much more frequently now in the lower two Leagues.
And in case you were wondering, while Smack Down was also buffed this season, no, Crustle generally doesn’t want it. Fury Cutter just works much better for it still. We’ll get back to Rock Wrecker and those that its buff DOES benefit in a future analysis article, don’t worry!
“WHAT DO YOU WANT ON YOUR TOMBSTONE?” 🍕
Any other players over a certain age remember this genius marketing campaign? “Pepperoni and cheese” is the acceptable answer to the question, of course! Anyway….
Another Rock charge move that is not seeing any updates but IS being more widely distributed is ROCK TOMB. Many speculated (myself included) that Rock Tomb might get reigned in a little bit after propelling Cradily into the stratosphere of late, but at least for one more season, the shouts of “dilly dilly” shall continue unabated.
And as noted, there’s even a little doubling down going on with four new Dragon Pokémon getting Rock Tomb this season, and while I don’t forsee any rising nearly as high as Cradily, they’re worth at least a mention:
- TYRANTRUM and TYRUNT both get STAB on their new Rock Tomb toy, which is nice, and probably slots it in over Ancient Power for Tyrunt as its new go-to Rock charge move. The comparisons here DO revolve around two Dragon-type moves that we’ll be covering at a later date (as mentioned earlier, likely in another analysis dedicated solely to all the many meta Dragons affected in this rebalance!), but just to highlight the difference that Rock Tomb makes, I’ll note that it allows for completely new Tyrunt wins against Lapras, Dragon Breath Charizard, Jellicent, Sableye, Galarian Corsola, and Dunsparce, at least all when paired with now-cheapest-move-available Stomp. There’s no perfect answer, as eschewing the reworked Dragon Claw means giving up Guzzlord, Regidrago, and Dragon Breath ShadowTina, and Rock Tomb is a little slow to punch out Venusaur (which other movesets beat with more consistency). But overall I think Rock Tomb is probably a must-have for little Tyrunt now, whatever else you pair it with. As for Tyrantrum, while it remains too squishy to reliably use in Great League, Rock Tomb as a straight up replacement for Stone Edge or Meteor Beam (similar to how Tomb replaced Stone Edge on Magcargo) is a BIG upgrade [in Ultra League](), with a list of new potential wins that includes Feraligatr (regular or Shadow), Greninja, Lapras, Blastoise, Jellicent, Kingdra, Tentacruel, Lugia, Armored Mewtwo, Bellibolt, Charizard, and fellow rising Rock Crustle. That’s more than twice as many wins as it could achieve before, and now looks legit interesting, no?
Hakamo-o
DragonFighting
- Also reliant on those Dragon move updates is HAKAMO-O, which is powered by Dragon Tail and usually Dragon Claw as well. In this case, though, the best way to slide the new Rock Tomb in is likely in place of Dragon Claw, as the two are likely to have a comparable cost after Claw’s rework, and Brick Break is probably the best charge move for Slot #1. So when running BB/Rock Tomb rather than BB/Dragon Claw, Hakamo drops Rock-resistant Swampert and Annihilape in 1shield but gains Dusclops and Rock-weak Mandibuzz (with either of its fast moves) and Galarian Moltres, which is nice to see! In 2v2 shielding, Rock Tomb similarly drops Clodsire and Gastrodon (who both resist Rock) and gains Shadow Dusclops, Galarian Corsola, Regidrago, Jellicent, and even Azumarill now, which is pretty awesome. The only area where Rock Tomb falls on its face a bit is with shields down, where it does still get some nice unique wins (Charizard, Talonflame, Mandibuzz, Lapras, and even Scizor), just not as many as Dragon Claw (ShadowTina, Dusclops, Primeape, Venusaur, ShadoWak, Gastrodon, and Stunfisk). Still, I think Rock Tomb will emerge as a favored move on Hakamo moving forward and a nice way to distinguish it from on-the-rise Kommo-o.
Druddigon
Dragon
- And the final new recipient may be one that actually doesn’t really want the new move. DRUDDIGON seems to operate best still with Night Slash (critically its only truly spammy charge move anymore) and the retooled Dragon Claw as more of a closing move now. There’s just not really any room for Rock Tomb here, as Drudd lacks the bulk to make proper use of it. While it CAN lead to some neat wins against Flyers (Mandibuzz mostly, and sometimes Corviknight and/or Galarian Moltres) and other Rock-weak stuff like Golisopod and Lapras, generally Claw’s winlist is better with names like Feraligatr, Quagsire, Diggersby, Stunfisk, Gastrodon, and of course a number of Dragons across various shielding scenarios. I think Rock Tomb is better in theory than actual practice in this particular case, though I appreciate a little (attempted) love for Judge Drudd! (Now bring back Love Cup next year and let it shine again, Team Niantic!)
Ol’ Anakin may finally be coming around! Sand is indeed “course and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere”, little Ani, but that’s kind of exactly the point of SAND TOMB. It’s not meant to really do much but annoy the crap out of the opponent, dealing chip damage but accumulating debuffs to their Defense along the way, and ideally snagging a shield or two in the process.
Krookodile
GroundDark
That said, I don’t know if either of its new recipinents will really want it. KROOKODILE already has Brick Break which deals 40 damage for the same 40 energy as Sand Tomb, dealing anywhere from 6 to even a dozen more damage despite lacking STAB, and doing the same debuff to the opponent’s Defense. Like, I just don’t see why you’d ever want Sand Tomb on something that already has Brick Break in their current forms, aside from odd edge cases like Skeledirge or Galarian Weezing. Otherwise, Brick Break does a little more, punching out things like Furret, Cradily, and Greninja in Great League across various even shield scenarios, and Steelix and Blastoise in different spots in Ultra League. Krookodile isn’t going anywhere new with Sand Tomb.
Flygon
GroundDragon
FLYGON I will get into more when we get to the changes to its Dragon moves (next time), but suffice to say that Sand Tomb MAY have some room as a replacement for the now-more-expensive Dragon Claw as a bait move, and it does well in 2v2 shielding matchups, but overall I’m not sure it makes Flygon appreciably better.
MUD SLAP became a top tier move the last time we waded into a post-Worlds… uh, well, world… in Season 20.
Nidoqueen
PoisonGround
NIDOQUEEN already saw a mini revival when it received Poison Sting just last season, to the point that it’s now the favored fast move over former best (and arguably still more synergistic with Poison Fang) Poison Jab. Now comes another fast move option that isn’t Poison (in typing OR in name… lots of “Poison” names there, eh?): Mud Slap Nidoqueen is now officially a thing in Season 24. How strong is it, though?
- In Great League, I think what we have here is a very solid sidegrade. Not surprisingly, Mud Slap drives new wins against things that resist Poison, such as Ghosts (Jellicent and Galarian Corsola in 1shield, Shadow A-Giratina in 0shield, Shadow Sableye in 0shield and 1shield, and Dusclops in 1shield and 2shield), with bonuses like Alolan Sandslash with shields down, and Stunfisk and Primeape in 0shield and 1shield matchups. But there IS a tradeoff, as Poison Sting’s effectiveness and/or high energy generation instead take out Azumarill, Dunsparce, and Air Slash Mandibuzz in 1shield, Cradily and Shadow Drapion in 0shield, Furret in 2shield, and Jumpluff across ALL even shield scenarios.
- There is one other new possibility I wanted to point out too, and it also starts in Great League. While Earth Power is generally still the best closing move to roll with, regardless of fast move, Mud Slap damage makes it a little more redundant. That opens up the real possibility of turning to different coverage with [Stone Edge]() intead, which was just a downgrade with Poison fast moves, but a legit sidegrade now with Mud Slap. All those 1shield wins I listed for Mud Slap above remain with Stone Edge instead of Earth Power except for G-Corsola. In 0shield, Stone Edge does drop Rock-resistant Clodsire, Stunfisk, and Primeape, but it gains Golisopod, Mandibuzz, and Talonflame to more than make up for it. And in 2v2 shielding, Stone Edge and Earth Power share all the same core meta wins when running Mud Slap.
- Now up to Ultra League, and here I’m going to switch up to Shadow Nidoqueen, which just works better at this level. And once again, Mud Slap sets are a sidegrade/slight upgrade to Poison Sting. In 1shield, Poison Sting is needed for Virizion, Mandibuzz, and interestingly, Poison-resistant Skeledirge and Scizor (by reaching more charge moves), while Mud Slap is needed to beat opposing Nidoqueens, Tentacruel, Jellicent, Forretress, Samurott, Dusknoir, Annihilape, and either Altered Giratina (with Earth Power) or Golisopod (with Stone Edge). With shields down, Poison Sting uniquely outraces Cradily and Typhlosion, while Mud Slap instead smacks aside Nidoqueen, Cresselia, Samurott, and Scizor. Of note: Earth Power is needed to further add on Feraligatr, Tentacruel, and Annihilape, while Stone Edge instead punches out Golisopod, Dragonite, Mandibuzz, and Talonflame. And then finally, in 2shield, while Poison Sting can do in Venusaur, Dragonite, and Galarian Moltres, Mud Slap outperforms by instead burying (in order) Annihilape, Cresselia, Forretress, Altered Giratina (Shadow Claw), Scizor, Steelix, Tinkaton, Tentacruel, and of course, the mirror.
So overall, I do NOT think you want to just throw away your Poison Sting Nidoqueens, but you definitely want Mud Slap now too. If you have a stockpile of Fast TMs you can, of course, just switch back and forth (though beware as Nidoqueen has now FOUR fast moves to cycle through 😬), or you can just build a new one. No Legacy moves to worry about here. Good luck!
Torterra
GrassGround
There’s another new Mud Slap recipient I am even MORE excited about. While Nidoqueen already had at least one viable fast move going for it, poor TORTERRA has always floundered behind a completely unviable Bite and a mostly-overshadowed Razor Leaf. This is a shame, because it has a neat typing (Grass/Ground) and some really nice charge moves with Stone Edge (which provides “perfect” coverage against ALL typings that are super effective into Grass/Ground), Sand Tomb which makes hard hitting fast moves all the more deadly, and of course Frenzy Plant which has mostly gone to waste to this point, as the only semi-viable moveset thus far has been Razor Leaf/Sand Tomb/Stone Edge.
But now we can free up Frenzy Plant for big Grass damage while also shifting critical Ground damage to Mud Slap, maximizing both sides of Torterra’s STAB. And now we have two options: stick with Sand Tomb for low (and mostly unnecessary now) Ground damage but still making Mud Slap MUCH more dangerous, or Stone Edge for its great coverage.
I’m gonna go ahead and say that, at least in Great League, I think it actually remains Sand Tomb, which is NOT what I expected going in. But Stone Edge gets ZERO unique wins against the projected Great League core meta, while Sand Tomb gets several. When paired with Mud Slap (and Frenzy Plant), the unique wins include Shadow Sableye in 1shield, and quite a bit in 2shield (where those Sand Tomb debuffs add up), including Feraligatr, Jellicent, Shadow Sable, Primeape, Shadow Giratina, and Galarian Corsola. Again, that’s humble Sand Tomb putting in the work with either Mud Slap OR Razor Leaf. I think it’s clearly the way to go over the on-paper more tempting Stone Edge.
But the real question here was about the fast moves, so let’s compare those. Razor Leaf does still do some very nice things that Mud Slap cannot. It’s actually a straight sidegrade still in 1v1 shielding, shredding Feraligatr, Greninja, Lapras, Jellicent, and Annihilape, while Mud Slap instead buries the things you would mostly expect: Poisons (Clodsire, Drapion, G-Weezing), Steels (Tinkaton, Scizor), Fires (Typhlosion), and a bonus Galarian Corsola. There are similar sidegradey comparisons in 2v2 shielding, with Razor Leaf again getting Lapras and Annihilape, as well as Furret and Diggersby, but Mud Slap does pull ahead a bit with unique wins against mostly familiar names (Clodsire, Drapion, G-Weeze, Tinkaton, Scizor, Typhlosion) and also now (Shadow Claw) Alolan Sandslash, which is kind of a BIG deal considering Torterra’s double weakness to Ice!
But it is actually with shields down that Mud Slap leaves Razor Leaf completely in the dust. Running with Frenzy Plant (and the secondary charge move doesn’t really matter!), only Mud Slap is able to overcome Clodsire, Drapion, G-Weeze, Tinkaton, Typhlosion, Cradily, Furret, Morpeko, Sableye, and even things you would expect Razor Leaf to be better against like Diggersby, Jellicent, Lapras, and even Dewgong! For this drastically improved result alone, I HAVE to call Mud Slap an overall upgrade, but again, it will not ALWAYS be better, so be careful!
At Ultra League level, however… there’s really not much contest. Mud Slap is clearly a better option here than Razor Leaf, with a TON of new wins in 1shield and 0shield. Razor Leaf can throttle Feraligatr and Greninja in the former, and Cradily in the latter, but otherwise it’s ALL Mud Slap with +13 and +21 wins respectively. And while things are closer in 2shield matchups, where cumulative Razor Leafing can still do nice things versus opposing Water types like Lapras, Samurott, Feraligatr, Blastoise, Poliwrath, and Jellicent, as well as both Rage Fisting Apes (that sounded wrong but we’re just gonna go with it), but Mud Slap still has the overall advantage in terms of wins and losses, against a variety of Poisons, Steels, Electrics, and Fires, but also nifty stuff like Cresselia, Lickilicky, and Dragons like Zygarde and Guzzlord.
And HOLY COW that was a long section about just TWO Pokémon. Nutshell: yes, you want both Nidoqueen and Torterra with Mud Slap now, and both become more dangerous than at least recent history now. But there’s ALSO something to still be said for their existing, to-this-point primary fast move, so building another or just Fast TM swapping are fine… whatever works better for you. Have at it!
As for me… I better move on while I still have some characters left before Reddit yells at me. 😅
Kingdra
WaterDragon
Quick one here, but that doesn’t mean it’s not impactful. Because DANG. I have downplayed KINGDRA‘s impact ov PvP literally for years now, as it always seemed overhyped to me and relatively easy for most teams to work around. Just too squishy to rely on, and risky in that usually if Octazooka isn’t shielded AND it triggers its debuff (a 50/50 coin flip), Kingdra often just curls up and dies before it can do anything else.
But now it doesn’t need Octazooka at all, because here comes the newly amazing SWIFT, and the difference is actually pretty crazy. A bunch of new wins in Ultra League that include Lapras, Gastrodon, Nidoqueen, Zygarde, Drifblim, G-Moltres, Talonflame, Bellibolt, and Venusaur. Yes, some of those are weak to Water but lose not to super effectivr Octazooka, but neutral Swift.
Even more impressively, I think this makes Kingdra legit — really for the first time — in Great League too, whether Shadow or not! The closest it ever got before misses out on stuff like Charizard, Turtonator, Dragonair, Giratina, Kommo-o, Gyarados, Quagsire, Shadow Primeape, Furret, and Clodsire.
You finally did it, Kingdra. I am officially impressed. Enjoy your newfound viability, and I promise I’ll be nicer to you in the future!
Several new recipients of PSYSHOCK, which is not a move one often thinks of as being a top charge move, but it’s certainly plenty viable at 40 energy for 70 damage, quietly the same as more heralded moves like Drill Peck, Upper Hand, and Season 22 reworked darlings Aqua Jet and Sludge. And now it’s seeing wider distribution!
Galarian Slowking
PoisonPsychic
Undoubtedly the most exciting new recipient is GALARIAN SLOWKING. It’s had a couple bright shining moments in Limited metas (especially Psychic Cup), having a full Ghost moveset of Hex and the mighty Shadow Ball. But it’s been a little awkward outside of that, with Legacy Surf, Scald, and Sludge Wave (that last one usually only as an alternative to Shadow Ball) as its other viable charge move options. But it also very quietly benefitted from the buff to Acid last season, which is better now than Hex, but still not that great to this point. But now, enter Psyshock, and a whole new world of potential. Moving away from Water damage does mean that Carbink and Talonflame frustratingly get away, but look at all the new wins! In Great League, we have Shadow Giratina (even with Shadow Claw!), Lapras, Greninja, Blastoise, Kommo-o, Shadow Dragonite & Dragonair, Galarian Weezing, Dunsparce, Cradily, Typhlosion, and Charizard all moving into the win column. And in Ultra League, it’s a bit less impressive overall, but Psyshock is most definitely a big improvement over the former best, dropping Typhlosion but gaining Regidrago, Tentacruel, Turtonator, Blastoise, Armored Mewtwo, and Galarian Weezing to more than make up for it. And just wait until we get to the Shadow version down the road! 👀
Aromatisse
Fairy
The other one worth a highlight is AROMATISSE. I’ll get more into the rework of Charm another day, but suffice to say that Psyshock gives this particular Charmer more shield pressure than most. It’s no Wigglytuff (again, we’ll get to that another day… patience!), but it’s not that far off! And unlike Wiggly and several other Charmers, Aromatisse has play in Ultra League, too!
The other new Psyshockers are admittedly not as interesting, but for a quick look….
Alola Raichu
ElectricPsychic
- I love any version of RAICHU, ALOLAN or not. But no, I don’t think AhChu wants its new toy in Psyshock very much. It is certainly NOT terrible at all, in Ultra or Great League, it’s just that Trailblaze is pretty consistently better.
Victini
FirePsychic
- Combined with the newly buffed Confusion (finally good enough to replace Quick Attack), VICTINI certainly appreciates having at least ONE viable, affordable charge move that doesn’t debuff itself into oblivion. (It used to typically rely on running both V-Create and Overheat, continually slashing its own stats with both.) But it remains merely a Cup option across multiple formats, though at least it gets to very nearly a 50% winrate in Master League. That’s… something, right?
Delphox
FirePsychic
- Psyshock gives DELPHOX a coverage move it probably should have had from the start. But while it does represent a new high for Phoxy, that high is still pretty low. It has more problems than Psyshock can fix.
Xatu
PsychicFlying
- Ditto with XATU. While I certainly appreciate the effort, its PvP viability disappeared almost immediately, and it has FAR more issues than Psyshock alone can fix. I’ll circle back to it again when we eventually cover the new and improved Peck in detail and you’ll see more what I mean then.
Just some quick hits on other redistributed (but unchanged) moves before we close things out.
Pachirisu
Electric
- In theory, little PACHIRISU has been dying for a move like HYPER FANG, arriving as its first and so far ONLY non-Electric move. But Pachi is an odd duck, because its bulk is SO insane that it still does significantly better still with all Electric moves. About the only thing Hyper Fang seems to add is Morpeko, and only in 0v0 shielding. Existing movesets still win out with anywhere from three to five additional wins that Hyper Fang cannot match. Pachi is good, but no changes necessary here. Appreciate the try though, Team Niantic!
Shelgon
Dragon
- CRUNCH gives simple SHELGON a little boost, replacing the pretty bad Twister. But the boost really only shows up in 2shield (adds Jellicent and Dusclops) and with shields down (+Jelli, G-Corsola, Diggersby, and Cradily). It remains mere spice, though. Crunch and BRUTAL SWING were also both added to SALAMENCE, and DO make it better, but I’ll talk more about Sal in the Dragon-centric Part 2. Patience!
Incineroar
FireDark
- INCINEROAR gets BRUTAL SWING too, and it certainly gets better, but only to a degree. All three of its fast moves are pretty equally viable, and it will almost always want Brutal Swing as a replacement for formerly cheapest move Blaze Kick, but it really never performs better than a 33% winrate.
- Incineroar also gets DRAIN PUNCH, along with a bunch of others: Passimian, Toxicroak, Mienshao, Mienfoo, Sableye, Gengar, Quagsire, and both Slowbros. Honestly, I don’t want to even show the sims here, as Drain Punch (40 energy for only 20 damage and a +1 Defense buff) is a notoriously difficult move to portray accurately with simulations. What I WILL say is that I don’t think ANY of them will favor it over existing moves, with the possible exception of Kanto Slowbro as a kind of gimmicky bait. I don’t have a high opinion on this one, but please, prove me wrong!
TO BE CONTINUED…
Alrighty, that’s it for now. As I said, next time it’ll be a Dragon highlight, and then we’ll get to all the moves that still have unknowns and guesstimation behind them. Lots still to come before the season arrives!
Until then, you can always find me on Twitter or Patreon. Or please feel free to comment here with your own thoughts or questions and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!
Stay safe out there, Pokéfriends. Best of luck as you prep for the new season, and catch you next time!
One additional Special Trade.
-10% Stardust cost for trades.
Earn two Candy XL from trades.
