Blacephalon and Stakataka are in Tier 5 raids until 10am on June 1, and Naganadel can now be evolved from Poipole since the start of the Ultra Space Wonders event. Today, we will look at how Blacephalon and Naganadel stack up as raids attackers. (Sorry, Stakataka, but your stats and moveset leave a lot to be desired.)
Main Points (TL;DR)
Blacephalon is a “borderline” top-tier Fire attacker, especially for those who don’t have enough other top-tier fires. It’s also a decent Ghost attacker, but its Gengar-level bulk is too low for its sky high DPS to be useful in practice.
Naganadel is (almost) tied as one of the top non-mega Poison attackers, together with Nihilego. However, its main problem is that poison lacks utility as an attacking type in raids, primarily due to not having many bosses to use them against.
My analyses of other types are in this spreadsheet. You can also follow me on Twitter (X) and Threads!
Blacephalon as a Fire attacker
Among fire attackers, Blacephalon ranks as #7 non-mega and #2 non-shadow non-mega, and is most comparable to Shadow Blaziken. It seems rather consistently below Fusion Flare Reshiram and most top-tier shadows (Chandelure, Darmanitan, etc), and above everything else. Given that the “#7” includes expensive shadow legendaries and even Apex Shadow Ho-Oh, it appears that Blacephalon can fill a spot on the teams of players who don’t have supreme teams or prefer 6 unique counters.
Blacephalon is a classic glass cannon, as its higher-than-Mewtwo base attack is paired with the lowest bulk of all fire attackers (even a bit less than Shadow Blaziken). However, it appears to not be a big drawback as a fire type: Blacephalon is unique in having a 3-bar charged move Mystical Fire, whose efficiency improves its consistency compared to others with the clumsy Overheat and Blast Burn.
Blacephalon as a Ghost attacker
Because Dark and Ghost attackers have extremely similar offensive profiles, I typically combine the two types in my analysis. (This ends up being one of the troubles with ghost-type Blacephalon.)
The biggest boon with Blacephalon is its sky-high theoretical DPS — it’s the highest among all non-shadow dark and ghost types, only out sped by Shadow Gengar, Shadow Chandelure and Shadow Tyranitar.
But DPS is not the only thing that matters. Blacephalon is also the flimsiest among all non-shadow dark and ghost types, with even 9% lower bulk than Gengar. To make things worse, glass cannons often can’t utilize the slow Shadow Ball to its fullest potential, unlike Giratina-O, or even Tyranitar and Hydreigon with the more reliable Brutal Swing.
As a result, I’d personally place Blacephalon among the group of “second-tier” dark/ghost attackers, with the likes of Gholdengo, Yveltal, Incineroar and Chandelure. The biggest problem is unreliability. When Blacephalon is good, it’s really good, But its worst-case scenarios are even worse, as it can get KO’ed by even a few neutral moves, and that’s before we consider that ghost is a worse defensive type than dark in their roles. Even though it’s not weak to psychic-type moves from the boss unlike Gengar, that’s not enough.
(I’ll note that, while I didn’t run sims comparing it with Tyranitar and Hydreigon, I doubt Blacephalon can perform better in a significant number of cases. The bulk and typing differences are too much, and its DPS advantage is not enough to make up.)
Naganadel as a Poison attacker
If you either want a team of every type or lack a steel team, Naganadel could be of great interest to you. I’d say it’s almost tied with Nihilego as the top non-mega poison attackers: Naganadel has slightly higher DPS, but it’s offset by lower bulk. If I have to pick, I’d say Nihilego is still better, though.
The real issue isn’t their strength, but their utility — or lack thereof. As I mentioned the last (and only) two times I talked about the type in the past, Poison attackers have extremely low utility. There are simply not many Fairy and Grass-type bosses that fall prey to them, and even those that do are better countered by more common teams, such as Steel and Fire (not to mention dual-type bosses). Tapu Bulu is the only T4+ raid boss (so far) against which poison attackers are mandatory, while those without a steel team can add Xerneas and Zacian to the list.
(What about Naganadel as a dragon? I didn’t make the chart, but it’s in the same tier as Hydreigon, Giratina-O and Tyrantrum on the dragon-type chart. All three are much better known by their roles in the other type, but could barely make the chart as dragons. The same trend continues with Naganadel.)
Possible future signature move for Blacephalon
Blacephalon has a fire-type signature move, Mind Blown, in the main series games. I did try to “simulate” Mind Blown by assuming it’s a Blast Burn clone, but surprisingly, it performs virtually the same as the current Mystical Fire. This is likely due to the sluggishness of Blast Burn coupled with the glassiness of Blacephalon. Therefore, while we can expect Blacephalon to receive Mind Blown in PoGO sooner or later, there’s no way we can know — or even guess — by how much it will improve (if at all), in addition to when.
Upcoming articles
You may have noticed Dawn Wings Necrozma tops the Dark/Ghost chart. Yes, it’s OP (primarily because of the signature move that’s guaranteed upon fusion), and so is Dusk Mane. I’m working on a more detailed article on Necrozma and Marshadow, which I hope to finish before the first in-person GO Fest, though I can’t make any guarantees. A separate speculation article will focus on Ultra Necrozma (plus the rest of the trio) and perhaps better speculative moves for Marshadow.
I’ll also cover next season’s GBL moveset changes when it comes, but if the leak is accurate, Fly Salamence is exciting (and the only notable one for raids).
Imgur Links and Additional Charts
General attacker charts: ASE and ASTTW*
Comparisons:
* indicates additional charts that are not in the main post.
