Hello Trainers!
Recently the PokéMiners discovered some new code in the game master that I found very interesting.
pokedex_id form component_candy_cost form_change_type (Fuse or Unfuse) fusion_move_1 fusion_move_2 location_card_settings
Did you catch it? form_change_type (Fuse or Unfuse)
There are only two sets of Pokémon that can fuse. Zekrom or Reshiram with Kyurem to form Black or White Kyurem, and Glastrier or Spectrier with Calyrex to form Ice Rider Calyrex or Shadow Rider Calyrex. Zekrom, Reshiram, and Kyurem have previously been available so we’re going to start there as that is the most likely to be released first.
How It Might Work
Before we get into the two groups of Pokémon that can be fused, let’s talk about how this might work. In the main series games, both sets of Pokémon require an item to make the fusions work. For the Tao Trio (Reshiram, Zekrom, and Kyurem) you needed an item called DNA Splicers and for the Steeds and the Sovereign (Glastrier, Spectrier, and Calyrex) you needed the Reins of Unity, these items appeared in your Key Items pocket of your inventory.
I don’t think Niantic will introduce new items for this, it’s most likely that these legendary Pokémon will get a button on their profile screens similar to the Mega Evolve buttons on other Pokémon. When you tap it, it will ask you to select which Pokémon you want to fuse it with and you’ll see a fancy animation and boom. Fused Pokémon. It is also very likely they “grey” out the two base Pokémon for the fusion as well as “unusable” in any sort of battle as technically they are combined. I am very interested in how that gets displayed in-game when (if?) this gets released.
IVs
In the main series games, the fused Pokémon kept the Nature, IVs and EV’s of the Kyurem that was fused. Niantic will likely follow suit and just keep the IVs of the Kyurem.
Shinies
Much like the IV’s, it’s only the Kyurem that matters. If the Kyurem is shiny, the fused Pokémon will also be shiny. If the Reshiram or Zekrom is shiny and the Kyurem is not, the fused Pokémon will not be shiny.
Cost
What is it going to cost? Candy for both Pokémon? Stardust? Both? They could introduce a new type of energy for Kyurem like mega energy or primal energy, and allow the cost of the fusion to drop with each fusion.
Black Kyurem & White Kyurem
Kyurem (Black)
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Kyurem (White)
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Reshiram, Zekrom, and Kyurem were introduced in the Unova region in Pokémon Black and Pokémon White with Reshiram being the box art legendary for Pokémon Black, and Zekrom being the box art legendary for Pokémon White.
What’s interesting about this legendary trio is that Reshiram can fuse with Kyurem to form White Kyurem, and Zekrom can fuse with Kyurem to form Black Kyurem. Fusing the Pokémon boosted their stats, with White Kyurem receiving a higher Special Attack and Special Defence, and Black Kyurem receiving a higher Attack and Defense.
What does that mean for Pokémon GO? Let’s look at them individually.
Zekrom
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Reshiram
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Kyurem
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| Dragon | Electric | Dragon | Fire | Dragon | Ice |
| Max CP: | 4565 | Max CP: | 4565 | Max CP: | 4104 |
| Attack: | 275 | Attack: | 275 | Attack: | 246 |
| Defence: | 211 | Defence: | 211 | Defence: | 170 |
| Stamina: | 205 | Stamina: | 205 | Stamina: | 245 |
Now let’s look at the stats of the fused Pokémon Black Kyurem and White Kyurem:
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Kyurem (Black)
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Kyurem (White)
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| Dragon | Ice |
| Max CP: | 5206 |
| Attack: | 310 |
| Defence: | 183 |
| Stamina: | 245 |
Because of the way that the conversion formulas work, both Black and White Kyurem come out with the same stats. So let’s break it down. 310 Attack! This is an improvement! Defence looks like it lands somewhere in the middle of the two, and the Stamina is the same as Kyurem and an improvement on both Reshiram and Zekrom. So overall I would say this is an improvement.
You’ll notice that Black and White Kyurem keep Kyurem’s Ice typing, and as such both of their movesets are geared towards it being a Dragon/Ice type. The only difference between the two is that Black Kyurem has access to Dragon Tail, and White Kyurem only has Dragon Breath. It’s not a huge difference between the two, but you’ll see that in a second.
As an Ice-Type
If you check out our database and include unavailable Pokémon you’ll see that Black Kyurem has the potential to be THE best Ice-type attacker in Pokémon GO in terms of Total Damage Output (It’s not close to anyone not named White Kyurem) and it falls just behind Galarian Zen Mode Darmanitan in terms of Damage Per Second. White Kyurem is so close that the difference is negligible in any kind of real-world scenario.
In terms of currently available Pokémon it’s better than both Shadow Mamoswine and Shadow Weavile. Neither have access to an Ice-type stab move, but even with an Ice-type move you’re better off sticking with the Dragon-type fast move as neither Black nor White Kyurem have access to Frost Breath or Ice Shard in the Main Series games. Now, if Niantic ever releases Freeze-Dry as a fast move, they might be in business.
| Pokémon | Fast | Charged | DPS | TDO |
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Kyurem (Black)
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Dragon Tail | Blizzard | 19.59 | 699.8 |
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Kyurem (White)
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Dragon Breath | Blizzard | 19.28 | 688.8 |
Darmanitan (Galarian Zen)
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Ice Fang | Avalanche | 20.78 | 493.4 |
Mamoswine (Shadow)
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Powder Snow | Avalanche | 19.03 | 455.3 |
Weavile (Shadow)
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Ice Shard | Avalanche | 18.25 | 367.2 |
As a Dragon-Type
As a Dragon type, they are both outclassed by Mega Rayquaza, Mega Garchomp, Mega Salamence and Origin Form Palkia. Eternamax Eternatus also outclasses it, but that thing has a max CP of 9000… That said, it is worth looking at Black Kyurem as a Dragon-type. White Kyurem, not so much as unfortunately, White Kyurem gets a far worse moveset than Black Kyurem gets. Black Kyurem is solidly behind a handful of Mega Dragons and Origin Forme Palkia, but white Kyurem ends up being behind a laundry list of other Dragon-types including Shadow Garchomp, Shadow Dragonite, Mega Latias, and Shadow Latios.
| Pokémon | Fast | Charged | DPS | TDO |
Rayquaza (Mega)
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Dragon Tail | Outrage | 23.94 | 904.8 |
Garchomp (Mega)
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Dragon Tail | Outrage | 21.65 | 904.4 |
Salamence (Mega)
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Dragon Tail | Draco Meteor | 19.87 | 847.3 |
Eternatus (Eternamax)
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Dragon Tail | Dragon Pulse | 14.85 | 2502.5 |
Palkia (Origin)
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Dragon Tail | Spacial Rend | 20.51 | 691.0 |
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Kyurem (Black)
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Dragon Tail | Outrage | 20.13 | 719.0 |
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Kyurem (White)
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Dragon Breath | Dragon Pulse | 18.19 | 649.7 |
Ice Rider Calyrex & Shadow Rider Calyrex
Calyrex (Ice Rider)
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Calyrex (Shadow Rider)
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Glastrier, Spectrier, and Calyrex were introduced in the Galar region in Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield. Specifically, they first appeared in the Crown Tundra DLC.
Glastrier can fuse with Calyrex to form Ice Rider Calyrex, and Spectrier can fuse with Calyrex to form Shadow Rider Calyrex. Fusing the Pokémon boosted their stats, with Ice Rider Calyrex receiving a higher Attack and Defence, and Shadow Rider Calyrex receiving a higher Special Attack and Special Defense.
What does that mean for Pokémon GO? Let’s look at them individually.
I would like to preface this section with a disclaimer, as these Pokémon have not been released yet we don’t know what their movesets will be so this is all heavy speculation. Glacial Lance and Astral Barrage (the signature moves of Ice Rider Calyrex and Shadow Rider Calyrex) will likely be released at some point. It can also learn Icicle Crash, which hasn’t been released in PoGO yet and might be a fast move. The point is we don’t know, so take this with a grain of crunchy salt.
Glastrier
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Spectrier
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Calyrex
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| Ice | Ghost | Psychic | Grass | ||
| Max CP: | 4404 | Max CP: | 3827 | Max CP: | 2575 |
| Attack: | 246 | Attack: | 273 | Attack: | 162 |
| Defence: | 223 | Defence: | 146 | Defence: | 162 |
| Stamina: | 225 | Stamina: | 205 | Stamina: | 225 |
Because Glastrier and Spectrier both have different base stats, their fusions come out with different stats than each other. So let’s look at them individually.
Ice Rider Calyrex
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Calyrex (Ice Rider)
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| Psychic | Ice |
| Max CP: | 4788 |
| Attack: | 268 |
| Defence: | 246 |
| Stamina: | 205 |
Calyrex’s stats aren’t anything to write home about, Glastrier has some pretty good base stats on its own and combining them gives them increases across the board except Ice Rider Calyrex’s stamina takes a bit of a dip down from 225 to 205.
As an Ice-type attacker, it’s behind everything I listed above for White Kyurem. As a Psychic-type attacker, it’s behind a LOT of things… I mean a lot. Either way it’s likely not worth the cost to fuse them more than the once it takes to register it into the dex.
Shadow Rider Calyrex
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Calyrex (Shadow Rider)
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| Psychic | Ghost |
| Max CP: | 5132 |
| Attack: | 324 |
| Defence: | 194 |
| Stamina: | 205 |
Now here’s where it gets good. With 324 attack Shadow Rider Calyrex is a beast. It’s got a lower defence than its counterpart, but that doesn’t affect its viability.
As a Ghost-type attacker, it’s only behind Mega Gengar regarding overall effectiveness. Which is solid.
| Pokémon | Fast | Charged | DPS | TDO |
Gengar (Mega)
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Lick | Shadow Ball | 23.43 | 591.5 |
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Calyrex (Shadow Rider)
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Confusion | Shadow Ball | 21.5 | 686.1 |
Form Changes?
I would be remiss if I didn’t also discuss form changes along with the fusions. Dozens of Pokémon can change their form through some sort of mechanic in the main series games. Rotom, Deoxys, and Castform are only a few of them. Are we finally going to be able to get the ability to change the form of some of these Pokémon? I certainly hope so, it would allow for so much more depth of gameplay.
Conclusions and Parting Thoughts
I am very excited to see form fusing, Reshiram is my all-time favourite legendary, and being able to fuse it into a White Kyurem is an exciting prospect. Seeing them released correctly is exciting.
Black and White Kyurem are both epic Ice-type attackers, they aren’t the best but it’s worth having one built for your team. They are very good as Dragon-types as well, Black Kyurem is at least and if you can fuse one along with one Mega it’s worth having on your Dragon-type attacker team. Shadow Rider Calyrex is a beast Ghost-type attacker and is relegated to a dex entry as an Ice-type attacker.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
