A Full PvP Analysis on the Shared Skies Move Rebalance

New season, new shakeup! As per usual, we get moves added to new recipients, and some existing moves get tweaked. Unlike usual, we don’t get any all-new moves, but on the plus side, we got all this teased over a week ahead of time, making ol’ JRE quite happy. No last minute scramble to get through it all!

But even with a relatively simple move rebalance like this one, there’s still plenty to cover. Nowhere will you find analysis that goes to these depths, covering the big names and some others you likely haven’t even considered.

Let’s do this, people!

(NEW) ATTACK ON TITAN 🌨️

Cetitan Ice

There are several attack changes people are already talking about excitedly with this update, so naturally I’m going to start with… CETITAN? Hear me out, because I think this is one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) move addition in this whole rebalance.

“JRE, you’re crazy, man. Ice types are a dime a dozen. What makes Cetitan so special?”

Well judging by my initial PvP review on Cetitan when it was released, not much. I noted it had decent overall bulk and was at least better than Avalugg (with the same Body Slam and Avalanche charge moves, but Cetitan having the better fast move with Ice Shard as opposed to Lugg’s Ice Fang), and perhaps had some promise in Master League where Ice types have a lot of advantages anyway, particularly Premier where Legendary Ice types are left on the outside looking in. And now? Enter an even much better fast move than Ice Shard: Powder Snow, which beats all the same ML core meta stuff as Ice Shard plus Origin Giratina, Lugia, and Snorlax in 0shield, Altered Giratina, Swampert, and Gyarados in 1shield, Mewtwo and Reshiram in 2shield, and Xerneas and Zacian in both 1 and 2shield. And again, NO new losses… this is a straight upgrade, folks. In the rankings, Cetitan leapfrogs Avalugg, Walrein, Baxcalibur, and even lomg-time staple Mamoswine in the ratings (and in performance) to trail only Kyurem and Hisuian Avalugg among Ice types, and Cetitan can still do things not even those two can like beating Mewtwo, Excadrill, and Reshiram!

Cetitan does move into the upper ranks of Ice types in other Leagues as well, but there is just a lot of established and versatile competition to contend with like Walrein, Dewgong, Abomasnow, Alolan Sandslash, Arctibax, Aurorus, Froslass, Alolan Ninetales, and even old friends like Lapras. Those mostly all fall away in Master League, leaving the new and improved Cetitan to shoot up the charts more decisively. You’ll start to see it all over now, particularly in Cups, but I do think Master League is where it will likely make its biggest mark for those with the means to build it up. It can even beat three out of four Necrozmas! (The Steely Dusk Mane fusion being the only exception, for rather obvious reasons.)

Cetoddle Ice

One other League to consider is Little League, and CETODDLE, who gets the same moveset update and does good things with it. Stupid trash can lid Bronzor is still a huge issue, of course, as well as obvious Fires and Fighters and such. But this is easily now one of the best Ice types in Little League and should be a fixture of most Little formats from here on out.

Do I think these two are going to suddenly take over their respective Leagues? Probably not. But do they deserve a heck of a lot more usage, even in Open? Absolutely. There’s a reason I chose to lead off with these two!

PUNCHING LIGHTS OUT ⚡

Thunder Punch is not exactly an electrifying move in PvP. Like the other Elemental Punches (Fire, Ice, Thunder), as well as other move clones (Aerial Ace and Stomp), it costs only 40 energy, but deals only 55 damage for a passable but unexciting 1.37 Damage Per Energy. Most things that use it (and there are several, such as Ampharos, Muk, Hypno, Pachirisu, and the Super Raichu Bros.) do so as a bait move, though as with any elemental move, the coverage alone can be nice too (for things like Muk and Hypno, at least). Still, often if it goes through unshielded, that’s a loss for the user, as they typically want to bait a shield with it leading up to a big closer like Dark Pulse (Muk), Shadow Ball (Hypno), or Wild Charge (Raichus).

And honestly, that mostly remains Thunder Punch’s role for the things now receiving it:

Pawmot ElectricFighting

• The Pawmot family all get it now. I suppose PAWMO may appreciate it the most as its first move under 45 energy, but it remains a poor overall option. Big bro PAWMOT can use it, I suppose, alongside Close Combat or Wild Charge rather than running both as it typically does now, giving it not only better bait potential but also moves it away from TWO big self-debuffing moves at once. Indeed, it would seem Thunder Punch/Close Combat is a fine sidegrade or even upgrade to Close Combat/Wild Charge, dropping Azumarill but picking up things like Mantine, Talonflame, and Carbink, which are all quite nice. However, it remains far south of a 50% winrate and thus on the fringe even in most Limited/Cup metas. This addition is appreciated, but doesn’t really change much. And keep in mind that their fast move, Spark, is getting a nerf… but more on that later.

Chesnaught GrassFighting

• CHESNAUGHT is an odd one here. Obviously it already has Waters covered with its Grass moves, so the most obvious thing Thunder Punch does is give it a little more teeth against Flyers. As with Pawmot, Chesnaught tends to run with a self-debuffing Fighting move for coverage, in this case Superpower. And honestly, I think that’s what it will usually prefer to keep on doing, though Thunder Punch IS a decent overall sidegrade on paper in Great League, dropping stuff like Guzzlord and Shadow Dragonair to instead gain Annihilape and Pelipper. Hmmm… that’s actually not too shabby. 🤔 I think I can confidentally say to stick with Superpower in Ultra League, though… without it, you drop stuff like Registeel, Alolan Sandslash, Cobalion, and Guzzlord, which is no beuno.

Lucario FightingSteel

• Another Fighter that gets some anti-air coverage wth Thunder Punch now is LUCARIO. The last elemental move Niantic gave it was Blaze Kick, which has popped up here and there (and given it some new potential wins like Venusaur), but generally it seems to usually still run best with Power-Up Punch (and typically Shadow Ball) instead. Usually. I do see a bit more potential this time around. In Great League, Fire Punch generally performs worse than PuP, but Thunder Punch seems like more of a straight sidegrade, trading away Cresselia to instead pretty reliably take out Carbink. And in Ultra League, Thunder Punch (running alongside Shadow Ball) does still generally lose to Trevenant in a foot race (PuP’s lower cost is critical there), but gains Mandibuzz and Tentacruel in exchange, as well as scaring Flyers into potentially burning more shields too. Luc’s Counter damage is already beating up Steels that you’d want Fire for, leaving Thunder Punch and Counter with less overlap. PuP Lucario isn’t going anywhere, but I DO like Thunder a bit more as an alternative than Fire. We’ll see if that ends up truly mattering.

Scrafty FightingDark

• Third time’s the charm? Our third and final Fighter getting Thunder Punch now is the most intriguing. SCRAFTY, like Lucario, has long run effectively with Power-Up Punch leading to an eventual Foul Play to close things out. That’s been at least Cup-worthy in Great League, and at least borderline meta in Ultra League especially. In Great League, Thunder Punch is at least a decent sidegrade to PuP, sometimes dropping the Shadow versions of Dragonair and Victreebel, but gaining Mandibuzz and Pelipper, two pretty impactful pickups. But it is in Ultra League where Thunder Punch becomes more impactful, bringing in new wins like Golisopod, Alolan Muk, and Gyarados, as opposed to the single new loss to Cobalion that you can get with PuP instead. And Thunder Punch is more of a straight upgrade in other even shield matchups, gaining Tentacruel in 2v2 shielding and Poliwrath, Mandibuzz, and Gyarados with shields down, all with NO PuP wins slipping away. I think this just makes Scrafty better in Ultra and will be the favored move alongside Foul Play moving forward. Neat!

Typhlosion Fire

• But I think the single biggest winner of the Thunder Punch sweepstakes has to be TYPHLOSION. There are a couple reasons for this that make perfect sense even without looking at sims. First off, Typhlosion’s biggest issue since the beginning has been having no charge moves costing less than 50 energy. This means that three Incinerates (or at least seven Shadow Claws) have always been required before Typhlosion could even threaten shields. Thunder Punch changes that math significantly, as only two Incinerates (or five Shadow Claws) are required to hit exactly the 40 energy Thunder Punch requires. That is significant! But the coverage is also fantastic to hit back at Water types, which Typhlosion always kinda wanted to do with Solar Beam, though that costs FOUR Incinerates to charge up, making it a Hail Mary at best. The end result? Thunder Punch is nearly a straight upgrade. Without any shields in play, Solar Beam CAN manage to shock and awe its way to wins over things like Azumarill and Lickitung in Great League, and Jellicent in Ultra League. But otherwise everything comes up in Thunder Punch’s favor, with its own 0shield wins like Charizard in UL and Talonflame, Mantine, Pelipper, and Shadow A-Slash in GL. And Thunder Punch is strictly better in 1v1 shielding by adding Mandibuzz and Mantine in GL and Gyarados and Talonflame in UL, and a TON of new wins in 2v2 shielding like Feraligatr, Mantine, Talonflame, Lickitung, Sableye, Cresselia, and sometimes even Galarian Stunfisk in GL, and Charizard, Toxicroak, Obstagoon, Alolan Muk, Jellicent, Annihilape, Golisopod, Gyarados, Tentacruel, Walrein, Mandibuzz and more in UL! Big big BIG improvements in the horizon for Typhlosion that elevates it to the same tier as Talonflame, Chairzard, and Skeledirge in both Great and Ultra Leagues moving forward. And that’s not to even mention the potential of Shadow Typhlosion…. 😱

🎼 COME FLY WITH ME, LET’S FLY AWAY! 🦅

Fly is one of the best moves in the entire game: 45 energy for 80 damage, with no drawbacks at all. That’s what Sky Attack was from 2018 to 2021, back when it was terrifying in PvP, before dropping to 75 power and eventually going to 50 energy too last year. (What did Sky Attack ever do to you, Hanke?! 😢) But now, in keeping with the seeming skyward theme of the season, old school Sky Attack is being handed out to several new recipients that… uh… could use some help. Is it enough?

Fearow NormalFlying

• Oh, how long I’ve wanted FEAROW to work in PvP. Its had its chances, with Drill Run and Steel Wing only getting better over time, and even the nerfs to Sky Attack being mitigated by the long overdue buff to Aerial Ace. And now it gets old-school Sky Attack with the addition of Fly… and it STILL can’t break out. Come on, Niantic.. just give it Wing Attack already, will ya? Or at least Quick Attack, maybe? Set my drill running bird free!

Swanna WaterFlying

• SWANNA remains the ugly duckling of Flying Water types. While Mantine and Pelipper and even Gyarados lord over their respective Leagues, and even Swanna’s pre-evolution Ducklett remains a tippy top option in Little League, poor Swanna remains consistently ranked outside the top 400, ranked below even Mantyke in Great League… even after getting Fly! It remains trapped behind lackluster fast moves, and until that changes, it remains irrelevant. Let Swanna really soar, Niantic!

Salamence DragonFlying

• The one everyone is talking about is SALAMENCE, particularly in Master League where it has always seemed right on the cusp of potential greatness, with pretty good overall stats and decent enough Dragon moves (Dragon Tail, Draco Meteor, and Outrage as a Legacy move), but no good second charge move. Now it gets Fly, and while it IS much improved, I just don’t think it’s enough. Not nearly. Not even in Premier. Just too many other Dragons with better tricks up their sleeves. If you’re doggedly insistent, I guess you can try again with it now, but I don’t see Sal finding sudden success after this, sorry. Give it Dragon Claw or something and THEN we can talk.

Swoobat PsychicFlying

• So surprisingly, it is humble SWOOBAT that we’re left talking about as perhaps the most impactful new Fly user. Though obviously we’re not talking Master League anymore, no no. This is a Great League ‘mon, and one that’s already a little spicy since first getting Psychic Fangs and then the eventual buff to Aerial Ace. But it was left without reasonably priced closing power, with Psychic (the move) just not being worth it as the attempts to nerf Medicham drug Psychic (the move!) into the depths, and Future Sight is just way too expensive with Confusion‘s average energy gains. So now here comes Fly, and you know what? I like the result! This is no sudden new Open play revelation or anything, but potential spice in the right Cup? I can absolutely see it. Fly grants new wins against GOOD names like Altaria and Gligar in 1shield, and Pelipper, Vigoroth, and the Shadow versions of Gligar, Swampert, and CharmTales in 0shield. There’s some real potential here now, more than ever before. Not every improvement has to rock PvP… just some nice new twists like this can be plenty fun. Now we just need Gust for the lulz.

NIFTY OR… SWIFTIE? ‍💨

Apologies to the fans of the future Mrs. Travis Kelce (if you know, you know)….

Anyway, long-terrible Normal charge move Swift is finally getting a buff. I think so, at least. Niantic is actually lowing its power from 60 damage to 55, but they are also lowering its cost. How much? That’s the part we don’t know yet, but PvPoke has speculated it will drop from 55 energy all the way down to 40, and while that’s probably the best case scenario, we’re gonna roll with it for the purposes of this analysis. If that holds true, the resulting 55 damage/40 every should look quite familiar… it’s the same stats as Thunder Punch. And as we talked about earlier, that’s usually better for baiting than anything, but it’s passable and certainly FAR better than the 60 damage/55 energy it was previously.

Does anything that now gets it (or already has it) actually want to use it, though?

Wigglytuff NormalFairy

• The first new recipients worth mentioning are the WIGGLYTUFF family, as they are all part Normal-type and thus get STAB damage with Swift too. Eh, maybe? These sims will likely break when the new season goes live, but what the heck, I’ll show them anyway. I think out of the two charge moves Wiggly uses now — Icy Wind and Disarming Voice — it is Voice that is the one to potentially drop, as Charm already deals plenty of Fairy-type damage, and Icy Wind not only provides coverage but also obviously extends Wiggly’s life by debuffing the opponent’s Attack. So assuming you run Icy Wind/Swift, we’ll call that a sidegrade to Wind/Voice. “But JRE, it got worse!” Yes, in 1shield it seems to, dropping Dewgong, but you actually win if you go with Icy Wind first, and then closing it out with Swift, just as you can win going Icy Wind and then Disarming Voice after. Similarly, there are no big differences in 2v2 shielding, but in 0v0 shield, we have a true sidegrade situation, with Swift outracing Pelipper and Shadow CharmTales, and Disarming Voice instead overpowering Gligar and forcing at least a tie a tie with enemy Wigglytuffs. So pure sidegrade, basically. Not a GREAT sign considering that, again, this is the only Charmer that gets STAB with Swift. And while JIGGLYPUFF* and especially IGGLYBUFF have some play in Little League, they are still worlds better with (Legacy) Body Slam rather than Swift. Moving on….

Clefable Fairy

• CLEFABLE has a few edge cases where Swift can help, but overall just trust me when I tell you that (at least when running Fairy Wind as the fast move), Meteor Mash and Moonblast are just much. much better. Most all of the advantages for Swift show up in 2v2 shielding, and only in Great League…things like Swampert, Pelipper, and Gligar. But exisiting moves are just better otherwise, including up and down Ultra League. There’s really no reason to linger here, so… next!

Ursaring Normal

• The only other new recipients are the TEDDIURSA/URSARING/URSALUNA family. I’m going to go ahead and say that I don’t think Ursaluna wants it at all. Ice Punch has the same stats as what we’re guessing Swift will, and the coverage it provides is massive, especially in Master League were it sees the most play today (with wins over things like Garchomp, Yveltal, and perhaps most critically, Zygarde Complete). Teddiursa seems interesting until you remember that it already has Cross Chop and Crunch, which have more impact than super-effective-versus-nothing Swift… STAB alone isn’t really enough. The one that MAY want it is Ursaring. You likely would want to run it alongside Close Combat (in place of PLay Rough), which can then add on Dewgong and Guzzlord in Great League, at the cost of giving up Lanturn and Sableye. In Ultra League, it can add on Guzzlord and Swampert and gives up only Alolan Muk. But honestly, Ursaring remains just bad in both Leagues. And again, this is with likely best-case-scenario Swift. Blech.

Electrode (Hisuian) ElectricGrass

• Pokémon that already have Swift (and any real potential in PvP) are basically just a list of two. HISUIAN ELECTRODE may actually want it, as it obviously wants to always run Wild Charge (45 energy) but awkwardly has to often try to bait a shield first with MORE expensive Energy Ball (55 energy). Swift COULD fix that by greatly speeding things up, as it costs less than Wild Charge at only 40 energy. But I still think that will be better in theory (and perhaps in Electric Cup, should that return) than in actual practice. Energy Ball is still quite useful for coverage and non-Wild Charge closing power, needing it to beat things like Whiscash and Swampert across various shileding scenarios. Swift does have some advantages in 2v2 shielding for rather obvious reasons, but that’s about it.

Uxie Psychic

• MUCH more interesting is UXIE. By far the bulkiest of the Lake Trio Legendaries — and in fact, the second bulkiest Confusion user in the game, behind only Cresselia — its problem has always been that all of its charge moves costed 55 energy or more… and with Swift being so bad before, it still usually ran with 60 energy (Thunder) and 65-energy (Future Sight) charge moves. And despite on-paper great potential… well, it was certainly no Cresselia! (And that goes for Ultra League too.) But now it gets the inexpensive move it’s been waiting for, with new and improved Swift elevating its performance significantly in Great League (new wins include Altaria, Gligar, Swampert, Whiscash, Alolan Ninetales, Shadow Dragonair) and in Ultra League (new wins like DDeoxys, Pidgeot, Swampert, Venusaur, Charizard, Ampharos, Shadow Dragonite, AND Shadow CharmTales). Not sure that this will lead to a sudden breakout in PvP, but at the very least, it’s suddenly spicy.

So no big ripples, but hey, Swift is at least not a meme move anymore. And Uxie really likes it now, at least! Let’s shake it off 😉 and move along to the last couple move tweaks….

NO GO ADELE 🐉

Sticking with the theme of famous singers… Hello from the other side! 🙃

Naganadel PoisonDragon

Okay, sorry sorry. NAGANADEL gets Dragon Claw now. Yay? Sadly this does very, very little for it in PvP, picking up just a single win over Yveltal, of all things, in 1v1 shielding, and no real changes elsewhere. At least this section is easy on me (musical lyric joke counter: 2) and we can move on to the next now.

PATIENCE, YOUNG GRASSHOPPER 🦗

If you don’t get the reference, it’s from a famous show from the 70s (yes, the 1970s, you youngins) called “Kung Fu”. It’s a famous show and a famous phrase that you should know. No, I don’t just know it because I’m old, it’s famous!

…get off my lawn.

Anyway, Counter remains the best fast overall move in the game, so any time something new gets it, that is reason enough to sit up and notice. Even when that recipient is a current Pokémona non grata like LOKIX.

Lokix BugDark

Look, it’s very glassy and will likely never be more than spice. This is unlikely to really shake up any meta in a major way. But yes, Lokix is significantly better than before now that it has Counter. It does unfortunately drop Cresselia, but can now outslug stuff like Lickitung, Dewgong, Guzzlord, Vigoroth, Galarian Stunfisk, and even Skarmory and Bastiodon despite how scary those two normally are for Bugs. It sees similar improvement in Ultra League, dropping Fighting-resistent Venusaur and Golisopod but gaining Registeel, Steelix, Alolan Sandslash, Swampert, Walrein, and Greedent, but uh… it has to be leveled up to at least Level 46, and is still a poor option overall. Not worth it, IMO. But keep an eye on it, as the addtion of another impactful charge move could elevate it further. Counter users are ALWAYS worth at least some consideration.

(RE-) PLANTING A SEED 🌱

Trevenant GhostGrass

We all know why Seed Bomb was nerfed from its original 40 to 45 energy: it was felt that something had to be done about TREVENANT, by far the most impactful Seed Bomb user. Yes yes, it got a small damage bump as well (from 55 to 60 damage), but the (completely intended) damage was done, and Trevenant usage dropped quite a bit. The hit wasn’t TOO bad, but it was enough.

Now Trevor gets a boost again, with the cost remaining the same but the damage creeping up to 65 now, elevating it from a clone of Wrap (and a slew of stat-altering moves like Icy Wind, Mystical Fire, Lunge, the Forces Of Nature unique Storm moves, and others… but Seed Bomb of course HAS no stat altering and was thus far worse) to a clone of Discharge. Not amazing — a reduction in cost to what it once way would REALLY make a difference — but certainly more palpable.

In the end, it’s a small buff to Trevenant — with only a couple new wins like Shadow Dragonair in 1shield and Azumarill in 2shield in Great League, and Feraligatr and Greninja in 1shield and Tentacruel in 2shield in Ultra League — but we’ll take it! Those UL wins especially are pretty nice.

Whimsicott GrassFairy

Not many other notable Seed Bomb users, but here’s what I see: WHIMSICOTT (with Fairy Wind) can now beat Galarian Stunfisk and Azumarill with shields down (in Great League), so that’s a small but welcome improvement. Aaaaaaand that’s about it. No big changes I see with Little League COTTONEE or BULBASAUR or Little or Great League DARTRIX, and then you’re into things like CELEBI. Yeah, this is first and almost entirely centered on Trevenant.

SNUFFING OUT SPARK 🔌

Lanturn WaterElectric

Just as Seed Bomb changes are directly intended to affect one meta Pokémon, so too is the story with the nerf to Spark dropping from 6 damage to 5: this is directly intended to nerf LANTURN. There used to be other meta things that ran Spark because they had to, but they’ve all gotten other tricks since then that are now preferred (Volt Switch for Magnezone and family, Volt Switch for Charjabug, etc.). Yes, some others like LUXRAY and PROBOPASS remain as collateral damage, but those are just occasional spice considerations. No, the only truly meta change here is to Lanturn, as intended.

But how bad is it? Overall, it’s not TOO significant. Lanturn now loses to Registeel in 1v1 shielding (and not surprisingly gets a bit less dominant versus other things like Azumarill and Mandibuzz), Medicham and Charjabug in 0shield, and Altaria and Annihilape in 2shield. Those ARE some big names, but where you primarily wanted it before, it still works, albeit sometimes with a little less left in the tank at the end. Farming things down obviously gets harder! It drops from formerly ranking #12 in Great League 20 spots to now #32 (at the time of this writing), but still… a Top 30ish option is still a really good PvP Pokémon.

…oh, but uh, there’s a caveat: it’s now ranked at #32 with Water Gun, while Spark Lanturn has dropped all the way down to #66. That may be a little harsh, but does make sense. Ironically, the rating with Water Gun goes UP from #35 to now #32. I don’t knwo that I’m quite ready to say that Water Gun Lanturn is now the clear favorite over Spark Lanturn, but they’re now both moving into “sidegrade” territory for sure, with Spark still being best for things like Mandibuzz, Poliwrath, and Sableye, but Water Gun carving out wins against Galarian Stunfisk, Shadow Gilgar, Carbink… and the Registeel that Spark now loses to. Water Gun is also far better now [with shields down], beating things that Spark cannot like G-Fisk, Shadow Gligar, and Carbink again, along with Charjabug and Shadow A-Slash, while the only unique win Spark holds onto is Dewgong. Interestingly, Water Gun Lanturn can also now win the head to head with Spark Lanturn in 2v2 shielding. Spark and Water Gun now deal the same damage per turn, so Water Gun’s shorter cooldown wins the day.

Again, I do not think Lanturn is going to suddenly disappear from Open formats or even PvP in-person tournaments. But I DO think its use is going to go down as it slips back a tier or two in the meta. I mean, it almost HAS to. And yes, I do think Water Gun variants are going to be far more common now. Again, you almost HAVE to move that direction now, at least for certain team compositions. We’ll see how bad it gets soon enough.

A SEARING REVIEW

Whiscash WaterGround

Poliwrath WaterFighting

Speaking of getting bad, a brief mention for the other notable nerf with this update: Scald. It retains its nice cost to damage ratio of 1.7 Damage Per Energy (50 energy for 85 damage), but the chance for it to lower the target’s Attack is going to drop. We don’t know how much, but considering it currently sits at 50%, something like 30% seems a reasonable expectation, and that’s what PvPoke has put up speculatively as well. I’m NOT going to turn to simulations here, as moves with a percentage change of triggers are notoriously difficult to portray that way, to the point of almost being deceptive to even try. But I hardly think this marks the death of intended targets like WHISCASH or POLIWRATH unless, perhaps, the percentage change completely craters at like 20% or below. It’s still good damage output and still a great STAB move for each of them. The rankings show Shadow Whiscash only dropping from #23 to #27 (though non-Shadow does take more of a hit, from a former #27 to now #42) and Poliwrath sees only a very small dip as well (#31 → #34 for Shadow and #46 → #48 for non-Shadow in Great League, and basically no change in Ultra League {non-Shadow drops only spot from #5 to #6, and Shadow actually rises from #10 to #9 thanks to other meta shifts}). Yes, this will hurt those who have fallen in love with those two, and surely there will be a slight dip in tournament play. But I don’t think this is nearly the death knell some are making it out to be.

Tentacruel WaterPoison

I DO think this may convince me to give up my Bubble LUDICOLO I’ve been running in GL of late, though. Scald triggering was the difference between life and death against some things like Gilgar. And other slightly-less-meta things like TENTACRUEL may suffer a little bit as well, but again, the change isn’t all that bad. (Tentacthulhu, for example, usually counts on Acid Spray for debuffing hijinks anyway and saves Scald as a closer… it’s less reliant on the debuffing it can sometimes provide.)

IN SUMMATION

And that’s it! Barring any last minute surprises by Niantic (ALWAYS a possibility), there’s your review of all changes coming with the Shared Skies Season. As a quick reminder so people don’t panic, keep in mind that while the new season starts on the 1st as per usual, the move updates will not go live until June 3rd, as a nice gesture to not disrupt the planned PJCS and Bologna tournaments that weekend.

By way of quick summary of the above (here’s your TL;DR, folks!):

The biggest winners I see in this update are (in rough order) CETITAN (maybe CETODDLE?) with Powder Snow, TYPHLOSION with Thunder Punch, UXIE with Swift, SWOOBAT with Fly, SCRAFTY with Thunder Punch, LOKIX with Counter, TREVENANT with buffed Seed Bomb, and then maybe SALAMENCE (Fly) and WHIMSICOTT (Seed Bomb). Other than Cetitan and Typhlosion, I don’t know that any of them move drastically up the ranks, but they’re all better with this update and bear watching as spice options at the very least.

Alrighty, that’s it for now. Back to analysis on the Necrozma Fusions (already in progress) and beyond! 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 we move into the new season, and catch you next time!