Perhaps one thing we all wondered once Pokemon GO came out was how come Speed stats were not introduced into the game? Of course, now we can “sort of” understand why it isn’t in the game. But the question is, what if Niantic did put Speed into the game? Well I came up with an idea how to put it in the game and it’s really easy to implement from Niantic’s point of view. Let’s dive into it shall we?
Why Are We Talking About Speed in the First Place?
That’s a good question! With the lack of Speed stats in the game, a lot of current mediocre Pokemon suffer. Which makes them border-line useless. For example: Starmie was a decent Water type Pokemon when only Gen 1 was available. Now with the addition of moves like Waterfall, legendary Pokemon such as Suicune and Kyogre, Starmie got easily overshadowed. Hence, this is where Speed comes in. Starmie has a base Speed stat of 115. That is 60 more than Vaporeon. That is a huge difference! With the implementation of Speed, perhaps the DPS calculations would favor Starmie better than Vaporeon or even Gyarados. That would definitely be game changing! That is just an example of course. Now let’s get into how these changes can be made.
Speed Changes DPS
When it comes to each of the individual move in game by DPS , it boils down to their power and the time it takes to use a move (in milliseconds). Well there are only two ways to adjust these calculations. Either increase the power or decrease the time it takes to use the move (decrease ms). Since we are talking about Speed, then the time it takes to use the move will be impacted here.
Speed is King
So how can Speed be introduced? Well by using the average Speed stats of all Pokemon Generations, we can use that as our overall benchmark. A Redditor named GeneralApathy ran the numbers and found the average speed stats of each generation.
Including Legendaries, here are the Speed stats:
- Gen I —- 80.22
- Gen II — 69.81
- Gen III — 75.69
- Gen IV — 78.37
- Gen V — 82.23
- Gen VI — 78.88
- Gen VII – 74.59
So the overall average total comes to 77.11. In this case, we will use 75 as our benchmark. Also, for clarity, here are the guidelines he used to make the calculations:
- Only used the final evolution of each family.
- Mega evolutions were excluded as well.
- If a Pokemon had multiple forms I included all of them.
- The stats I used were as they would be in the game that introduced them (main series games).
With 75 Speed being our base line stat, for every extra 20 Speed stat over 75, the time to use any move would decrease by 0.1 sec (or 100 milliseconds). Below shows how this would work using Starmie.
- Starmie’s base Speed stat – 115
- Our benchmark Speed stat – 75
- Regular Water Gun with STAB – 10 power, 500ms, 12 DPS
- Speed implemented Water Gun with STAB – 10 power, 250ms, 15 DPS
- Regular hydro Pump with Stab – 130 power, 3300ms, 47.3 DPS
- Speed implemented Hydro Pump with STAB – 130 power, 3150, 49.5 DPS
As you can see these are major changes that complement Starmie’s Speed and balances it out compared to other Water Pokemon that may be stronger, but are slower in the Speed category.
What about Pokemon that have lower speed stats? The same principle applies as above. Every extra 20 Speed stat below 75, decreases each move by 0.1 sec.
Conclusion
Although this idea may have its flaws or isn’t completely perfect, it still shows a solid way how Speed can be introduced. It gives faster Pokemon an actual use in Pokemon GO. It balances out everything in the meta. Some bad Pokemon become usable, some mediocre Pokemon become good, and some good Pokemon become great! Maybe the benchmark needs to be raised or lowered, but one thing is for sure. Implementing Speed has the potential to change the game for the better. Especially before PvP comes out. Whenever that will be (haha)!
Side note: Speed does not have to factor into the CP calculations. Just coding in the times for each specific Pokemon’s moves is all that would be needed to be done from Niantic’s end. Tedious? Yes. Doable? Absolutely!
