by Doc – Owner, Founder, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Were Two of the Best Games Of All Time, And I Say That Unironically And Without Reservation
Mega Dimensions hits this upcoming Wednesday… this’ll be fun.
I’m extremely, heavily, impossibly biased towards the Paldea region being the single greatest region that Pokemon has ever had, and as such am using my bias to write a post just about the Paldea Pokemon I want to see participate in the meta post-DLC. It’s my blog, Mom says I get to pick the speculation.
Annihilape
Two offensive types were largely absent from the 230 Legends Z-A metagame: Ghost, and Fighting. Ghost as an offensive type was practically only represented by Chandelure and his usage of Shadow Ball, which would only have been super effective against other Chandelure and Metagross, and the occasional Gardevoir. Fighting, meanwhile, was entirely absent as there simply were no Normal, Ice, Rock types that needed to get busted in half, and both of the good Steel types hilariously had a second typing to resist Fighting (Excadrill is dead to me). And of course, the Dark type was only represented by Umbreon, who was quite the tank. So Ghost and Fighting have taken a back seat in the 230 metagame as compared to the stars of the show – Steel, Ground, Ice and so on.
I don’t consider that to be a likely scenario when the Mega Dimensions DLC releases. There is a Pokémon with a move so overpowered that he was almost immediately banned in the generation of his introduction, and he is returning in this DLC. Annihilape is Ghost and Fighting, and he is most known for his signature move, Rage Fist. Rage Fist is a base 50 power Ghost type move that gains 50 base power every time Annihilape is hit by an opponent. At first glance, this seems threatening, and then at second glance, this seems unthreatening… And then at third glance, this seems threatening again! This is because Annihilape typically has a second move to go with him – Drain Punch. Drain Punch is a 75 base power Fighting type attack, which will boost the user’s HP by half the damage dealt.
You might be looking at this on your second glance and thinking “hey, I don’t have to worry he will gain a lot of base power for Rage Fist, because he’s not going to survive that long!” However, on your third glance, you’ll realize Drain Punch uniquely allows him to recover that HP. An Annihilape that gets STAB coverage on both Ghost and Fighting, and is immensely powerful on each, and can refill his own HP along the way were he to use something like Shell Bell, is a long-living Annihilape indeed.
Of course, he is still weak to Dark, Ghost, Flying and Fairy, and that’s quite the handful of types to be weak to, even if they’ve not been well-represented up to this point. However, between Ghost and Fighting I don’t believe there is anything in the game that cannot be hit for neutral damage barring a secondary typing. It’s a phenomenal BoltBeam combo. Additionally, needing only these two moves allows him to open the door to other options, such as Bulk Up, which as a Fighting type physical attacker he will almost certainly have access to. So defensively, he will struggle, yes, but he’s offensively competent enough that I think it’ll be worth the defensive struggle.
If Annihilape does not end up quite broken, I think it’ll be because of the fighting game elements of Legends Z-A. Perhaps his in-game movement speed is slow, or his hitbox is very large and cannot hide behind obstacles, or my guess on his moveset is incorrect.
Houndstone
Hoo boy… Last Respects. Need I say more? It’s like Annihilape but doesn’t require him to get hit first. If the game keeps track of how many Pokemon have been KOed, not how many are currently KOed in a match, then…
I know Houndstone’s stats are bad, but that really doesn’t matter much when you consider him as the ultimate glass cannon. He’s the anti-BoltBeam. The black hole of possibility. If you’re two Pokemon down and you’ve got a minute left and whip out Houndstone, your opponent had better wish he brought a Normal type or he’s going to get destroyed by a base 150 power Ghost attack. We’ll see if Last Respects is even in the game and if so, whether it still functions in an analogous manner, but if it does then Houndstone is the nuke of all nukes.
The hard part here is that we’ll have to see what kind of startup lag it has and how fast Houndstone actually, physically moves in the game. If he’s slow to get one off, or if it’s a slow-moving projectile that can miss, then Last Respects might be a useless move that only seems good on paper. But if not, it’s a huge comeback mechanic that is going to absolutely require you to pack a Normal type in your team or face the consequences.
Garganacl
I speculated on this a bit in the previous speculation posts, but I could see a scenario where Garganacl finds a role thanks to Salt Cure and its unique effectiveness against certain types. It’s not quite Toxic, but it doesn’t need to be as it’s uniquely suited to kill off Steel and Water types. I think the real question is which Steel and Water types will he have to kill off?
My best guess is that Corviknight and/or Skarmory will be relevant in the meta, and new Water types like Kyogre and… well, Kyogre will serve as a prime target for something like this. Granted, Garganacl’s typing isn’t exactly defensive to the sorts of opponents that he’ll be targeting with Salt Cure, as he’s weak to both Steel and Water, but if you’re willing to burn the two switch-ins to doom their Pokemon to a salty grave then it’s worthwhile.
I’d say it’s more likely than not that if it does end up an effective Pokemon, it’ll be a side chick to something like Groudon, who will force Steel and hopefully Water to scram so Garganacl can come out and do his business. This sounds counterintuitive, but remember that Steel and Water will want to come back out when they see Garganacl, who is weak to both those types, but can still kill ’em with Salt Cure and switch back to someone else if needed.
Gholdengo
Chandelure’s sigma male finance bro boyfriend is here, and he’s very weak to Chandelure, Groudon, and most importantly, Gyarados Crunch. I won’t lie: I have no really solid predictions for Gholdengo.
Here’s the thing: he’s weak to Ground and Ghost, and I don’t anticipate either of those types will go away. However, he’s also immune to Normal, Fighting and Poison. What are the odds that all three of those types are irrelevant? Low. I think it’s most likely that while he will be outshined by something like Corviknight as a Steel type, Gholdengo will at least find a niche as some kind of type counter to a more emergent threat in the meta.
Amiibo Doctor 