The competitive meta for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet VGC Series 1 was dominated by Pokemon #1,000, Gholdengo, the new Steel/Ghost type added in Gen 9. With its unique move set, solid typing, and incredible Ability, Gholdengo became the meta-defining monster for players to build their team around. While this mon was a major player in the competitive meta for Series 1, Gholdengo has fallen off in popularity over the course of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet VGC Series 2 as it has become predictable and falls prey to powerful Paradox Pokemon found in the current VGC series.
Players taking part in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's VGC are used to the ever shifting meta and adapting teams to fit the current most popular strategies. However, the rise and fall of Gholdengo between Series 1 and Series 2 has been quite the dramatic difference, as the creature has gone from one of the top most used team members to used fairly infrequently. As a result, the overarching meta from Series 1 that was heavily influenced by Gholdengo's presence has been completely turned on its head in the current series.
How Gholdengo Fell from the Top of the Competitive Usage Rankings
What made Gholdengo such a threat in the meta for VGC Series 1 was a combination of its signature move, Make it Rain, and its fantastic Ability, Good as Gold. Make it Rain takes advantage of Gholdengo's great Special Attack stat to deal a base 120 damage plus STAB to both opposing monsters in the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet VGC Double Battle format. Good as Gold gives Gholdengo immunity to opposing status moves, meaning it can deal consistently high damage to opponents while avoiding moves that would otherwise negatively affect it.
There were not many ways to counter this set up in VGC Series 1, but this changed when Paradox Pokemon were added to the pool of usable creatures in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet VGC Series 2. With new additions like Flutter Mane and Great Tusk rising to the top of the usage charts, Gholdengo became less relevant as it was easily threatened by these monsters. Flutter Mane can outspeed Gholdengo to inflict super effective Ghost damage and Great Tusk can deal massive Ground type damage with the right partner. Iron Moth can also prove dangerous for Gholdengo under the right circumstances, meaning it has more threats in Series 2 than ever before.
On top of these new Paradox Pokemon, set-ups that take advantage of certain previously available mons became more prevalent and Gholdengo set-ups became very predictable. As a result, team members like Arcanine could be used to lower Gholdengo's Special Attack with Snarl and deal super effective damage with Flare Blitz. Additionally, the Fire Tera type could be used with certain mons like Baxcalibur to give them resistance to Make It Rain. As players became more comfortable with what to expect from Gholdengo, it became much less of a threat and started to fall out of usage in the meta as a result.
While Gholdengo still sees some usage in the current meta for VGC Series 2, it is far less of a threat than it was previously. It's likely to continue to fall in the usage rankings into Series 3 with the addition of the Legendary Ruinous Pokemon Quartet threatening its power even further with their unique, stat-lowering Abilities. It seems like Gholdengo's time in the VGC spotlight has mostly come and gone, but the remaining glimmer of usage it still sees gives players a reason to prepare countermeasures for this Steel/Ghost type.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now for Nintendo Switch.
