The newest generation of Pokemon is finally here, and players all over the world are sinking their teeth into everything Pokemon Scarlet and Violet has to offer. With every new generation comes the opportunity for larger balance changes, and Game Freak has taken advantage of this.
While not every player gets involved with competitive Pokemon battling, it is an integral part of the series’ identity. In the competitive world, even the smallest stat changes can completely shake up a meta-game, and the newest games have brought a host of changes, big and small. Not including the new pokemon themselves, these are the biggest changes competitive players should keep an eye on.
8 Pokemon Stat Changes
Unlike other competitive multiplayer games, Pokemon rarely dishes out direct nerfs or buffs to individual characters’ stats. Even at the start of a new generation, not that many pokemon get their stats altered, but it’s important to keep an eye on these changes regardless.
This time around, only 4 pokemon have had their stats altered, and the changes are almost entirely nerfs. The big names are Zacian and Zamazenta, who have lost some attack and defense, weakening them significantly. This is especially bad for Zamazenta who was already struggling to justify its usefulness. Cresselia and Kleavor have also had some nerfs, although Kleavor has been given a little more special defense to compensate.
7 Move Updates
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
Pokemon are nothing without their moves. With the 4 moves they take into battle, pokemon can change up their roles and strengths immensely. Some of them even rely entirely on certain moves to be useful, and for the new games, a surprising amount of moves have been altered.
Particularly, several healing moves like ‘recover’ and ‘roost’ have had their PP lowered, significantly weakening tankier Pokemon. There have also been more direct nerfs to pokemon like Urshifu, who has had one of its signature moves nerfed in power. Several moves from Pokemon Legends: Arceus have also been altered in their transition to the PvP environment.
6 Ability Nerfs
Abilities are not to be underestimated. Certain pokemon owe their survival in the competitive meta to their powerful abilities. It would seem like some of these have been deemed too powerful though, as a few abilities have been directly nerfed.
The most drastic of these are the changes to the abilities Protean/Libero and Intrepid Sword/Dauntless shield. The former pair no longer change the pokemon’s type with every move (now only after the first move), and the latter now only provides a stat boost once in an entire battle.
5 New Items
Held items are yet another important aspect to consider in battles, helping to augment a pokemon’s versatility. This time around there have been almost no changes to items, but some noteworthy new ones have been introduced to provide new battle options.
Some of these are actually quite powerful, like the ‘clear amulet’, which protects a pokemon from having its stats altered by enemies. Then there are more situational options like the ‘loaded dice’, which makes multi-hit moves more likely to hit a higher number of times.
4 Missing Pokemon
Over the years, a lot of pokemon have dominated the competitive scene, whether due to their raw power or endless utility. Due to the removal of the national dex, not every pokemon is usable in the new games, meaning there are some big hitters who won’t be reprising their dominant roles.
Probably the biggest of these is the absence of Incineroar. The big cat has been a staple of the competitive scene for two generations, often being near the top of usage statistics. Without Incineroar and some other strong pokemon, it will be interesting to see who takes their place.
3 Moveset Tweaks
Even some pokemon who are available to use within ScarletandViolet have had their movesets altered somewhat, whether this be via direct changes or certain moves just not being available in the game.
A lot of these missing moves aren’t the end of the world, but the loss of moves like ‘knock off’ (which is quite strong and removes the target’s held item) from pokemon like Kartana, Landorus, and Weavile weakens their offensive options. ‘Toxic’ has also been removed from quite a lot of pokemon, severely halting their ability to out-tank opponents.
2 The Hail Changes
In the eyes of many pokemon players, the ice type has needed an upgrade for a long time. The type has been seen as too defensively weak and in need of a healthy boost. Game Freak has deigned to provide this by altering the ‘hail’ weather effect.
Hail previously acted like an ice-type sandstorm, damaging non-ice types and boosting ice-type moves. It has now been changed to ‘snowstorm’, which retains hail’s benefits, but also boosts the defensive stats for any ice types in battle.
1 Terastral Pokemon
As the big, defining new feature of Scarlet and Violet, ‘terastralising’ is no doubt going to shake up the competitive scene more than anything else. The feature allows any pokemon to crystallize itself, boosting the power of any moves of its ‘tera type’.
While tera types are usually the same as the pokemon’s main type, it is possible to find pokémon with different tera types. For example, Pikachu usually has an electric tera type, but it is possible to find one with a flying or water tera type. This adds a huge element of unpredictability to battles, as opponents can change types completely, altering their defensive and offensive potential.