Ever so slowly, Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet are beginning to ramp up their news output. With the most recent trailer revealing the Paldean region's name and the story’s structure, fans are getting a better idea of what they will find when the games drop in a few months. Game Freak appears to be backloading its marketing far more than usual for the ninth generation of Pokemon games, but at least it means that all announcements will be substantial. There's still plenty of unrevealed Pokemon left, and the nature of two of the three-story paths remain a secret, so the pace of news should pick up soon.
The Pokemon World Championships 2022 recently occurred, and a new Pokemon Scarlet and Violet trailer was part of the closing ceremony. Aside from revealing the new Pokemon Cyclizar, which seems related to the box legendaries Koraidon and Miraidon, the trailer was focused on additions to competitive gameplay. Three new held items have been added to assist certain strategies, and the uses of Terastallizing were demonstrated. Some of the most eye-catching additions are the two new battle moves, both of which will add a lot of new options for casual and competitive trainers.
Shed Tail
The first of the two new moves introduced is Shed Tail, an ability strongly associated with Cyclizar. It summons a Substitute doll and switches the user out for a different Pokemon, at the cost of what appears to be half the user's current HP. This move is named in reference to the tendency for real life lizards to remove their tail to distract predators while they make their escape. Because of how closely tied this is to one lizard Pokemon species, it's unclear if this will be usable by other Pokemon, or just Cyclizar and possibly the box legendaries.
This move combines two previously existing moves that have seen a fair amount of use in competitive Pokemon play. The first is Substitute, a Generation 1 move which deploys a temporary health pool used in place of the owner’s. It always costs health to use, but unless the opponent is running strong moves that go around it, it's still useful due to the focus on quick kills in competitive play. Shed Tail allows it to be passed off to an ally that is switched in, essentially making it a guaranteed safe switch in most scenarios. This inherits some traits of Baton Pass, a move introduced in Pokemon Gold and Silver that switches a Pokemon out and passes all of their buffs and some debuffs to an ally. Because a team can repeat this until buff caps are reached, the move has proven so strong that it's banned from competitive Pokemon battling. While there are several types of damaging Baton Pass equivalents, Shed Tail is the first that works in Substitute, and it could prove more valuable than its components.
Tera Blast
Shed Tail provides a massive amount of survivability and strategic value, but when it comes to raw power, Tera Blast might be the best option. This is a Normal-type move that can be learned with a TM, presumably by any Pokemon. When used by a Terastallized Pokemon, it becomes the same type as the Pokemon's Tera Type, giving it an automatic damage boost. If a Pokemon's Tera Type is the same as one of their initial types, the STAB bonus also applies, making this move even more powerful. To top it all off, Tera Blast chooses the highest of the user’s Attack or Special Attack stats, ensuring that this will always be a high-damage move.
Moves that can dynamically change type have been part of the Pokemon series since Gold and Silver's Hidden Power, although some players may not have realized this due to how unwieldy Hidden Power is. Generation 3's Weather Ball, which changes type alongside the weather, and Generation 4's Natural Gift, which converts a held Berry into a powerful attack, are both better examples. Most type-changing moves are signature moves used by legendaries or rare Pokemon, an exclusivity which is partially shared with Tera Blast due to Terastallized Pokemon seemingly being unable to change their Tera Type. Still, like Hidden Power, it’s impossible for an opponent to tell a Pokemon’s Tera Type before seeing it. If its base power and accuracy are solid, Tera Blast will be a great option during the Generation 9 Terastallization era to pump out damage at a moment’s notice.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will release on November 18th for the Nintendo Switch.
