Pokémon Analysis 18 – Winter is Coming!

So here we are, we’ve made it through searing sun, relentless rain and sordid sand to arrive at our final weather analysis, only to be greeted by blistering blizzards! Phew, that’s enough alliteration for one article!

Similarly with rain, we’re spoilt for choice with weather setters. Whilst Sand and Sun only have one setter, Rain and Hail have a whopping two! Not only that but Hail has access to an exclusive move Aurora Veil – which is the equivalent of setting both a Reflect and Light Screen in one turn. That’s about it however in terms of positives; yes, you get access to a fully accurate Blizzard too but Hail as a dedicated archetype has a few glaring weaknesses. The most viable Hail setter is quicker than all other weather setters, which means you’ll have to be switching it in to guarantee setting hail; the VGC 17 legal Hail equivalent to Lilligant, Stoutland and Golduck offers much less damage output than the aforementioned trio whilst the offensive diversity between setter and sweeper is seriously lacking. That being said, Hail is an extremely fun strategy to play around with away from a tournament setting, so let’s jump into some frosty sets!

*Feature art can be found by following this link*

Pokémon Analysis 15 – Battlin’ in The Rain!

Oh Gamefreak, you were very, VERY kind to Pelipper during its migration to Alola. No longer can the Hoenn native pelican (oops… sorry… duck) be regarded as your typical early trash bird, it now rivals Politoed for the highly coveted title of ChaoticEspeon’s best Drizzle user!

Both of VGC 17’s Drizzle users function in completely different ways; Pelipper, primarily, is used alongside Swift Swim Golduck to overwhelm opponents offensively, whilst Politoed is the more defensive option, protecting its team mates from opposing Fire attacks whilst disrupting with moves like Encore and Perish Song.

But of course, you’re not here for our classy introductions, you’re here for some snazzy spreads. Lets get started…

Priority Tiers for VGC 17!

We’re all familiar with priority attacks right? You know those moves which are guaranteed to go before your standard attacking moves? Well, there are tons of them! And a few abilities too which grant certain moves a priority boost; here, we’ll try and get everything together in one place to ease any worries you have surrounding priority in Pokémon during team building.

Will your Quick Guards block incoming Extreme Speeds? Will your Avalanches move before a Focus Punch? We’re here to help you find out!

Pokémon Analysis 12 – Doggo on the Beach!

Following on from our in depth analysis on the Sun duo we move on to a relatively unexplored weather archetype in VGC 17, Sand!

In the past sand has had a fairly good amount of usage in VGC, mainly through the use of a (usually) scarfed Tyranitar partnered with the Sand Rush abusing Excadrill, creating an incredibly fast duo capable of dispensing vast amounts of damage – and flinches – with powerful Rock, Ground, Steel and Dark type attacks. Sadly, Tyranitar isn’t available this season; however Generation 7 granted Gigalith the ability to set sandstorms on switching in.

Pokémon Analysis 11 – Lilligant/Torkoal (Sun!)

Throughout most VGC seasons, weather tends to be a fairly common archetype for players to construct a team around. VGC 17 is no different in this regard with Sand, Sun, Rain and even Hail getting some degree of usage in major tournaments; in the next few analysis articles we’ll be looking at the best way to utilise the different weathers in your team, starting with sun!