Greetings Pokefans!
Michael here, and
in today's video,
I will be covering five
brand new Pokemon that I,
along with many
others, expect to make
a big splash in the generation
eight competitive scene.
There's no specific ranking
to these five Pokemon,
and these are not the
absolute five best,
these are just
five that I thought
were cool and really strong,
and wanted to talk about.
So don't forget to
subscribe to my channel
so I can hit that big one
million sub mark soon,
and let's dive in to
five OP new Pokemon
in "Pokemon Sword and Shield."
The first Pokemon is one
that you've probably heard
people talk about before,
because, dear God,
this thing is insane,
that being, number
one, Dracovish.
At first glance, Dracovish
doesn't seem that amazing.
While water dragon is really
good defensive typing,
its stats don't seem
to be that incredible.
Its best stat is its
physical defense,
which is only base 100,
which is a bit low
for a best stat,
and the rest of his stats
aren't that far behind.
It seems like a
jack of all trades,
but master of none type Pokemon.
But what makes
Dracovish special is
that it possesses one
of the most incredible
and insane Pokemon
attacks ever introduced,
that being Fishious Rend.
Fishious Rend is
an base 85 power,
100% accurate physical
water type move.
Now at first glance, that seems
no better than liquidation,
however, if the user
moves before the target,
then the power of
Fishious Rend doubles.
As an extra bonus, Dracovish
gets access to Strong Jaw,
which gives a 50% power
boost to all biting moves,
and guess what, Fishious
Rend is a biting move!
So let's do a little
bit of math here,
just a little bit, I promise.
If Dracovish moves
before the target,
well, it starts out
at 85 base power,
which is then doubled, then
times 1.5 because of Strong Jaw,
then times 1.5 because
of the same type
attack boost, or STAB.
That makes Fishious Rend
an effectively 382.5 base power
move, that's 100% accurate.
And that's if the
hit is neutral!
If it's super
effective, dear God!
That's over 50 base
power points higher
than a super effective
STAB Hydro Pump,
and Hydro Pump's
only 80% accurate!
It honestly doesn't even matter
what other moves
Dracovish can learn,
because the clear
strategy here is just,
make it as fast as
possible via the use
of a Choice Scarf or Tailwind,
and then click Fishious
Rend, and kill anything
that doesn't have Water
Absorb or Storm Drain.
Before I move onto
the next entry though,
I should mention that
all four Galar fossils
have access to a move
that has the same effect,
where it doubles in power
if the user moves
before the target.
However I'm only
talking about Dracovish
because it's far and away
the best of the four.
Arctovish also
gets Fishious Rend,
but it's substantially
slower than Dracovish's,
and therefore is gonna
have a harder time
being able to move first.
And then Dracozolt
and Arctozolt have
an electric type version of
the move called Bolt Beak,
however, it's far easier to
block an electric type move
than it is to block
a water type move,
because you can block
an electric move
with any ground type Pokemon,
but to block a water type move,
you have to have Water
Absorb or Storm Drain,
so the water type attack is
just more generally better.
All right, enough
about Dracovish.
Let's move on to next Pokemon,
which is one that I was
actually wrong about,
in a previous video, that being,
number two, Galarian Darmanitan.
Galarian Darmanitan has
an identical stat spread
to its original form.
Good speed, great HP,
incredible physical attack,
and garbage everything else.
But what makes Galarian
Darmanitan stand out
more than original
Darmanitan are its abilities.
First I'll talk about
its regular ability,
Gorilla Tactics,
which is basically a
built-in Choice Band.
It only allows you to use the
first move that you select,
but you automatically
gets a 50% boost
to your physical attack.
This is an excellent ability,
because while it is limiting,
it allows you to get the
benefits of a choice item twice.
You're already
locked into a move,
so by tacking on
another choice item,
there are no extra drawbacks.
The Choice Band can be used
for absolutely absurd
attacking power,
and then the Choice
Scarf can be used
to make it so you're a
hell of a lot faster.
So that's one really good way
to use Galarian Darmanitan,
but its other ability,
its hidden ability,
is another fantastic
way to use it,
that being Zen Mode.
If you don't know
what Zen Mode does,
it was around on
Unovan Darmanitan too,
and what it does is
it causes Darmanitan
to transform into
its Zen Mode form
when its health gets below half.
And Zen Mode form has a
higher base stat total,
and a different stat spread
than original Darmanitan,
plus, it changes types.
This is the aspect of
Galarian Darmanitan
that I was wrong about.
In my video from a
few weeks ago about
the top 20 strongest new
Pokemon in "Sword and Shield,"
I talked about how Zen
Mode Galarian Darmanitan
was not going to be viable,
and I said that
because I assumed
that the stat spread
change was going to be
the same as it was for
original Darmanitan.
When Unovan Darmanitan
morphs into its Zen Mode form
after it gets below half health,
its base stats switch it
from a physical attacker
to a special attacker.
This is trash.
This forces you to either invest
only in special attack,
and then only hit hard when
you're below half health,
so it effectively
halves your defenses,
or you're forced to make
it a mixed attacker,
which causes you to spread
your resources too thin
and not be able to invest
in any other stats,
and also take up move slots.
Zen Mode original
Darmanitan is horrible.
When I saw that Galarian
Darmanitan got Zen Mode as well,
I just assumed that it would
be a similarly bad change,
where it switches
from a physical
to a special attacker.
Uh, yeah,
I was dead wrong.
Zen Mode Galarian Darmanitan
gives Darmanitan 20 extra
base points in attack
and 40 into speed!
It also becomes an ice fire
type Pokemon, which is dope,
and also gives Darmanitan a
STAB boost for fire type moves.
In other words, once
the Darmanitan gets
below half health,
it becomes a faster
and stronger Pokemon.
The only downside is
that its weakness to rock
goes from two times
to four times,
but it also gains quite
a few resistances too,
so I think that balances
out pretty well.
So yeah, I was originally wrong
about Galarian Darmanitan.
Both of this Pokemon's
abilities are excellent,
and expect to see
it used in both ways
in a lot of competitive formats.
The next Pokemon is one
of my favorite new Pokemon
in this generation, that
being number three, Falinks.
Although, before I
dive into the specifics
of its battle prowess,
I have a quick PSA,
that being that Falinks
is not a freaking bug.
I understand that many
people thought Falinks
was some kind of
weird caterpillar
when they saw this picture
of it, specifically.
That is understandable,
I thought the same thing.
However, when you see
Falinks in motion,
it becomes exceedingly obvious
that this is not a bug.
It is six adorable
little soldier Kirbys
who look nothing like bugs.
I understand not
immediately knowing
that it's based on the
phalanx war formation,
but if you still think
it should be a bug type
after seeing the
little guys move,
well, you clearly live
in some sort of location
that has very different bugs
than what I see around my house.
Anyways, back to
its battle prowess,
'cause that is what I am
supposed to be talking about.
Its base stats are
nothing incredible.
Its attack and defense
are pretty solid,
but the rest of its stats
are middling at best.
It does have access
to Defiant though,
which is an incredible ability,
especially in doubles where
Intimidate is a huge factor.
However, what makes
Falinks so impressive
is its signature
move No Retreat.
In exchange for not being able
to switch out or
flee the battle,
Falinks receives an omni-boost,
meaning that all five
of its boostable stats
are increased by one stage.
Getting an omni-boost in
one turn is fantastic.
That makes it so
Falinks can outspeed
a ton of Pokemon it
normally wouldn't.
It boosts its physical
attacking power.
It bolsters its defenses.
That is amazing!
Yes, not being
able to switch out
is kind of a downside, but,
if it's late in a battle,
and your opponent has nothing
left that can wall Falinks,
or maybe it's an
already short battle
like VGC, where there's
not as much switching,
well, I think it's gonna
be freakin' amazing.
I really hope Falinks sees
a lot of use in the
competitive scene,
because I think it's
a really creative
and really adorable Pokemon,
and I would love
to see it succeed.
All right, so the first four
were all physical attackers,
so for this one, I
wanted to switch gears
and instead talk about
a special attacker,
that being number
four, Polteageist.
Polteageist has an
interesting base stat spread.
Most of its stats
are underwhelming,
but its special defense
is really solid,
and its special
attack is amazing.
What kind of holds
it back is its speed,
which is not horrible,
but certainly isn't fast.
However, Polteageist gets access
to the incredible boosting
move, Shell Smash.
If you somehow don't
know what this does,
after all of the generations
that it's been a big deal,
Shell Smash lowers
the user's defense
and special defense by one stage
in exchange for boosting
its attack, special attack,
and speed by two stages each.
This of course makes Polteageist
a heck of a lot faster
if you can get one off,
plus it pairs nicely with
its ability Weak Armor,
which causes Polteageist's
defense to drop
by one stage every time it's
hit by a physical attack,
but in exchange, its speed
raises by two stages.
It has two reasonably solid ways
to get around its
middling speed stat.
But another really awesome
thing about Polteageist
is that it has access
to Stored Power,
which is a special
type psychic move
that starts at
only 20 base power,
but gets 20 points added
for every positive stat
change the Pokemon has.
So for example, if at Pokemon
is at plus two physical attack,
then their Stored Power
would be at 60 base power.
This pairs fantastically
with Polteageist's Weak
Armor and Shell Smash.
If you use Shell Smash one time,
Stored Power goes from
20 base power to 140,
which is more powerful
than a STAB Shadow Ball.
If you Shell Smash,
and you also get
a Weak Armor speed
boost in the same turn,
then Stored Power is
suddenly 180 base power.
It is incredible that this
Pokemon has Stored Power,
Shell Smash, and Weak Armor.
These three aspects
just synergize
so fantastically together
and no other Pokemon
has this combo.
And now it's time for
the final Pokemon,
and since the first four
were more offensive Pokemon,
I wanted to talk about a
really good defensive Pokemon,
that being number
five, Galarian Corsola.
And yes, Corsola, not Cursola.
Galarian Corsola has stats that
are almost the same
as original Corsola.
It loses five base
points in HP and speed
in exchange for
gaining five points
in both defense and
special defense.
However, it's still
pretty underwhelming
in the base stat department,
because its total is
only a measly 410.
But Galarian Corsola is so much
better than regular Corsola,
because it can use an Eviolite.
In case you didn't know,
an Eviolite is a held item
that boosts the
holder's physical
and special defense by 50%,
if it can still evolve.
So regular Corsola
can't make use of this,
because it can't evolve,
but Galarian Corsola,
since Cursola exists,
gets the Eviolite boost,
boosting its already
fantastic defenses 50% each.
This really outshines Cursola,
because Cursola's base
defenses are only 50 and 130,
both of which end up being worse
than Galarian Corsola's
with an Eviolite.
Sure, Cursola does hit
way harder offensively,
but since it's so frickin' slow,
it's really only usable
on a Trick Room team.
Whirlpool lets it trap opponents
that are walled by it
and do chip damage.
Night Shade allows it to have
consistent damage output,
even though its attack
power is lacking.
Strength Sap is a
great recovery move,
especially when facing off
against a physical attacker.
And Will-O-Wisp is
also of course amazing,
because burns are fantastic
ways to get more chip damage
and cripple physical
attackers as well.
While its regular
ability Weak Armor
doesn't pair well with
its role as a tank,
its hidden ability Cursed
Body is substantially better.
Cursed Body gives a 30% chance
to disable the
opposing Pokemon's move
every time they use it,
so if you've trapped
them in with Whirlpool,
and maybe they're choiced, then,
they're gonna have to struggle.
Galarian Corsola definitely
matches up better
against physical attackers
due to Strength Sap
and Will-O-Wisp,
but, hey, there's a
lot of those out there,
and it's not gonna be
bad against special
attackers, either.
Overall, Galarian
Corsola is going to be
an impressive defensive
force to be reckoned with,
and it shouldn't be overlooked
simply because it's not
an offensive sweeper.
So there we have it, those
were five new Pokemon
that I think are gonna
make a big statement
in the gen eight
competitive scene.
Let me know if you
enjoyed this video
and want to see the
same format of video
but with different Pokemon,
and if you did enjoy this video,
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All right, that's
all I have for now,
so 'til next time, Pokefans...
Gotta catch them all.
