Pokémon X & Y's Effect on the Metagame

[MidnightFennekin]

Ground-Types are gonna become way more prominent, it beats Fire, Steel and Poison, Fairy's main blocks, and all three are going to be used more overall. However, the existence of Air Balloon is not helping, and if MegaCharizard is used tons, then they'd have to rely more on the risky Stone Edge

Heatran may come back as one of OU's most prominent threats, it's 4x Resistant to Fairy and can SE on it.

I predict Sun and Fire-Type being more common. MegaCharizard, Fairy resistance and prominent Heatran, as well as less use of Keldeo and Dragons, all add up. But then again, Jellicent and Tentacruel may become more prominent because of High Sp. Defense, with Sp. Attack seeming to be Fairy, as well as Fire's main goal, more Poison-Types = More Toxic Spikes = More Tentacruel, and Steel no longer resisting Ghost...

MegaCharizard's high Sp. Attack is sure to make Politoed and Tyranitar that little less used, and Abonasnow is already hit 4x by Fire. Helioptile's evo seems to be a likely Rain Threat if it has High Sp. Attack, Speed and keeps Dry Skin, but since Fire-Types and Sun hurts it... Yeah.

I also see a boost in the use of Stealth Rock, Rapid Spin, Magic Guard/Bounce and Spinblockers, due to MegaCharizard's 4x SR weakness.

 

[Vikings]

Apologies if this has already been asked, but will a Mega Evolution team be possible? Even if they limit how many Megas you can get per game, you'll still be able to have at least 4 (Blaziken from event, MewTwo for each respective game, Kanto starter, and whatever other Mega you can receive among Absol, Ampharos, etc)

 

[The Imposter]

Apologies if this has already been asked, but will a Mega Evolution team be possible? Even if they limit how many Megas you can get per game, you'll still be able to have at least 4 (Blaziken from event, MewTwo for each respective game, Kanto starter, and whatever other Mega you can receive among Absol, Ampharos, etc)

No. You can only use one Mega Evolution per battle. Not per game, or so I've heard.

Scizor and Gengar will probably be the top offensive threats this gen, and actually make a great offensive core. Scizor defeats the Ttars and Bisharps or whatever people will use to check Gengar, while Gengar can then clean up with Shadow Ball and Sludge Bomb. Gengar can also handle Skarmories and Honedges that would wall Scizor. (Don't forget about Honedge everybody! Still has decent typing!) Both can make Fairies run for the hills, so just add a Dragon sweeper and you have yourself a solid offensive core for X and Y.

Electric and Grass types will see a spike in popularity, due to their immunity to paralysis and powder moves. Oh, and Gengar also gets access to the most viable Grass-hitting Sleep move, Hypnosis. Gengar so far has no possible counters. Hypnosis/Shadow Ball/Focus Blast/Sludge Bomb has no good switch-ins.

 

[MidnightFennekin]

Gengar is gonna be OP, it now hits Jirachi SE and beats the crap out of the Fairies.

 

[jireh the provider]

Aurorus' move, Freeze Dry, is confirmed to be super effective on Water-type Pokémon.

When I checked Serebii's site about this, it really strikes me like "ARE YOU SERIOUS!?"

You see, currently, Water resists Ice. But with that move from Aurorus being super effective, I really don't know how to explain the fact that water types could end up being troubled by Ice type attacks. I mean, I have theoretical questions that popped into mind after reading that quote.

a. Would water types be weak to all Ice type attacks this time? Or is it only Freeze Dry the only Ice move super effective against water type pokemon?
b. If Ice attacks do become super effective against water in the 6th generation, what are the following water type pokemon that would be greatly crippled?
c. So what would happen to Scald if it's used against Ice type pokemon? Would it end up being super effective against Ice types?

In my opinion:
Personally, IF Ice type attacks do become super effective against water types, I think Hail teams just might get the shine they need. Pokemon Like Glaceon, Lapras, and Walrein, banding with Abomasnow (Not the Obamasnow), Hail teams may finally get a comeback to 6th gen's OU tier. BUT. IF only Freeze dry is super effective against water type Pokemon, the improvements would make that type the most inferior for my eyes. Pokemon Like Quagsire, Swampert, Gastrodon, and Ludicolo (all 4 are neutral to Ice currently) will get the biggest blows when Ice type attacks become super effective to water.

 

[Miror]

When I checked Serebii's site about this, it really strikes me like "ARE YOU SERIOUS!?"

You see, currently, Water resists Ice. But with that move from Aurorus being super effective, I really don't know how to explain the fact that water types could end up being troubled by Ice type attacks. I mean, I have theoretical questions that popped into mind after reading that quote.

a. Would water types be weak to all Ice type attacks this time? Or is it only Freeze Dry the only Ice move super effective against water type pokemon?
b. If Ice attacks do become super effective against water in the 6th generation, what are the following water type pokemon that would be greatly crippled?
c. So what would happen to Scald if it's used against Ice type pokemon? Would it end up being super effective against Ice types?

In my opinion:
Personally, IF Ice type attacks do become super effective against water types, I think Hail teams just might get the shine they need. Pokemon Like Glaceon, Lapras, and Walrein, banding with Abomasnow (Not the Obamasnow), Hail teams may finally get a comeback to 6th gen's OU tier. BUT. IF only Freeze dry is super effective against water type Pokemon, the improvements would make that type the most inferior for my eyes. Pokemon Like Quagsire, Swampert, Gastrodon, and Ludicolo (all 4 are neutral to Ice currently) will get the biggest blows when Ice type attacks become super effective to water.

It's specific to Freeze Dry. If they were going to edit the effectiveness of Ice against Water, that change would've been reflected in the newly released type chart (which showed us Steel's new nerfs, so why not this if it were the case).

Also, on another note, an interview with Gamefreak led to a little more information being leaked. The competitively affecting news is as follows:

"Ghost-type Pokémon can freely escape from battle without being influenced by Shadow Tag."

"Some moves, with focus on special ones, have had their power and accuracy revamped."

And also possibly this : "The standard selection process for Pokémon Mega Evolution is based on three points: visual looks, popularity and game balance."

So to start off with the first one, we already knew that Ghost types could escape trapping moves like Mean Look and Spider Web (yes, that exists). However, this bit of news puts it into an entirely new light, as it can also escape the trapping ability Shadow Tag (I hear a Gengar gleefully cackling in the distance). What this means is that Ghosts will be pretty much impossible to trap, and those Levitate Ghosts are immune to every trapping method (as Arena Trap was not mentioned with Shadow Tag I believe). This will just make Ghosts even more overpowered than they are already making out to be, with Gengar being at the forefront of Gamefreak's oh-crap-what-have-we-done Pokemon this gen.

The next piece of information is actually quite interesting, as it means several moves (please include Focus Blast) are getting their power and accuracy adjusted, kind of like Tackle did this gen. This could open up a whole new realm of what moves are useful, but unfortunately there weren't any specifics so it's essentially speculation for now.

Finally, the piece of news that will somewhat affect competitive play I think is that it looks like there is only a selection of Pokemon that receive Mega Evolutions, unfortunately meaning we won't be seeing one for every fully evolved Pokemon. Adding this on to the complete embargo on Mega Evolutions for any 6th gen Pokemon, this means that it's likely we won't receive too many. It's also nice to see that Gamefreak is considering game balance when they make the Mega Evolutions, hopefully meaning that they'll make some more tank-like ones to compensate for these massive powerhouses they've been pumping out so far (well, excluding Venusaur).

 

[T-Bolt]

Special moves getting an accuracy boost is definitely going to have an impact, especially since most of the high power special moves have low accuracy.

By 'game balance' I think they mean giving mega evos to weaker pokemon, but if it would be pretty cool if there are more defensive pokemon too.

 

[jireh the provider]

Special moves getting an accuracy boost is definitely going to have an impact, especially since most of the high power special moves have low accuracy.

By 'game balance' I think they mean giving mega evos to weaker pokemon, but if it would be pretty cool if there are more defensive pokemon too.

On your second sentence, I agree with you though. But just what kind of defensive pokemon in your opinion are you asking anyway? Bulky offensive mega evolutions (I'm looking at you now Mega Amphy. So much Zeus hair)? Or just Tanky support pokemon?

I just watched the latest pokemon smash an hour ago. What left me surprised is Mega Ampharos' performance in battle. You see, we know she becomes Electric / Dragon, no stat boost mentioned back then. Gogoat in the trailer hits quite hard against Slowbro with Horn Leech. But when she mega evolves, she tanks Gogoat's Horn leech as if its nothing at all. I know that it resists grass. But not at least losing 10% HP? Only 17 out of 178 HP leaves me a guess that Ampharos' mega evo gained a boost in base Defense, Special attack (thanks to Dragon Pulse defeating on what looks like a really special bulky Gogoat since Slowbro's Ice Beam only did on what I see as 30% HP lost), and special defense.

Talk about scary. And yes, poor smogon will be bombarded testing these guys out. But I will agree on this upcoming metagame.

"Pokemon Metagame Battles will never be the same in so many ways."

 

[HostileKangaroo]

Starter evolution spoilers:

[spoil]Chesnaught with a Rocky Helmet or Sticky Barb could be deadly to physical attackers. I'm very happy that Spiky Shield will put a large damper on the 4x flying weakness due to the majority of physical flying-type moves. Same with poision weakness to a lesser extent, although the new grass-type resistance to powder moves and the like could be helpful if they resist poison powder and some other poison-causing moves.[/spoil]

 

[Ghosts of the Forums]

Starter evolution spoilers:

[spoil]Chesnaught with a Rocky Helmet or Sticky Barb could be deadly to physical attackers. I'm very happy that Spiky Shield will put a large damper on the 4x flying weakness due to the majority of physical flying-type moves. Same with poision weakness to a lesser extent, although the new grass-type resistance to powder moves and the like could be helpful if they resist poison powder and some other poison-causing moves.[/spoil]

Spoiler: ""

Rocky helmet, yes, sticky barb, no. Sticky barb is a horrible item, as there is really no guarantee the foe will receive it, and even then chesnaught's main attacks will most likely be wood hammer and fighting move/earthquake, many of which would just give you the damn barb back.

 

[HostileKangaroo]

Spoiler: ""

Rocky helmet, yes, sticky barb, no. Sticky barb is a horrible item, as there is really no guarantee the foe will receive it, and even then chesnaught's main attacks will most likely be wood hammer and fighting move/earthquake, many of which would just give you the damn barb back.

[spoil]Oh, never used it myself so I wasn't sure that it could be passed back to the original owner. Anyways, I received a comment to elaborate on what Spiky Shield is for those who aren't following leaks (I figured those who weren't wouldn't look) so what it is apparently is that it protects the user and damages on contact. Chesnaught is apparently able to learn it AND protect.[/spoil]

 

[Puma Italia]

If the weather nerf is true (that it only lasts 5 turns). Then this metagame will be very interesting. I still think weather teams will be dominate, but maybe not AS popular as 5th gen. It also looks like we got more defensive options this gen which I'm happy about. Last gen was so heavy on offense that stall teams were very hard to pull off. Aegislash is going to be a great spinblocker, and overall threat.

 

[Ragnarok]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJIydIvSSQU

Seems pretty legit to me.

 

[The Imposter]

If the weather nerf is true (that it only lasts 5 turns). Then this metagame will be very interesting. I still think weather teams will be dominate, but maybe not AS popular as 5th gen. It also looks like we got more defensive options this gen which I'm happy about. Last gen was so heavy on offense that stall teams were very hard to pull off. Aegislash is going to be a great spinblocker, and overall threat.

Oh god, weather in 5th gen was EVERYWHERE.

Spoiler: ..

Hydreigon and Aegislash seem like they would make a great offensive and defensive core (Aegislash is the evolved form of Doublade right?) Each of them resists the other's weaknesses, and together resist every type in the game iirc.

Maybe XY will be a more balanced metagame like DPPt or ADV. Who knows.

 

[Dragalge]

http://i.imgur.com/yN8ow26l.jpg

Not too much of a nerf but that 70 Base Power will be missed.

 

[The Imposter]

http://i.imgur.com/yN8ow26l.jpg

Not too much of a nerf but that 70 Base Power will be missed.

Well, it seems that it will be a set 60 BP and the type is the only thing determined by IVs. A boon for Technician mons anyway. Might increase the viability of stall some more.

 

[Ragnarok]

I have the games.

Confirming Team Preview returns and you can't turn it off (experimented in a local battle) so no changes here.

Friend battles are probably the same as are random battles, but I can't test those just yet.

Also no sign of auto leveling to 100 in local battles.

Edit - Auto leveling to 100 nowhere to be seen.

Wi-Fi play in terms of ruleset is a carbon copy of local play.

 

[jesusfreak94]

Friend Safari is located in the post-game. In it, it takes everyone on your friend list and makes them a specific type. When selected, Pokémon of that type appear (it'll take a while to catalogue, please bear with us). The Pokémon found here can have their Hidden Abilities. Unlike the Safari Zone, however, you can battle and use your own balls.

This could mean a number of things. Pokemon with previously unreleased DW abilities might finally get theirs, so we could get Shadow Tag Chandelure and Contrary Serperior after all. This might also mean that some illegalities might be fixed (i.e. Blaziken might not need its Mega form to use Speed Boost + Baton Pass after all). It'll just depend on how the mechanics of this thing turn out to work.

 

[Aurath8]

If the weather nerf is true (that it only lasts 5 turns). Then this metagame will be very interesting. I still think weather teams will be dominate, but maybe not AS popular as 5th gen. It also looks like we got more defensive options this gen which I'm happy about. Last gen was so heavy on offense that stall teams were very hard to pull off. Aegislash is going to be a great spinblocker, and overall threat.

Well that just killed off weather, as it essentially now works like Rain Dance or Sunny Day, and look at how popular they were back in DP. It was only really used on self-serving sweepers like Kingdra.
Unless you're doing something like Rain Hyper offence the battle doesn't move fast enough to take advantage of 5 short turns of weather.

 

[T-Bolt]

Well that just killed off weather, as it essentially now works like Rain Dance or Sunny Day, and look at how popular they were back in DP. It was only really used on self-serving sweepers like Kingdra.
Unless you're doing something like Rain Hyper offence the battle doesn't move fast enough to take advantage of 5 short turns of weather.

the difference is that everytime the weather inducer switches in, it sets up weather,even if it is for five turns. But yeah, I see what you mean. Weather may not be go completely out of the picture though, If Smogon unbans Drizzle+Swift swim, you might see a few rain teams in gen 6.

EDIT: With Mega Tyranitar being confirmed, sand usage probably won't drop significantly either.