Honorable mention: Gallade Gallade got sharpness. It means leaf blade, night slash and aqua blade are stabs Psycho cut is earthquake And sacred sword (new) is close combat with zero negatives. It also bypasses defence boosts of the enemy.
yeah Gallade did get buffed this gen as Sharpness was a perfect fit for it on top of gaining Sacred Sword, but also giving it another coverage option in Aqua Cutter
And he got Sacred Sword. The Fighting STAB he needed all along. 135 effective BP, 100% accurate, no recoil effects, and ignores buffs. A ginormous upgrade over Close Combat.
Agreed, mfer freaking starts with Sacred Sword, Leaf Blace and Aqua Blade upon evolution. I evolved a Kirlia into Gallade for the Pokédex and kept it for the rest of the playthrough because the powerful coverage was just that good.
Scizor and Breloom are like Mario and Luigi, two fighters with red and green respectively. Extra hilarious because their shinies are the colors of one another. And now, they can pommel each others checks with teamwork. Edit: Oh yeah, and they both get technician. And Scizor struggles against fire breathing monsters. While Breloom hates ghosts. This works really well the more you think about it. Super Scizor Bros for the win.
No mention of Chansey and Blissey? They lost Wish, Toxic and Teleport, and the PP of Softboiled was also cut to 8. Both have been OU/UU titans right from the start, now Blissey is RU and Chansey is NU
@@gengarzilla1685 Nah definitely not Clodsire is a good special wall but is more utilitarian and can't sit as hard on special attackers as Chansey and Blissey. Pure normal is also a good defensive typing and does very different things from the poison/ground typing of Clod
Honestly the removal of Scald is probably one of the biggest changes for generation 9 for like every Pokemon that had it, I feel like that's gonna be something that shows up in seemingly every video, just like "the newly buffed Defog/Knock Off" "Heavy-Duty Boots" etc.
It's not "removed" technically, as it's now just a signature move of the currently unavailable Volcanion. Scald simply had a severe cutback on availability.
@@gengarzilla1685 even with that, it’s still effectively removed from the game. Who’s going to run Scald on Volcanion over its other stronger signature move Steam Eruption. It even has the same burn chance.
Yeah, scald (basically) removal was a huge game-changer. That move was so spammable, there was no reason to not use it on literally anything. Hyper offense pokemon, hyper defense one, and everything between appreciated it. 80 power and a chance to burn, which can cripple physical attackers. What's not to love? I'd say it was one of the best moves in the game. Thus, I'm glad it's gone.
@@sonofhades57 I mean it's faster and it's movepool is far better. Cindy kinda sucks cuz it cannot spike and has HEAVY 4mss. Tho I'd say it got sd and sd + double edge sets would do insane amounts of damage.
@@FreezeDidThis Yeah, but it weaker than both cinderace and mewoscarada. Also meowscarada is faster than it as well, so it effectively got replaced by it.
@@adrianmarc5430 The surprise factor is good tho. Gren can still run like 4-6 sets. Cindy and meow are stuck on 2 but meowscarada is better offensively compared to both.
@Freeze ProDuckSons Inc. not setting up spikes isn't an issue though because court change is still really good and allows you to get around Gholdengoul's spin blocking and defogging.
@@sonic5993 yeah, and since peli is OU floatzel might drop to RU, but u can use it in OU, and in OU is the best swift swim Pokémon, despite it's probably RU tier. Imo floatzel was the 2nd most buffed mon. Tiering is not everything. It almost rose to OU on february 1st so...
@@juan-lb5ph floatzel will won't have a high chance to be OU even if rain is good in OU as an archetype because people will try other rain sweepers regardless of floatzel being the best. Pelipper will be OU due cause Pelipper is rain, while floatzel will remain UU or lower unless something like Manaphy is released and rain takes over the meta.
At least Cinderace doesn't trigger its Libero when it uses STAB Pyro Ball. Since Protean Meowscarada and Greninja are dual-type, they can't even use a STAB without using up their once-per-switch-in type change.
I think the pink blobs Chansey and Blissey was by far the most nerfed of the bunch. They both lost BIG time to the recovery move PP reduction to 8, the removal of Teleport, the removal of Toxic, the removal of Wish, and the removal of both Aromatherapy and Heal Bell (it still has Heal Bell listed as an Egg Move, but is currently unobtainable). These two mons are even more orientated to play passive than even Toxapex is, and even doing that is very difficult for either mon to do. Pex still has a great defensive typing, Regenerator, and some effective defensive moves (Toxic, Toxic Spikes, Haze), which is why Pex is still decent in OU. The other two can only threaten with Thunder Wave or setting up rocks, which is all they have left. Every single generation has at least one of the two in the OU tier (even though both were very mediocre in gen 5 OU). Now Blissey is all the way down in RU, while Chansey isn't even officially put in a tier and is instead given the NFE (Not Fully Evolved) label. In other words, both got shot into a million pieces, and while they can maybe salvage a bit once Heal Bell is available again, they will still be a mere fragment of their former selves. Their fall from grace is cited as a big reason why stall is struggling as a playstyle in gen 9.
Yeah I'm shocked they put pex over the blobs. Pex took some huge hits but it's still strong. Blissey and chansey were already struggling in gen 8 and were pretty much systematically removed in sv 😭
Even with those moveset nerfs i don't think the usage would be so different. Annihilape completely destroyed them offensively and defensively, Chien Pao and Palafin crushed them, now those are all ubers and nothing changed for the pink blobs. Most importantly Great tusk has 50% usage and can remove chansey's eviolite and blissey's boots/lefties
I would say Greninja and Slowbro were nerfed harder than Slowking and Cinderace, Slowking got chilling reception which functions like a pivoting move but Slowbro didn’t get anything and Greninja lost both Protean and Battle Bond
Greninja didn't lose Protean and Battle Bond. They got nerfed. And Greninja still gained very powerful nre moved in swords dance, liquidation, brick break and battle bond didn't get nerfed. If anything it got changed so I'd still say that Cinderace got more nerfed. Tho I agree with slowbro
@@RealShades7 The battle bond nerf was massive, now it has to play for keeps and it doesn't keep the form for the rest of the game, just receives a stat boost. Still tho, it received far more than cinderace lost
@mepphy99 I would say because of Cinderace's mono type it can still get more use out of libero then Protean Grininja. Also Cinderace also got Swords Dance and will o wisp so it's not all bad.
Like what's wrong with you idiots? Is it too hard to understand that iron bundle is not Delibird. They don't have same base stat or abilities. Delibird is still trash, Iron bundle is not Delibird.
Cinderace, whose Libero can only trigger once per switch: "Man, these nerfs are brutal". Greninja, whose Battle Bond turned into a Moxie boost that activates once period: "YOU F-ING THINK SO?"
@@Hyperneosonic97 Greninja can still do something with Protean like it had in gen 7 (almost exclusively an scarf mon, if it wasn't using z crystals); Ace literally got its only good ability nerfed to the ground, so I would say that out of them both, he's the biggest loser.
@@TWLSpark Cinderace can keep Libero Longer and has higher attack and it's most spammable moves are HJK and Pyro, which have 130 and 120 BP respectively
I'd argue Chansey and Blissy got more nerfed than cinderace and friends. They used to be OU staples and now they're really bad passive walls in RU and maybe NU soon enough.
If anything, wouldnt greninja be an even bigger loser? It also had protean neitered but ALSO lost Ash Greninja. Now battle bond is moxie for all stats but only happens once. Meaning if he is forced out its ability becomes non existant. And greninja has to trigger Protean every time he atta ks he is a double type. Cinderace can at least use oyro ball and save protean for u turn or something else
I think libero nerf affects it less than gren as it is a pure fire type allowing it to proc libero even after a pyro ball unlike gren which procs its protean even when it uses its stab.
@@shadowdragun I'm not sure what's going on with Ash Gren, I remember hearing Battle Bond was changed to be +SpAtk and +Speed on kill (once per game), which if true could be even stronger than Ash Gren was in certain scenarios.
Honestly, I'm just glad that Qwilfish and Dunsparce can use the Eviolite now, and I hope to see both of them absolutely terrorizing the lower tiers going forward
eviolite dunsparce is fun, was doing random mon battles not long ago because i was bored and ended up soloing someone's entire team with just the goofy little dude after getting 6 coils set up for free. that probably stands as one of my favorite battles of all time now.
I remember sometime before Tera was properly announced someone said that Dragonite could have loved to be a normal type, it was in the context of Gen 1. But considering what happened in Gen 9... Yeah, he loves that Normal Type so much, even outside the context of Gen 1.
Imagine a Snorlax whose Hyper Beam is guaranteed to vaporize everything it touches . Now that's a terrifying thought. Remove Gengar from the opponent's team and you just won.
I think Libero on Cinderace is still better than Protean on Greninja or Meowscarada. Since Cinderace only has 1 type, it can at least spam Pyro Ball with STAB and then switch to another type against whatever tries to switch in. Since Greninja and Meowscarada have 2 types, they will always be locked into the type of the first move they use
Wdym a shitter Moxie abikity on Greninja? It's basically a Quiver Dance boost per KO'd target but yes I agreed that Greninja got hard clapped by small videogame company with a big nerf.
@@swallowmikeuhm6744 Not per KO'd target. It can only trigger once per BATTLE. If you ever switch it out or get phased, that's your one off use of the ability done with.
Because as we know. Garchomp was really wanting for tools and buffs. Meanwhile competitive behemoths like Ampharos and Luxray were just too much and got zero buffs.
A non-legendary electric type getting tools that aren't Volt Switch? You're funny (Me still hoping Luxray and Electivire are given dual Dark and Fighting typings, respectively)
Raichu also is forced to make a return thanks to its pre-evo, and has also gotten squat this gen. Game Freak _really_ doesn't want to give it a 1.5x boost from Light Ball, huh? Making it bootleg Regieleki just can't happen. Now that I think about it, pretty much every returning Electric type mon got shafted. Rotom is Rotom and Magnezone is Magnezone, but every other Electric type mon is stuck in the bottom tiers due to consistent neglect.
When Paldea is basically second Kanto in that Electric types are shafted. Also, Magnezone is basically a Steel type with Electric stuff, and the Rotom forms are their appliances’ typings with Electric stuff. There are no good returning Electric types.
Gallade got some amazing buffs too, sharpness buffing its slicing moves and getting secret sword and aqua cutter now. Hits like a truck now and have great slicing move coverage
I also think Zamazenta (not in the game yet but still sees plays on pokemon showdown) is the biggest loser by far. Got its defense nerfed and its ability nerfed (because zacian got nerfed) and is currently UU in national dex! For a box art legendary to fall that far because its so outclassed by so many things is just sad.
it is quite nice how all his slicing moves practically have stab. if you really think about it, gallade is literally a psychic/fighting type defensively, but a psychic/fighting/water/grass/dark type offensively. common gallade w
Scizor, Breloom, and Garchomp were staples in my teams for many generations, so I'm really happy to see they got some new tricks to make them remain relevant.
Chomp was not buffed, arguably nerfed. Losing Scale Shot outweighs gaining Spikes easily, also Scizor lost Roost and I'm very confused on how you thought of Slowking and Cinderace over Slowbro and Greninja here lol
I mean, Chomp had adapted to being TankChomp for a while now, offensive chomp still exists but isn't as common as the mostly hazard stacker Then again, there's great tusk to compete with for hazard stack as tusk can also remove their own side of hazards with spin, so Chomp really took the L this gen
Cinderace may have been hit hard with a libero nerf, but it is actually usable in OU now. Also, it is one of the only viable pokemon in the game that can “remove” hazards in front of gholdengo.
Man this video certainly aged. Cinderace is described as a Loser in this while currently it's the 11th most used mon in OU, and now Dragonite has fallen to 15th and other supposed winner Garchomp is dangerously close to falling to UU at 38th
Dragonite is defo a winner compared to cinderace, just remember cinderace was a bad uber last gen, nowadays it’s exclusively will o wisp and court change support. Dragonite is still a massive threat every team needs an answer for. But garchomp straight up lost
You know the actual reason on why Cinderace is still good? It's because unlike Greninja and Meowscarada the Fire monotype allows Cinderace to not waste Libero by spamming the STAB
I really liked this video. I won't comment on the individual picks, but the music selections during the Loser #3 and #2 really reminded me of your earlier episodes (I kinda missed those themes ngl), and I also like how you include Showdown replays in Scizor's and Breloom's section to illustrate how high level tournaments were using the old fighting moves, instead of XD/PBR/BW footage.
Rillaboom got it rough as well. Mainly because it lost one of it's best stab moves: Grassy Glide. Thanks to it's ability to set up Grassy Terrain, Gillaboom always able to hit first and very hard with Grassy Glide, but now lost that move entirely. It also lost a very good coverage move in High Horsepower allowing it to hit Fire types for super effective damage.
They removed all the “Terrain boosting” moves from those Pokemon. Indeedee lacks Expanding Force, and Pincurchin lacks Rising Voltage. Am glad the monkey is nerfed tho.
All though floatzel wasn’t available in swsh, it still should count as one of if not the biggest winner in gen 9 since it’s legitimate in OU thanks to adamant cb stab tera water wave crash under rain dealing an unholy amount of damage
Cinderace is actually the least effected by the Protean/Libero nerf because Libero doesn't activate if you use Pyro Ball (since it's already fire type) so you can still switch up moves once. But Greninja likes choice sets too much so I can see why it's not "effected" as much in that respect.
It's still good idk where they got the idea that it was bad from. Being able to use toxic is actually a really big draw, as the only other ou mon that gets it is clodsire who has dogshit phys def
I think that Dragapult is a huge winner, every mon that comes back or is new either loses to Dragapult or makes common Pult teammates more useful. Finally physical ghost stab with Tera blast ghost to make DD sets better, and Chien Pao banned as its one reason to use speed boosting natures meaning it can run adamant or modest to make its attacks sting more, and you have a big winner for gen 9.
I remember using tera blast ghost, but relying on tera for ghost stab just ain't it and most people just run phantom force in the end because tera could be saved for many better options. I don't mean pult is a bad mon. It's just a bad idea to make a pokemon reliant on tera (avalugg💀).
@@kookiecam4735 avalug isn't reliant on tera if you use a snow team. I've had great success using avalug along with abomasnow and slowking. Tera definitely still helps but I'm the snow the lug goes crazy
@@abarette_ Stall was balanced in both Gen 7 and 8. Balance teams were typically much more popular, with stall just being alright. As it is right now, Stall is kind of bad, all things considered.
Greninja and Toxapex feel like they were personally dragged behind the Tiering Tower and got their kneecaps (spines?) shattered by Game Freak themselves before the Scarlet and Violet metagame was formed.
@@carucath97 I'm surprised they didn't give it the double Paradox form treatment like they did Donphan and Volcarona, though there is a chance they'll change that in the future. Who knows, maybe this is a sign that GameFreak has been paying attention to the fandom's disdain for how much they've wanked the lizard since Gen 6
I was *not* happy when I found out GF cut roost from Murkrow’s moveset. Prankster roost was one of my favorite tricks to pull. At least it’s doing well in VGC.
"And it couldn't have been done to a more deserving piece of junk... Said the player base at large" This commentary on the Toxapex nerf absolutely brightened my day. Thank you.
I don’t think toxapex is that bad i mean then again I use it on my offensive teams sometimes because I need a Defensive pivot but still it’s definitely not as Donita’s before but it’s still usable, Black sludge, Toxic and venoshock can do work and chilling water is great because it lowers attack
Garchomp, an outright winner? Yeah getting Spikes is nice, but that's come at a cost of losing Scale Shot and the sweeping potential it offered. Now Garchomp once again has no way to independently fix the 102 base Speed stat that continues to fall short with each passing generation. I'd argue that Garchomp's case is a tad more nuanced than you might say.
Petition to have a side series "How good am I actually" we need to see you play some comp pokemon!! :) Maybe even stream Your content is very good and im always exited for the next release
They should definitely buff superpower to a physical make it rain of sorts, honestly a -1 atk is probably more integral on its own than -1 defensive stats
I think you should do a video which clumps all the Pokémon you've made a video on so far into one on how each one is currently doing in the scarlet and violet meta.(eventually once everything settles down)Cause you probably wouldn't want to do another updated video on every Pokémon again just for one generation.
THANK YOU OMFG!!! I learned about Court Change when my Tinkaton rolled it on Metronome and it actually happened to flip stealth rocks. I didn't catch the name and then went crazy trying to find it to prove I wasn't lying about what I saw. I couldn't find it on any new pokemon nor in any list of new moves. I didn't know it existed in gen 8 because I never used cinderace and never saw the move used so I thought it was new to gen 9. Omg that plagued me from week 1 of gen 9 being out
breloom also got bulldoze-big into dengo-and loaded dice. id argue bulldoze is particularly big as it means it can actually legitimately pressure poisons/dengo, and loaded dice can let it muscle through them more consistently as well
Breloom can't learn Trailblaze because Gamefreak is terrified of fast Spore users. It's the same reason behind Toedscruel being saddled with Mycelium Might.
Dragonite had many different strategies over the generations, like in gen 5 dragon gen turned outrage into an instakill button, or in gen 6/7 flynium turned fly into an instakill button, or in gen 9 tera-normal turned extreme speed into an instakill button
The fact that Power-Up Punch got removed is a big bummer. While Swords Dance was obviously better, some Pokémon don't have the luxury of a nice stat-boosting status move. But it was probably for the better; Imagine Tera Fighting Breloom with Power-Up Punch, Mach Punch, Bullet Seed, and Spore.
Slowking may have lost, but galarian slowking won big, it finally has the futureport that it very much wanted during gen 8, which means the reign of galarian slowking shall start. Also slowbro got nerfed harder than slowking since it got nothing in compensation for losing teleport.
Adding to this, Greninja got nerfed harder than Cinderace did, since it ALSO lost Ash-Greninja, with Battle Bond now essentially being a Once Per Battle Moxie.
I'm still devastated about Weavile's nerfs. Weavile is my favorite Pokemon and I took a break from competitive Pokemon in gen 8. I come back to find that I missed the gen where Weavile was amazing and now he was badly nerfed. It's like GameFreak went out of their way to attack me specifically 😭
To be fair genija has spikes so it not like it can use unity and loaded dice is a thing so water shurkin can pick any thing plus it still good on rain so it not completely nefted compared to cindrace
Now that the latest update added Arcaludon, Duraludon should have a mention. Eviolite gives it better defensive stats than good old Skarmory had in the generations where it dominated, while keeping one of the best defensive types possilble (rocks resistant, poison immune). Except unlike Skarmory whose only offense option was Body Press or its relatively meager 80 Atk, Duraludon not only now has even better Defense to use Body Press, but still has its 120 Special Attack. Nobody wants their physical attack to crash into a steel wall and get punished by an ungodly powerful Draco Meteor in turn, yet here we are.
Super power Lurantis contrary with tera fighting would have been extremely dangerous. Unfortunately they removed it. Couldve had a potential OU with Lurantis big miss opportunity
see Scyther & Scizor gained Close Combat in Legends Arceus, and gen 9 made the decision to let them keep that move, which is great since both of them can't do a thing to steel types
I feel like Cinderace both lost and won. Libero was nerfed hard, but it did get Swords Dance and with the addition of Gholdengo, it's been a solid utility mon
I would argue Slowbro got hit worse than Slowking. 1. It's physical defence is not very imposing anymore with the new gens mons 2. It didn't get any form of pivot, like slowking did 3. Losing scald hurts it more, as it can no longer threaten physical attackers who are super effective against it
Cinderace may have been nerfed but dont forget it basicallg changed the entire ou metagame singlehandedly upon introdution in gen 9. Prior to cinderace the game was mostly just who could get the ksot hazards up and keep them up. You could win games with just ting-lu spamming whirlwing but the possibility of an opponent havinf ace was too much to build around that strat since theyd just let ypu set up and court change them to u
Tbh the so-called “buffs” for Garchomp and Dragonite aren’t really buffs. One is a hazard move on a physical sweeper and the other is just a game mechanic. That’s not really a buff to Dragonite.
I don't play modern Pokemon games (I stopped after gen 6). But since Dragonite is one of my favorite Pokes, and since I'm still salty it never got a mega evolution or an alt form, I'm glad to hear that Dragonite is doing well in the modern gen.
Protean is technically worse because dual types forces it to use the ability even when using STAB moves, while Cinderace can use Pyro ball without activating Libero.
