Pokémon UNITE: The Early Days
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Introduction
Pokémon has never been shy about using its side games to delve into new genres, whether it's the dungeon crawling Mystery Dungeon series or the one-on-one fighting game Pokkén Tournament. At the end of July 2021, another new style was broached: the MOBA. Pokémon UNITE is a free-to-play game for both the Nintendo Switch and mobile platforms that sees teams of three to five facing off against each other in hopes of scoring the most points and claiming victory. With millions of downloads and millions more preregistrations for the mobile release, Pokémon UNITE is showing itself to potentially be another successful spinoff in Nintendo's long list.
Art by in the hills.
The Roster
On release day, Pokémon UNITE's roster consisted of twenty fighters, with three more following by the first of September. The roster includes fan favorites like Garchomp and Gardevoir, some unexpected additions like Cramorant and Eldegoss, and, of course, the ever-present Charizard and Pikachu. Every Pokémon comes with a difficulty ranking of novice, intermediate, or expert. Additionally, each fighter has two categories of battle style: Attacker, Speedster, Defender, Supporter, or All-Rounder and Ranged or Melee, allowing players of all levels to choose from a variety of playstyles and find the character they're most comfortable with.
Attacker
Focused primarily on the reducing the opponents' HP stat, these characters are easy to pick up for newer players, as the goal and how to achieve it is clear. On the flip side, they lack longevity and can be quickly knocked out without proper support.
Speedster
Fast Pokémon with high mobility that excel at maneuvering around enemies, knocking out wild Pokémon, and scoring points. Similarly to the Attacker class, however, these Pokémon are frail and should rarely ever be taking on enemies alone.
Defender
The main goal of the Defender is to protect the goal and keep opponents from scoring. They come with high HP and Defense, as well as disruptive capabilities to keep enemies at bay. In exchange, they lack offensive utility and are generally slow, so pairing them up with an offensive partner is a good idea.
Supporter
Supporters play the crucial role of keeping the team healthy and strong. Equipped with shields, healing, and various buffs for allies and debuffs for enemies, they are important to ensuring everyone can effectively perform their roles. They lack strong attacks, however, and generally have low HP, meaning they should never be alone on the field.
All-Rounder
These fighters have balanced stats and can fit easily into multiple roles in a match. This versatility is also their greatest weakness, however, as they aren't particularly good at any one thing and often need experience to play effectively.
Ranged and Melee
Every Pokémon also has a Basic Attack that falls into the category of Melee or Ranged. Melee attacks generally hit harder than ranged ones, but ranged attacks are able to hit from a greater distance. Additionally, these attacks become boosted every three to five hits depending on the Pokémon, with exceptions in Charizard and Blissey, giving them one of a variety of secondary effects, from slowing the movement speed of an enemy to increasing the user's damage.
Content Updates
Pokémon UNITE has received several content updates since its release in the forms of balance patches and new releases. Balance patches include buffs and nerfs to both fighters and the wild Pokémon encountered within matches, helping to make them more fair. These buffs and nerfs are often significant, and it isn't uncommon for Pokémon to receive buffs or nerfs of around 30% of a move's power or a base stat. New releases happen for all categories of purchasable items, whether it be trainer clothes or costumes for Pokémon, but the most impactful is, of course, the release of new Pokémon themselves; this includes the addition of Blissey giving a much-needed addition to the admittedly shallow pool of healers, as well as the coming release of two new fighters in Mamoswine and Sylveon.
Matches
Unlike other popular MOBAs in which the aim is to capture or destroy an enemy base, the goal of Pokémon UNITE is to score as many points as possible before time ends. Standard matches last ten minutes, though there's also the option of five minute Quick Battles. Players begin the game in the lowest non-baby evolutionary form of their Pokémon and must fight wild Pokémon or enemy players to level up and unlock moves throughout the match. Doing this will also reward you with Aeos energy, which needs to be taken to an enemy goal in order to score points.
Team composition is a big part of success in MOBA games, and Pokémon UNITE is no exception. Having a team of only offensive Pokémon will make it extremely difficult to claim victory against a more balanced team. Pokémon like Charizard and Cinderace that have to evolve twice should be limited, as they take longer to get to their full power, making them easy targets for enemies. Also, a mix of Ranged and Melee class characters should be used to avoid being restricted in how you can attack. Finally, Support and Defender Pokémon play an important role on a balanced team by keeping the rest of the team healthy and stopping the opposing team from easily scoring goals.
Positioning is important to consider, as there are are three lanes, top, middle, and bottom, that are all full of wild Pokémon and potentially enemy players. Leaving any one lane unprotected can provide ample opportunity for the opposing team to score points and gain an advantage. Fortunately, in the pre-match preparation screen, there's an option to let your team know what lane you plan on going into. Unfortunately, this is about the extent of the communication that Pokémon UNITE has built into it, so if you're not playing with your friends and talking over a separate platform, you'll have to make heavy use of the minimap to know where you're needed.
In spite of all of the careful planning that may go into a match, many seem to come down to the end game, where a powerful Zapdos will spawn. The team that defeats this Zapdos will be given a large amount of Aeos energy and be able to score instantly, instead of the small charging time usually needed to do so. Coupling this with the game's Final Stretch event, which doubles points scored in the last minute of a match, means that the tide of any match can be turned in an instant.
Pokémon UNITE also strives to better the experience of its players with the Fair-Play Points system. Players start with 100 points, and they can lose points for unfair or unsportsmanlike conduct such as abandoning a team or idling the whole match. Losing a certain number of points will result in penalties on a player, like being unable to play in ranked matches. Points can also be gained back at a maximum of five per day for playing normally.
The Early Meta
Pokémon UNITE's early, pre-mobile meta has been defined by several prevalent Pokémon.
Snorlax
Everyone's favorite blue blob serves as one of the meta's most popular Defenders, specializing in crowd control. While it does lack the raw firepower of its more attack-oriented counterparts, attacks like Heavy Slam serve to disrupt the enemy by throwing opponents within a certain radius of the attack. Additionally, Snorlax has access to Block, which creates a shield that will push enemy Pokémon that come into contact with it, allowing a path to be cleared for scoring allies. Equipping Snorlax with a Rocky Helmet will also allow it to deal passive damage to any attackers, making it a perfect complement to the defensive tank.
Zeraora
Given away for free for a time after the game's Switch release, this mythical Speedster quickly established itself as a hard hitter. Its Passive Ability, Volt Absorb, allows it to inflict additional damage after taking damage itself. Volt Switch gives Zeraora a dash and increases its attack speed for a short time. Wild Charge unleashes a combo on the opponent at the expense of some of your own HP, and this combo lasts longer if the opponent was recently hit by Volt Switch, Spark, or a boosted Basic Attack, meaning Zeraora is capable of huge damage. Finally, giving Zeraora a Muscle Band means that it deals more damage the more HP an enemy has, allowing it to quickly tear down opposing Pokémon.
Alolan Ninetales
The snowy fox comes into Pokémon UNITE as a Ranged Attacker with great utility. Dazzling Gleam damages foes and stuns them for a short time, allowing chances for Alolan Ninetales and its teammates to attack. And although it's an Attacker class fighter, Alolan Ninetales has access to the move Aurora Veil, which, in addition to increasing Alolan Ninetales's movement speed and making all of its Basic Attacks boosted, reduces the damage that nearby allies take from enemy attacks, providing valuable support in the middle of a fight. Giving Alolan Ninetales a Shell Bell will keep it on the field for longer, as it recovers HP every time an ability is landed. More is healed based on the Special Attack of the holder, making it a great choice for the specially oriented fox.
Buying Better Items and New Pokémon
For free-to-play players, it can seem daunting to get the resources needed to upgrade their roster, and it does require a fair amount of play time to collect them if you don't want to spend any real money.
Aeos Coins: Used to purchase new Pokémon, Aeos coins can be gotten from a variety of sources. One can earn 30-50 coins per match, capping at 2100 coins from matches per week. You can also quickly earn coins from secondary methods, such as completing daily missions, exchanging the Aeos Energy you get from participating in matches for a chance at coins, and maintaining a high number of Fair-Play points. All of this nets you an additional 1400+ coins per week without factoring in coins that can be given out for level-ups, making the most expensive fighters obtainable in around two to three weeks of play.
Item Enhancers and Aeos Tickets: Item Enhancers can either be gained as event rewards or bought from the Shop for ten Aeos Tickets and are used to level up items, upgrading their effects. Aeos tickets can be gained from end of season rewards, daily missions, Energy Rewards, or sometimes as a reward from leveling up. It's important to save your Aeos Tickets, as getting an item to level 20 can take more than 5000 of them!
Microtransactions
One major criticism of the game comes from its microtransactions. While the game is free to download and there are no strictly premium characters at the time of writing, Pokémon can be simply bought with real money instead of through the in-game store, which requires grinding matches to get the coins needed. Additionally, real money can be paid to simply upgrade your held items immediately instead playing for the currency required to upgrade them, giving players who are willing to pay real money a competitive advantage in ranked battles, putting a damper on the generally beginner-friendly design of the game. Finally, cosmetic items for both your trainer and your Pokémon are some of the most expensive microtransactions in the game.
Conclusion
With Pokémon UNITE's mobile release, many new players without access to a Switch have joined the game. As such, understanding the ins and outs of the game and the meta is more important than ever, especially with the potential the game has to become part of the esports scene, with tournaments announced by organizations like the UK Esports League and Japanese Competitive Gaming. Hopefully this article serves as a simple introduction for those looking to pick up this new title in Nintendo's lineup!
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