Top 10 Titans of Gen 8 VGC

By zee. Released: 2022/10/10.
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vgc titans

Art by Swiffix.

Introduction

Throughout Sword and Shield's lifespan, we've seen probably the craziest whirlwind in VGC's history. The Pokémon World Championships in London has effectively wrapped up VGC for the duration of Generation 8. This has given us effectively eight different rulesets (nine counting the preliminary Series 1, which banned Gigantamax Pokémon but was supplanted by Series 2 before tournaments began). As a reminder, those were:

- Series 2 (Galar Dex)
- Notable Events: All official VGC events from January-March 2020
- Series 3-4 (Galar Dex + Pokémon Home additions: Incineroar, Primarina, Venusaur, Blastoise, Libero Cinderace, and Grassy Terrain Rillaboom were all notable additions)
- Notable Events: Players Cup I Qualifiers
- Series 5 (Isle of Armor DLC)
- Notable Events: Players Cup I, Players Cup II Qualifiers
- Series 6 (Top Pokémon banned)
- Notable Events: None
- Series 7 & 9 (Crown Tundra DLC)
- Notable Events: Players Cup II, Players Cup III Qualifiers, Players Cup IV Qualifiers, Players Cup IV
- Series 8 & 11 (Crown Tundra DLC + 1 restricted legendary Pokémon)
- Notable Events: Players Cup III
- Series 10 (Crown Tundra DLC + 1 restricted legendary Pokémon with Dynamax banned)
- Notable Events: Players Cup Invitational
- Series 12 (Crown Tundra DLC + 2 restricted legendary Pokémon)
- Notable Events: All official VGC events from March-August 2022

Despite the variety in rulesets and nearly three years worth of metagame innovation and discovery, a select few Pokémon have reigned supreme above all else. Today, we'll be going over those Pokémon and discussing just what made them so dominant. As a side note, due to the rotating formats we've had this gen in VGC, these Pokémon won't be ranked against each other, rather just discussed in order of their introduction.

Honorable Mentions

charizard

Although another Kanto starter's Gigantamax forme beat out everyone's favorite lizard, Charizard still dominated throughout Generation 8, winning the 500+ person Dallas regional in 2020 and the 2022 Europe International Championships and coming second at the 2022 World Championships. G-Max Wildfire, Max Airstream, and an inconceivable damage output in sun thanks to Solar Power are largely to thank for Charizard's success.

calyrex

Despite Calyrex-S's blistering Speed, amazing Special Attack, and incredible Astral Barrage, it fell relatively short of top placements for the majority of the restricted legendary formats it was allowed in. However, it did manage to win the 2022 World Championships and Secaucus Regional Championships paired with Zacian-C, which were some of the most stacked events of the season.

gastrodon

When you think of Pokémon that were truly dominant throughout Generation 8, Gastrodon is probably one that slips your mind. But, I'd like to remind you that Gastrodon swept 2022, winning two North American regionals, the European International Championships, the North American International Championships, and the 2022 World Championships while also having respectable placements at all live events at the start of Sword and Shield in Series 2.

urshifu urshifu

It wouldn't be right to have a list like this for Generation 8 without the Urshifu formes. While they weren't too prominent in VGC 2022 and weren't here at the start of the generation, they definitely had a presence, be it Urshifu-S's role on hyper offense teams or Urshifu-R's feared pairing with Coalossal to win multiple Players Cups and dominate the online era. Their signature moves, Wicked Blow and Surging Strikes, partnered with Unseen Fist cemented them as staples of offensive teams and the natural enemy of bulky dual screens teams.

Dominant From Release

dragapult

Dragapult

Dragapult dominated early formats in Generation 8 VGC thanks to its high speed, decent offenses, and ability to make near-perfect use of Dynamax. With Max Wyrmwind, it could lower foes' Attack, which made it increasingly harder to remove thanks to its already decent bulk. On the offensive side, it had Max Phantasm to snowball through teams, as it could keep getting stronger and stronger by capitalizing on foes' Defense drops. And if that wasn't enough, it was constantly breaking all understanding of Speed tiers with Max Airstream and/or Dragon Dance. When teambuilding for these Dragapult-dominated formats, answering it was truly always one of the first priorities of any teambuilder. Typically those answers came in the form of bulky Fairy-type Pokémon using Dynamax themselves, like Togekiss and Primarina. In later formats, Dragapult also took a supportive role as a facilitator of Gigantamax Coalossal sweeps, as its high Speed, immunity to Fake Out, and relatively weak Surf made it a great enabler.

togekiss

Togekiss

Togekiss was really the gold standard for a Pokémon that could do it all before its banning in Series 6 and subsequent fall from grace in Series 7. Offensive sets that made use of Scope Lens, Weakness Policy, and/or Nasty Plot commanded respect when teambuilding and in Team Preview, but bulky support sets that utilized Babiri Berry or Lum Berry were massively impactful in supporting their heavy-hitting partners. The rise of Super Luck over the infamous Serene Grace and its subsequent pairing with Scope Lens culminated in the "CritKiss" set that any player from 2020 will surely remember; notably, it was one of the few Pokémon that faired well offensively in and out of Dynamax, as it was perfectly content to use Dazzling Gleam and hit two targets for a 50% chance to crit either one or hopefully score some powerful Max Airstreams when Dynamaxed.

grimmsnarl

Grimmsnarl

With a bevy of support moves and a strong defensive typing, Grimmsnarl emerged as the premier Prankster Pokémon of Generation 8. Typically, Grimmsnarl utilized either dual screens sets with Light Clay or speed control-based sets with Thunder Wave and Trick + Iron Ball or Lagging Tail. Either way, it offered vital disruption on the opponent and a way to control the high damage outputs from enemy restricted Pokémon and Dynamax users. It's because of this that it saw the most use in Series 12, as it was one of the best ways to control the obscene power level that a format with two restricted Pokémon offered. Being a Dark-type Prankster user was also huge for it, as it could not be shut down by Taunt, making it all the more reliable. Even its signature move Spirit Break has seen immense value as an offensive tool that further disrupts opposing special attackers. The main strategy for removing Grimmsnarl has been to focus it down and hit it as hard as possible and as early as possible in order to limit the number of turns it can set up for its teammates, but that's easier said than done when it often has to be hit through screens and its partner left open to attack.

The Release of Pokémon Home & Isle of Armor

gmax

Gigantamax Coalossal

Coalossal is one of the most metagame-warping non-restricted Pokémon Generation 8 introduced, entirely due to the synergy between Steam Engine, Weakness Policy, and G-Max Volcalith. With Dynamax effectively doubling a Pokémon's bulk, weak super effective hits like Dragapult's Surf and various Aqua Jets were much more justifiable, and because these activated both Steam Engine and Weakness Policy, Coalossal could hit hard and fast. Even if an enemy Pokémon Dynamaxed to withstand its attack and fire back with its own Max Move, G-Max Volcalith's signature effect caused all non-Rock-type foes to take 1/6 of their HP (1/12 when Dynamaxed) in residual damage each turn for four turns, meaning Coalossal's damage output stretched way further than just its Max Move. Of course, this meant that, when seeing Coalossal paired with Pokémon like Dragapult and Urshifu-R in Team Preview, the player absolutely had to respect the possibility of an early-game Steam Engine setup. This respect could then be exploited by other modes like Togekiss + Dragapult lead in Series 9 or Zacian-C + Yveltal lead in Series 12. Even if Coalossal was not in the lead, late-game Steam Engine setups had to be taken into account when formulating gameplans. Coalossal was beaten mostly by making smart trades, calling leads properly, or having so much pressure put on it that going for Steam Engine setups at all would be detrimental to the player.

venusaur

Gigantamax Venusaur

Someone at Game Freak must have really liked Venusaur, because it received tons of useful buffs for VGC in the shift from Generation 7 to Generation 8. Most prominently, dynamic Speed mechanics allowed the player to lead with Venusaur and a partner and either instantly switch to Torkoal or Ninetales to activate Drought or use Prankster Sunny Day for an immediate Chlorophyll boost, often for the purpose of landing Sleep Powder onto a foe. Because incapacitating opposing Dynamax Pokémon with sleep was so valuable and due to how many teams were built around turn 1 Dynamax usage, this buffed Sleep Powder became a massive weapon for sun teams. But it doesn't stop there: with the movepool expansions in Generation 8, Venusaur gained access to Earth Power and Weather Ball, which allowed it to break past Fire- and Steel-types with Max Quake and Max Flare, respectively. And speaking of Max Moves, Venusaur's Gigantamax Move G-Max Vinelash packed the same residual damage effect that Coalossal's G-Max Volcalith had, meaning it could put lots of lasting damage on the board very quickly. Series 8 was when Venusaur saw the most play at high levels, as it could pair with either Groudon or Torkoal and create a potent sun core in both cases. Countering Venusaur came in the form of protection against Sleep Powder and powerful Max Airstream and Max Flare users like Landorus-T, Thundurus, Incineroar, and Gigantamax Charizard.

incineroar

Incineroar

The mascot of VGC for nearly four years at this point, Incineroar needs no introduction. However, Game Freak decided to outdo themselves this generation, giving Incineroar access to Parting Shot when it returned to the metagame with the Pokémon Home release in February 2020. This gave Incineroar an incredibly vital tool in counteracting offenses, as it could now halve a foe's Attack in a single turn in addition to being able to combat special attackers without having to resort to Snarl. With the sole exception of its banning in Series 6, there is not a format where Incineroar is not unanimously considered a top 5 Pokémon. Fake Out, pivoting, damage control with Intimidate and Parting Shot, immunity to Prankster, a Ghost resistance and Psychic immunity in the era of Dragapult, Spectrier, and Calyrex-S; truly, Incineroar has it all. Even Ground-types looking to delete it with Max Quake quickly had their plans foiled by the surging popularity of Shuca Berry sets, allowing Incineroar to tank the hit and defuse their offensive pressure with Parting Shot. In restricted formats, switching in Incineroar became one of the most common ways to deal with Zacian-C, lowering its Attack with Intimidate and resisting its Behemoth Blade: though it's hard to call it an outright counter, it sure was a decent check.

rillaboom

Rillaboom

Rillaboom entered Generation 8 as a mediocre starter Pokémon that rarely saw any usage but then was gifted with Grassy Surge and Grassy Glide, which pushed it to the forefront of the metagame. With Rillaboom's excellent movepool also featuring Fake Out and U-turn, it found itself being an Incineroar-like pivot that offered significantly more offensive pressure thanks to its Grassy Terrain-boosted Grassy Glides and Wood Hammers. Before Rillaboom's buffs, bulky Water-types like Primarina, Milotic, and Rotom-W were prominent, but players finally having a truly good Grass-type greatly reduced their overall metagame impact. In restricted formats like Series 10 and Series 12, it was often paired with Incineroar to offer a supportive duo that brought out the most of their partner restricted Pokémon's power, and really could go well with any Pokémon it wanted. It and its feline friend could also pair with Water-types like Kyogre or Urshifu-R, depending on the format, to create one of the strongest Fire / Water / Grass cores in VGC history. Rillaboom's greatest downfall was its helplessness against Max Airstream users, but this wasn't enough to ever drop its usage below top 10.

Crown Tundra

thundurus

Thundurus

In Generation 5 and 6, Thundurus terrorized the scene with Prankster Thunder Wave and Swagger shenanigans. While the Prankster sets of yesteryear did retain some usage thanks to Generation 8 giving it access to Eerie Impulse, it's been Defiant Thundurus that has stolen the show in Generation 8. With the omnipresence of Intimidate and valuable access to STAB Max Airstream, Thundurus has been able to cement itself as a potent offensive threat ever since its release in Crown Tundra. This is especially important in formats featuring restricted Pokémon, as keeping physical attackers like Zacian-C's and Groudon's damage output as high as possible is extremely important. The primary way Defiant Thundurus has been dealt with this generation is to avoid giving it unnecessary boosts while firing back with a powerful Dynamax user of your own, with Regieleki, Glastrier and Calyrex-I, and Groudon being examples of counterplay. Zacian-C also notoriously can outspeed Thundurus and 2HKO it with Behemoth Blade, all while surviving its Max Lightning with health to spare.

regieleki

Regieleki

Regieleki's introduction immediately attracted a lot of heads, and who could blame them; with a base 200 Speed stat, Electroweb for speed control, and offensive capabilities outclassing Tapu Koko's, VGC had a new Electric-type staple in town. Regieleki's peak comes from the Series 9 era of Gothitelle + Regieleki and Clefairy + Regieleki cores, which restricted the opponent's options with Shadow Tag or Follow Me and greatly increased Regieleki's offensive capabilities with Helping Hand. In restricted formats, Regieleki's blazing Speed and high damage output meant it was a reliable check to the faster and frailer restricted Pokémon like Zacian-C and Calyrex-S, and it even kept Choice Scarf Kyogre in check during Series 10, which came nowhere near outpacing it. Of course, even titans have their weakness, and Regieleki is no exception: its inability to threaten Ground types with more than a non-STAB Max Strike meant it always had some form of hard counterplay available.

zacian

Zacian-C

Since the release of Series 8 in early 2021, Zacian-C has been present in all but one metagame (Series 9) we've played. With blistering Attack and Speed, generous defenses, the best typing it could ever wish for (and Fighting coverage!), and Behemoth Blade to punish Dynamax users attempting to stop it, Zacian-C has the greatest toolkit of any Pokémon in Generation 8 VGC, bar none. Zacian-C's influence on the metagame is felt so widely that nearly half of the available restricted Pokémon see no usage because they'd instantly drop to a single Behemoth Blade or lose a massive chunk of their health to Play Rough. Even Incineroar has to dance carefully around it, as a neutral Sacred Sword still does over half its health, with Close Combat punishing it even more.

Final Thoughts

So many mechanics changes from generation to generation have a drastic effect on the VGC metagame. Three years ago, it would have been quite hard to picture Tapu Koko fading into obscurity or Incineroar learning Parting Shot. Point being, it'll be hard to say whether these Pokémon will continue to dominant for formats to come, but Generation 8 would not have been what it was without them. Game Freak really pushed the limits this time with interesting concepts and surely they'll continue to do so in Generation 9, but we'll just have to wait and see what they give us and how it will shake up the competition!

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