On the topic of the Z Mega Evolutions, I wonder if they will get their stats redistributed or have some other drawback, like waiting a certain amount of turns before Mega Evolving. The reason why Z-Megas have such a high speed stat in ZA is because of how cooldowns work in that game-Higher Speed, cooldown is shorter. I would not be surprised if their was some drawback like in ZA, though I can’t imagine Absol Z and Lucario Z being top tier in VGC despite the high speed stats- very frail and a lack of spread moves hurt them. Garchomp fares a lot better, but the Ground loss is a huge blow offensively and defensively. Both seems extremely good in Singles.
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Pokémon Champions - releasing April 8, 2026
- Thread starter Codraroll
- Start date
high speeds have cooldowns but Z megas also just genuinely had actual cooldowns. There's little reason to make them all 151 speed glass cannons just for that game. I think they'll be unchanged outside of their abilities (obviously)
Anger Shell might not be obnoxious to use anymore.
For PLZA-learned moves I think I'm expecting many gains to be carried EXCEPT for boosting moves. Which is kind of how Arceus played out, overall. Won't know until we see the full lists, obv.
Worth noting: The old HOME TM compatibility leak had Greninja learning Skitter Smack. It didn't end up learning it by TM when it was next available in SV, but has it here. I wonder if that was proto-Champions stuff on the server. No one ever quite had a good idea what those lists were "for".
I don't think there's any indication they were working on Champions, or anything akin to Champions, at the time of those lists.
I think they made those lists "just in case". It was likely made while still figuring out how Dexit would play out with DLC and upcoming games.
Yeah I could see just having things ready if they added any of those mons. It's not like the lists take too long to make, and they're not afraid to revise them.
A question - Beyond Gengar losing Encore and Incineroar losing Knock off, is there any other mon who gained or lost moves?
And if yes, is there a compilation of what changed?
And if yes, is there a compilation of what changed?
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Probably better to wait for lists than to rely on piecemeal relaying from people playing a demo.
Though people will define losses differently. I'm a freak so I will probably compare SWSH, SV, PLZA and Champions on my sheet, eventually
It seems Greninja lost Nasty Plot from Z-A
From Smogon Discord:
Price info for Pokémon Champions has been confirmed in USD
$9.99 for Starter Pack
> Increase Box Space from 30 to 80
> **Battle! Trainer** from LGPE exclusive song
> Earn 50 Training Tickets and 30 Quick Tickets
> Can be bought at anytime
$0 for Battle Pass
> Earn rewards at the end of the season by accumulating Season Points in Ranked Bsttke
$6.99 for Premium Battle Pass
> Unlock extra rewards on the Battle Pass that you would otherwise have to buy in the Shop
> Exclusive clothing
$49.99 for 12 Month Membership
> Store more Pokémon in their Box
> Have more Battle Teams usable at one time
> Unlock membership-exclusive missions
> Unlock membership-exclusive battle songs
With no single player I'll probably dabble, but I don't use showdown that much and it's right there. Maybe if they introduce some weird metas at some point.
Price info for Pokémon Champions has been confirmed in USD
$9.99 for Starter Pack
> Increase Box Space from 30 to 80
> **Battle! Trainer** from LGPE exclusive song
> Earn 50 Training Tickets and 30 Quick Tickets
> Can be bought at anytime
$0 for Battle Pass
> Earn rewards at the end of the season by accumulating Season Points in Ranked Bsttke
$6.99 for Premium Battle Pass
> Unlock extra rewards on the Battle Pass that you would otherwise have to buy in the Shop
> Exclusive clothing
$49.99 for 12 Month Membership
> Store more Pokémon in their Box
> Have more Battle Teams usable at one time
> Unlock membership-exclusive missions
> Unlock membership-exclusive battle songs
With no single player I'll probably dabble, but I don't use showdown that much and it's right there. Maybe if they introduce some weird metas at some point.
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The jokes write themselves lol.
I remember back during either Gen 6 or 7 (maybe both) they reintroduced a modified version of Little Cup as an official format for a season of BSS. I think there was also an Inverse Battle format for a bit? It's a safe bet that they're going to run seasonal ladders, so I wouldn't be surprised if these kind of metas pop up to help with retention and keep things fresh.
I hope we don't "lose" box space. Like how Home if you don't pay you get limited box space, but you pay once and you're good. Or like how Pokemon GO does it where you can increase box space if you use the in-game currencies to upgrade rather than use it for evs/rentals.
I am guessing that the extended box space WILL be something you can buy, somewhere in the game, just because I doubt the premium membership isn't going to give a ton of box space either. Like the starter pack only gives 50 extra slots, I bet Premium maybe only gives 50-100. and there would be a need for a lot of space over the game's life.
Like legendary Pokemon aren't even in yet. You don't want someone paying you money to fill up their boxes and then force them to release stuff they already bought to fit in relevant Pokemon.
Except you can't use home as their storage because Pokemon from Champions can't go anywhere.
And the weird way they talk about Home, as "visitation", makes me think it is a sort of "make a copy" situation where stuff can be overwritten if they ever come back in (and if they form change they're explicitly wiped out on all changes)
And they absolutely want you to keep using the
Like yes obviously they want you to get the main line games & use Home, but I don't think hyper-limited storage with still-pretty-limited pay-for add-ons really works out with how everything else is presented
Although the way the game works is kind of a mess so...
My gut feeling is the membership is where most pokemon storage will come from; it keeps you paying even after things like battle passes lose appeal because you have a built up collection of mons/got the held items ect.
And everyone was disappointed by that.
I don't care if Frostbite is even replacing Freeze, I'd just prefer Freeze to be gone. And I'd say literally everyone would want to see Freeze get the axe too.
Frostbite will never happen, it wasn't even in ZA, it's never making it into the normal combat system.
Although I generally understand why membership is priced this way, I wish the pricing is more along the lines of a mainline DLC expansion. I feel like something this high only works for either fully fledged products or a one-time deal in a F2P-model game, and Champions doesn’t seem to work like either example based on given info.
It baffles me that they'd make a brand new subscription and not just tie it to the Home sub which is still expensive but would I think make more people be like "at least that's value". I have over 1,200 Pokemon in Home boxes that I can't even look at because I don't have the sub, and they want me to pay for Home and this extra sub to have enough box space to be comfortable lol?
Also I really need to know how this works with the "rentals" when you permanently purchase them. I'm assuming you can't put those into Home because that'd mean anyone can get like infinite Lunalas hypothetically and we can't have that, so if you play over time do you just have to lose your Pokemon if you are F2P and reliant on it?
I'm still kinda excited for Champions as someone that does want graphics in my battle sim but like, I do feel this monetization is way too complicated and bad. Just put the Unite/Go/whatever style Pokemon skins in the bag lil bro.
Also I need people including TPCi to realize that whale strategies are just objectively not even good for the company. Unite's monetization has been a failure and it makes a really low amount of money. The most money making Pokemon mobile games are the most generous. Instead Unite doubles down on its monetization and tries to suffocate you.
It's better to get $5 from a shit ton of people than hope that you can make enough things that a small number of people spend $50 on over time.
Literally just do a battle pass with cosmetics and Pokemon skins and price them fairly and people who put in a lot of hours will be like "I might as well make this Whimsicott/trainer I have to stare at every game more customized to my liking" and drop a fiver. Stop trying to suffocate people into spending more, it just makes people quit.
Also I really need to know how this works with the "rentals" when you permanently purchase them. I'm assuming you can't put those into Home because that'd mean anyone can get like infinite Lunalas hypothetically and we can't have that, so if you play over time do you just have to lose your Pokemon if you are F2P and reliant on it?
I'm still kinda excited for Champions as someone that does want graphics in my battle sim but like, I do feel this monetization is way too complicated and bad. Just put the Unite/Go/whatever style Pokemon skins in the bag lil bro.
Also I need people including TPCi to realize that whale strategies are just objectively not even good for the company. Unite's monetization has been a failure and it makes a really low amount of money. The most money making Pokemon mobile games are the most generous. Instead Unite doubles down on its monetization and tries to suffocate you.
It's better to get $5 from a shit ton of people than hope that you can make enough things that a small number of people spend $50 on over time.
Literally just do a battle pass with cosmetics and Pokemon skins and price them fairly and people who put in a lot of hours will be like "I might as well make this Whimsicott/trainer I have to stare at every game more customized to my liking" and drop a fiver. Stop trying to suffocate people into spending more, it just makes people quit.