Pokémon Champions - releasing April 8, 2026

[Magcargo]

I'm really curious on how TPCI will handle balance changes since they mentioned they were going to actively be doing that. I imagine it will be specifically for the 3v3 / 4v4 spaces, but I'm unsure.

Recent gens have given a lot of extremely bulky pokemon like Dondozo, Ting-Lu, Garganacl, and Kingambit OHKO moves, so I have a feeling that they'd try to dial that down a bit - perhaps by outright removing OHKO moves or maybe pruning the learnset for these moves so they aren't as easily accessible.

Shadow tag will be an interesting one. I know its seen as less controversial in 3v3 / 4v4, but the ability to lock down switching does seem to be an extremely powerful effect gamefreak is at least partially aware of - especially with the checkmate scenarios it can create. I'm unsure if they'll attempt to balance it.

I have a feeling Gamefreak won't do that many "stat rearrangements" because they fundamentally change how a Pokemon plays + can get rid of a few strategies (like Meowscarada having its special attack go from 81 -> 61 in favor of a 20 point boost to its attack would "remove" Nasty Plot strategies it could possibly run). Archetypes like starters and legendaries also can make it an all-or-nothing-deal. Still, I am hoping that many Pokemon will get minor stat tweaks as buffs or to just "tone them down" a bit.

Other changes I am hoping for are more broad ones. Something like Gholdengo being able to block Defog just seems like an oversight given that this blocking effect doesn't happen for Clear Body or Clear Amulet, so I am hoping that gets fixed. I also am hoping other Pokemon just get tweaks of varying sizes to "tone them down a bit". Nerfing a few moves base power and accuracy (i.e. Make It Rain / Astral Barrage / Glacial Lance 120 / 100 -> 110 / 90), getting rid of slot machine effects from moves from stuff like Dire Claw, making it so that some moves have lower capped damage (Last Respects, Rage Fist, Stored Power) and a few other changes would be nice. Ability changes or additional abilities would also be cool. I really want Duoblade to get Sharpness whenever it gets added. I think a lot of Pokemon could also stand to have massive movepool tweaks based on the format being played. Specifically, I am hoping that they re-add moves like Roost and even completely new moves which they can periodically distribute to various Pokemon.

 

[WinterArcanine]

I'm really curious on how TPCI will handle balance changes since they mentioned they were going to actively be doing that. I imagine it will be specifically for the 3v3 / 4v4 spaces, but I'm unsure.

Recent gens have given a lot of extremely bulky pokemon like Dondozo, Ting-Lu, Garganacl, and Kingambit OHKO moves, so I have a feeling that they'd try to dial that down a bit - perhaps by outright removing OHKO moves or maybe pruning the learnset for these moves so they aren't as easily accessible.

Shadow tag will be an interesting one. I know its seen as less controversial in 3v3 / 4v4, but the ability to lock down switching does seem to be an extremely powerful effect gamefreak is at least partially aware of - especially with the checkmate scenarios it can create. I'm unsure if they'll attempt to balance it.

I have a feeling Gamefreak won't do that many "stat rearrangements" because they fundamentally change how a Pokemon plays + can get rid of a few strategies (like Meowscarada having its special attack go from 81 -> 61 in favor of a 20 point boost to its attack would "remove" Nasty Plot strategies it could possibly run). Archetypes like starters and legendaries also can make it an all-or-nothing-deal. Still, I am hoping that many Pokemon will get minor stat tweaks as buffs or to just "tone them down" a bit.

Other changes I am hoping for are more broad ones. Something like Gholdengo being able to block Defog just seems like an oversight given that this blocking effect doesn't happen for Clear Body or Clear Amulet, so I am hoping that gets fixed. I also am hoping other Pokemon just get tweaks of varying sizes to "tone them down a bit". Nerfing a few moves base power and accuracy (i.e. Make It Rain / Astral Barrage / Glacial Lance 120 / 100 -> 110 / 90), getting rid of slot machine effects from moves from stuff like Dire Claw, making it so that some moves have lower capped damage (Last Respects, Rage Fist, Stored Power) and a few other changes would be nice. Ability changes or additional abilities would also be cool. I really want Duoblade to get Sharpness whenever it gets added. I think a lot of Pokemon could also stand to have massive movepool tweaks based on the format being played. Specifically, I am hoping that they re-add moves like Roost and even completely new moves which they can periodically distribute to various Pokemon.

Well, we already know that they removed Encore from Gengar, so it does seem like they've been thinking about how to balance Shadow Tag.

 

[ant4456]

Maybe kinda random, but what do y'all plan on using Day One, if you will be playing when the game comes out?

For me I'm planning on doing some Baton Pass shenanigans. A Fake Out user + Scolipede with Iron Defense and then passing it to a Competitive Milotic, partner Krookodile that can use Snarl on opponents or on Milotic to boost it.

I mean... I think you can hit your partner with Snarl. Right?

What are y'all cooking?

 

[doipy hooves]

Maybe kinda random, but what do y'all plan on using Day One, if you will be playing when the game comes out?

For me I'm planning on doing some Baton Pass shenanigans. A Fake Out user + Scolipede with Iron Defense and then passing it to a Competitive Milotic, partner Krookodile that can use Snarl on opponents or on Milotic to boost it.

I mean... I think you can hit your partner with Snarl. Right?

What are y'all cooking?

Unfortunately you cannot hit a partner with Snarl or proc Competitive from an ally's debuff.

 

[ant4456]

Unfortunately you cannot hit a partner with Snarl or proc Competitive from an ally's debuff.

that first part ig makes sense that second part is weird to me because they let you use Beat Up with Justified and other shenanigans like that

I guess specifically dark moves are harder to do that kinda thing with than just, any stat dropping move. Ah well

 

[OnionJam]

that first part ig makes sense that second part is weird to me because they let you use Beat Up with Justified and other shenanigans like that

I guess specifically dark moves are harder to do that kinda thing with than just, any stat dropping move. Ah well

who knows, maybe that will change in champions...but yeah, defiant/competitive were the first wave of game freak trying to nerf intimidate, being able to also deter offensive speed control moves and snarl spam is nice, but being able to use something like scary face to turn any defiant ally into a trick room god was probably too much for gen 5 power levels

 

[Ironmage]

Maybe kinda random, but what do y'all plan on using Day One, if you will be playing when the game comes out?

For me I'm planning on doing some Baton Pass shenanigans. A Fake Out user + Scolipede with Iron Defense and then passing it to a Competitive Milotic, partner Krookodile that can use Snarl on opponents or on Milotic to boost it.

I mean... I think you can hit your partner with Snarl. Right?

What are y'all cooking?

I'd definitely like to see a few of the Z-A Megas under the main combat system. Of course, as someone with no Home subscription on account of only having one Switch pokemon game, what I'd be using day one is whatever fresh hell it chooses to give me.

 

[Yung Dramps]

from what we've seen the rentals are random, the same mon can have different things

they seem to always come with two maxed out stats

i think thats all we know tbh

The rental sets are a fucking gacha??? holy SHIT is there any aspect of this game's newcomer onboarding and monetization that isn't total cancer

 

[R_N]

I do wonder if its totally random or if it just pulls from a pool per Pokemon

Or maybe it's just the stat lines that are random, since that Special attacking Scizor had a fairly competent set otherwise.

 

[Magcargo]

Maybe kinda random, but what do y'all plan on using Day One, if you will be playing when the game comes out?

For me I'm planning on doing some Baton Pass shenanigans. A Fake Out user + Scolipede with Iron Defense and then passing it to a Competitive Milotic, partner Krookodile that can use Snarl on opponents or on Milotic to boost it.

I mean... I think you can hit your partner with Snarl. Right?

What are y'all cooking?

If there is a 6v6 mode I was planning on using this team. Aegislash has been one of my favorites for a long time and I was excited to use him again alongside Mega Meganium - which on paper has decentish defensive synergy with it. Hisuian Samurott imo will be one of the best Pokemon in initial meta and I think it will work fine as speed control in a more limited format - esp since there won't be any booster mons to get in its way. LUCKILY it also outspeeds the hyper-fast ZA Megas by one point which is pretty neat. Spdef Garchomp is just a good Pokemon - checks Ghosts, sets up rocks, and can shuffle around while being bulky. Corv imo will be one of the strongest Pokemon in a low PP meta with that busted typing. It will be more free to run Defog with the format being "powered down" making ID + BP less mandatory. Magnet Bomb is also a really cool buff IF it is boosted to 95 BP like in ZA, as it does not make contact (which IMO is Corv's biggest weakness when fighting foes like Tankchomp) and is still very strong. That said, Body Press probably is a better option just to handle Gambit. Infernape was kind of a filler slot since I wanted a fastish fire-type with Encore / Wisp. It could be decent in this format if it is powered down enough, espicially if something like Cinderace isn't availible.

If there is only 3v3 mode, chances are, I will still use this team lol, but probably would need to make a few tweaks like making garchomp more offensive with Yache Berry, outright replacing infernape with something else (or just running Sash), and running a different Corviknight set.

 

[ant4456]

The rental sets are a fucking gacha??? holy SHIT is there any aspect of this game's newcomer onboarding and monetization that isn't total cancer

im gonna use this as a springboard to talk about in general the talks abt monetization

I'm ngl people talking about this game being pay to win is hilarious when Landorus Therian, Mr. Competitive Pokemon was exclusive to a paid spinoff only on the 3DS for a game made for the DS

Champions is an upgrade in that you don't need the latest (or worst case which sometimes it is, several mainline games) to theoretically win the World Championship. To me that makes this an automatic upgrade in monetization from how official VGC always has been.

In SWSH especially they straight up locked QOL features to make competitively viable Pokemon behind the DLC which was absurd

I just think people expected Showdown and are surprised that "The Singleplayer MMORPG Designed Endgame Franchise" still 1. wants you to buy the games and 2. is gonna keep some level of grind

edit: like I think how you react to Champions really depends on how much you expect it to be on the scale of Showdown app ------ HOME Battle Sim, where it's in the middle honestly

In short:

-Officially Pokemon has always been some level of pay to win

-This is less pay to win. It's not even pay to entry, I think that is a win

-Things can be better and criticism is fine but I think we should still take the W's that exist, and I think you have to at minimum acknowledge this is ultimately better than what once was "continue to pay full price and sometimes buy spinoffs and buy new consoles and get the DLCs to play the new metagame", and more accessible

 

[ant4456]

i wanna rant abt gen 8 pay to win elements

i dont know how many of yall have actually done a vgc team in-game but i want those of you who haven't to understand that in Sword and Shield making a competitive team via in/game means, without Home, without DLC was fucking ASS

i think people forget abt the pay to win elements of that gen especially because people just go well alr people will buy it so

for anyone who doesn't know, in base game sword and shield, before ability patches, the *only* way to get Hidden Abilities was through dynamax den raids. Not only that but some mons iirc aren't allowed to be HA in their rolls

I back then remade the Wolfey viral team of Dracovish Whimsicott Lucario etc., and to get a raid den with Justified Lucario took me over 300 changes of my switch's clock going forward day after day.

If I did that without exploits the DLC that *conveniently* dropped Ability Patches would've already dropped, as well as paying for HOME to transfer from hypothetical other games. Gigantamaxes also became like 100x easier to get in the DLC lol

Of course for a lot of people the answer they arrive at is just PKHex. But if that is your solution that's still the solution in Champions honestly, you can just use Home, I think with PKSM if you have a 3DS you can do it even easier for any mons before gen 8?

Ultimately I think this is a step forward and I'm glad Champions exists even if there is still some grind and some shady ass monetization because it's still better, and I think trying to make comp not a part of the main series directly is a good thing for overall game health, and the graphics are nice as well.

 

[Magcargo]

Personally the only monetization I am actively pissed about is the box space. I don't entirely mind the whole "use resources to build a team" angle this game is going for - dare I say it, in some way it might be a "good" thing because it forces players to just adapt to using their team on the ladder, weaknesses in tow, and encourages them to make smaller edits that might have more meaningful consequences in how the team plays. I think because of the high volume of players, it will also consequently make winning with a mid-range team a fair deal easier than it would be on Showdown, making it easier for a person with a basic understanding of competitive to win overall - though this is more of a vibes-based assessment rather than anything concrete. Winning battles to acquire resources certainly seems like something that would be much easier to do than trying to get reqs in every suspect - which certain players claim are "laughably easy". By that metric, I don't think that winning ~10 battles to build a new mon is asking much either. I can't speak for everyone, but from what I've seen, most players rock the same team for hundreds of games, so that initial investment can serve you well and allow you to build a lot more teams in due time. To my knowledge, there are also rendtal teams that you can steal using online codes which is great! It means that you can just steal a strong players' team and use that to start learning the game and start grinding points that way.

I don't really like how the same in-game resources needed to acquire Pokemon is used for cosmetic / music either -esp since those things seem pricey.

 

[ant4456]

Personally the only monetization I am actively pissed about is the box space. I don't entirely mind the whole "use resources to build a team" angle this game is going for - dare I say it, in some way it might be a "good" thing because it forces players to just adapt to using their team on the ladder, weaknesses in tow, and encourages them to make smaller edits that might have more meaningful consequences in how the team plays. I think because of the high volume of players, it will also consequently make winning with a mid-range team a fair deal easier than it would be on Showdown, making it easier for a person with a basic understanding of competitive to win overall - though this is more of a vibes-based assessment rather than anything concrete. Winning battles to acquire resources certainly seems like something that would be much easier to do than trying to get reqs in every suspect - which certain players claim are "laughably easy". By that metric, I don't think that winning ~10 battles to build a new mon is asking much either. I can't speak for everyone, but from what I've seen, most players rock the same team for hundreds of games, so that initial investment can serve you well and allow you to build a lot more teams in due time. To my knowledge, there are also rendtal teams that you can steal using online codes which is great! It means that you can just steal a strong players' team and use that to start learning the game and start grinding points that way.

I don't really like how the same in-game resources needed to acquire Pokemon is used for cosmetic / music either -esp since those things seem pricey.

yeah I think paying for this kind of qol is super cringe and like I said another time, they seem to think if they just squeeze and say fuck you pay us money it makes people do it but honestly I think this kind of shit just makes them look super cheap and turns people off

i dont mind the grind for getting mons trained but i think the box space stuff is worse honestly

 

[AztecCroc]

that first part ig makes sense that second part is weird to me because they let you use Beat Up with Justified and other shenanigans like that

I guess specifically dark moves are harder to do that kinda thing with than just, any stat dropping move. Ah well

Beat Up is single target, Snarl hits both foes.

 

[pharaohcalvin]

"glory to rng 10% knockout chance (and probably moves that are 75% knockout chance); death to rng 10% knock out chance!"

that is what i am reading

You need to work on your reading skills then, mate. Half special attack damage is far less of a detriment then not being able to do anything at all. You can still make use of support moves and the status would not matter much outside some passive damage if it hits a physical attacker.

 

[ant4456]

You need to work on your reading skills then, mate. Half special attack damage is far less of a detriment then not being able to do anything at all. You can still make use of support moves and the status would not matter much outside some passive damage if it hits a physical attacker.

if your wincon is having your special attacker deal big damage, if it gets frostbitten, you lost the game just as hard as if you get frozen and don't thaw

i think really this is just "what feels worse" and honestly to me being frozen is not as bad because at least the game won't be pretended to be in my hands

like i am talking vgc where if you bring two support pokemon to setup attacker 1 and maybe attacker 2, if attacker 1 is now doing nothing most of the time you just lost the game. if a support mon got frostbitten that is likely an upgrade from freeze, but if its the right target its also auto lose tbh

even in 6v6 singles to be honest if like your special breaker into fat just got frostbitten its also gg most of the time, actually more than freeze, because often you can generate free turns to try to thaw and then your main timer is hazards

this would be now my dragapult in swsh's shadow ball does like 18% to spdef lando t with leftovers thats game, part of why spatk breakers are so good into fat is there are less ways to just neuter them for the rest of the game and not have to worry about them switching into any of the 20,000 scald / wisp mons and being neutered the rest of the game

i am a certified scald spammer enjoyer and i can guarantee if there is any move above a 10% chance to spread frostbite i am staying in with my fatmon on tapu lele and taking the risks because that's a 20% chance to win on the spot, knowing i already got shit like toxapex that can live a lando t earthquake easily and then go for a scald and try to burn that too lol

freeze is not that because if they get a turn pattern where they can try and use a move again and i have to switch or lose 10% of the time, which with some special breakers is really not that hard, they do have a 10% chance to negate that advantage. whereas if they are frostbitten i will lowkey switch toxapex into psychic terrain tapu lele because i will recover off with regenerator with some sets

252+ SpA Tapu Lele Psyshock vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex in Psychic Terrain: 200-236 (66 - 77.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

half that - thats literally just the cost of doing business regen W

i'll be the menace that plays to an endgame where you cannot break my regen mons i'm the person you don't want enabled by frostbite, i know how broken burn can be, i don't think you want it but for the other side

yall are not ready for the degen gameplay that frostbite will enable and i lowkey am starting to think its a lack of imagination versus knowing how cringe freeze is

yes freeze feels bad but also playing around it is genuinely like not the play 99% of the time, playing around frostbite genuinely will be the play like, a looot more of the time, because the reward is actually significantly higher for fat teams (which hey thats me thats me i love fat teams do not buff me btw) given people aren't running heal bell shit

i think you could argue freeze is a bigger deal for offense vs offense matches on average, but i still think frostbite is pretty much as bad most of the time, sometimes in offense a burnt mon is just giving the other mon free turns to setup which can end games

 

[Mega64]

The best strategy is to play to lose, because then you always win.

 

[Tomgetic]

i wanna rant abt gen 8 pay to win elements

i dont know how many of yall have actually done a vgc team in-game but i want those of you who haven't to understand that in Sword and Shield making a competitive team via in/game means, without Home, without DLC was fucking ASS

i think people forget abt the pay to win elements of that gen especially because people just go well alr people will buy it so

for anyone who doesn't know, in base game sword and shield, before ability patches, the *only* way to get Hidden Abilities was through dynamax den raids. Not only that but some mons iirc aren't allowed to be HA in their rolls

I back then remade the Wolfey viral team of Dracovish Whimsicott Lucario etc., and to get a raid den with Justified Lucario took me over 300 changes of my switch's clock going forward day after day.

If I did that without exploits the DLC that *conveniently* dropped Ability Patches would've already dropped, as well as paying for HOME to transfer from hypothetical other games. Gigantamaxes also became like 100x easier to get in the DLC lol

Of course for a lot of people the answer they arrive at is just PKHex. But if that is your solution that's still the solution in Champions honestly, you can just use Home, I think with PKSM if you have a 3DS you can do it even easier for any mons before gen 8?

Ultimately I think this is a step forward and I'm glad Champions exists even if there is still some grind and some shady ass monetization because it's still better, and I think trying to make comp not a part of the main series directly is a good thing for overall game health, and the graphics are nice as well.

One thing I would like to point out, because the reins of unity is a key item, and you can't trade fusions or deposit them in home, Calyrex was a truly pay to win pokemon in gen 8

 

[Perriechu]

one thing I have been thinking about is how this will all work when new generations are released because they don't release HOME compatability immediately. Does that mean at the start of each generation we're going all be locked in the gatcha nightmare of grinding?

they could, of course, release HOME alongside the Champions update that would inevitably happen around the release, but their reasoning for holding off on HOME is to make us use the Pokemon we catch in those relevant games for our playthroughs, and even within VGC itself. can't imagine they'd wanna make people wait to properly use the new Gen X mons in competitive.
--

in terms of balancing etc, I don't see it being done in the typical way other games are, there has to be consistency between Champions and the current gen. A lot of people seem to think patch updates will come in and buff/debuff regularly but that creates a disconnect with the main series and it's something I can't see them doing as it will add a layer of complexity for casual players crossing over. I do think generational changes may become more of a "thing" though? it would be nice to see some light buffs with Gen X's release.
--

I'm weirdly excited for this, I really wanted to get into VGC with Gen 9 but the thought of opening SV sometimes made me ill. All I know is that Mega Meganium will rule supreme.

We don't know the exact mechanics of its ability yet, but I'm assuming some sort of rain team with her on it would be a good start?

 

[ant4456]

one thing I have been thinking about is how this will all work when new generations are released because they don't release HOME compatability immediately. Does that mean at the start of each generation we're going all be locked in the gatcha nightmare of grinding?

they could, of course, release HOME alongside the Champions update that would inevitably happen around the release, but their reasoning for holding off on HOME is to make us use the Pokemon we catch in those relevant games for our playthroughs, and even within VGC itself. can't imagine they'd wanna make people wait to properly use the new Gen X mons in competitive.
--

in terms of balancing etc, I don't see it being done in the typical way other games are, there has to be consistency between Champions and the current gen. A lot of people seem to think patch updates will come in and buff/debuff regularly but that creates a disconnect with the main series and it's something I can't see them doing as it will add a layer of complexity for casual players crossing over. I do think generational changes may become more of a "thing" though? it would be nice to see some light buffs with Gen X's release.
--

I'm weirdly excited for this, I really wanted to get into VGC with Gen 9 but the thought of opening SV sometimes made me ill. All I know is that Mega Meganium will rule supreme.

We don't know the exact mechanics of its ability yet, but I'm assuming some sort of rain team with her on it would be a good start?

i think that works, pelipper is already confirmed so i think you could try smth like Pelipper/Mega Meganium with Weather Ball(?)

I'm actually not sure but would rain effect the weather ball fire's power... Honestly sounds like it probs would

I have my entire team ready except Scolipede because I sold my copy of Shield years ago lol

 

[Sulfurian]

im gonna use this as a springboard to talk about in general the talks abt monetization

I'm ngl people talking about this game being pay to win is hilarious when Landorus Therian, Mr. Competitive Pokemon was exclusive to a paid spinoff only on the 3DS for a game made for the DS

Champions is an upgrade in that you don't need the latest (or worst case which sometimes it is, several mainline games) to theoretically win the World Championship. To me that makes this an automatic upgrade in monetization from how official VGC always has been.

In SWSH especially they straight up locked QOL features to make competitively viable Pokemon behind the DLC which was absurd

I just think people expected Showdown and are surprised that "The Singleplayer MMORPG Designed Endgame Franchise" still 1. wants you to buy the games and 2. is gonna keep some level of grind

edit: like I think how you react to Champions really depends on how much you expect it to be on the scale of Showdown app ------ HOME Battle Sim, where it's in the middle honestly

In short:

-Officially Pokemon has always been some level of pay to win

-This is less pay to win. It's not even pay to entry, I think that is a win

-Things can be better and criticism is fine but I think we should still take the W's that exist, and I think you have to at minimum acknowledge this is ultimately better than what once was "continue to pay full price and sometimes buy spinoffs and buy new consoles and get the DLCs to play the new metagame", and more accessible

I think this is ultimately the biggest win for the primarily cart people like me, I have at least over 1500 Pokemon that I've gained over the years growing up, so for me the rentals won't ever be touched unless for pure curiosity. But I'm glad I don't have to play the game entirely just to play competitive, all the years of having to keep buying the competitive items again...it'll be rare for me to ever waste time in mainline trying to get a choice band, life orb, all of that for single player experiences. Unless they lock champions content behind forced, ZA-like pvp rewards which would suck. But you have no idea how amazing it is just to have a place to purely battle, with no worry about grinding after a certain point other than for EV changes I'd like to make to adapt to meta.

 

[Eriorguez]

I have been working on the "have competitive-grade versions of everything" project since 2013; I believe I have 600 or so 'mons that fit the bill.

I haven't imaged it since before I got my second Urshifu, and thus it is missing LA, SV and the eventual ZA stuff, but, to get the point:

 

[Perriechu]

I have been working on the "have competitive-grade versions of everything" project since 2013; I believe I have 600 or so 'mons that fit the bill.

I haven't imaged it since before I got my second Urshifu, and thus it is missing LA, SV and the eventual ZA stuff, but, to get the point:

literally this is where most of my play time goes- I used to spend hours breeding competitive ready mons (only to not use them lol)

 

[ant4456]

literally this is where most of my play time goes- I used to spend hours breeding competitive ready mons (only to not use them lol)

the tinkerer experience of me setting up a bunch of software only to never use it