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Pokémon Legends: Z-A Team Discussion

DHR-107

DHR-107

Robot from the Future
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Hey all!

I thought our first thread in the new subforum we have to PLZA should be a little thread dedicated to what Teams people might be running for ZA!

With the fairly large changes in Mechanics, what Pokémon do you think will play in significantly different ways?

I'm interested in hearing everyone's team ideas (if you've had any yet!)
 
This isn’t necessarily related to team building, but I wonder if this game will have any guaranteed Shinies like Hisui did with Ponyta. I would imagine probably not, in large part because Ponyta could be seen as a sort of tutorial for Legends Shiny mechanics in general, but I think it would be fun if there was maybe a guaranteed Shiny Mega you could get as an endgame gift or something.

I didn’t end up using Rapidash in Hisui because I chose Cyndaquil, but I’ve already decided I’m choosing Totodile in this game if I decide buy, and I specify that because Water’s already had one guaranteed Shiny in the core series while Grass is the only remaining starter Type that hasn’t had one yet.

As for the rest of my team, it may come down to new movepool updates. I’ve always theorized Kalos’s historically low total of new Pokémon was possibly influenced or even compensated for by Mega Evolutions, but even so I was never too much a fan of most of them and I don’t think my mind will be changed on most of them when there are enough options to pick from but we only get six team slots. I’m old enough now to where my rankings on how much I like certain Pokémon are starting to get set in stone and a newer Pokémon (for the sake of ZA, Kalos onwards) has to do something really special to earn a higher appreciation from me. I may not even opt to run a “true” team of six like I have for the past two games, but again, this is all assuming I even buy the game anyway.
 
Definitely picking Chikorita as my starter. I wanna have a full team of Megas by the end of the game, and ideally a mix between the newcomers and ones that weren't readily available in their original games (Lopunny, Houndoom, Beedrill, Slowpoke and the like).
 
Tepig's gotta be my choice. It's by far one of my favorite starters, and the first Pokemon I ever took to level 100. The fact my boy takes the spotlight in Legends Z-A all but locked it in as my first partner. Coincedentally, I also went for Oshawott in Legends Arceus. If the next Legends game has Snivy....
 
Probably starting with Totodile because I like them the most of the three but every thing is a "we ball" kind of thing as always. I generally base my teambuilding as what roles I might want and shuffle between ones that potentially fit. I like to keep my options open on blind playthroughs but I am definitely placing priority on ones with confirmed new Megas if I can fit them.
 
Emboar, my favorite starter
Barbaracle, Tyrantrum (we saw Aurorus) my favorite rock types from gen 6
and ofcourse Malamar.
Other 2 slots undecided for now.
 
I still think Chikorita is the most appealing starter to me just because it has the most to gain and also personal bias. Most mons can probably hit things up close about as well, but long range, bulk, status utility seems like a more interesting niche to have in this gameplay style especially against extended boss battles.

Also still waiting to see if Azumarill exists in the game.
 
I'll probably try Chikorita mostly because the new battle system either means its defencies don't matter due to various system changes or the battle system is bad so everything is about equally bad &/or intcerchangable (aka the Legends Arceus special).

Trying to plan anything past this is a lesson in futility but I'll probably try to use different things from other games as per usual.
 
If you aren't picking the grass starter we cannot be friends.

It's been 30 years and I'm not changing. Whenever it's getting a mega, a regional, or nothing at all, we go Meganium.

FOR BULBASAUR :blobtriumph:
 
Feraligatr. Everything else is entirely up to chance(and TBH I'm not picking it up until reviews are in), but it's gotta be the gatr.
 
Based on what people who played the demo said about the cooldowns of moves, I'm guessing the new battle system is going to favor speedy mons, who might have quicker cooldowns than slower mons. Hopefully that's wrong, though, because most of the mons I'm currently planning on are not particularly fast:

1000032472.png


I have plans for the last two slots, but they're based on info from the tera leak, so I'll keep them under wraps for now. I am leaning towards Emboar because A) I've picked Meganium as my starter in Gold/Soul Silver, and these days I try to use mons haven't used on my "canon" playthroughs (i.e., the playthrough I consider representative of a game, if I happen to have played it more than once), and B) I just don't find base Feraligatr interesting. Maybe when we finally see the megas they are obviously going to get it would flip my decision, but for now this is how I'm leaning.

At some point in the game I also plan on recreating my X team:
1000032473.png

As a result, the mons on this team are out of contention for the ZA team. Maybe if there's a decent postgame I'll use my X team for that, otherwise maybe I'll just use it while filling up the dex or something. (For the DLC I'll make another new team, depending on what the options are).
 
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2 weeks to go and I still haven't 100% settled on a starter lol

I had an unfun experience before with Snivy in the Unova games due to it being a mostly defensive mon with little coverage so I am not sure if the very similar Chikorita is the call for me. I don't need my whole team to be competitively viable but it is a playstyle I just wasn't a fan of using (granted, we don't actually know how that will translate here)

Conversely though I did have a great time with Tepig in Unova and that's also exactly why I am unsure if I want to use it again. Already had my fun with it before so maybe I should try to give someone else the spotlight this time. Emboar is my favourite out of the 3 final evos though (assuming they stay the same)

Totodile is a little akward because I do like it but don't have that big of an attachment to it, so maybe this is where I use it for an adventure. Just not sure because Kalos does have a few other Water-types I want to use and I like to diversify the types of my team. Will say tho I think Feraligatr is the one whose Mega I am most curious about


Aside from them I am planning on using Clawitzer, Tyrantrum and My Friend Malamar. Not sure on the rest just yet
 
My only two team locks right now are Emboar and Metagross. I was going to go with Malamar as my Psychic type due to its new Mega and Emma brain poisoning (she's totally using it cmon) but the combination of improved colors and the metal sheen makes Metagross look so gas I changed my mind
 
Honestly during my first playthrough of a new game (ie. not a remake or let's go) I tend to change Pokémon in my team a lot, mostly trying out the new stuff. And this time it's even more probable considering how bonus cards work in Z-A.

Right now Pokémon I'm mostly looking foreward to use are Victreebel, Meganium, Emboar, Eternal Flower Floette, Trevenant, Chandelure, and Garbodor, but I might end up with something completly different in my final squad.
 
Yung Dramps said:
My only two team locks right now are Emboar and Metagross. I was going to go with Malamar as my Psychic type due to its new Mega and Emma brain poisoning (she's totally using it cmon) but the combination of improved colors and the metal sheen makes Metagross look so gas I changed my mind
Click to expand...
If it makes you feel any better, my nostalgic attachment for certain Types of Pokémon is strong enough to where I have an unspoken rule where I require myself (sometimes it even happens without me realizing I'm doing it!) to use at least one Pokémon of all three of my favorites, those being Water, Poison, and Psychic. Clodsire was a lock for me from the start in Violet- a Poison-Type regional variant of a Water-Type from my favorite core series region? Uh, yeah! My point is, you could absolutely run all three of Meowstic (Mimi reference), Metagross, and Malamar on the same team and I don't think anyone would blame you.

...hey look, they even all start with M, how 'bout that-


Referring back to Totodile if I buy this game, I'm still trying to decide on my obligatory Poison and Psychic Pokémon, and I'm also hoping there's something any of the returning Kalos Pokémon can do to get me to want to use them. I should specify, right now I am leaning towards buying the game in spite of how that might have sounded in my last post. It's more a matter of when I want to. Strong memories I have with specific Pokémon species are one of, if not the strongest correlation to how much I end up liking that Pokémon later down the line- the nostalgia train stops for everybody- but sometimes it's newer games that give me reasons to love an older Pokémon out of nowhere. Speaking as someone with a horrible decision making ability, if anyone has any recommendations for new things I could try I would love to hear them, because the base Kalos region was never my favorite installment outside of Shiny hunting (where it's ironically one of the best instead!). Feraligatr's a guarantee, I would imagine, Totodile's my favorite non-spinoff starter of all time as is and I'm overjoyed to see both it and Chikorita in a Legends game, but I have no leads on a remaining five or a rotation of Pokémon.
 
I ran an all Fairy team for Pokemon X, so it's only appropriate that I run one for this as well. But since I need to use a starter, I'm gonna do:

Meganium (will substitute for another Fairy type into the game at some point)
Gardevoir
Mawile
Florges
Slurpuff
Clefable (hoping to substitute with Dedenne or maybe Mega Altaria)
 
Since this game doesn't really seem to point to having much (or at all) in terms of new regional forms/evos, my preemptive team would be something like:

:SV/meganium: /:SV/feraligatr: ---- :SV/Vivillon: ---- :SV/Aegislash: ---- :SV/meowstic: ---- :SV/furfrou-dandy: ---- :SV/dragalge:
Right now I'm really torn on my starter honestly. Under normal circumstances I'd choose chikorita in a heartbeat. However, I already used them and their evolution line in the Indigo Disk dlc, so I also want to give a spotlight to another starter. Ultimately, I think it'll depend on whether or not meganium will receive a regional form, or even a regional mega form! If that's the case I'd be down to try the new meganium form! Otherwise, I think it's fair to give totodile and their evos some time in the spotlight.

Other than that, the rest of my team follows the same rules I generally impose on myself when making a playthrough team (originating from the region the game takes place in and not having typing overlap). If I do end up going with feraligatr and they have a part dragon regional form/mega/both, I'll end up replacing dragalge with something else.

Do note that I'm not someone who builds playthrough teams with a specific strategy or general efficiency in mind. I mostly just end up grabbing my favorite mons (following my self imposed rules of course) and roll with em!

Edit: Also as an aside note, I REALLY hope there's ways of obtaining other vivillon patterns, or at the very least changing which you can encounter. There's nothing wrong with base vivillon of course, but I just happen to enjoy the others' colors way more.
 
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Meganium, Charizard(X), Houndoom, Raichu(X), Gengar, Pidgeot. Kinda feel bad I don't have any gen 6 pokemon but Megas were my favorite mechanic and I want to use my old favorites from ten years ago, plus Raichu and potentially Meganium.
 
Its kind of a strange question for me, outside of starter picks due to the way the battle system will work and incomplete knowledge of who will actually be in the game. On first playthroughs of new games I make it a goal to use as many brand new mons as possible, and yet outside of megas we have no sign of regionals or absolute new mons (staring at you, AZ Floette). At the same time, I dunno of just having a team of mega capable mons will be the play...

I guess I would aim for mons that I think are neat but never really got to use before. maybe something like.... this will work? Maybe ill add some faster mons...
1759682205615.png
 
bdt2002 said:
This isn’t necessarily related to team building, but I wonder if this game will have any guaranteed Shinies like Hisui did with Ponyta. I would imagine probably not, in large part because Ponyta could be seen as a sort of tutorial for Legends Shiny mechanics in general, but I think it would be fun if there was maybe a guaranteed Shiny Mega you could get as an endgame gift or something.
Click to expand...
I mean, not everyone who will play Legends Z-A will have played Arceus
 
I have started thinking about my potential team(s) a bit, and I have planned three team members so far.

First, my starter. I have decided to go with Tepig, so my first team member is going to be Emboar. I picked Oshawott in Arceus, so I'll pick the Unova starter in Z-A as well. The Tepig line was my least favorite Unova starter back in the day, but the line have really grown on my since then, and I like all three of them a lot nowadays. Picking Tepig means I'm not going with Totodile, which opens up a slot for a Water-type. I have decided to go with Greninja as my Water-type since it is my favorite Kalos starter, and it was the starter I picked back when I first played X in 2013. Next up, the third member of my team is going to be a Sylveon. Because I love Sylveon! But also because I need a Fairy-type. I also used Sylveon when I played through X, and then I used it in Arceus too, so I have decided to use it in Z-A as well. It is a Legends game set in Kalos, so using it in here means I am following two traditions at once!

Essentially, my team so far is: :Emboar: :Greninja: :Sylveon:

Not sure about the rest yet. I think I'll wait until I have started on the game, then decide on the future team members while I'm playing. Right now, I feel that I want to focus on Kalos Pokémon, Megas, and Pokémon I haven't used before (or in a long while). I'm not sure if I should use more than one team (like I did in Sword and Arceus) or just one team but with some potential reserves (like I did in Violet). I think I'll start playing the game first and then see how I feel while I'm playing.
 
I'm personally not going in with a planned team - I haven't even decided on a starter yet! I'll either decide if/when we see the starters' Megas (because you and I both know they're getting Megas) or when I get to the starter selection in-game. I slightly lean towards picking Chikorita, but we'll see if I still want to use it when we see Mega²nium.

When I first played Legends Arceus, I tried really hard to make a specific team work, but that game's structure didn't lend itself well to a core team of 6 'mons; it didn't help that three of the 'mons I wanted to use (Hisuian Zoroark, Alolan Ninetales, and Hisuian Braviary) were all gated behind the Alabaster Icelands, so I spent most of the main game shackling myself with 3 team members. This game is clearly going to play much differently from PLA, but I think I'll have a much better time if I just catch things and build a team as I go. There's always replays if I end up feeling like I missed out on something really cool.
I think the only thing I'm dead certain on is that I'm using my dear friend Malamar - it's a Pokemon that I've never really given much thought to before, and I absolutely love its Mega. That probably disqualifies any other Psychic or Dark types, but I'll try to be flexible with my self-imposed 'no repeated types' rule for this first playthrough.
 
Fire spam always work and I've had my fare dose of grass starters already (including Chikorita, the one I've played the most with in Gen II). Conversely, Tepig is my least used mon in Gen 5 regarding starters, with Snivy being the clear winner, so I'm looking it this time. Also it is a pig so as a Spaniard it'd be dishonorable to refuse good ham when I see it. If the thing ends up eaten or not will depend entirely on its performance, so I expect great things from my Tepig.
 
Will probably use Chikorita, Emolga, either Simipour or Starmie, Clefable, Aegislash, and a few rotating members. Kingambit would also be cool to use in this if he's available, but that's unlikely.
 
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