Pokémon Champions - releasing April 8, 2026

[Cheryl.]

Moxie Boosted posted his video and confirmed that IVs are completely gone.

As a proud Gyro Ball lover, this has got to be the lamest change ever. Seriously though I'm not a big fan of "simplifying" the game so much just to appease the casual audience. I doubt it'll work out too well given a couple months time given how P2W the game is looking to be anyway.

 

[OnionJam]

did dnite get calm mind on ZA? if so I guess we´re getting temu lunaala in singles, otherwise i doubt the mega is worth it

 

[Useless Uses]

I wonder if everything is at max Ivs (31) or min Ivs (0).

 

[R_N]

I wonder if everything is at max Ivs (31) or min Ivs (0).

I think every time people were looking at stats it came out to max IVs

which makes sense, even though both are interchangable you probably want to give the illusion of "your pokemon are stronger" if you were to compare stats

 

[Karxrida]

As a proud Gyro Ball lover, this has got to be the lamest change ever. Seriously though I'm not a big fan of "simplifying" the game so much just to appease the casual audience. I doubt it'll work out too well given a couple months time given how P2W the game is looking to be anyway.

IVs are borderline fake depth (they are functionally a binary of min stat or max stat outside of niche edge cases, and 99% of the time you want max) and negatively affect the casual experience, too. I was recently bitching in another thread about a Typhlosion failing to OHKO a Spinarak with super effective Fire STAB due to crap IVs. Plus they are antithetical to the message of the franchise and a pain to grind for.

IVs are a net negative and their removal was frankly a long time coming.

 

[OnionJam]

I think every time people were looking at stats it came out to max IVs

which makes sense, even though both are interchangable you probably want to give the illusion of "your pokemon are stronger" if you were to compare stats

252 SpA Abomasnow Blizzard vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Abomasnow: 162-192 (42.2 - 50.1%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA 0 IVs Abomasnow Blizzard vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD 0 IVs Abomasnow: 171-202 (44.6 - 52.7%) -- 23.4% chance to 2HKO
Also familiarity with calcs, it´s a small difference but I´m sure a bunch of veterans have them memorized at this point

 

[CTNC]

As a proud Gyro Ball lover, this has got to be the lamest change ever. Seriously though I'm not a big fan of "simplifying" the game so much just to appease the casual audience. I doubt it'll work out too well given a couple months time given how P2W the game is looking to be anyway.

I can't say IVs being removed is a bad thing overall because of anything less that 31 sucking in most cases, but this also really sucks for Trick Room and niche situations where micromanaging stat is useful. Double RIP to Stakataka for losing Gyro Ball and Attack buffing Beast Boost with a 15 Def IV and a Lonely Nature. The offensive juggernaut Game Freak might not have intend you to be will be missed. Trick Room is definitely the bigger one, but Stakataka deserved the mention for being so absurd.

 

[Codraroll]

I can't say IVs being removed is a bad thing overall because of anything less that 31 sucking in most cases, but this also really sucks for Trick Room and niche situations where micromanaging stat is useful.

You can still micromanage with EVs, though, it's just that the possible range of micromanagement has been reduced somewhat.

 

[R_N]

I believe in Trick Room's ability to adapt and endure to a flat +31 IV to the speed floor

 

[andreecals]

Watching wolfe's video I saw people using mega greninja and mega delfox, don't anyone have info on their abilities yet?

 

[Karxrida]

Watching wolfe's video I saw people using mega greninja and mega delfox, don't anyone have info on their abilities yet?

The were revealed as Protean and Levitate a few weeks ago.

 

[Vengeance417]

As a proud Gyro Ball lover, this has got to be the lamest change ever. Seriously though I'm not a big fan of "simplifying" the game so much just to appease the casual audience. I doubt it'll work out too well given a couple months time given how P2W the game is looking to be anyway.

Nah, this needed to happen. IVs have always sucked and should never have been a thing in the first place. Yeah, let me resort to RNG manipulation in the old gens to get competent 0 IV Attack/Speed legendaries, or play Teal Mask for the 5,632nd time hoping Bloodmoon Ursaluna is 0-1 Attack and Speed IVs. Genuinely trash system.

 

[AztecCroc]

View attachment 818741
On bluesky Serebii noted that attack drops finally happen simultaneously

...but in his written review he noted that psychic terrain expanding force hit each target separately.

I mean Expanding Force is weird due to changing its targeting on the fly.

 

[Bakugames]

The things about defending IVs is that most of it can be acomplished by EVs, including micromanaging many situations (and if anything it'll be nice to have any excuses to not just 252 252 80% of your pokemon) and a lot of times the micromanaging it cant do but ivs could is so fucking insane that i find that its small player expression is not enough to save it from "this is a really stupid mechanic" territory.

 

[R_N]

I was recently bitching in another thread about a Typhlosion failing to OHKO a Spinarak with super effective Fire STAB due to crap IVs.

That said I still think there was something going on in that battle because I had to make some very rigged assumptions on that Spinarak to survive even a 0 IV typhlosion and the moment you get any positive IVs or EVs it still should have killed.

 

[CynicalGiant]

Plus they are antithetical to the message of the franchise and a pain to grind for.

they finally got rid of the eugenics simulation in pokemon, lmao

 

[CynicalGiant]

there's a clip going around of mega evolution taking priority over switching in champions, that uh seems like a big deal?

player 1 mega evolves their greninja
player 2 switches out their kangaskhan
player 1 switches out their snorlax
(greninja mega evolving would normally happen here after all the switches, not before)

seems like a pretty big nerf to weather setter megas and megas that lose an intimidate blocking ability upon mega evolution (metagross)

I guess it could also mean that mega evolving is now the same priority as switching and entirely dependent on speed stat, which would be pretty odd? this seems unlikely to me because of how convoluted it would become

link to the reddit post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/stunfisk/comments/1s3jqj5/mega_evoltution_now_takes_priority_over_switching

 

[tentaghost]

Im seeing alot of people not liking IVs getting cut which, fair it was the basis for alot of strategies but is it fair for me to say them getting rid of IVs was kinda inevitable?

I mean its main benefits (making every pokemon unique) are fairly negligble at best since in-game is fairly easy as is so theres no real point to such heavy micro-managing of stats, and the fact that their solution to the problem it causes for competitive is to just give you an item that changes your ivs directly (effectivley making them no different from EVs at that point) this does feel like a case of "cutting the middleman" as IVs were becoming less and less of a factor to consider generally. On top of that it seems like no one can really answer the question of "what do IVs add that Natures, EVs, Ribbons, Nicknames or even general team roles don't" or "why do we need a THIRD factor into a pokemons stats" it seems to me that them getting rid of IVs completely was just bound to happen at one point.

 

[reaverz]

there's a clip going around of mega evolution taking priority over switching in champions, that uh seems like a big deal?

player 1 mega evolves their greninja
player 2 switches out their kangaskhan
player 1 switches out their snorlax
(greninja mega evolving would normally happen here after all the switches, not before)

seems like a pretty big nerf to weather setter megas and megas that lose an intimidate blocking ability upon mega evolution (metagross)

I guess it could also mean that mega evolving is now the same priority as switching and entirely dependent on speed stat, which would be pretty odd? this seems unlikely to me because of how convoluted it would become

link to the reddit post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/stunfisk/comments/1s3jqj5/mega_evoltution_now_takes_priority_over_switching

That is indeed a huge change. I wonder if there are other priority shakeups that we don’t know of yet. Could a switched-in Intimidate now wait until all switches have completed before activating, for example?

Also, Meowscarada the Early Riser!? How funny that for now the only way to obtain one of the wild marks on a Paldean starter is by recruiting it in Champions, where it will be forever stuck.

 

[RoyalDispenser]

IVs being removed imo is fine for newer players but should've remained for the more advanced ones to play around with and figure out.

They could default them to 31 but let them be something you could edit anyways.

One set that comes to mind is the 11 attack ivs slither wing set because there's no other way to get a speed boost from booster energy protosynthesis unless you bring its attack stat down, letting it have +1 in speed and getting to still setup bulk ups to sweep.

Trick room is going to be shaken up quite a bit but maybe not as much as players will expect at first since slow mons trying to be as slow as possible rarely run into the issue of being outsped by something threatening anyways. Iron ball is an option but i can't see anyone willing running iron ball cresselia when they can just assume cresselia with no investment is going to get outsped regardless.

 

[deluge]

there's a clip going around of mega evolution taking priority over switching in champions, that uh seems like a big deal?

player 1 mega evolves their greninja
player 2 switches out their kangaskhan
player 1 switches out their snorlax
(greninja mega evolving would normally happen here after all the switches, not before)

seems like a pretty big nerf to weather setter megas and megas that lose an intimidate blocking ability upon mega evolution (metagross)

I guess it could also mean that mega evolving is now the same priority as switching and entirely dependent on speed stat, which would be pretty odd? this seems unlikely to me because of how convoluted it would become

link to the reddit post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/stunfisk/comments/1s3jqj5/mega_evoltution_now_takes_priority_over_switching

I'm guessing that mega-evolving is indeed at the same priority as switching and the order will depend on the speed stat.
I could imagine the logic being, "Mega-evolution is like switching in a new Pokemon".

 

[DreamPrince]

On the topic of movepools, I wonder if Mega Blastoise keeps Shell Smash? If it did, would be huge for Singles- To put in persspective, Mega Blastoise got banned from National Dex for that move. Huge for BSS, but not as much for VGC, since you need Shell Smash + Protect, cuttimg coverage.

 

[leafsaber47]

Showdown needs to implement an IV Clause in case Pokémon Champions-based ladders get implemented (force every mon to use 31 IVs across the board).

 

[Worldie]

seems like a pretty big nerf to weather setter megas and megas that lose an intimidate blocking ability upon mega evolution (metagross)

I guess it could also mean that mega evolving is now the same priority as switching and entirely dependent on speed stat, which would be pretty odd? this seems unlikely to me because of how convoluted it would become

It also nerfs megas who do gain an ability that impacts the field. Es, Mega Manectric which gains intimidate, the intimidate would go off before opponent switches, so the pokemon coming in would not be intimidated.

It would however buff megas that gain abilities that make them immune to something on evolving. For example, Mega Lopunny gets to be immune to intimidate right away and doesn't have to fear a Incineroar coming in.
Those are the minority right now, but it isnt a "global" nerf per se.

I mean Expanding Force is weird due to changing its targeting on the fly.

I think this has more to do with Expanding Force having to calculate damage on each pokemon separately, whereas stat drops can very well happen at same time.
Does Earthquake also still do damage to one pokemon at time? I don't recall seeing any used in the footage.

 

[R_N]

It also nerfs megas who do gain an ability that impacts the field. Es, Mega Manectric which gains intimidate, the intimidate would go off before opponent switches, so the pokemon coming in would not be intimidated.

It would however buff megas that gain abilities that make them immune to something on evolving. For example, Mega Lopunny gets to be immune to intimidate right away and doesn't have to fear a Incineroar coming in.
Those are the minority right now, but it isnt a "global" nerf per se.


I think this has more to do with Expanding Force having to calculate damage on each pokemon separately, whereas stat drops can very well happen at same time.
Does Earthquake also still do damage to one pokemon at time? I don't recall seeing any used in the footage.

We saw footage of Icy Wind and Dazzling Gleam hitting both opponents at once in the trailer, so I don't think that having to calc damage on each pokemon means anything.