Or like 3 or 4 of the same Pokemon with slight changes. Trick room sweeper abomasnow, special, physical, mixed, tank, so many snows because I knew one day they would buff hail lol
-
Follow our Instagram!
-
Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
Pokémon Champions - releasing April 8, 2026
- Thread starter Codraroll
- Start date
That's the reason Iron Valiant runs a mixed set with Close Combat and Moonblast instead of Spirit Break/Close Combat or Moonblast/Focus Blast (biased pick but whatevs). Missing is a much worse drawback than a stat being lowered or taking recoil. If you're sweeping with your Iron Val, if you have a chipped Heatran in front of you, do you really want to lose the entire thing by missing Focus Blast or not doing enough with Aura Sphere? It's much better to have CC and be able to maintain the momentum. SpA moves have drawbacks too. I won't be the one to say it's balanced as is but they aren't perfect either.
The reason I don't have them is basically just because those moves haven't been "relevant" in a VGC setting (especially since after SWSH there's move resets), and if they're not obtainable since I am just marking their point of last learn in the rightmost column instead (work in progress).
I'll also probably filter the list to not include moves not present/usable in Champions when that list is known.
Also did everyone see that the kerfuffle about the Mega/Switching priority order possibly just being an old build lol
Oof I did not see that confirmed. On one hand it makes sense because you have megas in ZA who seem to prefer staying in base before going to Mega. Like Skarmory using bulk/ability to easily set up a swords dance before you commit the mega slot. Or the old megas like metagross who gets screwed by turn orders and intimidate goes off while you have tough claws.
I was thinking the same thing. I don't think they'd screw up switching like that, at least I hope they don't. I still don't know how it works, no one I've seen has actually confirmed...
I honestly think it'd be for the best if Megas happened before switching tbh.
It nerfs some of the Megas with really crazy abilities on mons with already good stats and buffs some of the ones with less. Like Mega Kangaskhan being intimidated by mega happening before switch is probs good. Mega Char Y not instantly winning the weather war on Turn 1 is probs good especially with dynamic speed, which didn't exist in Gen 7.
Meanwhile mons like Mega Lop that get Scrappy before an Intimidate mon can switch in would be buffed
I think this ultimately would've been better balance to the Megas individually tbh, at least with most of the examples I've considered
Gen 7 already had dynamic speed specifically for Mega Evolutions.
most megas had to run protect before the new speed kicked in, think that was gen 6 tho
That was gen 6 yes, Megas automatically got their new speed (plus losing Prankster for Sableye and gaining it for Banette) in gen 7. Then gen 8 had fully dynamic speed.
Pretty sure dynamic speed was in Gen 8 onwards, they wouldn't give megas same turn Tailwind over all other Pokemon.
Well yes, they got their speed obviously, but that's because the game counts them as a new/different Pokemon
Only Mega Evolution's direct speed and ability changes were dynamic.
Nope, that was a specific change in gen 7, in gen 6 they retained the base form's speed and priority status on the turn they Mega Evolved.
Looked it up, turns out it's true. It's still different imo because switching was before Mega Evolving back then
Just curious, has anyone started building around the new 3v3 format for singles? I have a team myself, but no real way to test, only based on research.
isn´t it just BSS?
There's no trading, no.
Yep, the weird format.
I tried it for the first time against a friend, and I think it's going to take a lot of getting used to for me. Not being able to switch into your defensive Pokemon you didn't bring and getting counterpicked/read in a lead, it's really hard to come back. I don't know if I like it, but on the bright side, I think it's really fast and makes stall harder to run so there'll be some upsides.
Format has its own charm. Switching is a lot weaker for sure, but on the flipside, matches being so fast makes counterplay for many threats much easier - as it is much easier to run "counterplay" tech like Sashes, Scarf, etc. and get consistent value from them in most match-ups (and if you don't you just don't bring the mon).
Main issue I find is just that there is so much bullshit that's allowed between baton pass, king's rock, OHKO moves, infinite Yawn spamming, fast sleep spam, etc. I think in the case of Champions, something like Mega Salamence might also be extremely annoying, but we'll see.
YES ON THE CHEESE STRATS
We started messing around and found out why Baton Pass got banned. Without Sleep Cause, nothing can stop Spore spam, and Minimize got so annoying that I stared running Dragon Rush. Maybe people will unanimously agree these strats are annoying and not run them, but I doubt that. We’ll see in a week how healthy the metagame is.
As a player who jumped from smogon meta games to bss a few moons ago, these things are not as hard to counter as you think. But unfortunately you do need to have plans in place for all those things or you will get cheesed by them.
I think the biggest hurdle to overcome is the mindset that this stuff should be banned (or at least that was me when I first started playing bss). It won't be banned and you will need to unfortunately deal with it, to play gamefreak's ranked. It eventually does becomes second nature in team building, but it does take time (and lots of growing pains).
The good news is you only pick three mons. So you can have room to put a mon in your team for certain match ups, which can be dropped in other match ups. So the builder isn't as restrictive as 6v6 (that is not saying the builder will not be restrictive because some metas are, depends on the rule set and mons allowed).
I actually lean the other way in terms of what I'd consider restrictiveness in the teambuilder. I play mostly Monotype, and the extra restrictiveness it inherently has just seems unworkable in a BSS context: you're extremely likely to need the 2-3 answers to moves that beat your type every match, leaving no room to have a gameplan of your own. The lack of banlist would probably also be worse when hard counters are much less available. The fact that managed 6v6 can handle this extra layer without breaking has me labeling it the less restrictive teambuilding style.
I do wonder if they put in built in sleep clause, since Stadium had it and this is supposed to be the spiritual successor.
I'm a big fan of "Bring x Pick x" formats but I think BSS doesn't let you bring enough. I think Pick X format kind of nerfs every Pokemon in a positive way on preview but with only 3 Pokemon it's hard to actually make solid midgrounds compared to 3 kinda.
I think it'd be interesting if they tried Bring 6 Pick 4 or 5 for Singles and it might be more interesting as well if they did more for balancing singles
I think it'd be interesting if they tried Bring 6 Pick 4 or 5 for Singles and it might be more interesting as well if they did more for balancing singles
I'm guessing it's because it'll be a mobile game as well, and it's easier to run an 8 turn match between jobs, classes, etc than a 20-30 turn one, or even 100+ if you're in a stalemate. This game was centered around bringing competitive to everyone, and to do that they also need to be able to fit in the amount of matches. laddering will be quick and easy tho hopefully