Pokémon Champions - releasing April 8, 2026

I really struggle to see what M-Excadrill niche compared to Urshifu is; even assuming unseen fist has been nerfed to be the same as as Piercing drill.
At similar investement/nature, Urshifu's surging strike/wicked blow hit almost as hard as M-Drill's earthquake. In double this is even less to Drill's advantage as earthquake isn't as easy to use, forcing it to rely on less powerful options. And Urshifu benefit from the guaranteed crit to blow through lowered attack/raised defense.
It doesn't have much it can do on the side of secondary effects it can use to take advatange of the bypass. Rapid spin; that's about it? It got spread moves for VGC, but those aren't contact, so it can't leverage its ability. Earthquake is included btw, so it can't even use its strongest move with its ability; so the above comparison is even more damning. Not to mention Drill could already take advantage of protect in singles with SD, which seems to still be the stronger option?
It is faster than urshifu... but it also can't run an item. And Urshifu's favorite items are Choice Band and Scarf. So it's either outsped with similar damage, or outspeed not by much and get severly outdamaged. Actually scratch that; a banded Urshifu running Jolly can both outspeed and outdamage an Adamant M-Drill (edit: and a scarf Adamant Urshifu severly outspeed a jolly Drill while slightly outdamaging it!) .
Even the bulk is similar.
Maybe rapid spin/SD setup shenaningans in single?
Typing is a differenciating factor, but that's a bit limited for the price of a Mega.
I guess that might not be a problem in Smogon formats because Urshifu might get banned again, but I that won't be the case in official formats, at least those that allow the two.
 
Last edited:
Eclairius said:
I really struggle to see what M-Excadrill niche compared to Urshifu is; even assuming unseen fist has been nerfed to be the same as as Piercing drill.
At similar investement/nature, Urshifu's surging strike/wicked blow hit almost as hard as M-Drill's earthquake. In double this is even less to Drill's advantage as earthquake isn't as easy to use, forcing it to rely on less powerful options. And Urshifu benefit from the guaranteed crit to blow through lowered attack/raised defense.
It doesn't have much it can do on the side of secondary effects it can use to take advatange of the bypass. Rapid spin; that's about it? It got spread moves for VGC, but those aren't contact, so it can't leverage its ability. Earthquake is included btw, so it can't even use its strongest move with its ability; so the above comparison is even more damning. Not to mention Drill could already take advantage of protect in singles with SD, which seems to still be the stronger option?
It is faster than urshifu... but it also can't run an item. And Urshifu's favorite items are Choice Band and Scarf. So it's either outsped with similar damage, or outspeed not by much and get severly outdamaged. Actually scratch that; a banded Urshifu running Jolly can both outspeed and outdamage an Adamant M-Drill (edit: and a scarf Adamant Urshifu severly outspeed a jolly Drill while slightly outdamaging it!) .
Even the bulk is similar.
Maybe rapid spin/SD setup shenaningans in single?
Typing is a differenciating factor, but that's a bit limited for the price of a Mega.
I guess that might not be a problem in Smogon formats because Urshifu might get banned again, but I that won't be the case in official formats, at least those that allow the two.
Click to expand...
I don’t really see the need to compare them? It’s not like they’re competing for a slot on your team and they have completely different typings.
 
Base 103 Speed without any sort of Choice lock also seems important? Lot of stuff that Mega Excadrill outspeeds with that stat. I suspect VGC players also go out of their way to prep for Urshifu, so having a mon with similar utility but a completely different typing that provides more defensive perks (immunity to Thunder Wave, lots of resists) could be appealing to certain team structures.

Oh and Mega Excadrill doesn't instantly shrivel up and die if Flutter Mane exists in its vicinity. FM gotta specifically tech for that.
 
Last edited:
mega excadrill seems incredibly broken lets not forget excadrill is one of the real big batches of powercreep ever we dont gotta be tepid

only reason excadrill started seeming tame is like 1 in 10 pokemon is a legendary/mythical/ub/paradox atp, excadrill makes most regular pokemon look like fucking coughing baby and then you give it a mega and now it goes through protect
 
Meh ability for drill, no use in singles sadly. Same with the meme dragon spice hydra, yay it dies and something gets burned. Like Toucannon's Beak Blast was such a meta defining, burning move/ability.
 
1000120476.png
Indeed, looks like non-Champions Megas don't display abilities. If anyone had any doubt, however, Mega Starmie did have its base Attack lowered like expected.
 
Sulfurian said:
Meh ability for drill, no use in singles sadly. Same with the meme dragon spice hydra, yay it dies and something gets burned. Like Toucannon's Beak Blast was such a meta defining, burning move/ability.
Click to expand...
Mega Excadrill after a Sword Dance at least can make it more effectively counter Gliscor. After a Sword Dance boost, Iron Head outdamages Poison Heal.
+2 252 Atk Excadrill-Mega Iron Head vs. +6 244 HP / 36 Def Gliscor: 63-75 (17.8 - 21.3%) -- possibly the worst move ever
+2 252 Atk Excadrill-Mega Iron Head vs. +6 244 HP / 252+ Def Gliscor: 49-58 (13.9 - 16.4%) -- possibly the worst move ever
And Pokemon still do run protect in Singles.
However I think most people keep using regular Excadrill. Sand Rush is just that more valuable.
Eriorguez said:
Good to have megas for lower tiers in the case of the peppers, but retaining Chlorophyl would had been better.

Fuck the powercreep in any case.
Click to expand...
Mega Scovillain is a glorified Life Orb statwise.
252 Atk Life Orb Scovillain Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mew: 224-265 (65.6 - 77.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Scovillain Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mew: 207-243 (60.7 - 71.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Scovillain-Mega Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mew: 205-243 (60.1 - 71.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Scovillain-Mega Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mew: 187-222 (54.8 - 65.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Keeping Chlorophyll would have honestly been a death sentence for Mega Scovillain.
And Spicy Spray is actually an insane ability. You burn anything that even hits you. Great Tusk Rapid Spin, Rillaboom Grassy Glide, Dragonite Earthquake, literally anything that isn’t immune to burn and without the requirements of Flame Body or the luck.
It will be far from an OU staple, especially without Synthesis, but it is far better than just Life Orb but actually weaker and only slightly more bulk. Similar problem with Mega Emboar but it being a glorified Assault Vest.
 
Talpr0ne said:
We don't actually know if 6v6 in private battles is going to be in or not, there is no evidence it's going to be in but also no real reason to believe it won't be aside from fearmongering.
In the worst case scenario where 6v6 does not exist OU probably ends up staying on SV, but I don't think that is going to happen.
Champions OU is probably going to feel different from traditional OU in a few subtle ways regardless, forced level 50 being one of them (incidentally this also kills another form of "skill expression" that does not exist in VGC, that being level 99 slow pivots, as well as meme FEAR strats). It also will change a lot more often than SV and previous tiers did, with new mons probably being dripfed with each new regulation rather than only with big DLCs, and active buffs and nerfs. And don't forget about Tera and Z moves coming later, this is probably going to be very controversial with people getting used at the beginning to playing with only Megas and Natdex experience teaching that every gimmick at once is incredibly chaotic.

As a side note even if OU is going to be a thing LC is going to be left on SV at launch, and even once they add the NFEs back it will feel VERY weird at level 50, unless they somehow add the classic level 5 LC as a specific game mode, which is something they could do I guess.
Click to expand...
I didn't know it worked like that on cart, oops. I assumed there was two in game ladders. If this is how it works, we're most likely getting a 6v6 mode since they announced private battles.
 
Ropalme1914 said:
View attachment 820552
Indeed, looks like non-Champions Megas don't display abilities. If anyone had any doubt, however, Mega Starmie did have its base Attack lowered like expected.
Click to expand...
None of the new Megas show their abilities, even the ones we know are in Champions. Likely because the game hasn't communicated with champions; you can only see the "Z-A" dex and obviously there's no abilities in Z-A
 
Honestly it's kind of good on them a bit to not leak the abilities through home. We've come a long way since the 3DS demos.

M-Exca seems pretty great honestly, very curious if it's simply an Unseen Fist type deal or if it actually breaks the protect. Given that Feint specifically calls it out as such though, I doubt it. It seems like something you might run as an option to mega if needed, if some kind of sand core can cut it, so you can pop the mega as a speed control option, but I'm not sure how good having no item on Exca and cutting off a different mega might be. It definitely seems at least a bit compelling, though.

M-Scovillain seems interesting, but it really depends what the full list of megas available will be. It seems a hard choice over literally anything else, but incidental burns off of spread attacks seems at least vaguely interesting. It's a shame it's weak to Rock Slide and gets domed by most Earthquakes though, but I guess you can get hit by Fake Out, burn something, and then die. Or at least, that would be the case if the most common Fake Out user wasn't immune to burn. I just don't see Scovillain being usable outside of lower singles tiers.
 
Supreme Dirt said:
Honestly it's kind of good on them a bit to not leak the abilities through home. We've come a long way since the 3DS demos.

M-Exca seems pretty great honestly, very curious if it's simply an Unseen Fist type deal or if it actually breaks the protect. Given that Feint specifically calls it out as such though, I doubt it. It seems like something you might run as an option to mega if needed, if some kind of sand core can cut it, so you can pop the mega as a speed control option, but I'm not sure how good having no item on Exca and cutting off a different mega might be. It definitely seems at least a bit compelling, though.

M-Scovillain seems interesting, but it really depends what the full list of megas available will be. It seems a hard choice over literally anything else, but incidental burns off of spread attacks seems at least vaguely interesting. It's a shame it's weak to Rock Slide and gets domed by most Earthquakes though, but I guess you can get hit by Fake Out, burn something, and then die. Or at least, that would be the case if the most common Fake Out user wasn't immune to burn. I just don't see Scovillain being usable outside of lower singles tiers.
Click to expand...
i think mega scovillain has more hope than people expect because of resisting pixilate hyper voices + making things not wanna use fake out

unless they're incineroar i guess

that might be an issue

rage powder is also nice
 
Also when you have a bad base form, the turn you mega evolve is also the most crucial turn. The scenarios where you switch and burn a u turn only happens after the mega. You can pressure the opponent to never have that free turn. But I am interested to see how a set of max hp/defense one with leech seed, giga drain, flamethrower and nasty plot. You cripple a physical attacker, set up nasty plots and increase healing from giga drain, leech seed on switches, and flamethrower any grass that thinks they dodge the grass moves.
 
Life Orb/Assault Vest Guts Ursaluna EQs while Mega Scovillain uses Spicy Extract on it. Now you have a Super Murder Bear, maybe. (Excellent use of your Mega Slot, I know.)

I imagine M-Scovillain might want to invest in bulk and focus on moves like Giga Drain and Leech Seed to get every little thing from its stat spread lol. It does get Helping Hand at least lol.

(It also gets Endure for those desperate efforts to make it work?)
 
Last edited:
ant4456 said:
i think mega scovillain has more hope than people expect because of resisting pixilate hyper voices + making things not wanna use fake out
Click to expand...
Let's be honest, this is a mega we're talking about.

If this was a normal pokemon, yeah sure, this could be interesting trait.
But megas have a much bigger opportunity cost, as not only they take a place on your team, but also your mega slot.

Just "resists mega gardevoir and burns it back" aint gonna cut it.
 
Eriorguez said:
Good to have megas for lower tiers in the case of the peppers, but retaining Chlorophyl would had been better.
Click to expand...
Mega Scovillain with Chlorophyll would have suffered from the "base form is stronger with Life Orb so why waste your Mega slot" problem and arguably be worse than what we got. Sun teams would also be giving up Mega Charizard Y for it.

Spicy Spit still sucks for it due to the stats but at least provides a unique niche that cannot be replicated. Someone might make it work.
 
Worldie said:
Let's be honest, this is a mega we're talking about.

If this was a normal pokemon, yeah sure, this could be interesting trait.
But megas have a much bigger opportunity cost, as not only they take a place on your team, but also your mega slot.

Just "resists mega gardevoir and burns it back" aint gonna cut it.
Click to expand...
going back to when we talked abt frostbite, i think we are vastly underestimating how good burn is

getting a non supportive physical attacker burned might as well be the opp is 0.75 a pokemon down, get two useful burns and frankly i would trade my entire mega slot and a mon to get two useful burns yeah
 
I mean, with how garbage scov's stats are, I really don't think any sort of traditionally "good" ability would be enough to make it actually worthwhile. At least this gives it an interesting (if wonky and suboptimal for its statline) gimmick that can potentially let it work on the right teams. Probably too high of an opportunity cost and too little reward for any real success in smogon formats, but it could totally be used as a secondary mega option in VGC that spends most of its time burning warming the bench until you come across a good enough matchup.

And then there's mega drill, who might as well not have an ability at all lol. The stats are a still pretty nice improvement and could maybe even give excadrill enough set variety to properly stay OU, although the mega itself would probably only be OU by technicality.
 
yall think you're getting champions OU? or if you do do you think it'll be the main tier? im half expecting the main format to be SV OU until wnds and waves lol, maybe champions handled like bdsp as a side thing
 
Fivepoint said:
I mean, with how garbage scov's stats are, I really don't think any sort of traditionally "good" ability would be enough to make it actually worthwhile. At least this gives it an interesting (if wonky and suboptimal for its statline) gimmick that can potentially let it work on the right teams. Probably too high of an opportunity cost and too little reward for any real success in smogon formats, but it could totally be used as a secondary mega option in VGC that spends most of its time burning warming the bench until you come across a good enough matchup.

And then there's mega drill, who might as well not have an ability at all lol. The stats are a still pretty nice improvement and could maybe even give excadrill enough set variety to properly stay OU, although the mega itself would probably only be OU by technicality.
Click to expand...
I can imagine Mega Scovillain fitting on Stall teams.
Defensive Megas are very rare, and Stall has only really used Mega Sableye, and that has fallen off thanks to changes in the game.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top