Hello!
We have some big news in this post, but first real quick,
I've added each of the shared Ladder Challenge team dumps to the Sample Teams post, giving those looking to try out the ladder challenge plenty more options, especially since we are aware that some of the sample teams are uh.... less than stellar...
On to the bigger news, I teased some potential balance changes coming this month the last time I posted and we've got some news on that! We have been discussing A LOT of potential balance changes among the council, likely too many to drop all at once. So, we decided to take a page out of
Fusion Evolution's book and show you guys the balance changes we're thinking about, so you all can discuss them and give suggestions, which will decide what we actually implement.
To reiterate,
none of balance changes here are being implemented yet, we're showing you our ideas on what we might be implementing to get your feedback on them.
These balance changes mostly focused on buffing the Megas we and others see as pretty much unusable. They are a lot of mediocre Megas, too, but most of them still have some sort of place in the metagame already while most of the Megas we're proposed buffs here for are for the REALLY bad Megas, just to get them up to usable or fringe viable levels.
Without further adieu, here are our proposed balance changes!
Proposal 1:
Shell Ejection now heals the user by 33% of its max HP if it switches out because of Shell Ejection.
Proposal 2:
Shell Ejection now activates whenever the user uses a Psychic-type move, instead of activating when the user uses a Special move, Slowbro nows learns Gravity
Fun fact, after our Forum Tournament last year, the only Mega that had concrete complaints about them was Mega Slowbro, who had already been nerfed from the original version of Shell Ejection. This tournament had unnerfed Mega Tyranitar, Gyarados, and Kangaskhan. Crazy thing in hindsight.
Anyway, Mega Slowbro's stocks have gone down drastically in recent times, as Shell Ejection has been increasingly shown to screw Slowbro over more than not. Being locked out of status moves for attempting to use any Special move is a huge restriction and Slowbro is very often pressured to switch out before it gets the free switch from Shell Ejection, which makes it a lot worse at its pseudo-FuturePorting than it should be. Both Proposals here look to make Shell Ejection less punishing, but without reverting the initial nerf Shell Ejection got long ago. Proposal 1 rewards Slowbro with some Regen recovery for successfully switching out because the ability, making it last longer, while Proposal 2 lets you avoid activating Shell Ejection when trying to use Scald or Ice Beam or something while still letting use Future Sight to activate it. Plus, you can pull some funny shenanigans with Gravity or Trick Room.
Proposal:
Stats - 70 / 80 / 140 / 135 / 115 / 20 (-30 Attack, +30 Defense), Earth Eater now makes the user immune to hazard damage, healing by the amount of damage it would've taken instead.
Pretty simple buff for the scourge of ladder challenge runs, a massive Defense buff bolsters Camerupt's already pretty impressive defense profile and healing off of hazard damage makes it a huge pain in the next for hazard stacking teams.
Proposal:
Dauntless Shield now acts exactly like Gen 8 Dauntless Shield (so, the boost doesn't go away after a turn).
This is an even simpler one. Mega Aggron sucks and is also heavily outclassed by Mega Steelix, so in no way does it deserve to be saddled with a nerfed version of Dauntless Shield. Becoming physical Blissey (but like even more than it already is) would surely give it something to do.
Proposal:
Now has Natural Cure instead of Poison Touch
Shoutous to Geko for this one, because I know this mon is so underwhelming but god I have zero idea how to fix it without just giving it Swift Swim lmao. Poison Touch is a really cool ability, but with two of Mega Swampert's best moves being Earthquake and STAB Gunk Shot and the fact that Swampert (both Mega and vanilla, who's lowkey probably better than MegaPert because of TSpikes) would rather set Toxic Spikes than fish for Poison Touch poisons, Poison Touch doesn't come into play much. Natural Cure is a big buff to Swampert's tank playstyle, letting it shrug off Thunder Waves, Spores, and Will-O-Wisps that try to passively stop it while crucially giving it the option to stay healthy with Rest, making it harder to undercut its good bulk by wearing it down.
Proposal:
70 / 125 / 70 / 140 / 94 / 126 (-11 Special Defense, +11 Speed)
Lucario has already gotten a recent buff, losing Limber in favor of Lightning Rod before PMPL, but this was clearly not enough to let it compete with the plethora of other Steel and Fighting-type Megas. With a nice Speed boost, Lucario could carve out more of a niche for itself by being a great way to deal with the amazing Weavile, not easily outspeeding and revenge killing it without needing priority, while, unlike Lopunny, having Swords Dance and Nasty Plot to turn into a hard to revenge kill sweeper, making up for its meh offensive profile from its low Attack and weak Special moves when you're not gambling on Focus Blast.
Proposal 1:
70 / 94 / 93 / 159 / 110 / 100 (-15 Attack, -10 Defense, +25 Special Attack), Now learns Hurricane and Lava Plume
Proposal 2:
Now learns Calm Mind, Hurricane, and Lava Plume
Zard Y is sorely lacking in power, especially compared to its vanilla ORAS counterpart, while also lacking the right moves to make the best use of the limited defensive utility it has. Each of these proposals seek to fix that, with the first keeping most of its decent bulk in tact while becoming a good wallbreaker that can throw off stronger Fire Blasts, Hurricanes, and Focus Blasts, while the second proposal adds a great setup option in Calm Mind that lets Zard Y better use the fact that it only has two weaknesses to its advantage, becoming a scary wincon that has utilize in spreading Lava Plume burns. These proposals are also not mutually exclusive, so we can totally give Calm Mind to a more wallbreaking-centric Zard Y to make it an even scarier wincon at the cost of some physical bulk.
Proposal:
Now has Water Absorb instead of Dry Skin
This is one of two of our proposed for Megas that aren't unusably bad. MegaChomp is straight up good, in fact, probably still worse than base Garchomp but unlike in base ORAS it's mostly just because you can still get good value out of Garchomp without spending the Mega Slot, but if you do use the Mega Slot on Garchomp, you usually won't be disappointed. However, there is one potential optimization we could make to it, by swapping out Dry Skin for what's basically an objectively better ability in Water Absorb. This makes Garchomp a more consistent check to Volcanion, but also makes it usable on Sun teams, who appreciate its typing and lets it boost its favorite coverage moves in Fire Blast and Fire Fang. This would nerf Rain, however, since Dry Skin keeping Chomp healthy is very nice for it, and both Rain and Sun are quite bad anyway, so I'd definitely understand if you find this to be a bit pointless to do.
Proposal 1:
50 / 125 / 125 / 35 / 95 / 50 (-20 Special Attack, +20 Speed), Now learns Bulk Up and Bullet Punch (Optional addendum to stats: 50 / 125 / 95 / 35 / 125 / 55 (Previous changes, -30 Defense, +30 Special Defense))
Proposal 2:
50 / 85 / 125 / 75 / 95 / 50 (-40 Attack, +20 Special Attack, +20 Speed), Now has Huge Power instead of Tough Claws
Mega Mawile is another Mega that suffers from having to compete with amazing Steel-type Megas like Metagross and Scizor, an extremely uphill battle considering its 480 BST. Proposal 1 tries to give it a bit more an identity compared to the other Steel Megas, taking a page out of Gen 7 Scizor's book and trying to be a bulky wincon with Bulk Up. The optional addendum also makes Mawile more specially defensive, making it harder to break through on that side while Bulking Up, though it is an optional part of the proposal because there is a lot of merit in Mawile being more physically defensive, especially with Intimidate in its base form. The second proposal basically turns it into a weaker version of its Uber-level ORAS counterpart, now with Slack Off, which would be very effective, but also very lame if we're being real. Either way, Mawile gets its old Speed tier back, which is great as it doesn't need a ton of Speed investment to outspeed stuff like Clefable anymore.
Proposal:
Now learns Diamond Storm
I'm going to be honest, I forgot that Diamond Storm boosting Defense by 2 stages wasn't a thing until Gen 7, so Beedrill doesn't get to be unkillable on the physical side as easily as I wanted it to, but Diamond Storm still gives it a much more consistent Rock-type move, giving it a real STAB option that isn't U-turn and letting it bulk its way through physical attackers if left alone for too long.
Proposal:
Typing: Grass/Ice -> Grass, Ice Scales now boosts the power of the user's Ice-type moves by 1.5x, Now learns Horn Leech
In spite of Ice Scales being an extremely strong ability, being saddled with the terrible Grass/Ice-typing severely limited any defensive use it could have, not even getting to enjoy being the best counter to current hot topic Mega Sharpedo because Ferrothorn is just as good at that while being a significantly better Pokemon. Luckily, Abomasnow is a primary Grass-type for some reason, so we have the option to make a defensive Ice-type good by no longer making it an Ice-type. Abomasnow still has to compete with titans like Ferrothorn and Tangrowth and losing its Ice-typing does make it a worse check to Ice move using Water-types, but yeah not being an Ice-type makes it a lot easier for Abomasnow to do its job, while the additional change to Ice Scales retains Abomasnow's unique offensive profile.
Proposal:
80 / 160 / 70 / 95 / 70 / 105 (-15 Attack, +15 Special Attack), Now has Refrigerate instead of Strong Jaw, Now learns Boomburst
Glalie is one of my favorite Megas but god it's so sad. I know I sound like a broken record, but being a physical attacking Mega Steel-type is really hard when Scizor and Metagross are so good, and Glalie's poor bulk, good but not good enough Speed tier, and shockingly low damage output despite 175 Attack do Glalie no favors. This proposal comes from a suggestion made in our post-PMPL survey, giving Glalie dangerous mixed attacking potential with strong -ate-boosted Boombursts. However, I'm definitely open to suggestions on this one though, especially since on the physical side, 160 Attack is likely too much to have Refrigerate, considering how hard vanilla Glalie hits when it only has 120 Attack (it can at least easily go down to 140 by giving it 80 in its Defenses again).
Proposal:
Now has learns Slack Off and Defog
Another suggested buff from the post-PMPL survey, this would very simply give Ampharos some much needed longevity, letting it click strong buttons for longer or letting it potentially run defensive sets with its unique defensive typing, and Defog gives it some new utility.
Proposal:
Now has learns Stealth Rock, Defog, and Spikes
Speaking of giving stuff Defog, our last proposed buff dips our beloved Mega Banette's toes into the hazard metagame. Mega Banette is the other Mega here that I'd say is better than being unusable, but unlike Garchomp, it's definitely on the lower end of the fringe viable Megas. Unimpressive stats, weak moves, and being yet another Steel-type that has to compete with Scizor and Metagross all hurt it, but it at least has its amazing ability in Pocket Dimension to fall back on. To activate Pocket Dimension, Banette usually runs Powder or Snatch as a way of safely pivoting before the opponent can attack, and then one of Trick Room, Will-O-Wisp, Thunder Wave, or Taunt as good utility options that get better when you get to pivot while doing it. The addition of Stealth Rock and Defog deepen Banette's bag, now granting it the very powerful ability to remove hazards and instantly switch into a hazard-weak teammate, or set Rocks and then pivot to a teammate that can force a switch and rack up hazard damage. Spikes is a bit worse with Pocket Dimension, since you only get to set one Spikes at a time, but it's an extra thing to throw in to maybe get you to use base Banette as a hazard lead (ignore the fact that Froslass exists).
And that's all of them! We hope to hear your thoughts on everything here, as we're looking to get some sort of balance patch out by the end of next week. Oh, and be sure to make any other buff (and nerf) suggestions that you may have, too!
See you soon!
Megas Revisited September Usage Stats (1630 Stats)
<- how was it given an ice type btw? how does that fit even, but eh it felt like a weird fast jynx with 140 speed instead of 150
<- prob one of the best megas
<- i think this is also a very meh mega
<- idt its bottom 5 but its very awkward
<- buff this shit mon, not only is sun a big part of why its viable esp with fire + grass moves being thrown but its power got cut esp with no sun. 1/4 from rocks and taking half dmg from ice, electric, rock is nice but like zard is either forcing them out anyway or taking to much from rock moves for it to matter. Idk how this mon got nerfed but its interesting. A sample has it on a stall team but considering how meh its bulk is i find that hard to believe (UPDATED THE REPLAY CUZ APP I DIDNT POST ITRIGHT)
This Pokemon is immune to Bug-type moves and traps the foe it hit by one.
