Gen VII: Pokémon Sun and Moon (New info Post #5834)

[Darvin]

If you can get Salandit early, it will be the go to 'mon of the Evil Team.

To be easily dispatched by Earthquake when the obligatory NPC horde battle comes... yup, that seems about right.

I don't play competitively, but assuming this Salandit has a powerful final evolution, will it really affect the present metagame at all? Last time I played a bunch of competitive games, I don't remember thinking "oh no, what if I get poisoned - should I just switch in my steel-type now forgetting all other considerations?"

Would appreciate an educated semi-detailed answer to this.

Often times you're not looking to KO things with Toxic alone, but rather to accrue small amounts of damage so that something else can come in later and finish them off. Safe moves with long-term payoff like Toxic are very useful early in the match when you don't necessarily know how your opponent is going to respond to the threats you present to him, and this ability makes Toxic a very safe and reliable choice indeed!

 

[KztxL7]

1) They've overcentralized the metagame.

No they don't. Only a select few were too powerful and needed to be removed from Smogon's most popular format, OU. (Gengar, Salamence, Kangaskhan, Mawile and Lucario.) They're 1 per team and easily beatable.

2) Too many of them are too powerful, in some cases so powerful that the boosts to defensive teams/strategies introduced in X/Y don't matter.

Best Pokemon in OU currently is Clefable. Doesn't even surpass 500 BST. Yet a great blanket check/counter, win con and support pokemon even against Megas. Among the Megas only 2 are sitting in A+ rank (Diancie and Scizor).

3) They aren't even evolutions, because they aren't permanent.

So?

4) Pokemon like Mawile, Absol, and Medicham needed a permanent evolution, not a mega evolution. They would have been better served with permanent evolutions so that they could use a hold item.

M-Mawile and M-Medicham disagree considering how well they operate(d) without it.

5) Many of the pokemon that received mega evolutions simply did not need them, because they already had high BSTs/good movepools, etc.

Having a high BST or a movepool means nothing alone.

6) They take up slots for new pokemon. X/Y could have had more type diversity if slots for new pokemon weren't used to develop megas.

I feel this contradicts your points of 4 and 5.

6) Most of the megas have terrible concept design flaws. Admittedly, this is somewhat subjective, but I think that part of the reason Pokemon became popular and stayed popular is because Sugimori's art style and skillful balance of complexity and simplicity made the art very appealing. A number of the mega evolutions break the "Sugimori rules" of simplicity vs. complexity, and cease to be aesthetically pleasing or simply don't make much sense (sense being defined as relative to other aspects of the game, which may not make sense relative to the real world).

As long as you understand this.

 

[Lady Vader]

Poison-types are among my favorites. I personally specialize in them in Monotype. And Salandit is one of the coolest Poison-types ever introduced. I mean:
Design: check.
Typing: check.
Ability: super, omega check!

Even if it ends up not being a good choice for my mono-Poison team, I am definitely using this as my Fire-type when I playthrough Moon. Unless it is a version-exclusive, in which I might cry.

Generation VII is shaping up to be amazing.

On a side note, if anyone can help me think of a Poison to name Salandit after (that's how I name my mono-Poison team), please PM me.

Hopefully it's available at a decent point in the game, because I plan on using that one as well. I have half my team built just from the trailers, which I think bodes pretty well for this gen.

I know! Between Rowlet, Rockruff, Vikavolt, and now Salandit! And I am strongly considering Yungoos or Komala! All they need to do now is reveal a new Water-type that I like and my team is set!

I really like both the design and the typing, but the ability is kinda eh. Steel types get roasted by fire STAB and most poison types are hit neutrally too. Still, it's not a bad ability and probably has its uses. It's always cool when new abilities are added to the game.

It could be a great potential threat to Mega Venusaur. Being able to wear it down with Toxic, and it resists Giga Drain, Sludge Bomb, and HP Fire. So Venusaur might need to consider running HP Rock or something.

I'm Team Litten. Still gonna use this thing. Because nothing goes better with fire, than fire.

All hail Gliscor, the hero the meta deserves.

The temptation to name Salandit "Harvey Dent" is now high. Especially since I name my Gliscor "The Batman". Also, yeah, Gliscor is shaping up to be a good counter to Salandit.

I'm getting a bit of design dissonance here. So it's a bandit lizard, okay. I guess that could be wear the Poison part comes in. But Fire? Yeah it has the red, lava stripe and is said to use fire combined with poison gas, but that honestly seems like an afterthought. Also there's really nothing about its design that tells me it'll have the Ability to poison anything, once again its design is just a bandit lizard. I just don't get it being a bandit lizard, what about being part Fire-type and able to Poison anything is bandit like?

Salamanders.

 

[Kurona]

>2016
>still complaining about megas

Don't worry about 4MSS anymore, 'coz all Pokémon are getting a fifth move slot.

We don't know that at all.

 

[gyarayquaza]

4) Pokemon like Mawile, Absol, and Medicham needed a permanent evolution, not a mega evolution. They would have been better served with permanent evolutions so that they could use a hold item.

One of those Pokemon is banned, one of them 1-2HKOs pretty much all of the current OU tier, and one of them has one of the best defensive/anti-stall abilities out there.
Sure does suck that two of the most powerful physical attackers in the literal entire game can't hold items.

Also, the argument made that these specific mons could be better directly contradicts #2.

Plus, even the more powerful megas fall to BB Talonflame or faster attackers in general. Megas can be OHKO'd.

 

[Eisen]

Calling it now, anybody hoping for removal of Megas is going to be disappointed. In fact, anyone hoping for anything is going to be disappointed, because that's all hope is good for.

I'm pretty sure the only pattern we can trust is that Game Freak doesn't just up and gut mechanics, especially ones that were so hyped up as Mega Evolution?

 

[Lucchini]

Some sort of serious nerf to mega evolutions could be useful though. Like some moves that deal double damage to mega-evolved Pokemon or something? Or more likely an ability that does the same.

 

[Darth Manaphy]

Some sort of serious nerf to mega evolutions could be useful though. Like some moves that deal double damage to mega-evolved Pokemon or something? Or more likely an ability that does the same.

You mean just like in the TCG how certain Pokemon cards do either extra damage to EXs/Megas or take reduced damage/immune to them.

 

[Talpr0ne]

Some sort of serious nerf to mega evolutions could be useful though. Like some moves that deal double damage to mega-evolved Pokemon or something? Or more likely an ability that does the same.

Mega Evolution is perfectly fine as a concept. It's the individual broken ones that they need to address, which in doubles are pretty much just Kangaskhan and Salamence.

 

[Darth Manaphy]

Mega Evolution is perfectly fine as a concept. It's the individual broken ones that they need to address, which in doubles are pretty much just Kangaskhan and Salamence.

Hell, even then, Salamence isn't THAT broken in the VGC 2015 metagame (it doesn't have its favorite partner - Jirachi) in it.

 

[Kurona]

That said, the fact there has been absolutely no news on Mega Evolution in Gen 7 suggests there's nothing really meaningful to discuss on the subject... and it's kinda sad we're talking about something we've heard nothing about when we only just got new, confirmed information about 10 hours ago.

 

[Norne]

Well there ain't much to talk outside of speculation.

I honestly think salandit is a standalone Pokémon, not a base form but a mon akin to druddigon or even an earlier installment of the archetype such as torkoal.

 

[gyarayquaza]

Well there ain't much to talk outside of speculation.

I honestly think salandit is a standalone Pokémon, not a base form but a mon akin to druddigon or even an earlier installment of the archetype such as torkoal.

Yeah, the frustrating thing is that it's pretty easy to see this kind of thing happen. Still hoping for a badass komodo with some (at least semi-) usable stats. I mean Salandit does seem pretty small.

 

[Norne]

If it is a salamander, yes it might be small.

If it turns to be more like the heloderma Alvarezi, wich funny enough is the only one of the heloderma wich is jet black in coloring it might fit it's size.

These guys often hiss at foxes where I live.

 

[Mova]

I have to say that Salandit's typing sounds interesting, and allows for it to fight Klefki more easily. Maybe it is to Klefki as Bruxish is to Talonflame?

Too bad Mollux from CAP depicted this typing already. At least there have been other CAPs whose typings have been borrowed by the official franchise, such as Colossoil and Tomohawk.

 

[JES]

Well there ain't much to talk outside of speculation.

I honestly think salandit is a standalone Pokémon, not a base form but a mon akin to druddigon or even an earlier installment of the archetype such as torkoal.

I really hope not. He seems so small... I mean, even the 'Dex entry says he's not very strong, indicating subpar stats. I'm really hoping for a three stage evolution with a stat spread similar to Krookodile, though I'm honesty expecting something similar to Heliolisk, evolution and stat wise.

 

[Norne]

I really hope not. He seems so small... I mean, even the 'Dex entry says he's not very strong, indicating subpar stats. I'm really hoping for a three stage evolution with a stat spread similar to Krookodile, though I'm honesty expecting something similar to Heliolisk, evolution and stat wise.

If it was the krokodile of this region as an homage to unova using it as its third stager for team plasma I would love it.

But standalone or two stager aren't bad bets either.

 

[Darth Manaphy]

I can see Salandit being a two stage evolution. It's larger than the smallest of a three stage but definitely appears larger than a single evolution Pokemon (that's not like "cute")

 

[yoh102]

I can see Salandit being a two stage evolution. It's larger than the smallest of a three stage but definitely appears larger than a single evolution Pokemon (that's not like "cute")

It can always be a mid-evo himself, I feel a Krookorok vibe from it.

 

[Aura Flare Riolu]

Can Poison Steel and Poison types? Where is your SkarmBliss Core now?!

Would be nice if the ability allowed Poison moves to hit Steel types. They might not be telling us everything about it...But that's probably wishful thinking.

 

[Norne]

Can Poison Steel and Poison types? Where is your SkarmBliss Core now?!

Would be nice if the ability allowed Poison moves to hit Steel types. They might not be telling us everything about it...But that's probably wishful thinking.

Most likely still destroying this thing as natural cure and the switch in opportunities of both can nullify A LOT of stuff.

 

[KztxL7]

Can Poison Steel and Poison types? Where is your SkarmBliss Core now?!

Would be nice if the ability allowed Poison moves to hit Steel types. They might not be telling us everything about it...But that's probably wishful thinking.

It's a Poison/FIRE Type.

You weren't going to be switching your Skarmory into something with STAB Fire Attacks most the time in the first place.

 

[Siggu]

It's a Poison/FIRE Type.

You weren't going to be switching your Skarmory into something with STAB Fire Attacks most the time in the first place.

No, but there's the matter of moves like Sludge Bomb that have poison as a secondary effect. Sure, they would poison Poison-types that switch into the move, but what would happen against a Steel-type? Would the secondary effect trigger? Or it would be like it never happened (As in, the ability does not bypass that issue)?

 

[Stellar]

Someone pointed out earlier today that the "purple fire" attack that Salandit used against Rockruff didn't have the NVE sound despite both Poison and Fire being NVE against Rock. I'm honestly hoping that Corrosion acts like Tinted Lens in that it causes Poison to be neutral to things that would usually resist/be immune to it.

 

[Ralddy]

Poison/fire is great with big neutral coberture, i talk by personal experience. Salandith ( and heatran) is fairies killer and it has 8 resistences, 3 double resistence and 5 normal resistence, its designe i love it.
Corrosive is good ability ,but on salandith have been fire type, it's less effective. But if it has toxic spike is better, bad stealth rock exist and it looks fragile. Stallteams have care. Heatran and tentacoll are courter if saladith doesn't learn earth power, but corrosive exist.this ability was better if it was a poison scrappy