winstein's Blogs

If you don't know what Pokemon Showdown is, it's basically a Pokemon simulator that runs on the web, meaning you don't need to install a battle simulator like Shoddy or Pokemon Online. It is, in a word, convenient, because you can access it anywhere. However, I am writing this because I stumbled on what is essentially a programmer's attempt at diversifying OU while adhering to certain limitations like leaving the base stats as it is, and changes have to make sense. Here is a document for your viewing pleasure: https://github.com/Zarel/Pokemon-Showdown/blob/master/mods/gennext/GEN-NEXT.md. Do note that according to this author, the changes are not yet complete, so there may be more to come. Since I am blogging this, I will explain some of the most notable changes based on the documentation.



1) Stealth Rock hurts Flying-types for 1/4 damage, but other types take 1/8 damage

Yep, the first step in type diversification is to do what Stealth Rock is meant to accomplish: penalise Flying-type who are not affected by Spikes. This actually meant that Flying-types that are not weak to Rock take that much damage from it, so Skarmory and Gliscor can't just switch in without injuring themselves hard. This also gives new life to Fire-, Bug- and Ice-types that would usually take a heavy hit, but what about Volcarona, the Pokemon that justifies Stealth Rock's necessity? Well, this guy made Quiver Dance only boost Special Defence, Speed and Accuracy, instead of the original's Special Attack, Special Defence and Speed.


2) Drives affect Genesect's typing

Genesect's signature items is hampered by the fact that the drives are just to change the type of the move it used, making them not as useful as they would be, since only the Douse Drive is the most useful, although that's not saying much due to the fact that even Hidden Power Water is more practical due to being able to use another item. However, in this metagame, Genesect's type will change depending on the drive. For example, a Burn Drive makes Genesect a Bug/Fire-type, and Chill Drive turns it into a Bug/Ice-type. This also makes Techno Blast a useful move in conjunction with Douse Drive, due to its power advantage over Hidden Power. Another change with Techno Blast is making it 10% stronger if a Drive is held.


3) Weather setup

Weather is one of the things that had an overall overhaul. If the user has a weather-inducing ability like Drizzle, it will last for five turns instead of being permanent. However, with the appropriate item (say, Damp Rock for Drizzle Politoed), the weather lasts longer. Another thing about weather is that weather-inducing moves have increased priority, in the same bracket as Quick Attack. If that's not all, any Pokemon with Forecast and Flower Gift makes the setup weather last until it is changed. This essentially means that Castform will be a key weather-inducer, due to its ability to learn all weather moves. Cherrim's ability not only makes Sunny Day last, it gives the next switch-in the benefit of Flower Gift, which is the Special Defence boost (provided it's still Sunny).


4) Hail's buffs

While it's not the Defence boost for Ice-types we are all hoping for, there are a couple of things to make Hail a contender. One, Silver Wind, Ominous Wind and Avalanche have a power boost in Hail. Those two moves (in addition to Ancient Power) work differently when it comes to boosting stats, as it now has a 60% chance of raising a random stat. Two, Thick Fat Pokemon receives no damage. The latter is particularly important, because the Pokemon with this ability usually synergise well, like Hariyama.


5) Special items for underused Pokemon

Certain items are introduced to make certain Pokemon more useful. For example, Shuckle gets Berry Shell, which boosts its Defence and Special Defence stat by 50%. Unown gets Strange Orb, doubling its Special Attack and Speed, in addition to changing its type in accordance to its Hidden Power (thereby making its attack gain STAB). Bug/Flying Quiver Dancers have an item called the Gossamer Wing, negating the Flying-type weaknesses (Electric, Ice and Rock), and said move also increases Special Attack.


6) Charge Moves get buffed

When a Charging move like Solarbeam and Skull Bash is used, something will happen after it is used. There is one thing they have in common, besides their charging: they have a 100% chance of inducing critical hits in exchange of halving their BP (Base Power), making them unblockable unless a crit-negating ability is there. For example, Freeze Shock induces 100% paralysis, Solarbeam heals the user by 50% of HP and Sky Drop cause the opponent to drop their Defence.


7) Move changes

Certain moves received some changes, but it's going to take long to explain each of them in the document, so I will just mention some of the notable ones:
- Twister is made into a Flying-type attack with a Scald-like effect, confusing the opposition with a 30% chance in addition of a 80 BP attack.
- Drain Punch is made a Poison-type move, which ought to benefit only Poison-type like Garbodor, but it's too bad for any Fighting-type.
- Never-miss 60 BP moves have a power upgrade to 80 BP. Good news for those that learn Swift, Aerial Ace, Shadow Punch and Faint Attack! Too bad for Scyther...
- Drill Peck has 100 BP. It kind of makes up for its lack of distribution, I guess.
- Echoed Voice hits for 80 BP, but will hit back for 80 BP after two turns, like Future Sight. It's a decent last ditch attack. Due to the change with sound-based attacks, Ghost-types will be hit despite the immunity.
- Close Combat lowers defences by two stages. This makes priority attacks a lot easier to pick off those fighters.
- Draco Meteor becomes 120 BP and 100% accurate, but it still retains its power drop drawback.
- Relic Song may reduce Meloetta's Attack and Special Attack by one stage after each use, but it receives more benefits. It has a 40% chance of Sleep (80% after Serene Grace) and swaps the nature, boosts and EVs after transformation.


8) New learnt moves

Certain Pokemon learns new moves in this metagame. Here are they:
- Shuckle learns Leech Seed. This makes Shuckle more annoying.
- Roserade learns Sludge. It has 60 BP, but now it has a 100% chance of Poison. Remember that Roserade has Technician, so it's better than Sludge Bomb for Roserade.
- Milotic and Scolipede learn Coil. Scolipede will enjoy 100% accurate Megahorns, while Milotic will enjoy the Defence boost and Dragon Tail's reliability.
- Meloetta learns Fiery Dance.
- Bug/Flying Quiver Dancers learn Hurricane.
- Masquerain learns Surf.
- Aerodactyl learns Brave Bird. Now this makes Aerodactyl a really dangerous threat.
- Rotom-H learns Heat Wave (great), Rotom-W learns Bubblebeam (subpar), Rotom-C learns Magical Leaf (good), Rotom-F learns Frost Breath (good) and Rotom-S learns Hurricane and Twister (awesome).



There are a bit more changes I didn't list, but as I said, these aren't final. Perhaps there will be more changes, but I am quite intrigue with the end result. I have certain requests for changes like Mach Punch Golurk, and while Zarel (the guy who made the changes) is open for suggestions, I am not sure if I could get to him since he would barely know me. This may not interest the average reader, but I feel the need to put this in blog form anyway.

Thanks for reading.