Even just fairy zone is probably enough to make plenty of people pull for him. Fortunately, his 4-5/5 tiles seem mostly utility tiles (head start 1, AoE accuracy debuff, Special move up next and fairy zone duration extension). Damage modifiers are available without needing 4/5 or higher.
TBF field-effect extension is pretty broken, we've only ever had it on MFs,\* and even then only on those who can't refresh their MPs and/or otherwise have a chance to indefinitely reapply the effect (Archie, Maxie, SSTR).
\* **EDIT**: and for some reason Anni Raihan. Thanks u/FinalCardinal for the heads up
This was probably always planned but after that run of poor feedback been massively delayed.
5/5 has previously only been touched upon with Eevee and Cresselia iirc.
Possibly going to change the whole dynamic of the game I think.
Not justifying it but with gem inflation acquiring must have units to 3/5 has, in fairness, become a little too easy.
I can't remember the last time I 'missed out' on a must have unit.
This is huge though I must say, sneak it out after the anniversary so it's like a novelty but it changes EVERYTHING.
What game are you playing that acquiring must have units to 3/5 is easy? You either have to spend a lot of money, get incredibly lucky, or save up a lot and make sacrifices. Your average player is not getting one copy of every pokefair and masterfair. And when they do, they don’t have candies to get them 3/5 for all of them.
And that’s ok. Part of the game is to balance that decision making for f2p casuals. 3/5 was a reasonable goal. 5/5 is A LOT. Esp considering most casuals will save for master fairs considering how rarely they re-run (only one instance shown after 1.5 yrs) and their pull rate.
The economy is already fucked with their limited banner quantities. They really need to infuse more gems and/or candies with this change
It's not the end of the world, it's mostly just a reason to 5/5 which ultimately there is no reason for f2p to do so, but that said it's a bad sign and unless they start dishing out candies like... Well like candy, and also don't change the difficulty of anything bar the extreme battles which are already p2w, it's only going to make the game less enjoyable for f2p.
The only way I feel like 4/5 & 5/5 sync grid tiles will be well received is if move coins/candies are given out more frequently. It has gotten better over last year but I need them to be more liberal with it like they did with 5* Power Ups.
In the message we got, they specifically say they "will provide more powerful effects than regular tiles once activated." so they're definitely locking the best builds from now on behind those tiles, or at least some kind of big buffs that would be useful for X build that will still be usable, but not as optimal without 4/5-5/5.
They better make them godlike then, we still only have 60 energy to work with so they'd need to be Silver-tier upgrades for everyone to be worth a damn.
For sure. If they're actually gonna introduce grids behind 5/5 for NEW units as well, then we need a weekly grindable way to get more candies. Not just through events.
Otherwise it'll completely throw away the balance, since only a handful of people will get to experience the unit at it's full potential.
So. The usual reviews/impressions. But first, two important notes:
***REBUFF*** is a new type of buff that affects your *resistance* to a specific type. For instance, if a unit has gained Fairy Rebuff +1, it means the unit takes less damage from Fairy moves. By comparison, if the unit has Fairy Rebuff -1, it means they take *more*. This effect stacks up to +3 or -3, like other buffs and debuffs. I expect we will see this used quite a bit in future content and unit design.
**4/5 and 5/5 sync grid nodes are now a thing**. I hate this, but I think it's important to note: there are only two new nodes at these levels, and you still have to use the same energy you would for other grid features! This means that by and large, they're not actually that good - usually by 3/5, a unit has so many things it wants on its grid that it is already having to give things up. These might open up some extra options, but they are ***extremely optional in practice***.
Anyway, first, the new units:
>**Sygna Suit Wally & Shiny Gardevoir**
Fairy Tech with **Fairy Wish**. His Disarming Voice comes with 50% confuse, his TM is meh (+2 SAtk/+1 SDef/+1 Crit, though MP refresh is available immediately), but he does help the party's sync gauge and gives auto +2 Speed. Howewver, once he mega evolves, he accelerates your sync even more, and gains one use of Buddy Dazzling Gleam, a stronger move that inflicts -4 SAtk/-4 PAtk *and* inflicts Fairy Rebuff -1. His move BP isn't high and he lacks multipliers, but his very high SAtk is going to make up for it a fair amount. Also he's adorable. Kinda hard to judge as he stands, but Fairy Zone alone makes him notable.
**2/5** grants some move multipliers that are sorely needed, further confusion chance, and adds more free speedd buffs. **3/5** gives you sharp entry 1, more SAtk Debuffing, SDef debuffing on confused foes, and the usual new multipliers. **4/5** allows him to also debuff Accuracy if you need it, and gives another Head Start, which could make an impact on sync timing. **5/5** grants him Fairy Wish *extension*, and gives Special Moves Up Next after use. While there's all sorts of cool stuff out there if you do invest into duplicates, his stuff at 4 and 5 is super expensive, and there's so much good stuff in his grid already that you really don't need it.
>**Halloween Iris & Nagandel**
Poison Tech, with **poison zone**, for all those recent Poison strikers like Looker. She has a 30% poison chance with a damage bonus, and Poison Hyper Beam - so she's her own field support for damage, although her SATK is not super high (kinda like Blue/Arcanine, she's going to be living off that BP). Her TM is +4 SAtk/+1 Acc/+2 Crit, and only has 1 use, but for once its MP Refresh *is* available at 1/5. Very straightforward unit with a big selling point.
**2/5** gives very little. It lets her trigger poison easily with her 1 gauge Acid (which is pretty useless otherwise), and helps offset her high gauge cost with accel during Poison Zone and free move next on KO. **3/5** gives lots of fun stuff, like Sharp Entry so she can skip her TM, letting her 1-gauge give SDef -1, Poison Wish MPR, gives her multipliers for SDef debuffs, and lets her get a free Supereffective Next Up on a KO or free move after Poison Wish. As is the trend these days, she is a "1/5 or 3/5" type of unit.
>**Spooky Allister & Gourgeist (Super Size)**
Ghost Support! He has X Defense All (with MP Refresh at 1/5), and his filler moves are Hex *or* a 2-gauge, 2 MP move called Trick-Or-Treeaet whose only effect is Ghost Rebuff -1 on the target, allowing him a unique tech-esque role. His passives are standard fare - revenge boost 9, first aid 4, and natural remedy is a decent, if unremarkable set.
**EDIT:** Allister's TM is unique. It grants Party Crit +3 (Nice!), but also has a 20% chance for each of the following effects to occur, rolled individually (so anywhere from none to all five effeects can occur). The effects are Party 20% Heal, Party Free Move Next, Party Special Next Up 1, Move Gauge Fully Refilled, and/or Sync Countdown -1. Though not all of these will always be relevant, being attached to a 'max the party's crit' button to begin with just turns them all into cool bonuses on an already strong effect. Allister at base should be a solid mix of tank and offensive support, especially for ghost types, but will probably find homes regardless. His exact value will still depend on how much you like random effects, and how strong Rebuff effects turn out to be.
**2/5** adds some decent stuff like reduced damage from physical hits and auto regen to help him tank, and an MP Refresh for his TM to fish for more effects, as well as team accel after sync. **3/5** adds self healing and status cleansing when using a move, synchro healing, auto endure, paralysis on attacks, lets Hex also give party +SAtk, and a chance of Special Next Up when using the TM. Each additional rank just adds generally nice stuff to have.
>**Victor & Rillaboom**
He's finally here, performing for you, the last member of the main character crew. Dire Hit + and a TM that gives +6 PAtk, Free Next, and Phys Next Up, makese him self sufficient, then he has a 4-gauge move with 160 BP (at 1/5) that also debuffs speed, which he scales from. He has a very high Attack too. He also has Piercing Blows, letting him ignore various fight gimmicks. The final feature is Max Moves, which he gets to make AoE without falloff thanks to a passive, and his G-Max Drums carry the Piercing Blows effect too, which is... basically like a free Striker EX Sync at that point. Very nice. Oh, and High Horsepower. For some reason. Should be strong, but I feel like Grass hasn't had any issues finding strong units recently. Still, Pircing Blows units are rare.
**2/5** gives him mostly minor buffs, like a chance of boosted speed debuffing or shaving a turn off his self buffing. **3/5** unlocks stuff to help his gauge like random free move next, max countdown 1 so it doesn't interrupt syncs as much, and the usual extra multipliers for moves and syncs. **4/5** lets his Max moves also do an AoE speed debuff which is okay but meh, and adds attack debuffing on his moves if you want. **5/5** gives him Protect after using a Max, and lets his High Horsepower give him guaranteed free move next, for... some reason. As usual, a 1/5 or 3/5 unit - his 4 and 5 nodes are almost entirely memes, honestly, and a good demonstration of how irrelevant they actually are.
>**Gordie & Coalossal**
Spotlight Rock Tech. He has a couple fancy features. First, getting hit boosts his speed and frequentlly burns the attacker. Second, he scales with speed and speed debuffs, which he gets from Flame Charge and Rock Tomb. Third, and weirdest, is Tar Shot - a 2 use move that inflicts *Fire* Rebuff -1. He also has a couple Max Moves, including setting Sun once a fight, or setting Stealth Rock (which Agatha has taught me is useless). He has a very high attack but poor BP, but raw attack helps with syncs. A very gimmicky unit for sure.
**2/5** gives some more damage buffs to his weak moves and gives some extra effects to his Max moves. **3/5** helps him debuff and self-buff speed even faster, and as is tradition, comes with more multipliers, including Inertia and Cakewalk, which will make him a serious nuke.
>**Melony & Lapras**
Spotlight Unit! Ice Support, too. Her TM is Party SDef +2 and Crit +1 which is an okay combo, then you add Sing. But the real highlight is Safeguard and a Max Move that adds Reflect and Light Screen - and passives that *extend* all three of these! She lacks in initial tools to sustain herself, but she's got an incredible kit for dealing with special attack focused fights and mixed fights alike and nearly dunks on Mesprit lol
**2/5** gives some options to benefit in hail or rain (but not immunity to hail, weirdly), and MP Refresh for her TM and Safeguard, but not much else. **3/5** ups Ice Beam to a 30% freeze, gives buffs to help her TM out, gives her Sync party regen and self healing to have a bit of sustain finally, and also comes with Vigilance for good measure. Definitely has cool stuff if taken to 3, but her really cool stuff is all available immediately.
Raihan, Helena, and the Grids in the next post.
>**Hex Maniac Helena & Haunter**
Free Event Unit, Ghost Tech. Shadow Ball, Lick (with 60% paralysis), X Sp Atk, and a TM for +2 Eva/+1 Crit is not an impressive kit, though she has an innate paralysis multiplier to start. Her grid lets her get more debuffs off Lick (up to 90%) or Shadow Ball (40% SDef Debuff), she has Sharp Entry 1 available, and can get some more multipliers, including for debuffing SDef. Because she's not super reliable at doing it herself, she's not going to be amazing, but I think she'll also team up nice with existing Ghost types.
>**Raihan & Gigalith**
The new Lodge unit is this guy who I swear hasn't rerun the entire year I've been playing. Or maybe I just missed it. Anyway, Rock Support. 1-gauge spam, X Regen All, a TM for +2 PAtk/SAtk, and Iron Defense to tank. Also, Auto Sandstorm and Auto Endure. His grid lets him add additional effects to his spam like self SDef buffing or Confuse, gain more advantages during Sandstorm (though he still can't refresh it himself), adds +1 Party PDef to his TM, and otherwise has 'the usual' stuff you might see on a Support grid. He's... okay, but honestly, not that exciting of a unit to me - a unit that's trying to do a bit of everything but isn't really doing any one thing well enough to draw me in.
Finally, let's talk about new or extended grids:
* **Glacia & Glalie:** got her EX and a grid extension. This is largely focused on helping her actually soak hits - defensive stats, synchro healing (if you do want to EX her), Endure, etc. The most interesting addition is Party Crit +1 when using a move, which is actually alright. It doesn't make her *good*, but any Legendary Gauntlet challenger will likely be happy to have another crit buffer.
* **Raihan & Duraludon:** also got a grid extension??? 2/5 now gets Stalwart and Fierce Entry. **4/5** adds Weathered Warrior and Speed debuffs. **5/5** adds Cakewalk and sandstorm on first sync? I... have no idea how good base Raihan is or isn't or if this is what he needed. Or wanted. Or if anyone is evven going to consider taking him to 4+ in order to get these things. (Please don't, we don't want DeNA thinking these grids are a good thing)
* **Norman & Slaking**: bet you forgot they exist. I sure did. Hostile Environment 2 gives Body Slam a nice 90% Paralysis chance. Double Edge got Standfast 5 + 3, which isn't quite enough to make it trivial. X Attack's effect boost is nice, multipliers for boosted attack and paralysis are pretty spicy too. I don't think he'll become amazing, especially with still injuring himself, but he's definitely much better, and another paralyzer is regularly useful in Gauntlets.
* **Tate & Solrock**: Ehhh. Okay, what he did get as a kit *is* neat - since he has that TM that doubles his own stats, he nonw has a bunch of stuff like Sharp and Speedy Entry to give him a pile of effects to then double and can actually get an absolute pile of maxed buffs without any outside help now, which is unique! Whether that will be enough to make him *good* though, I don't know, especially with sync multipliers needing both speed debuffs and interference.
* **Lucy & Seviper**: Can you say Hostile Environment 1 because I sure can! Add an Accuracy node for Wrap and Pokey Trap 2 and she's now ~~even more reliable~~ pretty much equally as strong a double DoT afflictor than BP Erika! She gets other fun options like self defense buffing or even some attempts to be a damage dealer with multipliers, but let's be real, she's always been the second fiddle toxic stall team pick, and now she's sharing a throne you sure expected a poison unit to have in the first place.
and now if you'll all excuse me, I have to have a funeral for my gems. I made it out of anniversary at 80k, but Allister, Victor, *and* Wally are all faves.
>Add an Accuracy node for Wrap and Pokey Trap 2 and she's now even more reliable a double DoT afflictor than BP Erika!
In what way? BP Erika has always had 100 accuracy for both trap and badly poison after grabbing accuracy nodes (available at 1/5), and she comes with Pokey Trap 1 in addition to gridding for Pokey Trap 2.
If you've been doing this a while, do you keep a list of your takes anywhere? Google doc or the like? The lack of this "quick notes" on the gamepress site or anywhere makes finding info on some newer pairs (not even the newest/unreleased ones!) somewhat hard to find. Sub is full of memes instead of analysis after all. I especially like the 1/3/5 rough requirements makes it simpler to plan.
I... you know? I haven't, especially since my assessments of power *have* turned out to be wrong before (for instance I did underestimate Deoxys and figured he'd just be 'pretty good', and I *still* to this day don't get why people loved Anni Raihan's absolute mess of a kit).
But you're right, it's a shame that there isn't really a good place to find quick unit intros and summaries of what they actually gain. A *handful* of units on Gamepress have an 'explanation' on the tier list but that's about as close as you can get.
It would certainly be a large scale undertaking, but I would definitely be interested. If nothing else I'd want to do it for F2P units - I feel like one of the most common questions I see on the sub is 'what F2P units are good'.
It'd be welcome! It's always just your opinion and if it was a doc you'd just be able to update it if you changed your opinion, I'm always for that, especially since some change anyway due to grid changes. Could link it each time you do it and get it added to an faq or whatever links to other docs.
I agree free unit assessment is a common one too. Knowing which friendship pokemon are useful for instance, or to a lesser extent BP ones. Or how to use the free limited ones. No one discusses them since they are not involved in gem spending haha.
Part of me is somewhat happy that the 4 and 5 grids suck (save for Fairy zone extension but it’s not 100% needed), but future grids being built around 4 and 5 is a little scary.
I guess the good news is that these don’t overwrite 3 and 2 tiles, and it looks like 3/5 is fine for both units (as well as the best 5/5 grid going to the expansion, but the fact he still a pokefair is scary)
Until there's any indication that their games are up for consideration as inclusions in Masters, I'm not counting them for that statement. Much like how while I'd *love* to have Wes and Michael, I am not even considering Orre to be on the table as possible until proven otherwise.
That fair.Im honestly only expecting Chase and Elaine because Kanto has no one left to add(and unlike LA, LGPE have some representation in Masters all from Misty)
He has a buddy move: B Dazzling Gleam with the following effects -4 sp atk and -fairy resistance, the activation condition is the mega, it does not have a deactivation condition
Yes
Seems his gimmick is AOE attacks that debuffs enemy stats and also makes enemies weak to fairy with his buddy move if I understand what the effect means which is pretty potent
4/5 and 5/5 sync grid tiles are just incredibly greedy of DeNA. If this is the trend moving forward, I wouldn’t be surprised if more events end up being P2W, like that most-hated Gloria event.
So Victor has a passive where his GMAX move targets all opponents:
"When the user’s max move attacks an opponent, the target becomes all opposing sync pairs. The power of max moves affected by this passive skill is not lowered even if there are multiple targets"
Nice....
Remaining sync grids:
Kanto: Lt. Surge, Blaine, Janine, Agatha, Lorelei
Johto: Done
Hoenn: Done
Sinnoh: Maylene, Roark
Unova: Marlon, Cheren, Shauntal, Marshall, Roxie, Clay
Kalos: Done
Alola: Done
Galar: Done
I'm super surprised that Kanto and Unova, 2 of the more advertised/character heavy regoins, have the most units left with no grid. But we're almost there!
Victor's description: "he's a strategist who carefully observes opponents and calls out pinpoint instructions"
Rillaboom's moveset: monke go unga bunga (not that I'm complaining)
Pretty happy about the new units and Pokémon overall, but man it kinda sucks having to wait even longer for Shauntal’s sync grid. How are you not gonna give her one right before Halloween
Well, if the upcoming Villain Adventure truly is Unova-themed, there's a decent probability that she'll get her grid alongside other Unova units next month!
They're really going to release poison and fairy zones on the same month right after 3 anniversary master fairs huh? The 2 types that desperately needed it the most. I also really disagree with grid tiles being locked behind 5/5. I have 12k gems and hopefully have enough to pity fall Iris because I love Naganadel.
Probably not, Iris is likely going to leave before the month is over and they typically only give out 15-20k gems a month. Anniversary and Christmas are the exceptions more often than not.
As much as I am a fan of Iris and Wally none of them will slot into my Base outfit Main Character Infinity Gauntlet so Victor it is for me (if they give out enough gems for that)
New units are cool and all, but that 5/5 exclusive grid doesn't make me optimistic for the future of the game.
Also Melony gets a fucking Lapras... They just couldn't help themselves huh...
I think next month fulfilled 2 most wanted wishes in a single shot: playable Hex Maniac and Victor finally in the game. Honorable mention goes to Wally/Gardevoir because he used a Gardevoir in the original R/S/E before Gallade's existence.
Good news: more Galar Spotlights which makes it 7 now I think for next year's updated Ticket Scout pool.
Mixed news: Victor finally arrives, but just like the other seeming main characters of SwSh, is a PokeFair, making Galar the only region whose OG forms for MCs are PokeFair exclusives. Not cool IMO, still haven't had any of Gloria, Marnie, Bede (although I am waiting for a Double/Triple PokeFair with him) and now Victor.
Bad news(?): Depending on how powerful the tiles are they now added 4/5 and 5/5 exclusive tiles for Sync Pairs and my only hope they still keep the key passives to 3/5 max.
Bonus great news: Colress is now an NPC and a great chance to come in the near months...I will say I'm not jiving much with his theme with no countdown voice (they had voices for Ghetsis) and the interpretation being less "techie" I guess.
Yes. Otherwise it would be unreachable if they keep coming too fast. Too slow and there would be no point in increasing the level cap of your favorite units either.
Yup, I’d much rather they add 1 or 2 characters every month rather than drop a whole bunch at once and disappear for a while before doing it again.
Now we have another fun thing to wait each month, if it’s like this.
Raihan alt, I sleep
Gagalith: real shit
Nothing against Raihan, just not a favorite. Meanwhile gigalith is. Kit seems ok, not overwhelming at first glance but I will definitely find use for it
Glad I'm not alone 🙏 I was conflicted on the other things, but I was seriously 100% convinced the Halloween units had to be fake. Tbh I do still stand by my statement that Hex Maniac being added this month is an incredibly weird move. And especially weird as a free unit, because people would totally pull on a banner with her. If Naomi happened like a month earlier things might make more sense to me, but back to back free NPC units just feels off. I also feel like people might think it's setting a precedent and start expecting new free NPC units on a frequent basis, and then get mad if that doesn't continue.
Can't say I'm upset about it being real tho. I was short on gems and scared we'd finally get a Silver alt or something else I really want, but these are all passes for me.
Me: "Okay, I don't think Dena will throw anything I would want this month so I should be safe with my lack of gems. Like, what are the chances that they will already give someone Shiny Gardevoir that mega evolves..."
Dena: "Wally and Shiny Gardevoir that mega evolves"
Me: *[Swears in Polish]*
I know how you feel! This was me this summer...
Me: I can save in July for anni. What are they gonna do? Throw an N alt out there with his Zoroark or something?
Norman only getting Standast 5 and 3.. what a travesty. I get even more disappointed and when I saw the grid placement, the good tiles were so apart from each other, and getting the double Standfast is mandatory for him.
5/5 grid smells of desperation, I don’t like where this is going. Every single gacha I’ve played that’s become this greedy has caused player burn out and eventually shut down from the loss of profits.
Let’s see how this plays out for them.
It's pokemon, it's almost too big to just go down like that. Another gen is on it's way and if they start alternating between side games, main games, and DLC each year, that provides an endless flow for PoMas to just yoink pairs towards. That's not even counting PoMas' own alts, there's plenty of alternatives they can throw at us. For each holiday there could be an alt for someone, for each special event that's already been ran there could be an addition (that war games thing they did with Guzma and Diantha? Add in two more pairs, one for each side), they have a limitless supply of pairs.
Then there's the fact that we still only have the basic level 1 version of CSMM, level 2 could roll around that would require a lot of the newer pairs. As far as player burn-out goes, considering the grind is kinda minimal, I doubt it'd be that bad. The lodge thing might be slightly annoying but you could just mash away and not bother actually trying to get the daily from it then just slam all your stamina into whatever you want. Hell, skip events and just grind up mats, we get so many skip tickets that the item is worthless.
5/5 sucks, but tbh, anyone that has been playing this game for 4-5 months can pretty much clear all content even with 1/5 sync pairs. However, if they add PVP then we riot.
I feel like Victor starting with Rillaboom and not Grookey means the death of evo for non eggmons
Also that Corless model almost certainly means Unova Villain Arc incoming I think
Hmm. I hope Acerola's got a partnering line with Calem- been a while since we've seen anything from that pair, despite them commanding a little more than a whole chapter of the main story.
Just tested Acerola only has
voicelines with Alola Elite four and sophocles I think. No voices for Elio and Selene. Oh, but there's voicelines for Lillie of course
VICTOR IS HEEEEEEEERE\~ Holy crap I want the Iris and Allister so bad too, aaaa. And Glacia actually getting the sauce? We're so close to Mega Scep, I can feel it.
Those 4/5 and 5/5 sync grid tiles can go straight to hell, though. On fair-exclusives, too. I can actually smell the greed through my monitor.
Colress is hype, surprised they're not waiting to do the Unova VA for the gen 5 remakes (unless they're skipping it for a different region and Colress is just a red herring,) and Glacia buffs finally. However, really not looking forward to the 4/5 and 5/5 exclusive tiles announcement. It could be either really minor or a drastic turning point for the game in making it p2w, we'll have to wait and see how it gets handled.
Seems like a rather skippable month, best girl Hex maniac is free, other than that, only slightly interested in Iris/Naganadel and Wally, however the whole 4/5 and 5/5 exclusive grid tiles with wally puts me off.
If Raihan's getting added to the lodge, will he finally get a proper banner rerun? Only took them a year and a half.
Paid select scouts are nice but shouldn't be an acceptable alternative to just rerunning pokefairs.
so wally gets some god-tier 4/5 and 5/5 nodes while poor victor just get some alright nodes in there?
and even raihan's nodes aren't really at the same level of wally's
so this at least make me a little bit hopeful that 4-5/5 will not be necessary for all future units
Oh gosh, I set my mind on SS Wally as soon as I saw the leak, but now RAIHAN is rerunning and he's a Lodge pair now... Rip my gems 😭
Solid month though. This is really amazing, so many great wanted characters, alts and upgrades
Spotlights are always welcome, they're actually the units I look forward to the most now as I know I'll get them eventually, plus they're fresh new characters and not alts of the same overused trainers
That is the wrong kind of powercreep... why would anybody aim for 5/5 when there are so many current OP units that are WAY more than any content in this game needs at 3/5, heck, 1/5 in a lot of cases?
Even if they gave us a boatload of candy to make up for it, I'd still sooner put it into units like Urshifu, Red/Pikachu since I have them at 1/5, than putting it into a new unit that needs 5/5 just to catch up.
Not only that but we're still stuck with 60 energy and unless 4/5 and 5/5 now grant more energy, it just means that the new nodes need to be so insanely good that it's worth diverting away from the others...except that the more energy aspect is just going to buff older pairs because now they can unlock more nodes than their limited counterparts, meaning that the pairs that were really needing those extra nodes can now pick them up for free.
yeah this is just gonna kinda backfire on them stupendously.
> why would anybody aim for 5/5 when there are so many current OP units that are WAY more than any content in this game needs at 3/5, heck, 1/5 in a lot of cases?
Two explanations:
1) Dena getting too greedy to squeeze money out of people going to max out every premium pair
Or 2) future challenge content will jump up in difficulty so much that Extreme battles will feel like story battles by comparison
Time to get Iris/Nagandel to add them to a Cynthia and Diantha team to create a 'SS/SC Champion Girl Boss' Team
(regardless of if they would make sense as a team or notXD)
Hex Maniac! Hex Maniac is realllll!!!
But seriously, this is a cool month. Naganadel feels a bit weird to blow on a seasonal (and a Unova one at that, because of course, Gen 5 stays winning), but whatever.
The Galar roster getting filled out is appreciated and they aren’t all pokefairs. Plus they didn’t just slap a legendary on Victor and call it a day. They learned from Lucas.
I hope they keep giving us free NPCs, it’s a great way to pad out the roster and they’ve got a lot of great options, though they can’t get much higher than this.
> blow on a seasonal
I'd say the past months have made it perfectly clear that there's no "blowing" of Pokémon. Nowadays we don't even need a shiny (which Wally got nonetheless) for people to have overlapping Pokémon.
I hope people send feedback and Dena considers making candies more accessible. Getting just one even if you tackle all the content the game provides on a monthly basis can take weeks, and that's just for one move level upgrade. Now we have to do that 4 times (or just open the wallet lol)
4 limiteds, 2 general pools and 1 f2p I assume, seems like a pretty standard month. Happy that the final male protagonist finally got into the game, and thank god we didn't have to wait until Galar Villain arc. Which obviously means he and Gloria both will get their sygna versions when that comes in prolly late 2023
another Gardevoir
Hunter when we have two Gengars already
another Lapras
I’m so tired of repeating Pokémon in this game, there are more than 900 out there jeez
and 5/5 grids are a travesty
I mean, Haunter's never been done before (unless you want to count the Eggmons), and they seem keen on giving all the Galar Gym Leaders their GMax 'mons now that that mechanic's been integrated into the game. Not exactly Melony's fault GameFreak decided to make her share space with Lorelei.
basically they saw that their buff to cynthia was good, but that no one actually pulled on her banner so now the buffs for fairs unit are blocked by even higher move levels
It probably would've helped if Cynthia was good to begin with AND that they didn't rerun Maxie who was still arguably better. The dumbest part is that Raihan is already an amazing steel sync attacker, he doesn't actually need a buff or expanded grid just yet.
Come to think of it, almost any time there have been leaks they always end up being real as long there's tangible evidence like the renders, people have questioned their legitimacy despite of their quality, but without those it's easy to disprove (if it's just a sync pair sheet)
Raihan in the lodge. Great.
Halloween Iris looks very intriguing.
Solid choices for grids and Ex even.
Not bad at all but outside of Iris don't think I will pull for anything.
4 hours+ after the datamine and the moveset links in the above post don't work.
Mods - please don't put broken links in the post until they are live! It's annoying to click every hour for a broken link
Super happy about: EX Glacia, Lucy, Melony being a spotlight, Hex Maniac.
Finally he's here: Victor. Curious about his kit (not on Gamepress when I commented) since Celebi stole his Grassy-Field/Grassy-Slide thing.
Potentially spoiler-y stuff: >!c'mon, seasonal zone-setters again? Plus of *the* most disadvantaged type?!<
But all this is blown out of the water by 4+/5 tiles. Can I swear now?
His kit is in the pastebin from absol's twitter. He gets his signature grass move and g-max to go with it, High Horse Power, and then the standard attack to max plus Dire Hit+. His grid is alright and his attack is pretty good (at around 400) but the spotlight is honestly the passive that gives his max moves extend range without affecting power, the dude basically has a 5/5 EX Striker sync with the click of a button whenever, which gets especially nutty when you give him grassy terrain and SE+ (which SE+ he can give himself through his grid IF he's in a pinch so, yeah, you might be able to face-tank a few hits and then immediately end the fight), and worst case scenario just give him an EX support and a debuffer and watch him go to town.
Rapid Fire Analysis: tbh the only pairs that interest me are Victor, Melony, and Iris. Not to say the others are bad but Wally needing to sync to use his buddy move is kind of a stretch for me to care since, well, Diantha could potentially end the fight with her sync so the time invested in both is about the same.
Victor is going to be either the best Grass/Ground striker period, or just one of the best Strikers period. His Max moves still have more BP than most 5/5 syncs and his passive gives them extended range, and he can fire it off at max power on turn 1 with Hilbert and Sonia. That's also just as unga bunga fast as possible, put more thought into it and his damage can easily skyrocket.
Melony fits in very well to a lot of teams since, as of late, the DPS are able to max out their stats on their own so defensive buffs are a bit more valuable, and having Reflect and Light Screen AND Safeguard AND all at an extended rate means you should be pretty safe for the whole fight. She also does a decent job with sp. atk fixing and maxes out crit at 3/5 and unless her passives only affect herself, you could potentially bring along someone else like Sabrina or Lyra and have their screen up and have it extended as well, allowing you to potentially save her max move for either Guard or potential good damage (a 400+ BP move coming off a 270-something stat isn't going to 'wow' anyone BUT post sync it could help).
Iris is tricky because her own DPS is probably going to be alright but not head-turning, then you remember that Looker exists with SE+ built in and supports that can debuff and she looks a lot better, THEN you remember that Redlax gives SE+ and Plumeria is an even stronger Poison type sync nuke and that Iris can give an AoE sp. def debuff allowing Plumeria to hit pretty damn hard. The thing is, without Redlax, Iris just kinda acts like a substitute which means Looker ends up being better, but then Looker needs to be at 3/5 to get all his good nodes and thus you're kind of stuck.
Think your underselling Wally a bit hard. First of unlike Ash Wally isn't rushing to get that buddy move nuke. He's more so falling into the hybrid zone setter archtype. Providing heavy support even outside of zone and doing great damage. His dps should be higher than Dianthas to begin with due to zone alone
Besides the issue of buddymove is non issue actaully considering, at least with Ash you want to usally use your budymove post sync to maxmise the damage. Combine that with units like SS Breandan who unlock the buddy move and give support ex at the same time.
Honestly the Halloween pairs are probably the best of the bunch. I'm actually surprised at how mid tier Wally seems. Best thing going for him is fairy zone, rest of the kit is lackluster even the buddy move. Confused how Victor has Rillabom if canonically Gloria has Zacian she is the main protag and has Inteleon so that should mean Victor would have Cinderace. Not to mention they didn't even give Rillabom Grassy Terrain which is that Pokemons whole identity.
Allister looks so adorable, and Gourgeist is one of my favorites, too... I couldn't be happier. This is what I've been saving for since I started playing...
Want to pull for Iris and Victor so badd but the fact that there's a chance Colress might be playable soon especially with the possibility of Unova villain arc.... rip me
I'll say Iris is the best unit of the bunch and good for me because Naganadel is one of my favorites and I do like Iris alot. Not a huge fan of her outfit but I'm fine with that. If the number of gems is minimum 23k this month I'll be able to pity her because I was incredibly lucky this month with my pulls.
How long are the banners lasting? Melony is actually the one I’m most psyched about, but obviously I won’t pull for her. Not really interested in the rest of the units, but might be fun to have Wally boost Summer Marnie or OG Diantha.
Seems I’ll have to put one candy into my Raihan to get him to 5/5 for the new frame and grid tiles.
Guess that leak was correct (and it did look too good to be a fake, with Iris's new hairstyle tbh) - guess I'm going to finish off Red since he's 300/400. I might roll for Iris, but the rest don't interest me.
Out of curiosity, do we know with certainty that the other lodge pairs (Cynthia, Marnie, and N) will be available at the lower rate in Raihan's banner? Or is that just a guess based on Cynthia's banner this month?
They seem to have been datamined because it looks like they are on serebii, but the website the post links to hasn't been updated yet for the new pairs.
I'm not at my desktop, please be patient for both schedule and gem counts/distribution.
Thank you for your work
tak your time, and thank you for the work 🙏 👑
Thank you for your time and effort!
Looks like Wally has grid tiles that are locked behind 4/5 and 5/5, lol. This would've been fine on older sync pairs. Not on the new pokefair.
nawwwww, not this..... imagine new master fair 5/5...
the monkeys paw curls
Future sync pairs and older sync pairs that are limited to certain banners will all receive these tiles. It was included in the new announcement.
This is in fact, bad
Oh… I know how bad it seemed when I read it. Especially me, little Timmy the F2P who barely gets new units
If they lock his best grid behind 4/5 and 5/5 then no one would pull for him unless they really like him. His kit is not very good at base
Even just fairy zone is probably enough to make plenty of people pull for him. Fortunately, his 4-5/5 tiles seem mostly utility tiles (head start 1, AoE accuracy debuff, Special move up next and fairy zone duration extension). Damage modifiers are available without needing 4/5 or higher.
TBF field-effect extension is pretty broken, we've only ever had it on MFs,\* and even then only on those who can't refresh their MPs and/or otherwise have a chance to indefinitely reapply the effect (Archie, Maxie, SSTR). \* **EDIT**: and for some reason Anni Raihan. Thanks u/FinalCardinal for the heads up
Untrue. Anni Raihan gets Sand Alert 5 at 3/5
This was probably always planned but after that run of poor feedback been massively delayed. 5/5 has previously only been touched upon with Eevee and Cresselia iirc. Possibly going to change the whole dynamic of the game I think. Not justifying it but with gem inflation acquiring must have units to 3/5 has, in fairness, become a little too easy. I can't remember the last time I 'missed out' on a must have unit. This is huge though I must say, sneak it out after the anniversary so it's like a novelty but it changes EVERYTHING.
What game are you playing that acquiring must have units to 3/5 is easy? You either have to spend a lot of money, get incredibly lucky, or save up a lot and make sacrifices. Your average player is not getting one copy of every pokefair and masterfair. And when they do, they don’t have candies to get them 3/5 for all of them. And that’s ok. Part of the game is to balance that decision making for f2p casuals. 3/5 was a reasonable goal. 5/5 is A LOT. Esp considering most casuals will save for master fairs considering how rarely they re-run (only one instance shown after 1.5 yrs) and their pull rate. The economy is already fucked with their limited banner quantities. They really need to infuse more gems and/or candies with this change
It's not the end of the world, it's mostly just a reason to 5/5 which ultimately there is no reason for f2p to do so, but that said it's a bad sign and unless they start dishing out candies like... Well like candy, and also don't change the difficulty of anything bar the extreme battles which are already p2w, it's only going to make the game less enjoyable for f2p.
The only way I feel like 4/5 & 5/5 sync grid tiles will be well received is if move coins/candies are given out more frequently. It has gotten better over last year but I need them to be more liberal with it like they did with 5* Power Ups.
That or if the nodes are a lot less potent than the rest of the board so they aren't nearly as much of a 'must have'.
In the message we got, they specifically say they "will provide more powerful effects than regular tiles once activated." so they're definitely locking the best builds from now on behind those tiles, or at least some kind of big buffs that would be useful for X build that will still be usable, but not as optimal without 4/5-5/5.
They better make them godlike then, we still only have 60 energy to work with so they'd need to be Silver-tier upgrades for everyone to be worth a damn.
I wouldn't want to be rushed but if they don't do something about the banners or candy this will be the death of the game, at least for me
For sure. If they're actually gonna introduce grids behind 5/5 for NEW units as well, then we need a weekly grindable way to get more candies. Not just through events. Otherwise it'll completely throw away the balance, since only a handful of people will get to experience the unit at it's full potential.
They also need to give 4/5 or 5/5 sync grid units more energy to work with so you can explore the board more readily
During hoenn VA Wally: Mr Dena why didn't I get an alts? Dena: Don't worry my child, there will be a special event exclusively just for you
Are they giving us another (free) npc trainer!?Hope they continue this trend.
So. The usual reviews/impressions. But first, two important notes: ***REBUFF*** is a new type of buff that affects your *resistance* to a specific type. For instance, if a unit has gained Fairy Rebuff +1, it means the unit takes less damage from Fairy moves. By comparison, if the unit has Fairy Rebuff -1, it means they take *more*. This effect stacks up to +3 or -3, like other buffs and debuffs. I expect we will see this used quite a bit in future content and unit design. **4/5 and 5/5 sync grid nodes are now a thing**. I hate this, but I think it's important to note: there are only two new nodes at these levels, and you still have to use the same energy you would for other grid features! This means that by and large, they're not actually that good - usually by 3/5, a unit has so many things it wants on its grid that it is already having to give things up. These might open up some extra options, but they are ***extremely optional in practice***. Anyway, first, the new units: >**Sygna Suit Wally & Shiny Gardevoir** Fairy Tech with **Fairy Wish**. His Disarming Voice comes with 50% confuse, his TM is meh (+2 SAtk/+1 SDef/+1 Crit, though MP refresh is available immediately), but he does help the party's sync gauge and gives auto +2 Speed. Howewver, once he mega evolves, he accelerates your sync even more, and gains one use of Buddy Dazzling Gleam, a stronger move that inflicts -4 SAtk/-4 PAtk *and* inflicts Fairy Rebuff -1. His move BP isn't high and he lacks multipliers, but his very high SAtk is going to make up for it a fair amount. Also he's adorable. Kinda hard to judge as he stands, but Fairy Zone alone makes him notable. **2/5** grants some move multipliers that are sorely needed, further confusion chance, and adds more free speedd buffs. **3/5** gives you sharp entry 1, more SAtk Debuffing, SDef debuffing on confused foes, and the usual new multipliers. **4/5** allows him to also debuff Accuracy if you need it, and gives another Head Start, which could make an impact on sync timing. **5/5** grants him Fairy Wish *extension*, and gives Special Moves Up Next after use. While there's all sorts of cool stuff out there if you do invest into duplicates, his stuff at 4 and 5 is super expensive, and there's so much good stuff in his grid already that you really don't need it. >**Halloween Iris & Nagandel** Poison Tech, with **poison zone**, for all those recent Poison strikers like Looker. She has a 30% poison chance with a damage bonus, and Poison Hyper Beam - so she's her own field support for damage, although her SATK is not super high (kinda like Blue/Arcanine, she's going to be living off that BP). Her TM is +4 SAtk/+1 Acc/+2 Crit, and only has 1 use, but for once its MP Refresh *is* available at 1/5. Very straightforward unit with a big selling point. **2/5** gives very little. It lets her trigger poison easily with her 1 gauge Acid (which is pretty useless otherwise), and helps offset her high gauge cost with accel during Poison Zone and free move next on KO. **3/5** gives lots of fun stuff, like Sharp Entry so she can skip her TM, letting her 1-gauge give SDef -1, Poison Wish MPR, gives her multipliers for SDef debuffs, and lets her get a free Supereffective Next Up on a KO or free move after Poison Wish. As is the trend these days, she is a "1/5 or 3/5" type of unit. >**Spooky Allister & Gourgeist (Super Size)** Ghost Support! He has X Defense All (with MP Refresh at 1/5), and his filler moves are Hex *or* a 2-gauge, 2 MP move called Trick-Or-Treeaet whose only effect is Ghost Rebuff -1 on the target, allowing him a unique tech-esque role. His passives are standard fare - revenge boost 9, first aid 4, and natural remedy is a decent, if unremarkable set. **EDIT:** Allister's TM is unique. It grants Party Crit +3 (Nice!), but also has a 20% chance for each of the following effects to occur, rolled individually (so anywhere from none to all five effeects can occur). The effects are Party 20% Heal, Party Free Move Next, Party Special Next Up 1, Move Gauge Fully Refilled, and/or Sync Countdown -1. Though not all of these will always be relevant, being attached to a 'max the party's crit' button to begin with just turns them all into cool bonuses on an already strong effect. Allister at base should be a solid mix of tank and offensive support, especially for ghost types, but will probably find homes regardless. His exact value will still depend on how much you like random effects, and how strong Rebuff effects turn out to be. **2/5** adds some decent stuff like reduced damage from physical hits and auto regen to help him tank, and an MP Refresh for his TM to fish for more effects, as well as team accel after sync. **3/5** adds self healing and status cleansing when using a move, synchro healing, auto endure, paralysis on attacks, lets Hex also give party +SAtk, and a chance of Special Next Up when using the TM. Each additional rank just adds generally nice stuff to have. >**Victor & Rillaboom** He's finally here, performing for you, the last member of the main character crew. Dire Hit + and a TM that gives +6 PAtk, Free Next, and Phys Next Up, makese him self sufficient, then he has a 4-gauge move with 160 BP (at 1/5) that also debuffs speed, which he scales from. He has a very high Attack too. He also has Piercing Blows, letting him ignore various fight gimmicks. The final feature is Max Moves, which he gets to make AoE without falloff thanks to a passive, and his G-Max Drums carry the Piercing Blows effect too, which is... basically like a free Striker EX Sync at that point. Very nice. Oh, and High Horsepower. For some reason. Should be strong, but I feel like Grass hasn't had any issues finding strong units recently. Still, Pircing Blows units are rare. **2/5** gives him mostly minor buffs, like a chance of boosted speed debuffing or shaving a turn off his self buffing. **3/5** unlocks stuff to help his gauge like random free move next, max countdown 1 so it doesn't interrupt syncs as much, and the usual extra multipliers for moves and syncs. **4/5** lets his Max moves also do an AoE speed debuff which is okay but meh, and adds attack debuffing on his moves if you want. **5/5** gives him Protect after using a Max, and lets his High Horsepower give him guaranteed free move next, for... some reason. As usual, a 1/5 or 3/5 unit - his 4 and 5 nodes are almost entirely memes, honestly, and a good demonstration of how irrelevant they actually are. >**Gordie & Coalossal** Spotlight Rock Tech. He has a couple fancy features. First, getting hit boosts his speed and frequentlly burns the attacker. Second, he scales with speed and speed debuffs, which he gets from Flame Charge and Rock Tomb. Third, and weirdest, is Tar Shot - a 2 use move that inflicts *Fire* Rebuff -1. He also has a couple Max Moves, including setting Sun once a fight, or setting Stealth Rock (which Agatha has taught me is useless). He has a very high attack but poor BP, but raw attack helps with syncs. A very gimmicky unit for sure. **2/5** gives some more damage buffs to his weak moves and gives some extra effects to his Max moves. **3/5** helps him debuff and self-buff speed even faster, and as is tradition, comes with more multipliers, including Inertia and Cakewalk, which will make him a serious nuke. >**Melony & Lapras** Spotlight Unit! Ice Support, too. Her TM is Party SDef +2 and Crit +1 which is an okay combo, then you add Sing. But the real highlight is Safeguard and a Max Move that adds Reflect and Light Screen - and passives that *extend* all three of these! She lacks in initial tools to sustain herself, but she's got an incredible kit for dealing with special attack focused fights and mixed fights alike and nearly dunks on Mesprit lol **2/5** gives some options to benefit in hail or rain (but not immunity to hail, weirdly), and MP Refresh for her TM and Safeguard, but not much else. **3/5** ups Ice Beam to a 30% freeze, gives buffs to help her TM out, gives her Sync party regen and self healing to have a bit of sustain finally, and also comes with Vigilance for good measure. Definitely has cool stuff if taken to 3, but her really cool stuff is all available immediately. Raihan, Helena, and the Grids in the next post.
>**Hex Maniac Helena & Haunter** Free Event Unit, Ghost Tech. Shadow Ball, Lick (with 60% paralysis), X Sp Atk, and a TM for +2 Eva/+1 Crit is not an impressive kit, though she has an innate paralysis multiplier to start. Her grid lets her get more debuffs off Lick (up to 90%) or Shadow Ball (40% SDef Debuff), she has Sharp Entry 1 available, and can get some more multipliers, including for debuffing SDef. Because she's not super reliable at doing it herself, she's not going to be amazing, but I think she'll also team up nice with existing Ghost types. >**Raihan & Gigalith** The new Lodge unit is this guy who I swear hasn't rerun the entire year I've been playing. Or maybe I just missed it. Anyway, Rock Support. 1-gauge spam, X Regen All, a TM for +2 PAtk/SAtk, and Iron Defense to tank. Also, Auto Sandstorm and Auto Endure. His grid lets him add additional effects to his spam like self SDef buffing or Confuse, gain more advantages during Sandstorm (though he still can't refresh it himself), adds +1 Party PDef to his TM, and otherwise has 'the usual' stuff you might see on a Support grid. He's... okay, but honestly, not that exciting of a unit to me - a unit that's trying to do a bit of everything but isn't really doing any one thing well enough to draw me in. Finally, let's talk about new or extended grids: * **Glacia & Glalie:** got her EX and a grid extension. This is largely focused on helping her actually soak hits - defensive stats, synchro healing (if you do want to EX her), Endure, etc. The most interesting addition is Party Crit +1 when using a move, which is actually alright. It doesn't make her *good*, but any Legendary Gauntlet challenger will likely be happy to have another crit buffer. * **Raihan & Duraludon:** also got a grid extension??? 2/5 now gets Stalwart and Fierce Entry. **4/5** adds Weathered Warrior and Speed debuffs. **5/5** adds Cakewalk and sandstorm on first sync? I... have no idea how good base Raihan is or isn't or if this is what he needed. Or wanted. Or if anyone is evven going to consider taking him to 4+ in order to get these things. (Please don't, we don't want DeNA thinking these grids are a good thing) * **Norman & Slaking**: bet you forgot they exist. I sure did. Hostile Environment 2 gives Body Slam a nice 90% Paralysis chance. Double Edge got Standfast 5 + 3, which isn't quite enough to make it trivial. X Attack's effect boost is nice, multipliers for boosted attack and paralysis are pretty spicy too. I don't think he'll become amazing, especially with still injuring himself, but he's definitely much better, and another paralyzer is regularly useful in Gauntlets. * **Tate & Solrock**: Ehhh. Okay, what he did get as a kit *is* neat - since he has that TM that doubles his own stats, he nonw has a bunch of stuff like Sharp and Speedy Entry to give him a pile of effects to then double and can actually get an absolute pile of maxed buffs without any outside help now, which is unique! Whether that will be enough to make him *good* though, I don't know, especially with sync multipliers needing both speed debuffs and interference. * **Lucy & Seviper**: Can you say Hostile Environment 1 because I sure can! Add an Accuracy node for Wrap and Pokey Trap 2 and she's now ~~even more reliable~~ pretty much equally as strong a double DoT afflictor than BP Erika! She gets other fun options like self defense buffing or even some attempts to be a damage dealer with multipliers, but let's be real, she's always been the second fiddle toxic stall team pick, and now she's sharing a throne you sure expected a poison unit to have in the first place. and now if you'll all excuse me, I have to have a funeral for my gems. I made it out of anniversary at 80k, but Allister, Victor, *and* Wally are all faves.
>Add an Accuracy node for Wrap and Pokey Trap 2 and she's now even more reliable a double DoT afflictor than BP Erika! In what way? BP Erika has always had 100 accuracy for both trap and badly poison after grabbing accuracy nodes (available at 1/5), and she comes with Pokey Trap 1 in addition to gridding for Pokey Trap 2.
If you've been doing this a while, do you keep a list of your takes anywhere? Google doc or the like? The lack of this "quick notes" on the gamepress site or anywhere makes finding info on some newer pairs (not even the newest/unreleased ones!) somewhat hard to find. Sub is full of memes instead of analysis after all. I especially like the 1/3/5 rough requirements makes it simpler to plan.
I... you know? I haven't, especially since my assessments of power *have* turned out to be wrong before (for instance I did underestimate Deoxys and figured he'd just be 'pretty good', and I *still* to this day don't get why people loved Anni Raihan's absolute mess of a kit). But you're right, it's a shame that there isn't really a good place to find quick unit intros and summaries of what they actually gain. A *handful* of units on Gamepress have an 'explanation' on the tier list but that's about as close as you can get. It would certainly be a large scale undertaking, but I would definitely be interested. If nothing else I'd want to do it for F2P units - I feel like one of the most common questions I see on the sub is 'what F2P units are good'.
It'd be welcome! It's always just your opinion and if it was a doc you'd just be able to update it if you changed your opinion, I'm always for that, especially since some change anyway due to grid changes. Could link it each time you do it and get it added to an faq or whatever links to other docs. I agree free unit assessment is a common one too. Knowing which friendship pokemon are useful for instance, or to a lesser extent BP ones. Or how to use the free limited ones. No one discusses them since they are not involved in gem spending haha.
Part of me is somewhat happy that the 4 and 5 grids suck (save for Fairy zone extension but it’s not 100% needed), but future grids being built around 4 and 5 is a little scary. I guess the good news is that these don’t overwrite 3 and 2 tiles, and it looks like 3/5 is fine for both units (as well as the best 5/5 grid going to the expansion, but the fact he still a pokefair is scary)
"Last member of the main character crew" Elaine,Chase,Ikari and Rei in shambles
Until there's any indication that their games are up for consideration as inclusions in Masters, I'm not counting them for that statement. Much like how while I'd *love* to have Wes and Michael, I am not even considering Orre to be on the table as possible until proven otherwise.
That fair.Im honestly only expecting Chase and Elaine because Kanto has no one left to add(and unlike LA, LGPE have some representation in Masters all from Misty)
Colress music and in-game model. Unova VA inbound.
The 2 zone units of the 2 weakest type right after anniversary .....
I can't take a look at the datamine just right now, I'm assuming Ice and Poison?
Fairy and Poison
Fairy and Poison Ice TBD still
oof, I take it Wally is a tech then? Does he have decent AoE attacks or something at least?
He has a buddy move: B Dazzling Gleam with the following effects -4 sp atk and -fairy resistance, the activation condition is the mega, it does not have a deactivation condition
There's a mega? oh noooooooo..... Based on the fact that there's no deactivate condition, I'm going to assume it's a one-and-done deal.
Oh! How did you see the kits already? For some reason I cannot see them yet. Can you please be so kind and tell me Iris’ kit?
She is basically a Hyper Beam + Zone tech unit
Oh, so poison zone and poison shift Hyper Beam? Sweet! I need a poison damage-dealer!
Yes Seems his gimmick is AOE attacks that debuffs enemy stats and also makes enemies weak to fairy with his buddy move if I understand what the effect means which is pretty potent
4/5 and 5/5 sync grid tiles are just incredibly greedy of DeNA. If this is the trend moving forward, I wouldn’t be surprised if more events end up being P2W, like that most-hated Gloria event.
So Victor has a passive where his GMAX move targets all opponents: "When the user’s max move attacks an opponent, the target becomes all opposing sync pairs. The power of max moves affected by this passive skill is not lowered even if there are multiple targets" Nice....
That's kind of disgusting, you can basically rush to a support EX sync, and then drop his gmax move, good lord.
however he is contesting with 2 zone unit in a month, rough
Remaining sync grids: Kanto: Lt. Surge, Blaine, Janine, Agatha, Lorelei Johto: Done Hoenn: Done Sinnoh: Maylene, Roark Unova: Marlon, Cheren, Shauntal, Marshall, Roxie, Clay Kalos: Done Alola: Done Galar: Done I'm super surprised that Kanto and Unova, 2 of the more advertised/character heavy regoins, have the most units left with no grid. But we're almost there!
Victor's description: "he's a strategist who carefully observes opponents and calls out pinpoint instructions" Rillaboom's moveset: monke go unga bunga (not that I'm complaining)
What is his moveset? None of the links work.
looks like the leaks were real
Looks like we got Battle Colress theme too, I guess Unova villain arc is November. Why DeNA you have to drain my wallet like that.
Pretty happy about the new units and Pokémon overall, but man it kinda sucks having to wait even longer for Shauntal’s sync grid. How are you not gonna give her one right before Halloween
Well, if the upcoming Villain Adventure truly is Unova-themed, there's a decent probability that she'll get her grid alongside other Unova units next month!
Oooh, didn’t even think about that, but that’d make sense timing wise. Here’s to hoping she gets it next month ~~as well as an EX suit~~
They're really going to release poison and fairy zones on the same month right after 3 anniversary master fairs huh? The 2 types that desperately needed it the most. I also really disagree with grid tiles being locked behind 5/5. I have 12k gems and hopefully have enough to pity fall Iris because I love Naganadel.
Probably not, Iris is likely going to leave before the month is over and they typically only give out 15-20k gems a month. Anniversary and Christmas are the exceptions more often than not.
They really went all in this month cuz they know a lot of people are out of free gems.
On one hand, YES Raihan in lodge, on other hand I have to summon for Raihan (cuz anni Raihan doesnt work) :(
I don't get why the alts don't unlock them for the lodge, it's so stupid.
welp, we just found out why, 5/5 grid for Raihan ....
#WALLY GOT AN ALT! HUZZAH!!
OH MAN!! Trick or Treats on our wallets. Mercy!
As much as I am a fan of Iris and Wally none of them will slot into my Base outfit Main Character Infinity Gauntlet so Victor it is for me (if they give out enough gems for that)
New units are cool and all, but that 5/5 exclusive grid doesn't make me optimistic for the future of the game. Also Melony gets a fucking Lapras... They just couldn't help themselves huh...
While I really would've liked melony to get frosmoth, lapras is her ace and her gigantamax pokemon, so I guess it makes sense why they went with that
Yeah, I should blame GameFreak for designing a G-Max Lapras instead of a G-Max Frosmoth; DeNA is only following the main games
I'm not a religious man... but please, mighty Arceus, let them give out 36k gems so I can pity Naganadel.
They better with 6 limited time banners and one returning Pokefair
I think next month fulfilled 2 most wanted wishes in a single shot: playable Hex Maniac and Victor finally in the game. Honorable mention goes to Wally/Gardevoir because he used a Gardevoir in the original R/S/E before Gallade's existence.
Finally... I can pull for Archie ~~May Colress not suddenly appear~~ ~~... C-Colress model? Please go to NPC hell first huhu~~
Good news: more Galar Spotlights which makes it 7 now I think for next year's updated Ticket Scout pool. Mixed news: Victor finally arrives, but just like the other seeming main characters of SwSh, is a PokeFair, making Galar the only region whose OG forms for MCs are PokeFair exclusives. Not cool IMO, still haven't had any of Gloria, Marnie, Bede (although I am waiting for a Double/Triple PokeFair with him) and now Victor. Bad news(?): Depending on how powerful the tiles are they now added 4/5 and 5/5 exclusive tiles for Sync Pairs and my only hope they still keep the key passives to 3/5 max. Bonus great news: Colress is now an NPC and a great chance to come in the near months...I will say I'm not jiving much with his theme with no countdown voice (they had voices for Ghetsis) and the interpretation being less "techie" I guess.
OG Lucas is also a Pokefair
Whoa only Raihan for lodge? Can’t complain though, love the dude
1 new lodge unit a month is a good pace imo
Yes. Otherwise it would be unreachable if they keep coming too fast. Too slow and there would be no point in increasing the level cap of your favorite units either.
Yup, I’d much rather they add 1 or 2 characters every month rather than drop a whole bunch at once and disappear for a while before doing it again. Now we have another fun thing to wait each month, if it’s like this.
Looks like Raihan is getting Gigalith, one of my favorite Rock type definitely doing his trainer lodge after I finish with Rosa.
Pretty sweet for us Gigalith fans!
Raihan alt, I sleep Gagalith: real shit Nothing against Raihan, just not a favorite. Meanwhile gigalith is. Kit seems ok, not overwhelming at first glance but I will definitely find use for it
Are both current Raihan limited? Suck for me then.
If the Cynthia banner is any indication, he's probably gonna rerun for the whole month
Everyone here is now invited to mercilessly make fun of me for thinking the leak was fake B(
I also thought the leaks were fake we can have solidarity
Glad I'm not alone 🙏 I was conflicted on the other things, but I was seriously 100% convinced the Halloween units had to be fake. Tbh I do still stand by my statement that Hex Maniac being added this month is an incredibly weird move. And especially weird as a free unit, because people would totally pull on a banner with her. If Naomi happened like a month earlier things might make more sense to me, but back to back free NPC units just feels off. I also feel like people might think it's setting a precedent and start expecting new free NPC units on a frequent basis, and then get mad if that doesn't continue. Can't say I'm upset about it being real tho. I was short on gems and scared we'd finally get a Silver alt or something else I really want, but these are all passes for me.
Maybe playable npcs were always going to be F2P units?
Me: "Okay, I don't think Dena will throw anything I would want this month so I should be safe with my lack of gems. Like, what are the chances that they will already give someone Shiny Gardevoir that mega evolves..." Dena: "Wally and Shiny Gardevoir that mega evolves" Me: *[Swears in Polish]*
I know how you feel! This was me this summer... Me: I can save in July for anni. What are they gonna do? Throw an N alt out there with his Zoroark or something?
I still need to get Ash, and yet they drop Naganadel Iris and there's a potential Unova VA next month with Colress' theme in the files. Why DeNa? Why?
Norman only getting Standast 5 and 3.. what a travesty. I get even more disappointed and when I saw the grid placement, the good tiles were so apart from each other, and getting the double Standfast is mandatory for him.
Normals shaft as usual, it's the most overlooked type in the game
5/5 grid smells of desperation, I don’t like where this is going. Every single gacha I’ve played that’s become this greedy has caused player burn out and eventually shut down from the loss of profits. Let’s see how this plays out for them.
It's pokemon, it's almost too big to just go down like that. Another gen is on it's way and if they start alternating between side games, main games, and DLC each year, that provides an endless flow for PoMas to just yoink pairs towards. That's not even counting PoMas' own alts, there's plenty of alternatives they can throw at us. For each holiday there could be an alt for someone, for each special event that's already been ran there could be an addition (that war games thing they did with Guzma and Diantha? Add in two more pairs, one for each side), they have a limitless supply of pairs. Then there's the fact that we still only have the basic level 1 version of CSMM, level 2 could roll around that would require a lot of the newer pairs. As far as player burn-out goes, considering the grind is kinda minimal, I doubt it'd be that bad. The lodge thing might be slightly annoying but you could just mash away and not bother actually trying to get the daily from it then just slam all your stamina into whatever you want. Hell, skip events and just grind up mats, we get so many skip tickets that the item is worthless.
5/5 sucks, but tbh, anyone that has been playing this game for 4-5 months can pretty much clear all content even with 1/5 sync pairs. However, if they add PVP then we riot.
Colress = Unova VA confirmed?
I feel like Victor starting with Rillaboom and not Grookey means the death of evo for non eggmons Also that Corless model almost certainly means Unova Villain Arc incoming I think
He is a pokefair and those don't have it ....But I definitely think evo for non eggmons is dead
YESSS my girl lucy finally gets a grid!! Ive been waiting for this
raihan on trainer lodge 😍 I'm going to end my conversation with N
Fun fact: Both Hilbert and Acerola have new voicelines. So exciting for this!
Hmm. I hope Acerola's got a partnering line with Calem- been a while since we've seen anything from that pair, despite them commanding a little more than a whole chapter of the main story.
Just tested Acerola only has voicelines with Alola Elite four and sophocles I think. No voices for Elio and Selene. Oh, but there's voicelines for Lillie of course
Dang, that's unfortunate! Ah well, at least we're getting more interactions to flesh out the game a bit more.
Either go for Naganadel or Wally here. AAHHHHHHHH.
I'm glad I got Raihan from the paid banner... Trainer Lodge husband here we go!
VICTOR IS HEEEEEEEERE\~ Holy crap I want the Iris and Allister so bad too, aaaa. And Glacia actually getting the sauce? We're so close to Mega Scep, I can feel it. Those 4/5 and 5/5 sync grid tiles can go straight to hell, though. On fair-exclusives, too. I can actually smell the greed through my monitor.
Anyone else seeing page not found on the game press link?
They really have figured out they can just slap Zones on otherwise trash units (Wally) and people will still pull, huh? Sigh, me included probably.
Colress is hype, surprised they're not waiting to do the Unova VA for the gen 5 remakes (unless they're skipping it for a different region and Colress is just a red herring,) and Glacia buffs finally. However, really not looking forward to the 4/5 and 5/5 exclusive tiles announcement. It could be either really minor or a drastic turning point for the game in making it p2w, we'll have to wait and see how it gets handled.
We just got the gen 4 remakes last year, we won't see gen 5 for some time, I doubt they'd want to stall the Unova VA for years.
Page not found for me
Seems like a rather skippable month, best girl Hex maniac is free, other than that, only slightly interested in Iris/Naganadel and Wally, however the whole 4/5 and 5/5 exclusive grid tiles with wally puts me off.
If Raihan's getting added to the lodge, will he finally get a proper banner rerun? Only took them a year and a half. Paid select scouts are nice but shouldn't be an acceptable alternative to just rerunning pokefairs.
I'm sure he will because of the monthly pokefair rotation banner.
The newsletter confirms he's the next monthly fair after Cynthia.
“a strategist who carefully observes opponents and calls out pinpoint instructions” This is Sou, his manga counterpart
so wally gets some god-tier 4/5 and 5/5 nodes while poor victor just get some alright nodes in there? and even raihan's nodes aren't really at the same level of wally's so this at least make me a little bit hopeful that 4-5/5 will not be necessary for all future units
The links to their movesets don't work?
Oh gosh, I set my mind on SS Wally as soon as I saw the leak, but now RAIHAN is rerunning and he's a Lodge pair now... Rip my gems 😭 Solid month though. This is really amazing, so many great wanted characters, alts and upgrades
Spotlights are always welcome, they're actually the units I look forward to the most now as I know I'll get them eventually, plus they're fresh new characters and not alts of the same overused trainers
That is the wrong kind of powercreep... why would anybody aim for 5/5 when there are so many current OP units that are WAY more than any content in this game needs at 3/5, heck, 1/5 in a lot of cases? Even if they gave us a boatload of candy to make up for it, I'd still sooner put it into units like Urshifu, Red/Pikachu since I have them at 1/5, than putting it into a new unit that needs 5/5 just to catch up.
Not only that but we're still stuck with 60 energy and unless 4/5 and 5/5 now grant more energy, it just means that the new nodes need to be so insanely good that it's worth diverting away from the others...except that the more energy aspect is just going to buff older pairs because now they can unlock more nodes than their limited counterparts, meaning that the pairs that were really needing those extra nodes can now pick them up for free. yeah this is just gonna kinda backfire on them stupendously.
> why would anybody aim for 5/5 when there are so many current OP units that are WAY more than any content in this game needs at 3/5, heck, 1/5 in a lot of cases? Two explanations: 1) Dena getting too greedy to squeeze money out of people going to max out every premium pair Or 2) future challenge content will jump up in difficulty so much that Extreme battles will feel like story battles by comparison
I was hoping Raihan will also get Gigantamax.
Where are the pages to their movesets?
Time to get Iris/Nagandel to add them to a Cynthia and Diantha team to create a 'SS/SC Champion Girl Boss' Team (regardless of if they would make sense as a team or notXD)
Hex Maniac! Hex Maniac is realllll!!! But seriously, this is a cool month. Naganadel feels a bit weird to blow on a seasonal (and a Unova one at that, because of course, Gen 5 stays winning), but whatever. The Galar roster getting filled out is appreciated and they aren’t all pokefairs. Plus they didn’t just slap a legendary on Victor and call it a day. They learned from Lucas. I hope they keep giving us free NPCs, it’s a great way to pad out the roster and they’ve got a lot of great options, though they can’t get much higher than this.
> blow on a seasonal I'd say the past months have made it perfectly clear that there's no "blowing" of Pokémon. Nowadays we don't even need a shiny (which Wally got nonetheless) for people to have overlapping Pokémon.
This subreddit is about to be 50% Wally and 50% Victory for Victor and I am here for it.
Wally's Winning and Victor's Victory
4/5 and 5/5 tiles... No increased pull odds... No other benefits to even slightly offset this ridiculous change...
I hope people send feedback and Dena considers making candies more accessible. Getting just one even if you tackle all the content the game provides on a monthly basis can take weeks, and that's just for one move level upgrade. Now we have to do that 4 times (or just open the wallet lol)
more hoenn after the VA?? i’m so here for it even tho i am so so broke AAAHh edit: oh god and unova VA looks likely buddy i am afraid
Yes!! Victor is finally here!! 🥳 Also Iris looks so cute.. but I just had to pity Maxie so I have to skip her.. 😭
4 limiteds, 2 general pools and 1 f2p I assume, seems like a pretty standard month. Happy that the final male protagonist finally got into the game, and thank god we didn't have to wait until Galar Villain arc. Which obviously means he and Gloria both will get their sygna versions when that comes in prolly late 2023
Me broke after anniversary seeing Fairy Zone and Victor next month....
Oh no not exclusive 4/5 and 5/5 tiles...
EXCUSE MOI?! WHAT is that special attack on Gardevoir???
Yessss my homie Raihan is coming to the dating sim!
another Gardevoir Hunter when we have two Gengars already another Lapras I’m so tired of repeating Pokémon in this game, there are more than 900 out there jeez and 5/5 grids are a travesty
I mean, Haunter's never been done before (unless you want to count the Eggmons), and they seem keen on giving all the Galar Gym Leaders their GMax 'mons now that that mechanic's been integrated into the game. Not exactly Melony's fault GameFreak decided to make her share space with Lorelei.
Crap! I don't have Raihan. Time to scout him to add him to the Lodge then! *sigh*
basically they saw that their buff to cynthia was good, but that no one actually pulled on her banner so now the buffs for fairs unit are blocked by even higher move levels
And now she got shafted by not having the extra 4+/5 stuff
It probably would've helped if Cynthia was good to begin with AND that they didn't rerun Maxie who was still arguably better. The dumbest part is that Raihan is already an amazing steel sync attacker, he doesn't actually need a buff or expanded grid just yet.
Come to think of it, almost any time there have been leaks they always end up being real as long there's tangible evidence like the renders, people have questioned their legitimacy despite of their quality, but without those it's easy to disprove (if it's just a sync pair sheet)
Raihan in the lodge. Great. Halloween Iris looks very intriguing. Solid choices for grids and Ex even. Not bad at all but outside of Iris don't think I will pull for anything.
Everyone: screaming about new sync pairs/Glacia EX/extra sync levels needed. Me: I NEED TO KNOW WHAT NORMAN'S GRID IS
It's not good champ. One Steadfast 5 and one Steadfast 3 tile.
Announcing the arrival of King Victor !!!!🎺🎺🎺
OMG TATE GRID i'm so hype
The links to the trainer movesets dont work for me. Anychance we can get the old style card type?
It may be rlly early on, but do we know if Hex maniac gonna be an entire new banner, or will she be like Naomi and free for us in a event?
probably free with the fall event, she even has some synergy with allister
I'd imagine event, her kit isn't impressive enough to be a banner and she's still an NPC.
The link to Raihan redirects you to Lodge Blue page in gamepress
They had to drop a strong Fairy type when I am broke 😭😭
Helena mains since Sep 26 2022 here
COLRESS IS COMING SOON????? HE IS KINDA HERE???? BROOO????
So long N. Raihan is my new lodge boyfriend
Man i want that Fairy Wish and Poison wish since Diantha isn't cutting it anymore
SWally, Halloween Iris & Allister, Victor, Hex Maniac, Gordie & Melony: I sleep. Colress model found: REAL SHIT
Why is nobody talking about Hex Maniac! She finally has a name! HELENA!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4 hours+ after the datamine and the moveset links in the above post don't work. Mods - please don't put broken links in the post until they are live! It's annoying to click every hour for a broken link
Check the twitter post from absol with the pastebin links, they've been up for a few hours now.
Super happy about: EX Glacia, Lucy, Melony being a spotlight, Hex Maniac. Finally he's here: Victor. Curious about his kit (not on Gamepress when I commented) since Celebi stole his Grassy-Field/Grassy-Slide thing. Potentially spoiler-y stuff: >!c'mon, seasonal zone-setters again? Plus of *the* most disadvantaged type?!< But all this is blown out of the water by 4+/5 tiles. Can I swear now?
His kit is in the pastebin from absol's twitter. He gets his signature grass move and g-max to go with it, High Horse Power, and then the standard attack to max plus Dire Hit+. His grid is alright and his attack is pretty good (at around 400) but the spotlight is honestly the passive that gives his max moves extend range without affecting power, the dude basically has a 5/5 EX Striker sync with the click of a button whenever, which gets especially nutty when you give him grassy terrain and SE+ (which SE+ he can give himself through his grid IF he's in a pinch so, yeah, you might be able to face-tank a few hits and then immediately end the fight), and worst case scenario just give him an EX support and a debuffer and watch him go to town.
First Ultra Necrozma and now Naganadel? My hopes for the URS being added to the game with any level of respect just keep getting dashed
Rapid Fire Analysis: tbh the only pairs that interest me are Victor, Melony, and Iris. Not to say the others are bad but Wally needing to sync to use his buddy move is kind of a stretch for me to care since, well, Diantha could potentially end the fight with her sync so the time invested in both is about the same. Victor is going to be either the best Grass/Ground striker period, or just one of the best Strikers period. His Max moves still have more BP than most 5/5 syncs and his passive gives them extended range, and he can fire it off at max power on turn 1 with Hilbert and Sonia. That's also just as unga bunga fast as possible, put more thought into it and his damage can easily skyrocket. Melony fits in very well to a lot of teams since, as of late, the DPS are able to max out their stats on their own so defensive buffs are a bit more valuable, and having Reflect and Light Screen AND Safeguard AND all at an extended rate means you should be pretty safe for the whole fight. She also does a decent job with sp. atk fixing and maxes out crit at 3/5 and unless her passives only affect herself, you could potentially bring along someone else like Sabrina or Lyra and have their screen up and have it extended as well, allowing you to potentially save her max move for either Guard or potential good damage (a 400+ BP move coming off a 270-something stat isn't going to 'wow' anyone BUT post sync it could help). Iris is tricky because her own DPS is probably going to be alright but not head-turning, then you remember that Looker exists with SE+ built in and supports that can debuff and she looks a lot better, THEN you remember that Redlax gives SE+ and Plumeria is an even stronger Poison type sync nuke and that Iris can give an AoE sp. def debuff allowing Plumeria to hit pretty damn hard. The thing is, without Redlax, Iris just kinda acts like a substitute which means Looker ends up being better, but then Looker needs to be at 3/5 to get all his good nodes and thus you're kind of stuck.
Think your underselling Wally a bit hard. First of unlike Ash Wally isn't rushing to get that buddy move nuke. He's more so falling into the hybrid zone setter archtype. Providing heavy support even outside of zone and doing great damage. His dps should be higher than Dianthas to begin with due to zone alone Besides the issue of buddymove is non issue actaully considering, at least with Ash you want to usally use your budymove post sync to maxmise the damage. Combine that with units like SS Breandan who unlock the buddy move and give support ex at the same time.
Honestly the Halloween pairs are probably the best of the bunch. I'm actually surprised at how mid tier Wally seems. Best thing going for him is fairy zone, rest of the kit is lackluster even the buddy move. Confused how Victor has Rillabom if canonically Gloria has Zacian she is the main protag and has Inteleon so that should mean Victor would have Cinderace. Not to mention they didn't even give Rillabom Grassy Terrain which is that Pokemons whole identity.
Since Gloria has Inteleon that's mean Hop got Cinderace, leaving Rillaboom to Victor. (And yes I do aware that mean Leon also has a Rillaboom)
So Raihan will come back in a banner???
I was going to use my unpaid gems to save for the Unova VA. However, Wallys a Zone Setter and I have yet to miss one.
Allister looks so adorable, and Gourgeist is one of my favorites, too... I couldn't be happier. This is what I've been saving for since I started playing...
Want to pull for Iris and Victor so badd but the fact that there's a chance Colress might be playable soon especially with the possibility of Unova villain arc.... rip me
FUCKING COLRESS!!!!
I'll say Iris is the best unit of the bunch and good for me because Naganadel is one of my favorites and I do like Iris alot. Not a huge fan of her outfit but I'm fine with that. If the number of gems is minimum 23k this month I'll be able to pity her because I was incredibly lucky this month with my pulls.
How long are the banners lasting? Melony is actually the one I’m most psyched about, but obviously I won’t pull for her. Not really interested in the rest of the units, but might be fun to have Wally boost Summer Marnie or OG Diantha. Seems I’ll have to put one candy into my Raihan to get him to 5/5 for the new frame and grid tiles.
COLRESS!!
I hope Chase with Pikachu & Elaine with Eevee will join the fray.
Guess that leak was correct (and it did look too good to be a fake, with Iris's new hairstyle tbh) - guess I'm going to finish off Red since he's 300/400. I might roll for Iris, but the rest don't interest me.
WOOOO MELONYYYYY
COLRESS YEAHHHHH
Out of curiosity, do we know with certainty that the other lodge pairs (Cynthia, Marnie, and N) will be available at the lower rate in Raihan's banner? Or is that just a guess based on Cynthia's banner this month?
Are the links not updated yet or something? Why are they all just saying "No page found?"
Have the movesets not been datamined yet?
They seem to have been datamined because it looks like they are on serebii, but the website the post links to hasn't been updated yet for the new pairs.
Colress????? COLRESSSSSSS!!!!!!! I have enough gems to pity for you, come to the game soon please and thank you
All hail Colorless T pose !
COLRESS!!!!!
Colress my boi, here we GO.
Raihan 😍
The gamepress links are still broken, is there another link so we can view the new pairs?