Kingambit’s slow speed is also probably due to the whole line being based on chess, and the King is the “slowest” piece in chess, since you’ll rarely be trying to move it.
I think Garganacl deserves a spot, or an honorable mention at least. It's impossible to kill quickly, has pretty good offensive stats, and ALSO has the sIgnAtuRe aTacK salt cure, which keeps doing damage even after you switch out. It's low speed is low enough for trick room, and on top of salt cure, they decided to let it have iron defense AND body press. This Minecraft golem is very strong and even stronger in trick room, definitely a fitting strength for the saltyest pokemon ever.
yeh, but there are so many that you could forget about some, like theres already both charcadet evilutions, maushold, baxcalibur, annihilape, and countless others
Honestly, it feels like 10 slots just isn’t enough for Scarlet and Violet with the sheer number of great new Pokémon. Aside from The honorable mentions, there’s the incredibly solid tank Garganacl, Espathra with Speed Boost shenanigans, Cyclizar and Orthworm with Shed Tail plus recovery, Clodsire with its nice typing and great abilities, Lokix with Tinted Lens and First Impression plus a surprisingly nice typing and movepool, and of course all three starters. It’s genuinely impressive how many good Pokémon we got this time around.
I'm surprised that Cyclizar wasn't high on this list given how universally useful shed tail + regenerator seems. Also, Choice Band Palafin under rain with water tera is terrifying
The coolest part about Kingambit is that Bisharp now qualifies as an eligible Eviolite holder. I feel as though we will be seeing a lot of that this generation haha
It's really not worth it. You basically trade an item slot, 15 base power on your main stab, and base 10 attack for being middling-slow instead of slow and getting a bit of special bulk. Just use kingambit, it hits much harder and the speed isn't that important for it.
@supersasukemaniac Defiant negating intimidate is more valuable. Supreme Overlord has its uses, but the counter to what is considered to be one of the best abilities and a staple to most teams is too valuable.
Completely agree with Cetitan. It's slowly turning into one of my favorite mons of this gen and definitely one of the most interesting ones. I love how flexible they made it. It's kinda like "swiss army knife" Pokémon. It has absolutely pitiful defences, but due the HP pool (and snow/EV/item support, or even Aura Veil support) it can be deceptively tanky despite that. Even more so with Thick Fat. Its Speed is nothing to write home about, but at the ame time ain't too slow either and it also got Slush Rush making it honestly fairly terrifying in snow. And lastly it's Attack stat is solid... but it also received Sheer Power. ...AND it received Ice-STAB/EQ/Superpower/Play Rough/Heavy Slam and its choice for support moves ain't honestly bad either at all. The only thing holding it back is that it's a mon that in order to excell needs support in order to wreck havoc (need a team around it rather than being able to jump in any team) and on top of it it's also really reliant on snow, hinderingit's team options to begin with. But hy, when it snows it definitely hails. So.. Yeah... I just... really like Cetitan lol. For a mon that looks really simple (and to be fair, it kinda is) it has suprisingly lot of flexibility in its kit. As said, definitely one o the more interesting mons of this gen.
Just want to recognize how awesome the editing is in this video! Combined with the already complete and super well explained information, this is an amazing video Wolfey!
I think you should have also mentioned Tinkaton's abilities. Mold Breaker lets it bypass Inner Focus and flinch with Fake Out, and Own Tempo makes it immune to Intimidate which stops it from being completely invalidated as a damage dealer.
Have the feeling of Amoongus+Palafin being a great option for doubles. Amoongus can basically guarantee a safe switchout for palafin without major consequences for the switched in pokemon itself.
Hey Wolfey! About 8 months ago, I stumbled upon your videos for the first time, having known nothing of doubles VGC and having played little to no competitive Pokémon. I thought you would be proud to know that as of 6:17pm MST 12/8/2022, I reached Masterball tier in Pokémon SV ranked online. Thank you for teaching me how to do something that I've come to really enjoy!
@WolfeyVGC I just want to say that instead of a paradox tier list, I would instead be interested in sets created for a specific paradox pokemon. Either way have a good one and keep battling.
@Verfüncht Earth power is unaffected by grassy terrain. The terrain only halves the damage dealt by Earthquake, Bulldoze and Magnitude. So the coverage it provides is most definitely welcome!
@BestBoy They're not bad, it's just that these are better overall. Kingambit is basically a better houndstone (Last respect might have better damage overall than what supreme overlord provides, but supreme overlord grants way more benefits and is inherently less predictable), Garganacl's typing isn't too great. Skeledirge might be far better than average, but the top tiers are just that great. (I'd guess it'd be within the top 15 range)
I feel the snow to hail buff will greatly help ice types in general. For along time ice has been the 'glass cannon' type with great offensive interactions but too many weaknesses. The defence buff from snow might help ice types live a little longer and make use of their offensive intersections. I feel the only bitter sweet thing is that abomasnw is the only viable snow setter currently in the game with, Ninetails, Aurorus and vaniluxe not being in the game yet. hopefully when/if the Pokédex is expanded to include Alolan ninetails and other previously 'ok' ice types we can see how great the buff actually makes the type :) which I'm super excited for, ice has been my favourite type forever and I'm excited to see so many ice types already in the list and the potential for a lot more when snowscape is truly tested :)
Palafin also combos very well with Killowattrel! In my playthrough I would lead Palafin in important battles, Flip Turn out to Kilowattrel, and then use Tailwind. Kilowattrel has an ability that boosts the power of its electric type moves when its hit by a wind attack, and its own Tailwind activates this. From there I used its boosted speed and electric power to destroy with Electroball and/or to let it get a quick Volt Switch and bring out a tailwind boosted Palafin
One very big thing to note about cetitan is that it’s actually the fastest slush rush user we’ve ever seen! This Pokémon has tonnes of potential alongside belly drum, very excited to see how it plays
Another note about Kingambit: In single battles, it can get up to a 50% Attack boost if the rest of the team has fainted, meaning you effectively have a Choice Band without the move restriction
@Vinicius I think the fact that so many pseudo-legendaries are still top tier proves that the power creep isn't as insane as you're saying it is. A lot of the new pokemon are very strong, don't get me wrong, but their strength lies in gimmicks or setups involving weather/items, they're not just straight up overpowered.
I believe Kingambit keeps track of every time a mon is KO'ed so using Revival Blessing or (when applicable) Revives can further build up its power. Same for Last Respects.
espathra could see some usage. having the ability speed boost is already quite decent, paired with calm mind/protect/stored power/lumina crash could be insane.
Nice video! It was cool hearing all your thoughts. I will say; you mentioned Arboliva transforming into a fire type for defensive typings, but there's one type that works perfectly with its abilities, making it a defensive tank: good old electric. It's one weakness is ground type, but seed sower halves the power of Earthquake which basically negates its weakness when you consider its special defense. To be perfectly fair, I haven't brought this to any doubles battles where EQ is less common than High Horsepower, but it's still a fun gimmick that makes the olive indestructible in singles.
Thought there would also be a mention of Armarouge and Ceruledge having Weak Armor as an ability. I've already seen Armarouge in particular get its sharp boost in speed and start deleting mons before they can act with Armor Cannon and Expanding Force while in Psychic Terrain. I've also seen people trigger it alongside a Weakness Policy by targeting it with stuff like their ally Pokemon's Aqua Jet.
After testing Ceruledge a whole lot and really spending time on coming up with my own way of playing it, I got to say you are correct, Ceruledge is the stronger one of the two. I have also used Armarouge and it really doesn't have the same staying power.
I want to mention that according to others, rage fist's boosts stay even after swithcing out and back in. AND when it dies and is revives*this i know personally because i use him for super simple 6* raids*. And it gets taunt, so you can force enemies to use attacking moves instead of enemies trying to use status moves to debuff it before attacking it. And bulk up for tanking more physical damage and boosting its own damage even more. If its not clear, im a undead monkey enthusiast.
I'm curious to see if mold breaker will be on teams to bypass good as gold...dunno if it'd be necessary...but it'll be interesting to see how the meta shifts with these new mons
a great combo i like to use is flip turn palafin, bring out cyclazar, use the move Shed Tail to sent out palafin's hero mode with a substitute meat shield
Hey Wolfey, great vid I really enjoyed watching it. As a player looking to get into VGC this year I was wondering if you ever thought about making a video on how you take notes during a tournament? I have little to no tournament experience and have no idea how to take notes. So obviously I was wondering if a world champ could help.
Great content and great list from a poké master! I agree with your list… I’m no where near as good as you and this might have been mentioned in another comment… but what about orthworm and the ground eating ability? Can use earthquake to heal him and do damage… just not sure how viable that really would be in a comp team though… I also typed this all up to see if you really do read all the comments as well 😂
One of the things to mention regarding Goldengho's ability that does bring it down to earth slightly is that it also cannot be affected by your teammate's positive status moves, either. For example, you cannot use Heal Pulse or Helping Hand on it.
I'm kind of surprised that you didn't mention Tinkaton's abilities (Own Tempo makes it immune to Intimidate, and Mold Breaker is Mold Breaker) or her excellent support movepool beyond Fake Out (Helping Hand, Thunder Wave, Encore, Flatter, Quash, both screens, etc). It's probably a good thing that she doesn't get Follow Me, she'd be way too busted with it I love my small gremlin child and definitely plan to save a spot for her in any VGC team I put together during Gen IX
I disagree that Dondozo is unremarkable on its own. It has amazing stats and one of the best abilities in the game. Imo Tatsugiri Commander is more of a gimmick, but Dondozo will stick around as a very solid wall.
Garganacl is seeing a lot of usage too. It's bulk it's good, it's signature ability makes him immune to status condition and resistant to ghost, while it's signature move forces switches and deals a ton o passive damage. Furhermore, it has access to body press alongside with 130 base defense stat and iron defense, making him also an offensive threat
Kowtow is a Japanese derived term for getting on your hands and knees in a subservient bow. Except in Kingambit's case he's pretending to bow so he can just slice things with his sword head. Hence where the dark typing comes in. It's a genius naming scheme. Also, could you stack supreme overlord more using revival blessing to bring back a party member and have it faint again.
Honestly been playing through a nuzlocke before I start extensively looking at VGC for this game. Your videos have given me so many ideas for team combos and this one might have solidified my dream team. Thanks for all the research and thoughts you've put into these!
Hey Wolfey. Loving the video. Really informative and I really appreciate the editors notes and explanations on screen. It makes it easier to understand and more accessible. Great content
I've seen your shorts before and really enjoyed them but this is the first long form videos and I love the animations and graphics. Definitely deserving of a sub! Can't wait to see more in the future.
I just thought about it, Bisharp is still busted now that it can use the Eviolite to boost it's defenses so Bisharp can be much more bulky then it was.
@kefkapalazzo1 They also said that they were underrated which would make no sense for a walkthrough. This paired with beeing a comment on a video comparing the top dogs of competitive pkmn implies theyre reasoning that with the fact, that they used them in their journey.
Thank you Wolfey, I have a friend who tends to beat the story mode way faster than me and thus has access to the legionaries before me when he challenges me, so your videos always give me some ideas to work around this
if your goal is to make vgc accessible, you’re doing great. between you and false swipe gaming i learn a lot. also, u think you’d maybe do a video about which pokémon are best for the main game?
to be honest I think houndstone should earn a spot, although its stats are somewhat underwhelming, as long as it's pared with a pokmon that has sand stream or can set up sandstorm, it can be very fast and use last respects which doubles in power the more party members are fainted. And it even has coverage moves like play rough and supportive moves like yawn.
I’m glad Maushold got an honorable mention but it still should be said that its second signature ability shouldn’t be overlooked and is probably one of the main reasons it’s a sweeper. Tidy Up is so insane.
@Alice Butlerfor me if someone use shed tail to cover their sweeper, then tidy up will come in handy to eliminate that subtitute, so it's still a little bit usefull in double, especially when cyclizar is used quite a lot in double battle now
@karetsu889 he almost never covers singles content, probably because he doesn’t have much experience in it. I’ve done pretty ok on the doubles ladder (2000ish) for the past 6 months or so, I tried singles once with my same team and got absolutely obliterated
I've been wondering whether the fact that Cetitan learns Helping Hand suggests that one could "flip the script" on the Abomasnow + Cetitan lead, and have an offensively trained Abomasnow immediately go for helping hand boosted attacks.
Annihilape also has access to the move endure which can guarantee Rage Fist to become stronger. the only drawback to it though is that endure becomes less accurate every time you use it, but with it's somewhat decent speed spat, you could potentially sweep with it.
The reason Kingambit signature move is called Kowtow Cleave is because in it's animation it puts it's head against the ground in the process cleaving whatever is in the way. Kowtowing is a form of showing extreme respect by bowing on the ground with your forehead against the ground.
Imagine Arceus gaining a Divine Forme through a Divine Tablet where the pieces of the tablet can be found like a treasure mission to a new storyline of a new Pokemon game. Upon completing the tablet and exposing arceus to it could transform him into divine forme and gaining the Ability Absolute Deity where upon entering the battle field, regardless of status change all stats are neutralized on all the pokemon inside the battlefield while the user ups all its stats to one stage while removing its weakness typing. I mean this is me trying to say they need to at least improve arceus he's just being left out with all these new OP pokemon and their new abilities
I think Farigiraf deserves a spot on the list too. Stab Hyper Voice, awesome supportive movepool and insane ability in armor tail. :) It's an amazing support mon.
i feel like there is a lot to say about gholdengol’s (the gold cheese stick) ability to block hazard clearing. you can’t rapid spin OR defog because ghost typing and his ability. furthermore, the ONLY move that can clear hazards against it is tidy up from mousehold and he learns good fighting moves to one hit it. pair it with that weird poison rock thing and you got like crazy hazards all game
I feel that any electric Tera type pokemon is pretty good but my best guesses would be Hydreigon and Mismagius because they have Levitate so no weaknesses and they are both relatively strong.
Your videos and your new mons have inspired me to play some doubles in showdown and try to get a good team going (But no paradox mons and legends cuz cringe) do you know any place where i can find people as good as you to challenge?
I find it hard to believe that kowtow cleave never misses. I get that they attack after pretending to surrender, but I’d be a bit skeptical if they did that right after the trainer yells out “USE KOWTOW CLEAVE!!!” Kind of a big giveaway…
15:09 Good as gold is even better on shingles, since it blocks defog, and since its typing blocks rapid/mortan spin makes hard to get rid of hazards, good thing it doesn't have follow me
Tinkaton also benefits from having its ability be Own Tempo, do you can team it up with, I dunno, Swagger Grimmsnarl, and gain a Swords Dance boost on a set like AV.
Wolfey, Another buff for Maushold is the King's Rock as using population bomb can also now have a chance to flinch. Some people have already tried this strat out and it has the potential to sweep teams
Wolfey! I remember you being perplexed at how bad scovillain's signature spicy extract was, but I think it might be worth a second thought, albeit it's still arguably a pretty bad move. Let me explain, if you pair up scovillain with kingambit (or any defiant Pokémon) spicy extract can give them a +4 attack boost! At almost no cost to you!, now pair that up with flamigo in the back and you're cooking with gas. Not to mention Scovillain's typing give it some good versatility, and having a fire tipe that can deal with ground types and water types is always nice Hope you find this combo interesting, and I look forward to seeing it being used in the future :)
A bit surprised Pawmot isn’t here. Good typing, attack and speed with a great physical electric move and good coverage moves makes it a good physical sweeper. It also has 3 good abilities and revival blessing which seems busted
Although not related to the video, eviolite primeape will be seeing some play for sure. Primarily because it also gets rage fist, and has a higher speed stat than annihilape with only I believe 10 less attack. And yeah yeah it's HP stat is low, the damage counter on Rage Fist does not get reset upon fainting. Pawmot and Rabsca's revival blessing does *NOT* reset the damage counter when annihalape and primeape get revived Meaning: Both Eviolite Primape and Annihilape both can be swapped in and tank as many hits as possible (or use Maushold's bullet seed in doubles) to knock them out. Upon being revived, they both have a 300 base stat attack. So we have a moderately bulky 95 base speed and 105 base attack, both respectable, with a spammable base 300 power move that hits the majority of pokemon for neutral damage. And we ALSO have a bulky base 90 speed and 115 attack pokemon to do the same thing Annihilape will be banned at some point. Or revival blessing will be banned. Regardless, if annihilape gets banned the you have primeape eviolite as a backup. Yeah annihilape can run choice scarf and just spam the move, which primeape cannot, but a 95 base speed stat is fast enough that with sticky web and/or string shot/icy wind will make primeape faster than the almost every single pokemon. Terrifying pokemon. Everyone flipped about Houndstone, but I said since day 1 that annihilape and eviolite primeape are a THREAT
@wolfey, how come you didn't mention Arboliva's signature move? - Terrain Pulse - which she can pull off rather easily for 100 power grass move... also in a sun team she can dish a lot of fire damage under sun with her *defensive* fire tera, as she has access to Weather Ball and Solar Beam.. it looks like people sleep on this mon.. some doesn't even consider it viable... do you think it has competitive value or real testing show it doesn't preform so well?
I'm slowly getting more and more into competitive pokemon and these videos have been a massive help. A video that I would like to see (unless you already done it if so then don't worry about it) is a video that is like a guide to make a competitive team, like what roles we would need to consider, what pokemon could fill those roles, etc etc. I think it'd be really cool and can't see what other videos the world champ has in store for us.
I would also appreciate this, I've wanted to get into competitive for a while but it always seemed daunting. With the combination of all the QOL changes in Scarlet and Violet+Wolfey being incredible at making stuff that sounds really complicated easy to understand I think I might actually put some work in this gen.
I've got 3 of these on my Violet playthrough team: Tinkaton (named Menace) running Gigaton Hammer, Bulldoze, Rock Smash and Play Rough, Ceruledge (named Warrior) running Bitter Blade, Brick Break, Psycho Cut and Phantom Force and Baxcaliber (named Saphira) running Glaive Rush, Ice Shard, Bite and Aerial Ace (I haven't found the Crunch TM yet but will be teaching it that when I can). I also had a Palafin at one point (named Flipper) running Focus Punch, Flip Turn, Astonish and Acrobatics
Don't forget Good as Gold stops people from defogging on you. Couple that with Ghost/Steel blocking Rapid Spin and Mortal Spin and you got basically the perfect way to guarantee hazards stay up.
Thank you sm for helping to develop the vgc community! These videos are super helpful! I was wondering if you would do more videos where you would take an in depth look into specific new pokemon like you did when swsh came out. Those were the videos (the duraladon one specifically lol) that introduced me to your channel and really got me interested in vgc because I was able to find the specific new pokemon that I wanted to use. I also liked how you would explore the pokemon live in the video because it gave a sense of what traits to look for when choosing a pokemon, what pokemon might complement it on the same team, and just generally made me a better teambuilder. I can't wait to see what you do in the future!
I really hope to see Scovillain make some numbers. Its stat spread is weird but if Sun ends up being good, especially with Protosynthesis mons, it'll be so fast and quite powerful
Great explanation and list tbh, I'm a little surprised baxcalibur got such a fast explanation, I'm still trying to figure out why he's so high on the list when that typing really hinders it
I was glad to see Arboliva on here. I caught a Tera Poison Smoliv early on in my playthrough and Arboliva ended up being one of my best Pokemon. I like it a lot.
dondozo and tatsugiri get countered by torkoal, surprisingly. torkoal can erase the dondozo buff w/ clear smog and lowers its water attacks with drought, not to mention torkoal's access to solar beam
![Google Panics Over ChatGPT [The AI Wars Have Begun]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Nh5i5obZ8OY/mqdefault.jpg)
Kingambit’s slow speed is also probably due to the whole line being based on chess, and the King is the “slowest” piece in chess, since you’ll rarely be trying to move it.
@Sonicboom5058Corviking would be an amazing name for a chess based viking evo
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I think Garganacl deserves a spot, or an honorable mention at least. It's impossible to kill quickly, has pretty good offensive stats, and ALSO has the sIgnAtuRe aTacK salt cure, which keeps doing damage even after you switch out. It's low speed is low enough for trick room, and on top of salt cure, they decided to let it have iron defense AND body press. This Minecraft golem is very strong and even stronger in trick room, definitely a fitting strength for the saltyest pokemon ever.
They took stonjourner and made it good
@Thomas Hart Benton The downside:
Did you know
yeh, but there are so many that you could forget about some, like theres already both charcadet evilutions, maushold, baxcalibur, annihilape, and countless others
And it has a broken ability as well. Not only makes it imune to all status effects it makes it resistance against ghost attacks as well.
Agreed i think it might even end up as top 5 non legendaries
Honestly, it feels like 10 slots just isn’t enough for Scarlet and Violet with the sheer number of great new Pokémon. Aside from
The honorable mentions, there’s the incredibly solid tank Garganacl, Espathra with Speed Boost shenanigans, Cyclizar and Orthworm with Shed Tail plus recovery, Clodsire with its nice typing and great abilities, Lokix with Tinted Lens and First Impression plus a surprisingly nice typing and movepool, and of course all three starters. It’s genuinely impressive how many good Pokémon we got this time around.
He didn't mention any of the paradox pokemon, which all are pretty overpowered because of protosynthesis/quark drive
I'm surprised that Cyclizar wasn't high on this list given how universally useful shed tail + regenerator seems. Also, Choice Band Palafin under rain with water tera is terrifying
@Andromeda Playz its like carbink
@Andromeda Playz I thought it was a pre evo too lmao.
@LazurBeemz thought it was a legendary as it looked like a pre evolution of miriadon koriadon .
I yet have to play sv. 😅
@Andromeda Playz it's not legendary. It's not on the list since VGC is doubles
also, about palafin, Gastrodon exists, the sea slug gives a shit if you carry 2 or more water moves
0:31 10. Cetitan
2:07 9. Arboliva
3:49 8. Tinkaton
5:23 7. Armarouge
7:23 6. Ceruledge
9:29 5. Kingambit
12:52 4. Gholdengo
15:32 3. Baxcalibur
17:03 2. Annihilape
19:05 Honorable Mention. Tatsugiri + Dondozo
19:34 Honorable Mention 2. Maushold
20:20 1. Palafin
The coolest part about Kingambit is that Bisharp now qualifies as an eligible Eviolite holder. I feel as though we will be seeing a lot of that this generation haha
It's really not worth it. You basically trade an item slot, 15 base power on your main stab, and base 10 attack for being middling-slow instead of slow and getting a bit of special bulk. Just use kingambit, it hits much harder and the speed isn't that important for it.
@Bryce Pruitt You could be right.
@Bryce Pruitt Are you using fan made rules or something?
@supersasukemaniac Defiant negating intimidate is more valuable. Supreme Overlord has its uses, but the counter to what is considered to be one of the best abilities and a staple to most teams is too valuable.
Hahaha, no. No you wont.
I love how Wolfey always plugs his championship style in a wink-wink nudge-nudge that doesn’t feel forced at all hahahaha Always makes me laugh!
I feel like Houndstone deserved a spot. Even though it has poor stats, it has an amazing signature move.
choice scarf last respects go brrr (its technically worse than Annihilape's rage fist is why it prob didnt make it)
Completely agree with Cetitan. It's slowly turning into one of my favorite mons of this gen and definitely one of the most interesting ones. I love how flexible they made it. It's kinda like "swiss army knife" Pokémon.
It has absolutely pitiful defences, but due the HP pool (and snow/EV/item support, or even Aura Veil support) it can be deceptively tanky despite that. Even more so with Thick Fat.
Its Speed is nothing to write home about, but at the ame time ain't too slow either and it also got Slush Rush making it honestly fairly terrifying in snow.
And lastly it's Attack stat is solid... but it also received Sheer Power. ...AND it received Ice-STAB/EQ/Superpower/Play Rough/Heavy Slam and its choice for support moves ain't honestly bad either at all.
The only thing holding it back is that it's a mon that in order to excell needs support in order to wreck havoc (need a team around it rather than being able to jump in any team) and on top of it it's also really reliant on snow, hinderingit's team options to begin with. But hy, when it snows it definitely hails.
So.. Yeah... I just... really like Cetitan lol.
For a mon that looks really simple (and to be fair, it kinda is) it has suprisingly lot of flexibility in its kit.
As said, definitely one o the more interesting mons of this gen.
Just want to recognize how awesome the editing is in this video! Combined with the already complete and super well explained information, this is an amazing video Wolfey!
To be honest, the starters should have also gotten their own honorable mention, as all three have some great sweeping potenial.
Quauqaval isn't nearly as good as Skeledirge or Meowscarada, but i agree they should've been mentioned.
I think you should have also mentioned Tinkaton's abilities. Mold Breaker lets it bypass Inner Focus and flinch with Fake Out, and Own Tempo makes it immune to Intimidate which stops it from being completely invalidated as a damage dealer.
@Salty Cabbage Whoops. I meant Own Tempo. Both of them got buffed to block Intimidate in Gen 8.
It doesn’t get Oblivious though
Have the feeling of Amoongus+Palafin being a great option for doubles. Amoongus can basically guarantee a safe switchout for palafin without major consequences for the switched in pokemon itself.
Hey Wolfey! About 8 months ago, I stumbled upon your videos for the first time, having known nothing of doubles VGC and having played little to no competitive Pokémon. I thought you would be proud to know that as of 6:17pm MST 12/8/2022, I reached Masterball tier in Pokémon SV ranked online. Thank you for teaching me how to do something that I've come to really enjoy!
Wolfey: I haven't had time to test Dondozo and Tatsugiri extensively.
Also Wolfey: Gets rank 1 with Dondozo and Tatsugiri
@WolfeyVGC I knw right
@WolfeyVGC I just want to say that instead of a paradox tier list, I would instead be interested in sets created for a specific paradox pokemon. Either way have a good one and keep battling.
@Verfüncht Earth power is unaffected by grassy terrain. The terrain only halves the damage dealt by Earthquake, Bulldoze and Magnitude. So the coverage it provides is most definitely welcome!
@BestBoy They're not bad, it's just that these are better overall. Kingambit is basically a better houndstone (Last respect might have better damage overall than what supreme overlord provides, but supreme overlord grants way more benefits and is inherently less predictable), Garganacl's typing isn't too great. Skeledirge might be far better than average, but the top tiers are just that great. (I'd guess it'd be within the top 15 range)
@edmg7 One of the reasons why murkrow is popping up in many teams (prankster haze).
I feel the snow to hail buff will greatly help ice types in general. For along time ice has been the 'glass cannon' type with great offensive interactions but too many weaknesses. The defence buff from snow might help ice types live a little longer and make use of their offensive intersections. I feel the only bitter sweet thing is that abomasnw is the only viable snow setter currently in the game with, Ninetails, Aurorus and vaniluxe not being in the game yet. hopefully when/if the Pokédex is expanded to include Alolan ninetails and other previously 'ok' ice types we can see how great the buff actually makes the type :) which I'm super excited for, ice has been my favourite type forever and I'm excited to see so many ice types already in the list and the potential for a lot more when snowscape is truly tested :)
Palafin also combos very well with Killowattrel!
In my playthrough I would lead Palafin in important battles, Flip Turn out to Kilowattrel, and then use Tailwind. Kilowattrel has an ability that boosts the power of its electric type moves when its hit by a wind attack, and its own Tailwind activates this. From there I used its boosted speed and electric power to destroy with Electroball and/or to let it get a quick Volt Switch and bring out a tailwind boosted Palafin
One very big thing to note about cetitan is that it’s actually the fastest slush rush user we’ve ever seen! This Pokémon has tonnes of potential alongside belly drum, very excited to see how it plays
I love giving palafin the punch glove item that increases punch move damage with jet punch, drain punch, and ice punch
Another note about Kingambit: In single battles, it can get up to a 50% Attack boost if the rest of the team has fainted, meaning you effectively have a Choice Band without the move restriction
@Vinicius for vgc, paradox mons aren’t even allowed
@Vinicius I think the fact that so many pseudo-legendaries are still top tier proves that the power creep isn't as insane as you're saying it is. A lot of the new pokemon are very strong, don't get me wrong, but their strength lies in gimmicks or setups involving weather/items, they're not just straight up overpowered.
@Toby MacDonald didn't the ghost dog get banned it like 3 days
@Vinicius and this why they shouldn't have nerf tabks to oblivion
I believe Kingambit keeps track of every time a mon is KO'ed so using Revival Blessing or (when applicable) Revives can further build up its power. Same for Last Respects.
They introduced some amazing pokemon for the competive scene! It's nice to see.
espathra could see some usage. having the ability speed boost is already quite decent, paired with calm mind/protect/stored power/lumina crash could be insane.
Nice video! It was cool hearing all your thoughts. I will say; you mentioned Arboliva transforming into a fire type for defensive typings, but there's one type that works perfectly with its abilities, making it a defensive tank: good old electric.
It's one weakness is ground type, but seed sower halves the power of Earthquake which basically negates its weakness when you consider its special defense. To be perfectly fair, I haven't brought this to any doubles battles where EQ is less common than High Horsepower, but it's still a fun gimmick that makes the olive indestructible in singles.
Thought there would also be a mention of Armarouge and Ceruledge having Weak Armor as an ability. I've already seen Armarouge in particular get its sharp boost in speed and start deleting mons before they can act with Armor Cannon and Expanding Force while in Psychic Terrain. I've also seen people trigger it alongside a Weakness Policy by targeting it with stuff like their ally Pokemon's Aqua Jet.
I might have made an honorable mention to pawmot. That revival ability is frightening powerful
After testing Ceruledge a whole lot and really spending time on coming up with my own way of playing it, I got to say you are correct, Ceruledge is the stronger one of the two. I have also used Armarouge and it really doesn't have the same staying power.
I want to mention that according to others, rage fist's boosts stay even after swithcing out and back in. AND when it dies and is revives*this i know personally because i use him for super simple 6* raids*. And it gets taunt, so you can force enemies to use attacking moves instead of enemies trying to use status moves to debuff it before attacking it. And bulk up for tanking more physical damage and boosting its own damage even more.
If its not clear, im a undead monkey enthusiast.
I'm curious to see if mold breaker will be on teams to bypass good as gold...dunno if it'd be necessary...but it'll be interesting to see how the meta shifts with these new mons
I love KingGambit, however when playing with it I wonder weather Eviolite Bisharp is more useful in some situations.
a great combo i like to use is flip turn palafin, bring out cyclazar, use the move Shed Tail to sent out palafin's hero mode with a substitute meat shield
Hey Wolfey, great vid I really enjoyed watching it. As a player looking to get into VGC this year I was wondering if you ever thought about making a video on how you take notes during a tournament? I have little to no tournament experience and have no idea how to take notes. So obviously I was wondering if a world champ could help.
Great content and great list from a poké master! I agree with your list… I’m no where near as good as you and this might have been mentioned in another comment… but what about orthworm and the ground eating ability? Can use earthquake to heal him and do damage… just not sure how viable that really would be in a comp team though… I also typed this all up to see if you really do read all the comments as well 😂
One of the things to mention regarding Goldengho's ability that does bring it down to earth slightly is that it also cannot be affected by your teammate's positive status moves, either. For example, you cannot use Heal Pulse or Helping Hand on it.
I’m so excited about Palafin, it was the first shiny I farmed for
Houndstone is a good contender with its signature move that starts at 50 base and increases by 50 with each dead teammate
I'm kind of surprised that you didn't mention Tinkaton's abilities (Own Tempo makes it immune to Intimidate, and Mold Breaker is Mold Breaker) or her excellent support movepool beyond Fake Out (Helping Hand, Thunder Wave, Encore, Flatter, Quash, both screens, etc). It's probably a good thing that she doesn't get Follow Me, she'd be way too busted with it
I love my small gremlin child and definitely plan to save a spot for her in any VGC team I put together during Gen IX
I disagree that Dondozo is unremarkable on its own. It has amazing stats and one of the best abilities in the game. Imo Tatsugiri Commander is more of a gimmick, but Dondozo will stick around as a very solid wall.
Garganacl is seeing a lot of usage too. It's bulk it's good, it's signature ability makes him immune to status condition and resistant to ghost, while it's signature move forces switches and deals a ton o passive damage. Furhermore, it has access to body press alongside with 130 base defense stat and iron defense, making him also an offensive threat
Ghost type garganacl is only weak to dark
@JayC aside from recover, its bulk is honestly average for a bulky rock type. It’s got around the same stats as coalossal and gigalith
I mostly like how its design is something Minecraft would have.
Thank you for bringing up Garganacl; I’ve been wondering that.
Its disgustingly bulky.
Great video Wolfey!
Curious about what you think of Clodsire (with Water Absorb) and Garganacl?
Kowtow is a Japanese derived term for getting on your hands and knees in a subservient bow. Except in Kingambit's case he's pretending to bow so he can just slice things with his sword head. Hence where the dark typing comes in. It's a genius naming scheme.
Also, could you stack supreme overlord more using revival blessing to bring back a party member and have it faint again.
How good would you rate Dudunsparce? I know you ranked his signature move S/S+, but what about the whole package?
And as always, great videos!
Honestly been playing through a nuzlocke before I start extensively looking at VGC for this game. Your videos have given me so many ideas for team combos and this one might have solidified my dream team. Thanks for all the research and thoughts you've put into these!
Hey Wolfey. Loving the video. Really informative and I really appreciate the editors notes and explanations on screen. It makes it easier to understand and more accessible. Great content
I've seen your shorts before and really enjoyed them but this is the first long form videos and I love the animations and graphics. Definitely deserving of a sub! Can't wait to see more in the future.
Very solid Generation of New Pokemon this time around, it feels like everything has something viable about them
First video of yours I've watched. Really informative and well laid out for competitive newbies. I'll subscribe 👍
I just thought about it, Bisharp is still busted now that it can use the Eviolite to boost it's defenses so Bisharp can be much more bulky then it was.
Flamigo and Cyclizar are very underrated. Caught them at the beginning of the game and they remained permanent team memebers throughout my journey.
@UltimaKrecia I forget most Pokémon fans are much younger than me so I can’t expect a much better response than that lmao
@kefkapalazzo1 They also said that they were underrated which would make no sense for a walkthrough. This paired with beeing a comment on a video comparing the top dogs of competitive pkmn implies theyre reasoning that with the fact, that they used them in their journey.
@Zack Ying Normal is hardly bad typing. Boring yes, but 1 immunity for 1 weakness, and hits nearly everything for normal damage, is ok.
@Sirmel11 the original comment literally says “they remained team members throughout my journey”
@kefkapalazzo1 People are talking about competitive, not regular gameplay.
a small downside of good as gold (gholdengo's ability) is that they are also immune to teammates status like helping hand and healung pulse
Thank you Wolfey, I have a friend who tends to beat the story mode way faster than me and thus has access to the legionaries before me when he challenges me, so your videos always give me some ideas to work around this
And the event-only musical Pokémon
My favourite type of Pokémon, Roman legionaries
if your goal is to make vgc accessible, you’re doing great. between you and false swipe gaming i learn a lot. also, u think you’d maybe do a video about which pokémon are best for the main game?
to be honest I think houndstone should earn a spot, although its stats are somewhat underwhelming, as long as it's pared with a pokmon that has sand stream or can set up sandstorm, it can be very fast and use last respects which doubles in power the more party members are fainted. And it even has coverage moves like play rough and supportive moves like yawn.
I’m glad Maushold got an honorable mention but it still should be said that its second signature ability shouldn’t be overlooked and is probably one of the main reasons it’s a sweeper. Tidy Up is so insane.
@Alice Butlerfor me if someone use shed tail to cover their sweeper, then tidy up will come in handy to eliminate that subtitute, so it's still a little bit usefull in double, especially when cyclizar is used quite a lot in double battle now
@Toby MacDonald It's a different field. I'm a singles player, and I got destroyed when I tried 2v2
@karetsu889 he almost never covers singles content, probably because he doesn’t have much experience in it. I’ve done pretty ok on the doubles ladder (2000ish) for the past 6 months or so, I tried singles once with my same team and got absolutely obliterated
@Alice Butler Ahh ok. I thought he may also been including Smogon as well considering he used Showdown footage. Tho I do know he's primarily VGC.
Wolfe is a doubles player, and Tidy Up isn't really useful in doubles since hazards are non existent
I've been wondering whether the fact that Cetitan learns Helping Hand suggests that one could "flip the script" on the Abomasnow + Cetitan lead, and have an offensively trained Abomasnow immediately go for helping hand boosted attacks.
Annihilape also has access to the move endure which can guarantee Rage Fist to become stronger. the only drawback to it though is that endure becomes less accurate every time you use it, but with it's somewhat decent speed spat, you could potentially sweep with it.
As I write this comment this is currently trending at #3. I’m so proud how far WolfeyVGC has came in his KZclip journey. Keep up the great work wolfy!
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Armarouge carried me through about 2 and 1/2 gyms. A psychic attack then spamming armor cannon is great.
The reason Kingambit signature move is called Kowtow Cleave is because in it's animation it puts it's head against the ground in the process cleaving whatever is in the way. Kowtowing is a form of showing extreme respect by bowing on the ground with your forehead against the ground.
Kingambit also has a big cake when using it
it's dogeza
orz
Well that's not very respectful of him, is it now
@Simeon Washington Dogeza is based off the Chinese custom of the kowtow, a highly ritualized submission to the Emperor.
Looking at it on Bulbapedia, its French name is "Genusection", as in genuflect + section. I love it.
Proud of you Wolfey, congrats on trending!
Imagine Arceus gaining a Divine Forme through a Divine Tablet where the pieces of the tablet can be found like a treasure mission to a new storyline of a new Pokemon game.
Upon completing the tablet and exposing arceus to it could transform him into divine forme and gaining the Ability Absolute Deity where upon entering the battle field, regardless of status change all stats are neutralized on all the pokemon inside the battlefield while the user ups all its stats to one stage while removing its weakness typing. I mean this is me trying to say they need to at least improve arceus he's just being left out with all these new OP pokemon and their new abilities
I absolutely love Annillape, my favorite mon by far
I think Farigiraf deserves a spot on the list too. Stab Hyper Voice, awesome supportive movepool and insane ability in armor tail. :) It's an amazing support mon.
i feel like there is a lot to say about gholdengol’s (the gold cheese stick) ability to block hazard clearing. you can’t rapid spin OR defog because ghost typing and his ability. furthermore, the ONLY move that can clear hazards against it is tidy up from mousehold and he learns good fighting moves to one hit it. pair it with that weird poison rock thing and you got like crazy hazards all game
I feel that any electric Tera type pokemon is pretty good but my best guesses would be Hydreigon and Mismagius because they have Levitate so no weaknesses and they are both relatively strong.
I would love your thoughts about ursaring, bisharp, and stantler all having access to eviolite now
Im so happy to see tinkaton on this list, literally my favorite pokemon when i first played through the game. its so good
Tinkaton with any sort of attack boost is scary
Tinkaton: Ayo can I get some attack
Gamefreak: Only a spoonful
*pulls out comically large hammer*
@Rapisushin oh LMAO
Nothing is more funny then smacking enemies with a comically large sized hammer.
@Ankit Sai Kumar I use Corviknight over Murkrow :) I like Corviknight too
Thanka for putting Tinkaron on the list. 75 base atk was neccessary to balance the amazing typing and signature move of that mon
Your videos and your new mons have inspired me to play some doubles in showdown and try to get a good team going (But no paradox mons and legends cuz cringe) do you know any place where i can find people as good as you to challenge?
I find it hard to believe that kowtow cleave never misses. I get that they attack after pretending to surrender, but I’d be a bit skeptical if they did that right after the trainer yells out “USE KOWTOW CLEAVE!!!”
Kind of a big giveaway…
Can't wait for the review of the paradox forms.
Keep the gen 9 content going fam love the videos
These are helping a lot in competitive and just straight up fun to watch 😉
15:09 Good as gold is even better on shingles, since it blocks defog, and since its typing blocks rapid/mortan spin makes hard to get rid of hazards, good thing it doesn't have follow me
I kinda wished Palfin turned into a water / fighting type in hero mode. Sure pure water is more defense but getting stab on close combat would be nice
Tinkaton also benefits from having its ability be Own Tempo, do you can team it up with, I dunno, Swagger Grimmsnarl, and gain a Swords Dance boost on a set like AV.
Fun fact: There's an item that allows abilities like slush rush work without the weather active
Wolfey, Another buff for Maushold is the King's Rock as using population bomb can also now have a chance to flinch. Some people have already tried this strat out and it has the potential to sweep teams
@Enjinercraft True
Kings rock is for support cause you will nearly never hit all 10 times, wide lens give you an over 90% chance go hit all 10 times in a row
I'm so glad Tinkaton is super strong, easily my favorite (non-paradox) pokemon this generation
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Wolfey! I remember you being perplexed at how bad scovillain's signature spicy extract was, but I think it might be worth a second thought, albeit it's still arguably a pretty bad move. Let me explain, if you pair up scovillain with kingambit (or any defiant Pokémon) spicy extract can give them a +4 attack boost! At almost no cost to you!, now pair that up with flamigo in the back and you're cooking with gas. Not to mention Scovillain's typing give it some good versatility, and having a fire tipe that can deal with ground types and water types is always nice
Hope you find this combo interesting, and I look forward to seeing it being used in the future :)
Pawmot should be there, good ability, decent stats, revival blessing, fake out, plus other very viable moves
A bit surprised Pawmot isn’t here. Good typing, attack and speed with a great physical electric move and good coverage moves makes it a good physical sweeper. It also has 3 good abilities and revival blessing which seems busted
Although not related to the video, eviolite primeape will be seeing some play for sure. Primarily because it also gets rage fist, and has a higher speed stat than annihilape with only I believe 10 less attack. And yeah yeah it's HP stat is low, the damage counter on Rage Fist does not get reset upon fainting. Pawmot and Rabsca's revival blessing does *NOT* reset the damage counter when annihalape and primeape get revived
Meaning: Both Eviolite Primape and Annihilape both can be swapped in and tank as many hits as possible (or use Maushold's bullet seed in doubles) to knock them out. Upon being revived, they both have a 300 base stat attack. So we have a moderately bulky 95 base speed and 105 base attack, both respectable, with a spammable base 300 power move that hits the majority of pokemon for neutral damage. And we ALSO have a bulky base 90 speed and 115 attack pokemon to do the same thing
Annihilape will be banned at some point. Or revival blessing will be banned. Regardless, if annihilape gets banned the you have primeape eviolite as a backup. Yeah annihilape can run choice scarf and just spam the move, which primeape cannot, but a 95 base speed stat is fast enough that with sticky web and/or string shot/icy wind will make primeape faster than the almost every single pokemon.
Terrifying pokemon. Everyone flipped about Houndstone, but I said since day 1 that annihilape and eviolite primeape are a THREAT
Gholdengo is my favorite polemon from this generation because of its silly little snowboard and the funny jump when it attacks
@wolfey, how come you didn't mention Arboliva's signature move? - Terrain Pulse - which she can pull off rather easily for 100 power grass move... also in a sun team she can dish a lot of fire damage under sun with her *defensive* fire tera, as she has access to Weather Ball and Solar Beam.. it looks like people sleep on this mon.. some doesn't even consider it viable... do you think it has competitive value or real testing show it doesn't preform so well?
Your videos always have interesting things that make me very excited to watch it
I'm slowly getting more and more into competitive pokemon and these videos have been a massive help. A video that I would like to see (unless you already done it if so then don't worry about it) is a video that is like a guide to make a competitive team, like what roles we would need to consider, what pokemon could fill those roles, etc etc. I think it'd be really cool and can't see what other videos the world champ has in store for us.
I would also appreciate this, I've wanted to get into competitive for a while but it always seemed daunting. With the combination of all the QOL changes in Scarlet and Violet+Wolfey being incredible at making stuff that sounds really complicated easy to understand I think I might actually put some work in this gen.
Wolfey also has a website called VGCGuide where there are articles on team building
Yeah, I use dondozo and tatsugiri with a setup moveset to sweep in double battles, thanks for giving them an honorable mention!
I've got 3 of these on my Violet playthrough team: Tinkaton (named Menace) running Gigaton Hammer, Bulldoze, Rock Smash and Play Rough, Ceruledge (named Warrior) running Bitter Blade, Brick Break, Psycho Cut and Phantom Force and Baxcaliber (named Saphira) running Glaive Rush, Ice Shard, Bite and Aerial Ace (I haven't found the Crunch TM yet but will be teaching it that when I can). I also had a Palafin at one point (named Flipper) running Focus Punch, Flip Turn, Astonish and Acrobatics
I’ve seen someone used a Moushold in a 6* Tera raid and the way population bomb smash through the Tera shield is just pure hilarious
Don't forget Good as Gold stops people from defogging on you. Couple that with Ghost/Steel blocking Rapid Spin and Mortal Spin and you got basically the perfect way to guarantee hazards stay up.
Thank you sm for helping to develop the vgc community! These videos are super helpful! I was wondering if you would do more videos where you would take an in depth look into specific new pokemon like you did when swsh came out. Those were the videos (the duraladon one specifically lol) that introduced me to your channel and really got me interested in vgc because I was able to find the specific new pokemon that I wanted to use. I also liked how you would explore the pokemon live in the video because it gave a sense of what traits to look for when choosing a pokemon, what pokemon might complement it on the same team, and just generally made me a better teambuilder. I can't wait to see what you do in the future!
I really hope to see Scovillain make some numbers. Its stat spread is weird but if Sun ends up being good, especially with Protosynthesis mons, it'll be so fast and quite powerful
It could be interesting a video about which version is better ( Scarlet/ Violet)
A lot of the Pokémon In this list have a speed disadvantage that’ll work greatly with my quaquaval with baton pass
Great explanation and list tbh, I'm a little surprised baxcalibur got such a fast explanation, I'm still trying to figure out why he's so high on the list when that typing really hinders it
I was glad to see Arboliva on here. I caught a Tera Poison Smoliv early on in my playthrough and Arboliva ended up being one of my best Pokemon. I like it a lot.
Ah yes, I can't wait to see Pin Missile from a support Jolteon give Annihilape a 300 base power stab move with almost no downsides.
I think a Pokémon you should try and build a team around or just use is quaquaval. I personally give it assault vest and max attack.
dondozo and tatsugiri get countered by torkoal, surprisingly. torkoal can erase the dondozo buff w/ clear smog and lowers its water attacks with drought, not to mention torkoal's access to solar beam
If you use maushold and use population bomb on ahnilape you can use rage fist and potentially use a base 500 base power move.
i think the mon at place 9 has such a low speedstat so his attack already has the grassy terain coverage