In this context since we're talking about Gholdengo specifically, I say fair enough. All I'm saying is that we shouldn't be so focused on trying to follow game data when there could be other alternatives that could make the overall meta much more fun. I'm not entirely sure if there are other scenarios where a Pokemon gets an addition to their primary type, but when the Slow-Galar twins gets released sometime in the future I don't want all my cross evolutions to just be more of Slowbro-Galar and Slowking-Galar 2.
Also, just so that the thread isn't cluttered by this discussion, here are some cool sets I found.
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Stats: 105 / 185 / 120 / 65 / 140 / 155
Ceruledge (Scyther) @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bitter Blade
- X-Scissor
- Shadow Claw
A very powerful cross evolution that also happens to be a decent check to another mon posted in this sub, Primeape + Tsareena. Bug/Ghost is surpisingly good offensively and alongisde Bitter Blade you get near perfect coverage alongside healing and pretty respectable STABs. This combo is no slouch defensively either, thanks to Flash Fire, and it's got great bulk to allow for a lot of set up opportunities.
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Stats: 115 / 120 / 110 / 142 / 105 / 153
Noivern (Girafarig) @ Life Orb / Choice Specs
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Boomburst
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Nasty Plot / Heat Wave
- U-turn
An underrated Pokemon combo in my opinion that is based off of a very simple concept: STAB Boomburst. Hyper Offense is going to run wild in the meta and you know what this means: Lots of Prankster Dual Screens and a whole lot of strong set up sweepers. Cyclizar is also excellent with its ability to pass along Substitutes for its teammates to make use of. Boomburst bypasses Substitute, and Infiltrator bypasses Screens. It is THE anti Hyper Offense mon, Girafarig being the strongest special attacking Stage 1 Normal-type for this exact role. Tera Normal with this mon goes nutty. Choice Specs for more immediate damage, Life Orb if you wanna use Nasty Plot.
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Stats: 110 / 170 / 110 / 55 / 115 / 120
Gallade (Vigoroth) @ Choice Band
Ability: Sharpness
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Slash
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off
- Stone Edge
Yeah uhh, Sharpness on Gallade makes it an even better evolution than any meta of cross evolution before, and it was already one of the best evolutions by far. Very straightforward mon, it hits very very hard and there's no other Stage 2 that makes better use of Gallade's attributes than Vigoroth (atleast, as far as I can tell).
Yo, I completely forgot Girafarig can evolve. I hardly get to find people who play Cross Evolution (though admittedly, I only stay online for 30 minutes at a time too, so there's that lol) so I assume I'm not the only one who forgot as I have yet to fight that monstrosity. Great catch, a specs set could work too I think, especially since it gains U-Turn from Noivern.
Yo, speaking of Scyther.....
Lokix (Scyther) @ Heavy-duty Boots / Choice Band
Ability: Tinted Lens
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance / U-Turn
- Leech Life
- Close Combat
- Sucker Punch
Stats:108/166/118/85/110/152 (adds the typing: Dark).
A pretty straightforward set, you can make it a setup sweep if that's what you wish. Though honestly, from what I've seen, CB seems the way to go as it becomes rather difficult to safely switch into, even its suppose "checks" are still at risk of either dying outright or taking a huge amount of damage from a tinted lens STAB U-Turn. Leech life is nothing more than a stronger STAB, but I think people will replace that with something else (couldn't find anything better when running this combination), Sucker Punch makes for great revenge killing and a priority move nonetheless, while Close Combat brings it all together. Nuff said I think.
Scyther honestly is downright disgusting, would honestly go as far to say it's EASILY better than Ursaring, Bisharp, Primeape etc and is pretty much equal to Sneasel. These two gotta go in my honest opinion, but that's another discussion I suppose....
snease kinda just does what it always did - exploit its speed and power and great offensive typing. it was given another chance this gen w the banning of sleep moves and kings rock, but frankly sneasel has only gotten better because breloom sets are no longer the absolute undisputed best. they're still very good, make no mistake, and frankly focus sash sd/beat up lead sets are still absolutely terrifying and arguably broken in and of themselves given the lack of good fairy types to resist fighting/dark stabs, but the introduction of ceruledge sets to its repertoire (giving access to 4 immunities as well as some absolutely absurd coverage) along with the addition of terrastalisation just make it far too difficult to deal with. pair that with the possibility of gyarados sets or even some weirder shit like lycanroc dusk or houndstone and it becomes almost impossible to tell at team preview what exactly you're going up against and a wrong guess will lead to almost instant punishment as soon as it hits the field. it's restrictive in the builder and almost impossible to play around and should immediately go.
ursaring kinda only has one great thing it can evolve into (dragonite), but frankly its deep movepool, multitude of setup options, 180 base attack and respectable bulk just combine to create this absolute monster of a pokemon. Stab bellydrum + extreme speed on a pokemon with multiscale and 180 attack is ridiculous and singlehandedly mandates a ghost type on every team or else it will come in and it will set up. It doesn't matter if the pokemon itself is fairly one dimensional if it claims two kills every game, is not weak to any priority that it doesn't just straight up out-prioritise itself and it honestly just fairly splashable (bulkier sets are still menaces while using their valuable resistances and ability to force out physical attackers to be a thorn in your opponents side, while offensive sets pair well with about everything). I think it's kind of a no brainer in terms of brokenness - requires such weirdly specific answers that it can always either cripple or work around anyway.
scyther is kind of a weird hybrid between sneasel and ursaring - it combines ursarings ability to out prioritise and one shot half the metagame with sneasel's versatility and unpredictability. it's probably the primary reason that tsareena primeape is everywhere as its lokix set alone will just run over offensive teams with first impressions and defensive teams with things like swords dance into u turn. as well as that, ur last move on those sets after u turn/sucker/first impression is completely open. most often you'll see swords dance or axe kick but ive also used brick break as a means of messing with screens teams, just about the only stop that offense has to lokix scyther besides tsareena pokemon. there's a small chance that would be manageable (very small mind) if that was the only option it had but obviously it isnt. just like sneasel it can abuse breloom sets - although a little differently. sub/toxic pheal sets - while shat on by gholdengo inheritors - can absolutely wreck defensive teams, houndstone sets are terrifying if your normal type gets too low and just like sneasel it benefits from ceruledge and gyarados sets and the utility they provide. it also benefits from new additions in the form of spidops because stakeout u turns are a lot of fun and incredibly competetive. ultimately just a braindead pokemon. spams priority moves and u turn and doesnt have to worry about a thing besides like espeeds and the rare accelerock users. get this fucker out of here lmao
after these guys go things like bisharp, girafarig, miraidon and magneton still look scary as hell and may be the next additions to the chopping block, but at the moment these pokemon either dont feel all that restrictive at all (in bisharps and girafarigs case) or feel more like the symptom than the problem (in the case of the latter two) Currently i feel like electric types are far too good at the moment because the one good ground type (mudbray) is punished so hard by ursaring and scyther unless it runs a gyarados set and omits itself from access to reliable recovery, leaving it easy pickings for repeated u turns. I don't feel these pokemon would be broken at all - at least compared to our current gremlins - and i think should be totally fine for now once the big three discussed in this post go.
