Strategy & Metagame Hoenn's Titans, Then and Now

[Albert.]

I had the idea of writing about the comparison in metagame mechanics between generations 3 and 6; more specifically around RSE into ORAS, and how drastically the metagame has changed.

I envision the main focus being the physical/special transition between some moves, and how that has impacted the mechanics of the tiers and metagame as a whole.

Another section could potentially be a couple of pokemon that were absolutely terrible in RSE, but have been revamped and are now actually useful in certain aspects of competitive battling.


Here are a couple of examples:

In the case of Gyarados, its moveset has drastically changed through generations, mainly because of the physical/special shift.

The average 3rd Gen Gyarados consisted of:

• Double Edge
• Hidden Power Flying
• Hydro Pump/Fire Blast
• Earthquake

This was mainly because in Generation 3, Hidden Power Flying was classified as a physical move. So not only did Gyarados benefit from getting the STAB Boost, but it was also useful in taking out popular Clerics like Celebi.

The current 6th Gen Mega Gyarados set consists of:

• Dragon Dance
• Waterfall
• Earthquake
• Ice Fang / Substitute / Taunt

As you can clearly see, the movesets are quite different. Because of the Physical/Special Split, Waterfall is now a Physical Move, which allows Gyarados to hit hard AND get a STAB boost. Another usual addition to Gyarados is its Mega Evolution. With it's 155 Base Atk, Mega Gyarados can do huge damage to walls, even without Dragon Dance setups.


Salamence is another good example of a pokemon that has undergone significant changes within the metagame.

The typical moveset for Gen 3 Salamence looked something like:

• Hidden Power Flying
• Rock Slide
• Earthquake
• Fire Blast / Brick Break

This moveset proved to be very viable to Salamence in Gen 3. With Hidden Power Flying being physical, it aided Salamence in doing huge STAB damage to anything in its way. Rock Slide was also very useful for taking out Zapdos.

The current Gen 6 moveset for Mega Salamence is not as different as Gyarados' between generations, but it definitely changes how it was used in competitive battling.

• Dragon Dance
• Return / Double Edge
• Earthquake
• Fire Blast / Outrage

Salamence's Mega Evolution's Ability 'Aerilate' definitely aids Salamence in being able to do heavy damage to opponents by turning every Normal Type attack into a Flying Type attack. Aerilate's main function is to give Salamence more STAB boosts, as there aren't a lot of viable Flying Type moves that it can learn. Also, because of Hidden Power Flying's switch to a special move after the third generation, it needed that flying coverage.

(Note that in the actual article itself, there will be more examples such as Crawdaunt, Sharpedo, and Sableye.)

Goddess Briyella has agreed to assist me with this project. Thank you for the opportunity to contribute.

 

[Toast++]

Sounds good to me.

I'll get your access to the workshop and here's the obligatory new writer message:

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