A ton of new information relating to the upcoming Pokémon Champions has been released following the public demo of the game at PAX East, and the private demo shown to a handful of content creators.
Tutorials
During the gameplay preview shown to content creators, they played through four tutorials, focusing on the basics of Single Battles, Double Battles, "physical" and "special" moves, and Mega Evolution. Video Game Championships (VGC) veteran Aaron "Cybertron" Zheng describes 8–10 tutorials total, including some focused on weather, terrain, and contact moves. The tutorials are said to not be too time-intensive, and they will also reward the player with Victory Points (VP), the game's main currency used for recruiting and training Pokémon.Recruitment & Training
When recruiting a random Pokémon, they come with two maxed out stats. Pictured in this article is a Toxapex ready for recruitment with 32 "Stat Points" in its Special Attack, 32 in Special Defense, and 2 in Defense. These aren't always the most optimal stat investments, but they're a good starting point for players. Additionally, there's no cooldown on transferring Pokémon from Pokémon HOME.
Recruited Pokémon can also come with Marks, as demonstrated by the aforementioned Toxapex and its "the Sociable" title gained from the Uncommon Mark. Recruited Pokémon also have a chance to be Shiny.
While training Pokémon, "stat bumps" are now visualised by the game. To learn what a "stat bump" is, picture a Level 50 Bulbasaur with a Modest nature and a Special Attack stat of 97. Typically, the addition of 8 EVs will boost the respective stat by one point, but when Bulbasaur hits a "stat bump", its Special Attack is increased by two points instead, bringing it to 99. Previously, this was considered to be a more niche mechanic, but Pokémon Champions is clearly focused on helping newcomers.
When selecting new moves to teach your Pokémon, even more information is shown than previous mainline games. For example, the description for the move Bounce now explicitly tells players that it has a 30% chance to paralyze its target. In previous games, Bounce's description would simply read "this may also leave the target with paralysis." Each move's categories are now highlighted as well, letting players know whether or not they make contact, if they're a Sound-based move, or a ball-and-bomb move, and more.
The power points (PP) of each move has been adjusted as well. In their video discussing the demo, 2016 World Champion Wolfe Glick explains that moves that previously had a maximum PP of 24 have been brought down to 16, moves that had a maximum PP of 16 have been brought down to 12, and Protect has been brought down from 16 to 8.
Buffs & Nerfs
Wolfe Glick additionally mentions two nerfs to Pokémon that they noticed during their gameplay. It's important to note that they weren't playing the release build of the game, so this is subject to change once the game releases.Gengar has seemingly lost access to Encore after gaining access to the move in Pokémon Sword & Shield, and most notably, Incineroar seems to have lost access to one of its most powerful moves in Knock Off. This will likely be a huge change that will greatly impact, but not completely diminish, Incineroar's offense and utility—especially on top of the addition of the Clear Amulet and Covert Cloak held items in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet that block stat drops from Incineroar's Intimidate and flinching from its Fake Out respectively.
The attacks Shadow Claw and Dragon Claw are confirmed to have been added to the "slicing" category of moves. This means that any Pokémon with Sharpness as its ability will deal 50% more damage with these moves. Currently, Gallade is the only Pokémon currently known to have Sharpness that can also learn Shadow Claw, and no Pokémon with the ability learns Dragon Claw. This reclassification could hypothetically extend to similar moves, such as Metal Claw, Crush Claw, and potentially Dire Claw. Some fans have also theorised that this reclassification could hint towards the ability for a new Mega Evolution introduced in Pokémon Legends Z-A or Mega Dimension, with speculation mostly revolving around Mega Absol Z. On top of a base Attack stat of 154, Speed stat of 151, and a newfound immunity to Fake Out, an additional 50% damage boost to attacks like Shadow Claw and Night Slash could make Mega Absol Z much more powerful than first anticipated.
Mega Froslass & Mega Dragonite
Mega Froslass gains access to Snow Warning, an ability that immediately sets up the snow weather condition. This passively boosts Froslass' Defense stat by 50% in battle, and allows it to use Blizzard with 100% accuracy. Along with a base Special Attack stat of 140 and Speed stat of 120, this could set up Mega Froslass to be a notable threat.
On the other hand, Mega Dragonite keeps its base form's hidden ability in Multiscale, reducing incoming damage by 50% as long as its HP is full. This provides great synergy, as Dragonite can use its base form's ability Inner Focus to block Intimidate from Pokémon like Incineroar, and then Mega Evolve to reduce incoming damage with Multiscale.
Gameplay
Many creators describe gameplay as being generally faster than previous mainline games. This likely stems from a lot of optimisations in-game, such as Intimidate dropping the Attack stat of both of the opponent's Pokémon at the same time, rather than one-by-one like in previous games. Wolfe Glick also describes a small amount of input lag, but this could simply be an issue with the demo and not the final release.Move descriptions can be seen in-battle, and as described earlier, provide a lot more information than previous games, like explicit percent chances for additional effects, and move categories such as whether a move makes contact. The game also shows you how effective that move will be on each member of your opponent's party.
When checking yours or your opponent's stat changes in battle, the game now shows you the exact multiplier applied to the stat. For example, if your Pokémon has two boosts to its Attack, the game will display "2.0x", demonstrating that two boosts is equivalent to doubling your Attack stat. Wolfe Glick also brings attention to the fact that if you receive one drop to a stat, this is visualised as "0.7x", despite the multiplier actually being 0.66x in previous mainline games. It is unknown whether this is a small change, or whether the 0.66x has just been rounded up.
The game will include a spectator function at launch, allowing you to spectate battles between two other trainers. On the other hand, the ability to replay past matches will not be available at launch.
An unusual change that many fans are pointing out in demo footage is the interaction between Pokémon Mega Evolving and other Pokémon switching. In previous games, Pokémon will switch out first, and then Mega Evolution can take place. In Pokémon Champions, however, it seems that these two happen at the same time, although this isn't easy for players to test during the demo. If this is true, then if a slower Pokémon Mega Evolves in the same turn that a faster Pokémon switches out, the switching will happen first; if the faster Pokémon Mega Evolves and the slower Pokémon switches out, then the Mega Evolution will happen first. This could end up being a small nerf to Mega-Evolved Pokémon that set up weather, like Mega Froslass and Mega Charizard Y; if they Mega Evolve on the same turn that a slower Pokémon on the opponent's team switches out, a Pokémon with an ability that resets the weather could switch in to replace it.
Available Pokémon
A few more Pokémon were also confirmed to be making their way to Pokémon Champions at launch.|
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Pidgeot | Alakazam | Starmie | Ditto | Aerodactyl | Scizor | Sableye |
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Medicham | Sharpedo | Camerupt | Banette | Glalie | Lopunny | Abomasnow |
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Weavile | Garbodor | Emolga | Volcarona | Furfrou (& Trims) | Clawitzer | Tyrantrum |
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Goodra | Mudsdale | Araquanid | Runerigus | Alcremie | Maushold | Garganacl |
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Orthworm | Farigiraf |
Additionally, a few not-fully-evolved (NFE) Pokémon were confirmed to NOT be appearing in the game at launch, including VGC staples like Porygon2 and Clefairy.
