[SPOILERS] Alola Pokemon and Alola Variant Competitive Viability (Story Free Spoilers)

[Team Gaara]

It really saddens me that all three starters are gonna be hampered by their low speed stats. Why would they do this? Has there ever been a generation where ALL the starters sucked it a particular stat? And Speed of all stats?

That aside, besides a couple of my in game team, I really am looking forward to building a team around Tapu Lele, Tapu Fini, and Magearna.

 

[Envoy]

It really saddens me that all three starters are gonna be hampered by their low speed stats. Why would they do this? Has there ever been a generation where ALL the starters sucked it a particular stat? And Speed of all stats?

That aside, besides a couple of my in game team, I really am looking forward to building a team around Tapu Lele, Tapu Fini, and Magearna.

Every generation has had at least one Starter that, at bare minimum, hits the 100 bench mark in Speed.

Gen I- Charizard (100)
Gen II- Typhlosion (100)
Gen III- Sceptile (120)
Gen IV- Infernape (108)
Gen V- Serperior (113)
Gen VI- Delphox (104) and Greninja (122)

This is the first Generation with slow Starters across the board.

 

[Team Gaara]

Every generation has had at least one Starter that, at bare minimum, hits the 100 bench mark in Speed.

Gen I- Charizard (100)
Gen II- Typhlosion (100)
Gen III- Sceptile (120)
Gen IV- Infernape (108)
Gen V- Serperior (113)
Gen VI- Delphox (104) and Greninja (122)

This is the first Generation with slow Starters across the board.

As I thought~ I really wonder what the decision was made for to have them all so slow~

 

[Master Cyrus]

The number of non legendary alolan mons that exceed 100 are just salazzle and ribombee.

Alola is just slooow.

 

[Peachy]

The number of non legendary alolan mons that exceed 100 are just salazzle and ribombee.

Alola is just slooow.

Midday Lycanroc exceeds 100 as well at 112. Still not great, but it's 1 more.

 

[Matleo]

as a surprise attack. Your oponent wont know whats comming.

worth using

 

[Envoy]

As I thought~ I really wonder what the decision was made for to have them all so slow~

It might be related to the fact that the majority of new Pokémon in general are super slow this Gen for some reason.

as a surprise attack. Your oponent wont know whats comming.

Riiight.....you do that. See what happens.

 

[Matleo]

slow starters?
Once we need to accept it, not everything needs to be super fast, slow things can also be powerfull.

People this starters have more defence , sp. defence and hp then past generations got.

They have more guts, we have all them with immunities, one got even two.

They learn very good moves: Perish Song, Curse, Spirit Shackle, Darkest Lariat, Torment, Sucker Punch.

Have decent abilities. (Intimidate is good against physical , but they could get secondary abilities and better megas)

All 3 got moves to reduce oponents speed or stats or rise there own.

They only need some more moves for themself to make them even better,
Remember there are 6vs6 teams/battles and not single 1vs1 battles.

Incineroar can counter Delphox, many psychic types and prankster(current and future users), maybe even survive and counter strike the fire/fighting trio.

Primarina is very good against mega Charizard X,mega Sceptile, Mega Blastoise Dragon Pulse.

-Deciduey:
taking that fighting and normal moves are a little out (screw scrappy), making it strong against very many pokemon
-takes normal demage by poison and bug moves
- has a regular ice weakness but amaizing sp. def.
- can win a battle with Gengar (its posibble, he can survive and Spirit Schakle him KO)
-can't get trapped
______________________________________________________
next generation could be a faster one but in next 5 generations we need to be ready for slower pokes due that water/ghost(beg and I wish for a elephant) and fire/ghost (beg and I wish for a horse/centaur) will be much better and stronger and probably the one will be slower then Decidueye.
Plus now they have a chance to make more original starters then ever before.
Type combos that need to hapen: grass/electric, grass/steel, grass/rock, water/ghost, water/electric, water/poison, water/fighting, water/bug, fire/ghost, fire/steel, fire/poison, fire/fairy, fire/electric or fire/ground.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

slow starters?
Once we need to accept it, not everything needs to be super fast, slow things can also be powerfull.

People this starters have more defence , sp. defence and hp then past generations got.

But the problem is that some People CANNOT SIMPLY PLAY A DEFENSIVE GAME.
Some people trains speedy glass cannon pokemon. And the previous generations had ALL KINDS of starters on ONE trio. The perfect example of this is the Sinnoh Starter trio.

Like being defensive? Pick Torterra!
Like being the speedy attacker? Pick Infernape!
Like being on the middle ground? Empoleon's for you!

But, this trio simply leaves no choice for the people who use fast glass cannons.

 

[Spectre Of The Departed]

Have decent abilities. (Intimidate is good against physical , but they could get secondary abilities and better megas)

Incineroar and Decidueye got decent abilities, Primarina got the shaft (and the same could potentially be said about their signature moves). The only way I can see Primarina's current HA being decent is if she gets access to Boomburst at some point later on in the series because as things stand currently, unless you're playing Doubles/VGC there is little to no reason to take Hyper Voice over Scald. This not to mention the fact that aside from Hyper Voice, Primarina currently doesn't have access to any other relevant offensive moves that synergize with Liquid Voice... seriously, if Game Freak wanted to give Primarina an attack type altering ability that badly, Pixilate would have been a better option overall (and one that would also fit the mermaid/siren motif imo)

 

[Matleo]

But the problem is that some People CANNOT SIMPLY PLAY A DEFENSIVE GAME.
Some people trains speedy glass cannon pokemon. And the previous generations had ALL KINDS of starters on ONE trio. The perfect example of this is the Sinnoh Starter trio.

Like being defensive? Pick Torterra!
Like being the speedy attacker? Pick Infernape!
Like being on the middle ground? Empoleon's for you!

But, this trio simply leaves no choice for the people who use fast glass cannons.

you will survive one generation without new fast glass cannons, but wait you can catch talonflame and others in the game?
and you can exchange pokemon with other players or yor own from past games?

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

you will survive one generation without new fast glass cannons, but wait you can catch talonflame and others in the game?
and you can exchange pokemon with other players or yor own from past games?

Wait, I thought we were discussing "Alola Pokemon and Alola Variant Competitive Viablity".

But, Talonflame and others are not Alola Pokemon. If Alola lacks speedy glass cannons, then it is a downside, we've always had different kind of mons in different regions.
We've got all sorts of Pokemon in all regions, and if a region lacks a certain kind of Pokemon (in this case, speedy mons), then it counts as a fault in the stat spreads of Pokemon.
It looks like a slap in the face, specially if some Pokemon had the built to be speedy. For eg. Decidueye, and many others deserve more speed in my opinion.

 

[Matleo]

Wait, I thought we were discussing "Alola Pokemon and Alola Variant Competitive Viablity".

But, Talonflame and others are not Alola Pokemon. If Alola lacks speedy glass cannons, then it is a downside, we've always had different kind of mons in different regions.
We've got all sorts of Pokemon in all regions, and if a region lacks a certain kind of Pokemon (in this case, speedy mons), then it counts as a fault in the stat spreads of Pokemon.
It looks like a slap in the face, specially if some Pokemon had the built to be speedy. For eg. Decidueye, and many others deserve more speed in my opinion.

there moves and strategies to rise speed, you got:

-one fast Rock pokemon Lucanroc day form? 112 speed?
-fire/poison speed 117 Salazzle
-bug/fairy 124 speed Ribombee

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

there moves and strategies to rise speed, you got:

-one fast Rock pokemon Lucanroc day form? 112 speed?
-fire/poison speed 107 Salazzle

The problem is, both of them are weak to ground, also there are no new abilities which increase speed. No new Pokemon got speed boost.

 

[Matleo]

The problem is, both of them are weak to ground, also there are no new abilities which increase speed. No new Pokemon got speed boost.

wait for nest games boost.
- Rimbombee fairy/bug 124 speed

But you got terrains and speed boost abilities for them.

guys Salazzle can learn Encore and Torment?

 

[Envoy]

Riiiight....anyway....

Moving on to conversation that is actually productive, who do you guys foresee as the top Alolan mons this gen? I'm not really including legendaries or UB's because those are generally top notch. I'm thinking just regular Pokemon.

See, the thing is that so many of these Pokemon are let down by their low speed. In terms of overall competitive usefulness, I'd say Alola is one of the worst regions. Pokemon like Toucannon, Vikavolt, and Lycanroc-N would be viable if they had good/decent speed stats. Alas, they don't. Then you have Pokemon that actually have decent speed, like Lycanroc-D, but suffer from shallow movepools. I'm just not sure what GF was thinking while designing their Pokemon this generation. Which sucks because a lot of them look super awesome and creative.

Anyway, from what I'm seeing, by far the absolute best new Pokemon this gen (barring legends and UB's) is undeniably Toxapex. Such a solid wall with such a great combination of abilities, movepool, and typing. Plus those defenses are crazy.

Ninetales-A is also shaping up to be a good mon, mostly because of the Hail+Aurora Veil combo, but hey, in this gen, I'll take what I can get.

I'm also seeing more and more of Decidueye's versatility once I move past its unfortunate lack of sweeping potential. It is a great utility mon. Ditto Dhelmise.

Incineroar will be somewhat usable in UU/RU I think, and Prima hits hard enough to be UU but really wishes she had something useful in the way of recovery or boosting moves. I'm actually starting to think Deci might end up being the best 7th Gen Starter after all.

Bewear is tanky as all get-out, Salazzle finds utility in poisoning Steel and other Poison types, Tsareena is a decent spinner and laughs in the face of priority.

Marowak-A and Sandslash-A have their very niche uses.

That's all I can really see as standing out this gen.

Obvious shout out to Solgaleo, Lunala, Pheromosa, Kartana, and literally all of the Tapus because they are all freaking excellent, but y'know, legendaries/UB's, and we're not talking about those right now.

 

[Spectre Of The Departed]

Riiiight....anyway....

Moving on to conversation that is actually productive, who do you guys foresee as the top Alolan mon this gen? I'm not really including legendaries or UB's because those are generally top notch. I'm thinking just regular Pokemon.

See, the thing is that so many of these Pokemon are let down by their low speed. In terms of overall competitive usefulness, I'd say Alola is one of the worst regions. Pokemon like Toucannon, Vikavolt, and Lycanroc-N would be viable if they had good/decent speed stats. Alas, they don't. Then you have Pokemon that actually have decent speed, like Lycanroc-D, but suffer from shallow movepools. I'm just not sure what GF was thinking while designing their Pokemon this generation. Which sucks because a lot of them look super awesome and creative.

Anyway, from what I'm seeing, by far the absolute best new Pokemon this gen (barring legends and UB's) is undeniably Toxapex. Such a solid wall with such a great combination of abilities, movepool, and typing. Plus those defenses are crazy.

Ninetales-A is also shaping up to be a good mon, mostly because of the Hail+Aurora Veil combo, but hey, in this gen, I'll take what I can get.

I'm also seeing more and more of Decidueye's versatility once I move past its unfortunate lack of sweeping potential. It is a great utility mon. Ditto Dhelmise.

Incineroar will be somewhat usable in UU/RU I think, and Prima hits hard enough to be UU but really wishes she had something useful in the way of recovery or boosting moves. I'm actually starting to think Deci might end up being the best 7th Gen Starter after all.

Bewear is tanky as all get-out, Salazzle finds utility in poisoning Steel and other Poison types, Tsareena is a decent spinner and laughs in the face of priority.

Marowak-A and Sandslash-A have their very niche uses.

That's all I can really see as standing out this gen.

Obvious shout out to Solgaleo, Lunala, Pheromosa, Kartana, and literally all of the Tapus because they are all freaking excellent, but y'know, legendaries/UB's, and we're not talking about those right now.

Personally, I'd also add Mudsdale to this list as an Assault Vest user.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Moving on, I'm somewhat happy that some of my favourites this time are atleast usable.
My Prime Favourites-

Alola Raichu
I thought I'd use it the first time I saw it. And it and its stoked Sparksurfer is a good finisher. It is a special oriented regular Raichu with psychic type tacked on. Love it.

Lycanroc (Midday)
I love this mon's design, but I'm still looking for a suitable Moveset...

Incineroar
The speed's a letdown, but I think I'll manage to adapt to his style.

 

[Envoy]

Kommo-o is obviously decent (all pseudo legendaries are at least viable) but I imagine it will actually reach its zenith if/when Move Tutors are made available.

 

[Falconwing]

I'm really curious to try out an Assault Vest Adamant Mudsdale. Just from what I'm seeing that thing is the perfect definition of a tank and can run EdgeQuake or other good combos. It's bulk also makes Heavy Slam viable too.