Strongest New Pokemon of Gen 9 Competitively
With a new generation of Pokemon, we get new Pokemons to play competitively, and something that we like to ask ourselves is, "what are the strongest of these new Pokemons to use in competitive battling?" Here, we will try to answer that question. This list should only talk about the new Pokemon of generation 9 (Scarlet and Violet), and should only take battles with other players into account and not against NPCs during an in-game playthrough.In Generation 8, Game Freak created Zacian, one of the strongest Pokémon ever made for competitive battling. Now, it seems like Game Freak wants to take a step back because datamining indicates that Zacian's ability will be nerfed.
Whether this datamining ends up being true or not, it seems like they don't care about balance that much when it comes to legendaries, because Koraidon could make a case for being even more broken than Zacian!
To start somewhat slowly, the Dragon/Fighting typing is extremely solid. Sure, you have a double weakness to Fairy and other annoying weaknesses, but to compensate, you have many very useful resistances to multiple types.
Now for the stats, they are incredible. It's one thing to have a 670 base stat total, but those 670 stats were spread to near perfection. With 135 physical attack and speed, it will outspeed and kill most opposing threats. Additionally, it has great bulk with 100 HP, 115 physical defense, and 100 special defense.
Sure, it has only 85 special attack, but you will only use physical attack on this Pokémon anyway if you want to play optimally, so it isn't a problem. On top of that, you get the ability Orichalcum Pulse. It not only summons sunny weather, but it also increases Koraidon's attack while the sun is up!
Summoning the sun is already useful to decrease the power of opposing water attacks and make your fire attacks stronger. You can also create a team that benefits from the sun, whether it's with a Chlorophyll sweeper or to make a busted Paradox Pokémon with Protosynthesis even stronger. And behind that, you just hit even harder as a bonus. Great!
It's not like this Pokémon is lacking moves either. It gets good old Close Combat as well as Collision Course, its signature move, if you want a less risky Fighting STAB. You get some good Dragon moves as well, you can U-turn to pivot, you get some Electric moves because why not, you can Taunt your opponent, which can be... more
Basically, you could just take what I said about Koraidon and apply it to Miraidon with a few differences. Dragon/Electric has fewer resistances but fewer annoying weaknesses than Dragon/Fighting. It hits on the special side rather than the physical side.
It has all the Dragon and Electric moves you could wish for and more with its signature move, Electro Drift, which is basically a stronger Thunderbolt with less PP and no other drawbacks. It can pivot in two different ways with Volt Switch and U-turn, and Overheat is all it really needs for coverage moves.
But the key difference between Miraidon and Koraidon is their ability. Hadron Engine is basically like Orichalcum Pulse, except it raises the special attack (which makes sense due to Miraidon being a special attacker), and it summons Electric Terrain instead of the sun.
On one hand, there are fewer Pokémon that benefit from the sun than Pokémon that benefit from Electric Terrain, so it doesn't help its teammates as well. On the other hand, you could argue Electric Terrain benefits Miraidon more than the sun benefits Koraidon because it makes your own Electric STAB moves stronger instead of your coverage fire moves stronger. This makes it so Miraidon hits even more ridiculously hard than Koraidon whenever it uses one of its Electric moves.
Honestly, you can make an argument for either Miraidon or Koraidon to be the strongest new Pokémon of Generation 9. They are both absolutely busted.
All you need to know for why this Pokémon is so strong is that it's a Fairy/Ghost type, meaning it is resisted by only two Pokémon species in the entire game. It has 135 speed and 135 special attack.
In case that doesn't convince you, you can boost one of its stats under the sun or with Booster Energy thanks to Protosynthesis. It is just really fast, and it's really hard to not lose when facing this Pokémon, especially if you let it set up with Calm Mind or something.
Houndstone is broken simply for having probably the strongest move in Pokémon history. Its stats and general movepool are overall average, but it has ONE MOVE that is absolutely insane.
Last Respects is a 50 base power Ghost move that gets stronger for each Pokémon KO'd by another 50 power. This means it can reach 300 base power if all the other 5 Pokémon on your team are KO'd.
This is already insane for damage, especially since there are no drawbacks once you reach that point. But then you take into consideration the ability Sand Rush of Houndstone, which makes that Pokémon very hard to outspeed in a sandstorm, and you have a Pokémon that is extremely hard to get rid of if you let it do its stuff.
Palafin has the unique gimmick of getting extremely strong stats once it switches out once during the battle. It gets very good bulk with 100 HP and 97 and 87 in the defenses. More importantly, it gets a massive 160 physical attack stat, all on top of its already high 100 speed.
It seems balanced until you know how often you switch out Pokémon in competitive singles. You do it all the time. It also has some very good moves. Flip Turn allows it to switch out while dealing damage on top of other utility. Jet Punch is basically a stronger Aqua Jet, and Wave Crash is a water-type Flare Blitz.
In case you don't think that's enough, it has coverage moves like Close Combat at its disposal. Definitely really strong.
Iron Bundle is a slightly less insane, but still insane version of Flutter Mane. Almost no Pokémon can resist it when it has Freeze-Dry and a water move at its disposal. With 124 special attack and 136 speed, it's all it needs to create some devastation.
Roaring Moon is definitely very scary. A Dragon/Dark type, which is excellent offensively. It has 139 attack and 119 speed, a very solid movepool, and the ability to set up with Dragon Dance. Even its bulk isn't terrible at all with 105 HP, 101 special defense, and 71 defense.
At the moment I am writing this, Gholdengo is the most used Pokémon in Overused, the main competitive format for Pokémon Singles, and there are good reasons for that.
I have used it myself, and it's very good on my team! Ghost/Steel is an excellent defensive typing. 87 HP, 95 defense, and 91 special defense make for extremely solid bulk. 84 speed is more than enough to outspeed most defensive threats even if it's not the greatest. 133 special attack is simply excellent.
It has a movepool with all it really needs. You can Trick your choice item, set up with Nasty Plot, and other stuff. Make It Rain is a 120 base power Steel special move that only drops your special attack by one stage, which is far from the worst drawback ever.
On top of that, Good as Gold is a REALLY good ability. With this ability, every status move used on Gholdengo simply doesn't work. Only attacking moves work on this guy. So yeah, this Pokémon is very solid all around.
Chi-Yu is surprisingly really scary. Dark/Fire is a very good offensive type. With 100 speed and 135 special attack, it is a very good offensive threat.
Beads of Ruin lowers the special defense of every other Pokemon on the field, which does have its drawback in doubles. However, in singles, it basically means your opponent always takes more damage than they should. One set I really like to use is a Choice Scarf set to allow it to outspeed everything with its high-damaging moves.
Powerful as heck. Don't let your guard down.
Incredible attack and speed, lots of physical moves, and an ability to lower everyone's defenses make this a nightmare to face!
Population Bomb is more than OP and hits more than any other move.
I have been using Dondozo for a little while in OU, and I loved using it, so I wanted to mention it.
With 150 HP and 115 physical defense, this thing is nearly unkillable on the physical side. Even 65 special defense isn't the worst thing in the world. It also has Unaware, which is an amazing ability that ignores stat changes from the opponent, especially great in Gen 9 where there are many strong setup sweepers.
The set I love to use is a Curse set with Liquidation and Body Press. Its biggest flaw is that it doesn't have a healing move other than Rest. However, as someone who loves Protect and Leftovers strats, I can easily adapt to that flaw.
The main reason why Cyclizar is so good is because of Shed Tail. It's a move that makes Cyclizar switch out and leave a substitute on the Pokémon that replaces it on the field in exchange for half its HP.
It is a completely safe switch at worst, and it creates free opportunities to set up at best. This is already pretty good, but then you consider Cyclizar can use other moves like Knock Off, U-turn, Taunt, and Rapid Spin to be a good support Pokémon.
Then you consider the fact it has Regenerator, which allows that Pokémon to get HP back by switching, which it will love to do a lot of the time. This essentially means that the 50% of its health that it loses when using Shed Tail isn't ACTUALLY 50% since it heals 1/3 of its full health when switching, including when it uses that move.
We haven't seen the full capability of this Pokémon yet, so perhaps it can be really scary and broken. Who knows?
Protean plus an attack that doesn't miss and lands a critical hit makes this a really dangerous threat!
Quaquaval has an amazing movepool and has always been good on my team.
Rage Fist is so OP, and with such high physical attack, it's a dominant threat in Uber.