Despite the bugs and controversy, Pokémon Champions is going to be the future of competitive Pokémon moving forward. As such, while plenty of players are making their displeasure with the battle simulator known, a lot of folks are also locking in and defining the new meta within the game’s limitations. One of the surprising standouts is Mega Hawlucha, who finally has a new Ability thanks to Champions (Pokémon Legends: Z-A, in which Mega Hawlucha debuted, didn’t include these passive perks). Champions has basically turned the luchador Pokémon into an instant win button.
Mega Hawlucha’s Ability is called No Guard and it ensures that all attacks used by and against it will land. So if you want to use a risky attack with low accuracy, you can be sure that Mega Hawlucha will always hit its target. However, the same applies for incoming attacks; Hawlucha can’t avoid them, though it will still be unaffected by moves it’s immune to as a result of its typing. On its own that’s pretty useful, but Champions players are using this Ability in a roundabout way to delete enemy Pokémon with one-hit knockout moves.
Pokémon has four attacks that can instantly defeat an enemy if they land: Fissure, Guillotine, Horn Drill, and Sheer Cold. Their power is offset by very low accuracy, but when you have No Guard, moves don’t miss. Mega Hawlucha can’t learn any of these moves on its own, but there are some Pokémon in Champions that can. Hawlucha can use a move called Entrainment, which changes the target’s ability to that of the user. So if you use this to transfer No Guard to your teammate during a double battle and that teammate knows one of the one-hit knockout moves that can guarantee an instant kill, you can quickly undermine any setup your opponent might be planning in one round.
Im crying bro they doin shit in this game you wouldnt believe pic.twitter.com/9OJJk7GsHy
— 🍵Yo Soy Elly🍵 (@snacks_fruity2) April 8, 2026
Pokémon games often get criticized for being too easy in a single-player context, but when you take seemingly simple tools into a competitive space, players find truly wild ways to exploit them to create game-changing plays like this. Strategies like these are the kinds of plays that turn Pokémon you think are mostly innocuous into a true menace in the competitive scene, and just one day into Champions, Mega Hawlucha is becoming one of the most feared monsters in the game.
this is demonic bro #pokemonchampions pic.twitter.com/w1fwg4Lmxf
— Axolotl_Man 🍉 (@AxoIotIMan) April 8, 2026
Mega so chaotic it’s making me draw Competitive mons again https://t.co/d7DVhljEHV pic.twitter.com/xTyMTlQIGB
— ☠️Something In The World☠️| COMMS CLOSED (@SomethingInWorl) April 8, 2026
I was wrong about Hawlucha. Entrainment+No Guard will let your partner always hit OHKO moves, I see this being a serious issue with fast Sheer Cold users
— Chuppa (@ChuppaVGC) April 8, 2026
I haven’t encountered this play online yet, but if you see Hawlucha on your opponent’s team, I hope you can outspeed it and its duo partner before they drop a bomb on your life.
