Say Goodbye to These 2 Pokemon in Pokemon Champions For a Long Time

Pokemon Champions was released less than three weeks ago, and while its meta has been established for the current season, things may change when more items and Pokemon are added to the mix. It’s hard to say when exactly this will happen, but the leading theory is at the end of season M-B, which starts next month, so sometime in June. There is no official confirmation on whether this will indeed be the case, but it’s very likely considering that the roster of available Pokemon is relatively small, and the same goes for held items. However, as exciting as new additions to Pokemon Champions sound, it may not be on the cards just yet for two specific Pokemon to return.

One of the issues with Pokemon Champions‘ Pokedex and roster of available Pokemon is that some staple strategies of VGC cannot be used. For example, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet‘s many Paradox Pokemon ended up dominating VGC in one way or another, but they are absent from Pokemon Champions, and may take quite some time to be added. This is because the current power level is relatively low, meaning there are no Legendaries, no powerful items like Life Orb, Choice Band, Choice Specs, Assault Vest, and Rocky Helmet, no Terastallization, and also no terrain setters. Given how powerful terrain setters were, it may be a long time before the popular Rillaboom and Indeede female make their debut.

These Are the 5 Best Pokemon Not Available in Champions Yet

Missing from Pokemon Champions’ limited roster of creatures are a few competitive staples that have dominated the Gen 9 meta up to this point.

Why Rillaboom and Indeedee May Not Be Added to Pokemon Champions Soon

There are some teambuilding issues with the lack of terrain setters. For example, Pokemon with access to Expanding Force cannot rely on Indeedee female’s Psychic Surge ability to set a Psychic Terrain up for them and then go for a spread move. Instead, this has to be done manually. Likewise, one cannot rely on Rillaboom to set Grassy Terrain to reduce the damage of opposing Earthquakes or to have priority with Grassy Glide.

The reasons that make this absence likely to continue after season M-B ends are several:

Expanding Force was a dominating move in Gen 9 VGC, with abusers being Calyrex Shadow, Lunala, Iron Crown, Armarouge, and Hatterene. Calyrex Shadow and Lunala, in particular, were some of the best Legendary Pokemon in Gen 9, and Expanding Force contributed to that.
- Expanding Force normally is an 80 base power move that hits a single target, but on Psychic Terrain it gets boosted by 30% in terms of damage from the terrain itself, and then another 50% if the user is grounded — at which point, the move hits both opponents.
Grassy Glide was abused by the likes of Rillaboom and Ogerpon in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. It’s a move with 55 base power (it was 70 in Gen 8, 60 in Gen 9, and then 55 as of Version 2.0.1 of Scarlet and Violet) that gains priority when used on Grassy Terrain, making it go before all non-priority moves.
- On top of that, all Grass moves gain 30% bonus damage when used on Grassy Terrain. This made Rillaboom and Ogerpon some of the best Grass-type Pokemon and most used critters in Gen 9 VGC by a huge margin, especially in the case of Rillaboom, as it has the Grassy Surge ability to also set Grassy Terrain up simply by entering the field.
The current format is intended for lower-power Pokemon, and it shows in many ways. Interestingly, Mega Delphox is one of the best Megas in Pokemon Champions due to its high Speed and Special Attack stats, and it also learns Expanding Force. In theory, this would be one of the strongest users of the move, but it’s weakened by the lack of Indeedee female and Psychic Surge to set the terrain automatically.
- Moreover, Mega Delphox has the ability Levitate, which means it’s not grounded. This makes it immune to Ground attacks, and since Garchomp is one of the best Ground Pokemon ever, it’s a good thing. However, it also means that Mega Delphox cannot benefit from the additional 50% boost to Expanding Force’s power even if Psychic Terrain is up, and the move will not hit both opponents in double battles.

Pokemon Champions how to counter sneasler

Say Goodbye to Terrain Setters in Pokemon Champions

With this in mind, it’s easy to see that Rillaboom and Indeedee female were incredibly strong and had a massive impact on the meta, but that may also mean they won’t be added to the roster in Pokemon Champions for quite some time. At least not until the power level of the metagame rises by quite a bit.

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To leave them out seems like a deliberate choice, especially considering the situation Mega Delphox is in when it comes to Expanding Force. Some players have resorted to pairing it with Pokemon like Speed Boost Espathra, Prankster Meowstic, and Prankster Sableye to set up Psychic Terrain and then use Gravity, which grounds Mega Delphox and enables it to spam Expanding Force. It can work, but there’s a lot of setup for it. As such, it feels unlikely that Rillaboom and Indeedee female will be back so soon after the game’s launch, and they may instead be added further down the line, but right now, only time will tell.