The Best Pokemon Champions Team Core is Already Clear

Pokemon Champions is less than 10 days away from officially releasing, and while it may be a secondary battling hub for the series for some time, it has all the cornerstones to become the main VGC game in the future. Even if this doesn’t pan out for whatever reason, Pokemon Champions is indeed built to be the ultimate battle-focused Pokemon game, to the point that it has the so-called Omni Ring. This will allow players to use all existing gimmicks, so even if only Mega Evolution will be usable at launch, Terastallization, Dynamax, and Z-Moves all should be added over time. For now, though, options are a bit more limited, and it’s natural to have some team cores perform better than others.

For those who are not much into VGC terminology, a team core is a subset of Pokemon to use in a 6-Pokemon team in competitive that works well together for various criteria. These could be Speed augmentation with Tailwind, slow Pokemon that become faster under Trick Room, or generally synergistic options that benefit one another. One such example is weather teams, as they usually have very strong, easy-to-build cores that can do very well competitively. Pokemon Champions‘ best Pokemon are still to be determined, but one type of weather will likely reign supreme.

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Pokemon Champions’ Best Team is Going to Rain on Your Parade

Considering that both Pelipper and Politoed have been confirmed to be returning in Pokemon Champions, and considering that they are exceptional VGC threats due to setting rain, rain teams will surely thrive. But that’s not all, as there are various reasons why rain teams will most likely end up taking over the meta when Pokemon Champions launches:

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet‘s Archaludon is confirmed to be in the game, and it’s one of the best Pokemon ever created for rain teams. It has Electro Shot to increase its already high Special Attack by one stage at the price of performing the move over two turns, but this is done on the same turn if it rains. Then, it has Stamina to boost its Defense whenever hit, which increases the damage it deals with Body Press. Finally, its Dragon/Steel type means it has a lot of resistances and does well against Fairy.
Another confirmed critter is Pokemon Legends: Arceus‘ Basculegion. This Water/Ghost Pokemon is amazing in rain with Swift Swim, doubling its Speed, and it can become an overpowered sweeper with its high base attack and Wave Crash, dealing massive damage to opponents.
Pelipper is Water/Flying, which means it can use STAB-boosted Hurricane to deal massive damage despite its low stats at 100% accuracy, potentially confusing the opposing Pokemon.
Politoed has access to Pokemon‘s Perish Song, a move infamously used by World Champion Wolfe Glick to win multiple tournaments with aptly-crafted “Perish Trap” teams that combine Perish Song with Gothitelle to prevent opponents from switching out.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A‘s starters got new abilities in Pokemon Champions, and Mega Meganium has Mega Sol. This exclusive ability allows Mega Meganium to act as if it’s under harsh sunlight at all times for its moves, meaning it can fire off Solar Beams in one turn without actually needing sun as a weather. This is perfect for rain teams, as rain reduces the damage dealt by Fire-type moves by 50%, so it protects Mega Meganium.

Who’s That Character?

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Who’s That Character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)

Why Pokemon Champions’ Best Strategy is Weather

These are just some reasons why rain teams will end up having a good slice of the meta dedicated to them. If Pokemon Legends: Z-A‘s best Pokemon are any indication, if or when Kyogre is added to Pokemon Champions, rain teams will become even more broken, as Kyogre is often considered one of the best Pokemon of all time.

Since Pokemon Champions will have a big focus on double battles, which is the main VGC format anyway, it’s a given that weather teams will be meta in some shape or form. Sun teams will have very powerful options too, as Venusaur is one of the best Grass-type Pokemon ever, and it has Chlorophyll as an ability. Sand teams will have the ever-powerful Tyranitar piloting them, but now with the new tool of Mega Excadrill to aid in the process, or maybe the tired and true Mega Garchomp.

Even Pokemon Legends: Z-A‘s Mega Froslass is getting a weather-based ability in Snow Warning, which will not only make its Blizzard 100% accurate, but also increase its Defense by 50%. Mega Dragonite could also show up in rain teams with STAB Hurricane, for example. The options for weather Pokemon are there, and it’s only a matter of time before they take over Pokemon Champions after it launches.