Palkia Throughout the Ages

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Introduction

Palkia has seen use as a Choice item user, wallbreaker, and special wall throughout the course of the generations of Ubers metagames. It has always been an extremely powerful threat, boasting a great base 150 Special Attack stat and an expansive movepool that includes powerful STAB moves and coverage options. It is a menace for defensive teams because of this, and its base 100 Speed stat allows it to outpace Pokémon like Kyogre, Rayquaza, Ho-Oh, and the Giratina formes. Furthermore, Palkia's great Water / Dragon typing leaves it weak to only two types and provides a 4x resistance to Water, making it a splendid Kyogre check in every generation. These great qualities, combined with other generation-specific positives, made Palkia a dominant force in Ubers and a top-tier threat in early generations, holding a spot even in S Rank. Nowadays, however, Palkia is essentially a fallen angel, currently residing in the depths of C+ Rank. What happened? What caused this massive blow to Palkia's viability? This article will examine Palkia's former glory and how it has fallen from prominence.

DPP

Palkia was at its best during this generation, being a top-tier threat residing in S Rank. Its STAB attacks and coverage allowed it to easily 2HKO most Pokémon that attempted to switch in, while its Speed enabled it to outpace key threats like Kyogre, Dialga, and Giratina-O. Not only was Palkia one of the best Kyogre checks, it also worked extremely well with Kyogre as a teammate. This was because it was able to take advantage of Kyogre's rain to use perfectly accurate Thunders and extremely powerful rain-boosted Hydro Pumps. Palkia was able to function under sun as well as rain if it used Surf or Hydro Pump and Fire Blast together. It was also able to stand up to other top-tier threats like Darkrai, Dialga, and Giratina-O. Palkia also performed with almost unparalleled flexibility, having a myriad of viable and versatile sets. Choice Scarf Palkia was the most common set due to Palkia's excellent power, typing, coverage options, and Speed tier and was able to revenge kill threats like +1 Dragon Dance Rayquaza and Darkrai. Spacial Rend was able to 2HKO Dialga and Latias and dent almost any Pokémon, rain-boosted Surf OHKOed Darkrai, and Thunder allowed Palkia to beat Kyogre and Lugia. Choice Specs was another common item choice, giving Palkia absurd power to the point where its only reliable answer was Blissey. Furthermore, mixed sets utilizing moves like Aqua Tail, Outrage, and Fire Blast allowed Palkia to lure in and take out its conventional switch-ins like Blissey and Steel-types like Scizor that might expect Palkia to be using a Choice Scarf. Haban Berry was an option on such sets to better deal with other Dragon-types. If the opposition is weakened even moderately and if rain is up, any one of these Palkia sets can come in and potentially KO multiple Pokémon or, at worst, nab one KO. Other sets included SubPunch and various Trick Room sets. Because of the number of sets Palkia could run, it didn't have a single true counter that beat all of them at once, with the opponent needing to find out Palkia's set first. Palkia's flexibility and the general utilities it provided as a Kyogre answer and ally allowed it to perform extremely well with almost no real support, with Steel-types such as Dialga, Scizor, and Jirachi being ideal partners if Palkia needed any.

BW

There were several metagame trends that somewhat affected Palkia. Arceus formes being properly legalized in the tier as well as the introduction of Ferrothorn resulted in Choice item Palkia sets falling out of favor and all-out attacker sets becoming the norm, as Arceus-Grass and Ferrothorn emerged as reasonable answers to Palkia. Furthermore, Palkia did have more competition from Latios and Latias as a Kyogre check, and since Choice Scarf Genesect was very prevalent, revenge killing Palkia became easier. Despite these setbacks, these new trends did little to impact Palkia's viability, and it remained a high-tier Pokémon for similar reasons as the previous generation. As Kyogre was even better this generation and arguably the best Pokémon in the tier, Palkia was extremely valuable both as an ally and as a check to it for a wide variety of teams. Though wallbreaker sets were the most prevalent, Palkia's flexibility remained, with it being able to successfully utilize multiple sets. Wallbreaker sets performed similarly to in DPP; they could 2HKO almost the entire metagame, especially under rain, with proper coverage. This set allowed Palkia to defeat defensive teams with minimal prediction due to its sheer power and coverage of Spacial Rend, Surf, Fire Blast for Steel-types like Ferrothorn, and Thunder for Kyogre and Lugia, making it extremely effective. Choice Specs, while less effective, provided Palkia with the benefits of 2HKOing maximum HP Arceus formes, as well as 2HKOing Blissey under rain after some chip damage. Choice Scarf Palkia, while not as popular as the all-out attacker set due to the latter's increased effectiveness at breaking defensive cores, was still formidable, being able to revenge kill numerous foes like Mewtwo, Giratina-O, and Darkrai, with the added bonus of outspeeding Scarf Genesect, one of the best Scarf users in the tier. Similarly to in DPP, Palkia was not polarized by weather wars, functioning very well in both sun and rain due to its coverage. Any Palkia set also took advantage of Spikes support exceptionally well, allowing Palkia to further pressure the opposing team. Although still high-tier, Palkia was slightly worse in this generation than it was in DPP due to the lower number of viable sets and the emergence of Arceus-Grass, Ferrothorn, Blissey, and Chansey as clear-cut answers to all of Palkia's sets to some extent, unlike in DPP, where Palkia used numerous ways of luring its checks.

XY

Palkia remained a high-tier Pokémon in XY Ubers, but its playstyle was completely different. This was due to several key changes in the metagame. First and foremost, the introduction of Fairy-types such as Xerneas and Arceus-Fairy was an annoyance to Palkia, as they are immune to Palkia's Dragon-type STAB moves and can hit it super effectively. Secondly, the change in weather mechanics also impaired Palkia's offensive sets. Because weather was no longer permanent, Palkia couldn't benefit from rain nearly as effectively as it did in previous gens. Due to these changes, offensive Palkia sets, particularly Choice Scarf and Choice Specs, became unpopular, as the presence of Fairy-types prevented Palkia from spamming Dragon moves and made it setup bait if it was locked into them, and Choice Scarf sets faced competition from other users like Zekrom, Kyogre, and Xerneas. However, this generation saw Palkia utilize defensive sets for the first time. Palkia had a decent support movepool, including Rest, Toxic, and Dragon Tail, which combined well with its Water / Dragon typing and good Special Defense. The standard Palkia set consisted of max Speed investment with dual STAB moves, Rest, and Toxic, while a full specially defensive set utilized RestTalk for a more defensive approach. With these two sets, Palkia was able to stand out as the premier Kyogre switch-in, as well as being able to simultaneously spread and absorb status. Furthermore, utilizing its typing combined with Rest, Toxic, and its ability Pressure, Palkia was able to beat Kyogre, Lugia, Giratina-O, and many support Arceus formes including Arceus-Water, Arceus-Ghost, Arceus-Electric, Arceus-Rock, Arceus-Grass, and Arceus-Dark. Even so, an offensive set using Lustrous Orb and consisting of Thunder Wave, Hydro Pump, Spacial Rend, and Fire Blast did see some usage on offense teams. One of its major perks was the ability to cripple Xerneas with Thunder Wave, which the defensive sets didn't do because they carried Toxic instead. In XY, Palkia required a bit more support than the previous generations. Checks to Fairy-types such as Mega Scizor and Ho-Oh were now mandatory partners, as well as something like Xerneas, Yveltal, or Giratina-O to deal with both Mewtwo formes.

ORAS

Primal Groudon is basically what happened in ORAS. Its introduction as the face of the Ubers tier made Palkia fall to the depths of the C Ranks almost singlehandedly. Primal Groudon's Desolate Land made it immune to Palkia's Water-type attacks. With Primal Groudon and Xerneas being extremely popular in ORAS, Palkia faced the problem of having common Pokémon being immune to its attacks, preventing it from freely spamming either of its STAB moves. Secondly, Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre's new weather made it so Palkia wasn't able to utilize Kyogre's rain as a check or teammate nearly as effectively. Desolate Land and Primordial Sea last only when Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre are on the field. This means if an ally Primal Kyogre switches out to Palkia, Palkia can't utilize the rain as it once could because the rain would disappear, and that if Palkia switched into an opposing Primal Kyogre, it would be unable to fire off boosted Hydro Pumps or accurate Thunders unless Kyogre stayed in. Furthermore, the fact that Desolate Land and Primordial Sea overrode existing weather conditions meant regular Groudon and Kyogre were unviable, whose weather did stay on the field for several turns. Lastly, Primal Groudon's Desolate Land created a situation where a dedicated Kyogre answer wasn't necessary or nearly as valued, which practically destroyed Palkia's defensive niche. Even though Palkia was still a good Kyogre answer, it faced competition for this role from the omnipresent Primal Groudon as well as Latios and Latias, which outperformed Palkia as a Kyogre check due to their better matchup against Kyogre with their recovery and Groudon with their immunities to Ground. Because of these flaws, a specially defensive set that offered no real niche after Primal Groudon came along couldn't be used, and any Choice item set was out of the question. This confined Palkia to an all-out attacker set. However, even this set was mediocre. It couldn't spam its STAB moves as freely as it did in previous generations, making wallbreaking more prediction reliant. Furthermore, Palkia struggled against offensive teams because it couldn't utilize a Choice Scarf. Pokémon like Arceus-Fairy, Arceus-Ghost, Deoxys-A, Mega Salamence, Mega Mewtwo Y, Mega Gengar, and Swords Dance Arceus formes, of which many were seen on offensive teams, could outspeed and easily revenge kill Palkia because of its lack of many resistances. Its lack of versatility compared to other generations made its answers more clear cut, and Palkia struggled against offensive teams with the aforementioned Pokémon.

Having said these flaws, though, Palkia was still a powerful threat for defensive teams to deal with. With correct prediction, Palkia 2HKOes Primal Groudon with Spacial Rend and Primal Kyogre, Arceus-Water, and Lugia with Thunder. These moves, among other coverage, still made Palkia tough to switch into, especially with the support of Primal Kyogre, Yveltal, and Arceus-Ground in order to KO Primal Groudon. Still, special attackers like Xerneas, Deoxys-A, Darkrai, and special Yveltal were more consistent picks due to their better matchups against offensive teams as well as their increased offensive utility, whether it be sweeping, Speed, or sleep, that Palkia failed to provide. However, Palkia's ability to beat defensive teams and check Primal Kyogre and Arceus-Water gave it some use.

Generation 7

Palkia still faced the troubles of Primal Groudon and Fairy-types like Xerneas being top-tier picks during SM Ubers. Its flaws were basically the same as in ORAS, though Palkia was able to stand up to several new additions to the tier like Zygarde-C, Celesteela, Toxapex, and Magearna if using the proper coverage moves. The new Pokémon in the tier as well as the changing metagame resulted in teams becoming generally bulkier, allowing Palkia to hit more slower targets that it could pressure due to its great matchup versus defensive teams. The introduction of Z-Moves saw Palkia utilize a Z-Heal Block set to limited success in SM, giving it a sort of unique niche. This set was limited to usage on Sticky Web teams, though, where the entry hazard allowed Palkia to outspeed the opposition and sweep teams with boosted Special Attack, 2HKOing max HP Arceus formes at +2 after Stealth Rock. Palkia was able to set up on Primal Kyogre and Arceus-Water as well as the new addition Solagleo, though Palkia checking a new mediocre Pokémon didn't really impact its viability. The Z-Heal Block set gave Palkia a clearer niche than its set in ORAS, boosting its viability, albeit little, to C+. However, the rise of Marshadow later in Generation 7 didn't help Palkia's cause. Marshadow proved to be another Pokémon capable of revenge killing it. More importantly, the rise of Marshadow prompted the massively increased usage of Arceus-Fairy, which proved troubling to Palkia. Z-Move wallbreakers like Marshadow and Lunala gave Palkia competition as a Z-Move user as well. In SM, justifying using Palkia was extremely difficult, as it was confined to a specific Z-Move sweeper set for specific use on Sticky Web teams, with the only real benefit of checking Primal Kyogre. When Palkia is only offensively contributing to Sticky Web teams, it's obvious that its position in the meta is a bit shaky.

Palkia is currently seen in USM using an all-out attacker set. Palkia's feats include being able to OHKO offensive Ho-Oh and 2HKO standard Geomancy Xerneas with Hydro Pump, 2HKO Primal Groudon with Spacial Rend after Stealth Rock damage, and 2HKO Primal Kyogre and Arceus-Water and OHKO Celesteela with Thunder. Being able to dent common defensive Pokémon on the switch allows it to still threaten defensive teams, and it can easily pressure most of the common Arceus formes. One thing to note about USM is that Palkia's Steel resistance allows it to be an emergency check to Necrozma-DM. Other than this, an important metagame trend in USM that affects Palkia is that Primal Kyogre shifted to running more physical sets. While Palkia can still switch into Liquidation, it takes a hefty chunk from Earthquake, possibly being 2HKOed after Stealth Rock damage. If Palkia switches into Earthquake it will lose the duel. Thus, Palkia lost its main niche of being a great check to Primal Kyogre, and with no true defensive utility, Palkia isn't in the best of spots. In earlier generations where Palkia had several defensive niches, it had to balance out longevity and power, which is why Choice items and Lustrous Orb were used. With these defensive niches being gone, the aforementioned items are a waste, and Palkia is confined to using Life Orb to deal as much damage as it can.

Conclusion

While Palkia started out as a top-tier Pokémon in the Ubers metagame with various positive attributes that made it stand out, it was shut down by the introduction of various elements into the tier, most importantly Primal Groudon and changing weather mechanics. That still doesn't make it unusable, though... with proper support, Palkia can still destroy teams and dominate a game.

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