24 days into January. I got some news
So as it turns out, there's been a sudden change in the metagame.
The statement above is outdated. Zacian and Zamazenta in their crowned formes have recently been proven usable without any item or ability restrictions! Cheers, we can do more with these formes! Here are my initial thoughts on how I think these will affect the metagame.
92/170/115/80/115/148
BST: 720
Honestly there isn't much I can say about Zacian-Crowned. Before it became freed, regular Zamazenta took a role of support and random OHKO abuser, but most importantly as a check to Kyurem-White, Necrozma-Dawn Wings, Mewtwo, Darmanitan-Galar-Zen, and any other good Neutralizing Gas sweeper after they set up. I see Zacian-Crowned taking these same roles but with Magearna's typing and an additional base 10 speed. It can use Behemoth Blade/Bash to check their Dynamaxed forms, which are nigh-required to be able to properly deal with Eternamax. Aside from this I expect Zacian-Crowned to not be much different from how it already was before this discovery, when it could take advantage of Neutralizing Gas switching in and out to gain Attack boosts, then try to flinchspam with Double Iron Bash. Overall, this Pokemon is gonna be great. (I cannot express enough how important being able to check Neutralizing Gas offense sweepers are in this format)
Disclaimer:
With every new change comes new ideas, and Huge Power + Sunsteel Strike seems to be a fairly popular one.
Huge Power + Sunsteel Strike is most likely going to be a waste. Huge Power this gen is fatally flawed by the presence of Neutralizing Gas and Eternamax, especially with moves that aren't Super Effective. The problem is, Neutralizing Gas will shut down Huge Power, Huge Power can Gastro Acid, but only for it to do similarly low amounts of damage to the Neutralizing Gas Pokemon or Eternamax in general that switches in on the next turn. You might as well be using Intrepid Sword since you'll be taking advantage of Neutralizing Gas switching out to gain attack boosts, and this so far is the most efficient method to boost attack using an ability this gen, at least from what has been discovered. However despite this the overall best method of offense using Zacian-Crowned is just by spouting a random OHKO move or two (preferably Horn Drill or Fissure). It may have base 170 Attack but Eternamax can shut this down even if Zacian-Crowned gets double raw Attack because Zacian-Crowned isn't running a Super Effective STAB move. If it wants to do any serious sweeping, this and hoping for constant Double Iron Bash flinchspams are the best it could hope for.
92/130/145/80/145/128
BST: 720
For now, Zamazenta-Crowned is looking to be at a high risk of being outclassed by regular Zamazenta, regular Zacian, and Zacian-Crowned simply for its speed. Any of the other dog duo formes should be able to check it with Taunt or faster/stronger attacks this guy wouldn't be able to wall. For example, regular Zamazenta still runs Close Combat. However despite this, it's still able to outspeed most Neutralizing Gas sweepers with a Choice Scarf and therefore its presumed main role is still secured for the most part. Aside from this its higher bulk allows this Pokemon to potentially look more suitable as some sort of trapper. I'll be looking forward into whatever people try coming up with when trying to use Zamazenta-Crowned.
Do you have any thoughts on these two Pokemon? What about thoughts on the rest of the metagame? Let us know in your posts below! I'll update my previous posts to align with our recent changes.
So as it turns out, there's been a sudden change in the metagame.
The statement above is outdated. Zacian and Zamazenta in their crowned formes have recently been proven usable without any item or ability restrictions! Cheers, we can do more with these formes! Here are my initial thoughts on how I think these will affect the metagame.
92/170/115/80/115/148
BST: 720
Honestly there isn't much I can say about Zacian-Crowned. Before it became freed, regular Zamazenta took a role of support and random OHKO abuser, but most importantly as a check to Kyurem-White, Necrozma-Dawn Wings, Mewtwo, Darmanitan-Galar-Zen, and any other good Neutralizing Gas sweeper after they set up. I see Zacian-Crowned taking these same roles but with Magearna's typing and an additional base 10 speed. It can use Behemoth Blade/Bash to check their Dynamaxed forms, which are nigh-required to be able to properly deal with Eternamax. Aside from this I expect Zacian-Crowned to not be much different from how it already was before this discovery, when it could take advantage of Neutralizing Gas switching in and out to gain Attack boosts, then try to flinchspam with Double Iron Bash. Overall, this Pokemon is gonna be great. (I cannot express enough how important being able to check Neutralizing Gas offense sweepers are in this format)
Disclaimer:
With every new change comes new ideas, and Huge Power + Sunsteel Strike seems to be a fairly popular one.
Huge Power + Sunsteel Strike is most likely going to be a waste. Huge Power this gen is fatally flawed by the presence of Neutralizing Gas and Eternamax, especially with moves that aren't Super Effective. The problem is, Neutralizing Gas will shut down Huge Power, Huge Power can Gastro Acid, but only for it to do similarly low amounts of damage to the Neutralizing Gas Pokemon or Eternamax in general that switches in on the next turn. You might as well be using Intrepid Sword since you'll be taking advantage of Neutralizing Gas switching out to gain attack boosts, and this so far is the most efficient method to boost attack using an ability this gen, at least from what has been discovered. However despite this the overall best method of offense using Zacian-Crowned is just by spouting a random OHKO move or two (preferably Horn Drill or Fissure). It may have base 170 Attack but Eternamax can shut this down even if Zacian-Crowned gets double raw Attack because Zacian-Crowned isn't running a Super Effective STAB move. If it wants to do any serious sweeping, this and hoping for constant Double Iron Bash flinchspams are the best it could hope for.
92/130/145/80/145/128
BST: 720
For now, Zamazenta-Crowned is looking to be at a high risk of being outclassed by regular Zamazenta, regular Zacian, and Zacian-Crowned simply for its speed. Any of the other dog duo formes should be able to check it with Taunt or faster/stronger attacks this guy wouldn't be able to wall. For example, regular Zamazenta still runs Close Combat. However despite this, it's still able to outspeed most Neutralizing Gas sweepers with a Choice Scarf and therefore its presumed main role is still secured for the most part. Aside from this its higher bulk allows this Pokemon to potentially look more suitable as some sort of trapper. I'll be looking forward into whatever people try coming up with when trying to use Zamazenta-Crowned.
Do you have any thoughts on these two Pokemon? What about thoughts on the rest of the metagame? Let us know in your posts below! I'll update my previous posts to align with our recent changes.
. Blizzard may have 70% accuracy but when you dynamax you summon Max Hailstorm attacks that never miss and summon hail. Hail lasts for five turns, dynamax lasts for three, and Blizzard never misses under Hail so after you dynamax you still have two Blizzard attacks that can't hit. It works over other STAB moves like Ice Beam and Clanging Scales either because they don't hit as hard or type immunities could potentially have this Pokemon plummet to its end. I've also once considered Flamethrower over Earth Power but you actually don't want that on Kyurem-White since Max Flare summons sun and that can hurt your chances of hitting Blizzard. Last but not least you'll see that Kyurem-White has 44 speed EVs. This is to underspeed min speed Eternatus-Eternamax so it can Shell Smash and be given a chance before its stats can be taken.
