Pokémon Legends: Z-A Season 02

New month, new season! Xerneas, Yveltal, and Diance are now Ranked legal, and Delphoxite is now available by rank up rewards. This was gonna be fun.

Following up from Season One, I decided to just tweak the previous team a little bit. With only three Pokémon being added, I couldn't see the format changing too much, and one of the new Pokémon perfectly filled a niche role I was looking to replace already. Without further ado...

Xerneas

Gyarados

Glaceon

(Note to self: Keep an eye on when Pokémon Database adds Legends: Z-A sprites because yikes.)

This team was excellent. Even beyond how many knockouts I earned each battle, this team worked extremely consistently; I rarely had to think about what the best Pokémon would be to send out, and all three Pokémon were bulky enough where I could keep them on the field until they were low without fainting themselves and just swap them out.

I still hate the arena outside Quartico, Inc. and its lopsided design. I already hated it last season, but that twentieth game (the 4/2/4/Disc) took place on that map. If you don't know the map off hand, that's the one that takes place on a long street corner where one enemy spawns to your side and the other two spawn about ten seconds down on the other side if you're the only one running. Guess who spawned next to the disconnected player. Would have gotten Rank A a match earlier if I hadn't.

When I finished that twenty-first match, I was ten points away if I was guestimating correctly. I did this ranked ladder all in one day, so I was tired and finished the match for the point.

I really am happy with how this team performed. I have almost no notes. Though, as I always say, if you don't think you can improve then it's time to move on. Let's get started with the team recap.

Xerneas

• Xerneas @ Quick Claw
• EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
• Modest Nature
• - Geomancy
• - Moonblast
• - Thunderbolt
• - Focus Blast

Xerneas with Geomancy was legalized right after a dragon-filled meta. Easy choice to center the team around.

The plan with Clefable was to immediately bolt towards either the left or right (whichever was least likely to knock Xerneas out) and activate a Geomancy as fast as possible. Ten percent of the time, the beautiful Quick Claw would instantly trigger the move and let Xerneas instantly attack. 90% of the time, Xerneas had enough bulk to probably survive whatever attack that Pokémon used before activating those stat increases. Then, nine times out of ten, Xerneas got an easy three knock-outs right to start.

Xerneas's biggest strength is its explosiveness. If Xerneas can set up then it's going to wreck havoc on the field. It has the bulk to easily survive until its stat increases go away unless every single opponent targets you, even if you go up against enemies with better type effectiveness. Once Xerneas's stat boosts fade away, normally Xerneas's health has depleted anyway. Time to swap out.

Xerneas has an interesting movepool. Beyond the set-up Geomancy, you have access to Fairy-type Special Attack moves, Psychic, Normal, Electric, Steel, and Fighting. That was a pretty wide range. I ultimately decided on Fairy-Type for the STAB bonus, Electric-Type to counter the Flying and Water Pokémon, and Fighting to counter the Metagrosses (and surprisingly common Lucarios).

I instantly knew I wanted Quick Claw on Xerneas. Quick Claw didn't do much on Clefairy, but that was because Clefairy wasn't bringing much to the table. If the Pokémon you're working on is great at setting up and clearing the field, Quick Claw should be much more effective. Honestly, I'm not sure what other held item I'd give it. I saw one player ran a Shell Bell Xerneas. I guess it worked. It was facing my Glaceon.

Pros

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• Interesting movepool.
• Great stat-boosting abilities.
• Access to Screens as well if that's your style.

Cons

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• Absolutely every match had at least two Xerneases, including mine. Most of the time, there were three.

Gyarados

• Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
• EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
• Adamant Nature
• - Waterfall
• - Crunch
• - Dragon Rush
• - Earthquake

I made no changes whatsoever to my Gyarados. I stand by all those earlier points.

People seemed to be better prepared for Gyarados this season, but the actual changes to the format didn't impact Gyarados much. Mega Gyarados is weak to Xerneas, but I rarely had Gyarados out and Mega Evolved when Xerneas came on the field.

If I were to change anything, I would look at Gyarados's EVs. A Xerneas with 252 Sp. Atk EVs, a +Sp. Atk Nature, and no boosts from Geomancy has a 50% chance to knock out this Gyarados; you would need the 252 HP EVs Gyarados already has and 148 Sp. Def EVs to guarantee a two-hit knockout. That would leave you with 108 EVs left for Ph. Atk, bringing Gyarados's new Ph. Atk is 207. Replacing one of Gyarados's coverage moves for a Swords Dance would further make up for the loss of stats. To be honest, though, I think it is worth being knocked out faster if you can get more knock outs in yourself.

Pros

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• Massive offensive pool to choose from.
• Great stats no matter which version of Gyarados you run.

Cons

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• Everyone is used to Gyarados from last season and knows how to counter. Xerneas in particular is quite common. You can always put Gyarados away, though, when Xerneas in particular comes out.
• Very limited Status moves.

Glaceon

• Glaceon @ Occa Berry
• EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
• Modest Nature
• - Ice Beam
• - Freeze Dry
• - Shadow Ball
• - Roar

Glaceon did a lot less for the team this formal compared to last format.

I did change Glaceon's held item this season to an Occa Berry to counter Fire-type attacks. Did that ever come up? I saw a few Emboars, but Glaceon mostly took hits from stray Thunder Bolts. I did see someone running a Focus Sash Glaceon to make sure Glaceon could take out whatever it was threatening, something I might consider running next season.

If I were to redo this season, I would probably swap Glaceon out for something else. However, considering next season introduces Mega Zygarde, a Pokémon that's x4 weak to Ice, I'm going to try to figure out how to maximize Glaceon's EV spread to make it as effective as possible.

I already have some damage calcs prepared for Glaceon versus Mega Zygarde next season. Presuming Mega Zygarde has 252 HP, 252 Sp. Atk, and 4 Sp. Def EVs, a Modest Glaceon needs a total of four Sp. Atk EVs for a guaranteed knockout. If Mega Zygarde has a beneficial nature, that becomes one-hundred twenty-four Sp. Atk EVs on Glaceon. Both of those numbers presume you are not using a Plus move. I haven't done any calculations for any other Dragon-types, or against any common counters, but I will almost certainly redo Glaceon's EVs to give it more bulk so it can take out more Dragons. Those will be pretty relevant.

Pros

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• Ice-typing is perfect for this format.

Cons

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• Everyone either uses Glaceon or knows how to go against it.
• That's pretty much the extent of Glaceon.
• Glaceon's niche last season has been outshined by Xerneas.

Team Recap & Moving Forward

Overall, I greatly enjoyed playing this season. I am also very burned out. Playing an entire ranked ladder in one day was mentally exhausting. Don't do it, kids.

Seriously, though, I had a lot of fun this season. The team worked out much better than I expected it to, I already have plans and notes prepared for next season, and we can only improve from here. Part of me wants to change my team significantly for next season so I don't get completely burned out, but I do love playing a not-Dragon-type in a sea of Dragons. I'll sleep on the idea, but it's not something I'm expecting to do. Who knows, maybe I'll try maining a different Mega in a tournament somewhere.