Pokémon Crimson and Crimson has been out for a few weeks now, and like every new Pokémon installment, there are monsters in the Paldea region that are proving to be particularly strong. Four of the new companions are so strong that they were banned from tournaments among players. They look very inconspicuous.
What Pokemon is it about? In Crimson and Crimson, 4 Pokémon are already considered particularly strong that are neither legendary, mystical, nor starter Pokémon:
Friedwuff and Delfinator are also interesting for trainers who only want to play the story and arm themselves for the arenas or league, since they or their pre-developments can be caught before the league.
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Why is Friedwuff so strong? The great strength of the new ghost dog Friedwuff is his signature attack “last honor”. He learns this as soon as his precursor Gruff develops to level 30 (at night).
Last Honor has a base power of 50, which isn’t particularly impressive at first. However, with each Pokémon on your team that has already been defeated, gain 50 power.
So if your 5 other Pokemon have already been eliminated, the power increases by 250 (5 x 50) for a total of 300. That’s double the power of a Hyper Beam or Giga Blast.
In addition, Friedwuff’s “Last Honor” is a so-called STAB move. This results in Last Honor’s power increasing by an additional 50% from 300 to 450. That’s extremely high.
For comparison, if a Water-type Pokémon uses the Hydro Pump attack on a Fire-type Pokémon, the damage is 330 because the attack is very effective and gains STAB (110 x 2 + 50%). Still, Friedwoof does more damage when Last Honor is at normal effectiveness.
What is STAB? STAB stands for “Same Type Attack Bonus”, which means something like “attack bonus for the same type”. So when a Ghost Pokémon like Friedwoof uses a Ghost attack, it gains a damage bonus. This is normally 50% of the attack strength.
A superhero with fins
Why is Delfinator so strong? Delfinator is actually a nondescript Pokémon, but its Super Switch ability transforms it from a simple dolphin into a superhero when switched in and out in the middle of a fight. He changes from the “everyday form” to the “hero form” and receives an enormous boost in his values.
Due to the boost, the sum of the basic status values (HP, attack, defense, special attack, special defense and initiative) is higher than that of Dragoran and Knackrack and almost as high as that of the weather legends Groudon and Kyogre.
There are also moves like Jet Smash, Dissipation Smash, and Splurge, which further exploit Delfinator’s strengths. Combined with an increased HP value and an item like the “remains”, the so inconspicuous dolphin is almost impossible to stop.
Additionally, if Delfinator’s Tera-type is Steel, for example, weaknesses such as his vulnerability to Electric and Grass-type attacks can be mitigated by the new Tera-Crystallization mechanic.
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Incredible speed meets good special attack
Why are flyaway hair so strong? Flutterhair is, so to speak, the paradoxical form of the ghost Pokémon Traunfugil and has a very strong special attack and an enormously high initiative.
The highest stat of Fuzzy Hair is additionally boosted by the Paleosynthesis ability – if the highest stat is Special Attack, the boost is 30%. If it’s initiative, it increases by 50%.
In addition, Ghost Fairy is a type combination that has very few weaknesses. Normal, Fighting, and Dragon attacks have no effect at all, and Bug attacks do only a quarter of the damage. Also, only Steel and Ghost attacks are very effective and do double damage. Not a single type has four times the strength against Fuzzy Hair.
In addition, Freaky Hair has strong STAB attacks with Haunted Ball or Moon Rush and could even hit Normal or Steel-types very effectively with a Tera Crystallize to the Fighting type and the Tera Burst attack.
A fast and powerful version of Botogel
Why is iron bundle so strong? Iron Bundle is a paradoxical form of Botogel and has similar strengths to Flickerhair: It is extremely fast with a high initiative value and also has a strong special attack.
With the STAB moves Hydro Pump and Freeze Dryer, it deals heavy damage against many Pokémon and has quickly become an alternative to Fuzzy Hair.
The Smogon University as the authority behind trainer battles
Who decides they are “too strong”? Anyone who wants to fight Pokémon online battles against other players and put their skills as a trainer to the test will sooner or later be confronted with the so-called “Smogon University”.
If you, as the organizer, hold a tournament, you can use Smogon’s classification as a basis and set up your rules based on that. As the organizer, you have various options for using the classes.
The purpose of the division and the rules of a tournament based on it is to enable fair and balanced battles and to bring variety to the Pokémon selection.
In battles without such balancing, players with the strongest monsters – such as Legendary Pokémon or those like Fuzzy Hair – could face significantly weaker teams. This is usually quite unfair and reduces the fun of the participants.