Several of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s Paradox Pokemon are also quite powerful, and this is even clearer when looking at their stats, which are all equal to 570 total with two notable exceptions, with them being Roaring Moon and Iron Valiant, whose stat total is 590, instead. Game Freak didn’t shy away from introducing plenty of strong pocket monsters and great type combinations, like Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s Grafaiai being Normal and Poison or the aforementioned Iron Valiant being Fairy/Fighting. And yet, among all of Gen 9 Pokemon, Houndstone and Pokemon Scarlet’s Flutter Mane have been already hit by bans for different reasons.
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Why Pokemon Scarlet’s Paradox Misdreavous Was Banned From Competitive
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s Paradox Pokemon can all be problematic to a degree, but Flutter Mane brings a lot to the table. The main issue with Flutter Mane is that its base stats make it an extremely aggressive and effective attacker, as it has 135 base points into both Speed and Special Attack, making it quite difficult to counter. Its type combination of Ghost and Fairy also makes it particularly problematic because it only has two weaknesses, one resistance, and is immune to three different types, including Fighting and Dragon.
On top of that, Flutter Mane has access to great moves that allow this pocket monster to have incredible coverage for the most powerful and frequent types in the game, which combined with its Speed and Special Attack make it almost impossible to resist. All of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s Paradox Pokemon have unique Abilities associated either with weather or terrain. In Scarlet, this is called Protosynthesis, which increases the user’s highest stat by 50% when in harsh sunlight. These reasons combined made the Smogon Academy quickban Flutter Main from competitive battles with unanimous votes.
How Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s Houndstone Can Deal The Highest Damage in the Game
Unlike Flutter Mane, Houndstone wasn’t banned for its stats, even though its bulk is arguably one of the best in the game due to high Attack, Defense, and Special Defense, which make it quite difficult to take down if built properly. The main problem with Greavard’s evolution in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet comes from its signature move, called Last Respects. This move’s base power equals 50, and it’s a Ghost-type move, for which Houndstone gets STAB damage. What makes Last Respects so powerful is the fact that it adds 50 base power to the move’s total for each fainted allied Pokemon, up to 300 base power.
This alone was enough for Smong Academy to quickban Houndstone unanimously, as players could hypothetically get 200% STAB damage with it through Terastallization, making it one of the best moves in the entire franchise. Furthermore, Houndstone not-so-great Speed is heavily compensated for with its Sand Rush Ability, which makes it a reliable and almost unstoppable monster on Sandstorm teams. As such, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s first competitive bans were dispatched, and Flutter Mane and Houndstone won’t be allowed for the foreseeable future.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now on Nintendo Switch.
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