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Earth, Wind and Fire: Using Weather – Competitive Pokémon Guide

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Now that I’ve covered a variety of roles you should have on your team, let’s talk about the weather. It’s been lacklustre over here, sometimes it’s sunny but usually it’s overcast.

The weather in Pokémon is a lot more exciting though.

Building a weather team changes the structure of your team drastically in some regards and not at all in others. You still want sweepers and defensive Pokémon, however weather battles tend to be more about offence.

Sun and Rain teams are all about boosting the attacking prowess of your Pokémon, with rain typically being the best at it. However Sand, and the fourth and final variant, Hail teams (which apparently some people use) are focused more on versatility and attrition.

What’s different is that now Pokémon that previously you would never consider to fill certain roles become amazingly good at it. Take Venusaur, typically a big brute that acts as a tank, but if you put a Venusaur with the ability chlorophyll and the move growth under the sun it instantly becomes an incredible boosting mixed sweeper and revenge killer. Chlorophyll and sunlight makes Venusaur grow from a slow tank, to a lighting fast attacking juggernaut that still retains the bulk that made it so tanky to begin with.

blankVenusaur is in my opinion the best of the speed-boosted-by-weather-conditions Pokémon (I don’t think there is a name for it), however Pokémon like Kingdra and Excadrill both benefit from the same ability in rain and a sandstorm respectively.

With weather moves that previously weren’t as viable suddenly became easy to use. Venusaur in the sun can now happily spam solar beam (thanks to the intense sun charging it faster) at lighting fast speeds with little consequence. Flamethrower becomes an even more reliable option for fire Pokémon due to the boost in power it gets from the sun making some sun teams choose it over the less accurate but now complete incinerator that is fire blast.

The rain will make usually less accurate moves like thunder and hurricane hit every time without fail, making Pokémon like the previously mentioned revenge killer Jolteon even more dangerous as he fires off thunder with perfect accuracy, and Volcarona, a fire and bug type, is able to use hurricane in the rain alongside powerful flying types without the fear of ever missing, with both of these moves having the added ability to paralyse or confuse an opponent that is made even more likely with the increase in accuracy meaning your chances of hitting and thereby inflicting the status problem going up.

There is also the added bonus that Pokémon like Vaporeon, Goodra and Lapras gain a free full health restore from using rest in combination with their ability, hydration. As well as an immunity to status problems as long as the rain is pouring.

The weather can be summoned through the moves:

Rain Dance

Sunny Day

Sandstorm

Hail

However Pokémon with the abilities:

Drizzle

Drought

Sand Stream

Snow Warning

Are able to summon these weather conditions just with there mere presence. Unless you plan on using Kyogre or Groudon the downside is that for rain teams you’re left with Politoed who is unfortunately not very good at much else other than summoning the rain.

Sun teams fare a little better with the slightly more useful Ninetales who along with having a cooler design is able to burn opponents to shut down sweepers. However Sand teams by far get the best deal with both Tyranitar and Hippowdon, to powerful sand stream users that are capable of taking a hit and in the case of Tyranitar, absolutely dominating opponents.

My personal recommendations for weather teams are to have two weather setters, I’ve already mentioned the two for sand teams but for rain teams (if you’re not using banned Pokémon) this requires you to have another Pokémon with rain dance, which can slow the process down. Sun teams, again, fair a little better with Ninetales and Mega Charizard Y being able to bring on the drought again and again and both bringing their own firepower.

Pre Gen-VI it used to be far easier to run a weather team as drought, drizzle, sandstorm and snow warning were permanent weather effects however now they only last the same duration as their move equivalents and like their move equivalents require a held item in order to prolong the weather. This is why I would say for this gen it’s better to have too weather starters that fill different roles.

Some advanced players will even run a dual weather team, I’ve used a sun and rain combination as they actually cover each others weaknesses very well, and they usually make for great teams for Volcarona to be on, as Volcarona works amazingly on both rain and sun teams and won’t even notice the difference.

I could write entire articles on how to make the most of your chosen weather team, but as for now I’d say look around more as I’ve got to cover something more important in my next article.

Mind Games and putting pressure on your opponents. Join me next time.

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Larian Reveals Baldur’s Gate 3’s Mildest Multiclass Builds

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Since the excellent Baldur’s Gate 3 has been out in the wild for a while, interesting data can be gleaned, such as how players choose to play an innovative new RPG from home. Stats from developer Larian Studios and posted on the PlayStation Blog show that most people want to play as a stealthy archer like in Skyrim when given nearly limitless options.

According to a fascinating graph, Rogue/Ranger is the most popular multiclass build, with over 175,000 players using it to snipe unsuspecting enemies from range. The next two builds reveal similarly. 150,000 played Barbarian/Fighter because they loved pummeling things, and 109,00 played Barbarian/Paladin, which lets players talk to their victims before beatings.

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More sense emerges as you descend. If the Paladin/Warlock/Sorcerer/Bard has high Charisma, any combination can be interesting. Charisma helps these classes cast spells and abilities and interact with NPCs outside of combat.

Playing a single class through Baldur’s Gate 3 feels great, which is what most players do. A pure Fighter or Wizard becomes so powerful by game’s end that we don’t blame you for not mixing things up!

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Play as a Tiefling Oathbreaker Paladin, Dark Urge Origin (which you must resist), or Bard for real moral dilemmas. You could also play pseudo-Aragorn again.

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Techland Shows Durable Dying Light 2 Content Roadmap

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Techland is continuing to release Dying Light 2 content as part of its long-term support. This is surprising since the meaty Good Night, Good Luck update was released a few months ago. It’s nice to know what’s coming, but no timeline was given.

IGN-exclusive roadmap trailers reveal more co-op missions, board quests, a tower raid, and replayable GRE anomalies. Executions and finishers may be added to the April Gut Feeling update, which overhauled melee mechanics. Graphical options, weapon repair, gear, and mod dismantling are always welcome.

Knives, polearms, and more enemy variants are coming, including a Nightmare difficulty. Changes to NG+ include firearms. Players can finally dress to their hearts’ content with new cosmetic options.

Has Techland’s Dying Light 2 support lured you back? Would you rather focus on something new?

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Epic to Globalize V-Buck Price Hike

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Epic Games expanded the Fortnite V-Buck “pricing alignment” after laying off almost 900 employees, citing “inflation and currency fluctuations”. Fortnite’s premium currency will rise in international markets, including the largest.

Epic Games will raise the price of V-Bucks and real money content packs in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Eurozone countries, Hungary, Japan, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Turkey, and the US (including all US Dollar storefronts) on October 27.

Raising the price of this fictitious currency was successful when the company trialed it in the UK, Canada, and Mexico, so it was decided to announce it worldwide now. These USD increases range from $1 (1000 V-Bucks, previous $7.99) to $10 (13,500 V-Bucks, previous $79.99).

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How do you view Epic’s timing and pricing increase?

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