Last week, Pokemon Unite seemed to have achieved the impossible. A new MOBA, with 20 individual characters, all of whom are viable and being played almost equally? ‘You’re having a laugh,’ I hear you say. The thing is, I’m not – or at least I wasn’t. I was being deadly serious, although now I’m not laughing for a different reason: Unite’s ridiculous misuse of Gardevoir, one of the most popular Pokemon in the series’ history.
If you’ve ever played Gen 3 or managed to snag yourself a Ralts in a subsequent game, you’ll likely already be acquainted with Gardevoir. This Psychic/Fairy-type is often used as a powerful special sweeper, launching Moonblasts and Dazzling Gleams at unsuspecting Dragon- and Fighting-types like it’s nobody’s business. The thing is, Gardevoir is more than that. It also has a ridiculously high Sp. Def stat and can slot into unconventional support roles perfectly. So why, reader, has Tencent’s Timi Studios decided that Gardevoir is going to be just another boring Attacker?
Related: Pokemon Unite Gardevoir Build Guide
It’s not the fact that Gardevoir is an Attacker that bothers me – it’s the kind of Attacker it is. Personally, I’d have loved a Support Gardevoir, although I can understand that Barrier is already covered by Mr. Mime. Light Screen, though? A perfect way to foil enemy Attackers who focus on Sp. Atk while also providing Gardevoir with the potential for a more hybrid build. Mr. Mime’s offensive capabilities are rubbish – giving a character like Gardevoir both Support and Attacker viability could have meant average players actually locked Support roles, as opposed to having a team with Cinderace, Venusaur, Ninetales, and Pikachu every game.
Gardevoir’s build isn’t bad – it isn’t under or overpowered, and the fact it’s got the same evolution requirements as Garchomp makes it an ideal late-game sweeper. Even Ralts has more unique abilities than its final evolution, though. Teleport is excellent and allows you to eschew the much-lauded Eject Button for an X Attack. Sure, a non-damage move for a fully evolved Attacker is a bit useless, but giving Teleport a utility upgrade path to Light Screen could have left Gardevoir with Light Screen and either Psychic, Moonblast, Psyshock, or Future Sight. That, coupled with slightly lower offensive stats and slightly higher endurance and scoring, would have made for a genuinely intriguing Gardevoir build that could shake the meta up. Now Gardevoir is little more than yet another red card, albeit with a particularly OP Unite move that has established itself as a bona fide Zapdos killer – which is extra annoying given that Zapdos is broken.
I’ve always liked Gardevoir and was excited for it to be added to Unite. When I saw it was an Attacker, I was disappointed but still had some faith. Now, after having played multiple matches both as and against it, I’m just confused. This game made ‘mons like Crustle and Cramorant viable in original and fascinating ways – how has it messed up Gardevoir of all Pokemon?
At the very least, Unite could have launched Blastoise or Clefable – presumably a Defender and Support, respectively – first. That way we wouldn’t have seven Attackers and six Pokemon total across both Defender and Support. I know Blastoise is on the way, sure, but now I’m concerned. Blastoise has been my favourite Pokemon since I was four years old – I’m a Water trainer through and through. Is it going to get Rapid Spin and Hydro Cannon or, like, Water Pulse, or something? Realistically, Blastoise could have one of the most versatile defensive builds in the entire game. Is that going to be the case, though? And what happens when we finally get a Gen 2 Pokemon like Heracross?
I love Unite and I have no intention of putting it down any time soon. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make me any less disappointed about how badly they screwed up Gardevoir, a Pokemon so good that I thought making it boring or uncool would be completely impossible.
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