A Pokemon Unite player has discovered a surprising way to quickly get across the battlefield.
A Redditor called u/isitscrumptious shared a gameplay clip on the r/PokemonUnite subreddit showing off an unexpected way to play the Speedster Absol. In the clip, Absol uses the Pursuit ability on an enemy Pikachu just as it finishes executing a return to base. Rather than miss the attack, the player is suddenly warped clear across the map to the entrance of the enemy team's base. Suddenly face-to-face with an enemy Gengar and a fully-healed Pikachu, the Absol player turns around and uses Pursuit once again to quick flee away.
How did the Absol get teleported across the map? It seems that Pursuit doesn't work exactly as described in its move description page. According to the ingame description, Pursuit is a dash attack that places Absol in a designated location before charging at an opponent with a basic attack. If the attack hits from behind, Absol's damage is increased and the cooldown is reduced. In the clip, you can see Absol use Pursuit on the Crustle and successfully land an attack from behind, resetting its cooldown. Absol then uses Pursuit again putting it back into the lane. It moves towards the Pikachu hidden in the grass with Pursuit's basic attack queued and releases it just as the Pikachu returns to its base. For some reason, Pursuit's attack gives Absol such a strong lock on the opponent that it necessarily teleports Absol across the map to guarantee that the hit connects. The only reason Absol doesn't secure the hit on the Pikachu is that Absol cannot enter the opponent's base.
Related: Pokemon Unite Has A Serious Idling Problem
It's important to remember that even though the actual hit is considered a normal basic attack, it was only able to do this teleport move because of Pursuit. If you were to attack a teleporting opponent with a basic attack, it would simply interrupt the warp and cause the opponent to stay where it is. In this case, there's something about the Pursuit attack animation that causes it to lock onto the Pikachu's position — even after that position dramatically changes.
I found a way to teleport straight to the opposing teams goal as Absol from
PokemonUnite
Unfortunately, it's unlike that this technique could be used in a reliable way. While it's likely replicable, it seems that it would take pixel-perfect timing to be able to repeat this technique on a warping opponent. It's also likely that you could use this same technique with Zeroara's Wild Charge and Gengar's Hex, which also use the "designated location" language, but once again, pulling off this technique requires ideal circumstances.
That said, it's worth a shot. Even if you aren't able to warp with the escaping Pokemon, you'll still interrupt their recall and likely secure a kill. It's a win-win for Speedsters, as long as you don't end up at the opponent's base surrounded by angry enemies.
Next: Pokemon Unite's AI Players Are Going To Ruin The Game