With The Indigo Disk DLC set to come out sometime in the winter, Scarlet and Violet players are hoping certain Pokémon will come back to the games stronger than ever thanks to Tera Types.
As seen in competitive play, Gen IX’s Tera Type mechanic can benefit just about any Pokémon under the right circumstances. Some players might want to use Terastallization to boost their Pokémon’s damage output, while others may use it to turn defensive weaknesses into resistances or immunities. Both options can put your Terastallized Pokémon into a commanding spot and completely turn the tide of any battle.
You can, however, argue the kind of Pokémon benefitting more from this mechanic are ones with naturally bad typings, usually due to one or more quad-weaknesses. For example, an Oct. 30 Reddit thread points out the Gen III Steel/Rock Pokémon, Aggron.
As cool as Aggron is, it’s four times weak to both Fighting and Ground-type attacks. If Aggron were to be among the returning Pokémon in The Indigo Disk, it would then be able to take advantage of Tera Types like every other ‘mon in the Gen IX games.
This means Aggron could go with the Flying Tera Type to resist Fighting and become completely immune to Ground. By eliminating all of its quad-weaknesses, Aggron would be a strong physical tank to watch out for with its massive 180 Defense stat. That would be a huge and much-needed buff for Pokémon like Aggron that are otherwise held back by their quad-weaknesses.
A handful of other dual Rock Pokémon like Rhyperior, Bastiodon, and Aurorus also suffer from multiple quad-weaknesses and would thrive if they’re ever added to the Gen IX games and given the opportunity to Terastallize.
We’ve already seen it work out for a few Pokémon in competitive VGC. A great example is Kingambit, one of the most popular Dark-type Pokémon in the current meta. It usually has a four times weakness to Fighting attacks as a Dark/Steel type, but changing into a common defensive type like Tera Fire would remove its Fighting weakness while also protecting it from a crippling burn.
Another success story is Gen II’s pseudo-legendary Tyranitar. Like Kingambit, Tyranitar is quad-weak to Fighting. To easily get around this and its Ground weakness, the Rock/Dark ‘mon would often run the Flying Tera Type and blow the competition away.
Seeing Tyranitar and Kingambit succeed gives us hope for ‘mons who are deserving of a buff like Aggron. But they’ll also have to pray these Pokémon even make the cut when The Indigo Disk DLC releases in the winter.
Published: Nov 1, 2023 02:14 am