Pokémon players fear a game-changing move could scorch the competitive scene again in Scarlet and Violet DLC

There are a lot of new and exciting things to look forward to with Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s upcoming Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC, but players are fearful of a powerful move that might soon be making a splash in the Paldea region.

In the latest trailer for The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero released today, we were hit with a ton of new details for the upcoming DLC. In addition to two new storylines from The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk, popular Pokémon like Metagross and Milotic will be coming to the Gen IX games.

Along with these familiar faces, we might also be getting more access to certain moves, and players are scared about one in particular—Scald.

There’s a short bit in the trailer where Milotic is using a Water-type move that looks a lot like Scald. As it stands right now, there is no TM for Scald in Scarlet and Violet and Volcanion is the only Pokémon in those games that learns the move by leveling up. But if Milotic was indeed using Scald, that might be a sign that more Pokémon could soon have access to it in their movepools.

This is a huge deal, considering how strong Scald is in a competitive setting. The Water-type move not only dishes out good damage with 100 percent accuracy but also has a 30 percent chance to burn the target. The potential for a burn is what really has fans quaking in their boots, as the status condition severely weakens physical attackers.

Just imagine if a powerful Water-type Pokémon like Iron Bundle were to get Scald. The one thing holding it back right now is the lack of a reliable Water-type attack—Hydro Pump often fails to land the hit when we need it most. With Scald, Iron Bundle would be doing consistent damage with a decent chance of also burning the target.

So if Scald is in fact returning as either a TM or tutor move, we might be seeing a huge shift in the meta, depending on which Pokémon gain access to it. Trainers should learn more about whether Scald is coming to Scarlet and Violet as we get closer to the eventual release of the DLC later this year.