Pokémon pros say Incineroar is ‘healthy’ for Scarlet and Violet meta despite bad reputation

Incineroar has historically been one of the best Pokémon in VGC and this trend continued at the Europe International Championships (EUIC) this week, where it was the most-used Pokémon once more. Despite this, the pros said the cat is healthy for the meta even if the community is hating its dominance.

To no one’s surprise, Incineroar was sitting at the top of the EUIC usage chart with 43 percent of competitors bringing it on day one and 51.7 percent bringing it on day two according to The Pokémon Company. The Fire/Dark-type Starter isn’t a super offensive Pokémon, though. Rather, it’s Incineroar’s utility that makes it the perfect support ‘mon to add to any team. The cat can seemingly do it all—flinch opponents, lower their stats, and cycle in and out of battle more efficiently than the average ‘mon. 

International champ Alex Gómez Berna praised Incineroar for its ability to “enable” strong allies like Raging Bolt, Chien-Pao, and Urshifu. Alongside Rillaboom, Incineroar is one of the main Fake Out users in the meta that can stop a foe from moving for a turn, making it safer for its partner to attack. At the same time, it constantly pivots in and out of battle while lowering the opponent’s offensive stats with Intimidate and Parting Shot. 

With all of these different tools at its disposal, Incineroar is “a Pokémon that the best players are gonna be able to use very creatively,” according to current Toronto Regional champ Chuppa Cross IV in an interview with Dot Esports. Another regional champ, Joseph Ugarte, added “Even though it’s very popular, it’s a pretty healthy addition to the metagame because of the way it plays. If you lose to an Incineroar, it’s because you got outplayed most of the time.”

We also had to ask the 2016 world champion Wolfe Glick about his thoughts on Incineroar. Glick has been vocal about not being the biggest fan of the cat, but he also recently used Incineroar to win Charlotte Regionals, which was the largest in-person Pokémon event prior to EUIC. When asked how he’d nerf Incineroar to make it more enjoyable, Glick told Dot he’d remove Parting Shot and U-Turn from its moveset. This would eliminate its ability to pivot in and out so easily while keeping it viable as a support ‘mon. Perhaps if it were just a tiny bit more balanced, Incineroar would have a more positive reputation in the VGC community.

On the bright side, not all players see Incineroar as a menace. VGC veteran Jeudy Azzarelli, for example, told us he’d take Incineroar “every single day” over the likes of Ting-Lu and Dondozo. That’s just another win for the cat.

There’s still time to catch up with EUIC, with the event wrapping up at the ExCeL Center in London on April 7.