Underwhelming Gamepress Groudon Review
Is anyone else disappointed in Gamepress’ review of Groudon?
Besides the fact that Groudon exceeds all other ground attackers (which they don’t mention), it is supposedly the best counter for Ninetales on a sunny day (the Raid Boss example they shamed). Depending on the weather, it’s the number 1 or 2 counter for the far more relevant Omastar raid. Considering there are only so many legendaries, and the fact that it’s already happened in specific regions, it is entirely possible they will re-release previous electric legendaries (Raikou specifically). It’s also the only legendary pokemon to be released for gen 3, so the statement that it’s the strongest so far for this generation is kind of pointless and assumed.
Are Mud Shot and Earthquake just that bad?
Answers
Besides that it becomes more powerful versus Ninetales in the sun compared to no boost for either, Pokebattler lists Groundon as the best counter for Ninetales on a sunny day over even Gyarados.
This is all based on current Pokebattler results.
The reason Ninetales was mentioned at all was because of the review Gamepress places on Groudon................ kind of the point of this post.
Who is battling a Ninetales at all if not to fill a Pokédex? New users that don’t have it in their Pokédex? It’s a worthless raid boss.
Well, someone who wants to be able to say "Soloed all tier3 raids while they were weather boosted."
Personally, my preference is now to focus on raids that are weather buffed. If one can do Ttar with B/C on partly cloudy day, that's great, but I'm going to eventually want to catch a level 25 Groudon, level 25 Absol (we get a fair amount of fog here, so not impossible), and plenty of level 25 Machamps. Ninetails, however, is just a trophy, but someone might still want that trophy.
http://pogomoves.com/rankings/gym-offense.php?defender=38
I think Gyarados is still better for Ninetales, but not for a whole lot.87% vs Gyarados vs 83% for Groudon.
Whereas for Electric types, Rhydon is some 87% as good as Groudon. A quite healthy lead for Groudon as a ground specialist.
Taking all Neutral matchups with the MS/EQ set, Groudon is only 73% of the best neutral DPS (take note this includes Mewtwo, Rayquaza etc). See here: http://pogomoves.com/rankings/gym-offense.php
With Mewtwo at 100%, some other benchmarks include:
Gengar: 94.5%
Dragonite: 91.3%
Machamp: 85.8%
Groudon DT/SB: 80%
Gyarados: 77%
Groudon MS/EQ: 73%
This is sadly rather underwhelming. Of course, Groudon is a huge tank, but as far as attacking prowess goes it is nothing spectacular, just 'good'.
I may not be reading that site correctly but it’s directly not including legendaries in the analysis. Sharperdo is also listed as the number one counter for Ninetales, despite its frailty. This seems unlikely.
Also, in Groudon, why would we look for a generalist? Generalist only make sense if you are super pressed to clear gyms with the utmost efficiency and in that case you would likely want Dragon depending on the defenders. You need supreme attackers for raids in case you have few raiders...
Or if you can’t obtain startdust and have to make the very most of what you have? Stardust is valuable but not impossible to obtain, even for rural players. Even in that case, you are going to want at least a “best” attacker(s) for the each type, enter best Ground attacker Groudon.
What am I missing here?
Edit: no, I’m pretty sure I have it. my level 35 Hex/Shadow Ball Gengar 15/14/14 has literally never seen use for gym clerance until today. I didn’t realize some Pokémon were fainted and auto select pitted it against a 2300 something Tyranitar. It ko’d on the first crunch.
I’m not sure I’ve even needed it for relevent raids. I may have just not attempted the proper ones though.
Also, 1st/2nd best attacker for Golem depending on weather.
You need to hit the checkbox for legendaries.
I'm not saying Sharpedo/Gengar is the number 1 counter for some species. It's just that they do very high damage. This is a spreadsheet calculator based solely on cycle damage, it takes no survivability into account.
Whereas Gyarados vs Groudon, even with Gyarados being noticably more frail, is a sensible comparison.
After trying Groudon I don't think he lives up to all the hype he got. He is better than Rhydon, but Rhydon's dps makes him virtually worthless (unless you need him for electric legendaries). I tested out my freshly caught mud shot / earthquake Groudon in a generically stocked gym just to see what would happen, and he did okay but was not anything special (admittedly he is only level 25 with meh IV's, maybe one with perfect stats powered up to over 30 would be semi impressive). He will probably do well in some match ups but as a generalist attacker I don't think he measures up.
Ho-Oh had the highest CP in the game at time of release and it definitely was not even close to the strongest Pokemon in gen 2. Legendaries aren't strong just because they're legendary.
We have a review article pending (RyanSwag does those, separate from the Pokemon pages) that fleshes out Groudon in greater detail.
