Gen4 in a nutshell
Each Pokemon in the top 10 "Pokemon to look for in Gen4" will be given a short explanation on what happened to them, as well as a couple they didn't mention which I think were worthy of being mentioned. (In no particular order)
Biggest Losers:
1. Dialga
Gets the not so great fast move Dragon Breath combined with the laggy Draco Meteor? It can't sweep high motivation gyms, and it can't do anything against low motivation as it has DRACO METEOR! At least Salamence can go against Dragonites and other Grass, Water and Fire types. It's Steel set may provide some consolation, but if Meteor Mash is good it won't matter.
2. Regigigas
Apparently, it was given charge moves to match the atrocious Regi-Trio, so it didn't get Focus Blast or Hyper Beam which might've made it viable.
3. Palkia
A huge let down. Even though it has Dragon Tail, Draco Meteor just doesn't cut it. It only exceeds in the category of being "better than the non legendary dragons", but unfortunately if you're looking to spend RC on a good Dragon type, you should be looking at Rayquaza, who got a 10% bulk boost in the light of the rebalance. It also got Hydro Pump, which is somewhat worse than Surf, putting it's utility against opponents weak to Water only slightly ahead of Gyarados.
4. Heatran
I present to you, the new Suicune! It's the biggest joke of a legendary Fire type, and it's outclassed by: Moltres, Entei, Charizard, Flareon, and Mewtwo. That's right. Mewtwo.
5. Magmortar
Fire Blast? Wow.
6. Staraptor/Honchkrow
Flying types may have taken some trophies against other types, but Niantic didn't see that happening. Brave Bird is horrible.
7. Togekiss
Shows the extent of laziness, with Niantic not even bothering to add in a Fairy fast move.
8. Gallade
It couldn't learn Dynamic Punch anyway, but it still kind of has hope if Focus Punch is a good move. (It doesn't learn Counter however)
Pokemon that broke even:
1. Rhyperior
Groudon is safe, but on the Rock side it's fairly good. It lags behind the new champion Rampardos and to a lesser extent Tyranitar, but it's TDO is what keeps it competitive.
2. Garchomp
While not better than Salamence or Palkia, it's still a slightly enhanced Dragonite nethertheless. It also does great against Electric types with its Ground set.
3. Glaceon
Only a hair better than Jynx but with higher TDO. It's outclassed by Mamoswine, so that's why it's here.
4. Azelf
Obsoletes Alakazam completely, (except for RC cost I guess) and makes for a secondary Psychic type for when Mewtwo is out of rotation.
5. Leafeon
Has Leaf Blade but not Grass Knot. Makes it okay but not really awesome.
6. Roserade
Fell flat on the Grass side, but it clinched the title for "Best Poison Pokemon", which has it break even.
7. Tangrowth
Eh, it's bulky even though it doesn't have Grass Knot or Power Whip. :( Still an okay choice.
8. Weavile
Is slightly better than Tyranitar. Slightly better than Ice Beam Mewtwo and Glaceon. Doesn't hold a candle to Darkrai, Gengar or Mamoswine.
9. Yanmega
Got the best moveset available, it'll be solid.
10. Magnezone
Not getting Thunder Shock hurts, but it's still better than Jolteon, Alolan Golem, and Mewtwo.
Pokemon that exceeded:
+1. Rampardos: Holy. Hell. It got Rock Slide. It tops the neutral and special DPS charts. OP pls nerf.
1. Mamoswine
Awesome! A Pokemon that DIDN'T get ripped apart by Niantic!
Has Avalanche and Powder Snow, both awesome moves of their type.
2. Darkrai
It's mythical, but in almost every case it beats Tyranitar and Weavile, and it may beat Gengar with the best moveset.
And that's it! It's surprising how few Pokemon that were deemed "relevant" actually are anymore. It's quite a shame.
Answers
Agreed. and with the CP rebalance, the meta will be completely altered. Part of me does however hope tyrantar stays good, like they buff crunch or something to at least keep our mewtwo crunchers good, but I have a feeling tyrantar might become less useful.
Niantic, you done good at the same time you really messed up
I love Giratina-O but lets be honest with ourselves. Even with Shadow Ball it wouldn't be topping the DPS charts any time soon. Its claim to fame would be its crazy longevity and massive TDO in battles compared to other ghost attackers. EDIT: The safest bets article has a table showing it has over double the TDO of SC Gengar at a cost of only 11% DPS.
Some of your analysis is off.
Dialga; who cares about low motivation? use your dragon claw
Latios for that. I don't catch legendaries to sweep gyms.
Regigigas; It's got a rock, ice and steel charge moves, which is appropriate for this pokemon. it's problem is it's awful quick moves. Agreed hyper beam would have been useful.
Palkia; Should have had a water quick move. its dragon moves are fine.
Tangrowth; Doesn't need power whip when it has solar beam. That said it's odd that it didn't get power whip.
Magnezone; Spark is on par with Thundershock. Magnezone has the best possible moveset.
Mamoswine. Powder snow is a poor move. Though it's still the top ice attacker.
I think some of these movesets will change, Niantic are planning to add new moves into the game.
I'm looking forward to attacking with double Ice Mamoswine. Fire off an Avalanche every 3-4 fast moves. Plus Avalanche is a good enough charge move that Powder Snow's energy gain more than makes up for its poor damage. If Mamoswine's ice charge move was any worse Frost Breath would be the better option for sure. DPS/TDO guides say that Frost Breath would be better on Mamoswine with Avalanche too, but when I run sims on GoBattleSim Powder Snow tends to win out... Not sure why the discrepancy. (Image vs. Rayquaza)
Either way - I'll enjoy attacking with Mamoswine firing off a bunch of Avalanches way more than I do with Gary needing a dozen waterfalls to power up a hydro pump!
It's not laziness: Hidden Power's type (and at one point attack power) was based on the IVs of the pokemon wielding it. It was calculated based on the combination of odd/even numbers (0-31 in the main games) among a Pokemon's HP, attack, defense, special attack, special defense, and speed. It was introduced in gen 2, while fairy was in gen 6. Changing hidden power would have involved changing the IV spreads for each type, which would have been HUGELY detrimental for legacy mons. Imagine having a Magnezone with hidden power fire (best HP type for Magnezone in the main series), then transfering it to gen 6 to find that it's now hidden power electric. In one fell swoop its useless.
No, it's Niantic that screwed up here. HP normal doesn't even exist in the main series, so what harm is there in adding another type to the pool?
Maybe they could have added a check flag that if it's a transferred Pokemon that the HP type stays the same? I admit I hadn't thought of that scenario but they already add flags and checks for various other things, what's one more?
But also yes though, what's stopping Niantic from just fudging it in?
Pretty solid analysis, though here's a few things I'd point out:
- Glaceon is more than just a "hair" better than Jynx. It has 15 attack and a ton more bulk, and over 600CP over Jynx
- Weavile doesn't have the TDO but definitely holds a candle to Mamoswine. I'd ask: Is Powder Snow actually better than Frost Breath? I don't know the math but looking at the stats leads me to doubt this, since Powder Snow resembles an objectively worse Fury Cutter.
- Heatran: Yeah garbo moves but has excellent typing against its counters, it's kind of like an alternative Entei rather than a replacement Moltres and thank goodness for that (Since Moltres is frail against Ice/Electric moves anyways)
- Electivire/Luxray both got pretty good moves to make them great budget options. Luxray looks like it's gonna be a rare but that's still cheaper than Rare Candy, and Electabuzz nests.
- Magmortar: Fire Blast is awful but Fire Punch has potential, ESPECIALLY on Gym Defense, opening the way for defensive Fire-types
Of your 8 losers:
Dialga: I consider a winner / break even. He got both steel and dragon sets for starters. He should still hold a good place in RayQ and palkia raids when the defender has dragon moves.
Regigigas never had much hope. You can't call him a loser when his only chance at being a winner was to have a double normal set with hyper beam and hope for the weather to be on his side.
Palkia could never get a water fast move. Getting a double Dragon set is a break even at least. Like dialga, sure outrage would be better, but it pays for bulkiness this way.
Heatran is a legitimate loser.
Magmortar was not really expected to get overheat was it? Fire punch leaves him a break even imo.
Staraptor did pretty well for itself. Assuming it would get sky attack and be a better flying type than RayQ when it's this generation's pidgeot is ridiculous...
Honchcrow did fine as well. Not the absolute best movesets for either type, but still got both movesets and at least the dark one is competitive for DPS. Another break even imo.
Togekiss is also breakeven. A huge let down that it didn't get a fairy fast move like everyone wanted, but it got great moves for defense still.
Gallade could never learn dynamic punch anyways, so he would never be successful as a fighting type. Psychic competition is too strong. Sure, he's a loser that's even worse than he would have been with good moves, but he never was going to be good in the first place...
So of the 8 losers, I only really consider 1 to be a "real loser", and maybe 3 or 4 that are just disappointing because of what "could have been".
I'd also call Garchomp and Roserade winners.
