Runerigus is one of the most disappointing Pokémon released recently. As a one-off release attached to the Halloween event (replacing Spiritomb as the big exciting research reward). However, despite how exciting it was initially, it very much didn’t live up to the hype. Let’s take a look and see how Runerigus got Ruined(rigus).
To start with, let's set some ground rules for how we're going to go about theorycrafting our target Pokemon:
- We cannot change a Pokemon's typing or stats
- We cannot imagine an entirely new feature to the game that would fix them. For example: no unofficial Mega Evolutions or regional variants, and no unreleased features like Dynamax or Z-Moves.
- We cannot add new moves to their existing moveset that they cannot learn in the main series or make moves that don't exist in the main series
- We can theorycraft new moves based on currently unused moves that are in their main series movesets
- We can add new effects that exist, such as theorycrafting them as Shadow Pokemon
- We can change the effects of existing moves, though we will also need to look at the meta implications of this change if we do so
- The cardinal rule: we can't do anything that Niantic can't do given current game precedent
With that out of the way, let's get to it!
PvP Performance
What’s Runerigus?
Runerigus is a bulky Ground/Ghost dual-type Pokémon, with stats comparable to Meganium. This typing is admittedly so-so, leaving it with a suite of weaknesses fairly common in the Great League metagame: Water, Grass, Ice, Ghost, and Dark. However, it also has some pretty good resistances: an immunity-tier double resistance to Poison, Normal, Fighting, and Electric, as well as a single resistance to Rock and Bug. At the moment, though, Runerigus doesn’t really have much of a role in any metagame. So the question is, why?
What’s wrong?
This one’s actually pretty simple: its only Fast Move, Astonish, is god-awful. In the history of PoGo PvP, there has not been a mon that is useful and that runs Astonish. Like Yawn and Zen Headbutt, it only really exists to hold the mon it’s been placed on back. There’s no need to spend too much time on this section, let’s just move on to…
How do we fix it?
Taking a quick step back, let’s run through Runerigus’s current available moveset.
Fast Moves: Astonish
Charged Moves: Sand Tomb, Shadow Ball, Rock Tomb
There’s almost something coherent here. The combination of Sand Tomb and Shadow Ball gives Runerigus an interesting setup, comparable to that of Bone Club/Shadow Ball Alolan Marowak. It’s a risky bait-and-nuke style of play, but when it works it’s very effective. And that’s cool, but it’s kinda incredible how many powerful moves Runerigus learns in the main series. Let’s take a look!
| Fast Moves | Charged Moves |
|---|---|
| Shadow Claw, Hex, Zen Headbutt, Astonish | Shadow Ball, Earthquake, Earth Power, Sand Tomb, Bulldoze, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Rock Blast, Rock Tomb, Energy Ball, Grass Knot, Dark Pulse, Dragon Pulse, Psychic, Hyper Beam, Giga Impact |
So...you can see that it got screwed about as hard as possible in terms of fast moves. For the sake of “It’s all but strictly better”, let’s ignore Hex and move straight to Shadow Claw. So if, instead of Astonish, Runerigus got Shadow Claw, how would it perform?
Honestly? Pretty well! Its winrate across the Great League meta is really solid! Running Shadow Claw/Sand Tomb/Shadow Ball, it has a ton of relevant wins! It hard walls Deoxys-Defense, and can take down common picks like Hypno, Galvantula, Toxicroak, Shadow Machamp, Haunter, Bastiodon, and Galarian Stunfisk without too much trouble! It even has a slight winning matchup against Swampert, Altaria, and Air Slash Tropius! However, it does get shredded by pretty much every Grass-type and Dark-type, so it’s certainly not perfect. In the 2shield, it keeps a ton of those wins just going straight Sand Tomb, simply based off the power of Shadow Claw. It’s a huge improvement over its current performance.
But we can dig even deeper. Runerigus also has access to that incredibly powerful Rock + Ground coverage which can hit literally all but 4 Pokémon in the game for neutral damage. Runerigus has options there. Earthquake and Earth Power on the Ground side, and Rock Slide/Stone Edge on the Rock side. Runerigus has the most consistently powerful performance with Rock Slide + Earth Power, due to the moves’ cheaper costs. This lets it fill a role analogous to Galarian Stunfisk, just with Shadow Claw over Mud Shot. Being Ghost-type over Steel-type helps out a lot against some Fighting-types, though it certainly makes your life harder against everything else.
In short, Runerigus had an incredible amount of potential here! It learned some incredibly strong moves, and could have filled a very valuable role, in either Open or restricted formats, all of which was wasted because Astonish is useless.
Either buff Astonish, or give it a better fast move. Please, Niantic.
Hidden Potential Rating:
PvE Performance
What’s Runerigus?
Runerigus is a Pokemon with a semi-unique Ghost/Ground typing... and that's about all that can truly be said about Runerigus in the PvE meta.
What’s wrong?
- Runerigus has an atrocious attack stat
On the low-end of the Pokemon that are considered "good" in the PvE meta, we have Pokemon such as the starters. Many of these Pokemon have an attack stat that hovers in the mid-200s, which is considered fringe usable at absolute best, and only becomes acceptable because they also have access to undeniably outstanding moves to artificially boost their damage output.
Runerigus has an attack stat of 163. And to compound this...
- Runerigus has a terrible moveset
Astonish is its only fast move, and that alone dooms basically any Pokemon. It's a pariah of a move that has zero utility anywhere. Who cares if it has Shadow Ball? Astonish is terrible, and it also lacks a good Ground Type charged move.
How do we fix it?
Honestly... we don't. Here's a summery of what we know about Runerigus:
- Its attack stat is horrible
- Its moveset is horrible
- It has no signature move that could be added later to patch it up
- Even if given an ideal moveset, its competition is miles ahead of it
- It's literally just a worse Golurk
I'm sorry to say, but outside of fashioning some sort of absolutely bonkers and stupidly broken move (maybe the Generation 8 Ghost Type move Poltergeist?) beyond anything that the game has ever seen or known, Runerigus is better off not rising from its grave when it comes to the PvE meta.
Hidden Potential Rating:
Closing
When PvP was introduced to Pokemon Go, it instantly gave life to many Pokemon that were thought dead for years. However, this Pokemon that should have been given new life was dead on arrival. A poor choice in PvP thanks to one single move, and a poor choice in PvE thanks to... well, everything. Runerigus is a sad case of a Pokemon, and we can only hope that Niantic relents and gives this Pokemon which has, in many people's opinions, one of the best designs in recent years a chance to finally shine.
#ShadowClawRunerigus
