Say Alola! An Analysis of the First Wave of Gen 7

We’ve got the movesets for the first wave of the Alolan Pokémon! While we might do a more predictive article for everything else later, I was busy playing Elden Ring I was expecting all the movesets to drop with the start of the gen as usual. Still, we’ve got a few things to look at now, so here we go!

• Type: Grass/Ghost
• 186 HP/210 Atk/179 Def
• Fast: Astonish, Razor Leaf
• Charged: Shadow Sneak, Energy Ball, Brave Bird

The Grass/Ghost archer is gonna have to…bow…out of viability here. Despite the fact that it could learn Shadow Claw, Leaf Blade, and Shadow Ball in the main series, it got virtually nothing good here. Brave Bird’s great, but it absolutely lacks the energy generation to leverage it. Rowlet may be the bestest, roundest boy in all of Alola, but Decidueye…eesh. Look how they massacred my boy. Keep in mind that, even best case, it needs to compete with Trevenant in the Grass/Ghost slot, and it fails to be able to do that in any way. Geez. Feels bad. Even Frenzy Plant, or its Ghost-type signature Spirit Shackle probably aren’t enough to save Decidueye if it doesn’t get better energy generation.

Dartrix, the second evolution, has Razor Leaf, Seed Bomb, and Brave Bird. While reaching 55 energy on a 2 EPT budget isn’t exactly easy, who knows. There’s probably a meta where “less bulky Tropius with more shield pressure” could be relevant.

• Type: Fire/Dark
• 216 HP/214 Atk/175 Def
• Fast: Snarl, Fire Fang
• Charged: Fire Blast, Flame Charge, Dark Pulse

The Fire/Dark-type heel cat is definitely more interesting than Decidueye. 1806 Great League stat product is a little bit lower than Venusaur’s, which is underwhelming but not a death sentence. Its pure-Fire/Dark moveset is rough, completely preventing it from touching Azumarill. That said, it’s a pretty interesting typing, giving it solid coverage against quite a few other things. An inability to handle the ever-prevalent Gfisk, or Counter-users, or Walrein really don’t make this mon look great now, but it absolutely stands to get a huge boost in power from a Community Day. Not only does it have the obligatory Blast Burn, it also has its signature Dark-type Darkest Lariat, which could be a cool upgrade over Dark Pulse as well! Certainly keep an eye on this one. While it’s likely not going to crack its way into the meta, it’ll probably make it into that range of Pokémon that are worth playing in the right limited format.

Litten, interestingly, might be somewhat interesting in Little Cup formats? It seems like it could function as a non-region-locked version of Pansear, which can full farm down Cottonee with a shield and then throw two Crunches at some Confusion user. It’s minor, but it’s something!

• Type: Water/Fairy
• 190 HP/232 Atk/195 Def
• Fast: Charm, Waterfall
• Charged: Psychic, Hydro Pump, Moonblast

We’ve seen Water/Fairy-type before on the ever-present Azumarill. It’s a very strong defensive typing. However, the typing is about where the Azu comparisons end. Primarina is likely to primarily be a Charm user, with bulk around Charizard’s. Its charged movepool is relatively slow, though, so it’ll benefit significantly from Hydro Cannon as a cheap move. Interestingly, its most valuable niche may be in Master League! Maxing at 3200 and only taking neutral damage from Steel, it’s a more consistent Dialga counter than even Togekiss, plus it can beat Kyogre. Hydro Cannon may just make it a better version of Sylveon in general! Its second stage, Brionne, may be interesting as well. While it doesn’t get its Fairy-type just yet, it does get Disarming Voice, which is something!

• Type: Normal/Flying
• 190 HP/222 Atk/146 Def
• Fast: Peck, Rock Smash, Bullet Seed
• Charged: Drill Peck, Rock Blast, Flash Cannon

Toucannon is another in a long list of Normal/Flying-types. While its bulk is underwhelming to say the least, it does have some very interesting coverage options. Peck and Rock Smash are terrible, so you’re likely running Bullet Seed + Drill Peck and Rock Blast. Rock Blast gives it the ability to hit other Flyings for super effective, as well as any Ices that might expect to counter it. Honestly, though….please just buff Peck.

• Type: Normal
• 204 HP/194 Atk/113 Def
• Fast: Take Down, Bite
• Charged: Hyper Fang, Crunch, Rock Tomb

Okay. So. What if we took Raticate (not alolan), and made it still suck. Boom. Gumshoos. No bulk, mediocre moveset, still looks weirdly like Donald Trump rather than the detective they were initially going for….eh. Leave this one on stakeout duty.

• Type: Rock
• 181 HP/231 Atk/140 Def
• Fast: Sucker Punch, Rock Throw
• Charged: Stone Edge, Drill Run, Crunch

Good dog! Great dog, even. Not, like, for PvP, or raids. I just like dogs. While it has the classic Rock/Ground coverage with Stone Edge + Drill Run, Lycanroc has a lot of negatives holding it back. First, that bulk. Eesh. Makes Charizard look thicc. Second, mono-Rock typing is mad disadvantageous. It’s part of why Sudowoodo doesn’t see play despite an absolutely fantastic moveset (back to that in a bit though). Its moveset is a little underwhelming too. We’ve got better Rock Throw users, and while Sucker Punch isn’t bad, it’s not good, and it’s certainly not enough to make you rush to Lycanroc here. Move buffs could help, maybe, but don’t get your hopes up too high.

• Type: Rock
• 198 HP/218 Atk/152 Def
• Fast: Counter, Rock Throw
• Charged: Stone Edge, Psychic Fangs, Crunch

Here’s the one everyone’s talking about. It’s a dog! With Counter! And also other good moves! While Luxray’s low-damage fast moves made it difficult for it to really leverage Psychic Fangs’ defense drop, Lycanroc-Midnight absolutely does not have that issue. It has some of Midday’s issues in its mono-Rock typing and low (but certainly not quite as low) bulk, but it does feel like it’s got a much better shot at relevance. Counter Gud. Simple as that. If nothing else, it might end up as a Sudowoodo partner in some sort of ABB line.

• Type: Fairy
• 139 HP/165 Atk/215 Def
• Fast: Vine Whip, Hidden Power
• Charged: Petal Blizzard, Grass Knot, Draining Kiss

No. Jesus, no. Draining Kiss is such a horrible move. No. At least it’s limited to Hawaii so fewer people will be tempted to run one of these. If Draining Kiss gets buffed, we can look at this again. Obviously, if you have the option and the storage, get a good one, but don’t use it until at least Season 12.

• Type: Dragon/Fighting
• 181 HP/222 Atk/240 Def
• Fast: Poison Jab, Dragon Tail
• Charged: Dragon Claw, Close Combat, Flamethrower

We’ve seen Dragon-type Dragon Breath/Dragon Tail + Dragon Claw Pokémon before. Dragonite and Giratina are, like, pretty good. Latios sees regular play in draft formats. Kommo-o, though, is unique in that it actually has an answer to Steel-types. STAB Close Combat is one helluva nuke. Gfisk and Bastiodon? Absolute chumps when faced with this fancy fighter’s flurry of furious fists. While Kommo-o is totally walled out by Fairy-types, its coverage outside of that is incredibly solid! Do note that it can’t reach two Close Combats before getting farmed down by Dialga, which (outside of draft) will likely leave it hard to run in open Master League. Still, much like Dragalge before it, it will at the very least likely see play in Great and Ultra League’s limited formats.

Hakamo-o, the second stage, trades in Close Combat for Brick Break (ew) and more bulk. Maxing out at only 1907 CP, it has the potential to be a Kommo-o alternative in Great League. Will either of these actually be meta? I don’t know! But they’re legitimately interesting Pokémon, with cool typings and interesting movesets, and that's enough to make them easily worth testing. Clangorous Soul cday, let’s go!

• Type: Fairy/Electric
• 172 HP/250 Atk/181 Def
• Fast: Volt Switch, Quick Attack
• Charged: Thunderbolt, Dazzling Gleam, Brave Bird, Thunder

Bit of a bummer here. While it could hypothetically have learned Thunder Shock/Wild Charge, it got neither of those moves, and is thus disappointing in both raid and PvP contexts. As strong as Volt Switch and Brave Bird can be, you really need to be able to pair Brave Bird with a bait move to actually land it. Since Thunderbolt and Brave Bird both cost 55 Energy, that’s not great. The issue is, even with a great moveset, it's too attack-weighted to make waves in Great or Ultra, and it doesn't really have the raw stats to keep up in Master. Bit of a bummer, this one.

…and that’s all we’ve got for now. From Niantic’s recent tweet, it seems like we’re going to get more coming soon. Sadly, that seems to include the worst and most upsetting Pokémon of all time, Bruxish. But every new mon is a new opportunity for something exciting, so I personally can’t wait to see what moves they all get!