Gen 3: Who will be the next Dragonite/Tyranitar?
Will Salamence take over as the best overall warrior in the next update? And is it safe to assume Slaking will be the next Snorlax/Blissy?
Answers
Metagross will be the next Dragonite/Tyranitar for Gen 3. Whilst both Metagross and Salamance are pseudo-legendaries like Dragonite and Tyranitar I believe Salamance will make a much less impact on the meta?
Why? Salamance's base stats aren't about the same as Dragonite and won't likely get any moves better than Outrage. As many people have already used lots of stardust powering up Dragonites if they now have enough dragon type attackers for their needs then powering up a Salamance becomes a waste of stardust. Perhaps one for novelty sake power up one but that's it. Whereas Metagross provides a new niche as a bulky attacker that resists dragon moves thereby being a more useful addition to spend dust on.
Slaking's stats provide such a balance problem that I expect like Ditto, Smeargle and Delibird it will be held back until Niantic figure out what to do with it.
Wailord fits the Blissey/Snorlax model best in the high HP/not good for much else model. Otherwise Aggron will likely be a bit of a surprise to some. Doesn't have huge HP like Blissey but has a defense stat equivalent to Steelix and 9 resistances but will hit MUCH HARDER. Attack stat equivalent to Venusaur and probably some strong rock and steel moves with STAB will hit back much harder than Snorlax/Blissey whilst proving very tanky.