They Nerfed this Pokemon, then it Won a Tournament

zamazenta was one of the saddest Pokémon ever created it lived its entire life in the shadow of its stronger better big brother but then after 3 years of mediocrity it got nerfed losing several of its best tools and then it won a major tournament and established itself as one of the top threats in scarlet and violet how did this happen well to understand we have to go back to prehistoric times when sword and shield released a new game release is exciting there's a new region to explore for new characters to meet and most importantly new things to complain about for competitive players a new game means a whole new influx of Pokémon many of which are good some of which are obstagoon and few of these additions are more important than the Pokemon on the covers of the games in this case that's Zan and zamazenta there was going to be a game with aerus on the cover but it didn't fit the reason these Pokémon matters so much is because of what is usually the final rule set of competi of play each generation competitive play traditionally follows a three-year cycle where the first year of each generation allows only the 400 or so Pokémon catchable in the base games the second year expands that and allows all Pokémon that you can transfer in and the final year allows powerful restricted Pokémon restricted Pokémon are basically like the big dog Legendary Pokémon including any legendary on the cover of a game and you're only allowed to use one or two of them on your team and there aren't that many of them because these Pokémon are well legendary the pool of restricted Pokémon is relatively small the pool of good restricted Pokémon within this already short list is extremely shallow in 2016 the year I won the World Championships there were basically four good restricted Pokémon and since each team used two restricted there wasn't that much variety so the opportunity to add more diversity in with a new game's release is a surprisingly big deal and these games delivered in Spades with the addition of Z arguably the strongest restricted Pokemon in sword and shield and that's saying something because these games also added cerx with M zation so broken was well basically everything it has some of the best stats out of any Pokemon ever most notably its speed Which is higher than every single restricted Pokemon that was released before gen 8 plus the ones in gen 9 it's ridiculously good bulk and it's Skyhigh attack stat it also has arguably the single best typing in the game as a fairy and Steel type Pokémon when I ranked every single type combination in the game this is the one that I had at number one and then there's the ability Zan stats are already good but its ability in trepid Sword gives it an attack boost every single time it switches in this is functionally a 50% increase to Zan's attack stat which was already higher than every other legal restricted Pokemon and just barely below Pokémon like Primal Groudon and mega Rayquaza in other words Zan was basically 50% stronger than Primal Groudon and mega Rayquaza and this attack boost would activate whenever zation switched in making it extremely difficult to get rid of Since switching zation out would remove all attack drops letting it reenter playay later with its boosted attack stat once more as if this weren't bad enough we haven't even talked about the most broken aspect of zation yet its signature move the heemo blade is a 100% accurate 100 base power move with no drawback instead this move move does double damage to Dynamax Pokemon Dynamax was the central mechanic of sword and shield and the competitive scene revolved around it it not only powered up your Pokemon's moves and gave them all secondary effects but this once per battle effect also doubled a Dynamax Pokemon's HP a benefit that Zan can effectively ignore they tried to balance Zan by preventing it from dynamaxing but because Behemoth blade is so strong you wouldn't really have wanted to Dynamax it anyway as it would have resulted in Z doing less damage against opposing Dynamax Pokémon zation was the single most used restricted Pokemon in sword and shield appearing on a whopping 66% of teams at the World Championships despite players only being allowed to use two restricted Pokémon on a team Not only was it the most used restricted it was the second most used Pokemon in the entire tournament behind only the king himself incar for a restricted Pokémon to be used this often it needs to be unbelievably strong but Zan wasn't the only restricted Pokémon added in sword and shield these games weren't sword and Ultra sword too not that you'd know it from looking at the competitive scene nobody used zenta well sorry that isn't entirely true one single person used zenta throughout the entirety of sword and shield finishing in the top 64 at two events apart from zamazenta's strongest Soldier nobody else wanted to touch the shield dog but why well Zan and zamazenta are paired legendaries which means they have some similar ities I'd actually argue that Zan and zamazenta are more similar than several other legendary pairs like ho and Lugia Soo and lunala and maybe even Pikachu and Eevee they both need to hold a special item in order to transform into their Crown form which is the only one worth using they're both Steel type they both get a stat boost when they switch in and they both have a signature move that deals double damage to Dynamax Pokémon also they're both dogs so why then did nobody want to use zamazenta it's worst sensation in every single way first the typing fighting and steel is good typing but it's nowhere near as good as steel and fairy zamazenta has more weaknesses and fewer resistances and immunities than Zan Plus Fairy is one of the best offensive types in the game because so few Pokemon are actually able to resist it one of the main reasons to use zamazenta is that its fighting typing is useful to hit opposing steel and dark types but the thing is despite not being a fighting type Pokémon they gave zashin one of the best fighting type moves moves in the game sacred sword normally this would still leave zamazenta a niche because moves become stronger when they're used by a Pokemon that matches the type of the move except this same type attack bonus is 50% which happens to be the exact same boost that Zan's ability gives in other words Zan using a fighting move is going to do more damage than zamazenta using that same move speaking of abilities zentas is just the inferior version here too dauntless Shield functions just like in trepid Sword except instead of giving an attack boost it grants a defense boost it's hard to overstate how underwhelming this is this defense boost is totally worthless when zamazenta is getting hit with a special attack plus zamazenta's already high defense stat doesn't really need a boost think of it this way Zan's ability boosts the damage of 100% of its attacks but zent's ability only reduces roughly half of all damage that comes in to add insult to injury this damage reduction can be achieved in a much easier way by using the ability intimidate which reduces the physical attack stats of both the opponent's Pokémon so Zan being supported by I don't know incinerar kind of gets the benefit of dauntless Shield without needing to Forfeit its own ability by the way if you're enjoying this video just a reminder to check if you're subscribed my team and I work really really hard on these videos and we care a lot about them being high quality so if you're enjoying the content you think you might want to see more in the future just do me a favor and double check lots of people think they're subscribed and they actually aren't and so I feel like I should say something you know anyway this defense boost also makes zamazenta's signature move worse despite being identical tations in all but name Behemoth bash is also 100 power 100 accuracy steel move that does double damage to Dynamax Pokemon but with Zena's lower attack stat and lacking attack boost it's a lot more underwhelming than its stabby sibling spectacular sword swing so while competitive players were leaving zenta on the Shelf Zan would go on to not only dominate competitive play but win the world championships as well as most of the other events throughout the year to be honest it was clear that things needed to change Zan needed to be nerfed and zamazenta needed to be buffed but that isn't possible because Zan and zamazenta are paired legendaries paired legendaries need to be kept equivalent in terms of their base stat totals and the way that any of their signature moves or abilities function in other words if Zan was going to be brought back down to earth Zenda would have to come plummeting down along with it and that's what happened zenta paid the price for crimes it didn't commit in scarlet and violet both Zan and zenta were nerfed hard Zan lost a whopping 20 points out of its attack stat and that meant zamazenta had to shed 20 points too the reasonable thing would have been to take them out of its special attack a stat that zenta doesn't use because again zamazenta didn't need to be nerfed would you like to guess how much special attack zamazenta lost a grand total of zero in instead zamazenta lost 10 attack five defense and five special defense but the stat Nerf wasn't enough game freak wasn't taking any chances with the zation this time around now that they didn't need to sell any more copies of Sword the arguably bigger Nerf tization is the change to its ability while Intrepid sword used to activate every single time zation switched in it now only activates the first time zation hits the field each battle making it way more manageable of course this also meant that zamazenta's ability had had to change too so dauntless Shield received the same Nerf now working only once per battle these two Nerfs were given isation but it was deceived for another Nerf was made this may come as a shock but I feel like I need to tell you in scarlet and violet Dynamax Pokemon were removed from the game that means that both Zan and zamazenta's signature moves went from having arguably the best secondary effect in the game to not having one at all oh yeah one final Nerf to these moves to add insult to injury is that the animations are way less cool now than they were in sword and shield a base stat Nerf an ability Nerf and a signature move Nerf game freak was done pulling punches and it worked as of May 2024 restricted Pokémon are usable in scarlet and violet for the first time and Zan usage has plummeted while it's still usable it's not a top threat in fact it's mostly found success as an anti- meta pick that most players are unprepared for which is pretty nuts to say about the former king of of sword and shield but I don't know Viva lavita or whatever I think probably some of you will get that some of you will definitely get that but what about zenta who received all of these Nerfs too surely even its sole believer has given up on it now right Zenda has become one of the top threats in the format and at times has even been the number one most used restricted Pokemon how is this possible well I haven't told you about just one little thing yet in addition to all of the Nerf zenta also received a singular buff not a base stat increase or an upgrade to its ability no zenta got access to a new move body press body press is an 80 base power fighting move 50% weaker than the more well-known close combat it can't miss and it has no drawback but if that were it it would be unremarkable what makes body press special is that it has a unique property it is the only move in the entire game that deals its damage based off the users defense stat instead of their attack why zenta did not get this move to begin with I do not know but it truly changed everything for the shield dog the thing is body press lets a Pokemon use its defense stat offensively but it also still uses its defense stat you know defensively so the tankier a Pokemon is on the physical side the more damage it does with body press and the harder it is to get rid of it's like a buy one get one free kind of deal body press factors and boost to the defense stat as well we've actually seen several Pokémon build entire sets around this concept Pokemon like huan Goodra bronzong and Ferrothorn have all run the combination of iron defense and body press with iron defense boosting their defense stats to let body press do absurd amounts of damage but iron defense isn't the only way to get defense boosts I can think of a certain ability that activates without needing to spend a turn setting up so Zaza's defense boost went from being more or less useless to invaluable over overnight and there's something else to consider too see physical attackers typically struggle against the intimidated ability that we talked about earlier this is part of the reason zation fell off so hard while other physical attacking restricted Pokemon can now use the new clear amulet item which nullifies stat drops Zan has to hold the Rusted sword to be strong this wasn't such a problem in sword and shield where you could just switch out and get the attack boost again later but it's a real problem now but not for Zama zenta there's no defense lowering equivalent of intimidate and thank goodness for that so while it's pretty easy to get rid of Z's boost bringing zamazenta back down to earth is way harder and zamazenta's defense boost still works against these powerful restricted Pokémon using the clear amulet item to stop intimidate another new bonus and gaining access to body press allowed zamazenta's typing to become fully unlocked I told you before that Zan's typing was strictly better than zamazenta's in almost every way and that Zan using the same fighting type move as zamazenta would be stronger all of that was only true when body press was off the table those iron defense body press users that I mentioned bronzong Ferrothorn Goodra you might notice that none of them are fighting types remember that same type attack bonus we talked about earlier where Pokemon using moves that match one of their types get a whopping 50% stronger well zamazenta is a fighting type Pokemon and body press is a fighting type move in other words zenta using body press is not only threatening because of its high natural defense stat but it also gets 50% stronger because of the the defense Boost from dauntless shield and another 50% stronger because zenta is a fighting type this makes zenta completely unlike any of the other body press users that we've seen before because it doesn't have to waste a turn setting up in order to do tons of damage but body press does have a weakness it can't do any damage to Ghost type Pokemon however the number one most used Ghost type in scarlet and violet is flutter man a ghost and fairy type Pokémon and fairy type Pokémon are weak to steel so Zenda comes built in with a one hit K.O on the most common Ghost type though the steel move it uses actually isn't its signature move Behemoth bash instead it's heavy slam which does more damage depending on how much heavier the user is than the Target and zenta is heavy which probably has something to do with the giant metal shield it's been lugging around Beyond just doing damage zenta also has some other interesting options too iron defense can make it basically Invincible on the physic physical side and boost body presses damage to ungodly levels whereas wide guard provides valuable team wide support against many of the powerful restricted Pokemon like cerx trapos and Kyogre Dynamax didn't help zamazenta much at all because not only was it incapable of using it but Behemoth bash was just so lackluster compared to Behemoth blade talization is a different story zazen is able to use tralization defensively if you thought getting rid of one of the tankiest restricted Pokémon was difficult before good luck hit it after it's gotten rid of its weaknesses zenza tends to use talization to gain resistances to key types like using Tera Dragon to resist fire and water moves or uses it to get around amongus with Terra grass becoming immune to Spore and rage powder and that's not the only new edition of scarlet and violet that helped redeem zamazenta these games added a new Pokemon with excellent Synergy with the dog Chen po chanpa can use its dark typing to hit the ghost types that Zen doesn't appreciate like Gango C Shadow and the classic Ghost type Terra ghost incinerar more than that its ability pairs really nicely with zamazenta sword of Ruin lowers the defense stats of all other Pokemon on the field including zamazenta but for some reason this drop doesn't affect body press's damage with one more modifier under its belt zamazenta's body press starts doing Unholy amount of damage and because zamazenta's already so tanky it doesn't mind having its defense lowered slightly one move and one new buddy might not sound like a massive shakeup but it changed everything for zamazenta see zenta plays differently than most of the other restricted Pokemon who try and overwhelm their opponent with their ridiculous offensive moves zand is different it does still do damage but rather than wiping the entire board in a single turn it instead excels at being extremely difficult to get rid of and consistently outputting damage every turn over the entire course of the battle it's one of the best designed defensive restricted Pokémon that we've ever had and it helps that the scarlet and violet a lot of the popular Pokémon just can't really do anything to zamazenta incinerar reloom and Clefairy are some of the more common support Pokemon and none of them appreciate fighting zenta and even ersu doesn't really like going up against the dog if it terzes into a water resistance moreover fighting has nice offensive coverage right now hitting most pokemon in the competitive ecosystem for at least neutral damage more importantly zamazenta also beats nearly every other restricted Pokémon at least in a vacuum the physical attackers can't easily get through the defense boost cerx ice was looking like the number one restricted Pokemon until zamazenta came along Groudon and Rayquaza have fallen off hard and can't break through the defense boost and even cidon who should match up well against Mr dog needs to watch out for a tera dragon or support from peler Kyogre and ceric Shadow both rely heavily on their spread moves which can be shut down by wide guard and the new restricted Pokemon trapos isn't able to draliz out of its fighting weakness or easily get around zamazenta's wide guard somehow in spite of everything zaz zenta matches up well against nearly every other restricted Pokémon and that's probably why at the first US tournament where restricted Pokémon were allowed Zenda made it all the way into the quarterfinals despite not being a popular pick at all this proved that the Pokémon had potential which is maybe why at a tournament the following week in Europe zamazenta was the most used restricted Pokémon on the second day of competition and even won the entire t tournament that's right Zenda went from a Pokémon that most players wouldn't touch with a 10-ft pole to the number one most used restricted Pokemon at a tournament and the champion despite being nerfed into the ground and all it took was gaining access to a single unassuming move that it probably should have had all along Pokemon is an incredibly complex game and there's so many factors that go into determining whether or not a Pokemon is good that it can make your head spin if you think about it for too long zenta story might be one of my personal favorites that I've ever seen in my 13 years competing and it's a good reminder that sometimes all a Pokémon needs is that one missing piece hey thanks for watching if you like hearing about legendary Pokemon that caught people off guard you might like this video about how meon one of the strongest new Legendary Pokémon was completely underestimated by the vast majority of competitive players and why that ultimately ended up biting them pretty hard

Channel: WolfeyVGC

Views: 392,242

Keywords: Wolfey, Pokemon, VGC, Wolfe Glick, Competitive Pokemon, Pokemon VGC, twitch, pokemon nuzlocke, nuzlocke, hardcore nuzlocke, smallant, ludwig, pokemon challenge, pokemon challenges, alpharad, wolfeyvgc, purplecliffe, pm7, pokemen7, mandjtv, shiny pokemon, pokemon scarlet, pokemon violet, scarlet, violet, scarlet and violet, fuecoco, sprigatito, zamazenta, pokemon tournament, zamazenta nerf, zamazenta buff, legendary Pokemon, legendary Pokemon tournament, wolfey tournament, wolfe glick tournament

Id: d5vC9b66iGg

Length: 19min 22sec (1162 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 13 2024