Pokemon Unite Needs To Release Broken Pokemon Again
Pokemon Unite is most exciting when OP Pokemon shake up the meta.
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Category : Pokemon
Aegislash was datamined during Pokemon Unite’s Trevenant release, but the Royal Sword Pokemon finally joined the roster this past Thursday. Every new Pokemon is exciting, but the fanfare for Aegislash hasn’t been particularly energetic. The new All-Rounder seems to be well-balanced and decent, but not exceptional, in lane or jungle. And while a balanced character is technically good for the game, it isn’t going to create the kind of excitement that Pokemon Unite needs right now.
Don’t get me wrong, Aegislash is a good Pokemon. It has a decent early game and incredible burst potential that allows it to quickly tear through multiple enemies in a team fight. Its Shield Form and defensive moves give it a lot of sustainability and solo-lane potential. The ability to swap between forms is unique, and despite low mobility Aegislash has a pretty fun playstyle. It’s a high-skill character that rewards good map awareness, and that makes it a healthy addition to the game. It’s a solid Pokemon and very balanced, but that might not be a good thing.
For a live-service game, Pokemon Unite does not see updates very frequently. Aside from battle passes and new holowear options to buy, Pokemon Unite is essentially the same game that it was when it launched last summer. The rules haven’t changed in the 5v5 mode, there’s still only one standard map, and the Quick Battle rotation has stayed exactly the same. Even the Halloween and Winter events were fairly minimal, only introducing reskins of already existing maps. The only new content the game ever gets is more Pokemon. They’re the only thing that ever spices up the game and re-energizes the playerbase. When they come out balanced like Aegislash – or underpowered like Trevenant – it’s a lot harder for the community to get hyped about it.
When I think back to the best times in Pokemon Unite, it’s always around the release of a super OP character. Sylveon’s Hyper Voice made it an absolute demon for a few weeks in October, while both Tsareena and Dragonite flipped the game on its head late last year. The introduction of these overpowered characters shaped the meta and created distinct eras. Tsareena dominated on the ladder for weeks until the community got wise and started countering it with Wigglytuff’s Sing and Mr. Mime’s barriers. These characters were eventually nerfed and don’t have nearly the same pick rep that they used to, but for a time, they made Unite feel new again.
A lot of games (and gamers) think about balance as a process of bringing every character inline, but that isn’t always what’s best for the game. Sometimes it’s good to let a character run wild for a while, especially if they’re new. An overpowered character can reshape an entire meta and make a game feel fresh and exciting. With so much stagnation in Unite, it would be better to release a Pokemon with too much power and scale them back later just to get people talking. Aegislash is fine, but I wish it was exceptional – at least for a while.
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