Today’s analysis is brought to you by popular demand….I just finished a big analysis for Devon Corp’s first meta of their second season yesterday, and am trying to plow through analysis on Galar Cup before that hits in a few days, and didn’t plan on anything else in between.

But dangit, I am a man of the people, and though many tweets, Reddit comments, Discords, and DMs, the people have been asking me for days about Shadow Galarian Weezing.

So here you go, folks: a break I didn’t plan to take to analyze a surprising addition to our Shadow arsenals… during the “Legendary Heroes” event going on right now, through October 1st at 8:00pm local time, you can evolve Koffing into Galarian Weezing, including Shadow Koffing! This is our first (and maybe last? at least for a while) chance to get Shadow G-Weeze!

So let’s take a look at Galarian Weezing in general and then how the Shadow version stacks up against it. Here’s your Bottom Line Up Front: YES, you want to get it while you can for PvP. But where and why? Let’s build the case!

GALARIAN WEEZING

Weezing (Galarian Shadow)

PoisonFairy

Little League Stats

Attack

Defense

HP

69 (67 High Stat Product)

80 (82 High Stat Product)

65 (67 High Stat Product)

(Highest Stat Product IVs: 0-15-10, 500 CP, Level 8.5)

Great League Stats

Attack

Defense

HP

118 (116 High Stat Product)

139 (141 High Stat Product)

115 (118 High Stat Product)

(Highest Stat Product IVs: 0-14-14, 1500 CP, Level 25)

Ultra League Stats

Attack

Defense

HP

155 (153 High Stat Product)

176 (178 High Stat Product)

147 (149 High Stat Product)

(Highest Stat Product IVs: 8-15-15, 2496 CP, Level 50)

Master League Stats

…fuhgeddaboudit.

The bulk is nice, though a hair behind other PvP Fairies like Clefable, Wigglytuff, and fellow Alolan Ninetales. The much bigger talking point is the typing.

Being half-Poison means that G-Weeze resists other Fairy damage, which is HUGE in limited metas where other potent Fairies are present, such as Devon Corp’s Crypt Cup or next week’s GBL Galar Cup. Even in Open play, it can beat every single Fairy except Azumarill, Tapu Fini, and Carbink (and even the first two can flip to wins if the meta is REALLY Fairy heavy and you are therefore advised to run its one Poison move… but I’m getting a little ahead of myself). In the end, its unique-in-GO Poison/Fairy typing combination gives it resistances to Dark, Fairy, and Grass, and double resistances to Dragon, Fighting, and Bug damage. And it comes with only three, single-level weaknesses: Ground, Steel, and Psychic. That’s it!

Fast Moves

• Fairy Wind – Fairy type, 2.0 DPT, 4.5 EPT, 1.0 CoolDown

• Tackle – Normal type, 3.0 DPT, 3.0 EPT, 0.5 CD

It’s hard to remember now, but for nearly the first three years of its existance in GO, Galarian Weezing had Tackle as its only fast move. Ironically, Tackle was still basically a useless fast move that whole time, having only 2.0 EPT. When it was finally made viable, with the EPT being buffed to its current 3.0, Fairy Wind was added to G-Weeze that exact same day. So basically… Galarian Weezing has only ever been viable with Fairy Wind, and obviously that is even moreso now with Fairy Wind getting its own buff (from 1.5 DPT to now 2.0 DPT) this season. Set it and forget it with Fairy Wind and don’t look back.

Charge Moves

• Brutal Swing – Dark type, 55 damage, 35 energy

• Sludge – Poison type, 50 damage, 40 energy

• Overheat – Fire type, 130 damage, 50 energy, Decreases User Attack -2 Stages

• Play Rough – Fairy type, 90 damage, 60 energy

• Return – Normal type, 130 damage, 70 energy (purified only)

• Hyper Beam – Normal type, 150 damage, 80 energy

Even in its old form, Brutal Swing was usually a favored move on Galarian Weezing, being tied for lowest energy cost and usually dealing more damage than Sludge despite lacking STAB. (Brutal’s default damage value back then was 65 instead of the 55 it’s at today.) Sludge DID have value in Limited formats like Fantasy Cup where it was great for beating up opposing Fairies, but Brutal Swing was the default, and now more than ever.

So then the question becomes: which closing move to run? Most people default to Play Rough, which is fine and dandy. It’s a little on the expensive side, but Fairy Wind gets there quickly enough. It’s a nice, safe, no worries option. But for my money, as someone who has run Galarian Weezing in several formats now, I almost always instead run Overheat. Yes, it comes with a huge drawback, but 130 damage for only 50 energy AND very relevant coverage is insane. Too insane to ignore, IMO. We’ll compare them more directly in a moment.

First, I want to mention that the new option of purifying Galarian Weezing and getting Return is very, very interesting too. Getting one that fits in Great League does usually require a lower Attack IV stat, but there are still 758 IV combinations that work, as per the awesome PvPIVs.com. Hyper Beam has actually been viable-ish at times thanks to the high energy gains of Fairy Wind, but Return is just better overall now for widespread neutral coverage. I’ll take a peek at it as well throughout this analysis… though of course, Shadow Galarian Weezing cannot use it.

Anyway, enough chitter-chatter. On to some numbers!

GREAT LEAGUE

As I wrote about at the start of the season (multiple times, in fact!) Galarian Weezing is one of the biggest risers after the game-shifting move rebalance we got this season, leaping triple digits in the rankings in both Great and Ultra Leagues. And while it’s still hovering around a modest #50 in Great League, that’s with Play Rough which, as mentioned earlier, is safe and fine, but not G-Weeze’s performance ceiling.

It hits its potential peak only with Overheat, getting new potential wins that include Clefable, Wigglytuff, Dunsparce, Ariados, Abomasnow, and Alolan Sandslash, and G-Weeze gives up only Fairy-weak Mandibuzz to do it! Now yes yes, for every high ceiling, there IS a floor to consider too, and if the baits don’t all work out, Overheat G.W. is in for a tougher time… though I would point out that the more expensive Play Rough suffers a similar potential fall if its Brutal Swing baits don’t go to plan.

Again, my recommendation — personal choice whenever I use G-Weeze myself — is the potential that comes with Overheat. It really… well, makes the opponent sweat.

This would also be the place to point out that purified Return G-Weeze ain’t too shabby either, not reaching quite the lofty heights of Overheat but overall outpacing Play Rough with many of the same wins that come with Overheat (Aboma, Ariados, Clefable, Wigglytuff, and Dunsparce), and Typhlosion as a unique win of its own.

However, it also drops Mandibuzz, as well as Malamar, Shadow Sableye, Lickilicky, and Jumpluff. It’s more a sidegrade than upgrade as compared to Play Rough, but quite a good one! More interesting than Hyper Beam, that’s for sure.

But you’re here for Shadow talk, and I won’t keep you waiting any longer. How does the new Shadow G-Weeze stack up against the non-Shadows we’ve been running all this time?

Well, at least here in Great League, we’re looking at more or less a sidegrade situation. Shadow with Play Rough trades away things like Skeledirge, Lickilicky, Machamp, Greninja, and Feraligatr that non-Shadow G.W. can outlast to instead overpower Clefable, Wigglytuff, Abomasnow, and Shadow Quagsire, that last one in particular surely being a surprise to many opponents. (Quagsire in any form is usually a death sentence for Poisons like Galarian Weezing.)

The sidegradeiness (no, of course I didn’t just make that word up!) continues in other even shield situations, with Shadow punching out stuff like Talonflame, Feraligatr, Malamar, Charjabug, and Ariados in 2v2 shielding, and non-Shadow instead getting Skeledirge, Greninja, Typhlosion, and Lickilicky. It’s only with shields down that one or the other really pulls ahead, with Shadow uniquely beating Feraligatr, Jumpluff, Abomasnow, and big bad Azumarill, while non-Shadow manages only Skeledirge and Shadow A-Wak.

Overheat doesn’t fare as well, honestly. It’s still good, but lags behind non-Shadow, particularly in 1v1 shielding where it loses to Lickilicky, Dunsparce, Feraligar, Skeledirge, and Machamp, gaining only Mandibuzz as compensation.

However, that’s not the total story. Shadow IS more of an upgrade in certain Limited metas, like next week’s Galar Cup, where Shadow Galarian Weezing is Ranked #1. And it backs that up with its performance, overwhelming Umbreon and Mandibuzz that non-Shadow cannot, and really surpassing non-Shadow in 2v2 shielding, with only Shadow G-Weeze able to overcome Mandi, Umbreon, Malamar, and Ninetales, and losing only Lanturn that non-Shadow can beat.

Short story is this: if you’re able to pull it off, I would absolutely get yourself a Shadow Galarian Weezing for Great League before this event is over. There’s no telling when/if we might be able to again. Shadow Koffing is in raids right now, and even raid level IVs are good enough for Shadow Galarian Weezing. Get one while you can!

ULTRA LEAGUE

The good news? Shadow Galarian Weezing is more clearly an upgrade over non-Shadow at this level, gaining Malamar, Skeledirge, and Greninja in 1v1 shielding with NO new losses, and then trading away Tapu Fini to gain Lickilicky in 2v2 shielding, and giving up Shadow Golurk to gain the probably more impactful Registeel with shields down.

Play Rough is more of a sidegrade/slight downgrade and probably not really worth the major bad news: the cost. Galarian Weezing has to be pushed to (or at least very near to) Level 50 to reach 2500 CP, so having to do that with a more expensive Shadow version is especially oppressive. If it’s worth it, I think it’s only so for Overheat variants in the here and now.

But in a vacuum, extreme costs aside, yes, I DO think Shadow Galarian Weezing is “worth it” in Ultra League… if it’s new #5 Ranking in Open wasn’t enough sign of that already!

OTHER LEAGUES?

Master League… I love the typing, but G-Weeze tops out at only 2592, so that’s a big nope, even in Premier. I wish it could get a bit bigger!

But it CAN get a lot smaller. A Shadow G-Weeze should fit even in Little League, and yowza, it looks rather scary! Shadow specifically adds wins versus Abomasnow, Swampert, Stunky, and the great evil known as Chansey, and abandons only two notable wins (Swinub and a now-hobbled Ducklett that misses old Wing Attack stats) to do it.

If you have a plethera of Shadow Koffings saved up… well, first off, go get some lottery tickets or something, because you’re smarter/luckier than most of us. And secondly… build yourself a Little G-Weeze while you’re at it! (Basically any IVs at 8-15-15 on down will fit at or under 500 CP.)

IN SUMMATION

Just to say it once more, yes, I would evolve my Shadow Koffings before October 1st at 8pm to turn them into Shadow Galarian Weezing, as it seems a worthy thing to have in all eligible Leagues: Great, Ultra, and even Little.

Do note that building an Ultra League version will cost a small fortune in dust and XL Candy, but even if you lack the resources to build it up, evolve any good ones you have for Ultra NOW, as we don’t know when the chance may come again. Even if they have Frustration, there will be plenty of chances to TM that away, so don’t worry about it. Evolve evolve evolve… that’s the key piece to not miss out on over the next few days. Good luck!

Alright, that’s it for today! Thanks for reading, and until next time (Galar Cup inbound), you can always find me on Twitter with regular Pokémon GO analysis nuggets, or Patreon, if you’re feeling extra generous.

Catch you next time, Pokéfriends!

The post Shadow Galarian Weezing PvP Analysis: Don’t Miss This Powerhouse Before It’s Gone! appeared first on Pokémon GO Hub.