10-03-2016, 08:22 PM
(10-03-2016, 05:06 PM)Dragonstrike Wrote: A couple notes regarding Nucleon in the meta and how changing it in certain ways might affect it:
First off, I would like to point out that Geiger Sense is Nucleon's HA, so that idea's out the window for the most part. Particularly since its best STAB move atm without Atomizate or a new ability like the previously suggested Atomize (Normalize, but Nuclear. And that would still be incredibly broken), is Gamma Ray. Ick.
Second, Sylveon doesn't even remotely have the same issues that Nucleon does. The ways they play are incredibly different. Yes, Sylveon is slow and has an -ate ability backed up by a strong Sp Atk stat. It only works though because Sylveon can actually take a hit and respond in kind. Nucleon can't, just by the sheer virtue of everything except Poison and Nuclear moves absolutely annihilating it. Making it too slow makes it unusable, and it'd have to have Shuckle tier bulk (likely an exaggeration) backed by decent HP to even have a chance to take a strong hit. I would also like to point out that a max speed, scarfed pokemon with base 65 speed can still outspeed every pokemon with 121 base speed or less with no speed boosts. And that's still the majority of Uranium's metagame, outspeeding Yatagaryu and everything slower than it. Oh, and Fairy might have decent coverage, but it doesn't OTK almost every dual typed pokemon either. As similar as Nucleon and Sylveon appear to be, they aren't really alike in any way at all.
Third, the base problem isn't exactly with Nucleon, it's with the Nuclear type in general. Most Nuclear types, fortunately, don't have the stats or right spammable Nuclear moves to make them worth using though. Nucleon is an exception to this, yes, but I'd also like to present a second example: Nuclear Baariette. Nuclear Baariette has access to Nuclear Slash, which is just powerful enough coming off of its attack stat to becomes a real threat. It doesn't help that it also has access to Swords Dance, Moxie, and Guts to make it even more powerful if you play your cards right. This is where it gets real good though. Unlike Nucleon, it has powerful coverage moves to muscle past enemy mons that try to take its Nuclear attacks: High Jump Kick and STAB Knock Off/Crunch. And just like Nucleon, that gives Nuclear Baariette perfect Super Effective coverage. The only reason it hasn't shown up yet in competitive Uranium discussions: you can't breed it for good IVs currently, making its usability way too dependent on RNG/hacking. I should also mention two other pokemon that might cause problems with Nuclear attacks: Urayne if and when it can learn Atomic Punch, a spammable base 80 power physical Nuclear move, and Shell Smash and Expunge Raffiti. Yes, it's not a Nuclear type. But do you really want to take a +2, 110 power Nuclear move that's only resisted by Steel, with no hope of outspeeding the user without priority? Yeah, a type with Super Effective coverage of Nuclear's magnitude is what can and will break metagames. There isn't an easy way to balance it. It either wrecks the entire metagame mercilesssly, or it's completely unviable in the metagame because everything with the type just gets annihilated before they can do any damage. Playing an entire match consisting of the game 'Who goes first?' is not exactly going to be a fun experience.
If people want to play with Nucleon, okay, they can do that. It likely won't be allowed in the competitive scene though, so they'd have to do it in something like Smogon's Anything Goes tier (yes, Nucleon's destructiveness and meta influencing is comparable to that of Mega Rayquaza's. It's just that bad.)
You've made some very excellent point. Consider me swayed towards your way of thinking. I tried to come up with a good Nucleon stat distribution earlier and simply could not due to the nuclear type being the ultimate double edges sword- it all depends on who can strike first with them, and you are correct in saying that isn't very fun at all.
Maybe no nuclear type moves/pokemon in competitive play?
Also I forgot Nucleon had Geiger sense. Oops. And yeah, Mega Nuclear Barriette... if anybody ever gets lucky in the rng, that thing will kill us all.
