"[Analysis] Very early look at Outrage/Fly Salamence's potential place in the meta"

#PokemonGO: IntroductionOn March 27, the long-awaited Bagon Community Day was finally announced. Folks quickly started to discuss the potential signature moves it could get: Outrage has been the most anticipated, but the most thematic option would be Fly, a flying move in the main games, as Bagon always has a dream to fly. But how good will these moves make Salamence be? Would a Salamence with Outrage or Fly make as huge an impact on the meta as the starters, Tyranitar and Metagross did with their respective CD exclusive moves?In this post, I try to examine how good Salamence could potentially be with both moves, as compared to the current top counters in both Dragon and Flying types. As Fly has not be added to the GAME_MASTER yet, we do not know its stats or Salamence's expected DPS with the move; as such, I use the same methodology as this GamePress article (published before stats for Meteor Mash were added), assuming Fly is a flying-type charged move and has the same stats as each of the following moves: Stone Edge, Body Slam, Heavy Slam, Draco Meteor, Leaf Blade, Sky Attack, Meteor Mash\1]); and calculate Salamence's DPS/TDO accordingly. In reality, Fly could perform similarly to any moves within this range.Disclaimer: This post does not assume Salamence will eventually get either Outrage or Fly as a CD exclusive move, but rather take these two options as the most realistic and probable candidates. There are other dragon moves that Salamence can learn in the main games, but whether they will become a CD move has too much uncertainty. Similarly, this post does not assume Fly will eventually be as good as any of the moves listed above.Salamence with OutrageSince Gen 3, Dragon type has been one of the most competitive types in Pokémon GO (behind only the Grass types, maybe). With an attack stat higher than Dragonite, Salamence with Draco Meteor already has the second-highest neutral DPS, but its 1-bar charged move has been its main drawback (especially when taking Super Effective damage against dragon raid bosses with dragon moves). A hypothetical Salamence with Outrage will finally solve the problem and give it DPS that's just slightly lower than Rayquaza:​PokemonFast MoveCharged MoveDPSTDORayquazaDragon TailOutrage18.68546.8SalamenceDragon TailOutrage18.271536SalamenceDragon TailDraco Meteor17.931526PalkiaDragon TailDraco Meteor17.91583.2DragoniteDragon TailOutrage17.229570.5GarchompDragon TailOutrage17.19630.3DialgaDragon BreathDraco Meteor17.09589.7Table 1. Neutral DPS and TDO of selected Dragon types​As you might expect, the improvement is much more significant against dragons with powerful dragon moves. Here's against Rayquaza with Dragon Tail/Outrage: (Similar results against Palkia with Dragon Tail/Draco Meteor)​PokemonFast MoveCharged MoveDPSTDORayquazaDragon TailOutrage32.51298.8SalamenceDragon TailOutrage31.834293.2GarchompDragon TailOutrage30.881355.2DragoniteDragon TailOutrage30.373315.5PalkiaDragon TailDraco Meteor28.6292DialgaDragon BreathDraco Meteor28.554492.1SalamenceDragon TailDraco Meteor28.196259.7Table 2. DPS and TDO of selected Dragon types against Dragon Tail/Outrage Rayquaza​This is when having a 2-bar charged move really shines. With a 1-bar move, Palkia, Dialga and Salamence often faint before firing a Draco Meteor, making their DPS below Dragonite levels. Fear not: With Outrage, Salamence will finally stand out and place itself right between Dragonite and Rayquaza, being much closer to Rayquaza's end. It's still not the highest DPS counter like Rayquaza and still glassier than Dragonite, but being a non-legendary means it would be much easier to invest in them, especially with the Community Day giving players plenty of candies.​Salamence with Fly: Neutral DPSNow this is the interesting one. Suppose Niantic decides there are too many powerful dragons and gives Salamence a flying CD move instead -- what would happen?Flying type has been quite underwhelming in GO: it is SE against Bug, Fighting and Grass types, but not many legendaries of these types exist, and there are usually better options. Most flying types were also lackluster for a long time, and Rayquaza is stuck with the terrible Aerial Ace despite its excellent stats. Sky Attack Moltres and Honchkrow brought in some nice changes, with the latter currently having the highest Flying type DPS, but it's still not useful enough to make it to the top of many players' Sinnoh Stone tier lists.Salamence is an interesting candidate for a Flying type, but perhaps not the best fit: It does have great stats as a pseudo-legendary, but having no Flying-type fast move nor being able to learn any Flying-type fast move in the game hurts its potential as a Flying-type attacker. That being said, with Dragon Tail, Fire Fang or Bite, it could still produce some interesting results.Before that, let's look at the neutral DPS of top flying types and Fly Salamence (without the SE multiplier):​PokemonFast MoveCharged MoveDPSTDOSalamenceDragon TailFly (Meteor Mash)20.219593.2SalamenceDragon TailFly (Sky Attack)19.265565.2SalamenceDragon TailFly (Leaf Blade)18.618546.2SalamenceDragon TailFly (Draco Meteor)17.931526SalamenceDragon TailFly (Heavy Slam)17.667518.3HonchkrowSnarlSky Attack17.485343.6MoltresFire SpinSky Attack17.361524.2HonchkrowPeckSky Attack16.767329.5SalamenceDragon TailFly (Body Slam)16.718490.5SalamenceDragon TailFly (Stone Edge)16.68489.3RayquazaDragon TailAerial Ace16.373479.3DragoniteDragon TailHurricane15.916527RayquazaAir SlashAerial Ace15.474452.9Table 3. Neutral DPS and TDO of selected Flying types with Flying-type charged moves​Now, before anyone gets hyped over these crazy DPS, please remember these numbers do not take the 1.6x Super Effective multiplier into account. If you're using a Flying type as a raid counter, not having a Flying-type fast move will hurt Salamence a lot (which I'll show pretty soon).However, this really shows Salamence's potential as a generalist. In fact, a hypothetical Fly being a Sky Attack or even Meteor Mash clone will give Salamence the highest non-Deoxys\2]) neutral DPS, even higher than DT/O Rayquaza (18.68)! A Draco Meteor clone would also place Salamence at the level of Metagross' neutral DPS (17.983), and a Heavy Slam clone would put it at Shadow Ball Mewtwo's levels (17.529). If you're one of the people who frequently use Rayquaza, Metagross or Shadow Ball Mewtwo as a gym sweeper, a Salamence with a strong-enough Fly may do you wonders, as flying has (a bit) more coverage than dragon.(Arguably, this could also show that Fly being at the same level as other CD moves could be unrealistic.)​Salamence with Fly: As a Flying-type counterSalamence's lack of a Flying-type fast move starts to hurt when using it against types that Flying is SE against, which are Bug, Fighting and Grass types. Let's start from the Bug types:PokemonFast MoveCharged MoveDPSTDOSalamenceFire FangFly (Meteor Mash)29.848875.6RampardosSmack DownRock Slide29.265589.3SalamenceFire FangFly (Sky Attack)27.973820.6SalamenceFire FangFly (Leaf Blade)27.605809.8MoltresFire SpinSky Attack27.544831.7HonchkrowPeckSky Attack26.584522.5SalamenceFire FangFly (Draco Meteor)25.523748.7SalamenceFire FangFly (Heavy Slam)25.345743.5CharizardFire SpinBlast Burn25.209661.1FlareonFire SpinOverheat24.938597.6EnteiFire SpinOverheat24.586844.2RayquazaAir SlashAerial Ace24.568719.2SalamenceFire FangFly (Body Slam)24.145708.3SalamenceFire FangFly (Stone Edge)23.103677.7Table 4. DPS and TDO of selected counters against Bug-type boss​Fire Fang is the superior fast move here as both fire and flying are SE against bug, despite not having STAB. Here, it still wouldn't take too much for Salamence with a good Fly (Leaf Blade level) to beat Honchkrow and Sky Attack Moltres; it would be hard for Salamence to reach Rampardos' DPS levels, but that's really because Rampardos is such a DPS monster, anyway. Also note that Rayquaza is clearly inferior in this scenario, which is just a reminder of how moves matter more than Pokémon stats.​Against Grass types, which happen to also be weak to fire and flying, the results are similar if not identical:PokemonFast MoveCharged MoveDPSTDOSalamenceFire FangFly (Meteor Mash)29.848875.6SalamenceFire FangFly (Sky Attack)27.973820.6SalamenceFire FangFly (Leaf Blade)27.605809.8MoltresFire SpinSky Attack27.544831.7HonchkrowPeckSky Attack26.584522.5SalamenceFire FangFly (Draco Meteor)25.523748.7MamoswinePowder SnowAvalanche25.423730SalamenceFire FangFly (Heavy Slam)25.345743.5CharizardFire SpinBlast Burn25.209661.1RoseradePoison JabSludge Bomb25.067591.5FlareonFire SpinOverheat24.938597.6EnteiFire SpinOverheat24.586844.2RayquazaAir SlashAerial Ace24.568719.2GengarLickSludge Bomb24.377471.6WeavileIce ShardAvalanche24.343587.6SalamenceFire FangFly (Body Slam)24.145708.3SalamenceFire FangFly (Stone Edge)23.103677.7Table 5. DPS and TDO of selected counters against Grass-type boss​A few other counters like Mamoswine and double poison Roserade managed to sneak in, but the Sky Attack users still dominate, and even Mamoswine would be worse than Salamence with a Draco Meteor-clone Fly (around the same as Overheat Moltres 25.819). This means Salamence has a high chance of becoming the best grass-type counter, as long as Fly is an above average move.​Fighting types might be the most interesting, since people usually think Psychic is the best counter. That might change pretty soon, if not already:PokémonFast MoveCharged MoveDPSTDOSalamenceDragon TailFly (Meteor Mash)27.714813HonchkrowPeckSky Attack26.584522.5MewtwoConfusionPsychic26.318823.9SalamenceDragon TailFly (Leaf Blade)25.922760.5AzelfConfusionFuture Sight25.868584.1SalamenceDragon TailFly (Sky Attack)25.704754.1AlakazamConfusionFuture Sight25.49518.3EspeonConfusionFuture Sight24.821582.6RayquazaAir SlashAerial Ace24.568719.2GardevoirConfusionDazzling Gleam23.997643.5MoltresFire SpinSky Attack23.467708.6SalamenceDragon TailFly (Heavy Slam)23.233681.6SalamenceDragon TailFly (Draco Meteor)23.059676.5SalamenceDragon TailFly (Body Slam)22.375656.4SalamenceDragon TailFly (Stone Edge)20.584603.9Table 6. DPS and TDO of selected counters against Fighting-type boss​The lack of a Super Effective fast move could be clearly felt here. With Dragon Tail only doing neutral damage, Fly needs to be as good as Meteor Mash for Salamence to be the best flying-type counter, or else it will lose to Honchkrow and Mewtwo. Having a slightly inferior (but more realistic) version of Fly that's a Sky Attack or Leaf Blade clone, though, will still put Salamence above Alakazam and Espeon, the two common, glass cannon Machamp counters. Considering how glassy Honchkrow and the budget Psychic attackers are, this makes Salamence a decent non-legendary counter to fighting types and useful against Machamp solos, as long as Fly is reasonably good (which it probably will, given the standard of past CD moves) -- and as long as the Machamp doesn't have Rock Slide.​Salamence with Fly: Practical uses and against bosses double weak to FlyingYou might be asking: Okay, these are all cool, but how often am I actually gonna use a flying type? True, not many legendaries are bug, fighting or grass types, so flying types have limited use if your primary focus is on legendary raids. However, there is one legendary in Gen 5, Virizion (Grass/Fighting) that is double weak to Flying:​PokemonFast MoveCharged MoveDPSTDOSalamenceFire FangFly (Meteor Mash)31.295918.1HonchkrowPeckSky Attack31.242614SalamenceFire FangFly (Leaf Blade)29.329860.4RayquazaAir SlashAerial Ace28.883845.5SalamenceFire FangFly (Sky Attack)28.663840.9MoltresFire SpinSky Attack27.573832.6SalamenceFire FangFly (Heavy Slam)25.643752.3SalamenceFire FangFly (Draco Meteor)25.322742.9SalamenceFire FangFly (Body Slam)24.817728SalamenceFire FangFly (Stone Edge)22.045646.7Table 7. DPS and TDO of selected counters against Virizion​With a double weakness, flying-type fast moves that do 2.56x damage becomes crucial. Honchkrow will almost certainly be the king against Virizion unless Fly is as OP as Meteor Mash. However, a slightly worse Fly will still put Salamence at Rayquaza level. This still makes Salamence one of the best counters as it's bulkier than Honchkrow with DPS that's not far behind. Even if Fly is just a mediocre move, it would still be enough for Salamence to be the second highest DPS non-legendary counter, as flying types that are not named Rayquaza or Moltres are not easy to find.(Note that Tornadus and Thundurus both learn Fly in the main games, so they could add some competition here. But that depends on the order in which they release Gen 5 legendaries.)​Conclusion and Miscellaneous NotesIt should be noted that while the Outrage analysis is accurate, there's still a lot of uncertainty around Fly. Will they really make a new flying move that's as good as Sky Attack? It might be unlikely but not unreasonable: if we look at the charged moves that are added for Community Days, 4 out of 5 are currently the best charged moves in the game (the starter moves and Meteor Mash). The only one that's more underwhelming is Last Resort, but even that wouldn't look too bad on Salamence, as it will still have roughly the same performance as Sky Attack Moltres. Given how Bagon CD is much more anticipated than Eevee CD, I hope Fly does not end up like Last Resort; in fact, I wouldn't be surprised at all if it's at Meteor Mash level. (Although Fly is a bad move in the main series, it has been pointed out that does not always translate exactly into GO.)Overall, despite many people vastly preferring Outrage over Fly, Salamence seems to have a bright future with either of them. Clearly, Outrage would make it an even better Dragon-type specialist and get rid of the annoying 1-bar Draco Meteor; on the other hand, Fly is quite likely to make Salamence a great Bug, Fighting and Grass counter, a surprisingly good generalist, and a much more versatile Pokémon. If Fly is as good as the other Community Day moves, it would make Salamence the best counter against all 3 types that it's SE against. If it's a more reasonably good move like a Sky Attack clone, Salamence would still become a better version of Honchkrow and Sky Attack Moltres with enough bulk to shine, and an alternative Machamp counter.Arguably, flying types don't see that much action in T5 raids. However, bug and grass types frequently appear in lower-tier raids, and flying will also see action against Virizion when it comes out. Even using Salamence as a gym sweeper would be a good idea. No matter what exclusive move it eventually gets, Salamence is very likely to be an amazing Pokémon with it (unless they somehow completely screw up with the move). So get ready for April Community Day and let your Salamence soar in the sky!​All values are taken from the GamePress DPS/TDO Spreadsheet.​Notes:[1] The same set of moves are used as the GamePress article for standardization. I added Meteor Mash as it's the move Metagross eventually got and performs quite similarly to other starter CD moves (especially Frenzy Plant), so it would be reasonable if Fly ends up on a similar level.[2] Deoxys-Attack is excluded from all the lists as it is too frail to have any practical uses. via /r/TheSilphRoad https://ift.tt/2HXBKMK