"The 1-turn dilemma (mainly Dragon Breath)"

#PokemonGO: Within the last few weeks, we have seen a lot a lot of threads regarding the sheer damage output of Dragon Breath - especially in the case of Dialga in the Master League.​I myself did not want DB to be nerfed number wise, because nerfing is not necessarily healthy for a game. I even made a thread about potential move changes that could shake up the meta and we just got Fire Punch Groudon, Aqua Tail Palkia and a buffed version of Moonblast - so it is nice to see that Niantic is going this route.​But this thread today is not about much needed coverage moves, it is about a overperforming fast move - Dragon Breath - and the reason behind this.Let´s start with the stats.Typing: DragonDamage: 4 DPTEnergy: 3 EPTTurns: 1DB deals neutral damage to 15 types, super effective damage against the dragon type, resisted damage against steel types and double resisted damage against the fairy type.​Every league has at least one well known DB-user. The Great League has Altaria. The Ultra League has Giratina A (while also having access to Shadow Claw (like for real, what did Niantic even think by giving out those moves?)), and the Master League has Dialga.​Every three of those Mons have a great stat distribution for its respective league...but they also have Dragon Breath.​Before gathering information on this I was curious why DB has such a great stand within the high DPT moves (ignoring Counter for the sake of this). Moves like Razor Leaf, Charm, Confusion, the Fangs, Waterfall or Mud Slap. The first thought being the very good energy generation of 3 EPT. While also being true, this is not the real reason for its strength. It´s the 1-base turn.​A few days ago I had a Great League game. My Registeel faced an Altaria. Since it was my first day using Registeel, I was not aware of its match ups. However, I knew that the most meta relevant steel type in the Great League, that also resists every of Altarias charge moves, while dealing neutral damage with Flash Canon, should win this in every even shielding scenario.​And guess what. I lost the match up. Even though I won the game, I was shocked how this could even happen. I instantly went to Pvpoke and looked at the Registeel vs. Altaria 2 Shield. Registeel faints with 65 energy and missing the Flash Canon by 1 turn.​Crazy. That´s where the "research" began. I was looking for another Pokemon with similar stat distribution like Altaria and a resisted 4 DPT / 3 EPT fast move and a resisted charge move with similar DPE as Sky Attack.​I found Hypno with Confusion and Psyshock. Confusion has the exact same 4 DPT and 3 EPT as Dragon Breath has, but instead is a 4-turn fast move. Psyshock has a DPE close to Sky Attack , while also costing 45 energy. Pretty much perfect requirements for a comparison.​Registeel wins every even shielding match up (0 - and 1 shield by a mile), while only dropping low on the 2 shield match up. So, where does the difference come from?The answer is turns! or even more precisely breakpoints due to turns.Dragon Breath deals 2 damage per turn against Registeel (8 damage in 4 turns).Confusion deals 5 damage against Registeel in 4 turns.​Dragon Breath - while having the exactly same DPT/EPT as Confusion - deals 60 % more damage.60 % !Confusion is one of the best fast moves in the game and it still gets outdamaged by 60 %...​Even though this simple calculation would be enough to prove my point, I looked for another example of unfair rounding and found it within the debuffing moves.​Starting with Altaria against Bubble Beam Mantine (...not using Ice Beam because of...science right?)The normal DB deals 2 damage against Mantine.DB after one Bubble Beam deals 2 damage.DB after two Bubble Beams deals 2 damage.DB after three Bubble Beams deals 2 damage.DB after four Bubble Beams deals 1 damage (finally).​Moving over to Hypno.The normal Confusion deals 9 damage against Mantine.Confusion after one Bubble Beam deals 7 damage.Confusion after two Bubble Beams deals 6 damage.Confusion after three Bubble Beams deals 5 damage.And Confusion after four Bubble Beams also deals 5 damage.​First of all. I know, reading something like "4 consecutive Bubble Beams" hurts my brain as well (and you really want to play Icy Wind Dewgong?), but this is an easy way of proving my point. The way how breakpoints and 1-turn moves interact with each other, is just bad from a game design perspective.​In my above mentioned thread, I was talking about how Heatran does not really feel like a real Dialga Counter.Using a simulation with only fast moves pretty much shows the problem.Fire Spin has 3 DPT (and 3.33 EPT what does not matter for this simulation). It gets STAB because of Heatrans fire type, increasing its damage to 3.6 DPT.​On the other side we have DB. 4 DPT (4.8 DPT with STAB), dealing not very effective damage because of Heatrans steel type (multiplier of 0.625) resulting in 3 DPT.​Comparing 3 DPT on Dialgas side with 3.6 DPT on Heatrans side...and guess what, Dialga wins with 2 HP remaining. Ironically by one turn. For those that say that Dialga has a way higher attack stat, the result stays the same if you are running the simulation with a 0 Attack, 15 defense and 15 stamina Dialga on level 39.​And for fun...Mewtu, the Pokemon with the highest attack stat in Master League, does 11 damage with Confusion in 4 turns, compared to 3 damage in 1 turn by Dialgas Dragon Breath (12 damage in 4 turns). Imagine thinking to be powerful, only to be beaten by the existence of breakpoints.​I could do this for another 3 pages, but you probably got my point by now.Dragon Breath is not overperforming because of its awesome DPT/EPT, it does overperform because of its 1 base turn. The solution is simpe. **Double up....**or oven triple/quadruple up.​Keep the DPT/EPT, but make it a 2 or a 3 turn move. Mathematically this is more of a "change" than a "nerf" - but practically resulting in a nerf. Classic win/win right?​...and in4 people scream: "Nerfing Dragon Breath harms the other DB-users"...​Out of my experience Altaria, Giratina and Dialga make up for 90 % of all DB-users. The last 10 % go to Zweilous, Gyarados, Dragonite and some spicy silph cup picks like Dragonair, Kingdra or Shelgon. Overall this change would not make those picks unplayable. It would bring the already great offensive and defensive dragon typing in line with other typings.​One last thing I want to cover that a lot of players are not aware of. 1 turn moves have the highest pay off, if you use them correctly. Fast moves register at the end of their last turn. A 1 turn move will logically end after 1 turn. A 4 turn move like Confusion does nothing for the first 3 turns and applies damage and generates energy after the fourth turn.​For example in the Registeel vs. Hypno match up Lock on, another 1 turn move (can you see the pattern?), can generate 15 energy in 3 turns and lets you fire off a charge move, while Hypno is stuck on its 4 turn Confusion.You can also pull this off, if your opponent has a 3, or even a 2 turn fast move. However this takes time to practice and only happens on purpose within the higher ranks of the Go Battle League.​Thank you for reading and leave your thoughts in the comments.​TL/DR Dragon Breath has the same DPE as Confusion, but can deal up to 60 % more damage due to being a 1 turn move. via /r/TheSilphRoad https://ift.tt/2SDpqpx