Pokémon UNITE released a new patch on Monday, 1.4.1.10, which brings several balance changes and bug fixes right after the Pokémon UNITE Championship Series March finals. The Pokémon most impacted by the patch is Duraludon.
The newly released Pokémon has been running rampant throughout solo queue in the jungle position. To compensate, Duraludon’s standard attack has been decreased by 10%, from 551 to a flat 500. Dragon Pulse is also getting an overall 20% damage nerf.
Most importantly, Heavy Metal, Duraludon’s passive, is also getting a cooldown increase from 30 to 50 seconds. Heavy Metal was one of Duraludon’s best strengths, as Duraludon could invalidate support Pokémon with knock-ups simply by existing. Only Pokémon with stuns would do well against the Alloy Pokémon.
Additionally, bug fixes have been applied to both Flash Cannon and Revolving Rain.
The other Pokémon affected by the most recent patch is Alolan Ninetales. The Pokémon was recently buffed with a dash on Aurora Veil which pushed the Pokémon to the prime attacker position in a tri lane. However, this patch came brought a nerf to the highly touted move, with an attack speed decrease when within the area of effect.
While the nerfs to Duraludon are positive for the game overall, it remains to be seen how relevant they will be in the competitive meta. It’s also important to consider the bug fix to Duraludon’s boosted auto-attack. Previously, Duraludon’s third auto-attack would hit for a percentage of a Pokémon’s max HP and could also hit for a critical hit, meaning that opposing Pokémon could be instantly eliminated if both rolls of the dice hit.
Hopefully, the new changes are able to address these damage spikes from a critical hit roll. The crit would also apply to neutral objectives such as Drednaw and Zapdos, allowing teams with better positioning to grab the objective before enemies could even react.
