P okémon Champions recently released on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, bringing the thrill of Pokémon battles to Trainers of all skill levels.
Want to join in on the fun, but not sure how to craft a strategic team? No worries! Our experts are here to break down some interesting team builds centered around the first partner Pokémon from Pokémon Legends: Z-A. Three-time Regional Champion and caster Jamie Boyt built a team around a Pokémon that’s bulked up and ready to bring the heat—Mega Emboar. Check out the full strategy below!
While Mega Emboar doesn’t gain a brand-new Ability like its fellow Pokémon Legends: Z-A first partner Pokémon, it does gain a massive increase to its Special Defense, so it’s still worth considering for the Regulation M-A format. Building a team is not without its challenges—Mega Emboar’s Defense and Speed are only boosted a small amount and remain relatively low. In the case of Speed, it’s too high to fit onto a Trick Room team.
With this in mind, my Mega Emboar will focus on strengthening itself with the move Bulk Up. This increase to Attack and Defense will give it more survivability while also allowing it to pick up some KOs out of reach for an un-boosted Mega Emboar.
Team Overview
Emboar
Held Item: Emboarite
Ability: Blaze
Stat Points: 30 HP / 12 Attack / 16 Defense / 8 Speed
Stat Alignment: Adamant
Moves: Heat Crash, Drain Punch, Bulk Up, Protect
By choosing Drain Punch as my Fighting move of choice, I’m able to get reliable recovery that becomes more powerful with Defense increases from Bulk Up. I’m sacrificing some power by not using Emboar’s strongest Fighting-type move—Close Combat—but the defensive debuffs given by this move work against my chosen strategy. Heat Crash is my Fire-type move of choice, because Emboar’s strongest Fire move, Flare Blitz, causes recoil damage that also works against my goal of building a solid attacker. Protect will round off the move set, as it should for any Pokémon that revolves around setting itself up, because it becomes a massive target once it’s boosted.
Now for the rest of the team. When building around one specific Pokémon, a good approach is establishing a core that includes that Pokémon, and then adding teammates that patch any holes in the team. These are my current desirables for establishing a core:
- Calm Mind to complement Mega Emboar’s Bulk Up
- Fake Out and/or redirection (like Follow Me or Rage Powder) to give Mega Emboar extra turns to get set up
- Water-type and Grass-type Pokémon to form the classic and proven Fire/Water/Grass core
- Both a fast form of Speed control and Trick Room to make up for Mega Emboar’s middling Speed
I can achieve all of these conditions (except the fast form of Speed control) with just two additions: Primarina and Sinistcha.
Primarina
Held Item: Leftovers
Ability: Liquid Voice
Stat Points: 32 HP / 14 Defense / 14 Sp. Atk / 6 Speed
Stat Alignment: Modest
Moves: Hyper Voice, Moonblast, Calm Mind, Protect
Primarina will set up special damage defenses with Calm Mind, and its Water and Fairy types pair very well with the Fire- and Fighting-type Mega Emboar. I will teach it the offensive moves Hyper Voice (a Water-type attack thanks to Primarina’s Ability Liquid Voice) for good spread damage, and Moonblast as its strongest Fairy-type attack. Protect rounds off the move set for the same reason as Mega Emboar. For its held item, I will choose Leftovers to give Primarina a way to heal itself.
Sinistcha
Held Item: Sitrus Berry
Ability: Hospitality
Stat Points: 32 HP / 4 Defense / 30 Sp. Def
Stat Alignment: Bold
Moves: Matcha Gotcha, Life Dew, Rage Powder, Trick Room
Sinistcha gives me Rage Powder to redirect attacks, which allows Mega Emboar and Primarina to set up much more easily. Sinistcha also has access to Trick Room, which will reverse turn order, allowing Mega Emboar and the even slower Primarina to move before faster Pokémon. Sinistcha also has the Ability Hospitality, restoring its partner’s HP by 25% when switching in. This HP recovery becomes even more valuable with the bulk gained from Bulk Up or Calm Mind and makes Mega Emboar and Primarina even more difficult to knock out. I also used its signature attack Matcha Gotcha for spread damage and healing and Life Dew for more healing. I’ll give Sinistcha a Sitrus Berry for even more survivability.
With a core of three established, new desirables for a team become more apparent. With Mega Emboar, Primarina and Sinistcha as a starting core, these are the immediate standouts for me.
- Fake Out would be nice to allow even more opportunities to set up.
- I still want a fast form of Speed control.
- Mega Charizard Y resists almost all current moves on the team, so there must be at least one—but preferably two—good counters to it.
- I’d like another setup Pokémon that can take advantage of the support already in place.
While the current premier Fake Out users are Sneasler and Incineroar, they both share a type with Mega Emboar. While having more than one Pokémon of the same type on a team is completely fine—sometimes even optimal—I will go with more variety. That’s why I’ll choose the fastest non-Mega Evolved Fake Out user available—Weavile. This will give me an edge for leading into Sneasler and Incineroar, as I will usually have the faster Fake Out.
Weavile
Held Item: King’s Rock
Ability: Pickpocket
Stat Points: 32 HP / 6 Defense / 28 Speed
Stat Alignment: Jolly
Moves: Knock Off, Ice Spinner, Fake Out, Fling
Weavile’s best item choice is generally Focus Sash, but that will be taken by another Pokémon I’ll put on the team, so I’ll give Weavile a King’s Rock. This, when used with the move Fling, allows me to score another flinch, even after Weavile’s Fake Out becomes unavailable. This creates even more opportunities to set up. The move set is rounded out with Knock Off and Ice Spinner. Knock Off is the best Dark-type attack Weavile has, but for my Ice-type attack, I’ll opt for accuracy over power by not choosing Icicle Crash or Triple Axel. Pickpocket allows me to steal items when the King’s Rock has been flung.
Aerodactyl
Held Item: Focus Sash
Ability: Unnerve
Stat Points: 2 HP / 32 Attack / 32 Speed
Stat Alignment: Jolly
Moves: Rock Slide, Dual Wingbeat, Tailwind, Protect
For fast Speed control, Tailwind is the most obvious choice. Doubling all your Pokémon’s Speed for four turns allows even slower Pokémon to act first in most situations. I will combine my want for Tailwind with my need for a Mega Charizard Y counter and choose Aerodactyl. This gives me the fastest non-priority Tailwind—meaning I will almost always be able to get Tailwind active—and a Rock-type Pokémon, which is greatly effective against Mega Charizard Y. Aerodactyl claims the Focus Sash as the all-important Tailwind user. Rock Slide, Dual Wingbeat, and Protect round off the standard move set on Aerodactyl, and for good reason. Unnerve will help prevent any Berries from being used.
Garchomp
Held Item: White Herb
Ability: Rough Skin
Stat Points: 2 HP / 32 Attack / 32 Speed
Stat Alignment: Jolly
Moves: Stomping Tantrum, Dragon Claw, Swords Dance, Protect
For my second counter to Mega Charizard Y, I’ll choose another setup Pokémon—Garchomp. It’s slightly faster than Mega Charizard Y, and it resists Fire-type moves as a Dragon type. I will give it Swords Dance to set up, Protect to keep itself safe, and Dragon Claw and Stomping Tantrum as its most consistent Dragon- and Ground-type moves. White Herb will get rid of any Intimidate Attack drops if there is no time for a Swords Dance. Since I’m not creating sandstorms, Rough Skin is the obvious choice for its Ability.
When you’re building your own teams, keep in mind that you’re unlikely to find the best version of the team on the first draft. Battling with the team to work out what potential tweaks need to happen is an important part of teambuilding.
If you’d like to try this Mega Emboar team for yourself, fully trained and ready for battle, the Team ID is 7VRJNATVP0. Enjoy!
Jamie Boyt
Jamie Boyt
Jamie Boyt has been competing in VGC tournaments since 2015. He has finished top 16 at the World Championships twice in both 2016 and 2019. He is also a three-time Regional Champion—one of which he earned with a Cottonee. He aims to bring his experience as a teacher to his commentary as an official Play! Pokémon caster, providing analysis that balances both technicality and information for experienced and newer (or more casual) viewers.
