A new Pokemon move has been banned from competitive play due to its effects not working as intended. The Pokemon Company announced this week that Dragon Cheer, a new move introduced in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s DLC “The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero,” would be banned from VGC tournaments due to a bug in the game. A patch is expected to come out in the next few weeks, but the ban could impact several January tournaments, including this weekend’s Portland regional and the Charlotte regionals later this month.ย
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Dragon Cheer, when working as intended, increases the likelihood of an ally Pokemon getting a critical hit on an attack. While it works on any Pokemon, Dragon Cheer increases the critical hit ratio of Dragon-type Pokemon by two stages instead of one. While the effects of Dragon Cheer are supposed to be cancelled out when a Pokemon switches out of combat, the bug allows the effects to remain active. This allowed for players to utilize a strategy where a Pokemon is buffed by Dragon Cheer and then uses U-Turn to make a quick attack and then retreat while still having the buff in place.ย
Dragon Cheer, coincidentally, is needed to evolve Dipplin into Hydrapple, one of the new Pokemon found in the most recent DLC. The move also had some potential relevancy in VGC builds, with Pokemon like Kingdra benefitting due to its Sniper ability, and other Pokemon like Latias gaining some relevancy by helping buff it as a counter to current dominant Pokemon within the meta. Dragon Cheer will likely remain a strong move in doubles battles after the patch is put in, but it won’t be “permanent” like it currently is.ย
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is available now on the Nintendo Switch. Dragon Cheer is only available by purchasing the game’s DLC.ย
