Pokemon Unite Reveals How New Map Will Change Gameplay

Pokemon Unite's brand new Theia Sky Ruins map comes with some big changes that could shift the entire Pokemon Unite metagame. The Pokemon Company announced that it would add a brand new map to Pokemon Unite in the coming weeks – Theia Sky Ruins – which will feature Rayquaza as the central boss Pokemon along with a host of other changes. ComicBook.com had the chance to speak with Pokemon Unite producer Masaaki Hoshino about what players could expect from the new map. "What's different with the new stadium from Remoat Stadium is, of course, the wild Pokemon is different," Hoshino said via an interpreter. "There's more wild Pokemon in the early stage as well as more in the middle range, so that's going to be different."

The biggest change is how Rayquaza will impact the last few minutes of the game. While Zapdos disables one team's goal defenses when it's defeated, Rayquaza will bring a different kind of change. "While Zapdos kind of disables the opposing team's goals, Zapdos is going to allow the team to have easier goals by scoring faster, as well as higher attack," Hoshino said. "It's more of a buff than a de-buffer on the opposing team." 

One major surprise from our talk with Hoshino is that Theia Sky Ruins will be the official map for Pokemon Unite ranked play, at least for a short while. While Hoshino and the Pokemon Unite team is considering a rotation between Remoat and Theia, Theia Sky Ruins will replace Remoat Stadium in Ranked Play when it's first introduced. 

As for other changes on the horizon, Hoshino noted that they are considering adding popular features from other MOBAs. Hoshino noted that many fans have expressed interest in adding picks and bans to match play, and that both features were something they've been talking about and would consider "if it made sense." They also acknowledged making changes to the game's surrender function due to negative feedback from fans. 

Pokemon Unite is available as a free-to-play game on the Nintendo Switch and mobile devices.