(Update) This Pokemon Unite patch has a lot of fan-requested balance changes

Charizard agrees

[Update: So a fan on the Unite Reddit has self-tested a lot of these Pokemon Unite patch changes, and another player on the Unite Discord has provided a Google Sheet of the alterations below, with actual numbers. Some of them are quite shocking in terms of how much was tweaked! There’s even a visualization from PKMNCAST that shows the balance patch at a visual glance. As expected, the community came through and gave us specifics anyway.]

[Update #2: The Unite team has identified a bug with Gengar’s Hex ability. As is now customary, no explanation at all was given as to what the bug actually is and no numbers were provided. Instead, the community has taken it upon themselves to show that Hex can actually do zero damage post-patch, or not work entirely. The team is “hoping to have all issues fixed soon.”]

[Update #3: As per an in-game announcement, a new update is coming with “bug fixes,” as well as a “store” update. You have to bet that Gengar’s Hex will be part of that drop, as well as a few other unannounced lingering issues.]

Pokemon Unite has been out for a bit, and folks have a list of changes they want to see. Balance fixes are a piece of the pie, as is the alteration of Zapdos (maybe tone down just one of the many bonuses it grants?), and the pay-to-win held item problem. The first big Pokemon Unite patch only addresses the former.

In a new blog post, developer TiMi Studio Group gave us quite a few Pokemon Unite patch notes, albeit of the extremely vague variety. While you can find all of them below, here’s a quick rundown.

So everyone has different opinions on where certain characters are at tier-wise, but on higher levels of ranked play, a few Pokemon are dominating the space. That list includes Cinderace, Gengar, and Zeraora, with Eldegoss serving as the most powerful support in many ranks. On the flipside, Charizard is universally regarded at many ranks as underpowered. The patch is looking at all of those characters and more.

Gengar’s silly hex combo might be tuned down, as the move has been “downgraded” (again, very vague here), with dream eater being “upgraded,” and shadow ball doing more damage to opposing Pokemon. Clearly TiMi wants people to break out of meta comfort zones. Cinderace has its damage decreased pretty much across the board, and even had feint downgraded: it’s a straight nerf. Zeraora had wild charge buffed, but its unite (ultimate/heroic) move plasma gale was nerfed (maybe it won’t nuke entire teams). And Eldegoss has had its cooldown lengthened on the spammable cotton guard, with cotton spore seeing more potency and a cooldown reduction; and its unite move, cotton cloud crash, restoring less HP. Charizard has had cooldown reductions and buffs across the board.

So MOBA developers have internal winrate data and stats they can see behind the scenes, but this gels with a lot of my experiences and those of content creators (especially all of the Gengar videos out there). On paper it seems like a decent first pass. Now about Zapdos and held items.

Pokemon Unite Balance Patch Notes:

Charizard
Flamethrower:

• Cooldown reduced.
• Effects on opposing Pokémon strengthened.

Fire Punch:

• Effects on opposing Pokémon strengthened.

Fire Blast:

• Cooldown reduced.
• Effects on opposing Pokémon strengthened.

Talonflame
Acrobatics:

• Damage dealt to opposing Pokémon increased.

Aerial Ace:

• Damage dealt to opposing Pokémon increased.

Aerial Ace+:

• Damage dealt to opposing Pokémon increased.

Fly:

• Damage dealt to opposing Pokémon increased.

Venusaur
Sludge Bomb:

• Damage dealt to opposing Pokémon increased.
• Effects on opposing Pokémon strengthened.

Petal Dance:

• Move Upgrade

Solar Beam:

• Cooldown reduced.

Unite Move: Verdant Anger

• Damage dealt to opposing Pokémon increased.

Absol
Basic Attack:

• Bug Fixes

Night Slash:

• Damage dealt to opposing Pokémon increased.

Sucker Punch:

• Damage dealt to opposing Pokémon increased.

Wigglytuff
The following stats have been increased:

• Defense, Sp. Def, HP

Double Slap

• Damage dealt to opposing Pokémon increased.
• Effects on opposing Pokémon strengthened.

Sing

• Effects on opposing Pokémon strengthened.

Dazzling Gleam

• Bug Fixes

Eldegoss
Cotton Guard

• Cooldown lengthened.
• HP restoration decreased.

Cotton Spore

• Cooldown reduced.
• Effects on opposing Pokémon strengthened.
• This move’s Defense, Sp. Def increase has been strengthened.

Unite Move: Cotton Cloud Crash

• HP restoration decreased.

Cinderace
The following stats have been decreased:

• Attack

Blaze Kick

• Damage dealt to opposing Pokémon decreased.

Feint

• Move Downgrade

Pyro Ball

• Damage dealt to opposing Pokémon increased.

Gengar
Basic Attack

• Bug Fixes

Shadow Ball

• Damage dealt to opposing Pokémon increased.

Hex

• Move Downgrade

Dream Eater

• Move Upgrade

Zeraora
Spark

• Bug Fixes

Wild Charge

• Damage dealt to opposing Pokémon increased.
• Cooldown reduced.

Unite Move: Plasma Gale

• Damage dealt to opposing Pokémon decreased.

Cramorant
Whirlpool

• Damage dealt to opposing Pokémon decreased.

Dive

• Damage dealt to opposing Pokémon increased.

Machamp
Basic Attack

• Bug Fixes

Cross Chop

• Damage dealt to opposing Pokémon decreased.

Close Combat

• Damage dealt to opposing Pokémon increased.

Lucario
Power-Up Punch

• Bug Fixes

Bone Rush

• Bug Fixes

Greninja
Basic Attack

• Bug Fixes

Alolan Ninetales
Snow Warning

• Bug Fixes