Pokemon Scarlet & Violet’s Espathra is a Mini Blaziken

One of the reasons why Pokemon Scarlet & Violet‘s open-world setting works so well for the game is that Gen 9 features a decent chunk of completely new pocket monsters, & even though the Pokedex is more on the small side counting returning species, it feels fresh nonetheless. This is likely due to Pokemon Scarlet & Violet‘s Pokedex being filled with interesting concepts & designs, & even though some like Paradox Pokemon or the so-called “regional fakes” may not be for everyone, they still offer a different spin on existing evolution lines. Yet, one of the pleasures of playing a new generation of Pokemon games is catching & training entirely new species that have something unique about them.

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet‘s starter evolutions are a great example of this logic because their types may be similar to those of Pokemon Legends: Arceus, but they also bring something new to the table in many ways. An interesting pocket monster from Gen 9 is called Espathra, & it is an ostrich Pokemon presumably inspired by Cleopatra, & while it’s a pure Psychic-type, its base stats are good & so are the moves it learns throughout the game. Even more interesting is Espathra’s Hidden Ability, Speed Boost, which makes this Pokemon a lot similar to Blaziken during its golden age, all the way back in Gen 6.

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Pokemon Scarlet & Violet’s Espathra Could be Similar to Speed Boost Blaziken

Speed Boost Blaziken was one of the most dreaded pocket monsters in competitive Pokemon battles for a while, & that’s because its Hidden Ability allowed it to efficiently stack Speed every turn while buffing itself further through means like Swords Dance. Then, players could simply sweep through enemy teams in many cases, with Speed Boost Blaziken simply shredding even the OU tier (OverUsed, that is) of critters, sometimes even regardless of Mega Evolutions.

As such, it may seem weird to reinstate Speed Boost in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, especially so on a critter that already has a rather high base Speed & decent Special Attack, making it a force to be reckoned with. On top of that, Espathra also has access to moves like Peaceful Mind, which raises the user’s Special Attack & Special Defense by one stage each, & Baton Pass, which allows the Pokemon to switch to any other allied pocket monster in the trainer’s party & obtain all stat boosts the user had. This was a common strategy for Speed Boost Blaziken as well, with Baton Pass becoming useful when the Fire/Fighting critter was up against its counters.

In the case of Espathra in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, this ostrich pocket monster’s signature move comes when its base form finally evolves, & it’s called Lumina Crash. Lumina Crash is particularly powerful because it scales off of Espathra’s Special Attack stat, it has a base power of 80 & 100 accuracy, it deals Psychic damage & thus benefits from STAB, & also decreases the target’s Special Defense by two stages. What this means is that even Pokemon Scarlet & Violet‘s Paradox Pokemon, which are among Gen 9’s best critters, could easily be defeated by a Speed Boost Espathra with increased Special Attack.

Even if Espathra’s targets survive for a turn, unless they one-shot this pocket monster, hitting them with Lumina Crash will reduce their Special Defense to a point where it’s likely they will be defeated immediately after. Furthermore, Espathra can easily make use of Pokemon Scarlet & Violet‘s Terastallization to change its type & become resistant to damage that would otherwise be supereffective, or even double-dip on Psychic STAB damage with a Psychic Tera type. Overall, Espathra has a good chance of being one of the best critters in Gen 9, & more builds for it could Approach over time.

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet are available now on Nintendo Switch.

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