The 2023 Pokémon World Championships left us with an exciting new trailer for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s upcoming DLC, The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, providing us with more information on the two recently announced Paradox Pokémon along with some cool new moves.
The two Paradox Pokémon additions, Raging Bolt and Iron Crown, were first introduced during the Aug. 8 Pokémon Presents, and we finally have new information on their typings and moves.
Raikou’s Paradox counterpart, Raging Bolt, is an Electric/Dragon type just like Violet’s Legendary mascot, Miraidon, and its new signature move is pretty awesome. Thunderclap is a special Electric-type move that functions like the popular Sucker Punch—it strikes first with increased priority, but only if the target has selected an attacking move.
This means even if Raging Bolt doesn’t have a great Speed stat, it will still be able to strike before fast opponents like Flutter Mane or Iron Bundle.
Iron Crown is the Steel/Psychic-type Paradox variant of Cobalion, and like Raging Bolt, it also has a strong signature move to look forward to. Tachyon Cutter is a special Steel-type move that hits twice and never misses. This is perfect for obliterating common Focus Sash holders like Chien-Pao and ensuring you don’t miss that pesky Bright Powder Articuno in the snow.
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In addition to Thunderclap and Tachyon Cutter, the trailer also revealed two other moves that could change the meta upon release—Upper Hand and Psychic Noise.
Upper Hand will move ahead of any target and flinch them if they tried to use a priority move. With how common and important priority moves are in VGC, this move will really make players rethink whether or not they should click Aqua Jet or Sucker Punch. If this Fighting-type attack falls into the wrong hands—aka Iron Hands—it could be bad for Chien-Pao and Kingambit who both often rely on Sucker Punch.
Psychic Noise is a special attack that deals damage while preventing the target from healing via moves, abilities, and items. In other words, it will be harder for bulky Pokémon like Cresselia, Iron Hands, and Dondozo to stay on the field for long durations since they won’t be able to heal up from Lunar Blessing, Drain Punch, Rest, or even Leftovers.
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Each of these four new moves will definitely spice up the competitive metagame as soon as they’re thrown into the mix. Priority, accuracy, and healing are all vital elements of VGC and all other areas of competitive play, so having ways to work around them with new tactics adds a nice flavor to Gen IX.
