"It’s just ridiculous": Pokemon Legends Z-A players on how new Legendaries disrupt balance in ranked season two

With the onset of ranked season two in Pokemon Legends Z-A, many players are frustrated as the addition of two Legendaries has disrupted the balance. Xerneas and Yveltal, two of the Auro Trio Legends from the Kalos region, have been added to the pool of usable Pokemon in ranked season two. This has immediately seen a shift in the meta, which was previously dominated by Dragon-types primarily.

A recent post in the r/LegendsZA subreddit gained a lot of traction as one user, u/ChargedCoin, mentioned in their post:

"Let’s be real, ranked already kinda sucks in ZA, because it’s kinda just everyone spamming attacks. So, I don’t know who in their right mind decided to allow Yveltal and Xerneas in too… and it’s just ridiculous."

This is just the second ranked season in Pokemon Legends Z-A, and it hasn't even been one full month since the game's release. However, the addition of Xerneas and Yveltal did instantly disrupt the balance, since both of these Legendaries fall under the "Uber" category, rightfully noted by u/ChargedCoin in his post:

"It was already crazy and not that fun, add two overpowered Ubers just makes it so boring."

If you are not familiar with the terminology, Uber is a category of Pokemon that is normally banned from standard competitive modes. This is generally because these Pokemon are too strong, mostly with higher BST (base stats) than normal Pokemon. In turn, their being in a team makes it unbalanced, which is why they are banned altogether.

Both Xerneas and Yveltal have higher base stats, which makes them stronger than normal Pokemon. However, according to one user u/Redigate, Xerneas does not pose that much of a problem, and says they "wouldn't call them overpowered" even with boosted stats. The user compared it with Gardevoir and Mega Gardevoir, saying:

"Xerneas is definitely strong, but I wouldn't call them overpowered. They only have 6 more special attack than base gardevoir and 34 less than mega gardevoir."

u/Redigate went on to explain their point in more details:

"Both forms of Gardevoir have better special bulk and worse physical bulk. Xerneas has legendary BST with 680, but the fact that both there physical and special attack is the same feels like a waste of stats."

While the numbers are indeed true, Xerneas's moveset includes Geomancy, a strong stat-buffing move, which makes it a top-tier threat. This was noted by the OP u/ChargedCoin as well.

Geomancy makes Xerneas a much bigger threat to Pokemon Legends Z-A ranked (Image via Reddit)

Geomancy buffs the Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed of Xerneas, all at the same time. With better default stats and a further buff, Xerneas becomes a force to be reckoned with. The boost to its Special Defense also necessitates using Physical attacks to damage it.

At the same time, another user u/t3r4byt3l0l mentioned how they prefer Calm Mind, a move that also buffs two stats instead of three, while taking less time. Both points prove that Xerneas, with any stat-buffing move, is near-unkillable and overly strong in Pokemon Legends Z-A ranked season two.

Players want to do the bare minimum to get the most important rewards (Image via Reddit)

Owing to these issues, many players like u/simplykoschei and u/KeMust have reiterated that they just want to do the bare minimum number of battles to get the most important rewards, and never open the ranked modes again.

Other than the fact that Xerneas has upset the overall balance, this also shows how ranked season two in Pokemon Legends Z-A does not have any lucrative rewards that will incentivise players to grind for the top ranks.

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What is the current state of the meta in Pokemon Legends Z-A ranked season two?

Owing to the threat that Xerneas presents in Pokemon Legends Z-A ranked season two, "fairy killers" have become an integral part of any team composition. User u/Downtown-Ad-7232 mentioned:

"Having a fairy-killer is a necessity in this meta."

The meta in ranked season one was primarily dominated by Dragon-type Pokemon, and almost every team had either Dragonite or Gyarados. Both of these performed extremely well, which made other players keep Ice-type or Fairy-type critters in their team to counter these. This was also noted by u/FlamerBreaker, who is of the opinion that knowing the meta can help counter it.

The shifting meta from ranked season one to two (Image via Reddit)

Even with the counters, Fairy-types are unusually "busted", according to one user u/HubblePie, who says:

"I always see it as necessary. Fairy's just been busted from the getgo and, unlike Dragon, is everywhere."

With the drastic shift in meta, it is almost necessary to keep something like a Poison- or Steel-type to counter. Users in the subreddit have come up with many great counters, especially with the Steel-type, as u/Tom_TP noted:

"Steel types stonk then. Good thing there’s quite a few good steel types in this game."

Among the stronger Steel-type that can potentially take down Xerneas is Metagross, which many users believe is the best option currently. Other than that, Poison-types like Scolipede and Victreebel are also great options to take down Xerneas and stay atop the ladder in Pokemon Legends Z-A ranked season two.

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Edited by Anindit Sinha