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ohthehypocrisy · 1 year

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Delibird for Pokemon Unite!

Season 1

Prev: Torterra - Scrafty - Starmie - Luvdisc - Boltund - Tinkaton - Rampardos - Bronzong

Happy Belated Christmas everyone! Yes, I know this post is super late for the holiday, but there’s a reason for that. I had this draft sitting well before the Christmas holiday of 2022 and I had wanted to make the post before that, but Pokemon Unite brought back the Festive Shivre City battles featuring our favorite deliveryman here.

While Delibird is technically in Pokemon Unite, it only appears during a special event that takes place once a year, where the entire gimmick is to defeat it and gain presents to gain the advantage in battle. While it’s such a violent way to spread the holiday cheer, it’s an effective way to get everyone to participate.

However, can Delibird be in the game as a playable pokemon when it’s already well rooted as the feature of a seasonal battle mode? Actually, yes, this can happen. When Pokken Tournament was still getting updates, some DLC was leaked, and Croagunk was one of the fighters. This was overlooked because, well, the pokemon itself was already in the game as an Assist, so when people saw that file name, they just assumed it was the Assist itself, for some reason. We weren’t very smart about that, in hindsight.

My point is, it is possible to make a playable Delibird for Pokemon Unite in spite of it being exclusive to a once-a-year game mode. Let’s see how Delibird brings some out-of-season Christmas cheer to Aeos Island!

Now, we’ve seen a lot of stat spreads on this blog, both high and low. And I have to say, this has got to be the lowest stat spreads I’ve ever seen. If you do the math, the BST adds up to 330! That’s the same BST as Luvdisc (which I’ve done a post for, which you’ll find linked near the top of the post)! While Luvdisc had higher Speed and slightly higher defenses, Delibird has... Uhh... Lower Speed and higher offenses... Huh. Why did all the weak pokemon come from Johto...?

However, what Delibird lacks in raw numbers, it makes up for in holiday cheer. It loves making people and pokemon happy when it flies down and shares its food and gifts with the masses. It may not be a fighter, but it’s a powerful spirit of festivity in our hearts. For that reason alone, we grant Delibird the role of a...

Supporter

Basic Attack - Ranged/Attack

Throws snowballs from its pouch at enemies. The snowballs reduce the enemies speed slightly. When not in use, the snowball grows in size, increasing the effectiveness of the speed reduction and exploding on impact.

The attack has a short 0.5 second windup before it is thrown. On hit, it slows the target down by 10% for 1 second.

The snowball increases in size when the basic attack isn’t being used. it takes 5 seconds to reach full size and each second adds 10% to the movement speed reduction effect, capping at 60%.

A snowball icon appears next to your HP bar to show that your next basic attack will be thrown at full power.

The explosion effect also increases in size, capable of hindering multiple enemies with the speed reducing effect.

Hitting an enemy multiple times reapplies the strongest movement speed reduction effect inflicted on them by your basic attack and resets the duration of the debuff.

Now why does Delibird keep snowballs in its pouch? Well, that’s simple, really. It keeps the food in its satchel refrigerated, preserving it for as long as necessary. Also, it’s an Ice type, so it can make as many snowballs as it needs.

Now, as a basic attack, it’s a bit on the slow side, as Delibird has to waste precious microseconds reaching into its bag, pulling out the snowball, reeling its arm (wing?) back, and then actually throwing the blasted thing before starting all over again just to pressure the enemy. In exchange, though, it applies a movement speed reduction to all enemies it hits, limiting their ability to retreat for a little while.

Now, that would be a good thing, if Delibird didn’t have the defensive fortitude of a snowman in traffic. Delibird isn’t strong enough to take on any opposing pokemon by itself, requiring the assistance of a teammate to do the dirty work for it. All Delibird can do is provide backup, which is the MO of a Supporter anyway. Now, I know some Supporters can be capable of great damage like Mr. Mime or Eldegoss, but Delibird just isn’t built for that.

What it is, though, is an expert meddler with its slow inducing snowballs. After a period of not attacking, the snowball slowly grows in size. The next time you throw it, it’ll be much bigger and slow the enemy down much more, drastically reducing their mobility. This makes the victim easy pickings for whoever you’re backing up, especially if they’re a fragile Speedster or Attacker that rely on maintaining the distance to deal effective damage like Dodrio or Decidueye. Also, each time you hit an enemy after throwing that extra large snowball, the enemy maintains that slow speed thanks to its hidden effect. The basic attack speed is faster than the debuff duration, so you can really bog down the target just long enough for your teammate to take care of things.

It’s also useful in covering your retreat. When not using the basic attack, it grows in size, even if you're using your other moves to cover your teammates. If things go south, you can throw that extra large snowball to give you and your teammates just enough coverage to make a getaway.

However, the basic attack can only target one enemy. While the extra large snowball has an explosion effect, it’s on the small side, making it harder than it would seem to catch multiple enemies in one shot. It won’t be all that useful in fending off the entire opposing team, so don’t overextend and you’ll be fine.

Besides, you’ve got an ability that can power you up and save the team when things become dire.

Ability: Hustle

Gain a speed and attack boost relative to the total percentage of HP the team has lost. When the pokemon takes a berry at full HP, it tucks it away in its pouch. Activate the ability to dispense a berry. The berry cache disappears if the pokemon is KO’d.

The ability tallies the total HP of all of your teammates and applies the boost. For example, if all of your teammates have around 50% HP collectively, Hustle boosts your Attack and Movement Speed by 50%.

To be clear, imagine your team as having 400% HP in total in a 5 player team. Hustle responds to the total HP dropping in percentage, boosting accordingly.

Full HP counts as 0%, and respawning teammates aren’t added to the formula. If a teammate is KO’d, the remaining teammates are factored in the boost, excluding the respawning teammate. Your own HP isn’t factored in.

Hustle can store any number of berries collected from the field. Berries are dispensed in the reverse order obtained.

Press in the control stick to dispense a berry. The berry that will be dispensed will be shown next to the Ability Icon. If Delibird’s HP is full, berries can be added back into the satchel.

Smaller berries like Greedent’s Oran Berries are not collected. Only field berries will be taken.

Delibird is known to save travelers on the freezing mountains by sharing its food with them, so for that reason, Delibird has the ability to rush in and save its teammates when things look really bad. When the whole team is weakened, Delibird experiences a massive Attack and Movement Speed buff, allowing it just enough firepower to rush in and save everyone.

However, this still isn’t enough power to start a reverse team wipe. Rather, the point of Hustle is to allow Delibird to win a 1-on-1 with just about any enemy and then rush in to save the team. But due to the wishy-washy nature of Hustle and how math works, the boost can be instantly reduced by a huge degree when a teammate is KO’d and has to respawn. See, Hustle reacts to the collective HP of the team, but only if there are teammates around to contribute to that boost. If a teammate is respawning, they have no HP, so they become a nonfactor until they respawn. It’s confusing, I know.

Think of it this way. Hustle boosts Attack and Speed so that you can rush in and save your teammates, but it won’t boost if there isn’t a teammate to save. This is to allow Delibird’s Hustle ability to function in other game modes such as Quick Battle, as having less than 5 team members means that Hustle is a lot more reactive to the total HP of the team.

But beyond that, Delibird’s helpful nature carries over to its penchant for collecting food. If Delibird picks up a berry while at full health, it’ll stash the berry away. This is extremely useful, but also risky, as being KO’d causes that stash to disappear. Better that way so that the enemy doesn’t take the berries afterwards. But more importantly, this means it’s imperative that Delibird stays true to its role as a Supporter, as having an entire cache of Sitrus Berries for the late game is extremely valuable. Why, you can even make a sizable profit by stealing the berries on your opponent’s side.

Having a large collection of berries is useful, but you have to make sure to know when to spread the joy. It’d be awkward to drop like 5 Sitrus Berries when the enemy intends to Recall to base to rotate to the other side of the map. But at the very least, you can recollect the dropped berries as long as you have full HP. Speaking of dropped berries, though, you’ll lose your entire cache if you get KO’d so it might be tempting to dump your bag before getting KO’d by an enemy Speedster. That’s not a bad idea, to be honest, as long as there are teammates nearby and the enemy has full HP and can’t take the berries for themselves.

You can even throw in some Salac Berries into your bag, which are much more useful than they look when consumed in either lane. I’m pretty sure they ignore the Speed Flux Zone’s movement speed reducing effect on the opposing side, allowing you and your teammates to make a push. Of course, you have to be mindful of which order you collected the berries, as they will be dispensed in the reverse order they were collected.

As a Supporter, Delibird’s got the goods, but also, it can only share its food with teammates that play nice with each other. It feels icky rewarding toxic behavior with a berry, but as long as you get the win... Too bad you can’t throw coal at your teammates for being AFK...

At the start of the game, Delibird can choose between Present or Drill Peck as its starting move. By Level 2, it will have learned both.

Move 1: Present

Tosses a present disguised as a bomb, damaging enemies while also healing allies. 8s cooldown.

Healing teammates scales with the pokemon’s Attack stat.

Present explodes after 0.5 seconds of delay.

For the longest time, Present was the only move Delibird could learn without the assistance of TMs and Egg Moves, so its reputation as being ‘utterly useless’ started out rather early. In the games, Present has a small chance of healing the target rather than dealing a random amount of damage, so it was far from reliable, and it didn’t even get STAB on the attack. So, in Pokemon Unite, it’s a much more reliable form of recovery that can assist a teammate in getting a KO (something Blissey’s Egg Bomb should have been...).

The high cooldown is somewhat of a drawback, but that’s because the ability to heal teammates and damage enemies is a very valuable boon in Pokemon Unite (courtesy of Eldegoss). Granted, there is a brief windup to the attack, as it takes half a second for the present to explode. This half second delay is enough for an enemy to jump out of the way, or for a teammate to accidentally dash away from. It can be frustrating, but as an available move in the early game, it is extremely valuable.

The early game is a precarious time where any advantage gained can snowball out of control, so helping out teammates gain EXP or score to boost their stacking items contributes greatly to that cause. And making snowballs is Delibird’s specialty.

Move 2: Drill Peck

Charge forward with your beak drilling rapidly, shoving enemies as you go and dealing damage very quickly. At the end of the moves, enemies are shoved a great distance. Resets the cooldown of your other move. 10s cooldown.

All enemies caught in the attack are shoved in the same distance and direction as the attack.

As a dash attack, this move allows Delibird to dash through walls.

Starting in Generation 7, Delibird can learn Drill Peck all by itself, granting it some firepower when you first catch one. Which is a good thing too, because having at least two moves in your Level-Up Movepool is sort of a prerequisite for Pokemon Unite...

Anyway, as a Supporter, Delibird fearlessly dives into the fight, drilling violently with its beak and knocking enemies away. It doesn’t travel very far, but if you can hit an enemy with the move, you’ll knock them back a fair distance, stunning them just long enough for you and your teammate to make your getaway.

This move has all sorts of useful applications, such as making enough space to score in order to stack, or knocking an enemy far away enough that you and your teammate can retreat. The high cooldown is a bit of a letdown, but the gist is to master the move in order to be an effective Supporter. It’s also very useful in that hindrance protection is rare in the early game, but it’s also matchup dependent. Opposing Machop, Glaceon, Espeon, and Duraludon can tank the hit and be immune to the shove effect, leaving you in the middle of enemy territory and very likely to be torn apart for EXP. Yowch.

Well hey, if they want their presents that badly, they should wait their turn. In fact, let’s up the ante on the gift exchange.

At Level 4, Present becomes either Seed Bomb or Substitute.

Move 1a: Seed Bomb

Throws a big hearty Watmel Berry at the designated area, damaging enemies and healing teammates. If any berry is in your cache, the attack deals more damage and applies the berry effect to your teammate and applies the opposite effect to the enemies you damaged. 9s cooldown.

At Level 10, Seed Bomb becomes Seed Bomb+.

Increases the area of effect and boosts the effect of the thrown berry.

The amount of HP teammates restore scales with your Attack stat.

Seed Bomb improves the effects of the thrown berry by 50%. Seed Bomb+ boosts the effects to 75%

Sitrus Berries increase the damage of Seed Bomb and Seed Bomb+ and deals piercing damage.

Salac Berries reduces the enemy’s movement speed by 50%, or 75% when thrown with Seed Bomb+. This speed reduction effect does not stack with a second thrown Salac Berry, but it will reset the duration of the debuff.

For those of you that aren’t all that into pokemon horticulture, the Watmel Berry has been around since Gen 3 and is the largest Berry that can be grown. It also doesn’t have any special effects tied to it, making it only useful as an ingredient but also, as a projectile for Delibird’s patented Seed Bomb.

Throwing food to deal damage isn’t really Delibird’s style, but sometimes battles are so hectic that it can’t afford to be slow, forcing it to drop its emergency rations on its team via air mail. The Watmel Berry is a large and round fruit, so when it comes down, it hits hard, like a cannonball, and delivers an explosion of tastiness and pain. Enemies will get hit pretty hard by the impact, but teammates will find that they restore some HP in the aftermath, making it a very good move to use in the middle of an intense scuffle.

Combined with Hustle’s Berry cache, Seed Bomb will throw a stashed berry instead, dealing even more damage and imparting an effect based on the berry. Throwing a Sitrus Berry heals teammates for more HP while also dealing piercing damage to enemies. Throwing a Salac Berry increases the speed your teammates gain while also slowing down any enemy caught in the food fight. While these effects are powerful, they operate on a limited supply of food Delibird has collected. Also, the high cooldown makes it necessary to aim true, as it can’t be spammed like Blissey’s Egg Bomb.

In order to make the most of Seed Bomb, it’s best used to cover your teammates in the middle of a harsh fight, figuratively and literally. If your teammates are reckless, the move might be a waste, as they’ll lose more HP than you can heal. While your job is to support the team, you won’t be all that useful in a fight if you don’t heal the right teammates. See to it that your Defender is topped off so that they can keep defending, and maybe your team will come out on top.

Of course, I would prefer a toy over food as a Christmas gift. But luckily, Delibird has that covered.

Move 1b: Substitute

Throws a pokedoll at the designated area. The pokedoll has HP equal to 25% of your max HP. The pokedoll will intercept basic attacks and moves, receiving damage until it runs out of HP, in which case it will be destroyed. If destroyed by enemies from the opposing team, resets this moves cooldown. A teammate can pick it up and gain the remaining HP of the pokedoll as a shield. The pokedoll and the shield it provides lasts for 5 seconds. 7.5s cooldown.

At Level 10, Substitute becomes Substitute+.

Increases the pokedoll’s HP to 40% of your max HP.

Substitute conjures up a Substitute Doll specifically, just like the one used in Froakie’s Substitute or the targettable dolls in Practice Arena.

The HP of Substitute scales with your own HP stat.

The Substitute intercepts ranged basic attacks that pass by it at the cost of its own HP. It will also block attacks such as Crustle’s Stealth Rock and Gardevoir’s Psychic, which activate when damaging the first enemy they hit or after reaching the maximum distance.

A teammate cannot gain a second shield if they still have one provided by Substitute active.

When you’re young, having a soft plush doll around makes you feel safe. It makes you feel warm and protected, but eventually the doll wears itself out. We get a new one eventually, and start the cycle over again until we’re brave enough to face our fears as we grow up.

Wow, that was more profound than I meant for it to be. Anyway, Substitute. It behaves like an obstruction, intercepting some attacks but also basic attacks. Normally, a basic attack homes in on a target, but if Substitute is planted in the middle of the path, it will eat the attack and lose some HP for it. It can also be targeted just like the other Substitutes in the game, such as Froakie’s version of the move or the ones sitting around the arena in Practice Mode. These aren’t flimsy dolls either, as they have their own HP bar equal to 25% of Delibird’s HP.

Granted, that isn’t a lot of HP to work with, but it does mean that it can be increased with items such as Score Shield and Aeos Cookie. Also, if an ally picks up the Substitute, the remaining HP turns into a shield, which can save someone from a KO.

Now, Substitute won’t be all that useful in a team fight, as opposed to Seed Bomb, because the Substitute can be damaged, reducing the shield it gives to a teammate when they pick it up. While the shield and the Substitute do last for a while, 7.5 seconds of cooldown is a bit of a wait to deploy another Substitute. Sure, the Substitute itself refreshes the cooldown if the toy was destroyed, but not the shield it provides, so if a teammate picks up the Substitute when it has low HP it won’t be of much use to anyone. It’s best used to give an ally that shield before they head into the team fight, allowing them to absorb most of the burst damage they’ll run into.

Substitute+ makes the toy much bulkier, granting more shield and capable of intercepting a large amount of damage. Because of how long Substitute lingers on the field, it can be an annoyance to enemies that rely on smart targeting to pick off your teammates. Also, since it’s an actual target with HP, some Unite Moves won’t get a refund for their Charge Rate if they hit a fat Substitute.

Substitute is best used when your team has the ability to sustain themselves, like Scizor or Trevenant. It can also help out frail Attackers and Speedsters survive an extra hit or two, since having a massive shield protects them from stray hits, greatly increasing their potential to spread lots of damage. Also, don’t forget that you’re also collecting berries with Hustle, allowing you to provide emergency rations to your team in lieu of Seed Bomb.

If the team is on the bulky side, Seed Bomb would be the better option, as they can operate for much longer and more offensively if Seed Bomb is backing them up.

At Level 7, Drill Peck becomes either Brave Bird or Avalanche.

Move 2a: Brave Bird

The pokemon starts flapping its wings and building up energy. Afterwards, it will charge and crash into the designated direction, damaging enemies and shoving them upon contact. Resets the cooldown of your other move when damaging an enemy from the opposing team. 12s cooldown.

At Level 12, Brave Bird becomes Brave Bird+.

Travels further and shoves enemies further away.

Creates a large explosion of energy at the point of impact, shoving all enemies caught in the blast in the same direction.

It takes 1 second for the attack to charge and dash in. While the attack is charging up, you can continue to aim in a designated direction anywhere 90 degrees in front of you. Aiming beyond the marker will cause the attack to shoot left or right.

The attack triggers on the first enemy hit. This move also bypasses walls.

For a Supporter, Delibird really is a brave bird. By charging up power, Delibird crashes the fight selflessly, shoving all enemies you manage to run into. It’s running off of Delibird’s raw Attack stat, so don’t expect to deal a lot of damage.

What it can do, however, is further augment your abilities. Brave Bird resets the cooldown of either Seed Bomb or Substitute, so if you throw out one of those moves before flying in, you can throw out another one as soon as you land, with plenty of space to work with.

Because it’s a Flying type move, Delibird can fly over walls and obstacles while attacking. However, if Delibird runs into any enemy, it’ll cause the attack to explode. Now, that’s normally a good thing, but if you hit a Wild Pokemon or run into an invisible enemy directly in front of you, you won’t cover a lot of distance and your attack will be stuffed. It’s also not without risk, as hindrance protection will keep enemies from being shoved, meaning they can immediately retaliate and react to your intrusion.

But for what it is, though, Delibird puts in the work in supporting its teammates by giving them backup. It shoves enemies away and makes plenty of space between the enemy and your teammate. Backed by Hustle, you can rush in and save just about anyone, and hopefully they’ll appreciate it.

Move 2b: Avalanche

The pokemon starts flying, building up huge chunks of snow as it moves. Using the move again or running out of time causes it to land, sending the snow chunks crashing down and freezing enemies on hit. Afterwards, the snowballs thrown with your basic attack will be at full size for a short while. 9.5s cooldown.

At Level 12, Avalanche becomes Avalanche+.

Increases the area of effect upon landing. Restores HP while flying.

While using the move, Delibird flies, making it immune to some attacks and allows it to fly over walls. Delibird can only be hit by ranged basic attacks and Moves as well as Unite Moves.

Avalanche runs for 4 seconds. Delibird is not immune to hindrances while flying.

Enemies are stunned for 1.5 seconds when Avalanche lands.

After using the move, the basic attack deals damage at full power for 4 seconds.

I’d imagine that crashing to the ground with snow chunks everywhere is a common occurrence if you sleep in a snow covered tree and get rudely awakened. So Delibird turns that experience into an attack!

With instant immunity to some forms of damage, Delibird uses Avalanche to either make a quick escape or take a shortcut. When it comes back down, all that snow falls with it, stunning all enemies that don’t run away in time. This move has offensive and defensive applications, making it a great move for a Supporter.

Not only that, the attack also augments Delibird’s basic attack. Normally, you’d have to wait for 5 seconds for the basic attack to fully charge, and even then, it has to charge again after it’s thrown. Avalanche beefs up the snowballs you throw by making it temporarily boosted to full power for 4 seconds. So, not only do you freeze enemies when you come down, you can keep pelting them with big snowballs afterwards, slowing them down greatly.

Keep in mind, you’re doing this to backup your teammate, as your own Attack stat isn’t all that great. If you’re by yourself, you can expect that the opposing enemy will return your aggression tenfold. It’s best to use Avalanche to retreat, as only ranged basic attacks and basically all other moves can damage you. Flying with Avalanche also doesn’t protect you from hindrances so there’s little you can do about the enemy determined to KO you.

However, Avalanche does allow you to fly over walls and obstacles, including the ones made by the opposing team, so there’s no way for them to corner you with this move. If you have a Full Heal or X Speed, you can pop it while you’re flying to ensure your escape. Also, don’t forget that Hustle is also increasing your speed and attack power, making it viable to fly in and crash the party and save your teammates with Avalanche.

Just make sure you don’t get shot down along the way.

Unite Move: The Everything Pouch

In a wide conical area, the pokemon starts throwing food and garbage relentlessly. Damages enemies and heals teammates within range.

Allies are healed for 3x Delibird’s Attack stat.

Apples and apple cores and all other sorts of food and garbage are thrown during the Unite Move. The effect is entirely visual as all in range are either healed or damaged at the same rate.

Any Berries in your cache are unaffected.

The attack lasts for 3 seconds.

The Unite Move maintains Hustle’s boost when used. The Unite Move will not get weaker as it deals damage and heals allies, which would reduce Hustle’s boost.

I’m a sucker for infinite bags of holding, so of course I think it suits Delibird’s Unite Move the best. Upon activation, Delibird dives into its bag of tricks and throws out literally everything it has. From apples to apple cores, from grub to garbage, everything must go.

It’s only 3 seconds of attacking, but in those 3 seconds, Delibird will heal its teammates with the food it throws and damage enemies with the junk and scraps. Popping this Unite Move in a team fight where literally both teams are duking it out is a dream scenario, as you are contributing the most to the engagement with this Unite Move.

It’s best used when Hustle is at its fever peak, when the team is in great danger. Getting that sweet spot is incredibly risky, because the opposing team will want to KO all weakened enemies first before engaging points of interest such as Regieleki or Rayquaza. Not only that, you’ll deal the most damage when the opposing team is all bunched up together, so it’s extremely risky to pull off. If even one teammate gets KO’d, the Hustle boost drops, so you’ll have wasted all of that time for nothing, and your team will be rightly cross with you.

The safest time to use it is when all teammates are at 50% collectively. This is easier to manage if you have Substitute to give to weakened allies. With Brave Bird, you can reset the move and hand another Substitute to another ally, but Avalanche makes it possible to stun multiple enemies and keep them in range for the Unite Move. If the opposing team is particularly aggressive, Seed Bomb can be a lifesaver for your team as there’s no guarantee you’ll KO multiple enemies in one go. The survivors afterwards will want to finish the job, as they’ll either target you or a teammate that you missed. You can’t really fault them for choosing not to engage in that cluster fight where, even with the full area of healing, a stray hit can still KO them, so they’ll most likely try to retreat and not endanger themselves any further than necessary.

Beyond that, the ability to greatly damage multiple enemies and heal allies is a very rare trait that, to this day, only Eldegoss is capable of so far. Yes, little Eldegoss is still the cornerstone of offensive healing and is to be respected as such. Clefable not so much but it still deserves mention.

Holowear

In addition to its bag of tricks, Delibird has all sorts of employment opportunities at its discretion. Which is a good thing to have in order to earn money out of season.

Firstly, there’s Delivery Style, where Delibird wears a postman’s cap and blue polo shirt along with a little anti-dog spray strapped to its belt. Then there’s Vendor Style that gives Delibird a milkman’s hat and white shirt with a black bowtie that gives you the impression that its selling ice cream. There’s also Forager Style that puts an outdoor hat on Delibird along with a vest full of pockets. Thief Style puts Delibird in one of those green bags with the swirly patterns on it and a black ninja shirt that emphasizes its sneakiness. Lastly, there’s Festive Style that decorates Delibird with ribbons and candy canes and a red puff hat, you know, the most obvious choice.

It’s a good thing Delibird is such a versatile worker. I mean, it isn’t gonna get anything done in serious competitive battles, but in Pokemon Unite, it can look fabulous while throwing food around.

Strategy

The best moves you can pick for a game is dependent on what pokemon your teammates have chosen. If the team has some ability to sustain themselves with HP recovery, Substitute will be the best move to use. Pokemon like Tsareena, Buzzwole, Scyther/Scizor are All-Rounders with the ability to heal themselves with their moves, and they can use them in rapid succession thanks to their ability to lower the cooldown of those moves. But for those without the ability to restore their own HP, they would appreciate Seed Bomb more, as they can get in the enemy’s face with the confidence of your healing attack backing them up. Pokemon like Mamoswine, Crustle, and Snorlax especially will greatly benefit from your thrown berries, as it can prolong their ability to defend.

Attackers and Speedsters are trickier to support, as they are more focused on dealing damage, supporting the team in their own way. Sure, Seed Bomb can keep them in the fight for a little bit longer, and their low HP means that they’ll heal a lot from the move, but it also means they’ll lose it just as quickly. Substitute can give them some insurance against opposing attacks, but the shield might make them bold enough to dive into the opposing team, burning up the shield and getting KO’d in return. The best you can do for them is help them Level Up, as they are much more effective with a level advantage and is the best you can do for them regardless of which move you choose.

When it comes to team fights, Delibird’s role as a Supporter becomes difficult to perform, as its own low HP and defenses make it less than ideal to engage with multiple opponents. What you should do instead is keep an eye on the total HP of your team, as Hustle gets stronger the lower it is. At the same time, you should recognize who on the opposing side is capable of high burst damage, as they are the biggest threat to you and your team. It’s usually a Speedster or an Attacker, which also means they’re vulnerable to a single big hit. When Hustle is boosted enough, hit them with a super powered Brave Bird or Avalanche, and the ensuing chaos gives you and your team just enough of an opening to turn the tables and win out the battle.

But the war isn’t over yet, as Rayquaza is make or break for your team. It’d be easy enough to just pop your Unite Move when you’ve got everyone in range, but it’s not that easy. You aren’t immune to damage or hindrances while the Unite Move is running, even though it’s 3 whole seconds of damage and healing. It’s best to augment yourself or your teammates with either Seed Bomb or Substitute, which gives you all just enough power to withstand the opposing assault while you throw garbage everywhere. But even so, it’s better to wait for the perfect moment, as Hustle also boosts the damage, and healing, of your Unite Move. Halfway into the fight, when everyone has taken some damage, use up both of your moves to protect your teammates and force the enemy into position. This doesn’t guarantee that it’ll funnel the opposing team into range for you, but it’s your best shot at hitting everyone all at once.

If you somehow survive up to this point, you have to keep supporting the team to the very end. Your basic attack slows down enemies and is useful for picking off weakened enemies, giving your teammates enough ground to catch up and finish the job.

Winning the game with Delibird can be attributed to a Christmas miracle. But the best gift of all would be the time spent among friends. You know, except for the salty ones spamming ‘Thanks!’ when something goes slightly wrong, but hey, can’t expect everyone to behave themselves all year.

And that’s Delibird for Pokemon Unite! I was kind of hoping they’d change the Winter Battles mode for Pokemon Unite last year so that I could make Delibird sooner. Well, they added some things, sure, but you’ve still got to beat up Delibirds to get its gift for you. Well, here’s to the New Year and hoping that the little gift giver gets enough recognition for a spot on the roster.

Anyway, next up we’ve got an Attacker. Trying to keep the releases balanced so look forward to who it’ll be. Follow and find out!

#Delibird #Pokemon Unite

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