Arcanine has been among the finest Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet VGC up to now, however its newer Hisuian type is the one racking up win after win at latest occasions, together with Lille Regionals this weekend.
Simply final weekend, we noticed Hisuian Arcanine win Sacramento Regionals on a unique team with Kommo-o and Tyranitar piloted by Michael Zhang, however the Hearth/Rock canine didn’t cease there. Hisuian Arcanine additionally occurred to be the star of Simone Sanvito’s winning team in Lille, France this weekend, securing back-to-back regional wins in two very spectacular showings.
So, when you had been questioning which Arcanine type—Hisuian or common—is at present higher in VGC, the latest rise and success of the previous show why it has an edge over its authentic Gen I variant. And it comes down to 2 key elements.
Each Arcanine kinds have the identical base stat complete of 555, however Hisuian Arcanine has the extra optimum distribution. Reasonably than losing stat factors in Particular Assault (that it by no means makes use of), Hisuian Arcanine has a barely greater Assault than the common type. This implies it will likely be hitting even tougher with Flare Blitz or Excessive Pace to assist put on down or knock out opposing Pokémon.
On high of this, Hisuian Arcanine is a twin Hearth/Rock-type Pokémon, in contrast to its normal pure Hearth-type type. With its Rock typing, Hisuian Arcanine positive factors entry to among the finest strikes in VGC—Rock Slide. Rock Pokémon aren’t too widespread within the present meta, so our Hisuian canine is likely one of the few ‘mons that may actually benefit from STAB (same-type assault bonus) Rock Slide. And at 90 base Pace, it has the potential to outspeed foes and flinch them with the highly effective Rock-type assault earlier than they also have a likelihood to maneuver.
And sure, Hearth/Rock is a poor defensive typing with quad-weaknesses in opposition to Water and Floor assaults, however there’s a simple resolution for that. Gen IX’s Terastallization mechanic conveniently permits Hisuian Arcanine to vary its kind to get rid of its largest defensive weaknesses and/or energy up its assaults.
For instance, Zhang’s supportive Hisuian Arcanine used the Water Tera Sort purely for defensive functions. In the meantime, Sanvito’s extra offensive construct ran the Regular Tera Sort to spice up its Selection Banded Excessive Pace to maximise its harm output. Each choices resulted in enormous wins for everybody’s favourite canine Pokémon.
Following Sanvito’s victory with Hisuian Arcanine, fellow VGC gamers have been poking enjoyable on the new Lille Regional champ, who previously stated he was “so unbelievably dogshit at a kids’s videogame,” through the 2023 World Championships again in August.
With yet one more spectacular achievement added to his resume, Sanvito has now secured his invite to the 2024 World Championships in Honolulu, Hawaii.
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