After six long and arduous weeks, Blastoise has finally arrived in Pokemon Unite. Despite being available to play during the initial beta period, everyone’s favourite cannon tortoise was strangely missing from the game’s roster at launch. Most people took this to mean that its build was likely way too weak to be viable in ranked lobbies - as a defender, it’s easy for Blastoise and similar ‘mons to appear relatively underwhelming next to to DPS monsters like Greninja, Absol, and Zeraora.
After playing a few matches with Blastoise, however, I have come to the conclusion that this is incorrect. On the contrary, Blastoise’s build may have even needed to be tempered before its long-awaited arrival in Pokemon Unite - I’ve only been hard-countered once so far and that was by a different Blastoise player who just happened to be better than me. All of those other ‘mons, though? Fuhgeddaboudit.
I’m not trying to say that Blastoise is necessarily overpowered. Given that I’ve only played a few matches so far, it’s possible I’ve just been lucky - although it’s worth noting that I compete at a decent rank, so the people I’m coming up against are no spring chickens. Still, my point isn’t about whether Blastoise is good or bad. My point is that Blastoise, unlike so many other defenders and support Pokemon in the game, is a joy to play, and that is going to be absolutely crucial to Pokemon Unite retaining the kind of longevity it deserves.
Allow me to ask you this: how many times have you queued for a game and instantly had people on your team pick either Pikachu, Zeraora, Gengar, Absol, Greninja, and Ninetales? I personally have been in several matches where all four of my team members chose one of those six Pokemon because the vast majority of people who play this game only care about kills. I wrote about this exact thing when I argued that Pokemon Unite needs League of Legends’ ban system, although there are also other, potentially more effective solutions available.
Essentially, because Blastoise is enjoyable to play and has massive utility outside of just being a goalkeeper, it entices more and more people to experiment with defenders as opposed to just locking attacker or speedster every single match. If we want a diverse meta where roles and synergy actually matter, making every type of Pokemon in the game an option that is both competitively viable and satisfying to play is key. Timi appears to know this given the game’s most recent patch, which saw Wigglytuff - a support Pokemon - ascend to S-tier. Blastoise is yet another step in the right direction.
The other Pokemon on the horizon are promising signs, too. While the fact Gardevoir, the first Pokemon added to the game post-launch, being designed as yet another attacker was immensely disappointing, the two ‘mons we’ve had since - Blissey and Blastoise - are excellent support and defender Poekmon, respectively. Meanwhile, Sylveon will presumably be yet another support, while big, tanky Mamoswine could easily slot into the roster as either another defender or an all-rounder. While it’s true that the speedster category now technically has the joint-lowest number of Pokemon with everything other than attackers, it’s important to note that all four speedsters are regularly chosen already. The same cannot be said for defender or support, and is also significantly less prominent for all-rounders.
I’m not saying we should never have another attacker or speedster again. I’d love to see Dragapult or Alakazam join the roster at some point, both of whom couldn’t possibly fit in any other category - hell, even someone like Heracross could make for a great attacker. What I mean is that Pokemon Unite needs to be indiscriminate in terms of assigning value to each individual role. After playing as Blastoise this afternoon, I’m confident that the devs finally recognise that, and that Pokemon Unite can only go up from here.