Despite the family-friendly nature of its parent franchise, Pokémon Unite is a MOBA that requires players to understand the strengths and weaknesses of its many characters if they want to be on the winning team. Like other games in the genre, Unite’s cast is separated into battlefield roles — in its case, Attacker, Speedster, All-Rounder, Defender and Supporter. While many of the available Pokémon can be difficult to master, the Speedsters are perhaps the most challenging.
Speedsters can often be found at the top of many leaderboards because of their ability to quickly rack up experience and close in on weakened enemy players for the kill. It’s a playstyle that requires a bit of finesse, making it difficult for new players to easily pick up. To start winning with your favorite Speedster, it’s important to understand how to best play the role.
What Are Speedsters?
Speedsters are all about fast hit-and-run tactics, but their fragility makes them poorly suited to holding down lanes or duking it out with opposing players. They make up for this by quickly dishing out loads of damage. Combined with their innate speed, this makes Speedsters excellent ambush attackers that can pick off weakened foes before making their escape.
This style of gameplay requires players to think tactically and know when and where to attack. Map knowledge is key, as finding the optimal routes through the jungle sections of each map allows Speedsters to easily farm NPCs and then aid their allies on the frontlines. Although the implementation is simpler than other MOBAs, Unite also has equipable items. All Speedsters benefit from items that improve their attack and speed, but you can also consider HP-boosting items to shore up their low health stats.
While all Speedsters utilize these basic tactics, each of the four Pokémon in this role has its own unique playstyle. The builds and techniques discussed below are far from your only options, but they’re great starting points for new players.
Absol
Absol’s passive ability, Super Luck, increases its critical hit rate. This gives Absol high burst damage potential at the cost of being relatively weak in the early game due to its reliance on crits. Therefore, it’s important to spend the beginning of every match farming experience from jungle NPCs in order to unlock more of Absol’s kit.
Absol gets a big power boost when it hits level five and has the option to learn Pursuit, a move that perfectly compliments the Speedster playstyle. Pursuit allows you to dash to a location and then charge an opponent with your next basic attack. When landing this hit from behind, the move deals extra damage and gets a reduced cooldown. Ambushing an opponent with this attack will leave them wondering what just happened to their health bar, as the stacked damage from a critical hit and the boost from Pursuit are a potent combination. Pursuit (as well as Absol’s other dash attacks) are also useful for a quick getaway, perfect for such a squishy Pokémon.
Gengar
This iconic ghost Pokémon is a Speedster that can inflict terrifying status conditions on its foes. Even more than Absol, its power is offset by a weak start as a humble Gastly. When it is fully evolved, however, a well-played Gengar will become the other team’s worst nightmare.
The moves to watch out for on Gengar are Sludge Bomb and Hex. Sludge Bomb gives Gengar a physical attack with generous range. When it hits, it also inflicts the poison debuff on opponents, slowly sapping their health over time. This move combos perfectly with Hex, which does more damage if the target is debuffed. Hex also receives a shorter cooldown when hitting a debuffed enemy, allowing Gengar to deal incredible amounts of damage very quickly.
Talonflame
Talonflame exemplifies what it means to be a Speedster. Designed to swoop quickly in and out of combat, Talonflame’s passive ability increases speed while its HP is high. Always keep an eye on the map, as this fiery bird’s greatest strength lies in its ability to intercept vulnerable foes.
Like the other Speedsters, Talonflame’s should spend the early game farming for experience in the jungle and picking off low HP opponents. Flame Charge synergizes well with Talonflame’s speed by allowing it to dash into combat for some early damage. Talonflame can learn Fly at level seven, which allows it to soar into the sky and come crashing down after a few seconds’ delay. You can still control Talonflame’s position while it’s up in the air, making Fly both a powerful offensive move and a useful tool to evade devastating enemy attacks. With this combo, you can open your engagements with a Flame Charge and then use Fly to safely reposition. Alternatively, open with Fly to attack weakened opponents from above and then finish them off with Flame Charge as they attempt to flee.
Zeraora
The last of the Speedsters is Zeraora, who wields devasting electric attacks. This Pokémon has more raw power than the other Speedsters, making it stronger in the early game. It can be tempting to use that power to put pressure on the other team, but Zeraora still benefits greatly from leveling up, so don’t completely ignore NPCs.
One of the best builds for Zeraora utilizes the moves Spark and Discharge. Spark launches Zeraora at an opponent up to three times before going into cooldown, making it an ideal way to quickly rack up damage. When Discharge is unlocked at level eight, Zeraora can unleash an area-of-effect move that will zap any enemies in the vicinity. These moves deal shocking amounts of damage when used together, and the paralysis effect of an upgraded Discharge means that foes will be too slow to retaliate.
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