

Fortunately, there are no gacha mechanics tied to these unlocks, so you can spend or save to buy the exact things that you want. There are also plenty of cosmetics for your trainer and individual Pokémon to purchase so you can play matches in style. That said, there is still a collection aspect to the game, as you only start with a few select monsters to play as, and you can expand that pool by grinding out currency to unlock access to them.Īs a free-to-play game, Pokémon UNITE also lets you buy in-game currency to accelerate the rate at which you collect Pokémon. Pokémon UNITE isn't like this at all, since each player chooses one Pokémon to play as for an entire match. Traditional Pokémon games are about collecting and training up your own personal army of monsters to mix-and-match for battles against trainers doing the same. There is still plenty of teamfighting and skirmishing over objectives, but the core focus is on scoring and defending against opposing scores. Players can also defend their own hoops and block scoring attempts from enemies, and the whole thing is timed to see who can score the most points in 5- or 10-minute match modes. There is no focus on elemental strengths and weaknesses in Pokémon UNITE, and instead the strategy and tactics of teambuilding boil down to having a well-rounded team of Pokémon playing specific roles and covering certain areas of the map.įinally, the MOBA rules present in Pokémon UNITE make matches feel more like a sports game than a territory control game, as each team can score points by depositing energy they gather into opposing team hoops.

Since it features Pokémon, this means having real-time Pokémon battles, though these monsters don't behave quite the way they do in their traditional series. It stays true to the roots of the genre through its gameplay focus on teamwork and objective-taking, but it changes its rules and streamlines a lot of the more complicated features of classic MOBAs like League of Legends.

#FIRST IMPRESSION POKEMON FREE#
Read on below, or feel free to just scrub through our comprehensive overview video above.Īs a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena), Pokémon UNITE is a multiplayer-focused game where teams of five players compete to score points across a map. We dove in to check it out, and have some key takeaways you might want to know before deciding to pick it up yourself. If that’s the case, don’t be surprised if Azumarill goes top lane with an attacker in the near future.Earlier this week, Pokémon UNITE released on the App Store, bringing the formerly Switch-exclusive MOBA to mobile devices. However, many players see Azumarill more as a defender-type character.

Where it should be played, it’s currently heavily used in the bottom tier. This means that even with a scope, Azumarill might not get critical hits when it needs them most. Unfortunately for Azumarill, most teamfights involve teams coming together and supporting each other. With this ability, it always crits when it hits a single target, but never crits when it targets multiple enemies. Whirlpool is arguably Azumarill’s best ability (Image via TiMi Studios)Īzumarill’s passive, Vast Power, can be a bit tricky to use. It then charges towards a target, dealing a solid amount of damage. Azumarill squirts three times during this move, giving itself (and its teammates if it has Buddy Barrier equipped) a shield. Perhaps the most positive aspect of Azumarill is its Unite move, Belly Bash. It probably wants to be somewhere on the front lines in teamfights, but other Pokemon like Snorlax and Slowbro will live much longer and offer more crowd control. Its defense only increases to 399 at level 15, which is much lower than Dragonite, which has 415 defense at level 15.Īs a result, Azumarill can be easily submerged. Unfortunately for Azumarill, it doesn’t have as much longevity as one might think. Whirlpool, Play Rough, and even Aqua Tail don’t deal the same damage as Duraludon and Cinderace. Unfortunately, it struggles to do damage. Many of Azumarill’s abilities focus on keeping the Pokémon healthy through team battles.
