#makes me wish i had ss lyra...

[books-are-my-life-stuff]

Noticing the extreme lack of SC Rosa and SC Sonia at co-op battles, which makes me confused. Especially SC Rosa because I thought she was powerful and her potions would help. People mostly use either Victor, SS Lyra, or Brendan (or sometimes SS Erika, like me). I even saw Maxie and Silver more than SC Rosa or SC Sonia.

This co-op made me feel like I had to EX SS Erika. I used her very often in grass-weak content, mostly as DPS, but sometimes nuke as well. She and Brendan are the reason why I don't feel the necessity to pull for any grass-type strikers anymore (although I do still want Victor). Besides, gotta help out her low stats too somehow.

My daily lodge interaction is mostly spent for N.

[crystalelemental]

Unit Viability Speculation - Eeveelutions

Okay, let me preface what will be said below this.  I hate this.  Why are they limited?  Apparently they did get 1.5% rates after all, but like...these units do not feel anywhere near Pokefair level, so why are they limited?  They’re limited, and not even with a 10% 5* rate, just 7%?  And why are they introduced as a cluster?  What if you only want one?  It just kinda sucks, is all.

Unfortunately they nailed it because Kris is here.  With the worst Eeveelution, but I did want an alternative for Electric-types.

All of them operate similarly.  One-bar spam, status thing, three-bar AoE, trainer move that boosts one stat just for them and another for the team, sets field effect for their type on sync, debuff centric passive that makes the AoE good, Synchro Healing on grid.  I actually like the structure a lot.  I just wish this wasn’t such a mess.

Lucas and Flareon...I said I wasn’t gonna be pissy.  Flareon’s my favorite, I notoriously don’t like the male protags, I’m not happy, but the unit itself is okay.  Raises his own crit, raises team special attack, not bad at all friend.  He also prevents all status conditions under Sun, which...not gonna lie, pretty poggers of you, kid.  SS Morty loves that shit.  He gets Solar Sync 5 and Brainpower (Seriously, if Caitlin doesn’t get this on expansion...), and his debuffs are attack/special defense.  So he is Lucian-esque.  But worse.  Lucian has the benefit of only thriving off sync, which combos beautifully with his Growl spam, which is not just debuffs but growing speed buffs for gauge control, all in a one-bar move.  Lucas, comparatively, needs 3-bars per move, has no speed control, and desperately needs to set up his own offenses given the team support effect in it.  Lucas and Flareon are a worse Lucian if you consider them solely by debuffs, but the wide range of effects, including setting Sun and providing team immunity to status while under Sun, makes him an interesting pick.  Notably, SS Morty goes great with this guy, packing Sun, defense boosts for the team, and best of all, speed control that Lucas otherwise lacks.  This legitimately isn’t too bad.

Lyra gets Fake Tears as her status, and can debuff accuracy with Muddy Water as her AoE.  Trainer move raises her special attack, and team speed, which is very nice.  She prevents crits under Rain, which is incredible I think, and her debuff is to speed, so there’s another savior for F2P Cakewalk users.  What’s odd is that, unless I’m misreading, Lyra focuses on attack and speed debuffs, but her multipliers are based on lowering special defense.  I’m not sure how it connects, I may be missing something, but I’m running out of time.  The overall is I think she’s worse than Lucas.

My girl Kris.  She buffs her own special attack, and team’s crit rate.  Baller.  Kris sets Electric Terrain each sync, eat shit NY!Volkner, and prevents stat drops.  It’s...less useful than the other two.  The debuff is to a foe’s evasiveness, which is...a choice.  It’s the least useful by a mile.  Until you realize the grid debuff is special attack.  We have ourselves another Cresselia counter, lads.  This is Budget SC Rosa.  She’s not strictly bad, but like...look, we just had the most insane powercreep on Electric-types.  If you got Red and Ash, do not bother.  Hell, with N getting 5/5 grid, do not bother.  But I really like Kris, and am decisively underwhelmed by the rest of the month, so I might.  Do not weep for me, friends.  I did this to myself.

Lucas is de-facto the best of the three.  His debuffs are actually useful in every capacity.  Lyra’s super niche and seems to need the most help, while Kris isn’t intrinsically bad, but is niche and locked to Cress counter status and may not even be that good at it.  Given the awful rates, the lack of anything new, and the fact that even their best underperforms compared to a permanently available general pool unit, do not pull on this.  It sucks.

[katestrophic]

FINALLY I managed to get a put together 12 teams to use and farm in Legendary Gauntlet! First gauntlet I could only go up to 3, second gauntlet I managed to go up to 10, but this time I achieved a 12 win streak!

I shoved all my team comps and links to the builds I used under cut, click "read more" if you like to read about my innate rambling

Round 1 - Tornadus

Team Comp: 5/5 EX Sabrina & Alakazam, 5/5 Sophocles & Togedemaru, 5/5 Hau & Raichu

Here's a link to their sync grids

Easy win with Hau and Sabrina hard carrying this round. I literally only gridded Sophocles because I remembered Togedemaru had nuzzle so I threw together a whatever sustainability grid.

Round 2 - Latios

Team Comp: 5/5 Liza & Lunatone, 5/5 Roxanne & Probopass, 5/5 EX Cyrus & Palkia

Here's a link to their sync grids

Budget Cyrus team. I know there are better units to use but I needed to save them to help support other mediocre teams. In exchange, I gridded Cyrus with Healthy Healing so he can get some chip healing in.

Round 3 - Regirock

Team Comp: 3/5 EX Skyla & Swanna, 5/5 Hop & Zamazenta, 2/5 EX Steven & Metagross

Here's a link to their sync grids

Hop helps buff Steven's crit rate and Skyla helps make the stage not move at the speed of molasses

Round 4 - Tornadus

Team Comp: 3/5 Erika & Vileplume, 5/5 Lyra & Meganium, 2/5 EX N & Zekrom

Here's a link to their sync grids

It took me...an embarrassingly bit of time until I remembered that OG Erika can buff her def and sp. def to +6 and therefore would make a better tank and last longer than Lyra, so I swapped their spots and bam! I managed to get N to 2/5 before the gauntlet, and if SS Giovanni comes home, I may try my hand at the trio elemental pull and see if I can get him to 3/5.

Round 5 - Latios

Team Comp: 5/5 EX Falkner & Swellow, 3/5 Lucas & Dialga, 4/5 Lisia & Altaria

Here's a link to their sync grids

I love that Lisia can function as a dual tank and striker, gives her more utility in gauntlet. I rarely use her in Champion Stadium so it's nice that here, she can shine.

Round 6 - Regirock

Team Comp: 3/5 EX Sygna Suit Blue & Blaistoise, 5/5 EX Leaf & Eevee, 3/5 EX Red & Charizard

Here's a link to their sync grids

The RBG team! ...if only Leaf was in her SS outfit. Then it would really be an RBG team, but that's ok! I had to off-type one of the Regirock stages as I don't have that many steel units that I haven't used to gauntlet already outside of *checks notes* a 1/5 OG Jasmine that I pulled from the Johto tickets from the villain arc, and Thorton who I currently only have gridded as a tank and don't have the time and don't want to put in the effort for to figure out an offensive sync grid. So I put together the kantrio and called it a day.

Round 7 - Tornadus

Team Comp: 5/5 BP LT. Surge & Raichu, 5/5 Player & Support Eggmon Chansey, 5/5 Elesa & Zebstrika

Here's a link to their sync grids

First time 5-starring an Eggmon. The things I do for gauntlet. I honestly thought about swapping Chansey out with Sonia as although she only 1/5, she does buff speed whenever she gets hit and can lower the defense of Tornadus, but I already invested too much into this darn Chansey and my stubborn pride says I need to make the most of it.

I ended up using a backup team of Misty & Starmie, Player & Tech Eggmon Parasect, SS Elesa & Rotom for cleanup as that team left Tornadus with just a little bit over half HP before they all died. I gridded SS Elesa on a Thunder damage build but it was smooth sailing from there. I didn't need a backup team for the rest or my runs.

Round 8 - Latios

Team Comp: 2/5 Evelyn & Entei, 3/5 Raihan (Anniversary 2022) & Flygon, 5/5 Zinnia & Rayquaza

Here's a link to their sync grids

Decided on a whim to grab Evelyn with the two master pair sync pair tickets I got and honestly? No regrets. I have her gridded as a sun support while using Raihan to continuously spam Sandstorm until the end of time, but it does come in handy when Sandstorm inevitably stops MPR. Wish I could grid Zinnia with Clearheaded on top of being a sync nuke but oh well.

Round 9 - Regirock

Team Comp: 5/5 Misty (Swimsuit) & Psyduck, 5/5 Bugsy & Scyther, 5/5 Player & Solgaleo

Here's a link to their sync grids

I didn't grid Solgaleo to be a sync nuke so this allowed me to alternate between syncing with Solgaleo and Psyduck as needed. Just pray for no Earthquake crit or else I will cry.

Round 10 - Tornadus

Team Comp: 4/5 Kiwae & Marowak, 5/5 Volkner & Luxray, 2/5 Gladion & Silvally

Here's a link to their sync grids

Random BS go. I really need to EX either Kiwae or Gladion, but even without that they're both fine.

Round 11 - Latios

Team Comp: 5/5 Professor Sycamore & Xerneas, 5/5 Meylene & Medicham, 5/5 Ghetsis & Kyurem

Here's a link to their sync grids

Xerneas buffs all stats needed for Kyurem, Medicham provides crit, and Kyurem gently applies Noble Roar on everyone before nuking and killing everything. I may try a fulll sync nuke build but last time I did he had no sustainability and died, but with a bit of playing around I may figure something out.

Round 12 - Regirock

Team Comp: 3/5 Morty & Mismagius, 5/5 EX Silver & Ho-Oh, 5/5 Wikstrom & Aegislash

Here's a link to their sync grids

Again, like Sophocles, only gridded and 5-starred Wikstrom because I remembered that he is a steel tech unit that got a sync grid. I was originally going to use Sawyer but decided to be bold and run a double DPS team with Morty as a support. Just be sure to activate King's Shield whenever you clear each bar so Wikstrom won't crumble to a rock slide immediately.

[ianmrid]

Pokémon!

As with my write-ups for the Kanto remakes - Pokémon Fire Red and Pokémon Leaf Green - I’m only going to focus in on the more significant new features added into the games. However, I wasn’t kidding when I said these games are often considered the best Pokémon games ever made - they packed in so much extra stuff and bits to explore, including adding in some features that fans have clamoured for the return of in every subsequent generation!

The original enhanced third game of Gen2 - Pokémon Crystal - was the first that allowed you to pick between a male and a female protagonist, with the character not chosen fulfilling a supporting role in the game instead (see Brendan/May or Dawn/Lucas). The HG/SS remakes continue that although rather perplexingly, although Ethan - the male protagonist from the original Gen2 games - is retained, the female protagonist - Kris - has been replaced with a new character; Lyra.

I feel a little bad for Kris, since she was the original female protagonist character in the Pokémon franchise, only to get cast aside in her own remakes, especially since it meant she pretty much vanished from the series completely afterwards. She had a great design with her distinctive teal hair but despite this, Pokémon Crystal remains her only main series appearance to date. It was a very pleasant surprise to see her finally reappear in 2019 in the mobile spin-off gacha-style game, Pokémon Masters (EX!) and I’d like to see her make a return to main series sometime. Sadly this might be wishful thinking as Game Freak don’t seem to be as concerned with connections between their games these days.

Since I tend to play as the male characters, the new girl, Lyra, was occupying the usual guiding/supportive role, accompanied by her Marill. Marill is very much one of the early Gen2 fan-favourite pokémon, due in no small part to the pre-Gen2 appearances of Tracey’s Marill in the anime, as well as the playground rumours that it was somehow connected to Pikachu and actually called Pika-blu. Kids are dumb.

Her backstory gets a bit more fleshed out as she pops up at key points in the games to give you important or useful items, or to help you progress into a new area. She is also revealed to be the granddaughter of the elderly couple who run the pokémon day-care who take it upon themselves to tease her about being your girlfriend. Stupid heteronormative grandparents. It’s a shame that, much like with Lucas/Dawn, you don’t get to battle Lyra as she isn’t really filling the rival role. I do think it would have been cool to be able to do this in the post-game somehow - especially since she tells you how her Marill evolved into Azumarill, implying she is also growing stronger as a trainer. 

Still, you can’t have everything and with Lyra to point me in the right direction, let’s dive into Pokémon HeartGold!

[cashcounts]

Modefined Draco Review | Test Results Are In

Modefined Draco review

The Modefined Draco is the latest mod from longtime manufacturer Lost Vape. Mostly known for their high-end DNA devices like the Paranormal, Lost Vape created Modefined to offer more affordable mods by utilizing their own chipsets.

Both their first two mods released under the brand, the Sirius and Lyra, were excellent. The Draco is a dual-18650 battery mod rated at 200 watts, with a large 2-inch color screen. Can it live up to their previous offerings? Keep reading to find out.

Colors: red, black, blue, and grey

Price: $54.95 (at Element Vape)

Specifications

Manufactured by Lost Vape

Dimensions – 92.8 x 50 x 29.4 mm

Dual 18650 high-amp battery – not included

Wattage output range: 5-200 W

Voltage output range: 1-8.4 W

Maximum output: 39 A

Minimum atomizer resistance: 0.05 ohm

Temperature range: 212-600F

Versatile temperature control module

Supports Ni200 nickel

titanium

and stainless steel heating elements

TCR adjustments

Bypass mode

Superior die-cast zinc alloy construction

G10 accent side panels

Anodized aluminum control face

Full-color 2-inch OLED display

Bottom-loaded battery latch door

Oversized firing mechanism

Three button operations

Micro USB port – firmware upgradeable

Overtime protection

Short circuit protection

Low battery warning

Spring-loaded stainless steel 510 connection

Kit Content

Modefined Draco 200W

Micro USB cable

Instructional manual

First impressions

When I first got this mod, I was impressed with the design. It features a large color screen on an average sized body for a dual-battery device, similar to the Vaporesso Polar. I got the blue Draco, which has a nice color scheme with matching up and down buttons.

The menu system isn’t well laid out and can be confusing, but makes enough sense that you can still figure out how to use it. Having individual battery monitoring on the large color screen is a plus, and all the info you need to know is clearly laid out, especially when using the second available theme (Theme B.) Overall, I was pretty impressed with this mod.

Build quality and design

The Modefined Draco features a die-cast zinc alloy body and two side-panels made of G10, a very strong composite material. It adds some flair to it while providing extra grip. Modefined went with a bottom-loading battery latch door as they did with the Lyra, and it works well with no issues.

The Draco also has battery venting holes on the sides and the back of the mod. It features a very sturdy uncentered spring-loaded 510 pin that works well with all the atomizers I used on it. It feels solid in the hand and there is no button rattle. Overall, I found it to be a very well-built and nice-looking mod.

Features and functions

The Modefined Draco is a step up from their previous mods when it comes to features. While their past mods were pretty basic and lacked things like a power preheat, the Draco has most of the popular modes on the market today. As expected, you have your basic power mode and temp control for Ni200, Ti, SS, and TCR modes. But for the Draco, they added three pre-heat settings: standard, power, and power plus.

They also added in wattage curve mode, which is great with four memory slots to program different watt curves in and easily switch between them. It also includes a bypass mode which I personally find to be useless on regulated mods, but it’s there. Using the mod can get a bit complicated for advanced stuff, but pretty simple to just vape. The menu works like the other Modefined mods or the new DNA C chips.

In the settings menu you can:

Reset your puff counter

Change the puff cut-off limit (10 seconds by default)

Re-read resistance

Change the TCR for TCR mode (minimum 100 for some reason)

Program your four watt-curve mode memories

Change the compensate temp

Change the temp display type (F or C)

Change the power preheat

Change the auto lock time

Change the sleep time

Switch between the two themes

Switch the clock type

Change the font

Change the wallpaper

Adjust the brightness

Set your time and date

Factory reset

Check your hardware and software versions

Yeah, there are a lot of options on this mod.

I felt it wasn’t executed that well and can be a little overwhelming for some people. Having to go into settings to adjust your pre-heat or TCR and the TCR minimum of 100 are bad ideas. It gets easier once you get used to it, but there’s a steep learning curve, similar to the YiHi and DNA chips.

Using the Modefined Draco

You use up and down to highlight what you want to change and press the menu button to select it. Doing this allows you to change your power or temp easily. Selecting your mode brings you to a sub-menu where you can scroll through all the modes and press menu to select. Pressing fire acts as a back button in any menu. To change additional settings, highlight the little settings icon (a gear underneath the power) and press menu to enter the settings menu.

Power mode performance

Testing on this mod was done with Sony VTC5A Batteries. They list the specs at 200 watts, 8.4 volts, and 39 amps so kudos on them for listing all three. During my testing, the max achieved wattage was 206, so it is accurately rated and capable of doing a little more than the 200 listed. The amp limit I got was 39, which is right on point with their listed specs, and about average for dual-8650 mods these days.

The volt limit I got with a 0.63-ohm coil was 7.784, which is pretty high for a dual battery mod without a boost circuit. I don’t like the listing of 8.4 volts as the spec however. That’s the maximum voltage of fully charged batteries and, due to sag and efficiency, impossible to reach realistically. Dual-battery mods without a boost circuit like this one should be listed at 8 volts or so, but not higher. Still, it performs really well in that regard, so no complaints on the performance aside from the rating they listed.

The mod adjusts in 1-watt increments at 10 watts or higher, which is great and makes adjusting the power faster (I wish all mods did that.) During my testing, it proved to be very accurate without getting at all hot.

It struggled a bit with the 0.12-ohm load like most dual battery mods, hitting a little weak but not by much. At the 0.15-ohm or higher mark, it was mostly within 1 watt of the settings. Overall, a great performer in power mode. Full test results above.

Temperature control mode performance

Using SS316L wire in TCR Mode with a TCR of 100 (due to the device’s limitations) and in SS mode, I tested six builds:

One simple round spaced single coil

One simple round spaced dual coil

Two fancy single-coil builds

Two fancy dual-coil builds

Overall, the mod was very disappointing in temp control mode. The Modefined Lyra and Sirius were both great at it, so I was expecting that from this mod as well. Sadly, the Draco didn’t live up to the expectations. Granted, they removed the 100-watt limit, but there is practically no dry-hit protection at all. Even dropping the temp down to 330F in SS mode resulted in a very warm, almost hot vape and dry hits.

Trying TCR mode only made things worse. The lowest TCR setting you can use is 100 instead of the normal 88-92 that you should use for SS316 wire. Setting the TCR at 100 gave me an even hotter vape than the pre-set SS mode, even at low settings like 330F.

To sum it up, the SS mode is way off with no throttle or protection, and the mod lacks the option to manually set the TCR mode low enough for SS316 wire. Sadly, this will be a fail from me, and a huge step back for Modefined in this area.

Likes

Accurately rated for watts and amps

Comfortable and nice size

Die-cast zinc alloy body

Panels made of durable G10 material

Large bright 2-inch color screen

No button rattle

Great build quality

Good power mode performance

Wattage curves and preheat options

Affordable price point

Dislikes

Temp control performance

Overstated volt limit

GUI is a bit too busy and hard to navigate

Verdict

Overall, Modefined might have taken a step back in temp control mode, but they added a ton of features missing from their previous mods. The Draco is a very accurate power mode mod with a large 2-inch color screen and great build quality. If you don’t care about temp control and only use wattage mode, this is certainly a mod that’s worth taking a look at.

Have you had a chance to try the Modefined Draco? Let me know what you think about it in the comments below.

Buy Now

Check Out Our List of Best Box Mods

[crystalelemental]

With the year coming to a close, and Masters putting the next mission of 200 days played in my face for those sweet, sweet 10 gems, I realize that I’ve spent more than half a year with this game and I’d like to do a thing.  Talk about my favorite units in the game.

I started around the time Maxie and Archie’s focus was ending.  And so, I don’t have a good conceptualization of “this started this year.”  It’s all just a blur of things that exist.  But I have definitely chosen some favorites in my time playing, and so here’s the top 25.

25) Cyrus.  A fairly boring straight-forward one, but Cyrus is my favorite villain and makes it almost exclusively by virtue of that status.  He isn’t anything all that flashy, and his only sense of fun is big number.  He’s not even that strong on Dragon damage, and is likely worse off than many others even with Dragon Zone.  It’s really the Hydro Pump set that does numbers, but...man, even that’s great.  There’s something hilarious about Cyrus of all people doing best in rain.  Just imagine this loser standing out in the rain with Linkin Park blasting.  It fits, you can’t tell me it doesn’t.

24) Palentine’s Dawn.  The design is goofy to me, but I love Alcremie, and her debuff game is strong.  That said, she...offers very little else.  She’s not exactly a fun unit, she’s just a reliable and effective one.  But I can’t not put her on here, because Dawn alt, really like Alcremie, and that ruthless efficiency as a debuffer is at least something to be admired.

23) Summer Lyra.  Okay this design was so cute that I immediately resolved to get her, despite having been playing for only like...a month or two.  And you know what?  No regrets.  Sure, she sucks.  Her damage isn’t great, her sleep multipliers only work with Serena’s help, but I love getting to use her in the few Fairy-type stages where she gets to shine.  Plus, sleep on sync.  That’s honestly not a bad angle with Legendary Gauntlet coming up.  It’s not great either, but it’s not bad.

22) Dawn.  Look, I know she’s not the most exceptional unit, but I have to promote base Dawn.  She was my first 5/5.  My first EX (outside Rosa).  My first unit that I seriously built and figured out how to run.  And she’s still good!  I will absolutely maintain that base Dawn is fantastic, even if she is a more defensive support.  I don’t think she’s exceptional, and I don’t use her as often as I wish I could, but she’s definitely still one of my favorites to break out, especially with the Grass Gals combo (her, Lyra, SS Erika).

21) Cheryl.  Yes I’m serious.  Like, okay, look, Cheryl is a common, and not all that great at present, and etc etc.  But look.  I actually like Cheryl a lot, she was a standout to me in the Platinum partners department.  But I never felt like she had much of a presence, or a fan reception.  And yet, she’s in the game, granted as a common, and is...actually getting a fantastic grid that gives her a ton of utility.  In fact, with her upcoming grid, she’s going to be a tremendous partner with Renegade Cynthia/Fantina cores.  I’ve already used it to take down legendary arena, and she doesn’t even have her grid.  I just love that this game not only respects its common units, but also...made Cheryl like...legitimately good?  This character I always liked but never felt had much presence still got this much.  It’s nice, and I really appreciate that.

20) BP Erika.  While maybe a boring pick, I love BP Erika.  A free unit, who has both Toxic and Trap in one unit, and is the god-queen of stall.  I enjoy a good stall team, and I love that they handed us a free unit option that can stall to high hell.  She’s just a lot of fun, and is my go-to for the role.  I use her more often than I use SS Leaf/Wallace as a combo.  Which is...sad for SS Leaf, who I do like, but am starting to feel like falls off a bit without specific support.   Which is also a consideration; BP Erika needs someone keeping her alive, but it’s not especially hard to do so.

19) Lusamine.  Basically the same thing as Cyrus, but a little more engaging based on...frankly just being worse.  She’s huge offensive stats and like 0 bulk, which makes her incredibly high-risk high-reward, but there’s just something about using Lusamine in almost any regard that’s fun.  She’s my favorite Ice-type damage dealer with Blizzard spam, and my favorite Bug-type damage dealer broadly (not that there’s much competition).  I just really, really enjoy using base Lusamine.   Even if she’s inconsistent.

18) Serena.  I love Delphox.  I think Delphox is the best started ever designed.  I love that they paired it with Serena, also the best general design for a protagonist.  And when I heard Delphox was secretly one of the best units in the game, I about lost my mind at the prospect.  Sadly, Delphox is not that good.  I know everyone gets excited about Sleep Chaining, but that is inconsistent and bad.  I prefer using her as a support for Summer Lyra if you’re gonna fixate on sleep.  No, the real money is in her Overheat spam build.  Like you’d think that’s a terrible idea, but she has Impervious, on top of a lot of multipliers for move damage specifically.  Overheat is tremendous as a result, and with no drawback, you’re just...doing whatever you want.  She’s also helping keep Blaine employed as a sun setter, since some of those multipliers are based on the foe being trapped, and Blaine is the only option for both trap and sun support.  I dunno, I just really enjoy running Serena.  She’s fun, and I’m glad that Delphox gets to be as good as it should be.  Now, please bring us Chesnaught, and continue to never give Greninja any attention.

17) Sabrina.  As a generally favorite gym leader, naturally I am thrilled to know that Sabrina is actually good.  You know, overall.  Reflect is great support, buffing special attack, speed, and crit is tremendous, and having a healing skill is really good too.  She’s a general, all-purpose helper, and I love her.  Plus she’s not bad at damage for a supporter either.  Mega Alakazam with double sync buff from EX can deal really good damage off Psychic.

16) Winter Rosa.  Okay look.  Is Winter Rosa good?  Kinda.  Only kinda.  She sets hail on entry and have a buff move that can buff speed 1, applies accelerated move gauge, and raises a random stat by 2.  It raises another stat randomly by 2 if you got that node on the grid.  As a result, Winter Rosa is the most bizarre approach to a spectrum buffer in the game, holding the title of potentially fastest buffer of a single stat, but also the slowest and least consistent buffer of a specific stat.  If you need something specific buffed, and it’s not attack, why are you using Rosa?  But if you can take whatever, Winter Rosa’s hilarious.  She’s absolutely ridiculous, and the best part is there are legitimate uses for her.  No one buffs Anni Steven quite like a fellow Flying support that can literally buff everything.  Rising Tide on Lear or Winter Skyla benefits from the everything.  Her hail setting benefits Summer Steven, who only needs attack, and everything else she grants is just hilarious bonus.  This is the most clownshoes unit I’ve seen, and yet she can work, and by god I love that.  And I love that the combo is Rosa and Delibird.  Like...what?  That’s such an odd combination.  And yet here we are, with this goon of a protagonist offering the most outrageous attempt at buffs imaginable, with Delibrd, the Pokemon known for randomized effects.  It’s perfect, 10/10.  And I know Santa outfits are kinda boring but she’s cute.

15) Classic Elesa.  I cannot believe I almost skipped her.  Her debuff game is so much fun, and sets up for so many threats.  Every unit that needs specific and rare debuffs can actually get them here.   Giovanni with Smarty Pants?  She sets it up.  Diantha’s Devastation?   Consider it done.  Even Sophocles’ Cakewalk is perfectly set up by her. Not to mention what she does for units who thrive off multiple debuffs.  Ghetsis, Anni N, Champion Iris.  All of them live for that spectrum -1; five stacks of debuff are huge, and they will kill with it.  Classic Elesa is just such an effective unit, even at 1/5.  It’s just that, outside of anyone needing debuffs, she’s not really doing a ton.  And her Electric Terrain setting is bad.  And her damage is bad outside of sync and Max move.  And my wife asked me if the front pattern is all cloth of if the black is cloth and the lighter part is her skin, and I was convinced it was cloth but that is like the same color as her skin, and that’s so fucking stupid and would be exactly the kind of dipshit fashion thing they have Elesa wear and now I’m having an existential crisis about it.

14) Leaf.  Okay, yes, maybe she’s not that great.  Maybe having to use her sync move three times to max out everyone’s stats is a lot.   But you know what?  I still love her.  Because at the end of the day, she’s the stall queen alongside BP Erika that dunks on every match.   Because Staggering Tackle is hilarious. Because double MPR Potion is fantastic.  And because EX buff with double stat buffs in general is still really, really good for just about every kind of team.  I know Sycamore is considered better, and with good reason since he can be strategically used for specially offensive stages to just brush them off, and Horn Leech can heal him forever.  But Leaf is more consistent to me, able to be applied to different stages and still come out swinging.  I just really like Leaf a lot.

13) Lysandre.  I really, really like using Lysandre.  I actually like Lysandre as a character now too?  I didn’t think Masters could do it.  Like if you told me when I started that I’d rank Lysandre as a more engaging unit than Cyrus, I would’ve called you a liar, but by god here we are.  Anyway, the big thing that really sets him apart for me is Oblivion Wing/Healthy Benefits 5 being hella goofy.  I actually adore this combo, and really hope we get Flying Zone soon to make him less garbage at actual damage.  Seriously, every time I use him and Sycamore as a combo, it has to be with HP parameters, because they just can’t deal sufficient damage to clear heavy offense.  Dude, you’re EX.  Do better.

12) Masked Royal/Sidney.  It’s technically two but I can’t pick just one of them, given how remarkably similar they are for being so different. These two are here based on sheer fun factor.  Two Dark-type tech units that can sync nuke like crazy, each with unique factors that make them play very differently.  I love it.  I love them both so much, they’re an absolute ton of fun.  I need to EX one of them, but I just can’t decide which.

11) Lisia.  She sucks so much, but I love her.  I think it’s only thanks to Kimono Jasmine she works at all.  But the fact that she can work is just hilarious.  This was not a unit designed for success.  I love that Defog is this automatic clearing of 250 points worth of Master Mode.  I love that her Dragon and Fairy damage can actually be respectable, thanks to her mega’s absurd 500+ special attack.  I love that her own sync nuke actively works against Dragon Zo-wait no that sucks.  Dammit, Lisia is so awkward, but I dunno, I have really come to love running her.  She’s just a complete goon of a unit, but there’s something so fun about trying to make something this weird function.  Nothing gets the blood pumping like clearing a stage with Lisia.

10) Sygna Suit Erika.  Two Erikas, what are the odds?  But yeah I love this one. I think they absolutely nailed the idea of a Grass-type damage dealer in sun.  Just stack those multipliers and give her bonkers base damage, she’ll work.  I think SS Erika is just a really enjoyable unit to run, especially in combination with Dawn and Lyra.   My Grass Gals team is one of my favorites to break out, and SS Erika is absolutely the centerpiece of that.

9) Jasmine.  The base one, yeah.  I know she’s not considered that good, but I’ve really taken to base Jasmine ever since I EXed her.  I think it’s the combination of double buff, Endurance/Last Word, and Recuperation giving her some nice HP back per sync.  It’s a weird combo that can allow her to play nice with a wide variety of teams.  Crit Shield for the allied field of play is also ridiculously good, practically ensuring the sides cannot go down if the foe gets a sync.  She just has so much going for her, and is one of my favorite supporters to run.

8) Knight Diantha.  She’s fairly direct in her approach.  One trainer move to buff, then start slapping for massive damage.  Knight Diantha is a favorite largely based on design and sheer combat proficiency, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find her sometimes a little...boring to use?  Like she’s almost a win-button, even off-type in 2k Master Mode.   While fun, and a favorite to break out for off-type matches, I can’t really say I...enjoy using her the same way as some of the others.  But damn if Masters didn’t take a champion that I found largely forgettable, and make her interesting to me.  I love this alt.  The portrayal of Diantha as an actress doing her job, and really getting heavily into the role of a knight, is just...spectacular.  Like she’s so cute and engaging and fun and everything about this alt is top tier from a design perspective.  Sure she’s straight-forward and really simple and basic to use, but goddamn if this wasn’t a massive turnaround on a character I was lukewarm on at best.

7) Princess Hilda.  I really like Diancie.  I really like her dress. I really like how this unit plays in a way where it’s obviously good but still has some requirements for support that don’t involve needing crit bonus like so many others.  I think it’s also just a fun presentation.  I know people disagree with the design for Hilda, but I think it works out when you get into her backstory for Masters, where she has an interest in acting and presentation during battle.  She has entire scenes devoted to talking to Lisia about how to present, and when it’s revealed that this princess attire is her putting on an act and that she’s Battle Princess Hilda...I dunno, it all comes together in a way that I think really sells the alt.

6) Renegade Cynthia.  I love this alt so much.  It’s such a cool design, and I really enjoy her playstyle as a whole.  I think Ghost Zone was tremendous, and she’s just the perfect blend of power and utility.  That said, I think what holds Cynthia back is that I do see her as more support than pure offense, despite her abilities.  She’s there dealing damage, but mostly she’s Ghost Zone to power up...other threats.  Maybe a specific other threat, we’ll get to that, you know.  But still, as a damage dealer she’s engaging, but I like using her more to see Fantina deal 10k on Shadow Ball than I do for Cynthia herself, which is the only reason she’s not top 5.

5) Sygna Suit Lusamine.  Speaking of loving this alt for design purposes, Lusamine’s is also so, so good.  I adore SS Lusamine, I think they absolutely nailed the design here.  I think they picked the better fused Necrozma form (it looks cooler as lion armor than the bat hands), and I do enjoy the way Ultra Necrozma plays.  I love that she just showed up out of literal nowhere and became the top damage dealer in the entire game.  I love that she facilitates some outrageous team comps, and can blast through off-type matches, and do all of these things.  I just wish her story was a bit more interesting.

4) Kimono Jasmine.  Yeah, of course both Jasmine forms made it.  Kimono Jasmine is higher up, however, entirely because of utility and design.  This?  This is peak design.  I love this attire for Jasmine, it is perfect.  I love that they paired one of my favorite gym leaders with my second favorite ultra beast.  I love that they made her the special offense supporter.  I love that they gave her one-turn spam with MGR9 and Mind Games 4 and basically produced the ultimate in utility.  I love that she’s so specially bulky that she can do stall with nothing but X Regen All and Absorb. That shouldn’t be possible but she does it.  Kimono Jasmine is fantastic, I absolutely love her, and while yes she’s just a bit of a plug and play supporter, I am always excited when I get to apply her to a team.  She’s a staple of May/Cyrus rain, a staple of me trying to get Fantina and Lisia to work, and just...so much fun every time.

3) Champion Iris.  Of course she’s top 3.  You know she’s top 3, there’s no way a unit this good and unique isn’t.  Champion Iris is, by practical application, the most useful unit in the game.  I will fist-fight people over this.  1/5, she still packs double down, with attack and special attack debuffs that can rapidly shear the entire opposing team down to minimal attack.  Fantastic for stall, and for slower offensive teams.  You can even Lucky Skill into Defense Crush, and get her full debuff set rolling.  You get Dragon Rush with Piercing Gaze, allowing her to always hit for decent damage, and potentially get a huge flinch.  But it’s 3/5 where Iris blossoms from a really unique debuffer, to an absolute monster of a sync nuker.  She invented Devastation/Pecking Order nuking, and she still runs it perfectly.  Easily set up 200% bonus, on top of her EX tech nuke, on top of anything else she may need.  Her trainer move even offers -1 cooldown, which means she can set up a second sync before the foe’s first.  Her only detriment is needing a lot of ally support.  While her debuffs for defensive use are fast, her debuffs for this combo is slow.  So a debuff ally is nice.  But she also needs attack and crit bonuses, so her supporter needs to be on their game too.  This does mean she’s one of two who actively cannot benefit from Dragon Zone that much, but we’ll see, maybe it’s still better than additional debuffs.  Ether way, Champion Iris has been one of the most fun and consistent units to use in the entire game.

2) Halloween Caitlin.  Oh come on, you knew she’d be here.  My absolute favorite alt design in the game, on one of my favorite characters in the series, and one of my favorite supporters to use.  Caps four different stats with no issues, provides four different field effects that just auto-win Champion Stadium if permanent field effects are up, First Aid 4 and that sync healing for a strong performer in Battle Villa, etc.  Halloween Caitlin can do just about anything, except buff special attack and crit.  But oh man, do I use her in just about every mode every time something’s up.  She’s just so, so good, and her defensive support means you’re just not dying.  This alt was perfect.

1) Anniversary Lillie.  Sometimes it’s about the character arc.  See, when Anni Lillie first came out in the Great Disappointening, Anni Steven was the one everyone shit on, saying how bad he’d be.  And they were right.  But there was a small but not insignificant faction saying the same about Lillie.  Her sync nuke wasn’t great, her base damage wasn’t that high for a 4-gauge move, Potion was useless, etc.  But I really like Lillie, Lunala’s a top 3 favorite box legend, the two of them together is fantastic in design and lore, and the concept of that trainer move was enticing.  Sure it’s very basic, one click and blast like many others are, but I loved absolutely everything about this concept.  Ask my wife, and she’ll confirm, I have never made sounds of excitement quite like seeing this Lillie alt in their reveal trailer.  It was the single most excited I had been while playing this game.  And she was supposed to be bad.  And in testing, she...kinda was.  Not bad, necessarily, but not great.  On-type was a breeze, but off-type was a disaster.  Hell, even with on-type her damage was good but nothing other sync pairs couldn’t replicate in their own types.  Even her Fairy-type damage was a struggle to use; she just didn’t have the supportive tools necessary to make it happen.  You pretty much just used her for Ghost-type clears, since no other Ghost-type could deal damage.

And then Halloween Caitlin dropped, and could massively support Lillie’s defenses and gauge control.  And we got Kimono Jasmine, who could debuff special defense and grant Gradual Healing for that Healthy Benefits 5 to stay active.  Small buffs, but relevant.  And then goddamn SS Lusamine dropped with Alolan Spirit, and suddenly Lillie’s operating at 80% bonus damage for existing.  And as if that wasn’t quite enough, now we get Renegade Cynthia out here with Ghost Zone, turning Lillie into the highest single-target damage in the entire game, capable of blitzing even off-type content with relative ease.  What an absolute turnaround.  From a unit loved for design and concept and having the heart of a champion, to getting everything she could want and becoming one of the top threats in the game.  I loved to see it.  I was always all-in on Lillie, even during the brief, early disappointment of finding out that her damage numbers were, in fact, as limited as people said they’d be.  But holy hell, no regrets, best alt in the game.  I adore Anni Lillie, I love using her, she’s my absolute favorite no question.