"It'll be toxic for the Championship series and will absolutely steam roll GBL": Pokemon Go players worry about Toxapex's debut

Toxapex is arriving in Pokemon GO after months of speculation. However, trainers are currently concerned with what they perceive as an incredibly overpowered moveset for the Poison/Water-type Pokemon.

Almost immediately after Toxapex (and its previous evolution, Mareanie) were announced for September 27's Fashion Week event, Pokemon GO trainers have called on Niantic to nerf the former's moveset.

An established content creator for the mobile title, SwagTips, took to Twitter to voice his opposition to the presence of the move, Muddy Water, allegedly being part of Toxapex's collection of learnable moves.

Access to moves like Muddy Water, Gunk Shot, and Sludge Wave have caused shockwaves throughout the game's community on social media.

Pokemon GO: Social media calls for Niantic to weaken Toxapex's upcoming moveset

Since Toxapex is approaching quickly, the Pokemon GO community appears concerned enough to voice their objection to its current state.

The highly defensive Pokemon was already considered by many to be a game-changer in the PvP meta. Now, players have stated that giving it such a powerful moveset is simply too much benefit for one that was already considered very strong.

It deals solid damage (50 in PvE, 35 in PvP) while having a reasonable energy cost (33 in PvE, 35 in PvP). However, the biggest threat of the move is its 30% chance to reduce an opponent's attack power by one stage. This could potentially allow the highly-defensive Pokemon to weaken its opponent depending on the game's Random Number Generator (RNG).

SwagTips remarked that he had run battle simulations in GO Battle League with Toxapex, and the species had absolutely dominated the majority of its matchups.

He stated his concern not only for how considerably Toxapex could disrupt Pokemon GO's PvP Battle Leagues, but also the upcoming Pokemon GO Championship Series in the 2023 competitive season.

Many trainers appear to have echoed SwagTips' sentiments, stating that even though Muddy Water only has a 30% chance to trigger, the game's RNG could cause it to trigger multiple times in a single fight.

This would essentially decimate even the most fearsome Pokemon who rely on their physical attack stats. It would make the uphill climb to overtake Toxapex even more difficult than it would already be given its high health and defense.

Though a certain portion of Pokemon GO's fanbase is relatively untouched by Toxapex's move choices (PvE players really only stand to benefit), the choice has certainly riled up many competitive GO Battle League players.

Unfortunately, with the Pokemon's inclusion arriving in less than one week, Niantic may have already set everything into place. Even with sufficient outcry from the player base, it may be too late to change Toxapex's moveset at the current time.

However, competitive trainers shouldn't lose hope. Niantic regularly tweaks Pokemon moves after their release, and this may very well be the case for Toxapex. This should be particularly true if it does indeed cause serious issues for the competitive meta and the community remains up in arms.

Eventually, trainers may turn away from PvP, which would ultimately affect Niantic's bottom line. It would seem appropriate for the developer to take a look at Toxapex in a proactive fashion, at least once more concrete battle data is available for analysis.

About the author

Spencer has been covering AAA titles at Sportskeeda for 3 years, and his articles collectively boast 30+ million reads. He is currently focusing on Pokemon and Minecraft content. A man who truly wears many hats, Spencer is a reader, writer, occasional metal vocalist, and semi-competitive fighting game player. His love for video games stemmed from engaging in franchises such as Street Fighter, Dragon Quest, and Resident Evil, and he is an ardent fan to this day.

Spencer holds a Bachelor's Degree in English from the University of South Florida with a minor in Journalism, and his work in the Tampa Bay area was influential in sending him down the path of becoming an esports writer. In the last 8 years, Spencer has written guides for iFixit, film and TV features for Collider, and tons of interesting articles for Sportskeeda. He is deeply familiar with the mechanics of the gaming industry and quite deft at collating information from official outlets, developers, community posts, and content creators.

In his free time, Spencer likes to read, play tabletop RPGs with friends, record metal music with his old bandmates, and build Gunpla model kits. He is primarily a PC gamer who can be found juggling multiple titles at any given time.

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