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Latest Pokemon Sword & Shield trailer highlights the game’s layered battles

Abilities, moves, and 'the Dynamax phenomenon'

Latest Pokemon Sword & Shield trailer highlights the game’s layered battles

With launch a mere 3 months away, fresh Pokemon Sword & Shield info just keeps on coming. And now, coinciding with the 2019 Pokemon World Championships, we’ve got yet another batch of info to chew on. The new trailer aims to give us a decent idea of how layered the game's updated battle system is.

So, without further ado, here's everything that's just been revealed.

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Abilities and held items

First off, the trailer gives us a nice little glimpse of a few new Pokemon abilities, including Galarian Weezing’s ‘Neutralising Gas’, Rotom’s ‘Levitate’, and Gastrodon’s ‘Storm Drain’. A couple of the latest held items were also previewed. ‘Room Service’ basically lowers the targeted Pokemon’s speed during trick room, while ‘Eject Pack’ allows you to switch out a weakened Pokemon on the fly.

Moves and hidden abilities

Then there were the new moves. These include ‘Breaking Swipe’ which lowers the attack power of all enemy Pokemon unlucky enough to be on the receiving end. We also saw that Corviknight’s Hidden Ability ‘Mirror Armour’ actually reflects any stat-lowering attacks back at the offending Pokemon, which is sure to annoy as many as it elates.

‘The Dynamax phenomenon’

The ‘Dynamax phenomenon’, as it’s known, basically boosts the size and power of your Pokemon while also opening up the opportunity for Max Moves (more on that in a bit). Later on in the trailer, we get to see a Dynamax Pokemon comfortably shrugging off moves that would otherwise cause flinching, highlighting their (likely) numerous immunities.

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Secondary effects

The trailer also gives us our first extended look at some of the secondary effects you’ll benefit from when using a Max Move. For example, they might buff your equipped Pokemon’s attack power or make your team better equipped to handle incoming special and physical moves. One that sounds especially neat is the Water-type Max Move 'Max Geyser'. That one triggers rainy conditions; a cool idea with lots of tactical applications, I'd hope. 

Of course, Sword & Shield aren’t the only upcoming Pokemon games to get inordinately excited over, no sir, as Pokemon Masters is set to make its grand debut on August 29th on both the App Store and Google Play. What with us being mobile-focused, we’re especially excited for that one.

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Cameron Bald
Cameron Bald
Cameron started out as an intern here in late 2018, then went on to join us as our News Editor in July 2019. He brings with him an encyclopedic knowledge of decade-old GamesMaster review scores and plenty of stinking takes on games, movies, and proper pizza etiquette.