Competitive Pokémon YouTuber WolfeyVGC has discovered a genius method of stopping an opponent’s Dynamax Pokémon in Pokémon Sword & Shield.

Dynamax is a new battle mechanic added in Sword & Shield that has been banned in some competitive circles because of the vast changes (and somewhat unfair advantages) it offers in battles.

WolfeyVGC, AKA Wolfey, has found a clever way of canceling an opponent’s attempt at Dynamaxing their Pokémon in competitive double battles. He has a well-thought-out strategy that requires a number of prerequisites:

  • Have a Pokémon with the Prankster ability, which allows status moves to go first (Wolfey used a Grimmsnarl). Make sure the Pokémon with the Prankster ability has learned the move Trick, which allows the Pokémon to switch held items with another Pokémon. Give the Pokémon with the Prankster ability an Eject Button, an item which ’ejects’ the Pokémon who is holding it from battle when it is attacked. Have a different Pokémon who knows the move Quick Attack (Wolfey used Sylveon). And the most important part: make sure both of these Pokémon are extremely fast.

The results were glorious; Wolfey tossed out Grimmsnarl and Sylveon and decided to focus his attack on the foe’s Excadrill. Sure enough, the opponent decided to Dynamax their Excadrill. The plan executed perfectly, Grimmsnarl went first thanks to its high speed stat and used Trick, which switched the Eject Button it was holding into Excadrill’s possession. Wolfey’s Sylveon followed up with a Quick Attack towards Excadrill, which activated the Eject Button, pulling Dynamax Excadrill from the fight, and preventing the opponent from using a Dynamax Pokémon.

You can see the video of Wolfey’s triumph here.

Since moves like Roar or Whirlwind (which switches out the opponent’s Pokémon) do not work on Dynamax Pokémon, competitive Pokémon players have had to get creative. The Eject Button is a wonderful idea as, after competitive battles with PCs, all items get returned to their original owner which allows for continual use.

However, this strategy can be tough to execute. There’s a lot of luck involved; you need to guess the correct Pokémon the opponent will Dynamax and you need to guess when the Pokémon will Dynamax. This makes it even more impressive that Wolfey was able to pull it off flawlessly on the first turn. We’re confident that the competitive Pokémon community will come up with even more creative and tricky strategies in the future.

You can play Pokémon Sword & Shield exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.

Source: Reddit