0:00 – Vs. Malva: EX Paulo / Tech Kabutops / Tina
2:10 – Vs. Grimsley: EX Paulo / EX SS Diantha / Torchic
4:44 – Vs. Koga: EX Paulo / EX Raihan / EX Palentines Marnie
7:37 – Vs. Moltres: EX Paulo / Acerola
10:24 – Vs. Tapu Bulu: EX Paulo / Lodge Raihan
14:27 – Bonus clear vs. Malva: EX Paulo / Olivia / Kukui
If I had a nickel for every anniversary I whaled for this year, I’d have two nickels – which isn’t a lot, but it’s unfortunate that it’s happened twice.
I think Paulo’s a good rival. The main series has had a fair number of rivals that started out as antagonistic, but I think Paulo’s the first one who became antagonistic in the middle of his arc – and he has good reasons to be that way. There are a lot of valid criticisms about his character that I do agree with, but one that I strongly disagree with is the one that says he’s boring – I genuinely think he’s anything but.
While I have several praises about his character, I don’t have that many about his kit. As a Sprint unit, he has several sync acceleration tools, but almost everything about the rest of his playstyle hinges on Sandstorm, which he can only set up once with his max move. Coupled with his extension passive, this makes him a very CS-oriented unit – which is a fine niche, but he’s admittedly not the kind of unit I like messing around with.
I have Head Start 1 as his lucky skill since with two uses of Accelerock and/or his TM, it allows Paulo to skip a full turn in CS.
Here’s how each battle went and the sync grids used:
Vs. Malva: EX Paulo / Tech Kabutops / Tina – https://ng-pomatools.web.app/team?v0=014140&s0=1&l0=140&r0=1&p0=0&a0=21010101&t0=44&n0=1&f0=0&v1=006400074502&s1=3&l1=140&r1=5&p1=0&a1=15010101&t1=444&g1=AAECAwQFGBsdKSssLS8xMjM0NQ&v2=010500013600&s2=5&l2=140&r2=4&p2=0&a2=21010101&t2=444&g2=AAECAwQFBgcKDRESFRgaHB8iJSc
There’s no way I would’ve started with any other trio. Paulo’s damage may seem low here, but you have to remember that Malva’s Talonflame has Sentry Entry x2 – so all the numbers you see here are essentially halved, and he’s still able to muscle through it. Tina completes his buffs while Kabutops sets sand to save Paulo the turn.
Vs. Grimsley: EX Paulo / EX SS Diantha / Torchic – https://ng-pomatools.web.app/team?v0=015802071902&s0=1&l0=140&r0=5&p0=0&a0=21010101&t0=44444&g0=AAECAwQFDA0ODxASFxgZGyAhIiMpKissLS4&v1=006400074502&s1=3&l1=140&r1=5&p1=0&a1=15010101&t1=444&g1=AAECAwQFDhEYGx0hKSwvMjM0NQ&v2=900000025500&s2=3&l2=140&r2=3&p2=0&a2=21010101&t2=44&g2=AAECAwQFERMUFxocHyImKSss
SS Diantha is a good partner for Paulo as not only does she have Rock Zone and Defense debuffs, but she also has sync acceleration in her kit to combo with Paulo’s own. Torchic completed Paulo’s buffs and tanked as many hits as he could.
Vs. Koga: EX Paulo / EX Raihan / EX Palentines Marnie – https://ng-pomatools.web.app/team?v0=025700088400&s0=3&l0=140&r0=5&p0=0&a0=17010201&t0=44444&g0=AAECAwQFBgkKCw0REhQXGBkaLw&v1=006400074502&s1=3&l1=140&r1=5&p1=0&a1=15010101&t1=444&g1=AAECAwQFGx0eISQnKSwvMjM1&v2=024502030300&s2=3&l2=140&r2=5&p2=0&a2=18040502&t2=44444&g2=AAECAwQFBggLDRUWIyUpKist
There’s also a Support element to Paulo’s kit mainly through his B Move, which buffs several stats by up to +4. He also has Pep Rally 2 on his TM, which is quite useful for a lot of Sandstorm damage-dealers. Raihan takes full advantage of that here along with PalMarnie’s Steel Zone.
Vs. Moltres: EX Paulo / Acerola – https://ng-pomatools.web.app/team?v0=000700077000&s0=2&l0=140&r0=5&p0=0&a0=24010201&t0=44444&g0=AAECAwQFBggKCwwTGhseIyQlJykq&v1=006400074502&s1=3&l1=140&r1=5&p1=0&a1=15010101&t1=444&g1=AAECAwQFDA0QER4hKSwvMjM0NQ&v2=0
Acerola is one of Paulo’s best teammates as she complements quite a lot of his kit. In turn, Acerola appreciates the defensive buffs from Paulo’s B Move to let her be a much better pseudo-tank.
Vs. Tapu Bulu: EX Paulo / Lodge Raihan – https://ng-pomatools.web.app/team?v0=025700052600&s0=3&l0=140&r0=4&p0=0&a0=18040502&t0=44444&g0=AAECAwQFBggKDRocHyIkLC4&v1=006400074502&s1=3&l1=140&r1=5&p1=0&a1=15010101&t1=444&g1=AAECAwQFDA0QER4hJCUpLC8yMw&v2=0
I don’t really see any team comp for Paulo in Gauntlet that doesn’t involve a second sand setter. Lodge Raihan gives him a second Sandstorm to work with at the start, and with his sync acceleration Paulo’s able to sync twice with it.
Bonus clear vs. Malva: EX Paulo / Olivia / Kukui – https://ng-pomatools.web.app/team?v0=005100074501&s0=5&l0=140&r0=5&p0=0&a0=17010201&t0=44444&g0=AAECAwQFERIVFhcZHB0fISQoKSo&v1=006400074502&s1=3&l1=140&r1=5&p1=0&a1=15010101&t1=444&g1=AAECAwQFDBsdHiEkJSksLzIzNQ&v2=000100074500&s2=5&l2=140&r2=5&p2=0&a2=12020102&t2=41111&g2=AAECAwQFBhESFRweIyQnKCkrLQ
Triple rock doggo extravaganza. It’s also here when I noticed that Dusk Lycanroc has one attack each from the Midday and Midnight forms. If only it also got Staggering from Midday Lycanroc.
#PokemonMasters #PokemonMastersEX #ChampionStadium #LegendaryArena
10 Comments
Ayy Welcome to Paulo
Still don’t understand why we couldn’t get either him or Tina for free, considering we pretty much deserved them after staking through the entire VA.
Ah well, at least he’s here.
The music for the second clear sounds edited in, rather than actually being played in the jukebox. (I could be wrong though but that’s what it sounds like to me)
I am so conflicted whether to get Raihan or Victor to 3/5 have 2 candies ready.
On one hand a Special Steel Striker is really really appreciated for me on the other hand my favourite MONKE.
Paulo started out much the same way Lear did, with not much interesting content going on with him. This was ESPECIALLY true for Paulo as the story moved further away from him to tell Lear’s story. Now though, I think Paulo’s a pretty good rival and he finally stands out amongst his rival peers. Good job, Paulo!
I got him on my first daily pull he is good
It's very cute that Paulo said "not on my watch!" when he used his trainer move, similar to what Looker said when he used sync move, hinting what happened to him at the ending of Villain Arc.
I ended up liking Paulo a lot despite also agreeing to some of the criticisms about his character that I saw here and there. Being a rival that became villainous after suffering repeated defeats–which is something that Masters did first before the main games–is an interesting concept already. Maybe if Paulo interlude is paced a little quicker and is a little less disjointed from the villain arc, he'd be better received. Or maybe we should give him some time, then maybe people will warm up to his character, just like what happened with Lear.
I'm honestly still kind of confused at the new roles, so while I'm pulling for Paulo because I like him (though no luck so far) I can't say I know how I should use him other than a couple of ideas, so your showcase video (and Zinfogel too) really helps me to understand his kit and playstyle better, thank you!
I'm interested to hear your thoughts about Paulo, if you'd like to share some about it!
impressive how fast paulo could refill gauges in the metallic acceleration 2 pal marnie + sands of time 3 raihan clear, his high base speed stat and b move speed buffs + sandstorm chip animation time allowed for some tricky move queues even without tm pep rally being gridded
This is prob my fave EX outfit out of all the characters so far. Orange/white/green is not only my alma mater's colors, but also my country of origin's flag colors, lol.
Just like fellow Rock unit Gordie, I didn't really have a strong opinion about him in any way until I saw the EX colors and he immediately became one of my favorite units. I just need to pull him first, but my gem count went down to the double digits after needing to pity NC Red and getting halfway through NC Leaf's banner, very unfort.
Ooh, that synergy between Acerola and Paulo is really nice, she tops off his buffs really well. I was a bit sad at first since my Ace is only 1/5, but considering that this month’s PoMa day gives a free Rosa dupe, it hopefully won’t be long before everyone can unlock crit buffs on Acerola
How’d your pulls for him go btw? Hopefully you didn’t have to resort to using 2 yellow candies