The Pokémon Company and developer Game Freak have a Pokémon Scarlet and Violet update scheduled for the end of February, a patch that’s intended mostly to fix some bugs. Among those bugs is one that made one of the most powerful Pokémon even more powerful than intended.
That Pokémon is Dondozo, specifically, Dondozo combined with Tatsugiri. The popular pair has a unique strategy unlike anything in previous Pokémon games: When both these Pokémon are on the field in a double battle, they combine using Tatsugiri’s ability, Commander, which puts the little fish in the big fish’s mouth. This leaves Dondozo on the field by itself, with Tatsugiri immune to attacks, and boosts all of Dondozo’s stats.
Dondozo’s signature move, Order Up, does damage itself, but when combined with Tatsugiri, using Order Up will also boost one of Dondozo’s stats based on which form of Tatsugiri is in its mouth. Dondozo is powerful on its own, but when set up properly with Tatsugiri, it’s incredibly hard to counter. A bug in Scarlet and Violet is apparently making things worse in that regard: Even if Order Up doesn’t connect — when the target uses Protect, for instance — Dondozo is still getting the stat boost from it, according to the patch notes.
Elsewhere, the patch notes fix a series of bugs that impacted Tera Raid Battles; these should make Tera Raid Battles a bit less annoying. Players should also see the game crashing less after the patch, but fewer creatures may spawn. As for feature adjustments, Pokémon boxes have been improved for ease of use. Here’s the rundown:
Additional functionality will be added for Pokémon Boxes:
– From a Pokémon’s summary, players will be able to change Pokémon’s nicknames, markings, held items, and mark- or Ribbon-related titles, as well as being able to reorder moves, have Pokémon remember moves, have Pokémon forget moves, and use TMs.
– Players will be able to swap out held items by pressing the Y Button when in the Held Items view.
– Players will be able to select All Boxes while moving Pokémon or items in the Party and Boxes view and Held Items view.
– When in the Battle Team view, Pokémon in your Boxes that are assigned to a Battle Team will now have their icons displayed in a darker hue if those Pokémon are members of the Battle Team that is currently being displayed.
Scarlet and Violet will automatically update when the patch is released in late February, as long as you’ve got that feature selected. Otherwise, you’ll have to go in and manually download it. The full patch notes are available on the Nintendo website.