Unit Teambuilding - Sygna Suit Piers
*sigh* Okay, I promise I'll stop being a hater, just let me have this one. Dual Toxtricity is lame, because "It's the same Pokemon twice as our event!" is the lamest possible outcome. It was the fatal flaw of the otherwise wonderful NC Kalos duo, it was the major problem with third anniversary, it is never, ever an interesting idea. I'm sorry. It sucks. There were other musically themed Pokemon. Do better.
General Overview
Piers also gets Toxtricity! This is the other kind though. He is Roxie's counterpart, identical yet different in every way. Piers opts for Electric Striker, which is a bold fucking move from a guy who's got mid-300s Sp Atk. Piers' Buddy move gets no penalty AoE and costs less in gauge, but in exchange, doesn't do the fun Sp Def debuffing utility Roxie's does. So I like it less. The condition is much easier though, just needing a field effect. His secondary DPS for Poison is Sludge Bomb, which is cringe but so is the type's special damage move selection. Piers calls Electric Terrain the instant he attacks, and his trainer move is 2MP with Poison Zone. Problem: that's his setup. Which is bad. So Piers is much more support reliant than Roxie. He does get Piercing Blows, but like all Piercing Blows users, his actual damage numbers are complete ass in compensation. Unless you're Red, who never suffers a flaw. Piers' grid is where things get a little nutty. SMUN each field effect is fantastic, that's Tapu level good and he partners with SS Hau beautifully as a result. Dirty Sync 6 is funny because he's bad at status without his 3-bar moves, and has the same Poison Zone Sync Up 9 inversion that Roxie does. He also resets Electric Terrain on first sync if desired.
Okay so real talk, show of hands, how many people are struggling with Electric? It's gotta be just me by now. Great, then I can safely say you don't need this guy. SST Red is better and everyone has him. I'd hear out the argument for this guy over SS Hau, though that depends on whether his damage is more important than Hau's debuffs and speed generation. He shares Roxie's oddities, where Electric damage wants Poison and vice versa, and his Poison DPS is kinda crap? I fully expect it to be worse than Drasna, who wasn't even doing that well with it. Piers seems fine if you really need damage, but mostly for Electric. Which...almost no one does. His decision here is questionable. Probably should've stuck with Poison, my dude.
EX, Role, and Move Level?
No penalty AoE spam, he does not need EX. His role is Support, which I actually respect given the dual damage types, even if the stat boosts are awkward. Move Level is similar to Roxie. 1/5 will get all the utilities you need, but as someone a bit more primary in damage, he appreciates higher move levels.
Team 1: SS Piers, SS Roxie, NC Blue/BP Janine
The Toxtricity duo were made for each other, thanks to the ability to consistently call both field effects that are required for full performance. Personally I find stuff like this boring, but it is effective. SS Piers has garbage self-setup, but it's nothing that Janine can't manage with one use of his TM. If you're going hard on the Electric damage, NC Blue is the obvious best pick, whose gauge management also allows Roxie to easily spam her 4-bar Electric move.
Team 2: SS Piers, SS Hau, BP Janine
"Recommending BP Janine a lot with these two." Not my fault they made her so good. Another big emphasis is SS Hau, who extends Electric Terrain that Piers can set for absurd times. Moreover, Hau has access to Mind Games, powering up Piers' AoE spam, while Hau's damage compresses once sides are down. I recommend BP Janine because Piers' self-setup is garbage, but anything that can handle Sp Atk and at least 1 point of crit is sufficient for the team's needs.
Team 3: SS Piers, Petrel/H!Iris, SS Brendan
Anyone else pull Petrel? It can't just be me. Anyway, Poison-types are awkward when it comes to special, because they all need so much and are kinda bad. I actually kinda like Petrel, and I think it's worth noting that he also has Piercing Blows to bypass gimmicks, as well as flinch and Sp Def debuffing. The team still needs some quick boosting, and I'm mentioning SS Brendan because his trainer move perfectly complements Piers'.
However, I'll also note H!Iris here. If you wanted a special Poison damage partner, Piers is an option. However. Despite what he has, his low base stats suggest to me that as far as a partner for her specifically goes, Drasna's...likely better. She has a heavier multiplier and better base stats, I don't see Piers outperforming her at the secondary Poison DPS game.
Final Thoughts
It's admittedly harder to find use for Piers compared to Roxie, because his entire life focus is the damage, but he's bad at self-sufficiency. This makes partner selection difficult, because there really aren't great options for managing his needs in the F2P pool. I'm sure his damage output will be great for the types he's in, but I also just don't think Electric needs much, while Poison has made a really good comeback, and his own contributions to that type are astonishingly minimal. Of the two, I prefer Roxie. I think her utility contributes more. But he is a good Electric damage dealer if you didn't have one of those.
But can I also just say, Masters is kinda running on fumes with Electric? Like aside from the fact it's got some of the most overpowered bullshit, we also had the High Score event for this type. It's not like we need to worry about it. High Score events run every other month, and there's 18 types; that's 35 months to get all types in just one time. Electric like just happened, we have almost three years before that becomes relevant again, and I promise you, it won't be relevant by the time we get there. There's more relevance in the notion of pulling him for Extreme Battle events than High Score.
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I'm crazy about this btw it's one of my favorite Sygna suits yet. I like that everyone else has some cool sygna suit that makes them look like they dressed up to do epic hero shit but Piers is just wearing what he probably wears to the grocery store. It's so funny
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Finally drew Piers in his Sygna Suit from Pokémon Masters EX, using Medibang Paint on my new tablet
I’m legitimately so happy with this, he always looks so beautiful when I draw him. I’m planning on getting this signed by Howard Wang (the English anime VA for Piers) at Anime Impulse Seattle next month!!
Edit: I did an alt version as well
Also, you can find the speedpaint for this drawing on my youtube or tiktok
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