Pokemon Unite has really taken the world by storm, but Zapdos sounds like it needs a nerf bad. It’s an interesting take on the MOBA and has some very faithful adaptations of the Pokemon that inhabit the game. That includes Zapdos being one of the boss monsters and has the true power of a Legendary. Zapdos can swing a game from a sure loss to a near-guaranteed win pretty easily, or make a lead impossible to catch up to. There’s a lot of talk about the game right now, on whether it’s p2w or not, and which Pokemon is the best, but most people agree on one thing: Zapdos in Pokemon Unite needs a nerf.

During the course of your ten-minute Pokemon Unite matches, a few Boss Pokemon show up. Rotom (top lane), if defeated, is a Pokemon you guide to one of your opponent’s Goals. Getting it there successfully is a nice chunk of points for your side. Drednaw is the bottom lane Pokemon Boss and defeating it grants a shield to your team. In the final two minutes of your match, Zapdos spawns in the middle of the jungle.

Whichever side defeats Zapdos gains a bunch of points for their players, and you no longer have a timer to score on your opponents’ goals. Normally, it takes a few seconds to actually score, so your opponents can stop it. Even if you’ve been ahead for the entire game, a last-minute Zapdos can spell disaster. It’s a pretty common strategy to go for Zapdos, even if you’re behind. You can really use it to turn around a losing effort. 

One player said, “I have played for eight hours straight pretty much and only once has the team that got Zapdos not won. It’s definitely way too strong.” A player on Reddit posted a game where their team was behind the entire game (down by around 300 points), and then with Zapdos, they came back and won by nearly 200. It’s so important right now to get Zapdos unless you have an overwhelming, impossible lead. 

The official Pokemon Unite Twitter asked about people’s experiences so far, and a Twitter user, BrysonKiller had this to say:

“Does this make sense. A enemy ranked team that cant score & loses all their baskets. Gets zapados and is rewarded a win because all there baskets are up too score? While the other team is punished for playing too good. Why does a jungle camp get to decide who wins?”

He tried it out for himself, and put his controller down, and cooked food. Then when Zapdos spawned, he captured it and won the game. His team went from 0 points to 558 points and won. Some point out that it’s not that it’s overpowered, but MOBA victory is decided by people who prioritize objectives. Not everyone agrees though, and many feel it’s time for Zapdos to catch a bit of a nerf. A few things are pointed out by the community right now though. 

Zeraora needs some fine-tuning (RE: Probably a nerf), the Held Item System needs to be more friendly to F2P players (or give out more item enhancers), and Zapdos. Spawn Camping is also a pretty serious problem, which can come thanks to Zapdos. Once you can dunk on someone’s main goal easily, you can force the other players to stay in their base and do nothing, granting a free win. This writer can neither confirm nor deny doing that in several games, thanks to the power of Zapdos. It does feel overwhelmingly powerful. We aren’t suggesting it loses what makes it special, but when it can almost always guarantee the win, there’s something wrong.