Characters / Pokemon Unite Speedsters

Main Character Index | Attackers | Defenders | Speedsters | Supports | All Rounders

Speedster

Speedsters are Pokémon with the role of tearing through lone enemies with high burst damage and have high mobility that can be used to quickly reach and score on unguarded goals or chase down fleeing enemies, but are the worst at taking hits.

In General

• Close-Range Combatant: Speedsters rarely have good (if any) long-range capabilities, instead relying on Dash Attacks to get close to the enemy in order to deal damage.
• Fragile Speedster: They move and hit like a freight train, but have the defenses of wet toilet paper.
• Magikarp Power: Most of the Pokémon in this role are expected to gain experience in the Center Lane as they need to have the safest place to access to their most powerful skills earlier than the rest of the Pokémon.
• Out of Focus: While plenty of new Pokémon were introduced for the other roles, there wouldn't be a new Speedster until Dodrio came along— well over a year into the game's lifespan.
• Skill Gate Characters: The things most Speedsters are built for, namely single-target, melee-ranged burst damage and the ability to flank the enemy to score points, make them threatening in uncoordinated solo queue games but rarely play a role in coordinated competitive games (trying to dive an enemy usually results in the Speedster getting dogpiled on by the enemy team and picked off, and splitting up to back-cap not only makes the Speedster more vulnerable to ganks but rarely yields more reward than taking objectives and preparing for the Rayquaza fight). As such, the only Speedsters that see high-level success (such as Zoroark, Leafeon, and Dodrio) have ways to engage with enemies and objectives without putting themselves in harm's way.

Zeraora

Zeraora (ゼラオラ, Zeraora)

Zeraora is an Electric-type Mythical Pokémon who focuses on closing in on the opponent with mostly Physical Electric moves.

• Cast From HP: Wild Charge damages Zeraora in addition to their target.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Despite boasting slightly higher-than-average bulk for a Speedster, all of Zeraoras' attacks rely on Zeraora getting up close and personal with their opponent, which means that Zeraora is likely to get KO'd themselves if they recklessly charge at their opponents and don't KO them first. Play them right however, and Zeraora remains a dangerous threat even into the late-game, having some of the highest burst damage capabilities in the entire game.
• Invulnerable Attack: During Wild Charge, Zeraora is invulnerable to everything except the recoil damage on each hit.
• Shock and Awe: Averted with their starting moves, played straight everywhere else.
  • Slash is a three hit combo that knocks up enemies in the area when it's complete. This upgrades to...
    • Discharge, which creates a ring of electricity that steadily damages enemies inside it while giving Zeraora a shield.
    • Wild Charge, which has Zeraora rush an enemy and attack them multiple times with a ferocity that also damages Zeraora.
  • Agility is a short dash that increases Zeraora's attack speed for a short time. This upgrades to...
    • Volt Switch, which is similar to Agility but also damages enemies caught in Zeraora's path and can be recast to let Zeraora return to the starting position.
    • Spark, which is a shorter dash that gives Zeraora the ability to dive towards an enemy Pokémon in the middle of it and can be cast 3 times before going on cooldown.

Absol

Absol (アブソル, Absol)

Absol is a Dark type Pokémon from the Hoenn region.

• Armor-Piercing Attack: Feint completely ignores the target's Defense stat and shields to directly target the enemy Pokémon HP at full power.
• Back Stab: Absol's Pursuit allows the user to follow up with an attack that gains increased power and greatly reduces Pursuit's cooldown if it hits an enemy from behind.
• Counter-Attack: Sucker Punch has Absol performing a Flash Step behind its target to strike it after a short wind-up. If hit by an attack or if the target attempts to fight back during this wind-up, the attack is blocked and Absol immediately leaps to the target; successfully countering an enemy's attack will also stun them.
• Critical Hit Class: Uniquely, all of Absol's moves can crit, synergizing with its Super Luck ability giving it an innately boosted crit chance. It relies on its ability to deal Critical Hits and Damage-Increasing Debuff to quickly shred the enemy before it itself gets shredded.
• Damage-Increasing Debuff: Psycho Cut places three marks on any enemy it hits. Each time Absol hits a marked enemy with a move or attack, a mark is removed to increase the damage they take, with the third mark causing more damage than the first two (and its boosted attack deals two separate instances of damage, meaning it removes two marks). Additionally, Absol's crit chance is increased against marked targets.
• Dark Is Not Evil: A Dark-type Pokémon (or Evil-type in Japan) that merely seeks to help people in danger, but ended up getting blamed for the disasters they predicted. Even still, Absol mainly uses Dark type attacks in its move upgrades (Night Slash, Pursuit, and Sucker Punch).
• Difficult, but Awesome: Absol is labeled "Expert" due to its playstyle revolving around outmaneuvering opponents rather than fighting them head-on. Its low health means Absol can't take much damage, so players will have to rely on surprise, reflexes, and agility to avoid the opponent's retaliation.
• Flash Step: The bread and butter of Absol's kit, almost all of its moves allow it to rapidly dart around the target to evade retaliation and deal damage. Feint and Night Slash have it dashing in a curved arc to damage everything in the way (and if Night Slash connects, Absol can dash a second time), while Sucker Punch has it rapidly leaping behind the target to strike.
• Invulnerable Attack: Absol is invulnerable when executing its Unite Move Midnight Slash.
• Starter Mon: Absol is the Speedster option for the player's first Unite License.
• Sword Beam: Psycho Cut has Absol release a crescent-shaped wave of psychic energy that cuts through all enemies hit, slowing them and marking them with a Damage-Increasing Debuff. Its boosted attack also releases a short-ranged wave, which counts as a separate instance of damage from the actual attack itself.
• Unnecessary Combat Roll: A rare quadrupedal version; Absol does a forward roll when using Pursuit for no apparent reason.

Talonflame (Fiarrow)

Talonflame (ファイアロー, Fiarrow)

Talonflame is a Fire/Flying type Pokémon commonly found in the Kalos region. The Stage-2 evolution of Fletchling is very frail but makes up for it with it quick move.

• Cast From HP: Brave Bird does a lot of damage and locks onto a target, but it also chips off a bit of Talonflame's HP when it connects.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Talonflame is very squishy, as with other Speedsters. Properly using its skill, though, allows it to dodge incoming damage with impunity, making it a lot harder to take down than it initially seems.
• Flight: As a Flying-type Pokémon, Talonflame can learn Fly, a Flying-type move that allows Talonflame to not only become momentarily invincible before quickly landing to attack, but can traverse every obstacle in the map for the duration of its invincibility.
• Playing with Fire: It is a Fire-type, and can learn Flame Charge.
  • Limit Break: His Unite Move, Flame Sweep, makes Talonflame charge forward and push the enemies toward the specified direction while dealing damage for the duration.
• Razor Wind: As a Flying type Pokemon, Talonflame can learn Aerial Ace, a Flying-type move where Talonflame dashes towards an area, dealing damage.
• Skill Gate Characters: Talonflame can engage from very long range and deal hefty burst damage with a simplistic moveset, making it fairly newbie-friendly. Said simplistic moveset also means it lacks the versatility of other Speedsters and is easy to punish, meaning you'll rarely see Talonflame in high-level play.
• Starter Mon: Talonflame is one of the options for the player's first Unite License, representing the Speedster class.
• Super-Speed: Has access to Gale Wings, a Pokémon Ability that grants Talonflame a speed boost as long as he still has 85% or more of his health.

Gengar (Gangar)

Gengar (ゲンガー, Gangar)

Gengar is a Ghost/Poison Type Pokémon from the Kanto Region.

• Casting a Shadow:
  • Gengar tends to move around within the shadows, especially with its Unite Attack.
  • Hex is a Ghost-type move where Gengar teleports to the target.
  • Shadow Ball is a Ghost-type ranged move that lowers enemy movement speed and Sp Def.
• Poisonous Person: Gengar has Sludge Bomb which deals damage over time to whoever was unfortunate to get in the AOE.
• Psychic Powers: Can learn Dream Eater which can put an opponent to sleep before Gengar teleports to attack its target, granting Gengar healing and cooldown reduction on its Will-o'-wisp, Shadow Ball, or Sludge Bomb.
• Skill Gate Characters: Gengar is noted to be a pubstomper in lower ranked games, but as long as people know to avoid its Sludge Bomb, it cannot continue its notorious combo. It also gets hard countered by ranged units, Cinderace being the most notable example. Gengar also gets shut down very hard by team coordination, as it actually needs to connect its skillshots on a squishy enemy to do its job. In higher ranked games, teamfights are the rule rather than the exception, and Gengar’s lack of anything other than close-range single-target damage makes it awful in teamfights; furthermore, putting a single Defender between Gengar and its potential targets makes it unable to properly engage without being mulched, unless it spends its Unite Move. Meanwhile in pub games, everyone tends to run around and do their own thing, meaning Gengar has no shortage of easy targets.
• Status Effects: All of Gengar's moves are affiliated with these, either through infliction of them via using the likes of Will-o'-wisp or Dream Eater, or dealing more damage if they've already been inflicted with one as in the case of Hex.
• Teleport Spam: Hex doubles as this and a Criss-Cross Attack against status-inflicted enemies, as its greatly reduced cooldown allows Gengar to use it multiple times in rapid succession for massive damage. This was even more egregious prior to the August 4th balance patch, as Hex's high amount of invincibility frames made it difficult to damage him during the combo.

Dodrio (Dodorio)

Dodrio (ドードリオ, Dodorio)

Dodrio is a Normal/Flying type Pokémon hailing from Kanto.

• Beak Attack: Naturally, as a Flying-type avian, not only is her Basic Attack a peck, she has one Flying-type move that uses her beak as well.
  • Peck, which can later be upgraded into Drill Peck
• The Bus Came Back: After more than one year since Pokémon Unite was officially released, a new Speedster has finally been released, increasing the number of Speedsters in the Unite roster from 4 to 5.
• Difficult, but Awesome:
  • Dodrio is at her peak when she maintains her movement speed, but she has to maintain her momentum by practically never letting your L-stick hit the center.
  • In addition, except for Tri Attack, all of her moves cannot be normally aimed (by the use of the R-Stick) and will always depend on which direction she is heading.
• Non-Elemental: As a Normal-type Pokémon, Dodrio has access to a few Normal-type moves:
  • Quick Attack
  • Tri Attack is a Normal-type move where Dodrio throws three consecutive projectiles toward a targeted line AOE.
• Psychic Powers: Can use the Psychic-type move Agility to quickly charge her run meter to its maximum.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: A Dodrio's gender can be determined by the color of his/her neck. A male Dodrio has a black neck while a female Dodrio has a brown neck. The Dodrio in Pokémon Unite has a brown neck.

Zoroark

Zoroark

Zoroark is a Dark-type Pokémon originally discovered in the Unova region.

• Absurdly Sharp Claws: Most of Zoroark's moves save for Feint Attack and its Unite Move involve the use of its claws.
• Casting a Shadow: Zoroark is pure Dark-type and can learn Shadow Claw, Night Slash and Feint Attack.
• Combos: Hitting an enemy with its secondary move upgrades (Feint Attack or Night Slash) allows Zoroark to use the move again within a short duration (allowing Feint Attack to dash back to where Zoroark when it used the move previously and Night Slash to dash again), and Feint Attack additionally resets the cooldown of its primary move (Cut or Shadow Claw); landing one of its moves resets the duration, and if it manages to hit with enough moves without letting the duration run out, it will be able to unleash a much more powerful version of its secondary move.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Zoroark's effectiveness depends entirely on the player's ability to chain together multiple hits from Feint Attack or Night Slash without getting its squishy self taken out, which in turn demands superb game sense, positioning, and reflexes; miss once, and you're probably stuck in the middle of the enemy team without a way to escape. Likewise, using Nightfall Daze badly just paints a target on Zoroark's back and leads to it being KO'd very quickly. However, mastering its unorthodox moves and mechanics allows Zoroark to inflict some of the highest burst damage in the game while being difficult to punish.
• Invulnerable Attack: If Zoroark lands enough hits during Night Slash, the final blow has it leaping into the air before slamming down; while airborne, Zoroark is invulnerable, making the final slash impossible to stop.
• Life Drain: Cut and Night Slash restore Zoroark's health based on the damage it dealt to the opponent.
• Limit Break: Nightfall Daze which has Zoroark release three shockwaves which have an increasingly large area of effect and also renders Zoroark immune to hindrances.
• Master of Illusion: Zoroark's ability is Illusion which allows it to disguise as a random wild Pokémon or Pokémon on the opponent's team.
• Non-Elemental: Zoroark can learn Slash or Fury Swipes as a Zorua and can later learn Cut.
• Pragmatic Adaptation: While Zoroark is primarily based around Special Attack in the games proper and more emphasis is put on its powers, here Zoroark is based all around physical Attack and agility.
• Some Dexterity Required: Suffice it to say that Zoroark earns its "Expert" label by being one of the hardest Pokémon in the game to actually use. Night Slash is very tricky to use effectively, as you need to chain together multiple dashes and land an attack for each one to get the most out of the move, which requires multiple precise inputs in rapid succession; its unorthodox mechanics (instead of dashing immediately when you press the button, triggering the dash requires Zoroark to issue a movement command after hitting the button, so it has to effectively be aimed using your movement stick unlike nearly every other move in the game) don't make it any easier for inexperienced players. But once mastered, Night Slash grants incredible chasing ability and damage output. Feint Attack isn't much easier as it heavily relies on good positioning to chain multiple hits, because after landing the first dash, the subsequent ones cannot be manually aimed (instead sending Zoroark back to where it previously dashed from).
• Transformation Is a Free Action: Illusion briefly makes Zoroark invulnerable when used. While the actual disguise is less than effective against anyone paying attaention, the invincibility frames make it usable for giving opponents the slip if timed well.

Leafeon (Leafia)

Leafeon (リーフィア, Leafia)

Leafeon is a Grass-type Pokémon originating from Sinnoh.

• Absurdly Sharp Claws: Leafeon can learn Aerial Ace which has him speeding forward and slashing an opponent with his claws.
• Crutch Character: Like the other Eeveelutions, Leafeon evolves at level 4 and gets its Unite Move at level 8, allowing it to hit its power spikes more quickly than most Speedsters and start pressuring the lanes earlier in the game before being brought back into line at later levels. Notably, an early sweep through the jungle brings a jungler up to level 4, meaning Leafeon will be evolved at a point where the other jungler probably requires 1 more level for its first move upgrade.
• Dash Attack: Quick Attack and Aerial Ace are these.
• Green Thumb: Leafeon is a Grass-type and can learn Razor Leaf, Solar Blade and Leaf Blade.
• Laser Blade: Solar Blade which normally requires a charge time due to Leafeon gathering sunlight and the more sunlight he gathers, the stronger the attack. If his Chlorophyll gauge is filled up, Leafeon can use the move straight away.
• Limit Break: Emerald Two Step wherein Leafeon leaps forward at a designated opponent dealing damage to it and decreasing its movement speed. After that, Leafeon jumps into the air and slams into the ground with enough force to damage enemy Pokémon in an area of effect and the closer the opponent is, the more damage they take.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: If all five of Leafeon's Razor Leaves hit an opponent, he gains a shield with it being strengthened at level 10.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Leafeon has a gauge for his Chlorophyll ability which when filled up turns his next attack into boosted attacks and allows him to use Solar Blade straight away and also reduce its cooldown. In addition, his Leaf Blade has better effects if the outer ring hits opponents.
• Non-Elemental: Can learn Swift and Quick Attack as an Eevee.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: This Eevee has a regular tail, indicating he's male.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Despite being male, his Checkered outfit puts him in a dress like the corresponding outfit for the other Eeveelutions.

Meowscarada (Masquernya)

Meowscarada (マスカーニャ, Masquernya)

Meowscarada is a Grass/Dark-type Pokémon originating from Paldea.

• Absurdly Sharp Claws: Meowscarada can learn Night Slash which has it slashing with its claws and if they hit, they mark the opponent. If Meowscarada hits a marked opponent, its basic attacks have an increased critical rate and have a Life Drain effect.
• Casting a Shadow: Part Dark-type and can learn Hone Claws and Night Slash.
• Combat Pragmatist: Specializes in this such as Flower Trick which allows Meowscarada to attach a bomb to an opponent and detonate it if it uses the move again.
• Cooldown Manipulation: Meowscarada's upgraded secondary move (Double Team or Trailblaze) resets its cooldown if Meowscarada makes or assists in a KO, and each damage tick from Floral Flourish reduces the cooldown of its primary move (Night Slash or Flower Trick).
• Doppelgänger Spin: Can learn Double Team to create an illusory copy of itself to trick its foes. This increases its movement speed while the clone takes more damage but can be dispelled manually to explode at both the clone's and the original's positions.
• Green Thumb: Part Grass-type and can learn Leafage, Flower Trick and Trailblaze.
• Limit Break: Floral Flourish wherein Meowscarada moves instantly to a designated location and surrounds itself with a whirlwind of flowers to continually damage opposing Pokémon. However, Meowscarada cannot use any other move and walks slowly forward while channeling it, with no control over its movement. Using Floral Flourish again cancels the move and allows Meowscarada to act normally once more.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: At Level 13, Trailblaze grants Meowscarada a shield when used.
• Magikarp Power: Unusually for a Speedster, Meowscarada is ill-suited for jungling due to it being a three-stage Pokémon (meaning low stats in its first two forms) and only getting its first move upgrade at level 6, meaning it can't come online as quickly as other Pokémon and thus can't compete with actual junglers in the early game. Once it catches up, though, it's more than capable of pulling its weight.
• Status Buff: Can learn Hone Claws as a Sprigatito which allows it to increase the damage and speed of its next three basic attacks and Trailblaze boosts Meowscarada's basic attack speed and move speed if the move hits an opponent.
• Status Effects: Specializes in this as well such as using Leafage to damage and slow opponents.