Should You Pull? Elesa & Togetic

Welcome back to Palentines Day! This time around, we’ve got the return of the ever-popular Unovan model, Elesa. This good-natured lady loves a good joke, and boy, has she got a good one for you! Ever hear the one about the Striker that only knows Fly and Metronome?

…oh wait, that wasn’t a joke.

Yup, Elesa has paired up with Togetic to complete the Togepi family in Pokemon Masters, and this time she’s flying straight for the opposition with a strange, unique, but potentially effective kit unlike anything that we’ve ever seen. Hold onto your Palentines sweets, because this one is going to be…. different!

Elesa & Togetic comprise a Flying Type Striker unit with all-around middling average stats and a weakness to Steel Type moves. I’m going to go a bit out of the traditional order here and put their attacks last and instead focus on Elesa’s trainer moves. This will make ample sense shortly. To start with, we have the classic Dire Hit+ which adds +2 Critical Rate at 2 uses, equating to easily maxed Critical Rate, and then we have Delivering Delight!, which is a 2-use Trainer Move that simply adds +3 Attack and Special Attack. When taken together, Elesa & Togetic can max their offensive stats on both sides of the spectrum with 4 moves total, which is honestly not a bad cost for such comprehensive buffs. And now let’s move on to Attacks, as promised! First up is… Fly. Yup, this is going to be an odd one. For those unfamiliar, Fly is a decently powerful Flying Type move that takes no Move Gauge bars to utilize. However, this is a two-stage move. When Fly is activated, Togetic will fly above the stage and become invulnerable to all but Sync Moves and select moves like Thunder that can ignore this semi-invulnerable state. Once this is done, the game will auto-queue up a follow up, which is when the actual damage is dealt. It’s worth noting that Fly does not reduce the Sync Move counter when it actually launches the attack, so this is a move that traditionally isn’t considered “good” for damage-dealing, as it’s pretty slow in terms of total damage dealt over time. And, finally, we come to Elesa & Togetic’s final move and crown-jewel of their kit; Metronome. Welp, that’s the end of the SYP, have a good month everyone!

….I have to keep going, don’t I? Alright, fine… first of all, allow me to remind you that this is a Striker. Not a Tech, not a Support, a Striker. So what is Metronome, exactly? Well, it’s a 1-bar move that calls on an entirely different move at random. After use, Metronome can become Tri Attack, Fire Blast, Power Whip, Blizzard, Surf, Play Rough, Iron Tail, Dark Pulse, Focus Blast, Sludge Bomb, Earthquake, Drill Peck, Psychic, Bug Buzz, Rock Slide, Shadow Ball, Dragon Pulse, or Fissure. In short, Metronome can call down a 3-bar move of any type in the game, but the chosen attack is 100% random. 

So what kind of Passive Skills do Elesa & Togetic have to back up this very unorthodox set? They start out with Super Powered 5, which offers a substantial damage increase to any Super Effective attacks that they may land. Next is Strengthening Status 9, which will grant a stack of the Physical and Special Up Next effects any time that Elesa & Togetic use a Status move; AKA Metronome or Fly. Finally, Super Countdown 9 reduces the Sync Move counter by 1 any time that Togetic lands a Super Effective hit. And while on the surface this seems like a buff to a lucky Metronome, it also works with Fly to negate the aforementioned Sync Move Countdown issue on stages that are weak to Flying Type moves.

So what do we have when we put this all together? An absolute mess of a Sync Pair, right? Well, actually no! Elesa & Togetic are the very definition of unorthodox, sporting a kit that seems more of use to an underwhelming Tech unit rather than a Striker of all things, but it actually all comes together in the end. How, you may ask? Well, Elesa & Togetic have one small, yet underestimated benefit: they almost don’t need the Move Gauge in order to deal damage! Fly takes no Move Gauge bars while Metronome takes a meager 1 bar to utilize. This means that Elesa & Togetic can sit in a 3rd slot next to a lumbering but powerful damage dealer and keep up the offensive pressure. And speaking of offensive pressure, they’re actually good at dealing damage! When played to their strengths, Fly can actually deal really good damage, and even Metronome’s various moves are capable of dropping some surprisingly good damage, especially if you luck out on the roll of the dice and score a Super Effective attack. This is all compounded by the fact that Elesa & Togetic also gain access to some fairly powerful effects from their grid to make them great at dropping Super Effective Flying Type Sync Nukes. However, the entire nature of Elesa & Togetic’s kit means that they’re only really going to find utility in one of two different scenarios: a Flying weak stage to spam Fly in (but only at ⅗), or any other stage if you feel like gambling on Metronome’s 1/18 chance of rolling high. 

Sync Grid Considerations & Lucky Skills

Sync Grid & Sync Levels

⅕ really doesn’t offer much utility beyond base-kit. Fly: Accuracy+5 and Metronome: Move Gauge Refresh 3 are the best options, while Headstrong is useful for select stages. ⅖ is honestly where the fun begins, with tiles like Sharp Entry 1 to cut one full turn of setup off of Elesa & Togetic, Critical Strike 1 for a small yet universal damage boost, Metronome: Fortuitous 9 helps with random stat boosts to match the random chaos of Metronome, and Super Interference 1 for higher chance of secondary interference effects coming from the attacks called up by Metronome happening. However, the real fun actually begins at ⅗. Metronome: Superduper Effective 9 and Metronome: Super Countdown 9 make the odd Super Effective attack from Metronome way more useful, Delivering Delight!: Super Preparation 9 sets up devastating Super Effective attacks or Sync Moves, Double Down 5 makes Elesa & Togetic dangerous as a Flying Type Sync Nuker, and Sync Quickening 3 allows Fly to basically never run out of MP. 

All-in-all, if you pull for Elesa & Togetic and plan to use them, then it’s probably best to hit the big ⅗. 

EX Viability

Palentines' Elesa's EX is only really valuable for a quick wipe on Flying stage so this a good consideration but won't be useful outside of those.

Lucky Skills

Critical Strike 2 is the gold standard for any offensive unit, with Palentines' Elesa being no exception.

Games Modes

Good Flying Type attackers aren’t exceptionally common, so utilizing Elesa & Togetic for that reason in the Champion’s Stadium is a great way to utilize their skills. It’s also especially nice to evade a random AoE move with a well-timed Fly in order to keep Togetic healthy. Though repeatedly dropping Metronome for the fun of it is endlessly entertaining too! The same goes for the Legendary Arena/Gauntlet, where Elesa & Togetic can prey on Tapu Bulu fairly well during its Flying weak stage. Either that, or you can keep rolling the dice to see what happens! The Battle Villa is actually an interesting prospect too, as Elesa & Togetic’s near-disregard for the Move Gauge makes them a solid choice for cleaning up, though they’re going to need some help buffing up from the likes of the kings of the Villa like Professor Sycamore & Xerneas or Red & Snorlax to make up for the MP requirement on their buffs. Finally, Extreme Battles are more of the same story, with the classic story of good Flying performance combined with the fun of Metronome.

Team Compositions

The obvious choice here is Spring Burgh & Togepi, as the ability to double-up on Metronome is absolutely hilarious!

Objectively ideal strategic choices aside, a Flying Type Elesa & Togetic appreciate a team based around Flying Type damage output, so Sync Pairs like Anniversary Skyla & Tornadus or Sygna Suit Ethan & Lugia are obvious picks. In both cases, the Move Gauge is likely to never be an issue, as they both have great Move Gauge management capabilities. They can also work alongside gauge-hungry attackers like Sygna Suit Giovani & Nidoking or Raihan & Duraludon thanks to their previously stressed nearly non-existent Move Gauge cost.

In terms of providing support for Elesa & Togetic, they appreciate some help getting their stats maxed out since they are a bit sluggish at that job, so Sync Pairs like Professor Sycamore & Xerneas or Sygna Suit Blue & Blastoise are prime candidates on the surface, though if you don’t mind the setup time then unit that can provide other supportive advantages like Sygna Suit Aura Cynthia & Lucario or Melony & Lapras can work wonders in their own right. And going even deeper, picking up partners that can provide boosts other than basic stats can be a huge boon, so candidates like Red & Snorlax, Christmas Jasmine & Ampharos, or Anniversary Raihan & Flygon can be great partners as well if looking to double-up on SE Up Next strategies.

Showcase Video

If you’re just starting out, then it’s probably safe to just skip Elesa & Togetic, as they’re a bit awkward on the surface and need the investment to hit ⅗ to really shine when it comes to Flying Type damage output. If your Gem stash isn’t super-healthy, then it’s best to just save for the 3.5 year Anniversary that starts next month. However, if you’re in good shape and want something fun and potentially rewarding, then Elesa & Togetic are definitely worthwhile. While good in terms of raw mechanics if played to their strengths, the main reason to pick up this Sync Pair has to be their raw fun-factor.