TL;DR: Should You Pull?
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Yes , May is THE Rain setter that players have been awaiting after the release of counterparts like Acerola and Lyra (Grid). Water Type units finally have something to rival their Fire, Electric, and Psychic Type brethren thanks to Swampert’s griddable Rain Dance |
- Only viable (cum reusable) Rain setter that is key to unlocking many Sync Pairs’ potential like Kris and Clair.
- Only proper Water Type AOE outlet (excluding Barry & Empoleon’s Bubble).
- Great team utility even outside of Rain.
- Not a PokeFair banner
What Does It Do?
May & Swampert is the unit to make it rain. Her set revolves around the Weather condition, which Swampert can benefit from. May’s Sync Grid is notable for Dire Rain, Refreshing Rain, and Increment Intellect. These combine with Raging Rain and Racing Rain (Passive Skills) to make Swampert a somewhat tanky damage dealer after setting up the favorable Weather Condition. Interestingly, Swampert’s Passive Skills are upgraded upon Mega Evolution (Raging Rain 3 > 5, Racing Rain 2 > 4).
As a Tech Unit, Swampert’s Sync is actually pretty powerful since it receives two boosts from Rain. Rain boosts the firepower of Water Type moves, and Swampert’s Sync Move gains a separate power boost when it is active. This makes Swampert a potent Sync option, even if her EX form lacks the AOE factor.
The other utility that Swampert provides is through Muddy Water, which has the nice (moderate) chance of lowering the targets’ accuracy. This makes the team as a whole a lot harder to hit, which can really improve the odds of surviving a drawn out match. The rest of May’s set help accentuate this tech, through Dizzying Power, On a Roll, Hide and Sync, as well as accuracy nodes for the somewhat inaccurate move.
As a minor note, Mudkip’s Water Gun (in lieu of Muddy Water) actually provides a slightly different spin for ⅕ models. Water Gun’s low energy cost turns Mudkip into a fast Sync grinder. It should be noted that Rain Dance MPR is only available when players get their second copy of May, however.
May’s role as the Rain setter means that she fares well in any game mode where Weather assault is useful. The accuracy drops that it inflicts are most reliable in single wave stages since the drops stick throughout the battle, as compared to the replacements in Full Force Battles and Battle Villa boss stages.
How Do I Use It? (Grid, Lucky Skills, And Comps):
May’s most valuable Sync Grid nodes are nicely tucked into the bottom right sector, allowing players to easily nab Rain Dance MPR, Refreshing Rain, Increment Intellect, and a Muddy Water Accuracy node. The other Muddy Water Accuracy node is slightly harder to attain on the top right sector, though it is near Dire Rain. The given Sync Grid setup sacrifices the On A Roll node on the bottom left for Muddy Water Power nodes and the aforementioned Dire Rain to give better overall damage against Impervious stages.
May’s role as the Rain setter of the metagame sees her fit nicely with Water Type Sync Pairs like Kris, Wallace, and Sygna Suit Grimsley. She is also an excellent fit alongside Clair & Kingdra, who now finally has a reliable Rain setter to let it shine. Then there are two honorable mentions who benefit from Rain in different ways.
Sygna Suit Elesa is a perfect third member alongside May and Clair. Thunder bypasses accuracy checks while it is Raining. Muddy Water’s accuracy drops then synergize fantastically with Sygna Suit Elesa’s evasion buffs to make Rotom near untouchable. Rotom then returns the favor by boosting the team’s Special Attack, Critical Hit rate, and accuracy, which both Muddy Water and Draco Meteor benefit from. Rotom can also help Paralyze foes to unlock Kingdra’s damage potential.
The other beneficiary is Zinnia, whose Weather Surge 3 gives it a nice power boost while it is raining. May and Zinnia are both Hoenn Sync Pairs, giving a small boost to Zinnia’s damage output. Players can then round out the core with either the aforementioned Sygna Suit Elesa, or a Support Sync Pair like Sygna Suit Blue or Hilbert.
Is It Worth Pulling?
Yes. Players who intend to use Rain dependent Sync Pairs are finally given the proper means to do so through May, who also has utility value that extends beyond the setting of Weather. The only notable reason to ignore her debut banner is that she is not a PokeFair exclusive, which means that players can technically get her through pulling on future banners, albeit at a much lower probability.
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