Pokémon: Palkia Ability Pressure/Telepathy Roles Wallbreaker, setup sweeper, special wall, stallbreaker Assessment
My first Pokémon game was Pearl, but the impression its box legendary left on me was of getting absolutely demolished by Cynthia.
Palkia was one of only two Water/Dragon Pokémon. Before Generation VI, that typing offered excellent coverage, with only Ferrothorn and Empoleon resisting both STABs, and Dragon was its sole weakness. In the era of permanent rain and Water Spout Kyogre, Palkia's quadruple Water resistance, lack of weaknesses to Electric and Ice, and higher Speed made it one of the best choices for holding Kyogre off. But everyone knew what happened after ORAS. Once Groudon turned the tables on Kyogre, Palkia, which had benefited from Kyogre's dominance, also took a major hit. On top of that, it was one of the Dragon legendaries collectively weakened by Xerneas's influence. Fairy types became even stronger in Generation VII, but fortunately, Palkia had base 100 Speed, and that mattered a great deal. Compared with Dialga, Palkia made much better use of Z-Heal Block. Base 100 Speed at least put it at the top of the usual box legendaries' Speed range, making setup wonderfully comfortable. The catch was that it took up the team's one Z-Move slot, and its destructive power still fell a little short of Z-Geomancy Xerneas, Z-Splash Solgaleo, or Z-Move Arceus, especially with Hydro Pump's awful accuracy and Spacial Rend's less-than-reliable accuracy. Still, it was doing better than those Generation V dragons. Its other base stats were almost identical to Dialga's, with only the two defensive stats swapped. That difference did have its uses: most of Water/Dragon's resistances were on the special side, so Palkia needed that little distinction. With an Assault Vest in Generation V, even Choice Specs Kyogre's Thunder failed to take off half