ZA Move until I found a virtually unbeatable strategy

Pokemon Legends: ZAPlaying a new take on the series definitely takes some time to click, even for a seasoned player like myself. Managing cooldowns on my team's turns feels more like playing an MMO than a traditional game Pokemon game, but it also opens the door to new strategies that stick. While I think Pokemon Legends: ZAThe overall shift from turn-based to active-time combat is a fun battle for a series that has started to stagnate in recent years, and there's sure to be some frustration with how some moves have been reworked to accommodate this change.

As a passionate competitor Pokemon Players, I know very well how good it is to have Protect on your mons. The ability to strategically negate damage is a game changer that can help turn the tide of battle even in casual gameplay. However, Pokemon Legends: ZAThe combat mechanics had me pulling my hair out over this move for the longest time, but once I found that sweet spot I realized that Protect is one of the best moves in the game when used correctly.

Pokemon Legends: ZA's Changes to Protect will take some getting used to

Accessing TM for Protect is fairly easy; all he needs is to reach rank 4 in Mable's Research Pokemon Legends: ZA. I reached this point within the first few hours of my playing and immediately taught TM to every member of my party. I fully expected to use it in my first ZA Royale pro match, but when my attempts to use Protect to block Zach's Pikachu from dealing super-effective damage to my Totodil failed, I became annoyed with the move and decided that the game wanted me to favor an offensive over defensive playstyle.

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How Protect changed in Pokemon Legends: ZA's

Type: Normal
Category: Status
Cooldown: 15
Effect: The user takes a protective stance that prevents incoming attacks from landing.

Historically, Protect behaved as a priority move Pokemonturn-based combat that allowed the user to negate all damage received from an opponent in a given round. The downside of this move was that it had a very high chance of failure if the player used it multiple times in a row. While Pokemon Legends: ZA removes the clause about Protect failing if used multiple times in a row, has a pretty long 15 second duration to prevent players from spamming the move.

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Instead of a guaranteed protection against damage that changes, Protect now offers the user a small window of invulnerability to prevent incoming attacks from dealing damage. This is where it got tricky for me; Timing the use of Protect correctly meant that I had to pay attention to when my opponent's Pokémon were attacking in order to activate the move in that protect window. Finding where this window lies and anticipating your opponent's attacks took a lot of getting used to, but I'm glad I stuck with it in the end because I found Protect to be invaluable in Pokemon Legends: ZAlate game.

Detect is another step that offers protection against incoming attacks. However, fewer Pokemon can learn it, and this move has a shorter protection window than Protect, as well as a shorter cooldown.

With the right strategy, Protect becomes an essential move in Pokemon Legends: ZA

Managing Protect's cooldown along with the timing of its protection window could be frustrating for me at first. However, I eventually realized that the key to success was to keep an eye on enemy Pokémon when the move they were about to use appeared overhead. Most Pokemon have a short window between when the move is shown and when the move actually follows, where activating Protect can block the move completely. With enough practice, I was able to find that sweet spot and use Protect to save my Pokemon from some tough situations in both the main story and Pokemon Legends: ZAalso online ranked battles.