TL;DR

Mega Diancie is now the best rock attacker in solo power.

• Mega Tyranitar outperforms it in group damage (neutral typings) even if just one other player uses rock. But in that case, a background Primal may work even better.

Although Geomancy Xerneas is now #2 non-mega and #1 non-mega non-shadow, it’s still well below non-shadow dragons (Haxorus, Dragonite etc) and Shadow Gardevoir. Very usable, but doesn’t change the fairy metagame in raids.

• Similar to Zacian, Xurkitree and Shadow Granbull – yes, all three as fairy raid attackers – or maybe marginally better.
• L40 Xerneas ≈ L45 Gardevoir/Togekiss.

Event Info

Diancie and Mega Diancie will be released during Go Fest 2023.

• Players who attend in-person Go Fests (Osaka and London, Aug 4-6; NYC, Aug 18-20) can get Diancie from special research, and Diancie Mega Energy from field research in parks and Tier 2 Carbink raids.
• Players who buy a ticket for Go Fest Global (Aug 26-27) can get Diancie from paid special research, and Diancie Mega Energy from Tier 2 Carbink raids only.
• Players who do not buy a ticket for Go Fest Global will likely get Diancie for free in a few months. Presumably, they can still get Diancie Mega Energy from Tier 2 Carbink raids during Go Fest Global.

Xerneas returns to raids during August 16-23 and August 27-September 1, together with Yveltal. Xerneas caught during this time will know its exclusive fairy-type fast move Geomancy (and Yveltal with Oblivion Wing). You will also be able to use an Elite Fast TM to get Geomancy.

Mega Diancie as a Rock Attacker

Chart with ASE and ASE Dodge can be found here.

Mega Diancie (Rock Throw/Rock Slide) debuts as the strongest rock-type solo attacker in the game.

• In terms of individual power, even Level 50 Mega Tyranitar is slightly below L40 Mega Diancie.
• It’s also stronger than future shadows (e.g. Shadow Rhyperior and Shadow Rampardos).

However, in group raids, Mega Tyranitar contributes more damage (thus group DPS) than Mega Diancie does (if neither has a typing advantage), because it provides the mega boost to other players for almost twice as long as Mega Diancie does.

• This is true even if there’s only one other player using rock attackers.
• Additionally, while Mega Aerodactyl is (barely) weaker than both, it can provide XL boost when catching flying-type raid bosses after serving as a counter to them. Most players will probably just use Mega Aerodactyl instead.

The caveat is that, in these scenarios, running a “background Primal” in the 6th slot may be even better than running any rock-type Megas.

• This is because Primals (and maybe Mega Rayquaza) still provide the damage boost to others as long as they’re in your raid party, even if they’re not currently on the battle field. So if you relobby as soon as your first 5 Pokemon die, they essentially provide a permanent damage boost.
• Note: The plot assumes you go through all your 5 Pokemon, so that’s probably a rather small lobby. If the raid ends before that, Mega Tyranitar may still be better than a background Primal.

Geomancy Xerneas and Mega Diancie as Fairy Attackers

Chart with ASE and ASE Dodge can be found here.

If you never used (or even thought of) Zacian, Shadow Granbull and Xurkitree as raid attackers, then Xerneas won’t be of much help to you, either.

On average, Xerneas (Geomancy/Moonblast) is the #2 non-mega fairy attacker and the #1 non-shadow non-mega.

• It only sits behind Shadow Gardevoir, Mega Gardevoir, Shadow Granbull (situationally) ^{and legacy Mega Alakazam}.

However… Not only is it only a little bit better than Zacian and Xurkitree (the previous top regular fairy attackers), but it (at L40) also falls behind a L45-50 regular Gardevoir/Togekiss, and isn’t a huge difference from L40 Gardevoir either.

• Zacian, in particular, becomes even better than Xerneas when being used against dragon bosses, which is the main use case for fairy attackers. But they’re still extremely similar. (It does better than average because Snarl deals at least neutral damage.)

Mega Diancie is underwhelming as a fairy attacker, primarily due to no fairy fast move.

• Charm is legal, but Niantic said no. Being stuck with Moonblast (a bad PvE move) doesn’t help, either. Diancie got a huge W in its rock moveset, but a huge L in its fairy moveset.

Fairy vs. Dragon attackers

Chart with ASE and ASE Dodge can be found here.

Geomancy Xerneas remains well below even non-shadow dragon attackers – even as “low” as Dragonite.

• Considering even Shadow Gardevoir only ties non-shadow dragons, this is no surprise.
• Caveat: If the boss has dragon charged moves, Xerneas will likely be better than most non-shadow dragons and perhaps even some shadow dragons. But this only happens 1/4 to 1/3 of the time.
  • No charts for Xerneas, but old charts are here as part of the Mega Gardevoir analysis. Refer to Shadow Granbull and Zacian on that chart for an approximation.

Xerneas Verdict

Overall, while Geomancy finally makes Xerneas usable and counters a huge number of raid bosses, it has rather minimal impact on the current state of fairy attackers and their role in raids. It does whatever Zacian and Shadow Granbull do, neither of which are not very notable to begin with.

Unless you want a Xerneas for other reasons (e.g. PvP), your resources are probably better spent on other types and Shadow Gardevoir. If you really want something to raid, save your passes for Spacial Rend Palkia and Roar of Time Dialga, which may be coming soon.

Fairy Speculations: Xerneas, Mega Diancie and Tapus

TL;DR: Lots of rooms for improvement, but too unlikely and/or unimpactful. Waiting for Enamorus is the most realistic option.

Chart with ASE and ASE Dodge can be found here.

Xerneas can really benefit from a better charged move, but it’s unlikely to happen.

• Moonblast is a bad move in PvE, even though in PvP it’s one of the best fairy charged moves. For raids, you instead want Geomancy/Play Rough which is the best combination, and Dazzling Gleam is very closely behind.
• Geomancy/Play Rough makes Xerneas a lot more competitive as a non-shadow. Largely surpasses Shadow Gardevoir, and now blends in the group of non-shadow dragons (between Rayquaza and the rest). Still behind shadow dragons.
• I doubt it will happen, though. Neither PR nor DG offers any improvements in PvP.

While it has a lot of room for better fairy moves, Mega Diancie will probably never surpass Mega Gardevoir significantly, no matter what moves you give it.

• Charm/Moonblast allows it to be top-tier, but still below Mega Gardevoir. Even Charm/Play Rough only ties Mega Gardevoir while having less bulk (so worse in group damage).

The Tapus will likely get their shared signature move, Nature’s Madness, at some point. After Geomancy, it’s reasonable to suspect that NM may become a fast move. IF it’s as good as Geomancy, many Tapus can land on similar levels as Xerneas or higher, though probably not far beyond that.

• Tapu Bulu and Koko only need a fairy fast move to work. Slightly better than Xerneas, but the difference is marginal.
• Tapu Lele has the best potential in terms of stats, but it needs another charged move to realize that. With Moonblast, it falls below Xerneas.

The most realistic option for a future fairy attacker instead lies in Enamorus Incarnate. With a non-signature moveset, Fairy Wind/Play Rough, it can already land on the same level as Xerneas and Shadow Gardevoir.

• Zacian Crown, Flutter Mane and Iron Valiant are other future prospects. For more information, refer to my Mega Gardevoir analysis where I did a full breakdown.

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Past analyses on other types

A complete list of all my past analyses – on every single type other than normal – can now be found in this spreadsheet!

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What’s Next?

Next article will probably be Mega Rayquaza and Oblivion Wing Yveltal. However, it will probably not be ready in time for Osaka and London Go Fests, as I have a crazy week or two coming up.

Depending on timing, you might instead see an article on Greninja first.