Arriving with Pokémon Unite‘s first major balance patch is a truly unfortunate Gengar bug. The bug prevents Gengar’s move Hex from dealing damage about half of the times it’s used, according to Dot Esports.
Hex still allows Gengar to teleport to its target, but upon arriving, it sometimes deals no damage. Hex also occasionally doesn’t receive its cooldown reduction from attacking a Pokémon with a status condition. The bug was confirmed by the official Pokémon Unite Twitter account, and an in-game message given to all users on login states that the development team is very sorry for the bug and that they’re working on a fix.
The following bugs have been confirmed in the current version of the game.
Details
– Gengar: HexWe deeply apologize for any inconvenience this may be causing and hope to have all issues fixed soon.
— Pokémon UNITE (@PokemonUnite) August 4, 2021
Gengar’s Sludge Bomb/Hex combo was one of the most powerful solo Pokémon combos at the game’s launch. Sludge Bomb gives the opposing Pokémon a status condition, while Hex chases a Pokémon and deals extra damage if the opposing Pokémon has a status condition. Used together, these two moves could weaken, chase, and defeat an opposing Pokémon in seconds.
Even without Sludge Bomb, Hex was so powerful on launch that the development team nerfed it in patch 1.1.1.4, decreasing its damage and shortening its window of invulnerability. Unfortunately, the nerf also came with the unintended bug, making Gengar too unstable for any sort of play, be it high-level competitive or regular random matches.
While players have determined what the bug is on their own, Nintendo and TiMi have not confirmed any information other than acknowledging that an issue with Gengar exists and that they “hope to have all issues fixed soon.”
Pokemon Unite is available now on Nintendo Switch and will release on mobile devices in September.
