A never before seen mythical Pokémon for Sword and Shield has just been revealed, and it’s probably not at all what you were expecting.
Confirmed today via a new trailer (above) uploaded to YouTube, Zarude, dubbed the “Rogue Monkey Pokémon” is headed to the Switch exclusives in the near future, presumably as part of the pair’s upcoming DLC expansions. It’s worth noting, however, following a cursory glance over the ‘Mon’s official bio page, that Game Freak plans to make this particularly elusive Pokédex entry an event-only addition, meaning it won’t be obtainable through normal means. The news will come as no surprise to longtime collectors, of course, though it remains to be seen how, when and where the primate will be made available.
Trainers can likely expect further details on that front in the near future but for now, you can check out the latest addition to Galar’s ecosystem via the gallery below.
What we do know about Zarude, on the other hand, is its type and special ability.
Interestingly, Game Freak has opted to give this latest mythical discovery a dual Dark/Grass typing. Not only does this break the developer’s current trend of giving the rarest creatures their own unique type pairing, but an incredibly weak one at that. Both Dark and Grass-types suffer a 2x weakness to Bug-type Pokémon, meaning this little fella will take whopping quadruple damage from any such attack.
Furthermore, Zarude’s Leaf Guard ability is one commonly found on existing Grass-types and often found at the bottom of tier lists as far as competitive battling is concerned. Is Zarude’s somewhat underwhelming stat sheet a hint that perhaps it has another, more powerful form? Tough to say, but at the very least, the studio gets an A from me in terms of aesthetics.
Pokémon Sword and Shield are available now for Nintendo Switch with two DLC expansions, Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra, due to arrive in by the end of 2020. See here for everything we know so far about the add-ons.