Pokémon Scarlet and Violet players torn on best Ursaluna—but results may hold the answer

Ursaluna was one of the best Pokémon to come out of Legends: Arceus and its Bloodmoon form was one of the best new additions from the Scarlet and Violet The Teal Mask DLC. Now players can’t decide which form is superior in competitive play, but we do have some tournament stats to provide some clarity.

In an Oct. 1 Reddit thread, one Pokémon player asked the VGC community which Ursaluna is stronger—its standard form or Bloodmoon form? Players all had their opinions with good reasons to back them up, but the debate was still split down the middle.

Standard Ursaluna is a hard-hitting physical attacker with Guts as its Ability. While most physical attackers hate to be burned due to the huge decrease in damage, Ursaluna’s Guts ability actually does the opposite and boosts its Attack when inflicted with a status condition. In this way, Ursaluna is protected not only from the Attack-lowering effect of burn but also from other annoying status conditions like sleep and freeze. 

This gives Ursaluna the freedom to deal massive damage with the destructive combination of Guts, Facade, and its naturally high Attack stat. The only thing it needs to really look out for is any Intimidate ‘mons like Landorus and Arcanine that can drop its Attack.

On the other hand, Bloodmoon Ursaluna is a special attacker with a signature ability and signature move that only makes it stronger. Normally Ghost-type Pokémon would be immune to Normal and Fighting attacks, but the Mind’s Eye ability allows Bloodmoon Ursaluna to hit ghosts like Flutter Mane with those types of moves. This means no ghost is safe to switch in when the scary bear is ready to launch one of its strong attacks. And if that wasn’t already enough, Mind’s Eye also keeps the scary bear’s accuracy from being lowered, so it doesn’t have to ever worry about missing its most reliable attacks.

And unlike the standard Ursaluna, its Bloodmoon form is the only Pokémon in the game with access to the move Blood Moon, a 140 base power attack with a very small drawback. While high base power attacks are usually balanced with huge drawbacks like recharge or recoil, Blood Moon’s only drawback is that it cannot be used twice in a row. Just use it every other turn and you’re fine. You can even switch off between Protect and Blood Moon if you have to.

While both Ursaluna forms are strong in their own ways, one was used a bit more than the other at the Beastcoast Safari Zone Tournament this past weekend with some of the best VGC players in attendance. Neither bear was sitting at the top of the usage charts under the new Regulation E ruleset, but standard Ursaluna had 9.18 percent usage, and its Bloodmoon form was at only 4.08 percent. 

It’s possible VGC players still feel a bit more comfortable with the standard form since it was legal in the previous Regulation D ruleset. The Bloodmoon form was just introduced into the games last month through The Teal Mask DLC, so it definitely hasn’t been through as much testing yet.

That being said, there are a bunch of upcoming tournaments this month, and it’s still very early in the format. Hopefully, we start to see more Ursaluna usage soon because both forms are pretty awesome.