What's your opinion on Terrain?

[Sweet Serenity]

Of course, Terrain is a type of field effect that affects Pokémon on the ground. Four different types of Terrain exist, which are Psychic Terrain, Electric Terrain, Grassy Terrain, and Misty Terrain. Each type of Terrain has different effects. For example, Psychic Terrain powers up Psychic-type moves used by grounded Pokémon by 30% and prevents Pokémon from being hit by priority moves. Electric Terrain powers up grounded Pokémon's Electric-type moves by 30% and prevents them from falling asleep. Misty Terrain halves damage taken by Pokémon on the ground from Dragon-type moves and prevents all status conditions. Grassy Terrain powers up Grass-type moves used by grounded Pokémon and gradually restores a bit of HP at the end of each turn. Of course, Terrain also has additional effects, such as how they affect certain moves, but I feel that listing the basics here is enough.

Do you use them often in your battle style?
Is it just another feature that isn't too much different to weather?
Are you just not really interested in it?
Do you think more types can use different types of Terrain, or do we have enough? If so, what types?

 

[_confused_piplup_]

Well, in gen 9 I haven't really used it yet. Since I have a pretty mixed team (for the main story), I don't really have a weather/terrain strategy. I am not sure how much Terrains will be used in competitive, even if they're pretty strong. Surely, if Legendary pokemon will be allowed we'll see them, probably thanks to the Tapus.

Now, talking about my experience, Terrains were pretty common and useful in gen 8 thanks to Dynamax. When I had the chance, I used them in battle, because it was indeed a nice secondary effect. I like how Terrains work: they are pretty useful and they have nice effects. The fact that they aren't so different from the weather isn't really a big matter, to me at least. Actually, they open up to more combinations and battle scenarios. They worked pretty well with Dynamax, idk here how they will be implemented.
I also don't really think there should be more terrains, as the main types are now all covered. I think Fairy types are quite present in the competitive scene too. So, I wouldn't add anything else tbh. I already feel like most of the pokemon can already take advantage from weather or Terrains somehow.

 

[Figment]

Honestly, the idea is cool, but I just hardly ever use it unless a Pokemon I'm using has a ability that automatically sets it. I've seen Arboliva set up Grassy Terrain in raids and thats been somewhat helpful.

The most I've interacted with terrains is actually in Pokemon Masters EX. They have Electric, Grass, and Psychic terrain which are pretty useful 1.5x multipliers to your damage, sometimes theres passive abilities that benefit from the terrain. But there's also an extension to this concept, Zones. They can be set just like terrain, but can be of ANY type, they don't have the additional effects from the mainline games but they do have the damage multipliers.

Here's a list of all the Zone Setters as of December 2022:

Spoiler:

Ghost: SS Renegade Cynthia and Altered Giratina, SC Lillie and Antique Polteageist
Dragon: Lucas and Normal Dialga
Steel: Palentines Marnie and Mega Mawile
Dark: SS Cyrus and Darkrai, Champion Calem and Shiny Greninja
Flying: Anniversary Skyla and Therian Tornadus
Bug: SC Ingo and Accelgor
Ground: Courtney and Mega Camerupt
Fighting: SS Aura Cynthia and Mega Lucario
Fairy: SS Wally and Shiny Mega Gardevoir
Poison: Halloween Iris and Naganadel

Theres now a Terrain/Zone for every type other than Normal, Fire (Sun), Water (Rain) Ice (Hail/Snow), and Rock (Sandstorm).

 

[Devalue]

Rarely uses them.
1. Gains a bigger offensive boost from even weak boosting moves like Howl.
2. Lacks access to good ways to set it up. Placed the Surge abilities on legendaries and hidden abilities. Generally forbids Dynamaxing outside raids.

Probably should use it in Tera Raids, actually. One specific Tera Raid (Amoonguss), to be precise. Hm. Fights with a potential Arboliva partner and Amoonguss putting Grassy Terrain up for free, however.

Feels a little less interesting than weather. Created interesting synergy around weather (such as Chlorophyll, Leaf Guard, and Solar Beam changes). What plays with Terrain? Maybe one move per Terrain, plus Alolan's Raichu's ability. Tends not to see priority moves on the AI either.

Wants to be more interested in it. Enjoys weather a lot. Please introduce more ways to set it up AND benefit from it.

Could use something for Bug types. What would you call it? Buzzing Terrain? Amplifies Bug and sound-based moves or something. Maybe deals Infestation damage to non-Bug, non-Fire types (not the trapping effect, though).

 

[ReKoil]

I pretty much only saw them set up in gen 8 when using a Max move that set it up for me. Outside of that I don't think I've ever used any.
And the Grassy Terrain effect tended to be more of a nuisance since it would more often than not also heal my opponent every turn.

 

[Nah]

It is kinda just weather in the sense that terrains are an environmental thing that provide passive effects to the Pokemon in the battle, but there's nothing wrong with that. I can't say I use it a whole lot simply because it's not necessary to get too much into strategy for regular playthroughs. But I had a nice little terrain and weather Doubles team going in the SwSh Battle Tower with HA Rillaboom+HA Incineroar as the leads, followed by an Alolan Ninetales and Dusk Lycanroc. My Violet team has Electric Terrain on it since I swapped in Miraidon after completing the main story, but it's not like the team is built around it since all the other member were added beforehand.

Needs more automatic setters in order for it to become common though, as manual setup for terrain and weather is not ideal. In the Gen 7 meta though terrain was common because the Tapus were everywhere

 

[Sweet Serenity]

To provide my answers on Terrain, I definitely incorporate it in my game plans. However, my preferred Terrain is definitely Psychic Terrain at the moment. Currently, I am using Psychic Terrain set up by my female Indeedee in Doubles with Veluza as her partner. My Veluza uses the Psychic Terrain to powerup his Psycho Cut, which already gets powered up by Fillet Away. To use Fillet Away safely, I have Indeedee use Follow Me so he wouldn't be attacked before or after he sets up, and have Veluza recover the health he lost because of the move with a Sitrus Berry. Veluza's Psycho Cut is already powered up by his ability Sharpness as well, making him very powerful. I also like to combine Terrain with Weather for more power. For instance, I switch Indeedee in for Pelipper to bring Rain Dance with its Drought ability, which powers up Veluza's Aqua Cutter even further, which is also powered up by Sharpness. It's an underrated, hidden gem strategy that I thought of when testing teams for competitive.

 

[Sheep]

I've never willingly used terrain, like ever. It just never appealed to me as someone who doesn't competitively battle and I admit I still can't tell you most of the terrain moves' effects lol. Misty Terrain has the benefit of having a pretty name though.. but otherwise, they're forgotten features to me. Maybe when I start battling more often. (b' ')b

 

[Corveone]

I like terrains, but barely actually use them due to their very limited availability (I mean, for Pokémon that can set them up without wasting a turn)

I like Electric Terrain, because it temporarily blocks a mechanic I never liked much for how volatile and luck based it is. I don't normally use Sleep inducing moves other than Yawn in trainer battles (only for catching, and even then I prefer Paralysis)... But I'm not going to use Tapu Koko or Miraidon, so that leaves... Pincurchin...

Grassy Terrain is also nice because of the Grass offensive boost, but it can sometimes be annoying with how it slows battles down healing everyone at the end of each turn (especially in doubles). Luckily this one is a bit more widespread, I used it with Arboliva and Rillaboom.

Psychic Terrain... not a big fan of it because I like priority moves. Doubt I'll ever use it for the same reasons as Electric Terrain anyway. Psychic Surge is basically Indeedee exclusive and I don't find this Pokémon appealing at all (doubt anyone actually does, its Ability seems likely the only reason why anyone would ever use it)

Indiferent towards Misty Terrain so far. Fairy types are already immune to Dragon so halving Dragon attacks power seems mostly a thing that could be relevant for double battles. Oddly enough it doesn't boost Fairy moves unlike the other Terrains. Blocking status conditions is definitely interesting and can mess with many strategies. Never used it so far.

 

[Sweet Serenity]

I like terrains, but barely actually use them due to their very limited availability (I mean, for Pokémon that can set them up without wasting a turn)

I like Electric Terrain, because it temporarily blocks a mechanic I never liked much for how volatile and luck based it is. I don't normally use Sleep inducing moves other than Yawn in trainer battles (only for catching, and even then I prefer Paralysis)... But I'm not going to use Tapu Koko or Miraidon, so that leaves... Pincurchin...

Grassy Terrain is also nice because of the Grass offensive boost, but it can sometimes be annoying with how it slows battles down healing everyone at the end of each turn (especially in doubles). Luckily this one is a bit more widespread, I used it with Arboliva and Rillaboom.

Psychic Terrain... not a big fan of it because I like priority moves. Doubt I'll ever use it for the same reasons as Electric Terrain anyway. Psychic Surge is basically Indeedee exclusive and I don't find this Pokémon appealing at all (doubt anyone actually does, its Ability seems likely the only reason why anyone would ever use it)

Indiferent towards Misty Terrain so far. Fairy types are already immune to Dragon so halving Dragon attacks power seems mostly a thing that could be relevant for double battles. Oddly enough it doesn't boost Fairy moves unlike the other Terrains. Blocking status conditions is definitely interesting and can mess with many strategies. Never used it so far.

Very good post. I agree with you.

You're right, sleep is very broken. People use their Brelooms and Amoongus to spam Spore all the time and put your entire party to sleep. It's annoying. Electric Terrain definitely does a great job of stopping that. I love the boosts too for Electric-type moves. Grassy Terrain is also good, but you're right about how it slows down a battle with the healing. If only Game Freak programmed it to work all at once instead of one at a time and it would be much better. Psychic Terrain is good if you play Doubles. In Double battles, it's common for players to use Fake Out during the beginning of the battle to make one of the opponent's Pokémon flinch, which makes it easier for you to set up. It's also not uncommon for players to abuse Prankster status moves as well, such as a Prankster Thunder Wave to paralyze your fastest Pokémon or Prankster Will-o-Wisp to burn your physical attacker. Psychic Terrain puts a stop to this.

Indeedee actually is appealing for many players not only because of Psychic Surge, but also its excellent support capabilities such as the female being able to learn Follow Me and healing moves in Doubles. Its Normal/Psychic typing is also good too because it completely nullifies its Ghost-type weakness. The female is also defensive enough to pull this off. Yes, Misty Terrain not boosting Fairy-type attacks is a good thing in my opinion, mainly because the Fairy-type is already kind of broken anyway, but the immunity to status moves is so good. As for halving Dragon-type moves, mind you it halves the damage from Dragon-type moves for any Pokémon, not just Fairy-types. Either way, I'm still not a big fan of that effect because I never really saw Dragon-types as so much of a threat to where I said, "Oh my god, Dragons! I just HAVE to set this Misty Terrain!" Overall, Terrain seems to be better for Doubles in general though.

One thing that I liked about generation 8 though was that despite Dynamax being kind of broken, it made it easier to set Terrain, which I found fun. I came up with a lot of strategies doing that.

 

[Janp]

I really like the idea of terrains, but they are implemented in such a bad way, that I never bother with them. They have nice small boost, but nothing game-changing or something that couldn't be achieved better with other moves/items.

Now that I think about it, it would be nice challenge to do a run based around these moves.

 

[Duck]

I like the idea of them but I've never felt the need to use them in-game.

Like a bunch of mechanics really. I just wish they showed up more in the single player campaign.