The Enduring Formation balance patch drops on June 17, 2026 at 07:00 UTC and it is already turning heads. Pokemon like Sylveon, Tinkaton, Armarouge, and Falinks are getting some of the biggest buffs they have seen in months, while Greninja, Machamp, and Meganium are all being pulled back. Ranked Season 36 ends alongside this update, so every change here hits immediately in a fresh ranked environment.

If you have been shelving weaker picks and forcing Greninja every game, this patch rewrites that plan. Below is every confirmed change, what it actually does in a match, and which Pokemon you should be picking up on day one.

Greninja Gets Hit Hard Across Four Moves

Greninja has been the dominant force in ranked play for weeks, sitting at roughly a 40% pick rate and the highest win rate in the current meta. Timi’s response is a four-move nerf package targeting Water Shuriken, Double Team, Surf, and Smokescreen.

This is not a soft tap. When a Pokemon this pick-heavy gets multiple moves nerfed at once, the goal is to drop it out of must-pick territory fast. Greninja will still be a good Pokemon after this patch, but the era of throwing it blind into any comp and winning is likely over. Expect its pick rate to drop sharply in the first week of Season 37.

Sylveon Is Now a Real Mage Option

Sylveon has been sitting awkwardly behind stronger Special Attackers for a long time. This patch targets that directly with a full set of changes:

  • Pixelate ability: Special Attack and Special Defense boost per stack increased from 2.5% to 5%, capped at four stacks

  • Hyper Voice: 15% more damage when hitting from range

  • Calm Mind: 1-second cooldown reduction

  • General damage: 8% increase across moves

The Hyper Voice range buff is the most important change here. Sylveon’s whole identity is staying at a safe distance and punishing with long-range hits, and a 15% damage increase on those hits is a big jump. Pair this with the stacking Pixelate buff and Sylveon now has a real damage ceiling. Carmine (the variant Hyper Voice build) also gets the 15% increase, so both paths forward are viable from day one.

Armarouge Gets the Mage Buffs It Needed

Armarouge has been falling short of other mages for a while, and this patch throws it a proper lifeline:

  • Armor Cannon: 8% damage increase

  • Fire Spin: More shield, less cooldown

  • Flame Charge: 30% damage increase and a 10% shield boost

  • General move damage: 8% increase

Flame Charge’s 30% damage jump is a standout number. That is the kind of buff that moves a Pokemon from “technically playable” to “actually scary.” Between Armarouge and Sylveon both getting real buffs in the same patch, the Special Attack lane has more options than it has had in recent months.

Tinkaton’s Unite Move Change Is the Biggest Surprise

Tinkaton gets several quality-of-life buffs, but one number stands out:

  • Max attack stacks: Raised from 60 to 100

  • Gigaton Hammer (0.5s charge): 25% damage increase

  • Gigaton Hammer (1s charge): 8% damage increase

  • Unite Move opponent lockout: Increased from 0.75 seconds to 1.2 seconds

That Unite Move change is almost half a second of extra lockout time on opponents. It sounds small on paper, but in practice it is the exact window needed to land Gigaton Hammer cleanly after the Unite without enemies dashing away. This combo was inconsistent before. Now it is a genuine kill confirm. Tinkaton mains are going to have a lot of fun on June 17.

Falinks Gets Buffs to Its Weakest Moves

Falinks’s strong moves (Iron Head and Beat Up) are staying mostly untouched because they are already performing well as a counter-pick setup. This patch instead targets the underperforming moveset:

  • Megahorn: Shield duration increased, 30% additional damage (up to 5% of target’s max HP)

  • No Retreat: Cooldown reduced, damage reduction increased

  • Unite Move: Cooldown reduced

No Retreat getting a cooldown reduction is meaningful for sustain builds. Falinks is still a last-pick Pokemon where you want to counter bad matchups, but now its off-meta builds have more teeth. The passive is still the main reason this Pokemon struggles in open lobbies, but the buffs are at least pointed in the right direction.

Empoleon, Absol, Hatterene, and Lapras All Getting Work

Several other Pokemon are getting targeted fixes:

Empoleon

  • Metal Claw: 10% damage increase

  • Whirlpool: 12% damage increase

Both moves have been underperforming for a while. This is a correction, not a power spike, but it makes Empoleon a more consistent option in the lanes.

Absol

  • Psycho Cut: 20% damage increase

  • Pursuit: 8% damage increase

  • Unite Move gauge raised to 80,000

Because Psycho Cut and Pursuit share synergy with Night Slash and Sucker Punch respectively, those moves get indirect buffs too. The Unite Move gauge raise changes how often it comes online in a game, which has a real impact on Absol’s threat in teamfights.

Hatterene

  • Point Puff: Higher HP increase and more damage reduction

  • Cotton Guard: Cooldown reduced

  • Leaf Tornado: Movement speed buff lasts longer

  • Unite Move: More HP recovery

Hatterene has a 47% win rate overall despite individual builds sitting at 48% or higher, which is a strange disconnect. These buffs are reasonable corrections. Whether they are enough to fix the underlying issue remains to be seen, but the changes are solid.

Lapras

  • Single-instance damage reduction (when one hit exceeds 10% HP): Increased from 20% to 25%

  • Brine cooldown: Reduced

  • Ice Beam: Movement speed on ice increased from 20% to 40%

The Ice Beam movement change makes Lapras’s ice control a much more active tool. Moving at 40% bonus speed on your own ice while the enemy slows down creates real zone pressure that was not there before. The Brine cooldown reduction also benefits vanguard-style builds where you need it cycling faster.

Skeledirge

  • Torch Song cooldown after activation: 20 to 15 seconds

  • Snare duration (opponents left in fear): 0.5 to 0.7 seconds

Skeledirge is still new, so the community is still figuring out what it actually needs. A 5-second cooldown reduction on Torch Song is a strong start.

The Nerfs: Machamp, Ceruledge, Moltres, Meganium, and Articuno

Beyond Greninja, several other Pokemon are being trimmed:

Machamp: Submission cooldown increased by 1.5 seconds. This kills Machamp’s ability to chain Submission aggressively. It is a targeted nerf that makes the window to punish it much easier to hit.

Ceruledge: Shadow Sneak nerfed, Bitter Blade gets a higher cooldown. Ceruledge has been a high-pick Pokemon in recent weeks and this is a fair correction.

Moltres: Flame Body passive burning damage reduced by 10%, Heat Wave damage reduced, HP recovery nerfed. Moltres is quietly one of the more oppressive Pokémon at higher skill levels and this patch addresses its sustained pressure.

Meganium: Getting another nerf after already being adjusted in the May 28 patch. Petal Dance takes a damage and healing cut, the Unite Move charge requirement jumps to 90,000 (up from 30,000), and shield bonuses are reduced. Timi confirmed the Unite Move was activating too frequently because of goal-scoring and wild Pokémon energy gains.

Articuno: Basic attacks deal 20% less damage and there is a cooldown increase on top. Articuno has been a difficult Pokemon to make work even before this patch, so this nerf is likely to push it out of serious consideration for a while.

Ranked Season 36 Ends With the Update

The patch also brings the end of Ranked Match Season 36. Ranked seasons now run on a monthly cycle, resetting every 30 days. That means players have until the June 17 update window to finalize their rank. Season 37 then begins in a completely new meta shaped by all of these changes.

If you are still climbing before the reset, Greninja is still the safest carry pick for the next few hours. After the patch lands, the smart play is to test Sylveon or Armarouge in the first days while the meta is still unsettled.