Pokémon UNITE March Patch Brings Long-Range Tactics, Balance Changes, and Shop Deals

Venusaur and Dragonite headlined the March 19 "Long-Range Tactics Part 2" patch for Pokémon UNITE, with TiMi Studios pushing substantial buffs to ranged attackers alongside a broad sweep of bug fixes affecting everything from Zapdos's Zap Cannon to Tournament Mode licensing rules.

Dragonite received the most intricate rework of the update. Dragon Dance's Attack boost per stack climbed from 8% to 10%, and the Hyper Beam damage scaling tied to those stacks jumped considerably: one stack now converts to 6% of the target's max HP (up from 5%), two stacks hit 12% (up from 10%), and three stacks deliver 18%, up from 15%. The damage cap against wild Pokémon stays unchanged. The official patch notes framed the intent plainly: "To ensure Hyper Beam feels like a truly devastating move, its base damage and the Attack boost provided by Dragon Dance have both been buffed."

Venusaur's overhaul touched four separate levers. Sludge Bomb's Sp. Def reduction deepened from 40% to 50%, Solar Beam's damage rose 8%, and Solar Beam+'s cooldown dropped from 8 seconds to 7. Critically, the Verdant Anger Unite Move now requires 10% less Unite Gauge energy to fire, meaning players can cycle into it faster in tight team fights. The patch notes cited Venusaur's identity directly: "To allow Venusaur to better utilize its strengths as a long-range attacker, both Solar Beam and Sludge Bomb have been buffed."

Dragapult also picked up meaningful sustain. Shadow Ball's HP recovery increased from 15% to 20% of max HP, and the Dreep and Destroy Unite Move received an 8% damage increase. The official notes described the intent as helping Dragapult capitalize on its mobility while better rewarding low-health outplays.

Suicune rounded out the balance changes with a tankier stat profile. Its HP ceiling extended from 6,900 to 7,200, while Sp. Def jumped from a range of 60-230 to 70-290. Both Whirlpool and Ice Beam gained 10% damage increases each.

The bug fix list was extensive. Zapdos's empowered Zap Cannon had been dealing unintended damage, now resolved. Umbreon's Unite Move was granting shields larger than the amount absorbed from opponents, also corrected. Espeon saw a fix preventing Future Sight-empowered Stored Power and normal Stored Power from being used simultaneously. In Tournament Mode, the custom rule "Unlock All Unite Licenses" now correctly allows players to configure move sets for unowned Pokémon. Solo Mode's Boss Rush stage had a compounding difficulty bug where bosses grew stronger with each repeated clear; that too is patched.

Three additional fixes had already been applied February 28: Urshifu's move set changes on the Nintendo Switch roster screen now reflect immediately, Alcremie's Recover cream disappearance no longer causes game lag, and an edge case that left players unable to learn new moves mid-battle has been corrected.

The patch follows a Moltres emergency nerf logged by the community database unite-db on March 13 under Patch 1.22.1.7, six days before Long-Range Tactics Part 2 went live. The site, which draws data from UniteAPI and peer review from contributors in the Unite Mathcord Discord server, carries an explicit disclaimer that it is not endorsed by Nintendo or anyone officially involved in producing or managing Pokémon UNITE.