Rarely Used (RU) Tier

[melvni]

My predictions about the incoming pokes:
Spiritomb: Goodbye Cofagrigus, we hardly knew ye.
Sawsbuck: I don't know, maybe a little bit of an impact
Xatu: With stall bring incredibly common, firing entry hazards back is just perfection for both sides.
Charizard: Probably giving offensive Moltres competition, so we'll be seeing them
Aerodactyl: Some will be leads, some will be offensive. defenitely making in impact regardless (plus now it gets Rock Head Head Smash and BB, so mostly offensive I think)
Sigilyph: Stall heavy tier + stall poke. 'Nuff said.
Victreebel: Outclassed by Sceptile and Leafeon without Sun being legal. Don't expect much from it.

I agree with MoltenKyurem. Since when does Aerodactyl get either of those moves? I agree with you for the most part on the rest though. Xatu and Charizard definitely appear poised to have an impact down here. I also don't think either Sawsbuck or Victreebel are ever going to see the light of day. The first has a ghost and grass immunity over other grass types, but it's speed is only normal outside of sun and base 100 attack doesn't make it really stand out that much either (might make a good Quagsire partner though). The second just stinks outside of sun. I'd say the only way it stays out of NU is if it suddenly becomes an integral part of OU's weather wars.

However, I do have some disagreement regarding Cofagrigus, who I don't think we can completely count out due to Spiritomb's emergence. Cofagrigus actually has higher defenses, though Spiritomb's dark typing may give it the edge.

I also have some reservations that Sigilyph is going to have as big an impact as it might seem at first. Sigilyph has an awesome ability in magic guard and could become a major staller with its immunity to everything passive. However, I think there is also a good chance it might suffer from possessing the same typing as Xatu. I'm sure it's not the only reason for its lack of usage, but I believe something similar may have happened with Mandibuzz. Sure it is great defensively, but why use it when Honchkrow is out there. Sure they serve different roles, but when one is used on so many teams the number of potential places for the other decreases. It could end up not turning out this way, but I have a feeling the tier might end up only having room for one top-tier Psychic-Flyer.

 

[No Luck Involved]

If Aero had Head Smash and Brave Bird it wouldn't be RU lol!

 

[Molk]

If Aero had Head Smash and Brave Bird it would be OU lol!

If aero had head smash and brave bird it would be broken

 

[No Luck Involved]

it would be so sweeet <drool>

 

[Zephyr]

If aero had head smash and brave bird it would be broken

At least there would always be Bronzong to hard stop it. Also to a lesser extent Pokemon like Steelix and Forretress..

 

[marilli]

How does aero get head smash and brave bird?

PokeSav, of course. jk

With Blastoise leaving, I really see big changes for the tier. He's one of the best, if not THE best, spinner in this tier, and anything that comes close to that is Claydol (which kinda sucks against all those bugs and Ghost-type switch ins). Below Claydol? You have stuff like Torkoal ==. We'll probably see even more Ferroseed (less spinners), and maybe--just maybe-- the fall of Yanmega as spinning gets harder.

 

[No Luck Involved]

Yeah I really hope so. Blastoise was a huge reason why Yanmega was so viable. Claydol can be easily taken advantage of but Blastoise had Scald and Roar to annoy anything trying to set up on a Rapid Spin.

 

[Zephyr]

Oh, did Blastoise get bumped up to UU?

 

[melvni]

Oh, did Blastoise get bumped up to UU?

It should be when the tiers update. It was at over 4% in UU back in June, and appears to have been over 6% in August.

 

[marilli]

Talking about Blasty, I used Eviolite Frillish as a great Blasty cock-blocker. Exact same set (other than scald -> night shade), does exactly what Jellicent in OU does: bulky Water-type, bulky Spinblocker, and stallbreaker all rolled into one--it's an awesome mon to have on a full-out stall, with the added benefit of laughing all over Blasty. I always thought of it as my ace-in-the-hole against all those Blasty-based SRweak teams, but now that he's leaving soon, I thought I might bring that into attention at least for that short span of time it'll stay here. Its special bulk is rather amazing... walls Alakazams using Shadow Ball.

 

[NatGeo]

that bad huh

anyways, cresselia is obviously amazing in RU at this point, and I've been using SubCM to great success. RIght now my EV spread is something like max hp / special attack but im sure hp / def would work a lot better. Sub / CM / Psychic / HP Fire can easily rip through unprepared teams, since it hits pretty much the only Pokemon in the tier that hit it hard enough to break its subs: Bug-types, specifically Durant. You live X-Scissor either way but you'll be heavily crippled. In theory the only thing that effecitvely stops it in the tier it, uh, Krookodile lol. But hey that's what we use Eviolite Gurdurr for!

 

[Zephyr]

I've found Misdreavus to be rather great in stall as well, though I didn't think to try Eviolite Frillish just because of Blastoise, which does sound like a great choice...well if Blastoise is leaving anyway its a little late then haha

 

[marilli]

Well yeah xD
It wasn't just for Blasty, though. The main draw was being a Ghost-type with Recover, because all the rest only has Rest or Pain Split, which are both pretty friggin unreliable. It just happened that it just ran over all Blastoise.

Also, agreed that SubCM Cresselia is incredibly beastly. I've seen a few run mono-attacker with Moonlight--it obviously has its flaws, but get ready to say GG if you don't have a dark-type or bug-type.

EDIT: on the topic of eviolite users and rapid spinners, I just tested out Eviolite Staryu... works surprisingly well as status/passive damage are the things that truly screw over eviolite mons, and natural cure=pseudo-immunity to status.

 

[Lozan]

I'm just interested to see how Aggron fares in this new tier. I hope he does well but I got a feeling that his weaknesses will put him between a rock and a hard place once more.

 

[Ningildo]

Also, agreed that SubCM Cresselia is incredibly beastly. I've seen a few run mono-attacker with Moonlight--it obviously has its flaws, but get ready to say GG if you don't have a dark-type or bug-type.

Or just break it's sub and proceed to Trick if there is a lack thereof.
Also, while I do think Cressy isn't that hard to handle, it'd be a lot easier for teams if they didn't have to worry about it's huge presence being aimed at them like a huge middle finger to the face. Being forced to run Taunt is annoying, but using it on a team with a heavy case of FMSS is pure overkill. Cause besides Phazing, Taunting and Tricking (or Switcheroo), there isn't much to do about it. Too bad for it that I have a Trick Scarfer on most of my teams...

 

[Zephyr]

Well needless to say, Cresselia will be a suspect in the first round of RU testing anyway.

 

[Lozan]

Yeah, Cresselia is just a monster in RU

 

[Ningildo]

Ironic as all pokemon are monsters...
But anywho, anyone have any speculations on who else will be suspect besides the obvious ones (Cressy, Yanmega, maybe Honchkrow)?
As of suspect r1, after Cress, Yanmega and Honch have been made suspect, the metagame looks pretty balanced IMO.

 

[Zephyr]

Yeah basically that's the outlook on it. Yanmega and Cresselia are arguably pretty broken. I'm not too sure about honchkrow yet, but that may fluctuate as we see the metagame evolve further.

 

[kniteowl]

Ironic as all pokemon are monsters...
But anywho, anyone have any speculations on who else will be suspect besides the obvious ones (Cressy, Yanmega, maybe Honchkrow)?
As of suspect r1, after Cress, Yanmega and Honch have been made suspect, the metagame looks pretty balanced IMO.

Well the big suspects are pokemon that were too strong for Generation 4 UU, which are the top 3 being Mega, Cress and Honchkrow.

Once those are banned Porygon-z would probably become suspect, Gallade is also a possibility but so far Gallade is pretty easy to check.

Pokemon with Smash pass will probably be suspect, especially Gorebyss and Smeagle.
I can't think of anything in the tier in particular that i've had problems with besides those pokemon, possibly rain or sun or maybe hail teams.

 

[Choice Socks]

I'm gonna say Porygon-Z is defiantly suspect.
And I'd also like to say Entei could be a suspect. With a CB the only things that withstand him are 4X resist. 2HKOing Blastoise with a fire move, has got to be slightly overpowered.

 

[Stratos]

defiantly suspect.

lol

anyway, i'm shocked people don't use Golurk more.

oh well, that means i get to troll NU with him!

 

[DTC]

I'm gonna say Porygon-Z is defiantly suspect.
And I'd also like to say Entei could be a suspect. With a CB the only things that withstand him are 4X resist. 2HKOing Blastoise with a fire move, has got to be slightly overpowered.

Entei is a bit easier to handle, Carracosta, Rhyperior, Omaster, Miltank, Slowking (used as a pivot) can all handle Entei really well. There are also a few other pokemon that can check/counter Entei.

 

[No Luck Involved]

@Pwnemon: I think most people just don't know how to use him. His low speed is a put off but given the right support, Golurk's power can rip teams apart. He's very good.

Since we're back on the suspect debate, I guess I'll just chip in with my 2 cents again. Yanmega and Honchkrow for me have proven to be broken, they each force a team to use a certain Pokemon because they have few viable counters. I don't like to see things get banned too quickly so I still reckon Cresselia and Porygon-Z have *yet* to prove their broken-ness. They don't require specific counters so a well built team can get around them easily enough, but if they are well supported then they can do serious damage.

 

[Amire]

Yanmega, Porygon Z and Cress all gets walled by Mandibuzz. Specs Yanmega and scarfed Porygon both fails to 2HKO it and you can easily toxic stall them. It has also no problem taking a + 2 ice beam from cress and can just knock off it's leftovers and toxic it. If it's behind a sub, just whirlwind it away. It's for sure one of the best walls in RU, especially with Blastoise leaving the tier when it updates. Hopefully it's gonna get some love again then. Beware of CB Druddigon, CB entei and Medicham though.

Any sashed poke/pokemon with sturdy easily beats Yanmega as long as stealth rock is off the field.