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PLEASE LOCK THIS THREAD: A Monotype Take on the OU Metagame - Analysis
- Thread starter zyrefredric
- Start date
The first thing i asked when i knew about monotype is : is there an an in-depth analysis article about it ? And the answer was no.
So i highly encourage you in this project, and will promote this thread for the good of what has already become my favourite metagame.
So i'll start with my favourite type, dark :
Pros : some good sweepers ( zoroark, houndoum, honshkrow, weavile ... ), and good status inducers/annoying pokes in prankster sableye and spiritomb.
Cons : weakeness to a common type with a priority move ( mach punch ), and somehow frail pokes.
Notable members : prankster sableye ( taunt, WoW, nightshade, recover ) is the star and is very annoying, and zoroark can pretty much sweep by himself when you get to setup with his illusion ability ( wich happens really often if you know how to use it ) ...
My current team is : nasty plot houndoom, weavile, physical honchkrow, prankster sableye, nasty plot zoroark, physical sharpedo.
The main problem is the frailty of the majority of the pokes, since i'm using the ones i like. So i still gotta test stuff like scraft, spiritomb, tyranitar, hydreigon ...
Good luck with the article.
Edit : just noticed you're planning to discuss ways of making mono type teams viable in actual OU regular metagame. I already started doing that just before i knew about monotype tier. But well sir, it's just more challenging, i'm all with you.
Also, why didn't you create the thread in the main OU forums, since you plan on using the monotype teams in the regular OU. At least you'll have more viewers there.
So i highly encourage you in this project, and will promote this thread for the good of what has already become my favourite metagame.
So i'll start with my favourite type, dark :
Pros : some good sweepers ( zoroark, houndoum, honshkrow, weavile ... ), and good status inducers/annoying pokes in prankster sableye and spiritomb.
Cons : weakeness to a common type with a priority move ( mach punch ), and somehow frail pokes.
Notable members : prankster sableye ( taunt, WoW, nightshade, recover ) is the star and is very annoying, and zoroark can pretty much sweep by himself when you get to setup with his illusion ability ( wich happens really often if you know how to use it ) ...
My current team is : nasty plot houndoom, weavile, physical honchkrow, prankster sableye, nasty plot zoroark, physical sharpedo.
The main problem is the frailty of the majority of the pokes, since i'm using the ones i like. So i still gotta test stuff like scraft, spiritomb, tyranitar, hydreigon ...
Good luck with the article.
Edit : just noticed you're planning to discuss ways of making mono type teams viable in actual OU regular metagame. I already started doing that just before i knew about monotype tier. But well sir, it's just more challenging, i'm all with you.
Also, why didn't you create the thread in the main OU forums, since you plan on using the monotype teams in the regular OU. At least you'll have more viewers there.
As an usual OU wanderer with monoflying, monopsychic and monofire ( and casual monoground ) teams, I could share some of the usual props and slops of these types with you guys:
They are able to lay both spikes and stealth rock in your movesets without having to cripple your team with specific pokes to spread hazards below your foes (again, Skarmory and Gliscor mainly, but they are more than enough )
-Having u-turn, phazing moves and/or roost at your disposal in almost, if not all, flying pokemons is a huge boost for your stalling capabilities
-Monoflying teams fare quite well versus a lot of stall teams, because they tend to rely on toxic and toxic spikes , which are nothing more than wasted moveslots in your opponent's pokemon :D. Also, being 100% immune to EQ is terrific! They have problems with weather teams, specially damaging weather, not because of the 6% dmg per turn that is annoying but not troublesome ( roost, roost everywhere! ), but because of the attacks they tend to run in those teams.
-Last but not least, having at your disposal Sir Mighty Dragonite, Heir of the Multiscale is, in my humble opinion, a whole extra pro .
But not everything is sugar and daisies when playing the Brave Team :naughty:
One of the things you will really hate are ... -if you thought "stealth rock, what else?!" you are wrong : scarfed ice attacks. Even then, you will be crying in pain when you see a Starmie, and pray Arceus that for some obscure reason it doesn't pack icebeam. Also landorus will make you sweat with it's mandatory h.p. ice, and that's not cool. Well, actually it is indeed cool, very cool, but you get the point. And let's not forget our good old Kyurem, I love you brah.
The only things able to partially counter frozen attacks in standard play are Gyarados and Skarmory. And if the dreaded starmie is packing thunderbolt and bluffed a scarf... gg no re. In essence, any swift combination of ice and/or electric attacks will serve you a quick, hasty defeat. Then again, I'm a noob lass, and I might be missing something out there.
Your next concern should be stealth rocks. Having no spinner at all makes you rely on Magic Bounce Mind Games™, courtesy of Xatu Incorporation. Once they are up, your switches will be a lot less frequent, as your opponent will soon realise and take advantadge of. As a matter of fact, a leading Ttar will ruin your day if you don't run something that can stop it laying rocks and, at the same time, be able to survive Stone Edge. From my experience , Gliscor with taunt and Landorus are your best bet. Rock attacks aren't really a big problem because of Gliscor and Skarmory and, face it: Stone Miss rightfully deserved its nickname. Rock Slide doesn't cut it anyway now Excadrill is gone . And electrics attacks are only a problem if and only if they are paired with ice attacks or if you don't have Gliscor in your team , but thatwould make you a loser. Did I tell you how much I love Gliscor? I love Gliscor this much [smooch
smooch].
Let me end with an interesting point: Choiced Terrakion is your bitch. SD/Bluff Terrakion will make you its bitch. What an amusing pokemon you are, Terrakion!
No. I hate you.
tl;dr
PROPS:
-Semistalling teams with decent offensive present.
- roost + phazing + uturn everywhere
-Dragons, specially Dragonite!
-EQ, spikes, TSpikes immunity
-Skarmory and Gliscor!
SLOPS:
-Crippling ice weakness
-Starmie
-Stealth Rock
Notable Flying Pokemons ( in no specific order )
Gliscor, Dragonite, Skarmory, Xatu, Gyarados, Landorus, amongst many others
Current Team
Offensive Zapdos, Poison heal Gliscor, Skarmory, Mandibuzz, Xatu, DDNite.
=====================================
MONOFLYING
Fly on the Wings of Love
Monoflying is awesome. Contrary to popular and Pokemon Anime belief, flying mons aren't all about glass cannons and swift attacks. Balanced monoflying teams are mostly composed of stalling beasts with access to lots of resistance/immunity synergy (Zapdos, Gliscor, Skarmory, Bulky Gyarados... ), with a finishing sweeper or two to pick up the weakened foes ( Dragonite, Starraptor, Salamence... ). Fly on the Wings of Love
-Magikrap-
They are able to lay both spikes and stealth rock in your movesets without having to cripple your team with specific pokes to spread hazards below your foes (again, Skarmory and Gliscor mainly, but they are more than enough )
-Having u-turn, phazing moves and/or roost at your disposal in almost, if not all, flying pokemons is a huge boost for your stalling capabilities
-Monoflying teams fare quite well versus a lot of stall teams, because they tend to rely on toxic and toxic spikes , which are nothing more than wasted moveslots in your opponent's pokemon :D. Also, being 100% immune to EQ is terrific! They have problems with weather teams, specially damaging weather, not because of the 6% dmg per turn that is annoying but not troublesome ( roost, roost everywhere! ), but because of the attacks they tend to run in those teams.
-Last but not least, having at your disposal Sir Mighty Dragonite, Heir of the Multiscale is, in my humble opinion, a whole extra pro .
But not everything is sugar and daisies when playing the Brave Team :naughty:
One of the things you will really hate are ... -if you thought "stealth rock, what else?!" you are wrong : scarfed ice attacks. Even then, you will be crying in pain when you see a Starmie, and pray Arceus that for some obscure reason it doesn't pack icebeam. Also landorus will make you sweat with it's mandatory h.p. ice, and that's not cool. Well, actually it is indeed cool, very cool, but you get the point. And let's not forget our good old Kyurem, I love you brah.
The only things able to partially counter frozen attacks in standard play are Gyarados and Skarmory. And if the dreaded starmie is packing thunderbolt and bluffed a scarf... gg no re. In essence, any swift combination of ice and/or electric attacks will serve you a quick, hasty defeat. Then again, I'm a noob lass, and I might be missing something out there.
Your next concern should be stealth rocks. Having no spinner at all makes you rely on Magic Bounce Mind Games™, courtesy of Xatu Incorporation. Once they are up, your switches will be a lot less frequent, as your opponent will soon realise and take advantadge of. As a matter of fact, a leading Ttar will ruin your day if you don't run something that can stop it laying rocks and, at the same time, be able to survive Stone Edge. From my experience , Gliscor with taunt and Landorus are your best bet. Rock attacks aren't really a big problem because of Gliscor and Skarmory and, face it: Stone Miss rightfully deserved its nickname. Rock Slide doesn't cut it anyway now Excadrill is gone . And electrics attacks are only a problem if and only if they are paired with ice attacks or if you don't have Gliscor in your team , but thatwould make you a loser. Did I tell you how much I love Gliscor? I love Gliscor this much [smooch
smooch].Let me end with an interesting point: Choiced Terrakion is your bitch. SD/Bluff Terrakion will make you its bitch. What an amusing pokemon you are, Terrakion!
No. I hate you.
tl;dr
PROPS:
-Semistalling teams with decent offensive present.
- roost + phazing + uturn everywhere
-Dragons, specially Dragonite!
-EQ, spikes, TSpikes immunity
-Skarmory and Gliscor!
SLOPS:
-Crippling ice weakness
-Starmie
-Stealth Rock
Notable Flying Pokemons ( in no specific order )
Gliscor, Dragonite, Skarmory, Xatu, Gyarados, Landorus, amongst many others
Current Team
Offensive Zapdos, Poison heal Gliscor, Skarmory, Mandibuzz, Xatu, DDNite.
=====================================
MONOFIRE
It's getting too hot!
It's getting too hot!
-Cloaked Gengars-
MONOPSYCHIC
Quid latine dictum sit, altum videtur
Quid latine dictum sit, altum videtur
- Scumbag Trendy-
MONOGROUND
Remember you are sandstorm, and to sandstorm you shall return
Remember you are sandstorm, and to sandstorm you shall return
-Arceus 3:19-
Oopsies, ran out of time! I'm going to add the rest of previews tomorrow! Cheers!
Well, no! updating right now! Please wait :D
Oopsies, ran out of time! I'm going to add the rest of previews tomorrow! Cheers!
Well, no! updating right now! Please wait :D
OP I would recommend looking this thread and also follow the links in the second post of that thread.
I used a mono-electric and it was great since its weaknesses were easily covered and Ice attacks were always paired up with electric to hit ground. Problem was that it became a team of 4 boltbeamers+Rotom-W/Zapdos. No hazards available (not even SR) and all special attackers meant it was easily stopped. It has good way to cover weaknesses and a lot of good pokes, but not enough variety.
I still wanted a niche type and I was surprised dark has a lot of good options. I've been playing mono-dark and one option that is very overlooked is Mandibuzz. Mandibuzz is a defensive beast and can take almost any hit. Mandibuzz+Sableye really nails down dark's defensive weak spots.
TYPE: Dark
PROS: I think one of the biggest advantages to Dark is that you get access to Sandstorm with Tyranitar. The big advantage is that it prevents you from being steamrolled by Sun teams and stops mono-water's rain. Tyranitar can be molded to be anything on the team, however I beleive the best fit is his specially defensive SR setter since it gives a good special sponge and a hazard setter which are hard to come by. Dark also gives access to a Dragon, Hydreigon, who is an excellent defensive pivot with his typing and of course offensive powerhouse. With only Steel-mono's to stand in the way, Hydreigon Dragon Stab is very abusable. You also got a lot of other strong atackers like Weaville, Scrafty, and Sharpedo. Each has their uses: Scrafty is a good booster/status absorber, Weaville can take down Mono-Dragon teams, but Sharpedo give you a chance to challenge Volcarona.
Being immune to Psychic is good since it completely shuts it down. Since Psychic is a popular type it is pretty "anti-metagame" too. Defensively, Sableye and Mandibuzz are great pivots and should all that you need to cover your big weaknesses. Note that Mandibuzz has Overcoat to avoid Sand-damage. Throw in sp. def ttar into the mix and you can sponge just about any attack. Drapion is another great defensive Poke and he has Toxic Spikes+Phazing to cause some havoc. Note that Knock Off+Sand is a great combo.
CONS: Some fighting types are too hard to shut down for mono-dark. Terrakion+Conkldurr can wreck even the most well prepared mono-dark teams. Mono-dark is hard pressed to find a Pokemon to sponge strong, rain-boosted water type attacks, but that is common throughout the mono-type tier.
NOTABLE MEMBERS: Tyranitar, Hydreigon, Sableye, Scrafty, Weaville, Mandibuzz, Sharpedo, Spiritomb, Krookodile, Bisharp, and Drapion are the best of the best Dark-types.
I used a mono-electric and it was great since its weaknesses were easily covered and Ice attacks were always paired up with electric to hit ground. Problem was that it became a team of 4 boltbeamers+Rotom-W/Zapdos. No hazards available (not even SR) and all special attackers meant it was easily stopped. It has good way to cover weaknesses and a lot of good pokes, but not enough variety.
I still wanted a niche type and I was surprised dark has a lot of good options. I've been playing mono-dark and one option that is very overlooked is Mandibuzz. Mandibuzz is a defensive beast and can take almost any hit. Mandibuzz+Sableye really nails down dark's defensive weak spots.
TYPE: Dark
PROS: I think one of the biggest advantages to Dark is that you get access to Sandstorm with Tyranitar. The big advantage is that it prevents you from being steamrolled by Sun teams and stops mono-water's rain. Tyranitar can be molded to be anything on the team, however I beleive the best fit is his specially defensive SR setter since it gives a good special sponge and a hazard setter which are hard to come by. Dark also gives access to a Dragon, Hydreigon, who is an excellent defensive pivot with his typing and of course offensive powerhouse. With only Steel-mono's to stand in the way, Hydreigon Dragon Stab is very abusable. You also got a lot of other strong atackers like Weaville, Scrafty, and Sharpedo. Each has their uses: Scrafty is a good booster/status absorber, Weaville can take down Mono-Dragon teams, but Sharpedo give you a chance to challenge Volcarona.
Being immune to Psychic is good since it completely shuts it down. Since Psychic is a popular type it is pretty "anti-metagame" too. Defensively, Sableye and Mandibuzz are great pivots and should all that you need to cover your big weaknesses. Note that Mandibuzz has Overcoat to avoid Sand-damage. Throw in sp. def ttar into the mix and you can sponge just about any attack. Drapion is another great defensive Poke and he has Toxic Spikes+Phazing to cause some havoc. Note that Knock Off+Sand is a great combo.
CONS: Some fighting types are too hard to shut down for mono-dark. Terrakion+Conkldurr can wreck even the most well prepared mono-dark teams. Mono-dark is hard pressed to find a Pokemon to sponge strong, rain-boosted water type attacks, but that is common throughout the mono-type tier.
NOTABLE MEMBERS: Tyranitar, Hydreigon, Sableye, Scrafty, Weaville, Mandibuzz, Sharpedo, Spiritomb, Krookodile, Bisharp, and Drapion are the best of the best Dark-types.
My favorite kind of Pokes, a lot of power (seriously if there's an anti-meta team is psychic and the world of things they can do)
TYPE: Psychic
PROS:
- Diversity (There are a lot of psychic types, and all of them are incredibly different between one another, even pokemon who share the same typing have different roles (think Starmie & Slowbro))
- Support (Screens, Rooms, Trick, etc..., Psychic has so many options and so many powerful & bulky users it can do a whole lot of things)
- Fighting ressistance (Considering the number of powerful Fighting pokemon in this gen that really helps it get trough the metagame as you can shut their second option by typing or stats and don't get all wrecked by HyperOffensive fighting teams)
- Access to powerful abilities like Magic Bounce, Magic Guard & pokemon such as Wobbuffet
CONS:
- Weekness to common Dark & Ghost attacks commonly used as coverage for fighting pokes making them a bit harder to deal with the fighting types (and being week to Pursuit can be hard sometimes), bug while not really common it's still found in the ever-present U-turn
NOTABLE MEMBERS: Reuniclus, Mew, Deoxys (D), Lati@s, Jirachi, Victini
TYPE SYNERGY:
- TR team (Reuniclus, Slowbro/king, Bronzong, Metagross, Medichamp, Claydoll, even Victini after using V-create)
- Hyper Offense (Almost all FE Psychic types have dual screens, and according to the poke using them other nice tricks like T-Wave, Memento, Healing Wish & U-Turn, with powerful but frail sweepers like Alakazam, Azelf, Latios, etc...)
- Balanced can be easily achieved (bulky attackers and supporters such as 2/3s of the pixies, and powerful sweepers)
PS: Bug lacks Heracross in neutral to rock (and gosh that's an annoying poke for mono-psy) and Gallade it's not immune to dark (altough I hardly think anyone would ttack him with a dark move unless in the verge)
TYPE: Psychic
PROS:
- Diversity (There are a lot of psychic types, and all of them are incredibly different between one another, even pokemon who share the same typing have different roles (think Starmie & Slowbro))
- Support (Screens, Rooms, Trick, etc..., Psychic has so many options and so many powerful & bulky users it can do a whole lot of things)
- Fighting ressistance (Considering the number of powerful Fighting pokemon in this gen that really helps it get trough the metagame as you can shut their second option by typing or stats and don't get all wrecked by HyperOffensive fighting teams)
- Access to powerful abilities like Magic Bounce, Magic Guard & pokemon such as Wobbuffet
CONS:
- Weekness to common Dark & Ghost attacks commonly used as coverage for fighting pokes making them a bit harder to deal with the fighting types (and being week to Pursuit can be hard sometimes), bug while not really common it's still found in the ever-present U-turn
NOTABLE MEMBERS: Reuniclus, Mew, Deoxys (D), Lati@s, Jirachi, Victini
TYPE SYNERGY:
- TR team (Reuniclus, Slowbro/king, Bronzong, Metagross, Medichamp, Claydoll, even Victini after using V-create)
- Hyper Offense (Almost all FE Psychic types have dual screens, and according to the poke using them other nice tricks like T-Wave, Memento, Healing Wish & U-Turn, with powerful but frail sweepers like Alakazam, Azelf, Latios, etc...)
- Balanced can be easily achieved (bulky attackers and supporters such as 2/3s of the pixies, and powerful sweepers)
PS: Bug lacks Heracross in neutral to rock (and gosh that's an annoying poke for mono-psy) and Gallade it's not immune to dark (altough I hardly think anyone would ttack him with a dark move unless in the verge)
Thank you for the above posters for your contributions. I have edited them into the OP. More contributions are welcome, as the end product of this thread is not something that can be written by one or two people only, but of more people who have real experience with using monotype teams in regular OU.
Also, if you have anything to add, or even disagree with, on any of the analyses, feel free to do so.
Also, if you have anything to add, or even disagree with, on any of the analyses, feel free to do so.
Thanks for that, I missed out on Heracross. Also, I falsely assumed Justified makes Gallade immune to Dark moves, which is wrong. I'll be editing them also.
Type: Water
Pros: Politoed is definetly the biggest advantage the water type has. It is the only non-ubers rain starter and can devestate so many teams on its own. IIRC water type has the most pokemon, when compared to other types. This allows for some diversity. You have options like Empoleon or Swampert for support, while also having pokemon like Kingdra, Gyarados, Cloyster, or Sharpedo for offensive pressure. Water-Type also has good neutral coverage and with Rain Support even unboosted water attacks can do a lot of damage to neutral resistance pokemon. Most Water-Type Pokemon also learn moves to help deal with their weaknesses, as most Water-Type pokemon learn Ice Beam to help handle Grass-Types.
Cons: Often once the rain dissapears water type pokemon have a lot more trouble when facing opposing weathers like sun or sandstorm. Mono water teams have difficulty dealing with alot of grass attacks especially if they are on a sun team, as then their own water stabs are weakened.
Notable Members: Politoed, Starmie, Tentacruel, Sharpedo, Gastrodon, Gyarados, Jellicent, Rotom-W, Azumarill, Slowbro, Cloyster, Kingdra(non SS) are all exemplary Water-Type Pokemon.
Pros: Politoed is definetly the biggest advantage the water type has. It is the only non-ubers rain starter and can devestate so many teams on its own. IIRC water type has the most pokemon, when compared to other types. This allows for some diversity. You have options like Empoleon or Swampert for support, while also having pokemon like Kingdra, Gyarados, Cloyster, or Sharpedo for offensive pressure. Water-Type also has good neutral coverage and with Rain Support even unboosted water attacks can do a lot of damage to neutral resistance pokemon. Most Water-Type Pokemon also learn moves to help deal with their weaknesses, as most Water-Type pokemon learn Ice Beam to help handle Grass-Types.
Cons: Often once the rain dissapears water type pokemon have a lot more trouble when facing opposing weathers like sun or sandstorm. Mono water teams have difficulty dealing with alot of grass attacks especially if they are on a sun team, as then their own water stabs are weakened.
Notable Members: Politoed, Starmie, Tentacruel, Sharpedo, Gastrodon, Gyarados, Jellicent, Rotom-W, Azumarill, Slowbro, Cloyster, Kingdra(non SS) are all exemplary Water-Type Pokemon.
Type: Ghost
Pros:
-Cannot be hit by normal and fighting moves which can be handy in monotype.
-Have some great Sp. Atk pokemon like Gengar and Chandelure (130 and 145 Sp Atk). Chandelure even has the highest Sp Atk stat out of every non uber pokemon.
Cons:
- No walls. The only thingS that come close are Jellicent and Spiritomb.
- No Stealth Rocks. A ghost mono type could get a great advantage of immunity to rapid spin but not a single ghost pokemon learns the move Stealth Rock.
-No physical attackers apart from Golurk.
Notable members: Gengar, Chandelure, Mismagius, Jellicent, Froslass, Sableye, Dusclops/noir and Spiritomb.
Pros:
-Cannot be hit by normal and fighting moves which can be handy in monotype.
-Have some great Sp. Atk pokemon like Gengar and Chandelure (130 and 145 Sp Atk). Chandelure even has the highest Sp Atk stat out of every non uber pokemon.
Cons:
- No walls. The only thingS that come close are Jellicent and Spiritomb.
- No Stealth Rocks. A ghost mono type could get a great advantage of immunity to rapid spin but not a single ghost pokemon learns the move Stealth Rock.
-No physical attackers apart from Golurk.
Notable members: Gengar, Chandelure, Mismagius, Jellicent, Froslass, Sableye, Dusclops/noir and Spiritomb.
It's only fitting that I do the Dragon thingy:
PROS:
- Dual type Dragons exist for every type with the exception of Grass, Rock, Fighting and Bug. Dragon type moves paired with STABs belonging to other great offensive types (Ground, Ice, Water, Fire, Electric) usually means near perfect coverage
- Extremely hard hitters on both sides of the spectrum, with both a physical 120 BP STAB in Outrage and a 140 BP special stab with Draco Meteor for starters, with many Dragons having great stats in both fields and the ability to learn the most powerful of moves for different types
- Extreme versatility in playing different roles ranging from defensive (physical wall, special wall, toxi wall) , offensive (special, physical, mixed, bulky, scarfed) to support (taunt-phazing, status spreader, healer)
- Can operate in different weathers with ease if not outright stealing it for themselves
- Excellent resistances in addition to being resisted only by Steel which can be overcome by using a variety of coverage moves
- Access to status inducing moves and stat boosting moves in addition to recovery
CONS:
- No Rapid Spin means trouble for the most used physical Dragon types who are part Flying
- No Stealth Rocks
- Weakness to ice attacks for all but four Dragons, especially Ice Shard which makes setting up for Dragons in general very hard especially those without priority moves, it also goes without saying Dragons don't like Hail either with the exception of Blizzard spamming Kyurem
- With only one Dragon being able to stand up to Dragon type moves it usually means when it comes to mono-drag vs mono-drag that the first one to set up or outspeed the other wins, in other words Dragons with their ridiculously powered moves are their own worst enemy
NOTABLE MEMBERS:
Dragonite, Garchomp, Salamence, Hydregion, Kyurem, Latios, Kingdra, Latias
TYPE SYNERGY:
PROS:
- Dual type Dragons exist for every type with the exception of Grass, Rock, Fighting and Bug. Dragon type moves paired with STABs belonging to other great offensive types (Ground, Ice, Water, Fire, Electric) usually means near perfect coverage
- Extremely hard hitters on both sides of the spectrum, with both a physical 120 BP STAB in Outrage and a 140 BP special stab with Draco Meteor for starters, with many Dragons having great stats in both fields and the ability to learn the most powerful of moves for different types
- Extreme versatility in playing different roles ranging from defensive (physical wall, special wall, toxi wall) , offensive (special, physical, mixed, bulky, scarfed) to support (taunt-phazing, status spreader, healer)
- Can operate in different weathers with ease if not outright stealing it for themselves
- Excellent resistances in addition to being resisted only by Steel which can be overcome by using a variety of coverage moves
- Access to status inducing moves and stat boosting moves in addition to recovery
CONS:
- No Rapid Spin means trouble for the most used physical Dragon types who are part Flying
- No Stealth Rocks
- Weakness to ice attacks for all but four Dragons, especially Ice Shard which makes setting up for Dragons in general very hard especially those without priority moves, it also goes without saying Dragons don't like Hail either with the exception of Blizzard spamming Kyurem
- With only one Dragon being able to stand up to Dragon type moves it usually means when it comes to mono-drag vs mono-drag that the first one to set up or outspeed the other wins, in other words Dragons with their ridiculously powered moves are their own worst enemy
NOTABLE MEMBERS:
Dragonite, Garchomp, Salamence, Hydregion, Kyurem, Latios, Kingdra, Latias
TYPE SYNERGY:
- Neutral to Dragon: Dialga
- Neutral to Ice: Reshiram, Kyurem, Dialga, Palkia, Kingdra
Type: Bug
Pros
- Have more than one defensive, supporting Pokemon. (Forretress, Armaldo, Scolipede, Crustle)
- Great offensive, defensive double typings. (Scizor, Volcarona, Galvantula, Yanmega)
- Have variety of usable moves, abilities to exploit. (Sleep Powder, Quiver Dance, Batton Pass, Compoundeyes, Tinted Lens)
Cons
- Crippling Stealth Rock weakness.
- Hard times when dealing with mono fire teams.
Notable members Scizor, Herracros, Yanmega, Volcarona, Galvantula, Armaldo, Forretress, Venomoth, Scolipede, Volbeat, Crustle
Pros
- Have more than one defensive, supporting Pokemon. (Forretress, Armaldo, Scolipede, Crustle)
- Great offensive, defensive double typings. (Scizor, Volcarona, Galvantula, Yanmega)
- Have variety of usable moves, abilities to exploit. (Sleep Powder, Quiver Dance, Batton Pass, Compoundeyes, Tinted Lens)
Cons
- Crippling Stealth Rock weakness.
- Hard times when dealing with mono fire teams.
Notable members Scizor, Herracros, Yanmega, Volcarona, Galvantula, Armaldo, Forretress, Venomoth, Scolipede, Volbeat, Crustle
Adding to ghost
Pros: -Many have extra immunity other than the main normal and fighting. Ground (gengar), Electric (golurk), Water (water absorb jellicent), Psychic (spiritomb and sableye), fire (flash fire chandy).
-Also have a great supporter in the form of prankster sableye
-most have ways to cripple opponent WoW comes to mind
-Against mono-type teams sub disable gengar can be extremely effective if he is immune to one of their main types
-when allowed shadowtag chandalure is a highly effective revenger
Cons: With the exception of Chandy many can have trouble with steels, having to resort of focus miss
-only frosslass has entry hazards
-iirc there are no ghost phazers
-no fast physical attacker
-other than jellicent many lack reliable recovery
Pros: -Many have extra immunity other than the main normal and fighting. Ground (gengar), Electric (golurk), Water (water absorb jellicent), Psychic (spiritomb and sableye), fire (flash fire chandy).
-Also have a great supporter in the form of prankster sableye
-most have ways to cripple opponent WoW comes to mind
-Against mono-type teams sub disable gengar can be extremely effective if he is immune to one of their main types
-when allowed shadowtag chandalure is a highly effective revenger
Cons: With the exception of Chandy many can have trouble with steels, having to resort of focus miss
-only frosslass has entry hazards
-iirc there are no ghost phazers
-no fast physical attacker
-other than jellicent many lack reliable recovery
canno
formerly The Reptile
TYPE: Meat the burning passion of the Fire-type! Time to burn everything into the sun!
PROS: Mono-Fire is the only type that can abuse Drought, and boy can they abuse it. 50% boost to all fire moves, plus removing their Water Weakness is amazing. Fire is also an offensive monster of a STAB to have, burning most of the metagame including 2 of the most common types in the game - Ferrothorn and Scizor. Also, bar heatran, Fire can deal with all steel-type in the game, making it on of the few mono-types that can do this. Fire-types also have a wide range of pokemon to use, from the offensive wall-breaking Infernape to the defensive behemoth that is Specially Defensive Heatran. A smaller thing to note is that this team would be immune to burn, which is always nice. If the team is built right, MonoFire can burn all of the competition under their steamy flaming boots.
CONS: Mono-fire, sadly, has many weaknesses as well. First of all, we get not Spikes or Toxic Spikes, and only a few fire-type pokemon get Stealth Rock. Secondly, our only rapid spinner is Torkoal. Yes, you read that right. Torkoal, a SR-weak pokemon who is slow as all fuck and can barely touch anything, is our only rapid spinner. This wouldn't be a problem, except that most of the pokemon in a monofire-team is weak to SR, including Ninetails. Speaking of Ninetails, what a bag of shit of a pokemon. The only reason he finds a spot on any team is for the eternal sun, but Ninetails is still a god awful pokemon, this is extremely notable when you take away the sun with other weather, and while we can deal with Sand OK with Infernape and Hail very well (lolhail), Rain has the capability to shit on the entire team.
NOTABLE MEMBERS: Heatran, Infernape, Torkoal (only rapid spinner lol), Ninetails (sadly), Volcarona, Darmanitan, Victini, Chandelure, Arcanine, Rotom-H
PROS: Mono-Fire is the only type that can abuse Drought, and boy can they abuse it. 50% boost to all fire moves, plus removing their Water Weakness is amazing. Fire is also an offensive monster of a STAB to have, burning most of the metagame including 2 of the most common types in the game - Ferrothorn and Scizor. Also, bar heatran, Fire can deal with all steel-type in the game, making it on of the few mono-types that can do this. Fire-types also have a wide range of pokemon to use, from the offensive wall-breaking Infernape to the defensive behemoth that is Specially Defensive Heatran. A smaller thing to note is that this team would be immune to burn, which is always nice. If the team is built right, MonoFire can burn all of the competition under their steamy flaming boots.
CONS: Mono-fire, sadly, has many weaknesses as well. First of all, we get not Spikes or Toxic Spikes, and only a few fire-type pokemon get Stealth Rock. Secondly, our only rapid spinner is Torkoal. Yes, you read that right. Torkoal, a SR-weak pokemon who is slow as all fuck and can barely touch anything, is our only rapid spinner. This wouldn't be a problem, except that most of the pokemon in a monofire-team is weak to SR, including Ninetails. Speaking of Ninetails, what a bag of shit of a pokemon. The only reason he finds a spot on any team is for the eternal sun, but Ninetails is still a god awful pokemon, this is extremely notable when you take away the sun with other weather, and while we can deal with Sand OK with Infernape and Hail very well (lolhail), Rain has the capability to shit on the entire team.
NOTABLE MEMBERS: Heatran, Infernape, Torkoal (only rapid spinner lol), Ninetails (sadly), Volcarona, Darmanitan, Victini, Chandelure, Arcanine, Rotom-H
Type: Steel
Pros:
-Immunity to poison/toxic.
-Great amount of dual types.
-Good checks against their main counters (fighting,ground and fire)
-Acces to both Stealth Rocks and Spikes.
-Has a spinner.
-9 Steel types in the OU tier.
-Big variety in 'jobs'. (Physical walls,Physical attackers, etc.)
-Resistances against many types.
Cons:
- No real fast steel pokemon except for Arceus.
- Lacks reliable recovery apart from Scizor and Skarmory.
- Infernape (which is a common poke in monotype thanks to its dual type) is almost always an instant win against Steel teams.
Notable members: Heatran, Ferrothorn, Forretres, Scizor, Skarmory, Magnezone, Bronzong, Metagross, Lucario, Jirachi, Empoleon.
@zyrefredric Alright, guess I just wanted to be the first on steels. :D
Will contribute some more later.
Pros:
-Immunity to poison/toxic.
-Great amount of dual types.
-Good checks against their main counters (fighting,ground and fire)
-Acces to both Stealth Rocks and Spikes.
-Has a spinner.
-9 Steel types in the OU tier.
-Big variety in 'jobs'. (Physical walls,Physical attackers, etc.)
-Resistances against many types.
Cons:
- No real fast steel pokemon except for Arceus.
- Lacks reliable recovery apart from Scizor and Skarmory.
- Infernape (which is a common poke in monotype thanks to its dual type) is almost always an instant win against Steel teams.
Notable members: Heatran, Ferrothorn, Forretres, Scizor, Skarmory, Magnezone, Bronzong, Metagross, Lucario, Jirachi, Empoleon.
@zyrefredric Alright, guess I just wanted to be the first on steels. :D
Will contribute some more later.
I've edited in all the new contributions, and slowly but surely this is shaping up into something. I'm thinking of accepting all contributions for now, compile it all altogether, and then read through each to edit the prose and validity of the analyses.
Also, @Eranu, there really is no need for reservations, as at this stage, anybody may contribute to any monotype analysis. Anybody who reads through the submissions so far may have something to add, and may do so, as what czechm8 did.^^
Also, @Eranu, there really is no need for reservations, as at this stage, anybody may contribute to any monotype analysis. Anybody who reads through the submissions so far may have something to add, and may do so, as what czechm8 did.^^
Nobody's given insight on Fighthing teams? Well, let's fix that. I used a mono-Fighting team for my college's Gym challenge during my senior year and have seen a few since then, so here are a few things I can see about making teams of heroes (with some explanations on why the "Notable Pokemon" would be notable).
PROS:
· A lot of power. Many Fighting-type Pokemon just have some of the highest offensive stats in the game, and they can take full advantage of that.
· Type effectiveness. Fighting is tied with Ground as the type that hits the most Pokemon for super-effective damage, and some of those types are fairly common in OU (namely Steel and Rock). The types that Fighting attacks do not work well against are also fairly rare in OU.
· Type compatibility. Fighting attacks work especially well when paired with a type that can strike the things they struggle against for a lot of damage, and many Fighting Pokemon have access to those kinds of attacks. Close Combat on a Pokemon that also knows a move like Crunch, Stone Edge, or Ice Punch (or Hidden Power Ice) can lay a lot of offensive pressure on an opponent.
· Priority. Mach Punch. Also Vacuum Wave. Priority moves are great for picking off opponents. Combine this with a versatile attack type and a Pokemon with a nice level of power, and you have a force to be reckoned with.
· Defense. Fighters don’t have a large number of resistances, but they do resist Rock, Bug, and Dark attacks. These happen to be the types of some of the most dangerous utility moves in the game: Stealth Rock, U-Turn, and Pursuit.
CONS:
· Limited Special options. The vast majority of Fighting Pokemon are more physically-oriented on offense, leaving very few options for Special attacks.
· Entry hazard-less. No Fighting Pokemon are capable of learning Spikes or Toxic Spikes, and only one (if we’re only counting fully-evolved Pokemon) is able to use Stealth Rock. Stealth Rock would go a long way towards helping Fighting Pokemon against…
· Flying Pokemon. These guys, I think, are a bigger problem for Fighting teams than Psychic Pokemon. Several of the most used Psychics don’t often carry Psychic attacks, and guys like Jirachi and Metagross take neutral damage from Fighting moves, or they have fairly low Defense. To be fair, there aren’t many Flyers wielding Flying attacks, either. But the most used ones are all still resilient to Fighting blows, whether just by types, by having really high defense (Skarmory), or by compounding a Fighting resistance with their abilities (Dragonite, Salamence, and Gyarados).
· Fighting Pokemon. Surprising note: some of the most useful or powerful Pokemon to use on mono-Fighting teams are themselves vulnerable to Fighting attacks.
TYPE SYNERGY:
Immune to Psychic: Scrafty
Neutral to Psychic: Gallade, Medicham, Lucario, Cobalion
Neutral to Flying: Cobalion, Lucario, Terrakion
(OP missed that Steel resists Psychic and Rock resists Flying)
NOTABLE MEMBERS:
Lucario: The Mon of Steel himself, this guy is pretty much a staple of Mono-Fighting teams. Why is that? Better question would be “Why wouldn’t he be?” Being a Steel-type, he takes neutral damage from both Flying and Psychic attacks. In addition to that, though, he has access to many boosting moves, most notably Swords Dance and Nasty Plot. Combined with 110 base Attack and 115 Special Attack, this means he could do really well hitting from either side, although his 90 Base Speed is a little slow to run a Mixed set very effectively. He is one of the few Fighters that can hit hard with Special Attacks by running Aura Sphere along with either Dark Pulse or Shadow Ball, all augmented by Nasty Plot. Of course, his physical options boosted by Swords Dance are actually more powerful, with Close Combat combined with Crunch or Ice Punch. Lucario actually does NOT have access to the move Mach Punch, but despite that, he still has three other priority attacks to wield. Vacuum Wave is a very likely option on Special sets, while physical sets get access to Extreme Speed, the strongest priority attack in the game (tied with Sucker Punch but has priority above even that). He may also run Bullet Punch as his third attack instead of Crunch or Ice Punch in order to strike faster foes that might not be hit by Extreme Speed (such as Gengar, who can be troublesome for mono-Fighting teams even with this idea). In short, pretty much every mono-Fighting team I’ve seen has a Lucario on it for reasons.
Infernape: Infernape is another Pokemon you’d probably see on a lot of Fighting teams. He doesn’t provide much in the way of defense, so offense is what Sun Wukong focuses on. Both Attack and Special Attack are base 104, and his base Speed is 108. Like Lucario, Infernape could be coming from either end of the spectrum, but due to higher speed, Infernape can also attack from both sides. Mixed sets are most likely so that he can keep using the dreaded Close Combat without having to resort to the life-draining Flare Blitz or the somewhat-weak Fire Punch (or so that he can spew Fire Blasts without having to resort to the even less accurate Focus Blast). Infernape also has access to Mach Punch to pick off enemies, as well as having several other attacks for dealing with foes that take Fire or Fighting moves well (Stone Edge, Thunder Punch, Grass Knot, Hidden Power Ice, and U-Turn come to mind). Possibly Infernape’s most important selling point to mono-Fighting teams (other than hitting with Special Attacks) is that Infernape can use Stealth Rock. He is the only Fighting Pokemon capable of using Stealth Rock (other than his pre-evolution Monferno), or any entry hazard. Seeing as Stealth Rock is a huge aid to Fighting-types by knocking Flying Pokemon down a peg, you can see that this might be helpful.
Gallade: Gallade’s role on a mono-Fighting team is likely to be more for his utility rather than his power. He is incapable of wielding any kind of entry hazards, but this dancing swordsman has other ways to support his side or cripple his opponents. For example, he can set up Light Screen and Reflect. Guys like Lucario and Infernape are very heavy hitters, but they don’t have the highest defense scores among Fighters. Having Gallade set up shields like these can help them survive a bit longer than they probably should. Gallade also has several moves that can inflict status conditions, such as Thunder Wave, Will-O-Wisp, Hypnosis, and Taunt. These kinds of moves can go a decent way towards crippling tough enemies on the opposite end, especially when combined with Gallade’s high Special Defense. Although he does have all these support options, Gallade is also capable of hitting pretty hard, too. Like Lucario and Infernape, he can fight in Close Combat, probably the most reliable-but-strong Fighting attack in the game. He also comes armed with other attacks, like Zen Headbutt (or Psycho Cut), Night Slash, and the Ghost-type priority attack Shadow Sneak. Gallade’s not quite the staple of mono-Fighting teams that Lucario is (or Infernape could be), but he’s definitely a good choice for something a bit more unorthodox. Did I mention that he also takes Psychic moves for neutral damage, as well as resisting Fighting attacks himself?
Terrakion: Going back from someone unusual to something more traditional, Terrakion is a grey-and-dark-brown wrecking ball. He’s not likely to be dealing Special damage with a rather low 71 base Special Attack, but with a physical Attack score of 129 and 108 base Speed, he would scoff at Special attacks anyway. Being a Rock Fighter (a typing exclusive to Terrakion for now), he does have a wide variety of weaknesses like Water, Fighting, and Steel. In return, though, Fighting and Rock attacks work together amazingly. Stone Edge crushes the Flying and Bug Pokemon that laugh at Close Combat, while Close Combat smashes the Steel-types that would just shrug off Stone Edge. Very few Pokemon can resist both of these kinds of moves, and the ones that do (like Claydol, Nidoqueen, and Gallade) aren’t used much in OU. …Honestly, that’s all that really needs to be said about Terrakion. There is more to him, such as different sets or items to equip, but they’re mainly just different ways of saying Terrakion smashes all of the things.
Scrafty: The yellow-hooded lizard is currently considered among the bottom of the barrel in OU, but he may actually find hope within mono-Fighting teams. Mainly, Scrafty is notable because in addition to being a Fighter, he’s also a Dark Pokemon, meaning that he isn’t bothered by Psychic attacks. Admittedly, Psychic moves aren’t exactly the most common attack type (there are several Psychic Pokemon in OU, but the most common ones tend to use other attack types more often), but having something to block one of your type’s weaknesses completely (unlike Gallade, Lucario, Medicham, or Cobalion, who just make them neutral hits) might help you in situations where Psychic powers are used. In the meantime, Scrafty has some cool boosting moves at his disposal: Dragon Dance and Bulk Up. Both of these boost a somewhat-unimpressive base 90 Attack stat along with one of his other stats: speed for Dragon Dance (which lets you use him mainly for offense) or defense for Bulk Up (which makes him a bit sturdier while still being able to hit). Scrafty is one of the tougher Fighters, too, with 115 base Defense, both physical and Special. Dark and Fighting make a really good offensive combination with only Heracross and Toxicroak able to resist it, so gaining bonuses for both Crunch and Hi Jump Kick (or Drain Punch, both of which are good options) is especially nice.
Poliwrath: “What? Poliwrath? But this guy’s in RU, and he doesn’t neutralize Psychic or Flying damage. Why would he be ‘notable’?” That’s probably what you’re thinking, right? Well, you’d be surprised. I actually used one of these guys on my mono-Fighting team in 4th-Gen, and he impressed me quite a bit. Being a Water-type, obviously, he’s going to have access to Water and Ice attacks. Both of these are rather effective against some of the most powerful Pokemon in OU, including some Pokemon that might give Fighting teams problems (such as Dragonite, Latios, or Gliscor). Being a Water-type Fighter, Poliwrath works well for taking attacks aimed at other Fighters with secondary types. Is some Fire-type trying to melt Lucario? Poliwrath. Are they trying to freeze Breloom? Poliwrath. Is that a Hydro Pump aimed at your Terrakion? Poliwrath will HEAL from that last one with its Water Absorb ability. AND he actually has the bulk to take hits pretty dang well. The downside to Poliwrath is that he doesn’t really have the raw power to deliver hits, nor does he come with the strongest attacks, so Poliwrath is the kind of Fighter you would probably prefer to play defensively. I could go on, but this will do a better job than I could trying to explain why Poliwrath is surprisingly AWESOME.
And for the love of Keldeo, please don’t use Hitmontop. He is the antithesis of Poliwrath: something you expect to be great with his many talents, but also something that keeps botching when he tries to put said talents to use. Maybe it’s just me, but Hitmontop just didn’t work for me when I tried him.
PROS:
· A lot of power. Many Fighting-type Pokemon just have some of the highest offensive stats in the game, and they can take full advantage of that.
· Type effectiveness. Fighting is tied with Ground as the type that hits the most Pokemon for super-effective damage, and some of those types are fairly common in OU (namely Steel and Rock). The types that Fighting attacks do not work well against are also fairly rare in OU.
· Type compatibility. Fighting attacks work especially well when paired with a type that can strike the things they struggle against for a lot of damage, and many Fighting Pokemon have access to those kinds of attacks. Close Combat on a Pokemon that also knows a move like Crunch, Stone Edge, or Ice Punch (or Hidden Power Ice) can lay a lot of offensive pressure on an opponent.
· Priority. Mach Punch. Also Vacuum Wave. Priority moves are great for picking off opponents. Combine this with a versatile attack type and a Pokemon with a nice level of power, and you have a force to be reckoned with.
· Defense. Fighters don’t have a large number of resistances, but they do resist Rock, Bug, and Dark attacks. These happen to be the types of some of the most dangerous utility moves in the game: Stealth Rock, U-Turn, and Pursuit.
CONS:
· Limited Special options. The vast majority of Fighting Pokemon are more physically-oriented on offense, leaving very few options for Special attacks.
· Entry hazard-less. No Fighting Pokemon are capable of learning Spikes or Toxic Spikes, and only one (if we’re only counting fully-evolved Pokemon) is able to use Stealth Rock. Stealth Rock would go a long way towards helping Fighting Pokemon against…
· Flying Pokemon. These guys, I think, are a bigger problem for Fighting teams than Psychic Pokemon. Several of the most used Psychics don’t often carry Psychic attacks, and guys like Jirachi and Metagross take neutral damage from Fighting moves, or they have fairly low Defense. To be fair, there aren’t many Flyers wielding Flying attacks, either. But the most used ones are all still resilient to Fighting blows, whether just by types, by having really high defense (Skarmory), or by compounding a Fighting resistance with their abilities (Dragonite, Salamence, and Gyarados).
· Fighting Pokemon. Surprising note: some of the most useful or powerful Pokemon to use on mono-Fighting teams are themselves vulnerable to Fighting attacks.
TYPE SYNERGY:
Immune to Psychic: Scrafty
Neutral to Psychic: Gallade, Medicham, Lucario, Cobalion
Neutral to Flying: Cobalion, Lucario, Terrakion
(OP missed that Steel resists Psychic and Rock resists Flying)
NOTABLE MEMBERS:
Lucario: The Mon of Steel himself, this guy is pretty much a staple of Mono-Fighting teams. Why is that? Better question would be “Why wouldn’t he be?” Being a Steel-type, he takes neutral damage from both Flying and Psychic attacks. In addition to that, though, he has access to many boosting moves, most notably Swords Dance and Nasty Plot. Combined with 110 base Attack and 115 Special Attack, this means he could do really well hitting from either side, although his 90 Base Speed is a little slow to run a Mixed set very effectively. He is one of the few Fighters that can hit hard with Special Attacks by running Aura Sphere along with either Dark Pulse or Shadow Ball, all augmented by Nasty Plot. Of course, his physical options boosted by Swords Dance are actually more powerful, with Close Combat combined with Crunch or Ice Punch. Lucario actually does NOT have access to the move Mach Punch, but despite that, he still has three other priority attacks to wield. Vacuum Wave is a very likely option on Special sets, while physical sets get access to Extreme Speed, the strongest priority attack in the game (tied with Sucker Punch but has priority above even that). He may also run Bullet Punch as his third attack instead of Crunch or Ice Punch in order to strike faster foes that might not be hit by Extreme Speed (such as Gengar, who can be troublesome for mono-Fighting teams even with this idea). In short, pretty much every mono-Fighting team I’ve seen has a Lucario on it for reasons.
Infernape: Infernape is another Pokemon you’d probably see on a lot of Fighting teams. He doesn’t provide much in the way of defense, so offense is what Sun Wukong focuses on. Both Attack and Special Attack are base 104, and his base Speed is 108. Like Lucario, Infernape could be coming from either end of the spectrum, but due to higher speed, Infernape can also attack from both sides. Mixed sets are most likely so that he can keep using the dreaded Close Combat without having to resort to the life-draining Flare Blitz or the somewhat-weak Fire Punch (or so that he can spew Fire Blasts without having to resort to the even less accurate Focus Blast). Infernape also has access to Mach Punch to pick off enemies, as well as having several other attacks for dealing with foes that take Fire or Fighting moves well (Stone Edge, Thunder Punch, Grass Knot, Hidden Power Ice, and U-Turn come to mind). Possibly Infernape’s most important selling point to mono-Fighting teams (other than hitting with Special Attacks) is that Infernape can use Stealth Rock. He is the only Fighting Pokemon capable of using Stealth Rock (other than his pre-evolution Monferno), or any entry hazard. Seeing as Stealth Rock is a huge aid to Fighting-types by knocking Flying Pokemon down a peg, you can see that this might be helpful.
Gallade: Gallade’s role on a mono-Fighting team is likely to be more for his utility rather than his power. He is incapable of wielding any kind of entry hazards, but this dancing swordsman has other ways to support his side or cripple his opponents. For example, he can set up Light Screen and Reflect. Guys like Lucario and Infernape are very heavy hitters, but they don’t have the highest defense scores among Fighters. Having Gallade set up shields like these can help them survive a bit longer than they probably should. Gallade also has several moves that can inflict status conditions, such as Thunder Wave, Will-O-Wisp, Hypnosis, and Taunt. These kinds of moves can go a decent way towards crippling tough enemies on the opposite end, especially when combined with Gallade’s high Special Defense. Although he does have all these support options, Gallade is also capable of hitting pretty hard, too. Like Lucario and Infernape, he can fight in Close Combat, probably the most reliable-but-strong Fighting attack in the game. He also comes armed with other attacks, like Zen Headbutt (or Psycho Cut), Night Slash, and the Ghost-type priority attack Shadow Sneak. Gallade’s not quite the staple of mono-Fighting teams that Lucario is (or Infernape could be), but he’s definitely a good choice for something a bit more unorthodox. Did I mention that he also takes Psychic moves for neutral damage, as well as resisting Fighting attacks himself?
Terrakion: Going back from someone unusual to something more traditional, Terrakion is a grey-and-dark-brown wrecking ball. He’s not likely to be dealing Special damage with a rather low 71 base Special Attack, but with a physical Attack score of 129 and 108 base Speed, he would scoff at Special attacks anyway. Being a Rock Fighter (a typing exclusive to Terrakion for now), he does have a wide variety of weaknesses like Water, Fighting, and Steel. In return, though, Fighting and Rock attacks work together amazingly. Stone Edge crushes the Flying and Bug Pokemon that laugh at Close Combat, while Close Combat smashes the Steel-types that would just shrug off Stone Edge. Very few Pokemon can resist both of these kinds of moves, and the ones that do (like Claydol, Nidoqueen, and Gallade) aren’t used much in OU. …Honestly, that’s all that really needs to be said about Terrakion. There is more to him, such as different sets or items to equip, but they’re mainly just different ways of saying Terrakion smashes all of the things.
Scrafty: The yellow-hooded lizard is currently considered among the bottom of the barrel in OU, but he may actually find hope within mono-Fighting teams. Mainly, Scrafty is notable because in addition to being a Fighter, he’s also a Dark Pokemon, meaning that he isn’t bothered by Psychic attacks. Admittedly, Psychic moves aren’t exactly the most common attack type (there are several Psychic Pokemon in OU, but the most common ones tend to use other attack types more often), but having something to block one of your type’s weaknesses completely (unlike Gallade, Lucario, Medicham, or Cobalion, who just make them neutral hits) might help you in situations where Psychic powers are used. In the meantime, Scrafty has some cool boosting moves at his disposal: Dragon Dance and Bulk Up. Both of these boost a somewhat-unimpressive base 90 Attack stat along with one of his other stats: speed for Dragon Dance (which lets you use him mainly for offense) or defense for Bulk Up (which makes him a bit sturdier while still being able to hit). Scrafty is one of the tougher Fighters, too, with 115 base Defense, both physical and Special. Dark and Fighting make a really good offensive combination with only Heracross and Toxicroak able to resist it, so gaining bonuses for both Crunch and Hi Jump Kick (or Drain Punch, both of which are good options) is especially nice.
Poliwrath: “What? Poliwrath? But this guy’s in RU, and he doesn’t neutralize Psychic or Flying damage. Why would he be ‘notable’?” That’s probably what you’re thinking, right? Well, you’d be surprised. I actually used one of these guys on my mono-Fighting team in 4th-Gen, and he impressed me quite a bit. Being a Water-type, obviously, he’s going to have access to Water and Ice attacks. Both of these are rather effective against some of the most powerful Pokemon in OU, including some Pokemon that might give Fighting teams problems (such as Dragonite, Latios, or Gliscor). Being a Water-type Fighter, Poliwrath works well for taking attacks aimed at other Fighters with secondary types. Is some Fire-type trying to melt Lucario? Poliwrath. Are they trying to freeze Breloom? Poliwrath. Is that a Hydro Pump aimed at your Terrakion? Poliwrath will HEAL from that last one with its Water Absorb ability. AND he actually has the bulk to take hits pretty dang well. The downside to Poliwrath is that he doesn’t really have the raw power to deliver hits, nor does he come with the strongest attacks, so Poliwrath is the kind of Fighter you would probably prefer to play defensively. I could go on, but this will do a better job than I could trying to explain why Poliwrath is surprisingly AWESOME.
And for the love of Keldeo, please don’t use Hitmontop. He is the antithesis of Poliwrath: something you expect to be great with his many talents, but also something that keeps botching when he tries to put said talents to use. Maybe it’s just me, but Hitmontop just didn’t work for me when I tried him.
Figured I'd contribute some knowledge.
TYPE: The mighty beasts of thunder, Electric-types!
PROS:
-Easily covered weaknesses
-Many Electric-types have good coverage options
-Electric Pokemon will save you in the war! They'll zap your enemies into paralysis!
CONS:
-Absolutely no entry hazards. This means that your opponents are never punished for switching, which gives them an advantage
-Most viable Electric-types are specially oriented, meaning that many Pokemon will simply overlap
-Simply not much variety: very few Electric-types have neat secondary types or abilities that make them special
NOTABLE MEMBERS:
-Zapdos is notable for it's immense offensive potential, as well as solid defensive potential, and most importantly, an immunity to Ground-type moves, a type that ravages most Electric-types. SubRoost with Toxic and Pressure to stall is a great thing to have. Zapdos should be on every mono-Electric team, no exceptions
-Jolteon, Manectric, and Raikou are all speedy, powerful Special attackers, each having something special that separates them from the other two. Jolteon has it's insane 130 base speed, Manectric has Lightningrod and access to Flamethrower/Overheat, and Raikou makes for a great Calm Mind sweeper, as well as having access to a nice Fighting-type move in Aura Sphere.
-Rotom-W, Rotom-C, and Rotom-H are unique forms of Rotom that have nifty secondary types. Rotom-W's unique Hydro Pump is very useful in handling Ground-types, as is Rotom-C's Leaf Storm. Rotom-H's Overheat is somewhat less noticable, but any team likes having a strong Fire-type move, and if you don't run Heat Wave on Zapdos, it's a good alternative. All 3 formes are capable of spreading burns with Will-o-Wisp, making them effective at neutering physical threats.
-Electivire and Luxray are notable for having good physical stats and movepools, something a mono-Electric team craves desperately. Both have Wild Charge as a physical STAB, decent coverage in moves such as Cross Chop, Superpower, Ice Punch, Fire Punch, Earthquake, and Crunch. Either of the pair should be on any mono-Electric team
-Magnezone is quite useful, as it's a mono-Electric team's only answer to powerful Dragon-type attacks, as well as being capable of ending mono-Steel teams almost single-handedly. A SubCharge set is it's most viable option
Lanturn, Eelektross, Galvantula, Electrode
These Pokemon have much less to offer than others, but are still notable. Lanturn's Water-type STAB moves, as well as access to Heal Bell, can prove useful, but on the whole, it's not as good as Rotom-W. Eelektross is rather underwhelming, but immunity to Ground, as well as no weaknesses, could be handy. Galvantula is rather weak compared to many other Electric-types, but a Bug-type STAB and Thunder that is usable outside of Rain are calling cards for it. Finally, Electrode can be used as a suicide lead, to set up Rain and then blow up, allowing for it's teammates to go crazy spamming Thunder
TYPE SYNERGY:
Immune to Ground: Rotom-A, Zapdos, Eelektross
Neutral to Ground: Galvantula
Honorable mention: Air Balloon is very useful to get free switches for Pokemon weak to Ground, which is very helpful, considering Ground-type moves are useful overall
TYPE: The mighty beasts of thunder, Electric-types!
PROS:
-Easily covered weaknesses
-Many Electric-types have good coverage options
-Electric Pokemon will save you in the war! They'll zap your enemies into paralysis!
CONS:
-Absolutely no entry hazards. This means that your opponents are never punished for switching, which gives them an advantage
-Most viable Electric-types are specially oriented, meaning that many Pokemon will simply overlap
-Simply not much variety: very few Electric-types have neat secondary types or abilities that make them special
NOTABLE MEMBERS:
-Zapdos is notable for it's immense offensive potential, as well as solid defensive potential, and most importantly, an immunity to Ground-type moves, a type that ravages most Electric-types. SubRoost with Toxic and Pressure to stall is a great thing to have. Zapdos should be on every mono-Electric team, no exceptions
-Jolteon, Manectric, and Raikou are all speedy, powerful Special attackers, each having something special that separates them from the other two. Jolteon has it's insane 130 base speed, Manectric has Lightningrod and access to Flamethrower/Overheat, and Raikou makes for a great Calm Mind sweeper, as well as having access to a nice Fighting-type move in Aura Sphere.
-Rotom-W, Rotom-C, and Rotom-H are unique forms of Rotom that have nifty secondary types. Rotom-W's unique Hydro Pump is very useful in handling Ground-types, as is Rotom-C's Leaf Storm. Rotom-H's Overheat is somewhat less noticable, but any team likes having a strong Fire-type move, and if you don't run Heat Wave on Zapdos, it's a good alternative. All 3 formes are capable of spreading burns with Will-o-Wisp, making them effective at neutering physical threats.
-Electivire and Luxray are notable for having good physical stats and movepools, something a mono-Electric team craves desperately. Both have Wild Charge as a physical STAB, decent coverage in moves such as Cross Chop, Superpower, Ice Punch, Fire Punch, Earthquake, and Crunch. Either of the pair should be on any mono-Electric team
-Magnezone is quite useful, as it's a mono-Electric team's only answer to powerful Dragon-type attacks, as well as being capable of ending mono-Steel teams almost single-handedly. A SubCharge set is it's most viable option
Lanturn, Eelektross, Galvantula, Electrode
These Pokemon have much less to offer than others, but are still notable. Lanturn's Water-type STAB moves, as well as access to Heal Bell, can prove useful, but on the whole, it's not as good as Rotom-W. Eelektross is rather underwhelming, but immunity to Ground, as well as no weaknesses, could be handy. Galvantula is rather weak compared to many other Electric-types, but a Bug-type STAB and Thunder that is usable outside of Rain are calling cards for it. Finally, Electrode can be used as a suicide lead, to set up Rain and then blow up, allowing for it's teammates to go crazy spamming Thunder
TYPE SYNERGY:
Immune to Ground: Rotom-A, Zapdos, Eelektross
Neutral to Ground: Galvantula
Honorable mention: Air Balloon is very useful to get free switches for Pokemon weak to Ground, which is very helpful, considering Ground-type moves are useful overall
I would just like to point out something that I have seen after reading a few of these analyses: it doesn't necesarily matter what is common/uncommon in the OU tier. This monotype, so you are going to a much larger variety of pokes that aren't encountered in OU and monotype plays completely differently from OU. While it does sound strange, let me explain.
first:
The second point is perhaps the more important of my two points. Let's say RedMeowth was right and that the Rock-type was common in the OU tier, but what relevance does that have in monotype? How many of you have encountered Mono-Rock on the monotype ladder? I am going to reckon not a whole lot of you have. So in that case, Rock was used a lot in OU, but not in monotype. The point it is, the amount of usage/"commoness" of something in the OU tier doesn't matter because it will probably have a completely different usage in the monotype tier.
A good example of this bold/underline part in RedMeoth's quote. Those Pokemon that resists Terrakion's STABS's have jack shit usage in OU, but I guarantee you that if encounter a mono-poison in mono-type, they will be using a Nidoqueen for Stealth Rock. Mono-Ground often uses Claydol as a defensive pivot. Heck, you even mentioned it yourself RedMeoth that mono-fighting sometimes uses Gallade for niche moves.
Unfortunately, we do not have access to monotype statistics yet (to Antar!), so it will be difficult to prove are assertions.
TL;DR Something's usage/"commoness" in the OU tier does not hold true in monotype, as monotype will have a much more varied options due to the restrictoins. What really holds relevant is the usage of a type within the monotype tier.
I'm not picking on you RedMewoth, you just have the most substantial post on a type here ;)
first:
The first thing I bolded is to point out two things. One, while Steel types garner a large portion of the OU, Rock type pokemon aren't common, there are only two in the tier (granted the two are used alot, but the type itself isn't common throughout the OU tier).PROS:
· Type effectiveness. Fighting is tied with Ground as the type that hits the most Pokemon for super-effective damage, and some of those types are fairly common in OU (namely Steel and Rock). The types that Fighting attacks do not work well against are also fairly rare in OU.
Terrakion: Going back from someone unusual to something more traditional, Terrakion is a grey-and-dark-brown wrecking ball. He’s not likely to be dealing Special damage with a rather low 71 base Special Attack, but with a physical Attack score of 129 and 108 base Speed, he would scoff at Special attacks anyway. Being a Rock Fighter (a typing exclusive to Terrakion for now), he does have a wide variety of weaknesses like Water, Fighting, and Steel. In return, though, Fighting and Rock attacks work together amazingly. Stone Edge crushes the Flying and Bug Pokemon that laugh at Close Combat, while Close Combat smashes the Steel-types that would just shrug off Stone Edge. Very few Pokemon can resist both of these kinds of moves, and the ones that do (like Claydol, Nidoqueen, and Gallade) aren’t used much in OU. …Honestly, that’s all that really needs to be said about Terrakion. There is more to him, such as different sets or items to equip, but they’re mainly just different ways of saying Terrakion smashes all of the things.
The second point is perhaps the more important of my two points. Let's say RedMeowth was right and that the Rock-type was common in the OU tier, but what relevance does that have in monotype? How many of you have encountered Mono-Rock on the monotype ladder? I am going to reckon not a whole lot of you have. So in that case, Rock was used a lot in OU, but not in monotype. The point it is, the amount of usage/"commoness" of something in the OU tier doesn't matter because it will probably have a completely different usage in the monotype tier.
A good example of this bold/underline part in RedMeoth's quote. Those Pokemon that resists Terrakion's STABS's have jack shit usage in OU, but I guarantee you that if encounter a mono-poison in mono-type, they will be using a Nidoqueen for Stealth Rock. Mono-Ground often uses Claydol as a defensive pivot. Heck, you even mentioned it yourself RedMeoth that mono-fighting sometimes uses Gallade for niche moves.
Unfortunately, we do not have access to monotype statistics yet (to Antar!), so it will be difficult to prove are assertions.
TL;DR Something's usage/"commoness" in the OU tier does not hold true in monotype, as monotype will have a much more varied options due to the restrictoins. What really holds relevant is the usage of a type within the monotype tier.
I'm not picking on you RedMewoth, you just have the most substantial post on a type here ;)
From the OP:
So yes, usage in OU does in fact matter.
I edited in the last two submissions, and yes, it would be so much better if you do put in explanations as to why you'd include a certain Pokemon in the Notable Members part of the analysis, as what RedMeowth and Tyranitarphantom wonderfully did (such great initiative!). If anyone would want to add on to the earlier submissions, feel free to do so.
PS. @RedMeowth, nice write-up on Poliwrath you got there. Tried using it before, with a Rain Dance/Swift Swim/Belly Drum set that is virtually impossible to pull off. Never thought of using it in a defensive role. I'd give it a spin next time.^^
I understand the confusion though. This thread itself has been transferred between the OU forum to Other metagames forum by the admins at least three times just in the past week.
PS. @RedMeowth, nice write-up on Poliwrath you got there. Tried using it before, with a Rain Dance/Swift Swim/Belly Drum set that is virtually impossible to pull off. Never thought of using it in a defensive role. I'd give it a spin next time.^^
As voodoo pimp pointed out in the post above, this thread's focus is on the use of monotype teams in the regular metagame, NOT the Monotype metagame. Thus, submissions must in fact talk about how a Pokemon can be used effectively in a monotype team in the context of the OU metagame. At a later stage, all the analyses would be proofread and edited to remove any mention of how a Pokemon fairs well in the Monotype metagame, because that is not part of the goal.
I understand the confusion though. This thread itself has been transferred between the OU forum to Other metagames forum by the admins at least three times just in the past week.
TYPE: Poison
PROS:
- Weaknesses covered by those with immunities (Drapion, Levitators, Crobat)
- Has some of the fastest Pokes in the meta (Gengar, Scolipede, Crobat)
- Toxic immune
- Wicked mixed coverage
- Can use Black Sludge over Leftovers to screw over Trick users
- Plenty of support options, all well equipped with entry hazards
- Does pretty well in both rain (Tentacruel, Toxicroak) and sun (Venusaur)
- Spore user (Amoonguss)
CONS:
- Limited in typing combinations
- Weezing and Tentacruel are the only viable walls against Physical and Special sweepers respectively
- Only Natural Cure Roserade and Shed Skin Arbok can comfortably switch into status
- Only spinner is Tentacruel
- Only members immune to sandstorm are the Nidos
- Pretty much open to Psychic sweep without a Dark-type
- Can't deal with Rock or Dragon attacks outside of "switch to lone wall".
- No clerics (Heal Bell or Wish users)
NOTABLE MEMBERS:
Gengar, Crobat, Venusaur, Drapion, Tentacruel, Weezing, Toxicroak, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Roserade
I'll update this another time.
PROS:
- Weaknesses covered by those with immunities (Drapion, Levitators, Crobat)
- Has some of the fastest Pokes in the meta (Gengar, Scolipede, Crobat)
- Toxic immune
- Wicked mixed coverage
- Can use Black Sludge over Leftovers to screw over Trick users
- Plenty of support options, all well equipped with entry hazards
- Does pretty well in both rain (Tentacruel, Toxicroak) and sun (Venusaur)
- Spore user (Amoonguss)
CONS:
- Limited in typing combinations
- Weezing and Tentacruel are the only viable walls against Physical and Special sweepers respectively
- Only Natural Cure Roserade and Shed Skin Arbok can comfortably switch into status
- Only spinner is Tentacruel
- Only members immune to sandstorm are the Nidos
- Pretty much open to Psychic sweep without a Dark-type
- Can't deal with Rock or Dragon attacks outside of "switch to lone wall".
- No clerics (Heal Bell or Wish users)
NOTABLE MEMBERS:
Gengar, Crobat, Venusaur, Drapion, Tentacruel, Weezing, Toxicroak, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Roserade
I'll update this another time.
Hey, that IS the title I wanted (see my sig). Turns out it the title wasn't saved correctly. Thanks for pointing that out.
I actually started to build one of these for grass types a bit of a time ago and I'm very interested in contributing since I think, even with the numerous amount of weaknesses, grass is an outstanding mono to play with.
My only major question about the analysis, is this for DW or Wifi? Grass gets a huge boost from DW in the form of Contrary Serperior and Techniloom among others and is very important to note.
My only major question about the analysis, is this for DW or Wifi? Grass gets a huge boost from DW in the form of Contrary Serperior and Techniloom among others and is very important to note.
Standard OU is, well, standard, so unless it specifically says DW you can usually assume it's not.