New OU List (July 2009)

[X-Act]

July is with us again, and with it comes the third OU update of the year.

There aren't too many surprises this time around. One Pokemon enters the list, while two exit it. This brings the OU list size down from 50 to 49.

Say hello to the new entry, Umbreon:

Well, I'm not too much of a sprite person, but you'll have to be content with the above, heh.

And bid farewell to Donphan and Dugtrio:

This means, for the UU people out there, that Umbreon is banned from UU play, while Donphan and Dugtrio are allowed in UU, unless they become suspects. The required changes in the UU ladder will probably happen once the current UU testing is finished, however.

For the sake of completeness, here is the entire OU list:

Aerodactyl
Alakazam
Azelf
Blissey
Breloom
Bronzong
Celebi
Cresselia
Dragonite
Dusknoir
Electivire
Empoleon
Flygon
Forretress
Gengar
Gliscor
Gyarados
Heatran
Heracross
Hippowdon
Infernape
Jirachi
Jolteon
Kingdra
Latias
Lucario
Machamp
Magnezone
Mamoswine
Metagross
Ninjask
Porygon-Z
Rhyperior
Rotom-A
Salamence
Scizor
Skarmory
Smeargle
Snorlax
Starmie
Suicune
Swampert
Tentacruel
Togekiss
Tyranitar
Umbreon
Vaporeon
Weavile
Zapdos

(49 Pokemon)

A thread for the new UU list will be made separately.

 

[Krul]

Umbreon is interesting, with so many heavy hitters these days I wonder how Umbreon got so much use.

Bye-bye Donphan :'(

 

[KnightoftheWind]

Hi, Umbreon! Sure to be using yah!

 

[Aerouille]

Umbreon-chan......... you will be sorely missed.

Hopefully people will come to their senses and stop using him in the tier that hates him. He'll be less novelty/cute/useless and more cute/useless now.

 

[Ash Borer]

Umbreon is interesting, with so many heavy hitters these days I wonder how Umbreon got so much use.

Bye-bye Donphan :'(

It's a good latias counter.

 

[Seven Deadly Sins]

New UU List (July 2009)

hey you can still use donphan in ou

I'm really interested in UU Donphan, mainly because spinning sucks so hard in UU right now. It can also be an impromptu switchin to Roserade, with a Poison resistance and a strong SE Ice Shard. It can beat Spiritomb and Dusclops with strong EQ, and Mismagius can be pegged by an Assurance on the switch (provided SR is up). From what I can tell, this is a HUGE boost to balanced offense teams in UU, which can use Donphan as a general purpose check, solid spinner, and powerful attacker as well.

 

[Force Majeure]

I have a feeling that Donphan especially will make a huge splash in UU, mostly because its Ice Shards are a great way to take out those dam' Altarias. Also, a bulky spinner in UU is a wonderful addition.

I don't see such a bright future for Umbreon in OU. There are simply too many strong Fighting-Types around, not to mention the hordes of Scarf Flygons, CB-Scizors, and even Azelfs using U-Turn every which way.

 

[Not Scicky]

Roserade, Shaymin and various bulky waters like Milotic are rampant in UU, donphan isn't going to be making a very big entrance here even with ice shard...

Dugtrio... I'm not so sure about him, I mean I knew he was gonna be UU soon enough (Electivire's next?) but I don't know how useful he'll be.

 

[Aerouille]

hey you can still use donphan in ou

I'm really interested in UU Donphan, mainly because spinning sucks so hard in UU right now. It can also be an impromptu switchin to Roserade, with a Poison resistance and a strong SE Ice Shard. It can beat Spiritomb and Dusclops with strong EQ, and Mismagius can be pegged by an Assurance on the switch (provided SR is up). From what I can tell, this is a HUGE boost to balanced offense teams in UU, which can use Donphan as a general purpose check, solid spinner, and powerful attacker as well.

That's actually a good point, Donphan will be UU's only ice sharder (aside from piloswine lol) Maybe he would have been enough to keep Crobat from being such a gigantic whore~

I don't expect Donphan to be ridiculous like Dugtrio might end up being, but he'll get the usage, for sure

Roserade, Shaymin and various bulky waters like Milotic are rampant in UU, donphan isn't going to be making a very big entrance here even with ice shard...

That's why Steelix is so bad and nobody uses him, right? (also Shaymin has been suspected for the past month)

 

[WJC3688]

Roserade, Shaymin and various bulky waters like Milotic are rampant in UU, donphan isn't going to be making a very big entrance here even with ice shard...

Dugtrio... I'm not so sure about him, I mean I knew he was gonna be UU soon enough (Electivire's next?) but I don't know how useful he'll be.

You must not've played UU in the last month, Shaymin was taken out. Hopefully it's not coming back.

Personally I think Donphan and Dugtrio will be great additions. UU is full of priority which will hinder Dugtrio's effectiveness, for example Arcanine's LO Extremespeed will OHKO with SR damage I believe, where otherwise Dugtrio would be able to reliably revenge Arcanine. I think people are also failing to realize just how weak and frail it is......even CB Night Slash is not guaranteed to KO Mismagius, for example.

I'm looking forward to Donphan's entry just because UU needs more viable options for Stealth Rockers. I get tired of shuffling between the two Regis and Steelix over and over.

 

[SMZ]

Cool Umbreon is OU now. Dugtrio and Donphan didn't surprise me much.

 

[kobo1d]

Randomly, because I was interested, as of right now OU is composed like this, type-wise (with avg rank for June in parentheses):

10 Steel (16.5)
9 Psychic (21.89)
9 Flying (23.11)
7 Water (18.86)
6 Ground (30.17)
5 Fighting (20.4)
5 Dragon (21)
5 Electric (23.6)
5 Normal (34)
4 Bug (29.5)
3 Ghost (21)
3 Dark (30)
3 Rock (31)
2 Fire (5.5)
2 Grass (22.5)
2 Poison (25)
2 Ice (36)

 

[Son_of_Shadoo]

I have to say, I'm pretty surprised at this. Surely Umbreon is outclassed by Cresselia in almost every way, apart from the fact that Umbreon has Wish?

Donphan and Duggy in UU, eh... I like the sound of this. I doubt the former will be used for his spinning abilities, due to Mismagius' prevalence, which has caused everyone and their mother to start running Foresight Hitmontop (a waste of a moveslot IMO), but more for his SR set-up (there really aren't many viable SR users in UU. Uxie, Steelix, Regirock, Registeel... That's about it.). And Dugtrio? YES! Chansey is shitting herself as we speak.

 

[Kinder Surprise]

Umbreon really shouldn't be getting so much usage. It is very underwhelming. Often shut down by Taunt and set up fodder for Steel types that run our metagame. I suspect it won't remain OU for very long.

No one wants a defensive wall that can't take on Infernape, Lucario, Scizor, Machamp, Breloom or Heracross. It defeats the purpose. As for use as a special wall, there is Blissey.

Dugtrio in UU is very interesting. I imagine it will receive a great deal of usage and really change the metagame. It's good to see it getting less usage in OU. It's a bastard of a pokemon with an excellent and unique team role which will at last be put to more use in a tier where Dugtrio can hold his own.

 

[Tagrineth]

I have to say, I'm pretty surprised at this. Surely Umbreon is outclassed by Cresselia in almost every way, apart from the fact that Umbreon has Wish?

Dark STAB has to count for something. STAB Pursuit hurts, even from mediocre Attack.

 

[Hipmonlee]

Not to mention dark resistance..

Have a nice day.

 

[Blue_Tornado]

Umbreon can be a nice check for Latias, as well as a Psychic trapper, not to mention the Mean Look set :P

I actually think donphan won't get that much use in UU, as Registeel and Steelix are great Stealth Rockers in general and better Phisical Tanks. Donphan will be used to take advantage of his Ground Typing (unlike Steelix and Regirock, who fear Fighting and Ground types due to Steel) and be a counter to Hitmontop and, well, Dugtrio now. Aside from that, Registeel has much more uses, like countering Yanmega, Mismagious, non-sleep-Roserade and being an all around tank in general, so he will still be the number one choice for SR in a team. Sorry Donphan, that's that.

 

[Toaster]

Nice to see a new eevee evoloution be introduce in OU,dugtrio and donphan removal makes me think of how it would have an impact in the uu metagame.

 

[Objection]

I actually think donphan won't get that much use in UU, as Registeel and Steelix are great Stealth Rockers in general and better Phisical Tanks. Donphan will be used to take advantage of his Ground Typing (unlike Steelix and Regirock, who fear Fighting and Ground types due to Steel) and be a counter to Hitmontop and, well, Dugtrio now. Aside from that, Registeel has much more uses, like countering Yanmega, Mismagious, non-sleep-Roserade and being an all around tank in general, so he will still be the number one choice for SR in a team. Sorry Donphan, that's that.

Donphan has one advantage over Registeel and Steelix that you have completely missed: Rapid Spin. When you consider this, you then have to compare Donphan to the likes of Claydol and Hitmontop as well.

Donphan is kinda like Steelix and Hitmontop rolled into one I feel, but with the added benefit of a priority move otherwise practically unheard of in UU.

 

[jackO]

Donphan has one advantage over Registeel and Steelix that you have completely missed: Rapid Spin. When you consider this, you then have to compare Donphan to the likes of Claydol and Hitmontop as well.

Donphan is kinda like Steelix and Hitmontop rolled into one I feel, but with the added benefit of a priority move otherwise practically unheard of in UU.

to level... but i think donphin wont make a big splash in the end. sure, its got ice shard, but the only thing that will hit is altaria(im not sure for a OHKO).

WHen you said its steelix and top rolled into one, its also lost the def that steelix had(120 is still great) and sp def top had.

 

[-Zer0-]

I think people have been watching opjqy's baton pass thing.

 

[Riverside]

I'm really interested in UU Donphan, mainly because spinning sucks so hard in UU right now.

Sandslash, Donphan's brother.

He can also use Stealth rock btw.

 

[Kingdrom]

I think people have been watching opjqy's baton pass thing.

Yes. By the time you realize that he's not the common noob, it's usually too late unless you carry several priority users.

I'm wondering what happens to the other Rotom forms. Do they get to stay in OU even though their usage would make them UU (at least in May)?

 

[petrie911]

I'm wondering what happens to the other Rotom forms. Do they get to stay in OU even though their usage would make them UU (at least in May)?

The Rotom forms are basically all the same pokemon, just with egg move conflicts. It'd be like making the two different Gastrodon forms different Pokemon.

 

[Kaxtar]

Thanks a lot X-Act for the new OU list!