Okay, its time for me to finally vent out all my issues with Drizzle. Although it is not "broken", I don't believe that we can only ban things that are "broken". However, we can and should ban things that affect the metagame in the way that Drizzle does. And I will describe my reasons below. First, some ground rules.
- Things that limit diversity substantially need to be banned
- Things that offer a significant advantage to the user at no cost need to be banned
- Anything that reduces the metagame to "team matchup" needs to be banned
Okay, so I think many of Smogon's senior users will agree for the most part to the things mentioned above. So here are the reasons why Drought has no place in OU.
1. Drizzle makes Fire types unviable This one is obvious. With a 50% decrease in the power of their STAB moves, Drizzle ruins the viability of all fire types. It is definite that without Rain being so common, pokemon like Heatran could make the top 5 while Infernape and Volcarona could become the top-tier sweepers they wish they were. It is also wholly possible that pokemon like Arcanine, who is very powerful in UU and has many new options in Gen V could make low OU. This is especially obvious with Darmanitan, who would normally be much higher but is now placed low at the #53 spot because its only good point is its ultra-powerful Flare Blitz.
2. Drizzle makes sandstorm more viable then they already would be. We all know how great sandstorm is, and we all know that it is the dominant playstyle in OU. One thing that many people don't realize is that it is only so great because it can counter rain. For players who choose not to use Drizzle, there is only one other option to remain viable in OU. For reasons I will explain below, non-weather teams are pathetic when compared to any type of weather. The fact that Drizzle encourages the already most common pokemon in the game is simply unforgivable. Soon we will reach a stage where Tyranitar will be similar to Scizor in late Platinum OU, where I think he had over 30% usage. The game will revolve around Tyranitar, Excadrill, and Gliscor. Not good for diversity, or for balance.
3. Any Pokemon that can't abuse rain (or other weathers which counter rain) is unviable. I want you to pull up the May 2011 usage. Read off the top 20 Pokemon in OU. Only 2 Pokemon, Conkeldurr and Gengar, lack the ability to abuse weather. More than half of OU gains a boost in usage, while the other half gets a decrease in usage. Its like taking money from the poor and giving it to the rich; and its all caused by Drizzle for the most part.
4. A Drizzle team has an automatic advantage when facing a team without weather. A Drizzle team gets many advantages that a normal team doesn't have, and can build its movesets accordingly. For one, it has
double STAB on water moves. This allows is to hit everything, and hit it hard unless that thing's name is Ferrothorn. Secondly,
it can avoid Fire moves on its team. In this scenario, the Drizzle teams saves several moveslots that are wasted on the team of the opponent. That can mean all the difference.
Rain also allows for 100% accurate Thunders and Hurricanes. Let's say that two Starmies, at full health, are facing off for the win. The one on the rain team will succeed simply because it has that free 20% extra damage. Think about it this way:
if two equally good players battle, the one will rain will more likely win due to these advantage raising his/her odds.
5. Drizzle has no drawbacks, only positives. There is no reason to NOT use Drizzle. It can beat sandstorm, gives many advantages, and can neutralize potential threats in Volcarona, Darmanitan, etc. There is no drawback. Unlike sandstorm, it can't hurt your own Pokemon.
6. A Drizzle team, when facing a team with one or two fire types, is more likely going to win simply due to team matchup. Lets say that I have a team with two fire types. Neither have a weakness to Stealth Rock, and both are perfectly viable in OU like Heatran and Infernape. In the rain, I essentially have two potential deadweights. Its like the score is 6-5 right off the bat. Or lets say that I am running a Drought team. I am already at a disadvantage due to the fact that Grass types don't even get a STAB boost in the sun. Like above, if I am just as good as my opponent, I am more likely to lose.
This reduces the entire metagame to luck, and those who run into more teams that they are effective against can do better. It was not like this before in Gen 4, where anything could be played around. You cannot play around Rain. It will always be there, nerfing your Pokemon and boosting theirs.
I hope you guys don't think I'm an idiot, and I hope you try to refute my position, as that is what Smogon is all about. Thank you.