Protect: The Metagame

[Level 51]

Approved by Eevee General​

Your mascot could be a condom btw.

if you know what i mean
​

This format is exactly like standard OU, with a slight difference in mechanics - the moves Protect and Detect do not fail on consecutive uses. All the other stuff like Endure, Spiky Shield, King's Shield etc still have a chance of failing on consecutive uses.

What can you expect to see from this metagame?
- Protect stall will be everwhere!
- Substitute will be everywhere!
- Feint might become a thing?? (oh hi Mega Pinsir, didn't see you there!)
- Phazing will become more popular, since Roar / Whirlwind go straight through Protect / Detect
- more ?????

Banlist:
- OU Banlist
- that's it
- :]

 

[JustAMan]

... how did this get here?... seriously, i had my fair share of shit metas, but this... wow ( hey srsly, not to offend you but...)

EDIT: Well, I got myself pumped up too much. Sorry for this, Still, I don't like it



The meta will basicly be
- feint spam
- hazards+Roar spam
- Cradily will be invincible lol
- Abomasnow!

 

[MegaGallade]

I can see Magic Bounce being used commonly, due to the fact it rebounds all hazards, roar etc.

Mega Sableye says hi.

 

[skies]

I don't know about these guys, but I like it! I mean, it gives popularity to Breloom, Mega Sableye, and Poison-types as a whole, which is neat. Mega Sableye I can see being the best Pokemon in the entire metagame and keeping a lot of it in check. Breloom would be useful because I expect tons of Toxic spam, Poison Heal comes in handy. Perhaps Gliscor would be useful as well? Now that I think of it, stall is going to be really hard to deal with in general because all of the Pokemon can just Protect consecutively to just keep gaining Leftovers recovery. Dunno, but I look forward to playing this n.n!

 

[Ununhexium]

Leftovers poison heal breloom would actually be hilarious if you could pull it off

 

[noobcubed]

At least this metagame will finally make Imprison not a completely useless move.

 

[xJownage]

... how did this get here?... seriously, i had my fair share of shit metas, but this... wow ( hey srsly, not to offend you but...)

The meta will basicly be
- feint spam
- hazards+Roar spam
- Cradily will be invincible lol
- Abomasnow!

YOU CAN'T JUST SAY "THIS WILL BE SHIT" "NO OFFENSE" AND IT NOT BE OFFENSIVE???

Thats like stabbing somebody and saying "i didn't do it".

Speaking of no offense....yeah somebody go find the stall circlejerk.

 

[MZ]

rest/talk/attack/toxic could stop any potential toxic stall, but you could just pp stall attacks. Thank god protect has 16 pp. Mega Sableye will also be amazing for stopping hazards, since phazing damage just became a lot more important, maybe dancie and absol too

 

[Da Pizza Man]

Yeah Feint/Phantom Force is an absolute necessity to have on anything that wants to go offensive, and because its a normal type moves ghost types will get a rise in usage lets see a list of fully evolved pokemon who can learn it (Bolded are OU viable)!

Pokemon who can learn Feint

Raichu
Persian
Farfetch'd
Hitmonlee
Hitmonchan
Scizor
Kabutops
Heracross
Skarmory (Although its not offensive)
Hitmontop
Breloom
Medicham
Sharpedo
Flygon
Kecleon
Absol
Infernape
Skuntank
Lucario
Yanmega
Gallade
Chesnaught (Although its more of a defensive poke, but it can use it)
Goodra
Pinsir
Gliscor (Again its defensive)
Weavile
Houndoom
Electivire
Hairyama
Sableye (It's more of a support pokemon though)
Zangoose
Toxicroak
Accelgor
Mienshao

Now lets compare that to pokemon who can learn feint and hit ghost types with it

Pinsir (Only after it mega evolves though)

Oh dear lord Ghost types are OP in this meta, if you want to run some type of offensive team in this meta everything needs to know Feint/Phantom Force/Imprison + Protect, however that means that you need to Use a weak move for attacking (Except for Mega Pinsir)/Use a 2-turn move/Use up 2 coverage slots, when Hoopa is realesed this problem will get better though

 

[Phione]

Mega Sableye = Meta
Bounces back Roar and Whirlwind, is immune to Feint, and can Protect + Heal stall for eterniy.

 

[Don Honchkrorleone]

Klefki @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Spe / 8 Atk or SpA
Jolly / Timid Nature
- Imprison
- Protect
- Play Rough / Dazzling Gleam / Substitute
- Toxic / Substitute

The choice of Fairy STAB doesn't matter too much, it's here to beat MAbsol and MSableye (Play Rough hits the rare Espeon in case anyone use it). Imprison is amazing since it's not affected by protect nor Magic Coat/Bounce, meaning that as long as Klefki is on the field, opponent can't protect itself .Unfortunately it won't beat Leech Seed Ferrothorn nor Gliscor so something like Growth HP Fire Grass/Poison Pokemon or something like Nasty Plot Crobat (who knows, may be useful lol). The metagame seems cool, as long as it doesn't turn out to be a 500 turn PP stalling war.

 

[Stocke]

rip any playstyle not named stall

In all seriousness, I can't really pass judgement on this meta since it's not playable yet, but I can definitely agree that the stall playstyle as a whole (despite my relative inexperience with it) will be powerful in this metagame.

Also, Mega Sableye.

 

[EV]

Level 51 we can use Protect and Detect on the same Pokemon, yes? Kinda screws up coverage options, but for absolute stalliness, it might come in handy.

 

[Sergeant Spooky]

Mega Gardevoir gets Imprison but it probably can't stallbreak very well without Voice/Psyshock and one of Taunt/Calm Mind.

 

[ufailowell]

Be trevenant/tropius

Hold leppa berry

Win

 

[Da Pizza Man]

Be trevenant/tropius

Hold leppa berry

Win

That is banned by Endless Battle Clause

 

[ufailowell]

That is banned by Endless Battle Clause

Its not endless. It'll end after they run out of pp

 

[Da Pizza Man]

Its not endless. It'll end after they run out of pp

I understand that no harvest pokemon can do this (Trevenant might, but I'm not 100% sure), just read this
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/endless-battle-clause.3495354/

Also here are some possible offensive pokemon:

Pinsir @ Pinsirite
Abillity: Hyper Cutter
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef/ 252 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature (Your probably going to be using Feint a lot)
- Feint
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock

The goal of this set is simple, try go get your SDs up, spam feint like there is no tomorrow, and attempt to get a sweep up. Because of the vast number of Pokemon out there with Protect, it really is not worth it to run return. Earthquake gives it some of the coverage it needs to take on pokemon who resists Feint, and Stealth Rock is to make up for the measly power of Feint.

Gothitelle @ Leftovers
Abillity: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe or 252 SpA / 212 HP / 44 Spe
Modest Nature
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Calm Mind
- Imprison
- Protect

Can be seen as both a support pokemon and a offensive pokemon, the goal is to trap the pokemon you want to trap, use Imprison right from the get go, and then kill them. The two EV sets here are really just a personal opinion if you want to be fast or bulky. Although it is a increadibly bad idea to try to use this to attack a Ghost or Dark type

 

[Ghoul King]

Confide/Play Nice ignore Protect, lowering Attack or Special Attack.

Ghost's using Curse ignore Protect -the ultimate in saying "screw you" to Poison Healers stalling for HP.

Doom Desire and Future Sight ignore Protect. Future Sight is even vaguely widespread, though of course it's useless against Dark types and bad against Psychic and Steel types, making it problematic for using it to deal with Sableye.

Psych Up steals stat stages while ignoring Protect. Extensive set-up Pokemon trying to Protect-stall for healing while setting up can have the tables turned on them straight through Protect.

Perish Song ignores Protect, and Soundproof is in fact the only protection at all.

Interestingly, Role Play ignores Protect too. A bit niche.

And of course Phantom Force and Shadow Force bypass Protect. Yes, they're two-turn moves that fail against Normal types, but they can still cut the stall down -people will think twice about using Ingrain on the idea that with Leftovers they can Protect for 1/8th of their health a turn for free.

Sketch and Transform also ignore Protect, though this is fairly niche. (Hooray, I can Sketch their Protect?)

And of course the already covered Feint, Roar, Whirlwind, and Imprison all ignore Protect.

Also note that trying to stall for HP via Protect is a terrible idea in the face of a Dragon Dancer, Quiver Dancer, or for that matter a Pokemon that Shifts Gear, since they'll just stat-up until you come out of your shell and murder you, and then you'll have to PP-stall all their moves with Protect. Yipee.

 

[aesf]

No offense? Are you kidding me?
With all the protect pokemon running around, I can definitely see a lot of set up going on.
After all, unaware only goes so far, and if you spam protect, nothing's stopping them from setting up until you stop spamming protect.
And on a final note:

PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, ban this thing (because apparently endless battle doesn't take this into account, at least i think it doesn't):

Trevenant @ Leppa Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Protect

Aside from that, this meta is a really simple change that goes a long way. I like it.

 

[Da Pizza Man]

No offense? Are you kidding me?
With all the protect pokemon running around, I can definitely see a lot of set up going on.
After all, unaware only goes so far, and if you spam protect, nothing's stopping them from setting up until you stop spamming protect.
And on a final note:

PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, ban this thing (because apparently endless battle doesn't take this into account, at least i think it doesn't):

Trevenant @ Leppa Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Protect

Aside from that, this meta is a really simple change that goes a long way. I like it.

This thing is easily killed by Mega Pinsir and anything with Phantom Force, doesn't look like a problem imo (Especially if your only move is seriously Protect)

 

[Emerald Master]

I recommend that you make this a doubles meta, in order to expand possible stratagies

 

[Yayz]

I was about to say Leppa+Harvest isn't endless, but then I remembered that struggle can't recoil if it doesn't hit. Hmm.

Anyway, I can see Pressure being useful here, along with Rest to troll all the Toxic stallers.

Of course feint and phantom force are really anti meta, but they are blockable by ghost and normal types, respectively, except of course for Mega Pinsir (and other feint-Ate users, if any)

 

[canno]

Its ok our based lore and savior is here


Jerachu (Jirachi) @ Leftovers / Choice Specs
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Doom Desire
- Psyshock / Future Sight
- Wish / Thunderbolt
- Protect / Trick

The main plan is simple. Doom Desire then Protect until it hits. Leftovers pairs really nicely with this because you can heal each time you Protect. Doom Desire is notable for not being blocked by Protect. Psyshock is for more specially defensive things that might want to stomach a Doom Desire. However, you could always use Future Sight. iirc you can't stack a Doom Desire with a Future Sight (so Future Sight will fail until Doom Desire hits), which is why its second slash. Wish works really well in a meta where you're probably going to run Protect anyways - makes Wish + Protect less "expensive" in a way. A specs set is possible for maximum nukage though - you'd want to run TBolt instead of Wish. Funnily enough, you can probably get away with Specs Protect if need to stall something out (i.e. a low PP move or if your foe is poisoned) However, you're probably going to want to run Trick instead to cripple things.

EDIT: Notably Jirachi can get away with a choice set and not be scouted since pretty much all Jirachis are going to run Doom Desire. At the very least your opponent will realize that you have Doom Desire from you going for it and not Protect, allowing you to potentially Trick

 

[ThePipmaster]

You've just nerfed Regigigas even more. Congratulations...
Also Wobbuffet, I guess. Nothing will mind being encored, you'll never get to use Counter or Mirror Coat, and lol at Destiny Bond because no one is ever going to attack.
But wow, this meta seems scary...
Now I can hate Gliscor even more.