Metagame NP: RU Stage 5: Gods and Monsters (HOUNDOOMINITE IS BL2, READ POST #178)

[Cherub Agent]

Golbat should also be able to counter Serperior, for what it's worth. Reliable recovery, super effective STAB, a 4x resistance to Grass and not being weak to its coverage moves should go a long way in stopping Serp. Sap Sipper mons like Bouffalant are also full stops to it, as they don't allow it to set up in the first place and don't give a crap about a weak non STAB Dragon Pulse.

Not that that's particularly important, as I doubt Serperior won't be quickbanned, but they're other options should it be suspect tested.

 

[Talpr0ne]

Honestly CB Emboar is fucking brutal. Ppl are already scared of wallbreakers like CB Pangoro or Choice Specs Dragalge, but Emboar is even more shattering than them(albeit less durable). It pretty much OHKOs or 2HKOs every wall with the appropriate move(which in most cases is just Flare Blitz lel) Example of this are

252+ Atk Choice Band Emboar Superpower vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Solid Rock Rhyperior: 370-438 (85.4 - 101.1%) -- 50% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Emboar Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Druddigon: 202-238 (56.4 - 66.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Emboar Superpower vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Druddigon: 337-397 (94.1 - 110.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Emboar Flare Blitz vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Gligar: 174-205 (52.2 - 61.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Emboar Head Smash vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Gligar: 145-171 (43.5 - 51.3%) -- 99.6% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Emboar Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Cresselia: 237-279 (53.3 - 62.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Emboar Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Cresselia: 197-232 (44.3 - 52.2%) -- 78.5% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Emboar Flare Blitz vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Golbat: 223-264 (63.1 - 74.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Emboar Head Smash vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Golbat: 374-440 (105.9 - 124.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Emboar Flare Blitz vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Slowking: 204-240 (51.9 - 61%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Emboar Wild Charge vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Slowking: 408-482 (103.8 - 122.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Emboar Head Smash vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Slowking: 340-401 (86.5 - 102%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Emboar Wild Charge vs. 120 HP / 136 Def Alomomola: 384-452 (76.6 - 90.2%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Choice Band Emboar Superpower vs. 120 HP / 136 Def Alomomola: 318-375 (63.4 - 74.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

If this isn't fucking scary I don't know what is

 

[EonX]

As strong as Head Smash is on Emboar, I really don't like the looks of it due to that 50% recoil you take. At least the others are a bit less annoying (Flare Blitz is 33% and Wild Charge is 25%) and I don't think Head Smash hits anything notable that you can't just hit with Flare Blitz or Wild Charge. That being said, Emboar is looking really good as a super strong wallbreaker with Choice Band. Life Orb might work, but that residual damage will probably take it out prematurely. Scarf Emboar could probably be stacked with another Scarf user with Scarf Emboar being a fast battering ram that is very difficult for offense to beat and then your other Scarfer to actually revenge kill stuff. Either way, Band will probably be most common, and I can see this set getting to be quite popular:

Emboar @ Choice Band
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 88 HP / 252 Atk / 168 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Superpower
- Wild Charge
- filler (EQ / Sucker / Fire Punch / Head Smash)

Honestly, you're generally going to be using one of your first 3 moves almost all the time, so you can just use some filler option in the last slot to fit your team's needs. I won't bother with calcs since Talpr0ne already did the honors with that. 168 Speed is what Emboar needs to get the jump on 4 Speed Gligar, (92 HP hits even number, which means more hazard damage) one of the main physical walls Emboar is going to be dealing with. I guess you could run Jolly and 200 Speed to beat out Modest Exploud, but that really starts sapping Emboar's power and I'd rather just use Scarf at that point. Speaking of Scarf, it would probably run the same set, but with a simple max / max Jolly spread to outspeed as many offensive threats as possible. Scarf Emboar wouldn't have the same performance against bulky teams, but it would be a true terror vs. offensive teams since it outspeeds everything up to, and including, base form Sceptile AND Mega Pidgeot. Here's some calcs with Scarf against some common offensive threats that may surprise you. This is using a 252 / 252+ spread:

252 Atk Reckless Emboar Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Pidgeot: 271-319 (88.2 - 103.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock.

252 Atk Reckless Emboar Wild Charge vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Moltres: 248-292 (77.2 - 90.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock.
252 Atk Reckless Emboar Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Moltres: 123-145 (38.3 - 45.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock. no Scarf? you just win with this.

252 Atk Reckless Emboar Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Sceptile: 288-339 (102.4 - 120.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO. Mega Evolution won't save it and you outspeed base form.

You auto-kill the following that would normally outspeed and either KO or cripple you first with your STABs alone: Cobalion, Durant, Shiftry, Tyrantrum, Magneton, Exploud, Mega Glalie, Dugtrio, Whimsicott, Hitmonlee, Meloetta (unless it's Scarf) and Contrary Serperior Note that all of these are with Flare Blitz alone, with the lone exception of Tyrantrum, which you take out with Superpower.

So, I think Choice Scarf will have its place. Band Emboar is going to be an absolute nuke, but I can see people using Scarf Emboar to give offense a really hard time as it has very, very limited switch-ins for Fire-type moves.

 

[Mew2]

Just when RU becomes a decently balanced meta, Nintendo releases another broken poke (and another good one) to the tier... joy.

 

[Choice Banned]

Is there anything relevant that might be rising to UU in Jan (by relevant I mean not already BL2)

 

[aoemica]

Is there anything relevant that might be rising to UU in Jan (by relevant I mean not already BL2)

Gligar has a fair chance of rising, though not much else is very close.

 

[mallpal]

bronzong is also above the cutoff as of november's stats. sceptile, sharpedo and pidgeot also stand decent chances to rise since a lot of their competition has been banned.

 

[esca]

What about LO Emboar? While the additional Recoil sucks, being able to switch attacks and pretty much fuck over stuff that wanted to take a Flare Blitz (looking at you Alomomola) is pretty nice. With 0 SpA Grass Knot even Rhypreior ist dead after taking a Flare Blitz which would otherwise kill you if you have Superpower. Also, with LO you can freely use Sucker Punch in your last Slot as you won´t be locked into it, screwing over checks such as Fletch and Meloetta (after Rocks).

Recoil still sucks though ;_;

 

[EonX]

What about LO Emboar? While the additional Recoil sucks, being able to switch attacks and pretty much fuck over stuff that wanted to take a Flare Blitz (looking at you Alomomola) is pretty nice. With 0 SpA Grass Knot even Rhypreior ist dead after taking a Flare Blitz which would otherwise kill you if you have Superpower. Also, with LO you can freely use Sucker Punch in your last Slot as you won´t be locked into it, screwing over checks such as Fletch and Meloetta (after Rocks).

Recoil still sucks though ;_;

Except Fletch out-prioritizes due to higher Speed and Gale Wings. Otherwise, the recoil just simply sucks. Emboar's main issue will be durability and Life Orb only serves to worsen that. Emboar gets really good coverage with its STAB moves, much like Pangoro does. So, in the end, you're basically just going to be clicking the STAB move with fewer bulky resistances about 90% of the time. About the only times you'll want to even think about clicking Wild Charge is against Alomomola, Moltres, and Slowking. But even then, two of them take substantial damage from Choice Band Flare Blitz:

252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Emboar Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Moltres: 202-238 (62.9 - 74.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock.
252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Emboar Flare Blitz vs. 248 HP / 124 Def Moltres: 178-210 (46.4 - 54.8%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock. Even the odd SubRoost can die after Rocks.

252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Emboar Flare Blitz vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Slowking: 224-264 (56.9 - 67.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock. AV set
252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Emboar Flare Blitz vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Slowking: 204-240 (51.9 - 61%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery. Standard Defensive
252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Emboar Flare Blitz vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Slowking: 154-182 (39.1 - 46.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery. CM actually takes it, but...
252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Emboar Wild Charge vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Slowking: 310-366 (78.8 - 93.1%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock. You can just do this next time it comes in.

So yeah, you're basically destroying everything in sight with either Flare Blitz or Superpower. Wild Charge will mainly get use vs. Alomomola or if you come across max / max+ Slowking. Emboar will very rarely need to deviate away from Flare Blitz (or Superpower too I guess) due to the immense power it has from STAB and Reckless, which is why I think Choice items will work best on it. Imo, the only reason you're going to have a 4th move is because you get a 4th move for free. You'll almost never use it since Emboar is smashing virtually everything in the tier between its STABs and Wild Charge. Oh, and if you expect Rhyperior to come in:

252+ Atk Choice Band Emboar Superpower vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Solid Rock Rhyperior: 370-438 (85.4 - 101.1%) -- 50% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock. Gone.

 

[Afro Smash]

Ahhh nah leave Serp in the tier, time for for my nigga Bouffalant to sip some creamy sap

 

[esca]

So, in the end, you're basically just going to be clicking the STAB move with fewer bulky resistances about 90% of the time

Ok you convinced me there, this Point makes LO inferior to CB.
Still, if you don´t like being choiced (mainly because of prediction issues) LO can still be a Option imo. The main point would be that you can click Flare Blitz regardless of what comes in, as you can proceed to KO most things that can take one (Alomomola, Slowking, Rhyperior). And with Rocks, it will still not fail at 2HKOing stuff like Gligar, Cress and 248 HP / 0 Def Slowking too. All at the cost of recoil though (you probably kill yourself when facing Alomomola lol)
252 Spe Emboar hits 229 Speed while 92 Spe Fletchinder only hits 227, so Sucker Punch will go first (thus max Speed would be better if running Sucker Punch)

 

[atomicllamas]

Just want to throw it out there that sleep talk is an incredibly useful move on choiced Emboar as it can switch into Amoonguss w/o worry. Earthquake and Head Smash don't really hit much for Emboar as the other three moves have pretty good coverage. I'm pretty sure Emboar is going to be an incredible wall breaker in RU when this comes out :o.

Also every Emboar except mixed should be running at least max speed anyways imo o.o

 

[GOthee]

Ok you convinced me there, this Point makes LO inferior to CB.
Still, if you don´t like being choiced (mainly because of prediction issues) LO can still be a Option imo. The main point would be that you can click Flare Blitz regardless of what comes in, as you can proceed to KO most things that can take one (Alomomola, Slowking, Rhyperior). And with Rocks, it will still not fail at 2HKOing stuff like Gligar, Cress and 248 HP / 0 Def Slowking too. All at the cost of recoil though (you probably kill yourself when facing Alomomola lol)
252 Spe Emboar hits 229 Speed while 92 Spe Fletchinder only hits 227, so Sucker Punch will go first (thus max Speed would be better if running Sucker Punch)

Correct me if im wrong but doesnt Fletchinder has priority which overcomes Sucker Punch?? Always go first and Sucker punch fails?

 

[Kawaii Kyouko]

Correct me if im wrong but doesnt Fletchinder has priority which overcomes Sucker Punch?? Always go first and Sucker punch fails?

If the Sucker Punch user is faster than other priority users, then it will still connect. If it is slower, then it won't.

 

[atomicllamas]

Correct me if im wrong but doesnt Fletchinder has priority which overcomes Sucker Punch?? Always go first and Sucker punch fails?

Both sucker punch and gale wings acrobatics have +1 priority, if Emboar is faster sucker punch will go first and work.

 

[atomicllamas]

I know everyone's pretty excited for the release of Contrary Serp and to a lesser extent Reckless Emboar, but I'd prefer it if we could keep the theorymonning to a minimum in this thread. That said if some people want to play some custom games w/ Contrary Serperior and Reckless Emboar and post replays, I would be pretty interested in watching :o.

and now it looks like I double posted, pro

and I was ninja'd last post, double pro

 

[termi]

Alright Serp and bigpig are cool and all but I'll talk about something that's becoming a bit of a problem in the current meta.

Mega Sharpedo is an absolute monster vs offensive teams. It's extremely fast after a Speed Boost, outpacing the entire meta. This thing is so much better than Lo Sharpedo though, for not only does it get a stronger Crunch, it's also way way harder to wear down. Usually on HO, you would just carry a powerful priority user like Fletchinder or Hitmonlee on your team in order to keep shark in check, for unless it ran Aqua Jet (which meant that it had to pass up on important coverage), you could easily outpace and OHKO it due to it having no bulk. However, Mega Sharpedo does have enough bulk to live a priority move, and it's not worn down by LO recoil either, meaning that it becomes insanely hard to revenge kill it. The meta generally isn't ideal for HO as it is without shark, but I'd say the presence of Mega Sharpedo makes full HO nigh unviable.

Another problem with this thing is that it doesn't just break HO, but it also proves to be a pretty great wallbreaker in addition to that. Strong Jaw gives it what's essentially a CB boost to Crunch, and with an attack stat of base 140, that is going to hurt. Take this calc:

252+ Atk Strong Jaw Sharpedo Crunch vs. 104 HP / 248+ Def Alomomola: 190-225 (38.2 - 45.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Pangoro Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 104 HP / 248+ Def Alomomola: 211-249 (42.4 - 50.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

This thing hits nearly as hard as CB Pangoro's Knock Off and has the ability to switch between moves. Its ability to go mixed with Hydro Pump makes it even harder to switch into. Crunch + Hpump + Poison Fang breaks a lot of common defensive cores once you've weakened them here and there, meaning that unlike regular shark, this thing isn't deadweight vs stall or balance.

Basically, I think that Mega Sharpedo should be considered for the next suspect test.

Go wild friends.

 

[phantom]

Agreeing with a Mega Shark suspect.

What pushes it over the edge for me is that it can both wallbreak and sweep at the same time, even on bulkier teams I've struggled to find something that can beat Hydro Pump + Crunch + Poison Fang. SpD Alomomola loses if it gets Poisoned by Poison Fang (which is a 50% chance to happen x_x), Granbull, Cobalion, and Weezing get 2HKOed by Hydro Pump after SR, Aromatisse loses to Poison Fang, it can live an Acrobatics from Fletchinder, and can even take Hitmonlee's Mach Punch at full health. It's ridiculous. Of the few good checks I've found, they're usually difficult to fit on teams or easy to wear down, such as physically Defensive Ferroseed, physically Defensive Druddigon, Hitmontop, etc. As I said before, these checks are very easy to wear down, to the point where where it isn't difficult at all to have them in 2HKO range for Mega Shark. Basically, Mega Sharpedo is a better Speed Boost Yanmega, and we banned Yanmega so yeahhhhhhh

 

[esca]

Usually on HO, you would just carry a powerful priority user like Fletchinder or Hitmonlee on your team in order to keep shark in check

252+ Atk Fletchinder Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Sharpedo: 180-213 (64 - 75.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Hitmonlee Mach Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Sharpedo: 237-281 (84.3 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO, with rocks:
252+ Atk Life Orb Hitmonlee Mach Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Sharpedo: 237-281 (84.3 - 100%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

Checking MSharpedo doesn´t work with Fletch and is unreliable with Lee. As Sharpedo will usually stay off the field until it has the chance to sweep, inflicting prior damage will be hard to do. Usually i run Support Cobalion on HO teams, because it can at least check MSharpedo reliably (i haven´t seen EQ yet). But this also means you have to keep it healthy as any prior damage can be fatal. For example, you can´t risk Gligar going for EQ while you Taunt it (to prevent rocks/Defog).

Ok, so Sharpedo can destroy offense, but this is nothing new. LO Sharpedo already existed in XY, so that shouldn´t be a problem. The real problem is that it fares better against balance and has the tools to threaten stall Teams as well, as the post above me already explained well enough. I´d definitely support a suspect, though i am not sure if it is ban material (mainly because Waterfall is kinda weak without a item and it can´t mega evolve right off the bat most of the time).

Edit: my bad, read your post a little too fast. Well, now you have the expanded version^^

 

[termi]

252+ Atk Fletchinder Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Sharpedo: 180-213 (64 - 75.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Hitmonlee Mach Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Sharpedo: 237-281 (84.3 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO, with rocks:
252+ Atk Life Orb Hitmonlee Mach Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Sharpedo: 237-281 (84.3 - 100%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

Checking MSharpedo doesn´t work with Fletch and is unreliable with Lee. As Sharpedo will usually stay off the field until it has the chance to sweep, inflicting prior damage will be hard to do. Usually i run Support Cobalion on HO teams, because it can at least check MSharpedo reliably (i haven´t seen EQ yet). But this also means you have to keep it healthy as any prior damage can be fatal. For example, you can´t risk Gligar going for EQ while you Taunt it (to prevent rocks/Defog).

Ok, so Sharpedo can destroy offense, but this is nothing new. LO Sharpedo already existed in XY, so that shouldn´t be a problem. The real problem is that it fares better against balance and has the tools to threaten stall Teams as well, as the post above me already explained well enough. I´d definitely support a suspect, though i am not sure if it is ban material (mainly because Waterfall is kinda weak without a item and it can´t mega evolve right off the bat most of the time).

I was trying to say that powerful priority works vs regular but not vs Mega lol, no need to expand on it o.o

 

[Punchshroom]

Well specially defensive Drapion can work well at stopping it, but I am pretty sure there are Earthquake variants out there (especially since they still nail Cobalions), plus Drapion needs coverage to actually touch Mega Shark as well. This is not even glossing over the fact that Drapion can be weakened by encounters with Psychic-types, especially the likes of Reuniclus and Meloetta which pair great with Mega Shark.

I've used Mega Shark plenty of times (without Hydro Pump!), and I have to say it is bar none one of the most devastating win-cons I have ever used. The only real downside to Mega Shark is that once it Mega Evolves, it won't keep Speed Boost. However, this is rarely a problem against offensive teams considering the ease which it can just clean up teams with its very powerful coverage. Most importantly, against bulkier teams which regular Shark falters against, Mega Shark can just bust out the Strong Jaws immediately and get straight to chomping, with Crunch basically 2HKOing nearly all of the unresisted tier, while Hydro Pump and Poison Fang can break the rest. It can feasibly deal a lot of damage to bulky teams which regular Sharpedo can only dream of. Basically, Mega Shark functions somewhat similiarly to regular Sharpedo (already a notable threat), except it boasts a far stronger sweeping attack without any recoil needed, and it can perform well against defensive teams. Something that puts in that much work against any kind of team might be a tad too much for RU to handle, and greatly pressures teambuilding as a result. It would be best if Mega Shark gets the boot.

Ok, so Sharpedo can destroy offense, but this is nothing new. LO Sharpedo already existed in XY, so that shouldn´t be a problem. The real problem is that it fares better against balance and has the tools to threaten stall Teams as well, as the post above me already explained well enough. I´d definitely support a suspect, though i am not sure if it is ban material (mainly because Waterfall is kinda weak without a item and it can´t mega evolve right off the bat most of the time).

There is your problem right there; Waterfall is bad on Mega Shark. Your main move should be Crunching everything, then resorting to Poison Fang or Hydro Pump against everything that you can't.

 

[GOthee]

Well specially defensive Drapion can work well at stopping it, but I am pretty sure there are Earthquake variants out there (especially since they still nail Cobalions), plus Drapion needs coverage to actually touch Mega Shark as well. This is not even glossing over the fact that Drapion can be weakened by encounters with Psychic-types, especially the likes of Reuniclus and Meloetta which pair great with Mega Shark.

I've used Mega Shark plenty of times (without Hydro Pump!), and I have to say it is bar none one of the most devastating win-cons I have ever used. The only real downside to Mega Shark is that once it Mega Evolves, it won't keep Speed Boost. However, this is rarely a problem against offensive teams considering the ease which it can just clean up teams with its very powerful coverage. Most importantly, against bulkier teams which regular Shark falters against, Mega Shark can just bust out the Strong Jaws immediately and get straight to chomping, with Crunch basically 2HKOing nearly all of the unresisted tier, while Hydro Pump and Poison Fang can break the rest. It can feasibly deal a lot of damage to bulky teams which regular Sharpedo can only dream of. Basically, Mega Shark functions somewhat similiarly to regular Sharpedo (already a notable threat), except it boasts a far stronger sweeping attack without any recoil needed, and it can perform well against defensive teams. Something that puts in that much work against any kind of team might be a tad too much for RU to handle, and greatly pressures teambuilding as a result. It would be best if Mega Shark gets the boot.


There is your problem right there; Waterfall is bad on Mega Shark. Your main move should be Crunching everything, then resorting to Poison Fang or Hydro Pump against everything that you can't.

Drapion Dark type makes it immune to Psychic types and he scares them with DARK type STAB . Also Specially defensive Drapion doesnt stop Sharkpedo not becasue he can carry eartquake(usual MSharkpedo coverage is IceFang) but because Sharkpedo stabs are just too strogn for the poor Drapion to tank hits from him.

 

[EonX]

As most of you probably know by now, I've been having a good bit of success with a Double Dragon core. As luck / fate would have it, the team also uses Mega Sharpedo as the primary late-game sweeper. Fat Steel-types (Registeel and Cobalion primarily) are really about the only Pokemon capable of handling Crunch reliably and Dragon-types like Dragalge and Tyrantrum just force them in so easily, that they can easily decimate the Steel-types and let Mega Sharpedo sweep. I actually use Poison Jab on Mega Sharpedo since I run Ice Fang Tyrantrum to catch Grass-types and Gligar off-guard and the fact that this can let Sharpedo get past the Fairy-types that a Double Dragon core may not always weaken enough for Waterfall / H-Pump to take care of. Do note that Poison Jab is still stronger than Poison Fang after Strong Jaw. I personally don't have many issues with it when using a HO team, but that's mainly because I almost always use Cobalion as it's my favorite Rocks setter on such teams and it also happens to beat any (Mega) Sharpedo w/o EQ. The one thing I feel you have to worry about with Mega Sharpedo is deciding when to Mega Evolve. Once you Mega Evolve, you basically have to have everything set up for it to sweep since it loses Speed Boost. As long as you take care of that, Mega Shark is really damn devastating atm. For those not fully familiar with RU just now seeing us talk about Mega Sharpedo and whether or not it may deserve a suspect test, here's the most common set: (from what I've seen / used)

Sharpedo @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost --> Strong Jaw
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Crunch
- Waterfall
- Poison Jab / Earthquake / Ice Fang

Tbh, I actually don't like Ice Fang that much in the last slot. (I only slashed it because I'm probably missing an important target and wanted to cover my ass) Poison Jab and EQ allow Mega Sharpedo to actually get around stuff that Crunch can't hit quite hard enough. Poison Jab hits Fairies which resist Crunch entirely, which is why I like it the most. EQ mainly hits Registeel and Cobalion, but because Cobalion is one of the very few "safe" responses HO has, it can be worth it if you don't have a reliable way to pressure it to come in and take damage. STABs and Protect are mandatory on any Sharpedo set.

 

[Cherub Agent]

The power difference between poison jab and fang is only 5 bp though, and id way prefer a 50% chance to badly poison the aromatisse/puff/mola than a 30% chance to normally poison them. Hydro pump also is far stronger against the likes of gligar and weezing, so imo the best set is crunch, fang, pump and protect

You normally only really need crunch anyway, i just feel that those other two are more effective than waterfall and jab. To each his own though, i see the benefits in finching opponents with waterfall

 

[g]

credits to hikari on irc
Talking about Mega Sharpedo...

Sharpedo @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Protect / Poison Fang
- Waterfall / Hydro Pump
- Crunch

While Protect + 3 Attacks Mega Sharpedo is known to be a disgusting late game sweeper Substitute Mega Sharpedo is quite a disgusting wallbreaker in the RU metagame. While this set is a little as a late game sweeper (even thought with Protect or with prediction you tear apart offense too) it is way better at breaking balanced and stall teams. With Substitute Mega Sharpedo takes a dump on its main (and sometimes only) check on balanced teams in Alomomola basically preventing it from doing any damage whatsoever and basically take it out after the Defense drop happens and most of the time sweeping the opposing team too. Substitute (+Protect) also allows to stall out most of its checks with the help of Toxic Spikes (use this with Dragalge) such as Aromatisse and Defensive Druddigon and it is an incredibly useful tool against offensive teams too which try to play around a predicted Protect or have to switch out if they are facing it with Pokemon such as Doublade or Houndoom. I still think Protect is the best option to be safer against offense and with Toxic Spikes and a RIDICOLOUS (252+ Atk Strong Jaw Mega Sharpedo Crunch vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Virizion: 148-175 (45.6 - 54%)) Crunch you beat resists most of the time anyway. Waterfall vs Hydro is the same sweeper vs wallbreaker argument but i'd say that Waterfall's flinch chance works well with Toxic Spikes.