Metagame NP: RU Stage 8: Jam (Turn It Up)

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honestly mega steelix is amazing due to its typing, utility and STAB combo combined w/ its offensive and defensive prowess which makes it an excellent glue (for lack of a better term????) for many teams. I don't think it's broken at all, though, as many Pokemon can break through it. Emboar, Mega Camerupt, Houndoom, Samurott, Hitmonlee, Slowking, special Cobalion, special Virizion (this is just going down in the A-ranks btw) all can easily break through it with their STABs. I'm not saying they check it obviously, just that a substantial portion of the meta 2HKOes it, which reduces its effectiveness as a glue. Also, its checks/counters aren't too hard to fit onto a team, with defensive Rotom-C and Slowking being excellent stops as well as a lot of the meta being bulky af enough to take hits from it and retaliate. A lot of the stuff it checks, such as Reun, Heliolisk, and Meloetta, carry coverage for it which makes it a shaky stop to them at best. Honestly Mega Steelix is amazing atm but I still don't think it's really suspect worthy lol

edit-also emboar is amazing but idt that's suspect worthy either, might make a paragraph about that too
 
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Lord Death Man

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Regarding Emboar (again), the big issue is that it's choice locked and all 3 common coverage moves leave it huge bait for various set-up mons. Exploud shouldn't be relying on it's coverage moves the way Emboar has to use Superpower/Wild Charge anyways, and the fact remains that Lee's big coverage move - Knock Off - is just as painful to switch into as any of Emboar's 2hko moves. Of the mons listed as safe switch ins, only really Doom and Esca are relevant, and calling doom an easy switch in is kind of confusing when Fire Blast does about 40% and Dark Pulse does 30% and the combo of Dark Pulse + Sucker Punch does 50%, leaving you unlikely to net another kill. Hard to manage isn't the same as unmanageable and the popularity of protect on several stall mons specifically to scout other, more threatening wallbreakers speaks a lot about this (and also leaves Emboar more vulnerable to scouting than it would like). Also, I have no idea how Accelgor is an easy switch in when spikes sets KO with Final Gambit or get 2 more layers of spikes up against even Scarf sets.

Regarding Megalix, I think it's manageable in ways past suspect-worthy mons aren't. Others have already spoken on this but it's also worth noting that Megalix coverage moves hit things other than Megalix, so it's not even as centralizing as it appears. It's just really good AND really splashable, but so is Cobalion.

Regarding Durant, it's hard to handle but not really broken. Doublade handles it pretty decently on all playstyles, it's not hard to revenge, and Quag also gives it trouble on stall, who might not be able to revenge it. Lum sets can be difficult for balance and LO sets can give problems to Stall and Scarf is hell for offense, but it's not unmanageable. I think it's the most worthy of a suspect though just because it can potentially give all play styles hell, it just, in practice, usually doesn't, but similar to Moltres I don't think theorymonning constant misses is appropriate.
 
Regarding Emboar (again), the big issue is that it's choice locked and all 3 common coverage moves leave it huge bait for various set-up mons. Exploud shouldn't be relying on it's coverage moves the way Emboar has to use Superpower/Wild Charge anyways, and the fact remains that Lee's big coverage move - Knock Off - is just as painful to switch into as any of Emboar's 2hko moves. Of the mons listed as safe switch ins, only really Doom and Esca are relevant, and calling doom an easy switch in is kind of confusing when Fire Blast does about 40% and Dark Pulse does 30% and the combo of Dark Pulse + Sucker Punch does 50%, leaving you unlikely to net another kill. Hard to manage isn't the same as unmanageable and the popularity of protect on several stall mons specifically to scout other, more threatening wallbreakers speaks a lot about this (and also leaves Emboar more vulnerable to scouting than it would like). Also, I have no idea how Accelgor is an easy switch in when spikes sets KO with Final Gambit or get 2 more layers of spikes up against even Scarf sets.
Just to touch on emboar again as I appreciate the points made here but I think emboar is still being underestimated.

I don't think your first point really refutes emboar so much as it refutes choice locked pokemon in general. Sure, superpower can be set up on by reunic and flareblitz can be set up on by doom or tyrantrum but that's the case with almost any choiced pokemon once you discover what move it's locked into with the exception of exploud probably. My point was that it is much more difficult to switch into when it has great coverage of two 120 BP STAB moves backed up by an ability and a Choice band boost. I also don't understand what the second sentence explains. Surely the fact that it can function without even having to use moves that serve as coverage serves my point? I also don't understand your point about hitmonlee's knock off. How can it be as painful to switch into hitmonlee's knock off with say tomb, a fairy or cress and survive than getting 2hkoed by emboar? My point about switchins was to illustrate what emboar had over other wall breakers. The fact that emboar has any safe switchins is a notable advantage when you compare it with exploud, tyrantrum or mega glalie who have, well, none really. I should have specified offensive accelgor, though to be fair I don't know how popular that still is this generation. Protect is also a very situational way to get around emboar especially when it can viably run mixed LO sets as well.

Anyway, megalix I think is a solid mon atm because of how good ground is as an attacking type in this current metagame when cresselia can't hurt you. It is definitely the most reliable stealth rock setter in the tier and checks about half the relevant tier though I have found against balance, it has issues with where it wants to put its EVs. Balance will pretty much always have a defensive answer such as slowking, mowtom, or bronzong to handle any defensive spreads whereas offensive spreads will struggle to check things such as meloetta, heliolisk, offensive whimsicott or megasnow. Probably the best mon in the tier but I'm not sure if it is really as adaptable as I've heard some say it is.
 

Lord Death Man

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The mixed LO set point is viable (thought I think ebelt and charcoal are considerably better just because of how popular choice'd emboar is) and I think that versatility is a really forgotten strong point of Emboar (Bigpig comes to mind), but I think you're really overselling it's power and how many free turns it generates. At the same time, Superpower is kind of bad to be locked into (you don't always 2hko spdef Mola with a band and adamant, for example), Reckless eats through your health, and Sucker Punch is horrific to be locked into (Sleep Talk isn't much better; a 1/3rd chance to do anything at all to the mon that slept you is bad). It's a cool wallbreaker but I think the meta knows how to stop it.

The point re: Lee's knock off is that KO can really neuter some of Lee's checks better than even Emboar's coverage can do, keeping in mind that nothing that would switch in on Lee can afford to lose it's item (bar maybe Fletch, who dies to a HJK!). Even if you predict it, Lee has LO, so it can kick you (hard) later, a good movepool (Sucker Punch is definately underrated), etc.
 

Natural Talent

Don't die trying to live..
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Not to directly reply to a person's thoughts on a Pokemon but to the general ideas posted here and then some I would have to say :

When it comes to Emboar it's a great mon nonetheless, but, it's speed is something that really hinders it.

If someone would try to bring up a point that Pangoro is booked and they were alike I'd say the difference between these too mons is that Pangoro had no direct counter and only checked by things that outspeed it.

The only set for Emboar that may not have any switch ins would be the Life Orb set. This set is pretty strong but the recoil it puts on itself is massive. Only switch ins I can see as of now are qwilfish (pivot or switch in to banded sets that aren't locked into wild charge) , alomomola (same as qwilfish) , cm cresselia ( moonlights until emboar dies ), defensive Seismitoad, defensive slowking. Basically a lot of bulky water deal with Emboar.

With its massive moves that make him take shit ton of recoil it's not really likely for him to last to get more than 2 kills.

It can put pressure on really slow teams but teams shouldn't be that slow unless stall or bulky offense.

It may be strong but not really broken or a Mon that would need a suspect.


Steelix is pretty solid atm, with the lack of fire types it's getting a lot of usage and time to shine. Though there are fighting types that scare it out.

I wouldn't say it's the most reliable stealth rocker considering the upcoming use of seismitoad. ( seismitoad is a pretty good mon that beats a lot of the rockers usable in the tier)

It's an amazing check/ counter to cress as it can phase out boosting sets. It's massive bulk really helps it , with good support it can have a nice solid core on teams.

I'd say that's it's an alright mon but not the best ( considering an argument on nomming it to drop to A+)


Durant is a very good mon in this meta. It gets an amazing amount of set up opportunities(LO hone claws a set) or just get kills ( LO 4 atks, Choice Band, Choice Scarf, just when you don't want to set up, or any other offensive sets). Hustle boosts it's attack to around 450 with 252 eve in atks. Some may complain about it making all its moves 80% accurate, there are moves like focus blast that people use with worse accuracy.

It gets amazing coverage and hits everything in the tier for at least neutral damage. If you would need to run Quagsire just to beat it ( beats all sets but Choice Band) then you know there is a problem. It probably has about 5 checks/ counters to the LO/Lum hone claws set that aren't scarfers, them being: alomomola ( if you get a burn), Quagsire, Jolteon and Hidden Power fire on mons like cincinno or other Pokemon with speed higher than 109. If you need to make weird sets to defeat a mon in the tier you know it's good.

It being one of my favorite mon I would be upset if it left. It's still a good mon that pretty much destroys the tier as of now.


A great mon that deserves recognition. Has a few interesting sets that threaten teams. It should definitely be considered while team building.

Offensive Trick Room teams do massive damage to offense as it has the ability to OHKO a lot of offensive mons such as doublade (50% or 87.5% after rocks), hitmonlee, steelix, Cobalion , Durant and so much more.

For defensive teams (more or less stall or bulky offense) it probably smashes them with its CM set. If they have a quagsire just put an ailment ( preferable badly poison it) and you can best it 1v1

Choice Specs Regenerator has good potential as a wall breaker. Not to mention fun to use. It's still pretty lack luster compared to other Pokemon or other sets.

This mon can really restrict team building and if you pay no mind to it when building you're gonna be in for trouble.
 
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As for new sets i got one. I have had good success with:



Slurpuff @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Play Rough
- Drain Punch
- Heal Bell

Looks like a normal belly drum slurpuff right? The only change is heal bell but that gives slurpuff a different role in providing anti status support and shitting on stall. It also can remove paralysis from cress which is vital for it as it cancels out unburdens effect. Just something I've been testing that i wanted to share.
 
^ is actually quite reminiscent of LC where aroma swirlix was used quite effectively; honestly Substitute also does the job fine, but being able to cure status on offensive teams never hurts.

don't really get the durant ban arguments atm; Emboar, Mega Steelix and Cobalion are great mons that check/counter it and are found on most teams. You also have mons like Doublade, Mega Camerupt, Qwilfish (spikes are really good rn so), etc. which can switch in and deal solid damage/cripple it. Not to mention that the Hone Claws and CB sets (these have a pretty good chance of breaking through the aforementioned mons with a little prior damage) can be revenge killed by most scarfers as well as Fletchinder and LO/CB Duggy after a little prior damage. You don't really find hard counters to Durant on offense, but the same can be said for a lot of 'mons (not that this is a very strong argument in itself, but still), and although Durant has decent physical bulk it's still pretty easily revenge killed or at least soft-checks.

i was just going to post about this but i also decided to post about Emboar. CB Emboar has like literally 0 counters and can 2HKO the entire meta, but as I said, it's really easy to revenge kill and the recoil (plus hazards damage because hazard stacking is quite effective in the meta atm) just wears it down to a point where most of the stuff it would come in on (Durant, Houndoom, etc.) easily 2HKOes it. Also teams with Alom can easily pivot around with fish due to it not being OHKOed by CB Wild Charge from full. Scarf is a good revenge killer and much harder to revenge kill in turn, but it finds itself walled by Cress and can't OHKO or break balance cores nearly as well. it's also much easier to pivot around with a bulky water like slowking/mola. Honestly idt anything is broken in the tier atm and it seems pretty balanced to me O_o

also reuniclus is so fucking good, like it can stall out scarf emboar flare blitz and mega glalie's return/double edge 1v1 with recover which tells you how bulky it is. CM just destroys balance/stall, and although RU has a good amount of dark type mons NONE of them OHKO it at +1 spdef and it can just hit them back really hard with a focus blast (drapion doesn't even 2HKO with knock after reun's item is removed .-.). I guess you have CB durant and escav which can break through reun but escav isn't nearly as good atm. Seriously this thing is so annoying for so many teams its not even funny. You can also run specs and TR which 2HKO most of the tier and are really good in their own right.
 
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Natural Talent

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don't really get the durant ban arguments atm; Emboar, Mega Steelix and Cobalion are great mons that check/counter it and are found on most teams. You also have mons like Doublade, Mega Camerupt, Qwilfish (spikes are really good rn so), etc. which can switch in and deal solid damage/cripple it. Not to mention that the Hone Claws and CB sets (these have a pretty good chance of breaking through the aforementioned mons with a little prior damage) can be revenge killed by most scarfers as well as Fletchinder and LO/CB Duggy after a little prior damage. You don't really find hard counters to Durant on offense, but the same can be said for a lot of 'mons (not that this is a very strong argument in itself, but still), and although Durant has decent physical bulk it's still pretty easily revenge killed or at least soft-checks.
The main point of Durant is that it has few checks being mostly bulky waters. It beats steels because of super power, doublade because of crunch, and basically with rocks up it kills almost everything that's " a switch in" at +1 with LO. Fletchinder actually isn't common and get walled by your stealth rocker most likely ( most likely forcing a 50-50 on whether attacking or going for will - o). dugtrio is gonna need about 30% recoil and a good roll.

It's not really about what checks it because it has a few good sets that change in checks and could get some surprise kills on just predicting the set it's running

Really good in this meta. Hits really hard and has a pretty good speed tier. Can destroy slower teams by sheer force or with the amazing Nasty Plot set. Can use HP's like grass or water for rhyperior / seismitoad or camerupt/ rhyperior.

One draw back is that it's pretty frail and all the mons that out speed it can OHKO it. It's still a good mon and with support like dugtro to trap cobalion, virizion ( aerial ace), whimsicott ( sludge wave), other dugtrios ( if you win a speed tie), and then some.

It's stabs hits the tier hard as fuck. Not to mention it had other good sets like pursuit trapping, Choice Scarf, or some weird will- o - wisp
 

termi

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Gonna keep it short because I have more stuff to do, but user: galbia and I have reached a conclusion today that Dugtrio is enough of a negative influence on the metagame that it should be considered for a suspect test. Basically, its ability to trap and kill many Pokemon that are hindering otherwise extremely potent sweepers such as Reuniclus makes it an extremely terrifying Pokemon to face when the opponent's team is capable of exploiting Duggy's trapping abilities. Dugtrio is able to be a nuisance to many playstyles by removing many bulky steels and poisons, as well as fire types from play, Pokemon that are all over the meta, and in addition to that you can customize its set in order to deal with certain threats (run Sludge Wave to kill Whimsicott and weakened grass types, Substitute to play mindgames with opposing Sucker Punch users, HP Fire to instagib Durant, etc). I think trapping in general tends to be very unhealthy for metagames, and when a trapper does its job as well as Duggy does, it leads to the conclusion that the meta probably is better off without it.

For an example of Duggy doing its job, watch this replay http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ru-220796828


they comin fo yo ass
 
The main point of Durant is that it has few checks being mostly bulky waters. It beats steels because of super power, doublade because of crunch, and basically with rocks up it kills almost everything that's " a switch in" at +1 with LO. Fletchinder actually isn't common and get walled by your stealth rocker most likely ( most likely forcing a 50-50 on whether attacking or going for will - o). dugtrio is gonna need about 30% recoil and a good roll.

It's not really about what checks it because it has a few good sets that change in checks and could get some surprise kills on just predicting the set it's running

Really good in this meta. Hits really hard and has a pretty good speed tier. Can destroy slower teams by sheer force or with the amazing Nasty Plot set. Can use HP's like grass or water for rhyperior / seismitoad or camerupt/ rhyperior.

One draw back is that it's pretty frail and all the mons that out speed it can OHKO it. It's still a good mon and with support like dugtro to trap cobalion, virizion ( aerial ace), whimsicott ( sludge wave), other dugtrios ( if you win a speed tie), and then some.

It's stabs hits the tier hard as fuck. Not to mention it had other good sets like pursuit trapping, Choice Scarf, or some weird will- o - wisp
Honestly I don't really want to devolve this into comparisons and the like because there are obviously different factors to consider but mons like Specs Exploud literally have one or two soft switch-ins to it which get fucked if it predicts correctly ONCE with a fire blast. There are many 'mons that have one or two switch-ins on balance/offense for only once, then you basically have to sac -> revenge kill. That in itself does not make it broken.

Mega Steelix on balance is definitely an /okay/ answer as it survives a CB superpower easily (252 Atk Choice Band Hustle Durant Superpower vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mega Steelix: 248-292 (70 - 82.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO). It's a roll to survive +1 LO Superpower from full but honestly it's still possible to revenge kill it after. Doublade easily avoids the OHKO from even +1 LO crunch and does solid damage which really adds up after Life Orb recoil. I know that usually residual damage is a given in these cases but honestly on offense/balance you WILL be weak to some stuff and you'll have to keep your checks healthy.

Tbh you honestly can't hope to counter powerful offensive threats on offense. Stall has Quagsire which deals /sorta/ well w/ LO HC durant.

Also Houndoom seems pretty damn great atm; literally the only common stuff i can think of off the top of my head that checks it is Emboar, M-rupt, rhyperior (which has far fallen in popularity), and fish. It's pretty anti-meta, being able to break Mega Steelix, Cress, Slowking, etc. I guess you have Sub Duggy to revenge it but it's still a bitch to deal with.
 
Gonna keep it short because I have more stuff to do, but user: galbia and I have reached a conclusion today that Dugtrio is enough of a negative influence on the metagame that it should be considered for a suspect test. Basically, its ability to trap and kill many Pokemon that are hindering otherwise extremely potent sweepers such as Reuniclus makes it an extremely terrifying Pokemon to face when the opponent's team is capable of exploiting Duggy's trapping abilities. Dugtrio is able to be a nuisance to many playstyles by removing many bulky steels and poisons, as well as fire types from play, Pokemon that are all over the meta, and in addition to that you can customize its set in order to deal with certain threats (run Sludge Wave to kill Whimsicott and weakened grass types, Substitute to play mindgames with opposing Sucker Punch users, HP Fire to instagib Durant, etc). I think trapping in general tends to be very unhealthy for metagames, and when a trapper does its job as well as Duggy does, it leads to the conclusion that the meta probably is better off without it.

For an example of Duggy doing its job, watch this replay http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ru-220796828


they comin fo yo ass
i would also like to add how effective lead duggy is. after an eq and reversal, mlix is in around 20-30% range. this allows many mons to come on and revenge it.
 

tehy

Banned deucer.
Yeah, too bad it loses to mine in a landslide

oh no he di'nt

Current mons I'm loving for stall in this meta; Cradily, Torterra, Escavalier

Cradily just makes you nearly worryfree vs. Exploud, lay down rocks or even set up like a naughty boy :D stall teams want to wall jank setup with Quagsire but then, nope. Also cool because, fuck sigilyph, seriously, fuck sigilyph. Jesus, i forgot it counters NP doomer (even without SR, 2 LO rounds means it always dies to a rock slide, and it takes 2 rounds to kill cradily, so even in worst-case you got it on lock).

Torterra, Oml yes. Defensive with soft sand is what i've been using; so many teams just don't have a switch-in or have a rocks-weak switch-in, or at best have something like specs melo that comes in once. A lot of switch-in and setup opportunities also. Tyrantrum is such a prick, terra makes it all better.

Escavalier: maybe clus' best counter despite kinda struggling with boosted focus blasts. SD + Restalk + Megahorn. Also beasts the hell out of Mega Abomasnow, some Tangrowths, most meloetta and ofc many cresselia, sets up on a lot of stall mons and walls, tanks a lotta hits, just wears away at its counters, and is nice vs. exploud though you want a secondary check too to be safe (it's not 3 shotted by boomburst tbh so you could swing it).

signing off by saying, Np doomer is a danger to society, and Tyrantrum is that special kind of unwallable where you feel like it's a cointoss between obvious Dou or M-lix -> Eq or anything else ->head smash.

Edit: PLZ, if you're not running SD Escav on stall i have no idea what you think will happen, SD escav is the kind of sweeper that works nice and slow, inevitably wearing down its hard checks until they're soft counters. And even if it can't do work, that's cool since it's still a solid defensive pivot
 
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termi

bike is short for bichael
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ayy lmao nice team u got there. got the acid armor reuni, the sludge wave duggy, lookin real crisp all around :]
I didn't even intend to build it that way but eventually I needed a replacement for my RestTalk Escav cuz it wasn't doing work and I realized Reun fit perfectly 0:
 
Agreeing with the sentiments on dugtrio atm. I've been running a psychic spam team with sub duggy and while it needs some gutsy switches, u-turn or volt switch support or a revenge killing opportunity to trap anything at all, in tandem with psychic types which are already so good in this metagame (meloetta, reuni, cress are all some of the best in the tier), I think I agree with it being suspected. I don't think arena trap is broken in itself as duggy has a lot of limitations and won't necessarily pull its weight every game but in the context of how well it supports dominant psychic types (e.g. what actually stops Nails' AA CM reuni when darks are dead?) it could well be an imbalanced influence on the tier.
 

tehy

Banned deucer.
Trapping is always broken

i'm not kidding

this is the point at which 'serious explanation' starts to substitute for 'joking overblown statement', but I don't think the statement 'trapping is always broken' is that overblown; the only reason it seems that way is because Gamefreak has made most of its trappers extraordinarily shitty 'mons, which manages to make exceptions to what should really be an ironclad rule. Except, Duggy's stats aren't *that* bad in RU and neither is its movepool, so we start to see a problem...

i've managed to not be personally weak to Dugtrio, but yea; I wouldn't mind seeing it go, just because trapping is such a negative influence, basically mandating certain mons not be used or be used as secondary checks (just make plays? plays are massively skewed towards duggy user, it's not that easy)

like to see more talking about this; it'd be nice if duggy goes especially since that's one of the top reason I find Exploud so problematic in the metagame (registeel's weak to duggy ,so yea, plus M-lix can get like 50% chipped off until it gets 2hitkoed by exploud)
 
so, this thread's being seeing rather limited discussion, and, more importantly, i was recently informed that tokyo tom will soon be as 'relevant' as me on this site (the joke is that badges are equivocal to relevance xd), so i figured i'd stir up some discussion. with the current metagame leveling out to a moderate extent, i've been finding the leniency to tinker with more lower tier pokemon to tinker with. some, like garbodor and samurott, having been seeing a lot more discussion and usage of late, which i really like, b.c they're quite solid, but i feel there are quite a few more that have a reasonable amount of 'weight' in the metagame at hand. i already mentioned sd torterra elsewhere, which is cool and should be run more (ideally, paired with something to respond to 'cott and tangrowth handily), but i've also been messing around with a few others.

sneasel is a pokemon i think has the capacity to be really good atm; it's stab combination has quite a bit of weight to it, as does its speed tier (being below 'cott is eh, although being comfortably above durant / 'lisk / virizion / cobalion is amazing for an offensive 'mon), and the ability to throw low kicks at m-'lix is a significant distinguishing trait that puts it above a bunch of other physical, non-fighting / ground types of the tier. both the lo attacker and eviolite sd (drops power, but gains end-game potency, and it can't really find windows to set up w/out the buffer in defenses, particularly spdef) are rather usable in this current metagame, as long as it's supported in manners that accommodate it's inability to push through certain, healthier waters, steels, etc. av hariyama is a rather neat tank in that it's not only the most thorough doomer switch, give or take (lo crunch, the best move it manages v.it, does ~25% max), but a nice drapion, glalie, camel, and abomasnow switch as well (though it doesn't handle sd nearly as well). it also makes an obviously solid knock off platform, which is never a bad thing.

for reference, here are the sets i've been using. feel free to try them out, see for yourself, etc. etc.

Sneasel @ Life Orb
Ability: Pickpocket
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Icicle Crash
- Low Kick
- Ice Shard / Pursuit

Sneasel @ Eviolite
Ability: Pickpocket
EVs: 240 Atk / 16 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Icicle Crash
- Low Kick

Hariyama @ Assault Vest
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 8 HP / 144 Atk / 96 Def / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Heavy Slam
 

MrAldo

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Glad to see some underused threats see the light, I always love seeing that.

Love how the metagame also has settled really well where of course we have really good mons but they arent utterly broken or down right ridiculous. Really good mons like M-Steelix, Emboar, Durant and others are tough but manageable, except for one particular guy...

This little guy right here is what I would call the most broken stuff right now due to the invaluable support it provides to certain setup sweepers, making it way more dangerous than they should be. Lets take into account opposing psychic types and their checks, most if not all of most psychic checks and easily be trapped and revenge killed by dugtrio (except for doublade cause being part ghost this gen is a blessing) opening the gate for things like cm reuniclus to sweep. Right now with plenty of mons being easy to trap and considering that dugtrio movepool can be tailored so it can trap whatever the team needs to trap (sludge wave for whimsicott, hp fire for durant, aerial ace for virizion, sucker punch so it doesnt turn into a victim of opposing priority).

It is also quite ridiculous how this thing can pressure the opponent from team preview, knowing that dugtrio could get a guaranteed kill plenty of times if it is paired with volt turn or the opponent just sacking something it doesnt need. This mon provides a ridiculous amount of support to plenty of mons. Isnt something easy to deal with unless you are running some defensive team and even then if we consider exploud and that registeel or m-lix can be trapped by dugtrio... yeah

Im a firm believer that trapping isnt inherently broken by itself, it directly depends on the current state of a metagame during a give time lapse, right now I feel the metagame cant really handle arena trap, turning dugtrio into quite the unhealthy presence. I wouldnt be opposed on a suspect test for this thing, but maybe the meta will settle somehow, who knows but right now this is the most "broken" thing atm.
 
On the slate of underrated gems i got one that is pretty efficient and i have used to good success.


Golurk @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Shadow Punch
- Ice Punch

This is the tank sr golurk set that I've been using to handle tyrantrum and it handles it rather well being resistant to head smash and isn't weak to it's coverage bar crunch which isn't too common. Also it checks m-lix pretty damn well and the last move is flexible but i run ice punch for grass types.
 

GaryTheGengar

I COULD BE BANNED!
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I think reuniclus should be looked at. It does the same things in gen 6 ru that it did in gen 5 ou, but vs less strong / bulky pokes and without its 2 best counters, tyranitar and scizor, as well as shit like trick specs latios, which were everywhere and rankurutsu still dominated, it even was suspected altho it ditn'd deserve to be http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-ru-44906 heres a replay which shows how obscene this lil nigga is vs offense (although a poorly built one, its a team from the moltes meta with a few super half assed changes just so i could play my buddy big brown, 1st match of ru since the tres suspect). It does much of the same vs a well built one tho, shit has nothing for it unless u wanna run like cb escavalier on erry team lol. The cm set is honestly pretty broken too, altho i'm not really a fan of it as I always use offense when I play ru / nu. Anyway the cm set acts a lot like clef does in ou, being a defensive teams worst nightmare with bulk + magic guard + power + recover. The final straw that really sets reuni over the top is the fact that other than a veteran making his best guess (and another vet can use tr on semi stall, cm on offense to throw them off) is that its goddamn impossible to tell which set its running before its too late, as not much shit can stop either a LO reun under TR or a +1 +1 bold reuni if you go to the wrong check and allow another cm or a free attack. Not to mention it can even run ass shit to beat each and every single one of its counters, like trick flame orb for drapion + escavalier or cool shit like trickspecs future sight regenerator which has the advantage of being a really cool poke which would be the RU staple if reuniclus didn't have trick room or calm mind.
 
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http://www.smogon.com/stats/2015-03/ru-1630.txt

| 59 | Hitmonchan | 2.82387% | 5421 | 4.203% | 4250 | 4.119% |

It finally happened. Now let's keep it there until the next tier shift. Don't disappoint me, RU players.

| 41 | Ambipom | 5.57688% | 17490 | 13.559% | 15064 | 14.600% |

Of course, there's still Ambipom.

And potential drops from UU:

http://www.smogon.com/stats/2015-03/uu-1630.txt

| 63 | Kingdra | 3.27713% | 18197 | 5.540% | 14166 | 5.380% |
| 64 | Scrafty | 3.24972% | 18451 | 5.617% | 14485 | 5.501% |
| 65 | Flygon | 3.11450% | 13606 | 4.142% | 10937 | 4.154% |
| 66 | Noivern | 2.87952% | 15023 | 4.573% | 11597 | 4.405% |
 
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Don Honchkrorleone

Happy Qwilfish the nightmare
is a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
^You forgot this friend

| 50 | Cresselia | 4.850% |
| 51 | Absol | 4.714% |
| 52 | Doublade | 4.713% |
| 53 | Heliolisk | 4.678% |


And to not make this post useless, I've been using Topsy-Turvy Malamar on ladder to fuck those Acid Armor Reuni and Curselix and I may say, it's hilarious. Try it sometime!
 

The Leprechaun

wear nike not fila
is a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
Yo, I have a couple of sets i've had a lot of fun with on the ladder and want to share.



Gourgeist-Small @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 216 HP / 52 Atk / 240 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Bullet Seed
- Leech Seed
- Rock Slide

With hazards being so excellent right now i was looking for a decent spinblocker that can beat mons like hitmonlee several times over the course of a match. Mons like doublade, banette and jellicent can be given a huge amount of trouble from either hitmonlee or hitmontop provided they predict right. Gourgeist can switch in a couple of times into a knock off while forcing it out with the threat of wisp or burn and it make up for the lack of lefties with leech seed. Another notable aspect is that gourgeist has fantastic synergy with several common spike setters where other ghosts don't synergise well at all. Qwilfish and Garbodor particularly appreciate a good ground resist which is something you won't get from doublade or banette.

Apart from spinblocking, it has some really nice anti meta characteristics. For one, its base speed of 99 is extremely helpful for beating some of the biggest threats right now, including houndoom, drapion, sigilyph (another under rated mon) and several others. Bullet seed with this amount of attack investment has an 87.5% chance to ohko omastar with 3 hits (in reality it has about a 60%). Its typing it almost a complete counter to most heliolisk variants. Just a really cool, fun mon right now.



Virizion @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Focus Blast
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]

The other thing i've been using to great success is the standard cm virizion set. With mons like golbat and amoongus loosing some popularity and several physically defensive mons becoming more popular (msteelix, cm reuniclus, qwilfish, tangrowth), cm virizion has become more effective, especially when paired with mons that appreciate doublade gone.
 

phantom

Banned deucer.
Pretty exciting to see both Flygon and Noivern coming to RU, both of them seem like A+ threats minimum imo, Flygon moreso for its supportive characteristics (Defog) and Noivern for being a wicked offensive threat. I'm not so excited about Scrafty or Kingdra though. Scrafty seems kind of bad and lol Kingdra; that Pokemon has a million different ways to rip RU a new asshole.

As for what's going up, Doublade and Cresselia moving up would change a lot tbh; the musketeers in particular become really powerful with their two best counters out of the way. Doublade leaving also weakens hazard-stacking offense to a slight degree, which I think is a good thing since Cresselia tends to inhibit those types of archetypes. Heliolisk moving up changes almost nothing, aside from Jolteon getting more usage I guess.

Not so excited about Abomasnow moving up because I feel like RU would need it more than ever when the Dragons come down, hopefully its usage is just a trend and will fall back down like Whimsicott's did.

Also, you guys should try out dual priority Hitmonlee. Rapid Spin Hitmonlee is a pretty unreliable spinner imo, so unless ur offensive team is running a lot of SR weak mons, then using another attack in the fourth slot is better. Sucker Punch + Mach Punch also increases Hitmonlee's matchup vs offensive teams significantly by allowing it to RK/pick off a lot more Pokemon in Meloetta, Doublade, OTR Psychics, etc. Try it out, it's good shit.
 
Heliolisk moving is kinda a big deal Spirit. ;; Heliolisk has proven to be popular check towards Doublade and Cobalion due to it's typing and speed. It has also risen considerable from suspect from 6.4% to 7.4% to roughly 8%. That's a big deal to Electric-types as no other Electric-Type, besides Mow, is in the top 30 in popularity and usage. Considering how barren good Electric-types are in the first place, losing Heliolisk is going to mean a little more considering the other options like Jolteon and Eelektross are niche at best compared to Rotom-Mow. Heliolisk has something notable in the meta that it can boast over it's more popular adversary. It's great coverage, great dual STAB, and unique typing stand out among it's brethren in RU. ;;
 
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