BW2 NU Metagame Discussion

[Raseri]

With NUPL over, interest in BW2 NU is likely going to die down, but I think the trends shown were very interesting, and that it is a really fun metagame!

BW2

Rank | Pokemon    | Use | Use % | Win %
1    | Garbodor   | 30  | 41%   | 43%
2    | Golurk     | 29  | 40%   | 55%
3    | Charizard  | 22  | 30%   | 50%
4    | Seismitoad | 19  | 26%   | 36%
4    | Alomomola  | 19  | 26%   | 57%
4    | Skuntank   | 19  | 26%   | 68%
7    | Kangaskhan | 17  | 23%   | 41%
8    | Gardevoir  | 16  | 22%   | 62%
9    | Musharna   | 15  | 20%   | 33%
9    | Rotom-F    | 15  | 20%   | 53%
11   | Regirock   | 14  | 19%   | 57%
12   | Sawk       | 12  | 16%   | 33%
12   | Serperior  | 12  | 16%   | 66%
12   | Mandibuzz  | 12  | 16%   | 41%
15   | Misdreavus | 10  | 13%   | 40%
15   | Gothorita  | 10  | 13%   | 30%
17   | Rotom-S    | 9   | 12%   | 66%
18   | Roselia    | 8   | 11%   | 25%
18   | Braviary   | 8   | 11%   | 62%
18   | Tauros     | 8   | 11%   | 62%
18   | Samurott   | 8   | 11%   | 62%
22   | Duosion    | 6   | 8 %   | 83%
22   | Gurdurr    | 6   | 8 %   | 50%
22   | Torterra   | 6   | 8 %   | 33%
22   | Sawsbuck   | 6   | 8 %   | 66%
22   | Piloswine  | 6   | 8 %   | 66%
22   | Ludicolo   | 6   | 8 %   | 50%
28   | Primeape   | 5   | 6 %   | 0%
29   | Natu       | 4   | 5 %   | 25%
29   | Eelektross | 4   | 5 %   | 75%
29   | Riolu      | 4   | 5 %   | 50%
29   | Wynaut     | 4   | 5 %   | 50%
29   | Carracosta | 4   | 5 %   | 50%
34   | Shiftry    | 3   | 4 %   | 100%
34   | Zweilous   | 3   | 4 %   | 0%
34   | Liepard    | 3   | 4 %   | 33%
34   | Drifblim   | 3   | 4 %   | 100%
38   | Zangoose   | 2   | 2 %   | 50%
38   | Floatzel   | 2   | 2 %   | 100%
38   | Probopass  | 2   | 2 %   | 0%
38   | Golem      | 2   | 2 %   | 50%
38   | Electabuzz | 2   | 2 %   | 100%
38   | Klang      | 2   | 2 %   | 50%
38   | Lickilicky | 2   | 2 %   | 0%
38   | Fraxure    | 2   | 2 %   | 0%
38   | Wartortle  | 2   | 2 %   | 100%
47   | Cacturne   | 1   | 1 %   | 0%
47   | Haunter    | 1   | 1 %   | 0%
47   | Arbok      | 1   | 1 %   | 100%
47   | Monferno   | 1   | 1 %   | 100%
47   | Magcargo   | 1   | 1 %   | 0%
47   | Throh      | 1   | 1 %   | 0%
47   | Stunfisk   | 1   | 1 %   | 100%
47   | Vigoroth   | 1   | 1 %   | 0%
47   | Swanna     | 1   | 1 %   | 0%
47   | Murkrow    | 1   | 1 %   | 0%
47   | Regice     | 1   | 1 %   | 100%
47   | Exeggutor  | 1   | 1 %   | 0%
47   | Frillish   | 1   | 1 %   | 0%
47   | Pinsir     | 1   | 1 %   | 0%
47   | Mr.Mime    | 1   | 1 %   | 100%
47   | Simipour   | 1   | 1 %   | 100%
47   | Torkoal    | 1   | 1 %   | 0%
47   | Gorebyss   | 1   | 1 %   | 100%
47   | Miltank    | 1   | 1 %   | 0%
47   | Linoone    | 1   | 1 %   | 0%
47   | Nothing    | 1   | 1 %   | 0%
47   | Jumpluff   | 1   | 1 %   | 100%
47   | Golbat     | 1   | 1 %   | 100%
47   | Vileplume  | 1   | 1 %   | 100%
47   | Metang     | 1   | 1 %   | 100%
47   | Zebstrika  | 1   | 1 %   | 0%
47   | Camerupt   | 1   | 1 %   | 100%
47   | Bronzor    | 1   | 1 %   | 100%

I'm not surprised by the Pokemon at the top at all, they are all huge threats and very consistent.

What sort of styles are effective in BW2 NU right now?

tagging bw2 nuers :)
Tachycardia Tomahawk hollywood Blastral Cherub Agent bugzinator Lolk -Tsunami- Tyrano reiku Hikari Soulgazer Cased Finchinator The Goomy Kiyo MetalGro$$ New Breed HJAD Lasagne mencemeat Bughouse Shuckleking87

 

[Cased]

half of these people dont even know bw nu

alomomola balance is by far the most consistent playstyle because alomomola is the best most effective pokemon NU has ever had and will ever have

i love alomomola

 

[soulgazer]

Mola bulky offense / balance builds are pretty crispy, like cased just said. I rly like some Mandibuzz builds too :O

imo the meta isn't too kind to HO, with all the priority / hazards / fat mons around (the only good HO that i know of is like cased's normal spam)

Not surprised to see so many Rotom-F/-S on the usage stats: a lot of team use them for their Flying-type resist (by that i mean, being able to beat/force out SubBU Braviary and Mandibuzz) and they can be quite dangerous against fat teams sans Regice thanks to their STAB.

I personally dont get why there's more Musharna than Duosion.. it's so hard to spin in BW2 NU and Duosion can beat the bulkier Dark-type in the tier (Mandibuzz). Win rate pmuch confirm that Duosion > Musharna even though its a small sample.

Skuntank is the best NU Pokemon.

 

[Finchinator]

Ah, BW2 was quite the interesting tier and while I'm not the best at it, I had a fun time building a lot of teams and playing some tour or test matches in the tier, so I'm glad it was part of NUPL and hope it'll be included in future years.

With this being said, I find myself building a lot of teams with Spikes + Missy be it balanced or offensive (generally avoid Stall in this tier), normal spam, or balanced with generic cores of some sort with a a touch of unconventionality here or there to make my match-up better vs a specific opponent. I never really felt the need to use much HO or stall - maybe it's because I'm not the most familiar with the tier (I still have quite a bit of experience, but I'm not a top player or even close to one) and don't feel comfortable taking this sort of risk or maybe it's because I feel that the metagame is stablized to the extent that bulky offensive teams can work very well without too much downside. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure of the reason, but regardless of why, this can attest to the belief that the state of the metagame has reached some sort of balance (obviously things like Charizard, Sawk, and Rotom-F are harder to check, but none are too bad) and that's hard to come by in a gen five or gen six metagame, so that's pretty cool.

Some smaller things that I found: Gardevoir by far is the Psychic type I found most useful, but Duosion was in a distant second while Musharna felt a bit too passive to tinker around with as a win condition while the pivot set wasn't doing too much either (obviously all three of these psychics serve different purposes (especially Garde) to some extent, but this is just an overall gauge of usefulness and niches in the metagame based on my teambuilding / battling experience), NP Wisp Misdreavus is a really cool poke that fits onto a lot of my bulky offensive builds (generic team of mine is probably like Spikes Garb + NP Wisp Missy + LO Garde + (SR Regirock + Serp or Ludi + filler) or (SR Seismi + Scarf Braviary or LO Zard + filler) I'd say), running a lot of taunt users is pretty optimal given the usage Alomomola and others see, too many people overcompensate for fighting types and leave themselves vulnerable to a fair share of special threats as a consequence, and there is still a fair amount of room for creativity/innovation in teambuilding.

I know this post is sort of general and my competency in the tier is hazy, but figured I'd drop my two cents because I spent a shitton of time testing/building over the last month or two and it was pretty enjoyable.

 

[Kiyo]

3 things

po nu > smogon nu.
spikes are aids.
dpp nu > bw2 nu.

 

[ryan]

outside of Spikes stacking I love BW2 NU, way better than any other NU meta I've played. I was never too open to using Wartortle, but I've tinkered with it a bit in the past couple months because of how aids Spikes are in the tier. it's definitely better than I gave it credit for during BW2, kind of like a worse Prinplup in XY/ORAS.

it's kind of funny that NU waited until XY to realize just how great Gothorita is. Shadow Tag is broken as shit, and I'm glad that we no longer have to deal with it. you can build in a way that you don't struggle with it too much, but some Pokemon just can't do shit about it (esp. Regirock, Garbodor, Alomomola), which gives some extra niche to less consistent checks to top-tier Pokemon like Electric-types that can Volt Switch on Gothorita to beat Flying-types, BP Musharna over Garbodor as a Fighting check (tho it doesn't stack Spikes obv), etc. it's something that I constantly forget about while teambuilding because I'm usually more concerned about checking things in general rather than having two defensive checks or an offensive and defensive check to something in case one of them gets trapped. I wouldn't even mind considering a ban on it now even though BW2 NU is a dead metagame, but I think there are enough ways to counteract it that it's not too bad. plus, it punishes these fat Spikes-stacking teams, which is kind of more of a good thing than a bad thing.

kind of surprised about Serperior's usage. it's not a bad Pokemon but I've never liked it. so weak and can't do shit to beat its own checks. baits roselia and garbodor too.

and ya Gardevoir is incredible. can run 800 different sets, all incredibly effectively. only problem with it is that a lot of Skuntank's these days are running tons of Speed, so they can trap it without worrying about getting burned or chewing a Life Orb Focus Blast. otherwise, it's so fucking good.

 

[The Grand Babido]

this is the quintessential example of a tier destroyed by spike

 

[The Quasar]

I don't play NUPL but I would to give my cent about this subject. I can tell about later, I'm working now. But I remember usage statistics a bit different than this. For example Musharna, Roselia, Braviary, and Ludicolo were always there. And what about Sawk and Jynx?

12 | Sawk | 12 | 16% | 33%

Too little, I think it has a few usage in ORAS, too. It's overlooked :)

I don't remember if Jynx was banned in BW2 NU, where is? I remember the Prankster + Assist ban, not that.

 

[The Goomy]

I think Synchronize Natu wrecks this tier. Kappa.

 

[Bughouse]

Not a metagame I enjoy at all. Only played it bc they wanted me in the Bo3.

I've been thinking recently that while Scolipede needed to go, having Jynx around may have been better. Mola Mandibuzz etc could be more easily handled and would actually diversify the tier more I think (even if it still centralized somewhat around Jynx)

Also yeah Gothorita is kinda dumb.

 

[Iris]

ive never been a fan of aloma balance because it is too predictable. Like, the only thing i have to guess at preview is whether it has toxic, waterfall (for sub garde), magic coat, or mirror coat. everything else is already known (i guess some golurk have magic coat), which makes the play style terrible in important matches.

the only bad thing is when you lead garb vs garb, and you both agree to have spikes down. it's like ferro vs ferro in ou sometimes or non taunt skarms vs each other in dpp. these things just happen.

coolest and really good pokemon include modest toxic altaria, magcargo, leafeon, dwebbler, articuno, sub toxic sawk, and modest wartortle. I may not know anything though, i only played bw for spl and pretty much never again

 

[Cased]

ive never been a fan of aloma balance because it is too predictable. Like, the only thing i have to guess at preview is whether it has toxic, waterfall (for sub garde), magic coat, or mirror coat. everything else is already known (i guess some golurk have magic coat), which makes the play style terrible in important matches.

Healing Wish is also very viable, I used it vs. Malekith in Week 8 of SPL, and a lot of the better players began to run Healing Wish + Magic Coat on balanced offense. Alomomola can be used on Stall to wish and keep the team healthy, but other times it can be used as a simple pivot for offense, esp. if you don't feel as if Regirock fits your team enough to check Zard and Kangaskhan, two offense demolishers.

There are things like Serperior (SubCM specifically) that obviously use Alomomola as fodder, and a lot of Pokemon can realistically do that: Misdreavus, Coil Eelektross, Garbodor for hazards, and the list obviously goes on. Playing Alomomola on offensive balance needs to be used aggressively, NU has enough Pokemon for balanced offense that create strong synergy besides the obvious Skuntank Sawk Musharna bullshit we saw early BW2, but yea Mola has a plethora of uses