Project ORAS Pokemon of the Week MK. 3 - read post 138 pls

[ThePack]

*sigh*
it's called innovation... and btw I'm pretty sure sableye lives a +2 stone edge...

"Innovation"...fren, your Terrak is walled by Bisharp and Ferrothorn lol. Think about that for a second.

 

[iamQmai]

Seeing how it's got Justified as an ability, I'm thinking a choice band set which comes in on Knock Off's could be a good idea (to get a pseudo Band).
So something like

Terrakion @ Choice Band
Trait: Justified
Jolly Nature
252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Wherever
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Poison Jab
- Rock Slide / X Scissor / Quick Attack

 

[Tressed]

I'm gonna suggest that if you're gonna introduce creative sets here, it would probably be best for everyone if you backed them up with some replays. As it stands we have a fair amount of theorycrafting going on, which I'd generally like to avoid in favor of things you've tested and found to be valid.

 

[firehusky]

"Innovation"...fren, your Terrak is walled by Bisharp and Ferrothorn lol. Think about that for a second.

It's supposed to be a lead that scares out mega sableye and sets up rocks on it.

I'm gonna suggest that if you're gonna introduce creative sets here, it would probably be best for everyone if you backed them up with some replays. As it stands we have a fair amount of theorycrafting going on, which I'd generally like to avoid in favor of things you've tested and found to be valid.

The set is not theorymon at all. It's a completely valid set that has been used by xtra a lot of times and he's actually the one who invented it. I've seen him use it a lot of times before and while I don't have replays of it I've seen it in action and it's not bad at all. You should first try the set out and see for yourself. It's actually a great set and not theorycraft at all.

 

[GuatemalaPartiratuculo]

It's supposed to be a lead that scares out mega sableye and sets up rocks on it.

The set is not theorymon at all. It's a completely valid set that has been used by xtra a lot of times and he's actually the one who invented it. I've seen him use it a lot of times before and while I don't have replays of it I've seen it in action and it's not bad at all. You should first try the set out and see for yourself. It's actually a great set and not theorycraft at all.

That set is a gimmick; first u dont need safeguard as stone edge at +2 2kos mega sableye anyways and if u dont have close combat a lot of shit that u are supposed to beat set ups on u like bisharp (rofl), metagross, lucario, heatran, keldeo, exca has a free switch, etc and Xtrashine is a little overated making mindless offense doesn't make a person better than others.

 

[Tressed]

The set is not theorymon at all. It's a completely valid set that has been used by xtra a lot of times and he's actually the one who invented it. I've seen him use it a lot of times before and while I don't have replays of it I've seen it in action and it's not bad at all. You should first try the set out and see for yourself. It's actually a great set and not theorycraft at all.

That wasn't really aimed at your set, it was more of a general statement towards a trend I've been noticing with the creative sets (specifically stuff like Scarf Double Dance Terrakion and Ancientpower Togekiss). I'm not questioning the validity of your set, I've seen this one been used myself so I can attest to it's effectiveness, but it is a rather team specific niche and generally your standard Lum SD will be better for this sort of thing.

 

[firehusky]

That set is a gimmick; first u dont need safeguard as stone edge at +2 2kos mega sableye anyways and if u dont have close combat a lot of shit that u are supposed to beat set ups on u like bisharp (rofl), metagross, lucario, heatran, keldeo, exca has a free switch, etc and Xtrashine is a little overated making mindless offense doesn't make a person better than others.

No it's not a gimmick. And where are you going to get the free turns to set up an SD and hit two stone edges? Once your lum berry is used up, sableye will just burn you again. And that's not even taking into account the fact that you can hit both of them. It doesn't matter that terrakion doesn't beat those pokemon, it's supposed to be a lead that sets up rocks on sableye. Xtra might be overrated but that doesn't change the fact that he's one of the best HO innovators and that he's a good player.

Whatever you think, go ahead and call it a gimmick, I don't really care. But the truth is, it's not. Anyways I'm done here.

 

[GuatemalaPartiratuculo]

No it's not a gimmick. And where are you going to get the free turns to set up an SD and hit two stone edges? Once your lum berry is used up, sableye will just burn you again. And that's not even taking into account the fact that you can hit both of them. It doesn't matter that terrakion doesn't beat those pokemon, it's supposed to be a lead that sets up rocks on sableye. Xtra might be overrated but that doesn't change the fact that he's one of the best HO innovators and that he's a good player.


Whatever you think, go ahead and call it a gimmick, I don't really care. But the truth is, it's not. Anyways I'm done here.

I called your set a gimmick because it overspecializes on how to beat sableye its like fire blast gyarados for ferro yes it 2kos his most common counter but its a gimmick because if the opponent doesnt have a ferro you wasted a moveslot for a more important move, u win more easily vs sableye (U still win with classic lum berry lead set u dont need safeguard bullcrap) but you lose bisharp, ferro, heatran lol all the steel types of the tier; I always have loved creative sets and i use them a lot but if a set doesnt have a good niche like lets say CBB dragonite (who used to wall keldeo, charizard Y and lando in one package) dont use it because there is a superior set (lead lum berry with close combat over safeguard) that does better what ur creative set is doing but i agree with the xtrashine part the innovation he brings to offense is very appreciated.

 

[Tressed]

​

Base Stats: 83 HP / 80 Atk / 80 Def / 135 SpA / 80 SpD / 121 Spe
Abilities: No Guard
I forgot last week ._.
Mega Pidgeot is clearly a powerful Pokemon. Flying STAB is excellent, and powerful No Guard Hurricanes are easily able to clean up weakened teams. Thanks to it's high Speed, Mega Pidgeot functions well against offensive teams, but it can also pose a threat to defensive cores with it's Stallbreaker set. Mega Pidgeot's issues mainly stem from it's competition, Tornadus-T. With a similar Speed stat, similar power, a great ability in Regenerator, and access to an item, Tornadus-T makes Mega Pidgeot a bit of a luxury on most teams.​

 

[heritage]

Speaking as someone who uses Pidgeot 30-40%+ of the time on all of her teams, people on the ladder really sleep on Mega Pidgeot, calling it an inferior Torn-T. Honestly though, it's a really good Mega that can tear straight through so many different and unprepared teams. Undodgeable Hurricane is one of the most spam-able things in the game right now, as Flying-type is just such a fantastic offensive typing, and so few things can actually switch in to that. You can't just rely on the opponent to miss Hurricane any more. A good portion of the things that can (SpD Skarm, Metagross, Klefki, Rotom-W, Raikou) are roasted by Heat Wave and Hyper Beam. It's the most hilarious thing to just bullshit your way though all of its checks with Hurricane confusions, which happens a lot more than you would think (I know you shouldn't rely on that, but it's fun when it does happen). The AoA set is really fun to mess with, having a fantastic Speed tier, being able to outspeed a huge majority of the metagame, and unlike Torn-T, you doN'T MISS HURRICANE AS THE WORST MOMENTS. Pidgeot actually has quite a few niches over Torn-T, the main ones being Work Up and Refresh. When running Stall or Balance, this thing becomes so hard to beat. Like, it literally 6-0s pretty much all of stall. Chansey can't do anything thanks to Refresh, and Pidgeot just easily gets to +6 and most likely wins the game. Same with Sableye, Skarmory eventually dies, Clefable has a hard time with it, Mew is beat. I mean, Pidgeot does have a whole bunch of problems. First of all though, its coverage isn't actually that bad. Flying-, Normal- and Fire-type coverage works pretty well against the meta, although it needs a whole bunch of support to get past its checks, as it kinda has nothing for Rock-types especially. Hyper Beam is a hilarious final option that beats AV Raikou, Rotom-W and a few other scattered Electric-type Pokemon. Other then that Torn-T competition, its huge Stealth Rock weakness while lacking Regenerator is a pretty big issue, as not all sets have room on the set to use Roost, or that Pidgeot itself has a hard time using it during the battle. The things that switch into Hurricane, mainly Tyranitar and Heatran, are not only really common but threaten it back immensely unless you have U-Turn to pivot out. Especially Tyranitar, as No Guard means absolutely nothing will miss, including the usually shaky Stone Edge, which is a huge double edged sword against Pidgeot. Not to mention, it's not exactly frail, but not bulky either. Its bulk has an awkward border between decent and bad. Overall, it requires a LOT of support. It certainly isn't as splash-able as Torn-T and it lacks a lot of the qualities that would make it a metagame threat. However, it's a much more reliable late game cleaner than Torn-T thanks to undodgeable Hurricane. It certainly has quite a few niches that actually makes it work using, no matter how many people hate against it. It's a shame that there aren't a whole lot of sets to run with it, though, or that it doesn't get Boomburst / Focus Blast o,o

Just a few calcs

252 SpA Mega Pidgeot Hurricane vs. 64 HP / 0 SpD Mega Altaria: 178-210 (57.9 - 68.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Mega Pidgeot Hurricane vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mega Gyarados: 148-175 (44.7 - 52.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252 SpA Mega Pidgeot Hurricane vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Mega Sableye: 165-195 (54.2 - 64.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Mega Pidgeot Hurricane vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Thundurus: 111-131 (37.1 - 43.8%) -- 98.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252 SpA Mega Pidgeot Hurricane vs. 132 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Tornadus-T: 135-160 (40.6 - 48.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252 SpA Mega Pidgeot Hyper Beam vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-W: 237-280 (78.2 - 92.4%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

252 SpA Mega Pidgeot Heat Wave vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Skarmory: 192-228 (57.4 - 68.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

252 SpA Mega Pidgeot Heat Wave vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Mega Metagross: 196-232 (65.1 - 77%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Mega Pidgeot Hyper Beam vs. 0 HP / 32 SpD Assault Vest Raikou: 163-193 (50.7 - 60.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock (After Hurricane and Rocks this KOs)

 

[GuatemalaPartiratuculo]

Mega burb is way more cooler than tornadus T and he is the original bird, now competitively chicken is better cause regenerator and AV and the fact that unlike pidgeot he gets focus blast and better movepool still mega pidgeot has interesting niches like no guard hurricane hyper beam for motherfucker electrics who tornadus T fails to do anything and an interesting work up stall breaker set which destroys stall if u dont have zapdos or unaware fable cause the others counters are put in a timer because they dont have reliable recovery like heatran, combine that with hazards and confuse hax mega pidgeot guarantees to destroy stall.

 

[Tressed]

Base Stats: 125 HP / 170 Atk / 100 Def / 120 SpA / 90 SpD / 95 Spe
Abilities: Teravolt
let's talk about spdef Kyu-b
Kyurem-Black is the monster that every balance and stall team hates to match up against. Dual Ice and Dragon STABs, Teravolt, and those godly 170 / 120 offenses are enough to tear holes in pretty much everything. What's more, it has some cool coverage moves such as Earth Power and Fusion Bolt, and its bulk is phenomenal for an attacker. These traits together make Kyurem-B one of the top wallbreakers in the tier. Sadly, a lot of this bulk goes to waste, as Kyurem-B's typing is awful from a defensive point of view, as it brings both vulnerability to Stealth Rock and a plethora of weaknesses. Moreover, its movepool consists of about 6 or 7 standard moves, which means that it's pretty predictable for the most part. Finally, there's no way to boost its Speed outside of a Choice Scarf, which can leave it struggling to keep up in offensive match ups.​

 

[michaeloche]

Holy crap, Bird Jesus got no discussion.

Anyway, Kyurem-B is actually a really great wallbreaker. It's even capable of OHKOing standard Mega Venusaur with Ice Beam without any prior damage (guaranteed after SR iirc) thanks to Teravolt ignoring Thick Fat. And not just Venusaur, but the things it can break include Rotom-W, Gliscor, Amoonguss, Mega Sableye, and more. The set I like to use is LO+Roost on the specially biased mixed attacker, which has power, coverage, and longevity in one set. Speed EVs outrun 252 neutral base 80's iirc.

Kyurem-Black @ Life Orb
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 20 Atk / 252 SpA / 236 Spe
Mild / Rash Nature
- Ice Beam
- Fusion Bolt
- Earth Power
- Roost

 

[Fredrick1]

Well this mon is pretty hard to discuss about, but its gaining popularity and in the tier, one of the pokemon that cannot/difficult to be walled.

Common roles of Kyurem-Black is mostly as an All Out Attacker in the tier with Life Orb and is instantly one of the terror of Balanced/Stall Teams. Most people are still wondering how such an insanity 700BST mon could stay in OU.

Kyurem-Black @ Life Orb
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 20 Atk / 252 SpA / 236 Spe
Mild/Rash Nature
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Fusion Bolt
- Hidden Power Fire/ Iron Head / Roost / Outrage / Substitute

This mon is a monstorousity. With an almost perfect coverage and terrorizing base stat, its a nightmare to face against. It has great merit in being able to wallbreak with the Physical and Special spectrum, unvalidating dedicated walls that would come in on Kyurem. It is the only mon that is capabling to do so while hitting extremely hard on both sides. Even when its Physical side is uninvested/minimally invested, it still reaches some insane power. Ice Beam 2HKO's nearly the whole metagame unresisted aside from dedicated walls such as Specialy Defensive Sylveon or Chansey. Earth Power murders steel types that attempts to switchin into Kyurem's Ice Beam such as Heatran and Fusion Bolt hits water types that switches into Kyurem, namely Azumarill.

The last moveslot is a choice for Kyurem to utilize in order to break down some walls that would come in the coverage above. For example, the whole coverage above can easily walled by Mega Scizor that runs Special Defense investment, therefore Hidden Power Fire can be used to defeat Mega Scizor. Clefable with its natural bulk avoids any form of 2HKO from the coverage above, therefore Iron Head could be run on Kyurem Black to defeat Clefable. Roost can be opted for longetivity and migates some weaknesses such as being weak to Stealth Rock or being worn down by Life Orb recoil. Outrage can be opted for immediate power and the capabilty of breaking through Chansey. Substitute could be opted to ease prediction. This mon overall is just a great wallbreaker in OU.

Another selling point is that it has Teravolt, meaning that it can ignores some abliities such as Levitate/Thick Fat allowing Ice Beam to kill Mega Venusaur and Earth Power to hit Rotom-Wash. Its bulk its also greatly superior to the majority of the OU mons, allowing it to actually take neutral hits pretty well and even being a general check to threats like Belly Drum Azumarill suprisingly. Entry hazard removal is appreaciated with this mon. Steel types such as Defensive Mega Scizor could be a good partner, cushioning powerful physical Fighting/Rock types attack, resisting Steel/Fairy/Dragon and becomes a pivot to bring in Kyurem-B. It could run Defog too!!

Its speed tier is lacking, but its a pretty decent speed tier. Literaly you could pair this mon with Offensive Baton Pass Scolipede with Kyurem-B as the receiver (Idea from xtra$hine) Kyurem-B becomes a monster after that and you can type gg ^_^. Without the additional Speed, it looks like its not going to fare well against offense, but is bulky enough to actually take a hit and fire off a strong attack, so I'll say that it probably wont become a dead weight against Offensive teams. It is something that every team should attempt to prepare for, carrying mons that are able to check it at least.

 

[DarkNostalgia]

So I been doing a little bit more testing with Kyurem-B, and it really exceeded my expectations. I got 2 matches in with it yesterday with Creator of Chaos and I won both because Kyurem-B exerted a lot of pressure - sadly, my replays were lost somewhere in cyberspace. Kyurem-B completely dismantles balance builds, and the metagame is kinda unprepared for it - Ferrothorn isn't even that good of a counter when Hidden Power Fire is kind of common and after some prior damage Ice Beam 2HKOes. Clefable is kind of annoying though especially because it takes everything Kyurem-B can throw at it bar Iron Head and deal tons with Moonblast or cripple with Thunder Wave or Knock Off.

The specific core I've been using is Kyurem-B + Mega Scizor. Really nice bulky offensive core that synergizes really well together. Kyurem-B struggles with Clefable and Ferrothorn, and just Fairy-, Fighting-, Steel-, and Dragon-types in general, such as Mega Gardevoir, Mega Lopunny, Excadrill, and Latios. Mega Scizor provides an answer to that, rendering Ferrothorn to setup fodder and beating Clefable with ease, while checking dangerous threats such as Latios and Mega Lopunny annoying for Kyurem-B to face. Mega Scizor also benefits from Kyurem-B's wallbreaking capabilities due to its access to Bullet Punch letting Mega Scizor use Swords Dance and sweep late-game with Bullet Punch. In return, Kyurem-B provides an answer to the likes of Hidden Power Fire Mega Venusaur, Rotom-W, and Heatran, all big threats to Mega Scizor. Just a really nice core in general, and some more partners are stuff like Defog / Rapid Spin users such as Latios or Starmie - I've been specifically using Latios with Roost as it provides an answer to Keldeo, longevity with Roost, and a DragonSpam core in tandem with Kyurem-B.

All in all, Kyurem-B is a really solid Pokemon. Teravolt is extremely awesome to navigate past the likes of Rotom-W and Mega Venusaur so there's that. Being able to go mixed is actually a deciding factor in Kyurem-B's wallbreaking capabilities as well. In this metagame, I really like 3 Attacks + Roost just as it provides longevity and offsets Life Orb recoil and Stealth Rock damage.

 

[Random Passerby]

I would like to agree that Kyurem-B is really good in this metagame as it simply tears apart balance cores (which is one of the most prominent playstyles at the moment). Ice + Ground + Electric coverage is really amazing, leaving only Steels and Fairy that can stand up to you. Even then, you can simply run LO 4 Attacks to kill the overeager Scizor and Ferrothorn (if running HP Fire) or Fairies (if running Iron Head).

Oh, Kyurem-B also pairs well with Mega Metagross / Mega Scizor as it can simply kill the physically bulky mons which give the Megas trouble while the Megas punch holes in the Fairy-types (and also Fighting-types for Metagross) which Kyurem-B despises.

The one thing that holds it back is the weakness to Rocks and it's trolly 95 Spe, leaving it outpaced by dangerous threats such as Mega Lopunny, Lati@s, Muskeeters, Zard-X, Garchomp, etc. . This factor, coupled with LO recoil, causes it to be worn down really fast, especially if you use LO 4 Attacks, instead of Attacks + Roost.

 

[Tressed]

Base Stats: 89 HP / 145 Atk / 90 Def / 105 SpA / 80 SpD / 91 Spe
Abilities: Intimidate
Finally on vacation n_n
This week's Pokemon is Landorus-Therian, one of the most spashable mons in OU. Thanks to its great typing, high Attack stat, and access to Edge Quake coverage, Lando-T can pack a powerful punch, allowing it to fill a number of offensive roles, such as a Choice Scarfer, a wallbreaker with Swords Dance, a late game cleaner with Rock Polish, or an offensive pivot. Additionally, Landorus-T's reasonable bulk is bolstered by its ability Intimidate, which makes it an excellent defensive pivot, able to check a number of physical attackers. Landorus's issues stem from the popularity of bulky ground types in OU, as it both struggles to push past them and is negatively affected by being targeted itself. It also struggles from all the common ground immunities in the tier.​

 

[DarkNostalgia]

Landorus-Therian @ Soft Sand
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock

Landorus-T got quite a drop in usage and viability, dropping from S rank to A+ rank on the Viability Rankings and on the usage stats from 1st to 5th. Choice Scarf sets, which were once seen as Landorus-T's best set, is now unfavourable due to the momentum it loses. However, Landorus-T is still a great pivot, as with its access to Intimidate it blanket checks a lot of physical attackers such as Mega Charizard X, Talonflame, and Terrakion. The set listed above is Landorus-T's offensive pivot set, which is, in my opinion, Landorus-T's best set in this metagame right now. This set is capable of providing entry hazard support with Stealth Rock, and Landorus-T is a good setter as it beats many Rapid Spin / Defog users in the tier (or makes them unable to switch in for fear of getting KOed) - examples include Excadrill, Tentacruel, and Starmie (can't switch in). It also captures momentum with U-turn, and checks many prominent attackers such as Mega Charizard X. It's really offensive too - Earthquake deals a large hit to even bulky behemoths such as Mega Sableye, Clefable, and Mega Venusaur. Fits well on offensive teams, the one I'm using Landorus-T on is a bulky variant of offense, where it checks stuff like Talonflame and Mega Charizard X which are annoying while procuring momentum and setting Stealth Rock.

I'm not a fan of other sets haha. Choice Scarf is really annoying when it comes to prediction games and such. Defensive sets are alright but most of the time I can't justify using it over Garchomp which has Rocky Helmet + Rough Skin to troll Mega Metagross and Mega Lopunny and Dragon Tail for phazing, and the lack of Intimidate is also nice for beating Bisharp (and Fly Thundurus o_o). Haven't used Double Dance so I won't comment on that but it looks decent.

Calcs:
252+ Atk Soft Sand Landorus-T Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 172 Def Clefable: 246-289 (62.4 - 73.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Soft Sand Landorus-T Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 205-243 (52.1 - 61.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Soft Sand Landorus-T Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Starmie: 267-315 (82.6 - 97.5%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Soft Sand Landorus-T Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 112 Def Mega Sableye: 177-208 (58.2 - 68.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

 

[Dr Ciel]

DarkNostalgia

I use a similar set with Normal Gem > Soft Sand and Exolosion > U-Turn on a Volt-Turn team. Normal Gem Explosion puts a huge dent in common Landorus-T switch-ins such as bulky Water types such as Slowbro, Rotom-W, Quagsire, mainly Physical Defensive Pokemon such as Landorus-T and Hippowdon, and others. This allows teammates to blow through these walls with relative ease. Really cool set on offensive teams to quite literally "blow" through opposing walls early in the battle.

Damage Calculations

252+ Atk Normal Gem Landorus-T Explosion vs. 252 HP / 176+ Def Garchomp: 334-394 (79.5 - 93.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Normal Gem Landorus-T Explosion vs. 252 HP / 144+ Def Hippowdon: 294-346 (70 - 82.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

-1 252+ Atk Normal Gem Landorus-T Explosion vs. 252 HP / 240+ Def Landorus-T: 218-257 (57 - 67.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Normal Gem Landorus-T Explosion vs. 252 HP / 232+ Def Slowbro: 288-339 (73 - 86%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Normal Gem Landorus-T Explosion vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Rotom-W: 289-340 (95.3 - 112.2%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Normal Gem Landorus-T Explosion vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Quagsire: 337-397 (85.5 - 100.7%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

 

[bludz]

Choice Scarf and defensive Lando-T sets have fallen out of favor primarily because of Rocky Helmet Garchomp - which punishes the Scarfed U-turns and for the most part replaced the defensive set since it better checks threats like Bisharp, Talonflame and Mega Metagross.

However offensive variants are still pretty sweet. The Earth Plate set that DarkNostalgia mentioned is excellent, but other offensive variants are slept on. Landorus-T has a wonderful typing and ability which allows it to set up on a variety of pokemon. Double Dance sets are pretty good right now and even SD by itself can be pretty good. RP 3 attacks is actually a pretty nice cleaner as well.

 

[MrAldo]

While certainly defensive and scarf lando-T have fallen out of favor as stated, these 2 still have solid merits in this metagame. Mega Charizard X is a big ass threat on the rise once more and having something that can check it at least once while not being a huge momentum drainer in the form of hippowdon is certainly solid enough to consider (seeing the defensive set) and scarf makes a really solid revenge killer still with access to a pretty strong explosion on pretty offensive builds so it can provide a safe switch to a partner.

The SD, offensive SR user sets and boosting sets are certainly what makes Landorus-T much more effective at the moment. SD sets having a fantastic matchup against balanced teams cause at +2 it hits horribly hard and really difficult to stomach, with a typing and ability to provide plenty of setup opportunities. Offensive SR makes a really good offensive pivot with quite the wallbreaking potential, having nukes for earthquakes with just a soft sand. Rock Polish also has the ability to nail offense so that is also rely nice to have. Contrary to popular belief, you dont have to setup both SD and RP on the double dance set all the time!!
Sub salac swords dance and even sub bulk up (!!) are some interesting sets with lots of potential.

Cool mon, solid A+ mon forever and ever.

 

[Tressed]

Base Stats: 78 HP / 130 Atk / 111 Def / 130 SpA / 85 SpD / 100 Spe
Abilities: Tough Claws

Base Stats: 78 HP / 104 Atk / 78 Def / 159 SpA / 115 SpD / 100 Spe
Abilities: Drought

Double header week, featuring Charizard X and Y! Charizard X is well renowned for being one of the most powerful Dragon Dancers in the tier, easily being able to burn through teams at +1. It also features a destructive Swords Dance set that obliterates defensive cores if it gets the opportunity to set up. That's not all, though, as Zard X's defensive stats, typing, and movepool make it an excellent wall, capable of fitting into many defensive cores. Charizard Y is the special variant, able to bring the heat against defensive cores with Drought boosted Fire Blasts and Solarbeams. The issues these two face stem from their weakness to Stealth Rock, as well as their average speed, as this can often leave them crippled and easily revenge killed.​

 

[heritage]

I don't think you need to be too involved with OU to know how much of a monster Charizard X is. After a single free turn, pretty much all of offense falls thanks to Tough Claws boosted Dragon Claw or Flare Blitz. Setting up a Dragon Dance is not a challenge at all, as it freely sets up on Pokemon such as Raikou, Mega Manectric and SpD Talonflame thanks to its fantastic defenses and typing. However, a set that has recently come up pretty much wrecks everything, which is Swords Dance. At +2, Charizard X hits insanely hard, and if you have nothing to revenge kill it, you pretty much have to start sacking things to let it die from recoil. There are so few solid checks (and pretty much no true counters to SD) to Zard X that it's ridiculous. Even Hippowdon is straight up OHKOed by Flare Blitz. The Stealth Rock weakness does hinder its time on the field quite a bit, and in combination with Flare Blitz recoil, it gets worn down pretty quickly, especially against Pokemon with high HP stats. Luckily, it has reliable recovery in Roost, which isn't that hard to pull off thanks to its typing and defenses.

However, Charizard Y is the one I want to talk about most. Not only is it one of the most underrated Megas in all of OU, but it's an absolute monster. Thanks to Drought and its 159 Special Attack, Fire Blast hits like a truck. Pretty much nothing switches in. Latios takes a huge 50% while Latias has a chance to be 2HKOed after Rocks, AV Raikou takes nearly 75%, Mega Altaria loses 50-60%, hell it even takes a massive 30%+ off of Chansey's health. Bulky Water-types such as Azumarill and Rotom-W can't switch in either thanks to Solarbeam, although Fire Blast shaves half of their health bars off. On offense, if it gets a free switch in, you pretty much play the sack game, something will die before you can take it down. It's actually pretty bulky on the special side as well, being able to chew up a Latios's Draco Meteor from and even a Keldeo's Specs Hydro Pump from full health and without Rocks up. However, a huge problem with Zard Y is its weakness to Stealth Rock. It's a lot more prevalent on this form simply because, upon Mega Evolution, it still keeps its Fire / Flying typing. (By the way, don't ever use Air Slash. It has extremely redundant coverage and Fire Blast hits the majority of its targets much harder.)

A really fun aspect that applies to both Charizard forms is the mystery you see upon looking at team preview. It's crazy difficult to predict which Zard the opponent is going to have. People are even starting to build their teams around the opposite Zard just to fool the opponent. Overall, both forms are Pokemon that every team is going to have to prepare for since both are extremely threatening to all types of playstyles.

Some Zard Y calcs...

252 SpA Mega Charizard Y Fire Blast vs. 72 HP / 0 SpD Latias in Sun: 126-148 (39.4 - 46.3%) -- 30.5% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252 SpA Mega Charizard Y Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-W in Sun: 148-175 (48.8 - 57.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

252 SpA Mega Charizard Y Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Chansey in Sun: 202-238 (28.6 - 33.8%) -- 99.2% chance to 3HKO after Stealth Rock

252 SpA Mega Charizard Y Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 112 SpD Hippowdon: 237-280 (56.4 - 66.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery (This is not in Sun)

252 SpA Mega Charizard Y Fire Blast vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Altaria in Sun: 150-177 (51.3 - 60.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252 SpA Mega Charizard Y Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Talonflame in Sun: 143-168 (39.8 - 46.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

SD Zard X calcs o,o

+2 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 144+ Def Hippowdon: 400-472 (95.2 - 112.3%) -- 75% chance to OHKO

+2 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Flare Blitz vs. 212 HP / 252 Def Rhyperior: 189-222 (44.5 - 52.3%) -- 21.5% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

+2 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 104+ Def Mega Altaria: 218-257 (61.5 - 72.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

+1 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 240+ Def Landorus-T: 336-396 (87.9 - 103.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

 

[Tressed]

Base Stats: 100 HP / 100 Atk / 100 Def / 100 SpA / 100 SpD / 100 Spe
Abilities: Serene Grace
are you happy now baconbagon?
Jirachi is extremely versatile, being able to run all sorts of sets thanks to it's wide movepool, solid typing, and balanced stats. Defensively, Jirachi's Steel / Psychic typing makes it one of the best switch ins to Mega Gardevoir, Mega Alakazam, Latios, and Latias. It can then pass Wishes, set up Stealth Rock, cripple opponents with Thunder Wave, or annoy the opposing team with Serene Grace Iron Heads. Speaking of Iron Head, it's enough to allow Jirachi to run a viable Choice Scarf set, allowing it to outspeed and flinch opposing teams to death. It also has U-Turn, Healing Wish, Trick, and all the elemental punches, so it's pretty flexible. Lastly, Jirachi's decent mixed offenses and wide movepool allows it to lure in and hurt a wide variety of bulky Waters and Grounds that would otherwise wall it. Jirachi's issues generally stem from the popularity of bulky Grounds and Waters, such as Rocky Helmet Garchomp, Hippowdon, and Slowbro, as well as offensive threats such as Manaphy, Landorus-T, and Excadrill. Its weakness to Bisharp and Weavile is also problematic.​

 

[baconbagon]

hey what happened to all the secret subliminal messages