Hello guys! I've been quite vocal recently on Skype about banning two things in PU: Knock Off, and Stealth Rock. Because of support from some people and the opinions I have, I would like to share my opinion on Stealth Rock in PU and why I believe it should be suspect tested, or put down to a council vote, but at least considered in terms of changing in PU. This is just a debate topic and not a demand or anything of the like, but I would like to see where everyone stands on this controversial topic and whether we can be the first tier to make a monumental decision in terms of competitive Pokemon. I would like everyone reading my post and involved in this discussion to have an open mind, because the worst thing is having your suggestions shot down for fear of change, and not legitimate arguments.
I think that Stealth Rock is an incredibly limiting move in PU that we allow simply because we are accustomed to it. It is no secret it is an overcentralising move; it is on every competitive team, even though it is never strictly necessary, because no team has a reason not to run it, and will be at a disadvantage against other teams with Stealth Rock due to their Pokemon dying faster than their opponents. The main general reason I think Stealth Rock is broken is because my personal philosophy is that skill in competitive Pokemon is split into two parts: teambuilding and preparation, and in-game play. A key part of in-game play is switching, while is my opinion the area where the best players succeed the most. Sometimes the only way to pull yourself out of a situation is to outplay your opponent, but the presence of Stealth Rock hinders intelligent switching in order to outplay your opponent. Of course, this is all blah blah general crap. What differs PU for me from other tiers, is the lack of hazard removal options. Most Pokemon in PU with hazard removing moves are weak to Stealth Rock themselves, meaning they tend to be under extreme pressure in a game and can often die prematurely. The few that aren't are either very exploitable and practically useless (Vibrava, Wartortle) or have big issues stat-wise (Tentacool, Staryu).
The real reason that I want everyone to consider in terms of banning Stealth Rock is that I think that tiering and what we should ban is for the purpose of achieving a better metagame. This is a subjective notion, because we can't define what is more fun to anyone, which is why I want to hear the opinions of PU players on whether it is more fun or not to play with or without Stealth Rock.
My reason for isolation Stealth Rock from other hazards is because with a ban on Stealth Rock, a number of actually worthwhile hazard removers become very viable in that role (Swanna, Articuno, Pelipper, for example), and a lot of them are immune to ground-based hazards. As much as this might seem like I just want to pick and choose what is viable, it is without a doubt that a number of Pokemon will become viable or more viable with the removal of Stealth Rock, leading to more diversity in teambuilding and also the ability to use more Pokemon to counter certain threats, as Pokemon like Articuno have very legitimate defensive uses without Stealth Rock present.
I just want to mention a couple of counterarguments that I don't think are valid in this debate. The first is that of Pokemon becoming broken without Stealth Rock being able to check them, for two reasons. 1) This cannot be proven to be true without proper testing, as it is a natural instinct for people to get too ban-happy before testing. Things like Rotom-F will be very good, but whether they are broken is yet to be determined. 2) We shouldn't justify not banning something based on the premise of it unstitching more broken things in the metagame, as that is not how tiering works. Another counterargument is that it becomes too difficult to break defensive teams, which I also think is untrue, because stallbreakers such as SubToxic Articuno, Simisear, and Heatmor become much better, and easier to fit on teams. Teams can still employ Spikes, Toxic Spikes, or lure methods to beat stall teams, and I personally think no team will be impossible to beat stall if it is well-built in a Stealth Rock-less metagame.
We should at least have a minitour after galbia's no Knock Off one. It is a very legitimate issue that I think would make the metagame far better; a lot of Pokemon gain from this change but no Pokemon really lose, as no Stealth Rock users are used solely for providing Stealth Rock in PU, things like Golem come close but all have definite defensive or offensive advantages. Pleas be open-minded :)
