Smogon University PO Statistics — Feburary 2012

[No Luck Involved]

While Samurott is certainly usable in OU, there are others with better stats, better movepool and better abilities out there unfortunately. Against the top defensive threats in the game Samurott misses out on certain 2HKOes and against the top offensive threats it has to use Aqua Jet which again just misses out on crucial OHKOes which means it has a really hard time at the top level. The difference isn't large at all but it is significant because it is the difference between being able to sweep and being walled or revenged every time. Sometimes the difference can be a few stat points which makes a Pokemon great or unusable in a tier.

The main difference isn't even stats though, it's just how well a Pokemon can do its job. Skarmory and Mantine being the prime example: both have identical stats but Skarmory is arguably the premier physical wall in OU while Mantine isn't used even in NU. It's because Skarmory has the tools it needs to be a wall and to support its team (such as Roost, Whirlwind, Spikes...) as well as a fantastic typing while Mantine has none of those so it's not as useful and most people find a better Pokemon that can fulfill that role, even with inferior stats.

[Antar*]

Originally Posted by Fat Snack Attack

How big is the difference between an OU Pokemon and say a UU Pokemon?

Tiers are based first on usage. OU literally means "OverUsed," whereas UU means "UnderUsed" (then you have "Rarely Used" and "Never Used").

So the only thing you can be sure of about an overused pokemon vs. an underused one is that, well, it's used more.

The tiers exist so that lesser used pokemon have a chance to be viable, the theory being that the pokemon that are used the most are the ones that are strongest. So you take the Standard (OU) metagame, remove the top 50-or-so pokemon (it's actually based on percentages, but I'll get to that in a few paragraphs), and you're left with a new metagame (UU), where weaker pokemon thrive, not having to worry about those top 50. Take the process and repeat, and you get RU and NU (I once proposed a sub-NU tier, jokingly named PU--as in pee ew, because those pokemon stink).

So in theory, the tiers basically become a way of sifting through pokemon and grouping them in terms of relative strength. This worked fairly well in Gen IV--very few NU pokemon were viable in OU--but this generation, things are a bit different.

For starters, we determine the lower tiers differently this generation than we did last generation. Last generation, all tiers were based upon usage in OU. A pokemon was OU if it was used in over 3.41% of OU battles, a pokemon was UU if it was used in between ~1% and 3.41% of OU battles, and otherwise it was NU. But when it came time to make RU in Gen V, Rising_Dusk decided to base the UU/RU cutoff not on OU usage, but on UU usage. So now, a pokemon is OU if used in at least 3.41% of OU matches, UU if used in less than 3.41% of OU matched, but more than 3.41% of UU matches, and RU or NU if used in less than 3.41% of the time in both OU and UU.

In theory, this really shouldn't have mattered, since you'd expect that pokemon that were almost good enough to make OU would be used much more in UU, but the introduction of Drought Ninetales and Drizzle Politoed has made it so that BW OU is a far, far different metagame than BW UU, much more so than Gen IV OU was dissimilar to Gen IV UU. So, consequently, a pokemon falling to NU this gen just means that it doesn't find its way onto too many teams in OU, UU or RU, not that it's bad or unusable in any of the above tiers.

A great example is Gastrodon, who rose from NU to OU in a single tier update. Gastrodon is great in the rain (read: OU metagame), but outside of it, doesn't really have much of a purpose. So once people realized how potent it was in the rain, it shot up in OU usage while staying low in UU and RU usage. And thus, while Gastrodon isn't really very threatening in UU or even RU, you can't use it in those two tiers.


The way I see it, the purpose of the tiers, as we have them now, is to give every pokemon its chance to shine. A pokemon falling down to NU doesn't mean it's not strong enough to cut it in OU, it just means it failed to make the cut a few times. It's a popularity thing, not a power thing.

Anyway, I hope that made sense. If you're curious whether X pokemon is viable in a certain metagame, you should go to its strategydex page. If it's got a tab for the OU metagame (as Carracosta and Quagsire do, but Samurott does not), it probably means it's usable in OU.

[Snack Attack]

Thanks for the help.

[lapras6666]

oh wow, scrafty is going to be moved down to UU, that thing could be a beast

[Ithilanor]

Originally Posted by Fat lapras6666

oh wow, scrafty is going to be moved down to UU, that thing could be a beast

Well, it could be. The tiers change at the end of March; the post about tier changes was what would happen if the tiers were adjusted using only February's stats.

[Santuga]

I have been waiting for people to recognize Kingdra's true power, but I never expected it to be so used in 1337, my god 40%. Also like to notice that is kind of easy to build a team around it. Around 250 people did not need kingdra to win, which is almost 30% of the time. Is it possible to have a list of the percentage of each set in a certain Pokemon?

[Antar*]

Originally Posted by Fat Santuga

Is it possible to have a list of the percentage of each set in a certain Pokemon?

http://po.smogon.com/2012-02/Movesets

Edit: For your convenience...

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + 
 | Kingdra                                                                       | 
 + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + 
 | Ability | 90.0 | Swift Swim                                                   | 
 | Ability |  9.6 | Sniper                                                       | 
 | Ability |  0.3 | Damp                                                         | 
 + ------- + ---- + ------------------------------------------------------------ + 
 | Item    | 27.2 | Life Orb                                                     | 
 | Item    | 24.8 | Chesto Berry                                                 | 
 | Item    | 16.9 | Lum Berry                                                    | 
 | Item    | 12.9 | Leftovers                                                    | 
 | Item    |  8.3 | Choice Specs                                                 | 
 | Item    |  9.7 | Other                                                        | 
 + ------- + ---- + ------------------------------------------------------------ + 
 | Move    | 61.1 | Waterfall                                                    | 
 | Move    | 57.5 | Outrage                                                      | 
 | Move    | 53.9 | Dragon Dance                                                 | 
 | Move    | 36.3 | Draco Meteor                                                 | 
 | Move    | 31.1 | Hydro Pump                                                   | 
 | Move    | 29.0 | Rain Dance                                                   | 
 | Move    | 26.6 | Rest                                                         | 
 | Move    | 25.1 | Dragon Pulse                                                 | 
 | Move    | 16.7 | Surf                                                         | 
 | Move    | 15.8 | Hidden Power                                                 | 
 | Move    | 12.7 | Ice Beam                                                     | 
 | Move    |  9.1 | Substitute                                                   | 
 | Move    |  8.6 | Signal Beam                                                  | 
 | Move    |  2.5 | Blizzard                                                     | 
 | Move    |  2.4 | Scald                                                        | 
 | Move    | 11.6 | Other                                                        | 
 + ------- + ---- + ------------------------------------------------------------ + 
 | Nature  | 37.9 | Adamant                                                      | 
 | Nature  | 28.2 | Modest                                                       | 
 | Nature  |  9.7 | Naughty                                                      | 
 | Nature  |  5.7 | Mild                                                         | 
 | Nature  |  5.1 | Hardy                                                        | 
 | Nature  |  3.5 | Rash                                                         | 
 | Nature  |  3.1 | Timid                                                        | 
 | Nature  |  2.3 | Jolly                                                        | 
 | Nature  |  4.6 | Other                                                        | 
 + ------- + ---- + ------------------------------------------------------------ + 
 | EVs     | 16.5 | 252 SpA / 252 Spe                                            | 
 | EVs     | 14.2 | 252 Atk / 252 Spe                                            | 
 | EVs     |  9.4 | ~156 HP / ~128 Atk / ~44 SpD / ~184 Spe                      | 
 | EVs     |  6.1 | 252 Atk / ~44 SpA / ~212 Spe                                 | 
 | EVs     |  4.5 | ~184 HP / ~156 Atk / ~156 Spe                                | 
 | EVs     |  3.6 | ~100 HP / 252 SpA / ~156 Spe                                 | 
 | EVs     |  3.1 | ~156 HP / ~156 Atk / ~44 SpD / ~156 Spe                      | 
 | EVs     |  2.9 | ~100 Atk / 252 SpA / ~156 Spe                                | 
 | EVs     |  2.9 | ~44 HP / 252 SpA / ~212 Spe                                  | 
 | EVs     |  2.6 | 252 HP / 252 SpA                                             | 
 | EVs     |  2.2 | 252 Atk / ~100 SpA / ~156 Spe                                | 
 | EVs     | 31.9 | Other                                                        | 
 + ------- + ---- + -------------------- + ------------------------------------- + 
 | Kingdra @ Chesto Berry                | Kingdra @ Lum Berry                   | 
 | Swift Swim                            | Swift Swim                            | 
 | 152 HP / 140 Atk / 40 SpD / 176 Spe   | 252 Atk / 40 SpA / 216 Spe            | 
 | Adamant                               | Naughty                               | 
 | - Waterfall                           | - Waterfall                           | 
 | - Rest                                | - Outrage                             | 
 | - Outrage                             | - Dragon Dance                        | 
 | - Dragon Dance                        | - Draco Meteor                        | 
 + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +

[Taylor]

ScarfTar should take over Chople Berry by next month. It deserves second most used item because it can be built around; kind of like CSPolitoed.

Both Landorus and Terrakion use Choice Scarf the most, so it shows sometimes we have to rely on Dragonite and Scizor (common theme) to check those two running rampant in sand. I mean you can mix those four Pokemon with something like Gengar and Deoxys-D and you've got a solid team right there.

[Santuga]

Thank you very much Antar for thos estats. I expect to see a raise of Specs Kingdra, that thing hits like a truck. If you pack a Pokemon with Rain Dance for Kingdra, damn Modest Specs Hydro Pump!

[ace combat]

If you immediately forfeit a battle and no pokemon is sent out does that count as part of the pokemon usage. I know that they took out battles that were less than six turns before, but do they still do that now?

[Antar*]

Originally Posted by Fat ace combat

If you immediately forfeit a battle and no pokemon is sent out does that count as part of the pokemon usage.

No.

I know that they took out battles that were less than six turns before, but do they still do that now?

Yes, I still do that now.

[PK Gaming]

Woah, woah, woah hold the phone. Donphan #28? Seriously? (stifles a snicker)

Hahaha... I honestly say I won't miss him, since his presence in UU seriously hampered one of my favorite Pokemon.

[Antar*]

Originally Posted by Fat Straw Hat Luffy

Woah, woah, woah hold the phone. Donphan #28? Seriously? (stifles a snicker)

Hahaha... I honestly say I won't miss him, since his presence in UU seriously hampered one of my favorite Pokemon.

Donphan's *been* OU since January, actually...

[alexwolf]

BTW Antar, the moveset statistics links for OU and 1337 OU, are not working.

[Antar*]

Originally Posted by Fat alexwolf

BTW Antar, the moveset statistics links for OU and 1337 OU, are not working.

Yeah, I know. po.smogon.com pointed to the old server.

[alexwolf]

Originally Posted by Fat Antar

Yeah, I know. po.smogon.com pointed to the old server.

So how can we see these statistics?

[Antar*]

The links in the OP have been fixed. Full stats are once again available.