RU Stats: February 2013

[Mack the Knife]

| 81 | Altaria | 1.19090% | 738 | 1.404% | 579 | 1.350% |
That's probably my old crappy altaria right there that i had used almost all of last month. Guess some more people took my idea, or somethng.
| 101 | Tauros | 0.67479% | 373 | 0.710% | 273 | 0.636% |
This is depressing. It deserves to be in the 50's at least.

[Magcargo 2]

| 1 | Slowking | 19.86340% | 9416 | 17.913% | 7505 | 17.495% |
So the new king of RU (no pun intended) is slowking. He is one of the best pokes around and I think everybody will agree with me.

| 58 | Klinklang | 3.42861% | 1872 | 3.561% | 1510 | 3.520% |
| 60 | Rhydon | 3.35435% | 1936 | 3.683% | 1641 | 3.825% |

These two are really good and deserve more usage than ferroseed and Whimsicott.

| 34 | Whimsicott | 7.30793% | 4132 | 7.861% | 3465 | 8.077% |
| 42 | Electivire | 6.19031% | 3706 | 7.050% | 2959 | 6.898% |

Electivire isn't that bad, but deserves to be around 45. Whimsicott is not that good and deserves to be with electivire in the 45s.

[TropiOUs]

Originally Posted by Fat Magcargo 2

| 34 | Whimsicott | 7.30793% | 4132 | 7.861% | 3465 | 8.077% |
Whimsicott is a failure and deservs to be around the 50's. It can't wall anything and has to rely on prankster to be useful. Use sceptile or tangrowth.

If anyone is using whimsicott to wall shit, they are using the wrong mon. And a mon with a fuckton of support moves that can help some teams in a way or another needing to rely on prankster is bad? Good to know. Also, Sceptile or Tangrowth don't have the same roles as Whimsi.

Whimsicott is actually a decent mon, problem is that everyone uses that godawful subseed set, which is the source of Whimsi's poor reputation. The set on its current RU analysis with some speed creep( ok, don't do this unless you really hate positive base 80s that are dangerous as hell if they set up like Gallade) is unique in what it does and what everyone should try at least once before calling Whimsicott bad.

[Swamp-Rocket]

Originally Posted by Fat TropiOUs

Whimsicott is actually a decent mon, problem is that everyone uses that godawful subseed set, which is the source of Whimsi's poor reputation. The set on its current RU analysis with some speed creep( ok, don't do this unless you really hate positive base 80s that are dangerous as hell if they set up like Gallade) is unique in what it does and what everyone should try at least once before calling Whimsicott bad.

SubSeed is awful, but that thing isn't seen as much as it is talked about. Whimsicott imo is sorta unique but sorta dissapointing to me. It's not very bulky nor powerful, and there are plenty of Pokemon that can do something Whimsicott is doing a bit better, though Whimsicott does have all of them at once and is a decent weather starter (to be fair weather is fairly rare anyway)

In a tier where everything hits so hard Whimsicott should at best be struggling to stay in RU in my opinion, since its unique perks with Prankster are OK but not that great in all honesty (I've never used SubSeed). It can serve as a temporary check/disruption to literally almost everything, but that's about it really, since it can't take anything down... I really just don't like Whimsicott.

[RabidChipmunk]

I love looking at potential tier drops, since I've always been of the opinion that Pokemon in danger of dropping should just be allowed to drop into a metagame more friendly too them. So let's see our latest potential drops to NU...

| 55 | Mesprit | 3.99523% | 2043 | 3.887% | 1712 | 3.991% |

Okay, maybe Mesprit will have a potential niche? I really don't see what he'll have over Musharna or Gardevoir though. I guess he could be like the NU equivalent of Mew, but NU is good for Psychic-types for now, so I'm not sure what Mesprit brings to the table that will give him an edge.

| 56 | Hariyama | 3.85850% | 2302 | 4.379% | 1987 | 4.632% |
| 57 | Primeape | 3.48148% | 1908 | 3.630% | 1584 | 3.692% |

Again, I'm not really feeling a niche for these two. Primeape will have to compete heavily with Sawk, and Hariyama could be cool as a massively-bulky fighting type, but he may have to challenge Throh and Gurdurr for that role. Either way, I see them having a potential future.

| 58 | Klinklang | 3.42861% | 1872 | 3.561% | 1510 | 3.520% |

Eh, I suppose he could be all right. I don't really know much about Klinklang, but I do know that +1 Wild Charge is a 4HKO on Alomomola, so he's not bad but he won't set NU's world on fire.

| 59 | Mandibuzz | 3.36189% | 1755 | 3.339% | 1407 | 3.280% |

Now this is what I'm excited for. NU is a tier where Psychic-types are king (well, apart from Sawk and Braviary and Ludicolo and, well, whatever, you get my drift) so a defensive Dark-type would certainly be welcome in the tier. The ability to Whirlwind out Psychic types and Roost off any damage, plus having access to Foul Play so she can pose an offensive threat without having to deal with Brave Bird recoil or her own pitiful attack stat, means I think Mandibuzz will fit quite well into NU.

| 60 | Rhydon | 3.35435% | 1936 | 3.683% | 1641 | 3.825% |

So now teams are going have to decide on whether or not to carry Rhydon or Golem? It's like RBY all over again. But Rhydon certainly won't be unwelcome in NU -- he's another freaking Stealth Rocker (because NU is hurt for those, not really), but he also packs a big punch behind his attacks, so he could even go for things like Choice Banded sets or maybe even a Rock Polish set that I doubt will be very good. His lack of sturdy will certainly be a point against him, but then again...

252 Atk Choice Band Sawk (+Atk) Close Combat vs 252 HP/252 Def Eviolite Rhydon (+Def) : 64.49% - 76.09% (2 hits to KO)

...the most common anti-lead in the tier still can't one-shot him. So who knows?

| 63 | Scolipede | 3.05652% | 1742 | 3.314% | 1484 | 3.459% |

This is the other potential drop-down I'm really excited for. Again, Scoilipede will be an excellent check to the tiers Psychic-types, either scaring them out with the threat of an impending Megahorn and Pursuit-ing them, or just Megahorn-ing anyway because fuck, it'll still hurt. I guess he'll face competition with Skuntank, but I hate Skuntank for extremely petty reasons, so there won't be any competition from me.

[MicfiJasan]

Well, it's been sort of hard because Antar took what I usually do (just look here if you want to see that), but I think I've found something else to talk about: changes in weighting.

By my count, here are the 5 Pokemon whose relative weight improved the most
1. Whimsicott
2. Mandibuzz
3. Manectric
4. Rotom-Mow
5. Qwilfish

Thoughts/Ramblings

---

• Even though Whimsi improved the most by my count, he's still below average. He's just slightly less awful.
• Mandibuzz, however, went from being used poorly to mediocre. He actually posted an above average weight for this month.
• Manectric is an interesting case, dropping nearly a full percent in raw usage, but the dramatic increase in his weighting buffered that to an extent. He even went from below average to above average.
• Going to the other Electric, people have seemed to recognize Rotom-Mow's potency, as unlike Manectric, the lawn mower had an increase in raw usage buffed by his increase in weight.
• Finally, there's one of the massively underused physically bulky waters. I would love for Poliwrath to have been in this trend as well, but people seem to be struggling with him.

And then here are the 5 Pokemon whose relative weight fell the most:
1. Feraligatr
2. Crawdaunt
3. Medicham
4. Rhydon
5. Primeape

Thoughts/Ramblings

---

• This was a bad month for physically offensive water types it seems. Both Crawdaunt and Feraligatr fell dramatically in both usage and relative weight. Not entirely sure how much of it is actually reflective of their viability.
• Medicham fell a decent amount, although not nearly as much as the top 2. It is now "below average", though granted not by much. It kinda seems like the right rating at this point.
• Rhydon is the one that baffles me. I've recently been hearing tons of good things about this guy, but his stats aren't backing up this supposed viability. He is now in danger of dropping, and hasn't posted an above average weight either month.
• Primeape was my pick for NU last cycle, and though I'm too scared to pick him this time, his weight did drop to a level people kind of expected. Would not surprise me at all if he was NU by X and Y.

Fortunes Rising: Slowking
He is now officially the king of the tier. While he and Nidoqueen are the top pokes in the tier together, I don't think the King's reign as #1 will be limited to one month.

Fortunes Falling: Drapion
Okay, it's pretty weird when your top two valid choices were used in the past two months, but this guy is a perfect alternative. He's been steadily falling the past couple months, and his niches as a Dark-type/Pursuit abuser are being challenged by threats like Absol and Spiritomb.

Bold Prediction of the Month: 5 Pokemon Drop to NU
Yeah, I have a feeling this is gonna be a big losing month for RU. Due to our unusual circumstances last month in gaining 5 Pokemon from NU, we are due to give a bunch back. They are: Munchlax, Scolipede, Mandibuzz, Klinklang, and Rhydon. The real interesting thing here is that my model predicts that both Hariyama and Primeape, the Fighting-types on the border right now, will stay in RU in this tier shift (no guarantees about next time though).

[Silvershadow234]

I'd be really dissapointed if Rhydon and Klinklang drop to NU. Both are excellent pokes in the current metagame-Rhydon is easily one of the best tanks in the metagame, being able to take even super-effective physical hits with ease, and hitting everything very hard with EdgeQuake coverage and Megahorn. It can also counter Entei, and subroost moltres among other things, which is incredibly useful. Even though its Ground / Rock typing may look awful(which is probably why not many people use it), it does have important resists to fire, rock, normal and flying, which are some pretty common move types in ru.

Klinklang is also really good in the metagame, and is incredibly deadly with Spikes support. Pretty much all Klinklang counters, such as steelix and lanturn if running wild charge, take damage from spikes and lack reliable recovery and therefore very easy to wear down with spikes and repeated gear grinds. Klinklang also has a great defensive typing, allowing it to counter HP Rock Lilligant, take Blizzards from glaceon and rotom-f and generally shit on hail in general and also allows it to set-up on uxie and dusknoir, among others. It is also very difficult to outright counter for offensive teams, since it is so fast and bulky on the physical side.

Glad to see that munchlax is so low, since it is such a shitty wall with no recovery and can be easily worn down with hazards and invites pretty much every single physical attacker in for free. Dusknoir is still far too high-it is basically a shitty version of misdreavus, who has actual speed and taunt and pretty much the same bulk.

[spuds4ever]

| 1 | Slowking | 19.86340% | 9416 | 17.913% | 7505 | 17.495% |
| 2 | Nidoqueen | 19.51007% | 8619 | 16.397% | 7085 | 16.516% |

Queen and king the right way round, finally. To be expected I must say, and I think it's about time slowking overtook nidoqueen, it is the better Pokemon in my view.

| 3 | Sceptile | 15.09543% | 7873 | 14.978% | 6069 | 14.148% |

Sceptile is good but I don't feel it should be this high. While it doesn't really have a single pokemon counter due to its several viable sets, which also allow it to break through a hell of a lot of defensive cores, poliselia with its SD set and TangKing with any but it does lack the ability to switch in due to that poor bulk and is pretty prediction reliant as there are a lot of checks around like entei and drudd which isn't good seeing as it can't take a hit.

| 4 | Uxie | 15.02420% | 7110 | 13.526% | 6397 | 14.912% |

Anti-Queen really, though I'm surprised it's still this high when queen isn't actually such a big threat to many offensive teams which are all the craze it seems at the moment.
| 5 | Gallade | 14.67650% | 7503 | 14.274% | 6085 | 14.185% |

Possibly the best set-up sweeper in the tier but IMO is too slow to for this offensive metagame to justify this position, maybe 5 would be ok if stall was popular, but it isn't.

| 6 | Cinccino | 13.90155% | 7404 | 14.086% | 5847 | 13.630% |

Wut?

| 7 | Entei | 13.43507% | 6609 | 12.573% | 5364 | 12.504% |

Definitely deserving of this spot. Just breaks so much stuff and has so much utility as an offensive pokemon largely thanks to its access to E-speed and good overall bulk.

| 8 | Druddigon | 13.28040% | 6203 | 11.801% | 5324 | 12.411% |

I haven't used druddigon to huge success I have to say but I've heard some pretty great stuff about it from players who know what they're talking about so I can't really comment.

| 9 | Aerodactyl | 11.75357% | 6299 | 11.983% | 5679 | 13.238% |

I love this thing. Say otherwise but this guy is awesome in RU. I'm not talking about its crappy suicide lead set, but offensive LO which, like entei, has so much offensive utility. Being able to revenge basically everything that hasn't boosted its speed is a huge plus for any offensive team and couple that with the fact that offensive teams literally can't deal with it at all bar scarfers or really strong priority like absol's sucker punch (if you can consider that dealing with it), couple that with a great selection of moves for its other two slots, roost, taunt, stealth rock, and a defensive typing making it the best offensive counter to moltres and a check to a hell of a lot of stuff, I have to say this guy is really deserving of its spot. Just stop using the lead set. Please. Now *finish monologue*

| 10 | Hitmonlee | 11.04466% | 5452 | 10.372% | 4228 | 9.856% |

Should this be here? I mean, yeah, unburdenlee is a pretty cool cleaner, but with queen and king top I can't really see it deserving of this much usage.

Other points of interest:

Originally Posted by Fat Molk

| 11 | Sandslash | 10.96390% | 5609 | 10.671% | 4731 | 11.029% |
| 15 | Kabutops | 10.41647% | 5069 | 9.643% | 3974 | 9.264% |

.-., all i have to say

| 27 | Moltres | 8.41396% | 4167 | 7.927% | 3340 | 7.786% |

Not higher? Yeah, it needs a spinner, but when you've got two great spinners in the tier and something this powerful, why is it this low?

31 | Durant | 7.88209% | 3837 | 7.300% | 2969 | 6.921% |

??? This thing is nearly broken in UU, please start learning when something is good people.

| 40 | Drapion | 6.41177% | 3696 | 7.031% | 3093 | 7.210% |

Missing his babe Cress. Should be a bit higher though IMO.

53 | Crawdaunt | 4.98578% | 3096 | 5.890% | 2330 | 5.432% |

I will fix this. Especially with slowking common as.

Edit: Can't wait for Queenless RU

[TropiOUs]

Originally Posted by Fat Swamp-Rocket

SubSeed is awful, but that thing isn't seen as much as it is talked about.

[11:44] <&TROP> !usage whimsicott moves ru
[11:44] <&TIBot> Leech Seed 84.581% | Substitute 67.037% |

You sure about that?

Now for what the fuck is this stats: Does anyone have a logical explanation for ?

[Antar*]

Which part? The Flame Body?

[Double01]

The ev spread Antar. Because PS suggests that ev spread so new people use it ;/

[Antar*]

Oh. Well, just in case people were curious, here's the 1850 data:

+----------------------------------------+ 
 | Magmortar                              | 
 +----------------------------------------+ 
 | Raw count: 4834                        | 
 | Avg. weight: 0.0620541993317           | 
 +----------------------------------------+ 
 | Abilities                              | 
 | Vital Spirit 64.710%                   | 
 | Flame Body 35.290%                     | 
 +----------------------------------------+ 
 | Items                                  | 
 | Choice Scarf 29.284%                   | 
 | Expert Belt 22.723%                    | 
 | Life Orb 16.741%                       | 
 | Leftovers 14.566%                      | 
 | Choice Specs  6.000%                   | 
 | Wide Lens  2.099%                      | 
 | Air Balloon  1.100%                    | 
 | Passho Berry  1.062%                   | 
 | White Herb  0.931%                     | 
 | Scope Lens  0.862%                     | 
 | Other  4.631%                          | 
 +----------------------------------------+ 
 | Spreads                                | 
 | Modest:4/0/0/252/0/252 15.326%         | 
 | Modest:0/0/4/252/0/252 14.934%         | 
 | Modest:24/0/0/252/0/232 14.292%        | 
 | Modest:252/0/0/252/4/0 12.137%         | 
 | Modest:0/0/0/252/4/252  8.856%         | 
 | Timid:4/0/0/252/0/252  7.950%          | 
 | Other 26.505%                          | 
 +----------------------------------------+ 
 | Moves                                  | 
 | Thunderbolt 96.448%                    | 
 | Focus Blast 80.420%                    | 
 | Fire Blast 77.836%                     | 
 | Hidden Power Grass 36.853%             | 
 | Substitute 20.707%                     | 
 | Flamethrower 17.934%                   | 
 | Hidden Power Ice 17.433%               | 
 | Psychic 12.348%                        | 
 | Overheat 11.100%                       | 
 | Flame Charge 10.826%                   | 
 | Other 18.094%                          | 
 +----------------------------------------+ 
 | Teammates                              | 
 | Scyther +15.787%                       | 
 | Absol +11.858%                         | 
 | Wartortle +9.993%                      | 
 | Ivysaur +9.745%                        | 
 | Golem +9.142%                          | 
 | Electivire +6.603%                     | 
 | Sandslash +6.085%                      | 
 | Steelix +4.874%                        | 
 | Cryogonal +4.646%                      | 
 | Primeape +4.565%                       | 
 | Miltank +3.711%                        | 
 | Klinklang +3.407%                      | 
 +----------------------------------------+ 
 | Checks and Counters                    | 
 +----------------------------------------+

The 252/0/0/252/4/0 drops down to 12%.

[Slory]

Why people use Choice Scarf Magmortar? Using Choice Scarf Magmortar is even worse than Choice Scarf Typhlosion. I am seriously wondering why people use it, maybe, because in paper sound good: 125 Base SAtk and using Scarf for improve his downfall Speed, and you get a Pokemon that can still hit hard and revenge kill dangerous threats like Sceptile or Durant, but in real life thats not happened. From the start, using a Scarfer that is weak to all forms of hazards is not great idea. This really hinders its ability to come a lot of times. Secondly, lock into fire move isnt a fantastic idea. Although Fire-type moves are one of the most dangerous, very good teams are usually prepare for this Pokemon and normally carry 2 Pokemon that can check this types, because of this, you gives a lot opportunities (the fact that you will use Fire STAB more than other to revenge kill) for Pokemon like Druddigon, Slowking, Kabutops or Rhydon to get a free switch and most of those are very dangerous Pokemon. Another point its Magmortar Speed, really Magmortar its pretty slow, any scarfer is capable of outsped it outside Emboar but can even win it in 1 vs 1. Also is very fragile to any priority, moves like Sucker Punch, Aqua Jet or ExtremeSpeed do a lot of damage on it. The most important point is that if you use Choice Scarf Magmortar youre overlooking in what it is really good: wallbreaking. Magmortar is naturally a pretty good wallbreaker, combine the fact that its inmense 125 SAtk and his pretty goods coverage moves that allow him to hit hard Water-types unlike other Fire-types, it is capable of destroy any defensive Pokemon.

If you need a Choice Scarfer and a Fire-type in the same spot, use Emboar intsead Magmortar please. Although Emboar its even slow than Magmortar has much more positive traits that made it better. Firstly, its Fighting-type allows him to avoid SR weakness, furthemore, this make much more capable to check others Pokemon like Escavalier or Durant and resist Sucker Punch from things like Absol for example. Also its second STAB its pretty useful and give it other way to hit. Moreover, the better Emboar bulk allows it to take better hits, and make much more easy check things like Glaceon, Sceptile or Durant. Finally it can still that hard as Magmortar, but in the other side of the spectrum.

Really if you want to use Magmortar use Wallbreaker set:


Magmortar @ Expert Belt / Life Orb
Trait: Vital Spirit
EVs: 24 HP / 252 SAtk / 232 Spd
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Grass

HP Ice is specially for Druddigon thats pain for FWG cores, but if you have anything for it, you can use HP Grass or even Earthquake to hit Lanturn.