Official Smogon University Simulator Statistics — July 2012 - Page 4

SJCrew · Aug 2nd, 2012, 3:16:44 AM

Politoed at #1 made me groan audibly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Machi

Yes but that is a proposal it never actually went to fruition of being voted on so as I said earlier he is currently BL unless the council somehow decides on re-testing him should he be in UU range, but given the competing priorities of what needs to be tested I wouldn't really expect it too soon. Lets face it the metagame is starting to stabilize in UU and so people are now starting to propose things so I don't know where you're coming from with this being a certainty when really that talk of retesting was from one of the previous iterations of the council not the current or the upcoming one.

We're straight up allowing him once he drops out of OU. His synergy with Sand teams was the entire reason he was banned.

RainbowCrash · Aug 2nd, 2012, 5:23:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Antar

Why would Cinccino leave NU? Skill Link isn't really much better than Technician.

It will leave nu id say skill link is very good on it with that STAB tail slap.I know its a normal move and they are at best meh.I don't think it'll get as high as ou because it cant really hit steels very hard.But i think ru for sure and maybe a brief time in uu

pwnage77 · Aug 2nd, 2012, 6:20:11 AM

just going back to the Thundurus-T / Tornadus-T topic..

anyway since these two are rising in usage (and in popularity), i'm pretty sure that people will use Jirachi and Gastrodon together. Seeing that Jirachi resists Hurricane and Gastrodon is immune to Thunder. Also, if either sweepers carry Grass Knot, Jirachi could simply switch in.

Outrageous · Aug 2nd, 2012, 7:11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Himanattsu

Can't wait until Cinncino gets out of NU--then, I might start playing it more.

Golurk, kind of like Victreebel and Bibarel, seems like the NU mon that can do well in any tier. It has plenty of counters / checks in NU, and it still fills a niche in OU.

Absol's fine in NU. He isn't absurdly powerful, it does have some counters / checks in Golem, Alomomola, Probopass, etc.

ScarfGard is really good--it can outspeed and take down most of the top 20 with the respective move.

I can agree with you on Cinccino, but BIBAREL?! What good is that lame thing? Explain that. Bibarel is slow, frail, and weak. Please explain how that thing could be viable in any tier.

DerpGadget · Aug 2nd, 2012, 7:37:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat G-Von

I run a phazing set of Whirlwind/Knock Off/Toxic/Roost because his attacking stats are really low. I also run a Specially Defensive Buzz to tank Thunder(bolt) and Ice Beam users. If you need a physical wall than max defense could work too.

Now Mandibuzz can run an offensive move too, because it gets Foul Play from move tutors in B/W2.

~~superbadd~~ · Aug 2nd, 2012, 7:37:57 AM

Dugtrio is relatively useless in uu. The only reason it's ou is because of weather, it's one of those pokemon that's only ou because it has a niche but would be useless/non threatening in other tiers. See: forretress, gastrodon, magnezone, and jolteon. It's way too under powered and every physical and most special walls beat it. The only thing it could trap is roserade or victini, but both are pretty risky to switch in to. As for bisharp, steelix and poliwrath are hard counter, it can either do some serious damage or phase it out. On top of that tangrowth, qwilfish, and quagsire can check it. I don't think it will be broken in ru anymore than scafty is in uu.

**PK Gaming** · Aug 2nd, 2012, 10:19:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Antar

Why would Cinccino leave NU? Skill Link isn't really much better than Technician.

Skill Link is actually notably better than Technician. It's actually surprisingly difficult to wall, since it can destroy common physical tanks like Swampert, Rhyperior and other Bulky waters with Bullet Seed. Tail Slap destroys non resists, and Rock Slide can actually somewhat check SubZapdos haha. It's still checked by Steel & Ghost types, but all things considered it's strong Pokemon, even by UU standards. Of course, only a few good players are actively using Cinccino (with the rest neglecting or worse, opting to use Ambipom instead)

G-Von · Aug 2nd, 2012, 10:53:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat SJCrew

Politoed at #1 made me groan audibly.

We're straight up allowing him once he drops out of OU. His synergy with Sand teams was the entire reason he was banned.

So basically, if Hippowdon drops in usage enough to be out of OU, it will become UU but cannot use Sand Stream as an ability, correct?

/B/utterfree · Aug 2nd, 2012, 11:05:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat G-Von

So basically, if Hippowdon drops in usage enough to be out of OU, it will become UU but cannot use Sand Stream as an ability, correct?

In essence. I don't see why anyone would use Hippowdon without Sand Stream, though. It's a remarkably good tank, but to use Sand Force it would force itself to run Sandstorm as a move. Sandstorm and Slack Off limit Hippowdon's capabilities with coverage moves. It runs Earthquake or otherwise thoroughly lacks good STAB, and then it must toss a coin between Stone Edge or Ice Fang thereafter.

**Taylor** · Aug 2nd, 2012, 11:11:16 AM

People relying on Gastrodon to counter Thundurus-t have not used/opposed Expert Belt varients with Grass Knot. Thunder is absurdly powerful in rain when factoring in STAB, so I sometimes forgoe Focus Blast for Grass Knot, ensuring I hit Tyranitar as accurate and as hard as possible.

After Nasty Plot, you're throwing Heatran out of the picture with +2 Thunder unless they still continue to invest in so much Special Defense? This on its own is one of the many reasons Swords Dance Scizor, Jolly nature w/ Life Orb is one of the most fascinating late-game sweepers with the right support (SR + sand).

Ferrothorn becomes more of an issue but it works both ways in a sense that neither Pokemon can hit one another neutrally.

As mentioned, Politoed retaining its top spot is a testiment to the direction BW2 is going. Be aware!

Cinccino · Aug 2nd, 2012, 11:28:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat /B/utterfree

In essence. I don't see why anyone would use Hippowdon without Sand Stream, though. It's a remarkably good tank, but to use Sand Force it would force itself to run Sandstorm as a move. Sandstorm and Slack Off limit Hippowdon's capabilities with coverage moves. It runs Earthquake or otherwise thoroughly lacks good STAB, and then it must toss a coin between Stone Edge or Ice Fang thereafter.

You are never forced to carry Sandstorm on Sand Force Hippo. It better goes with Curse or Band set. If you want to make a full use of Sand Force so bad, I think you can use another Sandstorm user with Smooth Rock.

Machina · Aug 2nd, 2012, 11:32:48 AM

I'm frankly a bit surprised to see Scizor still so high. It doesn't seem like it can do so well in this rain based metagame with powerful water-type moves flying around.

~~superbadd~~ · Aug 2nd, 2012, 11:39:55 AM

Actually scizor takes advantage of rain because it deludes its fire weakness. It's better in a politoad metagame than a tyranitar one.

Machina · Aug 2nd, 2012, 11:47:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat superbadd

Actually scizor takes advantage of rain because it deludes its fire weakness. It's better in a politoad metagame than a tyranitar one.

Wouldn't Scizor have benefited more from the residual sand damage? While I do understand that it gets its fire weakness decreased, it is also met with powerful new threats and water-type attacks. Wouldn't that also be problematic for it?

Zentrius · Aug 2nd, 2012, 11:52:43 AM

I think scizor it's pretty regular on both weathers, I actually think Scizor on a Sand Team works better, but his best counters (Skarmory, Gliscor, Heatran (SD, unless the scizor has shit like lolbrickbreak)) don't get the residual damage.

I still don't get why Xatu is that low. He is by far the best dual screener of the two Magic Bouncers IMO, but oh well, seems like Espeon has more offensive presence even thought it's frail as fuck on the physicall side.

Rackham · Aug 2nd, 2012, 12:08:38 PM

Something I found mildly interesting...

Last year's stats (Aug 2011) for comparison:

Bold are now in the top 10, underlined have moved 10 or more places.

August 2011

+ ---- + --------------- + ------ + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Usage | Percent |
+ ---- + --------------- + ------ + ------- +

| 1 | Tyranitar (9) | 95686 |20.1905% |
| 2 | Rotom-W (12) | 84284 |17.78459%|

| 3 | Scizor (2) | 81761 |17.25221%|

| 4 | Gliscor (8) | 81449 |17.18638%|

| 5 | Ferrothorn (3) | 80902 |17.07096%|

| 6 | Politoed (1) | 75124 |15.85175%|

| 7 | Dragonite (4) | 71521 |15.09149%|

| 8 | Heatran (5) | 64319 |13.57181%|

| 9 | Jirachi (6) | 60943 |12.85945%|
| 10 | Latios (16) | 58072 |12.25365%|

| 11 | Skarmory (21) | 51586 |10.88505%|
| 12 | Excadrill lol | 49093 |10.35901%|
| 13 | Thundurus lol | 42488 |8.9653% |

| 14 | Reuniclus (43) | 36344 |7.66887% |

| 15 | Haxorus (26) | 35503 |7.49141% |

| 16 | Jellicent (29) | 34192 |7.21478% |

| 17 | Conkeldurr (40)| 34130 |7.2017% |
| 18 | Gengar (19) | 34040 |7.18271% |

| 19 | Celebi (41)| 33407 |7.04914% |
| 20 | Infernape (24) | 32714 |6.90291% |

| 21 | Starmie (11) | 32701 |6.90017% |
| 22 | Ninetales (22)| 32008 |6.75394% |
| 23 | Forretress (15) | 31519 |6.65076% |
| 24 | Gyarados (25)| 31012 |6.54378% |
| 25 | Deoxys-S lol | 30247 |6.38235% |
| 26 | Magnezone (32) | 29488 |6.2222% |

| 27 | Landorus (47) | 28417 |5.99621% |
| 28 | Volcarona (23) | 28245 |5.95992% |

| 29 | Terrakion (18) | 27355 |5.77212% |
| 30 | Blissey (36)| 26982 |5.69341% |
| 31 | Salamence (14) | 26015 |5.48937% |
| 32 | Latias (45) | 25748 |5.43303% |
| 33 | Gastrodon (46) | 24750 |5.22244% |
| 34 | Espeon (31) | 24039 |5.07242% |
| 35 | Tentacruel (20) | 23934 |5.05026% |
| 36 | Toxicroak (48) | 22186 |4.68142% |
| 37 | Vaporeon (38) | 22044 |4.65146% |
| 38 | Bronzong (63) | 21951 |4.63183% |
| 39 | Hydreigon (33) | 21562 |4.54975% |
| 40 | Breloom (7) | 21085 |4.4491% |
| 41 | Scrafty (60) | 20959 |4.42251% |
| 42 | Mamoswine (17) | 17639 |3.72197% |
| 43 | Lucario (34) | 17498 |3.69222% |
| 44 | Virizion (61) | 16658 |3.51497% |
| 45 | Metagross (44) | 15163 |3.19951% |

Yeah, I probably should have formatted it better/differently.

Interestingly, the top 10 is relatively unchanged, whilst there is lots of movement elsewhere.

***Antar**** · Aug 2nd, 2012, 12:48:23 PM

I've tallied up the last few battles, so the stats posted now are official (assuming no typos in my scripts--lemme know if anything looks wonky, especially regarding formes).

Furthermore, I've gone ahead and posted lead usage stats and a breakdown of how many battles were held on PO vs. PS.

Enjoy!

Zentrius · Aug 2nd, 2012, 12:56:19 PM

1 | Politoed | 23744 | 9.722% |
| 2 | Tyranitar | 10633 | 4.354% |
| 3 | Ninetales | 8779 | 3.595% |

Damn, a 5% difference. I definitely am not looking forward this new metagame.

And it seems like Mienshao and Nidoqueen are taking over their new tier.

SJCrew · Aug 2nd, 2012, 3:40:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat /B/utterfree

In essence. I don't see why anyone would use Hippowdon without Sand Stream, though. It's a remarkably good tank, but to use Sand Force it would force itself to run Sandstorm as a move. Sandstorm and Slack Off limit Hippowdon's capabilities with coverage moves. It runs Earthquake or otherwise thoroughly lacks good STAB, and then it must toss a coin between Stone Edge or Ice Fang thereafter.

You don't have to use Sandstorm. All he really needs to do is wall. Sand Force is just a non-competitive ability in the lower tiers.

Machina · Aug 2nd, 2012, 8:18:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Rackham

Something I found mildly interesting...

Last year's stats (Aug 2011) for comparison:

Bold are now in the top 10, underlined have moved 10 or more places.

August 2011

+ ---- + --------------- + ------ + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Usage | Percent |
+ ---- + --------------- + ------ + ------- +

| 1 | Tyranitar (9) | 95686 |20.1905% |
| 2 | Rotom-W (12) | 84284 |17.78459%|

| 3 | Scizor (2) | 81761 |17.25221%|

| 4 | Gliscor (8) | 81449 |17.18638%|

| 5 | Ferrothorn (3) | 80902 |17.07096%|

| 6 | Politoed (1) | 75124 |15.85175%|

| 7 | Dragonite (4) | 71521 |15.09149%|

| 8 | Heatran (5) | 64319 |13.57181%|

| 9 | Jirachi (6) | 60943 |12.85945%|
| 10 | Latios (16) | 58072 |12.25365%|

| 11 | Skarmory (21) | 51586 |10.88505%|
| 12 | Excadrill lol | 49093 |10.35901%|
| 13 | Thundurus lol | 42488 |8.9653% |

| 14 | Reuniclus (43) | 36344 |7.66887% |

| 15 | Haxorus (26) | 35503 |7.49141% |

| 16 | Jellicent (29) | 34192 |7.21478% |

| 17 | Conkeldurr (40)| 34130 |7.2017% |
| 18 | Gengar (19) | 34040 |7.18271% |

| 19 | Celebi (41)| 33407 |7.04914% |
| 20 | Infernape (24) | 32714 |6.90291% |

| 21 | Starmie (11) | 32701 |6.90017% |
| 22 | Ninetales (22)| 32008 |6.75394% |
| 23 | Forretress (15) | 31519 |6.65076% |
| 24 | Gyarados (25)| 31012 |6.54378% |
| 25 | Deoxys-S lol | 30247 |6.38235% |
| 26 | Magnezone (32) | 29488 |6.2222% |

| 27 | Landorus (47) | 28417 |5.99621% |
| 28 | Volcarona (23) | 28245 |5.95992% |

| 29 | Terrakion (18) | 27355 |5.77212% |
| 30 | Blissey (36)| 26982 |5.69341% |
| 31 | Salamence (14) | 26015 |5.48937% |
| 32 | Latias (45) | 25748 |5.43303% |
| 33 | Gastrodon (46) | 24750 |5.22244% |
| 34 | Espeon (31) | 24039 |5.07242% |
| 35 | Tentacruel (20) | 23934 |5.05026% |
| 36 | Toxicroak (48) | 22186 |4.68142% |
| 37 | Vaporeon (38) | 22044 |4.65146% |
| 38 | Bronzong (63) | 21951 |4.63183% |
| 39 | Hydreigon (33) | 21562 |4.54975% |
| 40 | Breloom (7) | 21085 |4.4491% |
| 41 | Scrafty (60) | 20959 |4.42251% |
| 42 | Mamoswine (17) | 17639 |3.72197% |
| 43 | Lucario (34) | 17498 |3.69222% |
| 44 | Virizion (61) | 16658 |3.51497% |
| 45 | Metagross (44) | 15163 |3.19951% |

Yeah, I probably should have formatted it better/differently.

Interestingly, the top 10 is relatively unchanged, whilst there is lots of movement elsewhere.

So many things have either vanished or just shot up, it's interesting just looking at how the Metagame evolves. Has the overall playstyle changed much during the past year though?

ForeverPerfectXI · Aug 2nd, 2012, 11:36:50 PM

WOO! Hackmons had almost 1500 battles and did a little better than Balanced Hackmons. It could reasonably get even more matches next month. It's a fun game even if it's not "legit".

I'm shocked that Giratina is so low. He's quite possibly the best pokemon in the tier. If the number of matches in the tier increases by any significant amount next month and game starts to really develop I'll bet Spiritomb drops down a bunch of places. He just isn't near as good as he seems at first glance.

Basically no one is playing Dream World Ubers or Glitchmons.

Jimera0 · Aug 2nd, 2012, 11:42:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Antar

I've been debating replacing Tangela on an RU team of mine with Amoonguss, and really, Amoonguss has precious few things going for it, namely 100% accurate Spore and poison STAB for going against other grass-types. Fighting resist is nice, too, and psychic is a pretty rare type in anything above NU.

In Tangela's favor are greater bulk (even without Eviolite), Leech Seed (pretty sure Amoonguss doesn't get it), better SpA and MUCH better speed.

So basically, I think Amoonguss is going to drop pretty quickly once people realize how much the Tangs still outclass.

Seconding like everyone else who objected to this; as a user of both Amoongus AND the Tangs, I have to say you're terribly wrong. Physically, yeah, they do outclass Amoongus. But it's the SPECIAL side that matters, since Amoongus is currently only one of two specially defensive Regenerator Pokemon, and the other one (Slowking) is weak to Volt-Switch and U-turn and has more weaknesses overall to special attacks. Amoongus is amazing as a special wall as long as you got something you can switch it with reliably (I use Slowbro for obvious reasons). Don't underestimate the Pokeball Shroom!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat LucaroarkZ

Well, Amoonguss is likely to rise to OU over the next couple of months. Can't say I didn't see that one coming.

Although I don't see Vaporeon much in battles I'm in, I'm not actually surprised it's still in OU range. In battles I spectate, I actually see quite a few Hydration + Rest Vaporeons.

Surprised that Mamoswine's not higher than it is; It can check D-nite and Salamence, as well as the Therians. #17 is still pretty high though. Good to see Salamence getting more love.

Also

Code:

 | 59   | Slowbro            | 9312   |  2.784% | 5528   |  2.764% |

Come on Slowbro, you can get into OU. You can do it!

GO SLOWBRO AND VAPOREON! Even before I started using Slowbro I felt it deserved OU, and that Vaporeon set everyone is using? :D I wrote that and I am so happy that it's finally getting the respect it deserves. Seriously, there's almost nothing that can take it down without super-effective STAB attacks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat /B/utterfree

| 15 | Forretress | 37479 | 11.205% | 22841 | 11.419% |

When people say this Pokemon is useless, I maniacally laugh and point out its key niches and capabilities against a lot of the metagame, something it somewhat shares with Ferrothorn now. Key difference? Forretress doesn't have an additonal Fighting-type weakness, and also can use Toxic Spikes.

You must be referring to me >:D. I used Forretress extensively in the past (I mean like on every second team I made) and was consitently underwhelmed by it. It's a jack of all trades, master of none, which is why it sucks so hard is because while it can do a jillion different things in theory in practice it does almost none of them well. It can't rapid spin worth a damn since it's beaten by every spin blocker ever, and ferrothorn sets up hazards better AND walls much better since it has semi-reliable recovery in Leech Seed. Toxic spikes you say? Toxic spikes are nearly useless in OU against most teams, since half the tier is Flying type, Steel Type, Levitates or is poison type, or just flat out doesn't give a shit about toxic. And other Pokemon set them up better as well, and if you need a rapid spinner and Toxic Spikes layer, Tentacruel is much better at it. Finally, it seems great defensively until you actually try doing anything with it, since it has no method of healing at all outside of leftovers. Because of that it can't really "wall" anything, just stall them for a turn before getting destroyed. It can check some dragons and stuff I suppose... for one turn, and you need the proper coverage move to actually do it, meaning you can't do the other roles you'd have it for.

Basically, it can do a lot of shit but is outclassed in all categories. It can't effectively do more than one thing at once due to 4MSS either, so that's out. In short, Forretress is the most overrated piece of crap to ever set foot in BW/BW2 OU.

----------------

Anyway, as for my view on the stats, I'm honestly not reading much at all into this currently since it's way too early to tell. People are still learning what all the changes are, figuring out what works and what doesn't and trying out new things. I'll wait for August statistics to come out before I jump to any conclusions on tiering and what not.

Ithilanor · Aug 3rd, 2012, 1:15:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Jimera0

You must be referring to me >:D. I used Forretress extensively in the past (I mean like on every second team I made) and was consitently underwhelmed by it. It's a jack of all trades, master of none, which is why it sucks so hard is because while it can do a jillion different things in theory in practice it does almost none of them well. It can't rapid spin worth a damn since it's beaten by every spin blocker ever, and ferrothorn sets up hazards better AND walls much better since it has semi-reliable recovery in Leech Seed. Toxic spikes you say? Toxic spikes are nearly useless in OU against most teams, since half the tier is Flying type, Steel Type, Levitates or is poison type, or just flat out doesn't give a shit about toxic. And other Pokemon set them up better as well, and if you need a rapid spinner and Toxic Spikes layer, Tentacruel is much better at it. Finally, it seems great defensively until you actually try doing anything with it, since it has no method of healing at all outside of leftovers. Because of that it can't really "wall" anything, just stall them for a turn before getting destroyed. It can check some dragons and stuff I suppose... for one turn, and you need the proper coverage move to actually do it, meaning you can't do the other roles you'd have it for.

Basically, it can do a lot of shit but is outclassed in all categories. It can't effectively do more than one thing at once due to 4MSS either, so that's out. In short, Forretress is the most overrated piece of crap to ever set foot in BW/BW2 OU.

One thing I've noticed, using Forry on my stall team for spikes and spinning; while it loses to pretty much every spinblocker, there just aren't that many of those. There's Gengar and Jellicent, and that's about it. Also, having Volt Switch is quite useful for working with the AmoongBro Regenerator core, letting you maintain momentum even on the defense.

**Arcticblast** · Aug 3rd, 2012, 11:11:59 AM

Forretress is fun to use as a Choice Band Pokemon, but that's really only a semi-gimmick set for the surprise factor and doesn't really do anything else. There are times where I've wished I had Forretress on my team, and then Skarmory Brave Birds the Keldeo I would have poisoned...

Hey Terrakion, looks like you're no longer the top dog! It's nice to see him finally out of the top 10, and it's really no surprise either - if it runs Choice Band it loses out to ScarfToed, Tornadus-T, and Starmie, and if it runs Scarf it loses so much power. SD sets still get revenged like usual, and... I actually haven't faced a SubSD set yet in BW2. Perhaps it's so low because Rain is now "better" in the public eye than Sand, and Keldeo performs well in Rain, so some of the Terrakion users switched over to Keldeo. Maybe the prevalence of Techniloom is just scaring it off. Perhaps everyone realized how dumb it really looks. Either way, it really fell from grace.

LucaroarkZ · Aug 3rd, 2012, 12:15:31 PM

Code:

| 46   | Dusclops           | 3485   |  5.613% | 2242   |  5.599% |

Stop using this piece of SHIT in UU, please... I have used Dusclops in UU and honestly, it's miserable. Sure, its defenses are great, but its offensive presence is precisely zero. That's something very easy to take advantage of. You can't justify using it over Cofagrigus; Cofagrigus can use Haze (which is actually a pretty good move), can still spread burn, is still bulky, and does not have to resort to Seismic Toss / Night Shade to actually deal any kind of damage. In fact, Shadow Ball is awesome if you catch a Chandelure on the switch, and it has a 62.5% chance of OHKOing after SR. Although you have to catch it on the switch (Chandelure's own Shadow Ball OHKOes Cofagrigus), this is better than how many fucks Chandelure gives about Dusclops: None at all. Cofagrigus can also go on the offensive and run Trick Room + Nasty Plot while Dusclops is never going on the offensive, ever. All Dusclops really does is burn stuff, and if there's another Pokemon that does the same thing but isn't completely terrible (aka Cofagrigus), why are you using Dusclops?

Aug 2nd, 2012, 6:20:11 AM	#78
pwnage77 Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 251 Philippines	just going back to the Thundurus-T / Tornadus-T topic.. anyway since these two are rising in usage (and in popularity), i'm pretty sure that people will use Jirachi and Gastrodon together. Seeing that Jirachi resists Hurricane and Gastrodon is immune to Thunder. Also, if either sweepers carry Grass Knot, Jirachi could simply switch in. __________________ If Slaking gets another ability other than Truant(and Slow Start), it would be Uber with that monstrous stats.

Aug 2nd, 2012, 11:11:16 AM	#85
Taylor no.... no i do not look like psyduck Moderator Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 3,990 play?	People relying on Gastrodon to counter Thundurus-t have not used/opposed Expert Belt varients with Grass Knot. Thunder is absurdly powerful in rain when factoring in STAB, so I sometimes forgoe Focus Blast for Grass Knot, ensuring I hit Tyranitar as accurate and as hard as possible. After Nasty Plot, you're throwing Heatran out of the picture with +2 Thunder unless they still continue to invest in so much Special Defense? This on its own is one of the many reasons Swords Dance Scizor, Jolly nature w/ Life Orb is one of the most fascinating late-game sweepers with the right support (SR + sand). Ferrothorn becomes more of an issue but it works both ways in a sense that neither Pokemon can hit one another neutrally. As mentioned, Politoed retaining its top spot is a testiment to the direction BW2 is going. Be aware! __________________

Aug 2nd, 2012, 12:08:38 PM	#91
Rackham Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 253	Something I found mildly interesting... Last year's stats (Aug 2011) for comparison: Bold are now in the top 10, underlined have moved 10 or more places. August 2011 + ---- + --------------- + ------ + ------- + \| Rank \| Pokemon \| Usage \| Percent \| + ---- + --------------- + ------ + ------- + \| 1 \| Tyranitar (9) \| 95686 \|20.1905% \| \| 2 \| Rotom-W (12) \| 84284 \|17.78459%\| \| 3 \| Scizor (2) \| 81761 \|17.25221%\| \| 4 \| Gliscor (8) \| 81449 \|17.18638%\| \| 5 \| Ferrothorn (3) \| 80902 \|17.07096%\| \| 6 \| Politoed (1) \| 75124 \|15.85175%\| \| 7 \| Dragonite (4) \| 71521 \|15.09149%\| \| 8 \| Heatran (5) \| 64319 \|13.57181%\| \| 9 \| Jirachi (6) \| 60943 \|12.85945%\| \| 10 \| Latios (16) \| 58072 \|12.25365%\| \| 11 \| Skarmory (21) \| 51586 \|10.88505%\| \| 12 \| Excadrill lol \| 49093 \|10.35901%\| \| 13 \| Thundurus lol \| 42488 \|8.9653% \| \| 14 \| Reuniclus (43) \| 36344 \|7.66887% \| \| 15 \| Haxorus (26) \| 35503 \|7.49141% \| \| 16 \| Jellicent (29) \| 34192 \|7.21478% \| \| 17 \| Conkeldurr (40)\| 34130 \|7.2017% \| \| 18 \| Gengar (19) \| 34040 \|7.18271% \| \| 19 \| Celebi (41)\| 33407 \|7.04914% \| \| 20 \| Infernape (24) \| 32714 \|6.90291% \| \| 21 \| Starmie (11) \| 32701 \|6.90017% \| \| 22 \| Ninetales (22)\| 32008 \|6.75394% \| \| 23 \| Forretress (15) \| 31519 \|6.65076% \| \| 24 \| Gyarados (25)\| 31012 \|6.54378% \| \| 25 \| Deoxys-S lol \| 30247 \|6.38235% \| \| 26 \| Magnezone (32) \| 29488 \|6.2222% \| \| 27 \| Landorus (47) \| 28417 \|5.99621% \| \| 28 \| Volcarona (23) \| 28245 \|5.95992% \| \| 29 \| Terrakion (18) \| 27355 \|5.77212% \| \| 30 \| Blissey (36)\| 26982 \|5.69341% \| \| 31 \| Salamence (14) \| 26015 \|5.48937% \| \| 32 \| Latias (45) \| 25748 \|5.43303% \| \| 33 \| Gastrodon (46) \| 24750 \|5.22244% \| \| 34 \| Espeon (31) \| 24039 \|5.07242% \| \| 35 \| Tentacruel (20) \| 23934 \|5.05026% \| \| 36 \| Toxicroak (48) \| 22186 \|4.68142% \| \| 37 \| Vaporeon (38) \| 22044 \|4.65146% \| \| 38 \| Bronzong (63) \| 21951 \|4.63183% \| \| 39 \| Hydreigon (33) \| 21562 \|4.54975% \| \| 40 \| Breloom (7) \| 21085 \|4.4491% \| \| 41 \| Scrafty (60) \| 20959 \|4.42251% \| \| 42 \| Mamoswine (17) \| 17639 \|3.72197% \| \| 43 \| Lucario (34) \| 17498 \|3.69222% \| \| 44 \| Virizion (61) \| 16658 \|3.51497% \| \| 45 \| Metagross (44) \| 15163 \|3.19951% \| Yeah, I probably should have formatted it better/differently. Interestingly, the top 10 is relatively unchanged, whilst there is lots of movement elsewhere. __________________ ~Check out my RMT:Black and Blue~

Aug 2nd, 2012, 12:48:23 PM	#92
*Antar That's Dr. Antar to you Super Moderator** Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 2,051 DC Metro Area	I've tallied up the last few battles, so the stats posted now are official (assuming no typos in my scripts--lemme know if anything looks wonky, especially regarding formes). Furthermore, I've gone ahead and posted lead usage stats and a breakdown of how many battles were held on PO vs. PS. Enjoy! __________________ Codes and Hacks I Use PBR FC: 4898-8739-8815 (See here) Black FC: 4040 5386 0128 / White 2 FC: 4771 3664 7215 My Narrated PBR & Gen V Battles My Trade Thread Convert any sim team to pkms Pokemetrics: A Blog

Aug 3rd, 2012, 11:11:59 AM	#99
Arcticblast is going goat Moderator Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 2,976 #serperiors Mentor	Forretress is fun to use as a Choice Band Pokemon, but that's really only a semi-gimmick set for the surprise factor and doesn't really do anything else. There are times where I've wished I had Forretress on my team, and then Skarmory Brave Birds the Keldeo I would have poisoned... Hey Terrakion, looks like you're no longer the top dog! It's nice to see him finally out of the top 10, and it's really no surprise either - if it runs Choice Band it loses out to ScarfToed, Tornadus-T, and Starmie, and if it runs Scarf it loses so much power. SD sets still get revenged like usual, and... I actually haven't faced a SubSD set yet in BW2. Perhaps it's so low because Rain is now "better" in the public eye than Sand, and Keldeo performs well in Rain, so some of the Terrakion users switched over to Keldeo. Maybe the prevalence of Techniloom is just scaring it off. Perhaps everyone realized how dumb it really looks. Either way, it really fell from grace. __________________ New to Smogon? Afraid to jump into discussion? Introduce yourself! ------------------- Fail Cup \| Scramble! \| RMTs: Blistering Sands (BH) Night Stall (OU) \| ARcTicblast \| Demon Spawn \| signature art by Zracknel additional credit to Pocket and AccidentalGreed

Aug 2nd, 2012, 7:37:57 AM	#81
~~superbadd~~ Banned deucer. Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 357	Dugtrio is relatively useless in uu. The only reason it's ou is because of weather, it's one of those pokemon that's only ou because it has a niche but would be useless/non threatening in other tiers. See: forretress, gastrodon, magnezone, and jolteon. It's way too under powered and every physical and most special walls beat it. The only thing it could trap is roserade or victini, but both are pretty risky to switch in to. As for bisharp, steelix and poliwrath are hard counter, it can either do some serious damage or phase it out. On top of that tangrowth, qwilfish, and quagsire can check it. I don't think it will be broken in ru anymore than scafty is in uu.

Aug 2nd, 2012, 11:32:48 AM	#87
Machina Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 21	I'm frankly a bit surprised to see Scizor still so high. It doesn't seem like it can do so well in this rain based metagame with powerful water-type moves flying around.

Aug 2nd, 2012, 11:39:55 AM	#88
~~superbadd~~ Banned deucer. Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 357	Actually scizor takes advantage of rain because it deludes its fire weakness. It's better in a politoad metagame than a tyranitar one.

Aug 2nd, 2012, 11:52:43 AM	#90
Zentrius Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 92 "And then the entire population was staring at her, like she was some sort of freak monster ..."	I think scizor it's pretty regular on both weathers, I actually think Scizor on a Sand Team works better, but his best counters (Skarmory, Gliscor, Heatran (SD, unless the scizor has shit like lolbrickbreak)) don't get the residual damage. I still don't get why Xatu is that low. He is by far the best dual screener of the two Magic Bouncers IMO, but oh well, seems like Espeon has more offensive presence even thought it's frail as fuck on the physicall side.

Aug 2nd, 2012, 12:56:19 PM	#93
Zentrius Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 92 "And then the entire population was staring at her, like she was some sort of freak monster ..."	1 \| Politoed \| 23744 \| 9.722% \| \| 2 \| Tyranitar \| 10633 \| 4.354% \| \| 3 \| Ninetales \| 8779 \| 3.595% \| Damn, a 5% difference. I definitely am not looking forward this new metagame. And it seems like Mienshao and Nidoqueen are taking over their new tier.

Aug 2nd, 2012, 11:36:50 PM	#96
ForeverPerfectXI Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 43 California	WOO! Hackmons had almost 1500 battles and did a little better than Balanced Hackmons. It could reasonably get even more matches next month. It's a fun game even if it's not "legit". I'm shocked that Giratina is so low. He's quite possibly the best pokemon in the tier. If the number of matches in the tier increases by any significant amount next month and game starts to really develop I'll bet Spiritomb drops down a bunch of places. He just isn't near as good as he seems at first glance. Basically no one is playing Dream World Ubers or Glitchmons.

Aug 3rd, 2012, 12:15:31 PM	#100
LucaroarkZ Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 1,108 San Diego, CA	Code: \| 46 \| Dusclops \| 3485 \| 5.613% \| 2242 \| 5.599% \| Stop using this piece of SHIT in UU, please... I have used Dusclops in UU and honestly, it's miserable. Sure, its defenses are great, but its offensive presence is precisely zero. That's something very easy to take advantage of. You can't justify using it over Cofagrigus; Cofagrigus can use Haze (which is actually a pretty good move), can still spread burn, is still bulky, and does not have to resort to Seismic Toss / Night Shade to actually deal any kind of damage. In fact, Shadow Ball is awesome if you catch a Chandelure on the switch, and it has a 62.5% chance of OHKOing after SR. Although you have to catch it on the switch (Chandelure's own Shadow Ball OHKOes Cofagrigus), this is better than how many fucks Chandelure gives about Dusclops: None at all. Cofagrigus can also go on the offensive and run Trick Room + Nasty Plot while Dusclops is never going on the offensive, ever. All Dusclops really does is burn stuff, and if there's another Pokemon that does the same thing but isn't completely terrible (aka Cofagrigus), why are you using Dusclops? __________________ "If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand." - Milton Friedman I am not lucaroark on Pokemon Showdown. I'm always on PS as Adamant Zoroark.