Smogon Shoddy Server Statistics - February 2009

[Steelrage]

From looking at Doug's amazing chart and the one Panda posted, it really suprises me that E-Vire isnt dropping at all while stuff like Hippowdon went down 9 ranks. Don't people realize E-Vire just doesn't have the firepower to do anything but get a speed boost then maybe faint a sweeper or two??? Anyways, this is amazing!!!

[AlphaSpade]

My guess is that many people are running Umbreon as an Latias counter, thanks to neutrality to all attacks, Dark Stab, and great Sp. Def (and Wish support while we're at it)

[Zepar]

Originally Posted by Fat Golden Togekiss

| Blissey | Nature | Calm | 49.0 |
| Blissey | Nature | Bold | 43.9 |

YES! Finally, people are actually wising up with Blissey!

Finally.

Umbreon takes Yanmega's spot? Has everyone met CBscizor yet?

Gallade and Yanmega need a little love. Why wont Donphan and Flygon just go BL already?

Originally Posted by Fat Usage stats

4 | Gyarados | 85096 | 19.69
5 | Metagross | 79977 | 18.50 |
6 | Infernape | 76286 | 17.65 |
9 | Latias | 66357 | 15.35 |

Interesting, but not surprising seeing how Infernape the most versatile Pokemon in ou. The others seem to have wierd stats and sudden rising.
Latias in top 10 when two of the others laugh at it?

Originally Posted by Fat Willis;

My guess is that many people are running Umbreon as an Latias counter, thanks to neutrality to all attacks, Dark Stab, and great Sp. Def (and Wish support while we're at it)

Coming off of what 60/65 Attack?

[Lee]

Coming off of what 60/65 Attack?

With no EVs at all, Payback does 59% on average to a 4/0 Latias so I don't see why that isn't viable but any Umbreon that uses Payback is probably going to be a bit specialised towards countering Latias and end up being shit at everything else (and there happens to be another Dark type out there with huge SpD who handles Latias quite well!).

[Little Green Yoda]

Originally Posted by Fat Veedrock

Anybody using Bold Blissey needs to stop. Seriously, it adds a whole 11 points to defense. Like that'll spare her life anytime soon. She needs to be Calm to help take Special hits (without significant investment, it can be done).

Percentage > pure points

I don't disagree with your assertion that Calm is the superior nature for Blissey in the current metagame but your reasoning based upon "11 whole points" is flawed.

And not too surprising, people complaining about Electivire in a stats thread lol.

[dr4g0n]

Yeah, I found that pretty wierd as well. E-vire as well as Porygonz. I haven't actually seen any of them for one hell of a long time, but they're still in use...apparently.

[cpt.aizen]

i think the reason e-vire is where he is at is b/c people are seeing that hes the only other thing besides jolteon that can come into a tbolt or any electric attack thats aimed at gyarados and benefit from it ie jolteon with volt absorb and e-vire with motor drive

by the way great job as always doug :)

[freakyvillain]

I'm really surprised Weavile isn't used more (he's even below Electivire, seriously). I recently added him to my latest team and found that he's simply fantastic at murdering Latias. Pursuit from Jolly CB does minimum of 68% to minimum defense Latias even if he stays in and Night Slash is an easy OHKO at full health. Weavile outspeeds Latias too which is great since that means unlike TTar, he doesn't even have to worry about random TWave, Toxic, TrickSpecs, Reflect, or whatever.

[reachzero]

The problem with using Weavile in OU is that OU is also overrun with Steels such as Scizor, Metagross and Jirachi; Weavile cant' do enough to any of them to be really practical. For my Ice Shard needs, I would greatly prefer Mamoswine.

[LoveDensity]

Could someone like... make Smeargle OU please =D. The Umbreon usage has made me sick. I barely seen any when I battle(probably cause I didn't battle much for the past 1.5 weeks.)

[hsb39]

Originally Posted by Fat LoveDestiny

Could someone like... make Smeargle OU please =D. The Umbreon usage has made me sick. I barely seen any when I battle(probably cause I didn't battle much for the past 1.5 weeks.)

Well Umbreon can get you an instant win if the opponent screws up one turn due to Mean Look Passing. Combined with Yawn it can be used especially well.

I want to make Magikarp OU... just because it would be so funny.

[Wakalord]

Originally Posted by Fat reachzero

The problem with using Weavile in OU is that OU is also overrun with Steels such as Scizor, Metagross and Jirachi; Weavile cant' do enough to any of them to be really practical. For my Ice Shard needs, I would greatly prefer Mamoswine.

Its too bad, because if it wasn't for the abundance of steels Weavile would be quite handy, especially in Suspect, you wouldn't need to worry about mindgames with Pursuit because Weavile is faster than Lati@s.

Also, I haven't seen an Umbreon since 2008, lol.

[freakyvillain]

Originally Posted by Fat reachzero

The problem with using Weavile in OU is that OU is also overrun with Steels such as Scizor, Metagross and Jirachi; Weavile cant' do enough to any of them to be really practical. For my Ice Shard needs, I would greatly prefer Mamoswine.

He's not supposed to sweep; just be a revenge killer. Pursuit's the main selling point for me. Since he's so fast, guessing wrong isn't as big a deal since you'll probably go first anyway and STAB CB Pursuit still does a lot of damage even if they stay in. This is different from something like Scizor, which can Bullet Punch but risk letting them flee or Pursuit and possibly take a Surf or HP Fire. Ice Shard is only the topping on the cake, letting him revenge outraging dragons as well. But the primary purpose is a fast Pursuit like no other.

[LoveDensity]

Originally Posted by Fat hsb39

Well Umbreon can get you an instant win if the opponent screws up one turn due to Mean Look Passing. Combined with Yawn it can be used especially well.

I want to make Magikarp OU... just because it would be so funny.

Well, I'll give you that it can get you an instant win. The strategy is hard to pull off. Decent players won't fall for that combo very easily. I fell for the strategy twice only during my first days of my competitive battling career. Still, in general Umbreon is set up fodder for a lot of things. Those are some of the things I think that makes it non-OU material.

[Chou Toshio]

While I know Usage and Uber/BL status are separate . . .

lol @Froslass 1, Mismagius 3, Clefable 4, Starapter 8 and Gallade 15 :P

Also Yanmega for UU! lol

[Paltheos]

Uber analysis for this month:

Changes in Rank (Overall Usage):

1) Kyogre (=)
~Significant Rift in Usage~
2) Groudon (+1)
3) Palkia (+2)
4) Dialga (-2)
5) Darkrai (-1)
~SRiU~
6) Rayquaza (=)
~SRiU~
7) Mewtwo (=)
8) Blissey (+2)
9) Scizor (=)
~SRiU~
10) Lugia (-2)
11) Deoxys-f (=)
12) Deoxys-e (+2)
13) Giratina (=)
14) Garchomp (-2)
15) Latias (=)
~SRiU~
16) Wobbuffet (+2)
17) Forretress (-1)
~SRiU~
18) Tyranitar (-1)
19) Metagross (=)
--- OU cut-off point ---
20) Giratina-o (=)
21) Shaymin-s (+4)
22) Latios (+1)
23) Jirachi (-1)
24) Ho-oh (+7)
25) Mew (-4)

Changes in Rank, Diversity Comments (Leads): Deoxys-e and Darkrai remain the most popular leads by a significant margin. Mewtwo's usage has dropped significantly, from rank 3 to 7. Groudon is used slightly more than last month (switching places with Dialga and leading by a healthy margin). Tyranitar was used significantly more this month.

Miscellaneous: There were approximately 10% (almost exactly, less than .02% off) more uber battles this month. "OU" shrunk by one pokemon this month, to 19.

Diversity Trends (Overall Usage):

Rank - January - February* - Percent Change
*- scaled down to actual usage*~.9092

1).......6495..........6488.1.......-0.1%
2).......5291..........5061.5.......-4.4%
3).......5003..........4977.9.......-0.5%
4).......4718..........4955.1.......+5.0%
5).......4695..........4713.3.......+0.4%
6).......4692..........4001.4......-14.7%
7).......3950..........3262.2......-17.4%
8).......2809..........3012.2.......+7.2%
9).......2671..........2907.6.......+8.9%
10).....2556..........2517.6.......-1.5%
11).....2247..........2305.7.......+2.6%
12).....2123..........2241.2.......+5.6%
13).....2013..........2168.4.......+7.7%
14).....1893..........2113.0......+11.6%
15).....1682..........2044.8......+21.6%
16).....1326..........1767.5......+33.3%
17).....1236..........1733.8......+40.3%
18).....1234..........1282.9.......+4.0%
19).....1147..........1182.9.......+3.1%
--- OU cut-off point --- (February)
20).....1029..........1026.5......-0.3%
--- OU cut-off point --- (January)
21)......872............991.0.....+13.6%
22)......869............841.0.......-3.2%
23)......747............771.0.......+3.2%
24)......731............751.9.......+2.9%
25)......690............660.1.......-4.3%

Statistical Observations:

Ubers was much more centralized this month. Usage among the top pokemon became more concentrated among the top 5 (particularly the top 4), as opposed to "the top 6" from last month. Among solely the top pokemon, there were relatively more Kyogre. Groudon, Palkia, and Dialga are more evenly distributed in usage than last month. Compared to the entire pool, Rayquaza and Mewtwo usage has taken a heavy blow. Usage among lower level OUs, particularly the top 17, jumped by a staggering amount. As most people suspected, there was an enormous increase of Wobbuffet and Forretress this month. There were also allot more Blissey, Deoxys-e, and Latias. Scizor and Giratina use also increased, albeit by a smaller margin. Deoxys-f, Tyranitar, and Metagross saw a slight increase. Garchomp usage was steady. Outside of the top pokemon, Lugia was the biggest loser, although he did not lose that much ground.

Analysis, by pokemon:

Choice Specs Kyogre remains the most popular Kyogre variant, even more than before. Last month, 45.9% of Kyogre wore Specs; this month - nearly half - 49.5%. Scarf and CMers fill out the rest. The real difference is in the spreads. Many more ran max speed this month 71.2% vs. 54.3% and Modest gave way somewhat to Timid (58.0% & 39.1% vs. 67.9% & 28.2%), no doubt to outrun other Specsogre (most other base 90s do not run a positive nature). Specsogre by itself continues to have a signifcant impact on team building and usage.

After a few months' hiatus, Groudon is back at #2. Groudon saw more use as a lead (anti-lead) this month, as it puts a clean stop to Darkrai and Dialga (that had been growing to counter lead Darkrai) while still posing a threat to most other common leads. Significantly more had SR this month, usually with a status move (T-wave) and a pair of attacks (EQ/DC/T-wave/SR was probably the standard, although it felt like I was encountering SE over DC more often). On the whole, Groudon were bulkier and more supportive this month - that sounds about right. RP and SD are still a threat, but they've declined through the month.

A new first for Palkia! Palkia has hit #3 for the first time. Lustrous Orb is now more popular than Choice Scarf (albeit by a slim margin - 0.4% of the total Palkia usages). As such, many of the non-STAB "last slot" moves have given way to STAB Aqua Tail, Outrage, and Draco Meteor. The item shifts are related to a number of factors. The extra power helps against Wobbuffet, who can take up to 3 Spacial Rends from a Scarf Palkia, and Blissey, who fears Outrage. The ability to switch moves prevents Forry from switching in and setting up freely and can also defeat the standard WishBliss (if you predict well, which most people have not). For offensive teams, there are other alternatives for getting around Rayquaza, so Choice Scarf is not necessary.

Dialga has "dropped" to #4, but usage is nearly as strong and steady. Dialga use as a lead declined through the month, due in part to the upsurge of Groudon leads, although some lead Dialga do run max speed over max HP. According to the stats, some lead Dialga are bluffing Lum Berry. Dark Voiding is still a risky alternative though, but it's not out of the question. Expert Belt Dialga has all but vanished (although Brick Break is still not uncommon). A new sight is the rise of Choice Specs Dialga, which should come as little surprise considering how easy it is to switch in Dialga and how deadly its Draco Meteor is. Surprisingly, Fire Blast saw a sharp decline this month. This one doesn't seem to make much sense considering how people were noting through the month that Forretress use was much higher and that I myself witnesses quite a few Dialga with fire attacks. BURestalk and general support fills out the rest of the usage, as usual.

Darkrai is about the same this month. Contrary to many people's suspicions, there were actually *more* Scarf Darkrais this month - significantly more - 35.3% vs. 29.0% - and just as many of them were used as leads as last month. According to the stats, the NP LO sweeper set was only slightly more popular than last month, but I felt like I was encountering it allot more than that.

How the mighty have fallen. Poised to pull the rug out from under Kyogre only a few months ago, Rayquaza has now plumetted to #6. The SD and DD sets see more use than before over the mixed set. The SD set remains the most popular. More people are running EQ in the fourth slot on the physical sets now. Evidently Dialga and other special-heavy steels are common switch-ins. Adamant gained further ground over Jolly this month - positive-natured base 90s and other Rayquaza, evidently, are not as significant as the extra power. Still not sure why the mixed set is doing so poorly. I can see the advantages of the physical sets and of mixed sets on other mons, but Mixquaza's unique advantages in this regard should not relegate its use to such a low level.

Mewtwo remains steady at #7. Its use has dropped dramatically, but the bulk of this is due to the decline of lead Mewtwos. The rise of "things it can't kill instantly" and the predictability and suspect reliability of the lead scarf set are all linked to its drop. The next big change in Mewtwo this month is an increase in CMers. CM/Aura Sphere/Ice Beam poses a decent threat to many of the top ubers.

Blissey use soared this month. Even more Blissey this month were Calm (85.0% vs. 66.8% last month) and many more ran Toxic. Considering how common it is right now to run a physical attack (Outrage) on your special attacker almost for the sole purpose of beating Blissey, I'm surprised that Softboiled remains more popular than Wish/Protect. Outside of Aromatherapy, I don't see how the extra moveslot provides more utility than Wish/Protect.

Scizor usage has grown slightly this month. Offensive variants are slightly more popular than last month as well, to make Blissey's life more difficult and to provide a stronger priority move to whittle away at problem mons.

Lugia usage has dropped somewhat this month. The need to run a faster spread to stop Rayquaza (while paradoxically having to deal with T-waving Groudon) and the surge in Wobbuffet both played a role in the decline. That said, a good deal more Lugia ran Toxic over Whirlwind this month (although Whirlwind was still considerably more popular).

Little has changed for Deoxys-f. More spreads run attack EVs, and, from a Superpower/Ice Beam/Extremespeed set, Shadow Ball saw a sharp drop as the fourth move in favor of Thunder, Stealth Rock, or Grass Knot - which makes sense considering what it would be likely be encountering as a lead. Thunder also guarantees that at least it's not complete set-up fodder for Forretress.

Deoxys-e continues doing what it does best - lead and spike. Fewer of them ran Lum Berry this month, and fewer ran max HP too. My guess is that many users discovered that most attacks either OHKO or 2HKO outright regardless of investment. Players who didn't care whether or not Deoxys lived or died from the start just pumped the remaining EVs into whatever attack stat their attack was in.

Giratina use rose this month, probably in response to fewer Rayquaza and more Groudon and Scizor. Accordingly, the defensive Restalk/Wow/DC set is more popular this month than before. Not sure why the CM set never picks up steam (too niche?).

Garchomp use did not change this month. Choice Scarf Garchomp was somewhat less common in favor of CB or LO, but Garchomp continues acting primarily as a revenge killer. Many of the people who were running Adamant are running Jolly now (82.6% Jolly this month vs. 75.8% previously).

Latias continues to be used as a semi-bulky, semi-speedy offensive CMer. More are dropping Thunder in favor of Grass Knot, since Grass Knot hits most of Latias' targets harder. To handle Scizor, a significant number of Latias (21.7%) have started running HP Fire, some even dropping CM just for the extra attack.

Wobbuffet's role changed slightly for a brief period this month - where Tickle + a stronger Pursuiter became a very popular strategy. Soon after, however, Safeguard resumed being the standard fourth move. The choice between Bold and Calm was more evenly divided this month. The rise in Wobbuffet in the past couple months has occurred along with a significant change in movesets, creating many mixed attackers (where mixed attacking was not usual) and adding support moves to some pokemon that ran more offensive sets. Certainly, to some extent, Wobbuffet has been responsible for this.

Forretress usage skyrocketed this month, and, according to the stats, Forretress' number one partner is not Giratina (who's #5), but Blissey. There's a number of reasons I believe Forretress usage has increased: Most Deoxys-e are suicidal and teams that have him usually don't have ghosts, he aids Blissey in stopping Specsogre, and there are a surprisingly large number of opportunities to switch Forry in to spike (or spin, although this month focused more on spinning). Spreads this month focused on Defense more than Special Defense.

There were slightly fewer CB Tyranitar this month. Those that ran other items (Focus Sash, Chople Berry) were probably leads, since lead T-tar use rose sharply this month. Around 10% of Tyranitar were Serious for some reason. While just about as many also ran Fire Blast, that was the only special attack they ran, and for what you're targeting with that, Adamant still does just fine.

Nearly 15% fewer Metagross ran Choice Band this month. Those that ran other items were more likely leads, Trickers, or some miscellaneous set. Pursuit saw a slight drop in use in favor of alternative fourth moves (on a standard MM/Explosion/EQ set).

For Giratina-o this month, natures were all over the board. The common ground between most of the sets however, was Substitute. Shaymin-s rose allot for some reason. I don't know exactly what they're hitting, but they're being used. I only saw him a few times, Jirachi was an effective team supporter. Along with the increase in Groudon, there have been *allot* of Ho-oh this month. The usual SR problems and still not having much to hit are still problems for him.

[wildfire393]

Something I find very interesting:

Umbreon and Milotic are slots 49 and 50 (and the recent OU cutoff has been 50). Slots 51 and 52 are previous OUers Donphan and Yanmega.

[charmander6000]

OU is determined by percent not placing, for example in Feb. there were 59 OU pokemon (58 since rotom is there twice). Also the last tier list had 49 pokemon IIRC.

[petrie911]

Originally Posted by Fat wildfire393

Something I find very interesting:

Umbreon and Milotic are slots 49 and 50 (and the recent OU cutoff has been 50). Slots 51 and 52 are previous OUers Donphan and Yanmega.

OU is determined by what is not uncommon in the tier. IIRC, this means that you are likely to see the pokemon in one out of every 20 teams.

To be more quantitative, the cutoff for OU is just over 3.4%, using the percentages that come with Doug's statistics. So, if this month's statistics determined the tier list, Alakazam is the last Pokemon in OU for standard, Celebi is the last pokemon in the OU of Ubers, and Medicham is the last pokemon in the OU of UU.

XD at Parasect in the OU of Ubers.

[Caelum]

For the last time people

OU is not set at 50 Pokemon

X-Act said he would start infracting for that stuff so make sure you know what you are talking about before running your mouth off because this has literally been stated 25+ times.

edit: Obligatory nice works Doug and thanks :D

[Chou Toshio]

Well, considering that X-Act only shows the list on the months where the OU list actually comes out every 3 months, and that OU is usally ~roughly 50 pokemon, you can't help but have people speculate on what would have been off or on the list, especially for UU which has never had a standard list.

[RaikouLover]

Yay for Dragonite usage rise!!!!!!!!

Shame I haven't had time to play lately...

Anyway,

Originally Posted by Chou Toshio
Also Yanmega for UU! lol

OMG that would be an absolute terror in UU, though it looks a tad less threatening with Chansey alive. You have to run Chansey on every team just to have a chance.... I don't see anything that can handle Specs Yanmega at all, and Speed Boost Yanmega could sweep a UU team with little effort as well (only fearing Milotic and Clefable who can't be put to sleep, really). There are a few wierd counters as well, such as Electrode and Mr. Mime thanks to soundproof. Meh.... still don't want to face this thing without Bliss or Zapdos.

[the_artic_one]

Resttalk Registeel and Regice beat yanmega easily.

[1059860]

Originally Posted by Fat MythTrainerInfinity

Hah so Jirachi's (and Infernape's) lead usage finally beat out Azelf in the Suspect environment. Strange how U-Turn is only like 28.8% used on Jirachi though...

Where do you see what moves have been used by which Pokemon how many times?

Anyways thanks Doug for the update.

Scizor is #1 in OU and #9 in Ubers somehow bothers me :\
Latias is #9 :O

[Jibaku*]

Forgot my obligatory thanks to Doug for the statistics...and Paltheos for the uber analysis :D

Though I haven't Shoddyed at all in February

A new first for Palkia! Palkia has hit #3 for the first time. Lustrous Orb is now more popular than Choice Scarf (albeit by a slim margin - 0.4% of the total Palkia usages). As such, many of the non-STAB "last slot" moves have given way to STAB Aqua Tail, Outrage, and Draco Meteor. The item shifts are related to a number of factors. The extra power helps against Wobbuffet, who can take up to 3 Spacial Rends from a Scarf Palkia, and Blissey, who fears Outrage. The ability to switch moves prevents Forry from switching in and setting up freely and can also defeat the standard WishBliss (if you predict well, which most people have not). For offensive teams, there are other alternatives for getting around Rayquaza, so Choice Scarf is not necessary.

This is great news. I was personally sick of all the Scarfs. Good to see people finally abusing its versatility

Darkrai is about the same this month. Contrary to many people's suspicions, there were actually *more* Scarf Darkrais this month - significantly more - 35.3% vs. 29.0% - and just as many of them were used as leads as last month. According to the stats, the NP LO sweeper set was only slightly more popular than last month, but I felt like I was encountering it allot more than that.

I guess it's because Scarftwos are declining?

Reagarding Groudon:

| Groudon | Item | Lum Berry | 14.2 |

If you're using this solely to beat Scarfrai leads, why Lum Berry? Seriously if you are trying to Thunder Wave a Scarfrai you're asking to get Tricked, which will move Darkrai's Scarf to Groudon and Lum to Darkrai, thus nullifying Thunder Wave and leaves your Groudon locked into it. tl;dr, use Chesto Berry

I don't see how the extra moveslot provides more utility than Wish/Protect.

Toss/Boiled/Toxic/Ice Beam I guess? Last time I played Ice Beam was pretty useful as it catches Rayquazas trying to Swords/Dragon Dance or something.

Latias continues to be used as a semi-bulky, semi-speedy offensive CMer. More are dropping Thunder in favor of Grass Knot, since Grass Knot hits most of Latias' targets harder. To handle Scizor, a significant number of Latias (21.7%) have started running HP Fire, some even dropping CM just for the extra attack.

O...kay, but unless you have backup, Thunder/GKless Latias loses to Kyogre one on one because it will eventually stall Latias out of PP (and also let's remember Rest's "vulnerable" turns). Really though HP Fire is pointless because the only things you're hitting are Scizor and Metagross (and Forry). Furthermore, you lose one Speed IV, though this part might be biased because I run max Speed because I'm tired of having other Lati@s outrunning me. That said I don't really know why people are using GK when TTar isn't as common as it used to be and Groudons run more support set nowadays. Grass Knot doesn't OHKO Support Don either. At least Thunder hurts Scizor/Lugia/Forretress and paralysis can be useful against Mewtwo in pinch situations. But eh I guess there's something that I'm not aware of that causes Thunder to be the lesser option. Perhaps increase in sunlight decreased its viability? Groudon's hanging at 80%?

| Giratina-o | HP EV | Max | 10.8 |
| Scizor | HP EV | Max | 32.9 |

This is the biggest DISGRACE I've had my eyes lay on for this month. D yyou people seriously WANT to die? Stop being so Naive and LEARN AND REMEMBER that these are Stealth Rock numbers. Ugh! I thoght OU was bad enough with Scizor at 20% but this is much worse.