Smogon Shoddy Server Statistics - October 2009

[Garganator]

Scarf-Z destroys so many things.

Main problem with Porygon-Z is that Scizor easily switches on any move (except HP Fire) and resist his main STAB - Tri Attack and does shitload damage with Bullet Punch or Pursuit on switch. Tyranitar also isn't good news and he only fears HP Fighting. Metagross is another good switch. In steel heavy metagame Porygon-Z doesn't have an easy time in being usefull. To be honest I'm more surprised Porygon-Z still being OU and not Porygon2 in his place, as Porygon2 has some good niche in OU unlike Porygon-Z, as some pokemon use Choice Scarf better then him like Latias, Gengar or Starmie. Specs maybe isn't outclassed, but still with all those steels it's not much better and Nasty Plotter is just too slow.

[DarkVortex]

Originally Posted by Fat tytoandnoobporygonz

WHAT! Mence at 6th place is crazy, he has been second for an extremely long time. Also, Togekiss and Porygon-Z have very low usage statistics, and I'm quite surprised. Togekiss is a great paraflich pokemon, and Scarf-Z destroys so many things.

Mence at 6th isn't that crazy once you consider that Dragonite learns ExtremeSpeed. Dragonite is also bulkier and has a wider movepool than Salamence. Togekiss may be a great paraflincher but if you consider Jirachi, it has better defenses, not weak to Stealth Rock, better speed, and Iron Head has 100% accuracy unlike Air Slash 95% accurcy. Scarf-Z is outclassed by Scarf-Latias since Porygon-Z has no resistances and less bulker than Latias.

[Deucalion2]

The other interesting note is that Mence hasn't actually dropped particularly in useage, everything else has just risen.

[lordkira]

Originally Posted by Fat DarkVortex

Mence at 6th isn't that crazy once you consider that Dragonite learns ExtremeSpeed. Dragonite is also bulkier and has a wider movepool than Salamence. Togekiss may be a great paraflincher but if you consider Jirachi, it has better defenses, not weak to Stealth Rock, better speed, and Iron Head has 100% accuracy unlike Air Slash 95% accurcy. Scarf-Z is outclassed by Scarf-Latias since Porygon-Z has no resistances and less bulker than Latias.

Dragonite getting ES doesn't totally explain Mence's drop I would say. Imo, it just made Nite a better CBer and an antiLead. Also, ScarfZ and ScarfLatias are two VERY VERY VERY different pokemons.

[Frozen Fate]

I was pretty surprised by Mence dropping to 6th, I've grown accustomed to seeing it at 2nd. But yeah it hasn't actually dropped much in usage just everything else has jumped.

I'm glad Latias has taken 3rd, she's a great Pokemon who fits into teams very easily and checks heaps of stuff.

Thanks for the stats Doug =)

[blasphemy1]

Originally Posted by Fat lordkira

Dragonite getting ES doesn't totally explain Mence's drop I would say. Imo, it just made Nite a better CBer and an antiLead. Also, ScarfZ and ScarfLatias are two VERY VERY VERY different pokemons.

I think it has a lot to do with it. Just another option which makes Dragonite more unpredictable, and he is now easier to fit into teams because of Extremespeed(hits almost as hard as CB Scizor's Bullet Punch, mind you) revenge killing a decent amount of threats.

While Scarf-Z and ScarfLatias are two different pokemon, Scarf-Z doesn't bring anything to the table that Latias can't already accomplish. Latias has a much wider palette of useful resistances, which allows her to switch into Heatran, Zapdos, Gyarados, Infernape, and several others, while Porygon-Z can't really switch into anything. She is also faster, which allows her to revenge kill DD Salamence, a huge task for most teams. Her Draco Meteor is significantly stronger than his Tri Attack, despite the disparity between special attack(140x1.5=210, 80x2(adaptability, according to smogon index, just makes STAB multiplier x2)=160), and she also attains great coverage with the move. Finally, she has high base power, amazing neutral attacks like Surf to complement Draco Meteor, meaning she has less predicting to do. Sure, they are different pokemon, but if I am going to put a Scarfed special attacker on my team, I can tell you at the least it won't be Porygon-Z, as it doesn't bring anything to the team that, say, Heatran or Latias can't.

[M BLADE]

The thing is that Porygon-Z can't come in anything but Shadow Balls since it doesn't get the best defensive stats out there.
The only good of Porygon-Z has over Latias is that it isn't Pursuit bait like Latias(still takes a lot of damage though). And that Tri Attack doesn't drop in power after consecutive uses like Latias Draco Meteor, allowing Pory Z to stay in for a while if you want to.

[Kachalski]

| Porygonz | Move | Hyper Beam | 10.1 |
| Porygonz | Item | Choice Specs | 13.7 |

All this PGon-Z discussion made me remember Hyper Beam. How much does it do to Blissey on Specs Z again? I'm fairly certain I read it was around 50%.

[blasphemy1]

Originally Posted by Fat M BLADE

The thing is that Porygon-Z can't come in anything but Shadow Balls since it doesn't get the best defensive stats out there.
The only good of Porygon-Z has over Latias is that it isn't Pursuit bait like Latias(still takes a lot of damage though). And that Tri Attack doesn't drop in power after consecutive uses like Latias Draco Meteor, allowing Pory Z to stay in for a while if you want to.

He is still OHKOed by CB Tyranitar's Pursuit, if he switches. Porygon-Z will also almost immediately be forced out by a steel/ghost/rock anyways.

[mtr]

It does over 50%. With Nasty Plot and a Life Orb, it OHKOes, so it does a bit over 50% with Specs. However, giving a free turn to ANY sweeper is a terrible idea, so I would never consider the move competitively. If Blissey is that much of a problem, use Explosion, Toxic Spikes, Mixed Sweepers, Pursuit, or whatever. Its easier to play with them than it is to use Hyper Beam.

[blasphemy1]

Originally Posted by Fat mtr

It does over 50%. With Nasty Plot and a Life Orb, it OHKOes, so it does a bit over 50% with Specs. However, giving a free turn to ANY sweeper is a terrible idea, so I would never consider the move competitively. If Blissey is that much of a problem, use Explosion, Toxic Spikes, Mixed Sweepers, Pursuit, or whatever. Its easier to play with them than it is to use Hyper Beam.

Or, if you really wanna use Porygon-Z, use the Substitute set(w/out Seismic toss Blissey can't break its Sub) or the Sharpen set, both of which can beat Blissey without giving "free" turns for a sweeper.

[Aquamentus]

| Articuno | Move | Extrasensory | 9.5 |
| Articuno | Move | Sky Attack | 8.5 |
| Articuno | Move | Reflect | 8.3 |
| Articuno | Move | U-turn | 8.0 |

This is an insult to Reflect and U-turn, and to the intelligence of Articuno users everywhere... not that I use one, of course.

[Raikaria]

Originally Posted by Fat Aquamentus

This is an insult to Reflect and U-turn, and to the intelligence of Articuno users everywhere... not that I use one, of course.

Hey, Articuno isn't bad, if you can remove rocks, it's a pain to kill, especially in UU/NU.

[A.P.]

I'm gonna guess that Articuno's usage is so low that one or two n00bs fuckling around may have given that particular set enough usage.

I don't see how useful U-turn is on Articuno outside of NU - IMO, Articuno's only UU niches are SubRoost and HailStall.

[pastel]

hey, what happened, i posted a while ago, and it got deleted, posting again:

WOW! salamence's the 6th in usage...strange...
and why is dragonite not one of the most used leads?hes the best unless you want t-spikes/spikes/SR!!....

[Quaily]

lots of people want sr up, any lead with an ice attack will ko it(swampert esp), he's set up fodder after the draco meteor etc

[ARandomDude]

Originally Posted by Fat pastel

hey, what happened, i posted a while ago, and it got deleted, posting again:

WOW! salamence's the 6th in usage...strange...
and why is dragonite not one of the most used leads?hes the best unless you want t-spikes/spikes/SR!!....

Most leads, Salamence is outrun by (Azelf, Aerodactyl, Infernape, etc.) or he can't KO reliably (Metagross, Swampert, etc.). Salamence doesn't block SR, and a lot of the time he gets KO'd trying to sweep that early.