Fallen Stars

[-Tsunami-]

The metagame has definitely changed a lot since the creation of RU. Many Pokemon that were once viable and good are now considered to be complete jokes, up to the point where one can consider the opponent a complete noob or a total joke for using them. This thread is for discussing the Pokemon that have fallen and why they fell to their current position in the RU metagame.

I'll start.

Mandibuzz (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Overcoat
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Taunt
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird / Toxic

Mandibuzz used to be a staple on stall teams, and was a solid choice during the hail meta for hail teams since it was a solid wall that was immune to hail. It was also a major pain for my awesome TR Hail team. Its ability to phaze and shut down walls with Taunt was greatly appreciated. It could stop the ever-popular OTR Cofagrigus easily, especially if it ran Toxic. However, it is simply not as good as it used to be. It cannot stand up to the new powerhouses in the tier, such as Nidoqueen and Moltres. It also takes major damage from Pokemon such as Escavalier, and be used as set-up fodder for Pokemon such as Taunt + SD Drapion and Smeargle. OTR Cofagrigus is just not as good as it was before, lowering Mandibuzz's niche even more.

 

[Bigblue]

Hariyama (F) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 172 SDef / 84 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- Close Combat
- Fake Out
- Stone Edge

Hariyama another great example of a fallen star, this guy had amazing usage in the tiers early rounds but now is barely ever seen. Hariyama was so great before with a stellar base 144 HP stat making it great for taking hits while throwing out damage because very few things could OHKO it. Not to mention guts boosted fake outs and bullet punches could put huge holes in a team, plus guts gave a handy immunity to any status that might come its way. The main reason for the end of hariyama's reign was the dropping down of tangrowth and spiritomb, these two pokemon alone could easily check this beast(Don't forget sigilyph dropping also added another huge threat to it's survivability). That brought it low but now with the introduction of hurricane moltres, gothitelle, nidoqueen and huge rise in offense this guy really doesn't stand a chance especially with a base 50 speed. Too bad really since it had such a great start.

 

[Molk]

Stunfisk (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Static
EVs: 252 HP / 192 Def / 64 SDef
Bold Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Discharge
- Scald

While Stunfisk was never truely a top threat in RU, it had quite a bit going for it in earlier rounds. With its unique Electric/Ground typing, wide array of status spreading moves, and 109/84/99 defenses, Stunfisk served as a surprisingly useful utility counter/check to some top threats in the RU tier, most notably Honchkrow, one of the more controversial suspects. Stunfisk also checked or countered Durant, Aggron to an extent, Klinklang, Moltres, Galvantula, Manectric, Accelgor, Rotom-N, and Magneton. Sadly, metagame shifts made stunfisk obselete over time, soon Honchkrow moved up to UU, removing stunfisk's main niche as a defensive pokemon, to make matters worse Durant was banned by the RU senate. Eventually players figured out that with Krow and Durant gone, there was no reason to use stunfisk over either lanturn or quagsire. Its sad too, Stunfisk would have been even better than before if they were still here, as it can now set up Stealth Rock....

RIP Lord Maggyo

 

[BattleStar]

One of the biggest Pokemon I can think off the top of my head is Munchlax. He was one of the most common Pokemon in RU many moons ago. Though he now has declined in usage by a considerable displacement. Here are the usage stats from February to the current ones in August.

| 20 | Munchlax | 1819 | 9.039% | 1476 | 8.740% |

| 56 | Munchlax | 1448 | 3.674% | 1158 | 3.542% |

I find this to be pretty significant, he dropped more than half of his usage of what it was in February.

Once Munchlax was really useful. He was seen almost everywhere and the special sweepers in the Metagame certainly had to be considerate of him. Here is what is said of him in the first line of the anyalasis written at the time when he was prominent.

While it might not look the part, Munchlax is without a doubt the top special wall in the RU tier, capable of enduring onslaughts from the tier's top special attackers, including Lilligant and Moltres.

Another thing to note is really he was not that diverse in what sets he could run. Most of the time it was this:

Munchlax@Evolite
Trait:Thick Fat
EVs:76 HP/ 200 Def/ 232 SpDef
-Rest
-Sleep Talk
- Body Slam
- Whirlwind

This is not to say this set wasn't effective. When Lilligant was more common this was a complete bane to her. This countered everything of it. Of it tried to set up it would whirlwind it away, didn't care if it sleep powdered it, and could shrug off any of its attacks.

However if Munchlax lacked crunch(which if it had it lost a valuable move) it was basically walled by most if not all ghost in the tier.

I also forget to mention it was pretty well disposed by fighting types, status, and is major taunt bait. Munchlax also is one of the reasons why Knock off use to be more viable.

 

[-Tsunami-]

Hitmonchan (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Close Combat / Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Ice Punch
- ThunderPunch / Rapid Spin

Remember the days when this thing was used on a lot of teams and was a solid rapid spinner? Well, it sucks now. This thing was a major problem for hail teams, but with the removal of hail, it can't even do that anymore. Hitmonchan can just not really touch Ghost-types, and the rise of Pokemon like Cofagrigus and Spiritomb has made Hitmonchan a lot worse. Kabutops and Cryogonal are also much better spinners than it. It also doesn't help that it simply does not have the power to muscle through wals like Uxie and Hitmonchan; even Slowking is difficult to beat, especially since if Hitmonchan doesn't use ThunderPunch on the switch, it has no shot of winning.

 

[PK Gaming]

Typhlosion @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs:252 SAtk / 4 SpD / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Eruption
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Rock
- Fire Blast

Unlike the other Pokemon listed in this thread, I don't think there was a point in time where Typhlosion was ever good in RU. It was extremely common howeveri. I can't really blame users for using Typhlosion at first; you see that Eruption and decent base speed, and think its a match made in heaven; RU doesn't have as many bulky waters / Tyranitar, so Typhlosion should succeed. Right? Right? The main problem with Choice Scarf Typhlosion is that keeping Typhlosion at max HP AND getting his counters out of the way isn't feasible. Typhlosion can't sweep with a perfect Eruption because SR of almost always getting set up early in the match. RU doesn't have that many good spinners, and with Cofagrigus being the most ubiquitous Pokemon in the tier not being able to spin is more common than you'd think. (I'm not saying spinning is impossible however; you should focus on spinning for a Pokemon that can actually kick ass like Moltres or Entei!)
Even if Rocks are off the field for most of the game,Typhlosion still isn't going to sweep because RU is home to Slowking, arguably one of the best bulky-waters in the game. Even if you remove Scarf Typhlosion's counters several prominent Pokemon (Moltres & Entei) can always act as last minute checks if they're health. Choice Scarf Typhlosion is just too high maintenance, and even if you put the work into making him work, its still not impressive. Outside of Choice Scarf, it's simply outclassed by every relevant Fire-type in the tier (Entei, Moltres, etc) and even outclassed by the not-so-relevants (Charizard). It's a disappointing Pokemon that still gets used a lot (its #27 in usage...)

 

[DittoCrow]

Feraligatr @ Life Orb
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 104 HP / 252 Atk / 152 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
- Return

I haven't heard "GATR TIME!!" in a while. Feraligatr used to be a great Pokemon—and it still is—but other Water-types have taken Feraligatr's place. Kabutops is the main Water-type Pokemon on most teams now, probably because of its access to Rapid Spin and STAB Stone Edge, whereas Feraligatr can only use Water-type STAB moves and has to rely on Return. Rapid Spin support is much more appreciated these days, and having it on your Water-type sweeper is never a bad thing. Tangrowth, Sceptile, and Lilligant have also become more common, meaning that Feraligatr has limited opportunities to set up a Swords Dance. Overall, Feraligatr is overshadowed by other Water-types on offensive teams such as Kabutops and Crawdaunt, and the increase in powerful Grass-types is hurting Feraligatr's once great reputation.

 

[complete legitimacy]

Drapion (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Battle Armor
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Taunt
- Crunch
- Earthquake

I remember when everyone and their mother used to use this thing. It was pretty difficult to play against. It was the best stallbreaker in the tier for a while, and was a lot higher in the usage stats than it is now. However, Nidoqueen has made its presence felt, and Drapion fears it greatly. Whenever people use a Poison-type stallbreaker, they'll go for Nidoqueen every time. Drapion is also a lot less useful because of the drop in Ghost-types. Cofagrigus and Rotom were the big two Ghosts that Drapion was easily capable of stopping or setting up on, and neither are as common as they used to be. Most people use Spiritomb as their spinblocker of choice now, and it's a lot less susceptible to this set as other Ghost-types. Drapion's still pretty good, but it should be using a more offensive Swords Dance set, with maximum Attack investment and either a Life Orb or Lum Berry. However, it was a top 5 Pokemon before, and is nowhere near its former glory at this stage in the metagame.

 

[Bigblue]

Drapion (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Battle Armor
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Taunt
- Crunch
- Earthquake

I remember when everyone and their mother used to use this thing. It was pretty difficult to play against. It was the best stallbreaker in the tier for a while, and was a lot higher in the usage stats than it is now. However, Nidoqueen has made its presence felt, and Drapion fears it greatly. Whenever people use a Poison-type stallbreaker, they'll go for Nidoqueen every time. Drapion is also a lot less useful because of the drop in Ghost-types. Cofagrigus and Rotom were the big two Ghosts that Drapion was easily capable of stopping or setting up on, and neither are as common as they used to be. Most people use Spiritomb as their spinblocker of choice now, and it's a lot less susceptible to this set as other Ghost-types. Drapion's still pretty good, but it should be using a more offensive Swords Dance set, with maximum Attack investment and either a Life Orb or Lum Berry. However, it was a top 5 Pokemon before, and is nowhere near its former glory at this stage in the metagame.

Not to mention when cofag was at the height of it's reign specially defensive drapion was a beast as well being able to taunt, hurt with crunch, phaze and setup those very annoying T Spikes and don't forget was a great anti lead minus the sandslash weakness.

 

[HuntSaboteur]

Ferroseed @ Eviolite
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: (can't remember exactly) 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
One of the defensive natures (again, forgotten)
-Gyro Ball
-Stealth Rock
-Leech Seed
-Thunder Wave

Ferroseed used to be a staple on a third of RU teams. Now it's little more than a minor defensive threat. Why, you may ask? One word: Moltres. As Hurricane makes it RU fire royalty (seriously, Moltres and Entei are the only fire types you can even consider using in this tier, and yes, I know about Typhlosion), it has become a lot more popular, immune to Spikes, and also to Iron Barbs, Ferroseed's ability, by being very special-orientated. Entei, on the other hand, half-kills itself after one LO Flare Blitz to Ferroseed, and Fire is the only type that leaves a dent (even Fighting finds it hard to hit Seed, as it has a high boosted defence stat and Fighting attacks are almost always Iron Barbs-susceptible. Even Toxic, bane of stall mon everywhere, doesn't hit it. But Moltres takes it out with such ease that it's now almost dead.