Metagame NP: RU Stage 14: The Distance (Abomasite and Sharpedo Banned)

[MrAldo]

First, Ill like to say that the tier have improved significantly since sharpedo departure, giving hyper offense a chance to stand out again, and most playstyles right now are pretty viable. Hyper Offense have to resort to some niche mons and still struggle with fletchinder, sneasel, durant and scarf tyrantrum being really good and have to rely on some niche mons but guess thats the beauty of the game. Wouldnt say the same think about mega aboma since regular abomasnow is just as threatening but it not being able to run swords dance the same mega aboma could and more mons being able to switch into its special moves + LO recoil + less bulk makes it easier to deal with I suppose. Tangrowth isnt forced to run spdef assault vest or assault vest in general meaning you can use specs or LO again on it. All good stuff :)

Anyways, Durant is a goddamn monster. No other mon has the ability to threaten all playstyles in the same way durant can. LO sets are incredibly hard to switch into and you dont have the luxury to play around it and priority is only an option if it is weakened enough and in that situation maybe you lost a good amount of mons in the process. This set can just win by itself, it is crazy. Destroy balance and offense thanks to its power and amazing speed tier. It can also pull off a really efficient scarf set that has the luxury of running either jolly or adamant (Adamant scarf is really strong, pseudo wallbreaker with speed o_o) means it basically can solo many offensive builds and be a huge pain to offense in general. It has rather decent and varied checks that do more than just checking durant itself but it is definitely a huge teambuilding constraint, I never feel safe with running only one durant check thanks to the sheer amount of sets it can run (sub salac is a fun one, shoutouts to Scythe)

This mon is basically never deadweight against anything, not even scarf sets against hard stall. I think this mon could certainly deserve a suspect test in the future, at the risk of losing the premier offensive steel type that is damn good but it definitely deserves one on a future/near future.

But lets not be all pessimistic and go into witch-hunting all of a sudden! Lets share some mons that can be looked into or deserve some spotlight:

Samurott @ Life Orb
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Taunt
- Grass Knot
- Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump

With sharpedo and mega abomasnow gone, this gives me a really solid excuse to bring back this set since sharpedo outclassed this set to no end and mega abomasnow just cockblocked it. Regular abomasnow doesnt have the bulk to switch into either ice beam or hydro pump really well unlike its mega counterpart, so yeah. This set is really cool, one of my favorites since it pressure balance staples like alomomola, diancie and bulky flygon a fuck ton. Taunt means it has an easy time getting past alomomola which is huge unlike any other offensive water (which arent much, the rest are niche are like clawitzer, kabutops and omastar but you get the idea) that can have problems getting past the beloved RU fish. It possess incredible power and fantastic neutral coverage means not much will switch into it comfortably, ice beam nails venusaur that attempt to switch thinking it is an SD variant, etc. Cool set that can definitely see more usage with the shark out of here :D

This mon been having a bad stigma lately and Im not sure why, the metagame is really favorable to this mon in general thanks to its recent trends. Alomomola being really good as always and this mon is 100% bait to dragon dance sets (they should be running shed skin), diancie being the fairy of choice for balance teams, scrafty can blast through it with +1 iron head. Chople berry means it will not be easy to revenge kill with scarfers that have superpower coverage (and you really gotta hope it isnt at +1 already). It is crazy how easy this mon can setup nowadays, getting at +1 and +2 with relative ease. Drain punch is a viable option, although weak, it will outlast many passive mons pretty easily. Band is also really good at providing a great wallbreaker and a really sturdy rock resist for offensive builds (it generally can pivot through a ton of physical attackers).

MEGA GLALIE IS BACK IN TOWN, BABY!

Cheers! Really having fun so far.

 

[EonX]

Here's a couple of powerhouse wallbreakers I've been liking recently along with a Pokemon I feel is much improved:

Camerupt @ Cameruptite
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power Ice
- Toxic / Will-O-Wisp

Mega Camerupt is a powerful wallbreaker, but I see a lot of people using it for Stealth Rock. While it definitely can set Stealth Rock due to the switches it causes, this thing has such few defensive switch-ins that you're so much better served firing off powerful attacks. It can't come in very often, so you may as well dent as many things as possible when you're in. Fire Blast decimates anything without a resistance and solid special bulk and Earth Power takes care of most things that can handle Fire Blast. HP Ice is seldom-used, but bashing Flygon is really cool. Toxic is nice to catch Jellicent and Alomomola on the switch as Mega Camerupt can't outspeed them nor does it want to take a hit from them. If you can hit them with Toxic, you can put extreme pressure on them with Earth Power on subsequent switch-ins. Will-O-Wisp is an alternative to pressure Flygon more reliably, but HP Ice usually is enough. Speed is maximized as Mega Camerupt doesn't get much out of its bulk here in RU and being able to outpace Rhyperior, Mega Steelix, defensive Druddigon, and Registeel is really cool.

Sawk @ Choice Band
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def /252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Zen Headbutt
- Poison Jab

Choice Band Sawk is quite the fearsome wallbreaker that can also utilize Sturdy to live any one hit from a dangerous sweeper and revenge kill if it's at full HP in emergency situations. Close Combat from Sawk has extremely limited switch-ins, especially if the opponent lacks a Ghost-type of any kind. Knock Off is obvious to drill Psychic- and Ghost-types that want to sponge Close Combats from Sawk and is a very easy move to spam in general. Zen Headbutt deals with Qwilfish and Amoonguss as well as Weezing. Poison Jab is almost exclusively for Fairies such as Aromatisse and Granbull. While Poison Jab doesn't hit Diancie for super effective damage, you must remember that it takes neutral damage from Close Combat. And anything hit neutrally by Close Combat is getting 2HKOed at worst. Adamant is used for the sheer power, but there are merits to using Jolly, such as outspeeding Timid Venusaur, Jolly non-Scarf Medicham, Jolly Band Tyrantrum, and Adamant Hitmonlee. Just, the damage output of Adamant is so incredibly good that you shouldn't consider Jolly unless at least 2 of the aforementioned mons are troublesome for your team.

Garbodor @ Black Sludge / Rocky Helmet
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Impish Nature
- Toxic Spikes
- Spikes
- Gunk Shot
- Pain Split / Toxic

Garbodor isn't used that often, but being a strong check to Fighting-types, Durant, and Venusaur (needs Black Sludge to help vs. the latter) is something plenty of teams enjoy having. Gunk Shot is a strong STAB move to wear down opponents with. Pain Split is an option for recovery so Garbodor isn't worn down too quickly. It's almost mandatory if you choose to use Rocky Helmet so that Garbodor doesn't get worn down too quickly. Toxic is a fine alternative to put the likes of Flygon, Alomomola, Jellicent, and other assorted bulky Pokemon on a timer as they switch in. It may seem odd to run Toxic with Toxic Spikes, but considering the fact that Venusaur and Qwilfish are good common Pokemon, it can be a more reliable way to spread poison against such teams. Black Sludge is the preferred item choice since Garbodor will likely be pressured by multiple Pokemon on the opposing team, but Rocky Helmet is certainly helpful against physical attackers if you're using Garbodor to only give insurance against a couple of particularly annoying Pokemon for your team. If more insurance against Venusaur is helpful for your team, a spread of 248 HP / 212 Def / 40 SDef with a Careful nature will keep Garbodor from getting 3HKOed by Life Orb Leaf Storm (accounting for the SpA drop from the 3rd one) while Stealth Rock is up. Take note that this does detract from Garbodor's ability to reliably handle Fighting-types and Durant.