Pokemon Throwback - Gen IV Tier Shift

EV

Banned deucer.

Have you ever wondered what past mechanics would be like with your favorite metagame? What happens when moves like Shell Smash and Boomburst disappear from STABmons or Magic Bounce and Prankster get nixed from Balanced Hackmons? Pokemon Throwback hopes to answer that.

The idea of Pokemon Throwback is to take one popular OM and transport it back in time to another generation. That means old mechanics from that generation are back! Check out Jellicent 's thread here for the differences between generations.

These ladders will last for one month under the OMotM section on Pokemon Showdown. The next one will start October 1st. At the end of each month we will open a nomination period for users to decide the next ladder, similar to OMotM. Then we'll vote between two of them selected by the OM leadership team. **Please note your account must be at least one week old at the time of your vote in order to count.**

October's throwback is:

Gen IV Tier Shift

"Look at the size of that Kabutops!"

Tier Shift has been a popular OM since its inception last generation when Pokemon received boosts upwards of +15 to their bast stats. Now, we've taken the premise of Tier Shift and catapulted it back to the DPPt era! Wait, something's missing. There was no RU then, so how will the stat increases work? Here's how:
  • OU no change
  • BL/UU +5
  • BL2/NU/NFE +10
There's more than RU missing, however. There's also no more auto weather, a big factor in Gens V and VI Tier Shift. There's also a lack of Dragons. Garchomp, Salamence, and the Latis are all Uber again. All the Rotoms are OU and have reverted to their old Electric/Ghost typing as well. Some current Gen VI OU standards like Gardevoir and Charizard are all the way back down in NU, but all the better for them. Now they get +10 to everything! And that's just the beginning to the changes.

I've assembled each Pokemon into the hide tags below in their respective Gen IV tiers. Remember, any NFE Pokemon that is not specifically listed in a tier was considered NU for the boosts.
Status: BANNED
Arceus - all formes
Darkrai
Deoxys - all formes
Dialga
Garchomp
Giratina
Giratina-Origin
Groudon
Ho-Oh
Kyogre
Latias
Latios
Lugia
Manaphy
Mew
Mewtwo
Palkia
Rayquaza
Salamence
Shaymin-Sky
Wobbuffet
Wynaut


Status: No Change
Aerodactyl
Azelf
Blissey
Breloom
Bronzong
Celebi
Dragonite
Dusknoir
Electivire
Empoleon
Flygon
Forretress
Gengar
Gliscor
Gyarados
Heatran
Hippowdon
Infernape
Jirachi
Jolteon
Kingdra
Lucario
Machamp
Magnezone
Mamoswine
Metagross
Ninjask
Roserade
Rotom-Fan
Rotom-Frost
Rotom-Heat
Rotom-Mow
Rotom-Wash
Scizor
Shaymin
Skarmory
Smeargle
Snorlax
Starmie
Suicune
Swampert
Tentacruel
Togekiss
Tyranitar
Umbreon
Vaporeon
Weavile
Zapdos


Status: +5 to each stat
BL: Abomasnow
Cresselia
Crobat
Froslass
Gallade
Heracross
Honchkrow
Porygon-Z
Raikou
Staraptor
Yanmega
UU: Absol
Aggron
Alakazam
Altaria
Ambipom
Arcanine
Azumarill
Blastoise
Blaziken
Chansey
Claydol
Clefable
Cloyster
Donphan
Drapion
Dugtrio
Exeggutor
Feraligatr
Hariyama
Hitmonlee
Hitmontop
Houndoom
Kabutops
Kangaskhan
Lanturn
Leafeon
Ludicolo
Mesprit
Milotic
Miltank
Mismagius
Moltres
Nidoking
Omastar
Primeape
Qwilfish
Registeel
Rhyperior
Rotom
Sceptile
Scyther
Slowbro
Spiritomb
Steelix
Swellow
Tangrowth
Torterra
Toxicroak
Ursaring
Uxie
Venusaur
Weezing


Status: +10 to each stat
Everything else!


=====​

Feel free to post your own ideas and experiences in the thread!

Towards the end of the month I will open up the discussion for the following month's ladder, so keep in mind what you think would be fun for other generations.

Past Ladders (with #1 ranked players):
  • July - Gen IV Balanced Hackmons: jeran
  • August - Gen IV STABmons: ellipse
  • September - Gen III 1v1: Cyrann
  • October - Gen IV Tier Shift:
Cooldown:
  • STABmons (until December)
  • 1v1 (until January)
  • Tier Shift (until February)

Enjoy!

Welcome back to the time before the physical/special move split, when Alakazam was throwing elemental punches and Gyarados had a usable physical Flying-type STAB move. This was the first generation with abilities too and that redefined some Pokemon while only making others even stronger. But we're not in the realm of standard 6v6. 1v1 is entirely different--you get one Pokemon, one chance. No team preview means you'll never know what you're up against, so prepare for anything to show up once you start the match!

Welcome to a generation where setup was much more tame. This means no more Shell Smash, Tail Glow, Quiver Dance, or Shift Gear. Extreme Speed's priority falls back to +1. Steel resists Ghost and Dark again. Prankster Sableye hasn't been conceived yet and King's Shield is still just a glimmer in Heatran's eye. There's tons more to account for, but those ought to give you a sense for what this will be like.

This means you get the old mechanics for weather, Explosion, and powder-based moves plus the old type chart and much more. But that also means you lose out on every Pokemon, ability, move, and item from Gen V on. To start out, the current BH bans will remain in effect: OHKO, Shadow Tag, Arena Trap, Wonder Guard, Huge Power, Pure Power, and the ability clause.
 
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God this is gonna be fun Ill add more when I'm not on my phone but for now prepare your Dry Skin rachis.
Ok initial thoughts:
This metagame will be really offensive(Adrian Marin ) with spike stacking sounding really potent especially with no bounce. Weather is going to be interesting as iirc sand rush was a gen 5 ability so that kind of sucks for sand teams. Sun seems kind of odd as giratina will be everywhere but it still sounds interesting. Rain is rain basically, did you hate rain in gen 5? Then make like a skilled bh player and gtfo and cry. Hail is just...lol.
 
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It's notable that ESpeed had +1 priority back in 4th generation. And while Shift Gear was not a thing, Dragon Dance is quite similar. No Prankster and Imposter will make the teams extremely offensive even with Unaware Cresselia running around. The same can be said for stall teams, with Defog completely useless and only Scrappy Rapid Spin being able to clear hazards in front of Poison Heal Giratina. KOff is back to be only utility and not offensive anymore.
I think we should keep the ability clause considering Poison Heal IS the best ability in the game.
 

berry

what kind
is a Community Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a member of the Battle Simulator Staff
:( too bad i quit showdown

gigas4stronk remember that
Also infinite weather deserves a mention
 
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I can really see the metagame dominated by weather, just as everyone else. Unaware is going to be absolutely essential with things like scrappy belly drum, and so on existing. Poison Heal is also going to be absolutely essential, due to the un-nerfing of spore. I'm going to make a team for this right now, and I think it's even playable on Piccolo's server.
 
I'm gona see mold breaker regi and slaking with belly drum being one hell of a dominator in this meta if mold breaker ignored unaware even back in gen IV
If not, then phew.
 

Arhops

Professor Layton's Little Brother
is a Smogon Discord Contributor
If you guys are having trouble playing this, by challenge you can play "[Gen 4] Custom Game". Make sure your team is legal though, since it will allow moves/abilities/pokemon in later gens. Also mention Explosion under Notable Threats by itself away from Slaking pl0x.
 

EV

Banned deucer.
If you guys are having trouble playing this, by challenge you can play "[Gen 4] Custom Game". Make sure your team is legal though, since it will allow moves/abilities/pokemon in later gens. Also mention Explosion under Notable Threats by itself away from Slaking pl0x.
It will be up and running tomorrow also.
 

Regime

the party is December 18th
is an Artist Alumnus
I don't think it is that significant, but I just realized that Rotom Wash's typing couldn't be abused with Swift Swim due to the fact that its Electric/Ghost, as with the others. That's just one change from DPP to BW.
 

Kit Kasai

Love colored magic
There is a glitch with curse in gen 4 where you'll take 50% of your hp twice, effectively killing your own pokemon. Needs to be fixed .-.
 
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Palkia @ Choice Specs
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Spacial Rend
- Thunder
- Water Spout


Slowking @ Leftovers
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
IVs: 0 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- U-turn
- Thunder Wave
- Gastro Acid
- Surf
I'd like to share with you a core that has been absolutely destroying! Palkia + Rain + Choice Specs + Water Spout = shit dying. Here's two calcs:
  • 252+ SpA Choice Specs Palkia Water Spout (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Blissey in Rain: 391-462 (54.7 - 64.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
  • 252+ SpA Choice Specs Palkia Water Spout (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Celebi in Rain: 242-285 (59.9 - 70.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
These are two very bulky Pokemon that Palkia shits all over. Palkia can wreck havoc after it is weakened with Hydro Pump as well, but Water Spout is the general spam move. Slowking is a bit odd, but I love its Special bulk and it's unique set of resistances. U-turn with slow Speed ensure Palkia gets in safely, while Thunder Wave cripples stuff. Gastro Acid is actually a really strong move – making Poison Heal Pokemon and Dry Skin Pokemon cry. Surf is for STAB and hits really hard in Rain, surprisingly. Overall, this core has brought me a lot of success and I recommend it!
 
Few problems with the palkia set is that Draco is far better than spacial cuz ohkoes gira and it also should have trick to cripple other than that gud set ;)
 

Kit Kasai

Love colored magic
If you weren't running specs, I'd suggest running close combat for drought blissey o.o

252 SpA Palkia Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Blissey: 153-180 (21.4 - 25.2%) -- possible 5HKO after Leftovers recovery
252- Atk Palkia Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blissey: 404-476 (56.5 - 66.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
 
Few problems with the palkia set is that Draco is far better than spacial cuz ohkoes gira and it also should have trick to cripple other than that gud set ;)
It has a 12.5% chance to OHKO as it is w/ Stealth Rock n__n Draco Meteor also leaves me revenge'd / setup on by shit. And, anyways:
  • 252+ SpA Choice Specs Palkia Water Spout (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Giratina in Rain: 213-251 (42.2 - 49.8%) -- 30.5% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
n__n.

Kit Kasai I might replace Thunder w/ it I honestly have used it only once.
 

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