Rarely Used (RU) Tier

[peng]

I've been using a Rain Dance team with Uxie, Rotom-C, Kabutops, Ludicolo, Gorebyss and Omastar, and its been a relatively smooth trip up the ladder, getting to #6 before eventually getting its first loss. The only Pokemon which can really stand up to it are Eviolite Ferrothorn, which can't do anything to Ludicolo. Clefable is also a bit of an issue but it can't take Swords Dance or Shell Smash boosted hits at all. Ludicolo, Omastar and Kabutops have decent enough physical bulk to take Sucker Punches from Honchkrow, and Kabutop's outspeeds its Sucker Punch with Aqua Jet anyway. Quagsire and Gastrodon are good answers to Kabutops but gets wrecked by the other 3 sweepers. The only other problem teams are those which have like 4 Thunder Wave users.

This is like DPP UU again, except this time Toxicroak isn't around to stop it.

 

[Spork]

So what would be a general threatlist for this tier? We could put together a rough one to help people with teambuilding?

 

[Dr. Alex]

Threat list:

Honchkrow
Yanmega
Venemoth
Hail
Cresselia
Wobbs

Those are just a few, and there's a lot more out there. I like this tier because I can use pokes that I really like but aren't too good. Like Glaceon. Snover plus Glaceon is awesome

 

[sacredmareep]

Seems interesting, but doubt I'll try soon

 

[Temperantia]

How the bloody hell are Gallade, Honchkrow, Venomoth, Swellow, and Wobbuffet here?
Gallade and Honchkrow were BL last tier, and they still wreck up UU, in fact Honchkrow got better almost. (Moxie anyone?) Swellow with Guts and it's OMG Speed Stat should never be underestimated. I don't think I need to bring up Venomoth or Wobbuffet...

On a lesser note SmashPass isn't quite that broken, and you can see it coming a mile away, (Team Preview ftw) while Cresselia really deserves to be in UU where it shines.

tl;dr: Usage stats=/=actual ability of Pokemon. People are stupid. :p

 

[Tobes]

The reason nobody uses Swellow is that Staraptor does everything better than it. Venomoth and Honchkrow being RU is a bit puzzling though.

 

[athleteandy1]

Odd, isn't it how a poke who was considered almost a requirement to pokes who wanted to set-up sweep in the UBER tier last gen is now down in the childish depths of RU? All because of a simple Encore nerf. This is Wobbuffet, in case you couldn't tell

 

[Xephyr]

So...how does one go about getting into this metagame? What are the biggest threats and most popular sets and styles of teams?

 

[athleteandy1]

So...how does one go about getting into this metagame? What are the biggest threats and most popular sets and styles of teams?

Well I'd have a couple of counters to Hail (try some SR) and ShellSmashers (add a superfast scarfer, like Typhlosion, or some Roarers to stop the chain before it starts). I've seen a couple Rock Polish Golurk, so brink something for that if you feel you need to .That's all I can think of now.

 

[SHUCKLE MAN]

tl;dr: Usage stats=/=actual ability of Pokemon. People are stupid. :p

The tiers aren't meant to represent the "actual ability of Pokemon". They're meant to represent usage.

Anyway, I'm susprised nobody has discussed Gligar yet.

 

[AsynchronousIO]

Odd, isn't it how a poke who was considered almost a requirement to pokes who wanted to set-up sweep in the UBER tier last gen is now down in the childish depths of RU? All because of a simple Encore nerf. This is Wobbuffet, in case you couldn't tell

Actually, I think it was more than just the Encore nerf that hurt Wobbs. Last gen, part of the reason that Wobbs was so effective was the element of surprise. Wobbuffet kept getting in kills because he wasn't expected. Now with Team Preview, you know at the beginning of the fight whether your opponent has Wobbuffet or not, easing prediction on your end. Team Preview + Encore nerf means that Wobbuffet can still be an effective trapper/killer, but he now risks being setup fodder as well.

 

[133k]

How the bloody hell are Gallade, Honchkrow, Venomoth, Swellow, and Wobbuffet here?
Gallade and Honchkrow were BL last tier, and they still wreck up UU, in fact Honchkrow got better almost. (Moxie anyone?)

I disagree; If it runs Moxie, Honchkrow loses out on Superpower as well as Heat Wave, meaning it has crap coverage; not to mention is looses the ability to "counter" Venomoth (it can't set up as safely if it can't put Honchkrow to sleep). (And yes, I did see the "almost")

Of course, Honchkrow is my favorite poke, so I'm wondering what it's doing down here just as much as everyone else.

 

[Spork]

Insomnia is really useful, and I'd argue that Krookodile > Honchkrow for Moxie pokes because it has so much better coverage than Moxie Honchkrow.

At the same time, Moxie Honchkrow can clean up really excellently with priority Sucker Punch and Brave Bird if the more defensive mons have been taken out. And Sucker Punch and Brave Bird and are the attacks Krow is using 90% of the time anyway. Moxie can really catch off guard an opponent who sacrifices a mon so they can, say, bring Sharpedo in safely, because suddenly Krow is at +1 and Sucker Punch OHKOs Sharpedo. Very few things like switching into Honchkrow because of Insomnia Honchkrow's coverage, so sacrificing a mon is quite a standard approach mid-game, and they will really be caught off guard by Moxie.

Honchkrow is probably the most versatile and generally useful offensive poke in the tier :)

 

[Oglemi]

OK so rain is insane in this tier. I haven't been able to beat a single one thus far. If you thought rain was crazy in DPP UU you've seen nothing yet.

Some notable sweepers:

Shell Smash Omastar/Gorebyss/Huntail - Holy crap do these things hit hard once they Shell Smash. Pretty much nothing bar Cresselia can withstand a +2 LO rain-boosted Hydro Pump from either one, and all have really good coverage in just Shell Smash / Hydro Pump / HP Grass / Ice Beam.

Ludicolo - There's a reason why he made Drizzle + Swift Swim broken, and that's his unpredictability and awesome coverage. He can go either physical or special and can break down any wall in the tier. He's also mega fast in the rain.

Sharpedo - This thing is good without the rain, and in it he's nuts. He even has his own priority to stop any attempts at nailing him and he resists Sucker Punch to boot. Waterfall / Crunch / Aqua Jet / Earthquake is all he needs to tear you a new one.

 

[Lou Cypher]

Outside of the rain teams, folks really need to learn to prep for Moltres. Newsflash, Stealth Rock ain't stopping him anytime soon if you give him any single switchin opportunity. Thing is so hard to break, and that speed of his lets him out-sub any Toxic users that wants to put a damper on his parade.

 

[Spork]

^^ Stealth Rock is actually fairly easy to deal with too, as offensive rapid spin lum Blastoise can beat almost any stealth rock user one-on-one, and most Spinblockers can't do much to it either.

Rain is gaining a lot of popularity (people are remembering how broken it is even without Drizzle, which is funny considering how rain dominated UU last year). Once Sun leaves UU though, rain will probably gain a lot of popularity in that tier, meaning RU will lose its most potent abusers.

Until then, Hail is a fairly decent check to Rain (the idea that it's weather wars all over again isn't the most appealing thing though).

 

[Dr. Alex]

I'd have to say insomnia is better on Honchkrow, mainly because with moxie, Heatwave is illegal, and heatwave gives him much better coverage. Stallbreaker?

 

[Gerard]

UU lost vulpix already, so RU will have some changes next month

 

[Benop]

Ive been finding that Ludicolo is wonderful for doing 2 things....give him rain dish and he becomes a perfect counter for rain teams...just subseed them until the rain ends...I've been running the generic subseed protect and scald with max hp/spd and he's taken ice beams and thunders in the rain all day to set up on them....Ive also had moderate success against shell smash sweepers (as long as they're not passed it) taking even +2 icebeams from omastars and setting up...I know its an annoying tactic...but so if facing rain and shell smash haha

As for hail....Ive had success with Torkoal. Most teams will lead with Snover and you can either 0HKO with flamerthrower or scare him out where you can set up sunny day to block the ice...that coupled with stealth rocks which really hampers any ice switch in makes him a great counter to ice.

The best part of both of these pokemon is that even though they are great counters for particular strategies they also can work by themselves as a subseeder/SR, rapid spinner respectively.

Sorry if this post was too long or something...as I am a first time poster long time reader I just thought Id let you guys know what Ive had success with

 

[Spork]

I don't think Torkoal really has any use outside of that niche. Really he's one of the worse choices for a rapid spinner, since he's weak to SR, vulnerable to spikes and hates status. There's also the speed problem. Even within the niche you've found for him, Snover can stall Torkoal out pretty well.

Also Parasect is a beastly rain counter, most of the time :)

 

[Boarbaque]

I honestly think that Crustle is a bigger threat than Omastar in RU.

Omastar does have the ability to get a boost of some sort from both Rain and Sand, whereas Crustle really only does well in Sand.

Sturdy allows Crustle to take a hit from Omastar, and then still be able to come out on top.

Crustle has STAB Rock Blast. Coming off of a Shell Smash, and because of type coverage, it will crush things like Walrein, Honchkrow, Durant, Yanmega, Venomoth etc.,

Crustle gets STAB X-Scissor which can help take down things like Sharpedo, Grumpig, Ludicolo, Cresselia, Duosion etc.,

Besides Shell Smash Crustle has Stealth Rocks, Spikes, Swords Dance, Hone Claws, Rock Polish, and Curse.

 

[PokeMasterJade]

I really dont see why Cresselia is RU, can someone explain the reasoning behind this please?

 

[Oglemi]

Because Cresselia isn't used enough in OU or UU to be placed in those tiers. RU is a usage tier, just like OU and UU are.

 

[Gerard]

And Crustle can only lead/revenge if you want to retain Sturdy, any rocks and spikes or hail damage will make it useless, a Lead with red card/priority berry (?) to set up SR and spikes is actually a great set fo him

 

[Mr_br_kill]

In theory could sp defensive flareon work? Since bug and ice is are such commun sp atk typing, and he gets wish, wilo wisp and toxic. I don't know just theorymon