Resource Simple Questions, Simple Answers Thread

[gum]

op adapted from the uu version of the same thread

Welcome to the SQSA thread! As the title implies this thread should be used to post your simple PU-related questions and in turn receive relatively simple answers to them. If you wish to ask questions in regards to Smogon as a whole then please refer to this thread and any in-game questions should be taken to Orange Islands. Feel free to ask any question here no matter how basic they are, just as long as it is related to competitive Pokemon and abides by the below rule. When responding to someone's question please quote their post in order to avoid any confusion for both the questioner and those reading this thread in hopes of having the same question answered.


As a general rule of thumb:

• This thread is the ideal place to ask questions such as "What are the best wallbreakers in the tier?" or "What Tera Type should my Gogoat run on this team?".
• Don't use this thread to ask questions about whether an ability or Pokemon should be banned or unbanned, such as "Should Basculin be banned from PU?", these questions should instead be posted in the relevant metagame thread (NP thread).
• Similarly, don't use this thread to discuss hypothetical scenarios such as X Pokemon dropping to PU.

Happy posting! :D

 

[kanadeyoisaki]

yo hi!! i have decided to start trying to learn sv pu and im not sure if its due to the newness of the tier but i cant find any viability rankings to go off as a baseline so imnot sure where to start, was wondering if there was anything like that around that i could look at

 

[gum]

yo hi!! i have decided to start trying to learn sv pu and im not sure if its due to the newness of the tier but i cant find any viability rankings to go off as a baseline so imnot sure where to start, was wondering if there was anything like that around that i could look at

we're currently working on a vr and it should be up today. for now, feel free to join the discord server if u havent already or ask questions in the pu room

 

[kanadeyoisaki]

we're currently working on a vr and it should be up today. for now, feel free to join the discord server if u havent already or ask questions in the pu room

ah awesome! maybe its bc ive been trying to learn league of legends lately too but i am too perpetually terrified of asking people questions but i will try my best you all seem pretty nice

 

[Zangoose5000]

Trying out PU. What are some good offensive and defensive cores to start with and build around?

 

[Melt Gibson]

Trying out PU. What are some good offensive and defensive cores to start with and build around?

Hey! Hope you have fun :) Gogoat and Quaxwell with either Houndoom or Pyroar as a basic FWG core could be a good place to start! Also, make sure to check out the sample teams thread to maybe grab a team if you're down with that.

 

[BossCampers]

Hey I was wondering, why is Squawkabilly white and yellow in this tier. From what i've seen without guts they have no niche other than a intimidater which Masquerain does while setting webs. Just curious but what makes them good?

 

[rien]

Hey I was wondering, why is Squawkabilly white and yellow in this tier. From what i've seen without guts they have no niche other than a intimidater which Masquerain does while setting webs. Just curious but what makes them good?

all billy formes are tiered as one mon since the differences between them are too minor to warrant tiering them separately. white/yellow are indeed inferior to green/blue (which get intimidate too anyway)

 

[Melt Gibson]

Hey! When is C&C opening up for SVPU?

 

[rien]

Hey! When is C&C opening up for SVPU?

Very soon, expect more news this week:)

 

[UberSkitty]

quick question, can we make this the thread banner?

 

[Gondre19Wedj]

So, with Duraludon being an NFE now, does it start in PU? If so, how do you guys think it’d currently fit into the meta? Iirc, it was NU or NUBL or something last gen. Ik it’s a separate meta game, but could that indicate it’ll probably be too much for this tier?

 

[Melt Gibson]

So, with Duraludon being an NFE now, does it start in PU? If so, how do you guys think it’d currently fit into the meta? Iirc, it was NU or NUBL or something last gen. Ik it’s a separate meta game, but could that indicate it’ll probably be too much for this tier?

it does start in PU!

 

[Welcome to mars]

Whats the equivalent to 1630 elo on the PU ladder?, only one person is above the actual phreshold, this because the “1630 elo” range in pu is what is used in the actual usage stats, so thats really important

 

[Aurist]

Whats the equivalent to 1630 elo on the PU ladder?, only one person is above the actual phreshold, this because the “1630 elo” range in pu is what is used in the actual usage stats, so thats really important

this statistic used is 1630 Glicko, which corresponds to a lower position than 1630 elo. you're likely to hit 1630 Glicko at around 1250-1300 elo i'd say.

 

[Zangoose5000]

How good is Rotom-Mow here? What roles does it do in PU?

 

[Aurist]

How good is Rotom-Mow here? What roles does it do in PU?

Rotom-Mow is currently Tier 2 (aka "High" tier) in the PU Viability Rankings making it among the better pokemon in the tier.

You are most likely to see Rotom-Mow as a choiced special attacker with Choice Scarf or Choice Specs, making use of Volt Switch to be a pivot, and it is likely to run Trick. You can find info on the roles it and other mons are able to carry out in the PU Role Compendium.

edit: fix VR link

 

[658Greninja]

I’m surprised Orthworm isn’t a PU staple, or even NU/RU. Its a Steel type with a Ground immunity, both SR and Spikes, along with fantastic physical bulk. How on Earth did it drop? (Heh, Earth, get it?)

 

[Melt Gibson]

I’m surprised Orthworm isn’t a PU staple, or even NU/RU. Its a Steel type with a Ground immunity, both SR and Spikes, along with fantastic physical bulk. How on Earth did it drop? (Heh, Earth, get it?)

Orthworm unfortunately also has a lot of bad qualities that make it hard to make use of :( Really tough 4MSS alongside relative passivity, extremely poor special bulk, being slow, and having no options for recovery outside of Rest all make it a generally worse option than other Steel-types like Bronzong or Sandslash-A.

 

[Zangoose5000]

How viable is rain here? If it isn't viable, what is it that makes rain not a viable archetype?

 

[LettuceLeaf07]

How viable is rain here? If it isn't viable, what is it that makes rain not a viable archetype?

Someone else may be able to answer this better than me, since my metagame knowledge is kinda dated, but I did use rain around when Ludicolo dropped to PU (it's ZU now btw).

Rain isn't that viable imo. If you want to run a team based on a field condition, use terrain/unburden.

First, if you are using rain, you need to have a manual setter due to the lack of drizzle in the tier. This is probably gonna be Grafaiai or Electrode-H. As far as rain abusers go, the only PU-ranked rain abusers rn are Poliwrath and Floatzel, which both function fine without rain. As far as secondary rain pokemon go, you do have pokemon with Thunder like Rotom or Hurricane technically, but at that point you're stretching, and thunderbolt is fine 95% of the time on elec mons anyways.

Additionally, this tier is full of grass, water, and electric types, and the only fire types are Charizard and Typhlosion. Rain already has an uphill battle already with how you are locked into specific mons, having multiple water types isn't that good in this meta, and although rock and ground mons are common, you don't need rain to break through them. Based on this, rain feels like dedicating 2-3 mons to a job that one can do.

Then again, it's been a while since I seriously laddered, so I could be wrong and someone may correct me. However, I can't see Floatzel and Poliwrath breaking through a well played Wo-Chien before rain ends, but hey, you can always try it for fun.

Wo-Chien calcs for fun

252 Atk Choice Band Poliwrath Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tablets of Ruin Wo-Chien: 254-302 (67.9 - 80.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Choice Band Poliwrath Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tablets of Ruin Tera Poison Wo-Chien: 63-75 (16.8 - 20%) -- possible 7HKO after Leftovers recovery
(with prot+lefties, this is a 3hko and probably stalls out rain with 2 protect turns)

252 Atk Choice Band Poliwrath Liquidation vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tablets of Ruin Tera Poison Wo-Chien in Rain: 136-162 (36.3 - 43.3%) -- 98.1% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

252 Atk Choice Band Floatzel Wave Crash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tablets of Ruin Tera Poison Wo-Chien: 136-162 (36.3 - 43.3%) -- 98.1% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Choice Band Floatzel Ice Spinner vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tablets of Ruin Wo-Chien: 124-146 (33.1 - 39%) -- 8.7% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

 

[Aurist]

I would say that rain has some Viability and doesn't do terribly, but is being suppressed particularly by Grassy Terrain teams which are faster boosted and have Thwackey's Grassy Glide, both of these things give Grassy Terrain teams a particularly advantageous matchup against rain which suppresses rain's usage, and there being a faster HO archetype in Grassy Terrain teams also steals rain's job a little bit. So you may see passable results from rain against other teams but you will definitely struggle in some common matchups.

 

[IAmGalaxian]

What makes Hitmonlee so bad that it's down here? It seems pretty solid with 120 atk and the CC + White Herb + Unburden stuff and SD like hawlucha has, and I see it as pretty good.

 

[Serviperhater]

What makes Hitmonlee so bad that it's down here? It seems pretty solid with 120 atk and the CC + White Herb + Unburden stuff and SD like hawlucha has, and I see it as pretty good.

Only really fits on terrain teams and even then it competes with sceptile and grafaiai. it isnt terrible on terrain teams but when you only fit on one specific niche style of ho and you have low bst then you aren’t going to find a spot in the higher tiers. he’s not terrible though just only fits on terrain.

 

[IAmGalaxian]

Only really fits on terrain teams and even then it competes with sceptile and grafaiai. it isnt terrible on terrain teams but when you only fit on one specific niche style of ho and you have low bst then you aren’t going to find a spot in the higher tiers. he’s not terrible though just only fits on terrain.

thank u for the quick response