Resource SM OU Viability Ranking Thread

[vso]

Ive been using Thundurus Therian and ive found it fairly underwhelming. The tier is littered with diverse and splashable electric resists. Marowak, ferrothorn, excadrill, venusaur, the list goes on. This forces Thundy to rely on a ton of team support to lure in and KO these problems, or to run 3 attacks which makes it kind of a lame cleaner compared to the likes of salamence, volcarona, magearna, pheromosa, landorus, etc who boost power and speed in 1 set. I wouldnt put it any higher than B.

Some of your electric checks mentioned cannot beat thundy-t if it gets a nasty plot up. +4 252 SpA Thundurus-Therian Gigavolt Havoc (175 BP) vs. 248 HP / 144 SpD Venusaur-Mega: 351-413 (96.6 - 113.7%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO. WIthou stealth rocks, this calc shows that if thundy-t gets two nasty plots up (1 as the mega venusaur tries to switch in or after you kill a pokemon and have a nasty plot up). 0 SpA Venusaur-Mega Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Thundurus-Therian: 138-163 (46.1 - 54.5%) -- 55.9% chance to 2HKO. Sludge bomb is not near a OHKO. SImilarly, Thundy-T also breaks past ferrothorn. +4 252 SpA Thundurus-Therian Gigavolt Havoc (175 BP) vs. 252 HP / 168 SpD Ferrothorn: 353-416 (100.2 - 118.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO. 0 Atk Ferrothorn Gyro Ball (150 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Thundurus-Therian: 102-121 (34.1 - 40.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO. Marowak can be pressured by stealth rocks, and it does happen to be a pretty good check. Excadrill is also a decent check, but that is only two, and when you told the list goes on, could you expand a bit. The point of thundy-t is primarily to completely destroy stall.
To expand a bit on the argument, it is immune to arena trapping, and is arguably the best pokemon vs standard stall, basically killing either chansey or clef. Other then that, bulky offenses have a lot to fear from this monster, and so do offenses if it manages to get an agilty. I would support a potential rise to B-/B. It is better than other C rank pokemon, there is much better than other C rank pokemon, like it is almost always better than xurxitree, and is better than Garchomp-Mega, empoleon, jellicent etc. as it has a much larger niche. Comparing it to C+ rank pokemon like minior, alomomola, necrozma, whimsicott etc. It again fullfills a much larger niche, and does many things like a cleaner that helps a ton vs stall.

 

[INSANE CARZY GUY]

Thundurus-T in my eyes while much much lower special attack than xurtitree just does it's stall smashing job better with coverage options, chances to switch in, and speed, but weak to rocks and again not the same insane special attack, but it could get away with taunt/knock-off to cover some threats

But running a stall team that has barely hiccuped by either it's biggest gift if nothing else useful is to make me think twice on using volt switch vs just switching when I see it on their team where if I see a ground pokemon I still will just because if they switch in their ground pokemon at least my pokemon got leftovers

EDIT: I saw some low tier mons near the bottom, mega-garchomp and skipped over the vs xurxitree part

Other than if You got rocks up than straight switched into an electric pokemon on the fini bait there really isn't to much in terms of threatening water/flying pokemon that eletric really forces plays to happen no matter what vs our other favorite set-up sweepers

 

[Ash Borer]

Some of your electric checks mentioned cannot beat thundy-t if it gets a nasty plot up. +4 252 SpA Thundurus-Therian Gigavolt Havoc (175 BP) vs. 248 HP / 144 SpD Venusaur-Mega: 351-413 (96.6 - 113.7%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO. WIthou stealth rocks, this calc shows that if thundy-t gets two nasty plots up (1 as the mega venusaur tries to switch in or after you kill a pokemon and have a nasty plot up). 0 SpA Venusaur-Mega Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Thundurus-Therian: 138-163 (46.1 - 54.5%) -- 55.9% chance to 2HKO. Sludge bomb is not near a OHKO. SImilarly, Thundy-T also breaks past ferrothorn. +4 252 SpA Thundurus-Therian Gigavolt Havoc (175 BP) vs. 252 HP / 168 SpD Ferrothorn: 353-416 (100.2 - 118.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO. 0 Atk Ferrothorn Gyro Ball (150 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Thundurus-Therian: 102-121 (34.1 - 40.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO. Marowak can be pressured by stealth rocks, and it does happen to be a pretty good check. Excadrill is also a decent check, but that is only two, and when you told the list goes on, could you expand a bit. The point of thundy-t is primarily to completely destroy stall.
To expand a bit on the argument, it is immune to arena trapping, and is arguably the best pokemon vs standard stall, basically killing either chansey or clef. Other then that, bulky offenses have a lot to fear from this monster, and so do offenses if it manages to get an agilty. I would support a potential rise to B-/B. It is better than other C rank pokemon, there is much better than other C rank pokemon, like it is almost always better than xurxitree, and is better than Garchomp-Mega, empoleon, jellicent etc. as it has a much larger niche. Comparing it to C+ rank pokemon like minior, alomomola, necrozma, whimsicott etc. It again fullfills a much larger niche, and does many things like a cleaner that helps a ton vs stall.

True that thundy can bust past these if it needs to, after it will be easily checked and.have taken so much damage it can not set up later in the match. Breaking 1 wall can be good against stall, but these mons are found on balance teams. So what you get is thundy needing to predict heavily to get past one wall, and thats it. Unlike.competing sweepers who are much harder to check.

 

[vso]

Thundurus-T in my eyes while much much lower special attack than xurtitree just does it's stall smashing job better with coverage options, chances to switch in, and speed, but weak to rocks and again not the same insane special attack, but it could get away with taunt/knock-off to cover some threats

But running a stall team that has barely hiccuped by either it's biggest gift if nothing else useful is to make me think twice on using volt switch vs just switching when I see it on their team where if I see a ground pokemon I still will just because if they switch in their ground pokemon at least my pokemon got leftovers

EDIT: I saw some low tier mons near the bottom, mega-garchomp and skipped over the vs xurxitree part

Other than if You got rocks up than straight switched into an electric pokemon on the fini bait there really isn't to much in terms of threatening water/flying pokemon that eletric really forces plays to happen no matter what vs our other favorite set-up sweepers

The problem with xurxitree is in dugtrio, and the prevalence of dugtrio stall being so high is most of the reason that xurxitree has not gotten a better rank. Additionally, it does not have the same speed tier, and does not have access to agility . This forces it to run either Z-hypnosis or z-electric terrain, which does not let it outspeed most of the scarfers nor pheromosa. tHundurus-Therian also is faster than key threats like specs tapu lele, charizard-mega-y, charizard-mega-x,( you want to outspeed that to get off a +2 gigavoltic havoc)offensive landorus-T when it is unboosted etc.

 

[INSANE CARZY GUY]

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-529278168

I'd like to try to nom ditto to C/C-

Mostly for it's ability to let me scout with trace gimmicks, it has a good match-up vs HO without sub(revenge killing/reverse sweep) and vs stall, it will always be able to pp stall Mega sableye at the risk of crippling it's team mates with knock/ switching into into own magic bounce wisp

it should be switching aggressively vs mega venusaur/char-Y to recover stall if Your team can no longer wall them(focus blast/fire blast/sunlight is easy to time out)

Volcarona however doesn't care about it and can keep mindlessly boosting unless You set Hidden power to rock instead of Ice

it's my best answer to boosting/stall/ash-grenija and it's not something that should ever be in Your first picks but anyone who plays stall and has had to deal with it knows it's a complete nightmare if You don't have a safe double regen core.

I really think it's fair to say it has a niche on par with azelf while tearing it's niche apart XD

 

[hecatomb]

Only problem with Thundurus-t is dealing with stealth rock nonsense, which makes you want to start with it and it makes it predictable. Has flying and lighting rod, not to mention with Pelipper rain dance makes it really good, and Pelipper counters ground types and has defog. Unlike xurxitree that cant fly and just dies to ground types, unlike Thundurus-t that wont get hit by EQ. Thundurus-t can get off a nasty plot and hidden power ice to deal with them. So I do agree that Thundurus-t is a lot more useful than xurxitree. Once Thundurus-t has nasty plot is even scarier then Zapdos.

 

[MFJK]

Manaphy to B+ rank :

Manaphy is my favourite pokemon but I have to say that it's not that good in this metagame. Manaphy's main role is to be a Wallbreaker but we have more versatile ones like Ash-Greninja and Keldeo which are faster and can revenge kill dangerous pokemons with priorities in the case of Ash-Greninja and Choice Scarf in the case of Keldeo or even Icy Wind to reduce their speed. So, Manaphy is often outclassed as an offensive Water type.

Keldeo to A rank :

Like I said above, Keldeo is an impressive Wallbreaker and a good Revenge Killer/Cleaner. It can also check dangerous pokemons in this metagame like Greninja, Tyranitar, Weavile, Landorus-T, and other Dark and Ground types which are really common in this metagame. In addition it also has some other options like Z-Rain Dance, HP Electric, Focus Blast and even Fightinium Z which are useful to check specific threats, making it a bit unpredictable and very hard to face.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Only problem with Thundurus-t is dealing with stealth rock nonsense, which makes you want to start with it and it makes it predictable. Has flying and lighting rod, not to mention with Pelipper rain dance makes it really good, and Pelipper counters ground types and has defog. Unlike xurxitree that cant fly and just dies to ground types, unlike Thundurus-t that wont get hit by EQ. Thundurus-t can get off a nasty plot and hidden power ice to deal with them. So I do agree that Thundurus-t is a lot more useful than xurxitree. Once Thundurus-t has nasty plot is even scarier then Zapdos.

It's actually Volt Absorb, not Lightning Rod (I know what you meant, though). And thinking about it now, Volt Absorb might actually be better, since it helps alleviate its weakness to Stealth Rocks. As long as you have more than 25% HP, switching into an Electric attack will completely negate the damage done by the rocks.

 

[volx757]

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-529278168
I'd like to try to nom ditto to C/C-

I'm confused (I think just by wording) by one thing in this post and wanted to get clarity from you, as although I don't believe your opponent in that replay played a good game, a couple of those turns were interesting, starting with magic bounce going from your MSab to his Azelf to your Ditto, forcing your opp. to set rocks on himself.

it will always be able to pp stall Mega sableye at the risk of crippling it's team mates with knock/ switching into into own magic bounce wisp

Sorry I don't understand this at all, could you elaborate plz?
And wouldn't MSab be a great mon to break the ditto strategy with? MSab can't really touch MSab, so they knock off your scarf with impunity and now you've got a 50/50 mon who has to win speed ties instead of an ace RKer.

 

[Gary]

VR ANNOUNCEMENT

Our good friend CrashinBoomBang has stepped down from being a part of the VR council. It was a real pleasure man, you will be missed. :[

And with that, we'd like to welcome njnp to the ranking team!

 

[INSANE CARZY GUY]

I'm confused (I think just by wording) by one thing in this post and wanted to get clarity from you, as although I don't believe your opponent in that replay played a good game, a couple of those turns were interesting, starting with magic bounce going from your MSab to his Azelf to your Ditto, forcing your opp. to set rocks on himself.



Sorry I don't understand this at all, could you elaborate plz?
And wouldn't MSab be a great mon to break the ditto strategy with? MSab can't really touch MSab, so they knock off your scarf with impunity and now you've got a 50/50 mon who has to win speed ties instead of an ace RKer.

I can agree it wasn't the best match but I felt it showcased some ditto/anti ditto tactics at the same time and I haven't fought another high ranked stall team for a while, ditto has more hp than mega sableye and wants to lose its item vs pure stall to the point the experienced stall teams I've fought avoid using knock off so I can't stall for 10+ turns vs recovering 5 times while their pokemon drains PP while waiting for me to switch.

But the most important thing I learned from coping his exadrill was he didn't have rocks and while I messed up badly later on it made my choices easier.

It does require reads to use ditto sometimes but it really helps in stall vs stall/most megas

 

[Gary]

Ditto is a really shitty, situational mon that has very little room on most teams because it's not always reliable at doing it's job and technically doesn't provide any defensive synergy on its own. Can we please stop talking about it.

 

[Seth_]

Beside dropping manaphy and rotom to B+ I suggest moving Tyranitar lower (B+).

So far it did appear 6 times in SPL and got totally 2 kills. Very disappointing for A- mon, isn't it?

It doesn't do job which it used to do in previous gen. It is mediocre trapper because it traps only tapu lele and zard y and is weak to everything else. It is forced to run band because many offensive mons outspeed it despite scarf. Sand is also significantly weaker mainly because of pheromosa. ZardY+Band Tar is no longer stallbreaking combination because of toxapex. Also dugtrio everywhere heavily limits Tyranitar's life.

 

[Mr.Goxel]

Manaphy to B+ rank :

Manaphy is my favourite pokemon but I have to say that it's not that good in this metagame. Manaphy's main role is to be a Wallbreaker but we have more versatile ones like Ash-Greninja and Keldeo which are faster and can revenge kill dangerous pokemons with priorities in the case of Ash-Greninja and Choice Scarf in the case of Keldeo or even Icy Wind to reduce their speed. So, Manaphy is often outclassed as an offensive Water type.

Keldeo to A rank :

Like I said above, Keldeo is an impressive Wallbreaker and a good Revenge Killer/Cleaner. It can also check dangerous pokemons in this metagame like Greninja, Tyranitar, Weavile, Landorus-T, and other Dark and Ground types which are really common in this metagame. In addition it also has some other options like Z-Rain Dance, HP Electric, Focus Blast and even Fightinium Z which are useful to check specific threats, making it a bit unpredictable and very hard to face.

Agreeeing with ur manaphy post but onto Keldeo

I thought A- was high but A is way too far. Keldeo is not as good as metagame monsters like Salamence, Charizard Y, Magnezone and Dugtro(who could all honestly rise but I'm not going to get into that). It competes with both Greninja's for that spot and is just plain outclassed almost everywhere. The one thing it has going for it is that fighting type but it still has one of the most resisted stabs in the tier.

I don't know how many people are going to agree with this but the A- rank is turning into the mid ORAS A+ rank. It's bloated with mons who vary quite heavily in viability. Salamence versus Tyranitar Salamence is way ahead of Tyranitar rn and I don't think that going to change. Think we need to clean up that rank a little bit but that's just what I think.

 

[ABR]

Nidoking is a mon that has really sparked my interest lately, and it will probably be moved up in the future (B?) but I just wanted to get some thoughts out there.

Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute / Thunderbolt / Flamethrower
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
- Ice Beam

Nidoking has one of the most diverse and powerful movepools for any OU-viable pokemon. Much like in gen 6, STABs + boltbeam / fire coverage is fantastic at covering a wide array of pokemon. Many common bulky offenses (like the one my opponent used in the replay below) or balances have an incredibly difficult time switching into this. The above set is pretty much identical to the one we've seen throughout gen 6, but with substitute as the key move here. Since Nidoking forces so many switches, like vs Tapu Fini, Tangrowth, or defensive Lando-T, substitute is often free and allows moves to be used with no need for risky prediction. The downfall in running sub means you lose the ability to hit Celesteela / Mantine and whatnot, but it is incredibly useful for safe play vs offensive teams. As long as Nidoking is supported properly in retaining offensive momentum then it should be doing tons of work.

spl replay

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ou-244009

 

[njnp]

Hey Guys. This will be my first post here. Thanks for picking me to replace my fren CBB.

Anyway, I Wanna Discuss Gyara.

I think regular gyara should move up to B+ it being able to get moxie to get a boost after it gets a kill which isn't hard with its powerful superstrike atk..along with the usage of electrics being way down with only koko being the most viable one.

It can set up on a decent amount of the metagame and even set up on incoming lando-ts sense most lack edge these days.

It has great bulk and perfect typing to set up multiple times and go through teams definitely much better then mega gyara atm.

The most popular scarfer phermosa being unable to use its stabs to stop ur set up sweeper is very nice.

Hide

Zamrock SPL Replay
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ou-243259

This post is quite simple there isn't much more for me to elaborate on.

 

[tigers jaw]

Most definitely agree with a rise for regular Gyarados. I was sceptical of its viability in comparison to the somewhat superior Salamence, but the defensive utility it brings in checking prominent threats such as both Greninja forms and Pheromosa is huge; as a Pokemon with the ability to set up on both of their most common sets is a huge boon for offensive teams. Furthermore, it has far less trouble in breaking through common builds featuring featuring Tapu Fini, Tangrowth, Landorus, and Celesteela. In my experience, the massive lack of support required for Gyarados in comparison to Salamence makes it worthy of a raise. To add to this, the waning popularity of Choice Scarf Tapu Lele, which was once the biggest reason to use Salamence over Gyarados bolsters the merits of using Gyarados in lieu of Salamence even further.

 

[blunder]

i think gastrodon is definitely worth putting over mons like slowking and latias that are in b- rank while it sits in c. in the current meta it serves as a really nice specially defensive sponge for a lot of teams. gastrodon's typing is great right now because it's able to counter a ton of shit like greninja, ash greninja, gengar, tapu koko, scarf lele, magearna, nihilego and the list goes on. its probably the best counter ive found for ash greninja as it cant be worn down like fini and specs dark pulse from regular gren is only a 4hko to spdef spreads. i used this in my spl game last week but it lost so i don't really have any other replays to show of this thing. if there is one problem with gastrodon though it's probably that it's kind of a sitting duck when its walling what its supposed to wall. i've found myself losing 1v1 to stuff like specs ninja bc they just dark pulse flinch you and you don't do very significant damage. despite this it still is a fairly antimeta pick and can wall a lot in the current meta so i recommend anyone to try this out

Gastrodon-East (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Earth Power
- Toxic
- Recover

i don't use any real defensive investment because it needs all the spdef it can get to wall stuff like greninja and its phys def sucks anyways so most physical stuff is still gonna destroy it regardless of investment.

 

[Wob]

Manaphy to B+ rank :

Manaphy is my favourite pokemon but I have to say that it's not that good in this metagame. Manaphy's main role is to be a Wallbreaker but we have more versatile ones like Ash-Greninja and Keldeo which are faster and can revenge kill dangerous pokemons with priorities in the case of Ash-Greninja and Choice Scarf in the case of Keldeo or even Icy Wind to reduce their speed. So, Manaphy is often outclassed as an offensive Water type.

Keldeo to A rank :

Like I said above, Keldeo is an impressive Wallbreaker and a good Revenge Killer/Cleaner. It can also check dangerous pokemons in this metagame like Greninja, Tyranitar, Weavile, Landorus-T, and other Dark and Ground types which are really common in this metagame. In addition it also has some other options like Z-Rain Dance, HP Electric, Focus Blast and even Fightinium Z which are useful to check specific threats, making it a bit unpredictable and very hard to face.

Gonna have to disagree with you on Manaphy here. While it's true that Manaphy lacks the speed which other special Water-type wallbreakers have, its base 100 speed tier is still very respectable. If you're really worried about the low speed, you can always go and Z-Rain Dance to boost its Speed by 1 while also powering up its Surf/Scald significantly and allowing it to just run through Stall and bulkier teams in general without having to worry about Status. Anyway, Manaphy is a lot bulkier than Ash-Greninja and Keldeo, and it has something that they lack; the ability to boost its special attack to +3 with a single moveset in one turn, boosting its power to ridiculous levels. All it needs is a free turn or two and it can get out of hand really quickly, so much that it can 2HKO even Chansey in rain.

tl;dr This thing doesn't deserve to drop lol. While it lacks immediate Speed and power of other special Water-types it can be brutal if it gets the chance to set up.

 

[Gawain3012]

Tapu Koko A+ to A
I think Tapu Koko should drop because it is just to weak. It can't really use it's 115 Attack Stat because it has no good Physical STABs and 95 Special Attack is way to low. Electric Terrain boosts it's Electric Type Attacks but it' Coverage Moves do nothing. It fails to OHKO Tankchomp and Lando T with little SpeDef Investment. I just don't think it's on the same level as Ash Greninja and Pheromosa in the current Meta Game.

 

[njnp]

Tapu Koko A+ to A
I think Tapu Koko should drop because it is just to weak. It can't really use it's 115 Attack Stat because it has no good Physical STABs and 95 Special Attack is way to low. Electric Terrain boosts it's Electric Type Attacks but it' Coverage Moves do nothing. It fails to OHKO Tankchomp and Lando T with little SpeDef Investment. I just don't think it's on the same level as Ash Greninja and Pheromosa in the current Meta Game.

I think koko is fine where it is at. It has accessibility to great mometum moves in u turn and volt switch. It can run many sets like lo,magnet,scarf, and specs to name a few. It can be a very nice check to things like pinsir and a very nice counter for tapu fini with roost. The only negative about koko atm is tangrowths rise in tour play. Koko even then has bb to catch that monster. I was thinking about making koko A myself but then I dabbled with scarf modest koko and that thing is amazing. So, nah I think koko is fine where it is at. Has amazing stabs and even has the moves and z moves to take stall on. It certainly is a force to be reckon with.

 

[bludz]

Dugtrio -> A

I think Dugtrio is more relevant and metagame defining than the pokemon in A-. It is an extremely powerful support pokemon which is capable of revenge killing a multitude of threats thanks to its high speed and Arena Trap prevents them from escaping. It pairs well with so well with big threats like Volcarona, Zard Y, and so many others really. Not only is Dugtrio capable of getting at least 1 kill per game (which it's pretty excellent at), but just having it on your team discourages certain plays. For example, if your opponent has a Mega Metagross and you have Lele + Dugtrio, they will think very hard about actually KOing anything with Metagross. If they do, you could probably revenge with Dugtrio and then Lele gets a KO whenever it comes out, potentially. So one of the biggest threats in the tier has to be played cautiously in this situation because of Dugtrio. Theres also been discussion on it in Policy Review with regards to stalls viability. I really don't think it's a stretch at all to say Dugtrio should move up to A

 

[Gawain3012]

Most of the time Koko can't really run Brave Bird because: 1) Tapu Koko is a Special Attacker and running mixed Tapu Koko weakens it's Coverage Moves even more. 2) It suffers from 4MSS, It needs Tbolt to do damage and HP Ice for Coverage. It can run Volt Switch for momentum while dealing good damage. But Volt Switch get stopped by Pokemon like Land T, Garchomp and A Marowak, so u can use U-Turn right? But than you already have 4 Moves and U-Turn doesn't deal Damage. You also want Gleam because of Dragons like Garchomp, Latios and Salamence and BB for Tangrowth and MegaSaur. I'm not a huge fan of Choiced Tapu Koko, because locking yourself into a Coverage Move makes you a Set Up Fodder because, like I said before, Tapu Kokos Coverage Moves are way to weak.

I also think Dugtrio should rise. It can also trap: Zard X, Magnezone, Magearna, Heatran, Jirachi and Tyrannitar.

 

[hecatomb]

It can trap a lot of things, but it all depends if people start using air balloon magnezone with hidden power ice. Heatran users also use air balloon, so its not a guaranteed trap. It also cant threaten flying steel types like Celesteela or Skarmory. Also while Pheromosa doesnt care about it, since she runs ice beam, and Greninja does care about any ground type. Even Tapu Koko has u-turn which it cant be trapped, and can run hidden power ice, still has little to worry about Dugtrio. Dugtrio is alright, but compared to the other threats in A rank its not as powerful

 

[volx757]

It can trap a lot of things, but it all depends if people start using air balloon magnezone with hidden power ice. Heatran users also use air balloon, so its not a guaranteed trap. It also cant threaten flying steel types like Celesteela or Skarmory. Also while Pheromosa doesnt care about it, since she runs ice beam, and Greninja does care about any ground type. Even Tapu Koko has u-turn which it cant be trapped, and can run hidden power ice, still has little to worry about Dugtrio. Dugtrio is alright, but compared to the other threats in A rank its not as powerful

It traps and KOs half of the threats in A right now. I also feel like the examples you provided here aren't really relevant aside from zone and tran, neither of which actually wants to run air baloon OR hp ice. It does typically get at least 1 KO per game if used correctly.

Another thing bludz mentioned that I think isn't discussed enough is the pressure that dugtrio puts on teams with a trappable mon, which is basically every team.
It forces you to make sub-optimal plays, such as always switching out your trappable mon that otherwise would be able to put in work because if you don't, they might go duggy and you just lost that mon. In the typical stall scenario, this would be a situation where you have your heatran out vs MSab, a matchup in heatran's favor, but you really can't make any plays until dugtrio is gone because if you stay in you risk getting trapped and removed (exception being magma storm tran, but you're still rolling a die on that). IMO this is the most oppressive thing about dugtrio, even if your opponent never brings it out, the threat of it waiting in the wings forces some otherwise bad plays.

Agree dugtrio -> A

____________________________________________
edit samurott14rogers below:

Excadrill - Air Balloon 3.281%
Heatran - Air Balloon 6.537%
Xurkitree - Air Balloon 21.071%

While I am surprised how many people are running bad xurkitree sets, these are the only OU mons that have run air balloon (1850 usage stats).
It is not on many pokemon who possess a bad ground weakness.

Side note if you're running air balloon magnezone something is very wrong.