The problem is…
There are no long-term answers to Weavile. And before you say Buzzwole and Clef, take a look at this.
252+ Atk Choice Band Weavile Triple Axel (40 BP) (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 270-318 (68.5 - 80.7%) -- approx. 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Weavile Triple Axel (40 BP) (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Buzzwole: 174-210 (41.6 - 50.2%) -- approx. 94.9% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
The issue is things that can tank a t-axel do not like Knock or losing their items (Fini, Tran). What can take a Knock Off isn’t fine with taking a T-Axel (Buzz, Clef). Not to mention Beat Up can 2HKO all but dark resists. Pex is the most reliable answer to it, but
A. Band Beat Up still 2HKOs Pex and forces it to switch out, making it an ez advantage for the team.
B. relies on Scald burns or Toxic to beat SD Weav.
Meaning if you don’t get that 30% chance, then Weav can simply set up another SD and wipe out your Pex. (Also because of Pressure, it also out-PPs Haze)
+4 252+ Atk Weavile Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 262-310 (86.1 - 101.9%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
Fini is not a reliable Weav check. It gets Knock’d and ends up getting chipped down like a m-fer.
Tran and Ferro are not long-term checks either. Especially since Tran has to also fend off Pult, Lele, Blace, etc. Meaning in a realistic scenario, it won’t be healthy enough to take a hit from Banded or +2 Weav. Ferro can punish T-axel very well, but it along with Tran also have to worry about Beat Up. Plus Ferro is almost never at full, meaning realistically Weavile is gonna pick up a kill.
Yes Band variants are vulnerable to rocks, but it isn’t like the tier doesn’t have reliable forms of hazard removal in Torn, Lando, and Corv who coincidentally can also bring Weav in safely via U-Turn. Yes it isn’t a sure fire solution, but it is a problem it has that became more manageable in the following generation. Even in the worst case scenario, a Band Weav at 75%, 50%, or 1% is still a Band Weav.
The worst part about dealing with Weav is that you have to take into account both Band and Boots. You also have to consider some possibilities like “oh look there is Weav and it set up SD as I bring in Ferro, I can take a hit and cripple it hard with….whoops it turned out to have Low Kick.” Or “My Buzz can check Weav but oh no it was actually Banded? ggs wp.” and I haven’t even mentioned LO which p much OHKOs the entire tier after a boost. Yes its super easy to chip, but you are likely gonna lose one or two pokemon before it goes down because of its speed tier + Ice Shard
It is true that many breakers have little to no long-term answers, but none of them are as fast as Weav. There are four unboosted mons in the whole tier that outspeed it (five if we are counting Torn vs Ada). Eleki isn’t common, and Pult is vulnerable to Ice Shard. (Torn also gets picked off by Ice Shard) So this leaves you with Koko, Zera and scarfers which are perfectly fine rkilers but Weav can always just come back and kill something else. As for the Kart comparison, Torn can switch into any one move and scare it off. +2 Kart isn’t gonna stay in and risk getting Heat Wave’d. This is why I mentioned speed. Teams don’t have this luxury against Weav. If you tried that with Koko/Zera, they lose their boots or worst case scenario, get hit by T-Axel and be put in Ice Shard range. Scarfers can’t safely switch for obvious reasons. What you are missing by comparing Weav to Kart is that there is not only a gap between 109 and 125 speed, but Weav doesn’t have to sacrifice a whole moveslot to beat a dedicated check. It is perfectly content with Kncok/T-Axel/Ice Shard, Low Kick is just an option to blank Tran/Ferro early game. For Kart its “Cool, you sloted Aerial Ace to OHKO Buzz. Do you wanna get walled by Tran/Ferro or do you want to get walled by Zapdos?”. Weav loses priority to rkill Chomp, but it isn’t too problematic if you simply pair it with Buzzwole who can check Chomp just fine.
Buzz does fine vs SD Weav as long as it isn’t that shitty offensive spread, but it still loses to Band variants. This means you have to pack multiple checks to it in order to not lose to it. Not to mention Weav can always be paired with FS to break through Buzz anyways. The same problem Urshifu had, it was either Buzzwole or bust. Lets not forget that the reason Buzzwole wasn’t the end all solution to Shifu was that Buzzwole is such a fucking momentum drainer. Which is why offensive variants popped up, so that it is less passive. Even with like 68HP/252Dfse/188Sped, it is still forced to Roost if it gets hit by T-Axel, cause otherwise it will get 2HKOd if Weav comes back in.
252+ Atk Weavile Triple Axel (40 BP) (3 hits) vs. 68 HP / 252+ Def Buzzwole: 120-144 (32.2 - 38.7%) -- approx. 92.6% chance to 2HKO
I don’t like the SD Weav and BU Zera comparison. Weavile doesn’t need its checks to be heavily crippled for it to start going apeshit. I also want to mention that giving Lando momentum then it is to give Buzz any. Fini is far more easy to wear down than Lando due to having to check multiple things at once. Also Zera’s 112 atk is not comparable to Weav’s 120. Especially since most Weav’s run Ada.
If the solution is to slap Buzz on a team or slot in Pex + dark resist, or run like three checks on a tethen there is a problem with Weavile. Ofc, its not as broken as Darkfu or Kyu, but it doesn’t have to be on their level to still have an unhealthy strangle on the metagame. To explain what I mean, ppl have complained about having trouble with Zapdos, Lele, Pult, and other strong special breakers. People want to slot in Glowking, SpD Pex, and others, but the issue is that
teams that do well against Weavile have a hard time dealing with the rest of the meta. Its easy to assume that it relies on Beat Up to break past its checks, but it doesn’t fully rely on it. It just uses it to not worry about Flame Body or Iron Barbs. The most underrated aspect of Boots Weav is that it is perfectly capable of outlasting its checks. With the combination of Knock forcing Ferro and friends to lose their precious items and the fact that the rest with recovery either die to +2 T-axel, are momentum drainers, or are Pex. Band is dummy strong and Boots outlives those Fini Ferro/Tran teams who crumple after chip which is not difficult to do. Other boots users like Koko and Zera aren’t problematic since they aren’t as insanely strong as Weav, and they have enough checks/counters to keep them in check. Weavile even without Band still can truck a majority of its targets. Sorry for the long college essay but I just wanted to get my point across. A suspect test would help us determine if Weav is too unhealthy for the metagame, or if it is something like gen 5 Latios where we just have to deal with it.
And just so I’m not talking out of my ass, I have a couple of replays.
(My own gameplay)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1538942411-rrzqkj7y9ng4zaxezl83ppzng779dm2pw
With Buzz and Ferro chipped, they can no longer check Weavile.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1553727320
Band Weav casually 2HKOing Buzz.
(WCOP Qualifiers)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-625377
Not a Weav showcase, but it shows how easy it is to cripple Fini in practice since it has to switch into things like Tran.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-624901
Even though Chiles lost, their Weavile was about to win the game, despite the unfortunate miss on turn 40. Also shows an example of Buzz being forced to Roost or be in 2HKO range of T-Axel like in turns 26-27.
(OURLT)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1565680307-7lozrxo86fbalw09omio60dubx33y7ypw
In the finals of OURLT, Leavers had three checks to Weav
including Scarf Shifu, but once Fini got Knock’d, Spookyz was ready to go off. 2HKOing both the Bish and Urshifu