is the closest thing to broken in my eyes and I am paying very close attention to it. Not saying it will be up for a ban or on a radar as we are not at that stage yet, but it stands out to me. This is not due to the utility like prior generations either. People have been using NP 3A and even 4A sets to a great degree of success though. It has some customizability to pick its own counterplay and works really well on some cheesy styles like PsySpam and screens/veil. I do not know if I would call for a ban yet though as so much is changing each day (and it has only been two), but worth keeping an eye on.
Weather got better with the Terapagos ban and the general uptick in abusers. Kingdra is a nice addition to Rain and classic adds like Greninja tend to have fewer switchins now. The main thorn in the side of Rain is cores with Toxapex + another wall that has a Tera Water (or Water resistant type) that can stifle progress big time. Sun is probably the better of the two and offers more plus match-ups as it has greater breaking prowess, but it also has a few very hard match-ups and needs to compress defensive roles carefully of course. Neither style feels broken or in need of any tiering action, but definitely a cool trend.
Three Pokemon returning from Ubers that can pull off similar shenanigans, but with slightly heigthened counterplay. I can see any of these being problems long-haul, but I am absolutely not sold on any of them being broken right now. In fact, I think that we are still seeing their set mixes, especially for Kyurem and Volcarona, develop and the teams they work on settle. I think these are Pokemon to carefully watch basically, but not yet things I have big concerns about.
This Pokemon is surprisingly...mid...it is like plenty viable sure, but it is not broken or even close, in my opinion. Very glad we dropped it to OU!
They still run the tier and function as awesome pieces of speed control with great overall presences. No surprise to see the two goats continue their runs.
This one is very annoying for sure, but not broken and just requires us to be mindful in teambuilding. 
Skarm is super good right now. One of the best returning additions to the tier. It is great are role compression. Functions nicely with 
and Regenerator Poison types as a balanced backbone!Generally, I've found that Metagross likes to play more defensive roles with items like Assault Vest to maximize its total bulk. It naturally hits like a truck as well, let alone with full investment. Electivire seems to be the main setup sweeper out of the three, with a double sweeper set of Bulk Up + Trailblaze with Supercell Slam and a coverage move (usually Ice Punch). Here's a set I've been tooling around with that's more Utility Attacker
Ok, what's your version setup for Magmortar and Metagross?252+ Atk Expert Belt Technician Kricketune Pounce vs. 0 HP / 8 Def Deoxys-Speed: 262-312 (108.7 - 129.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Generally, I've found that Metagross likes to play more defensive roles with items like Assault Vest to maximize its total bulk. It naturally hits like a truck as well, let alone with full investment. Electivire seems to be the main setup sweeper out of the three, with a double sweeper set of Bulk Up + Trailblaze with Supercell Slam and a coverage move (usually Ice Punch). Here's a set I've been tooling around with that's more Utility Attacker
Electivire @ Expert Belt
Ability: Motor Drive
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Supercell Slam
- Ice Punch
- Knock Off
- Trailblaze
Magmortar got Knock Off as well, so Magmortar generally likes to run a nuclear offensive utility set as well - just with more of a focus on outright blowing through opposing cores as opposed to Electivire being a little more reserved.
well, to be honest, i think trying to compete directly with maushold as a setup sweeper is not what cinccino should be doing. sure, technician + loaded dice is strong, but maushold can just kinda do it better, even though cinccino's faster and has way better and stronger coverage. but if we focus on the other things cinccino gets that maushold doesn't, we see a different path open to us. consider this: cinccino gets knock off and thunder wave, two excellent utility moves that maushold lacks, in addition to the already insanely good utility that tidy up provides. while doing this, you can still run skill link to launch an appreciably strong 125-power stab tail slap, and skill link lets you put boots on it instead of dice. there's a damage trade-off, sure, but the utility it can provide is incredible and that's a role maushold can't do
hmm… a flying-type that serves as a blanket check to a lot of physical attackers and pairs well with ting-lu and glowking, you say…Functions nicely with
Are you saying that we finally have a balanced metagame, and it took a single turtle to achieve it?Day 2 thoughts:
my brother in christ it's been 48 hours. nobody could possibly know whether it's actually balanced or not yet. we shouldn't be going full throttle on the banwagon like we did in dlc1 (by necessity), but we also shouldn't be going around trumpeting "huzzah, huzzah, the meta is balanced" when i've had colds that have lasted longer than this meta has been playable. making this judgement right now is like airing the "dewey defeats truman" headline during the hoover administration. it's like hitting it off on a first date and immediately starting a college tuition fund for your future kids. it's like making a plan for the year at the beginning of 2020. what i'm trying to get at is, it's way too soon to be saying this
I'm not personally finding Stellar Enamorous (with Scarf) to be that good yet. Sure I get to revenge kill the Tera threat, but then I get revenged by a faster booster mon lol. Iron Boulder that proceeds to sword dance.
interesting take. i was honestly thinking serp was standing out as one of the highest priority mons for future tiering action, after deoxys-speed and roaring-moon. tera blast ground sets are incredibly good, and glare basically guarantees progress & also introduces an annoying luck-based aspect. a lot of the natural counterplay to volcarona like spdef skeledirge, heatran, gouging-fire, blissey and clod can somewhat reliably check volcarona but are more prone to glarehax/being chipped into range for serperior. i also feel like kyurem just does not seem broken in a meta that's dominated by HO, and will only really start to seem restrictive once more people start to build balance again. if you don't mind me asking, what makes you think it's lower down the list than kyurem and volcarona? am i overlooking any viable counterplay besides the aforementioned unaware mons, blissey, and bulky 4x grass resists?
I played once against someone who paired it with Yawn Glowking. It's pretty dire.
HO may be the most common right now based on sheer ladder usage and new toy applications, but imo balance is great and the most consistent archetype right now.
The list isn’t in order; it was a stream of thoughts really. Deo-Speed came first because it was top of mind, but I mentioned some pretty random Pokemon like Darkrai in the middle and so on. I haven’t tried Tera Ground on Serp — I’ll give it a whirl, but I do find myself being able to out pressure it with offense and survive its assault with balance so far. Maybe I’m preparing too specifically and it’s restrictive though. I think the tier has a lot of evolutions coming anyway, but as always I’m keeping an open mind and we will see what’s next.
Switch it in against something it outspeeds, use Glare or Leaf Storm, Terastallize if you're forced to, then bet it all on that being your wincon.
All of the beasts and swords on one team is a bit much. However, I think you could definitely fit all of Gouging Fire, Walking Wake, and Raging Bolt into one sun team.
This is funny bc Serperior is still very good (arguably one of the top 5 mons rn) without Tera Stellar lmao. No one truly thought it would be broken with Stellar, it was always gonna be more consistent with Leaf Storm and Tera Ground
ah yes the mon considered top I in viability right now is “gimmick garbage”.
I think Dark Void was nerfed because Darkrai terrorized VGC, where they don't have Sleep Clause or a mechanism to ban non-box-legendaries.
