The Top 10 Titans of the 5th Gen OU Metagame [VOTING OVER]

How about we say that if a Pokemon has had 3 explained votes, then you don't need to write a paragraph if you vote for that Pokemon. Yes? No?
 
I am also, as pretty much everyone else is, voting for Politoed.

It's pretty obvious that this badass little frog has had a massive impact on the metagame.

Drizzle is a god-send to this Pokemon, and makes many Pokemon in OU so much better just with rain up. Hard-hitting water types like Gyarados and Keldeo get their STABs increased to ridiculous levels, it allows many Pokemon to have access to a 100% accurate Thunder, such as Thunderus-T and Jirachi.

Bulky Water types become even harder to take down, such as Vaporeon with its Hydration ability, and Tentacruel with Rain Dish.

Rain is one of the reasons that some people choose to run Kingdra on their teams, because it is so amazingly good and overused that you can take advantage of an opponent's Rain and use it to help you win.

Not only that, but Politoed can surprisingly run a variety of sets with it's well-balanced stats, such as a Defensive Poke using the likes of Toxic and Perish Song, or an offensive Poke holding a Choice Specs or Choice Scarf.
 

Gary

Can be abrasive at times (no joke)
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I'll probably end this vote short, because it's pretty much a majority at this point, and most people seemed to have come to a general consensus. I'll give you guys until ~5:00 EST to vote if you haven't already.
 

Jukain

!_!
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fuck it nothing compares

Politoed

I spent a good ten minutes deliberating, and decided that the setter of rain, which changed the face of the generation, needed to be in the first spot.

We should guess what of this gen's Pokemon will be the top next gen, and see if we are right. That'd be a fun exercise. Who would've guessed Politoed would be the king of BW?
 

Gary

Can be abrasive at times (no joke)
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And with that, the voting for the #1 spot ends here! I decided to cut it short because....

Politoed: 19
Ferrothorn: 1
Ninetales: 1
Politoed is the Winner!
1.

Politoed won by a Rock Slide, so I feel like there's no need to continue on with the voting any longer. So just like that, we already have our crowned king of OU, Politoed! Like Jukain mentioned, who would have thought last generation that 5th gen would be dominated by nothing other than long forgotten 2nd gen relic. Still, it shouldn't really be a surprise. Drizzle is just such an amazing ability that can take an entire metagame and twist it into something completely different, even if it's given to a lackluster Pokemon like Politoed. There's no denying that Politoed is the greatest Titan of the OU metagame. Congratulations my little green bro!

Voting for #2 spot

Alright the voting has begun! We are going to be voting for the #2 spot. This is when voting starts to get tricky. Politoed was obviously #1 to a majority of the OU players, but the lower you go, the harder it's going to get to rank Pokemon that may have just as much of an impact as another, but one of them has one defining feature that sets them apart. Although the #2 spot may still seem obvious to some, to others its still a hard one. You're not required to write any sort of description about your vote, but if you want to then you're more then welcome to. From now on, I would highly advise you to write a few sentences explaining your vote, or else your vote may be more open to disagreement. The voting will always last for two days, as I feel that is more than enough time to cast your votes. Happy voting!

This was a very hard choice for me, because I was torn between two very prominent Pokemon that I think were both extremely influential in this metagame. But alas, I could only pick one. I had to think long and hard for this one, and ultimately I decided on:

Tyranitar:
for #2

Although some of you may find this to be an obvious choice, I honestly was torn between this guy and Ferrothorn, arguably one of the most influential defensive Pokemon that has ever been introduced to Pokemon. For me though, Tyranitar seems like the superior choice. Like Politoed, its effect on the metagame has been absolutely gigantic compared to a lot of other Pokemon that have seen the light of OU. First off, it creates Sand, which on its own is more then enough of a reason to make it a great OU Pokemon. Second of all, it's actually a fantastic Pokemon on its own, even outside of creating sand, as it has some of the highest stats of any Pokemon in OU. Sporting a whopping 135 base attack, 100/110/150+ bulk factoring in Sand Stream, the only thing that T-Tar falls short in is in the Speed department, but it's not much of a problem for something that can tank pretty much any hit bar Fighting. It's well known for being one of the greatest Pursuit trappers in OU, let alone the game. Because of its titanic bulk, it can easily switch into the likes of Latios and Latias and proceed to easily trap them, sometimes barely losing more then 50% of its health in the process. It's said that T-Tar is one of the biggest factors in actually keeping those two key threats from being overwhelming for most teams, as it can easily dispose of them and almost renders the Eon twins completely useless the entire match until the big guy is dealt with. His Banded set is feared by many for its wall breaking potential, his Scarf set is known for being able to check the hell out of any Psychic-type bar Alakazam, and last but not least, he's an amazing team supporter, with access to moves like T-Wave and Stealth Rock.

What you think I was done there? No of course not. There's a few things I forgot to mention that separates T-Tar from the other titans. First off, and most importantly, T-tar created a monster so powerful that it was deemed too broken by the OU council, and that monster is known as none other than Excadrill. The people that played during that era will know what I mean when I say that T-Tar single handedly broke the metagame for a while, all because of one simple Pokemon, and it's incredible Sand Rush ability. Then of course, we have the three stooges core that consists of Tyranitar, Keldeo, and Landorus-I. This core caused an instant lose condition to anyone that ran something like Celebi or Latias to counter Keldeo and Landorus, because T-Tar could easily trap every single one of their counters and obliterate them with Pursuit or Crunch. This factored into Landorus-I getting a suspect, and thus resulting in a ban. Keldeo was up next, but as of now, it's most likely here to stay, but it's still something to think about.

In my eyes, Politoed and Tyranitar have single handedly ruled BW OU with an iron fist. T-Tar's influence on the metagame was not quite as influential as Politoed's, however with that in mind, Tyranitar is probably the closest thing to Politoed in this metagame when it comes to defining and running a metagame. This is why, IMO, Tyranitar is #2.
 
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Stone RG

Megas are broke
Voting:



Anybody that was in the first 4 months of the BW2 metagame can tell you what genesect meant: free momentum. There's no other way of putting it, its versatility, that went all through the most feared OU sweeper, aka RockPolish, to an unexpected wallbreaker that held the name of Choice Band Genesect, put the opposing player at an automatic disadvantage in almost every occasion you brought gene in, its coverage was perfect in Ou with the exception of Heatran, speaking of which, did you knwo stupid sets like Shed Shell Rest Talk Tran were invented for the SOLE purpose of countering genesect, because if dugtrio was anything during the genesect era, it was genesect's sidekick when going up against every fire type.

Genesect pulled off 50-50 situations by himself, the Choice Scarf variant, supposedly the most common, yet arguably the least useful, was what made the cyborg so feared, because the trolly 99 base speed tier was no longer an issue, and forced your opponent either risking a kill on his team or... you know what? He still risked a kill unless he was switching into heatran, genesect's coverage is THAT good.

Hyper Offense was arguably made during this meta for Genesect's purpose to sweep more easily, seeing as how it was incredibly easy for him to pull off a set nobody expected out of his ***, it forced most of the players to play conservatively, or an all-out offense style. Not only did it influenced the metagame, it also influenced the way we played every pokemon we had, knowing genesect could happen to kill almost every one of them with simple prediction or bluffing.
 
Once again, I submit ...

Ferrothorn

I don't feel like I need to reiterate many of my point before, but Ferrothorn has had a huge impact on BW OU since day 1. It's a great wall that can check and counter tons if threats, lay down hazards, hit back decently hard ... It has had a massive hand (vine?) in determining what is offensively viable in BW OU, as well as helping to keep stall relevant. It is simply put probably the most influential Pokemon that doesn't start weather.
 

ShootingStarmie

Bulletproof
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Nominating Tyranitar.

Tyranitar has always been a dominant force in the metagame ever since GSC. In ADV it was considered the best Pokemon, while in generation 4 it received top usage. However, during generation 5, Tyranitar was more dominant than ever before, mainly because of it's ability Sand Stream. This allowed Tyranitar to check play-styles all on it's own, just because it could eliminate the previous weather changes. This kept powerful Sun Sweepers and Rain sweepers (somewhat) at bay. Tyranitar also created many viable play styles of it's own, which was generally Sand balance / offence. Tyranitar is the main reason behind Excadrill, Keldeo, and Landorus-I being so dominant in their respective time in OU, as well as making lower tier threats such as Stoutland and Sandslash viable.

Tyranitar has incredible stats, and is one of the few counters to the Lati twins and other strong special attackers. This is mainly because of Tyranitar's incredible SpDef stat (which is boosted by 50% during Sandstorm, like any Rock type) and it's powerful Pursuit. It's incredible stats and move pool allow it to fill nearly any role, from a revenge killer, trapper, SpDef tank, an SR supporter, and a powerful Choice Bander. All in all, Tyranitar has always seen incredible usage this generation, and allowed other Pokemon to flourish whilst also checking other dangerous sweepers.

Tyranitar needs to be #2
 

blitzlefan

shake it off!
Voting Terrakion

I personally think Terrakion has been a huge influence on the BW metagame. Terrakion (and the other musketeers) basically redefined what fast means (at least base 108 Speed), and its powerful STAB options mean few Pokemon can consistently switch in on a move without taking decent damage. Strong boosting moves in Swords Dance and Rock Polish means it can easily capitalize on free turns, while Taunt and Stealth Rock help it gain momentum early on. The Choice Scarf set is excellent for revenge killing, and the CB set decimates a lot of defensively-oriented Pokemon. Terrakion's always been a consistent threat in OU (and plays decently well even in Ubers), and I think it's deserving of the #2 spot.
 

canno

formerly The Reptile
After some consideration, I would like to change my vote to Tyranitar

Similarly to Politoed, TTar's impact on the meta have been both huge and long lasting. While his impact wasn't as powerful as Politoeds, it was still major, and unlike Politoed, had more to do with the actual pokemon rather than its ability. In the early metagame, TTar was a huge threat thanks to its ability to summon Sand for Excadrill, and for it's really powerful attacks, which soften things up. Then there's the more recent Lando-I / TTar / Keldeo combo that destroyed the metagame while it was prevalent. This was all because TTar is the best pursuit trapper in the game. It's so good that Celebi is now forced to use Baton Pass over U-Turn unless it wants to get brutally demolished. Meanwhile, half of the time, it makes Lati@s a sitting duck before destroying it. Even with Lando-I gone. TTar + Keldeo is a very strong combination, so that's why I think it should get #2
 
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For Genesect (or anything released after BW2), I honestly don't think they could be ranked this high. No matter how big of an impact they had at the time, they literally had none for the first half of the BW OU meta.

Top 10? Probably. #2? No way.
 

Halcyon.

@Choice Specs
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I vote for Tyranitar for #2

Tyranitar started out in BW1 on a really high note. When Excadrill was around, Tyranitar and sand was by far the best weather. But the amazing thing about Tyranitar is that, unlike Politoed or Ninetales, not only is it good because of its weather-setting ability, it's also a really good Pokémon on its own! It has great attack, defense, HP, and SDef even without the sand boost. It may have low speed, but its insane bulk more than makes up for it. Not to mention its unbelievable movepool. It has the right moves so that it can even get past things that would normally spell doom for a physically based attacker, like Ice Beam for catching Landorus-T off guard on the Scarf set, or Fire Blast for Forretress and Ferrothorn. This is, of course, not even counting his STAB Stone Edge and Crunch, which can dent just about anything with a Choice Band (it even 2HKOs Skarmory!).

And Tyranitar is no slouch supportively either. The big reason to use it nowadays is Pursuit, since it becomes an absolute shutdown to Latios and Latias with it, clearing the way fro Keldeo, Celebi, Thundurus-T, or whatever else you have that needs them gone. I mean, Pursuit was part of the reason that Landorus was banned and Keldeo is suspect (not all but PART). It can also set up Stealth Rock, Thunder Wave faster threats, whatever you need it to do, it can. Tyranitar is that good on its own. When you include what it brings to the team in terms of sand, it gets even better. Sand is basically analogous with weatherless, since Tyranitar makes such a great anti-weather Pokémon for "weatherless" teams. It is the best tool players have of combatting rain and sun, and that alone makes Tyranitar one of the best Pokémon in OU. Combine it all together, and you have a great Pokémon for #2.
 

Gary

Can be abrasive at times (no joke)
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For Genesect (or anything released after BW2), I honestly don't think they could be ranked this high. No matter how big of an impact they had at the time, they literally had none for the first half of the BW OU meta.

Top 10? Probably. #2? No way.
I agree. It didn't really leave a lasting impact on the tier once it was banned from the tier. Yes, I agree it was over centralizing and forced a lot of people to run Heatran and it could fit on pretty much any team with ease, but unlike other nominations such as Ferrothorn, Tyranitar, Keldeo, and Terrakion, Genesect just wasn't around long enough to truly leave a large enough impact on the tier that's comparable to some of these other Pokemon just previously mentioned. It didn't create its own playstyle, nor did it rule most of BW1 like Terrakion, nor did it push a playstyle over the edge and potentially cause other Pokemon to be suspected. Genesect was an all around great Pokemon that did work in the few months it was legal in OU, but even when it was OU, I really don't think it was comparable to the likes of the other nominations that have pretty much shaped the metagame. Genesect just made the metagame more offensive, but the same could be said for Terrakion or Keldeo, both who have more of a lasting impact on the tier.

Remember to think about your votes guys. Think about the bigger picture here, not just about the Pokemon itself. Sure Genesect is an amazing Pokemon, but did it shape the metagame or impact the metagame enough to warrant it a spot next to the KING of OU?
 

Stone RG

Megas are broke
I agree. It didn't really leave a lasting impact on the tier once it was banned from the tier. Yes, I agree it was over centralizing and forced a lot of people to run Heatran and it could fit on pretty much any team with ease, but unlike other nominations such as Ferrothorn, Tyranitar, Keldeo, and Terrakion, Genesect just wasn't around long enough to truly leave a large enough impact on the tier that's comparable to some of these other Pokemon just previously mentioned. It didn't create its own playstyle, nor did it rule most of BW1 like Terrakion, nor did it push a playstyle over the edge and potentially cause other Pokemon to be suspected. Genesect was an all around great Pokemon that did work in the few months it was legal in OU, but even when it was OU, I really don't think it was comparable to the likes of the other nominations that have pretty much shaped the metagame. Genesect just made the metagame more offensive, but the same could be said for Terrakion or Keldeo, both who have more of a lasting impact on the tier.

Remember to think about your votes guys. Think about the bigger picture here, not just about the Pokemon itself. Sure Genesect is an amazing Pokemon, but did it shape the metagame or impact the metagame enough to warrant it a spot next to the KING of OU?
Gary, dont think for a moment i didnt consider the fact that genesect had a slim 3-4 months in the OU metagame, or Tyranitar for that matter, since the only other pokes that created their own playstyle were Ninetales and Deo-S, we know the former doesnt deserve being above tyranitar if were talking about impact in OU and Deo-S was banned relatively early-mid BW1.

I chose genesect for the situations it could pull off in a game, as i said, it took simple prediction and your switch-ins were fodderized, your opponent was at constant pressure when he was going up against genesect, situations like bluffing a scarf on a +1 dnite, switch to a luke to get flamethrower'd next turn were not uncommon at all, much less the surprise Rp that took supposedly sure victories to a sudden comeback; i dont think i have to mention you guys all the stuff gene could do.

I was considering ttar at first and i had to debate it thorughly, but i think that a poke that took 53% out of the usage stats during the Kyurem B suspect, not even his own, just shows how much it influenced on teambuilding at the time. Also, i dont think the offensive pressure terrakion or keldeo bring Are in ANY way comparable to genesect's.

P.D. btw, you mentioned keld when talking about BW1 defining pokes :]
 

Sam

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I think Gary and Starmie summed up why Tyranitar deserves the #2 spot pretty well. My vote goes for it.

As for Genesect, don't get me wrong it had a very sizable impact and should end up somewhere on this list IMO, but #2 is simply too high for it. It didn't have the stay to deserve that spot. Maybe if it were around a bit longer it would be a different story, but #2 definitely belongs to TTar who's had such a lasting effect on Gen V.
 

Snou

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I vote Terrakion. With HP Ice he could destroy the few counters......
 

PokèManiac Livio

Un panino al salame
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Well, my vote goes for Terrakion

He is the icon of the offensive playstyle in this metagame, his typing, his stabs, and the access to incredible boost moves such as Rock Polish (used mostly in Excadrill era) or Sword Dance make it an hard threath for all others team. It also very ductile, can cover different roles in the scope of the offensive game. Thanks to his 108 base speed is a perfect revengekiller, an hard hitter with Choice Band/Life Orb (cool stallbreaker the Hp Ice version) and a good answer to CustapSkarm with the access to Stealth Rock and Taunt(even if i prefer Sword Dance)
 
I'd support Genesect.

Yes, its time in the metagame was brief - only for early BW2. You know what, though? Early BW2 IS Genesect. Every team benefited from its presence in some capacity; Genesect excelled at building momentum like none other with the Choice Scarf set - and that set in particular doesn't even need support; drop it in and it "works" - while the Rock Polish set was one of, if not the best sweeper in OU. There was no compelling reason not to use Genesect; no matter what sort of a team you were running (well, okay, full stall, but lol Genesect metagame stall) it made that team better. We're talking about a Pokémon on par with RB Tauros or Chansey in its effectiveness.

Genesect didn't radically change the game because the metagame leaned offensive even in its absence; it didn't create a playstyle on its own. But it completely took over the dominant playstyle of the metagame; entire games were decided by whose Genesect died first. I'd say it qualifies.
 
I'm going to support Tyranitar as well.

Whether it was supporting Excadrill, Keldeo, Landorus-I, Terrakion, Stoutland, or just removing rain and sun so that your teammates can actually take a hit, Tyranitar has always had a lasting effect on the metagame. It is still the #1 fear of Latias, the best pivot in BW, and is a massive threat to Celebi, a close second, and is the main reason Celebi runs Baton Pass. It is extremely versatile; you can put it in almost any team not reliant on another weather and it will excel. Lead Tar, CB Tar, CS Tar, SpD Tar, even Boah Tar is still a viable set.
 

Legitimate Username

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I'll have to agree with Tyranitar. Between Sand Stream and STAB Pursuit coming off its high attack, it's one of the best supporters, revenge killers, and special walls in the game. Even in a metagame where Fighting types are so dominant, it still manages to easily thrive in OU.
 

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