ryan
Jojo Siwa enthusiast
We discussed this briefly on IRC (yesterday, I believe?), and my thoughts on it were pretty much just: if it had Close Combat, Swellow would not be NU. That said, I didn't think much about it. Even though it only had 85 base attack, it would still be on par with Staraptor due to a much better speed tier and access to two great abilities--Scrappy and Guts--that help set it apart.What if Swellow got access to Close Combat?
But what effect would it have on the current NU metagame?
Well, to me, it wouldn't influence its current role in the metagame that much. Obviously Close Combat is an incredible move, and it would give Swellow awesome coverage (Flying/Fighting Pokemon in XY plz), but obviously it would be able to bypass its usual counters in Steel and Rock types.
The thing is, right now, these type of Pokemon are fairly rare outside of lead hazard setters. Generally bulky mons that can also wall other threats are more often found on teams. These include Weezing and Misdreavus, most notably. Close Combat does nothing to help handle these Pokemon. Misdreavus has even been seen running Foul Play more often because it is so often walled while it walls other mons.
Anyways, I would still use it no doubt. It's solid coverage. But tbh, I would likely use it over Quick Attack on most teams. On my current one, I don't know though because I don't actually carry a scarfer, and I rely on priority to outspeed and kill scarfers. Probably though, I would use it over U-Turn and see if it was worth the spot. U-Turn is just so damn handy on offensive teams. If it proved to be useful, I would keep it.