Remembering Our Roots Redux: Where Are They Now (Part 2: RSE)

Welcome back to another installment of Remembering Our Roots! For those of you just joining the series, I am following the top ten Pokémon, based on usage and viability rankings, from their first generation of fame all the way through to X and Y. Last issue's article took a look at Snorlax and its friends from Gold, Silver, and Crystal, which brings us to generation III—Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. Abilities, natures, and EVs were introduced at this time, making it what many would consider the first "modern" generation of Pokémon. Without further ado, let's get started.

Suicune

Suicune is to RSE what Snorlax was to GSC. With Calm Mind replacing Curse, it functioned almost exactly the same way as Curselax, boosting its Special Attack and Special Defense while soaking up physical hits with its massive base 115 Defense. With Surf as its STAB move of choice, Suicune could power through everything in OU except Vaporeon (which it could still beat eventually by draining its PP with Pressure and forcing it to Struggle) with a single move, leaving enough room for both Rest and Sleep Talk, which turned this wolf into a force to be reckoned with. Not only could it fully heal its HP and cure its status at the drop of a hat, but with a little luck, it could continue to set up and deal damage while it slept.

Of course, it was not all fun and games for Suicune as it was for Snorlax a generation before. Whereas virtually nothing from the special side could break the fat beast while it slept, the introduction of the Choice Band in RSE caused Suicune to actually fear physical attacks from the likes of Salamence, Tyranitar, Heracross, Flygon, and even Snorlax itself if it was unfortunate enough to select the wrong move while Sleep Talking. Furthermore, two prominent physical attackers, Salamence and Gyarados, could capitalize on the fact that Suicune typically carried only Surf as an offensive move to set up Dragon Dances against it with ease.

Suicune is unfortunately a Pokémon that has not changed much as the generations went by. With Stealth Rock virtually guaranteed to be on the field stripping away its health every time it switched in, and a generally more offensive nature of the metagame this time around, the old standard Calm Mind set found its life a bit more difficult in DPP. However, it was still more than capable of getting the job done, and even benefited from a new entry hazard in Toxic Spikes, which helped it wear down walls such as Blissey and Vaporeon. Offensive variants of Suicune also emerged, able to grab a free Calm Mind by pretending to be an unbreakable wall and going to town with a "just right" combination of natural bulk, type coverage, and acceptable Speed. A combination of Surf (or Hydro Pump), Ice Beam, and Hidden Power Electric ensured that Pokémon which would otherwise threaten a slower Suicune, such as Lucario, Dragonite, and Gyarados, would be outsped and OHKOed after a Calm Mind instead.

As a Water-type that often relied on nothing but a STAB move to sweep entire teams, Suicune may seem like the perfect candidate for a spot on a rain team in BW, but a change in the way sleep mechanics worked meant this would not be the case. In generation V, the number of turns a Pokémon stayed asleep would reset if that Pokémon was switched out before it woke up, and the offensive nature of the metagame meant Suicune almost never had three turns in a row to stay in while using Rest. Since it could not heal itself without waking up, using a set based around Rest and Sleep Talk was ultimately a lost cause.

It's truly a shame, because Suicune was given a great asset this generation in Scald, allowing it a 30% chance to cripple physical attackers with a burn before they could do enough damage to knock it out. Instead, it found itself in UU, but RestTalking was a tricky proposition even there, though the presence of Aromatherapy and Heal Bell, which had all but disappeared from OU, made it more manageable. In XY, the sleep mechanics were reverted back to what they were before, but the insanely powerful offensive Pokémon dominating OU, especially by RSE standards, left little room for this lumbering relic to claw itself back into standard play; instead, it competes against many of its contemporaries in UU doing—you guessed it—what it always did: Rest, Sleep Talk, Calm Mind.

Celebi

While it was considered uber for most of the GSC era and the beginning of RSE as well, Celebi ultimately made its presence known as one of the premier defensive Pokémon of generation III, in spite of its seven weaknesses. While its typing was clearly not a selling point, Celebi boasted resistances to three of the most prevalent offensive types in the metagame—Water, Electric, and Ground—while taking little damage from the non-STAB Ice- and Rock-type coverage moves that usually went along with them. It also had the ability to be either physically or specially defensive depending on the user's need, instant recovery, which was rare at the time, Natural Cure, meaning that it did not care about status, high (for a wall) base 100 Speed, and access to a tremendous support movepool—Thunder Wave, Leech Seed, Baton Pass, Heal Bell, and Perish Song, to name a few. It could even attempt a sweep with Calm Mind or Baton Pass its boosts away when things got a little too hot. If that was not your thing, it could function as a pure wall, dishing out paralysis to stop sweepers from setting up while keeping itself alive and generally being a huge pain with Leech Seed and Recover.

Defensive Celebi made a triumphant return in DPP, virtually unchanged except that it received access to Stealth Rock; Grass Knot also replaced Hidden Power Grass as its primary means of dealing damage aside from Psychic. Otherwise, defensive Celebi sets functioned much as they had previously, though the presence of U-turn on many offensive Pokémon meant that it had to be more careful switching in.

Beyond a few small additions to its already stellar defensive and support movepool, though, DPP Celebi had all the right tools to become a legitimate offensive threat as well. Its base 100 Speed made it a perfect candidate to be a Choice Scarf user, along with new moves in Leaf Storm and U-turn, and even Trick to mess up an incoming Blissey or another wall by locking it into a single move. Earth Power gave Celebi a way to hit Fire- and Steel-types, while Nasty Plot allowed a purely offensive Celebi to boost its Special Attack quicker than by using Calm Mind.

All of Celebi's options from DPP carried over quite well to BW, and although it did not benefit directly from sand, sun, or rain, its resistances to Water and Ground afforded it ample opportunity to switch in and do its thing. While Celebi faced stiff competition from Ferrothorn in the category of defensive Grass-types, the time traveling onion still had enough to set it apart—instant recovery, Natural Cure, and more than just a token offense. In fact, with Nasty Plot, Giga Drain, and Earth Power, Celebi could threaten most of a typical rain or sand team, leaving its last spot free for a Hidden Power (usually Ice or Fire), Recover, or even Baton Pass.

All good things must come to an end, though, and when you think of a high-caliber Grass-type in XY, you think of Mega Venusaur, not Celebi. With higher defensive stats and Special Attack, fewer weakness (and an ability that negates two of them), and even access to Sleep Powder, which Celebi always wished it had, Mega Venusaur has almost single-handedly knocked Celebi out of OU, helped along by a dazzling array of offensive threats that Celebi's base 100 defenses, previously considered good, simply cannot handle. As seems to be the trend, after three generations of greatness it fell to UU, where it still does the same things it did before, just as effectively, just among a different set of Pokémon it can more easily handle.

Metagross

Tied with another Pokémon on this list for the highest Attack stat in OU, Metagross hit like a truck, and with an equally impressive 130 base Defense, it took hits just as well. While its secondary Psychic typing cancelled out Steel's resistance to Bug-, Dark-, and Ghost-type attacks, and did not do much for it offensively, Metagross still had an impressive nine resistances to only two weaknesses, affording it ample opportunities to switch in and lay down the hurt—and lay down the hurt it did! Its primary STAB move Meteor Mash dealt massive damage to anything that did not resist it—and even many that did—while at the same time having a not-so-insignificant 30% chance to raise Metagross's Attack even further. For this reason, spamming it while holding a Choice Band was an acceptable strategy, although Metagross had plenty of options to deal with just about any possible switch-in as well. Earthquake and Rock Slide were common, though it could also carry a surprise Psychic for Weezing, Thunder Punch for Skarmory, and even Hidden Power Grass for the closest thing it had to a true counter, Swampert.

When Metagross's usefulness was otherwise used up, its Explosion was the stuff of legend. When boosted by a Choice Band, it cleanly OHKOed Tyranitar, which resisted it, and dealt over 75% to max Defense Impish Skarmory. Specially defensive variants of the metal bird had a 50% chance of being OHKOed. Of course, if you preferred to save Metagross for the late-game, it functioned as an excellent Agility sweeper as well.

By virtue of being a Steel-type in the Dragon-infested DPP metagame, Metagross virtually guaranteed itself a solid spot in OU. Though its Choice Band set was still powerful, Scizor eventually came to fill that role better with a stronger Bullet Punch and a STAB U-turn to gain momentum. Metagross differentiated itself with access to Stealth Rock, and in the lead position could defeat opposing "suicide leads" with a combination of either Meteor Mash or Earthquake to get them down to their Focus Sash and Bullet Punch to finish them off. In a more offensive role, Metagross benefited from a now physical Ice and Thunder Punch, and the new move Zen Headbutt gave it a way to hit hard from its secondary STAB, particularly against Swampert. When it came to Speed, the Agility set had plenty of chances to set up on Outrages or Choice-locked Draco Meteors in the DPP metagame; the normally slow Metagross could also use a Choice Scarf to nab a surprise kill.

Although it managed to hold onto its OU status in generation V, Metagross was clearly on the decline. Like so many Pokémon at this time, the drastic metagame shift in BW brought on by permanent weather caused it to be passed up for other options, especially prior to Excadrill's ban, since the mole had STAB on Earthquake, access to Rapid Spin to clear hazards, and much better Speed, especially if sand was up. Even after Excadrill was declared Uber, though, Metagross continued to struggle in this metagame due to its low Speed and inability to stand up particularly well against any of the three weathers. It was outright weak to Ground and Fire, and though it only took neutral damage from Water-type moves, they hit too hard in the rain for Metagross to take more than one, which it would usually have to do thanks to its low Speed.

Generation VI has been no kinder to Metagross, and with a change to the type chart for the first time since GSC, its secondary Psychic-type is now a huge liability. Since Steel-types no longer resist Dark and Ghost, Metagross is now weak to attacks from both of these types, and there is no shortage of them going around the tier at the moment. As a Steel-type, it also faced competition from Aegislash, Mega Mawile, Bisharp, and Scizor. Aegislash and Mega Mawile have recently been banned, but both Scizor and Bisharp have major selling points over Metagross for the time being. Both have access to Swords Dance and a hugely improved Knock Off, Bisharp has STAB on what has become one of the best attacking types in the game, and Scizor gained a mega evolution. Of course, this generation is far from over, and Metagross has a Mega Evolution of its own right around the corner. Only time will tell if it can regain its former glory.

Salamence

Tied with Metagross for the second-highest Attack stat in OU, below only Slaking which was rarely seen and came with a serious drawback, Salamence was certainly able to put it to good use. Although it had to resort to Hidden Power Flying as its main STAB attack, this was no laughing matter—with a Choice Band attached, it could 2HKO much of the metagame with its excellent neutral coverage. Earthquake and Rock Slide took care of nearly everything that resisted Hidden Power, and a Fire Blast from Salamence's surprisingly decent Special Attack could do a number on Skarmory and Forretress.

While Choice Band Salamence was ridiculously powerful, it also required a tremendous amount of prediction to function properly, and had the obvious downside of being forced out after it revealed which move it was going to lock itself into. It was excellent at wearing down most any team over time, but rarely could it sweep. For that, Salamence would need to call on a move that, like itself, was new this generation—Dragon Dance. With just one turn of set-up, Dragon Dance Salamence became as powerful as if it had a Choice Band, while at the same time outspeeding everything in the game and retaining the ability to switch moves. With Intimidate and several useful resistances, it was not hard to find a free turn to boost, and since Ice Punch and Bullet Punch did not yet exist, the only surefire way to stop a +1/+1 Salamence was to survive a hit and retaliate with Ice Beam, something only a select few bulky Water-type Pokémon could manage, and they were all highly valued this generation.

Somewhat luckily, Salamence in RSE had only two viable sets, and was limited to physical attacks with the exception of Flamethrower or Fire Blast. It could not effectively make use of Dragon-type attacks, and its strongest physical attack was Hidden Power Flying at a lowly 70 Base Power. All of this would change in DPP, as Salamence essentially won the Pokémon lottery between generations. Dragon Claw became physical, as did Outrage, and the latter had its power boosted to 120 to boot. From the special side, Draco Meteor was Game Freak's gift to all Dragon-types, and could severely cripple, if not outright OHKO a physical wall expecting to stop a Dragon Dance sweep. Just in case these new offensive tools were not enough, Salamence also gained Roost in the transition, allowing the Dragon Dance set more chances to set up, and all sets to heal off damage taken from Life Orb and Stealth Rock, an entry hazard that crippled many Flying-types, but which Salamence thrived in spite of.

The end result of all these changes was that Salamence became a fearsome and wholly unpredictable threat. Would it fire off a powerful Draco Meteor? Would it try to set up a Dragon Dance? Would it unleash a Choice Band Outrage? Each of these required a completely different response to avoid losing a Pokémon, yet the only way to figure out what type of Salamence you were up against was to wait and see what it did. Playing against DPP Salamence amounted largely to guessing—yes, guessing, as it can't really be called prediction when you literally have no idea what the Pokémon in front of you is even capable of doing—what type of Salamence you were facing, sending out the appropriate counter, and hoping you were right. Being wrong usually resulted in losing at least a Pokémon, and sometimes the match, while even being right could cost something over 50% of its HP due to Salamence's sheer power alone. Salamence was banned to Ubers as the DPP era was coming to a close, and the fact that it often forced a player to sacrifice a Pokémon just to find out what set it was running was one of the major arguments put forth toward that end.

Salamence made a triumphant return to OU in BW after its ban with a new hidden ability: Moxie. Most often used with a Choice Scarf, it allowed Salamence to function as an excellent late-game cleaner. By coming in against a weakened Pokémon, it put its opponent in an often terrible predicament: sacrifice what they have in play, which might otherwise be the best move, but give Salamence an Attack boost, or switch out to a check and risk massive damage. Against a team with any significant amount of prior damage, Choice Scarf Salamence could easily run away with the match by boosting itself into an unstoppable monster.

Of course, Dragon Dance Salamence also benefited from Moxie in that one kill meant it was off to the races, but as far as Dragon Dancing went in BW, Salamence was somewhat outclassed as a whole by Dragonite, who had spent two generations as its less-favored cousin before shooting into the spotlight on the back of its own hidden ability, Multiscale. Dragonite could take hit after hit, even weather-boosted or super effective ones, while Dragon Dancing and Roosting its way to victory, while Salamence had to hit hard and fast to avoid an untimely demise.

As it stands currently, Dragonite continues to outclass Salamence in XY. The presence of Fairy-types such as Azumarill and until recently, Mega Mawile, capable of boosting their power to incredible levels after just a single turn of set up makes Choice-locked Dragon-type attacks a very bad idea. Furthermore, the new item Weakness Policy seems to have been made almost specifically for Dragonite, as Multiscale means it can survive a super effective attack while getting off a Dragon Dance, allowing the item to boost its Attack even further. Salamence found itself in UU for a part of XY, but being Salamence, was of course deemed too powerful and currently sits in BL. Not all may be lost, though, as it has been confirmed to get a Mega Evolution in the upcoming games Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.

Swampert

While the last two Pokémon on this list have been offensive powerhouses, Swampert was a defensive juggernaut capable of taking them both on. Although it had to contend with the likes of Milotic and Vaporeon, both of which had access to recovery via Recover and Wish, for the role of bulky Water-type, Swampert often got the nod thanks to its unique type combination that turned a weakness to Electric into an immunity and left it with a single uncommon weakness: Grass. It was the closest thing there was to a hard counter for Salamence, Tyranitar, and Metagross on the physical side, and in terms of special attackers, it could take on the likes of Zapdos and Raikou thanks to its immunity to Thunderbolt and the fact that it did not care about Hidden Power Ice. Swampert was so much of a problem for these two that some players opted for Hidden Power Grass; however that left them defenseless against Grass-types and paved the way for Salamence to set up on them.

Offensively, Swampert could hit everything in the tier for at least neutral damage with Earthquake and Ice Beam. This afforded it the option of running Rest and Sleep Talk in its last two moveslots, though it could effectively make use of Roar, Toxic, or Surf (to hit Pokémon like Skarmory or Weezing that were immune to Earthquake and did not care about Ice Beam) as well. Even without Sleep Talk or a Heal Beller, Swampert was one of the few Pokémon that could survive the two turns of sleep from Rest, often by switching out and back in against something that could not hurt it, and burning a turn while the opponent had to switch out or struggle to do any damage.

Swampert remained a premier wall at least in the beginning of DPP. With the physical/special split, it could now run a physical Waterfall and Avalanche for coverage alongside Earthquake. It became one of the better defensive users of Stealth Rock before the advent of suicide leads, and even had a big enough offensive movepool to run an all-out attacking set, although seeing such a Swampert in actual play was rare. As the DPP metagame grew more offensive in its later stages, Swampert's lack of reliable recovery became a major thorn in its side, and this marked the beginning of its decline. It seemed like the aquatic amphibian would have been a perfect recipient of the new move Slack Off, but it would not be so lucky.

Sadly, Swampert's tenure in OU would not last. Although it was a Water-type, Swampert simply did not fit into BW's hard-hitting weather-based metagame, which had no place for a slow Pokémon with no recovery. It was passed up in favor of another Water/Ground-type, Gastrodon, which not only had access to Recover, but also a newly revamped Storm Drain ability that gave it immunity to Water-type attacks which were everywhere at the time. Swampert thus called UU its home, which more closely resembled generations III and IV.

Gastrodon's usage fell in XY, as it found itself quickly overpowered by over-the-top offense at every turn, but that was not enough to save Swampert. Instead, it would be Quagsire that would get the nod, thanks again to Recover, as well as its ability Unaware that completely negates its opponent's stat boosts and makes it incredibly useful against some of the monster threats this generation such as Belly Drum Azumarill, Mega Charizard X, Dragonite, Thundurus, and Garchomp. At present, Swampert finds itself once again in the UU tier it has become familiar with, doing largely the same things it was good at in its two generations of fame, though its upcoming Mega Evolution (are you starting to sense a trend here...?) may change that completely, especially as it seems like it might make the mud fish into more of an offensive threat.

Aerodactyl

Aerodactyl was tied with Jolteon as the fastest Pokémon in OU, and it clearly did not waste any time messing around. It was both an excellent revenge killer and late-game cleaner, able to threaten a powerful hit on literally anything except Jolteon and other Aerodactyl without taking a scratch. A Choice Band was virtually a requirement to make up for its merely average Attack stat and the fact that its STAB moves were limited to the low power Hidden Power Flying and Rock Slide, but it did not mind being locked into a single move too much since its most powerful attack, Double-Edge, hit almost everything for neutral damage and did not cause recoil thanks to its ability, Rock Head. Rock- and Steel-types that resisted its other moves were dealt with by Earthquake, and Gengar did not enjoy either of its other two moves. Ideally, though, the goal was to end up with Aerodactyl in a position where it could clean house with only one attack, as the opponent was powerless to stop it, or indeed do any damage at all.

DPP gave us the Choice Scarf, and just like that, Aerodactyl suddenly found that its speed was no longer that important, at least in the role of an all-out attacker. Not all was lost, however, as it was still able to put it to good use as a suicide lead. In DPP, particularly on hyper offense teams, getting up Stealth Rock—while preventing your opponent from doing the same—was the most important thing that could be done during the course of a battle. Because of its speed, Aerodactyl was particularly good at this; it could outpace and Taunt an opposing lead trying to set up Stealth Rock, get up its own before being Taunted, or bring an opponent down to its Focus Sash with a well-placed Stone Edge or Earthquake before outspeeding and finishing them off on the next turn.

Unfortunately, while Aerodactyl was able to adapt to the changes between generations III and IV, it could not keep up with BW. The introduction of Team Preview made the concept of a dedicated lead obsolete, and in a true fall from grace, it ended up all the way down in RU. In XY, it was given a Mega Evolution which gave it a much-needed Attack boost and increased its Speed even higher, as well as making its defenses slightly less paper-thin. While Mega Evolutions have been an instant ticket to success for other lower-tier Pokémon like Charizard and Pinsir, the sad fact about Aerodactyl is that while its Mega Evolution is not bad, the fact that Mega Evolutions are limited to one per team ensures that it will not manage to achieve OU status as long as better options exist. It currently sits in UU this time around, though it does have its place in double battles, being the fastest user of Rock Slide.

Dugtrio

While Dugtrio spent the previous two generations in total obscurity, its Arena Trap ability turned it into an excellent support Pokémon practically overnight. Any foe that was not in the air, either by virtue of being a Flying-type or the ability Levitate, could not switch out against Dugtrio and would be removed from play with one of its Choice Band-boosted attacks. A typical Dugtrio carried Earthquake, Rock Slide, Aerial Ace, and Hidden Power Bug, and could pick off threats as diverse as Raikou, Tyranitar, Metagross, Jirachi, Heracross, Breloom, and Celebi, as well as anything else that had been weakened enough to be KOed by Earthquake, and was thus capable of opening up holes for other Pokémon to either outright sweep or cause serious damage.

In DPP, Dugtrio was certainly still useful—Tyranitar, Heatran, Jirachi, and Infernape were all huge annoyances and could be removed by a well-placed Earthquake. However, as the metagame came to revolve around Dragon- and Steel-types to a large degree, Magnezone became the trapper of choice, since it could OHKO the most common Steel-type, Scizor, as well as Forretress, with Hidden Power Fire. It also resisted Lucario's Extreme Speed and could revenge kill it with a Choice Scarf after a bit of prior damage. In addition to simply trapping and killing Steel-types, though, Magnezone was a powerful special attacker in its own right, and once its job was done, it could even Explode to hopefully take down one more Pokémon. That's not to say Dugtrio was a bad Pokémon by any means; it still fulfilled the purpose of removing certain Pokémon that Magnezone could not, but Magnezone was by and large the better option for what teams actually needed to accomplish, resulting in Dugtrio's demotion to UU.

It would regain its former glory in BW, though, where trapping and KOing an opponent's weather inducer was the best way to assure victory. With a Focus Sash and Reversal, as long as it came in undamaged, which was easier than ever with the existence of both U-turn and Volt Switch, it could emerge victorious against both Ninetales and Tyranitar, and could usually do enough damage over two turns to KO max HP Politoed, a feat that would be assured with even the smallest amount of prior damage on the frog. Even at 1 HP after using Reversal, Dugtrio was far from useless; its great Speed meant that it could still set up Stealth Rock or cripple an opposing Pokémon for something else to set up on with Memento.

In the current XY metagame, there are very few Pokémon that Dugtrio can actually trap and OHKO. Aegislash and Mawile would have been two major ones, but the former is now immune to trapping abilities by way of being a Ghost-type, and both were recently banned from standard play regardless. Bisharp would be another, if not for a massively powerful Sucker Punch, and Mega Manectric straight up outspeeds and KOs with Hidden Power Ice. That leaves Mega Charizard X (before a Dragon Dance), Heatran, and Tyranitar as the only OU Pokémon Dugtrio can trap and kill with reliability. If it runs Aerial Ace, which Dugtrio almost never does in XY, it can add Breloom and both forms of Heracross to the list, though the former has a chance to OHKO Dugtrio first with Mach Punch, and is guaranteed to do so with Life Orb. Gothitelle has instead emerged as the trapper of choice this generation, thanks to its much better movepool, and with a Choice Scarf (or Specs) it can remove many more Pokémon, including particularly troublesome walls such as Mega Venusaur, Chansey, Blissey, Gliscor, and Skarmory. Outclassed, Dugtrio has found itself all the way down in RU as a result.

Heracross

If Heracross had its own theme song, it would be Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball." Not because it was particularly good at twerking, or enjoyed defiling construction equipment, but because that's literally what it did—wreck stuff. In a generation in which reasonably accurate 120 Base Power moves were few and far between, it boasted a powerful Megahorn, along with an even more devastating STAB Focus Punch. When holding a Choice Band (are you starting to notice a trend here?), the horny bug was capable of incredible damage output; its Megahorn could 2HKO a Suicune, one of the most defensive Pokémon at the time, from full health 9 times out of 10. Perhaps even more impressively, Focus Punch came close to OHKOing both Skarmory and Swampert as they switched in. Rock Slide 2HKOed Salamence and Zapdos, both of which resisted Heracross's two STAB moves, and if it managed to get burned or poisoned (or paralyzed, though that would negate its speed advantage for the rest of the match), it could fire off Guts-boosted 140 Base Power Facades against just about anything else.

Of course, an all-out attacking set was far from the only way for Heracross to inflict copious amounts of pain. With Swords Dance, it could boost its Attack even higher than if it held a Choice Band, and its max Speed of 295 was just enough to attempt a sweep. A combination of either Substitute or Endure and a Salac Berry could boost that Speed even higher, and allow Heracross to use a max power Reversal if its opponent was lacking priority or Sand Stream to stop it. With acceptable bulk on the special side, Heracross could even make use of a RestTalk set. Since being asleep activated Guts (but sadly did not double the power of Facade), it could simultaneously heal itself and obtain a pseudo Choice Band. Unfortunately, carrying both Rest and Sleep Talk limited Heracross to only one other offensive move alongside Megahorn, and neither of the options—Brick Break or Rock Slide, since Sleep Talk could not select Focus Punch—had particularly stellar Base Power or type coverage.

The one thing holding Heracross back in RSE was the lack of a reliable Fighting-type STAB move. Focus Punch could be disrupted, and Brick Break was just plain weak. As if the developers at Game Freak could read the bug's mind, they gave it Close Combat in DPP. And then as if that were not enough, they created Stone Edge to replace a considerably weak Rock Slide, and introduced the Choice Scarf to turn Heracross into a speedy and very powerful revenge killer capable of outspeeding even Aerodactyl. And finally, as icing on the Bug- and Fighting-type cake, the new Toxic and Flame Orbs allowed Heracross to poison or burn itself, activating Guts without the need to predict and switch into a status move. Everything else that Heracross could do in RSE, with the exception of Salac Berry sets which were largely obsolete anyways thanks to the Choice Scarf, carried over perfectly in the transition to generation IV, where Heracross remained a major threat, although it faced stiff competition from Lucario towards the end of the generation due to its lackluster Speed and lack of a priority move.

Like Salamence, Heracross was given Moxie as a hidden ability in BW, and also like Salamence, this turned it into an excellent revenge killer that was capable of sweeping with a boost or two under its belt. Although it was by no means a bad Pokémon, either with a Choice Scarf or with any of its other tried and true sets, the fact that it was not a "weather" Pokémon kept it from making the cutoff for OU, though it was certainly viable in the tier.

In XY, its fate has been similar—even with a Mega Evolution, it spent most of its time in UU, though its Mega form has been banned from the tier. It was for good reason, though, as its crazy base 185 Attack and a guaranteed 5 hits from Pin Missile, Bullet Seed, and Rock Blast would make short work of pretty much anything in the tier. It was only held back from OU by the fact that Mega Evolutions are limited to one per team and better options like Charizard, Venusaur, and its counterpart since RBY, Pinsir, exist, and if given the chance, it can certainly shine. Its relatively low Speed and the fact that it cannot hold a Choice Scarf along with its mega stone do serve to balance out an Attack stat higher than Deoxys-A, but if Mega Heracross can manage a Swords Dance, or a Moxie boost from KOing something before it Mega Evolves, it can easily steamroll through a slow, defensive team, or a fast one with Sticky Web support. With one of its biggest checks, Aegislash, recently banned, it seems Mega Heracross's power may have finally been realized, as at the time of this article's writing, it has finally poked its head (horn?) into the light of OU.

Flygon

Flygon's unique Dragon/Ground typing allowed it to excel in RSE despite relatively mediocre stats, with its highest being base 100 Speed and Attack, and everything else being a lowly base 80. Its ability Levitate gave it an immunity to Earthquake while its Ground typing also provided a resistance to Rock Slide. Thus, it took very little damage from the standard Dragon Dance Tyranitar, as well as Gyarados if the latter ran Hidden Power Rock over Flying, and made an excellent check to both. It also made an excellent switch-in to Zapdos and Raikou that did not run Hidden Power Ice, taking little damage from a neutral Hidden Power Grass and threatening them both with a super effective attack. Although base 100 Attack was considered low even for generation III, Flygon had just enough moves to pose an offensive threat, and its Speed was sufficient to get the jump on many opponents. A STAB Earthquake allowed it do deal acceptable damage to a wide variety of foes, and a combination of Rock Slide, Hidden Power Bug, and Fire Blast could deal with the ones Earthquake could not.

Generation IV's additions addressed many of the issues Flygon had in RSE. It could finally make use of a physical Outrage and Dragon Claw for a STAB combination resisted only by Skarmory and Bronzong, both of which were still effectively dealt with by Fire Blast. Stone Edge gave a much needed boost in power over Rock Slide, which was desperately needed due to Flygon's relatively poor Attack stat and lack of STAB on Rock-type attacks. It had reliable recovery in the form of Roost, allowing it to take better advantage of its unique set of resistances. U-turn replaced Hidden Power Bug as its method of simultaneously damaging and escaping would-be counters such as Celebi or Cresselia. Of course, all of this was largely moot due to another of DPP's new additions—Garchomp. The land shark shared Flygon's typing and while it did not have Levitate, it more than made up for that by the fact that every single one of its stats (except for Special Attack which was rarely relied upon) was higher. Its tremendous Attack, exceptional bulk, and trollish base 102 Speed ensured that Garchomp would virtually always get the nod over Flygon until its eventual ban in late 2008.

With Garchomp gone from standard play, however, Flygon would regain its former glory once more. While it may seem at first glance that it would have been outclassed by Salamence and later Dragonite, that was not the case. Both of the Dragon/Flying-types had a crippling weakness to Stealth Rock, which Flygon resisted. In fact, Flygon could still rely on its resistances or immunities to common Rock- and Electric-type attacks that would threaten massive damage to the other two Dragons. Although its Attack stat paled in comparison to its brethren, it still packed enough power behind its Outrage and Earthquake, often boosted by either a Choice Band or Life Orb, to severely dent an opposing Pokémon.

Unfortunately, DPP was the last time Flygon would be seen in OU. In BW, and again in XY, Garchomp has broken free from the chains of Ubers to dominate OU once more, and in doing so has completely outclassed Flygon yet again. As if that was not enough, Latias and Latios now roam the tier freely as well. Flygon gained nothing in the transition from DPP to BW, nor from BW to XY, and has remained in UU where it functions much the same as it did during its two generations of stardom. Of course, being a generation III Pokémon, there is still a small chance it may have an unrevealed Mega Evolution waiting for it in Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire; we will have to wait and see.

Jirachi

Last but certainly not least, Jirachi rounds out this list. Its Steel typing gave it many key resistances, to Rock, Flying, and Ice in particular, while its decent base 100 stats all around and huge movepool, both in terms of support and offense, made it tremendously versatile. It could be a team supporter, passing off Wishes to Pokémon that were otherwise unable to heal themselves, such as Swampert, Gyarados, and Salamence, each of which could also switch in on Fire- and Ground-type attacks aimed at Jirachi. Its Body Slam, coupled with Serene Grace, could spread paralysis throughout an opposing team, even against Ground-types immune to Thunder Wave. Alternatively, with a few Calm Mind boosts, it could use its large offensive move pool—Psychic, Thunderbolt, the elemental punches, and even Hidden Power, to plow through an opposing team with ease. It was nigh unstoppable behind a Substitute with a couple of boosts under its belt, neither of which was too difficult to pull off thanks to Jirachi's exellent typing and natural bulk.

Jirachi received tremendous buffs in DPP, both offensively and in a support role. It received Stealth Rock, and its resistances and bulk allowed it plenty of opportunities to set it up. A slower Jirachi could also use the new move U-turn in conjunction with Wish to ensure it would take an opponent's hit before switching in the Pokémon to be healed. Most importantly, though, was the addition of the Choice Scarf to Jirachi's repertoire, along with the move Iron Head once Platinum's move tutors became available. Boosted by Serene Grace, Iron Head had a 60% chance to cause an opponent to flinch, and thus one of the most annoying revenge killers in OU was born. Scarf Jirachi could even "hax" its way through unfavorable matchups with a few well-timed flinches. Of course, if you didn't want to test your luck, you could just Trick the scarf onto a wall such as Hippowdon or Swampert to cripple it, or just start setting up Substitutes and Calm Minds to sweep the old fashioned way.

In BW, Jirachi remained just as useful. Its Choice Scarf set was as annoying as ever, its various Calm Mind sets remained powerful, and it played well in sand and rain to boot, particularly the latter. Rain weakened Fire-type attacks aimed at Jirachi, while at the same time making Thunder a viable option by way of solving its poor accuracy. Jirachi could now throw around a powerful Electric-type attack with the same 60% chance to cause paralysis as Body Slam. Offensive sets, particularly Substitute + Calm Mind, had a somewhat reliable way of inflicting status, and every turn the opponent was fully paralyzed allowed Jirachi to become stronger.

As is the case with so many Pokémon, though, all good things must come to an end, and Jirachi found itself on the short end of the stick in XY. Like Metagross, it became weak to Dark- and Ghost-type attacks due to a change in the type chart, and coincidentally these attacks are everywhere in OU, with seemingly the entire tier having access to Knock Off. Unfortunately, it currently shares the UU fate with its fellow Steel/Psychic-type, Metagross, and it seems doubtful Jirachi will get a Mega Evolution to save it, having always been an event-only Pokémon. However, with its biggest nemesis, Aegislash, now gone, Jirachi may have a chance to shine once more; just watch out for Knock Off!

This concludes part two of the series; stay tuned next issue for generation IV!

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