Monotype's Top Threats: All Thats Foul and Fair
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Art by Starbonsai.
Trends in the Current Monotype Metagame
This generation's power creep has created quite a road to walk down for Monotype. Over the course of the generation, we have gone through many more miles of suspects, nearly doubling the amount done in other previous generations. A titan of the tier, Kingambit, was banned via suspect, taking the metagame in its darkest hour. Its ability to punish progress by setting up Swords Dance alongside boosts from Supreme Overlord allowed it to easily sweep late-game and check threats such as Excadrill with Sucker Punch. Steel teams through all the tricks and trials made a full recovery by essentially just replacing Kingambit with Bisharp. Steel teams have access to a strong entry hazard-stacking core, which, alongside Gholdengo, allows the field to consistently give an advantage to Steel teams. Dark similarly took advantage of stacking hazards then using sweepers such as Greninja and Kingambit to wear down and sweep opposing teams. This allows Swords Dance Bisharp to put in a ton of work mid- to late-game, making up for the lack of immediate damage output its evolution could output. However, even with Bisharp rising to prominence, Steel's usage dropped by a bit, allowing Ghost teams to march ever forward and gain usage in the metagame. Fairy teams have access to two powerful Paradox Pokémon in Flutter Mane and Iron Valiant, both of which can be customized to handle certain matchups. This is a theme with a ton of great types in the metagame, where the most powerful types consistently have viable bulky offense builds with a certain core, such as Dragon with Archaludon + Gouging Fire and Flying with Gliscor + Tornadus-T. While this generation certainly has given us a ton of power creep, bulky offensive teams remain a tried-and-true way for team structures in Monotype.
Gouging Fire
Gouging Fire entered the metagame in a Raging Fury, asserting itself as a strong defensive setup sweeper or strong wallbreaker in the sun. Both types it's on have different and powerful ways of supporting the beast; however, one thing both types have in common is giving it a second chance via Healing Wish. Dragon teams are the best they have ever been in any of the generations; while they have always boasted Pokémon with high base stat totals, they have never synergized well defensively together, until now. Gouging Fire, Hisuian Goodra, and Archaludon give Dragon teams great defensive synergy, as they have all have a neutrality to Ice- and Fairy-type attacks, while the latter two also can switch into other Dragon-types. This practically absolves Dragon of all their weaknesses. Dragon Dance allows Gouging Fire to take advantage of its solid defensive typing and bulk, turning it into a solid setup sweeper, while being able to deal with the Steel matchup with both Fire- and Ground-type moves and healing off damage with Morning Sun. If Gouging Fire wanted a stronger presence against other Dragon teams, it could run Dragon Claw or Breaking Swipe, allowing it to become a dangerous sweeper against its own type in its own right. Similarly to Gliscor, it tends to run a lot of investment into its defenses, allowing it to set up Dragon Dance with more ease and have greater longevity, with typically enough Speed to outpace the entire metagame bar limited Choice Scarf users at +2. With the support Gouging Fire receives from its Dragon-type teammates coupled with its great natural bulk and wallbreaking ability, Dragon teams are a dominant force in the metagame as seen by its massive usage in the metagame. While Fire isn't as common as Dragon, it still sees a great amount of success with Gouging Fire, typically through a Choice Band set that boosts its Speed using Protosynthesis under the sun. Equipped with a Choice Band under the beating sun, Gouging Fire can become a ridiculous wallbreaker that's able to 2HKO the entire metagame, bar a few bulky Fire-resistant Pokémon like Toxapex. Gouging Fire synergizes well with its Fire-type teammates, as they all are powerful wallbreakers in their own right and can wear down checks such as Dragonite and Toxapex for it. It can also flip the Dragon matchup with a powerful Outrage that allows it to sweep Dragon teams after the Choice Scarf user has been removed and Archaludon has been chipped. Gouging Fire is a staple to both types it's on and, without a doubt, a titan in the current metagame. With the most support across the board for tiering action, it's anyone's guess on how much time is left for our favorite primordial lion.
Gliscor
Gliscor has been a staple for Flying teams across multiple generations; with its solid defensive typing and near-broken ability in Poison Heal, it easily finds its way onto a majority of teams. Gliscor did lose Roost this generation, but this did not stop Gliscor from recovering and becoming the menace the Monotype community knows today. Swords Dance Gliscor is a threatening offensive presence, due to a strong STAB move in Earthquake and either Knock Off or Facade, and it can take on a variety of Pokémon such as Gouging Fire and Gholdengo, which are common metagame threats. Lastly, it runs Protect as a way to scout Choice item attackers such as Latios, Flutter Mane, and Great Tusk, as well as guaranteeing that either Toxic Orb activates or Poison Heal recovers its HP. Gliscor can also run a Substitute + Toxic set, which allows it to break defensive cores lacking a Toxic-immune Pokémon, in addition to being able to hit threats such as Latios with Toxic behind a Substitute. This set typically runs most of its investment into HP and Special Defense, allowing Gliscor to better take on threats such as Flutter Mane. This is supported by the fact Gliscor possesses a solid Electric immunity for Flying teams, while its teammates like Corviknight, Articuno, and Moltres can cover its weaknesses such as Ice. This allows Flying teams to create solid defensive cores that are extremely difficult to break. Due to the popularity of the type and the dominance of Gliscor, Pokémon like Latios have adapted techs suited to taking out the type such as Agility + BoltBeam paired with an Expert Belt, allowing it to outspeed and threaten every Pokémon on Flying teams. Dragon Dance Kyurem holding Loaded Dice has also risen in popularity, due to the fact it can break typical answers on Flying such as Corviknight then sweep the rest of the Flying team. Gliscor can absorb status directed at its teammates, preventing progress from being made against its team. This in tandem with Swords Dance allows Gliscor to completely shut down slower defensive Pokémon and teams, meaning the best way to take it out is a faster wallbreaker. Due to its prevalence, types such as Poison have adapted niche sets such as defensive Hex Pecharunt and powerful wallbreakers like Choice Specs Iron Moth to better answer Gliscor. Flying teams have always been great in Monotype, and this generation is no different. The latest survey has revealed that a large majority of the metagame believes Gliscor is unhealthy and deserves to be suspected in Monotype.
Flutter Mane
Flutter Mane has made quite a splash, being a dominating force in the metagame since its introduction. Famously, its Choice Specs set allows it to act as a powerful wallbreaker, always running its STAB attacks while being able to customize its coverage to take on specific types. Such options include Thunderbolt + Power Gem to annihilate Flying and Fire teams, Psyshock to give itself a better matchup against checks such as Blissey and Clodsire, and more niche options like Energy Ball and Mystical Fire. On rare occasions, Ghost teams can run Choice Scarf Flutter Mane, which helps clear Dark teams while being able to outpace key threats such as Choice Scarf Meowscarada. On top of its blistering offensive presence, Flutter Mane can also tank a respectful amount of special attackers' STAB moves such as Earth Power from Landorus, Dark Pulse from Greninja, and unboosted Shadow Ball from opposing Flutter Mane. Coupled with its high Speed and Special Attack, this allows it to take advantage of a large majority of the metagame, allowing its user to easily position it to score progress in games. Fairy teams greatly appreciate all the assets Flutter Mane brings to the table and in turn can also provide it with invaluable support. Klefki can provide dual screens, making Flutter Mane harder to take out, or Spikes support, allowing it to more easily break teams. This support paired with teammates such as Primarina—which is invaluable in the Steel and Ground matchup—and Iron Valiant—which can break special walls such as Hisuian Goodra, Gliscor, and Clodsire for Flutter Mane—allows Fairy teams to stay at the top of the metagame. Ghost teams provide pivoting support for Flutter Mane and can bring it in easily thanks to Parting Shot from Pecharunt; they can also set and remove entry hazards with Brambleghast. While Flutter Mane isn't viewed as threatening as the other Pokémon in the article, many people believe Flutter Mane is unbalanced due to these factors in the metagame, and while time is on its side, will that be enough to save it from the chopping block?
Outro
Only time will tell if Monotype decides to part ways or keep these faces around in the tier. Stick around and find out to see what happens to the metagame once Monotype Winter Premier wraps up!
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