NU Metagame Report: The Last One

Introduction

Time marches on and it's time for another installment of the NU Metagame Report. However, with Pokémon Sun and Moon coming out in a matter of weeks, the ORAS NeverUsed tier is about to reach its final configuration as it fades into a pleasant memory, making this the last opportunity to analyze it and make predictions. As this is such a special occasion, we'll also take the opportunity to have a look at the previous stages of ORAS NU, highlighting the twists and turns the tier has taken in the last two years and looking back to ask "how on Earth did this end up here?" Furthermore, we'll have a look at the most recent changes to the metagame and speculate what it might look like at the very end. Sit back and relax; you're in for quite a ride.

Retrospective of Previous ORAS NU Stages

Generation 6 has been an interesting one for NU, with many Mega Evolutions spending some time wrecking the local populace during their brief stays, and one, Mega Audino, eventually calling the tier its own for good. Notably, this was the generation where PU became an official metagame, stripping NU of its title as worst of the worst and allowing it to mature as its own distinct entity, in similar circumstances to RU in the fifth generation. The following section will summarize the most important stages in NU's development into its current state.

Stage 3: All the Megas (and a few other things)

With the arrival of ORAS in November 2014, many NU and PU Pokémon received Mega Evolutions, and due to the lack of a formal process regarding this at the start of the metagame, these Pokémon were all still legal in NU for a short time. Mega Lopunny, Mega Sceptile, Mega Pidgeot, and Mega Beedrill terrorized the tier with their insane attacking stats and Speed tiers, and other offensive threats such as Mega Altaria and Mega Glalie were also free to ravage teams if given opportunities to set up or fire off a powerful STAB attack, respectively. While some argued that a few of these threats were manageable due to a selection of counters (Weezing being an excellent anti-meta choice in particular) and the fact that many of these titans checked themselves (Mega Beedrill outsped most other Mega Evolutions and hit them hard, Mega Altaria hard walled Mega Sceptile), the overall fate for most of these mons was either a VERY quick ban or a swift rise to a higher tier. Mega Glalie left the tier somewhat later, being banned in December alongside Pangoro once there was less competition with other Mega Evolutions, and was known for its ridiculous wallbreaking potential with Refrigerate Double-Edge and Explosion, as well as a very solid Speed stat.

Another new addition to the ORAS metagame was previously balanced Pokémon such as Slurpuff, Pangoro, and Dragalge receiving access to new tutor moves and hidden abilities, making them vastly more threatening and ultimately too much to handle. Dragalge received Adaptability, turning it from a mostly defensive Pokémon into an offensive powerhouse overnight, being able to 2HKO even most Steel-types with its Draco Meteor. It narrowly avoided an immediate ban in a split vote. Meanwhile, Slurpuff received Drain Punch, making its Belly Drum set much more threatening by letting it break through Steel-types and giving it reliable recovery against frailer targets. In particular, the recovery made it much more difficult to revenge kill Slurpuff with priority attacks such as Kangaskhan's Fake Out, as it could easily end up close to full health after KOing a foe with Drain Punch. Pangoro also became much more dangerous with access to moves like Knock Off, Drain Punch, and Gunk Shot that defined its role as an potent wallbreaker for the rest of the generation in higher tiers. Serperior received Contrary as its hidden ability in January 2015, rapidly warping the metagame around its Leaf Storm until it was banned unanimously a few days later. It has the honor of possibly being the most unbalanced Pokémon ever to grace NU, as almost nothing could check it offensively due to its blistering Speed stat and solid bulk, and moves such as Hidden Power, Gastro Acid, Dragon Tail, and Substitute could be used in Serperior's many free moveslots to pick its counters.

Stage 4: Mega Steelix, Heliolisk, and Feraligatr

With Mega Camerupt avoiding a ban in the last stage and Mega Audino simply not being broken, Mega Steelix quickly asserted itself as an overcentralizing influence in the new metagame as the best overall Mega Evolution remaining in NU. An excellent defensive typing alongside phenomenal physical bulk and decent special bulk when invested, as well as a high Attack stat and high-powered STAB attacks in Earthquake and Heavy Slam, simply made it a no-brainer to include on your team as your Stealth Rock user. While some new additions such as Claydol, Quagsire, and Virizion were able to beat Mega Steelix one-on-one, there was practically no opportunity cost for running it as your rocker regardless, and it stopped many Pokémon from running Choice sets altogether due to how easily it could block them. This made the decision to ban it in February very easy. Heliolisk was also quickly identified as an unbalanced offensive threat between its impressive Special Attack and Speed, immunities to Ghost- and Water-type attacks to switch in with, and vast special movepool that almost made it impossible to wall. In particular, ORAS gave it access to Hyper Voice, a reliable secondary STAB attack that could deal with rival Electric-types and bypass Substitutes. It also let Heliolisk run Volt Switch more freely, making it even harder to check than when it relied on Thunderbolt for raw damage. Meanwhile, Feraligatr received its hidden ability, Sheer Force, which took its overall power level way over the top (in particular making its Dragon Dance set much better than its Swords Dance set and making Agility and even specially based sets viable and dangerous) and ended up being quickbanned in March.

Stage 5: Mega Camerupt and Typhlosion

In April 2015, with Feraligatr's waters finally drying up, two Fire-types rose up to the suspect stage in Mega Camerupt and Typhlosion. Although Mega Camerupt was previously considered balanced, this was in a much more chaotic metagame where it had significant competition for the team's Mega slot with much more potent offensive threats. After Mega Steelix's departure, there was now very little opportunity cost in running Mega Camerupt, which proved to be too much for the now tamer tier due to its raw power, excellent STAB coverage, and decent bulk alongside a range of resistances and an Electric-type immunity. Although Mega Camerupt's awful Speed and 4x weakness to Water-type attacks were significant drawbacks, they could easily be patched up by teammates such as Mantine, Seismitoad, and Poliwrath, and the few Pokémon that could switch into Mega Camerupt (such as Mantine and Hariyama) could easily be crippled with Mega Camerupt's fourth move. Meanwhile, Typhlosion was stoked by its access to its hidden ability in Flash Fire, which both turned it into its own best check and also vastly increased the maximum power of its Eruption, making it capable of 2HKOing most bulky Fire-resistant Pokémon. This resulted in it becoming the second most common Pokémon in the metagame, only being topped by Hariyama, one of its best checks. Typhlosion's combination of speed, power, and overcentralizing influence was ultimately deemed too much for the tier.

Stage 6: Fletchinder and Magneton

After the departure of the aforementioned Fire-types, NU was in a much more balanced state than before. However, the arrival of Fletchinder and Magneton (as well as Kabutops and Pinsir) from RU in the May tier shifts, in exchange for NU's premier Ground-type, Seismitoad, certainly shook things up. While Fletchinder's poor stats and 4x weakness to Stealth Rock may make it seem like a non-issue, its access to Swords Dance and priority Acrobatics made it one of the deadliest sweepers available. Meanwhile, many predicted that Magneton's main niche in the NU metagame would be trapping other obscure Steel-types such as Klinklang and Ferroseed. However, Magneton actually found its calling in its obscenely powerful Analytic Volt Switch, either using Choice Specs for raw power or running Eviolite for extra bulk. Volt Switch allowed Magneton to pseudo-trap foes; either they would stay in and be KOed by the move, or they would switch out and the incoming threat would take a very heavy hit and have to deal with the Magneton user's response thereafter. Excellent defensive typing alongside good stats and Eviolite also made it very easy for Magneton to find opportunities to switch in, and Magnet Rise even allowed it to force out Ground-types that would attempt to switch into Volt Switch. Overall, these attributes made Magneton way too dangerous to allow in the tier, and it was banned in early June 2015.

Stage 7: Sneasel and Gallade

Following Galladite being banned from UU, Gallade ended up dropping all the way down to NU, which prompted a suspect test for it alongside another powerful offensive threat that it synergized particularly well with; Sneasel. This Dark / Ice type was vastly improved in Generation 6 by access to powerful new STAB options in Knock Off (which crippled most defensive checks) and Icicle Crash, giving it excellent power despite an only satisfactory base 95 Attack stat. In combination with a Choice Band or Life Orb and useful support options such as Ice Shard and Pursuit, as well as an excellent base 115 Speed stat, Sneasel proved to be a very constraining force on offensive teams, compounded by the relative lack of Mega Evolutions in the tier. Gallade on the other hand proved to be a dauntless bulky wallbreaker, either using an offensive Swords Dance set with Close Combat, Zen Headbutt (or Psycho Cut), and a vast array of coverage moves that allowed it to 2HKO almost any target, or a defensive Bulk Up set using Will-O-Wisp and Drain Punch. Combined with an outstanding base 125 Attack stat and a decent base 80 Speed stat, this proved to be overwhelming to more balanced teams, especially those that relied on NU's many Poison-types as their Fighting-type checks. Gallade could even run Choice Scarf, Choice Band, and Assault Vest sets or simply use its vast array of status attacks to disrupt checks and counters, making it even more difficult to handle without proper scouting. However, it was the combination of the two that proved to be more overwhelming than anything, as they each dealt with separate playstyles and targets, forming an offense core that was very centralizing and difficult to stop, resulting in bans for them both in July 2015.

Stage 8: Hitmonchan, Skuntank, and Shiftry

At this point, most of the obviously broken threats in NU had been removed, and this stage was noted mostly for the new Pokémon introduced to the metagame rather than the old Pokémon removed. Many anticipated Hitmonchan's arrival for quite some time, as it was undoubtedly the most outclassed Pokémon in RU, endlessly compared to its brothers Hitmonlee and Hitmontop. However, in NU it received no such competition as a Fighting-type Rapid Spin user, and while initially it wasn't hugely popular, over time it has become one of the most common Pokémon in the metagame due to the utility it provides between Rapid Spin and a powerful Iron Fist-boosted Mach Punch. Skuntank also dropped from RU, having lost popularity due to its lack of key moves such as Knock Off and Toxic Spikes compared to its rival Drapion. Its Poison / Dark typing provided NU with an extremely solid response to Psychic- and Ghost-types, which is something that Hitmonchan in particular highly appreciated. Shiftry also dropped down from RU and became one of NU's best wallbreakers between its powerful STAB attacks, good mixed offensive stats, and above average Speed stat. It's also notable for a very strong Sucker Punch, access to the ever-useful Defog, and Explosion to lure and defeat possible checks such as Hariyama and Skuntank. Meanwhile, Stage 9 didn't have too much of an effect on the metagame, with only Pinsir and Granbull, two uncommon Pokémon, rising to OU (thanks to Mega Pinsir) and RU, respectively.

Stage 10: Steelix and Sceptile (and a few others)

In December 2015, Smogon decided that all Mega Evolutions would now be tiered separately from their base formes; this allowed many Pokémon that left NU long ago, such as Altaria, Camerupt, Sceptile, and Steelix, back into the tier! These Pokémon all dropped immediately, and overall Steelix and Sceptile managed to settle into the metagame the most easily. Steelix filled a similar role to its Mega Evolution in previous metagames, but although Sturdy provided it with some extra utility, the loss of a significant portion of its bulk and power made it a much more balanced addition. Its more passive nature made it manageable overall, despite severely weakening Pokémon such as Klinklang and Linoone that lacked the ability to hit it hard. Sceptile immediately established itself as one of the most potent and centralizing offensive threats, outspeeding almost all unboosted threats while still having terrifying power with Overgrow Leaf Storm or an Unburden Swords Dance set. Camerupt and Altaria both dropped to PU shortly afterwards, but both Pokémon are still fairly viable in NU to this day; the former is one of the most solid counters to Rotom when running a specially defensive set, and the latter can be either a decent wallbreaker with Draco Meteor and Fire Blast or a supporter for stall teams that makes use of its unique defensive typing and access to Roost. Abomasnow also dropped down later in January and proved itself to be a capable but balanced wallbreaker, with its fearsome STAB attacks and coverage being mitigated by its poor Speed stat and multiple weaknesses.

Stage 11 onwards: See the other articles!

After Sawk's and Sceptile's departure in February, the NU metagame reverted to its previous state, with Tauros, Archeops, and Swellow being the fastest and most potent offensive threats. At this point, the modern metagame was more or less complete; NU allowed for a multitude of playstyles to be run viably, from hyper offense to stall to balance and everywhere in between, without any hugely centralizing threats. However, this isn't to say nothing significant happened after that point; RU started to get tired of many mediocre Pokémon in their tier, namely Charizard, Omastar, Manectric, Aggron, Gastrodon, and Smeargle, and gave them to us! For more information on the suspect test of Sawk, a long time NU favorite, and Sceptile, the most recent menace, as well as all the other small changes in the metagame up to this point, feel free to check out the first NU Metagame Report (covering February-April) or the second NU Metagame Report (covering May-July)!

August-October Tier Changes

Overall, this stage in the NU metagame lacked any suspect tests, as no one Pokémon or playstyle could be said to be overcentralizing or unbalanced at this point. That isn't to say nothing happened; a few old favorites returned to the tier after extended vacations caused by some unusually popular sample teams!

+ Trevenant, Gurdurr, and Quagsire from RU to NU

RU was charitable to give NU another drop in August, which many people had been expecting for months due to poor usage and lack of an overall niche: Trevenant. The spooky tree was long derided as a gimmick Pokémon in RU, with no notable niche over Gourgeist-XL other than Harvest sets using Custap, Starf, Lum and various other Berries to achieve various effects, and poor stats and typing compared to other Ghost-types such as Spiritomb, Jellicent, and Mega Banette. It could, however, run a decent Choice Band set, differentiating itself from these rivals with a strong Wood Hammer and Earthquake, alongside Natural Cure for mitigating status. After its descent into NU, much of the same can still be said for it; Trevenant is an okay choice but still faces competition from Gourgeist-XL and even things like Golurk and Dusknoir that have more offensive utility. While the Cathy set with Substitute / Horn Leech / Earthquake / Phantom Force can inconsistently become a dangerous wincon with Starf Berry boosting the right stats at random, it likely won't be enough to stop Trevenant falling into PU, unless it falls slowly enough to pass the end of ORAS tiering itself. Meanwhile, Gurdurr is as strong as ever with its signature set of Bulk Up / Drain Punch / Knock Off / Mach Punch and Guts, perhaps even more so now that Pokémon like Mesprit and Rotom run Colbur Berry sets less often. In particular, Gurdurr does an excellent job at crushing Aggron, making it even more underwhelming, while also putting pressure on top threats such as Tauros and Steelix. Overall, Gurdurr fits back in nicely with its fellow Fighting-types Hariyama and Hitmonchan, with the latter having since cemented itself as the top hazard removal Pokémon in the tier after coming out of Gurdurr's shadow. Finally, Quagsire made its way back down to NU after people got bored of using that one stall team in OU and the other lower tiers didn't feel particularly charitable towards it. While it is unlikely to go PU any time soon due to its use in stall teams (and common appearance in the low ladder), the interim Water / Ground type Gastrodon certainly gives it a run for its money.

Winners and Losers

Trends rise and fall throughout NeverUsed, even during relatively calm periods such as this, where few major changes occur. These breather periods allow players to innovate and get a better feel of the metagame, removing the rose-tinted glasses of hype and separating the wheat from the chaff. Here are some Pokémon that have risen and fallen in the last few months:

+ Rhydon, Scyther, Aurorus, Clefairy, and Bronzor

After the Tauros suspect test, Rhydon received a resurgence of usage once people remembered how insanely bulky it was with Eviolite. Furthermore, its offensive power with a Double Dance set remains undiminished, especially with Quagsire being absent for most of this recent period. Scyther also rose significantly in popularity, partly because of Hitmonchan becoming nearly ubiquitous as a Rapid Spin user while also having fantastic offensive synergy with the fearsome Bug-type, and partly due to its ability to force switches allowing its teammates to come in safely to wreak havoc. When combined with excellent bulk, this makes Scyther one of the best offensive pivots should its Stealth Rock weakness be covered. Aurorus also received a notable bump in usage, perhaps due to its ability to exploit new drops such as Aggron and Gastrodon when it gets a safe opportunity to enter battle. In particular, its Choice Scarf set became much more popular due to its ability to get surprise KOs on offensive Pokémon such as Archeops, Tauros, and Liepard that expect to outspeed it, as well as being an excellent check to weather teams. Finally, two NFEs have seen a lot more usage, with Clefairy boasting excellent Special Defense, a great defensive typing, and a vast support movepool including Stealth Rock, Soft-Boiled, and Thunder Wave that let it deal with a number of important threats. Bronzor is a niche Steel-type that walls many of NU's most dangerous threats outright, such as Jynx, Tauros, Mesprit, Aurorus, and Archeops without Heat Wave, using Levitate to bypass common coverage moves such as Earthquake, Earth Power, and Hidden Power Ground that are usually used to hit Steel-types, while also being able to set up Stealth Rock and inflict chip damage with Psywave.

- Steelix, Poliwrath, Aggron, Combusken, and Cacturne

While Steelix has not gotten significantly worse, people have started to become more aware of its flaws, namely that it's fairly passive and easy to switch into (unlike its rival Stealth Rock user Rhydon) and that its Special Defense is fairly exploitable even after investment. In particular, Choice Specs Mesprit can 2HKO Steelix easily with Ice Beam; this set has become popular enough that Steelix is no longer considered as reliable a Psychic-type check as it once was. Gastrodon's popularity, bulk, and defensive typing also made Aggron and Poliwrath significantly less useful, with Aggron's weaknesses and inability to break through it (alongside the return of Quagsire) making it less appealing than other wallbreakers such as Aurorus and Choice Specs Mesprit. With Aggron no longer being as popular, Poliwrath's defensive sets also became less relevant. Combusken was significantly nerfed by the ban on Speed boosts + Baton Pass; while it can still be a threatening late-game cleaner or recipient of other Baton Pass users such as Musharna and bulky Scyther, it has become a niche choice compared to its stronger and bulkier rival Fire-types. Finally, Cacturne's drop to PU (alongside Rotom-S) consigned it to being a distant memory, its benefits long forgotten compared to Shiftry's better Speed tier and access to key moves in Knock Off and Leaf Storm.

Where are they now?

Often when a new Pokémon enters a tier for the first time, it gets a lot of sometimes unearned attention, as people want to test it out for themselves and see what sets work, what don't, and what new innovations can be found. This section will look at how well the previous new entrants from May-July have done in the tier since their arrival.

Aggron

Aggron started off with a lot of hype, boasting exceptional power with its Choice Band Head Smash and Heavy Slam, alongside many useful coverage moves such as Ice Punch, Fire Punch, Superpower, and Earthquake, as well as some interesting support options such as Stealth Rock and Rock Polish. However, this initial hype faded as solid counters were found in the form of Poliwrath and its fellow drop Gastrodon, which received heavy usage that has persisted since its debut. Aggron's poor Speed tier and vulnerability to Fighting- and Ground-type attacks, as well as most special moves due to its terrible uninvested special bulk, all make it difficult to function without dedicated pivot support and against offensive teams in general, as most Pokémon carry coverage that can hit Aggron hard despite its titanic Defense stat. Rhydon also is generally much more useful as an offensive Rock-type threat due to its relative lack of severe physical weaknesses and a far superior STAB combination that ensures it doesn't have to rely on its inaccurate Rock-type moves or something inconsistent like Heavy Slam. However, Aggron can still be a solid threat if it gets an opportunity to switch in, and it can surprise typical checks by running a resist Berry instead of its trademark Choice Band.

Gastrodon

Speaking of Gastrodon, it's managed to make quite a name for itself during Quagsire's leave of absence, and it may well keep that title of "best ORAS NU Water / Ground type" for the rest of time. Compared to its swampy friend, Gastrodon has much better Special Attack, greater Special Defense, and the highly useful Storm Drain, as well as good utility moves such as Clear Smog and Mirror Coat. With access to Recover, Gastrodon manages to fill the niche of a bulky Water-type tank very well, forcing most Electric-types to run Hidden Power Grass to avoid being completely walled by it. Its Scald is also more powerful than Quagsire's, preventing it from being quite as passive, and Clear Smog is but a small downgrade from Unaware considering that Gastrodon gets to use another ability and most setup sweepers (save Grass-types of course) can't break through Gastrodon with a single boost. While Quagsire may still be the superior choice for stall teams that don't require Gastrodon's Water-type immunity, the latter will almost always be the better choice for other archetypes. Although Gastrodon received little initial hype, it has certainly had a more lasting influence on the tier than its counterpart Aggron.

Smeargle

Last and definitely least, Smeargle had a brief run in NU as a dedicated Sticky Web lead before everyone realized that Sticky Web was a terrible archetype. While Smeargle's movepool stretches out to infinity, its stats do not, and NU is very well prepared for its most useful tricks. Xatu and Magmortar make quick work out of Dark Void, and NU's many Grass-types can also switch into the more common and accurate Spore. Meanwhile, Xatu forces Smeargle to run Skill Swap to have any chance of setting up against it, preventing another potentially more useful move from being run in its place; alternatively it may just give up and use Nuzzle to cripple Xatu and other switch-ins instead. Finally, some of NU's most dangerous Pokémon, namely Scyther, Archeops, Swellow, and Malamar, completely ignore or even benefit from Sticky Web, making it very difficult to justify an otherwise mostly wasted teamslot for. These issues combined with the fact that Sticky Web teams have to check the entire metagame in five slots while also having offensive presence make the archetype, and thus Smeargle, usually more trouble than they're worth. That said, you could always give the Lv1 Endeavor set a try.

? Predictions for Final Metagame

Potential Drops

Dramatic irony dictates that NU will receive an amazing, Earth-shattering Pokémon from RU that changes the entire metagame right as all of the tier's players move on to greener pastures. While the RarelyUsed playerbase is notorious for holding onto mostly outclassed Pokémon for much longer than necessary (just ask Trevenant), Clawitzer, Cinccino, and Typhlosion all managed to fall below the 3.41% usage cutoff during last month's suspect tests, and Clawitzer even fell below the threshold in the regular ladder.

Clawitzer

While the watery weapon has a semi-unique niche in RU as a Water-type wallbreaker, Samurott gives it heavy competition due to its better Speed stat and ability to go mixed, and RU packs many faster wallbreakers such as Emboar, Exploud, and Medicham that force it out, not to mention Virizion taking all of its attacks save Ice Beam with ease. However, in NU, Clawitzer's Speed tier is actually quite decent, letting it outspeed other wallbreakers such as Aggron, Golurk, and Aurorus and threaten switch-ins with a powerful STAB Scald or a Mega Launcher-boosted coverage move. Compared to Samurott, it may be harder to wall overall due to the excellent neutral coverage it gets with its Mega Launcher attacks, but the lack of Torrent, a strong Aqua Jet, or setup moves may make it less threatening to offense teams. Overall, Clawitzer is likely to be a decent threat without being overwhelming in a tier already unfriendly towards its multiple wallbreakers, having a distinct advantage in a strong defensive and offensive typing, as well as its ability to burn bulky switch-ins without sacrificing power.

Cinccino

Cinccino is part of the RU Normal-type comedy duo that keeps other tiers laughing at it, due to the ease with which it's walled by the likes of Registeel and Escavalier. But perhaps not for long! Tauros demonstrates the power of fast Normal-types in NU, and Cinccino can easily match its power with a Life Orb Skill Link Tail Slap and also outspeeds Tauros. Although Steelix presents itself as a solid counter, Cinccino can use U-turn to pivot out of it and other defensive checks, and it can threaten other Normal-type checks such as Carracosta and Regirock with a Skill Link Bullet Seed. Meanwhile, Ghost-types must pack a Colbur Berry to not take heavy damage from Knock Off, and even then they do not like the move. However, Cinccino is far more vulnerable to Mach Punch from the likes of Hitmonchan and Gurdurr even compared to its Normal-type brethren, preventing it from running through most teams until the late-game. Cinccino would likely be a definitive, but not unbalanced, offensive threat of the final NU metagame if it decided to show up.

Typhlosion

Typhlosion has already spent some time in NU, as discussed earlier, and would remain BL3 at first if it dropped in usage. However, a suspect test for letting it back in may not be totally off the cards. While Typhlosion is thoroughly outclassed by other Fire-types in RU, such as Delphox, Houndoom, and Emboar, NU is a bit more of a comfortable temperature for it, with its main rival Charizard being even more vulnerable to Stealth Rock and having a lower immediate threat level outside of Sun teams. Typhlosion's good Speed stat in combination with Eruption and a possible Flash Fire boost (very useful for dealing with other Typhlosion!) could potentially make it too hot to handle for NU balance teams, but many viable Fire-type checks such as Hariyama, Regirock, Gastrodon, and Mantine are able to take it on in a pinch. Furthermore, Stealth Rock and Spikes significantly weaken Typhlosion's Eruption, and most priority attackers can either revenge kill it safely or weaken its Eruption enough to make it a relative non-issue. While a suspect test is unlikely to unban it so late in the metagame, it's still possible.

Potential Suspects

In the event that none of these drops happens, there aren't many candidates in NU for a future suspect test, with the metagame being well balanced at the moment without any overtly standout threats. With Tauros sticking around after its test in July and Mesprit holding the tier together to an extent, the most likely candidates to be looked at more closely are Garbodor and Jynx. While neither of these is likely to get banned outright, it's always fun to speculate.

Garbodor

Garbodor would be one of the first NU Pokémon to be suspected under the support characteristic; its typing, Speed, bulk, and decent offensive presence make it NU's most consistent Spikes user by far. It's able to use and absorb Toxic Spikes without having moveslot issues like its rivals Omastar and Roselia, which prefer to run other moves such as Stealth Rock, Synthesis, and more attacking moves. Meanwhile, the combination of Rocky Helmet and Aftermath can let Garbodor emergency check most contact attackers in the tier, dealing a minimum of 41% max HP damage simply by switching in and fainting. Notably, this technique can even be used to pseudo-block Rapid Spin, an excellent attribute for an entry hazard setter.

Jynx

Meanwhile, Jynx is perhaps one of the most difficult offensive threats to currently deal with, between its excellent offensive typing, combination of power and speed, wide coverage movepool, and plethora of useful support moves such as Lovely Kiss, Nasty Plot, and Trick. Although Bronzor has finally surfaced as a hard counter, Jynx is generally very hard to deal with due to the vast number of effective sets it can run, with Choice Scarf and Focus Sash sets giving offense and balance teams significant problems, and a Substitute + Nasty Plot set being harder for defensive teams to deal with. While its low Defense stat holds it back, Dry Skin prevents Aqua Jet from being an issue, and Jynx usually runs a move to deal with Sucker Punch users.

Conclusion

Overall, NeverUsed has had a pretty good run over the last two years. While many broken threats were identified, suspected, and banned, most of these Pokémon ended up moving on to higher tiers shortly or immediately after, resulting in only Sceptile remaining in BL3. While the metagame was initially dominated by offense teams using the absurdly powerful Mega Evolutions available (as well as many Pokémon accessing their hidden abilities for the first time), other playstyles such as balance and stall eventually became more viable. Although the last few months have been relatively quiet, this has been beneficial, as it has allowed NU to settle into its final configuration as one of the most balanced lower tiers around. While a few Pokémon could still drop from RU yet, it is unlikely that they would unbalance the tier in its final moments. Here's hoping that Sun/Moon NU will be able to form as soon as possible!

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