OMotM/LCotM Spotlight: Fortemons and Tera Donation

By KaenSoul. Released: 2023/03/10.
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Art by anundeadboy

Art by anundeadboy.

What is an OMotM/LCotM?

The OMotM, or Other Metagame of the Month, is the metagame that is voted by the players to have a ladder for a specific month. The LCotM, or Leader's Choice of the Month, is a second ladder that is chosen specifically by OM Forum Mods. For the most part, the LCotM is a metagame that needs more love, as it may not be able to compete with the metagames that get nominated for the OMotM voting. For March 2023, the OM of the Month is Fortemons, while Leader's Choice is Tera Donation.

Introduction to Fortemons

Fortemons is a metagame where placing an attacking move in the item slot will apply its attributes to a Pokémon's other attacking moves. This isn't limited to just secondary effects; for example, Freeze-Dry not only provides a 10% freeze chance, it also makes all moves super effective against Water. Even the categories are shared, whether they are punching moves, make contact, are more likely to deal a critical hit, and many more, all while retaining the characteristics the moves had by default. Power, type, and category stay the same unless they are altered by an additional effect; for example, Aerial Ace won't give all of your Pokémon's moves perfect accuracy, but Thunder in rain will.

Threats in Fortemons

meowscarada

Meowscarada is one of the best Pokémon in the format, all thanks to its signature move Flower Trick, which lets all of its moves land critical hits all the time. There is no need to carry Knock Off in this format, as equipped moves can't be removed, and regular items like Heavy-Duty Boots are quite rare in general, allowing Spikes to have an even bigger impact than usual.

farigiraf

Farigiraf can utilize the mechanics of the format to make quite a unique set, as a single use of Beat Up maximizes its Speed stat in a single turn as long as the rest of the team is still healthy. This makes it a dangerous sweeper, boasting a powerful STAB Stored Power and immunity to priority moves.

torkoal

Torkoal can unlock its full potential with this set, as it's now able to utilize its Defense stat to attack and can easily overwhelm opposing Pokémon with a powerful sun-boosted Overheat that doesn't get weaker with each use. It can still carry its regular supporting moves to help the team, but it can fit Iron Defense to increase its great bulk and power.

Introduction to Tera Donation

Tera Donation is a metagame where as soon as you send out your lead Pokémon, it immediately Terastallizes and share that Tera type to the rest of the team as an additional type. While this change is added as an additional type, it will still activate the effects of Tera Blast. This means that in a single team of six Pokémon that don't naturally share a type, you are effectively making a Monotype team of up to six different types, allowing you to prepare to different matchups with a team that plays differently depending on who goes first.

Threats in Tera Donation

pelipper

Weathers are popular in Tera Donation, as you can easily extend their effects to Pokémon that wouldn't normally work that well on this kind of teams, opening your options up a lot compared to standard play while also improving the typical key members. While this Pelipper set may not look all that unique, it takes full advantage of the format, becoming pure Water to remove its Rock weakness and giving Water typing to its teammates.

dragonite

This Dragonite set takes advantage of either STAB Extreme Speed when it Terastallizes itself or a better defensive typing like Fairy when you lead with something else, and thanks to Tera Blast, you don't have to worry about what new STAB move you get. You can carry Normal Tera on a different Pokémon to use as a more consistent lead and have a team that takes full advantage of the Normal typing, with Pokémon like Choice Specs Boomburst Noivern gaining a highly powerful STAB move and Ghost-Types like Gholdengo removing their Ghost weakness without losing anything.

dragapult

Dragapult is known for lacking a reliable physical Ghost STAB attack, though here it can either pick one up or get an entirely new STAB move, letting it adjust to the circumstances. Here we use a Dragon Dance set, but you can always try any other of the many sets Dragapult can run, like Choice Band, Choice Specs, and Hex, but with a new STAB attack in Tera Blast to surprise your opponents.

Conclusion

Fortemons and Tera Donation are both metagames that introduce viable Pokémon that are typically bad and offer unique experiences for anyone to enjoy. Enjoy these metagames this March and check out the Other Metas room on PS! to discuss them.

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