PMotM Spotlight: Balls Random Battle
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Art by gaboswampert.
Introduction
Pet Mods typically are metagames with an arbitrary premise compared to other tiers, in which a council gains submissions by an interested user base around the given topic, changing or even adding Pokémon, items, abilities, and so on, which then eventually build up to a unique tier in itself. While Solomods are a subset of Pet Mods, they shine by granting full control of the metagame to the council; as a result, tiers are entirely built at their discretion without the community directly making changes to the tier.
A Pet Mod metagame may become a Pet Mod of the Month when it's nominated by the moderators of the section and then voted favorably between several options by the user base, granting the winner a temporary ladder in the main Pokémon Showdown! server. Because of technical difficulties, most Pet Mods come with limitations when implemented, such as limited teambuilder and sprite support. This currently is mitigated by emphasizing Random Battle formats to remove teambuilding issues, all while also using the in-battle chat to host sprites and other information that may not be easy to access without directly looking at a spreadsheet.
Balls is an Ubers-based micro-metagame made of 600 BST pure-typed fakemon themed around balls and eventually guns as well. While often a target of humor out of the implications, especially when talking about the tier, the metagame still manages to be surprisingly competitive and popular by Pet Mod standards. Adapted to a Random Battle format, a luck factor alongside the lack of Team Preview manages to still grant some use to the underperforming balls and guns.
Best Balls
Baseball
- Type: Normal
- Stats: 70 / 100 / 80 / 100 / 50 / 200
- Abilities: Reckless / Shadow Tag (Magic Guard)
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Perhaps the best ball around the circle, not only is Baseball the fastest Pokémon the metagame has to offer, but also its wide movepool and potent set of abilities enable Baseball to consistently leave a mark in every match. It's capable of being a setup sweeper, wallbreaker, stallbreaker, and trapper, all depending on the set, but it's held back by its low bulk and slight lack of optimization set-wise, such as the No Retreat sets not including Tera Ghost to cancel out their own trapping.
Cabbage
- Type: Grass
- Stats: 120 / 60 / 80 / 130 / 150 / 60
- Abilities: Grassy Surge / Ripen (Natural Cure)
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Cabbage's solid special bulk and longevity between Leftovers and Grassy Surge enable it to check several wallbreakers like Proton Pack, Watergun, and Railgun. While Fire- and Steel-types may easily wall it, Cabbage's utility can still be a useful asset mid-game as a balance Pokémon.
Watermelon
- Type: Water
- Stats: 180 / 80 / 80 / 120 / 80 / 60
- Abilities: Drizzle / Water Absorb (Unaware)
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Watermelon is one of the few balls with wildly different roles depending on its abilities, as it can be either a stall staple as the bulkiest Unaware user the tier has to offer or a rain setter that can be surprisingly hard to wall without the appropriate answers like Cabbage, Virus, and Crystalball; however, rain as a team archetype is not really existent in Balls, as the amount of balls that utilize rain in the tier is too low to enable teams fully dedicated to such weather.
Basketball
- Type: Fire
- Stats: 120 / 110 / 100 / 110 / 80 / 80
- Abilities: Flame Body / Drought (Magic Bounce)
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Even though it may seem to have a good role as a Magic Bounce user to keep entry hazards in check, Basketball is rather unreliable in practice, given that a good portion of the hazard setters like Dragonball, Rock, Virus, Grenade Launcher, and Tommygun still retain a good matchup against it. This isn't helped by the fact that it can be hindered by Knock Off, as then it can't reliably remove them with Rapid Spin either due to its weakness to Stealth Rock. However, Basketball variants with Drought can be surprisingly difficult to wall, especially as the Balls metagame is mostly lacking in specially defensive answers, enabling Basketball to still find a niche in certain matchups with the right set.
Dragonball
- Type: Dragon
- Stats: 50 / 125 / 125 / 125 / 125 / 50
- Abilities: Vessel of Ruin / Intimidate (Guts)
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Dragonball provides multiple roles to pick from as a bulky wallbreaker in balance teams, compensating its rather well-rounded stats in a metagame with a seemingly higher power level via a surprisingly decent typing and movepool that further complement its traits, enabling Dragonball to make foes like Watermelon, Basketball, and Railgun wish for mercy.
The Moon
- Type: Ghost
- Stats: 150 / 160 / 180 / 40 / 50 / 20
- Abilities: Rocky Payload / Unnerve (Pressure)
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Named as such because the originally intended name "Moon" overlapped by coincidence with a teambuilder alias used for Roaring Moon, The Moon is the physically bulkiest Pokémon the tier has to offer, overall withstanding physical hits even better than Zygarde-C. The Moon's gigantic physical bulk combined with a good offensive typing and one of the highest Attack stats in the tier cements it as one of the most threatening balls orbiting the metagame, only being held back by its low special bulk, triviality at being outsped, and the potential roll for a suboptimal moveset. More specifically, it generally prefers Moonlight to considerably increase its longevity over merely setting Stealth Rock.
Gumball
- Type: Fairy
- Stats: 70 / 60 / 50 / 170 / 150 / 100
- Abilities: Misty Surge / Aftermath (Prankster)
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Gumball's sheer wallbreaking power thanks to having the highest Special Attack in the metagame results in an offensive support Pokémon, thus providing utility to its team while also applying offensive pressure. Gumball's Fairy typing synergizes well with its solid special bulk, allowing it to roll out foes like 8ball, Cricketball, and even Discoball. As sweet as things may be, Gumball remains held back by its lack of coverage against Fire-types like Basketball, and its physical bulk and average Speed tier make it reasonably easy to pressure out offensively as well.
Soccerball
- Type: Fighting
- Stats: 100 / 110 / 90 / 70 / 90 / 140
- Abilities: Stakeout / Trace (Speed Boost)
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Soccerball's top-notch base 140 Speed tier often ensures that it can force out foes, allowing it to either make the most of Stakeout or find the perfect setup opportunity alongside Speed Boost to then become one of the most threatening setup sweepers Balls have seen so far. Court Change often finds use thanks to Soccerball's innate positive matchup against the main entry hazard setter of the tier known as Tommygun.
Tennisball
- Type: Flying
- Stats: 50 / 100 / 75 / 125 / 100 / 150
- Abilities: Unburden / Adaptability (Aerilate)
- Tennisball @ Choice Specs
- Ability: Adaptability
- Tera Type: Flying
- EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Timid Nature
- - Aeroblast
- - Heat Wave
- - Energy Ball
- - U-turn
Unlike the other -ate users of the tier, Tennisball does not have the typical access to strong Normal-type moves like Extreme Speed, Boomburst, and even Explosion; this leans its niche more into the striking direction of a Choice Specs wallbreaker. It still remains surprisingly threatening thanks to its Adaptability-boosted Aeroblast having surprisingly few safe switch-ins, notably 2HKOing specially defensive Dragonball after Stealth Rock.
Snowball
- Type: Ice
- Stats: 50 / 150 / 50 / 150 / 50 / 150
- Abilities: Snow Warning / Slush Rush (Refrigerate)
- Snowball @ Choice Band
- Ability: Refrigerate
- Tera Type: Ice
- EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Adamant Nature
- - Extreme Speed
- - Wild Charge
- - Double-Edge
- - Flip Turn
Embracing the role of a glass cannon, Snowball's stat spread being the same as Deoxys already gives a good hint for its usage; Snowball leans on KOing foes before they can KO it in return and acts as a potent offensive pivot and revenge killer while also retaining use as a late-game sweeper.
Virus
- Type: Poison
- Stats: 95 / 120 / 90 / 110 / 115 / 70
- Abilities: Merciless / Corrosion (Regenerator)
- Virus @ Leftovers
- Ability: Regenerator
- Tera Type: Dark
- EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
- Careful Nature
- - Poison Jab
- - Knock Off
- - Toxic Spikes
- - Recover
In a metagame with only two Pokémon representing a type each, Toxic Spikes is a surprisingly oppressive entry hazard, as there often isn't a Poison-type to absorb them, allowing Virus to easily hinder opposing teams, especially as its access to Regenerator minimizes chip damage to ease hindering foes further with Knock Off or merely stall them out.
Discoball
- Type: Steel
- Stats: 105 / 65 / 120 / 115 / 135 / 60
- Abilities: Mirror Armor / Soundproof (Levitate)
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Some iron balls sure are required around the tier, and Discoball is right there for the task, being one of the best defensive Pokémon in the tier. Notably, it is one of the few defensive pivots and clerics the Balls metagame has to offer. However, Discoball's moveset options are quite suboptimal and can often make it setup fodder due to its passivity, and while the combination of Volt Switch + Levitate could seem ideal to stay in on Ground-types, it should face the truth that the Ground-types of the Balls metagame force it out: Football uses it as setup fodder and then OHKOes it with Close Combat, and Grenade Launcher can blow it up with Mold Breaker + Headlong Rush.
Cricketball
- Type: Bug
- Stats: 50 / 80 / 80 / 130 / 100 / 160
- Abilities: Rattled / Sniper (Sheer Force)
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Holding the niche as being the only Pokémon in the tier with Quiver Dance and Sticky Web, Cricketball can be surprisingly unpredictable, which is something to capitalize on in a Random Battle format. The lack of Team Preview results in a coin flip on whether Cricketball is going to set Sticky Web or set up a sweep with Quiver Dance, notably demanding specially defensive checks, as Sheer Force often ensures offensive pressure to wear down foes before it's taken down.
Crystalball
- Type: Psychic
- Stats: 100 / 60 / 100 / 155 / 135 / 50
- Abilities: Psychic Surge / Forewarn (Analytic)
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Being the ball with the second highest Special Attack in the tier, Crystalball is a potent bulky wallbreaker, with its signature access to Psystrike ensuring that special walls aren't too safe either. Its access to Psychic Surge is useful in a metagame where priority options like Extreme Speed are fairly common, complementing fast yet frail balls like Cricketball, Soccerball, and Baseball. Crystalball variants with Trick Room are more situational but can still prove to be useful for slower allies like The Moon, Shotgun, and Grenade Launcher.
8ball
- Type: Dark
- Stats: 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 / 120 / 120
- Abilities: Simple / Sturdy (Illusion)
- 8ball @ Life Orb
- Ability: Simple
- Tera Type: Fighting
- EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Timid Nature
- IVs: 0 Atk
- - Dark Pulse
- - Focus Blast
- - Flash Cannon
- - Nasty Plot
While Illusion would be extremely powerful in a Random Battles context, for the purposes of Balls, Random Battle 8ball can only appear with Simple, which makes it rather predictable ironically. Even then, while 8ball's stats are rather lacking for the tier, notably limiting its setup opportunities, the offensive pressure it can apply on slower foes after a Nasty Plot is not to be underestimated, especially as the best special walls in the tier like Crystalball and Proton Pack are weak to its Dark-type STAB moves. For instance, +4 Tera Fighting Focus Blast OHKOes specially defensive Dragonball.
Greatest Guns
Handgun
- Type: Normal
- Stats: 80 / 120 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100
- Abilities: Adaptability / Scrappy (Protean)
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While its roles may often overlap with Baseball, several differences result in a gun that plays quite differently in practice. Some key differences include Handgun's better matchup against Ghost-types thanks to its access to Scrappy and Knock Off, the fact that Handgun can bluff between multiple of its sets, and Handgun's better mixed bulk, allowing it to more easily trade blows against foes while also not being as weak to priority.
Shotgun
- Type: Fighting
- Stats: 150 / 150 / 95 / 65 / 85 / 55
- Abilities: Sheer Force / Reckless (No Guard)
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Filling the role of a bulky Fighting-type, even by Balls standards Shotgun is surprisingly difficult to KO; by extension, this often leads to situations where it can check and overwhelm multiple foes across the game in spite of its lack of longevity, although it can't do much against foes like The Moon, Virus, and Watermelon.
Grenade Launcher
- Type: Ground
- Stats: 110 / 175 / 125 / 80 / 65 / 45
- Abilities: Aftermath / Mold Breaker (Bulletproof)
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Holding the highest Attack in the format, Grenade Launcher can often snipe out switch-ins with its explosively strong attacks, with its access to Mold Breaker allowing it to ignore abilities such as Levitate from Discoball and Magic Bounce from Basketball. It also has just enough Speed with the EV spread of the Choice Band set to outspeed Virus.
Nailgun
- Type: Steel
- Stats: 95 / 130 / 140 / 60 / 95 / 80
- Abilities: Heavy Metal / Technician (Steelworker)
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Even though Sunsteel Strike + Steelworker could seem difficult to switch into, as Pet Mod metagames are often heavily ability-reliant, the truth is that no defensive abilities in the tier interact with Sunsteel Strike. If anything, the low PP of such a move limits Nailgun's offensive pressure, and this isn't helped by Steel being a poor offensive typing. Thus, Nailgun does little against foes like Watermelon, Basketball, and Proton Pack. However, Nailgun's good physical bulk, utility, and significantly less passivity than Discoball can still situationally prove useful against other balls and guns like Snowball and Toygun.
Railgun
- Type: Electric
- Stats: 165 / 50 / 70 / 140 / 90 / 85
- Abilities: Berserk / Good as Gold (Full Metal Body)
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Thanks to its combination of Thunder Cage and Good as Gold, Railgun is one of the best stallbreakers in the Balls metagame, with its solid mixed bulk and Special Attack often ensuring that it can leave a mark in a match. While it may sometimes misfire, Thunderclap also neatly patches its average Speed tier, synergizing with the trapping of Thunder Cage to prevent the foe from making the move fail by switching out. By extension, Thunder Cage also allows Railgun to pick its matchups, thus not being as limited against the trend of +2 priority moves as one would think. However, its lack of coverage does still mean that it's ineffective against Grass- and Dragon-types like Cabbage, Dragonball, and Crossbow, as well as Proton Pack, which can use Railgun as setup fodder thanks to Lightning Rod.
Crossbow
- Type: Grass
- Stats: 120 / 130 / 110 / 70 / 95 / 75
- Abilities: Analytic / Unburden (Chlorophyll)
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Given Crossbow's type coverage, a Grass-type that gets walled by Bug-types could appear as impractical, but because the Bug-types of the Balls metagame are offensively oriented, Crossbow can often be surprisingly difficult to wall in practice, especially as its access to Thousand Arrows + Analytic discourages Flying-types like Tennisball from switching in. While Unburden variants of Crossbow can struggle more against foes like The Moon, Dragonball, and Scorpiongun, its capability to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame is not to be underestimated; however, it can often demand Psychic Terrain support from Crystalball to sweep reliably, as the tier has a lot of strong priority options.
5.7 Rock
- Type: Rock
- Stats: 90 / 125 / 110 / 65 / 100 / 110
- Abilities: Guts / Sand Rush (Rock Head)
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Acting as an actually viable version of Rampardos in a way, 5.7 Rock makes the most of slow pivoting from allies like Crystalball and Discoball to then come into the field and wallbreak as hard as possible, either being Choice-locked in exchange for more longevity, or focusing on an anti-offense role with Guts + Rock Polish.
Blowgun
- Type: Poison
- Stats: 100 / 140 / 70 / 120 / 80 / 90
- Abilities: Merciless / Corrosion (Toxic Chain)
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Blowgun is a remarkable offensive support sweeper in the tier, with its use of Victory Dance and spreading of poison threatening offensive and defensive teams alike. Interestingly, it takes advantage of Earthquake as coverage, as it threatens Strength Sap blockers like Basketball and Railgun due to their Ground weakness. However, not only is it countered by Discoball, but Blowgun's Speed can also be lacking even after a boost, leaving it vulnerable to foes like Baseball and Cricketball, and the trend of strong priority from the likes of Snowball, 5.7 Rock, and Railgun doesn't do many favors for it either.
Lasergun
- Type: Psychic
- Stats: 55 / 60 / 80 / 135 / 135 / 135
- Abilities: Infiltrator / Neuroforce (Magic Guard)
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Having similar yet better stats compared to Flutter Mane, Lasergun is a fast wallbreaker and stallbreaker; it can circumvent common forms of indirect damage like Salt Cure, Leech Seed, and Toxic with its Magic Guard ability, all while also easily making progress with either Lumina Crash softening walls for it, or Psystrike + Nasty Plot easing the matchup against special walls and giving more immediate pressure to better threaten more offensively oriented structures. Meteor Beam + Neuroforce is a more situational option and, while not as good as Lasergun's Magic Guard sets, can catch some balls off guard.
Tommygun
- Type: Dark
- Stats: 125 / 115 / 105 / 50 / 50 / 155
- Abilities: Intimidate / Stamina (Defiant)
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Tommygun's high Speed tier and access to Ceaseless Edge cement it as one of the best entry hazards setters and offensive pivots, easing its use early-game as a lead. Its traits can also be used mid-game to revenge kill foes like Lasergun and Snowball while also pressuring the incoming revenge killer with further layers of Spikes and otherwise lowering their damage output with Intimidate + Parting Shot to grant allies better setup opportunities.
Watergun
- Type: Water
- Stats: 70 / 130 / 50 / 130 / 60 / 160
- Abilities: Swift Swim / Storm Drain (Mega Launcher)
- Watergun @ Choice Specs
- Ability: Mega Launcher
- Tera Type: Water
- EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Modest Nature
- - Steam Eruption
- - Ice Beam
- - Aura Sphere
- - Flip Turn
Even though its ability is barely significant to its usage compared to other balls and guns, Watergun is a good offensive pivot, notably often hindering switch-ins like Watermelon and Dragonball with a burn. However, it lacks the offensive pressure to act as a wallbreaker, so its use in practice is often limited to appearing mid- or late-game, where it can KO worn down foes thanks to its allies.
Dracogun
- Type: Dragon
- Stats: 105 / 105 / 70 / 125 / 70 / 125
- Abilities: Dragon's Maw / Beast Boost (Flare Boost)
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Taking notes from Naganadel and going to the next level, Dracogun's Beast Boost set has the most snowball potential in the tier once it manages to KO a foe. This, in turn, makes it one of the best late-game sweepers the Balls metagame has to offer. Similarly, in a metagame with barely any Fairy- or Steel-types, Dragon's Maw + Dragon Energy can overwhelm even the sturdiest balls and guns; for example, it OHKOes Cabbage after Stealth Rock. However, it is held back offensively, as the metagame has a trend of priority wallbreakers that can quickly wear it down into the KO range of frailer yet faster revenge killers.
Proton Pack
- Type: Ghost
- Stats: 150 / 55 / 95 / 155 / 115 / 30
- Abilities: Lightning Rod / Cursed Body (Soundproof)
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Proton Pack is one of the best guns in the Balls metagame, making the most of its mixed bulk and Electric immunity to check foes like Discoball, Gumball, Railgun, Handgun, and even Snowball. With its solid base 155 Special Attack and the scarcity of Normal- and Dark-types, Nasty Plot variants of Proton Pack can often make progress against most of the metagame.
Toygun
- Type: Fairy
- Stats: 75 / 135 / 70 / 135 / 90 / 95
- Abilities: Pixilate / Magic Bounce (Serene Grace)
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As the sole -ate user with Extreme Speed and Boomburst, Toygun is one of the few mixed wallbreakers in the tier, notably compressing utility and setup to ease the offense matchup with Rapid Spin, allowing it to pressure offense teams. On the other hand, Toygun's lack of coverage and boosting moves beyond Calm Mind makes it trivial to wall by bulkier foes like Discoball, Nailgun, and Cabbage.
Scorpiongun
- Type: Bug
- Stats: 130 / 105 / 85 / 40 / 60 / 180
- Abilities: Swarm / Tinted Lens (Skill Link)
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Scorpiongun's exclusive access in the format to Tinted Lens in a tier with only pure-typed foes means that even its Bug-type STAB moves will effectively always do at least neutral damage, enabling it to perform quite effectively as a revenge killer and offensive pivot. While entry hazard-setting sets are outclassed by Tommygun, setup sweeper sets are a more reliable, if situational, option, although they can be forced out by the several priority users in the tier like Snowball, 5.7 Rock, and Toygun, which is not helped by demand in sturdy entry hazard control due to Scorpiongun's weakness to them.
They dropped the ball
The following balls have significantly underperforming roles in the Balls Random Battle metagame, but can situationally find use by chance.
Football
- Type: Ground
- Stats: 90 / 120 / 120 / 80 / 90 / 100
- Abilities: Rock Head / Stamina (Hustle)
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Although it faces competition from Grenade Launcher as a bulky Ground-type and 5.7 Rock as a Rock Head wallbreaker, Football still finds a use thanks to its blend of traits to fit on different matchups, even if it's more situational. Football's capability to pull off offensive support sets between Stamina and a decent utility movepool is worth highlighting, often managing to take control of the field as an entry hazard setter and remover.
Rock
- Type: Rock
- Stats: 120 / 140 / 160 / 40 / 80 / 60
- Abilities: Solid Rock / Moxie (Sand Stream)
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Rock may seem like Cricketball in terms of the large role difference between its two sets, making it difficult to properly answer, but the truth is that only the Shell Smash set is viable in the current metagame. Salt Cure variants of Rock are outclassed by The Moon and Cabbage, as their access to reliable recovery and better defensive typings leaves Rock in the dust, but they can still see situational use to force out Basketball, easing the act of setting Stealth Rock. Shell Smash sets of Rock are surprisingly threatening, as between Shell Smash and Diamond Storm, they can snowball faster than Snowball, making it a threatening late-game sweeper.
Plasmaball
- Type: Electric
- Stats: 80 / 65 / 140 / 130 / 130 / 55
- Abilities: Electric Surge / Static (Electromorphosis)
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Before the "Guns DLC" of Balls, Plasmaball was a good bulky offense pivot, mainly being held back by Dragonball, Gumball, and Crystalball, but nowadays Plasmaball is mostly outclassed by Railgun, which has better stats and abilities that notably afford it to fill more roles than Plasmaball. However, Plasmaball can still find situational use to disrupt other Terrain setters.
A shot to the foot
The following guns have significantly underperforming roles in the Balls Random Battle metagame, but can situationally find use by chance.
Flamethrower
- Type: Fire
- Stats: 130 / 95 / 70 / 145 / 100 / 60
- Abilities: Flash Fire / Flame Body (Prankster)
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While it does aim for a more support-oriented role than Basketball, Flamethrower sucks balls. Its Speed and physical bulk are lacking for the tier, and its coverage options are terrible; this isn't helped by the possibility of rolling a set with Torch Song + Nasty Plot, which is a rather redundant combination that leaves it easy to wall by Fire- and Dragon-types like Basketball, Dragonball, and Dracogun, leaving it outclassed by Basketball and Gumball.
Freezegun
- Type: Ice
- Stats: 65 / 100 / 105 / 140 / 75 / 115
- Abilities: Slush Rush / Heatproof (Regenerator)
- Freezegun @ Life Orb
- Ability: Regenerator
- Tera Type: Ice
- EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Timid Nature
- IVs: 0 Atk
- - Ice Beam
- - Focus Blast
- - Freeze-Dry
- - Thunderbolt / Nasty Plot
Offensive Regenerator users aren't unheard of, with Tornadus-T being a common one in regular metagames. With that said, Freezegun is just mostly outclassed by the original Ice-type of the tier, Snowball, having an inappropriate typing and bulk to really use Regenerator for much besides cancelling out Stealth Rock chip damage while also not being too hard to wall or even outspeed.
Airgun
- Type: Flying
- Stats: 115 / 105 / 75 / 105 / 55 / 145
- Abilities: Sniper / Neutralizing Gas (Speed Boost)
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Similarly to Freezegun, Airgun's stats aren't particularly optimized by the standards of the Balls metagame, already facing competition with Tennisball for similar roles, but its capability to use Defog on Railgun is worth noting, even if it's immediately forced out by Railgun afterwards. Beyond that, Airgun is quite passive but can find use at times to disrupt weather and Terrain setters like Crystalball and Basketball as the sole Neutralizing Gas user.
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