RBY OU's Fallen Warriors
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Art by Swiffix.
Introduction
Out of all the Pokémon in the chromatic generation, 19 of them have managed to achieve the coveted position of OverUsed at some point in time. In a game as centralized and precise as RBY, this is no mean feat. However, it is also an ever-changing landscape, with even minor simulator improvements having a massive impact on the way it's played. As it undergoes this evolution, Pokémon actually do rise and fall, but it's far rarer and slower than what you see in modern generations. Given how major a change this is each time, these tier changes are met with extreme scrutiny with an almost scientific approach being taken to Viability Rankings today, thanks to vapicuno. This makes any OU tier change into a major community event, with some bemoaning the changes to the metagame, and others quietly saying "based" in the corner when they realize this changes a lower-tier.
With all things considered, 6 Pokémon have fallen from OU without ever returning to the tier. These drops occurred because of a few cataclysmic discoveries that changed the landscape of the game forever. The first, which marked the beginning of what can be seen as "modern RBY", was the discovery of Normal-types being immune to paralysis from Body Slam in 2014. This led to many metagame shifts in favor of Reflect Snorlax and Chansey, as well as the need for more "manual" paralysis with Alakazam and Starmie. The second was the unbanning and improved simulation of Wrap moves; while this happened prior to "The Paraslam Change", it didn't get put firmly into practice until Cloyster began slowly rising a few years later and Victreebel began tearing the metagame to shreds in 2018 and 2019. Other shifts absolutely happened, but none had as formidable an impact as these two.
Let's get into OU's fallen warriors then, shall we?
The Fallen Warriors
Persian: The Fierce Feline
Persian is known for doing one thing extremely well: Slash. It's one of the fastest Pokémon available and effectively hits with the power of a STAB Hyper Beam with no drawbacks every turn, which was enough to get it to OU in the first place. In the extremely early days of the generation, it was seen as somewhat interchangeable with Tauros. However, Persian's lack of coverage for Gengar was limiting, and it evolved into a powerful offensive partner for Tauros instead. Unfortunately, when it was discovered that Normal-types cannot be paralyzed by Body Slam, significant metagame shifts occurred that Persian profoundly disliked, such as Snorlax and Chansey being far less expendable and teambuilding becoming much tighter. Ergo, as teams need more Pokémon to induce paralysis manually, such as Alakazam and Starmie, Persian simply got pushed out of teams that would otherwise have wanted it. With the 2016 OU Viability Rankings, Persian dropped to UU, where it's become a metagame mainstay, still being thwarted by Haunter, but making Tentacruel sweat that little bit harder for its place on its throne.
Articuno: The Unforgiving Cold
A similar case to Persian, Articuno is known for one thing: Blizzard. Articuno has the strongest unboosted special attack in the game in its 125 Special Blizzard, which gives it a parallel with Rhydon's powerful Earthquake. Articuno wasn't OU originally, being a "BL knight" for a significant period of time. However, it rose to OU on RBY 2k10, which notably had moves like Wrap banned; these would be adopted for a period on Smogon in 2015. This included Clamp, which meant Cloyster, one of its biggest walls, was significantly less used; in fact, it was BL and seen as a worse Lapras. Articuno's Blizzard hits harder than even Psychic from Mewtwo and demands significant respect, and with Chansey often falling to Snorlax as a result of Normal-types still being paralyzed by Body Slam, it truly was prime time for Articuno to reach OU stardom. Starmie, another Articuno check, was also less popular and tended to be used as a Thunder Wave lead, usually getting paralyzed as well and reducing its ability to check Articuno. Many things went Articuno's way, and with community members at the time like WaterWizard clamoring for a rise, Articuno made it in June 2010. However, 6 years later, after much of this old theory was superseded due to mechanical discoveries, Articuno would drop alongside Persian on the 2016 OU Viability Rankings on Smogon shortly after RBY 2k10's tiers were adopted. In UU, it's the cornerstone of an entire team style aiming to weaken defensive pieces like Vaporeon and Hypno before a sweep, often being used alongside reliable Grass-type sleepers like Venusaur, Tangela, and, recently, Victreebel.
Dragonite: The First Dragon
Dragonite rose to OU from BL in September 2011 by Hipmonlee's discretion as part of an attempt to improve lower-tier prestige during RBY 2k10's retiering efforts. At the time, Wrap moves were implemented properly on simulators like Pokémon Online and later Pokémon Showdown, and Smogon allowed them to be used while RBY 2k10 didn't. Due to the stigma behind using these moves, Dragonite was moved up primarily for educational reasons, with the rationale being that players should always be prepared for it. This rationale was correct: due to RBY's Wrap mechanics, Dragonite's infamous "AgiliWrap" combo can potentially give it up to 32 turns of uncontested damage, potentially opening the doors for a sweep. Additionally, Thunder Wave makes it quite challenging to switch into Dragonite, as prior to this combo being used, switching to a faster Pokémon could very well lose the user the game if the Dragonite player predicted correctly. However, RBY OU is an extremely bulky metagame with many Ice-type attacks and paralysis-inducing moves being thrown around, and while Dragonite looks good, it doesn't really do much else. A lack of STAB moves and a weakness to Blizzard are the final nails in the coffin for it, dropping it to UU on the 2016 OU Viability Rankings. There, the lesser bulk of the metagame led to it being suspect tested, and while it stayed, a second test for the Agility + Partial Trapping combination ended up getting its trademark moveset banned instead in 2022, as Pokémon like Dragonair and Moltres were also using similar strategies. While slightly hindered, Dragonite remains a strong and healthy utility Pokémon in the tier, seeing success on a myriad of teams.
Golem: The Rolling Stone
Our friendly boulder was an OU staple for many years, even being considered better than Rhydon for the better part of two decades. Being a team's anti-Zapdos plan and an incredible way to blow a hole in opposing teams, Golem has a lot going for it. However, in 2018-2019, top players were analyzing Rhydon and Golem to find the better Pokémon out of the two, and the findings were very interesting. Rhydon's superior matchups across the board thanks to its monumental Attack stat, as well as its better bulk, was found to be instrumental in dealing with Pokémon like Starmie, Slowbro, and Chansey, as its Earthquake achieved crucial knockout thresholds Golem simply couldn't. Golem's role is also a bit paradoxical: it wants to be kept for the Zapdos in the back, but it also wants to use Explosion to take out a Pokémon like Starmie, which can lead to some odd decision-making. It doesn't help that Snorlax's STAB Self-Destruct is stronger and compresses the role Golem wants to fill. Ergo, Rhydon ended up replacing Golem on many teams, resulting in the modern rationale that it's outclassed in many areas, relegating Golem to specific teams that need not just one, but two nuclear Explosions, as well as a better Rhydon matchup, which Golem wins thanks to being faster. With the 2019 OU Viability Rankings, Golem finally dropped to UU, where it unfortunately couldn't compete due to the Water-infested tier giving it too many attacks to run away from. In 2021, it dropped to NU, where it's become a popular choice for combatting tier staple Charizard. If you want a more detailed analysis, we've actually written an article dedicated to chronicling Golem's gradual fall from OU!
Victreebel: The Devourer of Dreams
In 2019, Victreebel rose to OU after many years of photosynthesizing the background as a "gimmick". However, after multiple astonishing SPL performances the previous year, players realized not only were they using it wrong, but also extremely weak to it. Profiting more from the turn 1 Thunder Wave trade than any Pokémon in the tier, many players were forfeiting their Victreebel counter the minute the game began, with some teams only having Tauros left to outrun it. The combination of a faster Sleep Powder than Exeggutor, Wrap, and Razor Leaf is a fierce one, cleaving open the common team structure of Starmie / Rhydon / Exeggutor / Chansey / Snorlax / Tauros, forcing players to rethink the lead metagame. This led to the rise of Sing Chansey, which switches in on turn 1 to take paralysis, then spams Sing to get sleep off, which it can afford thanks to its tremendous bulk and positive matchup against the typical paralysis leads of the time period. This directly countered Victreebel's strategy, with standard sets being stonewalled by paralyzed Chansey and the paralysis leads causing its Wrapping antics to come to a screeching halt. Victreebel's initially strong performance ended up being naught but RBY's answer to the Tennison Gambit: a commanding lead if it works, but a fool's errand against a clued-in player. In 2022, after a small but significant stint in OU, it dropped back to UU, where it's largely replaced Venusaur, being welcomed back as a buff to a myriad of teams. While the drop is recent, this ravenous pitcher plant is likely to be a healthy presence for the foreseeable future.
Lapras: The Beast from the Deep
Lapras is the longest-lasting OU contender in the game's history, taking around 18 years to finally drop. Indeed, Lapras had been OU since before Smogon began, even being the best Pokémon in the game's earliest competitive formats in Japan. With the classic turn 1 Thunder Wave strategy, Lapras was capable of beating out most paralysis absorbers, threatening Pokémon like Chansey with sleep, and even winning a flat one-on-one against Tauros. This fall was a slow and steady one, beginning when Wrap moves were unbanned after Pokémon Online absorbed RBY 2k10's tiers. While Lapras was still actively used, this did begin giving it some competition and an additional Blizzard absorber in Cloyster, and would set the stage for Victreebel's dominance later. It despised the Victreebel-laden metagame in 2019, but even after it missed and died for the last time, the metagame shifts it left in its wake also hurt Lapras. For instance, Sing Lapras struggles a lot to break through a paralyzed Chansey. Occasionally, people were dropping the generally preferred Sing for Confuse Ray instead, which allowed Lapras to have better chances in this matchup. Starmie not being as frequently paralyzed also gives Lapras a much worse matchup to contend with. These days, Lapras is often overshadowed by Starmie and Cloyster; the former has Recover, and the latter has better physical bulk and Clamp to allow it to pivot out of poor matchups. While they all function differently, using them together leaves a team severely vulnerable to Zapdos, and both Water-types have at least some part of what Lapras can do as well. As simulation and play improve, Lapras simply appears to get worse. In June 2022, Lapras was dropped to UU, where it got quickbanned by the recently-formed UU Council for its extreme bulk, access to Sing, and impressive coverage simply being too much for the tier to handle, devolving the tier into Lapras wars. This would reinstate UUBL for the first time in RBY for 10 years!
Conclusion
RBY is a very unforgiving beast, with even the slightest shift in the metagame changing entire lines of play and rendering Pokémon unviable. Regardless, Smogon's tiering system means that there will always be at least someplace for Pokémon to be used, which means even a fallen OU warrior has a chance at life down the line. Optimized to an almost chess-like level, the metagame still has many ways to evolve too: maybe one of these will return to the metagame with time. Perhaps you will be the one to resurrect these living fossils.
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