SV OU Suspect Coverage: Roaring Moon

By SetsuSetsuna, Released: 2023/11/03
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Roaring Moon

Art by Pissog.

Introduction

Roaring Moon has been one of OU's most dangerous sweepers since the early days of Generation 9, thanks to its great Speed and Attack in combination with a wide movepool and the Protosynthesis ability, which allows it to boost its Attack or Speed with Booster Energy or sun support. Roaring Moon first made its impact known by being featured on the first OU tiering radar and continued its good run in OU as a key member of Shed Tail teams. As the metagame developed, Shed Tail was banned, and new Pokémon were introduced in Pokémon Home, Roaring Moon slowly faded away until finally dropping to UU in September. The Teal Mask environment not only revitalized Roaring Moon but outright put it back on the map as one of OU's biggest threats. Roaring Moon received the valuable Knock Off in this first DLC, which provided a stronger Dark-type attack than Crunch on the first hit and more utility by removing items from opposing foes, notably Heavy-Duty Boots and Leftovers from Pokémon like Dondozo, Zapdos, and Great Tusk. Baxcalibur's ban and Garganacl's low usage were a factor on Roaring Moon being harder to face off against, as they were two of its best checks. Baxcalibur was also a popular Dragon Dance user, so its ban allowed Roaring Moon to fill this role in more teams. Roaring Moon's good matchup against new threats such as Ogerpon-W and Rillaboom allowed it to more easily fit on hyper offense teams as a check to said Pokémon. With all these factors combined and following a tiering survey in which Roaring Moon topped other threats such as Gliscor, Manaphy, and Ogerpon-W with a 3.68 / 5 score, Roaring Moon was suspect tested on October 17th.

Sets

Dragon Dance

Roaring Moon

The combination of Dragon Dance, Booster Energy, and Acrobatics has been a staple on Roaring Moon since the early days of the generation, as the immediate use of Booster Energy boosts Roaring Moon's Attack and turns Acrobatics into a 110-Base Power move. Tera Flying further boosts Acrobatics's power and notably grants Roaring Moon a Fighting-type resistance and a Ground-type immunity, improving its matchup against Pokémon like Great Tusk and Zamazenta. Earthquake is a solid option for the last moveslot, targeting the likes of Toxapex, Tera Steel Zamazenta, and Kingambit. Brick Break is another option that can nail even bulky variants of Kingambit, which are able to tank an Earthquake, and has the added benefit of removing Aurora Veil or dual screens from the opponent's side, improving the matchup against opposing hyper offense teams. Alternatively, Taunt can be used to stop recovery moves such as Dondozo's Rest and Corviknight's Roost, setup moves such as Dondozo's Curse and Corviknight's Iron Defense, and status moves such as Toxic from Gliscor and Toxapex and Will-O-Wisp from Torkoal, Skeledirge, and Rotom-W. Finally, Roost can be used to stay healthy throughout the game, potentially letting it set up multiple Dragon Dances against Pokémon trying to chip Roaring Moon down such as Gholdengo locked into Make It Rain and Rillaboom locked into Grassy Glide and turning the tables on Kingambit trying to revenge kill Roaring Moon with Sucker Punch.

Tera Steel is another option that completely flips Roaring Moon's Fairy, Dragon, and—unlike Tera Flying—Ice weaknesses, which notably lets it deny revenge killing attempts from Weavile's Ice Shard. Tera Steel also grants Roaring Moon an immunity to Toxic, potentially giving it a free turn against Gliscor or Toxapex trying to status it. Tera Fairy along with Tera Blast is yet another option that takes advantage of the great coverage that Dark and Fairy provide, and it provides Roaring Moon with an immunity to Dragon-type attacks such as Draco Meteor from Dragapult and Walking Wake. An alternative EV spread with 220 Attack EVs can be used so that Booster Energy boosts Roaring Moon's Speed instead of its Attack, allowing it to immediately check faster threats such as Booster Energy Iron Valiant and Dragapult.

Choice Band

Roaring Moon

Choice Band Roaring Moon is a staple on sun teams thanks to the combination of immediate power, Speed, and the ability to pivot that it provides. U-turn lets Roaring Moon pivot and bring in its teammates safely and heavily damages Pokémon like Ogerpon-W and Hisuian Samurott. Earthquake targets the likes of Kingambit, Iron Moth, Tera Steel Zamazenta, Toxapex, and Torkoal. Iron Head is used to threaten Fairy-types such as Enamorus, Iron Valiant, and Clefable. Alternatively, Outrage can be used due to its high Base Power threatening Pokémon like Zapdos and Manaphy. Tera Dark boosts Knock Off's damage output, threatening Corviknight with a 2HKO if it tries to switch in. Tera Steel can be used instead to boost Iron Head, potentially OHKOing Clefable and Hatterene, while also removing Roaring Moon's weakness to Ice-, Fairy-, and Dragon-type moves. The 220 Attack EVs make it so Protosynthesis boosts Roaring Moon's Speed instead of its Attack, allowing Roaring Moon to outspeed the likes of Booster Energy Iron Valiant and Iron Moth and Dragapult. If paired up with other fast offensive threats such as Speed-boosted Walking Wake or Great Tusk and Chlorophyll Hisuian Lilligant, Roaring Moon can instead opt for maximum Attack investment, with the added benefit of Protosynthesis boosting its Attack even further, allowing it to 2HKO Dondozo with Outrage.

Pro Ban

Roaring Moon's ability to shut down defensive counterplay with Taunt while being rather hard to offensively check due to its high Speed and great coverage felt too much for a portion of the playerbase. Roaring Moon was also able to do this without relying too much on Terastallization, as its typing let it set up against Pokémon like Ogerpon-W, Gholdengo, and Rillaboom. In contrast to this, opposing teams would be forced to preemptively burn their own Tera, one of the most important tools in the game, to be able to barely resist Roaring Moon's assault.

Anti Ban

Checks such as Dondozo, Iron Defense Corviknight, and bulky Kingambit are still around and able to perform well against Roaring Moon. It can be argued that Roaring Moon's need to slot either Taunt or Brick Break to beat one of these checks one-on-one but not the others is problematic for it and represents a case of four-moveslot syndrome. The use of Terastallization in a key turn such as burning Tera Steel on Zamazenta or Great Tusk as Roaring Moon goes for Acrobatics only to be met with a Stone Edge or Ice Spinner is another common way of stopping Roaring Moon's sweep short. Priority moves such as Ice Shard from Weavile, Extreme Speed from Dragonite, and Bullet Punch from Scizor can be used to revenge kill Roaring Moon after some chip.

Final Result

With a 59:25 ban to no ban ratio, equivalent to 70.23%, Roaring Moon was banned from SV OU on October 28th. It remains to be seen if Pokémon like Weavile will be able to carve a niche in OU following the ban, and if Pokémon like Ogerpon-W will be pushed to the edge now that one of their best checks is banned. With the constant discussions within the community around Pokémon like Ogerpon-W, Gliscor, Manaphy, Kingambit, and Gholdengo, further tiering action might be just around the corner.

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