The Unviable Ubers: D-Rank

By WreckDra. Art by Blue Frog.
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Unviable Uber Pokémon

Introduction

Tiering is sometimes a cruel process where Pokémon are placed in tiers they can't compete in. This isn't necessarily a bad idea; perhaps they were titans in the tier below that made it very unfun to play and contributed to the tier becoming less than ideal for a competitive metagame? In any case, they are now in a place where they will be forgotten until a major tier shift comes around or a generation shift breathes new life into them. Most tiers have BorderLine (BL) just for these Pokémon that are stuck in between being too good for the tier below and not good enough for the tier they are legal in. There is one tier that does not share this trait: Ubers. Every Pokémon banned from OU, other than Mega Rayquaza, is clumped together into the list of Pokémon known as the Ubers tier, but some of these Pokémon cannot function in the Ubers metagame at all. Because they are hard to separate out from the Ubers pack without reasonably extensive playing and knowledge, you will find what Pokémon are unviable in the Ubers metagame, why they are unviable in the Ubers metagame, and why they are too powerful for OU in the article below. Enjoy.

The Pokémon

Deoxys

Deoxys

Why this Pokémon is unviable

Quite simply, Deoxys is outclassed by its other formes. Its slight edge in its defenses does not save it from being outclassed by Deoxys-A, which can make much better use of its higher attacking stats because of the high-powered STAB move in Psycho Boost and the powerful coverage options all Deoxys formes have. As a Spikes user, Deoxys-S will be better almost all of the time due to its better bulk and ridiculous Speed stat, and when Deoxys-S isn't better than Deoxys at setting up entry hazards, Deoxys-A is. Deoxys would not be a bad Pokémon if it didn't have its other formes, but because it does have them, it is utterly and entirely outclassed and should never be used as a result.

Why this Pokémon is too strong for OU

This Pokémon can run Psycho Boost and three coverage options to destroy any Pokémon it wants. It doesn't need a boosting item, as its coverage options and STAB move are already very strong, and can run a Focus Sash as a result. It has access to Extreme Speed, a very fast Taunt, can be run as an all-out attacker or offensive supporter with little to no flaws—this Pokémon's movepool and offensive stats coupled with just enough bulk to survive some priority hits really cause it to own all of the OU metagame depending on what it runs. In short, its attacking sets are too powerful for OU standards, as mixed sets can 2HKO just about everything in OU, and it has the versatility to run support sets with entry hazards, as it gets both Spikes and Stealth Rock, or set up Reflect and Light Screen.

Deoxys-D

Deoxys-D

Why this Pokémon is unviable

Deoxys-D is mostly plagued by its typing and stat spread. It has all the tools to make a good wall in its movepool, but its Psychic typing will always let it down when it comes to trying to find defensive partners it works with. On top of this, while its Defense and Special Defense are massive, its low HP stat makes them less impressive in the long run and forces Deoxys-D to invest EVs into both HP and a defensive stat in order to tank key hits in Ubers. Another significant shortcoming is its Speed, which makes its access to Taunt a suboptimal option, as it Speed ties with or is outsped by most of the Ubers metagame. What makes this worse is that Deoxys-D cannot afford to invest in EVs into Speed either, as its HP stat offsets its defenses so much it needs to invest in those instead. Deoxys-D's bad typing, bad HP stat, and mediocre Speed leave it outclassed by Deoxys-S in the entry hazard-setting role and make running it as a wall impossible. It's a rather unfortunate story for this guy.

Why this Pokémon is too strong for OU

Where Deoxys-D would excel in OU is the hazard game, almost guaranteeing two layers per game due to its above average bulk, good Speed, access to Magic Coat, and access to both Stealth Rock and Spikes. It would be hypercentralizing on hyper offensive teamstyles, and the damage it would do through guaranteed Spikes and Stealth Rock would just be too much for the current OU to handle. It even has Skill Swap to mess with Magic Bounce, making it by far the best entry hazard setter in OU. Indeed, when it was still legal in XY OU, all these traits earned it a suspect test and, subsequently, a ban.

Kyogre

Kyogre

Why this Pokémon is unviable

Kyogre's old claim to fame was the ability to spam its high-powered Water-type attacks in the rain, along with perfect complementary coverage in Ice Beam and Thunder. It could also take advantage of Scald on a specially defensive set due to the move having almost no drawbacks along its high Special Defense, Leftovers, and Rest allowing it to keep rain up reliably. However, Primal Kyogre and Primal Groudon not only dethroned the old king of Ubers but even killed its viability in every way, shape, and form. Primal Groudon is by far the best Pokémon in ORAS Ubers, and any Water-type attack regular Kyogre goes for now has the drawback of letting it in freely—with Desolate Land's intense sunlight stopping Drizzle no matter what, it will never be able to use these moves until the behemoth is gone. With Primal Kyogre being able to override intense sunlight with Primordial Sea and having much higher base Special Attack and Special Defense, that leaves Kyogre with no niche over it other than a Choice Scarf or Choice Specs set, which Primal Groudon now makes difficult or impossible to use effectively anyways. If you want to use a Kyogre, make sure to give it a Blue Orb; that is the only way to get decent mileage out of it.

Why this Pokémon is too strong for OU

While Primal Groudon stomps Kyogre out of existence in Ubers, ORAS OU has no decently splashable Pokémon that stop it from using its absurdly powerful Water Spout and Origin Pulse. Choiced sets would terrorize OU with Choice Specs Kyogre 2HKOing Ferrothorn and even Eviolite Chansey with Water Spout at full HP. Pokémon with an immunity to Water-type attacks either are OHKOed or 2HKOed by Thunder or Ice Beam or are extremely passive and very easy to take advantage of, such as Gastrodon and Shedinja. KOing Kyogre is no easy task either due to its extremely good special bulk and higher physical bulk than Azumarill. It could pull off its old specially defensive set as well due to its access to one of the most spammable Scalds in the game. It also supports rain teams far better than Politoed ever could, and if you think those teams are hard to beat now, imagine them with this leviathan setting their weather.

Landorus

Landorus

Why this Pokémon is unviable

Landorus simply has no niche going for it in the Ubers metagame, let alone a usable one. As a Primal Groudon check, it gets absolutely roasted by Lava Plume Primal Groudon, and there are far better checks to its Swords Dance set, including Landorus's own Therian Forme. Offensively, there will always be one common Pokémon it fails to KO, with the most notable being Mega Salamence and, if it does run Hidden Power Ice, Skarmory. To put this into perspective, 200 HP Mega Salamence will only take 33% at best from Rock Slide after Intimidate, whereas Skarmory obviously walls any set without Focus Blast. If it foregoes Knock Off, it is all of a sudden very weak to Latias and Latios, and if it foregoes Rock Slide, Ho-Oh walls it outright. Overall, Landorus's offensive capabilities are a mess, while defensively, it can do hardly anything at all thanks to it being outclassed in that department.

Why this Pokémon is too strong for OU

Landorus was banned from OU thanks to its insane offensive prowess in the tier and the team support options available to it. It could destroy any one Pokémon it wanted with a certain move and actually had the moveslots to run these thanks to Pokémon such as Ho-Oh not existing in OU. Its bulk was decent enough to keep it ahead of the curve there as well, and it was even found running Stealth Rock some of the time. It didn't even need to rely on Tyranitar anymore to take care of its BW2 switch-ins, Latias and Latios, thanks to a buffed Knock Off being able to KO them both on the switch. Overall, Landorus was banned for its offensive prowess and versatility that caused many problems in OU.

Palkia

Palkia

Why this Pokémon is unviable

Palkia's old niches in being the biggest pain to switch into ever and being a good Kyogre check fell out of grace pretty fast with the release of ORAS. While it used to be able to spam its high-powered Water- and Dragon-type STAB moves, it simply can't anymore due to Primal Groudon being immune to the former and Xerneas being immune to the latter. To make matters worse, it even has trouble checking Primal Kyogre thanks to the Pokémon's buffed Special Defense and the fact that Primal Kyogre is no longer locked into one move half the time. While Palkia doesn't have a bad Attack stat per se, a physical Palkia can be replaced with a Primal Groudon that will make the team better in every case. The final nail in the coffin comes from Latias and Latios regaining their Soul Dew and being superior pivots into Water-type attacks for Primal Groudon to reset its Desolate Land if Primal Kyogre removes its sunlight. The Eon twins also check Lava Plume Primal Groudon pretty handily and check Primal Kyogre far better than Palkia thanks to the Special Defense boost from Soul Dew and their access to STAB Psyshock. While these already give them a very extreme edge over Palkia, they also provide more utility in Defog. Palkia just ended up in a really bad spot in ORAS to the point where it is unusable.

Why this Pokémon is too strong for OU

While Palkia's old offensive prowess was silenced in Ubers, it would resurface in OU in a very extreme way. Spacial Rend and Hydro Pump would tear the tier apart along with its powerful Electric- and Fire-type coverage moves. It can even run its old mixed sets to get past Chansey with Aqua Tail, Outrage, or even its gimmicky Substitute + Focus Punch set. Its very good bulk, decent Speed stat, and plethora of resistances—most notably against Water-type Pokémon—are all it needs to get in with momentum and start tearing teams to shreds. If Palkia is ever brought into the OU environment, you would have to kiss bulky teams goodbye.

Reshiram

Reshiram

Why this Pokémon is unviable

In a tier where even offensive Pokémon need to have some defensive ability or utility, Reshiram falls far short of the other Fire-types you will be choosing for your Ubers team. Its typing is a very big letdown because it is forced to compete with titans in Ho-Oh and Primal Groudon for a teamslot, both of which have better bulk, far more resistances, great power, and better secondary STAB moves courtesy of their Ground and Flying typing, respectively. Reshiram may have good bulk and access to Roost, but its three resistances are not useful at all due to Ho-Oh and Primal Groudon being able to do a massive amount of damage or KO Reshiram with their Ground- and Flying-type STAB moves respectively, Grass-type moves only being used occasionally by Latios, Latias, or the extremely rare Grass Arceus, and Electric-type moves only coming from Reshiram's biggest check in Primal Kyogre, Zekrom, and the niche Ice Arceus. Primal Kyogre, Fairy-types, and, in some cases, Ho-Oh make Reshiram an offensive slouch, with Kyogre being immune to its strongest attacking option, Blue Flare, because of the heavy rain it summons, Fairy-types being immune to Draco Meteor, and Ho-Oh resisting Blue Flare and having a massive Special Defense stat. Reshiram's mediocre Speed allows it to be revenge killed very easily, a trait that severely hurts a Pokémon that is weak to all forms of entry hazards. Reshiram's flaws just don't allow it to work in the Ubers metagame, where better Fire-types that fulfill similar roles rule.

Why this Pokémon is too strong for OU

Reshiram may not function in Ubers at all, but it would certainly tear up OU in a way nobody would like. This is mostly because of its very high base 150 Special Attack stat, extremely powerful STAB moves in Draco Meteor and Blue Flare, and ability, Turboblaze. To give an idea of how powerful this Blue Flare is, a Modest Reshiram can 3HKO standard Assault Vest Azumarill with Blue Flare, without taking entry hazard damage into account, and the move has a meaty 20% burn rate. Life Orb-boosted Turboblaze Blue Flare also has a chance to OHKO OU's specially defensive Heatran with Stealth Rock and two layers of Spikes set up, and it is just an easy 2HKO either way, as Reshiram will always outspeed this foe. Most Pokémon that can take a Blue Flare are hit very hard by Earth Power, in Mega Diancie's case, or Draco Meteor, for everything else except Azumarill and Mega Altaria. Reshiram isn't all that hard to bring into battle either, as unlike in Ubers, its resistances actually help it a bunch. To give examples, Reshiram can come in on Raikou, Mega Manectric, Mega Scizor, Heatran without Earth Power, Mega Charizard Y without Dragon Pulse, Ferrothorn, Forretress, bulky Starmie, Mega Venusaur, Clefable, Skarmory, Magnezone, Volcarona, and quite a few more in order to use its absurdly powerful Blue Flare or boost its Speed with Tailwind or Flame Charge, for which it actually has the moveslots to use them effectively in OU. Similarly, Reshiram's ability to switch into so many Pokémon lets it easily make use of Roost so that it can compensate for its entry hazard weakness. If this isn't too strong for OU, then I don't know what is.

The Arceus Formes

Why any Arceus forme would break OU

Any Arceus forme has a ridiculous movepool, massive bulk, high Speed, and useful attacking stats that would allow them to break the OU metagame regardless of typing. Arceus will always find a set that fits its team way too well, and there will almost be no reason not to use the monster. Its Speed and movepool make up most of the way it functions, with an extremely large support movepool, access to many dangerous setup moves, and some of the strongest coverage options available. Outspeeding and OHKOing Arceus will be a very tough feat with its very impressive base 120 in all stats, and it has access to moves like Recover, Will-O-Wisp, Defog, and even Stealth Rock to take advantage of its stats in a defensive way. Offensively it can set up Swords Dances or Calm Mind and has a coverage option for every Pokémon in OU, including a strong special STAB move in Judgment. Its raw stats, movepool, overall utility, and annoying ability to run a bunch of different sets would make Arceus unbelievably broken in OU regardless of its forme.

Bug Arceus

Bug Arceus

Why this forme is unviable

Arceus formes all carve out their niches over others with a combination of their Plate-boosted STAB moves and resistances unique to their typings. Bug Arceus gets the shortest end of the stick possible in both of these categories. Even though it allows Bug Arceus to revenge kill any Latios or Latias, Bug is a horrible offensive typing in a metagame dominated by Primal Groudon, Ho-Oh, and Mega Salamence. These three rule out any possibility of Bug Arceus running a Calm Mind and Recover set with Judgment and a coverage move, as it will always be walled by one of the three, no matter which move it picks. As it is forced to use a physical Swords Dance set to get any mileage whatsoever, it must rely on X-Scissor for a STAB move. To give an idea of just how bad this move is, it is equivalent to Normal Arceus's STAB Extreme Speed with slightly less power thanks to Bug Arceus's mandatory Insect Plate being used over Normal Arceus's Life Orb, without Extreme Speed's +2 priority; moreover, X-Scissor only hits Darkrai, Mewtwo, Latias, Latios, and Tyranitar for super effective damage, and Extreme Speed from +2 Normal Arceus also KOes all of those except Tyranitar, which can also survive Earthquake if it is carrying Shuca Berry. KOing Tyranitar doesn't anywhere near make up for the flaws Bug Arceus has when being compared to Normal Arceus's Extreme Speed and Normal Arceus in general, though, as both formes run Stone Edge and Earthquake as coverage moves. As a Ground-type check, which is one of its few good resistances, it gets owned by Stone Edge from Primal Groudon and Ground Arceus and is also susceptible to Primal Groudon carrying a Fire-type STAB move in Overheat, Lava Plume, or Fire Punch. Its defensive typing is simply ineffective because of this. The gist of this silly Arceus forme is: offensively, it is a far worse Normal Arceus, and defensively, it gets owned by any common Ground-type's super effective coverage or secondary STAB move.

Fire Arceus

Fire Arceus

Why this forme is unviable

Fire Arceus has never been considered a high-quality Arceus forme. Despite being able to check Xerneas somewhat acceptably back in XY with a Calm Mind set, Ho-Oh and Heatran both outclassed Fire Arceus at defensive (and offensive!) roles thanks to Regenerator and better resistances, respectively. Then ORAS hit the competitive scene and nearly smothered Fire Arceus to the point of complete uselessness. Primal Groudon began cropping up on the vast majority of competitive teams, and it both solidly counters Fire Arceus and fulfills every defensive niche it could possibly have and more, leaving very little reason to waste your Arceus's hold item to be a Flame Plate. If that weren't awful enough, the return of Soul Dew made Latios and Latias relevant in the metagame again, and—surprise, surprise—both of them completely wall Fire Arceus too! Combine those titans with other monsters such as Primal Kyogre, Ho-Oh, and Mega Salamence, and it quickly becomes apparent that Fire Arceus is checked by so many powerful offensive threats that, even with a fully offensive Calm Mind set, it is walled by something deadly no matter which coverage options it decides to use. In short, Fire Arceus offers no defensive utility that the ubiquitous Primal Groudon cannot provide, and it is walled by too many powerful threats to be considered for a useful offensive role. If Primal Groudon or Ho-Oh can't give you what you need out of a Fire-type in ORAS Ubers, you would be much better off restructuring your build than trying to squeeze usefulness out of Fire Arceus.

Psychic Arceus

Psychic Arceus

Why this forme is unviable

Besides its absolutely awful coloring, Psychic Arceus can only do one thing others cannot: wall any Mewtwo without Shadow Ball. Even in doing this, it is very mediocre, as Mewtwo commonly carries Taunt and Psychic Arceus does not have room for a move to hit it hard. Almost all Mewtwo teams also have the ability to set up Spikes, so Mewtwo can Taunt Psychic Arceus whenever it comes in and wear it down very easily that way. If the Mewtwo does run Shadow Ball, then it is even easier to get past Psychic Arceus, and it will have no other use against the offensive team Mewtwo is on. As a specially based Arceus forme, it also shares the issues that all of these Arceus formes bear, with some exceptions like Water Arceus. The first is Ho-Oh, which can turn Psychic Arceus into a momentum sink on your team very easily with its high-powered Brave Birds and Sacred Fires. The second is Blissey, which gets the easiest Toxics or Softboileds ever against Psychic Arceus. Kyogre and Spikes users are in a strange spot, as Psychic Arceus can carry Thunder or Fire Blast, but not both realistically on the same set. I don't even need to go into just how hard Tyranitar walls this Arceus. More often than not, Psychic Arceus is nothing but a momentum sink that is easily taken advantage of, and while it isn't exactly outclassed in its one unique role by anything, its typing doesn't provide nearly as much as the typing of other Arceus formes, with the exception of Bug Arceus. This forme will never find a role on any team that isn't done better by something else.

Conclusion

Just because these Pokémon are labeled unviable, that doesn't mean they are unusable by any means. Just know that by using them, your team will be handicapped, as there is probably a better Pokémon or combination of Pokémon that suit your team's goals better. Do not think that these Pokémon are banned from OU for no reason, because this couldn't be farther from the truth. While they may not function well now, they may find new ways to bring about their unique qualities in the next generation, but until then, they will still be labeled as the unviable Ubers.

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