RU National Dex RU Metagame Discussion

[Kin+ak (✧∇✧)]

err I've been plying the tier a bit (ever since I discovered Glastrier was putting in work) and I'm ready to sy that Mega ampharos is really not that bad. I haven't managed to put HP ice on it but it doesn't need a lot of moves tbh its stab Combo hits a lot for Neutral, and U can always Use Fblast Charge beam so you rapidly become HARD to wall. besides Fblast Can smack Mega Aggron
252+ SpA Mold Breaker Ampharos-Mega Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Aggron-Mega: 286-338 (83.1 - 98.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
That and well, Glastrier. Glastrier's access to SD makes it one of the most fearsome TR mons (Yea I said it and I'll say it again, Fuck you alowak); it's got a colorful coverage with Close Combat and Crunch, making it one of the hardest mons to wall, and it ain't too simple to Rkill either, with some Strong-hittingmons Not able to Grab an OHKO.
252 Atk Slither Wing Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Glastrier: 320-378 (79.4 - 93.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Latias All-Out Pummeling (160 BP) vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Glastrier: 286-338 (70.9 - 83.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
But while you might think Boots Icicle Crashh is optimal, I think that Loaded Dice Icicle Spear makes its true Strength. it goes through Sub, Sash, Sturdy, is more accurate and has an average Base power of 112.5, Quite the deal!
Besides, I think Z memento Cofagrigus is Kinda underrated as a TR setter. Sure, Cress's Lunar Blessing looks Straight-up Better, Z-Memento also goes through encore and Taunt, and lets your next mon have 1 almost free turn as the Opp won't be threatening it at -2 offenses.

 

[Runo]

Ay Is there any way the Role Compendium could be Updated? It has Scolipede in it, Falsely claims that Gallade has access to Sucker punch, Does not include hattrem in TR Setters or Glastrier as a TR Abuser. Araquanid is not listed as a Sticky web user despite being real solid, and Ttar is still in there. Conkeldurr is also there, Tornadus is for some reason in the "physical breakers" section as well as the special section so I assume it's there voluntarily, Zeraora is still around, so is Bulu, and Mienshao, Mega Ampharos is not in the "trick room abusers" section either, I assume it's mainly outdated but Sucker Punch Gallade shocked me that hard

I'll take care of it worry not yung Kinak

 

[Runo]

April Tier shifts

Buzzwole moved from NDRUBL to NDUU
Mew moved from NDRUBL to NDUU
Sableye-Mega moved from NDRUBL to NDUU
Amoonguss moved from NDRU to NDUU

Heracross-Mega moved from NDUU to NDRUBL
Latias-Mega moved from NDUU to NDRUBL
Archaludon moved from NDUU to NDRU
Azumarill moved from NDUU to NDRU
Banette-Mega moved from NDUU to NDRU
Golisopod moved from NDUU to NDRU
Grafaiai moved from NDUU to NDRU
Grimmsnarl moved from NDUU to NDRU
Regieleki moved from NDUU to NDRU
Skeledirge moved from NDUU to NDRU
Talonflame moved from NDUU to NDRU

Amoonguss was a superb defensive threat in this tier and its rise to UU is pretty annoying since we lose a really really splashable check to the fighters in addition to Basculegion-F and Mega Aggron. Filling the void it caused doesn't seem like an OBSCENE ask but stuff like Tapu Bulu, Tangrowth, and Roserade couldn't do what Amoonguss did with the same quality. Specifically none of them have any hope of checking Okidogi, which was already a pretty controversial threat in the metagame.

---


Possible that it might be broken, also possible that it could be balanced all the same. Manual Rain straight up seems like a cancer matchup fish without an additional Grass-type to invalidate the concept and this is without considering Archaludon, who beats nearly all of the anti-Rain mons in the metagame. Arch can still be incredibly threatening regardless of Rain, with sets like Electro Shot + Power Herb, Z-Move, and Choice Specs being fast enough to harrass a very large chunk of the tier. Whether or not potential checks such as the Mega Steels or offensive grounds like Krookodile and Nidoking will be able to stand up to this menace is unclear, but this is for sure a very impactful drop.


Now I know back in previous metagames of NDRU this was considered "fine", but the tier is a lot slower now and Azumarill has a very high risk to put a detrimental strain on what is predicted to be already strained given the other drops into this tier. Choice Band Azumarill seems borderline impossible to switch into (I think it is just Tangrowth). Belly Drum seems like a nightmare matchup fish on par with Scolipede. Not much else to talk about, I give it a week or two before this gets axed. It's most likely broken.


Last time Mega Banette was in the tier was NDPL IV... so almost 2 years. In that iteration of the tier, it was fairly threatening as Poltergiest made it Marowak-A but fast. Shit like Swords Dance and Destiny Bond and status are probably chill. Unsure if Mega Banette will be as real as last time but we'll see.


Golisopod can pressure both Slowking and Latias and place Spikes using that offensive pressure. Outside of that specific thing it seems mid.


Garbage, next mon


Okkkk this guy is a cheese head screener, Light Clay is banned though so no way it's taken seriously.


Honestly the only ground that soaks Normalium Z sets from Regieleki is Mega Steelix and like max spdef Gastrodon and Swampert i think, so it could be cool to try out! Heavy competition with Mega Manectric however.


Skeledirge has a lot of potential to be toxic with Unaware and deadly burn spreading capabilities. I don't think many mons want to actually switch into Wisp and the Ghost/Fire stab is REALLY annoying on top of that (Blacephalon trauma). Strong breakers such as Nidoking, Basculegion-F, and friends should be able to hold down the fort in the early weeks, and in return we get an additional check to Latias and Slither Wing (and partially Okidogi).


I love this Talonflame guy, great for punishing Slither Wing and Okidogi, doesn't falter into fat stuff like Mega Aggron or Mega Steelix (compare this to Crobat and Gligar who just kinda lose). Glad to see this back in to the tier.

 

[Velcroc]

Runo's post touched on most things I had to say. I'll add some extra points/perspective on these drops and rises.

There was a point in time where I wasn't too high on this mon. I didn't necessarily think it had a huge drop in viability, I just didn't feel confident putting it on teams because this mon see-saws between UU and RU so often. With the rise of Okidogi and Slither Wing sets being standardised, it was good to have a mon that punished both by switching-in. I believe that having two Grass-type regenerators in the metagame was ultimately a positive thing for keeping stuff like Thundurus and even Sandy Shocks in line, but without both, you have to make teambuilding calls. Amoonguss being gone means you have to compromise on your grass Regen mon. Either you lose noticeable special bulk (to the point where you don't even check special Electrics), or you lack the pressure provided by Helmet and Spore. For the record, I don't think either Electric-type would be automatically broken, but it is food for thought.

This Pokemon is an issue. Runo mentioned that Azu was manageable before based on what I described in council chat. On second look, this was roughly a year ago when Mega Beedrill was still running around in the tier. The meta at that time had a lot of fast dragons running around (hax, drei, lati), Volcanion was far more popular, and I believe Slowbro and Amoonguss were in the tier as well. All of these made a Belly Drum sweep difficult. Even then Banded Azu could claim something pretty easily especially when something like Slowbro was chipped. Now, the meta has settled significantly and Azu is a physical version of Basculegion-F right now except without any good mid-grounds. I disagree with Runo on BD Azu being SD Scolipede levels of fishing, but it certainly doesn't help matters.

I should mention that I'm discussing the drops in order of how good I think they are. I predict Skeledirge will end up defining the identity of the tier in the coming months, and right now I am mixed on it. Very few mons switch-in to Fire/Ghost, but the issue to me is that very few mons do anything of note either. Cyclizar switches into both STABs but gets ruined by burn. Houndoom-Mega probably takes a lot from Shadow Ball anyway (especially with rocks in the equation) or gets sniped by scorching sand. Mons that do force it out like Bascu, Nido, Krook all take a lot from Torch Song and lose the long-term game. I think Skeledirge lives a hit from 2 of these guys with bulk from full too. With that being said, I do think this mon suffers from not being able to EV for everything. If you don't invest in special defense, you miss out on checking quite a few attackers, while not investing in defense means you might struggle to tank Earthquakes and the like. The speed as well can be exploited by mons like Primarina who should tank 1 hit from either STAB.

I do wish this guy stays tho. You soft-check a vast portion of the metagame and I think Skeledirge could see us unbanning a few RUBLs if shifts are favourable.

Cautiously optimistic here as well. Power-herb Electro Shot, Z, Specs, AV, or even random utility sets will definitely make an impact on this tier. I think Specs Draco from this mon in particular is tricky to switch into especially since you can bluff Electro Shot on t1. I think I'll need to play / build for it to properly assess what actually takes this on, but I do know that some of the fat ground like Gastro, invested Mega pert and Mega Lix tank a lot of moves on electro shot sets. I don't think manual weather will become oppressive, but I will say that Archaludon + Mega Pert is a potentially scary combo if you can find a good rain setter. Z-move and Specs are the two sets that concern me at the moment since they can pick off so much of the tier. I do hope this stays tho since it is basically TTar at home for me and I do miss TTar a lot.

Utility birb back. Finally. It's a B / B- mon but it's nice to have an Oki/Slither punisher.

Tyranitar killed this mon's usage last time around. Krook, while it resists everything this mon has, is noticeably frailer than ttar and doesn't have the same longevity because of it. I think SD will have a niche, maybe Destiny Bond cheese sets could work.

Pretty cool mon to have back. Basically Lokix with Water STAB, Spikes and crappier U-turn thanks to its ability. I don't imagine it will be doing much here but I do appreciate a water-type spiker.

I think this mon blows and only has normalium-Z as its potentially scary set. Most grounds do not like getting hit with Normalium-Z off the rip, but without that you get walled by a good portion of the tier. Transistor being 1.3x makes it even less appealing than last gen to be honest.

Other prankster mons have more use cases. Both are decidedly mid (altho I like Grimm's typing into Latias).

 

[Runo]

NDRU Council has decided to unanimously ban Azumarill from National Dex RU! (dhelmise and Marty to implement please)

Although Azumarill has flip-flopped in and out of this tier multiple times, it has significantly less counterplay than ever before. Defensive behemoths like Slowbro, Pecharunt, and Amoonguss are no longer legal. Mega Slowbro is harder to use due to its base Galarian Slowbro form being way weaker defensively and not resistant to Water, Empoleon is significantly worse this time around, Tentacruel is unviable, etc. All of these changes allow Choice Band Azumarill to be egregiously threatening to the metagame.

The sturdiest checks to Azumarill right now are Mega Aggron, Tangrowth, and Volcanion, which each come with some flaws against it. Mega Aggron, despite being insanely bulky, can only switch into Banded Liquidation twice at the most while having very few ways of punishing aspects of Azumarill comps such as Future Sight, Volt-Turn, and Hazard Stacking. Teams that solely rely on Mega Aggron to deal with Choice Band Azumarill do not have stellar longevity against it. The same can be held true for Volcanion teams as well. Their lack of ways to heal from the heavy hits they take from Azumarill makes them short term answers at best. Tangrowth has Regenerator for this very instance, but it is very suspectible to being lost entirely after hazards such as Stealth Rocks or Spikes are placed since they grant Azumariil a high chance to 2HKO a physically defensive Tangrowth with Band Play Rough. Pokemon such as Bulky Roserade or Milotic are incredibly low in usage while also not being particularly good checks to begin with.

Belly Drum sets are less consistent than Choice Band sets but it trades that consistency for the ability to wipe out Mega Aggron and Tangrowth immediately while also easily trading against staples such as Latias and Okidogi. It does have hard revenge killers such as Zarude, Tapu Bulu, and Mega Sceptile but they come at the cost of being harder to prep against Choice Band variants of Azumarill. Anything else doesn't really respond well to Belly Drum at all.

I should clarify that if we had more time or had significantly less impactful drops then we would've probably given Azumarill more time, but a lot of us on council are really concerned about tier perception right now as we try to fight for (and to keep) spots at the table in various team tournaments with RUGL being the most recent example of this. It could be worth rediscussing at a more stablized point.

In the meantime, run Crawdaunt instead! I think it would be really funny to figure out that it's also broken (probably not but one could dream lol).

 

[Runo]

Tier Shifts:
moved from NDRUBL to NDUU
moved from NDRUBL to NDUU
moved from NDRUBL to NDUU
moved from NDRUBL to NDUU
moved from NDRU to NDUU
moved from NDRU to NDUU
moved from NDRU to NDUU
-------------------------------------------
moved from NDUU to NDRUBL



No Blissey is fairly big, and several threatening special breakers will find it significantly easier to force progression or straight up run away with games now that they no longer need to tech their sets to abuse the top Special wall.


One of the most dangerous matchup fishers no longer exists...tragic. How are we going to punish slop balances now?


Oh...this is a non-issue nobody care this rose.

Winners:

Cyclizar will be asserting itself as the best special defensive pivot in the metagame. Although Blissey had the sheer bulk, Cyclizar carries a fuck ton of valuable utility to keep the pace on the user's side such as Knock, Dragon Tail, Taunt, U-Turn, Rapid Spin, etc. This is nothing new at all and it was the second best mon in the tier already, but with less competition Cyclizar's job is significantly more impactful as opposed to just being an insanely strong role compressor.


These are always fairly annoying to see on preview because of how hard they tend to hit and how few checks there are to each of them. There is still substantial counterplay for a lot of them however so I wouldn't immediately be raising alarm bells just yet. Basculegion-F and Archaludon were already controversial so I can't imagine they stay for a lot longer but again we'll see. Anything else you can kinda just tough it out matchup wise.


No Blissey = They setup and kill something on the spot if not multiple somethings. Counterplay is now significantly more matchup heavy instead of consistent checks.


Significantly more room to maneuver now that they don't need to worry about inviting Blissey in for free.


Close enough...welcome back Blissey!

Losers:

No more BlissMaggron Slop Balances to default to when thinking gets too hard.


LOL stalling without Blissey in this tier, good luck brah.

 

[Kin+ak (✧∇✧)]

You forgot mega Camerupt and, to a lesser extent, Glastrier in the winners, No Bliss No Mega Bro Trick room is so back

 

[Runo]

Hi, I still run this tier for the time being and have some news to share:

1 - Kinzo has stepped down from NDRU council, thanks for all the contributions throughout your tenure. Danbear02 will be joining us on council to compensate for this loss, welcome.

2 - There is a general feeling going around that post Blissey (and frankly towards the end of the Blissey metagame too) the tier has not been super enjoyable. My previous post alluded to this as special attackers are kinda running rampant at the moment, but we are stuck in a situation where a lot of things are merely borderline as opposed to blatantly problematic. Not everyone on council agrees on what should really be targeted so nothing has been happening on that end as a result. So far of all the pokemon brought up for a potential ban slate (6 total), only Archaludon has stood out as a truly problematic threat, receiving growing complaints since RUGL at a higher rate compared to most other mons. It will be the sole target of our newest ban slate, which has already concluded.

The council has voted to unanimously ban Archaludon from National Dex RU (dhelmise to implement)


Although borderline on more standard teams, Archaludon's usage on Manual Rain pushes its toxic behavior to extreme feats and making the once niche playstyle both mainstream and exceptionally difficult to properly account for in the teambuilder. Traditional buffers against Rain such as Tangrowth and Tapu Bulu fumble into Archaludon badly while fat waters such as Primarina and Slowking cannot take boosted Electro Shots without giving up their ability to act as a buffer against the rest of the rain wallbreakers such as Mega Swampert. As it outpaces most fighting and ground types naturally, Archaludon is more than capable of using both its natural resistances and bulk to be difficult to revenge kill. Very hard checks such as Mega Steelix work somewhat but with the downtrend of Mega Steelix due to not being Mega Aggron and generally having a less reliable defensive profile and the fact that Archaludon can remove it with Fightinium Z sets anyways, it was decided that it would be too much of an ask to force users to accomodate for Archaludon and Rain in such a way that can create detrimental matchups into scarier opponents such as Basculegion-F and Calm Mind Latias.

---

Other targets to be on the look out for / warrants future discussion:



The first 4 are incredibly dangerous threats on hyper offense, which still retains a lot of its negative matchups from prior metagames but now compensates with a greater or equal amount of positive matchups, resulting in those archetypes becoming a toxic aspect that can take games down solely to whoever had the better matchup as opposed to player skill. Thundurus and Basculegion-F dish out obscene damage immediately and are incredibly difficult to wall without Blissey in the metagame, they are seen on nearly every HO team that is considered to be good for this reason as they are near guarenteed progress makers that struggle to be shut down. Iron Jugulis and Polteageist contribute to the toxic aspect of HO in a different way, whereby they trade consistent progress for the high chance to take games down to luck or matchup instead of player skill. Iron Jugulis has a lot of solid soft and hard checks but none can truly be marked as consistent because of flinch and confusion hax, which becomes increasingly frustrating when it's paired with Substitute. The Spikes HO teams where it is dominant on also makes these would be checks more reliant on luck to win the interaction against Iron Jugulis. Polteagiest, although not a luck based pokemon, has the habit of forcing the usage of fat dark types such as Mandibuzz, Umbreon, or Alolan Muk, which would otherwise not be ideal choices in the metagame, in order to consistently avoid a sweep after a Shell Smash boost. It also heavily incentivizes further centralization around First Impression users such as Lokix and Slither Wing and contributes the the feeling that good teams are required to have at least one of them in order to be sturdy into vast parts of the metagame.


Although not terribly hard to check, it's more than capable of bypassing whatever check it would like because of its offensive profile, defensive resistance to Fighting and Bug (making most revenge killers unable to check it properly), and immunity to Toxic making it very hard to punish. Variants such as Choice Band and Z-Gunk Shot make Slowking, Reuniclus, and Galarian Weezing shaky answers at best, while the old fashioned Substitute + Bulk Up variants makes it incredibly difficult for non-Psychic Noise users to tackle Okidogi as very few defensive checks are able to break through substitute while the offensive counterplay often gets shattered by Drain Punch or Knock Off.

 

[Decidueye409]

What the fuck was it doing there in the first place lmao?

 

[Melons-N-Soda]

What the fuck was it doing there in the first place lmao?

Largely the power level of NatDex compared to standard Gen 9 balances out Archaludon Rain in OU, and outside of Rain its not the greatest mon? Well its not the worst either but it lacks longevity and its special bulk is ass. In UU Hisuian Goodra is preferable, yes, it sounds weird but that's the case apparently. (Hisuian Goodra is B- on the NatDex UU VR while Arch is flat out unranked for reference)

 

[about15gals]

Largely the power level of NatDex compared to standard Gen 9 balances out Archaludon Rain in OU, and outside of Rain its not the greatest mon? Well its not the worst either but it lacks longevity and its special bulk is ass. In UU Hisuian Goodra is preferable, yes, it sounds weird but that's the case apparently. (Hisuian Goodra is B- on the NatDex UU VR while Arch is flat out unranked for reference)

peli isn't ou by usage and since drizzle is banned in uu rain is dead there, and rainless archa is just flat out bad when its competing with insanely good pokemon such as celesteela and scizor that it's ru

 

[Runo]

Largely the power level of NatDex compared to standard Gen 9 balances out Archaludon Rain in OU, and outside of Rain its not the greatest mon? Well its not the worst either but it lacks longevity and its special bulk is ass. In UU Hisuian Goodra is preferable, yes, it sounds weird but that's the case apparently. (Hisuian Goodra is B- on the NatDex UU VR while Arch is flat out unranked for reference)

Goodra having sap sipper to blank celesteela, better matchups into Iron Moth and Mega Gardevior, coverage to hold its own against Aegislash and Scizor, and being a knock user makes it much more viable choice.

Hisuan Goodra in RU is interesting however, it presumably will make an attempt to fill the vacuum left by Archaludon's departure, although without the toxic matchup aspect.

 

[Big Chungus irl]

Goodra having sap sipper to blank celesteela, better matchups into Iron Moth and Mega Gardevior, coverage to hold its own against Aegislash and Scizor, and being a knock user makes it much more viable choice.

Hisuan Goodra in RU is interesting however, it presumably will make an attempt to fill the vacuum left by Archaludon's departure, although without the toxic matchup aspect.

Hoodra was here for a LONG time already, it honestly does not do anything in any way similar to Arch, it's a mediocre tank, nothing more, nothing less. I it was so underwhelming that it fell to NDNU, I specifically remember using it there.

 

[Kin+ak (✧∇✧)]

Yo Ladder is back everyone wake up.

Trick Room!!!

everyone's favorite Archetype is back! ​

Pink Blobs have taken a vacation in North Korea the tumultuous lands of ND UU, Stall is dead, Trick Room Rejoice!!!
I believe Trick Room in NDRU is really cool, because you people will stone me if I say it's good. There are many of the World's Best Trick Room mons in the tier today, Let's make a list

SETTERS​

the Backbone of any Trick Room team, the Bulky mons who set Trick Room up for the hard hitters to do their Job.

The moon in the fucking sky

Cresselia (F) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Psychic / Ice Beam / Moonblast
- Lunar Dance
- Moonlight

Cresselia is historically one of if not the best Trick Room Setter in the history of Pokémon. It has Gigantic Bulk, Self-KO healing move that restores PPs, Recovery for itself, and whatever coverage move you want to be annoying asf. it covers a lot of Popular abusers' Weaknesses, like Ground for Alowak, Mega Amph, Stakataka, Mcamerupt etc., Fighting for Glastrier, Stakataka, Mega Steelix etc. and takes most neutral hits really well, letting it set trick room 2 or 3 times a game if needed. Alternatively, it's also one of the toughest Pokémon for a Trick Room team to take down.

the witch in the fucking forest

Hattrem (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Healing Wish
- Life Dew / Mystical Fire

Hatterene is stuck in Gholdengo jail so Hattrem is doing child labor (everyone says thank you hattrem!) and Setting up Trick Room and Magic Bouncing for us, letting Rocks-weak mons use better Items than boots (common issue: this phrase can't be processed by SV OU players, it's normal and will pass after 20 minutes). Healing wish does Healing wish stuff an Life dew gives babygirl a little recovery to survive rocks n weak hits from passive mons who think they can deal wit her before Trick Room goes back up. Alternatively, can run Mfire to pesky setup mons who think they can beat TR by setting up 6 calm minds. Why use it over cresselia? it takes physical hits better duh

252 Atk Life Orb Lucario Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Hattrem: 70-84 (22 - 26.4%) -- 18.2% chance to 4HKO
252 Atk Life Orb Lucario Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Cresselia: 104-123 (23.4 - 27.7%) -- 81.4% chance to 4HKO

(no really it's just for Mbounce)

the Duck in the fucking pond

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Teleport
- Tri Attack
- Recover

Porygon2 is By far the Physically Bulkiest TR Setter. Thanks to its type giving it only one Weakness, which it can manage with its Ginormous Physical bulk, it can Set in front of most everything, tho it is very vulnerable to taunt.

252+ Atk Okidogi Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Porygon2: 218-260 (58.2 - 69.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Latias All-Out Pummeling (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Porygon2: 216-256 (57.7 - 68.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

the Very best advantage of P2 however, is Teleport. it can bring in any Trick Room Abuser Completely Risklessly. Trace also gives it a good utility against stuff like Immunity Gligar or Regen mons. it really loves to use Regen Tport. Tri attack is great at spreding status, too, and it ca sometime win you games, getting a freeze on Mega Agg or a burn on Krookodile.

The King in the fucking Coffin

Cofagrigus @ Darkinium Z
Ability: Mummy
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Memento
- Shadow Ball
- Will-O-Wisp

You Might be wondering "why the fuck would I ever use this shit instead of Cresselia LOL" and I'd answer you 'aura'. But behind this ambiguous word I'd mean "This Ghost type Pokémon has a status inflicting move that Cresselia doesn't have access to, and that neutralizes most of everything that might attempt to damage your valorous Warriors using Physical moves. Besides, it can nullify its opponent's ability if that one uses a contact move, and takes much less damage from the move knock off, virtue of holding one of Alola's most cherished treasures, the Darkinium Z. This seemingly normal stone lets it unleash its full-force Z-move, Z-Memento. The effect of this move is same to regular Memento, but the replacement's HP is fully restored. This effect lasts as long as Cof is on the field, and by that point you might be asking me, "yo smartass, Memento makes you kill yourself, fuck you mean "as long as Cof is on the field"? this dont make sense", to which I'd respond, why, the effects of memento are blocked by pesky moves such as protect, Detect, and Spiky shield. the use of Z memento in these situations does not sacrifice Cofagrigus to our beloved gods, but it keeps the effect of restoring the replacement's HP to 100%, making the use of Z memento on a protecting move optimal for its full use. this means that in rare occasions, Cofagrigus will not die and still restore its replacement's HP, whereas Cresselia is forced to sacrifice herself 100% of the time. Furthermore, Memento Halves both of the Opposing Pokémon's Offensive stats, letting your Pokémon come in even more safely than after a Lunar Dance, for the ennemy will not be able to do any meaningful damage to it, thus forcing a switch, and letting your Pokémon set up with moves such as swords Dance, Nasty plot, Charge beam, anything! Lastly, Cofagrigus' Ghost typing is different from Cresselia's Psychic typing, making Pokémon like Slither wing or Guts Heracross unable to Kill it before it sets the allmighty field Condition that will lead its team to greatness, Trick room"

The Shell on the Fucking Brain

Slowking @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Teleport
- Scald
- Future Sight

Slowking is already one of the tier's most excellent Pokémon. Future Sight Pressure makes your Trick Room abusers even harder to switch in to, Scald spreads burn like bats spread diseases, and Teleport is the Goated move to make your TR abuser switch in safely. Honeslty, it's already one of the Tier's very best, what do you want more as an explication?

ABUSERS​

The face of your trick room team. A trick Room's Offence relies entirely on them. Carefully choose them, or you're the one getting Tricked by THE ROOM.

UB - Assembly

Stakataka @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Lonely Nature
IVs: 15 Def / 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Stone Edge
- Heat Crash
- Trick Room

Stakataka is one of the Scariest Trick Room abusers of the tier. has High Attack, High Base Power moves, and its ability means it's not gonna stop anytime soon. while by far the slowest Trick Room abuser, it is also walled by the tier's very best mon, Mega Aggron. in other matchups it's Aight tho. (Just kidding it's GREAT bruh it's at least 2HKO'ing EVERYTHING with Gyro Ball, meaning that at +2 on the last turn of trick room, you're practically guaranteed to take the kill with Gyro). Easily top 3 Trick Room Physical attackers.

the King of Bountiful Harvests' beloved steed

Glastrier @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Chilling Neigh
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Swords Dance
- High Horsepower
- Crunch / Close Combat / Substitute
- Icicle Spear

Glastrier is Probbly the (Viable) Trick Room abuser with the Highest Base Attack Stat. It has Pretty COlorful Coverage, too. Pair that with massive bulk and Swords Dance, and a 100/125 BP STAB 100% Accurate move. Let's just say, not a lot can take it on, even less can when it has set up a swords Dance

+2 252+ Atk Glastrier High Horsepower vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Filter Aggron-Mega: 177-208 (51.4 - 60.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Glastrier Icicle Spear (4 hits) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Unaware Quagsire: 228-268 (57.8 - 68%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Crunch lets it Guarantee KOs on stuff like Bascu F or Jellicent, but Close Combat hits Mega Aggron harder and substitute lets u survive a turn or Two after Trick Room ends. I run Crunch cuz I'm a survivor from MegaBro era, our heritage can't be erased by no "tier shift" bullshit.

[[Pokémon]'s Supreme Overlord] [Pokémon] Gained strength from the fallen!

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Swords Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Poltergeist
- Brick Break

No Kingambit jumpscare chill we're civilized in here. Alolan Marowak is a Superb Trick Room Attacker, thanks to its acceptable typing and bulk. thanks to the Thick Club, its STABs are weapons of mss destruction that, per the 1967 UN Space treaty, cannot be put into orbit. Remember when I said cresselia was one of the toughest Pokémon to take down for a TR team? yeah that was a fucking LIE. So anyways, Brick Break lets it hit Cyclizar and break Aurora veil cuz this shit's annoying let's be fr.

Vidal Sassoon idk

Ampharos-Mega @ Ampharosite
Ability: Static
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Charge Beam
- Dragon Pulse
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast

Mega Ampharos is an excellent Trick Room attacker, thanks to its sky-high special attack. One of Mega Ampharos' famous flaws is the inability to setup. This is solved by replacing the mid Volt Switch by the great Charge Beam. Not only does it let you take KOs without spending Tbolt Pp, it has 70% odds to raise the user's Special attack. At +1 or +2, Ampharos can OHKO most of everything. Focus Blast lets it OHKO non-spdef Mega Aggron as it goes through filter. Dpulse can 2HKO a lot of grounds in the tier, making checking it Even harder.

Pompei Circa 79

Camerupt-Mega @ Cameruptite
Ability: Solid Rock
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Eruption
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Ancient Power / Stealth Rocks

Mega Camerupt is a very Powerful Mega evolution, thanks to its strong, Sheer Force-Boosted STABs. It also is one of the Only way for TR to set rocks up. Its main weakness over Mega Ampharos is however, that slowking is one of the best mon in the tier, and It practically never loses the 1v1. Not much to say here, just that since It uses Eruption, it's much better when It switches in from Teleport than Manual switching.

Ursaluna but Jobless

Ursaring @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Facade
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Throat Chop

Ursaring is a mid ass Trick Room attacker when Mega Aggron is around. Outside of that, albeit a bit fast, it's rlly good. STAB guts boosted Facade, just the type of shit that's strong yk.

Gemini AI tries Paleontology

Arctozolt @ Choice Band
Ability: Volt Absorb
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Bolt Beak
- Icicle Crash
- Low Kick
- Stone Edge

While Choice Locked, this deletes most of everything with its Bolt beak, and what doesnt Die to Bolt beak usually doesnt wanna switch into CB STAB icicle Crash. Basic mon at abusing trick Room, but very effective at Getting rid of water types for allies like Alowak or Mega Camerupt or Even Stakataka

Now Obviously these aren't the only Mons to set or Abuse Trick Room but definetely are the only ones.you should be paying attention to. Next shifts might see Powerful Stall Mons and Mega Slowbro coming back, so SPAM TRICK ROOM WHILE YOU STILL CAN


"No crediting :(" I found the arts on Bing Images bro idk Who made them

 

[Runo]

Okidogi and Thundurus are now banned from National Dex RU
dhelmise please implement this (PR request has already been made)

Although not terribly hard to check, it's more than capable of bypassing whatever check it would like because of its offensive profile, defensive resistance to Fighting and Bug (making most revenge killers unable to check it properly), and immunity to Toxic making it very hard to punish. Variants such as Choice Band and Z-Gunk Shot make Slowking, Reuniclus, and Galarian Weezing shaky answers at best, while the old fashioned Substitute + Bulk Up variants makes it incredibly difficult for non-Psychic Noise users to tackle Okidogi as very few defensive checks are able to break through substitute while the offensive counterplay often gets shattered by Drain Punch or Knock Off.

I hear a complaint about Okidogi almost every other day at this point. Choice Band and Bulk Up + Poisonium Z sets are just way too powerful to defensively check even with mons like Crobat and Gligar since they fear Ice Punch from it. Bulky Psychics just cannot switch into it's boosted Gunk Shots either. The term "check" itself could be classified as a misnomer.


This is another fella that is pretty much unwallable depending on what set it wants to run today and has amassed steady complaints about it every tour. The speed makes it even more frustrating to deal with since it's very difficult to not lose a mon to Thundurus once it clicks Nasty Plot. Mega Steelix, Gastrodon, Swampert, Gligar, Nidoking, and Tangrowth can all easily fold to common coverage options like Focus Blast, HP Ice, and Grass Knot. Meanwhile faster checks like Scarf Krookodile, Cyclizar, and Mega Manectric rarely get chances to reliably OHKO it before it takes a mon. This makes it an obscene threat to deal with when it's attached to teams like Sandy Shocks & Mega Sharpedo Hyper Offense and Basculegion/Primarina Bulky Offenses and Balances.

Both mons have been oppressing the past 4 tournaments this year so they're gone.

---

And so this isn't just announcement posting, I'm going to drop some quick observations and takes I've noticed this season:

• Draco Meteor Cyclizar is sometimes detrimental so as a result there as been an uptick in Dragon Tail and Double Edge variants.
• Scarf Krookodile is never not going to be bad in a Latias tier, Band and Stealth Rock sets are also very strong however and should be taken more seriously.
• Tangrowth isn't underrated per se but the uptick in Basculegion-F and Primarina give a lot of justification to run Assault Vest Tangrowth on your team. PhysDef Tangrowth kinda fell off a cliff since it struggles to handle a lot of the common PhysDef threats. Meanwhile the ones it could deal with don't necessarily require it to run PhysDef sets (Tapu Bulu still can lose to AV Sludge Bomb for example).
• Mega Aggron is still really good but probably not as stellar as it was during the Blissey metagame. Since Wish Passing is functionally dead; the room for error seems a lot shorter and it cannot afford to switch into obscene attacks to trade, such as Latias's +1 Fightinium Z or Tapu Bulu's +2 Close Combat, without any sort of healing option.
• Lokix is arguably better than Slither Wing right now due to having a more spammable stab.
• Specs Primarina is dumb as fuck, other Primarina sets aren't as dumb but still kinda a chore if you forget to account for it in the builder.
• Choice Basculegion-F is hogging all of the attention, Agility and Sub Basculegion-F nowhere to be seen!
• This tier would be dead without Cyclizar or Tangrowth in it.
• Alternative Steels like Empoleon, Metagross, Doublade, and Registeel are actually pretty solid. Except Bronzong idk what's up with that mon at the moment.
• Cobalion volt-turn is sometimes good but not really. Seems weirdly matchup reliant.
• Gastrodon is pretty annoying when it shows up, not often prepped for subconsciously.
• Zarude seems really dogwater, Swords Dance really only gets kills by surprise factor while other sets become glorified U-turn bots.
• Skeledirge is not easy to build at all but getting a good team with it grants a lot of rewards in the builder.
• Munkidori usage is non-existant.
• Deoxys-D is a heavily underrated Spiker.
• Phazing seldom exists so Suicune can do a lot of stuff still
• Rhyperior is super threatening...if it could ever bother landing Stone Edge
• Sandaconda is still not a larp pick and still has value
• Trick Room, PsySpam, and Stall are admitting you just want to matchup fish your opponent for a cheap win please stop trying with them.
• Dhelmise is fairly legitimate to the point where I prep into it often.
• Muk-Alola is fine conceptually but the teams it's trying to fit on don't seem to work consistently?
• Regidrago is probably a shitmon now? Fairies are all the rage at the moment.
• Never seen a Mega Houndoom team that I could call good.
• Full Hail seems pretty powerful. Switch ins to Arctozolt and Arctovish bank on predicting way too much.
• C Ranks probably need to be culled yet again.
• Flavor picks of the season has been Heracross, Palossand (always seem to popup in tours but never ranked), Ninetales-Alola (see Full Hail).
• Crawdaunt, Mimikyu, Oricorio-Pom-Pom, Nidoqueen, Roserade, Sylveon, Florges, and Necrozma can prob come out of the lower ranks with some effort.
• Goodra-Hisui not being ranked is intentional, and I have not seen anything that would make me want to use it myself.

 

[about15gals]

I hear a complaint about Okidogi almost every other day at this point. Choice Band and Bulk Up + Poisonium Z sets are just way too powerful to defensively check even with mons like Crobat and Gligar since they fear Ice Punch from it. Bulky Psychics just cannot switch into it's boosted Gunk Shots either. The term "check" itself could be classified as a misnomer.

i geniunely hate this guy so much i was seriously considering running fucking hp psychic coballion this week

 

[Velcroc]

The butterfly effects of Big Moong rising to UU must be studied

 

[Kin+ak (✧∇✧)]

Trick Room, PsySpam, and Stall are admitting you just want to matchup fish your opponent for a cheap win please stop trying with them.

Trick Room Slander will not be tolerated. It has ways to kill everything in the tier, and now that Wishpass is dead, Mega Aggron+Bliss will not give you free Ws against Trick Room teams that do not run Alowak. There is Cress, Staka, p2, Mega Amph in the tier Im not even asking you to run Dark Z cof or glastrier

 

[Big Chungus irl]

i geniunely hate this guy so much i was seriously considering running fucking hp psychic coballion this week

I remember I used HP Psychic, Phisdef Amoongus once on a stall team because of this thing.

 

[salmonelephant]

discount thundurus is so bad ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my god.

Zero bulk, bad coverage, and horrendous utility. Higher speed than Thundy, notably outpacing M-Pidgeot, Cyclizar, and Noivern, but doesn't want to come in on any of them because it falls to pebbles. Perks are actual flying stab, roost, and volt absorb, but do not be mistaken by the visage. I'd 100% rank Oricorio before this guy. Avoid at all costs.

 

[about15gals]

gigaton level yap incoming (i fucking love ndru grahhhhh)

(mu name is linked to game replay, mon icon is nickname reference, paste below both)

W1: vs SapoDaG30 (W)

https://pokepast.es/314ff3898927317d

week 1 so we didn't have much of a scout to go off of. decided to build some dirgle balance thing since blissey wasnt in the tier at the time and i thought that guy was broken. ingame i got a good predict on a crobat switchin which pretty much won game on the spot.

W2: vs carbene (W)

https://pokepast.es/778004bfcd531c0e

still only week 2 and this was a sub from oppo's end so again not much of a scout to go off of. i wanted to build sylveon + magg since it was a mon i theorycrafted a lot during BD with Danbear02. i played this game like some assss but rest magg was able to win lategame

W3: vs Big Chungus IRL (W)

https://pokepast.es/c277f21fe95b122f

w3 we finally had a bit of a scout to go off of, and what i noticed was that this guy was using a LOT of mega pidgeot. what's mega pidgeot click? wind moves. tailwind time. i called it right and he loaded it AGAIN and i was able win with a combination of brambleghast clicking power whip after the normal died and coballion z bullshittery. almost lost near the end because of a polt miss but luckily i was able to pull it back w/ scarf latias

W4 vs Medasus (W)

https://pokepast.es/67f5a6ca7279822c

now that we had actual scouts, the fun meta picks were able to start coming out. this is mega absol is actually a set that dansparce farmed me with during BD. i realized it had crazy mus into most of medas brings during the past week so i went fuck it and decided to build it. this was originally a semisnow team w/ slowking + arctozolt but it felt ass so i went with this version instead. i wasn't super happy with the team during testing but i loaded z ghost dhelmise into stall so the game went about how you'd expect.

W5 vs Kuhrrohsion (W)

https://pokepast.es/f10e133bd7bcb5bc

this was easily my favorite team i built this tour. the backstory behind this team is really funny actually. i was outside when i saw Bella post a photo of a bellibolt pokemon card she had recently gotten while i was thinking about interesting breakers to run in this format. then the gears started turning. elec z bellibolt does geniunely comedic amounts of damage to literally everything, and with access to soak is capable of harassing a LOT of stuff in the format. the idea was specs trick latios to harass stuff like amoonguss and AV tang to allow bellibolt to break once they're either chipped or crippled with specs. i had seen a lot of qwilfish popping up in pl and it seemed really cool as well so i added it here. mega steelix does similar stuff to magg but is also able to compress a ground type which is really helpful. blissey is here because its broken. i'm very happy with how i played this game overall even if it did get a bit dicey in the endgame.

hilarity ensues

W6 vs spoo (L)

https://pokepast.es/e8fde3bbd5d05a7f

this was The Team Of All Time. i swear this was actually good and it did well in testing! unfortunately that testing was not against spdef toxic registeel! in all seriousness za ou had just dropped and i was busy building that + aaapl was happening + we were already locked in for poffs so i did not do as much thinking on this one as i probably should have. lesson learned oh well

W7 vs Heatranator (L)

https://pokepast.es/dbead54c3c72f129

this team was based off a dansparce team iride loaded in practice games with a resttalk flip turn mega pert. i really liked it after seeing it and wanted to take my own stab at it. i also wanted to run defensive nihilego because it had a lot of cool traits into the metagame. most of this stuff is things i've loaded in the past but i also liked np rotom heat here as a breaker. game-wise i played well but unfortunately got a really unlucky mu with ice fang mega sharpedo which when paired with 2 really unlucky crits on other stuff ended up costing me the game.

Semis vs Kimer (W)

https://pokepast.es/73096e88750ccd8c

i'd been looking forwards to this matchup for a while, as at the time kimer was undefeated in ru. one big thing i noticed when prepping the week prior was that this guy did not like using steels, and was loading a lot of HO. enter, kleavor. i always liked this guy a lot in theory but it just thudded into too many common metagame picks for me to like using it. luckily though, it looked really good on preview from scout! i decided to pair it with fight z sub togekiss to bait in slow steels like magg to oneshot. empo + glig + dirge is a really strong defensive core in general and i slotted in ogerpon-teal to make a nice fire/water/grass core. ogerpon was originally mega scept but that guy sucks ass so i replaced it w/ spikes u turn knock pon. the mu was incredibly lopsided off preview and honestly togekiss could have very likely won turn 1 if i got it positioned right.

I'm overall super happy with how my fl went. going undrafted in PL definitely hurt a little bit but following it up with a very good showing after playing every week felt so nice. I geniunely love this tier to death. it's so fun and it feels like you can do almost anything with enough willpower and dex trawling. going out to tbs in semis after getting haxxed while up definitly sucks but i still loved every second of this tour. can't wait for ndcl in december so i can mono slot this every week and make everyone else play it so they can hopefully like it as much as i do.

shoutouts:
Ineros MY FRIEND, MY GOOD FRIEND HOW ARE WE IN EVERY TEAMTOUR TOGETHER. in all seriousness your help with testing was amazing and even if you didn't know the metagame super well bouncing ideas off you was always helpful. throw another teamtour teamup on the pile sometime
Iride you + ineros are probably the best managers a player could ask for. i'm still not sure where you got half your teams from but you put belt to ass supporting all the slots with games and teams. getting paired with you is always a joy and i hope we'll meet again.
Boomenheimer while i definitely saw you less since you were carrying our entire ss block on your back, you were still a really chill presence and always nice to have around, would glady have you manage me again
Don Bork my fellow ndru countryman. you had a lot of really fun ideas and i'm glad you were able to see the methods to my madness behind some of my more questionable loads (re: week 6) would love to play another team tour with you again

i mainly had my head down in ndru land but heres other people from the team who i think are cool but have less to say about
iPetBigfoot dou goat. keep cooking ur shit my guy
Slikkles don't let anyone tell you you aren't goated
Squeeby how does someone go this positive in ndubers
Incognition watching you learn the ins and outs of ndou was very fun. i hope you liked it and continue to play the tier
GOATED im_m0rtal. icl if i had to play ou for as long as you did i think i'd lose it. good shit
BigForretressGuy every team needs a larper. you're doing gods work out there
gephicka i've got no clue what the fuck you and bigfoot were doing but it seemed to work + you're cool

other cool people:
Danbear02 ndbd made me realize how much i love this tier and you were one of the best people i could possibly think of to help me learn it with
Irys shame you showed up like w5 but love you for pulling through and helping out our mono slot <3
jawabarat i loved seeing your ndru builds, they're always so fresh and interesting and i loved stealing getting inspired by some of your picks. keep cooking chef
des (idk forum acc but you know who you are) i will not be listening to weezer i have some dignity

also don't let anyone tell you the hrt skillboost isn't real. it definitely is :3

ndfl teamdump

i love this tier so much looking forward to playing it during cl. metagame is really good there's one or two parts i dont like but for the most part it still feels really good

teams that i didnt use

https://pokepast.es/187062489fef6087 kleavor suicune team. this is probably good but i built it w7 for an oppo who wasnt slotted against me so i brought the mega pert team instead
https://pokepast.es/e0a347181a072ecf old version of my w4 team, this one just felt shoddy on the defensive end so i dropped it
https://pokepast.es/04102f2ff2d3fd0a i built this ho like week 2 but i never loaded it because i didnt like how polarizing ho matchups were (she says after loading tailwind in a teamtour)
https://pokepast.es/4c44f693cbac5668 i really wanted to build specs indeedee since it looked very silly. changed my mind after looking at scout but this was something i considered