Metagame SV OU Metagame Discussion v4

I think people are overplaying Ceruledge’s hazard weakness. In addition to Hatterene and Rapid Spin users like Iron Treads/Great Tusk being immensely flexible partners, it also has a very strong Bulk Up set that’s been rising in popularity. This set isn’t reliant on a Focus Sash at all, and if anything can be more resilient than expected since it opts for bulk investment more often than not.
 
That is fair but I still think Ting Lu is going to be the better choice on 90% of teams. Garchomp is not bad in the slightest, but Ting Lu is just far better as a hazard setter.

Speaking of which, I think that maybe rocky helmet could work on Ting Lu as well. It does take away the passive recovery of leftovers and unlike most rocky helmet users, it doesn't have an ability that also takes advantage of contact moves (also it is weak to u-turn) but in exchange, rocky helmet makes it much easier for Ting Lu to keep up hazards against spinners which in turn makes Gholdengo less necessary on hazard stacking teams. This is just theorycrafting though so I could be wrong but if the right person tries it (because I am not good enough to actually try to use this) it could be quite good.

Finch's prim sample team used rocky helmet to good effect:

https://pokepast.es/40b6bff80a7d28e3

And this Leng/ctc team:

https://pokepast.es/2fdbf6f0be9f8c8d

so it's definitely worked before pretty well. Ting lu is pretty crazy, tbh. I keep see people saying it's one dimensional, but it's stats and ability are so cracked up actually has more options than it seams. Just from samples:

Blims kyurem fat team
Ting-Lu @ Leftovers
Ability: Vessel of Ruin
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Payback
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Supa's future sight counter (stall)
Ting-Lu @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Vessel of Ruin
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rest
- Protect

Vert and Giannis hazard setter heavy-hitter
Ting-Lu @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Vessel of Ruin
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 124 Atk / 68 Def / 68 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Payback
- Stealth Rock
- Ruination

And hazard ting lu can run red card as well as leftovers as needed.

Not to mention lu can also run Rock coverage or heavy slam for fairys. Im not saying that it's move pool or anything is crazy, i think it's more just that it's stats and ability is do cracked you can kind of force him to do crazy stuff or patch small holes in team building, kind of like ice punch on garg, garg is Never thd ideal ice type coverage, but it's kind of cracked enough in other ways it can afford to be slightly worse at something it is amazing at to become better at something else.

(Note: I just took ting lu sets from sample teams, i don't know who came up with thd individual sets/ideas).
 
Gonna hop in and add on, that Hatterene by itself denies a pretty large amount of Stealth Rock setters from risklessly getting them up which is great assistance for Ceruledge in preserving its health to ease set up. This ability to deny hazards is assisted by Hatterene's deceptive staying power due to Draining Kiss synergizing with Hatt's low HP, enabling it to get back a surprising amount of health from even relatively weak hits. This anti-hazard support alongside other removal tools makes it easier to support Ceruledge than you'd think, and it wouldn't be wise to underestimate the threat of a set up Ceruledge when its primary stab also happens to heal back tremendous amounts of HP. I think Bulk Up is honestly superior, since like Ausma said it isn't dependent on a sash and can opt for other beneficial items which can greatly improve its ability to handle certain threats. It's a very solid B+ minimum mon that, while I doubt its ladder usage will remain consistent because ladder is very fickle this generation with using actually good mons (instead holding onto mediocre mons for ages cough Dondozo cough), but it's definitely earned a spot in the metagame that deserves to be respected at this point.
 
I keep see people saying it's one dimensional, but it's stats and ability are so cracked up actually has more options than it seams.
It is one-dimensional with four-dimensional moves/ability.

I think people are overplaying Ceruledge’s hazard weakness. In addition to Hatterene and Rapid Spin users like Iron Treads/Great Tusk being immensely flexible partners, it also has a very strong Bulk Up set that’s been rising in popularity. This set isn’t reliant on a Focus Sash at all, and if anything can be more resilient than expected since it opts for bulk investment more often than not.
I haven't actually tried bulk up but it definitely sounds better in theory. I guess I was wrong about the one trick pony part but hey that is gen 9 I guess lol.
 
It is one-dimensional with four-dimensional moves/ability.
What do you mean by one dimensional? I would say it does mire than just set hazards, one of the sets doesn't even have any, and it's more than just a fat check to special attackers, since fat checks don't really use weakness policy. I think there is a reason that we continue to see more creativity around this month as the meta develops, and a reason that it's been a write-in on some surveys. Im not really convinced an s-rank mon can be labeled as one dimensional
 
Im not really convinced an s-rank mon can be labeled as one dimensional
Considering about half of the bans throughout this gen have been on comically one-dimensional mons for the sole reason of "this thing hits too hard, nothing can defend against it consistently bar none" (see: sneasler, roaring moon first ban, hearthflame, bloodmoon, etc.) it is absolutely possible for an s-rank mon to be one-dimensional. Not to say Ting-lu is a one-dimensional mon, as has been clearly stated it DOES have some set variety, that variety is nowhere near the same level as his fellow s-tiers. In fact, i'd argue he only has the SECOND least set variety with first place going to Kingambit whos set variety mostly boils down to "which of my checks do i want to give a big fat middle finger to"
 
Considering about half of the bans throughout this gen have been on comically one-dimensional mons for the sole reason of "this thing hits too hard, nothing can defend against it consistently bar none" (see: sneasler, roaring moon first ban, hearthflame, bloodmoon, etc.) it is absolutely possible for an s-rank mon to be one-dimensional. Not to say Ting-lu is a one-dimensional mon, as has been clearly stated it DOES have some set variety, that variety is nowhere near the same level as his fellow s-tiers. In fact, i'd argue he only has the SECOND least set variety with first place going to Kingambit whos set variety mostly boils down to "which of my checks do i want to give a big fat middle finger to"
Ranking =/= broken. In general, s tier mons are very splashable, which is one of the main things that distinbuish s from A+. Roaring moon was A+, Duraladon was A+, Gouging fire was A, etc. (I just scanned the changelogs, I don't remember what the mons specifically were before they were banned, but in general if something is so broken that it is S rank and broken it feels that it is much closer to quickban territory than suspect).

Other than that, I totally agree with you 100%. My original post was more trying to say despite its relatively small movepool, its stats and ability are so broken that that, more than its movepool, is where it gets its variety. Additionally, I was just replying originally to the idea of rocky helmet Ting-lu. What I was trying to do, and perhaps failing at, was to show that ting-lu has more variety than most people see initially. It feels (though perhaps it is just my perception), that a lot of the time on the forums people will look at a mon, see what it does best, and then say it doesn't have that much variety because it excels at that one thing and mostly ignore what it might be good at (for example, rest talk ting lu isn't excellent, but niche, so I would say it is merely good, compared to its hazard setting sets which are excellent and very common). This leads to people viewing certain mons as one dimensional.
 
What do you mean by one dimensional? I would say it does mire than just set hazards, one of the sets doesn't even have any, and it's more than just a fat check to special attackers, since fat checks don't really use weakness policy. I think there is a reason that we continue to see more creativity around this month as the meta develops, and a reason that it's been a write-in on some surveys. Im not really convinced an s-rank mon can be labeled as one dimensional
I was making a joke lol

Ranking =/= broken. In general, s tier mons are very splashable, which is one of the main things that distinbuish s from A+. Roaring moon was A+, Duraladon was A+, Gouging fire was A, etc. (I just scanned the changelogs, I don't remember what the mons specifically were before they were banned, but in general if something is so broken that it is S rank and broken it feels that it is much closer to quickban territory than suspect).

Other than that, I totally agree with you 100%. My original post was more trying to say despite its relatively small movepool, its stats and ability are so broken that that, more than its movepool, is where it gets its variety. Additionally, I was just replying originally to the idea of rocky helmet Ting-lu. What I was trying to do, and perhaps failing at, was to show that ting-lu has more variety than most people see initially. It feels (though perhaps it is just my perception), that a lot of the time on the forums people will look at a mon, see what it does best, and then say it doesn't have that much variety because it excels at that one thing and mostly ignore what it might be good at (for example, rest talk ting lu isn't excellent, but niche, so I would say it is merely good, compared to its hazard setting sets which are excellent and very common). This leads to people viewing certain mons as one dimensional.
I just wanted to say that while you aren't wrong Dragonite is S- and if this tera blast discussion goes nowhere (which seems to be the case) then it will be the next thing on the chopping block potentially
 
damn all this Ting Lu talk is making me hungry for some chocolate cake

now on a more serious note the tera blast discussion is going nowhere lmao
the move is just too polarizing to make a case for it being broken, its VERY powerfull on a select few pokemon but kinda akward to use on other pokemon.

im also intrested in experimenting with Quaquaval more, i thought that this set could be funny but i havent figured out the evs

Pls no Woger (Quaquaval) @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Moxie
Tera Type: Fire
- Bulk Up
- Aqua Step
- Encore
- Roost
 
damn all this Ting Lu talk is making me hungry for some chocolate cake

now on a more serious note the tera blast discussion is going nowhere lmao
the move is just too polarizing to make a case for it being broken, its VERY powerfull on a select few pokemon but kinda akward to use on other pokemon.

im also intrested in experimenting with Quaquaval more, i thought that this set could be funny but i havent figured out the evs

Pls no Woger (Quaquaval) @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Moxie
Tera Type: Fire
- Bulk Up
- Aqua Step
- Encore
- Roost
Prob a bulky spread
Correct me if I'm wrong tho the set looks kinda weak into dragonite/kyurem/primarina
 
damn all this Ting Lu talk is making me hungry for some chocolate cake

now on a more serious note the tera blast discussion is going nowhere lmao
the move is just too polarizing to make a case for it being broken, its VERY powerfull on a select few pokemon but kinda akward to use on other pokemon.

im also intrested in experimenting with Quaquaval more, i thought that this set could be funny but i havent figured out the evs

Pls no Woger (Quaquaval) @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Moxie
Tera Type: Fire
- Bulk Up
- Aqua Step
- Encore
- Roost
Dragonite is about to become the next protagonist of Dirty Dancing (the movie).

Speaking of dragons, any thoughts about Walking Wake? I still personally think it should have dropped by now as while it isn't terrible it is at its best on sun teams which are rather niche even if sun is by far the most common weather in gen 9 (for obvious reasons). I know Walking Wake has other sets outside of sun and it has good speed and typing but it just doesn't have that much power outside of sun (imo) and even in sun it has plenty of checks due to it being choice locked such as AV Primarina and Wogerpon. But what do you all think?
 
So today I would like to share with all of you a potential set I’ve been seeing success with and think should be considered when building

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- U-turn
- Iron Head
- Wish
- Protect

This set essentially aims to be a mola at home that has just the minor advantage of not being farmed by the most broken pokemon in the tier, in addition to checking other special guys mola couldn’t hope to take on like kyurem and raging bolt. Losing Regen sucks and all that but 100/100/100 bulk paired with all its resistances means it will still be naturally very resilient. A core I’ve been trying is jirachi / gweez / band rilla / another breaker, but I think this has potential to shine on many different balance structures and I’m interested to see what other cores you guys think this guy could fit on.
 
damn all this Ting Lu talk is making me hungry for some chocolate cake

now on a more serious note the tera blast discussion is going nowhere lmao
the move is just too polarizing to make a case for it being broken, its VERY powerfull on a select few pokemon but kinda akward to use on other pokemon.

im also intrested in experimenting with Quaquaval more, i thought that this set could be funny but i havent figured out the evs

Pls no Woger (Quaquaval) @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Moxie
Tera Type: Fire
- Bulk Up
- Aqua Step
- Encore
- Roost
this set loses to ogerpon. I have tried bu quaq, and its good, but u usually want a flying move over encore and maybe a diff tera. flying move is super nice for nailing oger, za, and generally being good neutral coverage (besides bolt but what can you do)
 
I just wanted to say that while you aren't wrong Dragonite is S- and if this tera blast discussion goes nowhere (which seems to be the case) then it will be the next thing on the chopping block potentially
The one time I am happy a comment of mine aged like milk. Soooooo Dragonite is S now. Can't see I didn't see that coming. And considering Shaymin Sky, a vr council member, said that Dragonite can still get even better there is definitely a possibility for not only a potential rise to S+ (which I doubt but as my favorite pokemon it would be really really funny) but also a potential suspect like I said in the post above.
 
The one time I am happy a comment of mine aged like milk. Soooooo Dragonite is S now. Can't see I didn't see that coming. And considering Shaymin Sky, a vr council member, said that Dragonite can still get even better there is definitely a possibility for not only a potential rise to S+ (which I doubt but as my favorite pokemon it would be really really funny) but also a potential suspect like I said in the post above.

No, S+ is reserved for mons in which you are actively harming yourself by not using the mon due to how splashable and useful they are, like Primal Groudon in Gens 6 and 7 Ubers. Dragonite will never be S+ in SV OU. And being in the S-ranks in viability has never been necessarily been a tell of how suspect worthy a mon since since being in the S-ranks has to do with a combination of a mon's splashability, variety of sets, and overall usefulness, and a mon being S-rank doesn't mean it is broken. For reference, Landorus-Therian was S-tier for multiple generations and was never on the radar for an OU suspect test.
 
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No, S+ is reserved for mons in which you are actively harming yourself by not using the mon due to how splashable and useful they are, like Primal Groudon in Gens 6 and 7. Dragonite will never be S+ in SV OU. And being in the S-ranks in viability has never been necessarily been a tell of how suspect worthy a mon since since being in the S-ranks has to do with a combination of a mon's splashability, variety of sets, and overall usefulness, and a mon being S-rank doesn't mean it is broken. For reference, Landorus-Therian was S-tier for multiple generations and was never on the radar for an OU suspect test.
Yes to the above. While I think Dragonite still has a lot of room for even more set experimentation, it is by no means meta defining enough to the degree of lets say GSC Snorlax where it'd be mandatory to use which is what S+ is. SV is too dynamic and varied of a metagame to ever have a "you have to use x", and I think there being 3 S tier Pokemon, and 4 S- tier Pokemon proves that the tier isn't defined by a few Pokemon at all, unlike majority previous generations.
 
No, S+ is reserved for mons in which you are actively harming yourself by not using the mon due to how splashable and useful they are, like Primal Groudon in Gens 6 and 7. Dragonite will never be S+ in SV OU. And being in the S-ranks in viability has never been necessarily been a tell of how suspect worthy a mon since since being in the S-ranks has to do with a combination of a mon's splashability, variety of sets, and overall usefulness, and a mon being S-rank doesn't mean it is broken. For reference, Landorus-Therian was S-tier for multiple generations and was never on the radar for an OU suspect test.
To be fair I did say that I doubt it but either way that is understandable. As much as I love Dragonite and despite it definitely deserving the S rank it was gifted today, Dragonite will likely not be on the same scale as DPP Jirachi or GSC Snorlax.
 
What is the best counter-play people have found to the CTC-Blimax Kyurem team? Is it just HO? People love to say “get hazards up” but against Ace+Corv is pretty hard to keep rocks on the opponents side.
 
What is the best counter-play people have found to the CTC-Blimax Kyurem team? Is it just HO? People love to say “get hazards up” but against Ace+Corv is pretty hard to keep rocks on the opponents side.
I like to think that Ogerpon-Wellspring pressures that team pretty hard, especially if it has Play Rough.
 
What is the best counter-play people have found to the CTC-Blimax Kyurem team? Is it just HO? People love to say “get hazards up” but against Ace+Corv is pretty hard to keep rocks on the opponents side.
Garg is pretty good at maintaining rocks vs those two, Also Ghold can block defog allowing you to set rocks again after ace court changes.
 
So today I would like to share with all of you a potential set I’ve been seeing success with and think should be considered when building

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- U-turn
- Iron Head
- Wish
- Protect

This set essentially aims to be a mola at home that has just the minor advantage of not being farmed by the most broken pokemon in the tier, in addition to checking other special guys mola couldn’t hope to take on like kyurem and raging bolt. Losing Regen sucks and all that but 100/100/100 bulk paired with all its resistances means it will still be naturally very resilient. A core I’ve been trying is jirachi / gweez / band rilla / another breaker, but I think this has potential to shine on many different balance structures and I’m interested to see what other cores you guys think this guy could fit on.
This is a throwback set that worked in multiple generations. It could really use Body Slam over Protect to go for para flinch hax, but it doesn't seem powerful or bulky enough to warrant a spot on an SV OU team. Walling Kyurem seems to be its best quality, but even Kyurem could Pressure stall it out in the worst case scenario. I also worry about it losing straight up to Kingambit and Gholdengo, but U-turn can mitigate much of that.

If I had to run Jirachi in OU, it's probably a set like this to at least provide a puncher's chance against the threats mentioned, but there are hundreds of other breakers I would reach into my bag of tricks first.

:sv/Jirachi:
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Tera Type: Fighting / Fairy
EVs: to taste
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Aura Sphere
- Psychic Noise
- Shadow Ball
 
This is a throwback set that worked in multiple generations. It could really use Body Slam over Protect to go for para flinch hax, but it doesn't seem powerful or bulky enough to warrant a spot on an SV OU team. Walling Kyurem seems to be its best quality, but even Kyurem could Pressure stall it out in the worst case scenario. I also worry about it losing straight up to Kingambit and Gholdengo, but U-turn can mitigate much of that.
It actually does win the subtect interaction thanks to wish still having 16pp, and yeah I agree with what you said about body slam, its not really worth it all tbh. However I disagree that it isn't bulky enough, 100/100/100 bulk with reliable recovery is still very good by SV standards. Also the power argument doesn't make a whole lot of sense since its primary job is to be a pivot (because mola does a ton of damage LOL)
 
Even as a pivot SV OU requires so much role compression given the number of requirements for a decent team that doing some damage consistently is almost a requirement. The only exception is hazard mitigation which this set doesn't touch at all, and even then Forretress is solidly RU bottom feeding for a reason. Power creep is a real thing and this set screams it got power crept on. (Speaking of Screaming Scream Tail probably runs a better version of this with Wish / Protect / Dazzling Gleam / Perish Song or Psychic Noise).
 
Even as a pivot SV OU requires so much role compression given the number of requirements for a decent team that doing some damage consistently is almost a requirement. The only exception is hazard mitigation which this set doesn't touch at all, and even then Forretress is solidly RU bottom feeding for a reason. Power creep is a real thing and this set screams it got power crept on. (Speaking of Screaming Scream Tail probably runs a better version of this with Wish / Protect / Dazzling Gleam / Perish Song or Psychic Noise).

Naw, Scream Tail is worse at doing that 'cause even though it's bulkier than Jirachi it's extremely passive with a Dazzling Gleam that tickles the opponent's mons whereas Iron Head is threatening to a good amount of slower Pokemon ('cause of the flinch chance and Jirachi's much higher Base Attack than Scream Tail's Base Special Attack) and Pokemon weak to Steel with U-Turn allowing Jirachi to pivot out of bad match-ups or punish switches. Jirachi also resists SR. Scream Tail should always run Encore to annoy set-up sweepers and mons using a move that doesn't threaten it, so its role is different from Jirachi's.
 
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