this'll be my "initial thoughts and feelings on the DP OU metagame" topic. it's more of an article i guess. i'm bored and school is out. comments/questions are acceptable discussion. this is ALL personal experience and speculation. feel free to add your own thoughts and comments; i'm open to questions, too.
OH and my team, for reference's sake: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19382
Wifi is not like NB/Competitor. IVs are a mess and this causes huge problems with speedy Pokemon - Azelf, for instance, is not breedable and getting one with a good speed IV will always be difficult, probably too difficult for most people to care too much about. The same applies for defenses, too.
I've played a grand total of 19 (not including a few ridiculous matches against morons with ridiculously weak teams) matches so far, with about 14 of them being against decent players, with imported Pokemon they've had since the JPN release/GBA games.
Now, a lot of what the forums analyzed and predicted is true, but there are some variances as things stand right now.
Part I: Threats
Tyranitar is rampant; I'd say 10 of the battles I've had have had Tyranitar in them. Now the problem with these teams is that they didn't revolve around a traditional Storm strategy - they all packed Pokemon that didn't co-operate very well with Sandstorm. I doubt this is due to the lack of consideration gone into the teams, it's just that the metagame is too fast to pack a bunch of slow steels/rocks/grounds and hope you win. Now on one hand, Tyranitar is a bit of a bitch to battle. It's not very fast, especially with the random IVs, but it usually packs the standard Crunch/SE/EQ/Pursuit@CB set and that hurts. Tyranitar's SPDef boost is rather annoying; my Starmie (260 SPAtk) hovers a little below the (high?) 40-something mark in terms of damage on most Tars.
I personally don't think anyone is using Tyranitar to its full potential yet; it's hard to get it in there because mostly everything in this metagame hits so goddamn hard, but opening with it is very rewarding if you can catch a break against a relatively passive/weak starter. Nobody thus far has tried to control the weather outside of Sandstorm. Most people save it for when they need it and break it out, I assume to dampen the effect Sandstorm would have if they had otherwise opened with Tyranitar.
Rhyperior is another common Pokemon, but is only seen with Tyranitar every once in a while (Hippowdon is nowhere to be seen :^(). Rhyperior is a tank. When everyone established that it was going to be a force to reckon with, they weren't wrong. Rhyperior takes jack all from most physical attacks and just sits around all game. I personally think I make good use of it with Wish support, but it fits into any team even without Sandstorm. It can dish out a ridiculous amount of damage; the CB Rhyperior ohkos-2hkos pretty much everything on most teams. Again, IV variation lets heavy hitters do a lot of damage, even on mispredictions. My Rhyperior SE'd a Bronzong for around 40% once, it was amusing.
I've seen a good number of Garchomps, and they can be a HUGE pain in Sandstorm. Sand Veil is ridiculously annoying - WoW misses a lot in the storm, as does random stuff (read: Blissey/Starmie Ice Beams arghhhh). The standard set with Fire Fang does well, and does indeed hit hard, even without an SD (it does fine with Life Orb and Sandstream immunity). Garchomp has a bit of a hard time coming in though, as most things pack an Ice Move just because Dragons are so popular.
On that tangent, Life Orb is an amazingly useful item. It lets stuff that would normally need to SD or Nastly Plot save them for late game when things have been weakened. BUT, the recoil is a bit of a bitch, especially in a Sandstorm/SR heavy metagame. I'd be weary of it, but I'd also expect to see it a lot.
I'd say Heracross' place in the OU metagame is a bit iffy right now, and I say this simply because it's so difficult to get it in. EVERYTHING that does physical damage will hit Heracross hard, and Heracross just doesn't like switching in on anything except for the extremely passive Pokemon (ie. Bronzong, Blissey.. and even then, Blissey can TWave it, which, despite guts, is a bad thing for teams that don't pack Heal Bellers). Heracross doesn't have the same durability that Tyranitar and Rhyperior have. Teams will do well to pack a couple of counters for Hera, though, as when it does get in, it hits very very hard.
Interestingly enough, I've only faced off against two Gliscors. They were bad. Gliscor doesn't do well in an environment with CB SEs and Ice Beaming special attackers, and probably won't be showing its face much until we see more Heracross.
Electivire is a huge problem late-game (especially for my team, but I've noticed this to be a problem for other teams, too). If it gets a Speed+ and is carrying a Life Orb, you're going to need a very good counter to beat it. I've been abusing the fact that I pack Blissey and two Intimidators to my advantage, and have gotten myself out of a LOT of sticky situations against Electivire. I personally see Electivire being a HUGE threat in OU. So much so that Electric moves will probably see a decline, and we'll be seeing a lot of Electivire on Electivire speed races (and that Electivire's EV spread will change to 252 speed with +Speed-Def or -Spdef). I had a speed race between two Motored Electivire and mine lost, so I'm probably going to go 252 speed in a bit haha.
Speaking of late game, Infernape is not nearly as scary as everyone made it out to be, IMO. Starmie can switch in on it and be conserved for late game, if need be; Garchomp/Salamence/Gyarados can all do the same. It doesn't have the staying power to Nasty Plot effectively, but I can see it SDing on a free turn to ward off Gyarados and co. with TPunch/SE. I don't see this becoming too popular simply because it's too fragile and doesn't like being switched in.
Threats (cont'd)
OH and my team, for reference's sake: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19382
Wifi is not like NB/Competitor. IVs are a mess and this causes huge problems with speedy Pokemon - Azelf, for instance, is not breedable and getting one with a good speed IV will always be difficult, probably too difficult for most people to care too much about. The same applies for defenses, too.
I've played a grand total of 19 (not including a few ridiculous matches against morons with ridiculously weak teams) matches so far, with about 14 of them being against decent players, with imported Pokemon they've had since the JPN release/GBA games.
Now, a lot of what the forums analyzed and predicted is true, but there are some variances as things stand right now.
Part I: Threats
Tyranitar is rampant; I'd say 10 of the battles I've had have had Tyranitar in them. Now the problem with these teams is that they didn't revolve around a traditional Storm strategy - they all packed Pokemon that didn't co-operate very well with Sandstorm. I doubt this is due to the lack of consideration gone into the teams, it's just that the metagame is too fast to pack a bunch of slow steels/rocks/grounds and hope you win. Now on one hand, Tyranitar is a bit of a bitch to battle. It's not very fast, especially with the random IVs, but it usually packs the standard Crunch/SE/EQ/Pursuit@CB set and that hurts. Tyranitar's SPDef boost is rather annoying; my Starmie (260 SPAtk) hovers a little below the (high?) 40-something mark in terms of damage on most Tars.
I personally don't think anyone is using Tyranitar to its full potential yet; it's hard to get it in there because mostly everything in this metagame hits so goddamn hard, but opening with it is very rewarding if you can catch a break against a relatively passive/weak starter. Nobody thus far has tried to control the weather outside of Sandstorm. Most people save it for when they need it and break it out, I assume to dampen the effect Sandstorm would have if they had otherwise opened with Tyranitar.
Rhyperior is another common Pokemon, but is only seen with Tyranitar every once in a while (Hippowdon is nowhere to be seen :^(). Rhyperior is a tank. When everyone established that it was going to be a force to reckon with, they weren't wrong. Rhyperior takes jack all from most physical attacks and just sits around all game. I personally think I make good use of it with Wish support, but it fits into any team even without Sandstorm. It can dish out a ridiculous amount of damage; the CB Rhyperior ohkos-2hkos pretty much everything on most teams. Again, IV variation lets heavy hitters do a lot of damage, even on mispredictions. My Rhyperior SE'd a Bronzong for around 40% once, it was amusing.
I've seen a good number of Garchomps, and they can be a HUGE pain in Sandstorm. Sand Veil is ridiculously annoying - WoW misses a lot in the storm, as does random stuff (read: Blissey/Starmie Ice Beams arghhhh). The standard set with Fire Fang does well, and does indeed hit hard, even without an SD (it does fine with Life Orb and Sandstream immunity). Garchomp has a bit of a hard time coming in though, as most things pack an Ice Move just because Dragons are so popular.
On that tangent, Life Orb is an amazingly useful item. It lets stuff that would normally need to SD or Nastly Plot save them for late game when things have been weakened. BUT, the recoil is a bit of a bitch, especially in a Sandstorm/SR heavy metagame. I'd be weary of it, but I'd also expect to see it a lot.
I'd say Heracross' place in the OU metagame is a bit iffy right now, and I say this simply because it's so difficult to get it in. EVERYTHING that does physical damage will hit Heracross hard, and Heracross just doesn't like switching in on anything except for the extremely passive Pokemon (ie. Bronzong, Blissey.. and even then, Blissey can TWave it, which, despite guts, is a bad thing for teams that don't pack Heal Bellers). Heracross doesn't have the same durability that Tyranitar and Rhyperior have. Teams will do well to pack a couple of counters for Hera, though, as when it does get in, it hits very very hard.
Interestingly enough, I've only faced off against two Gliscors. They were bad. Gliscor doesn't do well in an environment with CB SEs and Ice Beaming special attackers, and probably won't be showing its face much until we see more Heracross.
Electivire is a huge problem late-game (especially for my team, but I've noticed this to be a problem for other teams, too). If it gets a Speed+ and is carrying a Life Orb, you're going to need a very good counter to beat it. I've been abusing the fact that I pack Blissey and two Intimidators to my advantage, and have gotten myself out of a LOT of sticky situations against Electivire. I personally see Electivire being a HUGE threat in OU. So much so that Electric moves will probably see a decline, and we'll be seeing a lot of Electivire on Electivire speed races (and that Electivire's EV spread will change to 252 speed with +Speed-Def or -Spdef). I had a speed race between two Motored Electivire and mine lost, so I'm probably going to go 252 speed in a bit haha.
Speaking of late game, Infernape is not nearly as scary as everyone made it out to be, IMO. Starmie can switch in on it and be conserved for late game, if need be; Garchomp/Salamence/Gyarados can all do the same. It doesn't have the staying power to Nasty Plot effectively, but I can see it SDing on a free turn to ward off Gyarados and co. with TPunch/SE. I don't see this becoming too popular simply because it's too fragile and doesn't like being switched in.
Threats (cont'd)
