Heroes and Cons said:Its ability to check Terrakion quite effectively is a plus, but considering those stats I'm surprised it can still be 2HKOed after SR / Spikes damage even with significant HP investment, which is disappointing and forces you to run more bulk and less Attack or Speed to be a reliable switch-in multiple times.
You don't understand, that was just an example of how tough it is.
252 Attack / 100 HP / 156 Speed Adamant
This is enough to outpace the base 130s after one Dragon Dance, and Scarf Terrakion after two. You do not lose anything by investing in bulk. You are not even purposely investing in bulk, simply dumping leftover EVs into HP. Adding more speed gains you nothing (you can run a little more to outrun Scarf Latios at +2 but you're better off just damaging it and KOing it with Extremespeed at +1.
Other common physical attackers such as Azumarill and Mamoswine will deal massive damage to it anyway
Both are OHKOed by +1 Outrage after Stealth Rocks.
(Choice Band Mamo's Icicle Crash would most likely OHKO a +0 Zygarde after a switch into 3 layers of spikes regardless of Zygarde's defensive investment),
How is this relevant? Mamoswine is OHKOed by +1 Outrage after Rocks and you obviously aren't going to try and set up in its face unless you have a ticket to ride the slow pony to the rubber forest that day. Mamoswine can't OHKO with even Choice Band Ice Shard so unless Zygarde is low on health Mamoswine will not successfully revenge kill it. ALSO who cares if Mamoswine can sort of check it. Zygarde does better than any other OU dragon against Mamoswine. Mamoswine's job is literally to prevent Dragon Dancing Dragons and as proof of Zygarde's power it can't even succeed here.
which lowers its ability to stop hyper-offensive teams which will certainly be prepared for physical walls.
Zygarde is not a physical wall.
As for Skarmory stopping it... well, Mega Gengar is basically a guaranteed ban from OU when the meta starts to settle down a little and XY has been integrated fully into Showdown. I mean, if Wobbuffet was banned in Gen 4 simply for having great bulk, encore and countercoat with Shadow Tag, and ST Goth was banned from UU despite its pure psychic typing and pathetic stats... imagine how much Mega Gengar will affect this new generation with its enormous stats, both Ghost and Poison types being buffed this gen, its colossal and varied movepool, and also having Shadow Tag. Although admittedly Skarmory still has to watch out for Magnezone, of course, but otherwise Skarmory remains an excellent stop to it.
Fantastic. So run Magnezone (or Gothitelle). Also regardless of what may happen in the future Mega Gengar IS NOT UBER at the moment. You can even run HP Ice on Megagar to exterminate Landorus T in one shot. Shadow Ball puts Mamoswine in +1 Extremespeed KO range while Focus Blast OHKOs. Mega Gengar eradicates Zygarde's few counters.
I agree that as a standalone Pokemon it IS good, I just think that overall its fairly evenly spread stats and useless abillity hold it back from being as good in any one niche as its competitors, with the exception of Coil which is probably because nothing with even as remotely high stats / utility has access to (only Eelektross and Arbok come to mind).
I have never used the Coil Zygarde set, but I heard good things about it. Pretty much all it has to worry about after a Coil is Ice Beam and Draco Meteor. If you lack both then you will probably have difficulty bringing it down.
Its generic typing,
How is Dragon / Ground generic. Every Pokemon to have ever had that typing was either OU or Uber for a significant portion of their existence.
low speed
95 base speed is fine for a Dragon Dancer with Extremespeed.
and mediocre special bulk still make it fodder for several Pokemon,
Don't let it take Special hits then. After a Dragon Dance it has the firepower to OHKO a fair number of special attackers and despite what you just said it actually tanks special hits well. 108/121/95 is extremely good. It takes Special Hits about as well as Mew.
and various physical walls outright neuter it due to its predictability (it's nowhere near as versatile as Dnite or Mence).
Landorus T outright loses to it. Hippowdon takes about 45% from +1 Leftovers Outrage (Specially Defensive Hippo is just 2HKOed and ALL Hippowdon are 2HKOed by +1 LO Outrage) and can do literally nothing useful back besides Roar. Ice Fang is usually a 3HKO. Skarmory beats it but that's sort of Skarmory's job. Run a Magnezone if you must.
It has zero ways of ever going mixed with any real effect, aside from firing off a fairly weak Draco Meteor.
So what. If absolutely needed it has LO HP Fire and Grass Knot to rip into its standard wall counters, but it doesn't need to go mixed.
It's a good Pokemon on its own merits, but really I think that if you aren't using the coil set or using its physical bulk to repel physical attackers, you should be using something else.
It has Flygon's offensive stats and typing alongside Hippowdon's bulk AND IT GETS DRAGON DANCE. Do you not see the potential here?
Another problem is that this thing is complete Taunt bait. Unlike Dnite / Chomp / Mence / pretty much any other OU-level dragon, it cannot hit bulky Pokemon hard at all without boosts, especially as it often has significant defensive investment and lefties rather than maximal offenses. Pokemon such as Intimidate / Taunt Gyarados and Prankster Sableye stop it cold (provided Sableye hits with WoW) unless it runs Sub, which reduces it coverage / boosting and makes it even easier to stay in on.
Taunt bait is a retarded phrase. Set up on something that doesn't know Taunt. At +1 you won't care if you're Taunted or not. Also defensive Gyarados is 2HKOed by +1 LO Outrage or Leftovers +1 Outrage if rocks are down. Sableye is 2HKOed by +1 LO Outrage even if burned, and if it runs Lum Berry +1 Outrage usually KOs anyway.
I guess in the end, people will come up with unexpected sets that will surprise people and make it more popular than it expected, or perhaps it will start off well and quickly fade into obscurity after people become too used to it to not have a counter for it, in a similar vein to the famous Tyraniboah and its bright-burning but short-lived use.
Last I checked Tyraniboah remained relevant for at least two consecutive generations. Not bad.
Nobody ever expected Volcarona to be a big threat at the start of BW, and look how wrong they were.
It had stats equivalent to a Special Salamence and Quiver Dance alongside an amazing movepool. It was one of the most talked about new Pokemon. EVERYONE thought it would be a threat.
Nobody expected Alakazam to return to OU, but it did.
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One of us will soon be proven wrong as to whether it has a solid place in OU or is simply inferior to other choices.
Have you played any gen 6? It's on probably half of teams right now.
