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Alomomola: B- -> C+
For the second time, I'm going to nominate Alomomola to drop a rank. Simply put, it's niche was to switch in, use it's massive base 165 HP, wish, and switch back out to heal something. While that's all fine and dandy, once Greninja left, the metagame shift was not kind to the not-evolution of Luvdisc. Greninja, as some of you mentioned, was one of the best things for Mola to switch in on unless it was carrying HP Grass, which most Greninjas didn't. However, Greninja is gone, so that's one less thing Alomomola can switch out on, but it opens up a lot of Pokémon that can render Mola useless, like these two that have been the topic of conversation to move up.
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First, Serperior. As you all are well aware now, Serperior has recieved contrary, and is already S-Rank in RU in just three days. Leaf storm is just a monster, hitting for 130 damage and boosting your special attack stat by 2. Look at these Calcs: [one for Physical mola and one for special mola]
0+ SpA Serperior Leaf Storm vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Alomomola: 452-534 (84.6 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
0+ SpA Serperior Leaf Storm vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Alomomola: 276-326 (51.6 - 61%) -- 93.4% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
So yeah, Alomomola will be KO'ed before it can even do anything useful vs. Serperior.
Now, Raikou. Raikou has also been gaining popularity to move up recently. I'll focus on it's specs set first, then it's AV set, and finally its CM set.
Here's a specs thunderbolt:
252 SpA Choice Specs Raikou Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Alomomola: 750-884 (140.4 - 165.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Here's a specs volt switch:
252 SpA Choice Specs Raikou Volt Switch vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Alomomola: 584-690 (109.3 - 129.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Now, here's a specs HP Grass:
252 SpA Choice Specs Raikou Hidden Power Grass vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Alomomola: 334-394 (62.5 - 73.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Adn lastly, here's the specs Extrasensory:
252 SpA Choice Specs Raikou Extrasensory vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Alomomola: 222-262 (41.5 - 49%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
here's all the calcs with a specially defensive mola:
252 SpA Choice Specs Raikou Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Alomomola: 462-546 (86.5 - 102.2%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Raikou Hidden Power Grass vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Alomomola: 206-244 (38.5 - 45.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Raikou Volt Switch vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Alomomola: 360-426 (67.4 - 79.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Raikou Extrasensory vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Alomomola: 137-162 (25.6 - 30.3%) -- 0.8% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
not good for the Mola, right? it will mostly get OHKOd upon switching in unless it's specially defensive, which means you will have to manipulate your opponent into using HP Grass or Extrasensory.
The AV set gets walled fairly hard, so I'll skip over that.
Now, the CM set. I'm adding two other popular CM users into the fray here:
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The thing about trying to send in mola onto a CM Pokémon is that if you need to heal, it's safe to assume they're at +1 already. On the switch-in to Mola, they could boost again to be at +2. Then, when you use wish, they could boost again, going to +3. Then, when you switch out, they can attack whatever you switch in. In this case, Alomomola just hurt your team by doing its job. Finally, Sceptile, Lopunny and
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First, I'll touch on Lopunny. Once again, Alomomola returns as setup fodder! On the switch-in to Mola, if this is a PUpPunch Lopunny, they can Power-up Punch you on the switch-in, again when you go for wish, and then destroy whatever you're sending in to be healed. Alomomola hurt your team by trying to accomplish the only thing it's capable of doing.
Next is Sceptile. Once again, trying to switch mola in could lead to it setting up on you with substitute, or just Giga Draining when you try to wish. Look at this calc:
[Whoops, looks like the damage calculator doesn't have any ORAS megas programmed into it. great. this is Sceptile at +1. Hope it's accurate.]
Welll, it's a Garunteed 2HKO on the specially defensive Mola, and a Garunteed OHKO on the physically bulky one. Leaf storm is even worse for Mola, scoring a garunteed OHKO on mola evan at 252+ Spd.
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Anything with taunt severely hinders mola forcing it to switch out, like these:
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or things with shadow tag:
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And rapid spinners/ defoggers get a free chance to clear away all the entry hazards you may have set:
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And then there's things that can set up their own hazards on you:
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OR you could just severely damage Alomolola in the two or so turns it's on the field.
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There's so many more things that can take advantage of mola and put your team in a worse spot, even more than what I listed here. I won't deny that it's viable in OU, but the removal of Greninja and the introduction of Serperior wren't kind to it, and it should drop to
C+.