Lickilicky from B+ to A
I agree with the above nominations for Lickilicky to rise, but think that an even more drastic raise is needed.
Lickilicky, simply put, is fantastic in this meta. This is a mon that beats >70% of the metagame 1v1 (just scroll down the VR). When playing a match using Lickilicky, or playing against Lickilicky, it is not uncommon for it to be able to wall 4 out of 6, or even 5 out of 6 mons on a team. Why is this?
First, let’s discuss the capabilities of Lickilicky. We all know Licky is a fantastic special wall. Due to great SpD and HP when in invested, and the combination of wish and protect, it is able to reliably switch into pokemon like Simipour, Kadabra, Zebstrika time and time again. But what we don’t usually discuss when talking about Lickilicky is its very underrated physical walling capabilities. Lickilicky reliably walls pokemon like Mightyena, Piloswine, and Scarf Sawsbuck without ANY investment, and pulls draws with pokemon like Rapidash and Scarf Dodrio, who cannot reliably revenge kill it. Moreover, if it puts just 100 EVs into defense (which I highly recommend), it can wall those two pokemon, as well as avoid the 2HKO all the time from stuff like Band Floatzel and the OHKO from Stoutland’s Superpower.
Let’s go over the best sets of Lickilicky. The first is the simple offense-thrashing set of Wish, Protect, Body Slam, Knock Off. This beats nearly everything that likes attacking in a 1v1 situation. It is also a pain to switch into for every team not having a Machoke, and even Machoke strongly dislikes Knock Off. Even when something can reliably switch into the annoying haxing move that is body slam, it will hate getting its item removed. The combination of these two moves will also prevent Roselia from setting up hazards on it.
Another nice set to run is Wish, Protect, Body Slam, Toxic. Why run Toxic over Knock Off, you may ask? First off,
it makes Lickilicky the only reliable Vigoroth counter in the tier, because oblivious makes it immune to Vigoroth’s Taunt. Secondly, toxic is great for protect stalling, and can easily stop a sweeper like nasty plot Ninetales and Misdreavus in their tracks.
(Example Set below)
Lickilicky @ Leftovers
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Body Slam
- Knock Off/Toxic
The final standard set is Wish, Protect, Knock Off/Body Slam, Heal Bell. This is a set that should really only be run on defensive or stallier teams, as it is very passive. Nevertheless, it is a huge bonus for these teamstyles, as it is by far the best Wish Passer in the tier, and also one of the best Status clearers. (This is very important as few pokemon in PU learn these moves or can use them effectively). The problem is that mono Knock-Off coverage is quite weak and can easily be stalled out of by anything with a recovery move, or used as set-up bait. Body Slam instead can solve this issue, but then you lose to Nasty Plot Misdreavus, a pokemon that is already very hard to cover for defensive teams. However, despite these flaws, it is more or less a defensive staple that can cover threats that other special walls would fold to, such as Offensive Pig.
But of course, it isn’t enough just to say Lickilicky is good for the sake of being good, we have to examine why the metagame is more kind to it than before. So we’ll go over why things have changed for Lickilicky for the better:
First of all, Poliwrath being gone was a huge relief, as well as Pawniard because that set up on Lickilicky. Torterra leaving was also great because that switched in easily and 2HKOed Lickilicky with Wood Hammer. Fast forward a bit and you have the Shell Smashers ban, a big relief because Lickilicky was set-up bait for both of them. Lickilicky also benefits from the high popularity of offensive teams, because its standard sets are an absolute pain for hyper offense both to break through and to switch in. The only real trend that doesn’t benefit Lickilicky are the higher usage of Offensive Monferno and of Machoke.
Now, let’s go over the cons of Lickilicky to see why it shouldn’t necessarily go higher than A, or even A-:
- Free switch-in for Machoke, already one of the scariest mons to cover in the tier, as well as Monferno to some extent
-Fairly easy to set-up hazards on, although it does beat all hazard setters
-Status-weak when not using heal bell, very passive when using heal bell
Now the pros:
-Walls an incredible portion of the tier, including nearly every special attacker
-This includes being one of only 2 counters in the tier to Taunt + 3 Attacks Grumpig
-One of very few pokemon that can reliably use Wish
-Body Slam combined with Knock Off is actually very annoying to switch into
-A special wall that doesn’t just fold to physical attackers except for Machoke and Monferno
Overall, it’s pretty clear to me that Licky is a strong yet flawed pokemon in this metagame and deserving of an A-rank with other centralizing threats like Grumpig and Raichu. And this is without even accounting for its versatility- because sets like Swords Dance and even Curse are indeed good, despite being overshadowed by other normal types, and can lure those expecting a more passive pokemon. Lickilicky is definitely a pokemon I have to take account of during teambuilding, especially because I often find “lol, 4 out of 6 pokemon on my team lose to Lickilicky, and only one of them can switch in”.
also I agree with Stunfisk to A because
ebola static is amazing.
And Lairon is bad because it can’t have Sturdy and Rock Head at the same time unfortunately. Without Sturdy it is OHKOed by just about everything, and without Rock Head + Head Smash it is just a weaker physical Probopass.
wow, I can’t believe I wrote all that
