Ladder STABmons [OMotM November]

I know this is super fast but I've come to a decision for our first slate.

Shell Smash and Belly Drum are banned on non-native learners. Boomburst/Techno Blast is safe, for now. Future suspect is likely.


Please discuss Shift Gear, Dark Void, and Geomancy suspects now.

The Immortal
wait, what? why is boomburst safe lmao. ive yet to see ANYONE argue for keeping it in, and every argument has been about taking it out. id understand techno, but boomburst too? lmao. oh well, scarf pz your safe buddy...sylveon, looks like you have to use calm mind for a bit. my team is safe

as for the next three, shift gear...is probably banworthy, i dont have anything to solidify this, other then saying "lol scizor and metagross" so...idk...dark void...yeah, get that shit out of here. it basically is what makes sableye a monster in the tier, a very healthy nerf for the damn offense counter. but not only that, it makes any dark type with even moderate speed into "darkrai V2" literally, dark is a good stab, weavile, ttar, zoruark, sableye, all prove this, and giving them access to a reliable-a RELIABLE sleep move is a bit much for them. geomancy...geomancy...geomancy...geomancy is literally one of the worst setup moves ive ever seen. at first i thought "lmao it needs power herb to work, it sucks!" but then i see pokemon destroying stuff with geomancy. the problem with mancy, ISNT that its a "press to sweep ez mode" in order for mancy to be as scary as bdrum or smash, it needs the same aspect: a turn to setup freely. which sounds stupid. but as i said, lovely kiss loppuny. fairy types are special, in that each and every one is specially based, but on top of that, there is not ONE fairy type that suffers from a bad type. even gardevoirs type is good. togekiss and clef BOTH have amazing typings, good bulk, and both use abilities/moves that help them sweep. clef has magic guard which means if you lack a physical awnser to clef, you just lose to it. you cant wear it down. togekiss is different, as its stab move is a 75% draining move with 80 base power and is flying type. not ONLY that but toge also has subsitute to block its ONLY counters/checks in stabmons, and not lose anything by doing so, and still retains pseudo-perfect coverage with aura sphere, and reliable recovery with its stab. whimsicott also can abuse this, as it actually can spore something, giving it a easy chance to setup and sweep given steels are removed but generally, its quite inferior to most the other common geomancyers.

so basically, im sayin ban void and mancy, and...i want to hear more arguments for shift gear.
 
Geomancy- No Ban. While Geomancy tends to make for some pretty sweet late game cleaners, it is by no means the most reliable or dangerous set up move in STABmons. There are restrictions to running Geomancy, namely Power Herb. So running it on Megas is out of the question. Next, you have to be fairly certain you can actually sweep, so checks/counters and phazers all need to be dealt with prior to hitting Geomancy. It isn't like Shell Smash were you can hit it freely with no consequence, and its not likely Belly Drum where you can pirority sweep with it. Not to mention the only mons that it really "breaks" are Sylveon and Togekiss. Sylveon is aided by Boomburst pixi, and Togekiss gets Oblivion Wing and great coverage, so you can argue its not all on Geomancy. For those reasons i don't think Geomancy should be banned.

Dark Void- Ban. Dark Void is incredibly powerful. It forces you to run 2 checks to each potential Dark Voider, unless you want to play the chance game that is sleep. Instantly putting a mon on the opponent's team out of commission for a short team is incredibly advantageous. While Magic Bounce and Poison Heal exist, their users are not great switch ins for Weavile, but are for Sableye. While one could argue Weavile ban, the root of the problem is Dark Void and not Weavile. After all, Sableye wouldn't provide so much ridiculous momentum if it couldn't sleep a target then Parting Shot could it?

Shift Gear- No Ban. Here me out on this one. Yeah it provides +2 speed and +1 attack with set up and thats really strong, but not quite broken. The only "broken" steel type users with Shift Gear in the old meta were Mega Metagross and Mega Scizor. And both of them gained a powerful new STAB move mostly exclusive to them, Heavy Slam and Gear Grind respectively. Heavy Slam gets Mega Metagross's high weight and Tough Claws, which makes it consistently more powerful then Meteor Mash and deadly to several would be checks. Gear Grind is a two hitter boosted by Technician. So I don't think Shift Gear solely breaks these threats, therefore i don't think it should be banned. Especially since Mega Metagross is fairly broken with Heavy Slam, and Mega Scizor in Attack/Status STABmons wasn't broken with just Shift Gear, in fact it preferred to run SD Gear Grind.
 
volcarona.gif

Volcarona @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 72 HP / 252 SpA / 184 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 1 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Quiver Dance
- Blue Flare
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Roost

So here's an interesting Pokemon I've been using to take on Fairy-types and to hopefully put a stop to Mega Metagross. Here are some relevant calculations:

252+ Atk Mega Altaria Earthquake vs. 72 HP / 0 Def Volcarona: 152-179 (46.2 - 54.4%) -- 6.6% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Pixilate Sylveon Boomburst vs. 72 HP / 0 SpD Volcarona: 139-164 (42.2 - 49.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

Choice Specs does 2HKO though, but not with a +1 from Quiver Dance under Volcarona's belt! Flame Body is cool to try and stop Mega Metagross and really comes in clutch. Testing out a defensive set also...
 
Here is something I have been trying out:

sylveon.gif


Sylveon @ Power Herb
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 48 HP / 252 SpA / 208 Spe
Modest Nature
- Boomburst
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Geomancy

Geomancy Togekiss still outclasses it due to better coverage, but people have been saying that Sylv is useless after the Shell Smash ban, so I found a set that could work for it. Pixiliate Boomburst deals way more damage than Moonblast, and Sylv's better typing and decent typing can also work for it. Has Psyshock and HP Fire for things that resist Boom.

Agree with everything Kingslayer2779 says so there is my vote.
 
metagross-mega.gif
metagrossite.png

Ban Metagrossite

Although we are currently looking at suspecting and / or banning moves, I highly recommend banning Metagrossite to produce a healthier metagame. Firstly, Mega Metagross is absolutely insane even without a Shift Gear boost. Tough Claws Heavy Slam walks all over the entire metagame, and with coverage in Earthquake / Thunder Punch (or Grass Knot, or anything your team needs), stopping Metagrossite comes down to a Sucker Punch prediction or hoping that you can live a hit. Mega Metagross' high bulk, along with its crazy high Speed naturally, make it a natural born assassin. What pushes Mega Metagross over, really, is Heavy Slam. Even taking away Shift Gear won't take away Agility, or even Power-Up Punch. I feel that Mega Metagross is a problem that needs to be addressed. Would type more, but it's been a really long day and that's all I can muster up.
 
Mega Metagross is so stupid, particularly with Shell Smash out of the picture. And I think that Shift Gear IS the culprit. Everyone knows that Metagross can pick and choose a few of its checks/counters to break for free based on it's two coverage moves and that it's impossible to revenge kill because of it's enormous speed and impervious-ness to priority (It even breaks Sableye at -1, which is stupid). Nothing's really going to stop it from doing that to an extent, just because of it's insane movepool, stats, and typing.

But when SS was around, Diggersby, Altaria, Sylveon, Espeon, Lopunny, Porygon-Z, etc. could all just blast through it at +2/+2/+2 with EQ, Fire Blast, Judgment, Shadow Ball, etc. But now they all just get revenged pretty much every time (bar Geo + Judgment Sylveon, Agility Diggs, SD + HJK Lop, and weird double dance sets). There is no offensive role that Metagross doesn't perform right now. It sweeps, breaks walls, revenge kills, and is bulky as hell. There isn't a reason to NOT use it on any non-stall team because it outclasses all the other megas right now and fills a bunch of roles automatically.

If SG were out of the picture it would still be bulky and fast and strong and have a clutch movepool and good typing, but it wouldn't sweep or wallbreak as readily. It can still run Agility/Autotomize and be a top threat, but it wouldn't have the same OHKO-everything-that-doesn't-resist-AND-have-good-bulk power that it has right now. It would be put in check harder by Ferrothorn, Rotom-W, Skarm, Keldeo, Thundurus, Landorus, and Scizor, all of whom check it at +0 Atk, but get blown up at +1.

This is broken:

+1 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Metagross Hammer Arm vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Keldeo: 275-324 (85.1 - 100.3%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes

Non-STAB, medium power, neutrally effective coverage moves should not be a favorable roll on 91/90 bulk. Especially not when you're going a million mph and are immune to priority.

If something else were banned, like Metagrossite, Scizor would do literally the same thing that Metagross is doing right now, but with shittier coverage and less accuracy. If this one move is breaking these two pokemon, then I don't see why we should do something other than ban it. There's only one other pokemon that potentially runs it (Excadrill), who doesn't really care since it's niche is going fast in the sand, not by setting up.
 
wait, what? why is boomburst safe lmao. ive yet to see ANYONE argue for keeping it in, and every argument has been about taking it out. id understand techno, but boomburst too? lmao. oh well, scarf pz your safe buddy...sylveon, looks like you have to use calm mind for a bit. my team is safe

I'm glad to hear I don't exist in your mind. And Unfixable doesn't exist either.

/didn't say anything because I don't actually exist

----

Dark Void: Ban please. It's only real flaws are that it's vulnerable to being bounced in a way Spore is not (If you can use Spore, and you're not Smeargle, bounced Spore does nothing to you) and that it misses 20% of the time. These are... inadequate flaws. Since it can be slapped on literally any Dark type, it can be used as an obnoxiously effective way to bypass checks/counters on tons of good offensive Pokemon, and thanks to Dark's good offensive typing they often don't mind having to sacrifice a coverage move to get it.

Shift Gear: I'm inclined to a ban. On the face of things it doesn't seem so bad, but in practice +2 Speed is so much Speed that most Pokemon running it can skip running Speed investment/Speed nature, allowing them to run Adamant for a bit more damage and invest in bulk and shrug off priority, all while outrunning everything in the entire game. Mega Scizor's base 75 Speed demands +Speed nature and more than 120 base Speed to outspeed at +2 without a Scarf or other Speed enhancement, which is nuts.

Geomancy: I'm personally disinclined to a ban. Most Pokemon that get it aren't that good with it, and it's inherently a lot easier to play around. With stuff like Prankster Topsy-Turvy able to ruin it forever in an instant, it's only really usable after you've picked apart multiple threats on the enemy team, and still has to be timed carefully -even Knock Off can be enough to utterly ruin your momentum and give the enemy time to KO you or at least maim you so bad the sweep is lost, never mind that you probably resist Knock Off. Togekiss is the main Pokemon that seems to be amazing with it, and I'd sooner see Togekiss banned than Geomancy banned.
 
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/stabmons-304405684

Azumarill @ Leftovers
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Entrainment
- Recover
- Baton Pass
- Heal Bell

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Recover
- Zen Headbutt
- Swords Dance
- Extreme Speed

super gimmicky but its fun when it works lol


ok wtf this team is working
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/stabmons-304466059
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/stabmons-304470225
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/stabmons-304471424
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/stabmons-304483977
 
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There's been some confusion about this process which means I haven't done a good job at explaining it.

1) The reason I started with moves is because I wanted to see if certain moves affect a broad swath of Pokemon to the point where it breaks most of the viable users of that move.
2) There will still be Pokemon bans.
3) When I ask you to analyze whether a move is broken or not, I was wrong to say, "Look at the move independent of anything else." What I should have said was, "Look at how the move affects Pokemon with access to it," which would mean does X-type move break enough of the X-type Pokemon that have access to it.
4) There's no set amount of Pokemon that need to be broken by a particular move in order for that move to be banned. This mostly depends on how many viable Pokemon there are of that type.

Let's see what else.

The next slate will be Pokemon, particularly megas. I'll issue the result of this slate's moves tomorrow.
 
I don't understand how people aren't fully supporting a sableye ban, one pokemon stopping something should not be justification for not banning said something, like holy shit how does this even make any sense? Basically this is saying that it is perfectly fine to have a sableye on every team in order to not have setup running rampant. This is fairly similar to the whole reluctancy to ban diggersby, because people are too lazy to deal with the repercussions. Actually this is literally the same thing as diggersby, basically because it's the only thing holding the meta together. Honestly if one pokemon is singlehandedly holding together a metagame, it is probably insanely broken and should definitely be banned. A good example besides diggersby kind of is imposter in balanced hackmons, the only reason that imposter is still unbanned is because if it is banned then there would have to be an unfathomable amount of bans, therefore kind of eliminating the point of balanced hackmons. I think we all can agree that imposter is ridiculously centralizing like imposter's grasp on the meta is literally making the meta having to resort to super niche stuff like judgment. Imposter is certainly an extreme example but it is certainly a very valid one, there's so much fun that is held back by imposter's existence eg dragon and ghost types running non-judgment stab. Sure sableye loses a significant amount of utility without dark void but the fact still remains that it is a complete stop to virtually every non-fairy type/lopunny setup sweeper in one pokemon, how exactly is that fair? Ban Sableye
Also can we please ban bw keldeo? I know that bw stabmons is dead but having that thing still exist in the meta is ridiculous, it has literally 0 counters, jellicent is killed by hidden power electric/ghost and just about everything else is murdered by rain boosted water spout. It is very trivial but just kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth because bw stabmons was a ton of fun.
 
I'm glad to hear I don't exist in your mind. And Unfixable doesn't exist either.

/didn't say anything because I don't actually exist
first, i said that before i talked about it, so now i at least KNOW the reasoning why its not banned. i literally heard NOTHING of this before it was called. but i still oppose to that logic because even though boomburst doesnt break every single abuser, it makes literally every user of it go up a "skill level" p2, meloetta, and the abformented three become viable out of nothing. if we go by this logic, i oppose ALL move bans, because geomancy, shift gear, and dark void also only are broken on specific mons like sable and weavile,scizor, metagross, and toge and not ALL dark/steel/fairy types in general(ironically, 3 pokemon each are "banworthy" on each move)

seriously, that is the WORST case of nitpicking ive ever seen. what makes boomburst so special compared to the moves we have already banned? (shell smash and belly drum) and i dont mean by a "what does it do" standpoint, i mean it as in a "why is it special" standpoint. boomburst brings every user of it TONS more power then it did before, same with void, shift gear, belly drum, shell smash and geomancy. and giving it the special treatment because "lol only 3 mons are broken with it and otherwise only make the others really good" is such an easy argument to pull on ALL the moves, and boomburst is literally NO different then them. That's just so...unorthodox.
 
first, i said that before i talked about it, so now i at least KNOW the reasoning why its not banned. i literally heard NOTHING of this before it was called. but i still oppose to that logic because even though boomburst doesnt break every single abuser, it makes literally every user of it go up a "skill level" p2, meloetta, and the abformented three become viable out of nothing. if we go by this logic, i oppose ALL move bans, because geomancy, shift gear, and dark void also only are broken on specific mons like sable and weavile,scizor, metagross, and toge and not ALL dark/steel/fairy types in general(ironically, 3 pokemon each are "banworthy" on each move)

I defended Boomburst as well before but that's not important right now.

You're forgetting the entire Normal-type toolkit (amongst other factors) which bumps up their viability alongside Boomburst. Although Boomburst does most of the work with something like P2 and Melo, you're making it sound like Boomburst single-handedly made these things viable which is not true. Even if it was true - who cares if everyone gets a "skill level" go up one? Doesn't that bring us more viable Pokemon into the metagame? As long as they aren't broken how is this a bad thing?

seriously, that is the WORST case of nitpicking ive ever seen. what makes boomburst so special compared to the moves we have already banned? (shell smash and belly drum) and i dont mean by a "what does it do" standpoint, i mean it as in a "why is it special" standpoint. boomburst brings every user of it TONS more power then it did before, same with void, shift gear, belly drum, shell smash and geomancy. and giving it the special treatment because "lol only 3 mons are broken with it and otherwise only make the others really good" is such an easy argument to pull on ALL the moves, and boomburst is literally NO different then them. That's just so...unorthodox.

Because Boomburst has the inherit flaw of being a Normal-type move, unlike Shell Smash and Belly Drum. What I mean by this is that Normal-type is really awful offensively. I don't think I have to tell you why its awful, as it should be common knowledge, but the fact that Boomburst has to deal with being a Normal-type move kind of hampers it a bit. Its one of the few moves in the Normal-type arsenal that (for the most part) sticks to Normal-types only rather than anything that can get Normal-type moves unlike moves like Shell Smash, Belly Drum, Swords Dance, Recover, Rapid Spin, and even ExtremeSpeed in some cases. As I listed before, Shell Smash and Belly Drum don't have this flaw, as the Normal-type doesn't come into play during damage calculations. There is also the fact that these moves are insane set-up moves while Boomburst is just a very STAB move for a mediocre type.
 
I defended Boomburst as well before but that's not important right now.

You're forgetting the entire Normal-type toolkit (amongst other factors) which bumps up their viability alongside Boomburst. Although Boomburst does most of the work with something like P2 and Melo, you're making it sound like Boomburst single-handedly made these things viable which is not true. Even if it was true - who cares if everyone gets a "skill level" go up one? Doesn't that bring us more viable Pokemon into the metagame? As long as they aren't broken how is this a bad thing?



Because Boomburst has the inherit flaw of being a Normal-type move, unlike Shell Smash and Belly Drum. What I mean by this is that Normal-type is really awful offensively. I don't think I have to tell you why its awful, as it should be common knowledge, but the fact that Boomburst has to deal with being a Normal-type move kind of hampers it a bit. Its one of the few moves in the Normal-type arsenal that (for the most part) sticks to Normal-types only rather than anything that can get Normal-type moves unlike moves like Shell Smash, Belly Drum, Swords Dance, Recover, Rapid Spin, and even ExtremeSpeed in some cases. As I listed before, Shell Smash and Belly Drum don't have this flaw, as the Normal-type doesn't come into play during damage calculations. There is also the fact that these moves are insane set-up moves while Boomburst is just a very STAB move for a mediocre type.
ok, so by the logic your giving me, we ban moves based on the typings abilities? and not the move themselves? i mean, normals coverage is pretty rendundant when most just fire off specs/scarf boombursts(since shell smash is banned, its probably the better move) and have coverage moves to bop usual resists/immunities/chansey. the problem im seeing, is we are banning moves based on typings viability, and not the move itself. sure, smash made boomburst "overwhelming" but boomburst definitly WAS a big factor. saying it wasnt is the same as saying espeed isnt a factor. sure, setup was one of the big reasons, but that doesnt change the fact that boomburst like, ohkos everything. and lets stop saying normal is a bad offensive typing. 140 is the equivalent of a super effective 70 base power move. and it only has 2 resists and 1 immunity. not even FAIRY type has that few "resistances". boomburst is only SLIGHTLY weaker then super effective moonblast(70 vs 90) which means, boomburst by that logic is "super effective(in terms of damage output)" on EVERY type but 3, while moonblast deals pitiful damage to everything but dragon, fighting, and dark types in comparason. boomburst might not have actual super effective coverage, but as a spammable move, its actually better then given credit for. boomburst on steel types is still a 70 base power move. thats not bad at ALL. sure, its not great, but thats STILL not like moonblasts 45 damage.
normal as a attacking type isnt "amazing" damage wise, but boomburst IS. i dont see how mentioning that normal types for the most part suck changes this fact. boomburst is the equivalent of a "night slash" that hits everything but 2 super effective, has NO resists, and 1 immunity. thats broken in my eyes so i see boomburst broken.
 
ok, so by the logic your giving me, we ban moves based on the typings abilities? and not the move themselves? i mean, normals coverage is pretty rendundant when most just fire off specs/scarf boombursts(since shell smash is banned, its probably the better move) and have coverage moves to bop usual resists/immunities/chansey. the problem im seeing, is we are banning moves based on typings viability, and not the move itself. sure, smash made boomburst "overwhelming" but boomburst definitly WAS a big factor. saying it wasnt is the same as saying espeed isnt a factor. sure, setup was one of the big reasons, but that doesnt change the fact that boomburst like, ohkos everything. and lets stop saying normal is a bad offensive typing. 140 is the equivalent of a super effective 70 base power move. and it only has 2 resists and 1 immunity. not even FAIRY type has that few "resistances". boomburst is only SLIGHTLY weaker then super effective moonblast(70 vs 90) which means, boomburst by that logic is "super effective(in terms of damage output)" on EVERY type but 3, while moonblast deals pitiful damage to everything but dragon, fighting, and dark types in comparason. boomburst might not have actual super effective coverage, but as a spammable move, its actually better then given credit for. boomburst on steel types is still a 70 base power move. thats not bad at ALL. sure, its not great, but thats STILL not like moonblasts 45 damage.
normal as a attacking type isnt "amazing" damage wise, but boomburst IS. i dont see how mentioning that normal types for the most part suck changes this fact. boomburst is the equivalent of a "night slash" that hits everything but 2 super effective, has NO resists, and 1 immunity. thats broken in my eyes so i see boomburst broken.

Moon Blast is 95 BP.

70 BP moves are shit. People don't run them if they can avoid it. Even a super effective 70 BP move is often underwhelming, even backed by STAB.

The fact that Normal is a shit offensive typing is a factor in Boomburst not being intrinsically overwhelming. Another factor is that Normal types are, as a whole, slanted away from the Special attacking end of things. Only a handful of Boomburst-accessing Pokemon care that they have it. (Azumarill doesn't care, for instance)

Yet another factor is that some of the Normal types slanted toward Special are kind of shit, like Pyroar. It was barely usable back when you could give it Boomburst+Shell Smash+Blue Flare. I know, I used it extensively just because it was fun. It was still barely usable.

Boomburst also has no special side effect to pay off with. It doesn't spread Burns like Scald does. It doesn't lower Special Attack like Moon Blast does. Etc. Its only advantage is that it bypasses Substitutes, which, while very good when it crops up, is a niche benefit, considerably niche compared to stuff like Scald's Burn spreading. It's just raw damage.

Yes, Boomburst is widely powerful. That's not being questioned. It never was. The question is if it's too powerful. Personally, back in the day I barely saw Boomburst show up at all, once the broken abusers were banned. It just wasn't worth it.

Yes, Boomburst on Meloetta was part of what made it nightmarish. So was Psystrike. So was Substitute. Should we ban those, too?
 
Moon Blast is 95 BP.

70 BP moves are shit. People don't run them if they can avoid it. Even a super effective 70 BP move is often underwhelming, even backed by STAB.

The fact that Normal is a shit offensive typing is a factor in Boomburst not being intrinsically overwhelming. Another factor is that Normal types are, as a whole, slanted away from the Special attacking end of things. Only a handful of Boomburst-accessing Pokemon care that they have it. (Azumarill doesn't care, for instance)

Yet another factor is that some of the Normal types slanted toward Special are kind of shit, like Pyroar. It was barely usable back when you could give it Boomburst+Shell Smash+Blue Flare. I know, I used it extensively just because it was fun. It was still barely usable.

Boomburst also has no special side effect to pay off with. It doesn't spread Burns like Scald does. It doesn't lower Special Attack like Moon Blast does. Etc. Its only advantage is that it bypasses Substitutes, which, while very good when it crops up, is a niche benefit, considerably niche compared to stuff like Scald's Burn spreading. It's just raw damage.

Yes, Boomburst is widely powerful. That's not being questioned. It never was. The question is if it's too powerful. Personally, back in the day I barely saw Boomburst show up at all, once the broken abusers were banned. It just wasn't worth it.

Yes, Boomburst on Meloetta was part of what made it nightmarish. So was Psystrike. So was Substitute. Should we ban those, too?
70 Base power moves are shit because they have no redeeming qualities, imagine one that hits the entire tier barring 3 types super effectively and had no resists barring 1 poke who is never used. still shit? no. i dont think so. thats "boomburst" in a nutshell damage wise. boomburst hits almost EVERYTHING neutrally. except rock, steel, and ghost types. everything else gets flat out raped by boomburst. as even chansey fears +2 boomburst. +2! chansey can tank +3 scalds off manaphy. a renowned wallbreaker.

most pokemon dont care about belly drum, shift gear, dark void, and a few others either, but its banned/in the process of being banned. that argument is a flimsey one, and you know it.

most special normal types are shit yes...but again, thats not boombursts fault. boomburst MAKES them viable. normal type viability means nothing to what boomburst can do. otherwise again, just because normal types are crap, doesnt mean boomburst is suddenly manageable if a 140 special attacker gains it.

its "side effect" is raw damage with good coverage. normal-is-not-a-bad-offensive-typing. sure it hits nothing super effective, but it has next to NO resists, and 1 immunity. again, its the equivalent of a night slash that hits everything super effective but 2 types neutrally, with 1 immunity. thats NOT a reason for its staying. seriously, if a 300 base power normal move came out but had no side effects would it be balanced too? see what i mean?

again, your judging boomburst by its POKEMON and not the move itself. is shift gear broken on magnezone? is belly drum broken on meloetta? no. are the broken for what they are? yes. is boomburst broken for what it is? a 140 base power spam move, with no reprocussions other then 2 types that resist and 1 type that is immune? yes. that's broken. tell me, if draco meteor had no spc attack drops, would that not be broken too? noo...because draco meteor only hits 1 type super effectively, and once all the bannable dragons are gone, its not like kingdra, kyurem and dragonite would be broken with it or anything.-flawless logic.

lmao. no? psystrike isnt broken. and neither is substitute. what does saying that prove? is fake out broken? is earthquake broken? is precipice broken? they all make diggersby good too. but its not like ANY of those moves are worth banning, since they don't contribute as heavily as shell smash, belly drum, and BOOMBURST does to a pokemons viability. they are like, the cheese and ketchup on a hamburger. or something.
 
honestly, i might sound a bit bias(especially since im talking about banning boomburst) but i feel like altarianite isnt that bad even WITH boomburst. lacking shell smash means it either goes physical, mixed, or special, which special lacks setup in any form, making chansey a counter to its special sets. altaria lacks the utilities now to be broken, and while boomburst is strong, its not nearly in the same league as all the others, its kinda like a nice mix between fakespeeders and boombursters, where it can run both, but the others still kinda excel at it due to altaria lacking scarf, plates, and life orbs. meaning even its pixilate boosted boombursts arent all that bad to check or counter. altaria suffers from both of its sets being outclassed, meaning altaria needs to either suffer from its lack of coverage, lack of setup, or its lack of speed. meaning it needs to run a hybrid fakespeed boomburst set akin to diancie in bh to carve any decent niche in the meta. its good, but id say due to its lacking movepool(for a normal type stabber) nomatter what set it runs, it has commonly used checks and counters to it. its kinda like charizard where it can do 2 completely different things with different checks and counters...but it still struggles with some similar checks.(air balloon heatran, talonflame, charizard y, itself, fakespeeders, etc etc) honestly, i pick no ban. of course, thats not saying i dont see why people want it gone. its really good. but i dont think personally its good enough to warrent a ban.

metagross-mega is just a complete monster, and for the same reasons it was banned before, i will say ban
 
70 Base power moves are shit because they have no redeeming qualities, imagine one that hits the entire tier barring 3 types super effectively and had no resists barring 1 poke who is never used. still shit? no. i dont think so. thats "boomburst" in a nutshell damage wise. boomburst hits almost EVERYTHING neutrally. except rock, steel, and ghost types. everything else gets flat out raped by boomburst. as even chansey fears +2 boomburst. +2! chansey can tank +3 scalds off manaphy. a renowned wallbreaker.

most pokemon dont care about belly drum, shift gear, dark void, and a few others either, but its banned/in the process of being banned. that argument is a flimsey one, and you know it.

most special normal types are shit yes...but again, thats not boombursts fault. boomburst MAKES them viable. normal type viability means nothing to what boomburst can do. otherwise again, just because normal types are crap, doesnt mean boomburst is suddenly manageable if a 140 special attacker gains it.

its "side effect" is raw damage with good coverage. normal-is-not-a-bad-offensive-typing. sure it hits nothing super effective, but it has next to NO resists, and 1 immunity. again, its the equivalent of a night slash that hits everything super effective but 2 types neutrally, with 1 immunity. thats NOT a reason for its staying. seriously, if a 300 base power normal move came out but had no side effects would it be balanced too? see what i mean?

again, your judging boomburst by its POKEMON and not the move itself. is shift gear broken on magnezone? is belly drum broken on meloetta? no. are the broken for what they are? yes. is boomburst broken for what it is? a 140 base power spam move, with no reprocussions other then 2 types that resist and 1 type that is immune? yes. that's broken. tell me, if draco meteor had no spc attack drops, would that not be broken too? noo...because draco meteor only hits 1 type super effectively, and once all the bannable dragons are gone, its not like kingdra, kyurem and dragonite would be broken with it or anything.-flawless logic.

Let me rephrase: your entire premise is broken. Context matters. Is Boomburst being in the meta making this meta unhealthy? Does it break more than a handful of Pokemon? Are those Pokemon broken without Boomburst anyway?

To return to your "Night Slash super effective against most types" example: sure, let's go with that. It can still be meta-irrelevant/weakly relevant. Are the Pokemon that get Widely Super Effective Night Slash actually... you know... any good at using it? No? Then it's fine.

You go to Inverse, and Normal types are broken/borderline broken because there aren't any resists to them and almost all of the toughest Pokemon are weak to their moves/shit to use in general. (Rock and Steel providing the majority of extremely high Defense Pokemon) Compared to Standard, it's the same Pokemon, with the same moves, but where in Standard widespread access to Frustration/Return is pretty irrelevant and their 102 BP nature is only really useful on, basically, some -ate Pokemon, in Inverse it's a strong, widely effective move available to some very hard-hitting Pokemon that nothing can take except, like, Avalugg.

So, let's look at your example with Free Draco Meteor. You're talking "Let's ban all the good Dragons so we can keep in Free Draco Meteor." I'm talking "There are no good Dragons/there's like three good Dragons and they're broken regardless of whether Free Draco Meteor is in the meta/there's one good Dragon and it has no use for Free Draco Meteor, so banning Free Draco Meteor is really just nerfing some Pokemon that could desperately use the support".

You are insisting on banning Boomburst because it's a powerful move, ignoring context in the meta. So? Hell, we might as well ban Geomancy from OU, because man, Power Herb Geomancy is so powerful. (Never mind that in OU Smeargle is it for using it) Oh, and let's ban Extreme Speed from OU, it's such a ridiculous move. (Never mind that it's broken on exactly nothing that actually exists in OU) Hell, obviously we should ban Boomburst from OU too, because the traits you're describing as making Boomburst broken are still true in OU, obviously.

Wait.

No.

That's stupid.

Either provide arguments for why Boomburst being in STABmons is unhealthy in STABmons, or quit insisting we should ban it.

It does, in fact, matter that there's few Specially oriented Normal types and they're mostly pretty bad. (Etc, etc) It directly means that Boomburst's impact on the meta is surprisingly limited. Yes, it is an amazing move, no one is arguing otherwise, but that isn't relevant to whether we should ban it. "Yeah, and what about when a 140 Special Attack Normal type shows up?" That's the (Hypothetical!) future. You're assuming Gen VII or whatever won't do something unexpected to make that Not A Problem. (You're also assuming our 140 Special Attack Normal type has solid stats in other areas, which isn't necessarily a given. And you're assuming it's not something kicked to Ubers by default, also completely baselessly) Why are you assuming this? That's not a good basis for making a decision here and now, for Gen VI.

Conversely, Belly Drum is, hey, available on a large number of Physically powerful Pokemon that then get to combine it with Extreme Speed, including multiple Scrappy Belly Drummers actually exist to then bypass Sableye/Ghosts in general, etc. It's not just that Belly Drum is an amazing move -it's an amazing move in a strongly relevant way. If we flipped things around (Boomburst the Physical move, Belly Drum the Special boosting move, or Normal type stat trends being flipped around, or some other form of this idea) then of course Boomburst would be a lot more relevant to the meta, and Belly Drum a lot less, possibly to the point that our Bizarre Selves in this alternate universe are clear Belly Drum is lame and Boomburst unequivocally must go, full stop -even though the moves, themselves, are just as good in the Bizzaroverse.

Also? Quit being a condescending asshole. It's completely inappropriate, it adds nothing to your argument, and in fact it makes it that much harder to take your arguments seriously when you can't make a point without acting like people that disagree with you must be disagreeing with you because they're morons.

lmao. no? psystrike isnt broken. and neither is substitute. what does saying that prove? is fake out broken? is earthquake broken? is precipice broken? they all make diggersby good too. but its not like ANY of those moves are worth banning, since they don't contribute as heavily as shell smash, belly drum, and BOOMBURST does to a pokemons viability. they are like, the cheese and ketchup on a hamburger. or something.

Great job missing my entire point. You were engaging in specious logic, claiming that something being a part of the broken package proves that the individual part is broken -except obviously the other parts aren't broken because reasons. That was the point of my comparison.

Or put another way, good job mocking yourself.

----

Metagrossite: Ban it. If Shift Gear was banned, it might be safe to keep it in, maybe, but with Shift Gear staying in it's just as broken as always.

Altarianite: Well, it's been denied it's extreme combinatorial prowess, leaving it as basically Swords Dance/Dragon Dance Extreme Speed or as an un-boostable/only weakly boostable Boomburst abuser. (It could also fiddle around with mixed Work Up, but that's no mixed Shell Smash) I'm leaning toward No Ban for the moment, test the waters.
 
Let me rephrase: your entire premise is broken. Context matters. Is Boomburst being in the meta making this meta unhealthy? Does it break more than a handful of Pokemon? Are those Pokemon broken without Boomburst anyway?

To return to your "Night Slash super effective against most types" example: sure, let's go with that. It can still be meta-irrelevant/weakly relevant. Are the Pokemon that get Widely Super Effective Night Slash actually... you know... any good at using it? No? Then it's fine.

You go to Inverse, and Normal types are broken/borderline broken because there aren't any resists to them and almost all of the toughest Pokemon are weak to their moves/shit to use in general. (Rock and Steel providing the majority of extremely high Defense Pokemon) Compared to Standard, it's the same Pokemon, with the same moves, but where in Standard widespread access to Frustration/Return is pretty irrelevant and their 102 BP nature is only really useful on, basically, some -ate Pokemon, in Inverse it's a strong, widely effective move available to some very hard-hitting Pokemon that nothing can take except, like, Avalugg.

So, let's look at your example with Free Draco Meteor. You're talking "Let's ban all the good Dragons so we can keep in Free Draco Meteor." I'm talking "There are no good Dragons/there's like three good Dragons and they're broken regardless of whether Free Draco Meteor is in the meta/there's one good Dragon and it has no use for Free Draco Meteor, so banning Free Draco Meteor is really just nerfing some Pokemon that could desperately use the support".

You are insisting on banning Boomburst because it's a powerful move, ignoring context in the meta. So? Hell, we might as well ban Geomancy from OU, because man, Power Herb Geomancy is so powerful. (Never mind that in OU Smeargle is it for using it) Oh, and let's ban Extreme Speed from OU, it's such a ridiculous move. (Never mind that it's broken on exactly nothing that actually exists in OU) Hell, obviously we should ban Boomburst from OU too, because the traits you're describing as making Boomburst broken are still true in OU, obviously.

Wait.

No.

That's stupid.

Either provide arguments for why Boomburst being in STABmons is unhealthy in STABmons, or quit insisting we should ban it.

It does, in fact, matter that there's few Specially oriented Normal types and they're mostly pretty bad. (Etc, etc) It directly means that Boomburst's impact on the meta is surprisingly limited. Yes, it is an amazing move, no one is arguing otherwise, but that isn't relevant to whether we should ban it. "Yeah, and what about when a 140 Special Attack Normal type shows up?" That's the (Hypothetical!) future. You're assuming Gen VII or whatever won't do something unexpected to make that Not A Problem. (You're also assuming our 140 Special Attack Normal type has solid stats in other areas, which isn't necessarily a given. And you're assuming it's not something kicked to Ubers by default, also completely baselessly) Why are you assuming this? That's not a good basis for making a decision here and now, for Gen VI.

Conversely, Belly Drum is, hey, available on a large number of Physically powerful Pokemon that then get to combine it with Extreme Speed, including multiple Scrappy Belly Drummers actually exist to then bypass Sableye/Ghosts in general, etc. It's not just that Belly Drum is an amazing move -it's an amazing move in a strongly relevant way. If we flipped things around (Boomburst the Physical move, Belly Drum the Special boosting move, or Normal type stat trends being flipped around, or some other form of this idea) then of course Boomburst would be a lot more relevant to the meta, and Belly Drum a lot less, possibly to the point that our Bizarre Selves in this alternate universe are clear Belly Drum is lame and Boomburst unequivocally must go, full stop -even though the moves, themselves, are just as good in the Bizzaroverse.

Also? Quit being a condescending asshole. It's completely inappropriate, it adds nothing to your argument, and in fact it makes it that much harder to take your arguments seriously when you can't make a point without acting like people that disagree with you must be disagreeing with you because they're morons.



Great job missing my entire point. You were engaging in specious logic, claiming that something being a part of the broken package proves that the individual part is broken -except obviously the other parts aren't broken because reasons. That was the point of my comparison.

Or put another way, good job mocking yourself.

----

Metagrossite: Ban it. If Shift Gear was banned, it might be safe to keep it in, maybe, but with Shift Gear staying in it's just as broken as always.

Altarianite: Well, it's been denied it's extreme combinatorial prowess, leaving it as basically Swords Dance/Dragon Dance Extreme Speed or as an un-boostable/only weakly boostable Boomburst abuser. (It could also fiddle around with mixed Work Up, but that's no mixed Shell Smash) I'm leaning toward No Ban for the moment, test the waters.
"quit being a condescending asshole"? i wasn't even being one. and if i was it was pretty unintentional. i mean, look at your post, then look at mine. which one is condecending. the WORST thing i said to you was "Flawless logic" which isnt even THAT condecending. your argument was literally "it has no side effect and normal is a bad type therefore its not banworthy dispite it being REALLY good" when draco meteor is literally THE EXACT SAME if you removed the debuffs. sure, you added on that most dragons have good spc attack, but that doesnt derail from the main point. if normal type had more abusers, it would be just as bad as a dragon move with the same effect. yet look at EVERYTHING you said to me, yeah. i'm real condecending to you right?

also, while im here, the reason i opposed boomburst, is because sylveon, pz, and altaria(kinda) are broken with it, while also bringing pokemon like meloetta, p2, and a few others extra viability. my argument for its ban is the EXACT same as for banning belly drum. as its abusers either became IRRATIONALLY hard to beat, or became 10x better then they usually were.

lastly, how the fuck can i take YOU seriously when i say one thing that sounded slightly condecending to you, and you go off and completely belittle everything i said as if im some sort of braindead moron. on top of that, even your previous post was completely irrational, since as i said, this was before i mentioned it in chat.

like seriously. it actually slightly pisses me off that you have the nerve to tell me to stop being condecending with my ONE line, the ONE line that wasnt even THAT condecending. then you COMPLETELY smash down every point i make like-again-im some sort of moron. im sorry if i hurt your feelings, but thats no reason to act like this. honestly. if this is how people fucking argue now, then i really don't want to partake in this anymore. so i'm done.

sorry if i was condescending. but you don't have to worry anymore. because its fucking pointless for me to bother at this point.
 
I know this isn't exactly on topic right now, but there's a threat that I think has flown under everyone's radar with Altaria and Metagross running around that's about to run out of checks: Mega-Aerodactyl.
I've had a few discussions with people about it in the chat, but I haven't seen anything on here and I haven't hit one on the ladder.

The reasons it hasn't been used is because there are shinier toys to play with, and it can't set up, and it dies to PixieSpeed. Also people severely underestimate the benchmarks that this thing hits.

I would just like to remind people that Mega-Aero 2HKO's every non-resist in the game (M-Slowbro, Giratina, Regirock, etc.) and outspeeds everything but jolly mega lopunny (yes, I know it can run timid, but it really doesn't want to).


248+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Aerodactyl Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mega Slowbro: 169-199 (42.8 - 50.5%) -- 95.7% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
-1 248+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Aerodactyl Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Landorus-T: 184-217 (48.1 - 56.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
248+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Aerodactyl Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Regirock: 154-183 (42.3 - 50.2%) -- 37.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
248+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Aerodactyl Head Smash vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Giratina: 228-268 (45.3 - 53.2%) -- 89.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
248+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Aerodactyl Aqua Tail vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Solid Rock Rhyperior: 258-306 (59.4 - 70.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
248+ Atk Mega Aerodactyl Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Registeel: 172-204 (47.2 - 56%) -- 78.5% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

It also 2HKO's uninvested resists, like Mega Metagross and things as bulky as M-TTar

248+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Aerodactyl Head Smash vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Metagross: 126-148 (41.8 - 49.1%) -- 21.5% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock <--- where is your god now?
248+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Aerodactyl Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Excadrill: 216-254 (59.8 - 70.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
248+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Aerodactyl Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Mega Tyranitar: 252-297 (62.3 - 73.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

And it OHKOs everything else:

248+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Aerodactyl Head Smash vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Altaria: 330-388 (113.4 - 133.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
-1 248+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Aerodactyl Head Smash vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Landorus-T: 261-307 (81.8 - 96.2%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
248+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Aerodactyl Head Smash vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Mega Scizor: 268-316 (78.1 - 92.1%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
248+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Aerodactyl Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Sableye: 310-366 (101.9 - 120.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
248+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Aerodactyl Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 136+ Def Amoonguss: 366-432 (84.7 - 100%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock <- doesn't even need BB for this

I know it kills itself eventually and can miss, but it has enough positive matchups against things like Diggersby, Landorus, some Thundy, and every passive pokemon ever that it can slot Roost in and just occasionally Roost instead of bopping something.

I would really like to see this banned before it sees much play, preferably on the next suspect slate. It really is broken, and having almost all strong setup moves, dark void, and potentially two of it's offensive checks banned just exacerbates this.
 
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Hmm. Right now, I feel like Altarianite is borderline broken - not because of raw power, because its offensive stats are pretty lacking, but because of its absolutely incredible versatility and its ok speed tier. The main set I've been using is FakeSpeed, which is actually fairly strong, with 240 speed EVs or something like that to outrun Diggersby. What is interesting though is the last two slots, which can go to Roost, Rapid Spin, Boomburst, Fire Blast, Earthquake, Head Charge, and fun stuff like Cotton Guard and Swords Dance. Base 80 speed is also really nice for outrunning neutral-natured Diggersby and Heatran, and its bulk and typing really help toward checking or countering stuff like Keldeo and the Latis. I find these traits to just push Mega Altaria over the edge, even though it hates prominent Steel-types. A lot of these are removed by Magnezone, which I've really enjoyed using in this current meta, since it can easily get rid of Ferrothorn and lives a Scizor's +1 Knock Off, so it can safely get a HP Fire off on non-Superpower variants, making it a great partner for non-Fire Blast Alt, Mega Metagross, Cloyster, and others.

On the contrary, I have absolutely no doubt that Mega Metagross is broken, and currently I feel like Shift Gear is the source of the problem, seeing as Mega Scizor can easily pull off a similar but arguably worse job. I'm probably going to play for a while using a 4 attacks set first - Bullet Punch is still really handy!

edit: Jolly 4 attacks is still pretty broken, Heavy Slam + Bullet Punch 2HKOes a lot of stuff and Pursuit is really handy
 
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Why are we looking at boomburst like its the concept that makes it broken? Just because something is overpowered on paper doesn't mean it's broken in practice. Just because it's a 140 base power special normal-type attack doesn't make it banworthy or not, and there really shouldn't be any arguments about the move itself being broken. The abusers of the move being broken can break the move, not the move itself being broken. Can we please talk about the abusers of the move being broken rather than acting like we can make bans based on the concept of something? The whole argument is just stupid right now.
 
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Maybe I'm missing something, but why aren't we looking at Porygon-Z in some way or another? Even with shell smash banned, specs Porygon-Z is stupid strong with access to boomburst. Doing upwards of 60% on Mega Scizor, depending on how SpDef it is, with other steel types fairing equally poorly, this mon really lacks switchins. Even if we aren't looking at banning the mon itself, boomburst I feel would be at least suspect worthy because of what it does for the mons that can abuse it such as PZ.
 
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