Ever since Gen 1, immunities have been very important, both for switch-ins and walling. Indeed, many defensive Pokemon rely on their typing's immunities to keep them alive, like Sableye and Skarmory. There are also plenty of sweepers that use their immunities to switch in and set up, and to make them harder to revenge-kill. This meta removes all those immunities, and more besides.
Rules:
Mechanic: Immunities provided by a Pokemon's typing are negated. This includes immunities to things such as status effects.
Full List of changes to individual types:
Clauses: OU Clauses
Bans: Nothing new for now.
Unbans: A tentative unban on Aegislash, because it's now weak to Fighting, and can be hit by Toxic which seriously reduces the effectiveness of King's Shield. I'm also considering unbanningLandorus-Incarnate, because it loses two immunities and gains a weakness Ho-Oh, because of its weakness to the almighty Ground type and vulnerability to burns.
Strategy:
The core mechanic of this metagame means that a lot of things that normally work, don't. Many type combiniations aren't nearly as good as before, while others are significantly improved. For example, Dragon/Ground now has perfect neutral coverage, because Whimsicott, Skarmory, and Togekiss no longer wall it. This means that Garchomp, and many other Pokemon, no longer have to run coverage moves and can run boosting or recovery instead. However, many sweepers are now vulnerable to certain types of status, i.e. Garchomp can severly crippled with Thunder Wave. Thus I predict Substitute being on almost every Pokemon, which would subsequently increase the viability of sound based moves, Infiltrator, and Whirlwind.
Threatlist:
Q&A:
Q: Do abilities that provide an immunity to a certain type of attack, such as Lighting Rod, still work?
A: Yes, those abilities still work the same as they normally do.
Q: What about abilities like Magma Armor or Overcoat?
A: Yes, those still work too. This meta doesn't change the way any abilities work, only typings.
Q: So the ability Scrappy is pretty much useless, isn't it?
A: Yeah, it doesn't actually do anything. Sorry, Mega Lopunny.
Q: Wait, so what happens when a Poison type Pokemon switches in on Toxic Spikes?
A: The spikes dissapear, and the Pokemon is not poisoned.
Q: What is the actual type effectiveness on types that would normally be immune? For example, does Ghost resist Normal, is it weak to it, or neutral?
A: The new type chart changes all immunities into neutralities, so for instance Talonflame is now 2x weak to Earthquake.
Q: Why is it called "Anti-Vaxxers?"
A: An "anti-vaxxer" is someone who is against vaccinations. Vaccinations help provide immunities to specific diseases, and this meta removes immunities, hence the name.
Q: How does Synchronoise work? Does it hit everything now?
A: Because Synchronoise is dependent on the user's typing as well as the target's typing, it remains largely unchanged, although it can hit Dark Types if the user is Dark type as well.
Q: Are Flying types still "immune" to terrains?
A: After some discussion, the council has decided that this would be inconsistent, so for all intents and purposes, Flying types are to be considered grounded without Levitate, Air Balloon, etc.
Resources:
Playable on Dragon Heaven. Code thanks to Ghoul King. http://pastebin.com/5YAFBhYc (does not include the change to terrains)
Replay (i'm bad lol):
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/dragonheaven-antivaxxers-5
Council: Me, nv, and Quantum Tesseract
Rules:
Mechanic: Immunities provided by a Pokemon's typing are negated. This includes immunities to things such as status effects.
Full List of changes to individual types:
Normal: No immunity to Ghost type attacks
Flying: No immunity to Ground type attacks, ground based hazards, damage from Sky Drop, or Arena Trap
Poison: No immunity to the Poisoned or the Badly Poisoned statuses.
Ground: No immunity to Electric type attacks, no immunity to Thunder Wave.
Ghost: No immunity to Normal type attacks, no immunity to Fighting type attacks, no immunity to trapping effects.
Steel: No immunity to Poison type attacks, no immunity to the Poisoned or the Badly Poisoned statuses.
Fire: No immunity to the Burned status.
Grass: No immunity to Powder Moves, no immunity to Leech Seed.
Electric: No immunity to the Paralyzed status.
Ice: No immunity to the Frozen status.
Dark: No immunity to Psychic type attacks.
Fairy: No immunity to Dragon type attacks.
Flying: No immunity to Ground type attacks, ground based hazards, damage from Sky Drop, or Arena Trap
Poison: No immunity to the Poisoned or the Badly Poisoned statuses.
Ground: No immunity to Electric type attacks, no immunity to Thunder Wave.
Ghost: No immunity to Normal type attacks, no immunity to Fighting type attacks, no immunity to trapping effects.
Steel: No immunity to Poison type attacks, no immunity to the Poisoned or the Badly Poisoned statuses.
Fire: No immunity to the Burned status.
Grass: No immunity to Powder Moves, no immunity to Leech Seed.
Electric: No immunity to the Paralyzed status.
Ice: No immunity to the Frozen status.
Dark: No immunity to Psychic type attacks.
Fairy: No immunity to Dragon type attacks.
Clauses: OU Clauses
Bans: Nothing new for now.
Unbans: A tentative unban on Aegislash, because it's now weak to Fighting, and can be hit by Toxic which seriously reduces the effectiveness of King's Shield. I'm also considering unbanning
Strategy:
The core mechanic of this metagame means that a lot of things that normally work, don't. Many type combiniations aren't nearly as good as before, while others are significantly improved. For example, Dragon/Ground now has perfect neutral coverage, because Whimsicott, Skarmory, and Togekiss no longer wall it. This means that Garchomp, and many other Pokemon, no longer have to run coverage moves and can run boosting or recovery instead. However, many sweepers are now vulnerable to certain types of status, i.e. Garchomp can severly crippled with Thunder Wave. Thus I predict Substitute being on almost every Pokemon, which would subsequently increase the viability of sound based moves, Infiltrator, and Whirlwind.
Threatlist:
Breloom: Being able to throw Leech Seed at Grass types and hit Ghost types with Fighting STABs is going to be pretty useful, and Poison Heal makes it one of the few Pokemon to be immune to any non-volatile status conditions (after being poisoned).
Mega Charizard X: With fairies out of the picture, Fire/Dragon has perfect neutral coverage, barring Heatran. This means running Dragon Dance + Roost + STABs is incredibly powerful, but beware! If Stealth Rock and 3 layers of Spikes are up, Charizard loses 75% of its max HP when switching in, and it can be seriously crippled with burn.
Garchomp: Unless you find yourself facing the almighty Bronzong, Garchomp now has better coverage than it ever did in gen V. Thunder wave is a serious threat though, so this might be a case where Mega Garchomp's high power and lowered speed might actually come in handy.
Rotom-Fan: As the only Electric/Flying type with a ground immunity, Rotom-Fan actually has a niche in this meta, and Electric/Flying coverage is even better now than it normally is. Rotom-Fan also has access to the buffed Will-O-Wisp and Thunder Wave/Discharge, which is important to stop some sweepers.
Lati@s: Other than Flygon, Claydol, and Cryogonal, the Lati's are the only Pokemon with Levitate that can also remove hazards, which will be a big issue as most defoggers take a lot of damage from Spikes and Stealth Rock. They also don't get walled nearly as hard by Fairy and Dark types (though Bisharp is still an issue).
Thundurus-Therian: Thundurus-T is one of the best Pokemon to get an Electric-immune ability, and you'll need it to try and beat the otherwise unstoppable Volt Switch. It's also one of the few Pokemon that can still switch in on Thunder Wave. Just beware of its new weakness to Earthquake.
Galvantula: Easily the best setter of Sticky Web (except maybe Smeargle), Galvantula has a lot going for it in this meta. Since Flying types are no longer immune to Sticky Web, it becomes a much more valuable hazard to set up, and not even Ground types can stop it from Volt Switching out, or from tossing around 91% accurate STAB Thunder.
Slowbro: Already a strong physical wall, Slowbro has the benefit of being able to burn Fire types with a super effective STAB Scald, while not losing any immunities from its Water/Psychic typing. Electric type counters also have a harder time switching in thanks to Thunder Wave.
Mega Charizard X: With fairies out of the picture, Fire/Dragon has perfect neutral coverage, barring Heatran. This means running Dragon Dance + Roost + STABs is incredibly powerful, but beware! If Stealth Rock and 3 layers of Spikes are up, Charizard loses 75% of its max HP when switching in, and it can be seriously crippled with burn.
Garchomp: Unless you find yourself facing the almighty Bronzong, Garchomp now has better coverage than it ever did in gen V. Thunder wave is a serious threat though, so this might be a case where Mega Garchomp's high power and lowered speed might actually come in handy.
Rotom-Fan: As the only Electric/Flying type with a ground immunity, Rotom-Fan actually has a niche in this meta, and Electric/Flying coverage is even better now than it normally is. Rotom-Fan also has access to the buffed Will-O-Wisp and Thunder Wave/Discharge, which is important to stop some sweepers.
Lati@s: Other than Flygon, Claydol, and Cryogonal, the Lati's are the only Pokemon with Levitate that can also remove hazards, which will be a big issue as most defoggers take a lot of damage from Spikes and Stealth Rock. They also don't get walled nearly as hard by Fairy and Dark types (though Bisharp is still an issue).
Thundurus-Therian: Thundurus-T is one of the best Pokemon to get an Electric-immune ability, and you'll need it to try and beat the otherwise unstoppable Volt Switch. It's also one of the few Pokemon that can still switch in on Thunder Wave. Just beware of its new weakness to Earthquake.
Galvantula: Easily the best setter of Sticky Web (except maybe Smeargle), Galvantula has a lot going for it in this meta. Since Flying types are no longer immune to Sticky Web, it becomes a much more valuable hazard to set up, and not even Ground types can stop it from Volt Switching out, or from tossing around 91% accurate STAB Thunder.
Slowbro: Already a strong physical wall, Slowbro has the benefit of being able to burn Fire types with a super effective STAB Scald, while not losing any immunities from its Water/Psychic typing. Electric type counters also have a harder time switching in thanks to Thunder Wave.
Q&A:
Q: Do abilities that provide an immunity to a certain type of attack, such as Lighting Rod, still work?
A: Yes, those abilities still work the same as they normally do.
Q: What about abilities like Magma Armor or Overcoat?
A: Yes, those still work too. This meta doesn't change the way any abilities work, only typings.
Q: So the ability Scrappy is pretty much useless, isn't it?
A: Yeah, it doesn't actually do anything. Sorry, Mega Lopunny.
Q: Wait, so what happens when a Poison type Pokemon switches in on Toxic Spikes?
A: The spikes dissapear, and the Pokemon is not poisoned.
Q: What is the actual type effectiveness on types that would normally be immune? For example, does Ghost resist Normal, is it weak to it, or neutral?
A: The new type chart changes all immunities into neutralities, so for instance Talonflame is now 2x weak to Earthquake.
Q: Why is it called "Anti-Vaxxers?"
A: An "anti-vaxxer" is someone who is against vaccinations. Vaccinations help provide immunities to specific diseases, and this meta removes immunities, hence the name.
Q: How does Synchronoise work? Does it hit everything now?
A: Because Synchronoise is dependent on the user's typing as well as the target's typing, it remains largely unchanged, although it can hit Dark Types if the user is Dark type as well.
Q: Are Flying types still "immune" to terrains?
A: After some discussion, the council has decided that this would be inconsistent, so for all intents and purposes, Flying types are to be considered grounded without Levitate, Air Balloon, etc.
Resources:
Playable on Dragon Heaven. Code thanks to Ghoul King. http://pastebin.com/5YAFBhYc (does not include the change to terrains)
Replay (i'm bad lol):
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/dragonheaven-antivaxxers-5
Council: Me, nv, and Quantum Tesseract
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