SM UU Beta (Mewnium Z, Staraptor, Victini banned)

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Bewear @ Choice Band
Ability: Fluffy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Superpower
- Return
- Toxic
- Ice Punch

I wanna talk a bit about this strong and cute bear. Bewear is for sure one of the best wallbreakers that the tier has to offer, thanks to its stellar Attack stat (125 is really high) and its absurd bulk. Bewear is actually really hard to wear down with physical attacks, even with no bulk invested, for example, it takes ~83% from Mienshao's High Jump Kick and ~45% from Mega Aerodactyl's Aerial Ace. You can, however, run a spread of 232 Atk | 24 Def | 252 Spe to avoid the 2HKO from Mega Aerodactyl's Aerial Ace (3.1%). Bewear is super strong, how I mentioned above. This bear 2HKOes extremely bulky things, like Alomomola, Physically Defensive Forretress and Scizor after Stealth Rock damage. Return is its most spammable STAB since very few Pokémon resist two of them. Superpower is useful against shit that resist Return or shit that aren't 2HKOed by Return, Ice Punch is coverage for bulky stuff like Gliscor and Toxic is used to catch Pokémon that try to switch in Bewear, like Mega Slowbro. A set with Swords Dance can be used, but I like the immediate power of Choice Band. I am using Bewear with Choice Band Infernape and Serperior, and they work very well at breaking defensive cores or stall teams.
 

Bewear @ Choice Band
Ability: Fluffy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Superpower
- Return
- Toxic
- Ice Punch

I wanna talk a bit about this strong and cute bear. Bewear is for sure one of the best wallbreakers that the tier has to offer, thanks to its stellar Attack stat (125 is really high) and its absurd bulk. Bewear is actually really hard to wear down with physical attacks, even with no bulk invested, for example, it takes ~83% from Mienshao's High Jump Kick and ~45% from Mega Aerodactyl's Aerial Ace. You can, however, run a spread of 232 Atk | 24 Def | 252 Spe to avoid the 2HKO from Mega Aerodactyl's Aerial Ace (3.1%). Bewear is super strong, how I mentioned above. This bear 2HKOes extremely bulky things, like Alomomola, Physically Defensive Forretress and Scizor after Stealth Rock damage. Return is its most spammable STAB since very few Pokémon resist two of them. Superpower is useful against shit that resist Return or shit that aren't 2HKOed by Return, Ice Punch is coverage for bulky stuff like Gliscor and Toxic is used to catch Pokémon that try to switch in Bewear, like Mega Slowbro. A set with Swords Dance can be used, but I like the immediate power of Choice Band. I am using Bewear with Choice Band Infernape and Serperior, and they work very well at breaking defensive cores or stall teams.
Toxic is very bad on a Choice Set, and kinda situational if it's only for Mega bro. Facade fits more here, you hit way harder if you catch a random Toxic/Twave and you can even 2HKO mbro. Hammer Arm can be also an option for Fighting STAB if you don't want to lose momentum cus Superpower drop. Double Edge on Return is also something, since it also bypass mbro with Rocks up and hippodown.
 

Bewear @ Choice Band
Ability: Fluffy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Superpower
- Return
- Toxic
- Ice Punch

I wanna talk a bit about this strong and cute bear. Bewear is for sure one of the best wallbreakers that the tier has to offer, thanks to its stellar Attack stat (125 is really high) and its absurd bulk. Bewear is actually really hard to wear down with physical attacks, even with no bulk invested, for example, it takes ~83% from Mienshao's High Jump Kick and ~45% from Mega Aerodactyl's Aerial Ace. You can, however, run a spread of 232 Atk | 24 Def | 252 Spe to avoid the 2HKO from Mega Aerodactyl's Aerial Ace (3.1%). Bewear is super strong, how I mentioned above. This bear 2HKOes extremely bulky things, like Alomomola, Physically Defensive Forretress and Scizor after Stealth Rock damage. Return is its most spammable STAB since very few Pokémon resist two of them. Superpower is useful against shit that resist Return or shit that aren't 2HKOed by Return, Ice Punch is coverage for bulky stuff like Gliscor and Toxic is used to catch Pokémon that try to switch in Bewear, like Mega Slowbro. A set with Swords Dance can be used, but I like the immediate power of Choice Band. I am using Bewear with Choice Band Infernape and Serperior, and they work very well at breaking defensive cores or stall teams.
Toxic is very bad on a Choice Set, and kinda situational if it's only for Mega bro. Facade fits more here, you hit way harder if you catch a random Toxic/Twave and you can even 2HKO mbro. Hammer Arm can be also an option for Fighting STAB if you don't want to lose momentum cus Superpower drop. Double Edge on Return is also something, since it also bypass mbro with Rocks up and hippodown.
I have to agree toxic on a choice set usally subpar. Imo the only mon i can think of that its worth it on is zdoge and thats because 1karrows hits flying types so it has the room and most if not all of its switch ins are slow and bulky and hate toxic more than other status and can heal off most if not all of zdoges damage. While in this case bear has coverage it can run thats far better in 90% of the situations youll find yourself in.
 
I have to agree toxic on a choice set usally subpar. Imo the only mon i can think of that its worth it on is zdoge and thats because 1karrows hits flying types so it has the room and most if not all of its switch ins are slow and bulky and hate toxic more than other status and can heal off most if not all of zdoges damage.
No, it's definitely shit even on Zydog, Zydog can't run Toxic on its Choice Band since it needs both STABs + Priority + filler move (sleep talk, ect), if you want to hit flying with band zydog just go for Stone Edge, Toxic is shit on Choice users.

(edit): mb though this was OU for a bit, edited, ty hogg
 
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Hogg

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I rarely find that Zydoge needs a coverage move - I have been laddering a fair bit with it, and I have literally never clicked anything other than Thousand Arrows, Outrage or ESpeed. I'm not really sure what Iron Tail is meant to hit. I usually stick either Facade or Sleep Talk in that last slot, but honestly if you're clicking anything other than its first three moves, I think you're doing something wrong.
 
Zydoge is weird in that it doesn't suffer from 4mss because 4 slots is too much lol. If you only got three slots, it really wouldn't lose anything major. The only time you will use that slot often is for dd sets tbh, since thousand arrows is one of the most spammable moves ever. I've run sleep talk in the last slot as it lets me use Zydoge to absorb sleep and still be useful to the team, and makes Amoongus easy to take advantage of when I don't have to sorry about spore. Toxic is not really needed because you can just double on the obvious bulky water coming and send in something that beats water types. I feel like it's better to just thousand arrows when in doubt, as even outrage isn't clicked all that often in my experience.
 
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Just one question, how did empoleon survive the power creep in UU while these once incredible threats like celebi, entei, alakazam, togekiss suicine, and snorlax did not?
 

Kink

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Just one question, how did empoleon survive the power creep in UU while these once incredible threats like celebi, entei, alakazam, togekiss suicine, and snorlax did not?
This isn't ORAS, there's a diffferent dynamic in the tier with the addition of new mons. Not to mention it's insanely early in the development of beta. This is a question that can only be answered with a shrug at this point lol
 
Just one question, how did empoleon survive the power creep in UU while these once incredible threats like celebi, entei, alakazam, togekiss suicine, and snorlax did not?
I would say the meta still desperately needs steel types as a catch-all sponge to most pokemon as well as it needs defoggers, both of these traits are very rare in UU, that's why it survives in a meta like this. Those other pokemon dont offer much of what the meta needs: pokemon that can be the hype-men for the real threats like porygon z or whatever. They're just standalones.
 
empoleon is resists SR, has access to defog and entry hazards, good (but not great) defenses and really good typing. scald can spread burn and it can shuffle with roar or deal damage with a secondary move. it's also immune to or doesn't care about status (too slow to give a fuck about para and special moves dont give a fuck about burn)
 
And remember than thanks to Scald, Bisharp dont want to switch into Empoleon all the time, and thats a good niche over Mandi, Crobat and Deci

How do you people feel about stall right now? i give it a try some days ago and was pretty decent, but the "good" z move users are a pain in the ass agaisnt most stall builds (Gyarados, Terrakion and some others). Also, Hawlucha and Taunt Torna-t are so good agaisnt it than if you dont carry that one specific check you lose the game in the team preview. Im not calling them broken, but maybe the high amount of almost broken things is the problem, like in the old UU
 
Ive been playing around in the UU Beta for a while now and wanted to share some of my thoughts about some cool stuff Ive run come across on the ladder!
volcarona.png

Volcarona @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Fiery Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Hurricane
This thing is an absolute monster with the ability to nuke common switchins to its stab attacks even without boosts using Supersonic Skystrike. This allows it to wallbreak for itself effectively setting up an opportunity to sweep later on. Volcarona as always suffers from a heavy Stealth Rock weakness but given the proper support I believe it is one of the scarier mons' to face at the moment.

komoo-o.png
Kommo-o @ Choice Specs
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Clanging Scales
- Flamethrower
- Flash Cannon
- Focus Blast
Komoo-o is an insane wallbreaker that plows through more offensive oriented teams and outright sweeps bulkier teams with the sheer power of modest specs to complement its powerful special stab attacks. Flamethrower is for troublesome steels without having to risk focus blast's 70% accuracy and flash cannon for fairy types that take very little from the other 3 attacks. It is worth mentioning that it can switch in on alot of bulkier mons with its good set of resistances especially the ever prevalent bulky water types who want to shoot out scalds as this set isn't troubled by burns.
 
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Sacri'

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Random thoughts regarding the current metagame incoming



Extremely good right now, without Weavile in the it tier outspeeds everything barring Aerodactyl Mega and checks a lot of important threats such as Serperior, Alakazam, Gengar, Keldeo and works very well as a revenge killer in general. AV makes it a great pivot, LO wallbreaks really well while the itemless mentioned earlier on makes good use of taunt & doesn't have to fear missing hurricanes to do damages.



Someone must have adressed this already, can't help but talk about it even more. Gyarados is a bit too good for my own taste right now, Flying Z move gave it the absolute nuke it lacked last gen and without d-nite & mence it basically has lost any competition it had as a dd user. This pokémon's natural bulk & good typing makes setting up rather easy and moxie makes it stupidly hard to wall. The only solution is to prevent it from setting up to +2 to revenge kill it with a faster scarf user but this is far from ideal as you usually have to let something go down in the process.



As always in our time of needs, our lord & savior Aerodacty comes. Even though it can't afford switching into most of the threats right now it revenge kills an impressive number of them such as Gyarados, Torn-T, Gengar, Alakazam, Keldeo after a bit of prior damages, Serperior, Breloom, and the list goes on. As usual with Aero, it can adjust it's moveset to it's team needs, Crunch OHKOs Latias, Aqua Tail smashes Terrakion and Pursuit makes for a troublesome Azumarill partner as it can threaten them most of them to get the bit of damages Azu' needs to OHKO with A-jet at +6.




Scolipede is an extremely obnoxious suicide lead and it obviously pairs with Bisharp extremely well. This core is basically DeoSharp v2 as toxic spikes are somewhat frustrating to deal with considering that both Muk & Nihilego left. Bisharp pressures Starmie & Latias really hard which are our best hazard removal options right now. I've seen both Pearl & Aquadext using this core on HO and it seemed really effective.



I suppose theres no need to even tell how hard to deal with I find this pokémon to be. It threatens basically any 'mon of the tier and Bdrum straight up eats teams once the few water resists that can revenge kill it have been weakened. It benefits from Mence's & Dnite's departure as both of them revenge killed it pretty easily thanks to Z flying. Aqua jet is overall a great priority right now and all sets can exploit it freely. Don't even have that much to say about it, I believe it has the potential to be broken but it still has more checks in offense that stuff like Gyara does.




I've been trying these two together and wasn't dissapointed. Pretty simple core honestly, Amoon does well vs waters & grass types which are basically Hippo's worst ennemies. Even though both are really bulky WW & Spore respectively prevent them from being a dead weight vs straightforwards HO teams. Weavile leaving means one less ice type which has the potential to threaten them both which is pretty great.


Incredibly effective pokémon right now. It checks virtually every single physical attacker which is literally godsent right now, calm mind allows it to win games on it's own which makes it even better. Although it somewhat helps the tier to deal with the impressive load of physical threats it has right now I think Slowbro-Mega is another pokémon which has the potential to get banned in the near future just because of how potent and threatening it is. Dragonite and Mence leaving also means Slowbro is a bit less pressured vs offensive teams which it appreciate greatly as it can come in vs other physical attackers without having to worry about getting into SSSS range.
 
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Been playing around a bit with a crappy team, thought I'd post a few thoughts.


This thing is a god. Specs Primarina is capable of ripping through so many teams. While not terribly fast, bulk and typing allow it to come in on a fair number of switchins. Only real downside is you don't want it as your main Knock switchin. Not to mention it as all the coverage you want. Kind of want its HA to come out, though - Hyper Voice would be a great STAB even without an -ate boost.


I know people are going to crap a bit on it for its garbage ability, but Golisopod is a load of fun. First Impression is amazing for pressuring/revenging, and can really punish doubles or weaker mons with Luiquidation. Aqua Jet also allows him to sneak in unexpected kills, and he has pretty impressive bulk, especially after you toss an AV on it. Probably not as good as Araquanid, but still has plenty of use.



As I hated how short changed ORAS UU was on Rapid Spinners, Tsareena found its way into my team. Trop Kick isn't the strongest move in the world for a STAB, but the -atk can really benefit a switchin, especially paired with its access to U-turn and good speed tier. Queenly Majesty is also one of the best trolls I've found in low ladder - nobody seems to realize what it does.


Don't think I really need to say anything, but Bear is fat af. Great physical wall, just wish it had better recovery.

Aside from that, I've found Nidos to still be pretty solid(I'm running Fire coverage over Ice due to team structure). Azu seems to be a huge potential annoyance, but enough of one that people will easily consider it during teambuilding to counteract. Oh, and P-Z is stupid. The real +1 All Stats god is Gourgeist anyways - +1 to all stats AND you make the mon weak to your STAB.
 
The first round of voting has been completed.

The following Pokemon were nominated for voting: Mega Slowbro, Azumarill, Breloom, Tornadus-T, Volcarona, Terrakion, Serperior, Porygon-Z, Scolipede, and Diggersby.

Out of these nominations, Slowbronite, Diggersby, Tornadus-T, Volcarona, and Scolipede were voted to BL.

Mega Slowbro was banned due to how it easy it was to set up as a win condition. With enormous bulk, Slack Off, and Regenerator, Slowbro can easily outlast its counters and become essentially unkillable with only a few turns of setup. Without throwing Toxic on random offensive Pokemon, offense has a very difficult time bringing Mega Slowbro down, and even then, Mega Slowbro can run Rest or Iron Defense to overcome some of the methods used to beat it.
Diggersby was banned due to how effective and nearly unstoppable it is as a wallbreaker. Defensive playstyles can do nothing to stop Choice Band Diggersby as its STAB combination 2HKOes nearly every Pokemon in the tier, and Knock Off takes care of the few Pokemon that resist both its STABs. Diggersby also has above average Speed for such a powerful breaker, meaning it outspeeds every defensive Pokemon and a good amount of offensive ones. Diggersby also has an effective Choice Scarf set that must be scouted for; it can run through offense with its great power and pivot out of bulky Pokemon with U-turn.
Tornadus-T destroys every playstyle with its power and Speed, and is virtually impossible to punish due to Regenerator and U-turn. It's a potent wallbreaker with the ability to 2HKO almost every Pokemon in the tier without even having to worry too much about 4MSS, and can run through offensive with the same set. Life Orb Tornadus-T with Taunt is too difficult to deal with for any team, and in combination with its Acrobatics set, pushes Tornadus-T over the edge.
Volcarona is one of the best offensive sweepers the tier has to offer. It can set up on an enormous number of common Pokemon in the metagame - Scizor, Breloom, Celebi, Bisharp, Serperior, and more, and is extremely difficult to stop after only one turn of set up. It has very few reliable revenge killers and defensive answers, and Volcarona can even get around these with the right item or multiple boosts. In addition, Stealth Rock is as easy as every to remove, with teammates such as Mega Blastoise, Starmie, and Latias having favorable matchups against most Stealth Rock users.
Scolipede is simply too effective at what it does. As a sweeper, it has a great movepool, Speed Boost, and even the ability to boost its Attack with Swords Dance. As a hazard setter, it can easily punish the tier's hazard removers with a powerful Megahorn or Endeavor and reliably get up multiple Spikes. Scolipede is both a top-tier sweeper and a top-tier support Pokemon.


 
The first round of voting has been completed.

The following Pokemon were nominated for voting: Mega Slowbro, Azumarill, Breloom, Tornadus-T, Volcarona, Terrakion, Serperior, Porygon-Z, Scolipede, and Diggersby.

Out of these nominations, Slowbronite, Diggersby, Tornadus-T, Volcarona, and Scolipede were voted to BL.

Mega Slowbro was banned due to how it easy it was to set up as a win condition. With enormous bulk, Slack Off, and Regenerator, Slowbro can easily outlast its counters and become essentially unkillable with only a few turns of setup. Without throwing Toxic on random offensive Pokemon, offense has a very difficult time bringing Mega Slowbro down, and even then, Mega Slowbro can run Rest or Iron Defense to overcome some of the methods used to beat it.
Diggersby was banned due to how effective and nearly unstoppable it is as a wallbreaker. Defensive playstyles can do nothing to stop Choice Band Diggersby as its STAB combination 2HKOes nearly every Pokemon in the tier, and Knock Off takes care of the few Pokemon that resist both its STABs. Diggersby also has above average Speed for such a powerful breaker, meaning it outspeeds every defensive Pokemon and a good amount of offensive ones. Diggersby also has an effective Choice Scarf set that must be scouted for; it can run through offense with its great power and pivot out of bulky Pokemon with U-turn.
Tornadus-T destroys every playstyle with its power and Speed, and is virtually impossible to punish due to Regenerator and U-turn. It's a potent wallbreaker with the ability to 2HKO almost every Pokemon in the tier without even having to worry too much about 4MSS, and can run through offensive with the same set. Life Orb Tornadus-T with Taunt is too difficult to deal with for any team, and in combination with its Acrobatics set, pushes Tornadus-T over the edge.
Volcarona is one of the best offensive sweepers the tier has to offer. It can set up on an enormous number of common Pokemon in the metagame - Scizor, Breloom, Celebi, Bisharp, Serperior, and more, and is extremely difficult to stop after only one turn of set up. It has very few reliable revenge killers and defensive answers, and Volcarona can even get around these with the right item or multiple boosts. In addition, Stealth Rock is as easy as every to remove, with teammates such as Mega Blastoise, Starmie, and Latias having favorable matchups against most Stealth Rock users.
Scolipede is simply too effective at what it does. As a sweeper, it has a great movepool, Speed Boost, and even the ability to boost its Attack with Swords Dance. As a hazard setter, it can easily punish the tier's hazard removers with a powerful Megahorn or Endeavor and reliably get up multiple Spikes. Scolipede is both a top-tier sweeper and a top-tier support Pokemon.



Wow. Not gonna act like I didn't see these bans coming.....but Terrakion and Serp not banned? Shocked tbh. Will post more thoughts on mons that I think will be more effective later.
 
Wow. Not gonna act like I didn't see these bans coming.....but Terrakion and Serp not banned? Shocked tbh. Will post more thoughts on mons that I think will be more effective later.
Terrakion and Serperior were extremely powerful too, but I think that they were being overshadowed by the other Pokémon banned. Sherperior was kinda manageable with both Volcarona and Tornadus-T in the tier, and Terrakion was not that hard to handle if you had Mega Slowbro, and it was revenge killed by Pokémon like +1 Scolipede and Tornadus-T. The council will ban, eventually, what is broken, so expect more council votes in some days/weeks.
 
Interesting to not see Bisharp was not nominated for voting, good to see more OU rejects getting banned that were warping the meta. Diggersby 1H or 2H KO'd the entire meta with a choice band with the except of Mega-Slowbro who was too bulky for his own good.
Surprised to see scolipede go but speed boost has always been problematic.
Tornadus-T and Volcarona definitely deserved the ban as they were simply too strong for the rest of UU to compete with
 

CBU

Banned deucer.
how many birds need to get banned for people to remember than raptor is in uu and start spamming the shit out of it?
 
how many birds need to get banned for people to remember than raptor is in uu and start spamming the shit out of it?
Staraptor was vastly overshadowed by diggersby as a wallbreaker due to its suicidal nature with brave bird reckless and stealth rock weakness. With diggers getting banned I can most people replacing diggers with staraptor
 
Do you think gengar is any good? If it is, what is the best set? Fightinium Z could work, patches up the bad accuracy of focus blast. Ghostium Z could also work, as could life orb and black sludge sets.
 
Do you think gengar is any good? If it is, what is the best set? Fightinium Z could work, patches up the bad accuracy of focus blast. Ghostium Z could also work, as could life orb and black sludge sets.
Gengar is a good mon to use right now imo. It outspeeds a lot of common threats in the meta (unfortunately it's not faster than Zydoge :/) and has Focus Blast to deal with Darks, yeah. Fightinium Z could work, as it DOES patch up poor accuracy. However, non-Sash variants can't kill Bisharp because you die to Sucker Punch/get Pursuit trapped, and losing Levitate has given it another weakness and also allows Sash set to be checked by Hippo. It is still a great mon however, and checking Fairies is always nice.

Sample set:


Gengar @ Focus Sash/Fightinium Z/Life Orb
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast
- Substitute/Taunt

Shadow Ball and Sludge Wave pair well together and make for great STABs overall. Focus Blast paired with Fightinium Z wrecks Gengar's Dark type enemies (even not paired with Fightinium Z), and Sub is useful for avoiding Sucker Punch, paralysis, and other threats to Gengar (don't use it with Sash). Taunt can also be helpful in this set to shut down status users/defensive walls.
 
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HotFuzzBall

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Breloom just got so much better with this wave of bans lol... Dragonite, Salamence and Mega-Zard Y being banned during the 1st/2nd wave helped but now, Tornadus-T, Scolipede, Volcarona being gone helps tremendously as they were pretty big threats to Breloom. Now if Togekiss, Lati Twins, Mew, Scizor and Alakazam were to be banned (unlikely for Togekiss and Alakazam imo), then Breloom will definitely be a much more prominent top-tier threat as of now. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets the ban hammer during the 4th or 5th wave.


Breloom @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Spore
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Swords Dance / Rock Tomb

I personally prefer Adamant over Jolly since I have been finding myself spamming Mach Punch quite a bit so I'm not too worried about Speed.

edit- and Mew
 
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Hogg

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Some thoughts on other 'mons, both good and bad, in the current meta that haven't gotten a lot of discussion...

FORRETRESS: Bringing this up to slam it. Please stop using this on offense :( Complete and utter setup bait for every offense-punishing setup sweeper in the tier, from Azumarill to Porygon-Z. It's alright on bulkier teams that don't fear these types of threats as much, but I simply don't understand why people are so into using this thing on offense. Actually no, keep using it, I like the free ladder points I get from luring in a Forry and setting up with PZ.

SWAMPERT: This has been up there with Hippo and Celebi as one of the most consistent rockers on bulky offense for me. The fact that it takes ~45% from Electric PZ is always a plus, since you don't even need to keep it that healthy to Roar its boosts away or slam it for 70-80% with EQ. (It also takes 94% max from Modest Ghost/Dark PZ, so you can even counter those sets in a pinch - you just need to stay healthy.) It's also nice having a decent check to things like MAero, which is not always the easiest thing to find on an offensive team.

CELEBI: This is my other favorite rocker on offensive teams. I run a mixed defensive set with Rocks/Giga/Uturn/Recover, and it's kind of amazing how much punishment this thing can take and pivot out to something else with a slow-ish Uturn. It also gives you a really solid check to two of the scariest 'mons for offense to face, BD Azumarill and Sash Breloom, while also being a reliable answer to basically every Keldeo set and a solid pivot into a million other attacks.

TENTACRUEL: Not the best choice on straight offense, but on BO or balanced teams, Tentacruel is great. Fatter teams always need a solid Keldeo answer, especially one that doesn't get completely boned by Pursuit, and this gives you one that also gets utility out the wazoo: T-Spikes (which have been pretty deadly this meta), Haze and Spin. It's a bit passive, but it has a decent Speed and with Haze or the high poison chance on Sludge Bomb, it's surprisingly hard to take advantage of its passivity. I haven't messed around with a more offensive set, but that honestly doesn't sound bad this meta either.

MEW: Still one of the best 'mons in the tier IMO. As always, this thing can do anything. Taunt/Wisp Mew is still fantastic, but lately my favorite set has been NP. With Psyshock and Energy Ball/Giga Drain, it completely runs through common stall cores, as they tend to rely on things like Quagsire or Blissey to check special setup sweepers. Even without any bulk invested it's surprisingly fat (tanks things like LO Bisharp's Sucker Punch), and it can run Roost for longevity or a ton of coverage options to beat out whatever it is your team needs to nail. Totally underrated but great.

MIENSHAO: Ah I love this 'mon, I think it's really fantastic in this meta. Reckless HJK hits harder than Diggersby's Return, and this is just one of the best Scarfers in the tier right now (and that's saying something, as we have a LOT of good options). My favorite thing to do is to run fighting spam with this and Specs or CM Keldeo, alongside Pursuit support from the likes of MAero or Bisharp. It's amazing how much insurance you get by keeping a Shao in your pocket for the lategame. And with Volcarona gone (because fuck Flame Body, and fuck trying to land Stone Edges :(), this thing is even better.

STARMIE: I've been seeing a little more Starmie hype lately, which makes sense, since it is pretty fantastic now that Weavile can't fuck up its day anymore. Forget about Rapid Spin; offensive Analytic is just a HUGE pain to switch into, especially if you're running four attacks. If Spin is more up your alley, you've got a ton of options, both offensive and bulky. Like Tenta it also gives you a great Keldeo resist, and while it is Pursuit weak, its access to recovery lets it more reliably check Keld throughout the game.

GOLISOPOD: Sorry, Meru and YABO, I tried to like this thing, but I just can't. CB seems like it should be cool in theory, and it isn't necessarily bad - but I don't think it's that great, either. First Impression is kinda cool but can leave you dangerously at risk on a CB set. Every now and then using Emergency Exit to get a free switch for one of your other offensive threats is pretty cool, but for every game where that works, there are another three where the ability is a liability. The final nail in the coffin, though, is simply that Azumarill exists. CB Azu has a stronger Aqua Jet and a MUCH better defensive typing, and the threat of Belly Drum means that people are often terrified of switching out of this thing, so it can often nab an early kill. Every single time I've tried to use Golisopod, I've found myself doing better with a CB Azumarill in its place.

I'll add more later, and some of my thoughts on the recent slate of bans, but I wanted to talk about these for a bit, since they get a lot less attention than stuff like PZ or Terrakion but are definitely worth discussing.
 
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sad that torn T left, an amazing fast pivot with regen was a gr8 check to a lot of threats :((

a cool thing i noticed, at least for me, is that i haven't been using megas on a lot of teams I've made, so its pretty cool to see that megas aren't mandatory anymore!

also what are people's thoughts on scizor bc i think its bulky SD roost sets are broken but idk if thats the consensus
 
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