With what has been said above regarding Z-moves I would like to talk about a Z-move abuser and not the mechanic itself. You've guessed, Tapu Koko. This Pokemon is seriously busted with just one Z-move. Here, we're not talking about an unpredictable Pokemon that can run any Z-move, we're talking about a specific Z-stones and a specific abuser. Most arguments around Z-moves are based around the fact that they are unpredictable but we're seeing some users that run the same Z-stone over and over again and are borderline broken. I'd like to bring attention to Tapu Koko.
Tapu Koko @ Electrium Z
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 164 Def / 96 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wild Charge
- Iron Defense
- Charge
- Roost
Tapu Koko got many other moves but that's the moveset that been pushing it over the edge at this moment. This set is near perfect and has reduced Tapu Koko checks to a minimal number. You can't run physical Ground-type coverage or any other bulky physical attackers and call it a check. Iron Defense + Charge is a deadly combo and with good defensive EVs it can live most physical attackers that used to OHKO it after surviving a Z-move. Tapu Koko doesn't even need to invest in attack as Electric Terrain, Charged Z-Wild Charge can either OHKO or deal serious damage to the opponent.
Looking at the current philosophy we have in place;
1) Tapu Koko is the 3rd most used Pokemon on the 1v1 ladder just behind both Mega Gyarados and Mega Charizard X, two tier titans, on the 1630s weighted usage. It also gets so much usage in tournaments like seen in the previous 1v1PL, 1v1LT and recently 1v1 SSNL mean that Tapu Koko is arguably one of the most influential and used Pokemon in the 1v1 metagame. It is also splashable on any team easily. It is a low risk Pokemon as it can only lose most of the time to a minimal Pokemon.
2) As said before, Tapu Koko has such little counters that the team that can easily fix the issue. Tapu Koko is mostly countered by Ground-type Pokemon, Mega Venusaur, and Dragonite to an extent. Some Pokemon such as Mega Metagross used to be able to beat it but thanks to the recent innovation of Iron Defense it no longer can. Tapu Koko also counters a good amount of the metagame and makes a lot of Pokemon worse, especially Flying- and Water-type Pokemon which are restricted due to the omnipresence of Tapu Koko in the tier. Banning Tapu Koko will free the way to many Pokemon in the 1v1 metagame.
Tapu Koko can, in some teams, run Fairium-Z to lure in Dragon-type Pokemon such as Zygarde-C and Garchomp. While this set might not be optimal nor deserve much attention while discussing Tapu Koko, it should still be taken into account.
Now there's some people that might still be stuck with the mindset of "Oh if we banning Koko we're allowing Mega Dos and Zard X to roam free in the tier", this might be false. If we ever decide on banning Tapu Koko, a lot of other Pokemon will see more usage which will most likely be able to counter them, we're also allowing more Electric-type Pokemon to be used more and not be completely outclassed by Koko, such as Ampharos.
Therefore, I'm with banning Tapu Koko from 1v1.
Short post, but made my point across minimal words, if people want to reply I'll probably respond with either a bigger paragraph or reply to each point by itself so please, be my guest and discuss Tapu Koko.
Tapu Koko @ Electrium Z
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 164 Def / 96 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wild Charge
- Iron Defense
- Charge
- Roost
Tapu Koko got many other moves but that's the moveset that been pushing it over the edge at this moment. This set is near perfect and has reduced Tapu Koko checks to a minimal number. You can't run physical Ground-type coverage or any other bulky physical attackers and call it a check. Iron Defense + Charge is a deadly combo and with good defensive EVs it can live most physical attackers that used to OHKO it after surviving a Z-move. Tapu Koko doesn't even need to invest in attack as Electric Terrain, Charged Z-Wild Charge can either OHKO or deal serious damage to the opponent.
Looking at the current philosophy we have in place;
1) Tapu Koko is the 3rd most used Pokemon on the 1v1 ladder just behind both Mega Gyarados and Mega Charizard X, two tier titans, on the 1630s weighted usage. It also gets so much usage in tournaments like seen in the previous 1v1PL, 1v1LT and recently 1v1 SSNL mean that Tapu Koko is arguably one of the most influential and used Pokemon in the 1v1 metagame. It is also splashable on any team easily. It is a low risk Pokemon as it can only lose most of the time to a minimal Pokemon.
2) As said before, Tapu Koko has such little counters that the team that can easily fix the issue. Tapu Koko is mostly countered by Ground-type Pokemon, Mega Venusaur, and Dragonite to an extent. Some Pokemon such as Mega Metagross used to be able to beat it but thanks to the recent innovation of Iron Defense it no longer can. Tapu Koko also counters a good amount of the metagame and makes a lot of Pokemon worse, especially Flying- and Water-type Pokemon which are restricted due to the omnipresence of Tapu Koko in the tier. Banning Tapu Koko will free the way to many Pokemon in the 1v1 metagame.
Tapu Koko can, in some teams, run Fairium-Z to lure in Dragon-type Pokemon such as Zygarde-C and Garchomp. While this set might not be optimal nor deserve much attention while discussing Tapu Koko, it should still be taken into account.
Now there's some people that might still be stuck with the mindset of "Oh if we banning Koko we're allowing Mega Dos and Zard X to roam free in the tier", this might be false. If we ever decide on banning Tapu Koko, a lot of other Pokemon will see more usage which will most likely be able to counter them, we're also allowing more Electric-type Pokemon to be used more and not be completely outclassed by Koko, such as Ampharos.
Therefore, I'm with banning Tapu Koko from 1v1.
Short post, but made my point across minimal words, if people want to reply I'll probably respond with either a bigger paragraph or reply to each point by itself so please, be my guest and discuss Tapu Koko.
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