Metagame SS OU Metagame Discussion Thread v7 (Usage Stats in post #3539)

With Zygarde and Kyub gone, it seems like this will be the big 3 ruling the tier: :pheromosa: :urshifu: :spectrier:
These are, in my opinion, the three deadliest offensive mons in the tier, and are all capable of completely shredding teams.

:pheromosa: Pheromosa's ridiculous offensive stats and large movepool make it one of OU's most versetile threats. Somewhat similar to Genesect, Peromosa has multiple good sets, making it very diffiult to predict. It has base 137 attack and special attack as well as good physical and special attacks, meaning it can run a variety of good sets including band, specs and quiver dance. Figuring out how to counter it can be a matter of guessing which set it's running. It has great stab moves such as bug buzz, close combat, high jump kick, focus blast and lunge, and cover moves such ice beam, tripel axel, poison jab, throat chop, drill run and even fucking OUTRAGE! Beast boost does wonders for this thing, allowing it to snowball as it piles up kills. Its base 151 speed makes it the second fastest thing in the tier. Although it has frail defenses, it's very hard to kill because you simply can't touch it. Its quiver dance set is volcarona on crack, in many situations allowing it to set up QD virtually guarantees a loss.

:urshifu: Urshifu was at the top of the dlc1 meta and if that meta lasted longer it would have likely been suspect tested. Although the influx of new pokemon in dlc2 caused it to drop in usage for a little while, it's climbed back to the top of the tier and remains a major threat. Part of this is due to wicked blow. It's absurd to think about how powerful a bp 80 stab move that is guaranteed to crit is. Pokemon that usually resist dark are hit for close to neutral damage, pokemon that are neutral are hit to close to super effective damage and pokemon that are weak to dark are essentially ohko'd. This is one of the best attacks in the game. It also has great fighting stab in close combat and drain punch, and if its base 97 speed can't get it done, it has stab priority in sucker punch. Fairies seem to be the best check for this thing, but then you remember it has poison jab and iron head for coverage. This is all backed up by a formidable base 130 attack. Unseen fist is a fantastic ability, allowing the bear to punch right through protect. As for set, bulk up makes it a very strong set up sweeper, while banded wicked blow hits like a truck.

:Spectrier: Spectrier has had an interesting journey in its short time in the meta. When its stats were first leaked, it was labeled as broken, then people laughed at its limited move pool. People soon figured out that with its raw power, its move pool is more than enough to shred most teams. Spectrier is arguably the best there is at flipping the momentum of the game on its head. The special attack boosts from grim neigh cause it to snowball very easily and 1 kill from this thing can quickly turn into 6. It's a fantastic scarfer, with base 130 speed that allows this set to come into battle a fire off shadow balls at anything that isn't a normal or dark type. It's sub hex set is more methodical but equally capable of fucking shit up. Hide behind a sub, set up with nasty plot, burn it with wisp then hex it to death. While it takes longer to set up, this set is even harder for the opponent to manage. You can also switch one of these moves out for disable, which can cripple would be checks. Saying that this thing gets walled by normal and dark types would be beating a dead horse (nice), but you can pair it with a good fighting type to take out its checks, then proceed to wreck everything else. The only other thing that can stop it is sucker punch. Also, it's massive base 145 SpA is the highest in OU. Thanks Gamefreak.

While I wouldn't go so far to call for a quickban on these three, they should definitely be on the radar for suspect tests once the metagame settles. Honorable mentions go to :magearna: and :melmetal:
 
specisfun.jpg

^me after losing to spectrier for the 50th time because I don't want to run tar or mandibuzz

Don't we want less "click the button" things in the tier? I will keep beating the drum that this is an unbalanced constraint on building. It's such an obvious step up in powercreep (along with Phero) that there's little reason to forgo it on offense and BO. It creates so much sheer pressure by sitting in the back ready to sweep you lest you get even marginally chipped. You can't sack into this thing. There's offensive and defensive building creativity being stifled by Spec and to seemingly little benefit, it's a 1 dimensional nuke clicking stab + wisp 90% of the time.
 
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^me after losing to spectrier for the 50th time because I don't want to run tar or mandibuzz

Don't we want less "click the button" things in the tier? I will keep beating the drum that this is an unbalanced constraint on building. It's such an obvious step up in powercreep (along with Phero) that there's little reason to forgo it on offense and BO. It creates so much sheer pressure by sitting in the back ready to sweep you lest you get even marginally chipped. You can't sack into this thing. There's offensive and defensive building creativity being stifled by Spec and to seemingly little benefit, it's a 1 dimensional nuke clicking stab + wisp 90% of the time.
Urshifu + Spec is an astonishingly powerful offensive core, those two just eat each others checks alive, and puts a huge strain on defense. The only pokemon that can semi comfortably handle both right now is mandibuzz, which can easily be overloaded over the course of a game.
 
Is Spectrier even really that good? Looking at the top 10-20 teams on the ladder from just the last couple of days (off of babiri), I didn’t see a single Spectrier team. I do see a Dark type (or a Blissey) on every single one of those teams, though, just like I see a Ground type on each team to deal with Regieleki. Compare this to the way Urshifu used to demand answers before Crown Tundra. You'd see Clefable + another pivot like Amoonguss or Toxapex on most teams to deal with it, and even then, not only did it remain top-10 in usage, it could just run Adamant LO and work past your checks.

This isn't the case for Spectrier. Spectrier really struggles when every team has a token Dark type. It has fringe options to muscle past its counters, but for most sets those counters are frequently hard stops to the point where people either build their team around Spectrier or just don’t run it.

Plus, a Dark type isn’t on your team just for Spectrier. It can also deal with the STAB ghost and psychic moves of Gengar, Aegislash, Lele, Alakazam, and Dragapult (who is right now looking to be better than Spectrier or at least much more splashable at high ladder).

“but dark doesn’t completely handle all those others because moonblast/focus blast/close combat/sludge wave/draco meteor”

yes, exactly. They all have more coverage than Spectrier, at the cost of less snowballing.
 
This is my first time posting for smogon, I don't play Showdown or anything just Sword and Shield. I watch other people play Showdown on YouTube. This is my opinion on the meta game right now and I will say I love it. I think it's perfect right now. For now, I don't think any mons is broken right now and you can call me crazy but thing seems broken. Everybody is trying out new and old pokemon returning building a dream team all all that. The reason I say no mons are broken because right now, I feel everybody Pokemon right now that the good about of checks. You can say oh Mosa is broken, no it's not. Learn to playing around it and it can't survive any hits, it's a glass cannon hard hitter breaker. It easier to wear it down with hazard which not all Mosa carrie rapid spin. Oh but Spectrier is broken, you can use either normal or dark mons, and not only that but Rillaboom walls Spectrier very hard because of choice band grass Glide. You don't need to have a ghost resist to beat Spectrier, just calculate which Pokemon can take a hit or just use assault vest Mon. It would have said before that Clef and PEX were broken in Dlc 1 which they were but now, not anymore because we have good amounts of checks. So I feel like in my opinion, mons can be suspected in the future but I don't think right now anything is really broken, hyper offense is fine, stall is manageable now, balance is even more better now, and trick room is now really good. Just have fun
 
Hey, I just wanted to respond to your post on Spectrier because I disagree with the notion that it cannot break through its checks.

Looking at the top 10-20 teams on the ladder from just the last couple of days (off of babiri)
First thing I wanted to mention is that babiri teams are not really indicative of the state of the ladder. The usage stats are a good reference, but those teams include many from pre Crown Tundra, one from StormZone in a draft league with KyuW, (and even one with G-Darm!) which I don't think really allow us to draw any conclusions about the metagame.

Spectrier doesn't provide many positive effects on the tier, which is something that should be considered when thinking about whether a mon is unhealthy for the tier and deserves to be suspected. I don't think the usage stats are the most meaningful right now, but we can see the three main checks to Spectrier being forced to rise significantly in usage due to its negative effects on teambuilding (alongside niche options like Zarude, which I didn't include due to it being used for Zygarde as well).

Mandibuzz- 5.445% > 10.479%, Tyranitar- 4.825% > 8.279%, Blissey- 6.477 > 7.734%

While similar mons like Regieleki do not have movepools allowing them adaptation, Spectrier has just enough tools to allow it to adapt. Both Sub Disable (which beat both Mandibuzz and Blissey) and Will O Wisp Hex (which have forced TTar to run Rest specifically for it or be chipped down over the course of a game by hazards and chip) are good sets. That doesn't even mention scarf sets which kill most offense besides Urshifu, which can be chipped down relatively easily due to its lack of recovery and the 30-40% it takes from Shadow Ball on the switch. In regards to your first paragraph, I do believe that Urshifu is unhealthy as well and should also be looked at once the meta has had a chance to settle.
 

Zneon

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Spectrier

I feel I am very late on talking about Spectrier and its place in OU, so I'm gonna get into it now.

So I don't think Spectrier is broken in the slightest, it doesn't feel overwhelming in practice most of the time, sometimes it doesn't even feel broken on paper because it has no coverage despite its stats and Grim Neigh. However I do agree that it is pretty restrictive, however I'm on the fence on it overall so I'll just share my opinion on it.

So one point that I want to bring up is the fact that most teams are already going to bring a Ghost resist. Of course with Spectrier the need to bring a Ghost resist is much higher however the thing is, Ghost is an incredibly potent offensive typing that has gotten better this generation, especially with Pursuit being cut. This is why I feel Spectrier is somewhat restrictive and even oppressive in my eyes because having no Ghost resist can mean having your team snowballed by this Pokemon. However what I feel about this point in particular is that finding a Ghost resist and putting it on your team isn't hard considering how important it is to having a resistance or immunity to it especially with the lack of Pursuit to punish them from spamming their STABs, Spectrier adds a bigger need to put them on your team in order to not get snowballed which is why I feel Spectrier is definitely a limiting Pokemon overall.

Now getting into counterplay overall I'm going to be honest with you, offensive counterplay is very limited, its one of the fastest Pokemon in the tier and that combined with its amazing 145 Special Attack and Grim Neigh it is not a good sign at all, because you have to hope it is Specs and not Scarf if you are a Pheromosa or Dragapult because otherwise you can probably lose the game as soon as it gets to +1 late-game, same goes for stuff like Urshifu which gets worn down and eventually muscled through by Specs Shadow Balls. Offensive counterplay is obviously there, those 2 can revenge kill it depending on the set, and it really depends on the set however as well as Pokemon like Rillaboom and Urshifu with their priority and Barraskewda on rain teams however switching in is another problem altogether. There is a lot more defensive counterplay available however. Tyranitar, Mandibuzz and Blissey are the most common ones, however not even those are safe. SubDisable beats Blissey that isn't running Shadow Ball and even Mandibuzz if you are lucky, some Ttars now need to run Rest for WispHex Spectrier and etc, there are other options like Zarude and Galarian Moltres however those are pretty fringe options. Spectrier is pretty one-dimensional on paper however the amount of sets it can run along with the pressure of Grim Neigh makes it a much more dangerous Pokemon in practice.


====

To conclude, yeah Spectrier is very good and definitely restrictive, but even with all of the stuff I've said, I am still on the fence on this Pokemon. I rather just wait to see how the metagame adapts to its presence before having it banned however.

Thanks for reading! :blobthumbsup:
 

AM

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Scarf set on Spectrier the tipping point because the few good ghost resists are all fat stuff and can be taken advantage of to prevent boost from Grim Neigh, not accounting for the random wisps either. The non-fat things take close to or in the range of half for a resist so maintaining offensive momentum on a 130 speed tier scarf mon isn't as simplistic as it sounds. It's not super broken like Zygarde was but it's not healthy other offensive ghosts get the benefit of the doubt cause they don't have these boosting abilities like Spectrier so at least for the ones that apply you have some reassurance they won't potentially snowball. You can't even trust Ditto to help out, a mon that's normally good in a broken meta, because now it's just some 50/50 speedtie against scarf sets, totally fun. Spectrier really the only ghost where people contemplate using a normal type that isnt Chansey or Blissey lol.

Phero has to go I'm tired of playing guess which set it is which would be a normal game of mons if it didn't have a stupid high speed tier and raw power. Phero is honestly more of the extreme to Spectrier because again, snowballing abilities are dumb (more on that later), and in most cases it can just u-turn to get out of danger. The Quiver Dance set is okay tbh, I think it's a little match up based but all the speed boosting variants and variations in each set are too much. I think the meta has a bit of too much guessing games, not in great way either. You'll always scout and assume things based on knowledge but let's assume that scarf, band, heavy duty boots, life orb, rapid spin 4th slot for speed increase are all viable more or less and you have to account in the builder all those and everything else all ready. You can't even rely on your scarf mons once the speed boost hits in whatever fashion it did so hope you have priority that isnt sucker punch.

I've said my piece on Magearna before and like the two above it falls under the Boosting ability mons and the Shift Gear sets, as well as Specs is a lot to deal with. You can't actually prepare for this in the builder under the typical "insert fairy resist here, steel resist", you kind of picture things on how the game would go and hope it doesnt have the one move or set that could potentially floor you. It doesn't really help that the screens archetype is a thing and that all the defoggers are all slower and susceptible to the Shift CM set where Stored Power eventually cleans. Speaking of screens Blaziken is busted in them and would be more manageable if heavy duty boots wasn't an item and light clay wasnt a thing. I'm waiting for people to actually pick up on it so I can stop reading things like it has 4mss. I guess stall manages with Quag but stall has a lot of other annoyances right now they have to deal.

On a more positive note I'm a big fan of the double dance lando set with soft sand and jolly (need jolly to outrun sand Exca and neutral Scarf Phero after boost which is important). I also think most of the offensive variants of lando-t's sets are very good. I don't think the defensive set is very good neither is the Defog set personally granted they probably have merit on some builds. I've been giving Togekiss a shot as a a Urshifu-S check with Air Slash, Toxic, Roost, Defog/Heal Bell. I guess Toxic is replaceable with Twave or another move but I like sniping most of the other Defoggers and its nice to pair up with Hex users as well. And Whimsicott is nice to with Memento to supplement a set up sweeper.
 
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weloveoudontwe.jpg


echoing AM here, these three form the perfect trifecta of bullshit. Mosa and Mag can viably run several sets with completely different checks and counters that you just have to hope you have covered, whereas you know exactly what Spec will do and it still manages to break through teams that on paper shouldn't worry about it. Snowball abilities are LAME.
 
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Gross Sweep

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Like always I've been playing a lot, and building a lot of different team types since the most recent bans. I truly believe the metagame is starting to stabilize enough that some building trends are starting to make themselves clear. With that in mind I'd like to go over some of the more interesting / solid discoveries I have come across in the past few days.

+
/
I made a post earlier in this thread where I talked about SD Garchomp as a potential substitute for Zygarde when it comes to usable Ground types in the tier, and as we enter into a metagame without Zygarde I am still extremely high on what Garchomp can provide for teams. I wont repeat myself when it comes to what Garchomp can provide offensively, but I want to take some time to address a defensive deficiency that must be understood when building with Garchomp. That deficiency is that Garchomp is a Ground type that cannot check Tapu Koko reliably. Even though Koko is seeing less usage than it did in SM, it is still prevalent enough to point out. I have really enjoyed pairing Garchomp with either Ferrothorn or Blissey to cover that weakness. On top of checking Koko these two mons have really cool synergy with Garchomp.

Garchomp + Ferrothorn can give you Stealth Rock + Spikes right away which is incredible in the current metagame. They also form 2/3 of the vaunted Dragon Fairy Steel core that people have loved running the past few generations. Garchomp helps ferrothorn out by helping check mons like Zapdos and Cinderace, and Ferrothorn helps vs mons like Tapu Fini and Tapu Koko for Garchomp. I honestly really like SpDef Ferrothorn and this combination is definitely one of those good mon + good mon scenarios, but it works really well. Honestly think Ferrothorn is an A rank mon, potentially pushing A+ right now, and it has only been getting seemingly better as time has gone on in the tier.

In my last post I talked about how Blissey is struggling a bit this gen with 4MSS, and Garchomp helps alleviate that by giving teams the option to move Stealth Rock off Blissey freeing up a move slot. Life Orb Garchomp also has enough power to take advantage of Blissey's Teleport, which makes these two a solid enough pair. Bissey/Chansey are the type of mons that can mesh with pretty much anything from Stall to Chansey offense and this is no exception. I think with the heavy influx of offensive mons in this DLC we are going to see an even higher usage of Blissey offense type teams, and this combination is just another example of that trend starting to come to fruition.

Toxapex + Zapdos is a really solid defensive pairing in the tier right now. Between the two of them most physical attackers in the tier are kept in check. I have seen them on a variety of teams, and they are just really starting to rise to the top in terms of glue mons helping keep teams together. Volt Switch Zapdos is something I have been seeing more and more of when these two are paired together, and have really liked using it in practice. Not much else to say on the core, just worth mentioning that if you want to break balance in the current SS OU tier, you will need to be able to get past these two in tandem reliably.

+
(R) Seemingly every team in the meta currently has some combination of Rough Skin / Iron Barbs / Rocky Helmet / Static / Flame Body abusers to help check physical attackers and punish U-turn. Some of the main reasons teams have started relying on these strategies is to either keep Pheromosa in check or punish Urshifu Rapid from clicking Surging Strike. Protective Pads is an interesting way to work around these tactics as it makes the holder immune to any damage or status the previously mentioned abilities/items dish out. I think it is less of a necessity on Pheramosa after the Zygarde ban, as more and more Mosa have started running Ice Beam again and do not have to worry about clicking Triple Axel into Rocky Helmet Toxapex, but it can still be nice to avoid the chip when clicking U-Turn and not have to worry about getting burnt/paralyzed by a Kanto bird. Urshifu-R can now click Surging Strikes vs teams with Ferrothorn without worrying about losing half its HP, and then can threaten the CC next turn which is really cool for rain teams. I honestly do not know if Protective Pads will be a preferred option for either of these mons in the tier, but for now it is a fairly interesting tech at least to help circumvent a few would be checks.

(R) Rain is potent right now. Between Pelipper and a slew of offensive Water types rain has kept some fairly interesting variety up to this point in the tier. While Barraskewda and Urshifu-R have definitely stuck out as the more prominent Water types used the structure is far from early gen 7 where KokoLucha rain made up like 75% of the people using rain. I think Offensive Swampert is fairly underrated on rain right now, and has a lot of potential as it provides that Ground typing rain loves to fit on somewhere. In a metagame without Ash-Gren, M-Pert, and Manaphy I honestly did not know if rain was going to be usable/solid, but it has definitely surprised me thus far.

I wanted to talk about some other rain mons that are worth taking note of outside of the Water types before I end this post. First, Ferrothorn is basically a must have for rain teams right now. I mentioned how much I like SpDef Ferrothorn in genreal earlier, and that goes double for rain. Helping check electrics and pressure bulky waters while providing a Steel typing + hazards, is simply fantastic within the archetype and almost always worth using in my opinion. Next we have two Flying types that are really solid on rain. One of the major threats to rain this generation is Rillaboom, and these birds are some of the best checks which makes them an immediate asset. On top of this 100% accurate Hurricanes in the rain coming from mons with good coverage is extremely scary. Honestly feels like offensive Zapdos is a bit overloaded on rain teams based on how it always seems to have such an amazing match up. The amount of teams on the ladder trying to check Zapdos with Lando-T or switching in Heatran only to be one shot by Weather Ball is a bit ridiculous. Torandus is also a solid option, being able to either set up Nasty Plot in the rain before threatening teams with Hurricane, or serve as a solid pivot while still keeping up offensive momentum with Hurricane. One down side to Tornadus-T is that you will still probably have to hit a Focus Blast or two in order to find success. At this point in the metagame if you are going to build a rain team I would automatically add a Ferrothorn and one of these two birds (or even something a bit more niche for rain teams like a Moltres), before I even decide on what Water types I am going to pair with Pelipper.
 
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I think Pheromosa should seriously be put on a suspect test if not banned asap. Brief points (which may have already been rehashed many times):

1. The band set hits way too hard and maintains momentum by way of U-Turn.

2. Being able to go mix with ice coverage helps it a lot against its otherwise would-be counters.

3. The quiver dance set is surprisingly lethal because its base speed is already very high and after one quiver dance, it's nigh on impossible to revenge-kill and if your team lacks a strong priority you become done for.

Just don't think it's a very healthy presence to the game. Feel free to discuss further.
 

Finchinator

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Hot? take: I don’t actually find CB or pivot Pheromosa problematic too often and if I struggle with it, it’s usually because it’s paired with Future Sight.

An accurate Quiver Dance Pheromosa is more worrisome to me, oftentimes being able to sweep with some chip on your Fairy type when using balance. Focus/ShockWave/IceBeam goes to town pretty often, but Bug Buzz is noteworthy, too.

Any quick ban when we just quick banned multiple Pokemon 4-5 days ago seems silly for obvious reasons, but even if “issues” persist, I do not view this as a QB worthy issue in particular at all. I would not be opposed to a suspect if the metagame does not react to the collective sets of Pheromosa in the coming weeks though, if only because there is a strain on building and preserving specific presences in-game to a distinguished extent.

I still think people should relax a bit as the tier is continuing to rapidly evolve in response to releases and numerous waves of prompt bans, but I absolutely understand these concerns if all else holds in the near future.
 
QD Pheromosa is by far its most threatening sey right now, even if it's not its most common set.
Supposed physically defensive checks are destroyed by +1 focus blast or coverage, and after a kill it can accumulate sp attack boosts (modest nature is what makes this QD set so potent) and snowballing with extreme ease.
QD is already a stupid move on its own but paired with a pokemon with those offense and speed it becomes illegally powerful.
Of course pheromosa has other sets vey powerful, band and HDB among others.

Ban this thing ASAP from OU...
 
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This may be an unpopular opinion but I feel :urshifu: is a top 3 mon in the tier rn. The band set, especially, is fantastic and can power through most teams if played correctly. Urshifu is pretty tough for most teams to deal with on its own but with future sight it becomes absolutely devastating. Although we did gain some checks with the new dlc such as zapdos and moltres which can paralyze or burn urshifu with their abilities respectively, they still only have a 30 percent chance and even max defense variants get 2HKO'd by wicked blow. I don't consider it broken as of now but I think we should keep an eye on it as the metagame develops even more.
 
Gonna try it out myself, but I think Cursola might actually have a niche on some TR teams as an alternative or partner with Alolan Marowak.

Yes, Gamefreak did it dirty, but it notably did get Burning Jealousy with the DLC, meaning Cursola now has Fire coverage to nail Ferrothorn and other Steel types that could take a Shadow Ball (and it also burns them if they boost, so Iron Defense Body Press shenanigans are a no-go). And Perish Body means physical attackers that revenge-kill it are often forced to switch out afterwards which helps stop it from being set up bait.

The coverage this thing has is crazy, and IMO while Specs is really strong the inability to switch moves sucks so Expert Belt or Life Orb is probably the way to go. As for moves, Ice Beam, Shadow Ball, Burning Jealousy, and Earth Power give a ton of flexibility, while Power Gem is an option to obliterate Moltres (it also nails Volcarona, Zapdos, and Mandibuzz the latter two are also nailed by Ice Beam but yea).
 
Kinda unrelated to what's happening right now in the thread, but I think I found a perfect Tapu Slayer. The set:
:ss/melmetal:
Tapu Slayer (Melmetal) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Double Iron Bash
- Earthquake
- Steel Roller
- Thunder Punch
Steel Roller says bye to terrains, while being super effective against half of the Tapus and being neutral on the others. Tpunch and EQ are for Fini and Koko.
 
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All I want to say is this:

1.) I want to express gratitude towards the council staff for increasing ban/suspect transparency while simultaneously engaging the community more in the tiering process through implementation of surveys. IMO this is a step in the right direction, as it puts more power back into the playerbase's hands. Additionally, it increases the community's sense of control over the game that THEY play, and pushes the process away from the perceived oligarchy that pissed everyone the fuck off for YEARS.

2.) Clamoring for more bans (especially quickbans) just a few short days after KyuB and Zy left the tier is simply premature and hasty. I hope the council recognizes this and can temper ban-hammer temptations for a bit. Everyone else: suck it up for now and let things settle and stop whining about a mon because it smacked you 5-0 in a ladder game.
 
Kinda unrelated to what's happening right now in the thread, but I think I found a perfect Tapu Slayer. The set:
:ss/melmetal:
Tapu Slayer (Melmetal) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Double Iron Bash
- Earthquake
- Steel Roller
- Thunder Punch
Steel Roller says bye to terrains, while being super effective against half of the Tapus and being neutral on the others. Tpunch and EQ are for Fini and Koko.
I also like it as a Tapu check (haven't tried steel roller yet though). If you want to maximize its special bulk you should put its HP EVs into SpD since its HP stat is already very high.
I wouldn't call it a tapu slayer since it doesn't have a good recovery, which means it can't switch in over and over again, but it can help to keep the tapus in check
 
I also like it as a Tapu check (haven't tried steel roller yet though). If you want to maximize its special bulk you should put its HP EVs into SpD since its HP stat is already very high.
I wouldn't call it a tapu slayer since it doesn't have a good recovery, which means it can't switch in over and over again, but it can help to keep the tapus in check
Good point.
 

Finchinator

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Kinda unrelated to what's happening right now in the thread, but I think I found a perfect Tapu Slayer. The set:
:ss/melmetal:
Tapu Slayer (Melmetal) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Double Iron Bash
- Earthquake
- Steel Roller
- Thunder Punch
Steel Roller says bye to terrains, while being super effective against half of the Tapus and being neutral on the others. Tpunch and EQ are for Fini and Koko.
I also like it as a Tapu check (haven't tried steel roller yet though). If you want to maximize its special bulk you should put its HP EVs into SpD since its HP stat is already very high.
I wouldn't call it a tapu slayer since it doesn't have a good recovery, which means it can't switch in over and over again, but it can help to keep the tapus in check
:Melmetal:
Melmetal @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 224 SpD / 24 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Double Iron Bash
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch / Superpower / filler
- Protect

This Melmetal tends to handle things defensively about as well as AV while having more longevity and a bit more flexibility. The EVs allow for maximizing damage output while living +Atk Pheromosa CC after SR and then pumping SDef. AV sets are better with max SDef instead of HP due to the stat distribution of Melmetal, fwiw, but regardless Protect + Leftovers accomplishes a lot of the same things while being better otherwise. It works very well on balance and even if it was better when Kyurem-Black was in the tier, a lot of teams still appreciate Melmetal and plenty of teams struggle to handle it in the long-haul.
 

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