I feel it's worthy of note that with quite a bit of SpAtt investment it can 2HKO both SpDef Heatran and Dragapult on the switch with SR chip with Scorching Sands and Glaciate (which reduces Speed) respectively
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Metagame SS OU Metagame Discussion Thread v7 (Usage Stats in post #3539)
- Thread starter TPP
- Start date
Do you have an exact EV spread for this?
Victini to me just seems to have a massive amount of versatility in its sets, with boots,scarf,and band all looking pretty viable. boots is a decent pivot that can sometimes just rip a v-create and band hits hard AF basically deleting any non resists with v-create
Most of my personal experience with it comes from trying to put together an offensive regieleki team that doesn't totally suck, and there scarfed max HP victini with final gambit proved to be quite reliable at taking opposing ground types out if played well, and in general seems to be a pretty nice option for heavily offensive teams that just need to take out one opposing mon that walls your team(unless it's blissey, but you can trick that), and dont mind going 1 for 1. fast u-turn also makes it a decent lead(in my case it was final gambit if lando/pert/hippo, u-turn out otherwise), and trick cripples walls
Most of my personal experience with it comes from trying to put together an offensive regieleki team that doesn't totally suck, and there scarfed max HP victini with final gambit proved to be quite reliable at taking opposing ground types out if played well, and in general seems to be a pretty nice option for heavily offensive teams that just need to take out one opposing mon that walls your team(unless it's blissey, but you can trick that), and dont mind going 1 for 1. fast u-turn also makes it a decent lead(in my case it was final gambit if lando/pert/hippo, u-turn out otherwise), and trick cripples walls
Here you go
168 SpA Victini Scorching Sands vs. 252 HP / 128+ SpD Heatran: 184-220 (47.6 - 56.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
168 SpA Victini Glaciate vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Dragapult: 140-166 (44.1 - 52.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
0 SpA Victini Scorching Sands vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Heatran: 192-228 (59.4 - 70.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
168 SpA investment would probably fit best either a 4 attack or pivot set with max Speed and the rest poured into Attack. Victini's HBD sets can be quite versatile depending on which mon you feel is a particular threat. Although even with 0 SpA investment it still always 2HKOs Offensive Heatran. Glaciate can also be a perfect lure for any Lando or Chomp eager to switch in predicting a V-create, 2HKOing both on the switch with 0 SpA and with quite a bit of investment even 1HKOing Scarf Lando with SR support.
0 SpA Victini Glaciate vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 224-268 (58.6 - 70.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
220 SpA Victini Glaciate vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 280-332 (87.7 - 104%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
0 SpA Victini Glaciate vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 216-256 (60.5 - 71.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Victini to me is kind of like Mew. It's move pool is so amazing that you really can't figure out what is running at team preiview. It can always spring that unexpected move on you. It actually gets such amazing strong coverage for Special Side and nuclear powerful physical sets with V create and Bolt Strike. I have mostly seen people play around assuming Scarfed and Banded the most. I remember getting some damn mileage from it in Mag meta with this set-
Victini @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- V-create
- Future Sight
- U-turn
- Scorching Sands
Scorching Sands made Heatrans regret coming in looking for that Flash Fire from the deceptively strong V create despite no investment, weakening it greatly. The final not so fun surprise for opponents is Future Sight. It is already an amazing move in conjunction with Uturn but when mixed in with the surprise factor it was a full momentum swing that immediately forced a kill lot of the times. The great thing about him was that it checked and OHKOed Mag with Vcreate despite no investment. Volc who was also popular got ohkoed on offensive sets and defensive sets couldn't hurt him back too bad. Turning set up Mag into offensive momentum with Future Sight was an extremely good trait.
I think there is so much untapped potential with this thing. Choiced V creates are sure good and consistent but this mon is too good to be running just those. TBF, mixed sets with boots are becoming common. Perhaps, they will become the norm at some point? A wholly special Victini is something I have not seen yet.
With Mixed Boots, It can function as an offensive check to some of the scariest mons in the tier being Lele and Kyurem and also check Volc and weakened tran decently so it does have that niche intact still. It is not as effective against these as it was vs Mag though because these mons are a whole lot stronger than non-Specs Mag and can even have coverage for it. Rillaboom, Kart, Magnezone, Clef, GalarKing, Skarmory, Melly, Scizor, Tang, Reuni and Ferro are also some other that it can switch into on a resisted move and get momentum or fire off attacks depending on the set. It's support movepool is good too with Taunt, Uturn, Trick etc. You can really very creatively mix and match sets to your teams needs. You can tech Grass knot for Pert, Focus Blast for Hydra, Tran and Ttar etc. Glaciate for Pult as mentioned above. Once I saw P-UP V create, Bolt Strike, Zen Headbutt Victini break an entire Semi Stall core.
What are your favorite sets to run on this? I haven't used it a while and honestly, despite me going on about mixed boots sets, It performed the best for me on sun team with a Scarfed Set. That set's power is simply amazing but this offensive defensive role of boots set is something unique that I think gives it a niche with less competition than being a choiced Wallbreaker.
The funniest moment I remember of Victin was that I was playing against one and I wanted to go to Dnite but my finger slipped and I clicked Bish instead. I was horrified when the cancel button didn't appear and the move went through. But to my relieve that Vic went for Glaciate. They got so shook on seeing this "play", that they sacked their only answer to +2 Bish and then forfeited. Such a lucky game winning misclick.
Victini @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- V-create
- Future Sight
- U-turn
- Scorching Sands
Scorching Sands made Heatrans regret coming in looking for that Flash Fire from the deceptively strong V create despite no investment, weakening it greatly. The final not so fun surprise for opponents is Future Sight. It is already an amazing move in conjunction with Uturn but when mixed in with the surprise factor it was a full momentum swing that immediately forced a kill lot of the times. The great thing about him was that it checked and OHKOed Mag with Vcreate despite no investment. Volc who was also popular got ohkoed on offensive sets and defensive sets couldn't hurt him back too bad. Turning set up Mag into offensive momentum with Future Sight was an extremely good trait.
I think there is so much untapped potential with this thing. Choiced V creates are sure good and consistent but this mon is too good to be running just those. TBF, mixed sets with boots are becoming common. Perhaps, they will become the norm at some point? A wholly special Victini is something I have not seen yet.
With Mixed Boots, It can function as an offensive check to some of the scariest mons in the tier being Lele and Kyurem and also check Volc and weakened tran decently so it does have that niche intact still. It is not as effective against these as it was vs Mag though because these mons are a whole lot stronger than non-Specs Mag and can even have coverage for it. Rillaboom, Kart, Magnezone, Clef, GalarKing, Skarmory, Melly, Scizor, Tang, Reuni and Ferro are also some other that it can switch into on a resisted move and get momentum or fire off attacks depending on the set. It's support movepool is good too with Taunt, Uturn, Trick etc. You can really very creatively mix and match sets to your teams needs. You can tech Grass knot for Pert, Focus Blast for Hydra, Tran and Ttar etc. Glaciate for Pult as mentioned above. Once I saw P-UP V create, Bolt Strike, Zen Headbutt Victini break an entire Semi Stall core.
What are your favorite sets to run on this? I haven't used it a while and honestly, despite me going on about mixed boots sets, It performed the best for me on sun team with a Scarfed Set. That set's power is simply amazing but this offensive defensive role of boots set is something unique that I think gives it a niche with less competition than being a choiced Wallbreaker.
The funniest moment I remember of Victin was that I was playing against one and I wanted to go to Dnite but my finger slipped and I clicked Bish instead. I was horrified when the cancel button didn't appear and the move went through. But to my relieve that Vic went for Glaciate. They got so shook on seeing this "play", that they sacked their only answer to +2 Bish and then forfeited. Such a lucky game winning misclick.
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I posted a couple set ideas. I really like running V create on a SpA set cause you're right even with investment the dmg is real. I really like Future Sight especially on physical sets. Someone please correct me if i'm wrong but as far as i've read Future Sight calculates SpA based on the mon that's switched in the turn it hits right?
You are indeed wrong. Future Sight uses the special attack of the user, though things like Choice Specs will not be taken into account if the user is absent when the move hits.
I see, thank you for correcting me.
Hey there 
On the topic of Mixed Victini I'd like to bring up a set that I've been experimenting with a mixed set as well
Victini @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- V-create
- Bolt Strike
- U-turn
- Glaciate
Victini is such an underrated threat, it has so many possible options. I as one feel its severely under explored, since its got so many possible sets with so many uses. This is a set that I've been experimenting with recently and I think it works rather well. It's very good at baiting in Ground-types and then very easily getting rid of them with Glaciate. Thought your Landorus-T or defensive Garchomp could switch in? WRONG! 2HKO'd. The only Ground-Type that can sucessfully switch into it sucessfully is Swampert but it's been declining recently. Not even Toxapex can switch into this safely since it has a large chance to get 2HKO'd after Stealth Rocks. It's ability to get rid of Ground-types this effectively makes it a great partner for Cinderace, but unfortunately thats banned
. However, this set is a great enabler for things like Melmetal which really benefit from things like defensive Landorus-T and Garchomp gone ( a lot of more niche pokemon like Conkeldurr really appreciate its presence as well, since they often get walled by common defensive pokemon like Landorus-T or Toxapex ). This set also really nice to use on offensive pivot spam teams since it can blow holes in the opponents teams for its teammates to abuse.
Theres another meme-like pokemon that I've been having way too much fun with recently and I thought I'd bring it up.
Big Chungus (Diggersby) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Mega Kick
- U-turn
- Wild Charge / Ice Punch
BIG CHUNGUS, this long dead meme of a bunny has been making me laugh for the past couple daysIm not immature wdym? 
.
Diggersby is a very underrated threat in my opinion for the amount of work it can put into a game, its an incredibly hard to check breaker and although a bit slow it can switch put so much pressure on the opposing teams, and this set has two good checks in Corviknight and Skarmory, both of with can be dealt with Magnezone which is a great partner for Big Chungus. I chose Mega Kick over Body Slam for the normal STAB as its just so strong and theres so much damage you can miss out with Body Slam. Ice Punch or Wild Charge can overwhelm some of its most common switch ins like Corviknight and Landorus-T, and Expert Belt makes it deal heaps more damage while also having the flexibility that a Choice Band can take away. Pokemon like Garchomp or Swords Dance Kartana / Landorus-T and Tapu Lele, who benefit from Diggersby's ability to bait in and KO Corviknight make great partners since they can very easily abuse these pokemon being gone. Magnezone is also great since it allows it to opt for Ice Punch which makes breaking through Landorus-T much easier ( although Mega Kick already does a hefty amount of damage).
Well, thats all I have to say, but I'd like to know what you guys think about Diggersby.
Bye!
On the topic of Mixed Victini I'd like to bring up a set that I've been experimenting with a mixed set as well
Victini @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- V-create
- Bolt Strike
- U-turn
- Glaciate
Victini is such an underrated threat, it has so many possible options. I as one feel its severely under explored, since its got so many possible sets with so many uses. This is a set that I've been experimenting with recently and I think it works rather well. It's very good at baiting in Ground-types and then very easily getting rid of them with Glaciate. Thought your Landorus-T or defensive Garchomp could switch in? WRONG! 2HKO'd. The only Ground-Type that can sucessfully switch into it sucessfully is Swampert but it's been declining recently. Not even Toxapex can switch into this safely since it has a large chance to get 2HKO'd after Stealth Rocks. It's ability to get rid of Ground-types this effectively makes it a great partner for Cinderace, but unfortunately thats banned
. However, this set is a great enabler for things like Melmetal which really benefit from things like defensive Landorus-T and Garchomp gone ( a lot of more niche pokemon like Conkeldurr really appreciate its presence as well, since they often get walled by common defensive pokemon like Landorus-T or Toxapex ). This set also really nice to use on offensive pivot spam teams since it can blow holes in the opponents teams for its teammates to abuse.
Big Chungus (Diggersby) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Mega Kick
- U-turn
- Wild Charge / Ice Punch
BIG CHUNGUS, this long dead meme of a bunny has been making me laugh for the past couple days
.Diggersby is a very underrated threat in my opinion for the amount of work it can put into a game, its an incredibly hard to check breaker and although a bit slow it can switch put so much pressure on the opposing teams, and this set has two good checks in Corviknight and Skarmory, both of with can be dealt with Magnezone which is a great partner for Big Chungus. I chose Mega Kick over Body Slam for the normal STAB as its just so strong and theres so much damage you can miss out with Body Slam. Ice Punch or Wild Charge can overwhelm some of its most common switch ins like Corviknight and Landorus-T, and Expert Belt makes it deal heaps more damage while also having the flexibility that a Choice Band can take away. Pokemon like Garchomp or Swords Dance Kartana / Landorus-T and Tapu Lele, who benefit from Diggersby's ability to bait in and KO Corviknight make great partners since they can very easily abuse these pokemon being gone. Magnezone is also great since it allows it to opt for Ice Punch which makes breaking through Landorus-T much easier ( although Mega Kick already does a hefty amount of damage).
Well, thats all I have to say, but I'd like to know what you guys think about Diggersby.
Bye!
Diggersby is also a a very interesting mon. Despite being so strong it has 2 incredible immunities in electric and ghost. The former is near mandatory on teams and there is a dearth of latter. It is such a good addition to offensive teams as a decent check to these mons.
I used it back in the Spectrier meta on a webs team. I used this set -
Diggersby (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Wild Charge
- Spikes
This set fit like a glove on Webs. Firstly, it checked the extremely dangerous Spectrier and blanked Volt Switched and secondly it 2HKOed every single defogger in the tier with the appropriate move. With the threat of EQ it often lured in the flying type defogger and could severely damage them right there preventing them from defog later on. Spikes on top of webs and rocks also created a certain sense of emergency to defog right then and there. It was actually pretty reliable in luring defoggers. Spikes also made your other mons in the back so much stronger. It was a utility machine.
I didn't run normal moves as body slam is just way too weak and these 3 moves hit everything just as hard or even harder. Electric + Ice or Ice + Ground is already considered amazing coverage so putting all three together is even better. Admittedly, Mega Kick is stronger in some cases but it is just way too unreliable.
Adamant makes it lose out on Weavile, Koko and Spec but the former was uncommon then and can still ice shard you even if slower. There was no need to outspeed spec to check it. Lastly Koko were also less common then and specs was also being experimented with, quite a lot. You can't outspeed Zerora or Pult regardless of Jolly
I don't think it can similarly function now as Dragapult is faster than it no matter and can murder it with a dragon move. Zeraora and Koko and also have started using boots nearly 100% of times and the former can uturn and the latter can murder it with CC. Not to mention webs in general have gotten very bad. I have been seeing so many hazard stacking teams with no defog of their own, instead relying on boots and flying/levitating mons.
It is still very strong and can function similarly offensively but you can just run a better overall mon than it. It's spikes and normal niche are not as good as they were in the previous meta games. It just doesn't stand out. It has severe competition from mons like Chomp and Lando as offensive grounds which are among the best mons in the tier. Ferro and Skarmory are just much better spikers.
IMO opinion it's best niche would still be of an offensive Spiker as that is actually a role that is not filled in OU. Ferro and Skarm are defensive and Mew is mostly using spikes on lead sets.
Another good set is CB as it can also potentially fit spikes but it has amazing moves outside of that too like EQ, normal stab, wild charge, knock off, uturn, ice and fire punch, and priority in quick attack.
I am not a huge fan of SD simply because it is revenge killed very easily and is quite slow. TBF, it would definitely murder the defensive switch in to it though and you can save it for later as well. I just prefer the urgency of CB or Spikes' utility.
One cool thing to try out is foul play on CB. Digg's natural attack stat is so bad that even with jolly nature and full investment, it is equal to an 4 Atk Corviknight. Foul Play is affected by CB and Huge Power so you can actually make use of your opponent's attack stats against them -
0 Atk Choice Band Huge Power Diggersby Foul Play vs. 252 HP / 112+ Def Landorus-Therian: 249-293 (65.1 - 76.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Huge Power Diggersby Foul Play vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Rillaboom: 360-424 (105.5 - 124.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Huge Power Diggersby Foul Play vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Garchomp: 323-380 (90.4 - 106.4%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Huge Power Diggersby Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Garchomp: 300-354 (84 - 99.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
It doesn't really hit harder than EQ or Mega Kick but it is a very CB friendly move as it has perfect accuracy, no immunities, few resists and can dish out solid damage to a huge chunk of tier.
I used it back in the Spectrier meta on a webs team. I used this set -
Diggersby (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Wild Charge
- Spikes
This set fit like a glove on Webs. Firstly, it checked the extremely dangerous Spectrier and blanked Volt Switched and secondly it 2HKOed every single defogger in the tier with the appropriate move. With the threat of EQ it often lured in the flying type defogger and could severely damage them right there preventing them from defog later on. Spikes on top of webs and rocks also created a certain sense of emergency to defog right then and there. It was actually pretty reliable in luring defoggers. Spikes also made your other mons in the back so much stronger. It was a utility machine.
I didn't run normal moves as body slam is just way too weak and these 3 moves hit everything just as hard or even harder. Electric + Ice or Ice + Ground is already considered amazing coverage so putting all three together is even better. Admittedly, Mega Kick is stronger in some cases but it is just way too unreliable.
Adamant makes it lose out on Weavile, Koko and Spec but the former was uncommon then and can still ice shard you even if slower. There was no need to outspeed spec to check it. Lastly Koko were also less common then and specs was also being experimented with, quite a lot. You can't outspeed Zerora or Pult regardless of Jolly
I don't think it can similarly function now as Dragapult is faster than it no matter and can murder it with a dragon move. Zeraora and Koko and also have started using boots nearly 100% of times and the former can uturn and the latter can murder it with CC. Not to mention webs in general have gotten very bad. I have been seeing so many hazard stacking teams with no defog of their own, instead relying on boots and flying/levitating mons.
It is still very strong and can function similarly offensively but you can just run a better overall mon than it. It's spikes and normal niche are not as good as they were in the previous meta games. It just doesn't stand out. It has severe competition from mons like Chomp and Lando as offensive grounds which are among the best mons in the tier. Ferro and Skarmory are just much better spikers.
IMO opinion it's best niche would still be of an offensive Spiker as that is actually a role that is not filled in OU. Ferro and Skarm are defensive and Mew is mostly using spikes on lead sets.
Another good set is CB as it can also potentially fit spikes but it has amazing moves outside of that too like EQ, normal stab, wild charge, knock off, uturn, ice and fire punch, and priority in quick attack.
I am not a huge fan of SD simply because it is revenge killed very easily and is quite slow. TBF, it would definitely murder the defensive switch in to it though and you can save it for later as well. I just prefer the urgency of CB or Spikes' utility.
One cool thing to try out is foul play on CB. Digg's natural attack stat is so bad that even with jolly nature and full investment, it is equal to an 4 Atk Corviknight. Foul Play is affected by CB and Huge Power so you can actually make use of your opponent's attack stats against them -
0 Atk Choice Band Huge Power Diggersby Foul Play vs. 252 HP / 112+ Def Landorus-Therian: 249-293 (65.1 - 76.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Huge Power Diggersby Foul Play vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Rillaboom: 360-424 (105.5 - 124.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Huge Power Diggersby Foul Play vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Garchomp: 323-380 (90.4 - 106.4%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Huge Power Diggersby Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Garchomp: 300-354 (84 - 99.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
It doesn't really hit harder than EQ or Mega Kick but it is a very CB friendly move as it has perfect accuracy, no immunities, few resists and can dish out solid damage to a huge chunk of tier.
Katy
Banned deucer.
Dragon-types in the SS OU metagame. A small view on Garchomp, Dragapult, and Kyurem!
Hello, guys, as the title says, I want to talk about the Dragons in SS OU, as they really left their mark in the SS OU metagame, with a ton of different and viable sets; Garchomp, Dragapult, and Kyurem are all scary Dragons to deal with, moreover Kyurem left its mark on the OU metagame again and is back on track within OUs finest and most viable Pokemon.
First of all, I want to talk about our favorite Landshark in
This Dragon has the magnificent dual typing in Dragon and Ground, with plenty of coverage options, that it can use to carry itself even versus the strongest Steel-types in Corviknight and the recent rising Skarmory. Its sweeping set is one of the most powerful sets in the OU metagame, leaving its mark in the lategame, when every opposing Pokemon is weakened. It has the Speed tier to find setup opportunities, as its Speed hits a 333 with Jolly nature and 252 Speed.
Garchomps wide movepool makes it so it can run plenty of viable sets; setup sweeper, mixed attacker, tankchomp, and even with its regular ability in Sand Veil it found itself on sand teams.
The best set in my opinion is the setup one with a pseudo-Dragon Dance in Swords Dance + Scale Shot, which can be used to dent through teams in the later game, with being able to even overcome the sturdiest Pokemon. Furthermore Scale Shot even though it drops its defense by 1 Stage it, in return, gains the +1 in Speed, which makes it harder to deal with. Checks are the Steel-type birds in Corviknight and Skarmory, Landorus-T, and offensie Grass-types such as Rillaboom, which can dent through it with a strong Grassy Glide due to the defense drop. I would call Garchomp one of the most scary sweepers in the metagame right now with cementing itself easily as one of the best Pokemon overall, as it was and is even discussed by some people to go into the S Rank of the SS OU Viability Rankings.
The Set:
Garchomp @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Scale Shot / Fire Fang
Hello, guys, as the title says, I want to talk about the Dragons in SS OU, as they really left their mark in the SS OU metagame, with a ton of different and viable sets; Garchomp, Dragapult, and Kyurem are all scary Dragons to deal with, moreover Kyurem left its mark on the OU metagame again and is back on track within OUs finest and most viable Pokemon.
First of all, I want to talk about our favorite Landshark in
This Dragon has the magnificent dual typing in Dragon and Ground, with plenty of coverage options, that it can use to carry itself even versus the strongest Steel-types in Corviknight and the recent rising Skarmory. Its sweeping set is one of the most powerful sets in the OU metagame, leaving its mark in the lategame, when every opposing Pokemon is weakened. It has the Speed tier to find setup opportunities, as its Speed hits a 333 with Jolly nature and 252 Speed.Garchomps wide movepool makes it so it can run plenty of viable sets; setup sweeper, mixed attacker, tankchomp, and even with its regular ability in Sand Veil it found itself on sand teams.
The best set in my opinion is the setup one with a pseudo-Dragon Dance in Swords Dance + Scale Shot, which can be used to dent through teams in the later game, with being able to even overcome the sturdiest Pokemon. Furthermore Scale Shot even though it drops its defense by 1 Stage it, in return, gains the +1 in Speed, which makes it harder to deal with. Checks are the Steel-type birds in Corviknight and Skarmory, Landorus-T, and offensie Grass-types such as Rillaboom, which can dent through it with a strong Grassy Glide due to the defense drop. I would call Garchomp one of the most scary sweepers in the metagame right now with cementing itself easily as one of the best Pokemon overall, as it was and is even discussed by some people to go into the S Rank of the SS OU Viability Rankings.
The Set:
Garchomp @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Scale Shot / Fire Fang
The second Dragon in
, while having a weird concept with shooting its tiny Dreepys like Projectiles at its enemies, has clearly left an impact in the SS OU metagame, its Speed tier alone sets it apart from most Pokemon, as it has a 421 Speed, only being outpaced by Zeraora naturally. Its great dual typing in Ghost / Dragon including strong coverage- and utility-options gives it the edge over most Pokemon in the metagame.It profits from plenty of viable sets, from Choice Specs to Hex all the way along to even Sub-variants with Sub+Dragon Darts or even Sub+Dragon Dance with Phantom Force and Dragon Darts. Its best set currently is in my opinion its Choice Specs set, which can be utilized however one wishes.
Flamethrower can be used to deal with annoying Steel-types such as Corviknight, Skarmory, Ferrothorn, and Magnezone, whereas Shadow Ball and Draco Meteor provide a very strong dual-STAB combination. It can even utilize Hex on this set, to demolish teams weakened by status conditions, which makes it very scary to handle. However, Dragapult still has its enemies in Zeraora, which by itself is 1 point faster, Mandibuzz, Blissey, and the recent rising Weavile, as it has strong priority in Ice Shard, but ultimatevly this Dragon is one of the scariest wallbreaker in the metagame with its Choice Specs set, as Shadow Ball offers itself to be a very great spammable move.
The Set:
Dragapult @ Choice Specs
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Draco Meteor
- U-turn
- Hex / Flamethrower
Dragapult @ Choice Specs
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Draco Meteor
- U-turn
- Hex / Flamethrower
If you feel a chillin' cold on the battlefield, you know who has entered to freeze its whole surrounding, it is our strong Ice / Dragon in
. This freezing cold Dragon also left a huge impact, while it was UU for a decent amount of time, it climbed back into the OverUsed tier with its strong Dual-type and its strong stats making it one of the best Pokemon in the tier. It cements itself among the best, as Ice-STABs are always one of the best spammable moves overall and Kyurem forces switches and with it offensive pressure on the opposition is easily given. Rocking great sets with a wide variety ranging from Choice Specs to Sub+Roost all the way to Dragon Dance with Icicle Spear, all these sets have their own individual great potential.Choice Specs, in my opinion, is one of the best sets as with Ice Beam + Freeze-Dry being spammable moves its very dangerous and threatening to deal with, alongside its great coverage in Focus Blast and Earth Power, and if you will Draco Meteor is still one of the hardest hitting moves in the entire game in conjunction with a boost given by Choice Specs. Kyurem is able to hit a wide range of Pokemon with the said Ice-type STAB and its coverage-options. Where even special walls such as Slowking, Blissey, and Toxapex aren't safe. The same goes to Steel-types such as Magnezone and Melmetal. However, Scizor can give it a bit of trouble, especially the full specially defensive Scizor version, but in overall there only a few Pokemon left, which can reliably switch into Kyurem, making it a fearsome breaker in the OU metagame.
The Set:
Kyurem @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Freeze-Dry
- Earth Power / Draco Meteor
- Focus Blast
Kyurem @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Freeze-Dry
- Earth Power / Draco Meteor
- Focus Blast
These 3 Dragons established themselves as one of the best Pokemon to use in the metagame right now, which all can serve different purposes for a team, as they have a wide move choice option resulting into great different sets and with that being said, I think we will see more of them in the future, as Dragon-type Pokemon fare really well in the metagame currently and these 3 Pokemon will always have a top place in the OU metagame even in the future!
Thanks for reading and have a great day y'all and have fun trying out these dragons, I can definitely guarantee, it is 100% worth it!
Sorry if this seems like a boring question, or if this message should've gone here instead > https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/simple-questions-simple-answers-thread.3656259/page-122 but I was thinking, what do you guys think will be the next uber-worthy-pokemon? I mean, it might be a legit question but I'm asking this because I'm thinking that the meta atm, is pretty balanced but I think Magnet Pull is a bit op annoying but thats probably a different discussion for a different day. I see some people saying Kyurem or maybe Rillaboom needs to be thrown in to the Ubers. I am praying that doesn't happen. I would like to know yall's thoughts on this, again, sorry if it sounds like a boring or stupid question.
I do not think there are many suspect-worthy pokemon in the metagame, as it is pretty balanced. If i have to say something, I think Tornadus-T, maybe Rillaboom and probably Sand Veil just for its uncompetitive nature.
I think if we want to shake the tier, then the better option would be test some uber pokemon like the case of Zama-C and maybe Cinderace, the one I think wont be unbanned but for the sake of testing and development of the metagame, I dont see problems with that.
There isnt harm to test pokemon though, as it is for a limited amount of time and if the mon is broken for the tier, then vote to keep it banned and carry on.
I think if we want to shake the tier, then the better option would be test some uber pokemon like the case of Zama-C and maybe Cinderace, the one I think wont be unbanned but for the sake of testing and development of the metagame, I dont see problems with that.
There isnt harm to test pokemon though, as it is for a limited amount of time and if the mon is broken for the tier, then vote to keep it banned and carry on.
TailGlowVM
Now 100% more demonic
I don't think anything sticks out as suspect worthy right now, and the metagame is in its best state for a long time, but would guess the most likely to be Tornadus-T as well, for the reasons others have stated.
This may be controversial, but I think the next most likely suspect would be Toxapex. While its usage isn't the highest right now, I think it may have got too good making its usage decline as the metagame adapted to it, like Dracovish and Spectrier in the past. We have some of the Pokemon it wants to wall running coverage that's almost just for it, like Volcarona and CM Clef, others usually paired with Future Sight support like Urshifu-R and Weavile, and several it's really good at walling, like Keldeo and Blaziken, never used at all at the moment. Meanwhile many common Pokemon are used that easily beat it, like Garchomp, Lando, Lele, and Koko, which I don't think is purely coincidental, and there are several that take advantage of it specifically like the aforementioned FuturePort, Heatran, Nidoking, and SubRoost Kyurem.
This may be controversial, but I think the next most likely suspect would be Toxapex. While its usage isn't the highest right now, I think it may have got too good making its usage decline as the metagame adapted to it, like Dracovish and Spectrier in the past. We have some of the Pokemon it wants to wall running coverage that's almost just for it, like Volcarona and CM Clef, others usually paired with Future Sight support like Urshifu-R and Weavile, and several it's really good at walling, like Keldeo and Blaziken, never used at all at the moment. Meanwhile many common Pokemon are used that easily beat it, like Garchomp, Lando, Lele, and Koko, which I don't think is purely coincidental, and there are several that take advantage of it specifically like the aforementioned FuturePort, Heatran, Nidoking, and SubRoost Kyurem.
I'll just gave a short and simple answer:
There isn't anything broken imo.the closest thing to broken is sand veil but im against every other ban
The thing w suspect tests is that they don't provide any harm. If a pokemon isnt banworthy people will just vote unban and move on. While i believe they need to be spaced and not everything needs a suspect test, i think that we may reach a time period of the metagame where we suspect things thay arent obviously broken and we actually get to discuss abt it.
Also why isnt sand veil banned under evasion clause please homies i never asked for anything ever i just want this and-
Also why isnt sand veil banned under evasion clause please homies i never asked for anything ever i just want this and-
Why specifically is Blaziken so underwhelming in this metagame? In SM it was Uber so what changed so much from that metagame vs this one? I always think Blaziken is underrated/has unexplored potential, but whenever I try and use it it’s kinda bad (to the point where it might not even be banworthy in some past generations imo). Also do you guys think Blaziken has potential to be a solid OU pokemon at any point during this gen?
I think the big thing for Blaziken between this and last gen is the loss of Z-moves. Electrium-Z would let it overwhelm all of its main checks in bulky Waters and run through the opposing team, really easily. In theory, it doesn’t have true counterplay since its counters are all overwhelmed by Gigavolt Havoc and the remainder of the tier would get blasted by SD-boosted STABs. So yeah that’s the main reason that Blaziken is so much worse now, it just dies too fast and can’t overwhelm its checks most of the time.
(For what it’s worth, the lack of Pex and Fini in gen 6 keeps it banworthy there in my eyes, and obviously it was initially banned in gen 5.)
Things like hidden power been gone, the need of having a lot of coverage to hit the metagame and the huge amount of punishment for phys contact move
The meta got really bulky, to the point that having a SD up was mandatory for Blaziken to even attempt to sweep. Not to mention that without Z-moves, Blaziken can’t sweep as well as it could back during USUM, and recoil from spamming Flare Blitz would eventually take Blaz down after killing 2-3 mons.
I think it is because it has a severe 4MSS, as it wants sd, stabs, knock off, tpunch and protect, and if some move is left out, it is going to struggle against something. It is still slow after a boost, and it can be revenge killed by faster scarfers like lando.
The reliance on contact moves and life orb, means that it will be chipped quickly by it and other things like rocky helmet and will put it in range of priority.
Bans and unbans have a big impact on the metagame so suspect tests can have a detrimental effect on the meta and we shouldn't be running them simply because the meta is boring, there must be a reasoning stronger than that. I think that the frequency of suspect tests this generation is good and it should continue that way.
I was going to mention Z moves as its the obvious one but bitbitou already explained their impact on Blaze well. Another thing that is massively important is the speed tiers that are set by Dragapult force Blaziken to run a Jolly nature. 426 speed at +1 means it needs Jolly to outspeed both Dragapult and now Zeraora as they are two of the best pokemon in the metagame and almost every good offense will have one of the two. Pult also can't be OHKOd by Blaziken unless it is running Knock Off, which it cannot due to needing Stone Edge or Thunderpunch.
Blaziken had most of the other issues mentioned in this thread last gen as well, such as longevity and a mediocre 120 attack (without an SD), but Z Moves made up for its lack of attack in comparison to other breakers.
Also is zamazenta going to be tested soon? I know this is more of a simple questions answers thread question, but I am curious.