Metagame SV OU Metagame Discussion v4 [NEW TIERING SURVEY UP]

[CatsAreCute]

A mon that should be on the council's radar is Enamorus. While it requires a tera to use the contrary boost, its sets can cleave a big chunk of an opponent's team and must be accounted for in matchups. I've seen it with scarf, specs, fs, lo, and boots, and all of these sets are effective and do different things. Moonblast and Earth Power hit the entire tier for neutral except for Scarm and Corv (Molt too but no one using that in this tier), and both get fucked by mystical fire. I end up having to use Tera to counter it and even then, depending on the item I can get screwed and swept by it. I don't want to have to run Weavil priority against webs and enamorus and am annoyed by how strong of a threat it is in the meta. Additionally it takes no skill to use and it causes me mental anguish. Jokes aside i do think a suspect would be appropriate for this mon, that or the stellar tera, but i think Enamorus is the problem not stellar. Other mons i think that should be looked at are Roaring moon and gholdengo.

glowking walls this for days. Also any bullet punch priority or even a Tera poison levitator. For webs, yea there isn't a good solution, just bring your best boot spinner and hope they don't have a bunch of ghosts I guess.

 

[Morkal]

Morkal's Favorite OU Sets

DLC-2 Edition​

So I'm currently drafting up some new essay analysis posts for this gen, but it's going to take me a while. So in the meantime, I'd like to share some of my favorite sets with you all and give a quick breakdown of what they do in OU (aka, a different kind of essay post)! This list will contain a healthy mix of OU mainstays, OU newcomers, and plenty of niche mon as well that I've found to be great in OU. On each of the sets I post, if there are any slashed-in move options or tera options, I'm going to bold my favorite options on that set. Also - Happy Holidays, I hope you all enjoy my last big post before the new year begins; 2024 here we come!

PokePreview

Archaludon

Archaludon @ Leftovers
Ability: Stamina
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Body Press
- Protect
- Thunder Wave/Light Screen/Stealth Rock​

Archaludon is, bar none, my favorite Pokemon in OU right now and essentially has been since day one of the DLC2 OU meta. Not only does this set steamroll through entire teams through phasing + Body Press damage, but it's bulky as hell and can cripple entire cores while being somewhat self-sufficient despite a lack of reliable recovery. Dragon Tail + Body Press + Protect is mostly what you need - the last slot is entirely dependent on your team's needs/preferences. If you're running a hazard stack team Stealth Rock would likely be the best option. I think Light Screen is overall the best option because it allows Archaludon to patch up its lacking Special Defense to accrue additional Stamina buffs or to phase out problematic threats it couldn't normally stay in on. Thunder Wave is another option that also works quite well on balance teams or even stall teams! Archaludon is, without a doubt, a critical part of OU and is only going to get better as more set varieties are explored. I've been advocating for more exploration into Archaludon's potential since day one of this DLC, and I'm going to continue doing so because I feel as though Archaludon is still underexplored compared to some other DLC2 OU mons.

Primarina

Primarina @ Choice Specs
Ability: Liquid Voice
Tera Type: Fairy/Fire (on Sun teams)
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Ice Beam
- Alluring Voice
- Energy Ball/Shadow Ball/Weather Ball (on Weather teams)​

Primarina is one of my favorite Pokemon in the tier and has proven itself to be fantastic lately with a wide variety of sets and great matchups against some of the strongest threats in the meta. Primarina's Specs STAB Moonblast is one of the hardest moves in OU to switch into, and unlike Enamorus, Primarina can take a hit. Water/Fairy STAB is brutal in this current meta, especially with Primarina's other STAB move Liquid Voice Water-type Alluring Voice which has a 100% chance to confuse a Pokemon using a setup move. Coverage moves are up to your choice, Ice Beam is fantastic and synergizes well with Primarina's STABS, while the last slot is dependent on your specific coverage needs. I prefer Energy Ball to have a way to nuke opposing Water types super effectively such as Alomomola, Dondozo, Suicune, and Swampert, but you could also use Shadow Ball for Glowking if you need to hit it (although Shadow Ball's coverage overlaps too much for me to consider it more than extremely niche). Weather Ball is a fantastic option for running on Weather Teams, especially Sun - as giving Primarina a base 100 Fire-type Special move to nuke threats such as Amoonguss, Cobalion, Corviknight, Gholdengo, Kingambit, Metagross, Skarmory, and Venusaur. Primarina has the toolkit to cook the entire tier alive, and I hope people continue to explore Primarina's movepool as most of what I've seen has either been Assault Vest or Specs.

Darkrai

Darkrai @ Life Orb
Ability: Bad Dreams
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fighting/Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Tera Blast​

It's no secret that Darkrai is my favorite Pokemon, which is why I'm overjoyed that he's not only allowed in OU but has so far proven to be balanced and pretty healthy for the tier as a whole. I've seen a lot of people talk about the merits of Utility Sub Darkrai, Choiced Darkrai, and Hypnosis Darkrai, but I honestly don't like those variants that much (especially Hypnosis), I vastly prefer Life Orb Nasty Plot with three attacks. Instead of slotting on Sludge Bomb just to deal with Faeries, I've been combining Dark Pulse STAB with Ice Beam and Tera Blast Fighting/Fairy - Darkrai doesn't have any usable Fairy moves at all by default, and my feelings on Focus Miss are pretty well known. Your choice of Tera-type is entirely dependent on what you want to nail for additional damage, but I highly recommend Tera Fighting as Ice Beam nails the Dragon-types that you want to hit with Tera Fairy + additionally handles a lot of other problematic threats, while Tera Blast Fighting synergizes beautifully with both Dark Pulse and Ice Beam and nails some of the most potent threats in the meta.

Furret

Furret @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Frisk
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Tidy Up
- Trick
- Knock Off/Super Fang/Endeavor
- U-turn

OU Furret doing OU Furret Things

Furret will be getting a full-length essay post sometime in the future, but for now, I'd like to just talk briefly about him. Furret is, bar none, my favorite utility Pokemon in OU right now. As some of you may be aware, Furret recently got access to the coveted move Tidy Up. Furret's support movepool is stupendous, allowing Furret to occupy a niche that no other Pokemon in OU can - a hybrid hazard control trick scout team disruptor (a mouthful, but follow me on this). Furret has access to the wonderful ability Frisk, which allows Furret to scout opposing movesets with reasonable accuracy via item detection; this pairs extremely well with Furret's access to Trick, allowing you to have a much better idea of when the best time to cripple an opponent's defensive mon or boosting sweeper with Scarf Trick. Furret can Tidy Up to clear hazards which also boosts its attack and speed, giving it additional opportunities to wear down its opponents and cripple more mons via Knock Offs and U-Turns that can hit harder than expected. Speaking of which, U-Turn is fantastic for continued momentum. Furret's pure Normal typing combined with Tera Fairy has some actual nice defensive synergy - with Normal being immune to Ghost-type attacks + luring Fighting-type attacks, and Tera Fairy resisting Dark, Fighting, and Bug-type attacks while additionally giving Furret a nice Dragon-type immunity. If Knock Off is not to your liking, you can run something like Super Fang to chunk huge threats (tricking Scarf onto PhysDef Dozo and then chunking it or its switch-in down 50% is really useful, let me tell ya). Endeavor is another option to play off of Furret's propensity to get worn down which can turn the tables against slower defensive teams. Furret has a lot of issues to work around - like, what were you expecting, it's literally Furret. However, Furret now has enough tools, utility, and disruptive synergy to, based on my ladder experience (peaked at around 1700 with Furret so far, aiming for 1800+ once I stop tilting with Zapdos), justify its use in OU.

Great Tusk

Great Tusk @ Leftovers/Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Spinner/Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Temper Flare​

It's Tusk, need I say more? Temper Flare is a fantastic move for Tusk and punishes Pokemon like Gholdengo for switching in to block Rapid Spin (and isn't blocked by Air Balloon like Earthquake is). Ground STAB with Ice/Fire coverage is brutal and allows Tusk to take on unique combinations of threats that other Pokemon simply can't - such as being able to condense handling Gliscor and Gholdengo into a single slot. Tera Fire boosts up Temper Flare's power with newfound STAB and synergizes well with Tusk's natural typing as Fire-type resists three of Great Tusk's most common weaknesses - Fairy, Ice, and Grass-type (additionally removes Great Tusks's weaknesses to Flying and Psychic-type attacks). For the item, I vastly prefer Leftovers for continued recovery but Heavy-Duty Boots is an option if you want to run Wish support. Also, this set can handle almost every common Ghold threat with proper prediction and has the possibility to outright OHKO defensive Ghold without an Adamant nature or boosts.

252 Atk Tera Fire Great Tusk Temper Flare (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Gholdengo: 368-434 (97.3 - 114.8%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO

Deoxys-Speed

Deoxys-Speed @ Expert Belt
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Fighting/Dark/Fairy
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Knock Off
- Psycho Boost
- Ice Beam
- Superpower​

I love Deoxys-Speed - the more I play around with and against him, the more I feel like he fits OU's new archetypes quite well. I've been having the most fun with mixed utility sets designed to have Deo-S act as a more reliable speed control for your team that, like Furret, similarly acts as a disruptor but in a more offensive capacity. I prefer Tera Fighting over Tera Dark as Superpower is a better move to give STAB to, and you gain a U-Turn resistance which can be crucial. Tera Dark is an option for boosting Knock Off, while Tera Fairy is great for defensive play.

Morpeko

Morpeko @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Hunger Switch
Tera Type: Ghost/Fairy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aura Wheel
- Parting Shot
- Rapid Spin
- Super Fang/Seed Bomb/Taunt/Knock Off​

I went into a little more detail about Morpeko here and even did a full essay writeup back in Gen 8 OU where Morpeko wasn't even as good as it is now here (apologies for the broken images and old formatting on that two-year-old post, my Gen 8 essay formats were still a work in progress). Morpeko is a uniquely tech'd utility spinner mon with one of the best signature moves in the game combined with incredible utility in Parting Shot for momentum, Rapid Spin, and Super Fang to chunk down threats into acceptable damage ranges. Aura Wheel condenses both of Morpeko's excellent Dark/Electric STABs into a single moveslot while synergizing nicely with Morpeko's other options. I prefer Tera Ghost on Morpeko to lure Fighting-type moves, but Tera Fairy is also an acceptable option to still gain resistances to Fighting and Bug-type moves along with a handy Dragon-type immunity to top it all off. Morpeko has consistently been a niche, but strong utility Pokemon with unique abilities that no other Pokemon can reliably deal with.

Enamorus

Enamorus @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Contrary
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Earth Power
- Superpower
- Sludge Bomb​

As I'm sure a lot of you have heard, Enamorus is good right now, REALLY good. I've found that Tera Fighting with Scarf + Moonblast, Earth Power, Superpower, and Sludge Bomb nails a huge portion of the tier (especially with Choice Scarf, allowing it to run circles around a lot of potent threats). Superpower acts as a great option to mons like Blissey, Kingambit, and other notable threats that are either physically frail or more exploitable via Fighting-type moves. Don't sleep on Enamorus, no matter what set you decide to use.

Flygon

Flygon @ Assault Vest
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- First Impression
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail​

Like Morpeko, I went into a little more detail about Flygon in that same post but to keep it brief - Flygon is a stupendous anti-meta pick thanks to priority First Impression + U-Turn nailing a huge portion of the meta super effectively while synergizing quite well with STAB Earthquake. STAB Dragon Tail is great for phasing and allows you to run negative priority as an additional layer of speed control against aggravating archetypes. Assault Vest is to weather some of the bonkers special attacks flying around the tier right now and pairs well with Levitate + Tera Bug for a Fighting-resist in addition to adding STAB to First Impression + U-Turn. Great mon all around, and in my opinion feels better to use than Garchomp (who cannot replicate Flygon's niche here) right now.

Kleavor

Kleavor @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sharpness
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fighting/Fairy/Bug
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Axe
- Night Slash
- Close Combat
- U-turn/X-Scissor/Tera Blast (for Tera Fairy)​

It's no secret that I love Kleavor, and right now I've found that his Choice Scarf set is especially potent in this meta. STAB Sharpness-boosted Stone Axe is an incredible move that allows you to attack while setting Stealth Rock. Sharpness-boosted Night Slash is great coverage and synergizes well with Kleavor's access to Close Combat. For the final slot, you could run either STAB U-Turn for momentum (which I HIGHLY recommend) or STAB Sharpness-boosted X-Scissor for sheer power. For the Tera slot, I prefer Fighting-type as it gives you a Dark-type resistance (Sucker Punch) + gives Close Combat STAB. You could run Tera Fairy with Tera Blast instead of Bug-type STAB to clear some unexpected threats, or you could run Tera Bug to remove the weaknesses of Rock-type, giving you a Fighting/Ground resistance instead of a neutrality, which can come in handy against threats like Great Tusk. Don't sleep on Kleavor, he's better than ever.

Toedscruel

Toedscruel @ Assault Vest
Ability: Mycelium Might
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe
Modest Nature
- Earth Power
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
- Giga Drain​

Toedscruel has been a consistently great undercurrent pick throughout this generation, and this new DLC2 OU meta is no exception. Assault Vest Toedscruel is the name of the game here, allowing you to compress Utility, Rapid Spin, with two great STAB attacks into a single slot while shrugging off some of the most potent Special Attacks in the tier. To give you an idea of just how well Toedscruel can take a hit with Assault Vest and only 240 HP investment, Toedscruel can live a 4x super effective Ice Beam from Life Orb Darkrai with this EV spread.

252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Ice Beam vs. 240 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Toedscruel: 302-359 (83.6 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO​

Toedscruel's other support-base options still work wonderfully (especially Mycelium Might Spore into Gholdengo and other powerful options), but being able to blank some of the most powerful special hits in the game while also condensing Rapid Spin + Knock + Two Attacks into a single slot is nothing to scoff at, don't sleep on Toedscruel.

Regice

Regice @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
Tera Type: Electric/Fairy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Curse
- Body Press
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt​

Do you like BoltBeam coverage? Do you like BoltBeam coverage on a mon who can terastallize to blank threats like Raging Bolt while shoring up its physical defense with Curse to fire off nuclear Body Presses? Regice is the mon for you. Its stats can't be lowered thanks to Clear Body, and Tera Electric allows it to not only get dual STAB on BoltBeam but also patches up Regice's longstanding defensive woes. 80/100/200 bulk is nothing to scoff at, and base 100 Special Attack is workable with Regice's phenomenal coverage options being backed up by Curse Body Press. Tera Fairy is great defensively and further helps Regice handle some of the Pokemon it's meant to take on. Another Pokemon that requires some planning, but has a strong niche in OU that no other threat can properly replicate.

Calyrex

Calyrex @ Red Card
Ability: Unnerve
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 Def / 236 SpA / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Future Sight
- Leech Seed
- Trick
- Body Press​

I've talked about Calyrex for a long time now; myself along with several others have documented its benefits in OU. I wrote a full analysis of OU Calyrex here and additionally talked about how it was tied with Glimmora for my favorite Pokemon in DLC1 OU here, so if you want a more in-depth look at what Calyrex can do, I highly suggest reading the analysis. But to give a TLDR here, Calyrex has unique role compression with Future Sight + Leech Seed + Trick + Body Press with Tera Fighting to act as a multi-faceted lure with phenomenal defensive and offensive qualities. Calyrex is even better right now in the current sea of Dark-types and pairs well with some of the metagame's strongest threats. I say once again, don't sleep on Calyrex.

Kyurem

Kyurem @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Ice Beam/Tera Blast
- Earth Power
- Freeze-Dry​

I don't need to go in-depth with how nuts Kyurem is, do I? Kyurem's Choice Specs set is powerful, spammable, and works on a wide variety of teams. One of the unique tech options I've been running with is dropping Ice Beam for Tera Blast Fairy - as you still have Ice coverage with Freeze-Dry. Tera Fairy with Tera Blast both offensively and defensively allows you to nuke several would-be checks and powerful threats such as Zamazenta with comparative ease and also allows you to nuke other Dragon-types (+Dark/Fighting-types) without the nasty -2 SpA drop of Draco Meteor.

Raging Bolt

Raging Bolt @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderclap
- Tera Blast
- Calm Mind
- Discharge/Thunderbolt​

Raging Bolt is a phenomenal new OU titan that has fantastic STAB priority, great stats, great typing, and access to great tools like Calm Mind. I've been experimenting with running Tera Blast Fairy in lieu of Dragon-type STAB as I didn't find myself clicking Draco Meteor that much throughout my laddering, and feel that Calm Mind + Electric/Fairy STAB is fantastic both offensively and defensively. For your main non-priority Electric-type STAB, I recommend Discharge for the 30% paralysis chance - but Thunderbolt or Thunder (on Rain teams) are also usable options. Raging Bolt is phenomenal and is still underexplored, I wouldn't recommend sleeping on it.

 

[Cuddly]

Morkal's Favorite OU Sets
View attachment 583156
DLC-2 Edition​

So I'm currently drafting up some new essay analysis posts for this gen, but it's going to take me a while. So in the meantime, I'd like to share some of my favorite sets with you all and give a quick breakdown of what they do in OU (aka, a different kind of essay post)! This list will contain a healthy mix of OU mainstays, OU newcomers, and plenty of niche mon as well that I've found to be great in OU. On each of the sets I post, if there are any slashed-in move options or tera options, I'm going to bold my favorite options on that set. Also - Happy Holidays!

PokePreview
View attachment 583085 View attachment 583089

Archaludon
View attachment 583085
Archaludon @ Leftovers
Ability: Stamina
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Body Press
- Protect
- Thunder Wave/Light Screen/Stealth Rock​

Archaludon is, bar none, my favorite Pokemon in OU right now and essentially has been since day one of the DLC2 OU meta. Not only does this set steamroll through entire teams through phasing + Body Press damage, but it's bulky as hell and can cripple entire cores while being somewhat self-sufficient despite a lack of reliable recovery. Dragon Tail + Body Press + Protect is mostly what you need - the last slot is entirely dependent on your team's needs/preferences. If you're running a hazard stack team Stealth Rock would likely be the best option. I think Light Screen is overall the best option because it allows Archaludon to patch up its lacking Special Defense to accrue additional Stamina buffs or to phase out problematic threats it couldn't normally stay in on. Thunder Wave is another option that also works quite well on balance teams or even stall teams! Archaludon is, without a doubt, a critical part of OU and is only going to get better as more set varieties are explored. I've been advocating for more exploration into Archaludon's potential since day one of this DLC, and I'm going to continue doing so because I feel as though Archaludon is still underexplored compared to some other DLC2 OU mons.

Primarina
View attachment 583092
Primarina @ Choice Specs
Ability: Liquid Voice
Tera Type: Fairy/Fire (on Sun teams)
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Ice Beam
- Alluring Voice
- Energy Ball/Shadow Ball/Weather Ball (on Weather teams)​

Primarina is one of my favorite Pokemon in the tier and has proven itself to be fantastic lately with a wide variety of sets and great matchups against some of the strongest threats in the meta. Primarina's Specs STAB Moonblast is one of the hardest moves in OU to switch into, and unlike Enamorus, Primarina can take a hit. Water/Fairy STAB is brutal in this current meta, especially with Primarina's other STAB move Liquid Voice Water-type Alluring Voice which has a 100% chance to confuse a Pokemon using a setup move. Coverage moves are up to your choice, Ice Beam is fantastic and synergizes well with Primarina's STABS, while the last slot is dependent on your specific coverage needs. I prefer Energy Ball to have a way to nuke opposing Water types super effectively such as Alomomola, Dondozo, Suicune, and Swampert, but you could also use Shadow Ball for Glowking if you need to hit it (although Shadow Ball's coverage overlaps too much for me to consider it more than extremely niche). Weather Ball is a fantastic option for running on Weather Teams, especially Sun - as giving Primarina a base 100 Fire-type Special move to nuke threats such as Amoonguss, Cobalion, Corviknight, Gholdengo, Kingambit, Metagross, Skarmory, and Venusaur. Primarina has the toolkit to cook the entire tier alive, and I hope people continue to explore Primarina's movepool as most of what I've seen has either been Assault Vest or Specs.

Darkrai
View attachment 583132
Darkrai @ Life Orb
Ability: Bad Dreams
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fighting/Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Tera Blast​

It's no secret that Darkrai is my favorite Pokemon, which is why I'm overjoyed that he's not only allowed in OU but has so far proven to be balanced and pretty healthy for the tier as a whole. I've seen a lot of people talk about the merits of Utility Sub Darkrai, Choiced Darkrai, and Hypnosis Darkrai, but I honestly don't like those variants that much (especially Hypnosis), I vastly prefer Life Orb Nasty Plot with three attacks. Instead of slotting on Sludge Bomb just to deal with Faeries, I've been combining Dark Pulse STAB with Ice Beam and Tera Blast Fighting/Fairy - Darkrai doesn't have any usable Fairy moves at all by default, and my feelings on Focus Miss are pretty well known. Your choice of Tera-type is entirely dependent on what you want to nail for additional damage, but I highly recommend Tera Fighting as Ice Beam nails the Dragon-types that you want to hit with Tera Fairy + additionally handles a lot of other problematic threats, while Tera Blast Fighting synergizes beautifully with both Dark Pulse and Ice Beam and nails some of the most potent threats in the meta.

Furret
View attachment 583133
Furret @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Frisk
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Tidy Up
- Trick
- Knock Off/Super Fang/Endeavor
- U-turn

OU Furret doing OU Furret Things

View attachment 583158
View attachment 583159
View attachment 583160

Furret will be getting a full-length essay post sometime in the future, but for now, I'd like to just talk briefly about him. Furret is, bar none, my favorite utility Pokemon in OU right now. As some of you may be aware, Furret recently got access to the coveted move Tidy Up. Furret's support movepool is stupendous, allowing Furret to occupy a niche that no other Pokemon in OU can - a hybrid hazard control trick scout team disruptor (a mouthful, but follow me on this). Furret has access to the wonderful ability Frisk, which allows Furret to scout opposing movesets with reasonable accuracy via item detection; this pairs extremely well with Furret's access to Trick, allowing you to have a much better idea of when the best time to cripple an opponent's defensive mon or boosting sweeper with Scarf Trick. Furret can Tidy Up to clear hazards which also boosts its attack and speed, giving it additional opportunities to wear down its opponents and cripple more mons via Knock Offs and U-Turns that can hit harder than expected. Speaking of which, U-Turn is fantastic for continued momentum. Furret's pure Normal typing combined with Tera Fairy has some actual nice defensive synergy - with Normal being immune to Ghost-type attacks + luring Fighting-type attacks, and Tera Fairy resisting Dark, Fighting, and Bug-type attacks while additionally giving Furret a nice Dragon-type immunity. If Knock Off is not to your liking, you can run something like Super Fang to chunk huge threats (tricking Scarf onto PhysDef Dozo and then chunking it or its switch-in down 50% is really useful, let me tell ya). Endeavor is another option to play off of Furret's propensity to get worn down which can turn the tables against slower defensive teams. Furret has a lot of issues to work around - like, what were you expecting, it's literally Furret. However, Furret now has enough tools, utility, and disruptive synergy to, based on my ladder experience (peaked at around 1700 with Furret so far, aiming for 1800+ once I stop tilting with Zapdos), justify its use in OU.

Great Tusk
View attachment 583131
Great Tusk @ Leftovers/Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Spinner/Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Temper Flare​

It's Tusk, need I say more? Temper Flare is a fantastic move for Tusk and punishes Pokemon like Gholdengo for switching in to block Rapid Spin (and isn't blocked by Air Balloon like Earthquake is). Ground STAB with Ice/Fire coverage is brutal and allows Tusk to take on unique combinations of threats that other Pokemon simply can't - such as being able to condense handling Gliscor and Gholdengo into a single slot. Tera Fire boosts up Temper Flare's power with newfound STAB and synergizes well with Tusk's natural typing as Fire-type resists three of Great Tusk's most common weaknesses - Fairy, Ice, and Grass-type (additionally removes Great Tusks's weaknesses to Flying and Psychic-type attacks). For the item, I vastly prefer Leftovers for continued recovery but Heavy-Duty Boots is an option if you want to run Wish support.

Deoxys-Speed
View attachment 583136
Deoxys-Speed @ Expert Belt
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Fighting/Dark/Fairy
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Knock Off
- Psycho Boost
- Ice Beam
- Superpower​

I love Deoxys-Speed - the more I play around with and against him, the more I feel like he fits OU's new archetypes quite well. I've been having the most fun with mixed utility sets designed to have Deo-S act as a more reliable speed control for your team that, like Furret, similarly acts as a disruptor but in a more offensive capacity. I prefer Tera Fighting over Tera Dark as Superpower is a better move to give STAB to, and you gain a U-Turn resistance which can be crucial. Tera Dark is an option for boosting Knock Off, while Tera Fairy is great for defensive play.

Morpeko
View attachment 583146
Morpeko @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Hunger Switch
Tera Type: Ghost/Fairy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aura Wheel
- Parting Shot
- Rapid Spin
- Super Fang/Seed Bomb/Taunt/Knock Off​

I went into a little more detail about Morpeko here and even did a full essay writeup back in Gen 8 OU where Morpeko wasn't even as good as it is now here (apologies for the broken images and old formatting on that two-year-old post, my Gen 8 essay formats were still a work in progress). Morpeko is a uniquely tech'd utility spinner mon with one of the best signature moves in the game combined with incredible utility in Parting Shot for momentum, Rapid Spin, and Super Fang to chunk down threats into acceptable damage ranges. Aura Wheel condenses both of Morpeko's excellent Dark/Electric STABs into a single moveslot while synergizing nicely with Morpeko's other options. I prefer Tera Ghost on Morpeko to lure Fighting-type moves, but Tera Fairy is also an acceptable option to still gain resistances to Fighting and Bug-type moves along with a handy Dragon-type immunity to top it all off. Morpeko has consistently been a niche, but strong utility Pokemon with unique abilities that no other Pokemon can reliably deal with.

Enamorus
View attachment 583145
Enamorus @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Contrary
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Earth Power
- Superpower
- Sludge Bomb​

As I'm sure a lot of you have heard, Enamorus is good right now, REALLY good. I've found that Tera Fighting with Scarf + Moonblast, Earth Power, Superpower, and Sludge Bomb nails a huge portion of the tier (especially with Choice Scarf, allowing it to run circles around a lot of potent threats). Superpower acts as a great option to mons like Blissey, Kingambit, and other notable threats that are either physically frail or more exploitable via Fighting-type moves. Don't sleep on Enamorus, no matter what set you decide to use.

Flygon
View attachment 583147
Flygon @ Assault Vest
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- First Impression
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail​

Like Morpeko, I went into a little more detail about Flygon in that same post but to keep it brief - Flygon is a stupendous anti-meta pick thanks to priority First Impression + U-Turn nailing a huge portion of the meta super effectively while synergizing quite well with STAB Earthquake. STAB Dragon Tail is great for phasing and allows you to run negative priority as an additional layer of speed control against aggravating archetypes. Assault Vest is to weather some of the bonkers special attacks flying around the tier right now and pairs well with Levitate + Tera Bug for a Fighting-resist in addition to adding STAB to First Impression + U-Turn. Great mon all around, and in my opinion feels better to use than Garchomp (who cannot replicate Flygon's niche here) right now.

Kleavor
View attachment 583148
Kleavor @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sharpness
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fighting/Fairy/Bug
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Axe
- Night Slash
- Close Combat
- U-turn/X-Scissor/Tera Blast (for Tera Fairy)​

It's no secret that I love Kleavor, and right now I've found that his Choice Scarf set is especially potent in this meta. STAB Sharpness-boosted Stone Axe is an incredible move that allows you to attack while setting Stealth Rock. Sharpness-boosted Night Slash is great coverage and synergizes well with Kleavor's access to Close Combat. For the final slot, you could run either STAB U-Turn for momentum (which I HIGHLY recommend) or STAB Sharpness-boosted X-Scissor for sheer power. For the Tera slot, I prefer Fighting-type as it gives you a Dark-type resistance (Sucker Punch) + gives Close Combat STAB. You could run Tera Fairy with Tera Blast instead of Bug-type STAB to clear some unexpected threats, or you could run Tera Bug to remove the weaknesses of Rock-type, giving you a Fighting/Ground resistance instead of a neutrality, which can come in handy against threats like Great Tusk. Don't sleep on Kleavor, he's better than ever.

Toedscruel
View attachment 583149
Toedscruel @ Assault Vest
Ability: Mycelium Might
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe
Modest Nature
- Earth Power
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
- Giga Drain​

Toedscruel has been a consistently great undercurrent pick throughout this generation, and this new DLC2 OU meta is no exception. Assault Vest Toedscruel is the name of the game here, allowing you to compress Utility, Rapid Spin, with two great STAB attacks into a single slot while shrugging off some of the most potent Special Attacks in the tier. To give you an idea of just how well Toedscruel can take a hit with Assault Vest and only 240 HP investment, Toedscruel can live a 4x super effective Ice Beam from Life Orb Darkrai with this EV spread.

252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Ice Beam vs. 240 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Toedscruel: 302-359 (83.6 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Toedscruel's other support-base options still work wonderfully (especially Mycelium Might Spore into Gholdengo and other powerful options), but being able to blank some of the most powerful special hits in the game while also condensing Rapid Spin + Knock + Two Attacks into a single slot is nothing to scoff at, don't sleep on Toedscruel.

Regice
View attachment 583150
Regice @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Curse
- Body Press
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt​

You like BoltBeam coverage? You like BoltBeam coverage on a mon who can terastallize to blank threats like Raging Bolt while shoring up its physical defense with Curse to fire off nuclear Body Presses? Regice is the mon for you. Its stats can't be lowered thanks to Clear Body, and tera allows it to not only get dual STAB on BoltBeam but additionally patches up Regice's longstanding defensive woes. 80/100/200 bulk is nothing to scoff at, and base 100 Special Attack is definitely workable with Regice's phenomenal coverage options being backed up by Curse Body Press. Another Pokemon that requires some planning, but has a strong niche in OU that no other threat can properly replicate.

Calyrex
View attachment 583152
Calyrex @ Red Card
Ability: Unnerve
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 Def / 236 SpA / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Future Sight
- Leech Seed
- Trick
- Body Press​

I've talked about Calyrex for a long time now; myself along with several others have documented its benefits in OU. I wrote a full analysis of OU Calyrex here and additionally talked about how it was tied with Glimmora for my favorite Pokemon in DLC1 OU here, so if you want a more in-depth look at what Calyrex can do, I highly suggest reading the analysis. But to give a TLDR here, Calyrex has unique role compression with Future Sight + Leech Seed + Trick + Body Press with Tera Fighting to act as a multi-faceted lure with phenomenal defensive and offensive qualities. Calyrex is even better right now in the current sea of Dark-types and pairs well with some of the metagame's strongest threats. I say once again, don't sleep on Calyrex.

Kyurem
View attachment 583153
Kyurem @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Ice Beam/Tera Blast
- Earth Power
- Freeze-Dry​

I don't need to go in-depth with how nuts Kyurem is, do I? Kyurem's Choice Specs set is powerful, spammable, and works on a wide variety of teams. One of the unique tech options I've been running with is dropping Ice Beam for Tera Blast Fairy - as you still have Ice coverage with Freeze-Dry. Tera Fairy with Tera Blast both offensively and defensively allows you to nuke several would-be checks and powerful threats such as Zamazenta with comparative ease and also allows you to nuke other Dragon-types (+Dark/Fighting-types) without the nasty -2 SpA drop of Draco Meteor.

Raging Bolt
View attachment 583089
Raging Bolt @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderclap
- Tera Blast
- Calm Mind
- Discharge/Thunderbolt​

Raging Bolt is a phenomenal new OU titan that has fantastic STAB priority, great stats, great typing, and access to great tools like Calm Mind. I've been experimenting with running Tera Blast Fairy in lieu of Dragon-type STAB as I didn't find myself clicking Draco Meteor that much throughout my laddering, and feel that Calm Mind + Electric/Fairy STAB is fantastic both offensively and defensively. For your main non-priority Electric-type STAB, I recommend Discharge for the 30% paralysis chance - but Thunderbolt or Thunder (on Rain teams) are also usable options. Raging Bolt is phenomenal and is still underexplored, I wouldn't recommend sleeping on it.

FURRET GANG LET’S GO. Secret top tier of OU. Dodging ban hammer despite how broken it is.

 

[SweetLou32]

glowking walls this for days. Also any bullet punch priority or even a Tera poison levitator. For webs, yea there isn't a good solution, just bring your best boot spinner and hope they don't have a bunch of ghosts I guess.

Gloking doesn't take boosted earth powers, having to run scizor just for one mon is lame and constricting, tera posion levitate just sounds so niche. None of those solutions are really helpful for one mon

 

[Moyashi]

As someone who actually used Covert Cloak in that era: it's not a bad item in general. It eliminates variance

except it is a bad item. It has enormous opportunity cost for the benefit of… stopping something that may not even happen to you without. It’s a good vgc item, but in singles it’s better to just build and play better so you don’t end up in scenarios where variance screws you over in one turn.

 

[arnimacarni]

Morkal's Favorite OU Sets
View attachment 583156
DLC-2 Edition​

So I'm currently drafting up some new essay analysis posts for this gen, but it's going to take me a while. So in the meantime, I'd like to share some of my favorite sets with you all and give a quick breakdown of what they do in OU (aka, a different kind of essay post)! This list will contain a healthy mix of OU mainstays, OU newcomers, and plenty of niche mon as well that I've found to be great in OU. On each of the sets I post, if there are any slashed-in move options or tera options, I'm going to bold my favorite options on that set. Also - Happy Holidays, I hope you all enjoy my last big post before the new year begins; 2024 here we come!

PokePreview
View attachment 583085 View attachment 583089

Archaludon
View attachment 583085
Archaludon @ Leftovers
Ability: Stamina
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Body Press
- Protect
- Thunder Wave/Light Screen/Stealth Rock​

Archaludon is, bar none, my favorite Pokemon in OU right now and essentially has been since day one of the DLC2 OU meta. Not only does this set steamroll through entire teams through phasing + Body Press damage, but it's bulky as hell and can cripple entire cores while being somewhat self-sufficient despite a lack of reliable recovery. Dragon Tail + Body Press + Protect is mostly what you need - the last slot is entirely dependent on your team's needs/preferences. If you're running a hazard stack team Stealth Rock would likely be the best option. I think Light Screen is overall the best option because it allows Archaludon to patch up its lacking Special Defense to accrue additional Stamina buffs or to phase out problematic threats it couldn't normally stay in on. Thunder Wave is another option that also works quite well on balance teams or even stall teams! Archaludon is, without a doubt, a critical part of OU and is only going to get better as more set varieties are explored. I've been advocating for more exploration into Archaludon's potential since day one of this DLC, and I'm going to continue doing so because I feel as though Archaludon is still underexplored compared to some other DLC2 OU mons.

Primarina
View attachment 583092
Primarina @ Choice Specs
Ability: Liquid Voice
Tera Type: Fairy/Fire (on Sun teams)
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Ice Beam
- Alluring Voice
- Energy Ball/Shadow Ball/Weather Ball (on Weather teams)​

Primarina is one of my favorite Pokemon in the tier and has proven itself to be fantastic lately with a wide variety of sets and great matchups against some of the strongest threats in the meta. Primarina's Specs STAB Moonblast is one of the hardest moves in OU to switch into, and unlike Enamorus, Primarina can take a hit. Water/Fairy STAB is brutal in this current meta, especially with Primarina's other STAB move Liquid Voice Water-type Alluring Voice which has a 100% chance to confuse a Pokemon using a setup move. Coverage moves are up to your choice, Ice Beam is fantastic and synergizes well with Primarina's STABS, while the last slot is dependent on your specific coverage needs. I prefer Energy Ball to have a way to nuke opposing Water types super effectively such as Alomomola, Dondozo, Suicune, and Swampert, but you could also use Shadow Ball for Glowking if you need to hit it (although Shadow Ball's coverage overlaps too much for me to consider it more than extremely niche). Weather Ball is a fantastic option for running on Weather Teams, especially Sun - as giving Primarina a base 100 Fire-type Special move to nuke threats such as Amoonguss, Cobalion, Corviknight, Gholdengo, Kingambit, Metagross, Skarmory, and Venusaur. Primarina has the toolkit to cook the entire tier alive, and I hope people continue to explore Primarina's movepool as most of what I've seen has either been Assault Vest or Specs.

Darkrai
View attachment 583132
Darkrai @ Life Orb
Ability: Bad Dreams
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fighting/Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Tera Blast​

It's no secret that Darkrai is my favorite Pokemon, which is why I'm overjoyed that he's not only allowed in OU but has so far proven to be balanced and pretty healthy for the tier as a whole. I've seen a lot of people talk about the merits of Utility Sub Darkrai, Choiced Darkrai, and Hypnosis Darkrai, but I honestly don't like those variants that much (especially Hypnosis), I vastly prefer Life Orb Nasty Plot with three attacks. Instead of slotting on Sludge Bomb just to deal with Faeries, I've been combining Dark Pulse STAB with Ice Beam and Tera Blast Fighting/Fairy - Darkrai doesn't have any usable Fairy moves at all by default, and my feelings on Focus Miss are pretty well known. Your choice of Tera-type is entirely dependent on what you want to nail for additional damage, but I highly recommend Tera Fighting as Ice Beam nails the Dragon-types that you want to hit with Tera Fairy + additionally handles a lot of other problematic threats, while Tera Blast Fighting synergizes beautifully with both Dark Pulse and Ice Beam and nails some of the most potent threats in the meta.

Furret
View attachment 583133
Furret @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Frisk
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Tidy Up
- Trick
- Knock Off/Super Fang/Endeavor
- U-turn

OU Furret doing OU Furret Things

View attachment 583158
View attachment 583159
View attachment 583160

Furret will be getting a full-length essay post sometime in the future, but for now, I'd like to just talk briefly about him. Furret is, bar none, my favorite utility Pokemon in OU right now. As some of you may be aware, Furret recently got access to the coveted move Tidy Up. Furret's support movepool is stupendous, allowing Furret to occupy a niche that no other Pokemon in OU can - a hybrid hazard control trick scout team disruptor (a mouthful, but follow me on this). Furret has access to the wonderful ability Frisk, which allows Furret to scout opposing movesets with reasonable accuracy via item detection; this pairs extremely well with Furret's access to Trick, allowing you to have a much better idea of when the best time to cripple an opponent's defensive mon or boosting sweeper with Scarf Trick. Furret can Tidy Up to clear hazards which also boosts its attack and speed, giving it additional opportunities to wear down its opponents and cripple more mons via Knock Offs and U-Turns that can hit harder than expected. Speaking of which, U-Turn is fantastic for continued momentum. Furret's pure Normal typing combined with Tera Fairy has some actual nice defensive synergy - with Normal being immune to Ghost-type attacks + luring Fighting-type attacks, and Tera Fairy resisting Dark, Fighting, and Bug-type attacks while additionally giving Furret a nice Dragon-type immunity. If Knock Off is not to your liking, you can run something like Super Fang to chunk huge threats (tricking Scarf onto PhysDef Dozo and then chunking it or its switch-in down 50% is really useful, let me tell ya). Endeavor is another option to play off of Furret's propensity to get worn down which can turn the tables against slower defensive teams. Furret has a lot of issues to work around - like, what were you expecting, it's literally Furret. However, Furret now has enough tools, utility, and disruptive synergy to, based on my ladder experience (peaked at around 1700 with Furret so far, aiming for 1800+ once I stop tilting with Zapdos), justify its use in OU.

Great Tusk
View attachment 583131
Great Tusk @ Leftovers/Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Spinner/Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Temper Flare​

It's Tusk, need I say more? Temper Flare is a fantastic move for Tusk and punishes Pokemon like Gholdengo for switching in to block Rapid Spin (and isn't blocked by Air Balloon like Earthquake is). Ground STAB with Ice/Fire coverage is brutal and allows Tusk to take on unique combinations of threats that other Pokemon simply can't - such as being able to condense handling Gliscor and Gholdengo into a single slot. Tera Fire boosts up Temper Flare's power with newfound STAB and synergizes well with Tusk's natural typing as Fire-type resists three of Great Tusk's most common weaknesses - Fairy, Ice, and Grass-type (additionally removes Great Tusks's weaknesses to Flying and Psychic-type attacks). For the item, I vastly prefer Leftovers for continued recovery but Heavy-Duty Boots is an option if you want to run Wish support.

Deoxys-Speed
View attachment 583136
Deoxys-Speed @ Expert Belt
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Fighting/Dark/Fairy
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Knock Off
- Psycho Boost
- Ice Beam
- Superpower​

I love Deoxys-Speed - the more I play around with and against him, the more I feel like he fits OU's new archetypes quite well. I've been having the most fun with mixed utility sets designed to have Deo-S act as a more reliable speed control for your team that, like Furret, similarly acts as a disruptor but in a more offensive capacity. I prefer Tera Fighting over Tera Dark as Superpower is a better move to give STAB to, and you gain a U-Turn resistance which can be crucial. Tera Dark is an option for boosting Knock Off, while Tera Fairy is great for defensive play.

Morpeko
View attachment 583146
Morpeko @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Hunger Switch
Tera Type: Ghost/Fairy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aura Wheel
- Parting Shot
- Rapid Spin
- Super Fang/Seed Bomb/Taunt/Knock Off​

I went into a little more detail about Morpeko here and even did a full essay writeup back in Gen 8 OU where Morpeko wasn't even as good as it is now here (apologies for the broken images and old formatting on that two-year-old post, my Gen 8 essay formats were still a work in progress). Morpeko is a uniquely tech'd utility spinner mon with one of the best signature moves in the game combined with incredible utility in Parting Shot for momentum, Rapid Spin, and Super Fang to chunk down threats into acceptable damage ranges. Aura Wheel condenses both of Morpeko's excellent Dark/Electric STABs into a single moveslot while synergizing nicely with Morpeko's other options. I prefer Tera Ghost on Morpeko to lure Fighting-type moves, but Tera Fairy is also an acceptable option to still gain resistances to Fighting and Bug-type moves along with a handy Dragon-type immunity to top it all off. Morpeko has consistently been a niche, but strong utility Pokemon with unique abilities that no other Pokemon can reliably deal with.

Enamorus
View attachment 583145
Enamorus @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Contrary
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Earth Power
- Superpower
- Sludge Bomb​

As I'm sure a lot of you have heard, Enamorus is good right now, REALLY good. I've found that Tera Fighting with Scarf + Moonblast, Earth Power, Superpower, and Sludge Bomb nails a huge portion of the tier (especially with Choice Scarf, allowing it to run circles around a lot of potent threats). Superpower acts as a great option to mons like Blissey, Kingambit, and other notable threats that are either physically frail or more exploitable via Fighting-type moves. Don't sleep on Enamorus, no matter what set you decide to use.

Flygon
View attachment 583147
Flygon @ Assault Vest
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- First Impression
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail​

Like Morpeko, I went into a little more detail about Flygon in that same post but to keep it brief - Flygon is a stupendous anti-meta pick thanks to priority First Impression + U-Turn nailing a huge portion of the meta super effectively while synergizing quite well with STAB Earthquake. STAB Dragon Tail is great for phasing and allows you to run negative priority as an additional layer of speed control against aggravating archetypes. Assault Vest is to weather some of the bonkers special attacks flying around the tier right now and pairs well with Levitate + Tera Bug for a Fighting-resist in addition to adding STAB to First Impression + U-Turn. Great mon all around, and in my opinion feels better to use than Garchomp (who cannot replicate Flygon's niche here) right now.

Kleavor
View attachment 583148
Kleavor @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sharpness
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fighting/Fairy/Bug
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Axe
- Night Slash
- Close Combat
- U-turn/X-Scissor/Tera Blast (for Tera Fairy)​

It's no secret that I love Kleavor, and right now I've found that his Choice Scarf set is especially potent in this meta. STAB Sharpness-boosted Stone Axe is an incredible move that allows you to attack while setting Stealth Rock. Sharpness-boosted Night Slash is great coverage and synergizes well with Kleavor's access to Close Combat. For the final slot, you could run either STAB U-Turn for momentum (which I HIGHLY recommend) or STAB Sharpness-boosted X-Scissor for sheer power. For the Tera slot, I prefer Fighting-type as it gives you a Dark-type resistance (Sucker Punch) + gives Close Combat STAB. You could run Tera Fairy with Tera Blast instead of Bug-type STAB to clear some unexpected threats, or you could run Tera Bug to remove the weaknesses of Rock-type, giving you a Fighting/Ground resistance instead of a neutrality, which can come in handy against threats like Great Tusk. Don't sleep on Kleavor, he's better than ever.

Toedscruel
View attachment 583149
Toedscruel @ Assault Vest
Ability: Mycelium Might
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe
Modest Nature
- Earth Power
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
- Giga Drain​

Toedscruel has been a consistently great undercurrent pick throughout this generation, and this new DLC2 OU meta is no exception. Assault Vest Toedscruel is the name of the game here, allowing you to compress Utility, Rapid Spin, with two great STAB attacks into a single slot while shrugging off some of the most potent Special Attacks in the tier. To give you an idea of just how well Toedscruel can take a hit with Assault Vest and only 240 HP investment, Toedscruel can live a 4x super effective Ice Beam from Life Orb Darkrai with this EV spread.

252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Ice Beam vs. 240 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Toedscruel: 302-359 (83.6 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO​

Toedscruel's other support-base options still work wonderfully (especially Mycelium Might Spore into Gholdengo and other powerful options), but being able to blank some of the most powerful special hits in the game while also condensing Rapid Spin + Knock + Two Attacks into a single slot is nothing to scoff at, don't sleep on Toedscruel.

Regice
View attachment 583150
Regice @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Curse
- Body Press
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt​

You like BoltBeam coverage? You like BoltBeam coverage on a mon who can terastallize to blank threats like Raging Bolt while shoring up its physical defense with Curse to fire off nuclear Body Presses? Regice is the mon for you. Its stats can't be lowered thanks to Clear Body, and tera allows it to not only get dual STAB on BoltBeam but additionally patches up Regice's longstanding defensive woes. 80/100/200 bulk is nothing to scoff at, and base 100 Special Attack is definitely workable with Regice's phenomenal coverage options being backed up by Curse Body Press. Another Pokemon that requires some planning, but has a strong niche in OU that no other threat can properly replicate.

Calyrex
View attachment 583152
Calyrex @ Red Card
Ability: Unnerve
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 Def / 236 SpA / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Future Sight
- Leech Seed
- Trick
- Body Press​

I've talked about Calyrex for a long time now; myself along with several others have documented its benefits in OU. I wrote a full analysis of OU Calyrex here and additionally talked about how it was tied with Glimmora for my favorite Pokemon in DLC1 OU here, so if you want a more in-depth look at what Calyrex can do, I highly suggest reading the analysis. But to give a TLDR here, Calyrex has unique role compression with Future Sight + Leech Seed + Trick + Body Press with Tera Fighting to act as a multi-faceted lure with phenomenal defensive and offensive qualities. Calyrex is even better right now in the current sea of Dark-types and pairs well with some of the metagame's strongest threats. I say once again, don't sleep on Calyrex.

Kyurem
View attachment 583153
Kyurem @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Ice Beam/Tera Blast
- Earth Power
- Freeze-Dry​

I don't need to go in-depth with how nuts Kyurem is, do I? Kyurem's Choice Specs set is powerful, spammable, and works on a wide variety of teams. One of the unique tech options I've been running with is dropping Ice Beam for Tera Blast Fairy - as you still have Ice coverage with Freeze-Dry. Tera Fairy with Tera Blast both offensively and defensively allows you to nuke several would-be checks and powerful threats such as Zamazenta with comparative ease and also allows you to nuke other Dragon-types (+Dark/Fighting-types) without the nasty -2 SpA drop of Draco Meteor.

Raging Bolt
View attachment 583089
Raging Bolt @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderclap
- Tera Blast
- Calm Mind
- Discharge/Thunderbolt​

Raging Bolt is a phenomenal new OU titan that has fantastic STAB priority, great stats, great typing, and access to great tools like Calm Mind. I've been experimenting with running Tera Blast Fairy in lieu of Dragon-type STAB as I didn't find myself clicking Draco Meteor that much throughout my laddering, and feel that Calm Mind + Electric/Fairy STAB is fantastic both offensively and defensively. For your main non-priority Electric-type STAB, I recommend Discharge for the 30% paralysis chance - but Thunderbolt or Thunder (on Rain teams) are also usable options. Raging Bolt is phenomenal and is still underexplored, I wouldn't recommend sleeping on it.

Amazing as always. Bridge is my fav mon right now as well, only problem with your set is that it gets walled 1v1 by Flutter Mane, and that's gonna be a problem once it inevitably gets retested in OU.

I meant to ask last time but is there any particular reason for AV on Flygon? Any benchmarks at all or is it just for some extra bulk? Any other item can be considered?

 

[Morkal]

Amazing as always. Bridge is my fav mon right now as well, only problem with your set is that it gets walled 1v1 by Flutter Mane, and that's gonna be a problem once it inevitably gets retested in OU.

I meant to ask last time but is there any particular reason for AV on Flygon? Any benchmarks at all or is it just for some extra bulk? Any other item can be considered?

I've found that Flygon having a little extra special defense cushion works the best with helping its survivability, as Flygon naturally has a lot more physical switch-in options comparatively. There are other options you could run (such as less offensively focused utility tech with its varied movepool or even mixed Scarf sets), but I've found that the AV offensive utility variant works the best for Flygon imo.

 

[artificialdeath]

How well is Dragonite doing in the current meta? I feel like I haven't seen it on a team in a while since DLC2 dropped.

 

[RUrena888]

I love the dedication to blastoise but I think you're gonna have to wait a second for it to drop a few tiers to truly enjoy it. OU is just too strong for it right now, but I bet it will find a place in NU/RU.

Maybe UU at least? Don’t mean to be annoying but damn, it seems like OU & UU are the only two tiers you can enjoy without feeling too much FOMO or w/e

 

[Heatranator]

Morkal's Favorite OU Sets
View attachment 583156
DLC-2 Edition​

So I'm currently drafting up some new essay analysis posts for this gen, but it's going to take me a while. So in the meantime, I'd like to share some of my favorite sets with you all and give a quick breakdown of what they do in OU (aka, a different kind of essay post)! This list will contain a healthy mix of OU mainstays, OU newcomers, and plenty of niche mon as well that I've found to be great in OU. On each of the sets I post, if there are any slashed-in move options or tera options, I'm going to bold my favorite options on that set. Also - Happy Holidays, I hope you all enjoy my last big post before the new year begins; 2024 here we come!

PokePreview
View attachment 583085 View attachment 583089

Archaludon
View attachment 583085
Archaludon @ Leftovers
Ability: Stamina
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Body Press
- Protect
- Thunder Wave/Light Screen/Stealth Rock​

Archaludon is, bar none, my favorite Pokemon in OU right now and essentially has been since day one of the DLC2 OU meta. Not only does this set steamroll through entire teams through phasing + Body Press damage, but it's bulky as hell and can cripple entire cores while being somewhat self-sufficient despite a lack of reliable recovery. Dragon Tail + Body Press + Protect is mostly what you need - the last slot is entirely dependent on your team's needs/preferences. If you're running a hazard stack team Stealth Rock would likely be the best option. I think Light Screen is overall the best option because it allows Archaludon to patch up its lacking Special Defense to accrue additional Stamina buffs or to phase out problematic threats it couldn't normally stay in on. Thunder Wave is another option that also works quite well on balance teams or even stall teams! Archaludon is, without a doubt, a critical part of OU and is only going to get better as more set varieties are explored. I've been advocating for more exploration into Archaludon's potential since day one of this DLC, and I'm going to continue doing so because I feel as though Archaludon is still underexplored compared to some other DLC2 OU mons.

Primarina
View attachment 583092
Primarina @ Choice Specs
Ability: Liquid Voice
Tera Type: Fairy/Fire (on Sun teams)
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Ice Beam
- Alluring Voice
- Energy Ball/Shadow Ball/Weather Ball (on Weather teams)​

Primarina is one of my favorite Pokemon in the tier and has proven itself to be fantastic lately with a wide variety of sets and great matchups against some of the strongest threats in the meta. Primarina's Specs STAB Moonblast is one of the hardest moves in OU to switch into, and unlike Enamorus, Primarina can take a hit. Water/Fairy STAB is brutal in this current meta, especially with Primarina's other STAB move Liquid Voice Water-type Alluring Voice which has a 100% chance to confuse a Pokemon using a setup move. Coverage moves are up to your choice, Ice Beam is fantastic and synergizes well with Primarina's STABS, while the last slot is dependent on your specific coverage needs. I prefer Energy Ball to have a way to nuke opposing Water types super effectively such as Alomomola, Dondozo, Suicune, and Swampert, but you could also use Shadow Ball for Glowking if you need to hit it (although Shadow Ball's coverage overlaps too much for me to consider it more than extremely niche). Weather Ball is a fantastic option for running on Weather Teams, especially Sun - as giving Primarina a base 100 Fire-type Special move to nuke threats such as Amoonguss, Cobalion, Corviknight, Gholdengo, Kingambit, Metagross, Skarmory, and Venusaur. Primarina has the toolkit to cook the entire tier alive, and I hope people continue to explore Primarina's movepool as most of what I've seen has either been Assault Vest or Specs.

Darkrai
View attachment 583132
Darkrai @ Life Orb
Ability: Bad Dreams
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fighting/Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Tera Blast​

It's no secret that Darkrai is my favorite Pokemon, which is why I'm overjoyed that he's not only allowed in OU but has so far proven to be balanced and pretty healthy for the tier as a whole. I've seen a lot of people talk about the merits of Utility Sub Darkrai, Choiced Darkrai, and Hypnosis Darkrai, but I honestly don't like those variants that much (especially Hypnosis), I vastly prefer Life Orb Nasty Plot with three attacks. Instead of slotting on Sludge Bomb just to deal with Faeries, I've been combining Dark Pulse STAB with Ice Beam and Tera Blast Fighting/Fairy - Darkrai doesn't have any usable Fairy moves at all by default, and my feelings on Focus Miss are pretty well known. Your choice of Tera-type is entirely dependent on what you want to nail for additional damage, but I highly recommend Tera Fighting as Ice Beam nails the Dragon-types that you want to hit with Tera Fairy + additionally handles a lot of other problematic threats, while Tera Blast Fighting synergizes beautifully with both Dark Pulse and Ice Beam and nails some of the most potent threats in the meta.

Furret
View attachment 583133
Furret @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Frisk
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Tidy Up
- Trick
- Knock Off/Super Fang/Endeavor
- U-turn

OU Furret doing OU Furret Things

View attachment 583158
View attachment 583159
View attachment 583160

Furret will be getting a full-length essay post sometime in the future, but for now, I'd like to just talk briefly about him. Furret is, bar none, my favorite utility Pokemon in OU right now. As some of you may be aware, Furret recently got access to the coveted move Tidy Up. Furret's support movepool is stupendous, allowing Furret to occupy a niche that no other Pokemon in OU can - a hybrid hazard control trick scout team disruptor (a mouthful, but follow me on this). Furret has access to the wonderful ability Frisk, which allows Furret to scout opposing movesets with reasonable accuracy via item detection; this pairs extremely well with Furret's access to Trick, allowing you to have a much better idea of when the best time to cripple an opponent's defensive mon or boosting sweeper with Scarf Trick. Furret can Tidy Up to clear hazards which also boosts its attack and speed, giving it additional opportunities to wear down its opponents and cripple more mons via Knock Offs and U-Turns that can hit harder than expected. Speaking of which, U-Turn is fantastic for continued momentum. Furret's pure Normal typing combined with Tera Fairy has some actual nice defensive synergy - with Normal being immune to Ghost-type attacks + luring Fighting-type attacks, and Tera Fairy resisting Dark, Fighting, and Bug-type attacks while additionally giving Furret a nice Dragon-type immunity. If Knock Off is not to your liking, you can run something like Super Fang to chunk huge threats (tricking Scarf onto PhysDef Dozo and then chunking it or its switch-in down 50% is really useful, let me tell ya). Endeavor is another option to play off of Furret's propensity to get worn down which can turn the tables against slower defensive teams. Furret has a lot of issues to work around - like, what were you expecting, it's literally Furret. However, Furret now has enough tools, utility, and disruptive synergy to, based on my ladder experience (peaked at around 1700 with Furret so far, aiming for 1800+ once I stop tilting with Zapdos), justify its use in OU.

Great Tusk
View attachment 583131
Great Tusk @ Leftovers/Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Spinner/Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Temper Flare​

It's Tusk, need I say more? Temper Flare is a fantastic move for Tusk and punishes Pokemon like Gholdengo for switching in to block Rapid Spin (and isn't blocked by Air Balloon like Earthquake is). Ground STAB with Ice/Fire coverage is brutal and allows Tusk to take on unique combinations of threats that other Pokemon simply can't - such as being able to condense handling Gliscor and Gholdengo into a single slot. Tera Fire boosts up Temper Flare's power with newfound STAB and synergizes well with Tusk's natural typing as Fire-type resists three of Great Tusk's most common weaknesses - Fairy, Ice, and Grass-type (additionally removes Great Tusks's weaknesses to Flying and Psychic-type attacks). For the item, I vastly prefer Leftovers for continued recovery but Heavy-Duty Boots is an option if you want to run Wish support.

Deoxys-Speed
View attachment 583136
Deoxys-Speed @ Expert Belt
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Fighting/Dark/Fairy
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Knock Off
- Psycho Boost
- Ice Beam
- Superpower​

I love Deoxys-Speed - the more I play around with and against him, the more I feel like he fits OU's new archetypes quite well. I've been having the most fun with mixed utility sets designed to have Deo-S act as a more reliable speed control for your team that, like Furret, similarly acts as a disruptor but in a more offensive capacity. I prefer Tera Fighting over Tera Dark as Superpower is a better move to give STAB to, and you gain a U-Turn resistance which can be crucial. Tera Dark is an option for boosting Knock Off, while Tera Fairy is great for defensive play.

Morpeko
View attachment 583146
Morpeko @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Hunger Switch
Tera Type: Ghost/Fairy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aura Wheel
- Parting Shot
- Rapid Spin
- Super Fang/Seed Bomb/Taunt/Knock Off​

I went into a little more detail about Morpeko here and even did a full essay writeup back in Gen 8 OU where Morpeko wasn't even as good as it is now here (apologies for the broken images and old formatting on that two-year-old post, my Gen 8 essay formats were still a work in progress). Morpeko is a uniquely tech'd utility spinner mon with one of the best signature moves in the game combined with incredible utility in Parting Shot for momentum, Rapid Spin, and Super Fang to chunk down threats into acceptable damage ranges. Aura Wheel condenses both of Morpeko's excellent Dark/Electric STABs into a single moveslot while synergizing nicely with Morpeko's other options. I prefer Tera Ghost on Morpeko to lure Fighting-type moves, but Tera Fairy is also an acceptable option to still gain resistances to Fighting and Bug-type moves along with a handy Dragon-type immunity to top it all off. Morpeko has consistently been a niche, but strong utility Pokemon with unique abilities that no other Pokemon can reliably deal with.

Enamorus
View attachment 583145
Enamorus @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Contrary
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Earth Power
- Superpower
- Sludge Bomb​

As I'm sure a lot of you have heard, Enamorus is good right now, REALLY good. I've found that Tera Fighting with Scarf + Moonblast, Earth Power, Superpower, and Sludge Bomb nails a huge portion of the tier (especially with Choice Scarf, allowing it to run circles around a lot of potent threats). Superpower acts as a great option to mons like Blissey, Kingambit, and other notable threats that are either physically frail or more exploitable via Fighting-type moves. Don't sleep on Enamorus, no matter what set you decide to use.

Flygon
View attachment 583147
Flygon @ Assault Vest
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- First Impression
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail​

Like Morpeko, I went into a little more detail about Flygon in that same post but to keep it brief - Flygon is a stupendous anti-meta pick thanks to priority First Impression + U-Turn nailing a huge portion of the meta super effectively while synergizing quite well with STAB Earthquake. STAB Dragon Tail is great for phasing and allows you to run negative priority as an additional layer of speed control against aggravating archetypes. Assault Vest is to weather some of the bonkers special attacks flying around the tier right now and pairs well with Levitate + Tera Bug for a Fighting-resist in addition to adding STAB to First Impression + U-Turn. Great mon all around, and in my opinion feels better to use than Garchomp (who cannot replicate Flygon's niche here) right now.

Kleavor
View attachment 583148
Kleavor @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sharpness
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fighting/Fairy/Bug
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Axe
- Night Slash
- Close Combat
- U-turn/X-Scissor/Tera Blast (for Tera Fairy)​

It's no secret that I love Kleavor, and right now I've found that his Choice Scarf set is especially potent in this meta. STAB Sharpness-boosted Stone Axe is an incredible move that allows you to attack while setting Stealth Rock. Sharpness-boosted Night Slash is great coverage and synergizes well with Kleavor's access to Close Combat. For the final slot, you could run either STAB U-Turn for momentum (which I HIGHLY recommend) or STAB Sharpness-boosted X-Scissor for sheer power. For the Tera slot, I prefer Fighting-type as it gives you a Dark-type resistance (Sucker Punch) + gives Close Combat STAB. You could run Tera Fairy with Tera Blast instead of Bug-type STAB to clear some unexpected threats, or you could run Tera Bug to remove the weaknesses of Rock-type, giving you a Fighting/Ground resistance instead of a neutrality, which can come in handy against threats like Great Tusk. Don't sleep on Kleavor, he's better than ever.

Toedscruel
View attachment 583149
Toedscruel @ Assault Vest
Ability: Mycelium Might
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe
Modest Nature
- Earth Power
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
- Giga Drain​

Toedscruel has been a consistently great undercurrent pick throughout this generation, and this new DLC2 OU meta is no exception. Assault Vest Toedscruel is the name of the game here, allowing you to compress Utility, Rapid Spin, with two great STAB attacks into a single slot while shrugging off some of the most potent Special Attacks in the tier. To give you an idea of just how well Toedscruel can take a hit with Assault Vest and only 240 HP investment, Toedscruel can live a 4x super effective Ice Beam from Life Orb Darkrai with this EV spread.

252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Ice Beam vs. 240 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Toedscruel: 302-359 (83.6 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO​

Toedscruel's other support-base options still work wonderfully (especially Mycelium Might Spore into Gholdengo and other powerful options), but being able to blank some of the most powerful special hits in the game while also condensing Rapid Spin + Knock + Two Attacks into a single slot is nothing to scoff at, don't sleep on Toedscruel.

Regice
View attachment 583150
Regice @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Curse
- Body Press
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt​

You like BoltBeam coverage? You like BoltBeam coverage on a mon who can terastallize to blank threats like Raging Bolt while shoring up its physical defense with Curse to fire off nuclear Body Presses? Regice is the mon for you. Its stats can't be lowered thanks to Clear Body, and tera allows it to not only get dual STAB on BoltBeam but additionally patches up Regice's longstanding defensive woes. 80/100/200 bulk is nothing to scoff at, and base 100 Special Attack is definitely workable with Regice's phenomenal coverage options being backed up by Curse Body Press. Another Pokemon that requires some planning, but has a strong niche in OU that no other threat can properly replicate.

Calyrex
View attachment 583152
Calyrex @ Red Card
Ability: Unnerve
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 Def / 236 SpA / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Future Sight
- Leech Seed
- Trick
- Body Press​

I've talked about Calyrex for a long time now; myself along with several others have documented its benefits in OU. I wrote a full analysis of OU Calyrex here and additionally talked about how it was tied with Glimmora for my favorite Pokemon in DLC1 OU here, so if you want a more in-depth look at what Calyrex can do, I highly suggest reading the analysis. But to give a TLDR here, Calyrex has unique role compression with Future Sight + Leech Seed + Trick + Body Press with Tera Fighting to act as a multi-faceted lure with phenomenal defensive and offensive qualities. Calyrex is even better right now in the current sea of Dark-types and pairs well with some of the metagame's strongest threats. I say once again, don't sleep on Calyrex.

Kyurem
View attachment 583153
Kyurem @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Ice Beam/Tera Blast
- Earth Power
- Freeze-Dry​

I don't need to go in-depth with how nuts Kyurem is, do I? Kyurem's Choice Specs set is powerful, spammable, and works on a wide variety of teams. One of the unique tech options I've been running with is dropping Ice Beam for Tera Blast Fairy - as you still have Ice coverage with Freeze-Dry. Tera Fairy with Tera Blast both offensively and defensively allows you to nuke several would-be checks and powerful threats such as Zamazenta with comparative ease and also allows you to nuke other Dragon-types (+Dark/Fighting-types) without the nasty -2 SpA drop of Draco Meteor.

Raging Bolt
View attachment 583089
Raging Bolt @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderclap
- Tera Blast
- Calm Mind
- Discharge/Thunderbolt​

Raging Bolt is a phenomenal new OU titan that has fantastic STAB priority, great stats, great typing, and access to great tools like Calm Mind. I've been experimenting with running Tera Blast Fairy in lieu of Dragon-type STAB as I didn't find myself clicking Draco Meteor that much throughout my laddering, and feel that Calm Mind + Electric/Fairy STAB is fantastic both offensively and defensively. For your main non-priority Electric-type STAB, I recommend Discharge for the 30% paralysis chance - but Thunderbolt or Thunder (on Rain teams) are also usable options. Raging Bolt is phenomenal and is still underexplored, I wouldn't recommend sleeping on it.

You sir, have inspired me to create some baller sets from scratch.


Lanturn @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Amnesia
- Curse
- Charge Beam
- Scald
Another crit me not sweeper that can sit all over raging bolt. If left unchecked, it can snowball out of control by using amnesia + curse to gain enough defensive boosts to start getting charge beam boosts. Scald allows it to spread burns onto physical attackers due to curse's much slower rate of increase.


Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick Room
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Psyshock
This mon can help stuff like ursaluna to snowball out of control while also dealing great damage on its own. Not really the best set, but at least you can deal better damage.


Bellibolt @ Terrain Extender
Ability: Static
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Parabolic Charge
- Soak
- Electric Terrain
- Slack Off
Do you love electric types? Do you want tp screw over electric types? May I present, electric terrain bellibolt. You can soak opposing ground types and make them hate you forever. Electric terrain even helps paradox mons like boulder or valiant keep their booster energy but still check offensive threats.


Drifblim @ Power Herb
Ability: Unburden
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Phantom Force
- Explosion
- Acrobatics
- Tailwind
I loved drifblim, until I realised it has no special flying moves until this gen (gust not included.) So, why not go physical drifblim. This mon can trigger it's power herb by using phantom force to get off one of the fastest tailwind's ever and reach a maximum speed of 1136. And hey, you get max power acrobatics or can go boom with explosion, maybe even tera for extra power? Drifblim may have disappointed me in the past, but this set has inspired hope in me.


Rampardos @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Ancient Power
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam
Ha ha, the set that looks like it is so horrible, it is the joke of jokes. But jokes on you, it does actually good damage.
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Rampardos Ancient Power vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 257-304 (66.9 - 79.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Rampardos Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Great Tusk: 382-452 (88 - 104.1%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
Yeah, ko's the best defensive pokemon and two hit ko's another with a spectacular 65 sp.A. Ignore that it will most likely have to take a hit and it's best special rock move is ancient power, which is funnily enough boosted by sheer force.


Toucannon @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Skill Link
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fury Attack
- Flame Charge
- Bullet Seed
- Rock Blast
I saw flame charge on a wild toucannon and my brain started cooking some sets. With plus 2 speed, you can hit a stat of 480, not the best but not the worst. Only gets outsped by booster mons, Deo-S or scarfers. And guess what, you can do great damage to OU staples.
252 Atk Toucannon Rock Blast (5 hits) vs. 252 HP / 104 Def Zapdos: 270-320 (70.3 - 83.3%) -- approx. 62.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
So with stealth rocks, you can ko a defensive zapdos, wild.

Anways, I've got to get back to dominating mid ladder with choice band araquanid. No joke, it's been dominating games. People underestimate it's power and I would have talked about it here potentially, but I've talked about it before so I won't repeat myself.

 

[turd2]

gliscor (tera water), garganacl (also tera water), blissey, clefable, gouging fire, rest dondozo, araquanid if you're a madlad, and a bunch of special-attacking mons that don't particularly mind getting burned even though they don't like it either. there are enough burn absorbers and status absorbers in general that most teams don't really have to build with scald burns specifically in mind

I like that the first 2 examples you could think of require you to burn your tera before they Scald in order to switch in...

I think my point stands, considering Scald is just one of many examples of random chance moves that I gave.

 

[Heatranator]

Your first 2 examples require you to Tera before the other person uses Scald... I think my point stands, considering Scald is just one of many examples of luck-based moves that I gave.

Have you thought about the fact that scald is not really that prevelant in the meta? Only alomomola, manaphy and walking wake are mons in OU that have access to scald. And let's say it's actually prevelant, if you are having to use an item to prevent scald burns, you're not creating great teams. Yeah, it's annoying and some mons could use cloak. But it isn't a main reason to run it. What he's trying to say is that lots of top mons don't mind scald burns, so you aren't going out of the way to make yourself better against it.

 

[turd2]

Have you thought about the fact that scald is not really that prevelant in the meta? Only alomomola, manaphy and walking wake are mons in OU that have access to scald. And let's say it's actually prevelant, if you are having to use an item to prevent scald burns, you're not creating great teams. Yeah, it's annoying and some mons could use cloak. But it isn't a main reason to run it. What he's trying to say is that lots of top mons don't mind scald burns, so you aren't going out of the way to make yourself better against it.

Please read my original post. Scald was just one of many examples I gave that is blocked by Covert Cloak.

You are focusing on Scald and only Scald, but that was never my point.

 

[Heatranator]

Please read my original post. Scald was just one of many examples I gave that is blocked by Covert Cloak.

You are focusing on Scald and only Scald, but that was never my point.

Okay, I looked back on your original post and the only two factors that have much consideration for cloak is scald burns and nuzzle. Nuzzle is only used on hatterene, so using it against one pokemon is unrealistic. So then, the main point is scald burns because lets be real, although stat drops from moves are annoying, using an item for that specifically is dumb. It won't lose you games and are small chances, 10-20%, that it isn't worth it. Crit me not users may want to use it, but that isn't a big playstyle. I'll even say that using it for salt cure outside ghold is not very great, again one mon that has counterplay outside cloak.
TLDR, the other points do not really hold water and thus, scald burns and salt cure are the main reasons why you would use cloak. They don't have enough widespread distribution to worry about it. If they were widely distributed, then we could have a discussion about how good it is potentially.

 

[turd2]

Okay, I looked back on your original post and the only two factors that have much consideration for cloak is scald burns and nuzzle. Nuzzle is only used on hatterene, so using it against one pokemon is unrealistic. So then, the main point is scald burns because lets be real, although stat drops from moves are annoying, using an item for that specifically is dumb. It won't lose you games and are small chances, 10-20%, that it isn't worth it. Crit me not users may want to use it, but that isn't a big playstyle. I'll even say that using it for salt cure outside ghold is not very great, again one mon that has counterplay outside cloak.
TLDR, the other points do not really hold water and thus, scald burns and salt cure are the main reasons why you would use cloak. They don't have enough widespread distribution to worry about it. If they were widely distributed, then we could have a discussion about how good it is potentially.

It wasn't that long ago that I was running Covert Cloak on Gholdengo to counter Garg. I'm telling you from experience that Covert Cloak has many practical applications and is far from a useless item. Ghold happens to be a great switch-in for Hatterene, but hates paralysis from Nuzzle. Moonblast/Shadow Ball secondary effects also cripple Ghold. Covert Cloak blocks all of these.

Garg isn't a top tier threat right now so it's not really worth using... but if Skymin were in the tier, it would absolutely come back. That's hardly using an item JUST for one mon. It has many practical applications and you benefit from it in nearly every game.

It's no different than running Heavy Duty Boots. Not every team stacks spikes. Many do, but not all.

 

[Heatranator]

It wasn't that long ago that I was running Covert Cloak on Gholdengo to counter Garg. I'm telling you from experience that Covert Cloak has many practical applications and is far from a useless item. Ghold happens to be a great switch-in for Hatterene, but hates paralysis from Nuzzle. Moonblast/Shadow Ball secondary effects also cripple Ghold. Covert Cloak blocks all of these.

Garg isn't a top tier threat right now so it's not really worth using... but if Skymin were in the tier, it would absolutely come back. That's hardly using an item JUST for one mon. It has many practical applications and you benefit from it in nearly every game.

It's no different than running Heavy Duty Boots. Not every team stacks spikes. Many do, but not all.

Yeah, I said that ghold is the main mon that you would use it on. So you saying that using it would come back is skymin is in the tier shows it's brokeness. Like it or not, it isn't used that much. So if you have to use it to counter one mon, with it having uses against some other niche things, that is not good in th slightest. Also, the HDB comparison is not good. Spikes are way more prevelant and HDB also helps against stealth rocks, which are extremely prevelant. Cloak only helps against one or two mons consistently and very, very rarely against a lot of moves. In most cases, just run HDB or leftovers instead. So is their another mon that would choose to run Cloak over those two options besides Ghold? I'm not doubting that cloak is bad on ghold, but it is an execption, not the rule. The fact that it is immune to status moves, has reliable recovery and can destroy a playstyle with it is the reason why its used on it. You can come in and the opposing team can do nothing against you. That's why it is used.

 

[turd2]

So you saying that using it would come back is skymin is in the tier shows it's brokeness.

No. We did not ban Garganacl when Covert Cloak was common, even though Covert Cloak would have likely seen zero usage without Garganacl's existence.

 

[DaddyBuzzwole]

No. We did not ban Garganacl when Covert Cloak was common, even though Covert Cloak would have likely seen zero usage without Garganacl's existence.

see, the difference here is that garganacl isn't broken and skymin is. you can tell through complex scientific methods such as looking at them with your eyes or playing a single match in any format where skymin is present ever. what's your cloak on non-ghold things gonna do against subseed spam? hell, what does your cloak on ghold do against earth power? have you ever considered that there are plenty of mons that can spam 60% flinch chances that are perfectly legal and not even particularly viable? why do you think they're allowed and skymin isn't? it ain't just the speed and flinching, jirachi can run scarf just fine. it's the fact that skymin can also do plenty of other stuff perfectly well outside of that, better than any of its peers

 

[Heatranator]

No. We did not ban Garganacl when Covert Cloak was common, even though Covert Cloak would have likely seen zero usage without Garganacl's existence.

Because people learned that you could beat garg without cloak, something that is very difficult to do with skymin.

 

[artificialdeath]

Because people learned that you could beat garg without cloak, something that is very difficult to do with skymin.

It's also worth mentioning that garg was at its most dominant (finding its way onto tiering surveys) when there were fewer things to knock that cloak off

 

[turd2]

Because people learned that you could beat garg without cloak, something that is very difficult to do with skymin.

Wrong. It was because 50 new mons dropped to OU and Garganacl stopped being on every team.

If Garganacl were common, Covert Cloak would come back. He's still one of the best stall breakers in the game. And those teams just so happen to be the types of teams that benefit the most from using Covert Cloak to counter Garg.

...all of that logic can also be applied to Skymin & Covert Cloak. Defensive teams have a guaranteed answer with Covert Cloak. Offensive teams can outspeed with Booster Energy & use priority.

see, the difference here is that garganacl isn't broken and skymin is.

Excellent reasoning!

 

[artificialdeath]

Wrong. It was because 50 new mons dropped to OU and Garganacl stopped being on every team.

If Garganacl were common, Covert Cloak would come back.

We had sub and (more widely distributed) encore, now we have actual Magic Guard users + garg doesn't like metagames like early DLC1 or now. Skymin doesn't have those issues, and it can easily bullshit through teams with a tiny bit of support

 

[turd2]

We had sub and (more widely distributed) encore, now we have actual Magic Guard users + garg doesn't like metagames like early DLC1 or now. Skymin doesn't have those issues, and it can easily bullshit through teams with a tiny bit of support

Except Skymin can't bullshit through any team using Covert Cloak. Can't bullshit through offensive teams using Booster Energy & priority either.

 

[Heatranator]

Wrong. It was because 50 new mons dropped to OU and Garganacl stopped being on every team.

If Garganacl were common, Covert Cloak would come back. He's still one of the best stall breakers in the game. And those teams just so happen to be the types of teams that benefit the most from using Covert Cloak to counter Garg.

...all of that logic can also be applied to Skymin & Covert Cloak. Defensive teams have a guaranteed answer with Covert Cloak. Offensive teams can outspeed with Booster Energy & use priority.



Excellent reasoning!

Ah, noo? Sub was used more often as a way to beat garg while being great against the whole metagame. Also, I think you're seeing it as "shaymin has a 60% chance to flinch", instead of "shaymin has a 60% chance to flinch while always doing great damage". Plus, it is so fast so only a few mons can outspeed it, slap a choice scarf and basically none can. Garg is no way similar to skymin, one is slow and defensive, the other is fast and offensive.

Except Skymin can't bullshit through any team using Covert Cloak. Can't bullshit through offensive teams using Booster Energy & priority either.

Yes it can, it has great power even if it can't flinch you to death, something garg cannot do, besides set up with body press, which is way more explotable

 

[DaddyBuzzwole]

Excellent reasoning!

you ignored the part of my post where i actually provide reasoning. you actively had to read my reasoning and delete it from your quote before you posted this. how do i make it more clear