Archaludon is heat, need to build with him ASAP, especially in Pokebilities and STABmons, as well as OU, like Rain may be back,
Well Metagross is one. Metagross is one of the lowest tier Pseudos for a reason. While at first its Steel Typing feels like it can only mean good things, being a pychic type really kicks its knees in, especially with Chien Pao running Focus Sash or Sucker Punch to counter Bullet Punch. And without something like Technician which gives Scizor its viability, Bullet Punch actually doesn't do crap on Metagross. Also with Metagross's speed tier, and amount of Sun teams running around thanks to Paradox, its pretty liable to being squashed by Gouging Fire, which I bet is gonna be EVERYWHERE. Its a bad time to be steel or Ice unless you're Kyurem or Baxcalibur.anyway, now that i've made the funny post i wanted to make, let me make a serious post about a mon that i think will not end up being very relevant:
i've been in multiple discussions aboutand it seems pretty polarizing—some people think it'll be great, some people think it'll be terrible, and no one seems to fall anywhere in between. i personally think deo-d will be bad as things currently stand, and here's why:
- first off, the terrible defensive typing undercuts its bulk a lot, especially in a meta with so many good dark-type and ghost-type breakers and setup sweepers
- deo-d is passive as fuck and can easily be exploited by setup sweepers, even with access to what utility it has
- said setup sweepers include np ghold, gambit, and now darkrai. here's how that goes for deo-d:
+2 252+ Atk Kingambit Kowtow Cleave vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Deoxys-Defense: 320-380 (105.2 - 125%) -- guaranteed OHKO+2 252 SpA Gholdengo Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Deoxys-Defense: 272-324 (89.4 - 106.5%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO+2 252 SpA Darkrai Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Deoxys-Defense: 276-326 (90.7 - 107.2%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKOnote that this theoretical deo-d has maximum investment in both defenses, so in practice these matchups may be even harder depending on investmentdoes anyone else have thoughts about pokemon that they don't think will pan out?
- tera fairy helps it somewhat, but ghold and gambit frequently carry steel stab and darkrai will probably be running sludge bomb a fair amount
- the literal only thing it can do against ghold is knock off. after this, it can make no meaningful progress against ghold and is always forced out by it. yes, ghold will likely take spikes damage on switch-in, but recover helps a lot with that. having only knock off as an option against ghold didn't work out well at all for mandibuzz and i can't see it working too well for deo-d
- it can taunt gambit or twave darkrai, but gambit can cleanly 2hko with no boosts so deo has to play taunt/recover mindgames, it has to risk being flinched against darkrai, and it can't cover them both at once
- luring out gambit and chipping it early is generally valuable, but deo-d isn't doing much in the way of chip unless it sacrifices one of spikes/recover/knock/twave/taunt/skill swap/teleport/whatever. knock is the best option it has to make progress, and sure, that's progress, but deoxys generally dies in that matchup so you arguably lose more than you gain
- its matchup against gliscor is nonexistent unless you want to slot in ice beam or skill swap. this isn't quite as bad for deo-d as it is in natdex-based metas because gliscor no longer has defog to undo all deo-d's progress, but it's still a pain in the intergalactic ass
- weavile! weavile is an awful matchup for deo-d thanks to its hard-hitting knock off, and now that it's gotten triple axel back, it's likely to return to its former ou glory. [note: this matchup has occurred fairly frequently in last gen's natdex, which is normally not a good indication of present matchups. however, i feel more than comfortable saying this matchup is bad for deo-d in this format too, since weavile has regained its most meaningful tools and deo-d has lost some of its own]
- deo-d will likely have about as bad of a time against roaring moon as it does against weavile
- regen cores. even with spikes up and access to knock off, these are a massive fucking annoyance for deo-d. not only do we already have glowking, amogus, alomomomomola, pex, and torn-t, we also just got a new regenerator mon in hydrapple—among others, hydrapple + glowking seems like it could be a decent core. and we got reuniclus, but that's using magic guard anyway
- i'm going to be extremely generous here and say it "faces competition" as a bulky spiker from ting-lu and gliscor. i personally would go so far as to say it's outclassed almost entirely by these two, but some people think differently because it's got recover and a better matchup against tusk. this is true, although gliscor can contend very well against tusk if you can play around ice spinner and has a slightly less reliable but way more annoying recovery option
- one of the arguments i saw in favor of deo-d was that "it absorbs future sight", which ting-lu does literally infinity percent better
- it's directly outclassed by cresselia in many—in fact, i would even say most—of its non-hazard/knock roles, especially since recover lost its pp advantage over moonlight
- speaking of recover pp, only 8 of them means that it can't stall out strong attacks with 16 or more pp as easily as it used to
- obligatory mention that it gets shut down by plenty of normal stallbreaking stuff like encore, taunt, and choice trick
- at a glance, cosmic power + stored power seems like it could be extremely annoying to break through, but it just takes way too long for stored power to scale enough to start doing actual damage, which allows the opponent ample time to bring in a setup mon and out-setup deoxys with something that gives you +2. and it's hard-walled by dark-types because it doesn't get body press or anything besides stored power that actually deals damage. basically, total kingambit/darkrai/weavile/roaring moon bait
- being able to viably run teleport is cool and all, but looking at its performances in natdex, it doesn't seem like anyone has been running that in practice. i'm not sure exactly what the reason is for that, so i don't know whether that will translate over to regular ou, but it seems worth mentioning
- i expect deo-s to be really good, and species clause prevents you from running them both
or Archaludon, who thrives in the Rain
finally, we have learned to outsmart BOOLET
*cries in TF2 Heavy* but seriously, Its not a fun time to be a Steel type rn, unless you are Archaludon, in which case your life is pretty poggers, or even pepega (that is a Max0r joke btw)finally, we have learned to outsmart BOOLET
It was a joke (ish) post anyway, and I have modified it with my ability Pedantic (I.E: concerned with minor details) to show the thing isn't really that serious,
is likely to take chip as you say, sorry. Sorry for a pretty late reply, long day.
@ Leftovers 
@ Heavy-Duty Boots 
Thank you so much. I couldn't get it to work, so I really am happy someone did it. You could have put
on there somewhere though. And yea, I forgot 
, thanks for putting it on.Darkrai with Scarf is a really great revenge killer and the Iron Boulder answer everyone has been asking for this whole time. Outspeeds every Booster Speed mon and has a great matchup against most of them. Base 135 Sp.A is more than enough to threaten to KO basically all of them too, provided you get one or two layers of Spikes up in the most hazard-infested meta to date, so it's practically a given. Dark Pulse/Sludge Bomb/Tera Blast Fairy is all the coverage you'll ever need, and you can even slot Trick in there. I think the Nasty Plot/LO set is probably the overall strongest, but Darkrai's utility as a Scarfer shouldn't be underestimated. I think a lot of people kinda sleep on it because of the "mid legendary" sentiment being shared early on but I still think Darkrai has a lot of potential people are sleeping on.
could i have, though? i haven't really seen iron crown making any waves. in fact, i haven't really seen iron crown, period. i legitimately have no idea what it even doesYou could have put
they're dirty diapers
E-force and sashes. In an unrelated topic, why have so many mons gotten eforce? It feels like it has gone from 4 to 5000000000000 or something. I'd expect psyspam to be at least a bit better now, considering how many new and old mons have it now and how it was niche, but had some value even before this.
Oh. Oh. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
or 
can allow multiple wish pass swaps and constant debuffs as you pivot in and out being the most annoying thing known to man. Doesn't stand a chance, resists both stabs pre-tera, and just destroys it. Too much bulk and attack for Ghold to handle.
The aforementioned tusk will always think its at an advantage, especially on leads, but the moment tera water and will o wisp comes out, Tusk goes from thinking its at an advantage, to being almost dead weight for the remainder of the match.
Same deal with Tusk, believes it can win as Knock Off isnt boosted because of Booster Energy already being used, so they just Dragon Dance believing they've won before getting Will-O-Wisp'd and Parting Shot to become a worthless burned +0 Moon.
Physical Kyurem suffers the same fate as the last 2, while Specs Kyurem cant do enough damage with EP or Draco to kill before taking a Knock Off to remove its main source of power, or Parting Shot to allow something like Glowking to yawn in the face of a literal legendary. Yeah you know where this is going. Will-O-Wisp on the Sucker Punch or Swords Dance, and Fire Punch it to death, even in a final turns 1v1 situation, you can still come out on top. Resists both stabs, and can tera if you fear Low Kick.
it's a 4 in my book, mostly because of hazard meta, and thanks to its speed tier and power creep, it can run offensive sets lol, which are cute and somewhat effective with good positioning, but It's not so bad it's a "please get out" it's a 3, go go gadget destroy whatever the fuck is infront of me, it's rather slow for meta standards but has no switch ins, and being specs mean It's weak to hazards
1, flame body doesn't activate, so my boots get knocked off with no burns and I get fucked, its also has some move issues, needs giga drain or bug buzz to pass ting lu / donzo, and psychic to go pex, tera ground tera blast is harder to pull off because rilla just looks at you like a meal 2, It's kinda mid now that there's faster things + on contact effects, meow rising back does no favors to this thing either
4, this thing's power is brutal, it's weak to hazards and requires support, but man, killing donzo with a neutral physical attack feels like the girl you love whispers to you in your ear and then bites it a bit
4, it's kinda like gen 7 all over again where it feels like you can win vs this thing but just BARELY by the skin of your teeth, and the trio of glare + sub + leech seed makes you wanna kill yourself if it gets going. Still, just like everything said above, it's manageable enough where you can decently account for it in builder and battle, just stay sharp
3, Dinogambit is dangerous, I know everyone is simping for CM tbolt + dragon pulse + cheeks clap, but specs with tera in sun can reach gouging fire levels of unwallable, It's hard to take down because of the damage output, but if you can dance around it, it will get pressured via chip damage
3, this thing has 2 weakness, his desing (which is uglier than kicking a newborn child on his birthday) and 2, WOAT typing, whichs means most teams can basically pack him up if you survive the first attack, but that's a big if considering he has anti gliscor stalling tech in cleave, eq / cc and zen headbutt or psycho cut for hax, fuck, I have seen Morkal running secret sword to laugh at skarm
3, enamorus just like serperior has contrary stellar, which boost the viability of mix sets, and just like iron boulder, its ugly as shit, the key difference is that serp has boosting while attacking combo in leaf storm + better typing, enam may have better move pool but with stellar blast you need to left either mystical fire, superpower, earth power, sub, or healing wish, and having paper thin defenses + an uncomfortable speed typing in the context of the meta gives her troubles as well 4, fucking hazard meta 1, lol 4 4 2 3 2 3 3 2 3 1 4
I've been using a booster special attack set for late game cleaning.
1 1 3 3 3 1 2 1 1 1 1
- 1. Still not seeing it. Offensive is good and fast, but on par with all booster mons in the tier. Sure, having the speed persist after switching is nice, but how much switching does it really get to do with that bulk? I'm Still open to having my mind changed on this Mon but have not been presented with sufficient reason to change it. - 3, one of the more fucked up things on this survey, the speed tier and ice type help a bit while dealing with it but specs is awfully scary to switch into, the power of this set specifically is not the easiest to prepare for. I'd like To see a suspect at some point.- 1. Shared my thoughts on this last night, this Mon is a net positive for this tier offensively and defensively and should remain in the tier for sure, we are way worse off without it and there is 1 and a half real set and you need Tera to sweep and have maybe 2 real Tera options - 4. This Mon is still cheap af and really strong and annoying with little positioning, not as much as DLC1 but still. Defensive counterplay is relatively limited since it can punch through Bozo. I don't really think it's enough to warrant a quickban though, which places us in a weird position since it was just suspected. Would we suspect it again so soon? I think it would be a lot closer this time. I also don't really want Ogerpon, grassy spam, or rain taking over without it and we saw the first two gain a lot when roaring moon left the first time. But maybe we still have enough dragons without it? Again I hope this wouldn't be quickbanned. I'd be happy to see a suspect. - 3. Another Mon worth a suspect, good inclusion on the survey. Offensive and defensive presence is pretty hard to prepare for, that type is gnarly and the bulk and access to morning sun paired with the offensive profile and dragon dance to mitigate the speed without effort is really a strain in the builder. But can we allow grass types to take over again? Are volc and the Latis, and maybe raging bolt and or Kyurem - 2. Not the strongest or the hardest to deal with but glare is a very good move that complements the snowballing power very well, and I think dragon pulse is the best coverage move. Really not the hardest to pivot around or offensively check though, however glare being able to cheese past that is worth keeping an eye on because para spam is a dangerous trend that SV can easily evolve into as we've seen in the past - 2. another Mon with a type that's kind of hard to deal with, but fairies match a little better into it than packing heat, until it pulls out that kind of cheap priority move. Not a huge concern but not worth dismissing either - 1. I think this Mon fits into the game well, useful offensive type, really damn fast, but downright terrible defensive presence, not enough immediate power to be a problem, and far from the only thing that priority helps a lot in dealing with. A good OU Mon. - 2. The mixed sets are actually good now, the way substitute synergizes with that is kind of annoying and can make this a bit tricky to deal with especially since substitute blanks a lot of defensive checks and makes it so easy to snowball. Not the hugest concern since it's defensively weak and weak to common attacking types but keep an eye on it - 5! Let's suspect this, it's a really interesting Mon. Might even need 3 weeks to suspect it because there are a lot of pros and cons to banning this. Right off the bat it absorbs trick TWave and other cheap moves, but also uses them, and it's true that one balance is strong right now despite this things presence, but it is one of many things keeping balance a bit formulaic, and allowing Corv to defog freely could add a lot more variety into the builder. Stall also doesn't have as hard a time vs this with clod nearly mandatory but it's still not the safest matchup since you usually are just PP stalling it or forcing it out. Banning this could make balance even stronger and takes away a blanket check to cheese strategies or it could make all teams more diverse and open up a lot of structures as well as take an importance off hazards. But would banning it make it too difficult to make long term progress with balance teams if hazards can be freely removed at any time? We're seeing more defog Corv and a little less Ghold these days anyway. A suspect, again, maybe even 3 weeks, will give us time to figure this out. But it's time to, I'd rather see the changes this would bring than anything else. - 1. We call this, Skarmory Food. Volc helps so much too but really we have enough counterplay to this now that is relatively free to run on any team that preparing for it is like fine.
- it's a little unconventional but a common thread here is Protosynthesis and being able to all benefit from it together on the same time, specifically looking at Roaring Moon, Raging Bolt, and Packing Heat. Sun is becoming quite tricky to prep for while also achieving what team you want to make and preparing for the rest of the meta and removing this item, forcing Torkoal to come in and get chipped more often and giving these mons 3 less turns for their shenanigans would help a lot, i feel.
is only fair to look into if we look into since skewda Archaludon and friends becomes a much easier matchup to bank on with sun defanged. 
is also worth keeping an eye on for its power and current dominance but may be more comparable to Dragapult and Zamazenta as a useful tool for balance rather than oppressive threat.
