Suspect Test Reasoning:
Just like what was said about Greninja before in the radar post, it started off as a mostly overrated threat due to the abundance of good offensive checks (Mostly Scarf Zapdos-G and Iron Hands) during the time it first entered the tier since the Alpha & Beta stages and then, just like a few of our previous suspected threats, it started to become more and more oppressive as the options for revenge killing it and walling it became more limited.
Despite its offenses looking lackluster at first glance, they're actually enough for this tier in conjunction with STAB and coverage options that handle different checks, While it's not OHKOing any of Clefable, Tapu Fini, M-Venusaur, Rotom-W, Gastrodon, Amoonguss or Celesteela, they’re not exactly reliable checks to Greninja as they either struggle with coverage, longevity or switching into the wrong STAB but with teammates like Mixed Aegislash, M-Gallade or Hydrapple on offense teams and Moltres-Galar, Alakazam or Iron Boulder on HO, it can be trivial for Greninja to break through these checks through repeated attacks and take over the end game.
That's also another point in it's favor: Greninja's clean up potential is not only already good by having a speed tier only beaten by three Pokemon in total (Iron Boulder, Zeraora and M-Aerodactyl) which can’t switch into it, but Battle Bond allows Greninja to easily snowball into a threat that can easily take over any endgame. When defensive checks aren't in a condition to handle it anymore and offense has to play really carefully around it due to most of its pieces being OHKOed as soon as Greninja is at +1, it can often sweep at the drop of a hat. Greninja also forces out all sorts of relevant Pokemon such as Iron Moth, M-Latias, Ting-Lu, Excadrill, Tyranitar, Aegislash, and Life Orb Mienshao while compensating for its lack of bulk with resistances into most priority options in the tier. Particularly notable is that at +1, Greninja cannot be outsped by any speed control option in the tier barring Sand Rush Excadrill and the rare Booster Energy Iron Boulder Which have to avoid being OHKOd by Water Shuriken due to chip and multiple hits, outside of that, HO mirrors are pretty much determined by which Greninja grabs a Battle Bond boost first to win and nothing else.
All of this is just Battle Bond alone; while Protean doesn’t have the same endgame finishing potential, it makes up for it with increased longevity courtesy of Choice Specs over Life Orb alongside greater coverage, being able to more effectively mix and match its colorful coverage in Sludge Wave, Ice Beam, Extrasensory, and Grass Knot while still able to use utility options like Spikes, U-turn, and Water Shuriken. Protean’s greater power is also notable, besides being a massive threat on it’s own, it’s ability to lure common Battle Bond checks like the Grasses, Clefable, Tapu Fini or Gastrodon really enables teammates like Zeraora, Mixed Aegislash or Scarf Mienshao that can easily overwhelm the opposition and keep opening up for each other.
Now for the baggage. What stopped it from being the same fast clean up menace for so long? Greninja’s lack of wallbreaking potential means it often needs a fellow breaker teammate to create openings for it to abuse, which may not be that much support, but it also leaves Greninja much less potent in the early to mid-game as it is later in the game. The reliance on Life Orb and Specs for adequate damage also leaves it with either longevity issues itself (hurting it's late game potential as it is likely to chip itself into priority range) or being incredibly prediction reliant, especially when facing a lot of Water and Dark resists of which there are plenty of with the abundance of Grass types like Amoonguss, M-Venusaur and Hydrapple and lastly are the few offensive checks to it: Iron Boulder, Zeraora, M-Aerodactyl, Lokix and Scarf Mienshao which despite their fear of directly switching into Greninja, they're still massive issues for it due to its lack of bulk. Greninja isn’t the same auto-play wincon it used to be last generation the moment it grabbed a kill; it needs more support than before and can sometimes come up short. However, it's a little too oppressive in the builder and in matches with how much of the tier it's able to threaten and force out while most ways of dealing with it are not consistent enough to keep up even when requiring better positioning, that doesn't stop the NDUU council from considering it a problem in the current metagame.
Suspect Test Information
NOTE: THIS TEST WILL BE USING A NEW SUSPECT PROCESS
The instructions to participate in this test are as follows:
- Create a new account OR use an existing one with no National Dex UU games played (resetting W/L does not count for this - the account you use must never have played National Dex UU before the test, ever.) You do not have to follow any specific naming rule but your suspect account must have never played a game in National Dex UU before this suspect test went up or you will not receive valid requirements.
- At any point on your new account, use the command /linksmogon on Pokemon Showdown! You will receive instructions on what to do once you run this command.
- After you linked your account, if you play one game with the alt, you have to play at least one game in order to verify and then do /rank in order to see the "Suspect Test elligible" message
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[*]If this field says "No" then you have either not set up the account correctly or need to use a different/new account. You do not need to complete your entire reqs for this field to say "Yes" - After you believe that you have achieved reqs, double check that you're listed as a voter here! If you aren't listed as a voter despite having valid reqs, please contact Lupla, Niadev, or any staff member.
- If you have any questions about this new process, feel free to PM me or post here!
- Laddering with an account that impersonates, mocks, or insults another Smogon user or breaks Pokemon Showdown! rules may be disqualified from voting and infracted.
- We will be using the regular National Dex UU ladder for this suspect test, and Greninja will remain legal throughout the entire suspect test.
- Any form of voting manipulation will result in swift and severe punishment. You are more than welcome to state your argument to as many people as you so please, but do not use any kind of underhanded tactics to get a result you desire. Bribery, blackmail, or any other type of tactic used to sway votes will be handled and sanctioned.
- Do not attempt to cheat the ladder. We will know if you did not actually achieve voting requisites, so don't do it. Harsh sanctions will be applied.
- The requirement to vote in this suspect test is a COIL value of 3000 with a B-Value of 3.
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