Before looking at the metagame proper, it is worth looking at what moves you may be used to are widely cut in 200 (
bold being more important moves):
| Baton Pass |
| Body Slam* |
| Counter |
| Double-Edge |
| Endure |
| Every Elemental Punch |
| Explosion |
| Icy Wind |
| Mimic |
| Psych Up |
| Refresh |
| Rock Slide |
| Seismic Toss |
| Selfdestruct |
| Sleep Talk |
| Substitute |
| Swagger |
| Swords Dance |
| Thunder Wave |
*Body Slam has a functional mirror with Secret Power.
Like the cut ADV OU mons, the cut moves shape how good mons are. I will not mention every cut move from every mon, but I discuss which mons get usually common moves like Substitute at the end of this section, since they all have niches due to that scarcity.
As for the roles, no doubt there will be mons with overlap between different categories here. The mons are loosely ordered by viability. Not every mon for every role will be listed, but this compendium is more to demonstrate what mons have generally been applied and proven to be effective for each role.
Physical Offense
- Dragon Dance has the penchant to take endgames out of nowhere, though Choice Band becomes even better with no Sand to reveal what set it has until it's too late. The only thing it really misses is Rock Slide.
- With no Explosion, Metagross is more reliant on its Meteor Mash to make substantial progress. However, as in ADV OU, this move is incredibly difficult to switch into consistently into battered or structurally-poor teams.
- With no Thunder Wave or Double Edge, Gyarados has a much harder time bullying the opposition. However, Everything else in the metagame allow for just a +1 Dragon Dance to be pretty damning. The lack of sand makes it deceptively bulky. Additionally, the omission of Aerodactyl and Jolteon (394 speed tier) means that Gyara is much more comfortable with running Adamant (388 speed tier with 252 +1).
- As with Gyarados, no Sand and no Blissey to cripple it with Thunder Wave makes Dragon Dance Kingdra into another terrifying force, especially considering that the opponent must take into account both potential Kingdra sets. Yes, even with only Return and HP Ground as its coverage.
The following mons are more currently understood to be niche choices, with Choice Band being the most consistent sets on them. I'll write descriptions for the more notable ones:
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- Outside of Electrode, Swellow is the fastest relevant threat. Without Guts, it is a decent Return clicker, especially in a metagame with only a couple good Ghost-types. With Guts, Facade OHKOs non-resists and 2KHOs resists. The utility this powerful delete button brings is unparalleled. Offensively, only limitation is that its non-Normal-type moves are hitting for 3KHOs at best.
Dodrio's strength is somewhere in-between a non-Guts and Guts activated Swellow, though it lacks the important speedtiers of Swellow. However, just considering how strong its QA is? It's not really much of an issue. For structures that can't reliably setup Toxic/Will-O-Wisp hitting into Swellow, and need a swift breaker with strong spammable Normal and Flying STAB, Dodrio does well.
- Without Sand or any great Rock-type attackers, Flygon's positioning as defensive utility is unecessary in the metagame. On the other hand, a Band STAB EQ is a very nice thing indeed. Even without Rock Slide, after Skarmory is eliminated, Flygon can take a couple hits while dealing out more than stinging damage.
- Embarasisngly, Regirock lacks Rock Slide. Additionally, no Thunder Wave makes it significantly worse at its bullying job. With neither part of the ParaFlinch dream intact, Regirock instead lives out its career as Houdini Jr, with its base 100 Atk Explosion being an incredibly powerful instant removal tool. Before it has to resort to that however, its incredible bulk allows it to come in multiple times to threaten with HP Rock or Earthquake. It can alternatively use Curse as a way to force progress with Explosion and EdgeQuake coverage, or to turn into a wincon with Rest.
As for the rest:
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All of these attackers are limited by an overlap between two issues of the speed, power, and bulk. They all have unique traits that I will move onto, with the exception of Slaking. Slaking's issues of inviting in setup for almost free are well documented, even if it certainly isn't one of the three traits I listed before.
Special Offense
- Dragon Claw and Fire Blast may as well be perfect coverage into this tier. Necessitates Spikes layers like nothing else, but arguably has the most clickable buttons in the metagame. Potentially the strongest part of this set is the fact that it more or less has 2 free moveslots for its team to use.
- Likewise, Starmie's coverage is very hard to switch into properly, and poses more than a threat here. Without Thunder Wave, it's especially dedicated to offensive ideas. The only speed tiers you give up by running Modest is the rarer Manectric, and Timid Starmie. In general, without Blissey, special offense defines the tier, but Starmie especially threatens the vast majority of mons on the spot. Furthermore, without any substantial Pursuit users, Starmie's slipperiness with Natural Cure fits the tier incredibly well.
- The closest thing to Blissey, Regice is often a teambuilder's natural teamslot to answer special offense. With STAB Ice Beam and BoltBeam though, Regice's longevity is used to batter the opponent. Proper hazard and Status control is integral for it to be the immovable tank it purports to be.
- Once the reaper of the metagame, an Alakazam coming in for the revenge kill and threatening Calm Mind is still ridiculously threatening. The combination of its unparalleled coverage and damage, and the utility of Recover and Encore on a mon this swift seems completely overbearing for a more limited metagame. Dark-types are non-existent. However, for all its smarts, Alakazam is still restricted to 4 moveslots and its meagre body. Because of this, trading into it with a bulky or fast attacker is enough to stop any extended Alakazam sweep.
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- I write more about these mons
here, but in general, they're all incredible Rain attackers in their own unique and dastardly ways. Gorebyss especially is the special equivalent of Swellow in many ways. After one correct turn, it can either force out a defensive check and do massive damage into it, or take 3 to 4 KOs for itself.
Kingdra is ostensibly the more reliable endgame choice, and Ludicolo has good oppurtunities to threaten massively by switching into a flaacid Surf or Earthquake in the midgame. In general, without Sand or Celebi, their reign of terror often goes unimpeded for those 4 turns.
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- The powers of Calm Mind are not lost on these two. Gardevoir is an intensely useful utility mon, part of which being how threatening CM can often be. Will-O-Wisp, Taunt, or Wish alongside CM and Psychic + TBolt/HP Fire can get out of control very quickly. Without Sand or Dark-types to soften it up and stomach its hits, Gardevoir is much more bulky and powerful than one may be used to from OU.
However, Golduck may be familiar given it's a nerfed Suicune, but one that doesn't have to contend with Sand. Lacking Roar, RestTalk, and Substitute, Golduck makes up for it with Refresh access. Damp prevents any shenanigans from the Regis from stopping its onslaught. Both of these mons can break more efficiently with an offensive EV spread, or take a more defensive approach to try and greed out a wincon.
- For how good Skarmory and bulky Water-types are, as well as having no Dugtrio to worry about eliminating it, Magneton is more than a delete button for Skarmory. Bulky structures must keep in mind that Magneton's invested or even just Modest TBolt + HP Grass/Fire coverage is often too much to wall effectively.
- On the strand of Electric types, Manectric carries the torch of all the cut Electric-types. Most of all, it apes its idol Jolteon. How well does it succeed in its roleplay? I'd give it a passing grade, though it's
just close enough for jazz. The main utility of Jolteon, i.e., being able to be a fast Electric-type that can do output damage consistently and threaten with TWave, is pretty much all here. However, Manectric gets outsped and wiped by many notable threats, which seriously limits its viability. If one can manage to take advantage of its middling BoltBeam and decide correctly on its 4th moveslot (such as Roar on Spikes), then Manectric can be a valuable breaking asset.
- Sceptile is the only fast Pursuit user in the metagame, though its other traits outside of Sand and the multiplicity of the Water-types makes it a nasty threat in its own right. It often feels just a
little piddly, however.
- Lanturn lacks any substantial switchin, with nothing really wanting to have to take the shotgun blast of TBolt, Hydro Pump, and Toxic/Thunder Wave. It is still Lanturn after all, and getting it statused is a death knell, but there's no telling how much progress it can make into bulkier structures.
- Despite it's middling SpAtk, Electrode is as much a threat in its own right as it is an enabler for for SpecOff. Rain especially loves having a fast pivoting mon that can setup RD and threaten the Skarmory and Milotic that usually stifle Rain. Even outside of the style though, its blend of fast BoltBeam, Explosion, and sneaky last move choice (Light Screen, Toxic, Thief, Mirror Coat, Taunt) all do well on HO.
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- Given the most effective and threatening special wall is Regice (never mind one lacking TWave), you may be asking: "Where are the Fire-types?" Well this is the best it's going to get. Into Water-types both of these mons have their respective options. A well-placed Focus Punch from Blaziken will do heaps, and Ninetales' propensity to click Roar and Will-O-Wisp with Spikes up can wear the opponent out very quickly if they're not careful. However, their awkward stats and succeptibility to Spikes hold them back from being staples, no matter how good their STAB Fire Blast or Flamethrower are.
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- The closest thing to another Alakazam, for some teams, is Kadabra. The big issue is that it often doubly worsens a team's defensive capabilities into, say, a Dragon Dance attacker, while not actually being as strong or fast as Alakazam to improve a team's offensive production by nearly the same amount.
I lump Pikachu alongside Kadabra: it has the strongest TBolt (I don't mention Volt Tackle or Surf because it gets neither) in the tier, but falls much too short defensively for teams to be able to use comfortably in anywhere except the endgame.
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- There's not too much to say other than that Sun is a much worse weather than Rain, since these mons aren't boosting their STAB by a ridiculous 50%, and their STAB type is the pitiful Grass-type. Shiftry has the ever useful Explosion, though it might have to popoff before it can do anything else of note.
Vileplume's typing gives it many switchins to Milotic or Registeel, though it often falls short of doing much offensively outside of Sleep Powder.
Mixed Offense
- Given that Special Mence hits the world and more in only two moveslots, having specific physical moves to directly answer and OHKO certain targets is more than feasible. HP Flying for Ludicolo, HP Ghost for Alakazam and Claydol, the list goes as long as one's creativity can muster.
- Metagross, likewise, does not need for much more than Mash and EQ, so running HP Fire/Electric/Grass can absolutely mammock Steel-types/Gyarados/Swampert, respectively. Furthermore, invested Psychic deals heavy damage with Spikes support to the popular Water-types.
- Sceptile can struggle into Magneton, not wanting to risk being statused itself. Like Magneton, Regice and Registeel often float into the battlefield for free on Sceptile. In response, Focus Punch is usually decently easy to fit on Sceptile for structures that need these mons chipped or taken out. However, the reliability of Leech Seed + Protect may be preferable, even if it eats into 2 moveslots and does its damage less immediately.
- If Blaziken has issues, damage isn't one of them. The threat of its mixed Fire/Fighting coverage baits in Salamence and Gyarados most easily. In response, Blaziken can easily carry Toxic or HP Ice/Electric, respectively, to ruin the few checks it does have.
- For all its frailties and sluggishness, Ghost/Fighting coverage is impossible to resist. Even Skarmory isn't safe as, due to its decent SpAtk and Thunderbolt access, it can't manage Banette for long. Its mixed coverage is a little more niche than just running a couple utility moves and bolstering its HP and Speed, though.
- Lacking Explosion, Camerupt's offensive capabilities rely much more on the terrifying combo of ripping full HP Eruption and Earthquake. This can really only be done comfortably into bulkier structures who lack the means of outspeeding and taking out Camerupt. I bring it up most of all here to indicate just how few true mixed threats there really are.
Setup Sweepers
I've already covered quite a few setup attackers, such as:
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...etc., etc.
However, I think taking a closer look at a couple other niche mons with setup capabilities is important.
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- Curse on mons these bulky can wrangle game wins in the endgame. Swampert definitely can hide that it is Curse until it's too late for the opponent, chipping down its checks with Hydro Pump or HP Rock.
On the other hand, Registeel can constantly threaten a sweep with Curse due to its superior defensive profile and immunity to Toxic. Furthermore, Curse Explosion, even on a mon as weak as Registeel, will still OHKO many targets if the Registeel is willing to eschew the potential to win a game in the longterm. If Skarmory is eliminated, and the opponent lacks another Roar user such as their own Swampert, it can often be lights out with these guys.
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- Not only do the first three all pose decent threats with their big Choice Band attacks, but Bulk Up can be a decent mid-to-lategame option if the opponent is expecting CB. Machamp's superior typing (i.e., not weak to Fire-type moves) and good special bulk makes it a little sturdier in the endgame than Heracross, though both struggle with the ailment of having so many weaknesses in a Flying and Psychic-heavy metagame. There's no understating the power of Encore/Light Screen/Rock Slide coverage ontop of being able to run Cross Chop/Revenge and HP Ghost on Machamp, though. Medicham and Pinsir's typing both make up for this as BU users, though their less-than-middling bulk does not do them any favours in terms of trying to fully sweep.
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- These two very well may be the best Swords Dance users, though Pinsir can also get the move with Hyper Cutter access. +2 Focus Punch on a mon that naturally threatens out non-Hydro Pump or HP Grass Mence with HP Rock is impressive as far as breaking goes. Keep in mind that Rock Slide and Swords Dance are mutually exclusive. Likewise, +2 QA compliments Zangoose's ability to purge the opponent's bulk with +2 Return, so long as Skarmory has been removed beforehand. The catch is that both of these mons have crippling defensive qualities that make getting the Swords Dance off more difficult than it may be worth.
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- And finally, the only 2 Belly Drum users. That's right, no Azumarill BDrum. Hariyama is entirely reliant on getting a speed boost passed to it if it wants to sweep with BDrum and Brick Break + HP Ghost coverage. While it can do its utility offense stint of Knock Off and such, it's significantly worse in a metagame without Ttar, even though it can absolutely threaten the Regis out to click Knock easily into a Fighting resist.
Linoone's lack of ESpeed makes it unable to instantly threaten everything if it gets its thing going, meaning a little more involvement is required for its breaking to go off without a hitch. How can a mon with only a tertiary understanding of how to attack break effectively? One move springs to mind : Flail. Due to its coveted Substitute access, Linoone can semi-reliably set up a situation where it can force itself down to 1HP and attack with Flail. Even rarer though is being able to both BDrum and setup Sub securely. This can be forced with Hypnosis + Memento Gardevoir, but also requires either no Spikes to be up, or 3 layers. Into Dusclops, it can manage this feat as well.
Physical Defense
- What a mon. Because of how much use Magneton gets here outside of just trapping Skarmory, Skarmory getting trapped is a little more common. It can't even take advantage of Sand being up. However, one can't underestimate just how potent Skarmory is at staving off the physical attackers and spreading Toxic in a metagame widely lacking Natural Cure mons and Substitute. Spikes are incredible as always, bolstered by how few mons possess reliable instant recovery not named Rest. Additionally, because of Magneton's increased prescence and the without Jirachi to consistently exploit its meagre hits, Taunt YOLO Skarmory often pays more dividends than one may expect if they're acclimated only to its OU equivalent.
- Wish Salamence, as in OU, is incredibly potent at taking physical hits and consistently staving off its Dragon Dance bretheren. The only thing to note is how much Leftovers recovery it can garner in Sand's absence.
- Gyarados combines the utility of Skarmory's Taunt and Phazing with perfect physical coverage and surprisingly effective special coverage in BoltBeam to consistently chip down Skarmory and Milotic while seriously damaging DD Salamence and Gyarados.
- It's worth mentioning that Dusclops is really the only Ghost-type you can get longevity out of, in the absence of Gengar. With Physdef investment, Dusclops can consistently survive even boosted hits from the likes of Salamence and Regirock, and threatens back with its devious Will-O-Wisp. If it still retained Pain Split, there's no doubt it'd be unstoppable.
- Outside of Choice Band, Leftovers Regirock carrying Zap Cannon or Rest can stomach the bevy of Earthquakes coming its way while outputting constant pressure. However, wouldn't it be nice to just... not have to worry about Ground-type coverage at all? Introducing:
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- Weezing, as it does in UUBL, trades with boosted Physical hits like nothing else, threatening back with its vast movepool to always scare out the offending attacker. However, like Dusclops, it lacks the Pain Split core to its long-term survival. Unlike Dusclops who is happy to clear Status, Weezing purely feels the downside of needing to burn 2 Sleep turns due to its pre-existing Toxic immunity.
Solrock is just as willing to take the boosted hits of physical Salamence and Gyarados. What it lacks in a Toxic immunity and Weezing's colourful movepool it makes up for with its Flying and Normal-type resistance, and the potency of EdgeQuake coverage to smack around switchins over the course of the game. And of course, both can click the scarcely-distributed Explosion to create some nice progress when their clocks are dwindling.
Special Defense
- Rest is the easiest way to try and melt down the formidable frozen force into a Blissey-shaped engraving. Too FSG-coded? With how little Calm Regice takes from special hits, it finds oppurtunities to burn off those 2 turns in the mirror or into an attacker like Starmie deftly. Be wary that, by disabling Regice for 3 turns essentially, Regice becomes setup fodder for the Dragon Dance mons it usually checks with impunity.
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- It may be strange to lump these two together here, yet they both share the combo of Will-O-Wisp + Rest as a way of staving off special threats while not turning into trampled doormats when they have to contend with physical offense. Gardevoir is unique in the way that it can also run Wish + Protect as an alternate way to recover its health into special offense. With either method though, its free to shake off its status with Trace Natural Cure from the common Starmie. Just keep in mind that it lacks the ability to run both Wish and Will-O-Wisp together.
On the other side of the coin, Dusclops has the ability to directly answer the special offense its checking with Shadow Ball/Night Shade, sometimes even opting 4th moveslot Mean Look to render these mons useless with Rest + Pressure to stall out all of their PP.
- If ran as a dedicated stall mon, Ludicolo's ability to help out against special offense may be even greater than the mons above. However, for all its bulk on the special side and the power of Leech Seed, its Flying-type weakness and lack of immediate offense prevents it from being able to manage setup sweepers or physical offense at nearly the same capacity.
- Think of Lanturn as a Regice with the mainly the positive traits of a Water-type strapped onto it. Also think of Lanturn as having nearly only three-quarters of the BST Regice possesses.
- Hariyama is the only one of these special walls who can both prove a physical threat in its own right. Threatening Whirlwind also gives Hariyama a good niche on Spikes teams as well. There's no denying how good these traits are, especially compounding with Thick Fat to answer Regice and the more niche Fire-types. However, it's similar to Ludicolo in the way that its not strongly threatening the bevy of physical attackers coming its way, made worse by its lack of reliable recovery in a metagame nearly wholly starved of clerics.
Mixed Defense
- Out of any defensive piece in 200, Milotic is certainly the one you may expect to do best in lieu of many of the things that dent away its wider viability in OU. No Sand, less Spikes, less Paralysis, essentially no strong STAB Rock Slide to flinch it down and to make Pert substantial competition for the Water-type slot. It barely loses a move either. As a result, nearly every bulky structure wants it, and
bad. Teams need to find a way of breaking or stalling out Milo's multiple potential sets, given just how many mons become stonewalled by 32PP Recover and Refresh.
- While Registeel can get away with its Curse shenanigans, many teams may run it as a dedicated mixed wall. Even if you dump most of its EVs into SpDef, it's not like it'll have to brunt too many STAB SE physical hits for that to be an issue. No, the biggest problem is the moves. No SToss and no TWave is enough to drain much of this set's viability, and moveset choices. That being said, teams must still find a way to break it without having to risk their Skarmory to Thunder or Zap Cannon hitting multiple times.
These above two mons are really the only proper mixed def walls. The following are mons that you can run as mixed defensively, yet usually dump their EVs into HP and Def
or SpDef. Still, their HP invest and naturally good bulk typically allows them to take a couple hits on their weaker side.
- Walrein is the Lovecraftian child of Regice and Swampert. As you can imagine from that offspring, it has too many moves it'd like to run. It really wants both STABs to bully the world and then some, and then wants every conceivable useful Status move. Roar, Encore, Toxic, Curse (with Rock Slide and/or EQ), Rest, Protect... the list doesn't really need to go on, that's already too many moves for its clumsy, overfed fins. For teams with Spikes though, a Water-type carrying Roar doesn't really exist outside of Gyarados. For that alone, it's worth running.
- Underutilised as of now, Xatu has quite a few unique traits that make it seem like a pretty adept utility fellow. Synchronise + Refresh means that Xatu can act as a really nice status switchin. Alternatively, Xatu can run Haze over Refresh, with moveset egg compatability shenanigans preventing it from running both. However, given that its not outspeeding all too many setup sweepers without Spe investment. Night Shade + Toxic in a format without Blissey chips down everything just nicely. Arguably Xatu's largest claim to fame is its access to Wish. For both self preservation and as support for something like Hariyama or Dusclops, Xatu's Wish is integral to its gameplan.
Thunder Wave
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- To be able to make substantial progress into their common switchins, Lanturn and Magneton often opt out of TWave for Toxic, despite how limited TWave distribution otherwise is.
- As such, Manectric is the only threatening and substantial (as in, able to take more than two resisted Drill Pecks from Skarmory -- looking at you, Pikachu) Electric-type consistently wielding the move for offensive purposes.
- Minun really likes using TWave to be able to cheese the opponent with its wide toolbox, while also creating a lasting impact on the gamestate if things go awry in its trickery.
Will-O-Wisp
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In brief, all of these mons really only function on bulky structures because of their access to Will-O-Wisp. There's so few Fire-types in the tier that the biggest risk of Will-O-Wisp is hitting it into a Swellow feasting for a fire in its belly.
Spikes
- Skarmory's great, yada yada. You've heard it all before, Spikes is still its best button.
- Who I'm really interested in speaking on is Roselia, who you don't particularly see often in bog standard OU. Its Synthesis gets to flourish here instead of being a meagre heal in Sand, allowing it more oppurtunities to click Spikes. In a Water-type dominated metagame, having a mon so easily able to tank repeated non-STAB Ice Beam is a massive blessing. Leech Seed is obviously incredible, especially in combination with Protect to scout CB attacks for its team. Honestly, Roselia's biggest issue is deciding between establishing Spikes Layers and Leech Seed can be pretty difficult from turn to turn. Invariably, this is 'suffering from success'.
- Glalie is likely the worst out of these three, and is still comfortably OU. Part of that is its inability to use Explosion. Much like Regice however, because its STAB Ice Beam + HP Electric/Crunch threaten the spinners so easily, Glalie generates many turns to reestablish Spikes. Helping it do this is a decently fast Taunt on a fairly bulky body.
Rapid Spin
- I've already described Starmie, so I think taking a brief look at the only other two fully evolved spinners is worthwhile. Before you ask, Armaldo can't run Spin.
- Unlike many other mons, Claydol has retained its Explosion, massively heightening its utility. The only move it really rues losing is Refresh, making it wholly unable to 1v1 Skarmory without Rest. The bigger issue is that the wider metagame changes are all unkind to Claydol: fewer Aroma users, no Sand or powerful Rock STAB, no Gengar to Psychic, and, most importantly, too many Water-types. Claydol is likely going to have to trade itself for Spin + Boom to go off. Because of how its played, Claydol often lasts fewer turns than the Starmie it's competing with.
- Most of the negatives I've described for Claydol also apply for Donphan. The big thing Donphan has over Claydol is how Odor Sleuth + Spin will always force Spikes to go away. Furthermore, its strong STAB EQ is able to chunk SpDef Dusclops much more effectively than Claydol's, even if it's uninvested. This is wonderful work into bulkier structures, and its phazing on teams with Spikes is no joke. However, the special offfense that dominates the tier really doesn't play nice with it.
Wish
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- Notably, due to the way they obtain Wish, Salamence and Gardevoir have multiple egg move incompatabilities. The most important examples are that Salamence can't run both Wish and Hydro Pump, and Gardevoir can't run both Wish and Will-O-Wisp. Outside of the full PhysDef stuff, Wish is a niche 4th move on special Mence to bolster its own team's longevity. Likewise, its usually the choice of 4th moveslot for Bold 2A CM Gardevoir outside of Rest.
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- I've already discussed Xatu's use of the move, but, as for Minun, there's a few more interesting things to say. Minun often can't fit Wish on a moveset aiming to Baton Pass an Agility boost, since it really appreciates the ability to have any 2 of Encore/Thunder Wave/Substitute much more. However, the fact its gets a largely unrestricted set 50% Wish is disgusting.
Substitute
- Grumpig is more or less just using Substitute to cover for its gaping physical weaknesses. Unlike Gardevoir, who manages to proactively insulate its team into physical offense, this fat little hog is so hungry and greedy, it gobbles up all of the utility for itself.
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- Azumarill and Linoone use it to bolster their physical offense, but in a way that genuinely makes progress rather than being a slight upgrade to Taunt on Grumpig. Azumarill is the best Focus Punch user because of this trait, ontop of its sturdy defensive profile and brilliant attack post-Huge Power.
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- So, as you may expect, the best utility of Substitute is still...
Baton Pass
SD:
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- Out of the two, Absol ostensibly has the better traits. It can take advantage of being +2 before passing it, it has a fast(-ish) Taunt to prevent its pass recipient from being statused, a superior defensive suite, and Substitute. However, Mawile gets AP + BP as well, and that's really funny.
Speed:
- Off the bat, Ninjask is a complete bum without Substitute. It's better off attacking with CB than using Pass and outspeeding literally everyhing, but it's still really not doing too much.
- Like Sand Attack Ninjask though, Minun can consistently cheese the opponent into having to reckon with a +2 speed attacker behind a Substitute. All teams must have a way of stopping this little devil's many tricks.
- Gorebyss can leverage its intense offensive pressure to set up an Agility Pass. As the opponent switches out to their Milotic or Regice on the expected RD, you can pop an Agility and immediately start threatening the opponent. The biggest caveat is that the Gorebyss has only 2 moveslots to work with, so passing Rain turns to it with something else is the only offensive utility you'll get out of it.
CM:
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There's a little more competition for the CM slot here, though Absol is also likely the best here still due to its aforementioned strengths + the ability to run TBolt at +1 or 2 to bully Skarmory. Granting a +1 or +2 boost to special Salamence not only makes it near impossible to check defensively, but OHKO with an Ice Beam. Likewise, CM boosting a mixed Metagross makes it into a disgustingly bulky attacker. It's worthwhile to note that Medicham is the only mon that has BP + Bulk Up.
Tail Glow:
- Passing with Mr. Volbeat is rendered significantly more difficult because it cannot learn both Baton Pass and Trick toghether. In any case, its surprisingly ok bulk and typing defensively means that it can get its pass off. The best recipient for the pace of team Volbeat typically tacks onto is RD Kingdra, though there's a plethora of other fast attackers you can beat down the opponent with if they're at +2.
Dry Pass
- If you can manage to set up RD elsewhere consistently, or feel comfortable with only 2 attacking slots, then Baton Pass can be quite dastardly to bait the few true counters Milotic does have. It can also pass Acid Armor or Amnesia boosts if you really want, though it's certainly a more niche option on such an offensive mon.
- Shedinja can pass little, but the fact this mon gets pivoting at all in a Sandless metagame gives it a lot more utility than it really has any right to have.
Explosion
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I've covered all of these mons, so I'll spend a sentence or two to discuss what good is Explosion.:
Uhh. It's good.
By virtue of it being on mainly bulkier mons, it's a little bit more tenuous to fit onto many of these guys. That is because a big benefit of Explosion, the turn denial, won't come up nearly as much without paralysis support due to how slow most of the users are. Furthermore, sacrificing a defensive piece instead of retaining it with Rest/Protect is risky into unrevealed teams, especially considering how most of these mons don't have the highest attack stats.
Encore
Despite how good Encore is, it's pretty difficult to fit onto most of these mons. That comes down to not only 4MSS, but also because it's not really a perfect fit for any of them.
- Alakazam can run a set of Mono Psychic with its 3 best utility moves (Calm Mind, Encore, Recover) or 2A CM Encore, and it's decently effective. The egg move incompatability between the elemental punches and Encore stings for a multitude of reasons (loss of Speed IV with HP Fire, less power, no secondary chance), but more than anything, not being able to hit everything with Alakazam seriously hurts its ability to make progress outside of the endgame.
- Likewise, out of its few choices for its last 2 moveslots on the AgilPass set, Encore is the move dropped most often in favour of TWave and Substitute. Doing so little on the opponent's switchout is something Minun really cannot afford to do, so Encore is relegated moreso as an option for securing greedier endgames.
- Walrein may have the easiest time out of any of these mons, forcing setup sweepers to attack its sturdy defensive profile head-on due to the threat of Encore. This is more applicable for Spikeless teams without any great check for lastmon Curse Swampert or Registeel, because otherwise, Roar is a superior option in terms of resetting momentum.
- Encore Machamp, especially with some speed investment, can force some awkward positions for the opponent. Into Skarmory or Ludicolo, for example, it can force them to click Toxic again to activate Guts. However, Machamp is an aficionado at forcing switches typically. Encore can be part of that gameplan for sure, but because it whiffs so hard on the switchout, it often feels much more secure to click Focus Punch or Cross Chop for the chip on the switchout instead. Encore + Focus Punch has its utility, though.
- You may think that, in light of Azumarill having Substitute access, Encore would be a great way of punishing those trying to break its Substitute and a means of more reliably setting it up. Alas, it cannot run both moves together. Out of the two options, Azumarill's Focus Punch gameplan necessitates Substitute much more, and so, Encore is often left by the wayside. It
is still ADV Encore, so it's more than usable.
Pursuit
Yes, there are no Dark-Type Pursuit users. Deal with it. But seriously, because the two best spinners are Psychic-types (and Donphan has poor special bulk), even non-STAB Pursuit is primed to pin them down.
- On mixed Metagross, trading with a chipped Starmie or mono-Psychic Alakazam with Pursuit can be a big benefit. With no Explosion, Metagross can comfortably run Pursuit over where the Explosion slot usually would be in OU. Its typing means that beating Claydol with Pursuit is a little more suspicious, though.
- While Metagross is the better mon overall, Sceptile is absolutely the better Pursuit user. By being able to properly switch into a chipped Starmie or Claydol using their respective resisted STAB moves and force a 50/50 with Leaf Blade + Pursuit, Sceptile creates a lot of instant pressure with only 2 moveslots for teams that want Spikes to remain up.
- Like Sceptile, Dusclops can do the same job of forcing a 50/50 with Shadow Ball + Pursuit. However, it is significantly worse due to the necessity to run full bulk, nevermind its poorer attacking stats at base. Dusclops is often better off with a different 4th moveslot, although Suit Clops has its place on teams that really want to role compress Spin blocking and the utility of Suit.
Roar
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I'm not going to explain every last bit of Roar's utility, but, in short, its the most reliable option into setup mons. Dragon Dance Salamence usually forces a Roar response out. Even Taunt Gyarados must contend with how Roar + damaging move is often enough to circumvent a total sweep due to Taunt only lasting 2 turns in ADV.
Whirlwind
- If it's staring down Regice, and its the early game, Whirlwind forces good chip if Spikes are up, and team information is primo for the bulky structures that Hariyama fits on. Even if there's a Salamence on the other end, the mere threat of Whirlwind will make them more incentivised to attack. However, having another phazing mon that can actually deal with most physical attackers comfortably is necessary for Hariyama to not be overloaded.
- Tropius has the smallest of small niches on Superman structures to force progress, partially inspired by its ability to force chip with Leech Seed and Whirlwind + Spikes. However, it's still Tropius. Being Flying and Ice-type weak in this metagame is crippling, and it's not really posing much damage otherwise.
Haze
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The same things I said about Roar would apply to Haze... if anything great got it. Weezing is far and away the best user of the move, but Will-O-Wisp is much more applicable in the vast majority of cases. Crobat wishes it retrained Whirlwind, but Haze can screw up Adamant +1 Gyarados (388 speed max on Gyara < 394 unboosted max max speed Crobat). Especially with these latter two listed mons though, it's really not happening.
Heal Bell/Aromatherapy
Most bulkier or stallier teams require Heal Bell or Aromatherapy to function overtime. With the lack of Sand and the generally lower powerlevel, being able to Rest up and then cleanse it with another mon sounds ridiculously powerful and consistent when executed.
- Roselia is far and away the best user of the move. Its Poison-typing and Natural Cure means that it doesn't have to use Aromatherapy for itself most of the time, and can save its precious PP to cleanse 2-3 mons at once. The biggest issue is that Roselia often wants to carry a bunch of other moves to give it more of an offensive prescence (e.g., HP Grass, Stun Spore), so fitting Aromatherapy can be awkward.
- Vileplume doesn't have the latter issue of Roselia, but only because it lacks pretty much every utility move that Roselia gets. No Leech Seed or Spikes means that Vileplume can usually fit Synthesis, Aromatherapy, Sleep/Stun Powder, and Sludge Bomb, all on the same set. In addition to better bulk, you may think that Vileplume would be the superior choice as a cleric over Roselia. However, by giving up Spikes with Vileplume, it means you usually have to offload the duty to another mon, and stacking Skarmory with Vileplume is pitiful against Fire-types and Magneton.
- Delcatty also gets Heal Bell but. Erm. It's Delcatty. Chimecho carries a Ground-immunity, meaning that it has the chance to come in, Yawn something, Heal Bell, and then get out. Unfortunately, you're wasting a teamslot to do... what exactly? This is doing even less than Vileplume.
Sleep Talk
With its desperately low distribution, any of the following mons with Sleep Talk is at least of interest.
- Wailord is a uniquely situated Roar user, arguably forcing more chip than any other if Spikes are retained on the enemy side. Furthermore, its a big dumb stupid Water-type with the ability to status clear and recover HP. This is almost a Milotic! However, because it's relying on RestTalk to make a lot of its progress, it has poor matchups aplenty. Superman and the common Gyarados (or any Taunt user, frankly) completely dumpster it, with its sticking power and individual immediate threat not being even close to that of Milotic, or even Swampert or Walrein.
- While I said that Golduck was the analogue to Suicune, Relicanth is the only mon that can truly replicate Crocune. At least the set. Without Sand, its Rock-type is more of a defensive hindrance than anything, so getting full endgame sweeps with this guy is difficult. Furthermore, its so much weaker than Suicune specially to the point that it will get outscaled fairly swiftly. Still, the novelty of RestTalk is at least worth noting.
- With Soundproof legal, passing a defense boost to Exploud makes it able to stick around and set up Howl + RestTalk to bully stuff. However, it's still Exploud, a mon so limited by its own mediocrity that even passing multiple defensive boosts feels pyrrhic after it is hit on the other side for untenable damage before its disfigured arms get a chance to merely tap the opponent.
Trapping
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- I've mentioned these two fine fellows' ability to trap before, so I won't go further into detail here.
- Gardevoir's ability to counttertrap Magneton can be utilised with a CM + Rest set to countersweep. This set is ridiculously limited by 4MSS however, either lacking the coverage or the means of fully mitigating what Magneton can do to it with Toxic or Metal Sound. Furthermore, getting crit once by trapper Magneton is endsville. With Chesto Resto, and only setting up a couple CM boosts instead of greeding for all 6, Gardevoir can manage the exchange while still carrying HP Fire/Thunderbolt + Psychic for coverage.
- Trapinch is the only mon with Arena Trap, and so, automatically deserves a niche. The main things it can take on are Magneton, Registeel, and Dusclops, all of whom are more than common. Therefore, on a game to game basis, it'll often remove these key figures. It's not even comparable to Dugtrio since it really can only do that much, while potentially spreading Toxic + Protect to remove Slaking if one is willing to give up CB.
- And we end on a whimper. Without Mimic for Spikes, Nosepass really can only trap Skarmory, and inefficiently at that.
ADV Ubers
ADV UUBL
ADV UU
ADV ZU
ADV SU
ADV LC
ADV Doubles
ADV JAA
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