Metagame National Dex Metagame Discussion

Recently i’ve been enjoying the tier a lot more, I’m confident that most of this is due to me forging a healthier relationship with the game but a part of the reason is definitely me going back to test out shitmons- trust me, it’s fun :)
One of the core reasons I fell in love with the tier was cuz of the shitmon experimentation variety actually.
I’ve built around like 5 atm as of recently: Mega Heracross, Dragalgea, Zeraora, Regieleki and Hydreigon
And have used the tho not really a shitmon but still unpopular Ursaluna and am PLANNING to use sd tinka and MPinsir.

So how are they?
Shit, that’s what they are (I mean, it’s in the name: shitmon). I’m being honest to god when I’m saying this, my MHera team is probably the best team I’ve built with a shitmon but it felt like I was fighting a 5v6 like 90% of the time.
Lemme list out some of strengths i’ve noticed so far of each mon

The Shitmon shit show:

:sv/heracross-mega:
Kinda bulky, packs a serious punch and has pretty damn strong knock offs. I didn’t use SD, that’s lame, instead I used 4a with rock blast, pin missile, knock and cc while running max investment in hp and attack. Wanted this to be an “unignorable bulky wallbreaker”, guess what? It was ignorable :)
Albeit I’m over exaggerating it, most battles felt more of a 5.5v6 tbh.
Here’s the team if any of y’all want it (warning, it’s kinda bad but also definitely usable):
:Heracross-mega: :alomomola: :Dragonite: :tapu lele: :Heatran: :terapagos-terastal:
https://pokepast.es/9f1e26137dbdd647

:sv/dragalge:
(on paper) walls wellspring, can pivot, has strong draco’s and sludge waves, has hazards (in t spikes) and is a good toxic spreader. I used adaptability with sludge wave, Draco, flip turn and t spikes. How was it? Bad.. really bad. The rest of the team doesn’t *properly* support it ig but i’ve basically given up on testing it, it’s like a cardboard cutout of a restaurant which you fell for and thought was real and actually tried to go inside of it to sum it up. Way worse in practice. Now my complaints for wellspring can also be blamed on my overall incompetency as a player but it being able to 2 shot dragalgea with +2 cudgel is just… why.
Here’s the paste if you want it for some reason:
:dragalge: :gliscor: :terapagos-terastal: :ogerpon-wellspring: :alomomola: :tapu lele:
https://pokepast.es/1f6441a4ca2bbf24

:sv/Zeraora: :sv/regieleki:
Grouping these 2 together since they have a pretty similar role.
Fast volt pivot… that’s it.
I’ve given up on eleki tho am still willing to expirament with Zeraora cuz eleki is the definition of “come here and hit me!” Whenever there’s a ground type, which surprise! Almost every team has one.
Zeraora can’t threaten grounds (with the set I’m running: volt, plasma fists, knock, cc) but can at least do something when facing one.
I’ll still be testing zera so note the paste would be “incomplete”.
One strength of eleki is that if the opponent’s ground goes down, it’s capable of 6-0’ing (or 5-0’ing ig). I’m not exaggerating, I’ve done it before.
Anyways here are the pastes:
:Zeraora: :Samurott-Hisui: :gholdengo: :Charizard-mega-y: :great tusk: :gliscor:
https://pokepast.es/4bbf3339e2a31ab7 (Gets destroyed by scarf shifu btw)
:Regieleki: :tapu lele: :garchomp: :iron valiant: :Ferrothorn: :corviknight:
https://pokepast.es/2acba9d4927dafca (This team is shit, got way too many reverse synergies. Still not rebuilding eleki anytime soon tho)

:sv/hydreigon:
I’ve temporarily given up but will (probably) pick it back up later. I’ve been using scarf and my days it’s ass. It does like 38% to Zard y btw (with dark pulse), I was expecting like 42-45% bare minimum. I wanna try AV and nasty plot tho, as nasty plot overall has seen greater success in gen 9 overall with hydra. There was a sv ou sample with it even, I remember vividly.
It requires a ton of support still. Overall still bad, performed way worse than I expected, once again similarly to zera the team is “incomplete” but that doesn’t change the fact it can barely output damage (damn power creep’s a bitch, this is 125 sp.atk we’re talking about).
Paste:
:hydreigon: :ogerpon-wellspring: :Ferrothorn: :Moltres: :lopunny-mega: :gliscor:
https://pokepast.es/3ad67f6c0af644bb


HOW TO USE SHITMONS GUIDE:

Step 1: Pick a shitmon which has “potential”. :Wigglytuff:
Basically, pick a shitmon which can actually do smth, you’re not getting anything done with a tatsugiri but *can* get smth done with a hydreigon (keyword: can).

Step 2: :alomomola: spam
Spam this thing, on every team. The only teams I didn’t use it in was zera and eleki cuz they’re way too frail, if they take damage they’re realistically already dead. I somehow didn’t use it hydra tho so fuck :)

Step 3: Get partners which patch up the shitmon’s weaknesses. :Urshifu-rapid-strike:
For example, Mola is usually an excellent partner as it patches up a ton of weaknesses usually, and saves the difficulty of recovery and pivoting.
Another example, I picked dnite as a partner for MHera since it handles wellspring well. (Unboosted cudgel does like 42-ish% iirc, so it was important if you ask me)

Step 4: Test and patch the team :iron valiant:
Just like normal teambuilding, test it out on ladder and patch up obvious weaknesses! I’ll advise that you don’t need to patch up a weakness against an uncommon mon like MMawhile for example.

I’m really fucking tired and am too lazy to write a proper conclusion So Thank you for reading, sorry if it felt like I wasted your time, have a great day moving forward!​
 
300px-Yusei_Scientist.jpg


Hello, its the enthusiast/researcher/Helper/instigator/Lebron/contributer/ ayevon (WCOP Northeast captain) of nat dex. In order to keep up with the meta for building purposes and spotting player patterns, I try to watch every single SV ND tournament game. We're approaching week 4 of NDPL and I wanted to showcase some trends I've seen that I think either can or should be standard. (EV spreads may not be accurate cause honestly idk what people are running on these mons. I'm just assuming/using spreads I think would be used.)

:ceruledge:
Ceruledge @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Weak Armor
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Poltergeist
- Bitter Blade
- Swords Dance
- Endure
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nationaldex-871294 this is the first time I've seen this set although could have been used before. I Generally always thought this mon was very underwhelming, you always want sash to have snowball potential AND Z crystal to break past stuff properly. This set gives you both and is great because not many of thr special attackers 1 shot it, so you trade with them after a sd and just endure into the physical stuff. Very heat, should def be used more on offense.

:kyurem:
Kyurem @ Expert Belt
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Dragon
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Freeze-Dry
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Roost
First time I've seen this used is here https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nationaldex-870676 now usually the most common set is boots sub roost 2 atks, which I think is extremely overrated. The mindset is "i sub and nothing switches into ground/ice" which is true on paper, but you dont break certain mons properly such as ferro, corv, lefties clefable, Moltres, don't do enough to mons like ting lu or even opposing kyurem. For this reason I've liked 3 atks(ice beam)+ roost over the boots set but I think this is alot better. Being able to do 90/1 shot ferro/scizor is huge and freeze dry+earth power hit like a truck against SE targets. Drawback is you're slower than Timid ghold but I haven't seen timid non scarf in awhile, i urge people to try this set especially with cinder/Slowking-Galar its heat.

:iron treads:
Iron Treads @ Leftovers/Icium Z
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Ground
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Spinner
- Stealth Rock/Knock off
Not exactly ground breaking and has been used in the past but its picking up usage. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nationaldex-870330
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nationaldex-868924
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nationaldex-872981
Threads is an interesting ground because its also a steel type, which helps it remove hazards easier against mons like ferro, tapu lele, and even Gholdengo since you don't take much from its main stab moves besides ghost z. Great speed tier and great bulk on top of that hope to see it used more.

:blaziken:
Blaziken @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Speed Boost
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Protect
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
P sure ryuji used it first but ngl, nobody is finding those games. Edit: found it https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nationaldex-847164 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nationaldex-871189?p2 think on PAPER its safe to say pex kinda fell off a bit. The main bulky water is now mola which makes this set alot better. Fire Z was mainly for lando/zap anyway which isnt so bad to attack into with raw blitz.

:gliscor:
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Tera Type: Ground
- Earthquake/Knock off
- Swords Dance
- Protect
- Facade
Long ago in the land of copeville, most thought that earthquake, toxic, protect, spikes gliscor should be the only set used. We are now in September of 2025 and I don't remember the last time Ive seen that set, or the type of teams it was on put in work. I do think its still one of the most consistent sets still,(I'll touch on that below) but SD gliscor has some merrit. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nationaldex-869019 SD gliscor picks on fat teams whos normal answer to it would be just sitting on it via clef, ferro, or flip turn with mola and cycling till its forced out. Should definitely be paired with spikes/knock imo but to each their own. I think this is really solid on stall and on bulky offense if you can fit it.

Bonus: Which playstyle is back?????
:Gliscor: + :Toxapex:
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Tera Type: Ground
- Protect
- Knock Off
- Toxic
- Spikes

Toxapex @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Poison
IVs: 0 Atk
- Whatever
- You
- Want
- Bro
I spent half the year talking down on this core(I genuinely think no one was prepping for it at first and thats why it looked better than what it was) but I think it can makena comeback. Watched alot of pl games and not many people are runningknock absorbers at least with the better players. Plus gliscor loves to knock mons that have to interact with it like tusk to pressure spikes easier later, zap to kake clearing hazards harder, or clef to take awayits longevity. Can't say this is good again without any showings but I think it should make a comeback in tours, try it out

Happy building! :heart:
 
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