Metagame Tera Override

I noticed you missed mold breaker thief here

“What kind of pokemon would even-“
ITS HAWLUCHA AGAIN BABY WOOOO

Hawlucha @ Normal Gem
Ability: Mold Breaker
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Thief
- Acrobatics
- Close Combat
- U-turn

(Dont use this its genuinely outclassed by unburden in almost every single way)
 
While you all theorymon about Tera Dark Knock Off abusers and other strategies, I’d like to present the first edition of Watchlist - the Pokemon that the council believes have the potential to be beyond broken.

I’d appreciate it if people could discuss these picks and let us know if you feel something needs to be added or removed from the watchlist.
Watchlist:

:pmd/slowking-galar: Chilly Reception:
Slowking can now not only provide a free switch for your wallbreakers and sweepers, but it also offers Snow support to turn them into bulky win conditions. This is especially effective with setup sweepers that boost their Special Defense (such as with Calm Mind or Quiver Dance), making them incredibly difficult to take down as they snowball (hehe get it?) through entire teams. Additionally, you can pivot into a defensive ally to form an even more potent defensive core.
:pmd/ninetales-alola: Ninetales-Alola:
Snow, as a whole, is something we’ll be keeping an eye on (along with Sand, which is a bit weaker compared to Snow since its setters have no pivot/utility). Apart from using Slowking for defensive pivots, Ninetales-Alola can also be used to set up Aurora Veil, making your win conditions even harder to break (though this comes at the cost of losing pivoting utility). We will also be evaluating which element is actually problematic among Snow Warning, Aurora Veil, Light Clay, or just Ninetales-Alola. Additionally, keep in mind that Ninetales-Alola has access to Freeze-Dry (more on that later), which can improve matchups against common Steel- or Fire-type threats. However, be aware that running Tera Steel or Fire to counter these threats means they also benefit from Snow’s Defense boost.
:pmd/kyurem: Kyurem:
Kyurem is already a formidable Pokemon in the OU tier. Now, imagine that, but with the ability to spam STAB Ice-type moves in the face of Steel- or Fire-types. Freeze-Dry is one of the moves that has the potential to provide immense value, and Kyurem is arguably the best user of it. Honestly, we don’t want to ban the elements changed in this meta, which includes this move, but if it turns out to be overpowered on more than just Kyurem (which we anticipate to be the case), we may have to take action.
:pmd/hawlucha: Hawlucha:
Moving away from ice and snow, let's talk about the classic Acrobatics + Flying Gem strategy: hit incredibly hard and get faster with Unburden. There’s not much that needs explaining here, aside from the fact that these Pokemon (especially Hawlucha with its STAB Fighting-type coverage for Steel- & Rock-types) can become incredibly difficult to stop, especially in Psychic Terrain archetypes (grounded Pokemon will also benefit from the Tera Flying Psychic Terrain boost). Keep in mind that Hawlucha also has access to Flying Press, which can act as an interesting coverage option. It’s not our top priority at the moment, but we’ll keep an eye on it to see if it ends up being as devastating as expected (or potentially even more so). Again, we'd possibly prefer banning the Pokemon (or maybe Unburden idk) over Acrobatics & Normal Gem.
 
Freeze dry kinda sucks on other pokemon being completely honest

Glaceon is slow and frail, a-ninetales isnt as much of a “freeze dry is busted” as it is “snow is busted”, dont use glalie, dont use Delibird, mamo is a physical attacker, and iron bundle is banned.

Ive changed my mind on lap if only because they can be a bulky diet-bundle with water dry, or could run dark and get knock absorb and funny jump on something like ting lu

But yeah, realistically the only problem user is gonna be kyurem, in my opinion

Edit: thought this was a bit of a nothing burger post so I’ve added something else (dw its relevant probably)

:ninetales-alola: Ninetales-Alola @ Light Clay / Icy Rock / Heavy-Duty-Boots
Ability: Snow Warning
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Freeze-Dry
- Weather Ball
- Moonblast
- Aurora Veil

The main snow setter, goes heavier on offense than the standard set does.
Tera Fire does three things here. First, it gives freeze-dry a way into the fire types that might help wall moonblast normally
Second, it makes weather ball 100BP and fire, also giving ninetales a way into steel types like gholdengo that might want to try and come in otherwise
And third: it supports bulky heatran and gives ceruledge a slight boost to longevity

:ceruledge: Ceruledge @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bitter Blade
- Shadow Sneak
- Poltergeist

Does what it normally does, but better because of veil and +def
Bitter blade is still strong even without a power boost from weather, and knock immunity is, as discussed, really strong. Definitely a wincon here.

:heatran: Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Water / Ground
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 212 SpD / 40 Spe
Calm Nature
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock / Body Press

Built off of the “specially defensive” set from the compdex, there are two sets here. First is tera water, which pairs better with stealth rocks and can be used to get out of a bad freeze-dry situation in a pinch.
The second is tera ground, which is much better in terms of flash fire, but could make opposing heatran immune to stealth rock, which isnt ideal. Thats why i listed body press as an alternative, which is noteable not only because of the defense boost in snow, but also because it hits opposing (not tera-fighting) heatran.
Ninetales-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Blizzard
- Weather Ball
- Encore
- Aurora Veil
Able to reap the benefits of its own snow, alolan-ninetales here is bulkier than in the last core. Other than the 100 BP fairy stab in weather ball its a pretty normal set.

Ragnarok (Sylveon) @ Dread Plate
Ability: Pixilate
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Weather Ball
- Calm Mind
- Draining Kiss
- Moonblast

“Pixilate doesnt work like that you arent-“ hush, sweet child, you are not enlightened.

“This pokemons Ground-type moves become Ground-type and gain 1.2x power”
“Weather ball becomes Ground/Ground/Ground/Ground type, depending on weather, and becomes 100 BP”
“All plates boost Ground moves by 1.2x”

I have given this behemoth a 144 base-power perfectly accurate ground coverage in all weather, and a 1.5x defense boost in snow to boot. You may even drop draining kiss for wish, if you want, or shadow ball, to hit steels, or even stored power, because thats a thing.
This isn’t even the best part, either!

Nothing ever said tera ground was *necessary*
You could run tera water for heatran and ceruledge, tera ghost for ceruledge and gholdengo, tera fire for gholdengo and kingambit, tera fighting for gambit and heatran, hell tera fairy for the stab nuclear bomb.


I mean look at this!
+1 252+ SpA Pixie Plate Pixilate Tera Fairy Sylveon Boomburst (100BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex: 129-152 (42.5 - 50.1%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO


this thing is terrifying.
 
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speaking for myself, not for council as a whole, all opinions my own

i think freeze-dry will largely just be good, alolan ninetales is the strongest legal user of the move behind kyurem and it doesn't present nearly the same problems as kyurem or chilly reception do. choosing between light clay and icy rock is already unfortunate considering you're going to be forced to manually switch, and while the cumulative defense boosts from veil + snow may prove to be broken, the logical course of action at that point imo is to just ban veil. kyurem is probably gonna be unapologetically broken, the prospective issues with it go way beyond freeze-dry (weather ball offering custom coverage, kyurem's natural coverage being good, unpredictability due to set variety similar to current OU).

hawlucha is an interesting case because flying press isn't exactly custom? any fighting immune pokemon will still be immune to it and for pretty much all mechanical purposes it is classified as a fighting move. it may just end up not being worth using it over standard options like close combat unless a certain type combo ends up being particularly good at exploiting common stuff. however, it is entirely possible that the move could circumvent immunities; even if a flying-weak pokemon is hit with flying press while holding a coba berry, the berry doesn't activate, and items like sharp beak, sky plate, and flying gem have no effect on it either. this is probably one of the first things that will need to be tested once the meta is playable, although hawlucha's access to mold breaker means the actual effects of this are likely negligible regardless.

as mentioned several times, scrappy and mind's eye are useless. personally speaking, i think it would be fine to try allowing bloodmoon ursa in normal circumstances, but i do worry about how it might function in tandem with chilly reception; moonlight's recovery being cut in snow is a notable handicap but the defense boost in tandem with ursa's naturally high bulk could still prove to make cm bloodmoon an extremely difficult thing to handle. freeing the bear into a meta where we're already concerned about slow pivots accentuating the bulk of fat boosters to enable them feels like putting too much pressure on the meta all at once. if chilly reception gets nuked or proves to be mundane i'd be interested though.
 
echoing above, kyurem's stats are massive and let it take advantage of freeze dry much better than any other user.

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these 10 are the only FE mons with freeze dry in the game, beyond kyurem it's alolatales and then you have fringe stuff like lapras, articuno, cryogonal, and glaceon. the rest have either too little SpA or are just bad in general, and of the ones that look workable none of them bar glaceon even break 100. kyurem just stands leagues ahead of the competition with its huge bulk, attacking stats, and decent speed tier. i think this move will be fine, which is great because it looks fun to play with and might breathe some life into a couple mons, of note lapras which gets water absorb and has decent coverage + solid stats except speed.

thinking abt kyurem more it's definitely going to be a top threat as always but the customizability of defensive cores we're being presented with also helps alleviate the issue of finding a good answer, even if a foolproof one is difficult to come by. this is bolstered by tera preview allowing you to make informed decisions on what beats what.

:heatran: tera ground tran is already poised to succeed in the meta solely due to it's fantastic typing and great movepool, while also doing well vs a number of kyurem sets, taking neutral or better from everything outside of focus blast, body press, or tera blast. having a check this splashable will help a ton.
:azumarill: in terms of pure "counter" i don't think it gets better than tera ice azu, yeah sap sipper over huge power is really painful but azu has a very deep movepool, you can definitely make a good support set out of it. earth power is your best click here and it's really not that great (252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Azumarill: 123-145 (30.4 - 35.8%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Leftovers recovery). the big problem is gonna be passivity and lack of immediate recovery.
:dachsbun: similar strat to above, worse at taking hits than azu but it actually has recovery and benefits a lot from getting its ability activated.
:clodsire: huge special defense means even specs draco maxes out at <60% if timid, paired with tera ice and you're not awful into it unless it's some hokey physical set. you do have to fear specs earth power but at that point it's locked and much easier to pivot around.
:florges: yeah lets not forgot abt the flower veiler, icicle spear sets can be scary but all the special attacking ones are gonna struggle unless it's fairy freeze-dry or god forbid STEEL COVERAGE. if you're that worried about getting freeze-dried just have your tera type be different from fairy and be prepared to tera florges often, it's not like that's a bad strat given it can serve as a bulky wincon.
:frosmoth: the changes to rocks means leftovers might be more workable now??? at the very least it shouldn't be as deathly afraid of rocks and thus knock anymore, bulky qd sets could easily use kyurem as setup fodder moreso when you factor in your own tera.

there's also the different weathers which can be tailored to make your team even better at taking hits, though that starts to get into very vague territory and is fairly limited since they override one another, and can alter how your team deals damage as well.
 
We have our first tiering update:
​
  • We are moving from Evasion Moves Clause to Evasion Clause with Snow Cloak, Sand Veil, and Bright Powder added to the banlist. We are also banning the RNG items: Quick Claw and Focus Band.

  • This decision was in light of the already unpredictable nature of the metagame and the belief that the chaotic elements along with the anticipated sand/snow buff will be exacerbated by the randomness brought by these items/abilities, so we decided to ban them.​

  • We are also adding a Type Broadcast Clause (if doable), which would display field conditions' Tera Types in the chat and/or top-left of the battle screen. (This is to prevent the metagame from becoming a memorization game, and seemed reasonable to us since most type-related abilities/moves already have in-battle texts/alerts.)
 
I don't usually post analyses because i'm not that good at teambuilding, but i thought a couple interesting things that could be niche but you never know:
Houndstone @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Fluffy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Tera Type: Normal
Bold Nature
- Night Shade
- Roar
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Not very strong? Yes. Free half damage from contact? Also yes.
Since Fluffy takes double damage from a type, giving normal to a ghost makes it never get that additional weakness. This could also apply in reverse, giving ghost to a normal type, but neither Dubwool or Bewear are in gen9.


Primarina @ Assault Vest
Ability: Liquid Voice
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
Modest Nature
- Moonblast
- Psychic Noise
- Surf
- Flip Turn

Psychic Noise is a sound based move with the added bonus of blocking healing for 2 turns. Now with tera ground it can hit supereffectively against electric, poison and steel mons, or you can use another tera type to hit something else. It's just added coverage, really, but it can make it difficult to pivot into primarina with a supereffective mon for free.
Could also be interesting to check some other tera types like fire against steel, grass and bugs or a tera steel to hit ice users (mainly freeze dry users) like kyurem and alolan ninetales, the possibilities are really only limited by primarina's stats.

So here, it's just my thoughts and the sets i used are based on standard smogon sets, maybe someone else could try to develop them further, i don't have the skills to do so.

Edit: i see someone had already talked about Liquid Voice, i'm glad i'm not just overcooking but actually getting something decent out of the creative mess in my head

Edit 2: Just something that popped up in my head right now, potentially an immunity ability could be set to make immune to Ice and circumvent the Freeze dry problem if it becomes unbearable
 
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Icicle220 said:
Edit 2: Just something that popped up in my head right now, potentially an immunity ability could be set to make immune to Ice and circumvent the Freeze dry problem if it becomes unbearable
Click to expand...
I've pondered this myself (and Kilowattrel-Ice/Thund-T-Ice make decent ice absorbers because they take advantage of Weather Ball-Ice boltbeam in weather anyways) but from what's been discussed it seems at the moment the Freeze Dry Problem is mostly a Kyurem thing and everyone else is pretty manageable.
 
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