To say Ho-Oh is a centralizing force within the Tier Shift OM would be an understatement. Every successful team requires at least one method of handling it, if not more. The Phoenix boasts an impressive defensive profile on top of Regenerator and Recover, which permits it a gold standard of longevity. Whirlwind alone allows Ho-Oh to gatekeep all manner of offensive set-up sweepers, and yet, it is no slouch offensively itself. The bird boasts a powerful dual-STAB combination of Brave Bird and Sacred Fire, with the later pulling a double-duty utility by offering a free 50% burn rate. It even has the option to run Earthquake to nail would be checks like Heatran or Arcanine-H.
Despite all these positive attributes, Ho-Oh is also arguably not broken, as evidenced by the player base’s ability to adapt to its presence and its resulting falling ladder prominence. As a base countermeasure, most successful Tier Shift teams are not hard pressed to run Stealth Rock along with Knock Off support, which severely limits Ho-Oh’s defensive efficacy. The tier’s many strong breakers such as Staraptor, Pawmot, Feraligatr and Hoopa send the bird running, and many special attackers can break it with either Super Effective STABs or surprise Rock coverage. Ho-Oh also struggles to find footing against VoltTurn cores featuring strong attackers such as Kleavor, Jolteon and Basculegion. Futhermore, the format’s many resilient Water-types and physically bulky Fire-types like Arcanine and Incineroar neutralize the bird’s burn threat. It would also be prudent to consider the stabilizing effect Ho-Oh has on the tier, helping to keep offensive archetypes like Sun and Terrain in check, as well as offensive beasts like Slither Wing, Typhlosion, Bisharp and Drifblim.
Ultimately, it comes down to the perspective of you, the players. Do you believe Ho-Oh warps the format in an unsatisfactory way? Does it hamper creativity in the teambuilder? Or do you see it as a healthy presence, helping to stabilize the tier and contributing to its unique identity?
The instructions to participate in this suspect are as follows:
- Create a new account on PS. You do not have to follow any specific naming convention, but your suspect account must have never played a game in SV Tier Shift before this suspect test went up or you will not receive valid requirements (resetting W-L does not count for this—the account you use must never have played Tier Shift before the test, full stop.)
- You can use /rank to check if your alt is allowed to get requirements. Whenever in doubt, type /rank and it will tell confirm if you are eligible or not
- 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.
- Double check that you're listed as a voter here! If you aren't listed as a voter despite having valid reqs, please contact dhelmise, Giagantic, April, or any other OM Staff member.
- If you have any questions about this new process, feel free to PM dhelmise!
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