Been laddering a lot lately as I wait for my cancer treatment so here is an analysis of the meta and a list of effective abusers of each new stone in my experience.
(temp) ZA Stone Metagame Analysis:
The metagame as a whole hasn't changed drastically with the introduction of the ZA Stones in their current temporary ability form. Standouts are as predicted with the defensive immunity stones Chimechite, Heatranite, and Chandelurite which add another means to answer threats within the metagame. These stones are healthy additions that add layers to the metagame and teambuilding as a whole with Chimechite in particular opening up a lot of options for many different mons in its current state (I wish it remained with levitate). The only other immunity stone is Zaeraorite which sadly has an extreme skewed stat boost towards offenses with no defensive stats to speak of which heavily hurts the usability of the stone on stuff like Corviknight. One other immunity, Eeleektrossite gives levitate as well but has an offensive stat boost which benefits a variety of stuff.
Offensively there is Zygardite and Barbaracite with the latter acting as a sidegrade to Metagrossite that includes a type change. Zygardite is great for already fast mons and occasionally as a surprise factor on otherwise inoffensive mons.
Other stuffs include Glimmorite which has seen some usage but the inclusion of a poison type like Eternatus or Pecharunt on teams heavily inhibits the presence of Toxic Spikes but with time there is potential for it to see more. Scolipite also sees some use as a sidegrade to Sablenite with poison point punishing contact physical attackers and giving great stats for a more defensive orientated Pokemon.
I still think there is potential for stuff like Scraftinite but at the moment I haven't found it to work all that well at this point.
Edit: Nearly forgot Absolite Z, sadly the stone won't see a ton of usage due to a lack of ghost move coverage that isn't the crappy low BP shadow claw, best of the bunch is Basculin honestly, which is faster then basically everything but deo-s and eleki.
In the end, the metagame basically in a similar state to pre-ZA stone introduction, the kings of the metagame are still kings and old teams will work just as well in spite of the new stones. Instead you can view these new additions as just more options that don't overly sway the top tier choices.
Stone pairings I found effective:
Chimechite: Bellibolt, Pecharunt, Iron Moth, Milotic, (been meaning to try Palossand with Chimechite)
Heatranite / Chandelurite: Magearna, Corviknight, (basically any fire weak mon really)
Eelektrossite: Iron Moth, Raging Bolt
Zygardite: Dragapult, Deoxys-speed, Electrode-Hisui, (random mons)
Barbaracite: Iron Boulder, Barraskewda, Chien-Pao, (any mon with good fighting stab but are not fighting types that benefits from the stone)
Glimmorite: Great Tusk
Scolipite: Corviknight, Great Tusk
(temp) ZA Stone Metagame Analysis:
The metagame as a whole hasn't changed drastically with the introduction of the ZA Stones in their current temporary ability form. Standouts are as predicted with the defensive immunity stones Chimechite, Heatranite, and Chandelurite which add another means to answer threats within the metagame. These stones are healthy additions that add layers to the metagame and teambuilding as a whole with Chimechite in particular opening up a lot of options for many different mons in its current state (I wish it remained with levitate). The only other immunity stone is Zaeraorite which sadly has an extreme skewed stat boost towards offenses with no defensive stats to speak of which heavily hurts the usability of the stone on stuff like Corviknight. One other immunity, Eeleektrossite gives levitate as well but has an offensive stat boost which benefits a variety of stuff.
Offensively there is Zygardite and Barbaracite with the latter acting as a sidegrade to Metagrossite that includes a type change. Zygardite is great for already fast mons and occasionally as a surprise factor on otherwise inoffensive mons.
Other stuffs include Glimmorite which has seen some usage but the inclusion of a poison type like Eternatus or Pecharunt on teams heavily inhibits the presence of Toxic Spikes but with time there is potential for it to see more. Scolipite also sees some use as a sidegrade to Sablenite with poison point punishing contact physical attackers and giving great stats for a more defensive orientated Pokemon.
I still think there is potential for stuff like Scraftinite but at the moment I haven't found it to work all that well at this point.
Edit: Nearly forgot Absolite Z, sadly the stone won't see a ton of usage due to a lack of ghost move coverage that isn't the crappy low BP shadow claw, best of the bunch is Basculin honestly, which is faster then basically everything but deo-s and eleki.
In the end, the metagame basically in a similar state to pre-ZA stone introduction, the kings of the metagame are still kings and old teams will work just as well in spite of the new stones. Instead you can view these new additions as just more options that don't overly sway the top tier choices.
Stone pairings I found effective:
Chimechite: Bellibolt, Pecharunt, Iron Moth, Milotic, (been meaning to try Palossand with Chimechite)
Heatranite / Chandelurite: Magearna, Corviknight, (basically any fire weak mon really)
Eelektrossite: Iron Moth, Raging Bolt
Zygardite: Dragapult, Deoxys-speed, Electrode-Hisui, (random mons)
Barbaracite: Iron Boulder, Barraskewda, Chien-Pao, (any mon with good fighting stab but are not fighting types that benefits from the stone)
Glimmorite: Great Tusk
Scolipite: Corviknight, Great Tusk
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Gholdengo received decent support last survey as well. Definitely something that could be revisited in the future.
