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LC ADV Little Cup
- Thread starter naere
- Start date
ADV LC Tournament: Lead Me Baby, signups now live!
Yo wagwan, in order to further prepare the metagame for future individual and team tournaments, our fellow council member, Shing, is hosting a single-elimination ADV LC tournament with what's currently a $50 dollar prize pool for the top 2 finishing players. If you been marved for some ADV LC as of late, be sure to sign up. Signups close on 15th February, at 23:59 EST (04:59 UTC).
Yo wagwan, in order to further prepare the metagame for future individual and team tournaments, our fellow council member, Shing, is hosting a single-elimination ADV LC tournament with what's currently a $50 dollar prize pool for the top 2 finishing players. If you been marved for some ADV LC as of late, be sure to sign up. Signups close on 15th February, at 23:59 EST (04:59 UTC).
Just wanted to collect some of my impressions on the current meta after ADV LC Open II and the current greedy invitational, since I've been actively investing time and developing the meta by visualizing it in my head, playing, and helping other people in the tournament(you can argue most teams rn is me and evaki since we post it public or help others) since people ask me and I don't really say no. Before I tell you my meta takes on the general meta, I'll share my "principles" that I always try to live by, which may hurt me. Still, I think they can be helpful for any inexperienced players who struggle to understand how to design a well-made team, or don't have the intuition of the tier.
"Mandatory" for nearly all solid teams
Two physical defensive mons that can tank hits from CB Doduo, GUARANTEED or 6.3% at worst - Having this on your team makes you have strong management vs Doduo, and other physical attackers. This is extremely relevant for teams that bring slow mons like Cacnea, or any 16-17 Speed tier mons such as Chinchou and Houndour. Not respecting this puts you at a heavy disadvantage vs Doduo itself, especially if you have 17 speed mons behind the preview.
Along with that, always have at least two to three Pokémon within the 18-20 speed tier - For me, this has proven to be the most consistent way to include in any solid teams. Last time I broke that rule was vs Reggg at ADVPL 2025, and it created so many problems for me that running only one 18-20 mon will put you at a disadvantage in very unfavourable positions.
Trapping is almost mandatory, and
These two key rules I've implemented are still relevant to this day. There's an argument on "two physdef mons" that it can be challenged upon, as I lost to only one Doduo check vs Jake at the Greedy tournament. But for me, you're most likely forced to bring fast leads(preferably faster than 18) or a physical lead that threatens Doduo in t1. Otherwise, for most players, just stick to two physdef mons to get a good team. As for 18-20 speed mons mandatory, you can try to break it, but speed is still the best and most consistent way to keep things in check offensively and defensively. Trying to ignore this rule will be noticeable in the game, especially in mid-game and endgame positions. Not worth your time for most playstyles, maybe for these straightforward structures like screen support into setup mons, like what Heysup has done...?
"What was 'near mandatory' in Diglett meta, or what it used to be
"SpDef Wailmer is mandatory or should always be used" - Diglett removed the fast water mons, making it extremely difficult to switch in against Water Spout, and therefore SpDef Wailmer became the norm of any teams. With Diglett gone, this nerfed Wailmer, and I'd argue Wailmer is not necessary to use for any teams, but still a solid Pokémon due to its insane bulk and vast tools to approach the tier. What's kinda feels necessary is to include a water type with some spdef investment to avoid dying to hp grass right after, although I've done my fair share of bringing non-water teams, but you will have a struggle vs teams that tears aparts Lileep and randomly face rain and get cooked by Horsea lol.
"Always use a trapper" - Trapping was just so good in dig meta. Either Diglett will be the frail Pokémon, or Trapinch will remove Diglett to enable mons that would auto lose vs Diglett. Nowadays, Trapinch has its awkward use in the meta. It's still a must to take into account, but using it on every team isn't necessary for the mon, making trapping not mandatory. Should be prepared for teams that bring two mons that's trappable to Trapinch, but structured in a way that Trapinch can only take one of them.
Then what do I think is mandatory out of this? The only thing I can think of right now in any position is to prepare vs Abra at any point in the game. To make it short, Abra doesn't have a singular counter(if you ignore unranked Poochyena), and generally, vs Abra, you want to have two to even three mons to keep any eye on it. Abra is a Pokémon that can respond to all of its checks in theory. Barrier for physical attackers, Hidden Power Water for Houndour, Tpunch for Carvanha, Fire Punch for Exeggcute and Magnemite, HP Dark vs Duskull and opposing Abra, etc. The underlying problem is that Abra can't fit all of them at once, and Abra's best strategy is to have a team that's built to remove the weakness of their set. The stress part is that it's extremely hard to pinpoint what Abra can be, especially in a new meta like this. The most common sets are now CM / Barrier / Psychic / Thief and CM / Psychic / Thief / Hidden Power Water, but Abra has a lot of untapped sets it can use to mess up its targets, like having all attack with spikes to cover against the less common mons or smth like CM / Barrier / Psychic / Hidden Power Water for teams that has Houndour and Snubbull together. This does make Abra become a more expressive Pokémon to create progress since it creates immediate conditions whenever it appears in the field. The debate is whether Abra's coverage is too much or not, and for me, it's just in a very gray area. Either way, this should be prepared for any teams, especially in later games, because that's where it can reverse any teams if unprepared, and IMO bringing two cores is the best way to respond against Abra.
This post is getting pretty long, so I'll make a new post tomorrow to not mess with the topics. It will be at a similar time since I'm at a Smash tournament outside of my region this weekend. The next post will consist of my impressions and thoughts on the early, mid, and late game, so be looking forward to it.
"Mandatory" for nearly all solid teams
Two physical defensive mons that can tank hits from CB Doduo, GUARANTEED or 6.3% at worst - Having this on your team makes you have strong management vs Doduo, and other physical attackers. This is extremely relevant for teams that bring slow mons like Cacnea, or any 16-17 Speed tier mons such as Chinchou and Houndour. Not respecting this puts you at a heavy disadvantage vs Doduo itself, especially if you have 17 speed mons behind the preview.
Along with that, always have at least two to three Pokémon within the 18-20 speed tier - For me, this has proven to be the most consistent way to include in any solid teams. Last time I broke that rule was vs Reggg at ADVPL 2025, and it created so many problems for me that running only one 18-20 mon will put you at a disadvantage in very unfavourable positions.
Trapping is almost mandatory, and
These two key rules I've implemented are still relevant to this day. There's an argument on "two physdef mons" that it can be challenged upon, as I lost to only one Doduo check vs Jake at the Greedy tournament. But for me, you're most likely forced to bring fast leads(preferably faster than 18) or a physical lead that threatens Doduo in t1. Otherwise, for most players, just stick to two physdef mons to get a good team. As for 18-20 speed mons mandatory, you can try to break it, but speed is still the best and most consistent way to keep things in check offensively and defensively. Trying to ignore this rule will be noticeable in the game, especially in mid-game and endgame positions. Not worth your time for most playstyles, maybe for these straightforward structures like screen support into setup mons, like what Heysup has done...?
"What was 'near mandatory' in Diglett meta, or what it used to be
"SpDef Wailmer is mandatory or should always be used" - Diglett removed the fast water mons, making it extremely difficult to switch in against Water Spout, and therefore SpDef Wailmer became the norm of any teams. With Diglett gone, this nerfed Wailmer, and I'd argue Wailmer is not necessary to use for any teams, but still a solid Pokémon due to its insane bulk and vast tools to approach the tier. What's kinda feels necessary is to include a water type with some spdef investment to avoid dying to hp grass right after, although I've done my fair share of bringing non-water teams, but you will have a struggle vs teams that tears aparts Lileep and randomly face rain and get cooked by Horsea lol.
"Always use a trapper" - Trapping was just so good in dig meta. Either Diglett will be the frail Pokémon, or Trapinch will remove Diglett to enable mons that would auto lose vs Diglett. Nowadays, Trapinch has its awkward use in the meta. It's still a must to take into account, but using it on every team isn't necessary for the mon, making trapping not mandatory. Should be prepared for teams that bring two mons that's trappable to Trapinch, but structured in a way that Trapinch can only take one of them.
Then what do I think is mandatory out of this? The only thing I can think of right now in any position is to prepare vs Abra at any point in the game. To make it short, Abra doesn't have a singular counter(if you ignore unranked Poochyena), and generally, vs Abra, you want to have two to even three mons to keep any eye on it. Abra is a Pokémon that can respond to all of its checks in theory. Barrier for physical attackers, Hidden Power Water for Houndour, Tpunch for Carvanha, Fire Punch for Exeggcute and Magnemite, HP Dark vs Duskull and opposing Abra, etc. The underlying problem is that Abra can't fit all of them at once, and Abra's best strategy is to have a team that's built to remove the weakness of their set. The stress part is that it's extremely hard to pinpoint what Abra can be, especially in a new meta like this. The most common sets are now CM / Barrier / Psychic / Thief and CM / Psychic / Thief / Hidden Power Water, but Abra has a lot of untapped sets it can use to mess up its targets, like having all attack with spikes to cover against the less common mons or smth like CM / Barrier / Psychic / Hidden Power Water for teams that has Houndour and Snubbull together. This does make Abra become a more expressive Pokémon to create progress since it creates immediate conditions whenever it appears in the field. The debate is whether Abra's coverage is too much or not, and for me, it's just in a very gray area. Either way, this should be prepared for any teams, especially in later games, because that's where it can reverse any teams if unprepared, and IMO bringing two cores is the best way to respond against Abra.
This post is getting pretty long, so I'll make a new post tomorrow to not mess with the topics. It will be at a similar time since I'm at a Smash tournament outside of my region this weekend. The next post will consist of my impressions and thoughts on the early, mid, and late game, so be looking forward to it.
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Lead game / Early game impressions
Leads have always been one of the biggest positions that are always rapidly developing because it's the position that has the most amount of different Pokémon with a viable or at least justified purpose to bring. At this moment, that creativity has been reduced with the optimization of Anorith lead after the Diglett ban. The answer is simple, but let's do a quick recap of how the lead was defined back in Dig Meta.
Wailmer and Snubbull were defining leads that any team has to take into account. While neither of them didn't have the strongest usage on the lead, you'll have to always look at Leads as objectively, where you wanna cover as much as possible, and a lot of the mindset was to take hits while having meaningful sequences/progress where you end up winning. Unlike its counterpart, DPP, the lead can be preserved to be used, or you're able to switch out on t1 lead without feeling like you've lost a heavy amount of momentum. Wailmer and Snubbull were some of the most defining mons due to their centralizing bulk against the whole tier, while having the perfect tools to create progress. When you think about covering the "Offense Leads" the benchmark you'll have in mind is Choice Band Doduo for the physical aspect, and then the Special is Wailmer's Water Spout at full health. Wailmer's bulk made it extremely hard to find the right OHKO move, because even the Electric's Thunderbolt is unable to OHKO Spdef Wailmer guaranteed, or it could tank in CB Doduo, then there's Snubbull, who neutralizes a lot of physical leads, and gatekeeps a lot of fast Special Attackers since he has enough power or tools to threaten and maneuver around them. I personally loved this because it led to players being able to map out their fast leads in turns ahead, or you could bring niche mons that can win interactions vs both those two and other leads, such as mon like Lileep, all according to your structure. I think when it comes to ADV LC leads, you should treat that lead as 6 vs 6 mons like you do in normal tiers with no previews, complementing my knowledge since I play a lot of Gen 4 OU, haha. A more detailed discussion on the lead aspect can be read here, where I think a lot of the concepts there are still very applicable today, or something to have in mind.
However, there's a Pokémon I've yet to mention there, and it's a Pokémon that has been slowly optimized and developed as the staple lead, and the Pokémon is Anorith. The Pokémon has always been noticeable and, to some degree, had to be prepared, but it was often widely unpopular among most ADV LC players, including myself, for a good while, since it tends to lose to Wailmer and Bulk Up Snubbull lead. However, Reggg's introduction on Knock Off Anorith, and especially adding more bulk to Anorith, drastically shook up the whole lead metagame. With Evaki and other players optimized, lead Anorith even further beyond, it became something you'd have to prepare eventually on the lead. It had always an underlying problem, though, and it was very vulnerable to being trapped by CB Diglett, and had an awkward synergy with Trapinch. With Diglett, I've personally pushed this Pokémon to be abused as a lead and even in a lot of teams behind in preview due to its insanely clutch bulk and always forcing progress regardless of whether you like it or not.
Now, why is Anorith so good at its job? There are three major reasons for it.
The first reason is Knock Off. Those who played in Gen 6-8(and some degree Gen 5) need to understand that Knock Off in Gen 3(and 4) acts differently, not necessarily worse than how y'all know it. In Gen 3 / 4, Knock Off only removes the item's effect, not the whole item itself. The item cannot be tricked or stolen as well; you're holding an equivalent of a mail item. Doing that on Sitrus Berry meta itself is insanely valuable in any position, just like imagine every/if not most sitrus mons are like current LC Mienfoo had one-time fully healing move, and you destroy that shit without being able to take the opponent's sitrus ever again. Maybe that would have helped to not get Porygon banned kek.
The second one is that it's a filter mon that destroys many niche and less commonly used Pokémon due to its high base atk and coverage of nearly everything in the tier. Along with Knock Off, this Pokémon responds well to a lot of niches/techs in the tier. It also nerfed the top-tier dog, Snubbull, and that alone shakes the lead meta to a uninmagineable level that took me a lot of time to proceed when developing post-diglett ban.
Third may be less applied, but still important to say, and that it just has that perfect bulk aspect to take hits against the majority of the tier. Bug/Rock is not a bad defensive typing, as it gives you unique resistance with mons and covering the type vs it is difficult bc physical side has to commit to Rock or Steel, and it's only weak to Water type from the Special side. This means you customize your bulk extremely proficiently to your liking. Fortunately for me, Anorith can't have all max speed and perfect bulk at once, but it's very capable of being flexible, and therefore the sets are never defined as long as the meta is developing; the lead set will always change depending on how the meta trends change or the prep if your opponent feels like using Special non-water leads.
Tips for anyone who wants the benchmark: Physical Max Speed Anorith(take into account HP Bug with 2 iv drops) tends to have 156 HP/116 Def with Jolly Nature to tank CB Doduo (without HP Steel), Spdef Invested can have 156 HP / 36 SpDef to survive vs HP Water Abra, or bit more on SpDef to survive vs 156 SpAtk Overheat Ponyta, or you can make yourself 156 HP/ 116 Def / 40 SpDef, but being forced to be 16-17 in speed puts you vulnerable to be speed crept/forced to speed tie by many 16-17 mons, most noticeably Chinchou, Houndour, Onix, Carvanha, etc.
What are the consequences of this?
The lead meta right now is extremely simplified. Anorith for me feels like a staple mon, and perhaps replaced Snubbull as the defining lead, and since Water leads are already staplized because of Wailmer, the meta is essentially defined by Water + Anorith(CB is also a crazy mixup as a lead mind u), as shown in the Greedy tournament, and either you bring a Water lead for potential Anorith lead, or you bring Anorith leads if you think your opponent is trying to be creative. Personally, I've a mixed feelings about this since it hinders the creativity that I liked in the past, but it forces progress and keeps a check on a lot of sub spam shit as well. Ngl, I blame David Watts for making me develop more on Anorith since he's been bringing mad spikes slop vs me, and that shit be disrespectful as shit no cap. Besides, this isn't solved, though, and there are more unique ways I've been thinking of to challenge this aspect, but for now, this is easily the best way to understand the lead metagame at the moment.
Also, there's been a high amount of Abra leads, but that shit is ASS if I wanna be real. It's very easy to prepare as a lead for any of its sets, and I think people should simply stop using Abra leads unless you wanna catch the opponent lacking or the prep gives you a meaningful reason to use it. Any experienced ADV LC players should have their Abra lead covered in check, because it's not that hard even if you have the wrong lead MU like using Koffing and Gastly(Abuse Thief / Roar Snubbull, SpDef Wailmer, HP Ghost Elekid, Houndour if no HP Water, etc)
Mid Game positions, and sequences / aka behind the preview mons
There are too many variables to point out since Diglett ban shook up a lot of dynamics, so what I've said here may not age well or not be as accurate. So I'll just point out the most noticeable thing that I hope everyone should be aware of.
- Anorith is also good at this position as well, making Snubbull have to adjust its strategies to it, or else it's losing in usage.
- Snubbull is nerfed since it loved the Diglett centralization, and a rise in Anorith makes it harder for Snubbull's simplified gameplan. Maybe an argument for not being in S tier anymore?
(!!) - Giving Snubbull conflicting problems also could indirectly buff setuppers that get invalidated by Snubbull, most noticeable DD mons ;)
- Wailmer is NOT MANDATORY in the team anymore, compared to near 100% usage. We don't even know if it's the best water type, as Chinchou got massively buffed from the Diglett ban. A strong Pokémon, but it'll have to make major adaptations in the tier. Maybe an argument for not being in S tier anymore?
- Chinchou is massively buffed, responds well to Electric type, especially hard on Elekid if they don't have HP Grass/Ground. Puts Wailmer in the contest of being the best water type in the metagame, and is just a very good all-around pokemon that is tricky to switch in against bc of its coverage.
- Electrics are obviously buffed as their role isn't only to clean up, but they also have an active role to keep a check against the special attackers in the tier, particularly vs Abra. Elekid specifically loves Diglett ban, but dislikes that it has to be a huge commitment on Hidden Power since you cannot cover Abra and Chinchou at the same time, a very noticeable conflict for any builders.
There are tons of wallbreakers, such as Houndour(check Overheat vs Trapinch dmg), Carvanha, Onix, and many things that were gatekept by Diglett, can have more purposeful use, especially those that don't lose or mind Trapinch's trapping. I'll also mention there may be something that will disrupt Lileep + Snubbull's defensive cores that could be created/reshown from past metagame, such as fighting types, so the "potential" could be massive even if you have to take into account Anorith.
- Abra has to be taken into account in this position as well. But as those who use Abra, it doesn't necessarily need to be CM. It can be all-atk if you have a spikes team, screens setupper, encore to get forceful sequences for your endgame sweeper due to its restriction and easy conditioning, and to some degree can have many niche uses, such as weather and such. My point is that Abra has many unique tools that can give you the sequence you want to have due to its nature in the tier, which makes it a very strong tool overall to be used as preparation vs your team, instead of building around your team support Abra itself.
There's a lot to go through here, but my overall point is that there are a lot of changes to be made. The biggest one I like that I didn't mention isn't a mon thing, but a bit fundamentally one where, with Diglett in the field, you can build your teams with more intent on using switching in and out, which the Diglett heavily restricted and made the game feel very much cover so many interactions as you want. So being able to use that aspect is very lovely, especially when there are a lot of scenarios you wanna preserve these mons, or you're in a very intenseful situations where you have to think ahead. This most likely hurts me as someone who has been adapted to build the tier and cover as many things as possible, but I'm pretty happy to readjust myself to adapt this aspect again. I think this is where things should be developed way more, as mid-game will have a greater influence on the games than feeling so "automatic". Also, I still think Water types are kinda nearly mandatory, mainly because of Anorith, and Rain makes you want to add in at least one Water type to keep those in check.
Late game / End game
- Abra needs to be taken into account. In theory, most,if not every core, Abra has some way to respond, and how it covers is extremely gray as it's extremely dependent on their builds. The most well-known sets that are shown these days are Calm Mind/Psychic/Hidden Power Water/Thief and Calm Mind/Barrier/Psychic/Thief. But Abra can always adjust and respond differently, so that they could bring Barrier + Hidden Power Water to cover Houndour + Snubbull, or Thunder Punch/Fire Punch for Carvanha, Exeggcute, and Magnemite, etc. I do think Abra is extremely manageable, but you're forced to have two Pokémon to secure most Abra sets. Fortunately for me, the core doesn't always feel too specific for Abra as they work naturally vs everything else, so it's not that restricting imo. Abra can be invalidated and be a waste on the team, and therefore see Abra as "potentially can sweep", but if you keep your mons healthy or are able to revenge kill it, then it's not going to progress. Abra can sweep or be hella invalidated with healthy enough strategies IMO.
My favourite ones are Elekid HP Ghost + Snubbull / Houndour, etc. There's also Houndour + Sun Exeggcute if Abra will have a massive dilemma fthat it has the perfect coverage for both of them, Toxic on mons that Abra would set up into Sub 20 mons, Light Screeners vs Abra as well, SpDef Icy Wind + Water Spout vs non-sub Abra or HP Ghost Wailmer, etc. My point is that Abra may not freely sweep, and that the mon + the team has to do work in order to sweep. I was paranoid at first, but eventually I realized there are many different ways to respond to endgame Abra. It's still the biggest thing you have to prepare for, but it's not impossible to stop, and I hope the overall ADV LC community finds their unique ways to cover or not let Abra get opportunities to set up. An argument I had in mind is if it's the best Pokémon, but after doing some self-reflecting, I am not really sure, to be honest. It's probably the best for me because it's the only mon I am confident is in S, even if it goes a bit against what I said a sentence ago.
- Bulk Up Snubbull is still good IMO, but it's not a menace where you can abuse Thief + Bulk anymore because of Anorith's. Mind you tho, Snubbull can respond to Anorith with Hidden Power Steel, which also covers MUs like Lileep and Larvitar, but this does nerf endgame Snubbull and can buff mons like Abra and Bagon, for better or worse eh?
- Potential "setup" Salac Endure, or Agility + berry boosters into sub may actually work????? Anorith's Rock Blast, Roar moves, and Priority can be annoying af, but there's definitely a strong possibility to see it exist here. As a note, Agility mons should have 15 or 14 at worst to avoid a lot of annoying speed ties on the slower side to get guaranteed bulk, but having the ability to outspeed 19 Speed Salacs is usually more preferable though.
- DD mons could also be good again?? I think this is very meta-dependent if I wanna be real. Bagon indirectly gets buffed by Anorith for Snubbull and somewhat Gastly MU, or if Waters doesn't run Ice Beam, and has moves to cover vs Abra like Toxic Chinchou. This is just an observation and something I theorized in the future meta, once we get to that aspect.
- Weather archetype is still extremely good, sun > rain tho. Rain does appreciate the lack of Diglett trapping to some degree, but the rise of Water types, more importance on Lileep, and Electric types makes it awkwardly tricky for Rain to find the right sequences. But accept that weathers typcially takes more time to develop, as they're good as long as the meta allows them to do so. That's why Sun was weak in the Porygon meta because Chloro Mons were getting trolled by Porygon, and insanely strong in Diglett meta since Diglett removed a lot of Oddish's checks, and Oddish just teared apart so many teams that relied on that one mon.
Overall, the general fast Pokémon cleaning against each other is what you'll most commonly see, but there are a lot of "what ifs" that could happen in-game. Just take it with a grain of salt, experiment and test your theories, and IMO enjoy the new, fresh meta that was heavily restrained by Diglett :)
Best of luck to everyone for LCCL, and the upcoming ADV LC tournaments. We are on our way to see a new era of development, so let's make sure we do our best to make the tier as sick as possible, and improve as a player for this year <3
Leads have always been one of the biggest positions that are always rapidly developing because it's the position that has the most amount of different Pokémon with a viable or at least justified purpose to bring. At this moment, that creativity has been reduced with the optimization of Anorith lead after the Diglett ban. The answer is simple, but let's do a quick recap of how the lead was defined back in Dig Meta.
Wailmer and Snubbull were defining leads that any team has to take into account. While neither of them didn't have the strongest usage on the lead, you'll have to always look at Leads as objectively, where you wanna cover as much as possible, and a lot of the mindset was to take hits while having meaningful sequences/progress where you end up winning. Unlike its counterpart, DPP, the lead can be preserved to be used, or you're able to switch out on t1 lead without feeling like you've lost a heavy amount of momentum. Wailmer and Snubbull were some of the most defining mons due to their centralizing bulk against the whole tier, while having the perfect tools to create progress. When you think about covering the "Offense Leads" the benchmark you'll have in mind is Choice Band Doduo for the physical aspect, and then the Special is Wailmer's Water Spout at full health. Wailmer's bulk made it extremely hard to find the right OHKO move, because even the Electric's Thunderbolt is unable to OHKO Spdef Wailmer guaranteed, or it could tank in CB Doduo, then there's Snubbull, who neutralizes a lot of physical leads, and gatekeeps a lot of fast Special Attackers since he has enough power or tools to threaten and maneuver around them. I personally loved this because it led to players being able to map out their fast leads in turns ahead, or you could bring niche mons that can win interactions vs both those two and other leads, such as mon like Lileep, all according to your structure. I think when it comes to ADV LC leads, you should treat that lead as 6 vs 6 mons like you do in normal tiers with no previews, complementing my knowledge since I play a lot of Gen 4 OU, haha. A more detailed discussion on the lead aspect can be read here, where I think a lot of the concepts there are still very applicable today, or something to have in mind.
However, there's a Pokémon I've yet to mention there, and it's a Pokémon that has been slowly optimized and developed as the staple lead, and the Pokémon is Anorith. The Pokémon has always been noticeable and, to some degree, had to be prepared, but it was often widely unpopular among most ADV LC players, including myself, for a good while, since it tends to lose to Wailmer and Bulk Up Snubbull lead. However, Reggg's introduction on Knock Off Anorith, and especially adding more bulk to Anorith, drastically shook up the whole lead metagame. With Evaki and other players optimized, lead Anorith even further beyond, it became something you'd have to prepare eventually on the lead. It had always an underlying problem, though, and it was very vulnerable to being trapped by CB Diglett, and had an awkward synergy with Trapinch. With Diglett, I've personally pushed this Pokémon to be abused as a lead and even in a lot of teams behind in preview due to its insanely clutch bulk and always forcing progress regardless of whether you like it or not.
Now, why is Anorith so good at its job? There are three major reasons for it.
The first reason is Knock Off. Those who played in Gen 6-8(and some degree Gen 5) need to understand that Knock Off in Gen 3(and 4) acts differently, not necessarily worse than how y'all know it. In Gen 3 / 4, Knock Off only removes the item's effect, not the whole item itself. The item cannot be tricked or stolen as well; you're holding an equivalent of a mail item. Doing that on Sitrus Berry meta itself is insanely valuable in any position, just like imagine every/if not most sitrus mons are like current LC Mienfoo had one-time fully healing move, and you destroy that shit without being able to take the opponent's sitrus ever again. Maybe that would have helped to not get Porygon banned kek.
The second one is that it's a filter mon that destroys many niche and less commonly used Pokémon due to its high base atk and coverage of nearly everything in the tier. Along with Knock Off, this Pokémon responds well to a lot of niches/techs in the tier. It also nerfed the top-tier dog, Snubbull, and that alone shakes the lead meta to a uninmagineable level that took me a lot of time to proceed when developing post-diglett ban.
Third may be less applied, but still important to say, and that it just has that perfect bulk aspect to take hits against the majority of the tier. Bug/Rock is not a bad defensive typing, as it gives you unique resistance with mons and covering the type vs it is difficult bc physical side has to commit to Rock or Steel, and it's only weak to Water type from the Special side. This means you customize your bulk extremely proficiently to your liking. Fortunately for me, Anorith can't have all max speed and perfect bulk at once, but it's very capable of being flexible, and therefore the sets are never defined as long as the meta is developing; the lead set will always change depending on how the meta trends change or the prep if your opponent feels like using Special non-water leads.
Tips for anyone who wants the benchmark: Physical Max Speed Anorith(take into account HP Bug with 2 iv drops) tends to have 156 HP/116 Def with Jolly Nature to tank CB Doduo (without HP Steel), Spdef Invested can have 156 HP / 36 SpDef to survive vs HP Water Abra, or bit more on SpDef to survive vs 156 SpAtk Overheat Ponyta, or you can make yourself 156 HP/ 116 Def / 40 SpDef, but being forced to be 16-17 in speed puts you vulnerable to be speed crept/forced to speed tie by many 16-17 mons, most noticeably Chinchou, Houndour, Onix, Carvanha, etc.
What are the consequences of this?
The lead meta right now is extremely simplified. Anorith for me feels like a staple mon, and perhaps replaced Snubbull as the defining lead, and since Water leads are already staplized because of Wailmer, the meta is essentially defined by Water + Anorith(CB is also a crazy mixup as a lead mind u), as shown in the Greedy tournament, and either you bring a Water lead for potential Anorith lead, or you bring Anorith leads if you think your opponent is trying to be creative. Personally, I've a mixed feelings about this since it hinders the creativity that I liked in the past, but it forces progress and keeps a check on a lot of sub spam shit as well. Ngl, I blame David Watts for making me develop more on Anorith since he's been bringing mad spikes slop vs me, and that shit be disrespectful as shit no cap. Besides, this isn't solved, though, and there are more unique ways I've been thinking of to challenge this aspect, but for now, this is easily the best way to understand the lead metagame at the moment.
Also, there's been a high amount of Abra leads, but that shit is ASS if I wanna be real. It's very easy to prepare as a lead for any of its sets, and I think people should simply stop using Abra leads unless you wanna catch the opponent lacking or the prep gives you a meaningful reason to use it. Any experienced ADV LC players should have their Abra lead covered in check, because it's not that hard even if you have the wrong lead MU like using Koffing and Gastly(Abuse Thief / Roar Snubbull, SpDef Wailmer, HP Ghost Elekid, Houndour if no HP Water, etc)
Mid Game positions, and sequences / aka behind the preview mons
There are too many variables to point out since Diglett ban shook up a lot of dynamics, so what I've said here may not age well or not be as accurate. So I'll just point out the most noticeable thing that I hope everyone should be aware of.
- Anorith is also good at this position as well, making Snubbull have to adjust its strategies to it, or else it's losing in usage.
- Snubbull is nerfed since it loved the Diglett centralization, and a rise in Anorith makes it harder for Snubbull's simplified gameplan. Maybe an argument for not being in S tier anymore?
(!!) - Giving Snubbull conflicting problems also could indirectly buff setuppers that get invalidated by Snubbull, most noticeable DD mons ;)
- Wailmer is NOT MANDATORY in the team anymore, compared to near 100% usage. We don't even know if it's the best water type, as Chinchou got massively buffed from the Diglett ban. A strong Pokémon, but it'll have to make major adaptations in the tier. Maybe an argument for not being in S tier anymore?
- Chinchou is massively buffed, responds well to Electric type, especially hard on Elekid if they don't have HP Grass/Ground. Puts Wailmer in the contest of being the best water type in the metagame, and is just a very good all-around pokemon that is tricky to switch in against bc of its coverage.
- Electrics are obviously buffed as their role isn't only to clean up, but they also have an active role to keep a check against the special attackers in the tier, particularly vs Abra. Elekid specifically loves Diglett ban, but dislikes that it has to be a huge commitment on Hidden Power since you cannot cover Abra and Chinchou at the same time, a very noticeable conflict for any builders.
There are tons of wallbreakers, such as Houndour(check Overheat vs Trapinch dmg), Carvanha, Onix, and many things that were gatekept by Diglett, can have more purposeful use, especially those that don't lose or mind Trapinch's trapping. I'll also mention there may be something that will disrupt Lileep + Snubbull's defensive cores that could be created/reshown from past metagame, such as fighting types, so the "potential" could be massive even if you have to take into account Anorith.
- Abra has to be taken into account in this position as well. But as those who use Abra, it doesn't necessarily need to be CM. It can be all-atk if you have a spikes team, screens setupper, encore to get forceful sequences for your endgame sweeper due to its restriction and easy conditioning, and to some degree can have many niche uses, such as weather and such. My point is that Abra has many unique tools that can give you the sequence you want to have due to its nature in the tier, which makes it a very strong tool overall to be used as preparation vs your team, instead of building around your team support Abra itself.
There's a lot to go through here, but my overall point is that there are a lot of changes to be made. The biggest one I like that I didn't mention isn't a mon thing, but a bit fundamentally one where, with Diglett in the field, you can build your teams with more intent on using switching in and out, which the Diglett heavily restricted and made the game feel very much cover so many interactions as you want. So being able to use that aspect is very lovely, especially when there are a lot of scenarios you wanna preserve these mons, or you're in a very intenseful situations where you have to think ahead. This most likely hurts me as someone who has been adapted to build the tier and cover as many things as possible, but I'm pretty happy to readjust myself to adapt this aspect again. I think this is where things should be developed way more, as mid-game will have a greater influence on the games than feeling so "automatic". Also, I still think Water types are kinda nearly mandatory, mainly because of Anorith, and Rain makes you want to add in at least one Water type to keep those in check.
Late game / End game
- Abra needs to be taken into account. In theory, most,
My favourite ones are Elekid HP Ghost + Snubbull / Houndour, etc. There's also Houndour + Sun Exeggcute if Abra will have a massive dilemma fthat it has the perfect coverage for both of them, Toxic on mons that Abra would set up into Sub 20 mons, Light Screeners vs Abra as well, SpDef Icy Wind + Water Spout vs non-sub Abra or HP Ghost Wailmer, etc. My point is that Abra may not freely sweep, and that the mon + the team has to do work in order to sweep. I was paranoid at first, but eventually I realized there are many different ways to respond to endgame Abra. It's still the biggest thing you have to prepare for, but it's not impossible to stop, and I hope the overall ADV LC community finds their unique ways to cover or not let Abra get opportunities to set up. An argument I had in mind is if it's the best Pokémon, but after doing some self-reflecting, I am not really sure, to be honest. It's probably the best for me because it's the only mon I am confident is in S, even if it goes a bit against what I said a sentence ago.
- Bulk Up Snubbull is still good IMO, but it's not a menace where you can abuse Thief + Bulk anymore because of Anorith's. Mind you tho, Snubbull can respond to Anorith with Hidden Power Steel, which also covers MUs like Lileep and Larvitar, but this does nerf endgame Snubbull and can buff mons like Abra and Bagon, for better or worse eh?
- Potential "setup" Salac Endure, or Agility + berry boosters into sub may actually work????? Anorith's Rock Blast, Roar moves, and Priority can be annoying af, but there's definitely a strong possibility to see it exist here. As a note, Agility mons should have 15 or 14 at worst to avoid a lot of annoying speed ties on the slower side to get guaranteed bulk, but having the ability to outspeed 19 Speed Salacs is usually more preferable though.
- DD mons could also be good again?? I think this is very meta-dependent if I wanna be real. Bagon indirectly gets buffed by Anorith for Snubbull and somewhat Gastly MU, or if Waters doesn't run Ice Beam, and has moves to cover vs Abra like Toxic Chinchou. This is just an observation and something I theorized in the future meta, once we get to that aspect.
- Weather archetype is still extremely good, sun > rain tho. Rain does appreciate the lack of Diglett trapping to some degree, but the rise of Water types, more importance on Lileep, and Electric types makes it awkwardly tricky for Rain to find the right sequences. But accept that weathers typcially takes more time to develop, as they're good as long as the meta allows them to do so. That's why Sun was weak in the Porygon meta because Chloro Mons were getting trolled by Porygon, and insanely strong in Diglett meta since Diglett removed a lot of Oddish's checks, and Oddish just teared apart so many teams that relied on that one mon.
Overall, the general fast Pokémon cleaning against each other is what you'll most commonly see, but there are a lot of "what ifs" that could happen in-game. Just take it with a grain of salt, experiment and test your theories, and IMO enjoy the new, fresh meta that was heavily restrained by Diglett :)
Best of luck to everyone for LCCL, and the upcoming ADV LC tournaments. We are on our way to see a new era of development, so let's make sure we do our best to make the tier as sick as possible, and improve as a player for this year <3
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