Metagame National Dex Metagame Discussion

[Heatranator]

I played the ND Ladder for a good bit before and during my suspect run, and I wanted to share my favourite sets that I made will building teams.


Kyurem @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
Hidden Power: Fire
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Freeze-Dry
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Roost
Kyurem is ofc, a monster to answer defensively. Its got a variety of sets that all have different answers and it can be pretty annoying to answer. This was the set that I settled on though and it really proved its worth. IDT I have to explain the first two moves, every kyurem runs them for a reason. Freeze-dry+ep hits a large chunk of the meta super effectively. Now, typically there are a few mons that can stomach kyurem's attacks, those being m-scizor, ferro and corv. Thats where HP fire comes into play, as it nukes these switchins for large damage and forcing them on the backfoot. But the last move is a little more interesting. Roost I have found is a reall great tool for Kyurem, and I found it clicked more then Ice Beam, as while Ice Beam has great power, I found clicking Freeze Dry was just better. Roost not only allows Kyurem to heal off chip damage it faces from weaker mons, but it also can help enable Kyurem to check Pokemon such as Waterpon, Hamurott, Torn-T, Zapdos etc. This gives Kyurem a lot more flexibility in how it can be played IMO, as it can switch in easier while being harder to switch into itself.


Volcarona @ Life Orb
Ability: Flame Body
Hidden Power: Ground
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Flamethrower
- Bug Buzz / Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Ground]
While this probably isn't a new set by any means, I do wanna bring attention to it. Life Orb has been an item people have experimented with since Volc was first introduced. But I feel like with the introduction of HDB, other items have fallen to the wayside (with the exception of some Z moves and lefties on subswarm sets). On a double hazard prevention HO, Life Orb can reliably be run and pushes Volcarona's damage to the extreme. +1 HP Ground does 98% min to spdef heatran, which means after rocks chip, it just dies instantly. Spdef toxapex also takes 48% min from it, meaning they are forced to recover and you can just QD again. It also does some obscene things to Glowking, dealing 50% min. I slashed Bug Buzz and Giga Drain as they are pretty switchable. Bug Buzz does better damage to M-Latios, M-ttar, and Garchomp, while Giga Drain can help heal Volc of its damage it has sustained and hits Water types like AV Hamu, Urshifu and Alomomola. I do think this set can be nasty if given the right support. Also would like to shoutout Psychium Z Volcarona for mogging Pokemon such as Toxapex and Clodsire that are meant to hardwall it, got hit by that once or twice on ladder.


Moltres @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Mystical Fire
- U-turn / Toxic
- Brave Bird
- Roost
BB moltres is a fascinating mon for me, and I've kinda come to love it. The primary thing is that it completely mogs SubSwam Volcarona, an otherwise irritating MU for a lot of bulkier teams that want to use other water types/Poisons instead of Toxapex or don't have a Heatran. Brave Bird ensures that Volcarona can never setup on you, as it otherwise takes massive damage from Brave Bird and because this is spdef, you can typically live a +1 Swarm Boosted Z move even after recoil. I went with Mystical Fire since this Moltres is not really spreading burns as much and it can help check stuff such as Kyurem and Ghold easier with the Special Attack drop. Last move is flexible, I liked U-turn to help pivot in and out of battle but Toxic is useful to put stuff like Mola on a timer.


Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 156 SpA / 100 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Earth Power
- Synthesis
Needed to shout out the goat, when Zama-C wasn't being broken as shit this guy carried me hard. A lot of defensive teams currently feel like they have limited answers to this, as only really Corviknight and maybe Dragonite can switch into it. Steel types like Ferro and M-scizor that don't take a whole lot from EP don't really do a whole lot back typically, allowing M-venu to trade effectively while keeping itself healthy. But a really big trait of M-Venu is also that it checks a lot of powerful mons at the same time. Waterpon, Zama, Urshifu, Tapu Koko, M-Diancie are all Pokemon that M-venu can help softcheck at worst (and in some cases it counters). This opens up a lot of breathing room for teams that struggle with these threats, as M-Venu gives an option to answer them that can also fire back and keep up offensive pressure. Genuinelly amazing mon that should be used more.


Lopunny @ Lopunnite
Ability: Klutz
Happiness: 0
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Frustration
- U-turn
I've been seeing a good amount of M-lopunny slander and while its fallen off a bit recently with the contact birds being more prevelant, I feel like part of that is that people are looking at the wrong mu's m-lopunny is supposed to help in and that the mon is not seeing experimentation. The primary role of M-lopunny is to be a revenge killer and offense mauler. Fast speed+fake out makes sure that any offensive mon is going to be in for a rough time no matter what, and with its strong stab combo, its able to hit most things neutrally. Unless you are an ID zama, you probably are not winning against a well played m-loppuny. People talk about its issues into Moltres and Zapdos primarily, but those issues aren't nearly as hurtful to m-loppuny since offensive teams won't have as many contact punishers. The best you have is maybe Lando-T or a Flame Body Volcarona, the latter of which is taking massive damage from fake out regardless. And in the defensive mu, loppuny simply needs to bring in dangerous wallbreakers like Z ghold or Kyurem that will play that MU for loppuny. If its crippled in that MU, its a lot more dealable since they prob won't have offensive threats as much that need revenge killing (the best I saw on samples was a defensive volc spread, which is a lot more dealable for defensive teams).

But onto that second point. Fake out, cc and frustration are ofc necessary. But I think the fourth moveslot is potentially really flexible and while I haven't done too much playing with them, I do think they can work out. They primarily are Encore, Heal Bell, Healing Wish, and Toxic. Encore is already used on a sample team but basically you can lock defensive Pokemon into utility moves to force a switch or lock a slower offensive mon into a setup move. This makes lopunny even more of an anti offense machine while helping give it a new depth against defensive teams. Cleric moves in general I think are potentially really good, but there is a lack of Pokemon that actually have the moves that could be viable, and even less that can click them. M-loppuny can probably fit it decently okay, and not only can it cure status moves for its teammates, but if faced with the contact birds, it can take that status and heal it off later, potentially being really scary if they had sacked a good amount of health for one of them. Healing Wish is probably better on more BO teams, but Healing Wish is a broken move. Setup sweepers such as CM Bolt, SD Waterpon and QD Volcarona are already incredibly difficult to deal with the first time, but potentially giving them a secondary chance to sweep can just win the game. Finally, Toxic can cripple those contact birds that usually wall Lopunny, while also dealing with annoying walls such as Tusk and Lando. And well, aside from Pex, none of the Toxic absorbers really like switching into Lopunny, so the move is potentially really free.

 

[Isza]

I played the ND Ladder for a good bit before and during my suspect run, and I wanted to share my favourite sets that I made will building teams.


Kyurem @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
Hidden Power: Fire
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Freeze-Dry
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Roost
Kyurem is ofc, a monster to answer defensively. Its got a variety of sets that all have different answers and it can be pretty annoying to answer. This was the set that I settled on though and it really proved its worth. IDT I have to explain the first two moves, every kyurem runs them for a reason. Freeze-dry+ep hits a large chunk of the meta super effectively. Now, typically there are a few mons that can stomach kyurem's attacks, those being m-scizor, ferro and corv. Thats where HP fire comes into play, as it nukes these switchins for large damage and forcing them on the backfoot. But the last move is a little more interesting. Roost I have found is a reall great tool for Kyurem, and I found it clicked more then Ice Beam, as while Ice Beam has great power, I found clicking Freeze Dry was just better. Roost not only allows Kyurem to heal off chip damage it faces from weaker mons, but it also can help enable Kyurem to check Pokemon such as Waterpon, Hamurott, Torn-T, Zapdos etc. This gives Kyurem a lot more flexibility in how it can be played IMO, as it can switch in easier while being harder to switch into itself.


Volcarona @ Life Orb
Ability: Flame Body
Hidden Power: Ground
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Flamethrower
- Bug Buzz / Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Ground]
While this probably isn't a new set by any means, I do wanna bring attention to it. Life Orb has been an item people have experimented with since Volc was first introduced. But I feel like with the introduction of HDB, other items have fallen to the wayside (with the exception of some Z moves and lefties on subswarm sets). On a double hazard prevention HO, Life Orb can reliably be run and pushes Volcarona's damage to the extreme. +1 HP Ground does 98% min to spdef heatran, which means after rocks chip, it just dies instantly. Spdef toxapex also takes 48% min from it, meaning they are forced to recover and you can just QD again. It also does some obscene things to Glowking, dealing 50% min. I slashed Bug Buzz and Giga Drain as they are pretty switchable. Bug Buzz does better damage to M-Latios, M-ttar, and Garchomp, while Giga Drain can help heal Volc of its damage it has sustained and hits Water types like AV Hamu, Urshifu and Alomomola. I do think this set can be nasty if given the right support. Also would like to shoutout Psychium Z Volcarona for mogging Pokemon such as Toxapex and Clodsire that are meant to hardwall it, got hit by that once or twice on ladder.


Moltres @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Mystical Fire
- U-turn / Toxic
- Brave Bird
- Roost
BB moltres is a fascinating mon for me, and I've kinda come to love it. The primary thing is that it completely mogs SubSwam Volcarona, an otherwise irritating MU for a lot of bulkier teams that want to use other water types/Poisons instead of Toxapex or don't have a Heatran. Brave Bird ensures that Volcarona can never setup on you, as it otherwise takes massive damage from Brave Bird and because this is spdef, you can typically live a +1 Swarm Boosted Z move even after recoil. I went with Mystical Fire since this Moltres is not really spreading burns as much and it can help check stuff such as Kyurem and Ghold easier with the Special Attack drop. Last move is flexible, I liked U-turn to help pivot in and out of battle but Toxic is useful to put stuff like Mola on a timer.


Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 156 SpA / 100 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Earth Power
- Synthesis
Needed to shout out the goat, when Zama-C wasn't being broken as shit this guy carried me hard. A lot of defensive teams currently feel like they have limited answers to this, as only really Corviknight and maybe Dragonite can switch into it. Steel types like Ferro and M-scizor that don't take a whole lot from EP don't really do a whole lot back typically, allowing M-venu to trade effectively while keeping itself healthy. But a really big trait of M-Venu is also that it checks a lot of powerful mons at the same time. Waterpon, Zama, Urshifu, Tapu Koko, M-Diancie are all Pokemon that M-venu can help softcheck at worst (and in some cases it counters). This opens up a lot of breathing room for teams that struggle with these threats, as M-Venu gives an option to answer them that can also fire back and keep up offensive pressure. Genuinelly amazing mon that should be used more.


Lopunny @ Lopunnite
Ability: Klutz
Happiness: 0
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Frustration
- U-turn
I've been seeing a good amount of M-lopunny slander and while its fallen off a bit recently with the contact birds being more prevelant, I feel like part of that is that people are looking at the wrong mu's m-lopunny is supposed to help in and that the mon is not seeing experimentation. The primary role of M-lopunny is to be a revenge killer and offense mauler. Fast speed+fake out makes sure that any offensive mon is going to be in for a rough time no matter what, and with its strong stab combo, its able to hit most things neutrally. Unless you are an ID zama, you probably are not winning against a well played m-loppuny. People talk about its issues into Moltres and Zapdos primarily, but those issues aren't nearly as hurtful to m-loppuny since offensive teams won't have as many contact punishers. The best you have is maybe Lando-T or a Flame Body Volcarona, the latter of which is taking massive damage from fake out regardless. And in the defensive mu, loppuny simply needs to bring in dangerous wallbreakers like Z ghold or Kyurem that will play that MU for loppuny. If its crippled in that MU, its a lot more dealable since they prob won't have offensive threats as much that need revenge killing (the best I saw on samples was a defensive volc spread, which is a lot more dealable for defensive teams).

But onto that second point. Fake out, cc and frustration are ofc necessary. But I think the fourth moveslot is potentially really flexible and while I haven't done too much playing with them, I do think they can work out. They primarily are Encore, Heal Bell, Healing Wish, and Toxic. Encore is already used on a sample team but basically you can lock defensive Pokemon into utility moves to force a switch or lock a slower offensive mon into a setup move. This makes lopunny even more of an anti offense machine while helping give it a new depth against defensive teams. Cleric moves in general I think are potentially really good, but there is a lack of Pokemon that actually have the moves that could be viable, and even less that can click them. M-loppuny can probably fit it decently okay, and not only can it cure status moves for its teammates, but if faced with the contact birds, it can take that status and heal it off later, potentially being really scary if they had sacked a good amount of health for one of them. Healing Wish is probably better on more BO teams, but Healing Wish is a broken move. Setup sweepers such as CM Bolt, SD Waterpon and QD Volcarona are already incredibly difficult to deal with the first time, but potentially giving them a secondary chance to sweep can just win the game. Finally, Toxic can cripple those contact birds that usually wall Lopunny, while also dealing with annoying walls such as Tusk and Lando. And well, aside from Pex, none of the Toxic absorbers really like switching into Lopunny, so the move is potentially really free.

Cool post, for Volcarona life Orb is definitely good although if you're not scared of missing I'd try it with fireblast>Flamethrower. Main reasons are the calcs on gliscor, max hp lando, and zama that may switch in immediately to live the hit and KO you with stone edge.

Flamethrower calcs

+1 252 SpA Life Orb Volcarona Flamethrower vs. 244 HP / 228+ SpD Gliscor: 261-308 (74.1 - 87.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Poison Heal

+1 252 SpA Life Orb Volcarona Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 355-419 (92.9 - 109.6%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO

+1 252 SpA Life Orb Volcarona Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Zamazenta: 261-308 (80.3 - 94.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Fire Blast Calcs

+1 252 SpA Life Orb Volcarona Fire Blast vs. 244 HP / 228+ SpD Gliscor: 320-376 (90.9 - 106.8%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO

+1 252 SpA Life Orb Volcarona Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 433-511 (113.3 - 133.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+1 252 SpA Life Orb Volcarona Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Zamazenta: 320-376 (98.4 - 115.6%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO (most important one imo)

 

[CappyThePulpy]

Rant warning!!!

What is a healthy meta? I would consider that a healthy meta is a meta in which many different mons and playstyles are viable and the determining factors are skill in battle and teambuilding. Therefore, it is reasonable to think that a new addition to the tier should allow more mons and playstyles to be viable, or at least not hinder those of a somewhat questionable viability. Ideally, the said mon would ENABLE certain playstyles and mons (like ghold did with hazard stack) but NOT REQUIRE them from your opponent.

As someone who almost always builds around a lower tier mon, here are some lower tier mons which have some niche in OU (outside of HO slop), but get completely invalidated by zamaC itself, its most viable teammates (kingambit, mdiancie, maybe mttar), or the answers it forces on teams which want to reliably stop it not just maybe check it (zapdos, pex, dondozo, moltres).

Do somewhat fine vs normal zama, get objectively worse by adding zamaC (giving it free setup, etc): mega beedrill, mega altaria, alo muk, mega pinsir, mega aerodactyl, hydrapple, mega ttar (without zamaC as a teammate, opposing zamaC absorbs knock off and is immune to sand chip), clefable, meowscarada, ogerpon-cornerstone, mega mawile, archaludon and probably more

Most of the above mons have seen somewhat viable use in NDOU and they become straight up worse just from zamaC directly. Also glowking is straight up worse due to zamaC, and glowking is a very very common enabler for a lot of these mons.


Are enabled by zamaC specifically: none. This mon doesn’t enable anything, its only set is a lategame sweeper with a one time boosting ability which, unlike ival, either wins or is fully countered.

Get better due to enabling zamaC: kingabmit (as if he needed it), mega diancie (same), maybe mega ttar (you are better off running gambit for pure ghost killing purposes), some bird nukers (z dragonite, z garchomp)

Get better due to walling zamaC specifically: slowbro, amoonguss (not clear smog), mega venu, aegislash, pecharunt. Some of these I am not even sure win the matchup. Some are forced into a rocky helmet set to win the matchup. Kingambit eats most of them for breakfast.

Notably, the most splashable actual answer to zamaC, zapdos, GETS WORSE due to this matchup, as you are forced into a full bulk (maybe even pressure) set to win the zamaC 1v1.

Get better due to offensively threatening zamaC: mind blown scarf blacephalon (overheat is a 50/50 ko, flamethrower does 60ish, and guess whats the main counter to blacephalon…. Pursuit), volcarona (as if it needed that), zardy (same), iron moth, scarf eruption heatran (not a guaranteed ohko), dbond/wisp mega banette (lmao), some trick room attackers (with tr active, which probably involves a slowbro also existing), encore ival


Note that this analysis assumes stone edge is not a move, I think even HO players can figure out why more coverage makes it more broken.

I am still waiting to see what this mon brings to the meta, because it sure as hell takes away a lot from it.

 

[slopcat]

not gonna be a big larppost but just some noticements on metagame from my time building n playing in cl

starting off strong but i think is allllllmost mandatory on stall to not get ur fkin salad tossed by np torn, with the sole exception of teams with max spdef chans which i think is pershonally too expoitable w hazards and gholdengo. cm bliss is an okay stopgap but i think if u dont want to get like actually fisted by a well played torn i think you rly need pjab clod. very strong guy for stall and random clod is pretty disgusting into teams that rely on ghold to get most of their breaking done (so do not build teams that rely only on ghold to get ur breaking done)

really bonkers guy. wisp is hard to come by and 4a sets r really bananas broken into a lot especially alo zap stuff that can really tend to get beyond doinked by gunk spam

probably my favorite mon in the tier rn. max def bold is suuuuper broken on structures with shit like band shifu or specs lele that just go grim reaper vs paralyzed guys.

extremely underutilized on non-sun. specs is really bananas and probably my favorite of em but i think av or boots can probably have some merit. i think cm lefties stuff probably needs to be on shit like webs but not the worst shit ever.

zapdos. slowking zapdos treads. zapdos alo treads. zapdos zapdos zapdos zapdos


ok but in all seriousness this core is being used in ways that dont capitalize on its strengths and especially being played by a lot of people in wrong ways. do you have a fire or water resist... no. but what oyu do get is a core that enables you to use some bullshit like garde or band hrott or band shifu. in fact, you NEED to be using this bullshit to get really any value out of this core because offensively they're pretty extremely lacking, especially into stuff like ting-lu. you need to play with some real cognizance regarding the quagmire you can very quickly when trying to not get either bowled over or keeping up your own momentum. if you're just loading up slowking zap treads zama, DO NOT add some shit like fucking quakespinner dnite or msciz because thats just very bluntly not how you can play with these types of squads.

really strong guy that sees a lot of like.... indifference(?) towards in the builder and ingame. people will see kgb + potential twave guys and just let their fighters get owned by zapdos or twave or just get chipped down and it feels kind of insane to watch in real time. 3a glasses suit is a set im really liking these days but i think just the regular sd lefties is also really good. i think people fail to play around kingambit as more of a midgame threat like sm or oras bisharp and instead see the supreme boost and decide that this guy can ONLY come in last. knock is really fucking broken guys!

imo these guys are really weak and kind of struggle to find a place on most squada atm. i think koko is the best here by a pretty large margin but i think melm is really hard to justify in its role of "im a tradebot vs offense and fucking handless victorian orphan vs anything else" whereas ival is just so mid its kind of unreal

hyper voice + vacuum wave + psyshock is pretty bananas and im a big fan.

clicking big band ceaseless is pretty fkin good man

iron head spdef really good lele mdia answer especially for stall.

payback imo this is almost always gonna serve you better into stuff like zapdos moltres mtios torn even yard! really cool guy very strong yes

turtle is pretty shit ngl especially as we see pech rise in usage i think this guy is really gapped by most other removal forms. also there's the whole crux of like yes you beat ghold 1v1 but most hstack builds are VERY happy to trade ghold for your only form of removal being gone. ghold just breaking shell is enough for their zama or shifu or mlop to come in and just click fighting move on ur slow ass and blow you to bits. its kind of okay as a sweeping stopgap vs stuff like dnite or chomp but i think there's so many better ways of doing that in the tier that having to slot removal that you need to handhold is just almost always never gonna be worth it.

anyways i need to go study for organic synthesis cya nerds

<- eternal damnation

 

[boost ninja]

Volcarona VS Alomomola

I came here just to express my frustration with Alomomola, so you can ignore my post, since it's not a serious one.

Alomomola is a great Pokémon, but recently I encountered an unbelievable situation: on one side, Alomomola AV, on the other, Volcarona +6 Special Attack. Volcarona used Giga Drain and Alomomola survived.

+6 252 SpA Volcarona Giga Drain vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Alomomola: 510-602 (95.5 - 112.7%) -- 75% chance to OHKO

I brought the calculations and type, 1/4 chance of surviving.

But at the time of the battle, both my opponent and I stopped everything to admire how absurd it was.
And, particularly, I hate Alomomola, that creature had some absurd feats of resistance.

I just wanted to vent my frustration with this Pokémon.

 

[Sputnik]

I decided to write my last NDCL post here, as what better way to represent how the metagame is moving and shifting right now than a huge sample size of games to choose from! If you haven't seen my previous week by week posts, I recommend you check them out in the NDCL Commencement thread so you have full context as to what I'm talking about. Let's get into it!

This is going to look a little bit different, as I handpicked a few usage trends to write about at length after the main body of the post. This means that the main post is gonna be a little bit shorter, but what comes after should hopefully make up for it.

All told there were 122 games of OU and 244 teams used this tournament. The usage percentages are rounded.

Most used Pokemon

I mean, are we surprised? With 91 usages, or around 37% usage, Zamazenta was the most used Pokemon of the tournament by quite a bit. I'll go more in depth about this guy later on in the post, but Zama's tournament run was insane and those keeping up with how the meta had gone this tournament will not be surprised with this result.

Other High Use Pokemon to Highlight

Gholdengo had the second highest use of the tournament, as players leaned on its entirely unique bag of tricks heavily throughout the tournament. All manner of offensive and defensive sets were showcased during Ghold's 68 uses, which amounted to 28% usage. Not much changed for the Golden Surfer throughout the tournament, although existing trends of Gholdengo preferring its STABs over Focus Blast's coverage were exacerbated as the tournament continued, with few Ghold's choosing the Fighting coverage.

The third highest usage came from Alomomola and Ogerpon-W, as this pair of waters checked in at 45 usages, less than half of what Zamazenta achieved. Ogerpon-W saw a lot of different variants experiemented with, as all sorts of Swords Dance and pivot sets were tried out as players participated in the defensive arms race that dangerous wallbreakers like Waterpon often find themselves in. Alomomola leveraged both its standard WishToxTect pivot set and AV variants with great success. These sets didn't change much, outside of specific moveset adaptations on the AV sets to threaten specific Pokemon, such as Aqua Jet, Body Slam, and Play Rough.

The highest used B subranker was the B+ ranked Iron Treads, who actually checked in next at 43 uses. I'll get more into him later. B subrankers Hatterene and Pecharunt also had great tournaments, checking in at 26 and 25 uses respectively. Corviknight had an amazing tournament as well, leading the way for the standard B rank at 28 uses, the same as OU stalwarts like Gliscor and Urshifu-RS.

Pelipper, Mega Swampert, Meowscarada, Dondozo, and Excadrill all tied for the highest used C rankers at 6 uses apiece. Rain had a relatively solid showing this tournament, Meowscarada was experimented with as a pivot, while Dondozo saw some use off of Stall in a surprising twist. Excadrill is probably the most surprising of these, but players leaned into its talents as a sand wallbreaker with the same typing that lets Iron Treads get so many opportunities.

Highest Ranked Pokemon to not be used

RIP. I go more in depth into this guy later (I'll actually touch on every ranked Pokemon that wasn't used), but Victini was the only B rank Pokemon to not get used.

Other Low Usage Pokemon to Highlight
The lowest usage from a A subranker was easily Slowbro, who was the only Pokemon in the A ranks who didn't have OU usage, as it checked in with 7 uses. Slowbro's lack of a useful special defense stat led it to be overshadowed by Alomomola and Galarian Slowking, who have much better mixed bulk, a valuable trait in National Dex where we have so much to cover. Glowking also began running Physical Defense EVs this tournament, putting even more pressure on Slowbro's niche. Not a bad Pokemon, to be clear, but it really struggled to stand out this tournament.

While they would have been OU by usage, several other A subrankers had disappointing showings. None of Cinderace, Mega Charizard Y, or Tapu Koko reached 20 usages all tournament. This shouldn't be surprising to those following the usage stats as the weeks went by, as all of these Pokemon had many poor weeks, and they all had weeks where they weren't used at all. Bulky Fire-resists are everywhere and arguably got even more common as the tournament went on, while Tapu Koko was given hell by the current defensive meta. I go a bit more into some of these later.

Melmetal was the only B+ ranked Pokemon to not achieve 10 usages. It's not looking good for our steely eyed friend, as it has a very awkward defensive profile with its mono-Steel typing and poor special defense. Meanwhile a rise in defensive cores featuring Alomomola, Corviknight, Zapdos, and Iron Treads meant that absorbing Melmetal's moves is easier than ever, and it will have matchups where it fails to contribute much of anything. Simply not a good state of affairs for Melmetal at the moment.

The UR Pokemon

Sinistcha, Cresselia, Galarian Moltres, Alolan Ninetales, Amoonguss, Mega Gallade, Terrakion, Mamoswine, Dracozolt, Basculegion-F, Mega Pinsir, Seismitoad, Mega Houndoom, Iron Boulder, Mega Aerodactyl, Ninetales, Salamence, and Glastrier were all used as many players looked outside of the box to get a leg up on their opponents. Special shoutout has to go to Sinistcha, who achieved 5 usages, way above many C rankers. The set variety was also impressive, as both standard defensive and Nasty Plot sets were run as players utilized its unique typing and great movepool to check threats such as Ogerpon-W, Zamazenta, and Great Tusk. Cresselia checked in next with 4 usages, as a few sun offenses used its support movepool and high bulk to act as a defensive stopgap into many physical attackers.

The section above was a little bit shorter, I know, but I'd like to use this instead to talk about some usage trends that I noticed as I looked at the overarching meta for the tournament.

Year of the Dog

Fighting-types have been extremely important in National Dex since Terastalization was banned. Fighting-types were a crucial part of the “Fighting-Dark-Ghost” RPS that early post-Tera Natdex was in part defined by. That dynamic has since largely died out, but Fighting-types remained an imperative part of all sorts of teams, largely thanks to the excellence of the Fighting-type Pokemon themselves. Urshifu Rapid Strike and Mega Lopunny are excellent speed control options, Great Tusk excels in its utility, and Iron Valiant, Mega Medicham, and Kommo-o can be unpredictable, potentially devastating wallbreakers or win conditions. These Pokemon all saw various amounts of usage in the tournament, but there was consistently one Fighting-type on top, keeping the usage of many of these down. This Fighting-type showed it could do all of the above from Week One of the tournament, and it never really slowed down. Zamazenta has many key advantages that kept its usage far above any of the other Fighting-types, or any other Pokemon for that matter. Zamazenta was the #1 Pokemon in usage 5 out of the 7 regular season weeks, and it tied for the #1 spot in one of the other weeks, meaning there was only one week where a Pokemon was used more than it, and Zamazenta was the second most used Pokemon that week. There were several weeks where the second most used Pokemon wasn’t even close to Zamazenta in usage. The most popular Zamazenta set by far was the 4 attack variant. At first glance this set doesn’t seem particularly exciting. The vast majority of these sets ran Close Combat, Crunch, and Stone Edge, with the only consistent variation being the choice between Ice Fang and Heavy Slam for the last slot. In previous times this set largely ran Heavy-Duty Boots, allowing Zamazenta to come in multiple times a game without having to worry about hazards. Other items did exist, but they were far less common than Boots. That conventional wisdom was thrown out the window this tournament. No less than seven different items were slapped onto this set, with all of Boots, Fight Z, Dark Z, Rock Z, Assault Vest, Life Orb, and Choice Band seeing play on this moveset. While the damage boosting items makes Zamazenta weak to hazards, it compensates for that in spades by greatly increasing its threat level and allowing itself to be tuned to beat specific Pokemon or archetypes. Crucially, even in spite of the clear differences that all these items have, all of these Zamazenta played the same, critical role: compressing speed control, notable defensive utility as a naturally bulky Dark-resist, and an unpredictable offensive threat all in one slot. This inherent flexibility makes Zamazenta incredibly easy to slap on any offense or bulky offense that needs to plug several holes at once. This wasn’t even the only set Zamazenta ran, either. It cemented its status as the best dual screens setter in the tier with consistent use on hyper offense, while the fringier boosting sets of Iron Defense+Body Press and Howl also saw some sporadic usage with some success, although they proved matchup dependent. Nothing holds a candle to the classic variant, however, which is putting together a strong case for being a defining set of National Dex right now. All in all, this was an elite tournament for this heroic hound, and it will look to continue this run as we turn our attention to individual tournaments for a bit.

The Dance of the Ground-types

National Dex has had a surplus of great Ground-types for essentially the entire generation, but oftentimes a few specific ones are preferred. Folks only have to look so far as the Roaring Moon era, where Gliscor was often considered to be the best Pokemon in the tier. I was very curious if one Ground-type would end up standing conclusively above the rest as the tournament went on. This did not happen at all. In fact, six different Ground-types all received high levels of usage in this tournament, with Gliscor, Landorus-Therian, Garchomp, Ting-Lu, Great Tusk, and Iron Treads all proving their mettle at various times. In fact, all of these Pokemon had over 10% usage, which is very solid. The top four Ground-types were all incredibly close to each other in usage. Iron Treads checked in with 43 usages, or around 18% usage. Landorus-T and Garchomp tied at 41 usages/17%, while Ting-Lu had 40 usages. Great Tusk checked in at 36 usages, while Gliscor brought up the rear at 28 usages. All six of these grounds, at the most basic level, performed a similar role; setting hazards for their teams and helping to check dangerous threats like Gholdengo and Raging Bolt. The similarities largely ended there, however. All six of these Pokemon proved themselves not just viable, but straight up good, and they all offered teams a variety of different tools. The vast, vast majority of teams had one of these six on it. Let’s start with the most used of them, which, at least for now, was the lowest ranked of them all. Iron Treads had been gaining in popularity before the tournament had started, but it really skyrocketed this tournament as many teams utilized the specially defensive set as critical role compression for offensive builds. This set compresses Stealth Rock, Rapid Spin, and a great defensive profile all into one slot. The Pokemon generally plays bulkier than it actually is thanks to its great defensive typing, and it has useful moves like Ice Spinner, Knock Off, and Volt Switch to choose from. Treads did have a relatively poor winrate at 38%, but it’s done more than enough to justify a rise on the VR, in my opinion. Landorus-Therian and Garchomp also leveraged their classic flexibility to high usage, and with much better winrates than Iron Treads. Both Defensive and Offensive Stealth Rock sets showed up for both of them. Landorus-T also showcased its lead and Choice Scarf sets, while Garchomp also ran Loaded Dice Scale Shot sets. Meanwhile, Ting-Lu's niche as a defensive stalwart into threats such as Gholdengo, Mega Latios, and Terapagos kept its usage high. Great Tusk and Gliscor were used noticeably less than the aforementioned four, but all still saw use and success. Multiple different Gliscor sets were used, with Spikes, Stealth Rock, Defog, and Swords Dance sets seeing appearances. Great Tusk used its Dark-resistance and greater offensive threat potential to find a spot on many teams over Iron Treads. All of these Grounds proved themselves as legitimate pieces of the metagame, and current teams have a lot of choices as to how they want to use their Ground-type.

Wait, these iconic archetypes are bad, actually?

One of the defining features of National Dex in Generation 9 has been how sun and electric terrain teams are facilitated. Standard OU is stuck with the mediocre Ninetales and Torkoal as its sun setters, while electric terrain is essentially unviable thanks to the only legal Electric Surge pokemon being the awful Pincurchin. National Dex upends this dynamic completely by having two far, far better Pokemon as sun and electric terrain setters. I am of course talking about the ultra powerful Mega Charizard Y and lighting fast Tapu Koko. Mega Charizard Y anchored semisun teams were a defining playstyle in the early post-Tera metagame, as Zard Y teamed up with Great Tusk, Kingambit, and Raging Bolt to form a truly diabolical offensive core. Tapu Koko Electric Terrain offenses were never that defining once tera was banned, but they still had their place in the metagame, largely off the back of fueling Life Orb Iron Valiant, which is one of the most dangerous sets in the entire tier when backed by an electric terrain boost. Iron Moth sees some use as well, while Iron Treads could give these offenses defensive stability. It is amazing what having the primary facilitators of these teams be actually good Pokemon that you don’t have to compensate for so severely can do for the playstyle’s viability as a whole. And yet, the slowly decreasing viability of the two crucial pieces of these archetypes is exactly what torpedoed these archetype’s usage in NDCL. For all their great traits, Mega Charizard Y and Tapu Koko were met with a very hostile metagame as teams trended in a direction that largely had little difficulty handling both of these two.
Zard Y’s overall usage has slowly but steadily been decreasing as the popularity of its defensive answers increased. Dragonite, Toxapex, Garchomp, Mega Latios, and Moltres fit on a lot of different teams and gave Mega Charizard Y some real headaches, but it was generally nothing that couldn’t be handled with team support. Additionally, many offenses couldn’t fit sturdy Zard Y answers, which could make the semisun matchup hard in turn. New innovations for offenses, in particular, have changed this dynamic. The increased popularity of bulky Garchomp and Assault Vest Alomomola, in particular, could be viewed as the straw that broke the camel’s back. There are simply too many teams that either hard wall Mega Charizard Y or force it to predict perfectly to make progress itself. This would probably be fine if Mega Charizard Y had an item slot, but its forced item slot gives it an untenable 4 times weakness to Stealth Rock. Mega Charizard Y semisun teams have always been largely designed around keeping Mega Charizard Y alive just so they can function properly. Two forms of hazard control are generally considered mandatory on these teams, and it's been that way for a while. This support was worth giving when Mega Charizard Y was a dangerous and consistent wallbreaker, but that simply isn’t the case anymore. These teams still saw occasional use, but they were overall uncommon.
Electric terrain teams haven’t fared much better. Tapu Koko was already a relatively inconsistent threat on its own terms by virtue of its inability to get past certain, common defensive Pokemon like Ferrothorn and Galarian Slowking. It stuck around by virtue of its good matchup versus many offenses, but a recent influx of Iron Treads usage on offenses led to a serious drop in Tapu Koko’s standing within the meta. Tapu Koko still matches up well versus some offenses, but the teams that it does well against are simply not common enough to justify relying on Tapu Koko to be a main offensive engine of your team. Sure, Tapu Koko can at worst pivot out of these bad matchups, but other meta trends haven’t favored the rest of the Electric Terrain teams either. Life Orb Iron Valiant is still a very dangerous wallbreaker, but it gets chipped down very quickly and can still struggle to make progress quickly enough to compensate for this into common defensive cores with Pokemon such as Toxapex, Pecharunt, and Moltres. Meanwhile, Iron Moth can be dangerous but has common hard walls in the form of Toxapex and Heatran while it needs Fiery Dance boosts to break through special walls like Galarian Slowking and Assault Vest Alomomola. All in all, the offensive engines for Electric Terrain are simply not consistent enough to justify its consistent usage, so it had low overall usage.

The unusables

Every tournament there are a few ranked Pokemon that don’t get used. Meta trends can prove to not favor them as these go on, and people are often less willing to experiment in high stakes games. That being said, Pokemon on the VR are generally supposed to be considered “worth bringing” in high stakes games if the situation calls for it. Generally, if things do go unused, they are fringe C subrankers that only fit on very specific playstyles or have highly specialized use cases. B subrankers, while nowhere near as easy to fit as those above it, are generally considered solid Pokemon that are not particularly difficult to fit on teams if you want to use their talents. It is definitely worth noting, therefore, that two B subrankers went the entire tournament without being used. I’ve talked a bit about these two before, but I will dive deeper into these now that we’re wrapping the whole thing up. Blaziken gained popularity throughout the latter half of 2025 as an all-or-nothing Swords Dance sweeper for offense teams. With a solid STAB combo and powerful moves, Blaziken could absolutely run over certain teams and could use Z Crystals or a sun boost to dish out heavy damage even to resists. Of course, its calling card is Speed Boost, which lets it easily snowball out of control and invalidate many traditional forms of speed control. Blaziken was never used that much as it doesn’t fit on many teams, but the teams that it does fit on had seen a lot of success in the past. So what gives? The answer is simple: Ceruledge. This is one of the most cut and dry cases of “I’m you but better” I’ve seen in a while. Ceruledge usage has skyrocketed since the discovery of the Endure set, which lets Ceruledge force challenging mindgames with virtually every physical attacker in the tier. Ceruledge also comes packing a much better STAB combination, as Blaziken cannot hit common Pokemon such as Toxapex, Moltres, Dragonite, and Mega Latios with its STAB moves, while Ceruledge’s STABs are only resisted by Hisuian Samurott, Garganacl, and Mega Tyranitar. Ceruledge also uses the excellent Bitter Blade as its Fire STAB, which lets it heal up as it attacks. This also makes Ceruledge way less finicky to use than Blaziken, which generally has to go for a sweep the first time it comes out. While there are certainly games where Ceruledge only gets one shot, the recovery aspect of its moves and ability to use Endure even at low health means it can even make multiple attempts at sweeping in some games. All in all, people are going to use the more consistent choice, and Ceruledge offers that in spades.
The other unused B ranker is significantly more interesting to me, because this isn’t a case of a Pokemon being totally outclassed. On the contrary, there are very few Pokemon that can replicate the role that Victini plays. Victini’s unique typing gives it a very interesting defensive profile, as it switches into many Psychic-types and also helps out versus some Fire-type as well, which is unusual defensive role compression. Additionally, it has a toolkit that lets it pivot, Trick Choice items, or set up the omniboost Z-Celebrate. This is all on top of colorful coverage and an extremely strong signature STAB move in V-Create. And yet, even in spite of all that, a grand total of 0 players brought this. Victini has definitely been on a downturn in a metagame that threatens it a lot offensively and has an easier time pivoting around it with defensive additions like Rocky Helmet Garchomp and AV Alomomola. Sets without Heavy-Duty Boots are also weak to Stealth Rock. The lack of Sun usage also gave Victini less opportunity to shine, as many of the most successful Victini teams of the generation have been Zard Y semisun teams. I’m not going to lie though, I still found the complete lack of usage somewhat surprising. This is a total anecdote, but surely somebody could have found a use for this. You got HO Cheese, an interesting Scarfer, nuclear power on sun, and a cool pivot with defensive utility and…nobody? Players have completely lost confidence in the inconsistent Victory Pokemon sadly, and it was left out to dry as the highest ranked unused Pokemon. Ouch.
9 C rank Pokemon went unused in this tournament. The odd one out in C+, Garganacl limited defensive profile proves to be too much of a hindrance in fitting it onto teams. There are simply too many threats in this metagame to waste one of your teamslots on a limited defensive Pokemon. Salt Cure is insane, but players simply couldn’t justify a Pokemon that defensively falls flat into so much of the metagame.
Interestingly, webs was only run three times this tournament, but all three went for Ribombee over Araquanid. Araquanid is much more offensively threatening than Ribombee and can use Custap Berry to seriously dent much of the metagame or even trade with the opponent. It also defeats many forms of hazard control in the tier. Ribombee, however, does have one very crucial niche over it. With Skill Swap, Ribombee can remove Magic Bounce from Mega Diancie and Hatterene and then set up Sticky Web in front of them. This guaranteed Sticky Web against these common threats was clearly favored over what Araquanid offered.
The rest of the unused Pokemon are C- residents that have either fallen out of favor altogether or are so specific that no team found a use for their talents. Keldeo and Nidoking both excel at breaking down specific bulky structures, but said structures were nowhere to be seen this tournament, and Keldeo in particular had tons of Fighting-type competition. Greninja’s sweeping sets with Battle Bond didn’t move the needle in the eyes of the players, while Barraskewda’s place on rain has largely been taken by Overqwil in recent times. Tangrowth and Buzzwole are both physical walls that were dragged down by their passivity into common matchups and very poor specially defensive profile. Tangrowth’s place as a primary sleeper for those interested was largely taken by the UR Amoonguss, adding insult to injury. Finally, Tinkaton’s great defensive typing and ability was not enough to give it a spot on any teams thanks to its poor overall bulk and lack of reliable recovery.

I plan on doing this again for NDWC. The support from yall has been amazing and this has been a super fun series to do. Congrats to the Spectriers, and thanks again for reading!

 

[Vlarcheops]

With the release of Pokemon Champions coming sooon, I thought to myself: ho will NDOU change from the added features, buffs and megas from Pókemon championships?

Megas that will ABSOLUTEY be banned

Odviously these guys are gonna get the boot. Their stats are just too busted to even considered be healthy for NDOU, even disregarding what abilities they'll get, not to mention the moveset they have gotten (in this case M-Garchomp-Z). Hell, I am sure (afraid) they'll get good to broken abilities (maybe not M-Zeraora, but its still brooken via its stats).


Megas that will VERY LIKELY be banned

Mega Lopunny was alrerady a great Pókemon with Srappy and the Normal/Fighting combo, an unresisted offensive combo. How can this thing want anymore? In Pokemon Legends Z-A it got Swords Dance, meaning it can increase its attack sharply. Plus making physical walls that aren't Dondozo shiver. This thing has 136 attack, I remind you. Combine that with stromg STABs like Return/Frustration and Close Combat and you got a monster. Oh, it also gets Mach Punch as another priority move. Now for M-Delphox, it was stated that it gets Levitate as an ability. If thats the case, yeah thins thing will likely get booted. First of alll, this mega's stats are busted, points closed (159 Special Attack and 134 Speed). Even thgough Psycic Surge would have been a better option, Levitate erases its ground weakness.

*
So here we have Mega Gallade: IN CASE the thing gets Sharpness, it won't stay long. Let's pretend it has Shrpnes: it'd only have Psycho Cut over Zen Headbutt (Psycho Cut with the boost of Sharpness will be a slightly more devastating STAB Earthquake) and Sacred Sword over Close Combat (boosted by Sharpness, ignore defense boostes and doesnt drop defences upon using it) and coverage in Night Slash and Swords Dance. If you even let it give an opportunity to ste up a SD, it'll rip apart almost every Pókemon or greatly damaging them.

*
So here we have the Meme Mega, or Mega-Starmie. The thing has for some reason 140 Attack while having 130 Speed and a decent 120 Speed. Being bulky isnt out of place for this mega. Now, why would this thing be banned. IF this thing WOULD have Huge Powe, just how many people said it would, it'd be a problem. Unlike Mega-Medi, its not frail and unlike Mega-Mawile, its not slow. Sure, Slowbro COULD wall Starmie, if the Starmie doesnt run Thunderbolt, leaving the only true counter being Ferrothorn.


Mega that COULD work out

I was quite sure that Mega-Gren will be banned, though I began to have my doubts. First of all, its stated it'll have Protean, meaning it'll be just Gren 2.0 but it HAS to hold a Mega Stone. Plus its Offesive stats arent as crazy as the other megas (125 Attack and 133 Special Attack). Plus itsway too frail to set itself up with Nasty Plot, plus Protean would help much if that would be the case. The only problem would be its speed, but given Ash-Greninja was fine in Gen 8 SwSh NDOU 8 (Presumably) and Gen 7 given how power-crept these metagames were, I thing Mega-Gren has a decent shot of staying in NDOU this generation. As For Mega Excadrill, if it HAD Sand Rush, maybe it could be a problem, but still he have so many physical walls that we can use to stop it. Plus the only reliable Sand setters are Tyranitar (you CANNOT use the Meag form cuz, duh, you're presummably usn' MEGA Excadrill) and Hippowdon. For me, Mega Excadrill is the Mega Swmpert case. If that would'nt be the case, then its not THAT big of a threat.


Balanced Mega with a purpose/niche in NDOU

While there are absurd Megas, there are megas that are good and can stay in OU, the problem is if they are good enough to be used in NDOU: Mega Barbaracle is a DEVASTATING Shell SMasher with 140 Attack and an average 88 Speed. With a Shell Smash, it becomes even faster and more destrcuctive: Plus it has now the Fighting/Rock combo, a great offensive combo only problematic towards Gholdengo, but it has coverage to beat it. IF it gets Tough Claws, the Close Combats are REALLY gonna sting... Mega Scarmory can work as a blukier, faster Flying/Steel version of Ceruledge, since its base form has Weak Armor. The problem is that Pókemon like Corviknight and Zapdos exist, but outside of those, it can really do wonders. If it gets a good ability, I can see this thing be in NDOU, but as far as we know about Mega-Skarm, I think it would be an UUBLer. Mega Chestnaught, the bulkiest mega I have seen WITH RECOVER>Y, I have seen this thing used in STall, so I think Mega Chestnaught could work for stall. Since its speculated it would have Bulletproof, it can work against Gholdengo for Stall, a Pókemon that DEEPLY threatens the playstyle. It can even work in HO with some waky sets but we'll see. Just as Mega-Skarm, this thing will be UUBLer, but hey, that's a step far considering its base form. mega Meowstic COULD work for Psycic Terrain teams, but even then, that playstlye is gimmicky, but the Mega still looks powerfull, so I am curious about that...


The "OU by technicality" Megas

And alas here are the megas I feel wont be used much from their normal base countzerparts, even though on paper they look pretty good. mega Dragonite completely flip-flops what Dragonite is: it is a special mega, meaning DDAnce woulnt make sense. Plus, sure you have a 145 Special Attack, mor bulk, but you need to have some sort of speed. Plus base Dragonite gets damage from Stealth Rock on switching in. Therefor you might be better off using item on Dragonite. Z-Crystals or Heavy Duty-Boots. And at last we have Mega Heatran. It has a whopping 175 Special Attack, groundbreaking right? well... The problems are the (pick a number) fucking Ground Pókemon, Fighting Pókemon and Alomomola. Plus people use Heatran rather as a specially defensive wall with Lefties. I think it HAS potential to be used, I am just not that sure.

Tere are also buffs to older Pokemon, but those are quite insignificant:

It gets Parting Shot as a pivoting Move. Cool...

They get coverage moves such as Surf (Gholdengo) and Stone Edge (Ceruledge) respectively. But they'll just stick with their STAB moves

Our Speed Boost chicken has Drain Punch. Though People still would use Close Combat

So ther you havit. I am really excited to see how the new megas perform once Pokemon Champions is out. Thanks for reading! Take care! ~

P.S.
Dahness I have seen videos saying that Mega Chesnaught has Bulletproof and Mega Greninja has Protean while Mega Dephox has Levitate. For the other Megas, those are theories based on rumors or specuilation. We'll have to see when Champions comes out.

 

[Dahness]

View attachment 813515

With the release of Pokemon Champions coming sooon, I thought to myself: ho will NDOU change from the added features, buffs and megas from Pókemon championships?

Megas that will ABSOLUTEY be banned
View attachment 813458 View attachment 813459 View attachment 813463
Odviously these guys are gonna get the boot. Their stats are just too busted to even considered be healthy for NDOU, even disregarding what abilities they'll get, not to mention the moveset they have gotten (in this case M-Garchomp-Z). Hell, I am sure (afraid) they'll get good to broken abilities (maybe not M-Zeraora, but its still brooken via its stats).


Megas that will VERY LIKELY be banned
View attachment 813464View attachment 813466
Mega Lopunny was alrerady a great Pókemon with Srappy and the Normal/Fighting combo, an unresisted offensive combo. How can this thing want anymore? In Pokemon Legends Z-A it got Swords Dance, meaning it can increase its attack sharply. Plus making physical walls that aren't Dondozo shiver. This thing has 136 attack, I remind you. Combine that with stromg STABs like Return/Frustration and Close Combat and you got a monster. Oh, it also gets Mach Punch as another priority move. Now for M-Delphox, it was stated that it gets Levitate as an ability. If thats the case, yeah thins thing will likely get booted. First of alll, this mega's stats are busted, points closed (159 Special Attack and 134 Speed). Even thgough Psycic Surge would have been a better option, Levitate erases its ground weakness.

* View attachment 813475
So here we have Mega Gallade: IN CASE the thing gets Sharpness, it won't stay long. Let's pretend it has Shrpnes: it'd only have Psycho Cut over Zen Headbutt (Psycho Cut with the boost of Sharpness will be a slightly more devastating STAB Earthquake) and Sacred Sword over Close Combat (boosted by Sharpness, ignore defense boostes and doesnt drop defences upon using it) and coverage in Night Slash and Swords Dance. If you even let it give an opportunity to ste up a SD, it'll rip apart almost every Pókemon or greatly damaging them.

* View attachment 813491
So here we have the Meme Mega, or Mega-Starmie. The thing has for some reason 140 Attack while having 130 Speed and a decent 120 Speed. Being bulky isnt out of place for this mega. Now, why would this thing be banned. IF this thing WOULD have Huge Powe, just how many people said it would, it'd be a problem. Unlike Mega-Medi, its not frail and unlike Mega-Mawile, its not slow. Sure, Slowbro COULD wall Starmie, if the Starmie doesnt run Thunderbolt, leaving the only true counter being Ferrothorn.


Mega that COULD work out
View attachment 813474View attachment 813511
I was quite sure that Mega-Gren will be banned, though I began to have my doubts. First of all, its stated it'll have Protean, meaning it'll be just Gren 2.0 but it HAS to hold a Mega Stone. Plus its Offesive stats arent as crazy as the other megas (125 Attack and 133 Special Attack). Plus itsway too frail to set itself up with Nasty Plot, plus Protean would help much if that would be the case. The only problem would be its speed, but given Ash-Greninja was fine in Gen 8 SwSh NDOU 8 (Presumably) and Gen 7 given how power-crept these metagames were, I thing Mega-Gren has a decent shot of staying in NDOU this generation. As For Mega Excadrill, if it HAD Sand Rush, maybe it could be a problem, but still he have so many physical walls that we can use to stop it. Plus the only reliable Sand setters are Tyranitar (you CANNOT use the Meag form cuz, duh, you're presummably usn' MEGA Excadrill) and Hippowdon. For me, Mega Excadrill is the Mega Swmpert case. If that would'nt be the case, then its not THAT big of a threat.


Balanced Mega with a purpose/niche in NDOU
View attachment 813476View attachment 813488 View attachment 813489 View attachment 813490
While there are absurd Megas, there are megas that are good and can stay in OU, the problem is if they are good enough to be used in NDOU: Mega Barbaracle is a DEVASTATING Shell SMasher with 140 Attack and an average 88 Speed. With a Shell Smash, it becomes even faster and more destrcuctive: Plus it has now the Fighting/Rock combo, a great offensive combo only problematic towards Gholdengo, but it has coverage to beat it. IF it gets Tough Claws, the Close Combats are REALLY gonna sting... Mega Scarmory can work as a blukier, faster Flying/Steel version of Ceruledge, since its base form has Weak Armor. The problem is that Pókemon like Corviknight and Zapdos exist, but outside of those, it can really do wonders. If it gets a good ability, I can see this thing be in NDOU, but as far as we know about Mega-Skarm, I think it would be an UUBLer. Mega Chestnaught, the bulkiest mega I have seen WITH RECOVER>Y, I have seen this thing used in STall, so I think Mega Chestnaught could work for stall. Since its speculated it would have Bulletproof, it can work against Gholdengo for Stall, a Pókemon that DEEPLY threatens the playstyle. It can even work in HO with some waky sets but we'll see. Just as Mega-Skarm, this thing will be UUBLer, but hey, that's a step far considering its base form. mega Meowstic COULD work for Psycic Terrain teams, but even then, that playstlye is gimmicky, but the Mega still looks powerfull, so I am curious about that...


The "OU by technicality" Megas
View attachment 813509View attachment 813510
And alas here are the megas I feel wont be used much from their normal base countzerparts, even though on paper they look pretty good. mega Dragonite completely flip-flops what Dragonite is: it is a special mega, meaning DDAnce woulnt make sense. Plus, sure you have a 145 Special Attack, mor bulk, but you need to have some sort of speed. Plus base Dragonite gets damage from Stealth Rock on switching in. Therefor you might be better off using item on Dragonite. Z-Crystals or Heavy Duty-Boots. And at last we have Mega Heatran. It has a whopping 175 Special Attack, groundbreaking right? well... The problems are the (pick a number) fucking Ground Pókemon, Fighting Pókemon and Alomomola. Plus people use Heatran rather as a specially defensive wall with Lefties. I think it HAS potential to be used, I am just not that sure.

Tere are also buffs to older Pokemon, but those are quite insignificant:

It gets Parting Shot as a pivoting Move. Cool...

They get coverage moves such as Surf (Gholdengo) and Stone Edge (Ceruledge) respectively. But they'll just stick with their STAB moves

Our Speed Boost chicken has Drain Punch. Though People still would use Close Combat

So ther you havit. I am really excited to see how the new megas perform once Pokemon Champions is out. Thanks for reading! Take care! ~

so the situation with all the megas is that thy dont have an ability yet, but will get one when champions relases?

 

[Bonsly 11]

View attachment 813515

With the release of Pokemon Champions coming sooon, I thought to myself: ho will NDOU change from the added features, buffs and megas from Pókemon championships?

Megas that will ABSOLUTEY be banned
View attachment 813458 View attachment 813459 View attachment 813463
Odviously these guys are gonna get the boot. Their stats are just too busted to even considered be healthy for NDOU, even disregarding what abilities they'll get, not to mention the moveset they have gotten (in this case M-Garchomp-Z). Hell, I am sure (afraid) they'll get good to broken abilities (maybe not M-Zeraora, but its still brooken via its stats).


Megas that will VERY LIKELY be banned
View attachment 813464View attachment 813466
Mega Lopunny was alrerady a great Pókemon with Srappy and the Normal/Fighting combo, an unresisted offensive combo. How can this thing want anymore? In Pokemon Legends Z-A it got Swords Dance, meaning it can increase its attack sharply. Plus making physical walls that aren't Dondozo shiver. This thing has 136 attack, I remind you. Combine that with stromg STABs like Return/Frustration and Close Combat and you got a monster. Oh, it also gets Mach Punch as another priority move. Now for M-Delphox, it was stated that it gets Levitate as an ability. If thats the case, yeah thins thing will likely get booted. First of alll, this mega's stats are busted, points closed (159 Special Attack and 134 Speed). Even thgough Psycic Surge would have been a better option, Levitate erases its ground weakness.

* View attachment 813475
So here we have Mega Gallade: IN CASE the thing gets Sharpness, it won't stay long. Let's pretend it has Shrpnes: it'd only have Psycho Cut over Zen Headbutt (Psycho Cut with the boost of Sharpness will be a slightly more devastating STAB Earthquake) and Sacred Sword over Close Combat (boosted by Sharpness, ignore defense boostes and doesnt drop defences upon using it) and coverage in Night Slash and Swords Dance. If you even let it give an opportunity to ste up a SD, it'll rip apart almost every Pókemon or greatly damaging them.

* View attachment 813491
So here we have the Meme Mega, or Mega-Starmie. The thing has for some reason 140 Attack while having 130 Speed and a decent 120 Speed. Being bulky isnt out of place for this mega. Now, why would this thing be banned. IF this thing WOULD have Huge Powe, just how many people said it would, it'd be a problem. Unlike Mega-Medi, its not frail and unlike Mega-Mawile, its not slow. Sure, Slowbro COULD wall Starmie, if the Starmie doesnt run Thunderbolt, leaving the only true counter being Ferrothorn.


Mega that COULD work out
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I was quite sure that Mega-Gren will be banned, though I began to have my doubts. First of all, its stated it'll have Protean, meaning it'll be just Gren 2.0 but it HAS to hold a Mega Stone. Plus its Offesive stats arent as crazy as the other megas (125 Attack and 133 Special Attack). Plus itsway too frail to set itself up with Nasty Plot, plus Protean would help much if that would be the case. The only problem would be its speed, but given Ash-Greninja was fine in Gen 8 SwSh NDOU 8 (Presumably) and Gen 7 given how power-crept these metagames were, I thing Mega-Gren has a decent shot of staying in NDOU this generation. As For Mega Excadrill, if it HAD Sand Rush, maybe it could be a problem, but still he have so many physical walls that we can use to stop it. Plus the only reliable Sand setters are Tyranitar (you CANNOT use the Meag form cuz, duh, you're presummably usn' MEGA Excadrill) and Hippowdon. For me, Mega Excadrill is the Mega Swmpert case. If that would'nt be the case, then its not THAT big of a threat.


Balanced Mega with a purpose/niche in NDOU
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While there are absurd Megas, there are megas that are good and can stay in OU, the problem is if they are good enough to be used in NDOU: Mega Barbaracle is a DEVASTATING Shell SMasher with 140 Attack and an average 88 Speed. With a Shell Smash, it becomes even faster and more destrcuctive: Plus it has now the Fighting/Rock combo, a great offensive combo only problematic towards Gholdengo, but it has coverage to beat it. IF it gets Tough Claws, the Close Combats are REALLY gonna sting... Mega Scarmory can work as a blukier, faster Flying/Steel version of Ceruledge, since its base form has Weak Armor. The problem is that Pókemon like Corviknight and Zapdos exist, but outside of those, it can really do wonders. If it gets a good ability, I can see this thing be in NDOU, but as far as we know about Mega-Skarm, I think it would be an UUBLer. Mega Chestnaught, the bulkiest mega I have seen WITH RECOVER>Y, I have seen this thing used in STall, so I think Mega Chestnaught could work for stall. Since its speculated it would have Bulletproof, it can work against Gholdengo for Stall, a Pókemon that DEEPLY threatens the playstyle. It can even work in HO with some waky sets but we'll see. Just as Mega-Skarm, this thing will be UUBLer, but hey, that's a step far considering its base form. mega Meowstic COULD work for Psycic Terrain teams, but even then, that playstlye is gimmicky, but the Mega still looks powerfull, so I am curious about that...


The "OU by technicality" Megas
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And alas here are the megas I feel wont be used much from their normal base countzerparts, even though on paper they look pretty good. mega Dragonite completely flip-flops what Dragonite is: it is a special mega, meaning DDAnce woulnt make sense. Plus, sure you have a 145 Special Attack, mor bulk, but you need to have some sort of speed. Plus base Dragonite gets damage from Stealth Rock on switching in. Therefor you might be better off using item on Dragonite. Z-Crystals or Heavy Duty-Boots. And at last we have Mega Heatran. It has a whopping 175 Special Attack, groundbreaking right? well... The problems are the (pick a number) fucking Ground Pókemon, Fighting Pókemon and Alomomola. Plus people use Heatran rather as a specially defensive wall with Lefties. I think it HAS potential to be used, I am just not that sure.

Tere are also buffs to older Pokemon, but those are quite insignificant:

It gets Parting Shot as a pivoting Move. Cool...

They get coverage moves such as Surf (Gholdengo) and Stone Edge (Ceruledge) respectively. But they'll just stick with their STAB moves

Our Speed Boost chicken has Drain Punch. Though People still would use Close Combat

So ther you havit. I am really excited to see how the new megas perform once Pokemon Champions is out. Thanks for reading! Take care! ~

P.S.
Dahness I have seen videos saying that Mega Chesnaught has Bulletproof and Mega Greninja has Protean while Mega Dephox has Levitate. For the other Megas, those are theories based on rumors or specuilation. We'll have to see when Champions comes out.

To follow up on this I'm gonna go over some other Pokemon which I think could see a rise in usage with the moves they are getting.
Also mega heatran is speculated to be getting earth eater in which case I can see it getting use in OU otherwise I agree OU by technicality

This is assuming movesets aren't changed between za and champions

Rotom gets parting shot, taunt and parabolic charge: Don't think parting shot makes a big difference since it already has volt switch but I guess you can pivot on ground types now at the cost of being unable to do so on ghold. Taunt can be used against setup or stall although it already had access to scarf trick sets. Parabolic charge is a nice alternative to pain split on a mon with limited recovery options but kinda lacks power imo. I still like using rotom from time to time and even if it has fallen out of favour it still has a small niche.


Cofagrigus gets psyshock, thunder wave, parting shot, stealth rock : I don't think psyshock is relevant as offensive Cofagrigus is outclassed completely by ghold (might be relevant in lower tiers tho I doubt it). Thunder wave is nice but it already had access to wisp and toxic. Parting shot and stealth rock is where things get interesting as this makes Cofagrigus a spinblocker with access to the status move of it's choice and stealth rock or toxic spikes while being a slow pivot. It also gets access to other useful tools such as haze, magic coat, knock and memento. I'm not sure Cofagrigus will see play even with these buffs due to it's competition (with ghold most importantly who does almost everything better but also treads who can rock and pivot), low hp which leaves it with a mediocre bulk and most importantly lack of recovery which is limited to pain split and leftovers but I do think it's new support leaves room for experiment though mainly in lower tiers.

Keldeo gets earth power, ice beam, reflect, light screen and stealth rock: Better coverage is always nice, don't think it's anything gamebreaking but certainly an upgrade. Not sure it will be a great screener but it does get taunt and flip turn making it a bulkier but slower version of Tapu Koko. Don't think you're ever using rock on this since it's already gonna have a bunch of moves it wants to run between pump/surf, ice beam, secret sword, flip turn and calm mind.


The last thing I will go over is the move mortal spin becoming more wide spread. This move represents an opportunity for some pokemon to fill a role as spinner while also applying status at the same time which is undoubtedly very useful. The pokemon getting mortal spin are roserade, scolipede and overquil. Out of these I believe only scolipede and overquil may actually see some play as roserade lacks coverage and can't touch steel types (though again maybe in lower tiers it has a place). Overquil is mostly thought of as a pokemon exclusive to rain but with intimidate, mortal spin, crunch to threaten ghold and taunt, spikes, destiny bond or thunder wave as utility I can see some application for this pokemon. The only issue with it is that it lacks the coverage to threaten steel types who can prevent it from removing hazards leaving only it's newly acquired thunder wave as a way to cripple them. On the otherhand, scolipede has access to earthquake which can hit steel types super effectively, it also has access to swords dance and speed boost making it a potential sweeper. The issue here is that being a bug type means needing boots to get it's spin off without taking chip which prevents it from using something like groundium z which would have given it a chance to threaten steel types like ghold, treads, scizor and melmetal who can all tank earthquake with ease (although treads gets beaten 1v1 if it comes in to spin block). It also gets walled by corviknight. Overall, I don't think any of the 3 mortal spinners will see play as all 3 are worse than glimora (who is better than the 3 and is getting a mega) but I still thought it was worth mentioning as the move is without a doubt strong.


Those are the main thoughts I had on the movepool additions in champions. There are obviously a ton of other move changes I didn't go over but these are the main ones I think can have an impact. Feel free to go over anything you think I missed. Champions will obviously bring a ton of changes which we can only predict with limited accuracy so it's always interesting to both theory craft ahead of time and then later on look back at said theory crafting.