Metagame [Gen 9] Do Not Use (Kirlia banned)

a fairy · Feb 16, 2026

id def place budew higher than you both i think. but also i do not share your take on maku lol, though i do see the logic for sure

my top 5 is prob like
1. hatenna
2. alorat
3. nacli
4. pooper
5. litwick? budew? swablu?

but i think the line is either below alorat (where i currently sit) or below pooper. idt hatenna is standout The Best. it's the best but not like, elevated to another level of godhood yknow

Orangesodapop · Feb 16, 2026

Notable x-0 solopl player here for the REAL top 5.

1. Tailow. If it manages to beat quite literally half of the top 5 of other players something is up. In most cases, it forces a rock type or beldum, which all hate hazards. Also notably, it beats the only spinner in the tier by virtue of type. It’s way too much of a team builder constraint imo, forcing some way to outrun it only for your mon that can outrun it to die to quick attack. It can also run special to decimate an unprepared check while still having the same potency as physical. Jump if you are listening please save us
2. Rata. In a similar strain, this mon is nutty af, with its big normal stab and high speed allowing for it to rip through fatter builds forcing 50/50s on quite a few mons
3. Nacli. Now I call this mon bait every now and then but it’s the most consistent normal check for a reason. Without this mon, half the tier would be banned no joke. It stops mons like my top 2, zigalar, wick, and it also sets rocks.
4. Ok this one’s obvious but hattena. When hazards are good, a fat bouncer is good as well. With evio for bulk builds, and eject button for offense, you can’t really prevent this mon from getting the edge vs you. Nuzzle is incredibly hard to stop especially when its main coverage obliterates grounds, and its stab obliterates the other ground.
5. Bit controversial but. Luvdisc. This mon is frankly really strong, and while it doesn’t hit the hardest, it makes up for it by being paired with hazard spam and the top 2 normals. With this it can combo kill just about anything, while providing a solid answer to any and all fastmons.

Jumpheart · Mar 2, 2026

Going to wait to make my overall PL post after TBs but going to post my VR now. Things may shift slightly before the actual VR vote but this will be roughly what I submit.

Explaining a couple hot takes

:makuhita: - this Pokemon is fucking absurd. It is the best user of the best move in the tier. It has the ability to break quite literally any wall in the tier between its Bulk Up set and Flame Orb Guts--yes, even that one. Whichever one you're thinking of, Makuhita can break it. While stall has been irrelevant and even balance looks shaky at times that is still an incredibly valuable trait when you also have a great offense matchup too. Bulk Up threatens several of the tier's frail attackers and Flame Orb Guts can fit Fake Out + Bullet Punch to be comparable to :skitty: Skitty. This mon has no counters and even the list of checks is slim pickings. I genuinely considered it for #1, and if you have it below 6-7, I question if we've been playing the same tier. I'm not pro-ban yet but I can absolutely see myself getting there after a couple other mons get cleared out.

:beldum: - this Pokemon, unlike Makuhita, does have counters and checks. A couple of my other rises are directly because of how they match up into Beldum. However, in terms of how much you have to prepare for it in the builder, I do believe Beldum to be a top threat, even if it is more containable than some of the others. You're forced to run one of our bulky Fire-types, :wooper: Wooper, or :marill: Marill to reliably handle it, with one or two niche options for fat and stall (obligatory :wooloo: mention). It's also a monster defensively--being our only Steel type means it truly has a unique defensive profile and it really makes the most of it. This is in addition to its gargantuan stats. Everyone knows this thing has impeccable physical bulk, but it actually has the same special bulk as :gossifleur: Gossifleur? Really useful mon for a lot of team compositions that, for whatever reason, don't want to run a Rock-type, and as such absorbed my :roggenrola: Roggenrola placement from my post a couple weeks ago.

:marill: - I've finally come around on this Pokemon. Yeah, it's silly. Having access to the two best moves in the metagame by far combined with titanic bulk means that it can just throw them off repeatedly even between Rests. It also has a deep and unexplored movepool outside of it. The set that offense can run with Encore and Copycat can throw off a lot of the common Marill counterplay on teams that don't need it to click Rest (and whoever invented that set I'm sure is very attractive). However neither of these are the reasons that this mon rose so high for me. My reason for raising this mon to this degree is simply the fact that it is the closest thing we have to a Makuhita counter, LOL. Guts can break through but it checks any version of Eviolite Bulk Up, countering the most common four moves of that set. It also checks Beldum in the same slot which is nice.

:kirlia: - I'm not the person who should be introducing the latest on this mon, but if you've been in the Metangs DNU channel you've seen the chatter on this one. Fucking absurd, and honestly one of two mons I would vote to ban today if I called a vote. I'll save this discussion for the person who should be talking about this.

:budew: and :jigglypuff: - Not going to go into detail because these two have been discussed at length in the DNU Discord, but these two match up very poorly into the current metagame. Budew is a victim of its own success and I can see it shifting back up once people stop spamming cores that each carry 3-4 Budew hard checks, but it's hard to imagine a world where Jigglypuff climbs all the way back up. Being forced to rely on Wish just sucks and people are more comfortable than ever forgoing its unique bulk + utility profile and splitting its role across multiple Pokemon. At least :cleffa: Cleffa can and does fit Soft-Boiled.

:bramblin: - The more I think about this mon, the less I rate it. Yes, it has absurd calcs, and occasionally we'll still see a game where a +1 Speed Bramblin just rolls over a lightly bruised opponent, but those are moreso bad teambuilding and any good team right now is going to have stuff for this guy. Not necessarily because of Bramblin, either. Still good and I find it hard to ever see it drop further than A-, but this is the lowest the weed has ever been.

:rockruff: - Still broken on paper but people are trusting it less and less to hit those Stone Edges when it matters. Very poor performance for it in the Premier League stat-wise. Could see this mon make a comeback if people find a way to make its inevitable misses not match-ending.

Rapid-fire, the four UU drops by my VR:
:nymble: - "Broken priority" is less useful than it ever has been thanks to Makuhita seeing more exploration recently. If I wanted a broken anti-offense mon, I'd load :zigzagoon-galar: Zigzagoon-Galar or Skitty over this (and you'll note I lowered both multiple positions). Hates Marill and Beldum rising like they have, too. Congrats Noglastica

:zubat: - Swablu's absorbed most of its role, and ofc Budew farmer 3000 is worse in a meta where Budew isn't all that. Still has a place but much harder to justify considering how badly it loses to most top tiers. Honestly kinda want to drop it further.

:rattata: - Rattata will continue to drop until morale improves. Or :taillow: Taillow gets banned. One of the two.

:nidoran-m: - I actually think this guy is neat and considered him at one point, which is more than I can say for some of low rankers, but I organize the lower tiers very much with a "do they actually see play" and Nidoran just hasn't--I can recall a single appearance since its unban and that was Week 1 of DNUPL. Still, a physical Poison-type who can set up offensively is cool. It's not a unique role as Curse :wooper-paldea: Wooper-Paldea exists, but Nidoran has merits over that one.

Anyways, tiering thoughts: ban Taillow, ban Kirlia, suspect Makuhita, keep an eye on Beldum, look to free :goomy: Goomy at some point. Jumpheart out.

zxgzxg · Mar 3, 2026

Jumpheart said:
I genuinely considered it for #1, and if you have it below 6-7

Infectious Melody · Mar 14, 2026

Post SoloPL Personal VR and Thoughs
(Tiers B- and above are ordered)

:kirlia: - holy shit this pokemon is so broken
The "Kirlia broke" allegations all center around one set, that being max defense invested Draining Kiss Kirlia. This pokemon has one defensive answer in the whole tier, that being the gunker :rellor: (this is the main reason gunker even got bumped to "OU" in my VR), and even that needs max special defense investment, and still isn't consistent
The kirlia set is usually the following:
Kirlia @ Eviolite
Ability: Synchronize
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Draining Kiss
- Knock Off
- Psychic/Psyshock
- Calm Mind/Mystical Fire
Other moves in the last slot (like Encore) can work as well, but generally, CM and Mystfire are the best 2. Mystfire hits beldum in particular, 2hkoing it after a knock, and CM makes kirlia more consistent into some blobs (:marill:, :jigglypuff:, etc') as well as straight up giving it sweeping potential. The thing that makes this set so insanely difficult to answer is that Dkiss heals ridiculous amounts of HP which lets kirlia beat basically any offensive pokemon that can't outright OHKO it:
:arrokuda::
252 Atk Choice Band Arrokuda Liquidation vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Kirlia: 111-132 (51.1 - 60.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Kirlia Draining Kiss vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Arrokuda: 127-151 (56.9 - 67.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (47.9 - 57.1% recovered)
:swinub::
252+ Atk Life Orb Swinub Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 252 Def Eviolite Kirlia: 121-144 (55.7 - 66.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Kirlia Draining Kiss vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Swinub: 139-165 (57.6 - 68.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (47.9 - 57.1% recovered)
:rockruff::
252 Atk Rockruff Stone Edge vs. 0 HP / 252 Def Eviolite Kirlia: 99-117 (45.6 - 53.9%) -- 41% chance to 2HKO
252+ SpA Kirlia Draining Kiss vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Rockruff: 78-93 (33.7 - 40.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO (27.1 - 32.2% recovered)
252+ SpA Kirlia Psychic vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Rockruff: 139-165 (60.1 - 71.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (favored to kill after Dkiss)
:zigzagoon-galar:/:rattata-alola::
252+ Atk Zigzagoon-Galar Facade (140 BP) vs. 0 HP / 252 Def Eviolite Kirlia: 103-123 (47.4 - 56.6%) -- 85.5% chance to 2HKO
252+ SpA Kirlia Draining Kiss vs. 0 HP / 8 SpD Zigzagoon-Galar: 224-266 (103.2 - 122.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO (75.1 - 75.1% recovered)
252+ Atk Rattata-Alola Double-Edge vs. 0 HP / 252 Def Eviolite Kirlia: 118-141 (54.3 - 64.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Kirlia Draining Kiss vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Rattata-Alola: 254-300 (126.3 - 149.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO (69.5 - 69.5% recovered)
:surskit:(evio):
252 SpA Surskit Surf vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Kirlia: 88-105 (40.5 - 48.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ SpA Kirlia Draining Kiss vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Surskit: 64-76 (28.9 - 34.3%) -- 3.1% chance to 3HKO (22.1 - 26.2% recovered)
252+ SpA Kirlia Psychic vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Surskit: 115-136 (52 - 61.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Can actually deal significant damage, though
:surskit:(specs):
252 SpA Choice Specs Surskit Surf vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Kirlia: 132-156 (60.8 - 71.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Kirlia Draining Kiss vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Surskit: 96-114 (43.4 - 51.5%) -- 6.6% chance to 2HKO (33.1 - 39.6% recovered)
Wins, but only sometimes
:luvdisc:(leftovers/boots):
252 SpA Luvdisc Surf vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Kirlia: 79-94 (36.4 - 43.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ SpA Kirlia Draining Kiss vs. 96 HP / 0 SpD Luvdisc: 82-97 (32.6 - 38.6%) -- 98.8% chance to 3HKO (28.5 - 33.6% recovered)
Always loses to CM (you can't wishtect Vs. it). Also, psychic is straight up a 2hko...
:luvdisc:(specs):
252 SpA Choice Specs Luvdisc Surf vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Kirlia: 118-141 (54.3 - 64.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Kirlia Draining Kiss vs. 96 HP / 0 SpD Luvdisc: 82-97 (32.6 - 38.6%) -- 98.8% chance to 3HKO (28.5 - 33.6% recovered)
252+ SpA Kirlia Psychic vs. 96 HP / 0 SpD Luvdisc: 147-174 (58.5 - 69.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(Has to dodge a roll)
Even Taillow is a roll:
252+ Atk Guts Taillow Facade (140 BP) vs. 0 HP / 252 Def Eviolite Kirlia: 204-241 (94 - 111%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
(specs never kills: 252+ SpA Choice Specs Taillow Boomburst vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Kirlia: 178-211 (82 - 97.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO)
...You get the point. Every offensive pokemon not named Bramblin :bramblin: is losing to kirlia 1v1 always or at least a large portion of the time. And due to Dkiss, most of them can't exactly chip a Kirlia particularly welll (if at all).
What about defensive counterplay, then?
Everything loses. If your name isn't Rellor, you lose long-term. Some example calcs, after a knock off:
252+ SpA Kirlia Psychic vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Marill: 112-133 (32.6 - 38.7%) -- 99.4% chance to 3HKO (this is max SPDF which isn't even a real set. This is the calc into the much more common max defense marill: 252+ SpA Kirlia Psychic vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Marill: 178-211 (51.8 - 61.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO)
252+ SpA Kirlia Psychic vs. 4 HP / 252+ SpD Jigglypuff: 150-177 (40.3 - 47.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO (50% to 2HKO after rocks. Also, it can fish for SPDF drops and crits while you're spamming wishtect. If it's CM, you lose outright)
252+ SpA Kirlia Mystical Fire vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Beldum: 172-204 (60.5 - 71.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Kirlia Psychic vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Happiny: 147-174 (36.3 - 43%) -- guaranteed 3HKO (unless you want to pretend max SPDF is a real set. Still loses to CM though!)
252+ SpA Kirlia Psychic vs. 72 HP / 0 SpD Swablu: 132-156 (53 - 62.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Most defensive answers can't even chip a CM Kirlia. It clicks CM twice (one of which being on the switch) and then starts spamming Dkiss until you die, and comes out at full HP.
tl;dr: Ban this thing. It requires either a combination of pokemon that can chip it down on offense teams to beat or specifically bramblin, and exactly Rellor on defense. Stupid pokemon.

:wooper-paldea: - This pokemon is awesome. It switches in to a lot of the scarier threats in the tier, scouts the choice locked water types pretty comfortably, and very importantly, sets hazards. While it is blocked by Hatenna (which had a very high usage in soloPL) it can't switchin forever without rest (which makes it passive) and has to be wary of a poison from pjab. It can also serve as a lategame "win condition" with curse. Really good mon and extremely splashable.

:taillow: - this mon is broken, next

:venipede: - With the exception of kirlia, veni was probably the mon that impressed me the most in soloPL. It ended up making it to quite a few of my teams (some scrapped ones as well - though mostly not veni's fault) and consistently preformed well in testing and in the games themselves. Loaded Dice Pin Missile, even from veni's unimpressive attack stat, hits decently hard, and poison jab threatens to poison unsuspecting birds. With speed boost, it's a very solid revenge killer. This alone wouldn't be enough to make veni stand out, though - the move that really made veni get onto so many of my teams is spikes. Having a speed control pokemon that can also set hazards serves as incredible roll compression and often gives the extra breaking power a team needs. Unfortunately, it loses to swablu, the most common defogger, but it does notably have a 50% chance to OHKO 0 defense hatenna, with a guaranteed 2HKO on all variants, which is very valuable for a spiker. Very underrated.

:rellor: - Honestly, once/if kirlia gets banned, this mon is probably dropping again, but for now it stays here. Nothing much else to say, its just the only semi-consistent answer to the strongest breaker in the tier, but its still quite a flawed pokemon that requires a lot of support in the builder.

:wooper: - This mon is really nice and has a lot of extremely useful defensive utilities. It's the best answer to a lot of big threats like kuda and dog, as well as setting spikes/rocks, just like its sibling. Unfortunately, its sibling is better, which pushes jwoop down in the rankings quite a bit compared to where I would have otherwise ranked it.

:budew: - I tried to build with this mon and the only team that even made it into testing got scrapped as well. Budew provides next to no defensive utility other than switching into stoss, which is really bad in the current metagame. It has some undeniably nice traits, it still is the best stoss switchin in the tier, but I find it very hard to overlook the fact that budew helps answer exactly 0 offensive threats. Defensive sets are really weak and exploitable, when one of Budew's best attributes is being a spiker that can actually spike Vs. Hatenna. It can't really do that without spatk investment.

:jigglypuff: - tbh this mon just sucks. It beats everything but it also takes 40 from everything it beats, and since it's so reliant on wishtect, ends up being insanely exploitable and passive. I have not even considered putting this pokemon on a team while building, it was just never good. I considered placing it even lower but putting it below the OU cutoff seems a bit outlandish, at least for now.

:fomantis: - While I never used it myself, it was honestly quite threatening to play against in test games. I'm unsure how to feel about it as of now, but it is definitely worth looking into (scarf in particular).

:nidoran-f: - I actually tried to build with this pokemon and failed. It has really impressive stats defensively, but despite its coverage there is much to be desired on the power department. I thought about using a defensive set with resttalk, but the only notable utility move it has is Tspikes, which isn't great. Honestly, disappointing considering how good it looked on paper.

As for tiering, I generally agree with jump: ban Kirlia, ban Tailllow, suspect maku, in that order. Though I disagree with the idea of looking into Beldum, and think Stoss/night shade might need to get looked at in the future, those really are not urgent in the first place.
also free goomy

Jumpheart · Apr 22, 2026

Hello! A couple announcements. First off, as previously announced in the Discord, M0onStarr will be stepping down from council, and in his place we have brought desi on! Thank you M0on for your hard work, and a warm welcome to desi!

Second, we have finally voted on a new ban slate. The tier has been on a hiatus since SoloPL but we are moving once again and are using the development and discussion from SoloPL to determine the tier going forward. From the survey, we decided to vote on Kirlia, Makuhita, and Taillow.

The results are as follows:

Pokemon	Jumpheart	Infectious Melody	Zpice	R8	desi	Result
:kirlia: Kirlia	Suspect (1)	Quickban	Do Not Ban		Suspect (1)	Suspect
:makuhita: Makuhita	Do Not Ban	Suspect	Do Not Ban	Do Not Ban	Suspect (2)	Do Not Ban
:taillow: Taillow	Suspect (2)	Quickban	Suspect	Quickban	Quickban	Quickban

R8 abstained from voting on Kirlia; their vote ultimately didn't matter as the result would have been suspect either way.

With this, Taillow has been banned from Do Not Use! Took it long enough, considering this was controversial all the way back in our first ban slate in January 2024. I had actually swung partially against the grain of the council by circling it as a lesser threat--I was still on the fence about banning it overall but had bought into arguments that it had some merit in the tier even today. However, I was outvoted, and the bird has been shot down.

Kirlia will be suspect tested in the near future. TBD on what this looks like, on if we do our traditional format or try something else. Either way, with the Taillow ban, it'll have more room to be looked at under a microscope and see if more counterplay can be found. Makuhita gets some attention but is certainly the lowest priority of the three and will not undergo tiering action for the time being.

In addition to the suspect test, we will be running a seasonal tour very soon so keep an eye out for that! Peace!

Gekokeso · Apr 22, 2026

anaconja · Apr 23, 2026

:ss/taillow:
Name: Taillow
Type:

Abilities: Guts / Scrappy / just the birds
Stats: 40 / 55 / 30 / 30 / 30 / 85 [BST: 270]

Aerial Ace, Agility, Air Cutter, Air Slash, Attract, Big Bash, Boomburst, Brave Bird, Captivate, Confide, Counter, Defog, Double Team, Double-Edge, Echoed Voice, Endeavor, Endure, Epic Beam, Facade, Feather Dance, Fish Eater, Fishing Terrain, Fly, Focus Energy, Frustration, Growl, Heat Wave, Hidden Power, Hold Hands, Hurricane, Just the Birds 2: the Sequel, Mewing, Mimic, Mirror Move, Mud-Slap, Natural Gift, Ominous Wind, Peck, Pluck, Protect, Pursuit, Quick Attack, Quick Guard, Rage, Rain Dance, Refresh, Rest, Return, Reversal, Roost, Round, Secret Power, Sky Attack, Sleep Talk, Snore, Steel Wing, Substitute, Sunny Day, Supersonic, Swagger, Swift, Tailwind, Thief, Toxic, Twister, U-turn, Whirlwind, Wing Attack, Work Up

Justification: definitively fastest unboosted mon after Deez NUts and can hit with uhhh a moderately strong boomburst maybe. just the birds is a nice touch but its best move for rocks is steel wing which is a little awkward

Jumpheart · May 19, 2026

Signups for the Do Not Use Summer Seasonal are now live! This is our first individual tournament in a hot second so it'll be a great opportunity to make a name for yourself on the DNU circuit (perhaps quite literally...). In addition to that, this tour will count for reqs for the suspect test (99% Kirlia barring extreme circumstances), so if that is something that interests you, this is a great way to do so.

In addition, all of our (non-VR) resources have been updated: new sample teams, the role compendium is up to date, and a brand new WIP set compendium has been added as well. A new VR will be released fairly early in the tournament but we want a bit time for the post-Taillow meta to settle outside of friendlies and tests before rushing out a new VR. Hope you enjoy!

R8 · Jun 30, 2026

Infectious Melody said:
Kirlia @ Eviolite
Ability: Synchronize
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Draining Kiss
- Knock Off
- Psychic/Psyshock
- Calm Mind/Mystical Fire

quick post to tell people in the tour to not forget to use this kirlia set cuz oh my god its dumb. It ends 90% of its interactions at full hp thanks to draining kiss and often requires multiple mons to take down which can get knocked off if not KOed in the process

Jumpheart · Jul 3, 2026

New VR! Been while but here we are:

:Makuhita: Makuhita rose from A to A+
:Swablu: Swablu rose from A- to A+
:Kirlia: Kirlia rose from A- to A+
:Marill: Marill rose from B+ to A+
:Beldum: Beldum rose from A- to A
:Luvdisc: Luvdisc rose from A- to A
:Venipede: Venipede rose from B+ to A
:Pidove: Pidove rose from B+ to A-
:Impidimp: Impidimp rose from B+ to A-

:Gossifleur: Gossifleur rose from B to B+
:Rattata: Rattata rose from B to B+
:Slugma: Slugma rose from B- to B
:Rellor: Rellor rose from C+ to B
:Yungoos: Yungoos rose from C+ to B-
:Fomantis: Fomantis rose from C to B-

:Noibat: Noibat rose from C to C+
:Snorunt: Snorunt rose from C- to C+
:Starly: Starly rose from D to C+
:Fletchling: Fletchling rose from C- to C
:Togepi: Togepi rose from C- to C

:Ledyba: Ledyba rose from UR to D
:Yamper: Yamper rose from UR to D

:Litwick: Litwick fell from A+ to A
:Budew: Budew fell from A+ to A
:Swinub: Swinub fell from A to A-
:Bramblin: Bramblin fell from A to A-

:Arrokuda: Arrokuda fell from A to B+
:Meditite: Meditite fell from A- to B+
:Rockruff: Rockruff fell from A- to B+
:Cottonee: Cottonee fell from B+ to B
:Jigglypuff: Jigglypuff fell from A to B
:Zigzagoon-Galar: Zigzagoon-Galar fell from A- to B
:Nymble: Nymble fell from B+ to B-
:Zubat: Zubat fell from B+ to B-
:Happiny: Happiny fell from B to B-

:Rolycoly: Rolycoly fell from B- to C+
:Wimpod: Wimpod fell from B- to C
:Hoothoot: Hoothoot fell from B- to C
:Cherubi: Cherubi fell from C+ to C
:Bidoof: Bidoof fell from C+ to C
:Nidoran-M: Nidoran-M fell from B+ to C-
:Nidoran-F: Nidoran-F fell from B- to C-

:Hoppip: Hoppip fell from C- to D
:Sentret: Sentret fell from C- to D
:Tarountula: Tarountula fell from C- to D

:Wiglett: Wiglett fell from D to UR
:Patrat: Patrat fell from D to UR
:Petilil: Petilil fell from D to UR

DNU UU shifts, for those curious (yes this tier is still relevant we will run a tour for it later this year):
:slugma: Slugma rose from UU to OU
:rellor: Rellor rose from RU to OU (congrats Infectious Melody)

:happiny: Happiny fell from OU to UU (sorry scionicle)
:nidoran-m: Nidoram-M fell from OU to UU
:nymble: Nymble fell from OU to UU
:zubat: Zubat fell from OU to UU

Let us know if you have any thoughts!

ElectraineHeart · Jul 21, 2026

:venipede: :rockruff: :surskit: :impidimp: :swinub: :bramblin:
:wooper: :nymble: :marill: :hatenna: :swablu: :nacli:
:beldum: :kirlia: :makuhita: :wooper: :swablu: :luvdisc:
:rellor: :hatenna: :slugma: :luvdisc: :cottonee: :nacli:
:budew: :kirlia: :marill: :swinub: :rattata-alola: :swablu:
:noibat: :hatenna: :wooper: :cottonee: :zigzagoon-galar: :beldum:
:swinub: :meditite: :cottonee: :rockruff: :rattata-alola: :budew:
:fomantis: :rattata-alola: :wooper: :nacli: :kirlia: :bramblin:
:cleffa: :marill: :nacli: :swablu: :rattata-alola: :Gossifleur:
:yungoos: :bramblin: :nacli: :zigzagoon-galar: :kirlia: :zubat:
:rattata-alola: :kirlia: :swablu: :diglett: :hatenna: :wooper:
:wimpod: :surskit: :budew: :roggenrola: :luvdisc: :swablu:
:starly: :hatenna: :luvdisc: :swablu: :kirlia: :nacli:
:marill: :kirlia: :hatenna: :nacli: :rattata-alola: :gossifleur:

Out of ssnl, some teams I enjoyed using.

Jumpheart · Jul 30, 2026

Quick post to mention that we are running a survey for the metagame of the seasonal, please fill it out if you have a couple minutes! Here is the link. There's a question or two about unbans if that is something that interests you as well! I appreciate any and all responses.

Expect a longer post from me talking about the meta after the seasonal ends, win or lose I
will definitely have thoughts :P

Jumpheart · Aug 6, 2026

With seasonal done, here are results from our survey last week and usage stats from the tournament. I will save my own analysis of these for my metagame post which will be later--just pure data in this post to provide discussion points.

Average of 7.64 and 7.24 respectively. Enjoyment is slightly down, from 7.94, but finding the meta competitive and balanced is up, from 7.06, so people are enjoying the meta slightly less but finding it more competitive. (If you remove the outlier, enjoyment is basically the same as last survey--a reminder to take averages with a grain of salt in low sample sizes!)

Perhaps unsurprising with only one infamous broken in the tier, but people largely prefer to free new Pokemon rather than clearing out any remaining brokens via suspect test. This is a large swing towards freeing new compared to the last survey, which was split about 3 ways.

Specific Element Averages:
:kirlia: 3.59
:luvdisc: 1.65
:makuhita: 1.82
:marill: 2.35
:rattata: 1.82
Knock Off 1.53
Seismic Toss 2.47

Kirlia remains public enemy #1, which is entirely expected for those who have been paying attention. Marill and Seismic Toss got less support but a notable bump compared to the other elements on the slate. Kirlia and Marill both climbed in scores, Seismic Toss stayed fairly stagnant, and Makuhita went from a possible ban candidate to being non-problematic per this score. There were no write-ins for bans.

Unban mentions:
:goomy: x5 (with one starch opponent who wrote in "for the love of God do NOT free Goomy")
:spheal: x3
:finneon: x2
:tympole: x2
:diglett-alola: :pikipek: :shedinja: | :blitzle: :cosmoem: :ducklett: :gothita: :meltan: :meowth: :steenee: :vanillite: :vulpix:
Cute Charm
Formes Clause

Lots of write-ins for unbans, but Goomy and the legion of Water candidates pave the way as expected.

:hatenna: Do Not Use Summer Seasonal :hatenna:

Code:

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Hatenna            |  156 |  60.00% |  52.56% |
| 2    | Luvdisc            |   98 |  37.69% |  52.04% |
| 3    | Swablu             |   91 |  35.00% |  51.65% |
| 4    | Kirlia             |   86 |  33.08% |  54.65% |
| 5    | Nacli              |   74 |  28.46% |  62.16% |
| 6    | Rattata-Alola      |   73 |  28.08% |  45.21% |
| 7    | Makuhita           |   66 |  25.38% |  59.09% |
| 8    | Marill             |   64 |  24.62% |  57.81% |
| 9    | Bramblin           |   57 |  21.92% |  47.37% |
| 10   | Budew              |   56 |  21.54% |  46.43% |
| 11   | Swinub             |   51 |  19.62% |  41.18% |
| 12   | Roggenrola         |   49 |  18.85% |  55.10% |
| 13   | Beldum             |   44 |  16.92% |  56.82% |
| 13   | Wooper-Paldea      |   44 |  16.92% |  50.00% |
| 15   | Litwick            |   43 |  16.54% |  51.16% |
| 16   | Pidove             |   41 |  15.77% |  60.98% |
| 17   | Surskit            |   34 |  13.08% |  41.18% |
| 18   | Impidimp           |   32 |  12.31% |  37.50% |
| 19   | Venipede           |   29 |  11.15% |  51.72% |
| 20   | Arrokuda           |   28 |  10.77% |  32.14% |
| 20   | Rockruff           |   28 |  10.77% |  28.57% |
| 22   | Zigzagoon-Galar    |   25 |   9.62% |  44.00% |
| 23   | Jigglypuff         |   24 |   9.23% |  58.33% |
| 24   | Skitty             |   21 |   8.08% |  38.10% |
| 25   | Wooper             |   20 |   7.69% |  40.00% |
| 26   | Gossifleur         |   18 |   6.92% |  44.44% |
| 27   | Yungoos            |   17 |   6.54% |  47.06% |
| 28   | Starly             |   16 |   6.15% |  56.25% |
| 29   | Cottonee           |   14 |   5.38% |  50.00% |
| 30   | Meditite           |   13 |   5.00% |  38.46% |
| 31   | Rattata            |   12 |   4.62% |  58.33% |
| 31   | Zubat              |   12 |   4.62% |  41.67% |
| 33   | Tadbulb            |   10 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 34   | Cleffa             |    9 |   3.46% |  55.56% |
| 35   | Rellor             |    8 |   3.08% |  50.00% |
| 35   | Happiny            |    8 |   3.08% |  37.50% |
| 35   | Wimpod             |    8 |   3.08% |  25.00% |
| 38   | Nymble             |    7 |   2.69% |  57.14% |
| 38   | Spinarak           |    7 |   2.69% |  28.57% |
| 40   | Diglett            |    6 |   2.31% |  83.33% |
| 40   | Mareep             |    6 |   2.31% |  50.00% |
| 40   | Wooloo             |    6 |   2.31% |  33.33% |
| 43   | Fomantis           |    5 |   1.92% |  20.00% |
| 44   | Rolycoly           |    4 |   1.54% | 100.00% |
| 44   | Bidoof             |    4 |   1.54% |  50.00% |
| 44   | Fletchling         |    4 |   1.54% |  25.00% |
| 47   | Snorunt            |    3 |   1.15% |  66.67% |
| 47   | Noibat             |    3 |   1.15% |  66.67% |
| 47   | Tarountula         |    3 |   1.15% |  66.67% |
| 47   | Taillow            |    3 |   1.15% |  33.33% |
| 47   | Hoothoot           |    3 |   1.15% |  33.33% |
| 47   | Togepi             |    3 |   1.15% |  33.33% |
| 47   | Dreepy             |    3 |   1.15% |   0.00% |
| 54   | Slugma             |    2 |   0.77% | 100.00% |
| 54   | Nidoran-M          |    2 |   0.77% |   0.00% |
| 54   | Skwovet            |    2 |   0.77% |   0.00% |
| 57   | Nidoran-F          |    1 |   0.38% | 100.00% |
| 57   | Yamper             |    1 |   0.38% |   0.00% |
| 57   | Igglybuff          |    1 |   0.38% |   0.00% |
| 57   | Smoliv             |    1 |   0.38% |   0.00% |
| 57   | Cherubi            |    1 |   0.38% |   0.00% |

:luvdisc: Do Not Use Summer Seasonal :luvdisc:

Code:

+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Leads                   | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Luvdisc                 |   32 |  12.31% |  56.25% |
| 2    | Rattata-Alola           |   25 |   9.62% |  52.00% |
| 3    | Marill                  |   14 |   5.38% |  71.43% |
| 4    | Kirlia                  |   13 |   5.00% |  69.23% |
| 5    | Makuhita                |   12 |   4.62% |  41.67% |
| 6    | Pidove                  |   11 |   4.23% |  54.55% |
| 6    | Beldum                  |   11 |   4.23% |  45.45% |
| 8    | Impidimp                |   10 |   3.85% |  40.00% |
| 9    | Swablu                  |    9 |   3.46% |  33.33% |
| 10   | Skitty                  |    8 |   3.08% |  50.00% |
| 11   | Roggenrola              |    7 |   2.69% |  57.14% |
| 11   | Starly                  |    7 |   2.69% |  42.86% |
| 11   | Budew                   |    7 |   2.69% |  42.86% |
| 14   | Yungoos                 |    6 |   2.31% |  50.00% |
| 14   | Wooper-Paldea           |    6 |   2.31% |  33.33% |
| 14   | Surskit                 |    6 |   2.31% |  16.67% |
| 17   | Bramblin                |    5 |   1.92% |  80.00% |
| 17   | Venipede                |    5 |   1.92% |  60.00% |
| 17   | Hatenna                 |    5 |   1.92% |  60.00% |
| 17   | Rockruff                |    5 |   1.92% |  60.00% |
| 17   | Arrokuda                |    5 |   1.92% |  40.00% |
| 22   | Cleffa                  |    4 |   1.54% |  75.00% |
| 22   | Zubat                   |    4 |   1.54% |  50.00% |
| 22   | Swinub                  |    4 |   1.54% |  25.00% |
| 22   | Wooper                  |    4 |   1.54% |  25.00% |
| 22   | Wimpod                  |    4 |   1.54% |   0.00% |
| 27   | Zigzagoon-Galar         |    3 |   1.15% | 100.00% |
| 27   | Jigglypuff              |    3 |   1.15% |  66.67% |
| 27   | Nacli                   |    3 |   1.15% |  66.67% |
| 27   | Tadbulb                 |    3 |   1.15% |  33.33% |
| 27   | Mareep                  |    3 |   1.15% |   0.00% |
| 32   | Rellor                  |    2 |   0.77% |   0.00% |
| 33   | Noibat                  |    1 |   0.38% | 100.00% |
| 33   | Fomantis                |    1 |   0.38% | 100.00% |
| 33   | Nymble                  |    1 |   0.38% | 100.00% |
| 33   | Litwick                 |    1 |   0.38% | 100.00% |
| 33   | Happiny                 |    1 |   0.38% | 100.00% |
| 33   | Slugma                  |    1 |   0.38% | 100.00% |
| 33   | Tarountula              |    1 |   0.38% | 100.00% |
| 33   | Fletchling              |    1 |   0.38% |   0.00% |
| 33   | Yamper                  |    1 |   0.38% |   0.00% |
| 33   | Rattata                 |    1 |   0.38% |   0.00% |
| 33   | Diglett                 |    1 |   0.38% |   0.00% |
| 33   | Nidoran-M               |    1 |   0.38% |   0.00% |
| 33   | Spinarak                |    1 |   0.38% |   0.00% |
| 33   | Cottonee                |    1 |   0.38% |   0.00% |

Moves and Teammates (Pastebin link)

tvarisen · Aug 6, 2026

:luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc:

I have some thoughts about the summer seasonal now that the tour is over!

First of all, here are my usage statistics.

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Hatenna | 23 | 100.00% | 73.91% |
| 2 | Luvdisc | 23 | 100.00% | 73.91% |
| 3 | Swablu | 12 | 52.17% | 66.67% |
| 4 | Marill | 10 | 43.48% | 70.00% |
| 5 | Kirlia | 9 | 39.13% | 88.89% |
| 6 | Swinub | 7 | 30.43% | 85.71% |
| 7 | Budew | 7 | 30.43% | 85.71% |
| 8 | Pidove | 6 | 26.09% | 83.33% |
| 9 | Nacli | 6 | 26.09% | 83.33% |
| 10 | Roggenrola | 5 | 21.74% | 40.00% |
| 11 | Rattata-Alola | 5 | 21.74% | 100.00% |
| 12 | Litwick | 4 | 17.39% | 25.00% |
| 13 | Wooper-Paldea | 4 | 17.39% | 75.00% |
| 14 | Rattata | 3 | 13.04% | 100.00% |
| 15 | Spinarak | 3 | 13.04% | 33.33% |
| 16 | Bramblin | 3 | 13.04% | 66.67% |
| 17 | Makuhita | 2 | 8.70% | 100.00% |
| 18 | Skitty | 2 | 8.70% | 100.00% |
| 19 | Zigzagoon-Galar | 1 | 4.35% | 0.00% |
| 20 | Arrokuda | 1 | 4.35% | 0.00% |
| 21 | Tadbulb | 1 | 4.35% | 100.00% |
| 22 | Beldum | 1 | 4.35% | 100.00% |

Sorry the spacing is a bit off. I tried fixing it but my solution did not work. It still looks fairly legible, thankfully.

Contrary to how it may appear, pink is not my favorite color. I happen to really like Luvdisc as a Pokemon, and I decided from the start of the tournament that I would use Luvdisc on every single team with the goal of making it as far as possible. My conclusion is that I think that Choice Specs Luvdisc is severely underrated! Here is the set I ran in nearly every match.

:luvdisc:
Luvdisc @ Choice Specs
Ability: Swift Swim
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- Flip Turn

I exclusively ran Surf because I refused to have a Hydro Pump moment. I have not compared many damage ranges between Surf and Hydro Pump, so there is room for exploration if you are more willing to click Hydro Pump than I am. Zpice ran a Life Orb set with Hydro Pump against me in Game 2 of Round 10 that I thought was really neat as a way to have moveset flexibility while maintaining good damage (Life Orb Hydro Pump outdamages Choice Specs Surf). Outside of a few scenarios like Hatenna avoiding the 2HKO from Surf, I never felt like the damage of Surf was letting me down. I think Ice Beam is necessary to hit Grass types, Paldean Wooper, and Swablu. You can switch Hidden Power [Electric] for Hidden Power [Grass] depending on whether you feel pressured more by Marill or Wooper, but Marill tends to be the biggest obstacle for Luvdisc more often than not. Flip Turn is the most important move on this set, as its ability to generate momentum is invaluable. The choice between Modest or Timid comes down to whether or not you feel threatened by faster threats like Choice Scarf Tadbulb or Choice Scarf Yungoos. I ran Modest for most of the tournament, but Timid is also a great choice. I went with Choice Specs Luvdisc in every single tournament game, but I will highlight two other sets later in this post that I think are worth considering.

I built teams with Luvdisc around several different cores, and I have some notes about them. I included sample sets for each of them as well.

Luvdisc and Litwick:
Luvdisc and Litwick pair quite nicely together. I had a hard time fitting Litwick onto teams with offensive Luvdisc, but in theory they offer perfect coverage for each other's weaknesses. The main issue with this pair is that Choice Specs Luvdisc can be exploited through locking into a move & Litwick lacks a pivot move to maintain the momentum necessary to keep the opponent from catching up. Knock Off Marill is also difficult for these two because Litwick without an Eviolite is much easier to break through. Trick Room Litwick is also difficult to pair with Luvdisc because it is nearly impossible to bring Luvdisc into Trick Room. This feels like a better pair in theory than in practice. One pairing that does feel strong is offensive Luvdisc with Calm Mind Litwick on a team that aims to set up Litwick as a late-game win condition.

:litwick:
Litwick @ Eviolite
Ability: Flame Body
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 208 Def / 48 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk / Acid Armor

48 Speed lets you outspeed 4 Spe Nacli in order to reduce the risk of losing to Stone Edge critical hits or Rock Slide flinches. This set is inspired by a very similar Litwick set invented by AnnadeNeko. Acid Armor works as an alternative to Sleep Talk, and it can completely take over games if your opponent gives up their tools to break through it. Litwick is susceptible to the combination of Knock Off and offensive Pokemon like Pursuit Alolan Rattata, so this can put you in an awkward spot against Marill in theory. However, most Marill sets do not have any move to hit Litwick with outside of Knock Off, so you can completely take over games after dealing with the bad Litwick matchups. It is very difficult to position this set, but it is a terrifying win condition if you manage to pull it off.

Luvdisc and your Normal-type of choice:
Rattata, Alolan Rattata, Galarian Zigzagoon, Yungoos, Starly, and several other normal types all have two things in common:

A pivot move
Bad matchups into Nacli and Roggenrola

Luvdisc is a great pairing with any of these Pokemon! In particular, Guts Rattata with Facade is incredibly difficult to play around defensively. Much of its counterplay involves using Pursuit, faster Pokemon, priority, Nacli, and Roggenrola. Choice Specs Luvdisc is a near-perfect offensive compliment for this Pokemon, and they threaten so much together. They both appreciate Knock Off support to make breaking through defensive cores much more manageable. The other normal types offer unique advantages depending on your team. Alolan Rattata offers Pursuit support (which pairs nicely with Flip Turn), Galarian Zigzagoon compresses the Knock Off team slot at the cost of a significantly weaker Facade and Parting Shot as a U-Turn alternative. Starly and Yungoos are incredibly threatening with a Choice Band and are capable of completely breaking through defensive Pokemon like Marill to make it easier for Luvdisc to clean up later on. I am partial to Kanto Rattata because the speed tier is incredible and Guts-boosted Facade is such a powerful combination. Here are some example sets that are fairly self-explanatory.

:rattata:
Rattata @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Facade
- Pursuit / Crunch
- Quick Attack
- U-turn

:rattata-alola:
Rattata-Alola @ Choice Band
Ability: Thick Fat
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Double-Edge / Return
- Crunch / Switcheroo
- Pursuit
- U-turn

:rattata-alola:
Rattata-Alola @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Thick Fat
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Double-Edge / Return
- Pursuit
- U-turn
- Switcheroo

:zigzagoon-galar:
Zigzagoon-Galar @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Quick Feet
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Facade
- Parting Shot
- Trick

I want to note that I think Flame Orb has a lot of potential for Galarian Zigzagoon thanks to Facade ignoring the halved attack stat from being burned (thank you R8 for teaching me this). Knock Off damage is still reduced, but Knock Off is mostly useful for removing Eviolite to break things down with Facade (as it does more damage to neutral targets than Knock Off does to super-effective targets). Knock Off is theoretically useful against targets that resist Normal-type attacks, but you probably do not want your Galarian Zigzagoon up against the Rock-types regardless. Lower damage from the initial Knock Off and a worse Beldum matchup are the primary drawbacks, but the added longevity can absolutely be worth the costs. Also, as a side note, Luvdisc teams generally have enough momentum via pivoting moves to allow Galarian Zigzagoon to run Trick over Protect as its last move.

Luvdisc and Hatenna:
Hatenna is excellent at keeping hazards off with Magic Bounce, and Luvdisc is such a good enabler of this with Flip Turn pivoting. Wish on Luvdisc pairs particularly well with Hatenna because it offers better recovery than Rest or Life Dew. Healing Wish and Aromatherapy are both useful for supporting Choice Specs Luvdisc as well. Healing Wish is super useful in offering Luvdisc a second chance to break through your opponent, helps mitigate the threat of Pursuit, and removes status conditions. In certain circumstances, this affords you the ability to switch Luvdisc into Hatenna or stay in against Hatenna threatening Nuzzle as well. Aromatherapy is similarly useful and offers more flexibility in its support (by not requiring Hatenna to faint) but without the benefits of healing to full. I find that Healing Wish is more splashable, but Aromatherapy was useful on certain teams (especially if paired with several Pokemon running Rest). Psychic is great to have to remove Paldean Wooper so that you can start clicking Flip Turn.

:hatenna:
Hatenna (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Magic Bounce
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Def / 112 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
- Psychic
- Giga Drain / Mystical Fire
- Nuzzle
- Healing Wish / Aromatherapy

Hatenna generally prefers having physical bulk in order to take Pursuits and switch into the Stealth Rock users, but SpA investment is very helpful at removing Budew and Paldean Wooper. 112+ SpA nets a guaranteed 2HKO vs 252 HP Eviolite Budew. Giga Drain recovery puts Budew out of 2HKO range, but with so many other factors at play (hazards, the threat of Psychic SpD drops, paralysis from Nuzzle, Knock Off support, Budew not being 252 HP), I would consider it a reasonable benchmark. It is still very flexible, and you can definitely afford to adjust the EVs here as needed.

Luvdisc and Swablu:
Similar to how Luvdisc appreciates Pursuit support from Alolan Rattata, offensive Swablu sets pair excellently with Luvdisc for Pursuit support. The combination of Flip Turn and Pursuit allows you to force progress against Hatenna (which enables hazards early on) and Budew (which makes it easier for Choice Specs Luvdisc to lock into a move). Having a Defog user on the team also makes it easier to preserve Hatenna as well. Swablu also does well into the Grass types of the tier. The main downside of offensive Swablu is that Marill becomes more of a threat into your team, so you have to be very careful about playing around Knock Off.

:swablu:
Swablu @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Pursuit
- Roost
- Defog

This is nearly identical to the standard offensive Swablu set invented by R8. The speed investment outruns every Pokemon with base 50 speed Pokemon with 252 Spe EVs that do not run a speed-boosting nature. This is a great option to trap Hatenna and force progress with hazards.

:swablu:
Swablu @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Brave Bird
- Heal Bell
- Defog
- Roost

This is a bulky Swablu set that I call Eternamax Swablu. I first realized how good this was after scrimming against R8 and the Choice Band Alolan Rattata Balance sample team by Zpice. This set can be extremely difficult to remove after dealing with its worst matchups, and I found myself struggling against it when unprepared. It is a strong defensive win condition. It gives Hatenna more moveset flexibility by taking on a cleric role with Heal Bell. Other Swablu sets that lean fully into physical bulk also work well as an answer to the physical breakers. Eternamax Swablu is very flexible overall and is a Pokemon that I think is often overlooked in favor of the offensive Pursuit set.

Luvdisc and Pidove:
Luvdisc and Pidove make an excellent pivoting duo together, although the choice between Pidove and Swablu often depends on the specific team. Hatenna greatly appreciates Wish support from Pidove, and the general flexibility of a defensive pivot is incredible at enabling the offensive core of Luvdisc & Normal-type. The biggest trade-off is that you lose Pursuit support and a stronger move to hit Budew in addition to a generally strong hit into more defensive Pokemon like Paldean Wooper if you can remove their Eviolite beforehand. Ideally you are able to position Rattata for these matchups, but having the option with Swablu is situationally useful.

:pidove:
Pidove @ Eviolite
Ability: Big Pecks
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 24 Spe
- U-turn
- Wish
- Morning Sun / Roost
- Defog / Dual Wingbeat

Every Pidove I use runs 24 speed IVs for a total speed stat of 115 to outspeed Hatenna without any investment (114 speed) while ensuring a slow U-Turn against Marill without any investment (116 speed). Thanks to R8 for thinking of this. Assuming you still have your Eviolite, 252 HP with 88 SpD allows you to survive two Psychics from 252+ SpA Hatenna, but you can also drop to 56 SpD to always survive 252+ SpA Budew Sludge Bomb (if you do not get poisoned) with a 31.3% chance to get 2HKOd by 252+ SpA Hatenna Psychic. Outside of this, investing in HP and Def is great for taking hits. U-Turn and Wish are almost always necessary, but the last two moveslots are flexible. I generally prefer Morning Sun and one of Defog or Dual Wingbeat instead of dropping instant recovery, as you often need the instant recovery if you plan on using Defog. Morning Sun is a viable alternative to Roost depending on how threatened you feel by Makuhita in order to avoid the weakness to Fighting-type moves on the turn you Roost.

Luvdisc and Marill:
Marill offers great support for Luvdisc via Knock Off. Seismic Toss, Rest, Sleep Talk, and the insane bulk of this Pokemon let it land several Knock Offs during a game and enable offensive Luvdisc incredibly well. Often times the Knock Off benefits other breakers like Rattata more than Luvdisc, but removing Eviolite is always good regardless. If you Knock Off the opposing Marill, you set yourself up to 2HKO many different Marill sets & it becomes much easier to lock into Surf after Marill is chipped enough in order to prevent it from switching into Luvdisc safely. Marill itself compounds a weakness to Budew and Electric-types, but the value from Knock Off support makes it worth playing around these weaknesses. Sap Sipper also gives you a great switch-in to most Grass-type attacks.

:marill:
Marill @ Eviolite
Ability: Sap Sipper
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Seismic Toss
- Knock Off / Toxic
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

The EVs are flexible depending on whether you feel more threatened by physical breakers or by special attackers like non-Psyshock Kirlia and Hatenna. Special bulk makes it easier to Rest loop these special attackers, but investing more in physical bulk helps fortify Marill against many of the physical attackers in the tier. 252 Atk Guts Rattata Facade only has a 0.4% chance to KO with full physical investment, for example. Physical bulk is very useful against Poison Jab Paldean Wooper and Poison Jab Venipede (although you will most likely get overwhelmed by Poison Jab Venipede regardless).

Luvdisc and Kirlia:
Similar to Marill, Kirlia gets so much value from Knock Off support. Unlike Marill, however, Kirlia also enables itself via Knock Off & is incredible at breaking through the opponent after wearing down their team. It is easy for Kirlia to break down a team enough for Luvdisc and another breaker to successfully break through a team. Likewise, Luvdisc paired with another breaker are often capable of making enough progress to make Calm Mind Kirlia a late-game boss battle.

:kirlia:
Kirlia @ Eviolite
Ability: Synchronize
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 248 Def / 252 SpA / 8 Spe
Modest Nature
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Draining Kiss
- Knock Off
- Calm Mind / Teleport / Shadow Ball

The standard Kirlia set works very well here. Psyshock can be used over Psychic if you feel threatened by certain special walls, and it pairs well if you invest more in speed to catch Budew by surprise (81.3% chance to OHKO 252 HP Eviolite Budew). I think Calm Mind pairs best with Luvdisc in particular for the setup reasons mentioned above, but you can also use a Teleport set for repositioning or Shadow Ball to 2HKO most Hatenna sets while offering more immediate damage in the mirror match.

Luvdisc and your hazard-setter of choice:
The pairing of Luvdisc and an offensive normal type makes setting hazards very appealing. Chip damage from hazards makes it much easier to wear your opponent down into ranges for Luvdisc to break through. Nacli and Roggenrola help cover the weakness to Skitty and Choice Band Normal-types, whereas Paldean Wooper has a better matchup into Budew relative to the two Rock-types.

:wooper-paldea:
Wooper-Paldea @ Eviolite
Ability: Water Absorb
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 200 HP / 52 Atk / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Poison Jab
- Stealth Rock
- Recover

52+ Atk prevents Litwick with HP and Def investment frop looping you with Rest. Attack is generally nice to have in order to pressure Hatenna as it switches in so you can wear it down more quickly over the course of a game. 200 HP EVs gives you 301 HP in total to avoid a 3HKO from Seismic Toss. Outside of that, I find that SpD is useful to have to have a better matchup into Budew and to give you the option of staying in against Hatenna Psychic if necessary. I think it could be worth dropping some Spd for Atk in order to deal with Hatenna as it switches in so that you can avoid the potential scenario where you would even need to risk surviving a Psychic, but I have not explored this yet.

:roggenrola:
Roggenrola @ Eviolite
Ability: Sturdy
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 180 HP / 252 Atk / 76 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Autotomize

This set capitlalizes on the turn you get by forcing out good matchups like Swablu and Pidove and setting up an Autotomize. Roggenrola has the highest attacking stat in the entire tier, and giving it a speed boost can be situationally game-winning if you save the reveal for the right moment. The speed EVs outspeed Jolly Arrokuda after clicking Autotomize twice, but I think there is room for exploration here. You could make an argument that Roggenrola should be faster to outspeed important targets at +2, but certain teams might have enough breaking power to afford Roggenrola two turns to click Autotomize.

Luvdisc and Budew:
Budew pairs nicely with Luvdisc by spreading Sludge Bomb poisons, setting up Spikes, and switching into the Grass-type and Electric-type attacks that would otherwise give you trouble. Luvdisc and Budew are not a great offensive core by themselves, but Budew serves as a solid complement to other Luvdisc cores. For this reason, I prefer Budew to have more bulk investment to be better-suited at setting up Spikes over the course of a game.

:budew:
Budew @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Def / 56 SpA / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Giga Drain / Shadow Ball
- Spikes
- Synthesis

Shadow Ball is a nice option to have for Hatenna switch-ins, but running both STABs will likely be more consistent. Sludge Bomb is necessary in order to hit Marill, and spreading poison is very useful. This set leans heavily into physical bulk to shore up the relatively low base defense stat of 35. This helps Budew avoid getting trapped by Pursuit as well.

Next, here are a few thoughts about teambuilding with Choice Specs Luvdisc.

As the tournament progressed, I found that I became really comfortable playing with one particular team structure:

:luvdisc:
:hatenna:
:marill:/:kirlia:
:swablu:/:pidove:
:rattata: / :rattata-alola: / :zigzagoon-galar:
:roggenrola: / :nacli: / :wooper-paldea:

This is a very general framework with a lot of flexibility. Generally, the pairing of Luvdisc and a Normal-type is enough to break through most teams with the right defensive support. Here are some variations that I think work very well:
:luvdisc: :hatenna: :marill: :pidove: :rattata: :wooper-paldea:

Thank you R8 for helping me improve this team over the last several weeks as I kept learning more about the tier. This is my favorite team at the moment. The core of Luvdisc and Rattata specifically do so much, and Pidove is such a good complement to the core thanks to U-Turn. Paldean Wooper, Marill, and Hatenna make an incredible defensive core and give you enough flexibility to break through the opposing team with Luvdisc and Rattata when piloted well. Toxic support from Marill is great at forcing the bulkier Pokemon to use Rest in order to create opportunities for Luvdisc and Rattata, but Knock Off can work here too. Hatenna keeps hazards off and has enough bulk investment to hold its own against Pursuit users long enough for Pidove to offer Hatenna recovery via Wish, and Paldean Wooper is great at chipping opposing Hatenna with Poison Jab by threatening Stealth Rock. I prefer Unaware on this set because Marill manages Water-types well enough in order to have a better matchup into Calm Mind Litwick variants. I think this team has the potential to be a sample team.

:luvdisc: :hatenna: :marill: :litwick: :swablu: :wooper-paldea:

Thank you R8 for building this with me and helping me get out of my teambuilding comfort zone. This team aims to play a longer game by wearing your opponent down enough for Litwick to set up and sweep in the late game. Marill uses Toxic over Knock Off in order to put a timer on bulky pivots and make progress by forcing certain Pokemon that would otherwise wall Marill like Litwick to use Rest. Pursuit Swablu fits quite nicely on this team as it offers general defensive utility while making progress against Hatenna and offensive threats with Pursuit before they can break your team apart. Acid Armor works on Litwick as an alternative to Sleep Talk if you want to punish defensive plays, but you are more susceptible to critical hits and getting run over before setting up enough Calm Minds by special attacks during Rest turns. Hatenna runs Aromatherapy to support the two Rest users, and the final team slot should be used for hazards in order to wear down the opposing team.

:luvdisc: :hatenna: :marill: :kirlia: :pidove: :rattata:

Thank you AnnadeNeko for building this with me. I want to highlight a team that pairs Luvdisc with both Knock Off Marill and Kirlia, as I think this combination is uniquely threatening. Budew becomes very threatening but is manageable with the right support. Hatenna and Pursuit Swablu are two excellent options for doing so, and the sixth team slot is relatively flexible. By using both Marill and Kirlia, you free up Kirlia by limiting viable switch-ins and affording Kirlia more turns to set up a Calm Mind immediately instead of having to spend a turn using Knock Off. It can already be difficult to stop Kirlia from snowballing, so pairing it with Knock Off support can be incredibly threatening. Healing Wish Hatenna also lets you play recklessly with Kirlia early on by allowing you to do it all again later on. This can also be accomplished with Aromatherapy Hatenna and Wish Pidove if you want Hatenna to have more longevity. Teams with Pidove instead of Swablu benefit from Pursuit support via Rattata or Alolan Rattata.

As mentioned earlier, I have a few things to say about two non-Choice Specs Luvdisc sets that I think have potential.

Luvdisc @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Endeavor
- Flip Turn

This set affords you moveset flexibility and uses the momentum generated by Flip Turn by enabling other offensive threats on your team all while using the recoil from Life Orb to make Endeavor more threatening, allowing you to put bulky mons into range of a revenge killer, Pursuit, or hazards. Endeavor can also be replaced with Hydro Pump if you want the flexibility of both Water-type STAB moves as needed, Toxic for general utility, or Hidden Power [Electric/Grass] for the same reasons as the Choice Specs set.

Wish Luvdisc is the set I have explored the least, but I think it can work if piloted well. One notable advantage is that you can take advantage of the threat of Choice Specs early in the game as long as you avoid revealing the set, as the threat of switching into a Choice Specs Ice Beam can make something like Paldean Wooper reconsider switching in. I think it should always run Flip Turn due to how important it is to keep up momentum, and the standard item for this set is usually Leftovers. Aside from Wish and Flip Turn, I think the two other moveslots are flexible between Toxic, Scald, and Protect. I could potentially see other moves like Substitute and Ice Beam fitting on the right team. Overall, I am not nearly as familar with Wish Luvdisc as I am with the sets oriented more towards offense, but I think there is potential here.

Because my teambuilding revolved around Choice Specs Luvdisc, my familiarity with many of the Pokemon in the tier is limited. Instead of sharing my own viability ranking, I thought it would be more appropriate to highlight some placements in the current viability ranking that I do have some thoughts about.

:hatenna:: Currently in S, I agree
I was trying out a few different team styles including a few teams without Hatenna several weeks ago, but I found that the matchup against hazards becomes significantly more challenging to an extremely detrimental extent. Swablu and Pidove (the two best Defog Pokemon) have bad matchups into most Stealth Rock users. Rapid Spin Gossifleur or Bramblin could work, but those two are also just so much harder to fit onto a team than Hatenna. If hazards go up for free, it is significantly harder to make progress against your opponent as you struggle to keep any momentum without giving up too much health from hazards. Magic Bounce is such a great solution to the hazard problem, and Giga Drain coverage is invaluable when you need to remove the Stealth Rock users. Nuzzle is very good at slowing down offense, Healing Wish is great at enabling offense, and you can even run Calm Mind + Rest & Sleep Talk if you want to go the setup route. Hatenna is the glue for almost every single team and absolutely deserves to be the in the S rank.

:makuhita:: Currently in A+, I would place in A
Makuhita is a great Pokemon, but it feels like a step below the other A+ options like Marill and Kirlia. This is the slowest Knock Off user, so it often has fewer opportunities to spread Knock Off during a game. It benefits from an incredibly high attack stat that allows it to overcome its lower speed stat with good positioning, but I think it is generally less splashable onto a team compared to the other Knock Off users. Poison Jab has utility as a harder-hitting move into Fairy-types, Ice Punch can catch one of the Grass-types or Flying-types off guard. Both of these options benefit from Sheer Force as well.

:beldum:: Currently in A, I would place in B+
As a consequence of being the only Steel-type in the format, Beldum serves a very unique and important role. However, I find that its damage is very underwhelming. Eviolite Beldum gets most of its utiltiy from a good defensive typing and good stats, but its movepool is genuinely terrible. Steel and Psychic are compliment each other nicely offensively, but it is so one-dimensional that teams with longevity are not bothered by it in the long term. I think Choice Band Beldum is a cool way to take advantage of its natural bulk and fully commit to breaking, but it is still fairly exploitable and reliant on prediction. In my view, the best way to use Beldum is by dealing with its bad matchups beforehand so that it can afford to be one dimensional.

:luvdisc:: Currently in A, I agree
Luvdisc is a great Pokemon, but far from the best in the tier. There are so many great teams that do not require Luvdisc to function at all. That being said, I still think the teams that Luvdisc does fit on are incredible, and much of their success is facilitated by the inclusion of Luvdisc. Having the highest speed stat in the tier makes Luvdisc one of the best answers to offense in the tier, and Flip Turn gives you the ability to play around bad defensive matchups for your teammates to address. These traits make Luvdisc an incredibly threatening lead Pokemon as well, as it is very difficult to switch into a Pokemon with Flip Turn safely & has enough versatility with its sets to allow flexibility into most lead matchups outside of lead Marill. Luvdisc is also one of the best answers to Litwick in the tier regardless of the set it runs. Running nearly the same Luvdisc set every round made me predictable, but this Pokemon is still consistent enough to do well in spite of that predictability. I think this is a Pokemon more people should use!

:rattata:: Currently in B+, I would place in A
I have spoken enough about the strengths and weaknesses of Rattata already. Guts with Facade & U-Turn do so much for this mon, Quick Attack gives you priority to deal with faster Pokemon at low health, and you can choose between Pursuit and Crunch to hit Ghost-types. Sucker Punch can work over Quick Attack, but the 10 extra damage at the cost of becoming prediction-reliant is not worth it in my view. Rattata is very strong at dismantling teams if you can use it with precision, and it pairs incredibly well with Luvdisc to create oppotunities to break through the opposing team.

:petilil:: Currently unranked, I would place in C-
Petilil is very hard to fit onto a team, but I think it is a good Cherubi alternative. Like Cherubi, Petilil runs Chlorophyl sets with Sunny Day. They both have the option for team support via Healing Wish, have a similar BST, and can set up under Sunny Day with Growth. The biggest drawback to using Petilil over Cherubi is the lack of Weather Ball making you incredibly weak to Budew, but in exchange you have the ability to completely invalidate Marill as one of the most common Grass-type answers with Entrainment! (Worry Seed, a move that both Petilil and Cherubi learn, does not work against Sap Sipper). I do not think Petilil is the best Pokemon, but I think it can perform well enough to earn a spot on the lower end of the VR.

Finally, there are a few people I want to thank in particular!

Thank you Infectious Melody for helping me build some of my earlier teams & for walking me through your approach to teambuilding in general. You are an incredible teambuilder and I am so grateful for your help.

Thank you AnnadeNeko for scrimming me in nearly every round, but especially for our scrims in the days before grand finals. Battling you is so much fun & the tier would not be the same without you.

Thank you R8 for helping me with so much of my teambuilding in the later rounds, all of our scrims prior to the final round, for hosting the tour, and for being super friendly overall. You are always ready to offer kind remarks, helpful insights, and new ideas. I feel like I always have something to learn by viewing things from your perspective, and it is so cool that you are always willing to share it.

Lastly, thank you Jumpheart!!! It was so exciting to play against you in the finals & I am glad that you were my opponent. Thank you for the scrims in the earlier rounds of the tour. Thank you for hosting the tour. Thank you for leading the tier. This tour has been so much fun, and none of this would have been possible without you. I first found out about DNU a little over one year ago after trying to find a metagame where Luvdisc was viable. I did not play competitively at the time, but I needed to hear that Luvdisc had somewhere to call home. I mentioned being interested in trying out teambuilding when I joined the server, and you were immediately willing to offer a helping hand.

Jumpheart is the goat. Congratulations on the win!!

Playing in this tournament has been so much fun, and I am so glad I got involved in the tier. DNU is a tier worth playing :hatenna:

:luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc::luvdisc:

Jumpheart · Aug 6, 2026

Tour Winner Jumpheart Metagame Discussion Post and Teamdump

Hi all! Breaking this post into three separate sections: a VR and analysis, a teamdump, and general assorted thoughts.
Viability Ranking

I will probably disagree with this VR in two hours because it was kind of hard to make? I feel like the tiers right now are very fluid and there were Pokemon I had in 3 different tiers while working on this. Pretty happy through my upper A tiers then it just devolves into chaos until I hit the C ranks.

:luvdisc: A+ - This is one of the most threatening Pokemon in the tier in that it effectively forces a Water resist (or one of two specific mons that can reasonably larp as a Water resist for this purpose). It also serves as the best speed control in the tier while bringing useful defensive profile to an offense team. It also is a pivot, which if they do not have a Water Absorb :wooper: Wooper lets you bring stuff in pretty easily to keep up momentum. Very, very strong mon in the builder, that can often find ways to contribute even in bad matchups (this thing still pulls weight vs. teams with :marill: Marill and :wooper-paldea: Pooper which is crazy right?)

:budew: A+ - You couldn't live with your own failure. Yeah this mon is still good idk what we were smoking there for a bit lmao. Admittedly it came back onto my radar to help check :marill: Marill and slow :kirlia: Kirlia sets (like demon Kirlia) but this mon finds a lot to do in any given matchup. It's also the best Spiker in the tier again bar none. :swablu: Swablu and :venipede: Venipede are its only really annoying matchups but Swablu is navigable and Venipede struggles with longevity.

:jigglypuff: A - I debated on whether or not Jigglypuff back in my top 10 was crazy but the more I think about it the more I truly believe this Pokemon is still totally good and it was just a skill issue. STOP RUNNING MIXED DEFENSES. That set had a place in its metagame but get it through your head that this Pokemon has fucking amazing bulk that people don't tap into because they want to soft check :bramblin: Bramblin and :litwick: Litwick in one slot (statements made up by the deranged). Specialize your puffs and tap into its obscene movepool.

:rattata: A - Guts Facade in a meta where all of the normal resists are a bit down. Enough said. I think its lowk broken but I think we need more time to solve counterplay. It also needs fucking usage where are the uses lmao

:roggenrola: A- - I was left disappointed by this mon in a few tests. I still loaded it and I am still Rogg's strongest soldier but you do really feel the lack of recovery in this meta when compared to :nacli: Nacli. Rattata Facade -> U-Turn leaves you at like 55-60% so you just die next time lmao. I think the future of Rogg is getting funky with its moveset and we saw this in finals--I needed luck to not get swept by an Automotize Rogg in the back (though I def misplayed that end sequence and had better routes it was still very dangerous). Meanwhile the Rock Tomb/Protect Rogg I loaded is probably a bit too fishy to be common but had a ton of merit and I got a lot of milage out of both moves both in testing and in the game. People are not looking at this mons movepool enough. It's not the deepest but get funky with it.

:wooper-paldea: B+ - This mon checks so little and it never gets the opportunity to use its good toolkit because it gets shut down by everything. I don't think it's worthless and I do have teams with it but it needs a lot more support than most of the A ranks and struggles to get value a lot of the time just by virtue of being reliant on Poison Jab Poisons to beat :hatenna: Hatenna, which is a strategy that becomes far less reliable when Reflect and Rest are ticking up usage, along with Puff making a comeback (or at least it should). Curse is like fine

The entire fucking B rank - This subrank is a weird blend of "oh this guy fell off hard" and "this guy is secretly really good but is being underused". I'll call special attention to :diglett: Diglett who is really strong with a Band and many teams struggle to switch in. Shut down by a couple Pokemon (:gossifleur: Gossifleur farms it, :cottonee: Cottonee kinda sucks, Swablu is annoying) so it's a bit fishy but all of its matchups are at least navigable imo. Also :mareep: Mareep who is really annoying for a lot of teams to switch in on. Both Eviolite and Scarf are good.

:slugma: B- - Frankly this should be higher but I am an advocate for "tour usage matters" and fuck did this Pokemon underperform. Two uses, one of which was a team I built for Gimmicky, the other of which was as a HO lead by shreyashhy. I built more Slugma teams than this Pokemon got uses even I didn't end up bringing any of them. I think this Pokemon was grossly underrepresented for what it is capable of. Maybe there is something to it in that Slugma teams end up being tricky to cover everything well enough to load.

:bidoof: B- - Secret broken. Didn't get to show it off in my game but there were multiple tests where Bidoof genuinely threatened a 6-0 if it got a turn to set up. :surskit: Surskit makes a nice partner by getting Webs up (doesnt have to be HO) and letting Bidoof run more bulk to still outspeed stuff. The team I loaded vs tvarisen was max HP and it is faster than stuff like Marill or Budew with webs up. Obviously, for stuff like Luvdisc or Rattatas, you click Quick Attack instead. Crunch is slightly better than Aqua Tail but both are justifiable depending on what you want to hit. Demon Bidoof is probably also good again but didn't tinker with it.

:wooper: C+ -

Genuinely not sure what this Pokemon brings in the current meta that deserves more usage than shit like Cottonee or :meditite: Meditite. It's as flawed as the B+ and B tiers without the high upside that they provide when supported well. Why should I use this over Marill? The only thing I can think of is Rocks but that's genuinely pointless when this is completely useless into Hatenna. It's farmed by Marill, Kirlia, and Budew. It wants to check Waters but struggles to do that for any but :arrokuda: Arrokuda, unless you are running Water Absorb SpDef, in which case this Pokemon is thrashed by more top tiers like :makuhita: Makuhita and Swablu now. I built a single team with this all tournament and I didn't consider loading it. Still C+ because it's a Water immune with rocks so like, yeah sure whatever man. It's also one of the more consistent Beldum counters which is admittedly cool. Idk, it has a place but I struggle to see any teams I truly like with this.

:shinx: C- - This Pokemon is actually kinda cool and if tvarisen and I went the distance there was a Shinx team in my builder that may have been loaded. Matches up fairly well into the top tiers, with the only notable Ground type in Pooper being hit hard by Psychic Fangs. Guts as a breaker and Intimidate Scarf as a speed control/revenging option both have merit in my eyes and I think this Pokemon could settle as a C+ish mon if people explored it more.

:hoothoot: UR - Definitely a fall from grace but I'm struggling to see any reason to run this. Plot seems cool at first but it's just not that strong even with investment. We haven't seen this Pokemon do anything of note in literal years at this point and unlike my other C-/D tiers without success (hi :nidoran-m: Nido-M and :pichu: Pichu) there's not even much of an on-paper thing anymore. I tried every Pokemon ranked at least once in the builder or calculator (and only a couple didn't make it to a test game) but I never even bothered with Hoothoot. Specs may be kinda funny if you want to try something here.

Teamdump
This isn't going to include every single team I built because that was in the multiple dozen, most of which got scrapped (some of which no longer exist oops), but it will include the pastes for some of my more prized teams that hopefully get your gears turning when building. I think I'm playing some of the best mons in my life right now and that also applies to the builder. Teams are sorted by order of me bringing them.

Loaded in Tournament
:diglett: :jigglypuff: :marill: :zubat: :hatenna: :kirlia: - (3-0, twice by me, once by desi)
Second of two teams that were takes on the Marill-Zubat synergy I like. It's a subtle synergy but one that is definitely there. One of the best ways to pressure Marill is the offensive Poison-types, all of which this offensive Zubat set handles easily. Diglett is a frail attacker that appreciates the free entry Zubat can give (while pressuring the Flying resists that would shut it down). Jigglypuff is another way to get Diglett into the game, while compressing a Wish passer for Hatenna. Counter is used as a tech option to punish teams trying to exploit this team's lack of a Normal/Flying resist. Hatenna is here because its the best mon and Kirlia is here to be broken. Jigglypuff EVs are to hit 401 HP for Seismic Toss (meaning Wish -> Psywave fully heals off vs. other tossers) and max Def, speed creeping 4 EVs for the tie, rest in SpDef to maximize mixed bulk. Zubat EVs make it faster than things creeping Adamant Swinub by one point (such as the offensive Swablu set) while being an odd number for Stealth Rock.

:litwick: :yungoos: :budew: :roggenrola: :pidove: :hatenna: - (won, I got lucky with the burn but do not think it mattered long-term)
Fairly normal offense team that uses Scarf Yungoos to pressure other offensive teams, with a fast Calm Mind Litwick to set up on fatter teams or teams that normally rely on stuff like RestTalk Marill to check it. The Budew set is one I used a couple times-- these EVs are to always survive a Luvdisc Ice Beam after a layer of hazards, because even with Yungoos Luvdisc could be annoying due to outspeeding if Timid. Rest is pretty standard.

:rattata: :budew: :marill: :pidove: :litwick: :makuhita: - (won)
This was The Technology

I kept referring to in the Discord. While I originally built this to exploit a teambuilding weakness I saw in Melody's scout, when she dropped out I chose to reload it vs. shrey because it also looked good into him. While I did get a bit lucky in the matchup (Rattata vs. no normal resist), I do not believe the same exploit that let Rattata run amok was truly bad, because most of the normal resists in the tier are free setup food for Marill to click Belly Drum, which is a severely threatening move in the current metagame. It works for similar reasons to Bidoof--explosive setup with priority is always good but in modern DNU can be especially punishing into the style of builds that stack 4 fat mons and 1-2 frail offensive guys. All fat mons get picked off by Liquidation or Knock Off except the birds or the Woopers, none of whom hit it that hard, while +6 Aqua Jet is an OHKO into most offensive mons--with the few mons that don't OHKO it are some of the best mons for Marill to set up in front of in the first place, specifically Luvdisc and Surskit. Taunt Litwick helps break stall or fat cores as well to help set up for the breakers, Pidove provides pivoting, Budew gives us a hazard while shoring up the Luvdisc and Rock matchups a little more due to our strange Marill set.

:bramblin: :marill: :swablu: :hatenna: :roggenrola: :budew:- (lost)
I lost this game but I do not believe that is a problem with the team--I just made some very wrong clicks that pulled the game a little too far out of reach. This team was made to exploit shrey's overreliance on Hatenna for removal on most of his teams. Spikes Bramblin is very threatening while also Spiking on Hatenna, which is a super useful tool. Scarf Budew is still a cool option to flip some matchups on its head, which almost worked in the game by getting the jump on Luvdisc, but wasn't meant to be. Dark Pulse here is to make our Hatenna a check to opposing Hatenna and Beldum. The rest is fairly self-explanatory.

:surskit: :nacli: :marill: :kirlia: :hatenna: :bidoof: - (won) ignore me fumbling the endgame pls
The idea behind this team is pretty simple: Bidoof at +4 is devastating to opponents who drop the Normal resist a lot, and tvarisen did do that (as you can see from their post above). With minimal chip, Return just eviscerates specially defensive Marill and is a clear 2HKO on physically defensive Marill. With Surskit's Webs up, you outspeed the mid-speed gang of fat Budew/Kirlia/Marill and things creeping them by a point or two. Bidoof's HP EVs are to hit 301 for Seismic Toss. Nacli is Rocky Helmet to help it more effectively shut down Rattata and other Normal-types who want to U-Turn on it. While you leave Nacli low for doing so, you do win the interaction of Rattata Facade -> U-Turn over time. Marill is itemless so the team isn't 6-0d by Bramblin on preview. Kirlia is Specs to have more immediate breaking power and cleave through defensive cores with smart prediction to help set up Bidoof or Surskit for a win late-game. Trick on Hatenna is a really cool option for one of its freer slots and I made use of it in our game by stealing their Hatenna's Eviolite.

:venipede: :mareep: :jigglypuff: :roggenrola: :hatenna: :cottonee: - (won)
Venipede and Cottonee is an offensive pair that I had been wanting to try for a while and finally built a team I felt comfortable enough after a few iterations on this idea. Offensive Cottonee is kind of a nightmare to switch in on because of Knock Off and its STABs. Vs. any other opponent you'd want something like Stun Spore, Taunt, Encore last, but I wanted a bit of extra insurance vs. the Specs Luvdisc spammer, since our only Water resist has no bulk investment and we have nothing raw faster. Mareep makes a good partner by being a surprisingly good Swablu switch in (especially with Reflect Hatenna and Wish Jigglypuff as teammates) while also having defensive utility vs. Marill by virtue of being strong and bulky. The main thing stopping this Pokemon is Wooper-Paldea which is why we are using this exact Hatenna set. Roggenrola is Rock Tomb to prey on Hatennas seeking to switch in on it and bounce Rocks or Marill trying to wall you, and Protect to, one again, scout Luvdisc. I think Protect is a generally underrated move in this tier when you can fit it reasonably like this on mons that appreciate it, and I made good use of it both in this game and in tests.

Not Loaded in Tournament
Will be a lot quicker here. Teams are in no particular order.
:pidove: :makuhita: :budew: :roggenrola: :bramblin: :hatenna:
Scarf Bramblin team is fun as a set. Was originally a normal Bramblin but wanted something that could offensively pressure Rattata after tests and it made for a natural switch out. There was a version of this team with Wishtect Kirlia over Pidove but it was too weak into Bramblin. Also, shoutouts to Thick Fat Makuhita being used unironically because this team needed an Ice resist.

:skitty: :jigglypuff: :bramblin: :hatenna: :wooper-paldea: :rattata-alola:
Skitty + my funny puff set that I do believe is unironically good. This was my game 3 team vs. tvarisen if we had it. Bramblin is Sap-Disable to annoy the birds, Marill, and Rattata-Alola. Skitty is just broken if they don't have specifically Nacli lol. Future Sight Hatenna helps pressure defensive cores.

:impidimp: :jigglypuff: :budew: :hatenna: :nymble: :luvdisc:
Team I was testing that utilized a specially-defensive Impidimp with Nasty Plot. It was originally a fully SpDef Impidimp but it struggled too much into a few things (specifically Marill matchup was rough if Budew was needed elsewhere) so Plot and some investment lets it exert actual pressure. Screech Nymble seems like a shitpost but it lets you 1v1 Marill lol.

:meditite: :swablu: :hatenna: :slugma: :marill: :nacli:
Had a couple iterations on this but never quite figured it out. Meditite has been a Pokemon on a downward spiral, but Shadow Ball is a cool tool that no one else has really used before outside of the rare Specs set that fits it. This idea was to run it on a bulky offense team but the team ended up being too fat to justify the set. Also hi Slugma.

:cottonee: :rattata-alola: :venipede: :roggenrola: :meditite: :hatenna:
Another attempt at that Meditite set that was a combo of that team and an early version of the Mareep team. This was on the load list vs. Melody but it looked worse vs shrey so I ended up splitting them out again but the Meditite team was never really tested, oops.

:rockruff: :gossifleur: :nacli: :slugma: :hatenna: :budew:
I didn't load this, but Gimmicky did. One of the two loads Slugma got during the tournament and one of the few games where Rockruff didn't look like a total loser. Budew and Gossifleur help each other out, a fat Hatenna helps into their shared weaknesses, while a Slugma is here to set Rocks and enable Nacli to curse.

:tadbulb: :cleffa: :hatenna: :litwick: :makuhita: :nacli:
Scarf Tadbulb is kind of annoying unless they have a Pooper where it's kinda deadweight. That's why we're running this Hatenna set. We drop a proper Water resist, instead using Cleffa as our ""Water resist"" vs. Luvdisc and Surskit. Vs. Arrokuda uh outplay I guess lmao. SFLO Maku is annoying as hell to switch into even if its easy to revenge kill. This team could probably use a Pidove.

:noibat: :slugma: :makuhita: :beldum: :rolycoly: :tadbulb:
This team looks bad, and it probably is, but it did like. okay in tests for having 3 or 4 UU Pokemon lmao. Early attempt at Tadbulb, another Slugma team, and trying the Beldum-Rolycoly synergy that Charliezard7 made look really good.

:starly: :surskit: :rattata: :roggenrola: :bramblin: :shinx:
Here's the fabled Shinx team! I got inspired by AnnadeNeko's recent builds and wanted to build something using offensive pivots to bring Rattata into the game. It requires you to get a lot of turns right but it can be incredibly overpowering if you do.

Phew. Lots of teams. Going to make the metagame discussion quick.

Metagame Discussion
I think that the metagame is pretty good right now, all things considered. I don't disagree with R8 in that there is a biiit of centralization at the top but with that said I think there is a ton of room for creativity in the builder right now. I mean, I just won the entire tournament using a Venipede-Mareep-Cottonee team which is just an absurd core to any prior DNU metagame.

A lot of my innovations were focused on checking four Pokemon: Kirlia, Luvdisc, Marill, and Rattata. These are probably four of the five Pokemon (along with Bramblin) I think about most specifically in the builder, and a lot of my teambuilding decisions can be attributed to that--see how I've included a Normal and Water resist on almost every team, and spammed the shit out of a fast SpDef Marill. Of these the only one I think is truly broken is Kirlia (and even then I think there is still counterplay to it we haven't found), though I also kinda dislike Rattata and think it has way too easy of a time getting by the Normal resists sometimes. I get the Toss hate but I think having the burst damage option is totally fine on most Pokemon, and that if Marill continues to be this much of a bitch it should be the focus instead of Toss itself. No one is vouching for action on Jigglypuff or Cleffa, be fr.

My preferred action is to ban Kirlia then sit, let the meta develop. Do an unban or two if the planned suspect tours prove they will be a healthy addition (I'd love Goomy but understand the hesitancy, the waters I'm not super convinced by but not really against trying, Steenee and Vanillite would be cool). Maybe look at Rattata down the line if needed. But past that I think the metagame is a super healthy spot--I think it is fun right now both to play and to build, a touch uncompetitive because of dumbass Kirlia lines, force Kirlia out and we're in a great spot.

The Sappy Stuff and Shoutouts
I've been running this tier for almost 4 years now and to stand on top as its champion in a proper tour is a dream come true, even if my run to get here was kind of scuffed. Before my game with tvarisen I was totally in my head with imposter syndrome about being here, so for my prep to work out and secure the tournament in just two games made me feel so incredibly good about myself. Even if this is it and I never win another one, I can say that I was the best DNU player for a point in time, which is something that makes me feel incredibly proud of myself. I really was starting to think I was totally outclassed so it's a really big achievement for me. Thanks to those who helped me get here.

I said it in my anniversary post last year and I'll say it again: running this tier has been genuinely life-changing. It caused me to foray into competitive Pokemon for real after a few years of dabbling as a /r/stunfisk pundit and low ladder n00b. Now I'm here writing my 750th Smogon post after successfully running a tier for 4 years. I get in my head over my own creative endeavors but I forget to include DNU in that--I'm really proud of myself for it. Through running this tier I have made a legion of my best friends, whether directly through DNU/Smogon spaces at large or indirectly through those people I met, and I would not be the person today if it wasn't for them. I'm really proud of the little community we've built and I think we have something to last a long while here.

I don't normally do this, but here are some specific shoutouts:
AnnadeNeko - Crazy how times have changed, huh? You were the first person to join DNU when I thought it was gonna be a 2-week foray, and now here we are 4 years later. We've been through a lot together and I'm so proud of how we've both grown as people during that time. It's been a wonderful ride and I'm excited to see us both continue to grow. You mean a lot to me and I value your friendship a ton. We've been friends for almost 8 years now. Fucking crazy.

R8 - When you first joined DNU, you were a NatDex leader trying to get us to get on Smogon. Now you're my main Pokemon plug (how many fuckass metas have we played together? let alone testing our Actual mained tiers?), one of my best friends, and a close confidante. I'm super grateful for all that you've done for me and I really hope we can continue to fuck around in the builder for years to come, unless you retire for the 5th time before then.

Infectious Melody - You were such an annoying twerp when I first met you, and I can't believe how much you've grown as a person since. You're also a fierce competitor and always are ready to challenge me whenever I get a little too confident at this "DNU" thing. You're an amazing person and I am glad you've stuck around the tier for so long. Taking a chance on the annoying 14-year old as my second in command was, in a way, a stupid decision, yeah; but it also led to a really wonderful friendship and I hope I can help you to grow more. Really proud of you hon.

Mushroomtester - I let you know how i feel about you every single day <3

And a few other people who have made my time on this site playing this dumb little game a lot better:
about15gals Athyestic bumboclaat Gimmicky Iride Noglastica Ruby4, anyone I forgot, the people in pkp, the people in ac, and the entire DNU community. I love you all <3

R8 · Sep 3, 2026

Do Not Use is suspect testing Kirlia!
To be able to vote you need to either:
-have reached round 8 of the DNU summer seasonal
-win one of the suspect room tours (see below)

To get reqs, you can participate in the DNU room tournaments we will be organising in the PetMods room on Pokemon Showdown. These tournaments will be in the **double elimination format** and will be hosted in the following times this month:
<t:1788609600:F>
<t:1788724800:F>
<t:1789228800:F>
<t:1789344000:F>

Some extra informations:
-These tournament will be bo1 double elimination
-The tournament needs to have at least 4 participants to grant reqs to its winner
-If the winner of the tournament already has reqs, the other finalist of the roomtour gets reqs. If they both have reqs, no one gets reqs.

R8 · Oct 9, 2026

The suspect now has concluded:

Kirlia is now banned from Do Not Use!

Thank you to everyone who has participated to this suspect test. You can find the vote results in our discord server.

Metagame [Gen 9] Do Not Use (Kirlia banned)

a fairy

Orangesodapop

I rode the escalator seven times

Jumpheart

solomods apologist

zxgzxg

dog

Infectious Melody

Jumpheart

solomods apologist

Gekokeso

Mind the bad garmmar.

anaconja

my dishonest reaction

Jumpheart

solomods apologist

R8

Jumpheart

solomods apologist

ElectraineHeart

Death By Devotion

Jumpheart

solomods apologist

Jumpheart

solomods apologist

tvarisen

Jumpheart

solomods apologist

R8

R8