★ np: SS UU Stage 9 - Call Me By Your Name

[The Disco Devil]

1. What do you think of the tier changes? Thoughts on the rises or drops?
2. How do you think the meta will change as a result of the rises? Anything in particular get better or worse?
3. What do you think about the drops we got?
4. What Pokemon do you think will rise up to fulfill the roles done by those who have risen? (Ex: Something like milotic as defensive water or thundurus-I as a fast electric pivot)
5. Any underrated Pokemon or sets that you are using that you want to share?
6. A fun question, but in honor of the April fools joke, what Pokemon would you take from OU and bring down here and why? Mine is Tyranitar, it could be a really nice addition to the tier acting as a solid rocker and breaker.

1. I'm pleased with the tier changes for the most part. It sucks that we lost one of the drops to an immediate quickban (not that I disagree with said ban), but Zerora leaving is certainly nice due to how it affected building. I'm going to miss having Skarmory and Slowking due to how effective they were defensively, though less Regenerator spam is certainly a plus in my books.

2. Scizor lost one of its best answers in Skarmory, though it did gain two pretty convincing ones in Moltres + Buzzwole in exchange, so it's about a net neutral there. Basically any Electric type (i.e. the Thundies and Rotoms) really appreciate not having to play mind games with Zerora blocking their STAB moves anymore. Chansey is another mon that I think benefited greatly from these shifts: it gained an absolutely stellar partner in Buzzwole, and with the departure of Slowking, it might see more play as a check to all the dangerous special attackers like Primarina.

3. Praise Jesus, a good U-turn deterrent! I jest of course, but I very much appreciate the prospect of a good Scizor punisher. That said, I'm a bit more interested in Moltres's offensive potential. Fire/Flying cuts through a lot of defensive staples like the Regenerator grasses and the newly introduced Buzzwole, and with Flame Body + decent uninvested bulk, I can see Moltres being used on more offensive teams to annoy Scizor and take select attacks like Aegislash's Steel STAB. Hell, it might even pull a Chandelure and run Sleep Talk just to really stick it to Amoongus.

Banned from UU last gen, Buzzwole is back with a buzzing, burning vengeance. It's, in essence, the ultimate physical wall. Things like Krookodile, Mamoswine, and Scizor will be hard-pressed to break through this monster. Bulk Up sets are looking to be a deadly wincon, and we might even see some offensive sets because of Buzzwole's raw power (this depends entirely on how well such sets pan out, though.)

Not much to really say here, this is basically just a huge buff for rain.

Banned deucer.

4. With the de facto Spikes setter out of the picture, it looks like Mew will have to fill the role. Definitely a downgrade as a setter in terms of raw defensive power, but it's not the worst, considering the move's limited distribution. As for the others, I agree with what most of the users on this thread have to say, so I don't want to sound like a broken record.

5.

Haha, shadow ball go brrr

Aegislash @ Spell Tag
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Close Combat
- Shadow Sneak
- Flash Cannon

Remember how I said Chansey and Buzzwole were looking to be very good together? Well Aegislash says NO. Not necessarily "underrated", but I definitely think Aegislash will see more play to exploit trends in defensive mons.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I implore anyone who hasn't already to share their thoughts on the drops and new meta in general: this is looking to be a very fun metagame, and I'd love to here what people have to say on it.

 

[Flare219]

Personally, I'm really glad that Zeraora is risen and taken the title of the best speedster in the tier with it. Now that it has left, maybe Noivern can have its time in the sun once again, not to mention all the other fast mons that now have a niche to fill.

Skarmory and Slowking leaving is... unfortunate, seeing as how both of them play pivotal defensive roles. Now that they're gone, I'm particularly afraid of Specs Keldeo getting the chance to run over everything but AV Tangrowth and bulky Water types. Speaking of which, that is a niche that is going to need filling. I heard Milotic's pretty nice.

On the bright side though, no more double Regenerator cores! Those things are painful to deal with.

Moltres and Buzzwole dropping down are exciting, to say the least. 2 Pokemon with extremely unique typings, including a new fire type (finally!) serving as a mid-ground between the offensive power of Chandelure and the more defensive Rotom-H. Not to mention that the tier has been lacking in strong Flying types and the STAB that they bring with them. And with that, dedicated counters to said STAB. I suspect Nihilego is going to see a bit more use in the future.

Buzzwole seems like it would be a pretty formidable presence on the field both offensively and defensively, notably serving as another Zydog counter and being bulky enough to (and I cannot stress enough the absurdity of this) facetank a hit from Darmanitan's STAB, Sheer Force boosted, supereffective Flare Blitz, a feat only matched by Tangrowth. Yeah, no physical attacker's getting through that without a boost. Not to mention that its base 79 speed is nothing to scoff at either, and neither is its base 139 (!!) attack.

All in all, this tier shift is bringing about some promising changes and relieving a lot of pressure with the stifling presence of Zeraora gone. I'm pretty excited for all the innovations that are to come.

 

[Totomon]

Right after the tier shifts were announced I was genuinly upset like cmon the amount of things OU took from us is just RIDICULOUS, but after further inspection this shift was honestly very good for the tier, double regen cores are dead and the two most pressing mons on the builder are also gone. (R.I.P magnezone and bisharp tho) And the drops that we got are in my opinion exciting and healthy additions and I cant wait to toy around with different buzz sets.

However as other people mentioned scizor could be problematic, it has been topping the usage stats for a couple of months now and the shifts just benefit it even more, while two of the drops that we got seem like good sciz answers when I look at them I start to get a bit hesitant.

Defensive buzz is not a real scizor counter, now that zone and skarm are gone banded scizor has it free to run wingbeat instead of superpower which buzz just insta-dies to, and non Bulk Up variants are absolute setup fodder for SD scizor. (And in general I believe BU buzz is not very good as it has severe 4mss) The best buzz can really do is threaten it out with a banded CC, also lets not forget that even w/o wingbeat buzz just gets u-turned on and inmediately forced out by the many faster special attackers in the tier.

Molt is definetively better at handling scizor by the ability to punish every contact move with a burn that just basically invalidates it, however if gets knocked scizor basically no longer has to worry about it, and even if moltres gets in not like it has 0 switchins to compensate the fact that it is losing 50% of its health. (see both rotoms)

The fact that scizor has ways to overpower its counters and the ability to u-turn in whatever bothers it can be very problematic for the tier and scizor can position itself as the new tier king.

 

[Moutemoute]

Alright I've been dead for a week now because of Monster Hunter Rise and a shit of things happened to the tier so I guess this is the right time to make a big post to share my thoughts on those changes on the metagame and fortunately stonks some likes for my e-ego.

heres a nice song to enjoy your reading

​

1. Sayonara, One For All..

Zeraora is in my opinion the biggest lost for the tier. It was the greatest staple we had and fuck TSR who may have believed this Pokemon wasn't a S-rank material. The sole presence of this Pokemon in your team provided so much utility against big staples such as Scizor (if running Blaze Kick), Keldeo, Alakazam etc.. while providing Knock Off utility and an insane speed level to your team. This was the Pokemon that I was most afraid of losing and unfortunately it happened, this only changes will impact deeply the tier because you'll not have to run Electric-type immunity as much as before without fearing Zeraora being able to pivot as it wishes. I can definitively see some Electric-type Pokemon become much more better and potent now that Zeraora is gone but we'll talk about this later in this post. Overall the loss of Zeraora gonna changes a lot the metagame, in better or worst, we'll see.

2 other huge loses for the tier. Slowking was one of the best defensive pivot and a Pokemon which could be run alongside so many wallbreakers which enjoyed Teleport utility. On the other hand Skarmory was in my opinion one of our best Spikes users and a great counter to Amoonguss thanks to Safety Goggles. Skarmory was also seen in Stall so that's a loss for this archetype even tho it got much more better stuffs.

Alakazam was already bonkers before the shifts. Even with Pokemon like Zeraora, Slowking or Bisharp, it was a pain to play around. This Pokemon had no answers by things like SpeDef Scizor which could lose vs Focus Blast variants if it wasn't running Heavy-Duty Boots and there was a bit too much of Entry Hazards / chip damages. Knock Off + 3 attacks was almost impossible to play around and even Stalls could lose to this Pokemon thanks to Knock Off allowing Alakazam to pressure way more easily stuff like Chansey or SpeDef Pyukumuku. It was so easy for this Pokemon to come on the field and just claim a KO/2HKO. Another major issue was the fact that pretty much like Zeraora, you couldn't rely on hazards to weaken it. So yeah, I'm glad this one is gone, it was definitively not healthy for the tier at all.

I don't have a strong opinion on those three leaving the tier. Bisharp was definitively a staple for a lot of HO notably Sticky Web ones (talking about Sticky Web teams, the leaving of Zeraora should allow those teams to be far better). On its side, Kyurem was like good, but not at dominant as something like Zeraora or Alakazam, it's a bad loss, but not the worst. Last and probably the least impactful loss, Magnezone had a small niche for being able to trap Skarmory and since it rised alongside it, it's not a big deal.

2. Welcome in your new home

I'm super hyped for Buzzwole in Underused and even tho I didn't tried it yet (Monster Hunter Rise you know..) I'm definitively gonna give it a try pretty soon in a stall team. Heavy-Duty Boots Buzzwole looks like a fantastic addition for the stall team by being able to check things like Crawdaunt, Conkeldurr and Mamoswine which are really oppressive for those teams. This Pokemon gonna be great, I can't wait to see how it will make its place in the tier but I can see set such as Sub/Roost + Bulk Up becoming fully viable once again like in SM. Talking about stalls..

..we're finally getting a good another defog users for stall other than Salamence. Moltres looks really promising, especially with no Zeraora or Slowking in the tier. Pressure or Flame Body are both perfect for this Pokemon and it's always nice to gain a Scizor check (especially since we lost Zeraora which was one of the best offensive check to it..). I'm pretty sure this Pokemon will be nice in stall and bulky archetypes, pretty much like Buzzwole.

I don't really care a lot about Barraskewda. I guess it's a good addition for rain team lovers since it brings them a fast and powerful pivot ? :palico:

3. Dark horses lurking in the shadow

Without Zeraora in the tier, I firmly belive Raikou is going to have a niche in the tier, especially it's SubCM set which can abuses of most of our Grass-types (Amoonguss / Tangrowth). Maybe we're going to see something like in RU with Heavy-Duty Boots Raikou with Toxic too ? Thundurus-I/T are enjoying too the leaving of Zeraora and our probably now our best options as Electric-types. Those Pokemon are gonna be useful for sure especially since one Pokemon gonna be freaking good now..

Let's be honest, what do we have in the tier right now to deal with Air Slash Choice Specs Keldeo ? Probably defensive Primarina and.. that's all I guess ? Keldeo is enjoying a shit ton those shifts since it basically lost its biggest checks/counters aka Zeraora and Alakazam for the offensive checks and Slowking as a defensive check/counter. I'm really looking forward to see how people adapt to this threat now that it's free to abuse of its STABs.

Not a lot to say about those two except that they're both now way more better since some of there best answers are now gone. Slowking and Alakazam were really annoying for Kommo-o while Slowking and Skarmory could be great answers to DD Salamence. I think Mixed / Specs Kommo-o can really become an issue if people don't know how to adapt to it quickly (is this the come back of my Sub + Clangerous Soul + Drain Punch Kommo-o ??).

That's all for today, I'll be back when I'm done with my palico stuff in MH Rise, see ya.. :palico:

 

[Band]

Hey everyone, I hope you're having a great morning/day/night. I'll talk about some of the tier shifts and what they might mean for the tier. I'll highlight some rising Pokemon seen during UUPL that may also rise in popularity, and talk about the new drops we got.

Since Moute dropped a cool song, I'll put what I like to listen to when doing these posts. Enjoy! :3​

April Shift Winners

Scizor usage went up from 14 teams in UUPL Week 3 to 19 teams in Week 4. Goes to show, to no one's surprise, that just like in SM UU, Scizor is amazing. Great defensive typing to "check" the broken and now banned Alakazam, speed control in a strong Bullet Punch, Knock Off to punish teams, Roost for reliable recovery, a potent boosting option in Swords Dance, and U-turn to keep momentum. Other tools like Quick Attack to hit Zeraora neutrally were also seen, showing that Scizor found ways to adapt to Zeraora's prominence, even when the furry had Blaze Kick as a coverage move for it. We can most definitely expect even higher Scizor usage after this shift, as we lost 3 major checks to it in Skarmory, Magnezone, and Zeraora.

Grouping these three since Slowking, Zeraora, and Skarmory rising is HUGE for them. Salamence is even more free to run DD sets with Skarm gone, Soul and Mixed Kommo-o is even better now, and we may even see some usage of Specs Kommo-o like Moute said and esta mentioned in the discord. SD sets also love Skarm being gone. And finally, Gyarados. Losing Zeraora, Kyurem, and Skarmory is INSANELY GOOD for this thing. It can finally run Adamant without having to worry abt random Jolly Zeraora and not having to fish for flinches on Skarmory is also great. Very curious to see how the metagame will adapt to them.

All 5 of them love Zeraora rising, and Rotom-W, Azu Milo, and Prim also appreciate Kyu leaving. Rotom-W doesn't have to worry about Zeraora blocking its Volt Switch to then either Volt on Rotom itself or remove it with Plasma Fists anymore, or Kyurem coming in on a Hydro Pump to threaten it with Freeze-Dry or to revenge kill it. Choice Specs Keldeo has basically no answers, as Zeraora was omnipresent as an offensive check and Slowking was also everywhere as a defensive answer. Air Slash + Icy Wind as coverage demolish Grass-types and Salamence completely. I wanna see how we'll deal with it. Azumarill LOVES Kyurem rising since it was one of the few answers to a +6 Aqua Jet that could OHKO Azu back. And finally, Milotic and Primarina also appreciate Zeraora and Kyurem leaving, as that means two less offensive checks to them. THE MILO AGENDA WILL PREVAIL.

Won't talk about Raikou and Thundy/Thundy-T since Moute covered basically everything.

Rising Stars of UUPL (Weeks 3 and 4)

Who would've thought having access to basically any move would make you good huh? Mew is crazy versatile, and unless you're facing HO, it's almost impossible to guess your opponent's set. Stallbreaker sets can run a myriad of moves, like Spikes, Taunt, Will-O-Wisp, Psychic, Ice Beam, Flamethrower, Defog, and Knock Off, while Mew's bulk allows it to serve as a Calm Mind or DD sweeper. You can usually guess the other moves after scouting for the first 2 or 3, but until then, there's really no way to know. Mew can suddenly pull Ice Beam out of its ass and OHKO your Salamence and do the same with your Scizor with Flamethrower. Overall I expect Mew to rise in usage, especially with it being featured 6 times last week in UUPL.

Sylveon saw some previous usage in Week 3 of UUPL, but now in Week 4 it went from 3 teams to 5, meaning it picked up a bit more in usage, also having a 60% winrate, not bad at all! With Skarmory and Slowking leaving, I expect to see even more Sylveon teams rising up to patch up their weakness to DD Mence and Soul, Mixed, or even Specs Kommo-o. UU also has no prominent Wish passers, something Sylveon can provide to teammates like Mew, Primarina, and Keldeo to aid in their jobs. Finally, an actual offensive presence through Pixilate-boosted Hyper Voices that hit neutral targets like Rotom-W hard and Fire-type coverage for Steels like Aegislash and most importantly, Scizor, means Sylveon can pose a threat to teams and not only act as a Wish bot. This might even mean we see more Soundproof Kommo-o running around. Who knows?

Cobalion saw more usage in Week 3 of UUPL being featured in six teams, instead of Week 4's three. With a great 83% winrate in Week 3, Cobalion acted as a fast Stealth Rock setter with the ability of quickly grabbing momentum for its team with a fast Volt Switch and crippling foes with Thunder Wave, also acting as a SD sweeper and Scizor check. I can see it being a nice Scizor answer, but not really much more else since you need to run a secondary Steel-type on your team to deal with Psychic- and Fairy-types (not hard to do with Scizor here, tbh), and we have Stealth Rock setters with more defensive utility, like Kommo-o and Nihilego.

Let's face it, QuickClawQuickDraw Glowbro is stupid as fuck. Calm Mind variants can set up in front of Pokemon like Chansey and defensive Salamence, and QDQC only needs one turn of setup and some luck to run through teams. Even though Glowbro wasn't chosen for this role, it served as a great answer to Sylveon and even Scizor during Weeks 3 and 4 too. Regenerator and its useful defensive typing make it infuriatingly hard to remove from the field, especially if running HDB. Its usage was cut in half from Week 3 to 4, going from 6 teams to 3, but Glowbro still poses a threat if your team lacks answers to it, so be careful!

New Faces

Buzzwole brings a lot to the table here: great defensive check to a bunch of offensive threats like Mamoswine (finally something other than Rotom forms), Scizor, Krookodile, and Crawdaunt. Its Speed tier of 79 isn't terrible at all, letting it revenge kill Pokemon like Nidoqueen and Aegislash. It also has coverage for basically all of its checks: Ice Punch for Kommo-o and Salamence, Earthquake for Aegislash, and Thunder Punch for Azumarill and Moltres. Close Combat also hits Celesteela, Jirachi, and Keldeo hard despite being neutral, and reliable recovery in Roost contributes greatly to Buzzwole's longevity and ability to check Pokemon such as Mamoswine.

Moltres is also interesting. Offensive sets pressure Pokemon like Scizor, Kommo-o, Amoonguss, and Celesteela a lot, and provide momentum with U-turn against stuff like Nihilego and Rotom-W. Defensive sets also bring some more options for stall like Moute said above, like Sub PP stall sets and Flame Body sets to fuck over attackers like Scizor and Salamence. We finally get a new defogger, although it may not be very good because of its typing and how much hazard setters like Rhyperior and Nihilego can pressure it with their Rock-type moves and the latter's Knock Off.

Rain teams now have a new toy. Barraskweda may only fit in rain teams, but oh boy does it do some work. For starters, it can keep momentum with Flip Turn and actually do a very good chunk of damage to stuff like Celesteela under rain, bringing in teammates like Seismitoad and Thundurus-T. Secondly, coverage for Amoonguss is always appreciated in rain teams, and Psychic Fangs provides that. Lastly, it gives rain teams another extremely hard hitter that can dent common rain answers like Rotom-W and Salamence with its sheer power of Liquidation under rain. And it also outspeeds literally everything under rain, even threats that can get up to +2 Speed, like Galarian Moltres and Celesteela, which can counter-attack rain sweepers such as Seismitoad.

I'm looking forward to what we can explore now with Zeraora being gone, since I think it shaped a lot of the meta. This is all for now, if you've read all the way through this, thank you, I know it's a long ass post hahaha è_é

 

[Twilight]

I've been having a lot of fun with how the tier currently feels. While it may be the case of people simply trying to figure out what the meta is I've seen a lot of diverse builds, which is great to see. The meta felt way too constricting with the likes of Kyurem, Zeraora, Alakazam, etc. all together, which was very apparent when every BO followed the same structure just to cope with everything. I'll just use this post to highlight some sets and Pokemon I've enjoyed using thus far. The meta is still developing so I don't feel entitled to make any comments about that.

Raikou @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Scald
- Substitute

I have been spamming Raikou on the ladder and it does so much work. Calm Mind sets can be hard to stop once they getting going especially with it getting Scald this gen to punish the tiers Ground-types. It's got an insane Speed tier, which leaves very few options to reliably deal with it once behind that Substitute especially when Krookodile is the most splashable form of Speed control in the tier. I will acknowledge that Raikou is definitely a threat I don't think most of the ladder has adapted to yet aside from AV Tangrowth being a pretty hard stop if they are running Earthquake. If it keeps up then I can see stuff like Seismitoad and Zarude getting better. SpD Sylveon can annoy it behind Substitute thanks to Hyper Voice. I definitely recommend people give this Pokemon a try. I have tried the pivot boots set but CM is way more effective at running through teams.

Replays, ofc I'm only going to show ones where it 6-0's :)

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1314629076-iaxswv7xp6rkddik20u0xqym3jkum3spw

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1314596852-4lit7dtfv2z1x7is9j3bw9vgo8j5rn2pw

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1314599645-pcg64zun17xntky4zabxnzm7l6qsfntpw

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1314602968-5sc3b0ss1cr01f2nzk90y62733kwch3pw

Primarina @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 124 SpD / 12 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Moonblast
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

With Keldeo becoming so dominant and other foes like Salamence and Moltres being pretty common I've become fond of SpD Resttalk. Unlike the bulky CM set, you get to trade with a lot of things to fish for that Scald burn if necessary and simply recover that lost health with Rest later. This isn't a new set especially if people are familiar with SM, but it hasn't been used too much this gen. I EV'd it to take Hurricane from Salamence and Hydro Pump's from Specs Keldeo comfortably. The remaining Defense helps with taking Earthquake from Krookodile and Secret Sword from Keldeo. You could opt to run a spread of 236 HP / 136 SpD / 136 Spe if you want to outspeed Conkeldurr while hitting the same benchmarks of the special mons I mentioned before. Just to show some of the calcs below if curious, I did use this same Primarina in the replays above.

calcs

252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Secret Sword vs. 252 HP / 120 Def Primarina: 114-135 (31.3 - 37%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Leftovers recovery

252 SpA Salamence Hurricane vs. 252 HP / 124+ SpD Primarina: 115-136 (31.5 - 37.3%) -- 0% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

252 SpA Moltres Hurricane vs. 252 HP / 124+ SpD Primarina: 127-150 (34.8 - 41.2%) -- 73.3% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

I've been using some other stuff like Celebi, which I definitely think has some degree of viability now. AV Tangrowth looks like it will probably cement itself as one of the best glues in the tier to handle Keldeo + Thundys. Rhyperior feels very nice to use right now and Aegislash seems a bit better with Alakazam gone, which was a Psychic-type that would run through it.

I can agree that Scizor is looking very scary right now especially when we lost many checks to it with this shift. The big issue is it being able to click Knock Off and cripple its best checks heavily like Salamence, Rotom-H, and Moltres. Maybe certain Buzzwole and Cobalion sets become a bit more popular to combat it, though I have been using CB Scizor more with Dual Wingbeat which is easier to run than before. Either way, I'm curious to see how the tier develops and feel the loss of these staple mons will steer the tier in a better direction.

 

[Mygrein]

Good Morning, i come today bearing news about the new best mons in UU.


1. Keldeo. This mon is very obviously the best mon in the tier with the last line of defense being amogus(ramolost) and tangrowth along with some other obscurer mons like mantine, reuniclus, etc... and it outspeeds basically the whole meta apart from the relevant 5 Zygarde, Raikou, Starmie, Azelf and Thundurus, and while they all got better with the shifts, Thundurus is the only real threat. Specs makes Keldeo a true beast of a mon to fight in uu, as there are basically no real counters to it and even if you want to have amogus(ramolost) 1v1 it to win, it can't! Spikes + rocks or spikes alone put a lot of pressure on the bulky grasses who rely on switching in and out to mantain health and matchup, so once u take that away they get bopped with rocks and/or spikes, with Keldeo having a 82% chance to kill an Amogus(ramolost) that comes in vs rocks and 1 spike at full health or rocks/1 spike at 88% having the same kill percent. AV Tang will of course be able to take hydro pumps like its no one's business but it is easy to take advantage of even if you are using a more defense invested spread via Flip Turn, Secret Sword, rocks/spikes or the U-turning Spike called Scizor, which will either give Keldeo good mu's where it kills the mons its vs or they get beat down so that Keldeo can come in later and clean the game up. Mainly covered the resists because it absolutely smokes everything else, no cap all fact.

2. Moltres. New S tier Mon??

SOLONOR MOLTRES UU NOT READY

Moltres @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 100 SpD / 100 Spe
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Mystical Fire
- Roost
- Hurricane

Moltres comes in hot to the UU meta as the Scizor saviour, blessing us with that yung flame body to make scizor absolutely useless whenever it comes in, and while it can knock off your boots, it doesn't matter because they have to risk a burn and Moltres either gets momentum, defogs, or bops something next turn. Overall offers a lot to teams and is hard to kill '-'

calcs

+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Venusaur Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 100+ SpD Moltres: 325-383 (84.6 - 99.7%)
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoqueen Sludge Wave vs. 248 HP / 100+ SpD Moltres: 187-220 (48.8 - 57.4%)
-1 252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoqueen Sludge Wave vs. 248 HP / 100+ SpD Moltres: 125-148 (32.6 - 38.6%)
252 SpA Life Orb Azelf Psychic vs. 248 HP / 100+ SpD Moltres: 173-204 (45.1 - 53.2%)

3. Now I know this mon is a clam, but unlike clams in the real world this bad boy can break its own shell and become a very powerful clam. At +2 in all stats, this is truly a mollusk to be feared by everything except for Scizor (which will not be used anymore thanks to Moltres)

4. This is probably more of a sleeper pick??? Maybe not, but its very good rn since the only thing that really wants to take a hit is Tangrowth and Aegislash but both are easy to take advantage of with some minor prep. Faster than 108 and accelerock to shit on flyers like mence and thundy means this mon has the potential to poke a lot of holes in teams if played correctly either with AoA or SD with fire fang/crunch.

And uhh thats pretty much all i have xd other things would be mamo is pogging, rhyp best rocker by a mile, buzzwole is cracked in webs, omastar rain???, nihilego is kinda cool with Molt Buzz, ur mom gae(ramolost), and salamence is broke at +1

Sub to Vivalospride en youtube and s/o to solonor24

 

[Adaam]

Good Morning, i come today bearing news about the new best mons in UU.


1. Keldeo. This mon is very obviously the best mon in the tier with the last line of defense being amogus(ramolost) and tangrowth along with some other obscurer mons like mantine, reuniclus, etc... and it outspeeds basically the whole meta apart from the relevant 5 Zygarde, Raikou, Starmie, Azelf and Thundurus, and while they all got better with the shifts, Thundurus is the only real threat. Specs makes Keldeo a true beast of a mon to fight in uu, as there are basically no real counters to it and even if you want to have amogus(ramolost) 1v1 it to win, it can't! Spikes + rocks or spikes alone put a lot of pressure on the bulky grasses who rely on switching in and out to mantain health and matchup, so once u take that away they get bopped with rocks and/or spikes, with Keldeo having a 82% chance to kill an Amogus(ramolost) that comes in vs rocks and 1 spike at full health or rocks/1 spike at 88% having the same kill percent. AV Tang will of course be able to take hydro pumps like its no one's business but it is easy to take advantage of even if you are using a more defense invested spread via Flip Turn, Secret Sword, rocks/spikes or the U-turning Spike called Scizor, which will either give Keldeo good mu's where it kills the mons its vs or they get beat down so that Keldeo can come in later and clean the game up. Mainly covered the resists because it absolutely smokes everything else, no cap all fact.

2. Moltres. New S tier Mon??

SOLONOR MOLTRES UU NOT READY

Moltres @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 100 SpD / 100 Spe
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Mystical Fire
- Roost
- Hurricane

Moltres comes in hot to the UU meta as the Scizor saviour, blessing us with that yung flame body to make scizor absolutely useless whenever it comes in, and while it can knock off your boots, it doesn't matter because they have to risk a burn and Moltres either gets momentum, defogs, or bops something next turn. Overall offers a lot to teams and is hard to kill '-'

calcs

+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Venusaur Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 100+ SpD Moltres: 325-383 (84.6 - 99.7%)
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoqueen Sludge Wave vs. 248 HP / 100+ SpD Moltres: 187-220 (48.8 - 57.4%)
-1 252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoqueen Sludge Wave vs. 248 HP / 100+ SpD Moltres: 125-148 (32.6 - 38.6%)
252 SpA Life Orb Azelf Psychic vs. 248 HP / 100+ SpD Moltres: 173-204 (45.1 - 53.2%)

3. Now I know this mon is a clam, but unlike clams in the real world this bad boy can break its own shell and become a very powerful clam. At +2 in all stats, this is truly a mollusk to be feared by everything except for Scizor (which will not be used anymore thanks to Moltres)

4. This is probably more of a sleeper pick??? Maybe not, but its very good rn since the only thing that really wants to take a hit is Tangrowth and Aegislash but both are easy to take advantage of with some minor prep. Faster than 108 and accelerock to shit on flyers like mence and thundy means this mon has the potential to poke a lot of holes in teams if played correctly either with AoA or SD with fire fang/crunch.

And uhh thats pretty much all i have xd other things would be mamo is pogging, rhyp best rocker by a mile, buzzwole is cracked in webs, omastar rain???, nihilego is kinda cool with Molt Buzz, ur mom gae(ramolost), and salamence is broke at +1

Sub to Vivalospride en youtube and s/o to solonor24

didn’t read a single word you said but you had me at Amogus(ramolost) (tried sporing a Mew twice)

 

[467 11 11p]

Barrasskewda


Barraskewda @ Choice Band / Life Orb / Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Swift Swim
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Liquidation
- Close Combat
- Ice Fang / Psychic Fang / Poison Jab
- Flip Turn​

Barraskewda is one of the fresh drops in the April shifts which is almost like our second zeraora. Just like zeraora it is a pretty fearsome offensive threat, which out speeds the ENTIRE unboosted metagame to fire off its strong Liquidation. However, it's not all good news, Barraskewda is frail as a bitch and can never actually come in on an attack especially with hazards up (if not boots). It also has difficulty breaking defensive teams with bulky grasses being common and bulky-waters gaining more popularity and not being able to hit both. Thankfully Barraskewda learns flip turn and can now pivot away on these defensive options while also weakening them such as tang, amoongus, prim, etc. With amoongus being able to run rocky-helmet it is best to pair Baraskewda with a knocker to be able to spam it freely. However all these defensive options can be dealt with by one of its many amazing coverage moves. Ice fang for salamence and bulky grasses (not as good as psychic fangs though). Psychic Fangs helps Barraskewda with amoongus especially. Poison jab can help with primarina and just annoy the grasses some more. Close Combat fucking shreds bulky switch-ins and any Water-immune foes such as like Chansey, Seismitoad, def Kommo-o. Sketchers help to prevent Barraskewda from being worn down quickly however it does take away a lot of the power that will be included with the choice band which helps to break more defensive options. If you want more damage go for adamant nature however sometimes jolly may be used to outspeed some things such as +1 modest necrozma.

You will see this fish on offensive teams (why tf would you use it on stall l2b) that can scare and deal with common pokemon in UU right now like moltres, rhyp, tang etc. It is best paired with a knocker to remove rocky helmet and a defogger if using band or lo. Also pairs well with zarude which deals with the water types and moltres which can deal with the grass types which can also be used as a volturn core to safely switch in barraskewda. Hazards also may be nice to pair it with to help chip the def answers. Thanks for reading I hope you start to use the fish more even outside of rain cuz really wtf does it need rain for.

 

[pokemonisfun]

Raikou and the tier shifts
In this post I discuss three items. First, I gather some recent posts about speculation and practice on how Raikou has adapted to the tier starting since the April 2021 tier shifts. Second, I introduce and analyze a new set I created, pifkou, which uses Toxic and Protect. Finally, I discuss metagame implications for the new set and how Raikou fits in the tier as a whole. I find that Raikou is an exceptional threat right now that can easily dismantle unprpepared teams, but the metagame will likely quickly adapt to it.

Recent posts on Raikou in the UU Forums

Hide

There has been no shortage of posts on Raikou recently, likely because there is less competition for a fast Electric Pokemon with the rise of Zeraora. The most significant post has been Twilight's post in the UU NP thread where he discusses the Sub CM set with Scald as a coverage move. He notes the good coverage means that Ground types like Krookodile and Nidoqueen cannot very reliably check Raikou and the rise of Amoonguss recently has been something Calm Mind + Substitute abuses.

Besides Twilight, Codename Magnum has mentioned the potential for Heavy Duty Boots set in a Viability Ranking post which has also been speculated on by Moutemoute in an UU NP thread post. Neither of these players have posted much about their experience.

Thus, we can safely say the main chat about Raikou has been about Sub+CM sets and various Heavy Duty Boots sets. Nothing notable has been discussed about innovative ways to combat Raikou. Teammates to Raikou have not been provided although Twilight did post replays where he shows Raikou fits easily with standard Pokemon like Salamence, Scizor, and Krookodile.

Sub Protect Toxic Raikou (Pifkou)

Hide

pifkou (Raikou) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 24 HP / 232 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Protect
- Toxic
- Thunderbolt

I innovated this set after some brief advice from BigFatMantis in the UU PS Room earlier this week. The EVs allow Raikou to always keep a Substitute up against a standard Amoonguss' Sludge Bomb. Notably, standard Choice Specs Keldeo also never OHKOs you with Hydro Pump after Stealth Rock. The main purpose of the set is to Pressure stall the opponent out of low PP moves like Keldeo's Hydro Pump and to Toxic stall entire teams that do not have dedicated counters like Nidoqueen.

Here is one dominant replay where Pifkou can win from the lead: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1319224568-2z0kf2e0jhd4xz5gxhpots0nhfr832ipw. All of Raikou's impressive powers are at display in this game. For example, it needs the high speed in order to set up on Lycanroc and scare it out after Lycanroc drops it's defenses. The extra special defense is useful to tank the Flamethrower from Salamence, as even max special attack Salamence would need a high roll to break the Substitute. The innovative Toxic is useful to cripple Tangrowth. The combination of Protect + Substitute + Pressure is too much for Keldeo so that not only Raikou beats Keldeo, but it is able to keep a Substitute up against it as well and cause the opponent to resign due to the overwhelming disadvantage.


Naturally, Pifkou does not always have such pleasant match ups. Besides Tangrowth which was discussed in the previous section - which notably loses to Toxic Raikou - Raikou also has to deal with threats like Chansey, Quagsire, and AV Slowbro-Galar. This replay, https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1319148996-0q118x922aj0sc42lyyon9z75tpyzzgpw, shows that Pifkou can have a much more difficult time against these bulkier threats that cannot be easily eliminated by Toxic. The demonstrates that since Pifkou lacks power, it can fail to pressure bulkier builds which can heal off the Toxic with cleric support. It's unable to even come into this game.

Even in more neutral matchups, like this game https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1318268446-18dfplnbot2lfl3fik9oos19ibjdz6mpw, Raikou is clearly threatening and able to cause significant issues for the opponent before fainting.

The set seems to thrive most against offensive teams as they often cannot handle Raikou's speed and even moderately powered Thunderbolts and Toxic stalling.

How does Raikou Fit into the Metagame?

Hide

Raikou is close to being a top threat in the metagame, one that every team needs to be prepared for now. Pifkou neutralizes previous counters like AV Tangrowth and can set up on or force out a multitude of Pokemon in the game including special Salamence, Moltres, Rotom Heat and Wash, defensive Jirachi, Keldeo, Amoonguss, Thunduruss, Gyarados, and Celesteela. Unless the opponent has an extremely hard counter like Nidoqueen, Raikou is basically always able to do work in a game because the tendency for most teams to use at least one of these Pokemon, as well as the tendency for most teams to use choice items that Raikou can scout and often set up on.

Team support is simple as Raikou's great speed make it easy to work with but Tapu-Bulu in particular gives decent type synergy and helpful Grassy Terrain recovery. Of course any team that uses Pifkou will need a solid response to Nidoqueen which completely walls this set but the metagame includes multiple ways to take advantage including using Choice Specs Keldeo to launch a very strong attack against Nidoqueen.

Ultimately, Pifkou is a strong threat that is very consistent, performs multiple roles defensively and offensively, and can be a potent win condition for most playstyles.

 

[Rae]

Here after reading through pif's post, figured i might actually talk about my experience with Boots Raikou and share some knowledge on a very solid build archetype in the meta:

Voltturn in the Current Metagame

It would honestly be an understatement to say that VoltTurn is picking up. With Raikou, Keldeo and Scizor all being great Pokemon to use in the tier right now, as well as the Rotom forms, VoltTurn has become a staple on both ladder and tourney matches. The ability to switch in and out of offensive threats well doing good chip is great, and being able to pressure defensive staples. With it becoming an even more popular playstyle, Let's take a peek at those three, which are all excellent picks on a team!

Raikou



Raikou @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Extrasensory

Raikou's been picking up astronomically ever since the departing of Zeraora, who had originally taken it's spotlight. With both 115 in it's Speed and SpAtk. stat it can fire off powerful Volt Switches to help let a teammate in, or use it to break teams and deal with common threats like Keldeo and Primarina. I personally like to use Extrasensory so I have something to hit Amoonguss with, but other final slot options include Shadow Ball, Extreme Speed or Calm Mind.

Keldeo



Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Flip Turn
- Secret Sword
- Air Slash

This horse is incredibly powerful, with Slowking and Zeraora leaving it's shot up in viability and usage. Choice Specs Keldeo is absolutely nutty, and with Air Slash it has minimal switch-ins if predicted correctly. It appreciates having a safe way in with the VoltTurn cores, and can even contribute with Flip Turn (please don't click this too often Keldeo's STABS are absolutely nutty but if there's a grass incoming then it's an alright option).

Scizor



Scizor has so many great sets right now, so I won't link one here. I wouldn't be surprised if Choice Scarf became a thing (i'm joking). Returning from USUM as a tier king, Scizor provides so much to the team in Uturn, Knock Off and a powerful Technician Bullet Punch. It's main function is as a cleaner, but it can have other uses. Just a really good mon in general.

Other Notable Teammates

Noivern, from my experience, has been great! It's speed tier is incredibly valuable and can serve as an offensive check to both Keldeo and Scizor. It's been a valuable member to a number of my teams, and i'd definitely recommend it!

These two function pretty similarily: they U-turn all over the place and can clean up late game. Mienshao can run a Life Orb and hit like a truck, and Zarude can opt for HBD and Bulk Up. they both have fantastic speed tiers and are great Choice Scarfers as well, so try em out when you can!

I'll admit, Mr 467 11 11p made this fish sound appealing, so I decided to try it out and....It's actually not that bad. Good coverage, access to FT and being the fastest in the tier is great, though it struggles to deal with Bulky Waters/Grasses. Would still say they're pretty good, if they fit the team give 'em a try!

Not exactly something that provides momentum (it can if you want it too! It is Mew after all) but it gives a VoltTurn team something absolutely incredible: Spikes. Spikes are great for pressuring Regenerator Grasses and forcing Defogs, and have been great for a long time. The more chip damage provided the easier it is to break teams apart, so Mew is a super solid pick!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's gonna be all from me for now, have fun with the meta and i hope i was able to inform some people!​

 

[Freeroamer]

View attachment 331449

Raikou and the tier shifts
In this post I discuss three items. First, I gather some recent posts about speculation and practice on how Raikou has adapted to the tier starting since the April 2021 tier shifts. Second, I introduce and analyze a new set I created, pifkou, which uses Toxic and Protect. Finally, I discuss metagame implications for the new set and how Raikou fits in the tier as a whole. I find that Raikou is an exceptional threat right now that can easily dismantle unprpepared teams, but the metagame will likely quickly adapt to it.

Recent posts on Raikou in the UU Forums

Hide

There has been no shortage of posts on Raikou recently, likely because there is less competition for a fast Electric Pokemon with the rise of Zeraora. The most significant post has been Twilight's post in the UU NP thread where he discusses the Sub CM set with Scald as a coverage move. He notes the good coverage means that Ground types like Krookodile and Nidoqueen cannot very reliably check Raikou and the rise of Amoonguss recently has been something Calm Mind + Substitute abuses.

Besides Twilight, Codename Magnum has mentioned the potential for Heavy Duty Boots set in a Viability Ranking post which has also been speculated on by Moutemoute in an UU NP thread post. Neither of these players have posted much about their experience.

Thus, we can safely say the main chat about Raikou has been about Sub+CM sets and various Heavy Duty Boots sets. Nothing notable has been discussed about innovative ways to combat Raikou. Teammates to Raikou have not been provided although Twilight did post replays where he shows Raikou fits easily with standard Pokemon like Salamence, Scizor, and Krookodile.

Sub Protect Toxic Raikou (Pifkou)

Hide

pifkou (Raikou) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 24 HP / 232 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Protect
- Toxic
- Thunderbolt

I innovated this set after some brief advice from BigFatMantis in the UU PS Room earlier this week. The EVs allow Raikou to always keep a Substitute up against a standard Amoonguss' Sludge Bomb. Notably, standard Choice Specs Keldeo also never OHKOs you with Hydro Pump after Stealth Rock. The main purpose of the set is to Pressure stall the opponent out of low PP moves like Keldeo's Hydro Pump and to Toxic stall entire teams that do not have dedicated counters like Nidoqueen.

Here is one dominant replay where Pifkou can win from the lead: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1319224568-2z0kf2e0jhd4xz5gxhpots0nhfr832ipw. All of Raikou's impressive powers are at display in this game. For example, it needs the high speed in order to set up on Lycanroc and scare it out after Lycanroc drops it's defenses. The extra special defense is useful to tank the Flamethrower from Salamence, as even max special attack Salamence would need a high roll to break the Substitute. The innovative Toxic is useful to cripple Tangrowth. The combination of Protect + Substitute + Pressure is too much for Keldeo so that not only Raikou beats Keldeo, but it is able to keep a Substitute up against it as well and cause the opponent to resign due to the overwhelming disadvantage.


Naturally, Pifkou does not always have such pleasant match ups. Besides Tangrowth which was discussed in the previous section - which notably loses to Toxic Raikou - Raikou also has to deal with threats like Chansey, Quagsire, and AV Slowbro-Galar. This replay, https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1319148996-0q118x922aj0sc42lyyon9z75tpyzzgpw, shows that Pifkou can have a much more difficult time against these bulkier threats that cannot be easily eliminated by Toxic. The demonstrates that since Pifkou lacks power, it can fail to pressure bulkier builds which can heal off the Toxic with cleric support. It's unable to even come into this game.

Even in more neutral matchups, like this game https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1318268446-18dfplnbot2lfl3fik9oos19ibjdz6mpw, Raikou is clearly threatening and able to cause significant issues for the opponent before fainting.

The set seems to thrive most against offensive teams as they often cannot handle Raikou's speed and even moderately powered Thunderbolts and Toxic stalling.

How does Raikou Fit into the Metagame?

Hide

Raikou is close to being a top threat in the metagame, one that every team needs to be prepared for now. Pifkou neutralizes previous counters like AV Tangrowth and can set up on or force out a multitude of Pokemon in the game including special Salamence, Moltres, Rotom Heat and Wash, defensive Jirachi, Keldeo, Amoonguss, Thunduruss, Gyarados, and Celesteela. Unless the opponent has an extremely hard counter like Nidoqueen, Raikou is basically always able to do work in a game because the tendency for most teams to use at least one of these Pokemon, as well as the tendency for most teams to use choice items that Raikou can scout and often set up on.

Team support is simple as Raikou's great speed make it easy to work with but Tapu-Bulu in particular gives decent type synergy and helpful Grassy Terrain recovery. Of course any team that uses Pifkou will need a solid response to Nidoqueen which completely walls this set but the metagame includes multiple ways to take advantage including using Choice Specs Keldeo to launch a very strong attack against Nidoqueen.

Ultimately, Pifkou is a strong threat that is very consistent, performs multiple roles defensively and offensively, and can be a potent win condition for most playstyles.

Great post, I have to admit I wasn't super sold on this set but I've seen it a few times in action since as well as using it myself and it can definitely put in huge amounts of work. The only comment I have is that unfortunately despite the calc saying the max roll is 24.7%, there is still a chance that Amoonguss can break the Substitute:

0 SpA Amoonguss Sludge Bomb vs. 24 HP / 232 SpD Raikou: 67-81 (20.4 - 24.7%) -- possible 6HKO after Leftovers recovery
Possible damage amounts: (67, 69, 69, 70, 72, 72, 73, 73, 75, 75, 76, 76, 78, 78, 79, 81)

81 HP is the max amount of damage it can do, a 1/16 roll, and is enough to break the Substitute as your max HP is 327 meaning 81 HP subs. I've only played around with this a little bit in the calc but unfortunately it doesn't look like there's a "sweet spot" where you can always avoid sub breaking while not having to sacrifice any speed. I think a more optimal EV spread if you want to keep max speed would be 144 HP / 112 SpDef / 252 Spe which allows you to make 89 HP subs:

0 SpA Amoonguss Sludge Bomb vs. 144 HP / 112 SpD Raikou: 76-90 (21.2 - 25.2%) -- possible 5HKO after Leftovers recovery
Possible damage amounts: (76, 76, 78, 78, 79, 81, 81, 82, 82, 84, 85, 85, 87, 87, 88, 90)

You keep the same odds vs Amoonguss and most special calcs are minutely different if at all, but gain a significant amount of HP which helps on the physical side of things:

252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Secret Sword vs. 144 HP / 0 Def Raikou: 262-310 (73.3 - 86.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Secret Sword vs. 24 HP / 0 Def Raikou: 262-310 (80.1 - 94.8%) -- 50% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

Nice set, very frustrating to play against!

 

[Expulso]

following up on freeroamer's post above:

0 SpA Amoonguss Sludge Bomb vs. 44 HP / 212 SpD Raikou: 69-82 (20.7 - 24.6%) -- guaranteed 5HKO
Possible damage amounts: (69, 70, 70, 72, 72, 73, 75, 75, 76, 76, 78, 78, 79, 79, 81, 82)
44 HP EVs lets you hit 332 HP. 332/4 = 83 HP subs, so the sub always stays up barring a crit

this uses 256 EVs so you can still run 252+ spe.

thus i present expulsokou (yea i invented damage calcing, no big deal or anything haha) optimized pifkou

pifkou (Raikou) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 44 HP / 212 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Protect
- Toxic
- Thunderbolt

enjoy! i look forward to actually using it instead of just figuring out the EV spread, seems like a good set

 

[Monky25]

You probably expected this post, but I'm here to cover the monthly usage stats for UU. Going to be connecting this meta to the previous one, which was very different in terms of usage and viability. Lots of staples left the tier and it has reshaped itself as a result. Ngl I've really enjoyed the meta this past month, there has been a lot of innovation and overall healthiness in the tier. Anyway, down below is the stats for this month and last month, and then I'll go into the same stuff like last time

May 1630 Usage

+ ---- + ------------------ + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Percent |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ------- +
| 1 | Scizor | 38.181% |
| 2 | Kommo-o | 26.639% |
| 3 | Krookodile | 23.365% |
| 4 | Salamence | 20.078% |
| 5 | Aegislash | 17.051% |
| 6 | Celesteela | 16.674% |
| 7 | Keldeo | 15.822% |
| 8 | Thundurus-Therian | 15.591% |
| 9 | Moltres | 15.314% |
| 10 | Rotom-Heat | 14.387% |
| 11 | Amoonguss | 14.092% |
| 12 | Rotom-Wash | 14.003% |
| 13 | Jirachi | 13.617% |
| 14 | Mew | 12.675% |
| 15 | Azelf | 12.353% |
| 16 | Chansey | 12.181% |
| 17 | Tangrowth | 12.052% |
| 18 | Primarina | 11.402% |
| 19 | Gyarados | 10.341% |
| 20 | Nihilego | 10.297% |
| 21 | Buzzwole | 9.778% |
| 22 | Conkeldurr | 9.620% |
| 23 | Grimmsnarl | 9.437% |
| 24 | Hatterene | 9.180% |
| 25 | Mamoswine | 9.170% |
| 26 | Lycanroc-Dusk | 8.487% |
| 27 | Azumarill | 7.924% |
| 28 | Moltres-Galar | 7.757% |
| 29 | Nidoqueen | 6.589% |
| 30 | Crawdaunt | 6.282% |
| 31 | Ninetales-Alola | 6.191% |
| 32 | Zarude | 6.126% |
| 33 | Tentacruel | 5.964% |
| 34 | Tapu Bulu | 5.586% |
| 35 | Rhyperior | 5.100% |
| 36 | Slowbro-Galar | 5.013% |
| 37 | Thundurus | 4.773% |

April 1630 Usage

Rank | Pokemon | Usage % |
+ ---- + ------------- + ---------
| 1 | Scizor | 34.81739% |
| 2 | Zeraora | 30.72505% |
| 3 | Kommo-o | 27.64614% |
| 4 | Krookodile | 23.53663% |
| 5 | Salamence | 21.75897% |
| 6 | Amoonguss | 19.15342% |
| 7 | Rotom-Heat | 14.21265% |
| 8 | Alakazam | 14.15173% |
| 9 | Skarmory | 12.62033% |
| 10 | Slowking | 12.56760%
| 11 | Azumarill | 11.66463% |
| 12 | Mew | 11.49882% |
| 13 | Celesteela | 11.41120% |
| 14 | Aegislash | 11.26283% |
| 15 | Chansey | 11.00410% |
| 16 | Jirachi | 10.97033% |
| 17 | Bisharp | 10.37276% |
| 18 | Thundurus-Therian | 10.33571% |
| 19 | Keldeo | 10.31680% |
| 20 | Kyurem | 10.11513% |
| 21 | Grimmsnarl | 9.94278% |
| 22 | Rotom-Wash | 9.83484% |
| 23 | Conkeldurr | 9.29807% |
| 24 | Nidoqueen | 9.07197% |
| 25 | Moltres-Galar | 9.01250% |
| 26 | Tangrowth | 8.91928% |
| 27 | Hatterene | 8.78456% |
| 28 | Gyarados | 8.61166% |
| 29 | Primarina | 7.77611% |
| 30 | Tapu Bulu | 7.31378% |
| 31 | Mamoswine | 7.10284% |
| 32 | Azelf | 7.09479% |
| 33 | Nihilego | 6.79455% |
| 34 | Lycanroc-Dusk | 6.02187% |
| 35 | Quagsire | 5.79348% |
| 36 | Tentacruel | 5.67568% |
| 37 | Ninetales-Alola | 5.59592% |
| 38 | Zarude | 5.15029% |
| 39 | Victini | 4.84731% |
| 40 | Magnezone | 4.73980% |
| 41 | Rhyperior | 4.69290% |
| 42 | Crawdaunt | 4.69062% |
| 43 | Chandelure | 4.63069% |

Notable Increases (there are a lot)

(34%-->38.2%)- Scizor just keeps getting better, nearly being on 2/5 of all teams in UU. Its just so good, its a great late game cleaner that is super splashable and overall just a solid Pokemon. I don't see its usage declining anytime soon.

(11.3%-->17%)- Aegislash is a potent force in the current metagame, being top 5 in usage. Its diversity of sets like sub Toxic, specs, and mixed make it a tough opponent to face due to its unpredictability. Its nice bulk in shield form lets it trade with a bunch of Pokemon and ghost is a fantastic offensive typing that is tough to deal with. I think aegi was both overestimated and underestimated when we retested it, and its shaped up to be a potent (but not broken) force in the meta.

(11.4%-->16.7%)- I could not tell you why it got as much usage as it did

(10.3%-->15.8%)- Keldeo has come a far way in this current meta, soaring in usage compared to last month. The departure of zam, zera, and slowking benefitted keldeo a lot and it was beginning to be recognized as a potent force in the tier, with some saying it was broken. Now, though Keldeo has cooled down a bit, its still a very potent fast breaker that you do not want to be on the wrong side of.

(10.3%-->15.6%)- Not much has changed for thundurus, except I don't know zeraora leaving! Zera was a big problem for thundy-t, as it could no longer just boost up and spam thunderbolt. Now, with a less crowded speed tier and few electric immunities thundurs has emerged as a top threat, capable of breaking nearly everything in the tier. Admittedly I was surprised to see it this high but thundurus has certainly become one of the best in the meta.

(7%-->12%)- Explain BigFatMantis

(7.8%-->11.4%)- Personally I feel it should've gotten a lot more usage than it did, because primarina is great and a top 5 mon that should be used more, and this is just the start of its takeoff into high usage. Specs legit has no counters other than resident special wall chansey, while sub CM is able to just 6-0 in the right matchup. Rest talk is great at checking threats like clanger and mence as well. Prim has been talked up of going to S on the VR and while I do think A+ fits better it is still justified, so yeah use primarina more you wont regret it.

- All of these Pokemon would've become officially UU by usage if this was simply a 1 month shift. Thundurus has become a solid breaker in the tier with its NP set, while its pivot set has become more common to fulfill a zeraora replacement on teams. Glowbro can legit 6-0 at the right time with its CM set and AV has become used a bunch too. Rhyperior is by far the best rocker in the tier, capable of answering defoggers like mence, noivern, moltres, and rotom-h, and it has already shown tons of success in tours, so glad to see it more on the ladder too. Zarude has become one of the best scarfers in the tier and nothing much else to say, solid mon. I hope that all these 4 continue to get usage to rise up into UU by July, giving them the recognition they deserve.
Notable Decreases

(11.7-->7.9%)- Azu just isn't it anymore. Belly drum is really inconsistent and band is just too slow to be effective compared to the likes of other water breakers like Keldeo and Primarina. It isn't necessarily bad, but Azu's time at the top is up and it will likely settle in the 7-9% usage range, not a bad range but far from the most used.

(4.6-->2.9%) NOOO CHANDY. He was doing so well and then he dropped off. If I'm being honest I have noticed a chandelure decline, though I'm not too sure why. Zera and bisharp leaving was great for it and while keldeo and prim have emerged as top threats, so has stuff it can beat like Mew, Aegislash, and Scizor. Chandy def deserves more usage in the current meta considering it is still very good.

(5.8-->3.9%)- The only Pokemon dropping out of UU, we have quagsire. I always knew this would happen- once we stopped suspecting shit there would be less incentive to use stall to get reqs and combat the HO on the ladder, so quag would inevitably fall since it only fits on stall. Since the tier is relatively balanced and nothing looks to be suspected, its safe to say quagsire will be long gone by July when official tier changes happen.
Possible drops?!?

- though we don't know if they will happen or not, these Pokemon have become projected to drop from OU to UU. To sum them up, nidoking will be very good. Its like queen, but faster and hits harder. However, king lacks the bulk of queen, and it is still slow, making it vulnerable to being revenge killed by the myriad of faster threats. Both 2HKO the entire tier anyway, so its up to you on whether you want speed or bulk, still king will be very solid (A rank imo) and a good addition to the tier. Pelipper will make rain even better as we no longer have to use dick ass politoed. Rain already has all the tools to succeed, so pelipper entering could very well make it a legit playstyle in the tier with a final good setter. Regieleki finally might drop after months of being shit in OU and will likely relegate itself to a screens setter, a role where it faces heavy completion from grimmsnarl. Offensive sets can be threatening, but AV tang and rhyperior being everywhere makes it hard to pull off. All in all, I'm excited to see these Pokemon potentially enter the tier and shake up the dynamics here.

Lastly, like last time I'll drop some questions to answer if anyone wants to
1. Thoughts on the meta? Are you enjoying it or do you think it needs work? Rate it on a scale of 1-10
2. Are there any rises/drops in usage you expected?
3. Conversely, are there any rises/drops in usage that took you by surprise?
4. What trends/Pokemon do you think will continue to see higher usage?
5. Any underrated Pokemon or sets that you have been trying out that you want to share?
5. Thoughts on the new Pokemon we possibly may get?

Hope you enjoyed reading this and have a great Saturday!

 

[Aqua Jet]

1. Thoughts on the meta? Are you enjoying it or do you think it needs work? Rate it on a scale of 1-10

If 1 is atrociously bad and 10 is this gif then I'd say 8

2. Are there any rises/drops in usage you expected?

I sorta saw Azelf rising a bit, but I definatly didn't think it would go to 12%. I can see what makes it attractive though, its base stats and wide array of coverage defiantly makes it prefferable over Mew on more offensive teams.

3. Conversely, are there any rises/drops in usage that took you by surprise?

In addition to Azelf's increase, I didn't think that Thundrus-Incarnate would become UU by usage if this was a normal tier shift.

5. Any underrated Pokemon or sets that you have been trying out that you want to share?

I think that the lower tiers have a lot of good Setup sweepers and All-Out-Attackers that may have a possible niche in UU, the most notable of which are God Suicune, Cresselia, and Darmanitan. Suicune undoubtablly holds a niche in UU as a Pressure staller + Setup Sweeper, but I feel that what really holds it back is its heavy reliance on team support, in addition to its poor movepool that prevents players from innovating with it and having it fit roles such as a Clerc. Cresselia's main issue in the current meta is the prevelence of Dark-Types, as well as Scizor's terrifying U-Turn. However if used right, I think that Cresselia can use its Terrifyingly high Defensive stats to use Calm Mind and sweep through opposing teams that are unprepared for it. I also think that Darmanitan is pretty decent right now, as Sheer Force allows it to break its way through opposing teams, especially in conjuction with Heavy-Duty Boots that allows it to enter the field without taking Stealth Rock Damage and having Voltturn support.

5. Thoughts on the new Pokemon we possibly may get?

haha rain go brr
In all seriousness Pelipper is an amazing Rain Setter that not only has acess to Defog, but U-Turn as well allowing it to pivot in and out of the field quickly. With minimal speed investment it can allow Azumarill to Parish Song, Celesteela to Leech Seed, before U-Turning out, forcing them to have to Parish Song and Leech Seed again. These Speed EVs also allow Chansey and Diancie to set Stealth Rock before Defogging. The two leftover IVs in Speed are to allow Pelipper to outspeed Tangrowth, allowing Peliper to outspeed -Spe Tangrowth, giving it the chance to Hurricaine and OHKO Defensive Tangrowth (After it has taken damage from Stealth Rock) and U-Turn infront of Assault Vest Tangrowth to prevent it from using Knock Off to get rid of Pelipper's Heavy-Duty Boots.

Defensive Drizzle Peliper

Pelipper (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 2 Spe
- Defog
- U-turn
- Hurricane
- Roost

Calculations

Defensive Tangrowth
8 SpA Pelipper Hurricane vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Tangrowth: 392-464 (97 - 114.8%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
8 SpA Pelipper Hurricane vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Tangrowth: 392-464 (97 - 114.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
Assault Vest Tangrowth
8 SpA Pelipper Hurricane vs. 252 HP / 248+ SpD Assault Vest Tangrowth: 168-198 (41.5 - 49%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
8 SpA Pelipper Hurricane vs. 252 HP / 248+ SpD Assault Vest Tangrowth: 168-198 (41.5 - 49%) -- 78.9% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

 

[haxlolo]

I'm here to talk about the most important thing in UU right now, Water-types. With Zeraora and Slowking leaving, some of the better checks to some Water-types in this tier, they have been having a blast in this tier.

Water Horse

The new S-Tier mon on the viability ranking, Keldeo, has been considered as the most threatening Pokemon in this tier by some, and while most don't take it seriously thanks to Primarina being better and AV Tangrowth's popularity, it still is a heavy threat that if not taken seriously when building can become quite a big trouble. The most popular set is obviously Choice Specs, packing a great 129 Base Special Attack and having great STABs in Hydro Pump and Secret Sword. It's coverage leaves more to be desired for, but it's enough to dent those who normally check it. Hydro Pump is a very powerful move, hitting most of our tier for some very heavy damage, while Secret Sword prevents Chansey from being a consistent check to it. Flip Turn can help for some pivoting, while Air Slash hits the grasses who check it and Icy Wind is a problem for both Noivern and Salamence. Definitely one of the top mons in the slow tier this has become, having a very good base 108 Speed, outspeeding a lot of popular mons such as Thundurus-T, Nihilego and Salamence. There are some other sets that work, such as LO CM to not be walled as easily by Tangrowth, Scarf to oustpeed stuff like Thundurus-I, Lycanroc-Dusk and Azelf, and some people even run Toxic with it. Water Horse is one of the most defining mons in this tier, and will still be unless we receive some very important shifts.

Water Siren

Oh boy, is Primarina broken? in my opinion, yes. Primarina has become such a great mon with his most threatening check, Zeraora, rising to OU. Water and Fairy are such good STABs to have, while also having Psychic for those who do resist both of it's STABs. Choice Specs is by far the most broken set it has, with it having almost no switch-ins that don't rely on good predicting or a sack being made. Hydro Pump has the same properties as it has on Keldeo, hitting most of the tier hard, while Moonblast is also a very spammable move, with almost no Poison-types being good and Steel-types being not as defining as most would think, not to say that both take a huge hit from Hydro Pump coming from a 126 Base Special Attack. The only coverage it really runs for this set is Psychic who hits the already mentioned Poiso-types, with it's last move being Scald to threaten burns. The other good set is Draining Kiss + Calm Mind, which is a very good wincon, being able to set up in a lot of mons, while also not being very walled by Tangrowth. It can pack quite a punch with those Calm Minds and it has a "reliable" recovery on Draining Kiss. Other than very good offensive presence it also has good defensive utility, resisting STABs from various Pokemon such as Keldeo, Crawdaunt, Kommo-o, etc. Primarina is definitely one of the mons that worries me a lot on this tier, and I really think Primarina is quite broken and maybe should be suspected/banned, but it can be dealt with with good predictions.

Water Bunny

Really underrated Choice Band user, which can be amazingly powerful thanks to Huge Power and the same spammable typing Primarina has. With Zeraora gone, one of it's biggest offensive checks doesn't exist anymore, and the stuff that can wall it is not so used right now. Belly Drum behing screens is also good, since most Tangrowth now run a more Specially Defensive set, and can't eat a Play Rough from it anymore. Whirlpool + Perish Song can be quite decent too, thanks to it resisting both of Keldeo's STABs and can easily kill Sludge Bomb-less Tangrowth.. It has been getting a very low usage this month, but I still think it's pretty decent.

Water Dragon

Did Gyarados get so much better oh god, thanks to Zeraora being gone, it can easily run Adamant right now, and the added Attack to it is so good. Skarmory is also gone so it doesn't have that much trouble. It can easily run Waterfall to hit almost everything strong, and Power Whip to hit those grasses, while it's last move can either be Bounce to kill basically every grass, or Ice Fang to kill Salamence while still hitting those grasses hard. It's very good on screens and has been having some usage on webs for those Scarf users who outspeed it.

Those are in my opinion, the most important Water-types in this tier. Even with the popularity of Grass-types such as Zarude, Tangrowth and Amoonguss, everyone probably has one in their team thanks to how much of a threat they can be.
Also, to make the post even longer, gonna answer to Monky's questions!!!!!

1. Thoughts on the meta? Are you enjoying it or do you think it needs work? Rate it on a scale of 1-10

The meta is being very fun, and MOSTLY healthy, with the only problems being Primarina and maybe CM Glowbro. I'm really enjoying it and it has been a great time playing. I'd rate it a 8 or 9 probably

2. Are there any rises/drops in usage you expected?

Quagsire dropping was really expected, while Primarina and Aegislash rising in usage was also quite expected given how good they are in the metagame right now.

3. Conversely, are there any rises/drops in usage that took you by surprise?

I didn't really expect Azelf's rise in usage or even Celesteela's, but it's fine and can be easily explainable

4. What trends/Pokemon do you think will continue to see higher usage?

I feel like Mew is probably going to be even better, and maybe Azelf too

5. Any underrated Pokemon or sets that you have been trying out that you want to share?

NP Mew is so good, almost got carried by it on PSPL, and Sub+ID Kommo-o completely walls SubTox Aegislash, which is such an annoying set, while Kommo can actually sweep sometimes with it

6. Thoughts on the new Pokemon we possibly may get?

: Fuck this mon. We barely have Queen switch-ins and we are probably gping to have an even stronger option than Nidoqueen. Sub + 3 Attacks is going to be very good without having to predict as much. Yeah, Nidoqueen has better bulk but the added power Nidoking would have would be very good. Probably an A mon

: Thanks to this drop I feel like Rain would actually be a very viable playstyle, since we have the tools for it but our setter was really bad. Probably a B or B+ mon and Rain would be threatening thanks to it

: No. We have some very good Ground-types and our Grasses are very good right now, as a Screener it's probably outclassed by Grimmsnarl who has Taunt and can prevent Defog without having to die. B mon at most

 

[Totomon]

Lastly, like last time I'll drop some questions to answer if anyone wants to
1. Thoughts on the meta? Are you enjoying it or do you think it needs work? Rate it on a scale of 1-10
2. Are there any rises/drops in usage you expected?
3. Conversely, are there any rises/drops in usage that took you by surprise?
4. What trends/Pokemon do you think will continue to see higher usage?
5. Any underrated Pokemon or sets that you have been trying out that you want to share?
5. Thoughts on the new Pokemon we possibly may get?

Hope you enjoyed reading this and have a great Saturday!

This questions always bring joy to my heart, and with a new month its time to answer them.
1. The meta is great tbh, I don't feel that pressured from anything and the new teams and innovation that is popping up is just great, I would give it a 9/10, the best it has been in a long time.

2. Thundy, Glowbro, Rhyp and Zarude are outright great, them rising was honestly very obvious but I am happy nonetheless that the players are finally recognizing their merits and rising them to UU. (Also Keldeo is popular no surprise there)

3. Why is Chandelure at 2% of usage, its legit one of the most threatening mons in the metagame rn. Oh do you think SubTox Aegi is annoying? Well infiltrator lets you inmediately force it out, and letting in chandelure is the last thing you want to do. Oh do you want a very effective check to metagame staples like scizor and buzzwole? Chandelure arrives again. Wdym Kommo-o and Moltres are counters? Taunt + Hex and Toxic literally owns both of them (also Kommo-o can't setup rocks and it literally gets walled). This guy is an automatic 6-0 against stall what more can you ask from a Pokemon, guys use Chandelure.

4. Primarina will just continue rising, its imo the best Pokemon in the metagame and people just need a bit more time before it reaches the Top 10, Rhyperior and Glowbro also will start seeing huge spikes because how incredible they are (also the fact that they wouldve risen to UU will give them more popularity)

5. I am not really sure if it counts as underrated but Taunt Chandelure is great, it has an incredible matchup against Stall and Sun, walling the standard Kommo-o is just great and other security against other random mons like Cosmic Power Mew is always good.

6. Nidoking is scary, i am not sure if it will be broken. Mew is incredibly big and while Nidoqueen is strong it really isnt anything special, the extra speed only lets you outpace Buzzwole, Mamoswine and Chandelure which imo aren't that relevant, but who knows that extra power is also very threatening.

Finally rain is cool :), I've always liked rain and with both kweda and pelipper we finally have a good playstyle in our hands, I am just very happy with it. (Not broken in the slighest)

I dont like this thing, it will be bad cus grounds are everywhere and AV Tangster is everywhere, and as a screens setter yeah grimm is probably better. Its just those kinds of mons that are bad but still annoying.

 

[Pabloaram]

People talking about rain not being broken with the posible drop of Pelipper... I don't think this will be the case.
I don't know if having a playtile wich lets the big goons of the tier aka Keldeo and Scizor shine the most. With this Keldeo beatings things like AV Tangrowth with Specs Pump in rain also having a cleaner like banded Skewa in the back
The thing i think is limiting rain rn is Politoed being uterlly trash as a setter in comparition to the pelican (like not having reliable recovery, defog or uturn)
Rain gonna be problematic if Pelipped drop...

 

[Chicknemacnchez]

Lastly, like last time I'll drop some questions to answer if anyone wants to
1. Thoughts on the meta? Are you enjoying it or do you think it needs work? Rate it on a scale of 1-10
2. Are there any rises/drops in usage you expected?
3. Conversely, are there any rises/drops in usage that took you by surprise?
4. What trends/Pokemon do you think will continue to see higher usage?
5. Any underrated Pokemon or sets that you have been trying out that you want to share?
5. Thoughts on the new Pokemon we possibly may get?

Hope you enjoyed reading this and have a great Saturday!

1. 8/10. Best meta this gen imo. I've been getting into old gens alot but I've always found myself coming back and building something new.

2. Thundurus-T under webs is crazy and I think it is incredibly scary.

3. Chandelure. I think it is the best offensive glowbro answer. It hits fucking hard it should be a uu mon.

4. I think Prim is gonna rise. I don't think we have 1 reliable fairy resist besides av glowbro.

5a. Nidoking is gonna really good. It can run flamethrower over fire blast and not have that potentially devastating miss on steela. 252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoking Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Celesteela: 177-211 (44.4 - 53%) -- 82.8% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

5b. Pelliper gonna be sick. Rain is one of my favorite playstyles and I hope to destroy people.

5c. Regielei is gonna be bad, I'm not a fan of it.

5d. However, I think there is one mon you missed, Hydreigon! I love this mon so much and it looks to be decent. Specs and nasty plot looks nasty against bo. However scarf looks good. ( i could be wrong idk ou)

 

[romanji]

Long ass post incoming

Lastly, like last time I'll drop some questions to answer if anyone wants to
1. Thoughts on the meta? Are you enjoying it or do you think it needs work? Rate it on a scale of 1-10
2. Are there any rises/drops in usage you expected?
3. Conversely, are there any rises/drops in usage that took you by surprise?
4. What trends/Pokemon do you think will continue to see higher usage?
5. Any underrated Pokemon or sets that you have been trying out that you want to share?
6. Thoughts on the new Pokemon we possibly may get?

Hope you enjoyed reading this and have a great Saturday!

1. I love that we have more options, especially now that we can slow down the meta a bit, so I give it about an 8.

2. RISES

Keldeo has shot up to the top of UU for good reason. No Zeraora and Alakazam to outspeed and revenge kill, strong 129 base Special Attack, and perfect coverage in Hydro Pump, Secret Sword, and Air Slash, have landed it alongside Scizor in the S rank. The only UU Pokemon that can naturally outspeed and revenge kill it is Azelf (which also saw a surge in usage). Though, I feel like Keldeo seems a bit one-dimensional as there is no other set really worth running. Many defensive teams can feature ways to handle, such as Mew, Seismitoad, and Tangrowth.

I think Primarina should absolutely be look at in the same view as Keldeo and Scizor. Primarina has just about the same breaking power as Keldeo, with insane set versatility, all with different checks. Choice Specs is for breaking through the bulkiest teams, SubCM can be able to set up all over defensive teams and not be affected by status, RestTalk can allow it to recover health while and spamming Scald and Moonblast.

In response to Keldeo and Primarina going up in usage, Tangrowth has shifted its sets into mainly Assault Vest sets. Tangrowth has been preferred over Amoonguss, due to not having the Psychic weakness to better check Primarina. I like that it can bait in new face Moltres, and OHKO with Rock Slide.

DROPS

Azumarill has not really seen the same amount of usage compared to the Keldeos and Primarinas of the tier. It is also really fucking slow and has to rely on priority a lot of the time, and doesn't break through teams as easily as it used to.

3. RISES

I guess it's because Zeraora is gone? I still feel like this still got worse, especially with the additions of Moltres and Buzzwole, and many Electric-types such as Thundurus and Raikou don't help it at all.

Rotom-Wash is in a weird spot in the meta, as i feel like it doesn't have that much of an offense or defensive presence. If it wants to be more defensive, it has to sacrifice Speed, allowing it to not check slower Pokemon such as Nidoqueen, and if it goes offensive, it can easily be revenge killed.Yes it can beat common Stealth Rock setters such as Rhyperior, unlike its oven cousin, but it doesn't have coverage for the plethora of Dragon- and Grass-types such as Zarude, Tangrowth, and Kommo-o.

DROPS
none really

4. I think that the meta will start to become more of a bulky offensive meta, with rising usage of Zarude, Primarina, and Rhyperior being main factors. Maybe we could see a suspect of Glowbro soon, but the meta feels pretty stable at the moment.
5. ENTER CROBAT

Crobat @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 216 HP / 40 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Super Fang
- Roost
- Toxic

With no Zeraora, we have the classic stall breaker Crobat from generations past. Super Fang is to break even the most sturdy walls, while being able to recover its health As I mentioned in Lure That Threat, 40 Attack EVs is able to KO AV Tangrowth after Stealth Rock with Super Fang into Brave Bird. It is niche for a reason. It is still frail and doesn't really put much offensive pressure on anything else, but I've been having fun with it.

6. POTENTIAL DROPS

Nidoking is just a stronger Nidoqueen, simple. I would like to know if it could potentially run Choice Scarf for surprise factor.

Rain would finally be viable, but will it be too good? Thundurus, Barraskewda, Kingdra, will have a great time not having to be chained by the shackles of Politoed.

Are we going to have to have an XY Ambipom moment where we just say "DON'T USE REGIELEKI" because it is outclassed as an Electric-type by Thundurus, Raikou, and even Pikachu, outclassed as a screen setter by Grimmsnarl, and outclassed as an Explosion user by Azelf. Have fun with this shit RU, heard you liked screens ;)

 

[BigFatMantis]

(7%-->12%)- Explain BigFatMantis

Hi everyone and Monky - I'm glad you asked me to explain the rise of Azelf, as I will be more than happy to do so now that it's been requested:

Simply put, Azelf is a legendary choice for any team out there (because it's a Lake Legend). With Nasty Plot and an Expert Belt, you will OHKO basically everything in the tier except for Chansey and Mew, depending on what coverage move you select. And boy oh boy does it lots of coverage moves! Here is the optimal Azelf NP set:


Azelf @ Expert Belt
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Psyshock
- Fire Blast
- Energy Ball / Dazzling Gleam

Psyshock and Fire Blast is all it needs to hit most of the tier for SE or neutral damage. The last slot depends on what you need on your team, but Energy Ball is most consistent so that you can hit Krook, Quag, Primarina, Rhyperior, etc. Gleam is there if your team has a very bad Galarian Moltres matchup and still hits Krook, while also dealing a OHKO to Sableye stall teams that may try to pull a fast one on you. I think Expert Belt is the best item to ensure key KOs, but you can also use Colbur Berry to surprise the scarf Krooks/Zarudes and KO them back, or even an Adrenaline Orb if you want to go Yolozelf but it's only useful against the Krook/Mence Intimidate teams.

If Incineroar starts to rise again you can also use Water Pulse as the fourth move as a meme.

Also, Azelf has lots of other options besides this. It's still an above average suicide rocks lead, and you can combine Rocks with Screens for a role-compression HO lead w/ Explosion for momentum. You can also use it as a pivot with U-Turn and Knock Off, either with Boots or a Choice Band, and mix in whatever other support moves you wish.

Overall, I think Azelf has found a solid home here in SS UU, and I hope we can all welcome it into our own households for dinner someday.

 

[HydreigonTheChild]

1. Thoughts on the meta? Are you enjoying it or do you think it needs work? Rate it on a scale of 1-10

Meta is fine. Maybe slowbro-g is getting hard to check once it gets a CM up since with colbur it is really hard to OHKO or break through since it can just regen back and repeat the process until the pokemon are worn down that would check it like krookodile, gastrodon, and aegislash. I do enjoy it just think maybe galar-bro deserves more usage and recognition in what it can do. 8/10

2. Are there any rises/drops in usage you expected?

Primarina, Keldeo, Both thundy forms, Rhyperior.

3. Conversely, are there any rises/drops in usage that took you by surprise?

Chansey, Why does it have 12% usage, why do you not drop further, why do I have to suffer facing you

4. What trends/Pokemon do you think will continue to see higher usage?

Primarina, Slowbro-g, Keldeo, thundurus, rhyperior, zarude

5. Any underrated Pokemon or sets that you have been trying out that you want to share?

Hattrene, it can check kommo-o, choice locked secret sword keldeo, Spikes mew, and it can deny hazards on opponent who want o get them up. It can 6-0 unprepared teams and even its checks can get worn down such as CB scizor, jirachi, and aegislash, with having no recovery or being able to be taken advantage of in the case of wish jirachi.

5. Thoughts on the new Pokemon we possibly may get?

FUCK THEM ALL, I hate rain with a passion, it is so matchup fishy and sometimes u do so well vs it sometimes u do not, and specs keldeo in rain sounds like horror, Regieleki is just HAHA I tricked ring target on your ground type, now suffer to me, or it does jack shit, its not a pokemon I would use. Nidoking just hate it because it never had done anything when I use it. It just sludge waves a hattrene who switches into CB scizor and get your team cleaned.

 

[Lily]

As embarrassing as it is to post this here (I'll probably make a media thread for this type of thing soon but this is the best place for now), I got bored last night and recorded myself laddering with Eve!

Come watch us lose games with Crawdaunt. There were some quality issues that I'll try to fix before the next one (if there is a next one - depends on demand!) so sorry about that!
please be nice my voice sucks and i also breathed too heavily at points I PROMISE ILL FIX IT

 

[Rae]

Whilst everyone in the Discord (join the discord if you haven't btw very cool place) is chatting about the survey, i wanted to post my opinions and potentially start up some discussion!

I'll try revive the trend of putting music with post, enjoy a chill jam!

How much do you enjoy SS UU right now, on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best)?

I feel like there is a major split on people's opinions on this. The tier and meta game itself is enjoyable, with enough room for innovation to make it fun. The other half of this really is about the ladder. Ladder is really odd at the moment, with the low possibility of finding a good and well built team and normally just running into Hyper Offense or some other kind of weird playstyle. Since this is about the tier itself and not the ladder, i believe i put down a 7 for this.

How competitive do you find SS UU to be right now, on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best)?

This was more or less the same for me, as the meta is enjoyable, there is space for innovation and building a good team isn't all that hard. I put down a 9 on the survey.

The UU Council has been looking at Mew's influence on the tier lately, primarily due to its Spikes set and Nasty Plot sets being extremely restrictive to build against. How do you feel about Mew's current position?



Mew's unpredictability is often what gives it the advantage, though Spikes and Nasty Plot tend to be most troubling. There are other notable sets, such as Suicide Lead and Dragon Dance, as well as other..questionable sets like Demon Mew. I personally wouldn't be opposed to a suspect, but i do think there happens to be bigger fish to fry at the moment.

We have also been keeping a close eye on two other Pokemon, the first of which is Primarina
primarily due to its Choice Specs set but also its Substitute + Calm Mind set. How do you feel about its presence?



First off, Prim is bonkers. On a Choice Specs set, It's moves are much more clickable than Keldeo and it has the ability to run a Modest nature due to its already below average speed. SubCM is also nutty, with plenty of tournament games to provide evidence that is a really really good Pokemon in the tier, though i'm still skeptical on whether it would be banned or not. Once again, i'd be in favour of a suspect.

We have been considering Galarian Slowbro for a while now, mostly due to its Calm Mind set. Its Nasty Plot set with Quick Draw + Quick Claw has also been regaled as uncompetitive and broken. What do you think should be done about it, if anything?



This one is a very interesting case, to the point where i feel like it should properly looked into. Whilst Calm Mind and QDWC are both extremely potent and i think would be banned, Assault Vest is an excellent addition to the tier as it can function as a pivot into many common special attackers like Keldeo, Nihilego and Primarina. I think that this is the most split when it comes to what it brings to the tier, but i want a suspect and would probably vote ban.

Finally, a large portion of the council and the overall community has mentioned that they want us to do something about dual screens. What would you prefer to see if we can do anything at all?



This goes back to our ladder problem. It just isn't enjoyable and many players have voiced the same opinion both in the Discord and in the Showdown room. I joined the tier roughly when Moutemoute posted his HO team and it was the only thing i saw on ladder for days. All respect to Moute, very cool dude, i think that the tier does have a problem with Screens and it's abusers. The main 3 abusers that really stand out for me are Kommo-o, Gyarados and Moltres-Galar, due to their insane natural power which is further boosted by either an omniboost (Clanger), Dragon Dance (Gyarados) and the combined power of Nasty Plot, Agility, Weakness Policy and Berserk (Goltres.) HO by itself isn't bad, as Screens is just a prominent version of the archetype, with Terrain, Weather and Hazard teams also being apart of the group. Screens is either really unhealthy to play against or to fight against and should certainly be looked into as a whole, abusers, setters and items that make it stronger (Light Clay mainly)

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That's all from me for now! Feel free to post your thoughts and replies as well! Have a great day/afternoon/night!​

 

[Chicknemacnchez]

Sorry I don't have music.


Anyway, survey...

How much do you enjoy SS UU right now, on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best)?

I really like it. If there were a few bans then this could be an excellent meta, maybe even the best its ever been. However I don't like ladder too much. It's just way too much HO. However if its something like BO v BO, then its really fun. 8

How competitive do you find SS UU to be right now, on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best)?

Nothing I hate that's uncompetitive. 9

The UU Council has been looking at Mew's influence on the tier lately, primarily due to its Spikes set and Nasty Plot sets being extremely restrictive to build against. How do you feel about Mew's current position?

I agree with the post above me. I don't think a suspect is bad and it's a little broken. I think there are more obviously broken things that stand out to me right now.

We have also been keeping a close eye on two other Pokemon, the first of which is Primarina
primarily due to its Choice Specs set but also its Substitute + Calm Mind set. How do you feel about its presence?

Specs is so broken right now I don't think there is a reason to use Keldeo besides the speed. You can to answer it try but its just chansey and av reun. Which of course gets flip turned on into a breaker like cb buzz. Ban.

We have been considering Galarian Slowbro for a while now, mostly due to its Calm Mind set. Its Nasty Plot set with Quick Draw + Quick Claw has also been regaled as uncompetitive and broken. What do you think should be done about it, if anything?

This is an interesting case for me. I don't think its broken but its unhealthy if that makes sense, (probably doesn't). I won't oppose it and I think It'd be better off banned. Also ban QDQC its uncompetitive. Not broken, uncompetitive.

Finally, a large portion of the council and the overall community has mentioned that they want us to do something about dual screens. What would you prefer to see if we can do anything at all?

Not sure tbh. I answered ban Light Clay but I'm not sure anymore. I think all 3 are absurd under screens, with Gyarados being the hardest to deal with from my experience. I think we have to ban Light Screen and Reflect, but maybe Light Clay would do the trick.


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