3-Move Battling

[jackm]

Note: Credit to Mr. Uncompetitive / ThisMysteriousGuy and 6-Move Battling for the inspiration for this tier.

What is 3-Move Battling?

3-Move Battling is, as the name implies, battling with Pokemon that are limited to 3 moves. It can be played in any tier; currently tiers are synonymous to the standard Smogon tiers, but obviously they are subject to bans/drops as this metagame develops.

How do I play 3-Move Battling?

Well, this should be fairly obvious but I'll explain it anyways. Create a team on Pokemon Showdown! in which all of the Pokemon have 3 (or less, technically speaking) moves. Once you have a legal team, organize a challenge with another 3-Move Battling player; hopefully we'll be able to stir up enough of a playerbase to make this work. Once the match is organized, you can challenge them in the normal tier that your team is built in, no need for Debug Mode. As a note, once bans/drops start coming into affect, it will probably just be most convenient to play your match in the Ubers tier but organize for it to be, say, a 3MB OU match.

What are your thoughts? As an inverse tier of the aforementioned 6-Move Battling, I expect we will see some opposing popularities between the two. Please post your opinions and ideas!

 

[Relados]

I didn't invent Six-Move Battling, my credit goes to Mr. Uncompetitive / ThisMysteriousGuy. You should probably put him there instead.

Also, going off an idea someone had in the six move thread:

Escavalier @ Choice Band
- Megahorn
- n/a
- n/a

Escavalier don't care about your three moves.

 

[Organization Member XIV]

Choice Users would definitely be more omnipresent, as setup sweepers would only have 2 attacking moves. Walls like Chansey and Ferrothorn also are more pressured with the loss of a moveslot, so I would most likely expect a lot of HO teams.

 

[chuckeroo777]

Terrakion don't care.
It would be just fine with cc/se/sd

 

[Yarnus of Bethany]

Haxorus@Life Orb can do well with Outrage, Dragon Dance, and Earthquake
Stopped by Skarm, I know, but little else can stop it.
I predict Jirachi/Infernape/other mons with 4mss to do worse in this.

 

[jackm]

Yeah, I think HO is going to be prevalent; walls will have a hard time when they only have space for recovery/attacking move/support move. There's a lot less flexibility for them to run unique sets. That said, offense has a lot less coverage, which means that Pokemon with resistances to key type combos are going to be extremely useful (think Skarmory)

The only legitimately threatening setup sweepers are going to be those that get great coverage with their STAB(s). Others are walled far too easily because of their lack of powerful neutral coverage.

I predict that 3-Move non-choiced attackers will be moderately useful as well. I provide the example of Latios, who can run a powerful Draco Meteor/HP Fire/Surf set and get SE coverage on a lot of threats at the same time.