Hi all, for context, I've only been playing this tier for a few months now and the recent money tour was the first one I've ever participated in. I play ADV DOU mainly just because it's my favorite gen and I like Doubles more than Singles, so learning this enclosed meta and coming in as a complete newbie with pretty much no knowledge of how it played pre-Boom and Lati bans felt interesting.
Teams that I made, used, and won with in the recent ADV DOU Money Tour by zoe (Top 8). Special Thank You to Grandmas Cookin, oh the guilt, and Actuarily for helping me build some of my first teams, to Poli for helping introduce me to the tier, and to 2xNoodle for playing with me in practice and letting me save replays! I wouldn't have gotten this far without y'all!
Lead Bullmie with Celebi
Heal Bell Blissey and Crocune
Anti-Rain with Blissey and Crocune
Lead Bullmie with Metagross
Light Screen Blissey and Crocune
Rain
Lead Gyarapert with Flygon
Lead GyaraBull
Lead Gyaradactyl with Flygon
Lead Zapcune
Lead Gyaranine
I don't really like making or even know how to make VRs/Tier lists normally because I think they sort of narrow the context for the sake of easier visual literacy, but I thought I'd at least share my thoughts based on what I encountered during this tour. Specifically, I will only be talking about mons that I think might actually move up or down in their usage depending on how players utilize them in the future. IMO, there's not much to say about the high or low tiers as they are already very solidly well-established in the meta and will most likely not see much movement from their current positions unless something drastic happens (like they bring back Boom or something).
One of the rising stars I saw with the players I was matched against was Raikou. This is a mon I personally had very little experience with both facing and using prior outside of Rain teams where it's more of an appetizer than the main course, but on paper it should really thrive in the environment of ADV DOU since it is finally free from the threat of Dug in ADV Singles, and it absolutely does. Being able to outspeed and threaten both Bull and Zap (Arguably the best lead in the entire tier consisting of the 2 most overwhelming and overused mons) is crucial in its strength. A single CM or holding a Magnet gives it even more threatening, and sometimes even OHKO, potential if you pair it with Helping Hand Arc or Yama. But therein lies its weakness. Raikou does need quite a bit of babying due to the fact that it is very EQ vulnerable. I would say the one it has to watch out for the most is Aero, the fastest mon in the game that can easily OHKO it as long as the Aero hasn't been Intim'd. But that's also why it's not so hard to implement on most teams, what with Intim spam being so common and even pairing it with Fake Out Support from either Ludi or Yama can allow it to set up for free. On the subject of Ludi, of course, Raikou becomes the perfect fast Rain setter and Thunder spammer on Rain teams, something that was seen rather frequently during this tour due to the popularity of Amaranth's Gorebyss team. Another weakness you may have spotted is that due to strats like Lead Raikou needing so much support from specific picks such as Arc and Yama, you end up dealing with either a lead where both mons are weak to EQ, or a lead without Intim support, something to be aware of. Which is why Lead Rainkou with Ludi is so good, as Ludi not only provides Fake Out support, but is also both resistant to EQ while also being able to spam Hydro and Grass moves to OHKO any mons that threaten Raikou. With that said, I saw lots of different Raikous in this tour and plenty of them did not run any of the leads that I just talked about and still had decent results. Which means that this mon may not be as vulnerable or inflexible as one might think. Overall, Raikou is a bundle of surprisingly dense and powerful stats in ADV DOU. If you decide to run it, it can very easily either provide great support for the rest of your team or quickly gain momentum by dishing out fast and hard hitting damage in what is normally a low power meta as long as you know how to position it well.
Something you might notice as I continue discussing specific mons and their performance is how each consecutive mon seems to be a response/counter to the previous pick. And who better to start that trend off than our dear middle finger to every Electric spam, Marowak. This is a mon that I thought was highly underrated before this tour and not only did I end up bringing it on most of my teams (to great success I might add), but I also saw it being used by many others including my opps. With Lightning Rod and pure Ground typing providing complete Electric Immunity, it utterly shuts down any Electric attack (that isn't HP Electric) in a meta where Zapdos is king and Paraspam can be game ending, not to mention I just got done talking about how popular Raikou was becoming. Well, no more. With Maro on your team, you have absolutely nothing to fear. This mon is a popular pair up for all Water-types, such as Starmie or Suicune, but especially Gyarados who is allergic to Electric. "Gyarawak" allows you to provide support for Gyara to setup with DD while also spamming powerful STAB EQs without worrying about hitting your partner, and this also works for other Flying types like Aero, which is known for being exploitable due to how frail it is. Even with its low base stats, you can still build a very threatening Maro indeed. Especially since the one item everyone equips it with, the Thick Club, essentially gives it a pocket Huge Power. Maro also has access to more than just EQ for STAB, Bonemerang is a 2 times hitting 50 BP move that is exclusive to this mon, basically giving Maro a single target EQ that hits twice, damage calcs twice, and has a chance of crit-ing twice, all at the cost of 2 RN rolls on whether you miss or not. With 90 Accuracy, it's the player's choice whether to opt for this move over EQ or even have both on it at the same time, especially if you're that worried about hitting your partner, but the fact that you have this choice at all only increases Maro's viability even more. Ground STAB isn't the only thing great about this mon, it has a surprising amount of options available to it. To threaten Zap, Maro has access to either HP Rock (if you want consistent damage) or Ancient Power if you want another HP type (and if you hit that Omni-boost you become a serious problem for your opp even if you're slow and Intim'd). It also gets access to Counter and Icy Wind (seriously they gave this thing everything, 4 moveslot syndrome much?), providing utility by either slowing down the opponent's momentum or revenge killing hyper offensive setups. Though it doesn't change the fact that Maro's greatest weakness will always be the common threat of Superbi (CM Celebi). However, with things like Light Screen support and depending on how you build your own bulky Maro, it can actually potentially survive defensive Celebi's Giga Drain while also returning the favor with a hefty HP Bug. IMO this weakness is simply something you have to work with no matter what since Bi is on almost every team anyway. Utilizing good positioning with your Maro can be the most annoying thing your opp will ever encounter and the millions of options you have available to you in terms of building this mon to fit your specific needs easily earns it a spot on any team willing to try it.
Looky here, I just got done singing the praises of a Ground mon, and guess what's next? Starmie is another mon where on paper it has decent stats, coverage, and options, and therefore should be getting more usage, but doesn't seem to get much attention even though there aren't many other mons that can do what it does. For starters, it has the same Base Speed as Raikou, which means it easily outspeeds the majority of the meta aside from Aero, without sharing Raikou's crippling EQ weakness. It has insane coverage with STAB Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, HP Electric, Dual Screens, the list just goes on and on. This means it can also threaten the majority of the meta, including the aforementioned Aero since it can't be OHKO'd. Having Natural Cure means that it isn't forced to wield a Lum Berry, yielding the way to more useful items like Lefties or a Mystic Water. The issue on the floor is how much it's threatened by Zap and other common threats like Superbi (again). Even though it outspeeds, it cannot OHKO either of them with Ice Beam, but it can still do a decent chunk and sometimes that's enough. This is another mon that suffers from 4 move slot syndrome due to just how many things it gets, but that problem is easily solved when you realize exactly what purpose you want it to serve. Some ways I've seen it used is you can make it a fast bulky lead screen setter, go purely offensive, or both. Like Raikou, it's surprisingly not that frail, especially with both Intim and Maro support. Out of all the mons I've talked about so far, I've seen Starmie used the least, and even though I like to use it on my own teams, I agree that its neither the strongest nor the most viable mon out there. Still, there's nothing else quite like it in the current mon pool and I think there's a lot of potential here.
It's funny how each mon I talked about before is almost a reflection to how the meta might have slightly shifted over the course of the tour, as each one is a good response to the previous, but that trend stops here (kinda). There's really not much left to say about Aero tbh, but I wanted to ramble about it a little anyway. We all know this is the fastest mon in the tier, which means we know many of the speed tiers and breakpoints are balanced around this thing. We all know it pretty much has one set that everyone uses, which means we know how to counter it. What else is there to say? Well, I just wanted to add my perspective on the role of Aero on a team. IMO, Aero is not a real sweeper. It is almost never a true one shot wonder, not in a meta where it can't even always gurantee a kill on Zap with Ancient Power and especially not so if the Zap is even a little bulky or if the Aero has been Intim'd. The mileage you get out of this mon is solely dependent on how well you position it, usually in the late game. Aero can be used to force a switch early on, but its best usage is typically as a very fast vulture that picks off weakened foes. It can't truly threaten unless the opp has already received a certain amount of damage lest it be OHKO'd itself immediately after. I have had some games where this thing feels incredibly oppressive, and some where it does not. That said, I have come to see it as a sort of insurance. When I want to bring in the threat of a fast, decently hard hit that could potentially kill something that's just been sitting there enduring hits and dishing out damage from the opp's side, sometimes an Aero clean up is enough. But that still doesn't excuse its normally terrible switch in potential. This thing is made of paper and its typing only makes it good into EQ, as it cannot even handle a Bull's DEdge that well (but then again, what can amirite?). I honestly didn't respect Aero at first, but I've softened my views on it recently, as it still does certain things very well and there are times I feel like my team composition either becomes more, or would have been more, solid with an Aero on it. And that's usually a sign that the mon is still good for something. Arguably, part of taking your first steps into learning this meta is figuring out how to either maneuver your own Aero, or maneuver around your opp's Aero because of how careful the positioning of it needs to be to preserve its potential.
Analysis:
My summary of my thoughts on this metagame is, as it currently stands, it is incredibly exclusive. Very few mons can be used, and both the way they are used and their usage doesn't vary often. Any attempt at using mons that are too out there will be met with the crushing reality that you are just making things harder for yourself and is the equivalent of actively shooting yourself in the foot, but you can say this about pretty much any meta. It's only exemplified more than usual here because the pool of mons we get to choose from is so much smaller. And there is a benefit to this exclusivity. Each and every meta mon is designed to respond to each other perfectly in very specific ways and interactions, and when there are so few of them to consider, you can make incremental changes and strategies that can redefine how things usually pan out in a way that can pay off. Everyone already knows that the current ADV DOU's real main issue is that it's a chaotic RNG-ridden sloshfest where every 2X crit feels like your opp just personally reached through the monitor and slapped you five across the face, there are too many speed ties meaning your fate is left to a literal coin toss, being paralyzed feels like you just got diagnosed with the fastest acting strain of polio that would make even Christopher Reeve blush, and the monotony of an endgame usually being decided by 2 Celebis passive-aggressively staring each other down as they spam CM in one another's faces in a setup Cold War until they finally decide to attack and one is lucky enough to gut punch the other with one of the aforementioned crits. And you know what? I still like it more than any other gen I've tried because when things hit just right and you play a good game with a good opp, it can be really fun.
One of the rising stars I saw with the players I was matched against was Raikou. This is a mon I personally had very little experience with both facing and using prior outside of Rain teams where it's more of an appetizer than the main course, but on paper it should really thrive in the environment of ADV DOU since it is finally free from the threat of Dug in ADV Singles, and it absolutely does. Being able to outspeed and threaten both Bull and Zap (Arguably the best lead in the entire tier consisting of the 2 most overwhelming and overused mons) is crucial in its strength. A single CM or holding a Magnet gives it even more threatening, and sometimes even OHKO, potential if you pair it with Helping Hand Arc or Yama. But therein lies its weakness. Raikou does need quite a bit of babying due to the fact that it is very EQ vulnerable. I would say the one it has to watch out for the most is Aero, the fastest mon in the game that can easily OHKO it as long as the Aero hasn't been Intim'd. But that's also why it's not so hard to implement on most teams, what with Intim spam being so common and even pairing it with Fake Out Support from either Ludi or Yama can allow it to set up for free. On the subject of Ludi, of course, Raikou becomes the perfect fast Rain setter and Thunder spammer on Rain teams, something that was seen rather frequently during this tour due to the popularity of Amaranth's Gorebyss team. Another weakness you may have spotted is that due to strats like Lead Raikou needing so much support from specific picks such as Arc and Yama, you end up dealing with either a lead where both mons are weak to EQ, or a lead without Intim support, something to be aware of. Which is why Lead Rainkou with Ludi is so good, as Ludi not only provides Fake Out support, but is also both resistant to EQ while also being able to spam Hydro and Grass moves to OHKO any mons that threaten Raikou. With that said, I saw lots of different Raikous in this tour and plenty of them did not run any of the leads that I just talked about and still had decent results. Which means that this mon may not be as vulnerable or inflexible as one might think. Overall, Raikou is a bundle of surprisingly dense and powerful stats in ADV DOU. If you decide to run it, it can very easily either provide great support for the rest of your team or quickly gain momentum by dishing out fast and hard hitting damage in what is normally a low power meta as long as you know how to position it well.
Something you might notice as I continue discussing specific mons and their performance is how each consecutive mon seems to be a response/counter to the previous pick. And who better to start that trend off than our dear middle finger to every Electric spam, Marowak. This is a mon that I thought was highly underrated before this tour and not only did I end up bringing it on most of my teams (to great success I might add), but I also saw it being used by many others including my opps. With Lightning Rod and pure Ground typing providing complete Electric Immunity, it utterly shuts down any Electric attack (that isn't HP Electric) in a meta where Zapdos is king and Paraspam can be game ending, not to mention I just got done talking about how popular Raikou was becoming. Well, no more. With Maro on your team, you have absolutely nothing to fear. This mon is a popular pair up for all Water-types, such as Starmie or Suicune, but especially Gyarados who is allergic to Electric. "Gyarawak" allows you to provide support for Gyara to setup with DD while also spamming powerful STAB EQs without worrying about hitting your partner, and this also works for other Flying types like Aero, which is known for being exploitable due to how frail it is. Even with its low base stats, you can still build a very threatening Maro indeed. Especially since the one item everyone equips it with, the Thick Club, essentially gives it a pocket Huge Power. Maro also has access to more than just EQ for STAB, Bonemerang is a 2 times hitting 50 BP move that is exclusive to this mon, basically giving Maro a single target EQ that hits twice, damage calcs twice, and has a chance of crit-ing twice, all at the cost of 2 RN rolls on whether you miss or not. With 90 Accuracy, it's the player's choice whether to opt for this move over EQ or even have both on it at the same time, especially if you're that worried about hitting your partner, but the fact that you have this choice at all only increases Maro's viability even more. Ground STAB isn't the only thing great about this mon, it has a surprising amount of options available to it. To threaten Zap, Maro has access to either HP Rock (if you want consistent damage) or Ancient Power if you want another HP type (and if you hit that Omni-boost you become a serious problem for your opp even if you're slow and Intim'd). It also gets access to Counter and Icy Wind (seriously they gave this thing everything, 4 moveslot syndrome much?), providing utility by either slowing down the opponent's momentum or revenge killing hyper offensive setups. Though it doesn't change the fact that Maro's greatest weakness will always be the common threat of Superbi (CM Celebi). However, with things like Light Screen support and depending on how you build your own bulky Maro, it can actually potentially survive defensive Celebi's Giga Drain while also returning the favor with a hefty HP Bug. IMO this weakness is simply something you have to work with no matter what since Bi is on almost every team anyway. Utilizing good positioning with your Maro can be the most annoying thing your opp will ever encounter and the millions of options you have available to you in terms of building this mon to fit your specific needs easily earns it a spot on any team willing to try it.
Looky here, I just got done singing the praises of a Ground mon, and guess what's next? Starmie is another mon where on paper it has decent stats, coverage, and options, and therefore should be getting more usage, but doesn't seem to get much attention even though there aren't many other mons that can do what it does. For starters, it has the same Base Speed as Raikou, which means it easily outspeeds the majority of the meta aside from Aero, without sharing Raikou's crippling EQ weakness. It has insane coverage with STAB Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, HP Electric, Dual Screens, the list just goes on and on. This means it can also threaten the majority of the meta, including the aforementioned Aero since it can't be OHKO'd. Having Natural Cure means that it isn't forced to wield a Lum Berry, yielding the way to more useful items like Lefties or a Mystic Water. The issue on the floor is how much it's threatened by Zap and other common threats like Superbi (again). Even though it outspeeds, it cannot OHKO either of them with Ice Beam, but it can still do a decent chunk and sometimes that's enough. This is another mon that suffers from 4 move slot syndrome due to just how many things it gets, but that problem is easily solved when you realize exactly what purpose you want it to serve. Some ways I've seen it used is you can make it a fast bulky lead screen setter, go purely offensive, or both. Like Raikou, it's surprisingly not that frail, especially with both Intim and Maro support. Out of all the mons I've talked about so far, I've seen Starmie used the least, and even though I like to use it on my own teams, I agree that its neither the strongest nor the most viable mon out there. Still, there's nothing else quite like it in the current mon pool and I think there's a lot of potential here.
It's funny how each mon I talked about before is almost a reflection to how the meta might have slightly shifted over the course of the tour, as each one is a good response to the previous, but that trend stops here (kinda). There's really not much left to say about Aero tbh, but I wanted to ramble about it a little anyway. We all know this is the fastest mon in the tier, which means we know many of the speed tiers and breakpoints are balanced around this thing. We all know it pretty much has one set that everyone uses, which means we know how to counter it. What else is there to say? Well, I just wanted to add my perspective on the role of Aero on a team. IMO, Aero is not a real sweeper. It is almost never a true one shot wonder, not in a meta where it can't even always gurantee a kill on Zap with Ancient Power and especially not so if the Zap is even a little bulky or if the Aero has been Intim'd. The mileage you get out of this mon is solely dependent on how well you position it, usually in the late game. Aero can be used to force a switch early on, but its best usage is typically as a very fast vulture that picks off weakened foes. It can't truly threaten unless the opp has already received a certain amount of damage lest it be OHKO'd itself immediately after. I have had some games where this thing feels incredibly oppressive, and some where it does not. That said, I have come to see it as a sort of insurance. When I want to bring in the threat of a fast, decently hard hit that could potentially kill something that's just been sitting there enduring hits and dishing out damage from the opp's side, sometimes an Aero clean up is enough. But that still doesn't excuse its normally terrible switch in potential. This thing is made of paper and its typing only makes it good into EQ, as it cannot even handle a Bull's DEdge that well (but then again, what can amirite?). I honestly didn't respect Aero at first, but I've softened my views on it recently, as it still does certain things very well and there are times I feel like my team composition either becomes more, or would have been more, solid with an Aero on it. And that's usually a sign that the mon is still good for something. Arguably, part of taking your first steps into learning this meta is figuring out how to either maneuver your own Aero, or maneuver around your opp's Aero because of how careful the positioning of it needs to be to preserve its potential.
Analysis:
My summary of my thoughts on this metagame is, as it currently stands, it is incredibly exclusive. Very few mons can be used, and both the way they are used and their usage doesn't vary often. Any attempt at using mons that are too out there will be met with the crushing reality that you are just making things harder for yourself and is the equivalent of actively shooting yourself in the foot, but you can say this about pretty much any meta. It's only exemplified more than usual here because the pool of mons we get to choose from is so much smaller. And there is a benefit to this exclusivity. Each and every meta mon is designed to respond to each other perfectly in very specific ways and interactions, and when there are so few of them to consider, you can make incremental changes and strategies that can redefine how things usually pan out in a way that can pay off. Everyone already knows that the current ADV DOU's real main issue is that it's a chaotic RNG-ridden sloshfest where every 2X crit feels like your opp just personally reached through the monitor and slapped you five across the face, there are too many speed ties meaning your fate is left to a literal coin toss, being paralyzed feels like you just got diagnosed with the fastest acting strain of polio that would make even Christopher Reeve blush, and the monotony of an endgame usually being decided by 2 Celebis passive-aggressively staring each other down as they spam CM in one another's faces in a setup Cold War until they finally decide to attack and one is lucky enough to gut punch the other with one of the aforementioned crits. And you know what? I still like it more than any other gen I've tried because when things hit just right and you play a good game with a good opp, it can be really fun.
Teams that I made, used, and won with in the recent ADV DOU Money Tour by zoe (Top 8). Special Thank You to Grandmas Cookin, oh the guilt, and Actuarily for helping me build some of my first teams, to Poli for helping introduce me to the tier, and to 2xNoodle for playing with me in practice and letting me save replays! I wouldn't have gotten this far without y'all!
Lead Bullmie with Celebi
Heal Bell Blissey and Crocune
Anti-Rain with Blissey and Crocune
Lead Bullmie with Metagross
Light Screen Blissey and Crocune
Rain
Lead Gyarapert with Flygon
Lead GyaraBull
Lead Gyaradactyl with Flygon
Lead Zapcune
Lead Gyaranine
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The best pokemon in the tier, as it's good into and on rain, good into metagross, is an earthquake immunity, beats other earthquake immunities, all while just hitting really hard and having good bulk & speed. Due to all those advantages, Zapdos should be on most teams, and you probably need a reason to not be using it. It's a solid lead option with light screen as it's good into full rain, or it can be kept in the back to check bulky waters & metagross. It also has a ton of different EV options depending on what you want it to do. A typical set is basically either lum berry or leftovers using thunderbolt/HP grass or ice/support move/protect or another support move. Zapdos has a ton of good support options like weather setting, light screen, thunder wave, toxic or roar, and then can even run agility to be able to beat out some stuff that tries to outspeed it to take it out (like Aerodactyl or Tauros).
The best physical attacker in the tier due to its sky high attack set and clear body. Since it doesn't have to run white herb like other physical attackers, it's free to run lum berry (or potentially even Choice Band, but that set is probably strictly worse). Metagross fits on most teams but can struggle into bulky waters & Zapdos, so most teams do have checks for it. The great thing is that Metagross & Zapdos pair so well together that they make an easy core to build around. If you were new to the tier and starting to build your own teams, I'd highly recommend just putting these two on it. Typically Metagross is running Meteor Mash/Earthquake/either Agility or HP rock/protect. Agility lets it outspeed a lot of DD + EQ threats and other faster checks, but is at the cost of a reliable way to do damage to Zapdos.
Tauros is probably the best lead mon in the tier. While it can be counter lead (Regirock especially), it just pairs nicely with so many other good leads due to intimidate and immediate offensive pressure that it works in so many lead situations. Tauros/Zapdos, Tauros/Regice, Tauros/Starmie, etc are all great lead options. That being said, it even works well in the back, though it appreciates free switchins since despite intimidate it's not very bulky and can typically only take two hits. The typical set is Choice Band with Double Edge/Return/HP Bug/Earthquake, but you can also run white herb tauros with some support moves like icy wind/weather.
One of the most versatile Pokemon in the tier, and being both an Earthquake and rain resist with 100/100/100 defenses makes it difficult to remove. However, due to its popularity people usually have a dedicated move slot to check it, like hp bug Tauros. Calm mind is a great set, but has to choose three of psychic, giga drain, hp fire, reflect, recover, and protect, so is typically walled by something. If you are too worried about the potential counters, Celebi also makes a great support pokemon that can get in and out with moves like heal bell, dual screens, toxic, baton passing, perish song, leech seed etc. Between all the options, it’s not hard to fit a Celebi that works for your team.
Blissey is the most difficult Pokemon to remove in the tier. Its massive spdef bulk and healing makes it THE bulky Pokemon, and its physical bulk isn’t bad when you heavily invest in it. Pair it with an intimidate or two and it’s incredibly hard to take down.
Suicune is an excellent calm mind Pokemon due to its great bulk and the fact that it’s only weaknesses are to special type attacks. You can run mono water Suicune with calm mind and rest talk, or just a standard set with an ice move and protect. After it gets off one or two, it’s a huge pain to take down and can hit really hard.
Salamence is one of the best intimidators in the tier due to good bulk and threatening offense combined with a great movepool. The only downside is ice moves have been getting more and more popular, so Mence is dropping a little in viability. But still, the DD set with white herb is great, or just three attacks (typically aerial ace, brick break, HP rock) + a support move like weather, roar, toxic, leer etc. Special Mence is also an option with Fire Blast, Hydro Pump, Dragon claw, etc. This thing pairs so well with a lot of the pokemon that appreciate intimidate like Blissey and Suicune that I think it still deserves to be at this part of the VR.
Regice is another great bulky Pokemon with a solid support movepool that can spam icy wind/thunder wave to enable allies to dish out the damage. Bolt beam coverage is just so useful, and then it can also set weather. Its biggest nemesis is Lum Berry Metagross, so whenever using it you must have some checks for that.
Snorlax is the most offensive of what I’d consider to be the “bulky” Pokemon, which allows it to wonderfully fit into the metagame. Curselax with Return and Earthquake is an excellent set, but can be thwarted by intimidate cycling or just double targeting. Choice Band is also really strong, and lets Snorlax come in and dish damage and get out, and can fit a lot of good moves like Facade, HP Bug, Brick Break, etc. Rest sets are also an option, and can even be run next to Heal Bell Pokemon.
Gyarados is great as a Dragon Dance Sweeper with earthquake and either hp rock or flying, but can also be a support pokemon due to its good typing, movepool, and intimidate. It can run support moves like icy wind, thunder wave, roar, and even leer. Just know the opponent almost always has a Zapdos and plan accordingly in the builder.
Everyone knows Ludicolo is the rain threat that it is, capable of helping set up rain with fake out, and then having amazing coverage to hit just about everything. But it’s more than just that, it can also bea rain check for teams that need it while fitting in stuff like icy wind, weather, toxic, leech seed, etc. that lets it function outside of rain. Ludicolo has really great typing and goes well with a lot of the best threats like Zapdos and Metagross.
Lightningrod with ground typing and a massive attack stat with thick club makes Marowak an excellent combination of offensive threat and enabling other threats. Obviously goes well with Gyarados, but can also pair with Aerodactyl, Suicune, and Metagross, or anything that doesn’t want to be hit by Zapdos or T Wave. I highly recommend running at or near max spdef bulk, the attack is high enough with Thick Club, and you want this to take as long to take down as possible while its ally is doing its thing. You can run either EQ or Bonemarang, ancientpower or HP Rock, and then other moves like Icy Wind, Brick Break, HP Bug, Toxic, Perish Song, etc.
Excellent as a rain setter due to its great speed tier, but can also just be a calm mind pokemon with thunderbolt and hp ice. The only downside is how prevalent earthquake is as a move.
A super threatening Pokemon on rain, not too much more to say. Most other sets like icy wind would just be done better by other Pokemon.
Aerodactyl has definitely fallen off as the metagame has gotten bulkier, but it’s still a great late game cleaner. The best speed in the meta combined with pretty solid coverage & a choice band lets it chunk large portions of the metagame. Also can fish for flinches when you need it…when there’s a rock slide there’s a way. I’ve also played around with some other sets with white herb, stuff like weather moves, taunt, toxic, etc.
Pure fire typing is kinda rough in the metagame, but despite this Arcanine is still a solid pokemon. Intimidate + beating Metagross will always have some value, and Arcanine gets a good support movepool to help make it useful, stuff like toxic, roar, safeguard, helping hand etc. just stop leading it, cause it has such a negative matchup into full rain… or just run sunny day.
A pretty decent Choice Band user since it gets some good coverage and clear body, but the defensive typing and speed means it really wants to have light screen active. Despite this, Ancientpower, Earthquake, superpower, and HP bug does a great job of checking a lot of the bulky Pokemon (other than waters). It can just run leftovers sets with like Thunder wave or toxic, but those sets are probably better fits for other Pokemon.
Tyranitar is a solid Dragon Dancer with HP rock and Earthquake, but again rock typing isn’t great defensively. Half the reason to use Tyranitar is for its ability to help out vs opposing weather, but it is not nearly enough to check rain, you still need bulky water/grasses/Blissey.
Hariyama is a pretty excellent blissey/snorlax check that has a good support movepool with fake out, whirlwind, and helping hand that lets it be a best friend to calm mind users. It also has a high attack stat, can run Brick Break, and two good abilities, so on the right teams it can be a great fit.
Starmie can be a fast dual screener with water/electric coverage or it can just be an offensive water, however its bulk leaves a lot to be desired, so it’s hard to find opportunities for it to do everything it wants to.
Probably the best support pokemon in the tier with good bulk and follow me, healing, and icy wind. But if it’s not next to a set up threat, it can struggle to accomplish much.
One of the bulkiest pokemon in the tier that has a great mix of physical and special bulk, but outside of thunder wave it struggles to do much. It can run some fun psych up or defensive set up sets, but outside of that it’s mostly just clicking thunder wave and seismic toss and counter, so if it plays against teams with checks to t wave it’s deadweight.
Heracross is a hard hitter that has some good matchups into a few of the bulky Pokemon like Celebi & Blissey, but its speed tier and bulk leave a lot to be desired. I like using a white herb set with megahorn, brick break, hp rock and either protect or EQ, and pair it with an icy winder or two who can help it overcome its poor speed tier. It can also be a status absorber with guts, making it an excellent switch in to Blissey & Registeel.
May be back into tier 3, it had dropped in my eyes due to the amount of Celebi and Zapdos was commonly running hp grass, but I think HP Ice Zap is becoming more common. Swampert is good as a bulky water that resists electric moves, but not actually resisting water makes it not nearly as effective as others as a rain check. Icy wind + Earthquake + Roar though has some good value.
An excellent threat on Sun, since it has great special attack and solar beam hits really hard. But outside of that niche, it doesn’t have much else going for it, and you’d always want Celebi over it.
Great stats and an interesting movepool (icy wind/heal bell/mist/roar/weather/toxic/agility) but having a bad matchup into both Metagross & Zapdos and HP rock is tough for it.
Cool pokemon that hits super hard on Sun, and can also run like wisp + morning sun, but needs to be run with good rain checks and there’s a lot of rock moves.
Has decent typing, speed, and ability that lets it wall Tauros, and get off some cool support moves like will-o-wisp, skill swap, taunt, haze, perish song, etc. Yet unless you’re building around those specific moves, it’s just too frail to do much. Gone are the days where it was on 60% of teams just because it was a boom immunity, and rightly so, because it doesn’t offer too much else.
Has seen some play on a cool team where you skill swap it levitate, then use calm mind, since then it’s only weakness is fire moves which are fairly rare. While it does have a cool movepool and ability, it’s generally stuck between an offensive set that’s worse than Metagross, or a defensive/support set that’s worse than Registeel. But maybe with the right combination of moves you can find a niche.
Pretty much just ran as a Swords Dance Baton Passer, white herb is its best item.
A nice bulky water that gets access to recover, but otherwise is worse than Suicune as it doesn’t get calm mind. So if you want to pass it offensive boosts, you have to run psych up or baton pass to it.
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UR -> T4
UR -> T4