Resource Ask a Simple Question, Get a Simple Answer: Monotype Edition

[Neko]

Monotype seems like such an interesting meta to try out. I have alot of questions.

1: Why are Kingambit and Zamazenta banned?

2: What are considered the three best monotype teams and why?

3: Why are certain Pokemon that are banned in standard play allowed in Monotype? I’m aware that Eleki, and Volcarona are legal due to Terastilization being banned. I am also aware that since Archaludon can’t pair with Pelipper and Sneasler can’t pair with Rillaboom, those two are legal as well. But I am curious about Pokemon like Flutter Mane, Spectrier, Landorus-I, and Urshifu-Rapid Strike being allowed.

4: What is one bit of advice you would give to players getting into Monotype?

Meowdy
1.
Zamazenta is a bit easier to answer. Zamazenta is banned due to its speed (only outpaced by Dragapult here), which lets it get the upper hand immediately through boosting with Iron Defense or just attacking (if a Choice Band set). Mono's restriction on ..well..being monotype meant that types like Fire, Dragon, Ground, Fighting have to resort to unconventional methods to circumvent ID, like Clodsire, Volcarona, Wisp Pult, Scarf Val or their own Zama. However, if you kinda notice these guys are really ultrakilled by CB Zama (Stone Edge/Ice Fang/Crunch are the most common coverage it uses) bar Iron Val.

Fighting teams usually rely on trying to batter down the opposing team by loading multiple threats that basically almost do the same thing, so the counterplay to these threats, if you did make an oopsie (chucking Volc to CB Zama), that Fighting becomes extremely scary and they will likely win atp. Because Zama is the fastest and most versatile (in terms of beating checks), it has to go first.

Is more of a mon that could be not banned had it not been on Dark and Steel. Kingambit's comeback mechanic in S.O., coupled with its bulk and how Steel and Dark plays (Hazard stack + Wearing down opposing teams with immunities [Steel] / Packing a million breakers [Dark]) makes this guy very lethal as fighting types that would resist sucker would get worn down over the course of the match (see: Boots Keld being used in water over Urshi even tho Urshi more broadly useful just because of Vacuum Wave). Bisharp pales in comparison since Bish doesnt have an up to 50% boost + a possible boosting item + its frail and its speed increase hardly matters (bar skarm mu).

2. Three best monotype teams is an iffy question. In theory there are but ...matchups happen. Personally speaking though, the following teams are generally reliable bar their poorest matchups

Flying Stall - Loses to Swift Swim water and Urshifu. Remedying this means you need to add Dragonite in, which means you drop Moltres. Dropping Moltres leaves you vulnerable to Choice Band Meowscarada and have a harder time breaking Steel. Dropping Articuno leaves you vulnerable to Kyurem / Latios (Dragon), Greninja, Primarina, etc.

Fighting ft. Scrafty - Loses to Fairy due to the Scarfer does not beat Flutter Mane, Scrafty is mostly useless if Latios or Dragapult isnt in the opposing team, Toxapex mu is shaky since no one actually kills it, SD Sneasler and Urshifu are broken tho so matchups unlisted would be doable. Gallade helps in the Toxapex and Latios matchups, but no AV hands means you're much vulnerable to Torn-T. 2 AV Fighting is too much bulk and leaves you open to not ...being able to kill stuff.

Dragon ft. Latios x Garchomp - Struggles to break Flying Stall's defensive core due to Latios/Garch/Pult being walled by Articuno/Gliscor/Torn-T core, Dragon mirrors in general are pretty sucky gameplay, Balanced Water might be hard to break depending on Luster Purge proccing SpD drop, SD Sneasler can be problematic and needs careful Hisuian Goodra Gooey gameplay, Dark's breaking core on Darkrai x Gren x Meow can overwhelm it. Other matchups are positive to being really easy

3. I'm a Flutter Mane hater (wanting it gone since 2023) and cannot answer the question bar "its easy to force out to revenge kill" and "dedicated special walls like Clodsire and Hisuian Goodra exist"

Spectrier is held back by Ghost being a sussy pick in general due to its lack of counterplay to Dark (and Roaring Moon/Meow/Hisuian Samurott specifically) that isnt easy to exploit, and the success of Flutter Mane and Dragapult which eviscerates Ghost teams

Landorus-I is "too slow" as everyone zooms past it right now with Latis, Ogerpon forms, Pults, Flutter Manes, Iron Treads, etc. Aside from the Steel, there isnt really a "defensive" core teams that exist and are good that are threatened by the Lando, most types in SV are offensive.

4. I'm not exactly a great player to offer top tier advice, but I sincerely think people should try mono with using more than one type. Its frustrating sometimes to see people going "oh Poison's my baby and I want to see Lando banned because it beats up that type without very specific mons" or "Urshifu-R is evil because it just ran through my Ground team after an SD, I cant control it" when sometimes the solution is to just ...swap types. Idk. Also playing multiple types gives insight on what actually breaks those types which is useful when you are facing that type.

Hope this helps

 

[Error403HRD]

I always have issues when it comes to picking items for my teams. I'm currently building a Mono Bug team, and would like to know if using an Assault Vest on Ice Scales Frosmoth is a good idea, or a waste of an item slot? If it matters, the other members are: Forretress (Leftovers), Araquanid (Muscle Band), Galvantula (Wise Glasses), Volcarona (Life Orb, tentatively), and Slither Wing (Heavy Duty Boots).

 

[Pengairxan]

I always have issues when it comes to picking items for my teams. I'm currently building a Mono Bug team, and would like to know if using an Assault Vest on Ice Scales Frosmoth is a good idea, or a waste of an item slot? If it matters, the other members are: Forretress (Leftovers), Araquanid (Muscle Band), Galvantula (Wise Glasses), Volcarona (Life Orb, tentatively), and Slither Wing (Heavy Duty Boots).

Assault Vest on Frosmoth doesn't offer much as while it makes it an incredible short term special tank, Frosmoth lacks the typing to eat special moves comfortably, still retains is crippling Stealth Rock weakness and is denied access to it's most important tool, Quiver Dance, which is the sole reason it find viability in the first place. If looking for a good item for Frosmoth Heavy Duty-Boots should be used as it patches up it's Stealth Rock weakness.

If looking to find good items in the future, I would highly recommend the sample monotype sets as most relevant Pokemon within the metagame have one written and all include sample items which are generally the best item to be using on said Pokemon. Frosmoth's analysis is here for an example: https://www.smogon.com/dex/sv/pokemon/frosmoth/monotype/

 

[Sugarbear]

I always have issues when it comes to picking items for my teams. I'm currently building a Mono Bug team, and would like to know if using an Assault Vest on Ice Scales Frosmoth is a good idea, or a waste of an item slot? If it matters, the other members are: Forretress (Leftovers), Araquanid (Muscle Band), Galvantula (Wise Glasses), Volcarona (Life Orb, tentatively), and Slither Wing (Heavy Duty Boots).

Frosmoth needs Heavy Duty Boots to not get crippled by Stealth Rock, plus its best set is SubQuiver Dance, which shreds balance Water once Empoleon is gone.

Leftovers is good on Foretress, though Heavy Duty Boots works too to preserve Sturdy. If you’re running a Suicide Lead set you could go with Custap Berry.

Glvantula is best with Focus Sash. Volcarona also needs Heavy Duty Boots for the same reasons as Frosmoth.

Splash Plate is a better item on Araquanid than Muscle Band, since you’ll likely be using Water moves most of the time. Slither Wing I’d go with Life Orb

 

[Jahkem]

How long does the application review for the Monotype Teambuilding Workshop take?

 

[uppa]

is there a resource stating how viable each type is in the current meta? i understand there's a vr thread for the mons within each type, but ranking grass mons in a vacuum vs dark mons in a vacuum side-by-side makes it misleading when youre wanting a holistic sense of the meta. i reckon this is something seasoned players can just intuit, but it'd be greatly appreciated if someone can point me to that, even if its just the raw winrates/usage for each type in tours

 

[RoyalReloaded]

is there a resource stating how viable each type is in the current meta? i understand there's a vr thread for the mons within each type, but ranking grass mons in a vacuum vs dark mons in a vacuum side-by-side makes it misleading when youre wanting a holistic sense of the meta. i reckon this is something seasoned players can just intuit, but it'd be greatly appreciated if someone can point me to that, even if its just the raw winrates/usage for each type in tours

not officially but the usage rates from the mpl that ended a week or two ago is pretty indicative of whats good / bad. obviously people will think some of the usage rates arent indicative of how good / bad a type is but yea its a decent starting point

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...kGKy73A7kg/edit?gid=1374096210#gid=1374096210

 

[Neko]

is there a resource stating how viable each type is in the current meta? i understand there's a vr thread for the mons within each type, but ranking grass mons in a vacuum vs dark mons in a vacuum side-by-side makes it misleading when youre wanting a holistic sense of the meta. i reckon this is something seasoned players can just intuit, but it'd be greatly appreciated if someone can point me to that, even if its just the raw winrates/usage for each type in tours

Raw Winrates / Usage (Individual)
MPL Usage is linked in the OP, but its kinda screwed (Link to replays per week / Usage Stats)
Unofficial Viability Rankings here and here. No Type Viability Rankings as its kinda is hard to maintain and properly vet due to Ladder / Tournament differences (i.e. Steel winrate in Tour vs Ladder).

Thoughts on what I think on some types are below the spoiler (dw, this is a c/p from someone who asked meow recently)

meowing

Best types include
Dragon: BST Monsters with a coherent defensive core in Archaludon Hisui Goodra to take all Dragon, Ice, Fairy moves on both ends with ease. Paired with scary strong offensive threats like Latios Dragapult Kyurem Garchomp Raging Bolt and competent scarfers in Latias and Roaring Meown make this type amazing as a generalist type (or a pick to specifically murder matchups, for instance a Kyu Raging core just dumpsters fly/water)

Dark: Is in a similar boat to dragon with solid defensive picks with Tinglu, Mandibuzz, and Sab/Alolan Muk as necessary coupled with functionally op in mono prot users like Meow and Gren. It also doesnt have a shortage of good setups either with Darkrai, Hisuian Samurott, and wallbreakers like Hoopa-U. Dark ends up with a slightly weaker defensive core compared to dragon for having the fastest viable Scarfer in Meow + much accessible hazard stacking.

Flying: Is the type everyone preps for and the gold standard of balance in SV. When you have access to walls with consistent recovery like Gliscor, Corviknight, Skarmory Articuno, and Moltres, have a decent speed tier spread offensively in Torn-T, Lando, and Enam, and great cleaners in Dragonite and Choice Scarf Enam, almost every mu will rely on your skills and piloting more than the actual mu themselves (i.e. They dont have to be bothered to try and win quick since no scarfer easily cleans the type because you'll always have a check).

The following types are still considered top, but they're (imo) shakier versions of the above types:

Steel: Unlike Flying this has a complete immunity core in Heatran, Skarmory, and Gholdengo to prevent people from exploiting the type's conceptual weakenesses in Fire, Ground, and Fight. Couple this with Archaludon and they are also set against decently strong Physical threats like Ogerpon. So why do I call it a shakier flying? Its due to the lack of good spdef walls that have recovery and answers Steel's issue. Sure, Hisuian Goodra is there but it gets 2hkoed by Lando, or murdered by Secret Sword by Keldeo and gets whittled down over time due to lack of recovery. Also, running goodra means this team is much more passive as Goodra is usually less punishing than what Glisc Torn Moltres does, and cannot keep momentum due to the lack of Uturn.

Fighting: Fighting amps up the offensive nature of Dark and Dragon in return of playing on a timer. Great Tusk, Iron Hands, Gallade, and Scrafty can only last for so long, so Fighting's strategy is to try and beat the opposing team as quickly as possible. Offensively, Fighting has really good threats in MixVal, SD Sneasler, Urshifu-R, and Iron Hands that can really bully lots of types. It does sting that Fighting does not have a scarfer to outspeed Scarf Extrassensory Gren or PR Meow, but Gallade and Iron Hands/Tusk can take one and OHKO/Knock the scarf if needed.

Somewhere in the middle are Fairy, Fire, Ground, Ghost, Poison, and Water whose archetypes are similar to one of the top types:

Fairy is just Fighting types with screens and shakier speed control since no one apparently runs a scarfer when they play it (Scarf Flutter Mane/Enamorus woooo)

Ground is the premier weather type, great but everyone runs Ice Beam or Ogerpon so sad. Stall Ground is viable, but Imo worse than water. But still thats stall so ew.

Fire is the other premier weather type. Its do or die though since you dont have lots of defensive backbone unlike Ground which can afford Clodsire and Hippo.

Ghost is just Fighting types without the op hazard setter. Its stronger, but Scarf Meow and Roaring Moon is so common and you're screwed unless you have or Scarf FM (loses to Hisuian Goodra)

Water is either a weaker Flying due to its ability to run balance decently enough, or competing with Ground as a rain archetype. Its best archetype is stall though. But its stall.

Poison is a weaker Steel due to either being too passive (running only Slowking-G + Sneasler/Iron Moth) or not quite being able to wall threats like FM and Latios (dropping Slowking-G for more offense). It also loses to Gliscor.

Weakest types in mono are elec grass rock

Elec is a weird case due to in theory, you have great mons like Rotom, Raging Bolt, and Iron Hands. However, these guys have not so great speedtiers, getting tossed around by threats like Flutter Mane, Latios, Spectrier, Darkrai, Ogerpon, Volcarona, and Iron Valiant. No HP Ice means your counterplay vs Gliscor (and Landorus) is going to be a Pawmot...or other guys like Oricorio which doesnt really work so well against the rest of Flying/Ground core. Screens elec is being explored but when you dont have much to deal with Dragon, Fighting, Dark, and Ghost (and Fire...and a lot more), are only "ok" vs Flying and Steel, there's no point to use the type.

Grass lacks ferrothorn, which would've shored up the type's weakness to Ice moves and provide SR. While this sounds a lot more tamer than the stuff I just said about elec, it just so happens everyone has an ice move because its good vs Gliscor and Dragons. So stuff like Triple Axel Meow, Ice Beam Gren/Latios/Darkrai, Ice Punch would give the type a really bad time. It also doesnt have enough good mons either, forcing Meowscarada-Amoonguss-Ogerpon core to hard carry half the time (Other good mons include Sinistcha, Hisui Lilligant, Breloom, Brambleghast, but these arent good enough compared to other types)

Rock just lacks sticky webs tbh. Also being foddered by Archaludon / Fighting / Meowscarada+Greninja / Gliscor+Steel Bird / Iron Valiant isnt great. If it did get sticky webs it would be a decent type

I hope this helped maybe.

 

[uppa]

thank you both for the prompt and helpful response <3

 

[Dead by Daylight]

is there a resource stating how viable each type is in the current meta? i understand there's a vr thread for the mons within each type, but ranking grass mons in a vacuum vs dark mons in a vacuum side-by-side makes it misleading when youre wanting a holistic sense of the meta. i reckon this is something seasoned players can just intuit, but it'd be greatly appreciated if someone can point me to that, even if its just the raw winrates/usage for each type in tours

I may be incorrect but type VRs usually come out once a generation becomes a past gen - if you want to see the viability of types in the current generation, you’d have to look through tournament stats like Royal provided above.