The next battle spot special for Season 10 has been announced, and it heralds the return of what might be the most popular Battle Spot Special: Inverse Battles!
Now, since we had this metagame before in XY, the cool thing is that we can go into this season much more prepared for the battle spot special than usual, and I'm going to take advantage of that by using this post a quick and dirty primer to how the metagame was last season. In the near future, I want for us to have a threat list for this metagame, so it will be easier for new guys to join in on the fun! For now though, let's cover the basics!
What are Inverse Battles?
Inverse is a strange metagame that flips what you know about Pokémon on its head. Much like Battle Spot Singles, its a 3vs3 metagame, but with a huge twist: The typing chart is completely reversed! Pokemon that were weak to a type now resist it, while Pokemon who resisted or immune to a type are now weak to it! This DRAMATICALLY changes a lot of team building factors as you can imagine! Note though, status immunities (with the exception of Thunder Wave effecting Ground-types now) stay the same, so you won't be able to burn that Talonflame, sorry!
What are the big threats to watch out for?
Good question! Thankfully, the usage stats from last year's Inverse Ladder are still onsite, so browsing through it is a pretty good idea! I'll cover some of the threats below as well. You'll notice a lot of familiar faces from Battle Spot Singles in the top 12 in particular, but don't let your guard down: The typing changes still dramatically effect them!
The Top 12 From Last Year
1. Mega Kangaskhan
In Inverse, NOTHING resists Normal, which makes Mega Kangaskhan even SCARIER than usual! Since Normal STAB covered everything anyways, Mega Kangaskhan no longer needed Earthquake, meaning it could carry Fake Out AND Power-Up Punch with pretty much no drawbacks! If you thought preparing for Mega Kangaskhan was important in Singles, then think double that for this metagame!
2. Mega Gengar / Gengar
Being weak to Normal is normally really bad news for anything in this metagame, but Gengar bucks the trend thanks to its impressive speed, power, and Ghost stab. Mega Gengar often used Protect to save itself from Mega Kangaskhan's Fake Out, then used Shadow Ball to KO it after a tiny bit of residual damage, making it extremely valuable! Regular Gengar was no slouch either, since the fast Ghost STAB alone still made it worth it if you were planning on using the mega slot or someting else. This also lets Gengar keep levitate, making it one of the few Pokemon to have the valuable immunity to Earthquake!
3. Breloom
Breloom absolutely loves Inverse. Grass is now an extremely potent offensive typing, hitting important types such as Dragon supereffectively. Most importantly though, it hits other Grass-types super effectively, making switching into Spore even more of an ordeal than usual! Mach Punch also gets a boost. While Breloom struggled more against Mega Kangaskhan than before, Mach Punch also now gets an easy OHKO on Mega Gengar, and smashes up Latios and Talonflame.
4. Garchomp
The king of Battle Spot Singles was still no slouch here! In some ways, Garchomp got even better: Nothing is immune to Earthquake or Outrage now, so Garchomp's choice sets are more deadly here than usual. It's also one of the few Dragon-types that isn't weak to Grass, which comes in handy since Garchomp can Earthquake those into the oblivion! Just note though, Garchomp is now 4x weak to Electric-type attacks, and can also now be paralyzed by Thunder Wave.
5. Porygon2
Porygon2 did do its usual defensive stuff in this metagame (note, this was before people really thought about Offensive Porygon2), but thanks to it having that amazing Norma-type STAB, Porygon2 never left home without Tri Attack! It actually did 88% to minimum HP Mega Gengar (this was more common than max HP because it needed the power for Mega Kangaskhan), so Porygon2 is harder to trap than normal. It also sometimes ran Thunderbolt, letting it score super effective hits against Garchomp, Latios, and Breloom.
6. Latios
Finally, a new face! Latios has the special disticnction of being one of the few Pokemon in inverse who can take both Dragon AND Ground-type attacks, which was the secret to its success. This thing was the most reliable offensive Garchomp check around thanks to its typing and Thunderbolt, and Latios could spam Draco Meteor with no problem now that only Dragon resisted it! Usually, they were Choice Specs, but Life Orb and Scarf weren't unheard of either. The Mach Punch weakness was a bummer, but thankfully, it also resisted Sucker Punch, meaning you could revenge Mega Kangaskhan with Draco Meteor!
7. Cresselia
Cresselia functions pretty similarly here as it does in Battle Spot Singles. While Ice Beam was sadly not nearly as good in this metagame, Cresselia still makes do with Psychic to hit Latios, and as a bonus, Mega Gengar didn't usually carry Taunt so Cresselia could tank its Sludge Bombs. Also, Thunder Wave hits Ground-types now too, so Garchomp still isn't a fan of Cresselia! You could even run Energy Ball if you were especially scared of Dragonite or Talonflame.
8. Talonflame
The Smogon bird runs pretty much the same exact sets as usual here, because as you'd expect, powerful priority Brave Birds are still pretty wonderful! However, something very interesting to note: A LOT more Talonflame ran Jolly than usual. The reason for this was because Jolly let Talonflame outspeed Latios, which came in handy since you could fry it with Flare Blitz. Especially handy if you're using Life Orb Talonflame, since Brave Bird would lose that 75% chance to OHKO Latios, while Flare Blitz still annihilated it. Also, funnily enough, Talonflame had a 4x resist to Stealth Rock, as rare as that was at the time. Just note though: Breloom is now a big problem for Talonflame, and Avalugg destroys you unless you run Will-O-Wisp.
9. Dragonite
Dragonite does gain an unfortunate array of weaknesses to stuff like Grass, Ground, Fire, and Water, but thankfully, Multiscale saved it! Most of these were Dragon Dancers, with a wide array of items ranging from Weakness Policy to Lum Berry. Dragon of course, is almost unreisisted in this metagame, so Dragonite was still a deadly sweeper. Choice Band was also a thing, which was helped by ExtremeSpeed allowing it to snipe Mega Gengar.
10. Avalugg
Avalugg is the posterchild for how inverse can make unusual Pokémon a LOT better! In inverse, Ice becomes a great defensive typing, being only weak to itself. Avalugg is INSANELY physically bulky, AND it has Recover. Pair this with Rocky Helmet, and you have a physical wall so great that 17% of Mega Kangaskhan were running Ice Beam JUST so they wouldn't lose to this thing! Be careful though: While its Special Defense sucks, around half of Avalugg were carrying Mirror Coat, which when paired with Sturdy, would let Avalugg often take out important Pokemon like Latios in emergencies!
11. Chansey
Inverse makes Chansey a lot more annoying than usual. Gone is that exploitable Fighting weakness, so unless you're Gengar, you won't be exploiting its Ghost weakness very well. These things often used Minimize, which is honestly sorta scary if they pull it off. I mean sure, boosting physical Attackers such as Garchomp, Mega Kangaskhan, and Talonflame can still break past it... but still, this thing could be infuriating last year if you weren't prepared for it!
12. Greninja
I'm gonna be honest: I wasn't really a big fan of Greninja in inverse, but it did make the top 12 for a reason! Greninja would often resist Mach Punch thanks to Ice Beam and Dark Pulse, meaning that unlike Gengar and Latios, Greninja was a special attacker that could ACTUALLY revenge kill Breloom! Also, Greninja usually ran Grass Knot. This was for more than just slamming Dragonite: It also gave Greninja a Flying resist, screwing up Talonflame! Extrasensory was around too, usually to hit Latios and Cresselia harder, while also giving it a Sucker Punch resistance.
What about other Pokémon?
Of course, there were more Pokémon used than just the top 12! I'm going to keep it brief for now since this thread is already getting rather big, but I'll expand on the other Pokemon later! For now, I'm going to have two hide lists with short descriptions. One about Normal types (seriously, Normal-types are huge in this metagame), and one about the other Pokémon. Make sure to look at the usage stats for more details!
I'm probably forgetting a bunch of Pokémon too, so let me know if you played last year and remember some Pokémon!
In a way, much of this post has been a reflection of the past, since Gamefreak had an inverse ladder last year as well. HOWEVER... This thread is more about the future! With Inverse returning, and Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire's shake up, its now time to look at how the Inverse metagame will change! Let's use the past to figure out the future in this new, crazy metagame!
Now, since we had this metagame before in XY, the cool thing is that we can go into this season much more prepared for the battle spot special than usual, and I'm going to take advantage of that by using this post a quick and dirty primer to how the metagame was last season. In the near future, I want for us to have a threat list for this metagame, so it will be easier for new guys to join in on the fun! For now though, let's cover the basics!
What are Inverse Battles?
Inverse is a strange metagame that flips what you know about Pokémon on its head. Much like Battle Spot Singles, its a 3vs3 metagame, but with a huge twist: The typing chart is completely reversed! Pokemon that were weak to a type now resist it, while Pokemon who resisted or immune to a type are now weak to it! This DRAMATICALLY changes a lot of team building factors as you can imagine! Note though, status immunities (with the exception of Thunder Wave effecting Ground-types now) stay the same, so you won't be able to burn that Talonflame, sorry!
What are the big threats to watch out for?
Good question! Thankfully, the usage stats from last year's Inverse Ladder are still onsite, so browsing through it is a pretty good idea! I'll cover some of the threats below as well. You'll notice a lot of familiar faces from Battle Spot Singles in the top 12 in particular, but don't let your guard down: The typing changes still dramatically effect them!
The Top 12 From Last Year
1. Mega Kangaskhan
In Inverse, NOTHING resists Normal, which makes Mega Kangaskhan even SCARIER than usual! Since Normal STAB covered everything anyways, Mega Kangaskhan no longer needed Earthquake, meaning it could carry Fake Out AND Power-Up Punch with pretty much no drawbacks! If you thought preparing for Mega Kangaskhan was important in Singles, then think double that for this metagame!
2. Mega Gengar / Gengar
Being weak to Normal is normally really bad news for anything in this metagame, but Gengar bucks the trend thanks to its impressive speed, power, and Ghost stab. Mega Gengar often used Protect to save itself from Mega Kangaskhan's Fake Out, then used Shadow Ball to KO it after a tiny bit of residual damage, making it extremely valuable! Regular Gengar was no slouch either, since the fast Ghost STAB alone still made it worth it if you were planning on using the mega slot or someting else. This also lets Gengar keep levitate, making it one of the few Pokemon to have the valuable immunity to Earthquake!
3. Breloom
Breloom absolutely loves Inverse. Grass is now an extremely potent offensive typing, hitting important types such as Dragon supereffectively. Most importantly though, it hits other Grass-types super effectively, making switching into Spore even more of an ordeal than usual! Mach Punch also gets a boost. While Breloom struggled more against Mega Kangaskhan than before, Mach Punch also now gets an easy OHKO on Mega Gengar, and smashes up Latios and Talonflame.
4. Garchomp
The king of Battle Spot Singles was still no slouch here! In some ways, Garchomp got even better: Nothing is immune to Earthquake or Outrage now, so Garchomp's choice sets are more deadly here than usual. It's also one of the few Dragon-types that isn't weak to Grass, which comes in handy since Garchomp can Earthquake those into the oblivion! Just note though, Garchomp is now 4x weak to Electric-type attacks, and can also now be paralyzed by Thunder Wave.
5. Porygon2
Porygon2 did do its usual defensive stuff in this metagame (note, this was before people really thought about Offensive Porygon2), but thanks to it having that amazing Norma-type STAB, Porygon2 never left home without Tri Attack! It actually did 88% to minimum HP Mega Gengar (this was more common than max HP because it needed the power for Mega Kangaskhan), so Porygon2 is harder to trap than normal. It also sometimes ran Thunderbolt, letting it score super effective hits against Garchomp, Latios, and Breloom.
6. Latios
Finally, a new face! Latios has the special disticnction of being one of the few Pokemon in inverse who can take both Dragon AND Ground-type attacks, which was the secret to its success. This thing was the most reliable offensive Garchomp check around thanks to its typing and Thunderbolt, and Latios could spam Draco Meteor with no problem now that only Dragon resisted it! Usually, they were Choice Specs, but Life Orb and Scarf weren't unheard of either. The Mach Punch weakness was a bummer, but thankfully, it also resisted Sucker Punch, meaning you could revenge Mega Kangaskhan with Draco Meteor!
7. Cresselia
Cresselia functions pretty similarly here as it does in Battle Spot Singles. While Ice Beam was sadly not nearly as good in this metagame, Cresselia still makes do with Psychic to hit Latios, and as a bonus, Mega Gengar didn't usually carry Taunt so Cresselia could tank its Sludge Bombs. Also, Thunder Wave hits Ground-types now too, so Garchomp still isn't a fan of Cresselia! You could even run Energy Ball if you were especially scared of Dragonite or Talonflame.
8. Talonflame
The Smogon bird runs pretty much the same exact sets as usual here, because as you'd expect, powerful priority Brave Birds are still pretty wonderful! However, something very interesting to note: A LOT more Talonflame ran Jolly than usual. The reason for this was because Jolly let Talonflame outspeed Latios, which came in handy since you could fry it with Flare Blitz. Especially handy if you're using Life Orb Talonflame, since Brave Bird would lose that 75% chance to OHKO Latios, while Flare Blitz still annihilated it. Also, funnily enough, Talonflame had a 4x resist to Stealth Rock, as rare as that was at the time. Just note though: Breloom is now a big problem for Talonflame, and Avalugg destroys you unless you run Will-O-Wisp.
9. Dragonite
Dragonite does gain an unfortunate array of weaknesses to stuff like Grass, Ground, Fire, and Water, but thankfully, Multiscale saved it! Most of these were Dragon Dancers, with a wide array of items ranging from Weakness Policy to Lum Berry. Dragon of course, is almost unreisisted in this metagame, so Dragonite was still a deadly sweeper. Choice Band was also a thing, which was helped by ExtremeSpeed allowing it to snipe Mega Gengar.
10. Avalugg
Avalugg is the posterchild for how inverse can make unusual Pokémon a LOT better! In inverse, Ice becomes a great defensive typing, being only weak to itself. Avalugg is INSANELY physically bulky, AND it has Recover. Pair this with Rocky Helmet, and you have a physical wall so great that 17% of Mega Kangaskhan were running Ice Beam JUST so they wouldn't lose to this thing! Be careful though: While its Special Defense sucks, around half of Avalugg were carrying Mirror Coat, which when paired with Sturdy, would let Avalugg often take out important Pokemon like Latios in emergencies!
11. Chansey
Inverse makes Chansey a lot more annoying than usual. Gone is that exploitable Fighting weakness, so unless you're Gengar, you won't be exploiting its Ghost weakness very well. These things often used Minimize, which is honestly sorta scary if they pull it off. I mean sure, boosting physical Attackers such as Garchomp, Mega Kangaskhan, and Talonflame can still break past it... but still, this thing could be infuriating last year if you weren't prepared for it!
12. Greninja
I'm gonna be honest: I wasn't really a big fan of Greninja in inverse, but it did make the top 12 for a reason! Greninja would often resist Mach Punch thanks to Ice Beam and Dark Pulse, meaning that unlike Gengar and Latios, Greninja was a special attacker that could ACTUALLY revenge kill Breloom! Also, Greninja usually ran Grass Knot. This was for more than just slamming Dragonite: It also gave Greninja a Flying resist, screwing up Talonflame! Extrasensory was around too, usually to hit Latios and Cresselia harder, while also giving it a Sucker Punch resistance.
What about other Pokémon?
Of course, there were more Pokémon used than just the top 12! I'm going to keep it brief for now since this thread is already getting rather big, but I'll expand on the other Pokemon later! For now, I'm going to have two hide lists with short descriptions. One about Normal types (seriously, Normal-types are huge in this metagame), and one about the other Pokémon. Make sure to look at the usage stats for more details!
I'm probably forgetting a bunch of Pokémon too, so let me know if you played last year and remember some Pokémon!
Snorlax: Snorlax comes back with a vengeance! Curselax was no joke, with that great special bulk to take a Shadow Ball, and perfect coverage giving it versatility in the last slot. Most of the time, I saw Rest + Sleep Talk, but I also saw some more exotic things such as Choice Band with Selfdestruct, elemental punches, and even Fissure!
Miltank: Miltank's big selling point was Sap Sipper. This thing was one of the more common Breloom checks, taking Spores and Bullet Seeds like nothing! It was also fairly versatile: The only real constant was Milk Drink, a Normal STAB, and often Rocky Helmet. Otherwise, expect to see anything from status spreading, Curse, or even Stealth Rock!
Porygon-Z: This was mostly a simple Choice Scarfer, and it was fairly powerful since nothing resisted Normal. On a weird note, a lot of them ran Uproar. Uproar is a bit more powerful than Tri Attack, but locks you in. The reason it was ran was because it made Porygon-Z immune to Sleep, which meant that Breloom couldn't Spore you (granted, Bullet Seed still did truckloads, but at least something else couldn't set up on you!)
Bouffalant: AFROBULL IS GOOD NOW! Not common, but it was a really good Choice Bander thanks to Sap Sipper making it a good offensive Breloom check. I had a lot of success with this thing myself, I should probably post the set later in this thread...
Furfrou: I almost never saw this thing without Chansey, so my team didn't have too much trouble with it. Usually, they ran Cotton Guard to make physical attacks hit like packing peanuts, and Return to hit Gengar switch-ins.
Miltank: Miltank's big selling point was Sap Sipper. This thing was one of the more common Breloom checks, taking Spores and Bullet Seeds like nothing! It was also fairly versatile: The only real constant was Milk Drink, a Normal STAB, and often Rocky Helmet. Otherwise, expect to see anything from status spreading, Curse, or even Stealth Rock!
Porygon-Z: This was mostly a simple Choice Scarfer, and it was fairly powerful since nothing resisted Normal. On a weird note, a lot of them ran Uproar. Uproar is a bit more powerful than Tri Attack, but locks you in. The reason it was ran was because it made Porygon-Z immune to Sleep, which meant that Breloom couldn't Spore you (granted, Bullet Seed still did truckloads, but at least something else couldn't set up on you!)
Bouffalant: AFROBULL IS GOOD NOW! Not common, but it was a really good Choice Bander thanks to Sap Sipper making it a good offensive Breloom check. I had a lot of success with this thing myself, I should probably post the set later in this thread...
Furfrou: I almost never saw this thing without Chansey, so my team didn't have too much trouble with it. Usually, they ran Cotton Guard to make physical attacks hit like packing peanuts, and Return to hit Gengar switch-ins.
Mega Alakazam: This thing was a bit weird and ocasionally situational, but could be a serious threat just because of Mega Kangaskhan. With Trace and Shadow Ball, Alakzam could finish off weakened Mega Kangaskhan, and then rampage through teams with a Parental Bond of its own! It also used Protect to avoid Fake Out. Outside of that, it wasn't as great, but it wasn't without merit either. Energy Ball let it pick off Dragonite and Mega Gengar, Psychic / Psyshock anhilated Latios, and that Speed was helpful in general. Watch out though: Breloom owns you hard with Mach Punch!
Ditto: You know how a lot of Pokémon normally resist their own typing? Since this is inverse, a lot of Pokémon are weak to their own attacks, which makes Ditto a lot nastier than usual! Especially troubling if you are using a set up sweeper, since Ditto can turn the tables quickly on that. The mere presence of Ditto can be a effective psychological tool in general in this metagame.
Chesnaught: Thanks to Bullet Proof, Impish Chesnaught becomes a decent Breloom check. Usually, these ran Spiky Shield, their STABs, Leech Seed, and Rocky Helmet. Thanks to its bulk, Chesnaught was also a great Talonflame switch-in.
Gogoat: This wasn't too common, but a few of us ran this thing with success. Unlike any other Grass-type, Gogoat had Sap Sipper, making it not just a Breloom counter, but it even made Breloom set up fodder thanks to Bulk Up! The Grass-type also made it screw over Talonflame pretty hard with Horn Leech, and you could even run Grass Knot to nab a 2HKO on Avalugg!
Blaziken: You'd think that with Talonflame getting ruined against this in Inverse, that Blaziken would be everywhere. Not the case sadly: It was also weak to Sucker Punch, and physical variants were owned HARD by Avalugg. Still not a bad Pokemon though. Its still fast, and Flare Blitz slams Dragon-types pretty hard!
Ditto: You know how a lot of Pokémon normally resist their own typing? Since this is inverse, a lot of Pokémon are weak to their own attacks, which makes Ditto a lot nastier than usual! Especially troubling if you are using a set up sweeper, since Ditto can turn the tables quickly on that. The mere presence of Ditto can be a effective psychological tool in general in this metagame.
Chesnaught: Thanks to Bullet Proof, Impish Chesnaught becomes a decent Breloom check. Usually, these ran Spiky Shield, their STABs, Leech Seed, and Rocky Helmet. Thanks to its bulk, Chesnaught was also a great Talonflame switch-in.
Gogoat: This wasn't too common, but a few of us ran this thing with success. Unlike any other Grass-type, Gogoat had Sap Sipper, making it not just a Breloom counter, but it even made Breloom set up fodder thanks to Bulk Up! The Grass-type also made it screw over Talonflame pretty hard with Horn Leech, and you could even run Grass Knot to nab a 2HKO on Avalugg!
Blaziken: You'd think that with Talonflame getting ruined against this in Inverse, that Blaziken would be everywhere. Not the case sadly: It was also weak to Sucker Punch, and physical variants were owned HARD by Avalugg. Still not a bad Pokemon though. Its still fast, and Flare Blitz slams Dragon-types pretty hard!
In a way, much of this post has been a reflection of the past, since Gamefreak had an inverse ladder last year as well. HOWEVER... This thread is more about the future! With Inverse returning, and Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire's shake up, its now time to look at how the Inverse metagame will change! Let's use the past to figure out the future in this new, crazy metagame!
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