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Saw one person mention it, but Starmie is incredibly threatening with Analytic and very hard to switch into it, if your name isnt Blissey. It has fantastic coverage, spin, and a really nice speed tier. Giving it tbolt makes it very threatening against Rain teams and you can often 2hko any mon on the opponents team with a correct prediction thanks to Analytic boosts.
Being able to outspeed all dragons is very nice and this could be a decent blaziken check if you decide to run a bulkier set. Recover and psychic are two other nice options for Starmie.
Did some Sun theorying. First, let's get the big one out the way:
Blaziken @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- Protect
This thing under Sun is just as dumb as you'd expect. Frankly it doesn't need coverage. Not when it does this:
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken Flare Blitz vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Dragonite: 276-324 (71.6 - 84.1%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
Gonna need more bulk. To be exact: +2 252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 28+ Def Dragonite: 242-286 (62.8 - 74.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery and you have enough EVs leftover to outrun Modest Heatran, but then your Extreme Speeds are so weak they're embarrassments to society.
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken Flare Blitz vs. 248 HP / 28+ Def Dragonite in Sun: 364-429 (94.5 - 111.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock (OUCH)
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Latios: 316-372 (104.9 - 123.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Latios: 159-187 (52.8 - 62.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
Yes, Scarf does outrun +2 Adamant Blaziken, but unless you go hard Latios on the SD every time and risk massive chip and then get scouted by Protect, the chicken will eventually claim and can simply Protect to get to +3.
252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Latios in Sun: 238-281 (79 - 93.3%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock (welp, no going hard to the scarfer under Sun)
Quite aside from the fact Slowbro is a free entry point to your Grass of choice and a momentum sink without Teleport, it actually has problems dealing with the chicken under Sun:
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 178-211 (45.1 - 53.5%) -- 91% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro in Sun: 268-316 (68 - 80.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery (29.3 - 34.6% recoil damage)
All good so far, but:
0 SpA Slowbro Scald vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Blaziken in Sun: 116-138 (38.5 - 45.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 SpA Slowbro Scald vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD 55% Blaziken in Sun: 116-138 (38.5 - 45.8%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
Slowbro even struggles to KO after LO, big recoil and Rocks. To actually deal with Blaziken, Slowbro has to rely on Thunder Wave, otherwise it just gets to +4 and:
+4 252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro in Sun: 400-472 (101.5 - 119.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Sure it's dead to LO chip next turn. However it will be taking at least one extra mon with it.
Ok, a couple of surprising discoveries now:
Venusaur @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Giga Drain/Solar Beam
- Sludge Bomb
- Growth
- Earthquake
This is probably the best set for the mon that has been the face of Sun in Gen 8. No HP Fire or Weather Ball or even Earth Power means it just gets eaten alive by most Steels and bulky Dragons. Going mixed with EQ solves some problems like Heatran but not all.
Shiftry @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Growth
- Solar Beam/Giga Drain/Leaf Blade
- Dark Pulse/Night Slash
- Focus Blast/Low Sweep/Rock Slide
No Knock Off, No Heat Wave, No Use.
Victreebel @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Growth
- Weather Ball
- Solar Beam/Giga Drain
- Knock Off/Sludge Bomb
Having access to Weather Ball is a GODSEND. Still having Knock is cool as well and makes going mixed attractive. Solar Beam is the primary choice here to make up for having to go +Spe to get past most scarfers.
Charizard @ Choice Specs
Ability: Solar Power
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid/Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat/Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Focus Blast
- Roost/Air Slash/Flamethrower
You all know exactly what this does.
Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 48 SpA / 208 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Overheat
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge/Thunder Punch
- U-turn/Grass Knot
OH YEAH. Be warned if you're not hitting STABed or SE, you are hitting like a wet paper towel. That said, MixApe is a classic that is both versatile and really customisable to lure whatever your team needs. Speed is for +Spe Garchomp.
So I'd say Sun is in a really weird spot. It has 1 really broken abuser, but everything else is really meh.
I don't claim credit for making this set (that was someone from this year's OU OLT) but I've been using it and I think it's good. You get free setup against several common Pokemon like non-Poison Jab Garchomp and Breloom, and can softcheck the Lati twins. It can RNG its way through some should-be checks like Unaware Clefable, and Heatran (as you can PP stall Magma Storm through Substitute.) I recommend Magnezone support to remove Scizor and Skarmory, and if you do this thing has pretty few checks: Zapdos sucks with its woefully limited movepool, Magnezone has no recovery and has to play very carefully to not give free setup that your team can't afford to Garchomp, and there aren't very many other Steels about.
Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Meteor Mash
- Extreme Speed
For those needing a Fighting-type not shut down by Clefable, here is your answer. The tier is a bit slower and 90 base speed is workable when you have strong priority.
I agree with others that Garchomp and Manaphy look like too much for the tier (what a surprise), and I think that Latios might be a bit unhealthy as well. I haven't seen enough of Blaziken yet to have an opinion.
I've been using Blaziken since I've begun playing this meta and it's extremely easy to win with it. Resisting Ice Shard, Bullet Punch and Sucker Punch is huge, and with the amount of switches this guy forces, you find yourself at +2 speed without even trying. Gliscor being 2HKO'd by Flare Blitz means it's a completely unreliable switchin, and it takes 75% from Close Combat into Flare Blitz so with a bit of chip it's a completely useless wall. Using Protect to outspeed scarfers is huge: I've been facing a lot of Scarf Infernape and Latios, the latter being OHHO'd at +2.
I'm not expecting this guy to stay in the tier for more than a few days or weeks.
King of funny Blaziken is potentially broken in this meta considering in the original DPP meta he was completely outclassed by Infernape the ability really makes all the difference.
Meta is chaotic, lot of clicking/clicker type stuff, and Manaphy needs a ban
Manaphy used Skill Swap! [Manaphy's Unaware] [The opposing Clefable's Hydration] Manaphy swapped Abilities with its target!
but BDSP being a new meta it's to be expected until it's "solved". Couple cool things I've been using without disclosing full teams since I've only tested three out of the maybe 6 i put together.
Great spiker for hyper offense, was inspired by a similar build I was using the other day in some DPP OU games that Heist made somewhere in the Ruins of Alph forum. Heatran lead sucks but Heatran probably isn't going to be that good until Manaphy is banned and even then Gliscor/Chomp exist.
Weavile @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Throat Chop / Night Slash
- Ice Shard
- Swords Dance
I know Ox talked about this a bit but yesterday I figured it would be good in this meta too because it beats or threatens most of the good stuff running around like the dragons. Plus Pex doesn't exist which is a big plus for Weavile. Chop slightly stronger, Slash has a crit chance.
Feraligatr @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Aqua Jet
- Swords Dance
Some people in the BDSP room were talking about Dragon Dance Gatr but the SD set is a strong breaker, akin to its use back in ORAS days and SMUU. I suppose the coverage option is based on team structure but I would imagine being walled by Slowbro would be horrible so Crunch it was.
These EVs just auto popped up on the calc so I just left it as such and most likely not optimized but Spikes have the potentially to be pretty strong in the metagame due to no HDB and rather poor consistent hazard removal options. Skarmory probably going to need Taunt in this metagame though, as it doesnt have too many tools to combat bulkier structures unlike ID/Press in SS.
This is the team I've been using and its pretty brain dead offence, but its hard to check from what I've played against and has a decent match up into rain. The Dnite and emp set could prob be optimized and mag might want a different item, but i'm happy with it so far.
If Clefable ever spikes in usage I think Venomoth's time to shine might be here. It's probably the best Quiver Dancer in the game currently and its STABs let it hit both Tangrowth and Clefable well. I don't think it'll be an OU staple or even anything further than a gimmick, but I think it's definitely worth looking into, but probably not currently as Blaziken and Scarf Latios just destroys it
Masquerain (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sticky Web
- U-turn
- Scald
- Roost
This is a blatant gimmick and entirely outclassed by Smeargle but it's fun to see my favorite Pokemon get to do something with Ribombee and Leavanny out of the picture. The huge dropoff in movepool in exchange for Intimidate isn't worth it, but at least Masquerain's bag of tricks lets it catch some teams off guard.
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Calm Mind
- Zen Headbutt
- Thunder
- Energy Ball
I saw a Smogon set of Calm Mind Jirachi in an older gen and altered it a bit. Thunder and Serene Grace gives the move a 60% paralysis chance, bolstered further by the prominence of rain teams and Calm Mind's power. I run this on a Sticky Web team (with the above Masquerain set) and it's surprising how many free switches you get against Pokemon like Clefable. Once Iron Head becomes legal stuff's gonna get wild.
So far I have identified a core 4 of mons that work well together for me and that look like potential top meta picks.
These pokémons are Blissey, Blaziken, Quagsire and Slowbro.
Blissey is a really great sp. defensive wall that just shutsdown almost every speacial attacker.
Blaziken just goes Berserker mode if it has one swords dance thanks to its hidden ability
Quagsire has both Unaware and acesses to toxic and I can't underestimate the importance of being one the few remaining toxic users.
Slowbro compliments Blissey really well and if it gets teleport down the line, I can see it becoming even better.
I'm still trying to find other two pokemon to fit in this team.
Anyone else seeing an absurd amount of stall on the ladder? Even low-mid ladder is full of cookie cutter clef/chansey/skarm/slowking teams. SD Lucario is a really fun mon that runs through all the teams relying on clefable as their only anti setup mon. These teams also are really vulnerable to toxic spikes if they arent running nidoqueen or tentactuel. Most teams in general don't have good answers to the roserade/protect heatran/subcune sample team.
Some other stuff that's good that isn't seeing a lot of usage in my experience - defensive Gyara and Mence can beat a lot of the physical metagame right now. Mence has wish and a great speed tier but Gyara has ice/dragon neutrality and waterfall to threaten gliscor. Obviously both require defog/spin support but I think they can plug some holes in the right teams. (Let's bring back the classes gyaratop core imo.)
Gengar is super good right now, provides tspikes absorption for offensive teams and can switch in a lot and not get punished thanks to no pursuit. It also doesnt require focus miss to hit half the meta now. A lot of teams think Blissey is an answer to this which is a big lol. Starmie is similar as a special cleaner and is probably the scariest thing to face late game with hazards down.
Also, with some of the top tier steels losing a lot of their movepool (jirachi legit kinda sucks now ngl) I'd like to highlight Empoleon and Metagross as steel types. I have not seen any Empoleon and it legit just sits on the lati@s on every team while having a fantastic movepool that can be tailored to any needs. I particularly enjoy shuca with ice beam to fuck up chomp and mence but you have to keep it at full for that to work, and honestly scald + 3 support moves is as good as ever. Metagross meanwhile just smashes stuff with CB but its bulky af and hits hard, not much to say about it, you can also maybe meme with agility or toxic but CB just wrecks right now.
Really good meta, I'm really enjoying it. Right now I think Manaphy stands out over everything else as problematic but it isnt so egregious that it cant wait a few weeks to see the meta settle
Besides some slight variance in item usage and move usage this is the only set you should be using but fuck does it work well.
Banded Brave Bird/Double edge 2hko's the entire tier and has zero switch ins including resists besides Like Aggron and Bastiodon.(who both instantly die to CC). Raptor has a good speed tier of 100 allowing it to outspeed most of the unboosted metagame and even though with Reckless, Recoil and Stealth rock it dies real fast. I have not played a single game where it failed to KO at least 2 mons.
However instead if you want to trade some power for speed. You get one of if not the single best revenge killer in the tier (100 speed + scarf is a beautiful speed tier.) With still some crazy breaking power.
Quick attack can replace U-turn on Band as a way to beat weakened priority users such as Scizor, Azumaril, Breloom Mamo alongside picking off faster mons like Zam, Lati twins +1 Blazkien and not risking the speed tie on Manaphy, while U-turn does U-turn things. If using scarf, use U-turn.
Agree on Empoleon. It's not like it needs to be a low-key hazard control mon either. Here's a classic set to keep in mind:
Empoleon @ Petaya Berry/Any Resist Berry/Life Orb
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest/Timid Nature
IVs: 30 HP / 0 Atk
- Substitute/Grass Knot
- Agility
- Surf/Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
SubAgilityPetaya is an old-school cleaner that can overpower weakened teams in no time at all. Sub 3 times to trigger Petaya for +1 SpA, Agility up at some point before/while Subbing, wash any team without a standing bulky Water or Blissey with Torrent-boosted Surfs. Even uninvested, it finds plenty of setup opportunities on Dragon-locked foes, for instance:
252 SpA Choice Specs Latios Draco Meteor over 2 turns vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Empoleon: 234-278 (75.9 - 90.2%) -- not a KO
252+ Atk Choice Band Salamence Outrage vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Empoleon: 184-217 (59.7 - 70.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Garchomp Outrage vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Empoleon: 218-257 (70.7 - 83.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock (LO usually kills though)
Standard Agility 3 Attacks offers lower risk, moderate reward. Either nature can work: Modest is more neutral damage, Timid jumps a few scarfers including Rotom and +Atk base 100s.
This set loves Manaphy being good broke AF, as it can overpower bulky Waters for Empo. Make sure your opponent's scarfer is out of commision, or else set up two Agilitys (easier with the Sub set).
So yeah, Penguin is good. Use Penguin.
Rotom-Wash is a common OU staple that will definitely continue to be prevalent in BDSP OU, even without some of its utility tools of Pain Split or Defog. A few users have already covered its positive qualities and a few ample teams already exist with it, showcasing its talents. So instead, I will offer an interesting stopgap to those who don't want the machine to wash them:
Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy / Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Sludge Bomb
- Recover
- Earthquake / Ice Beam / Clear Smog
Gastrodon's rare double immunity to both Water and Electric moves, its reliable recovery, and its good natural special bulk come together to blank many Rotom-Wash sets. Scald is a great STAB, and though Sludge Bomb may look strange, it is Gastrodon's most reliable way to make progress against Rotom-Wash and force a status to nullify Leftovers. Sludge Bomb also grants it a strong hit versus Grass type pivots such as Tangrowth. The last moveslot can be customized for stronger hits against Steels or Dragons depending on what your team needs, though Clear Smog makes Gastrodon an even more airtight Washtom check.
Don't forget this thing seems to be one of the best check to Heatran, with resistance to both Fire/Steel moves, good SpDef, and ability to destroy Heatran with Earthquake. It surprised me a lot today of how much this thing can take Grass knots without being 2HKOed lol. It can counter a lot of rain teams too, and that's a really good point tbh.
About this one, I totally agree with that, this little blue ball really takes advantage of having kept Strenght Sap, and is one of the best solutions I could find at the scary Breloom. Don't know if i'm not overreacting on this one, but maybe this is better than Tangrowth without Synthesis?
Anyone have thoughts about Staraptor ? I tried a scarf set but i'm not sure about this one, i did not really did anything with him atm.
Oh, and, for whoever wants it (Wdym "nobody wants it?") I post the team that I have played so far and which seems to be not that bad. Do not hesitate to come in MP if you want to have information on it. https://pokepast.es/644c510c83b789c4
I made decent post above about Staraptor but I suggest you give Band a chance if Scarf didn't work for you. It 2hko's the entire meta with resisted hits and 2hko-1hko's the entire meta when you factor in CC and base 100 speed in this meta is still pretty decent.
If you can get it in on something slower or like a predicted Gliscor EQ. Something is dead.
I've been trying out Moltres quite a bit as a blanket check to a lot of common mons rn, like blaziken, breloom, scizor, weavile and gliscor:
(EV's can prob be tweaked)
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Masquerain (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sticky Web
- U-turn
- Ice Beam
- Energy Ball
_______
See, Masquerain has a few key distinctions over Smeargle in that it's faster, actually puts out offense, and has Intimidate to make switching in easier. It's completely inferior to Smeargle in every way otherwise but these key strengths as well as the unstoppable power of blatant favoritism (Masquerain is my favorite Pokemon), I ended up finding surprising use cases for Masquerain as even unboosted it can OHKO/2HKO prominent tier staples such as Gliscor, Swampert, Salamence, Gastrodon, and Garchomp. Keeping Masq alive lategame makes cleaning up much easier when it can leverage its Sticky Web abuse. Timid is a mandatory nature as it means you outrun unboosted Adamant Dragonite, which I found to be surprisingly common.
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Blaziken @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
_______
The main win condition of this team. Find an opportunity to come in, scare something out to get +2 atk +1 spd for free, and then sweep.
On the table for getting banned tbh. It's stupid.
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Latios @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Thunderbolt
- Surf
- Energy Ball
_______
This is my designated choice abuser. Specs Draco Meteor hits like a truck and the coverage is super helpful for various threats. Energy Ball switched for Trick when HOME is available.
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Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
_______
Starmie is hazard control that brings a lot to the table with its impressive offenses and crucially, access to Rapid Spin. It allows me to keep webs on my field while not handling the pressure from opponent's hazards.
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Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 220 SpD / 32 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
_______
This is a sweeper and crucial defensive pivot that singlehandedly keeps stuff like Pelliper's rain in check. 32 Speed EVs means Tyranitar at +1 outspeeds every unboosted grounded Pokemon in the format at -1. Webs lets me invest in spdef, making Tyranitar surprisingly tanky.
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Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
- Roost
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
_______
This is an offensive pivot that brings a lot of sheer damage to the table. The threat of it lets Scizor get free switches, and while webs aren't actually too useful for it the priority of Bullet Punch is crucial.
Should you use this in a serious setting? Probably not. But I think it's been surprisingly fun to use.
Quick thoughts after playing some games in this tier. Beware. Hot takes incoming.
Latios is broken. LO 3 attacks with either cm or Roost as the last move has exactly one switch in and no pursuit means it can do whatever it wants and doesn't fear dropping a Draco since all the good setup sweepers are either dragons or Manaphy. idk about latias yet but all imma say is why would you use latias when latios exists
Speaking of manaphy it's also probably broken unless the meta finds a way to deal with +3 Surfs and Ice Beams. If there was a suspect I'd vote ban
Blaziken is really good but not outright broken once you realize Slowbro is lowkey amazing atm. Might be too much later on but for now I think it's fine between bro walling it, dnite, garchomp, gliscor, and lati@s running around everywhere not letting it set up for free and azu being able to revenge kill. It also hates losing some of its best coverage moves
Gliscor is back baby and he's an easy S rank mon that does whatever you want it to
Heatran is gonna be top tier again once people realize that even with gliscor in the tier it's still really good. It's also a complete hard stop to clefable since people think that's a good mon
Don't really see how clef doesn't get overwhelmed by literally everything in the tier but ppl are gonna cling to it because they can't accept that it has always just barely survived the hits it wants to and without softboiled its gonna get overwhelmed really quickly. Maybe once the banhammers start falling it'll be better but rn the only thing clefable has going for it is being immune to outrage/draco
On the other hand, ice beam slowbro is amazing and even without teleport it's still really good at stopping all the prevalent physical attackers. It can also run thunder wave or Scald in the last slot to let it slow things down or burn them. Future Sight is still potent
Garchomp is super good but idk if it's broken yet. Once some bans happen I'd expect it to be too much but for now I think it's manageable thanks to scale shots removal
Mamoswine should not be slept on
Dragmag is viable again and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise
Lastly, I think rotom mow has a really good niche rn at being a great rain/manaphy check and decent breaker with trickscarf np. Used it on the team I've been running with good success
Opinions are subject to change after I play more but I feel confident in most of these opinions
I've been playing BDSP OU for a couple of hours and I can say with extreme confidence that Manaphy and Rain in general are fucking stupid and that Manaphy should probably be the metagame's absolute highest priority if anything's getting quickbanned. Tail Glow+Rest Manaphy outpaces basically all defensive mons while having much, much better bulk than a mon with its level of firepower needs, and there are virtually no truly safe switchins against it outside of gimmicks like a very Specially Defensive Unaware Clef (which can't even run Moonlight because Rain fucks it over anyway).
Manaphy honestly just lets Rain teams get away with far too much currently; as of right now you can basically just slap the core of Pelipper+Manaphy+some other Swift Swimmer of your choice (usually Kingdra) and cover almost anything, with Manaphy having the pseudo-Status immunity under Rain as well as the best recovery in the game to outheal anything that doesn't outright OHKO it, and after just one turn of setup it 2HKOs basically everything with just Surf and one of Energy Ball or Ice Beam (the former improves the Rain mirror matchup drastically), and while Tail Glow is absolutely insane I can also very realistically see Calm Mind sets being just as oppressive since they can suddenly eat hits from stuff like Raikou and Latios way better and KO them back.
If Manaphy goes, I realistically can't see Kingdra+some other Swift Swimmer+CM Raikou coming close to replicating the shit Manaphy enables alongside Kingdra. I'd love to be proven wrong on that front, of course.
it’s the only scarfer that outspeeds kingdra in rain (even if its timid) and OHKOs it from full, I also like it cause it can take out garchomp which is always useful. Also compresses a draco immunity which is helpful, esp since it also resists lati’s second stab too. If they have like spdef jirachi or bronzong or blissey or some shit that can get knocked off.
edit: modest might actually be better because you don’t really miss out on much relevant. Scarf heatran I guess. Gonna try that tomorrow
also you can use this on teams weak to magnezone to trap it and kill it with focus blast. With correct play you can protect your skarmory from it and together you get a very anti-garchomp core.
I played a bunch of games on the ladder with no consistent success w Balance, so I decided to try webs, and its been amazing. loom+glis+zam is an amazing offensive core, able to overpower a lot with good plays. Nasty Plot Zam is strong as fuck but feels maybe a lil too weak without a boost.
Heres a room tourney replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8bdspou-1457561248
Some other stuff Ive had fun with:
Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Quick Attack
- Brick Break
Band scizor is back baybee and this time its great vs Clef and not messed up by surprise Mags (cause team preview)
Scarf mixtar is super fun for luring in Gliscors.
48 SpA Tyranitar Ice Beam vs. 244 HP / 76 SpD Gliscor: 300-356 (85.2 - 101.1%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
Much more memey than a regular set but running this alongside TTar is hilarious. Given that TTar is good even w no item, you can even have it hold Smooth Rock to give you more turns to fish with.
Azelf @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Thunderbolt
- Psychic
- Taunt
A twist on the classic lead Azelf. A lot of Pelippers will lead off against Azelf and not switch, so TBolt can turn the tides on a rain matchup Turn 1.
SubPunch Breloom is a monster. Run literally anything fourth move it does not matter. My personal faves are Facade and Stun Spore for messing up Latios who think they wall you. Honestly its gotten to the point where Seed Bomb feels bad in the last slot, cause theres just so many other moves you could run.
Stuff I havent tried yet:
Infernape looks great, I think the meta rn is probably Physically Based Mixed rather than Specially Based Mixed just cause CC is such a good move. It is annoyed by Lati@s, however. I wanna try out Scarf and Banded sets, will probably post here again after.
Ive only seen one Luke, and I dont know why. The power creep that made it unusable is gone, and it seems really good. SD Sets no longed need Crunch for Rotom-A, Agility Sets can probably sweep half the meta, its a sweeper that isnt stopped by Unaware Clef (thought it is stopped by Quag). I even wanna try double dance sets, but that seems maybe too gimmicky. NP is probably great under webs too
Did everyone just forget how threatening DD Gyara is or
I get why sun isnt good rn, but maybe after Manaphy gets banned it could be less fishy? Idk maybe the glaring TTar weakness is too much for the best weather to thrive. Rip.
