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Gen 5 BW RU Discussion Hub
- Thread starter GoldCat
- Start date
Sharing the BW teams I used for RUGL in case anyone is looking for some teams to use. Also just wanted to make it clear I am the certified BW enjoyer who actually wants to talk about it.
Week 1 Replay:
This is a pretty standard team that FastCarVroom!!! gave to me and I mildly edited. I wanted to use Golurk because Golurk makes me happy and thought that week 1 vs an opponent without much scouting information would be a good time to bring some frail offense. This was my one loss due to an early misplay and a bad matchup vs wisp Mowtom, but the team is standard and solid. You could improve the Mowtom matchup by using special Sceptile or just playing better.
Week 2 Replay:
The first of many winning teams with Durant, Druddigon, Aerodactyl and Qwilfish. This is one I love because specs Tangrowth+spikes gives you all the serotonin required to live. If you are new to BW and want top build something solid, you can probably just toss Steelix, Qwilfish, Druddigon, Aerodactyl, Durant and a filler mon in the builder. This team is my recommendation to anyone who is looking to get into the tier.
Week 3 Replay:
Yet not another team with Qwilfish, Druddigon and Durant. This team is fun because Sigilyph is fun. It's a reliable and standard team with some heavy hitters but also a solid defensive backbone against both physical and special attackers. If you have no idea what to use in BW, just throw Steelix, a poison type with spikes, Slowking and some offensive mons on a team. The replay shows a Steelix with toxic, but I changed it to a steel move for the paste because that's almost always better. You need it for Aerodactyl.
Week 4 Replay:
This was the first team we built for this tour. Don't use Medicham. Just don't. It's not worth it. The most common scarf mon in the tier misses its moves 20% of the time and it's still more reliable than Medicham. This was another hazard stack team and I decided to use tspikes Garbodor with seed bomb because my opponent had used a lot of Seismitoad and no poison types. I like seed bomb Garbodor as an answer to Omastar and Seismitoad that also hits Slowking pretty hard while being 100% accurate. Tspikes ended up being a savior in the game.
Week 5 Replay:
Talking about Seismitoad the previous week made me want to use it, and I had a dream about Seismitoad and Emboar winning so I paired it with Emboar and it won. This week's Qwilfish had taunt instead of thunder wave because I didn't want to lose to Clefable and wanted to keep other hazard setters from getting them up. Also if you hadn't noticed by now, Druddigon isn't really worth mentioning because it's just so good that it makes sense on most teams. Mixed Drud wins you games and bulky Drud is always fun.
Week 6 Replay:
The last team I built for RUGL. Drapion was the last mon except for Lanturn that I wanted to build with and Magneton looked good into the opponent's scout. Drapion is kind of awkward, but it has its moments. Taunt is useful for shutting down Qwilfish and keeping Clefable from recovering, as well as generally preventing mons like Steelix and Seismitoad from setting up hazards on you.
Week 7 Replay:
:
Another Vroom team, I chose this one because Moltres looked good into their scout and I was in the middle of some miserable stuff IRL and needed Tangrowth to give me the serotonin to go on. I like scarf Kabutops a lot. It's not one of the tier's typical scarfers and it struggles with not having any of the typical utility moves like volt switch, baton pass or trick. But it allows you to use Moltres without having to dedicate another team slot for speed control because your scarfer is your spinner and also beats rain thanks to swift swim. Moltres and Tangrowth can tear through the opponent in the early game and that sets up the chance for Kabutops to clean up. The Slowking is holding a Tanga berry because beating Durant is fun.
Semi-finals Replay:
One last Qwil+Steelix+Drud team, and this time it got me punished hard. LBN whooped me with Specs Mowtom and I had no way to p[unish it. The team is just too slow. It's still solid, just open to being exploited. If I were to fix it, I would go with a bulkier Druddigon with Stealth Rock, perhaps replacing qwilfish with Amoonguss or Roselia and also using psyshock or ice beam on Slowking instead of whatever future sight shenanigans I was going for.
Week 1 Replay:
This is a pretty standard team that FastCarVroom!!! gave to me and I mildly edited. I wanted to use Golurk because Golurk makes me happy and thought that week 1 vs an opponent without much scouting information would be a good time to bring some frail offense. This was my one loss due to an early misplay and a bad matchup vs wisp Mowtom, but the team is standard and solid. You could improve the Mowtom matchup by using special Sceptile or just playing better.
Week 2 Replay:
The first of many winning teams with Durant, Druddigon, Aerodactyl and Qwilfish. This is one I love because specs Tangrowth+spikes gives you all the serotonin required to live. If you are new to BW and want top build something solid, you can probably just toss Steelix, Qwilfish, Druddigon, Aerodactyl, Durant and a filler mon in the builder. This team is my recommendation to anyone who is looking to get into the tier.
Week 3 Replay:
Yet not another team with Qwilfish, Druddigon and Durant. This team is fun because Sigilyph is fun. It's a reliable and standard team with some heavy hitters but also a solid defensive backbone against both physical and special attackers. If you have no idea what to use in BW, just throw Steelix, a poison type with spikes, Slowking and some offensive mons on a team. The replay shows a Steelix with toxic, but I changed it to a steel move for the paste because that's almost always better. You need it for Aerodactyl.Week 4 Replay:
This was the first team we built for this tour. Don't use Medicham. Just don't. It's not worth it. The most common scarf mon in the tier misses its moves 20% of the time and it's still more reliable than Medicham. This was another hazard stack team and I decided to use tspikes Garbodor with seed bomb because my opponent had used a lot of Seismitoad and no poison types. I like seed bomb Garbodor as an answer to Omastar and Seismitoad that also hits Slowking pretty hard while being 100% accurate. Tspikes ended up being a savior in the game.
Week 5 Replay:
Talking about Seismitoad the previous week made me want to use it, and I had a dream about Seismitoad and Emboar winning so I paired it with Emboar and it won. This week's Qwilfish had taunt instead of thunder wave because I didn't want to lose to Clefable and wanted to keep other hazard setters from getting them up. Also if you hadn't noticed by now, Druddigon isn't really worth mentioning because it's just so good that it makes sense on most teams. Mixed Drud wins you games and bulky Drud is always fun.
Week 6 Replay:
The last team I built for RUGL. Drapion was the last mon except for Lanturn that I wanted to build with and Magneton looked good into the opponent's scout. Drapion is kind of awkward, but it has its moments. Taunt is useful for shutting down Qwilfish and keeping Clefable from recovering, as well as generally preventing mons like Steelix and Seismitoad from setting up hazards on you.
Week 7 Replay:
:
Another Vroom team, I chose this one because Moltres looked good into their scout and I was in the middle of some miserable stuff IRL and needed Tangrowth to give me the serotonin to go on. I like scarf Kabutops a lot. It's not one of the tier's typical scarfers and it struggles with not having any of the typical utility moves like volt switch, baton pass or trick. But it allows you to use Moltres without having to dedicate another team slot for speed control because your scarfer is your spinner and also beats rain thanks to swift swim. Moltres and Tangrowth can tear through the opponent in the early game and that sets up the chance for Kabutops to clean up. The Slowking is holding a Tanga berry because beating Durant is fun.
Semi-finals Replay:
One last Qwil+Steelix+Drud team, and this time it got me punished hard. LBN whooped me with Specs Mowtom and I had no way to p[unish it. The team is just too slow. It's still solid, just open to being exploited. If I were to fix it, I would go with a bulkier Druddigon with Stealth Rock, perhaps replacing qwilfish with Amoonguss or Roselia and also using psyshock or ice beam on Slowking instead of whatever future sight shenanigans I was going for.
approved by the swedish golden cat
Greetings.
As RUPL is around the corner, we thought it was a good (and necessary) time to (finally) update the Viability Rankings, since they haven't been updated in ages.
You can find the template I made right here to do this: https://tiermaker.com/create/bw-ru-viability-rankings-303005-2
Obviously don't hesitate to give reasonings as to why X Pokémon should be in Y rank.
Edit: not sure anyone noticed but if you want you can add D rank and "unranked" rows, if you can't please tell me so I can fix this.
Tagging some BWers if anyone wants to add their contribution:
If I forgot anyone wallahi I'm sorry feel free to do it anyway
Thanks
Greetings.
As RUPL is around the corner, we thought it was a good (and necessary) time to (finally) update the Viability Rankings, since they haven't been updated in ages.
You can find the template I made right here to do this: https://tiermaker.com/create/bw-ru-viability-rankings-303005-2
Obviously don't hesitate to give reasonings as to why X Pokémon should be in Y rank.
Edit: not sure anyone noticed but if you want you can add D rank and "unranked" rows, if you can't please tell me so I can fix this.
Tagging some BWers if anyone wants to add their contribution:
Thanks
Last edited:
C rank Swellow isn't crazy??
incredibly well informed vr :)
Uhh made a teir list here: Only thing I was really considering after relooking at it was whether I considered Moltres S or at the top of A+. I go back and forth on the mon quite often but I think its bs potential barely eeks it in S despite its high variance and teams being better optimized to beat it.
approved by the swedish golden cat
Greetings.
As RUPL is around the corner, we thought it was a good (and necessary) time to (finally) update the Viability Rankings, since they haven't been updated in ages.
You can find the template I made right here to do this: https://tiermaker.com/create/bw-ru-viability-rankings-303005-2
Obviously don't hesitate to give reasonings as to why X Pokémon should be in Y rank.
Tagging some BWers if anyone wants to add their contribution:
If I forgot anyone wallahi I'm sorry feel free to do it anyway
Thanks
S, A, and B ranks are in order, but this is all pretty vague -- hmu with any questions
I mostly agree with Finchinator's VR (I'm too lazy to make my own). There are a few changes I would make though:
I think Kabutops is a solid Pokémon overall, but it’s quite easy to wall in this tier. Most teams run a bulky Water (Slowking, Qwilfish) and/or a bulky Grass (Amoonguss, Tangrowth), and the fact that many of these have Regenerator means they can repeatedly switch into Kabutops without being overly pressured. Although I do agree it’s the second best spinner in the tier, and I also think it’s an excellent Choice Scarf user, I would probably place it in A or A-.
I think that, without a doubt, Cryogonal is the best spinner in the tier. Its Speed tier is amazing, its special bulk is solid, and its Special Attack is more than good enough for it to be a real nuisance to most teams (Toxic + Recover is also incredibly annoying for bulky Waters). With this amount of utility, I would rank it solidly in S-.
On a completely different note, and given that this is a discussion hub, I think something we BW RU mainers should seriously look into is Damp Rock. Rain in BW RU feels absurd: extremely restrictive in the builder and often way too easy to set up. The tier really suffers from Water spam plus the Ludicolo / Omastar combination, and I think banning Damp Rock could make this playstyle much healthier and more demanding to use.
That would be all from me.
Don’t ask me about B rank and below.
Cheers
I think Kabutops is a solid Pokémon overall, but it’s quite easy to wall in this tier. Most teams run a bulky Water (Slowking, Qwilfish) and/or a bulky Grass (Amoonguss, Tangrowth), and the fact that many of these have Regenerator means they can repeatedly switch into Kabutops without being overly pressured. Although I do agree it’s the second best spinner in the tier, and I also think it’s an excellent Choice Scarf user, I would probably place it in A or A-. I think that, without a doubt, Cryogonal is the best spinner in the tier. Its Speed tier is amazing, its special bulk is solid, and its Special Attack is more than good enough for it to be a real nuisance to most teams (Toxic + Recover is also incredibly annoying for bulky Waters). With this amount of utility, I would rank it solidly in S-. On a completely different note, and given that this is a discussion hub, I think something we BW RU mainers should seriously look into is Damp Rock. Rain in BW RU feels absurd: extremely restrictive in the builder and often way too easy to set up. The tier really suffers from Water spam plus the Ludicolo / Omastar combination, and I think banning Damp Rock could make this playstyle much healthier and more demanding to use.That would be all from me.
Don’t ask me about B rank and below.
Cheers
Haven't played BW as much during the past couple of years, so take this with a grain of salt. It's primarily based on my experiences playing from 2020-2023. I also don't have any opinions on anything below B. Perhaps some mons that I cut out here could be included in B but I don't really care that much about them. I think this more or less captures the state of the meta, with the aforementioned caveat.
Attachments
Mons are ordered within tiers until C+
A couple notes:
I think rain often gets underrated because it's a cheesy strategy. But it wins. A lot. I decided to rank the rain package as a collective, which might be underrating Omastar but I don't really think it's all that good outside of rain.
I think I'm in the minority here, but I think Skuntank is the better poison/dark. It's better at pursuit trapping, is able to break Steelix better and has priority. That's better than Drapion whose upside is scarf sets and swords dance that still gets walled by Steelix and doesn't quite do enough damage.