Other Current Metagame trends

[reyscarface]

In every single tier, the metagame is constantly evolving. Even in "dead" tiers like ADV, we can see a progression and evolution of the metagame as people find and develop new strategies. A clear example of this would be in DPP. During the first half of DPP, SubPetaya Empoleon hadnt been discovered. When it got discovered, the metagame shifted, and now we could see other Pokemon being used in order to neuter this new potent threat.

This is currently happening and will keep happening in the current OU tier. Be it because of new sets / powerful Pokemon being used, or because of the Suspect Test banning something / bringing down something from Ubers. The Mega Lucario ban, for example, has let lesser Megas come out from his shadow and theyre now seeing use in the highest levels of play. This can happen with non Megas as well. Aegislash, during the beginning of XY, saw use as an SD attacker. Now the most common and possibly potent set is the Specially based attacked with Shadow Sneak. The Metagame is constantly evolving and this threads purpose will be sharing our thoughts in the state of the metagame and analyzing its evolution as time passes.

Refrain from bringing posts about banning / unbanning Pokemon, as this is not the thread for that. Posts about it will be quickly deleted and possibly infracted, so please save us the time.

Id like everyone who is interested in posting about this to check out this thread.
It is the usage stats of Smogon Premier League. Hopefully there will also be Smogon Tour statistics, which will give us a great base of discussion regarding the current metagame at the highest level of play.

Ill start us off with a few things ive noticed through all the games ive watched in SPL and at the top of the ladder:

- Mega Charizard X is being used more as a burn spreading tank than a sweeper. Top players are favoring the use of a Will-O-Wisp + Roost set over the Dragon Dance sweeper. Reasons for this are probably the prevalence of stall teams with Unaware Quagsire, which completely shuts down the Dragon Dance set. Theres also the threat of a revenge by CB Talonflame. A more durable set is prefered nowadays in order to let other more reliable sweepers finish the job.

- Unlike in past generations, the Lati pair is now usually opting to run Thunderbolt as their coverage move. This is probably to be able to still hit Keldeo hard, as Latias is one of the best counters to Keldeo in the game, while also threatening Skarmory from setting up layers on their faces as they try to Defog them away.

- Getting the typing change to Fairy has made Clefable one of the most used Pokemon in OU at the top level. Being able to counter almost every dragon and also offering either immense team support through Stealth Rock / Wish / Status spreading or great offensive capabilities through a Calm Mind boosting set that is usually only stopped by Heatran is big for any team. Both of Clefables abilities are fantastic and the little fairy seems to have become an important part of many teams.

- After not seeing much use at the start of this generation, it seems Landorus-I has caught up with its counterpart and is now a very potent Pokemon in many offensive teams. Offering the ability to set up Stealth Rock like his counterpart, it trades its bulk for even more offensive power but this time on the special side. Although the Hidden Power nerf hurt Landorus, it still can run Psychic in order to hit really common Pokemons Talonflame and Rotom-W hard and its Earth Power is still ridiculously strong.

- Seeing a looot of use during the early stages of BW, after the ban of Lucario (whom Conkeldurr could revenge with a Mach Punch), the ban of Genesect (whom Conkel could counter if it was a special set) and the shift from the common Deoxys-S Hazard lead to the now more common Life Orb Sweeper; Conkeldurr has gone down badly in use to the point most top players dont use him anymore. Mega Venusaur being as common as ever doesnt favour him, either.

- Like Mega Charizard X, Talonflame at the top level has switched from being used as a revenge killer to a support Pokemon. Players have realized Talonflames typing coupled with Defog support, a super fast Will-O-Wisp, decent bulk and priority Roost and Brave Bird make him great at more things than its CB counterpart. It can still revenge kill a lot of stuff in a pinch, but now it can stay in on things like Rotom-W, burn them, roost the damage, and cripple it for the rest of the game. Its resistance to Fairy typing also make it a prime switch to Clefable and Mawile, while also being able to outstall Heatran.

- Bisharp has changed in that it used to be taken in order to switch into Defogs, get a Swords Dance while we are at it, end up at +4, and end up sweeping hard with Knock Off / Sucker Punch / Iron Head. His job is still to do massive damage and to make Defog users think twice, but its no longer a Swords Dance sweeper. Players have opted to run Pursuit on it, making it one of the best stallbreakers around. Chansey takes upwards to 40% from a Pursuit, meaning after Stealth Rock and one Pursuit, Chansey can no longer switch in on Special threats with impunity. And if it doesnt use Pursuit, Knock Off will be removing its Eviolite, as well as the precious Leftovers of whatever switches in.

- Politoed is here because of the recent resurgence of Rain as one of the best team archetypes. Although Drizzle was nerfed, Rain teams really dont need more than 7 turns in order to cause massive damage. Couple it with Deoxys-S and its incredibly fast Damp Rock Rain Dance and this team doesnt have problem winning the weather war. Kabutops, Kingdra, Ludicolo, Keldeo. All well known rain sweepers that will crush under this weather.

- Rotom-Wash has gone from being one of the best anti-metagame Pokemon to not being used much. Its ability to take on threats like Talonflame, Landorus, Heatran, and Mega Pinsir have disappeared due to the first now using Will-O-Wisp often, the second being a Psychic variant which will 2HKO, Heatran now running Toxic more than offensive sets, and Mega Pinsir being semi-absent from this metagame in which it cannot properly set-up. Instead now Rotom-W faces problems because of the omnipresence of Mega Venusaur, the Latis, Excadrill now running Mold Breaker so it can OHKO with Earthquake and Aegislash switching on it with impunity.


These are my examples, and this is the kind of critical post id like to see in this thread. Please do not post stuff like "I saw my friend using Swagger Klefki to great success!!" because it will be deleted. Lets try to have a good, proper discussion about the current trends of the metagame without shitting it up. If this thread stays alive for a while, it will be very interesting to see the differences in the trends that will be posted this month, to the stuff we might be seeing posted in May during the final stages of Smogon Tour.

 

[Lazybeef]

- Keldeo was in the beginning of XY not used much, but has recently gained popularity as the best specs user around. Unlike last gen the scarf set is nowhere to be seen, and keldeo now plays a completely different role as a wallbreaker. As one of the few special attackers that can completely own chansey, it has a very solid niche and is a common sight on offensive teams. Mega-Venu threatens it, but that's what teammates are for. Keldeo sometimes even run HP flying in order to hit mega-venu for a solid 40% on the switch in. We have seen keldeo do real work in SPL, and it will with no doubt be a top tier mon in XY just like it was in BW2.

 

[rachet67]

- Rotom-Wash has gone from being one of the best anti-metagame Pokemon to not being used much. Its ability to take on threats like Talonflame, Landorus, Heatran, and Mega Pinsir have disappeared due to the first now using Will-O-Wisp often, the second being a Psychic variant which will 2HKO, Heatran now running Toxic more than offensive sets, and Mega Pinsir being semi-absent from this metagame in which it cannot properly set-up. Instead now Rotom-W faces problems because of the omnipresence of Mega Venusaur, the Latis, Excadrill now running Mold Breaker so it can OHKO with Earthquake and Aegislash switching on it with impunity.

I'd just like to point out that Rotom-W is still by far the most used pokemon in OU at the moment, definitely not not being used much.

Here are the February Usage Statistics.

1760 stats (top 2% of ladder):
1 | Rotom-Wash | 27.90818% | 809893 | 15.883% | 694622 | 17.187%

Regular stats:
1 | Rotom-Wash | 19.71770% | 809893 | 15.883% | 694622 | 17.187%

If anything, the stats show that better players use Rotom-W more. I do think many of your points about Rotom-W hold true, but will-o-wisp Talonflame is pretty rare, Rotom-W has always had to deal with toxic heatran, and even Venusaur doesn't like switching into Rotom-W for fear of a burn.

http://www.smogon.com/forums/thread...simulator-statistics-—-february-2014.3501320/

 

[Clair]

Great time for this thread, thanks rey :)

Mandibuzz is on the way out, and has been for a while. It's initially high usage was due to its reliability as a Defogger, ability to hard counter most Aegislash, abuse Knock Off, and be almost un-OHKO-able. But the number of targets it actually beats is pretty limited, it's very prone to giving free switches to the likes of Mega Mawile, and it has horrible 4MSS. Defog itself has become less useful as HO players in particular overprepared for it, and Rapid Spin is undergoing a resurgence higher on the ladder. Not to mention if you want to run Defog, there are a ton of other viable options which will usually offer more utility.

Mew is really just the most effective of the Taunt + WoW archetype of dedicated stallbreakers, which are collectively gaining effectiveness as the metagame becomes bulkier. It just has a lot of utility and causes mayhem for a lot of teams. Even the common stall builds with Heatran aren't safe, as Mew regularly carries Knock Off which ruins Tran's ability to check it over the course of a lengthy match.

As I noted before, Rapid Spin is incredibly effective right now. Excadrill and Mega Blastoise both have zero problems with Aegislash, which is the only remotely commonly used spinblocker. If the trend from Defog towards Spinning continues, along with the continued presence of stall, I'd expect to see the likes of Jellicent or the new Grass / Ghosts regain some popularity as well.

 

[Punchshroom]

reyscarface I would think Lati@s running Thunderbolt has more to do with dealing with Manaphy and hitting Azumarill on the switch; Psyshock already hits Keldeo after all.

Also another trend would be physical Thundurus-I, an idea that would've been utterly ridiculous in BW. Physical Thundurus-I has gotten some neat buffs that make it viable, the most obvious one being Defiant, and it has the movepool to threaten nearly every Defogger in OU. A buffed Knock Off to hit / cripple Lati@s and Chansey, which it could not before, also does it some favors. Even its lone physical Flying STAB, well, Fly, has received newfound use in smacking Mega Venusaur and Assault Vest Conkeldurr.

 

[Kingpoleon]

Quote:
Unlike in past generations, the Lati pair is now usually opting to run Thunderbolt as their coverage move. This is probably to be able to still hit Keldeo hard, as Latias is one of the best counters to Keldeo in the game, while also threatening Skarmory from setting up layers on their faces as they try to Defog them away.
Psyshock, a STAB move, hits Keldeo harder. Also, Keldeo is UU, so this really isn't applicable to Gen 6. Gen 5 it's debatable. Skarmory sets up on something commonly known to run HP Fire? This seems like a pathetic one, and btw, I am too lazy to reply to that post and cut out everything but that, so yeah. Really unappliable.

 

[Eievui-Nymphia]

Smogon Premeir League stats are so small that they are even comparable. In SPL, they use these rare movesets to surprise people expecting the standrd ladder because they are able to know the team of X member. Will-o-Wisp Charizard X and Talonflame are to surprise Tyranitars/Landorus-T that try to come in those pokemon.

 

[TheAntler]

I apologize if this isn't the kind of trend that this thread is looking for, but a trend that I'm noticing in the current metagame is the drop in the importance of Choice Scarf usage and the rise of priority's. Ever since its implementation, the Choice Scarf has been a staple in competitive play. It was always so important to outspeed your opponent and make sure that they can't do anything to you. Scarves were instrumental in revenge killing, sweeping, cleaning, etc., but now, the meta has shifted. In the newest gen, priority has become a huge factor of the game. Perhaps the initial spark of this trend was caused by the introduction of Talonflame and his ability Gale Wings, arguably the best priority user in the tier. Previously, every team ran a Scarf user to facilitate revenge kills, late game cleanup, etc., but now priority has taken that spot. Every team now runs some form of priority to do the Choice Scarf's job. Before the ban, Genesect was a phenomenal revenge killer with Extreme Speed, and Talonflame still runs rampant with the strongest priority move in the game, his Gale Wings Brave Bird. Another hugely important priority move is Sucker Punch, which in some cases allows you to outspeed your opponent's priority. This move, in addition with the buff to Defog, has allowed for Bisharp to come in and make his place in the OU tier.

Another reason that the prevalence of the Choice Scarf has fallen is the shift toward bulky offense. In this gen, being able to survive a hit and KO back is vastly more important than outspeeding your opponent. This is also because of the rise in popularity of priority. Because it is impossible to outspeed priority with anything other than even faster priority, tanking hits has become a necessity. Now, many Scarf users, like Tyranitar and Heatran, could tank a priority hit and then KO back regardless, but others, like Excadrill and Garchomp, can't survive a strong priority attack. Excadrill goes down from a strong Mach Punch and Garchomp can't take a LO boosted Ice Shard from Mamoswine. In conclusion, the shift to priority has had a huge impact of in the importance of the Choice Scarf. For example, as Lazybeef said

Unlike last gen the scarf set is nowhere to be seen, and keldeo now plays a completely different role as a wallbreaker

But who knows, maybe the meta will shift back towards the Scarf later on.

tl;dr The Choice Scarf has fallen in importance and usage because of the rise of priority.

 

[Baharoth]

But who knows, maybe the meta will shift back towards the Scarf later on.

tbh i feel like thats already happening. Lately i run into far more scarf users than i did a month ago. Scarf Excadrill, Garchomp, Heatran and so on. Its just personal experience and i dont know what the statistics say but for me it went from almost non existing to every third team has one.

From a theoretical point of view that does make sense, in a world where nobody uses scarfs it can be very beneficial to use one, as a lure for example. While its no longer needed for revengekilling it can still be used for that as well since scarfers have the advantage of far more and stronger moves at their disposal then priority users.

 

[MCBarrett]

First of all, thanks for this thread Rey. It's nice to see discussion on what is actually happening in the metagame rather than just a bunch of theorymon for once.

Anyways, I'm just gonna touch on a few points that have been brought up that I feel are interesting and I'll bring up a few trends that I've seen recently at the end.

The first trend that I think has been severely under-discussed is Rain. Rain is one of the scariest team archetypes to face just because of it's sheer power and because the metagame is so un-prepared for it outside of the common Thundurus, Keldeo and Azumarill which all can still be played around by rain teams. Here's a replay of Week 6 SPL Match between my boys Tesung and Toxzn. As you can see right off the bat Toxzn is put under immense pressure by Deoxys setting up a Rain Dance before going into Kabutops. Tesung forces the switch and sets up an SD and the rest is pretty much history. This just shows how powerful rain is since Toxzn had a strong team, played well, and still had very little he could do in this matchup. Plus, Tesung even gives Toxzn a free turn with a misclick (I hope it was a misclick) and still has enough wiggle room to pull off the victory. This is just a perfect example of why rain should be considered a serious threat in the current meta.

Pursuit Bisharp is also pretty interesting. The main reason being is that so many emerging threats absolutely love Pursuit Trap support. Charizard-Y, Keldeo, Landorus all really appreciate having the Lati's trapped and Bisharp can perform this task very well. Once the Lati's are removed these threats become absolute terrors and will usually score a KO any time they switch in. Pursuit Aegislash has also seen some use since it is a bit bulkier but I think ultimately its just not as reliable as you need too much investment to score an OHKO on a Pursuit with Aegislash, plus running Pursuit over Sacred Sword ironically leaves Aegi open to being trapped by other users of Pursuit.

A few smaller trends that I've seen recently are the use of Toxic on Aegislash for one. Common switch ins to Aegislash, namely Hippowdon (whose increase in usage is really a trend of itself), really don't like switching into Toxic and this can make it much easier to wear down later on in the match. It also can help to check some setup sweepers such as BU Talonflame which is becoming more and more common. This Week 6 SPL Match of C05ta vs. Masterclass shows Masterclass using a very uncommon SubToxic Aegislash set which he uses very well to wear down C05ta's Hippowdon very early on in the match. This ultimately allowed Masterclass to sweep late game with his Clefable since Hippo was no longer in a range of health where it could Whirlwind it out.

Might add a few more later but these are the main things I wanted to point out and this post is already pretty long...

 

[Jaiho]

Quote:
Unlike in past generations, the Lati pair is now usually opting to run Thunderbolt as their coverage move. This is probably to be able to still hit Keldeo hard, as Latias is one of the best counters to Keldeo in the game, while also threatening Skarmory from setting up layers on their faces as they try to Defog them away.
Psyshock, a STAB move, hits Keldeo harder. Also, Keldeo is UU, so this really isn't applicable to Gen 6. Gen 5 it's debatable. Skarmory sets up on something commonly known to run HP Fire? This seems like a pathetic one, and btw, I am too lazy to reply to that post and cut out everything but that, so yeah. Really unappliable.

Keldeo is UU because of the poor quality of the ladder, not because it isn't effective. Keldeo is A-rank on the viability thread, solidly OU is the new 1760 stats, and has good usage in SPL. It is still a top tier 'mon

 

[LoDart210]

A few trends I've noticed:

Mega venusaur is no longer as effective. I think in time his usage will start to decrease. I don't deny how amazing a while he is, but the meta game has adapted. Manaphy and lando-I run boosted psychics, keldeo has HP flying, and brave bird is as common as ever. Even mega pinsir doesnt fear the frog. With mega lucario gone, I think people will turn to mega Medicham who also can defeat mega venusaur.


Another thing I've noticed is the return of mega mawile. When XY first appeared, it was very popular, then disappeared for some reason, and now seems to be back in fashion.

I'm not the most intuitive or high level player but these are something's that have caught my eye.

Tl;dr -- venusaur mega is no longer the immovable wall it once was and defensive cores will change to adapt to the sweepers that have adapted to venusaur.

Mawile is back in town as well.

 

[Liarliarpantsonfire]

In the OP it says that Conkeldurr was used frequently in the early stages of BW which should be XY. On that note I haven't seen it decline in usage, more so the other way around. It only became popular a relatively short time ago.

 

[bobbyvaporeon]

In the OP it says that Conkeldurr was used frequently in the early stages of BW which should be XY. On that note I haven't seen it decline in usage, more so the other way around. It only became popular a relatively short time ago.

That's mainly because of its ability to check Mega Lucario and stop special Genesect. With those two gone, it'll slowly fall in usage, especially with Stall rising which stops Conkeldurr completely.

 

[skies]

Mega Pinsir being semi-absent from this metagame in which it cannot properly set-up

Umm? I've been using Mega Pinsir a lot, it is not that hard to set up really. I wait to Mega Evolve on something like Rotom, as it will Volt Switch away, then just set up my Swords Dance and do massive damage. You don't have to be Mega Pinsir right away, and the fact it causes so many switches makes it bound to set up. It may have a horrible typing, but if you remove Talonflame and Skarmory, it can then plow through teams.

 

[Style_Dota]

Smogon Premeir League stats are so small that they are even comparable. In SPL, they use these rare movesets to surprise people expecting the standrd ladder because they are able to know the team of X member. Will-o-Wisp Charizard X and Talonflame are to surprise Tyranitars/Landorus-T that try to come in those pokemon.

However, once people discover how effective these sets are in many practical situations (like during tournaments, when they are able to perform well under the surprise factors that are seen in tournament teams), that's how they eventually become standardized. A perfect example of this is Fighting Gem Focus Punch Breloom, something that people have learned to expect towards the end of BW2, but completely caught people off guard and was a huge surprise factor during the immense popularity of SD / Mach Punch / Bullet Seed / Spore Breloom. The same could even be said for the Bulk Up Drain Punch set in BW1.

 

[BKC]

pursuit (bisharp/ttar/aegislash) + keldeo/charizard-y is really popular. lati@s have always been ridiculously easy to take advantage of by trapping and since they're really common counters to keld and zard it's a pretty easy combo to put together.

btw tbolt lati isn't just for keld but also for shit like azumarill/mandibuzz

 

[WECAMEASROMANS]

Right now the common hazard set for HO is pretty much Deoxys-D/Bisharp/balloon Aegi. For good reason too, obviously. deo-D sets up hazards so easy its ridiculous. Bisharp and balloon Aegi are there to preserve the hazards, or to heavily punish the opponent if they decide to get rid of the hazards. What can stop this seemingly broken and simple af strategy? Mega Blastoise. It has titanic bulk and access to rapid spin to get rid of Deo-D's hazards. With mega launcher, it can beat both bisharp and aegi with ease using aura sphere and dark pulse respectively, then spin the hazards. Its really good in this meta as well.

Right now the common defensive core for stall is more or less Skarmory/Chansey/Quagsire. This defensive core can take much of the metagame with ease, walling Charizard X, Charizard Y, Mega Pinsir, Talon, and a bunch of other threats as well. A really effective way to stop this core is to use Wobbuffet + pursuit trapper. Switch in on a Chansey's softboiled or quagsire's recover or something, and encore them. Then use tickle over and over again till their def is at -6, then send out a pursuiter and destroy them. This even works on skarmory too since steel doesnt resist pursuit anymore. After the skarmory or chansey is down, you can unleash beasts such as your mega pinsir or your tail glow manaphy with psychic (fuck you mega venu) and there is absolutely nothing stall can do to stop you anymore. Tickle wobb is also really effective against clefable too which is getting very popular on stall.

 

[Ash Borer]

Right now the common hazard set for HO is pretty much Deoxys-D/Bisharp/balloon Aegi. For good reason too, obviously. deo-D sets up hazards so easy its ridiculous. Bisharp and balloon Aegi are there to preserve the hazards, or to heavily punish the opponent if they decide to get rid of the hazards. What can stop this seemingly broken and simple af strategy? Mega Blastoise. It has titanic bulk and access to rapid spin to get rid of Deo-D's hazards. With mega launcher, it can beat both bisharp and aegi with ease using aura sphere and dark pulse respectively, then spin the hazards. Its really good in this meta as well.

Right now the common defensive core for stall is more or less Skarmory/Chansey/Quagsire. This defensive core can take much of the metagame with ease, walling Charizard X, Charizard Y, Mega Pinsir, Talon, and a bunch of other threats as well. A really effective way to stop this core is to use Wobbuffet + pursuit trapper. Switch in on a Chansey's softboiled or quagsire's recover or something, and encore them. Then use tickle over and over again till their def is at -6, then send out a pursuiter and destroy them. This even works on skarmory too since steel doesnt resist pursuit anymore. After the skarmory or chansey is down, you can unleash beasts such as your mega pinsir or your tail glow manaphy with psychic (fuck you mega venu) and there is absolutely nothing stall can do to stop you anymore. Tickle wobb is also really effective against clefable too which is getting very popular on stall.

speaking of stall trapping, Specs Gothitelle is something that is very underrated at completely diffusing the typical stall teams, such as TFL's and snowcristal's

Psychic murders venusaur
Trick makes chansey useless
Thunderbolt destroys skarm
Energy Ball ends the life of quags, Hp ice can be used for gliscor, hp fire for ferrothorn

pretty clean victory for Goth users

 

[Ajwf]

As good as trappers, in theory, are against stall, I've yet to see anything beyond Magnezone/Pinsir-mega combos. I had inserted a shed shell onto my Skarmory for a while and waded in to test, but found nothing. I guess as a trend goes, trappers still have yet to catch on. I'm waiting for it, since Skarmory doesn't even run Lefties on standard sets (so Shed shell would be an easy transition) but I think Aegislash being on TFL's stall team has completely destroyed people's ideas of trapping it out... Simply because baiting Aegislash to come in and throw shadow balls is too dangerous.

This is a trend I've seen a bit, but Raikou this generation seems to be more common among 'solid' competitive players. Previously, I'd never see it, but now it's a pokemon I can expect to see quite a bit of. I suspect it's an AV set, because I don't see sub/cm raikou at all, but it is really damn bulky. A trend that isn't really a trend but could be noted (Or it's just me stating something I believe to be true) is stall's attacks generally come from the special side and so on bulky offense teams, this pokemon is a really nice option to take on stall. Mostly due to volt switch, skarm scaring, and depleting defog ammo faster than usual, it's become a very good pokemon in this meta, almost a more bulky (but less powerful) magnectric.

 

[Ash Borer]

As good as trappers, in theory, are against stall, I've yet to see anything beyond Magnezone/Pinsir-mega combos. I had inserted a shed shell onto my Skarmory for a while and waded in to test, but found nothing. I guess as a trend goes, trappers still have yet to catch on. I'm waiting for it, since Skarmory doesn't even run Lefties on standard sets (so Shed shell would be an easy transition) but I think Aegislash being on TFL's stall team has completely destroyed people's ideas of trapping it out... Simply because baiting Aegislash to come in and throw shadow balls is too dangerous.

hello, check this replay: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-92209740

I believe this is your team, too. I played that match lazily, because I didnt have to think at all. Stall just dies to goth especially if any ounce of volt turn exists.

Goth only infrequently demolishes stall because it infrequently is used.

 

[LzrGunPewPew]

I apologize in advance if this isn't considered a trend, but the 6th Generation has brought forth two new items that have a great deal of utility in the OU metagame: Weakness Policy and Assault Vest. These two items have created a few interesting trends that are common with some OU pokemon. (Note: There's a likelihood someone will have covered these things in some capacity by the time I post this reply.)

Assault Vest- This is a nifty item, giving pokemon a 1.5x boost to Special Defense but only allowing the use of attacking moves. It's seen a bit of usage on many different things, but there's a few who are seeing a big boost in usage and utility in conjuction with Assault Vest, which I will cover now.

Weakness Policy- It boosts the Attack stat and the Special Attack stat of a pokemon when hit by a super effective attack.

Conkeldurr is one of the most common things to use Assault Vest, as it has an already respectable defense and no immediate need for boosting or status moves, allowing it to become a very dangerous and very bulky physical threat, with the movepool to KO anything that can hit it super effectively (Knock off for Psychic types, Ice punch for Flying types, and Poison Jab for Fairies). Additionally, it's commonly run with Guts, making it even more difficult to deal with, as stalling out Conkeldurr no longer becomes an option (depending on the Pokemon) due to the Attack boost it receives from Guts.

Slowbro is also something that's seeing some usage with Assault Vest. It gives it a perfect balance of defenses in conjuction with Regenerator and its wide movepool make it nifty to have as a tank or wall.

Goodra's usage has died down, but it was extremely common to be seen with assault vest, which boosted its already very good Special Defense, making it a very bulky special wall in conjuction with its signature ability, Gooey, which lowers the speed of a pokemon by 1 when Goodra is hit by a physical attack. Though dying down somewhat (in my experience), it still has utility with AV and may well still be a trend of this generation.

The final rising trend with Assault Vest that I'll cover is Tyranitar. Though it loses the utility of stealth rocks, it works well as a special or mixed wall/tank that can eat any hits and do some decent damage in return. The only problem with this set, similar to Goodra, is that it has no way to recover HP, which may lead to other sets being used. However, I still believe that Tyranitar is a great user of the assault vest and will continue to gain popularity.

Though fewer than the pokemon used with Assault Vest, it's now time to cover pokemon that have seen a lot of use in conjuction with the Weakness Policy:

Dragonite-It was already extremely dangerous, but the Weakness Policy set makes it even more threatening. Dragonite's hidden ability, Multiscale, makes it perfect for the Weakness Policy in conjuction with Dragon Dance and Extremespeed, turning it into a dangerous physical threat and something to watch out for.

Aegislash- The other OU pokemon that is somewhat commonly run with a Weakness Policy. Aegislash's Stance Change allows it to eat up many of the super effective attacks that it will be hit with, and its Blade form and access to good priority in Shadow Sneak gives it the perfect stats to run a mixed set in conjunction with the Weakness Policy. Though it may not be as useful (or common) as other Aegislash sets (Air Balloon or Leftovers), it is still very usable.

I may have made a few mistakes here, feel free to point them out.

 

[Ajwf]

hello, check this replay: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-92209740

I believe this is your team, too. I played that match lazily, because I didnt have to think at all. Stall just dies to goth especially if any ounce of volt turn exists.

Goth only infrequently demolishes stall because it infrequently is used.

I can't save people from stupidity no matter what team I build... Leaving heatran in on Dragonite is a prime example of your opponent's knowledge. It is a great tool to help dismantle stall when used correctly, however it is neither an end all nor a trend. And were it to be a trend, as I said, Skarmory would simply adapt to add two common stall weapons to be unaffected (and heatran would've been mostly unaffected as well).

Quagsire: This guy keeps popping back up for whatever reason. His ability to take care of Charizard-X this generation (to an extent... Have you checked the counters to this thing? None take below 30% iirc) is at an absolute premium, but he is (surprisingly) decent at stopping a host of bulky (or lower attack) set up sweepers. Stall uses him a lot because he provides a sort of security blanket vs all these damn megas this generation, though admittedly mold breaker is an issue. TFL's team even seems to have started a Haze quagsire fad, which funnily enough is a great way to end baton pass and mold breaker issues.

Also, this has no proven stats, but I feel like the amount of EQ spam has drastically decreased from the beginning of this generation. in the beginning (very beginning), Garchomp/Landorus-T cores were common just to solve aegislash. It eventually became standard to have at least one Stab EQ on every team, many times coupled with an unstab EQ. I feel now that Dragon is starting to climb up again and retake it's place as #1 attack type, simply because most dragons can power past a fairy.

 

[Clair]

Raikou's presence is basically a straightforward anti-HO strategy. Raikou differentiates itself from Rotom-W by checking double bird strategies more effectively, beating Thundurus, and offering a bit more immediate power and speed. Decent HO teams are usually restricted to higher on the ladder though, so I wouldn't expect Raikou usage to spread much further.

 

[Ajwf]

At first, that's what I thought it was, too. But if it was simply geared against dual birds (all of which are physical), leftover sets would've been more useful. Not to mention dual bird has fallen out of favor a bit... Perhaps because Genesect and Lucario were both beaten by Talonflame's part? It would naturally beat thundurus-i without an AV as well. I have to suspect that there is some outside ability gained which is why it opts for AV over just picking a sub/cm set, or even Twave.

Whatever the reason, it is pretty good vs the somewhat spdef oriented stall teams in this gen.