i'm reasonably hyped up for this upcoming batch of dlc, so i figured i'd drop in my $0.02 usd. as such. given all the powerful returning threats, i wanted to assess some of them and speculate on how they may perform once they return. i won't be assessing the 670+ bst cover legendaries since they're obviously way too good for ou. this is a really hot take, but i don't think any of the returning threats bar the 670+ bst cover legendaries that already start in ubers + zygarde-complete are quick-ban worthy. many will be possibly worthy of suspect tests, but i think that most of these returning threats should have their fair shot at competing in ou before being put on the chopping block.
note: the threats in each category are ordered alphabetically.
amazing: any threat listed here is one that i think at minimum will be metagame-defining and strong enough that i won't be too surprised if a suspect test is called for it.
the blazin' kickin' chicken returns once again, but this time, i don't think it'll be as utterly busted as some people are speculating it to be. baton pass as a whole is banned from ou and 4mss will limit what it gets past. without knock off, slowbro can comfortably come in on anything a +2 blaziken can throw out. same applies to earthquake for the pex. without a boost from swords dance, blaziken struggles to make meaningful progress against the fat cores; without protect, it may struggle to get even one speed boost against more offensive teams. maybe i'm being too optimistic here, but i'd like to see blaziken get a fair shot at ou in this generation rather than having it be quickbanned.
robobug returns with a vengeance, but unlike its glory days back in bw2 ou, there is no arena trap dugtrio or shadow tag gothitelle waiting in the shadows to trap whatever unlucky shmuck it pivoted out on with u-turn. its versatility is still there, but now sets with shift gear, blaze kick, and/or extreme speed won't be nature-locked, further adding to the unpredictability that'll come with it. that being said, they will still be shiny-locked. choiced sets will be as good as ever, while shift gear / rock polish sweeping sets will be nightmarish to deal with in the late game. i'm excited to give genesect a shot once it returns.
a few peeps above covered most of what i think of heatran already. it'll be a consistent defensive bulwark against current threats like dragapult, volcarona, and rotom-heat + "new" threats like naganadel and tapu lele while also easing the burden on its team to set up rocks and switch into special attack. it can even run a pretty neat wallbreaking + trapping set with magma storm + toxic, but the loss of z-crystals means that it'll be slightly less efficient than before. choice scarf sets might pop up here and there, but that's more a relic of the past than anything else at this point. i expect to see this thing up there with clefable, the pex, and tapu bulu in usage.
landorus will be as great a wallbreaker as ever. however, it is worth noting that landorus lost one of its best support measures now that pursuit has been erased from the game. the loss of hp ice also sucks, but it won't matter too much
if landorus gets access to hurricane via technical record. we'll just have to wait and see if it ends up being over-bearing for defensive teams again.
speaking of glue mons, landoge returns for yet another stint in ou. the sheer compression it provides is always handy for pretty much every team style out there. the loss of hp ice kinda sucks, but this loss isn't too big for landoge since that means it no longer has to worry about random threats packing
heat hp ice against it. its sheer versatility is going to be amazing as ever. there is not much else i can say about it that others haven't touched on already.
with the loss of z moves, naganadel has no real way of busting through heatran unless it wants to give up coverage against other steels by using thunderbolt or dark pulse. it'll still be a strong wallbreaker (remember, by virtue of stat spread, naganadel is faster and slightly stronger than hydreigon!) and potential late game sweeper thanks to beast boost doing its thing, but i think it'll find a good, solid place in ou. on a tangential note, shiny naganadel is no longer locked into being modest woo!
my favorite mon from gen 7 makes her glorious return to ou, where she will once again be the fastest unboosted threat out there. additionally, much like hawlucha, she gets close combat, which in turn means that she won't have to worry about high jump kick's crash damage ruining a potential sweep. that being said, i think that ou is more prepared for her now. aegislash being settled into ou means many teams have an easy way to stuff her (assuming no throat chop) and the common clef + pex defensive core (assuming no poison jab) will stop her from making too much meaningful progress against them. the advent of heavy-duty boots means that defensive teams now get moltres and bulky volcarona as additional pheromosa answers. offensive teams can use aegislash, strong sources of priority, primarina, or unburden hawlucha + a terrain to keep pheromosa in check. speaking of the tapus, pheromosa will really appreciate having tapu lele as a teammate since it can soften up walls and get psychic terrain up to negate priority as a way to revenge kill her. overall, i think she will be a phenomenal pivot, revenge killer, or quiver dance sweeper that can get past one pool of checks but not another with her chosen coverage. that being said, i think there will be good answers to both sets now.
the expanded movepool (including rising voltage, an actual physical fairy stab in play rough, and great coverage in close combat) did tapu koko a world of good, thus making it more unpredictable than before. that being said, both sets have pretty solid answers thanks in no small part to the loss of z moves. hippowdon, amoonguss, and tangrowth do not care about the physical sets at all while special sets will struggle to work past blissey, mixed ferrothorn, calm amoonguss, and rotom-heat, among other threats. rillaboom and tapu bulu itself make for great checks to either variant thanks to grassy surge overriding electric terrain and both having access to grassy glide. of course, listing checks and counters doesn't diminish tapu koko's ability to do work, but i did want to point out that good, relevant answers that are easy to slot in a diverse array of teams exist.
this thing will be a phenomenal wallbreaker with specs + psychic-terrain-boosted expanding force. however, it can't just click on its kill sat (expanding force) mindlessly thanks to the relative abundance of resistances + immunities. as such, a combination of a fat steel (e.g.: corviknight, celesteela, heatran, jirachi) + blissey + skilled play should be sufficient in staving this tapu's assault. without choice specs, it becomes much easier to handle. i don't think tapu lele is as busted as some of the doomsayers are suggesting, but i could be wrong.
bird tornadus is going to be even better than before. it'll still do what it does well all while checking tapu bulu, rillaboom, kartana, and volcarona, and it can even threaten a sweep with nasty plot + a surprisingly wide movepool on top of all that.
the loss of hp ice benefits zygarde quite well, but it also mourns the loss of z moves, which removes one way for zygarde to break past its counters in one fell swoop. its diversity in movesets + great bulk + ability to bypass all ground immunities with thousand arrows, which in turn gives it more freedom to run different moves, will be quite fascinating to witness.
great: any threat listed here is one that i think will perform consistently well in ou at worst. unlike the threats listed in the amazing tier above, i don't see these threats having suspect tests called for them.
i don't have too much to say about dragonite. boots guaranteeing that multiscale will be up when it switches in is phenomenal and its typing means that it'll be a great stopper to volcarona, venusaur, blaziken, landorus, and other strong offensive threats. dragon dance sets will be decent, but the bulky sets are where dragonite will really shine. keep a good eye out for it.
ah chomper, how i missed you so. the loss of z moves kinda sucks, but the loss of hp ice for everything else is a massive boon for the landshark. its respectable speed tier, great attack, and not-so-surprising bulk (even when uninvested) makes it quite nice as a sneaky pebbles setter and early-game wallbreaker. as far as i know, it doesn't get dragon dance, but access to swords dance + scale shot makes it look pretty keen as a late-game sweeper. dragapult will be both a great partner and threat to look out for.
kartana is strong and fast. grassy glide means it'll pair well with tapu bulu and rillaboom. no z moves kinda sucks, but it'll still be fine. choiced sets are going to be solid picks.
the eon twins now have mystical fire and aura sphere as part of their already expansive movepools, which in turn will make them even more unpredictable and difficult to switch into. pursuit being gone is one of the biggest boons they could have asked for, so now they can use their choiced sets with slightly more ease than before. they'll be great, but the choice between latios or latias will now depend on whether their team needs more firepower or bulk.
offensive variants of zapdos were given a gilded ticket with the additions of hurricane and weather ball to its modest movepool, which in turn makes it a potent balance buster for rain teams. the addition of boots also remedies its weakness to pebbles and makes it a sturdier defensive mon. with static, it can also punish the myriad of u-turn users in ou with the threat of paralysis neutering their shenanigans. this thing will be great on bulkier builds.
good: any threat listed here is one that i think will have a solid niche in ou and remain ou by usage.
the existence of heavy-duty boots, the addition of scorching sands to its small movepool, and the complete removal of pursuit benefits this mon a ton. choiced sets don't have to worry as much about tyranitar and heatran while sub + 3 attack sets are now more viable.
MUSCLE BUG FLEX ON PHYSICAL THREATS
jokes aside, buzzwole is probably the single sturdiest check we will have against urshifu unless it chooses to run flying-type coverage over iron head, sucker punch, or poison jab. it also does pretty well against excadrill, rillaboom without acrobatics, dragon dance dragapult + swords dance chomper lacking fire coverage, tyranitar, and kartana, as well as a good smorgasbord of physically-inclined threats.
people are sleeping on suicune. the power seep thanks to the loss of z moves and mega evolutions means that suicune can stand up to more attacks while slowly being able to boost up and eventually overwhelm teams that lack the requisite power to break it down quickly. it won't like the prevalence of tapu koko, tapu bulu, and rillaboom, but those threats can be worked around.
zapdos kinda does thundurus would do for rain offense teams but better since it gets access to hurricane on top of weather ball, but that doesn't make thundurus a bad choice in the slightest. thundurus still has prankster thunder wave, which in conjunction with its firepower will make it a nice dragapult teammate in more offensive builds, as well as nasty plot, which gives it the firepower needed to break past threats that would otherwise wall both of them. additionally, its therian forme will actually make for a solid zapdos check thanks to it naturally outspeeding the thunderbird and packing even more firepower.
niche: any threat listed here is one that i think will have a smaller niche in ou, but may struggle to stay in ou by usage. remember, there's too many great mons out there for all of them to be ou by usage!
boots have given moltres new life in ou as a great volcarona and pheromosa check. some stall teams will get great mileage from the classic firebird. it'll probably be better than niche, but i think at worst it'll still be useful in ou.
nidoking manhandles the common clef + pex defensive cores better than almost anything else out there, but it likely won't be used too much in ou (if at all) while lando's genie forme is legal in ou. nidoqueen provides almost as much power while also having a bit more bulk, which can be handy for bulkier builds. the choice between these two is similar to players choosing between latios and latias for their teams.
ah, how the mighty have fallen. mence's offenses are still killer, which would make it a pretty solid mixed attacker, but it still faces substantial competition from its fellow dragons (most notably chomper, dragonite, and dragapult). however, it still can be useful in the right hands. its access to hurricane makes mixed sets slightly tougher to deal with, but not much else has changed. maybe it can see use in rain teams as a mixed attacker that can get past tyranitar, but i'm not betting on it as long as tornadus-therian is legal in ou.
miscellaneous:
it may be worth re-evaluating these threats once we've reached a small island of stability in terms of metagame developments, melmetal more so than galarian darmanitan and cinderace. new threats and an increased power level may make them more tolerable to play against. only time will tell though.
i didn't cover everything i wanted to cover with one post, but these are my initial speculations. i still stand by what i said at the start of this post (the only threats worthy of being quick-banned are the 670+ bst cover legendaries that already start in ubers + zygarde-complete) and am looking forward to experimenting with the returning threats this next batch of dlc has to offer. big thanks to those of you who actually took the time to read through my massive wall of text and have a great day.
@ Heavy-Duty Boots/Lefties
the tapu nation attacked.
and 
, which become even better checks due to the removal of hidden power ice to deal with them. This doesn't mean that the special sets are still bad, because of the new tutor move Rising Voltage, abusing it's own Electric Surge to deal more damage.
252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Expanding Force (156 BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Scizor in Psychic Terrain: 226-267 (65.8 - 77.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Expanding Force (156 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Ferrothorn in Psychic Terrain: 177-208 (50.2 - 59%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
Tangrowth has the bulk to stave off hits and can chip it with Rocky Helmet. It can also OHKO it with Sludge Bomb It has to be careful of Megahorn.
This is probably the best counter to Bulu, mainly because of Static being able to cripple it with paralysis. It can be able to 2HKO it with Heat Wave. Just like Tangrowth, it has to be careful of a coverage move, this one being Stone Edge.
These steel flying types really can't be hit by any of it's moves super effectively and now that Z-Moves are gone, it can't get that big chip off them, and in the case of Corviknight and Skarmory, they can KO with Brave Bird on the -1 Bulu
pre-ban. This set can finally be able to deal with 
, one of it's biggest counters in gen 7, It can still run the physically defensive set to be able to check fire types and not worrying about steel types as much due to water giving it a neutrality. The edition of 
helps it become a better Defogger as it would be able to not take the residual damage from the spikes and rocks.
Banned to ubers with hdb+regenerater itself, nasty plots a bonus.
Dnite gonna be good, with its hdb ddance set being great, with roost and EQ outside of dragon stab and dragon dance. Some other sets may pop up too.
