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DP Tier Discussion - BL and UU (mark 2)

I find Steelix really easy to manage, actually. I personally use a Probopass as a special wall/steel trapper, and at first, I had Magnet Rise for Aggron and Steelix, but then I switched up my team a bit and removed Magnet Rise for SR and could still trap and kill relatively decently after they've been weakened sufficiently.


Off topic, but are you from NorCal? Hahahaha XD
 
OK

OK, well maybe it's just me and my teams. I guess I just have a problem with Pokemon that "mold" the game especially in UU. I've always tried to be a maverick and show the usefulness of Pokemon that aren't extremely common and Steelix always seems to ruin my parade, even with Blastoise and Camerupt on my team. But if other people haven't had much trouble with it, then I'm fine. I play OU more often anyways now.
 
True that, but I wasn't just talking about NU Pokemon. There are many other examples such as sunny day teams that can't show their face in OU because of the ridiculous number of tyranitars and hippowdons. I'm just saying there are so many Pokemon and cool UU teams that are absolutely devestated by Steelix. If Steelix was bumped up, they would work so much better.

Sunny Day teams never saw tremendous use in UU even before Steelix was brought down, because Rain Dance has always been the most viable weather related strategy in UU ... the pool of pokemon able to utilise Sunny Day effectively is just too small in comparison to Rain Dance.


IMHO, SR is the most overrated move in the game.

it's easy enough to just pack some spin support.

Sorry but I think you're both under selling SR. As Cynthia says Stealth Rock is so easy to set up, and UU doesn't have a particularly great pool of spinners since a significant number are either weak to SR, or troubled by
Rotom/Froslass the two most common rapid spin blockers.

I certinaly hope when NU/equivalent is formed there is some serious consideration of it being banned.
 
To BL:

Ninetales
: Hypnosis + Free Nasty Plot = 1 sleeper + facing something with 162 S.Atk. With reasonable speed for UU tier, it is just too strong. Flamethrower covers a lot, especially the tanking Steel type, and Rock/Water just get weared down by Energy Ball after 1 Nasty Plot. If by any chance Ninetales have HP Ice, not even Altaria can wall this thing. This thing overcentralizes this tier for one of the few counters: Altaria (dangerous to HP Ice), Hypno (dangerous to Dark Pulse), Mantine (still dangerous to HP Electric) and Grumpig (can be put to sleep and Dark Pulsed).

The tanking steel type in UU? O.o
 
The problem with using many SR Pokes is: why bother? SR is so easy to set up, and spinning is not terribly efficient so it's usually more effective to have a Poke that doesn't lose half its health when it switches in.
You should bother if that Pokemon fills a special niche in your team that nothing else can fill.
Note that SR itself is set up by bulky Pokemon who have no form of recovery, so they themselves have trouble switching in. (Do people use Aero in the same manner in UU as a suicide lead? That's one exception.) It takes just as much effort to lay down the rocks, and when the spinner comes out, all of that work is to waste. So yeah, you can lay them down on a switch, but what if they switch in something powerful that can set up while you run?
But again, I should have bolded the part where I mentioned that I'm not here to argue about the move SR, but how people treat it in relation to a Pokemon's viability. Not the move's.

Sorry but I think you're both under selling SR. As Cynthia says Stealth Rock is so easy to set up, and UU doesn't have a particularly great pool of spinners since a significant number are either weak to SR, or troubled by Rotom/Froslass the two most common rapid spin blockers.
Again, my point was not to argue to viability of SR. My main point was to speak against people looking at a Pokemon and immediately saying "LOL SR WEAK" without paying any attention to its stats, movepool, etc. It's ludicrous, really.
Let's return to the most extreme example, that of Ho-oh for OU. It was astounding to note how many people were willing to ignore 106/90/154 defenses complimented by access to auto-heal, its signature move being a 150 BP STAB move with a 50% burn rate coming off 130 Attack to cover up its weaker defense, and decent enough Special Attack to punish any "physical" wall that comes its way, all for Stealth Rock. Sure, there were others who bothered to at least look at something else and note its "slow" Speed (well, not for those defenses), 4x Rock weakness, and made a correlation that fast Scarfers with Stone Edge could beat it, but by and far, the majority made that poor mistake and argument.

Yes, it's bad to have a 4x SR weakness. And yes, it's bad to not have arguments specific to UU. But I'm only reflecting the attitudes of some of you, who are willing to ignore everything else just to note that. While other Pokemon may not be as extreme as Ho-oh, the attitudes are just the same. A Stealth Rock weakness should be a footnote, not the main argument.

I feel the same attitude about Pokemon who can set it up. Not every Pokemon who learns Stealth Rock is "amazing", and none are "overpowered" solely for the ability to set it up. Such is the case with Steelix.

I certinaly hope when NU/equivalent is formed there is some serious consideration of it being banned.
Actually, it already is banned. Or at least functionally.

When does the BL and UU testing period begin?
When it gets to that point in the policy review, although iirc UU is near the bottom of the list.
However, in the meantime, I've been thinking that maybe we can hold a tournament or something while we wait, so we can maybe get a headstart? What do you guys think?
 
UU and BL set up Pokemon

Moving away from the stealth rock discussion, lets talk about set up Pokemon. Pokemon that either need time or a team mate to unleash their full potential.

I think this note should be discussed because of Marowak's suggestion to move down to UU. With a swords dance and an agility pass. this guys almost unstoppable. I'm planning on having Marowak on my team that I'm building for Wi-Fi. I plan to test him in BL and OU and not to brag, but I think my UU/BL team would crush other UU teams in no time flat if allowed to compete in UU. This is because Marowak in UU can set up from the beginning of the game with the presence of ice shard not being so plentiful in UU and if successful pull of a 4 to 5 Pokemon sweep. I think his downright destructive potential should keep him out of UU.

To drive this point in, lets compare with another Pokemon with the power of a nuke. Sunflora (don't laugh). I have him on a UU team. A bulky claydol uses sunny day (with heat rock) trick room and then explosion. The set up is successful about 80 percent of the time and taking advantage of the sun comes in sunflora. A solar beam off a 105 base SP Att boosted by stab, choice specs, and solar power (the ability) turns this smiling sunflower in to the deathstar. As impressive as he is though, he is not overpowered for UU. Any priority move kills him, he has a max of 4 shots, grass is a mediocre offensive type, and protect stalling works wonders on the trick room.

So what do you guys think?
 
What about Omastar? Omastar could probably block most of Marowaks' attacks except EQ which would take a few hits to take down Omastar as he has such high base defense(125).

EDIT: Not to mention that he can rip Marowak apart with his high base sp. atk. also:) And in the rain Omastar is pretty much a destroyer.
 
@Kylecat: Don't worry, Maro for UU has already been thrown out the window. Fortunately. Ice Shard also sucks for the most part outside of OU.
Also, it's just called a BL team, not a BL/UU team. ;D I also happen to be a huge fan of Maro, yay for Trick Room. ^_^;

@Shelcario: No, because despite Omastar's defenses, Maro will be able to OHKO even without a SD. The only UU Pokemon Maro can't OHKO after 1 SD (iirc) is Weezing, which takes upwards of 92% from Double Edge. Also, I use Bonemerang > EQ, because Subs are just annoying, although I have missed at the worst moments. xD
 
Even with a huge EV investment into Omastars' defense? (goes and looks at omastars' defense and Marowaks' atk.)

EDIT: But Omastar has a way higher base defense than Marowaks' base attack so I don't see how Marowak can OHKO Omastar.
 
Even with a huge EV investment into Omastars' defense? (goes and looks at omastars' defense and Marowaks' atk.) OH!
Thick Club + SD + SE STAB. Yup. Neither can switch into each other, nor can any other bulky water if Maro gets SD up (or if they lack auto-heal even if it doesn't one in).
 
Oh yeah I just looked at the analysis and just noticed that the swords dance set has Thick Club on it so thanks for pointing that out:)

EDIT: Just how much does Thick Club boost Marowaks' Attack?
 
Thick Club doubles the attack. A Jolly Marowak will have 518 which is greater than max Attack Adamant Deoxys-F's Attack (base 180).

252 Atk Jolly Marowak w/Thick Club Earthquake on 252 HP/252 Def Bold Omastar: 85.76% - 100.87%

2HKO. (Metalkid's over damages)

252 Atk Jolly Marowak w/Thick Club Stone Edge on 252 HP/252 Def Bold Omastar: 28.49% - 33.72%

Still a 2HKO because Marowak will Earthquake the next turn.

Omastar will have to switch in on Fire Punch or Double Edge to survive.

Thanks for the damage calculations and I guess Omastar will have problems with Marowak:)
 
Just letting you know, Jolly is a waste on Marowak, and any Speed investment should be sparing and should coincide with Speed passing/other support. Run Adamant. Also, Et Ou Mortus, Fire Punch is only used for OU for Skarmory and Bronzong. BL Maros run EQ (or Bonemerang in my case)/Stone Edge/Double Edge/SD.

With my TR team, I ran Brave with a bulky spread (it's not completely fragile by any means, at least compared to some other sweepers), and it's survived all kinds of things.
 
I noticed that the presence of Weezing/Venusaur does though make Psychic attacks very viable in UU.

Think about it, while Psychic is generally considered an inferior attack type, but with all the fightings (hitmons, ape, croak) punching through stuff, and poison types (nidos, weezing, venusaur) used to counter them, psychic is actually extremely viable as it kills both sides.

I just noticed this when preparing a Claydol, and realizing Psychic was more useful than shadowball or ice beam against the wide majority of pokes I was planning to counter with it.

Not saying this is good or bad, but it does open options for a lot of pokemon, as Psychic is a pretty widely destributed attack. Pokemon who would not have been able to touch Meganium or Politoed now can defeat Venusaur and Poliwrath.
 
I noticed that the presence of Weezing/Venusaur does though make Psychic attacks very viable in UU.

Given the number of poison/fighting types pre-Weezing/Venusaur, it's always been viable, its just that Weezing pretty much forces its uses due to nothing else being super effective.
 
I actually once saw a Scarf Venusaur lead with HP Psychic (supposedly so Venomoth and some other things can't set up on it). If I can find the RMT, I can show you. o_o;

Maybe now, things like Xatu could be a lot more viable...
 
Especially since Xatu gets Wish.
And Baton Pass, Calm Mind, DS, Thunder Wave.....and good speed and Special Attack to utilize them. And whatever Psychic can't hit, it gets Grass Knot for Bulky waters and Night Shade for Shuckle and co. Unfortunately, it's too fragile to utilize Psycho Shift + Synchronize. It can also set up RD for a surprise if you want.
 
I actually once saw a Scarf Venusaur lead with HP Psychic (supposedly so Venomoth and some other things can't set up on it). If I can find the RMT, I can show you. o_o;

Maybe now, things like Xatu could be a lot more viable...

I ran that :p Also hits Toxicroak, opposing Venusaur and Vileplume and Muk, all of whom can come in for free on it otherwise. Well worth a moveslot.
 
Only problem with Xatu, and I've used it before, is that you need your other 5 pokes to pick up a lot more slack as it's fairly fragile and somewhat gimmicky. He owns Toxicroak and Weezing though, and a CM version can set up in the faces of Bulky grassers and Steelix (w/o Stone Edge).
 
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