Lower Tiers DPP Sub-Zero Used Resorces + Discussion

[missangelic]

Approved by Kristyl and the DPP mod team

Image credit: MAHOU for the Pokemon TCG - Ultra Prism

DPP SU Discussion + Resources Thread​

DPP Sub-Zero Used (SU) is the lowest unofficial tier on Smogon, and it's titularly the tier below ZU. DPP SU saw early speculation after the formation and stabilization of DPP ZU over several years starting around 2022, and it's grown now into a stable tierlist after several tournaments and matchmaking organized through the SU Discord. We're looking forward to using this thread to share resources about the tier, discuss new trends and developments, and reach a larger audience for people who enjoy DPP lower tiers on the Smogon forum.

Pokemon tiered as ZU

Pokemon are tiered as DPP ZU based on cumulative usage across DPP ZU tournaments, including the following: ZU Olympiad I-II, ZU Classic V-VI, and ZUPL V-VI. If a Pokemon has >~3.41% usage in ZU, it is tiered as ZU. This includes the following:

Arbok, Banette, Beedrill, Bibarel, Camerupt, Carnivine, Chimecho, Crawdaunt, Dewgong, Diglett, Dunsparce, Fearow, Girafarig, Gloom, Golbat, Granbull, Grotle, Grovyle, Ivysaur, Lairon, Lunatone, Luxray, Mawile, Omanyte, Pelipper, Persian, Phione, Plusle, Probopass, Raticate, Sableye, Seadra, Slaking, Stantler, Swalot, Wailord, Whiscash, Wormadam-Trash

In addition, Pokemon tiered as ZUBL, PU, and so on are not allowed for use in SU.

SUBL

DPP SU has its own banlist of Pokemon and metagame elements that are not allowed. This includes:
Baton Pass, Combusken, Damp Rock, Minun, Shelgon, Trapinch, Vigoroth, Sleep moves

Viability Rankings Resources

Viability Rankings with sample sets

DPP SU Viability Rankings
Last update: March 2nd, 2025
Sample sets are still being updated for the recent bans

S Ranks

S

Lopunny

S-

Mightyena

Sudowoodo

A Ranks

A+

Lumineon

Octillery

Pidgeot

A

Bronzor

Cherrim

Croconaw

Gastly

Munchlax

A-

Exploud

Flareon

Huntail

Kecleon

Meditite

Pikachu

Seviper

Tentacool

B Ranks

B+

Abra

Furret

Magnemite

Mankey

Prinplup

Pupitar

Vibrava

B

Budew

Chatot

Machop

Marshtomp

Onix

Pineco

Wormadam-Sandy

B-

Bastiodon

Corsola

Magcargo

Staryu

Sunflora

Tropius

Wartortle

Weepinbell

C Ranks

C+

Clefairy

Graveler

Yanma

C

Anorith

Clamperl

Cranidos

Dustox

Noctowl

Quilava

Seaking

Slowpoke

Stunky

Togetic

Wigglytuff

C-

Ariados

Aron

Duskull

Elekid

Poliwhirl

Porygon

Sample sets are still being updated following recent bans

VR Visual

Personal VR Tool

Challenge Code

/challenge gen4zu @@@ -Arbok, -Banette, -Beedrill, -Bibarel, -Camerupt, -Carnivine, -Chimecho, -Crawdaunt, -Dewgong, -Diglett, -Fearow, -Girafarig, -Gloom, -Golbat, -Granbull, -Grotle, -Grovyle, -Ivysaur, -Lairon, -Lunatone, -Luxray, -Mawile, -Omanyte, -Pelipper, -Persian, -Phione, -Plusle, -Probopass, -Raticate, -Sableye, -Seadra, -Slaking, -Stantler, -Swalot, -Wailord, -Whiscash, -Wormadam-Trash, -Baton Pass, -Combusken, -Damp Rock, -Minun, -Shelgon, -Trapinch, -Vigoroth

Sample Teams

Sun HO by Aides and missangelic
Lead Lumineon Offense by Aides
Lead Pidgeot Offense by EternumTagerMain and missangelic
Scarf Lumineon Offense by Michael Jordan
Lead Machop Paralysis by Michael Jordan
Lead Kecleon Offense by missangelic
Toxic Spikes Balance by Michael Jordan
Lead Lopunny Spikes by Michael Jordan
Spikes Pivot-spam by Aides
Lead Gastly Fire Punch Lopunny by missangelic
Bronzcool by Aides
Death Roll Barrel Roll by missangelic
Exploudeon by missangelic
More TBA!

Council: missangelic (SU leader), TTK, Aides, EternumTagerMain, StaraptorOP, sleid
Other SU Old Gens threads: SS / SM / ORAS / BW / DPP / ADV / GSC / RBY

 

[missangelic]

Additional resources

Speed Tiers

Tier 0: 400+ and above​

Speed​	Sprites​	Pokemon​	Base​	Nature​	IVs​	EVs​	Boosts​
926​	​	Lumineon​	91​	Positive​	31​	252​	+2 (+1)​
678​	​	Lopunny​	105​	Positive​	31​	252​	+2​
634​	​	Yanma​	95​	Positive​	31​	252​	+2​
618​	​	Lumineon​	91​	Positive​	31​	252​	+2​
578​	​	Yanma​	95​	Neutral​	31​	252​	+2​
516​	​	Seaking​	68​	Positive​	31​	252​	+2​
475​	​	Yanma​	95​	Positive​	31​	252​	+1​
472​	​	Cranidos, Croconaw​	58​	Positive​	31​	252​	+2​
463​	​	Chatot, Lumineon, Pidgeot​	91​	Positive​	31​	252​	+1​
459​	​	Abra, Furret, Poliwhirl​	90​	Positive​	31​	252​	+1​
458​	​	Weepinbell​	55​	Positive​	31​	252​	+2​
446​	​	Huntail​	52​	Positive​	31​	252​	+2​
442​	​	Pupitar, Tropius​	51​	Positive​	31​	252​	+2​
436​	​	Prinplup​	50​	Positive​	31​	252​	+2​
436​	​	Lumineon​	91​	Neutral​	31​	0​	+2​
433​	​	Yanma​	95​	Neutral​	31​	252​	+1​
430​	​	Cranidos, Croconaw​	58​	Neutral​	31​	252​	+2​
426​	​	Gastly, Quilava​	80​	Positive​	31​	252​	+1​
418​	​	Weepinbell​	55​	Neutral​	31​	252​	+2​
402​	​	Pupitar, Tropius​	51​	Neutral​	31​	252​	+2​

Tier 1: 300 - 399​

Speed​	Sprites​	Pokemon​	Base​	Nature​	IVs​	EVs​	Boosts​
398​	​	Prinplup​	50​	Neutral​	31​	252​	+2​
393​	​	Mankey, Vibrava​	70​	Positive​	31​	252​	+1​
392​	​	Ariados​	40​	Positive​	31​	252​	+2​
387​	​	Exploud​	68​	Positive​	31​	252​	+1​
376​	​	Flareon, Seviper​	65​	Positive​	31​	252​	+1​
370​	​	Graveler​	35​	Positive​	31​	252​	+2​
360​	​	Meditite​	60​	Positive​	31​	252​	+1​
358​	​	Ariados​	40​	Neutral​	31​	252​	+2​
354​	​	Cranidos, Croconaw, Wartortle​	58​	Positive​	31​	252​	+1​
348​	​	Aron, Sudowoodo​	30​	Positive​	31​	252​	+2​
339​	​	Lopunny​	105​	Positive​	31​	252​	0​
338​	​	Graveler​	35​	Neutral​	31​	252​	+2​
331​	​	Pupitar, Tropius​	51​	Positive​	31​	252​	+1​
322​	​	Croconaw​	58​	Neutral​	31​	252​	+1​
318​	​	Aron, Sudowoodo​	30​	Neutral​	31​	252​	+2​
317​	​	Elekid, Yanma​	95​	Positive​	31​	252​	0​
310​	​	Magnemite, Octillery​	45​	Positive​	31​	252​	+1​
309​	​	Chatot, Lumineon, Pidgeot​	91​	Positive​	31​	252​	0​
306​	​	Abra, Furret, Pikachu, Poliwhirl​	90​	Positive​	31​	252​	0​
301​	​	Pupitar, Tropius​	51​	Neutral​	31​	252​	+1​

Tier 2: 200 - 299​

Speed​	Sprites​	Pokemon​	Base​	Nature​	IVs​	EVs​	Boosts​
295​	​	Cherrim, Staryu​	85​	Positive​	31​	252​	0​
289​	​	Yanma​	95​	Neutral​	31​	252​	0​
284​	​	Gastly, Quilava​	80​	Positive​	31​	252​	0​
273​	​	Anorith​	75​	Positive​	31​	252​	0​
262​	​	Mankey, Mightyena, Noctowl, Onix, Tentacool, Vibrava​	70​	Positive​	31​	252​	0​
258​	​	Exploud, Seaking​	68​	Positive​	31​	252​	0​
251​	​	Flareon, Seviper​	65​	Positive​	31​	252​	0​
247	​	Stunky​	74​	Neutral​	31​	252​	0​
240​	​	Meditite​	60​	Positive​	31​	252​	0​
239​	​	Mightyena​	70​	Neutral​	31​	252​	0​
236​	​	Cranidos, Croconaw, Wartortle​	58​	Positive​	31​	252​	0​
235​	​	Exploud, Seaking​	68​	Neutral​	31​	252​	0​
229​	​	Flareon, Seviper​	65​	Neutral​	31​	252​	0​
229​	​	Weepinbell​	55​	Positive​	31​	252​	0​
223​	​	Huntail​	52​	Positive​	31​	252​	0​
221​	​	Pupitar, Tropius​	51​	Positive​	31​	252​	0​
219​	​	Meditite​	60​	Neutral​	31​	252​	0​
218​	​	Marshtomp, Prinplup​	50​	Positive​	31​	252​	0​
218​	​	Lumineon, Pidgeot​	91​	Neutral​	31​	0​	0​
215​	​	Cranidos, Croconaw, Wartortle​	58​	Neutral​	31​	252​	0​
209​	​	Budew, Weepinbell​	55​	Neutral​	31​	252​	0​
207​	​	Magnemite, Octillery​	45​	Positive​	31​	252​	0​
203​	​	Huntail​	52​	Neutral​	31​	252​	0​
201​	​	Pupitar / Tropius​	51​	Neutral​	31​	252​	0​

Tier 3: 100 - 199​

Speed​	Sprites​	Pokemon​	Base​	Nature​	IVs​	EVs​	Boosts​
199​	​	Marshtomp, Prinplup​	50​	Neutral​	31​	252​	0​
196​	​	Ariados, Kecleon​	40​	Positive​	31​	252​	0​
196​	​	Lumineon​	91​	Negative​	31​	0​	0​
189​	​	Magnemite, Octillery​	45​	Neutral​	31​	252​	0​
179​	​	Ariados, Kecleon​	40​	Neutral​	31​	252​	0​
179​	​	Clamperl​	32​	Positive​	31​	252​	0​
174​	​	Aron, Sudowoodo​	30​	Positive​	31​	252​	0​
169​	​	Graveler​	35​	Neutral​	31​	252​	0​
167​	​	Dustox, Flareon​	65​	Neutral​	31​	0​	0​
163​	​	Clamperl​	32​	Neutral​	31​	252​	0​
159​	​	Aron, Sudowoodo​	30​	Neutral​	31​	252​	0​
152​	​	Croconaw, Wartortle​	58​	Neutral​	31​	0​	0​
149​	​	Dustox​	65​	Negative​	31​	0​	0​
146​	​	Budew, Weepinbell​	55​	Neutral​	31​	0​	0​
138​	​	Pupitar​	51​	Neutral​	31​	0​	0​
136​	​	Marshtomp, Prinplup​	50​	Neutral​	31​	0​	0​
126​	​	Octillery, Wigglytuff​	45​	Neutral​	31​	0​	0​
121​	​	Dustox​	65​	Negative​	0​	0​	0​
116​	​	Ariados, Kecleon, Porygon, Togetic​	40​	Neutral​	31​	0​	0​
108​	​	Wormadam-Sandy​	36​	Neutral​	31​	0​	0​
106​	​	Clefairy, Corsola, Graveler​	35​	Neutral​	31​	0​	0​

Tier 4: 99 and below
​

Speed​	Sprites​	Pokemon​	Base​	Nature​	IVs​	EVs​	Boosts​
97​	​	Wormadam-Sandy​	36​	Negative​	31​	0​	0​
96​	​	Aron, Bastiodon, Magcargo, Sudowoodo​	30​	Neutral​	31​	0​	0​
86​	​	Duskull​	25​	Neutral​	31​	0​	0​
82​	​	Bronzor​	23​	Neutral​	31​	0​	0​
66​	​	Pineco, Slowpoke​	15​	Neutral​	31​	0​	0​
64​	​	Clamperl​	32​	Negative​	3​	0​	0​
58​	​	Sudowoodo​	30​	Negative​	0​	0​	0​
46​	​	Munchlax​	5​	Neutral​	31​	0​	0​
30​	​	Munchlax​	5​	Neutral​	31​	0​	-1​

Role Compendium

Utility Roles

Entry Hazards
Stealth Rock
|
Spikes
|
Toxic Spikes
|
Rapid Spin
|
Spinblockers
|
Toxic Spikes Absorbers
|

Item Control
Trick / Switcheroo
|
Knock Off
|

Other Utility
note: Baton Pass is banned
Encore
|
Taunt
|



Offensive Roles

Attackers
Physical Attackers
|
Special Attackers
gastly:|
Mixed Attackers
|

Choice Item users
Choice Band
|
Choice Specs
|
Choice Scarf
|

Setup Move Users
Agility / Rock Polish
|
Calm Mind
|
Charge Beam

Curse
|
Dragon Dance
|
Howl

Growth
|
Nasty Plot
|
Rain Dance
|
Substitute (typical users)
|
Sunny Day
|
Swords Dance
|
Other Setup Move Users
(Iron Defense), (Magnet Rise), (Bulk Up)| (Belly Drum), (Speed Boost)

Priority
Aqua Jet
|
Fake Out
|
Quick Attack
|
Shadow Sneak
|
Sucker Punch
|
Custap Berry users
|
Other priority move users
(Bullet Punch)

Trapping
Magnet Pull

Pursuit
|



Hyper Offensive Roles
note: Baton Pass and Damp Rock are banned

Sun
Setters
|
Beneficiaries
|

Trick Room
Setters
|
Beneficiaries
|

Self-KO move users
Explosion / Self-Destruct
|



Defensive Roles

Walls
Physical Walls
|

Special Walls
:wormdam-sandy:|

Mixed Walls
|

Pivots
note: Baton Pass is banned
U-turn (Fast/Offensive)

U-turn (Slow/Defensive)
|
Other defensive pivots
mightyena:|

Anti-Setup
Destiny Bond

Haze
|

Roar/Whirlwind
|

Clerics
Wish
|

Aromatherapy / Heal Bell
|
Healing Wish
|

Status Spreaders
note: sleep moves are banned
Burn
Will-O-Wisp
|
Lava Plume
| (+Flame Body)
Paralysis
Thunder Wave
|
Glare / Stun Spore
|
Body Slam
|
Static
|
Poison
Toxic (typical users)
:wormaddam-sandy:|
Poison Jab/Sludge Bomb
|
Other status
Confuse Ray

Leech Seed
|
Tri Attack
|
Cute Charm
|

Status Absorbers
Magic Guard
|
Natural Cure
|
Shed Skin

Rest (typical users)
|

 

[missangelic]

Reserved

 

[missangelic]

You may now post!

 

[EternumTagerMain]

Nice to see that the tradition of the fast Normal being Top Tier continues with Lopunny.

 

[Aides]

To celebrate my favorite Pokémon metagame getting a forum thread, I'm going to be YAPPING like crazy. This is my first time ever making a real post on the forum, so my apologies if there's anything off about it. In this message, I’m not going to discuss Pokémon in order of their viability, but rather their role in the metagame.

THE GOAT

Lopunny is the consensus best Pokémon in the tier. For anyone who's played PU or ZU, it’s basically the Purugly/Persian of the metagame. Just like those metagames, Lopunny’s speed, and access to Fake Out, makes it an extremely easy fit for most teams. While Lopunny lost its ability to pivot with the Baton Pass ban, it has an absolutely absurd utility movepool. Options like Thunder Wave, Healing Wish, Switcheroo, and SubPunch are all sets with justified usage and contribute to making Lopunny being so dominant.

THE OTHER GOAT

Mightyena is considered either the second or third best Pokémon in the metagame. I personally think it’s the king to Lopunny’s queen. Mightyena has incredible defensive utility with Intimidate, nigh unresisted STAB, and game winning revenge killing. The fact that it can both be a great defensive wall, and a game ending sweeper with Howl is what seals the deal for me.

Normal Resists

Normal resists are a role that is required on every team given the dominance of Lopunny, and a few other Pokémon that I'll mention later.

Sudowoodo is often considered the best Normal resist by far. Not only is Sudowoodo incredibly sturdy, but it’s also one of the biggest offensive threats in the metagame, with a coverage combination that is only stopped by Bronzor and Wormasand. Sudowoodo can run both offensive and defensive sets incredibly well.

While Bronzor is quite passive, it makes up for it by being immune to Toxic and by lacking a Fighting weakness. This makes Bronzor deceptively hard to stop, as it’s a great option for annoying Normals, and can even act as a win condition with Calm Mind.

Bastiodon is one of the only real answers to Mightyena, and it uniquely acts as a Normal resist that can check Cherrim and Gastly as well. Bastiodon is only really useful on Balance teams that can make up for its exploitable typing, but its place there is quite good.

Corsola is similar to Bronzor in that it's passive, but unlike Bronzor, it has Recover. This doesn’t entirely make up for its worse typing, but it’s not bad and it is worth using.

Magcargo is very similar to Corsola. Its specialty is spreading burns with Lava Plume and Flame Body, but I personally believe that the Stealth Rock weakness is just too bad for it to really be on Corsola’s level.

Graveler is mostly outclassed by Sudowoodo, but it has some very niche uses, like being immune to Thunder Wave, and having a stronger Earthquake.

Aron is ultra niche, but it’s able to share Bastiodon’s defensive profile, to an extent, while also having a really strong Head Smash.

Nosepass is another ultra niche option. I think I’m the only person who’s used it, in fact. The only thing Nosepass offers is Thunder Wave for paraspam teams. It’s extremely niche, but paraspam teams are good, so it’s worth considering.

Shuckle has Encore, which is an insanely good move, but is pretty bad otherwise.

Normals

Pidgeot is one of the fastest and strongest threats of the meta, and is only really held back by its Stealth Rock weakness and a lack of coverage. Brave Bird and U-Turn are all it really needs, however. Pidgeot can do all-out attack, Choice Band, Choice Scarf, and defensive sets all very well.

Furret is, in my opinion, the biggest winner of the Baton Pass ban. Now that Lopunny can’t pivot, Furret’s U-Turn has a really important role. Pidgeot’s Stealth Rock weakness makes it a very high risk high reward option. Furret, not having that weakness, is a lot lower maintenance. Of course, this comes at the cost of its power and speed, but Furret is able to make up for that through being more overall reliable. Given its typing, it’s also considered to be the best Pursuit trapper in the tier. While it may not have Roost, it at least has Trick to distinguish its Choice item sets.

Waters

While Normal can be considered the best type in the tier, Water is right up there with it, being another archetype that you have to fit on every team. Waters are not only very strong, but also good at checking each other.

In my opinion, Lumineon is the best Water in DPP SU. Lumineon shares Pidgeot’s speed tier, and while it doesn’t hit as hard, its lack of a Stealth Rock weakness makes it stupidly versatile. It’s the best Choice Scarf user by a country mile, but its flagship set is simply all-out attack. With such a riskless U-Turn, it’s hard to punish Lumineon for doing much of anything, and this trait is what allows it to clean late games and stop lower rank cheese so easily. Additionally, Lumineon also has good Choice Specs and defensive sets.

Octillery is the only real contender for Lumineon’s throne, and many do consider it to be better than Lumineon. Octillery is a phenomenal wallbreaker, with its only true checks being Munchlax, Clefairy, and Wigglytuff. Even Tentacool can get wrecked by a surprise Psychic. While it’s a fantastic breaker, it also tends to get worn down more easily than Lumineon does due to its low speed and lack of U-Turn.

Huntail is very similar to Octillery, and is often only used due to Swift Swim. Damp Rock is banned for a reason, however, as it’s a devastating option on HO teams. It also has Sucker Punch, which makes it a better physical attacker than Octillery.

Prinplup is basically Octillery with Stealth Rock. If you need the role compression, it fits really nicely.

Seaking is a more niche Rain abuser that trades most of Huntail’s traits for Megahorn. It has a genuinely solid place, but is also not very common at all.

Chinchou is a Water that can beat other Waters with Thunderbolt. It also beats Pikachu. It’s hard to fit and lacks defensive utility, but can sometimes find use.

Clamperl is ultra niche, but it used to have a genuinely decent niche on Baton Pass teams before that was banned. Nowadays, it finds itself used in more niche Screens and Trick Room teams.

Wailmer is an Octillery that can boom. Ultra niche, but usable.

Special Walls

Now that I’ve mentioned all of the archetypes that you have to either check or use, let’s go into some of those checks. Special walls are great for this, as they’re some of the best ways for non-HO teams to deal with Waters.

The best special wall is often debated, but I think it’s easily Tentacool. Tentacool not only hard walls Waters, but its Toxic Spikes have pretty much changed how the tier is played. Toxic Spikes are amazing for how they put Offense teams on a timer, and it allows Balance teams to get away with more passive options. As a result, being able to answer Tentacool has become essential for every single team style.

Kecleon has become more common as of late, as its enormous movepool has left a ton of room for discovery. Stealth Rock, Recover, Thunder Wave, Knock Off, and Sucker Punch are all options that few other special walls have, and the ability to swap between these makes Kecleon highly adaptable.

Munchlax is able to take advantage of the fact that Kecleon has no STAB because of Color Change. As a result, Munchlax operates as more of a tank than Kecleon does. This means that Munchlax has great options from offensive sets to defensive sets. Curselax is also a very good win condition with Pursuit support.

Clefairy was shrugged off for quite a long time, but has recently surged with the rise of Balance teams. All of the special walls mentioned previously are ones which struggle to beat balance teams in the long term. Clefairy, through having Magic Guard, is one of the best ways to stop these more passive teams. As a result, I consider Clefairy to be a very underrated Pokemon in the metagame.

Wigglytuff is a weird middle ground between Kecleon and Clefairy. I personally think it’s an awkward fit, but I have seen it work. Wish is the main thing it has over Kecleon, while bulk is the main thing it has over Clefairy. Otherwise, I think Wigglytuff works better as a Screens setter or an offensive lead.

Noctowl used to have a really good niche as one of the few Combusken checks, but then Combusken was banned. Afterward, it became one of the better ways to deal with Butterfree spamming Sleep Powder, but then Sleep was banned. Nowadays, Noctowl is really hard to justify with its Stealth Rock weakness. It has a small niche due its speed tier, however. Whirlwind is another cool move that I think it can take advantage of given the rise of Spikes teams.

Togetic is even more niche than Noctowl after the Baton Pass ban took a decent niche from it. I guess it has instant recovery over Wigglytuff as a screens setter at least.

Grasses (and Sun)

Because of how good Waters are, Grasses become quite good as well. Unfortunately, the Grass-type selection isn’t nearly as strong given the lack of options. Even so, many of them are quite underrated.

Cherrim is THE Grass of DPP SU. It’s a Pokemon that is useful both offensively as a Water check, and defensively as an all purpose wall. This gives Cherrim a ton of sets despite its limited movepool, and it pulls off all of its sets incredibly well. Cherrim’s only real weaknesses are passivity on the defensive sets, and an awkward speed tier on the offensive sets. Otherwise, it’s one of the easiest Pokemon to fit on a team. Oh yeah, I guess Flower Gift can make it a funny anti-Sun mon as well.

Sunflora is another Pokemon that I consider to be quite underrated. Of course, though, no one can deny how good it is on Sun teams. Basically nothing switches into Sunflora, which makes it devastating with Chlorophyll, but that can even make it a solid option on standard teams. Its speed is a pretty big barrier as it's outsped by Octillery, but it’s otherwise quite good at its role, and even has Synthesis to boot.

Weepinbell is another Pokemon who is mainly used on Sun. While it can technically be used outside of it with a Swords Dance set, this has yet to really be experimented with. On Sun teams, though, it’s perhaps the best mix of speed and power for the team style.

Tropius is one of the more niche options on Sun, as its worse typing makes it more vulnerable to Ice and Rock type attacks. It can sometimes come in handy if you need an extra abuser.

Nuzleaf is an ultra niche option that I only just started using. It’s really bad, except for the fact that it has Explosion. Explosion is extremely good for Sun’s blistering fast pace, and it makes Nuzleaf another more unexplored part of the metagame.

Gastly

Gastly is too unique for me to put it in an existing category, as it fills both the role of an offensive Pokemon, and an emergency Normal-type check. Despite its typing, Gastly has significantly better defensive utility than most attackers due to its immunities. This allows Gastly to uniquely stone wall certain variants of Lopunny and Munchlax, along with praying on Choice locked attacks. Gastly uses this utility to spray out its powerful STABS, or even get quirky with disruptive options like Pain Split and Will-O-Wisp. Because of how powerful Gastly is, certain teams, like Curselax teams, center their entire game plan around trapping it.

Sweepers

Croconaw is by far the best sweeper in the tier. Its fantastic Water typing allows it to set up with ease, while its offensive presence more than makes up for the turn it takes to set up. Croconaw opts to run Swords Dance instead of Dragon Dance in DPP SU, as its Aqua Jet is generally strong enough to take down most of what outspeeds it. With a Torrent boost, Croconaw can sometimes feel unstoppable. Part of why Water types are required is because they’re the best way to stop a Croconaw sweep from happening.

Pupitar is a lot less common, but don’t let that fool you. With a typing that allows it to take Normal moves in a pinch, Pupitar retaliates with great precision. Additionally, it also has other sets like Stealth Rock which haven’t been used a lot, but show potential.

Chatot is THE "potential" mon. Everyone knows it can cook due to its great stats and Nasty Plot, but its Stealth Rock weakness has pushed people away from using it a ton. That said, this thing has swept me before, and it is a force to be reckoned with. Options like Encore can also make it much easier for it to start sweeping.

Poliwhirl is extremely niche and hasn’t really been used in like a year, but it can sweep with Belly Drum sometimes.

Breakers

Breakers, as you'd expect, do well against defensive Pokemon, but are easily revenge-killed by more offensive teams.

The best of these is largely subjective, but I’d personally give that title to Seviper. This is mostly because Seviper has access to Sucker Punch to get around faster options. A problem that every mid-speed breaker has is that they tend to live in Mightyena’s shadow, but Seviper is able to get around through mixed attacking options, and being one of the only Pokémon in the tier that can absorb Toxic Spikes.

In terms of breakers that are impossible to switch into, Meditite takes the cake. Its only defensive checks are defensive Pidgeot, Pineco, Wormasand, Slowpoke, and Drowzee. Part of why the tier is more offensive is because Balance teams really struggle to deal with it. Otherwise, Meditite gets pounded by Offense teams extremely hard due to its middling speed and terrible bulk.

Pikachu is more of a solid middle ground as a result. It’s the fastest Pokémon of this category, and it’s quite strong too. While Nasty Plot used to be the main set, the difficulty in setting that up resulted in Encore replacing it. With Encore, Pikachu is able to force switches and get its big damage out in strong bursts. It’s checked by most special walls, and uniquely checked by Marshtomp and Wormasand as well. Just like Meditite, it’s paper frail and gets ruined by the priority spam that Offense teams love enabling.

Exploud feels like the standard for this archetype. It’s the in-between of Munchlax and Pidgeot, and while that makes it less defined, it’s a role that still very much has its place.

Flareon is fascinating because it has breaking power similar to Combusken, which we banned, but it also has a Stealth Rock weakness that makes it much more volatile. Flareon is a fantastic breaker, and maybe even the most devastating one, but it’s also on the biggest timer out of any of them.

Like Pupitar, Magnemite can take a Normal hit in a pinch, and it uses this for some incredibly strong Thunderbolts. It also has the added bonus of trapping Bronzor, which many teams greatly benefit from.

Leads

At this point, I really should discuss the lead metagame. Some Pokémon are only used as leads, while others are already established Pokémon who happen to be great leads.

Lopunny is the latter. As soon as Baton Pass was banned and gave Lopunny an excuse to use other moves, Lopunny established itself as a dominant lead due to Encore. This allows it to lock Stealth Rock leads into their hazards, and offensive leads into the Protect they’d use to guard against its Fake Out. As a result of this, Lopunny is debatably the best lead in the metagame.

As for Stealth Rock leads, the usual suspects such are all useful for the same reason that they’re always useful.

There are only two Pokémon who are exclusively used as Stealth Rock leads, and Onix is one of them. As Onix has Taunt, it allows it to prevent hazards while also setting them. If it’s ever able to, it can also let off a devastating Explosion to start off the game for any HO teams.

Anorith is a lot more niche since it lacks Explosion, but it’s a great anti-lead against Onix leads. It outspeeds Onix’s Taunt, and it Rapid Spins away Onix’s Stealth Rock. It doesn’t match up nearly as well against the rest of the lead metagame, but is very good in this one matchup.

Abra and Gastly are both very good Taunt leads. Abra notably has Inner Focus to mess with Lopunny leads, while Gastly notably walls Lopunny leads. Abra also has Counter to help it better win trades.

Machop began seeing use after Machamp was banned from DPP OU, and it’s seen great success. Machop’s stats are too bad to be used outside of the lead slot, but as a lead, it’s impossible to switch into due to Dynamic Punch. The best way to beat it is to just hit it hard and pray that you win the 50/50. This makes it great for teams that don’t need to set Stealth Rock right away, and also great for teams that don’t need to prevent Stealth Rock.

Choice Scarfers

I’ve mentioned Choice Scarf Pokémon in brief sections, but as some Pokémon are only useful because of Choice Scarf, I figured I’d make this its own section.

Lumineon and Pidgeot are by far and away the best Choice Scarfers in the tier and it’s not even close. The general rule of the thumb with this meta is that speed is the most important thing that a Choice Scarf user can have. Pair that with bulk that can withstand priority and these two are a match made in heaven. U-Turn is amazing as well.

I already mentioned what makes Furret good, but it’s also a really good Choice Scarf mon.

I personally think it’s too risky to run Abra as a Choice Scarf user, but it can admittedly do really well into certain teams. It’s Pursuit bait, and it’s frail while also being outspeed by better Scarfers, but it has its place.

Cherrim is a Choice Scarf option that seems logical, but I never see. I think it can cook.

Gastly is one of the most common Choice Scarf users due to how it combines solid speed with defensive utility. Like Furret and Abra, it also has Trick.

Vibrava used to be one of the most common Scarfers until we started speed creeping the hell out of them. Nowadays, Virbrava sees use for its great typing, granting it incredibly useful immunities and STAB. Mixed sets have also recently started to see play to surprisingly solid effect.

Mankey is very similar to Vibrava, but it’s a lot worse defensively barring a Sucker Punch resistance. Thankfully, it makes up for this by being a Fighting type, which is generally more useful offensively in this meta given the abundance of Normals and Rocks it prays on.

Octillery is the slowest Scarfer to be genuinely good in my opinion. I think it’s overrated, but the surprise value is really strong when it’s wielding a Water Spout.

I only occasionally see Seviper and Flareon with a Scarf. They’re honestly kind of fringe, but they can work well as surprises.

Quilava’s Eruption is cool, but with that Stealth Rock weakness, Flareon is usually stronger. The speed tier only matters for Vibrava and Mankey, which isn’t really enough. It has its place, but is quite hard to fit.

copy/paste what I said about Wailmer last time.

Cranidos is a great Choice Scarf user 80% of the time. It is completely useless every time it misses a Head Smash or Stone Edge.

Grounds

In a tier with Sudowoodo and Pikachu, Ground types fulfill a unique defensive role which, while hard to fit, can greatly benefit certain teams.

Marshtomp is probably the best of the two. As Pikachu runs HP Ice, Marshtomp is the best Pikachu answer in the tier, and it’s able to do this while being great offensively with a STAB Earthquake, while also having viable special sets. Stealth Rock is the final touch to ensure that Marshtomp can always contribute to a team. Unfortunately, Marshtomp is quad weak to Sudowoodo’s Wood Hammer, and this makes it significantly harder to fit as a result.

Wormasand doesn’t have this problem, but is held back further by a lack of Stealth Rock, which also makes it hard to fit. Thankfully, it makes up for it by being better overall defensively, and by having the extremely useful Sucker Punch.

Spikes

Spikes is a strategy that has recently become more popular as the metagame has slowed down, and it has two viable abusers.

Budew has recently become accepted as the best Spikes user in DPP SU. While its stats are frankly quite bad, they’re just good enough to let it set Spikes on the extremely common Lumineon and Cherrim. As Budew also has Synthesis, this allows it to safely set Spikes on passive Pokemon like Bronzor as well. It’s because of this that Budew has emerged as a fantastic countermeasure to Balance, while also being quite good on Balance teams itself.

Pineco, on the other hand, is what you’d use on more offensive teams. It’s a swiss army knife of hazards, hazard removal, and momentum with Explosion. As a lead, it has some really good matchups, and outside of the lead slot, it can hold its own against Lopunny and other physical attackers due to its Fighting resistant typing.

Rapid Spinners

Hazard removal isn’t a particularly important part of the tier given how big of a commitment it can be to continually remove hazards, as well as most hazard removers struggling to make progress against hazard setters. Even so, they still have a place for enabling Stealth Rock weak Pokémon, and for increasing the longevity of Balance teams.

Tentacool is the best Rapid Spin user by far and it’s entirely because it’s a near auto include on Balance anyway.

Because of this, Wartortle struggles to stand out as much. It doesn’t have the ability to make progress with Toxic Spikes, and this results in Wartortle being much harder to fit. It hasn’t been seen in a while, but I theorize that BO teams might pick it up since its superior bulk allows for more consistent spins.

Staryu has recently started seeing more use, and its speedy Rapid Spin has proven to be uniquely useful at removing hazards in a pinch. In my opinion, it’s best used like this when there’s Spikes or Toxic Spikes on the field. I don’t personally think you should stack Stealth Rock weak Pokemon with it when Staryu can sometimes get more out of just attacking.

Spinblocking

This section is pretty much entirely going to be dedicated to Duskull, as I personally find Gastly to be quite bad at spinblocking. Not only is it frail, but it’s also outsped by Staryu, and can’t quite hit Tentacool or Wartortle hard enough. Duskull, on the other hand, is an amazing spinblocker, and pairs very well with Budew on Balance teams. Unlike Gastly, Duskull also isn’t Pursuit bait as it can just Will-O-Wisp Furret and Munchlax. For Pidgeot, it can use Protect to scout whether it’ll Brave Bird or not. As Duskull has a dodgier matchup into Pidgeot, it’s recommended to use it alongside a Rock type, but that’s only natural given how it’s a Balance mon. I find Duskull to be really underrated, and while it only functions on one style of team, it functions quite well on it.

Psychics

Earlier, I mentioned how few checks Meditite has. Well, two of them are quite niche, but have that niche exclusively because of Meditie. Slowpoke is one of the best Meditite walls in the tier, with Thunder Wave and Slack Off to fight it off. Drowzee is a lot more niche, but it has high SpDef and Wish, so it can technically do something.

Miscellaneous

Stunky has surprised me a lot, as despite its stats being pretty ass, its movepool is just too good to ride it off. It resists Gastly’s STABs and can Pursuit trap it, it can revenge kill with Sucker Punch, and it can go for an Explosion. This role compression is quite good, and Stunky fits quite well on boom spam HO teams.

Dustox has become a lot better now that the meta has slowed down. The Stealth Rock weakness is still really bad for it, but it’s a great anti-Balance mon that can pivot in big wallbreakers.

Yanma is a niche Speed Boost sweeper that absolutely destroys Sun teams, but is pretty inconsistent against everything else.

Koffing is a Duskull that can use Explosion. It’s good on boom spam HO and not much else.

Ariados is an alternate Toxic Spikes user who has better PhysDef than Tentacool, along with priority. It still feels pretty outclassed, however.

If any of you somehow read all of that, you have my thanks. This took a while, but I love this tier so much and I really hope this rundown can be insightful for anyone wanting to get into the tier :)

 

[Aides]

I enjoyed yapping so much last time that I'll be back at it again, this time to explain the history of bans in DPP SU, as I chose not to go into those last time. DPP SU has had a long history of bans, but it's because of these bans that the tier has been able to get into such a balanced and stable point. This list will not include Pokémon who rose in or out of SU via usage.

July 2023

Damp Rock was the first ban of DPP SU, being a transitive ban from DPP ZU. While there were early discussions of unbanning Damp Rock, the choice was made to keep it banned when our Rain abusers are as strong as they are. The fact that Huntail is still a good Rain sweeper without the item should make the problematic nature of the item quite clear.

September 2023

Granbull falling to SU at all was fairly unexpected when it's pretty good in ZU. Expectedly, it was simply too good at trading with Intimidate increasing its longevity, and with a coverage movepool that blew basically everything into smithereens. This made Granbull impossible to wall, and it resulted in players having to take much greater risks than usual to revenge kill it. As a result, it only took a week after being legal for Granbull to get banned.

October 2023

As soon as we knew Slaking would be dropping to SU, we banned it instantly. The damage calculator explains all of this, as it can 3HKO something as bulky as PhysDef Bronzor with its STAB. It's a 2HKO if you're a madlad running Giga Impact btw.

November 2023

Plusle was an absolutely disgusting sweeper. With its speed tier, it outsped all but Lopunny. Depending on the moveset, it could beat pretty much any check. Grass Knot beat Marshtomp, Encore and Substitue beat more passive checks, and Endure + Salac beat any Choice Scarf user. This limited its checks entirely to priority users and Lopunny, which was simply too little counterplay for every team style to reliably fit.

Shelgon just spammed its insanely strong Choice Banded Outrage. Brick Break would destroy Bastiodon, and Fire Fang would ruin Bronzor, which gave Shelgon no defensive counterplay. It could even do a number to offensive counterplay by going for a bulky RestTalk Dragon Dance set, which sounded like a meme, but instead worked like a dream.

Vigoroth was a monster of a sweeper. Taunt would beat defensive counterplay, Sucker Punch would beat offensive counterplay, and its coverage movepool was enough to keep any team guessing on how to stop it. These traits let its sweeps snowball like crazy, and made it comparable in strength to Plusle.

April 2024

Combusken's STAB was a coverage combination that had almost no switch-ins, and when you combined that with an incredibly strong priority STAB Vaccum Wave, you had a force to be reckoned with. The only real switch-ins were Noctowl and Tentacool, and even those would get absolutely manhandled by physical sets. The fact that it had such set variety was ultimately the final nail in the coffin for it.

Minun just did what Plusle did. It's slightly better at taking a priority hit, and slightly worse at hitting things, but that didn't change any of the fundamental things that made Plusle so broken.

September 2024

Sleep moves became an incredibly controversial part of the DPP SU metagame, mainly due to how reliably Butterfree was able to set Sleep in the lead slot, due to Compound Eyes giving Sleep Powder near perfect accuracy. If your lead was slower than Butterfree, it needed a Lum Berry. If your lead was faster than Butterfree, it needed Fake Out... or a Lum Berry. If you didn't want to make your lead worse by forcing a Lum Berry on it, than you needed to force sleep immune Pokemon like Mankey and Noctowl onto your team, or Sleep Talk abusers like Munchlax... or spam the ever loving hell out of Lum Berry. The constant Butterfree mirrors became so obnoxious that players began resorting to Yanma, who while having lower accuracy due to Hypnosis, was much faster, while still having decent accuracy as a result of Compound Eyes. It was at this point that the playerbase was completely fed up with this and banned Sleep moves as a whole. The reason Sleep moves were banned instead of Butterfree and Yanma was to avoid players cheesing with Bronzor or Gastly's Hypnosis.

March 2025

Baton Pass was banned almost entirely because of Lopunny, although more niche users did also contribute to this ban. While DryPass is amazing on Lopunny for how safe it is, there were two main sets that really pushed the move over the edge. The main one was SubPass. This would garuntee that Lopunny wouldn't lose anything, even if it got the read wrong. If the opponent doesn't switch, you're still able to play mind games. If the opponent riskily switches into a revenge killer, Lopunny gets a safer switch than usual. If the opponent switches into a Normal resist, then the Croconaw that you just passed to is now behind a Substitute and is successfully able to sweep as a result. Agility Pass was another disgusting set, and was even more broken behind Screens, turning otherwise bad Pokemon like Clamperl into probable game winners.

In terms of more niche users, my personal favorite was Drifloon, who was an Unburden sweeper that could use Baton Pass to evade a Sucker Punch while handing a Special Attack boost to another Pokémon. Flareon is another option that saw Baton Pass usage for its Salac Berry sets. Furret and Huntail were more creative cases, where they passed defensive boosts to attackers with reliable recovery like Pidgeot. The reason Drypass was banned alongside Substitute or stat passing was both to set a precedent against complex bans, and also to nerf Lopunny into a more honest Pokémon.

Trapinch was a ban that I initally disagreed with, the only ban in this post where that was the case. Despite this, I've come around on this ban and have since seen why it was justified. While Trapinch has absolutely dreadful stats, stats so bad that it is a complete matchup fish, it is also a Pokémon that made defensive teams completely non-existent. Because of Trapinch's god awfully low speed, its only targets would be defensive Pokémon like Munchlax, Kecleon, and chipped Sudowoodo. This severely limited defensive options for Balance and even BO teams, something that made Trapinch really strong on Special Offense teams. Even in games where Trapinch fails to do anything, the threat of it trapping something often leads to those defensive Pokemon having to make riskier plays. Even frail offensive Pokemon like Abra, Mankey, and Pikachu would get blasted by Quick Attack. Overall, Trapinch limited team diversity, and that was more than enough justification for a ban.

I hope this helped anyone who was confused about why we made some of our tiering actions. It's been a two year long journey, but after all of the bans that have been made, I'd personally consider this to be the best time to get into DPP SU, as the likelyhood of another ban seems low right now. This means we can now focus on pushing the limits of our existing metagame, and I'm extremely excited to do so >:)