Field Plating

[Durengardnit]

Yet another specially defensive wall:

Cradily @ Stone Plate / Meadow Plate
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature / Sassy Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Recover
- Rock Slide
- Toxic / Giga Drain

Thanks to the Special Defense boost from Sand and its water immunity, Cradily can put in work as a special wall. Due to its bulk and access to reliable recovery it makes for a great Stealth Rock setter, and supports any Sand Rush users on your team, too. Rock Slide is its best choice to hit incoming Flying, Fire, Bug or Ice types. Toxic is good against opposing walls, though if you want to take advantage of possible Storm Drain boosts and the additional recovery, Giga Drain makes for a good STAB attack. In that case, a Sassy nature is preferred to not lower the power of Giga Drain.
Instead of increasing the Special Defense of your Cradily, you can also give it a Meadow Plate for pseudo-Leftovers recovery, weaker Earthquakes from enemies and to power up Giga Drain.

And just for the lulz:

Wallrein 2.0 (Avalugg) @ Icicle Plate
Ability: Ice Body
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Substitute / Toxic
- Recover
- Avalanche
- Earthquake / Toxic / Roar

Meet one of the sturdiest walls of all Pokémon, which is still below NU just because it´s an Ice type. I am not sure if it makes up for the loss of Sturdy, but Ice Body Avalugg gets Leftovers-esque recovery and can annoy the opponent with hail. I have no idea how usable it is with other weather running rampant, so instead of hiding behind a sub to annoy your opponent, you can also just throw around Toxic. Don´t even bother giving it Rapid Spin as a Pokémon weak to Stealth Rock and Toxic Spikes needs hazard removal support from something else. Recover significantly improves your recovery alongside Ice Body (which is why I would consider this superior to any other Ice Body Pokémon), while Avalanche is a good STAB that gets powered up iif they attack you to break your Substitute. Earthquake hits Rock, Steel or Fire types hard, while Toxic works when you´re behind a sub. Or you can just use Roar to switch your enemy´s Fire type out again. The nature and EVs are all on the physical side, because if you want to use Avalugg at all in OU, you want to capitalize on that Def stat.


And finally something offensive:

THE Revenge Killer (Talonflame) @ Spooky Plate
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Steel Wing / Swords Dance
- Roost / Tailwind

Now there is no escape from Smogonbird. If your enemy kills something with his Grass, Bug or Fighting Pokémon, he can kiss it goodbye. Since Talonflame gets only one turn to kill its opponent and has no Choice Band or Sharp Beak to power up its attack, Adamant nature is required. Brave Bird really needs no explanation. Flare Blitz deals with Scizor, who is not fast enough to escape with a U-Turn. Steel Wing is an option for Mega Diancie (Adamant max Speed Talonflame outspeeds Naive/Timid max Speed Mega Diancie by ONE point :) ) and has a 56,3 % chance to OHKO. If you are absolutely sure that the Pokémon you are trapping with Talonflame can not harm you, you can even set up a Swords Dance and then kill whatever switches in on the next turn. Roost is for recovery after you have killed something with your recoil attacks, though Tailwind is also an option to prepare a sweep by another Pokémon.

 

[Isa Simple]

Starmie @ Mind Plate
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Psyshock
- Rapid Spin

An Anti Trick Room setter for Rain teams. Not sure how well this'll work in practice but the idea is that Rain, with all the Swift Swimmers, would generally match up really poorly vs Trick Room teams. In the case of versing a Trick Room team, you can send in Starmie to remove the Trick Room and flip the momentum. When not against Trick Room, you are almost guaranteed an Analytic boost on each of your attacks, making Starmie a decent Wall Breaker with Analytic Rain boosted Hydro Pumps putting huge dents in targets you can take a hit from.

 

[Akumeoy]

Just noting that the switched Sky Plate and Splash Plate hasn't been implemented on Aqua. I was mildly disappointed to send in my Rest+CM+Scald+Energy Ball Manaphy and have it set Water Sport.

Also, Knock Off is very good. Perhaps a bit much. Thoughts on making it so the plates can't be Knocked Off/Tricked away/Flung?

 

[Esprite]

Tbh, that shouldn't even be a question. Arceus had the best hold on those plates before. Also, Ubers version, lol.

 

[Isa Simple]

Oh wow I've been really busy lately and didn't even realise that Snaz went ahead and hosted this. Cheers Snaquaza.

I too agree that Plates shouldn't be Knocked Off or Tricked or what not. In the submission phase it was actually overlooked and we didn't even consider it, but I reckon it kinda defeats the purpose of this meta. I want people to have to play around the opposing Field effects, not just Knock them Off and do what ever they want.

So Rhythms if you could please change the code to make Plates more like Mega Stones or Plates+Multitype so that they can't be removed, that would be grand.
And Snaquaza when the code is updated if you could please implement the new code onto Aqua. That would also be grand.

 

[Durengardnit]

I love the theorymonning of this metagame, I literally can´t stop thinking of new ideas. Instant field effects leads itself to so many possibilites.

Gravity ideas:

Hide

Starmie @ Iron Plate
Ability: Analytic / Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunder
- Blizzard / Psyshock
- Rapid Spin
The most interesting thing about Gravity for me is not the fact that everything becomes susceptible to Earthquake/Earth Power, but the fact that it decreases the evasion of each Pokémon, essentially making powerful hit-or-miss attacks 100 % accurate. Starmie can now reliably attack with STAB Hydro Pump and use Thunder outside of rain (though a partner with rain is still useful to power up Hydro Pump) and Thunder + Blizzard is essentially BoltBeam on steroids. STAB Psyshock is still an alternate option to hit Chansey. Rapid Spin is necessary because Gravity also means that Flying or levitating Pokémon become susceptible to Spikes and Toxic Spikes.

Garchomp @ Iron Plate
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Dragon Rush
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock / Stone Edge
People usually laugh at Dragon Rush because being 20 points stronger than Dragon Claw doesn´t make up for its horrible accuracy. But thanks to Gravity it becomes just as accurate as Dragon Claw, and the little flinch chance might come in handy, too. Earthquake under Gravity destroys usual would-be counters like Skarmory or Air Balloon Heatran, while a 100 % accurate Fire Blast makes sure Ferrothorn or Scizor don´t stop you in your tracks. Due to its offensive pressure, Garchomp can easily get up Stealth Rock, but if you already have a Rock setter on your team, give it Stone Edge for the perfect Edgequake combo.

Ferrothorn @ Iron Plate
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball / Thunder Wave
Of course you can run Ferrothorn with a Meadow Plate for the recovery and to power up Power Whip, but Ferrothorn can actually learn Gravity via breeding, yet never makes use of this, since it has better things to do. So this set is supposed to show you how Ferrothorn could abuse Gravity if it didn´t have to waste a turn setting it up. Even Flying or levitating Pokémon aren´t safe from Spikes during Gravity, which is why this Ferrothorn uses Spikes over Stealth Rock. Both Leech Seed and Power Whip become 100 % accurate under Gravity, while the choice between Gyro Ball or Thunder Wave depends on how you want to support your team.

Defensive ideas:

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Weather Disruptor (Clefable) @ Icicle Plate
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave / Fire Blast / Blizzard
A bit gimmicky, this Clefable set is the standard Stealth Rock setter, but it also summons hail to annoy weather teams. Thanks to Magic Guard, you don´t have to worry about the hail yourself. Moonblast is your consistent STAB attack and Soft-Boiled offers reliable recovery. Thunder Wave cripples all Chlorophyll users, all non-Ground Swift Swim users and Sand Rush Stoutland (don´t switch this into Excadrill). Fire Blast destroys most Steel types not named Heatran, though you can also abuse your own hail by throwing around perfectly accurate Blizzards.

Unaware Wall (Clefable) @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Protect
- Flamethrower / Heal Bell
If you want to take advantage of Clefable´s hidden ability, your best choice is the Pixie Plate. The one thing Unaware Celfable always struggled with the most was its weakness to residual damage, most notably Toxic. Thanks to summoning Misty Terrain on switch-in, Clefable is shielded from status for five turns, which is usually enough to make a set-up sweeper switch out and make sure Clefable can leave the battlefield before its time runs out. Moonblast is the usual STAB attack, while Wish + Protect has to be used since Soft-Boiled is illegal with Unaware. Wish also allows this Clefable to work as a cleric to support its team. Since Misty Terrain shields other grounded members of your team from status, too, Heal Bell isn´t even that necessary and you can run Flamethrower to deal with Steel types. Though if you are afraid one of your Pokémon gets a status problem during one of the turns Misty Terrain isn´t up (or if you use non-grounded Pokémon such as Skarmory or Dragonite), run Heal Bell on Clefable just to be sure.

Arcanine @ Flame Plate
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Bold Nature / Impish Nature
- Morning Sun
- Will-O-Wisp / Toxic
- Flamethrower / Flare Blitz
- Roar / Extreme Speed
Another defensive Pokémon that is improved by instant weather, Arcanine can utilize Intimidate to become a usable physical wall. Morning Sun, usually an inferior recovery move, heals 2/3 of its HP in sunlight. Will-O-Wisp helps Arcanine even more against physical attackers, while Toxic is an option for opposing walls. Flamethrower is the preferred attack option since it does not deal recoil damage and is already pretty powerful with STAB and sunlight, though you can run Flare Blitz for ridiculous power even without EV investment. The power boost from STAB and Sun means that you´ll take a lot of recoil, though, and since you have no Leftovers and a Stealth Rock weakness, you really need to be cautious to not kill your own wall. Roar can force out foes that try to set up, while Extreme Speed picks off weakened or faster foes if needed.

Trick Room ideas:

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Reuniclus @ Mind Plate
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Recover
Now that it no longer has to waste a turn using Trick Room, Reuniclus can right away fire off STAB Psyshocks coming off its 125 SpA. Focus Blast hits Psychic-resisting Steel-types hard and Shadow Ball gives you the unresisted Ghost/Fighting offense. Since it no longer needs to use the move Trick Room, Reunicles can also fit Recover on its set to make sure it can heal off any damage it suffered, switch out when Trick Room turns are gone, and then later switch in to wreak havoc again. Magic Guard protects you against the residual damage from entry hazards, damaging weather and status.

Conkeldurr @ Mind Plate
Ability: Guts
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Ice Punch / Knock Off
- Poison Jab / Stone Edge
Conkeldurr is pretty slow and powerful, so it can utilize Trick Room well. Drain Punch is a strong STAB attack that gives it recovery, while the priority of Mach Punch means Conkeldurr can even work outside of Trick Room. Ice Punch hits the many Dragon, Ground and Flying types hard, while Knock Off deals with Psychic types (since Plates can´t be removed, Knock Off is not that important in this meta). Poison Jab kills Fairies, while Stone Edge destroys Charizard or Talonflame on the switch.

Hoopa-Unbound @ Mind Plate
Ability: Magician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpA
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Hyperspace Fury
- Psychic
- Drain Punch
- Gunk Shot
While it is notably faster than Reuniclus or Conkeldurr, Hoopa-Unbound is still slow compared to most offensive attackers, so it can still abuse Trick Room well. Since it has ridiculous Attack and Special Attack stats, I decided to go mixed. Hyperspace Fury is a strong Dark STAB that hits through Protect, the most common way to outstall Trick Room turns. Psychic (not Psyshock) gives it a strong STAB attack to surprise physical walls. Drain Punch is for coverage and to recover from damage. The final move, Gunk Shot, deals with Fairies.

It is important to note that Trick Room cancels out another Trick Room, so if you have several Trick Room sweepers on your team, try to avoid switching directly between them.

 

[SubMindRaikou]

I was theorymonning a bit about Excadrill and how op it could be.
Excadrill is pretty scary under sand right?
Excadrill is pretty scary with gravity right?
So then I was wondering if a core of something like:

Jirachi @ Iron Plate / Stone Plate
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold / Impish Nature
- Gravity / Sandstorm
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock / Thunder Wave / Filler
- Iron Head / Zen headbutt / Flash cannon / Psychic / Filler

or

Tyranitar @ Iron Plate
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Fire Blast / Blizzard / Thunder

or even

Hippowdon @ Iron Plate
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Stone Edge / Toxic / Whirlwind

with Excadrill + Garchomp could work. It's probably going to fall apart to some threat I never thought of but it still seems cool xd.

 

[SpartanMalice]

Chipping in to say that Garchomp is quite versatile. Due to the prevalence of Knock Off + Trick Room, you can give Garchomp-Mega classic Giratina-Origin EVs and watch it wreck through things in the sand. Probably still not optimal due to it being situational, but it's still fun.

 

[Esprite]

Iron plate HJK...

 

[thesecondbest]

But it failed! High JUMP kcik required you to jump which is impossible under gravity

 

[Darth Manaphy]

Special Achievement if you win using an Iron Plate Magikarp and try to use Splash in the match. Second achievement if it works

Want to hear a gimmick that would always surprise people in these item based Metagames? Magic Room. I'm certain, especially in this game where there's a lot of people trying to stop certain strategies you might be able to muck around with it enough if you're trying to go anti-meta.

 

[Esprite]

The anti meta to end all metas: Magic Room + Mind Plate. Fuck your speed AND your items!

 

[Darth Manaphy]

Min-speed Hoopa-U seems like a good candidate for that. Destroy the items, "outspeed" all but priority, and destroy most stuff with your attack or special attack.

 

[Akumeoy]

The anti meta to end all metas: Magic Room + Mind Plate. Fuck your speed AND your items!

I should note that A) Trick Room isn't really anti-meta, because it's good enough to be part of the meta proper, and B) even non-TR teams are likely to tend towards the bulkier/prioritized side just so Trick Room doesn't instantly shit on it. That's mostly my predictions though, since I've played two games of this.

Magic Room, though, is definitely anti-meta; it probably best fits on offense teams that want to utilize Life Orbs or Choice items. Perhaps two auto-setters and a manual setter would do the trick.

Pixie Plate seems like a great anti-stall item for bulkier teams, and has niche use against offensive status users. I put mine on a Ferrothorn as it can ignore Leech Seed and Toxic Spikes and can switch into a lot of attackers. It's basically Lum Berry but better for everything except, like, Harvest users.

Find me on Aqua if you're dtf (down to fieldplating)

 

[dhelmise]

Oh wow I've been really busy lately and didn't even realise that Snaz went ahead and hosted this. Cheers Snaquaza.

I too agree that Plates shouldn't be Knocked Off or Tricked or what not. In the submission phase it was actually overlooked and we didn't even consider it, but I reckon it kinda defeats the purpose of this meta. I want people to have to play around the opposing Field effects, not just Knock them Off and do what ever they want.

So Rhythms if you could please change the code to make Plates more like Mega Stones or Plates+Multitype so that they can't be removed, that would be grand.
And Snaquaza when the code is updated if you could please implement the new code onto Aqua. That would also be grand.

did
Snaquaza

 

[Ghoul King]

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/aqua-fieldplating-3008

In which I derp endlessly against a regular OU team and lose.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/aqua-fieldplating-3009

In which I don't derp endlessly and win, against another Field Plating team. I think there was a glitch where Spooky Plate didn't trigger one time, I'm not sure.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/aqua-fieldplating-3015

Another win, and mutual Trick Room destruction. Fun match!

Oh and Snaquaza still hasn't implemented the code that makes Plates immune to Knock Off etc, so these aren't actually reflective of the current intended metagame.

As I anticipated, Spooky Plate on non-Ghosts is risky for revenge killers, because it leaves them susceptible to being revenge-killed in turn, no escape if they don't have U-Turn or something of the sort.

 

[thesecondbest]

Yeah maybe if gogoat were a bit stronger you would have won, gg. It is really physically bulky though. I still think megas are good enough to be used over more field plating effects, but you probably shouldn't be like me and bring an ou squad, especially one with hoopa-c :P

 

[Akumeoy]

Bump.

I feel like, with Trick Room going on and off all the damn time, and even being set manually by non-Trick Room teams (it's good to carry a manual setter just in case, because there's always gonna be a situation where you're slower), along with a bulkier meta in general, Swift Swim seems risky. I feel like the go-to strategy for rain playstyles would be to abuse Hydration for reliable Rest. Manaphy + Goodra looks like a great rain core -- Goodra can easily tank most attacks angling to KO Manaphy, and Manaphy threatens many physical attackers that would try to hit Goodra.

Sun gets something kinda similar in Growth Leaf Guard Tangrowth with Synthesis, but it lacks synergistically-typed Leaf Guard partners.

Oh, and Scizor/Ferro should go for Water Sport if they feel like covering up their Fire weakness, rain is an all-around suboptimal choice.

 

[Martin]

Earth Plate Stunfisk for new best 'mon
On a more serious note, I think either Exeggutor or Whimsicott will be the best chlorophyll 'mon due to their access to TR, allowing them to reverse it on the turn that the TR 'mon switches in. TR+3 attacks could be a legit strategy for sun teams. Sadly, Swift Swim and Sand Rush aren't so fortunate...

 

[Salient]

Bow down to your new king.

Darmanitan @ Flame Plate
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Earthquake
- Power-Up Punch / Brick Break / Superpower
- Rock Slide

 

[INSANE CARZY GUY]

Someone said unaware clefablewith pixel plate but that's out classed by clefablewith with magic guard and the haze plate

 

[Akumeoy]

Someone said unaware clefablewith pixel plate but that's out classed by clefablewith with magic guard and the haze plate

No. It's possible to set up on Magic Guard Haze Plate Clefable after it switches in. Pixie Plate Unaware Clefable is subject to any passive damage except status. The roles they fill are too different to say that one outclasses the other.

 

[INSANE CARZY GUY]

Haze would still be better as a block to also mold breaker.

Unaware doesn't set up any better unless they also try to set up which is moot because the set written doesn't have calm mind. The only thing I see it having over magic guard is its team can abuse the affect a little better but with heal bell and wish and threat of new toxic or burn is meh.

Really I think gravity plate in unaware would be good for abusing sing vs a sub set up sweeper flipping things in Your favor in a fun way

 

[tom771]

This honestly looks like a fantastic metagame but I have a question regarding Ion Deluge.

Ion Deluge is a pretty cool concept. Basically all normal type moves become electric type which sounds average by itself until you realise Electivire exists. Not only does Electivire get a strong stab move in Return/Double Edge it can also switch into a normal attack to gain +1 speed. Above all this it gets ice punch/cross chop/earthquake/fire punch as coverage. I know that there aren't any flavourful plates you can put it on but tbh that doesn't really matter (just put it on insect plate or something.)

EDIT: Didn't realise it was only for one turn. Trust Gamefreak to create a cool concept and then ruin it :/.

 

[Isa Simple]

This honestly looks like a fantastic metagame but I have a question regarding Ion Deluge.

Ion Deluge is a pretty cool concept. Basically all normal type moves become electric type which sounds average by itself until you realise Electivire exists. Not only does Electivire get a strong stab move in Return/Double Edge it can also switch into a normal attack to gain +1 speed. Above all this it gets ice punch/cross chop/earthquake/fire punch as coverage. I know that there aren't any flavourful plates you can put it on but tbh that doesn't really matter (just put it on insect plate or something.)

I think that Ion Deluge would be cool if it lasted more than one turn. One turn just isn't enough for this kind of field effect to make a worthy impact. A one turn STAB is not reliable. Abilities like Motor Drive are kinda cool in that you can switch into Electric or Normal moves, but its not that big a buff.

Also if I give Ion Deluge to Insect Plate, Fist Plate would be lonely af, or vice versa.