DLC2 has dropped for over a month, let's talk a bit about how the meta has developed, current meta trends, what the future has in store and such.
Initial DLC2 meta
Gotta say, DLC2 did change the meta in some ways, but old teams are still mostly viable, though we do have a lot more options to choose from now.
Using Smeargle was pretty fun, unfortunately it was too broken for its own good. Technician FakeSpeed was certainly the most heinous to deal with, especially if you ran any kind of offense not named Psyspam, as it could run stuffs like Shadow Sneak for Ghost or Mach Punch for Steel or Rock as well. If you really wanted to get creative you could even do stuffs like special Vacuum Wave or Water Shuriken probably, or like Pop Bomb, Beat Up, etc However, even for defensive builds, you basically had to hope it didn't have like V-Create. Turns out learning any move with a base stat to use it is quite broken, not to mention Technician.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9godlygift-2012720673-h68oejj30cg6394uoyn09hkrtmj9aj1pw You can see how hilarious this is, I even ran Jolly just so I always won against Adamant Smeargle.
Terapagos landed in quite an unfortunate spot. We didn't fully know what it did much like OU, and oh boy did it turn out to be bonkers. A 700 BST monster with the possibility of getting even more while firing an unresisted STAB 120 BP move is very well worth the Tera. Besides Tera Starstorm and Calm Mind, it could even fit basically anything in the other two slots, from Rapid Spin, Rock Polish to RestTalk or even Toxic. What's sad is why did Game Freak feel the need to create a fucking mini forme that serves no purpose other than screwing Godly Gift? If it only had the 600 BST forme it would be a pretty decent god, but because of this 450 BST forme it's doomed to irrelevancy and this is the first gen we only have 2 viable new cover legend gods. Heck gen 8 even gave Calyrex so we had even more, gen 9 is really a letdown with GG considering pre-Home meta had 2 blatantly broken gods that we couldn't even ban and now we get much more limited gods and even gen 6 legendaries being cut.
This is an interesting choice, a more polarizing version of Pheromosa and ultimately too good when combined with Psyspam. Like you could run Tusk in SpD and still have some defensive presence but you would inevitably be pushed by either a physical or special mon that destroys your non-existent defensive core. And Deoxys-A was actually already weakened by the lack of some options, namely Shuckle, Pyukumuku and Kartana. The only downside of using Deoxys-A was that you couldn't run Deoxys-S. Even then, Psyspam ended up too strong and we had to do something. Perhaps it will be revisited if Unburden takes the boot one day.
Current meta
New additions: We get some good gods back, let's talk about them for a bit. I will order them based on what I think is most viable -> least viable.
Losing Defog, Thunder Wave and Toxic really makes it less splashable, but it's still good, I don't think it's S worthy though since spreading status was one of its main strengths. However, it still matches up well into new threats like Kyurem and Deoxys-S which is huge, on top of its 154 SpD. What makes this annoying to build with is the presence of Weavile and Chien-Pao. You kinda feel like you want to opt for Skarmory or Def Alomomola and then to cover for their Electric weakness with Clodsire or some other Ground, which can kinda limit teambuilding a bit. Still good otherwise though and among the best gods. With Deoxys-S you kinda want to opt for Speed most of the time.
Necrozma-DM: Again, same problem and pretty much strengths as Ho-Oh but easier to cover defensively with its beefier Defense. Necrozma itself is still good and versatile, with sets ranging from PhysDef, SpDef to Dragon Dance, with moves like EQ and Knock to support. It also matches up well into Clodsire but does struggle against Def Alomomola unless it Tera Fire with Moonlight. Skeledirge is also annoying but it hates Knock so you can wear it down over time. Skarm is still a roadblock as usual but you can dedicate a slot to Magnezone if you want. Its lesser SpA slot can be used to power up Deoxys-S or filler slot better so you will usually find it in Speed slot.
Kyurem-Black is still a good god for offensive oriented teams, especially for HO. Losing Roost sucks since it loses much of its defensive utility but on the other hand, it now has Loaded Dice to run rampage with Scale Shot and Icicle Spear. Unfortunately no Persian-A is a big loss for Beat Up team and running Weavile means running 2 Ice-types which makes covering for other slots kinda tough. Can also run Tera Fire to decimate Skeledirge. Usually slotted in SpA or SpD, but I do recommend SpD or Spe since a special attacker is valuable when physical attackers can get stopped pretty frequently. Also goes well with Hawlucha, but Gholdengo's usage does hold it back for now.
New Pokemon with blistering Speed in Deoxys-S, Dragapult and Electrode-H are very welcomed by Kyurem-W. Kyurem-W itself matches well into existing Clodsire and Alomomola cores with Freeze-Dry, but it does hate Ho-Oh as usual. You might try opting for Rock Tera Blast in place of Ice Beam, but Ho-Oh's SpD receiver can still block its progress. There are also Glowking and Reuniclus, though the latter doesn't see much use due to Dragapult while Glowking is still useful against more threats. Its other slots don't differ much from Kyurem-B. but Kyurem-W isn't really fit for HO styles notably.
Lunala is kind of weird. Its 97 Spe was a good leverage last gen against many base 90 and 95 but this gen's speedcreep hurts it too much, in addition to entry hazards being everywhere limiting non-Boots sets. Tera is good for it though, with Tera Dark/Fairy both nice to combat Dark and Ghost, especially with it being able to run Moonblast as well. Losing Roost and recovery PP nerfs are also painful as it really wants to spam Roost to keep Shadow Shield intact. At least there's not much weather running around except for sun so Moonlight is still fine. In terms of donation, it kinda provides a middle ground, but again somewhat limits you to more common structures, but you can run some cool things with it in terms of offensive slots. I don't recommend going too offensive with this as Kyurem-W is probably better for that.
You really only use this if you plan to use Trick Room. Admittedly, Trick Room got a big addition in Deoxys-D with Trick Room and Teleport, but transfer move cut means losing out on other setters like Porygon2 and Slowtwins forced into Lagging Tail if they want to pivot safely, further compounding on Dark+Ghost weakness, which means other than the fact that Trick Room is already a matchup fish, running into Weavile forces you to Tera immediately just to set Trick Room.
Grouping these 2 together because they really suffer from no Roost. Whatever their defensive utility leverage is compared to their Kyurem versions is hurt hard, with Reshiram also losing Defog. Zekrom at least gained Stealth Rock but sadly with Kyurem-B receving more buffs overall feels like their time has come to an end.
Use Ho-Oh and Necrozma-DM. Lugia even lost Toxic, what else can it even do?
Since Les2BG already talked about some prominent receivers I will try to put more emphasis on some I think are underrated new additions and how they fit into archetypes.
Hyper Offense
People gloss over Iron Crown pretty fast, which is understandable but it does differentiate itself with Speed Booster Energy + Double Dance, which with its Steel type can spell death sentence to any team without Haze or phazing. Hyper Offense doesn't lack other options for Double Dance, or even traditional ones like Hatterene but sometimes the Speed comes in handy against some hard hitters, you can even run both to play around the other's weakness.
Speed Boost is a strong ability, you can see this get out of control very quickly after a Swords Dance or two, especially given a Def/SpD donation blocking common strategies like pivots going into breakers, since you will give Blaziken a +2 Speed that way, and if it's also Protect you will be in trouble without Skeledirge.
People don't usually associate Serperior with HO but it's a very good cleaner on such builds. For once, it also discourages Sticky Web completely, and with Glare you will find enough para turns to break through special walls with something on your team if you decide to use it first.
Look, I won't pull my all cat team replay to prove its worth, but a Spe/SpD can really help this go a long way with Flame Charge/Power Trip. Its typing makes it able to power through Skeledirge or force it to Tera, Intimidate gives HO some breathing room, and it can even slot Taunt to keep walls low while blocking Whirlwind.
Draining Kiss is a funny addition to pull off the shenanigan, and it does have a different typing and Levitate to set itself apart, in particular Tera Poison/Steel makes Clodsire deadweight.
Offense
No Megahorn is a bit of a nerf, but Atk slot Keldeo is still a nice surprise that can win games, Special on the other hand now has Vacuum Wave for a nifty revenge killing tool, and Tera Blast is also helpful. Being able to strike SpD Alomomola or other special walls with Secret Sword can win games, even if it hates Clodsire and has to use Tera Blast if it wants to make progress.
Psychic Fangs and Knock Off are great new toys, Heavy Slam is as well but in a meta with more heavy Ubers it isn't as good. Even if it struggles against physical walls like Alomomola and Skarmory it can use Trick to cripple them.
Bulky Offense
Swampert is a very underrated pick imo. With the new Knock Off, it can now provide an Electric immunity while still doing what it's known for, as its Flip Turn can't be blocked by Clodsire with Earthquake.
Golurk has some untapped potential. It has a very good typing offensively while also giving 3 immunities defensively. It can take a dump Speed slot quite well and either run Choice Band for wallbreaking or Scarf for some Speed control. It also has Klutz which means a more unorthodox set of Trick Klutz can cripple a wall completely, defintely worth a try.
Stall
Most people look at this as a BO mon mostly but imo in stall it's nice to provide a Ground resist while also forming a Regen core potentially. It can run Nasty Plot to slowly make progress, or if you are into it you can run Leppa Recycle Infestation Recover and never lose any PP battle again.
Random thoughts about some other Pokemon
This thing is mad annoying to use. On one hand you want SpA slot, on the other hand when you realize speed creep means many Scarfers outspeed Modest, and some like Flutter Mane just outspeeds even Timid, you start to feel how fishy it is these days. Old problems like 4mss still plague it. No Sludge Bomb? Food for Ho-Oh. No Earth Power? Good luck against Eternatus and Heatran. The list goes on and on.
I will never understand why people like to use this. Shell Smash is great and all, but there are better ones, and it isn't even that great at being a Shell Smash sweeper tbh.
Not as good as it is in OU due to some mons having more usage, most notably Hatterene and Geezing. Giratina also clears its hazards well while threatening Gholdengo still.
Problematic elements?
Currently, meta feels nice overall, a survey will probably happen in the future, but what are the hot topics?
Probably what most people feel to be overwhelming. However, with Ho-Oh, Necrozma-DM and other things, I think we do have enough answers for it, and Specs is probably the set with the most raw power. But no Roost means it can't opt for Sub sets or Boots sets as well, and in such an entry hazard centric meta it can really struggle to have many chances to come in. Because of that I think it's managable, but further development might make it too powerful. Physical sets are just done better by Baxcalibur.
If there's something that pushes this over the edge it's Nasty Plot, but having this as a natural speed control feels nice. It makes it so that your Scarf speed control should have at least 104 Speed (So Iron Leaves or faster), but overall I think that's a good thing since its initial threat lies solely in Psycho Boost, which can be irky still due to Psychic not being a good offensive type, and it dies immediately if it predicts wrong. This also assumes it has enough power to threaten OHKO, which basically means you are running Kyurem-W or at the very least Eternatus, and you still need to bring it in which isn't easy. Even after NP it can still be forced out, so I think it's an overall healthy mainstay.
Tera
Tera is perfectly fine right now and provide defensive emergency answers, no Tera will break more stuffs than having Tera (especially true now due to Tera Fairy being very good in a horde of Dragon), this should preferably stay until the end of the gen.
Unburden
I don't know about Unburden, but if something takes the boot I think it's Hawlucha only. Sneasler needs Tera Flying to do the same thing as Hawlucha, and Hawlucha can boost even more with Tera Flying or blocks burn and Fairy moves with Tera Fire.
The future
I can foresee whether a council vote or suspect for Kyurem, then after more meta development Deoxys-S and Unburden if the surveys call for them. Tera suspect is probably inevitable due to DLC1 meta not having one due to circumstances, maybe before Deoxys-S and Unburden. After that it might be hard to envision what will happen next. If Tera is gone then I guess a lot of Dragons will have to be limited and probably some more, between Gouging Fire and Dragapult, which will also free Regieleki, Ogerpon-H and Terapagos. After that, Booster Energy probably is a target to reduce HO influence. If Tera stays I think Hawlucha/Unburden will be tackled next, but I can't see what else at the moment.
Team dump
- Deoxys Offense
This was originally a Deoxys-A team with Smeargle in Atk slot but I felt like salvaging it. The result is not that bad I guess, with Rillaboom helping out Comfey a bit against Psyspam. Deoxys sadly lacks much power compared to Deoxys-A so feels like you should only use Life Orb, otherwise you will just be short of getting a KO. Comfey is interesting, it can win outright or be useless, but at the very least it can force Tera pretty often. Ditto was probably best with Deoxys-A but now I think Tusk can be in that slot without much of a downgrade if some defensive presence is needed.
- Groudon Sun
Note: This team is
BAD. I hastily made this when DLC first dropped while I was still in OM Champs. This gets eaten alive by Psyspam, Dragon, Ghost and Fairy so uh, if you want to salvage this maybe just replace Venusaur, that thing is disappointing. Raging Bolt at least feels nice as a wincon against teams lacking Clodsire while Gouging Fire can just nuke stuffs.
- NDW TR
Currently sample, Deoxys keeping Teleport was the main reason I wanted to revisit Trick Room, Idk why I ended up with Rampardos but SFLO with giant Atk and SpA is pretty funny to say the least. Unfortunately SpD Ting-Lu can still hold it for a while and this team has no hazard control so if you face like Def Alomomola + SpD Ting-Lu it can't do much. Tera Blast Fairy NDW is pretty nice as well but is best used as a cleaner or if it gets an especially good mu. Ghost are problematic but you can try juggling around with Comfey and Tera Deoxys.
- Eternatus Balance
It feels tough to fit hazard control at times in this meta ngl, so this sample aims to break things before it gets overwhelmed. Skarm setting Spikes can also force Defog eventually while Skeledirge can spinblock in case of emergency. Deoxys-S helps stack Spikes further, probably can go Boots but I like having more power since Kyurem can already do the breaking against Ting-Lu and Alomomola. Haban on Eternatus helps against even more Dragon these days.
- Dual Sun/ETerrain
Seeing Raging Bolt now being the sole Rising Voltage user makes me want to build a sun Eterrain hybrid. Alas Koraidon would be such a perfect addition if not for its ban. When I think about what else benefits from both, well clearly a Fire-type Quark Drive Pokemon which is Iron Moth. Now all members are weak to Ground but like there's no better god than Zacian-C to fill up this slot. Filler Atk slot is now 100% a Ground immunity, probably can be something like Mandibuzz as well but good old Corv should work. Idk if full SpA Moth is better to maximize wallbreaking but either way you will want to rely on it to break stuffs before Raging Bolt can clean up. If you face SpD Alomomola then Raging Bolt might be able to win after some Calm Mind. Zacian-C doesn't need to be sent out sparingly like ordinary Zacian-C structures, you usually send it out to tank attacks more.
- Ho-Oh Balance
I kinda like Quaquaval atm as an answer to Chien-Pao and Weavile, spinner while also getting Knock. Also
Isaiah are you in the same Scarf Deoxys-S club as me? 756 Speed means you only lose to madness like Scarf Flutter Mane in sun or like Idk some psycho running Eternatus Speed Timid Chlorophyll. Even Jolly Sneasler only reaches 744 so you should always be safe against them even if they run Taunt for your Skarm and Skeledirge. You will most of the time just Trick it to cripple opposing special walls though, which is very helpful against Ting-Lu among others. Triple Axel is a pretty good toy for Meowscarada for Geezing or Ho-Oh, accuracy is a bit annoying and Rocky Helmet nukes it back so it should still spam Knock first before trying to claim kills. Once Alomomola has been Knocked, Garganacl becomes annoying very fast, usually forcing it to take substantial chip if it wants to pass Wish, while Protect or going Clodsire also blocks Flip Turn, meaning the manual switch usually has to take Salt Cure as well. Overall a very solid build, which I will make a sample.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9godlygift-2031660569-2mnoresefili6px9nm7s5c9fdm8nj7qpw A replay of how this breaks Rest spam fat in action
- NDM Magnezone Pivot Spam
Hey
UT, it's your favorite Magnet Pull striking again. Rillaboom feels very nice right now on BO builds in particular and offense in general even with Glide nerf. Emergency SpD wall, extra recovery, revenge killer. And well Magnezone supports Rilla and NDM by getting rid of Corv, Skarm, even opposing NDM and Treads if you can afford to use Tera (To a lesser extent Heatran but Rilla can already deal with it). Band Cinderace is pretty strong against most stuffs, with Gunk Shot poison coming in handy against Alomomola and Skeledirge and Court Chance being the best it has ever been. Speaking of which, Skeledirge is also a target for Magnezone to Tera, that will help immensely. NDM's SpA slot can also be filled by Dragapult or Deoxys-S, I just fancy having Helectrode there to utilize Grassy Terrain and pivot.
- Giratina Stall
A slightly different diversion from how gen 9 stall teams usually look like. Tyranitar was a solid option on stall last gen, though this gen does have some stuffs like Flutter that can give it some trouble. You can still take a hit from Specs to Knock it back, but general Ghost should be taken with some caution. I already talked about Hydrapple above, the rest are pretty standard bar the Geezing to ensure Defog works against Gholdengo unless your opponent cteams with Ability Shield.
- Classic Caly-I Lucha
Feels like Caly-I Lucha will always end up looking like this, just with slightly different stuffs like Clodsire or Alomomola instead maybe or slightly different defensive core, even now unless you decide to go more offense which is a big risk in itself. Reason? Tough to fit speed control, SpA slot for Helectrode, Deoxys-A or Dragapult isn't usable. Caly-I itself can be quite a drain against bad mu like Alomomola and Skarm, you also are compelled to fit a special mon somewhere, usually Flutter Mane if you go more offense with Grassy Seed, but then you risk losing to opposing Hawlucha yourself. In any case, using Hawlucha is a big risk, I haven't seen a structure that can be consistent with Caly-I so yeah.
- Kyurem-B HO
Most Screen HO teams prefer Grimmsnarl due to the increased Speed making Alolatales unreliable to get Veil consistently but I do think it can still work in structures like this. Kyurem-B really enjoys the Snow Def boost, as does Chien-Pao. Hell in Snow with Veil Chien-Pao can even live a Body Press from Skarm after Rock. Hamurott applies extra pressure by setting Spikes, you can also use it as a lead in some matchups. If you play it right you can force Tera pretty early and then decide the pathway to win from there.
- Kyurem-W Keldeo BO
With Slowtwin stocks dropping, Keldeo seems good. I crammed in as many pivotting moves as I could to bring it in. Scarf Kyurem-W is insufficient against Deoxys-S but I already have a hard check in Scizor, with Mandibuzz also being able to answer Shadow Ball/Focus Blast variants. Kyurem-W is still a great breaker against the common ClodAlo core though it can be used more offensively. Pecharunt has good defensive synergy with Mandibuzz to round out the pivot core, Malignant Chain crippling special walls is also nice. Also emergencily deals with Hatterene.
- Arceus Balance
Have you noticed I use a different god for every team? Arceus is the strongest left, though building with it in this meta can feel a bit awkward due to lacking that oomph to have some offensive presence. Thus I made my little awkward Volcanion set, which can smack even Mirror Coat Alomomola with no problem. Tera Flying means it can trap Clodsire as well. Serperior joins the disruption club with SubSeed, the last slot can range from Dragon Pulse, Tera Blast to Glare, but I figure Knock Off might be better for consistent long-term progress while essentially doubling Leech Seed chip against Leftovers, also helpful against RegenVest and Boots. Taunt Arceus is another solid late-game wincon, with Tera Ghost turning Skarm into complete setup bait. The lack of Dark resist can be dangerous so Glowking can fill up the role with Tera Dark. Golurk provides general speed control while also having very useful immunities to work with. Ground/Ghost is tough for offense to handle as well.
That's it for now, however
THE REAL POST has yet to come, stay tuned for that.
Azumarill
Medicham