Pet Mod Hoenn Gaiden - Slate 14 (Return and Rework)

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Krookodile set incoming! I haven't tested this mon, but BulkSalac in Sand sounds like a nice tactic.
Krookodile @ Salac Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 40 SpD / 216 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Substitute / Hidden Power [Bug]
- Bulk Up
- Rock Slide
The goal here is to bait the opponent into activating your Salac, and then sweeping. (and since Krook can't be paralyzed by TWave, the only concern, besides high damage Ice/Grass moves, is Toxic). Probably better off using late game so that its common checks, like Celebi and anything with Ice Beam or Giga Drain, are gone. I'd say it pairs well with Plusle, so that it can remove the Ice/Grass types. Just watch out for Blissey, probably Dug support is needed. You can Substitute to get down to Salac range. If you want to hit Celebi/Claydol harder, use HP Bug.

Edit: I also want to provide my thoughts on Golisopod. It seems like a premier defensive wall that can also dish out heavy damage. Especially with access to Bulk Up/Lunge. Here’s BulkLunge:
Golisopod @ Leftovers
Ability: Run Away
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Lunge
- Spikes / Hidden Power [Ghost]
- Bulk Up
- Rock Slide
HP Ghost is for the Ghosts that run rampant in this tier like Dusclops/noir, Silvally-Ghost, Gengar, and Jellicent. You can also go 252 HP for that extra bulk. I’d pair this with a special wall like Blissey because they’re bound to switch to a special attacker after they see your plan. Might want to pair with Explosion or Dug so that you can get rid of the CMers. I’m probably missing something because I usually just play ADV but I’ve played a few HG matches recently and that’s my 2 cents.

Edit 2: Oh my God, I didn't realize Golisopod got Spikes. Just set 3 layers no problem if you can bring it in on a Physical attacker.
 
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Ema Skye

Work!
After the awesome post on Spikes, I wanted to talk about Spikes' best friend: spinblockers. We have a lot of Ghosts in the tier.

:jellicent:
We added Jellicent all the way back in Slate 1 and it's forever changed the meta. A bulky Ghost with recovery and access to Taunt allows it to put a lot of work in, and it provides that crucial bulky Water role.

:sableye:
Probably the only mon in the tier we've ever nerfed, Sableye's ability to negate passive damage is incredible, giving it a lot of resiliency.

:dusclops:/:dusknoir:
Functionally the same mon but it depends on your teambuild for which you take. They provide a lot of chip damage through status and Knock Off. Dusknoir is very bulky on sand while Dusclops appreciates the additional Leftovers on hail.

:girafarig:
Best Gal still loves this and it's easy to see why. It has enough options to be a bulky blocker like the above, but it can also take an offensive role, or even combine the two. Being the only viable Ghost with Baton Pass is another huge niche and it can pass so many things.

:gengar:
Still does Gengar things and it's still the fastest Ghost. It's also the only viable one with a Spikes immunity outside of Sableye, which is huge.

:silvally:
Ghostvally is still the best Silvally form. Multi Attack+HP Fighting has near perfect coverage and it can take predicted Knock Offs from its allies. Probably the best one for offensive sets due to the sheer power of Multi Attack.

:cursola:
This one I haven't used but am intrigued about. Physical bulk is similar to Gengar but it has much higher special bulk and access to Recover as well as a stronger Explosion. In theory it should be good but we'll have to see how much its speed holds it back.

:parasect:
Faster Spore will always be viable, and being able to cripple another switch with Stun Spore is huge. Prob don't need to explain much here.
 

Rezzo

(EVIOLITE COMPATIBLE)
is a Pre-Contributor
Just to complete the triangle, I'll do a quick (it was supposed to be quick) write-up on spinners and their counterpart spikers' matchups:

Spin to Win:

starmie.png
-->
cloyster.png
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skarmory.png
roserade.png
stunfisk.png
stunfisk-g.png

Starmie @ Leftovers / Expert Belt
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Psychic / Hydro Pump

Offensive Starmie combines the Rapid Spin utility alongside a vast movepool and high speed stat to provide momentum for faster paced teams. Running boltbeam allows you to keep Cloyster and Flygon in check while also hitting Roserade and Stunfisk.

Psychic can be ran in the last slot to enable more anti-spiking measures against bulky Roserade and weakened Heracross, although Hydro Pump is generally more preferred as Starmie's strongest overall attack (while also hitting Stunfisk and Stunfisk-G harder).

talonflame.png
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roserade.png
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skarmory.png
heracross.png

Talonflame @ Lum Berry / Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 180 Atk / 252 SpA / 76 Spe
Mild Nature
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Flamethrower
- Rapid Spin
- Soft-Boiled / Toxic / Will-O-Wisp

While frail, Talonflame has a solid match-up against many of the tier's spikers and can threaten a OHKO on them with minimal investment due to its Flying and Fire STABs. Its high speed stat and Flying typing allow it to come in and out easily against spikers without taking chip damage in the process. Softboiled is a nice option for longevity in the face of weather chip and enabling riskier pivoting.

Toxic or Will-O-Wisp can instead be ran in the 4th slot to aid in team utility.

cloyster.png
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flygon.png
cloyster.png
stunfisk-g.png


Cloyster @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Rapid Spin
- Spikes
- Hydro Pump / Surf
- Hidden Power [Grass] / Toxic

Cloyster is one of a handful of Mons that can lay spikes and spin on the same set, allowing it to win Spike Wars single-handedly in the right situations. The buffed SpA and newly accessible Hydro Pump allows Cloyster to potentially OHKO Stunfisk-G with max investment and Modest nature (seriously... that thing is REAL bulky...), as well as allow it to come in later in the game and deal some good damage (just run a higher speed stat for such a set).

HP Grass and Toxic allow you to handle opposing Cloyster who may come in - Grass is of note for smacking Cloyster immediately as well as potential Swampert, whereas Toxic is universally more useful for stacking chip damage.

forretress.png
--> EVERYTHING
Forretress @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Explosion
- Earthquake / Hidden Power [Fire]

Forretress will always be doing Forretress things; it's another spiker spinner like Cloyster who also has a relatively strong explosion. Lead is quite strong and can survive HP Fire Magneton + Fire Blast Golem-A (uninvested) and guarantee a layer of spikes in these scenarios, and against teams who aren't running either of these it can threaten an Explosion once its done its job or facing a threat to the team utilising Forretress.

Looking at the moveset it has, running a pursuit user is obviously hugely preferred. HP Fire can help you deal with opposing Forretress, whereas Earthquake dishes reliable damage to Golem-A who can either miss Fire Blast or even be outsped with some speed investment, and is generally a better coverage move. HP Bug can also be considered here but doesn't hit much of note beyond Celebi and Tyranitar.

cryogonal.png
-->
flygon.png
stunfisk.png

Cryogonal @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 8 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 244 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Ice Beam
- Knock Off / Toxic

Cryogonal doesn't directly pressure many spikers, but it does offer fantastic utility in both Levitate and Knock Off, allowing it to come in against common trappers Dugtrio and Magneton and attempt a spin (or Knock Off against incoming ghosts). Looks mandatory to run this alongside a pursuit user and a steel-type trapper.

076a_Mini_Sprite.png
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skarmory.png
forretress.png
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delibird.png
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Sandslash-A.png
pincurchin.png

Golem-Alola @ Leftovers
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 228 Atk / 72 SpA / 208 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Fire Blast / Flamethrower / Rock Slide

If you're utterly terrified of Skarmory or Sandslash-A, then Golem-A is an OK option. It's thoroughly outclassed by Magneton as a whole though, and YOLOSkarm (offensive HP Ground) easily KOs this spread (and moreover it has a chance to live the Thunderbolt). You're tight for EVs though so this is what you should run to guarantee the 2HKO on standard Skarm from full.

By extension you can trap Sandslash-A, Forre and Stunfisk-G, Flamethrower is specifically for nailing Sandslash and Fire Blast for Forretress. Stunfisk-G is much harder to effectively trap and must be weakened first, but can be KOed with EQ.

Alternatively Rock Slide allows you to carve a niche within threatening Froslass (since paralysis doesn't bother this thing a huge amount), and is otherwise Golem's strongest attack.

EDIT:
On re-analysis you're probably better off always running Fire Blast:

72 SpA Golem-A Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 204+ SpD Sandslash-A: 329-388 (92.9 - 109.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes

72 SpA Golem Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 204+ SpD Sandslash: 261-308 (73.7 - 87%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after 1 layer of Spikes and Leftovers recovery


donphan.png
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Sandslash-A.png
pincurchin.png
stunfisk.png
stunfisk-g.png

Donphan @ Leftovers
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake / Magnitude
- Hidden Power [Rock] / Odor Sleuth / Rest
- Knock Off

Donphan, like Cryogonal, has access to Knock Off and Rapid Spin, allowing it to cause pressure in a different way to its other spinning bretheren. Donphan is usually seen on stall alongside Pursuit Tyranitar, however it also has the option to run Odor Sleuth to catch ghosts like Sableye who attempt to wall.

Weak to status though, so could be an effective choice on Heal Bell balance cores alongside Pursuit support. Rest is also an option to resist succumbing to the ever-abundant Knock Off users of the tier.

Potentially Dizzying Choice:

Sandslash-A.png
--> X

Sandslash-A doesn't strike me as a viable spinner in this metagame as it's very easily trapped and killed by HP Fire Magneton, both Dugtrios, Golem-A and even potentially Probopass(!). It doesn't have any tools to aid it against common spinblockers such as Jellicent and Gengar and is forced out by these once more.

Forretress seems like a more sensible option for pairing Spikes & Rapid Spin into a single Mon.

EDIT:
I've changed my angle and realised that Sandslash is actually very capable of performing a role similar to Forretress - you can sacrifice Explosion in exchange for ever so slightly more SpDef, as well as a tasty base 65 speed stat.

Suggested Spreads:

Sandslash-Alola @ Leftovers
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Spikes
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ghost]

252+ SpA Magneton Hidden Power Fire vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Sandslash-A: 302-356 (85.3 - 100.5%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

Or:

EVs: 252 HP / 204 SpD / 52 Spe

252 SpA Magneton Hidden Power Fire vs. 252 HP / 204+ SpD Sandslash-A: 289-340 (81.6 - 96%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

52 Speed allows you to outcreep Golem-A who is trying to creep 4 Speed Skarmory and Metagross.

claydol.png
magneton.png
--> ?

The team combination of Magneton and Claydol is a well-known pairing on ADV OU Spikes balance teams, the idea being that Claydol can continuously come in on Spikes and spin while Magneton can remove opposing spikers to let fast wallbreakers come in and cause chaos. However, with the expansion of viable spikers (especially Roserade), this combination is far less effective than previously. There is definitely still potential for this to work, however at first glance it seems a lot less consistent than before.

hitmonlee.png
--> X
Hitmonlee is a wallbreaker which can force out many threats and spin on the switch - however the problem it faces is that it's those same pivots that check it are either ghost type (and immune to being spun on), or going to absolutely suck the momentum on a potential switch once the spin has been selected (think Zapdos, Celebi, Gengar, Girafarig).

So while Hitmonlee is a spinner, and it honestly can't run very much else in its 4th slot, it's not a consistent one and there are much stronger options that you can select to cover that role. It's also a grounded Mon that has Magic Guard - meaning that it doesn't even care about Spikes in the first place before doing its job.

Not sure how to spin this to you:

mrrime.png

Mr. Rime @ Leftovers
Ability: Trace
- Rapid Spin
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- Ice Beam / Taunt / Calm Mind

Mr Rime is a staple of BP chains due to learning both Baton Pass and Rapid Spin. Not a style I've confidently explored yet but definitely has a lot of room to help support teammates in this style of play.

regieleki.png

Due to the complete overhaul Regieleki has had, I'm not sure how to comment on this until I explore it a bit more thoroughly. It seems to possibly be one of the only spinners capable of handling Deoxys-S.


alcremie.png

Same deal as Regieleki. Seems potent though due to its massive bulk and similarly vast support movepool.

----------

Note well that nothing on this list is an effective check to Deoxys-S due to it's blistering speed and access to both Knock Off and Spikes; permanently crippling the bulkier spinners while pressuring fast spinners with its amazing movepool and ability to outspeed everything. Regieleki (and occasionally Cloyster or Forretress) seem to be the most consistent options available to face it.
 

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:tyranitar: :honchkrow: Dark-types In HG OU :houndoom: :sableye:

Ever since Ghost-types have started dominating HG, I've been thinking about Dark-types and what they accomplish in this metagame. So, with the addition of several Dark-types and a slew of new members to the HG community, I thought I'd make a post about them and their place in the meta.

:rs/tyranitar:

Ah yes, the Lando-T of ADV himself. Everyone knows what Ttar does; it's bulky, it's strong, it dictates the way walls function based on their typing, it has way too many sets to count and possess a whole slew of resistances to further cement its role as the Godzilla of ADV. Not a lot has changed for it in HG, except that it preys on the Ghost-heavy meta and both bulky and fast DD sets have improved as a result. Additionally, Ttar is still a beast at forcing progress with the inclusion of Spikers such as Deoxys-S, Flygon and Roserade, alongside most of its checks being unable to properly check it after a round or two of chip damage. It's no wonder why it's still considered the only definitive S rank mon, with only Celebi challenging that claim.

:rs/sableye:

Behold, the only mon that has been nerfed. Sableye is an extreme annoyance for TSS and balance to deal with, and its not hard to see why. Magic Guard + a Ghost/Dark typing allowed it to deny the most common way of wearing down defensive mons, and with no weaknesses and its deceptive bulk, Sab could Toxic stall most foes with ease. Fortunately, it isn't quite as insufferable as it was before thanks to its decreased bulk and the shift to a more offensive metagame, but it's still a threat to account for in the teambuilder.

:rs/crawdaunt:

Nice BP recipient, but its got some pretty fierce competition otherwise, and it has some nasty weaknesses and is pretty slow.

:rs/houndoom: :ss/incineroar:

Lumping these two together because they check the same stuff, but mostly because I wanted to compare and contrast between these two.

Houndoom is the more offensive of the duo, fitting primarily on offense and semi-pass. Beyond its fantastic STABS, it has two advantages it has over other Fires and Darks. The first is Flash Fire, which helps it check Fire-types better, and the other is having the strongest Sucker Punch in HG, letting it pick off threats such as +1 Ttar or Mence. One really nice thing about Doom is just how customizable it is. Weak to sleep? Run Early Bird. Weak to Dragons? Tech HP Ice. Want to have a better lead MU? Run Taunt. You can probably guess where I'm going with this, Doom is just a neat mon at the moment.

In contrast to Doom, Incineroar takes a more defensive route, preferring to soften blows with Intimidate while spreading status and removing items. One major difference between Incin and Doom is the former's access to BP, allowing it to act as one of the few slow pivots in the tier and granting it a unique niche on fat balance/BO. Additionally, Incineroar's typing, bulk, and Intimidate makes it able to reliably soft check threats such as Metagross and Gengar throughout a game, something Houndoom fails to do due to its lackluster bulk. Incin also pairs well with other balance staples, namely Celebi, Jirachi and Jellicent.

:dp/skuntank:

One of the more interesting Darks we have, considering its movepool and high customizability. While the defensive set is more or less outclassed by other walls, Tail Glow sets have decent breaking power thanks to Crunch + FB + HP being quite the challenge to switch into, as I've already highlighted above with Houndoom. Though it's still early to say whether or not Skunk now has a place in HG OU, my expectations are high for this mon.

:dp/honchkrow:

Honchkrow is an interesting mon. On paper, it should be absolutely bonkers due to its STABS + Superpower and Mag trapping what would otherwise check it. In any other ADV metagame, this would be booted immediately, but alas, HG isn't your usual ADV metagame, and considering that HG is much more offensive and quick-paced than typical ADV, Honchkrow struggles to come in more than once or twice during a game. That doesn't mean its bad ofc, Krow greatly appreciates paraspam and can tear into slower teams with once their speed control is KO'd, it just means that Krow needs a bit of support to truly shine.

:dp/weavile:

I'm not sure about this if I'm being honest. On one hand, it has all the cons Sneasel, that being horribly frail, bad typing and relying on non-STAB attacks, but it does have the perk of outspeeding several key threats, such as Starmie and Duggie. Time will tell if I've been underrating this thing, but my thoughts are leaning on the cynical side for now.

:bw/krookodile:

It's a bit early to tell how Krookodile will fare here, but it's shaping up to be a decent blend of offensive and defensive prowess. Soft checking Ttar and Plusle while being able to revenge kill Metagross, Toxicroak and Jolteon is a boon for offense, while its pool of resistances and its Dark typing alongside Intimidate can be used to stomach a hit and act as an emergency check if needed. Excited to take this for a spin myself.

:sm/muk-alola:

Cool antimeta mon, if I say so myself. Poison/Grass/Fire coverage is a tall task to wall in HG, and Sticky Hold is a cool niche in a time where item removal is much more widespread. Muk also a few more options to keep opponents on its toes, like Knock/Explosion/Curse/Focus Punch. Hardwalling Celebi, Ledian, Gar, and Doom all in one slot doesn't hurt as well.

:sm/raticate-alola:

Bad Obstagoon.

:ss/persian-alola:

Don't see how this could work. Bad stat spread, weak as hell, no Fur Coat to give it even the smallest niche, etc.

:ss/guzzlord:

God, we really hate Celebi, don't we? Jokes aside, Guzzlord is the definition of a tank. Whether it's eating hits for days and retaliate with decently strong attacks, PP stall with its massive bulk, force tons of progress with Knock and its stupid good coverage, or just being an annoying wall altogether, Guzz can do it all. As I haven't used Guzzlord much, refer to Yoshiblaze's post for a more in depth analysis of it.

:ss/obstagoon:

Rat-A, but better. Heracross is the better choice most of the time, but Goon's unique set of immunities, decent bulk, and Trick does give it a niche on certain teams.

:ss/moltres-galar:

Looks good on paper, but it gets worn down astonishingly quick, and most of what it wants to check can easily tech for it or badly cripple it. ToxTect and SubTox are pure Steel bait, while RestTalk is horrendously passive and can be taken advantage of so many mons it's not even funny. It'll probably have some success down in UU, but I don't see a future for this in OU.

:ss/grimmsnarl:

Cool mixed breaker that can double as a Pursuit trapper. Having access to BU + OK-ish bulk also opens up the route of acting as a decent wincon.

:ss/zarude:

Yet another interesting mon we have here. Zarude's perks are obvious: Great bulk, incredible speed for a defensive mon, Cloud Nine allowing it to have an easier time checking Ttar and outright hard checking Sunflora, a nice set of resistances and an immunity to Leech Seed, and Jungle Healing all lend itself to Zarude's success as a Grass-type Gengar, but it also has its fair share of cons, such as having just as many weaknesses as it has resistances, its reliance on non-STAB moves to take advantage of its meaty Attack stat, landing in a crowded speed tier, and having a severe case of 4MSS. Like Krow, how good Zarude is depends if your team can accommodate for its negatives.
 
Hoenn Gaiden Tournament Round 1 Usage Stats

Code:
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Tyranitar          |   16 |  50.00% |  31.25% |
| 2    | Magneton           |   12 |  37.50% |  33.33% |
| 2    | Celebi             |   12 |  37.50% |  25.00% |
| 4    | Metagross          |    9 |  28.12% |  44.44% |
| 5    | Skarmory           |    8 |  25.00% |  62.50% |
| 6    | Salamence          |    6 |  18.75% |  50.00% |
| 7    | Jirachi            |    5 |  15.62% |  60.00% |
| 7    | Starmie            |    5 |  15.62% |  40.00% |
| 7    | Aerodactyl         |    5 |  15.62% |  20.00% |
| 10   | Houndoom           |    4 |  12.50% |  50.00% |
| 10   | Cryogonal          |    4 |  12.50% |  50.00% |
| 10   | Flygon             |    4 |  12.50% |  25.00% |
| 10   | Girafarig          |    4 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Jellicent          |    3 |   9.38% |  66.67% |
| 14   | Talonflame         |    3 |   9.38% |  66.67% |
| 14   | Snorlax            |    3 |   9.38% |  66.67% |
| 14   | Incineroar         |    3 |   9.38% |  33.33% |
| 14   | Golurk             |    3 |   9.38% |  33.33% |
| 14   | Swampert           |    3 |   9.38% |   0.00% |
| 20   | Gliscor            |    2 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Dugtrio            |    2 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Moltres            |    2 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Heracross          |    2 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Roserade           |    2 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Electivire         |    2 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Hitmonlee          |    2 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Piloswine          |    2 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Armaldo            |    2 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Gengar             |    2 |   6.25% |  50.00% |
| 20   | Lapras             |    2 |   6.25% |  50.00% |
| 20   | Blissey            |    2 |   6.25% |  50.00% |
| 20   | Glaceon            |    2 |   6.25% |  50.00% |
| 20   | Suicune            |    2 |   6.25% |  50.00% |
| 20   | Chesnaught         |    2 |   6.25% |  50.00% |
| 20   | Sirfetch’d         |    2 |   6.25% |  50.00% |
| 20   | Zapdos             |    2 |   6.25% |  50.00% |
| 20   | Forretress         |    2 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 20   | Honchkrow          |    2 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 20   | Jolteon            |    2 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Leafeon            |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Entei              |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Stunfisk-Galar     |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Lanturn            |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Mamoswine          |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Deoxys-Speed       |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Cursola            |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Golisopod          |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Dusknoir           |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Sableye            |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Kingdra            |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Toxicroak          |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Minun              |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Hariyama           |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Claydol            |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Mr. Mime-Galar     |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Silvally           |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Dragonite          |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Steelix            |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Tropius            |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Guzzlord           |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Delibird           |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Scizor             |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Marowak            |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Breloom            |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Magmortar          |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Froslass           |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
  • Missing 1 Pokemon from MORETTO~~.
  • Missing 2 Pokemon from MORETTO~~.
  • Missing 1 Pokemon from ITSEMASKYE.
  • Missing 2 Pokemon from ITSEMASKYE.
  • Missing 1 Pokemon from REZZ0.
  • Missing 1 Pokemon from REZZ0.
  • Missing 3 Pokemon from 447323A.
  • Missing 1 Pokemon from YAKATK1012.
  • Missing 1 Pokemon from KALIFGUEST22.

    Also Missing:
    Game 1 between Voyager and Regic Boat (replay was overwritten)
    1 use and 1 win for Roserade, Jirachi, Sirfetch'd, Talonflame, and Jellicent
    1 use and 1 loss for Electivire, Dugtrio-Alola, Deoxys-Speed, Metagross, Jirachi, and Glaceon
Leads

Code:
+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Leads                   | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Tyranitar               |    5 |  15.62% |  40.00% |
| 2    | Metagross               |    3 |   9.38% |  66.67% |
| 3    | Electivire              |    2 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 3    | Salamence               |    2 |   6.25% |  50.00% |
| 3    | Zapdos                  |    2 |   6.25% |  50.00% |
| 3    | Jolteon                 |    2 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Gliscor                 |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Stunfisk-Galar          |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Gengar                  |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Heracross               |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Roserade                |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Deoxys-Speed            |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Snorlax                 |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Minun                   |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Forretress              |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Celebi                  |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Flygon                  |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Honchkrow               |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Delibird                |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Magneton                |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Froslass                |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Talonflame              |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |


My personal takeaways from the stats:
- Even with all the crazy changes we added to this game, Tyranitar is still the undisputed #1
- Celebi is #2 as expected, but interestingly enough, it's tied with Magneton, which saw an insane amount of usage for whatever reason
- Almost the entire Top 10 were mons that either went unchanged or slightly buffed, showing that people stick with what they know
- Out of significantly buffed mons, Houndoom, Girafarig, and Flygon received the most usage, with the former's ability to prey on all the new Ghosts in the tier and the latter two's insane utility paying huge dividends
- Out of new mons, Cryogonal shockingly had the most usage, though in a meta where getting Spikes down is easier than ever, it makes sense that a Spikes-immune spinner with recovery would be really good
- Other new mons with a lot of huge include Talonflame, Jellicent, Incineroar, Golurk, and Roserade, which were all as expected other than maybe Incineroar
- Piloswine and Magneton both had more usage than their evolutions. Magneton makes a lot of sense, but I personally expected Mamoswine to go crazy in this tier, so that's interesting to see
- Blissey's usage fell off a cliff, probably because a ton of new mons are either crazy strong physical breakers and/or can learn Superpower
 
Hoenn Gaiden Tournament Round 1 Usage Stats

Code:
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Tyranitar          |   16 |  50.00% |  31.25% |
| 2    | Magneton           |   12 |  37.50% |  33.33% |
| 2    | Celebi             |   12 |  37.50% |  25.00% |
| 4    | Metagross          |    9 |  28.12% |  44.44% |
| 5    | Skarmory           |    8 |  25.00% |  62.50% |
| 6    | Salamence          |    6 |  18.75% |  50.00% |
| 7    | Jirachi            |    5 |  15.62% |  60.00% |
| 7    | Starmie            |    5 |  15.62% |  40.00% |
| 7    | Aerodactyl         |    5 |  15.62% |  20.00% |
| 10   | Houndoom           |    4 |  12.50% |  50.00% |
| 10   | Cryogonal          |    4 |  12.50% |  50.00% |
| 10   | Flygon             |    4 |  12.50% |  25.00% |
| 10   | Girafarig          |    4 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Jellicent          |    3 |   9.38% |  66.67% |
| 14   | Talonflame         |    3 |   9.38% |  66.67% |
| 14   | Snorlax            |    3 |   9.38% |  66.67% |
| 14   | Incineroar         |    3 |   9.38% |  33.33% |
| 14   | Golurk             |    3 |   9.38% |  33.33% |
| 14   | Swampert           |    3 |   9.38% |   0.00% |
| 20   | Gliscor            |    2 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Dugtrio            |    2 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Moltres            |    2 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Heracross          |    2 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Roserade           |    2 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Electivire         |    2 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Hitmonlee          |    2 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Piloswine          |    2 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Armaldo            |    2 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Gengar             |    2 |   6.25% |  50.00% |
| 20   | Lapras             |    2 |   6.25% |  50.00% |
| 20   | Blissey            |    2 |   6.25% |  50.00% |
| 20   | Glaceon            |    2 |   6.25% |  50.00% |
| 20   | Suicune            |    2 |   6.25% |  50.00% |
| 20   | Chesnaught         |    2 |   6.25% |  50.00% |
| 20   | Sirfetch’d         |    2 |   6.25% |  50.00% |
| 20   | Zapdos             |    2 |   6.25% |  50.00% |
| 20   | Forretress         |    2 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 20   | Honchkrow          |    2 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 20   | Jolteon            |    2 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Leafeon            |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Entei              |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Stunfisk-Galar     |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Lanturn            |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Mamoswine          |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Deoxys-Speed       |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Cursola            |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Golisopod          |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Dusknoir           |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Sableye            |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Kingdra            |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Toxicroak          |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Minun              |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Hariyama           |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Claydol            |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Mr. Mime-Galar     |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Silvally           |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Dragonite          |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Steelix            |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Tropius            |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Guzzlord           |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Delibird           |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Scizor             |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Marowak            |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Breloom            |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Magmortar          |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Froslass           |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
  • Missing 1 Pokemon from MORETTO~~.
  • Missing 2 Pokemon from MORETTO~~.
  • Missing 1 Pokemon from ITSEMASKYE.
  • Missing 2 Pokemon from ITSEMASKYE.
  • Missing 1 Pokemon from REZZ0.
  • Missing 1 Pokemon from REZZ0.
  • Missing 3 Pokemon from 447323A.
  • Missing 1 Pokemon from YAKATK1012.
  • Missing 1 Pokemon from KALIFGUEST22.

    Also Missing:
    Game 1 between Voyager and Regic Boat (replay was overwritten)
    1 use and 1 win for Roserade, Jirachi, Sirfetch'd, Talonflame, and Jellicent
    1 use and 1 loss for Electivire, Dugtrio-Alola, Deoxys-Speed, Metagross, Jirachi, and Glaceon
Leads

Code:
+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Leads                   | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Tyranitar               |    5 |  15.62% |  40.00% |
| 2    | Metagross               |    3 |   9.38% |  66.67% |
| 3    | Electivire              |    2 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 3    | Salamence               |    2 |   6.25% |  50.00% |
| 3    | Zapdos                  |    2 |   6.25% |  50.00% |
| 3    | Jolteon                 |    2 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Gliscor                 |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Stunfisk-Galar          |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Gengar                  |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Heracross               |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Roserade                |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Deoxys-Speed            |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Snorlax                 |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Minun                   |    1 |   3.12% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Forretress              |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Celebi                  |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Flygon                  |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Honchkrow               |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Delibird                |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Magneton                |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Froslass                |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Talonflame              |    1 |   3.12% |   0.00% |


My personal takeaways from the stats:
- Even with all the crazy changes we added to this game, Tyranitar is still the undisputed #1
- Celebi is #2 as expected, but interestingly enough, it's tied with Magneton, which saw an insane amount of usage for whatever reason
- Almost the entire Top 10 were mons that either went unchanged or slightly buffed, showing that people stick with what they know
- Out of significantly buffed mons, Houndoom, Girafarig, and Flygon received the most usage, with the former's ability to prey on all the new Ghosts in the tier and the latter two's insane utility paying huge dividends
- Out of new mons, Cryogonal shockingly had the most usage, though in a meta where getting Spikes down is easier than ever, it makes sense that a Spikes-immune spinner with recovery would be really good
- Other new mons with a lot of huge include Talonflame, Jellicent, Incineroar, Golurk, and Roserade, which were all as expected other than maybe Incineroar
- Piloswine and Magneton both had more usage than their evolutions. Magneton makes a lot of sense, but I personally expected Mamoswine to go crazy in this tier, so that's interesting to see
- Blissey's usage fell off a cliff, probably because a ton of new mons are either crazy strong physical breakers and/or can learn Superpower
When Galarian Mr.Mime has 1 use but Mr.Rime has none:psywoke:
 
:swsh/dragapult:
Pokemon Name: Dragapult
Typing: Dragon/Ghost
Stats: 88/120/75/100/75/142 (BST: 600)
Abilities: Clear Body/ Sniper* (replaced unexisting Infiltrator)
Notable Moves: Shadow Ball, Lunge*, Fire Blast, Substitute, Dragon Dance, Outrage
Description: Nice STAB and added to the limited distribution of Dragon types. Gets checked by Dark and Steel types alike but it does have coverage moves in Fire Blast and Lunge. Very prone to revenge killing from Scarfers or Sucker Punch though. Dragapult is a very dangerous threat however one that is stoppable.

:swsh/bastiodon:
Pokemon Name: Bastiodon
Typing: Steel
Stats: 60/102(+50)/162/37(-10)/138/20(-10) (BST: 530)
Ability: Sturdy
Notable Moves: Meteor Mash*, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Stealth Rock*, Toxic, Curse
Description: Bastiodon is an extremely versatile swiss army knife.It have one of the highest defenses in HG, making a great utility Pokemon with Stealth Rock and Toxic along with the ever-lasting Sandstorm that also gives it a Sp.Def boost while adding more chip damage . On occasion, a Curse set could rip unsuspecting teams apart. Definitely a tank of any means and a decently dangerous Pokemon at the same time.

:swsh/grapploct:
Pokemon Name: Grapploct
Type: Fighting/Water*
Stats: 100(+20)/88(-30)/90/110(+40)/80/22(-20) (BST: 490)
Ability: Limber
Notable Moves: Brick Break, Surf, Sucker Punch, Pursuit*, Ice Punch, Rest, Sleep Talk, Bulk Up
Description: Grapploct a prettyweird Pokemon, being a Fighting type that barely uses its Atk stat and Hidden Power coverage. However, those awkward traits actually turns Grapploct into a formidable defensive stopgap against teams. A Rest Talk set make it nearly impossible to break through for offensive teams without Celebi. Speaking of which, Grapploct have excellent coverage, including Ice Punch for Flying types or Sucker Punch for Ghost and Psychic types alike.
 

Paulluxx

[Regional Manager of Big Shifu]
is a Community Contributor
:swsh/dragapult:
Pokemon Name: Dragapult
Typing: Dragon/Ghost
Stats: 88/120/75/100/75/142 (BST: 600)
Abilities: Clear Body/ Sniper* (replaced unexisting Infiltrator)
Notable Moves: Shadow Ball, Lunge*, Fire Blast, Substitute, Dragon Dance, Outrage
Description: Nice STAB and added to the limited distribution of Dragon types. Gets checked by Dark and Steel types alike but it does have coverage moves in Fire Blast and Lunge. Very prone to revenge killing from Scarfers or Sucker Punch though. Dragapult is a very dangerous threat however one that is stoppable.

:swsh/bastiodon:
Pokemon Name: Bastiodon
Typing: Steel
Stats: 60/102(+50)/162/37(-10)/138/20(-10) (BST: 530)
Ability: Sturdy
Notable Moves: Meteor Mash*, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Stealth Rock*, Toxic, Curse
Description: Bastiodon is an extremely versatile swiss army knife.It have one of the highest defenses in HG, making a great utility Pokemon with Stealth Rock and Toxic along with the ever-lasting Sandstorm that also gives it a Sp.Def boost while adding more chip damage . On occasion, a Curse set could rip unsuspecting teams apart. Definitely a tank of any means and a decently dangerous Pokemon at the same time.

:swsh/grapploct:
Pokemon Name: Grapploct
Type: Fighting/Water*
Stats: 100(+20)/88(-30)/90/110(+40)/80/22(-20) (BST: 490)
Ability: Limber
Notable Moves: Brick Break, Surf, Sucker Punch, Pursuit*, Ice Punch, Rest, Sleep Talk, Bulk Up
Description: Grapploct a prettyweird Pokemon, being a Fighting type that barely uses its Atk stat and Hidden Power coverage. However, those awkward traits actually turns Grapploct into a formidable defensive stopgap against teams. A Rest Talk set make it nearly impossible to break through for offensive teams without Celebi. Speaking of which, Grapploct have excellent coverage, including Ice Punch for Flying types or Sucker Punch for Ghost and Psychic types alike.
There isn’t a current slate going
 
A bit late on Round 2 Stats, but here they are
Hoenn Gaiden Tournament Round 2 Usage Stats

Code:
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Tyranitar          |    5 |  50.00% |  80.00% |
| 2    | Blissey            |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 2    | Dugtrio-Alola      |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 2    | Skarmory           |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 5    | Salamence          |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 5    | Heracross          |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 5    | Celebi             |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 5    | Aerodactyl         |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 5    | Forretress         |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 5    | Gengar             |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 5    | Deoxys-Speed       |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 5    | Uxie               |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 5    | Eelektross         |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Stunfisk-Galar     |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Lanturn            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Mamoswine          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Moltres            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Magneton           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Gliscor            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Entei              |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Dugtrio            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Leafeon            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Silvally           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Swampert           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Zapdos             |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Starmie            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Metagross          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Kingdra            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Armaldo            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Jolteon            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Cryogonal          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Houndoom           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Jellicent          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Zapdos-Galar       |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Vaporeon           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Mr. Rime           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Regieleki          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Flygon             |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Cramorant          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
  • Missing 2 Pokemon from JOSJET.
???

Code:
+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Leads                   | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Tyranitar               |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
| 2    | Stunfisk-Galar          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 2    | Gliscor                 |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 2    | Zapdos                  |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 2    | Blissey                 |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 2    | Gengar                  |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 2    | Deoxys-Speed            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 2    | Regieleki               |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |


Personal Takeaways
- Tyranitar is still on top, no surprise there, but it has an insane 80% winrate, showing how it really is the king of Gen 3
- Dugtrio-Alola finally got some usage, but it only did meh. Same goes for Blissey
- Deoxys-Speed also finally saw some usage but went winless in two outings interestingly enough
- Stunfisk-G, Leafeon, Lanturn, Rain, Zapdos-G, Entei, and Vaporeon sightings are very interesting
- I'm personally super surprising that Raikou with its big shiny new toy in Tail Glow hasn't gotten any usage yet, but perhaps it was all hype, considering the fact that base Dugtrio and Blissey still exist
 
In a bit more of a timely manner, here's Round 3's stats!
Hoenn Gaiden Tournament Round 3 Usage Stats

Code:
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Tyranitar          |    4 |  50.00% | 100.00% |
| 2    | Deoxys-Speed       |    3 |  37.50% |  66.67% |
| 2    | Salamence          |    3 |  37.50% |  66.67% |
| 4    | Blissey            |    2 |  25.00% | 100.00% |
| 4    | Forretress         |    2 |  25.00% | 100.00% |
| 4    | Heracross          |    2 |  25.00% | 100.00% |
| 4    | Dugtrio            |    2 |  25.00% |   0.00% |
| 4    | Eelektross         |    2 |  25.00% |   0.00% |
| 4    | Snorlax            |    2 |  25.00% |   0.00% |
| 4    | Metagross          |    2 |  25.00% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Persian-Alola      |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Raikou             |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Roserade           |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Dusknoir           |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Rhyperior          |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Silvally           |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Jirachi            |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Cramorant          |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Kingdra            |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Zapdos             |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Zapdos-Galar       |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Vaporeon           |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Mr. Rime           |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Uxie               |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Ledian             |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Houndoom           |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Glaceon            |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Armaldo            |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Ludicolo           |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Honchkrow          |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
  • Missing 1 Pokemon from VIZARPKMN.
  • Missing 1 Pokemon from VIZARPKMN.
  • Missing 2 Pokemon from JOSJET.
Leads

Code:
+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Leads                   | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Tyranitar               |    2 |  25.00% | 100.00% |
| 2    | Persian-Alola           |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 2    | Roserade                |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 2    | Salamence               |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 2    | Deoxys-Speed            |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 2    | Ledian                  |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 2    | Armaldo                 |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |


Personal Takeways
- TTar
- Deoxys-Speed has finally shown exactly what it's made of, with a whopping 3 uses and only 1 loss
- Speaking of finally showing up, Raikou had a decent showing as well
- Persian-Alola is probably the least viable mon that's been used so far, which is really cool, especially since it won
- Despite how kinda broken it is, Uxie continues to have a horrible tournament so far, with 3 uses and 0 wins. Same more-or-less goes for Cramorant and Baton Pass as a whole

The finals are already underway and 1/3 of the way done, so look forward to some big things afterwards!
 

Rezzo

(EVIOLITE COMPATIBLE)
is a Pre-Contributor
After playing through the tournament and experimenting with all kinds of teams and Pokémon and expanded sets, I can say with confidence that I'm a really big fan of this PM - it stays faithful to the ADV OU tier upon which it's based on and has added some very cool features that have been fun to explore and learn about.

At first when playing this tier, I did think that there was a lot to take in and felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choice available. In fact, I spent a lot of time wrapping my head around how so many new additions could possibly salvage the tier it's based upon! But, after playing for a few weeks now and committing to both playtesting, messing around and also playing seriously in the tournaments, my worries about balancing in the tier have actually been calmed somewhat and I think the overall power levels of the tier are very close to respecting ADV OU's mantra. But let's put that all aside for now, let's discuss my arbitrary tier list~

TIER LIST:

my-image(2).png


I'm not a fan of tier lists whatsoever since they gloss over detail, but I think in this instance making one is great for giving new players a solid idea of the metagame and what the new threats look like.

Anything new to HG that I haven't listed is unviable at a glance - the "unviable" section of this list covers stuff that used to be useable in ADV OU and is now pushed out of viability due to new threats and / or being outclassed.

S:

tyranitar.png


Boy, Tyranitar truly seems to be holding the tier together almost entirely by itself. Pursuit sets are not its best sets, but they're almost mandatory in a tier crammed with so many ghosties and Will-o-Wisp users (and thus, by extension, the sheer amount of spikes flying around the place). Spikes Stack and Mixed Offence teams can run physical sets if they please as they usually contain the raw breaking power to push through the likes of Gengar, Jellicent and Girafarig, but Pursuit sets will still fit on those styles if there's no other way of pushing past a potential incoming burn.

My rules of thumb for building Pursuit Tyranitar:
- Max out SpA so you can deal as much damage as possible, max out HP so that you aren't OHKOed by Dugtrio.
- Pair with Magneton if your team has no reliable way of breaking past Skarmory or Forretress.
- Speed creep is nice if you're running Brick Break.
- Crunch is necessary to actually damage (defensive) Gengar, Jellicent, Uxie and Girafarig.
- Last two moves are mostly up in the air depending on what your team requires; Fire Blast hurts Metagross, Skarmory and other Steel types, Ice Beam is good for Salamence and Zapdos, Hidden Power Grass is good for weakening Swampert and opposing Tyranitar to put them in range of other stuff, Rock Slide is good for Cramorant Roserade and surprising Talonflame who hasn't scouted you fully, Brick Break is good for opposing Tyranitar, Clefable, Blissey and Cryogonal, alternatively Focus Punch hits hard and requires less prediction, finally Thunder can catch Cramorant by surprise and also potentially paralyse it.

Carry leftovers 99% of the time so that you can eat a burn and continue trucking. Blackglasses may be good on fast-paced teams.

A+++++:
cramorant.png


Cramorant is insanely strong; probably on par with Tyranitar's level of game impact. It has the sheer persistence and versatility to fit on many kinds of teams due to Encore, Taunt, Recover, Baton Pass and Knock Off all being at its disposal. It's also hugely bulky and respectably fast, allowing it to get the catch on certain threats if it pleases. Gulp Missile makes it the only Mon in the game that can hurt you on the same turn that it heals itself.

Your standard set should always have Surf and Recover to 'Gulp-Missile-stall' the opponent and wear them down while fishing for a paralysis chance. More optionally, Taunt fits here well as it prevents the opponent setting up to OHKO you, as does Knock Off to remove Leftovers and prevent passive recovery. Further optional utility can be gained from running Encore and Baton Pass to maintain momentum for your teammates.

Max / Max HP + Defence is what I've been running; there's very likely room for optimisation here but Cramorant is so effective that I haven't felt motivation to look for it.

uxie.png

Uxie has unmatched utility; it's by far the best Heal Bell user in the tier, which, alongside its colossal bulk and 32 PP Recover allows it to outstall basically anything. Recover is about the only mandatory move - other utility comes from Knock Off, Encore, Thunder Wave, Calm Mind pass, dual screens, Memento, Trick might be interesting, even stuff like Yawn and Swagger likely has a good place on this Mon. Baton Pass allows you to deny pursuit from Tyranitar.

While Cramorant generally prefers slower teams, Uxie can fit on any team style.

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Best spiker due to its blistering speed, access to Knock Off and consistent wall-breaking potential. The stat nerfs haven't been enough to water-down Deoxys; it still outspeeds nearly the entire metagame with zero investment and a +Speed nature. It can guarantee a spike layer versus anything bar opposing fast Taunt Deoxys (or a trigger-finger Regieleki). Bulky enough to survive most attacks with HP investment:

252 SpA Starmie Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Deoxys-Speed: 220-259 (72.3 - 85.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Starmie Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Deoxys-Speed: 116-137 (38.1 - 45%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ Atk Metagross Meteor Mash vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Deoxys-Speed: 248-292 (81.5 - 96%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Tyranitar Crunch vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Deoxys-Speed: 231-272 (75.9 - 89.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after sandstorm damage


It's also offensive enough to pressure a large portion of the metagame:

0 Atk Deoxys-Speed Superpower vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tyranitar: 282-332 (69.8 - 82.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

164 SpA Deoxys-Speed Psycho Boost vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Roserade: 204-240 (67.1 - 78.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

164 SpA Deoxys-Speed Ice Beam vs. 76 HP / 0 SpD Salamence: 350-412 (100.2 - 118%) -- guaranteed OHKO


Knock Off is great for punishing bulky switch-ins trying to absorb your attacks. There's a tonne of EV spreads that Deoxys can run depending on what you'd like out of the way for your cleaners to finish the game. Same for the moveset: all of Superpower, Shadow Ball, Ice Beam, Thunder(bolt), Psycho Boost are good. Surprise Fire Punch is nice for chipping the otherwise-safe Jirachi & Metagross switch-ins.

A+:

metagross.png


Good as ever, fits on as many teams as always. Choice Banded sets aren't scared of any of the above Mons. Bulky Toxic sets can more reliably handle Cramorant though.

Shadow Ball feels like the most important 4th move on the Choice Bands sets now.

gengar.png


Still the best spinblocker. Having to deal with Clefable TSS is no fun for it though. Maybe a Taunt Boom set looking forward will be one of the stronger sets. Too early for me to know - haven't played with Gengar a whole lot. Very solid all the same, though.

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Fantastic lead option due to Sleep Powder + Spikes combo. Great spiker in general; isn't scared of Gengar and Starmie without Psychic due to its high bulk and Natural Cure ability. Not trapped by Magneton. Also completely walls a lot of Tyranitar variants and Deoxys without a strong Psycho Boost. Dugtrio is scared to come in due to random Sleep Powder / Giga Drain being thrown off.

Most of what handles Roserade is farther down the viability rankings, which makes it very strong amongst many of the common metagame threats. Stun Spore instead of sleep is also viable.

zapdos.png


The God of Baton Pass teams. Also amazing offensively, which is why it's so good at luring in Blissey / Clef and Agility passing straight onto a physical attacker who's oven-ready to sweep. Zapdos just comes in and controls the tempo whenever it pleases - Thunderbolt is mandatory (and Hidden Power is nearly always needed), meaning your last slots can be any combination of Baton Pass, Roar, Substitute, Thunder Wave/Agility, Toxic, whatever your team needs.

A:

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Skarmory's Dex page covers everything you need to know about this mon. Drill Peck and Taunt have very good genuine utility, especially in the face of Roserade and Uxie. It's still as good as ever.

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Plays very similarly to DPP Clefable just lacking Knock Off from its movepool. This does hinder its utility a little bit, but there are 3 things missing from later gens that help Clefable excel in this tier: Choice Specs, Draco Meteor, and Heatran. Max Max HP & SpD walls everything except CMers and boom carriers (who are hard-pressed to try and catch you since you're spike-immune and synergise very effectively with Skarmory).

Always run Seismic Toss and Softboiled. Then for support you have a choice of Thunder Wave, Encore, Ice Beam and Wish. Encore is the ultimate CM stopper, Ice Beam can catch out Mixmence and generally be spammed for a freeze opportunity, Wish helps keep teammates healthy on balance as well as absorbing something like Charcoal Moltres Overheat spam. Sing is a funny tech but likely has some merit seeing how many free turns the pink blob generates.

Also a very good burn absorber and status absorber in general. Immune to full paralysis (but still drops speed). As mentioned earlier it walls Gengar without Taunt and entices them to explode (thus paving the way for spinners).

Last little thing worth mentioning is potential behind a CM BoltBeam Recover set with max Def - very potent as there's no need for substitutes to block status, and it can come in constantly due to spikes immunity and reliable recovery. Doesn't hit that hard though as Clefable's SpA isn't that great and lacks STAB. Some speed creep to get above 160 is worth it.

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Swampert's defensive sets are back with a bang. Very good at controlling the tempo of the tier's physical attackers. EQ + Ice Beam hits a lot of things, and monopert with Surf and Refresh can reverse pressure. Roar is extremely important for managing baton pass chains from spiralling, Toxic is good for preventing the opponent from outstalling you, Protect allows you to heal in sand and scout CB attacks on occasion. You're a crit-magnet though, so don't take the **** too much or you risk being punished.

Fruhdazi and I have also tested a Curse EQ / Ice Beam set alongside Heal Bell support which effectively pressures a tonne of stuff. Sounds gimmicky but has genuine merit on the right teams.

jellicent-f.png

Really cool addition in my opinion - gives an extra dimension to balance / stall teams as a ghost type with recovery and impressive defences. Possibly the best Metagross check in the game. Pairs very well with Roserade and/or Celebi who can provide it with Leech Seed sustinence and allow it to reliably spinblock with Sleep Powder or Baton Pass.

Trying not to get randomly Toxiced is a nightmare, but if you can avoid that then Jellicent can do a lot of work. Wisp and Recover are mandatory, you have Taunt which is great for shutting down an incoming Toxic user, Surf or Night Shade for dealing reliable damage. Rain Dance weather reset might be a good option for teams who really benefit from the sandstorm being gone.

A-:

jirachi.png


Haven't tested it much but from what I've seen it's just as viable as ever. Jirachi kind of does its own thing most games; most of the metagame evolving around it hasn't changed the way it works. Likes sitting on all these Taunt shenanigans if it can come in, outspeed and get behind a Substitute quickly.

talonflame.png

Probably ranking this higher than many would expect, but a spike-immune Mon with Fire STAB and reliable recovery is insane. Comes in on Skarmory and Will-o-Wisps whatever the check is, if a Fire type is expected then it Rapid Spins. Blazing fast and has HP Flying for disposing Roserade. Lum Berry is a funny item that you can use to deny turn-1 sleep from Roserade and threaten a KO, effectively reversing the momentum.

salamence.png


Same old Mence, really. It has the toolkit to dispose of many threats with DD, Banded and Mixed sets. It has a hard time breaking stuff with all the recovery distribution, meaning it has a harder time finding a slot on all but the most offensive of teams. But it has good role compression that mixed offence teams can appreciate.

glaceon.png


Absolute bastion of hail-centric teams. Ice Body + Leftovers = 25% recovery in Hail, meaning you can set up Subtitutes, Calm Mind up, and start blasting the opponent with Ice Beam nukes. Recover is a useful 4th option in the event of a weather reset as well as just generally keeping momentum going as you sweep. You're also naturally fast which means that you can outspeed Tyranitar coming in to reset the sand and 2hko it with ease with speed investment. Appreciates Dugtrio as a partner.

Optionally away from Hail, you can run Compoundeyes Lovely Kiss and act like a Jynx-lite with a nuke Blizzard. Hydro Pump drowns Metagross and Tyranitar. Haven't used it but it sounds like a very powerful and annoying lead for hyper-offence to use.

starmie.png


Best overall spinner as it's not afraid of Cramorant or Jellicent (and Tyranitar usually doesn't like switching in) and has very potent type coverage. Hydro Pump + Thunderbolt + Psychic is what I like to run personally, though Ice Beam and Thunder Wave are also great depending on what team support you're running.

Defensive sets don't care about Cramorant either, but Taunt + Night Shade Jelli will annoy the heck out of you. Being trapped and outsped by Dugtrio also sucks big time.

B+:

lopunny.png


Absolutely hilarious on paper, at least. Seems like it will go buckwild along with Pursuit support and a Magneton, though haven't tested this team style. Base 125 speed + Encore + Focus Punch + Spikes assistance allows you to be an annoying asshole. Dugtrio can't trap it as it's too fast, status (especially Paralysis) won't stick to it as it has Natural Cure. Encore + Focus Punch + Sky Uppercut + Return is the wombo combo - you can also run Shadow Ball for additional coverage. Choice Band also exists and can carry Trick to cripple Girafarig and Skarmory.

rhyperior-f.png


I hate putting Rhyperior up so high but it can't be ignored. On its own it's around C rank, but with Agility support it's S rank (genuinely). Pair it with Zapdos to lure special walls, Agility up and then Baton Pass into this thing while blocking Thunder Wave. 404 HP Substitutes can be created with EV investment, +2 Jolly can outspeed nearly everything. Pour the rest into attack. Swords Dance + Substitute + Earthquake + Rock Slide is the best set; Mold Breaker means that the only Mon now capable of walling you is Chesnaught (which I regard unviable otherwise) as Skarmory takes about 50% from a +2 Rock Slide and fears the flinch.

Once this thing gets going you can only really stop it with a bulky Swampert with Roar or a Whirlwind Skarmory (which still fears flinches and crits). Nothing else can stop it and it out-offences all offence teams with just 2 slots on a team. Scary stuff.

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Loves seeing HP Bug being less common everywhere, but otherwise has a hard time dealing with stuff like Clefable and Taunt. Has to compete with the superior Uxie for a team slot. Still very good though, could easily move up in viability with further progression.

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Mother of all enablers, especially on special offence. Loves to see the new stuff it can trap (including opposing Alolan-Dugtrio). Overall probably the best Dugtrio, but if you plan to drop below 350 speed for bulk then Alolan-Dugtrio is superior due to its fantastic typing.

eelektross.png


Great BP recipient but I'm not a fan of it otherwise. Has great defensive typing, is immune to spikes and EQ and has a potent movepool, but struggles to survive just being attacked due to its middling bulk and has a hard time OHKOing anything. It's also naturally too slow to be a threat by itself. However, with chip and CM Agilipass it's very strong. Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, Giga Drain and Superpower seems like the most consistent set. Don't use Expert Belt as you need Leftovers to not die within 2 turns of being on the field.

B:

suicune.png


Nothing hugely different for Suicune. However the meta is very offensively oriented and it struggles with all of the Knock Offs, Taunts and even Explosions being everywhere, so it has a hard time accomplishing anything in a lot of matchups.

dugtrio-alolan.png

Worth exploring more for sure - I've wavered constantly between whether or not this Dugtrio is better than the Kanto one. For now I think it's overall worse as it reveals that you're slower than Starmie, +1 Tyranitar and Raikou; all massive targets for Dugtrio to remove.

Don't overjudge those downsides though, the additional Steel typing is incredibly useful defensively.

Don't try any fancy HP Steel movesets - this thing runs the same moves as Kanto Dugtrio.

blissey.png


Worse Clefable since it's hurt by Spikes and weather. Nearly everything above it in VR has a way of beating it. No offensive prowess - Ice Beams do less damage than Clefable as well. Can't stand being Knocked Off. Cringe.
stunfisk-galarian.png


Can see Stunfisk-G being a metagame staple - that defensive typing alongside Protean is too good. Bulky as heck - nothing can effectively OHKO it without setting up first. Haven't had a chance to test it as of yet.

silvally-normal.png


Crazy movepool and good bulk, shame that it can't hold Leftovers without taking weather damage though. All types get BoltBeam coverage. Electric deserves exploration as Multi Attack and Ice Beam will chunk on Agilipass Teams. No reliable Recovery whatsoever means you're on a timer; you need to pick between being weak to weather (Flying) or weak to Spikes (Steel). Ghost doesn't seem viable to me due to constant chip.

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Another great CM Agilipass recipient. Can run BoltBeam, HP Fire, Recover, Agility, whatever.

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Ema Skye demonstrated Mawile's effectiveness to me and how effective it is at denying DD setup with the combination of Intimidate, Knock Off, Recover and Lunge. Could easily become a metagame staple as I can see it fitting on many teams.

mr-rime.png


BP chain staple, decent CM passer. Fruhdazi hilariously won versus me in like 2 turns due to coming in on my Magneton, trapping it with Trace, blocking Toxic with Substitute and CMing up 6 times while I couldn't do anything at all.

Haven't tested it outside of this, but it gets Rapid Spin and a few other utility moves. Seems outclassed by Glaceon overall for a non-BP role.

B-:
magneton.png

Same best friends as before, especially with Pursuit Tyranitar being such a household name. Otherwise pairs well with Lopunny, Metagross, Snorlax, Galarian-Zapdos, Gyarados, (physical) Salamence, Hitmonlee. I just think it struggles for a team slot more than ever, seeing as how easy it is to passively ruin Skarmory by using Cramorant-style teams instead. Still good at checking Metagross, though.

Endure Salac HP Fire beats Alolan-Dugtrio.

raichu-alolan.png


Deserves exploration. It's basically a Gengar that can't spinblock and has bigger nukes instead of Will-o-Wisp. STAB Volt Tackle alongside base 110 speed is nothing to scoff at.

cryogonal.png

A massive pain for balance teams to deal with. Levitate + Knock Off + Recover + STAB Ice Beam + Rapid Spin. Can easily win longer games by eventually freezing something and enabling its teammates with the free turns gained. Haven't used it myself yet but I think it's worth a try.

forretress.png

Jack of all trades, master of none. Forretress is already pretty controversial in most other tiers it exists in, as it's compressed utility and little else. You can spike and spin but you're forever walled by Skarmory. Roserade with HP Fire doesn't respect it. Clefable doesn't respect it and lures boom. Talonflame absolutely does not respect it. Magneton has a chance to OHKO you with Modest HP Fire. If you can avoid the immediate threats, though, Forretress is potent. It doesn't care a huge amount for being Taunted and heals in sandstorm, being Knocked Off isn't ideal but the looming Explosion means that you still pack momentum for your teammates despite being on a timer.


moltres.png


Will-o-Wisp distribution has hampered Moltres' niche. It doesn't appreciate Cramorant or Uxie's existences, either. Clefable is a massive pain for it to deal with. Might in fact be even less viable than B-.

leafeon.png

Haven't explored it for myself yet, but I've seen it do some wild stuff. Chlorophyl + Sunny Beam + Weather Ball + HP Ice / Growth can likely sweep with the right support.

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Will-o-Wisp, Knock Off, Recovery all Lax less prevalent but it's still decent. Having to deal with Jellicent wall it and Alolan-Dugtrio, Lopunny, Deoxys (Superpower) all being able to severely damage it aren't nice. 4 attacks Leftovers is likely the best set given the landscape.

regieleki.png

This thing is really weird, even after a few weeks I still can't wrap my head around what it's supposed to do. It's fast as crap but still gets handled by Dugtrio, meaning it can't actually support its teammates on certain matchups. Probably some potential somewhere for such a blazing fast Mon, but for now I think it's fringe viable.

C and Below:

Not really feeling covering these Mons in any detail, some of them have a lot of potential to move up and others are just looking worse as the metagame develops. I'm gonna highlight a few notable Mons that I think have the potential to be viable:

donphan.png


Earthquake, Knock Off, Rapid Spin, Rest. Good for stall and loves Pursuit support. Toxic could also be used as 4th, or even Hidden Power Rock.

zapdos-galarian.png


Good on BP chains. Low Kick + Drill Peck is great coverage in theory but it struggles to actually do anything in practice. Hates status like the plague. Might be missing something obvious with this one.

gyarados.png


Still good. Just falls off in viability in response to its buddy Magneton being harder to fit, as well as hating the same things that Lax also hates, i.e. Knock Off, Taunt, Will-o-Wisp.

vaporeon.png


Still good on BP.

diglett-alolan.png


This thing having a niche is terrifying. It quad-resists Rock Slide, meaning it can actually pivot despite having one of the worst defensive stats in the game. It's also immune to Electric and Poison attacks! Double trap teams with a Kanto Dugtrio can punish passivity extremely well.

honchkrow.png

Great movepool and decent speed, very frail though.

parasect.png


Genuinely a little scary. Walls every Swampert (without Rock Slide) and gets a free guaranteed sleep. Outspeeds a tonne of stuff with base 75 speed. Spinblocks with Ghost typing. Threatens Starmie OHKO with Lunge and high attack stat. Pressures Uxie with minimal effort. Provides team sustinence with Aromatherapy.

To be honest I only noticed this thing existed last night, but it's outright dangerous on paper.

stantler.png


It might be underwhelming, but I think new Stantler just about has enough stats to pose a threat to stuff with Earthquake + Ice Beam and base 95 Speed. Hidden Power Rock is nice for stuff like Cramorant, Gyarados and Cyrogonal.

piloswine.png


Incredible nuisance. Looks like it can wall and freeze half the damn tier on its own.

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Special attacker Snorlax.

jumpluff.png


Weather immune, spikes immune, fast sleeper, rapid spinner, Baton Pass to scout your opponent's intentions, Leech Seed to be annoying. Honestly looks extremely good.

Thoughts:

Hoenn Gaiden is great fun! I wouldn't be playing it and writing about it in such detail if I didn't believe so. But I do think there are improvements that can be made. Below I'm going to list choices that I perceive to go against the ADV generation's mantra, and also some things that are seemingly overpowered within the tier and deserve at least a suspect test.

The ADV Mantra:

Apologies for uttering the term "mantra" several times like some nutter, but what I'm referring to is the intial game design and philosophy that The Pokémon Company implemented into their games when designing Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald.

The first example I'll get into is Knock Off. The designers and developers didn't anticipate for how strong Knock Off was as a move, and for nearly all of 2000's competitive Pokémon, even Smogon didn't really pay any attention to removing the opponent's item. Knock Off was also was not distributed outside of level up + breeding until Platinum, meaning that the only new additions that should logically obtain Knock Off are:

Gliscor, Lickilicky, Tangrowth, Gliscor, Sirfetch'd, Obstagoon, Alolan-Muk

The above is based on whether the Pokémon could learn this move by level-up or through breeding in its debut generation.

Increasing the distribution of this move is something I can get behind, but I feel like the current level of distribution is overboard, possibly in attempts to carve niches for new additions. Something akin to Donphan gaining Knock Off is interesting and increases its potential; whereas something like Uxie having it harms the tier and reduces the viability of certain Pokemon.

Will-o-Wisp has fallen victim in a similar fashion here. Will-o-Wisp was scarce in ADV OU due to no move tutor or TM availability. It's an incredibly powerful move and its distribution shapes ADV OU. Will-o-Wisp does 1/8 max HP in gen 3, meaning the additional distribution completely nullifies many physical attackers who'd otherwise team up with Pursuit Tyranitar to remove the Gengar (the by-far-and-away best Will-o-Wisp user). But Tyranitar has its work cut out here and due to the amount of potential burn users, it can't consistently support the likes of Curse Snorlax and Dragon Dance Salamence like how it used to. This corners physical offence teams into running a tonne of support in order to keep the win-con Pokémon alive and healthy.

Rapid Spin is another move which is affected by over-distribution. Currently, 25 fully evolved Pokémon are able to learn this move in comparison to ADV OU's 14 fully evolved Pokémon. Some of these Mons are crammed with so much utility that they can run both Rapid Spin and Knock off on the same set (something not possible previously). Heck, Cryogonal is so efficient at its role that it can avoid spikes, Recover, Rapid Spin and Knock Off.

The amount of Recovery distribution is the last thing I'd like to cover and probably shapes the metagame as a whole far more than the other raised distributions that I talked about. It also compounds the problems of the above distributions by patching over otherwise-problems by throwing a move into a pool to help with sustinence where it otherwise wouldn't be necessary.

ADV OU, at its core, is a tier where you try to scurry every little advantage that you can. This usually means you can run Protect on your sand-immune Mons so that they can heal slightly in the face of constant sandstorm. Anything else that is buffeted by the sandstorm? Too bad, you deal with it and hold leftovers to negate the damage. Mons that run Recovery hold their own disadvantages - Starmie is frail, Milotic is passive and easily taken advantage of, Blissey has very little offensive prowess, Celebi has moveslot syndrome and otherwise sub-par typing (but otherwise the only exception to the rule and a very good Recovery user), Porygon2 is also passive and hard to fit onto teams. No other Recovery users are considered viable.

Adding Recovery distribution fixed a problem that didn't initially exist. In ADV OU, progress is progress, and Wish passing can be very easily exploited. However, in Hoenn Gaiden, nearly everything has some way of mitigating the opponent's progress. The move Recover has a mind-numbing 32 PP, which is higher than many attacks that Pokémon run in this tier. I think the combination of Knock Off, Recovery and Will-o-Wisp has caused a squeeze along the VR which means that even though Tyranitar is more limited than ever, he's paradoxically more essential than ever to at least slow down the progress of Recovery spam undoing his sandstorm work.

Leech Seed is a move I've conveniently ignored in this paragraph, but it can be switched out from. Usually you can pair this with Spikes support to put additional pressure on the opponent, which leads me on to my REAL last thing I'd like to cover:

Spikes has also seen a massive uptake in distribution against the mantra. ADV OU has 3 viable spikes users; Skarmory, Forretress and sometimes Cloyster. It's a move that a whopping 8 fully evolved Pokémon get in ADV OU. You'll notice that the 3 viable Spikes users are absolutely not fans of Magneton for one reason or another, Cloyster less so, although Cloyster is frail and much more difficult to get in safely.

Hoenn Gaiden has raised the number of Spikes users to 22. This along with all the Ghost types and Rapid Spin users honestly means that you may as well run some Spikes user on most of your teams since there is no drawback to doing so. As discussed earlier Deoxys fits on all kinds of teams and can guarantee a Spike 99% of the time. As a result, the two most effective team styles I've always been building are either Spikes Offence or Spikes Stall (bar Baton Pass teams which I will get to later) - I have very little else to consider when hazards are so accessible.

Anyway, that's about it, I don't really have much more to comment on yet but I'd like to say that I don't regard all of these points as bad or problematic, but moreso that they fly directly against the wind of ADV's philosophy and design.

The Problematic Pokémon:
cramorant.png
uxie.png
rhyperior-f.png
porygon-z.png
clefable.png
deoxys-speed.png


5 of these 6 guys have something in common. They're all either nearly impossible to break or they're far too good on Baton Pass teams. Cramorant, Uxie and Clefable are the three best defensive Mons in the tier and can outstall almost everything with Recovery, Knock off and paralysis. Rhyperior and Porygon-Z are insanely effective BP recipients.

If I had to make a decision on the spot, I say we quickban both Uxie and Cramorant. Neither of them contribute anything healthy to the metagame. Uxie is able to completely negate status progress in the way of burns and poison with Heal Bell, and Cramorant completely blanks a gigantic portion of the metagame.

Rhyperior and Porygon-Z don't offer anything healthy in this tier, their stats are far beyond any traditional ADV Pokémon and they're either destined to be overwhelming with Baton Pass support, or to be unviable. People have been talking about a Baton Pass clause to limit these guys and others, but wouldn't this cut off the ties that this tier has to ADV OU as a "sequel", of sorts?

Deoxys is the least obviously overpowered Mon in this tier. I think it opens up some playstyles that were otherwise not possible to use, however until we deal with the other immediate problems I don't think it's fair to touch this thing just yet. Clefable is also less obviously overpowered, but I think it has far more going for it as a defensive Pokémon than is initially obvious.

As time goes on I feel that there may be other stuff that creeps up to the top, but at the moment these guys are definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Conclusion:

Umm, this tier is great, tell your friends, family, neighbours, /r/stunfisk, inject code into pop-up viruses, yada yada. I'm open to PMs and Discord to test out ideas, build teams, talk about anything Hoenn Gaiden-related and get this metagame on the radar.

I'll make a post later about the tournament and the teams that I used too. Catch you later!
 

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Samtendo09

Ability: Light Power
is a Pre-Contributor
After playing through the tournament and experimenting with all kinds of teams and Pokémon and expanded sets, I can say with confidence that I'm a really big fan of this PM - it stays faithful to the ADV OU tier upon which it's based on and has added some very cool features that have been fun to explore and learn about.

At first when playing this tier, I did think that there was a lot to take in and felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choice available. In fact, I spent a lot of time wrapping my head around how so many new additions could possibly salvage the tier it's based upon! But, after playing for a few weeks now and committing to both playtesting, messing around and also playing seriously in the tournaments, my worries about balancing in the tier have actually been calmed somewhat and I think the overall power levels of the tier are very close to respecting ADV OU's mantra. But let's put that all aside for now, let's discuss my arbitrary tier list~

TIER LIST:

View attachment 385007

I'm not a fan of tier lists whatsoever since they gloss over detail, but I think in this instance making one is great for giving new players a solid idea of the metagame and what the new threats look like.

Anything new to HG that I haven't listed is unviable at a glance - the "unviable" section of this list covers stuff that used to be useable in ADV OU and is now pushed out of viability due to new threats and / or being outclassed.

S:

View attachment 384972

Boy, Tyranitar truly seems to be holding the tier together almost entirely by itself. Pursuit sets are not its best sets, but they're almost mandatory in a tier crammed with so many ghosties and Will-o-Wisp users (and thus, by extension, the sheer amount of spikes flying around the place). Spikes Stack and Mixed Offence teams can run physical sets if they please as they usually contain the raw breaking power to push through the likes of Gengar, Jellicent and Girafarig, but Pursuit sets will still fit on those styles if there's no other way of pushing past a potential incoming burn.

My rules of thumb for building Pursuit Tyranitar:
- Max out SpA so you can deal as much damage as possible, max out HP so that you aren't OHKOed by Dugtrio.
- Pair with Magneton if your team has no reliable way of breaking past Skarmory or Forretress.
- Speed creep is nice if you're running Brick Break.
- Crunch is necessary to actually damage (defensive) Gengar, Jellicent, Uxie and Girafarig.
- Last two moves are mostly up in the air depending on what your team requires; Fire Blast hurts Metagross, Skarmory and other Steel types, Ice Beam is good for Salamence and Zapdos, Hidden Power Grass is good for weakening Swampert and opposing Tyranitar to put them in range of other stuff, Rock Slide is good for Cramorant Roserade and surprising Talonflame who hasn't scouted you fully, Brick Break is good for opposing Tyranitar, Clefable, Blissey and Cryogonal, alternatively Focus Punch hits hard and requires less prediction, finally Thunder can catch Cramorant by surprise and also potentially paralyse it.

Carry leftovers 99% of the time so that you can eat a burn and continue trucking. Blackglasses may be good on fast-paced teams.

A+++++:
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Cramorant is insanely strong; probably on par with Tyranitar's level of game impact. It has the sheer persistence and versatility to fit on many kinds of teams due to Encore, Taunt, Recover, Baton Pass and Knock Off all being at its disposal. It's also hugely bulky and respectably fast, allowing it to get the catch on certain threats if it pleases. Gulp Missile makes it the only Mon in the game that can hurt you on the same turn that it heals itself.

Your standard set should always have Surf and Recover to 'Gulp-Missile-stall' the opponent and wear them down while fishing for a paralysis chance. More optionally, Taunt fits here well as it prevents the opponent setting up to OHKO you, as does Knock Off to remove Leftovers and prevent passive recovery. Further optional utility can be gained from running Encore and Baton Pass to maintain momentum for your teammates.

Max / Max HP + Defence is what I've been running; there's very likely room for optimisation here but Cramorant is so effective that I haven't felt motivation to look for it.

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Uxie has unmatched utility; it's by far the best Heal Bell user in the tier, which, alongside its colossal bulk and 32 PP Recover allows it to outstall basically anything. Recover is about the only mandatory move - other utility comes from Knock Off, Encore, Thunder Wave, Calm Mind pass, dual screens, Memento, Trick might be interesting, even stuff like Yawn and Swagger likely has a good place on this Mon. Baton Pass allows you to deny pursuit from Tyranitar.

While Cramorant generally prefers slower teams, Uxie can fit on any team style.

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Best spiker due to its blistering speed, access to Knock Off and consistent wall-breaking potential. The stat nerfs haven't been enough to water-down Deoxys; it still outspeeds nearly the entire metagame with zero investment and a +Speed nature. It can guarantee a spike layer versus anything bar opposing fast Taunt Deoxys (or a trigger-finger Regieleki). Bulky enough to survive most attacks with HP investment:

252 SpA Starmie Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Deoxys-Speed: 220-259 (72.3 - 85.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Starmie Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Deoxys-Speed: 116-137 (38.1 - 45%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ Atk Metagross Meteor Mash vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Deoxys-Speed: 248-292 (81.5 - 96%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Tyranitar Crunch vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Deoxys-Speed: 231-272 (75.9 - 89.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after sandstorm damage


It's also offensive enough to pressure a large portion of the metagame:

0 Atk Deoxys-Speed Superpower vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tyranitar: 282-332 (69.8 - 82.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

164 SpA Deoxys-Speed Psycho Boost vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Roserade: 204-240 (67.1 - 78.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

164 SpA Deoxys-Speed Ice Beam vs. 76 HP / 0 SpD Salamence: 350-412 (100.2 - 118%) -- guaranteed OHKO


Knock Off is great for punishing bulky switch-ins trying to absorb your attacks. There's a tonne of EV spreads that Deoxys can run depending on what you'd like out of the way for your cleaners to finish the game. Same for the moveset: all of Superpower, Shadow Ball, Ice Beam, Thunder(bolt), Psycho Boost are good. Surprise Fire Punch is nice for chipping the otherwise-safe Jirachi & Metagross switch-ins.

A+:

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Good as ever, fits on as many teams as always. Choice Banded sets aren't scared of any of the above Mons. Bulky Toxic sets can more reliably handle Cramorant though.

Shadow Ball feels like the most important 4th move on the Choice Bands sets now.

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Still the best spinblocker. Having to deal with Clefable TSS is no fun for it though. Maybe a Taunt Boom set looking forward will be one of the stronger sets. Too early for me to know - haven't played with Gengar a whole lot. Very solid all the same, though.

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Fantastic lead option due to Sleep Powder + Spikes combo. Great spiker in general; isn't scared of Gengar and Starmie without Psychic due to its high bulk and Natural Cure ability. Not trapped by Magneton. Also completely walls a lot of Tyranitar variants and Deoxys without a strong Psycho Boost. Dugtrio is scared to come in due to random Sleep Powder / Giga Drain being thrown off.

Most of what handles Roserade is farther down the viability rankings, which makes it very strong amongst many of the common metagame threats. Stun Spore instead of sleep is also viable.

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The God of Baton Pass teams. Also amazing offensively, which is why it's so good at luring in Blissey / Clef and Agility passing straight onto a physical attacker who's oven-ready to sweep. Zapdos just comes in and controls the tempo whenever it pleases - Thunderbolt is mandatory (and Hidden Power is nearly always needed), meaning your last slots can be any combination of Baton Pass, Roar, Substitute, Thunder Wave/Agility, Toxic, whatever your team needs.

A:

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Skarmory's Dex page covers everything you need to know about this mon. Drill Peck and Taunt have very good genuine utility, especially in the face of Roserade and Uxie. It's still as good as ever.

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Plays very similarly to DPP Clefable just lacking Knock Off from its movepool. This does hinder its utility a little bit, but there are 3 things missing from later gens that help Clefable excel in this tier: Choice Specs, Draco Meteor, and Heatran. Max Max HP & SpD walls everything except CMers and boom carriers (who are hard-pressed to try and catch you since you're spike-immune and synergise very effectively with Skarmory).

Always run Seismic Toss and Softboiled. Then for support you have a choice of Thunder Wave, Encore, Ice Beam and Wish. Encore is the ultimate CM stopper, Ice Beam can catch out Mixmence and generally be spammed for a freeze opportunity, Wish helps keep teammates healthy on balance as well as absorbing something like Charcoal Moltres Overheat spam. Sing is a funny tech but likely has some merit seeing how many free turns the pink blob generates.

Also a very good burn absorber and status absorber in general. Immune to full paralysis (but still drops speed). As mentioned earlier it walls Gengar without Taunt and entices them to explode (thus paving the way for spinners).

Last little thing worth mentioning is potential behind a CM BoltBeam Recover set with max Def - very potent as there's no need for substitutes to block status, and it can come in constantly due to spikes immunity and reliable recovery. Doesn't hit that hard though as Clefable's SpA isn't that great and lacks STAB. Some speed creep to get above 160 is worth it.

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Swampert's defensive sets are back with a bang. Very good at controlling the tempo of the tier's physical attackers. EQ + Ice Beam hits a lot of things, and monopert with Surf and Refresh can reverse pressure. Roar is extremely important for managing baton pass chains from spiralling, Toxic is good for preventing the opponent from outstalling you, Protect allows you to heal in sand and scout CB attacks on occasion. You're a crit-magnet though, so don't take the **** too much or you risk being punished.

Fruhdazi and I have also tested a Curse EQ / Ice Beam set alongside Heal Bell support which effectively pressures a tonne of stuff. Sounds gimmicky but has genuine merit on the right teams.

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Really cool addition in my opinion - gives an extra dimension to balance / stall teams as a ghost type with recovery and impressive defences. Possibly the best Metagross check in the game. Pairs very well with Roserade and/or Celebi who can provide it with Leech Seed sustinence and allow it to reliably spinblock with Sleep Powder or Baton Pass.

Trying not to get randomly Toxiced is a nightmare, but if you can avoid that then Jellicent can do a lot of work. Wisp and Recover are mandatory, you have Taunt which is great for shutting down an incoming Toxic user, Surf or Night Shade for dealing reliable damage. Rain Dance weather reset might be a good option for teams who really benefit from the sandstorm being gone.

A-:

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Haven't tested it much but from what I've seen it's just as viable as ever. Jirachi kind of does its own thing most games; most of the metagame evolving around it hasn't changed the way it works. Likes sitting on all these Taunt shenanigans if it can come in, outspeed and get behind a Substitute quickly.

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Probably ranking this higher than many would expect, but a spike-immune Mon with Fire STAB and reliable recovery is insane. Comes in on Skarmory and Will-o-Wisps whatever the check is, if a Fire type is expected then it Rapid Spins. Blazing fast and has HP Flying for disposing Roserade. Lum Berry is a funny item that you can use to deny turn-1 sleep from Roserade and threaten a KO, effectively reversing the momentum.

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Same old Mence, really. It has the toolkit to dispose of many threats with DD, Banded and Mixed sets. It has a hard time breaking stuff with all the recovery distribution, meaning it has a harder time finding a slot on all but the most offensive of teams. But it has good role compression that mixed offence teams can appreciate.

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Absolute bastion of hail-centric teams. Ice Body + Leftovers = 25% recovery in Hail, meaning you can set up Subtitutes, Calm Mind up, and start blasting the opponent with Ice Beam nukes. Recover is a useful 4th option in the event of a weather reset as well as just generally keeping momentum going as you sweep. You're also naturally fast which means that you can outspeed Tyranitar coming in to reset the sand and 2hko it with ease with speed investment. Appreciates Dugtrio as a partner.

Optionally away from Hail, you can run Compoundeyes Lovely Kiss and act like a Jynx-lite with a nuke Blizzard. Hydro Pump drowns Metagross and Tyranitar. Haven't used it but it sounds like a very powerful and annoying lead for hyper-offence to use.

View attachment 385017

Best overall spinner as it's not afraid of Cramorant or Jellicent (and Tyranitar usually doesn't like switching in) and has very potent type coverage. Hydro Pump + Thunderbolt + Psychic is what I like to run personally, though Ice Beam and Thunder Wave are also great depending on what team support you're running.

Defensive sets don't care about Cramorant either, but Taunt + Night Shade Jelli will annoy the heck out of you. Being trapped and outsped by Dugtrio also sucks big time.

B+:

View attachment 385025

Absolutely hilarious on paper, at least. Seems like it will go buckwild along with Pursuit support and a Magneton, though haven't tested this team style. Base 125 speed + Encore + Focus Punch + Spikes assistance allows you to be an annoying asshole. Dugtrio can't trap it as it's too fast, status (especially Paralysis) won't stick to it as it has Natural Cure. Encore + Focus Punch + Sky Uppercut + Return is the wombo combo - you can also run Shadow Ball for additional coverage. Choice Band also exists and can carry Trick to cripple Girafarig and Skarmory.

View attachment 385029

I hate putting Rhyperior up so high but it can't be ignored. On its own it's around C rank, but with Agility support it's S rank (genuinely). Pair it with Zapdos to lure special walls, Agility up and then Baton Pass into this thing while blocking Thunder Wave. 404 HP Substitutes can be created with EV investment, +2 Jolly can outspeed nearly everything. Pour the rest into attack. Swords Dance + Substitute + Earthquake + Rock Slide is the best set; Mold Breaker means that the only Mon now capable of walling you is Chesnaught (which I regard unviable otherwise) as Skarmory takes about 50% from a +2 Rock Slide and fears the flinch.

Once this thing gets going you can only really stop it with a bulky Swampert with Roar or a Whirlwind Skarmory (which still fears flinches and crits). Nothing else can stop it and it out-offences all offence teams with just 2 slots on a team. Scary stuff.

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Loves seeing HP Bug being less common everywhere, but otherwise has a hard time dealing with stuff like Clefable and Taunt. Has to compete with the superior Uxie for a team slot. Still very good though, could easily move up in viability with further progression.

View attachment 385031

Mother of all enablers, especially on special offence. Loves to see the new stuff it can trap (including opposing Alolan-Dugtrio). Overall probably the best Dugtrio, but if you plan to drop below 350 speed for bulk then Alolan-Dugtrio is superior due to its fantastic typing.

View attachment 385033

Great BP recipient but I'm not a fan of it otherwise. Has great defensive typing, is immune to spikes and EQ and has a potent movepool, but struggles to survive just being attacked due to its middling bulk and has a hard time OHKOing anything. It's also naturally too slow to be a threat by itself. However, with chip and CM Agilipass it's very strong. Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, Giga Drain and Superpower seems like the most consistent set. Don't use Expert Belt as you need Leftovers to not die within 2 turns of being on the field.

B:

View attachment 385034


Nothing hugely different for Suicune. However the meta is very offensively oriented and it struggles with all of the Knock Offs, Taunts and even Explosions being everywhere, so it has a hard time accomplishing anything in a lot of matchups.

View attachment 385035
Worth exploring more for sure - I've wavered constantly between whether or not this Dugtrio is better than the Kanto one. For now I think it's overall worse as it reveals that you're slower than Starmie, +1 Tyranitar and Raikou; all massive targets for Dugtrio to remove.

Don't overjudge those downsides though, the additional Steel typing is incredibly useful defensively.

Don't try any fancy HP Steel movesets - this thing runs the same moves as Kanto Dugtrio.

View attachment 385036

Worse Clefable since it's hurt by Spikes and weather. Nearly everything above it in VR has a way of beating it. No offensive prowess - Ice Beams do less damage than Clefable as well. Can't stand being Knocked Off. Cringe.
View attachment 385037

Can see Stunfisk-G being a metagame staple - that defensive typing alongside Protean is too good. Bulky as heck - nothing can effectively OHKO it without setting up first. Haven't had a chance to test it as of yet.

View attachment 385038

Crazy movepool and good bulk, shame that it can't hold Leftovers without taking weather damage though. All types get BoltBeam coverage. Electric deserves exploration as Multi Attack and Ice Beam will chunk on Agilipass Teams. No reliable Recovery whatsoever means you're on a timer; you need to pick between being weak to weather (Flying) or weak to Spikes (Steel). Ghost doesn't seem viable to me due to constant chip.

View attachment 385040

Another great CM Agilipass recipient. Can run BoltBeam, HP Fire, Recover, Agility, whatever.

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Ema Skye demonstrated Mawile's effectiveness to me and how effective it is at denying DD setup with the combination of Intimidate, Knock Off, Recover and Lunge. Could easily become a metagame staple as I can see it fitting on many teams.

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BP chain staple, decent CM passer. Fruhdazi hilariously won versus me in like 2 turns due to coming in on my Magneton, trapping it with Trace, blocking Toxic with Substitute and CMing up 6 times while I couldn't do anything at all.

Haven't tested it outside of this, but it gets Rapid Spin and a few other utility moves. Seems outclassed by Glaceon overall for a non-BP role.

B-:
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Same best friends as before, especially with Pursuit Tyranitar being such a household name. Otherwise pairs well with Lopunny, Metagross, Snorlax, Galarian-Zapdos, Gyarados, (physical) Salamence, Hitmonlee. I just think it struggles for a team slot more than ever, seeing as how easy it is to passively ruin Skarmory by using Cramorant-style teams instead. Still good at checking Metagross, though.

Endure Salac HP Fire beats Alolan-Dugtrio.

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Deserves exploration. It's basically a Gengar that can't spinblock and has bigger nukes instead of Will-o-Wisp. STAB Volt Tackle alongside base 110 speed is nothing to scoff at.

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A massive pain for balance teams to deal with. Levitate + Knock Off + Recover + STAB Ice Beam + Rapid Spin. Can easily win longer games by eventually freezing something and enabling its teammates with the free turns gained. Haven't used it myself yet but I think it's worth a try.

View attachment 385053
Jack of all trades, master of none. Forretress is already pretty controversial in most other tiers it exists in, as it's compressed utility and little else. You can spike and spin but you're forever walled by Skarmory. Roserade with HP Fire doesn't respect it. Clefable doesn't respect it and lures boom. Talonflame absolutely does not respect it. Magneton has a chance to OHKO you with Modest HP Fire. If you can avoid the immediate threats, though, Forretress is potent. It doesn't care a huge amount for being Taunted and heals in sandstorm, being Knocked Off isn't ideal but the looming Explosion means that you still pack momentum for your teammates despite being on a timer.


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Will-o-Wisp distribution has hampered Moltres' niche. It doesn't appreciate Cramorant or Uxie's existences, either. Clefable is a massive pain for it to deal with. Might in fact be even less viable than B-.

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Haven't explored it for myself yet, but I've seen it do some wild stuff. Chlorophyl + Sunny Beam + Weather Ball + HP Ice / Growth can likely sweep with the right support.

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Will-o-Wisp, Knock Off, Recovery all Lax less prevalent but it's still decent. Having to deal with Jellicent wall it and Alolan-Dugtrio, Lopunny, Deoxys (Superpower) all being able to severely damage it aren't nice. 4 attacks Leftovers is likely the best set given the landscape.

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This thing is really weird, even after a few weeks I still can't wrap my head around what it's supposed to do. It's fast as crap but still gets handled by Dugtrio, meaning it can't actually support its teammates on certain matchups. Probably some potential somewhere for such a blazing fast Mon, but for now I think it's fringe viable.

C and Below:

Not really feeling covering these Mons in any detail, some of them have a lot of potential to move up and others are just looking worse as the metagame develops. I'm gonna highlight a few notable Mons that I think have the potential to be viable:

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Earthquake, Knock Off, Rapid Spin, Rest. Good for stall and loves Pursuit support. Toxic could also be used as 4th, or even Hidden Power Rock.

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Good on BP chains. Low Kick + Drill Peck is great coverage in theory but it struggles to actually do anything in practice. Hates status like the plague. Might be missing something obvious with this one.

View attachment 385075

Still good. Just falls off in viability in response to its buddy Magneton being harder to fit, as well as hating the same things that Lax also hates, i.e. Knock Off, Taunt, Will-o-Wisp.

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Still good on BP.

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This thing having a niche is terrifying. It quad-resists Rock Slide, meaning it can actually pivot despite having one of the worst defensive stats in the game. It's also immune to Electric and Poison attacks! Double trap teams with a Kanto Dugtrio can punish passivity extremely well.

View attachment 385078
Great movepool and decent speed, very frail though.

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Genuinely a little scary. Walls every Swampert (without Rock Slide) and gets a free guaranteed sleep. Outspeeds a tonne of stuff with base 75 speed. Spinblocks with Ghost typing. Threatens Starmie OHKO with Lunge and high attack stat. Pressures Uxie with minimal effort. Provides team sustinence with Aromatherapy.

To be honest I only noticed this thing existed last night, but it's outright dangerous on paper.

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It might be underwhelming, but I think new Stantler just about has enough stats to pose a threat to stuff with Earthquake + Ice Beam and base 95 Speed. Hidden Power Rock is nice for stuff like Cramorant, Gyarados and Cyrogonal.

View attachment 385081

Incredible nuisance. Looks like it can wall and freeze half the damn tier on its own.

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Special attacker Snorlax.

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Weather immune, spikes immune, fast sleeper, rapid spinner, Baton Pass to scout your opponent's intentions, Leech Seed to be annoying. Honestly looks extremely good.

Thoughts:

Hoenn Gaiden is great fun! I wouldn't be playing it and writing about it in such detail if I didn't believe so. But I do think there are improvements that can be made. Below I'm going to list choices that I perceive to go against the ADV generation's mantra, and also some things that are seemingly overpowered within the tier and deserve at least a suspect test.

The ADV Mantra:

Apologies for uttering the term "mantra" several times like some nutter, but what I'm referring to is the intial game design and philosophy that The Pokémon Company implemented into their games when designing Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald.

The first example I'll get into is Knock Off. The designers and developers didn't anticipate for how strong Knock Off was as a move, and for nearly all of 2000's competitive Pokémon, even Smogon didn't really pay any attention to removing the opponent's item. Knock Off was also was not distributed outside of level up + breeding until Platinum, meaning that the only new additions that should logically obtain Knock Off are:

Gliscor, Lickilicky, Tangrowth, Gliscor, Sirfetch'd, Obstagoon, Alolan-Muk

The above is based on whether the Pokémon could learn this move by level-up or through breeding in its debut generation.

Increasing the distribution of this move is something I can get behind, but I feel like the current level of distribution is overboard, possibly in attempts to carve niches for new additions. Something akin to Donphan gaining Knock Off is interesting and increases its potential; whereas something like Uxie having it harms the tier and reduces the viability of certain Pokemon.

Will-o-Wisp has fallen victim in a similar fashion here. Will-o-Wisp was scarce in ADV OU due to no move tutor or TM availability. It's an incredibly powerful move and its distribution shapes ADV OU. Will-o-Wisp does 1/8 max HP in gen 3, meaning the additional distribution completely nullifies many physical attackers who'd otherwise team up with Pursuit Tyranitar to remove the Gengar (the by-far-and-away best Will-o-Wisp user). But Tyranitar has its work cut out here and due to the amount of potential burn users, it can't consistently support the likes of Curse Snorlax and Dragon Dance Salamence like how it used to. This corners physical offence teams into running a tonne of support in order to keep the win-con Pokémon alive and healthy.

Rapid Spin is another move which is affected by over-distribution. Currently, 25 fully evolved Pokémon are able to learn this move in comparison to ADV OU's 14 fully evolved Pokémon. Some of these Mons are crammed with so much utility that they can run both Rapid Spin and Knock off on the same set (something not possible previously). Heck, Cryogonal is so efficient at its role that it can avoid spikes, Recover, Rapid Spin and Knock Off.

The amount of Recovery distribution is the last thing I'd like to cover and probably shapes the metagame as a whole far more than the other raised distributions that I talked about. It also compounds the problems of the above distributions by patching over otherwise-problems by throwing a move into a pool to help with sustinence where it otherwise wouldn't be necessary.

ADV OU, at its core, is a tier where you try to scurry every little advantage that you can. This usually means you can run Protect on your sand-immune Mons so that they can heal slightly in the face of constant sandstorm. Anything else that is buffeted by the sandstorm? Too bad, you deal with it and hold leftovers to negate the damage. Mons that run Recovery hold their own disadvantages - Starmie is frail, Milotic is passive and easily taken advantage of, Blissey has very little offensive prowess, Celebi has moveslot syndrome and otherwise sub-par typing (but otherwise the only exception to the rule and a very good Recovery user), Porygon2 is also passive and hard to fit onto teams. No other Recovery users are considered viable.

Adding Recovery distribution fixed a problem that didn't initially exist. In ADV OU, progress is progress, and Wish passing can be very easily exploited. However, in Hoenn Gaiden, nearly everything has some way of mitigating the opponent's progress. The move Recover has a mind-numbing 32 PP, which is higher than many attacks that Pokémon run in this tier. I think the combination of Knock Off, Recovery and Will-o-Wisp has caused a squeeze along the VR which means that even though Tyranitar is more limited than ever, he's paradoxically more essential than ever to at least slow down the progress of Recovery spam undoing his sandstorm work.

Leech Seed is a move I've conveniently ignored in this paragraph, but it can be switched out from. Usually you can pair this with Spikes support to put additional pressure on the opponent, which leads me on to my REAL last thing I'd like to cover:

Spikes has also seen a massive uptake in distribution against the mantra. ADV OU has 3 viable spikes users; Skarmory, Forretress and sometimes Cloyster. It's a move that a whopping 8 fully evolved Pokémon get in ADV OU. You'll notice that the 3 viable Spikes users are absolutely not fans of Magneton for one reason or another, Cloyster less so, although Cloyster is frail and much more difficult to get in safely.

Hoenn Gaiden has raised the number of Spikes users to 22. This along with all the Ghost types and Rapid Spin users honestly means that you may as well run some Spikes user on most of your teams since there is no drawback to doing so. As discussed earlier Deoxys fits on all kinds of teams and can guarantee a Spike 99% of the time. As a result, the two most effective team styles I've always been building are either Spikes Offence or Spikes Stall (bar Baton Pass teams which I will get to later) - I have very little else to consider when hazards are so accessible.

Anyway, that's about it, I don't really have much more to comment on yet but I'd like to say that I don't regard all of these points as bad or problematic, but moreso that they fly directly against the wind of ADV's philosophy and design.

The Problematic Pokémon:
View attachment 385091View attachment 385092View attachment 385093View attachment 385094View attachment 385095View attachment 385096

5 of these 6 guys have something in common. They're all either nearly impossible to break or they're far too good on Baton Pass teams. Cramorant, Uxie and Clefable are the three best defensive Mons in the tier and can outstall almost everything with Recovery, Knock off and paralysis. Rhyperior and Porygon-Z are insanely effective BP recipients.

If I had to make a decision on the spot, I say we quickban both Uxie and Cramorant. Neither of them contribute anything healthy to the metagame. Uxie is able to completely negate status progress in the way of burns and poison with Heal Bell, and Cramorant completely blanks a gigantic portion of the metagame.

Rhyperior and Porygon-Z don't offer anything healthy in this tier, their stats are far beyond any traditional ADV Pokémon and they're either destined to be overwhelming with Baton Pass support, or to be unviable. People have been talking about a Baton Pass clause to limit these guys and others, but wouldn't this cut off the ties that this tier has to ADV OU as a "sequel", of sorts?

Deoxys is the least obviously overpowered Mon in this tier. I think it opens up some playstyles that were otherwise not possible to use, however until we deal with the other immediate problems I don't think it's fair to touch this thing just yet. Clefable is also less obviously overpowered, but I think it has far more going for it as a defensive Pokémon than is initially obvious.

As time goes on I feel that there may be other stuff that creeps up to the top, but at the moment these guys are definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Conclusion:

Umm, this tier is great, tell your friends, family, neighbours, /r/stunfisk, inject code into pop-up viruses, yada yada. I'm open to PMs and Discord to test out ideas, build teams, talk about anything Hoenn Gaiden-related and get this metagame on the radar.

I'll make a post later about the tournament and the teams that I used too. Catch you later!
That’s funny, two of the three ranked Ice-type are my submissions. Glaceon being the highest ranked Eeveelution in an OU-oriented metagame is something I’d never thought will happens; Ice / Water coverage is a lot stronger than I’d thought, especially with 100% accurate Hydro Pump nuke.

I’d consider putting nerfs on unhealthy Pokémon by undoing some of their buffs firsthand and retest if they become healthier.
 

Rezzo

(EVIOLITE COMPATIBLE)
is a Pre-Contributor
(Preface: I strongly recommend you DON'T use any of the below teams. The metagame is wide open for exploration at the time of reading this post, and these teams serve as a guide as to what an solid Hoenn Gaiden team looks like at this stage in the metagame. Teambuilding is very flexible in this tier, and I recommend you take a look at Vapicuno's Guide to ADV OU Archetypes as a lot of his research applies to Hoenn Gaiden to guide you in building your own team. That said, I'm perfectly happy for people to test these out if they please)

Here's my finished teams for everything up to Slate 12, covering what was used in the tournament and tested outside of it for fun:

Clefable TSS with Lopunny:
clefable.pngstarmie.pngtyranitar.pngskarmory.pngswampert.pnglopunny.png

Balanced TSS (Toxic, Spikes, Sandstorm), with a Clefable instead of Blissey and Lopunny as the fast late-game cleaner. The Lopunny set encourages lots of prediction but can obtain a lot of reward in the early game by luring the opponent's Ghost type while doubling into Tyranitar. Trick can also cripple the likes of Gengar, Jellicent and Girafarig who are overly keen to switch in. Skarmory, Swampert and Clefable keep defensive pressure and are able to chip stuff down into OHKO range for Lopunny to finish up. Starmie keeps Spikes off from the field to reduce Clefable's pressure to Wishpass to teammates.

+ Effective versus defensive teams with minimal Taunt users
+ Skarmory, Swampert and Clefable have fantastic defensive synergy
+ Lopunny has fantastic late game cleaning stats, as it outspeeds Dugtrio and has STAB Return and Focus Punch to wallbreak early when required.
- Dependent on Gengar being removed from the game as soon as possible.
- Ghost spam can overwhelm this team and needs to be outplayed.

CramPert Core Spikes Stall
forretress.pngcramorant.pnguxie.pngswampert.pngtyranitar.pnggengar.png

Spikes stall with a Cramorant + Swampert defensive core, with Uxie as the nominated special wall. Spikes aren't mandatory as Cramorant can make a lot of progress by itself by finding an opportunity to come in and position itself against checks repeatedly. Uxie further facilitiates this pivoting with the combination of Encore & Baton Pass to prevent the opponent from being able to respond to Cramorant's entry onto the field (the turn it's at its weakest). Heal Bell and Curse + Rest Swampert synergise to allow Swampert to act both as a defensive tool and also an offensive win-condition. Fast offensive Gengar can handle fast wallbreakers and also spinblock in a pinch.

+ Extremely hard for many kinds of teams to break, requires Taunt spam and physical attackers to overwhelm.
+ Curse Swampert with Heal Bell support is very difficult to KO with good positioning and sense of your opponent's game plan, Cramorant can pivot in on Grass type attacks with ease.
- Zapdos and Jolteon pose huge problems if the opponent can kill / disable Uxie.

Hail Special Offence with SubCM Glaceon

abomasnow-f.png
glaceon.pngdugtrio.pngdeoxys-speed.pngclefable.pngmetagross.png

A fast-paced offensive team which tries to overwhelm defensive checks with powerful mixed attackers to pave the way for Glaceon to get in safely and blast the remaining Pokemon with Calm Mind boosted Ice Beams. Dugtrio is primarily used to remove bulky steel types like Jirachi and Silvally, but it can also feasibly run Toxic to help Glaceon beat Jellicent and other bulky water types. Glaceon is the win-condition most of the time, since it can heal 25% health and substitute up to 16 times in an ideal situation with Hail falling and Leftovers being held, while also having a powerful STAB Ice Beam that blows open the entire tier after a few boosts.

+ Great offensive pressure which can disrupt your opponent if they don't respond to your gameplan quickly.
+ Weather isn't do-or-die for this team, and Glaceon is still effective in Sandstorm, Sun, Rain, or no weather at all due to Recover.
- Quite prediction reliant due to the lack of defensive utility.

Jellicent + Roserade Spikes Balance

metagross.png
roserade-f.pngjellicent-f.pngtalonflame.pngdugtrio.pngsnorlax.png

This is based around the Milotic + Celebi "MiloBi" defensive core, which instead uses the Spikes layer Roserade alongside the spinblocker Jellicent; both accomplishing a similar goal while also role-compressing into defensive checks. Snorlax is the choice of win-condition as Talonflame allows it to come in regularly. Sunny Day can also be considered on Dugtrio (or moreover, Rain Dance on Jellicent) to keep hazardous weather off of the field.

This team at the time of building was more of a response to the new playstyles that have emerged - it is otherwise quite weak against the less-explored balance-style teams in the metagame.

+ Effective versus stall and offence
- Isn't always favourable against other types of Spikes balance teams

Bonus Teams!

Not hugely confident about these teams since they are either quite old now, or haven't been fully tested.

Zapdos + Starmie + Alolan Dugtrio
zapdos.pngstarmie.pngdugtrio-alolan.pngtyranitar.pngmetagross.pngcelebi.png

Roserade Spikes Special Offence by Fruhdazi

roserade-f.pngswampert.pngtyranitar.pngdugtrio-alolan.pngzapdos.pngjirachi.png

Zapdos + Celebi Passers with Weather Clearer

metagross.pngdeoxys-speed.pngsunflora.pngzapdos.pngcelebi.pngsilvally-normal.png

----------

I feel these teams could all be improved upon, so feel free to modify or talk to me about anything you'd like to know about them.
 

Attachments

Usage Stats for the Finals

Hoenn Gaiden Tournament Finals Usage Stats

Code:
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Tyranitar          |   12 |  75.00% |  33.33% |
| 2    | Swampert           |    6 |  37.50% |  50.00% |
| 3    | Forretress         |    5 |  31.25% |  40.00% |
| 4    | Roserade           |    4 |  25.00% |  75.00% |
| 4    | Deoxys-Speed       |    4 |  25.00% |  75.00% |
| 4    | Salamence          |    4 |  25.00% |  50.00% |
| 4    | Blissey            |    4 |  25.00% |  25.00% |
| 4    | Silvally           |    4 |  25.00% |  25.00% |
| 4    | Heracross          |    4 |  25.00% |  25.00% |
| 10   | Moltres            |    3 |  18.75% |  33.33% |
| 10   | Aerodactyl         |    3 |  18.75% |  33.33% |
| 12   | Uxie               |    2 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 12   | Cramorant          |    2 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 12   | Dusknoir           |    2 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 12   | Magmortar          |    2 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 12   | Zapdos             |    2 |  12.50% |  50.00% |
| 12   | Jirachi            |    2 |  12.50% |  50.00% |
| 12   | Skarmory           |    2 |  12.50% |  50.00% |
| 12   | Flygon             |    2 |  12.50% |  50.00% |
| 12   | Slowking-Galar     |    2 |  12.50% |  50.00% |
| 21   | Gliscor            |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 21   | Entei              |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 21   | Dugtrio            |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 21   | Leafeon            |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 21   | Clefable           |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 21   | Lopunny            |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 21   | Starmie            |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 21   | Stunfisk-Galar     |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 21   | Magneton           |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 21   | Lanturn            |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 21   | Mamoswine          |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 21   | Dugtrio-Alola      |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 21   | Celebi             |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
  • Missing 2 Pokemon from REZZ0.
  • Missing 3 Pokemon from REZZ0.
  • Missing 1 Pokemon from VIZARPKMN.
  • Missing 1 Pokemon from REZZ0.
  • Missing 2 Pokemon from VIZARPKMN.
  • Missing 3 Pokemon from JOSJET.
Leads

Code:
+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Leads                   | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Tyranitar               |    5 |  31.25% |  20.00% |
| 2    | Roserade                |    4 |  25.00% |  75.00% |
| 3    | Deoxys-Speed            |    2 |  12.50% |  50.00% |
| 4    | Uxie                    |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 4    | Forretress              |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 4    | Gliscor                 |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 4    | Clefable                |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 4    | Stunfisk-Galar          |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |

Personal Takeways
- :tyranitar:
- Oh hey, Uxie and Cramorant finally won some games
- Roserade had a big round, solidifying itself as the best performing new Pokémon in the tournament
- Broken mon Clefable also saw some love for the first time in tournament, though it didn't win
- Swampert and Forretress are some old heads that interestingly saw a good amount of usage


But that's not all, as I've also gathered the cumulative usage stats from every round!
I did this manually, so I don't have a concise little chart to show, so I'll only post the Top 15 Pokemon here, but you can view the rest of the stats HERE
RankSpritePokemonUsageUsage%WinsWin%
1:tyranitar:Tyranitar3754.41%1745.95%
2:celebi:Celebi1522.06%426.67%
2:metagross:Metagross1522.06%533.33%
2:salamence:Salamence1522.06%960.00%
5:Magneton:Magneton1420.59%535.71%
6:Skarmory:Skarmory1319.12%753.85%
7:Deoxys-Speed:Deoxys-Speed1116.18%654.55%
7:Blissey:Blissey1116.18%545.45%
7:Forretress:Forretress1116.18%545.45%
10:Heracross:Heracross1014.71%770.00%
10:Jirachi:Jirachi1014.71%550.00%
10:Swampert:Swampert1014.71%440.00%
10:Aerodactyl:Aerodactyl1014.71%330.00%
14:Roserade:Roserade811.76%787.50%
15:Starmie:Starmie710.29%342.86%
15:Flygon:Flygon710.29%228.57%
15:Silvally:Silvally (All Forms)710.29%228.57%

Personal Takeaways:
- If you still somehow had any doubts that Tyranitar was the king of Gen 3, this tournament should shut those down real quick. Had over double the usage of #2, the only Pokémon with more than 20 uses and 10 wins, 54% usage, and a near 50% win percentage. Tyranitar is inevitable, but you already knew that.
- Roserade and Silvally (which is kinda cheating cuz it counted all forms, though I think the only form used was Ghost) were the only new Pokémon to break the top 15, with the next closest being Jellicent, Uxie, Dugtrio-Alola, and Cryogonal at 5 uses. Despite adding some crazy and potentially broken mons, it makes sense that people will stick to what they know, especially since some old mons got insane buffs like Flygon and Celebi.
- Deoxys-Speed is also technically a new Pokémon, since it was in Ubers before, and it performed very well as expected.
- The Pokémon with the highest usage and a 100% win rate was Gliscor at 4 uses, which personally makes me very happy as I think Gliscor is underrated. However, Roserade's insane 87.5% win rate with 8 uses shouldn't go unnoticed, that thing is crazy.
- The Pokémon with the highest usage and a 0% win rate were Eelektross and Girafarig, also at 4 uses. The former shows that, while annoying and probably broken, Baton Pass teams had a pretty dismal showing in the tournament, while the latter's uses all came from Round 1.
- Comparing these stats to the usage stats for this year's ADVPL, (and adding Dugtrio, Moltres, and Houndoom from our stats to round out our Top 15):
  • Tyranitar, Celebi, Metagross, Salamence, Blissey, Swampert, Aerodactyl, Dugtrio, Forretress, Skarmory, and Jirachi show up in both Top 15s
  • Gengar, Claydol, and Suicune are in the ADVPL Top 15 but not our Top 15. Gengar (who had 4 uses) got buffed in Gaiden but also faces actual competition as a Ghost-type now, Claydol got nerfed overall and only got used once, and Suicune hates buffed Giga Drain and Roserade and only got used twice.
  • Magneton, Heracross, Starmie, Flygon, Moltres, and Houndoom are in our Top 15, but not ADVPL. Magneton had a crazy amount of usage in Round 1, but fell off after, Flygon and Houndoom both got massively buffed, and Starmie was ranked 17th in ADVPL. This leaves Moltres and Heracross as the only real outliers. I'm especially surprised to see Heracross' usage as it barely had enough usage to stay in OU when UU was created and that was before the massive balance patch, so much so that we gave it Spikes in that patch. Spikes also doesn't explain the rise since no Heracross used it, if I recall correctly.
- If we were to do a tier shift based solely on these stats with a 4.52% cutoff:
  • Rises from UU to OU: Armaldo
  • Balance Patch Additions that stay in OU (the rest would be UU): Roserade, Glaceon, Dugtrio-Alola
  • Drops from OU to UU: Golurk, Incineroar, Jolteon, Hitmonlee, Chesnaught, Slowking-Galar, Suicune, Claydol, Mr. Rime, Sableye, Toxicroack, Breloom, Guzzlord, Ledian, Lopunny, Regieleki, Alcremie, Cloyster, Dracovish, Dragalge, Golem-Alola, Grimmsnarl, Krookodile, Pincurchin, Plusle, Staraptor, Zarude
- Notable Pokémon that weren't used at all: Cloyster(!), Hitmonlee, Magnezone, Porygon-Z, anything with Galvanize (all Lanturns used had Volt Absorb), Sunflora, Kecleon


And that's it! I would like to thank everyone, old and new, again for playing in the tournament! We'll have some info on the next steps for Hoenn Gaiden soon, so watch out for that!
 

ViZar

your toast is burned
is a Social Media Contributor Alumnus
Servus!

With the playtest tournament being over, the council has decided to look at the problematic Pokemon in this metagame. Therefore we have prepared some nerfs and buffs (most of them are actually live on DH)
I'll also throw my personal takes in there too

First off, the nerfs. There has been an overhaul for the distribution of Knock Off, Superpower and many more moves.

Knock Off removals:
:dusclops::dusknoir::leafeon::lickitung::lickilicky::deoxys-speed::eelektross::cryogonal::toxicroak::zarude::cramorant::guzzlord::torracat::incineroar::uxie::marowak-alola::sandslash-alola::sirfetchd::exeggutor-alola::moltres-galar::golisopod::krookodile:
This shouldn't be surprising. Knock Off had really limited distribution and for good reason. Removing Leftovers is a death sentence for Pokemon that get easily chipped and it made sand immune Pokemon like Swampert worse against Pokemon it should check, since it got worn down much more easily.

Spikes removals:
:flygon::stunfisk::stunfisk-galar:
Adding to the statement from above, Sandstorm worn down Pokemon quickly and Spikes accelerated this greatly. These three are the most oppressive Spikes setters due to their defensive utility and in Flygons case longevity with Levitate and Morning Sun and offensive prowess. Stunfisk punished physical attackers with Static while the Galar form did that with Spiky Shield or both utilised Sand Veil.


Will-O-Wisp removals:
:girafarig::torracat::incineroar::plusle:
Will-O-Wisp added to the chip damage. Even with Heal Bell, Natural Cure and Fire-types being everywhere, WoW still felt too much. Even Special Attackers don't appreciate the 12.5% chip they have to deal with.

Rapid Spin removals:
:mr-rime::regieleki:
So far, residual damage has been the main point for removals, this time it's the easy way to remove one of them. Rapid Spin on those two have been too reliable. Removing hazards effortlessly and therefore stop the progress of the opponent. Especially Regieleki allowed for an almost guaranteed spin thanks to its speed, bulk and longevity. Speaking of which.

Recover removals:
:cramorant::glaceon::roserade::uxie::regieleki:
All of those Pokemon have been really oppressive. Cramorant and Uxie packed a ton of utility and are really bulky. Roserade and Glaceon are dangerous sleep spreaders and offensive Pokemon and we already know what Eleki does. Recover made them the really hard to prepare for. Uxie and Cramorant got other nerfs since they have other issues than just their longevity.

Encore removals:
:cramorant::uxie:
Encore removed the best ways to deal with those two. Abuse their passivity with set-up or status. This makes fighting against them more palatable.

Superpower removals:
:cramorant::eelektross::golem-alola::golurk::krookodile::mamoswine::regidrago::staraptor:
Superpower added a strong coverage move that we thought was really restricting on some Pokemon like Eelektross and quite unnecessary on stuff like Regidrago. Adding to that, it was also a really limited move with only 4 Legends and Nidoqueen having it in Vanilla. We decided that Staraptor will get a compensation for its removal, which is Brick Break.

Poor little Cramorant got nerfed hard. How about some more?
We also decided to give it its Vanilla stats. Reason being that its ability is really strong. This will kind of a test. If it perfroms poorly then it might get a buff in the near future.


We also agreed to buff some Gen 1-2 Pokemon by giving back their Gen 2 Event moves. Here's a list of all of them, but here are the most notable ones imo.
Most Impactful:
Nidoqueen - Lovely Kiss, Moonlight
Nidoking - Lovely Kiss, Morning Sun
Vileplume - Leech Seed
Victreebel - Lovely Kiss
(Golem - Rapid Spin)
Magneton & Magnezone - Agility
Tangela & Tangrowth - Synthesis
Tauros - Quick Attack
Gyarados - Reversal
Eeveelutions - Growth
Snorlax - Lovely Kiss
Dragonite - Hydro Pump
Misdreavus & Mismagius - Hypnosis
Piloswine & Mamoswine - Whirlwind
(Delibird - Spikes)
Electabuzz & Electivire - Pursuit

Not impactful but noteworthy:
Charizard - Crunch
Poliwrath & Politoed - Growth
Rapidash - Low Kick
Dodrio - Low Kick
Golking - Swords Dance
Quagsire - Belly Drum
Granbull - Lovely Kiss

It's also worth adding that Baton Pass will be nerfed, since statboosting has been quite oppressive in the meta. The nerf didn't happen yet since there was trouble with the code. It will happen in the near future though.


Also for the three people who play UU (including me), there are some news for you!
Firstly, BANS!

These are the Pokemon that have been banned to UUBL for being too strong offensively or defensively while providing the other. :Dragonite: and :Gyarados: being the most dangerous sweepers while being bulky, having good typing and recovery for the former and Intimidate for the latter. :Chansey: and :Registeel: have immense bulk and recovery for the former and amazing typing for the latter. :Alakazam: and :Raikou: are immediatly fast and really strong and set-up allowed them effortless OHKOs. :Venusaur: and :Entei: are difficult to switch in and are unpredictable. :Slaking: has immense stats lol. Lastly, Snow Warning has been banned for adding too much chip and enabling Ice Body Pokemon really reliably (Note: Delibird isn't banned, the ability is. It just represents the weather)
:dragonite::gyarados::chansey::registeel::alakazam::raikou::venusaur::entei::slaking::delibird:

Secondly, tiering will be decided by council votes once the mod has concluded. We thought that this would be better to avoid huge tier shifts which are based of on usage and not viability.


That's it for now!
Thanks for reading and have a nice day. Cya!
 

Ema Skye

Work!
I apologize for (another) large unintentional hiatus from the mod. If you're on Discord, you know where I've been.

There are two changes to the above changes that didn't get included:
  • Regieleki is keeping Rapid Spin. Council originally forgot it no longer has 100/100 offenses and Spin gives it a role over Jolteon.
  • Roselia is getting Cloud Nine so it can use Synthesis without worrying about the weather.
We're now going to move into the next submission phase in Slate 13. For slate 13, you may submit moves, abilities or items that do not currently exist in the mod. This slate will be split up into 2 phases: submission of concepts in phase 1, and distributing the winners in phase 2 (excluding items). You are welcome to offer some ideas for distribution during phase 1, but nothing will be decided until phase 2.

Template:
Code:
Move/Ability/Item Name:
Description:
Potential Distribution:
Justification:
You can submit up to 6 things.
 

ViZar

your toast is burned
is a Social Media Contributor Alumnus
Move: Mystical Fire
Power: 75
Accuracy: 100%
PP: 10
Category:

Type:

Effect: 100% chance to lower the target's Sp. Atk by 1.
Priority: 0
Flags: Protect, Mirror
Potential Pokémon With This Move: :alcremie::charizard::clefairy::flareon::gardevoir::ho-oh::latias::latios::magmortar::misdreavus::moltres::mr-mime::ponyta::ponyta-galar::togepi::vulpix:
Justification: Gives Pokemon a nice coverage move to use. This gives them more defensive utility and more power since it has more PP than HP Fire and doesn't drop the IVs.


Ability: Gorilla Tactics
Description: This Pokemon's Attack is 1.5x, but it can only select the first move it executes.
Potential Distribution: :vigoroth::aipom::ambipom:(maybe)
Justification: A really strong ability that makes a meh Pokemon into a devastating Wallbreaker, since it pairs well with Choice Band. The ability has to be carefully distributed however, so Ambipom might be too much.


:adrenaline_orb:
Item: Adrenaline Orb
Description: Raises holder's Speed by 1 stage if it gets affected by Intimidate. Single use.
Justification: Intimidate is really common and Adrenaline Orb can punish Intimidaters that normally would switch into Tyranitar, Salamence or Celebi.

:air_balloon:
Item: Air Balloon
Description: Holder is immune to Ground-type attacks. Pops when holder is hit.
Justification: Gives a Ground- or Spikes-Immunity, which is crucial in a metagame with Spikes and EQ at every corner. Users have to remove their Leftovers however (PKMN like Swampert really want that recovery) and Air Balloon isn't permanent (which essentially makes them itemless, which is undesirable)

:wise_glasses:
Item: Wise Glasses
Description: Holder's special attacks have 1.1x power.
Justification: Gives Special Attackers a way to boost their attacks without relying on a super effective hit with Expert Belt.

:muscle_band:
Item: Muscle Band
Description: Holder's physical attacks have 1.1x power.
Justification: Even though Choice Band exist, Muscle Band gives Physical Attackers a way to bluff a Choice Band and deal a bit more damage without being restricted into a move or relying on super effective hits.
 
Last edited:

Rezzo

(EVIOLITE COMPATIBLE)
is a Pre-Contributor
I'm gonna cheat and request what's technically 17 separate items, but they all function in the same way and it'd make little sense to selectively add only some of these:

:occa berry: :passho berry: :wacan berry: :rindo berry: :yache berry: :chople berry: :kebia berry: :shuca berry: :coba berry: :payapa berry: :tanga berry: :charti berry: :kasib berry: :haban berry: :colbur berry: :babiri berry: :chilan berry:

Item Name: Super-Effective Damage Resist Berries (Occa Berry, Passho Berry, Wacan Berry, Rindo Berry, Yache Berry, Chople Berry, Kebia Berry, Shuca Berry, Coba Berry, Payapa Berry, Tanga Berry, Charti Berry, Kasib Berry, Haban Berry, Colbur Berry, Babiri Berry, Chilan Berry)

Description: Receives Less Damage from Super-Effective (x) Type Attacks

Justification: A BERRY nice addition to assist offence in being able to try out some new techs. Allows for handling weaknesses on your team by patching up direct threats and swinging the momentum back in your favour (so long as they don't crit you!).

A few nice calcs I can think of from the top of my head (using Reflect & Light Screen to replicate the damage reduction):

Code:
252+ SpA Moltres Overheat vs. 128 HP / 0 SpD Metagross through Light Screen: 270-318 (81 - 95.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO


252 SpA Zapdos Thunderbolt vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Starmie through Light Screen: 175-206 (66.7 - 78.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO


252 Atk Choice Band Dugtrio Hidden Power Bug vs. 76 HP / 0 Def Celebi through Reflect: 170-200 (47.2 - 55.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after sandstorm damage
 
Move Name: Wood Hammer
Description: User takes 1/3rd of the damage dealt as recoil.
Potential Distribution: :venusaur: :exeggutor: :exeggutor-alola: :sudowoodo: :sceptile: :shiftry: :cacturne: :cradily: :tropius: :abomasnow: :chesnaught:
Justification: A legitimately strong Grass-type move that can replace Giga Drain on the sets of some more offense-leaning Grasses. Maybe Sudowoodo will get a Sp. Attack buff someday.

Move Name: Dragon Tail
Description: Forces the target out after damage.
Potential Distribution: Canon distribution + :lapras:
Justification: An alternative to Roar, at the cost of being able to miss and potentially triggering contact Abilities.

Ability Name: Fur Coat
Description: Doubles the Pokémon's Defense.
Potential Distribution: :wigglytuff: :persian-alola: :furret: :delcatty:
Justification: All of these Pokémon are hot garbage. A Defense equivalent to Huge Power could potentially give them a niche in the meta. (Though most of them will still probably need additional buffs...)

Ability Name: Poison Heal
Description: This Pokémon restores 1/8th of its HP each turn while poisoned, instead of taking damage.
Potential Distribution: :raticate-alola: :mantine: :breloom: :zangoose: :gliscor:
Justification: In an era without Toxic Orb, this Ability should be less overwhelming. Mantine and Gliscor can now join Galarian Slowking as a Toxic switchin that can't be removed by Dugtrio. Notably, all of these Pokémon have an exploitable double weakness (or are Zangoose) so that progress against them can still be made.

Item Name: Rocky Helmet
Description: Damages the target for 3/16ths of its maximum HP when it makes contact with the holder.
Justification: Another chip option for fatter Pokémon that can afford to forgo Leftovers. Might need its damage reduced to be in line with Rough Skin's chip damage in gen 3?

Item Name: Safety Goggles
Description: Protects the holder from sandstorm, hail, and powder.
Justification: More sand protection!
 

Ema Skye

Work!
Ability Name: Unseen Fist
Description: Contact moves ignore protection
Potential Distribution: :ursaring: :poliwrath: :hitmonchan: :pinsir: :azumarill:
Justification: Cool way to buff up some weaker mons, and ignoring Protect from Skarm, Pert, etc helps improve their consistency.

Move Name: Vacuum Wave
Description: Priority move.
Potential Distribution: :blaziken: :toxicroak: :gallade: :hariyama: :heracross: :machamp: :primeape: :medicham: :poliwrath: :scizor:
Justification: Without the physical special split, this is functionally a Mach Punch clone. But the learnset is very different and a lot of these mons could use the help.

Move Name: Secret Sword
Description: Targets the opponent's special defense
Potential Distribution: :arcanine: :absol: :gallade: :rapidash: :nidoking: :dewgong: :seaking: :lapras: :rhyperior:
Justification: Flipped the property of the move around to reflect the PSS. This is a god coverage move for Arcanine, Rapidash and Absol, letting them hit Tyranitar, as well as being Gallade's best STAB move, except it hits Blissey's stronger defense stat.

Move Name: Fiery Wrath
Description: May flinch
Potential Distribution: :moltres-galar: :houndoom: :mightyena: :absol: :persian-alola: :raticate-alola: :obstagoon: :ninetales:
Justification: Dark STAB is finally here for most of these, especially Moltres. Ninetales likes this as coverage for Jellicent.

Move Name: Apple Acid
Description: Reduces SpDef
Potential Distribution: :meganium: :sunflora: :bellossom: :vileplume: :exeggutor: :tropius:
Justification: Stronger Grass STAB than Giga Drain that also forces switches due to the drop, which could be pretty neat and compensates for Grass's bad offensive typing.

Move Name: Court Change
Description: Swaps field effects on both sides.
Potential Distribution: :mr.-mime: :machamp: :hypno: :jynx: :electivire: :magmortar: :hariyama: :medicham: :gardevoir: :banette: :xatu:
Justification: Higher risk, higher reward than Defog. Banette is neat here as a Court Changer immune to spin, while Xatu is immune to Spikes.
 
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Move: Recover
Power: --
Accuracy: --
PP: 10
Category:

Type:

Effect: Heals the user by 50% of its max HP
Priority: 0
Potential Pokémon With This Move: Old Distribution + :kecleon::magcargo::beautifly::butterfree::beedrill::farfetchd::pidgeot::yanma:
Justification: 32 PP Recover makes me sad and it was weirdly inconsistent with every other recovery move from Gen 1 until Gen 5, so lets make it not that. Also gave it to Kecleon and Magcargo, who don't get it this gen fsr, and a bunch of bad mons that learn Roost in later Gens since we're probably never adding Roost.

Move: Clear Smog
Power: 50
Accuracy: 100%
PP: 15
Category:

Type:

Effect: Clears the target's stat changes after dealing damage
Priority: 0
Potential Pokémon With This Move: :alcremie::muk-alola::weezing::weezing-galar::qwilfish::skuntank::vileplume::dustox::swalot::magmortar::flareon::castform::kingdra::magcargo::torkoal::wailord::victreebel::golduck::lickilicky::camerupt:
Justification: Clear Smog is a nice alternative to Haze to stop sweepers and deal a little chip damage with the caveat that you can't hit Steel-types with it. A lot of mons that didn't already learn Haze appreciate having this, namely Muk-A, Alcremie, Torkoal, Likcilicky, and Vileplume. Also, it being physical this gen amuses me fsr.

Move: Stored Power
Power: 20
Accuracy: 100%
PP: 10
Category:

Type:

Effect: +20 BP for every stat boost this Pokémon has
Priority: 0
Potential Pokémon With This Move: :eevee::slowpoke::slowpoke-galar::gardevoir::chimecho::claydol::raichu-alola::rapidash-galar::ninetales::mime jr.::ninetales-alola::xatu::medicham:
Justification: Now that Baton Pass has been neutered, Stored Power can be a fun move for setup sweepers to let them do insane damage if they're able to get a ton of boosts. Balanced by the time it takes to get those boosts and some of the best mons in the tier being Dark

Move: Shadow Sneak
Power: 40
Accuracy: 100%
PP: 30
Category:

Type:

Effect: Usually goes first
Priority: 1
Potential Pokémon With This Move: :ralts::ariados::banette::dusknoir::kecleon::muk::muk-alola::mismagius::girafarig::shedinja::froslass:
Justification: Out of all the later gen priority moves, Shadow Sneak is my favorite and the one I'd most like to see in this mod. Ghost provides great coverage, making Sneak a dangerous revenge killing tool against the likes of Celebi, Articuno-G, and Deoxys-S, while hitting most other fast things neutrally. SD Gallade loves this to get the jump on Fighting-resists, Banette and Dusknoir get a great STAB option alongside Shadow Ball, and Kecleon gets one of its most important moves from later gens.


Item Name: Metronome
Description: Damage of moves used on consecutive turns is increased. Max 2x after 10 turns.
Justification: Funny alternative to Choice Band for mons that wanna spam certain moves but don't want the commitment of locking themselves into said move

Ability Name: Sand Force
Description: This Pokémon's Ground, Rock, and Steel-type moves deal 1.3x in Sand; Immunity to sandstorm damage
Potential Distribution: :whiscash::probopass::golem::sudowoodo::solrock::lunatone::perrserker::aggron::pinsir::exploud::hitmontop::dugtrio-alola:(replace arena trap heh)
Justification: Since Sand is almost always up, a Life Orb boost to your STABs or coverage moves is extremely appealing for Ground/Steel/Rock-types, especially the former two since they can pair well with TTar. Plus, Pinsir, Exploud, and Hitmontop can get a nice sandstorm immunity to go with it, giving them much more longevity

Ability Name: Technician
Description: This Pokémon's moves with ≤60 BP have 1.5x power
Potential Distribution: :ambipom::breloom::scyther::scizor::persian::persian-alola::moltres-galar::altaria::zangoose:
Justification: Technician is a sick ability and that holds true in this generation. There aren't nearly as many good low BP moves as there are in later gens, but they do still exist, namely Persian's Fake Out, Breloom's Mach Punch (which hopefully isn't busted cuz Loom kinda sucks rn), Moltres-G's Feint Attack (which is its best STAB move btw) and Pursuit, Altaria's Dragon Breath and Aerial Ace, Zangoose's Quick Attack, and Scizor's SIlver Wind
 
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Abilities
Ability Name: Stakeout
Description: Doubles the damage dealt to the target's replacement if the target switches out.
Potential Distribution: :furret: ,:qwilfish:, :absol:, :cacturne: , :mightyena: , :electrode: + :delibird:
Justification: This would have to have limited distribution, and hell it might not be enough to bring Furret or any of the other suggested to be the best of the best, but it creates some fun, pseudo-trappers with some funny calcs.
Stake Out Focus Punch Furret with a Choice Band? 43.8% to OHKO a 0 Def :metagross:
:jellicent: ? 103.4 - 121.7% with shadow ball.... Guaranteed OHKO.

:qwilfish: Stake Out HP Fighting vs :tyranitar: 107.3 - 126.3% guaranteed OHKO

Prediction reliant? Sure.
Fun, potentially viable? Yes.

Moves
Move: Bug Bite
Power: 60
Accuracy: 100%
PP: 20
Category:

Type: Bug
Effect: Deals damage, and if the target is holding a Berry, the user eats it and gains its effect.
Priority: 0
Potential Pokémon With This Move: :butterfree: :pinsir: :shuckle: :ninjask: :flygon: :shedinja: :armaldo: (All get it naturally!) + :delibird:
Justification: A neato bug move with a niche effect and distribution. Flygon and Armaldo are the biggest ones here. I think moderation is good--Butterfree and Pinsir have Lunge instead but the option is worth considering at least for Butterfree depending on what your goal is with it(it's not an OU 'mon at the moment), due to the utility alone.



Move: Bullet Punch
Power: 40
Accuracy: 100%
PP: 30
Category:

Type: Steel
Effect: Deals damage.
Priority: +1
Potential Pokémon With This Move: :hitmonchan: :machamp: :hitmonlee: :hitmontop: :metagross: :scizor: (All get it naturally!) :delibird:
Justification: Scizor doesn't have Tech, 'Chan doesn't have Iron Fist, they won't break the move. Free it from it's gen 4 prison.
Casually suggests a new tool to Metagross.



Move: Healing WIsh
Power: --
Accuracy: --
PP: 10
Category:

Type:

Effect: The user faints. In return, the Pokémon taking its place will have its HP restored and status conditions cured.
Priority: 0
Potential Pokémon With This Move: Old Distribution + :delibird:
Justification: It's fun! Neat option for some cool 'mons like Lopunny and Rachi.


Move: Disable
Power: --
Accuracy: 100%
PP: 20
Category:

Type:

Effect: For four turns, this move prevents the target from using the move it last used.
Priority: 0
Potential Pokémon With This Move: Old Distribution + :delibird:
Justification:
So—Disable.
55% in ADV, buffed to 80% in DPP, and then to 100% in BW. This is a move that’s neato but never got a chance to shine.
In RBY it varies from 0-7 turns, GSC 1-7, ADV 2-5, DPP 4-7, before in BW it’s at a static 4 turns.

This is a move they were scared to buff, even it’s distribution is tiny, being given to 1/2 mons each Gen after adv, but once it became usable in BW it was simply too late for the move to shine. Disable functions very well against bulky ‘mons and CB locked things, and the ‘mons who GET the move naturally that are relevant here are pretty fast but physically frail(Zam).
This allows them to actually swap in on a properly scouted user they’d normally be able to do nothing to (Metagross for example) and allows them to have new options as a result. This isn’t just limited to this situation, as these ‘mons can puff up to things like Skarm, ‘Rachi, Blissey, etc, and throw a wrench in their game plans by disabling an important move—not entirely for free as if the status they toss out(toxic/twave) is disabled they can function fairly normally… But if protect or whirlwind is disabled?

Similarly it invites in mind games and is not a free, overbearing move. It’s always 4 turns, removed on swap, does nothing if they haven’t done a move yet… I think it adds some interesting options overall and doesn’t destroy the foundation of adv2, so buffing Disable to it’s current Gen functions is a good addition to the PM.

tldr; Disable is a cool move that was garbage for the first 4 gens, then, when it's buffed to be usable/reliable/consistent.... It's worthless and power crept to hell and back. Let's let it shine.
.


Thanks for reading, I believe this is it for my suggestions! I even looked back to the older 2 gens for something. :electrode:
 
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Move Name: Parting Shot
Description: Lowers target's Attack and Special Attack by 1. User switches.
Potential Distribution: :charizard: :feraligatr: :obstagoon: :krookodile: :persian: :persian-alola: :perrserker: :incineroar: :silvally: :girafarig::kangaskhan:
Justification: coolest pivoting move, and also my favorite pokemon move. gives a good option to some kinda meh mons. also krook

Ability Name: Neuroforce
Description: This Pokémon's Super Effective moves do 1.25x damage.
Potential Distribution: :gallade: :gardevoir: :honchkrow: :mismagius: :porygon-z:
Justification: its like Expert Belt, but ability. can also probably be paired with expert belt for some BIG damage.

more is to come
 
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