Metagame Inverse

in the hills

spreading confusion
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:ss/silvally:
Silvally @ Leftovers
Ability: RKS System
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Multi-Attack
- Swords Dance
- U-turn / Flame Charge
- Toxic
uhh so yeah... don't know how nobody has used this yet because actually have no clue how to defensively check this atm. +2 Multi Attack is all the coverage you need so your other two slots are super free. Toxic hits Avalugg and puts it on a timer really easily when paired with U-turn because it allows Silvally to gain just insane momentum vs it. Flame Charge is another option if you wanna aim more towards sweeping, though I'd just stick to U-turn personally. Ice Beam is another super niche option over Toxic to hit lugg for actual damage but I wouldn't recommend it. +2 Multi Attack is insanely strong with no resists and Silvally has solid enough bulk to live most hits. Offensive Ghosts like Dragapult and Blace can annoy this, Zeraora can annoy with Plasma Fists, and you don't want to get Toxiced yourself, but I'm genuinely just at a loss as to how this isn't like an A rank or higher mon atm.
 
Ok so I'm new here but I've been participating in ladder, Kept getting around 1300 elo with 68.5 GXE currently. At least 50 games under my belt
Anyway there's one thing I noticed in particular:
1619955614076.png

Holy cow Regidrago is a monster. Much like it's brother Regieleki, it's a pokemon that had the one immunity to it snipped by Inverse mechanics. With no fairies, you have to pick a dragon and pray. Outrage Dragon Dance what I've seen a lot of because it's not dead weight against offense. Outrage absolutely tears through everything at about +2, which can be arranged by screen shenanigans and it's own gigantic substitutes. It can even run Draco on physical sets to nab a free Avalugg kill, since you're never not clicking Outrage as a physical move anyway. The fangs do negligible damage, at least, not enough to warrant running when Resisted Dragon moves can do 50+ anyway. Of course, if screens DD isn't your cup of tea, you can also try choiced button clickers. Specs in particular has a staggering 0 switchins, as it rips the pink blobs in half.
252+ SpA Choice Specs Dragon's Maw Regidrago Dragon Energy (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Blissey: 387-456 (54.2 - 63.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
And Chansey can suffer a 2HKO at the hands of hazards since it can't wear the boots like Blissey
252+ SpA Choice Specs Dragon's Maw Regidrago Dragon Energy (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Chansey: 322-379 (45.7 - 53.8%) -- 44.5% chance to 2HKO
I guess you can use like, Goodra if you're desperate. But even that takes like a 3rd on a mon with little recovery to speak of.
I'm surprised not to see it on the VR, I saw a good lot of it on ladder and it seems very strong. It can circumvent a lot of it's counterplay with brute force alone and there's rarely a game I open up and say "Drago doesn't do anything here." At least put this thing on the VR if you aren't gonna quickban it, it hits like a nuclear warhead filled with smaller nuclear warheads. If you're having trouble with fat, slot a Drago, click buttons, have a good time.
 
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Wait you can just use this right? It traps a bunch of defensive mons (and some offensive ones) and then just sets up and sweeps.

Gothitelle @ Leftovers
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Cosmic Power
- Rest
- Stored Power
- Nasty Plot / Sleep Talk / Taunt

Shadow Tag is not banned. Sleep Talk allows more setting up while asleep, whereas Nasty Plot gives Stored Power a big boost. Taunt gets stuff like Teleport Blissey and Leech Seed and whatnot. I guess you could also use CM instead of Nasty Plot, but not much point as you are boosting defenses first. I think it's better to run PhysDef on this as you can set up on more things but SpDef is also an option.
 
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OM

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Wait you can just use this right? It traps a bunch of defensive mons (and some offensive ones) and then just sets up and sweeps.

Gothitelle @ Leftovers
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Cosmic Power
- Rest
- Stored Power
- Nasty Plot / Sleep Talk / Taunt

Shadow Tag is not banned. Sleep Talk allows more setting up while asleep, whereas Nasty Plot gives Stored Power a big boost. Taunt gets stuff like Teleport Blissey and Leech Seed and whatnot. I guess you could also use CM instead of Nasty Plot, but not much point as you are boosting defenses first. I think it's better to run PhysDef on this as you can set up on more things but SpDef is also an option.
Affirming that all of Shadow Tag, Arena Trap, Power Construct, Moody and Baton Pass are banned.
 
Thanks! It's not implemented on ladder (I swept several teams with Goth), and the ban wasn't there in the post until just now (unless I missed it), so I wasn't sure. Anyway just a reminder that it needs to be implemented on the ladder.

Stored Power mono-attacker (with Reuniclus, say, and with screens support) still looks to be more viable than in standard, since Psychic is better offensively and defensively here and there are no immunities.
 
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Fc

Waiting for something to happen?
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Really glad inverse got a ladder this month, and pretty early on it's been fun trying out a lot of new stuff consistently. Just wanna drop some early thoughts as well as a sample submission / team showcase of what I've been liking recently built around this vr nom:
Echoing this for the most part, idk if A rank yet is the play with fast ghosts and futureport bro being fairly common, but this mon is solid. Toxic on physical mons is really nice in this meta and it's a strong breaker, so I think it's a really good partner for a lot of picks.

I've been really liking Cinderace in this meta, and think it's clearly one of the best mons rn. Scarf has few switch ins and is an incredible pivot, with sturdy Fire resists being fairly uncommon outside of the top ice mons which you can apply easy pressure to. I could honestly see Cinderace being even higher on the vr, but for now it's a really solid A rank pick. On the topic of A ranks, Rhyperior is really fun to use rn also. SD rocks is really solid, being strong enough to easily boost past Avalugg which can't do much back. Good Ice resists are hard to come by and Lightning Rod really helps against Zeraora, so I think it's a really fun mon.

Team:

:Silvally: :rhyperior: :blissey: :cinderace: :tornadus-therian: :toxapex:
Laddered up to 1400 in the first few days using this with minimal troubles against most teams, so I just wanted to showcase it a bit. I wanted to build around both Silvally and Cinderace, since normal / fire mons offensively are amazing with Toxic support for Avalugg on Silvally. Rhyperior is amazing for rocks and being an Electric switch in that also takes on waters and grasses and can apply even more pressure to bro / avalugg with the physical core. Blissey is standard special check, taking on most things on the special side, even pressuring Blacephalon and Dragapult since Shadow Ball won't 2HKO especially with pex to pivot around. Cinderace usually puts in the most work, with scarf being insanely hard to switch into and being super good speed control. It revenges Ghosts with U-turn and hits a ton of defensive walls super hard, so I really like it here. Coverage is really solid and with Toxic Silvally doing its thing it works really well. Torn is standard defogger and more reliable rock and ice resist, with defog being quite important for Rhyperior support. Focus Blast helps a lot against things like Buzzwole and Slowbro, while the rest is just a standard supporting moveset. The team originally had something else > Toxapex but struggled hard with Snorlax, so I threw on Haze Toxic pex since ideally that with other mons to boost through it while sleeping it can be taken down. Originally was tspikes and maybe can be switched around but Toxic is more useful there on paper.

I'll probably be dropping more thoughts near the end of the ladder since there's still so much more to try out with me only getting in a few games mostly with this team above, but I've been having a lot of fun with it so far. I think there's a ton you have to watch out for when building and a lot of things that just naturally are hard to deal with like normals and ghosts, but there's still a lot to explore with the meta seeing as I think Silvally already is an UR mon that easily can prove itself to be a ton better.
 
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OM

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is a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
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OM

It's a starstruck world
is a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Inverse Post-Ladder Update

With the end of May, Inverse saw 14k plays and a lot of mons shift into the forefront! Pokemon like Zeraora and Blissey stayed strong, but mons such as Avalugg, Mamoswine, Cloyster, Obstagoon and Porygon2 saw a lot more use! Check out more stats here.

Furthermore, with the end of the ladder season, Inverse Council has noted problematic metagame elements and have quickbanned Cinderace, Regidrago and King's Rock from the metagame due to Cinderace's and Regidragos incredibly wallbreaking capability and lack of checks, and King's Rock's inherent competitiveness (By extension, Razor Fang will be banned once it returns to us).



OM: Regidrago and Cinderace are incredibly restrictive on the teambuilder, with both having very limited checks / counters and being able to take out a huge portion of the metagame as a result. King's rock is just plain uncompetitive cloyster w/ it is hell omg
ITH: N/A
Ax: Rock should be banned in every meta lol


From here, we'll be working on resource updates and looking at what may / may not become broken with these absences. If you have any VR noms you'd like to make, feel free to post them!​
 

Mossy Sandwich

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Been having trouble using the code to activate inverse battles. Its a little different from the one posted in OP
The format is currently available as challenge only on PS if you don't want to use the challenge code. Also, if you're using the challenge code, make sure to remove the player's name if you're using the command while in that player's PM box.
 

OM

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Inverse Post-OMSL Update

For this round of updates, we decided it would be best to add one of our most passionate players to our council to help keep decisions surrounding Inverse fresh & relevant to the current metagame. As such, I'd like to congratulate Mossy Sandwich for joining the Inverse Council!

Furthermore, after a fairly riveting tournament, the inverse council has decided to take a look at a few pokemon, Kyurem-N and Reuniclus. These bulky setup pokemon are some of the strongest offensive sweepers in the metagame, and their archetype plague many OMs this generation.

With Kyurem able to pick between two sets (Specs & DDSubRoost) and destroy the other's checks and counters, games can become a coinflip of "can I predict the right set or do I just lose?". Meanwhile, Reuniclus abuses the strength psychic types earn in this tier to quickly become untouchable. As such, both pokemon are now quickbanned from the format.

1637276841712.png


OM: Both are fairly bulky pokemon that find it really easy to create and abuse setup opportunities that can easily snowball out of the way. This type of bulky setup pokemon has been a consistent problem in most of gen 8, and have proven to be incredibly problematic during this tournament.
Mossy Sandwich: DDance+Sub+Roost Kyurem may struggle to beat certain grass and ground types, but Specs demolishes them. Specs can be checked by things like Glowking or Blissey, but Sub/Roost can be difficult for them to deal with. Main issue is that there's no real overlap between its checks and assuming the wrong set can lead to losing a mon at best and losing the game at worst. The main issue with Reuniclus and most psychics in the format is the lack of good defensive Poison or Fighting types to check them. Virizion is the only decent bulky fighting type that can check it and the only good poison types that can deal with it are Haze Toxapex/Glowking. It also can just run mono psychic stab and dedicate a moveslot to setting up more easily with moves such as Acid Armor.


Furthermore, we'd like to open the floor to any VR nominations or current sample teams players may have!!
 
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sin(pi)

lucky n bad
:tyke:

I've played exactly 6 games of competitive Pokémon since my last post over 3 years ago, but Inverse was always going to get me interested. I don't have too much insight into the meta right now for obvious reasons. That said, I did notice both Blissey and Avalugg very high up the rankings, and I imagine that a lot of people might gravitate towards those mons as an obvious level 0 - so I wanted to offer some counterplay. Paraphrasing myself from here and removing (most of) the bits that no longer apply:

Chanslugg is an incredible defensive core against people who are unprepared, and it's even pretty good against more experienced players. I'd compare it to something like ADV SkarmBliss. But it is very, very passive, to the point where I'd want to see it across from me at team preview, simply for the autowin. Stuff which can handle the core (ranging from complete counters, to stuff which cripples one/both) includes:
-other 101HP subs eg SubToxic Kyurem
-DD + Ice Beam Dragonite (possibly even SubRoost)
-Shell Smash Cloyster
-Koff on special attackers
-other mixed attackers
-Blacephalon
-SD (or even DD) Haxorus
-SD + Ice type move (eg Feraligatr)
-random Toxics on physical attackers + pressure
-Taunt (especially with recovery)
-most dedicated stallbreakers eg Stallbreaker Mew, Taunt Gliscor
-Tangrowth
-Voltturn
-CM+SP Espeon
-Snorlax (why is this still legal yikes)

As you can see, things which avoid passive damage (through Taunt/Sub/ability), Taunt in general, mixed attackers, Knock Off, and powerful setup attackers, all apply immense pressure on the Chanslugg user; as do the standard tactics of keeping up momentum, and dealing residual damage through hazards/Toxic etc. I haven't even touched on most Gen 7 things (Z moves!) but I'd imagine things like (Taunt) Koko handle both fairly well as well.

They're certainly not bad by any means, but they aren't the be-all end-all that people may believe them to be.
The main point is that they're both pretty passive, and while you do need to prepare for them, they're very exploitable if you know what you're doing. Body Press goes some way towards alleviating that admittedly, but not to an insane degree, and you probably can't run it alongside a STAB (it already wants Recover/Toxic/Roar/Spin). P2 is great though. Run P2.

Excited to be brewing up some teams and battling with everyone again! :toast:

tl;dr cute but washed player offers outdated advice
 

Arkeis

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I've done a lot of Inverse battling last month and this has been my most consistent team, topping the ladder at #1.


https://pokepast.es/273930093bc445e6

Froslass usually leads with Taunt stopping most setup of hazards and screens while she sets up Spikes, scares Avalugg with Ice Beam, and Destiny Bonds when she's done her job. Then we have the Chanslugg core which needs no explanation. Rhyperior handles a lot of threats, most especially Arctozolt and Arctovish. The Stealth Rock weakness is a bit annoying since Avalugg doesn't always have the opportunity to spin, so I gave it boots. Nihilego absorbs Toxic Spikes and is a decent check to Tapu Lele and Indeedee, plus it gives this team some actual firepower. And finally there's Comfey as a revenge killer since a lot of things in Inverse are weak to Fairy or Grass. Dazzling Gleam is its fourth move in case Psychic Terrain is active and its just stronger against slower opponents like Slowbro and Toxapex.
 
I should have posted this a long time ago, but FINALLY after countless procrastinations I've done the job.
Inverse is definitely very enjoyable, a type chart reversal gives a lot of Pokemon new life that you may not expect. This includes Ice- and Normal-types that would never see the light of day in OU such as :Glastrier: and :Indeedee:. However, I see a lot of common mistakes and struggles that new players face judging from my experiences spectating. So I made this post hoping to offer my insights on what you need to keep in mind while playing and also address the issues in the current meta.

General meta thoughts
Overall, it's apparent that Hail is the strongest team style, and weathers in general are pretty oppressive, leaving other teamstyles rather unappealing due to how strong they are. That's not to say they aren't usable, it's just harder to find something that works while also having weather teams in mind. Balance and BO are definitely easier to build around, however I'd say Stall is also viable as well. HO can also have Web and Screen variants, I'll go into details later, but overall I'd say Weather > Balance = BO > HO > Stall > Other.

Teamstyles
Hail has 2 main abusers: :Arctozolt: and :Arctovish:. The setters variety is also pretty big, with :Ninetales-Alola:, :Abomasnow:, :Aurorus: and :vanilluxe: usable, although the former is still preferred by most thanks to its ability to set Veil with 109 Speed. Abomasnow gets some key advantages against numerous Flying-types like :Tornadus-Therian: that give Hail troubles. Aurorus has good matchup against Scarf :Urshifu-Rapid-Strike:, resists :Rhyperior: dual STAB and can also act as a Rocker. Vanilluxe has the worst utility overall, its redeeming quality however is its ability to explode to bring a hail abuser in safely, however if you face an opposing weather this makes it worse. Arctozolt and Arctovish's biggest selling points are their ability to break past a lot of walls, with Arctozolt mainly struggles against Flying-types while Arctovish can have problems with Ground-types, and both have all their STABs resisted by Rhyperior. Despite saying that, it's not like they just fold to those Pokemon. Arctozolt has Stomping Tantrum for Flying and Hyper Voice for Rhyperior while Arctovish can tech Meteor Beam or Body Slam. Arctovish becomes easy to improof because of that since you only need to have a Ground and something that resists Meteor Beam like Torn-T. Speaking of Torn-T, it also is a decent improof to Arctozolt since without LO Arctozolt is rather unimpressive and can run Eject Button as well. Other Flying like :Mandibuzz: and :Articuno: are also good improofs, however the Arcto don't necessarily demand hazard removal so they might be somewhat awkward. Hail doesn't need to worry about random Sash so hazards are not mandatory either but Spikes can help. Full Hail is pretty standard in structures with only like 1 flexible slot but I don't know how a Semi Hail build might work (Probably not as good).
Rain is only slightly behind if not on the level of Hail, its unique upside is the primary rain setter in :Pelipper: has pivot itself so you don't have to resort to Eject Button to bring the abusers in. It can even be better than Hail in some situations. It also a more variety of rain sweepers, although I believe :Barraskewda: and :Seismitoad: are the most consistent breakers, although :Kingdra: is also not bad. Barraskewda can Flip Turn on physical walls that it can't 2HKO, with Poison Jab as its main coverage for Ground/Rock; Seismitoad is sorta weird in that it has to go mixed to truly break, but it can also use Knock Off to break :Chansey: with Liquidation after; Kingdra is similar to Barra but special, do note that Aqua Jet (from Banded Urshifu-R mainly) scares most rain abusers. It's also fairly easy and efficient to improof rain with :Cradily: and :Mantine: while you can still opt for other options such as :Vaporeon: and :Maractus:. Cradily and Maractus also help against Sun matchup as well which can be rough, in addition to providing hazards which rain needs more than Hail. Rain is also noticably more vulnerable to entry hazards, and Pelipper is kinda awkward because you usually don't want to stay in with it so another hazard control like Mantine is advised (Or a more offense team can forgo it but it can be tricky against more defensive builds). I have not explored potential rain abusers without Swift Swim yet, but :heliolisk:,:toxicroak: and :Jynx: might find some uses as well.
Sun is a step down from Hail and Rain, however it does have a very good abuser in :Venusaur:. After that though, it's more suited to other stuffs as full sun is not very optimal. Setter is basically :torkoal:, which also doubles down as hazard control. Sun is pretty weak against Thwackey, in addition to Venusaur being tricky to improof makes it tough to use. You can go for AV Sap Sipper :Bouffalant: or blobs but you kinda need a lot of boosts to beat them so if you face Blob + :Ditto: you are kinda walled. :Shiftry: can utilize sun as well but I have mostly seen Venusaur so can't say much. Other Chlorophyll like :Leafeon: and :Exeggutor: might be decent as well, if someone can try them out I'd like to see them in action. :heliolisk: and :charizard: also become insanely strong, even though my sun build with Charizard didn't work out as well as I thought due to difficulty switching in (It can Weather Ball to delete most attempts to change weather at least, oh and 2HKO Blissey with Weather Ball in Sun). If you want to improof Zard I'd say Cloud Nine Pokemon like Lickilicky. Besides that, your other Pokemon can be flexible due to Torkoal doing all the important jobs.
Sand is pretty awkward to use since the main breaker :dracozolt: is banned. It's definitely the worst weather due to that. Add to the fact that all other sand abusers can't really break :Avalugg: efficiently and it's easy to see how it can lack breaking power. What salvages it from being completely outclassed by other weathers is the fact that the two Sand setters, :tyranitar: and :hippowdon: are very viable by themselves. Tyranitar can also tech Ice Beam to 2HKO Table as well as potentially running an offensive set. Hippo can 1v1 all Lugg variants without Toxic if it has Toxic itself and also beatS most Defoggers with EQ, making Sand able to play the long game well with sand chip + Rock. :excadrill: and :Stoutland: are probably the only viable sand abusers. Excadrill can just go with its usual set, albeit having to go with Boots limits it a fair share. From the Inverse tour Semi, seems like me and Career Ended both came to the same conclusion that Stoutland should go with Last Resort and Metronome/Silk Scarf, which also improofs itself. Besides that, you can just throw in something to deal with Poison, usually Avalugg to also improof. Semi sand is definitely more viable, full sand sucks without Zolt so you can round out the team with whatever you want.
Most balance teams I see use Blisslugg, which, while not bad by any mean, is exploitable. As such, your defensive core shouldn't be only these, you can add an additional Pokemon like :Articuno: / :Celebi: / :Mandibuzz: to shore up the weather matchup and other threats like :Weavile: that Blisslugg can't really deal with by themselves. Other than Blisslugg, other cores like Articuno + Slowbro also works pretty well. Besides that, there are a lot of offensive threats that are easily slapped on most balance teams, ranging from Weavile and Zeraora to Blacephalon and Tornadus-T. Balance teams can struggle to get an entry hazard setter though (Don't use Rock Bliss), you can always slap a Rhyperior or Mamo but do keep in mind your team might lack offensive presence if you try to prepare to too many threats, and most Ground can't exactly pivot so you are often better with Landorus-T as rocker. Try to keep in mind weather speed tiers as well to choose the speed control (if it can't outspeed you have to be able to answer defensively).
:Rhyperior: is probably the most important piece that holds BO together. Between kinda being able to deal with Hail and provide a switch-in to Choice locked threats, the only thing that scares Rhyperior is random Normal + Poison coverage. :Snorlax: is also an excellent wincon for BO and pretty much most teams more or less. :glastrier: saw a lot of plays as well, being able to 1v1 a significant portion of the meta and can even take an Ice attack when needed. :Urshifu-Rapid-Strike:, :Zeraora: and :Mamoswine: also have good defensive utility, making BO less passive than balance. Most hazard control is usually Lando-T + Thundurus-T. Another key piece is :Nihilego:, which acts well as a special wincon against more offensive teams. BO in general is more versatile than balance (or might be because all balance run Blisslugg), however depending on which weather abuser it faces it might have to sac mons often and rely on offensive pressure to prevent the abusers in. Otherwise, running Ditto on BO is not bad either to provide a safety net.
There are 2 main HO archetypes, Screens and Web. Screens usually use :ninetales-alola: or :grimmsnarl:. Ninetales-A, despite its ability to set both screens simultaneously, is actually less preferred due to the fact that weather is everywhere, which means that Hail is easily overridden by other weathers, or even worse, your opponent sends out Arctozolt and gets free kills. Grimmsnarl is more annoyed by the fact that it completely folds to Knock Off, especially from Mandibuzz and Tornadus-T, which really makes it hard to directly switch into the offensive Pokemon. Offensive users on Screens have some variation. This includes most Shell Smashers, especially :cloyster: and :polteageist:. Bulk Up :Zeraora: and :Weavile: are also pretty popular. Common special attackers are CM :tapu lele:, Meteor Beam :Nihilego: and NP :Tornadus-Therian:, with Lele also act as priority block.There are other Pokemon you can add depending on which matchup you want to strengthen, such as :moltres-galar: and :comfey:.
Web is a bit fishy due to relying on being able to keep Web, but :Galvantula: threatens pretty much all Defoggers and Spinners, which makes it more reliable than :Ribombee: (Ribombee misses out on Tsareena, Hydreigon and Lati). Shuckle can work, but the fact that any Spinner can just mindlessly spam Spin against it makes it wildly inconsistent. Beyond setters, Indeedee is essential to block priority and nuke teams itself. Then you have slow breakers like :mamoswine:, Lati, Gapdos and Obstagoon. Gapdos provides Defog deterrent, so you can also fit Zeraora for Speed control against Flying and pseudo Normal immunity. Cloyster can also abuse Avalugg without Ice move to get a free Smash. Web allows fast Pokemon to outpace weather, so stuffs like Blace can run Specs instead of Scarf. Remember to have something against common Web immunity though, including Boots mons like Zeraora and Torn-T.
I don't think Stall is particularly good, the only reason someone collected free wins with it on ladder was because nobody improofed properly, which made them prone to getting swept if they ever set up. Basically, there are too many things you need to prepare for if you want to wall everything: All weather abusers, :Snorlax:, :Mamoswine:, Psyspam, etc. The team on the ladder wasn't even a good one, noticeably weak to most well improofed teams, especially weak to Psyspam, and relied on :Avalugg: as the only spinner. However, it's really hard to truly fit another hazard remover without making noticeable flaws elsewhere. Blisslugg is the starter for Stall, from there you add Ice checks, Psyspam answer, Ghost answer, setup deterrent (usually :Ditto:). Ice-types have different answers though, which is why I think there's one slot too few to make an effective Stall team.
Psyspam is pretty matchup dependent. It has good matchup against Hail with Scarf :Indeedee:/:Tapu Lele: but bad matchup against other weathers, and does ok against non-weather so long as they don't bring another Terrain or a team that has great Speed control, as it's hard to fit an actual Psychic answer. It should be favored against Stall with proper improof. Psyspam's team structure should be similar, Indeedee + Lele, then abuser like :Victini: and :Alakazam: and finally 3 mons to improof, deal with Fighting and utility.
Trick Room is rather odd, as it needs ways to break Blisslugg. :Marowak-Alola: fails to beat common Ice-types if they switch in as a teammate pivots out, which means besides :Glastrier: as an obvious staple, you need to innovate. Mixed :Crawdaunt: is a pretty nifty tool to smack Avalugg with Surf, but admittedly there are not many good options. Setters are similar to normal tiers, with :Slowbro:, :Porygon2:, :Carbink: and :Cresselia: as the best imo.
Elecspam and Grass spam are sadly dwarfed by other playstyles. Elecspam's staples in :Xurkitree: and :Raichu-A: are pretty helpless against :Rhyperior:, and also struggle against :Zeraora: to some extent, making them annoying to build with. Other Pokemon you can build with is pretty much just :Hawlucha: which isn't the best to break defense core. For Grass spam you use :Tapu Bulu:/:Thwackey: and then the best Grass spam team I saw use mixed :Tangrowth: and :Dhelmise: but it still really struggled to break efficiently and is annoying to improof. You are probably better off with Psyspam because Psychic resistance is much rarer than Grass and Electric.
Meta actions I'd like to see: I think Hail is too restricting right now. There are a lot of possible actions here, but the most applicable are:
1. Ban Arctozolt
2. Ban Slush Rush
3. Ban Icy Rock
Arctozolt is clearly an outlier, so banning it seems simple. After it's gone though, Hail is likely to be dead. Arctovish might still be able to tear through teams, and Beartic/Sandslash-A while not as good might still fill its place well enough, but they are not really impactful enough. Banning Slush Rush seems really even more overkill imo, as Hail is already limited in its usage as is (HO Veil and Slush Rush). I'm leaning towards banning Icy Rock, as the lack of pivots of Hail setters can make bringing the abusers awkward at times, and if the duration is shortened, bringing in something like Slowbro to Teleport out will drain almost all turns, making it way easier to deal with without completely killing the archetype.

And second, I'd like to see Dialga unbanned. Theoretically, I'd say it would be in an awkward spot where its typing is too bad to be a defensive Pokemon while being too slow for an offensive Pokemon and without any priority to make up for it. I theorize that this is its best set:
:ss/Dialga:
Dialga @ Adamant Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Rash Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock / Ice Beam

So a mixed attacker that struggles between getting all coverage options and Stealth Rock, but this is good enough. 2HKO Chansey after Rock while dealing massive damage to lots of stuffs, but sadly fold to most offensive Pokemon. Other sets like Scarf and Specs can be used as well but I think other Pokemon can do the job better, especially since Choice can't touch blobs at all. Sub Bulk Up with Heavy Slam and Dragon Tail might be funny as well since you phaze Avalugg before it does and deals neutral damage to most Pokemon. Overall not something I see as broken or even strong.

After this, I'd like to see Snorlax on the chopping block (I know it's kinda too late into the gen now though), it's kind of dwarfed by the fact that Hail is too broken, but Snorlax is pretty unhealthy, constantly forcing pressure, otherwise it can just Curse once and take over. Besides Zeraora, counterplays like Taunt, Electric/Misty Terrain all mean you risk a turn getting hit by a boosted Body Slam, and even Zeraora risks losing to mindgames. Only needing Body Slam reduces all the need to run Darkest Lariat to hit Ghosts in normal tiers, and add to the fact that Ghost who can hit Snorlax are OHKOed by Body Slam, it makes it quite painful to deal with.

My personal VR
This VR consists of most Pokemon I have seen, used and also theorycrafted. (Yes, I rank Pokemon within their subrank as well to make it as accurate as possible)
S
You have to prepare for these 3, otherwise they can and will decimate your team. Arctozolt's expansive mixed movepool, Mamoswine's ability to beat common physical walls and Snorlax's ability to steal the game after just 1-2 Curse are all very threatening. Arctozolt is easier to prep but is much harder to easily wear down in game without compromising too much. Banded Mamo is the best set imo, however AV and Rock are also good, its ability to check Hail and Rain is very appreciated, as well as its utility in general. Snorlax is extremely predictable, but it's very effective and pretty polarizing.
:Arctozolt: Arctozolt
:Mamoswine: Mamoswine
:Snorlax: Snorlax
A+
These are all very strong, however they just don't straight up decide games like the above. Rhyperior is definitely up there as one of the most influential, however its lack of recovery and reliance on Boots keeps it from S rank, in addition to the ability of S rank Pokemon to fit a Normal move to give it a bad day, and the need to switch into Knock from Zeraora and the likes further dampens its longevity unlike Mamoswine. Speaking of Zeraora, it's still a good speed control, however getting outsped by Positive nature weather abusers hurts it a bit, but it can check the S rank somewhat. Its 4mss is still big though and it's at risk of getting chipped without being able to switch into any thing except Electric move. Weavile is pretty insane. Its strong Knock Off combined with the potential to OHKO Avalugg with LO/Never Melt Ice at +2 with Triple Axel are no joke, and its Ice Shard is handy to deal with Hail and Rain abusers alike. Articuno is your good old trusty Hail answer, in addition to others like Zeraora check. However, against other weathers, it's limited and can be prone to getting chipped down. Arctovish is the second Hail abuser, which can break some Pokemon Arctozolt struggles with, in particular Flying-type and Zeraora. Torn-T and Blissey do what they usually do so not much to say. Alakazam takes advantage of the tier's lack of good Psychic answers to the fullest, with LO and Psychic/Psyshock breaking through most Pokemon. All the techs like Sash+Recover and NP to improof itself against more defensive builds, Counter and coverage in Energy Ball/Focus Blast add more unpredictability, making it even tougher to answer defensively, especially if it's used in Psyspam.
:Rhyperior: Rhyperior
:Zeraora: Zeraora
:Weavile:Weavile
:Articuno:Articuno
:Arctovish:Arctovish
:Tornadus-Therian:Tornadus-T
:Alakazam:Alakazam
:Blissey:Blissey
A
These all have some weaknesses that are problematic. Nihilego is the best Psychic check, can set hazards and is a decent Scarfer but struggles against many special walls and is mu fishy at times. Avalugg is passive and has a severe 4mss. Urshifu-R loses to most Rock and Ground and can't really click Surging Strikes against Rocky Helmet while not being fast enough. Ninetales-A, Abomasnow and Hippo are both great weather setters but are also rather passive. Glastrier is painfully slow. Ditto depends on whether your opponent actually improofs or not (If more do it should be knocked down in VR). Lele is a bit slow and Scarf can miss several key KOs. Barra has 4mss and is stopped by a lot of Water immunity mons. Zarude is weak to some common attacks and all weathers, but can beat them after some boosts. Mew can do a lot but not anything exceedingly well. They are all great Pokemon though, don't get me wrong, but they are easier to exploit than the above ranks.
:Nihilego:Nihilego
:Avalugg:Avalugg
:Urshifu-Rapid-Strike:Urshifu-R
:Ninetales-Alola:Ninetales-A
:Glastrier:Glastrier
:Ditto:Ditto
:Tapu Lele:Tapu Lele
:Barraskewda:Barraskewda
:Zarude:Zarude
:Abomasnow:Abomasnow
:Hippowdon:Hippowdon
:Mew:Mew
A-
Experimenting with Zapdos made me realize it's an extremely good Scarfer as it can actually punish the most common Electric-immunities in Rhyperior and Zeraora with Hurricane. And because of pivot, it's never bad and also neutral to Hail abusers while outspeeding them. Victini is Victini, but a mixed set is highly dangerous as well, especially if combined with Psyspam. Buzzwole is a decent mon thanks to customizable moveset and being able to beat Chanslugg with Taunt. Latios and Latias check Rhyp and Mamo well, but offense is generally better here. Golisopod might not do much against Lugg without Toxic, but its typing is insanely hard to deal with otherwise considering First Impression. P2 is like blob but with offense. Bewear is a surprise, but its defensive utility is quite insane, I'd recommend looking out for it. Other Pokemon just do the same thing but better thanks to mechanics.
:Zapdos:Zapdos
:Victini:Victini
:Dragapult:Dragapult
:Buzzwole:Buzzwole
:Latios:Latios
:Golisopod:Golisopod
:Landorus-Therian:Landorus-T
:Porygon2:Porygon2
:Pelipper:Pelipper
:Venusaur:Venusaur
:bewear: Bewear
:Tangrowth:Tangrowth
B+
It seems weird to have Gapdos here, but it competes with Zapdos and other Fighting, while also can't beat Lugg and hard to abuse Defiant due to Spin being more common. Cloyster breaks a lot of Lugg due to most dropping Avalanche. Galvantula is the best Webbers imo. Chomper: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8inverse-1603260786. Grimmsnarl competes with Ninetales-A but it's nice in that it fares better against Hail (If you lead with Ninetales-A against Hail they just lead Arcto). Silvally is your favorite Explosion mon to break physical wall. Mandibuzz checks Hail well and can put in work against other weathers as well. Same for Mantine. Cradily is handles most Sun, Rain and Arctozolt, while also having Rock and dealing with multiple Fighting. Froslass is your Blisslugg answer which can also work as lead. Protect Scolipede acts as both a lead and emergency speed control when needed, only outpaced by some positive nature weather abusers.
:Zapdos-Galar:Zapdos-G
:Cloyster:Cloyster
:Galvantula:Galvantula
:Garchomp:Garchomp
:Indeedee:Indeedee
:Obstagoon:Obstagoon
:Grimmsnarl:Grimmsnarl
:Silvally:Silvally
:mandibuzz: Mandibuzz
:Mantine:Mantine
:Cradily:Cradily
:Froslass:Froslass
:Volcanion:Volcanion
:Scolipede:Scolipede
:Slowbro:Slowbro
:Gengar:Gengar
:Volcarona:Volcarona
B
Most of these have a defined role (weather, HO, etc). Piloswine is a more defensive Mamo that can be better in some matchups. Ninjask is a staple if you build around pivot spam. Whimsicott: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8inverse-1602693074. Espeon can steal a lot of matchup thanks to its ability to effortlessly set up on blobs. Slowking-G is sadly a fake Psychic check considering Zam runs Focus Blast/Energy Ball and even Psyshock but it's better against weather compared to regular Kanto forme. Koko's low damage is extremely annoying, unable to KO most mons, hence its spot in the bottom of B. Blace isn't necessarily bad, it's just worse than other Ghosts (Gengar and Dragapult).
:polteageist: Polteageist
:Suicune:Suicune
:Piloswine:Piloswine
:Torkoal:Torkoal
:Seismitoad:Seismitoad
:Ninjask:Ninjask
:ribombee: Ribombee
:Jynx:Jynx
:Tyranitar:Tyranitar
:Whimsicott:Whimsicott
:Aurorus:Aurorus
:Moltres-Galar:Moltres-G
:Latias:Latias
:Frosmoth:Frosmoth
:Hydreigon:Hydreigon
:Dragonite:Dragonite
:arcanine: Arcanine
:Espeon:Espeon
:Slowking-Galar:Slowking-G
:Tapu Koko:Tapu Koko
:Blacephalon:Blacephalon
B-
These can do something that above Pokemon may not be able to, but usually not enough to really stand out. Slowking seems like it's fantastic, however being weak to all weather abusers is a significant downside for a defensive Pokemon. Noivern frequently lacks power, while physically offensive Fire generally are undesirable due to Lugg. Kommo-O is the BEST Psyspam counter, but most of the time it should stick to Clangorous Soul. Crobat is your role compression, Defog + Speed control + Psychic check + can take a hit from Arctozolt. Nidoking is a decent Scarfer as well. Tauros has good speed tier and utilize SFLO well, but having to run inaccurate moves like Iron Tail and Blizzard to beat stuffs like Slowbro and Avalugg is a let down. Azelf is your suicide lead, Necrozma can be quite a dangerous wincon with double dance. Mr.Rime was very annoying when I faced it, what makes it different from Jynx is its defensive potential and Slack Off. Starmie is pretty neat, it outlasts blobs with Pain Split and has spin as well. Azu can break Lugg at +6 with Ice Punch. Mienshao is a pretty good Psychic check, best set imo is AV.
:Slowking:Slowking
:noivern: Noivern
:Entei:Entei
:Chansey:Chansey
:Kommo-o:Kommo-o
:Crobat:Crobat
:Thwackey:Thwackey
:vaporeon: Vaporeon
:Marowak:Marowak
:Nidoking:Nidoking
:incineroar:Incineroar
:Tauros:Tauros
:Azelf:Azelf
:Necrozma:Necrozma
:Hitmontop:Hitmontop
:Hawlucha:Hawlucha
:Mr. Rime:Mr. Rime
:Starmie:Starmie
:Azumarill:Azumarill
:Tapu Bulu:Tapu Bulu
:Coalossal:Coalossal
:Toxapex:Toxapex
:Mienshao:Mienshao
C+
Crawdaunt and Marowak-A are the flagships of TR, this ranking reflects TR viability since Marowak-A can't really get past Lugg due to weakness to all its attacks. The rest do pretty similar to normal tiers, I will highlight some more unusual stuffs: Decidueye is a decent mixed attacker, with Poltergeist + Leaf Storm helps it overcome Blisslugg with ease. Accelgor can use Sub + Throat Spray and become a deadly cleaner sometimes. Krookodile faces competition from other Ground but Intimidate gives it some niches. Rhydon is much worse than Piloswine due to its weakness to Rock. Kabutops has a lot of utility, between being able to check Urshifu-R thanks to Battle Armor, Flip Turn, Spin, Knock, Aqua Jet, it can bring a lot to the team. Drifblim's best set is Seed + SubCM and Shadow Ball, letting it threaten even blobs with enough boosts.
:Crawdaunt:Crawdaunt
:Marowak-Alola:Marowak-A
:Scyther:Scyther
:raichu-alola: Raichu-A
:Gastrodon:Gastrodon
:Celebi:Celebi
:Decidueye:Decidueye
:Accelgor:Accelgor
:Conkeldurr:Conkeldurr
:Krookodile:Krookodile
:Melmetal:Melmetal
:Barbaracle:Barbaracle
:Thundurus-Therian:Thundurus-T
:Rhydon:Rhydon
:Tsareena:Tsareena
:Comfey:Comfey
:Excadrill:Excadrill
:Blaziken:Blaziken
:Kabutops:Kabutops
:drifblim: Drifblim
:Stoutland:Stoutland
:Clefable:Clefable
:xurkitree: Xurkitree
C
While these can be useful, they show to be not as good in practice. Quag only fits in dedicated stall and is still easy to wear down. Shuckle just loses to any Spinner, Cress is painfully weak without any boost. Charizard looks nice but after using it, it really struggles to switch in and more offensive builds make it a let down at times compared to Chlorophyll users. Hatterene is a TR setter but TR isn't good right now. Keldeo isn't too bad but you want Urshifu-R most of the time. Fini and Mag are your bulky setup but Fairy is just a terrible typing. Scizor only is on the VR because of most teams' neglect to Steel weakness, which a lot of them naturally have by using Ice-types anyway.
:quagsire: Quagsire
:shuckle: Shuckle
:cresselia: Cresselia
:charizard: Charizard
:Hatterene:Hatterene
:linoone: Linoone
:pikachu: Pikachu
:exploud: Exploud
:keldeo:Keldeo
:Tapu Fini:Tapu Fini
:Magearna:Magearna
:eldegoss: Eldegoss
:Terrakion:Terrakion
:xatu: Xatu
:scizor: Scizor
:toxtricity: Toxtricity
:kingdra: Kingdra
:mimikyu:Mimikyu
:armaldo: Armaldo
:vanilluxe: Vanilluxe
C-
This tier basically includes experimental Pokemon, Pokemon that can only do one thing or just those that I think are not too bad but don't want to rate higher due to not enough games. Shiftry is sun abuser, Cursola is TR abuser, Sceptile can be used in terrain, Bouffalant, Maractus and Walrein are weather improofs, Regigigas in theory is good with SubTect Body Slam Toxic.
:vespiquen: Vespiquen
:shiftry: Shiftry
:Lycanroc-Dusk: Lycanroc-Dusk
:sirfetchd: Sirfetch'd
:cursola: Cursola
:sceptile: Sceptile
:cryogonal: Cryogonal
:lilligant: Lilligant
:bouffalant: Bouffalant
:maractus: Maractus
:walrein: Walrein
:malamar: Malamar
:regigigas: Regigigas
:shedinja: Shedinja
:swoobat: Swoobat
:wigglytuff: Wigglytuff

Chanslugg/Blisslugg ubiquity and how to deal with them
If you ladder Inverse, you will probably face this core like every other game, that's how common they are. For new players, they are definitely frustrating to face since they can blank a lot of threats. Overall though, I'd say experienced players are in the same boat of them being overrated.
But first, let's look at them and compare them to gen 7.
:ss/Blissey: :ss/Avalugg:
How good are they compared to gen 7? Besides the indirect factors such as dexit, new threats, etc, they received a massive buff.
1. Body Press
While previously having to rely on Avalanche for damage, which is weak and allows Pokemon like Celebi and even those it hits SE like Toxapex to freely come in. Body Press OHKOs many common Pokemon like Torn-T, and considering it can still run Avalanche (or Icicle Spear), the number of Pokemon that can switch into it safely without scouting decreases. As such, trying to take advantage of its passivity by hard switching becomes less reliable. It can even combo it with Iron Defense, which lets it beat setup sweepers like Buzzwole.
2. Heavy-Duty Boots
Constant pivots combined with entry hazards can still weaken this core, however with HDB in the equation, it's much harder to wear them down, and since Blissey can still actually take physical hits, they just click Soft-boiled against most attackers, making entry hazards not as effective and why Blissey is preferred over Chansey as without direct pivot attacks, you really struggle to chip it.
3. Teleport
Teleport buff turned blobs from momentum drain to momentum generator, and is without a doubt the biggest part why balance can be on the offense instead of just staying on the back foot against more offensive builds. This means setting up is not as effective a method as gen 7, since it can just go to something that can deal with your Pokemon.
Of course, that's not to say they are unbreakable, many of their weaknesses still remain. Avalugg, especially, is much more exploitable, so I'll talk about it first. While it has the freedom of using Leftovers or Rocky Helmet, it still risks getting chipped down by Toxic, and especially Volt Switch from Zeraora invalidates it as a check. U-turn and Flip Turn aren't reliable enough since Helmet will deal more. Then Avalugg gets the biggest 4mss in the entire metagame. Struggling to fit Spin, Body Press, Ice STAB, Toxic, Iron Defense and Roar in 3 moveslots, once its moveset is revealed, it becomes easy to deal with. Non Toxic and Roar variants lose to bulky setup with recovery. Setup Ice-types break it without Ice STAB. Free hazards without Spin, while Taunt deals with Toxic and Taunt. There are also some that deal with it regardless of moves. Ice-types that 2HKO or OHKO after setup, notably SD :Weavile: and Banded :Mamoswine:. Arcto can also use Blizzard. Bulky setup Pokemon AND Taunt can also work around all its moves, like :Buzzwole:. If Avalugg is the hazard remover, then your setter with recovery and Toxic outlast pretty much most variants since they usually have no Toxic. You can also fit mixed attackers to break it, usually Ice Beam on stuffs like TTar, Dragonite.
Blissey is trickier, however Psyspam pretty much ignores it thanks to Psyshock, or like V-Create mixed Victini. Ghosts still get annoyed by Seismic Toss, but one Shadow Ball drop from Specs Pult and Scarf Blace is enough to get past it. Trick and Knock also works wonders, especially if it's Chansey. Pain Split is another underrated option, which can be run on Nihilego and Starmie, in addition to Blace and Gengar. Overall, constant pivots into the other counters or bulky setup is your way to go as offense in general if you don't want to brute force through both, while balance and defensive teams usually go with Taunt or focusing on Avalugg to break first.

Common mistakes

Slapping random Normal moves on almost all Pokemon without STAB is a very frequent phenomenon in low ladder. While Normal-type has perfect coverage in Inverse, it should be emphasized that super effective coverage is much more important than neutral coverage, especially if you have middling attacking stats. The only cases where you should run a Normal move is either: You need a coverage for Rock-types (Especially Rhyperior) or the Normal-type move is sufficiently strong enough to warrant a slot. For the first case, you will frequently see :Arctozolt: and :Arctovish: tech Body Slam/ Hyper Voice, which actually is necessary because they can't really touch :Rhyperior: otherwise. In most cases, Poison is preferred because not only do they still hit Rock/Ghost/Steel super effectively like Normal, it also hits Ground, which is relevant for Pokemon like :barraskewda: and Grass-types like :Tangrowth:. The sufficient power part is cut back quite heavily in gen 8 with the removal of Return and Frustration, and is mostly applied to Boomburst users in :Noivern: and :Toxtricity:, or ESpeeders in :Dragonite: and :zygarde:.

Neglecting entry hazard removal is another mistake that even a lot of high ladderers make. While most meta Pokemon are more resilient to hazards here, you should still consider it unless you bring a mono Flying team or hyper offense. Spikes is still very much real, and Stealth Rock still annoys Fighting and Ground, Boots is not enough to truly remedy this weakness considering things that Rhyperior needs to check like :Zeraora: carry Knock Off for example. Overeliance on Rapid Spin from :Avalugg: causes a lot of issues as well. Many entry hazard setters can punish it, such as :cradily: or :kommo-o:. Toxic also really prevents it from spinning effectively, so you should really consider dropping Spin on it and get another Defogger like :Tornadus-Therian:.

Improof is an aspect that's usually ignored, simply because you don't see :ditto: that much. However, Ditto's increased strength is largely thanks to many Pokemon now being weak to themselves, so you should have some improof to make sure you can actually set up without fearing a countersweep.

Important Speed benchmarks

There are some key speed tiers that you should try to EV for (Especially for weather abusers)
1. +1 Max Speed Scolipede: 532
This is a pretty high bar, and can only be filled by fast weather abusers: :Kingdra:, :Barraskewda:, :Excadrill:, :Venusaur: and :Seismitoad:. The latter 2 also need a positive nature to do so. Scolipede can prove to be annoying to weather teams due to being able to stall turns with Protect and outspeed many Pokemon that way. Other Pokemon that can get past this value include Raichu-A, Hawlucha. If something falls just short of this, then you can opt for spreads outspeeding Scarf Blace (516). Venusaur can reach this with Modest, as well as Jolly Cloyster.

2. Max Speed Zeraora: 423
This can be acquired by slower weather attackers and also Scarfers that want to invest in bulk (Arcto, Gapdos, etc). Arcto should run Naive exactly for this reason as they only get 418 Spe otherwise. This is also why Scarf Toxtricity isn't good. You need base 80+ Spe at +1 to get 426, so keep that in mind.

3. Max Speed Mamoswine: 284
While Mamoswine is very tough to answer defensively, more offensive teams can afford to invest more into Speed to get this, which is not exactly a complicated task.

Cores
Here are some cores that are good to get started with. I won't list weather and terrain cores here due to already mentioning them elsewhere.
:Blissey: + :Avalugg: I already talked about this above, the most basic defensive core you can get. Do note to find teammates that can properly deal with physical Ice and special Ghost though.
:articuno:/:mandibuzz: + :Hippowdon: This core provides good hazard control, and Hippo also disrupts weather. Only annoying thing is Venusaur and 4mss, but they are pretty flexible and not as overly passive as Blisslugg. Pair this with some kind of sun check and you should be fine.
:cradily: + :mantine: Mainly used in Rain, but can also work in non-weather, dealing with all weather abusers and Urshifu-R. Band Mamo and CC Zeraora are still annoying though.
:mew: + phazing Mew is a rare viable Spiker besides Scolipede and Roserade, and probably the only defensive one. It usually goes with Garchomp, but you can pair defensive phazing on like Avalugg and Rhyperior and still get good results while preventing setup on top.
:
:rhyperior: + :tangrowth: Tang and Rhyperior are a bit prone to chip damage, but they are pretty resilient overall. It's usually SpDef Rhyp + PhysDef Tang, but I guess AV Tang still works? They also have some pretty good different move choices Either way, the only thing they lack is pivot, so you may not always go with this core.
:rhyperior: + :tornadus-therian: Rhyperior can go with most Flying really, creating a more offensive Hippo + Flying core.
:victini: + :articuno: Articuno can U-turn against Ground-types to bring Victini in, Victini can also U-turn into Articuno against Avalugg. The two cover for each other pretty well both defensively and offensively.
:landorus-therian: + :weavile: Weavile wants something to pivot it in. Lando-T basically invites Avalugg in for Weavile and can switch into Hail abusers and Ice-types in general, in addition to many priority attacks. Lando can also set Rock.
:Whimsicott: + :Cloyster: This seems weird, but besides being extremely annoying, SubSeed Whimsicott, when it can no longer Sub to stall, can pull a last ditch Encore against an Electric, Grass or Fighting attack to give Cloyster free setup. And as Cloyster doesn't fear Blisslugg, it can get some 6-0 pretty easily that way, especially if you also have hazards. If opponent has Ice Shard though, you may want to keep Whimsicott to switch in and cause more havoc.
:Mamoswine: + :Zeraora: Zeraora and Mamo together force mind games against Hail, and Ice Shard + Zeraora can take a hit means they are pretty resilient against it and even other weathers. Offensively, Zeraora can Volt Switch against common switch-ins like Avalugg and Slowbro, making the core pressure physical walls tremendously.
:Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: + :Tornadus-Therian:/:Zapdos: Another pivot core that pressures one another's checks well. Faster scarfers can force this out though if they can KO both mons.
:Weavile: + :Dragapult: / :Gengar: A fast core that exerts pressure on more offense teams, while still can act as switch-in for many attacks. They make Blisslugg cower, however Zeraora outspeed both except Scarf Gengar. Blace can kinda work as a Ghost but it makes checking Ice Shard harder.
:Silvally: + Any physical attacker The ability to explode at +2 is pretty tough to take on. Recommended hazards to break Avalugg's Sturdy and be careful with Zeraora.
:Galvantula: + :zapdos-galar: Web + Defiant is a pretty deadly combo. Zapdos-G gets bonus points as Galvantula can Volt Switch into a predicted Defog from Mandibuzz or Articuno.
Team dump

https://pokepast.es/f8ca4c624c90d2ec - Hail
Nothing really special about this team, Golisopod while can't do anything to Avalugg it forces it in to Spin and creates essentially a free switch, on top of being a revenge killer.
https://pokepast.es/c0900dd0aba8658e - Tauros Offense
I thought Tauros was pretty cool, and this was the result as I tried to build an offense team. Iron Tail has less than ideal accuracy but is needed to 2HKO Slowbro. Similarly, Blizzard beats 232 SpD Avalugg. The rest is pretty standard.
https://pokepast.es/207331aa2a775551 - Trick Room
Since Marowak-A loses to Avalugg, you have to get creative in order to break Blisslugg. Glastrier beats Iron Defense, Toxic and Roar with Taunt and is bulky enough to take an unboosted Avalanche when needed. However, it really has to resort to Normal moves to beat Rhyperior and other Ground like Hippo, hence the Double-Edge. Cursola's EVs allow Shadow Ball + Poltergeist to always KO blobs. Exploud is just my experimental attempt to try to overcome blobs, but gotta say it's pretty disappointing.
https://pokepast.es/fa732584c968d643 - Rain
Mixed Seismitoad allows it to 2HKO Blissey with Liquidation in rain. Volcarona actually acts pretty well as a wincon, and I forwent a way to beat Grass since the rest should comfortably beat them anyway (and it's still forced out by Thwackey). Maractus also put in a lot of work for a Pokemon that nobody remembers, being able to improof all fellow rain abusers while still having utility in its own rights.
https://pokepast.es/3d53d2646e4da0ff - Sun
Fun fact 1: After changing teams around, I forgot this team didn't improof itself anymore. Fun fact 2: Charizard kinda sucks, too hard to get in sometimes. I used Walrein at first but then just forgot, and it kinda didn't improof well either, so this needs a bit of adjustments for sure.
https://pokepast.es/1327ef70748af64f - Stall
Celebi takes care of Weavile, although I don't think it's good considering it still loses to Hail abusers and Mamo. Kommo is like the only Pokemon that deals with STAB Alakazam + Energy Ball/Focus Blast. I don't like this much, maybe the version I saw on ladder with double blobs might be better, but my aim when I built this was it had to be able to not autolose to my other teams and then some like Psyspam. It had Ditto at first but since my other teams were improofed well and it kinda struggled on ladder still, this team is kinda mid.
https://pokepast.es/512129dcb20f42af - Snorlax BO
This is a pretty fun team to use. Crobat and Urshifu can provide answers to some weather abusers, while Hippo nullify other weathers. Pain Split Nihilego lets it punish blobs fully and still makes it insane against other styles. Snorlax is Snorlax, not much to say.
https://pokepast.es/73b17b11e21580e9 - Sand
This loses to Hawlucha, but otherwise is not too bad. Since this was something I made for the tour, Tsareena can be changed to Avalugg to better deal with Excadrill and Hawlucha. Buzzwole's set lets it use Avalugg as fodder, while nobody expects Scarf Nido.
https://pokepast.es/8b09c3eaa587e26c - Ninjask + Zapdos pivot spam
Zapdos is a unique Electric in that it has Hurricane, which allows it to punish the usual Electric immunity if they attempt to block Volt Switch. Knowing that, I attempted to build around them. Mew prevents Avalugg from Spinning with Ice Beam, and Chople lets it deal with Urshifu-R in a pinch. Kabutops is pretty funny as well, since it can take a hit from Urshifu-R thanks to Battle Armor. Garchomp did insane work every time, with no immunity to Dragon Tail means it can rack up insane hazard damage in addition to Rough Skin + Helmet. A very fun build and one of my favorite teams for sure.
https://pokepast.es/ec8cc6a43171c4bf - Budget rain
Mostly to adhere to the tour's rule, but Mantine + Cradily is fantastic defense and improof core for Rain while beating most other weather abusers. Its slight weakness of losing to CC Zeraora is not a big problem with other rain abusers, so this ended up being more consistent than a glance can give.

Even though it's late, what's your thoughts on the meta? Is Hail that broken? Do you think any action should be taken before the gen ends?
 
Ninjask @ Focus Sash
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Acrobatics
- Leech Life
- Night Slash

pretty classic set, but ninjask is actually insanely crazy in inverse battles; bug + flying + dark offers actually completely unresisted typing combo (dark only matters for zarude, but still its not like theres any other move ot put here except maybe protect) unlike in real OU where any steel type stops this easily. It has amazing speed and despite its attack being only middling, after a sd its enough to kill anything not named avalugg because of its excellent coverage (bug is se on 7 types this is crazy). This need a good defogger/spinner so the sash can be used, but since spinblocking in not possible in inverse battles that shouldnt be a problem. I don't have a lot more to say about this but give it a try, it won me a lot of battles.

heres a replay:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1693926533

I feel like offensive bug-types in general are excellent in this tier, especially durant which is perhaps even better than ninjask.

Durant @ Wide Lens / Life Orb
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- First Impression / Hone Claws
- Iron Head
- Superpower
- X-Scissor

Durant, while not as fast as Ninjask, has a pretty decent speed tier and can deal with most fasters mons via First Impression. In addition, its offensive capabilities are incredible, being able to ohko most non-defensive mons thanks to a combination of Hustle and an already respectable 109 base attack stat. Much like Ninjask, its typing is one of the only things that held it back before, as it had trouble with the metal birds and ferrothorn if you didn't run superpower, but with the type chart flipped, it is finally ready to shine in OU. I don't have a replay for this one sadly, but I will try to get some soon.

It's kinda sad that this tier is so unpopular (the last post is from 3 months ago, yikes...) as it's really fun and different from classic OU without requiring you to learn and theorycraft new mechanics such as with MnM, Linked, or other popular OMs and imo this definitely deserves a permanent ladder. If any of you are interested, I invite you to give me an inverse challenge on PS (my name is Delibird Heart, just like on the forums) and/or to post sets you found success with in this thread :)
 

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