dusclops only having a 99% eviolite rate...i need to know what other items people are running on my boy. focus band sounds viable
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Format Discussion Metronome Battle
- Thread starter Ivy
- Start date
it's just a weaker version of focus sash, why not try thatfocus band sounds viable
Focus Sash and Focus Band are mechanically very different.
Focus Sash has a 100% chance to leave you at 1 HP, but only if you were at full health when you got hit.
Focus Band has a 10% chance to leave you at 1 HP, but it doesn't matter what health you were at when you got hit. In theory, Focus Band could allow you to never die unless hit with indirect damage, but you would need to be extraordinarily lucky.
i never noticed this, thanks
I got a new strat that seems to work well and probs would get banned because its a easy way to get stats
Aurumoth @ Starf Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Metronome
Pokestar White Door @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Metronome
Aurumoth @ Starf Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Metronome
Pokestar White Door @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Metronome
Metronome Meta - June 2020
- New mon: CAP 27 Astrolotl was finished (Fire/Dragon, 108/108/74/92/64/114). Nice defensive typing, but awkward for Weakness Policy and has frail stats.
- New moves: The new tutor moves and Shell Side Arm are callable via Metronome, providing new STAB options to almost every type and will probably lead to some interesting interactions. Most notable is a new Fairy suicide-type move in Misty Explosion.
- Poltergeist is a rare strong ghost move. It should be effective most of the time since stally ghosts won't be running something consumable like Weakness Policy.
- Flip Turn's secondary effect of switching out is irrelevant in 2v2s.
- Terrain effects are niche but cool. Grassy Glide doesn't really matter since turns go off Metronome's priority.
- Wonder how Burning Jealousy works with Weakness Policy.
- Corrosive Gas is a pretty dangerous move that can remove items across the field.
- Coaching is a neat ally buff, don't see many of those.
- EDIT: New average-power options to activate Weakness Policy may be appreciated in general.
- Old moves have also returned with returning Pokemon. Kinesis, Bonemerang, Conversion, Conversion 2, Milk Drink, Head Charge, Fiery Dance, Shore Up, Floral Healing, Dragon Hammer, and Shadow Bone are all back and usable with Metronome. Slightly more healing around, and a major buff to Dancer. Conversions are pretty devastating moves that can render types null, though Conversion 2 may still be bugged in giving out great options from Ghost/Rock/Steel based on Metronome's normal typing.
- New DLC abilities: Unseen Fist and Quick Draw. Both are (almost) useless because Quick Draw doesn't work with status moves (applicable to 2 turn moves?), and there are no callable protection moves for Unseen Fist to break through. (doesn't work against Max Guard)
- New mons: Urshifu (Water/Fighting, Dark/Fighting, 100/130/100/63/60/97), Zarude (Grass/Dark, 105/120/105/70/95/105)
- Urshifus aren't great on the special side. Water Urshifu might be able to go Weakness Policy, but they really compete with Mega Heracross and others in being physical fighters. Speed and dynamax/gigantamax tho?
- Zarude is another high BST Grass/Flower Veil option. Compared to Shaymin, Zarude sacrifices special stats to go more physically. Speed is a risky tradeoff, but the raw attack power might be workable. Grass/Dark is a type with many resistances and weaknesses. At least Zarude has stats to back it up.
- EDIT: Kubfu (Fighting, 60/90/60/53/50/72) is a strong pure Fighting type that'll make waves in Metronome LC.
- EDIT: Zarude-Dada has a scarf.
- The future (if)?
- Legendary signature moves will return in the isle of tundra.
- Calyrex and the mystery horses shake up the Flower Veil archetype if BST legal.
- Let's Go rumours could lead to new Starter formes, though Pikachu is only good because of Light Ball.
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Mellow1004
Banned deucer.
Wouhou ! I reach the top 4 ! 
I apologize in advance if we do not have the right to post pictures of the scores, I did not know 
+ Current top 1 France ! 
+ Current top 1 France ! Attachments
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The usage stats for June are out!
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2020-06-DLC1/
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2020-06-DLC1/moveset/
I suggest using the 1630 stats as references to match up with the Glicko ratings near high ladder. 1760 seems to slightly favor dark horses with low usage like Scyther or Flarelm. If it works, it works?
After its return, the Metronome battles count has dropped to a comfortable 23757. Still active enough, though it's to be expected. Even I didn't play that much this month. I see this as representing the typical playerbase better compared to May's extreme peak.
Some notes:
Heracross has overtaken Venusaur as number one via raw brute force.
Landorus-T and Alolan Marowak are being used surprisingly often.
Dragapult and Galarian Corsola are in the same positions as last month. (#5 and #22)
The list went from 843 mons to 755.
Water Urshifu was used more times, but weighted lesser than Dark Urshifu.
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2020-06-DLC1/
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2020-06-DLC1/moveset/
I suggest using the 1630 stats as references to match up with the Glicko ratings near high ladder. 1760 seems to slightly favor dark horses with low usage like Scyther or Flarelm. If it works, it works?
After its return, the Metronome battles count has dropped to a comfortable 23757. Still active enough, though it's to be expected. Even I didn't play that much this month. I see this as representing the typical playerbase better compared to May's extreme peak.
Some notes:
Heracross has overtaken Venusaur as number one via raw brute force.
Landorus-T and Alolan Marowak are being used surprisingly often.
Dragapult and Galarian Corsola are in the same positions as last month. (#5 and #22)
The list went from 843 mons to 755.
Water Urshifu was used more times, but weighted lesser than Dark Urshifu.
Mellow1004
Banned deucer.
I really don't undertstand why Mega Heracross is not Banned... This Pokemon is too much cheated for the format..
That cleary too much strong : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1146119421-5bedkyz8upgv5g6m4eyridt9d4mny7cpw
2nd Version --> https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1146120107
That cleary too much strong : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1146119421-5bedkyz8upgv5g6m4eyridt9d4mny7cpw
2nd Version --> https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1146120107
Mellow1004
Banned deucer.
It is not to exaggerate, this Pokémon is really anything but I do not know who to contact to make a suspect test or see for a Ban...
To be honest, I think Intrepid Sword is the problem there -- an unconditional 50% boost immediately is a bit much, and there aren't that many good teams which can spare the ability slot for Intimidate (though maybe people ought to be using it more). That and the fact that Metronome seems a lot more skewed towards physical moves than last gen, which is something I would expect to be remedied a bit when the DLC comes out and lots of legendary special moves (which are more often than not special) are reintroduced.
Mega Hera has always been strong in this format, but it's never been overbearing until now, and I think a big reason is that its special attack is low enough to be a liability in gen 7.
Mega Hera has always been strong in this format, but it's never been overbearing until now, and I think a big reason is that its special attack is low enough to be a liability in gen 7.
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Neutralizing Gas deals with Intrepid Sword handily. These abilities alone are basically defining the meta, and it's been brought up before, but there has been little interest in changing things. The new DLC additions have also shaken things up a bit, and Corrosive Gas particularly gives another way to disable held items, which mitigates the heracross threat by a small amount.
Hera is also very weak to a number of spread moves (air cutter, heat wave, lava plume, eruption...) that can make doubling up on it risky. It's definitely strong, but I've found it to not be quite as consistent as something like Flower Veil or a good NGas user.
So I was able to break top 150 with a Cramorant team:
I personally believe this is the only "consistent" way to use Cramorant, but I've been wrong before.
Cramorant-Gulping because the defense drop is better than paralysis, as paralysis just helps your opponent to stall out easier. Partnered with a Neutralizing Gas ghost type as Gulp Missile is unaffected by Neutralizing Gas. Choice Band to take as much advantage of the defense drop as possible. Defense boosting nature to try and survive a physical attack or three.
Yes this is a meme team
Cramorant-Gulping @ Choice Band
Ability: Gulp Missile
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Metronome
Dusclops @ Eviolite
Ability: Neutralizing Gas
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Metronome
Ability: Gulp Missile
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Metronome
Dusclops @ Eviolite
Ability: Neutralizing Gas
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Metronome
I personally believe this is the only "consistent" way to use Cramorant, but I've been wrong before.
Cramorant-Gulping because the defense drop is better than paralysis, as paralysis just helps your opponent to stall out easier. Partnered with a Neutralizing Gas ghost type as Gulp Missile is unaffected by Neutralizing Gas. Choice Band to take as much advantage of the defense drop as possible. Defense boosting nature to try and survive a physical attack or three.
Yes this is a meme team
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I wanna know how the heck you broke top 150 like that. That's amazing.Yes this is a meme team
The usage stats for July are out!
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2020-07/gen8metronomebattle-1630.txt
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2020-07/moveset/gen8metronomebattle-1630.txt
The Metronome Battles count has surged back with a cool 65592 battles. Nice to see the ladder rising up again. I played a bit this month, sticking to a Scyther/Silvally-Ghost team to try out Aerilate. Scyther can survive a lot and usually has fun moments like blowing Heracross away with its STAB, but I found its performance to be pretty inconsistent overall. Might bring back Shaymin or triple Intimidate again, though Defiant and Competitive are still decently common.
Notes:
Heracross and Venusaur maintain their top 2 positions as usual, but Necturna and Dragapult have overtaken the rest of the megas in 3rd and 4th.
Slowbro, Landorus-T, Dhelmise and Zarude-Normal rise up while glass cannons such as Alakazam, Gallade, and Gardevoir fall. The top ~20 is still about the same after this, except for the surprise addition of Volcanion.
Neutralizing Gas is the most weighted option on Slowbro, Dusclops, Gourgeist-Super, Urshifu, and Galarian Weezing.
Sableye's most weighted item is BrightPowder.
Poison Touch Audino is a choice strategy.
Astrolotl has a surprising amount of raw usage at 2154/#25 unweighted. This confused me, but the reason is pretty simple. This is what you see when you open the teambuilder:
I guess people have a tendency towards the unusual, and being alphabetically high doesn't hurt.
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2020-07/gen8metronomebattle-1630.txt
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2020-07/moveset/gen8metronomebattle-1630.txt
The Metronome Battles count has surged back with a cool 65592 battles. Nice to see the ladder rising up again. I played a bit this month, sticking to a Scyther/Silvally-Ghost team to try out Aerilate. Scyther can survive a lot and usually has fun moments like blowing Heracross away with its STAB, but I found its performance to be pretty inconsistent overall. Might bring back Shaymin or triple Intimidate again, though Defiant and Competitive are still decently common.
Notes:
Heracross and Venusaur maintain their top 2 positions as usual, but Necturna and Dragapult have overtaken the rest of the megas in 3rd and 4th.
Slowbro, Landorus-T, Dhelmise and Zarude-Normal rise up while glass cannons such as Alakazam, Gallade, and Gardevoir fall. The top ~20 is still about the same after this, except for the surprise addition of Volcanion.
Neutralizing Gas is the most weighted option on Slowbro, Dusclops, Gourgeist-Super, Urshifu, and Galarian Weezing.
Sableye's most weighted item is BrightPowder.
Poison Touch Audino is a choice strategy.
Astrolotl has a surprising amount of raw usage at 2154/#25 unweighted. This confused me, but the reason is pretty simple. This is what you see when you open the teambuilder:
| Pokemon | Rank (raw usage) | Uses |
|---|---|---|
| Alakazam | 38 | 1416 |
| Alakazam-Mega | 7 | 6974 |
| Alcremie | 85 | 614 |
| Amoonguss | 78 | 668 |
| Appletun | 213 | 166 |
| Flapple | 305 | 76 |
| Arghonaut | 90 | 576 |
| Astrolotl | 25 | 2154 |
| Aurumoth | 47 | 1161 |
| Azumarill | 102 | 483 |
| Blacephalon | 26 | 2100 |
| Missingno | 64 | 872 |
I guess people have a tendency towards the unusual, and being alphabetically high doesn't hurt.
Earlier this month, I finally tried a mono Unaware team. It has its moments against bulky statboost Weakness Policy, but it sucks when your debuff moves are basically pointless. Definitely a double-edged ability and I feel it's more suited for counterteaming. Even Trace beat me since I was running WP Tyranitar. It was also mono-Dark with Choice Specs Mega Houndoom which was less of a nuke than I expected. Overall the team wasn't too bad, but I always got frustrated whenever Houndoom failed a SolarBeam or something like Outrage that would've guaranteed a win. It's pretty interesting how this random mechanic has slightly kept Choice items in check with a harsh trade-off in reliability.
Nothing much happened between then and now. Today I saw a team in a daydream and I named it the Dream team, because it's about Bad Dreams.
Bad Dreams has a great effect. 1/8 HP on each valid opponent? What a blast! Unfortunately they need to be sleeping, and the most reliable way to inflict Sleep is an Effect Spore proc. Fortunately there are plenty of contact moves, with Struggle probably being the most common in the format. Poison is fine too and even paralysis can be nice to get some breathing room. I felt hat the best candidate to take those contact hits is an Eviolite Type: Null, and Ghostvally makes for a fitting pair up. The team invents itself.
Some choice highlights:
Even though Sleep lasts 1-3 turns, you can still squeeze out 2-4 Bad Dreams damage since it can occur on the turn the opponent gets put to sleep.
Dynamax showing its defensive prowess.
Dumb Luck - Slow Burn (cool Worry Seed wakeup + Bad Dreams reveal on turn 11!)
Dumb Luck - Quick Burn
The game isn't over until it's over
Final Flower Veil
I managed to score a lengthy winstreak of battles over the past couple of hours, climbing from the bottom to the top with a fortunate lack of double Heracross along the way. Unfortunately, I didn't get to pull off the dream gambit where I'd kill off a Neutralizing Gas user, leaving Comatose exposed to Bad Dreams. Otherwise it ended up really well, stopping at 1406 for the night. Was it because of Bad Dreams? Not really. Bad Dreams barely mattered in battle and this went a lot better than using double Darkrai. In this case, the basics were everything. These mons don't have the raw power of Choice Heracross or Flower Veil, but their balanced stats and solid types let them excel where the meta might fail. This team walks a fine line between dream and meme, boasting consistent performance counterbalanced with an unreliable ability.
If you don't have a weakness to choke on, all you need is luck on your side and nothing can stop you.
TL;DR: Don't sleep on good mons with Bad Dreams. Made it to Top 100!
Nothing much happened between then and now. Today I saw a team in a daydream and I named it the Dream team, because it's about Bad Dreams.
Bad Dreams has a great effect. 1/8 HP on each valid opponent? What a blast! Unfortunately they need to be sleeping, and the most reliable way to inflict Sleep is an Effect Spore proc. Fortunately there are plenty of contact moves, with Struggle probably being the most common in the format. Poison is fine too and even paralysis can be nice to get some breathing room. I felt hat the best candidate to take those contact hits is an Eviolite Type: Null, and Ghostvally makes for a fitting pair up. The team invents itself.
E (Type: Null) @ Eviolite
Ability: Effect Spore
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Metronome
B (Silvally-Ghost) @ Bright Powder
Ability: Bad Dreams
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Metronome
I supported the alliteration theme here. Minimum speed sets aren't the most popular today, but they were used for good reason and it actually helped to eke out some decisive victories.
Ability: Effect Spore
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Metronome
B (Silvally-Ghost) @ Bright Powder
Ability: Bad Dreams
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Metronome
I supported the alliteration theme here. Minimum speed sets aren't the most popular today, but they were used for good reason and it actually helped to eke out some decisive victories.
Some choice highlights:
Even though Sleep lasts 1-3 turns, you can still squeeze out 2-4 Bad Dreams damage since it can occur on the turn the opponent gets put to sleep.
Dynamax showing its defensive prowess.
Dumb Luck - Slow Burn (cool Worry Seed wakeup + Bad Dreams reveal on turn 11!)
Dumb Luck - Quick Burn
The game isn't over until it's over
Final Flower Veil
I managed to score a lengthy winstreak of battles over the past couple of hours, climbing from the bottom to the top with a fortunate lack of double Heracross along the way. Unfortunately, I didn't get to pull off the dream gambit where I'd kill off a Neutralizing Gas user, leaving Comatose exposed to Bad Dreams. Otherwise it ended up really well, stopping at 1406 for the night. Was it because of Bad Dreams? Not really. Bad Dreams barely mattered in battle and this went a lot better than using double Darkrai. In this case, the basics were everything. These mons don't have the raw power of Choice Heracross or Flower Veil, but their balanced stats and solid types let them excel where the meta might fail. This team walks a fine line between dream and meme, boasting consistent performance counterbalanced with an unreliable ability.
If you don't have a weakness to choke on, all you need is luck on your side and nothing can stop you.
TL;DR: Don't sleep on good mons with Bad Dreams. Made it to Top 100!
The usage stats for August are out!
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2020-08/gen8metronomebattle-1630.txt
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2020-08/moveset/gen8metronomebattle-1630.txt
The Metronome Battles count is going steady at a palindromic 66166 battles. I've had some good times with the dream team, and it's nice to see the ladder with consistent activity. There's not much else to say. I'm honestly expecting a drop this month as summer is setting and people are busier. Stay cool.
1630 Top 10 + last month positions:
#1: Mega Heracross (no change)
#2: Mega Venusaur (no change)
#3: Dragapult (#4)
#4: Mega Sableye (#6)
#5: Mega Ampharos (no change)
#6: Dusclops (#9)
#7: Necturna (#3)
#8: Mega Gengar (no change)
#9: Blissey (#10)
#10: Landorus-Therian (#12)
Necturna and Mega Slowbro have found less success this month. Though their spots remain the same, Mega Heracross and Venusaur have fallen in usage while Dragapult and Sableye break 10% usage and 10,000 users. Looks like the meta is becoming slightly more varied. Revenankh is the dark horse of the month, rising to #25 with a few hundred uses.
Moveset notes:
The most common Sableye choices are Sablenite (33%)/Magic Bounce (78%)/Naughty (20%), probably because that's the default you get from opening the teambuilder. For this reason, I think Sableye is probably the most efficient mon to "build" a viable set for since you instantly get a top tier ability and typing by clicking on it. Funny how things work out.
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2020-08/gen8metronomebattle-1630.txt
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2020-08/moveset/gen8metronomebattle-1630.txt
The Metronome Battles count is going steady at a palindromic 66166 battles. I've had some good times with the dream team, and it's nice to see the ladder with consistent activity. There's not much else to say. I'm honestly expecting a drop this month as summer is setting and people are busier. Stay cool.
1630 Top 10 + last month positions:
#1: Mega Heracross (no change)
#2: Mega Venusaur (no change)
#3: Dragapult (#4)
#4: Mega Sableye (#6)
#5: Mega Ampharos (no change)
#6: Dusclops (#9)
#7: Necturna (#3)
#8: Mega Gengar (no change)
#9: Blissey (#10)
#10: Landorus-Therian (#12)
Necturna and Mega Slowbro have found less success this month. Though their spots remain the same, Mega Heracross and Venusaur have fallen in usage while Dragapult and Sableye break 10% usage and 10,000 users. Looks like the meta is becoming slightly more varied. Revenankh is the dark horse of the month, rising to #25 with a few hundred uses.
Moveset notes:
- Dragapult can get away with running pretty much anything. I really did not expect this mon to go places. It really goes to show that you can survive a suboptimal stat spread when you have sheer BST and the Ghost type.
- Landorus-T sees use as an Aerilate attacker to fight Heracross, as well as a Storm Drain immunity strat with Volcanion.
- Heracross report: Defiant rises while Comatose falls, Heracronite is gone, and Adamant has overtaken Naughty. Otherwise, same old set. Slowbro is the only teammate that shows up, so I assume these stats don't count having the same mon as a unique teammate.
The most common Sableye choices are Sablenite (33%)/Magic Bounce (78%)/Naughty (20%), probably because that's the default you get from opening the teambuilder. For this reason, I think Sableye is probably the most efficient mon to "build" a viable set for since you instantly get a top tier ability and typing by clicking on it. Funny how things work out.