Anyone else find the defoggers in this tier to be kinda....shit?
Been playing stall for reqs and I feel like the wincon of spamming hazards -> win was giga free on the ladder because most of the hazard control options like Zapdos, Lando-T, etc. that players ran matched up horribly vs many of the actual hazard setters. In my case I ran Chansey + Gliscor, but other hazard setters like Ferrothorn / Garganacl are also really annoying for a lot of the tier's defoggers. Other Pokemon like Lando-T also exerted decent pressure on the defoggers themselves with Taunt.
Preventing Hazards from being set up in the first place with Mega Sableye was often easier than Defogging imo, though with mega sableye, some stuff could be a bit awkward since there were a lot of cases I didn't actually want to Mega Evolve it for the faster Wisp / Knock (relevant vs the average rain team). This was the case for me as well when facing opponent's who ran Magic Bounce Pokemon like Mega Sabeleye / Hatterene / sometimes Diancie when It was not immediately sacked.
The only really decent defogger with longevity vs the hazard setters was Gliscor imo. All the rest like Zapdos / Lando-T / Corv etc. were extremely exploitable whenever I played against them. Tornadus-T was another one I suppose, but the set they ran never really pressured Chansey too well.
Against random offensive leads, I see the merit of defogging more - most of these offensive Pokemon don't actually stick around for long like Glimmora / Mega Diancie, with defoggers moreso being pressured by the offensive threat level of these teams via constant setup + high damage, as well as Taunt pressure. Nonetheless, against all other means of teams, Defogging seemed to be very difficult to do on a consistent basis or simply didn't have an effect because nothing stops the hazard setters like Gliscor or Chansey from just setting up hazards again on the Defoggers.
There is also the issue that Defogging is a net negative on your own pressure. Half the time, I am relieved when the opponent Defogs and their pressure against my balanced / defensive core vanishes because I don't have to worry about the hazards that they set up. Furthermore, many of the Defog Pokemon like Zapdos and Lando-T wind up exerting less pressure because that is one less free moveslot for them to run.
All this makes me wonder why boots spam teams aren't more of a staple in this format. I feel this is a far more consistent strategy against many of the hazard setters rather than relying on Defog and praying the opponent doesn't have a hazard setter with an ounce of longevity (Gliscor, Ferrothorn, Garganacl, Chansey, even Lando-T in some instances, etc.).
Been playing stall for reqs and I feel like the wincon of spamming hazards -> win was giga free on the ladder because most of the hazard control options like Zapdos, Lando-T, etc. that players ran matched up horribly vs many of the actual hazard setters. In my case I ran Chansey + Gliscor, but other hazard setters like Ferrothorn / Garganacl are also really annoying for a lot of the tier's defoggers. Other Pokemon like Lando-T also exerted decent pressure on the defoggers themselves with Taunt.
Preventing Hazards from being set up in the first place with Mega Sableye was often easier than Defogging imo, though with mega sableye, some stuff could be a bit awkward since there were a lot of cases I didn't actually want to Mega Evolve it for the faster Wisp / Knock (relevant vs the average rain team). This was the case for me as well when facing opponent's who ran Magic Bounce Pokemon like Mega Sabeleye / Hatterene / sometimes Diancie when It was not immediately sacked.
The only really decent defogger with longevity vs the hazard setters was Gliscor imo. All the rest like Zapdos / Lando-T / Corv etc. were extremely exploitable whenever I played against them. Tornadus-T was another one I suppose, but the set they ran never really pressured Chansey too well.
Against random offensive leads, I see the merit of defogging more - most of these offensive Pokemon don't actually stick around for long like Glimmora / Mega Diancie, with defoggers moreso being pressured by the offensive threat level of these teams via constant setup + high damage, as well as Taunt pressure. Nonetheless, against all other means of teams, Defogging seemed to be very difficult to do on a consistent basis or simply didn't have an effect because nothing stops the hazard setters like Gliscor or Chansey from just setting up hazards again on the Defoggers.
There is also the issue that Defogging is a net negative on your own pressure. Half the time, I am relieved when the opponent Defogs and their pressure against my balanced / defensive core vanishes because I don't have to worry about the hazards that they set up. Furthermore, many of the Defog Pokemon like Zapdos and Lando-T wind up exerting less pressure because that is one less free moveslot for them to run.
All this makes me wonder why boots spam teams aren't more of a staple in this format. I feel this is a far more consistent strategy against many of the hazard setters rather than relying on Defog and praying the opponent doesn't have a hazard setter with an ounce of longevity (Gliscor, Ferrothorn, Garganacl, Chansey, even Lando-T in some instances, etc.).
