Metagame NFE Metagame

Thank you so much for all your replies! You've made me excited for this meta. How can I play it? I hope I can present a case for Pikachu soon!
 

Simbo

Own a doghouse?
Thank you so much for all your replies! You've made me excited for this meta. How can I play it? I hope I can present a case for Pikachu soon!
I'm glad to hear you're excited for NFE, the metagame is really fun.
The easiest way to play NFE would be to join the Pokemon Showdown room (https://play.pokemonshowdown.com/nfe). Room tours happen quite frequently there and you can always ask if people are interested in a game in the room. All games are played in NU because Ferroseed is in NU.
You should also join the Discord (https://discord.gg/yARYvxj). Most of the discussion happens there and tournaments are usually also organised in Discord. You can also ask ppl questions and watch recent tournament game replays for teambuilding inspiration.

Have fun in the meta! Hit me up if you have any more questions about NFE.
 
Since I've been playing this tier a lot lately and having a lot of fun, I would like to nom a mon that I think deserves a little bit higher rank.

Pawniard B+ to A-

Dark/Steel is an amazing typing that lets it click STAB Knock off (Strongest Knock off in the tier) in addition to hit Clefairy for super effective damage with Iron Head. It also learns Swords Dance which makes Pawniard good against all team archetypes since balance and stall struggle to switch in on boosted hits. Offensive teams will struggle to revenge kill it because Sucker Punch hits really hard, especially at +2. Pawn usually sets up on common mons such as Grimer-Alola, Sliggoo and Roselia.

Sucker Punch calcs:
252+ Atk Pawniard Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Frogadier: 159-187 (63.8 - 75.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
+2 252+ Atk Pawniard Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Frogadier: 316-373 (126.9 - 149.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO.

252+ Atk Pawniard Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Electabuzz: 148-175 (54.6 - 64.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Pawniard Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Electabuzz: 297-349 (109.5 - 128.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Pawniard Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Electabuzz: 100-118 (36.9 - 43.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO (Eviolite)
+2 252+ Atk Pawniard Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Electabuzz: 198-234 (73 - 86.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (Eviolite)

Defiant will most of the time force defoggers like Togetic and Prinplup to not click defog, which lets it take advantage of the hazard spam meta. Stealth Rock and Spikes, plus Knock off/Iron head damage makes common switchins like Machoke and Monferno able to only switch in safe a couple of times, since they usually don't run recovery moves. If you run Steelium-Z, Machoke will drop to Knock off + Corcshrew Crash damage.

252+ Atk Pawniard Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Machoke: 59-69 (19.6 - 22.9%) -- possible 5HKO
252+ Atk Pawniard Corkscrew Crash (160 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Machoke: 288-340 (95.6 - 112.9%) -- 75% chance to OHKO

Pawniard is pretty frail, but the typing lets it take hits from some of the scarier mons in the meta such as non hp fight Kadabra and Haunter.

252 SpA Life Orb Haunter Dazzling Gleam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Pawniard: 142-168 (61.4 - 72.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Kadabra Dazzling Gleam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Pawniard: 112-132 (48.4 - 57.1%) -- 91.8% chance to 2HKO

Overall I think Pawniards great matchup against every team archetype and how much it likes the meta right now is worthy of A-
 
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Today my essay will be about why servine should be removed from NFE and why skiploom should be promoted to s rank.

Servine is practically used in every team and its a piece of trash not epic and its op cause it has contrary so promote it to s rank then ban it after causet hats not good for servine to exist but promote skiploom to s rank and keep it s rank cause it has power like not like servine servin isnt cool but skiploom is so powerful it got gurdurr banned and gliscor banned and its a rlly good pokemon to have inside of nfe cause it has swords dancet hat means its so fast and powerful it can 1 shot all pokemon in nfe after many swords dance and it rlly fast but sercvine is to oop and it spam leaf starm so use skiplom isnteadand ban servine cause skiploom is cooler better and best and not as bad as servine butif u use servine u need to stop because its not good for nfe cause its bad and mean and not good like skiploom skipoloom is rlllllllly goooood and epic for nfe cause its rlly cool/epic?/god s rank tier please put skiploom thjere man its good ruffletmaster said its not good but its not true thats fake news to skiploom its rlly better than servine!
 

ImKoolKidz

I COULD BE BANNED!
Hi how are ya bitches! Sister is presenting the tier a new sample..... DUAL SCREENS HO ✨

170766(Click for PokePaste)
Lead with Diglett, as it is your rocker. If the opponent leads with something that is faster than Diglett, or may be a scarf mon, then you may wish to start the battle off with Rock Tomb. You usually memento on opposing foes to prevent defog/ any form of hazard removal. Memento also allows Voltorb, who has a decent 100 base speed stat. You usually try to taunt the opponent on their attempt at defog, or taunt to stop their attempt at statusing the team. It is the team's one and only screen setter, so you should try to preserve it and save Explosion for the end, so you can use it again later for screens, unless you are confident that you have a mon that can sweep the opposing team. The last 4 team members are the team's set up sweepers.
You can use other set-up sweepers besides the mentioned four. Combusken and Klang really do phenomenal on this team, with occasional support/ cleaning from Woobat and Servine. Fraxure would fit pretty well on this team with Dragon Dance, Substitute/ Taunt, Dragon Claw + Stomping Tantrum. Other set-up sweepers that might work as well such as Clamperl and Cutiefly, but they often get countered by priority and lack damage output, respectively, and don't work as well as the four on the team.

Have fun sister slaying my sophisticated sisters. xoxo
 
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Simbo

Own a doghouse?
Gonna do some low rank noms, clear up the C ranks a bit

Nomming Pokemon to lower ranks:


Pignite: C to Unranked

There's honestly no real reason to use Pignite over Combusken or Monferno. Monferno and Combusken are far better Fire/Fighting Types. Any scarf/band Pignite set is outclassed by Monferno, and Pignite's speed tier is so low that Combusken has the same speed at +1. Pignite has no good forms of setup, barring curse and worku p so it is ineffective as a wallbreaker. Monferno has SD/NP and Combusken has SD. Pignite gets sucker and wild charge, which is unique, but Haunter can outplay sucker with sub. Monferno also hits Kadabra and other fast frail attackers with mach/vac and Combusken has speed boost. They both can also run Electrium Z tpunch if they want to hit Mareanie or other waters. I can't think of any team that would appreciate Pignite as the Fire/Fighting Type over the other two, I think it's completely outclassed.

Dragonair: C+ to C-/Unranked

Any DD set is outclassed by Fraxure and Hakamo-o, Espeed isn't good enough to justify using Dragonair over the other two as a DD wallbreaker and sweeper. A specs set is mostly outclassed by Sliggoo, which boasts better special attack and similar/better speed if Dragonair goes modest. Dragonair has the small niche of flamethrower when Sliggoo has to use HP Fire but Slig hits harder and is a more effective lure against physical attackers like Machoke and steels or Mareanie who often switch in predicting curse sets. Dragonair is always walled by Clefairy. Dragonair has a small niche as a bulky or fast attacker which makes use of rest and shed skin but I don't think that's good enough to justify ranking highly. Such a set seems difficult to fit on a team and mare outclasses it as a haze user.

Grovyle: C- to Unranked

Any unburden Grovyle set requires far too much work and team support to be effective. Manual terrain is not a good teamstyle, especially when Grovyle is one the abusers. Grass stab in a grass and poison dominant meta is not great and before sd Grovyle is too weak to threaten pokemon out and set up an sd. Even at +2, its coverage is weak, acro fails to ohko bulky grasses like Gloom and Quilladin, drain punch does not do enough to bulky steels and even leaf storm is weak at +2 vs defensive neutral targets, doesn't even come close to ohkoing Mareanie at +2 with terrain.

+2 252+ Atk Grovyle Leaf Blade vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Mareanie in Grassy Terrain: 199-235 (65.4 - 77.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
Possible damage amounts: (199, 202, 204, 207, 208, 211, 213, 216, 219, 220, 223, 225, 228, 229, 232, 235)

Far too much teamsupport and effort required to make this underwhelming pokemon work, any other SD or DD sweeper is better.

Poliwhirl: C- to Unranked

It's got a good speed tier and decent coverage but that's about it. As a physical water type, it is outclassed by Croconaw. Croc has better attack and bulk, access to both SD and DD and better coverage. Croc can act as both a wallbreaker and setup sweeper and gets good coverage like Ipunch, crunch, superpower etc and prio in ajet. Poli is weaker and doesn't get those setup options.
It gets swift swim, but manual rain is not good at all, sun is probs the best manual weather rn.
Poli gets BD, which is probably its niche, but BD poli is very hard to set up and is underwhelming once setup too. Its frail, so needs good teamsupport, and is easily revenged by anything faster than 306 speed. If poli got ajet or some decent physical prio, it would be far better but no prio sucks for a bd mon. You could attempt to pull off both swift swim and bd, but that would require a dedicated team designed for rain bd sweep which seems very difficult to pull off. I think its outclassed as a physical water and BD isnt enough of a niche to justify ranking it.

Sandygast: C- to Unranked

Outclassed by Hippo rn. Both hippo and gast have almost identical bulk (hippo has a bit more hp and slightly less defense and spdef), they both have Rocks, reliable recovery, ground stab and some utility. However, hippo outclasses gast because it gets the same utility as gast but can also phaze out setup sweepers and even act as a bulky curse wincon. Gast is free setup bait for anything not weak to ground. Gasts primary and really only niche was being a great buzz check. However, most buzzes carry hp ice/grass anyway so hippo fills that niche to exactly the same level of effectiveness. Gast does prevent specs/scarf buzz from clicking focus blast as easily, but a decent chunk of buzzes run lo/evio/ebelt so that's not hugely relevant.
Gasts ghost typing adds nothing useful to it, all the usable normal types in the tier have flying stab or knock and all the fighters have knock or fire stab. All the ghost typing does is make gast susceptible to knock and dark/ghost types, whereas hippo can check them better. No reason to use this over hippo imo.


Nomming unranked Pokemon to higher ranks:


Magnemite: Unranked to C-/C

Freelia made this nom first so shoutouts to him, most of what I say is similar to what he said previously. Magnet pull mag is capable of trapping every steel in the metagame depending on set and is a very useful partner to setup pokemon that need or appreciate steels gone such as Sliggoo, non flamethrower Clef, Klang, Metang, Trumbeak, Staravia etc.

The following set is edited slightly from freelias but I think it traps steels better.

Nfe trap (Magnemite) @ Electrium Z
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magnet Rise
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon

Metang - Mag mostly 2hkos unless two min rolls but, at worst, u leave metang at 6%, tang 3hkos
252+ SpA Magnemite Gigavolt Havoc (175 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Metang: 204-240 (62.9 - 74%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Possible damage amounts: (204, 205, 208, 210, 213, 216, 217, 220, 222, 225, 228, 229, 232, 234, 237, 240)
252+ SpA Magnemite Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Metang: 105-124 (32.4 - 38.2%) -- 97.4% chance to 3HKO
Possible damage amounts: (105, 106, 108, 109, 109, 111, 112, 114, 115, 117, 117, 118, 120, 121, 123, 124)
252+ Atk Metang Zen Headbutt vs. 40 HP / 0 Def Magnemite: 67-79 (33.3 - 39.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Possible damage amounts: (67, 68, 69, 69, 70, 71, 72, 72, 73, 74, 75, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79)

Ferro - Bopped
252+ SpA Magnemite Hidden Power Fire vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Ferroseed: 124-148 (42.6 - 50.8%) -- 2% chance to 2HKO
252+ SpA Magnemite Hidden Power Fire vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Eviolite Ferroseed: 176-208 (60.4 - 71.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Pawn - Bopped
252+ SpA Magnemite Gigavolt Havoc (175 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Pawniard: 342-403 (116.3 - 137%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Possible damage amounts: (342, 346, 351, 354, 358, 363, 366, 370, 375, 378, 382, 387, 390, 394, 399, 403)
252+ Atk Pawniard Sucker Punch vs. 40 HP / 0 Def Magnemite: 127-150 (63.1 - 74.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Possible damage amounts: (127, 129, 130, 132, 133, 135, 136, 138, 139, 141, 142, 144, 145, 147, 148, 150)

Klang - Bopped
252+ SpA Magnemite Gigavolt Havoc (175 BP) vs. 120 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Klang: 193-228 (66.3 - 78.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Possible damage amounts: (193, 195, 198, 199, 202, 204, 207, 208, 211, 213, 216, 217, 220, 222, 225, 228)
252+ SpA Magnemite Thunderbolt vs. 120 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Klang: 100-118 (34.3 - 40.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Possible damage amounts: (100, 100, 102, 103, 105, 106, 106, 108, 109, 111, 112, 112, 114, 115, 117, 118)
+2 252+ Atk Klang Return vs. 40 HP / 0 Def Magnemite: 118-139 (58.7 - 69.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Possible damage amounts: (118, 119, 120, 122, 123, 125, 126, 127, 129, 130, 132, 133, 134, 136, 137, 139)

Lairon - Bopped
252+ SpA Magnemite Gigavolt Havoc (175 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Lairon: 291-343 (111.4 - 131.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Possible damage amounts: (291, 294, 298, 301, 304, 309, 312, 315, 318, 322, 325, 328, 333, 336, 339, 343)


Shoutouts to freelia for some of those calcs. Overall, the niche of trapping every relevant steel is worthy of C-/C.

Ivysaur: Unranked to C/C+

At first glance, Ivy looks to be outclassed by gloom and rose as defensive Grass/Poisons. Ivy has slightly lower physical bulk than gloom if both are max max and it actually has better special bulk than rose if both are max max. In terms of bulk, its like a mix between the two. The main way in which these 3 pokemon are different is in their utility moves. Rose gets broken spikes, which makes it an A+/ S rank candidate. Gloom gets physical setup deterrents in sleep powder and strength sap which makes it A- and Ivy gets the single best move in the meta in Knock Off. There are teams, particularly offense and ho teams, which appreciate Ivys utility of checking serv and spamming knock to ease sweeping/wallbreaking more than rose's or gloom's utility.
On top of that, its also one of the best manual sun abusers and can even run a z celebrate set. It's worthy of C/C+ imo.

Lickitung: Unranked to C+/B-

Stall staple. Stall isn't great as a playstyle but licki is one of the main reasons why its not terrible either imo. It's even pretty solid on balance and bulky offense teams. Incredible 90/75/75 bulk with evio, one weakness, incredible coverage and utility options, it's capable of providing so much as a pokemon. It gets access to broken knock, allowing it to act as a wall softener for teammates. It gets essentially every coverage move in the game, making it a solid lure. It gets wishtect, it gets heal bell, it even gets both curse and amnesia and chip away, which let it act as a bulky setup wincon and an absolute wall vs non-setup pokemon. It's also immune to taunt. This mon is really solid and definitely deserves a ranking. It nullifies and beats every bulky setup mon in the tier (clef, slig etc) and provides solid support to most playstyles. It's hard to fit on a non-stall team tho but still very solid.

Other noms I'm not sure about or too lazy to write anything on. Thought I'd mention them in case other ppl had thoughts on them.

Slowpoke: C- to Unranked
Quilava: Unranked to C-
Grotle: Unranked to C-
Voltorb: Unranked to C-
 

Simbo

Own a doghouse?
Gonna post about Servine and why I think it's good enough to warrant a suspect test in the current metagame. Interested to see what other ppl think about this.
I'm not gonna go into too much detail into what it does, since most people know what it does. I'm mainly going to focus in on why Servine is so threatening and restrictive, both in teambuilding and in a game, and explain why I think it's suspectworthy.

The two main Servine sets I'll be making reference to are:

NFE Bulky SpDef Support (Servine) @ Eviolite
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 180 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD / 72 Spe
Calm Nature
- Synthesis
- Leaf Storm
- Knock Off
- Glare / Hidden Power [Fire]

NFE Fast Offensive (Servine) @ Eviolite
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Knock Off
- Synthesis / Glare

A fast bulky set looks pretty solid too tho.


1. Defensive Servine counters are far too limited in the tier.

In terms of guaranteed defensive Servine counters which cannot easily get Glared through, I can think of four Pokemon capable of switching into and checking Servine consistently: Spdef Rose, Spdef Ivy, Slig and Spdef Toge. The four aforementioned Pokemon have their own issues, which I'll cover in a bit but even so, four 'consistent' counters to common Servine sets is quite low.
The likes of Ferroseed, Grimer, Gloom, Metang, Klang, Pawniard can be muscled through with Leaf Storm and/or HP Fire. They can switch in once/maybe twice but have their own issues with longevity/hazards/needing to check other Pokmeon or fulfilling other roles.

2. Servine is capable of breaking for itself or can be backed up with support.

Servine gets access to the best move in the meta in Knock Off. It can easily weaken checks/counters on the switch-in by clicking Knock, switching out, then coming back in later in the game to break. In addition, Servine checks and counters like Rose, Slig, Toge, Ivy, Grimes etc can be chipped or weakened by hazards or by teammates such as Haunter and Kadabra. Rose can also be Pursuit chipped by grimes, metang, pawn. You can argue that every setup sweeper benefits from support, which is entirely true, but most setup sweepers don't get access to Knock Off and there are two other factors which makes serv more threatening than every other setup mon, which I'll touch on in a bit.

3. Servine has very good bulk for a offensive setup sweeper.

This is one of the two key points which distinguishes serv from every other offensive setup mon in the meta. The spdef Serv set is very bulky, especially on the special side, which means it can switch into and check/counter a lot of threats in the metagame such as clef, kad, buzz, mare, missy, prin etc, while still packing a fantastic offensive presence and having good utility. The fast serv set has reasonable bulk but this bulk makes both sets a lot more difficult to revenge. In addition, some Pokemon like wallbreaker Monferno, non-scarf birds excluding murkrow and specs Rose can revenge the bulky set but not the fast set, which makes them unreliable from a teambuilding perspective. Serv also has reliable recovery in synthesis, which means chip damage does not stick and, since it doesn't need rest, turns can't be exploited like they can with slig.

0 SpA Roselia Sludge Bomb vs. 180 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Servine: 114-134 (37.2 - 43.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Possible damage amounts: (114, 114, 116, 116, 120, 120, 120, 122, 122, 126, 126, 128, 128, 132, 132, 134)
+2 0 SpA Clefairy Flamethrower vs. 180 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Servine: 100-118 (32.6 - 38.5%) -- 98.3% chance to 3HKO
Possible damage amounts: (100, 100, 102, 102, 104, 106, 106, 108, 108, 110, 112, 112, 114, 114, 116, 118)
0 SpA Togetic Flamethrower vs. 180 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Servine: 64-76 (20.9 - 24.8%) -- guaranteed 5HKO
Possible damage amounts: (64, 64, 66, 66, 66, 68, 68, 68, 70, 70, 72, 72, 72, 74, 74, 76)
252 SpA Kadabra Psychic vs. 180 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Servine: 81-96 (26.4 - 31.3%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
Possible damage amounts: (81, 82, 82, 84, 84, 85, 87, 87, 88, 90, 90, 91, 93, 93, 94, 96)
252 SpA Protean Frogadier Ice Beam vs. 180 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Servine: 126-150 (41.1 - 49%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Possible damage amounts: (126, 128, 128, 132, 132, 134, 134, 138, 138, 140, 140, 144, 144, 146, 146, 150)
252 SpA Haunter Sludge Wave vs. 180 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Servine: 168-198 (54.9 - 64.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Possible damage amounts: (168, 168, 170, 174, 174, 176, 180, 180, 182, 186, 186, 188, 192, 192, 194, 198)
252 SpA Choice Specs Electabuzz Hidden Power Ice vs. 180 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Servine: 92-110 (30 - 35.9%) -- 38.6% chance to 3HKO
Possible damage amounts: (92, 94, 94, 96, 96, 98, 100, 100, 102, 102, 104, 104, 106, 106, 108, 110)
0 SpA Gloom Sludge Bomb vs. 180 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Servine: 102-120 (33.3 - 39.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Possible damage amounts: (102, 102, 102, 104, 104, 108, 108, 108, 110, 110, 114, 114, 114, 116, 116, 120)
+2 252 SpA Misdreavus Shadow Ball vs. 180 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Servine: 114-135 (37.2 - 44.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Possible damage amounts: (114, 115, 117, 118, 120, 121, 121, 123, 124, 126, 127, 129, 130, 132, 133, 135)
0 Atk Marshtomp Ice Punch vs. 180 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Servine: 80-96 (26.1 - 31.3%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
Possible damage amounts: (80, 82, 82, 84, 84, 86, 86, 88, 88, 90, 90, 92, 92, 94, 94, 96)
0 SpA Prinplup Ice Beam vs. 180 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Servine: 64-76 (20.9 - 24.8%) -- guaranteed 5HKO
Possible damage amounts: (64, 64, 66, 66, 66, 68, 68, 68, 70, 70, 72, 72, 72, 74, 74, 76)
252+ Atk Metang Meteor Mash vs. 180 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Servine: 94-112 (30.7 - 36.6%) -- 66.6% chance to 3HKO
Possible damage amounts: (94, 96, 97, 99, 99, 100, 102, 103, 103, 105, 106, 108, 108, 109, 111, 112)
252+ Atk Pawniard Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 180 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Servine: 111-132 (36.2 - 43.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Possible damage amounts: (111, 112, 114, 115, 117, 118, 120, 120, 121, 123, 124, 126, 127, 129, 130, 132)
252+ Atk Pawniard Sucker Punch vs. 180 HP / 0 Def Servine: 120-142 (39.2 - 46.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Possible damage amounts: (120, 121, 123, 124, 126, 127, 129, 130, 132, 133, 135, 136, 138, 139, 141, 142)
252 Atk Monferno Flare Blitz vs. 180 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Servine: 236-282 (77.1 - 92.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Possible damage amounts: (236, 240, 242, 246, 248, 252, 254, 258, 260, 264, 266, 270, 272, 276, 278, 282)
252 Atk Torracat Flare Blitz vs. 180 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Servine: 252-296 (82.3 - 96.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Possible damage amounts: (252, 254, 258, 260, 264, 266, 270, 272, 276, 278, 282, 284, 288, 290, 294, 296)
252 Atk Combusken Flare Blitz vs. 180 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Servine: 252-296 (82.3 - 96.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Possible damage amounts: (252, 254, 258, 260, 264, 266, 270, 272, 276, 278, 282, 284, 288, 290, 294, 296)
252 Atk Reckless Staravia Brave Bird vs. 180 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Servine: 276-326 (90.1 - 106.5%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
Possible damage amounts: (276, 278, 282, 284, 290, 294, 296, 300, 302, 306, 308, 312, 314, 318, 320, 326)
252 Atk Trumbeak Brave Bird vs. 180 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Servine: 252-296 (82.3 - 96.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Possible damage amounts: (252, 254, 258, 260, 264, 266, 270, 272, 276, 278, 282, 284, 288, 290, 294, 296)


From a teambuilding perspective, your offensive counterplay to servine has to be strong enough to hit the spdef servine set hard or ko it after chip but also be faster than offensive servine. The pool of mons which fit both criteria is pretty limited and scarfers are pretty easy to pivot around/chip with hazards for bulkier teams.

Offensive revenging counterplay is limited to scarf Fires and Birds, which is not ideal when most of these mons are rocks weak and a lot of them can't even ohko the spdef set. They're reasonably easy for bulkier teams to pivot around and chip with rocks. Not ohkoing the spdef set may not seem significant but even a 5-20% serv can synth back up if it gets a free switch in on the likes of clef, bulky waters, toge and some other mons and become a nuisance again, whereas the bird/fire is dead or crippled.

Other good setup sweepers in the tier like Monferno, Combusken, Fraxure do not have the same freedom of switching into attacks since they are frail. They also need to find a free turn to setup and are far easier to revenge due to much poorer bulk. When using offensive setup sweepers, the game must be set up in a way for them to thrive. Monferno/Combusken/Fraxure/Klang etc all need certain pokemon to be heavily weakened/chipped/knocked before they can setup and do damage due to their frailty. None of these pokemon provide much, if any, defensive utility. Serv does and can break for itself and come in multiple times in a game.

4. Servine can boost continuously while hitting hard. It is also resistant to a lot of ways of beating down typical bulky setup mons.

This is the other key point which distinguishes serv from every other bulky setup sweeper/cleaner in the tier. It does not need a free turn to start boosting. Admittedly, the first Leaf Storm is kinda weak but serv can easily steamroll into a stronger threat. It does not provide the opposition with free turns either while it boosts, unlike clef, slig and duo.
Compared to other bulky setup sweepers like Slig and Clef, Serv can't be hazed easily/at all by the likes of mare and dusc. Taunt and encore don't really affect it much either while they both completely shut down clef, duo and slig.

5. A lot of the defensive checks/counters to Servine honestly don't do much in return.

This point is the main reason why I think rose and ivy are the 'true' serv counters in the meta and why serv is suspectworthy. When considering serv counters/checks, I often ask 'What can they do to serv after they've switched in?' and for a lot of them, the answer is usually fuck all.
My issue with calling spdef toge and slig serv counters is that they either cannot perform their normal purpose on a team if they are checking serv or they bleed momentum to an extent where it's much easier to just use rose or ivy.
Spdef toge can only harm serv if carrying toxic. If it doesn't have toxic, serv can tank flamethrowers with ease, knock it then fish for paras with glare or even stall out roosts with +6 HP fire if it doesn't have glare. Toge is also easy to chip with rocks and attacks, since its other function is to find opportunities to defog hazards. Toxic spdef toge is also pretty suboptimal in every non-serv scenario, since it provides free setup/hazards/attacks for steels, rose, mare and a lot of other pokemon since it's so passive. From a building perspective, it is not easy to fit on a team, far easier to use rose or ivy and there is a heavy opportunity cost to running spdef toxic toge to other better toge sets.
Similar story with slig, takes a knock which severely hinders its ability to set up with curse later in the game. It can't set up curse early game, it can't lock itself into outrage early or midgame and uninvested non stab iron tail does not hit hard at all. Slig is a lot more useful than toge in a non-serv matchup but again, if I want a mon which checks serv, far easier to use rose/ivy since they immediately put more pressure on opposing teams with knock/spikes. I don't think slig can really be called a servine counter, it's better imo to describe it as a bulky setup mon which doesn't lose to serv.
Servine checks like offensive metang cannot 2hko either of the serv sets above and just gets worn down and bopped by serv. Ferro can switch into knock once but then loses the next time it comes in to Leaf Storm + HP Fire. Pawniard cannot 2hko either serv set and gets bopped by storm and HP fire. Barring Klang, a lot of the steel types are not really checks to serv.
Poisons like grimer-a get worn down extremely easily, either by serv itself or by other special attackers like hauntdab or hazards. Gloom cannot 2hko the spdef serv set and gets beaten by the hp fire set.
Barring togetic, fires and birds can't switch into glare and get heavily chipped by leaf storm.

Serv does have its slight downsides. Mono Grass is not the best defensive typing in the tier, it loses some of its defensive capabilities if it is knocked and offensive checks like Haunter, Torracat and scarf Monferno can revenge it. It's also very susceptible to Toxic. However, serv's general incredible defensive and offensive capabilities, as well as access to Knock Off, Synthesis and Glare makes it really good. I don't think there's enough viable defensive and offensive counterplay to serv. Teams without Rose or ivy always feel weak to it; it's very restrictive building wise and can always put in work against any playstyle.

Counterarguments to serv

Wanted to address a few of these. From what I've seen, some of the reasons why ppl don't think serv is suspectworthy is because they think offensive and defensive counterplay is sufficient or they personally don't find serv to be a big threat. I covered the first point pretty extensively already so I'll focus on the second argument.

I think one of the main reasons why serv doesn't feel as restrictive and good as it is is because of rose. Rose is incredibly good rn and I think a decent chunk of that is because it is singlehandedly the best and one of the very few true serv counters, while also being fantastic in non-serv matchups. It has other great points like spikes, fantastic special bulk and longevity but countering serv is massive. Rose is pretty easy to fit on every playstyle barring maybe stall. If you use rose a lot, serv will never feel particularly threatening but a meta where rose usage feels kinda mandated is very restrictive and not good. Teams without rose feel a lot more serv weak and it heavily centralises the meta.

TL.DR Suspect serv
 

TTK

Narmaya. That's it.
is a Community Contributor
For the past 2/3 so weeks (lost count tbh) I've been playing this tier, I've had a lot of fun. I really enjoy the metagame of this tier and haven't had so much fun in a tier since I started playing PU almost 2 years ago. In specific, I have been enjoying testing a certain mon in the tier and people already reading this probably know what mon I am talking about because it's on every team I use (I've lowkey forgot how to build without it) and that mon is Seadra. Today I will post my nomination of Seadra from being Unranked to C+. I believe Seadra has a place on the VR as a decently fast, physically bulky pokemon which can set up Focus Energy to demolish opposing mons with its Sniper crits. Seadra does this best against the slower and fatter teams in the metagame, pretty much 2hkoing everything on sight.

The good about Seadra
  • Seadra possesses one of the best unboosted speed tiers in the NFE tier. With 85 base Speed, it is able to reach 295, enabling it to outspeed common pokemon in the tier such as Servine, Monferno, Gabite and many more.
  • Seadra also has 95 base defence, which coupled with Eviolite, allow it to switch in on the physical attackers in the tier like the aforementioned Monferno and not really worry much about their attacks and this gives it opportunities to set up a Focus Energy and start critting.
  • Sniper crits can deal an insane amount of damage. Due to this mon having a solid base 95 Special Attack, Seadra is able, at the minimum, 2hko everything in the tier with its crits. Even resisted crits are able to do a solid amount of damage depending on the mon.
252 SpA Sniper Seadra Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Lickitung on a critical hit: 190-225 (49.4 - 58.5%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Sniper Seadra Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Sliggoo on a critical hit: 159-189 (46.7 - 55.5%) -- 68% chance to 2HKO
I decided to show those calcs because those, as far as I'm aware, some of the bulkiest spdef tanks in the tier. If Seadra has this power to have a solid chance of 2hkoing them, then it does a huge amount of damage to the rest of the tier

However, Seadra sounds quite good on paper but I have seen all of its flaws as a pokemon so that has lead to me nominating it less than B ranks.

The bad about Seadra
  • Seadra's worst stat, its Spdef, really lets it down. Even with Eviolite, its spdef is so bad it pretty much can't switch in to any special attacker in the tier or it risked getting 2hko by them. This really shows in the metagame, as a lot of the offensive mons in the tier tend to be special attackers from I've seen and played.
  • Seadra's speed, while good, is still not the highest and is outsped by top threats Kadabra and Electabuzz, which easily check it, especially Ebuzz which always forces out Seadra. They're not the only mons that outspeed Seadra but those are the mons that give it the most trouble and kinda stops it from doing its job.
  • Seadra's wallbreaking power relies on getting crits. Even with Focus Energy up, there is still a chance of not getting a crit and Seadra's output without crits is kinda lacking without using items such as Life Orb but I feel like Eviolite is a necessity to capitalise on your natural physical bulk.
  • Seadra also faces competition as a Water-type from Frogadier. Frog has a much speed tier and despite it is overall less frail than Seadra, it tends to be more versatile and offers more utility than Seadra thanks to Protean and its diverse movepool.
I believe all these replays have highlighted at some points during the games Seadra's crazy damage output and showed its niche at just wallbreaking.

Now before I end this post, I'm gonna address my thoughts on Servine and a potential suspect test that has been sparking conversation recently. From what I've played of NFE, Servine is quite an overwhelming offensive force in the meta. Contrary spatk boosts from Leaf Storm practically eliminating common checks is quite hard to deal with. A good speed tier alongside that means slower teams can auto lose to Servine once it gets going. Servine also happens to offer wide utility in terms of hazard removal in Defog and Knock Off (probably one of the best moves in this meta). Even Simbo has mentioned bulkier Servine sets that can still be problematic because you don't need offensive investment but you are still able to kill things once you get Leaf Storm boosts.

Now, in terms of "is it worthy of suspect" or "is it banworthy", Servine imo is not broken. If it was, it would've been banned already with the likes of Gurdurr and Piloswine (the former being quite broken from what I hear). You can ban a mon for being so-called "broken" but even if a mon isn't broken like Servine, it can still have a possibility of being banned under the banner of "unhealthy", which I believe people forget about tbh. If Servine starts to force teams to run things like Roselia and Sliggoo and other straight up counters to it, then I don't think its right to keep in the meta. You have to admit Servine is in the back of everyone's head when teambuilding because of how dangerous it can be and while it's not particularly hard to check it offensively, it still has a lot going for it and it can invalidate certain teams and playstyles but this is just the two-cents from a guy who just started playing the tier. Just want to provoke some new ideas ig.

Thanks for reading, get Seadra ranked pls.
 
Last edited:

ImKoolKidz

I COULD BE BANNED!
I have been wanting to do this for quite some time now, but never really got the chance to. So now, I'm nominating Combusken from B+ to A-/A.
Combuken's phenomenal Fire and Fighting type is a great offensive typing. It also has a great ability, Speed Boost, which boosts its speed stat by +1 each turn. It also has access to Swords Dance, making it a scary set-up mon. Lastly, Combusken can either be special or physical, making it often unpredictable and powerful.

The best Combusken sets in my opinion.
Great Combusken team is found

The following are calcs:
+2 252+ Atk Combusken Inferno Overdrive (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Clefairy: 375-442 (109 - 128.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Combusken Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Eviolite Clefairy: 382-450 (111 - 130.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Combusken Inferno Overdrive (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Duosion: 367-433 (109.8 - 129.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+4 252+ Atk Combusken Flare Blitz vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Togetic: 258-304 (82.4 - 97.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock


In conclusion, Combusken's amazing offensive typing really allows it to be a dominant wall breaker and a set-up sweeper in the current meta. The only reason why Combusken wouldn't be absolutely broken/ S rank worthy is because it requires the support of its teammates to either set up hazards, set up screens, and chip down its checks for it to sweep/ clean.
 
We now have a timetable for official room tours in the nfe room. The tours will start on the 22nd of April and run at the following times.

Timetable (EST/gmt -5)

Monday: 2pm and 8pm
Tuesday: 4pm and 10pm
Wednesday: 2pm and 8pm
Thursday: 4pm and 10pm
Friday: 2pm and 8pm
Saturday: 11am, 4pm and 10pm
Sunday: 11am, 4pm and 10pm

Timetable (gmt +1)

Monday: 8pm and 2am
Tuesday: 10pm and 4am
Wednesday: 8pm and 2am
Thursday: 10pm and 4am
Friday: 8pm and 2am
Saturday: 5pm, 10pm and 4am
Sunday: 5pm, 10pm and 4am
 

ShuckleDeath

They call me the kign of typos
is a Team Rater Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnus
UR ---> C-

Palpitoad is a Pokemon I have been using to some success over my short tenure in NFE. I think the main reason it is overlooked is because of Marshtomp, as it is bulkier and has a better attacking stat, which is a valid reason why Marshtomp should be considered over Palpitoad, however, Palpitoad has a few traits that make it stand out and also be considered on teams, and I have two sets I feel are solid in the metagame right now which I will happily go over in a moment. It all comes down to Palpitoads ability and higher speed and special attack stats. While Marshtomp can also run these sets as the movepool is very similar I feel Palpitoad does them a bit better.


Palpitoad @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Sludge Wave

Palpitoad hits a decent speed tier able to outpace the entire metagame with a Choice Scarf while this set finds competition form Gabite it does a few things Gabite does not. It trades a weakness to Ice-type attacks for a weakness to Grass-type attacks while keeping the immunity to Electric-types and gaining immunity to Water-type attacks. This set is just a Choice Scarf user that works and not to much more to say about it. It is the worse of the two sets but still something I feel is worth more exploring.



Palpitoad @ Life Orb
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Hydro Pump
- Stealth Rock
- Sludge Wave

This set is just money, it is such a good offensive setter I am surprised nobody has picked up on it yet. It makes up for it's below average offenses with its high powered Hydro Pump and coverage. Ground is a good attacking type right now with only a handful of resists being used right now, which is what makes Sludge Wave great coverage. the best reason to use this is it doesn't let in any defoggers in to easily, hitting Togetic with Sludge wave and denting the others with Hydro Pump.
 

Ktütverde

of course
is a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Former Smogon Metagame Tournament Circuit Champion
First post here :] This tier is hella fun and I'm planning on contributing to making it more popular, keep up with the good job NFE people!

VR shifts- My nominations

Alright, so I haven't played that much (but I guess nobody plays that much since the community is super small), so I'm basing my opinion on my general pokemon knowledge and chatting with NFE "mains" (lol) + games I played vs people such as Simbo, ToyTime King, and ShuckleDeath + others who are often online in the PS! room. I tried to make 5-6 teams with different mons so as to get as much experience as possible with relatively few games. Without further ado, here is what I think of the current VR:

Clefairy: S -> A+

Clefairy is a great stealth rock setter, but it really has too many flaws to be a S threat.

S rank: "S rank contains Pokémon that define a particular tier, being able to perform a role (or more) extremely well and lack glaring flaws which prevent them from being effective in said roles. " source: https://www.smogon.com/smog/issue31/forum

If you look at all the "toptiers" (I'll call toptiers everything in A- or higher, and some B+ too), clefairy more or less loses to all of them, which struck me when I started playing in NFE because..... that S rank dude wasn't that rewarding at first glance and neither was it in practice.

Clefairy vs toptiers:



I would say spdef clef is better than physical, even when using calmmind+rocks, since the spdef investment+calmmind boosts allow it to 1v1 kadabra and electabuzz with 0 boosts, and 1v1 haunter servine and roselia after a couple CM boosts. It also synergizes well with physical mareanie. However, whether it's physically or specially defensive oriented, clef is way too pressured by all toptiers: frogadier's LO gunkshot 2hkoes full def clef even with only 4 atk evs, while roselia hits too hard on the switchin and forces you to softboil too often. Then come haunter and its poison stabs into play, kadabra which can run taunt very viably, servine with its leafstorm nukes that give it a nastyplot as if it wasn't enough. And finally grimer-a and meanie which just deter any CM attempt and are a pain for clef. What clef does best is checking dragons (gabite, sliggoo, hakamoO), but when you are a fat fairy type and just happen to struggle vs all fighting types :

252+ Atk Guts Machoke Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Clefairy: 176-208 (51.1 - 60.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Iron Fist Monferno Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Clefairy: 225-265 (65.4 - 77%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Iron Fist Monferno Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Clefairy: 169-199 (49.1 - 57.8%) -- 96.9% chance to 2HKO


and on top of that get hurt very badly by electabuzz and kadabra if not running a spdef spread:

252 SpA Life Orb Static Electabuzz Volt Switch vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Clefairy: 113-134 (32.8 - 38.9%) -- 99.7% chance to 3HKO
252 SpA Magic Guard Kadabra Psychic vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Clefairy: 132-156 (38.3 - 45.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO


plus w/e you do frog beats you:

4 Atk Life Orb Protean Frogadier Gunk Shot vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Clefairy: 174-205 (50.5 - 59.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

So when you suffer from all this and in return just get rocks up, stall a bit with softboiled and check the occasional dragons/scarf monfernos, and fail to CM sweep because there's too many things able to stall it or KO it, you shouldn't be S imo. Also underrated threats like pawniard and terrifying sets like SD busken and SD/band monfernos make me think about gabite for example as a rocks setter. CM+twave/knock clef could maybe be a nice alternative to the rocks one, but it doesn't have the splashability and reward a S mon should have.


Now, an easy nom:

Servine: A+ -> S

Alright, so people call it broken, I don't find it that broken, quite unhealthy tho because it is super hard to stop (too bulky+synthesis and glare/knock). The broken discussion isn't what I want to discuss here, roselia/sliggoo/togetic/grimer-a check it well but servine always knocks/glares them or waits till they get too low, so yeah I totally understand the servine issue.

Anyway, I really appreciate the ground/water resistance and access to defog+good speed tier, which makes it super splashable (too splashable imo), i've been using max speed max spatk leafstorm+knock+glare+synthesis mainly, but also variants with defog>glare and sometimes max HP>max speed, also choice scarf servine+poison type breaker (haunter for example) in HO teams, and godamnit servine just puts in so much work and is always rewarding, whatever the team you are using it in. It just fulfills the criteria for being S and should be S asap imo. This is more important than dropping clef too.

Gabite: B- -> B

How is this dude with eevee and rufflet... Gabite is a fantastic stealth rock setter, one of the best along with clefairy and metang. Its ability to check electabuzz, combusken, monferno, pawniard, mareanie, grimer-a and staravia turns it into a great role compression imo. It's nice speed tier lets it either outspeed adamant pawn with only 80 evs in speed, or outspeed any non-scarf monferno by just investing 252 speed evs+jolly since gabite's speed is 82 and ferno's one is 81 (servine is 83 fuck it for real lmao).
And lastly something funny:


Marshtomp: UR -> B-

Marshtomp isn't ranked LOL. I looked at the VR 10 times, used ctrl+F but I couldn't find it. So marshtomp is a fat stealth rock setter with decent offensive presence, resisting haunter's sludgewave and electabuzz's moves is great, also checks stuff like ferno metang and grimer-a. I've used it a bit, it wasn't that great, but still at least B- rank worthy imo (I think gabite is usually better and that servine pressures marshtomp too much, these are my main arguments for keeping marsh not higher than B-).


Thanks for reading :]
 
Last edited:

Simbo

Own a doghouse?
Gonna do some A and B rank noms

Gloom: A- to B

Gloom isn't that good anymore unfortunately. It's no longer a necessity for checking gurd which means its lost its main job in the meta. In a meta where nearly all of the top mons are special attackers, a bulky phys wall can't deal with and check a lot of the top threats. On top of that, it usually relies on sleep to check some physical attackers too, which means its unable to check stuff like metang and klang if sth else is asleep. With pawn usage rising, strength sap as recovery is risky and the number of physical attackers it can check is small, limited to machoke, krokorok, non-curselax, fraxure (maybe). It also lets roselia get spikes for free and its general passivity and poor special bulk can be exploited pretty easily. It's not A- anymore.

Magmar: B+ to B

Magmar is still pretty solid but faces too much competition from monf and busken to be a B+ threat. Magmar has a better speed tier than monferno, but takes 25% from rocks, which sucks for a breaker, and is unable to boost its stats unless using bd, which is hard to pull off. Monf and busk have good dual stabs, the ability to go phys or special and boost up on either/both. Monf gets prio to alleviate its speed tier, busk gets speed boost. They can both get around common checks with elec Z too. Most teams appreciate monf, busk or torra more than magmar rn imo. Mag is still decent, specs hits hard and bd can pick up surprising wins but other good/better fire types hold it back from being a top threat.

Klang: B to B+

Klang is solid in the current meta. Pure Steel typing and good bulk even when uninvested lets it set up a shift gear or two pretty comfortably on a decent chunk of the meta. Even though its coverage is pretty poor, gear grind plus wild charge lets it hit a decent chunk of the meta hard. Realistically, steel types would need to be removed before attempting to win with klang but once they are gone, klang can put in a lot of work vs most teams. Gear Grind also lets it bypass sash kad.

Replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7nu-881287097https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7nu-881283653https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7nu-899692937
Grimer-Alola: A to A+

Grimer is really good. With so many good special attackers in the tier, being able to switch into, check and potentially pursuit trap the likes of frogadier, haunter, kad, rose, serv, buzz etc is fantastic. Grimer never fails to put in work vs any team, it either spams knock or traps/removes/pressures one of the aforementioned annoying pokemon. The only real issue with grimer comes from the fact that it is chipped easily but that's to be expected imo. Spikes are incredible rn and 80-90% of S to A- are special attackers. It's really easy to stack multiple pokemon that grimer wants to check on one team, which means you have to prioritise which mon u want grimer to check and trap.
I think it's worthy of A+ just because its defensively the best check and remover of high ranking frail threats like buzz, kad, haunt, frog in one slot and it spreads knock and poisons around. Any team without grimer defensively feels weaker to these top threats.
 

Ktütverde

of course
is a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Former Smogon Metagame Tournament Circuit Champion
Here are a lot of sets that I'm posting so as to make it official and so that you guys can use them, discuss them or just think about them.

Good Sets

Walls



NFE Utility CurseLax (Munchlax) @ Eviolite
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 92 Atk / 200 Def / 216 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Earthquake
- Pursuit
- Rest


NFE Defensive (Gloom) @ Eviolite
Ability: Stench
EVs: 252 HP / 208 Def / 48 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Strength Sap
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Worry Seed


NFE Special Wall (Lickitung) @ Eviolite
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Knock Off
- Heal Bell / Earthquake


NFE Specially Defensive (Tangela) @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Toxic
- Power Swap

-Utility CurseLax Ohkoes Haunter switching out with Pursuit after SR damage and Ohkoes Monferno after SR damage (not combusken because it requires too much investment). The SpD investment allows it to tank 2 LO focusblasts from Electabuzz after rocks.
-Defensive Gloom is the standard set with enough seed for Mareanie and Worry Seed to remove Mareanie's and Clefairy's ability and thus cancel regenerator healing and poison immunity. Also removes Klang's Clear Body, Servine's Contrary and other annoying abilities.
-Lickytung, pretty straightforward.
-Spdef Tangela is a very solid pivot to send in against Electabuzz and Kadabra for example, but what it does best is being hard to kill once it is on the field because of its surprising special bulk. For Example, LO haunter's sludge wave isn't a guranteed kill if rocks arent up. Toxic for monferno/servine, power swap steals Servine's, Clefairy's, Sliggoo's and Munchlax's boosts.


Defensive Utility


NFE RestTalk (Grimer-Alola) @ Eviolite
Ability: Poison Touch
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Gunk Shot
- Rest
- Sleep Talk


NFE Cleric (Misdreavus) @ Eviolite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hex
- Pain Split
- Heal Bell


NFE Defog (Zubat) @ Eviolite
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Defog
- Roost
- Taunt
- Super Fang

-RestTalk grimer-alola turns it into a very consistent switchin to the likes of Haunter, Kadabra, Roselia, Clefairy, Servine and Electabuzz as well as Frogadier to a lesser extent (u-turns). It is forced to give up clear smog, not a big deal because clear smog is mainly used to break kadabra's sash without getting counter killed. Giving up pursuit is more annoying, but you can always replace gunk shot by pursuit if the team needs it. Otherwise, grimer doesnt necessitate Pursuit that much because if it doesn't trap haunter early game for example and also gets burnt or weakened, it can just rest and proceed to wall the same pokemons throughout the entire game.
-Misdreavus is one of the few viable HealBell users, and is a good user of it thanks to a high speed stat and synergy with pokémons in need of healbell support such as Munchlax, non-healbell Lickytung or grimer-alola.
-Batbaby is cute and is the only available choice as a defogger available to always win vs Toxic Spikes mareanie, Spikes roselia and CM+Rocks Clefairy. Who could have expected zubat to be useful? It's niche is in stall.


Offensive Utility


NFE Custap Lead (Lairon) @ Custap Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Endeavor
- Earthquake
- Head Smash


NFE Offensive Spikes (Roselia) @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Ground] / Sleep Powder


NFE Sun Setter (Dusclops) @ Heat Rock
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 Spe
Impish Nature
- Sunny Day
- Memento
- Taunt
- Shadow Sneak


NFE Sun Setter (Riolu) @ Heat Rock
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sunny Day
- High Jump Kick
- Copycat
- Protect


NFE Z-Move Trapper (Magnemite) @ Electrium Z
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 32 HP / 252 SpA / 224 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Magnet Rise


NFE Sticky Web (Swirlix) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sticky Web
- Endeavor
- Magic Coat
- Yawn


NFE Dual Screens (Voltorb) @ Light Clay
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Taunt
- Explosion / Volt Switch


NFE Focus Sash (Drilbur) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rock Tomb
- Rapid Spin

All straightforward sets:
-Lairon runs Headsmash to KO itself and prevent defensive plays like rapidspin, defog, spikes or setup.
-Dusclops outspeeds 48 EVs speed Machoke. Shadow sneak hits haunter and breaks kadabra's sash.
-Riolu's set by Simbo , outspeeds Jolly Lairon and Defensive Staravia. HJK hits very hard, protect allows it to get emergency KOes when followed by a Copycat copying the last move used by the opponent (Combusken, Kadabra, Staravia for example). Bullet Punch is an option over protect but is only good at breaking kadabra's sash.
-Magnemite outspeeds adamant max speed Metang.
-Drilbur's rocktomb does drop servine speed thanks to Mold Breaker.


Wallbreakers


NFE Mixed Attacker (Frogadier) @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse
- Gunk Shot
- Hidden Power [Electric]


NFE Choice Band (Lairon) @ Choice Band
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Head Smash
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake
- Double-Edge


NFE Choice Specs (Quilava) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Eruption
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Extrasensory

-4 EVs Atk Gunk shot of LO frog 2hkoes max def clefairy.
-Double-Edge is a better last slot over iron head, hits mahcoke as hard but also hits a large number of pokemons for neutral damage: monferno, mareanie, clefairy, electabuzz, and is the best move to click vs gabite/marshtomp.
-Extrasensory hits mareanie mainly.


Sweepers


NFE Swords Dance + Life Orb (Combusken) @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Fire Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Sky Uppercut


NFE Swords Dance + Electrium Z (Combusken) @ Electrium Z
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Thunder Punch
- Sky Uppercut


NFE Sleepy Gears (Klang) @ Eviolite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 216 HP / 252 SpD / 40 Spe
Careful Nature
- Shift Gear
- Gear Grind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk


NFE Endure + Reversal (Yanma) @ Liechi Berry
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Endure
- Reversal
- Aerial Ace
- Protect


NFE Agility CritDra (Seadra) @ Lansat Berry
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 32 HP / 252 SpA / 224 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Endure
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Agility

-Sleepy Gears outspeeds Jolly max speed Gabite after one shift gear.
-This CritDra is a set I built with seadra as a lategame sweeper in mind. Lansat activates below 25% HP and gives it the focus energy effect.


To be continued... See you in the Bad Sets another day!
 
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Ktütverde

of course
is a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Former Smogon Metagame Tournament Circuit Champion
"SimboAujourd'hui à 12:39
Actually let me add some of the qc sets onto that completed sample set and then it should be done and u can post it on the forums if u want"


Double posting, sorry about that. Here are the NFE Sample Sets to be imported into your damage calc (https://pokemonshowdown.com/damagecalc/):

https://pokepast.es/e3252654e73bd6d4
All sets have been updated and follow the same format. There might be some little mistakes. I know some people can't see pokepastes for some reason, so here is the pastebin too:

https://pastebin.com/keUHeVfd
If there are any sets that should be changed or added, feel free to PM Simbo or me. Also s/o Fille and the Monferno Mafia for doing the original Sample Sets pokepaste.

PS: You can use ctrl+F with pokepastes to find the Pokémon of your choice.
PS: The Pokémons are in order of descending viability. Pokémons that aren't ranked yet but are going to be ranked very soon are at the very bottom with D ranks.
 
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Simbo

Own a doghouse?
Thoughts on Drilbur? I noticed it wasn't in the viability rankings.
Drilbur has a really small niche as a rocker plus spinner utility role but its niche is too small to make it worth being ranked. There are a lot of better and much bulkier Stealth Rock setters and its Ground Typing and poor bulk means it loses to a lot of hazard setters in the tier like Roselia, Quilladin and most Rockers. It's just a bit too frail and weak to be worth using. Prinplup does the rocks and hazard removal role better
 

Simbo

Own a doghouse?
Why did you guys ban around 10 Eviolite users when banning only Eviolite could have fixed the problem? Does that not fix the problem?
I wasn't around when the tier was first conceptualised so I can't say for sure why Evio was kept in. If any of the OGs wanna chip in here that would be great.

My two reasons for keeping Evio would be:

1) It improves metagame diversity and stability.
2) It creates a meta that isn't almost identical to Middle Cup

For the first point, Evio is what lets bulkier playstyles thrive in the meta. Staples and walls like clef, spdef rose, spdef serv, mare etc defensive capabilities would be neutered by an Evio ban and would shift the meta heavily in favour of offensive and ho builds. With gen 7 giving us Z-moves, I think offense would be too ridiculously good in non-Evio NFE and would limit both the number of viable mons and playstyles. In our current meta, every playstyle has merit imo and isn't completely outclassed by others.

For the second point, Middle Cup already has an Evio ban. If we also banned Evio, the two metas would be almost identical except we allow LC Pokes and the starter of two stage Evolutions and are lvl 100, which is too similar imo. There's also the possibility that fast frail strong Pokemon like Haunter, Frogadier, Servine, Kadabra and any new additions from the banlist would still be broken and we'd have to ban them anyway. It's entirely possible that some of our current banned mons would be fine without Evio, but no Evio could easily break others. One of the defining features of NFE mons is that they can carry Evio, so banning it seems odd imo.

I think our current meta with Evio is pretty balanced, there's definitely room for improvement (suspecting servine) but it's pretty fun and diverse. There's no point completely changing the identity of the meta by banning Evio.

Tl.dr Banning Evio may free some of our banlist but would likely break others mons. Our goal for NFE is to create a fun, diverse meta with often unused middle Evo and baby Pokemon, not to have as small a banlist as possible.
 
hey everybody I know this is so niche but what about fell stinger?

yes I just got sweeped by a fell stinger poiple
 

Jett

gm gobodachis
is a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Smogon Media Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnus
hey everybody I know this is so niche but what about fell stinger?

yes I just got sweeped by a fell stinger poiple
Fell Stinger is too gimmicky and nearly all the time serves as a 50 base power move. It probably shouldn't be used if there are better coverage moves.

Whilst the base stats of Poipole seem pretty good when compared to other mons, it's stats and movepool mean it is unable to excel at any role. It gets out sped by a lot of common threats (Kadabra, Electabuzz etc.) who can easily revenge kill Poipole. Physical Poipole is outclassed by the special variant due to the lack of coverage moves and required set up is too inconsistent. On the other hand, its special attack is also mediocre and even after a nasty plot, it will be unable to deal with the various bulkier pokemon in the tier. For an offensive poison type, it is outclassed by Haunter, which can offer more utility, has better coverage, higher special attack and is faster. Poipole is probably going to continue to have a decent usage on the ladder but there are better offensive threats
 
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Simbo

Own a doghouse?
The No Johns Tournament: NFE Edition

john |jän|
noun, verb, johned, johning
  • A cheap excuse for losing, missing a recovery, being hit by an attack, or any number of unfavorable events in Smash. It is a statement or action that detracts from the validity or quality of a competition (or its implied significance), irrespective of truth.

This tournament will be contested under USM NFE rules. What makes this different from any other tournament is the fact that the deadlines are short. 3 day maximum. No Johns.

Tournament Rules and Clauses

  • Sleep Clause: A player cannot put two or more different opposing Pokémon to sleep using attacks that induce sleep to opposing Pokémon.
  • Species Clause: A player cannot have two of the same Pokémon on their team. For example, a player cannot have two Koffing on his or her team.
  • Evasion Clause: A player cannot use the moves Double Team or Minimize in their Pokémon's movesets.
  • OHKO Clause: Players cannot use Horn Drill, Guillotine, Sheer Cold, or Fissure in any of their Pokémon's movesets.
  • Timer Clause: If a player exhausts the timer, he/she loses.
  • Endless Battle Clause: Any moveset on any pokemon that is capable of intentionally causing an endless battle is banned from competitive play. Check this thread for more informations.
  • Uber Clause: Players may not use any items, moves, abilities, or Pokemon that appear on our NFE Ban List. If the tiers change or new items, abilities, moves, or Pokemon become available in the middle of a round, the changes will take effect in the following round. There will be an announcement in the relevant round if this occurs. Unlikely in this scenario.
  • Do not join this tournament unless you are active. Deadlines will be very short. Schedule asap and via Smogon VM if possible. There will be no extensions.
  • Single elimination, best of 1.

Signups will be open until Sunday 16th June 23:59 EDT (gmt -4). Round 1 will be up a few hours after the deadline. Post in to signup.
 

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