Alright! I've been playing over the past couple days, and I have more updated thoughts regarding some of the drops in the tier.
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Let's talk about the obvious ones, first.
Yeah, these two are a giant yikes.
- I've addressed
Aegislash and its frightening status against the tier already, however, a more seasoned experience versus it has led me to the conclusion that this thing absolutely needs to go. While its SD set is pretty ok, I've had the most trouble against its Choice sets and Sub Toxic. Choice Specs is utterly absurd, and severely dents (if not outright knocks out) literally the entirety of the tier barring Blissey, and SubToxic subverts its normally offensive roots with an extremely egregious set that is able to safely plant a crippling Toxic against the entirety of the tier, as well as threaten you with a respectably strong Shadow Ball regardless. Its SD set, while I would argue isn't as good, has completely different matchups that ultimately put emphasis on the idea that Aegislash is incredibly unhealthy to play against. On top of all of this, it is resistant to Stealth Rock and poison, which makes it really hard to chip down. The biggest issue, though, is that it is extremely hard to scout for Aegislash without getting punished in some way due to how radically different its checks are for each of its sets (all of which are extremely potent), and this thing absolutely deserves a quickban as a result.
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Gengar is mostly run with Nasty Plot, but this one move is beyond enough to get it sent back into the BL shadow realm. Not only is it able to set up on most of the tier, but the 50/50s it forces are extremely risky and can result in way too great of a consequence to be healthy in battle. When it sets up, it gains a mind boggling strength with dual STABs that completely eradicate the tier, with a very good speed tier that necessitates a revenge killer to combat. Though, a detail that hasn't been mentioned much with it is its typing in particular. Offensively, we know it is amazing, however, its its defensive attributes include an immunity to Quick Attack/Mach Punch/Seismic Toss, as well as a Toxic immunity, meaning that you will need to rely on Accelerock, a Scarfer, or a faster Thunder Wave user to handle it. Substitute sets, while relatively uncommon, are some I've seen to combat the latter, and it turns Thunder Wave Blissey (which already can't do shit to it as is unless it wants to forego Seismic Toss's consistent damage for a coverage option solely for Gengar) into complete set-up fodder. I won't parrot how strong it is, how fast it is, and how easy it can mow over teams more than I have, but this thing definitely should leave the tier again.
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Here I'll talk about some Pokemon I think could be on the chopping block, but I'm not 100% on.
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Grimmsnarl is a really weird case. On paper, its attributes look perfect for the climate, but then you look at the fact that it is arguably one of the best Screen setters in the entirety of Pokemon due to its access to great utility like Taunt/Thunder Wave, Prankster, a solid defensive typing, and the ability to actually attack. It's been talked about in great detail as to why Screens in the tier are kind of a finicky subject, but we banned Alolatales for the very reason that it was a premier Screen setter, and I'd even argue to say Grimmsnarl is
better. With all of the new shit in the tier, it's hard to say, but I can definitely see this thing spearheading another era of Screens offense, especially with the incredible breakers we now got in the tier.
- Speaking of breakers, here we have
Terrakion. Terrakion is, needless to say,
strong. It has incredible dual STABs, an amazing speed tier, a breathtaking Attack stat, and hugely viable Choice/SD sets. While I do personally value Lycanroc-Dusk's explosiveness and generous coverage more, Terrakion is definitely much more consistent as a breaker. It is arguably one of the best Screens abusers that can completely mow over teams with its SD Variant, and even without Screens, it has respectable bulk that is augmented by Sandstorm. Without SD and armed with a Choice item, it is a great cleaner with Scarf and a great immediate wallbreaker with its Band variant. Though, a huge point against it is its lack of good coverage outside of Earthquake and Megahorn, which are certainly good, but easy to scout. It is fairly weak to priority and revenge killers, and is checked really well by Skarmory and Weezing-Galar, but I do think it is on a similar par to Gengar, despite being not as wholly pressing due to more immediate checks being present in the tier.
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Conkeldurr is a weird Pokemon to evaluate. On one hand, it is absolutely absurd as a breaker. Some big edges it has over Terrakion are access to an incredibly powerful Facade/Mach Punch/Knock Off and Guts, both of which give it a pretty effective, immediate presence as a breaker. And, if you fancy it, it gets Bulk Up, too. On one hand, it can be walled to a better effectiveness since it lacks SD (and is much more vulnerable to Neutralizing Gas), but it having such amazing immediate power and being such an incredible revenge killer can be worrisome traits on the other. Conkeldurr I say would be something worth waiting on, but it has shown to be a pretty frightening presence in the tier no matter how you slice it, and I could certainly see a slate for it.
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Now, let's talk about some of the mons that are very dependent on what happens with the more... powerful additions to the tier.
- These two are hugely balanced by the influx of Fighting-types in the tier, and in the former's case, the greater Speed level of the tier. I haven't particularly had many issues with them, but after using them some, I have found myself having a bit of a hard time getting them in, and when they get in, they're really prone to punishment. A lot of people are currently running priority to revenge the faster set-up breakers that have entered the tier as well as Conkeldurr being a thing that exists, which has consequentially led to Obstagoon and Crawdaunt being less terrifying as Dark breakers in a vacuum. Obstagoon in particular is also balanced by the influx of Neutralizing Gas Weezing, which completely throttles its breaking power, and in my opinion, has made it more manageable. Crawdaunt, though, is definitely the more concerning of the two. Access to SD, Aqua Jet, and Adaptability makes it a premier wallbreaker and Stallbuster, as well as an extremely potent revenger in its own right. Unlike Conk, though, it lacks bulk, is riskier to use due to its low Speed, and lacks the ability to heal chip with Drain Punch. I think, though, if Conk/Gengar/Terrakion get banished, that these two may definitely be of more concern. Although I think they're fine right now, they could be broken depending on what gets banned.
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Kyurem is somewhat of a similar case. Although it's definitely not broken at the moment, it is hugely checked by how widespread revenge killing and speed control is in the tier right now. I reckon its breaking power will become much more of a concern especially once it gets more of an opportunity to exemplify said breaking power, and arguably could be worse than Obstagoon/Crawdaunt since it has much less overall counterplay.
- Admittedly, I haven't really seen much of
Scolipede, so I'll avoid talking too much about it. It's got hazards, is a great suicide lead, but more prominently, it can snowball really easily with SD and Speed Boost. I don't really know how to feel about it yet, but it is worth keeping an eye on due to its past BL reputation anyway. I haven't really had an issue with it, personally, though I think that's hugely because of things like Skarmory and Weezing-Galar being such great, commonplace walls in the tier, which could fall out in use depending on what gets nuked to UUBL.
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Though, with all of this banning stuff out of the way, let's talk about the more welcome additions to the tier that I've had some experience with.
- Despite the prior hype indicating that it'd be really unhealthy in the tier, in my experience,
Tyranitar has been a fantastic addition to UU. While it does encourage some Sand archetypes, we have no Excadrill, and with some pretty solid walls like Skarmory as the icing on the cake, it has shown to be fairly niche anyway. It's been a super welcome Rocker, breaker, and overall nice glue mon that feels manageable with how vulnerable it is to a plethora of the tier's offenses, even without the mons I mentioned above, and how it's very prone to being chipped down. I've seen people compare it to Gigalith, but Tyranitar is literally better in every way aside from a couple of little things in the weakness department. It has more set options, more bulk, and more ways to support its team. I, for one, welcome our new Kaiju lord.
- I feel
Palossand is somewhat in the shadows with all of the hype going around with the arguably banworthy mons, and haven't seen too much of it. But, it is an amazing check to Fighting spam cores, and has great utility that is super good for Stall, Semi-Stall, and Balance. It's not really too amazing right now since it is kind of overwhelmed by all of the toys we weren't expecting, but I know for sure it'll get better as the tier stabilizes itself.
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Slowking is legitimately so cool, and I'm so happy we have it here. Regenerator + Teleport is a super cool tech and it has made it arguably one of the best pivots in the tier, as well as a good Fighting check. This thing is for sure going to be a top mon once the dust settles with how amazing it is as a pivot and glue to pretty much
every archetype
.
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Heracross is sick, and I absolutely love having it here. It's a super strong breaker that is balanced by its lack of priority, its middling speed tier, and underwhelming STABs. Plus, I've seen Scarf + Moxie some, and while not as good as its Guts set, it's a pretty cool cleaner. Despite its shortcomings, I think it's a really cool Pokemon and I imagine it'll be a premier breaker over Sirfetch'd/Machamp.
- I actually quite like
Jirachi here. While its set options are all over the place, it is beaten down by a lot of offense, and isn't really that awful to scout for since its immediate options aren't really strong or that punishing. I could see its set variety potentially being problematic, but I imagine if it doesn't rise to OU again that it'll be top tier since it's so damn versatile and is such a great revenger, Rocker, and cleaner.
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Skarmory is another mon I wasn't expecting to like in UU, but I'm really happy to say that it is super cool as a wall and as a hazard stacker in the tier. Access to Body Press has given it a way to combat the tier more directly, and it is surprisingly not that hard to wear down, either. I'm a fan of it!
- MURDER DOG IS FUN MURDER DOG IS FUN. It's balanced by its blatant frailty and proneness to getting chipped down with LO, but fuck me is this thing super fun. I love murder dog.
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Overall, the tier is undoubtedly in probably the most chaos it's been in ever, but despite how it can be somewhat overwhelming, I am enamored with how much the tier has transformed, and I can't wait to see how everything settles. So far, I've had an absolute blast seeing so many different teams on the ladder, and this is probably the most diverse the tier's been. If we get rid of the more problematic, loose ends, I imagine this tier will be the most prosperous and creativity encouraging it's been in years.