Metagame NP: Stage 0 - We've Only Just Begun (Welcome to SV NU) [Quickbans Post #142]

[Stories]

Not going to make this post directly about Medicham because we already know how broken it is (Give some support to this post by Eve to free lower tiers from having to suffer for an entire month at the beginning of every major shift).

Shoutouts to Ren-chon for helping me discover this by letting me rant to him in DM's about how shitty alpha tiers are. With Fluffy and Eviolite, Greavard EFFORTLESSLY walls Medicham, immune to Close Combat and not even 3HKO'd by Adamant Life Orb Zen Headbutt. Some damage calcs for reference below. Greavard's movepool is quite terrible, but RestTalk and Night Shade lets it be the perfect facetank for stall teams, and can fill the fourth moveslot with utility moves like Confuse Ray, Roar, Shadow Sneak, or even Lick for the paralysis chance.

252+ Atk Life Orb Pure Power Medicham Zen Headbutt vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Fluffy Greavard: 75-88 (24.6 - 28.9%) -- 99.9% chance to 4HKO

252 Atk Life Orb Tera Water Bruxish Wave Crash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Fluffy Greavard: 96-114 (31.5 - 37.5%) -- 89.2% chance to 3HKO

252+ Atk Life Orb Honchkrow Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Fluffy Greavard: 90-106 (29.6 - 34.8%) -- 10.1% chance to 3HKO

​

Here's a team I made featuring it, I'd say an upgraded version of the stall I posted on the bazaar thread. Hit 1500's (dropped a bit testing some other stuff) with the team and I think Greavard is a legit form of copium while we endure Medicham and Bruxish existing for an entire month.​

 

[Rabia]

No one is talking about Tauros Combat, the MOST underrated mon on this tier, Tauros Combat doesnt need a Scarf or a Bulky set to be good, May I present to you:


Tauros-Paldea-Combat @ Lum Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bulk Up
- Close Combat
- Trailblaze
- Stone Edge

View attachment 488866
After getting to number two after being carried by this set, I might say that this set is CRAZY, the fact that I've never encountered on the ladder a mirror set is unbelievable.

With the speed of Tauros being able to outspeed most of the threats in NU, it just needs to click trailblaze one time to outspeed every scarfer that can threaten it: Goodra, Braviary, Copperajah, Quaquaval, Farigiraf are all a smart part of the mons that die after a Bulk Up. Jolteon, Braviary holding Scarf, Passimian holding Scarf all get outspeed after a Traiblaze and Tera Rock kills Drifblim, Crocalor and Flareon with Lum berry getting rid of the threat of Quiver Dancers and wow users.

Some crazy calcs

252 Atk Tera Rock Tauros-Paldea Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Crocalor: 240-284 (65.5 - 77.5%) -- 25% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+1 252 Atk Tera Rock Tauros-Paldea Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Drifblim: 500-590 (99.2 - 117%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
+1 252 Atk Tera Rock Tauros-Paldea Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Goodra: 349-412 (91.1 - 107.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+1 252 Atk Tera Rock Tauros-Paldea Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Medicham: 165-195 (63.2 - 74.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

agree a lot with this post. the issue for it really is just the other fighting-types are a lot easier to look at and go "wow this is broken as fuck/really easy to use". you look at medicham and see something with no defensive answers; you look at passimian and see the ol' reliable scarfer; you look at toxicroak and remember how it's been a menace for... over 4 years now in NU. paldean tauros struggles a little to be distinct from these yet remains really solid if you can fit it. definitely something that deserves more use

 

[MrAldo]

Whenever a new alpha tier one is always pretty reactive when it comes about dealing with the respective threads, and thats only natural since these will dominate the meta for an extensive amount of time and they will kind of force the limit of someones creativity. Personally, I really dont like do nothing mons that just do one thing and if they dont appear then it is 5v6 pretty much, so versus medicham and that offers a bit more to the team there is someone that caught my attention

Rabsca @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Telepathy
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind / Revival Blessing
- Psychic
- Earth Power / Power Gem
- Recover

This thing is honestly pretty cool at checking medicham and offering some real notable utility and a pretty respectable win condition since it can hit pretty hard even with no investment.

252+ Atk Life Orb Huge Power Medicham Zen Headbutt vs. 248 HP / 216+ Def Rabsca: 94-110 (26.6 - 31.1%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

This one is scary
252+ Atk Life Orb Huge Power Medicham Tera Blast vs. 248 HP / 216+ Def Rabsca: 187-222 (52.9 - 62.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

but you can always retaliate
0 SpA Rabsca Psychic vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Medicham: 278-330 (106.5 - 126.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Earth Power means it can chip down copperajah really damn well if we go utility, and power gem can help you with honch so you give it the most free switch-in of life. Pretty cool mon tbh, offensive trick room always has space on a meta with pretty offensive threats, and again, this thing packs a punch. Coolio.

Braviary @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Defiant
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 248 HP / 32 Atk / 44 Def / 184 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Defog
- Brave Bird
- Close Combat
- Roost

It is safe to say that hazard removal is dire af right now (apologies NU people, didnt know RU would just keep them up like that) and I think it is safe to say this is the best removal option possible. My momma always told me that when there is a honchkrow always aim to outspeed it, so yeah thats the spread. Having close combat is huge to deter premier stealth rock user copperajah to be any mileage of it.

Tera can be fairy, or fighting if you feel like hitting hard. The point is resisting sucker. It can also use steel for not cool resistances but given the lack of fairy and actual dark resists bet these 2 are more handy, at least right now.

Clawitzer @ Choice Specs
Ability: Mega Launcher
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 72 HP / 252 SpA / 184 Spe
Modest Nature
- U-turn
- Dragon Pulse
- Aura Sphere
- Dark Pulse

Presenting no switch-ins #3. This thing is a monster with a damage output that is kind of ridiculous. The few switch-ins are telegraphed and easy to take advantage of by u-turning or just doubling. Tera Dragon makes Goodra a potential switch-in not a problem even with vest

252+ SpA Choice Specs Mega Launcher Clawitzer Dragon Pulse vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Goodra: 234-276 (61 - 72%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

and even to max max with no tera is doing 40 min, just a couple of stealth rock switch-ins and it is cooked. Fairly bulky too so it can trade versus many things if healthy enough so yeah, watch out for this one, enjoy it to the fullest.


Cheers!

 

[658Greninja]

Imagine telling someone back when ORAS was the latest meta during the pre-Mega Sab ban meta that Chansey will end up in NU in Gen 9.

 

[Natan]

since none has yet I'm gonna acknowledge the Electric type depth we have in the tier. Quite a couple nice options and we have very few good Grass and Ground types.

Set

Oricorio-Pom-Pom @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Dancer
Tera Type: Ground / Fairy
EVs: 64 HP / 252 Def / 192 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance / Defog
- Revelation Dance
- Roost
- Hurricane / U-turn

Prime Elec in the tier. Don't mind my spread its customizable but I like this one: faster than Croak and Mabo rest def, also I kinda condensed both sets into one but they can vary a bit from there. One of the best defoggers with a really neat typing (Glare immunity, Fighting resistance that's not weak to Dark, checks stuff like Perreserker and non-Stone Edge Copper) and good Speed that can outpace non-Scarf Fightings other than Tauros which is cool for a Fighting check, Dancer also allows it to check other Quiver Dancers and as for the QD set its just a nice and annoying sweeper that can get very easily out of control and is immune to Thunder Wave from Chansey so you can even probably beat it after stalling a bit of PP from Soft-Boiled throughout the match.

Set

Magneton @ Choice Specs
Ability: Analytic
Tera Type: Grass / Water
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Tera Blast

Kinda overlooked breaker. With most teams resorting to Sandaconda as the Ground and not that many great Grasses in the tier, this mon is super scary, all it takes is one Tera Blast or a Flash Cannon on a switch and Sandaconda is not an issue anymore so the main "actual checks" are either other Electrics which you chunk nicely with Volt Switch, Chansey which you won't beat but can VS into your Fighting-type or Subs Haunter, and Whiscash and Camerupt which you can just Tera Blast or do a massive chunk with Flash Cannon (ig Goodra but Flash does a soid chunk and VS is VS). Also ik you could technically try to do something with your Steel type with Eviolite but no thanks.

Set

Rotom-Frost @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Blizzard
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch

Good Speed and Tera that allows you to get an Ice stab Electric type with no weaknesses (can probably do something else with Tera but I like this). Another Volt Switcher that is good at punishing Electric immunities but this one is also rather fast (outspeeds most Fightings like Oricorio does) and has NP, only drawback is Blizzard will miss when you need it most but otherwise a nice mon.

Set

Rotom @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hex
- Volt Switch
- Nasty Plot

It sure does miss stuff like Pain Split or Defog on the set but it's a spinblocker that has a strong Wisp Hex combination, Volt Switch, and can be somewhat threatening in general. Awkward bulk but it has a nice Speed tier and great resistances / immunities for more offensive teams, still something you'll generally need to justify over Drifblim and Oricorio-Sensu which offer similar utility and Defog tho.

Set

Eelektross @ Assault Vest
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Electric / Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet / Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Giga Drain
- Flamethrower
- Dragon Tail / Close Combat / Thunderbolt

Is there a better spread? Idk. Not sure abt the Tera type either but Steel gives you nice defensive utility in exchange for weaknesses. Lost Knock which sucks but still has a solid defensive niche helping with Quiver Dancers, Rotoms, Magneton, so on, and can annoy the tier's main Ground types while also giving you a nice slow Volt Switch for slower breakers like Honchkrow or whatever you're using. Interesting SpD mon for more offensive teams that appreciate slow VoltTurn. Also you could probably go for a Coil set on this but I don't find it too exciting.

Other Electrics that exist include:

Jolteon and Raichu are probably your go to fast Electrics. Jolteon the fastest relevant mon in the tier, but the Calm Mind Tera Ice set isn't as good with SpDef mons like Chansey and Steel Goodra and most teams having a good Scarfer with your Tera making you weak to everything, so I'm not a big fan (Pivot sets also not too exciting when you still need Tera to get past Grounds). Raichu trades some Speed and better stats for coverage. The Speed isn't as relevant in this tier and having stuff like Surf Grass Knot and Focus Blast is nice but the damage is nothing too crazy, you can't get past Goodra, and take too much damage from everything.

Rotom-Fan feels like worse Oricorio, it can Wisp and is kinda more threatening without setup but can't heal, boost Speed, or Defog.

Pincurchin and Dedenne are just like borderline viable at best but I decided to mention cuz at least they have interesting tools: Pincurchin has terrain and (T-)Spikes but without Rising Voltage or Raichu-A does it matter? And Dedenne is one of the two fully evolved Fairies in the tier, is fast, has Nuzzle and U-turn, lowkey checks Medicham and Mabo to an extent (also prevents Specs Goodra from spamming Draco) but it's kinda frail and doesn't do much damage so yeah, awkward mon as well.

 

[Perla]

Zangoose @ Salac Berry
Ability: Immunity
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Belly Drum
- Substitute
- Power Trip
- Body Slam/Tera Blast

(Terablast to avoid contact before tera)


I'm not sharing these replays to show my horrible reckless plays, but just to warn that this thing gets Power Trip now.

And I like this calc:
+6 252 Atk Tera Dark Zangoose Power Trip (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tauros-Paldea: 333-392 (94 - 110.7%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO


(Thanks to Samikyu for immolating himself)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-1790845257-thtcdurbvg9mzt7uucv3rstanccb1q5pw


https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-1790876683-v27hfqneio3gajni5m1ehv4j3vi4xufpw

 

[Spacial]

Pain.

Sawsbuck @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Headbutt
- Horn Leech
- Thunder Wave

With absolutely zero clerics to be see, status spreading is better than ever, and Sawsbuck happens to be great at it. Classic parahax nonsense lets you potentially flinch through copper/perrs/other normal resists. SD allows you take advantage of potential para procs and beat Oricorio-Pom-Pom.
Perhaps not the most consistent set, but even discounting RNG shenanigans, yellow magic is still great for crippling offense.

 

[GustavoR]

Braviary @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Sheer Force
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 248 HP / 32 Atk / 44 Def / 184 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Defog
- Brave Bird
- Close Combat
- Roost

Isn't it better to run Defiant on this Braviary fam? Neither Brave Bird nor CC take advantage of Sheer Force.

 

[Allidoishuynh]

My favorite tier returns!!! So excited to play this meta, though I am worried about a few mons/cores.
First things first, I wanted to toss out a duo who make fantastic partners in this tier:


Chansey @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Soft-Boiled
- Calm Mind
- Dazzling Gleam/Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball


Glimmet @ Focus Sash
Ability: Toxic Debris
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Sludge Wave
- Power Gem
- Stealth Rock

Glimmet invites special attackers who Chansey sets up on and Chansey forces in physical threats that Glimmet can abuse late game to set up t spikes. The Glimmet set provided absolutely doesn't matter in this case, what really matters is CM tera ghost Chansey with TSpikes support. Chansey is already terrified of knock off so tera ghost just doubles down on that while completely fixing it's fighting weakness and any problems it has vs the guts/Facade mons (I love zangoose, Ursaring, and squawkabilly in NU). Focus blast let's you nail normals but the accuracy and low PP really come back to bite you. Dazzling is probably better overall for that reason. Beware the calm mind/quiver dance wars cuz 8 PP on soft boiled does become a pretty serious problem.

The beauty of this pair is that they give you hazard support and an unbreakable special wall, while also giving you a super strong wincon to play for. As far as team options, you gotta have a good physical wall that can withstand the fighting/dark assault that Chansey will invite before and after it tera's respectively. They also pair well with psychic wall breakers like medicham, veluza, or bruxish who can force progress vs fighting types that come in on Chansey. Zoroark also deserves some mention as a scarfer on these teams. The answers to Chansey and Glim are so specific and necessary that zor can get such good progress by pretending to be one of them. Zor also can trick specs/scarf vs a Chansey check/counter to ruin it and make way for a sweep.

Well this post is immediately embarrassing. Why become completely demolished by Mabostiff and knock off in general when you could just tera fairy? The guts normals will give you trouble, but it's far better to handle pass and mabo than worry about Ursa, Zangoose, or squawk.


Chansey @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Soft-Boiled
- Dazzling Gleam
- Stored Power

Chansey's doo-doo spatk can be somewhat offset by stored power and stab dazzling gleam hits decently hard once you've boosted enough. There's like 3 steel types in the whole tier and the fact that Passimian/Jolteon are everywhere makes them a fair bit less common. But you do need team help to get rid of them. You also need to get rid of stuff like drifblim or Vaporeon who can both haze and in vapo's case yawn. Stored power's BP boost means that you fare very well in calm mind/Quiver dance wars. Even roost oricorio can't outlast stored power without a crit which you can also win by getting.

 

[iLiekMudkipz_]

No one is talking about Tauros Combat, the MOST underrated mon on this tier, Tauros Combat doesnt need a Scarf or a Bulky set to be good, May I present to you:


Tauros-Paldea-Combat @ Lum Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bulk Up
- Close Combat
- Trailblaze
- Stone Edge

View attachment 488866
After getting to number two after being carried by this set, I might say that this set is CRAZY, the fact that I've never encountered on the ladder a mirror set is unbelievable.

With the speed of Tauros being able to outspeed most of the threats in NU, it just needs to click trailblaze one time to outspeed every scarfer that can threaten it: Goodra, Braviary, Copperajah, Quaxwell, Farigiraf are all a smart part of the mons that die after a Bulk Up. Jolteon, Braviary holding Scarf, Passimian holding Scarf all get outspeed after a Traiblaze and Tera Rock kills Drifblim, Crocalor and Flareon with Lum berry getting rid of the threat of Quiver Dancers and wow users.

Some crazy calcs

252 Atk Tera Rock Tauros-Paldea Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Crocalor: 240-284 (65.5 - 77.5%) -- 25% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+1 252 Atk Tera Rock Tauros-Paldea Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Drifblim: 500-590 (99.2 - 117%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
+1 252 Atk Tera Rock Tauros-Paldea Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Goodra: 349-412 (91.1 - 107.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+1 252 Atk Tera Rock Tauros-Paldea Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Medicham: 165-195 (63.2 - 74.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

Swagger Mirror Herb also works decently well too, can't status me if you're confused and taking double damage from confusion hits

 

[AstilCodex]

Heya! Time to make my monthly post on impressions in certain tiers and then never come back (Sometimes I do if I get really engaged) this time SV NU.

I'm sure lots of the potential interesting and sussy mons have been adressed by previous posts so Imma try to make a cohesive and structured point on each of my sections. So, these are my !!!!1!

Episode 1: SUS mons and new additions
1. HELP

So I address these guys as the most prominent breakers in the tier with very little to no counters, Spiritomb being one of the only safe switch-ins into the first two. Medicham now doesn't risk anything by clicking CC and with no Slowpoke line runnning around, its very much busted. And with the lack of Steel-types besides Copperajah, Zangoose can afford to run QA + Shadow Claw. Not to mention Tera boosts its insane damage output with Facade even further. Goodra on the other hand, its just tremendously solid, as there is little to no fairies in the tier, and resistances gets packed by Fire Blast. Goodra is extremely splashable and strong, maybe too strong.

2. HELP v2 Quiver Dance edition

There is a huge outbreak of dancing mons running around the tier, and with the power of Terastallization, these guys have gone to their full potential. Not mentioning the addition to QD for the Oricorios, and Revelation dance interaction. Steel Pom-Pom, Fighting Sensu and *** reg Corio are a menace, but also they provide solid hazard removal which I'll get into it later. For Frosmoth, being able to hit the few Steel types with Tera Ground is huge. And well, Venomoth is just Venomoth, everyone knows what it does. PS: You could also add Lilligant and Vivillon here tho I think they're good Idt they are as oppresive as these guys.

3. Paldea new entries

(rip dog and bull sprites lol)
Ok so hear me out, DUDUNSPARCE IS A DEMON. This mon does not die, setups CM in your face, Boomburst your entire team and panic button into Ghost whenever there's a threat with Shadow Ball coverage, honestly, with the lack of status moves and ways to hinder. I think it is lowkey broken. It Also has good versatility in Glare and more.
Veluza is very straight-forward but doesn't mean less scary, it can find opportunities to setup and clean with rather ease. HO/Screens appreciate this mon sweeping potential a lot (also demon Veluza is nasty).
Mabosstiff well, Im still unsure but I assume it would find its place in this tier. Stakeout hits from it really hurt and thats all it does.
Tauros is surprisingly good and have enough variety of sets which makes it just below its Water and Fire counterparts. Strong sweeper and Wallbreaker.

Episode 2: Meta Staples
1. Offensive

This category is for mons that are strong forces or have potential but don't think they'll be banned.
So huge bunch of mons here that I will briefly refer to.
Passimian is a top5 mon atm, extremely splashable, a nice glue for any offensive or balance team, great ability and bulk, just slap it on your team. Lycanroc is a phenomenal cleaner with its 112 speed and good coverage alongside priority, access to SD for potential sweep too.
Honchkrow is a menace, got access to Acrobatics this gen which honestly may be the way cuz the best way of dealing with Honchkrow is letting him kill itself with BB recoil, now it can afford to not do that. Moxie can proc unexpected sweeps and awkward positions for the opponent.
Zoroark has a lot of potential and further experimentation, but it does what it has always done, it can be either physical or special and with Tera options it actually becomes quite annoying to face against paired with its ability
Bruxish and Basculin are both interchangable, I'd say Bruxish its better cuz its double STAB still strong but Basculin has more damagee output but relies only in Water STAB.
Houndoom is a classic, NP sweeper, Specs/Scarf abuser, solid mon for offensive builds.
Ursaring can run Eviolite that does work but honestly, just Facade Flame Orb everything, this guy is more manageable than Zangoose imo cuz its very slow but still great wallbreaker.
Haunter omg Haunter got Nasty Plot and Focus Blast, so now its officially mini Gengar, underlooked right now for sure.
Magneton doesn't have much to trap but it has only one Ground it has to worry about, and ofc Chansey, but otherwise is one of the few good Steel-types so welcome.
Scyther uhh I'm not sure but I'll think it has potential. But I haven't seen done anything particularly interesting. Tho it has Trailblaze and CC now.
Toxicroak may need time but its a nice answer into some troublesome mons like Lycanroc, Vaporeon, Zoroark and more, honestly underexplored as well. Good movepool from both sides and typing. I like its odds.
Squawkabilly can become little Swellow and pick some clean KOs. This mon hits like a truck, Idk how good it'll be but its def a threat when it hits the field.

2. Holding the tier together

Mons in this category are the ones I think are defensive staples and will help you to blanket the offensive and potentially broken guys up there.
Vaporeon is with no doubt the best Water-type in the tier, with the addition to Calm Mind, new sets have pop out apart from the standard Wish Support, such as becoming Lil Suicune with CM Rest Talk, CM stored Power or just CM Wish. Very good for bulkier teams.
Spiritomb is my go-to for checking Dudun and Medicham cuz otherwise I feel like I autolose to them. Crotomb is amazing and with Tera it provides new defensive capabilities in setup. This mon is a blessing for the tier.
Copperajah, and old NU fellow has come down once again and for sure will find its place here as the main Steel-type, right now Whirlwind is massive to phaze out the QD demons, access to Stealth Rock, decent damage output and bulk.
Braviary I'll put here over offensive cuz it provides offense for sure but reliable Roost + Defog is heaven, specially since Defiant mons are Fighting-types and himself, can run Choiced items as well as Boots. Great mon overall.
Aside from lead Whiscash, Sandaconda is a staple on every balance and BO team as its Stealth Rock setter, as a Ground Type it pretty much has no competition.
Chansey is the lowest it has ever been, and correct me here if I'm wrong. Anyway, Chansey does Chansey things but with a lot of nerfs involved in its narrowed movepool. It can still hang on with Tera Fairy and just SToss + Soft Boiled and some other support moves people have been messing, honestly, a healthy addition.
Why is Crocalor so damn bulky bro, I swear this thing takes nothing. It is a very reliable Unaware mon and has a narrowed but enough tool combination in Wisp + Slack off and Yawn/Encore/Roar to make a great wall.
Lastly, Tinkatuff is one of the only viable Fairy types, Stealth Rocker and Knock off user, has Twave as well so its a tremendous utility mon.

3. Hazard removal
So ye, this is it.
Magic Bounce:

Big fan of Hattem as removal can be lackluster as you can see, Hattrem got the bulk and support to come repeatedly on Hazards. Solid Mon
Rapid Spin:

Hot take: Quaxwell is ass, it doesn't do anything, pls don't. Toedscool provides a lot of utility whereas Carkol is much bulkier and can proc Flame body, get up hazards. Both of them are a lot better. Don't use the Duck :(
Defog:

and the aforementioned , and 's
Some decent defoggers I'd say but they are because Frosmoth and the Corios don't like to waste a slot in Defog for the fact that they are so good offensively. Still, these guys over here will fulfill the hazard removal problem. (Its what we got ok)

I probably missed a lot of good mons but I wanted to cover as much as possible with this. Hope you enjoy my impressions and would like to see comments. See ya! ^^

 

[5Dots]

I've had a lot of ups and downs on the ladder, and I'm excited to play for the SV Kickoffs tour!

The tier is loaded with wallbreakers, and with the nerf to recovery moves, increase Pokemon with hazards, and terastalization running rampant, defensive counterplay is more difficult than ever before. As a NFE player, I'd like to talk about some NFEs that have stood out to me so far:

One of the two premier Rapid Spinners, Quaxwell's fair utility and good bulk makes it quite useful. It's very passive but the recovery and Encore make it just enough that it can be slotted in as a countermeasure against hazard builds. it can come in against Pokemon like Sandaconda and Vaporeon and spin them away, but the lack of coverage hurts a lot.

Even with a weakness to Stealth Rock and the recovery nerfs, it's still a potent wall with Unaware. In fact, Terastalization makes it even better, as would-be attackers like Sandaconda and Lycanroc would no longer hit it super effectively. The limited distribution of Knock Off also makes it harder to deal with than ever. Curse sets look funny but it's not reliable at setting up. Better is Will-O-Wisp + Encore/Roar, which provides more consistent mileage as a defensive Pokemon.

One of the two premier Rapid Spinners, and the more annoying one at it. Like Crocalor, Carkol bears a Stealth Rock weakness, but Flame Body and some nice resistances make it useful against scaring off physical attackers in a pinch. Unlike Quaxwell, it's more reliant on Tera to help shore up its weaknesses, as a lot of attackers either are super effective (or neutral) against it, or have the coverage to severely weaken it. Spikes and Rocks make it annoying to deal with, especially since most Defoggers are either vulnerable to Wisp (Braviary) or are weak to Flamethrower (Lurantis).


A slightly overlooked breaker that has nigh-unwallable coverage and multiple useful sets to run. Haunter is tailor-made for offense, capable of serving as a revenge killer, wallbreaker, or even utility with Choice sets and a fair utility movepool. Three handy immunities give it situational switch-in/revenge opportunities against certain foes like Zangoose, Sandaconda, and choice-locked fighting-types, though it should be very careful of coverage moves.


Believe it or not, I find Magneton to hard to fit over any Goodra set. Goodra's stronger STAB, faster speed, bulkier spread, and more diverse coverage means Magneton struggles to distinguish itself. It can catch Sandaconda off guard, but opposing faster Pokemon will often get the leg up because of its mediocre Speed. Analytic can help force switches, but it's prediction reliant and its STABs overlap a lot with each other. With Goodra banned, it'll likely see more use, but for now it's very niche.


Didn't use this that much but it does its job well as a great HO screens setter. Prankster makes it tailor-made to always get a Screen up, even against Scarf users. Aside from setting dual screens, it gets some great utility moves with Thunder Wave, Parting Shot, and Taunt to provide varying amounts of offensive support. It doesn't have much offensive power to build on its own (if at all), so it can be dead weight if the team doesn't get enough offensive momentum going.


Losing Roost, Dual Wingbeat, and Knock Off were big bummers. What made it so potent was being able to generate infinite U-turn cycles alongside Knock Off, but it now lacks the longevity or utility to do this. While it can still use Boots and become a late-game sweeper with Close Combat and Trailblaze, it now relies on the 90 BP Aerial Ace alongside a multitude of other weak moves to shore up its middling offensive prowess. Can potentially be useful, but it lost a lot of the benefits it got in Gen 8.


Codex covered it best, it's one of the few fairies and provides some great support with Rocks and Knock Off! It sadly is very reliant on disrupting foes, at it can't go on the offensive. you could mess around with Thunder Wave and Encore to capitalize on the massive amount of setup sweepers and offensive Pokemon, though Tinktatuff is strapped for what it wants to wall with its EVs.

 

[EonX]

Guess I'll dump a couple of sets I've been having lots of fun with:

SPECS

Magneton @ Choice Specs
Ability: Analytic
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Tera Blast

Specs Analytic is a really good fit on VoltTurn teams. While I feel Goodra is overall better due to resistance profile and bulk, Mag is a powerful breaker on VoltTurn teams specifically that are aimed at keeping momentum and pressure on the opposing team until a Scarfer or sweeper is able to finish the game. Tera Grass obliterates Whiscash so you can spam Volt Switch sooner while also smacking other Electrics for neutral sans itself. Water is fine if Camerupt is more concerning and hits all the QD mons for neutral.

BOOTS

Goodra @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Sap Sipper
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Dragon Tail
- Thunderbolt

While Specs Goodra is an absolute menace, I've actually been finding Boots Goodra to be a really strong glue mon on offensive teams. Draco is a powerful tool, but leaves Goodra vulnerable to setup mons, namely Venomoth and Frosmoth. Being able to switch moves fixes this as Dragon Tail forces them out and is still strong enough to break the Subs of Venomoth and Vivillon despite the -Atk nature. Fire Blast and TBolt are coverage, though Surf can be used to take advantage of the Tera type which is designed to flip the script on Tera Fairy mons in a pinch while retaining a generally good defensive type that capitalizes even more on Sap Sipper. Fairy and Steel are other fine types. Due to extremely limited hazard removal, Boots really helps Goodra get the most out of its great bulk while smacking the opposition with powerful moves.

Slow Volt

Eelektross @ Assault Vest
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Flamethrower
- Giga Drain
- Thunderbolt / Close Combat

Eel isn't amazing or anything, but having a slow Volt Switch in a meta with lots of offensive mons that don't necessarily take hits well (aside from Goodra) is very powerful. It's a nice stop-gap check to QD mons that can allow you to reposition yourself better and Levitate is a god-send to dodge all the grounded hazards. You don't necessarily need a Tera type, but Steel is a good general defensive type to handle QD mons and Levitate lets you dodge their potential Ground Tera shenanigans. Close Combat can be used if Copper and Chansey need to be eliminated, but I rarely feel it necessary.

DA SPARCE

Dudunsparce-Three-Segment @ Leftovers / Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Serene Grace
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Boomburst
- Roost
- Flamethrower

This is a pretty decent Rocker for bulky offense builds and it has good 2 move coverage to be able to fit reliable recovery in as well. Flamethrower nails the Bug QD mons, but if you just want general coverage, Shadow Ball is perfectly fine as the coverage move. Like with many Normal types in the tier rn, Tera Fairy is really good on it for the Fighting resist and overall good defensive typing. Alternatively, you can shift EVs around to a PhysDef spread with Calm Mind over Stealth Rock should your team already have a SR user, turning Dudunsparce into a capable bulky sweeper. If going this route, Shadow Ball is generally the better 2nd move choice for the neutral coverage. HDB is a fine alternative to dodge hazard damage, though if you go the CM route with this type of set, you'll absolutely want Leftovers to help you take damage better while setting up.

 

[Lunar Sloth]

I've been playing NU a decent amount and it has been quite a lot of fun. I always enjoy the beginning of new tiers with everything feeling new and exciting. Even in the struggles of an alpha tier it's been a nice time. Gonna talk about my experiences with the tier and focusing on the main team I used when first playing the tier. Here's the team I used: https://pokepast.es/b2b8ddc5c40351a0. The EVs could probably be optimized a little more but it has felt nice anyway and was still quite fun!

First of all, I do think the 2 strongest pokemon in the tier are Medicham and Goodra.

Medicham has almost no viable switchins especially with tera fairy. Can viably run band, scarf, trailblaze/bulk up sets. Seeing people discuss eviolite Greavard purely so they don't get destroyed by medi is wild lol. I've been running a scarf set and it does a great job at cleaning. It feels very restricting to deal with from a teambuilding standpoint.

Goodra with specs is similarly incredibly tough to switch into unless you're something like Chansey or maxspdef umbreon/vaporeon. If you give goodra a free switch, you basically have to sack something. I've had several games on ladder vs opposing Goodras where the game just devolved into a sack war as we traded specs dracos lmao. Goodra also has multiple sets it can run besides specs, such as AV, expert belt, and more. It also has all the coverage you could possibly want. Fire blast to hit pesky steels is quite nice. you could even run a physical variant if you wanted.

I won't be surprised if these two are banned after the tier exits alpha.


Another pokemon I used while laddering that I reallyy enjoyed was Sawsbuck!

This pokemon won me a lot of games due to the combination of paralysis and serene grace headbutt. It's a devil lmao. Since theres no heal bell/aromatherapy anymore, twave on this feels super potent. It helps that this pokemon has pretty good speed for the tier at base 95 too. I had a sandaconda alongside this that was able to fire off glares to help this out too. SD allows you to deal significant damage as well and then you can just steal some games. Sometimes all it needs is one flinch to turn a game around.

Another member of my team I used that I adored was Sandaconda.

Honestly such a cool pokemon. Reliable stealth rocker that can use glare to cripple almost anything. Amazing physical wall too, and can punish physical attacks/u-turn with rocky helmet if it runs that. Doesn't care about status much at all due to shed skin, and it has semi-reliable recovery with rest along with that. It could even run a coil set if it wanted. One of my favorite mons in the tier for sure.

Paired alongside conda, I had Umbreon.

This pairing of conda and umbreon felt very solid! Umbreon is able to soak up most special hits that sandaconda hates, and conda is able to better handle physical attackers and absorb status for umbreon. Umbreon can also wishpass to conda if it isn't running rest to help it stay healthy. As for umbreon as a pokemon, I found it very useful. Foul Play and Yawn help it from being too passive, and it just almost never dies? Wish protect is great as always, and protect in particular is quite nice for scouting vs the scarf fightings of the tier. Does okay at staving off goodra with maxspdef too (Goodra is broken lol).

The last mon I had on my team while laddering was Oricorio-Pom-Pom!

I needed an answer to hazards, the lack of decent removal made it tough. However Pom Pom has been great for me. I know a lot have been running QD sets, and I do think theyre good, but it also works great as a defog support mon. Electric+flying is a suuper nice type combination. Fast taunt is also quite nice at preventing hazards/setup. Hurricane still hits quite hard with no investment so you're not too passive. Pom Pom is also a decent answer into QD sweepers. Very cool bird.

Overall I had a fun time in the first few days with the tier. There's a ton of other cool pokemon I want to try out like Dudunsparce and Copperajah, so I'm excited to play more!

 

[Perla]

Episode 2: Meta Staples
1. Offensive

This category is for mons that are strong forces or have potential but don't think they'll be banned.
So huge bunch of mons here that I will briefly refer to.
Passimian is a top5 mon atm, extremely splashable, a nice glue for any offensive or balance team, great ability and bulk, just slap it on your team. Lycanroc is a phenomenal cleaner with its 112 speed and good coverage alongside priority, access to SD for potential sweep too.
Honchkrow is a menace, got access to Acrobatics this gen which honestly may be the way cuz the best way of dealing with Honchkrow is letting him kill itself with BB recoil, now it can afford to not do that. Moxie can proc unexpected sweeps and awkward positions for the opponent.
Zoroark has a lot of potential and further experimentation, but it does what it has always done, it can be either physical or special and with Tera options it actually becomes quite annoying to face against paired with its ability
Bruxish and Basculin are both interchangable, I'd say Bruxish its better cuz its double STAB still strong but Basculin has more damagee output but relies only in Water STAB.
Houndoom is a classic, NP sweeper, Specs/Scarf abuser, solid mon for offensive builds.
Ursaring can run Eviolite that does work but honestly, just Facade Flame Orb everything, this guy is more manageable than Zangoose imo cuz its very slow but still great wallbreaker.
Haunter omg Haunter got Nasty Plot and Focus Blast, so now its officially mini Gengar, underlooked right now for sure.
Magneton doesn't have much to trap but it has only one Ground it has to worry about, and ofc Chansey, but otherwise is one of the few good Steel-types so welcome.
Scyther uhh I'm not sure but I'll think it has potential. But I haven't seen done anything particularly interesting. Tho it has Trailblaze and CC now.
Toxicroak may need time but its a nice answer into some troublesome mons like Lycanroc, Vaporeon, Zoroark and more, honestly underexplored as well. Good movepool from both sides and typing. I like its odds.
Squawkabilly can become little Swellow and pick some clean KOs. This mon its like a truck, Idk how good it'll be but its def a threat when it hits the field.

Scyther can learn Defog though, so a hybrid offensive/utility set can still be crafted on it

 

[AstilCodex]

One of the two premier Rapid Spinners

One of the two premier Rapid Spinners

No respect for the Toed makes me sad :(( Toedscool > these two bummer, especially Assxwell

 

[Dunsparce_vingador]

At last, we finally have a boomburst user with a Setup move...

only having one slot for coverage kinda sucks but boomburst is so monstrously strong that you'll only end up needing to click flamethrower for steel and ghost types (the rock types in the tier all have bad Special Defense, so Boomburst still works against them)

Serene Grace allows dudun to fish for burns by using flamethrower on things it cant OHKO or use Boomburst against (fishing for a freeze with ice beam would be better, but he suffers from 4mss and he doesnt wanna get walled by steel types)

Dudunsparce @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Boomburst
- Flamethrower
- Calm Mind
- Roost

 

[Perla]

After the previous comment, I'm actually here to spread the "Rattled Dudunsparce Propaganda".
I have nothing to say against Serene Grace Dudunsparce but I just wanted to praise the Rattled set.

I think that, once it becomes a ghost, hitting this mon with supereffective Dark and Ghost moves can become a double-edged sword, because this mon has enough bulk to stick around and it can roost the damage off, while INCREASING its speed. If you outspeed the entire opponent's team, being able to take hits doesn't matter anymore (Roost can even play around the Sucker Punch)

As fourth move slot, I prefer Shadow Ball because Ghost is a spammable type, it provides additional STAB and can lower the special defense.

Dudunsparce @ Leftovers
Ability: Rattled
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Boomburst
- Shadow Ball
- Calm Mind
- Roost

 

[Punchshroom]

Lycanroc @ Life Orb
Ability: Steadfast
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge / Accelerock
- Close Combat
- Trailblaze

Little known fact: did you know that moves under 60 BP (that aren't priority or multi-hit) will get boosted to 60 BP when Tera'd? This means you can achieve calcs like this:

+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Tera Grass Lycanroc Trailblaze (60 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Vaporeon: 507-595 (109.2 - 128.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Tera Grass Lycanroc Trailblaze (60 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Sandaconda: 320-377 (91.9 - 108.3%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Tera Grass Lycanroc Trailblaze (60 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Whiscash: 452-536 (106.6 - 126.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Tera Grass Lycanroc can flip the tables on Sanda and Vaporeon so easily, and honestly corebreaks a lot of teams from my brief period of testing and theorycrafting. Trailblaze even allows Lycanroc to afford Adamant while racing past Scarfers, and Adamant still allows it to to outrun everything slower than +Spe Basculin.

This set is still undergoing optimization; you could consider Jolly Lycanroc if you need it to revenge kill things like Pyroar, Zoroark, or Jumpluff as well as keep Basculin on its toes to force it to Aqua Jet right into your Tera Grass. Heck, you may also run Accelerock over Stone Edge and rely on Close Combat as your main breaking tool while gaining access to valuable priority, which also lessens the need for Jolly. Feel free to customize this set to your liking, because I feel this Lycanroc set is going to be quite impactful in this early meta.

 

[Segetarius]

Thrown enough games now to get a general impression of the tier so here's a few thoughts:


This thing is going super under the radar, which is a shame bc the amount of offensive and defensive utility it packs into one slot is really good atm. Are you frustrated by Mabostiff? Did you miss out on that KO bc you didn't have quite enough chip? Do you hate having mons click the hazard button when it's tough to get your removal (if you have any) in? Well, the skunk may be the mon for you! Between its great typing, access to Sucker Punch and Tspikes, the latter of which being really good in a tier where grounded poisons seem kinda optional, skunk provides a ton of support with just 2 moves. I've personally been running Gunk Shot and Taunt in the last 2 slots and you would be amazed how many rock setters just assume you're going to switch, so you actually deny rocks pretty consistently early on. Defensively, you can count on skunk to take just about any one hit with some amount of investment, and for the most part that's what you want it to do. I have found that skunk is a really good check to Farig (plz ban that bs mon) as well as a surprisingly good switch to Passimian. That may seem dumb, but with the right breakers, the worst case is skunk goes down and then they take 25% from Aftermath, which gives you the chip you need to send many things to the shadow realm. As for item, I've been running Black Sludge to take the edge off hazards and have a bit more longevity, but you could totally get away with running Helmet and I've even been tempted to run Air Baloon to really give the finger to Sandaconda. Think this mon is super under-explored and definitely worth trying for all the gaps it can fill in BO/Balance-ish teams.

P.S. the skunk, as well as every other mon in this post pair really well with Eelektross.


I was not sold on this mon when I started building with it, like it just really wants like 10 more stats, but as it turns out, Regenerator can make up for a stat deficit. Just having the ability to pivot into random stuff and potentially punish free turns with Rocks or Knock is really good. I still think its stats are such that you can't really get away with running anything other than physdef Rocks, but in that role it's solid and gives a lot of more offensive teams some room to breathe.


Also just wanted to highlight this mon really quick as what I've found to be unironically one of the better hazard removers. Don't get me wrong, losing Roost really sucks but as it turns out, you outspeed 90% of the unboosted mons in the tier anyways, so you can U-Turn out of almost everything that actually threatens you. I started running Defog as a joke, but I found that just running a basic SD set and swapping SD for Defog I was actually clicking Defog more often. Perhaps the biggest advantage of Scyther is simply that you actually do smth back to opposing mons and have that nice fighting resist to help stave off the many CC's flying around. It's really that trait that (to me) differentiates Scyther from the likes of say Drifblim and Braviary. TLDR STAB U-Turn is still really good and when you get a free turn by forcing a switch, click Defog and have some mons that are slightly resilient against hazards in the meantime.

As for what's broken, I'm not gonna bother elaborating on why Goodra, Medicham, and Farig are broken but I will say that while the QD mons are surprisingly manageable rn, that's gonna change the second that RU gets their shit together and takes Crocalor from us. Hopefully they take most of the QD mons with them. Other than that, I think the council should also keep a close eye on Bruxish and I think there's even a reasonable argument for Veluza being banworthy. Anyways, that's all for now folks, all I can say is try the skunk. Thanks for reading!

 

[Dunsparce_vingador]

After the previous comment, I'm actually here to spread the "Rattled Dudunsparce Propaganda".
I have nothing to say against Serene Grace Dudunsparce but I just wanted to praise the Rattled set.

I think that, once it becomes a ghost, hitting this mon with supereffective Dark and Ghost moves can become a double-edged sword, because this mon has enough bulk to stick around and it can roost the damage off, while INCREASING its speed. If you outspeed the entire opponent's team, being able to take hits doesn't matter anymore (Roost can even play around the Sucker Punch)

As fourth move slot, I prefer Shadow Ball because Ghost is a spammable type, it provides additional STAB and can lower the special defense.

Dudunsparce @ Leftovers
Ability: Rattled
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Boomburst
- Shadow Ball
- Calm Mind
- Roost

I've been thinking a bit after reading this post... i wonder how well Serene Grace would pair up with Shadow Ball...

a 40% chance to drop Sp. Def seems nutty, specially considering it'd force special walls to switch out to not die to a boomburst afterwards

 

[schlondark]

Flapple @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Ripen
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Grav Apple
- Acrobatics
- Outrage

70/80/60 is enough to live most unboosted neutral hits to low yellow/red (usually allowing 1 safe dragon dance) after which ripen-sitrus heals you for half and doubles the power of acrobatics.

 

[Perla]

Flapple @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Ripen
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Grav Apple
- Acrobatics
- Outrage

70/80/60 is enough to live most unboosted neutral hits to low yellow/red (usually allowing 1 safe dragon dance) after which ripen-sitrus heals you for half and doubles the power of acrobatics.

Sub and Liechi Berry. Be brave!

 

[rhydonphilip]

Lot of mons to talk about.
Will start with a small list of mons in grouping and work through explaining each

(can we get a homogenization of these sprites btw)​

Goodra, Medicham and Bruxish are to me the best 3 mons in the tier rfn.

Medicham it's simply the strongest Fighting, hard STAB combo to resist with few worthwhile pokemon in the tier to potentially check it for any of it's offensive sets it can be seen juggling between.
Goodra on the other hand can run pretty much all it pleases and win with it.

Goodra @ Leftovers
Ability: Sap Sipper
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SpD
Impish Nature
- Acid Armor
- Rest
- Body Press
- Dragon Tail

It be Specs, AV, Boots, or this abomination that works far better than it should as most of our phasing to deal with set up is either Dragon Tail, or on a mon that can't survive a +4 Body Press, let alone common checks to other sets like Chansey/Copper that just die to this.
Bruxish on the surface doesn't seem all that special, but like previous gens, it just hits hard and is faster than comfortable. This time with Water-type Flare Blitz and little to no Psychic resists worth their weight.
Mabosstiff isn't much different from Bruxish, has some bulk to go with it at cost of only hitting hard when the opportunity presents itself, which isn't always with this many Fairy tera's to stop Goodra/Medicham.
Venomoth is putting Vivillon in a shadow and in spite of the Oricorio sisters, it shows quivers.
Chansey I find hilarious, it's both the most impactful and one of the least threatning mon. Most special set up pokemon can actually get past it by setting up, but all other special attackers need creative tools to have a chance at long term play vs this. Physical attackers need to pull their weight, but by the end of the day, something is getting paralysed, and rocks will be up.

Dudunsparce and Farigiraf are fat strong Normals with major pro's and limited cons and various move and role options. Normally those kind of mons would rise to higher tiers in early months but that will probably take a while for these 2. I love both of these mons by design and in NU.
Oricorio's (Pom-Pom and Sensu that is). I don't know how we got these. UU talked about them, RU talked and used them, yet here they are. Our best defoggers, some of our best checks to Fighting, the singular reason(s) Venomoth isn't everywhere, and some of the best setup users themselves.

Besides these mons that differences themselves by consistently being fatter, safer, stronger we also have a list that has 1 of those things but not all:

Copper is our Steel, he is a rocker or a breaker, but by the end of the day he is a bulky Steel-type with meat to it. Passimian in spite of Medichams strength is still the same ape as gen 7 and 8. Braviary and Driflim are our other 2 defoggers, both can also instead pull some respectable set ups.
Umbreon is a passive shit this time without Toxic, but hey it checks Bruxish and co. Vaporeon is loving Calm Mind but is dumped in a meta shaped by Chansey and Goodra. Honchkrow, Houndoom, and Zoroark, I expected each of these to be broken, but bulk is the name of the game for this meta, these don't have that, but they do hit enough to give Bruxish a run for its money, but again, 1/2 mons is a Fairy tera right now.
Whiscash as viable in NU? it's a decently fat ground/water with spikes, rocks, taunt immunity and moderate coverage. It's good. Similar story for Sandaconda who has Shed Skin and Glare instead of Spikes.
Post by Natan explains our electric Rotoms, Magnet and Eel fren:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...t-begun-welcome-to-sv-nu.3715408/post-9493766
Tauros-P, long awaited and last of its herd, we got the regular one, and it's still one of our best Fightings. This thing is fat, fast and with 1 Bulk Up an issue to deal with. Easily creeping on Oricorio's with Stone Edge, outspeeding Houndoom when needed and tanking hits from otherwise lethal opponents.
Toxicroak you know what it does, it's unique properties have kinda watered down but it gained Close Combat to compensate.
Perrserker, sorry PU, perhaps next dlc. Lycanroc-mid. Strong, fast, a good boy, but frail. Offensive Rock is fantastic right now though and by bans this will probably find a warm shelter in NU's future. Ursaring, shoutouts to Shwiftyshiftry for suggesting Tera Fairy Rest-Talk Ursa, it's good for the same reasons as the shared Goodra set with weaker mirroring of other set options like Guts or SD compared to Goodra wide list.
Clefable-at-home Crocalor, it's an Unaware mon with recovery, decent bulk, and Will-O-Wisp. For all it matters it could have been a Bug/Grass-type and you did still use it thanks to Teratypes.
Hattrem, it has Magic Bounce, it's a Psychic-type with Medicham beating lunch money out of adults. We tried it last gen it was meh, this gen it is less meh more okeh.
Lastly but certainly more attention worthy; Rabsca. This fat strong and slooow Bug/Psychic is actually pretty decent, mostly because it checks Bruxish and Medicham, but also because it gets the elusive Revival Blessing and recovery to pair with its bulk.

Zangoose, would be in top cut but for some reason I have not seen one yet, but did enjoy the sight of 3 Kricketune's so far (sorry PU). It has to be here somewhere.

There are many more mons I could list and name, but these were ones I occasionally saw and had something going for it (aka not Kricketune). Vespiquen is funny, even without tera it checks more mons than it should, it's one of the only Toxic users, and it has actual utility thanks to Spikes.
May Veluza, Flapple, and Rotom-F drop to PU for a cold second and return to us by the time we have the fat of the meta cut away.

Final thoughts:
I was expecting the tier to be more of a mess in alpha, but in reality many pokemon with mediocre defensive stats can still provide utility when needed with and against Tera-types to where most set up sweepers have to think twice before going for the throat. This is a very pleasing metagame as it currently stands and I hope to see it develop further. Defog distribution by Hometransfer would most certainly be a welcome one if we ever do get it back.

 

[Dunsparce_vingador]

Lot of mons to talk about.
Will start with a small list of mons in grouping and work through explaining each

View attachment 489320(can we get a homogenization of these sprites btw)​

Goodra, Medicham and Bruxish are to me the best 3 mons in the tier rfn.

Medicham it's simply the strongest Fighting, hard STAB combo to resist with few worthwhile pokemon in the tier to potentially check it for any of it's offensive sets it can be seen juggling between.
Goodra on the other hand can run pretty much all it pleases and win with it.

Goodra @ Leftovers
Ability: Sap Sipper
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SpD
Impish Nature
- Acid Armor
- Rest
- Body Press
- Dragon Tail

It be Specs, AV, Boots, or this abomination that works far better than it should as most of our phasing to deal with set up is either Dragon Tail, or on a mon that can't survive a +4 Body Press, let alone common checks to other sets like Chansey/Copper that just die to this.
Bruxish on the surface doesn't seem all that special, but like previous gens, it just hits hard and is faster than comfortable. This time with Water-type Flare Blitz and little to no Psychic resists worth their weight.
Mabosstiff isn't much different from Bruxish, has some bulk to go with it at cost of only hitting hard when the opportunity presents itself, which isn't always with this many Fairy tera's to stop Goodra/Medicham.
Venomoth is putting Vivillon in a shadow and in spite of the Oricorio sisters, it shows quivers.
Chansey I find hilarious, it's both the most impactful and one of the least threatning mon. Most special set up pokemon can actually get past it by setting up, but all other special attackers need creative tools to have a chance at long term play vs this. Physical attackers need to pull their weight, but by the end of the day, something is getting paralysed, and rocks will be up.

Dudunsparce and Farigiraf are fat strong Normals with major pro's and limited cons and various move and role options. Normally those kind of mons would rise to higher tiers in early months but that will probably take a while for these 2. I love both of these mons by design and in NU.
Oricorio's (Pom-Pom and Sensu that is). I don't know how we got these. UU talked about them, RU talked and used them, yet here they are. Our best defoggers, some of our best checks to Fighting, the singular reason(s) Venomoth isn't everywhere, and some of the best setup users themselves.

Besides these mons that differences themselves by consistently being fatter, safer, stronger we also have a list that has 1 of those things but not all:

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Copper is our Steel, he is a rocker or a breaker, but by the end of the day he is a bulky Steel-type with meat to it. Passimian in spite of Medichams strength is still the same ape as gen 7 and 8. Braviary and Driflim are our other 2 defoggers, both can also instead pull some respectable set ups.
Umbreon is a passive shit this time without Toxic, but hey it checks Bruxish and co. Vaporeon is loving Calm Mind but is dumped in a meta shaped by Chansey and Goodra. Honchkrow, Houndoom, and Zoroark, I expected each of these to be broken, but bulk is the name of the game for this meta, these don't have that, but they do hit enough to give Bruxish a run for its money, but again, 1/2 mons is a Fairy tera right now.
Whiscash as viable in NU? it's a decently fat ground/water with spikes, rocks, taunt immunity and moderate coverage. It's good. Similar story for Sandaconda who has Shed Skin and Glare instead of Spikes.
Post by Natan explains our electric Rotoms, Magnet and Eel fren:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...t-begun-welcome-to-sv-nu.3715408/post-9493766
Tauros-P, long awaited and last of its herd, we got the regular one, and it's still one of our best Fightings. This thing is fat, fast and with 1 Bulk Up an issue to deal with. Easily creeping on Oricorio's with Stone Edge, outspeeding Houndoom when needed and tanking hits from otherwise lethal opponents.
Toxicroak you know what it does, it's unique properties have kinda watered down but it gained Close Combat to compensate.
Perrserker, sorry PU, perhaps next dlc. Lycanroc-mid. Strong, fast, a good boy, but frail. Offensive Rock is fantastic right now though and by bans this will probably find a warm shelter in NU's future. Ursaring, shoutouts to Shwiftyshiftry for suggesting Tera Fairy Rest-Talk Ursa, it's good for the same reasons as the shared Goodra set with weaker mirroring of other set options like Guts or SD compared to Goodra wide list.
Clefable-at-home Crocalor, it's an Unaware mon with recovery, decent bulk, and Will-O-Wisp. For all it matters it could have been a Bug/Grass-type and you did still use it thanks to Teratypes.
Hattrem, it has Magic Bounce, it's a Psychic-type with Medicham beating lunch money out of adults. We tried it last gen it was meh, this gen it is less meh more okeh.
Lastly but certainly more attention worthy; Rabsca. This fat strong and slooow Bug/Psychic is actually pretty decent, mostly because it checks Bruxish and Medicham, but also because it gets the elusive Revival Blessing and recovery to pair with its bulk.

Zangoose, would be in top cut but for some reason I have not seen one yet, but did enjoy the sight of 3 Kricketune's so far (sorry PU). It has to be here somewhere.

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There are many more mons I could list and name, but these were ones I occasionally saw and had something going for it (aka not Kricketune). Vespiquen is funny, even without tera it checks more mons than it should, it's one of the only Toxic users, and it has actual utility thanks to Spikes.
May Veluza, Flapple, and Rotom-F drop to PU for a cold second and return to us by the time we have the fat of the meta cut away.

Final thoughts:
I was expecting the tier to be more of a mess in alpha, but in reality many pokemon with mediocre defensive stats can still provide utility when needed with and against Tera-types to where most set up sweepers have to think twice before going for the throat. This is a very pleasing metagame as it currently stands and I hope to see it develop further. Defog distribution by Hometransfer would most certainly be a welcome one if we ever do get it back.

isnt it confirmed that transfer moves arent a thing anymore? i remember seeing some people say that they now get automatically replaced by level up moves if the pokemon cant naturally learn it in gen 9

if this is indeed true RIP toxic, knock off, defog, etc...