Phew, after my run in the kickoff tour I can finally make a colorful post as I often do for every meta. I didn't expect to get that far so I had to hide my tricks and opinions till I eventually got out. So here I am now.
My best luck to KJ Corp in finals ^^
Before I start I have to say and I will in my teams post too.
Huge shoutout to my buddy Scarf Kricketune who unfortunately we matched in r1. But he helped me test and build throughout the tour. Love u fam
K NOW
!!
Imma take some words from people who have posted now before and my takes on some I feel the need to address, and this will be supported by some replays if needed to.
1. Thoughts on the 'problems'
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Absolutely busted mon in a sense that it isn't broken itself but its stupid good and splashable on every single team, used for ladder or tour games. Not a single good counter more than having to force your tera or let it chip away half your team. Forces a lot of 50/50 which are always on Magneton player's favor. I have found that Bulky Evio is the best as it becomes a natural switch-in to a lot of common mons in the tier like Quaxwell, Skuntank, Misdreavus, Indeedee. etc. Camel gets Tera Water in the face. Flash Cannon is super free for punishing switches. I'll def ban this pokemon ASAP if the meta wants to develop to a healthy state.
- In a metagame where hazards stack is so common, because is so damn good and prevalent, since the best hazard control is a spinner. Ghost types makes sense as they will fulfill a great utility and offensive roll. But one problem, Haunter doesn't spinblock period. Boi is this frail, so for me its hard to build with it, offensively is great but not something that can't be deal with. Tinkatuff, Skuntank, Zweilous even Camel naturally switches into it even with its variety of sets.
I honestly think Misdreavus is better as the role of a Ghost-type per say, showed in the last rounds of kickoff tour where everyone where using Misdreavus as it is a lot more reliable. This mon is fine.
- So my thoughts on Vivillon had changed drastically after my run in tour. Maybe it is because at that level I assumed everyone would run an answer for Viv, but it started to disappear in usage. This is the example of a mon that suceeds in ladder and its found by the playerbase broken, but in 'high-level play' its manageable, speed tier makes it ok for scarfers and revenge killers to do against it as it is quite frail even in the special side after a QD. And with phazing being so common in Gabite and Zweil mostly. I can't see this as broken right now, maybe the mono Hurricane Sub set is the scariest but still,
Vivillon is manageable, quite unhealthy but not problematic IMO. (Also banning QD is the most stupid request I've heard)
2. Something I need to address urgently
Zweilous - Someone put this at S on their personal VR which is absurd as all things come. This Pokemon doesn't do enough. Its defensive typing aiding versus Houndoom is great and all, but never has this justified an individual slot. 72% chance to phase out sweepers that people claim it prevents from sweeping. Why would I run this over specially defensive Dragonair? OH OH OH ALSO im not typing out an entire paragraph but this is the same shit with Sliggoo. Dragonair outclasses both, please don't use Zweilous and Sliggoo :(
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Absolutely the worst take ever and I'll write a whole essay because of this, sorry Chloe.
Edit: Im addressing Dragonair as a Sp.def wall, I think offensive E-Speeder is good and has potential.
One of the teams I've spammed the most had Zweilous and omg is Zweilous so good, its not S not by any means but its miles better than Dragonair at fulfilling a Sp. Def wall and Phazer, and theres multiple reasons for it.
1.
Zweilous isn't passive. Crunch alone does good damage across the board and can be spammed since Zweil can just sit there in pokemon like Houndoom, Pyroar, Vivillon, Lilligant, Misdreavus (if scout fairy move), Haunter and
beat them 1v1 with no necessity of directly phazing them.
2.
Zweilous typing is just better. Comfortably switching on Indeedee, Houndoom, Magneton even if giving free Volt, Special Cacturne, Camerupt, even stalling Quax cuz again Crunch is good a chipping and forcing switch-ins. So much more reliable even with Hustle, cuz Zweil gives you those turns.
3.
Roar > Dragon Tail a subtle optimization that makes Zweilous more reliable in potential Fairy Misdreavus which would completely wall this is Roar, Roar will not miss and will, most efectively than any other Dtail user, phaze out properly, and if you want damage, Crunch is there for you.
Replay of me vs tom in r5 showcasing how good Zweil is and carried that game hard
Also did the same in g3, saving me from getting swept
I used Zweilous pretty much all the tour until round 6 and you can hop over and look more replays of Zweilous performing, I don't see a reason to use Dragonair at all when you have this. Please don't use Dragonair, use Zweilous. Thank you.
3. Metagame shifting.
- spikes are rare enough that with a tspikes absorber you can get away with no removal for now, but i think misdreavus spikestack might pick up in usage soon and that would be pretty tragic.
- So with duck being the premier hazard control and seemed almost mandatory for the majority of teams, and with good reasons. Players have found ways of pressuring this guy so hazards prevail. And boi they do, apart from maybe Toedscool which I see potential cuz it switches on Magneton. Every other hazard control kinda sucks,
which led to this following pattern:
/ +
T spikes + Missy is amazing. Not only they perform alone a good defensive synergy but Toxic Spikes inmediately punish Quaxwell if it doesnt come hard into the user, and Misdreavus, unlike other ghosts can switch repeatedly into Quax even if offensive cuz of its natural bulk. Pair this with good rock users like Gabite or Perrserker and your hazards will do the job and stay.
So yes, metagame shifted to this, whether you like it or not:(
3.5 Personal favorites.
- Insane potential in raw power, BU and tera options. It essentially has no switch-ins into its double stab (Mareanie is unmon) and it pressures so much by just clicking attacks, its just held down by its speed tier and force out by Mons like Misdreavus which would burn it (I did consider tera fire tbh) as it also can check a Houndoom/Pyroar which would like to force it out offensively. I know most used tera electric to perform against Magneton and Frostom but I like tera Water personally.
- Arguably best rocker rn, being a ground not weak to water or grass is huge, it usually needs to do more than it can in a single battle, meaning switching on Magneton, Skuntank repeatedly which it eventually struggles, but its consistent enough and very splashable. I've consider offensive sets relying in SD too, as there are very little EQ switch-ins which would like to take a dragon move, aside from Misdreavus. Great at phazing as well.
- Lot of people addressing on this already, just confirming that this mon is great. Good speed tier and damage output in Flare + HJK, access to U-turn in a fire type is huge. Personally it wishes to have Boots and Scarf at the same time, but even with all posting I still think its underlooked. Should be used more.
- An electric type that isn't potentially broken. I love this guy speed tier and movepool. Focus Blast works as an offensive measure against Magneton and Frostom and I used Tera Ice for Gabite, but also Surf destroying Camel naturally is great as in can choose what will wall it. I used Boots over a choiced item as I liked the freedom to click, very good mon.
- Virtually there aren't Rock-type switch ins aside from Gabite and the Steel-types just get destroyed by CC. I know the most common set is Scarf but I used CB in a form to capitalize on that 'no switch in' capability and it works quite well. It doesn't really need more coverage than Fighting and in with the proper partners it can get in and force a KO. Really good now.
4. Good mons I don't use cuz reasons
Disclaimer: This is not a section of 'don't use this', rather just good pokemon that don't fit me personally.
So I know how good this is in paper, but its just too passive and abusable for me, it gives Gabite and Magneton free moves every time and its utility isn't enough for me to justify a slot on a team most of the time. IDK. Its good but not my guy, or girl in this case.
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OMG I HATE YOU SO MUCH So prob one of the top mons in the tier and most reliable BU user and grass-type. Its just that it usually needs to pick what it will be checked by with its coverage (meaning either eq or rock slide) and the amount of posibilites with its tera options that imo it has to commit to to be good in battles, I might be wrong cuz I didn't perform well with this when testing. But its natural bulk and potential teras makes it very menacing, I would prob optimize like maybe boots for teams with no tspike absorber and experiment on the tera types cuz it can basically run any tera it wants.
That'd be all, I will make a post on Teams Bazaar prob, with the ones I built and performed well in tour.
Also I gotta say very fun tier, my favorite so far in SV. It might be because Im used to like lower tiers more, lol. See ya ^^