Stall really loves a fast encore now... but I'm not really having many problems running a stall team. Glad to say I don't think that stall is dead at all.
Froslass. Froslass creates the shittiest lead metagame possible. You NEED to prepare for it otherwise you get fucked. If you prepare for it, you do shitty against most other things. Lame imo.
Gallade: Holy shit. This is probably the most broken Pokemon that's existed in any metagame, besides maybe...nope, nothing. Gallade can OHKO stupid amounts of the metagame, it runs right through stall, has perfect coverage with Shadow Sneak and Close Combat, while carrying a coverage move to deal with anything else (I prefer Stone Edge). On top of this its awesome SpD makes it really really easy to set up. Literrally, setting up DS and sending Gallade in will win you a match quite easily. Spiritomb doesn't really bother me at all when I use Gallade, it's too easy to set up against.
Rhyperior: Monster. It sets up Stealth Rock reliably, OHKOes a ton of shit, and counters non-HP Grass/Water Raikou. Rock Blast covers shit like Jumpluff with ease. Being able to be survive a close combat from Gallade, is barely even 3HKOed by Honchkrows superpower makes it a great check to any physical attacker. Did I mention its 416 Atk? In the sand storm, SubPerior is an absolute beast. It can survive Milotics Surf and 2HKO it. Is it broken? I don't know. It might be worth making a suspect, but it is in now where anywhere near Gallade, Froslass, and Raikou.
Froslass: Just ban this already ffs. Auto Spikes + metagame with Spiritomb Missy and Rotom = fail. The only non-specialized lead that can "do something" vs Froslass is Ambipom, and really, Ambipom shouldn't be the only lead you can use without specializing for Froslass. Either use a Anti-Froslass lead, or lose. Pick one.
Blaziken: Choice Band Blaziken is a huge threat to this metagame. This is mostly due to Spiritomb's increase in usage. Blaziken can come on any of its attacks (great with Gallade or Froslass), and send in stupidly powerful Flare Blitzes. Milotic you say? HAH! Superpower 2HKOes 100% of the time with Stealth Rock and a Jolly nature.
Venasaur: Yea, it's not Roserade, but it'll do. It actually makes a pretty decent Life Orbed physical Attacker. Hitting with crazy powerful Power Whips, Earthquakes, and not to mention it has the staples such as Sleep Powder and Synthesis.
Raikou: Also quite obviously broken. With free Spikes, the Lack of Shaymin, and the likes of pursuiters, Raikou is as dangerous as ever. While the 'Omg Dugtrio' argument is pretty crappy, it does help balance Raikou out a bit....or it would have....It would have if it didn't actually help Raikou more than hinder it. Dugtrio easily gets Registeel and Chansey out of the way. Without these Pokemon around...you know what happens.
Jumpluff: Surprisingly good with Encore and SubSeed. Luckily roserade's gone, and most Venasaurs are Physical now and can't break its sub.
I actually really like this metagame, the lack of Milotic everywhere makes things very interesting, and Pinsir really found a great niche with all the bug weakness running around (I've swept teams with X-scissor since everything's Psychic, Dark or frail. EQ, Close Combat and Rock Slide cover everything else
Froslass - Lead Ambipom beats it, but it's not like that wasn't already the most popular lead by far, the Floatzel I've been using works great too (and does well against most other leads)
Gallade - Easy to revenge KO, counters are available
Raikou - Alakazam and Venusaur both completely shut down Raikou. Encore Zam or any bulky venusaur with roar will remove any and all raikou problems
Venusaur - its not supposed to be roserade, try running a bulky set with roar and synthesis, it more than makes due.
I actually really like this metagame, the lack of Milotic everywhere makes things very interesting, and Pinsir really found a great niche with all the bug weakness running around (I've swept teams with X-scissor since everything's Psychic, Dark or frail. EQ, Close Combat and Rock Slide cover everything else
I mentioned that already. People shouldn't be forced to use Ambipom or specialized Anti-Froslass leads (like the one you suggest) in order to hamper Froslass' ability to fulfill the support characteristic.
Easy...how? What counters? I count two: Spritomb and Slowbro (who fails after a Leaf Blade crit).
Shutting it down early game isn't the issue. The fact that it can rip apart any team late game is what makes it the monster that it is.
I don't want a phazer, I need a powerful attacker that OHKOes Donphan. Roserade is and always will be better than Venusaur, but Venusaur is still good I'll admit.
And...Milotic is everywhere.
Heysup, I guess Spiritomb, beating Ambipom, Froslass, and Alakazam, all of which seem common (particularly the first two, although we'll see when October stats come out and the meta is somewhat stable), isn't a good lead? Spiritomb is what I would call an "anti-metagame" Pokemon right now, as it is a reliable Gallade counter, can beat most leads nicely, and beats things like Alakazam, NP Missy, etc.
Heysup said:People shouldn't be forced to use Ambipom or specialized Anti-Froslass leads (like the one you suggest) in order to hamper Froslass' ability to fulfill the support characteristic.
zorbees said:I also laugh that you think DP UU Gallade is more broken than RBY Ubers Mewtwo, where one of the best ways to deal with it was freezehax.
zorbees said:EDIT: Nice job inventing the Gallade set with Spiritomb as the only counter, it only takes at least 5 moves to do it (Close Combat, Shadow Sneak, Leaf Blade, Psycho Cut, and Swords Dance. Even then, Moltres does decent as it can survive a +2 Sneak and SR, so I guess you have to throw Stone Edge on there too to hit it on the switch.)
EDIT2: Hmm, Raikou beats things late-game? So does Empoleon in OU. I guess it is Uber then...
The floatzel was made before Froslass was introduced as it beat or prevented rocks on all leads aside from Yanmega and Roserade (or the rare tbolt Uxie/Mesprit, but that is uncommon, and it still prevents rocks). Beating Froslass is a cool, unintentional bonus, I just made it cause my team was SR weak and didn't need another normal type.
Lots of those don't reliably revenge kill Gallade actually. I bolded the ones that don't. Also, with Spikes, a few of those don't even survive an SSneak.for revenge killers on Gallade, here's what I did, I went to the UU and NU pages and hit the button labeled "Spe" twice, everything above 80 speed was put into new tabs, I did the same with NU, then I eliminated anything with a bad Attack stat, or a ghost weakness (without considerable bulk). After that I took out everything that was just a worse version of something else (as an attacker at least)
[........]
I also eliminated NU pokemon outclassed entirely by UUs
UU:
Swellow, Dugtrio (Can't EV it to survive and OHKO with EQ at the same time), Sceptile, Ambipom (doesn't OHKO, and Flinch = Gallade's boost in Speed), Raikou, Scyther, Arcanine, Moltres, Hitmonlee (Forced to use Earthquake, which doesn't OHKO), Nidoking
NU:
Floatzel (doesn't OHKO, and Flinch = Gallade's boost in Speed), Tauros, Manectric (I think this is OHKOed by +2 Sneak with SR. Either way, it doesn't OHKO Gallade), Charizard, Dodrio, Slaking, Leafeon, Primape, Sharpedo, Kangaskhan, Zangoose, Pinsir, Skuntank.
rby mewtwo in ou is the singular king of brokenHeysup said:Gallade: Holy shit. This is probably the most broken Pokemon that's existed in any metagame, besides maybe...nope, nothing.
You are greatly exaggerating things here.Alright so I have been really not enjoying this metagame so far for many reasons.
1) Unstability. A battle will often end with 1 little think of hax or misplay.
2) Very hax oriented. If I had a nickle for every time I was in a speed tie with a base 80 Pokemon I'd be rich as hell.
3) Froslass. Froslass creates the shittiest lead metagame possible. You NEED to prepare for it otherwise you get fucked. If you prepare for it, you do shitty against most other things. Lame imo.
This metagame is really not "my thing" even though I usually like hyperoffensive metagames.
Anyway, there are a couple Pokemon who jump out in this metagame, expected or not.
Gallade: Holy shit. This is probably the most broken Pokemon that's existed in any metagame, besides maybe...nope, nothing. Gallade can OHKO stupid amounts of the metagame, it runs right through stall, has perfect coverage with Shadow Sneak and Close Combat, while carrying a coverage move to deal with anything else (I prefer Stone Edge). On top of this its awesome SpD makes it really really easy to set up. Literrally, setting up DS and sending Gallade in will win you a match quite easily. Spiritomb doesn't really bother me at all when I use Gallade, it's too easy to set up against.
Rhyperior: Monster. It sets up Stealth Rock reliably, OHKOes a ton of shit, and counters non-HP Grass/Water Raikou. Rock Blast covers shit like Jumpluff with ease. Being able to be survive a close combat from Gallade, is barely even 3HKOed by Honchkrows superpower makes it a great check to any physical attacker. Did I mention its 416 Atk? In the sand storm, SubPerior is an absolute beast. It can survive Milotics Surf and 2HKO it. Is it broken? I don't know. It might be worth making a suspect, but it is in now where anywhere near Gallade, Froslass, and Raikou.
Froslass: Just ban this already ffs. Auto Spikes + metagame with Spiritomb Missy and Rotom = fail. The only non-specialized lead that can "do something" vs Froslass is Ambipom, and really, Ambipom shouldn't be the only lead you can use without specializing for Froslass. Either use a Anti-Froslass lead, or lose. Pick one.
Blaziken: Choice Band Blaziken is a huge threat to this metagame. This is mostly due to Spiritomb's increase in usage. Blaziken can come on any of its attacks (great with Gallade or Froslass), and send in stupidly powerful Flare Blitzes. Milotic you say? HAH! Superpower 2HKOes 100% of the time with Stealth Rock and a Jolly nature.
Venasaur: Yea, it's not Roserade, but it'll do. It actually makes a pretty decent Life Orbed physical Attacker. Hitting with crazy powerful Power Whips, Earthquakes, and not to mention it has the staples such as Sleep Powder and Synthesis.
Raikou: Also quite obviously broken. With free Spikes, the Lack of Shaymin, and the likes of pursuiters, Raikou is as dangerous as ever. While the 'Omg Dugtrio' argument is pretty crappy, it does help balance Raikou out a bit....or it would have....It would have if it didn't actually help Raikou more than hinder it. Dugtrio easily gets Registeel and Chansey out of the way. Without these Pokemon around...you know what happens.
Jumpluff: Surprisingly good with Encore and SubSeed. Luckily roserade's gone, and most Venasaurs are Physical now and can't break its sub.
The only 'new' Pokemon I don't find broken are Alakhazam and Umbreon. Umbreon was never even remotely broken. Alakhazam won't even have time to be 'good' while Gallade is here OHKOing it with a merely Life Orb boosted Shadow Sneak. It's much to priority weak.
You are greatly exaggerating things here.
1) It's always been like that, at least in good matches.
2) Teams should be built to avoid that, I know mine is.
3) Read every other post I've made in this thread. Froslass is a good lead but nowhere near broken.
Gallade: Easy to revenge kill from anything that can survive an un-STAB 40 base power move. Not to mention a load of faster normals (Kangashkan and Swellow most notably) that are immune to it's priority. Can also be revenged at lower health (and walled) by Spiritomb or Dusclops carrying Shadow Sneak and Will-o-Wisp.
Bulky Waters and Venusaur are far from threatening. Actually Milotic is set up bait for the top 2 set-up sweepers in the tier atm. It works great as a Honchkrow, Gallade, non-4x SE HP Raikou, and basically any physical attacker check.Rhyperior: I must admit my team has an achilles heel in Ryhperior due to my forgoance of the obligatory bulky water, but without Sandstorm support, bulky waters pose too much of a thread, Milotic isn't even 2HKO'd by EQ unless he's at +2 and he can't even survive a surf at 75% (after sub) with a Passho Berry outside of Sandstorm. Add do that bulky Venusaur and (I didn't believe this till it happened) SD/Encore Jumpluff that can both OHKO it (+2 Seed Bomb from Jumpluff OHKO'd a 252/252 Rhyperior <_<) and the latter can encore Sub/RP/SD and render it useless.
Froslass: Pursuit/Shadow Sneak/any decently powerful attack...I analyzed the crap outta this earlier, scroll up.
Blaziken: SD Blaziken is an even bigger threat than the bander due to its versitility. Come in on a Taunted Registeel or similar, SD up then OHKO Milotic with SR damage and proceed to sweep.
Venusaur: I have not seen a non-subseed Venusaur since the new additions, but theoretically the addition of Power Whip makes it a great physical attacker.
d2m said:Raikou: TBH, it really doesn't set up on much. A Registeel packing earthquake will send it packing as will Venusaur if it has HP Grass and Quagsire if it has HP Ice. Add to that fast encores in the form of Zam and Pluff and you have decent enough options to counter it.
I actually really like this set I came up with:
Venusaur (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Sleep Powder
- Power Whip
- Synthesis
---
Natural Bulk + Sleep Powder lets it heal itself quite often (DS helps), while Power Whip does monstrous damage. Jolly = needed for a base 80 tbh.
Firstly, Dugtrio. Second, Pursuit. These Pokemon are really easily removed, and Raikou is unstoppable if you don't carry one of these Pokemon...and the Raikou has the incorrect/correct (depends how you look at it) Hidden Power.
I'm off to bed.
I always found Gallade over rated =/ (which is why I initially voted it UU in the poll). But now Crobat and Staraptor aren't here to murder it, but Donphan can at least take a hit, and Slowbro, Spiritomb and Weezing still exist.
Speaking of Staraptor, why isn't it being retested as well?