Metagame NP: ZU Stage 2 - Turn It Again - Combusken Quick Banned @77

[AstilCodex]

So I wasn't able to share my thoughts on Ludi I might do it now with these guys. I've finished stuff on college now I can go back to this tier I liked a lot, and I've played enough to have an opinion this time. So,

Ban (for sure):

Musharna its completely broken imo. It has all the tools needed to bypass its flaws and its a wincon thats always going to be a pain no matter what do you have to try to counter it. When Mush sets up a CM its practically unbreakable, dark types fear moonblast and your wall cant toxic it cuz u get synchronize back and Mush can just Heal Bell to be safe again. Running no item, grassy seed or kasib can nullify poltergeist which is prob the strongest thing to hit it rn. Things to stop it like taunt, clear smog, haze or whirlwind aren't a real thing cuz mush can just come back and do the same thing when your phazing mon its weaken or koed. Pyuku gets beaten by sp, and meme stuff like lopunny arent close to justify this thing being balanced.

Ban (but kinda iffy about it):

Swoobat on paper seems really opressive but there's some matchups where it honestly can find its way to setup. Its really frail even when boosted and priority and scarfers can cheap it away. Also this thing most likely running seed or a berry so SR weaken it already. It doesnt feel as broken as musharna but it definetly its a problem for teambuilding and it destroys balance and with just a boost its already giant threat. So it might deserve a ban as well.

On the other hand Pikachu its a really good wallbreaker and tho its pretty frail and can also be koed by priority. The fact that it volt switches around and can afford to run mixed attacks to bypass some of its checks feels kinda too much in some cases. I've found more success with dropping fake out to add a coverage move like surf or gk and because all its capabilites in knock off and powerful priority moves its really hard to switch into and it might deserve to be banned.

Not ban:

These 3 are definetly strong but they dont seem as opressive to the tier to be unhealthy mons. They had too many flaws to justify a ban imo.

First Fraxure its a fantastic mon with great wallbreaking and swepper capabilites in cb and setup with sd/dd. First impression its such a move rn and Outrage just bops through bulky stuff. But fraxure's low speed leave it pretty unarmed against whatever comes to revenge kill it and even with eviolite its really frail. Scale shot its a great addition but its downside makes it a lot easier to kill with priority and overall its not a mon that will always break through whats in front of it. Its one of the best mon in the tier rn that I've found its a great addition.

When I played Bellossom it feels like how volcarona its in OU. Its so opressive in team preview but it fails on sweeping in a lot of matchups and the enormous 4mss that this mon has makes it balanced imo. Your last move its usually between moonblast, s bomb, and the lack of potential aromatherapy or heal bell like Mush leaves it to run safeguard or sub which seems a lot more manageable and leaves giga as it only attacking move, letting things like queen, ivy, klang (who counters it anyway), togetic, vullaby to hard wall it and pp stalling out all gigas if need be. Also pure grass its pretty bad and even when boosted it has too many offensive counterplay like icevally, finding the right time to setup a lot harder.

Finally Stonjourner its a great addition to the tier as an offensive sr setter and great offensive pressure, but this one its the least broken of all of them imo just because there are so many things that just come in safely on this thing. Hippo, vibrava, Palpitoad, even machoke and grapploct can come in, def gourg also take heat crash. And the obvious thing that ston its scared of every special attacker so its really easy to revenge kill even scarf variants because its really predictable even or earlier turns so you can adjust your playstyle depending on the set either being scarf band or rocks. If walls get knocked off thats doesnt mean ston itself its broken it means it needs brain to get in and pass those walls. Not broken imo.

Something to point out:

Dont know if someone had considered this but Grookey being the only way to setup any terrain automatically rn had made Grass spam being a thing and undeniably making things like Musharna and Swoobat more busted. I honestly found that this could be a problem and grookey being not a useless mon able to u-turn knock and grassy glide + strong grass types like gourg and trev makes this team comp really tough to fight against.

 

[Toto]

Not happy with how I explained things but gunna post my thoughts anyway. I know I want a lot of bans, I just want to free teambuilding. Enjoy :)


BAN The stored power sets are completely broken. Can run rest or moonlight+heal bell. Also can run grassy seed or itemless to stop poltergeist which is huge. Shame stored power sets is broken as future sight and TR sets are cool and mush also counters pikachu's the best in the whole tier as it doesn't lose Eviolite like pikachu's other counters.
BAN Similar to mushurna its stored power sets are broken. Not much to say that other people haven't said however I think its worse than mushurna. Grassy seed pushes it over the edge as it allows swoobat to not get revenged as easily which was the main way of dealing with it.
BAN Stonjourner is a monster with ridiculous Hp, attack and defence for zu. Its only bad stat is its spd but Stonjourner is never staying in and you can just build around that with a special wall. Speed is also very decent and surprisingly fast. It has very limited switch ins with the majority of the tier getting 2hitko by its great coverage moves. Counters to Stonjourner such as Hippopotas, Palpitoad and Vibrava are also counters to pikachu which you may think it a good thing however this allows these counters to have their eviolite removed which therefore allows Stonjourner to 2hitko them later. I also think Stonjourner will be even better with the removal of swoobat as you are more free to run Lo and banded.
BAN Pikachu just does it all and does it extremely well. Need a revenge killer? Wallbreacker? Mixed attacker? Cute Mon? Just slap pika on the team and all your problems will be solved. Pika also has good movepull although suffers from 4mss a bit. In my experience dropping fake out for surf can work which helps vs carkol and hippo. I think just like Stonjourner pika will get even better if only mushurna and swoobat get banned.
DNB Both look very good on paper with fraxure having a massive attack stat and bellossom having high all around stats and access to quiver dance however both just don't live up to their high potential due to the current meta. Fraxure's suffers from 4mss and im also not a fan of its stab moves in outrage and scale shot which are both exploitable. Bellossom gets hard walled by a lot of popular mons in the current meta such as Vespiquen, Klang and many more thanks to it running mono grass attacks with the rare moonblast.

Procras sucks

 

[kay]

Very promising vote slate. I've already given my thoughts on some of them so i'll be brief and just cover the other ones brought up and give my thoughts on them

I think Pikachu honestly one of the best mons in the tier right now but while it is an extremely threatening mon I think it actually holds an extremely healthy place in the meta by keeping the set up sweepers and sand at bay.
While it is true most of Pikachus best switch ins are NFE and hate their eviolites knocked off, I think in practice it's a pretty fair thing to have going for it as its hard to actually get in by virtue of being EXTREMELY frail and having no good resists to work with. In order for it to act as a wall breaker or eviolite knocker offer you have to play extremely well with double switches or build in such a way that you have a lot of slow pivots to safely work. Otherwise you're mostly using it as a revenge killer which is really I think where Pikachu really holds the meta in a good place.
I'd be worried that with a pika ban we'd see a lot more random setup sweepers and sand start to really take over in a problematic way that didn't have the ability to do so before a pika ban. So while it is undeniably strong I think its a very rewarding mon for skilled players that does a lot of healthy things in the meta that can be missed at a first glance.

I made mention of this in my previous post but I figured now that its actually on the slate I'd give my thoughts on it in more detail now because I don't think this mons anywhere near broken currently. We have a lot of good counter play for it ranging from Vibrava, Hippo, Palp, bulky Beh, Machoke, ect. And with majority of them being scarf right now its pretty easy to play around it being choiced locked to gain advantage with things like Klang or wall breakers like Gourgeist. I think in a theoretical meta less pressed for it to run scarf (such as a banning of Swoobat and Pikachu) I could see the extra versatility of CB being more common as a reason it gets better (which is what I was touching on in my other post) but I'd be hard pressed to ban it over a theoretical meta. Currently as it stands I think its an amazing mon but nothing overbearing or anything the meta can't handle especially depending on how the other votes end up.

Fraxure's suffers from 4mss and im also not a fan of its stab moves in outrage and scale shot which are both exploitable.

So I've seen this thrown around a bit about Fraxure having 4mss and I think it actually has the exact opposite problem. All Fraxure really needs is dragon stab + Super Power/ Tantrum then you get to pick whatever last 2 moves you want depending on the role you want it to have. SD or DD as a set up sweeper, taunt or sub to stall break or protect against revenge killers, extra coverage option to hit toge and shii if you're worried about fairy types, and even double dragon stab which I'm a huge fan of. It has all it needs in 2 moves and the set up sets, cb, and stall breaking sets all work extremely well with the 2 other moves you get to choose to round it out. All the sets it wants to run work perfectly fine with the 4 moves given.
The more I use Fraxure the more I think its a dark horse in the meta and very slept on.

 

[5gen]

Hello everyone, the results of the quick ban slate are in! Here is the sheet with votes and reasoning from each council member.

6 do not ban votes
6 do not ban votes
6 ban votes
6 do not ban votes
5 do not ban votes / 1 ban vote
3/3 split between ban and do not ban votes

Musharna is quick banned from ZU with a unanimous ban vote. Tagging The Immortal to implement

As shown above, the council was split on Swoobat. We will continue to monitor Swoobat post-Musharna as well as any other potentially problematic elements that arise. In addition, council members are open to elaborating their reasoning should anyone want to ask.

Reminder that Musharna is not legal in week 2 of ZUPL.

 

[Xayah]

We're halfway there, I suppose.

It is frankly insane to me that Swoobat is still here. Reading through this thread, it seemed like most people agreed that it was incredibly stupid, so I didn't bother posting, but I guess I should have. Now, I've only been playing this meta for a week, so I could very well be wrong, but Swoobat single-handedly makes building so, so very dull.

Whereas Musharna simply didn't have answers, so I honestly just kind of ignored it in building, Swoobat does. Anyone who denies that is wrong. Unfortunately, the only real answer that's actually good in the meta right now in Scarf Stonjourner; everything else is either unreliable, not a real answer, or straight up bad. Let's consider the other answers the DNB voters on council listed (note: I'll be using Grassy Seed Swoobat since it's the best set):
SpD Klang - RestTalk is unable to threaten Grassy Seed Swoobat (Toxic RestTalk is really bad), other variants aren't gonna be healthy enough by the time Swoobat is relevant. Even if Swoobat isn't running Heat Wave, which is quite likely, it'll probably have Roost and just... set up to +6 and kill Klang with Stored Power.

Toxic Orb Linoone - For one, Linoone-G isn't actually a good mon. I really, really tried running it, but jesus is this a weak mon. For two, Toxic Orb is also the bad set, so you're running a bad set on a bad mon to be able to answer Swoobat, and then... well...
252 Atk Linoone-Galar Knock Off vs. +2 0 HP / 0 Def Swoobat: 116-138 (42.1 - 50.1%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO
252 Atk Linoone-Galar Facade (140 BP) vs. +2 0 HP / 0 Def Swoobat: 124-147 (45 - 53.4%) -- 35.5% chance to 2HKO
so, to recap, a bad set on a bad mon that specifically exists to answer Swoobat... just gets stalled out by Roost or killed by Air Slash. Nice.

CB Fraxure - This calc is probably enough:
252+ Atk Choice Band Mold Breaker Fraxure First Impression vs. +2 0 HP / 0 Def Swoobat: 122-144 (44.3 - 52.3%) -- 18.4% chance to 2HKO
Obviously it'll just die if it locks into something else. Roost it off.

CB Gourgeist-L - Same problem as Fraxure, though it is a little better since it can use Shadow Sneak more than once, but it dies to Air Slash/Heat Wave after failing to kill it or can die to Stored Power with enough boosts.
252+ Atk Choice Band Gourgeist-Large Shadow Sneak vs. +2 0 HP / 0 Def Swoobat: 140-168 (50.9 - 61%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
One of the better answers on the list, but still just... not enough.

FakeSpeed Pikachu - Luckily, this is the last of the priority based mons, because they all have the same issue, but this one might be the most pronounced.
252+ Atk Light Ball Pikachu Fake Out vs. +2 0 HP / 0 Def Swoobat: 45-54 (16.3 - 19.6%) -- possible 6HKO
252+ Atk Light Ball Pikachu Extreme Speed vs. +2 0 HP / 0 Def Swoobat: 90-107 (32.7 - 38.9%) -- 99.7% chance to 3HKO
This needs chip to kill even if it gets the second chance to fire off its priority. Which it won't. Because Pikachu is uh... frail. Very frail.

RP Lunatone - ...what? People are running this? I've not seen it at all, but maybe that's just me? I have no idea what the set is, but I heard something about Meteor Beam? I'm assuming with like Power Herb? I guess this is an answer, so sure? But uh... RP Meteor Beam Lunatone is to Swoobat as Chinchou/Seaking is to Rotom-Frost; technically an answer, but kind of really bad?

Now, there's some other answers (although must run into the same issues), and yes, some sets can't beat Dark-types and some can't heal up and all, but when building, you have to answer all the sets, not just some. And thus, Scarf Stonjourner or possibly Persian are nearly needed, which heavily restricts building (since you can't really run other fast, frail mons now). This mon is extremely restrictive, really toxic, and should've been banned. I really hope we get a suspect ASAP so that the community can show the pro-ban vote that it has shown in this thread. Until then, I personally don't think building is particularly fun, at least.

 

[Toto]

Back again with hate against swoobat, Just dropping some calcs against the optimal and banworthy swoobat sets

Grassy seed 2 attacks

Swoobat @ Grassy Seed
Ability: Simple
EVs: 168 HP / 44 Def / 44 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Stored Power
- Air Slash/heatwave
- Roost/sub
.

Grassy seed taunt

Swoobat @ Grassy Seed
Ability: Simple
EVs: 168 HP / 44 Def / 44 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Stored Power
- Taunt
- Roost
.

Naughty pikachu
252+ Atk Light Ball Pikachu Fake Out vs. +2 164 HP / 44 Def Swoobat: 43-51 (13.6 - 16.1%) -- possible 7HKO
252+ Atk Light Ball Pikachu Extreme Speed vs. +2 164 HP / 44 Def Swoobat: 85-100 (26.8 - 31.6%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

Choice band adadmant gourgeist-L
252+ Atk Choice Band Gourgeist-Large Shadow Sneak vs. +2 164 HP / 44 Def Swoobat: 132-156 (41.7 - 49.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Scarf stonjourner
252 Atk Stonjourner Stone Edge vs. +2 164 HP / 44 Def Swoobat: 240-284 (75.9 - 89.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Toxic orb linnone
252 Atk Linoone-Galar Knock Off vs. +2 164 HP / 44 Def Swoobat: 108-128 (34.1 - 40.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Choice banded adamant fraxure
252+ Atk Choice Band Mold Breaker Fraxure First Impression vs. +2 164 HP / 44 Def Swoobat: 113-134 (35.7 - 42.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Spd klang just gets set up on and stored power 2hitkos after 2 calm minds. Toxic can put swoobat on a timer however I think most run volt switch now and swoobat can just taunt anyways.

+4 0 SpA Swoobat Stored Power (220 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Klang: 153-180 (47.2 - 55.5%) -- 75.4% chance to 2HKO

Rock Polish Meteor beam lunatone lol - Surprisingly good however lunatone has to be in with swootbat only having one calm mind up. Also don't miss meteor beam lol

+2 0 SpA Swoobat Stored Power (140 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Lunatone: 138-162 (42.9 - 50.4%) -- 2% chance to 2HKO
+4 0 SpA Swoobat Stored Power (220 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Lunatone: 324-382 (100.9 - 119%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+1 252 SpA Lunatone Meteor Beam vs. +2 164 HP / 44 SpD Swoobat: 356-422 (112.6 - 133.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 SpA Lunatone Meteor Beam vs. +4 164 HP / 44 SpD Swoobat: 236-282 (74.6 - 89.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

As you can see these so called "strong checks" and "priority users" by the do not ban party don't look that strong to me. Scarf stonjourner or spd toxic klang are you best bets but I would't call them reliable answers to swoobat. Also imo these two sets are not the optimal sets for stonjourner and klang which suggest that if you a forced to run un optimal sets something is wrong.

Scarf glalie ( in honour of splebel)

252 SpA Glalie Frost Breath vs. 164 HP / 44 SpD Swoobat on a critical hit: 320-380 (101.2 - 120.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Now onto the dark types

Zweilous - Ok I agree this mon does counter swoobat as +2 air slash and heat wave does nothing and zweilous can just roar it out. Swoobat can taunt which stops roar however crunch 2hitkos (if you hit lol)

0 Atk Hustle Zweilous Crunch vs. +2 164 HP / 44 Def Swoobat: 170-204 (53.7 - 64.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 0 SpA Swoobat Air Slash vs. 252 HP / 124+ SpD Eviolite Zweilous: 91-108 (26.1 - 31%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
+4 0 SpA Swoobat Air Slash vs. 252 HP / 124+ SpD Eviolite Zweilous: 135-160 (38.7 - 45.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Zweilous set

Zweilous @ Eviolite
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 HP / 132 Def / 124 SpD
Careful Nature
- Crunch
- Roar
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

.

Vullaby - Swoobat just sets up on vullaby and kills with air slash or heat wave. If taunt set they you just have to toxic vullaby first and then taunt +roost to beat it.

0 Atk Vullaby Knock Off vs. +2 164 HP / 44 Def Swoobat: 66-80 (20.8 - 25.3%) -- 0.1% chance to 4HKO
0- Atk Vullaby Foul Play vs. +2 164 HP / 44 Def Swoobat: 90-108 (28.4 - 34.1%) -- 0.7% chance to 3HKO

Krokorok - same story as vullaby

252 Atk Krokorok Knock Off vs. +2 164 HP / 44 Def Swoobat: 116-140 (36.7 - 44.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

So in conclusion zweilous is swoobats only true counter with scarf glalie beign able to revenge kill it 90% of the time. Stuff like toxic spd klang and scarf stonjourner can also check swoobat but are more unreliable. So overall any and all scarfers and priority users don't check swoobat only 1 niche scarfer in glalie has 90% chance of a 1hitko. I think these calcs help prove how strong swoobat is and how much it limits teambuilding and makes the meta not fun to play. Not sure about you but I dont really want to use rest talk Zweilous or scarf glalie. Also I know people are gunna be like "well swoobat doen't set up vs my team so its not a problem" and to that I say if swoobat is that centralising that you building your whole team around not letting it set up it needs to swoogo. Also Imo those teams are usually subpar and are weak to other threats. Zu just has too many threats right now and swoobat has absolutely no positive impact on the metagame. BAN SWOOBAT

I kinda messed up the conclusion and it sounded a lot better in my head. If anybody can think of any more swoobat counters let me know and ill edit the post. Thanks for reading :)

 

[Goldew]

I've never posted here before but I figured that Swoobat not being banned would be the perfect time to make my debut. I'm maybe not the best ZU player out there but I do have some thoughts on Swoobat, Stonjourner, and - briefly - Pikachu. So, sorry if my articulation is poor or my points seem lacking, I'm just not used to writing these types of posts- I just hope I can properly convey my opinions on these Pokemon. If you don't want to read these massive blocks of text I have graciously included a tl;dr at the end of each section :-)


As cute as this bat is he is absolutely evil. I believe it's a bit too busted even with SubSalac, but Grassy Terrain elevates Swoobat to a whole extra level. Grassy Seed gives it setup opportunities that it absolutely does not deserve, and its base 114 Speed means it outspeeds everything except Scarf mons and Persian so it can get to +2 SpDef too.

A big problem with Swoobat is that it can essentially choose its checks and counters. Air Slash variants have the potential to break through (or just straight up hax out) worn down Zweilous or non-Thunder Wave Morgrem. Roost means First Impression Fraxure and Fake Out/Espeed Pikachu have a much more difficult time revenge killing it. Taunt really limits the ability of Toxic users and defensive dark-types to wear it down. SubSalac in general makes it hard for teams relying on Scarf Stonjourner and, to a lesser extent, Persian to deal with it (and Persian doesn't do much to a Swoobat that hasn't chipped itself down with Substitute anyway).T

Swoobat places immense pressure on teambuilding, requiring the use of one of the aforementioned Pokemon. Thunder Wave/Light Screen Morgrem, Vullaby, and Sliggoo are the only true defensive answers to Swoobat that are effectively foolproof, but neither are especially splashable. Zweilous, the other best counter, struggles to consistently wall Air Slash variants between 30% flinch chances, its reliance on RestTalk, and 80% accuracy on Crunch (even less on Dragon Tail for those who prefer it to Roar) as it gets 3HKO'd by Air Slash and fails to OHKO Swoobat at +2 Defence. And like Toto mentioned, Vullaby just needs to be Toxic'd and it loses pretty hard- and this tier is not short on toxic users to pair with the Swoobs.

That's not to say that Swoobat has no answers (even if I've pointed out why most of them are shakier than they should be), but the fact that it's impossible to tell what answers what should be a straightforward and predictable gameplan until it's revealed its whole moveset is problematic - as is the immense strain it places on teambuilding, whilst singlehandedly forcing its co-S tier Stonjourner into running one set.

Additionally, some of the counters to variations of its set are not cohesive; Zweilous and Fraxure face redundancy issues despite checking different sets, and Zweilous prefers teams that have good defensive synergy with it while Fraxure stacks a weakness to Ice (a very powerful offensive type right now). Morgrem works well with the offensive checks, but Swoobat forcing offensive counterplay is still an issue when it has multiple ways to circumvent each of its checks outside of Scarf Stonjourner (which, notably, loses to Swoobat 20% of the time) and this tier generally lacks the really explosive power to have variance in offensive teams outside of Stonjourner itself. I think having it here it too toxic for many Pokemon and really limits the ability of the meta to be fun, competitive, and diverse.

(tl;dr - I think Swoobat should be banned. Too powerful, checks/counters are shaky and it has various workarounds to almost every check/counter.)


I honestly feel like Stonjourner needs a ban too but I can't advocate for any bans in good faith until Swoobat is gone.

Stonjourner is an absurdly splashable mon. Stall is pretty much the only archetype that doesn't like it. It has great coverage and power to break through a lot of common defensive Pokemon, including Vespiquen, Zweilous, and Carkol. Life Orb makes it incredibly difficult to counter, allowing it to 2HKO defensive Pokemon that can otherwise check it such as Ivysaur and Corsola. Counters it can't 2HKO, most notably Grapploct, Machoke, and Palpitoad, do not appreciate how heavily it wears them down and can often only switch in once for the entirety of the match due to a lack of recovery.

Of course, Swoobat largely funnels Stonjourner into a Choice Scarf role, making LO less dangerous. This is, in my opinion, honestly the only thing keeping it in check and is why the Stonjourner ban is kind of complex. I think Scarf Stonjourner is enough to be banworthy, but if Swoobat stays, then Stonjourner is absolutely a necessity in ZU as the most splashable way to stop the bat from snapping the tier in half whenever it feels like it. But if Swoobat goes, then Life Orb Stonjourner becomes absurd.

To elaborate on why Stonjourner becomes too overpowering and overcentralising without Swoobat, Life Orb Stonjourner is an incredibly reliable offensive stealth rock setter for obvious reasons - outstanding defence even without investment (100/135 and a nice set of physical resistances) and its aforementioned offensive capabilities help to solidify this role. Of the viable Pokemon faster than Stonjourner, the following cannot check it: Linoone-G, Persian, Torracat, Stoutland, and physical Silvally-Ice. I will tentatively add that Jolly Life Orb Leafeon's Leaf Blade only OHKOs it 25% of the time after Stealth Rock, whereas it is OHKO'd in return by Heat Crash. That said, Adamant Leafeon still outspeeds and can KO it reliably.

This means that the only non-scarf Pokemon faster than Stonjourner that can check Life Orb variants are the electric-types (Dedenne, Pikachu/Raichu, Emolga), special Silvally-Ice, Mr Mime (Kantonian and Galarian), and of course Swoobat. It is worth noting that these Pokemon all lose quite handily to Scarf Stonjourner unless they themselves are scarved, of which only Raichu and the Mimes do. This gives Stonjourner outstanding potential for faking out the opponent on its first switch in, especially as a lead that makes it impossible for opposing scouting leads to do their job (except for Scarf Raichu) whilst beating most Stealth Rock users 1v1.

But when they switch out, what do they switch into? The list of LO Stonjourner's counters is incredibly small, with viable options limited to Palpitoad, Vibrava, Machoke, Grapploct, Hippopotas, and Dusclops (LO EQ 2hkos 4/0 Whiscash). Stonjourner outspeeds all of these and, as I mentioned earlier, Palpitoad, Grapploct, and Machoke can only switch in once and absolutely hate being worn down by ~40% damage Earthquakes (Palpitoad)/Heat Crashes. This leaves Vibrava and Dusclops as the most reliable answers to LO Stonjourner. While Dusclops is pretty good, if its eviolite is knocked off it suffers from the same problem as the 'counters' I mentioned earlier. And, of course, Stonjourner could just carry a teammate that handily beats its one noteworthy, mostly-consistent counter. Because, well, Vibrava is absolutely a complete shitmon outside of this role - we have some truly great and fun-to-use defoggers since the drops, and Stonjourner forcing some teams to use this hunk of garbage is just a miserable reflection of a great tier- 50/70/50/50/50/70 is just not it when it does nothing unique except beat Stonjourner and kinda Carkol while it loses to everything else. That said, Hippo is pretty good not gonna lie- but I don't think it really fits everywhere, and if teams really have to run Hippo for Ston then I think it does prove that it's problematic.

Essentially, it has very few counters and the only 'true' counter is a garbage mon, and scarf just totally dismantles offensive teams because it has coverage that hits everything faster than could otherwise kill it.

(tl;dr - Stonjourner is only good for the tier if Swoobat is here. If Swoobat stays, it's necessary to beat it; if Swoobat goes, Stonjourner becomes overcentralising through its newly-found flexibility and forces the use of shitmons with BSTs of 340 to have actual counters.)


Pikachu is the lowest priority here. I've already said plenty about the other two so I'll keep it brief; honestly, mostly in the same boat as Stonjourner. Its answers are inconsistent and it revenge kills too much, but we need that if Swoobat is going to stay. Volt Switch keeps momentum up, it can (less importantly) run obnoxious lure sets that are largely impractical due to its 4mss but can really screw over some cores in ways that are impossible to prepare for (Play Rough Pikachu to beat Zweilous comes to mind, unfortunately), and it just hits like an absolute truck in general. Dies to everything, sure, but it just outspeeds/out-prioritises and kills so much stuff anyway. Basically a wild card that's another 'conditional' ban like Ston that's only healthy because it keeps Swoobat in check.

(tl;dr - dude, it's one paragraph.)

 

[AstilCodex]

NP: ZU Stage 2 - Turn It Again - 'ZU Hates Swoobat'
So I think Xayah and Toto covered and refuted the reasoning of why Swoobat somehow stayed here, pointed on previous quickban state. And Goldew expressed how pretty much the whole community feel about keeping Swoobat on the tier. So, when I did my previous post - @26. I stated that I was iffy on banning Swoobat mainly because it was the mon that I've tested the least. Now with Mush gone I've spammed Swoobat on ladder to get accostumed to use it and fight against it.

Tho I agree that Swoobat isn't 'as good as it seems' the more you play with it the more you get to know how to use it and when to setup. Also its inconsistency starts to decrease depending on the set you're running and your teammates that can cripple and weaken potential issues for Swoobat. G-seed Taunt set has been the most consistent for me, its a lot more safer to setup with and if your dark type gets poisoned/burned or dies its pretty much autowin. The assumption of 'Swoobat struggles with finding the chance to setup' its completely false as its justified with its speed, it can even setup on threatning walls if it wants to, winning most 1v1s. Defensive counterplay like phazing gets stopped by Taunt like I said. Scarfers - which btw are forced to run Scarf because of this mon, can't win if Swoobat player does a single thing, which is not setup in front of them. Then its too late. Same with priority users if Swoobat's seed its activated. Grassy spam had become a lot better and consistent, making it so easy to pulled off, making Swoobat's support very little and in general giving Swoobat a wide range of situations to setup even in front of potential counters like Klang or Vullaby, which (Spoiler) are actually not counters. All of these scenarios are not situational and had forced the whole meta to be overprepared against Swoobat. Which may lead some people to think it's not broken.

Finally, let's talk about Swoobat and its impact on the current metagame. What does Swoobat offers that can let it stay? Nothing. Swoobat might be one of the most toxic pokemon that a tier could have. Not only in current SS ZU, but on any case, fighting a Swoobat it's unhealthy and can become a snowball that's really unfair and unbalanced if your team hasn't the tools for it. I honestly don't know whats the point or reasoning behind keeping Swoobat right now. Even if you don't feel it's broken, which I understand. It's extremely unhealthy. And to my eyes thats enough reason to ban Swoobat. Another one will be that teambuilding right now its super restricting and honestly sometimes overwhelming. So freed up a huge space banning Swoobat its the best thing that it can be done right now. Later, we might talk about other potential threats like Stonjourner which may feel to much, but right now it's not even a real talk because Swoobat somehow still running around.

 

[5gen]

Hey all, council has decided to start doing council minutes (inspired by UU/PU/LC). Here goes:

ZU Council Minutes #1
​

Meta Discussion:

• The council has kept an eye out on Swoobat following the quick ban slate and we took into account the community's disagreement with Swoobat not receiving a quick ban.​
  • 5-1 majority decision to once again vote on Swoobat.
• We also discussed the prominence of Grassy Terrain teams, which have had a dominant showing in weeks one and two of ZUPL. We agreed that the combination of Grookey+Swoobat+Choice Band Trevenant (other Grass-types such as Leafeon and Gourgeist-L are options as well) may be too much for the tier.​
  • There were various opinions on how to handle this such as voting on Swoobat again, voting on Trevenant, voting on Grookey, and/or banning Grassy Surge.​
  • The majority felt that addressing Grookey was the appropriate way of dealing with Grassy Terrain teams are neutralized without Grassy Surge. Moreover, those who chose to vote on Grookey over Trevenant felt that Gourgeist-L would replace Trevenant on Grassy Terrain teams and that the style would continue to be problematic. Essentially, that banning Trevenant would not address the issue that is Grassy Terrain.​
    • Note that much discussion went into this and a ban on Grassy Surge was considered, but ultimately we decided to vote on the Pokemon and not the ability. czim and I (5gen) argued that Trevenant is the main problematic element and that Gourgeist-L is a downgrade due to Trevenant having 15 more base Attack. Reach out to myself or any of the council members if you would like a more detailed description of said discussion.​
• As a result, the council will be voting on Grookey and Swoobat this week.

Pre Slate Voting

Viability Rankings:

• The VR slate currently up and the plan is to update the VR before the September shifts happen
• In an effort to increase transparency and clarify the line between council and ZU staff, room staff will no longer be able to give their input on VR slates. Rather, new changes will be implemented:
  • Most or all discussion between council members occurs in channels on ZU's Discord, especially for the viability rankings. We have discussed things and decided to make a public channel for VR discussion and voting. While the channel itself will be viewable to all, only council members and rotating council members will be able to speak in the channel.
  • Because all VR nominations happen in the SS ZU Viability Rankings thread, all slates are essentially public. Instead of giving room staff an exclusive opportunity for input on VR slates as has been done for years, the Personal ZU Viability Rankings will be incorporated into each VR update. Anyone may post their input in the Personal ZU VR during a voting period, which council members can view and hopefully discuss in the ZU Discord or ZU room on showdown.
• The primary reasons for us choosing to introduce these changes is to increase transparency, set a stronger boundary between council and room staff responsibilities, and generate more community input and interaction. If you have any questions feel free to PM me here or on Discord (5gen#5258).

Forums:

• ZUPL is currently in week 3 with many exciting matchups. Check out standings and player records here!
• Victim of the Week is the newest project in the forums and has hit week 2, where the current victim of the week is Swoobat.

Other Discussion Points:

• Tier shifts are right around the corner and very well could shake up the metagame again. Should be interesting considering the current metagame and the fact that ZUPL will be affected.

 

[Mega-Pokebattlerz]

We've really reached the point where Grookey, of all things, is considered banworthy.

Isle of Armor was one hell of a trip, man.

 

[Kiyo]

Swoobat is way too polarizing to not be the topic of discussion, Grookey and Trevenant don't even come close. I feel like you absolutely need to explain the second two, but Swoobat just makes sense, no questions asked.

 

[Xayah]

It’s questionable to me whether voting on Grookey and Swoobat at once is fair (in my eyes, there’s no world in which Grookey is broken without Swoobat, but the other way around I’m not so sure), but overall, I really like what the council’s doing. Big fan of public VR discussion too, and very happy that Swoobat’s getting another vote.

 

[Splebel]

I want to say that if Grookey is banned, People will switch to Cottonee. Cottonee with Prankster can use grassy terrain and is almost as effective as Grookey. Bonus, it can also use Misty Terrain if that ever becomes broken. Because of this, I think the Grookey ban is rather moot.

 

[DC]

Broken bat terrorizes lower tier, ZU in shambles

 

[5gen]

I'll be posting more detail on Grookey and Trevenant. Note that my opinions are my own and that I don't speak for the rest of council.


Trevenant is the premier offensive Grass-type on Grassy Terrain teams because of its Base 110 Attack and lack of checks under Grassy Terrain. Choice Band Grassy Glide under Grassy Terrain is absurdly good, allowing Trevenant to revenge kill (or sweep through) faster Pokemon such as Silvally-Ice, Eviolite Mr. Mime-G, Raichu, Linoone-G, Stonjourner, and so on after minimal or no chip damage. Wood Hammer and Poltergeist smash through much of the tier and leave Trevenant with few reliable switch-ins. In addition, Rock Slide allows Trevenant to 2HKO would be switch-ins such as Vullaby, Togetic, and Dartrix (latter two aren't even common currently) after Stealth Rock. Also, Shadow Claw over Wood Hammer means itemless Gourgeist-L and Shiinotic cannot reliably switch in. Because of Trevenant's breaking power and powerful priority under Grassy Terrain, it was considered to be voted on. However, everyone other than czim and I did not agree with voting on Trevenant and Swoobat only, which takes us to Grookey.

(Two games from ZUPL so far that showcase Trevenant)


Grassy Surge is what makes Grookey as good as it is, allowing it to support a wide of Pokemon from Swoobat to Trevenant to Klang. I did not agree on voting on Grookey (the setter) mainly because I felt that addressing Swoobat and Trevenant (the abusers) addressed Grassy Terrain teams. We felt that Trevenant was the main culprit on Grassy Terrain due to the reasons outlined in the previous paragraph. However, other council members felt that Gourgeist-L would simply replace Trevenant and that Grassy Terrain teams could continue to be problematic.

Personally speaking, I do not agree with this logic because to me voting on Grookey rather than only on Swoobat and Trevenant means that if there was no Swoobat or Trevenant, Grassy Terrain teams would still be broken due to other sweepers. I do not feel this is the case because Gourgeist-L is a significant downgrade to Trevenant because it has 15 less Attack and no Shadow Claw to play around itemless Gourgeist-L. While Gourgeist-L is bulkier and faster than Trevenant, the lower Attack means Gourgeist-L has worse rolls and is a noticeably worse revenge killer and breaker under Grassy Terrain than Trevenant (i.e against Silvally-Ice, Stonjourner, Shiinotic, Eviolite Mr. Mime-G, etc), which leads me to believe that Grassy Terrain teams would not be problematic if Gourgeist-L were to replace Trevenant. Side note, I also do not see any other setup sweeper like Grassy Seed Gothitelle or whatever being problematic, hence not wanting to vote on Grookey.

 

[Tuthur]

Hey ZU,

I want to explain my last votes and how I think ZU should handle the Grassy Terrain team issue. If you played on the ZU ladder or room tours or watched ZUPL games, you saw how Grassy Terrain teams restrict teambuilding and how powerful they are. They are mostly build arround Grookey+Swoobat+Trevenant, the former sets terrain and the later two are broken under terrain. Grassy Seed Swoobat rolls over bulky teams, is very hard to revenge kill, and can easily clean once its counters are weakened/removed (those depend on Swoobat’s 4th move). Whereas Choice Band Trevenant’s Grassy Glide destroys offense with its insanely powerful priority STAB move and thanks to its wide coverage Trevenant can target defensive Grass-type resistant Pokémon (see 5gen’s post).

However, Trevenant and Swoobat are underwhelming outside of Grassy Terrain. The former is outclassed by Gourgeist-L and Leafeon, whereas the second has a hard type setting up and is easily revenge killed without the Defense boost. In contrary to Grookey, that still provides Grassy Terrain support to other abusers like Leafeon, Gourgeist-L, Bellossom, and Gothitelle. If we ban Swoobat and Trevenant, that are overall better abusers, the playstyle will be for sure nerfed, but it doesn’t mean the Grassy Terrain issue will be solved. Leafeon and Gourgeist-L aren’t massive downgrades to Trevenant as Grassy Glide abusers and have several benefits over Trevenant. Likewise, Bellossom and Gothitelle, while being more easily handled as Swoobat, are extremely dangerous late game sweeper. Whereas if Grookey gets banned, the playstyle will completely disappear, because manual setting is awful, even with Prankster Cottonee.

So on the one hand, an unhealthy aspect of the metagame is nerfed and still potentially broken, while being allowed for at least one more ZUPL week. On the other hand, we once for all get rid of an unhealthy aspect of the metagame and can focus on other possible issues. Imo, the priority is to have a healthy and balanced tier during a major tournament like ZUPL. Moreover, SS nature with DLC and massive shifts mean that we’ll have tons of opportunities to retest Grookey and change our mind on what’s the broken aspect of Grassy Terrain teams.

Tldr: Ban Grookey, DNB Swoobat

 

[5gen]

Hey all, voting is over and here are the results for the quick ban slate:

Swoobat is banned with a 5-1 majority.

Grookey remains ZU with a 3-3 split.

Here is the voting slate with reasoning. Tagging The Immortal to implement, thank you.

 

[AllTerrainVen0moth]

Is anyone surprised? No, seriously, is ANYONE surprised the bat got the boot?

 

[missangelic]

The Great August Meta Recap

As the August meta of ZU comes to its conclusion before what may be quite the smattering of drops (and potentially rises), I think it would be good to pay homage to all the activity that's gone on in the ZU tier this month. Between ZUPL II, the beginning of a number of forum projects, and multiple council slates, much has happened, and a review is in order, so lets cut it down to size with a recapitation!

August 1: Drop It Like It's Hot (August Shifts)

Meme

So Many Faces

It's no secret that ZU was flooded with a number of new mons last shift. PU's old news, some old tools that rose, and a number of DLC mons that couldn't make the cut in PUsage all were introduced to the tier.
This torrent of new options drastically changed the ZU tier unlike anything prior, establishing a brand new power level AND utility level. Gourgeist didn't rule the meta as the only Ghost/Grass type, psychic spam could be even more dangerous, Beartic wasn't far and away the strongest physical attacker, Defogging wasn't just limited to Vullaby/Dartrix/Icevally anymore... need I go on?
These new additions weren't without controversy either. Stonjourner, Pikachu, Trevenant, Swoobat, Fraxure, and Musharna were all looked at by the council in some capacity, not to mention the general ZU playerbase calling into question the health of these new elements as well. Which then leads to...

Where Are They Now?

Spoiler (haha) alert: Musharna and Swoobat both ended up being banned by the council. Neither of these bans were particularly surprising given the general dislike of both broke Psychics in the meta, nor the circumstances in which they dropped. Mushy was banned back in USUM ZU, which while a different meta, had an undeniably larger amount of resources for checking and countering Mushy. And then there's Swoobat, the Crazy Ex-PUBL itself, which was able to capitalize on a tier with even lower power and speed levels to become a setup fiend. I'll cover these bans more in-depth later in this post, but I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.

While the official VR has not been updated to reflect the Post-Drop meta at time of writing, the viability list, performances of certain mons in ZUPL II, and council discussions in the ZU discord all provide insights into just how successful most of these drops were.

To little surprise, Emolga, Lopunny, and Whirlipede were all seen as rather niche, even in the more chaotic meta with lots of experimentation. Lopunny is mediocre as speed and item control and Whirlipede is a one-dimensional Spikes lead. I definitely overrated Emolga quite a bit in my initial thoughts on the drops, but as the month progressed, general opinion of it went from "oh it's kind of bad actually" to "it's pretty fine actually", which helped to assuage my bruised third eye.

Moving up a bit to the more middling but decent picks: Carkol, Dedenne, Dunsparce, Leafeon, Stoutland, Togetic, Trevenant, and Vibrava all found themselves with pretty solid standings.
Going by utility first, Carkol was obviously going to do at least pretty well, at least in terms of popularity: Rocks, Spikes, Spin, easy burns, and quality defensive typing are all hard to turn down. Togetic isn't the goat Defogger it once was, but it's still a fine cleric and a fine Defogger, but nothing much more than "fine". Vibrava is a decent Defog pivot and blanket check for balance and defensive teams, but isn't so good as an Electric resist considering that Pika runs a hearty Knock, Raichu usually carries neutral coverage against it, and Dedenne hits it with STAB Fairy moves. Dunsparce is a weird one, as I definitely underrated it in my initial August thoughts. The Tsuchinoko has finally dug itself a hole in the depths of ZU, functioning as a great hazard setter with reliable recovery and status spreading.

Dedenne is an interesting alternative to Raichu, but that's about when you're seen as mostly an alternative pick to one of the better mons in the tier, you're definitely not the cream of the crop, and its middling popularity reflects this. While Dedenne is definitely a good surprise and can put in work during some matchups, it's not always going to be super consistent compared to the other members of the rat infestation we have. Seaking is a pretty good Electric check when juxtaposed with Vibrava, but its stats still let it down, even with a number of buffs to its moveset. Stoutland is something I expected to be a smidgen higher, but my declaration of "neutered dog" was darkly accurate for the poor pup: Stout just doesn't really cut it right now. The dog just isn't great without Return/Frustration, and relying on Strength for STAB renders it both a mediocre CB wallbreaker and a bad Sand Rush sweeper.

Trevenant and Leafeon are set aside from the other three "eh it's fine" offensive picks above for the controversy they contributed to for this month: namely Grassy Terrain teams. Both Trev and Leaf began as decent picks on their own, but players eventually discovered that running them together, especially on teams with Grookey, Swoobat, and Gourgeist-L could make for devastating Grass spam teams. Now that Swoobat has been recently banned and we will likely be getting a few new drops, the two will likely languish in the B ranks before eventually having their niches slowly whittled away, but for now, they are ascendant picks in the tier, Trevenant especially.

Now for some of the best of the new drops!
Beheeyem, Bellossom, Fraxure, Grapploct, Pikachu, Raichu, Stonjourner, and Vespiquen were all rated highly near the beginning of August, and for the most part, all of them have made themselves the new standards of ZU.
Bellossom is probably the standout "worst" of the best drops, but being the worst of the best isn't necessarily a bad thing, let alone a mediocre thing. It still can't fit everything it wants in its moveset, rendering it difficult to work with, but Bello can still remain a dangerous thing for a player to have in the back.
Beheeyem and Fraxure are both incredible offensive nukes that have a great variety of options available to them, symbolizing the best of each of their offensive stats. Whether sweeping or breaking, each of them are fierce and can be difficult to play around during matches if you're not positioning properly. They're still just a touch unreliable due to generally bad offensive stats and mutable STABs, but they must be considered when building, even at the end of August.
Grapploct and Vespiquen stand as some of the best gluemons in the tier. Grapp has kicked Machoke out of its starring role as buff ZU zaddy, while Vespiquen offers hearty utility to offensive and defensive teams alike between its hazard control, recovery, and good defensive typing with boots. Both mons' typings can be liabilities at times, but they're still super good picks for any team comp.
Pikachu and Raichu are, to no one's surprise, some of the best offensive picks in the meta. Both are super punishing to play around, as either guessing their set (Pika) or item (Raichu) can be difficult, with wrong decisions almost always forcing a sack. I personally still find Pika unhealthy for the meta, as it forces multiple checks to be run for it. While its tissue paper bulk is definitely its greatest folly, Pika is so good at avoiding damage between FakeSpeed and an above average speed stat that it isn't always an issue. I don't see it keeping up with the meta if the power level rises again, but Pika was definitely one of my least favorite parts of the August meta and made me want to avoid playing (outside of general life stuff involving traveling and returning to Uni).
Stonjourner is the wonder of ZU at the moment, standing out as the best mon in the tier, even above the old guard of Gourgeist-L. Ston's nearly perfect coverage, great physical bulk, hazard setting, and even ability to sweep late-game make it pretty much mandatory on any team. Stonjourner dodged the ban hammer earlier in the month, and it has persisted as one of the strongest mons in ZU in the face of insane special attackers, Pikachu's reign of terror, and the Grassy Surge that the meta has recently seen.

August 4 - August 7: Parole Decision (The Ludicolo Review)

Meme

Rain of Terror

In the first week of August, the ZU council decided to consider taking a look at Ludicolo again despite its extremely recent ban midway through July. The reasoning for this vote was that the power level of ZU rose, and they wanted to potentially look at Ludi in a meta where more offensive pressure could make it less broken. Notably, the decision to liberate the tier banlist has also been in line with the tiering decisios of pretty much every lower tier after the Post-DLC drops. This ended up being more than just slightly controversial, both amongst council members and forum users. While I already covered Ludi initially in my initial August thoughts, recapping the situation and the results of the vote is probably in order.

I'll cover the pro-unban sentiments first, as they ended up being a minority, not the position I took, and not causing any tiering changes. The impetus for looking at Ludi again, even putting some of the more sus "banlist go bye bye because new drops" reasoning aside, is somewhat solid: there was a bit of defensive and offensive counterplay available to Ludi, both in July and after August shifts. OranBerryBlissey10 honestly had one of the best (if at least the only good) pro-unban post in my opinion. Shedinja, Munchlax, and Sliggoo were already available as Ludi checks in July, and OBB10 even pointed out that Cloud Nine Lickitung blanked Ludicolo as well. They also mentioned some more niche options such as Mantyke and Dewpider... but that's where the unban argument became weaker in my opinion. Tuthur1 mentions AV Trevenant and AV Grapploct as well, but both of those aren't always the most optimal additions to a team, and can be somewhat overwhelmed by switching in. It was repeated as well that offensive counterplay like Pikachu and First Impression Fraxure also dropped in August, which cannot be ignored. Czim brings up in their (now technically posthumous) unban reasoning on the council vote that Vespiquen is also a fine check to Ludi with its not bad offensive stats, good bulk, and workable defensive typing. Ho3nConfirm3d (hi hoen :3) also brings up in his reasoning that it's not as though it's clear Ludi is necessarily broken in this meta, and deserves at least a shot if the only way to measure its magnitude is via private games in PU between dedicated players.

The anti-unban side is the one I ended up taking and stuck with to the Ludicolo ban, and I still stand by pretty much everything I thought in my initial post. Ludicolo was, still is, and would probably continue to be an unhealthy element of the metagame. Defensive counterplay being limited mostly to suboptimal sets (Lickitung would rather run Oblivious over Cloud Nine) or huge momentum sinks near the bottom of the VR did not change between shifts. If anything, the defensive counterplay to Ludicolo actually became even worse considering that one of its hardest counters, Shedinja, is now unreliable thanks to the potent presence of Hippopotas.
Even if the offensive power level went up, Ludicolo still can dominate offense by just sweeping once it sets up Rain, and very few mons have the typing to stomach a hit from LO Rain boosted Ludi's near perfect coverage, let alone if they've taken chip. Kay's post (hi Kay :3) is probably the most straightforward and concise one on why Ludi needed to stay banned. Pabloaram pointed out that Ludi's rain beneficiaries only got better between Seaking's drop and a number of Electrics that can run 100% accurate Thunders. While I mentioned Hippopotas earlier, which theoretically could help with the Rain matchup while being splashable (haha), it still has to pivot around a number of strong water types that blast it hard.
I don't mean to dunk on czim specifically, because I think his Ludi unban reasoning was fine, but I recall in the discord mentioning that Ludi was banned early in USUM ZU, and I received the response of "that's a completely different meta". Which, I mean, duh. That's the point. If your argument for Ludi's unban is "the power level is higher now", take a look at a meta where there are so many more options available with much higher power level and far superior defensive choices than stuff like Sliggoo or Shedinja or Lickitung. Where there's better offensive choices and speed control and priority than FI Fraxure or Fakespeed Pika. If Ludi was still broken then, it's most likely going to still be broken now.
Even with that aside, so much of the pro-unban sentiment was just so weak, which is something 5gen mentioned in their no unban reasoning on the voting sheet. Adding another threat into the mix when Pika, Mushy, Swoobat, Beheeyem, Ston, and friends were already kind of suspect is not super prudent in terms of tiering, especially seeing as all Ludi really adds into the meta is "Rain sweeper go wheeeeeee!"

August 12 - August 28: What's Old Is ZU (Old Gens Updates)

Meme

And Now For Something Completely Different

Here's a quick little intermission before discussing another ban slate is probably in order (especially seeing as my Ludicolo diatribe went on for probably too long).
ZUPL II has been going on throughout August, and while I'll be covering it later on, its presence means that there's been some matches and interest in the Old Gens of ZU. In a weird sort of ouroboros paradox, these "old" metas are very new, being effectively retconned into existence given that BW PU wasn't even an official meta. At the same time, all of these metas are a year old or even older, and were in need of some upkeep during ZUPL. This effectively makes these revamps of old gens new metas that aged, "new". Still with me? Yeah? No? Me neither.

On August 12, SBPC (hi SBPC :3) announced that BW ZU was getting a VR revamp after a year of dormancy from its inception (which I actually "helped" a bit with! Know your herstory). ZUPL II means that there's a number of matches going on in a meta that has been underexplored, and I seriously recommend checking it out. This recommendation goes doubly considering that on August 28, the BW ZU council voted to ban Sleep Moves from ZU due to how punishing they were with Gen 5 mechanics. With a much needed change to the meta, a VR facelift, still ongoing ZUPL matches, and a lack of activity in the tier, I cannot stress enough that you should check out BW ZU. Pioneering a meta is pretty big, and the clout that comes with it? You know you want it.

BW ZU propaganda aside, DPP actually experienced its own VR update on August 13, courtesy of the hardworking Ho3nConfirm3d (hi again hoen :3). A number of DPP ZU matches have gone on in ZUPL II, and some discussion is necessary on the state of the meta. Arena Trap Diglett is something that deserves discourse, and again, getting to pioneer Old Gens is huge, so go into the ZU Discord or to the Old Gens forums and start talking about it!!!

August 12 - August 16: Titanomachy (August Drops Voting Slate)

Meme

They Might Be Giants

On August 12, the ZU council announced a quickban slate on Bellossom, Fraxure, Musharna, Pikachu, Stonjourner, and Swoobat (keep an eye on that one). ZUPL going on is definitely a motivating factor for fast tiering decisions, but with over a week of play with new drops behind, there was also opportunity to evaluate the effects of these drops. I'll give a quick summary of each, some interesting forum thoughts on the mons, ZU discord murmurings, and finally the voting decisions on each.

Bellossom

Meme

Alolan Vileplume got a spotlight put on it for its ability to Quiver Dance its way through teams, and a notable lack of Grass immunities in the tier that were present back in USUM. Bellossom is great at putting pressure on at Team Preview considering it has a decent number of tools in its dress to overcome a supposed check: Moonblast, Sludge Bomb, Aromatherapy, Safeguard, or Substitute. However, that versatility can be a liability for the Bellossom user, as you never have everything you want to stay healthy and break through checks during a match. T0T0DI!E and AstilCodex both point out splashable options including Vespiquen, Klang, Ivysaur, Togetic, and Vullaby prevent Bellossom from winning at preview and during battle. Taking a surprise Toxic when you don't have a cleric option or not having the right coverage to break through Evio walls that stay alive can spell the end for the little dancer. The council almost unanimously agreed with these sentiments, noting Bellossom's bad speed even while boosted, Bellossom's not great STAB and middling coverage options, and even counter setup with Fraxure, Swoobat, and Musharna would all put the player bringing Bellossom in a worse position. Ultimately, Bellossom was unanimously not banned.

Fraxure

Meme

Considering that some of these aren't even memes, should I just call them songs instead?
Considering that it's unlikely someone tabbed open a meme about Fraxure in a spoiler about bans in another spoiler recapping this, I don't think it matters that much lol.

Fraxure was already a fine setup sweeper last gen with DD or breaker with CB, but this gen it received some nice quality of life improvements between Scale Shot and First Impression respectively. Even running Evio First Impression on a setup set isn't altogether too bad. Though Fraxure does flex on Bellossom with much better coverage (Dragon + Fighting/Ground/Poison are all great options) in terms of setup, it suffers a similar fate of having low speed while setting up, and can make itself more vulnerable by using Scale Shot. The council's vote on the dragon turned out unanimous in favor of not banning it, but I don't think we'll be seeing the end of Frax. As Kay points out, it's still somewhat unexplored in the meta between all of its options, but I believe it to be a healthy strong presence.

Pikachu

Meme

Okay no lies but I genuinely do not like Pikachu and I feel somewhat alone in that sentiment. Most users believe that Pikachu is a healthy presence in the meta though, so I will not represent my personal feelings as fact LOL. Toto points out in their post that Pika is effectively a panacea to holes in a ZU team by offering RKer/Breaker/MixedAttacker all in one slot, and can customize its set for the user and team. Kay points out that Pika is a great way of preventing a lot of the setup spam that haunted much of the earlier ZU meta that was responded to by the advent of a lot of +1 priority. I'm mostly echoing council DNB arguments at this point, but Pika has bad bulk, no immunities to get it in safely, semi-splashable checks, and the ability to be built around are what hold Pika back from ruling the tier completely. I still take issue with the way Pika can so easily dismantle more defensive teams, requires a number of defensive checks, and how it forces progress in a match between Knock and Volt Switch along with needing to play around its coverage moves. Defensively playing around Pika is obnoxious, and offensively checking it isn't always fun considering there's no Pursuit to punish switching out or ways to outprioritize it. Regardless, Pikachu received a unanimous Do Not Ban vote from the council. I remain a hater though (now I know how Procrastinasian must feel about Ludicolo lol).

Stonjourner

Meme

This pic is literally so iconic like tbh me too kid.

Moving into spicier territory, Stonjourner received a 1-5 vote in terms of banning it. Considering Stonjourner is now seated high in the ZU viability ranks, it's no surprise why this might be. While there's a good pool of methods for defensively (Hippo, Vibrava, Palp, Choke, Grapp) or offensively (Mime, Oranguru, Raichu), Stonjourner runs into the frustration of a semi-unreliable STAB, and though it has great coverage that comes off a high base attack... it still isn't getting that juicy 1.5x boost on them. Locking yourself into a bad move as your opponent predicts can be unforgiving, seeing as Stonjourner can be taken advantage of. Its physical bulk and offensive prowess are not to be ignored, but Ston has just enough weaknesses that render it strong and controversial rather than completely overwhelming.

Swoobat

Meme

It was working hard at a PU job winning games but feeling like a flop. One day it was crying a lot and so it decided to drop. Hello Crazy Ex-PUBL! Though I keep repeating the same joke again and again, Swoobat keeps pulling the same nonsense over and over again of being broken in a lower tier with its setup options. As the meta progressed too, Swoobat only proved itself even more dangerous on Grassy Terrain teams (though, that's a future spoiler you'll have to click through teehee). The ability to just get to +4 or +2/+2 with the click of one button is not to be underestimated when combined with STAB Stored Power and great options. Substitute, Roost, Heat Wave, Psychic, Psyshock, and Air Slash can all be mixed and matched to surprise and overcome checks, while Kee Berry, Salac Berry, Grassy Seed, Heavy-Duty Boots, Focus Sash, Leftovers, and even Weakness Policy could all completely change how it operates in the course of a battle. Though some of its options are more niche than others, Swoobat can quickly get out of control if not properly offensively checked. Therein lies the rub though, as Swoobat isn't always the hardest to offensively overwhelm. Swoobat can get chipped by rocks if it isn't running HDB, but that only takes away from its offensive and defensive opportunities to set up. Said chip can be all something like FakeSpeed Pika, FI Fraxure, T-Orb Linoone-G, Gourg-L, or Scarf Ston need to obliterate it considering its paltry defenses. There's even viable defensive counterplay available in the tier between Vullaby, Zweilous, SpDef Klang, and Krokorok. Swoobat created a split vote at 3-3, rendering it ZU still, though this would not be the end of its batty rap verse.

Musharna

Meme

I know it's not Mushy but this plush makes me SCREAM. It's obviously from the American Pokemon Center. I can't help but love it.

Not to completely repeat myself, but Musharna was banned from ZU last gen. Who could have ever guessed it would get banned again? Not I! Except that I did. I mentioned it in the ZU discord. And in my initial post. HOWEVER I did commit a cardinal sin by putting a Barrier Musharna set on there even though Barrier is now an unmove. My gray sweatshirt, smudged makeup, crying apology video is still pending. Jokes aside, Musharna had a good WR the first week of ZUPL II with good usage to pair with it, and it definitely was influential in a good chunk of ladder players' experience with it. Mushy can run a ton of options like Beheeyem, is super bulky like Duosion, and has great coverage like Oranguru, basically making it far and away one of the best Psychics. Mons that can pick and choose their checks tend not to last long in lower tiers, and Mushy was unanimously banned by the council. One thing that does stand out to me though in some of the ban reasonings is that it could run Grassy Seed... more on that... later! :)

August 17 - August 23: VRagnarok (VR Update and Forum Happenings)

Meme

The Debate Must Go On! The Debate Must Never End!

So instead of waxing poetic about more bans, I'll use this opportunity as another intermission to promo/recap some of the goings on of the ZU subforum! Why? So that I don't have to click through the ghetto of the Other Metagames tab when I want to get to the forum!

First in line is the titular VR obliteration and rebirth as a Buzzfeed-friendly list that lacks subranks. The lock took place on August 1, while the list was published by the council in an imitation of the RU viability list on August 12. 5 days later on August 17, the council reopened the viability ranking thread for nominations, including subranks. While most posters commented on the viabilities of the new additions to ZU, it should be noted that Persian received some discussion as needing a drop due to competition from Pika and Goone, while Lunatone deserved a rise for its ability to check the Psychics laden in the meta. Why I mention the VR is actually more due to the fact that there is now a VR discussion channel that the council has on Discord! While I've plugged the ZU discord, like, a bajillion times in this post, I actually recommend joining. I'm greatly appreciative of the transparency the ZU council offers with this new channel, and it gives much more clarity for the VR as well. At time of writing, the completed Post-DLC Drops rankings have not been published, but being able to see the pastebin and progress of them on Discord has been a huge help for understanding the meta and writing this post.

Next, I'd like to give a special shoutout to the second forum Project of the gen: the ZU Victim of the Week! VotW is a great way to get better at teambuilding in ZU (something I definitely need) while also showing off some interesting dark horse options as checks for the colossi of the meta. Cheezy is also pretty cool, so I recommend checking the project out!

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the still ongoing first Project in the ZU forum, Personal Viability Rankings, run by Union Caboche. Personal VRs are interesting because they provide great snapshots of the meta at certain moments in time, especially when the general VR is on lock, in need of an update, or doesn't capture individual opinions. An important feature I think is super valuable is actually using PVRs to track meta trends, as you can see with each post that Grookey moves up from being an unmon to suddenly entering higher and higher ranks. Check it out and contribute if you have a moment!

Finally, there's the (currently dead) ZUPL II commencement thread. I've made a lot of plugs in this post but this one might actually allow me to file for a charity tax break: the memes on there are straight up bad. Please make funny ones and send them there. However, one beautiful thing is Ho3n's ongoing enemies to lovers fic, which I demand an update to. Though, it's sort of a stones in glass homes situation, as I've been slacking on my duties as unpaid intern for the Fiery Flamencos and Durza keeps me locked in his basement because of that.

August 25 - August 30: Your Ass Is Grass And I'm Gonna Mow It (QB Slate 2)

Meme

Someone Call A Landscaper

After another week of ZUPL and more meta evolution, the ZU council decided to take action on the... surge... in Grassy Terrain teams. It's a bit funny actually, getting to see ZU finally getting a taste of that "high" lower tier flavor with needing to choose the broken elements amongst a weather/terrain setter and the abusers of said weather/terrain. Even funnier is the face of the setter itself being Grookey, a first stage starter. Instead of just doing the "The lower tier changes! Isn't that crazy? I am very intelligent" one-liner one-brain-cell forum take though, I'll actually cover what the council looked at.

Grookey

Meme

I love monky memes

What better to start with than the actual setter of Grassy Terrain teams? Vulpix was covered earlier in the generation before PU sniped with the Drought + Heat Rock ban, but unlike Vulpix, Grookey isn't entirely useless outside of the role of setting. U-Turn, Knock Off, and Grassy Glide all give Grookey ways of serving its team instead of just pure support. A pivoting move is vital to the longevity and abuse potential of Grassy Terrain teams, allowing them to be more than just a setter and one or two abusers. Grookey itself is almost certainly not broken, as it has literally first stage starter stats that can't be overcome no matter how stupid Grassy Glide is. Banning Grassy Surge isn't necessarily a good fix either, as Aaronboyer mentions in their decision that banning an ability requires more of a policy review. Most of the pro-ban sentiment on Grookey comes from the fact that ZUPL is currently ongoing and that Grookey is the root (haha) of the issue. While it's been pointed out in the room and on the forum that players might switch to something like Cottonee instead as a setter, doing so is extremely suboptimal and sacrifices a ton of the efficacy of the archetype. It's also undeniable that Grookey had a very high WR over the first two weeks of ZUPL II, netting 75%, even compared to the actually banned Musharna (60%). Ultimately though, Grookey remained ZU by a narrow and controversial margin at 3-3 for a ban. Most of the no ban sentiment is summed up very well by 5gen, who points out that Grassy Terrain teams rely heavily on Swoobat rather than Grookey for blowing past checks, and that some of the other abusers like Trevenant are extremely dependent on the bat to really put on pressure.

Swoobat

Meme

The fact that there aren't more BAT Mitzvah puns out there makes me so sad.

SPEAKING OF the bat in particular... Crazy-Ex PUBL was renewed for a second season with the council vote, but now it finally reaches its cancellation. Swoobat ended up banned 5-1, and I have already spilled many digital inkwells over the thing, so I won't repeat myself for too long.
No Ban Reasoning: Inconsistent, frail, has offensive and defensive counterplay
Ban Reasoning: Overwhelming, versatile, oppressive in the builder
Tuthur1 actually provides some of the most sound reasoning (and somewhat of the sole reasoning) for why Grookey should have been banned over Swoobat. Grookey is what enables GT teams most directly, while Swoobat can be inconsistent without the +2 Grassy Seed boost. Ultimately though, Swoobat was most deserving of the ban, as it was seen as unhealthy even before integrating itself into the dark heart of Grassy Terrain teams.

The Others

Meme

I won't neglect the fact that while Grookey and Swoobat did receive ban votes, that the council did move to select them amongst some other Grassy Terrain abusers, namely Trevenant. It also needs be remarked that Gourgeist-L, Leafeon, Bellossom, and Gothitelle can all take advantage of Grassy Terrain, often to varying degrees of success. Trevenant stands out from the others due to having the best Attack stat alongside Grassy Glide that hits akin to a freight train when augmented by a Choice Band, or even Life Orb (which has its recoil mitigated by the terrain). However, Trevenant obviously isn't the main problem here either, as it depends on Swoobat as a special attacker to really clean up the holes it creates, and Trev itself can still be checked by Vullaby, Vespiquen, and Zweilous. The same sentiment extends to the other less effective Grassy Terrain sweepers. While none of them made it to the actual ban slate, I thought it would be good to bring up.

Present: Incoming September Shifts

Meme

Fuuuuuuutuuuuuuure

So as usual, I ended up taking like a really long time to write this gigapost. If you've managed to get through what's kind of just obvious to anyone who is already involved in the ZU meta, thank u. With September shifts taking place in likely just a few hours, I might as well make some predictions and notes for the progression of the meta.

Grassy Terrain teams, despite having been neutered with the removal of Swoobat, might not be entirely dead. There is still much room for experimentation on GT teams in the archetype, as czim notes in his slate line on Grookey, and Ho3n points out in his that there is still room for defensive exploration as well. I'm not entirely sure how successful they'll be without the bat, but I'm not entirely convinced that this problem has been solved.

ZUPL II is heading into Week 4, and I mostly did not cover it in-depth here for two reasons. The first is mostly that I've been busy with life stuff going on, so I haven't had a lot of time to tune into matches, keep a close eye on meta trends, and act as Kay's personal cheerleader. I'd rather not give a poor summary of something I have a less than stellar understanding of (a shocker given how much I speak), so I'll just urge people to watch matches and pay attention to ZUPL II as it goes on. Second is simply that ZUPL is only partially over, and if I do recap it, I'd rather do so at the end.

Finally, in an effort to stimulate the megaminds of lower tier shift predictors, I've devised a surprisingly scientific process for knowing what the September shifts will bring. By weighting meta trends in PU through viability, usage stats, and PUPL stats, I can say with almost complete certainty what we will be getting in the next few hours. I've enclosed most of my thoughts in the following spoiler, as in typical missangelic fashion, there's way too many.

September Drop Predictions

Nothing will drop and you will all look like clowns.

Thank you for reading!

 

[5gen]

Tier shifts happened.

Gained: Lost:

Shifts this time around are way less drastic. Losing Leafeon shouldn't have that big an impact considering it was not meta defining or anything, but nonetheless ZU loses one of its few reliable Heal Bell users and nice blanket check to physical attackers. Conversely, I think Dugtrio and Hattrem are very interesting additions to the meta. Dugtrio is an incredibly fast and moderately strong Ground-type that in theory can run a variety of sets, from lead SR to Sub Toxic to LO or Choice Band. Hattrem should be major as Magic Bounce is an amazing ability and Hattrem will most definitely affect the viability of ZU's entry hazard setters. Looking forward to this new meta.

 

[czim]

Looking on the bright side, this is probably going to be a very stable month considering we didnt get a shakeup. But how do those 3 changes (4 if we count Swoobat being gone) affect the metagame? Well, it's First Impression time

- Let's start with the elephant in the hat. This is probably the most impactful change and for good reason, our hazard game is completely changed. Magic Bouncers like Natu and Hatenna can only sit in front of our passive hazard game, but Hattrem's bulk, movepool and special attack changes this completely. Hattrem can now threaten our rockers out and support defensive and offensive teams alike. So who wins and loses with this?
- These 4 are already good and all have ways of abusing Hat and can pressure it enough to force it out and get hazards up.
- Mostly passive setters that dislike Hattrem and all but Carkol can get targeted by a super effective move.
- These 2 are interesting in that they actually ignore Magic Bounce so they might find niches in their respective archetypes.
- Webs might be interesting to prey on teams using Hattrem to block hazards, since Hattrem can't really 1v1 them.

- Duggy is cool and i'm glad it dropped. All in all i dont see this impacting the metagame much, but the speed tier, coverage and ability to run multiple sets might make this a solid B+/A- addition to the tier that won't be easy to answer. Another electric answer is cool though and honestly i was hyped for it as a suicide lead but Hattrem dropping kinda killed the hype since Dugtrio won't be as reliable as i thought it would be.

- Leafeon was overall a pretty underrated mon that had a ton of viable sets and moves and it leaving was mostly us losing another option than a meta defining Pokémon, I can't really see the impact this will have aside from some bulky offensive builds relying more on Ivysaur or Gourgeist as a bulky offensive grass.

- Grassy terrain takes a huge blow and with that the need for 3 grass-resists also goes away. Both Trevenant and Grookey lower in viability and stuff like setup spam becomes good again since stuff liek Wartortle, Eiscue, Raichu can more safely setup. Vullaby also becomes less needed and now the less used Defoggers like Togetic, Dartrix and Vibrava might come back and see more usage. Overall, it seems like a very healthy change for metagame diversity despite me not thinking Swoobat was completely busted.

Well, this one was short, looking forward to another month of SS ZU

 

[missangelic]

Since there's currently not a thread for some underused sets, I thought I'd take a swing at some that aren't typically seen on the Smogdex! While I can't necessarily say most of these sets are amazing, or maybe even viable, I hope some of their creativity can keep the meta fresh while we wait to be annihlated in a month!

HUGE SET DUMP

ACCOPANYING SEASONALLY INAPPROPRIATE SONG

Stonjourner

Song

Scarf and Stealth Rock are already mentioned in Ston's in-progress analysis, and a set for CB already exists as a set for PU, so I thought I'd take a shot at excavating some less conventional Ston sets.

World Heritage Site (Sash Lead)

Stonjourner @ Focus Sash
Ability: Power Spot
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge / Rock Tomb / Rock Blast
- Earthquake / Bulldoze
- Self-Destruct
While Sash Ston does see some ladder usage, I thought I'd inject some neglected options. Rock Tomb and Bulldoze help Ston set rocks, seeing as you can take a hit and then lower the opponent's speed to set them up against a faster threat or get a KO. Rock Tomb has STAB and can hit any target, but can miss and takes away from other STAB options. Bulldoze gives up the chance to lower the speed of a non-grounded foe, but does have 100% accuracy. It's up to you! Rock Blast is slashed for opposing Sashes and Eiscue.

Rolling Stones (Rock Polish Sweeper)

Stonjourner @ Life Orb
Ability: Power Spot
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Polish
- Stone Edge
- Heat Crash
- Earthquake / Superpower
Ston is good at getting chances to switch in against weaker threats that can't break through its physical bulk. However, its middling speed makes it often RK'd. Well, no more! Rock Polish Ston acts a great endgame sweeper that can wield its potent attack and coverage to clean up. While the set is extremely similar to the generic rocks setter, this one plays differently. While you could consider running Ada for more power, having the extra speed in case you can't set up provides consistency.

Fault Line (Weakness Policy)

Stonjourner @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Power Spot
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Endure
- Stone Edge
- Heat Crash
- Earthquake / Superpower
While everyone and their mother kind of gets Endure now, I thought STon might be a heat user of Endure + WP. ZU is flush with many Grass types right now, not to mention the popularity of both Klang and Grapp can both pop WP on Ston. Running this set can be risky, as Ston can't take a special move and still has midrange speed on top of that, but it's got massive BDE.

Not So Rock Hard (Stallbreaker)

Stonjourner @ Leftovers
Ability: Power Spot
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Iron Defense
- Rock Slide / Rock Blast
- Body Press
Ston has great Atk and Def stats, but something that I see neglected is that Ston can set up 101 HP Substitutes. This makes Ston an interesting way of dealing with stallmons that rely on Seismic Toss and/or status to deal with attackers. Many stall teams are very dependent on cores composed of Pyuk, Clops, and Lickitung, which this set can break through soundly. I also just wanted an excuse to have some sort of Iron Defense set paired with Body Press. Rock Slide and Rock Blast have more PP against Pressure Dusclops and Spite Pyuk.

Gourgeist-Large

Song

Gourg currently does not have a single set available on the Smogdex or in C&C at the moment, so I'm taking more than a few shots in the dark with this. I'm aware CB, Itemless PhysDef, and WP + Flame Charge are currently big at the moment, so I'll be putting out some different options (hopefully). I've also tried to avoid stealing sets from the Gourgs of other tiers wholesale, so you won't be seeing the AoA LO or Scarf sets either.

Toil and Trouble (NPt)

Gourgeist-Large @ Colbur Berry / No Item
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Giga Drain
- Moonblast
- Fire Blast / Shadow Ball
While everyone is aware of the WP setup Gourg, which limits its effectiveness, no one expects NP Gourg! Special setup Gourg also has the advantage of breaking Vull with Moonblast. Gourg definitely needs more than one NP boost to get setup, but its bulk and access to Giga Drain make this feasible. Colbur Berry is helpful for Knock, but Itemless allows Gourg to actually set up in the face of Trev and other Polter ghosts. Technically this set is listed in PU for Gourg already, but Moonblast is here for Vull being popular. Fire Blast is better than Shadow Ball for hitting Klang, but SBall is useful for hitting the Psychics and Ghosts of the tier.

Hex Girls (Status + Hex)

Gourgeist-Large @ Leftovers
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp / Toxic
- Hex
- Synthesis
- Giga Drain
Wisp/Tox and Hex allow Gourg to take advantage of spreading status against opposing teams, and this fits better on defensive builds. Gourg's physical bulk is naturally good enough to take hits and neuter physical attackers with Wisp while staying healthy with Synth. The dearth of fire types in ZU help this set spread burns, but Tox is a pretty good secondary if your team already has Wisp or you want more residual. EVs may not be super optimal, so adjust them as you see fit.

Trick or Sweep (Trick Room)

Gourgeist-Large @ Life Orb
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Brave Nature
- Trick Room
- Poltergeist
- Power Whip
- Explosion / Shadow Sneak
Gourg is a pretty good TR setter and abuser with its relatively low speed, nice bulk, and great neutral STAB. Explosion is great for catching defensive switch-ins and maximizing TR turns, while Sneak means Gourg can check opposing priority and get the jump on faster mons outside of Room.

Audrey Two (SubSeed)

Gourgeist-Large @ No Item / Leftovers
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Substitute
- Leech Seed
- Synthesis
- Phantom Force / Poltergeist
Despite having no fire moves, this jack-o-lantern set is still heat. Gourg can run a nasty SubSeed set that takes advantage of its very nice physical bulk. No Item is preferable to Lefties to blank Polter. This is also why Phantom Force is run over Polter generally: you get more Leech turns and hit itemless Ghosts. There's a bit of 4MSS, but proper positioning can allow Gourg to survive and thrive.

Klang

Song

Klang (and its evolution) are somewhat notorious for having shallow movepools outside of just Shift Gear setup. There's been some experimentation this generation with Toxic+Protect Klinklang in PU and Restalk Klang in ZU, but when you have pretty much Steel STAB and Electric/Normal coverage, it's tough to innovate, but machines can always be refined!

Endless Momentum (Trick Room Setter)

Klang @ Eviolite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick Room
- Volt Switch
- Steel Beam
- Flash Cannon
Low Speed, a convenient Mono-Steel typing, and access to both a pivoting move and a self-damaging move make Klang a nice TR supporter. Klang can control the momentum of a match setting TR and then Volting out for its teammates. With its Evio bulk, Klang can be a pretty reliable switch to come in and reset TR. Steel Beam is to let Klang KO itself against Ground types that might try to stop its pivoting while chunking opponents.

Wrench in the Machinery (Status Support)

Klang @ Eviolite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Gear Grind
- Volt Switch
- Toxic
- Thunder Wave
On Klang's standard Restalk set, Tox or Volt are usually preferred for wearing down opponents or getting an easy switch out. However, if Tox support is already on the team, TWave can offer different support against offense. This set gives up its reliable recovery in favor of spreading as much status as possible and supporting rather than just taking hits and Resting off the damage. It's also pretty good at punishing a rather recent addition, Grapp, for being eager to switch in on Klang by leaving it with a nasty status instead of forfeiting momentum.

Panopticon (Choice Specs)

Klang @ Choice Specs
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Steel Beam
- Flash Cannon
- Discharge / Charge Beam
- Volt Switch
What you see on the box is what you get. Klang's SpA is not much worse than its physical attack, and it has Steel Beam to compensate for its middling 70 SpA. One thing to hopefully draw your attention is Charge Beam slashed with Discharge to give it a bit of flavor compared to the NFE set this is yanked from. CBeam can be a dangerous way for Klang to grow more powerful against an opponent that sends out a generic check, allowing it to accrue boosts with its decent bulk and typing.

Tetanus (SubToxic)

Klang @ Eviolite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Gear Grind
- Iron Defense
While Klang doesn't get recovery with this set, I wanted to try out something that could take advantage of Iron Defense in tandem with Klang's good typing. Body Press isn't an option (rip), but running Sub, Tox, and Gear Grind means that Klang isn't easily broken, especially by physical wallbreakers. While you don't have the recovery of the Restalk set, Iron Defense and max SpD mean that Klang takes little on both sides of the spectrum while wearing down opponents.

Grapploct

Song

Grapp is a bit difficult to tech given that it has a shallow movepool for a Fighting type, and it's been experimented with a lot this gen. However, here at Misslabs, we don't give up on finding a new set, no matter how bad it is :D
As a note, though Grapp currently only has a single PU set (BU), I'm aware that AV and CB have been played around with, so I'll refrain from trying to "invent" them.

Fight Night (Rest + Sleep Talk)

Grapploct @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Circle Throw
- Brutal Swing
While Grapp can run a pretty good Sub + Drain Punch set for accumulating HP, this one keeps the opponent off balance with Technician boosted Circle Throw phazing. Hazard support makes this set even better, so pair it with something like Vespi or Bronzor to get that juicy chip.

Pearl Diver (Stallbreaker)

Grapploct @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Octolock
- Drain Punch
- Dive
- Substitute / Protect / Brutal Swing
I'd actually like to credit OranBerryBlissey10 for this set! I made an adjustment to itL Substitute is over Protect so that Grapploct can deal with something that might try and status it, while still retaining the free turns for Octolock + Lefties. Dive is the highlight forcing extra stat drops off Octolock while granting fine neutral coverage. Dig is an alt if you want to miss out on hitting Flying types/Levitate users in order to hit Poisons harder I guess. Brutal Swing is present as better coverage against Gourg, Vespi, and Trev.

Mr. Mime-Galar

Song

Gime is pretty much the ultimate spinner of ZU at the current moment, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be allowed to try out some other roles! While Scarf is pretty much the go-to if you're not running Spin, the tap dancer definitely has some other moves to break out!

Circus Spectacle (Choice Specs)

Mr. Mime-Galar @ Choice Specs
Ability: Screen Cleaner
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam / Freeze-Dry
- Psychic / Psyshock / Future Sight
- Focus Blast
- Trick / Healing Wish
Specs Gime operates similarly to its Scarf counterpart, but exchanges Scarf's utility and speed control for immediate breaking. This set also is more prediction-reliant than NP Spin, but with proper reads can deal more damage. SpD Klang is cleanly 2HKO'd by Specs Focus Blast. Ice Beam and Psychic are slashed with their weaker variants for easier prediction and breaking through SpDef walls respectively. However, you should aim to maximize damage output if possible. Trick is over HWish, as few switch-ins to Gime in ZU (Pyuk, Clops, Bronz, Klang, Munch) appreciate Specs.
Future Edit: I'd like to actually slash Future Sight as an option here too. It's a pretty good way to deal a ton of damage, and Gime doesn't really get punished for switching out thanks to no Pursuit!

Double Time (Stored Power)

Mr. Mime-Galar @ Eviolite
Ability: Vital Spirit
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Serious Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind / Nasty Plot
- Iron Defense
- Stored Power
- Ice Beam / Dazzling Gleam
There's a depth to Gime's movepool, and with such depth comes the opportunity to exploit Stored Power. Some opponents may expect that they can take advantage of Mime-G's paltry Defense stat, and they might be surprised to find the tap dancer in front of them at +2 Def. This is generally better done by something like Duosion or Goth, but it's still of interest that Gime gets three different boosting moves, STAB Stored Power, and base 90 SpA. DGleam might seem like a nice option to hit Dark types harder, but most Dark types in the tier take a ton from or are weak to Ice Beam, and Ice STAB is generally a nicer option for hitting other Psychics.

Pie in the Face (Anti-Lead)

Mr. Mime-Galar @ Focus Sash
Ability: Vital Spirit
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hypnosis / Thunder Wave
- Rapid Spin
- Taunt / Encore / Magic Coat
- Ice Beam / Icy Wind
This one's... to be honest a bit of a mish mash of options, but Gime has a huge utility pool that can snuff hazard setters. Taunt stops hazards from going up, Spin gets rid of ones that do go up, Encore kills setup, and Magic Coat can deflect hazards. Hypnosis and T-Wave can clip the wings of opposing leads while spreading status. Ice Beam is a necessary STAB for damage, but Icy Wind provides some extra team support. Vital Spirit is over Screen Cleaner, as you won't be switching in to remove screens, and you get sleep lead immunity.

Seltzer Water (SubToxic)

Mr. Mime-Galar @ Leftovers / Eviolite
Ability: Screen Cleaner
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast
Unlike many other Galarian mons, Mime-G is grandfathered into access to Tox, and its Speed permits it to run a Subtoxic set. Focus Blast hits Steels that might try to switch in on Toxic. Lefties are generally more useful than the bulk of Eviollite due to allowing Mime-G to make more Subs in the long run against more defensive teams.

Raichu

Song

Raichu is one of those kind of sad Pokemon that lives in the shadow of its younger self (think: Clefairy in VGC to Clefable, Chansey in gens 5-7, Snom in terms of cuteness), but what it holds over Pikachu is flexibility. Specs, Scarf, and NP are pretty household sets for Raichu, but as always, there's room for evolution.

Swiss Cheese (Utility)

Raichu @ Leftovers / Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Knock Off
- Volt Switch
- Nuzzle
- Thunderbolt / Surf
Rai has the same pool of utility moves as Pika, but room to use some of them instead of crumpling to one attack. That's not to say Rai's bulk is much better, but being able to stomach an attack, spread paralysis, pivot, and have item control all at once can be a great way to support the team. Boots are a mandatory slash to let Rai come in and out unhindered by hazards. TBolt is reliable STAB that doesn't always force a switch, while Surf hits Grounds that might try to stop its Volt (especially helpful considering that every Ground save Whiscash in the tier runs Eviolite, and netting a Knock on them usually means Surf will do more).

Cain's Throwback (SubPunch)

Raichu @ Leftovers
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Volt Tackle
- Knock Off / Yawn
Rai forces switches by the opponent into some sort of special wall that can take its attacks: this set aims to capitalize with the brutal surprise factor of SubPunch. The unfortunate reality is that once the surprise is gone, it can be difficult to pull off later into the game. Regardless, this set can pick up a few KOs just based off its strength (people neglect Rai's Atk is identical to its SpAtk at base 90). When combined with Knock and Volt Tackle as well, Raichu can make for a surprisingly powerful breaker, emphasis on surprising. Yawn is a disgusting option to force those switches or make Focus Punch a certainty.

Plague Rat (SubToxic)

Raichu @ Leftovers / Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Thunderbolt
- Surf / Grass Knot
This set is kind of a best of both worlds of the two above, combining the security of Sub with utility to wear down typical switch-ins. None of Vibrava, Palp, Shii, or Gourg appreciate Toxic when they're expecting to take a Volt or stop a NP sweep. Boots slash is boots slash, and Grass Knot is present for Palp and Whis.

I Gotchu (Wish Support)

Raichu @ Leftovers / Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Wish
- Volt Switch
- Discharge / Surf / Grass Knot
ZU is mostly devoid of Wish support mons, so here comes Raichu to not really change that, but try anyway! Wish with a pivot move isn't always the worst thing, and Rai's only real competition for it is Lickitung (no pivot move, Lefties recovery, or Boots option) and the now unranked Jiggly (rip). Discharge is the main STAB for lucky paras, but Surf and Grass Knot are alts to hit Volt blockers.

Trevenant

Song

Trev has been blessed by SS, getting everything from a good Ghost move to Grassy Glide to really take advantage of a team archetype. However, I do think we can re-defile this cursed tree with some cursed sets that harken back to its days as a ladder favorite in XY (was that really two gens ago? I feel old)

The Evil Dead (SubSeed)

Trevenant @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Substitute
- Leech Seed
- Phantom Force
- Horn Leech / Toxic
This set is disgusting and I feel filthy for reviving it from its deserved death. However, SubSeed Trev actually has a bit of shadow viability considering that its prime switch-in, Vull, really does not like taking Leech, nor suffering the indignity of Trev not dying from Foul Play. PForce is the Ghost move of choice instead of Polter to milk turns of Harvest and Leech recovery. PF is also notable for hitting Itemless Gourg and Knocked mons. Horn Leech is for extra recovery, but Tox ist not a bad alt for extra residual.

Evergreen (Restalk)

Trevenant @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Power-Up Punch
- Horn Leech / Poltergeist
Here's a fun throwback set that doesn't rely on berries! Trev is blessed with Nat Cure, making Rest a full heal with no drawback on switching. With that, I thought it might be fun to try out a Restalk set that accumulates boosts while staying healthy. The EVs are mostly to maximize bulk and attack, but they could almost certainly be modified as you see fit. Horn Leech is the main STAB and pairs nicely with PuP, but Polter is a secondary option that emphasizes the amazing coverage of Ghost/Fighting at the cost of being blanked by itemless Ghosts.

One With Nature (Calm Mind)

Trevenant @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Shadow Ball
- Giga Drain
- Focus Blast
While most opponents might expect a Band or physical set for Trev (seeing as its Atk is wholly better than its SpA), Ghost/Grass STAB pairs very nicely with CM to accumulate a boost on a physically defensive switch-in. Trev's coverage isn't bad either, as FBlast hits anything that Grass/Ghost won't. This set is more on the heat side, but if you've ever wanted to try out a special Trev, now's probably your chance.

Chainsaw (Hone Claws)

Trevenant @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Hone Claws
- Horn Leech / Wood Hammer
- Poltergeist
- Rock Slide / Sucker Punch
Hone Claws Trev is a fun way to boost your Atk like with PuP, but without worrying about Itemless Ghosts. Hone Claws has the nice secondary benefit of boosting Rock Slide's accuracy so that you can punish Vull for getting too low. Horn Leech is present so that you aren't hemorrhaging HP between LO and Wood Hammer recoil, but the extra damage is quite nice. Sucker is another option for prio if you have some other way with dealing with Vull and Zwei.

Vespiquen

Song

Usually the point of running Vespi this gen is to use those Chanel boots and run a Bug/Flying type viably with hazards and/or Defog. However, a queen should not always be reduced simply to utility, so lets give her the opportunity to truly reign.

Warrior Queen (Hone Claws)

Vespiquen (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Attack Order
- Dual Wingbeat / Acrobatics
- Hone Claws
- Roost
Though Vespi is a bit lacking in terms of coverage, 80 Atk is not bad. Vespi has both the bulk and recovery to get off more than one boost so long as its checks are removed as well. Attack Order is a great high power Bug STAB that can get crits more easily, and Dual Wingbeat has a diminished chance to miss with the Hone Claws accuracy boost. Acro is slashed seeing as it has a much higher BP than DW, and it's not unrealistic that Vespi will probably be target number one for a Knock.

Benevolent Ruler (Cleric)

Vespiquen (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Aromatherapy
- Roost
- U-turn
- Air Slash / Acrobatics
Unlike the other clerics of the tier with Heal Bell/Aroma such as Hat, Toge, and Lickitung, Boots Vespi is not weak to hazards, has reliable recovery, and even comes with a STAB pivoting move. Air Slash is present on the set to give Vespi a STAB that doesn't just switch it out, but it can be replaced by Acro as you see fit. Considering that Vespi isn't running any kind of hazard control with this set, you'll usually need to support it with both removal and a Knock absorber, but defensive teams should already have both of those.

Long Live the Queen (PP Stall)

Vespiquen (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Roost
- Air Slash
- Toxic / Defend Order
With Pressure, Roost, Sub, and Tox, Vespi can force many attackers which can't hit it super effectively to waste their moves. Air Slash is standard STAB, but the last slot is a bit more customizable. Tox takes advantage of switches and racks up residual, but Defend Order can make the bee unbreakable and waste more PP. This is a bit of a gimmicky set, but Vespi isn't necessarily the most flexible mon to work with, so, sue me I guess?

Beheeyem

Song

The UFO Pokemon already has quite the assortment of conquered sets within its system: bulky pivot, Specs, and OTR all make Beh a fierce threat on the field. However, like with the vastness of space, Beh's deep dark moveset holds many possibilities.

Lightspeed (Agility)

Beheeyem @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Agility
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Recover / Shadow Ball
Rather than relying on a limited number of TR turns, Agility Beh can maintain its speed so long as it's on the field. Modest Beh +2 hits 358, which outspeeds the entire unboosted meta save Jolly Persian. Recover mitigates hits Beh may take while setting up and LO recoil, though SBall is good for bulky Psychics and Ghosts that stick around.

Galactic Empire (Stored Power)

Beheeyem @ Colbur Berry / Lum Berry / Leftovers / No Item / Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Cosmic Power
- Stored Power
- Recover
- Thunderbolt
Goth isn't the only one who can pull off a Cosmic Power + Stored Power set! While Beh isn't as bulky as Goth, it does have reliable recovery, giving Beh room for coverage against Dark types that halt Goth. Many different items are slashed for whatever you need: Knock, status, not enough recovery, Polter, or hazards, there's an item (or no item) for you.

Alien Technology (Bulky CM)

Beheeyem @ Leftovers / Kee Berry
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Stored Power / Psychic
- Thunderbolt / Recycle
This set was mostly inspired by the CM Gapidash set in PU now, right down to the Kee Berry for that extra Stored Power and defense boost. When combined with Analytic as well, Beh hits disgustingly hard while having decent enough bulk to really get going. If you want to get greedy on boosts, try Recycle.

Distress Signal (Status Support)

Beheeyem @ Colbur Berry / No Item
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Recover
- Teleport
- Future Sight
- Thunder Wave
Rather than aiming to deal damage with Analytic, support Beh pivots around with TeleSight while spreading paras. Fighting types like Grapp and Choke really appreciate all the switch opportunities that Beh can open up for them, as well as the slowing of their targets. Since Analytic does not boost Future Sight, Synchronize is on the set to punish status.

Dusclops

Song

Clops has the privilege of a movepool thicker than a bowl of oatmeal thanks to all the move tutors, move additions, and TMs/TRs across years of evolution. It even has an evolution, and though Clops is now overshadowed by Dusknoir, it does not mean that this poltergeist doesn't have a few features of its own to run wild with.

Rest in Peace (CM)

Dusclops @ Eviolite
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Will-O-Wisp / Shadow Ball
- Ice Beam
CM Clops is a bit of an oldie, but using my amateur medium skills, we can channel it back! Bulky boosting isn't new in ZU with Goth and Duosion, but Clops is far bulkier than those two, has a more convenient defensive typing, and can run Ice coverage with STAB to deal with Vull. Wisp is the primary for physical wallbreakers trying to take advantage of Clops' Defense once it's had Evio Knocked, but SBall provides much more power.

Haunted House (TR Lead)

Dusclops @ Eviolite / Mental Herb
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Trick Room
- Memento
- Seismic Toss
- Curse / Destiny Bond / Will-o-Wisp
ZU isn't starved for TR setters, but Clops distinguishes itself with Memento to maximize turns for an ally. Clops' bulk means that running Mental Herb isn't the worst option for Taunt leads such as Goone or Persian. Curse is a self-KO option that is distinct from Memento by punishing setup like Goth for attempting to take advantage of the stat drops with Competitive. D-Bond is an alt to remove an opponent, and Wisp is pretty standard for Clops to give it utility outside of TR.

Shadowboxing (Physical Setup)

Dusclops @ Eviolite
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Power-Up Punch
- Poltergeist / Ice Punch
Clops' obscene bulk can be abused with Restalk to do something other than just sponge hits! Ghost/Fighting is amazing neutral coverage that basically hits the whole tier unresisted, but the presence of Itemless Ghosts and no better backup physical STAB for Clops justifies Ice Punch. EVs could probably be optimized for whatever hits you need to take, but this set has potential given that Clops naturally has a fine 70 Atk while being a defensive Pokemon.

Broken Seal (Imprison)

Dusclops @ Eviolite
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Imprison
- Night Shade
Have you ever been in that awful situation of stall vs stall, locked into an annoying PP war of Clops vs Clops? Well, worry no longer! Imprison Clops forces opposing Clops into a losing position most of the time. As a bonus, this set also has utility against a number of other popular Restalk mons, like Klang, Goth, and Zwei.

Mr. Mime

:ss/mrmime:

Song

Though Mime's origins are likely french, Mime is a bit more clownlike for its quality of having plenty of interesting tricks. Scarf, Specs, and even the odd new Expert Belt seem to be common on Mime last month, but this clown has an endless rainbow handkerchief of sets to pull out of its sleeve.

Prankster, no not the ability (NP)

Mr. Mime @ Expert Belt / Twisted Spoon / Life Orb
Ability: Filter
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam
- Focus Blast
NP Mime, like its galarian counterpart, can tear teams to bits with its excellent coverage. In Mime-K's case, Filter and not being Rocks weak means it has the opportunity to set up against a few more things in the meta while boasting a higher base SpA. Expert Belt is perfect for Mime's amazing coverage, Spoon gives more consistent damage on STAB, and LO guarantees more damage at the risk of chip.

Invisible Wall (Stored Power)

Mr. Mime @ Leftovers
Ability: Filter
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Iron Defense
- Calm Mind
- Stored Power
- Focus Blast / Dazzling Gleam
While similar to Duosion's Double Dance set, this Mime boosting set trades reliable recovery for a more convenient defensive typing and coverage for Dark/Steel types. SpD Klang might think it's cute for switching in, only to end up taking a Focus Blast. D-Gleam is an alt mostly for Vull. Play delicately with this one, as it relies on surprise factor, and does not want to take status.

Exit Stage Left (Future Sight + Teleport)

Mr. Mime @ Twisted Spoon / Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Filter
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Future Sight
- Dazzling Gleam
- Focus Blast
- Teleport
That's right! Mime has access to the new eyecatch of Gen 8 Singles: Telesight! Or is it Futureport? Whatever it is, Mime has it, and can fire off some juicy Future Sights off of its great base 100 SpA. Mime also has the defensive typing and SpD to take a few hits before going down, distinguishing it from other lower tier FS pivots. Spoon is preferred here to make Future Sight hit as hard as possible, though HDB are always there to mitigate annoying hazards.

Clown Costume (AV)

Mr. Mime @ Assault Vest
Ability: Filter
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
With Mime's Filter ability, great SpD, colorful coverage, and convenient typing, an AV set can be a fine special sponge that takes the onus off usual special checks like Klang. Many of ZU's usual special wallbreakers are Psychic types with limited coverage, which gives Mime ample switch-ins to threaten them out with its blend of STABs and Shadow Ball. Even stuff like Gastly or Lamp fail to take out AV Mime with their STABs while risking being OHKO'd or heavily chunked.

The Show Must Go On (Stallbreaker)

Mr. Mime @ Leftovers
Ability: Filter
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt / Substitute
- Nasty Plot
- Psychic
- Focus Blast / Dazzling Gleam
With Taunt in its repertoire, Mime can break through stall cores of Pyuk, Clops, Munch, Sliggoo, Wart, and Lickitung. Taking away the utiltiies of many of these mons can leave them unable to deal with Mime setting up in their faces (notably with Munch, which cannot phaze Mime out). FBlast is more helpful for Klang, but DGleam is a stronger STAB option that still hits Dark types. Sub serves a similar function to Taunt, but Mime's HP is so bad that the Subs it makes hardly last.

Put Your Hands Together (Support)

Mr. Mime @ Kasib Berry / No Item
Ability: Filter
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder Wave
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam / Focus Blast
- Healing Wish
Mime with Kasib Berry can offer an interesting offensive stopgap to the many dangerous Ghosts of the tier that rely on Polter to hit it super-effectively. Taking a Ghost type attack and then becoming immune to Polter for the rest of the game while still being a fast threat against slower teams. Foul Play is for punishing physical attackers like Trev, Gourg, and even Shed (which Mime normally can't touch), but HWish is likely the better if you want extra team support. I mostly wanted to try out a funky set with this last one tbh.

Persian

Song

Who says you can't teach an old cat new tricks? Persian's suffered many abuses since Gen 1 made it a middling diet Tauros, but the thing about always losing is that you get to learn from it... hopefully.

Eye of the Tiger (Choice Band)

Persian @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Double-Edge
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Switcheroo
No one expects bandcat! Persian's workable Atk and great Spe can make it a good wallbreaker that takes advantage of bluffing its standard RK set. Switcheroo is a great last option for throwing common Evio switch-ins on the back foot while maintaining momentum and a great speed tier.

Puss in Boots (Utility Pivot)

Persian @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Body Slam
Rather than RKing, this Persian focuses on creating openings for teammates and picking apart the other team with a mix of status, stallbreaking, item control, pivoting, and no hazard chip. It's not as great as the RKer set, but has synergy with Boots spam teams that don't have strong hazard control and still want the utility and speed that Persian provides. For this, Body Slam is obviously the STAB of choice to get a bit of paralysis while chipping Persian less.

Cat's Cradle (NP)

Persian @ Expert Belt / Silk Scarf / Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Hyper Voice
- Water Pulse
- Icy Wind
NP Persian is a bit of a meme, but the power level of ZU is just low enough to make it almost work. NP Persian takes advantage of top tiers like Gourg-L and Ston switching in to check it, as +2 Technician Icy Wind and Water Pulse will blow them away. Belt gives more damage on coverage, Silk Scarf boosts STAB, and LO does both at the cost of chip.

Showcat (Choice Scarf)

Persian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature / Adamant Nature
- Double-Edge
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Switcheroo
Identical to the above Band set, but as the ultimate speed control not relying on prio. In past metas Persian had golden standard of speed, but this is no longer the case, especially seeing as Scarfchu is a thing. Ada is an option for extra power, and it outspeeds +1 Base 100s by 1 point, but Jolly outpaces stuff like DD Drak, +1 Dedenne, Swift Swim Seaking, and of course, Scarfchu. Switcheroo is even better on this set, as against slower Evio teams, and Persian still maintains a great speed tier if Scarf is gone.

On A Leash (AV)

Persian @ Assault Vest
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Knock Off
- Double-Edge
- U-turn
Again with a modification to the Silk Scarf RKer set, but now with the ability to take a special hit or two. This set is digging the bottom of the barrel a bit, but there's nothing wrong with a tech or two to throw an opponent off, and Persian's frequent shirking of status moves screams "AV CLUB" (haha, that should have probably been the spoiler title now that I think about it).

Kitten's Got Claws (Hone Claws)

Persian @ Expert Belt / Silk Scarf / Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Hone Claws / Work Up
- Double-Edge
- Knock Off
- Gunk Shot / Aerial Ace / Water Pulse / Icy Wind
Hone Claws on Persian pairs nicely with Gunk Shot as coverage, tho pick your coverage of choice depending on which setup move you run or what you want to hit. Work Up is an alt that can give some interesting special coverage to deal with checks like Gourg and Ston. Repeating from earlier: Belt = better coverage, Silk Scarf = better STAB, LO = better die faster for using weird set.

Lunatone

Song

Luna has been getting a good rapport from ZUmers lately for its DLC buff in Meteor Beam. However, as we stare amongst the shooting stars, we may be missing a few sets that glimmer in the night sky.

Dawn of the First Day (Trick Room Lead)

Lunatone @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Stealth Rock / Magic Coat
- Explosion
Luna makes a convenient TR lead with rocks and boom. Explosion maximizes turns for its teammates, and chunks generic special wall answers that don't resist hard. Stealth Rock makes Lunatone a unique TR setter for getting to set hazards too, but Magic Coat can bounce back any annoying hazards and stop Taunt leads.

That's No Moon (Rock Polish Sweeper)

Lunatone @ Weakness Policy / Kee Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rock Polish
- Nasty Plot
- Stored Power
- Moonblast / Moonlight
+2 Modest Luna inspires the "outspeeds the entire unboosted metagame" soundbite, though Timid is if you really need to outspeed Goone. WP gives Luna so many juicy boosts for Stored Power, but Kee Berry with Moonlight gives Luna more longevity. Moonblast is on the prime set for breaking Darks that would otherwise wall.

Expensive Moondust (Rocks Lead)

Lunatone @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- Rock Tomb
- Explosion
Luna is usually a pretty consistent rocker, but this one is for HO teams that appreciate the role compression. SR and Explosion are a tale as old as time, but Rock Tomb is a cool way to get some STAB chip while slowing faster mons and setup sweepers.

Moon Cosmic Power Make Up! (Cosmic Power)

Lunatone @ Leftovers / Colbur Berry / No Item
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Cosmic Power
- Stored Power
- Moonblast
- Moonlight
Like the many other Psychics out there, Luna can try out a Cosmic + Stored Power set, as a treat. The benefits Luna has over its main competitors in Goth and Duosion are reliable recovery and a coverage move for Dark types. The item is a bit up in the air for whatever you're most afraid of: dying fast, Knock, or Polter.

Full Moon (All Out Attacker)

Lunatone @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Moonblast
- Earth Power
A pretty basic set, but with all the Power Herbs and Stealth Rocks and Choice Scarf flying around, sometimes it can be nice just to have all the coverage you want in one set and not being locked into a move or locked OUT of a move after using it.

Dark Side of the Moon (Recycle)

Lunatone @ Power Herb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rock Polish
- Meteor Beam
- Psychic
- Recycle
A filthy set that keeps the boosting going with Recycle. It's kind of counterintuitive considering that you're using a slot and a turn so that you don't need a slot or a turn to set up, but getting to fire off Meteor Beams whenever you want taps into an evil desire in all of our hearts.

Machoke

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The resident ZU Zaddy has been somewhat dethroned by Galarian Octillery flexing its Lefties, higher Atk stat, and Drain. However, I still believe that we can train ZU's Rocky to take back the championship belt with some left hook sets that the newcomer Grapp will never see coming.

Don't Wake Dad (Restalk PuP Machoke)

Machoke @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Power-Up Punch
- Knock Off
A perversion of the Restalk set that is capable of boosting like the now defunct BU set was once able to. This Choke resists dying while getting stronger, and punishes phazers like Clops and Hippo by taking their items. It's weak to Fairies and Itemless Ghosts, but "PUPChoke" was too funny to not make a set for.

Bodybuilder (BU Machoke)

Machoke @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab / Bullet Punch / Heavy Slam / Earthquake
Here's the BU Choke that has gone mostly extinct from the Alpha. This one's for greedy players who would use the Flame Orb set, but it's just not enough power for them. Pick your coverage for whichever Fairy you hate the most (Shii, Mime, Toge, Dedenne).

Magic Mike (Stallbreaker)

Machoke @ Eviolite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Encore
- Dynamic Punch
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab
Encore can be a cool option for Choke to curtail setupmons and stallmons, and then applying offensive pressure with DynaPunch that can generate more free turns with confusion.

Power Bottom (SubPunch)

Machoke @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab / Close Combat
SubPunch is quite the throwback, but the switches that Choke often forces can make it a sudden threat. Even once the opponent knows you're running SubPunch, the mind games that you make with it can be exploited to push your opponent into a corner. CC is slashed as a more consistent STAB option that can surprise opponents trying to play around the set.

Natu

Song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcXyXXOCiqQ

While putting together some sets for Natu, I expected to slip it under the tech category, or not even make a new set at all. However, the little birid has been apparently storing all sorts of moves in that tiny bird orb body ever since 2001.

Nervous System (T-Wave Support)

Natu @ Eviolite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Thunder Wave
- Teleport
- Psychic / Night Shade
A Natu that spreads paras and pivots instead of trying to spread Tox. Revolutionary. This set competes with the new Hat a bit, but has recovery, pivoting, consistent damage, and isn't grounded. Basically leave Natu aloooooooone!!!

Birdball (Cosmic Stored Power)

Natu @ Eviolite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Cosmic Power
- Stored Power
- Roost
- Dazzling Gleam
Another Cosmic Power set that is so revolutionary amongst Psychics. Natu is a bit similar to Duosion, but its middling SpA and lower defensive stats are made up for with better coverage against Dark types and immunity to Taunt.

Crystal Ball (Trick Room Setter)

Natu @ Eviolite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick Room
- Teleport
- Roost
- Future Sight / Night Shade
A fun little TR setter similar to Beh that doesn't need to worry about Taunt/status/hazards. It still has recovery a form of damage (fixed if you want) too!

Stoutland

Song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LChtBpTjvTY

I already made an "old pet new tricks" joke about Persian, so lets try a better one... maybe we can help Stout recover after getting neutered by the removal of Return? Actually, I think that's worse...

Chocolate (SubToxic)

Stoutland @ Leftovers
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Facade / Strength
- Superpower
SubToxic isn't anything new as an alt set, but Stout requiring little coverage thanks to Scrappy can make it quite potent. Steels that might try to switch in and absorb Tox are in for a world of pain when they get hit by Superpower. Facade is over Strength in order to weaponize the status mons might throw at you in between subs, but Strength provides better damage.

Ball Game (All Out Attacker)

Stoutland @ Life Orb / Silk Scarf / Expert Belt
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Facade / Strength / Retaliate
- Superpower
- Crunch / Psychic Fangs
- Stomping Tantrum / Surf
Instead of locking into just one move, Stout set can capitalize off of its great coverage to hit pretty much the entire meta hard. LO can wear down Stout quickly, so the two alt items are for better STAB or coverage respectively. Surf should by run with Naive if you use it, and it can deal decent damage to Ston and Cark, particularly without the latter risking a burn.

Mixed Breed (Work Up)

Stoutland @ Life Orb
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Work Up
- Facade / Strength
- Surf
- Superpower
Work Up is a cool way for Stout to boost and break through balance cores that would normally try to play around the Band set by swtiching around. Surf is once more for Ston and Cark, and though Stout's SpA is garbage, so are Ston's SpD and Cark's 4x weakness.

Restalk

Stoutland @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate / Scrappy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Roar
- Strength / Facade
With Restalk, Stout can be a kind of discount Munch with better mixed bulk and Lefties. Intimidate gets a great drop on physical attackers, tho you can always opt for Scrappy to not be walled by Ghosts. A similar sentiment goes for EVing into physical bulk. As with most shufflers, pair it with Spin and hazard setting for maximum effect.

Dog Racing (Scarf)

Stoutland @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Retaliate
- Superpower
- Stomping Tantrum / Crunch / Psychic Fangs
- Thunder Wave / Toxic
Stout can actually be an amazing revenge killer with the combo of its decent base 80 Speed and a STAB Retaliate which cannot be blocked by Ghosts. Stout's coverage is there to do what it normally does, and TWave is an underrated utility option for some extra speed control.

Dedenne

Song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu2jS4oi-Bc

Though Dedenne has no currently "standard" sets on the dex, everyone is mostly already familiar with the SubCycle sets with Petaya, and Specs has been featured a few times in ZUPL. However, this cute little mouse has a few extra goodies hidden in its cheeks.

Lightning Fast (Choice Scarf)

Dedenne @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Cheek Pouch
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Grass Knot
- Dazzling Gleam
- Volt Switch
Scarf Dedenne outspeeds our common Base 100 Speed controls of Toxic Orb Goone and Scarf Gime at +1. Dedenne's STAB and coverage nicely remove many boosted or fast threats like Goone, Whis, Drak, Frax, and so on.

Rotten Fruit (SubToxic)

Dedenne @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Cheek Pouch
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recycle
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Thunderbolt / Dazzling Gleam
Trades the setup of the SubPetaya set for a refusal to die and residual damage. Dedenne can sub on a number of defensive Pokemon and then spread status with little impunity. TBolt STAB is best for hitting Tox-immune mons, though DGleam as STAB generally hits more mons.

Circuit (Offensive Pivot)

Dedenne @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Cheek Pouch
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Discharge / Thunderbolt / Dazzling Gleam
- Super Fang
- Nuzzle
- Volt Switch
Dedenne has a convenient typing for coming in and picking at teams by spreading paras and chunking walls that lack recovery. Discharge is STAB to get a few lucky paras, but Nuzzle is on the set for the same reason. Boots pair well with the nature of the offensive pivot as well, meaning Dedenne doesn't have to worry about hazards wearing it down.

Many Miscellaneous Sets

So while that was definitely a long post, I still have a few sets and techs to share! I've already spent a ton of time explaining plenty of the sets above, so the ones below will mostly just have one or two lines of explanation for their changes.

Miscellaneous

Monky (Lead Grookey)

Grookey @ Focus Sash
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Endeavor
- Grassy Glide
- Knock Off
- Wood Hammer
Endeavor and Grassy Glide gives monky a way to ensure a KO on non-Ghosts while finishing them off with Grassy Glide. Wood Hammer allows self-KO if you are facing a Ghost type.

Hydra's Breath (Subtoxic Zweilous)

Zweilous @ Eviolite
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Outrage
- Crunch
Say it right there on the tin. Sub gives more leeway with Hustle misses while increasing Tox damage. Has the defensive value of the Restalk set without the unreliability.

Eagle Eye (Scout Vullaby)

Vullaby (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Toxic
- Protect
- Foul Play
With a few other hazard removers in the tier, Vull can focus more on its defensive value by scouting choiced switch-ins like Scarf Ston. Tox pairs nicely with Protect and Roost to rack up passive damage. Works well with Hipppo.

Shifting Sand Land (Support Hippopotas)

Hippopotas @ Eviolite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Bulldoze
- Slack Off
- Yawn
Yawn is a cool to combine the status of Tox with the phazing of Whirlwind. Bulldoze stimmies offensive Pokemon and setup while not relying on Hippo's meager base 72 attack.

no <3 (Taunt Fraxure)

Fraxure @ Eviolite
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Taunt
- First Impression
- Outrage
- Stomping Tantrum
Want the stallbreaking of DD/SD and anti-offense value of CB? Taunt Frax is here to fill in holes on your team as a stopgap to annoying mons like Pika and Pyuk in one slot.

Rat Race (Agility Pikachu)

Pikachu @ Light Ball
Ability: Static
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Agility
- Thunderbolt
- Surf / Grass Knot
- Knock Off
Isn't it annoying when you want to use your Pika but Scarf Ston is there to ruin your day? Demonic Agilitychu can absolutely ruin unprepared teams at the end of the game with its doubled speed. This one's definitely a gimmick, but how often do you actually get to use Pika for real in a tier?

Frog Fractions (Bulldoze Palpitoad)

Palpitoad @ Eviolite
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Bulldoze
- Scald / Surf
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
Since Palp invites certain offensive mons to switch in on it, Bulldoze as a tech over Earth Power changes little about the set and still OHKOs Pika after rocks. Surf is slashed here to avoid mixing your poisons with your burns.

Evergreen (Mixed SD Icevally)

Silvally-Ice @ Ice Memory
Ability: RKS System
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Swords Dance
- Multi-Attack
- Grass Pledge
- Flame Charge
S Rank Ston has taken away the glory days of Icevally. Grass Pledge with a Naive Nature is a cool tech to OHKO Ston that has the bonus benefit of hitting Palp and Whiscash harder before you're set up.

Old Refrigerator Smell (T-Wave Icevally)

Silvally-Ice @ Ice Memory
Ability: RKS System
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Parting Shot
- Thunder Wave
The special pivoting Icevally set usually runs either Tox in the last slot to spread status if it isn't an emergency Defogger. However, soemtimes inflicting paras can be exactly what a slower teammate wants to break through.

Mining Accident (Rock Tomb Carkol)

Carkol @ Eviolite
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Flamethrower
- Rock Tomb / Bulldoze
- Rapid Spin
Cark's great at spreading burns, spinning, and setting up rocks with its defensive typing, but what if you could get something else in there? Rock Tomb trades breaking subs for slowing down threats. Bulldoze is a secondary that trades STAB and hitting non-grounded mons for accuracy.

Coal into Diamonds (Iron Defense Carkol)

Carkol @ Eviolite
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Iron Defense
- Body Press
- Flamethrower
- Rapid Spin / Stealth Rock / Spikes
Physical attackers planning on breaking through Cark will have an unpleasant surprise when Cark boosts to +2 on them, and then slide deeper down the shaft once Cark hits them with boosted Body Press. With burns, the only physical attackers that can break through are ones with super-effective STAB. Somewhat of a gimmick, but that's the way it is with experimenting on one-dimensional mons.

Street Violence (Hone Claws Linoone-G)

Linoone-Galar @ Eviolite
Ability: Quick Feet
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Hone Claws / Work Up
- Double-Edge / Facade
- Knock Off
- Gunk Shot / Surf / Grass Knot
Setup Goone is weird, but Hone Claws goes nicely with Gunk Shot to let Goone break through walls like Shii. Evio is preferred to reduce chip, though getting statused against defensive threats can be beneficial for the speed boost. Work Up is an alt option for boosting Surf/Grass Knot to break through Ston, Palp, and Hippo.

Drunk Goggles (Specs Shiinotic)

Shiinotic @ Choice Specs
Ability: Effect Spore
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Energy Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Spore
This set may have been bigger in earlier metas, but Specs going out of the vogue makes this set a bit of an unexpected surprise that can throw off opponents. Grass/Fairy STAB with Poison coverage is not bad, and Shii can throw off a Spore and switch with little impunity.

Mycotoxins (Toxic + Protect)

Shiinotic @ Leftovers
Ability: Effect Spore
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Toxic
- Moonblast
- Giga Drain / Synthesis
As Shii has to deal with many physical wallbreakers, running Protect on it can turn the shroom into an effective scout. With Tox, the set is great at wearing down opponents while dealing dual STAB damage. Synth is a slashed option over Giga Drain rather than SS, as I find it counterintuitive to have SS when you're running max HP.

Hypothermia (Lead Glalie)

Glalie @ Focus Sash
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Spikes
- Icy Wind / Bulldoze
- Taunt / Super Fang
- Explosion
While the standard Glalie Spikes set might usually run Crash with EQ, this one swaps damage for team support. Icy Wind and Bulldoze are nice utility against faster leads and hold back setup sweepers from running through. Taunt is for slower leads, and boom is boom.

Stallkiller 2 (SubDisable Glalie)

Glalie @ Leftovers
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Disable
- Freeze-Dry
- Super Fang
Read the sign. SubDisable Glalie has the same stallbreaking utility of the standard set but irritates slower teams with its not bad speed tier. While it doesn't have the HP for big Subs, stopping Seismic Tossers and Night Shaders with Disable can be funny.

Another Episode of Catfish (SubToxic Whiscash)

Whiscash @ Leftovers
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Waterfall
- Dragon Dance / Earthquake
Whis has the rare trait (in ZU) of Subs unbroken by SToss or Night Shade, making it an excellent stallbreaker. With thicc Subs, Whis has no problem spreading status across teams, and the Subs can even give it the opportunity to set up a DD, though EQ offers some good secondary STAB.

Hot Topic (Setup Morgrem)

Morgrem (M) @ Eviolite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Dazzling Gleam
- Dark Pulse
- Draining Kiss / Burning Jealousy
Instead of sharing its gift for setting up Screens or offering support to the rest of the team, this rebel has taken all the setup for itself! Kiss provides the frail dark fairy with some recovery, though Burning Jealousy is a hot new move that hits Steels.

In A Pickle (Counter Pyukumuku)

Pyukumuku @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Counter
- Recover
- Mirror Coat
- Toxic
While I used to despise this set, I now realize this is probably the most honorable way to use Pyuk. I'm so happy I've been deprogrammed of the Stall mindset. Jokes aside, this Pyuk set deals with the slew of wallbreakers in the tier, particularly S rank Ston, though it struggles with Terrain teams.

iPad (TR Bronzor)

Bronzor @ Eviolite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick Room
- Stealth Rock
- Steel Beam
- Toxic
Bronz has seen better days ever since it had Psywave taken away, and this set will not fix that LOL. However, it's a neat alt TR setter that can take any hit, set room, set up Rocks, and then KO itself with Steel Beam. Tox is really only there because like, what else is there to do with a Bronz? Attack? I HAVE to laugh.

Desert Venom (Toxic Vibrava)

Vibrava @ Eviolite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Roost
- U-turn
- Toxic
- Bulldoze / Rock Tomb
A variation on support Vibrava that doesn't let special mons in for free with Tox and provides team support on its Ground move with Bulldoze. This is at the cost of Defog, but there's luckily other hazard removal in the tier by now. Rock Tomb is an alt for surprising cheeky Flyers that might try to blank a ground move.

Fire Magic (WispHex Lampent)

Lampent @ Eviolite
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hex
- Fire Blast
- Psychic / Toxic
Lamp's defensive typing, access to Wisp, and STAB Hex make it excellent as a special breaker and status spreader hybrid. Psychic is to prevent you from being walled by Haka, but this set pretty much already has it all covered with STAB.

Back in the Nineties (Coverage Mudbray)

Mudbray @ Eviolite
Ability: Stamina
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Smack Down / Rock Tomb
- Stealth Rock
- Rest / Roar
While the standard Mud set calls for Rock Slide as a side option, lets whip up our own recipe from scratch. Smack Down hits those non-Grounded threats that though they could be cute getting away with switching into an expected EQ, while Rock Tomb can offer some team support and extra KOs by slowing down foes.

Gives You Hail (Support Vulpix-A)

Vulpix-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Blizzard
- Icy Wind
- Hail
Alolapix's SpA is completyely underwhelming, so I fail to understand the standard set trying to run Blizzard with Freeze-Dry on it. Icy Wind is a cool (haha) team support option that really stunts opposing threats expecting Encore, while Hail is a great way to keep up Veil potential against Hippo or weather teams.

Emperor (Dive Eiscue)

Eiscue @ Leftovers
Ability: Ice Face
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Hail
- Dive
- Protect
- Icicle Spear
With Ice Face broken and max Speed, Eiscue can outspeed Scarf base 70s by 1 point and hit them with a SE Dive. Scarf Ston is particularly of note. Dive maximizes turns of Leftiesw recovery without making Eiscue passive and dependent on Freeze-Dry off its paltry SpA.

Of course, there are a few Pokemon that truly cannot be modified or tech'd meaningfully. Charjabug, Corsola, Ivysaur, Gloom, and Wartortle have been pretty much either fully fleshed out or can't even run other options as a gimmick. I still didn't cover everything obviously, but hopefully this will make a drier month of shifts a bit more exciting with some flavorful sets to try out.

 

[5gen]

Hello all. Over the past week the council has been discussing Pokemon to vote on and potentially quick ban, specifically Klang, Grapploct, Mr. Mime-Galar, and Stonjourner. We had a voting sheet up to decide which Pokemon to vote on and only Klang and Grapploct received a majority, so they will be voted on.

As always, here is the voting sheet. Unfortunately, Aaronboyer was unable to vote in time, but his votes do not change anything so we decided to proceed and give him the opportunity to vote/give his reasoning (Edit: Aaronboyer has decided to abstain from this vote). I will update the voting sheet accordingly after he votes.

Looking forward to everyone's thoughts and opinions, this vote will likely last a week or so. One-liners and posts that derail discussion will be deleted.

 

[Procrastinasian]

Hello peeps, and welcome back to my post, where I voice my opinion and no one can tell me I am wrong because I don't listen to the haters. Anyways, on this wonderful day, I have decided to bestow upon the council my thoughts on the Octopus and the Pokemon that really grinds my gears.

- unsure. Grapploct is a very solid addition to most teams, and can reliably set up on a majority of the meta. As someone who has consistently benefitted from Grapp's use, I sometimes find myself destroying unprepared opponents with ease (sorry Trixx). The same can be said for most people using it, and counterplay is limited after bulk up, especially if Grapploct is specially defensive. However, it is one of the most reliable ways to protect from a Klang sweep, and it is often crippled by status, and haze and toxic on Dusclops neuters it pretty hard. Additionally, Mr. Mime threatens it quite well as long as it hasn't set up too much by that point, and trick users pretty much end its sweeping potential. Depending on the set, Pyukumuku can threaten it as well, as long as it's not octolock. Octolock has lower survivability and is harder to fit on teams, as it is harder to bring in, and people can prep before it can trap. The biggest argument towards banning is probably the fact that you don't know what the set is until you see it, but I believe an argument can be made for there being enough counterplay in the tier, especially when a majority of teams have tspikes/toxic anyways.

- do not ban. Klang definitely should not be banned if Grapploct remains, but even if it goes, I can see Haze and whirlwind (and specs Whiscash, Lampent, guts FO Machoke, and modest life orb np specs raichu) being very effective in dealing with any sweeping threat. Of course, people would have to run more ground/fire/fighting type moves and have more taunt/haze users around, but in reality, klang is a slow set up, and there's plenty of ways to prevent it from sweeping, similar to how people deal with stored power Gothitelle.

 

[kay]

Ban. Yeah no surprise from me but this mon has been the most centralizing force in zupl ever since Swoobat got taken out of the picture to the point where the games this week between my team and the Hakamo's had 4 Whiscash out of the 3 games that got played this week so far because every team knew they couldn't do anything else other then prep for Klang like their life depended on it. And it also has started to have the Swoobat effect of teams not even wanting to bring it this week because we both knew that both teams were going to be prepping for it so much that we couldn't even afford to bring it which is exactly what we saw in Swoobat meta with teams not willing to bring a mon that was going to have an over prepped for match up. The later stages of this tournament has been such a pain to build for thanks to this thing and I fear once ZUPL ends and we start seeing games of people who more casually play rather then tournament players, teams just aren't going to have the over preparedness to deal with ID Klang and all the different variants it can run that were already good such as the rest talk, toxic, and volt switch sets which can bait in the other forms of counter play it might have.

I see a lot of people who bring up amazing points such as how it offers so much good for the tier too as its able to check a lot of otherwise problematic pokemon and to that I totally agree, it lends itself to being slapped on almost every team thanks to the amazing defensive uses it offers. But that to me is a large part of the problem BECAUSE it can fit on everything you basically have no reason not to run it other then "my opponent might be over preparing for it". This is why its such a centralizing force right now, there just simply is no down side to this pokemon because of the raw utility and late game cleaning of this mon. Sure we do have answers to it such has Whiscash and friends but Klang is flexible enough to adapt its sets to help mitigate those would be counters such as Whiscash hating toxic or guts Machoke being able to get volt switched on. I'm very much in support of banning it out because I just don't buy into the idea of using broken to check broken. Its defensive merits are plenty and that's apart of the problem.

Abstain. I was actually really late to the party on this one as I pretty much valued Machoke on a lot of the teams I might've looked to run this on, but after messing around with it for this week for ZUPL I realized just how strong this thing actually is. But with majority of my experience being in playing against it I don't exactly feel qualified in making a serious argument for a ban but I can totally get behind why people might want to. Its strong, has sucker priority which out kills a lot of the stuff looking to revenge kill it (or just taking a solid amount of damage while it goes down at the very least) and has enough wiggle room in its sets to run things like octolock, BU 3 attacks with ice punch, life orb, and even CB with max speed investment if it really wants. But I do think its a little harder to get it going then say something like Klang which can really limit it in some match ups, but oh boy when you do this mon gets scary fast.