Project Old Gen Hackmons Megathread

aerobee

Pure Hackmons
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A lot of people know that for the past few months I've enjoyed trying to make spam teams work in Gens 6/7, and I wanted to share one I created in particular.

IMO, the one that worked the best was Primal Groudon spam for Gen 7 (although it worked quite well in Gen 6 Hackmons as well).

:sm/groudon-primal::sm/groudon-primal::sm/groudon-primal::sm/groudon-primal::sm/groudon-primal::sm/groudon-primal:
(the sprites are clickable)

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Groudon-Primal @ Shed Shell
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Careful Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Morning Sun
- Sunsteel Strike
- Spiky Shield

This set originally had Spectral Thief over Spiky Shield; however, I quickly realized that I was defenseless against random No Guards, and Spiky Shield felt like the appropriate replacement (Baneful Bunker doesn't synergize well with Will-O-Wisp). Thousand Arrows is a powerful reliable STAB move, and Sunsteel Strike helps Groudon hit opposing Wonder Guards. I found that Thousand Arrows/Sunsteel Strike hit many opposing Pokemon supereffectively (although Water-type Wonder Guards like Primal Kyogre and Mega Slowbro take negligible amounts of damage, they fail to make progress against Desolate Land Pokemon). This is a glue Pokemon that was necessary on this team to check the myriad of offensive sets with Water-type moves.

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Groudon-Primal @ Air Balloon
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- V-create
- Defog
- Shore Up
- Aromatherapy

Air Balloon was needed for Groudon to reliably check No Guard Pokemon. V-Create just about dents everything, at the very least chipping switch-ins, often 2HKO or OHKOing the target. I needed hazard removal, and a Wonder Guard Pokemon seemed like the best equipped to use it, as it forces many passive Pokemon out. Shore Up helps in this regard, as Groudon has trouble switching with hazards on the field otherwise. I also wanted to fit Aromatherapy somewhere, and again, a Wonder Guard Pokemon seemed like a good user of the move.

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Groudon-Primal @ Air Balloon
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Parting Shot
- Magic Coat
- Wish
- Will-O-Wisp

And what else do we need to check No Guard? Another Wonder Guard! Parting Shot seemed like a good choice, allowing me to switch more safely. At this point I decided that I wanted a Wish user with a pivoting move, and this worked well with Parting Shot. Due to the lack of a Magic Bounce on the team, Magic Coat seemed necessary on at least one Wonder Guard. Will-O-Wisp is to burn switch-ins and neuter their physical offense, taking advantage of just how well Groudon forces passive Pokemon out. It helps that people tend to switch into something that can break through Wonder Guard, such as Photon Geyser MMX, that gets crippled by a burn.

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Groudon-Primal @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Ice Hammer
- V-create
- Sunsteel Strike
- Fusion Bolt

This set's pretty simple. Groudon tries OHKOing as much as it can, while it's improofed by its teammates. V-Create hits even resists extremely hard, 2HKOing opposing Giratina. Ice Hammer OHKOes Zygarde-C, and does ~80% against Giratina. Ice Hammer was originally Play Rough, but I changed it as I felt Play Rough wasn't necessary; V-Create does more to most of the targeted Pokemon, while diminishing an opposing Imposter's offensive presence. Sunsteel Strike hits past Wonder Guard, hitting everything the other moves neutrally that the other moves don't take care of, aside from the rare Palkia. Fusion Bolt OHKOes common Wonder Guards like Mega Gyarados and Primal Kyogre. With a Choice Scarf, Groudon outspeeds nearly all opponents lacking a Choice Scarf of their own, up to base 140s like MMY.

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Groudon-Primal @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Encore
- Destiny Bond
- Strength Sap
- Thousand Waves

This Groudon acts as an emergency check to runaway Imposter and Huge Power Pokemon; with Strength Sap, it can usually neuter the opponent's offensive capabilities, unless it's something ridiculous like Huge Power LTBTS MMX. It can also switch into setup sweepers like Mold Breaker Primal Groudon or Protean Mega Rayquaza, and annoy them with Prankster Encore. In the direst of circumstances, Destiny Bond can be used to bring an opposing offensive menace down with it; running minimum Speed helps with this. Thousand Waves traps the opponent, annoying it in conjunction with Encore.

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Groudon-Primal @ Choice Scarf
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Sheer Cold
- Trick
- Inferno
- Thousand Arrows

No Guard Groudon often catches the opponent off guard, as it's uncommon. A +Spe Nature helps to outspeed all viable Pokemon except for Deoxys-S, helping it spam Sheer Cold safely. Against checks switching in, it can Trick its Choice Scarf and cripple it. Alternatively, Inferno can be used if the switch-in is weak to Fire or if it dislikes getting burnt. Although Thousand Arrows is difficult to Imposter-proof, it helps against other Groudon significantly, 2HKOing it. This Pokemon's really fun when Huge Power Groudon's gone and the opponent thinks they're safe.

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Threatlist:

Palkia - This mon's really difficult to deal with, as the only move I have that directly damage it's Sunsteel Strike. Luckily, it's not too common.

Special Mold Breakers - In this group of mons, Mega Gengar's the most difficult one to deal with. A lack of Safety Goggles means that Gengar can freely Spore/Lovely Kiss, and set up. If Prankster Groudon's asleep and Gengar gets to +4 SpA it's over.

Harvest - Prankster Groudon can't Encore Harvest users, so I need a lucky switch into Huge Power/No Guard Groudon, depending on the Harvest user. Often I've had to click Destiny Bond and hope I predict correctly.

Fast Special Water-types - This goes without saying, but after Desolate Land Groudon faints this team struggles against opposing Water-types.

Innards Out - Unfortunately there isn't much this team can do against Innards Chansey; I guess one could try chipping it by repeatedly using Inferno, but that's the only resistance this team can provide

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I've had a lot of fun with this team, feel free to try it out!

this is my 100th post :>
 
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berry

what kind
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ORAS PH PRIMER
AKA Viable Ability, Move, and Item Compendium
ORAS Pure Hackmons has undergone many iterations and years of metagame advancement and development. In its current state, I can say that it is at a pretty large roadblock of advancement. The meta has finally settled to the point where most experienced players can determine what would be viable choices on any of the opponent’s mons. I’ve been involved in this meta essentially since its inception (I was playing, although not very well, on the xy hackmons ladder on the day it was implemented onto showdown) and over the course of my tenure, I have amassed a great amount of knowledge regarding the meta. This series of posts will be broken into multiple parts in order to give players a look into the meta and a chance to gain some of the knowledge that I am sharing. Part 1 (this post) will be focused on bringing everyone up to speed about teambuilding choices. Part 2 will focus on the state of the current meta and what I feel can be improved. Part 3 will focus on theory and how I think when I play matches. Part 4 will focus on tournament preparation. These parts will all eventually be released, but they are not on any specific schedule. I believe this series is my magnum opus, and it is intended to make all of my knowledge easily accessible to anyone who is interested in this meta.

Part 1: What is viable, and why?
Abilities
I believe the following abilities have the highest power ceiling and viability, and most abilities that aren’t included on this list are simply outclassed by something available here.

S Tier
Universal and Unforgettable

Wonder Guard
WG is the undisputed strongest defensive ability. What beats reducing your damage in situations where you need to tank a hit or pivot into an attacker? Taking no damage at all.

Mold Breaker / Turboblaze / Teravolt
Mold is the most effective way of breaking through wonder guards and offensive mold breaker sweepers have always been at the forefront of the threat list. Mold breakers are also able to easily set up hazards and damage switchins, no matter their ability.

No Guard
NG is the near opposite of mold due to the fact that it struggles against WG, but completely clears everything that doesn’t have an immunity ability. No guard is able to force switches and instantly OHKO any opponent, regardless of defensive stats. Extremely effective at all levels of play.


Shadow Tag
stag heavily punishes wonder guards and passive defenders while missing out on being able to trap and kill more active mons. This also singlehandedly led to the universal use of pivoting moves and shed shell on most wonder guards, forcing more active and aggressive play to avoid easy punishment.


A Tier
Strong Staples

Huge Power / Pure Power / Parental Bond / Protean
This set of abilities offers the largest power boost to physical and special attackers respectively. Around 2014-5, players were able to optimize their coverage so that they were able to attack all types of wonder guards while doing huge damage to any types of defensive mon. More recent uses of these abilities also lend to the priority creep meta game, showing that the only thing better than being stronger than your opponent is being faster.

Refrigerate / Pixilate / Aerilate
Speaking of being faster than your opponent, giving great offensive typings like ice and fairy to already strong priority moves like fake out and extremespeed, as well as absolute nukes like boomburst and head charge is a recipe for disaster. Already devastating attackers are able to take advantage of their STABs even more effectively, outspeeding everything except for themselves.

Imposter
Imp is one of the most versatile abilities, being able to scout moves, gain momentum by forcing switches, as well as the opportunity to copy your opponent’s offensive threats and outspeed with a scarf attacker.


B Tier
Effective Picks with strong situational viability

Magic Bounce
Being able to reflect status moves, especially hazards, is very appealing in a meta with a large focus on hazard and status condition control. While these mons usually struggle because they’re too slow vs offensive threats, they’re extremely effective in the early game due to the ability to force chip on your opponent’s mons.

Prankster
Prank’s viability is another result of the priority creep. Defensive mons with access to priority status moves allows them to heal up quickly as well as use limiting moves like encore and taunt, all while retaining a slow pivot with u turn or volt switch.


C Tier
Not truly notable, but shouldn’t be overlooked. Overwhelmingly excluded from strong teams because there are usually better options.
Fur Coat
Poison Heal
Regenerator
Magic Guard


D Tier
Niche at best, most implementations are simply bad. Not really worth mentioning in any serious discussion.
Illusion
Gale Wings
Normalize
Contrary
Sturdy
Speed Boost
Infiltrator
Pressure
Soundproof
Iron Barbs / Rough Skin
Weather Abilities


Exceptions
If you are thinking of running anything that isn’t in S/A/B tier on this list, consider the following questions:

One: In what situation would having this ability outclass having an ability on this list? Is that situation common enough to justify running this ability?
Two: Are you running this ability to specifically combat one pokemon / move / ability / set? How often do you run into this to consider it a problem?
Three: Are you running this ability to imposterproof? Is there a better way to imposterproof using an ability on the list? A lot of options seem promising on paper, but completely flop in practice because they have no other viability.
Four: Would changing this one ability really completely solve any problems you have with your team? Are you sure your squad simply doesn’t need more fundamental changes?
Five: Are you trying to innovate a new idea? Have you seen this ability used before in a common situation that resulted in a player gaining a significant advantage?
Five: is regirock stupid? Did they forget an ability that should be in the S/A/B tiers or misplace something legitimately viable?


Moves
Moves are the most flexible part of ORAS PH, and I believe that across the board, movesets have the most room for improvement and optimization. Just like in abilities above, I’m going to try and list every viable move for every type, as well as including a "gold standard" list that would be in my S/A tiers.
Offense
Normal
Boomburst - the best special normal type move. Its main niche is found on -ate users since they can shift it to their preferred type and get super strong stab attacks.
ExtremeSpeed - another -ate staple, but this time users are able to get +2 priority and a stab boost.
Fake out - ate staple, fake+speed allows you to guarantee 2hkos without the opponent even getting a chance to move.
Judgment - extremely strong in the first place, judgment is able to shift types and gain plate and -stab boosts, becoming any type that the user likes. Most commonly used to imposterproof on mons like gengar. Pretty much a straight upgrade to techno blast as well.
Rapid Spin - more of a status move in this gen, but being able to clear hazards from your side and only your side is useful for hazard stack teams or anything of the sort.
Explosion - the highest bp attack comes at the cost of killing your own mon instantly. I’ve seen it used on very interesting mold breaker or -ate sets to claim a kill when the opponent’s mon is seemingly out of kill range, but it has fringe viability at best.
Frustration / Return - some of the best pure physical moves, just solid base power with good pp.
Facade - similar to frustration or return, but it allows for even stronger power expansion when it comes to getting statused.


Fighting
final gambit - gambit as a move on imposters or as a bad explosion
close combat
Superpower - cc and spower you just pick whether you want the atk drop or the spdef drop. Pretty good attacking moves
low kick - lots of high weight mons like don/kyo
dynamic punch - no guard
secret sword - probably the best special fighting type move since it allows mons like gengar to hit normal types
circle throw - phasing
storm throw - crits
mach punch - priority
vacuum wave - priority
Drain punch - healing is cool when you’re doing enough dmg
Flying press - weird niche? Idk how to ever use this but it’s cool. can hit some cool types as well

force palm - weird niche with some para chance, very spammable

Flying
dragon ascent - best phys flying type move
aeroblast - best spec flying type move
oblivion wing - run on mold breakers because its insane 75% healing. lets certain mons outheal curses from giratina and just offers great healing utility
chatter - fuck confusion


Poison
gunk shot - strongest phys poison move, a little inaccurate
sludge wave / bomb - i run bomb because i like the poison chance, but best special poison type moves
poison fang - 50% poison is REALLY nice and you can't get taunted
poison jab - gunk shot but weak but accurate


Ground
fissure - pretty nice on no guards for hitting ground weak wgs because nobody rlly expects it anymore. not as good as sheer cold as a blanket ohko
precipice blades - strongest ground type attack, just like gunk shot so it's a little inaccurate
thousand arrows - THE ground type attack. use this 9 times out of 10. extreme utility in being able to hit flying types as well
thousand waves - trapping is nice, not too strong but it's cool. Think this has a lot of potential


Rock
diamond storm - stone edge but it actually fucking hits, also def boost is busted
power gem - i mean idk why you would want to run a special rock type attack but this is rlly the only one lol


Bug
megahorn - strong but misses a lot
attack order - the best phys bug move but nobody runs this
bug buzz - the best spec bug move but nobody runs this
uturn - my beloved. favorite move in the format. switching out and pivots will always be useful no matter what
bug bite - berry stealing is cool but nobody rlly runs berries enough
infestation - interesting because it allows trapping and residual damage. niche pick that you shouldn't rely on for kos


Ghost
shadow ball - nobody really uses this since ghost judgment exists
shadow sneak - priority
hex - niche moves that only hit a higher power than existing ones when criteria is met are bad. 99% of the time they have no use and they're a waste of a slot. but i'm only including this because ghost has NOTHING


Steel
doom desire - we tried using this the other day but it doesn't carry mold breaker over so it kinda sucks. but still interesting to stack
metal burst - usually better than counter / mirror coat, but it can be undersped since it doesn't have negative priority
iron head - my personal pick for physical steel moves, i've seen too many gear grind misses
flash cannon - special steel type attacks don't rlly work out, but putting this in since u can run it semi viably
gear grind - higher power than iron head, hits twice which can break subs and sashes, but when it misses it misses hard. i stay away from this one but if everything goes right for you it is better than iron head
bullet punch - priority


Fire
v create - fire type is fucking blessed for having this masterpiece of a move. 180bp means it will always have viability, the drops suck but the move is more than great.
sacred fire - the best physical fire move that pretty much everyone runs on their physical attackers. 50% burn is insanely good
searing shot - my pick for best special fire type move, strong and with a good burn rate.
magma storm - trapping is nice. the accuracy sucks though
lava plume - a spammable searing shot that's weaker but has really nice burn percent. probably better than searing shot in practice, but you don't hit all of the kos
eruption - if you're at full hp and can maintain that, great. if you're not, then don't use this.
Inferno - no guard. just like dynamicpunch and zap cannon. guaranteed burn is really nice.


Water
water spout - just like above, if u can retain max hp, cool
origin pulse - the sister to pblades, good bp with a nice amount of pp. misses suck though
steam eruption - my beloved. strong move, good accuracy, great secondary effects. low pp though
scald - spammable and burns are sick
crabhammer - best physical water move. use waterfall if you're afraid of misses.
brine - i want to see this used so bad but like i said before, situational sucks.
whirlpool - semi trapping but weak. residual damage is nice. comparable to infestation
water shuriken - literally amazing. priority multihit is great since you usually hit around 45bp every turn. insanely good when you use it correctly


Grass
grass knot - lots of heavies, same as low kick
seed flare - this move is insane when it hits. 120bp plus the spdef -2 is crazy. use energy ball if you're afraid of missing
Power Whip - strong and it misses. use leaf blade if you're afraid of missing
giga drain - healing is very very nice. not as good as oblivion wing, but it hits wgs
horn leech - same reasoning as giga drain but physical


Electric
bolt strike - follows the theme of "this move is good but it misses a lot"
fusion bolt - probably the best physical electric move, like bolt strike but a little weaker but it doesn't miss
zap cannon - another no guard move, para is cool
thunderbolt / discharge - if i ever need a special electric move i use discharge, but they're very rare. i like the para chance
volt switch - pivots my beloved. pivots will always be good but there are some sets that block volt switches with ground types so watch out for those.
nuzzle - guaranteed para. i've used this on multiple occasions with pretty good results. back in like 2014 i killed the final mon on my opponent's team with nuzzle in my final game before 1600. sorry Dooker, my arc was better than your gyara.


Psychic
psystrike - just a better psyshock. hits physical, extremely strong bp, great move
psycho boost - i never rlly use spdef hitting psychic moves since psystrike is so good, but psycho boost is nice if you really really need to hit numbers and aren't afraid of the drop
psycho cut / zen headbutt - i hate missing so i go with psycut, zenbutt isn't bad either but 90% lol
hyperspace hole - never really seen this one used successfully but it's interesting for sure. breaking protection is nice and it isn't locked to hoopa
luster purge - kinda like a mediocre seed flare or current-gen thundkick, but it's nice to have. weak but if you get drops it snowballs
Stored power - if you’re boosting, why not?


Ice
sheer cold - the best ohko, no immunities
icicle crash / ice punch - ice type phys moves. nobody rlly uses them though
freeze dry - probably the gold standard for coverage. hits all of ice weak mons as well as water mons like pert. insanely good
avalanche - 120bp is nice if you live a hit, but situational sucks as always
frost breath - crits


Dragon
spacial rend - best special dragon move, misses but crits are nice
dragon pulse - a lot of the time you'll be boosted when using a dragon move since it doesn't have any real weaknesses, so dpulse will be powerful as well. doesn't miss
dragon claw - just physical dragon. the rest of them with higher bps either miss a ridiculous amount of the time or have conditions like outrage
dragon tail - phasing


Dark
knock off - another gold standard. removing items with a great 100bp on your first knock is insanely good. it's really hard for any dark type move to compete with this
pursuit - INSANELY good when combined with priority
Foul Play - everyone minimizes their attack stats but this is a favorite. fun move but not the most viable
sucker punch - a super unique priority move, but watch out since this is usually encore bait for trappers.
Punishment - if you actually survive a hit from a mold breaker or a belly drum this can be nice since the power ramps up super fast. unviable otherwise, knock is probably better
assurance - like avalanche but you actually have knock off in this typing so don't use it
thief - interesting. that's all i'm going to say. not great.
beat up - an interesting multihit that doesnt make contact. something i've always wanted to experiment with, i've seen some people use it well but others not so much.


Fairy
light of ruin - 140bp is really sick, the recoil is heavy but fairy is a great offensive type
moonblast - great typing, great bp, great accuracy, great pp, great secondary effect. gold standard
play rough - really your only option but it misses. i have never seen this drop someone's attack


Gold Standards
If you don’t feel like reading through all of those, just read this. I think these are the best. These would be my s or a tiers.
boomburst
Extremespeed
Fake out
judgment
secret sword
oblivion wing
dragon ascent
sludge bomb / wave
thousand arrows
diamond storm
uturn
gear grind / iron head
sacred fire
scald / steam eruption
volt switch
psystrike
freeze dry
knock off
pursuit
moonblast


Status
I think there are a lot of gold standards here, if someone uses a status move it’s because they should be using it. I’ll just make a list of everything i find viable, explanations given for some, not for others.

50% healing moves - obvious
Spore - best accuracy sleep move, blocked by goggles and grass types
aromatherapy / heal bell- heals all status from team
baton pass - amazing 64pp pivot move, has its upsides and downsides because it passes stuff like curse and perish song, but it also passes subs. best pp stall move
belly drum - for attacking nukes
Curse - for ghost types especially giratina, sacrificing to get consistent 25s on your opponent is really nice when you can force them to stay in
dark void - 2nd best sleep move, highest accuracy other than spore
Defog - hazard removal is required on every team, probably twice over
destiny bond - nice on pranksters or to prevent your opponent from attacking you. Lots of mind games
Disable - semi viable, but it fits a similar niche to encore or torment. Can stall a couple turns or force a switch
dragon dance - more pp than shift gear, nice boosting move for physical attackers
Encore - forcing an opponent into one move is super useful for setting up hazard sor perish songing
glare - straight upgrade to thunder wave
Haze - clearing stat boosts from your opponent
king's shield - does not block status moves, but does lower your opponent’s attack when they hit into it with a contact move
magic coat - reflects status moves just like magic bounce. Great on some wonder guards
pain split - situational healing move that can also be used to damage your opponent. Cool on low level mons
parting shot - great pivot move that lowers the opponents’ stats. Can be bounced
perish song - instant kill if you can distract them for long enough with encore or something else
quiver dance - like dragon dance or shift gear but for specials. Straight upgrade to calm mind
shell smash - boosting move with the greatest potential to snowball
shift gear - more speed boost than dragon dance, less pp
Spikes - hazards are one of the main driving forces in this metagame
spiky shield - straight upgrade to protect
stealth rock - hazards. That is all
sticky web - speed drop can be cool to outspeed other -ates or wgs
Substitute - mostly used to pass a substitute, but can tank some nice hits
switcheroo / trick - just switching items around, trickscarf is its main application
swords dance - the best purely attack boosting move
tail glow - the best purely spark boosting move
Taunt - preventing your opp’s status moves is really sick
Toxic - easy chip with offensive pressure
toxic spikes - hazards, but make them continually chip
Transform - i always run tform on my imposters just in case, just become the opponent. I’ve also run it on a couple WGs to copy mold breakers if they set up
whirlwind - straight upgrade to roar bc soundproof
Will o wisp - burn is probably the best status, but it can miss so it sucks
Wish - passing heals from a bulky mon onto a frail one that doesn’t have room for a healing move can be great
Assist - lots of gimmicks. Don’t use this if you’re not building around it and if you are building around it, rethink your life.
Accupressure - slowly omniboost. If your opponent doesn’t bring a haze or something to break your sub, this is a free win.
Copycat - sick on pranksters, can copy pivot moves as well which is nice.
Electrify - haven’t seen this used quite yet, but i can’t wait until some degenerate rolls up with this and sweeps a tour
Entrainment - my favorite of the ability reset moves, you can give yourself magic bounce too
Skill swap - another ability swap move, you can give yourself wonder guard this time! Can’t be bounced either
Fairy Lock - another gimmick, but it can be interesting with eject button to trap an opponent and bring in a strong mold breaker
Forest's Curse - changing the opponent’s type to make them weak to a move you have is cool, forest’s curse is probably the least viable of all of these but it’s worth thinking about, even if it might be a bit slow
Grass Whistle / Sing - sleep moves that go through sub
Hypnosis - used just because it doesn’t go through sub and it has more pp than dark void
Powder - anti fire type tech on wg scizor. Blocked by safety goggles
psycho shift - cool if you have a way of giving consistent status to yourself like pheal or flame orb, not great otherwise
simple beam / gastro acid - simple beam has more pp but you give your opponent the chance to boost harder. Gastro is usually the choice since it just clears abilities. Avoid using worry seed, these are upgrades.
Soak - type reset move, cool if you’re running moves to hit water types.
spider web - straight upgrade to mean look or block, higher pp and trapping without an attack or ability
splash / happy hour / celebrate - you’re going to look at me like i’m crazy. And i might be. This is an extremely situational pick that has one viable option. If you’re in a wg vs wg situation and the opponent is trying to catch you in a switch by clicking uturn AND you are faster than them, happy hour is a way to waste pp. If you’re using a slow wg, use baton pass or parting shot.
Torment - more experimental than encore or disable, but preventing moves will always be cool
trick or treat - the best of the type reset moves because you make them weak to pursuit and knock off.



Mons
I think that listing viable mons when a fully functional viability ranking already exists would be a waste of time. Go find that if you want to know which mons are actually good. I disagree with some parts of it (giratina is not s in current meta but we’ll leave that for another day), but it’s a very good starting point when it comes to choosing mons to fill specific slots.


Items
I think item choices are pretty self explanatory, and there isn’t really much room for innovation here. First, I’ll provide a list of what I believe are viable items in the current meta, and then some situations where they would be used. Because there are so few truly viable item choices (not including set-specific items or anything like that), I feel like the best way of breaking this down is into S, A, and “set specific” tiers. Anything unranked is essentially unviable, but I encourage you to prove me wrong!

Items can add some spice into matchups, but I’d say items are the least or second-to-least important aspect of the five inputs that make a mon. Some picks are essential (like shed shell or choice scarf), while others have lots of room to switch around. If you have no better ideas, just run lefties or lum.


S Tier
Universal Utility

Leftovers / Black Sludge
Providing consistent healing over the course of a game is an extremely beneficial effect, especially because you don’t have to spend turns healing as well as your opponent having to do marginally more damage to chase a KO on your mons.

Shed Shell
Because of the prevalence of shadow tag and trapping, running shed shell on wonder guards is near universal now because of its ability to completely shut down an entire slot on the opponent’s team.

Choice Scarf
I like to think that speed is the most important stat in oras ph. Having a choice scarf user is an incredibly strong choice, especially because of its potential to trick onto a mon that wants to be slow or a mon that is seriously damaged by only being able to choose one move. Special users include imposter, which has the ability to almost always outspeed what it comes in on.


A Tier
Strong, will usually find use

Lum Berry
While it has the downside of being single use, lum gives any mon a second chance against status moves. I find this is especially potent on sweepers because many teams’ counterplay revolves around something like a fast sleep move or something else like that to stop an attack in its tracks.

Focus Sash
Although it loses its utility versus hazards, being able to guaranteed survive one move during the early game before hazards are set up can be crucial for surprising the opponent and securing a KO.

Choice Band / Choice Specs
Offensive powerhouse items. If you know which move you’ll click, the 1.5x boost is icing on the cake. Can help secure KOs versus defensive threats if paired with a mold breaker mon.

Safety Goggles
Avoiding spore is super useful, especially because it’s the only 100% accurate sleep move. That’s about the extent of this item’s utility, but an added immunity to weather harm is nice as well, but you could be running lefties to outheal the weather to the same effect.

Life Orb
Pretty good for mixed attackers or attackers that don’t want to be locked into one move. the health penalty isn’t really relevant because this item is usually able to score KOs if you’re attacking a wonder guard for weakness or doing large chip to any non wg mon.


Set Specific

Eviolite
The most relevant use is on an imposter eviolite chansey, instantly becoming a much bulkier version of the opponent’s active. Not really seen on anything other than chansey except for the occasional dusclops (which is an awful choice due to its knock off weakness imo)

Plates
Used with judgment to gain a specific attacking type. Especially useful for a self-improofing attack, as seen on Gengar and Xerneas with ghost and steel judgment respectively. Some other uses include fairy judgment on Mewtwo-Mega-X and ground judgment on Groudon-Primal. Flame plate on wg Genesect can also be a pretty cool self improof and wg attacker option, in the same vein as steel judg xerneas.

Mega Stones and Primal Orbs
Realistically, the only viable mega evolving pokemon in the meta are Gyrados and Banette, with ampharos as a pretty fringe option. Other options with extremely limited viability that can be outclassed 99% of the time are pidgeot, sableye, tyranitar, alakazam, and diancie. As for primal orbs, these are pretty much always unviable because the primal forms are just better with other abilities.

Griseous Orb
I like to say that this is the best item on tina just because you’re immune to the knock off power boost and you can’t get tricked. On a defensive mon like tina that’s pretty essential for avoiding shenanigans.

Soul Dew
The only viable option on Latios other than choice scarf. Boosts Mega lati’s spatk and spdef by 1.5x, making it strictly outclass things like choice specs.


Fringe

Assault Vest
Pretty unviable, but it has cool utility with a klutz set to lock an opponent’s defensive mons out of their status options completely. The only viable set I’ve ever really thought of is klutz ray that mega evolves into delta stream. There could be some utility with a regenerator set, but it hasn’t found real success yet.

Iron Ball
Another item that finds its only utility in trick, it can be used with a mon that wants slow u-turns and potentially tricked onto a fast attacker or other threat that benefits from high speed.

Toxic Orb
Poison heal. The ability isn’t great, but 12% healing and immunity to status can be nice on a good defensive mon.

Flame Orb
Pretty much only used to gain complete immunity to status. I’ve used it on WGs to help with a deoxys matchup so they can’t sleep your mon and you can keep pivoting on them and healing up every couple of turns. Magic guard or trick sets are alright as well, and you can lock a pokemon into a certain status even after aromatherapy is used.

Lustrous / Adamant Orbs
I guess you can use these if you decide to sweep with palkia or dialga. The boost to stabs is nice.



EVs
EVs are pretty unimportant in the grand scheme of things when compared to the other points in this post, but they can still be used to gain an advantage in the game. There are a couple of tricks that I usually like to follow and they certainly help you gain an edge in some scenarios, but they need to be pretty specifically tailored to really work. The most important things to pursue are

Odd HP EVs: 248 or no investment. This allows you to sub, switch into 3spikes, get cursed, or take any other 25% situation 4 times while remaining at 1hp. This should be done on every mon.
On Priority Users: don’t put your nature into speed. Putting your nature boost into Atk is worth the extra damage when using a priority user unless you’re really struggling vs other priority users in your speed bracket. In that case, I’d just suggest dropping your EVs into HP and dropping the 8 into speed to outspeed uninvested or 4 ev clowns.
On deoxys-speed or any no guards: max out your speed with timid and put 248 into hp, put the remaining 8 into physdef or spdef, doesn’t matter
If you aren’t using physical moves: ALWAYS minimize attack. 0 evs and -atk nature. This is to reduce damage from foul play. It isn’t common, but there is no reason to not prep for it.
On defensive mons and pivots: you always want to minimize your speed. In some situations, you should even downlevel your mons a couple of times to make sure that you can always underspeed others. Up to around 5ish levels below 100, you don’t lose any real noticeable bulk. The slower the pivot the more consistently you can get your mons in when you need to.


I'm always available to field questions and discussion. The second part of this post sould be coming out eventually. Stay tuned.
Most of this post is my experience-informed opinion, and there is no real "objective" way to view PH due to the meta's ebb and flow.
 
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Ransei

Garde Mystik
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Battle Simulator Moderatoris a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnus
Moderator
Introducing the latest installment to old gens as of this post in Hackmons form...

Let's Go Pure Hackmons

Nobody has played this metagame for over two and a half years but I've played it enough back when it had an LCotM ladder in December 2018. It's a really simple metagame and I remember most of what it's like. Although the ladder lasted four days before becoming incredibly dead, the viability levels of Pokemon in this metagame were incredibly blatant.

Usage stats from December 2018 ladder: https://www.smogon.com/stats/2018-12/gen7letsgohackmons-1760.txt

Sample Team:

Let's Go Hyper Offense by Ransei

Team Description: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/om-mashup-megathread.3635904/page-10#post-7974512

Currently when teambuilding, make sure to hit the Import/Export box and edit each Pokemon's ability specifically to No Ability.

- There are only 153 total species of Pokemon.
- There are no items or abilities. Grass-types are the only thing blocking Spore.
- Players can maximize all of their candies on a Pokemon. Everything has Giratina-level bulk.
- Eevee moves are highly absurd. The most prominent ones are Baddy Bad, Glitzy Glow, Sparkly Swirl, and Sappy Seed.
- Baddy Bad is a 90 BP 100% accuracy Dark-type attack that summons Reflect. Glitzy Glow is a 90 BP 100% accuracy Psychic-attack that summons Light Screen. Both are special attacks. Again, everything has Giratina-level bulk.
- Grass-types are the only thing blocking Sappy Seed. This is an unavoidable Leech Seed attack move with 90 BP and 100% accuracy.
- Buzzy Buzz and Sizzly Slide are Partner Eevee moves occasionally used for other status. Buzzy Buzz is a 90 BP and 100% accuracy move with a 100% paralysis chance. Sizzly Slide is a 90 BP and 100% accuracy move with a 100% burn chance.
- Sparkly Swirl is incredibly useful. It is an unavoidable damage move that cures the whole team's status.
- Shell Smash is everywhere. This is not because it's broken here. It's because Pokemon cannot do any decent damage to their opponents otherwise.

Here are viability rankings to reflect the state of this metagame. I wanted to make this preliminary but then I looked through the entire game roster and concluded this is probably all of the Pokemon who are viable in this metagame:

Viability Rankings

S Rank
Venusaur-Mega

A Rank

Aerodactyl-Mega
Alakazam-Mega

B Rank
Exeggutor
Mewtwo-Mega-X
Mewtwo-Mega-Y

C Rank
Charizard-Mega-X
Exeggutor-Alola

Zapdos

D Rank
Gyarados-Mega
Melmetal
Muk-Alola
Sandslash-Alola


/tour new gen7letsgoou, elim
/tour setautostart 7
/tour setautodq 3
/tour ruleset !!Adjust Level = 100, --Nonexistent, !Obtainable Moves, !Species Clause, !Nickname Clause, !OHKO Clause, !Evasion Moves Clause, !Sleep Clause Mod, +Uber, Allow AVs, !Obtainable Formes
/tour name [Gen 7 Let's Go] Pure Hackmons

Now available in Old Shark.
 
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Introducing the latest installment to old gens as of this post in Hackmons form...

Let's Go Pure Hackmons
YOOOOOOOOOOO LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOO no pun intended

I think my gf asked if this was a thing a few weeks ago and ofc I said no not really but I'm always hyped to try new or resurging metas
As always, I'm sure the biggest problem will be finding people to play with~
 

aerobee

Pure Hackmons
is a Community Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
i see that there hasn't been much discussion about non-oras hackmons lately

anyway here goes nothing

_________________________________________________________________________________________________


CFZs in Gen 7 Hackmons
:solganium-z::lycanium-z::pikashunium-z::pikanium-z::aloraichium-z::eevium-z::snorlium-z::mewnium-z::decidium-z::incinium-z::primarium-z::tapunium-z::marshadium-z::lunalium-z::ultranecrozium-z:

From my experience in Gen 7 Hackmons, these moves are insanely threatening and, frankly, are probably underrated. When used with Huge Power, using a CFZ often nets a KO for the user, as even resisted CFZs can heavily dent the opposing Pokemon.


Reasons to Use

Here are a few reasons why CFZs can be useful, apart from their staggering base power:

1. The user can surprise opponents with the move.

What do I mean? I mean that not only are CFZs powerful, but they're also rather unpredictable. As this is Hackmons, any Pokemon can slap a CFZ onto their moveset; this makes supposed checks to more offensive Pokemon much shakier. This effect's exacerbated in the case of CFZs, as they can very well straight up KO a check.

2. With a good set, they can act as surprisingly effective coverage.


Another perk CFZs have is that there are many of them; this, along with the previously mentioned surprise factor, allows users to simply bypass would-be checks. This is one of the reasons why Gen 7 Hackmons is offense-oriented compared to most other Hackmons generations.

3. Pokemon are able to run more than one.

Adding on to the previous two points, this makes CFZ users all the more threatening. Even if the user has revealed that they're using a CFZ, switch-ins still run the risk of getting seriously chipped or OHKOed.

This also allows Harvest + Leppa Berry Pokemon to thrive in Gen 7 Hackmons, something that I personally have a difficult time playing against.

4. Some CFZs have (positive) effects.

I remember, back when I was relatively new to Hackmons, that I used to run this Extreme Evoboost + Boomburst Mold Breaker Arceus. That some CFZs can raise stats (Extreme Evoboost, Clangorous Soulblaze) and that some others make it difficult to defensively check these moves (10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt, Searing Sunraze Smash/Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom/Light that Burns the Sky, Stoked Sparksurfer) make these moves even more threatening.

5. They have 1 PP.

While this may seem like a liability, that isn't exactly so. Having 1 PP prevents Prankster + Encore from ensuring a safe switch (albeit after a KO), and severely limits progress that opposing Imposter users may make against the user.

While having 1 PP can limit the user's ability to break through the opposing team, this can be circumvented with Leppa Berry; if not applicable for a specific set, then the absurd power and sturdier Imposter-proofing are well worth it.


Individual Viability


I'll try to order them by viability. Of course, this is my own subjective view, so it's completely fine to disagree.

Light that Burns the Sky

Honestly this move's just ridiculous. A free 200-BP Psychic-type move that can be either physical or special is bound to be top-tier. When used with Huge Power it can straight-up OHKO even resists, with Psychic Surge it can OHKO non-resists while denying the opponent a chance to revenge-kill, and when used with Magic Guard the user can more liberally use the move without having to fear for Innards Out Pokemon. It's often used on Harvest Pokemon like Mega Metagross due to being such an amazing move.


Viable users: :mewtwo-mega-x: :mewtwo-mega-y: :deoxys-attack: :necrozma-ultra: :necrozma-dusk-mane: :alakazam-mega: :metagross-mega: and a ton of other powerful Pokemon. Literally half of all viable Pokemon could run this move well

Searing Sunraze Smash

I really like this one personally. It breaks through reasonably common Fairy-types and a good amount of Pokemon can run this and be threatening. Pokemon like Mega Mewtwo X can use this move to break through would-be checks like Yveltal.

Viable users: :necrozma-dusk-mane: :metagross-mega: :kartana: :mewtwo-mega-x: :solgaleo:

Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom

This is pretty neat too. Special Ghost-types can hit really hard with this and can take advantage of the fact that most Wonder Guard Pokemon are neutral to Ghost-type attacks. One negative this move has is that it doesn't synergize very well with LTBTS users.

Viable users: :gengar-mega: :lunala: :necrozma-dawn-wings:

Extreme Evoboost

This is a staple on Harvest sets, as Pokemon with the ability and Leppa Berry can use the move more than once. Prankster + Haze sucks but outside of that the move seems promising on Mold Breaker users.

Viable users: :arceus: :deoxys-attack: :metagross-mega:

Catastropika

I've seen this one decently often on Pokemon that need coverage for the likes of Primal Kyogre and Mega Gyarados. While there aren't that many physical Electric-types, a good number of powerful Pokemon can viably run this move.

Viable users: :mewtwo-mega-x: :groudon-primal: :metagross-mega: :necrozma-dusk-mane: :deoxys-attack:

Genesis Supernova

Setting Psychic Terrain helps immensely for faster Psychic-types, making it much more difficult for the opponent to revenge-kill the user.

Viable users: :mewtwo-mega-y: :deoxys-attack: :mewtwo-mega-x: :alakazam-mega:

Let's Snuggle Forever

Hitting Dragon- and Dark-types is pretty nice. While there's a shortage of splashable physical Fairy-types, it's a decent coverage option for the top physical Pokemon.

Viable users: :mewtwo-mega-x: :deoxys-attack: :metagross-mega: :diancie-mega:

Clangorous Soulblaze

While this can only be used once, on Mold Breaker Pokemon it can be really scary due to boosting every stat. Opposing Fairy-types suck for the user but that's what the user should use another moveslot for.

Viable users: :rayquaza-mega: :mewtwo-mega-y:

10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt

I've only really seen this move once or twice - it's nearly always a worse Catastropika. Given that there's a lack of special Fire- and Ground-types, there isn't much that prizes Electric-type coverage; there being no good special Electric-types in the metagame doesn't help either.

Viable users: :deoxys-attack:

Pulverizing Pancake

I guess this works on certain Mold Breaker Pokemon. 210 Base Power is quite a lot and, with STAB, can deal serious damage to even physical walls like Zygarde-C. Not hitting anything super effectively sucks though.

Viable users: :arceus:

Everything Else

I don't think any of the other CFZs are actually worth using. Moves like Stoked Sparksurfer are outclassed, and those like Soul-Stealing 7-Star Strike just aren't useful due to there being no good users.


Patterns

I see a couple of patterns for what Pokemon are viable with what moves.

1. Psychic-types tend to be good users of CFZs.

This is because there are a large number of viable Psychic-types in the metagame. Pokemon like Mega Mewtwo X, Mega Alakazam, and Necrozma-DM have good stats and can run a wide array of moves, allowing them to viably run a variety of CFZs.

This, in turn, affects which CFZs are the most viable; Light that Burns the Sky and Genesis Supernova have STAB on Psychic-types, increasing their viability.

2. Pokemon running CFZs tend to be fast.

While this many be in part because so many of the viable CFZ users are Psychic-types, it's true that there's a general trend of faster Pokemon using the moves. A main objective of Pokemon running CFZs is to OHKO opposing Pokemon, something that's more safely done with good offensive stats and great Speed to prevent getting damaged. This is something that I've seen some other powerful Pokemon take into consideration; Mega Mewtwo X always runs a Jolly nature, and No Guard Pokemon commonly carry a Choice Scarf.


Conclusion

In my opinion, CFZs are an incredibly powerful group of moves that applies tremendous pressure, especially when playing against offensive Pokemon. While it is primarily their jaw-dropping immediate base power that makes them so threatening, there are several other ways these moves innately pressure opponents. They can be run as a STAB option to net a likely KO, and as a powerful coverage option, especially on Harvest + Leppa Berry Pokemon.

CFZs' strengths remove any possibility of reliable counterplay; the best one can do is to predict whether the Pokemon on the field has a CFZ as at least one of its moveslots, and predict accordingly. Due to this, I believe that crystal-free Z-moves are one of Gen 7 Hackmons' unhealthiest features, as well as one that has yet to be thoroughly explored.
 

aerobee

Pure Hackmons
is a Community Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
I realized that I didn't include any example sets in my above post. Here's a good Z-move set, as well as being one of my favorite sets to use in Gen 7 Hackmons!

:sm/necrozma-dusk-mane:

Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Solganium Z
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shell Smash
- Sunsteel Strike
- Play Rough / Icicle Crash / Moongeist Beam
- V-Create / Sacred Fire / Precipice Blades

This set uniquely uses a signature Z-crystal, preventing Imposter Pokemon from blasting its teammates with a Huge Power-boosted 200-BP STAB move. It also has the perks of allowing Necrozma-DM to setup more easily against Knock Off users like Mega Gyarados, and not get Tricked (though Trick users are quite diverse, and so it's difficult to predict and hard switch this Pokemon in). Necrozma-DM's decent defenses also help it setup more easily, allowing it to withstand most priority attacks and take an attack while clicking Shell Smash.

Shell Smash is the number-one way to bolster a Pokemon's offensive stats; at +2 with an Adamant nature, Necrozma-DM manages to barely outspeed fully invested Deoxys-S. Sunsteel Strike is mandatory for Solganium Z to be usable, being a strong STAB move that can power through even resists. Play Rough and Icicle Crash hit bulky Dragon-types that would otherwise be more difficult to take down; while Icicle Crash often OHKOes non-Fur Coat Zygarde-C, Play Rough is preferred due to hitting Mega Mewtwo X and most Dark-types super effectively. Moongeist Beam's a funny choice that can be used to heavily checks, like Fur Coat Mega Slowbro. I find the final slot to be quite flexible. V-Create allows Necrozma-DM to OHKO targets without setting up, Sacred Fire lets it stay in longer after setting up due to not lowering Speed, and Precipice Blades hits Primal Groudon, having a good chance to OHKO it before setting up. All three of these options OHKO opposing Eviolite Chansey after one Shell Smash, something I like using as a benchmark for Huge Power setup sweepers.

252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Sunsteel Strike vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Arceus: 288-339 (64.8 - 76.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Sunsteel Strike vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Mewtwo-Mega-X: 327-385 (78.6 - 92.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Sunsteel Strike vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Audino-Mega: 506-596 (123.4 - 145.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Searing Sunraze Smash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Zygarde Complete: 519-612 (81.6 - 96.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (The same amount of damage is dealt with Sunsteel Strike at +2)
252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Searing Sunraze Smash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Giratina: 525-618 (104.1 - 122.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Searing Sunraze Smash vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro-Mega: 386-455 (98.2 - 115.7%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Mewtwo-Mega-X: 392-462 (94.2 - 111%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Zygarde Complete: 624-736 (98.1 - 115.7%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Icicle Crash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Zygarde Complete: 588-696 (92.4 - 109.4%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO

+2 252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Sacred Fire vs. -1 252 HP / 252 Def Eviolite Chansey: 738-870 (104.8 - 123.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane V-create vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Fur Coat Solgaleo: 340-402 (71.1 - 84.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane V-create vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Eviolite Chansey: 442-522 (62.7 - 74.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Precipice Blades vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Solgaleo: 454-536 (94.9 - 112.1%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Precipice Blades vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Primal Groudon: 374-440 (92.5 - 108.9%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO

I think that three of Necrozma-DM's best partners are Wonder Guard Mega Swampert, Prankster Primal Groudon (Groudon works only if Necrozma-DM doesn't run Precipice Blades), and Fur Coat/Poison Heal Mega Slowbro (if Necrozma-DM doesn't run Moongeist Beam, which is basically always). The former has a fantastic typing that resists Sunsteel Strike, while the latter has an often-overflooked amazing bulk, while also resisting Necrozma-DM's moveset.

:sm/swampert-mega:

Swampert-Mega @ Shed Shell
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp / Whirlwind
- Strength Sap / Recover
- U-Turn
- Aromatherapy / Knock Off / whatever

This set aims to either burn or force Chanseys out. Strength Sap can be run for impressive but comparatively unreliable recovery, while Recovery's more reliable but doesn't heal as much on average. U-Turn lets Swampert retain momentum, while slot 4 doesn't really matter concerning its role in checking Necrozma-DM.

252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Sunsteel Strike vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Swampert-Mega: 139-164 (34.4 - 40.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

:sm/groudon-primal:

Groudon-Primal @ Leftovers / Shed Shell / Safety Goggles
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Encore / Will-O-Wisp
- Destiny Bond / Thousand Waves
- Strength Sap / Recover
- Spectral Thief / Haze

This is a modified version of what I used on my Primal Groudon spam. Encore's useful in general, while Will-O-Wisp can burn opposing Imposter Chansey. Destiny Bond's also useful in general, and Thousand Waves can unexpectedly trap something unless the opposing Pokemon's a Flying-type, a Ghost-type, or is holding a Shed Shell. Like with Swampert, Strength Sap heals more but Recover's more reliable. Spectral Thief can steal stat boosts while hitting Imposter Chansey Transformed into Necrozma-DM super effectively; Haze's also useful, all but preventing a boosted hit from breaking through Primal Groudon.

+2 252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Sunsteel Strike vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Primal Groudon: 212-249 (52.4 - 61.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Sunsteel Strike vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Primal Groudon: 105-125 (25.9 - 30.9%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Icicle Crash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Primal Groudon: 120-142 (29.7 - 35.1%) -- 17.9% chance to 3HKO
252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane V-create vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Primal Groudon: 127-150 (31.4 - 37.1%) -- 83.4% chance to 3HKO

:sm/slowbro-mega:

Slowbro-Mega @ Shed Shell / Toxic Orb
Ability: Fur Coat / Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Bold / Calm Nature
- King's Shield
- Scald / Spectral Thief
- Parting Shot / U-Turn
- Spikes / Stealth Rock / Recover

Mega Slowbro's great physical bulk makes it a relatively reliable switch-in, resisting most of Necrozma-DM's moveset. King's Shield's useful due to Necrozma-DM commonly running contact moves; it's also just a really useful move in general, having great synergy with Poison Heal. Scald can help fish for burns while chipping the opposing Pokemon. Spectral Thief can be used alternatively for setup sweepers. Parting Shot and U-Turn help to retain momentum for Mega Slowbro; I prefer the former due to being able to switch out against Wonder Guard Pokemon. Hazard stacking is easier on Mega Slowbro than it is for most other Pokemon due to its previously mentioned bulk. On Fur Coat sets Recover's mandatory, but for Poison Heal sets I consider it an option that's alright to forgo.

252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Sunsteel Strike vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro-Mega: 97-114 (24.6 - 29%) -- 99.9% chance to 4HKO
252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Play Rough vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro-Mega: 117-138 (29.7 - 35.1%) -- 16.9% chance to 3HKO
252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane V-create vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro-Mega: 116-137 (29.5 - 34.8%) -- 11.3% chance to 3HKO
252+ Atk Huge Power Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Precipice Blades vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 155-183 (39.4 - 46.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO (4.7% chance to 2HKO with a Calm nature on Slowbro)
252- SpA Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Moongeist Beam vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Slowbro: 148-176 (37.6 - 44.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
(+2 252- SpA Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Moongeist Beam vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Slowbro: 294-348 (74.8 - 88.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO)


This is a solid set that I enjoy using, so go ahead and try it out!

oh also this isnt really a CFZ set, my bad
 
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Ransei

Garde Mystik
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Battle Simulator Moderatoris a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnus
Moderator

Mega Audino says hi

This is out of nowhere but I just want to talk about this Pokemon and give my reasons why I find it to be the best Wonder Guard in the 3DS Pure Hackmons generations. I will go over the specifics of each of the two generations, most notably Gen 7. Hopefully it may clear things up in the future in case people ever get confused. I'm probably just being paranoid but w/e.

When determining how valuable a Wonder Guard Pokemon is in Hackmons, there are really just two primary factors.

1. Typing

Here are questions to consider:
1) Are they not weak to coverage options highly effective outside dealing with Wonder Guard? (Examples: Fire-type moves, Fairy-type moves, Dark-type moves, Ghost-type moves, Fighting-type moves, Flying-type moves, Pivot moves, Thousand Arrows)
2) Are they not weak to OHKO moves? (Sheer Cold, Fissure)
3) Do other Pokemon have to sacrifice their better coverage options just to deal with a particular Wonder Guard Pokemon? (Examples: Mega Gengar having to trade Secret Sword for Sludge Wave or Moonblast, Mega Diancie having to run Freeze Dry, Mega Mewtwo X having to run Leaf Blade)

Are they immune to or are at least resistant against Mold Breaker moves?
  • Sunsteel Strike (Least important) - It's difficult for this move to work around Innards Out unless the user is a Magic Guard Ghost-type. Other Magic Guards can work as long as they don't directly switch into Innards Out in some cases. Mega Slowbro and Primal Groudon are prominent. Lots of fat Steel-types like Doublade, Mega Scizor, Mega Steelix, Mega Metagross, Solgaleo, and Ferrothorn are viable. King's Shield can weaken damage for safety in the next turn. Fairy is the only notable typing weak to this move. Kartana is a little too slow, so Mega Mewtwo X is its most viable user. It is not STAB for Mega Mewtwo X. In summary, this move is useful for having no Pokemon immune to it, but there are a lot of ways it can be worked around by non Wonder Guard teammates. There is no one clear cut answer to handle all of them at once. The best option would be to tackle down with multiple different coverage moves, and not all of those moves can fit into Mega Mewtwo X's four slots.)​

  • Moongeist Beam (Most important) - Outside Wonder Guards, about 60% of the viability rankings from A- and above are weak to Ghost-type and 80% are weak to the combination of Ghost + Fighting-type coverage. Ghost + Fighting is perfect coverage. It regularly hits everything not weak to this that isn't Wonder Guard. Moongeist Beam's only resisted type is Dark and only type immune is Normal. Both are weak to Fighting. It is also much easier for Pokemon with STAB Moongeist Beam to work around Innards Out because if they carry Magic Guard, they can switch into Innards Out without fear of getting hit by Final Gambit. All of this makes it extra important that there are Wonder Guards who are able to take on Moongeist Beam and Fighting coverage simultaneously, especially since the former breaks through their ability.)​

  • Photon Geyser (Relatively important) - Mega Mewtwo X and Ultra Necrozma are the best users of this move and can perform catastrophic damage against the vast majority of Pokemon with it. They also prioritize coverage options on Pokemon who dare wall this move, by running Thousand Arrows for Alolan Muk, Play Rough for other Dark-types and even their same species, and/or Sacred Fire for Steel-types. Fortunately, many of the same Pokemon who can wall Sunsteel Strike can also wall Photon Geyser and have defenses insane enough to the point where with Fur Coat, they can even tank Super Effective coverage moves from Huge Power. I would heavily advise using those Pokemon instead of any Wonder Guard to deal with Mega Mewtwo X and Ultra Necrozma. On another note, Photon Geyser has a somewhat difficult time dealing with Innards Out but it's a case-by-case basis. For physical attackers, the case is similar to Sunsteel Strike. Special attacking Photon Geyser users without Magic Guard are more likely to get around Innards Out but should be aware of Final Gambit.​

Each of the questions above list important factors are necessary to determine how great a Wonder Guard's typing is.

2. Stat distribution

Questions to consider:
Are their defenses high?
Are they super fast or super slow?
If they are not super fast or super slow, do they have the offenses to justify usage?
Are they super fast and have high offenses anyway?

Aside from the two factors listed above, the viability of a Wonder Guard is determined on various levels by what items, moves, mechanics, and teammates they can use to get around their weaknesses.

What makes Mega Audino great from all of this?

Mega Audino noticeably excels in the combination of typing and stat distribution when compared to any other Wonder Guard in Gens 6 and 7 Pure Hackmons. Some Pokemon have the stats but don't have as good of a typing and vice versa.

1. Mega Audino's typing

With the type combination of Normal/Fairy, this Pokemon is only weak to Poison and Steel but is immune to Ghost.
  • Poison-type attacks are hardly relevant. Like with Steel, Fairy is the only notable type weak to it, but Poison also carries four quite large resistances and an immunity to the prolific Steel-type. A lot of Pokemon are going to be taking Poison-type attacks, whether by resisting or taking a neutral hit. Mega Gengar and Mega Mewtwo Y are the best Poison-type attackers and can easily use Ghost-type moves to get rid of Ghost-type Pokemon but when it's compared to the likes of Secret Sword or Aura Sphere, almost everything immune to Ghost-type is weak to Fighting-type and vice versa. In addition, everything that resists Ghost is weak to Fighting and one of the main types able to resist fighting is weak to Ghost. Last but not least, Ghost + Fighting is perfect coverage while Dark/Poison, Dark/Ground, Dark/Steel, and Dark/Rock types resist Ghost + Poison. Anything more to defeat these would require sacrificing a moveslot normally used for setting up, inflicting status, or self-protecting.​
  • Steel-type attacks are pretty relevant, but are mostly physical attacks contact moves. They come with Fire, Steel, Water, and Electric as resistances. Because they tend to be contact moves, Pokemon with King's Shield can half the Steel-type move user's attack. Thousand Arrows may serve as an answer to Electric-types, Steel-types, and Fire-types to an extent, but Electric-types tend to outpace Thousand Arrows users, plenty of Steel-types have the ability to wall even super effective physical attacks, and the main Fire-type Pokemon in the meta has an outstanding base 160 physical defense. In addition, not all Steel-types are weak to Ground. Pokemon like Mega Scizor, Genesect, and Ferrothorn with their weaknesses being fire, and only fighting added for the latter. Water-types also resist Steel-type attacks and may come in various forms. These include Mega Slowbro, Primal Kyogre, Mega Swampert, Gyarados, Mega Gyarados, and Palkia. These are all restricted to Freeze Dry, although Kyogre can take it on and Volcanion can be used as a surprise to work around this. Using Freeze Dry also means a player would likely have to run Flash Cannon if they want to take down Mega Audino, but this is a weaker special attack move that can be taken by the Pokemon and special walls like Blissey. In short, this case is very similar to Sunsteel Strike where there are too many workarounds against Steel-type moves that the users of these moves don't have everything for.​
Mega Audino's Normal. Fairy-typing helps a lot defensively because this makes it one of the few Pokemon fully immune to the perfect Ghost + Fighting coverage.

With Mega Audino's immunity to Ghost/Fighting coverage and its weaknesses being able to be worked around by moves and other Pokemon, Mega Audino finds itself pairing surprisingly well with a tremendous amount of Pokemon in the 3DS metagames. If it's weak to Steel, tons of viable Pokemon already resist that. If they're weak to Ghost, Mega Audino can soak up Ghost-type attacks. If a Pokemon is running both, King's Shield can punish most users of Steel-type attacks and we still have Pokemon able to take/resist Ghost + Steel. Shadow Tag with Steel-type move? Shed Shell is one of the most prominent items in the 3DS metagames and most Mega Audino carry a pivot move. Normal/Fairy is a trickier Wonder Guard typing to deal with than any other in Gens 6 and 7.

With the release of Mold Breaker moves in Generation 7, typing becomes an even bigger factor. Mega Audino being immune to Moongeist Beam + Secret Sword is a blessing for all the aforementioned reasons above. With, Sunsteel Strike the case isn't all that different from Gen 6's. Players are just more focused on resisting that move since most of the same Pokemon tanking it also take Photon Geyser. The case is no different for Mega Audino, as it finds itself pairing well with a tremendous amount of Pokemon for all the same reasons. Those reasons are just emphasized more in Gen 7.

2. Mega Audino's stat distribution

When it comes to stat distribution, the main thing players worry about for Mega Audino are its poor offense stats. Mega Audino is very passive as a Wonder Guard. Although this is the case, this is also the case for most Wonder Guard Pokemon in general. Only a small number of Wonder Guards are able to greatly hit other Pokemon with attack moves and this is often dependent on if they have the right coverage. Mega Audino being passive does not heavily matter because the main role of a Wonder Guard Pokemon is to be a support or cleric with protection against No Guard OHKO moves. Mega Audino is... just that. Wonder Guard Pokemon carrying offense moves also tend to struggle against other Wonder Guards if they don't run the right coverage, or against attackers with other abilities as they often don't hit hard enough to outcompete them.

While Mega Audino's offenses are low, its defenses are quite high. They are almost the equivalent to Arceus's. 103 HP/126 Defense/126 Special Defense is enough for Relaxed Nature Mega Audino to survive a Huge Power Gear Grind/Sunsteel Strike Mega Mewtwo X and/or (depending on EVs) a Life Orb Protean Flash Cannon Mega Mewtwo Y. Even with ALL the Pokemon it could team up with to mitigate its weaknesses AND a great move to nerf the best attacker of its biggest weakness, Mega Audino can STILL survive against the moves its most weak to on its own when it's at full HP. Might as well run some Metal Burst sets to troll them both! Might as well troll Mega Gengar too. All other Wonder Guards are more easy to take down on average than Mega Audino, whether it's because they are x4 weak to something, are weak to a super efficient coverage option, or are just Fairy-types outclassed by Normal/Fairy due to their lack of Ghost immunity! In Gen 7, not resisting or being immune to a Mold Breaker move greatly hurts a Wonder Guard and makes them nearly unviable.

Lastly are Mega Audino's HP and Speed. These two are combined because when paired with defenses, they are what make Mega Audino the best cleric in the 3DS metagames. While all the factors mentioned above make it a better cleric than Chansey/Blissey, Mega Audino is a very slow Pokemon able to build momentum off pivoting slower than the opposition. When it runs Wish, the target can try making a move to switch out or stay in. Mega Audino moves last and switches into the Pokemon intended to receive Wish recovery. It can also outright pivot into a Pokemon with better matchup against the opposition. If it doesn't want to pivot to anyone, it can use King's Shield or Magic Coat to heal itself up under protection. This helps Mega Audino support many Pokemon and work even better with the ones it can greatly work with already.

Mega Audino by no means the perfect Wonder Guard Pokemon. All Wonder Guards have their strengths and flaws, but Mega Audino's strengths outweigh its flaws more than any other Wonder Guard in the 3DS metagames. This post not only explains why Mega Audino surpasses the other Wonder Guards, but explains why it's one of the most splashable Pokemon in both 3DS metagames. When given the opportunity, Mega Audino is able to take care of many Pokemon, including itself.
 
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Its been a long time since I posted. I retired for a time. I am now some what at lest back, I even topped gen 6 PH ladder on 2 accounts.
Proof:
https://prnt.sc/1ofp736

I wanted to post today Because I wanted to submit some Gen 6 samples. Samples are extremely old and I hope that more people would run samples. I am also a little tired of the over useage of shedinja and wonderloon spam on ladder.

These are also some of my faovirte laddering teams so far. So to start off with a offense team.

:Giratina: :Gengar-Mega: :Arceus-Fire: :Gengar-Mega: :Diancie-Mega::Groudon-Primal:
Dark void spam dual Gengar offense

As the team name says and shows this team if full on dark void spam. Very straightfoward team just put stuff to sleep and hopefully you can manage to get off a sweep. Theres 2 pranksters for dealing with and checking other sweepers as well as general field control. Also some baton pass to help pass some boost to your own sweepers. I just absolutly love how fast this team is at just taking down some many kinds of teams Pretty much just dark void set up and go brrrrrrrrrrrr. jokes aside this is a insanely fast hyper offense team and as such has only 1 wonder guard. So be careful with the wonder guard and be careful of magic bounce and even more so magic coat. Other wise this team generally works quite nicely.

For my next team it also has 2 moldy mons but instead its more focused on being a bit more bulky or even a balanced team.

:Groudon-Primal: :Latios-Mega: :Audino-Mega: :Beedrill-Mega: :Registeel: :Giratina:
Latios and Pdon dual moldy balance

I love audino and beedrill wonder guard combo so much. I generally love combining wonder guards with 1 being fast and 1 being slow. Audino is a nice slower pivot while beedrill is a faster pivot and also has faster tant. Idea here is to pick off things with latios and pdon so being able to pivot into them helps a lot. Taunt on beedrill prevents all sorts of nasty status and set up sweeping. Not only taunt here to stop set up sweepers by also you cause enough pressure with pdon and latios generally. Use Pdon carefully its best used when imposter is gone to set up with it. Other wise you can also slowly hammer things down with just stab arrows v-create and latios stab psystrike and spacial rends. both of these also are improofed by causing prsssure on imp from coming in and also registeel with gira helps check even further. You can generally control the field with your other 4 non mold mons and eventually pivot and start picking off things with your mold mons.

For My last 2 teams They are somewhat similar. Revolving around using scarf Lopunny.

:Lopunny-Mega: :Audino-Mega: :Beedrill-Mega: :Giratina: :Arceus: :Diancie-Mega:
Dual rabbit balance with Diancie

:Lopunny-Mega: :Audino-Mega: :Beedrill-Mega: :Giratina: :Registeel: :Rayquaza-Mega:
Dual rabbit balance with Ray

Did I mention I love ,lopunny audino and beedrill? well ya I just love the core of audino and beedrill wonderguards. And Both of these teams are balance teams that use scarf no guard lopunny thats also a lovely favorite. Scarf lopunny outpaces many pokemon and can dismantle many pokemon, especially wonder guards with trick and lopunny still has a fairly high base speed so even without scarf it can outpace a dcent chunck of the metagame. with scarf your now outpacing deo-s and even adamant pdon at +2 (after a shell smash). the idea on both of these teams is to slowly knock down things with moldy mon. the first has a little nicer on revenge killing due to diancie and better priority. the second one has a bit more def with registeel and ray gives more immediate pressure with specs vs the first team that uses more set up with that arceus. Both have worked very well for me and both are some of my favorite teams that I have ever built so far. Shoutouts to alexgrizz for helping with a little bit of this idea. as one of the first verisons was with mmy and drapion wg core. But i decided I wanted to not be weak to fissure and I like audino and beedrill a lot more. Generally I feel these are more fitting for samples anyway. These last 2 I suppose are slightly less straightfoward then the first 2 but i still feel there interesting and show great use in how scarf no guard and trick can help teams. also showing how useful fast wonderguards paired with slow wonder guards are in general. Also Lopunny is my Waifu since the name.

Hopefully at lest one of these can be picked for a sample I feel they are generally good and they helped me ladder quite far. And so I hope others can use these to also get a good start and a interesting look upon multiple stable mons that i use such as ate mons (diancie) no guard mons in deo s/lopunny, giratina and moldy mons. And as always just have Fun with them.
:blobuwu:
 

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aerobee

Pure Hackmons
is a Community Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
Regenerator Yveltal in Gen 6 Hackmons

Yup, that's right. I personally think that Regenerator is a very, very underrated Ability in Gen 6 Hackmons. There are a few reasons for this:

- The tier's full of powerful special Mold Breaker Pokemon that one has a lot of trouble dealing with otherwise.
- It's generally really annoying - even with hazards up Regenerator usually gives the user a net gain in HP.
- Regenerator users can switch into Curse, remove opposing Pokemon's item, inflict status with moves like Poison Fang, Lava Plume, and Scald; even Wonder Guard Pokemon are subject to being annoyed by said users.
- In particular, if the user's powerful enough it can trap opposing Pokemon much more easily with Pursuit - a quality that can be attributed to amazing synergy with Assault Vest, allowing the user to survive more attacks, and in return, heavily chip the opposing Pokemon (usually with bulk reduced due to Shell Smash).

And one Regenerator Pokemon stands out of them all.

:xy/yveltal:

Yveltal @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Knock Off
- Lava Plume
- Poison Fang
- Pursuit

Yveltal, in my opinion, is the best Regenerator Pokemon due to a few factors:

- It's reasonably strong for a defensive Pokemon; Lava Plume threatens an OHKO on opposing Mega Scizor, and Knock Off is strong enough that it's an annoyance, even against Giratina.
- Its typing allows it to check Mega Gengar, a particularly difficult Pokemon to defensively check even with an Assault Vest.
- Not much forces it out; the only Pokemon that really scare it off are Pixilate/Refrigerate users.
- Its physical and special bulk, although not the best, are still quite good.

The set's pretty simple. Knock Off and Pursuit make it difficult for opposing Ghost- and Psychic-types to survive for more than a turn. Lava Plume threatens a burn (meaning chip) against opposing defensive Pokemon like Giratina, scares prominent Wonder Guards in Genesect and Mega Scizor, and discourages otherwise scary switch-ins like Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Diancie from liberally coming in. Poison Fang hits Mega Audino and Xerneas specifically, and can drain the former's Aromatherapy PP if it's not careful.

Here are a few calcs for those who are interested:
252+ SpA Soul Dew Latios-Mega Spacial Rend vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Yveltal: 153-181 (33.6 - 39.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Turboblaze Kyurem-White Draco Meteor vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Yveltal: 208-246 (45.7 - 54%) -- 46.9% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Protean Mewtwo-Mega-Y Moonblast vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Yveltal: 265-315 (58.2 - 69.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+6 252+ SpA Spooky Plate Gengar-Mega Judgment vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Yveltal: 255-300 (56 - 65.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Gengar-Mega Secret Sword vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Yveltal: 129-152 (28.3 - 33.4%) -- 0% chance to 3HKO

0 Atk Yveltal Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Latios-Mega: 264-312 (87.7 - 103.6%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO
0 Atk Yveltal Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Giratina: 168-200 (33.3 - 39.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 Atk Yveltal switching boosted Pursuit vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Gengar-Mega: 264-312 (101.1 - 119.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 SpA Yveltal Lava Plume vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Scizor-Mega: 292-344 (85.1 - 100.2%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

And here are a few replays to showcase its effectiveness:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen6purehackmons-1406978879 - Yveltal stomachs hits from Palkia and annoys opposing Pokemon with Poison Fang.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen6purehackmons-1402245248 - Yveltal can switch into Curse Giratina and break its Substitute with Knock Off.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen6purehackmons-1404465175 - Yveltal takes just 34 from Latios' Spacial Rend, traps it, is generally an annoying presence, and later on eats a Choice Specs Draco Meteor from Kyurem-W without Assault Vest.

In conclusion, Regenerator is an Ability that deserves more recognition than it gets, Yveltal is an excellent user of the Ability, I like using this set, and you should try using it.
 

Ransei

Garde Mystik
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Battle Simulator Moderatoris a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnus
Moderator
Gen 6 Pure Hackmons ladder has been active for a while and we have a mostly fresh batch of samples to accommodate for this. Many of our old sample teams turned out to be outdated and not as suitable for competitive play as they would have been in the distant past.

Sample Teams:

Legacy Passive Balance by Feebas4ubers


Dual Rabbit Balance by BahamutLagoon


Natural Kyurem-White Offense by Ransei


WG Spooky Plate Arceus Offense by Disciple_1


TA Xern Hyper Offense by BahamutLagoon

The only team kept was Legacy Passive Balance by Feebas4Ubers. Some of these team names may be subject to change. Enjoy!
 

Ransei

Garde Mystik
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Battle Simulator Moderatoris a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnus
Moderator
HELLO. WITH THE HELP OF PH COUNCIL AND COMMUNITY. I HAVE REVAMPED THE GENERATION 6 PURE HACKMONS VIABILITY RANKINGS AND MADE MANY CHANGES. HERE IS THE CHANGELOG WITH ALL THE CHANGES MADE. LET ME KNOW IF I'M MISSING SOMETHING, BECAUSE THIS WAS A LOT.
Changelog:
WG VR revamped with definitions behind each rank put in place:

S+ - Strict preparation for these Wonder Guard Pokemon is mandatory, but their methods of preparation are either inefficient, too wildly demanding, or can easily be worked around.

Arceus - S -> S+ (raised)
Audino-Mega - S -> S+ (raised)

S - Strict preparation for these Wonder Guard Pokemon is mandatory, but their methods of preparation are either highly demanding or can be worked around to a small extent.

Swampert-Mega - S -> S (no change)
Xerneas - S -> S (no change)

S- - Strict preparation for these Wonder Guard Pokemon is mandatory, but preparing for them is easy and efficient. They have high difficulty working around what preps against them.

Sableye-Mega - S -> S- (dropped)
Scizor-Mega - S -> S- (dropped)

A: - These Wonder Guard Pokemon are highly efficient and can greatly be used in lots of functions, but do not require strict preparation, as such preparation is often used to deal with bigger metagame threats.

Blissey - B -> A (raised)
Beedrill-Mega - B -> A (raised)
Drapion - A -> A (no change)
Electrode - A -> A (no change)
Genesect - A -> A (no change)
Gyarados @ Gyaradosite - S -> A (dropped)
Kyogre-Primal - A -> A (no change)
Manectric-Mega - A -> A (no change)
Regigigas - A -> A (no change)
Slaking - A -> A (no change)

B - These Wonder Guard Pokemon are pretty efficient. They carry a couple of flaws but are able to serve plenty decently in unique functions when given a little bit of support to cover up for these flaws.

Cresselia - B -> B (no change)
Deoxys-Speed - B -> B (no change)
Ditto - UR -> B (raised)
Ferrothorn - UR -> B (raised)
Groudon-Primal - B -> B (no change)
Gyarados-Mega - B -> B (no change)
Meloetta - B -> B (no change)
Mewtwo - B -> B (no change)
Mewtwo-Mega-X - B -> B (no change)
Mewtwo-Mega-Y - B -> B (no change)
Palkia - B -> B (no change)

C - These Wonder Guard Pokemon are somewhat efficient. They either carry major flaws or are mostly outclassed by those higher on the VR, but carry unique functions that allow them to work in specific teams.

Alakazam-Mega - C -> C (no change)
Alomomola - D -> C (raised)
Chansey - C -> C (no change)
Darkrai - D -> C (raised)
Deoxys-Attack - C -> C (no change)
Dialga - C -> C (no change)
Durant - C -> C (no change)
Empoleon - UR -> C (added)
Escavalier - C -> C (no change)
Hoopa - UR -> C (added)
Hoopa-Unbound - C -> C (no change)
Ludicolo - D -> C (raised)
Mawile-Mega - C -> C (no change)
Sableye @ Sablenite - UR -> C (raised)
Skarmory - C -> C (no change)
Spiritomb - B -> C (dropped)

D - These Wonder Guards require an extensive amount of support to be utilized successfully, but can work serving in unique functions when the support is given.

Ampharos @ Ampharosite - D -> D (no change)
Landorus - C -> D (dropped)
Landorus-Therian - C -> D (dropped)
Pidgeot @ Pidgeotite - UR -> D (raised)
Tornadus-Therian - D -> D (no change)
Volcanion - D -> D (no change)
Volcarona - D -> D (no change)


Regular Viability Rankings Changelog

Rises

Arceus - A- -> A
Yveltal - A- -> A
Beedrill-Mega - B -> B+
Metagross-Mega - B- -> B+
Tyranitar-Mega - B- -> B+

Drops
Latios-Mega - A+ -> A
Alakazam-Mega - B+ -> B
Cresselia - B+ -> B
Deoxys-Attack - B+ -> B
Registeel - B+ -> B
Altaria-Mega - B- -> C+
Dialga - B- -> C+
Regirock - B- -> D
Sceptile-Mega - C+ -> C
Charizard-Mega-Y - C+ -> D
Zekrom - C -> E

Additions
Ferrothorn - E -> B
Doublade - E -> B-
Latias-Mega - E -> B-
Lugia - E -> B-
Palkia - E -> C+
Gardevoir-Mega - E -> C
Gourgeist-Super - E -> C-

A Formal D Rank was added!
Ditto - E -> D
Dusclops - E -> D
Gyarados @ Gyaradosite - E -> D
Groudon - E -> D
Heracross-Mega - E -> D
Ho-Oh - E -> D
Pidgeot-Mega - E -> D
Pidgeot @ Pidgeotite - E -> D
Regice - E -> D

E Rank was added! E just means everything else.

I started making explanations for some of these changes but there were too many, so I'll leave it to you all to ask why a Pokemon is ranked where it is. Feel free to also post if you have any suggestions in mind to what you think should be changed, added, or even removed. I believe these changes are bound to spark some discussion!

Link to the current VR: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/old-gen-hackmons-megathread.3649618/page-9#post-8756832
 

Ransei

Garde Mystik
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Battle Simulator Moderatoris a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnus
Moderator
Hey in hindsight I want to make a small adjustment to the Viability Rankings. I'm only just changing the placement of one Pokemon for the time being.

Regular VR:
Xerneas - B+ -> A- (raised)

Wonder Guard VR:
Xerneas - S -> S+ (raised)
 

aerobee

Pure Hackmons
is a Community Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
I have a couple of things to say today.

1. https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/deer-squad-oras-hackmons-peaked-1-93-8-gxe-55-0.3690732/

Take a read if you haven't, the team I posted did very well for itself on ladder, despite it having four of the same Pokemon.

2. Regarding the VR update for Gen 6, I have a few thoughts:

:banette-mega: :deoxys-attack: :beedrill-mega: :ferrothorn: DOWN

From my understanding placement in the VR doesn't take No Guard or Wonder Guard into account, so Deoxys-A and Mega Beedrill are way too high imo. Deoxys-A is mostly outclassed by either one of the Mega Mewtwos or Mega Alakazam, but it does have unpredictability and the slight speed advantage (that lets it out speed MMY and Mega Beedrill, I guess?), so I don't want it to drop by too much; Mega Beedrill has many of the same problems but doesn't have the unpredictability factor and so should drop more. Ferrothorn, outside of Wonder Guard, doesn't perform that great, as the majority of Huge Power Pokemon straight-up beat it, it's forced out by -ates due to common Fire-type coverage, and fails to do much against most Mold Breakers. Mega Banette, while it has an obscenely strong Shadow Sneak, relies on prediction and has a difficult time switching in (though that might just be personal bias; I tend to like Pokemon that have enough bulk to survive a potential mistake).

:lugia: :kyurem-white: UP

Lugia's just amazingly fat, soft-checking Huge Power Pokemon, namely MMX (it hard-counters with Fur Coat). What gives it a large niche imo, however, is its ability to simultaneously check a few special Pokemon in Mega Latios and MMY, especially with a specially defensive set like Regenvest. Kyurem-W, from my experience, is a threat that is a HUGE hassle to defensively check; only the likes of Registeel can shut it down, and a Transformed Chansey is far less threatening than a Kyurem-W with a boosting item like Choice Specs. It 2HKOes everything and has the bulk to come in repeatedly - I'd raise it significantly.

:tangrowth: :deoxys-speed: RANK

Tangrowth is surprisingly fat; its ability to counter Primal Groudon with Primordial Sea is unmatched. Spore immunity's a small plus, and it can run Shed Shell for otherwise problematic Shadow Tag users. I'm shocked that Deoxys-S isn't ranked (it's probably just an oversight); I've seen it be used, rather effectively, as a super fast Shadow Tag user. It probably has other uses that I can't think of right now, and UR isn't representative of what it can do.

And here are a few thoughts that I don't feel as strongly about:

:gengar-mega: to S-
:aerodactyl-mega: to A+
:mewtwo-mega-y: to A
:venusaur-mega: to B+
:aegislash: to B
:kyogre-primal: to B
:hoopa-unbound: to C+
:palkia: to C / C-
:ho-oh: to C-
:regice: to UR i have no idea what this thing does

Obviously I have my personal biases so they're probably a large part of some of these thoughts. Feel free to argue about these!
 
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:banette-mega: :deoxys-attack: :beedrill-mega: :ferrothorn: DOWN

From my understanding placement in the VR doesn't take No Guard or Wonder Guard into account, so Deoxys-A and Mega Beedrill are way too high imo. Deoxys-A is mostly outclassed by either one of the Mega Mewtwos or Mega Alakazam, but it does have unpredictability and the slight speed advantage (that lets it out speed MMY and Mega Beedrill, I guess?), so I don't want it to drop by too much; Mega Beedrill has many of the same problems but doesn't have the unpredictability factor and so should drop more. Ferrothorn, outside of Wonder Guard, doesn't perform that great, as the majority of Huge Power Pokemon straight-up beat it, it's forced out by -ates due to common Fire-type coverage, and fails to do much against most Mold Breakers. Mega Banette, while it has an obscenely strong Shadow Sneak, relies on prediction and has a difficult time switching in (though that might just be personal bias; I tend to like Pokemon that have enough bulk to survive a potential mistake).
I personally feel that yes, Deoxys-Attack and Beedril-Mega are high, but not "way too high". Imo Deoxys-Attack can drop to B- or C+, because it isn't straight that bad, and yeah has an unpredictability factor. It's pretty nice as a Mold Breaker, especially with STAB Psycho Boost + Specs + 150 Base SpA (GASP) and is a little hard to switchin into, as things like Swampert-Mega, Arceus, Specially Defensive Audino-Mega and more have a nice chance of fainting in two turns to a Specs-boosted Psycho Boost. TrickChoice, as we all know, is an extremely efficient strategy to bring down a lot of defensive Wonder Guard Pokémon, and defensive Pokémon as a whole too. But it does like what 50 to SpD Yveltal, and the new new RegenVest Yveltal that just got popular kinda counters it. Shell Smash is something that I don't really like that much because it just dies to legit every priority and is forced out by babes Aegislash and Giratina, and fwiw it dies too quickly. So yeah, Deoxys-Attack is a Pokémon with shortcomings, but I like it nonetheless and would not like to see it drop by a lot, B- works ig.
I kinda agree with Beedrill-Mega. It's a Huge Power mon that fucks Audino-Mega but that's... it? Giratina totally stops it in its tracks, can't do anything to Registeel or any other WG except for Turning out, TrickChoice is nice but Griseous Orb Giratina :3 uwu nyaa. Idk really, haven't tried much of it but yeah I support it dropping to something like B-. It's really fast but I like it better as a WG than Huge Power or anything else, so yeah.

:lugia: :kyurem-white: UP

Lugia's just amazingly fat, soft-checking Huge Power Pokemon, namely MMX (it hard-counters with Fur Coat). What gives it a large niche imo, however, is its ability to simultaneously check a few special Pokemon in Mega Latios and MMY, especially with a specially defensive set like Regenvest. Kyurem-W, from my experience, is a threat that is a HUGE hassle to defensively check; only the likes of Registeel can shut it down, and a Transformed Chansey is far less threatening than a Kyurem-W with a boosting item like Choice Specs. It 2HKOes everything and has the bulk to come in repeatedly - I'd raise it significantly.
oml Lugia. I'll definitely love seeing Lugia in either B or even B+, it's such a fatass Pokémon which can demolish non-Shed Shell WG's with STag Perish Trap, works with Magic Bounce, haven't yet seen RegenVest personally, and Fur Coat was a nuisance for me a few times. The amount of viable sets it has makes us people play carefully against it, and I once tried to pair it with Moldy Knock Off and oml omfg I legit trapped both opposing WG's and then Diancie-Mega was left to create havoc. I totally absolutely agree for it to rise, it looks hot too :3.
Kyurem-White... I personally don't really like it. Audino-Mega + Registeel is pretty much enough for it. It does almost zero to Wonder Guard Kyogre-Primal and Chansey / Blissey, and is not that hard to check. I still prefer Rayquaza-Mega over it because it's just weak to Rocks and doesn't take 50 when I can't Defog on time :psycry:. I don't really like it's bulk too, can come on in WG's and Giratina and sorts but not usually too, is fucked by Diancie-Mega and well dies a little too quickly. That.. maybe just be me with inexperienced hands? I don't know it never worked as well as Rayquaza-Mega did for me. But yeah one thing I'll like to mention here is that under SmashPass or SubPass and Wish Support, it becomes a beast. Now it's legit 2HKO'ing or OHKO'ing everything that ain't resisting Ice Beam and becomes a new demon. I like it on a Wish passing team too because hell I need to heal this thing as much as possible. Even though it does 0 to only a few aforementioned WG's (Kyogre-Primal and Blissey, the very fatasses), it's a nice Pokémon overall and yeah I support it's raise, but not a BIG raise, B- atm seems cool to me.

:tangrowth: :deoxys-speed: RANK

Tangrowth is surprisingly fat; its ability to counter Primal Groudon with Primordial Sea is unmatched. Spore immunity's a small plus, and it can run Shed Shell for otherwise problematic Shadow Tag users. I'm shocked that Deoxys-S isn't ranked (it's probably just an oversight); I've seen it be used, rather effectively, as a super fast Shadow Tag user. It probably has other uses that I can't think of right now, and UR isn't representative of what it can do.
Rank Deoxys-Speed lolroflmao or whatever the kids say these days. It's a great Pokémon and I totally agree.
Eh I don't really agree with Tangrowth. It just walls Groudon-Primal and what else? Max HP / Max Defense with a +Def Nature is 2HKO'd by Huge Power Mewtwo-Mega-X, it dies to legit each and every Special attacker, walls non-Boomburst Diancie-Mega, dies to Kyurem-Black and a lot of other things. The immunity to Spore is appeasing, but what else it got lol? Venusaur-Mega at least has a nice big niche of a good Magic Bounce + Toxic spreading or Prankster support Pokémon with a good overall bulk, but Tangrowth falls short in the bulk area. Nice physical bulk, but Giratina or Slowbro-Mega would almost always be my first preference as Groudon-Primal counters. (Ooh fancy it insta dies to eight Pokémon from the S to A- Ranks too) And oh does it check Gyarados? Didn't calc but if it did it'd be nice, but tbh I don't support it getting a rank atm. It's very, very niche and I am not liking it that much. Of course, I haven't tried it yet, and will surely do so, but right now nah, I don't support it rising.

omigosh I AGREEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Gengar-Mega is such a golden Pokémon, we all love it. After a Shell Smash, checking it is a real issue as non-Goggles Audino-Mega get Spore'd or Dark Void'd and then it can proceed to wreck havoc. Yveltal Pursuit traps it and that's an issue, but overall it's a really great Pokémon with a variety of roles. When people don't see Mold Breaker they auto think that it's Normalize or Perish Trapper (on the ladder) but NO BRO IT DO BE NO GUARD. Or Prankster. Or I tried Wonder Guard once ahem it kinda worked ahem. It's a beautiful Pokémon with so many viable sets, the sheer unpredictability makes it a top-tier material. Being able to revenge kill a majority of the unboosted A Rank is also a boon, and we all know how good PerishTrapper GenGarMeGa is. I love this and support it wholeheartedly to rise.

:aerodactyl-mega: to A+
:mewtwo-mega-y: to A
:venusaur-mega: to B+
If I be honest here, I don't know lel ecks dee. Aerodactyl-Mega also has a variety of roles and that aforementioned unpredictability factor but fails to break past Giratina and a few WG's, Mewtwo-Mega-Y is a great Pokémon but meh idk tbh. I'll just see what argument is put forward for them first :3.

:aegislash: to B
:kyogre-primal: to B
Kinda agree, Giratina looks better as a Ghost-type Prankster to me as it doesn't insta die to Groudon-Primal and all, and I love Kyogre-Primal as a Pokémon, as a whole, and yeah it's pretty nice with some support. It requires a lot of support but ig it's nice enough for B.

:hoopa-unbound: to C+
:palkia: to C / C-
:ho-oh: to C-
:regice: to UR i have no idea what this thing does
Oh cool I agree with Palkia, outclassed by Kyogre-Primal in a lot of ways, like Palkia dies to Diancie-Mega etc, what does Ho-Oh do that Rayquaza-Mega doesn't so I kinda disagree atm (I know I don't play pH enlighten me), Regice whatever spelling is nice enough as a Bouncer as far as I've tried but weak as fuck to a lot of things so agree kinda (let's make it E nyaa), and I feel Hoopa-U is nice where it is atm. It can invalidate Giratina and co and is pretty nice, idk what to say about it.

So that's.. it I guess, I might just edit my noms in here some time later but I'm tired now so cya. Thanks for reading nyaa :3 uwu :3.
 

Shay's Fate

formerly La fusión más 7u7
I wanted to talk about one little thing that no one uses but it´s actually good and can break many unprepared teams, im talking about Contrary, specifically about Contrary Deoxys-Attack, a lot of people, when using Contrary just spam moves that get a benefit from Contrary, but, sometimes, you don´t need 4 moves that get affected by Contrary, in fact moves like Defog, King´s Shield or Parting Shot used by the oposing pokemon are really common and make you even more threatening here´s the set:



1633014453217.png

Deoxys-Attack @ Expert Belt/Life Orb
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature

- Leaf Storm --> OHKO´s Mega Swampert and Mega Diance, 2HKO´s Primal Groudon (50.1% to 59.2% at +0 against 0/0 PDon)
- V-create --> OHKO´s Mega Scizor, Genesect, Mega Beedrill (which you outspeed)... and makes you faster and bulkier which is always nice
- Superpower --> Attack Increase and hitting Arc is always good (57.8-68 against PhyDef) (77.2-91.4 against SpDef) (37.5% chance to OHKO offensive)
- Gear Grind --> Does a lot to Mega Audino and Xerneas but MAudino can´t Defog/Parting Shot/King´s Shield and Xern doesn´t want to eat one

OTHER OPTIONS
Moonblast: Hits Mega Sableye, Giratina, Mega Latios and Palkia
Draco Meteor: Better Moonblast but you don´t hit Mega Sableye
Taunt: The opposing (Introduce non offensive WG) used Struggle
Baton Pass: If DeoA can´t sweep your Mold Breaker can

PROS AND CONS
+180/180/150 Offenses is high as you have the most important moves to hit WG´s
+It can snowball really fast
+ Almost every move that gets affected by Contrary has really high BP
+Benefits from common moves like Defog/King´s Shield/Parting Shot

-If you dont have the right coverage moves you are sitting against oposing WG
-Almost entirely outclassed by Huge Power DeoA/MMX
-Hard to improof, nearly imposible if using Baton Pass
-It doesn´t fit into every team

 

Ransei

Garde Mystik
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Battle Simulator Moderatoris a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnus
Moderator
I have a couple of things to say today.

1. https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/deer-squad-oras-hackmons-peaked-1-93-8-gxe-55-0.3690732/

Take a read if you haven't, the team I posted did very well for itself on ladder, despite it having four of the same Pokemon.

2. Regarding the VR update for Gen 6, I have a few thoughts:

:banette-mega: :deoxys-attack: :beedrill-mega: :ferrothorn: DOWN

From my understanding placement in the VR doesn't take No Guard or Wonder Guard into account, so Deoxys-A and Mega Beedrill are way too high imo. Deoxys-A is mostly outclassed by either one of the Mega Mewtwos or Mega Alakazam, but it does have unpredictability and the slight speed advantage (that lets it out speed MMY and Mega Beedrill, I guess?), so I don't want it to drop by too much; Mega Beedrill has many of the same problems but doesn't have the unpredictability factor and so should drop more. Ferrothorn, outside of Wonder Guard, doesn't perform that great, as the majority of Huge Power Pokemon straight-up beat it, it's forced out by -ates due to common Fire-type coverage, and fails to do much against most Mold Breakers. Mega Banette, while it has an obscenely strong Shadow Sneak, relies on prediction and has a difficult time switching in (though that might just be personal bias; I tend to like Pokemon that have enough bulk to survive a potential mistake).

:lugia: :kyurem-white: UP

Lugia's just amazingly fat, soft-checking Huge Power Pokemon, namely MMX (it hard-counters with Fur Coat). What gives it a large niche imo, however, is its ability to simultaneously check a few special Pokemon in Mega Latios and MMY, especially with a specially defensive set like Regenvest. Kyurem-W, from my experience, is a threat that is a HUGE hassle to defensively check; only the likes of Registeel can shut it down, and a Transformed Chansey is far less threatening than a Kyurem-W with a boosting item like Choice Specs. It 2HKOes everything and has the bulk to come in repeatedly - I'd raise it significantly.

:tangrowth: :deoxys-speed: RANK

Tangrowth is surprisingly fat; its ability to counter Primal Groudon with Primordial Sea is unmatched. Spore immunity's a small plus, and it can run Shed Shell for otherwise problematic Shadow Tag users. I'm shocked that Deoxys-S isn't ranked (it's probably just an oversight); I've seen it be used, rather effectively, as a super fast Shadow Tag user. It probably has other uses that I can't think of right now, and UR isn't representative of what it can do.

And here are a few thoughts that I don't feel as strongly about:

:gengar-mega: to S-
:aerodactyl-mega: to A+
:mewtwo-mega-y: to A
:venusaur-mega: to B+
:aegislash: to B
:kyogre-primal: to B
:hoopa-unbound: to C+
:palkia: to C / C-
:ho-oh: to C-
:regice: to UR i have no idea what this thing does

Obviously I have my personal biases so they're probably a large part of some of these thoughts. Feel free to argue about these!
I've waited a bit but now I have responses to carry for most of these.

I'll start off with the ones I disagree with most

:gengar-mega: to S-
I'd like to preface this by saying Mega Gengar is fantastic. It's able to outspeed most of the competition, lure them to sleep, set up safely, and sweep with its unresisted move combination. Being able to self-improof is no feat we can brush off too. However, S- rank imposes that the Pokemon is more significant enough to warrant considering finding checks/counters in comparison to those in A+. While Mega Gengar is easily capable of ending games against any unprepared player, it carries a few significant flaws.

Flaw 1: Its reliability on Spooky Plate
In order to ensure Mega Gengar is at its best, it is required to carry some sort of plate. This way, it doesn't lose to Imposter and it doesn't get mostly outclassed by Mega Mewtwo Y as a special attacker. Mega Gengar having to rely on this item makes it highly vulnerable to a multitude of things including Prankster Spore, Trickscarf, and Knock Off. If any Pokemon is able to knock off its item or trade Choice Scarf to it, Mega Gengar is effectively rendered useless for the remainder of the game.

Flaw 2: Pursuit Trappers
Mega Gengar tends to be countered by certain Yveltal sets and checked by -ate Fakespeed. Both of which are highly viable in Gen 6 Pure Hackmons on their own and are able to deal with Mega Gengar more efficiently than most other checks are able to check the Pokemon they aim to beat. When these Pokemon are sent in front of Mega Gengar, it is trapped with nowhere to go. If it's a specially defensive Yveltal, Mega Gengar's run ends with no alternative. The Yveltal can simply use Pursuit to hit Mega Gengar super effectively and punish it with a KO when it tries to switch out. When an -ate Pokemon like Black Kyurem comes out, Mega Gengar is immediately forced into a mind game where it can either get KOed by Extreme Speed or KOed by Pursuit. If it's forced out while the -ate uses Extreme Speed, Mega Gengar loses all of its stat boosts and cannot be sent back out for too long. If it's forced out and the -ate uses Pursuit, Mega Gengar faints.

Why do these flaws matter?
S- rank should be seen as a rank where Pokemon are more heavily considered for preparation in some way than the Pokemon below it. Oftentimes, much of Mega Gengar's success relies on players not giving it too much attention, as Mega Gengar's flaws make it too easy for it to get shut down otherwise. Mega Gengar is a Pokemon whose viability would shift quite noticeably if it got the attention deserved in a Pokemon ascending above A+.

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:aerodactyl-mega: to A+
At first glance, Mega Aerodactyl's spot in S- rank looks confusing and anyone would wonder why it's brought to a higher spot than Mega Rayquaza and Mega Mewtwo X. To put it simply, the metagame is more tailored to Mega Aerodactyl's feats than it is to almost every other Pokemon.

Pure Hackmons is an EV-limited format that requires two Wonder Guards in almost every team and encourages the use of powerful hitters. When looking into the Wonder Guard Viability Rankings, you will find that the best ones don't particularly have extreme bulk. They can be overtaken by lots of harder-hitting Pokemon, including those with around base 135 Attack if they're banded. Harder-hitting Pokemon tend to either have Huge Power abilities, Mold Breaker abilities, or No Guard, all enabling users to break past the defensive Pokemon's ability. Powerful hitters are encouraged for use in this metagame because a team of mostly passive Pokemon tends to have difficulty beating teams with offense Pokemon. The hardest hitters all have base 160+ Atk/SpA and items or abilities that overwhelm most teams trying to create a more passive environment.

This is where Mega Aerodactyl's dominance comes in. Offense Pokemon aren't usually invested in bulk and the EV limit has made them quite frail against base 135 Atk with Dragon Ascent STAB.

Take a look at these:
252 Atk Choice Band Mold Breaker Aerodactyl-Mega Dragon Ascent vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mewtwo-Mega-X: 606-714 (171.6 - 202.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Mold Breaker Aerodactyl-Mega Dragon Ascent vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mewtwo-Mega-Y: 405-477 (114.7 - 135.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Mold Breaker Aerodactyl-Mega Dragon Ascent vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Gengar-Mega: 364-429 (139.4 - 164.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Mold Breaker Aerodactyl-Mega Dragon Ascent vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Latios-Mega: 303-357 (100.6 - 118.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Mold Breaker Aerodactyl-Mega Dragon Ascent vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Rayquaza-Mega: 301-355 (85.7 - 101.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Choice Band Mold Breaker Aerodactyl-Mega Waterfall vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Groudon-Primal: 360-424 (105.5 - 124.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Mold Breaker Aerodactyl-Mega Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Regigigas: 372-438 (103 - 121.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Mold Breaker Aerodactyl-Mega Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Slaking: 404-476 (91.6 - 107.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

Under the circumstance where an offense Pokemon switches into a defensive one and the defensive one pivots, they can go into Mega Aerodactyl outspeed, and OHKO nearly all of the biggest offense presences in the metagame. Mega Mewtwos are worried, Mega Gengar is worried, Mega Rayquaza has to switch out, right?

This is where more comes in. The number of plausible switch-ins in most teams is limited as 2 Wonder Guards are required, the best Wonder Guards aren't extreme in bulk, and offense Pokemon are heavily encouraged.

252 Atk Choice Band Mold Breaker Aerodactyl-Mega Dragon Ascent vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Arceus: 192-226 (43.2 - 50.9%) -- 97.7% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock - Arceus almost cannot switch in with rocks, but +Defense Arceus isn't typical.
252 Atk Choice Band Mold Breaker Aerodactyl-Mega Dragon Ascent vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Audino-Mega: 186-219 (45.3 - 53.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock - Mega Audino cannot switch in with rocks. It can get around this with King's Shield, however, which it normally runs.
252 Atk Choice Band Mold Breaker Aerodactyl-Mega Dragon Ascent vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Manectric-Mega: 182-215 (52.9 - 62.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock - A regular Mega Manetric set cannot switch in even without rocks.
252 Atk Choice Band Mold Breaker Aerodactyl-Mega Dragon Ascent vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Scizor-Mega: 171-202 (49.8 - 58.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock - Mega Scizor cannot switch in
252 Atk Choice Band Mold Breaker Aerodactyl-Mega Dragon Ascent vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Sableye-Mega: 186-220 (61.3 - 72.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock - Mega Sableye cannot switch in
252 Atk Choice Band Mold Breaker Aerodactyl-Mega Dragon Ascent vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Swampert-Mega: 204-241 (50.6 - 59.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock - Mega Swampert cannot switch in

Non-Bold Nature Giratina will also have to be careful.
252 Atk Choice Band Mold Breaker Aerodactyl-Mega Dragon Ascent vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Giratina: 258-304 (51.2 - 60.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery


The difference between Mega Aerodactyl and every attacker below it in the viability rankings is that Mega Aerodactyl uses its insane base 150 Speed and its STAB Flying-type Dragon Ascent to suppress nearly the entire offense pool. Mega Mewtwo Y's STABs are weaker and have a type immune to it; Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Gengar struggle with having to speed tie each other; Mega Latios, Primal Groudon, and Mega Rayquaza are left to be overtaken by the offense Pokemon who outspeed or out prioritize them. Mega Aerodactyl outspeeds all of these aforementioned Pokemon and still hits powerful enough to KO them without much effort while leaving little room for much to switch into it. It does have proper switch-ins, such as defensive Primal Groudon and Bold Giratina, but even in cases like these, Mega Aerodactyl can use U-Turn to build momentum for its teammates if it ever feels the need to predict defensive switch-ins. With all of this in consideration, Mega Aerodactyl has proven to be the best breaker in the metagame.

...oh? did you think I was done?

Aerodactyl-Mega @ Aerodactylite/Safety Goggles
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Perish Song
- Encore
- King's Shield
- Recover

NOPE! Not only can Mega Aerodactyl suppress nearly the entire offense pool! It can also opt to shut down the vast majority of defensive Pokemon! That's right! Mega Aerodactyl is the best Shadow Tag user in the game and for all of the same reasons, it's the best breaker in the game! Its base 150 speed allows it to outpace every possible defense Pokemon bar Deoxys-Speed; its Flying-type allows Mega Aerodactyl to avoid Spikes and Toxic Spikes while resisting any U-Turn users. Mega Aerodactyl's speed is important for being able to land Encore and being able to Recover before the opponent can take action. In addition, Mega Aerodactyl is not weak to Pursuit, unlike Deoxys-Speed. Shadow Tag is centralizing. Teams are forced to either run Shed Shell, pivoting moves, or a number of Ghost-types in order to get around it. Mega Aerodactyl's teammates can get rid of Shed Shell through Trick or Knock Off, while Mega Aerodactyl can invalidate pivot moves with Encore if it switches into the target at the right time. Ghost-types are great but a team can only have so many and Aerodactyl can just take whoever isn't Ghost. Shadow Tag is definitely one of the main things worth considering to beat if a player wants to succeed and Mega Aerodactyl makes quite a great use out of it.

tl;dr: Mega Aerodactyl is S- because it's able to choose between significantly shutting down the pool of best offensive Pokemon or significantly shutting down the pool of best defensive Pokemon. Both of these are incredible traits that warrant a Pokemon being S- by themselves but Mega Aerodactyl manages to fulfill the job for both. :blobwizard:

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:mewtwo-mega-y: to A
Mega Mewtwo Y's stat distribution makes it the most gimmicky Pokemon in the game. On many occasions, once a player sees it, there is no straightforward idea of what set it could have. This enables Mega Mewtwo Y to throw off many teams whenever it could and especially when it outspeeds the vast majority of Pokemon. Speed is really important in Pure Hackmons. Having the highest base Special Attack, higher speed than most of its biggest competition, and the attack stat to run physical moves is all a luxurious combination that even Mega Ray and Primal Groudon wish they could have in a metagame where they could be fully customized. Upon my last revision of the Pure Hackmons viability rankings, I've managed to make a clear distinction between the Pokemon who qualify for A and the Pokemon who qualify for A+.

The Pokemon in A are taken advantage of by the Pokemon in A+ for lacking the speed or priority to properly outmatch them. Mega Diancie is an exception over Mega Rayquaza because of how much more effective Pixilate is than Aerilate and Mega Rayquaza still losing to Mega Diancie in a 1v1. The Pokemon in A+ all have offense stats and typing great enough to overcome the slower Pokemon in A rank with all the right moves. Base 194 SpA really packs a punch on just about anything when given setup and a proper item. Because of this, Mega Mewtwo Y ends up being much less underwhelming than not on many occasions and in high-level competitive games, would be more likely to fulfill its role than the Pokemon in A


I spent forever covering my thoughts on just three Pokemon so I guess I'll end the post from here. One last thing before I conclude though,

:tangrowth: :deoxys-speed: RANK

Tangrowth is surprisingly fat; its ability to counter Primal Groudon with Primordial Sea is unmatched. Spore immunity's a small plus, and it can run Shed Shell for otherwise problematic Shadow Tag users. I'm shocked that Deoxys-S isn't ranked (it's probably just an oversight); I've seen it be used, rather effectively, as a super fast Shadow Tag user. It probably has other uses that I can't think of right now, and UR isn't representative of what it can do.
Yes, Deoxys-Speed not being ranked outside No Guard rank is an oversight and I keep forgetting to add it :psycry:. This Pokemon is usually rare to see outside No Guard. For what it's worth, this Pokemon will likely sit at B rank.
 

aerobee

Pure Hackmons
is a Community Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
Spam Team Showcase

[13:49:15] +CloudKitten: "can u stop topping the ladder every week with another spam that cteams 90% of the meta plz and thank you"


You probably know but if you don't, I've been creating spam teams for the past month. A team needs to have at least three of a particular Pokemon to be considered spam - however, I personally like having four, five, or even six of one. Some of them have shown great success on ladder, and have proved capable of changing what players run. Of course, spam teams rely on the unpredictability of the Pokemon spammed, so some Pokemon don't make good Pokemon to spam; I selectively choose what Pokemon to try spamming.

That being said, I'm here today to share some of my more successful spam teams.

________________________________________________________________________________


1. Xerneas

:xy/xerneas:

(Click the sprite for the importable)

Xerneas was the second Pokemon I tried to spam (Primal Groudon was the first), because of reasonably good bulk, a great Fairy typing, and good offensive stats and Speed, that allows it to run a variety of sets in Pixilate, Wonder Guard, Mold Breaker, and even unconventional ones like Huge Power. Its shortcomings are also not a major handicap; with a couple of good partners Xerneas spam can mostly handle offensive behemoths like Primal Groudon, Mega Rayquaza, and Mega Mewtwo X.

There's a thorough description of this team here, which I don't feel like copy/pasting.

This team brought me to the 1800s with nearly 94% GXE; I also went 55-0 with it on a separate occasion.

2. Giratina

:xy/giratina:

(Click the sprite for the importable)

Giratina is, in short, the best defensive Pokemon in the metagame. It boasts outrageous 150/120/120 bulk, immunity to trapping, workable Speed, and potential immunity to Trick through Griseous Orb, making it an insane Pokemon regardless of placement on spam teams. Obviously with its advantages, a wide range of sets can be run - I opted to go with Prankster, Magic Bounce, Regenerator, No Guard, and Sturdy. Unfortunately some offensive menaces can rip through with enough power, so a Wonder Guard partner was required; I chose Arceus because it provided some offensive pressure and had a typing that beats -ate Pokemon.

Prankster Giratina is a standard Curse + Encore set, with Safety Goggles to prevent common Mold Breakers using Spore from setting up as easily. Will-O-Wisp is an awesome way to neuter every physical attacker bar Primal Groudon, which Giratina already soft-checks.

Magic Bounce Giratina is also quite standard; Wish + King's Shield allows it to act as great support, switching into a partner at low health to heal it - King's Shield, likewise, lets Giratina reliably heal itself, and lets it potentially scout Huge Power movesets. Curse provides a degree of pressure against Pokemon lacking recovery while synergizing well with Wish, and it's a great user of Defog for when the opponent unexpectedly sets up hazards.

Regenerator Giratina is unorthodox but very fun; it can switch into virtually any special attacker, surviving Mega Gengar's Judgment at +2 and just barely getting 2HKOed by Choice Specs Mega Rayquaza's Spacial Rend. It packs utility moves in Knock Off, Lava Plume, and Poison Fang, which remove items, burn, and poison the opponent, respectively. Dragon Tail forces even physical setup sweepers out due to Giratina's obscene bulk.

No Guard Giratina is never used (for good reason), but on Giratina spam it's a must, due to being just about the only set that threatens fast offensive leads. Sheer Cold is obvious, and Trick neuters one Wonder Guard switch-in; Inferno hits Mega Scizor specifically, while burning opposing fast Pokemon in an emergency. Spikes work great, as similarly to -ate Pokemon Giratina forces switches every time it comes in, giving it numerous opportunities to use the move.

I wanted five Giratinas, so I added a fifth Giratina. Of course it had to be Sturdy - otherwise a competent No Guard user could straight-up win. This is a really wonky set, so bear with me. A Griseous Orb-boosted Shadow Sneak, along with maximum investment, OHKOes opposing Mega Gengar after one Shell Smash, netting either a surprise KO or a reprieve from powerful Judgments. It also helps against the now-rarer Mega Latios and the omnipresent Mega Mewtwo Y. I wasn't able to fit Aromatherapy into the Magic Bounce set, so onto the Sturdy Giratina it went. Toxic's a relatively new change that allowed for passive damage against Wonder Guards and Imposters switching in.

I forgot how far I went undefeated with this team, but on an alt I went 49-3 with 90.1% GXE.

3. Primal Kyogre

:xy/kyogre-primal:

(Click the sprite for the importable)

Primal Kyogre is underrated. I mean this when I say it - its offensive potential is enormous, although it's not particularly fast. 180 SpA is no joke, and neither is 100/160 special bulk (though its physical bulk could be better). It also has a hefty 150 Atk. This allows for a lot of unorthodox sets, such as Huge Power and Regenerator, in addition to already effective ones like Wonder Guard and Mold Breaker.

Wonder Guard Kyogre reaches 256 Speed (I'm a paranoid speedcreeper), outspeeding 253/4 Speed Gyarados and other Pokemon creeping -2 Deoxys-S. Steam Eruption hits hard, discouraging otherwise threatening switch-ins like Mega Mewtwo X from coming in; Freeze-Dry is a really effective coverage move that OHKOes base Gyarados and nearly OHKOes opposing Mega Swampert. Toxic hits Wonder Guards and other Pokemon that wall Steam Eruption/Freeze-Dry. Whirlwind forces out non-Magic Bounce/Mold Breaker setup Pokemon, which seem to be quite common on ladder (though against competent players it's mostly limited to forcing out Pokemon that give teammates a hard time).

Physically defensive Magic Bounce Kyogre makes for a good scouter, as Wish + King's Shield synergize well with each other, and with Magic Bounce, it doesn't have to worry about opposing status or hazards. Defog is imperative, as otherwise bothersome hazards like Toxic Spikes are removed without too much trouble. Aromatherapy lets the team heal status without worrying about Taunt.

Huge Power Kyogre is an oddball set; I intended for it to act as a pseudo -ate, while hitting switch-ins much harder; that's why Fake Out is one of the moves run. Water Shuriken hits deceptively hard, threatening some frailer offensive Pokemon. Splash Plate is actually really useful, netting many more KOs than without it; with Splash Plate, Water Shuriken OHKOes Mega Aerodactyl in 2 hits, and Mega Gengar in 3. Play Rough is a nice coverage choice to hit Giratina for a chunk, as well as to not get walled by opposing Mega Sableye. Stealth Rock works how it does on -ate Pokemon; I chose it over Spikes because of checks like Mega Rayquaza.

Choice Specs Kyogre hits ridiculously hard, 2HKOing uninvested Mega Rayquaza with Steam Eruption and Giratina with Freeze-Dry; with Mold Breaker Wonder Guards aren't effective switch-ins. Steam Eruption is amazing STAB and Freeze-Dry is the amazing coverage it always is; Volt Switch lets Kyogre pivot into a partner to gain an advantageous position, and Secret Sword hits the otherwise problematic blobs. Running bulk over speed lets Kyogre switch in and attack offensive Pokemon more safely.

RegenVest Kyogre, to put it bluntly, is a Water-type Blissey that can exert offensive pressure. It imposter-proofs every Pokemon on the team bar Huge Power (though it doesn't enjoy Assault Vest getting knocked off either). Knock Off annoys more passive Pokemon, Lava Plume hits Mega Scizor while also fishing for burns in longer games, Volt Switch lets Kyogre pivot out, and Circle Throw hits Arceus and forces non-Ghost setup sweepers out. Knock Off OHKOes opposing Mega Gengar and Mega Latios after one Shell Smash, and Volt Switch does a chunk to Mega Aerodactyl and other frailer offensive Pokemon.

Wonder Guard Xerneas pairs well with Kyogres, as from what I see Huge Powers rarely cover for both Wonder Guards. Leftovers + Magic Coat cover for No Guards, opposing hazard-setters, and most status inflictors, Substitute gives Xerneas more safety, and Baton Pass can pass Substitute to an offensive Kyogre, which could mean that the opponent has to sack a Pokemon. Moonblast is spammable STAB which forces out the best defensive Pokemon in the metagame.

This team went 47-0 and topped the ladder undefeated.

astrobee 47-0.png


astrobee #1 on Ladder.png

4. Deoxys-A

:xy/deoxys-attack:

(Click the sprite for the importable)

Deoxys-A is another underrated Pokemon, that, while mostly overshadowed by the Mega Mewtwos, can put in amazing work against slower teams. As a Pokemon to spam, however, I think that it's better than either of the Mega Mewtwos, because of its titanic 180 Atk/SpA and monstrous 150 Speed. Unfortunately with its defenses it kinda dies to everything that hits it, but that's somewhat manageable through careful playing and good building.

Fortunately for Deoxys, Psychic-type is good for a Wonder Guard set - in the aftermath of Xerneas spam I think people have forgone Knock Off and the like on Huge Power Pokemon. It Imposter-proofs itself by running Insect Plate + Judgment, which also hits Dark-types like Mega Tyranitar and Yveltal decently hard; running 0 Def/SpD IVs helps as well. Psystrike hits blobs and opposing Pokemon that don't resist it. Magic Coat lets Deoxys beat opposing No Guard Sing/Grass Whistle users.

Magic Bounce is pretty much necessary (as hazards would otherwise screw this team over). Psycho Boost and Freeze-Dry hit non-Wonder Guards decently hard (the former OHKOes Primal Groudon). Toxic can be used against Wonder Guards that the aforementioned two moves can't hit, and Destiny Bond drags a troublesome Pokemon down with Deoxys. Again, 0 Def/SpD IVs are used to more easily hit Imposter Pokemon.

It'd be foolish not to include Huge Power Deoxys; with the ability it threatens Mega Mewtwo X, Mega Gengar, and other offensive Pokemon. Close Combat hits Arceus, Knock Off hits opposing Psychic-type Wonder Guards, Gunk Shot hits Xerneas and Mega Audino, and Thousand Arrows hits Primal Groudon, Drapion, and ladder's favorite, Air Balloon Wonder Guards. Being able to OHKO opposing Mega Mewtwo X with Gunk Shot, and hitting Giratina extremely hard with Knock Off, removes the need for STAB.

Mold Breaker is necessary, as otherwise Deoxys' offensive prowess is severely limited. Psystrike hits blobs and basically everything that doesn't resist it, Moonblast hits what does resist it, and Volt Switch allows for pivoting away from the likes of Mega Aerodactyl and Yveltal. Trick is for when a troublesome opposing Pokemon may switch into Deoxys.

Because of Deoxys being an obscenely offensive-oriented Pokemon, an -ate set is necessary. I chose Refrigerate because it hits Primal Groudon, Mega Gengar, and Mega Rayquaza harder than Pixilate does - it also synergizes well with Icicle Plate, which also boosts Freeze-Dry. Fake Out + Extreme Speed can usually stop runaway sweepers from winning; Freeze-Dry is once again a great coverage option, OHKOing base Gyarados and Mega Swampert that are not specially defensive. Sacred Fire specifically hit Mega Scizor and Genesect.

Obviously a team as offensive as this will not work as consistently - priority Mold Breaker instawins, for example. Due to this, I thought that I'd need a passive Wonder Guard set to complement Deoxys - Mega Swampert stood out to me, as it helps to Imposter-proof most Deoxys sets, and can provide ample support if needed. Wish + King's Shield is mostly for its own longevity, although in PP stall scenarios it helps greatly to heal Wonder Guard Deoxys. Stealth Rock and Defog, unfortunately, needed to be compressed into a single set, as Deoxys isn't a good Pokemon to use either on.

As Deoxys is a very matchup-dependent Pokemon, getting long ladder runs with five of them is very difficult - I think my record is only 28-0. However, against particular teams it can devastate the opponent, overwhelming their defensive core.


That was a LOT of writing, I'll stop here today. Have fun with these spam teams!
 

aerobee

Pure Hackmons
is a Community Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
part 2 i guess

I was originally going to stop with just four spam teams to show, but that would be unfair to what I now think is one of the best Pokemon to spam: Mega Rayquaza.

:xy/rayquaza-mega:

Why this thing? It has monstrous 180 Atk and SpA, as well as a workable base 115 Speed, allowing for a diverse range of sets, ranging from tried-and-true menaces like special Mold Breaker sets to the funny Choice Scarf Magic Bounce Rayquaza that's been running around ladder recently. Additionally it has often-overlooked 105/100/100 bulk, potentially allowing for defensive sets (I took advantage of this when creating one of the Rayquaza sets). Dragon-type offers a surprisingly wide range of threatening STABs, ranging from Spacial Rend to Draco Meteor; Aeroblast and Dragon Ascent are seamless Flying-type STAB moves on Rayquaza. Defensively its typing helps check one of the metagame's scariest Mold Breakers in Primal Groudon, soft-check Primal Kyogre and the like, and pivot into powerful Fighting-type attacks from Mega Mewtwo X.

To my astonishment, the final version of this team made 67-0, which, to my knowledge, is the longest streak Hackmons has ever known.

____________________________________________________________________________________


My first draft of this team was created about a month ago, shortly after I peaked the ladder with Xerneas spam. Of course, I knew that Mold Breaker, Aerilate, and Huge Power would all be extremely valuable when creating Rayquaza spam, so I created those three sets first. I used a Choice Band Mold Breaker set because I noticed that many people were using it and that it wreaked havoc against fatter teams, even those with a Giratina lacking Will-O-Wisp. Huge Power Rayquaza did Huge Power things, i.e. trying to get OHKOs against the vast majority of Pokemon, while either outspeeding the opponent or taking a hit from them. Aerilate did standard Aerilate things, setting up hazards when appropriate and revenge-killing faster Mold Breaker sweepers.

At this point I thought, what if I used two Mold Breakers to keep the opponent guessing? I went along with it; blowing through the opponent's defensive core shouldn't be too hard. And I need two Wonder Guards - I'll just use Swampert and Xerneas because the former's annoying (and helps more against Primal Groudon, which I constantly feared even with four Rayquazas) and the latter's Xerneas. Shed Shell on Swampert and Magic Coat on Xerneas prevented No Guards from sweeping without heavy support; Swampert aided its teammates by removing hazards, status conditions, and healing them; Xerneas offered steady offensive pressure.

However, this team had some glaring issues: Imposter-proofing both Mold Breakers (though especially the special one) proved to be a challenge, Focus Sash wasn't great of an item due to being neutralized by Stealth Rock, and a bunch of special attackers gave the team trouble. Xerneas didn't offer much defensive/supportive utility, instead being purely offensive; this rendered it nearly useless against a Wonder Guard it could not hit.

Of course, with these problems I knew that this team wouldn't go very far; I had to change many of the sets to ones that would aid the team effectively - the Rayquazas had to be changed so they provided ample offensive pressure without Imposter scaring me as much, demanding major changes to the Mold Breaker Rayquazas and the Wonder Guards. Over the course of battling I also realized that a second fast Rayquaza would be extremely valuable to net a surprise KO against the Mega Mewtwos, Mega Aerodactyl, and some other Pokemon popular on ladder like Mega Manectric; thus Huge Power Rayquaza's purpose was changed. Later on I gave up on trying to use physical Mold Breaker Rayquaza, as even with Swampert it was extremely difficult to Imposter-proof; it certainly wasn't feasible with a special set to Imposter-proof as well. In the end I replaced it with an (extremely unorthodox) Magic Bounce Rayquaza, and Swampert was changed to a Blissey to accommodate for this. Xerneas remained, but its set was changed so it could pivot out of switch-ins, hit hard with Moonblast, and pass Substitutes to offensive teammates.

In the end this is what the team looked like:

:xy/rayquaza-mega: :xy/rayquaza-mega: :xy/rayquaza-mega: :xy/rayquaza-mega: :xy/blissey: :xy/xerneas:

(Click the sprites for the importable)

____________________________________________________________________________________


Rayquaza-Mega @ Choice Specs
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 92 Def / 252 SpA / 164 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Aeroblast
- Volt Switch
- Searing Shot​


Choiced Mold Breaker Mega Rayquaza is insane - its already ridiculous power is bolstered by holding a Choice Specs. Draco Meteor's a nice tech that I came up with when building; using a STAB move with 130 BP allowed Rayquaza to reach a good number of benchmarks, including frankly ludicrous ones like OHKOing uninvested Arceus. Additionally it eases the matchup against Imposter, as it gets OHKOed unless it's an Eviolite Chansey (which still takes at least 87%). Aeroblast is an obligatory second STAB move that hits much of what Draco Meteor can't. Volt Switch offers pivoting which is valuable on spam teams due to retaining momentum against Pokemon with a good matchup like Mega Diancie and those that somehow switch in such as Blissey. And Searing Shot hits otherwise troublesome Steel-types supereffectively. Rayquaza's EV spread lets it outspeed Jolly Primal Groudon and other base-90 Pokemon running maximum Speed; as it doesn't need maximum Speed investment it can run a bit of extra bulk, which has actually helped me in several battles.


Rayquaza-Mega @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 88 Def / 168 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Thousand Arrows
- Petal Blizzard
- Close Combat

Foreseeing that I'd need an Aerilate set, I created one that would complement it in a way to deal with faster Pokemon. Huge Power Mega Rayquaza has next to no non-Wonder Guard switch-ins, allowing for usage of coverage moves to try hitting as many Wonder Guards as possible. Dragon Ascent is Rayquaza's STAB move of choice, OHKOing the majority of non-Wonder Guards; this forces the opponent to usually switch into Wonder Guard for safety. Thousand Arrows hits Electric- and Poison/Dark-type Wonder Guards which are extremely common on ladder (and some of which are actually viable), as well as a prominent Pokemon in Primal Groudon. Petal Blizzard hits Primal Kyogre and Mega Swampert without having Rayquaza fear for the King's Shield Attack drop. Close Combat hits Arceus and Steel-types. The EV spread outspeeds base 90 Pokemon and Choice Scarf Imposters Transformed into Mold Breaker Rayquaza.


Rayquaza-Mega @ Sky Plate
Ability: Aerilate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Extreme Speed
- Sacred Fire
- Spikes

Aerilate is one of Rayquaza's two most common sets, and for good reason - its ability to hit opposing Pokemon hard while also offering a way to revenge-kill runaway sweepers is nearly unmatched. It OHKOes frailer Mold Breakers like Mega Gengar and Mega Latios after a Shell Smash; after a Shell Smash it even revenge-kills Primal Groudon. Fake Out + Extreme Speed is standard on -ates, as this combination of moves lets the user break Focus Sash, and is usually more than enough to KO the opposing Pokemon. Sacred Fire is useful coverage, as Huge Power Rayquaza can't damage Wonder Guard Mega Scizor or Genesect; it also heavily damages Steel-type answers to -ate Pokemon, such as Registeel. Spikes offers a way to make progress against Wonder Guards that wall Rayquaza, and is good support for its offensive partners. Max HP can be run as none of Rayquaza's moves demand that it be fast - Fake Out and Extreme Speed are priority attacks, Spikes should be used when the opponent switches, and Rayquaza's fast enough to outspeed most Pokemon it hits with Sacred Fire, even without investment.


Rayquaza-Mega @ Shed Shell
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- King's Shield
- Recover
- Defog

If you didn't see this and laugh I pity you. Magic Bounce was Rayquaza's most used Ability on ladder last month, and it seemed vaguely useful on a spam team despite Rayquaza being quite an offensive Pokemon, so I tried using it; it supported its teammates so well that I decided to keep it for the entire ladder run. Scald (LOL) fishes for burns and OHKOes offensive Primal Groudon, which is really useful despite this team being mostly composed of Groudon checks. King's Shield lets Rayquaza scout sets effectively, as status moves get bounced back. Recover is obvious recovery, and Defog removes otherwise problematic Stealth Rocks (and other hazards, though they're not as bothersome). 56 Speed EVs with a positive nature reaches 308 Speed, outspeeding Primal Groudon and other base 90s; it, in conjunction with Blissey, also PP stalls Choiced Impostered Mold Breaker Rayquaza in an emergency. The HP and Defense investment also lets it more safely switch, and more reliably stay in and click Recover.


Blissey (F) @ Shed Shell
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Wish
- Parting Shot
- Whirlwind
- Aromatherapy

Blissey's basically the only Wonder Guard which could switch into special Rayquaza, so I felt I needed to use it for the team to be successful. Wish utilizes Blissey's gargantuan HP stat to fully or nearly fully heal its teammates, as well as itself when it can comfortably stay in. Parting Shot lets Blissey retain momentum for the team, especially when the opponent switches. Whirlwind stops runaway sweeps, chips opposing Pokemon in conjunction with Aerilate Rayquaza's Spikes, and fishes for Shedinja KOs on ladder. Aromatherapy keeps the team going in longer games, and along with Magic Bounce Rayquaza it can use the opposing team's status moves against it. Despite having Parting Shot I decided to have Shed Shell as the item because Shadow Tag users can often come in for free, and if I predict wrong without the item, or if the opponent pivots, then Blissey is gone. The EVs let Blissey use Parting Shot after the majority of Pokemon so a teammate can switch in safely, maximizes Blissey's HP for Wish passing, and maximizes its physical bulk so it can come in as often as possible.


Xerneas @ Leftovers
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 248 HP / 176 SpA / 84 Spe
Modest Nature
- Magic Coat
- Substitute
- Moonblast
- Baton Pass​


This set's an adapted version of Feebas4ubers' Shell Smash + Baton Pass Xerneas set from here. Magic Coat prevents otherwise annoying status moves like Whirlwind and Taunt from affecting Xerneas if predicted correctly, letting it more easily use its other three moves. Substitute gives Xerneas protection against most switch-ins (Gear Grind is scary but there isn't much of a reason to use it over Gunk Shot); Baton Pass lets it pivot out from opposing switch-ins and pass Substitute to an offensive Rayquaza. Baton Passing to Mold Breaker Rayquaza usually nets a KO (unless the opponent has Blissey/Chansey), as it's ridiculously powerful. And Moonblast is an easily spammable STAB move that's always great on Xerneas. I used Leftovers as it synergizes well with Substitute; Moonblast and Baton Pass are usually enough to deal with fast Shadow Tag Pokemon. The EVs outspeed Pokemon creeping -2 Speed Deoxys-S (which isn't as relevant as it was before, but is an important benchmark nonetheless), and maximum HP to maximize the health of Substitutes; the rest was pumped into SpA for a favorable roll to OHKO Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Rayquaza with Moonblast.

____________________________________________________________________________________


While I feel this team did quite well against most teams, I remember there being several Pokemon I struggled against. Here are some of them:

:xerneas: Only Mold Breaker Rayquaza can directly damage it, while Xerneas threatens it with Moonblast. Wonder Guard Xerneas can often be hit by Judgment, so Blissey's its most reliable check; however I've seen Aura Sphere Xerneas, so nothing on the team's a rock-hard counter. If Xerneas has no way to damage Blissey then it's not much of a problem.

:gyarados: Base Gyarados can only be damaged with Mold Breaker Rayquaza; if it has Substitute then it can Shell Smash for free. With ample offensive support Rayquaza has trouble coming in so I have to go Xerneas - if the opponent has a move specifically for Fairy-types, like Gear Grind, then I have to predict correctly to avoid losing a Pokemon.

:groudon-primal: There's not much to say about this thing, it's just broken. Aerilate can deal with it I guess, but if it's fainted and Groudon is boosted then the best the user can do is hope that Groudon goes V-create and KOes something, then Huge Power Rayquaza can revenge-kill.

:spiritomb: Only Mold Breaker Rayquaza and Xerneas can hit FEAR sets; Pain Split is pain, burn chips everything, and with good support it can't be broken through without amazing playing.

:rayquaza-mega: Opposing Imposters are dealt with decently well, but opposing Rayquazas can still be a pain - nothing on the team wants to take a physical Mold Breaker Rayquaza's Dragon Ascent. This Pokemon can only really be dealt with by playing well.

Surprise Sets: Mold Breaker Rayquaza is usually really important in battles, so if it faints due to some unusual set then things suddenly become really difficult for me. The person who beat me used Prankster Mega Audino, used Destiny Bond to KO it, and prevented me from harming Spiritomb.

____________________________________________________________________________________


Conclusion

This month's usage stats are gonna be funny.

Importable's here if you skipped the rest of the post: https://pokepast.es/fcd96cab6ce6d424
 
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Hello Today I wanted to make some quick nominations.

For NG rank I nominate Mewtwo mega Y :Mewtwo-Mega-Y:
to S- for its highest spa in the game for great coverage
and also can even run physical sets with its 150 attack
also its possible that its not as expected due to being slower
then most of the other no guards listed. Main bonus over zam is
its pure amount of power and also slightly better special def bulk.

For WG rankings just a quick glance over:
Chansey :Chansey: from C to B for its pure bulk and i belive its better then all the other wgs there
Alomola :Alomomola: to D/UR as I have literally never seen one in my life and can't think in any situation where it even compares to kyogre swampert gyarados or any other water wg

Escavalier :Escavalier:
also to D/UR cuz i also have seen one and just because its slower then scizor and genesect its generally just never worth it sadly.
Spiritomb :Spiritomb: to D/UR it works as a level 2 wg and well so does m sab also besides having a barely stronger hit on i suppose knock off tomb is outclassed by sab in every single other way.
Pyogre :Kyogre-Primal: I don't feel nearly as strong about this one but maybe move to S-
Add shuckle and crustle
Shuckle :Shuckle: to B for its amazing defs and very different unique bug rock typing.
Similarly add crustle :crustle: to C or D because while its not as bulky it can act as a offensive shuckle and keep the typing.
Add dusclops :dusclops: to C or D for its pure ghost typing and close bulk level to cress with evolite
Maybe also dusknoir :dusknoir: for its pure ghost typing to D as well not as strong as this one as i am for dusclops tho.
Ho-oh :Ho-Oh: To C/D rank as even with its 4x rock weakness it does wall quite a bit with its good def stats and overall decent typing besides the 4x rock weakness

For regular VR
MMX :Mewtwo-Mega-X: if we bumbped up everything else giratina ng and wg to S+ aero bliss and chansey to S then possibly add MMX to S- as i think its just slightly above the other A+ mons but I dont think its above any of the S tiers and theres a slot right there for it imo in S- if you bumped everything else up.
maybe Pogre :Kyogre-Primal: to B for its amazing strengths and i think its better then the other mons in B-
Maybe doublade :doublade: to C+ unsure I don't see it like ever so a little hard for me to say as well.
Tangrowth :Tangrowth: to D for similar ability as gourgiest super aad can wall groudon with primal sea
Shuckle :Shuckle: to C+/B- for its amazing bulk and can work as a decent prankster or magic bouncer also extreme niche sand setter role
Ho-oh :Ho-Oh: possible C- due to its extremely amazing bulk and nearly unbreakable with regen vest set
These are some mostly glance over things and some additions I really think we should add with some other ideas.
 
For NG rank I nominate Mewtwo mega Y :Mewtwo-Mega-Y:
to S- for its highest spa in the game for great coverage
and also can even run physical sets with its 150 attack
also its possible that its not as expected due to being slower
then most of the other no guards listed. Main bonus over zam is
its pure amount of power and also slightly better special def bulk.
I'd go as far as to say MMY is by far the best no guard mon (mmane, aero, and random ohko mons are viable but not as much so) and deo-s isnt even that good of a no guard mon bc of how much teams prepare for it. Huge Power Deo-S is prob better than no guard at this point. This format comes down to having surprise in consistent sets. No Guard Deo-S is so obvious and prepared for. No guard mmy thanks to its awesome spa stat has so many moves to choose from while providing pressure and speed control.
 

berry

what kind
is a Community Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a member of the Battle Simulator Staff
It's been a bit since my last post, and unfortunately I haven't had time to put any more work into my ORAS primer. However, I do want to talk about an ideological split that is present in Pure Hackmons, that has been present since the Classic / Pure split: at what point does the arbitrary definition of Pure Hackmons (no bans, ever, period) actually become a hindrance for metagame competitiveness and enjoyability? And furthermore, how far do we really want the "metagame integrity" preserved by this definition to extend? It's already destroyed one generation, and it's beginning to destroy multiple others.

As a starting point, I myself see ORAS Pure Hackmons as the definitive Pure Hackmons meta- if someone wants a recommendation on what to watch for the highest skill ceiling or what to play for the greatest meta enjoyment, I, as well as a handful of other players, will always point to ORAS. Why? We really think it's the closest that Pure Hackmons has ever been to a "no bullshit" meta, and it is the closest any Other Metagame has ever come to being solved because of the hypothetical existence of a "greatest team", unbound by the limits of any bans or clauses. Why don't we consider any generations before or after it to be perfect? It comes down to the inclusion of a sufficient amount of bullshit. Gen 4 has extremely strong trappers and easy ways to abuse no team preview. Gen 5 has sleep mechanics that are universally agreed to be uncompetitive and unfun, as well as a no-weakness wonder guard in Pokestar Spirit. Gen 7 has a similar problem with comatose phasing, crystal free Z moves, and spammable anti-Wonder Guard attacks. Gen 8 has a 1125 BST mon and an ability that nullifies all other abilities.

So what does gen 6 have? None of that. From a glance, ORAS is completely devoid of edge-case garbage that would render the metagames nearly unplayable. It's extremely easy to follow and it plays the most like a standard game of pokemon, leading to the highest skill ceiling. There are matchup advantages, fights over field control, interesting EV spreads and techs, and because of all of these and more, an infinitely expansive skill ceiling and potential for new strategies to come up. There's no rock-paper-scissors luck needed to hit sheer colds like in Gen 8. There's no absolutely unstoppable snowballing attackers like in Gen 7. There's no infinite sleep chains like in Gen 5. Everything seems manageable, until you see this message appear.

Your opponent has two indistinguishable Pokemon, making it impossible for you to tell which one has which moves / ability / item.

Clone spam is Gen 6's edge-case garbage. Every time I see this message, the love I have for ORAS Pure Hackmons fades. With two sets that outwardly present the same characteristics, it is impossible to make intelligent plays and adjust to your opponent's game plan without extremely precise micro-tracking and a handful of luck. This strategy is uncompetitive because of how easy it is to pull off, as well as how effective it can be in throwing off opponents because of its unpredictability and overall jankiness.

The two most skill-intensive lessons required to be learned by a high level Pure Hackmons player are the ability to scout and the ability to make predictions after scouting. With tiny adjustments in playstyle, clone users are able to completely nullify the ability to use skill in a matchup against them, without keeping extremely close track of tiny factors like HP percentage, if they are even given the opportunity.

I frequently call a meta “not worth playing” when I feel that there is something significant that should be fixed, either due to edge-case garbage like I detailed above, or because of the meta simply being unrewarding to win in. In my eyes, ORAS Pure Hackmons is currently not worth playing because both playing with and against this strategy is unrewarding. Its simple ability to nullify learned skill and essentially circumvent counter strategies due to inherent jank makes it more potent than it should be against skilled players, and extremely difficult to actually fight in a fair manner.

So, should we ban anything or implement any clauses or fundamentally change the definition of Pure Hackmons? My short answer is yes. I think that the archaic definition of “Pure Hackmons” being a meta where nothing can ever be banned is directly hurting the format and its playability. I don’t believe there are many cases in the history of PH where this would be an overwhelming yes, but I can think of two changes that could be made to directly and instantly improve metas.

My Suggestions for the Future of “Pure” Hackmons

Regarding Gen 8, Eternamax, and Neutralizing Gas
Although my experience with Gen 8 is limited, I believe that Neutralizing Gas should be completely removed from Gen 8 Pure Hackmons. From my experience with the meta, this is the root cause of much of the coinflip luck present in gen 8. Eternamax seems strangely manageable, but again, my loose knowledge of the format doesn’t lend itself well to making essential decisions about the format and its future.

Regarding Gen 6, Clone Spam, Clone Clause, and beyond
I believe that in Generation 6 Pure Hackmons, we should implement a “Clone Clause” that prevents identical-presenting Pokemon from appearing in battles. I believe that this should extend to having only one copy of each form of a pokemon, and in Arceus’ case, only allowing one Arceus on a team. Due to the inherent uncompetitiveness contained in the strategy and the fact that it has reduced the need for skill when it comes to winning in ORAS PH, I believe the state of the metagame would improve with a clause like this.

Regarding Gen N, Clone Spam, Clone Clause, and beyond.
When it comes to gens beyond Gen 6, I’m not sure how I feel about a Clone Clause. I think that my relatively encyclopedic knowledge only extends over that gen, but I would not be opposed on lifting the strict “no bans, ever” definition on any generation beyond.

TLDR: I value metagame integrity over arbitrary definitions that directly conflict with meta playability. Since the beginning of Gen 8, the metagame integrity of nearly all generations of Pure Hackmons has declined, and I believe that it is time for us to loosen our extremely conservative “no bans, ever” definition of Pure Hackmons, one clause at a time, one generation at a time. I think that this would also extend to making other “unplayable” generations playable outside of the realms of pure luck (i.e. banning sleep in Gen 1, and beyond), and it would also renew interest in Hackmons as a whole.

Finally, here is how I would word my version of "Clone Clause".

You may only use one of each forme of a Pokemon on your team. In the case of Arceus, Genesect, Keldeo, Pikachu, or any other Pokemon where stats are identical between formes, you may only use one Pokemon with that dex number on your team.
 
It's Halloween (IDC if it's after 12 AM) I wanted to share a trick or treat set. With the help of others such as Disciple, Mbouchon, and many others in the community I have been Loving just loving trick or treat sets on some dark type huge powers. The concept is rather simple really. The idea is to use a dark type with massive attack stat use trick or treat on a pokemon and then you have trapped them with pursuit.


some good examples of this are Yveltal, Gyarados-mega, and Tyranitar-mega.


Yveltal by Javierx500 on DeviantArt
Mega Gyarados - Pokémon Wiki - Neoseeker
248m.gif




Yveltal/Gyarados-Mega/Tyranitar-mega @ Lum Berry/Black glasses
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Trick-or-Treat
- Pursuit
- Knock Off/Sucker-Punch
- Ironhead/Sucker-Punch/Extreme speed/Water Shuriken

All 3 of these mons work well as a Trick or treat Huge power. Full Hp and Full attack for max bulk and max power.
Lum Berry to eat a sleeping move burn or other annoying status or black glasses for more power for your dark moves and chip damage. I generally run Lum Berry I like it more.
Trick or treat + pursuit allows you to trap many different Wonder guards and many other mons in general for massive damage.
Knock Off is generally for more power and has the niche or getting rid of items. Usually for Giratina as it can sometimes live pursuit.
Sucker punch is stab priority and is great for predictions and amazing revenge power.
The other options here are somewhat up to you. If you're not running sucker punch then you can run extreme speed over it to help do neutral damage give yourself an extra +2 priority instead of sucker punches +1. but you lose stab so usually not preferred.
Ironhead is for fairy-type wgs that still can't be touched even after trick or treat is applied.
Water shuriken is really only meant for Gyarados as it's a stab water move that can be used over sucker punch. works similarly to sucker it does lots of damage because of stab and has +1 priority for heavy revenging. Also, It can deal with annoying Primal Groudons.
In summary, these are the 3 main mons that enjoy trick or treat pursuit trapping.


Happy Halloween and here's one of my favorite teams that use this set as an example:
https://pokepast.es/4d8b878d1b8ac8b4


:blobuwu:
 

Ransei

Garde Mystik
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Battle Simulator Moderatoris a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnus
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It's time for another mass update to the Viability Rankings. To be real, I intend for this to be the last one I do for Gen 6 Hackmons, at least for a while if ever. I may do make some smaller changes if there is a high enough demand and an agreement on them but also if I haven't delegated anyone else to run the VR by then. I know it's been less than two months since the last set of VR changes but the metagame has changed a lot since then and deserves to have its viability rankings updated to accommodate for that. The council is currently inactive so I've been doing these by myself. Viability Rankings are highly subjective and can alter in varying ways depending on a group of players' experiences with Hackmons and its affected Pokemon. Despite this, I'm hoping to make sure these viability rankings are very much accurate enough to give a general idea of how the metagame is and can be. Plenty of these decisions were discussed and partially influenced by experienced players in the Old Shark room. Some arguments on removing lower ranked Pokemon were due to not seeing them on ladder, but ladder doesn't have enough experienced players who are interested in testing out lower ranked Pokemon. A lot of them have niches that restrict them from being fully outclassed. Some of them have much higher HP than others of their type, much lower speed, much higher speed, unique typings and strategies that made them work at some point in this metagame's development, and more. Some of them were used way back in XY but still carry unique niches that would allow them to function in the current metagame if players are willing to use them. I thought about the viability rankings a lot over the past two months and felt it was only fair to make more big changes to finalize my part of the VR's development, especially to how Wonder Guards are seen. If you have any questions or comments about the Viability Rankings, always feel free to post on this thread so I can explain them. Thanks and enjoy looking through these updates! Also let me know if I missed anything!

RISES
Mewtwo-Mega-X: A+ -> S-
Groudon-Primal: A -> A+
Rayquaza-Mega: A -> A+
Kyogre-Primal: B- -> A-
Latias-Mega: B- -> A-
Deoxys-Attack: B -> B+
Lugia: B- -> B+
Sceptile-Mega: C -> B-
Ditto: D -> C-
Ho-Oh: D-> C-

DROPS
Blissey: S- -> E
Gyarados-Mega: B+ -> B
Steelix-Mega: B+ -> B
Ferrothorn: B -> B-

ADDITIONS
Deoxys-Speed to B
Shuckle to B-
Lopunny-Mega to C+
Absol-Mega to C
Salamence-Mega to C
Scizor-Mega to C-
Swadloon to D

No Guard Viability Rank Changes (Note that every Pokemon below S- is in A+)
Mewtwo-Mega-Y added to S
Giratina added to S-
Shuckle added to S-

Wonder Guard Rank Changes (The Wonder Guard Viability Rankings has been given a smaller revamp. Subranks now exist below S- rank, S+ rank has been removed, a new ?? rank has been added)
S Rank
Arceus: S+ -> S
Audino-Mega: S+ -> S
Xerneas: S+ -> S
-------------------------------------
The three Pokemon above have not necessarily been "dropped". S is now just the highest rank and is treated a little more strictly. S+ has been removed for consistency purposes and due to lower Pokemon within this rank dropping, making the stretch between each of these subranks redundant.

S- Rank
Scizor-Mega: S- -> S- (No Change)
Swampert-Mega: S -> S- (Drop)
-----------------------------------------------

Full Rank Rises for Wonder Guards below S rank
None

Full Rank Drops for Wonder Guards below S rank
Sableye-Mega: S- -> A+
Groudon-Primal: B -> C+
Gyarados-Mega: B -> C-

Additions to the Wonder Guard Viability Rankings
Shuckle to B-
Crustle to C

Rank Shifts in Subranks within the same Full Rank
Kyogre-Primal: A -> A+ (Rise)
Blissey: A -> A (No Change)
Genesect: A -> A (No Change)
Gyarados @ Gyaradosite: A -> A (No Change)
Regigigas: A -> A (No Change)
Slaking: A -> A (No Change)
Beedrill-Mega: A -> A- (Drop)
Drapion: A -> A- (Drop)
Electrode: A -> A- (Drop)
Manectric-Mega: A -> A- (Drop)
Cresselia: B -> B+ (Rise)
Deoxys-Speed: B -> B+ (Rise)
Ditto: B -> B+ (Rise)
Mewtwo-Mega-Y: B -> B+ (Rise)
Meloetta: B -> B (No Change)
Mewtwo: B -> B (No Change)
Mewtwo-Mega-X: B -> B- (Drop)
Palkia: B-> B- (Drop)
Alakazam-Mega: C -> C+ (Rise)
Alomomola: C -> C+ (Rise)
Chansey: C -> C+ (Rise)
Deoxys-Attack: C -> C+ (Rise)
Durant: C -> C+ (Rise)
Darkrai: C -> C (No Change)
Escavalier: C -> C (No Change)
Hoopa: C -> C (No Change)
Hoopa-Unbound: C -> C (No Change)
Ludicolo: C -> C (No Change)
Skarmory: C -> C (No Change)
Dialga: C-> C- (Drop)
Empoleon: C-> C- (Drop)
Mawile-Mega: C-> C- (Drop)
Sableye @ Sablenite: C-> C- (Drop)
Spiritomb: C-> C- (Drop)

A New Wonder Guard Rank has been added!!!
?? Rank
The Supremely Outclassed
This is all the remaining Pokémon who hold the same or similar set of weaknesses as an individual Pokémon above ?? rank. They are either fully outclassed or do not have strong enough merits to escape from ?? rank. These Pokémon can be used and players may find success with them, but they bring minimal to no value above the Pokémon ranked higher on the Wonder Guard Viability Rankings. This does not apply to all other Pokémon simply because plenty have critical combinations of weaknesses that render them unusable with Wonder Guard and several have combined weaknesses that can be worked with but require a significant amount of support to such an extent that they fall below ?? Rank.

Examples of Pokémon who fit under ?? Rank
Furret (Incredibly outclassed by Arceus and many other pure Normal-types)
Floette-Eternal (Incredibly outclassed by Xerneas)
Kingdra (Incredibly outclassed by Palkia)
Surskit (Incredibly outclassed by Gyarados @ Gyaradosite)
Wigglypuff (Incredibly outclassed by Mega Audino)

Changes in D Rank Wonder Guard
Tornadus-Therian ->
Pidgeot-Mega

Link to the Viability Rankings
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/old-gen-hackmons-megathread.3649618/page-9#post-8756832
 

Ransei

Garde Mystik
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Battle Simulator Moderatoris a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnus
Moderator
:xy/tyrantrum:

Wonder Guard Weakness Severity Rankings

ORAS EDITION

These rankings display the levels of severity of each type for a Wonder Guard to be weak to, with the lower # tier being the most severe and the higher number being the least. These are all ranked in terms of severity instead of by alphabetical and they will help players understand how Pokemon are ranked in the Wonder Guard Viability Rankings.

Note
The primary purpose of a Wonder Guard Pokemon is to defend your team against No Guard + OHKO moves. Without Wonder Guard, only Sturdy is able to stop No Guard + OHKO moves from outright winning each game. Sturdy is far less reliable than Wonder Guard since it allows for its users to faint against powerful Pokemon more easily. This makes it easy for No Guard + OHKO moves to win against Sturdy. Two Wonder Guards are critical for each team to have in order to not lose against No Guard + OHKO moves since No Guard + OHKO users are able to get around one by using Gastro Acid.


Tier 0 - This is the most severe weakness for a Wonder Guard. Wonder Guards with this weakness are almost always guaranteed to be unviable. Do not consider using a Wonder Guard Pokemon with this weakness unless you have at least two more Wonder Guards with only weaknesses with a tier number higher than 1 on your team.
Ice

Tier 1 - These are super severe weaknesses for a Wonder Guard to have. Wonder Guards carrying these weaknesses will always be highly vulnerable to OHKO moves, Shadow Tag, status, and/or Trick. They can frequently be difficult to use in battle.
Ground

Tier 2 - These are severe weaknesses for a Wonder Guard to have. Wonder Guards carrying these weaknesses can be decent but will never run without a hefty flaw that makes the game harder for them and their team.
Water

Dragon
Dark

Fighting
Rock


Tier 3 - These are bad weaknesses for a Wonder Guard to have. Wonder Guards carrying these weaknesses can be good on their own but will have a difficult time pairing well with other Wonder Guards and/or Pokemon without Wonder Guard.
Psychic
Bug
Fire
Flying
Ghost

Tier 4 - These are moderate weaknesses for a Wonder Guard to have. These will do well on their own and be able to pair well with most other Wonder Guards and/or Pokemon without Wonder Guard. Wonder Guards carrying these as their sole weakness or in combination with a few weaknesses within Tier 4-Tier 5 are almost always guaranteed to be great.
[FREEZE DRY]
Fighting

Steel
Electric

Tier 5 - These are the least concerning types for a Wonder Guard to be weak to due to the lack of quality in their coverage. Pokemon carrying these weaknesses will hardly to worry about them because using these types of coverage moves always requires Pokemon to sacrifice better coverage moves. Wonder Guards carrying these as their sole weakness or in combination with a few weaknesses in Tier 4 are always guaranteed to be great.
Grass

Poison

Tier 6 - This type is not a severe weakness for a Wonder Guard to have because it is not Super Effective against any type.
Normal

Use this as a guide to determine how good a Wonder Guard could be on your team. Feel free to provide any input, nominations/suggestions, or questions on this thread.

Go ahead and also combine weaknesses to figure out how much they could harm teams if paired with other Pokemon. Here's a grandiose example:
Mega Audino and Xerneas are S rank Wonder Guards weak to Steel
Tyrantrum is weak to Steel
Arceus is an S rank Wonder Guard weak to Fighting
Tyrantrum is weak to Fighting
Mega Swampert is an S- rank Wonder Guard weak to Freeze Dry
Tyrantrum is weak to Freeze Dry
Mega Sableye is an A+ rank Wonder Guard with a sole weakness to Fairy
Tyrantrum is weak to Fairy
Wonder Guard Air Balloon Electric-types are usually only weak to Ground
Tyrantrum is weak to Ground
Tyrantrum is also weak to both Sheer Cold and Fissure
Every OHKO move a Pokemon can be weak to
In addition, Tyrantrum is weak to Dragon, one of the effective types of attacks to deal with the metagame's best Pokemon
In Gen 7 it does not resist or block any moldy moves
It is just weak to one
What does all of this mean
Tyrantrum is the worst Wonder Guard user in all of Pokemon
 
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