Metagame ORAS LC

[gali]

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Why play ORAS?

It’s balanced and diverse: The meta has a wide range of viable threats and playstyles, but none of these are overcentralizing. It’s not at all uncommon to see 12 different Pokemon in a battle.

It’s accessible: The meta is similar enough to SS LC that a player without any prior experience can pick it up fairly quickly. Many of the same threats are here, and the ones that don’t are replaced with mons that fulfill similar niches, such as Fletchling over Grookey.

It’s underdeveloped: The meta is still largely in the same state that it’s been in since the end of Gen VI, meaning that it’s ripe for more optimization and the rediscovery of viable Pokemon and sets that were previously unused.

If you want to play, shoot me a PM on discord at gali#1650--I’ll always be happy to play!

Banlist

Pokemon:
Abilities: Moody
Moves: Sonicboom, Dragon Rage, Swagger, Baton Pass

Viability Rankings

Sample Teams


VoltTurn

Gastbra Webs

PorySpritz Balance

Dual Fight

Water Spam

Bird Spam

Snivy Offense

Fletchling+Shellder Offense

You can find more teams on the RoA Sample Teams page!

 

[gali]

Dropping a quick VR now that LCWC is over. Expect something longer-form with more detailed thoughts on these rankings Soon. Everything C2 and below are unordered. There's been a lot of movement in the meta in the last few months and I'm excited to see what happens in the run of tours leading up to LCPL!

 

[Mister Magnus]

Lets save this thread, this is tazz personal archetype tier rank(which we will be using for a lack of a better source), and I will be posting teams and explaining how each of them work so more people get into ORAS

S
Flying spam

A
Ebutton+trapper
Bulky Balance (LilyAC type teams)
Para Spam

B
Shell Smash
Webs
Zigzagoon
Sun
LarvTurn

 

[tazz]

You can make almost anything work in ORAS, so some of those categories (like bulky balance) are encompassing a ton of variety. With some exceptions, you can usually tech any team to do especially well against some of those archetypes. Still, if archetypes help you build, I think it's a useful list.

Here's my personal VR, everything B2 and above is ordered.

S - A: The most metagame defining Pokemon. Any competent team has to have a plan to deal with them. they are the most splashable Pokemon in the metagame.
B: Great pokemon, but can't be slapped on just any team like the Pokemon above them can. They're less prepared for as a result, so are deadly on the right team.
C1: I've used most of these Pokemon once or twice, but this is light mu fishing territory for me. If they hit their mus they're decent, but may leave you a little bit worse off if not.
C2: Same as the above, but you'd be even more worse off if you don't hit your matchup (Rufflet is the exception, but I downgraded it because of the luck factor).
D: Hopefully the opponent doesn't have fletchling lol

I encourage people to dip into the B ranks a bit more, many of my wins in the past year have come from exploiting people underpreparing for them.

 

[Colin]

I went 6-1 in ORAS in the most recent lcwc, so I am posting my opinions here.

- Ponyta is really good because it spreads burns and is very difficult to beat with fast threats that are not Diglett. It is maybe the best pick at trading with its bulk, speed, and wide movepool but it needs hazard removal to do so (usually Vullaby because it is the best pokemon outside of this role). Both physical attacking sets with Flare Blitz and Flame Charge or Wild Charge and special attacking sets with Fire blast and Hidden Power Grass are dangerous. Ponyta teams often don't need to run fighting types, because they would prefer to slot in more speed and Chinchou to make an effective trap bait game plan. An anti Porygon spread also allows Ponyta teams to have a dominant matchup against Porygon structures because it will not be dependably revenge koed. I consider it top 10-15 in viability.

- Archen is suffering from its own success, because there are fewer builds that allow it to take the trades that it is best at. It is still really good and versatile, but using offensively leaning structures and also not using Foongus and Eviolite Pawn as the primary backbone for a team go a long way in fighting the substitute 3 attacks set that is the most dangerous one. Ferro + Snub cores are hit or miss depending on the surrounding speed tiers against archen, but in general they provide fewer opportunities and more resistance against Archen.

- Abra with focus sash is always useful, but there is plenty of room to use other sets. I believe Gastly might be as good as Abra, thanks to a better offensive movepool and sets such as Life Orb Sucker Punch and Eviolite + Wisp being effective against most teams. Porygon is the best breaker to pair with paralysis spam with Eviolite recover or Agility + Juice reliably taking koes. Choice Scarf and bulky Trace are also usable, but less good.

- Onix is not flashy, but it gets the job done because it reliably sets rocks and is the best counter against birds. Weak Armor is my preferred set because it is stronger against Diglett, but Berry Juice potentially gives outs against different offensive structures by using endure. Scarf Pawniard fits excellently beside Onix because they overwhelm Diglett who with Eviolite can only trap one of them, and onix becomes more threatening against knocked targets. Onix is also good against paralysis spam because it blocks thunder wave from some users and is easy to pair with offensive threats that beat the other thunder wave users.

- Mienfoo's best 4th move in my opinion is sleep talk, because it allows its teammates to take advantage of Foongus while preventing Foongus offense from gaining free turns. In general, Mienfoo is forcing specific switches but isn't able to break through them by itself, so freeing teammates should be Mienfoo's primary priority. If Mienfoo cannot do this, I usually slot in Timburr or drop the fighting type slot entirely.

- Gothita does not need Eject Button to position effectively, but the threat of that forces opponents to play slower, increasing the chances that Gothita has to trap its preferred target. Gothita will almost never trap more than one target in a game, but will gain momentum for its team if counter trapped. Gothita therefore wants many potential speed control options alongside it.

Eviolite, Air Balloon, and Life Orb are good. So is Shed Shell, because it completely destroys trap bait teams by invalidating techs such as Sucker Punch Chinchou or using Pawniard to get damage for Air Balloon dig counter trapping. Shed Shell dig will pretty much always run EQ, Beat Up, Substitute, and Sucker Punch or Rock Slide. In my opinion, this set fits best with bulky attackers that do not fear Diglett such as Vullaby, Scarf Porygon, and Eviolite Gastly.