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Zard-X technically has no counters because there is no Pokemon in the game that can can wall the SD+2 Attacks set, but the conventional DD set does have several really hard checks that can be considered counters. The only real connter to this set persay to Zardx is Quagsire because it can come hard in and avoid the 2HKO, but Zardx can run Outrage to 2HKO Quagsire easily, so it doesn't beat ever set. Obviously there are several very solid checks to the set in Lando-T and Hippowdon that can win 1v1 after Zard-X gets to +1, but +1 Flare Blitz does way too much to them for them to be counters. So basically, while Pokemon hard check certain Zardx sets, there is no "universal counter" to Zardx. Also, none of Zardx's usual checks like being burnt, but that doesnt stop them from being really consistent answers to Zardx in the long run. But the guy who posted Quagsire did post a 100% counter (ignoring hax) to the set that you posted.
I dont want to be that guy but no one cares, we're here to talk about the OU metagame not some beef on some other forums.
Hippo can take on non-Will-o sets and so can Altaria. It was mentioned above that the Pokemon that would be used to manage Charizard-X doesn't appreciate being burned by it.
As you can tell, I made no mention of a beef. This user has clearly followed me to this board where I asked an innocuous question, and I never mentioned I was asking my question on Smogon. Lucario answered my question succinctly-- basically, ZardX has no universal counters, which was my point. Thanks.
Sorry, didn't catch your edit LittleLucario, here's my reply to it:
It's not my thread, I was just posting in it. Also, per Smogon's definition of counter, you cannot only counter a moveset and consider it a counter, which is why I said you must assume that Zard has every relevant attack. I only posted sets after it was said that "this" counters "this" set. My reasoning was, if Zard has X set, then this mon is not a counter, and so on and so forth. It's not that he's unbeatable-- it's that you cannot reliably, 100%, switch something in and win, across all relevant sets.
I won't belabor the point, as you've already given me what I came for.
I apologize for that poster coming here like that, but I had no idea they'd follow me here-- I made no mention on Gamefaqs that I was coming here for an answer.
I was asking this question for my own personal growth as a player, because I don't have all the answers, knamsayin? Lol
I apologize for bringing gfaqs discussion. There was no point in me doing it, and I'm sorry. Ty for deleting it.
Now I have an actual question, why is mega zam not used as much as I think it should be? It's super fast and super powerful. It can even carry Knock off to surprise Chansey. I understand it not being top tier, but it was going to drop to UU a couple months ago. Which I think is insane for such a strong and fast mon(I know it's based on usage just asking why no one uses it).
I apologize for bringing gfaqs discussion. There was no point in me doing it, and I'm sorry. Ty for deleting it.
Now I have an actual question, why is mega zam not used as much as I think it should be? It's super fast and super powerful. It can even carry Knock off to surprise Chansey. I understand it not being top tier, but it was going to drop to UU a couple months ago. Which I think is insane for such a strong and fast mon(I know it's based on usage just asking why no one uses it).
I also think mega zam is a bit underrated. Mega zam is a frail pokemon though and it gets wrecked by priority which is everywhere in OU. I think that's the main reason it's not that used, as well as people preferring using different megas.
He is great against offense, but he just lacks the power needed to be a reliable wallbreaker, as even defensive pokemon neutral stabs put zamora under a lot of pressure, without extensive hazard support and shuffling.
A great pokemon but he has some issues on bulkier metagames.
Kyurem-Black @ Leftovers
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 56 HP / 132 Atk / 68 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Ice Beam
- Iron Head
- Fusion Bolt
- Substitute
so heres a set ive been having fun with recently. s/o to vertex for mentioning this and making me want to try it out but sub iron head kyube is like amazing lol. it doesnt get a lot of credit but its really menacing for a lot of offenses to face as it can be super hard to switch into even wtihout a life orb to back up its attacks. it subs up on tons of stuff like rotom-w or as the opponent switches when you bring it in on lando or something. just to explain the deviation from the standard set: enough hp to make 101 hp substitutes so chansey cant break them in one hit, enough attack to 2hko standard clefable with iron head, max speed, rest in special attack. you dont need earth power because you just sub on rotom-w anyways and it cant do much back to you. this + spikes is actually deadly you guys really gotta try it.
A stall archetype uses him, it stops virtually any Talonflame set, it has some decent match ups vs balance thanks to its speed tier and t wave immunity.
Otherwise some teams prefer it over something like Rotom-W, as it provides reliable recovery, Defog, Heat Wave, and a Ground immunity which isn't scared of Mold Breaker.
I have been seeing a rise of Dugtrio a lot lately, more or less paired up on stall teams, or on offense with Mega Gardevoir. Any specific reason in general, or is this another trend Mon?
I have been seeing a rise of Dugtrio a lot lately, more or less paired up on stall teams, or on offense with Mega Gardevoir. Any specific reason in general, or is this another trend Mon?
Well Dugtrio is used on stall now to act as a pseudo Gothitelle-like anti-stallbreaker in which is able to effectively eliminate/weaken stallbreakers such as Heatran, Keldeo, Mega Diancie, etc.. People are not preparing for it as much rn so its pretty effective on doing this task atm. I never seen a Dugg + Gard team, but I am assuming its just to remove Steels and Fires like Heatran, Volcanion, and Excadrill, etc... although Magnezone is better at doing this imo.
I've noticed that Diggersby is BL, and therefore is technically OU, but I've barely seen it used. Anyone have any uses/team builds around it? It doesn't look that bad, but I don't see it being that great in OU.
I've noticed that Diggersby is BL, and therefore is technically OU, but I've barely seen it used. Anyone have any uses/team builds around it? It doesn't look that bad, but I don't see it being that great in OU.
He requires a whole load of prediction to work with his stabs and it's speed tier leaves a lot to be desired, there are honestly better options for a wallbreaker.
I've noticed that Diggersby is BL, and therefore is technically OU, but I've barely seen it used. Anyone have any uses/team builds around it? It doesn't look that bad, but I don't see it being that great in OU.
Diggersby has a nice role in the OU tier, usually being paired with Mega Lopunny to create a Normal-Spam offensive core. Diggersby is a threat that most teams aren't prepared for, and can put in a decent amount of work when applicable. If you check out the OU Bazaar, I'm sure there are a few teams that use it if your looking for an example or one to try out.
I've noticed that Diggersby is BL, and therefore is technically OU, but I've barely seen it used. Anyone have any uses/team builds around it? It doesn't look that bad, but I don't see it being that great in OU.
The ideal team for diggersby is a volturn team with slow volturners to get it in for breaking opportunities. A team of SD U-turn Mega Scizor+Rotom-W+Lando-T (scarf is ideal here)+Rocks Steel type or Rocks Clef+Latios+Diggersby should work pretty well. Some people may recommend some sort of "bunny spam" team, but I don't really like those sorts of teams because they rely too much on contact attackers, so mons like tankchomp and RH Lando-T can wear down all of your threats into range of being revenge killed by the time that you overload it for your teammates. Obviously these archtypes can still work, I'm just not a huge fan of them. Here's an example of the team that I was talking about earlier:
Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 44 Def / 200 SpD
Impish Nature
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
I've noticed that Diggersby is BL, and therefore is technically OU, but I've barely seen it used. Anyone have any uses/team builds around it? It doesn't look that bad, but I don't see it being that great in OU.
Or just use it with type spam cores like grounds. Diggersby + Garchomp as one example.
Also Littlelucario fix your Rotom-W nature and make it less weak to Zard-X. Twave Rotom-W is not a Zard-X check and the slashes are confusing so make up your mind before trying to advise someone on something you seem confused about to.
Or just use it with type spam cores like grounds. Diggersby + Garchomp as one example.
Also Littlelucario fix your Rotom-W nature and make it less weak to Zard-X. Twave Rotom-W is not a Zard-X check and the slashes are confusing so make up your mind before trying to advise someone on something you seem confused about to.
The entire team threatens to OHKO or cripple zardx bar sciz (who is usually clicking u turn anyways), has tran to check non eq variants, has rotom to cripple it with twave if need be, and scarf landot can live one hit from full most of the time if it manages to muscle it's way past rotom and tran without being revenge killed. Thanks for the other suggestions at least
Which Pokemon is/are the most sure bet(s) to Baton Pass speed? I've seen Scizor and Gliscor getting some mentions, as well as Zapdos. Any others, or are those my main OU choices?
Which Pokemon is/are the most sure bet(s) to Baton Pass speed? I've seen Scizor and Gliscor getting some mentions, as well as Zapdos. Any others, or are those my main OU choices?
Which Pokemon is/are the most sure bet(s) to Baton Pass speed? I've seen Scizor and Gliscor getting some mentions, as well as Zapdos. Any others, or are those my main OU choices?
I usually don't save any replays so I decided I'll just put it here instead of the creative and underrated sets thread with forced replays somewhere on the mid ladder for the sake of being able to post there. I have been pretty inactive posting and playing but I always kept lurking here so I am aware of the current metagame trends. I have already played with this pokemon before when I was in my 'let's try something gimmicky like mega steelix because playing with stuff like lando-t and latios gets boring' phase (which is also a sign of decreasing interest in this game in general), so the fact that I put this pokemon on my team again didn't come out of nowhere. Anyway, after watching some wcop and olt replays and reading the olt thread, I noticed a few metagame trends that made me want to use this pokemon again. First there is birdspam, which requires multiple good checks because Talonflame and Mega Pinsir (though there are other variants with stuff like Tornadus-T and Staraptor) are able to either overwhelm checks like Rotom-W and Landorus-T, or are able to beat would-be Flying-type checks thanks to their coverage (most notably steel and rock types). Stealth Rock Clefable is a sign of Mega Sableye's ongoing dominance on bulky teams and also shows how big of a constraint it is in the teambuilder.
Diancie @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Def / 24 SpD / 8 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Stealth Rock
- Heal Bell
So as you probably already guessed by the sprite I was talking about Diancie. Not mega, but regular Diancie. It has obvious flaws like its low damage output, which it can't really compensate with a move such as Toxic, as most Diancie switchin are either immune to it or don't care about it, and the increasing usage of pokemon such as Jirachi, Tangrowth, Dugtrio and Crawdaunt. Nevertheless, Diancie is a really solid check to some really big threats, both physically as specially orientated. I prefer a physical defensive spread over a specially defensive spread because it enables Diancie to check pokemon such as Mega Lopunny, Mega Pinsir and LO Latios much better (calcs below), while still being able to avoid the 2HKO from pokemon such as Mega Alakazam, Gengar, and Thundurus.
In my opinion the first three moves are absolutely necessary. Moonblast and Diamond Storm helps Diancie to actually beat stuff like Volcarona and Mega Lopunny. Still, many pokemon can switch in for free because the damage Diancie does is really low if the move isn't super effective or you aren't attacking a Mega Gardevoir with Diamond Storm. Stealth Rock prevents totally free switchins from these pokemon. Also one of the few pokemon that gets up rocks against Mega Sableye, even though you need to keep constant pressure on Skarmory for it to actually have any use against stall. For the last slot I use Heal Bell at the moment but honestly it really isn't that important. You can go Toxic for stuff like AV Tangrowth, Landorus-T and Mew (which is also a really good pokemon at the moment btw) and moves such as Explosion, Earth Power and Protect all have their (though pretty insignificant) uses.
8 Speed to speedcreep - Spe Tangrowth, 252 HP / 224 Def avoids the 2HKO from Mega Lopunny's HJK after Stealth Rock. Rest in SpD to minimize the chance Gengar and Mega Alakazam have to 2HKO it.
252 Atk Mega Lopunny High Jump Kick vs. 252 HP / 224+ Def Diancie: 120-142 (39.4 - 46.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+1 252 Atk Mega Charizard X Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 224+ Def Diancie: 180-212 (59.2 - 69.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+2 252 Atk Mega Pinsir Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 224+ Def Diancie: 164-193 (53.9 - 63.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Life Orb Weavile Icicle Crash vs. 252 HP / 224+ Def Diancie: 95-113 (31.2 - 37.1%) -- 73.2% chance to 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Latios Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 224+ Def Diancie: 94-110 (30.9 - 36.1%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
136+ Atk Mega Heracross Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 224+ Def Diancie: 145-172 (47.6 - 56.5%) -- 31.6% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252+ Atk Pixilate Mega Altaria Return vs. 252 HP / 224+ Def Diancie: 175-207 (57.5 - 68%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Gengar Sludge Wave vs. 252 HP / 24 SpD Diancie: 140-165 (46 - 54.2%) -- 4.7% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Mega Alakazam Psychic vs. 252 HP / 24 SpD Diancie: 127-151 (41.7 - 49.6%) -- 23.8% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
180 SpA Life Orb Tornadus-T Hurricane vs. 252 HP / 24 SpD Diancie: 68-81 (22.3 - 26.6%) -- possible 5HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Thundurus Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 28 SpD Diancie: 255-302 (84.1 - 99.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Choice Specs Hydreigon Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 24 SpD Diancie: 72-85 (23.6 - 27.9%) -- possible 5HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 SpA Volcarona Giga Drain vs. 252 HP / 24 SpD Diancie: 174-206 (57.2 - 67.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
