That offensive move pool is depressing. Sadly, this will probably be yet another PU mon.
Is there any data in the data mine that suggests it can copy ally Dance moves? Really disappointing move pool for singles, but it honestly does not look too bad for VGC. Guaranteed stab, Tailwind, Helping Hand, Baton Pass, Taunt, U-turn. Guaranteed Hurricane if on a rain team isn't too shabby. Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but it might be able to carve a niche in that format.
Although, realistically the stats are below average. Design wise it's probably my favorite Gen 7 mon so I'll definitely try experimenting with it at least.
Another unviable mon for the PU tier :[ I was expecting another level from this mon.
BTW, is true that 3v3 is out of the game? it was my favorite format :C
I wonder if dancer activates while protecting,
I really don't get why people are saying this thing's movepool is terrible. It seems pretty solid to me: two powerful STAB attacks, Roost for healing (it has decent enough bulk to use that in lower tiers), Calm Mind to win, U-turn for choiced sets, Baton Pass to function as an offensive passer, Taunt for utility, Hidden Power for some coverage that it chooses. I mean, birdmons usually don't get much coverage besides Heat Wave. Really its movepool is quite good, I can see this functioning as anything from a revenge killer to a sweeper to a stallbreaker in the lower tiers.
If I could remake this I would min-max its stats a little more, give it maybe one or two coverage moves, and give it a moderately good ability so that it doesn't have to use the situational Dancer. Then maybe it would be a lot better.
Y'all are so annoying pretending to be disappointed this thing doesn't get Quiver Dance when it's not even remotely a butterfly or bee.
Also, how can you see an ability like Dancer and say this thing is gonna be "NU at best"? It's easily abusable; lots of things use Quiver and Dragon Dance, or Swords Dance
This thing does not have the bulk or offensive presence to deal with the legendaries GF allows in VGC, I think.
But Oricorio is definitely gonna excel in Smogon Doubles.
With the right ally it can Quiver Dance and attack in the same turn. Its attack stat is just workable enough that a mixed offense set could work and it could Swords Dance and attack in the same turn. What are u smokin
PS 98/98 with this thing's decent support moveset and one good stab/decent second STAB in Air Slash would make it viable in Gen 6 PU; and probably viable in NU, particularly depending on the Style (Pa'u Style maybe not lol)
NU and PU are singles tiers though. Dancer really isn't that exciting of an ability outside of doubles (even if it can be helpful in niche situations). Oricorio really doesn't have the stats or movepool to excel in any higher tiers.
I think the most promising set for Oricorio in whatever tier it ends up in is going to be Calm Mind or maybe Specs. The Ghost form looks the most appealing by far due to how spammable its Revelation Dance is; if any of the forms were to rise above PU, my bet would be on that one.
All these people whining that Oricorio doesn't work in their pet metagame. Gee? I wonder why Oricorio won't work in little cup triples?! Because it was created for VGC.
I don't think it's gonna be good in VGC, either. It has no bulk, it has okay SpA at best, it has a barely passing movepool. Its only gimmick is pairing it with a Quiver Dance user, but then you have 2x pokemon on the field that are weak to Rock Slide at the same time with no bulk, and you have the whole issue of actually using a boosting move in doubles. And even after you get the boost, you're not exactly destroying worlds, either.
When something is good in doubles, there's a good chance it's also good in singles, too, because much of what makes a pokemon good in both overlap: stats, movepool, typing, ability, etc. Oricorio doesn't have a lot of that, and for things that are good in doubles and bad in singles, like Hitmontop or Meowstic-M, it's really just not bringing anything of note to the table. It's really, really held back by it's stats, which is a common trend for this gen, it looks like (rip Lurantis ;_;)
I don't think it's gonna be good in VGC, either. It has no bulk, it has okay SpA at best, it has a barely passing movepool. Its only gimmick is pairing it with a Quiver Dance user, but then you have 2x pokemon on the field that are weak to Rock Slide at the same time with no bulk, and you have the whole issue of actually using a boosting move in doubles. And even after you get the boost, you're not exactly destroying worlds, either.
When something is good in doubles, there's a good chance it's also good in singles, too, because much of what makes a pokemon good in both overlap: stats, movepool, typing, ability, etc. Oricorio doesn't have a lot of that, and for things that are good in doubles and bad in singles, like Hitmontop or Meowstic-M, it's really just not bringing anything of note to the table. It's really, really held back by it's stats, which is a common trend for this gen, it looks like (rip Lurantis ;_;)
I really wanted to try this thing on triples :c I really hope that showdown keeps a Triples SuMo metagame in other metagames <3.The movepool is very disapointing. I wanted to see someone use three different ones with Quiver Dance in Triples for +3SpA, +3SpD and +3Spe
The cover legends was a one time thing because they needed something to shake up the meta while there was no new main series game (and Jesus Christ did that backfire). The only normal legend I would really see hard countering it is Cresselia since there's no way it's breaking through its special bulk. Maybe Landorus-T since it can outspend and OHKO Oricorio, but so can a lot of other things and you'd probably already have a partner to deal with him. Ultra Beasts are apparently going to be legal this season, but like half of them die if a fire type even so much as breathes in their direction and Oricorio has a fire type variation. Although quad weakness to rock type is crippling.Y'all are annoying (lol) pretending to be disappointed this thing doesn't get Quiver Dance when it's not even remotely a butterfly or bee.
Also, how can you see an ability like Dancer and say this thing is gonna be "NU at best"? It's easily abusable; lots of things use Quiver and Dragon Dance, or Swords Dance
This thing does not have the bulk or offensive presence to deal with the legendaries GF allows in VGC, I think.
But Oricorio is definitely gonna excel in Smogon Doubles.
The cover legends was a one time thing because they needed something to shake up the meta while there was no new main series game (and Jesus Christ did that backfire). The only normal legend I would really see hard countering it is Cresselia since there's no way it's breaking through its special bulk. Maybe Landorus-T since it can outspend and OHKO Oricorio, but so can a lot of other things and you'd probably already have a partner to deal with him. Ultra Beasts are apparently going to be legal this season, but like half of them die if a fire type even so much as breathes in their direction and Oricorio has a fire type variation. Although quad weakness to rock type is crippling.
Really though it's like you said. It just doesn't have the stats. And your team usually won't get the chance to set up Quiver or Dragon Dance with how common fake out and taunt are in VGC. Swords Dance is literally useless for it since it has all of, what, 3 physical attacks? One of which is U-turn so the boosts become pointless and the other two aren't even stab. Not to mention it's notably weaker than its Sp. Attack stat.
I just don't understand what the heck Gamefreak was thinking when designing this bird. Only thing that comes to mind is that it was meant to be a support mon first and foremost and maybe fire off somewhat intimidating revelation dances since the partner was setting up while Oricorio was supporting them.
I don't know how much different Smogon doubles are from VGC so you could be write that it has a niche there I'm not aware of.
In singles though I agree with everyone else that the ability is just situational. If it had equal attacking stats you could possibly argue against it since Swords Dance is seen more in higher tiers so it can switch into a predicted SD and revenge with a scarfed attack if it had a better move pool on the physical side. Lower tiers it could be a great ability but I don't play them to be able to comment on them.
Guess it's time for me to start learning PU or something since this is one of my absolute favorite designs in Pokemon. Shame the competitive aspect of her didn't line up as well, lol.