Rarely Used (RU) Tier

[Choice Socks]

Scarfed Honchkrow =]

 

[Mysterious Trainer]

So far the most fun thing for me has been trying to think up dedicated counters to a lot of the common threats. Yanmega? Specially Defensive, Sleep Talk/Rest Rotom. Sharpedo? Mix Sharpedo? Poliwrath. Most of the other top tier threat's checks and counters are pretty self-explanatory. I'd also like to add that I'm pushing for a DST Sub-Forum devoted entirely to RU ASAP, with suspect testing to boot (if it's not too much trouble) .

 

[LeviLamprey]

So if I'm not mistaken, RU will be the tier less than UU but more than NU? And NU will be announced in about a month? I hope RU is more than 53 Pokemon. But I have a feeling Yanmega/Ninjask/Sharpedo/Venomoth/other boosters will be popular. Poor Volbeat probably won't make the cut, but OMG Huntail and Gorebyss Sheel Smash passing! This metagame seems really fun and creative, a place for the overpowered but simultaneously underpowered Pokemon (Honchkrow, Yanmega etc.) to really shine!

 

[kaonohiokala]

Personally find this a really really bad idea at this point of time, UU is still a complete mess in progress and starting a brand new tier after UU shouldn't even be done before cleaning up UU first. I mean good god the fact alone Victini/Kyurem are there when they're effectively on their way out of UU has already potentially let in 2 Pokemon which don't belong in RU but avoided the cutoff.

I fully disagree with this post. This is perhaps a great time to start this tier. Just because UU isn't static right now isn't a reason to not start RU. I don't know about you, but I prefer dynamic metagames that keep players on top of their games rather than the same-old things. With OU and UU testing over, this is a great time to start a RU round. So what if a few Pokemon move up to UU with the next few usage stats?


EDIT: For those who are looking for a list of RU Pokemon, check out my Excel Pokedex, which lists all Pokemon in their respective tier. You can also download it and sort it for easier usage. Topic here: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102714&page=1&pp=40

 

[Metal Bagon]

Ins't there already a NU (Neverused) tier below underused.
Also UU isn't the thrid highest tier, it's the forth highest, everyone seems to forget about BL(Borderline) tier.

 

[Choice Socks]

BL isn't a tier, it's a ban list

 

[kaonohiokala]

The real question is, "what are we going to call the new banlist 'tier'?" I say we call it UL for Under-List. Let's face it, BL2 just sounds lame. :3

 

[GDK]

OE like On the Edge.

Shell smash Crustle with sturdy and Red Card, screw all other forms of shell/quiver passing. Use it, its really good.

 

[Avulse]

This tier looks like it might develop into something interesting. There's a lot of serious threats here that aren't banned simply cause they aren't used enough... hm, let's see how this plays out...

 

[TheGuyWhoIsSitting]

BL isn't a tier, it's a ban list

Maybe in 4th gen it was a Ban List for UU, but look at previous tiers like RSE where it had 41 Pokemon in it, if that isn't a tier I don't know what is. Just because it wasn't a tier one generation doesn't mean it'll never be a tier again.

Anyways, thoughts on RU it just seems like a place for people to abuse Shell Smash and Baton Pass and when it doesn't work they start Quiver Dancing with Venemoth and Lilygant. I don't know, I've had some enjoyable matches, but some have just been people trying to do the same stupid thing over and over again, when has setting up turn one ever been the perfect idea? I have never played a metagame with so many people using Swords Dance or another boosting move on the first turn, and then they generally die before they can do anything, so is it really worth it?

Anyways, I can see this becoming more interesting as time goes on, just like all tiers. Though there are some things that'll probably move up the ranks later on, though only time will tell. For now it's been kind of fun and more of a different feeling metagame than UU, which as far as I'm concerned is just a gimped version of 4th gen OU with some Pokemon missing.

 

[Raikaria]

Well, this should be interesting.

With Hail being at more or less full power still, and virtually no steels without glareng flaws, you're gonna need to run a Fire-Type. That said, Hail just plain sucks anyway.

Smashpass/Quiverdance? Smeargle and Goyrebyss are slow. Run a taunter as a lead if you see them. Skuntank gets extra points for Persuit ability too, and being neutral to Bug Buzz instead of Weak.

Typholosion isn't UU, after all the destruction I did with Choice Scarf Eruptions? Well, I know what I'm killing this teir with. FIRE.

No pink blob of walling doom should be interesting. A teir where Special attackers can roam free? I wouldn't be too sure. As almost anyone who played 4th Gen NU knows, Slowking is a specially defensive pain. And he's pink.

----
I forsee this teir being a blend of 4th Gen UU and 4th Gen NU, to be honest, because of the gains some on both sides made, and the 4th Gen UU's who are in the current UU.

Oddly enough, several things do have checks. For example, Moltres is probobly going to kill everything in most people's eyes, but Moltres is walled and threatened with a OHKO by none other than Regirock [Who, with most decent Fightings, Waters and Grasses being higher teirs [Blame weather], is actually pretty good as a physical wall!], and if it switches out, bottom dollar on SR being up next time it switches in.

 

[skitz0phrenic]

This metagame should be a fun change of pace. Just being able to get super creative with sets and use Pokemon who would otherwise never see battle will be enough to make it interesting, but I'm also curious to see if a stable metagame ever forms.

 

[vonFiedler]

I never thought it'd be unfortunate to have so many people playing Charizard, but here ya go.

 

[Newmannium]

Honchrow is pretty awesome in this tier. Stab Sucker Punch is incredibly powerful, and dark/flying has great coverage in a tier with only a handful of viable steel types (even then it has Superpower).

On that note, for the first time today went through the teambuilding process only to discover I had nothing that could absorb a Toxic. Just in the short amount of time I've been playing I've noticed many walls have been using it instead of something like Thunder Wave or a coverage attack.

 

[Forsety]

And then there is Blastoise. Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee ALSO learn rapid spin, according to Serebii.net, and they also resist SR so they really have a nice bit there.

Edit: Cryogonal gets it as well, although it is SR weak. It does have 105 speed and good special defense, although its typing is shitty.

Actually forgot about Blastoise, he is probably going to be the premier Rapid Spinner. Especially since imo, Crustle will potentially be the king of hazard setup for this tier.

There is a good reason you don't use Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan for Rapid Spinning however. Neither have Intimidate and both have less defenses than Top and both have better things to be doing. They're both viable though but it'd simply be better to stick to Blastoise.

Cryogonal is absolute trash you only have to try EV'ing it to find out why. At first glance its got all the makings of a fantastic support, Recover, Rapid Spin, Levitate.

Then you realize its respectable 95/135 special stats and 105 speed aren't worth much because after balancing out EV's they're only average. A Cryogonal that takes advantage of its speed has nothing resembling any capacity of taking hits.

Nobody mentions Torkoal as a rapid spinner, hes such a boss... he takes super effective hits left and right.

No recovery, weakness to SR, Rock, Ground and Water and losing 25-33% of his health when he comes in is not my idea of a good Rapid Spinner.

 

[awonawonawon]

Are you kidding me? Why not just move them into OU or called it BL and sort them into OU and UU later?... I'm confused!

 

[Gneiss is nice]

Claydol is weak to Bug and Water and Dark and Grass.

In other words: Claydol is weak to the best sweepers in the meta.

Yeah, good luck with that.

I've actually had decent success with Claydol as a spinner on my Hail team in OU, I can't imagine that he'd be terrible in RU.

He takes hits like a champ and he's pretty good as both a Rapid Spinner and a Stealth Rock setter. He's not particularly strong, but his Earth Power and Psychoshock come in handy against stuff that it hits super effectively.

 

[Forsety]

And then there is Blastoise. Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee ALSO learn rapid spin, according to Serebii.net, and they also resist SR so they really have a nice bit there.

Edit: Cryogonal gets it as well, although it is SR weak. It does have 105 speed and good special defense, although its typing is shitty.

Actually forgot about Blastoise, he is probably going to be the premier Rapid Spinner. Especially since imo, Crustle will potentially be the king of hazard setup for this tier.

There is a good reason you don't use Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan for Rapid Spinning however. Neither have Intimidate and both have less defenses than Top and both have better things to be doing. They're both viable though but it'd simply be better to stick to Blastoise unless you desperately need to spread out the typing.

Cryogonal is absolute trash you only have to try EV'ing it to find out why. At first glance its got all the makings of a fantastic support, Recover, Rapid Spin, Levitate.

Then you realize its respectable 95/135 special stats and 105 speed aren't worth much because after balancing out EV's they're only average. A Cryogonal that takes advantage of its speed has nothing resembling any capacity of taking hits.

Nobody mentions Torkoal as a rapid spinner, hes such a boss... he takes super effective hits left and right.

No recovery, weakness to SR, Rock, Ground and Water and losing 25-33% of his health when he comes in is not my idea of a good Rapid Spinner.

 

[jas61292]

The real question is, "what are we going to call the new banlist 'tier'?" I say we call it UL for Under-List. Let's face it, BL2 just sounds lame. :3

Well, I don't know what people here think but I have talked with people on IRC in the past, and the favorite name that we came up with was just RU Banlist, or RUB.

No pink blob of walling doom should be interesting. A teir where Special attackers can roam free? I wouldn't be too sure. As almost anyone who played 4th Gen NU knows, Slowking is a specially defensive pain. And he's pink.

Nooo.... why can't the pink go away???

But it is nice to have a tier with no blob. Unless you want to try Eviolite Happiny........

Actually forgot about Blastoise, he is probably going to be the premier Rapid Spinner. Especially since imo, Crustle will potentially be the king of hazard setup for this tier.

I'm not sure about everything you said, but to me, Blastoise does look like the best RS user in the tier. He can take some hits, do decent damage, and, obviously, spin. It's tying might not be amazing, but it is good enough.

 

[Rising_Dusk]

For people curious, I currently have an answer to this question:

My question is whether this will actually get enough usage to deserve being a tier.

The RU tier right now is played more than BW LC. Whether that is a constant trend is yet to be seen, but it's promising.

Also, some people had a few questions that I didn't get a chance to answer. No, we will not be suspect testing for this tier yet. We will not be ignoring tiers under UU for testing like we did for DPP, however, we're just giving the above tier a chance to settle a bit before doing any testing. I will be weighting together UU usage stats for May and June and update the RU listing accordingly then. In this way, as UU settles a bit, RU will respond appropriately and in a timely manner. Once UU settles a bit, I will push for suspect testing of this tier based on popularity. If this tier ends up being popular (Say, at least as popular as BW LC), then I will move forward with it.

Lastly, a few people were concerned that making this tier was premature. However, I'd like to suggest that new metagames are fun, and a heavily dynamic metagame gives people lots of chances to use some cool Pokemon they didn't have a chance to in the days of yore. I think this is a good thing. For those of you wondering what effect this'll have on NU—well, NU will still exist. After a bit of time with RU around and with usage stats available, we'll determine what NU will look like and create that tier. That will be the last tier by usage.

 

[MexicanHat]

hmm, i should try it.
E: By the way, this is something that ive allways waited for :D, ive allways used an ru team, ahh, can't wait to play some ru games

 

[AlphaJolt]

I was bored so I put together this ban list. It's in alphabetical order as well so its easy to find things. There might be a few errores I overlooked so feel free to post the corrections.

[B]Items[/B]
All items that increase Evasion (BrightPowder, Lax Incense)
 
[B]Moves[/B]
All moves that increase Evasion only (Double Team, Minimize)
All instant OHKO moves (Fissure, Guillotine, Horn Drill, Sheer Cold)
 
[B]Abilities[/B]
Moody
 
[B]Pokemon[/B]
Abomasnow
Aerodactyl
Ambipom
Arcanine
Arceus
Azelf
Azumarill
Bisharp
Blissey
Blaziken
Breloom
Bronzong
Celebi
Chandelure
Chansey
Charizard
Cloyster
Cobalion
Conkledurr
Crobat
Darkrai
Darmanitan
Deoxys
Deoxys-A
Deoxys-D
Deoxys-S
Dialga
Donphan
Dragonite
Dusclops
Empoleon
Escavalier
Espeon
Excadrill
Ferrothorn
Flygon
Forretress
Froslass
Garchomp
Gengar
Giratina
Giratina-O
Gliscor
Groudon
Gyarados
Haxorus
Heatran
Heracross
Hitmontop
Hippopotas
Hippowdon
Ho-Oh
Houndoom
Hydreigon
Infernape
Jellicent
Jirachi
Jolteon
Kingdra
Kyogre
Kyurem
Landorus
Latias
Latios
Lucario
Lugia
Machamp
Magnezone
Mamoswine
Manaphy
Metagross
Mew
Mewtwo
Mienshao
Milotic
Mismaguis
Nidoking
Nidoqueen
Ninetales
Palkia
Politoed
Porygon2
Raikou
Rayquaza
Registeel
Reshiram
Reuniclus
Roserade
Rotom-H
Rotom-W
Salamence
Sawsbuck
Scizor
Scrafty
Shaymin
Shaymin-S
Sigilyph
Skarmory
Snorlax
Slowbro
Spiritomb
Staraptor
Starmie
Suicune
Swampert
Tangrowth
Terrakion
Tentacruel
Thundurus
Togekiss
Tornadus
Toxicroak
Tyranitar
Vaporeon
Venusaur
Victini
Victreebel
Virizion
Volcarona
Vulpix
Weavile
Whimsicott
Xatu
Zapdos
Zekrom
Zoroark

 

[MexicanHat]

Yeah, RU is nice, but why is victreebel banned? why isnt lilicanth banned? and wth is cresselia doing not banned?

 

[No Luck Involved]

After playing for a while RU seems to be a really fun tier. Hail definitely does not dominate which is a relief and apart from Cresselia walling everything it seems to be quite balanced already.

It's also hilarious seeing most teams carrying NFEs with Eviolite as tanks XD

 

[Raikaria]

Yeah, RU is nice, but why is victreebel banned? why isnt lilicanth banned? and wth is cresselia doing not banned?

Based on useage.

Victreebel was banned because it was used a lot in UU [And will almost certainly fall now that Drought is banned], meanwhile, Cress and Lilligant were not used enough, although Cress mught squeeze back into UU after the Sun abusers drop, before we have to kick it there.

---

Also, Jumpluff is AWESOME in this metagame.

I caused havok running a full annoyer Jumpluff, with the following:

- Substitute
- Encore
- Leech Seed
- Sleep Powder

Basically, it neuters more or less anything. Jumpluff outspeeds virtually the whole teir, so can put things to sleep and Encore with utter impunity. A lot of Grass-types are UU right now due to Drought, so there is very little to take Leech Seed [Bug Dominance dosen't exactly help those Grass-types who are still RU]

This Jumpluff can outstall Cress, unless it's Resttalk [Encore Moonlight and roll around as it wastes it's Moonlights on healing Leech Seed - Leftovers damage]

I had a stall war with a RestTalk Cress as well, and I'm pretty sure that this Jumpluff set can win if it's 1v1, and Cress can't switch, provided you encore Sleep Talk.

...

I think I might actually run RU stall, Jumpluff was by far the most sucessful member of my team in my first RU games.

The sad thing is... I might have to run QUILFISH if I was Toxic Spikes.

---
Final note: Want to stop the bug types?

Evolite Golbat with Haze. X4 Bug Resistance, and decent bulk [Which works for a lot of set-up pokemon, includeing sacrificing it to take Cress' boosts away]. Or you could just OHKO with Brave Bird.