RU Stage 2 - Welcome Back (RU Beta Starts | Light Clay banned, see post #30)

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Yourwelcomethanku

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Missing roost on this fella f*cking sucks ;-; that, combined with the inaccuracy of sleep powder and how frail it is means Venomoth is the most screen dependent QD sweeper. Losing screen time also means you have to go for a defensive tera type instead of boosting your STAB, leaving you in this awkward spot where you either don't KO stuff or you don't survive long enough for the setup to be worth it. It can still snowball out of control 75% of the time, but screens definitely play a big part on how strong this fella feels.
He still has Morning Sun for recovery instead of Roost, tho I haven't seen anyone use that
 

Feliburn

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Following the recent discussion (well, not really a discussion ROFL), we can now take tiering action on Light Clay.

To give a little context: Light Clay was deemed unhealthy for the current meta, as a large majority of teams recently are a combination of a screens setter, and multiple set up sweepers in an already limited in defensive options tier. Be it Toxtricity, Charizard, Cloyster, Revavroom, Cetitan, etc, there are too many breakers to account for and deal with behind extended screens. This only got easier to pull when Klefki dropped to RU. As such, the premise that we'd remove Light Clay from the tier, and then tackle the remaining breakers that still seem troublesome, was what originated the voting on Light Clay.

The RU council previously decided that it was appropriate to take action on Light Clay, and following up on that, everyone's stances seem to be the same from this voting slate:

1676678129397.png



With that said, Light Clay is now banned from RU! Tagging Marty and Kris to remove it from PS, thanks in advance.
 
As a person that isn't a fan of screens HO i want to say one thing: poggers!!!

After many mons getting strong setup moves this gen (drednaw shell smash and oricorios quiver dance, as example) was the right choice to try to "balance" a strategy of "set screens, sweeper go brrr".

Still Screen HO isn't dead, but they no longer get 5+ turn of extra bulk in his setup sweepers anymore.

Second Dexit gen, Second Light Clay ban in RU....
 
Now that light clay is banned, would Drednaw still be broken if it gets unbanned?
Right now? probably, as it only needs a couple of turns to wreck stuff on the opposing team.
It'll probably feel more balanced once the next dlc drops, specially if we get stronger defensive options.
 
There haven't been nearly enough hot takes in this thread so I thought I would start proto-vr discussions and invite others to call me an idiot. It's a bit rough and imprecise (Don't ask me why something is in A instead of A- or whatever) but everything B+ and above is good I think is good, everything B- and above I think is more than a gimmick.

S rank: I think :Slowbro: Slowbro and :Toxtricity: Toxtricity are undeniably the best offensive and defensive pokemon in the tier. Slowbro is a versatile physical wall with 4 moveslot syndrome diverse move options that matches up well against almost all physical attackers. Building with Slowbro is so much easier than building without. Toxtricity has no switch ins, that's all. Our best ghost types are almost all flying types and our best specially defensive steel types still takes almost half from a non-tera boomburst. Palossand is one wrong guess away from being turned to dust and if you switch a sac in on a predicted boomburst then see it click shift gear you might have just lost the game.

The A+ rank mons are ones I think are the best at what they do. :Flamigo: Flamigo and :Tauros-paldea-blaze: Tauros are the best attackers in the tier that shouldn't be banned, Flamigo is the best scarfer and one of the best choice banders in the tier, and Tauros does both of those almost as well while also having bulky sets or bulk up as options. Intimidate is not as useful as you would think since the best physicalk attacker is immune to it, but it's still a great ability for handling the likes of Heracross.
:Klefki: Klefki is the best steel in the tier and makes spike stacking teams very good. :Revavroom: Revavroom is the second best steel in the tier and one that can be splashed on a lot of teams. Offensive and bulky sets are both good and toxic/tspikes are a rare commodity in this tier.
:Bellibolt: Bellibolt is always good, if you have one ground type on your team then you do not have a ground type on your team.
:Oricorio-pom-pom: Is amazing and versitile. It's our best defogger and our best sweeper, it can be bulky or fast and it's our only true resist for flamigo. All the other oricorios are mostly just pompom but worse. :oricorio-Sensu: sensu is probably a better quiver dance sweeper in a vacuum, but it lacks the little things that pompom has. Fire has a niche, but it basically needs a team that has a very specifically shaped hole.
Rotom-heat is a gross breaker. With a nasty plot up nothing switches in, most of the tier gets ohkoed and it can conveniently avoid ohkoes from a lot of faster mons. You both can't afford to let it set up a free plot and can't afford to give it a free attack because you're trying to not let it set up.
As much as I hate it, :tatsugiri-droopy: Tatsugiri is our best spinner. It's always a risk to spin with this thing but it has a nice speed tier and is the only spinner that beats all the ghost types.
:Mudsdale: Mudsdale is our best rocker and the easiest to fit on a lot of teams. It's bulky, still hits like a truck and a horse that can roar sounds pretty scary. Only problem with it is that it's the ground type that gets destroyed the most by Bellibolt.

Below the A+ I won't talk about everything, just the ones I really want to make a point about.

:Palossand: Palossand is the best way to make a team not lose instantly to toxtricity and having a rocker with recovery is nice. I definitely feel like it's falling off a bit, it's too passive and exploitable and sometimes just has to rely on 30% sludge bomb poisons to make any lasting progress.
:Arboliva: Arboliva is the mon I will hype up for as long as I live, nothing in the tier makes progress like this thing does, and it's impossible to kill because of grassy terrain and its choice of leech seed or specs giga drain. It gets a lot of good switch in opportunities against the grounds or slowbro (depending on the set) and then it can click buttons and heal all its health back.
:Krookodile: Krook is a jack of all trades and a master of a few. It's a decent scarfer, a good choice bander and our only stealth rock setter with an actual speed stat, so it's easy to fit on offensive teams.
:Bombirdier: This thing feels like it should be so good, but it's kind of awkward. I'm sure we will eventually find the perfect build though, so it gets a nice rank.
:Mismagius: Ladder seems to hate using Missy, but it's still an amazing sweeper with a scary speed stat. Nothing faster really wants to switch into an attack and nothing slower wants to take a +2 shadow ball or coverage move. Taunt and draining kiss also make it very strong into fat teams
:Braviary: I think Braviary is our best defogger right now due to its good stats and access to u-turn, though that is a very low bar. It's like a fat Crobat and can take a surprising amount of neutral hits very well. Its main downside is its low speed stat and defog sets can invite in some nasty electric types. Bulk up sets are also very good and could punish defoggers pretty hard if anyone was using that move for hazard removal.
:Sylveon: I think Sylveon is our best fairy type and wish passer, it can invest in physdef to be a good mixed wall and gives wish support to stuff that needs it while not being too passive like Almomomola.
:Abomasnow: :Cetitan: I don't know how to rank hail, but Cetitan is very scary with a belly drum and it is surprisingly easy to get a drum off.
:Copperajah: :Bronzong: The other steels are alright, I think Bronzong is only good with ironpress with either rest or wish support though and you shouldn't try running stealth rock on either of them.
:Avalugg: :Cryogonal: :Coalossal: These 3 spinners I think are decent, but they just have so many flaws and have to tera too much for me to want them as defensive mons. Cryogonal is the best in my opinion because it matches up well against a lot of special attackers without needing to terastallize and special ice attacks do more to the common spinblockers than physical ice attacks from Avalugg or whatever Coalossal tries to do to them. Also haze cryo is good at keeping Oricorios or the bulky calm minders in check.

Here's a tiermaker if anyone else wants to make a list, I think I got everything in the roles compendium and a few more pokemon that have a niche. https://tiermaker.com/create/sv-ru-tierlist-maker-15619723
 
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:Avalugg: :Cryogonal: :Coalossal: These 3 spinners I think are decent, but they just have so many flaws and have to tera too much for me to want them as defensive mons. Cryogonal is the best in my opinion because it matches up well against a lot of special attackers without needing to terastallize and special ice attacks do more to the common spinblockers than physical ice attacks from Avalugg or whatever Coalossal tries to do to them. Also haze cryo is good at keeping Oricorios or the bulky calm minders in check.
One thing to note about coalossal is that it's the only viable Flame Body user in the tier, letting it punish a lot of u turn and body press mons really comfortably. That (imo) puts it on the same level as avalugg in terms of viability (maybe not as a spinner, but as a support pokemon overall). It does suffer from a lack of recovery though, so it fits better on hyper offense or with wish support. This is the set I like to run:

Coalossal (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 236 HP / 228 Def / 44 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Will-O-Wisp
- Rock Blast

The speed investment lets it outspeed palossand and guarantee rocks in a pinch, with tera ghost as an option to prevent a spin (though you'll probably want to tera another mon instead). The defense investment lets you like a close combat from choice band flamigo while guaranteeing a burn with WoW.

Also, to RU in general, please don't use tera water steam engine. It's a waste of the good stuff the good ol' pile of coal brings ;-;
 
disclaimer: I am still in the process of learning this tier tbh, however while doing so these two sets have been really fun and consistent to load a game with.
:bruxish:
Bruxish @ Choice Band
Ability: Strong Jaw
Tera Type: Psychic/Dark
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant/Jolly Nature
- Wave Crash
- Psychic Fangs
- Crunch
- Aqua Jet

this mon dominates in NU, so I wanted to try it out up here. It does great at breaking through the bulkiest of teams. The set is honestly self explanatory, but some things to note are crunch hits slowbro on the predict, and in general does strong damage, and the Tera dark option is there to ohko it if you're feeling extra.

252+ Atk Choice Band Strong Jaw Tera Dark Bruxish Crunch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 374-444 (94.9 - 112.6%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO

This requires an Adamant Nature, but in general Adamant feels worth it to me, as it gives you a stronger aqua jet as well. Do keep in mind though that this puts you 1 point slower than max base 80 speed pokemon, so that's why Jolly is an option still. The extra speed gives bruxish more opportunities to break. As for the Tera Psychic vs Tera dark, Tera Psychic gives you a stronger stab move that's not fainting yourself, that will genuinely unravel most defensive cores. Tera dark denies sableye and slowbro when used effectively.

A couple more calcs to give an idea of what it can break:
252+ Atk Choice Band Bruxish Wave Crash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mudsdale: 402-474 (99.5 - 117.3%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Strong Jaw Tera Dark Bruxish Crunch vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Sableye: 240-283 (79.2 - 93.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Strong Jaw Bruxish Psychic Fangs vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Avalugg: 135-160 (34.2 - 40.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Bruxish Aqua Jet vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Salazzle: 282-332 (101.8 - 119.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

:primeape:
Primeape @ Eviolite
Ability: Defiant
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 192 HP / 252 SpD / 64 Spe
Careful Nature
- Taunt
- Drain Punch
- Bulk Up
- Rage Fist

this set is crazy good imo. it is a phenomenal wincon, and has a high ceiling when played well, and given support such as healing wish or wish in general. 64 speed evs let's you outspeed anything up to 241 speed, allowing you to effectively deny all common defensive answers with a "fast enough" taunt+bulk up. The rest is put into its special bulk and hp, allowing it to take hits it shouldn't be allowed to tank, and rack up that rage fist BP. Tera ghost is great at both denying tatsugiri spins and turning the tables in matchups that would otherwise stop your sweep. It's a great glue mon on hazard-heavy teams from my experience so far, because it has Defiant, provides a specially defensive tank, a stall-breaker, a spin blocker, and a Wincon all in one slot. You should try this set out!
 
:bruxish:
Bruxish @ Choice Band
Ability: Strong Jaw
Tera Type: Psychic/Dark
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant/Jolly Nature
- Wave Crash
- Psychic Fangs
- Crunch
- Aqua Jet
I'm fully convinced that the only reason Bruxish is in NU is because RU alpha had Lycanroc-dusk in it. With the dog gone, Bruxish is our best priority and in my opinion the best physical breaker because it has strong jaw crunch for Slowbro.
 

Keem

formerly Nezloe
Wanted to post about sun for a minute now and my thoughts since no one seems to be using it even though it's pretty insane rn with not many abusers to actaully use it.
:sv/espeon: :ss/sableye: :ss/klefki:
The Setters
:espeon:
Out of the 3 mons I consider the best sun setter it would be pretty hard for me to decide since they all well set sun,however they all play their respective roles with espeon being a stealth rock blocker,fragile but quick

:Sableye: Meanwhile sableye is somewhat bulky and well is just used in general as a utility or supportive mon,unfortunately for it and sun taunt is blocked by dark types due to prankster which makes hazard removal/denying difficult in the dark type MU unless you have some other hazard remover

:Klefki: Ever since it dropped it feels like it's been nothing but great especially for sun being a fairy steel prankster sun setter,as for hazard removal it has defog however it is unlikely it will ever be using that when you can set up spikes and allow your sun abusers to get a 1UP via twave.


Honestly sun setters are not too shabby and have their own roles which they can play.

The Abusers
:ss/charizard: :Scovillain:
(:sawsbuck:)

:charizard:
Just like klefki it has been a pretty dope for RU I guess but it has been an AMAZING DROP for sun basically saving it and is most definitely not a force to be reckoned with under sun specifically with the choice specs set like this mon just immediately threatens anything that's not blissey or a mon with flash fire or defensive arcanine

:Scovillain:
Honestly had higher hopes for it but it's not terrible dope typing,especially for sun I mean just looking at the mon you know GF had the intent of making it a sun abuser. Also just like charizard this mon with choice specs is no joke and as much as I've used the mon I have no other words besides a good mediocre mon that can put in the work on sun when needed (sometimes).

:sawsbuck:
This is more so an honerable mention than anything since sawsbuck isnt a terrible sun abuser but clearly not as good as charizard or scovillian however it is basically the only sun abuser that can beat blissey so theres that.


Conclusion:

Overall I think sun in RU is worth giving a shot,not terrible and lowkey a beastly weather right now with charizard being here and obviously theres the glaring sun issues that sun has faced since the dawn of time like stealth rock,cold hearted walls like blissey and now tera to top it off but even with all these issues I do believe sun is pretty damn good right now,anyway end of post thanks for reading!
(I would have replays but didnt save them,sorry!!!!!!)
Fun Sun team I ended building and have had good success on ladder with: https://pokepast.es/22ae493590fb593c
 

EonX

Battle Soul
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Kind of playing off of the whole CB Bruxish is a good breaker thought... well, it is. Except it doesn't really need Tera Dark. The main target, Slowbro, gets forced to Tera Fairy to live the 2nd Crunch on switch in anyway, so it's easy to predict that, switch out, and then Tera Water or Psychic on the next switch in for an easy KO. So I bet you're wondering "why Tera Water?" and the thought process is similar to that of NU rn; not a lot of faster mons appreciate taking Aqua Jet. Other than the obligatory things that are weak to Jet and evaporate in the first place, here's some calcs against Scarf / naturally faster targets:

252+ Atk Choice Band Tera Water Bruxish Aqua Jet vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Flamigo: 158-188 (51.8 - 61.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Tera Water Bruxish Aqua Jet vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Espeon: 188-222 (69.3 - 81.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Tera Water Bruxish Aqua Jet vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Gardevoir: 176-208 (63.5 - 75%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Tera Water Bruxish Aqua Jet vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mismagius: 188-222 (72 - 85%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

-1 252+ Atk Choice Band Tera Water Bruxish Aqua Jet vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tauros-Paldea-Fire: 160-192 (54.9 - 65.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Choice Band Tera Water Bruxish Aqua Jet vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Weavile: 176-208 (62.6 - 74%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

While none of these are OHKOes, these are still all taking north of 50% from a priority move and most take north of even 60%. If you factor in that some of these are likely to take some damage pretty easily during a match (particularly Blaze Tauros and Gardevoir) in the first place, it makes Bruxish all the more potent as a cleaner option on top of a physical breaker that none of our physical walls enjoy dealing with. I've already discussed Slowbro, but what about the others:
Mudsdale? It's a Ground type. Do i need to expain?
Dachsbun? Takes 60% minimum from NON-TERA Psychic Fangs. The other Fairies don't stand a chance.
Blaze Tauros? lmao
Coalossal? 4x Water weakness... we laugh so that we do not cry.
Alomomola? 45% MINIMUM from non-tera Psychic Fangs... and that's 252/252+. If you're mixed defensive, you're 2HKOed. You're 2HKOed from Tera Psychic regardless.

So what does all this mean? It means that Bruxish doesn't need Tera Dark in this tier. It's nice to get the insta-KO on Slowbro, sure, but Tera Water opens up the avenue of late-game cleaning for it without sacrificing its walbreaking potential (sans max/max Mola if your luck is bad one day) The only reason you should consider Tera Dark is to deal with the Prankster users of Sableye and Klefki so they don't ruin your day. You don't need it necessarily to wallbreak.
 
Wanted to post about sun for a minute now and my thoughts since no one seems to be using it even though it's pretty insane rn with not many abusers to actaully use it.
:sv/espeon: :ss/sableye: :ss/klefki:
The Setters
:espeon:
Out of the 3 mons I consider the best sun setter it would be pretty hard for me to decide since they all well set sun,however they all play their respective roles with espeon being a stealth rock blocker,fragile but quick

:Sableye: Meanwhile sableye is somewhat bulky and well is just used in general as a utility or supportive mon,unfortunately for it and sun taunt is blocked by dark types due to prankster which makes hazard removal/denying difficult in the dark type MU unless you have some other hazard remover

:Klefki: Ever since it dropped it feels like it's been nothing but great especially for sun being a fairy steel prankster sun setter,as for hazard removal it has defog however it is unlikely it will ever be using that when you can set up spikes and allow your sun abusers to get a 1UP via twave.


Honestly sun setters are not too shabby and have their own roles which they can play.

The Abusers
:ss/charizard: :Scovillain:
(:sawsbuck:)

:charizard:
Just like klefki it has been a pretty dope for RU I guess but it has been an AMAZING DROP for sun basically saving it and is most definitely not a force to be reckoned with under sun specifically with the choice specs set like this mon just immediately threatens anything that's not blissey or a mon with flash fire or defensive arcanine

:Scovillain:
Honestly had higher hopes for it but it's not terrible dope typing,especially for sun I mean just looking at the mon you know GF had the intent of making it a sun abuser. Also just like charizard this mon with choice specs is no joke and as much as I've used the mon I have no other words besides a good mediocre mon that can put in the work on sun when needed (sometimes).

:sawsbuck:
This is more so an honerable mention than anything since sawsbuck isnt a terrible sun abuser but clearly not as good as charizard or scovillian however it is basically the only sun abuser that can beat blissey so theres that.


Conclusion:

Overall I think sun in RU is worth giving a shot,not terrible and lowkey a beastly weather right now with charizard being here and obviously theres the glaring sun issues that sun has faced since the dawn of time like stealth rock,cold hearted walls like blissey and now tera to top it off but even with all these issues I do believe sun is pretty damn good right now,anyway end of post thanks for reading!
(I would have replays but didnt save them,sorry!!!!!!)
Fun Sun team I ended building and have had good success on ladder with: https://pokepast.es/22ae493590fb593c
Hello, I just wanted to add on to this with some extra Pokemon.

:bw/leafeon:
Leafeon @ Life Orb / Loaded Dice
Ability: Chlorophyll
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Leaf Blade / Bullet Seed
- Double-Edge
- Tera Blast
- Swords Dance

Leafeon is a good alternative to the Sawsbuck you mentioned. It has a higher base attack and good physical bulk while losing out on the coverage moves and Normal typing that Sawsbuck brings. Overall, I would say Leafeon is better than Sawsbuck and honestly comparable to Scovillian due to its advantages in speed and power.

:bw/lilligant:
Lilligant @ Leftovers
Ability: Chlorophyll / Leaf Guard
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe (or 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe)
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain / Solar Beam
- Tera Blast
- Synthesis / Sleep Power
- Quiver Dance

Lilligant with Chlorophyll can become absurdly fast while with Leaf Guard it becomes a status-immune Quiver Dancer. Lilligant also suffers from a lack of coverage moves so Tera is kinda mandatory, but other than that it has all the tools needed to become a scary sweeper in the sun.

Also here's another Scovillian set that allows it to take advantage of its mixed offenses and Growth in the Sun
:sv/scovillain:
Scovillain @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Flamethrower
- Giga Drain / Solar Beam
- Stomping Tantrum / Crunch / Zen Headbutt
- Growth
 

Ampha

"They don’t call me Greed for nothing!"
is a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributor
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Dropping my thoughts out:
S rank peeps dont need much explaining, prob best mons on meta
A+ are the most consistent choices frequently, Gardevoir IS the best revenge killer we have, and is just as consistent as we had in past gens, can heal wish on a pinch for even more team support, krook is super versatile and I think it def is A+ material currently, rest is p much the the mons we know are consistent and imo, some of the ones on sneaky's post are one rank below or more on personal experience
A has Blissey which despite the toxic loss is just the fattest special blob we have and the closest thing we have to a reliable toxt counter(tera ghost and it cant punch u), i may be biased for the moth but this thing has prob the biggest snowball potential in the entire tier(Not even the croc can help much w rocks up)
A- p much has similar things but I wanted to point out that meta is a bit aggresive towards salazzle, its good but most times it kinda did something and then flopped afterwards, I think A- fits salazzle well enough, Cloyst had problems as well when I was spamming it, its sweeps could often be stopped by slowbro if u dont waste ur tera(and even at times it survived :( )
B+ is just some personal opinions, most things there, but I wanted to say that Charizard is VERY underexplored rn and it has a lot of potential w breaker sets and some other things
B was my middle of road rank, often good mons but with some flaws that prevent them from being higher atm
B- "These peeps are def better than the C ones so"
C is the fringer options but who have a niche at least, ive got a plenty of mons down since im not much on the crocalor hype train (yet)

and for unviable peeps:
Ori fire requires too much support to work unlike other oricorios higher
Cac is too slow and if being honest, either spikes or SD seems kinda ew on it, considering if u dont run some specific move, some of the spinners wall it(not to mention altaria)
Spidops is bad, use masquerain who has better support and a decent ability
Camel is to say, not good, not very bulky even w tera, no reliable recovery, plus the Yawn + lava plume combo just contradicts itself all time since u can end up burning the drowsy mon
Lycan ew, idk what to say, prob the closest one to a C w a Rocks accel niche but ew
Klawf is bad, not that strong, bad typing and all the ones I've faced p much flopped hard
Lurantis has no superpower, dont think its much of a surprise, spamming leaf w that speed wont be that useful
Gogoat is gogoat, not good
 
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