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Resource Simple Questions, Simple Answers Thread (read the op before posting a thread)
- Thread starter Celticpride
- Start date
I like Moonblast / Thunderbolt / Fire Blast / Soft-Boiled the most. You can run Calm Mind instead of Fire Blast for stall too, but missing out on Ferrothorn is often undesirable. Thunderbolt is mandatory to deal with Toxapex. While it doesn't actually 2HKO Toxapex, it's enough to PP stall Toxapex's Recover. It's also nice to wear down Heatran quickly.
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One thing to note is that if you run Calm Mind, then Stored Power is a possible option in the last slot to break through Chansey/Unaware mons easier, but there's better stallbreakers out there so it's usually just best to go LO + 3 Attacks.
Z-Fly is generally the go to I guess and the complimentary coverage for it, if it is not mono-attacking, tends to be Earthquake for Steel types as opposed to making it dual STAB.
To add onto what Finch said, Dragon type moves in general have become somewhat of a rarity in OU, simply because Dragon honestly isn't that great of an offensive type anymore. Fairy is immune to it and Steel resists it, which are two of the most common types in OU, and it only deals SE damage to other Dragon types.
Here's a list of all Dragon types on the OU viability rankings and their main set:
(Mega) Garchomp: Stealth Rock, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Swords Dance
Mega Latias: Calm Mind, Recover, Stored Power, Ice Beam
Kyurem-Black: Freeze Shock, Fusion Bolt, Ice Beam, Earth Power
Mega Charizard X: Dragon Dance, Flare Blitz, Earthquake, Roost
Mega Latios: Psychic, Earthquake, Ice Beam, Recover
Hydreigon: Dark Pulse, Earth Power, Flash Cannon, Roost
Kyurem: Substitute, Ice Beam, Earth Power, Roost
Kommo-o: Stealth Rock, Clanging Scales, Close Combat, Poison Jab
Latias: Draco Meteor, Psyshock, Healing Wish, Defog
Dragonite: Dragon Dance, Fly, Earthquake, Extreme Speed
Latios: Draco Meteor, Psyshock, Recover, Calm Mind
So the only mons that you can reasonably expect to be running a Dragon type move every time you run into them are ranked C or C-: Kommo-o, which only runs Clanging Scales for its Z-boost and has viable sets without it, and the non-Mega Latis, which are honestly not that good and quite uncommon.
Note: While most of the mons I mentioned generally don't run Dragon type moves, they are often capable of doing it so scouting can still be a good idea.
I would agree with most of the above post except for the fact that a lot of Latios actually should be running Draco Meteor so that they aren't a free switch-in for Mega Alakazam. Ice Beam is obviously nice, but Draco still hits Garchomp and Gliscor frankly isn't that hard to cover as is.
Im sry, I know its not the place to ask, but is there a RNG forum on Smogon or on discord? Where I can get some help?
There should be articles on the main site for each game or in the articles workshop, or you can look in the Wi-Fi section to see if there is any there. If not, the Wi-Fi showdown room and Discord server, or even the main chat on Showdown or certain channels in the main Smogon Discord server should have people who could help you out.
Where can I find the DPP (or Generation 4 as a whole?) viability Ranking?
Hello,
all old gens Viability Rankings are in the Ruins of Alph Forum, You can find Gen5, Gen4, Gen3, Gen2, and Gen1 Viability rankings there.
Here is the DPP OU VR: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/dpp-ou-viability-rankings-iii.3551992/page-4
Focus Blast Clefable was definitely an idea I saw floating around when I played in ORAS OU, so it isn't a bad set persay, just not well suited to the current metagame. The main "lure" Clefable set at the moment (Life Orb), prefers running Fire Blast + Thunderbolt as coverage because pressuring Toxapex more heavily is a lot more important than pressuring Heatran, as Toxapex can recover HP way easier, and in the same vein, you can usually just chip Heatran in the long run with stuff like Knock Off Ferrothorn, entry hazards, and repeated Thunderbolts from Clefable itself.
Where am I allowed to ask a complex question with a complex answer?
Go for it!
The last time I played was during BW/BW2 weather apocalypse. Now I've come back and everything is confusing, there's things like mega pokemon and z moves. I want to get back into competitive battling but these new things are a bit off putting to have to learn about. Also I haven't bought any of the mainline pokemon games since Black 2 so I have no idea about any new moves, abilities, items, or pokemon. I'm not sure where to start again.
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A simpler question, is there somewhere that lists banned items for tiers? The tier pages describe pokemon and clauses but don't list items that are banned from play. The immediate one that comes to mind is soul dew, which IIRC was banned when I last played.
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In a nutshell:
Certain Pokémon are able to Mega Evolve which adds 100 to their BST and often changes their abilities. This requires them to hold a Mega Stone so you can't use another item along with it (Mega Stones can't be knocked off). Only one Pokémon on your team can Mega Evolve per game. Mega Evolved Pokémon are generally very strong and it's recommended to use one on every OU team (not 100% necessary but recommended nonetheless). The most meta-defining ones in OU currently are Mawile, Alakazam, Medicham, Latias, Tyranitar and Scizor.
Z-Moves are similar to Mega Evolution in that they require the user to hold a certain item (which can't be knocked off) and can only be used once per game. Every type has a Z-Crystal and if a Pokémon holding the Z-Crystal has a move with the corresponding type it can use it as a one-time boost to the move. Damaging moves have their BP dramatically increased and have their secondary effects ignored, while status moves have differing added effects. They're in the same boat with Mega Evolutions in that it is recommended to have one on every team but it is not 100% mandatory. The most common Z-users in OU right now are Magearna (with Z-Fleur Cannon, Z-Flash Cannon, Z-Thunderbolt or Z-Focus Blast), Landorus-Therian (with Z-Fly or Z-Stone Edge), Heatran (with Z-Magma Storm, Z-Flash Cannon or Z-Solar Beam) and Tornadus-T (with Z-Hurricane), but there are a ton of other viable users, which may require scouting.
Smogon actually has some good articles on these.
A Guide to Mega Evolution: https://www.smogon.com/xy/mega-evolution (sort of outdated since it's from gen 6 but the descriptions are still pretty accurate, no more Mega Pokémon were added in gen 7 but keep in mind that the metagame changed from gen 6 so the context in which the article was written is different from now, Mega Pokémon are now slightly less dominant)
Z-Moves: Do's and Don'ts: https://www.smogon.com/articles/z-move-do-dont (slightly outdated since it's from the start of gen 7 and we're now nearing the end but it's still accurate)
Personally I would recommend playing gen 7 random battles on Showdown to learn how the new mechanics work and get a feel for how certain Pokémon can function.
Beyond that, if you're interested in OU, the most important new Pokémon in OU are the Tapus, Greninja, Toxapex and some of the Ultra Beasts.
Check out the terrain's effects as the Tapus have cemented them as an important mechanic in OU play. Psychic Terrain (Lele) boosts the power of Psychic type attacks by 50% and prevents priority attacks, Grassy Terrain (Bulu) boosts the power of Grass type attacks by 50%, provides passive recovery and halves the power of Earthquake (nice for Heatran), Electric Terrain (Koko) boosts the power of Electric-type attacks by 50% and prevents sleep-inducing moves, Misty Terrain (Fini) prevents all status-afflicting moves and halves the power of Dragon type attacks. Keep in mind that terrains only affect grounded Pokémon, so Flying type and Levitate-using Pokémon are not affected.
All Ultra Beasts have the ability Beast Boost which boosts their highest stat by one stage after they get a KO (Magearna has Soul-Heart which is slightly different in that it always boosts Special Attack and even activates if the opposing Pokémon faints from indirect damage).
Another important new mechanic is that Defog now removes entry hazards and screens and is more widely distributed.
Weather is also less strong now that it's not permanent. Rain is still highly potent though as Pelipper got Drizzle, Mega Swampert has Swift Swim and Ash-Greninja becomes even more threatening.
Take a look at the OU viability rankings (https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/usum-ou-ultra-viability-ranking-thread.3621329/) and check out the analyses for at least the S and A+ ranked Pokémon. Try to remember all the most common movesets.
After that, just grab a team from somewhere (perhaps here: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/usm-ou-sample-teams-v2-up.3638845/) and start laddering the OU ladder (or another tier if you prefer).
Soul Dew is unbanned (in both OU and UU) since it's been nerfed. The only banned items I can think of are the respective Mega Stones of the banned Mega Evolutions if the base Pokémon is allowed.
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Ah thanks, nice to see familiar faces like Heatran, Ferrothorn, and Rotom-W still kicking it. Are steels still best? What was the impact of fairy types?
Steel and Fairy are almost definitely the two best types right now.
Fairy types have made it so that Dragon type attacks are much less spammable. Dragon type attacks have become somewhat of a rarity in OU apart from maybe the Lati's Draco Meteor and Kommo-o's Clanging Scales. However, Dragon type Pokémon themselves are still quite common thanks to their great stats and movepools. Beyond that, Fairy is an amazing defensive type considering its only weaknesses are Steel and Poison which are both relatively uncommon attacking types. It also resists Fighting which is pretty big. It's also good offensively since Moonblast and Play Rough are both strong attacks with very little drawback.
Steel checks Fairy and is still amazing defensively. It just has to watch out for Magnet Pull from Magnezone (and uncommonly Alolan Golem) and the ever so common Hidden Power Fire.
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How does Avalugg + Moltres stall deal with Stealth rock Mega Diance? Does it have to double in a Diance answer every time, or have I missed something obvious?
It doesn't -- at least not particularly well. Stealth Rock Mega Diancie usually matches up quite well with stall in general, tbh
Is there a reason why the Chesto Rest Rotom Wash set isn't popular this Gen?
Rotom-W only has so many moveslots to work with, and people almost always prefer some combination of Defog, Volt Switch, Hydro Pump, Will-O-Wisp, Pain Split, Thunder Wave, etc so Rest is harder to fit into the set. Also, Rotom-W's nature of a pivot means it wants to keep momentum, and taking a turn to heal with Rest sort of defeats that purpose. Pain Split can at least damage the opponent while healing and can be used more than once in battle since it's not reliant on the Chesto Berry.
Some pinch berries (Iapapa, Figy, etc.) were buffed to give 50% hp back when a pokemon falls to 25%. This is often much better than Chesto because Rest takes a moveslot and a turn to use, while pinch berries do not. Also, in part because of power creep, Toxic is not super common so Rotom doesn't need Rest to solve status. For most teams, it's easier just to kill Rotom than to try and stall it out. The popularity of Toxapex, Chansey, Clefable, Magearna, Heatran, and Ferrothorn is another built-in reason not to run Toxic, since they all block it. The mechanic with pinch berries is important too. Unlike Chesto, you don't need a turn to heal. It's common for players to strategically play these berries to double swap or revenge kill and get a free heal once per game instead of letting Rotom get hit another time, give up another turn, and possible die if your opponent hits hard.
Thanks. Great answers! I guess that explains why those berries see way more usage now