Resource Simple Questions, Simple Answers Thread (read the op before posting a thread)

That's technically not true. Pressure only forces moves that target the opponent (even if they don't hit) to use two PP, so moves like recover should be unaffected.
But yes, pressure does make haze use two PP.
 

Gary

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What keeps Protean greninja balanced in OU? (Compared to generation 6, where it was suspected and banned).
There are more viable checks to it this gen such as Tapu Koko, Pheromosa, Scarf Keldeo (way more common than last gen), and even Ash Greninja itself which can OHKO with Hydro Pump. Depending on what coverage it runs, Toxapex walls every variant of it bar Extrasensory, and Celesteela is a pretty good answer to it overall. Regardless, whether or not it's actually "balanced" in the metagame is still debatable despite these new additions.
 
Bad. Kartana is too frail to run defog. It is better off with either all-out attacker or swords dance z-move.
Kartana has 131 Def, so it's not exactly frail. Still, literally any special attack takes it out.

guan123 if you're running defog, you have to either sacrifice Smart Strike or sacrifice Swords Dance. Kartana can't really afford either of those gone, and without leftovers (because it prefers to run fightinium z), it gets worn down by physical attacks rather quickly.
 
Kartana has 131 Def, so it's not exactly frail. Still, literally any special attack takes it out.

guan123 if you're running defog, you have to either sacrifice Smart Strike or sacrifice Swords Dance. Kartana can't really afford either of those gone, and without leftovers (because it prefers to run fightinium z), it gets worn down by physical attacks rather quickly.
Yeah I assume but people has been spamming Webs on my ladder like monkeys, Phero is gone (I hope forever) and Kartana can defog free on Smeargle (Mandibuzz aswell but fuck that)
 
The Pokémon Channel has officially revealed Marshadow albeit it's a short teaser, meaning it's slated for a release soon, likely starting in late April/early May. Get hyped cause this thing is gonna be a monster. It'll likely come with the Marshadium Z as well
 
What's the current state of hazards/hazard removal in the OU metagame? In ORAS, Bisharp was the primary Defog deterrent, but I know Bisharp is basically nonexistent right now. There's Defiant Thundurus, but I don't think that sees a lot of usage either. So is it just absurdly easy to keep hazards off the field? And is the primary Defog deterrent just offensive pressure? Not giving the opponent a free turn to use it?
 
What's the current state of hazards/hazard removal in the OU metagame? In ORAS, Bisharp was the primary Defog deterrent, but I know Bisharp is basically nonexistent right now. There's Defiant Thundurus, but I don't think that sees a lot of usage either. So is it just absurdly easy to keep hazards off the field? And is the primary Defog deterrent just offensive pressure? Not giving the opponent a free turn to use it?
I don't know if you've played SM OU, but I think you're ignoring the other side of this question; namely, the lack of good hazard removal options in OU, especially now that our only good Rapid Spin user is gone.

The previous first option for Defog, Latios, is facing an entire A/A+/S rank of Pokemon that can destroy it if it tries to Defog, and it's not particularly fast by this gen's standards. Though Pursuit is less common now, it's safe to say that Latios is not a top-tier threat anymore, and I'd argue its non-Defog sets are more interesting at the moment. Same for Latias. Simply put, there are fewer Pokemon that they can threaten out and even fewer Pokemon that they can switch into themselves.

Skarmory is good on Stall, and Mega Sableye still exists (unfortunately). Neither are seen on other archetypes too frequently.

Tapu Fini is by far the most common form of hazard removal, but it struggles to beat many of the premier hazard setters, such as Ferrothorn and Protean Greninja. Even Landorus-T (and Garchomp) can dent it heavily with Z-Moves. Even if you look past these matchups, its lack of recovery means it is very easy to wear down, even by the threats it's supposed to check. Whenever I use it, I always feel like it's a matter of time before Tapu Fini dies. Regardless, Tapu Fini is good and for most offensive teams you should consider it. Misty Terrain + bulk + Taunt/NM is huge.

Defog Mega Scizor has become fairly common, especially on balance. Mega Scizor + Toxapex + Zygarde is a very strong core.

I guess lower rank stuff like Kartana, Mantine, and Mandibuzz exist, but those should only be considered for very specific teams.

Excadrill is decent right now, but as a Rapid Spin user it is rather underwhelming. Still, it's better than its competition...which is basically only Starmie, and Starmie is more or less irrelevant now.

If anything, entry hazards are better now than they ever were, especially Spikes and Toxic Spikes.
 
I don't know if you've played SM OU, but I think you're ignoring the other side of this question; namely, the lack of good hazard removal options in OU, especially now that our only good Rapid Spin user is gone.

The previous first option for Defog, Latios, is facing an entire A/A+/S rank of Pokemon that can destroy it if it tries to Defog, and it's not particularly fast by this gen's standards. Though Pursuit is less common now, it's safe to say that Latios is not a top-tier threat anymore, and I'd argue its non-Defog sets are more interesting at the moment. Same for Latias. Simply put, there are fewer Pokemon that they can threaten out and even fewer Pokemon that they can switch into themselves.

Skarmory is good on Stall, and Mega Sableye still exists (unfortunately). Neither are seen on other archetypes too frequently.

Tapu Fini is by far the most common form of hazard removal, but it struggles to beat many of the premier hazard setters, such as Ferrothorn and Protean Greninja. Even Landorus-T (and Garchomp) can dent it heavily with Z-Moves. Even if you look past these matchups, its lack of recovery means it is very easy to wear down, even by the threats it's supposed to check. Whenever I use it, I always feel like it's a matter of time before Tapu Fini dies. Regardless, Tapu Fini is good and for most offensive teams you should consider it. Misty Terrain + bulk + Taunt/NM is huge.

Defog Mega Scizor has become fairly common, especially on balance. Mega Scizor + Toxapex + Zygarde is a very strong core.

I guess lower rank stuff like Kartana, Mantine, and Mandibuzz exist, but those should only be considered for very specific teams.

Excadrill is decent right now, but as a Rapid Spin user it is rather underwhelming. Still, it's better than its competition...which is basically only Starmie, and Starmie is more or less irrelevant now.

If anything, entry hazards are better now than they ever were, especially Spikes and Toxic Spikes.
Thank you, that's a really good primer.
 
How are OU suspect tests subjects determined? Do users have any say as to what is tested?
Principally, they're chosen by the OU council due to their, generally, higher level of play than most people on the site. While we can't directly decide what gets suspected, they will of course listen to community feedback, but in general if a mon needs to be suspected then the council will be thinking it anyway.

This way, it kinda avoids mob mentality and bandwagonning.
 
I'm capable of resetting exactly one Hoopa and one Magearna each, so I'm torn on the best nature for both. I primarily want to build a Trick Room team using both since I'm running one at Showdown atm that's great, actually. But as is with Trick Room, it's niche, so I'd like to be able to use them otherwise too.
With Magearna, I suppose the most versatile nature is Modest since Trick Room, Assault Vest, Choice Specs und to an extent Heart Swap work with it.
With Hoopa, it's more difficult, since Mixed is an option with Trick Room. I'd probably go Lonely for still being able to go banded, but other suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
 
Hey anyone got the DD zygarde set?
I believe it looks a little something like this:

Zygarde @ Dragonium Z / Groundium Z / Lum Berry / Life Orb
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Thousand Arrows
- Outrage
- Extreme Speed

You could also visit Zygarde's analysis (here or here (this one is in WIP stage though)) for more in-depth information about Zygarde's most viable sets, including this one.

Hope this helped!
 
Since the bottle cap system has been introduced, how do I adjust ditto in the showdown teambuilder to make sure it gets the hidden power that I want?

It can't actually legally run hidden power in the import, and I don't know whether manually changing ivs in the teambuilder actually effects hidden power.
 
Since the bottle cap system has been introduced, how do I adjust ditto in the showdown teambuilder to make sure it gets the hidden power that I want?

It can't actually legally run hidden power in the import, and I don't know whether manually changing ivs in the teambuilder actually effects hidden power.
If Smogon has implemented this already, first pick the Hidden Power that you want, and then raise the IVs to 31 for every stat. Hope that helps
 
It seems that in the case of ditto and only ditto, if you want to get a specific hidden power, you have to go look up the old iv combinations, and then make sure the sim doesn't "fix" your ivs back, because that will give you the hidden power for your new iv spread, and hp psychic is really gross (31/0/31/31/31/0 is iirc the normal set of ditto ivs if you care about ditto v ditto)

Thankfully, ditto's ivs don't actually matter most of the time.
 

Tuthur

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I don't think you have a sense for how bad the situation is. If I try to process OU logs on PS, those scripts get killed for exhausting system resources. In copying logs to my own machine, I'm maybe 10% complete, after running this for a week.

Excluding randbats (the only non-usage-based tier that sees a significant enough number of battles to make a difference) might allow me to get the usage stats out a week or two sooner, but as it stands right now, even if I focused just on OU, we wouldn't be seeing usage stats this month.
Sadly not this month.
 

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