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

[Leo]

What would be some good teammates to complement Defog Mega Scizor on a rain team? I'm struggling a bit to try to come up with something.

Rain teams are kinda formulaic in SM, especially after Swampert's release a couple of months ago because before that you could get a bit creative w mons like Mega Chomp ocasionally being used in Rain. Basically, you got the mandatory Pelipper, Mega Swampert which is almost mandatory too because of the amount of role compression ir brings to Rain, Kingdra, another important member of a Rain team albeit not as mandatory as the other 2, and then you need a Steel-type (usually Ferrothorn) and the rest is filler. I'm no Rain expert but this is what most teams end up looking so ig it should help. Unfortunately Rain teams without Swampert aren't as effective as those that do use it so I'd recommed you to give it a try, though if you want to use Mega Scizor you can probs use some of the advice from the post above this

 

[Deleted User 400951]

What would be some good teammates to complement Defog Mega Scizor on a rain team? I'm struggling a bit to try to come up with something.

In addition to what NVT_Sart said, I run Flynium-Z Landorus-Therian on rain to set up rocks and beat bulky Grasses, which your team will struggle with using Scizor-Mega. Honestly the best thing would be to run Specs Pelipper + Specs Ash with Scizor-Mega and not dedicate the rest of the team to rain. Full rain nowadays is rather formulaic, as Leo said above me. Really, you're just better off running Mega Pert.

 

[OldAmberPlays]

I saw many nominations of Mega Zard X to rise on the VR and a lot of threads talking about it. Is Mega Zard X really relevant right now? What have changed (bar Arena Trap ban) in the meta that comes in favor of it? What is it best set right now?

 

[Leo]

I saw many nominations of Mega Zard X to rise on the VR and a lot of threads talking about it. Is Mega Zard X really relevant right now? What have changed (bar Arena Trap ban) in the meta that comes in favor of it? What is it best set right now?

Arena Trap ban is one of the main reasons for its return, though there's also the rise of offensive Landorus-T, which mean there's less defensive Landos, and the fall of Tapu Fini compared to very early into the gen (this isn't that big of a deal tbf because Tapu Fini has been dead for a long time). It's still far from a top tier threat but it's slowly returning to the meta. The main set it runs atm is Roost 3 Attack, which maximizes its coverage while maintaining longevity. DD hasn't made an impact yet because it has trouble sweeping in the current meta and usually finds itself missing an extra moveslot for either Earthquake or Roost

 

[sumwun]

What are the differences between viability and "brokenness"?

 

[Deleted User 400951]

What are the differences between viability and "brokenness"?

The best thing to do here if you're not sure is to read the tiering philosophy that scrolls through above the forums.

 

[NVT_Sart]

What are the differences between viability and "brokenness"?

At the highest viability Rankings, the borders of the two Terms are vague... many People would argue that all S/S+ Mons we have in OU and Ubers right now can be considered "broken" in their own way. In General though, if a mon is considered "viable" instead of "niche" or "unviable", it means that the mon in question has a distinct role, or can even choose between multiple roles depending on the Teams, checks, walls or threatens many prominent Mons, etc.

While in comparison, a "niche" mon, only has one, really small and minor role and use in a Tier, and is an answer to very few or even just one relevant mon.

There's some more Details, but this is the core difference

 

[sumwun]

At the highest viability Rankings, the borders of the two Terms are vague... many People would argue that all S/S+ Mons we have in OU and Ubers right now can be considered "broken" in their own way. In General though, if a mon is considered "viable" instead of "niche" or "unviable", it means that the mon in question has a distinct role, or can even choose between multiple roles depending on the Teams, checks, walls or threatens many prominent Mons, etc.

While in comparison, a "niche" mon, only has one, really small and minor role and use in a Tier, and is an answer to very few or even just one relevant mon.

There's some more Details, but this is the core difference

A broken Pokemon often fits all your descriptions for viable. How does this answer my question?

 

[AM]

What are the differences between viability and "brokenness"?

Viability is more of a representation of cost opportunity of using mons in a specific rank / subjective rank where they fall under a threat list. S rank for example you're not losing a lot by using the mons in those ranks.

Brokeness is a sort of separate matter depending on the nature of the tier or the mechanic a certain mon has, such as the recent Dugtrio suspect. Just because something is a high rank such as Lando-T for the sake of example doesn't mean it breaks the metagame to fall under "broken" (subjective but for example sake). For example if you look at NU they recently banned Aurora Viel. You can consider Auroro Viel broken, but the users such as Aurorus may not have a lot of viability outside of that specific role.

Does that make sense? I know it's a bit jumbo and with OU it's hard to pinpoint concrete examples all the time.

 

[NVT_Sart]

A broken Pokemon often fits all your descriptions for viable. How does this answer my question?

Brokenness reduces the mentioned criteria to absurdity by (some random examples without naming specific Mons): Letting it take almost ALL roles instead of MANY; having almost NO checks and Counters instead of MULTIPLE; checking/countering almost ALL threats instead of a FEW, etc.

Also something to note is that broken=/=unhealthy for the metagame, but for an Explanation of that Topic, you should check the tiering policies or look through one of the suspect threads because it's one of the most cited Arguments and counterarguments

 

[EeveeTrainer]

Does it ever make sense to use Sand Force Hippowdon if my team doesn't really appreciate Sandstream, but I need something for Tyranitar and Bisharp and Koko? My Synthesis Tangrowth hates Sandstream, as do my Mega Pokemon and Eviolite Chansey which lack Leftovers.

 

[sumwun]

Does it ever make sense to use Sand Force Hippowdon if my team doesn't really appreciate Sandstream, but I need something for Tyranitar and Bisharp and Koko? My Synthesis Tangrowth hates Sandstream, as do my Mega Pokemon and Eviolite Chansey which lack Leftovers.

I think you should use Landorus. Its physical attack and movepool are better than Hippowdon's.

 

[EeveeTrainer]

Yes, if your team really doesn't appreciate the chip damage then you can just forgo it. Although I'm not sure why you're using Synthesis on Tangrowth, as Regenerator is usually enough and you miss out on the utility that Sleep Powder or Leech Seed (or both) bring.

I'm using Giga Drain/Hidden Power Fire/Leech Seed/Synthesis

 

[Linkin Karp]

I'm using Giga Drain/Hidden Power Fire/Leech Seed/Synthesis

You should use Knock Off for its incredible utility. Regenerator and Leech Seed are usually enough, no need to forgo Knock for a third self-heal.

 

[King Sceptile]

Does it ever make sense to use Sand Force Hippowdon if my team doesn't really appreciate Sandstream, but I need something for Tyranitar and Bisharp and Koko? My Synthesis Tangrowth hates Sandstream, as do my Mega Pokemon and Eviolite Chansey which lack Leftovers.

If you're using an offensive team, Lando-T works better, but Hippowdon can definitely run sand force if need be, regardless Tangrowth much prefers the extra moveslot to expand the pool of threats it can check such as sludge bomb for tapu bulu.

 

[wisdom dog]

I think you should use Landorus. Its physical attack and movepool are better than Hippowdon's.

normally i would agree but he said he was looking for a bisharp and koko check, neither of which can lando check very well at all

 

[astroshagger]

What would be the most viable use (set) of Celebi in OU?

 

[astroshagger]

Celebi doesn't really have a place in OU. Its typing is very bad defensively, leaving it 4x weak to U-Turn from mons like Scizor, Koko, Greninja, and Lando-T. With Duggy banned, mons such as Heatran, TTar, Zard-X, and even Hoopa-U have started seeing even more usage than before, all which annoy Celebi. It gives Ferro a free switch and ability to stack hazards. Generally, depending on what your team needs covered, you're probably better off using Mew/Tangrowth.

Yeah look I get all that but that doesnt answer my question.

 

[Cheryl.]

What would be the most viable use (set) of Celebi in OU?

If you really wanna use Celebi I'd say a moveset of Nasty Plot/Giga Drain/Earth Power/Psychic or Shadow Ball with like Psychium Z / Ghostium Z would be the most viable set since +2 Shattered Psyche / Never-Ending Nightmare does do a lot to Celesteela and Ground coverage on a Grass-type isn't that bad rn with all the Heatrans running around. That's the only set I could really see a niche in (and even then it's ass) since bulky sets are worse versions of Mew.

 

[EeveeTrainer]

Why is Toxapex considered a Charizard-X counter? All it can do is Haze and fire off weak Scalds... Charizard usually has Earthquake which does a lot to Toxapex, or Roost, which prevents it from being worn down by Scald.

 

[I like donkeys]

Sorry if i'm asking this in the wrong thread, feel free to delete my post and redirect me to the correct thread if i am

At the beginning of SM, why didn't the tiering process start in Ubers rather than OU? If tiering is based on usage, surely the optimal strategy is start with the most powerful Pokemon and work your way down through to the lower tiers, so it seems pretty arbitrary to start at OU imo. Now obviously OU is Smogon's main metagame and is what everything is based around, and Ubers was initially intended to just be a banlist, but now Ubers is an actual tier so it's silly to keep things the way it is.
Explain to me why OU was chosen as the starting point for tiering rather than Ubers

 

[Xayah]

Sorry if i'm asking this in the wrong thread, feel free to delete my post and redirect me to the correct thread if i am

At the beginning of SM, why didn't the tiering process start in Ubers rather than OU? If tiering is based on usage, surely the optimal strategy is start with the most powerful Pokemon and work your way down through to the lower tiers, so it seems pretty arbitrary to start at OU imo. Now obviously OU is Smogon's main metagame and is what everything is based around, and Ubers was initially intended to just be a banlist, but now Ubers is an actual tier so it's silly to keep things the way it is.
Explain to me why OU was chosen as the starting point for tiering rather than Ubers

It's because Ubers isn't usage based, but rather simply the list of Pokemon banned. I know you said you understand this, but that's why; OU is the highest usage based tier, so that's where tiering starts, as the mons then slowly trickle down.

 

[LordHelix]

Why is Toxapex considered a Charizard-X counter? All it can do is Haze and fire off weak Scalds... Charizard usually has Earthquake which does a lot to Toxapex, or Roost, which prevents it from being worn down by Scald.

It was a good hard check but not anymore, toxapex usually used to run phys def and carried toxic + haze so char x got screwed over by it big time, but it doesnt run either phys def or toxic anymore (now tspikes is replacing toxic and spdef is used over physdef)

so it literally cant touch char x now unless it carries toxic so its not considered a counter anymore

 

[ArcanineLover]

So recently I've been playing around with a team someone else posted on the forums:
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/triple-z.3597624/

It's been working excellently for me so far, but the Amoongus hasn't been putting in a lot of work, and I've mostly just been sending him to his death so I can safely switch in another more-useful party member without having to take a hit.

What kind of Pokemon could fill that role? Assault vest Tangrowth immediately comes to mind but I never felt as though he was a particularly good Pokemon in the first place. I have never struggled against a team that used Assault vest Tangrowth, no matter what kind of team I was using.

 

[Deleted User 400951]

So recently I've been playing around with a team someone else posted on the forums:
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/triple-z.3597624/

It's been working excellently for me so far, but the Amoongus hasn't been putting in a lot of work, and I've mostly just been sending him to his death so I can safely switch in another more-useful party member without having to take a hit.

What kind of Pokemon could fill that role? Assault vest Tangrowth immediately comes to mind but I never felt as though he was a particularly good Pokemon in the first place. I have never struggled against a team that used Assault vest Tangrowth, no matter what kind of team I was using.

Hey, NJNP made an edited version of this team in his OLT laddering thread called 666 Z-Reboot. It's old, but the team itself still functions well enough in this meta. If you want a replacement, imo AV Tangrowth is the best replacement, as NJNP put in his edited version of the team. I'd definitely use that one instead, though naturally with some edits in this AT-free meta:

666 Z-Reboot

Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 96 Def / 164 SpD
Impish Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Defog
- Roost

Zygarde @ Choice Band
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 184 Atk / 72 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Outrage
- Thousand Arrows
- Extreme Speed
- Toxic

Tangrowth @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Earthquake
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roost

Keldeo @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Surf
- Secret Sword
- Hydro Pump
- Stone Edge

Heatran @ Firium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power/Protect
- Substitute