Resource Simple Questions, Simple Answers Thread

What does lucario lack to be consistently good in OU ? On paper, he's decently fast, has correct attack stats his bulk is bad but not horrible, and his defensive typing isn't that bad. He gets good priority (bullet punch,extreme speed, vacuum wave...), he has usable stabs (CC/Meteor Mash/focus blast/Flash cannon), correct boosting abilities (Agility/Swords dance/Nasty plot)... Yet he doesn't find a place in OU. What does he truly lacks that is needed?
 

ShootingStarmie

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What does lucario lack to be consistently good in OU ? On paper, he's decently fast, has correct attack stats his bulk is bad but not horrible, and his defensive typing isn't that bad. He gets good priority (bullet punch,extreme speed, vacuum wave...), he has usable stabs (CC/Meteor Mash/focus blast/Flash cannon), correct boosting abilities (Agility/Swords dance/Nasty plot)... Yet he doesn't find a place in OU. What does he truly lacks that is needed?
While it doesnt exactly "lack" anything (though its Speed could be a lot better), there are simply better Pokemon to fill any role Lucario could be used for. As far as sweepers, OU has access to Rillaboom, Azumarill, Scizor, Hawlucha etc. For Fighting or Steel-types you have Aegislash, Excadrill, Urshifu etc. Same thing if you're looking for a Special Attacker.

This applies to other Pokemon found outside of OU like Haxorus and Conkeldurr. They arent exactly bad Pokemon, just outclassed
:psywoke:
 
Reuniclus @ Lagging Tail
Ability: Magic Gaurd
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Trick
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon

1: Is this set viable for Gen 8 OU?
2: What Pokemon synergizes well with this moveset?
 

ShootingStarmie

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Reuniclus @ Lagging Tail
Ability: Magic Gaurd
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Trick
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon

1: Is this set viable for Gen 8 OU?
2: What Pokemon synergizes well with this moveset?
Reuniclus can run a multitude of sets, but if I'm being honest I don't think this one is viable. You're probably better off trying Flame Orb or Sticky Barb if you're looking to cripple the opponents with swapping items, its not exactly like Reun benefits much from outspeeding Pokemon, that's not really its purpose in the meta.

If you insist on using this set, I'd pair it with Pokemon that can handle special walls that can take on this set. Answers to Blissey and Tyranitar make for good partners, so Urshifu and Rillaboom would be good.

Here is an analysis that mentions even more teammates for Reuniclus, while also discussing its best set :toast:
 
Reuniclus can run a multitude of sets, but if I'm being honest I don't think this one is viable. You're probably better off trying Flame Orb or Sticky Barb if you're looking to cripple the opponents with swapping items, its not exactly like Reun benefits much from outspeeding Pokemon, that's not really its purpose in the meta.

If you insist on using this set, I'd pair it with Pokemon that can handle special walls that can take on this set. Answers to Blissey and Tyranitar make for good partners, so Urshifu and Rillaboom would be good.

Here is an analysis that mentions even more teammates for Reuniclus, while also discussing its best set :toast:
Now that I think about it, Reuniclus is better suited to tricking Lagging Tail than most Pokemon. The item doesn't really negatively affect it that much, and outspeeding the opponent is great for a strong Pokemon like Reuniclus. And even if it wasn't able to capitalize on the slower opponent, a team mate could. That said, Thunder Wave is probably superior in this regard. While it probably won't let Reuniclus outspeed much, its reusable nature means you don't need to be a prediction god to cripple a particular threat, and causing your opponent to lose turns to hax is a nice bonus.
 
Bulk Up Corviknight's usage seems to have dissipated drastically in the last month, likely due to the rise in Magnezone & Defog being increasingly important to counter Spikes. Can this set still work in the current metagame? What kind of team comps can it fit on over Defog Corviknight?
 

Finchinator

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Bulk Up Corviknight's usage seems to have dissipated drastically in the last month, likely due to the rise in Magnezone & Defog being increasingly important to counter Spikes. Can this set still work in the current metagame? What kind of team comps can it fit on over Defog Corviknight?
Yes, it can. Same type of team, but simply in need of another Defogger and perhaps a check to Pokemon it relies on Body Press to normally check.
 

Katy

Banned deucer.
Can this set still work in the current metagame?
That set can still work in the current metagame, however it needs good partners to profit from this set in some way.

What kind of team comps can it fit on over Defog Corviknight?
You need to be able to remove threats like magnezone first, which are one of its enemies, pkmn like gastrodon can help with it and also pkmn like zeraora since it can comfortably switch into its electric-stab and also its steel-stab and it can pivot out again with volt switch itself.
magnezone itself can also help with eliminating steel-types like opposing corvi and also skarmory.
corviknight appreciates good fire-resistances as well as teampartners, so pkmn like tyranitar and rhyperior can help in this aspect.
 

Sijih

game show genius
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributor
Finchinator mentioned spikes being a problem for Pex in the newest VR. Is HDB worth considering on Pex, considering that it has regenerator + access to recover?
 

Katy

Banned deucer.
Finchinator mentioned spikes being a problem for Pex in the newest VR. Is HDB worth considering on Pex, considering that it has regenerator + access to recover?
I dont think HDB is worth on Pex since it needs Rocky Helmet to chip down Urshifu which is still a big threat in the metagame. Alternatively Black Sludge could be an option to further its recovery in general a bit in conjunction with Regenerator and Recover. But Heavy-Duty Boots arent worth running, in a metagame where Urshifu, Dragapult, Zeraora, and many more physical threats are around. You want them to be chipped as much as you can as they themselves run Boots to prevent Hazard-Damage, you basically chip them down slowly with Rocky Helmet.
 
Finchinator mentioned spikes being a problem for Pex in the newest VR. Is HDB worth considering on Pex, considering that it has regenerator + access to recover?
It could probably work, but heavy duty boots generally works better on offensive mons that either desperately need them like volcarona or can act as offensive pivots like dragapult and zeraora. The few defensive mons that do use boots, blissey and slowbro, have teleport to act as pivots. Toxapex doesn't have a switching move so it can't use boots as effectively and is usually better off using black sludge or rocky helmet.
 

Finchinator

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OU Leader
Finchinator mentioned spikes being a problem for Pex in the newest VR. Is HDB worth considering on Pex, considering that it has regenerator + access to recover?
On top of what the two above users said, Toxapex also takes Knock Offs more than just about every Pokemon and avoiding that while keeping the rest of your team in-tact is a challenging task; it also is a common Trick target. Taking everything into consideration, Toxapex can viably run Heavy Duty Boots, but you can only justify it a small fraction of the time and those times are still not foolproof against Spikes due to item displacement running rampant.
 
Hi, can someone explain why Rhyperior is suddenly getting a ton of respect? I've seen people talk about it a bit in the metagame and viability ranking threads, and they call out its high power wallbreaking sets and ability to set Stealth Rock while still threatening. But... hasn't it always had these capabilities? It's always been a solid contirbutor in the lower tiers from what I remember, but never OU. What is it about gen 8 that is making Rhyperior suddenly good? Thanks!
 

Finchinator

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OU Leader
Hi, can someone explain why Rhyperior is suddenly getting a ton of respect? I've seen people talk about it a bit in the metagame and viability ranking threads, and they call out its high power wallbreaking sets and ability to set Stealth Rock while still threatening. But... hasn't it always had these capabilities? It's always been a solid contirbutor in the lower tiers from what I remember, but never OU. What is it about gen 8 that is making Rhyperior suddenly good? Thanks!
Pokemon like Rotom-Heat and Zeraora being so common surely contributes and they were not used previously.

It also benefits from things like overly passive Defog users permitting entry, Heavy Duty Boots promoting usage of Flying/Rock weak Pokemon as a Rock type, the resurgence of Togekiss, and the limited dex restricting other options.
 
Is Togekiss a usable defogger? I've noticed its analysis doesn't mention Defog. Is that because Togekiss would probably serve as a team's primary answer to things like Urshifu and Rillaboom, so by also using it as your hazard removal, you're putting too much pressure on a single team slot and diminishing its ability to perform any of those roles effectively? It just seems like an attractive option sometimes if you're trying to shore up the Urshifu matchup a little bit or whatever.
 

Katy

Banned deucer.
Is Togekiss a usable defogger?
Togekiss could be a somewhat viable defogger, if you can fit it on your team and need a defogger badly. It can use it best on Heavy-Duty-Sets and even sometimes on Choice Scarf-versions. With Air Slash and Roost as the two other Moveoptions. But in general, Defog Togekiss struggles a bit to consistently use Defog especially on Scarfed-versions, as it rather likes to trick the Choice Scarf onto a wall like Blissey and Toxapex, furthermore Togekiss likes to have Flamethrower aswell to cripple Steel-types like Ferrothorn and Excadrill. To add onto that, Dazzling Gleam could be an interesting option aswell, to hit Dragapult, Hydreigon, and Urshifu (both). For the Heavy-Duty Boots-Set you rather want to run something like Heal Bell to function as a useable cleric. But if you are really desperate for a Defog-Option Togekiss can serve as such. However, I would say that Mandibuzz, Corviknight and Skarmory are currently much better Defoggers and it also faces competition from Mantine which thrives in usage.
 
Why is Hydreigon's usage so low? A lot of metagame trends seem to be in its favor, with mons that it can threaten like Amoongus, Tangrowth, Crawdaunt, non-Bug Buzz Volcarona, and Aegislash seeing increased usage. Its good Speed tier lets it revenge kill stuff like Urshifu, Rillaboom, and Kyurem too. Is it seeing low usage because of its competition with Urshifu? If this is the case what team comps does it fit on better than Urshifu?
 

ShootingStarmie

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Why is Hydreigon's usage so low? A lot of metagame trends seem to be in its favor, with mons that it can threaten like Amoongus, Tangrowth, Crawdaunt, non-Bug Buzz Volcarona, and Aegislash seeing increased usage. Its good Speed tier lets it revenge kill stuff like Urshifu, Rillaboom, and Kyurem too. Is it seeing low usage because of its competition with Urshifu? If this is the case what team comps does it fit on better than Urshifu?
First thing that comes to mind is Urshifu, both as a better wallbreaker, and as a strong presence that Hydreigon fears. Both variants of Urshifu I think deter the usage of Hydreigon. As a Dark-type I think you have to somewhat compete with the likes of Urshifu and Tyranitar, while as a Dragon-type you have to compete with Dragapult. Even ignoring its competition, the most popular Pokemon (Clefable and Dragapult) naturally have a great match up against it.

Despite all of this, I think Hydreigon is way more viable than it was last generation, where it even dropped down to UU. Maybe this clears up a few things for anyone wondering

:psywoke:
 

ShootingStarmie

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Best single slot mon for speed control?

Trying a bulky priority spam team that's probably really bad, with everything slower than drill
There are plenty of priority users that can take care of Excadrill if that's what you're after. Rillaboom's Grassy Glide, Azumarill's Aqua Jet, and Conkeldurr's Mach Punch all come to mind. If you don't want to use full priority, Dragapult and Zeraora are the fastest non boosted (no abilities / Scarf / boosts) Pokemon in the metagame and offer decent speed control in the meta due to the lack of Choice Scarf Pokemon. I actually built a very similar team (here) to what you have in mind, maybe it will give you some inspiration / ideas.

Best of luck! Hope this helped :smogduck:
 
Hey everyone! The council has been keeping track of the post-Dracovish metagame. Cinderace has proven to be a little more manageable, but we believe that both it and Dragapult are still worthy of a suspect test. Unfortunately, the current timing does not allow for that; we cannot underestimate the influence that the upcoming DLC may have, expanding the movepools of many existing Pokemon and releasing some new ones on top of that. Holding a suspect test when a potentially massive shakeup is so close is not something we are willing to do. You will hear more from us after the release of The Crown Tundra DLC!
 
I've been playing around with rain a bit and having two main issues- Toxapex and Rillaboom have been 6-0ing my team unless I play essentially perfectly. Is there any mons I can add to the core of Pelipper/ Kingdra/ Urshifu-R to make those matchups more consistent or is rain forced to a more gimmicky matchup based playstyle right now?

Ferrothorn works decently well making progress against Pex but most of the Rillaboom I've run into have been running Drain Punch.
 

Katy

Banned deucer.
I've been playing around with rain a bit and having two main issues- Toxapex and Rillaboom have been 6-0ing my team unless I play essentially perfectly. Is there any mons I can add to the core of Pelipper/ Kingdra/ Urshifu-R to make those matchups more consistent or is rain forced to a more gimmicky matchup based playstyle right now?

Ferrothorn works decently well making progress against Pex but most of the Rillaboom I've run into have been running Drain Punch.
Hello,
you can run Kyurem on the rain-team as it can help to break past Toxapex, since they are physically defensive currently. Kyurem with Freeze-Dry does a huge chunk to Toxapex. Kingdra with a Choice Specs-boosted Hurricane should also be able to nail down Toxapex after hazards. Other options are Zeraora on rain-teams as it per se isnt bad on that archetype either and gives your team an electric-immunity as well. Zeraora helps with handling Toxapex and can give your team momentum via Volt Switch. A very niche but workable Option could be Volcarona, as it can help out vs. Rillaboom and it can help vs. Toxapex with a strong Psychic. It might seem weird putting Volcarona on such a team, but it can help to combat such problems for the rest of your team.
 
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Which pokemon will be legal in OU once DLC 2 drops? I recall reading something along the lines of "all mons that aren't cover legends" but I don't know whether that's true. Will any mons of the current banlist be unbanned? The list consists of Galarian Darmanitan, Kyurem Black, Melmetal, Magearna, and Cinderace, if I remember correctly.

What will be the council's policy on quickbans? For example, will we see small groups banned each week, if enough of them were broken? Or would the pattern be more random?
 

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