Resource Simple Questions, Simple Answers Thread

[Katy]

why has nidoking lost its prominece then comapred to before?

the heavy usage of slowking and blissey is part of why nidoking lost its attraction as a special wallbreaker, but nidoking is still a threat regardless of these tow factors. but with slowking, blissey and partly galarian slowking nidoking as it tougher as a special breaker, but its still a threat for unprepared teams with its wide coverage choices which are all sheer force- and life orb boosted. it is very easy for a substitute variant to tear up opposing teams. but the decline of nidoking happened due to other prominent threats such as dragapult, kyurem, heatran, tapu koko, tapu lele, and hydreigon need to be kept being at bay and slowking, blissey, and also galarian slowking do a good job at that meaning it automatically effected nidoking as well in the process.

hopefully that helped :)

 

[Jordy]

there's more to nidoking's fall than just being walled by slowking and blissey.

it is complete bait to knock off; eating a knock from pex, clef, etc., which are pokemon u want to take advantage of, is basically a death sentence because nidoking's damage output becomes ridiculously underwhelming without its item. it also lacks ohko potential because of its disappointing stats; it can't ohko toxapex so having to eat a knock off is just really likely, cant ohko corvi so if u use the wrong move into it it can just uturn into pult after, etc. its speed tier also sucks and that's become increasingly apparent with faster wallbreakers like kyurem, blacephalon, and hydreigon being used again.

 

[Seucra Lockhart]

Is there anyway I can find replays for a specific pokemon easier such as Dracozolt for either the Smogon Premier League or the WCOP?

 

[DJ_red_lantern]

Is there a reason the recommended EV spread on swampert is fully specially defensive? What is the EV spread most people use these days? I feel like having some physical defense would be helpful for absorbing EQs from lando etc

 

[SLDR]

Is there a reason the recommended EV spread on swampert is fully specially defensive? What is the EV spread most people use these days? I feel like having some physical defense would be helpful for absorbing EQs from lando etc

As a Bulky water, the metagame trends want Swampert to check Heatran and Volcarona mainly. As a bulky ground type, they want Swampert to stop the electrics; however Zeraora will eventually wear you down so I wouldn't rely solely on Swampert, although it blocks volt switches. Tapu Koko, Heatran and Volcarona are special attackers, so Swampert runs special defense. Furthermore, physical attackers mostly land STAB neutral hits on Swampert and tend to carry knock off, so not having reliable recovery makes Swampert very shaky.
Resisting fire stab and being immune to electric stab, while shrugging off weak neutral coverage moves they carry is something Swampert can do. The physical bulk remains nice for checking the aforementioned Zeraora and physical fire types.

Victini and physical fire types in general exist, but tran and volc are top priorities and you usually can't afford to have another answer as reliable as Swampert without losing to something else.

EQ from Lando are to be absorbed rarely, swampert shouldn't deal with opposing ground types. It's a bulky stealth rock setting pivot before anything else

 

[TailGlowVM]

Instead of an Expert Belt, would it not be better to use a Magnet on Iron Defense Magnezone? You get the same power boost but it should be more consistent overall, as Electric moves have pretty limited super effective coverage.

(It also shows you respect Zone, since it is itself a magnet.)

 

[Finchinator]

Instead of an Expert Belt, would it not be better to use a Magnet on Iron Defense Magnezone? You get the same power boost but it should be more consistent overall, as Electric moves have pretty limited super effective coverage.

(It also shows you respect Zone, since it is itself a magnet.)

I much prefer Expert Belt (having had the same thought and tried both) due to Body Press rolls and the potential for running a Steel type move fourth which can punish Calm Mind Clefable.

Magnet is viable when running Toxic > third attack and not running as much SAtk investment though, yes.

 

[GS Cross2]

forgetting a little bit about teleport and dragapult

What has been the most problematic thing in the game these days?

 

[Tysonslayer]

forgetting a little bit about teleportation and dragapult

What has been the most problematic thing in the game these days?

Kyurem can be an oppressive mon for teams with its wide coverage where nothing can safely switch into it. Urshifu-R is also problematic these days almost mandating a water resist in teams, and when paired with future sight to break past its checks. Some other mentions go to Heatran, Weavile, And Zeraora.

 

[Red Raven]

forgetting a little bit about teleport and dragapult

What has been the most problematic thing in the game these days?

Along with the ones Tyson mentioned, there are also old stand bys like Garchomp, Kartana, Volcarona and Rillaboom being difficult to handle if you're not ready for them. Defensively, Corviknight is another pokemon that could be problematic if you don't have a plan to get rid of it for your special attackers. Garchomp and Volcarona are among the most prominent since they have like two or three checks in the entire entire, at least the common ones

Basically anyone in the A ranks of the vr can be problematic unless you plan for them

 

[IBZ]

1. Specially Defensive Landorus-T
If you look at the VR, you'll see most of the main physical attackers in this meta can potentially beat Landorus-T - Urshifu and Bisharp effectively ignore Intimidate, Weavile is Ice-type, Rillaboom, Kartana and Melmetal hit too hard for it to check them, Dragonite and offensive Landorus-T both can just use it as setup fodder. Lando is only really reliable against Zeraora. Being the ultimate utility belt/glue mon, of course people wouldn't just stop using it - instead they switched to specially defensive spreads, which are more reliable than physical defense against Dracozolt and Tapu Koko and check Volcarona and Heatran, while still checking Zeraora.

I saw this in the metagame thread
Does anyone have a good spread (or multiple) for spdef lando-t?

 

[SLDR]

I saw this in the metagame thread
Does anyone have a good spread (or multiple) for spdef lando-t?

I would honestly just check what speed tier you need the most, make Lando reach that speed tier and then invest max hp and rest in SpDef, careful nature.
A common speed investment for Lando is 92 (241 speed) EVs, which beats adamant bisharp and timid magnezone. A slower one can be 48 (230 speed) while a faster one can be 144 (254 speed) for modest Heatran.
It's worth noting that, with 48 speed investment and the rest in SpDef, Lando-T can actually take two shadowballs from specs pult after rocks.
It doesn't need any attack investment.

To summarize:
Always careful nature of course.
248 HP / 212 SpD / 48 Spe
248 HP / 168 SpD / 92 Spe
248 HP / 112 SpD / 144 Spe

 

[GS Cross2]

Hi again
it might just be my impression, but blissey is such a overloaded pokemon in OU being the most efficient special wall and handles dragapult and kyuren without much consequence

is there any special wall as efficient as blissey?

 

[Pietrym]

How viable is Weavile overall?

 

[Ox the Fox]

How viable is Weavile overall?

Weavile is amazing right now. I personally think it's the 5th best pokemon in the tier but most people would say it's in the top 10.

 

[Finchinator]

Hi again
it might just be my impression, but blissey is such a overloaded pokemon in OU being the most efficient special wall and handles dragapult and kyuren without much consequence

is there any special wall as efficient as blissey?

Specially Defensive Clefable, Slowking, Heatran, and Toxapex are all solid, too. However, you cannot rely on any one Pokemon to cover all special attackers -- even Blissey. That is not how teambuilding or counterplay works, unfortunately.

 

[Ehmcee]

What type of playstyle does Cosmic Power Mew fit on the best? (HO/Balance/Bulky Offense, etc.)

 

[Abhi]

What type of playstyle does Cosmic Power Mew fit on the best? (HO/Balance/Bulky Offense, etc.)

It fits on more balanced teams, usually ones with aromatherapy/heal bell support.

 

[xray]

How viable is Weavile overall?

Weavile is amazing right now. I personally think it's the 5th best pokemon in the tier but most people would say it's in the top 10.

I can only agree. Weavile has a great speedtier atm (and can even afford to run Adamant) and Choice Band as well as SD Boots are a danger to pretty much any team. The bad accuracy of Triple Axel is not even that bad since Weavile gets many free turns and can afford missing one or two of them. You can often play around hitting game-deciding Axels too if you do it in a smart way. If Axel hits, it is broken. In addition to that Weavile provides a useful Ghost-resist that can potentially come into Specs Dragapult Shadow Ball once or twice, if you scout for it beforehand. The Psychic-immunity and the Dark-resist are not to be neglected as well. With Pressure Weavile can also punish Knock Off, Toxic Spikes Pex that has been quite popular recently.

 

[BoomFantastic]

Does BU Zera prefer leftovers or boots? Does it just depend on the team it's on?

 

[Seucra Lockhart]

Hey, I was wondering what's the best way to use these hydreigon cores as well as their viability?:

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You could tell me what the optimal hydreigon and volcarona/slowking galar set is to run if you want to pair the two together

 

[xray]

Does BU Zera prefer leftovers or boots? Does it just depend on the team it's on?

Yes and no. I personally believe that Boots is better on most kind of teams, especially on bulky (offense) squads where it has to come into rocks very frequently. However, I do think that Leftovers is better on Heavy Offense since you usually switch in Zeraora once or twice per game and Leftovers make setup easier. But there is no "universal" truth to that.

 

[Tysonslayer]

Does BU Zera prefer leftovers or boots? Does it just depend on the team it's on?

Leftovers gives Zeraora extra longevity with the form of passive recovery along side Bulk Up, while Heavy-Duty Boots is decent as you avoid chip from entry hazards, though you can afford running Leftovers in non HO teams with double defog support since you will be removing hazards frequent to afford Leftovers.

Hey, I was wondering what's the best way to use these hydreigon cores as well as their viability?:

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+

You could tell me what the optimal hydreigon and volcarona/slowking galar set is to run if you want to pair the two together

for both of these cores I feel a bulky nasty plot hydreigon with leftovers will synergize well as Hydreigon will be switching into Heatran and Toxapex especially for Volcarona as they are one of Volcarona's biggest roadblock. Hydreigon is able to switch into them and still be an effective wallbreaker with Nasty Plot, this is the set I run lately https://pokepast.es/6f3f0676d9070f92. The evs let you be faster than Urshifu-R, and you live 2 Iron Heads from CB Bisharp after two rounds of rocks. Volcarona set will most likely be bulkyrona, while galarian Slowking would be standard AV Set since they will help covering each other weaknesses where the former can be a Sweeper once it's switch-ins are removed and the latter provides Future Sight for easier breaking potential.

 

[Red Raven]

What is the whirlpool set that Fini can opt to run and what does it do? I've seen Finch and xray mention it in the vr thread but I've never seen it anywhere even on the random Finis I encounter on showdown's matchmaking

 

[Abhi]

What is the whirlpool set that Fini can opt to run and what does it do? I've seen Finch and xray mention it in the vr thread but I've never seen it anywhere even on the random Finis I encounter on showdown's matchmaking

Finis whirlpool set runs whirlpool, Taunt, nature's madness and either Moonblast or Scald. And for EVs they're just the regular bulky tapu fini evs. And it's basically a stallbreaker similar to heatran and can trap a fair amount of important mons like Toxapex and Slowking, great progress maker