-
Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
-
Congrats to the winners of the 2024 Smog Awards!
SM UU Simple Questions Thread
- Thread starter Sam
- Start date
- Status
Let's see, Swampert and Tentacruel share... Huh? Zero weaknesses!
So no, it's perfectly fine to incorporate both of them on the same team. However, outside of the electric immunity that Swampert provides for Tentacruel, they don't cover each others weaknesses exactly well (Psychic, Ground, Grass all hitting neutral). Therefore, be sure to account for them with the rest of your team! Stacking types is generally not a big deal if you pay attention that their weaknesses don't become too complicated to deal with - and it can even make for a great strategy to utilize Pokémon of the same type (as a lure for a common switch-in for example!).
So no, it's perfectly fine to incorporate both of them on the same team. However, outside of the electric immunity that Swampert provides for Tentacruel, they don't cover each others weaknesses exactly well (Psychic, Ground, Grass all hitting neutral). Therefore, be sure to account for them with the rest of your team! Stacking types is generally not a big deal if you pay attention that their weaknesses don't become too complicated to deal with - and it can even make for a great strategy to utilize Pokémon of the same type (as a lure for a common switch-in for example!).
Last edited:
Any word on the lower ranked mons? I don't see much said about them, and I'm not able to play myself for a while. Did USUM bring anything significant to them, or are they not worth discussing? Figured everyone was still playing with their shiny new snakes and banning dragons to pay much attention.
And while I'm at it, any word on lower tier mon being more relevant?
And while I'm at it, any word on lower tier mon being more relevant?
Florges comes to mind since it now has sometime to differentiate itself from Sylveon through Defog (though it's 4MSS is more apparent with the addition of Defog). Other than that, maybe Necrozma could be looked into (got a lot of new moves such as Earth Power, Heat Wave, Photo Gyser, etc.) since I haven't seen it at all, Rotom-C also got Defog but it is overshadowed by Washtom for the most part.
Hi, I haven’t been here in quite a while. Just wanted to ask, is there a way I could build a team around A-Sandslash? I do love the Pokémon and I think I could build a team around it that uses hail, but I’m not too familiar with the metagame at the moment.
Also how does Golisopod and Decidueye fair?
Also how does Golisopod and Decidueye fair?
A-Sandslash is typically used as a fast Aurora Veil setter in conjunction with Aurorus (Aurorus over Aboma/Vanilla because it can set rocks up in addition with Hail). Cynde's A-Veil team is pretty solid (though you could probably replace Kommo-o with something else since Kommoium Z is banned) and it is located in the sample teams thread.
Decidueye is still pretty niche overall as a stallbreaker (though I haven't used it lately but, stall is gaining traction ever since Azu got its new set soo maybe it could be better?) and Golisopod is not good at all since there are better options for offensive, physical Water-types and its typing isn't too great.
Defog: Aerodactyl, Aerodactyl1, Altaria, Altaria1, Arceus, Archen, Archeops, Articuno, Beautifly, Beedrill, Beedrill1, Blaziken, Blaziken1, Braviary, Butterfree, Carnivine, Castform, Castform1, Castform2, Castform3, Charizard, Charizard1, Charizard2, Chatot, Chimecho, Combusken, Comfey, Cottonee, Crobat, Cryogonal, Cutiefly, Dartrix, Decidueye, Delibird, Dragonite, Drampa, Drifblim, Drifloon, Ducklett, Dustox, Emolga, Empoleon, Farfetch’d, Fearow, Finneon, Fletchinder, Fletchling, Florges, Flygon, Fomantis, Giratina, Giratina1, Gligar, Gliscor, Golbat, Hawlucha, Ho, Honchkrow, Hoothoot, Hydreigon, Illumise, Kartana, Klefki, Landorus, Landorus1, Latias, Latias1, Latios, Latios1, Ledian, Lugia, Lumineon, Lunala, Lurantis, Lurantis1, Mandibuzz, Mantine, Masquerain, Mew, Moltres, Mothim, Murkrow, Ninjask, Noctowl, Noibat, Noivern, Nuzleaf, Oricorio, Oricorio1, Oricorio2, Oricorio3, Pelipper, Pidgeot, Pidgeot1, Pidgeotto, Pidgey, Pidove, Pikipek, Piplup, Prinplup, Rayquaza, Rayquaza1, Reshiram, Ribombee, Ribombee1, Rotom, Rotom1, Rotom2, Rotom3, Rotom4, Rotom5, Rowlet, Rufflet, Salamence, Salamence1, Scizor, Scizor1, Scyther, Seedot, Serperior, Servine, Shiftry, Sigilyph, Silvally, Skarmory, Skuntank, Snivy, Spearow, Staraptor, Staravia, Starly, Stunky, Swablu, Swanna, Swellow, Swoobat, Taillow, Talonflame, TapuFini, TapuKoko, Thundurus, Thundurus1, Togekiss, Togetic, Torchic, Tornadus, Tornadus1, Toucannon, Tranquill, Tropius, Trumbeak, Unfezant, Venomoth, Vespiquen, Vibrava, Vivillon, Volbeat, Volcanion, Volcarona, Vullaby, Whimsicott, Wingull, Woobat, Xatu, Xerneas, Yanma, Yanmega, Yveltal, Zapdos, Zekrom, Zubat
To maybe explain what Hogg just posted in further detail, with the introduction of Defog as a tutor move in USUM, a whole new array of Pokemon can viably remove hazards (Rotom-W and Rotom-C, Serperior, Hydreigon, Mega Altaria, and Poison Heal Gliscor, and Klefki are the more noteable new ones in UU), which allows stall and defensive teams in general to much more effectively keep hazards off their side of the field. A lot of the time a gameplan vs stall in any given game is to get hazards up quickly and pressure them with strong wallbreakers or setup sweepers, and being able to easily remove hazards makes your team subject to that much less pressure. These changes made stall a lot more of a significant part of the metagame, compared to pre-USUM where it quickly lost a lot of traction. I wouldn't exactly call it a completely dominating force in the current metagame but it's definitely seen a massive resurgence as of late.
Mega Latias is banned.
There are a lot of defoggers in the tier, though. Serperior, Rotom-W, Latias, Empoleon, Gliscor, Rotom-C, Hydreigon, and Mega Altaria are good Defoggers you can use, and most of them fit on any kind of team!
Would the EVs for a Defog Gliscor look similar to the stealth rock set? Would a defog Gliscor even run rocks?
I feel like it has a lot of options, and I'm not really sure which of those would be the best to pair with defog shenanigans.
I feel like it has a lot of options, and I'm not really sure which of those would be the best to pair with defog shenanigans.
Defog Gliscor will most likely not run Stealth Rock. Despite Gliscor's insane versatility, in many scenarios it will have trouble to keep hazards from your side off the field and set your own. Instead it may want to opt for Toxic or Knock Off to pressure oppossing setters like Swampert, Seismitoad, Mega Aerodactyl and others. If you really want to go all out on clearing and preventing hazards you could even utilize Taunt alongside Defog (although I'd argue this reduces its versatility overall, being specifically geared towards beating other Gliscor might be worth it given the bat's prominence in the tier). On stall Gliscor is one of the few things in the tier that can take on Flame Orb Heracross assuming that it has enough speed and a Flying STAB, while still possibly carrying Defog.
As for EVs, you can probably opt for a bulkier variant unless your team is super weak to Nidoking or Lucario, or in case you opt for Taunt. SpDef investment with a Careful nature allows it to somewhat comfortably tank Scald from Swampert and Empoleon.
Ultimately, see what your team's needs are and adjust the EV spread accordingly, there is no optimal spread that will work under any circumstances - thankfully Gliscor is highly flexible and therefore customizable in that regard.
As for EVs, you can probably opt for a bulkier variant unless your team is super weak to Nidoking or Lucario, or in case you opt for Taunt. SpDef investment with a Careful nature allows it to somewhat comfortably tank Scald from Swampert and Empoleon.
Ultimately, see what your team's needs are and adjust the EV spread accordingly, there is no optimal spread that will work under any circumstances - thankfully Gliscor is highly flexible and therefore customizable in that regard.
I noticed that Swampert usage and especially Primarina usage dropped significantly. I know that Seismitoad kinda outclasses Swampert but why Primarina?
Last edited:
Primarina's dropped off a bit mostly due to New Toy Syndrome with the recent addition of Azumarill, though its viability hasn't really changed that much. Swampert's dropped off because it faces competition from Seismitoad, which, while far less bulkier, has a better matchup versus Rotom-Wash thanks to Water Absorb, and different options for support moves. Toxicroak is irrelevant to both of these shifts.
The presence of other offensive Psychic-types—namely Latias, who is stronger, faster, bulkier, and has similar coverage—make Sigilyph pretty much irrelevant.
As Highways said, Mega-Latias is illegal in this tier at the moment. Besides Highways' recommendation of meta Defoggers, regular Latias is quite versatile to the point where you can more or less squeeze Defog onto most sets. Scarf and LO sets all have the potential to run Defog on it for role compression.
I believe the people who manage the project are waiting for the upcoming tier shift, which would allow for them to knock out as many relevant edits as possible instead of having to resort to continuous minor updates. Killintime sums this thought up pretty nicely in this post here, so you can check that out for further clarity. Expect some major updates to the thread following the next tier shifts.
Is Inner Focus better on Raikou than Pressure?
Both of these abilities don't help Raikou too much, but I believe Inner Focus would be the less valuable of the two. Raikou has a really good speed tier, and therefore cannot gain much benefit from Inner Focus since mons like Togekiss and Cobalion are obviously slower and can't flinch Raikou down anyways. The only positives Raikou gains from using Inner Focus (if I haven't overseen anything obvious) would be a random Fake Out or avoiding a Dark Pulse flinch from Scarf Hydreigon. Pressure, on the other hand, offers more usability in that you can sap away at the PP of moves such as Serperior's Leaf Storm when Raikou is running the SubCM set. It doesn't have any other notable uses besides this, but I think that the pros to running Pressure on Raikou slightly outweigh the benefit Inner Focus provides.
- Status