- The power level of the metagame is meant to be relatively low overall, although some specific Pokémon stand out as a cut above the rest.
Some recent slates have been slightly more offensive than past ones, so we may be making an effort to dial back the offensive pressure and make teambuilding easier. (One thing based on the latest batch: it's definitely worth carrying a Normal resist even if you don't happen to pick a Steel-type for the part, because our most recent slate introduced a lot of offensive Normal-types!)
Currently, a majority of our new Pokémon feel very usable if you choose to build with them, and we're doing our best to keep that level of diversity! A lot of Pokémon are designed with some rarely-seen gimmicks in mind and are able to thrive because we keep an open mind and try to tailor the power level to these strategies' success where we can. C:
examples of common offensive threats:
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Gourmant (a Fire/Dark-type evolution of Heatmor) is an excellent wallbreaker in the metagame, using its astounding base 137 Attack to capitalize on the raw power and strong effects of STAB Knock Off and Fire Lash. Pairing these moves' strong effects with Toxic makes it very difficult to find a Pokémon that's willing to switch in on them, while Sucker Punch (augmented by Gourmant's own innate burn immunity, which lets it avoid the common anti-Sucker tactic of Wisp) lets it somewhat reliably compensate for its low Speed. It often runs either Black Glasses or Heavy-Duty Boots depending on its team's hazard control, and bulky Adamant spreads are usually preferred over significant Speed investment.
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Carnivenom (a Grass/Poison-type evolution of Carnivine that notably gains Coil) is a strong setup user that can be difficult to break. It can consistently use Coil repeatedly in tandem with its excellent special bulk, Toxic immunity and recovery options, and in addition to the regular benefits of a move like Bulk Up, Coil's accuracy boosts feed into not only Power Whip but also Sleep Powder.
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Eclipseroid (a Rock/Ghost-type evolution of Solrock and Lunatone that notably gains Recover) is another notable wallbreaker with a flexible array of setup options, including any of Meteor Beam, Calm Mind and Nasty Plot according to the user's preference, strong neutral coverage from its new Ghost type, and wide super effective coverage thanks to its Rock STAB and Ground and Ice options.
- Against all odds,
Pollugonal (an Ice/Poison-type evolution of Cryogonal that gains Spikes and Toxic Spikes) thrives as one of the definitive special walls in the format, using its immense special bulk and recovery to switch in on special attackers, consistently set and clear hazards and
ahem threaten freezes on passive opponents with Freeze-Dry
often.
- Another star of the format is
Oonabee (a Bug/Fairy-type evolution of Vespiquen that notably gains Flash Fire, Flare Boost and Psycho Shift). Flash Fire sets have an excellent defensive profile, so it can run Heavy-Duty Boots to function as a reliable defogger with slow pivoting and recovery, but there's also a twist - more offensively-angled Flame Orb Flare Boost sets can also use Psycho Shift as a reliable variation on Will-o-Wisp provided they haven't switched in on a Knock Off in the same game, giving them a major defensive niche even other Oonabee can't run. In general, Oonabee's fantastic bulk and defensive type make it one of the most consistent mixed defensive presences in the format.
- For another bulky Fairy-type, we have the physically-biased
Constabull (an evolution of Granbull which retains Intimidate but can also choose Iron Barbs), an excellent option to punish U-turn and Knock Off. Constabull usually runs sets with Rest and Bulk Up in tandem with its Fairy/Ground coverage, and it can also support its team using Heal Bell, Roar and Thunder Wave.
- As bulky Water-types go, some of the best options are the canon
Vaporeon, which can run a diverse array of options like Scald, Toxic, Wish, Protect, Heal Bell and Flip Turn, and the more offensively-angled
Milotic, which does not provide Wish or Heal Bell support but can sustain itself more easily with Recover, use Competitive to punish Defog and the various stat-lowering moves in the format, and even run Mirror Coat to punish special attackers which is REALLY fun and so worth it
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Balleringue (an evolution of Wormadam-Trash that has Triage) is one of the most relevant glue Pokémon in the tier, and it's important to build with it in mind!
It is easily able to compress strong priority (Leech Life), hazard control (Rapid Spin) and hazard setting (Stealth Rock) into a single set, and it usually also runs Gyro Ball and may be seen using offensive items such as Life Orb to exert as much pressure as it can, healing off Life Orb recoil with Leech Life. It's very effective at providing support and easily forces progress against faster, frailer teams, so it has set the pace of the metagame for most of the mod's history.
Balleringue's defensive answers aren't completely conventional - since much of its damage output comes from Gyro Ball's high power, it's sometimes answered better by slow Pokémon than by actual Steel resists. Some Fairy-type Pokémon may choose to run min Speed so they can answer it more effectively by minimizing Gyro Ball damage, as they already resist Bug! On the other hand, fast Pokémon may be easily threatened by its combination of Gyro Ball (which directly punishes high Speed) and Leech Life (which outright bypasses high Speed), sometimes regardless of type.
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Unidentified Togekiss (a Steel/Flying-type variant of Togekiss, which has a physically offensive slant to take advantage of Hustle, perfect-accuracy STABs and Extreme Speed) is one of the most dangerous Pokémon in the format and can absolutely wreck unprepared teams all on its own. Its offensive presence will probably be toned down in the near future, uh, somehow, but setting that aside and focusing on it as a glue, it boasts Wish support, strong priority, Defog access with very little to fear from hazards, and arguably the hardest defensive type to break in the format (there are strong Pokémon that badly punish both Electric- and Fire-type moves and conveniently appreciate Wish passing). However, unlike vanilla Togekiss, be mindful that it doesn't have instantaneous reliable recovery like Roost - Wish and I guess Drain Punch are its only options!
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Variant Noivern (a Fighting/Dragon-type that has Levitate but loses a small amount of its Speed) is one of the most versatile pivots in the tier. Although it doesn't exert nearly as much immediate pressure as Balleringue or UFOgekiss - it's much more easily answered by bulky Fairy-types like Constabull and Oonabee and can be threatened by Pollugonal - its type and Ability combine to give it less to fear from hazards than any other Pokémon in the format without needing to hold Boots, allowing it the freedom to run offensive Life Orb sets with Roost and Choice + Switcheroo sets. Its defensive profile also helps it switch in on some of the most relevant attackers in the format, and it was specifically created to help against sun teams that dominated early in the format; its bulk is
not bad with the right investment if you leverage its resistances wisely, so it can keep making progress and disrupting an opponent's momentum throughout a match.
- The bizarre
Crown Starly (a very special kind of Starly... with a Schooling clone. ) is another common glue Pokémon set apart by its own unique form of long-term chip: its signature move Flurry deals physical Flying-type damage at the end of each turn for five turns, even if it leaves the field. This can't be cleared other than waiting it out, but it also can't stack with itself and isn't
that big a deal on its own - it's mostly important to keep in mind when using a Flying-weak Pokémon or a Pokémon with low Defense. That said, a lot of our Pokémon have very lopsided defensive stats and there is an entire slate of Pokémon with good Special Defense but bad Defense, so this comes in handy at times! Flurry aside, Starly can consistently contribute for most of the game without being worn down thanks to Roost, U-turn and its choice of Rapid Spin or Defog, and it has a
ton of stats propping it up even though its offensive movepool is toned down and deliberately mediocre.
- Many of our popular hazard control options use Rapid Spin rather than Defog, so having a spinblocker is worthwhile if you're running hazard stack teams!
As mentioned earlier, Pollugonal is a popular defensive Pokémon that will find many opportunities to set up Spikes, so it's important to be prepared for this and not assume only Stealth Rock-weak Pokémon need to be protected from hazards.
- One of the coolest archetypes right now is a Toxic Spikes offensive structure pioneered by ink, which uses Pokémon like
Alchemissus (a Ghost/Poison-type Mismagius evolution which can choose between Levitate and Corrosion),
Dolorak (an Ariados evolution with Prankster) and
Unbound Cofagrigus (a Dark-type Cofagrigus form with Pickpocket and Unburden) to spread poison in tandem with other hazards as reliably as possible, then capitalizes on the spread poison to enable Alchemissus's Hex and Venoshock as well as
Tyrandra (a Dark/Dragon-type evolution of a variant Seadra that uses Merciless Draco Meteor).
- Sticky Web is also extremely powerful as of the most recent slate. In addition to Dolorak's Prankster Sticky Web, teams now have
variant Orbeetle (a Bug/Electric-type that keeps Sticky Web from its base form but also gains Cotton Down) to provide an incredibly consistent form of Speed control with excellent longevity, and there are many frail attackers that appreciate this support, including the deceptively powerful
Kalosian Shiinotic (a slow, frail Poison/Fairy-type with Spore; it abuses Technician Acid Spray, Draining Kiss and Hidden Power and can make incredible progress in a match, but it's difficult to use to the fullest without first securing a Speed advantage) as well as more conventional webs abusers.
- Many field effects are popular in the format, but most of them are not usually the basis of entire teams, especially because most of the conventional weatherspeed Abilities are sparsely distributed here. It's pretty common for a weather setter and two or three abusers to be used as a core, though, and a lot of them can have excellent type diversity since so many field effect setters here aren't the same types as any abusers!
- Probably the most popular field effect in the format,
sun teams are carried by
Kalosian Gigalith (a specially offensive Rock/Electric-type with Drought instead of Sand Stream), a bulky sun setter that can support its team with Stealth Rock but also hit just about anything for serious damage with wide coverage off of its base 135 Special Attack.
In addition to Kalosian Gigalith, sun teams may choose to run vanilla
Leafeon for Chlorophyll, any number of
offensive Fire-types, and Tropius's powerful evolution
Musasoar (a Grass/Flying-type that gains Acrobatics to complete some startlingly hard-hitting SubHarvest + Dragon Dance sets), while indirect abusers like Kalosian Shiinotic and variant Noivern have been observed using the sun to bolster their coverage, and... well! we will get to the last two in a bit--
- The other contender for most popular field effect is
hail, which is defined largely by the
extremely fun pairing of
Skiversnow (a speedier utility branch of the Snover line that often uses Rapid Spin, Leech Seed and U-turn and wide coverage, with the same mixed offenses as base Abomasnow) and the vanilla
Alolan Sandslash, which is impressively dangerous in this format thanks to Slush Rush, also has Rapid Spin access, and comes with Swords Dance and a
very strong offensive movepool.
Usually, one or both of these Ice-types will run Rapid Spin, not only to support their team but also to abuse the Speed boost with Skiversnow's pivoting and Alolan Sandslash's Swords Dance sweep potential.
The rest of their team does not
necessarily need to interact with hail at all, but many good Pokémon in the format have Weather Ball and appreciate the Ice coverage, and the Skiversnow/Sandslash pairing can be used alongside slower pivots like Vaporeon or
Resurrectric (a mixed offensive Ground/Electric-type evolution of Marowak, which has less Attack but can still hold Thick Club and now has pivoting with Volt Switch; that said, its stats were nerfed since the potential VoltTurn core with Skiversnow was brought up, and I am admittedly not sure if it would still work that well with hail now but it seems cool) to form a dynamic balance or offensive core that seems very unlike canon hail or can also fit onto much more aggressive teams, featuring wallbreakers like Eclipseroid and stallbreakers like Shiinotic-Kalos.
One thing to be mindful of: although canon hail is largely defined by
Aurora Veil, Skiversnow does not have the move, so other hail setters like Abomasnow or other screens setters like
Mienshao-Yaoguai (a mixed offensive Fighting/Ghost-type Mienshao variant with less Speed but access to Prankster, letting it run screens support with Taunt and U-turn among other things) may also be considered.
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Sand is
theoretically notable for being the only weather condition that has more than one autosetter, as it can potentially be set with Sand Stream from vanilla
Gigalith but also Sand Spit from Eviolite Sandaconda or
Coilrig (a Ground/Poison-type evolution of Sandaconda that mostly specializes in spreading status with Sludge Bomb, Glare and occasionally Scorching Sands).
However, it isn't nearly as commonly run as other weathers for a variety of reasons, which mostly boil down to a lack of abusers. Unovan Excadrill is not legal; two of the only three Sand Rush users are restricted by Species Clause; Coilrig is usually just run with one of its other Abilities (Shed Skin and Liquid Ooze, both of which have proven consistently relevant in context); the defensive utility of sand's Special Defense boost is not always worth the defensive liability of stacking Rock-types; and Rock is one of the weaker available Weather Ball types, since it isn't directly boosted like Fire but isn't quite as widely useful as coverage as Ice.
...
However, we do have objectively the funniest "sand abuser" of all time,
Arctaran Lycanroc (a Rock/Ice-type variant of Lycanroc also titled Midnight Sun Form, which retains Sand Rush from Midday Form and Tough Claws from Dusk Form but also has the option of Fluffy). One option for Arctaran Lycanroc is to play
about as far from the strengths of its type as possible, with an extremely defensive stat spread that reaches absolutely comical levels of mixed bulk by combining Fluffy, the Special Defense boost from Sand and reliable recovery in Shore Up; at the same time, Sand Rush sets have just enough Speed and Attack to leverage the offensive potential of its type using Swords Dance in tandem with moves like Stone Edge, Triple Axel and Close Combat or Drill Run while still taking special hits like nothing.
It should not work but it tanks the strangest hits
It's kind of not that scary most of the time but it's funny as all heck
- Electric Terrain and Psychic Terrain do not seem especially prevalent as field effect archetypes in singles, as there are no Pokémon whose Abilities directly interact with them other than the Pokémon that appreciate every field effect, and the format's various Unburden users all either prefer other Abilities to Unburden or are designed to abuse Unburden using items other than Seeds.
However, both terrains are set by a field effect setter that does not share their type, meaning it is easy to stack other Electric- or Psychic-types on the same team without creating a defensive liability.
Electric Terrain is set by
Neural Reuniclus (a Fighting-type variant with a physically offensive bias - it keeps Regenerator as an option but also gains Electric Surge). Although it doesn't have STAB on Electric moves, it is unique in that only Electric Surge sets can use its exclusive Axon Rush, a move that boosts its Attack, Defense and Speed
and the same stats of its allies in doubles but only works in Electric Terrain; it also appreciates limited access to Steel Roller as coverage for Fairy-types once it is done setting up, and the high reward of Axon Rush, exclusive coverage, hazard resistance and Drain Punch/Recover access go a long way to make it easy to forego Regenerator on offensive sets, while by no means overshadowing it on defensive ones. Other Electric-types like the aforementioned Resurrectric may see use alongside it, appreciating the boost to Rising Voltage.
Meanwhile, Psychic Terrain is set by
Bafflack (a Water-type evolution of Golduck, although a pending nerf may lower its stats and make it evolve from Psyduck instead - it is defined by the choice between specially offensive Psychic Surge sets and physically offensive Pure Power sets). Bafflack is mostly seen with Pure Power, which boosts strong offensive options in Aqua Jet and Flip Turn, but Psychic Surge exists as an option to circumvent its
comically low Defense by blocking priority. Choosing to run Psychic Surge essentially gives it a pseudo-"secondary STAB" in the form of boosted Expanding Force, and while Flip Turn no longer has the wallbreaking power it does on Pure Power sets, it can be used to share all of Psychic Surge's benefits with the rest of its team at no risk.
One of the more popular Psychic Terrain abusers is
Hocuspocus (a mixed offensive Psychic/Ghost-type evolution of Kadabra, which uses Tough Claws or Super Luck to support its physical movepool but also has such tools as Expanding Force and Will-o-Wisp), which may occasionally run manual Psychic Terrain to get around Sucker Punch and support its own Expanding Force.
- Finally, two of the most unique Pokémon in the format,
Aleon (a very fast Normal-type evolution of Eevee that primarily abuses Normalize but can also run Adaptability or Beast Boost) and
Nown (a Psychic-type evolution of Unown with Protean and exactly four moves: Hidden Power, Weather Ball, Nature Power and Guard Split) deserve a section all of their own, as they are essentially designed to benefit from nearly every field effect.
Aleon is a popular glue in its own right with tools like Wish and STAB Scald and Volt Switch, but it pairs especially well with teams that run field effects, as they are by far the best way for sets that choose Normalize to gain coverage of other types. Although Normalize makes nearly all of its moves into STAB moves with 1.2x power, it can be purposefully bypassed using Weather Ball or Terrain Pulse, so it's common to see Aleon run Normalize sets with one or both of these moves depending on its teammates in order to get the best of both worlds - sun teams can use a Normalize-boosted Normal-type Solar Beam and a sun-boosted Fire-type Weather Ball, Electric Terrain teams can use a Normalize-boosted Normal-type Rising Voltage and a terrain-boosted Electric-type Terrain Pulse, and so on, all while keeping STAB Scald and Volt Switch.
Nown doesn't have Aleon's incredible Speed, but it hits much harder, and it has STAB on all of its type-changing moves thanks to Protean; the result is something bizarrely customizable and adaptable to field effect-centric teams even while having essentially zero set variety. While Aleon is a flexible glue that becomes a dangerous cleaner with field effects, Nown is just an all-out wallbreaker that can punch holes with a variety of types. Its most popular Hidden Power type right now seems to be Ghost, and since it is essentially forced to have Guard Split on its set even if it doesn't care for it, it can take advantage of its high HP stat by using Guard Split to temporarily bolster its own defenses and tear into an opponent's at the same time when it needs the extra help.
Echoed Voice:
- ... wait what
...
yeah it's a thing
This is an archetype that emerged kind of out of nowhere following our Normal-type prompt; there were a lot of new offensive Normal-types at once, and the Normal-type move Echoed Voice becomes stronger each consecutive turn that it's used... regardless of whether the same Pokémon or even the same team is using it! It has become popular to run Echoed Voice on teams that would be choosing to run Normal spam anyway, as its power escalates quickly and can be totally worth the setup in the right situations.
Variant Dewgong (a pure Normal-type that has Recover and the options of Thick Fat and Adaptability) is consistent at getting multiple Echoed Voices off in a row by itself, and Aleon makes a return on these teams, using its high Speed in tandem with Adaptability or Normalize to sweep weakened teams with already-boosted Echoed Voices.
It's not likely that you could build an entire team out of Echoed Voice, of course, but people have chosen to run Echoed Voice on more than one Pokémon on the same team and it has paid off at the funniest times
I love this mod so much
ongoing balance changes:
- As a small heads-up, there were a couple of nerfs I was supposed to poll but didn't finish formally resolving yet, sorry!! but uh,
Bafflack,
Balleringue,
Carnivenom,
variant Slurpuff,
variant Orbeetle and
Unidentified Togekiss are all pending nerfs with varying degrees of certainty.
Unidentified Togekiss is on everyone's watchlist right now, but we haven't completely reached a consensus on the nerf we want, so that might go through a couple of variations in the future while we try things out! and Balleringue is borderline right now, but not nerfing it at all is also still on the table. The others here mostly have specific ideas set in stone, but I am just a bit behind on administrative stuff!
I have definitely not covered everything here, so please go and explore! C: I just wanted to cover what felt like some of the most relevant archetypes and differences in the format to share some of its identity.
Aurorus
Quagsire
Swampert
Silvally
Slowtwins
Luvdisc
MiniMons 
GSC DOUBLES: 
Celebi
Ho-Oh
Lugia
Mew
Mewtwo
JohtoMons 
