So I laddered exclusively with a Zamazenta-Crowned (which I'll be referring to as simply "zama" for most of this) team during my suspect run, and since then I've been building/playtesting several
attempts at building decent support for it (mostly to no avail). With all of the experience I've managed to acquire in this short timeframe, I'm honestly very surprised that there seems to be any doubt as to whether or not zama's utility warrants the absolutely absurd support required in a given team. I've attempted building zama + offense, + balance, and even on exceptionally bulky teams and more often than not I find myself wondering if I shouldn't just run a Cobalion instead. As far as I can see, zama's limited movepool (lacking access to much variety or even at the very least immediate power in something like Swords Dance), inability to use an item/ability, and general lack of long-term sustainability makes it more of a drag to use than anything.
What does it even use?
Zamazenta-Crowned @ Rusted Shield
Ability: Dauntless Shield
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
-
Close Combat
-
Behemoth Bash
-
Rest / Howl
-
Sleep Talk / Substitute / Wild Charge
This is the set I've found the most success with, personally. The principle is that Rest + Sleep Talk tries to minimize the amount of team support zama needs so you don't have to rely on things like wish support (which in a meta where Clefable isn't very good and Wish + Teleport are illegal together on Blissey/Chansey, is difficult to find). There are other sets that see use such as STABs + SubHowl, 3a + Howl,
and even screen setter lead but those don't rank high in my preferences.
An argument for keeping zama banned that I've seen several times now is that it's "anti-offense", which is honestly something I'm at odds with:
This means that Zama is probably the most self-sufficient speed control and anti-offense option in the tier as the only ("fast") setup sweepers it fails to cleanly answer are Volcarona, certain Unburden mons such as Kommo or seed Psychic types, Triage fighting types and perhaps some others that are slipping my mind atm. Additionally, this bulk lets substitute Zama bypass pivot-breaker cycles as a form of counterplay by setting up a sub and Howling up until it is able to meaningfully damage the supposed defensive check that is unable to break its sub in one hit.
Volcarona, unburden Pokemon, and triage mons are basically
all of if not the vast majority of "fast" setup sweepers we have in the tier. I genuinely have no idea which Pokemon zama is explicitly restricting the usage of that would cause problems. Things like Koko, Barraskewda, and Weavile can manuever around it just fine using either pivoting moves, coverage, or repeated pressure to wear zama down (admittedly, rest and/or wish makes this difficult) so it's not as if those are just autoloss matchups.
It does insanely well against offense, and while it isn't absurdly broken in a game against balance or stall, it can still put in a ton of work. That's where I feel this Pokemon is in the metagame, atm. I think that violates the integrity of the tier. I think that, if a Pokemon always puts in work in matchups while also pretty much winning against a large majority of a playstyle on preview, you have no reason to not run it. I can't speak for the building side of things, so I'm going to trust everyone else who says it's tough to build with and that it needs a lot of support. My experience lies in what happens when you get the right team for it, when you find the right support. And honestly, I feel like this Pokemon in general justifies needing support on a team. I don't think that it's a broken Pokemon, or that it's something you can just slap on a team and get success with. I just think it influences the metagame in an unhealthy and bland way when you can get it to work properly, and I feel like it's a pretty unfun Pokemon. Fun's subjective, of course, but if I don't vote to keep it banned here and if it doesn't stay banned, I don't think I can play this tier because Zamazenta-C isn't really a Pokemon that I feel promotes a dynamic and thoughtful metagame.
I can't think of any offensive builds that struggle to deal with a Zamazenta-Crowned. Screens offense for example just uses it as setup fodder for anything that doesn't mind the combination of CC + Behemoth Bash (Volcarona and Kommo-o are extremely common, relevant examples). I also wouldn't say it wins versus the "large majority of [the] playstyle" considering you seem to be discussing offense abstractly without any actual examples of things zama breaks down too easily. I consider this to be a somewhat dangerous mindset because as things currently stand, there are
plenty of reasons not to use zama, one of which is in fact that it has a hard time actually breaking and oftentimes serves as a means to clean up weakened teams once enough work has been done to wear down its counterplay.
---
I won't rehash discussion/calcs on how strong or weak zama is or isn't, but I do think it's worth at least listing out the Pokemon that I think serve as counterplay. Notably, I won't be listing anything that I don't think serves much of a purpose outside of beating Zamazenta-Crowned (AKA niche picks).
The list:
Counters
(
Desolate Land, Primordial Sea) - nobody runs Ice Fang yet...
(Unaware/
Dauntless Shield) - with Will-O-Wisp and/or Body Press
(
Regenerator - typically scarfed)
(
Regenerator)
(
Desolate Land) - must be carrying Roost
Checks
(
Dauntless Shield - especially if carrying Iron Defense) - rocky helm
(
Dauntless Shield, Intimidate - especially if carrying Body Press) - rocky helm
(
Prankster)
(
Regenerator) - with a scarf
(
Desolate Land, Volt Absorb) - if no Wild Charge
(
Sheer Force, Regenerator) - with Flamethrower
To me, this preliminary list of ways to deal with zama is already more than enough to describe it as healthy--and these are all just things I thought of while writing this post. In practice, there are plenty of other ways to pressure it such as stacking hazards, using faster Pokemon like Tapu Koko and Barraskewda to chip it down, or even just annoying it with things like Scald + Moonblast Tapu Fini and the like. There's plenty of worthwhile offensive and defensive counterplay available with which one can build teams capable of dealing with Zamazenta-Crowned, so I can't really stand with the assessment that it's somehow too powerful to stop.
Since the remaining amount of time until the suspect test is over is arguably still plenty for some big discoveries to be made, I won't say that I will
absolutely be voting a certain way, but as of right now
I'm very strongly in favor of voting to unban. I encourage everyone to experiment on their own in the teambuilder and in as many test games as you can get :]