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So I've mainly been using bug so far this gen (shocking I know) but I have been having heaps of fun with Copperajah.
Copperajah-Gmax @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Superpower
- Zen Headbutt
This is the set I've mainly been using, paired alongside a Bronzong for trick room, but its coverage is so good that you could have the option of power whip, play rough and earthquake if you feel like it. With sheer force and base 130 attack this mon really strong and, under trick room, can be difficult to stop. It also has the option of using heavy metal as its ability, which basically makes it the heaviest mon in the game and allows you to abuse max power heavy slams and heat crashes against most pokemon. It should be noted though that weight based moves do not work against dynamax pokemon as they have 0 weight (this includes shit like grass knot and low kick too), this isn't an issue though if you have dynamaxed because it changes your moves to max moves.
My favourite part about this pokemon though, is its G-max move Steelsurge. This lays what is basically a steel type version of stealth rocks on the opponents side of the field, which does 25% to fairy, rock and ice pokemon, and can hilariously, in combination with stealth rocks and spikes, ohko Alolan Ninetales and Frosmoth.
The team I've been using it on is a semi trick room team, there is probably more optimal ways to do it but it's pretty fun. Sadly the only mons that learn trick room on steel are Bronzor, Bronzong and Klingklang.
Copperajah-Gmax @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Superpower
- Zen Headbutt
Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Heatproof
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Body Press
- Stealth Rock
- Trick Room
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Def / 184 SpD
Impish Nature
- Leech Seed
- Spikes
- Body Press
- Power Whip
Excadrill @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin
Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Mirror Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Brave Bird
- Bulk Up
- Roost
- Power Trip
Most recently I’ve been using a build of ghost that has been very successful. At the moment I would like to highlight a Gengar set that I’ve been using to great success. It utilizes dynamax Gengar’s two stabs to use G-max terror (the trapping g-max move) and Max Ooze to sweep teams. Thunderbolt allows it to easily OHKO pex after setting up, and is great for water types in general. After g-max runs out you can use scarf to surprise destiny bond and get another kill.
After playing a lot this weekend, here are some thoughts I have on the meta right now. I've really been enjoying playing so far.
Without literally 5 of its main Pokemon, this type is pretty helpless. Also, Sleep Clause's quick return (although possibly temporary) removes the niche Butterfree had.
Highlight Pokemon:
- The addition of Dynamax makes Durant an imposing threat, as it can take advantage of Hustle-boosted attacks without fear of missing. Moreover, with Max Knuckle off of Superpower, it can boost its attack to continue wreaking havoc post-Dynamax. Bug's access to Sticky Web benefits it greatly. Also, it's move pool only got better with the addition of First Impression, a great STAB priority move which is even more helpful in this extremely offensive meta.
- My favorite Sticky Web setter for the type right now with it being able to also set up Stealth Rock
- Shedinja paired with Heavy Duty Boots can be really annoying to kill. It can make some Dynamax Pokemon completely useless (not really, since Max Airstream is super common) and be troublesome for rain. However, it not being able to fully take advantage of choice locked mons because of Dynamax + the popularity of Hail/Sand make it risky.
Besides these, I saw someone using a Substitute Araquanid in a room tour which seemed like an interesting way to beat rain, it hits super hard with Dynamax.
Dark is at an interesting place right now in the tier. I would say it is one of the better types as it is able to get the edge on some of the more common types like Ghost, Dragon, and Ice. However, it struggles against two of the most effective teams: Swift Swim Water and Sand Ground. Not having a proper Water resist + tyranitar not being able to safely stop Rain causes the team to be easily overwhelmed. The same goes for Ground, where Excadrill not only gets the Sand set up for it from Tyranitar, but can pop the defensive check Mandibuzz with a Max Rockfall after an SD. Besides this, Fairy coverage not being particularly common or threatening also gives the team some flexibility to not run a Pokemon that takes neutral damage from them.
Highlight Pokemon:
- Grimmsnarl is a bit disappointing compared to the expectations, but it still has some practical use in the meta. On Dark, I personally enjoy running a Light Clay Dual Screens set. Prankster Screens is great in this offensive meta because it allows its teammates to take hits better, and can help them set up and win. Another excellent advantage in this meta is having Prankster Thunder Wave. It's a decent way to control a Dynamaxed Pokemon and cripple the opponent. Taunt is also great because it stops the already scarce defoggers, while preventing hazards and set up moves. There's a Bulk Up RestTalk set I've been meaning to try, but I think I might prefer it on Fairy since Utility Grimmsnarl seems to mesh well with Dark's offensive nature.
- Obstagoon is another Pokemon that disappointed, with it not getting Belly Drum + Extremespeed or even Swords Dance. However, it has decent Attack & Speed stats which make it hard to switch into thanks to Guts. It has benefits greatly from being one of the only Pokemon with access to Knock Off. My favorite set right now is Flame Orb Guts with Bulk Up / Knock Off / Facade / Close Combat. When it comes in, it often causes opponents to "pick one" since most types are being nailed by one of the three moves, and very few great defensives answers exist.
- Losing Knock Off and Pursuit has been awful for Weavile, but Dynamax is a good gain. Losing main moves allows it to run Low Kick and get Attack boosts from Max Knuckle.Using Dynamax to no longer be move locked from the Choice item is very helpful.
- Hydreigon gaining Nasty Plot is super dangerous and can be a huge treat for slower team. Thus, it benefits greatly from Thunder Wave spam. It can handle some revenger killers by Dynamaxing or having screens support.
Besides these, Tyranitar & Mandibuzz are some obvious great mons. Both provide great support with Tyranitar being one of the only Stealth Rock users + it has Thunder Wave, and Mandibuzz being amongst the rare Defog users + being an answer to Fighting type attacks. I haven't tried Bisharp yet but I'm sure it's good despite losing Knock Off, because priority is super useful right now.
Despite losing some of its main stars (Latios, Latias, Kyurem-Black, Dragonite and Garchomp), Dragon has been competing at a high level in the metagame. It is aided by the dip in Fairy's viability, most of the types also suffering losses, and it received some good gifts. Ice being really popular is however quite bad for Dragon.
Highlight Pokemon:
- When Dragapult's movepool was leaked, this really cool looking Pokemon suddenly seemed kind of average because it lacked proper physical coverage. However, it has shown to be able to overcome that. It has the flexibility to run a few different sets: Dragon Dance, Choice Band, and Choice Specs. All 3 variants put intense pressure on the opponent, especially when Dynamaxed. You could probably even run DD on a Choice Band set because of the lackluster physical moveset. It would be able to get off a DD and break down the opponent while Dynamaxed, then come in at another point and finish of with Choice Band. This is all theoretical though since I haven't tried out sets besides regular DD. Choice Specs is for taking advantage of its better Special movepool. Its amazing Speed, making it the fastest unboosted relevant pokemon in the meta, allows it to run Adamant/Modest sets. As mentioned in the previous section, priority is a great asset right now, so its access to Sucker Punch is great. It might not be a Dragonite Extremespeed, but its very useful in the meta. Dragon Darts is also a really cool signature move.
- Duralduron is my preferred Stealth Rock setter with Garchomp gone. Its decent Speed tier and good Special Attack paired with a nice move pool gives it an offensice presence. It has great Defense too which allows it to take hits too. However it's Special Defense is awful.
- Clangorous Soul is a crazy good move, since it is not only omniboost but stackable omniboost. The HP loss isnt even that much of a downside because Kommo-o gets Drain Punch. Of course, it's not easy to set up once, let alone several times, but in the right situation it can demolish teams. Dynamax helps it as it will get bulk to aid against faster Pokemon. Furthermore, Max Knuckle can boosts its attack.
- I already went over Hydreigon in Dark and it essentially does the same so need to go over that.
Other than these, I've been trying out Dracozolt as a scarfer because Bolt Beak is super good. Haven't given Flapple / Appletun a shot yet. Haxorus and Flygon are some older Dragon-types who are now getting attention since their competition for slots has disappeared.
Electric has lost most of the great gifts it received in gen 7. Nonetheless, I think it's a pretty decent mid-tier type. With Sticky Webs + one of the fastest Pokemon, Alolan Raichu under Electric Terrain, the type becomes an offensive threat in the metagame. Electric teams can overwhelm the opponent. It should be noted that not having a flying type (bar Rotom-Fan) can pretty much lets Scarf Excadrill solo.
Highlight Pokemon:
- Despite not being relevant in USM Monotype, Vikavolt is super useful in SS. First of all, it gained Sticky Web. Also, it has Levitate as an ability and has good Grass coverage to hit Ground types, something lacking on most Electric types. Sure Galvantula, has Energy Ball too and is faster, but Levitate + the amazing SpA make Vikavolt great.
- Rotom-Wash is a necessary Levitate users, and the safest answer to Sand Rush Excadrill. No Defog or Pain Split sucks for it, but its still a necessary staple for electric teams.
- Toxtricity is a cool Pokemon with some flexibility for its sets. It can competently be a special attacker or a mixed attacker. It has a really strong STAB move with Punk Rock boosted Overdrive. It has a prerty wide movepool. I have seen LO, Choice Specs, and Shift Gear as competent sets. It also functions as a good Dynamaxer because it can boost it's SpA with Max Ooze and set up Electric Terrain.
- Dracozolt can hit crazy hard (assuming you hit). If it goes first, Bolt Beak + Electric Terrain + Hustle + Choice Band does incredible damage.you can totally forego Band and use Scarf instead but I like having the power since we have Webs anyways. With few hazard removers running around, you can be confident they stay up.
- Pincurchin is not Tapu Koko nor is it Toxapex but its some weird hybrid of the two. As mentioned before, hazard removers are low which makes its ability to set up Toxic Spikes and Spikes really alluring. Furthermore, being able to set up Electric Terrain without having to Dynamax is great support.
Besides this, Raichu-Alola is still a great Pokemon and can still run through teams.
Another type that has suffered a huge downfall, losing all its main Pokemon of USUM bar Mimikyu (and Clefable but it lost Softboiled). I think it's still pretty mid-level despite that.
Highlight Pokemon:
- Togekiss is one of the best Dynamax abusers in the game. It is able to Nasty Plot and then boost its Speed with Max Airstream. That paired with Serene Grace increasing its flinches makes it difficult to revenge kill. Even Steel types struggle because it can Max Flare them.
- With weather abusers like Excadrill and Swift Swim users being popular, Trace Choice Scarf Gardevoir is a great revenge killer.
- Magic Bounce is a great ability. Hatterene is also able to take outthe annoying Ferrothorn, even being able to switch into it. It has good coverage + amazing Special Attack so there's no going wrong. Very useful for the steel matchup where nothing bar heatproof Bronzong comes in on Mystical Fire. It's poor Speed can hold it back though.
- I discussed it on Dark, but on Fairy I prefer using an offensive Bulk Up set. I use mono stab. As mentioned many times, Sucker Punch is a good move to have and Grimmsnarl makes good use of it. I am thinking of trying the RestTalk set I mentioned before on Fairy teams.
Besides this, Mimikyu is good as always and Disguise helps against Dynamax. Webs teams with Ribombee are pretty good from what I've seen and tested. Rapidash-Galar is an ok Swords Dance user with good Speed and dual stab moves but isn't particularly impressive.
Really haven't used this much but this type is very eh. One of the worst types of the gen, if not the worst.
Highlight Pokemon:
- Hawlucha is a great Dynamax abuser. Unburden + Swords Dance + STAB Max moves that increase its Attack and Speed stats + more bulk make it hard to compete with. It's biggest set back is that it had medicore team support.
Kommo-o is cool but it has to serve as the Stealth Rock setter and Lucario is nice because of Extremespeed. I've seen Toxicroak put in some work too. Overall, this type is gonna be mediocre until the Swords of Justice return.
Not really much to say about this type, I haven't tried it much but from what I have it's bad.
Highlight Pokemon:
- Charizard can take advantage of Dynamax with Solar Power boosted Max Flare's which can set its own Sun, and boosting its speed with Max Airstream off of the newly acquired Hurricane. Heavy Duty Boots is an amazing item for it.
Torkoal does its usual job and Rotom-Heat can set up screens. The rest of the team is not particularly impressive. Looking forward to Libero Cinderace which might make the type more fun.
With no Electric Immunities, Flying is forced to run Hyper Offense. The type is actually not as awful as predicted, but still not that impressive. Dynamax is its saving grace. Without Dynamax, it might lose its niche. Heavy Duty boots is a cool iteam to have though. Also, having the best max move as STAB is great.
Highlight Pokemon:
- Never thought I'd be naming Xatu as a top Pokemon for Flying but here we are. Magic Bounce + Dual Screens is great support for the setup sweeper heavy HO Flying. Its good Speed helps it get screens up. It can also cripple things with Thunder Wave and U-turn for pivoting.
- Swoobat's stat increases do twice as much as they normally do which is particularly daunting do to its movepool. It now gets Nasty Plot and it can boosts its speed with Max Airstream. It also has STAB Stored Power which will be super strong after all these boosts.
- Gyarados is one of the Pokemon that really makes Dynamax look like a broken mechanic. After one Dragon Dance, it can already become an unbearable threat by spamming Max Airstream to boost its Speed while getting Moxie Attack boosts from knocking out opponents. It can also set rain with Max Geyser, further increasing the power of its STAB Max Geyser/Waterfall.
- Charizard, Hawlucha and Togekiss are other great abusers which I've already discussed in their respective types.
Besides these, you don't really want to use any of the more Defensive flying types. As for offensive options, Butterfree was fun before Sleep Clause returned. There's other offensive options that can be used to cteam certain types.
Ghost is one of the typed thst seems to have benefitted from SS. At the moment, its probably one of the best types due to its many good offensive options and possessing good utility.
Highlight Pokemon:
- What better to mark Ghost's success than the actual Sword & Shield Pokemon. It moght not be able to run Toxic sets anymore, but its a strong threat. I've mostly been running King's Shield + 3 attacks (Iron Head, CC, Shadow Sneak) with Leftovers. There's plenty of variants to try though, including the Weakness Policy Automotize set. It has been banned in the last 2 gens, so it is expected to go again. Personally, I don't see it as much of a threat right now. It really hasn't appeared to be broken, but perhaps Dynamax is the cause of that. It will be interesting to see how it performs with that gone. Right now, I still think it wouldn't be too crazy but there is no telling what would happen.
- Losing Levitate in gen 7 was horrible for Gengar. However, Dynamax and Nasty Plot really benefit it. With Dynamax, it can boost its Special Attack with Max Ooze. I've been using Choice Scarf with Shadow Ball / Sludge Wave / Focus Blast / Dazzling Gleam. However, you could probably forego a coverage move for Nasty Plot. In a situation with no good fast/priority revenge killer or nothing taking advantage of it being locked into Nasty Plot, it can set up and then wreck havoc with dynamax.
- Poltergeist can really be threatening with Shell Smash. A small slip up from the opponent can allow it to get a smash and just tear a team apart. However, it has trouble finding opportunities to smash in this offensive metagame and has very poor coverage.
- I already talked about Dragapult in the Dragon section.
Some defensive Pokemon might be noteworthy but I haven't really tested them so can't speak on them. Shedinja and Jellicent in particular, they could probably form a nice core with Runerigus. Cursola is also a nice utility mon. Froslass is solid for Hyper Offense. Of course, Mimikyu still does its job and can help against Dynamax Pokemon.
Another type that I haven't really tested much. I just don't see it being too significant in the meta. A lot of its best assets like Venusaur have yet to arrive. Of course, I haven't experimented with it beyond building 1 team so maybe I'm missing some hidden gems. At the moment, I just can't see it act as an anti-meta force like in USUM. It practically gets solo'd by Gyarados so even beating water is shaky. The loss of Mega-Venusaur and Breloom might be too much.
There's not too much to say about Ground. That is not because it's bad but simply because it hasn't changed much since ORAS. The general idea of the team is the same, it just lacks Garchomp, Landorus/Landorus-Therian and maybe Nidoking. We also can't run the Mega Steelix teams that gained popularity later in USUM.
Highlight Pokemon:
- Not only does it get a metagame where clicking EQ seems to be easy, but it benefits insanely from Dynamax. It is able to set up Swords Dance and then Dynamax to break things with powerful attacks. The bulk helps it keep up the rampage and its STAB max moves increases its defenses making it even harder to revenge kill. It can also Max Rockfall to set its sand up again.
- Seismitoad is a good answer to the popular rain teams.Max Defense is a rising set since most Swift Swimmers struggle to take it out. Another rain answer that I've been trying is a Swift Swim Specs variant (team also running Gastrodon so that there's a water absorber). It's a fun way to reverse sweep, just need to be mindful of Barraskewda (I haven't done any calcs for it). It can Dynamax and break things with Max Overgrowth, Max Ooze for Ludicolo or Max Quake for Toxapex. Besides the water matchup, it's a nice special attacker for this type that lacks a real one.
Besides these, the usual Hippowdon, Mamoswine, Gastrodon, Dugrio are good options. I'm sure something can be done with Diggersby and Flygon too, though I haven't tested them.
Ice is definitely a lot more popular than before, and possibly better but its very overhyped. It's definitely a good type to use but I'm unsure on it being amongst the top.
Highlight Pokemon:
- Having a built in Choice Band is great for Darmanitan-Galar. This makes running Choice Scarf much easier. If I remember correctly, Gorilla Tactics keeps it locked in even for Max Moves which controls it a bit. It can even use the Zen Mode form because Dynamax helps it fall into that zone without fearing being knocked out.
- I haven't seen too many people use Cloyster, but I think it's super good. Aurora Veil allows it to Shell Smash easily and then it can run wild with Dynamax. All 3 of its move can set weather allows it to break apart opposing weather teams (spamming Max Rockfall & Max Hailstorm vs Rain, Max Geyser & Max Hailstorm vs Sand)
- I already discussed what Weavile can do under Dark
Besides these, Ninetales-Alola is great for setting up Hail and Aurora veil, making setting up much easier. Mr.Rime with Heavy Duty Boots or Mr.Mime-Galar seem like a decent Rapid Spinners if you don't want to use Avalugg. The latter seems like a solid Exadrill counter with Body Press, but I haven't tested it. Mamoswine is always good. Froslass can be interesting for hazard stack. I'm looking forward to what the type becomes when the fossils get Slush Rush.
Yes, Normal is far from what it used to be. However, it is a lot less hopeless than predicted. It is not a great type, but it's not entirely bottom of the barrel either.
Highlight Pokemon:
- Ditto is definitely not overrated. In this offensive metagame, its role as a revenge killer is particularly prominent. It can really punish the opponent for setting up. Also, it can use that set up form and Dynamax to wreck havoc of its own. It is important to remember that Dynamaxing will remove its scarf. Thus, the player needs to be mindful of possible answers to that. Also, the opponent can Dynamax to live Ditto's hit so that needs to be taken in consideration.
- Indeedee can run Specs which allows it to break holes in types like Water and Steel. This is the real Meloetta lite, but with a more useful ability in Psychic Surge.
- Braviary can be quite threatening with Dynamax. Max Airstream boosts its Speed while Max Knuckle boosts its Attack (it gained Close Combat this gen which is nice). It also Bulk Up as other forms of set up and good abilities to take advantage of.
- I personally haven't used Snorlax yet, but have heard that the Curse set is really solid. Definitely something to look into. I can see it being better with less Knock off and phazing.
- I already talked about Obstagoon.
Besides these, Diggersby is still ok tho not great, Heliolisk has some decent offensive presence.
Here's another type I haven't bothered with much. There's nothing really inspiring about it for me. I've already covered Gengar and Toxtricity so no need to go over them. Toxapex is Toxapex. With no Flying type, Choice Scarf Mold Breaker Excadrill is running through the type.
The loss of all its legendary/mythical Pokemon, besides Mew, has definitely hurt Psychic, but luckily the other types also took huge hits. I would still clasify Psychic as a top type.
Highlight Pokemon:
- Reuniclus has always been a threat but now it gains Stored Power which means it can really take advantage of all its set up.
- A good Levitate Pokemon to handle Excadrill in Sand, take some hits and set up Stealth Rocks. it could maybe even be useful for a Trick Room team.
- I still need to use Mew more, but it has a lot of flexibility. It can be a utility mon, a hazard setter or even an offensive dynamaxer (special and physical, personally enjoy physical with DD and Max Knuckle, not really amazing but it's fun). It losing Roost/Softboiled makes utility sets worse tho.
- I already covered Gardevoir, Hatterene and Indeedee.
The fun thing about Psychic is that it can run multiple different offensice styles. It could have Screens on which Swoobat could be dangerous, or Sticky Web with Orbeetle. The type is going to just get better once it gains Jirachi, Celebi and Necrozma.
This type is just bad. With no Water immunity or good Ground one, it gets demolished by the two of the best teams in the metagame. Sticky Web can't even save it from Swift Swim / Sand Rush. You could probably cheese a win with Webs vs some types ig.
Losing Heatran is definitely a huge blow, but Steel still manages to remain usable. I think it's a pretty solid mid/high-mid tier type.
Highlight Pokemon:
- Corviknight is a nice bulky Pokemon and Ground immunity. It might not have the utility of Skarmory or Celesteela, but it still serves its purpose well. It has U-turn which is nice for pivoting, can Defog to remove hazards, and Roost to heal up. I've seen some Bulk Up sets that seem interesting, but haven't personally tried it.
- I've already covered Aegislash on Ghost, but I wanna note that another reason it's not as dangerous is that Steel no longer has the immunity core.
- Mold Breaker Scarf Excadrill pretty much solo's a few types and can be dangerous with Dynamax. Since Rapid Spin increases Speed, in the right situation, it could Spin and then Dynamax so that it still has the Scarf speed.
Besides these, Ferrothorn is a great bulky Pokemon that is a bit harder to kill now for some types. Duralduron does a good job as a Special attacker and Lucario is solid. Bronzong is the type's main option to take Fire type attacks.
Water is one of the best types in the metagame, being able to compete in basically every matchup. It's greatest flaw is that it has no real hazard removal besides like Cramorant (lol) or Cloyster. Also, Stall water seems to have been nerfed greatly because it lost a bunch of utility moves.
Highlight Pokemon:
- Toxapex continues as an amazing bulky Pokemon. In fact, it's probably even more annoying to kill except for some setup Dynamax Pokemon.
- It's ability to set up Rain is really useful, and it can slow pivot into a sweeper. Losing Defog is really bad though.
- Electric Immunity,Stealth Rock Setter and Swift Swim Sweeper
- Barraskewda has a great Attack stat paired with a diverse move pool. While Swift Swim, it has an incredible Speed stat that allows it to still function outside of Rain. It can be a good Dynamaxer as it gains boosts from Max Knuckle and set its own rain with Max Geyser without worrying about being too slow.
- The best SD Swift Swim user, and it's Gigantamax form can set up Stealth Rock while attacking. It's big downfall is that its other stab Max Move sets Sand which is counterproductive.
- Can cripple the opponent with Thunder Wave / WoW and pivot with Volt Switch. It can also be more offensive with Choice Scarf.
- Already explained how good it is with Dynamax. Gyarados is just incredible right now.
Araquanid is an option for Sticky Web teams. Cloyster can be a dangerous threat that counters opposing Rain. Ludicolo is another option for Rain teams. I've tried Crawdaunt and Arctovish on Web teams and they are pretty decent. I haven't tried any bulky teams but I'm sure Quagsire, Lanturn (no Heal Bell though so eh), Jellicent can be competent. Water is gonna get even better once Keldeo returns.
I've played devils advocate for Dynamax these last few days, even though I mostly exaggerated just to mess with people. I personally think people are being too hasty with demanding its immediate removal before even trying to play around it. It would suck to get rid of the main mechanic without giving it a proper evaluation. From my personal experiences, Dynamax hasn't been much of a factor in the decision of most games. I think there areways to deal with it in many situations. However, I do agree that some of the options of checking it aren't always the healthiest for the metagame. Dynamaxing is definitely a dangerous strategy that can be problematic. I could lean towards a ban, but I personally think it still needs to be examined further and alternative options need to considered. A proposed one was to remove the Pokemon that are the most dangerous with Dynamax, and then to see if it still causes problems. While that could work, it might become problematic, messy, and overcomplicated. In the end, if it comes down to removing several abusers or removing the mechanic itself, I would favour banning Dynamax. If it would be banned only a few days after the gen begun and without a public discussion I probably wouldnt mind much. I'd just be a bit disappointed that it wasn't fully dissected. Although I do want it to be treated carefully, I also think the issue needs to be addressed promptly. The Dynamax situation should not be drag on for too long because almost no other tier decisions can really confidently be made when we don't know its situation. A metagame without Dynamax would be remarkably different from one without.
TL;DR: I can support an eventual Dynamax ban, I just want it to be done carefully. I also want to see some structured arguments to really solidify the reasoning behind the removal of an integral part of gen 8. Yes, I know Gyarados and others are dominant, but I'd like to see evidence that Dynamax itself is intrinsically unhealthy. Again, I'm not saying I completely think Dynamax is healthy. I'm just not yet entirely convinced since I personally haven't really seen it be totally ridiculous in my games so far with rare exceptions mostly due to matchup. Nonetheless, I hope the issue is being tackled promptly since we shouldn't be stuck in a period of uncertainty for too long. Banning Dynamax creates a whole new metagame, and starting fresh after a couple months would be messy.
I apologize if stuff are hard to understand / read, or if there's a lot of typos. I wrote the bulk of it standing in public transport yesterday & today. Just tried getting out all of my thoughts, my motivation dropping is super obvious in the later types. Now that the ladder is up, hope a lot of good players are using it so that we can get a better idea of what the tier is looking like. Let's stay active playing on ladder, room tours, friendly bo3s, ... to quickly establish the tier! And let's get some more discussion going, sharing ideas is very important in this phase of a generation. I am especially interested to see our tier leaders and the rest of the council give us their thoughts on the tier right now and on Dynamax.
I would like to share my experience so far I've had playtesting Grass since Gen 8's introduction. I feel like the type hasn't gotten that much better w/ all the flying / fire / ice coverage going on but the type has got plenty of interesting options going for it which are going to be explained throughout the post.
First things first, I'll be making a brief overview: Grass teams right now feel more offensive. More especifically, I found sun-based teams more reliable in terms of matchups since a lot of Pokemon have access to Chlorophyll and Growth, both of which pair greatly with the new Dynamax feature. The balance format we all knew and loved is flawed in the sense that defensive Pokemon (Ferrothorn, Gourgeist, and the new addition in Appletun) lack momentum and utility to dish out damage and spread status. Momentum makes a lot of difference because it is all about getting the dynamax within the right conditions (screens and hazards up, setup moves vs passive Pokemon, etc.) and you can pretty much call it a game. Particularly I noticed in those games that a lot of people were outrightting dynamaxing vs Ferrothorn to prevent hazards, and you often have to sack 1-2 Pokemon given how prevalent are Fighting/Ice/Fire coverage this gen. Offense teams can make the most of every turn w/ screens and Dynamax powering up coverage moves facilitates sweeping on matchups like Ghost, Water, Psychic, Steel, and others that I'll try to detail it better below. Of course you can still use balance but I really think the way the meta is onesided w/ dynamax and powerful coverage moves going on it is pretty difficult to maintain the flow of the game w/ the momentum drains and such.
New Grass Drakes: Appletun and Flapple
That being said, I'll be addressing Appletun as the first Pokemon in this description. The opinion I share right now is a lot different than most of the community probably thinks which's why I'll try to detail as much as I can on why it turns out to be a disappointment for this metagame. It has a Fire resist with Thick Fat and Grass/Dragon typing, but ends up being pretty mediocre with its 80 base offense stats. Ice, Fairy and Dragon are all common types/coverage in the current state of meta (ofc it is too early to determine what's on top right now but I have seen a lot of them lately) meaning it is really hard to make use of the setup moves that it gets. Reliable recovery is nice but Grass/Dragon typing isn't all that wondrous and gets hindered by the types I have mentioned as well as Poison and Flying which a lot of Pokemon abuse to boost their special attack and speed via Dynamax, respectively. It is almost always forced out / KOed within 3 turns or less and movepool utility is shallow to make use of its defensive traits (it doesn't even get Toxic lol). Body Press + Iron Defense + Amnesia along w/ Recover might be the best set going out for it since Fighting coverage is decent, it boosts Defense by two stages and every boost going for it directly increases its damage output as well and even then it is shallowed by Appletun's mediocre base speed and lack of STAB. Finally, Draco Meteor and Apple Acid might look like interesting options but 80/100 offenses are pretty mediocre and are walled by important defensive Pokemon, incluiding but not limited to: Corviknight, Toxapex, Weezing-Galar, Aegislash, Togekiss and the list goes on. It's also one less mon who can abuse dynamax in the team which's another reason not to use it so I expect this pokemon to be somewhere around C rank at best unless Dynamax feature gets banned. tldr: it can perform several roles w/ its setup moves thick fat typing and stats but it performs below-average in every role. can't really recommend using that Pokemon.
On the other hand, I see very few people considering appletun's sibling Flapple, which ended up doing better because of its better offensive stats and access to Hustle. It also gets U-turn which's pretty reasonable to use as a pivot and it speed ties with Galarian Darmanitan being basically the biggest threat to Grass teams right now. I slip a Choice Scarf on it as a means of speed control and to make sure I can speed tie w/ scarf darmanitan variants. Grav Apple is a decent STAB that has 100% chance to lower defense which's great to force Pokemon like toxapex out and pairs well w/ hazards in general. Finally it also gets ddance but its physical movepool isn't good which makes sweeping very unlikely. People might be guessing Hustle isn't very good bc of accuracy drops and such but also worth mentioning you get the boost w/ Dynamax active and Dmax moves can't really miss so that's an interesting point to make. Haven't tested out Ripen yet so this might be another interesting option (on FLAPPLE, don't ever use it in appletun it basically looks terrible giving up thick fat for that lol)
Sun Abusers:
Now on the old existing Pokemon. I've been really enjoying Shiftry this time around, mainly because of its access to Heat Wave, Nasty Plot and Chlorophyll. Dmax Fire immediately summons sun and allows it to beat Steel Pokemon much more easily than the team would be able to without it. It is not really that great against Ice as some people have suggested simply because of how common Ice Shard is and how Ice teams can preserve Dmax to deal w/ Shiftry in that matchup. It's also difficult to keep the sun up w/ the perma weather users (especifically Alola-ninetales) and Aurora Veil basically makes it impossible to run through the opposing team. However it manages to be a great force vs Ghost as almost every mon lacks a good priority move (shadow sneak at best which's resisted by shiftry), it outspeeds every pokemon under sun incluiding stuff like Scarf Gengar, Dragapult and +2 Polteageaist making it very easy for Shiftry to sweep w/ sun and dmax active mid-late game. I also find Shiftry to be great on the Steel matchup due to the lack of Fire immunity and sun powering up Heat Wave / Fire Dmax basically guarantees KOs on a lot of things. Still on the Chlorophyll trend, Vileplume and Leafeon are two cool Pokemon which can also abuse Sun and Dynamax together. The former has access to Growth, Sleep Powder and DMax Poison (Ooze) boosting special attack to further levels while Sun is active. The latter has access to the new STAB Solar Blade which's basically a physical solarbeam and increases damage cap for dynamax being pretty cool in that aspect. Another cool thing about Leafeon is access to Double Kick and Aerial Ace which can be used as auxiliary setup moves while Dynamax is active. The goal is having 2 or 3 of them on your team and selectively using the Dynamax according to the matchup to guarantee the sweep based on your opponent's weakness.
Hazard Setter:
Ferrothorn is still your must-have hazard setter, especially now that Cradily's gone and Celebi is out of play for the time being. It has to fit Stealth Rock and Spikes meaning less room for defensive options (unless you have roserade to fit those Spikes in). I still like Protect because it helps stalling out opponent's dynamax and a lot of people don't hesitate activating their DMax to prevent hazards from this Pokemon. Alternatively over Spikes or Protect other utility options can be considered for this fast paced meta: Thunder Wave works wonders as a way of crippling offensive Pokemon and switchin, Knock Off has the utility of removing items which's great for both speed control and reducing opponent's power/longevity. Those two latter options have had more increase in usage because they are more effective vs pokemon who are dmaxxed and the offensive options that showed up. Finally it is important to note that Occa/Chople berries have had their places on this Pokemon as well more often than not, especially to guarantee hazards vs Fighting and Fire coverage that run rampant on this meta (stuff like Indeedee / Braviary / Hatterane outrightting dmaxxing + spamming coverage is ridiculous).
Screens/Supporters
The rising usage of dual screeners is another thing that has caught up my attention in this metagame. This has to do w/ the decrease spread in Defog users and Rapid Spin buffs making the latter a more preferred choice overall. Also dual screens work amazingly w/ Dmax further increasing their setup opportunities and mitigating damage allowing them to make the most out of their turns. Whimsicott only gets Light Screen, but access to Encore, Sunny Day and Memento are all really helpful to support its Chlorophyll teammates and prevent/enabling sweep. Alternatively, Abomasnow now gets access to Aurora Veil, which drains less overall momentum (since it spends only 1 turn to prevent both physical and special damage, instead of 2). However Abomasnow poor typing and worse bulk makes it a hesitant option to be utilized in higher competitive scenarios, particularly because it can be difficult to find opportunities to summon Aurora Veil without getting KOed beforehand. Finally, Rotom-Mow is the classic support Pokemon with access to both Reflect and Light Screen, and in the top of that, it also gets decent support options like Will-o-WIsp and Thunder Wave which are perfectly suitable for this metagame. Volt Switch also comes in handy vs faster threats making slow-turning possible and allowing teammates to come in safely.
Overall that's what I have tested so far, too early to decide the current state of the meta especially because we don't know what direction we'll follow with Dynamax and it's been less of a week of playtesting. Might discover more in the upcoming days and it's been pretty fun to acquire knowledge on new builds and I'll be open to accept set/strategy suggestions from everyone.
tldr:
-Offensive meta: More sun abusers, less walls/defensive sets
-Flapple > Appletun
-supporters/dual screens fitting more grass slots
-shiftry leafeon vileplume are great dmax abusers
-weak berries appearing more often on teambuilding
Hey I just wanted to bring up something I’ve observed in the metagame so far these past few days based on my own playing, watching other battles, and looking at the discussion in this thread. Obviously not garuanteed to be true for the entire generation or at all, but it’s noticeably offense heavy compared to what it was like in SM. I believe this is because of Dynamax making it ridiculously easy to set up and sweep using offensive Pokemon as well as the dex cut cutting down on defensive options, forcing types like Flying to run more offensive builds and balanced types in SM like Normal and Poison to fall out of favor. It should be noted that the many Water teams I’ve observed have mostly been rain focused, with Barraskewda and it’s pals under rain keeping up the offensive pressure with Dynamax. On Dynamax itself, it seems crazy as it is right now, making setup sweepers incredibly hard to check, offense really easy to pull off, and really good for choice items users. 3 turns of powerful attacks, 2x HP, as well as the inability to be phased and whatnot is a godsend for a lot of offensive Pokemon, namely setup sweepers like Excadrill and Dragapult for them to easily overpower the opposition. It’s a really strong mechanic that centralizes the metagame as it is, but like Kev said I agree that it should be handled carefully in terms of tiering. Love the discussion in this thread!
Well Looking at my previous post about fairy I disagree with a lot of what I posted, so I'm gonna do an updated review of fairy after spamming it on ladder and having all 3 of the top alts , the ladders peak is extremely low rn I'm ,just using it to show that it can win it's MU's vs the types being used on ladder.
I'm just gonna comment on the 6/7 pokemon I'm using as I found this team by far the most successful. The other ones are fine to use I just think these are the strongest for rn,
Grimmsnarl-Anyone using this for screens is trolling. slap a Life orb, Dread Plate, Idc what but give it something that helps it's damage because this thing is a hard hitting monster. I would call this thing probably the best Pokemon Fairy has. Between it's gigantimax actually being good, prankster sub stalling out dynamax Pokemon, Sucker punch beating set up mons, etc. This thing is so crucial to fairy being good.
Hatterene-I'm so sorry for what I said before. this thing is an absolute monster. TR 3 attacks is so strong vs a lot of types. I opted for Psychic mystic fire and giga drain on mine. I usually lead this vs water and just set up the TR. It almost always claims a few kills and sometimes can keep itself health with giga drain. Psy terrain stab psychic is so strong and just obliterates mons that aren't tanky. Magic bounce stay broken. Love this mon I wont be cutting it anytime soon.
Ribombee-Web setting is really all ribombee is that good for. decent coverage idk Webs is really good rn
Mimikyu- still great. disguise with LO let's u SD and sneak shit or just attack while behind a safety shield etc. this+sucker punch from grimmsnarl is how I deal with a lot of dynamax mons after they set up and dynamax ends. I'm also running jolly so I don't lose mimikyu speed ties+ it outspeeds Indeedee
Togekiss- dear god Togekiss is so good. I would say every game the mons you dynamax are either grimmsnarl hatterene or togekiss. air slash flinch spam with nasty plot and having access to flamethrower+ max airstream let's u be a fast flinch spamming monster. It's definitely one of the better dynamax abusers in this metagame. Also I run babiri since babiri flamethrower can beat the likes of ferro, exca, and aegislash.
Gardevoir-Trace is indeed good for fairy. I was using scarf but it doesn't hit hard enough. specs garde is the wave. It makes it harder to deal with some threats but I've managed. with coverage like eball+tbolt and then dual stabs this thing just rips thru some cores and I'm really glad It does.
Whimsicott-Sub Seeding all the dynamax mons is so good, prankster encore is so broken rn, Overall I think prankster sub is a very powerful thing this gen and this team can run 2 and both are good. I think this slot is interchangeable with ribombee tho
I'm gonna paste the team because I have been sharing it a bit and I dont want these rats to take credit for my team ;w;
Gardevoir @ Choice Specs
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Mystical Fire
- Energy Ball
Have fun with it!
All things considered I put fairy in top 5 types and probably top 3 if I'm being honest. ground water fairy are my top 3 types for early SS Monotype . I think Super HO is for sure the wave I don't know if I've had a game go over like 20/30 turns. I look forward to how the meta progresses and get's tiered =D
I am not an expert in pokemon but I know decently the monotype format reaching t500 multiple times the last generation and with this team I am doing decently well so far :
Dragapult (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Phantom Force
- Dragon Darts
- Psychic Fangs
Corsola-Galar (M) @ Eviolite
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Destiny Bond
- Strength Sap
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hex
Aegislash (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- King's Shield
- Shadow Claw
- Shadow Sneak
- Iron Head
Im ecstatic as anybody that Ghost is actually viable this generation. After deciphering the Ghost type to its fullest pre release and during this past weekend, Ive been breaking down any and all potential teams and sets. This is a team in which i believe is the BEST current Hyper Offensive Ghost team vs the overall meta or cannot get much better than this. I've received positive feedback from many and had multiple requests for the import and such.
Suicide lead Lass, with the ability to outspeed and prevent lead hazards from the opponent with Taunt (besides Ribombee). Spikes is self explanatory Ice Beam can be switched with Icy Wind for utlity. Last slot is completely personal preference. Although no Stealth Rocks on this team, the Ice,Fire,Bug and Flying matchups are favourable regardless. Cursed Body can allow u to even get free setup as they knock you out. EV spread can also be max SpA over max HP. Runerigus can be your choice of hazards however the lack of speed prevents allows it to be susceptible to Taunt and it does not get access to Taunt, however Stealth Rock, Toxic Spikes, and Memento are cool options nonetheless. Cursola also gets Stealth Rock + Dual Screens so there is something to think about.
Dragapult is utilized as a Screens setter here as its Dragon Dance set is straight trash with limited coverage. Specs and Band are ofc options but we will get into that later. Once again Cursed Body is the ability of choice to potentially get free setup as I feel Infiltrator is not needed for this screen setting mon and we would much rather break the sub than attack through it. There are once again so many options to run in the last slot such as Disable, Grudge, Dragon Darts, Draco Meteor, Will-O-Wisp, Thunder Wave etc. If only this mon got Taunt smh.
Aegislash @ Air Balloon
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Autotomize
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Shadow Claw
Double Dance Aegislash is used as the main setup sweeper, and Surprises many as most seem to predict King Shield bulky variants. This mon straight up bodies certain types. With screens support and base 140 defenses, it can setup both stats and potentially even go for game with multiple Swords Dance'. With Air Balloon it can setup on EQ users as they cant touch you, but if you can utilize a better item be my guest (tried Spooky Plate). Giving this mon Close Combat with the option Max Knuckle gives this mon a free +1 everytime its used off of 140 base attack and the snowball occurs.
Literally a standard Mimikyu set, helps with dark matchups even tho those are tough to begin with, alongside the mirror matchup. May want to run Jolly over Adamant for other Mimikyu and other threats above 291. Emergency check to other Dynamax mons.
Polteageist @ Focus Sash / White Herb
Ability: Weak Armor
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shell Smash
- Shadow Ball
- Stored Power
- Giga Drain
Onto my favourite mon of the team. The teapot is hella dangerous behind screens which allows it plenty of setup opportunities. High SpA and decent workable speed at 70 like cloyster makes it a viable pick. Weak armor is an amazing ability but if you wanna continue the cheese you can use Cursed Body again LOL. Stored Power at 140 BP just straight up drops neutral targets at +2. Being able to of course break through Toxapex at +2 is godly and Giga Drain helps with Ground and the other Water mons. The fact that Max Mindstorm triggers Psychic terrain then allowing you to be immune to priority is heaven-sent and can allow u to finish the sweep.
Onto the most fun set in my opinion, Blunder Policy Gengar. Gengar can force out Pokemon with its raw power, and with Blunder Policy you can potentially gain a +2 speed raise if you happen to miss Hypnosis on the switch or upon a non threatening mon they wish to use as fodder, and setup a Nasty Plot on them as they switch or remain asleep. Dual Stab is really all you need here as Fighting and Fairy moves are used on Aegislash and MImikyu for Dark types. If you gigantmax Gengar it can use Max Ooze which raises your SpA further allowing you to sweep with the +2 speed or natural base speed. G-Max Terror traps opposing Pokemon and it also very powerful.
Below are replays ive actually remembered to save or asked some homies to use the team, thanks bros.
At first when I saw Dragapult and its amazing Attack and Speed stats and the fact that it got Dragon Dance, i started building with it even before the game came out. However without access to ANY and I mean ANY good physical coverage moves Dragon Dance is down the drain, and to top it off the best Ghost-type STAB it gets is Phantom Force which is 2-turn. Choice Band sets can work as it gets U-turn and can maybe utilize psychic fangs, and what wants to switch into a Choice Band Outrage which could potentially be ran Adamant at a still high 383 speed. This replay could show off its ability to hit extremely hard. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8oubeta-1010503629-8tjfjy6fhfxmgezlurtw5kmf2ck454apw
Choice Specs is also a great set as its special coverage is amazing despite only reaching 100 base SpA. Options like Draco Meteor, Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt, Hydro Pump, are hard to switch into. Another option could of course be a Life Orb / Expert Belt attacker to grant the option of switching moves.
Dragapult @ Choice Band
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Outrage
- U-turn
- Phantom Force
- Dragon Darts
Secondly, The menacing Aegislash and its multitude of options. From Defensive, to Swords Dance, to Substitute, Special, mixed and Double Dance variants this mon is often Ghosts biggest threat. Despite the -10 Stat Decrease in each of its main stats in gen 8, they decided to give this Pokemon the ability to run Close Combat over Sacred Sword is something to say the least. It sports a wide variety of move options such as Swords Dance, Autotomize, King Shield, Substitute, Close Combat, Shadow Claw, Shadow Sneak, Gyro Ball, Shadow Ball, Flash Cannon, and even Head Smash. Aegislash however lost Toxic. Imma cut to the chase and just drop various sets.
Aegislash @ Air Balloon
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Autotomize
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Shadow Claw
Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Sneak
- Iron Head
- Close Combat
Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant / Brave Nature
- King's Shield
- Shadow Sneak
- Close Combat
- Iron Head / Gyro Ball
Going off a bit, now since Heatran is gone the Steel immunity core is not broken like it was in years past so this mon I feel has a great option to stay as fire moves are no drawback to spam vs steel teams.
Gengar returns once again as a threat for Ghost teams. Not much has changed except for the addition of Dynamax. For Gengar's case it can Gigantimax and can utilize items like Choice Scarf to setup a sweep for itself has it can switch up moves once Gigantimaxed and its max moves like max ooze can raise its SpA +1 every use to potentially setup a sweep for itself. G-max terror once again can trap foes. In addition to the Blunder Policy set above, classic items like Scarf, Specs, and Life Orb can still work well.
Moving on, Cursola can have its place on Ghost teams as Glue on Bulkier Offense teams or as a Rocks setter.This replay shows what it can do : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8oubeta-1010506520-u2j5aztyyp5i5tx1xpea5j4itsz6lympw : It sports an amazing 145 SpA stat and 130 SpD, and its ability Perish Body causes users who make contact with Cursola set on on a 3-turn timer before death. It gets amazing coverage with moves such as Shadow Ball , Hydro Pump, Scald, Earth Power, Ice Beam, Giga Drain, Psychic, and Power Gem. As for utility moves it can get access to Stealth Rock, Strength Sap, Will-O-Wisp, Calm Mind, Iron Defense, Rest, Haze, Reflect , Light Screen, Whirlpool, and Perish Song itself to Perish trap. This mon I feel can be ran in many different ways, and can be used as a "glue" on teams
Cursola @ Assault Vest
Ability: Perish Body
EVs: 212 HP / 252 SpA / 44 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Scald
Cursola @ Leftovers
Ability: Perish Body
EVs: 252 HP / 212 Def / 44 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Iron Defense
- Shadow Ball
- Strength Sap / Rest
Cursola @ Leftovers
Ability: Perish Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Strength Sap
- Shadow Ball
- Will-O-Wisp
Cursola @ Leftovers
Ability: Perish Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Perish Song
- Whirlpool
- Rest / Strength Sap
- Protect
Runerigus can provide Ghost with countless utility options. An Electric Immunity, a Phys-Def Wall, access to Stealth Rock, Toxic Spikes, and Will-O-Wisp. The following set would probably be your best bet when it comes to this mon. It also gets access to Memento to grant setup for a teammate.
Runerigus @ Leftovers
Ability: Wandering Spirit
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic Spikes
- Will-O-Wisp
- Earthquake
The Classic Sableye is now better than ever imo dont have to elaborate much on this. Its been seen running around even in OU as an emergency check to all the dynamax'd pokemon with priority Will-O-Wisp.
Sableye @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Taunt / Encore
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Knock Off / Foul Play
Another side note that Jellicent is now able to learn Strength Sap can perhaps warrant its use.
These are my early meta sets for Ghost, who knows dynamax may get banned as well as certain Pokemon thus the viability of these sets can get better or worse. Dynamax to me seems very broken however once again its too early to make that judgement we may discover some counterplay. There is also a very distinct ranking in type viability some types being regarded as great like Fairy, Ghost etc, others as trash and unusable like Rock due to dex cuts. This Generation seems VERY Offense heavy and unlike USUM we will probably see very little Balance/Fat builds as mons would much rather take advantage of their Dynamax Max-moves. Lastly, thanks for reading, I hope you are as surprised and excited as I was at first that Ghost is a legitimate type in gen8 monotype compared to its past years.
Electric just took a huge hit now that its determined that Alolan-Raichu is unobtainable at this point. No speed control/late game sweeper that can single-handedly win you matchups like Fighting and Poison and give you a chance against steel. Its a struggle until either some metagame bans happen or A-Raichu/Zeraora get released.
- Throat Spray gives Kommo-o an extra sp att buff after clangorous soul. giving it even more wall breaking potential, maybe even making up the loss of its z-move in the long run, its only a 1 time use item. but it could have uses.
Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Mirror Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Bulk Up
- Body Press
- Roost
- Power Trip
- Ultra bulky, Reliable Recovery and can abuse the boosts it gets in 2 strong moves.
- Downside is the lack of STAB but I think this set makes up for it in the fact its one of the bulkiest set up sweepers around, and is extremely hard to get rid of unless you can take it out early.
- I dont know this because I haven't seen enough of this build, but does the fact body press comes from your defense mean it ignores the burn debuff? if so. this could be a physical sweepers that doesnt care about will-o-wisp
EXTRA addition:
Sylveon @ Throat Spray
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Mystical Fire
- Protect
- Wish
-Sylveon could become another strong user of throat spray, it got mystical fire, which makes up for the hidden power loss and allows it to hit steel types that otherwise could cause issues, pixilate+hyper voice is a tried and true combo. and wish/protect is to provide recovery because of the lack of reliable recovery, it can also be used to heal allies in a pinch. could also test substitute/wish.
-A full attacking set with Shadow Ball and Psychic/Psyshock is also an option but this makes sylveon extremely suceptible to chip damage and damaging status like poison/burn
-Fairy seems molasses slow this gen, the idea behind this set is it being a strong option in a trick room team.
Let me start by saying I am probably one of the few people that like the Dynamax mechanic; however, that does not mean that I think it should stay or go. Not enough time has passed to really know. I want to share a few teams I have been using and my overall view on the current metagame!
Metagame
Monotype is extremely fast-paced this generation in particular thanks to Dynamax, making more defensive Pokemon that were traditionally good such as Toxapex almost not worth running on Water. While Dynamax is not as much of a problem as it is in OU, it certainly is still dangerous in Monotype. I think as more time passes while it is possible for people to Dynamax, whatever pokemon they choose, it isn't as unpredictable as it felt in the beginning. Usually, there is a pokemon that can abuse Dynamax best in that matchup, and that will be used. Which takes away from some of the elements of surprise and lets you come up with a proper gameplan at the start of the match. I guess only time can tell if we will be able to adjust to this new mechanic, or will it remain extremely overwhelming.
For types that I think are good right now. Water and Ground are great, especially thanks to Smooth & Damp rock being allowed. This allows their abusers more weather time. However, I know some people say Excadrill is extremely overpowered and since it is the primary abuser to ban it over Smooth Rock. But I think that nothing else uses it well, and banning the item would be more beneficial to the metagame rather than taking away Excadrill immediately. If it still is a problem after that, then I can see it being banned.
Preliminary Type VR (note: offensive is pretty much the only archetype usable in this metagame, making a good chunk of types less viable. the descriptions are very basic overviews) Top Tier Types- Water, Ground, Ghost
Water and Ground are so good because they abuse Rain and Sand very well. With great sweepers and strong Dynamax users, they can pretty much take on any matchup. Ghost is the best it has ever been, with great Special attackers such as Gengar and Polteageist, strong physical attackers in Aegislash and Mimikyu, access to screens, and having stealth rocks+toxic spikes+memento in one pokemon make it a challenging type to handle. It also has ways to beat its bad matchups such as Dark because of Mimikyu and Close Combat Aegislash and Polteageist being able to put in serious work against Ground and Water teams.
High Tier Types- Fairy, Ice, Steel, Dragon, Dark
Fairy is fascinating; even with losing the Tapus and Klefki, it managed to stay relevant. Hatterene and Grimmsnarl are godsends for the type, providing a strong special and physical attacker. Fairy also has access to sticky webs and great Dynamax users in Togekiss, which can boost its Speed and Special Attack, making it nearly unstoppable. Gigantamaxing Grimmsnarl uses Yawn alongside its special move allowing it than to set up a prankster substitute and stall out other Dynamax Pokemon. Ice is another type that somehow became great. Without Scizor present in the metagame, it has become much more usable alongside it getting powerful new tools such as Gigantamax Lapras, which sets Aurora Veil and has Galarian Darmanitan, which is high key unwallable. Steel is still good without Heatran, Corviknight+Aegislash is a very cool core, especially with the Bulk Up set Corviknight can run. It can also use Dynamax Excadrill as a sweeper since Max Rockfall allows it to abuse Sand, even though the type has no other setter. Dragon is good because it has access to screens, a lot of strong setup sweepers, and one of the fastest Choice Scarf users in the metagame being Noivern, which is one of the few Pokemon with Defog. Dark is also good since it kept a good chunk of staples from USM being Tyranitar, Mandibuzz, Sableye, Hydreigon, and Weavile while also gaining two cool new toys in Obstagoon and Grimmsnarl.
Mid Tier Types- Flying, Normal, Psychic
Flying is only good because of its Dynamax move, Max Airstream, which gives +1 Speed with each use. This allows it to be an extremely fast type, especially since it is airborne. It does not have to worry about sticky webs affecting its speed. Normal is exclusively usable because of Ditto being lowkey the most broken Dynamax user ever, being able to Dynamax what you stole with Imposter is exceptionally annoying to deal with and can often reverse sweep teams. Psychic has tons of tools but is hurt by the loss of Victini. It is also held down by many great types in the metagame such as Fairy, which has Mimikyu and Grimmsnarl to break past it, Ghost, which is now extremely common, and as always Dark which stayed relevant. However, with Pokemon like Reuniclus being such a great abuser of Stored Power and pokemon like Hatterene being able to check dark-types, it has its place in the current metagame.
Bad Types- Everything else
Everything else put can not keep up with the rest of the metagame. From not having great Dynamax users to getting the bad end of the stick on Pokemon that they kept from older generations, they do not have enough to be relevant in this metagame.
Psychic
I know Psychic is not nearly as appealing as it has been in the past generations due to essential Pokemon such as Victini not being present in the metagame and new dangerous threats such as Grimmsnarl, Dragapult, and Polteageist. With Stored Power being more widespread, I think the type has the potential to be super obnoxious, with the right counterplay to the most commonly used types.
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The main idea behind this team is to make it possible for Reuniclus to be the win-condition. However, this is a bit tricky since it only has a Psychic-type attack getting past Dark- and Steel-type Pokemon is a bit tricky for this team, which is where its teammates come in. Scarf Gardevoir, and Scarf Gallade is the team's speed control, and they can take care of Dark- and Steel-types for Reuniclus. You might be thinking Dual scarf is a bit weird, but its mainly because the rest of the team is so slow. You can potentially make Gardevoir Choice Specs. However, Indeede is faster and hits harder anyway. Scarf Will-O-Wisp on Gallade is a pleasant surprise that allows you to burn unsuspecting faster Pokemon, and Memento on Gardevoir will enable Reuniclus or Hatterene to set up easier. Bronzong is just to set up Screens and Stealth Rock, Gyro Ball is there to prevent Bronzong from being extremely passive. Hatterene is a Trick Room abuser; with its attacks, it can easily take on Ground and Water teams. Those types are prevalent in the current metagame, between screens, its bulk, and raw power; it makes it the teams' best Dynamax abuser. Unfortunately, you can not Dynamax and then use Trick Room, so you have to time it a bit. Indeede sets up Psychic terrain allowing threats like Mimikyu from spamming its Shadow Sneak and Grimmsnarl from abusing Resttalk + Prankster to attack. It all builds up then to Reuniclus, which has Stored Power this generation allowing it to hit super hard, even if you are facing a Special wall without relying on Psyshock after a few boosts. The team can not stand up to types such as Ghost, with Dark, Steel, and Fairy, also being difficult matchups; however, it can do nicely against practically every type.
Here are some other sets/cores on Psychic I think can be appealing:
The Dynamax abuser here would be Swoobat, with Calm Mind+Stored Power alongside Max Airstream; it can seriously start to spiral out of control. Indeede is there for the raw, immediate power and coverage it provides, and Orbeetle is a Sticky Web setter allowing Swoobat to be faster than non-airborne threats before using max airstream, enabling it to set up more easily. This core would need help with breaking Ghost-, Dark-, and Steel-types so teammates that can do that, such as Swords Dance Gallade, would be a cool addition to the core.
I like this Claydol set. For one, it is a decent check to Dark-types with Colbur Berry+Body Press while being able to set up Stealth Rock, provide an Electric and Ground immunity, and apparent hazards with Rapid Spin. This can be a decent choice over Bronzong for those reasons, especially since Toxic is not as common this generation making Steel-types less necessary, and since most Flying Dynamax abusers can break past Bronzong with coverage anyway as well.
Dragon
Dragon is ok in the current metagame, though Fairy being as strong as ever is not too great for the type. It still definitely is a fun type to play with a decent amount of options.
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The goal of this team is relatively simple; it has three setup Pokemon, a Stealth Rock user, a screen setter, and a Choice Scarf user. I have been playing around with Duraldon and have concluded in the current state of the metagame Defensive sets suck, and offensive Stealth Rock is probably its best set. I decided to give Duraldon Thunder Wave as its last slot making the team just that much faster and to play mind games with Sucker Punch Grimmsnarl, which can be very annoying to deal with. However, Thunderbolt is an option over it, allowing it to hit the Swift Swim abusers and Pelipper for good damage. Kommo-o is interesting this generation, still having its omni-boost but making it take 33% damage as a result of setting up makes it, so you have to time Kommo-o very well, especially in this super offensive metagame. Luckily this is where a fast screens setter comes in. With Dragapult setting screens and having access to U-turn, it makes them easier to setup. Will-O-Wisp is nice to cripple physical attackers. Hydreigon is the special setup, after a nasty plot boost, life orb dark pulse hits like a truck and can demolish slower pokemon. Flash Cannon is coverage for annoying fairy types like Weezing-Galar, Grimmsnarl, Mimikyu, and Clefable. However, I would save screens for the physical setup sweepers since they boost speed and have better sweeping potential. Haxorus has First Impression, which allows it to check faster pokemon and pick up surprise kills against pokemon like Barraswekda in the rain. Noivern is the team's speed control and only hazard removal while also having access to U-turn, allowing it to hold up the team and check Pokemon such as other scarfers and defog first.
Discount Garchomp with First Impression is a decent option for Dragon teams, providing a strong form of priority, an Electric- and Ground-type immunity, U-turn, and Dragon Dance makes it an okay pick on Dragon teams. First Impression on the Dragon Dance set is mainly just for if you decide to Dynamax it, it has access to an option to nuke Psychic- and Dark-type Pokemon with.
Unfortunately, with Flapple's low speed and Appletun being a defensive Pokemon, I don't think they are useful additions to the Hyper Offensive type. Turtonator does get Rapid Spin and can punish Ice-types, so it has a niche on Dragon teams, but I think its low-Speed stat holds it down from being a great choice on Dragon teams.
Other sets
Bulk Up + Max Airstream + Power Trip Corviknight is disgusting set to face, it becomes tough to kill without special Fire-type attacks after a few boosts. With Max Airstream also boosting Speed, it allows Power Trip to become even stronger, enabling it to hit Ghost-types such as Aegislash, which would otherwise wall it. This is a Pokemon worth building around on Steel teams. (note: miku sniped me, but this set boosts speed with Dynamax flying, that other set can not and uses body press instead)
I used this set in SwSh OU as a tech for Gyarados, but it definitely can work for Dark teams as well. It can Dynamax and tank boosted Gyarados's Waterfall and then hit it with a Max Lightning and OHKO it. It kind of is unfortunate that you have to Dynamax a defensive Pokemon, but it is an excellent emergency backup against Gyarados.
All of the sprites lead to a Pokepaste; by clicking on the different Pokemon, you should be able to see them. Thanks for reading my mini-essay!
Bulk Up + Max Airstream + Power Trip Corviknight is disgusting set to face, it becomes very hard to kill without special Fire-type attacks after a few boosts. With Max Airstream also boosting Speed it allows Power Trip to become even stronger allowing it to hit Ghost-types such as Aegislash which would otherwise wall it. This is definitely a Pokemon worth building around on Steel teams. (note: miku sniped me, but this set boosts speed with dynamax flying, that other set can not and uses body press instead)
This set without body press would become more suceptible to burns however. both have their merits and I think both are a great addition to steel, flying however? flying got gutted holy balls
Sharing my thoughts on Dynamax. I disagree with Kev that Dynamax isn't a big factor in deciding games because in my opinion it is. In some cases it takes away from the quality of the games because it can create brainless match-ups and less skill required to win. That being said, Dynamax is not one sided, both players can abuse it and in some scenarios you have to check Dynamax with your own Dynamax. One of the most threatening Dynamax strategies are those that can abuse Speed because they're very hard or sometimes impossible to revenge kill. Weather abusers like Excadrill and Barraskewda on top of having support from Hippowdon (Ground) and Pelipper, respectively, can set up its own weather with the Max moves. Excadrill can even afford to run Swords Dance while Smooth Rock is legal and Barraskewda has coverage for basically everything and has very high Attack. Other Speed abusers are Max Airstream users such as Gyarados and Togekiss which both have moves to boost their Attack/SpA in Dragon Dance/Moxie and Nasty Plot, respectively. The obvious solution for the weather abusers is banning Smooth Rock and Damp Rock, I don't see a reason why we'd keep them. There's no acceptable solution for Max Airstream abusers except suspecting some of the big threats like Gyarados. Other dangerous strategies are setting up and Dynamaxing for the HP boost making it harder to revenge kill, especially when its bulky setup Pokemon such as Corviknight, Snorlax, and Reuniclus. The list of Dynamax threats is going to get longer once Terrakion, Kyurem, and Keldeo, to name a few, get released. If all or even most of these Pokemon prove to be unhealthy for the metagame then banning Dynamax would seem like the more viable option over banning so many Pokemon just because of Dynamax. I don't have a definitive ban/don't ban opinion on this yet because it's still too early and we need to see how well the metagame can adapt. In the meantime the council should discuss this among themselves and eventually reach a conclusion.
I came into today not really knowing what’s been going on due to school but I just banged out 40 some odd games to get myself an initial feel.
I like that there are mixed opinions going on because I think it’s good that we stay open minded on dmax. However, I think it’s pretty obvious that it flips the game we know on its head in conjunction with no real management of the power creep and weather rocks being thrown back in. It does appear to me that games are more or less decided in a turn. In my games I was pretty much just outright blowing people over with SS water or HO fly with screens + gyara/lucha. That being said, The games I lost were products of my opps dmaxing me right back and sponging a hit to halt my momentum or using other means to manage my dmax and slowly wear my teams out. Particularly with HO fly, I had literally 0 defensive synergy and if I couldn’t win the game with gyara/lucha/swoobat I was doomed. With SS, I lost a few times to the new Corsola jawn just willowing and strength sapping everything and that paired with aegi was pretty annoying Altho by the end of my run I was able to mess up ghost pretty well as long as I was careful. Prankster also seems pretty valuable as I came across a couple sub seed whimsies that gave me a tough time. Mimikyu is still valuable also given disguise being able to halt dmax even if ur just throwing mimi out. Max guard and tect can mess up momentum a lot too if you can play well Altho tect is definitely still a really dumb move to spam with the amount of shit that can set up rn. And yeah all forms of priority are insanely valuable rn. Shit, I’ve even found decent merit in slapping cb golisopod on the water team I used.
I can’t really say there isn’t things that can slow the game down and manage dmax because there are and part of me feels like we could eventually adapt to dmax along with some well placed bans but at the end of the day there are still some general decisions across smogon that need to be made which are going to greatly affect the way we are going to have to tier, but as it stands the meta is really lopsided and annoying even thought it’s fun as fuck.
Coming from someone who played Dark throughout Gen 7 I feel like giving some thoughts after trying out Gen 8.
-Knock Off becoming rarer didn't hurt Dark as much as I expected, since a good portion of its better Mons didn't rely on it as much or couldn't lear it anyway in the previous gen.
-Speaking of, aside from A-Muk, Greninja and M-Sableye Dark got pretty much all of its top tiers back and Grimmsnarl seems like a pretty promising addition.
-Fairies kept Dark out of meta relevance last gen, but with no Tapus or Diancie around, it seems like a more doable matchup
-Weavile feels heavily nerfed between lossing Knock Off and Pursuit. Might be early impressions kneejerk, but I'm not sure if its worth keeping around, honestly.
-Hydreigon seems like an amazing Dynamax candidate. Max Flare is great against the top tier in the making that is Steel and also changes the weather to sun which can throw of teams that rely on weather. Max Airstream via Fly is also a surprisingly good way to patch up Hydreigon's speed while also being a decent option to KO chipped Fighting types.
-Mandibuzz is an easy top 3 Dark type this gen, it's somehow even more mandatory than previously.
Hard to tell how it will end up, but I'm optimistic about Dark in this generation.
Something interesting to note for Water and Dragon.
It appears as if Dracovish's signature move "Fishious Rend" is boosted by Strong Jaw according to some tests from the battle mechanic thread. It's not exactly 100% sure, but there seems to be strong indication for it.
If it's proven beyond doubt that this move works as it's claimed to be, then both types might have another strong addition to their team as long as you can make room for it, of course.
I could see Choice Scarf set being viable on Dracovish. While its speed is still somewhat slow (75 base speed, after all!), it should be enough to outspeed almost any non-scarf Pkm.
To demonstrate the terrifying power of Dracovish, here some calcs: Psychic Fangs is used as a substitute for 170 STAB water move.
252 Atk Strong Jaw Dracovish Psychic Fangs vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Bronzong: 285-336 (84.3 - 99.4%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Strong Jaw Dracovish Psychic Fangs vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Kommo-o: 133-157 (45.5 - 53.7%) -- 94.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
With rain support, which shouldn't be too difficult, there aren't many who likes to switch into this move:
252 Atk Strong Jaw Dracovish Psychic Fangs vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield in Rain: 340-402 (104.9 - 124%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Strong Jaw Dracovish Psychic Fangs vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Hydreigon in Rain: 265-312 (81.2 - 95.7%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Strong Jaw Dracovish Psychic Fangs vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex in Rain: 129-153 (42.4 - 50.3%) -- 36.3% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Black Sludge recovery
Ferrothorn is probably one of the few relevant Pkm that could take its move, assuming it's the physical defense variant:
252 Atk Strong Jaw Dracovish Psychic Fangs vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn in Rain: 144-171 (40.9 - 48.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
If you intend to use Dracovish as a slow wallbreaker with a Band set, I don't think I need to show how it woukd turn possible 3HKOs into 2HKOs and 2HKOs into OHKOs against slower Pkm. There's no doubt water teams benefit the most from the two types due to easy rain support and the neutrality to grass and electric.
On another note, I wonder what people think of Galarian Corsola. It seems to make big waves in OU, but I haven't seen it mentioned much (if any) in this thread. I imagine it could be used as a defensive glue to stop Pkm like Excadrill with its amazing support moves like Will o Wisp and Strength Sap. It also has access to Stealth Rock if Ghost is in need of it.
After some more play-testing with poison, here are some more thoughts:
- I have mixed feelings regarding Dynamax; on the one hand, it is completely busted for some pokemon in particular like Gyarados, who can't even be OHKO'd by electric attacks unless you either have STAB or are packing a monster attack stat. On the other hand though, as far as the poison monotype is concerned, HO or balanced offense is probably your best bet right now due to Dynamax. It clearly favors attackers and while there are some defensive cores on the top-tier types that are difficult to break without it, I feel like Dynamax is too much for monotype and would be glad to see it go.
- Excadrill is cancer on both Steel / Ground; if not for Air Balloon / Shuca Berry, it could solo entire types like poison / electric (auto-loss vs. someone who knows what they're doing). When the dust has settled on the Dynamax issue and depending on what changes when Pokemon Home is released, I wouldn't be surprised to see Exca tested.
I've been leading with it a lot. If the opponent starts with a status mon, I give them my Scarf and ruin them for the rest of the match. If they start with an offensive mon, I use Parting Shot to switch to Mandibuzz or Sableye. It's just a nice scout in general and helps with Fairy because of Gunk Shot.
Been playing gen 8 for some time now. Gen's been pretty decent so far. Some people absolutely hate it while others think it's a cool new experience(yep dynamax is totallyyy a cool new experience). Lots of people have already posted stuff bout this so not gonna get into too much detail but here's some thoughts I have for steel as of now
I would definitely say that steel isn't as good as it was last gen. One big loss for steel was heatran. Without heatran steel lacks a good switchin to fire moves now which means mons with fire coverage such as hydreigon can just somewhat plow through steel. Also losing scizor and jirachi(well it's unreleased rn) kinda suck for steel. Despite these losses though I still find steel to be a pretty good type in this meta and would put it somewhere in the high tier. Here's some mons that make steel good enough to be high tier
New Mons:
Corviknight- The thought of not having celesteela or skarmory at first seemed pretty bad considering corviknight's stats and movepool didn't look to impressive at first. However corviknight is able to establish itself as an important and super useful team member for steel. It may not set hazards like skarm does or have celesteela's bulk/movepool but it does have a cool and unique set which is the bulk up set.
Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Bulk Up
- Power Trip/Body Press
This is what I believe to be it's best set right now. Steel flying is a nice type combo which can muscle past a good amount of type combos meaning that it can take advantage of this to boost it's attack and defense with bulk up. It has fairly decent bulk to set up being 98/105/85 and has roost meaning it can setup multiple times. Brave bird with a few bulk ups can do some serious damage to the opponents. Power trip can be a good last slot since it can work well with bulk up. If you decide to dynamax corviknight and use max airstream you get a speed boost which powers up power trip even more. It also allows you to hit mons such as aegislash, rotom and bronzong hard. Body press on the other hand also works well since it does more damage depending on your defense. This allows you to hit steel pokemon harder but you do get walled by aegislash though. Overall I think this mon is a great addition to steel and pretty much a staple.
Duraludon- I found this to be a cool addition to steel. Steel dragon is a nice typing as well to have and it's stats are pretty good overall besides that 50 sp def :(.
What I like about this mon is that it can be a rocker but also put offensive pressure. I gave it twave so it can cripple mons and patch up it's speed a bit. Draco is a super nice nuke that can seriously dent mons that don't resist this. Flash Cannon on the other hand doesn't have any drawbacks but is weaker by a bit. I found thunderbolt nice to help in the water matchup. I think max sp atk max hp is fine on this thing so that's offensive and still bulky.
Copperajah- This is more of a niche mon and probably wouldn't use this on a normal steel team. However I still think it's worth mentioning.
Copperajah @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Heat Crash
Copperajah has a good movepool with lots of coverage to choose from but I think this is the best. Stab Iron Head with sheer force and life orb and coming from base 130 is hard to wall if you don't resist this. Rock slide hits flying mons, eq is for steel and elec mons, and heat crash covers ferro and corviknight which would otherwise kinda wall it. Another unique thing about this mon is its G-max move Steelsurge. It lays a steel type version of stealth rocks on the opponents side of the field which does 1/4 to fairy, rock and ice pokemon. This can also stack with rocks which is cool. As cool as this mon looks it still has some drawbacks. Pure steel typing kinda sucks and it's a slow mon meaning it's gonna have to take an attack first and it has no recovery so it can get worn down easily.
Returning Mons:
Excadrill
Thankfully for steel it still has excadrill. Excadrill has always been a top mon since it's release and it's no different this gen. It still works on steel teams as a nice revenge killer and with mold breaker can cause havoc for some types. Rapid spin got a nice buff this gen where it does 50 dmg and gives +1 speed. This makes excadrill a good dynamax user as it can spin to boost speed and then dynamax with boosted speed.
Ferrothorn
Ferrothorn is another mon that has always been an excellent pick since it's release. Ferrothorn has an important grass typing which lets it resist water and ferro serves as a nice utility mon overall for steel with spikes, twave, leech seed, and knock off.
Durant
Since scizor is gone durant now takes it's spot as a decent physical wallbreaker. Durant lost hone claws this gen which kinda sucks but it did receive first impression which is very cool. Durant can put some immense pressure on types such as dark and psychic. Best set for it would be something like this imo
Durant @ Choice Band
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- First Impression
- X-Scissor
- Superpower
- Rock Slide/Shadow Claw
Biggest downside is the hustle miss :(. But for real mons like corviknight, aegislash(if u lack sclaw), and pex still wall it so it's not amazing but can still pressure some frailer mons.
Aegislash
The mascot himself has returned to mono this gen. Aegislash did get a slight nerf this gen where it's atk and sp atk got lowered by 10 but aegi is still a huge threat and an amazing mon to have. Since it lost toxic offensive sets are the way to go. Some sets include king shield 3 attacks with lefties(physical or special work) or double dance 2 attacks with air ballon/weakness policy.
Lucario
Lucario has been a decent pick for steel in gen 7 and will probably stay as a decent pick for gen 8. Lucario helps out in matchups such as dark and steel. With access to SD/NP it can sweep teams if not carefully played around.
Bisharp
Same as Lucario, bisharp has also been a decent pick for steel. Unfort for bisharp that it lost knock off but it can still be decent with SD 3 attacks since it helps with the ghost matchup quite well.
Bronzong
Lmfao trash mon. Rather just run no fire neutrality tbh. This is the only mon that can be considered "neutral" to fire because of heatproof. I'm not a huge fan of Bronzong even if it helps with fire moves. Since this mon lost toxic and steel already has better rockers, I feel like it doesn't help out steel that much and just ends up being kinda passive without toxic. It's movepool isn't too great either. Could maybe try some screens set but other then that I don't find it to be that good.
On a final note, i don't even think that dynamax itself is that bad. The main problem for me is the side effects they give, specifically ones that boost your stats like Max Airstrike and Max Knuckle. This just makes it much harder for mons to wall and make the game unhealthy.
Been playing gen 8 for some time now. Gen's been pretty decent so far. Some people absolutely hate it while others think it's a cool new experience(yep dynamax is totallyyy a cool new experience). Lots of people have already posted stuff bout this so not gonna get into too much detail but here's some thoughts I have for steel as of now
I would definitely say that steel isn't as good as it was last gen. One big loss for steel was heatran. Without heatran steel lacks a good switchin to fire moves now which means mons with fire coverage such as hydreigon can just somewhat plow through steel. Also losing scizor and jirachi(well it's unreleased rn) kinda suck for steel. Despite these losses though I still find steel to be a pretty good type in this meta and would put it somewhere in the high tier. Here's some mons that make steel good enough to be high tier
New Mons:
Corviknight- The thought of not having celesteela or skarmory at first seemed pretty bad considering corviknight's stats and movepool didn't look to impressive at first. However corviknight is able to establish itself as an important and super useful team member for steel. It may not set hazards like skarm does or have celesteela's bulk/movepool but it does have a cool and unique set which is the bulk up set.
Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Bulk Up
- Power Trip/Body Press
This is what I believe to be it's best set right now. Steel flying is a nice type combo which can muscle past a good amount of type combos meaning that it can take advantage of this to boost it's attack and defense with bulk up. It has fairly decent bulk to set up being 98/105/85 and has roost meaning it can setup multiple times. Brave bird with a few bulk ups can do some serious damage to the opponents. Power trip can be a good last slot since it can work well with bulk up. If you decide to dynamax corviknight and use max airstream you get a speed boost which powers up power trip even more. It also allows you to hit mons such as aegislash, rotom and bronzong hard. Body press on the other hand also works well since it does more damage depending on your defense. This allows you to hit steel pokemon harder but you do get walled by aegislash though. Overall I think this mon is a great addition to steel and pretty much a staple.
Duraludon- I found this to be a cool addition to steel. Steel dragon is a nice typing as well to have and it's stats are pretty good overall besides that 50 sp def :(.
What I like about this mon is that it can be a rocker but also put offensive pressure. I gave it twave so it can cripple mons and patch up it's speed a bit. Draco is a super nice nuke that can seriously dent mons that don't resist this. Flash Cannon on the other hand doesn't have any drawbacks but is weaker by a bit. I found thunderbolt nice to help in the water matchup. I think max sp atk max hp is fine on this thing so that's offensive and still bulky.
Copperajah- This is more of a niche mon and probably wouldn't use this on a normal steel team. However I still think it's worth mentioning.
Copperajah @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Heat Crash
Copperajah has a good movepool with lots of coverage to choose from but I think this is the best. Stab Iron Head with sheer force and life orb and coming from base 130 is hard to wall if you don't resist this. Rock slide hits flying mons, eq is for steel and elec mons, and heat crash covers ferro and corviknight which would otherwise kinda wall it. Another unique thing about this mon is its G-max move Steelsurge. It lays a steel type version of stealth rocks on the opponents side of the field which does 1/4 to fairy, rock and ice pokemon. This can also stack with rocks which is cool. As cool as this mon looks it still has some drawbacks. Pure steel typing kinda sucks and it's a slow mon meaning it's gonna have to take an attack first and it has no recovery so it can get worn down easily.
Returning Mons:
Excadrill
Thankfully for steel it still has excadrill. Excadrill has always been a top mon since it's release and it's no different this gen. It still works on steel teams as a nice revenge killer and with mold breaker can cause havoc for some types. Rapid spin got a nice buff this gen where it does 50 dmg and gives +1 speed. This makes excadrill a good dynamax user as it can spin to boost speed and then dynamax with boosted speed.
Ferrothorn
Ferrothorn is another mon that has always been an excellent pick since it's release. Ferrothorn has an important grass typing which lets it resist water and ferro serves as a nice utility mon overall for steel with spikes, twave, leech seed, and knock off.
Durant
Since scizor is gone durant now takes it's spot as a decent physical wallbreaker. Durant lost hone claws this gen which kinda sucks but it did receive first impression which is very cool. Durant can put some immense pressure on types such as dark and psychic. Best set for it would be something like this imo
Durant @ Choice Band
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- First Impression
- X-Scissor
- Superpower
- Rock Slide/Shadow Claw
Biggest downside is the hustle miss :(. But for real mons like corviknight, aegislash(if u lack sclaw), and pex still wall it so it's not amazing but can still pressure some frailer mons.
Aegislash
The mascot himself has returned to mono this gen. Aegislash did get a slight nerf this gen where it's atk and sp atk got lowered by 10 but aegi is still a huge threat and an amazing mon to have. Since it lost toxic offensive sets are the way to go. Some sets include king shield 3 attacks with lefties(physical or special work) or double dance 2 attacks with air ballon/weakness policy.
Lucario
Lucario has been a decent pick for steel in gen 7 and will probably stay as a decent pick for gen 8. Lucario helps out in matchups such as dark and steel. With access to SD/NP it can sweep teams if not carefully played around.
Bisharp
Same as Lucario, bisharp has also been a decent pick for steel. Unfort for bisharp that it lost knock off but it can still be decent with SD 3 attacks since it helps with the ghost matchup quite well.
Bronzong
Lmfao trash mon. Rather just run no fire neutrality tbh. This is the only mon that can be considered "neutral" to fire because of heatproof. I'm not a huge fan of Bronzong even if it helps with fire moves. Since this mon lost toxic and steel already has better rockers, I feel like it doesn't help out steel that much and just ends up being kinda passive without toxic. It's movepool isn't too great either. Could maybe try some screens set but other then that I don't find it to be that good.
On a final note, i don't even think that dynamax itself is that bad. The main problem for me is the side effects they give, specifically ones that boost your stats like Max Airstrike and Max Knuckle. This just makes it much harder for mons to wall and make the game unhealthy.
I'm still kind of new to creating my own sets and this is also my first time posting in the forums so bear with me here, but I've really gotten into Sandaconda since gen 8 started and I wanted to share the sets I've been using because I feel like they've got strong potential when refined. I've had very limited testing done with it but I like what I've seen so far.
This is a build I've had success with lately. Earthquake is a powerful STAB move to go along with its 344 attack stat, and Stone Edge and Fire Fang offer great coverage against mons that might otherwise threaten ground type, Stone edge hitting flying types super-effectively and Fire Fang doing strong damage to steel types that resist or are immune to EQ and Stone Edge, particularly Ferrothorn. Even with its strong attack stat, however, Fire Fang only offers a 2hko on Ferrothorn, and Sandaconda still eats a super effective Power Whip in return. But Sandaconda outspeeds Ferrothorn and can use its turn to Coil, providing a much appreciated attack, defense, and accuracy boost for Stone Edge as well. From what I've found, if you can bring Sandaconda in safely and coil, power whip has generally only done around 30% To Sandaconda, and Sandaconda snaps back with what I'm pretty sure is a OHKO from Fire Fang with +1 attack. Thus, I feel like Sandaconda might make a good check to Ferrothorn on Ground, assuming better ones aren't out there. Fire Fang also hits Corviknight hard and Coil lets it keep up with Bulk Up. But Sandaconda fills another niche as well on ground teams. Running Shed Skin gives Ground an unreliable but not non-existant answer to status moves from mons that would otherwise cripple ground teams. Excadrill certainly does not like eating will-o-wisp from pranksters like Sableye and Gastrodon/Hippowdon don't want to get hit with Toxic. While burns would certainly cripple Sandaconda, shed skin can help it take status moves easier and keep going strong. It does not like knock off though, as leftovers is its only form of recovery here. An Adamant Nature lets it hit harder.
Now this build was my first try with Sandaconda. I haven't tested it as much since it was my first iteration but it could have some merit to it. With rest as recovery and higher defense it still hits hard and has some bulk behind it to take hits from physical attackers. EQ is ran for STAB, Fire Fang can be ran to hit Ferrothorn hard for a 2hko or Stone Edge can be ran to hit super effectively hit flying types that might try to wall Sandaconda's sleep talk Earthquakes. On top of this, rest allows it to take status much more effectively and wake up sooner with Shed Skin, letting it hit those that would try to burn it better.
I haven't had much time to test these yet, but I'm thinking that it has strong potential and I'm really curious what you guys think about it.
Round two of non-stop electric testing had made realise my initial list had a lot of mistakes, im going to edit it with the changes im gonna list and explain on this post
Jolteon A -> S - The more and more I played him, the more I saw how he has become the most valuable player for electric, toxtricity was way to overhyped and it dosent do as much as this, specially if you play him with a choice scarf, it wont come as suprise that this will come as your wincon in many matchups, good in early to keep momentum and also good in late for cleaning up
Toxtricity S -> A - Its still a staple on electric but definitively not as dominant as jolteon, the setup sweeper set with shift gear has lost a lot of power as the meta advance and now there are many ways to get around him, the best set is now running choice specs, scarf is to slow and many threats will still be faster than him, another reason to make jolteon even better
Morpeko C -> A - Huuuge jump for this little thing, an offensive set with life orb that only has Aura wheel as an important attacking move is making people bring their hands to their heads, the damage output is insane making matchups like ghost and psychic a lot easier, since aura wheel raises up your speed it makes for a good late game cleaner, plus all of this gives us a better excuse to have rapid spin on ur electric teams
Dracozolt B -> A - Dracozolt with bolt beak and hustle is a massive threat, you are never gonna find a wallbreaker as good as this one as the damage it does is outer space, if you can get sticky webs up, this will shreed through teams, having earthquake and fire fang makes perfect fits for its coverage, alowing it to hit ferrothorn, steel types (also avoiding aegis king shield) and grass types with dynamax
Arctozolt A -> B - It definitively was overrated on the first list, right now it dosent acomplish more than attacking one or two times before dying, it still serves as a bulky pokemon that can take a hit from a threat that is sweeping your team and kill it, chip it for your jolteon to revenge or paralize it and let toxtricity or dracozolt give the final blow, freeze dry isnt as usefull as it was at the beginning as Vikavolt with Energy Ball does that job better
Alolan Raichu and Pincurchin B -> Unranked - We gotta say farewell to alolan formes for a while, with raichu's departure pincurchin has lost his only good niche, setting up electric terrain isnt worth playing a 5v6, in this meta as balance dosent exist every pokemon must apport something significant to the team, and pincurchin dosent anymore, its bulk its so bad that it only works for setting up terrain two times before it dies and its very hard for you to abuse of the spikes he could set up
It's time to look at one of the top 3 types of monotype and check what viability we got on here
God Tier
Wait whats going on here why is the bell up here? Let me tell you why.
252 SpA Chandelure Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Heatproof Bronzong: 128-152 (37.8 - 44.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
Looks like rocks going up
252+ Atk Bisharp Throat Chop vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Bronzong: 246-290 (72.7 - 85.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Afterwards you just body press the bish and remove the guy unless he is some low ladder sash set, its a roll if they are ada orb but they will sd most of the time anyway
252 Atk Darmanitan-Galar Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Heatproof Bronzong: 272-324 (80.4 - 95.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
They wont eq either because that just means corv gets in and wins instantly
Yeah if you dont run bronzong you must out of your mind
S
When this thing bulk ups twice you gotta forfeit, it doesnt matter what it runs either as long as brave bird and roost are in the set you cant go wrong tbh, be sure not to run the garbage gigantamax version or else you wont get any speed setup.
Try spinning vs this, Mr. Rime
The best scarfer steel could ever ask for
How to be the perfect mon even without knock off
This thing solos water way too easily
A
Dies to every move, should be B rank
B
The Spdef is too abysmal to be higher
The Ni-pur staple, gratz on B rank
Zamazentas retarded cousin from unova (whoops he is unreleased, my bad)
C
Nice First Impression for Psychic, "thx I have an aegislash though"
D
And I thought the elephant was gonna be great, I want donphan back
Cute Mouse
The rest are garbage basically, doublade is gonna rise once aegislash is banned.
Hello I have been playing Bug pretty exclusively the past few days (I also dabbled a bit in Poison, Electric, Fighting and Grass) and tested a bunch of different stuff. First and foremost: Bug is not a very good type at the moment. However, Bug is very fun to play and you get to use some pretty hilariously gimmicky sets to be competitive with the top types. I wanted to go through all the available fully-evolved Bug-types a bit in detail and add some sample sets! I got to top 20 on the ladder with one of my alts. I am working on breaking into top 10, but Bug has an abysmal match-up vs. Water that I am still working around, even with mons like Araquanid. Gyarados and SS Barraskewda are just terrifying.
One thing to note before going ahead with all the different Bug-types: Heavy Duty Boots are INCREDIBLE. Bug has one usable Defoggers (Frosmoth) and no spinners, so hazard control is kind of out the window. More importantly, Defog is kind of not an option because you need to keep Webs up to even have a chance of beating some types. As such, Boots become a necessity. There is another advantage to the Boots. If you are stacking Boots users on your team (like I do), then you kind of want your opponent to use a hazard move since it is basically a "free" turn with very little cost.
Butterfree
+ Compound Eyes Sleep Powder and Hurricane
+ Quiver Dance and great offensive options
- Terrible stats; Speed is very underwhelming
- Too many exploitable weaknesses
Comments: Butterfree suffers from mediocre Speed, terrible Defense and bad typing synergies with its teammates. Its movepool is excellent; Butterfree can cover most of Bug's weaker match-ups with its coverage options. Energy Ball helps vs. Mono Water and Ground while Shadow Ball is great vs. Ghost. It is very difficult to switch in and even with Webs down is still outsped by common Scarf users, Swift Swimmers, and Sand Rush Excadrill. Butterfree is not an unusable Bug, but it offers zero defensive utility against top threats. If you want to use Butterfree, partner it with a slow pivot (such as Vikavolt) and potentially additional hazard support (aka Crustle.)
With Webs down, you should be able to outspeed something enough to put it to sleep. Set up Quiver Dance and let loose with accurate Hurricanes! If something like Aegislash tries to come in and ruin your fun, smack them with a Shadow Ball. Bug Buzz and Energy Ball are also options for coverage. The other variant of this set can try Tinted Lens + Bug Buzz, which be boosted by Throat Spray if you aren't scared of Stealth Rock.
Shuckle
+ Stealth Rock and Sticky Web
+ Access to the rare Knock Off and Toxic
+ Can slow pivot (kind of) with Final Gambit
+ Cute
- Zero offensive presence
- Set up fodder unless you hit the Encore
Comments: Shuckle offers team compression with access to Webs and SR, but little else. With hazard removal being so limited in Gen 8, Shuckle's hazard setting abilities are even more useful. That is about it really, Shuckle is pretty much unchanged from Gen VII. The only thing kind of funny now is you can totally use Final Gambit to give a teammate a free switch! If your opponent doesn't have any form of hazard removal, set up your own and have Shuckle launch itself into the fray in a final act of defiance.
Shuckle @ Mental Herb
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Encore
- Stealth Rock
- Sticky Web
- Knock Off
The same set from USUM. Shuckle is pretty much gauranteed to get up Webs, and often can get up Rocks too. Encore if you think your opponent is going to try set up. Knock Off, Toxic, and Final Gambit are all interchangeable in the final slot.
Ninjask
+ Fast
+ Swords Dance with usable coverage
- Too many exploitable weaknesses
- Terrible defensive stats and underwhelming Attack
- Requires Dual Screens to reliably set up
Comments: Ninjask is close to unusable. If it didn't have 130 BP Max Quake it would be useless. However, Ninjask does have decent coverage with Max moves and can potentially work around some very threatening Water teams with Swords Dance and Speed Boost. It needs to still watch out for priority and heavily relies on team support, since it is unable to run Boots. Bug also has other Pokemon that rely heavily on Dynamax to threaten other types. Ninjask has a very tiny niche vs. a powerful archetype, but is otherwise a very risky sweeper that can be easily played around.
Ninjask is only really useful for cheesing through rain teams. With Webs down and +1 Speed Boost, you should outspeed most Barraskewda sets even with rain. +2 Acrobatics will OHKO non-Dynamax Gyarados and Max Quake has a good chance of OHKOing Toxapex. Max Flutterby can OHKO defensive Rotom-W with SR damage. Watch out for Aqua Jet Crawdaunt.
Shedinja
+ Bug's only spinblocker
- Hail and sand are everywhere
- Too many common weaknesses
- No longer has access to Swords Dance
- Can't afford to run Focus Sash or Safety Goggles
Comments: Shedinja is currently not viable, and likely never will be. The only thing Shedinja brings to the table is its ability to block Rapid Spin for Bug. Max Rockfall summons sandstorm and Ice is a very popular type, so its weather weaknesses are more prevalent than ever. Most teams have multiple Pokemon with Ghost and Dark coverage to deal with Ghost teams. Shedinja never really fit on offensive teams anyways, and Bug Balance or Stall are simply not things yet.
I really don't recommend Shedinja, but this is what I would use if I had to. Shadow Sneak can revenge kill some Ghost-types and frailer sweepers. Sunny Day is mandatory to not die to Hail and Sandstorm.
Vespiquen
+ Slow U-turn
+ Decently bulky
+ Toxic Spikes
- No Roost or Heal Order
- Too many common weaknesses
- There really isn't a need for a defensive pivot on Bug
Comments: Why did they remove Heal Order???? Vespiquen is one of two fully evolved Bug-type with Toxic Spikes, which is neat I guess. Toxic Spikes are the weakest hazard for Bug since most of the common threats to your type really don't care about Toxic Spikes (Gengar, Gyarados, Excadrill, Toxapex, etc.) Other than that, Vespiquen is just a bulky slow pivot with some other niche utility moves. Vespiquen doesn't offer any useful resistances for Bug and doesn't apply any offensive pressure itself. Once Home launches and Vespiquen can Roost and Defog we can revisit her, but until then she can languish in the search function.
Vespiquen (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- U-turn
- Toxic Spikes
- Aromatherapy
- Destiny Bond
Vespiquen is usually take a physical hit (except Rock Slide/Stone Edge) and either U-turn out or Destiny Bond. Toxic Spikes and Aromatherapy fill out the move set with some utility. Vespiquen is kind of a terrible Pokemon without recovery.
Crustle
+ Dual Hazards with Weak Armor OR Sturdy
+ Shell Smash and great physical coverage
+ Knock Off
+ Good Attack stat and amazing Defense
- Weak to Water and Steel
- Vulnerable to priority, notably Shadow Sneak
- Slow
Comments: Now we're talking. After slogging through the bad and boring Bugs we finally get to look at something cool. Crustle is awesome. It can do two things, and do both those things very well. The first is set up hazards. With Focus Sash and Weak Armor, it is not uncommon to get up both Stealth Rock and one layer of Spikes. Crustle can also sweep with Shell Smash and has the coverage to break through some of the more annoying threatening types in the game. Shell Smash Crustle is a great Dynamax user, thanks to its 150 BP Max Rockfall, 130 BP Max Flutterby and 130 BP Max Quake! The extra HP from Dynamax also makes it harder to revenge kill with priority. SS Crustle unfortunately suffers greatly from being unable to deal with Mono Water. Swift Swim users are very threatening for Bug, and Barraskewda outspeeds +2 Crustle even with Webs down. Crustle will also have trouble setting up vs. Water, although Boots and Sturdy do make it possible.
Crustle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Weak Armor
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
- Rock Blast
This is a lead Crustle set. Try to get up as many hazards as you can. If they bring out something like Froslass to Taunt you, hit it with Rock Blast. Knock Off is good utility and can help against Corsola.
Crustle can also make for a formidable Dynamax sweeper. After a Shell Smash, very few Pokemon can stand to take its Max Moves. Ground+Rock+Bug is unresisted this Gen as coverage. You might want to hold off on Dynamaxing until you expect a Pokemon to hit you with priority, since the extra health may give you a chance of surviving. This set really benefits from Screens and Webs, so Ribombee or Orbeetle are excellent teammates.
Escavalier
+ Only one weakness and good defenses
+ Amazing Attack stat
+ Good physical coverage
+ Doesn't really need Heavy Duty Boots
- Agonizingly slow, even with Agility
- Really wishes it had any form of recovery aside from Rest
Comments: Escavalier is another awesome Bug-type. Escavalier has among the highest offensive potential among available Bugs; even without investment it is sporting an awesome 306 Attack! This is actually a rather big deal, since it also Escavalier to invest in its defenses without losing its offensive kick. Escavalier can function as one of the few viable defensive Bugs, although the best set is probably still Choice Band. Escavalier does have some brutal flaws though. It's only weakness is somewhat common coverage due to the strength of Mono Steel. Also watch out for Gyarados, since only Choice Band Escavalier stands a chance of threatening it. Escavalier does get Agility and Swords Dance, but from my experience is still too slow, both in actual Speed and time to set it up, to be relevant.
Escavalier @ Choice Band
Ability: Swarm
EVs: 132 HP / 252 Atk / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Megahorn
- Close Combat
Escavalier hits things so hard it prevents itself from being set-up bait. Don't be afraid to Dynamax with this. Swarm-boosted Max Flutterby will deal 50.6 - 59.8% to252/252+ Toxapex. The 124 Speed EVs will let you outspeed the likes of Toxapex and Corsola. Drill Run is an option over Close Combat, but you will notice the drop in power against most threats.
Galvantula
+ Compoundeyes Thunder still hits hard
+ Energy Ball and Giga Drain
+ Good Speed tier
+ Sticky Web
+ The most threatening Bug-type to rain teams
- Moderate Special Attack stat
- Fragile, non-Web sets really need screen support
Comments: Galvantula is effectively mandatory on Bug-teams right now simply because it is the only Bug that can consistently threaten Mono Water. It is also a good example of when I said you get to run ridiculous gimmicks to stay competitive. Galvantula gets Sticky Webs and it is still a great webber, but Galvantula's services are needed in a more sweeper-focused role. With Webs down and an Agility boost, the only Pokemon that can reasonably prevent Galvantula from running through Mono Water are Rotom-W and Crawdaunt. With Dynamax, even they have to be careful. Galvantula also just hits really hard with Thunder, and Bug is a lot more limited this generation with Special Attackers. It is worth noting you can use Bug Buzz and Throat Spray as a combo.
Heavy-Duty Boots are not mandatory on Galvantula, so Magnet and Throat Spray are also options. If you want to use Galvantula as a Sticky Webber, just replace Agility with Sticky Web and change the nature to Timid. With Webs down and Agility, Galvantula is going to be outspeeding just about everything. Galvantula has very strong max moves too; setting up Max Lightning for your Thunder spam might not be a bad idea in some match-ups. Watch out for Aqua Jet Crawdaunt or, even more rare, Aqua Jet Barraskweda. Also Dragon will forever be the bane of your existence, since Duruladon, Dragapult, and Kommo-o will stop you cold.
Accelgor
+ Speedy boi
+ Throat Spray and Unburden cheese
+ Spikes and Final Gambit
- Frail
- Special coverage is missing some key moves
- Doesn't really help vs. most important match-ups
Comments: A It can still do Spikes and Final Gambit to potentially take out a very threatening Pokemon, but that's it. With Webs down, Throat Spray and Unburden, Accelgor can outspeed a lot of threats. Unfortunately its coverage options are garbage for what it needs to threaten. Against Water, even Max Strike and Max Quake will not be getting through Gyarados and Toxapex respectively at +1. Against Ghost, Accelgor literally has no coverage options aside from Mud Shot. And against Steel it still needs to rely on Focus Blast, while also being revenge killed by Durant or walled back by Bronzong. If Accelgor got Electric or special Dark coverage, it would probably be pretty good. As of right now, its stuck in the barely usable limbo.
Accelgor @ Throat Spray
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Bug Buzz
- Spikes
- Encore
- Final Gambit
Accelgor is fast and has decent HP for Final Gambit. If unfortunately still gets outsped by some Scarfers, such as Excadrill and Gyarados, but that is where Throat Spray comes in. Once you get your Unburden boost, you can throw your Accelgor into the fray for its last hurrah. If you are fortunate, you can get a layer of Spikes up along the way.
Durant
+ First Impression
+ Great typing
+ Not reliant on Heavy-Duty Boots
+ Great Speed tier and Attack
+ Decent Defense despite low HP
+ Amazing coverage
+ Hustle
- Low Special bulk
- Currently cannot use Hone Claws
- Can't run all the moves it wants in a single set
- Hustle
Comments: The unequivocal best Bug. Durant is the most threatening Bug-type in the game right now due to First Impression and how Dynamax works. Since Max moves have perfect accuracy, Durant gets all the power at none of the cost of Hustle. With Webs, there are many match-ups that simply yield to the face of Dynamaxed Durant. It also has a very good typing and can switch in safely on a some physical moves. Durant's biggest problem is it really wants 5 moveslot. You need First Impression and Iron Head, but you also really want Superpower, Crunch, and Thunder Fang. When teambuilding, the rest of your team often depends on whatever Durant's last two moves are. It is simply that influential in shaping the Mono Bug meta. With all that is great about Durant, sometimes you just miss First Impression and lose the game. If you want to be a lil' bitch, you can run Swarm.
Durant @ Life Orb
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- First Impression
- Iron Head
- Thunder Fang
- Crunch
This set trades a better match-up vs. Steel for the ability to hit Gyarados and Toxapex. Crunch can run through Ghost, especially as Max Darkness since it goes through King's Shield. Watch out for Clear Body Dragapult though. First Impression can outright KO a lot of stuff, including Seismitoad and Galarian Darmanitan. This is the Pokemon you build your team around. Admire its splendor, and weep when you miss due to Hustle.
Vikavolt
+ Stupidly powerful
+ Sticky Web
+ Slow Volt Switch
+ Levitate is always good
+ Dangerous sweeper after an Agility
- Defense is okay, but not super bulky
- Still too slow after an Agility to deal with Water
Comments: Vikavolt has such a high Special Attack you don't even need to really invest in it. That works out well, because it serves as a decent check to some physical sweepers with its okay Defense and Thunder Wave. Vikavolt is the best of the slow pivots, largely because it also can set up Sticky Web. In a lot of ways it is a better web setter than Galvantula, although that Bug/Electric-type has other things to be doing now. Vikavolt can also fit into a sweeper role with Agility and Throat Spray Bug Buzz. This set is not reliable vs. Water due to its low Speed, but it will run through almost everything else with ease. Not a terrible Pokemon by any stretch.
Vikavolt @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunder Wave
- Bug Buzz
- Sticky Web
Vikavolt is a decent defensive Web setter and pivot. Thunder Wave absolutely ruins some Pokemon, like Dragapult and Galarian Darmanitan. You can tank an unboosted Max Aistream from Gyarados and smack it will Volt Switch too.
A very threatening sweeper with proper support. You will want Sticky Webs and probably screens too, but with +2 Speed,+1 SpA and Dynamax almost nothing can stop this.Max Overgrowth has a staggering 140 BP for some reason, meaning even the likes of Hippowdon will fall to this monster. The biggest threats to you will be Mono Dragon and Swift Swim Barraskewda.
Ribombee
+ Fastest Sticky Web users
+ Dual screens
+ Quiver Dance + Throat Spray Bug Buzz
+ STAB Moonblast helps a ton vs. Dragon
- Abilities are pretty useless
- Exploitable weaknesses
- Very frail
- Lacks key coverage as a sweeper
Comments: Ribombee is exceptional in a lot of ways and very lacking in others. On the one hand, it can quickly get up Webs and Screens. On the other hand, it has some very glaring weaknesses vs. common types and sweepers. As a Quiver Dancer, it gets Bug Buzz and Throat Spray in addition to Moonblast, meaning it doesn't fear the likes of Dragapult and Kommo-o. On the other hand, it is stopped cold by Aegislash and other Steel-types. Of those two roles, Ribombee fits better in the Screener support role. The Quiver Dance set can sweep through Mono Water, but Ribombee has less immediate presence as Galvantula and is way more Dynamax reliant to do so.
Ribombee @ Light Clay
Ability: Shield Dust
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Sticky Web
- U-turn
Ribombee faces competition with Orbeetle, but has the advantage of being way faster than most Taunt users. If you think you can get away with both screens you can try, but always prioritize Sticky Web. There are very few match-ups that Sticky Web is less important than screens. Moonblast is an option instead of U-turn if you are really scared of Kommo-o.
This set falls flat vs. the likes of Aegislash and Excadrill, but it can otherwise potentially sweep with Dynamax. With Sticky Webs down, Modest Ribombee will still outspeed pretty much everything relevant at +1 Speed. Heavy-Duty Boots are an option for this set as well, but you really want to try and get the SpA boost from Throat Spray in order to break through other Dynamax Pokemon, particularly Gyarados. Orbeetle is an excellent partner for this set.
Araquanid
+ Still hits hard with Water moves
+ Sticky Web
+ Amazing Special Defense
+ Has a good match-up vs Ground
+ In THEORY does well vs Gyarados-less Water
- Everything not Water STAB still hits like poopoo
- Very slow, even with Webs
Comments: Araquanid is a solid Pokemon with three very obvious problems. The first one is it is still very weak when not hitting things 4x effective or with a Water-type move. The second is it is still too slow and too weak without investment to keep up with such an offensive meta. The third, and most important, is it loses to some very common stuff. Araquanid has to fish for Scald burns vs. a lot of threats, such as Kommo-o and Cloyster, and against the monster Gyarados it has virtually no chance unless Gyara switches into Scald and gets burned. Araquanid does do very well against Mono Ground and can set up webs, which are its saving graces. Araquanid is definitely viable, but it feels way worse than before, which is going to seem like a hot-take when we get to the next Pokemon.
Araquanid @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Water Bubble
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sticky Web
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Giga Drain
Special Araquanid makes my skin crawl, but it has a better match-up vs. Water since you can Giga Drain Seismitoad and Rotom-W. Scald is also crucial for threatening physical sweepers. Ice Beam isn't super necessary, but being able to threaten Dragapult is nice.
Golisopod
+ First Impression and Sucker Punch
+ Versatile movepool
+ Incredible stats, minus Speed
+ Very bulky with Leech Life
+ Swords Dance
- Emergency Exit still sucks
- Slow
- Has trouble fitting all the moves it needs
Comments: It is hard to express how a Pokemon this bad can also be so good. A big part of it is Heavy-Duty Boots. Entry hazards were always the bane of Golisopod's existence since it is designed to switch around and hit things with First Impression. They also made it way easier for the opponent to proc Emergency Exit when you didn't want to. Boots have breathed life into what is otherwise a fairly hopeless Pokemon. Golisopod and Durant together are able to take out a lot of threats with Double First Impression; it also means you don't need to always rely on Durant for that role. Probably the biggest thing Golisopod has going for it though is a strong Sucker Punch. Mono Ghost is one of the most threatening types right now, and Golispod is one of the few Bug-types equipped to challenge it. Against Mono Ghost, it is almost better to save Dynamax for Golisopod so you can potentially get through King's Shield. Golisopod's biggest flaw is it cannot fit all the moves it needs into a set. In spite of this, it is a remarkably solid Pokemon, give it a try.
Golisopod @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Emergency Exit
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- First Impression
- Leech Life
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance
This is my personal favorite set. Not being able to fit in Water STAB really hurts, but Swords Dance Sucker Punch helps so much vs. Ghost. This set is also very good as your last Pokemon and can pull some games back with boosted Leech Life. You can forgo Swords Dance for a more direct route, adding in Liquidation or coverage like Rock Slide (for Gyarados) or Drill Run (for Toxapex).
Orbeetle
+ Sticky Web and Screens
+ Excellent Defense and Special Defense
+ Recover
+ Very wide movepool and boosting options
- Mediocre attacking stats
- Exploitable weaknesses
- Poor HP
- Best ability is Frisk
Comments: Finally we get to the new Bug-types! Orbeetle's amazing defenses are limited by its poor HP and mountain of common weaknesses. The Ghost-type weakness especially hurts. Orbeetle is one of the few Bug-types with a recovery move outside of Rest, which does help salvage its defensive potential. Orbeetle is a decent screener and webber; think of it as a slower, but way tankier Ribombee with more common weaknesses. It can also try and go offensive with Calm Mind, Stored Power, and its decent Speed stat. With Sticky Web, it can outspeed some notable threats. Orbeetle is a versatile addition to Bug, but not an exceptional one.
Orbeetle @ Light Clay
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Sticky Web
- U-turn
- Light Screen
- Reflect
Look familiar? Ribombee can run the exact same set. You can also try max Speed and Jolly on Orbeetle, but slower U-turns are so good on Mono Bug that I prefer this set.
An offensive set for Orbeetle. Calm Mind and Recover until you can blow through everything with Stored Power. Bug Buzz can hit Dark-types, but if you aren't worried about them (which you probably shouldn't be, you are Mono Bug after all) then you can replace it with Agility or Iron Defense. This set is difficult to pull off right now in such an offensive meta, but in the future if tiering choices slow things down I could see this being potentially devastating.
Centiskorch
+ Flash Fire
+ Good HP, Atk, SpA, and SpD
+ Amazing movepool, including Knock Off
+ Fire STAB is immensely helpful vs Ice and Steel
+ Speed is just good enough to use with Webs
- Near useless vs Mono Water
- Bad vs Ground and Flying
- Very common weaknesses
- Bad Defense
Comments: I think Centiskorch gets a lot of flack for being a worse Volcarona, which isn't fair since Volcarona effectively doesn't exist anymore. Centiskorch is a very useful Bug in terms team synergy. Defensively, it resists Steel and more importantly is immune to Fire, allowing you to even bait out Max Flares with impunity. Offensively, Centiskorch applies pressure to both Steel and Ice teams, both of which are fairly common (although Ice is only really threatening to Bug if it runs Cloyster.) It also has a really bizarre stat spread and can tank more special attacks than you would expect. Knock Off is also a huge bonus, allowing it annoy Corsola and hit other Ghosts. The only reason why Centiskorch isn't a top tier Bug is that the Pokemon is close to useless vs. Water and pretty bad vs. Ground and Flying. Yes, it does get Power Whip, but pretty much everything threatening on a Water team can KO it before it can use it. Overall, Centiskorch is a good Pokemon and an easy fit on most Bug teams.
Centiskorch @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leech Life
- Flare Blitz
- Knock Off
- Coil
Leech Life and Knock Off are pretty much non-negotiable, as Centiskorch needs to pseudo-recovery from Leech Life and Knock Off is too good vs. Ghost to pass up. There is a case to be made for Fire Lash instead of Flare Blitz. The last moveslot is a lot more open and can include Coil, Power Whip, or Will-o-wisp.
Frosmoth
+ Ice Scales is ridiculously good
+ Quiver Dance
+ Great SpA
+ Ice STAB and Giga Drain crush Mono Dragon and Ground
+ Speed is just good enough to use with Webs
- Absolutely terrible typing
- Bad Defense
- No recovery outside of Giga Drain healing
Comments: Frosmoth is wicked cool. Despite having fairly mediocre stats aside from its Special Attack, Frosmoth takes special attacks like a champ. I have seen it survive stuff like Flamethrower from Dragapult (it has a 12.5% chance of not being OHKOed, so I just got really lucky!) It also can help greatly against the match-up vs Mono Ground. You need to watch out for Scarf Flygon, but with webs down and a QD you can run through the rest of the team. Frosmoth unfortunately has one of the worst typings in the entire game. Two 4x weaknesses to common coverage, weak to Flying and Steel, neutral to Fighting and being unable to take physical rain-boosted Water-type moves hurt its ability to contest a lot of scary types, especially Water, Ghost, and Ice. Frosmoth also really wishes it learned Shadow Ball for Aegislash.
Pretty straightforward sweeper set here. Hurricane is definitely an option over Bug Buzz since Max Aistream has 140 BP. Bring in Frosmoth on a special attacker without a Fire or Rock move and set up. Giga Drain any Water-types you come across (except Toxapex or Ludicolo of course.)
Not surprised the weather rocks were banned again this gen. Sand Ground and Rain Water are those kind of archetypes that will be forever be strong with their core item extending their respective weather. Since Damp Rock is gone, I'm sure people will just move from bulky max Def Pelipper to Scarf again. Since it doesn't get Defog this gen, I feel Scarf is pretty much the only set it can run now (there's the occassional Specs set but eh...). I still feel like Rain Water is going to continue being strong this gen without Damp Rock thanks to Dynamax, Gyarados, and Barraskewda. I don't know, we'll have to see how things unfold as we continue to play and more meta shifts happen.
