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Gen 8 SS National Dex UU Metagame Discussion

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SS National Dex UU Discussion Thread
This thread is dedicated to the discussion of the SS National Dex UU metagame. Discussion topics span from such things as metagame developments, set innovations, and general observations you have noticed as of late. You are welcome to post anything you like as far as the metagame goes, with a few simple rules. The resources can be found from here.

Rules:
  • Do not ask simple questions here; instead, post them to our Simple Question, Simple Answer thread.
  • Do not post one-liners that contribute nothing to the discussion. We do not ask that you write giant paragraphs with each post; we simply ask that you ensure your post has substance and adds to the discussion.

Here are some prompts to help guide your thinking:
  • What are your personal favorite Pokemon to use in the metagame, and why?
  • What current cores do you find to be strong or fun to use?
  • Do you like the current metagame, or find it to be well balanced? Why or why not?

Remember that at any point, moderators have the discretion to intervene or remove posts as necessary
 
If I had to pick one pokemon out of all of UU then it would be greninja hands down. He's faster than alot of mons, ice beam goes crazy with protein and pairing that with Specs or life Orb makes it shred through some teams. I can't count how many times people have forfeited because of the specs set
 
Welcome back everyone! I'm TheShowdownHoedown, your resident Natdex UU voice! It is finally time to unload all my SS NDUU thoughts :D. What a breath of fresh air!

I think the metagame is in a solid state atm. Many different playstyles are good atm and pretty much every threat in the meta rn has enough room to checked or outplayed imo. Pretty much every friendly I've had has been some sort of fun. There isnt anything stupidly broken atm imo. Firstly, I'll go over some mons that, imo are improving or are interesting atm

:sv/cobalion:

This mon is super great and is one of our more splashable steels rn imo. You check so many important mons rn from :scizor: to :nihilego: to :hydreigon: (somewhat) as well as setting rocks pretty consistently. You have options to lure otherwise good checks like SEdge for :moltres: as well as Megahorn for :slowking: and :tangrowth: . Safety Goggles is also pretty cool to turn :amoonguss:, especially foul play ones, into fodder for SD. Its also one of the best Knock Off absorbers, having a positive MU into :scizor: as well as :bisharp: and getting a boost from Justified. SD can even fit rocks onto the set asw if u need it. Overall W mon imo.

:sv/volcanion:

Also very good rn. It is super annoying to switch into, with little resisting the STAB combo and getting worn down quickly. It is one of our better Defoggers, as u force out a lot of rockers like :rhyperior: and :hippowdon: and usually chips something very hard. the water immunity is also invaluable in a metagame with 10000 good strong waters (:urshifu-rapid-strike: :keldeo: :primarina: :rotom-wash:). cool mon.

:sv/dragonite:

This mon is potentially one of the most slept on picks rn. It doesn't have the same sweeping potential as :salamence: but u do have a much-improved time setting up due to Multiscale. The coverage issues hurt at times but STABs + Fire Punch hits most things enough. Defensive sets could also be interesting, as you have some stuff over :salamence: like Heal Bell and the aforementioned Multiscale. Explore this mon more.

:sv/diggersby:

Underrated. Choice Scarf is honestly p solid. not outspeeding :zeraora: is such an L and u lack defensive utility outside of the 2 immunities, but its a super scary mon at times. stabs are gross, movepool is very good between koff/spikes/u-turn. Interesting stuff :3

Speaking of interesting stuff, I'd like to talk about a few Pokemon that are seen as unviable by the playerbase but I believe have more than enough of a case to be used. This metagame has seen its fair share of experimentation and Ive seen that you should be very careful what you deem as garbage.

:sv/togekiss:

Stop sleeping on this. This mon has so much potential it's not even funny. Firstly, its typing is simply fantastic. You are able to check mons like :zarude: defensive variants of :salamence: :hydreigon: . You also resist the STABs of :buzzwole: and :mienshao: can throw, but be careful of the rock/ice coverage. You also are one of the best checks to :primarina: in the entire tier. Specs is a rarity and u completely take a dump upon the other sets, allowing teams it's on to breathe a sigh of relief when seeing it in the builder and have more flexibility as a result. Mon also pressures :amoonguss: :tangrowth: Checking this mon is also not as simple as it seems, as :rotom-wash: and :rotom-h: struggle to pressure it if they are not Scarf, as Togekiss is faster. It also provides valuableutility like Heal Bell, which allows teammates to take more risks as well as letting Togekiss completely curbstomp many defensive Pokemon such as :hippowdon: :slowking: :skarmory: etc;. Steels like :celesteela: and :aegislash: must worry about fire coverage if it potentially has it, and many popular steels rn like :scizor: :cobalion: are not flying resists. In fact, the former cannot OHKO with Bullet Punch unless it is at +2 or if it is Band. Usage of good checks like :nihilego: and :rhyperior: have also decreased. Revenge killing is mostly through stuff like :zeraora: :terrakion: :roserade: :manectric-mega: which are common threats but some arent that eager to switch in unless pivoted in by something else. Low-key this mon might even be good. (Theres my hot take of the day :psycry: ). Imo valuable traits and is very different from malt, who my friends have constantly compared it to for no reason asides from both being thick fairies.

:sv/dhelmise:

This one is a little spicier but whatever. This mon is very niche but has interesting applications. Mon has a lot of good attributes for spikestack, a playstyle that took off before the gen ended. Mon is able to check a lot of waters like Keld Prim and IPunch-less Shifu. It also spins and not fogs, so u keep ur own hazards. Rhyperior is also very scared of u asw. Pairs well with spikes and beneficiaries too. Is also a t-arrows resist which helps with zydog which can be annoying. interesting stuff!

Ok thats it, cya guys later ;-;
 
It's been a while since someone posted here, so I'll show some teams that I built mainly after Hydreigon was freed and talk a bit about the metagame and my building process (that is, if I still remember).

Basically, I think all my teams are quite alike. For example, all of them have a poison-type, since these pokemons are usually really great overall and can be used as a special sponge, while also keeping Altaria-M and sub/toxic Aegis at check, the main ones in this tier are Amoonguss, Nihilego, Nidoqueen, Roserade and Slowbro-G. Another role that I find important in this tier is being able to deal with Rotom-W, grass-types were the main ways to keep them at check but now with Hydreigon it's easier to forgo them and it is also a great fit on more offensive teams.

About the metagame there's not much to be said as no tour happened since last year but there's some mons that I see a lot of potential. Diggersby is an incredible scarfer, being able to revenge kill a lot of stuff and make progress with knock off or spikes and regain momentum with u-turn, although being a ground-type affects it since in most teams you'd rather not go with double ground, but it's still really great. Hydreigon is an incredible pokemon, being able to act as a revenge killer with scarf or wallbreaker with specs or life orb sets, it's essential that you have a way to absorb its attacks and rk it, mons like Hippo, Nihi, Altaria-M, Primarina, Swampert, Cobalion,Amoonguss and Mienshao can absorb some of the hits but it's important to have more than one check to it. Hippowdon imo is one of the best, if not the best, pokemon in the tier, it's ability to keep so many things at check while setting rocks and having a reliable recovery makes it really annoying to break, ofc there are a lot of ways to punish it, since it's a very predictable mon but I still find it an extremely effective pokemon.

:Hydreigon: :Roserade: :Swampert: :Scizor: :Zeraora: :Buzzwole:

:Hydreigon: :Nihilego: :Diggersby: :Tangrowth: :Aegislash: :Rotom-Wash:

:Primarina: :Skarmory: :Scizor: :Hydreigon: :Nidoqueen: :Azelf:

:Crobat: :Cobalion: :Bisharp: :Nihilego: :Rotom-Wash: :Tangrowth: (Idk if I ever used this one honestly)

The next 3 follow a very similar structure:

:Primarina: :Cobalion: :Amoonguss: :Hippowdon: :Moltres: :Diggersby:

:Primarina: :Cobalion: :Tangrowth: :Nihilego: :Moltres: :Diggersby:

:Primarina: :Cobalion: :Amoonguss: :Hippowdon: :Moltres: :Hydreigon:
 
:Hydreigon: Gen 8 National Dex UU: How it Holds Up:Urshifu:
Gen 8 National Dex UU, once the tier that could, including bringing myself in. While it's a bit disappointing to see that not much input has been put into developing it since, I do believe that with some time as a community, we are fully capable of bringing the tier back to activity. So I have decided to make this post for everybody with the hopes of bringing some life and exploration into the meta we have today. Enjoy!

Metagame
The meta so far is honestly pretty good, but could be better. Lots of teams are characterized by an emphasis on facilitating offense right now, which mostly finds itself carried by the prime breakers in the tier. BO is usually the most consistent style in this regard, which finds itself contributing to a balanced gamestate most of the time. The introduction of Hydreigon as another prominent breaker along with Spikestackers rising has definitely changed the way defense is played however - lots of teams end up gravitating towards residual damage to help combat the flow of offense, while using Regenerator and Boots mons to help scout and limit their effectiveness altogether, I think this is a reasonable development which shines light on more previously underutilized options.

My comments on other playstyles are that hyper offense is still extremely powerful, mostly in its standard all-out form but also with other variations such as Hail and Webs also becoming more and more optimized. Stall has unfortunately been on the backseat for a while now, I find that it's biggest issue tends to be its inability to cover all the threats it needs to (largely consisting of Z-Abusers, but more on that sometime), along with struggling to accompany all the utility it needs to function long-term, making its reward too low for the risk involved.

With that said, here are a few individual components of the current meta that I think are worth touching on for their importance -

:zeraora:, :hydreigon::urshifu::choice scarf: (:mienshao:)

The holy grail of speed control options where compression otherwise feels limited. Seconding a bunch of people who mentioned it near the end here, but Zeraora has very much proven itself at the top of the list as of late. This mon's consistency and compression with its Boots set alone is absolutely absurd and should be taken as meta-defining on a lot of teams, is capable of opening up a ton of opportunities with a lot of traditional breakers given its excellent synergy and how easily it wears everything down with just Knock + fast Toxic, while being incredibly easy to get into position with given the litany of attacking options present.

Hydreigon currently gets used a lot for its Scarf set due to its ability to cover most of the meta through its STABs alone and how much of a nuke Draco is, it typically finds itself as the backbone for a lot of slower teams as well, which also benefit significantly from its ability to compress fast hazard removal on these teams. Urshifu comes off as a rather surprising one, even towards me to say the least. The thing's ability to act as a revenge killer can only be described as incredible. Nothing in the tier ploughs through everything effectively as Surging Strikes does, on top of being highly potent at grabbing momentum because of the threat factor it possesses. Its Physbulk is also immense to the extent that it's not uncommon for it to act as a switch to find opportunities to clean up offense either, with mons like Terrakion, Scizor, and even M-Sharpedo (because of Unseen Fist) being common openings.

Special s/os would have to go to Mienshao, it's still very solid as a Scarfer given its speed tier, longevity, and access to Knock Off + U-turn. It's just held back from being more splashable given its inability to cover all the offensive threats it needs to outside coverage, and the LO sets usually being far more successful, hence being outside top 3 for speed control. Diggersby is also quite potent as one, although its lack of speed vs Zeraora along with its moves being more exploitable (with immunities) to lock into can certainly be more annoying to account for than expected.

:aegislash:

I'd like to start this off by prefacing that Aegislash is still extremely dominant, arguably so to the point where it's the best mon in the current meta due to its extreme versatility. Lots of teams in general struggle to stand up to repeated Ghost STAB, which itself is only taken one-step further with the pool of options it has to choose from to enable gameplans; SubTox remains immortal, and other sets like Mixed and SD are also very deadly with their ability to lure in common switchins to it, forcing certain answers to account for various speed benchmarks it occupies hasn't helped its case either. Aegi in general very much accounts for the majority of SpDef Steel + Dark pivot-based teams I've been using as of late, which is abnormally high considering the heavily exploitable nature of the former and severe lack of the latter, a restriction on building that i'd argue is also mostly compounded by:

:slowbro-galar:

The other mon I'd keep my eye on. Very solid wincon at that also doubles as an effective status spreader. This guy alone isn't broken though, opportunities against it are higher than they should be atm, weaknesses denying it setup are exacerbated with residual damage everywhere whereas offense greatly appreciates the revitalization of FuturePort to help play around it. It's just really good at enabling other breakers given their shared propensity which is a bit annoying, and it certainly tears down on a lot of previously conventional balance squads like they're nothing.

Finishing this section off, I'll post a compilation of miscellaneous sets that I've used, but don't really warrant being categorized elsewhere.
:sv/hydreigon:
Hydreigon @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Roost

Mostly re-addressing this set on the account that we probably left the meta too early for this guy to be realized, but with most fairies sitting in the backseat and a lot of standard checks adapted to choiced, it only feels right that NP finally comes out to play. NP is what I call Hydreigon's answer to a mesh of pivoting (especially with Regenerator) and Protect spam, the set doesn't end here however; Flamethrower is solid coverage to catch Cobalion while also super-effectively hitting grasses and Celesteela; Draco gives Hydreigon a nice immediate answer to a lot of the offensive threats that may try to pivot into a weaker Dark Pulse. Similar to Z-Aegislash in the sense that Hydreigon is almost always able to enable a well-built team by removing something, I think teams these days could much appreciate an offensive opener as potent as it, only otherwise held back by the necessities that Scarf sets have to offer.


:sv/rotom-wash:
Rotom-Wash @ Electrium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 232 HP / 188 SpA / 88 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Pain Split

I'm not the person behind Z-Electric to be exact, it was brought up during NDPL III for factors which I consider to be quite intuitive for the current meta. You're normally able to take advantage of Rotom-W with pivots like Slowking given its low output should there be a double switch. However, with the threat of being KOed, not anymore. EVs are optimised to ensure Z-Thunder OHKOes Slowking and Celesteela outside protect.

Para chances from Thunder in conjunction with extra SpA investment also works to help surprise things such as Salamence and opposing Rotoms, and I think that itself makes Rotom worth a Z-Slot where it normally wouldn't.


:sv/keldeo:
Keldeo @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 88 HP / 104 SpA / 64 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Scald
- Secret Sword
- Calm Mind

SubCM has existed before, but with the rise of Regenerator spam in conjunction with setup opportunities granted by its typing vs common scarfers and walls means this could become the new go-to in areas where Specs has been up the creek for a while. Said EVs ensure +2 Substitutes aren't broken by Amoonguss, effectively minimizing the hax factor against it. Not much else to elaborate on other than that I think Keldeo in general is solid for skewing momentum vs a ton of builds currently.


:sv/aegislash:
Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 244 HP / 40 Atk / 120 SpA / 96 SpD / 8 Spe
Brave Nature
- Toxic
- Shadow Ball
- Close Combat
- King's Shield

This ver. is hilarious. Chinese EVs to OHKO Hydreigon after rocks with CC and 2HKO Zeraora, rest in SpDef and originally endorsed by sealoo x Danbear02. Still unfortunately the easiest to force out and slowest to make any real progress though, it just tends to be BO's most common way of fitting it out of necessity for its defensive utility as one of the few good defensive steels so I don't rate the 2A Tox sets too highly.


:sv/cobalion:
Cobalion @ Any
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
- Volt Switch

Cobalion has been quite good for a while now, fast defensive pivot that usually provides a ton of solid role compression via its typing and utility options. However, where my hot take of running SD 2 Attacks + Volt Switch comes in, you keep the fundamental traits of Cobalion's defensive roles, yet take it one step further in an interaction I find to be rather underutilized; its ability to punish lazy defensive cores reliant on soaking up the utility sets momentum to limit its effectiveness. This also goes in hand with most of the items you'd prefer to run, especially Z-Moves but Safety Googles and Leftovers also potentially find their way someplace as well. Having SD is also otherwise good at keeping Scizor at bay, and generally does a good job at picking apart teams which struggle to scratch its bulk in the endgame.

Tl:dr Don't just think of it as being a simple momentum grab outside setup, think of it as being the key to facilitating setup vs passive teams.


:sv/arctozolt:
Arctozolt @ Icium Z
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Bolt Beak
- Freeze-Dry
- Icicle Crash
- Substitute
*Icicle Crash > Blizzard due to its better damage output against defensive targets, notably vs AV Tang Amoonguss, Roserade, Hippowdon .etc

Hail has generally been a hot topic of discussion lately, and for reasons to believe. We've absolutely seen some potential with it over the years, with it occasionally showing up in tours and community play. The recent innovation I'd like to showcase was brought up in the cord a while ago - Z-Ice manages to provide Arctozolt with two things which it sorely lacks otherwise, an immediate pressure tool against bulkier walls looking to stall out Hail turns, and a way to immediately dent the fast electrics that roam the tier, which often pose a threat to Hail teams. The ability for BoltBeam to hit nearly the entire tier for neutral damage also ensures Sub can continue to be used effectively on it, giving a way to abuse forced switches while making it easier to target said mons.

Overall a good tool for reinforcing Arcto's consistency, especially against those anchored by the Hippo and its Sand Stream.


Viability Rankings
My thoughts are that the previous VR had quite a few promising changes to boot, if a bit underexplored given the strict timeline post-NDPL.

However, one thing that does come to mind is the rather underwhelming representation of the upper rankings in comparison, notably how I would categorize them and the general criteria of mons within each boundary. To be exact, i would like to see the upper boundaries be more specific.

So to keep things short, here's a personal VR I made to reflect most of my thoughts.
S Rank
:aegislash: Aegislash
:zeraora: Zeraora


S- Rank:
:scizor: Scizor


A+ Rank:
:celesteela: Celesteela
:hippowdon: Hippowdon
:mienshao: Mienshao
:primarina: Primarina
:rotom-wash: Rotom-Wash
:hydreigon: Hydreigon
:urshifu: Urshifu-Rapid Strike

A Rank:
:Azelf: Azelf
:amoonguss: Amoonguss
:buzzwole: Buzzwole
:dragonite: Dragonite
:keldeo:
Keldeo
:nihilego: Nihilego
:roserade: Roserade
:salamence: Salamence
:skarmory: Skarmory
:slowbro-galar: Slowbro-Galar
:slowking: Slowking
:Tangrowth: Tangrowth
:terrakion: Terrakion
:zarude: Zarude

A- Rank:
:cobalion: Cobalion
:altaria-mega: Mega Altaria
:manectric-mega: Mega Manectric

:sharpedo-mega: Mega Sharpedo
:volcanion: Volcanion


B+ Rank:
:bisharp: Bisharp
:deoxys-defense: Deoxys-Defense
:mamoswine: Mamoswine
:aggron-mega: Mega Aggron
:nidoqueen: Nidoqueen
:reuniclus: Reuniclus
:Rhyperior: Rhyperior
:krookodile: Krookodile
:swampert: Swampert
:tapu bulu: Tapu Bulu
:zygarde-10%: Zygarde-10%

B Rank:
:chandelure: Chandelure
:diggersby: Diggersby
:hatterene: Hatterene
:steelix-mega: Mega Steelix
:nidoking: Nidoking
:rotom-heat: Rotom-Heat

:tentacruel: Tentacruel

Here's a brief explanation for the most notable changes:
:aegislash::zeraora: Aegislash and Zeraora are easy #1 and #2 for me respectively. Shouldn't be too much of a surprise considering the incredibly high bar which they've been setting in the teambuilder post-Seasonals. Both have the potential to find their way onto almost everything too.

:scizor:This is mostly typing in response to N_Mareanie from a while back, but I find Scizor's palatability to be only matched by the few remaining ways in which it can still be utilized. Given, the meta around it continues more offensive, with teams mostly revolving around the likes of Zeraora, Scarf Urshifu and Hydreigon, and other fast options which aim to stay resilent in the face of residual damage. So what else remains for Scizor to be ranked this high? - Simple, the offensive nature of this meta and the Scizor's ability to adapt its place into it. PhysDef Boots sets are a nice way of standing up to the various attackers used to chip it down, best leveraging Scizor's ability to outstall them by dodging crucial KO benchmarks to uphold its presence as a consistent sweeping threat. Many of the aforementioned checks also detest Knock Off's removal to the extent that U-turn sets have also become crucial enabler for most of the aforementioned Pokemon, opportunities further supported given Scizor's persistently great matchups into the likes of Nihilego, Hippowdon, Terrakion, Mega Altaria, Zarude .etc, which it opts to make progress against.

The other counterclaim I'd like to delve into highlights the nature of common counterplay options cited against it. To put it bluntly; most of these options (exceptions arguably being SD Cobalion and Wisp Rotom) are just downright flawed to terrible into other important matchups - Skarmory absolutely cannot afford to drop Toxic for Iron Defense on most teams given that its a major source of its viability outside of balance by actively threatening common Defoggers, whereas Buzzwole often struggles with dropping coverage in favor of Bulk Up, likewise leaving it vulnerable to late-game SD Scizor where CC struggles to break through it. This unrealistic illusion of counterplay commonly identified is such that on the other side of things, many teams often delegate extensive resources to not lose to Scizor, with it still finding prominent openings to justify its place on all sorts of teams as follows. Overall despite being phased out in dominance by Aegislash and Zeraora, its still a huge threat with few pronounced counterplay options and I find that it remains a magnitude above the other A+ mons in the tier.

:altaria-mega:M-Altaria just sucks... unfortunately. Difficult to fit defensively due to its hazards susceptibility and inconsistent typing against even things it should be resisting in theory, like band shifu-rs, while its offensive sets suffer from huge moveslot issues (drop EQ -> lose to poisons, drop fire coverage -> lose to Scizor, Amoonguss and Tang, struggle vs Celesteela and Moltres regardless). 3a sets are probably alright but in a weird spot where they just don't accomplish much that Salamence and Hydreigon can't whilst being less jank into everything else. I think A- is a bit harsh but fitting for a mon that otherwise doesn't really have anything tangible to come together with at the moment.

:reuniclus: Vastly benefits from the increased prominence of hazard stacking over Glowbro and a much better enabler with its superior firepower + ability to knock on some sets.

:krookodile: It's not just a weak scarfer or a throwaway rocker that struggles to compress everything it wants to anymore. Utility sets are actually pretty pronounced when forcing two of the best mons to dance around it. Z-Moves (Z-Ground) also do a pretty decent job of offsetting its passivity.

Some other quick thoughts regarding the others are that Noivern, Ribombee, and Hail probably deserve to rise, Togekiss and Dhelmise should both be considered for a rank, although I'm not really sure where. My biggest take is honestly that Celesteela barely makes it in the top 10, a lot of its strength felt like it used to come from being able to click what it wants to, but with the increasing resilience teams have towards residual damage these days, along with most dedicated offensive threats being prepared to handle it (Aegislash outside SubTox, Scizor, Primarina, Fightings etc), means it just isn't as encompassing as it used to be.

I'd also add that Slowking is still a solid pivot with enormous defensive flexibility, has much more consistent Future Sight abusers to work with along with being genuinely annoying to switch into; it's just barred by its reliance on Teleport and inability to occupy all the tools it needs to.

Teams
The pool of teams provided by others and samples are great to see from a perspective of competitiveness, I'll do my part and post a couple of the extra teams that I've used recently.

---

To conclude, we've come a long way from the opening we had originally, whether it was M-Scizor Dragmag (yes it was here), pre-Latias ban, back when we had Blissey, to so much more. Obviously, what I've decided to share here certainly isn't all there is either, lots of other potential structures and mons are still out there - only that I look forward to who may be around to help with this by the time we ourselves may get there. As a whole, I value the meta for its enjoyable aspects, most of them contribute to the unique identity that the tier has formed over the years, and I think that's enough reason to appreciate Gen 8 NDUU and what we could do moving forward to improve it.

I've also seen some talk regarding the potential for this tier to receive another forum tour so I'll try and chip in here. Generally speaking, I am in strong support of this to help advance the meta. Perhaps abstaining it from this years’ circuit could help alleviate the difficulty of implementing one?
 
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:ss/celesteela:

The Fall of Celesteela

Celesteela in UU has always been an outstanding phenomenon, to say the least. From being a superstar in SM OU capable of holding off the various Psychics such as Tapu Lele and Alakazam (banned!), to being quite capable in other areas given its outstanding support movepool, coveted defensive typing, and respectable bulk nonetheless, it only seemed fair that it would be poised for greatness down the road. Hell, even dropping to UU in the subsequent generation barely phased it, as Celesteela continued to consistently excel down there in both defensive and offensive guises following DLC buffs, to where several even considered it broken near the end of the generation.

So why the shock of suddenly naming this post: The Fall of Celesteela? That largely tends to interpretations justified as true change. While I feel that Celesteela is still quite the effective presence in the metagame, it just doesn't come to me as an all-defining threat, very much unlike the way it perhaps used to be seen. I've mentioned previously that Celesteela is probably on the verge of dropping to the top 10, or even outside of that on a hypothetical VR for the current metagame. Suffice to say, for all of Celesteela's on-paper merits previously prevalent, I only feel that lately, several key factors continue to impact its placement to where it has fallen off significantly as a whole. Yet, my thought behind said aspects contribute to the point where I'd like to share my stance and interest on the subject altogether. So, let's break it down in particular.

#1 Underwhelming Defensive Value
Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Leech Seed
- Heavy Slam
- Protect / Toxic
- Flamethrower

Defensive Celesteela is often known to teams as indicated by suffix - it's a bulky stat stick that aims to make the most of Celesteela's defensive traits to act as a stop to various offensive threats, all while making progress with its other utility tools. Leech Seed is potent for its ability to force often irrecoverable damage that threatens to hasten the progress of said offensive threat, especially when captialising on it its powerful options in Heavy Slam (almost always 120 BP) and potentially Toxic. Even outside of Leech Seed, it could leverage its own longevity effectively in the right circumstances with its Spikes immunity and the recovery aided by Protect + Leftovers.

A large part of what I feel contributes to Celesteela's defensive sets lacking integrity at the moment simply lies in the context of the metagame present, to where I find that it can often feel comparatively underwhelming and overshadowed by more sustainable options as a whole. Yes, it can avoid 2HKOes from huge swaths of the offensive metagame, but the issue largely remains where other defensive picks are better at keeping up with the arms race. Nowadays, Celesteela's lack of instant recovery is something I find to consistently limit its ability to stand up to these threats long-term, especially when compounded by other picks teams commonly build around to support said threats such as Swampert and Krookodile often minimizing its presence. With all of Scizor, Aegislash, Salamence, Hydreigon, Primarina, Zarude, and Nidoqueen often teaming up or adapting movesets to overwhelm it, help enable other offensive Pokemon such as Zeraora and Urshifu-RS likewise poised to force it out, or both. The banning of several Pokemon that it more comfortably checked, such as Moltres-Galar and Alakazam. hasn't helped much with this either, as it also gave direction to several attackers used to replace them, ones with additional tools to better handle Celesteela over other special walls. Notably Nasty Plot + Fire Blast / Pivot Azelf, Keldeo in general, and Calm Mind Slowbro-Galar rising as examples. This dilutes Celesteela's ability to serve the role of a check to specific types of Pokemon it would have no issue against otherwise.

Speaking of other defensive Pokemon, that itself also presents another major issue. It wants to act as the team's wall against several of the aforementioned threats. Yet to do so, consistently demands a much slower, passive approach that I feel is incredibly out of place for the specifics of the metagame. Contrast this with other special walls themselves, such as AV Tangrowth, Slowking, and even more SpDef Rotom-Wash sets which have been popping up lately as an effective navigation around current styles of offense. The issue here is two-fold in particular - Not only do these Pokemon feel more effective in said as a result of their better auxiliary options (Knock Off, FuturePort, Defog + Volt Switch, threatening burns .etc), and access to instant longevity, but also come with the extra caveat of being able to take advantage of defensive Celesteela's passivity. Combine the presence of these powerful enablers with the aforementioned threats Celesteela is constantly tasked with switching into overtime, and it just comes off as if defensive sets don't make much progress while remaining a sitting duck for dangerous offensive setups at most.

Overall, while defensive Celesteela certainly has its high points, I almost feel as if the role it wants to play is consistently overshadowed by more effective choices and teamstyles about, to the extent I don't find it to be worth investing for much.


#2 Offensive Sets and why they're lacking
Celesteela @ Power Herb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 8 HP / 248 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Autotomize
- Meteor Beam
- Air Slash
- Flamethrower

I mention sets* as plural under the pretence of potential variation, but the combination of Autotomize + Meteor Beam mostly remains as the elephant in the room of Offensive Celesteela. It was threatening due to consistently finding setup opportunities against Pokemon such as Hippowdon and M-Altaria along with its bulk and hax factor with Air Slash, which could open itself up. It swept on plenty of occasions, including major tournaments such as SSNLs and NDPL as a result. The ability to boost its SpA for every KO with Beast Boost also didn't help matters much in regards to this either.

:zeraora::manectric-mega: | :hydreigon::urshifu::mienshao::rotom-wash: (:choice scarf:)

And, yeah... despite what I've said, the pool of faster Pokemon that still threaten to revenge kill it is quite extreme, owing to Celesteela's extremely low speed stat which leaves it vulnerable after an Autotomize, or in the case of the Electrics, an inability to both setup and boost before being KOed by them.

Obviously, this wouldn't be as bad if Celesteela could consistently preserve its health to keep out of range from these natural aggressors. However, said circumstances are something I find to be extremely faint in practice, if because you also have an extremely tough time KOing most defensive Pokemon before they can deal sufficient damage back.

:aegislash: Aegislash :aegislash:
248+ SpA Celesteela Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Aegislash-Both: 140-166 (53.6 - 63.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 248+ SpA Celesteela Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Aegislash-Both: 210-248 (80.4 - 95%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
248+ SpA Celesteela Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Aegislash-Both: 140-166 (43.2 - 51.2%) -- 5.9% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+1 248+ SpA Celesteela Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Aegislash-Both: 210-248 (64.8 - 76.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252 SpA Aegislash-Both Shadow Ball vs. 8 HP / 0 SpD Celesteela: 138-163 (40.9 - 48.3%) -- 71.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ SpA Aegislash-Both Shadow Ball vs. 8 HP / 0 SpD Celesteela: 151-178 (44.8 - 52.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Aegislash-Both Close Combat vs. 8 HP / 0 Def Celesteela: 148-175 (43.9 - 51.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Aegislash-Both Never-Ending Nightmare (140 BP) vs. 8 HP / 0 Def Celesteela: 259-306 (76.8 - 90.8%) -- 25% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock (KOes after subsequent Shadow Sneak)

:rotom-wash: Rotom-Wash :Rotom-Wash:
+1 248+ SpA Celesteela Meteor Beam vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-Wash: 177-209 (58.2 - 68.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 248+ SpA Celesteela Air Slash vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-Wash: 83-98 (27.3 - 32.2%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 248+ SpA Celesteela Meteor Beam vs. 252 HP / 168+ SpD Rotom-Wash: 138-163 (45.3 - 53.6%) -- 1.2% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 248+ SpA Celesteela Air Slash vs. 252 HP / 168+ SpD Rotom-Wash: 64-76 (21 - 25%) -- possible 5HKO

0 SpA Rotom-Wash Volt Switch vs. 8 HP / 0 SpD Celesteela: 156-186 (46.2 - 55.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
(Rotom-Wash also occasionally runs Pain Split/Thunder Wave, which can single-handily shut down Celesteela by itself if not weakened)

:primarina: Primarina :primarina:
+1 248+ SpA Celesteela Meteor Beam vs. 252 HP / 124+ SpD Primarina: 135-159 (37 - 43.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 248+ SpA Celesteela Air Slash vs. 252 HP / 124+ SpD Primarina: 127-150 (34.8 - 41.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

0 SpA Primarina Scald vs. 8 HP / 0 SpD Celesteela: 105-124 (31.1 - 36.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock
+1 0 SpA Primarina Scald vs. 8 HP / 0 SpD Celesteela: 156-184 (46.2 - 54.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

:moltres: Moltres :moltres:
+1 248+ SpA Celesteela Air Slash vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Moltres: 201-237 (62.6 - 73.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 248+ SpA Celesteela Air Slash vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Moltres: 267-315 (83.1 - 98.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Moltres Flamethrower vs. 8 HP / 0 SpD Celesteela: 284-336 (84.2 - 99.7%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

:slowking: Slowking :slowking:
+1 248+ SpA Celesteela Meteor Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 127-150 (32.2 - 38%) -- 96.7% chance to 3HKO
+1 248+ SpA Celesteela Air Slash vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 118-141 (29.9 - 35.7%) -- 35.1% chance to 3HKO
+2 248+ SpA Celesteela Air Slash vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 159-187 (40.3 - 47.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

0 SpA Slowking Scald vs. 8 HP / 0 SpD Celesteela: 85-102 (25.2 - 30.2%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
(Slowking occasionally runs Thunder Wave too, but can otherwise Teleport out into a faster revenge killer after chipping it with Scald or otherwise. HDB + Regenerator also allows it to switch in multiple times throughout a game.)

:Salamence: Salamence :Salamence:
+1 248+ SpA Celesteela Air Slash vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Salamence: 211-250 (63.7 - 75.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 248+ SpA Celesteela Air Slash vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Salamence: 282-333 (85.1 - 100.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

252 SpA Salamence Flamethrower vs. 8 HP / 0 SpD Celesteela: 174-206 (51.6 - 61.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(What should also be worth addressing is how Meteor Beam usage can be played around; as Celesteela often needs to use it to gain SpA against potential teammates, this makes said calcs against Salamence and Moltres realistic where Power Herb is not prevalent.)

:Slowbro-galar: Slowbro-Galar (:assault vest:) :slowbro-galar:
+1 248+ SpA Celesteela Meteor Beam vs. 252 HP / 240 SpD Assault Vest Slowbro-Galar: 125-148 (31.7 - 37.5%) -- 90.4% chance to 3HKO
+1 248+ SpA Celesteela Air Slash vs. 252 HP / 240 SpD Assault Vest Slowbro-Galar: 118-139 (29.9 - 35.2%) -- 22.6% chance to 3HKO
+2 248+ SpA Celesteela Air Slash vs. 252 HP / 240 SpD Assault Vest Slowbro-Galar: 157-186 (39.8 - 47.2%) -- 43.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

16+ SpA Slowbro-Galar Flamethrower vs. 8 HP / 0 SpD Celesteela: 144-170 (42.7 - 50.4%) -- 93.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

:nidoqueen: Nidoqueen :nidoqueen:
+1 248+ SpA Celesteela Air Slash vs. 120 HP / 0 SpD Nidoqueen: 202-238 (57.5 - 67.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 248+ SpA Celesteela Air Slash vs. 120 HP / 0 SpD Nidoqueen: 268-316 (76.3 - 90%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoqueen Thunderbolt vs. 8 HP / 0 SpD Celesteela: 250-296 (74.1 - 87.8%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoqueen Fire Blast vs. 8 HP / 0 SpD Celesteela: 307-361 (91 - 107.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

As such, Offensive Celesteela can often struggle to get going against a healthy team, let alone one in semi-decent shape which can be leveraged with other longevity-focused tools previously mentioned. When choosing among which offensive threat to synergize with each other, such as other Steels in Aegislash/Scizor with more immediate power or other faster options in LO Salamence, this is where I find it to struggle with slots as minimally affordable as HO. It's defensive role is simply not valuable enough to justify it over other choices while failing to be as effective as them.


#3 What else is there for Celesteela?

So, as of now. This post highlights a pretty negative characterisation of Celesteela in the current metagame, owing to metagame changes, general exploration and adaption of previously seen team structures, and the like. So, what can Celesteela do?

Well for starters, I'll admit I haven't touched on enough of Celesteela's defensive attributes in a more positive context, including those over its Steel-type breatheren in Skarmory. For all my emphasis on its liabilities and the fact that it's simply not broken, Autotomize sets still retain great defensive use on an otherwise inconsistent playstyle, despite the competition from Balloon sets of Aegi, its profile and ability to set up in front of the likes of opposing threats (Scizor, M-Altaria, LO Salamence) and passive damage spreaders (Hippowdon, Defensive Nido) remains invaluable gives it a solid medium to regrab momentum and keep the offensive ball rolling for its teammates instead.

Defensive sets could also potentially see more use through its pairing with other potential teammates. Celesteela's nifty special bulk could serve as an effective anchor to more balance playstyles featuring specially defensive Grounds such as Hippowdon and Gastrodon, notably those with great auxiliary features that allow them to supplement and redirect Celesteela's ability to spread passive damage, all while aiding it in the mutual effort to check what its supposed to - In return, Celesteela's Toxic immunity and ability to blanket various special threats in SubToxic Aegislash and Hydreigon make this more appealing where they'd struggle. Even Mixed Defense spreads could see some use on these structures, allowing it to withstand hits from Pokemon such as SD Aegi and Mamoswine effectively as well, thus alleviating a great deal of pressure for its team itself.

Overall, maybe it speaks to various remnants of the tier's history that Celesteela is still as prominent as it can be, and although I think its current situation in the metagame is a bit dire, its comeback potential is certainly just as high as any other Pokemon, if perhaps at a later date, or even as a way to emphasis the different aspects and level of exploration that this tier is still capable of. However, when one of the previously best Pokemon finds itself in vastly different surroundings both against it and the mantle it was once known for, I find it to be more telling of the latter and what this tier can accomplish as a whole.
 
With more usage stats now being pushed out, I figured I would highlight some notable trends from the tournament, whether they were expected, surprising to see, or something else!

Code:
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Scizor             |   37 |  32.46% |  48.65% |
| 2    | Hippowdon          |   31 |  27.19% |  45.16% |
| 3    | Salamence          |   30 |  26.32% |  56.67% |
| 4    | Urshifu            |   25 |  21.93% |  48.00% |
| 5    | Zeraora            |   23 |  20.18% |  56.52% |
| 5    | Aegislash          |   23 |  20.18% |  34.78% |
| 7    | Rotom-Wash         |   22 |  19.30% |  54.55% |
| 7    | Swampert           |   22 |  19.30% |  50.00% |
| 9    | Celesteela         |   21 |  18.42% |  57.14% |
| 10   | Dragonite          |   19 |  16.67% |  42.11% |
| 11   | Altaria            |   18 |  15.79% |  50.00% |
| 12   | Amoonguss          |   17 |  14.91% |  58.82% |
| 12   | Hydreigon          |   17 |  14.91% |  29.41% |
| 14   | Skarmory           |   16 |  14.04% |  43.75% |
| 15   | Slowking           |   15 |  13.16% |  60.00% |
| 16   | Buzzwole           |   14 |  12.28% |  42.86% |
| 17   | Krookodile         |   12 |  10.53% |  83.33% |
| 17   | Nihilego           |   12 |  10.53% |  75.00% |
| 17   | Rhyperior          |   12 |  10.53% |  58.33% |
| 20   | Moltres            |   11 |   9.65% |  36.36% |
| 20   | Tangrowth          |   11 |   9.65% |  27.27% |
| 22   | Primarina          |   10 |   8.77% |  60.00% |
| 22   | Manectric          |   10 |   8.77% |  40.00% |
| 22   | Dracozolt          |   10 |   8.77% |  40.00% |
| 22   | Necrozma           |   10 |   8.77% |  40.00% |
| 22   | Polteageist        |   10 |   8.77% |  30.00% |
| 22   | Sharpedo           |   10 |   8.77% |  30.00% |
| 28   | Slowbro-Galar      |    9 |   7.89% |  88.89% |
| 28   | Rotom-Heat         |    9 |   7.89% |  88.89% |
| 28   | Bisharp            |    9 |   7.89% |  77.78% |
| 28   | Mienshao           |    9 |   7.89% |  55.56% |
| 32   | Roserade           |    8 |   7.02% |  75.00% |
| 32   | Cobalion           |    8 |   7.02% |  50.00% |
| 32   | Terrakion          |    8 |   7.02% |  37.50% |
| 32   | Volcanion          |    8 |   7.02% |  37.50% |
| 36   | Pidgeot            |    7 |   6.14% |  85.71% |
| 36   | Zarude             |    7 |   6.14% |  71.43% |
| 36   | Mamoswine          |    7 |   6.14% |  42.86% |
| 36   | Mandibuzz          |    7 |   6.14% |  42.86% |
| 36   | Keldeo             |    7 |   6.14% |  42.86% |
| 36   | Zarude-Dada        |    7 |   6.14% |  28.57% |
| 42   | Aggron             |    6 |   5.26% |  33.33% |
| 42   | Hatterene          |    6 |   5.26% |  33.33% |
| 42   | Diggersby          |    6 |   5.26% |  16.67% |
| 45   | Nidoking           |    5 |   4.39% |  60.00% |
| 45   | Tapu Bulu          |    5 |   4.39% |  60.00% |
| 45   | Froslass           |    5 |   4.39% |   0.00% |
| 48   | Chandelure         |    4 |   3.51% |  75.00% |
| 48   | Beedrill           |    4 |   3.51% |  25.00% |
| 48   | Conkeldurr         |    4 |   3.51% |  25.00% |
| 48   | Reuniclus          |    4 |   3.51% |   0.00% |
| 52   | Azelf              |    3 |   2.63% | 100.00% |
| 52   | Ditto              |    3 |   2.63% | 100.00% |
| 52   | Umbreon            |    3 |   2.63% |  66.67% |
| 52   | Cloyster           |    3 |   2.63% |  66.67% |
| 52   | Deoxys-Defense     |    3 |   2.63% |  66.67% |
| 52   | Infernape          |    3 |   2.63% |  66.67% |
| 52   | Magneton           |    3 |   2.63% |  33.33% |
| 52   | Tentacruel         |    3 |   2.63% |  33.33% |
| 52   | Gligar             |    3 |   2.63% |  33.33% |
| 52   | Ribombee           |    3 |   2.63% |   0.00% |
| 62   | Quagsire           |    2 |   1.75% |  50.00% |
| 62   | Shuckle            |    2 |   1.75% |  50.00% |
| 62   | Alomomola          |    2 |   1.75% |  50.00% |
| 62   | Staraptor          |    2 |   1.75% |   0.00% |
| 62   | Nidoqueen          |    2 |   1.75% |   0.00% |
| 62   | Breloom            |    2 |   1.75% |   0.00% |
| 68   | Arcanine           |    1 |   0.88% | 100.00% |
| 68   | Miltank            |    1 |   0.88% | 100.00% |
| 68   | Azumarill          |    1 |   0.88% | 100.00% |
| 68   | Tauros             |    1 |   0.88% | 100.00% |
| 68   | Araquanid          |    1 |   0.88% | 100.00% |
| 68   | Heracross          |    1 |   0.88% | 100.00% |
| 68   | Diancie            |    1 |   0.88% | 100.00% |
| 68   | Zygarde-10%        |    1 |   0.88% | 100.00% |
| 68   | Crawdaunt          |    1 |   0.88% | 100.00% |
| 68   | Muk-Alola          |    1 |   0.88% | 100.00% |
| 68   | Arctozolt          |    1 |   0.88% | 100.00% |
| 68   | Ninetales-Alola    |    1 |   0.88% | 100.00% |
| 68   | Noivern            |    1 |   0.88% |   0.00% |
| 68   | Gastrodon          |    1 |   0.88% |   0.00% |
| 68   | Houndoom           |    1 |   0.88% |   0.00% |

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The big three and at the very top of our R1 usage, while they may not be considered the single most powerful forces to account for in the teambuilder, their extreme presence on account of their outstanding defensive traits, and utility help make them an integral part of many backbones on a variety of team archetypes.

Scizor remaining #1 in particular remains especially outstanding given the tier's increasing emphasis on Fire-types and coverage as of late, as shown with the frequency of faster offensive Pokemon such as Urshifu-RS, Moltres, and Zeraora that can also shrug off Bullet Punch in a vacuum. Of course, this also speaks to the unmatched power of its setup ability and vast array of options to mess with said checks, with both Knock Off and U-turn being superb tools at garnering incremental amounts of progress no matter the matchup. On the other hand, Hippowdon shows itself as being clearly the best and most reliable Ground in the tier, being the only option with reliable recovery where offense is largely characterised by momentum spam and facilitating said heavy hitters. Lastly, while Salamence's offensive utility sets have been pushed up the creak further than in previous metagame iterations, most notably with the tier's various Fighting-types having developed more ways to get around it as well as the increased prevalence of Knock Off from the likes of Scizor and Krookodile to remove Heavy-Duty Boots, it is still excellent at finding numerous opportunities from its typing, recovery, and Intimidate to fire off its own vicious offenses, sometimes even running Draco Meteor and Z-Moves to increase the number of opposing mons which it threatens to KO, while it is shown that good play and positioning from itself and teammates can often mitigate these exploitable points against said threats it is tasked with checking in practice more often than not.


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Notably, these Darks all saw impressive usage as well as solid W/Rs. This is something I have yet to conclude as being largely dominated by the power of offensive Ghosts and Psychics as well as the power of Pursuit, but regardless, it is evident that these mons all have clear and defined uses beyond these inherent boons that allow them to excel beyond said tier specifics.

Krookodile in particular sees a resurgence in this metagame, with the combination of its Ground-typing, ability to offensively check and trap notable threats such as the aforementioned Aegislash and Glowbro and ability to run Choice Scarf or Stealth Rock sets effectively lending it to be used on a variety of offensive structures. Much to my surprise, said games where it won even tended to hinge on it making consistent progress for its team without dedicating itself to more offensive roles such as with Z-Moves, which I thought was rather interesting.

On the other hand, much of Zarude's set usage lied in its pivot set with Heavy-Duty Boots, which on its own is certainly a good thing with Zarude being able to take on a more supporting role as an answer to the various Grounds and Waters of the tier, even if it means the rather intuitive Bulk Up + Jungle Healing test is currently taking a backseat. That said, I do hope that certain people reading this post could influence the dynamics surrounding it a bit more in future rounds. Likewise, Bisharp's Swords Dance set does appear to be much more limited by its inability to find consistent setup opportunities with how easily it tends to be revenge killed, as well as the more immediate effectiveness of its Choice Band set taking the fold on the most of the teams where it did show up.


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Rotom-H managed to grab an impressive W/R of >90% out of 9 uses, which on its own isn't a bad sample size. I have attempted to build with Rotom-H a bit more lately to see where it most actively fits and the results have been... rather underwhelming for my own opinion on it to be a solid one, especially with how defensively exploitable it can sometimes feel as a result of its lack of relevant resistances specific to the metagame and inability to run Leftovers or all the moves it wants to effectively over its Wash counterpart. Generally, the tier's incremental pace has been mostly inoperable with the niche that Rotom-H anchored teams wish to fulfil for a long time, although perhaps it is better left in different hands as opposed to mine, or that there's something else within that is to be explored later on which could help give Rotom-H a more defined niche.


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HO teams continue to see quite a bit of usage, although they suffered from having low W/Rs this particular week, which is surprising considering most uses of it were from one of the most effective and consistent sample teams I've seen in a while. Though another way at looking at it could also be that it's rather a nice change of pace considering their overwhelming effect on the tier as part of the last current-generation's phase, and shows there is currently a strong balance among offensive and defensive options able to handle most compositions across the board.


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To end things off, these mons all saw little to no usage this week, while I would be inclined to write about them, my hope is that future rounds will help do the job of representing them and their respective niches a bit better.
 
SS Money Round 2 - 4 Usage Stats!
Code:
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Aegislash          |   47 |  29.38% |  55.32% |
| 2    | Salamence          |   43 |  26.88% |  58.14% |
| 3    | Urshifu            |   38 |  23.75% |  50.00% |
| 4    | Scizor             |   36 |  22.50% |  55.56% |
| 5    | Zeraora            |   33 |  20.62% |  39.39% |
| 6    | Celesteela         |   30 |  18.75% |  50.00% |
| 6    | Hippowdon          |   30 |  18.75% |  43.33% |
| 8    | Rotom-Wash         |   28 |  17.50% |  60.71% |
| 8    | Amoonguss          |   28 |  17.50% |  42.86% |
| 10   | Altaria            |   27 |  16.88% |  59.26% |
| 11   | Dragonite          |   25 |  15.62% |  56.00% |
| 11   | Swampert           |   25 |  15.62% |  52.00% |
| 13   | Nihilego           |   24 |  15.00% |  58.33% |
| 13   | Slowking           |   24 |  15.00% |  33.33% |
| 15   | Moltres            |   23 |  14.38% |  52.17% |
| 16   | Skarmory           |   22 |  13.75% |  36.36% |
| 17   | Hydreigon          |   20 |  12.50% |  60.00% |
| 18   | Krookodile         |   19 |  11.88% |  63.16% |
| 19   | Mamoswine          |   17 |  10.62% |  58.82% |
| 19   | Mandibuzz          |   17 |  10.62% |  52.94% |
| 19   | Tangrowth          |   17 |  10.62% |  47.06% |
| 22   | Cobalion           |   16 |  10.00% |  81.25% |
| 23   | Manectric          |   15 |   9.38% |  53.33% |
| 24   | Primarina          |   14 |   8.75% |  64.29% |
| 25   | Pidgeot            |   13 |   8.12% |  38.46% |
| 25   | Reuniclus          |   13 |   8.12% |  38.46% |
| 27   | Zarude             |   12 |   7.50% |  58.33% |
| 27   | Keldeo             |   12 |   7.50% |  41.67% |
| 27   | Bisharp            |   12 |   7.50% |  41.67% |
| 27   | Mienshao           |   12 |   7.50% |  25.00% |
| 31   | Tentacruel         |   11 |   6.88% |  54.55% |
| 31   | Rotom-Heat         |   11 |   6.88% |  45.45% |
| 31   | Buzzwole           |   11 |   6.88% |  36.36% |
| 34   | Azelf              |   10 |   6.25% |  50.00% |
| 34   | Rhyperior          |   10 |   6.25% |  40.00% |
| 34   | Tapu Bulu          |   10 |   6.25% |  30.00% |
| 37   | Necrozma           |    9 |   5.62% |  77.78% |
| 37   | Hatterene          |    9 |   5.62% |  55.56% |
| 37   | Diggersby          |    9 |   5.62% |  33.33% |
| 40   | Polteageist        |    8 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Alomomola          |    8 |   5.00% |  37.50% |
| 40   | Roserade           |    8 |   5.00% |  25.00% |
| 40   | Nidoking           |    8 |   5.00% |  25.00% |
| 40   | Volcanion          |    8 |   5.00% |  25.00% |
| 45   | Sharpedo           |    7 |   4.38% |  71.43% |
| 45   | Deoxys-Defense     |    7 |   4.38% |  42.86% |
| 45   | Aggron             |    7 |   4.38% |  42.86% |
| 45   | Ribombee           |    7 |   4.38% |  14.29% |
| 49   | Froslass           |    6 |   3.75% | 100.00% |
| 49   | Chandelure         |    6 |   3.75% |  66.67% |
| 49   | Terrakion          |    6 |   3.75% |  66.67% |
| 49   | Slowbro-Galar      |    6 |   3.75% |  50.00% |
| 49   | Nidoqueen          |    6 |   3.75% |  33.33% |
| 54   | Beedrill           |    5 |   3.12% |  40.00% |
| 54   | Magneton           |    5 |   3.12% |  40.00% |
| 54   | Umbreon            |    5 |   3.12% |  20.00% |
| 54   | Dracozolt          |    5 |   3.12% |  20.00% |
| 58   | Cloyster           |    4 |   2.50% |  50.00% |
| 58   | Gligar             |    4 |   2.50% |  25.00% |
| 58   | Infernape          |    4 |   2.50% |  25.00% |
| 61   | Conkeldurr         |    3 |   1.88% |  66.67% |
| 61   | Araquanid          |    3 |   1.88% |  66.67% |
| 61   | Shuckle            |    3 |   1.88% |  33.33% |
| 61   | Zarude-Dada        |    3 |   1.88% |   0.00% |
| 65   | Absol              |    2 |   1.25% | 100.00% |
| 65   | Zygarde-10%        |    2 |   1.25% | 100.00% |
| 65   | Breloom            |    2 |   1.25% | 100.00% |
| 65   | Crobat             |    2 |   1.25% | 100.00% |
| 65   | Heracross          |    2 |   1.25% |  50.00% |
| 65   | Miltank            |    2 |   1.25% |  50.00% |
| 65   | Polteageist-Antique |    2 |   1.25% |  50.00% |
| 65   | Muk-Alola          |    2 |   1.25% |  50.00% |
| 65   | Gastrodon          |    2 |   1.25% |   0.00% |
| 65   | Sceptile           |    2 |   1.25% |   0.00% |
| 65   | Quagsire           |    2 |   1.25% |   0.00% |
| 76   | Ninetales-Alola    |    1 |   0.62% | 100.00% |
| 76   | Arctozolt          |    1 |   0.62% | 100.00% |
| 76   | Steelix            |    1 |   0.62% | 100.00% |
| 76   | Donphan            |    1 |   0.62% | 100.00% |
| 76   | Weezing-Galar      |    1 |   0.62% | 100.00% |
| 76   | Smeargle           |    1 |   0.62% | 100.00% |
| 76   | Arcanine           |    1 |   0.62% | 100.00% |
| 76   | Florges-White      |    1 |   0.62% |   0.00% |
| 76   | Scolipede          |    1 |   0.62% |   0.00% |
| 76   | Goodra             |    1 |   0.62% |   0.00% |
| 76   | Florges            |    1 |   0.62% |   0.00% |
| 76   | Noivern            |    1 |   0.62% |   0.00% |
| 76   | Meloetta           |    1 |   0.62% |   0.00% |
| 76   | Diancie            |    1 |   0.62% |   0.00% |

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Post R1 was insane for Aegislash's representation and influence on the overall metagame. Defensive sets get the special mention here, with its unique spin on ProTox and Leftovers sets seeing the highest amount of usage, being incredible for the peerless blend of defensive utility, synergy with nearly everything, and its prodigious offensive potential. Couple this with the continued high usage of specific checks and despite the techs commonly used to get around it, I think Gen 8 Aegi to this day remains one of the most dominant mons I think I've ever seen in any given tier.


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Even with Hydreigon dropping and the tier having literally 0 Fairy types, M-Altaria feels a bit pedestrian. I often find that the transgressions forced upon it in both moveset and defensive application are so insanely difficult to micromanage I often can't find myself trying it as a whole. This is compounded by its incredibly appealing, yet polarizing matchup spread into the Electrics, Dragons, and Fightings, and every other threat that so often pairs with the things it hates as to make it flat-out unbearable. I'm a M-Altaria hater as far as I remember, hasn't changed much besides.
Personal bias aside, M-Altaria's improving results appear to be the result of a passable slot on bulky offense teams, certain balance teams with reliable hazard removal, as well as hyper offense teams that have a much easier time capitalizing on its great, albeit conditional defensive profile given the right matchup.


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Notably saw a great jump in usage / W/R throughout the tour and I'm really glad it finally did. As far as exploration goes, Cobalion looks to be picking up some steam for its significant defensive traits on a variety of offense structures, with said teams most appreciating its ability to compress Stealth Rock and check one of the most volatile pools of offensive threats around, from Nihilego to Hydreigon to Scizor. The point regarding its ability to cushion anything bulky Scizor wants to throw is worth emphasizing in particular; pair it with some of its most notable offensive partners in Salamence and Moltres and a Scizor throughout the game is suddenly the least of your worries.

As a whole, Utility Cobalion sets genuinely offer some of the widest variety you can get with the free item slot and its last two moves, whether it be Volt Switch for the soft momentum, Thunder Wave or Toxic for their ability to stifle specific targets, Taunt or Swords Dance to really hammer in the point about being a proper Scizor check, or even Stone Edge to lure Moltres as it used to do. Rocky Helmet was also most common as the item choice to punish momentum spam, but Z-Move sets as most typically seen on SD sets were a bit less flexible in this regard with common checks such as Aegislash and Flying-types blocking traditional offensive sets, yet still worth mentioning.


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Oooook, I jumped the gun a bit with thinking this post would be complete without addressing a portion of the tier's most common forms of offense, but one thing I didn't mention for certain was Urshifu's level of consistency, and thus its propensity for forcing significant exploitable switches with U-turn. In short, Urshifu's pairings with various is making it a match made in heaven for any offensive build looking to get the ball rolling, no other offensive threat I've noticed appears to be capable of replicating its spectacular fashion of splashable speed control and wallbreaking power, and some of the above Pokemon are often setup threats or secondary wallbreakers just waiting in the back for Urshifu to bring them in on the few walls such as Amoonguss and M-Altaria that are capable of not instantly crumpling. Urshifu also currently finds itself exploiting a significant portion of tier's current defensive integrity with walls such as Hippowdon and Celesteela being super common yet so abusable for it to enter.

| 3 | Urshifu / Salamence | 14 | 8.75% | 57.14% |
| 9 | Urshifu / Nihilego | 10 | 6.25% | 70.00% |
| 25 | Urshifu / Scizor | 8 | 5.00% | 62.50% |

In particular, these are some notable examples of offensive combos that saw large degrees of success with it, but from always being listed among the best to proving itself as part of the best, Urshifu looks to be cementing itself at the top of everyone's threatlist to infinity and beyond.


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As mentioned previously, the stable nature of teamstyles such as BO and balance has generally phased out the cheesier iterations of HO, but a particular team with Froslass has been making rather unexpected waves as of late, having a fairly convincing 100% W/R as an enabler despite only 6 uses. Given its unique utility toolkit and access to Spikes > other leads, is this the fix from the West we've perhaps all been waiting for?
 
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R5-R6 stats. Perhaps it wasn't expected, but the notable trends keep coming!
Code:
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Swampert           |   29 |  40.28% |  68.97% |
| 2    | Scizor             |   23 |  31.94% |  47.83% |
| 3    | Zeraora            |   18 |  25.00% |  55.56% |
| 4    | Amoonguss          |   16 |  22.22% |  43.75% |
| 5    | Manectric          |   15 |  20.83% |  66.67% |
| 5    | Rotom-Wash         |   15 |  20.83% |  46.67% |
| 5    | Aegislash          |   15 |  20.83% |  40.00% |
| 8    | Hydreigon          |   14 |  19.44% |  42.86% |
| 8    | Dragonite          |   14 |  19.44% |  35.71% |
| 10   | Primarina          |   13 |  18.06% |  61.54% |
| 10   | Moltres            |   13 |  18.06% |  61.54% |
| 10   | Salamence          |   13 |  18.06% |  53.85% |
| 10   | Celesteela         |   13 |  18.06% |  46.15% |
| 14   | Slowking           |   12 |  16.67% |  33.33% |
| 15   | Mandibuzz          |   11 |  15.28% |  45.45% |
| 16   | Altaria            |   10 |  13.89% |  60.00% |
| 17   | Hippowdon          |    9 |  12.50% |  33.33% |
| 17   | Urshifu            |    9 |  12.50% |  11.11% |
| 19   | Polteageist        |    8 |  11.11% |  75.00% |
| 19   | Nihilego           |    8 |  11.11% |  50.00% |
| 21   | Mienshao           |    7 |   9.72% |  85.71% |
| 21   | Bisharp            |    7 |   9.72% |  85.71% |
| 21   | Necrozma           |    7 |   9.72% |  57.14% |
| 21   | Chandelure         |    7 |   9.72% |  42.86% |
| 21   | Buzzwole           |    7 |   9.72% |  28.57% |
| 26   | Skarmory           |    6 |   8.33% |  66.67% |
| 26   | Sharpedo           |    6 |   8.33% |  66.67% |
| 26   | Mamoswine          |    6 |   8.33% |  50.00% |
| 26   | Zarude             |    6 |   8.33% |  33.33% |
| 26   | Tangrowth          |    6 |   8.33% |  16.67% |
| 31   | Slowbro-Galar      |    5 |   6.94% |  80.00% |
| 31   | Cobalion           |    5 |   6.94% |  60.00% |
| 31   | Roserade           |    5 |   6.94% |  40.00% |
| 31   | Rhyperior          |    5 |   6.94% |  20.00% |
| 35   | Rotom-Heat         |    4 |   5.56% |  75.00% |
| 35   | Gligar             |    4 |   5.56% |  50.00% |
| 35   | Azelf              |    4 |   5.56% |  50.00% |
| 35   | Keldeo             |    4 |   5.56% |  50.00% |
| 35   | Aggron             |    4 |   5.56% |  25.00% |
| 35   | Krookodile         |    4 |   5.56% |  25.00% |
| 41   | Alomomola          |    3 |   4.17% |  66.67% |
| 41   | Sandaconda         |    3 |   4.17% |  66.67% |
| 41   | Volcanion          |    3 |   4.17% |  33.33% |
| 41   | Dracozolt          |    3 |   4.17% |   0.00% |
| 41   | Diggersby          |    3 |   4.17% |   0.00% |
| 46   | Froslass           |    2 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 46   | Muk-Alola          |    2 |   2.78% |  50.00% |
| 46   | Umbreon            |    2 |   2.78% |  50.00% |
| 46   | Dhelmise           |    2 |   2.78% |  50.00% |
| 46   | Hatterene          |    2 |   2.78% |  50.00% |
| 46   | Deoxys-Defense     |    2 |   2.78% |  50.00% |
| 46   | Nidoqueen          |    2 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 53   | Weezing-Galar      |    1 |   1.39% | 100.00% |
| 53   | Tapu Bulu          |    1 |   1.39% | 100.00% |
| 53   | Articuno           |    1 |   1.39% | 100.00% |
| 53   | Zygarde-10%        |    1 |   1.39% | 100.00% |
| 53   | Bronzong           |    1 |   1.39% | 100.00% |
| 53   | Quagsire           |    1 |   1.39% | 100.00% |
| 53   | Florges            |    1 |   1.39% | 100.00% |
| 53   | Palossand          |    1 |   1.39% | 100.00% |
| 53   | Ninetales-Alola    |    1 |   1.39% |   0.00% |
| 53   | Arctozolt          |    1 |   1.39% |   0.00% |
| 53   | Pidgeot            |    1 |   1.39% |   0.00% |
| 53   | Beedrill           |    1 |   1.39% |   0.00% |
| 53   | Magneton           |    1 |   1.39% |   0.00% |
| 53   | Conkeldurr         |    1 |   1.39% |   0.00% |
| 53   | Zarude-Dada        |    1 |   1.39% |   0.00% |
| 53   | Smeargle           |    1 |   1.39% |   0.00% |

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19.30% - > 40.28%
Whether or not you were surprised, the notable surge in offense teams makes Swampert the defacto winner here, with it having only increased in overall uses despite the smaller sample size! This is particularly outstanding because of how well it manages to separate itself despite there being no shortage of competition from other Grounds, from Hippowdon to Rhyperior. A big standout trait that's particularly noteworthy is its access to the momentum-snatching tool Flip Turn, but why is it especially outstanding for Swampert here?

Well for starters Swampert's qualities are actually pretty valuable for such a supporting role, as a Ground, not only does it maintain the Electric immunity most if not all teams need, but it also does so without being weak to Water or Ice. Therefore, Swampert not only completely sits on most defensive Rotom-W sets, but is even quite a good check to Zeraora and M-Manectric, forcing the latter to run the otherwise inferior HP Grass > Ice to break through it. As for Flip Turn's addition, Swampert ability's to easily grab momentum against such an abstract pool of targets even includes the otherwise irritating Leech + Protect Celesteela, underspeeding it and neutralizing a once major defensive threat otherwise known for being quite irritating to offensive teams without the proper backbone or positioning ability.

This is in addition to having a fairly free moveslot despite the additional necessity of needing to run Stealth Rock, with all of Toxic, Yawn, Roar, and even Protect having seen use as of late. Speaking of which, its aforementioned qualities are such that it's also quite good at keeping the pebbles up in the face of common removal options for its teammates to exploit, albeit without the reliable healing Hippowdon notably has over it.

252 SpA Moltres Hurricane vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Swampert: 135-160 (33.4 - 39.6%) -- 19.8% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Salamence Hurricane vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Swampert: 124-147 (30.6 - 36.3%) -- 3.3% chance to 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

So yeah, a different kind of beast as opposed to what one might expect, but still a serious one nonetheless.



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9.65% -> 18.06%

Joining Swampert in the more uses podium is Moltres! Another Pokemon that was previously dismissed for its rather high-maintenance nature. While that may still very much be the case with the abundance of random Rock moves and Knock Off from threats like Mienshao and Scizor, Moltres's positive qualities are nonetheless shaping up to be much more significant than initially expected, especially with teams becoming increasingly optimal.

Defensively, the more defined punish heavy approach of the tier means the concessions Moltres consistently forces become more notable than before, which includes its ability to reliably pivot into and force out several of the tier's most dangerous offensive threats and debilitating defensive presences, from M-Altaria to Aegislash to Buzzwole to Celesteela. Flame Body arguably deserves a special mention here; while not an element to be counted on, Moltres's tendencies only serve to elevate its impact on games as a contact punisher and it cannot be overstated how thin the window to recover from such a potentially devastating element can be each time a turn is misplayed, with it threatening to cripple all matter of offensive threats from Urshifu to Zeraora to Scizor.

Moltres STABs are also near impossible to switch into for most teams, surprisingly enough. While Rock-types such as Nihilego and Rhyperior which resist both attacks are still very potent, their lack of reliable healing and other exploitable weak points means they don't pack the insane splashability that other non-resist checks have in this role, with Nihilego being weak to Pursuit from common teammates like Scizor and Bisharp and Rhyperior being vulnerable to statuses and Knock Off negating its Leftovers. This leaves the most common counterplay as specially defensive Waters and Grounds, said limits that very much continue to be tested as techs like U-turn and Toxic further exploit their reactiveness.

Simply put, offensive Moltres is just a unit, literally. While it's still very good as a Defogger, recent stats show that this is becoming increasingly stationary as other options continue to be explored, which only serves to increase its effectiveness in this more realized role.


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20.18% -> 25.00% | 8.77% -> 20.83%
Capping off my strenuous yap on the VoltTurn episode are the two defining Speed Demons in Zeraora and M-Manectric, also known to most teams as the Electrics. Despite not changing much from what was seen initially, Zeraora continues to hold a fair dominance in the tier with its usage reflecting this amongst the sample size, being a defining part of these compositions with the traditional antics of its Boots sets and forcing all-matter of teams to rue their matchups with how easily it tends to outlast and chip everything into KO range. However, M-Manectric has also gained prominence in this role as it continues to see a larger number of uses, trading Zeraora's longevity for much higher killpower and the ability to threaten a greater portion of targets on its attacking spectrum, notably gaining Fire coverage and a stronger Hidden Power to blast its way through common stopgaps to the former like Amoonguss and Buzzwole with greater efficiency. The lack of a defined Mega slot also appears to be working in its favor as its competition continues to become more and more playstyle specific.

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27.19% -> 12.50% | 8.33% | 5.56%
As suggested, the above preference for more offensively oriented teams as of late appears to have left the more traditional styles of Balance and Fat in the dust for now, with it seeing much less success and consideration as a whole. That said, Hippowdon's decline appears to be especially dramatic in comparison, seeing as it was originally in contention for the top 3, notably struggling to contain threats such as Mienshao and Aegislash while being endlessly exploited by the plethora of pivots prominent in the tier right now, such as Scizor, Amoonguss, and Primarina. Swampert overtaking it as the premier Ground on BO does not appear to be helping matters either.

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Hydreigon is just superb and only somehow continues to gain more and more influence the longer it's been in the tier, with it finally getting a real chance to show its stuff this tour. Choice Scarf sets continue to provide a fair share of role compression, but even Nasty Plot and Life Orb sets have begun to make their mark on the teambuilder, often brute forcing their way through everything not named Celesteela when least expected, and only being so slightly held back by the less than impressive speed tier in this regard. To those curious, the most prominent combination of Z-Move + Attacks on Nasty Plot appears to be Dark Pulse and Flash Cannon with Steelium Z whenever it did show up, a rather unexpected turn considering my previous opinions on it but one I'm open to seeing more of nonetheless.

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The winrate continues to say it all, Mienshao's incredible consistency has received quite a makeover as of late, with even Assault Vest and Swords Dance (?) sets now complementing the obligatory Life Orb and Choice Scarf. If not the only threat in the tier you genuinely can't go wrong with right now.

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Finally, I would like to give an obligatory shoutout to the other side of our Regenerator dynamic, especially given the high relevance of Amoonguss and Slowking. To anyone from G9 still unfamiliar with the duo, I likewise recommend you all to consider one of, if not both on the same team due to their defensive synergy. They remain excellent at standing firm in the face of all the VoltTurn and hazard pressure running amok in the tier, and even have plenty of versatility surrounding their utility options to ensure teams aren't passive around them whatsoever.
 
Now that the tour is over, I can finally dump all the stuff I want to talk about in this meta. This is the first large tour we've had since Hydreigon got freed, and I would say that it is now that its impact on the meta can finally be observed. Iride is also at 5 posts in a row rn so someone gotta do something..

Congratulations to Micaiah for a dominant tour win, and to mrfraud for a great run especially for a newcomer to the tier.

Part 1: Hydreigon Drop

A while before Hydreigon dropped, the tier was trending away from Fairy-types. Salamence was still great, but it was really the only pokemon commonly using Dragon moves, and even then its most common set was Hurricane/Flamethrower/Roost/Defog. Mega Altaria had been on a downward trend for a long time due to its vulnerability to hazards and the tier's ever-present voltturn cores. Primarina has always been seen as a good pokemon, but it never saw a ton of usage. Fairy's resistance to Fighting remained valuable to fend off pokemon like Urshifu, Mienshao, and Buzzwole, but in comparison to Fairy's typical strength the type was somewhat underwhelming in NDUU. This brought an opportunity for Hydreigon to enter the tier with a bang.

When Hydreigon first dropped there was a lot of discussion about which sets might be good, but now we're at the point where I'd say we finally have a good idea of each option's viability. I'll go over what I'd call the standard sets roughly in chronological order. I call some slightly outdated, but Hydreigon could still realistically run any of these today of course. Some discussion about each set is in the spoilers.
Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Defog
- U-turn / Flamethrower / Earth Power / Flash Cannon

You can obviously drop Defog but this was seen as nice role compression. An immunity to spikes is always nice in a scarfer, although it is still more hazard prone than our standard speed control options of Mienshao and Zeraora. This is basically Scarf Rotom-Wash but it trades Trick for doing damage. This set is ok, but as of right now I wouldn't say it is anywhere near Hydreigon's best sets.
Hydreigon @ Groundium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Dark Pulse
- Earth Power
- Roost

Since ground coverage nukes Hydreigon resist Cobalion (this guy takes 45 from unboosted Draco) and the Z OHKOs Mega Altaria at +2 while being Hydreigon's strongest non Z-Belch hit into Primarina, this set initially was brought up as the most reliable option for Hydreigon coverage. We've seen the same moves with Z-Dark successfully used by Micaiah in the tour, but this set has also been somewhat disappointing otherwise. It is perfectly viable, but a lack of initial power makes it much less threatening than other options. A lack of initial power makes it hard to punish offensive counterplay, and given that games often revolve around preventing Hydreigon from getting opportunities it can be difficult to justify such a limitation.
Hydreigon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Flash Cannon

Choice Specs essentially removes all the limitations of the previous set. There are no switch ins to this except Primarina, and its abundance of initial power allows it to come in on almost any pokemon slower than it. As always, this set is unstoppable if you predict right, but it can be limited by midgrounds and careful positioning. The main reason this set became superior to the others, in my opinion, is that somewhat often you would run into teams with absolutely no Draco switch in, which is realistic with teams running frailer Steel-types such as Bisharp, Skarmory, and Cobalion.
Hydreigon @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Roost

I'd say this is the main development on Hydreigon during the tour. This set combines the advantages of Specs (immediate power, abusing common structures by having Dragon move) with strong longevity and a relative lack of reliance on prediction. The obvious drawback is that it is hard walled by Fairy-types, especially the best ones in Primarina and Mega Altaria. This is a trade-off I find worth accepting, as Mega Altaria is exceedingly uncommon and easy to force in and remove through teammates. Primarina is a hard stop to this set, but it's not as if any other Hydreigon is going to fare well against it anyway. Without a Fairy-type, absolutely nothing in the tier can take a +2 Devastating Drake. The few Steels which can stomach powerful Dragon moves keel over to Fire coverage.
Other sets like NP Roost Flash Cannon or 3A Roost/NP are possible options, but I wouldn't say they have seen enough success to be known as standard Hydreigon sets in the current meta.


Part 2: Meta Trends/Discussion
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:SS/Zeraora::SS/Aegislash::SS/Urshifu-Rapid-Strike::SS/Scizor:
I think these are the consensus top 4 mons in the tier, and I don't disagree with the consensus. I'm not sure if Zera as the best mon + Scizor only A+ is a hot take though. I think Zeraora is just insanely consistent. It has no bad matchups, doesn't miss moves, and fits on every team. It is also probably not even fully explored. BU Fire Z sets already exist but probably do not see the attention they deserve and there could probably be more experimentation with variants in between the 2 sets. BU Boots could be cool and even random Z move on pivot might be useful. Pivot Zeraora loves Boots so dropping them may be unlikely, but slapping Z-moves on fast mons is a good strategy in general. I think Scizor gets outpaced by a lot of the meta, SD Knock makes progress but it also gets forced out very easily the first ~2 times it comes in and I think it is hard to position it to actually win games. My favourite Scizor sets rn are probably 3A Roost and CB, which are both solid but nowhere near dominant enough to deserve to be S. I think my opinions on Urshifu and Aegislash are pretty much the same as everyone else, I'll just say that I didn't explore Choice Scarf Urshifu enough until this tour and it's a very good set.

:SS/Dragonite:
Dragonite has been on an upwards trajectory since before the end of gen 8, and it has continued to see success in this tournament. This mon is probably the single scariest mon to see on preview, because you never know if your team will be instantly 6-0'd by one of its sets. Most Dragonites are DD, but it is impossible to list every possible set it can run. The following is my attempt at showing them without using a million different imports:
Dragonite @ Dragonium Z / Flyinium Z / Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature / Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage / Fly / Dragon Claw
- Earthquake / Ice Punch / Iron Head / Extreme Speed / Thunder Punch
- Fire Punch / Thunder Punch / Fire Blast

Usually you will see a STAB move accompanied by Earthquake + Fire Punch, but you can make a multitude of other coverage moves work. Ice Punch + Thunder Punch still allows you to hit Steel/Flyings, while providing super effective coverage against both Mega Altaria and Primarina, and a way to hit Salamence/Hydreigon without locking into Outrage or blowing the Z-move. Iron Head hits Mega Altaria slightly harder while also threatening Hatterene. Fire Blast allows you to actually beat Skarmory at the cost of losing to Celesteela. Extreme Speed doesn't provide any coverage, but is always a nice utility move and can be useful on HO.

The main decision is between the 3 items, each of which comes with the respective move in the 2nd slot. Z Dragon boosted Outrage instantly wins vs the teams which forgo a Fairy-type, similar to Dragon-Z Hydreigon. It can also tech the coverage moves previously mentioned to beat the Fairy-types, but its main advantage is blowing away the teams reliant on less resilient checks such as Rotom-Wash, Rhyperior, and essentially any random Toxic user not resistant to Dragon. Flyinium Z sacrifices insane raw power and neutral coverage for the ability to blow away any Fairy-type, and Boots is always an option to play a slightly slower game, making use of Dragonite's excellent defensive utility for HO.
Dragonite @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: ????????????
Adamant Nature / Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
- Dual Wingbeat / Dragon Claw
- Heal Bell / Fire Punch

This bullshit can run literally any spread of HP/Attack/Defense/Speed EVs, although you will likely want to go with max HP. 184 Speed EVs lets you outspeed Azelf and Zydog at +1 as well as Bisharp at +0. This set is how you fit Dragonite on non HO teams, making use of its nasty defensive profile. Heal Bell provides a lot of utility, for supporting the team in addition to forcing your way through Toxic users. Dragon Claw + Fire Punch has a good shot at straight up winning in certain matchups, but is less consistent. The 2A set is something I've built a few times before Hydreigon got released, but never actually used it in any tournament. It may be less viable with Hydreigon forcing teams to be ready for Dragon/Fire coverage, but it also has the advantage of hitting opposing Hydreigon.
Dragonite @ Choice Band
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Outrage
- Fire Punch / Thunder Punch
- Earthquake / Ice Punch
- Extreme Speed

This set is actually kinda good, I didn't save any replays but CB Outrage claims vs no Fairy teams and it's hard to stop it because it is never OHKO'd. Obviously CB Dnite has big limitations (rocks, outrage lock, prediction reliance), but it is still viable in my opinion.

Dragonite @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Thunder Punch
- Ice Punch

Inner Focus means you can run Life Orb without ruining your own multiscale, and it prevents stuff like Salamence and Krookodile from being sacked to slow you down. It also actually beats Skarmory with +1 Thunder Punch unlike most Dragonite sets. Inferior to normal DD Dragonite because the defensive utility matters a lot.

Dragonite @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Atk / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake
- Roost

Lots of swag points here, probably not a good set though.
The first point on this topic I'd like to make is that Dragonite is really good. This mon has become one of the faces of the tier, mostly through its contributions to HO. Dragonite is the perfect HO mon in that it has positive matchups vs most classic HO counterplay (Urshifu, Zeraora, Celesteela, non Mamoswine priority), while being immediately threatening to common defensive cores and having potential to win games at any moment. I'm not sure if we are going to see any VR updates but Dragonite is certainly much better than its current placement. Dragonite has sustained tour success (was a defining HO mon in the last ss NDPL where devin dominated with lydia's sample), and HO is a strong enough playstyle that dominating on it alone merits a high ranking. Dragonite is far from HO exclusive, but HO is where the argument for its VR placement should begin.

The other conclusion I've come to is that teams are starting to need Fairy-types. The potential to instantly lose games to strong Dragon-type attacks has grown significantly, and it is becoming impossible to cover them all consistently enough. Resists are often simply not enough, with even the bulkiest options losing to either Hydreigon or Dragonite. Primarina is certainly still the easiest to fit on teams but stuff like Mega Altaria and Hatterene have actual motivation to be placed on teams now. I think it is worth mentioning that having a Fairy-type has become a real concern in teambuilding, it's not required but that's only because we don't have many Fairy-types that are actually good. You are now actually missing out on something if you go fairyless.

:SS/Azelf:
Azelf @ Psychium Z / Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Fire Blast / Flamethrower
- Dazzling Gleam / Knock Off / Energy Ball / Encore
- U-turn
This tier has an abundance of mid speed pokemon: Urshifu, Hydreigon, Salamence, Nihilego, Zarude, Mienshao, Keldeo, Terrakion, and Cobalion. Azelf's speed tier serves it by providing it opportunities to be brought in. Azelf naturally revenge kills the Fighting-types, but I prefer to tailor the set to maximize the number of pokemon it will revenge kill. Nihilego and Salamence drop to Psychium-Z, Hydreigon dies to Dazzling Gleam, and Zarude takes heavy damage from any move other than Psychic. Psychium-Z also allows for great matchups vs many slower offensive threats which are typically harder to OHKO, namely NP Rotom-Wash/Rotom-Heat, Mamoswine, Chandelure, Moltres, Mega Altaria, and Tapu Bulu. It feels like I listed half the meta here, which goes to show how incredible Azelf is as a revenge killer. No other breaker is able to get so many opportunities vs other offensive pokemon.

Azelf's access to Levitate and U-turn as well as Knock Off also make it incredibly effective at outlasting defensive pieces. Specially Defensive walls like Hippowdon can take Psychic into Psychium Z, but taking minor chip from U-turn + Stealth Rock immediately puts it in range. Taking a Knock Off makes this even worse. U-turn also allows Azelf to pair extremely nicely with Pursuit Bisharp or Krookodile, bringing them in on the Psychic-types able to shrug off Azelf's hits while also chipping them into range of the Dark-type attacks. It plays the long game about as well as it possibly could, being immune to spikes and having consistent progress making moves. Encore is a cool tool we saw from mrfraud in grand finals, it lets you revenge kill a lot of setup mons with aggressive play, also situationally lets you beat grounds without using the Z. Encore is a super versatile move, and Azelf can afford to slap it on without much damage to its functionality.

With all this being said, there's are obviously downsides to this mon. It's frail enough to be OHKO'd by many neutral hits after taking a few rounds of rocks, and it doesn't have enough immediate power to force neutral targets out without the Z. It requires pivot moves to bring it in, and ways to force out the mons it pivots on. I do think Azelf is very strong right now, and I think it is important to think about specifically when choosing speed control when building. You need a mon faster than Azelf unless you are building hard stall or HO. I'll throw in a few replays I got in the tour of Azelf doing well, I unfortunately didn't save my test games, but the people who played with me will know that I was spamming this guy nonstop.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldexuu-2279693393
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldexuu-2292436882

:SS/Primarina:

I mentioned earlier that Fairy-types are strong right now, Primarina is the best Fairy in the tier and is super strong right now.
Primarina @ Choice Specs
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 8 HP / 236 SpA / 12 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Moonblast
- Ice Beam / Psychic
- Energy Ball / Sparkling Aria / Flip Turn
Specs is the set I'd like to talk about because I don't see a lot of this + I disagree with the typical move choice. Ice Beam is basically Psychic except you don't hit Tentacruel, but it gets much better midgrounds. Nobody runs Ice Beam but I think it's worth, I can't really make specific arguments but it just turns out to be a nice click quite often. It also is better at overloading AV Tang attempting to scout you than Moonblast. Similarly, Energy Ball can stop Slowking from scouting you safely while getting random OHKOs on Water-types (doing better vs opposing Primarina is often big). Sparkling Aria is a water STAB that doesn't miss + you can hit Aegislash behind a sub. If your team has stuff that burns you can run Surf ig but at that point just hit pump imo. Specs is pretty solid, I think it should be used more. I brought Primarina 3 times in the tour, 2 of them are good examples of these moves and in the other it got fucking blown up by Z Fly Dragonite.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldexuu-2292433011 yeah it's mbee but Ice Beam is the only move that wins this endgame safely
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nationaldexuu-825002 choked this but Energy Ball still gets a free kill turn 1

:SS/Bisharp:
I keep seeing people being down on this mon but it's still super good. SubTox is the best Aegislash set rn which provides Bisharp with plenty of opportunities. CB Pursuit opens up games for a ton of insane mons, Azelf, Keldeo, Primarina, Slowbro-Galar to name a few. You can also run SD outside of HO perfectly fine. Hydreigon is annoying for Bisharp since it's a Sucker resist with good longevity, but the post-Hydreigon meta is pretty favourable for it in general.

:SS/Rotom-Heat:
I have spent the last 3 years hating on this mon but honestly it's not that bad right now. As a defensive pivot on offensive teams, it has good typing and STAB Overheat is a decent offensive tool vs stuff that isn't a dedicated check. It's still the worst hazard removal in the tier since dropping Toxic makes you a free in to set up rocks again, but if you don't make that its job it does its job decently. Pain Split Toxic is the best set, you can run Defog over Toxic as long as you don't need to keep rocks off and have something to abuse/lure grounds.

:SS/Zeraora::SS/Mienshao::SS/Manectric-Mega:
The elite speed control of NDUU. Separately from the competition for best overall mon, I think we're starting to see Zeraora claim its place as the clear best speed control in the tier. Manectric is also nice right now, Electric + Fire is as good as ever and dealing actual damage with Volt Switch is a huge advantage over Zeraora. During this tour I accidentally built a team with 2 megas for the first time in years, irrefutable evidence that Manectric is actually good now. Mienshao is still a solid mon, but the fact that it has a smaller share of speed control makes it a less important mon in my eyes, even if it is purely because of increased competition. I found myself using 0 Mienshao teams in the entire tour, and while that is not an accurate reflection of Mienshao's viability, it does demonstrate a shift away from it.

:SS/Tentacruel:
I don't have any real analysis of this mon since I haven't used it much, but it's something I wanted to bring up as an interesting option. You run Liquid Ooze for Celesteela, Amoonguss, and Roserade. This makes it the only hazard removal that safely switches in on Roserade, which is a big niche vs me since I am a Roserade spammer but also pretty good in general imo. The combination of Scald and Sludge Bomb is the god status fishing combo, and that allows it to get really valuable Knock Offs since many Knock absorbers can't afford to eat the status. Not sure how good this mon is but I like what it has to offer. Here are a few replays of me getting owned by it.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldexuu-2284018576-y2tx79yj7ifl15jl0pc3ao0gpobvfe8pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldexuu-2292436882 I posted this under the Azelf section and Azelf farms but Tent almost wins on its own

:SS/Zygarde-10%:
I do think Zygarde is pretty cool, it's not bad right now but nothing special. If anything Zeraora's strength makes it a bit weaker since Zeraora is the one electric you can't even pretend to check. I just wanted to complain about this thing getting no usage. It got brought only 4 times, which is pretty tragic. You know what's even worse? 3 of them were me. Discounting my games, this mon got less usage than Miltank, Arcanine, and Heracross. Is this mon simply unviable? Am I losing my mind?? Who knows..


:SS/Pidgeot-Mega:
I've been yapping about this mon in every post I make about this tier for ages, but every time I make a post there is more to point at. It didn't see a ton of usage (still more than multiple A rank mons), but it notably popped up in the most important games. There was a Pidgeot mirror in grand finals, as well as another Pidgeot in winners finals. The Pidgeot + Urshifu combo is present on all of these teams, it's also the core that molly used with this mon. I think that core is pretty good, it's something that has always seemed solid but I haven't seen it actually be built until this tour.

Part 3: Tour Recap + Teams

I put the recaps in spoilers because it's stupidly long without that holy shit here is a paste if you just want the teams I used but be warned they are not all good
Game 1
:Azelf::Bisharp::Amoonguss::Swampert::Moltres::Zeraora:
Just brought a nice looking old team here, this is exactly the stuff I thought was good at the end of the generation. The game is pretty straightforward, demonstrates how Z Azelf is great to revenge kill stuff. The Flip Turn chip on Rotom puts it in range despite it being max HP + def investment. Azelf lives CB Bullet Punch so staying in with Azelf isn't even really a prediction, but it works out perfectly.
252 SpA Azelf Shattered Psyche (175 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-Wash: 262-310 (86.1 - 101.9%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Technician Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Azelf: 217-256 (74.5 - 87.9%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

Game 2
:Dragonite::Zeraora::Bisharp::Slowking::Roserade::Rhyperior:
I made this team not long before this tour started, I just wanted to see if defensive Dragonite actually worked. This shit is 6-0'd by Hydreigon so I knew I had to be aggressive into it. I decided to trade Dragonite into it to scout the set, but decided they wouldn't want to let me go Bisharp on the Hydreigon so clicked DD, somehow resulted in Dragonite 6-0ing. Weird game. Dragonite eats a lot of hits.
Game 1
:Primarina::Zarude::Moltres::Zygarde-10%::Cobalion::Salamence:
This team is a bit silly, double bird with no flying resist or speed control. It just aims to click moves with Prim and Zygarde, and hope that's enough vs any bad matchups. I didn't realize until now how unlucky I was at the start of the game, but the game becomes interesting when Runo's Dragonite nukes my Primarina with Z-Fly. Z-Fly is the Dragonite set that insta wins vs me since I have no Flying resist, I have to try to revenge kill with Zygarde-10%. I have Outrage but I make the greatest play of all time by clicking Thousand Arrows on the Fly, I get OHKO'd by Fly the next turn and this is the only way to live. Runo doesn't realize the Fly got cancelled and clicks it again, funny sequence. For the record, I fucking died to EQ and lost if they clicked that. It ends up with a Bisharp mindgame which I win, if I had guessed wrong it became a 50/50 between Extreme Speed and Thousand Arrows on Zygarde-10%.

Game 2
:Dragonite::Zeraora::Bisharp::Slowking::Roserade::Rhyperior:
I bring the same stupid Dragonite team and play against Hydreigon again, but this time there's also a Tentacruel to own my Roserade and a Terrakion that wins. Scarf Hydreigon means I can't trade Dragonite into it this time, and it stops any chance of a Zeraora win. This was pretty much the perfect bring into me, not much I could have done to win this. The game is about as close as I could hope for.

Game 3
:Urshifu-Rapid-Strike::Roserade::Salamence::Rhyperior::Zeraora::Scizor:
I bring the god squad, this is my old reliable team which has still never lost in tour. Hazard Stack + Knock Spam is my preferred way to support Urshifu. This team has no good Dragon resist since it was made before Hydreigon, the only change I made when Hydreigon dropped was to add enough speed for it on Salamence. The game is going pretty decently for me but I get a Flamethrower burn on Celesteela which basically means Scizor wins once I hit Tentacruel. Not too interesting after that.
Game 1
:Primarina::Zarude::Moltres::Zygarde-10%::Cobalion::Salamence:
No Flying resist offense runback. I almost get farmed by broken Meloetta, fortunately I can win despite sacking 3 mons to it because the rest of the team is not good. Also Ice Beam becomes a cool click in this, it would have been a 50/50 if I was Psychic.

Game 2
:Azelf::Aegislash::Buzzwole::Amoonguss::Krookodile::Rotom-Heat:
Woooo Defog Rotom-H yippee!! I had this team in my builder and I was like wow this looks like incredible heat and then there's a Defog Rotom-Heat. But I decided it was cool enough that it was worth it, and Rotom was actually being useful in tests. I load into an NDPL team which I know, which means I am aiming to trap Reuniclus and then win with Azelf. I still scout the Fight-Z, but it is the same team as the one in the paste. Unfortunately, I have 2 pokemon that 1v1 Tentacruel, and 1 of them is Krookodile which is slower by base speed (but faster than the one in the team). On turn 10 I switch in Azelf on Scald and don't get burned, I instantly lost if I got burned there. I slightly misplay by not bringing in Krook on Tentacruel ever, but I didn't know I was faster. A few Azelf doubles let it claim 3 kills and win the game.
Game 1
:Keldeo::Bisharp::Azelf::Hippowdon::Salamence::Slowbro-Galar:
Pretty solid Slowbro-Galar team I made, I promise this was separate from R1C3M4N's GBro + Bisharp + Mence + Hippo one. On preview I thought "wow I lose to Chandelure! I should lead Bisharp and click Pursuit". I led Bisharp into Chandelure and clicked Pursuit. They then click Draco on Bisharp which is a baller move and gets them back in the game, but it turns out to be a Keldeo win. There was potential for a Scizor + Hydreigon win since BP + Draco kills Keldeo, but they don't go Hydreigon first so I don't need to think about it.

Game 2
:Zygarde-10%::Nihilego::Rotom-Wash::Hydreigon::Tangrowth::Aegislash:
Honestly this team isn't very good but it's got some stuff I don't use enough and it won a few tests so I loaded it in tour. I'm 6-0'd by Dracozolt and if it clicked Fire Spin on the switch on turn 5 it killed Tangrowth and won on the spot. Fortunately I get it to 35 somehow. Buzzwole dies to some pressure and I get a kill with SD Aegi despite there being a Mandibuzz, and then there's nothing that can stop Zygarde-10%. Honestly this was an incredibly bad matchup and I should have lost.
Game 1
:Azelf::Bisharp::Amoonguss::Swampert::Moltres::Zeraora:
Brought the same team as my first game of the tour. I get lucky to burn the Dragonite, which means I don't have to lock Bisharp into sucker to revenge kill the Dragonite. They get the roll to kill Swampert with Bisharp later which causes the Moltres to die and kind of cancel out the effect of the burn (not really). Scarf Urshifu on HO surprises me but Azelf is able to barely pull it out, fortunately this Azelf is not -spdef.
252+ SpA Life Orb Zeraora Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Azelf: 238-281 (81.7 - 96.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Game 2
:Slowbro-Galar::Bisharp::Mamoswine::Tangrowth::Rotom-Wash::Nihilego:
The version of this team I have in my builder is Black Glasses Bisharp so I guess I changed it sometime after this game, I think I considered it for one of my games next round but didn't end up bringing it. My glorious Ice-Z Mamoswine makes an appearance. Unfortunately Life Orb might have actually won here, but whatever. It's a tight game where the pivotal turn is turn 17, where it turns out that their Zeraora is walled by Mamoswine but I switch out because why is it Blaze Kick bro.. Slowbro dies because of the crit, and Zera ends up putting in good work. My endgame is played correctly but unfortunately I am 1 round of rocks short of killing Urshifu with Ice Shard, close end to an exciting game.

Game 3
:Urshifu-Rapid-Strike::Roserade::Salamence::Rhyperior::Zeraora::Scizor:
My game 3 team is my Urshifu team again of course. Their team somehow has every single scary pokemon, the only matchup I'm scared of playing with this team is Dragonite so of course there is one. The game is scary when Dragonite comes in. Since it is Boots I assume it is 3a Dragon Claw, but I try to get an intimidate on it to figure out the set anyway. It switches out on Salamence meaning it is probably Dual Wingbeat (?), but it doesn't matter because I won't let it DD again. In the end it is in range of Scizor U-turn + Bullet Punch so there is no click that stops Scizor U-turn into Urshifu, since I can CC if it DDs or Ice Punch if it Roosts. Solid win.
Game 1
:Primarina::Krookodile::Celesteela::Amoonguss::Salamence::Zeraora:
This is the first time I built a team for an opponent, it wasn't a counterteam but my main takeaway from their scout was that I liked offensive waters. It starts perfectly with a Primarina kill, honestly they don't have a single mon that 1v1s Primarina so it was a pretty free lead. I'm winning until after the Altaria DD's, I know my Celesteela dies so I sack Salamence and hope that Primarina lives +0. If they're Jolly it's a roll in my favour, if they're Adamant I just die. I just completely blanked on the fact that the intimidate meant I lived with Celesteela, so my Primarina dies for no reason and then I revenge kill with Celesteela. That puts me in an endgame where Colbur Slowbro-Galar wins the game. If I knew it was Colbur I had to double to Zeraora until Urshifu takes enough Rocks damage that it is in range of Earthquake, but technically it could even be Shuca Slowbro-Galar so I think my play was fine. The Primarina sack was definitely where this game was lost.

Game 2
:Keldeo::Roserade::Salamence::Bisharp::Swampert::Zeraora:
Offensive Water #2 comes this time, Keldeo wins since I can Pursuit the Slowking and HP Ice the Mega Altaria. I get huge progress out of Roserade + Bisharp and then Keldeo wins the game. Not much to say about this game, it was super clean. The team is one I built with Iride for Elfuseon in NDPL, it lost but I think the team is really nice. Had a great matchup this game.

Game 3
:Urshifu-Rapid-Strike::Crobat::Tangrowth::Nidoqueen::Skarmory::Rotom-Wash:
Offensive Water #3 is the biggest and baddest of them all. My Hydreigon matchup stinks and I get lucky to get a 1st turn Sludge Bomb poison vs it. I also lose to Reuniclus though, but fortunately I get a crit on that too. Nidoqueen Sludge Wave is a bad roll vs that but I eventually take it because what else am I gonna do. It lives so I Thunder Wave it and just overwhelm it with physical mons, but I don't expect Helmet and get bailed out of Urshifu having to trade by a Volt Switch crit. To be fair, it was para'd the whole time and could have also gotten full para'd. I trade into a winning endgame, but on turn 30 I find myself in with Rotom vs a boosted toxic'd Primarina.

If I stay in on Draining Kiss I live and win because of Poison ticking up. If I Volt on Draining Kiss it gets back barely enough that it's about 50/50 for the next Volt to kill. If they Moonblast on Volt they are in range of the next Volt, if they Moonblast as I stay in they win. I go for Volt as they Draining Kiss but I get the roll. And then I spam Pain Split vs Palossand because I don't want Hydro PP to get PP stalled. I assumed it was Shadow Ball Earth Power for some reason, but it's Toxic. I still only need to hit 3 pumps in a row to win, but I don't even go for it (????) and lose.

Crazy choke, which is made even worse by the fact that it turns out if I clicked Pain Split on the Rotom turn, it was in Urshifu range no matter what it clicked and then there was no PP bs with Palossand because it got OHKO'd by Surging Strikes. I played worse this game and would have lost anyway without some good fortune, but it's crazy that both games I lost this series were 100% won if I didn't choke.
Game 1
:Manectric-Mega::Urshifu-Rapid-Strike::Krookodile::Hatterene::Deoxys-Defense::Aegislash:
I had been trying to build Mega Manectric since Round 1 for my set vs mrfraud, not sure how I ended up with this bs though. I put Hatterene because I couldn't find another way to not lose to Dragon-Z stuff since I was not allowed to bring both Mega Manectric and Mega Altaria! It keeps off hazards for Manectric which is cool. The only issue is that I forgot a Ground resist. I got owned by my glorious Ice-Z Mamo because of this. They play nicely, getting Cobalion in on Surging Strikes which barely stops Urshifu from winning later on. I don't think I played badly, just built a bad team and kept it close vs a well played game from my opponent.

Game 2
:Terrakion::Slowking::Moltres::Scizor::Zeraora::Nidoqueen:
After bringing an awful team but playing decently and losing, I decide to change it up and bring a nice team and play badly and lose. On preview, they lose to Terrakion while I lose to Hydreigon. Theoretically I need Future Sight to break through Hippowdon, but Terrakion should break through if I get enough chances. I also struggle to switch into Jellicent, I just sack my Scizor to burn to pivot on it. I lose Moltres to missing 1 of 2 Hurricanes, which isn't really unlucky it's only 49% to hit both. Terrakion starts to get progress, killing Scizor. I get Knock and Toxic on Hippowdon, so now Terrakion is set to win next time it comes in. Jellicent is in range of Rock-Z, and I haven't even revealed that I'm not Scarf yet. Unfortunately, I forget that Hydreigon is Z and Future Sight with Slowking, planning to eat the Draco and get a kill with Terrakion. I would have still won if I sacked Nidoqueen to bring out Terrakion, but I let Slowking die and so I immediately lose to Urshifu.
 

:sv/azelf: :sv/terrakion:
More Pokemon On the Rise and Fall: POST Money Tour Edition
This post mostly started as a mere continuation of those usage stats recaps that I've been doing for the SS NDUU Money Tour, where I would have continued to divide the sample size into another individual period of weeks, breaking down any notable trends that occurred as teams and playstyles were beginning to become more and more optimized. That said, I think my reasons for delaying this post for as long as I did are best described by an inherent desire that always comes to mind, yet is something I have not explicitly committed myself towards expressing, especially for something I intend to develop for long as possible as I am met with continuing receptions and perceptions regarding the metagame and its level of inclusion in the minds of others.

To me, the most intuitive aspect of a post-generation tier continues to be the incentive for exploration, whether directed by myself or the other things around us. As good friend bumboclaat once said: This introduction only means another article-length post of mine, not a throwaway line on Discord. The confines of space and time are irreverent. Something like Azelf may also be considered a god, but the devil is in the details.


On the Rise and On the Fall

As suggested by its terms. This post aims to cover several Pokemon that I believe have undergone notable changes, whether it's through the discovery of new tools or metagame shifts related to playstyle that may relate to them in ways that are substantial enough to warrant being here. However, as this is a post-generation tier, I do always want to reiterate that the list is not meant to be an objective indicator of their potential or ability to adapt to these tiering trends in due time, nor are these trends meant to be framed in a way that specifically isolates the boundaries of casual and tournament play.

For instance, Pokemon on this list that are "On the Rise" will not be covered exclusively on the basis of being able to simply replicate a lesser version of the roles previously banned Pokemon once fulfilled upon the transition from current to post-gen; something such as Polteageist may be more obvious due to having similar offensive potential, but also lacks the defensive profile to emulate the likes of Porygon Z, Mew, or Moltres-Galar, thus disqualifying it off this premise alone. Conversely, Pokemon that are "On the Fall" will not be covered exclusively under the principle of their usage compared to their overall matchups. In this way, I highly suggest other players watching, whether new and interested in the tier, to those long-standing and intent on returning to always continue exploring and finding what is best for themselves.



#1: Pokemon On the Rise

:sv/primarina:

Previously, Primarina could always be considered the black sheep of sorts throughout SS's time as the current generation. Extremely lethal in its own right, but arguably overshadowed by the continued flashiness of threats like Slowking-Galar, Moltres-Galar and Melmetal. The inclusion of specific metagame trends that rose in response to their prominence, such as hazard stacking, increase of hyper offense styles of the former and screens, and the rise of fast offensive pivots such as Zarude, Scizor, and Zeraora arguably did it no favors either. Thus, leading to its fairly low usage up to this point. Even the lack of dedicated special resists such as Blissey and Empoleon for most of the time spent, whether rose to OU or became unviable didn't do much to urge exploration. So, with all of these elements from different points of the tier's lifespan briefly explained, yet no longer as present. What else made Primarina go from mid to highly recognized and top-tier threat in such little time?

In my opinion, the crux of Primarina's success mostly comes from how well its existing movepool synergizes with its inherent traits. Despite its low speed and average physical bulk, it remains one of the few to successfully integrate the defense to offense formula in a way not much else can. 3MM already mentioned Choice Specs, which on its own its a very dangerous wallbreaker that works especially well in tandem with the other highly prominent pivots such as Zarude, Scizor, and Cobalion to find entry into the plethora of Grounds and Flyings to dish out huge, unresisted damage. On the flip side, the offensive properties of Primarina's typing can also be seen in more defensively oriented sets, especially as players like mrfraud and Micaiah have also used bulkier Calm Mind and RestTalk sets to great effect, turning its increased ability to take hits on its head to make Primarina an even more unstoppable mid to late-game threat on the field, with said sets even now breaking through the likes of Amoonguss rather easily.

And speaking of which, this aforementioned point regarding defensive utility cannot be overstated. This exhaustive list Primarina offers generally ranges from its aforementioned offensive firepower, unique set of resistances to notable offensive threats such as Hydreigon and Salamence, ease at crippling its few dedicated switch-ins with repeated statuses, and bulk when invested, also making it excellent at progressing through the general direction many bulky offense and balance teams have taken. In addition, with how much Fighting-type threats such as Buzzwole and Urshifu-RS have shifted toward Dark, Ice, and Rock moves to handle the newfound prominence of defensive checks such as Salamence and Dragonite. This itself makes Primarina's defensive contributions regardless of the set all the more stable and easy to include than it once was, leading to the other main factor in its increased prominence. Am I perhaps overexaggerating when I call Primarina if not the third most threatening Pokemon to account for right now? Probably, but the rise itself feels better to acknowledge as opposed to suggesting that it was always held back by the same specially defensive blobs ran to handle every other special attacking threat imaginable as it skewers em'.



:sv/pidgeot-mega:

From silly shitmon turned goat. Mega Pidgeot has arguably has one of the most explosive breakouts as of late. Despite being effective yet simple unlike the other Pokemon on this list, its exploration was constrained by time as M-Pidgeot's viability has mostly been shrouded by darkness until recently, where it has finally gotten to roam the sky at the hands of a few. So what gives?

Well, to see how it landed here in the first place, we should first look at the fundamentals behind being an offensive Flying-type, and subsequently the ways M-Pidgeot manages to distinguishes itself from its competition in turn. As it stands, offensive Flyings such as Moltres and Salamence are excellent offensive threats not only due to the power of their STAB Hurricane, but also how many opportunities they generally get to fire them off against much of the metagame.

Offensively, common specially defensive walls such as Hippowdon, Swampert, and Aegislash are able to withstand Hurricanes well in a vacuum, but are often limited in this role by their defensive reach, which is often not enough to deter these Pokemon from breaking through them in the long-term. The same also applies the the Electric-types of the tier, as Zeraora and Mega Manectric are offensively-oriented threats which do not appreciate being forcibly chipped, while both Rotom Applicances can struggle due to their recovery being limited to the unreliable Pain Split. The additional confusion rate Hurricane can potentially inflict onto these targets as a byproduct of dealing damage can also be another crutch for their reliability. Needless to say, despite the limits of its accuracy, Hurricane puts on a ton of pressure whenever it hits.

On the other hand, Salamence and Moltres remain highly essential to the backbone of many teams, notably checking the plethora of fast Fighting types in the tier. M-Pidgeot does not have the same defensive reach these two Pokemon have whatsoever, further compounded by its role in the Mega slot and inability to wear Heavy-Duty Boots unlike them. However, where it makes up for this in its ability to accentuate the offensive aspects associated with being an offensive Flying-type.

M-Pidgeot's much higher speed tier notably gives it the jump over the crucial benchmarks of 108 and 115. More importantly, it also has the ability to never miss Hurricane, meaning that it is much more offensively threatening whenever it does manage to hit the field, thus giving it a distinct niche that allows it to thrive on certain teams that are able to include it. Notably, M-Pidgeot's increased offensive profile also makes for some excellent pairings with other prominent threats such as Mienshao and Bisharp, and the increased prominence of these exact offensive cores on the recently optimized VoltTurn teams has only further elevated its viability as a result.


:sv/azelf:
Here we have the clear winner, both literally and contextually speaking in proportion to other aspects of the metagame around it. Azelf is not only the most notable Pokemon on this list for the way it has so thoroughly risen in comparison to its previous standings in the current generation, but also in how it did so despite arguably having the most shallow history of the lot. From its brief early days in Alakazam's shadow, to merely being thought of as an offensive lead, only for it and its other offensive aspects to exceed all expectations in the wake of all odds and tiering shits. How is it that the Pokemon originally thought of as lesser version of previous constellations of the metagame ended up here?

To see this for ourselves, we must see how the metagame has evolved in a way that has allowed Azelf to better fit into its surroundings. This first harkens back to Alakazam itself; Alakazam for all its terrifying power was also an integral component of the offensive integrity of many slower teams due to the value of its speed tier against opposing setup threats such as Terrakion and Nihilego, and Magic Guard to ignore opposing chip damage while being a potent abuser itself. Both of these were highly essential features to have as they maintained an importance balance in allowing these teams to strike back against the onslaught of offense which up made the other side of NDUU's calling card at the time of Alakazam's suspect test. And as it turns out, while Azelf is just a tad bit less resilient. In practice, it still manages to fill this hole left behind by Alakazam without completely breaking the mold, but as it turns out, there's also more.

Besides holding onto the excellent fundamentals that are its defining speed tier and abundance of setup and utility moves, Azelf also thrives on the premise that the other options in its toolkit are capable of being put to great effect as well, and even in ways that the Magic Guard Psychic before it failed to demonstrate. This notably includes AoA attacker sets, which take advantage of its deep coverage movepool and speed tier to not only pose a notable offensive threat, but also serve as an important enabler for many offensive cores besides it. This is due to its access to U-turn, which not only serves as the crux of this enabler strategy, but also allows Azelf to better compensate for its potential coverage issues when faced with certain specially defensive Pokemon such as Celesteela and Slowking, instead inviting in these Pokemon in for its teammates to regularly abuse. Not only this, but these sets have also received further development to also accommodate for its other shortcomings; notably Z-Moves on this set, whether Psychic itself or even Thunder, allow Azelf to expand its offensive reach by potentially luring in and KOing certain targets such as Salamence and Primarina outright, making it even more terrifying as its own inherent traits means it lacks the need to conform to certain sets to function effectively.

This is also without mentioning the other essential role Azelf can fulfill with a plum, once again from a retrospective proving that it always had potential in this area where Alakazam didn't. Azelf has also made a name for itself as the new-defacto hyper offense lead, making full use of its access to Stealth Rock and those aforementioned qualities that lend it to being excellent here as well, namely its fast Taunt and extensive coverage moves which allow it to easily adapt to the plethora of anti-leads in the tier.

Thus, mainly for the way it has completely reinvented the game of being an offensive Psychic-type and its initial place in the metagame. Azelf has spun just about every aspect in its favor and has without a shadow of a doubt earned its place as the embodiment of the rising star right now.



#2: Pokemon On the Fall

:sv/deoxys-defense:
Once upon a time, Deoxys-Defense was a defining presence in TWO separate guises at various points in the tier's lifespan, and only during the second was it kept in the tier by a rather contentious margin. Originally a defining component of the vicious hyper offense styles of hazard stack that even had it canned in previous generations of OU. Deo-D landed in NDUU with similar controversy surrounding it after being allowed once again, banned very early on for said role before ultimately being brought back into the tier alongside Mew, which had also gained Spikes in the generation. Although it was regarded as worse than its Mythical counterpart this time around, things did not end there. As a new set synonymous with SS, and likely as a result of its ability to finally develop its mutations further in the lower tiers, emerged from the tenebrous depths of the tier's most creative builders. With Cosmic Power and Recover, its relatively fast Taunt to stop potential recovery moves and Defog, and Pressure to reduce its chances of getting crit, Demon Deo-D (as it was referred to) became a defining force of many hazard stacking teams that were prominent around the era of Melmetal's presence, giving these passive teams an otherwise seriously oppressive method of quickly suffocating opposing compositions unable to scratch its untouchable hide. This element has since remained in the tier, although it has become a far cry from what it was originally.

So the things that changed for the alien to where even an entirely new lease on life was not enough for it to remain prominent in the tier? Arguably the biggest of the bunch is simply how polarizing its defensive build is in practice. For how untouchable it may appear to be defensively; Demon Deo-D's main offensive weapon being the fixed damage moves Night Shade and Seismic Toss, while consistent, also don't do much to deter the opponent from using easily accessible measures to delay its sweep, largely consisting of Defog from the likes of Salamence and Moltres, the two most common forms of hazard removal that are also able to maneuver around its Taunt, as well as Regenerator from the likes of the Slowtwins, Amoonguss, and Tangrowth, which can inflict status on it with their moves before healing off the damage taken, even giving the slower teams they tend to fit on a much needed defensive backbone. Both forms of counterplay also highlight another component synonymous with SS, being the introduction of Heavy-Duty Boots. With anything being able to run Heavy-Duty Boots, Deo-D's previous hazard-focused games on both ends of the spectrum simply aren't as fundamentally game-changing as they used to be. As such, why rely on using Deo-D to sweep when you could simply use other setup sweepers which are able to deal more immediate damage and have more efficacious defensive profiles against much of the metagame without being reliant on not matching up against such a common aspect of the game?

On the other hand, there's still the Lead set. With Mew no longer being in the tier, Deo-D has since seen reprised the role of a hazard lead that leverages its huge natural bulk to setup multiple hazards, that is until it faces the dilemma against an opposing lead, with examples such as Azelf and Froslass notably being faster in the mirror matchup and offering the same baseline traits as it does. Additionally, Azelf's greater offensive profile also lends it to running moves such as Fire Blast and Explosion that can also allow it to secure damage or even KOes outright on crucial defensive targets such as Scizor and Slowking, potentially opening up the gates for setup sweepers such as Dragon Dance Mega Altaria to sweep more effectively. Whereas Froslass, which has Spikes itself, also offers a way to break through Magic Bounce Hatterene (with Poltergeist) and Destiny Bond to similarly threaten KOes against anti-leads such as Urshifu-RS. So the reality here is that while Lead Deo-D is still quite viable, it itself is difficult to justify due to the reduced effectiveness of Spikes in the short-term and the ironic opportunity cost of not being other leads.


:sv/aggron-mega:
Following in the rule of two is another Mega Evolution, albeit this time from the other side of things. Mega Aggron seemed poised to become an all-encompassing and walling behemoth in the same footsteps of the rather absurd Melmetal given the latter's departure. With access to several key utility components in its coveted Steel-typing, access to Stealth Rock, and ability to devour seemingly anything and hit back off its nearly equivalent attacking prowess, while M-Aggron appeared to completely dominate the earlier metagames of NDWC throughout the rather chaotic following many of the NDUU bans. This hasn't persisted even until today, where while low usage stats aren't the end all be all for one's potential, do suggest several serious changes so has to have knocked M-Aggron down its throne as the defensive kingpin by a fairly noticeable margin.

The main factor in M-Aggron's fall is simply its struggle to remain compatible with the direction many bulkier structures have adopted to accommodate for other areas. This notably includes the prominence of Regenerator Pokemon and a focus on longevity-based hazards stacking. M-Aggron, for all its ability to take hits in a vacuum, cannot be so easily justified when unable to offer as much support to these types of teams, mostly as a byproduct of its lack of reliable recovery compared to other notable sturdy Steel-types of this department in Skarmory, Scizor, and Aegislash, further compounded by the inability to hold Leftovers, and a lack of general utility besides the occasional Toxic.

Additionally, Wish support, an otherwise essential component of M-Aggron's playstyle in previous generations, is not so easily accessible anymore with the depature of Blissey and the struggle for options like Umbreon, Sylveon, and Florges to remain viable Pokemon themselves. Options to include these Pokemon generally extend to running stall structures, but with an increasing level of offensive power creep and largely untendable threats to manage such as Aegislash, Nasty Plot Hydreigon, and Life Orb Mienshao outweighting the few gains defensive options have received this generation, stall teams as a whole find themselves more inconsistent and difficult to justify than ever.

Speaking on a more positive note to those optimistic. What M-Aggron does continue to provide is a notable attacking prowess, further supported by its deep coverage movepool. I find that M-Aggron can be still be especially outstanding when pioneered to take out almost anything in the teambuilder, be it using that beefy Attack stat to lure Moltres with Stone Edge or Aegislash with Earthquake, or even staying in on to cripple the likes of Urshifu-RS with Thunder Wave, especially when it does so while keeping its aforementioned ability to compress unique, valuable offensive utility for certain teams. If that was looked into a bit more, M-Aggron could potentially reinstate itself as one of NDUU's bigger names again, its just no longer as oppressive as it was initially believed to be when everything appeared to have spun in its favor.

:sv/terrakion:
Bringing immense killpower, repectable speed and even its flagship Rock / Fighting STAB combination back to the table. Whether firing off fierce Choice Band boosted Stone Edges or Close Combats, or bolstering it further with setup from Swords Dance and Z-Moves, Terrakion has always made a name for itself as one of the strongest and top wallbreakers in the tier. Additionally, building upon existing sentiments with how much Fighting-type offense is revered in the tier, Terrakion's ability to smite common Fighting resists in Moltres and Amoonguss with its Rock STAB becomes increasingly notable in this regard. Not only that, but Terrakion's bulk, while not amazing, also makes it more terrifying by allowing it to crucially survive hits such as defensive Scizor's Bullet Punch and Earthquakes from various Ground-types such as Hippowdon and Swampert, ensuring that even avoiding an OHKO tends to not be enough to stop it in return. With this in mind, Terrakion did in fact manage to dominate the early to intermediate eras throughout the current generation, so all these things considered, why did it end up falling off?

To put it simply, Terrakion is still a fine Pokemon, but not the tier-shattering behemoth I once described, as it simply struggles to keep up in this day and age, where games are not meant to be played in a vacuum. Currently, the most common teamstyles either tend to be heavily offensive momentum based team compositions with fast threats such as Zeraora, Urshifu-RS, and Mega Manectric supported by defensive pivots such as Swampert, Scizor, and Aegislash, and more balance compositions which have shifted to running physically bulky Pokemon such as Skarmory, Hippowdon, Celesteela, and Regenerator cores, thus raising a precedent that almost without direct counter, is able to easily check Terrakion across multiple Pokemon in some form. This is in comparison to what these respective teamstyles used to look like in previous metagame iterations, instead being loaded with Pokemon such as specially defensive Slowking, Mega Altaria, both Rotom Appliances, and Krookodile that would allow Terrakion far more opportunities to outspeed and blow things away.

Additionally, while Terrakion may have embodied the "most defining speed tier" in the metagame, that moniker is quite misleading in the context of today, as plenty of others such as Keldeo, Zygarde-10%, and Azelf are arguably just as capable of making this claim for themselves while being more proactive offensive threats against the rest of the tier as a result of their better typings and offensive profiles, including vs Terrakion itself. Combine their prominence as competition for Terrakion role's on teams in conjunction with the extensive amount of effort required to overcome its absurd defensive liabilities, and you've got a Pokemon that in practice, struggles to find more bang for its buck than in previous metagames.
Granted, while this all seems rather disheartening to go through. Keep in mind that Terrakion itself hasn't changed for the worse nor the better. Personally, I find that the same traditional bulky offense compositions I mentioned tend to not like switching into repeated Choice Band boosted attacks more than once. Getting to fire those attacks off consistently however? That is the challenge I eagerly wait to see unfold in the future.


#3 Closing Remarks
And that's it, I hope you enjoyed this more personalized and expansive style of yapping once more. Of course, there's also plenty of other Pokemon that have since seen occasional sightings or continue to have hidden potential, whether its Zygarde-10%, Hatterene, Volcanion, or something else able to fulfill the unique, distinct roles that makes up the various teamstyles of the metagame we play. If any of this makes you rather nostalgic or otherwise like I have at the time of writing, feel free to share how you feel as I hope to continue raising the general activity of this tier with SS NDPL potentially on the horizon, and so much more down the road.

There's a few more hidden techs I've alluded to but figured I'd let you all uncover the rest as I don't want to completely spoil my tastes just yet.
 
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