That was beautiful. Gotta test Rising Voltage now.
Also yikes what's the deal with that stall team your opponent had, fastest mon was Mandibuzz. I like stall but that was too much.
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Metagame SS OU Metagame Discussion Thread v5 (usage in post #547)
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Also yikes what's the deal with that stall team your opponent had, fastest mon was Mandibuzz. I like stall but that was too much.
With Poltergeist being long awaited physical Ghost STAB and being powerful at that, Golurk will have a decent niche as a Suicide Lead.
Here are a few variations of that set.
Pros:
-Golurk does a fair job against opposing suicide leads. Excadrill can't Rapid Spin Golurk's rocks away and can lose a turn thanks to confusion. Similarly, Terrakion can only use Taunt, while CC and RT do little to nothing, and Terrakion doesn't appreciate confusion and Dynamic Punch. Mew has a 50% chance of being OHKO'd, which will then prevent Red Card from activating.
-Golurk also does a fair job (not as good as against suicide leads) against some other Hazard Setters. Nothing appreciates Dynamic Punch's confusion besides Corsola-G (which is terrible and doesn't like Poltergeist), and many of the Stealth Rock setters and weak to Fighting. The resistance to Dynamic Punch either fold to Earthquake or Poltergeist too, such a Toxapex and Celebi.
-Golurk is also excellent against Hazard control, being completely immune to Rapid Spin, hitting all the Magic Bounce users with Poltergeist, and can Stone Edge the common Defoggers, confuse them to have a chance of Defog failing, and can reliably just Self-Destruct like how Excadrill will use Steel Beam to kill itself and prevent Defog.
-Pursuit being gone means Golurk is able to switch-out of unfavorable match-ups and try setting up again later if you have to.
-If you are caught with your pants down against something like Alakazam, Volcarona, or Urshifu-Single-Strike, but you still managed to remove Hazards, Golurk can come in and heroically save your team as a last resort.
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-Golurk almost always will be going last, even with its speed investment. It's so slow it ties with Modest Pelipper.
-No Guard is a double edge sword, and it will guarantee you will be Will-o-wisped if you don't switch up
-That low speed makes it hard to deal with taunt
-It's ways of preventing hazards involve confusion RNG
-Urshifu-Rapid-Strikes screws it over, like it does against Lead Terrakion and Suicide Lead Excadrill.
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Golurk as a whole still is far away from being an OU Staple, but it confidently has a pretty decent niche now. And I'm glad since Golurk is my favorite Pokemon.
Also, Palossand will have a niche as well, for similar reasons to Golurk (well being a bulky ground type and not a suicide lead). Now that it has Scorching Sand, and Cinderace is a prominent attacker that loves High Jump Kick and Gunk Shot.
After playing quite a few ladder games today, here are some preliminary thoughts:
Glad to see Marowak viable on anything other than Trick Room. It's a pretty powerful wallbreaker, being able to threaten out mons like Sp.Def Pex, Tangrowth, Magearna, Clef, and a lot of the defensive steels we've seen a lot recently. The given speed put you in a useful speed tier ahead of uninvested Clef and stuff creeping around there. It's worth noting that Wak sits in the same speed tier as Conk, hitting 189 at max with an Adamant nature. Additionally, this thing kind of relies on its item to dish out large amounts of damage, and is significantly easier to deal with after getting Knocked Off. Regardless, it's a pretty good mon right now and I'm glad to see it working well. Lightning Rod can also be used to have an even better matchup against stuff like Rotom-H.
Nasty Plot turns Zam into an incredibly potent wallbreaker, capable of muscling past most defensive answers. Psyshock allows it to more easily hit Chansey and guarantees the OHKO against Sp.Def Clef. Gleam is capable of occasionally OHKOing Mandibuzz from full, while Focus Blast hits steels. The moves on this are super customizable depending on your team. Zam is pretty hard to answer defensively, but it does suffer from 4mss a bit. It's also frail, limiting its opportunities to come in freely (which can be fixed by the next mon).
In my opinion, Slowbro lives up to the hype it was given. Teleport is huge for it, providing free switches into stuff that doesn't appreciate taking non-resisted hits (such as the breakers shown above). Its moves are also pretty customizable - its attacks can be swapped around depending on the team. TWave is useful for crippling things like Dragapult that would otherwise come in for free, while Body Press can be used to pressure Bisharp and Urshifu. All around, I'm pretty impressed with this thing's performance. Teleport spam is a pain to play around, and Slowbro only makes pivoting into frail breakers more viable.
Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 124 HP / 252 Atk / 132 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Poltergeist
- Earthquake
- Flare Blitz
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 124 HP / 252 Atk / 132 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Poltergeist
- Earthquake
- Flare Blitz
Glad to see Marowak viable on anything other than Trick Room. It's a pretty powerful wallbreaker, being able to threaten out mons like Sp.Def Pex, Tangrowth, Magearna, Clef, and a lot of the defensive steels we've seen a lot recently. The given speed put you in a useful speed tier ahead of uninvested Clef and stuff creeping around there. It's worth noting that Wak sits in the same speed tier as Conk, hitting 189 at max with an Adamant nature. Additionally, this thing kind of relies on its item to dish out large amounts of damage, and is significantly easier to deal with after getting Knocked Off. Regardless, it's a pretty good mon right now and I'm glad to see it working well. Lightning Rod can also be used to have an even better matchup against stuff like Rotom-H.
Alakazam @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Dazzling Gleam
- Focus Blast / Shadow Ball
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Dazzling Gleam
- Focus Blast / Shadow Ball
Nasty Plot turns Zam into an incredibly potent wallbreaker, capable of muscling past most defensive answers. Psyshock allows it to more easily hit Chansey and guarantees the OHKO against Sp.Def Clef. Gleam is capable of occasionally OHKOing Mandibuzz from full, while Focus Blast hits steels. The moves on this are super customizable depending on your team. Zam is pretty hard to answer defensively, but it does suffer from 4mss a bit. It's also frail, limiting its opportunities to come in freely (which can be fixed by the next mon).
Slowbro @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 212 Def / 48 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder Wave / Body Press / Psychic
- Slack Off
- Teleport
- Scald
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 212 Def / 48 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder Wave / Body Press / Psychic
- Slack Off
- Teleport
- Scald
In my opinion, Slowbro lives up to the hype it was given. Teleport is huge for it, providing free switches into stuff that doesn't appreciate taking non-resisted hits (such as the breakers shown above). Its moves are also pretty customizable - its attacks can be swapped around depending on the team. TWave is useful for crippling things like Dragapult that would otherwise come in for free, while Body Press can be used to pressure Bisharp and Urshifu. All around, I'm pretty impressed with this thing's performance. Teleport spam is a pain to play around, and Slowbro only makes pivoting into frail breakers more viable.
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hello, ceo of cheese here. came here to share cheese.
Hey Hey, HEY!
honestly a pretty cookie cutter ho by most standards. made it the minute this shit was playable on ps. terra is one of the better suicide leads in the tier imo, super helpful rn cause of the existence of chansey now and just hits fairly strong. grimm for screens. volc cause its new, a bit worse than expected but serves its purpose and does pick up wins from time to time. we use psychic here cause the overall team gets pressured a bit by tha pex. lucha with gseed cause its dumb, rilla is super fun to use and it also hits with a truck with sd lo. grassy glide is also super useful for this build to act somewhat as a speed control with lucha.
star of the show:
baloorgear () @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stored Power
- Shift Gear
- Calm Mind
- Aura Sphere / focus blast
Im honestly a super big fan of this set at the moment. when I heard gear gets stored power now I was like I must use this with double dance wp. basically you get behind screens. click sg in front of something u know u can take a hit from under screens (like a hippo eq) then win. calm mind is useful in some situations so I wouldnt remove it unless you really want to. soul heart makes it super easy for this set to steam roll most teams due to making stored power strong every kill. got aura sphere / focus blast to kill darks and pesky steels. no ev optimizing at the moment due to us only being like a day in but I expect the evs changing once we settle. I also expect most ho gears to be running something similar to this in the coming future. I honestly think that gear isnt as broken as it was expected to be. still really good top tier mon, but I think its people complaining just because they have ptsd from gen7. we will see in the coming weeks where gear falls but im not expecting it to be close to banworthy anytime soon, esp with a couple of other issues we have at the moment.
have fun with ur dose of baloor cancer, really enjoying what we got so far. breathing a bit of fresh air into the meta and its already becoming less of a stale mess. nothing really is standpoint broken at the moment. some things are a bit strong but not broken like we were scared of.
Hey Hey, HEY!
honestly a pretty cookie cutter ho by most standards. made it the minute this shit was playable on ps. terra is one of the better suicide leads in the tier imo, super helpful rn cause of the existence of chansey now and just hits fairly strong. grimm for screens. volc cause its new, a bit worse than expected but serves its purpose and does pick up wins from time to time. we use psychic here cause the overall team gets pressured a bit by tha pex. lucha with gseed cause its dumb, rilla is super fun to use and it also hits with a truck with sd lo. grassy glide is also super useful for this build to act somewhat as a speed control with lucha.
star of the show:
baloorgear (
) @ Weakness Policy Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stored Power
- Shift Gear
- Calm Mind
- Aura Sphere / focus blast
Im honestly a super big fan of this set at the moment. when I heard gear gets stored power now I was like I must use this with double dance wp. basically you get behind screens. click sg in front of something u know u can take a hit from under screens (like a hippo eq) then win. calm mind is useful in some situations so I wouldnt remove it unless you really want to. soul heart makes it super easy for this set to steam roll most teams due to making stored power strong every kill. got aura sphere / focus blast to kill darks and pesky steels. no ev optimizing at the moment due to us only being like a day in but I expect the evs changing once we settle. I also expect most ho gears to be running something similar to this in the coming future. I honestly think that gear isnt as broken as it was expected to be. still really good top tier mon, but I think its people complaining just because they have ptsd from gen7. we will see in the coming weeks where gear falls but im not expecting it to be close to banworthy anytime soon, esp with a couple of other issues we have at the moment.
have fun with ur dose of baloor cancer, really enjoying what we got so far. breathing a bit of fresh air into the meta and its already becoming less of a stale mess. nothing really is standpoint broken at the moment. some things are a bit strong but not broken like we were scared of.
I predict Conk is going to stay pretty relevant in the coming meta. - Conk's movepool is filled with colorful coverage, and all of said coverage combines extremely well with Conk's other ability; Sheer Force. The power drop is notable, but not significant enough to warrant concern, and SF Conk's ability to mix and match attacks for the needs of its team is what will set it apart from Guts.
- Conk has solid defensive options. While Defog is usually relegated to Corv, Magnezone's return will damper that approach. Conk not only doesn't care about Mag, it actively wallops it and can still get the hazards off the field safely. Conk also has the stats to run a Tangrowth-esque AV set that hits significantly harder thanks to 140 attack, Fighting STAB, and SF. (will post replay at some point soon).
- Guts Conk still smashes things. Even if there are more Pokemon that can switch into Facade or Close Combat, none of them really enjoy it.
- The only return that Conk truly hates is Talonflame, which won't be truly exceptional due to Stealth Rock being prevalent. Magearna can shoo it away, but if Conk runs EQ it drops. Alakazam kills everything, including the bulkiest of Conks, but cannot under any circumstances switch in with that paper defense stat. If more Conk stop using Guts and start varying their sets, other checks and counters will vary wildly.
It is worth mentioning the chance of hitting all three Triple Axles is only 73%, which is honestly pretty terrible. No flinch also sucks, but kings rock can make up for it i guess (if you really wanna go that route lol)
This changes all these solid 2hko odds into below 50& chances, and with how paper thin weavile's defenses are, it cannot afford to miss.
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I was just about to make a post about the exact same thing smh, and I do think Electric Terrain is pretty effective in this tier, but anyway I'll add on to this post. For one, I just use a core of Pinchurchin + Raichu Alola and don't even bother with Magnezone because using 3 electric types ensures that your team has numerous weaknesses. I use a different set on to Raichu Alola, being
Raichu-Alola @ Magnet
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 68 HP / 252 SpA / 188 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Rising Voltage
- Grass Knot / Surf
- Substitute / Focus Blast
This specific set on Raichu uses a Magnet to avoid taking recoil in matchups where Raichu was already excellent in and being picked off by something like a Conk's Mach Punch or just die outright with taking chip from a defensive pokemon and Rising Voltage is the best move of choice a vast majority of times. The Speed is just enough for Excadrill in Sand and the extra bulk helps a lot to survive neutral attacks, notably guaranteeing that it never gets 2hkoed by Clefable's Moonblast. As far as moves go, Grass Knot makes Raichu have an amazing matchup against Quagsire stall as well as hitting ground types and Substitute helps a ton against sucker punch users like Bisharp, Cinderace, and Urshifu whilst also helping against balance teams looking to stall out Terrain and then revenge kill it. Surf could be used in place of it to hit Excadrill and Lightning Rod Marowak-A and comes at the cost of matchup against Quagsire and Seismitoad as well as some damage onto Hippowdon.
Anyway, this is best paired with Terrain Extender Pincurchin, which can set up Terrain and Hazards for Raichu and also use Rising Voltage to its advantage. Memento is also a great move in place of Spikes or Surf to help Raichu get a free Nasty Plot off. It's rising voltage is similarly strong doing loads to non resists but a more defensive spread with more Physical defense can be used to better get hazards up.As far as its matchups against the actual tier, Raichu-A has a great matchup against both Hyper Offense and Stall, using its incredible speed tier or its sheer power to threaten these teams, and can beat many rain teams if it has grass knot with minimal chip onto Ferrothorn with its ability to break past Unaware users with ease if it has Grass Knot and revenge kill sweepers as well as boost and sweep on its own. Against balance teams, Raichu can often find itself able to beat electric resists with minimal chip such as Ferrothorn and Kommo-o at +2 and outright kills some like Dragapult, Hydreigon, and RH Tangrowth and is also able to break past the common ground types of the tier with the right move out of Grass Knot and Surf, but struggles greatly against Rillaboom and Zeraora to an extent, making Helmet Tang(even without sleep because of terrain) a pretty good partner. Many non-electric resists die to a +0 hit, and the only notable one that lives a +2 hit is Chansey, which gets squarely 2hkoed by Rising Voltage. Even with a team that was quite bad and playing similarly badly, I was able to stay in the high 1800s to the low 1900s.
Replays(I wasn't always the correct set in these)
vs HO (1, 2, 3, 4)
vs Balance/Bulky Offense/Offense(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
vs Stall- Not grass knot, which is way better(1, 2) with grass knot(1, 2)
EDIT: I also peaked #1 with this because Raichu-A is incredibly good against many common teams
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This thing seems realllllllllllly good. Obv pincurchin is trash especially with terrain extender being mandatory, but raichu alola gets special bolt beak + nasty plot + 600 speed (or more if you want) and coverage for ground types. 95 base attack is doodoo but with a move as strong as expanding force i highly doubt this thing will be starved for power.
Raichu-Alola @ Magnet
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 68 HP / 252 SpA / 188 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Rising Voltage
- Grass Knot / Surf
- Substitute / Focus Blast
As far as its matchups against the actual tier, Raichu-A has a great matchup against both Hyper Offense and Stall
A note on the set: sub and focus blast seem entirely unnecessary, I'd just run double ground coverage and take my 40% on ferro (calc below)bc i can just plot on the switch next time it comes in. Since grounds take 0% id prioritize killing those rather than the steels, and the coverage doesn't help against other bulky grasses anyways.
this might just be the next broken ladder combo lol, the replays seem to show very little options for couterplay mons, even with another terrain setter.
Ferro calc (i made tbolt 140 bp dont worry bout it):
252 SpA Life Orb Raichu-Alola Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Ferrothorn in Electric Terrain: 136-161 (38.6 - 45.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
One more calc for the culture (tbolt 140 bp, chansey is dumb):
+6 252 SpA Life Orb Raichu-Alola Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Chansey in Electric Terrain: 577-680 (81.9 - 96.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
This isn't about a new mon, but from the games I have played in the new meta,
Dragapult is still really damn good even with the Chansey release. It makes dealing with Alakazam a million times easier, and even with Chansey it just U-Turns out for free momentum. It outpaces a ton of the fast mons released and think it is just as good, if not better in the new DLC meta.
Also, Volc is broken to nobody's surprise. Toxapex doesn't even deal with it all that well thanks to Psychic. If you don't have Chansey or Azumarill, it tends to just kinda sweep, especially since Magearna is so common and is such set up bait for volc. Plus not even sash Zam revenges it.
Dragapult is still really damn good even with the Chansey release. It makes dealing with Alakazam a million times easier, and even with Chansey it just U-Turns out for free momentum. It outpaces a ton of the fast mons released and think it is just as good, if not better in the new DLC meta.
Also, Volc is broken to nobody's surprise. Toxapex doesn't even deal with it all that well thanks to Psychic. If you don't have Chansey or Azumarill, it tends to just kinda sweep, especially since Magearna is so common and is such set up bait for volc. Plus not even sash Zam revenges it.
AnimaticLunatic
I COULD BE BANNED!
I mean Chansey got teleport... So uno reverse card.
Here to talk about two moves real quick:
First of all, Flip Turn.
When I heard there was a new water-type U-Turn / Volt-Switch I got really excited, but it stopped when I saw it was a physical attack learned by mostly special attackers. It leaves us with 3 to 4 pokemons able to use it correctly.
-> Sharpedo
-> Barraskewda
-> Blastoise maybe ?
-> Mew, but you might prefer U-Turn because of its better base power
So Barraskewda basically is the pokemon who benefits Flip-Turn the most !
Then, Scorching Sands.
Almost the same thing. Knowing that a ground type Scald equivalent was coming felt pretty good, but then I saw the mons able to learn it and got deceived as well, as its a special attack learned by mostly physical attackers. Some mons might use it:
-> Palossand
-> Ninetales
-> Claydol
-> Mew, but then again you might prefer Scald because of its better base power
First of all, Flip Turn.
When I heard there was a new water-type U-Turn / Volt-Switch I got really excited, but it stopped when I saw it was a physical attack learned by mostly special attackers. It leaves us with 3 to 4 pokemons able to use it correctly.
-> Sharpedo
-> Barraskewda
-> Blastoise maybe ?
-> Mew, but you might prefer U-Turn because of its better base power
So Barraskewda basically is the pokemon who benefits Flip-Turn the most !
Then, Scorching Sands.
Almost the same thing. Knowing that a ground type Scald equivalent was coming felt pretty good, but then I saw the mons able to learn it and got deceived as well, as its a special attack learned by mostly physical attackers. Some mons might use it:
-> Palossand
-> Ninetales
-> Claydol
-> Mew, but then again you might prefer Scald because of its better base power
Ema Skye
Work!
Historically, Special Pokemon have used U-Turn and Physical Pokemon have used Volt Switch, so the same should apply with Flip Turn. The BP of these moves could be 10 and people would still use them because the switching aspect is amazing. So the damage doesn't matter: Scarf Keldeo is so good with Flip Turn right now.
I'd just like to bring attention to the fact that galarian weezing is looking like a solid mon and I can definitely see it rising in usage as the meta progresses. It's ability neutralizing gas and 120 base physical defense stat helps stop mons like cinderace, azumarill, terrain and weather setters right in their tracks. It also has access to great moves such as defog, toxic spikes, will-o-wisp and strange steam. The best thing about it is that it is the only solid counter to urshifu single strike(which is broken and I wouldn't be surprised if it gets banned soon). I've been using a toxic spikes variant paired with a specs hex dragapult and have had a lot of fun with it :D
The best part of Galarian Weezing right now is that it is one of the few hard stops to Urshifu (Dark), in my opinion. All of the other characteristics you allude to are good, but a lot of them were present beforehand and yet it still was seen as more of a meme than anything else. So long as they forgo Iron Head, checking Urshifu finally gives Galarian Weezing at least some more of a defined niche.
With Dracovish being uber, is still Seismitoad more used than Gastrodon or does Gastrodon finally star to get more use?
PD: Weavile with Triple Axel is interesting
PD: Weavile with Triple Axel is interesting
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I’d like to point out that if ran with Misty Terrain, it disrupts Rillaboom’s Grassy Glide priority and gains access to what’s basically fairy type self-destruct.More minor, but just thought I’d point that out
The most important niche imho about Gweezing is the same since past discussions.
Neutral Gas
and
Taunt
Maybe it still isn't realized by most, but Ngas blocks Regenerator. If you predict your opponent switching out with Pex out of your faster mon, switching in Gweezing blocks Regen. It can Taunt Tbolt Pex, which makes it a sitting duck. WE also have tang+bro to deal with. Heck even Natural Cure gets negated.
The Urshifu Counter thing is a cute afterthought, but not much different to Conkelderp. Not sure why THIS is Weezing's “defined niche“
Tl,dr focus on gweezing ability, not only its defensive prowess
What other pokemon does Galarian Weezing put a stop to? I know people already mentioned Conkeldurr and Urushifu-Single strike, but I'm curious if Galarian Weezing has any merit outside of checking these two.
Ema Skye
Work!
It blocks Libero, so Cinderace Zen Headbutt is weaker. Pyro Ball is a 3HKO. But Weezing can't do much to it aside from Toxic.
You can also Toxic Clefable with it, as it suppresses Magic Guard while Weezing is out. More niche, but switching it in as Pex (or other Regen mon) switches out will negate the health recovery.
I'm curious what people are pairing with and running on Galarian Weezing.
G-Weezing now has access to Pain Split, which is nice with Chansey, Urshifu, Volcarona, and other high(er)-base HP mons now running around. Especially since chip damage will rack up fast without Levitate. However, running Defog means that you only have 2 slots for anything else-Strange Steam is good to beat Urshifu (and also stops Keldeo from switching in as easily), while Toxic puts most switch ins on a timer.
G-Weezing now has access to Pain Split, which is nice with Chansey, Urshifu, Volcarona, and other high(er)-base HP mons now running around. Especially since chip damage will rack up fast without Levitate. However, running Defog means that you only have 2 slots for anything else-Strange Steam is good to beat Urshifu (and also stops Keldeo from switching in as easily), while Toxic puts most switch ins on a timer.
I’m going to create petition to get Nasty Plot added to Starmie’s arsenal in the next DLC. It seems every Pokemon and their mothers have access to that boosting move in SS except the OG starfish. Even scary special attackers such as Gengar and Alakazam both have Nasty Plot now. Why not Starmie?
Petition to come...I hope to get 1000+ signatures.
Fuck Alolan-Marowak (Shadow Bone could be tanked; Poltergeist makes it OP) and Urshifu btw. Stall was hard to pull off prior to the latest influx of Pokemon. Those two in particular just make running stall all that much tougher now.
Petition to come...I hope to get 1000+ signatures.
Fuck Alolan-Marowak (Shadow Bone could be tanked; Poltergeist makes it OP) and Urshifu btw. Stall was hard to pull off prior to the latest influx of Pokemon. Those two in particular just make running stall all that much tougher now.
Magearna is absolutely insane right now. The number of viable sets it has and the raw power of the double dance set is unreal. It's the easiest mon to play and win with in the tier. The addition of stored power put that set over the top and it still plays as an incredible trick user, an assault vest tank, and a lot of other sets that haven't been as popular. This thing's time is absolutely limited, I cannot imagine playing with in the tier much longer than a few weeks.
Compounding this is just how much better HO is after this drop. We got azumarill, volc, and the introduction of the urshifu's all at once making hyper offense teams incredible at breaking everything right now. We are a few days away from some sort of dual screen magearna team tearing through everything in the game with the right partners.
I'm incredibly happy with how viable A-Marowak is, it's a great check to a lot of pokemon, namely Rotom-H who previously didn't have a solid switch in to. Poltergeist is the stab it needed to do incredible damage on most everything and it's typing+lightning rod is really nice, especially as it can tear apart anyone using corviknight. Getting in A-Marowak on a corviknight defogging is basically a free mon.
The meta is a lot of fun right now and I'm excited to see where it goes, the only really apparently overwhelming mon right now Magearna.
Compounding this is just how much better HO is after this drop. We got azumarill, volc, and the introduction of the urshifu's all at once making hyper offense teams incredible at breaking everything right now. We are a few days away from some sort of dual screen magearna team tearing through everything in the game with the right partners.
I'm incredibly happy with how viable A-Marowak is, it's a great check to a lot of pokemon, namely Rotom-H who previously didn't have a solid switch in to. Poltergeist is the stab it needed to do incredible damage on most everything and it's typing+lightning rod is really nice, especially as it can tear apart anyone using corviknight. Getting in A-Marowak on a corviknight defogging is basically a free mon.
The meta is a lot of fun right now and I'm excited to see where it goes, the only really apparently overwhelming mon right now Magearna.
Speaking of Magearna, I have a question and an unfortunate observation.
Question:
Is Heart Swap usable? I know Magearna lost it in its level-up movepool, but the move never got the "this move can't be used" description as far as I know, so is it actually unusable in Sword and Shield, or is it just a transfer move?
Unfortunate observation:
Original Magearna looks cool, but it should never be used, for a similar reason shiny Greninja should never be used. Using an original Magearna immediately informs your opponent that it doesn't have any transfer-exclusive moves, notably Heal Bell and Heart Swap (if it's usable).
This post doubles as a bug report for Original Magearna being able to use transfer moves and maaaaybe Heart Swap not being able to be used.
Question:
Is Heart Swap usable? I know Magearna lost it in its level-up movepool, but the move never got the "this move can't be used" description as far as I know, so is it actually unusable in Sword and Shield, or is it just a transfer move?
Unfortunate observation:
Original Magearna looks cool, but it should never be used, for a similar reason shiny Greninja should never be used. Using an original Magearna immediately informs your opponent that it doesn't have any transfer-exclusive moves, notably Heal Bell and Heart Swap (if it's usable).
This post doubles as a bug report for Original Magearna being able to use transfer moves and maaaaybe Heart Swap not being able to be used.
Alternatively, you can use Grass Knot to hit Hippo and TTar just as hard with 100% accuracy, or Ice Beam for Hippo and hitting Dragapult harder.
Rillaboom is an excellent partner for that G-Slowbro set. Yes, Grass is not a great offensive typing, but Grassy Slide is almost 1.5x as strong as Scizor's Bullet Punch, so I'm surprised no one is talking about it. It can't touch Corviknight, but it does have Knock Off and U-Turn for utility. I'm surprised more people aren't talking about it. Grass spam isn't nearly as good until Bulu and Kartana, but Rillaboom + Zarude could be something in about a month and a half, especially with Magnezone support for Corviknight and Ferrothorn.
Flapple is mostly a meme, but it can 2HKO Rotom-Heat with a resisted priority move...
252+ Atk Choice Band Hustle Flapple Grassy Slide vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Rotom-Heat in Grassy Terrain: 153-181 (50.4 - 59.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- Status