Metagame SS OU Metagame Discussion Thread v7 (Usage Stats in post #3539)

[musiquepkmn]

Hey guys so I was looking trough Hydreigon's movepool and found out it gets Shock Wave. Forget Hyper Beam. Shock Wave is the best move to hit Tapu Fini. 60 BP may seem bad at first but when it's boosted by Life Orb and coming off Hydreigon's good Special Attack and when it hits for super effective damage it almost knocks out 252 HP Fini in one hit at +2. It may kind of suck that you're running a move for just one Pokemon but Tapu Fini is a very common presence in the tier almost in the top 10 most used Pokemon so I think it's a move worth running on offensive Hydreigon sets. Shock Wave is also good for Pelipper, Slowbro, Togekiss, chipped Toxapex and chipped Mandibuzz because you don't have to waste a Draco Meteor and be forced out after. Clefable and Magearna do not like switching into Fire Blast at all. If you're feeling up to it you can run Modest Hydreigon to squeeze a little more juice from Shock Wave and you actually have a chance to OHKO Phys Def Clefable at +2 with a Fire Blast.


View attachment 296670
Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 SpeTimid/Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Draco Meteor
- Shock Wave
- Fire Blast

This leaves you sort of walled by Heatran and Tyranitar and Blissey are annoying but Hydreigon can only cover so much at once. But the first 2 lack recovery and hate taking boosted Draco Meteors anyway.

I think it's interesting to note that at +4, Hydreigon has a chance to OHKO common Heatran spreads with Draco Meteor after slight chip. Many of the spreads I've seen running around in RMTs these days are 252 Hp 128 SpDef Calm. Heatran can do very little back to Hydreigon, as we've seen in the spdef sets, so getting that second Nasty Plot boost isn't as hard as it would be for another sweeper such as Pheromosa or Kartana.

+4 252 SpA Life Orb Hydreigon Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 128+ SpD Heatran: 308-363 (79.7 - 94%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
0 SpA Heatran Magma Storm vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Hydreigon: 73-87 (22.4 - 26.7%) -- 23.6% chance to 3HKO after trapping damage

Other calcs

+2 252 SpA Life Orb Hydreigon Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Clefable: 330-389 (83.7 - 98.7%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Hydreigon Shock Wave vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Fini: 265-312 (77.2 - 90.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery +2 252 SpA Life Orb Hydreigon Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Magearna: 536-632 (147.2 - 173.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+4 252 SpA Life Orb Hydreigon Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 386-456 (95.5 - 112.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

 

[Gomi]

I haven't enjoyed playing as much recently really, regardless I figured I'd talk abt some stuff I've messed around w/ recently that I've found pretty fun.

Sets

Spdef Seeds
Hawlucha @ Psychic Seed
Ability: Limber
EVs: 132 HP / 252 Atk / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- High Jump Kick/Close Combat
- Acrobatics
- Stone Edge/Taunt
there's very likely a more optimized spread but this has worked fine for me
Physdef Seeds
Hawlucha @ Grassy Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Def / 44 SpD / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat/High Jump Kick
- Acrobatics
- Stone Edge/Taunt
Lives Adamant Barra Liquidation under Rain from Full, incredibly useful.

I was honestly too harsh on this pokemon, its a godsent to non screens HOs as an emergency check to stuff like QD Mosa and as a way to keep the pressure up on Clefable, which is immensely valuable with Urshi+QD Mosa being so braindead easy to splash onto HOs atm. The only thing I dont like about it currently is I feel practically forced to use Stone Edge because of the popularity of Moltres and Zappy, but that's pretty manageable since Hippo is the main reason I ran Taunt and its kind of non existent.

set

Tornadus-Therian (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Hurricane
- Focus Blast
- Taunt
There's tons of variations, this is just my personal favorite.

This things really hard to build around atm but good lord its devastating to fat and borderline immortal honestly. The few things that take a hit just get turned into sitting targets by Taunt. The only thing I really don't like about this mon in practice is that connecting Hurricane+Focus consistently is impossible, but thankfully Torn's longevity makes missing somewhat less devastating, since Regen will bring you back up to a reasonable amount of health, especially with rocks not being a concern at all.

set

Weezing-Galar @ Rocky Helmet/Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
- Strange Steam

Urshifu no longer running Iron Head because of Fini being so dominant has made this mon's niche as a Urshifu counter more valuable. It's pretty annoying to switch into but slotting it onto a team is agony and Clefable being so mandatory for Pheromosa makes it even harder, since you have to check it in alternative ways, due to ice beam doing so much from even non QD, let alone actual QD LO sets. Its a fun mon but I wouldn't recommend using it until Mosa isn't debatably the best offensive Pokémon in the tier. Once that happens, pretty fun mon, would reccomend it if you wanna absolutely body Urshifu while having a way to spam status extremely freely, especially if they lack a Toxapex.
Edit: forgot to mention this walls Chomp+Lando-T with Levitate, so its much preferable to Ngas.

 

[Finchinator]

Pheromosa is being suspect tested in SS OU: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/np-ss-ou-suspect-process-round-7-killer-queen.3674268/

 

[musiquepkmn]

Pheromosa is being suspect tested in SS OU: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/np-ss-ou-suspect-process-round-7-killer-queen.3674268/

Broken Bug? More like Banned Bug

It's not Spectrier (which I would've liked to see first) but it's a step in the right direction and seeing how the council decided it together, it's probably the correct one. I'm having a hard time seeing how one could vote for a no ban on Pheromosa, seeing as how it defeats so many things, can sweep on command with QD, and can pick and choose its counters with its large variety of sets. Lookin forward to seeing how the meta progresses after a ban, and if it's somehow voted to stay, where the banhammer will fall next.

hlep

"jUsT eSpEeD iT yOu iDiOt"
my friend actually said this to me. i'll love reaction your post if you explain how balls this is so i can show it to him and regain a shred of my self-esteem that disappeared in the 4th grade.

 

[kosecant]

"jUsT eSpEeD iT yOu iDiOt"
my friend actually said this to me. i'll love reaction your post if you explain how balls this is so i can show it to him and regain a shred of my self-esteem that disappeared in the 4th grade.

There are 2 ou pokemon right now that learn espeed and have an attack Stat to use it: Dragonite and regieleki. Dragonite almost never wants to run espeed because it needs the coverage of other moves and can't ohko with it (plus pheros triple axel ohkos anyways), while regieleki has literally no reason to ever run espeed because why would you ever use a priority move on a pokemon that out runs every single pokemon ever. Hope that satisfies your friend lol

 

[Goodbye & Thanks]

set

Weezing-Galar @ Rocky Helmet/Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
- Strange Steam

Urshifu no longer running Iron Head because of Fini being so dominant has made this mon's niche as a Urshifu counter more valuable. It's pretty annoying to switch into but slotting it onto a team is agony and Clefable being so mandatory for Pheromosa makes it even harder, since you have to check it in alternative ways, due to ice beam doing so much from even non QD, let alone actual QD LO sets. Its a fun mon but I wouldn't recommend using it until Mosa isn't debatably the best offensive Pokémon in the tier. Once that happens, pretty fun mon, would reccomend it if you wanna absolutely body Urshifu while having a way to spam status extremely freely, especially if they lack a Toxapex.
Edit: forgot to mention this walls Chomp+Lando-T with Levitate, so its much preferable to Ngas.

Hey, great writeup! I really like Galarian Weezing as well and I'm looking forwarded to using it more if Pheromosa gets banned. Could you talk a little about the choice of Sludge Bomb over other utility moves like Aromatherapy, Toxic Spikes, or maybe Corrosive Gas? I know that Sludge Bomb is commonly run on Weezing-G and it's obviously nice to hit things like Bulu or Rillaboom, but I feel like you can usually just click Wisp against them because they can't really threaten Weezing-G. Is Sludge Bomb mainly to hit Clef or something? It spreading poison also is obviously nice but Wisp is there to spread status anyway. Also, I'm not questioning the decision to use Sludge Bomb or anything; I'm just trying to better understand what it's mainly used for on G-Weezing.

 

[HydreigonTheChild]

Time to get the fly swatter lmao, its going out of this tier 100%, CB and quiver dance has no counter play what so ever, the checks range from one set to the either and only fairies can take it on while getting jabbed from the banded set

 

[Roy]

Having a lot of fun with this soon-to-be-banned monster:

Pheromosa @ Roseli Berry
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Ice Beam
- Shock Wave
- Focus Blast

The idea is you're going for the surprise sweep once their bulky fairy (Clefable and Tapu Fini) has taken a little bit of chip. QD on the switch to Clefable/Fini and then hit 'em. Calcs for the Ice Beam/Shock Wave on each of them.

+1 252+ SpA Pheromosa Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Clefable: 183-216 (46.4 - 54.8%) -- 10.9% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252+ SpA Pheromosa Shock Wave vs. 248 HP / 40+ SpD Tapu Fini: 158-188 (46 - 54.8%) -- 10.9% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

(As a side note, I have 0 idea why the damage ranges and % chance of killing are the exact same for both damage calcs. Insane coincidence or am I missing something? Anyway...)

At this point they're pissed because they think you're 1) dumb or 2) fishing for a crit, and hit you with a Moonblast next turn. If they have some special attack, Moonblast will do more but you don't really care since you're just trying to survive a single hit.

12 SpA Tapu Fini Moonblast vs. +1 0 HP / 0 SpD Roseli Berry Pheromosa: 142-168 (50.1 - 59.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Clefable Moonblast vs. +1 0 HP / 0 SpD Roseli Berry Pheromosa: 141-166 (49.8 - 58.6%) -- 99.6% chance to 2HKO

Then you finish them off, get your additional +1 special attack boost, and go ham. Lots of good feedback from ladderers in the ~1700s Get it before it's gone!

 

[kiss me soon]

laddered all night and was EXTREMELY impressed by this toxapex, slowking-g regenerator core. got to the 1700s for my very first time and honestly i’m enjoying the meta even with the deadly trio of urshifu, mosa, and spectrier existing.

i think that slowking-g is SUPER GOOD and it makes a lot of sense how it rose to OU so fast. i spammed the slowbro-g assault vest back in DLC 1 and i thought that set was fun to play with. however, slowking-g is a complete different story. having base 110 sp. atk while still being bulky with assault vest and regenerator is so deadly. it has amazing covering with poison, psychic, and fire alone to real cause dents to balance teams. this thing is impossible to kill with a special move and i’ve seen it single handedly carry me when my opponent has no physical moves to hit me. i’m having a lot of fun using this mon and I think that once we get rid of urshifu and spectrier, this pokemon is going to establish itself as an even bigger staple in the meta game. i might be crazy but i really believe slowking-g is better than slowbro.

on a side note, bulky offense is so good. and pheromosa being so good and unpredictable you can get away with running 5 fat mons and having mosa clean up.

 

[MidnightReaper]

I'd like to share with you all a little song by the fantastic new pop act sweeping the nation, Smog'n'Sync

"Bye Bye Bye (Pheromosa)"

I'm banning this tonight
Quiver probably gonna end a fight
I know this can't be right
Hey Smoggy come on
I loved you endlessly
When Deoxys wasn't there for me
So now it's time to leave to u-bers
I know that I can't take no more
It ain't no lie
I want to see the bug out that door
Overused bye bye bye
Don't want to be a pressure for you
Restricting teambuilding in your game for two
You may hate me but it ain't no lie
Buggy bye bye bye
Bye bye
Don't really want to make it tough
I just want to tell you that I've had enough
It might sound centralizing but it ain't no lie
Smoggy bye bye bye
You just hit me with the truth
Now girl you're more than welcome to Urshifu
So give me one good reason
Ice Beam come on
I've lived for Niche and Stall
And now I really come to see
That life would be much better once Buggy is gone
I know that I can't take no more
It ain't no lie
I want to see the ultra beast out that door
Phero bye bye bye​

 

[Finchinator]

A reminder that this is the metagame discussion thread, not the awkwardly forced meme discussion thread. Let’s stay on topic friends

 

[MidnightReaper]

I'm sorry Finch <3 I can't help myself sometimes with my terrible memes

Can we get some discussion going on how Galar-Zapdos has a ton of untapped potential?

A fantastic ability in Defiant making it Intimidate bait while simultaneously having one of the best offensive type combinations in the game, a fantastic pressure inducing STAB move in Thunderous Kick which has a 100% chance of lowering the opponent's defense, fantastic additional STAB moves in Brave Bird (or Acrobatics), solid base 100 speed, 125 attack, and great coverage with options like Throat Chop, Blaze Kick and Stomping Tantrum? Having access to neat tech options like Taunt, U-Turn, and Bulk Up certainly doesn't hurt either. I feel like new toy syndrome really shouldn't have worn off of this Pokemon.

Trying to run it as a discount Kantonian Zapdos or a bulkier Hawlucha isn't the way to use this mon, you have to tech it to focus on delivering building offensive pressure.

Why in the blazes didn't Nintendo give Chicken Boi Roost

 

[Vengeance417]

I'm sorry Finch <3 I can't help myself sometimes with my terrible memes

Can we get some discussion going on how Galar-Zapdos has a ton of untapped potential?

A fantastic ability in Defiant making it Intimidate bait while simultaneously having one of the best offensive type combinations in the game, a fantastic pressure inducing STAB move in Thunderous Kick which has a 100% chance of lowering the opponent's defense, fantastic additional STAB moves in Brave Bird (or Acrobatics), solid base 100 speed, 125 attack, and great coverage with options like Throat Chop, Blaze Kick and Stomping Tantrum? Having access to neat tech options like Taunt, U-Turn, and Bulk Up certainly doesn't hurt either. I feel like new toy syndrome really shouldn't have worn off of this Pokemon.

Trying to run it as a discount Kantonian Zapdos or a bulkier Hawlucha isn't the way to use this mon, you have to tech it to focus on delivering building offensive pressure.

I've seen it used on plenty of HO teams and it's really good with that playstyle, especially when paired with webs. Just like with Bisharp, it acts as a Defog deterrent, so if the enemy wants to remove hazards, they'll just end up boosting your Attack. You could probably even get away with Lum Berry on BU sets as a way to mitigate status, or even Protective Pads to dodge helmet/barbs/flame body/static, especially when factoring in Brave Bird recoil. You'd miss Leftovers or Life Orb, though.

Thunderous Kick is a really good move for breaking down Unaware Stall. Quag, Clef, and Pyuku can't ignore their own Defense drops, which means Gapdos has an easier time pushing through them.

 

[MidnightReaper]

I've seen it used on plenty of HO teams and it's really good with that playstyle, especially when paired with webs. Just like with Bisharp, it acts as a Defog deterrent, so if the enemy wants to remove hazards, they'll just end up boosting your Attack. You could probably even get away with Lum Berry on BU sets as a way to mitigate status, or even Protective Pads to dodge helmet/barbs/flame body/static, especially when factoring in Brave Bird recoil. You'd miss Leftovers or Life Orb, though.

Thunderous Kick is a really good move for breaking down Unaware Stall. Quag, Clef, and Pyuku can't ignore their own Defense drops, which means Gapdos has an easier time pushing through them.

Is the use of Protective Pads really worth the loss of power from LO?
I've also been experimenting with an Agility LO set that functions as a late-game cleaner that can also apply pressure to any remaining defensive threats that other cleaners normally couldn't handle.

Zapdos-Galar @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Agility
- Thunderous Kick
- Brave Bird
- Throat Chop

Setting up an Agility and tearing away at the opponent's defenses with Thunderous Kick is an absolute blessing that no other Pokemon can match (unless you count Pokemon that use Fire Lash, which is way more niche)

 

[musiquepkmn]

Is the use of Protective Pads really worth the loss of power from LO?
I've also been experimenting with an Agility LO set that functions as a late-game cleaner that can also apply pressure to any remaining defensive threats that other cleaners normally couldn't handle.

Zapdos-Galar @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Agility
- Thunderous Kick
- Brave Bird
- Throat Chop

Why use Throat chop over Stomping Tantrum? It seems like hitting Toxapex and Tapu Koko harder is more valuable than hitting Zapdos and Spectrier harder.

 

[MidnightReaper]

Why use Throat chop over Stomping Tantrum? It seems like hitting Toxapex and Tapu Koko harder is more valuable than hitting Zapdos and Spectrier harder.

For the specific reason that I'm running Zapdos-G as a late-game cleaner with this set, and usually (if I don't play like crap) I've taken care of Pokemon like Toxapex in the midgame. It also nails Pokemon such as Dragapult, Spectrier, Gengar, etc, and prevents me from being phased via Roar (Throat Chop's sound block). It is relatively niche but with the Suicune rise that I'm eventually predicting, I feel that phasing is going to become a lot more common in the meta in the near future.

 

[Katy]

Hey y'all I thought about some underrated sets which can work in the current metagame as they all have their assets. Underrated sets for Weavile and Ninetales-Alola, whereas Thundy-T itself is an underrated pick on rain teams I feel. Zapdos might be better but it doesnt have the merits as an electric-immune.


Weavile @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Knock Off
- Ice Shard
- Low Kick

this set can revengekill spectrier especially boosted choice specs spectrier as it outspeeds it so it doesnt have to worry about taking a huge hit beforehand as long as it is switched in safely. scarf allows weavile to outspeed other dominant pokemon in ou and revenge kill them, such as pheromosa with choice band or the modest quiver dance-set. this set can also pressure heatran and melmetal and hits them super effectly with low kick.

calcs

+1 252 SpA Choice Specs Spectrier Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Weavile: 181-213 (64.4 - 75.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 Atk Weavile Low Kick (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 236-278 (61.1 - 72%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Weavile Low Kick (120 BP) vs. 244 HP / 0 Def Melmetal: 182-216 (38.5 - 45.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Weavile Low Kick (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tyranitar: 452-536 (111.8 - 132.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Thundurus-Therian (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots / @ Life Orb
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Thunder
- Weather Ball
- Focus Blast

this pokemon is really underrated in my eyes as it can fullfill a strong electric-immune pokemon on rain teams. it might not have the flying-coverage which zapdos got gifted with, but can still work nontheless. focus blast can bypass the main enemy to this set, ferrothorn, as it otherwise will tank a thunder and a weather ball pretty well. focus blast also hits tyranitar and heatran for super effective damage in case the rain runs out.


Ninetales-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Blizzard
- Freeze-Dry
- Aurora Veil
- Hypnosis

offensive veiler. this set enables ninetales-alola to dish out more damage with a 100% accurate blizzard in its weather condition in hail, which it summons with snow warning. blizzard can net some important 2HKOed, which can be important for the rest of the team and it is able to weaken teams with a strong spamable STAB option in blizzard.

some calcs

252 SpA Ninetales-Alola Freeze-Dry vs. 248 HP / 40+ SpD Tapu Fini: 116-140 (33.8 - 40.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock, hail damage, and Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Ninetales-Alola Blizzard vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Ferrothorn: 115-136 (32.6 - 38.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock, hail damage, and Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Ninetales-Alola Freeze-Dry vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 122-146 (40.1 - 48%) -- 99.6% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and hail damage
252 SpA Ninetales-Alola Blizzard vs. 208 HP / 0 SpD Moltres: 151-178 (40.4 - 47.7%) -- 3.1% chance to 2HKO after hail damage

 

[Goodbye & Thanks]

Why use Throat chop over Stomping Tantrum? It seems like hitting Toxapex and Tapu Koko harder is more valuable than hitting Zapdos and Spectrier harder.

Throat Chop also hits Slowbro/king:

252+ Atk Life Orb Zapdos-Galar Throat Chop vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 164-195 (41.6 - 49.4%) -- 84.8% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

Of course that’s contingent upon Slowbro not having Boots, and if it’s Helmet, Zapdos-G is taking a lot of chip, but it’s better than nothing if you’re concerned about Slowbro.

 

[musiquepkmn]

Throat Chop also hits Slowbro/king:

252+ Atk Life Orb Zapdos-Galar Throat Chop vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 164-195 (41.6 - 49.4%) -- 84.8% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

Of course that’s contingent upon Slowbro not having Boots, and if it’s Helmet, Zapdos-G is taking a lot of chip, but it’s better than nothing if you’re concerned about Slowbro.

Brave Bird does more but it also has more recoil.

252+ Atk Life Orb Zapdos-Galar Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 185-218 (46.9 - 55.3%) -- 70.7% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Zapdos-Galar Throat Chop vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 164-195 (41.6 - 49.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

 

[Goodbye & Thanks]

Brave Bird does more but it also has more recoil.

252+ Atk Life Orb Zapdos-Galar Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 185-218 (46.9 - 55.3%) -- 70.7% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Zapdos-Galar Throat Chop vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 164-195 (41.6 - 49.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Yeah I know, but recoil/chip damage is one of the biggest weaknesses of G-Zapdos that prevents it from having that much of a presence in OU. Even if you 2HKO the Slowbro, you’d take 60.4% of damage from Brave Bird recoil combined with LO chip. If it has a Rocky Helmet, G-Zapdos would take 93.7% damage to itself just to KO the Slowbro lol

 

[Drahe]

Ninetales-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Blizzard
- Freeze-Dry
- Aurora Veil
- Hypnosis

offensive veiler. this set enables ninetales-alola to dish out more damage with a 100% accurate blizzard in its weather condition in hail, which it summons with snow warning. blizzard can net some important 2HKOed, which can be important for the rest of the team and it is able to weaken teams with a strong spamable STAB option in blizzard.

Sound good
If u don't act as "perfect screen pass' set" : why not another item ?
5 turns is enought to set-up another 'mon or help some switch
can switch hypnosis for something other, miss isn't friend with frail offensive mons.
Aurora Veil + Pain Split look fun way to easier kill, whatever you get revenge killed you won screens.
Replace freeze dry or blizzard → Taunt = blissey, all bulky defogers, tapu fini who want to absorb hypnosis + CM ; ... ?
Foul Play, Toxic ; protect give hail chip : smart defensive stratégy > troll anoying shit
Encore exist ... if ur team go mad on CM users
Endure (u remove the sand) + red card ... and pain split

 

[Ast0rga]

I'm sorry Finch <3 I can't help myself sometimes with my terrible memes

Can we get some discussion going on how Galar-Zapdos has a ton of untapped potential?

A fantastic ability in Defiant making it Intimidate bait while simultaneously having one of the best offensive type combinations in the game, a fantastic pressure inducing STAB move in Thunderous Kick which has a 100% chance of lowering the opponent's defense, fantastic additional STAB moves in Brave Bird (or Acrobatics), solid base 100 speed, 125 attack, and great coverage with options like Throat Chop, Blaze Kick and Stomping Tantrum? Having access to neat tech options like Taunt, U-Turn, and Bulk Up certainly doesn't hurt either. I feel like new toy syndrome really shouldn't have worn off of this Pokemon.

Trying to run it as a discount Kantonian Zapdos or a bulkier Hawlucha isn't the way to use this mon, you have to tech it to focus on delivering building offensive pressure.

Why in the blazes didn't Nintendo give Chicken Boi Roost

I'm so glad this bird is getting love. I been using this set in showdown OU and console OU matches and it has given me lots of ladder wins and a small tourney first place:

Zapdos-Galar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thunderous Kick
- Brave Bird
- Close Combat
- U-turn

The premise is as simple as possible. Set up rocks and spikes with Mew (Or Toxic Spikes with Pex) and provoke the opponent's Defog. Most of the time it is very obvious when the player is going to use it, so that's when you send Zapdos and start punching holes. Brave Bird is usually the go move since many teams lack bulky flying resists, but if there's no more ghosts around feel free to click one of the fighting moves. There's no coverage options since the STAB moves do more damage than say, throat chop or tantrum. Adamant is run to maximize the damage of this 125 Base Atk bird, with a scarf it outspeeds anything except other scarfs, which would probably outspeed Jolly anyway. You can pick Thunderous Kick if you feel it's not time to attack til dead yet, and just want to do some chip and the opp's defense to keep up the pressure.
Many times I kill myself with Brave Bird but something else worthy goes down lol, so yeah this is all about "You are not in control, your defog is not your play, it's mine".

Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1236078727

 

[Gomi]

Hey, great writeup! I really like Galarian Weezing as well and I'm looking forwarded to using it more if Pheromosa gets banned. Could you talk a little about the choice of Sludge Bomb over other utility moves like Aromatherapy, Toxic Spikes, or maybe Corrosive Gas? I know that Sludge Bomb is commonly run on Weezing-G and it's obviously nice to hit things like Bulu or Rillaboom, but I feel like you can usually just click Wisp against them because they can't really threaten Weezing-G. Is Sludge Bomb mainly to hit Clef or something? It spreading poison also is obviously nice but Wisp is there to spread status anyway. Also, I'm not questioning the decision to use Sludge Bomb or anything; I'm just trying to better understand what it's mainly used for on G-Weezing.

As far as I'm concerned, Gweez has 3 Mandatory moveslots. Sludge bomb to scare out Clefable and generally annoy everything not Immune to it, Wisp to make anything not named Heatran second guess switching in even more than Sludge already does and cripple Pex a bit, and Pain Split because without it Gweez lacks too much sustain and can't really harass Bliss at all. I blanked on including 4th moveslot options so I'll do it here.

Good or Usable

Strange Steam: Hurting Dragons and Darks more in a 1v1 is always useful, not to mention the Confusion Chance.
Aromatherapy: Pretty obvious in how this is helpful.
Defog: Pretty ok backup fogger, consistently removes hazards vs most weak rockers like Pert (unless Scald), Hippo, Defensive Lando, etc.
Fire Coverage: Catches Ferro off guard and burns Corvi's roosts quite quickly in conjunction with Wisp.
Corrosive Gas: 1 of Gweez' only 2 ways of annoying Heatran at all (the other being Thief which does the same thing but worse) and cuts into Pex's longevity/ability to chip.

Pretty bad

Clear Smog: Annoys CM clef but not much more really, absolutely worthless vs Thunder Clef.
Electric Coverage: Purely for Pex and it doesn't even do enough for that to matter, avoid using.
Tspikes: Weez is Pex bait and lets in most Poisons freely, avoid using.
Taunt: Too slow to be useful a lot of the time and Gweez' Spdef and hatred of burns makes using it to PP stall Pex very dumb.

 

[ZacBouh]

View attachment 296969
I'm so glad this bird is getting love. I been using this set in showdown OU and console OU matches and it has given me lots of ladder wins and a small tourney first place:

Zapdos-Galar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thunderous Kick
- Brave Bird
- Close Combat
- U-turn

The premise is as simple as possible. Set up rocks and spikes with Mew (Or Toxic Spikes with Pex) and provoke the opponent's Defog. Most of the time it is very obvious when the player is going to use it, so that's when you send Zapdos and start punching holes. Brave Bird is usually the go move since many teams lack bulky flying resists, but if there's no more ghosts around feel free to click one of the fighting moves. There's no coverage options since the STAB moves do more damage than say, throat chop or tantrum. Adamant is run to maximize the damage of this 125 Base Atk bird, with a scarf it outspeeds anything except other scarfs, which would probably outspeed Jolly anyway. You can pick Thunderous Kick if you feel it's not time to attack til dead yet, and just want to do some chip and the opp's defense to keep up the pressure.
Many times I kill myself with Brave Bird but something else worthy goes down lol, so yeah this is all about "You are not in control, your defog is not your play, it's mine".

Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1236078727

I would really appreciate it if anyone could enlighten me about this mon. Regular Zapdos is the most common defogger in the tier and resists both your stabs, and can even punish you for hitting it. Other defoggers include tapu fini, tapu koko, tornadus-t, corviknight, latios, pelipper, all of them can hit you for super effective damage with stab on your attempted defog read, and kill you in some cases. Even if they don't use that move, your opponent is probably not going to defog in front of this thing especially if they are weak to it.

Without the defiant boost, G-Zapdos pretty weak for an offensive mon by OU standards, and even if you do get it, you still have to pick the right move since you are choice locked and fighting stab is very easily dealt with in this meta. It isn't even spectacular at keeping hazards on your opponent's side as it hurts itself with brave bird and does not block rapid spin, which is used by excadrill and pheromosa (and regieleki), two very common mons (though you could use balloon aegislash to deal with them but then G-Zapdos requires even more support).

I will admit I mostly focused on the negatives and that this thing does have good matchups (against mandibuzz and lando-t notably), but I fail to see how Galarian Zapdos can work consistently.

 

[dog nga]

Best way to use GZap I feel is as a wallbreaker. Fat teams love defog.

If you wanna set up with agility then it just feels like inferior and more awkward hawlucha
If you wanna set up with BU then you have no recovery and a fairly low speed stat making it very easy to revenge kill. Also too weak to threaten clef/bro/zap at only +1.

Of course you could run both but good luck ever pulling that off, not running into zap/clef/slowbro/etc and then also avoiding suicide by BB.

Scarf can be decent vs offense especially with Lando-T being so prevalent but you will likely be baited into getting set up on so wouldn't recommend on any team that isnt at least as defensively capable as balance. Heavy punish makes it less than ideal as a revenge killer on bulkier teams

Band is the real chad set, run this with hazard stacking and bulkier teams run the risk of losing a mon every time they try to defog, not to mention even without a Defiant boost it can still break things pretty nicely if you dont die from recoil + helmet or get statused by zap/molt

tldr defiant + spikes is good, hawlucha is good, no roost is bad :(

Overall decent mon but without roost I doubt it'll be better than that. A few other niche sets might be worth experimenting with (Sub + thund kick, etc)