With the bans of Cinderace and Magearna opening up teambuilding significantly, I personally have noticed a
significant uptick of other methods to force progress through the Boots and Regen-heavy metagame aside from the VoltTurn structures and the FuturePort spam we saw before the bans. Of course, those methods are still prominent, but I've really been liking the metagame adjusting to common strategies by way of wallbreakers. I'd like to go over some of my favorite breakers in the tier that I'm finding to be really good right now, what they do, and why they're good.
Physical Wallbreakers
1.
Garchomp is really good right now despite not having much to gain directly from the bans, but rather enjoying the meta that formed
because of the bans. Its SD set is an extremely strong threat with powerful Ground STAB pairs nicely with Stone Edge to cover Ground resists and STAB Scale Shot to boost speed. Not to mention its potential mixed sets that cook common SD answers like Corviknight. Chomp has always been a stellar wallbreaker, and it'll continue to be one for the foreseeable future.
2.
Rillaboom obviously really liked the bans by removing two of its main checks. Band is of course still a crazy breaker thanks to Knock/U-turn/Glide/Hammer being very strong in tandem, but SD sets have really started to shine thanks to their ability to punish switches and beat through common Band answers like Corv with a boost or two under the belt. Rillaboom is really developing into a multifacted OU threat like DLC 1, and I'm really liking what it can do as a breaker.
3.
Not unlike Rillaboom, Kartana shines a lot with the bans. Band is able to really open up defensive cores with Knock, and SD puts in a ton of work as well. I'm loving how Kartana feels right now- it always feels like such a massive threat and isn't easy to handle at all.
4.
The last physical breaker on this list, Weavile has really taken off as of late with Knock Off blowing the doors off of many Ice resists and also forcing progress extremely well. Ice STAB hits like a truck as well. Other options like Low Kick and Ice Shard are super nice as well, letting Weavile pick off the opponents relentlessly. Being Rocks weak and frail like it is means that a slow pivot is heavily appreciated. SD also is super scary and can't be ignored. Don't sleep on this.
Special Wallbreakers
1.
Tornadus has risen to become perhaps the best mon in the tier in the past weeks. Nasty Plot is a crazy breaker- Flying STAB is extremely good right now and Tornadus has all the coverage it needs in just Focus Blast to compliment Hurricane near-perfectly. Not to mention, having both Knock and U-turn (admittedly Knock is far superior these days but it does have the option to use U-turn on VoltTurn-heavy builds) letting Tornadus weaken its checks immensely over time. Additionally, while not necessarily being super bulky, Tornadus' naturally nice bulk, solid defensive typing, access to Boots, and Regenerator all work together to make Tornadus-Therian live longer than any wallbreaker in the tier and continually put in work throughout the course of a game. Utility sets are also great at forcing progress, but not by sheer power unlike NP.
2.
Kyurem is soooo scary right now. Ice resists in general are not very commonplace in OU right now, which makes Kyurem all the scarier, especially given that it has all the coverage it needs to bust through what few resists do exist. Specs is a great set, with a very spammable STAB Ice Beam being perfectly complimented by STAB Freeze Dry, STAB Draco, and your pick of Focus Blast or Earth Power. I prefer Focus Blast primarily since, uhhhh Modest Specs Focus Blast kinda hurts?
252+ SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Blissey: 332-392 (46.4 - 54.9%) -- 64.5% chance to 2HKO
But in any case, bring a few Ice resists to every battle just in case. Loving this mon right now. Also watch out for SubRoost and SubDD. It forces progress by creating sketchy situations where the few Ice resists one has tremble under the power of common coverage.
3.
Tapu Lele is another one of those breakers that sort of 2HKOs everything- not much can eat a Specs and Psychic Terrain-boosted Psychic these days, and what little can gets eaten up by other STABs and coverage like Psyshock, Moonblast, Thunderbolt, and Focus Blast. Lele is a bit tough to use if you aren't good at prediction, which is furthered by the fact that revenge-killing it is pretty easy, but when you nail your predictions, walls kinda just crumble to it. Scarf loses out on a lot of power, but blasting away offensive checks is no small feat either. It forces progress by putting a ton of chip onto switchins on mispredictions, and often even forces a sack.
4.
Lastly, I gotta talk about Nidoking. At first glance, Nidoking doesn't look to be much of a breaker with a mere 85 Special Attack and Speed, but first impressions are clearly very wrong, because Nidoking can accomplish one of the greatest feats in the game: 2HKOing nearly the entire tier
without needing to deal with a Choice lock. While his STABs are clearly on every set, the coverage you choose is one of the most customizable aspects about Nidoking, easily. Flamethrower is fairly common since it roasts Corviknight and Ferrothorn, which wall it otherwise, and the fourth slot can be tailor-fit to your team-- Substitute alleviates offensive counterplay to Nidoking, Stealth Rock is always a nice middle ground when uncertain, Taunt shuts down healing and lets him force damage more effectively, Ice Beam handles Lando-T and other Grounds, Thunderbolt (while extremely rare) turns Slowking, which is one of the most reliable switchins, into another 2HKO, and Focus Punch is a personal favorite of mine that 2HKOs even Blissey, the best special sponge around, in tandem with Sludge Wave. I think that Nidoking is a bit underrated right now even with meta trends being somewhat unkind to it, but I'll save that for another day. Overall, the King is just one of the best breakers around right now and is excellent at forcing progress with its nuclear blows that take a bite out of every wall.
Overall, I hope you all enjoyed this fairly exhaustive description of OU's finest breakers and how they force progress these days. Have a nice day!