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Metagame SS OU Metagame Discussion Thread v7 (Usage Stats in post #3539)
- Thread starter TPP
- Start date
You all my be right, but I think this could have the same potential as Gen 5 drag mag teams. All I have to do is find the right mag..
You all my be right, but I think this could have the same potential as Gen 5 drag mag teams. All I have to do is find the right mag..
And it's not exactly Dracovish where there was only one widely viable Water immunity, and it was a Pokemon you wouldn't usually use otherwise, with about two other options. Let's look at the list of viable Ground types:
OU by usage:
The best Pokemon in the tier with a wide variety of sets.
One of the likely top 5 Pokemon of the tier thanks to the broken Scale Shot.
Strong wallbreaker capable of devastating defensive staples like Clefable and Toxapex.
Stealth Rock pivot that also has one of the best defensive typings in the game.
Skarmory-topping physical bulk with reliable recovery and sets Sand for Excadrill and Dracozolt.
Powerful sweeper with blistering speed under sand.These are not OU by usage but are ranked if you somehow can't fit one of those:
See Swampert, but with reliable recovery and a Water immunity instead of Rocks and a pivoting move.
A slower but bulkier Nidoking.
Stealth Rock setter and special attacker for rain.
Only viable on stall but has an invaluable ability for it.
Niche Scarfer with Intimidate and Knock Off for role compression.
Niche but powerful wallbreaker with priority and an amazing offensive typing.
Niche Swords Dance wallbreaker with one of the highest attack stats available to OU thanks to Huge Power.
Probably the game's best switchin to Zapdos, with attack higher than Garchomp and practically impossible to OHKO without a 4x supereffective hit on the physical side.There's also Zeraora and the occasional Thundurus-T if you absolutely cannot run a ground type. Against any of these Pokemon, Regieleki has to blow up or click (lol) Swift, and not a single one of them are used solely to beat Regieleki.
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You are never going to find it because there are zero trapping abilities in OU (And no Magma Storm Heatran isn"t a solution)
I've been searching.. will update with a team eventually. Thanks for the list.
Part of what makes dragmag work is that Magnezone traps steel types guaranteeing you can kill skarmory and ferrothorn; it has a consistent way of eliminating its issues. There is no trapper for ground types meaning that there is no true regieleki core like dragmag.
Edit: oops someone else already mentioned this, but yeah Regieleki is not banworthy...
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Sorry, I'm new to smogon but yes Dragmag was good because magnezone was pretty much guaranteed to kill the steel types it trapped, but with ground types there really isn't a way to trap ground types and reliably kill them. Additionally Regieleki is so far from banworthy that I don't even think it even should be conversed about. Yeah those are my thoughts
Regileki with spa boosting nature and +1 spa does like 30% to Chomp and 35% Lando if they have 0 hp/sdef evs. Also non stab extreme speed from uninvested 100atk is so weak.
If your opponent switches to any ground type the turn you screech, you have to switch out or you lose leki. So you're playing 5v6 until your opponents volt absorber or ground type dies, and even then stuff like with priority, or scarf kartnana can revenge kill you easily with how weak exspeed is.
With specs you can at least swift on the turn the ground switches in and get some chip. Being forced out isn't as big a deal, you keep the specs/+1. All you do after killing grounds is click rising thunder anyway so being able to switch moves will barely ever help. Rising thunder with terrain does more to zolt, a 4x resist, than swift does lol.
Before the ban you could run Mag+Leki so the opponent would have to respect the screens+double dance possibility, which leaves them weak to specs mag+leki. There's no (at least I haven't found a) threatening enough wall-breaker-disguised-as-setup-sweeper that appreciates leki forcing the opponent to keep their grounds healthy the way mag did.
If your opponent switches to any ground type the turn you screech, you have to switch out or you lose leki. So you're playing 5v6 until your opponents volt absorber or ground type dies, and even then stuff like with priority, or scarf kartnana can revenge kill you easily with how weak exspeed is.
With specs you can at least swift on the turn the ground switches in and get some chip. Being forced out isn't as big a deal, you keep the specs/+1. All you do after killing grounds is click rising thunder anyway so being able to switch moves will barely ever help. Rising thunder with terrain does more to zolt, a 4x resist, than swift does lol.
Before the ban you could run Mag+Leki so the opponent would have to respect the screens+double dance possibility, which leaves them weak to specs mag+leki. There's no (at least I haven't found a) threatening enough wall-breaker-disguised-as-setup-sweeper that appreciates leki forcing the opponent to keep their grounds healthy the way mag did.
In exactly which world is either Zamazenta form similar to Kyurem-Black or even Giratina considering how you compare KyuB and Giratina later on?
- KyuB was broken (in Gen 8 specifically) because it gained DD alongside its long-awaited physical Ice STAB, and the setup is what really pushed it over the edge (also it hasn't consistently or very viably run Choice items or Dragon moves since like ORAS so idk who you've been playing). Zamazenta can at best get +1 Attack per turn with Howl, which allows it to still be outsped by some Scarfers and a handful of faster Mons. Additionally, it's a supremely astute observation that they didn't give the shield mon the sword move. Well done.
- Zamazenta isn't being possibly unbanned to blanket check threats and do nothing else. It'd be suspected to see if it would be a healthy addition to the meta, which a variety of factors would decide (matchups against playstyles, movepool, stats, etc.). It's far from a done deal once unbanned on ladder for the suspect.
- Mega Garchomp being OU by technicality was due to how Mega forms work - the Megas require the base form to be used before Mega Evolution is triggered, meaning it's literally impossible for them to be independent of the base forms, which is why MChomp couldn't drop down to UU without base Chomp also dropping - otherwise, you could just run Garchomp without Mega Evolving it or something, which entirely defeats the purpose. The Zamazenta forms are independent of each other in battle and can be used separately - one is just locked to having a specific item, so this doesn't line up to mean the same thing.
Genuinely unsure what the rest of that means, although you're free to explain and elaborate.
So I wanted to post this before there's a chance they legalize Zamazenta since their release will only spell doom for this Mon. The Mon I wanna talk about is Scizor since I feel it has a bunch of untapped potential in the current meta. Its stats, typing and moveset give it so much versatility.
It's great typing lets it run pretty much anything from offensive to physically or even specially defensive.
Scizor @ Metronome
Ability: Technician
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Roost
This is a set I've been running with much success. Not posting a specific EV spread since I feel it can be run with almost any decent spread and is very versatile when it comes to team building.
This set basically works the same way as most standard Scizor sets. Knock Off is never gonna be a bad support move and Roost is to ensure it's not worn out in long battles and aids in set up sweeping. What makes this set really threatening though is Metronome. When it comes to late game sweeping, you're gonna be pretty much spamming Bullet Punch after you set up so you might as well run an item that rewards you for spamming the same move. After using your third BP, you start doing more damage than you would if you were holding Metal coat and it also helps Scizor a bit harder with Knock Off.
When played correctly, this set lets it beat many threats that other standard sets might have trouble with such as Counter Skarm, Malmetal, and Double Dance Reuniclus.
It's great typing lets it run pretty much anything from offensive to physically or even specially defensive.
Scizor @ Metronome
Ability: Technician
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Roost
This is a set I've been running with much success. Not posting a specific EV spread since I feel it can be run with almost any decent spread and is very versatile when it comes to team building.
This set basically works the same way as most standard Scizor sets. Knock Off is never gonna be a bad support move and Roost is to ensure it's not worn out in long battles and aids in set up sweeping. What makes this set really threatening though is Metronome. When it comes to late game sweeping, you're gonna be pretty much spamming Bullet Punch after you set up so you might as well run an item that rewards you for spamming the same move. After using your third BP, you start doing more damage than you would if you were holding Metal coat and it also helps Scizor a bit harder with Knock Off.
When played correctly, this set lets it beat many threats that other standard sets might have trouble with such as Counter Skarm, Malmetal, and Double Dance Reuniclus.
I've been using this demon Kyurem set that I have no idea why no one has thought of yet:
Kyurem @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 32 Atk / 224 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Earth Power
- Icicle Spear
- Freeze-Dry
This set mashes all of Kyurem's qualities into one big set:
1. Its poor defensive typing
2. Its amazing 125/90/90 bulk
3. Its great mixed attacking stats (people forget Kyu has 130 base attack)
4. Its great offensive movepool
5. Its "almost enough" 95 base speed
Common scenario with this set: You send out Kyurem, opponent got Rillaboom/Landorus/anything thats outsped and OHKOed by Specs Kyurem on the field (which is half the metagame). Your opponent decides to switch to Heatran on the Ice move, Blissey if he has it, or make the SpDef Corvknight or Clefable midground. In any case, you DD up. If its a Clef or Corv you let it hit you, then youre at +4/+2/+2 (basically a shell smash and a swords dance) and its good game. Otherwise even at +1/+1, many teams are basically lose cuz their Ice resists (water,fire and steel) get bopped by Freeze Dry or Earth Power, and their fat SpDef walls get bopped by Icicle Spear.
You need to ensure that pesky Volcaronas,Ferrothorns,Unburden Hawluchas or fast Scarfers like Kart and Chomp are removed first
I've lost count of the number of teams I've swept with this. Kyurem's offensive prowess is just so good that just from team preview you basically won the match already when you get to +1. Teams often count on the fact that Kyurem is choiced, or is too slow to handle revenge killers, and this set rectifies both of that.
Weakness Policy activation is oftentimes not needed, but once activated, it's basically gg to fatter balance or stall without Unaware Clef. With Kyurem's natural bulk, it can live many,many supereffective hits easily.
I use this with Aurora Veil support and Magnezone. 224 SpAtt to kill Urshifu-R without a boost. With Aurora Veil, you get to activate Weakness Policy without dying from very strong offensive pokemon like specs Koko, kartana, etc.
Hope yall try this out for yourselves
Kyurem @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 32 Atk / 224 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Earth Power
- Icicle Spear
- Freeze-Dry
This set mashes all of Kyurem's qualities into one big set:
1. Its poor defensive typing
2. Its amazing 125/90/90 bulk
3. Its great mixed attacking stats (people forget Kyu has 130 base attack)
4. Its great offensive movepool
5. Its "almost enough" 95 base speed
Common scenario with this set: You send out Kyurem, opponent got Rillaboom/Landorus/anything thats outsped and OHKOed by Specs Kyurem on the field (which is half the metagame). Your opponent decides to switch to Heatran on the Ice move, Blissey if he has it, or make the SpDef Corvknight or Clefable midground. In any case, you DD up. If its a Clef or Corv you let it hit you, then youre at +4/+2/+2 (basically a shell smash and a swords dance) and its good game. Otherwise even at +1/+1, many teams are basically lose cuz their Ice resists (water,fire and steel) get bopped by Freeze Dry or Earth Power, and their fat SpDef walls get bopped by Icicle Spear.
You need to ensure that pesky Volcaronas,Ferrothorns,Unburden Hawluchas or fast Scarfers like Kart and Chomp are removed first
I've lost count of the number of teams I've swept with this. Kyurem's offensive prowess is just so good that just from team preview you basically won the match already when you get to +1. Teams often count on the fact that Kyurem is choiced, or is too slow to handle revenge killers, and this set rectifies both of that.
Weakness Policy activation is oftentimes not needed, but once activated, it's basically gg to fatter balance or stall without Unaware Clef. With Kyurem's natural bulk, it can live many,many supereffective hits easily.
252 Atk Landorus-Therian Stone Edge vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Kyurem: 260-306 (66.4 - 78.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Tyranitar Stone Edge vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Kyurem: 306-360 (78.2 - 92%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Zeraora Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Kyurem: 258-304 (65.9 - 77.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Clefable Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Kyurem: 332-392 (84.9 - 100.2%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Def Ferrothorn Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Kyurem: 212-250 (54.2 - 63.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Def Corviknight Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Kyurem: 180-214 (46 - 54.7%) -- 58.2% chance to 2HKO
0 SpA Clefable Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 4- SpD Kyurem: 236-282 (60.3 - 72.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Tyranitar Stone Edge vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Kyurem: 306-360 (78.2 - 92%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Zeraora Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Kyurem: 258-304 (65.9 - 77.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Clefable Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Kyurem: 332-392 (84.9 - 100.2%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Def Ferrothorn Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Kyurem: 212-250 (54.2 - 63.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Def Corviknight Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Kyurem: 180-214 (46 - 54.7%) -- 58.2% chance to 2HKO
0 SpA Clefable Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 4- SpD Kyurem: 236-282 (60.3 - 72.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
I use this with Aurora Veil support and Magnezone. 224 SpAtt to kill Urshifu-R without a boost. With Aurora Veil, you get to activate Weakness Policy without dying from very strong offensive pokemon like specs Koko, kartana, etc.
Hope yall try this out for yourselves
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While Zamazenta doesn't straight up check or counter them, I do feel its kinda funny that Zamazenta can at the very least revenge kill most of the Mons that saw a recent increase in usage (Scizor, Kyurem, Tapu Lele)
Oh and def counters Weavile
Oh and def counters Weavile
There's been a lot of discussion about Scizor, and I wsa wondering what sets are getting used, and maybe if someone could provide some examples of teams using it.
Scizor @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 168 Def / 92 SpD
Impish Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off / U-turn
- Roost
or this
Scizor @ Leftovers / @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Roost
- Knock Off
are currently used, the former is used to tank hits better from choice band kartana and rillaboom, where the latter is better to check special attackers such as kyurem, tapu lele, and clefable with thunder in its arsenal. Both sets have their merits in the current meta, but which set you should use depends on your team entirely.
currently there are plenty of scizor teams which tend to be rather offensive with partners such as weavile, rillaboom, hawlucha, volcarona, garchomp, tornadus-t, and tapu koko, as they can put a lot of pressure on plenty of common pokemon and they easen the teampartner up with great synergy while maintaining the offensive pressure. this is mainly why scizor has risen in popularity recently. also it is one more knock off user with a boosting move in swords dance and knock off users in ou are in general very appreciated to remove annyoing items such as leftovers and heavy-duty boots.
these are the main reasons as to why scizor has found a place in the current metagame and i think it'll see a rise in the viability in the future as well, as this pokemon alongside weavile really left a big impact recently.
Just wondering- why does the spdef set not run SD? (Also, thanks for the info :))
Scizor @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 168 Def / 92 SpD
Impish Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off / U-turn
- Roost
or this
Scizor @ Leftovers / @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Roost
- Knock Off
are currently used, the former is used to tank hits better from choice band kartana and rillaboom, where the latter is better to check special attackers such as kyurem, tapu lele, and clefable with thunder in its arsenal. Both sets have their merits in the current meta, but which set you should use depends on your team entirely.
currently there are plenty of scizor teams which tend to be rather offensive with partners such as weavile, rillaboom, hawlucha, volcarona, garchomp, tornadus-t, and tapu koko, as they can put a lot of pressure on plenty of common pokemon and they easen the teampartner up with great synergy while maintaining the offensive pressure. this is mainly why scizor has risen in popularity recently. also it is one more knock off user with a boosting move in swords dance and knock off users in ou are in general very appreciated to remove annyoing items such as leftovers and heavy-duty boots.
these are the main reasons as to why scizor has found a place in the current metagame and i think it'll see a rise in the viability in the future as well, as this pokemon alongside weavile really left a big impact recently.
Scizor @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 168 Def / 92 SpD
Impish Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off / U-turn
- Roost
or this
Scizor @ Leftovers / @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Roost
- Knock Off
are currently used, the former is used to tank hits better from choice band kartana and rillaboom, where the latter is better to check special attackers such as kyurem, tapu lele, and clefable with thunder in its arsenal. Both sets have their merits in the current meta, but which set you should use depends on your team entirely.
currently there are plenty of scizor teams which tend to be rather offensive with partners such as weavile, rillaboom, hawlucha, volcarona, garchomp, tornadus-t, and tapu koko, as they can put a lot of pressure on plenty of common pokemon and they easen the teampartner up with great synergy while maintaining the offensive pressure. this is mainly why scizor has risen in popularity recently. also it is one more knock off user with a boosting move in swords dance and knock off users in ou are in general very appreciated to remove annyoing items such as leftovers and heavy-duty boots.
these are the main reasons as to why scizor has found a place in the current metagame and i think it'll see a rise in the viability in the future as well, as this pokemon alongside weavile really left a big impact recently.
You think they'll both see a rise in a metagame with Zamazenta? Scizor pretty much can't touch Zama unless it's running Superpower and I don't really see it using that move over his other options. The standard Weavile sets also get walled by Zama
I really dont see where zama was mentioned in that post, unless you count katy speaking of a rise of viability in the future, but that future doesn't even necessarily include zama in any way(not even a test), and I'm going to guess katy meant in the future development of this OU roster without any changes. can we please stop railroading every conversation in the last few days into a zama one, it's been beaten to death and we did like 3-4 full circles already(I don't really have an opinion myself for what it's worth)
on the topic of scizor though, I have also seen people running LO with it, does anyone know what sets it runs then?
Hey there 
I want to bring up Dracozolt, the Fossil Pokemon. Yes, it is literally known as the Fossil Pokemon.
Dracozolt is probably the best Mixed attacker in the current game and has a surprising lack of reliable checks even though it has sub par offensive stats. However, it's harder to use than most pokemon, with it being prediction reliant. This adorable goof of a dragon is amazingly strong and that's why I want to talk about it.
Dracozolt @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 156 Atk / 184 SpA / 168 Spe
Naive Nature
- Bolt Beak
- Draco Meteor
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
This set outspeeds Garchomp at +1 and can KO Defensive Landorus-Therian with Draco Meteor after Stealth Rocks, the rest has been invested into Attack.
Dracozolt is probably the most threatening pokemon in the tier, scary as all hell in team preview and has a very limited amount of reliable checks. Its ability to break through walls on both sides of the defensive spectrum and having extremely strong STABs in Bolt Beak and Draco Meteor makes it hard to wall, being only checked by Hippowdon and Swampert. It's access to Fire Blast allows it to break through Ferrothorn which is one of the only defensive pokemon that can switch into both its STABs. Earthquake is mainly there to hit Heatran since Bolt Beak is a 2HKO.
Dracozolt is probably my favourite pokemon to use in my favourite archetype to use, it's an incredible wallbreaker, it's very cute and its hilarious to look at.
Welp that's all I have to say, Bye!
PS, theres a team in the sprite
I want to bring up Dracozolt, the Fossil Pokemon. Yes, it is literally known as the Fossil Pokemon.
Dracozolt is probably the best Mixed attacker in the current game and has a surprising lack of reliable checks even though it has sub par offensive stats. However, it's harder to use than most pokemon, with it being prediction reliant. This adorable goof of a dragon is amazingly strong and that's why I want to talk about it.
Dracozolt @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 156 Atk / 184 SpA / 168 Spe
Naive Nature
- Bolt Beak
- Draco Meteor
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
This set outspeeds Garchomp at +1 and can KO Defensive Landorus-Therian with Draco Meteor after Stealth Rocks, the rest has been invested into Attack.
184 SpA Life Orb Dracozolt Draco Meteor over 2 turns vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 337-399 (88.2 - 104.4%) -- guaranteed KO in 2 turns after Stealth Rock
How to kill with Dracozolt
Dracozolt is incredibly strong by the way incase you missed the numerous times I already mentioned that; however,
it's rather hard to use due to it being very prediction reliant, get it right and it can devastate your opponent, get it wrong and Dracozolt is as good as a Magikarp. However getting predicts right is not all that hard, ofcourse it's not the easiest feat but not the hardest either, and getting predicts right with it is addicting. With that being said, how exactly does one predict with Dracozolt, it's a simple matter of practice to be honest. Since a large amount of teams regularly lack a reliable check to Dracozolt its rather easy to just click buttons and win; however, having teammates like Toxic Excadrill can often bait in it's two most reliable checks and cripple them severely hurting their ability to check Dracozolt later on. After this it's a matter of prediction to break through your opponents walls. A lot of people also like to sweep with Dracozolt and to be honest you'll only ever be doing that if your opponents team is poorly built. Dracozolt is more of a hit and run pokemon if you get what I'm saying, it doesnt stay in and keep attacking, that only leads to it being severely chipped by its Life Orb, it more so nukes a wall and then proceeds to leave to avoid any damage. This may not work for everyone ofcourse some might like to play it more offensively but I've had more success with playing it like this. Pairing it with good hazard control is incredibly important, I usually prefer one Defog user with Rapid Spin Excadrill. Likewise pairing it with slow pivots like Slowking is also crucial since it has a hard time switching in due to it being incredibly frail.
Dracozolt is incredibly strong by the way incase you missed the numerous times I already mentioned that; however,
it's rather hard to use due to it being very prediction reliant, get it right and it can devastate your opponent, get it wrong and Dracozolt is as good as a Magikarp. However getting predicts right is not all that hard, ofcourse it's not the easiest feat but not the hardest either, and getting predicts right with it is addicting. With that being said, how exactly does one predict with Dracozolt, it's a simple matter of practice to be honest. Since a large amount of teams regularly lack a reliable check to Dracozolt its rather easy to just click buttons and win; however, having teammates like Toxic Excadrill can often bait in it's two most reliable checks and cripple them severely hurting their ability to check Dracozolt later on. After this it's a matter of prediction to break through your opponents walls. A lot of people also like to sweep with Dracozolt and to be honest you'll only ever be doing that if your opponents team is poorly built. Dracozolt is more of a hit and run pokemon if you get what I'm saying, it doesnt stay in and keep attacking, that only leads to it being severely chipped by its Life Orb, it more so nukes a wall and then proceeds to leave to avoid any damage. This may not work for everyone ofcourse some might like to play it more offensively but I've had more success with playing it like this. Pairing it with good hazard control is incredibly important, I usually prefer one Defog user with Rapid Spin Excadrill. Likewise pairing it with slow pivots like Slowking is also crucial since it has a hard time switching in due to it being incredibly frail.
Dracozolt is probably my favourite pokemon to use in my favourite archetype to use, it's an incredible wallbreaker, it's very cute and its hilarious to look at.
Welp that's all I have to say, Bye!
PS, theres a team in the sprite
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Hey there
I want to bring up Dracozolt, the Fossil Pokemon. Yes, it is literally known as the Fossil Pokemon.
Dracozolt is probably the best Mixed attacker in the current game and has a surprising lack of reliable checks even though it has sub par offensive stats. However, it's harder to use than most pokemon, with it being prediction reliant. This adorable goof of a dragon is amazingly strong and that's why I want to talk about it.
Dracozolt is probably the most threatening pokemon in the tier, scary as all hell in team preview and has a very limited amount of reliable checks. Its ability to break through walls on both sides of the defensive spectrum and having extremely strong STABs in Bolt Beak and Draco Meteor makes it hard to wall, being only checked by Hippowdon and Swampert. It's access to Fire Blast allows it to break through Ferrothorn which is one of the only defensive pokemon that can switch into both its STABs. Earthquake is mainly there to hit Heatran since Bolt Beak is a 2HKO.
Dracozolt @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 156 Atk / 184 SpA / 168 Spe
Naive Nature
- Bolt Beak
- Draco Meteor
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
This set outspeeds Garchomp at +1 and can KO Defensive Landorus-Therian with Draco Meteor after SStealth Rocks, the rest has been invested into Attack.
186 SpA Life Orb Dracozolt Draco Meteor over 2 turns vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 337-399 (88.2 - 104.4%) -- guaranteed KO in 2 turns after Stealth Rock
How to kill with Dracozolt
Dracozolt is incredibly strong by the way incase you missed the numerous times I already mentioned that; however,
it's rather hard to use due to it being very prediction reliant, get it right and it can devastate your opponent, get it wrong and Dracozolt is as good as a Magikarp. However getting predicts right is not all that hard, ofcourse it's not the easiest feat but not the hardest either, and getting predicts right with it is addicting. With that being said, how exactly does one predict with Dracozolt, it's a simple matter of practice to be honest. Since a large amount of teams regularly lack a reliable check to Dracozolt its rather easy to just click buttons and win; however, having teammates like Toxic Excadrill can often bait in it's two most reliable checks and cripple them severely hurting their ability to check Dracozolt later on. After this it's a matter of prediction to break through your opponents walls. A lot of people also like to sweep with Dracozolt and to be honest you'll only ever be doing that if your opponents team is poorly built. Dracozolt is more of a hit and run pokemon if you get what I'm saying, it doesnt stay in and keep attacking, that only leads to it being severely chipped by its Life Orb, it more so nukes a wall and then proceeds to leave to avoid any damage. This may not work for everyone ofcourse some might like to play it more offensively but I've had more success with playing it like this. Pairing it with good hazard control is incredibly important, I usually prefer one Defog user with Rapid Spin Excadrill. Likewise pairing it with slow pivots like Slowking is also crucial since it has a hard time switching in due to it being incredibly frail.
Dracozolt is probably my favourite pokemon to use in my favourite archetype to use, it's an incredible wallbreaker, it's very cute and its hilarious to look at.
Welp that's all I have to say, Bye!
PS, theres a team in the sprite
As another person who loves Dracozolt and agrees its super underrated. I would just like to point some things out.
1 this set will not KO defensive Lando-T after SR as even with 212 Ev's and a SPA nature it can't ohko defensive Lando after SR.
Second off while Exca can counter Zolt pretty well. It has to be very careful around both EQ and Fire blast. Instead I would say the absolute best Zolt counter in the game is Specially Defensive Hippowdown. It can easily take 2 Draco Meteors and slack off, it can take EQ's and Fire Blasts all day and it can't be hurt by Bolt Beak. Hippo also comes with the boon of beating non boosted Excadrill as well.
But altogether as someone who plays a very prediction reliant game, I can vouch that Zolt is one of the best mons in the meta, criminally underrated and unbelievably fun to use.
My main problem with Zolt is that not only is reliant on another Mon for weather support, but Sand usually has the least amount of overall turns since the Mons with the ability choose to run items other than Smooth Rock for the most part.
Pokes that are dependant on other Mons for weather or terrain support have never been super high on the viability rankings and will only go as high as the weather/terrian setter's current placing will allow them to
Pokes that are dependant on other Mons for weather or terrain support have never been super high on the viability rankings and will only go as high as the weather/terrian setter's current placing will allow them to
uhh could you elaborate?
Isn't Fire Spin + Substitute Dracozolt with Leftovers, like what talah used in SPL here, considered one of the best sets? Being able to trap whatever switches in removes a lot of the prediction reliance that can make Dracozolt inconsistent, and being behind a Sub can further help with how a limited number of sand turns sometimes makes potential sweeps short-lived and underwhelming. Leftovers also helps make Dracozolt more reliable, since it tends to get worn down easily, especially with a Life Orb. Bolt Beak and Draco Meteor covers the majority of what Dracozolt needs to hit and Fire Spin + chip (and you can rack up more Fire Spin chip with Substitute) can help wear down things like Ferrothorn or Excadrill that Fire Blast and Earthquake are meant to hit. Both Ferrothorn and Excadrill don't have particularly reliable forms of recovery either, so they can't switch into Fire Spin Dracozolt many times before they're in range of Bolt Beak or Draco Meteor. Obviously running a Dracozolt set with Sub + Fire Spin and Lefties over EQ + Fire Blast and LO isn't as powerful or immediately gratifying, but I think that it may add more consistency and reliability to Dracozolt, which are otherwise two areas that can often limit Dracozolt.
not sure if this counts as ou because it’s natdex, but victini’s role there was to force pokemon weak to it out on the switch, and hit the thing that switched in with a nuke/pivot/trick scarf cripple.
https://pokepast.es/74cd164f655735e6
Mono Choice Band U-Turn Spam is the future. I have exclusively used this exact team on the above account. I developed the team while using a different account that used a handful of gimmicky strategies (beginning with Mono Choice Band Explosion Spam Sand without Sand-Damaged mons), and this gimmick proved to be the best of them. The HP EVs are based on the logic of having a 16 x # - 1 HP stat to minimize residual damage, but you can modify them to prepare for the metagame if you want I guess. Using this team gives you a new perspective on competitive Pokémon as a whole, and playing against this team does the same (just don't get too mad when your Rillaboom switch-in gets OHKOed by Koko). This was the best combination of Pokémon for this team that I could come up with, if you want to use Status Moves like a tryhard then maybe there is a better squad you can make. This team matches up poorly against Corvinight, Dragapult, Kartana, Hazards, the Move Protect, and any opponent with a brain. The nicknames are the names of the original Six Samurai from the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG.
"If this team relies so heavily on surprise factor then why are you sharing it?"
Because I have reached my goal with this team and want to move on to a different gimmick. This post may not be very contributory or Modest (heh) or anything but I hope that it inspires you all to succeed with the teams that you love.