while i certainly do not agree with the common sentiments raised in this thread recently about the slowtwins / pult being broken , id like to try and divert some attention and possibly spark some discussion towards what i believe is the most polarizing or rather punishing pokemon in the tier right now :
id like to preface this post by saying that while i may not be playing this tier at the highest level possible , id like to claim that i share a decent understanding of the meta and the state of the tier right now , and that i would like to present all my points in the most rational manner possible. Simply put , i feel
kyurem is a mon that is insanely good right now due to how much it troubles the common "archetype" that teams like to follow in a sense , owing due to its above average bulk, good speed tier and good typing / movepool.
Possible
sets that it may run are as follows : (listed in order of prevalence imo)
1)
substitute + freeze dry/ earth power : by far the most common , this set aims at disrupting the defensive backbone that a team may usually follow by being a general source of consistent damage / momentum , be it due to its pp stalling ability in pressure, fishing for freezes , good mu against a lot of what is deemed "bulky" in the tier.
2)
specs : very clear cut in what it wants to do , specs kyurem is one of the most strongest hitting wallbreakers in the tier right now, with great stabs + additional coverage like focus blast / earth power that can hit the things that stabs otherwise fail to dent. immediate source of damage output , very threatening and sometimes outright unwallable, again due to a high spa and good move coverage.
3)
metronome : same intent as 1) , except it does much better vs fatter builds due to racking up successive metronome hits. however it trades boots which makes it much more vulnerable to hazards , and thus it requires much more careful positioning to bring it in to do its thing. but once its on the field safely , it does its seemingly good job even better , since it can usually dish out multiple hits before its sub is broken and it has to stop the cycle ( again taking into account its defensive answers , the increment in its damage owing to metronome is not as relevant with regards to its offensive checks since they dont take a hit well in the first place ). icicle spear + metronome also ensures that teams that overly rely on blissey to deal with special attackers are pressured more , opening a pathway for the rest of the team's special hitters ( and kyurem itself) to take control of the game.
4)
niche sets like dd icicle spear , scarf etc : rarely seen because these sets cover a very small amount of what the aforementioned sets can achieve in the game , but relevant enough to impact the game when they make an appearance nonetheless.
now that we've gone over the sets , id look to go over what i think are the most consistent answers to kyurem in the builder :
Defensively
i believe it is well recognized by now ( looking at the usage trends ) that scizor is the best check to kyurem that one can ask for. resistant to stabs , threatens offensively by virtue of bp / knock , reliable recovery , can give back momentum in the form of u-turn, scizor does it all and can definitely put a hard stop to what kyurem tries to achieve.
glowking and clef are the next options after sciz that can somewhat reliably switch into kyurem. if its the boots subroost set, glowking can alternate between future sight + sludge bomb while kyurem can deal about 25-35% damage per turn depending on the evs/set. since kyurem doesnt like to end up being statused / taking future sight , the glowking player may use the turn that kyurem decides to heal itself to switch into their offensive answer to kyurem , like dragapult for instance. specs is also dealt with in a similar fashion , since it eats two hits from full and can threaten the hazard weak kyu with sludge bomb / focus blast. Spdef clef , as seen earlier this gen is also an answer to kyu owing to its typing and good bulk / ability , and its immediate threat in stab moonblast. Specs troubles clef a lot more than glowking since minimal chip can result in it getting 2ohkod by ice beam.
blissey doing its usual job of checking special attackers very handily , nothing new here. with sub and a little hp invesment (56 evs in hp) , a seismic toss doesnt break it , meaning blissey will have to exhaust 4pp in order to break one sub ( thanks to pressure ). But this doesnt mean that sub kyu directly wins the 1v1 right then and there since its freeze dry / earth power do pitiful damage in return , resulting in a stalemate of sorts. I do believe the blissey user has a slight advantage in this scenario since they can just teleport out , either into an offensive answer like infiltrator pult or into a hazard immune mon and switch right back to waste some pp. specs kyurem has a much better outing against blissey however since focus blast has a 64.5% chance to 2HKO, taking into account that bliss stays in and both focus blasts hit. the usual course of action however is to switch out into something that resists/is immune to focus blast and try and heal back blissey later since you dont want specs kyu to be freely clicking ice beam. icicle spear as mentioned earlier is used to trouble blissey by racking up successive hits and forcing it to waste softboiled pp.
ferro and tar are reliable answers to non specs kyurem , owing due to their typing / stab / bulk. usually their purpose on a team is not solely to check kyu , but to set hazards / knock / setup sand etc , checking sub kyu happens to be one other thing that is in their reach. be it sand or the threat of knock / bpress , kyu usually hesitates to sub when these mons are healthy since they can retaliate with knock / bpress / sand / rock blast and neuter its ability to function to come into play later in the game. specs kyu absolutely truck both of these which is why they are mentioned below the above four pokemon. Ferro can opt to run iron head>gyro if it wants both steel coverage and a damaging move to kyu/
something thats less popular and that ive had a decent amount of success with is using roost volc in conjunction with aegislash. pretty simple in concept , roost volc reliably beats sub kyu and even forces it out since kyu is a sitting duck for it to quiver on. for the specs set , aegi by virtue of its typing is able to take minimal damage from its stabs ( usual fourth slot on specs kyu is focus
blast miss).
is there anything that big corv cant do? with its own pressure , it can act as a softcheck to sub kyu. can force progress by pp stalling freeze dry's / pivoting into offensive check. is very vulnerable to the fishing for freeze / specs that player must keep in mind so its not the most solid check.
Offensively
Genuinely believe infiltrator or clear body ( to dodge webs and such) pult is the best answer to kyu offensively. realizing the threat of draco , it can also u-turn on the predicted switch to keep up momentum.
as what youd expect , nothing funny here, double iron bash absolutely mollywhops kyurem , just gotta be wary of a specs focus blast if its a 1v1 , otherwise the trade would result in about a half health melmetal and a dead kyu
etc..
grouping all of these together since they are contingent on the kyu not being behind a sub in order to deal with it efficiently. Reliably win the 1v1 if so , otherwise the trade ends up with the kyurem (behind the sub) with the upper hand ( if not victorious )
now coming to why i think its borderline broken / so good : the current style of teams usually allow it many chances to come in and do its thing , be it either sub or specs , and teams cannot usually accomodate for more than 2-3 of the above pokemon if it wants to be prepared for the entire meta imo. sub in my experience usually outclasses specs since it requires lesser support in the builder it in the form of pivots / good hazard removal , and due to how easily it can sub on a lot of bulky mons in the tier that rely on status / knock / other means of crippling it. add this in accordance to its already good hp / bulk and reliable recovery , and sub kyurem always makes the opponent be on their tiptoes on how to deal with it. more often than not , it breaks huge holes in a team due to the opposing player heavily relying on something that "softchecks" it or not having anything to check it at all , since its hard answers are limited to say the least. add in factors such as its defensive answers are vulnerable to hazards + knock , and offensive answers being relatively checkable in the defensive department , youve got a monster that rewards the kyurem user hugely if played and position right. quite a few number of people are of the opinion that its busted , and i am certainly on the fence of whether it is or not , which is why i have made this post. right now i feel , as with all pokemon , it requires good piloting and good positioning , but relatively lesser support for itself to work than other offensive threats of the tier , since pivoting / hazard removal are something that every team (usually) strives to have. its versatility in sets is also something to account for , since i dont believe its
always clear from team preview whether its specs/sub , both of which have different counterplay. a reliable and easy strat to determine its set can be simply setting up hazards, not too difficult.
will edit with calcs vs relevant mons later if i feel the need to , right now i feel most of it is fairly obvious and theres nothing groundbreaking that calcs show that is not known already.
→ 
→ 
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→ 
(t-wave spam for orb-kartana)
and the rare 
. Moonblast is its secondary STAB that compliments Psyshock well by hitting Dark types such as 
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and 
. Focus 
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and 
that are otherwise able to take its STAB attacks with relative ease. While Psychic is the widely used fourth move on Tapu Lele, Thunder/Thunderbolt are able to hit targets such as 
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and 
This Pokemon is a no brainer, with the Quiver Dance set being able to bust through teams in the late game.
also another rising star not only in popularity but also in viability, great check to dangerous physical threats such as Rillaboom, Kartana, and Excadrill, and also Zeraora with a defensive set. Offensive also has its assets with Dragon Dance and Dual Wingbeat and recovery option in Roost to maintain Multiscale which get bolstered by Heavy-Duty Boots, as it perfectly cancels out Stealth Rock damage.
Choice Specs sets have barely any great switch-ins, with two great STAB moves in Psychic and Moonblast, complimented with Psyshock to help itself against Blissey and Focus Blast for Steel-types such as Heatran. Choice Specs Tapu Lele is in my eyes one of the best breakers currently.
