Perhaps bad timing for this considering the Dracovish suspect test just went up, but all this recent discussion on Teleport Clefable has me questioning whether an intrinsic aspect of modern-gen Pokemon has been a bit uncompetitive all along - the low-risk switching moves i.e. U-turn, Volt Switch, Baton Pass, and now the problematic Teleport, particularly in the context of a metagame where hazard removal is so easy.
Just want to make clear that
I am not at all suggesting these moves should be considered for a suspect, but I think it would be interesting to gauge the community's impression on these moves and how healthy their impact is on the game as a whole. If any mods think this is the wrong place for such a specific discussion, then just drop me a PM and I can start a new thread instead of potentially de-railing this one.
Since its introduction in DPP, U-turn has been slapped on just about any offensive Pokemon that gets it and for very clear reason. The cookie-cutter U-turn situation is something like offensive Dragapult vs defensive Kommo-o. Here, U-turn is a move with a very high floor - assuming that you have at least one other Pokemon that can threaten Kommo-o should they stay in on your U-turn, there is very very little risk attached to using it. This would be fine and properly balanced if U-turn at least had a low ceiling, but U-turn also has one of the highest ceilings in the game as if Kommo-o switches out, you are given free momentum to whatever you want as if you had
perfectly predicted the switch but without needing to predict it. I would go as far as to say that having a physical attacker with U-turn vs something Bug-weak is probably the most advantageous single position that you can find yourself in in Pokemon - this situation is almost the entire reason why something like Celebi is considered a complete momentum sink.
U-turn has been a direct reason for many bans in the past (see below, mons in brackets only have niche use of U-turn), but also likely an indirect one. OU mainstays such as Landorus-T, Rotom-W, and Scizor are excellent facilitators of wallbreakers and sweepers that otherwise have a fairly difficult time finding opportunities on their own.
BW:
XY:
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SM:
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SS:
I think U-turn and similar moves are something that we never consider as uncompetitive mechanics because 1) they have been part of the game for so long and 2) there is actually a bit of counterplay. Residual damage dissuades U-turn by putting offensive Pokemon on a timer and encouraging them to actually make real progress (i.e. deal damage) rather than preserve momentum. This is probably why U-turn is kinda a non-issue in DPP, where sand is up permanently most games, and SR/Spikes are tough to remove vs Rotom-A - only Flygon has a truly safe U-turn as a result, but whatever partner Flygon brings in off a U-turn is still going to suffer from those issues. DPP still has Dugtrio and I know there are grievances about the impact of U-turn Jirachi + Dug there right now, but thats another topic.
So U-turn has inarguably already been an issue for many suspects in the past. However, with every passing generation, U-turn and the like feel more "free" to click than ever before. Sand is no longer permanent meaning that the pivoting role has moved beyond the typical Steels and Grounds without fear of longevity. Rocky Helmet was a nice addition but almost immediately undone by the Knock Off buff plus addition of Volt Switch and now the buff to Teleport. Between U-turn, VS and Teleport the distribution of pivoting moves among top Pokemon feels crazy. In addition, hazards have less impact than ever before, what with the distribution of Defog on mons like Corviknight, which is itself one of the best U-turners in the game, along with the Rapid Spin buff, and HDB. The result is that progress is insanely slow to make in SS, as it feels like a constant scrap for momentum while neither team can really punish things like U-turn Corviknight, Teleport Clefable, U-turn Dragapult, or Volt Switch Rotom-H.
I think a lot of us are, reasonably, keeping an eye on Teleport Clefable, as Wish + Teleport on a Magic Guard Pokemon is certainly the best example of how free and unpunishable momentum is abused in current SS. However, I think that this kind of mechanic has likely been an issue for a long time, and just
barely kept "handleable" in old gens by things like hazards, sand, rocky helmet, and the various dynamics of fast vs slow U-turn etc. Teleport Clefable, with its ability to invalidate passive damage and always go last without touching Rocky Helmet is simply the set that has brought the uncompetitiveness of this to the forefront, but I do think that classical abusers and stuff like U-turn Corviknight are also huge contributors to the slow-progression, grind of games in SS OU. Looking ahead to DLC, I certainly don't look forward to the addition of many of the older offensive u-turns, nor things like Teleport Slowbro, Chansey which seem excessively difficult to punish with Corviknight/Mandibuzz support.
I think the OU council are doing fantastic here, but Game Freak has given us a stinking set of mechanics that now gives far too many Pokemon simply unpunishable options that games just turn into mini-momentum wars. Gens 4-5 have arguably too much focus on residual damage meaning you have to make individual turns count because you simply don't get too many of them - sure, U-turn exists but everything is on a timer so theres not just endless loops of pivoting, plus Ferrothorn is like 40% usage. Whilst I don't like them personally, gens 6-7 hit more of a sweetspot regarding momentum. Gen 8 feels like its gone too far, giving Defog to its best user ever, HDB making pivots tough to punish, and then giving Teleport to mons that really didn't need an unpunishable switching option.
tl;dr there is little risk on a given turn playing current SS balance, there is rarely reason to go actually make a play with these teams because HDB, Magic Guard and ridiculously good Defoggers makes pivoting mons absurdly difficult to punish. Magic Guard Clefable is the posterboy but I think with recent mechanics changes, the problems run deeper than just Clefable.
