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Just used Grassy Surge Rillaboom for the first time and it's pretty damn strong. I think that it has a lot of promise in the metagame, but it is still not the most consistent option due to Corviknight hard walling it, especially if it is PDef, and prediction reliance against Ferrothorn cores that is made much harder due to the current focus on Protect in the metagame. Because of this, I built a team dedicated to abusing an earlier trade forced with Corviknight: Lead SR Excadrill + SD Defiant Bisharp. If you are able to force a Defog into Bisharp, then you can put it below 15-20% and suffocate it for the remainder of the game. In addition to this, pairing Rillaboom's Grassy Terrain with Grassy Seed Hawlucha can activate Unburden and allow for a Swords Dance Hawlucha to potentially sweep, especially with Corviknight out of the picture. These physical sweepers also are able to take down Hippowdon's health, which helps with Bisharp itself, Bulk Up Zeraora, and Dragon Dance Dragapult, which rounds out the team I was personally using. This team can be found here!
The actual way that crits work is that there are 3 stages. Focus Energy is +2, a high crit move or item are each +1. +3 is 100% and +2 is 50%.
So Snipe Shot + Focus Energy is guaranteed crits and can run a Life Orb. This boosts it's other moves as well and allows you to switch moves, as well as being accurate. Ignoring stab thats 80 x 2.25 x 1.3 = 234
Hydro Pump + Focus Energy + Razor Claw is also guaranteed to crit. This is a bit more when it hits, but less accurate and you don't get the power boost for your other moves from Life Orb. 120 x 2.25 x 85% = 229.5. (270 ignoring the accuracy)
The other (bad) option is Hydro Pump + Focus Energy + Life Orb which has a power of 120 x (50% + 50% x 2.25) x 85% x 1.3 = 215.5
Hawlucha is simply excess bulk as the only other thing in that speed tier is opposing Adamant Hawlucha, which I don't find as relevant as potentially living more hits with +1 Defense from the seed and Roost. Dragapult still lets you outrun Cinderace, but the bulk allows you to tank a Knock Off from Zeraora: 252 Atk Zeraora Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 40 HP / 0 Def Dragapult: 242-286 (74 - 87.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
The nature should be changed to -SDef; I imported this from a previous HO team that had -PDef so I had more SDef to help live this more often with rocks, which is an alternative use of this spread if you don't care for the Zeraora interaction:
0 SpA Clefable Moonblast vs. 40 HP / 0 SpD Dragapult: 248-294 (75.8 - 89.9%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
I prefer -SDef as of right now though, especially with all of the Rillaboom and Cinderace on the ladder making you tank physical attacks that are resisted.
I disagree cuddly, with scope lens + focus energy crits become 100%. Tho I don’t think Inteleon will be a staple in ou, I can definetly see it being used on offensive screen teams, mud shot Inteleon beats Toxapex as it does 65% minimum with sniper crits after focus energy. It has a niche and is heavely team dependant, but saying it’s not viable at all is not true as it can easely punish teams under screens.
Yeah, with Scope Lens+Focus Energy, you are getting 100% crits. But for such a frail Pokemon with vanilla coverage and how easy item removal is, you’ll be switching out a lot, have less of a chance to set up Focus Energy, and your 100% chance to crit can be lost if your opponent slaps you the wrong way.
With Specs, you will be doing consistent on the spot damage to other targets.
Also, here is a comparison of Mudshot with Specs and no Crits vs Mud Shot with Scope Lens+Focus Energy
252 SpA Choice Specs Inteleon Mud Shot vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 130-154 (42.7 - 50.6%) -- 42.6% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Black Sludge recovery
252 SpA Sniper Inteleon Mud Shot vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex on a critical hit: 198-234 (65.1 - 76.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery
With Stealth Rocks, Specs Mud Shot with no crits will actually take LESS turns to beat Toxapex than Scope Lens+Focus Energy will. This is because you need to use a turn to use Focus Energy when Toxapex switches in, use Mud Shot once to do 65% to 77%, then do it again, assuming they don’t heal.
If Toxapex does heal, and you did Maximum Damage+had the Black Sludge removed, you only have a 3/8 chance of KOing the second shot.
Possible damage amounts: (198, 201, 201, 204, 207, 210, 210, 213, 216, 219, 222, 222, 225, 228, 231, 234)
304 - 234 = 70
70 + (304/2) = 222
You would need to deal 222 damage or greater to then KO Toxapex, and there are only 6 possible damage rolls you can get that would deal 222 or more.
Now let’s assume that Black Sludge was pit into the mix.
70 + (304/2) + (304/16) = 241
241 exceeds the total amount of damage Inteleon can even do, since these are crits Inteleon is doing as well.
Now let’s assume Inteleon gets another Max Damage roll
241 - 234 = 7
7 + (304/2) + (304/16) = 178
Now finally, Inteleon actually can finally kill Toxapex.
So the minimum amount of turns it takes to KO a Toxapex with Black Sludge while using Scope+Energy is
-Focus Energy turn
-3 Mud Shots hitting
With Specs, you just have a teammate use Stealth Rock beforehand, hit Toxapex once, and then do it again without letting Toxapex do anything about it.
And then the real kicker
252 SpA Choice Specs Sniper Inteleon Mud Shot vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex on a critical hit: 291-345 (95.7 - 113.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
Don’t forget that Specs is still able to crit by itself without the help of Scope Lens or Focus Energy.
So assuming Toxapex switches in:
-Scope+Energy = 4 turns
-Specs no crit = 2 turns
-Specs and crit = 1 turn
The actual way that crits work is that there are 3 stages. Focus Energy is +2, a high crit move or item are each +1. +3 is 100% and +2 is 50%.
So Snipe Shot + Focus Energy is guaranteed crits and can run a Life Orb. This boosts it's other moves as well and allows you to switch moves, as well as being accurate. Ignoring stab thats 80 x 2.25 x 1.3 = 234
Hydro Pump + Focus Energy + Razor Claw is also guaranteed to crit. This is a bit more when it hits, but less accurate and you don't get the power boost for your other moves from Life Orb. 120 x 2.25 x 85% = 229.5. (270 ignoring the accuracy)
The other (bad) option is Hydro Pump + Focus Energy + Life Orb which has a power of 120 x (50% + 50% x 2.25) x 85% x 1.3 = 215.5
I know. I was looking on Bulbapedia about this to do the math, and if preformed on a Pokemon with infinite HP, SL+FE will do more over hundreds of turns if we ignore PP as well.
But this isn’t your bank account accumulating interest. This is Pokemon.
You are not going to be standing their with Inteleon soaking up hits and you’ll be threatened out a lot.
If it was Nasty Plot, the story would be way different, but your status move of choice is Focus Energy, a move by itself is actually worse than Sharpen (doing x1.5 damage consistently and having the bonus tp still crit is better than dealing x1.5 damage half the time and that bonus damage being the crit itself).
And you know WHAT ELSE?
Life Orb+Laser Focus is (or would be if Inteleon got it) actually better at dealing with Toxapex (and of course other walls switching in)
252 SpA Life Orb Sniper Inteleon Mud Shot vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex on a critical hit: 257-304 (84.5 - 100%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
With Laser Focus, your crits are guaranteed for the turn after, it doesn’t require Scope Lens, and you’ll be using Laser Focus just as much as Focus Energy.
And Laser Focus already sucks horribly, but even then it’s better than Focus Energy.
If you want to do that, use Life Orb.
Edit: Made a mistake. Used Mud Bomb instead of Mud Shot
252 SpA Life Orb Inteleon Mud Shot vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 114-135 (37.5 - 44.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Black Sludge recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Inteleon Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Corviknight: 259-305 (64.7 - 76.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery It kills Toxapex faster in this scenario, but still 2HKOs Corviknight.
Sorry, I accidentally put Mud Bomb instead of Mud Shot.
But my stance still stands that Scope Lens and Focus Energy is just gimmicky and requires too much to go right to work.
252 SpA Life Orb Inteleon Mud Bomb vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 133-159 (43.7 - 52.3%) -- 71.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Black Sludge recovery
I like how you traded Mud Shot for Mud Bomb (a move Inteleon doesn't even get) and are acting like LO Inteleon can still 2HKO even phys def Toxapex. The fact of the matter is, non-Sniper Inteleon has already proven unviable in OU, Focus Energy Inteleon can actually 2HKO Toxapex with crits, while LO Inteleon.... just doesn't accomplish anything and gets worn down even faster. These posts are really bad, you're acting like non-Scope Lens, non-Focus Energy Inteleon will be able to actually take advantage of Sniper (it won't) and completely ignoring the downsides of being locked into a 55 BP ground move against a mon with Regenerator. Toxapex can pivot around to stall out even Scope Lens+Focus Energy Inteleon; Specs is just a joke to it.
I'm going to make an actually good post on Inteleon later today before the DLC, based on you know. Actually testing out the focus energy sets and seeing what works best.
Between surf/pump - ice beam - mud shot Inteleon has the coverage needed to pressure the defensive cores reciding in ou, and as I stated earlier it’s not some top tier pokemon that can ko the entire tier after a focus energy boost, it obviously need support and is team dependant. What I don’t understand is why you are pushing this discussion with nothing usefull to your argument, sniper + focus is obviously the niche Inteleon has, and sports way more pressure than specs or life orb. If you wanna run a specs water type, you should use Primarina anyway. Inteleon is heavely dependant on taking advantage of it’s ability, as far as the sniper + focus combo goes, it’s the best way to max Inteleon’s potential, and yes it is frail, which is why I said Inteleon might be most usefull for screen ho teams.
If you want to do that, use Life Orb.
252 SpA Life Orb Inteleon Mud Bomb vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 133-159 (43.7 - 52.3%) -- 71.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Black Sludge recovery
So this isn't a shitpost, how have people been dealing with Clefable? Is it still overwhelming even with the changes in the meta? I know people have mostly been focusing on our fancy new toys, but Clefable was being touted as suspect worthy even before the Vish ban and I was wondering if anything has changed here.
If you want to do that, use Life Orb.
252 SpA Life Orb Inteleon Mud Bomb vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 133-159 (43.7 - 52.3%) -- 71.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Black Sludge recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Inteleon Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Corviknight: 259-305 (64.7 - 76.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
It kills Toxapex faster in this scenario, but still 2HKOs Corviknight.
You've made some bad post about Inteleon (acting like Torrent is better than Sniper is laughable), but this one is actually hurts your argument (Mud Bomb isn't even selectable in Gen 8). You even claimed that Specs is stronger, but that's not true either.
252 SpA Choice Specs Inteleon Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Corviknight: 298-352 (74.5 - 88%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Sniper Inteleon Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Corviknight on a critical hit: 447-528 (111.7 - 132%) -- guaranteed OHKO
After one focus energy, Inteleon cleanly OHKO's Corviknight, which Specs and Life orb can't do. Meanwhile, for your Toxapex spread
252 SpA Sniper Inteleon Mud Shot vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex on a critical hit: 198-234 (65.1 - 76.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery
After the Haze: 252 SpA Inteleon Mud Shot vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 88-104 (28.9 - 34.2%) -- 98.3% chance to 4HKO after Black Sludge recovery
This means that if Pex uses haze, you still have a decent chance to 2HKO
Lastly, Ferrothorn: 252 SpA Sniper Inteleon Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 232 SpD Ferrothorn on a critical hit: 156-184 (44.3 - 52.2%) -- 77% chance to 2HKO after 1 layer of Spikes and Leftovers recovery
You fail to realize that Sniper crits are actually stronger than Nasty Plot
Inteleon isn't gonna be a top tier in OU any time soon, but you need to stop posting misinformation about it. If Inteleon is being ran in OU, no one is gonna be doing a hard switch into it due to how frail it is, it's gonna be used as a late game cleaner or on screens. And everyone one is gonna use Sniper + Scope Lens + Focus Energy for 100% boosted crits.
Another winner of the Dracovish ban is Trick Room. The playstyle used to dread being caught outside of the ‘twisted dimensions’ staring down at the ancient fish. As it was, it would decimate slower teams. Now the meta (at least mid-upper ladder) seems to have shifted slightly more offensive, not having to worry as much about the dangers of Scarf Vish) and experimenting with new mons, and it has allowed Trick Room to shine. The lack of Dark-types also help, with Hydreigon and Tyranitar not seeing a ton of usage for some reason. Ya’ll should give it a try - be sure to use Necrozma! Life Orb Photon Geyser is a menace and LO Heat Wave OHKOs Rillaboom.
So I've been using Rillaboom a lot now that it has Grassy Surge and I truly think it more than lives up to the hype it generated when we all first saw that Hidden Ability.
The best point of comparison is obviously with Gen 7's Tapu Bulu, since both Rillaboom and Bulu are hard-hitting Grass types with Grassy Surge. But besides having access to an apeshit crazy Wood Hammer, the comparisons end there.
Tapu Bulu would kill for Rillaboom's movepool; it gets virtually everything Bulu got and so much more, barring Horn Leech (which is a pretty big loss, unfortunately). Knock Off and U-Turn are absolutely massive both as offensive options and as support options.
Their statlines contain a couple of differences here and there. Rillaboom's enormous HP stat helps to offset its slightly-lower defenses. Bulu has slightly more Attack, while Rillaboom has considerably more Speed; that Speed difference makes an absolutely massive difference in practice, though. Scarf Bulu can't outpace Zeraora and Dragapult; Scarf Rillaboom, however, outpaces them easily. This is a huge deal considering how great both of those things are in this tier. It also gets the coverage to zap both of these threats; it should always run High Horsepower over Earthquake because of Grassy Terrain nerfing Earthquake, and it should always run Knock Off because of the power and utility of such a ridiculous move. These moves and this Speed stat already give it a very clear niche in this generation over what Tapu Bulu had last generation.
The Rillaboom+Hawlucha core obviously has a great deal of synergy; Rillaboom is not Tapu Koko and will never be Tapu Koko levels of good, but it's a great deal better than Pincurchin and Indeedee while it's incredibly difficult to justify not running Neutralizing Gas on Galarian Weezing. Rillaboom has enough power to be able to break past typical Hawlucha checks, and this alone gives this core plenty of merit once more.
I firmly believe Cinderace is the best of the three still (although I can't tell if it's being too underrated by one side or too overrated by the other), but Rillaboom will definitely have a place in OU unless we get some extremely severe metagame changes against it. It has a lot of different options but I think Scarf will ultimately end up being its best set in OU. 442 Speed is just way too good in a metagame where Dragapult and Zeraora are running rampant, and in the event that we get even faster threats in the future (I know that's theorymonning, but we've had base 145-150 stuff in the past) that Speed tier will make all the difference. I really implore everyone to experiment with Rillaboom more, though; its movepool and stat spread are ridiculous for something of this nature.
252+ Atk Choice Band Rillaboom Wood Hammer vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex in Grassy Terrain: 217-256 (71.3 - 84.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery and Grassy Terrain recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Rillaboom Wood Hammer vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex in Grassy Terrain: 217-256 (71.3 - 84.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery and Grassy Terrain recovery
That calc involves a PhysDef Toxapex, so it makes sense that it could take one Banded Wood Hammer. However, if it was a SpDef Toxapex, it likely wouldn't have the physical bulk to take one hit; this is what I think is meant by "some Toxapex."
I have been unbelievably excited to use Rillaboom since day 1 of the generation and he definitely lived up to the hype. I think the two best sets are definitely sub bulk up and leech seed protect
I don't know what the evs do because I got them from someone else but this thing just destroys physical mons. It can set up on non-brave bird corviknight, amazing check to exca and zeraora and it get so much recovery just from existing that you can bring it in and set up multiple times in a game. it really reminds me of bulk up bulu except you get a move that lets you beat steels and recover at the same time. with tspikes support this thing goes brazy and can break defensive teams easily while also being a pivot against offensive teams and also helping the whole team bc of grassy terrain and it also takes advantage of defensive mons like ferro and clef which is a huge deal
I had no idea what to do for the EVs so i just went with a very basic spread but those could def be optimized, but I think these four moves are really really great. this seems like a super passive set but its honestly so bulky and it's amazing support for its team. it can chip at the opposing teams with knock and leech, which both help your team, it heals your own team and it can lower other mons' speed so your team can take advantage. this is my favorite set to use with hawlucha because this can knock things like rotom and clef that can rly help hawlucha and it can come in multiple times so you have many different chances to decide if you want to bring in hawlucha. i rly think this rillaboom set is one of the best support mons in the entire tier
Overall I think Rillaboom is a great mon because of these two sets but banded and scarf can work as well even though i don't think they're as good. I think everyone should try these two sets to get a good grasp on how good Rillaboom really is. I also think people should try a rillaboom+hatterene core because boom can heal hat with terrain and leech seed and it can check things like excadrill while hat can just destroy kommo o which really bothers rillaboom and can otherwise always set up rocks on it
I looked up the Speed Tier and 64 Speed gives Rillaboom 222 Speed, which will beat Neutral Nature 252 EV Tyranitar, which will have 221 Speed.
I don’t know about the other EVs.
Best rillaboom set in my opinion, subseed maxdef, it provides a lot of chip damage during the match and is usually a nice sack, also beats zeroara 1vs1 unless it has substitute.
I really like it in combination with hawlucha and fast mons because it usually deals just enough damage so they can ohko.
I still feel like Hawlucha is best with screens to back it on HO, what kind of Rillaboom sets can we use to fit that play style? What're yall looking at?
Best rillaboom set in my opinion, subseed maxdef, it provides a lot of chip damage during the match and is usually a nice sack, also beats zeroara 1vs1 unless it has substitute.
I really like it in combination with hawlucha and fast mons because it usually deals just enough damage so they can ohko.
SubSeed definitely looks interesting, although isn't grassy terrain just mitigating seed damage? I also feel like access to U-Turn is huge for this mon and its relationship with Hawlucha
edit: Anyone looked at Incineroar as a compliment to Hawlucha+Rillaboom cores? People are rushing to Cinderace as a fire type, but Incineroar's access to Intimidate and Parting Shot give a +1def Hawlucha tons of setup opportunities as well as finding it opportunities to switch in. Flare Blitz, Knock Off, and its typing make it a great way to beat Aegislash, Corviknight, Bulky Jirachi sets, Mew, etc. a lot of the only things that are really taking a hit from +2 Lucha
I would imagine it synergizes nicely with Rillaboom as well, no? The two also for a Turn Core between U-Turn and Parting Shot
Ninetales makes for imo a very solid pick for teams which don't need a Stealth Rock user, which very possible given how good Rhyperior/Kommo-o are atm+both being useful on Sun to help vs Rotom-H (and Chandelure/opposing Venu in the latter's case). The big advantage it has over Torkoal is, obviously, its base Speed stat, which lets it outpace Excadrill when sandstorm isn't active. This is very useful in the sand matchup, as such teams often rely on Excadrill as their main form of speed control, and with Nasty Plot+Energy Ball Ninetales is able to handily dispatch of Hippowdon if they decide to try and neuter Ninetales' weather to let Exca RK later. Setting that aside, its sun-boosted Fire Blasts hit pretty hard, especially after a Nasty Plot, letting you overwhelm resists like Rotom-H and Kommo-o over the course of a game. HDB is the superior item imo bc I reckon semi-sun is probably the best way to use the style ATM (meaning you usually don't need 8 turns of sun) and HDB means you can use the good natural special bulk to tank a hit if need be without forfeiting the option to set sun later on if SR is up. Just having that added offensive presence really goes a long way for these types of teams, and taking advantage of common Pokemon like Wish Clefable to wallbreak early-mid game is really handy imo.
So I may not be the best competitive player, but here are my take on all of the 3 hidden ability starters and what I think their best options and teammates are (These are my opnions and any way to improve would be welcome)
Pyro Ball is there because it is probably the best Fire type attack it gets with very little drawback which is necessary to check steels like Aegislash and Corviknight and also just a generally good move to have.
U-Turn is a great scouting tool since Cinderace outspeeds a good majority of the current meta and makes it an offensive pivot.
High Jump Kick is the highest power move that Cinderace learns which gives it some wallbreaking potential. Low Kick is an option but lacks power.
Zen Headbutt and Sucker Punch are coverage for different situations. Zen Headbutt allows it to hit Poison types, which can wall Cinderace, mostly Toxapex or Salazzle. Sucker Punch is there to take care of Dragapult or to have an option against Zeraora.
Court Change is great for utility and the synergy with U-Turn and Heavy Duty Boots is undeniable.
Gunk Shot and Iron Head arent as good since most fairy's are covered by Pyro Ball.
Choice Band and Expert Belt give a lot of extra power, but Cinderace is still vulnerable to entry hazards which in my opinion make boots a better option.
Clefable I find one of the best teammates with Cinderace as it keeps it healthy while giving it a way to pivot it in almost effortlessly (but then again Clefable pairs well with almost anything). Hydreigon also is a great teammate as it can deal with Pokemon Cinderace cant.
Drum Beating has respectable power and the speed drop will come in clutch in certain situations. Wood Hammer can be used if you dont mind recoil.
Drain Punch is unfortunately Rillaboom's only reliable recovery move, which unfortunately doesnt have STAB unlike Tapu Bulu's Horn Leech.
Knock Off gives Rillaboom the ability to cripple defensive pokemon. However Substitute and Leech seed can passively damage opponents and keeps Rillaboom or its teammates healthy throughout the match.
Bulk Up can be used to bolster Rillabooms already high attack stat along with its defense, which can be good especially with sub.
Leftovers help Rillaboom stay healthy along with Terrain, which will allow Rillaboom to switch in consistently throughout a match.
Unburden Hawlucha with grassy seed is a natural fit as a teammate as we saw it with Tapu Bulu in the previous generation. Incineroar also fits well as a teammate since it has Intimidate, Fake Out and Parting Shout while being able to help deal with Steels.
Focus Energy with Zoom Lens gives 100% Crits to Inteleon.
Substitute protects Inteleon from being crippled by Thunder Wave or Toxic and gives it an option to set up focus energy.
Snipe Shot has a higher critical hit rate which helps especially if focus energy wasn't set up. Hydro Pump is more powerful and can break through a lot of pokemon, but accuracy may be an issue. Surf is also an option but in general Snipe Shot or Hydro Pump are generally better.
Ice Beam is for general coverage and generally pairs well with water, although Dark Pulse and Shadow Ball are options.
Grimmsnarl provides Screen support which Inteleon will appreciate greatly since Inteleon considerably lacks bulk of any kind. Roserade also fits well as a teammate providing Spikes and sleep support, which Inteleon greatly appreciates.
With Dracovish gone, I’ve been playing a lot of Sand balance built around the defensive backbone of Ferrothorn, Wishport Clefable and Hippowdon. Feels great. Hippowdon has already been discussed in this thread, but it is so such a good mon in this meta as a physical wall stopping Cinderace and others. I’ve actually been running mixed EVs on Ferrothorn to handle a couple of other threats to my team because Hippo puts in work for me.
excadrill under sand is an absolute menace in this current meta as well imo. With support from wish clefable and the aforementioned defensive core you can literally just keep pivoting back to excadrill and things will die.
I'm glad to see the effects of Fish finally being gone taking shape and Froggo is no longer forcibly splashed on every team. I expected this shake-up to increase the use of Kommo-o as the standard Rocker, and while Kommo-o definitely is much more abundant, the release of Libero Cinderace seems to mandate Hippo as the Rocker of choice in the meta at the moment.
I've noticed from the few days the HA starters have been out a pattern seeming to form around standard structures. Cinderace is everyone's favourite new toy, as it should be because it's very good, and Hippo is the defensive answer of choice, Kyurem is still (arguably) broken and makes a fantastic offensive pairing with Cinderace, and Clef is still omnipresent. I've seen more than a few teams following the structure of Cinderace/Kyurem/Hippowdon/Clefable/Defogger/Speed and the solidity of this structure and notable successes with it make me think it'll only continue to gain popularity during the remainder of this meta. Sand cores with Exca are good additions to this structure and Hippo's rising presence makes it a very attractive pairing for a lot of teams in general.
If this structure keeps its traction then I expect some things to remain very consistent in this climate:
T-Spikes has been picking up popularity recently too and I really don't think that's going to slow down either given how well it can pressure standard teams. Pex's new defensive flexibility post-Fish ban makes it now easier to fit onto teams as well as full Phys Def is no longer mandated.
While not as splashable, threatening, or all-around good as Cinderace, Boomer's Grassy Terrain is more than helpful for a few things. Boosting its offensive presence is one thing, but with the rise of Sand cores the ability to weaken EQ makes it quite useful utility to have until things start running High Horsepower. Its ability to limit Zeraora is also a boon for a lot of teams, particularly since it's the main go-to for speed control for the above structured teams along with Drill.
I personally think Heatom, specifically Toxic / Nasty Plot / Discharge / Overheat, is the best mon in the meta right now. I thought it before and I still think it's incredibly consistent. You can agree or disagree with that, I'm not gonna argue the case because it's purely opinion, but it is at the very least very very good objectively and definitely has a place supporting a lot of teams, remains easily splashable, still has the ability to break through things that should wall it over time. Its ability to dismantle teams is still in swing, and I imagine teams running Rillaboom will also appreciate the support it offers against Corv and Kommo-o.
The new standard is still smacked by Sub CM Primarina. Teams without Power Whip Ferro or Haze Poison Jab Pex, or enough offensive pressure to limit its set-up will find themselves in for a hard time, and, while Pex is much more freely used now, Primarina will still put in consistent work as things stand right now.
I don't know what trends will last and what new ones will develop in the short time we have left before DLC, but I imagine things will settle pretty much as they are for the time we've got left.
