Pet Mod SS OU Theorymon (Completed)

[Ardy]

Banner made by lavarina​

Hello everyone! Welcome to SS OU Theorymons! This is a reworking of the old OU Theorymons project that has since been abandoned. The goal of this project is to "fix" niche and unseen Pokemon in the SS OU Metagame with small buffs. For the purposes of this Pet Mod, I will be looking almost exclusively at Pokemon at C+ rank or lower on the Theorymon Viability rankings, linked below. (including unranked pokemon). The goal of this Pet Mod is not to make lesser seen Pokemon broken or more powerful than the current S Ranks, its just to provide them with a semi-stable place in the metagame, and, in doing so, maybe shake the meta up in a fun way.

How It Will Work:
Every slate we will put up 5 suggested buffs to Pokemon C+ Rank or lower. After a few days of discussion on the 5 suggested buffs, there will be a voting stage on which of those 5 buffs deserves to be made part of this Pet Mod. The two winning buffs will be added to the metagame, and we will start a new slate with 5 new buffs to 5 new Pokemon. Pokemon and buffs that do not win may be considered for future slates, but are not guaranteed to be brought up again.
The buffs must consist of Typing Changes OR Ability Changes OR 1 Move Addition OR a small stat increase (+20 total at most). A typing change may also add a STAB move, but this is not required. Ability and stat increases should be standalone, but this rule may not apply if the Pokemon in question is unranked.
Unranked weaker mons can also get a small stat increase + another buff
Absolutely no custom elements will be added. No clones of existing abilities, no new moves, no new evolutions/pokemon. This is 100% going to work within the bounds of what is theoretically possible in game.
After ~4 slates, I would want to get this meta coded and playable. All future slates would be based off the Theorymon metagame rather than the SS OU meta.

Submissions:
Do NOT post submissions in this thread. All submissions must be DMed to me or posted on the submissions channel in the discord.
- Every slate we will put up 5 suggested buffs to Pokemon C+ Rank or lower in the SS OU Theorymon VR. After a few days of discussion on the 5 suggested buffs, there will be a voting stage on which of those 5 buffs deserves to be made part of this Pet Mod. The 2 winning buffs will be added to the metagame, and we will start a new slate with 5 new buffs to 5 new Pokemon. Pokemon and buffs that do not win may be considered for future slates, but are not guaranteed to be brought up again.
- The buffs must consist of Typing Changes OR Ability Changes OR 1 Move Addition OR a small stat increase (+20 total at most). A typing change may also add a STAB move, but this is not required. Ability and stat increases should be standalone, but this rule may not apply if the Pokemon in question is unranked.
- Unranked weaker mons can get two buffs
- Absolutely no custom elements will be added. No clones of existing abilities, no new moves, no new evolutions/pokemon. This is 100% going to work within the bounds of what is theoretically possible in game.

Flavor is appreciated, but not necessary, and will not be given special consideration over a stronger submission with less flavor justification.
Creativity is important. Bringing lesser-seen strategies and abilities to the foreground will be given stronger consideration, but dont forgo viability for creativity, especially on unranked mons.
Lastly, I am primarily an offensive player. As such, I will greatly appreciate people DMing me with defensive submissions, as that is something that would be hard for me to think of.

Voting:
You may only vote for 1 submission on a slate.

Resources:
Discord Server
Old Theorymon Project
OU Viability Rankings

Council:
Ardy
lavarina
ImpSquare
Beaf Cultist
scorbunnys (VR Council)

 

[Ardy]

Current Slate

13 minutes ago

• Add bookmark
• #723

Okay everyone, with my exams finally over, its time for us to come back from hiatus with a new slate!

+ Fairy Aura + 20 Sp.Atk
Steel/Water + 20 Sp.Def + Liquidation
Dragon/Electric + Volt Switch
+ Shift Gear
+ Protean + Spikes

Past Winners

+ Tough Claws + Swords Dance (RIP Broken Zarude)

+ 15 SpA, + Mystical Fire

+Spikes

+Competitive

+20 Sp.Def + Morning Sun

+ 10 Speed

+ 10 Defense + Shore Up
Dragon/Steel + Iron Head
+ Slack Off
Dragon/Fairy + Moonblast
Bug/Ground
+ Rapid Spin
+ Dual Wingbeat + 10 Speed
Steel/Ghost
+ Earth Power + 10 Sp.Atk
Fire/Fighting + Thunderous Kick
Dark/Fairy + Moonblast + 10 Speed
+ Parting Shot
+ Regenerator + 15 HP
+ Levitate
+ Body Press + 20 Speed
Fairy/Ground + Earth Power + 15 Def
+Glacial Lance
+ Tinted Lens
+ Pure Power (replaces Cute Charm)
Ghost/Fighting + Recover
Fairy/Flying + Oblivion Wing
+ Recover + 20 HP
+ Poison Heal
+ Moonlight + 15 HP
+ Flip Turn
Grass/Fairy + Flower Veil + Moonblast
+Focus Blast +Trace

 

[Ardy]

Viability Rankings

S Rank:

S Rank

Heatran

Landorus-Therian

Weavile



S- Rank

Tornadus-Therian


A Rank:


A+ Rank

Dragapult

Garchomp

Ferrothorn

Haxorus

Kartana

Latias

Latios

Melmetal

Slowbro

Sylveon

Zapdos


A Rank

Buzzwole

Celebi

Clefable

Cobalion

Copperajah

Darmanitan

Dragalge

Keldeo

Ninetales-Alola

Rotom-Wash

Tapu Koko

Tapu Lele

Volcanion


A- Rank

Barraskewda

Blacephalon

Crobat

Flygon

Gastrodon

Milotic

Mudsdale

Noctowl

Pelipper

Slowking

Slowking-Galar

Tangrowth

Tapu Fini

Toxapex

Urshifu-R

Victini

Virizion

Volcarona

Wishiwashi

Zeraora


B Rank:


B+ Rank

Arctozolt

Comfey

Corviknight

Dhelmise

Dragonite

Excadrill

Glastrier

Krookodile

Magnezone

Obstagoon

Raikou

Skarmory

Starmie

Tyranitar

Weezing-Galar

Zapdos-Galar

Zoroark


B Rank

Aegislash

Bisharp

Blissey

Celesteela

Mew

Moltres-Galar

Nidoking

Nihilego

Rillaboom

Rotom-Mow

Scolipede

Scrafty

Seismitoad

Torkoal

Venusaur


B- Rank

Articuno-Galar

Blaziken

Cofagrigus

Golisopod

Goodra

Hawlucha

Hydreigon

Mamoswine

Rotom-Heat

Tapu Bulu


C Rank:


C+ Rank

Appletun

Conkeldurr

Gengar

Hippowdon

Kommo-O

Regieleki

Reuniclus

Salazzle

Scizor

Swampert

Thundurus-Therian

Turtonator

Zarude


C Rank

Avalugg

Chansey

Crawdaunt

Cresselia

Ditto

Dracozolt

Grimmsnarl

Guzzlord

Gyarados

Hatterene

Jirachi

Kingdra

Mandibuzz

Marowak-Alola

Porygon2

Terrakion

Thundurus


C- Rank

Alakazam

Amoonguss

Azumarill

Blastoise

Mantine

Moltres

Necrozma

Omastar

Polteageist

Quagsire

Shedinja

Suicune

Togekiss

 

[Ardy]

First slate!

+ Trick Room

+ Tough Claws

+ 20 Speed

Psychic/Fairy Typing

There will be around 5 days of discussion! Please discuss which of these buffs you think would be strongest and benefit the metagame the most. Again, feel free to DM me with submissions for the next slate!

 

[lavarina]

im not a competitive player so, aha—

— Lord that speed is terrible for a wallbreaker. Trick Room is gonna help it out a lot, though I'm not really sure if it can set it up safely. I'd rather put it in a Trick Room team with a safer setter rather than having Marowak do it. Sacrificing a moveslot for Trick Room is also.. ehhhh.

— My God, Yes??? Screw Leaf Guard, Tough Claws for the win. This would boost Zarude by a hundred miles in my opinion, well maybe that's an exaggeration but cmon. It's speed and attack are amazing with decent bulk, so having Tough Claws boost up its attacks would be such a big boost compared to what Leaf Guard gives (if it even gives any).

— The big mon is incredibly strong already with that attack stat, but gets immensely damaged the moment it's outsped. Which happens a lot. A boost to its speed is definitely going to make it a much more terrifying menace in the game, and could even use Choice Scarf to go further.

— The problem with Cresselia is the fact it's way too passive and gets worn down by status, so having a type added wouldn't really impact much except for the Dragon immunity. It removes 2 weaknesses, Bug and Dark in exchange for another 2, Poison and Steel. Which are probably very common in the OU meta due to the abundance of fairies already. Cresselia doesn't have coverage for Steel types either except for its own status moves. It's still a nice boost though.

overall, Zarude and Mamoswine will say bye bye to UU and C tier. I don't know about the other two though, maybe Cresselia will go up a notch?

 

[Ardy]

I think Ill jump in here and clarify what I was thinking with this slate.

Marowak: Fire/Ghost is a fantastic defensive typing imo that lets Maro get free turns. The problem with running Maro outside out TR is that those free turns dont amount to much when you can switch to something that can tank a hit and threaten the KO. I thought giving it the oppurtunity to be more self sufficient would help it fit on a wider variety of teams.

Zarude: Im honestly just baffled Zarude doesnt get Tough Claws to begin with. Regardless, this gives a big boost to all its STABS and Coverage options, but its speed tier and lack of priority options will still make it balanced.

Mamoswine: A nice speed boost upto 100 just helps Mamo a lot. 80 just doesnt cut it anymore, and Ice/Ground is fantastic offensively. Its still walled by most bulky waters unless you run like Freeze Dry but off its Sp.Atk that wont be much, so this would have more defensive counterplay but help its offensive matchup a bunch, and, like lavarina pointed out, would make Scarf sets pretty threatening, outspeeding stuff like scarf lele.

Cresselia: STAB moonblast is a lot more threatening than non STAB moonblast. It also walls garchomp completely. Might help CM sets not be completely garbage.

 

[Beaf Cultist]

Initial thoughts are somewhat similar to what was said above, but I might as well add a bit.

I agree that this doesn't benefit much from setting TR itself. It wants to use all of its moveslots for other purposes, and it will have trouble setting up both TR and Swords Dance without getting KOed. Works much better to have something else set for it.

Definitely a huge buff, considering it never utilizes Leaf Guard and basically every attacking move it runs is contact. I'm all for it personally.

Base 100 is a big speed tier to hit, but let's look at what that now lets it outrun.

Hide

almost never runs max speed, and probably dies to an Ice Shard after any sort of chip.
252 Atk Choice Band Mamoswine Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Excadrill: 740-872 (204.9 - 241.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Mamoswine Icicle Crash vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Hydreigon: 456-536 (140.3 - 164.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
lol
yeah... this one isn't happening
252+ Atk Choice Band Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mamoswine in Grassy Terrain: 570-672 (157.8 - 186.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
nothing new here.
scarf lele was mentioned, but look at what this does to specs now
252 Atk Choice Band Mamoswine Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tapu Lele: 310-366 (110.3 - 130.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
irrelevant since speed boost.
252 Atk Choice Band Mamoswine Icicle Crash vs. 252 HP / 148+ Def Kommo-o: 278-330 (78.5 - 93.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
not bad. unfortunately, it gets KOed back by BPress. Offensive Kommo-o sets die, though.
loses the 1v1, unfortunately
irrelevant since 9 times out of 10 it's scarf. Scarf Mamo OHKOs though
same as before
now wins the 1v1, which is cool
252 Atk Choice Band Mamoswine Icicle Crash vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Moltres-Galar: 456-536 (142 - 166.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Mamoswine Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Nidoking: 608-716 (200.6 - 236.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
shockingly wins the 1v1 by koffing twice
one-shot by pump
beats it out of sun, loses in sun

Now, some of these matchups are less favorable than they appear, but overall a very nice showing for Mamoswine.

Still can't hit Steels, and with a new typing it would now compete with Hatterene, as well as stacking weaknesses on Trick Room teams. Not personally a fan.

Haven't played a ton of SS OU, so hopefully these takes aren't insane.

 

[G-Luke]

Some comprehensive thoughts.


I think this is the weakest modification of the slate. Marowak-Alola in my opinion is pretty strapped for slots in standard, but it especially has an awkward typing to use Auto TR. Its still an objective buff, but it faces the trouble of going up against some really good stuff.


Arguably the biggest and most impactful buff this slate, Tough Claws is a MASSIVE game changer for Zarude, making its CB set a real challenge to switch in to, and giving Scarf sets some real offensive presence. To show how massive of a buff in damage this is -

252 Atk Zarude Power Whip vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Mew: 186-219 (46 - 54.2%) -- 4.7% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
VS
252 Atk Tough Claws Zarude Power Whip vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Mew: 240-283 (59.4 - 70%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Zarude's Tough Claws low roll is far stronger than its high roll for regular sets, putting it in a completely new echelon of power. Quite honestly, if Zarude had Knock Off I'd be against this.



A great buff for Mamoswine, giving it the leg up on several metagame threats like Tapu Lele and Excadrill. Unfortunately 100 Speed is not as hot as it used to be three generations ago, but its still a largely effective buff for the icy boar.



My biggest gripe is that Cresselia is that the Pokémon is simply too passive, and it lacks the raw utility that boosts Chansey / Blissey. It does not help that Psychic is simply horrible defensive typing. Being part Fairy greatly bolsters its defensive utility and its passivity, but its still lacks alot of utility that would warrant it a placement on a team. Its rather unfortunate, even though Calm Mind is in my opinion is legitimately good now.

 

[Samtendo09]

Not quite helpful ultimately, as it have to sacrifice one of it’s move slot to set it itself and do Swords Dance then. The buff isn’t enough to give it a better chance to beat the best of the best of Gen 8 OU.


This however, I agree with everyone that it’s a strong improvement for Zarude. Mythical Pokémon are supposed to be powerful, and while Zarude is already a lot better than Shiftry and Cacturne, the previous Grass / Dark, it deserves a better Ability than Leaf Guard and thus giving it stronger offensive presence.


100 Base Speed is still great as Mamoswine’s Ice / Ground already give it offensive pressure, and makes better use of Choice Scarf. Ice is meant to be built offensive, and 80 Speed isn’t cutting it due to speed creep, so this is a step in the right direction.


That one is a mixed bag for me. On one hand, Psychic / Fairy did allow to have better standing against Dark and Dragon opponents by walling them better, but Cresselia still have passiveness problems and lack of utility. Chances that pro players would still run Tapu Fini over Cresselia due to offering a lot more utilities while having similar bulk. Misty Surge is nothing to sneeze at.

 

[TailGlowVM]

I agree that Trick Room won't be that good on it since it'll struggle to get Trick Room and Swords Dance before dying. If the intention is to make it more self sufficient, how about adding some more bulk instead? This would allow it to better utilise its decent defensive typing across the game, and be able to trade with some faster threats if necessary. For instance, upping its HP from 60 to 80 would be enough to live Scarf Kartana's Knock Off from full and usually survive specially defensive Heatran's Earth Power after rocks.


Looks like a pretty big buff. I think its role would shift from a Bulk Up wincon to a Choice Band wallbreaker, and be careful as Banded Lariat might be a little too spammable:

252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Zarude Darkest Lariat vs. 248 HP / 168+ Def Corviknight: 192-226 (48.1 - 56.6%) -- 87.5% chance to 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Zarude Darkest Lariat vs. 252 HP / 176+ Def Ferrothorn: 160-190 (45.4 - 53.9%) -- 46.9% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Zarude Darkest Lariat vs. 252 HP / 144+ Def Toxapex: 147-174 (48.3 - 57.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Black Sludge recovery
-1 252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Zarude Darkest Lariat vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Landorus-Therian: 187-222 (48.9 - 58.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery


Agree that 100 speed would be good, but I don't think its STAB combination would be spammable enough for a Choiced set, I think it would end up sticking to Life Orb.


Psychic/Fairy is a pretty terrible defensive typing as we have seen with Tapu Lele. I doubt the bulk justifies using this over Clefable or Tapu Fini since you are 2HKOed by Dragapult, lose the Dark resist which is quite important against Weavile, and still get 2HKOed by Urshifu-R and Galarian Zapdos after Stealth Rock considering that 252/76+ is the absolute minimum special bulk investment you'll need, to avoid the 2HKO from Specs Lele's Moonblast after rocks. Also losing out on Stealth Rock, Knock Off, Defog, Taunt, and other utility moves is big. What Cresselia would benefit from more is a better movepool - maybe Earth Power or Mystical Fire so you can hit some of the Steels, and something like Teleport to keep momentum and an extra utility move like Knock Off would make it viable in OU.

 

[Cratersmash]

Agreeing with everybody else,wouldn't end up being too good

TC makes it quite a threatening breaker that tears apart fat

The bump in speed makes it much more threatening

Not great

 

[shnowshner]

The intent is there, but Marowak is not the kind of self-suffucient TR setter you may want it to be. Think of why Magearna could pull off such a set: not only did it have great stats and a fantastic typing, but it also had so many other sets it could afford running TR on its own to catch the opponent off-guard. Maro doesn't do much else outside of hit hard: it's too slow to threaten offensive mons, too reliant on its item, and too weak to common damage sources to be effective defensively.

You could give this Immunity and it'd be vastly improved, so Tough Claws is understandably a huge buff. Zarude has great offensive stats and can take neutral hits very well, but that U-Turn weakness will always hold it back.

Hot players can already make this work so letting it naturally get the jump on the likes of Lando and Lele leaves it a whole lot better while still struggling with more standard offensive mons and either getting exploited by Choice locks or worn down through the chip damage it usually is weak to.

This can't compete with the likes of Fini and Clefable due to how passive it is and being a defensive Fairy that loses to the best Dragon in the tier does absolutely nothing for this. If the Lati twins were better I might give it a shot but this isn't that kind of metagame.

 

[Ardy]

Okay, voting will take place earlier since its been a while since anyone has said anything.
Vote for only one of the four on the slate! Voting will be up for 24 hours.

 

[Cratersmash]

I have randomly picked between Zarude and Mamo on Showdown and RNG has decided that my vote goes to Mamoswine

 

[Beaf Cultist]

is definitely the biggest buff, so my vote's on it. Maybe next time, Mamo

 

[Samtendo09]

My vote for as it’s easily the most prominent buff.

 

[G-Luke]

 

[Heavyweapons Mann]

 

[ViZar]

but not the nft one

 

[shnowshner]

voting for zarude with an actual ability

 

[lavarina]

lets go baby

 

[Gravity Monkey]

 

[Low-Key]

seriously, look at him go :o

 

[Tapler]

Voting for because I don’t want a mon that already shits on stall as hard as Zarude does getting a big buff in power and prominence.

 

[BT89]

if you can’t beat them join them