Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Check out the relaunch of our general collection, with classic designs and new ones by our very own Pissog!
Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
Use this thread to talk about Sword and Shield Rarely Used!
This thread will serve as a general discussion thread but also the two posts under this will be a team bazaar and a "how-to" thing where you can hopefully find answers to what you want to figure out in SSRU. This means you may post teams for team bazaar and anything you want to explain. Example posts will be made ASAP.
Probably the most relevant change in usage, doubling in relative usage. I find this pretty surprising as my thinking was that its usage would continue to fall as a lot it is generally exploitable. I find its typing more awkward as it leads to very linear teambuilding and it is also super dependent on steelix. Last rupl, all of its victories were when it was paired with steelix except one game with nidoqueen. This trend largely continues into rucl, with guzzlord + flygon struggling in particular. I think this is because guzzlord has to be used on slower, more passive teams that steelix supports, rather than BOs that flygon more traditionally fits on (though steelix BO is more than viable). It is also difficult to work with as it is a special wall that is completely obliterated by xurk dgleam, making your pairing choice of ground all the more important. It also impacts bird choice as Guzzlord + Aero is a lot more awkward than guzzlord + bat/toge, with crobat in particular being its most common partner.
on the note of steelix, steelix continues its ascent up the usage ranks, getting 20% in rupl and then 30% in rucl. Steelix is such a fantastic enabler for creative teambuilding, being a very good role compression of the steel slot and the ground slot that is generally viable on most team structures. In particular, I like its fit with reuniclus as mmq counterplay and golisopod. In general, you are seeing a lot of steelix + pod + crobat/togekiss as this uber role compression core that lets the remaining slots be super flexible.
Tentacruel only had one use in rupl, while having 3 uses in rucl. Eldegoss had a similar trend, going from 0 uses in rupl to 3, in which both tentacruel and eldegoss won all of their games. I used two of the tentacruels and one of the eldegosses, but yet I can't really explain why these two pokemon are receiving more usage. My use of these spinners isnt exactly reflective of metagame developments of hazard stacks or something, rather i think the two are solid, albeit limited options within the metagame, which is what the usage stats indicate. Tentacruel in particular i find to be quite incredible, especially when paired with golisopod in a double water core, as pod is really just a perfect partner for it with spikes, ground resist, physdef walling, etc...
There are some other trends when u compare the two usage stats side by side, but rucl had half the games of rupl, so its difficult to determine what exactly is a trend or just variance. Celebi in particular found its usage gutted in rucl, but I dont find anything that fundamentally changed with it in regards to the metagame. Its not like there was an uptick in uturns lol. In general it was awesome to see new teams being built and enthusiasm for the tier. SSRU is a tier that rewards skilled creativity and I hope to see more of it in the future.
Gonna start the How to ____? idea seeing as I'm the host bop. And I guess to piggyback off of what oyster just said about Tentacruel I'll start with a post just detailing my perspective on how to build with tentacruel.
just gonna start off with the set i generally run.
the evs make it so tenta outspeeds rotom-mow, heracross and xurkitree which is generally amazing and id never go slower than that, could definitely make it faster though. the special attack evs mean it 2hkoes offensive incineroar with scald and then the defense evs are just to shore up the physical side. just made the spread after realizing i had no clue what the dex ev spread did so definitely open to changing it.
double stabs and knock are for sure needed for the niche ive used it for and then the last slot should always be rapid spin unless you've another remover. in that case i think protect is quite cool for scouting scarf flygon as well as racking up potential burn/poison damage and also getting more recovery. personally wanna try this.
tentacruel has a lot of positives that makes it worthwhile to consider when building teams. firstly it has access to the extremely coveted knock off, and combined with threat of poisons and burns it is honestly very annoying to switch into. frailer offensive pokemon take a surprising amount of damage from its stabs and not too many cleanly ohko it - nidoqueen does 70% max after getting life orb knocked - meaning it trades very well if necessary. bulkier pokemon generally rely on their leftovers or boots to accomplish what they need to, especially paired with a potential status condition. a poisoned milotic doesn't switch into aerodactyl anymore for instance.
tentacruel also has a speed tier which makes it able to outspeed xurkitree, togekiss, and heracross unlike other bulky waters, allowing for pairings with guzzlord and togekiss without having really difficult matchups into the aforementioned breakers. while outspeeding togekiss means it doesn't get flinched down. it can also remove hazards which allows for greater flexibility in the item slot of its teammates, i paired it with scarf togekiss in RUCL as an example. lastly, it has a niche interaction with vileplume in that it completely blocks vileplume's recovery (showcase).
however, there are also clear shortcomings. perhaps most evident is the combination of reliable recovery and being frail on the physical side. this means that tentacruel is a bulky water which cannot switch into physical fires like incineroar or entei, while also having to be more weary in interactions with crobat and steels mainly, and generally needing to have more care shown in when to trade its health. furthermore it is weak to ground meaning it does not deal with flygon, aerodactyl or metagross.
TL:DR - it isn't a physical wall in the way milotic or gastrodon are. on the other hand, it beats roserade and vileplume, outspeeds togekiss and xurkitree, and puts a lot of offensive pressure through knock off and stabs.
due to this when building with tentacruel i often find myself pairing it with golisopod or roost flygon. either of the latter form an exceptional core with tentacruel as they appreciate the matchup into togekiss and vileplume, the chip and status effects on bulky waters such as milotic while providing cover for tentacruel's shortcomings as a ground resist in golisopod's case (like oyster touched on) or as a incineroar/entei switch-in in flygon's case. flygon specifically is an extremely good pair as it doesn't need to fear effect spore from vileplume, and can pivot into tentacruel on bulky waters or togekiss.
i personally have not tested this, but i think tentacruel probably works very well with umbreon or sylveon for wish support, as you can then be more liberal in what you trade health with. from personal experience i've found tentacruel works really well on bulky offense with some staying power, as to take advantage of the chip it provides you want the game to get well into the middle game.
TL:DR - pair it with physical attackers who appreciate the matchup into vileplume and the chip it provides against opposing backbones (think milolix). pair it with pokemon that mitigate the fact it doesn't provide a physical wall like other bulky waters (think golisopod, roost flygon, togekiss). put it on a team which takes advantage of its chip potential (bulky offense/balance).
thanks for reading and hope it inspires you into testing a really fun guy to use, heres my favorite team with it:
Salazzle + Coba Goro BO
LO Sigi + Dd Roost Gon
Barbaracle HO 
Specs Lure Hazard Stack
Mimikyu Hstack Offense
