• Check out the relaunch of our general collection, with classic designs and new ones by our very own Pissog!

Announcement SV Monotype Suspect #11: Dirty Dancer (Gouging Fire Suspect Test)

Status
Not open for further replies.
This is going to be the last thing I bring up on this subject because it’s becoming increasingly obvious that you’re waking up day by day fuming because of a suspect that is not that serious. A majority of the player base has found it difficult to break a defensive core of Arch+Goodra+Gouging on Dragon especially since all three make progress going through a bit difficult. You bringing up a type that since the start of SV has seen lesser and lesser usage due to a limited variety of mons having forced to be ran Counter and Iron Defense to specifically only check Gouging Fire is literally in its own self not healthy. And that goes for the 3-4 people who regularly play Bug the way you only seem to cling onto Dragon.


Do I agree with DNB and Ban sides? Yes. But I lean more towards Ban. Dragon should not be a type that juggernauts this meta the same way pre-Aegislash ban in I believe gen 7 OR gen 8 was able to juggernaut the metagame as well.


If it gets banned it gets banned, if it doesn’t it doesn’t. I promise you the world will spin, the birds will chirp, and the sun will rise the next day. Please stop finding reasons to ping me and continue some waste of energy argument when you could find something else productive to do. Thank you.
If this suspect is not that serious why did you wasted some energy trying to argument with me?You are bringing the same argument of the 3 dragon defense core members be difficult to break just to try to justify the ban,and what? Didn't flying has not the same and even better defense core? Did flying ever got a suspect in the past gens?No,not even celes last gen and gliscor this gen,you are only strenghtening my claim that all of this is just to nerf dragon.About your complain that bug is forced to use techs to check gouging fire might be healthy,try to think,mega scizor break through ice by itself and ice had been using lapras e hp fire walrein to try to check it,did mega scizor and scizor got banned because of that? No,this situation is something that happened many times through the years and will continue to happen.Gouging Fire is not broken at all,it had been told not only by me but also by others,just scroll up.Also,for the last time,stick with the subject of the suspect instead of trying to personally attack me.Thank you.
 
Last edited:
Neither should Ice be forced to run Choice Specs Hidden Power Fire Lapras / Walrein to not instantly lose to M-Scizor in gen6 or run multiple HP Fire in gen7.

Monotype is filled with examples of Pokémons that severely restrict a few types. I could also mention Stone Edge Heatran @ Air Balloon to not lose to HP Ground Volcarona in oldgens or Magnet Pull Magnezone @ Air Balloon in gen8 to avoid Mold Breaker Excadrill from wreaking havoc in Electric vs Steel. Not to mention Normal vs Fighting in gen 6 where your only chance of beating Choice Scarf Terrakion was Intimidate Staravia / Staraptor and pray for them not clicking Stone Edge.


I am sorry I did not see this sooner as other things took my attention away. I would like to converse about this argument because yes you're right, in the tier of SM or USUM, they did have to run that. From me specifically I know that I did have to run that. With the acception of Waterium Z Cloyster in some specific circumstances.


The issue isn't specifically using tech to counter a specific mon. Gouging Fire in itself is a centralizing mon that creates a defensive structure that doesn't allow much progress versus Dragon oriented teams, while on Fire, flat out can snowball certain matchups and just flat out dish out heavy damage with Raging Fury and Dragon STAB. Mega Scizor was not a Pokemon during that meta that was centralizing. Every type had their area's to prepare vs Steel. Gouging Fire is more centralizing now versus a mon that was consistently used in many tours and ladder matches. I personally don't think comparing these two is a good counter argument but that is just me.

Personally as I said previously, I see both stances on this suspect. I have since I started my suspect run. But I dont think we should always have to prepare for a defensive structure with a mon that is easily capable 95% of the time to just setup dragon dance and run the likes of breaking swipe, earthquake, flare blitz, and have the option of hitting a morning sun to give it longevity.

But that's just me. Though I do enjoy the topic of conversation especially with you! <3
 
Last edited:
I got my reqs using Flying and after finishing my run, I’m still on the No Ban side.

Gouging Fire is a strong mon with different offensive and defensive capabilities on Dragon. Offensively, it’s a fantastic setup sweeper that with blistering firepower and plentiful recovery. Defensively, it can be a safety net, depending on the spread you’re using, you can swap to when unsure of switching to your stalwart defensive wall in Archaludon or your mindful special wall in Hisuian Goodra.

Dragon has been going strong as arguably the best type for a while. It’s very clear that the main objective of this suspect is to bring Dragon back to the ground where it can have a power level at much more even playing field. While I do understand the prerogative, I cannot fully agree with banning Gouging Fire.

Cheers.
Ok these are the last things I respond to but I just don't understand the fact that you listed a long list of pros for Gouging Fire, listed zero cons (it has very little/none), then proceeded to say you're on the DNB side for....what I'm interpreting as not wanting to make Dragon weaker..? Since someone tried to gag me about tiering philosophy in Monocord yesterday, this is tiering in favor for a type which is against Monotype tiering philosophy. I haven't really seen a single good DNB argument and this is coming from someone who went into this suspect test/thread with an open mind and I was actually on the DNB side.


That being said, this is the first Monotype suspect I have ever laddered for bc I realized this suspect is going to decide whether or not people still enjoy this tier and I'm being super deadass when I say this. Not to sound abrasive but most of the DNB arguments are coming from people who just don't want it banned because its their favorite Pokemon and don't really understand how Pokemon can be centralizing or just tiering in general. When I say that I mean posts like this:
t is obvious that people want to ban Gouging fire not because of the pokemon (It is indeed very powerful but not at all broken and the meta adapted to it very well) but because the community hates and fear that Dragons are too tough.
Neither should Ice be forced to run Choice Specs Hidden Power Fire Lapras / Walrein to not instantly lose to M-Scizor in gen6 or run multiple HP Fire in gen7.
I'm not attacking either person. They are both long-time Monotype players and entitled to their own opinions and respect, but these are in my opinion just wrong and/or shortsighted statements. To me, Soma's viewpoint of tiering comes from the fact that he likes Dragons, which I won't say is ok because I find it competitively unviable (it is), but that's how he enjoys Monotype and that however is fine. Showl's reasonings are pretty shortsighted and lacks the dichotomy between countering the meta and when a Pokemon is legitimately overpowered/centralizing (which Elvira made a very eloquent post in response to him, I recommend you read it if you agree with Showl). It just feels like most of the DNB posts are not in good faith.

I got reqs, and unfortunately ran into very little Gouging Fires, but the more I sat in builder and thought about it, with Gouging gone, you let a bunch of new types, structures, and Pokemon into the playing field which will actually make this meta pretty diverse imo. I remember in a meta thread I called SV a complex game of RPS when loading up teams in tournaments, and I got clowned on by Azick but some people agreed with what I said and I feel like Gouging Fire is the reason for that at this point.

I don't think the Zama ban needs that much adjusting. Some physical sweepers/attackers became better now, cool. In fact, that only exacerbates how good Gouging Fire is. I don't think the meta adjusting to Zama being gone is a good reason at all to vote a certain way on this suspect. Gouging Fire is centralizing and its existence completely eradicates certain play-styles, many types, and diversity.

I implore people to stop thinking about how Fire and Dragon themselves as types are impacted because this is about how Gouging Fire impacts the meta, not whether or not Fire or Dragon are going to suck after its ban. I've seen some people say that Gholdengo for example will get better after Gouging Fire is banned. Tier for the now, not later. Gouging Fire's teammates, access to certain setup/recovery/coverage and the things it forces different types to bring in builder just become too ridiculous after a certain point.

Ban Gouging Fire
 
Hello, its me again.

After taking a lot of time to think about this and reading through as many opinions in this thread as possible, I want to share my detailed thoughts on the Gouging Fire suspect test.

Disclaimer: This is purely my personal opinion, so bear with me.



A common argument I’ve seen revolves around the high MWP usage of Dragon and how dominant the type is overall. There’s no denying that Dragon had the highest usage in MWP and the highest win rate. However, in my opinion, that alone doesn’t make Gouging Fire banworthy.

Instead, what this really shows is that Dragon as a type is in a strong position. Its defensive core is extremely difficult to break, and most teams rely on a similar core of Archaludon / Gouging Fire / Hisuian Goodra ( :Archaludon:/:Gouging Fire:/:Goodra-Hisui: ), with only slight variations in their choice of Scarfer.

I agree with Soma’s perspective: while the suspect test may not be targeting Dragon outright, it feels like Gouging Fire is being used as an easy scapegoat for a larger issue. It’s an excellent candidate for a ban discussion, but no type (besides Bug) has to go out of its way to check Gouging Fire. It has plenty of natural checks due to its limited coverage, and even if it were banned, I don’t see many major builds changing drastically - except, of course, for Fire and Dragon teams.

In my view, Gouging Fire isn’t centralizing enough to justify a ban. Instead, Dragon as a type is what feels centralized.

____________________________

Another point I’ve seen is that DNB supporters don’t bring strong arguments. However, I don’t think this is a simple black-and-white issue. The real question is: Is Gouging Fire broken enough to justify a ban? Arguments against a ban may naturally feel weaker, simply because Gouging Fire is undeniably a strong Pokémon.


Tiering Philosophy

To assess whether Gouging Fire should be banned, we need to determine whether it is

Uncompetitive or Broken?

I would argue that it is neither. You don’t have to run obscure or otherwise unviable Pokémon just to counter it (except in niche cases like Iron Defense Araquanid or Counter Forretress).

Additionally, it’s not a "click-button" win condition with little counterplay. While it can applies pressure effectively on Fire, it comes with significant drawbacks

- Locking itself into a move
- Taking hazard damage
- Lacking a reliable way to enter the field safely

On Dragon, the main issue is its defensive nature, it will have a hard time breaking through defensive mons by itself, especially if they can status or phaze it. There are a lot of strong and competetive counterplay to it, especially due to its lack of coverage with only 2 Moveslots available.
More offensive Spreads lack the l longevity, and it doesnt really 6-0 anything from Teampreview.
Given these factors, I don’t believe Gouging Fire meets the criteria for being uncompetitive or broken.

Unhealthy?

This is where things get more interesting.
I’d like to quote Smogon’s tiering philosophy:

These are elements that may not limit either team building or battling skill enough individually but combine to cause an effect that is undesirable for the metagame.

I think most of us can agree that the Arch/GF/Hoodra core ( :Archaludon:/:Gouging Fire:/:Goodra-Hisui: ) has an undesirable impact on the metagame, limiting playstyles and viable types.

Another part of the tiering philosophy states:

If the metagame is too centralized around a particular set of Pokémon, none of which are broken on their own, we may seek to add Pokémon to increase diversity.

I feel like Monotype is a unique case in that
We don’t necessarily need to suspect test or reintroduce something just to diversify the meta, but we can acknowledge that Monotype Dragon is a “particular set of Pokémon” that the current meta revolves around and that can be seen as unhealthy.

BUT: It is also stated:

When trying to argue a particular element's suspect status, please avoid this category unless absolutely necessary. This is a last-ditch, subjective catch-all, and tiering arguments should focus on uncompetitive or broken first.

So we should focus on GF's uncompetitive or broken aspects. And in that regard, I still lean DNB, because imo at worst, Gouging Fire is unhealthy, and that isn’t enough for me to justify a ban.

That being said, I completely understand that people still think it’s banworthy because, for them, Gouging Fire is broken and uncompetitive, it just isnt enough for me.

Thanks for reading my thoughts on this!
 
I am sorry I did not see this sooner as other things took my attention away. I would like to converse about this argument because yes you're right, in the tier of SM or USUM, they did have to run that. From me specifically I know that I did have to run that. With the acception of Waterium Z Cloyster in some specific circumstances.


The issue isn't specifically using tech to counter a specific mon. Gouging Fire in itself is a centralizing mon that creates a defensive structure that doesn't allow much progress versus Dragon oriented teams, while on Fire, flat out can snowball certain matchups and just flat out dish out heavy damage with Raging Fury and Dragon STAB. Mega Scizor was not a Pokemon during that meta that was centralizing. Every type had their area's to prepare vs Steel. Gouging Fire is more centralizing now versus a mon that was consistently used in many tours and ladder matches. I personally don't think comparing these two is a good counter argument but that is just me.

Personally as I said previously, I see both stances on this suspect. I have since I started my suspect run. But I dont think we should always have to prepare for a defensive structure with a mon that is easily capable 95% of the time to just setup dragon dance and run the likes of breaking swipe, earthquake, flare blitz, and have the option of hitting a morning sun to give it longevity.

But that's just me. Though I do enjoy the topic of conversation especially with you! <3

Dragon defensive core is undeniably a very good one (which makes a stark contrast with previous defensive cores Dragon had in earlier gens), although some Pokémons are very good at exploiting it, like Iron Valiant that was mentioned here and there in the thread. However, running Gouging-less does not make you that frail in overall.

For a week now, I am using Gouging-less Dragon on ladder (basically regular Dragon with Kommo-o/Garchomp over Gouging Fire) and it still functions really well. Of course, there are some matchups that get harder such as Fighting and Ghost, but it does also improve some important matchups like Dragon and Steel. Although this little experiment was not run at large scale (50-60 games can hardly be considered as conclusive), it puts in perspective what Dragon key strengths are, namely its formidable offensive powerhouses and its dual Steel defensive core. It thus makes me wonder how centralizing Gouging Fire is, actually.

I fully agree with you on Gouging Fire prowesses, but I am unsure about its centralizing aspect. Metagame revolves around Dragon a lot, but I do not believe Gouging Fire is the root cause of the problem. On paper, its arguments are clear: DD with a reliable recovery move and with both good bulk and potent offensive stat is kind of a wet dream for Dragon. But in practice, it is limited by its role. You cannot run full Def with full Spdef and with enough Speed to outspeed Dragapult at +1 or Scarf Sneasler at +2 and with enough Atk to secure 2HKO on Toxapex. Having to specialize it contributes to making it bearable, in my opinion.

I would be happy to discuss it further on the Mono room, if you want it :)
 
mega scizor break through ice by itself and ice had been using lapras e hp fire walrein to try to check it,did mega scizor and scizor got banned because of that? No,this situation is something that happened many times through the years and will continue to happen.
I keep seeing this argument by several people and this is quite frankly disingenuous. As someone who, much like you soma, plays pretty much one type for my own reasons (Ice in my regard) I can say with confidence these two situations are not the same. (Mega) Scizor warped the Steel/Bug vs Ice MU specifically. No other type matchups were nearly as warped by (Mega) Scizor's presence nor was running HP fire Lapras/Walrein some major downgrade. Walrein's coverage was garbage in the first place, and Lapras you could argue other moves could've been used over HP Fire but by and large the gains to losses weren't worth it. (Mega) Scizor vs Ice was purely a "monotype moment" in those Gens. Gouging fire is not. Please to anyone reading this, stop using this argument and find something else.
 
I keep seeing this argument by several people and this is quite frankly disingenuous. As someone who, much like you soma, plays pretty much one type for my own reasons (Ice in my regard) I can say with confidence these two situations are not the same. (Mega) Scizor warped the Steel/Bug vs Ice MU specifically. No other type matchups were nearly as warped by (Mega) Scizor's presence nor was running HP fire Lapras/Walrein some major downgrade. Walrein's coverage was garbage in the first place, and Lapras you could argue other moves could've been used over HP Fire but by and large the gains to losses weren't worth it. (Mega) Scizor vs Ice was purely a "monotype moment" in those Gens. Gouging fire is not. Please to anyone reading this, stop using this argument and find something else

People are free to use any arguments they see fit,this is democracy,the people who want it banned also just use the same argument as well.About the situation you mentioned ice coverage of hp fire is not garbage,they are called techs and it is not necessarily a good set but a necessity to check a otherwise impossible pokemon to overcome,mega scizor.That's what happens to bug who is forced to use techs to check gouging fire,but that does not mean the mon is broken.And let's not forget that mega scizor warps more mus than gouging fire,ice,fairy,even dragon,after some minors damage on chomp and hydra.
 
People are free to use any arguments they see fit,this is democracy,the people who want it banned also just use the same argument as well.About the situation you mentioned ice coverage of hp fire is not garbage,they are called techs and it is not necessarily a good set but a necessity to check a otherwise impossible pokemon to overcome,mega scizor.That's what happens to bug who is forced to use techs to check gouging fire,but that does not mean the mon is broken.And let's not forget that mega scizor warps more mus than gouging fire,ice,fairy,even dragon,after some minors damage on chomp and hydra.
They're not saying hp fire is garbage, they're pointing out that HP Fire isn't really a limitation to use by any means. You're not really sacrificing other matchups, overriding otherwise better coverage options, or filling a moveslot with something you'd frankly not want to use. That's their point. HP Fire on a Walrein is an easy fit for example, and as a result even if Mega Scizor is a difficult mon to answer, the answer's we're pointing out are pretty intuitive ones to find that are largely no cost.

If you contrast it with Bug, you're talking about taking arguably Bug's best sticky webber (Araquanid), and completely undermining it's utility to run a set that *checks* 1 pokemon, which is made further ridiculous by the fact that unless you're op is a noob you often only would succeed in forcing their GF out and not actually seriously damaging it or defeating it. If you opt for Counter Forretress, you're putting a move on forre that also replaces very useful utility options that Forre would want to run such as Thunder Wave or Spikes, or if you want to replace an attacking move that'd mean in this case Forre will be forced into becoming setup fodder for mons such as Dragapult. The item in this case also would need to be Heavy Duty boots, otherwise Counter as a set wouldn't work here, and you're effectively turning your spinner and important part of your backbone into a pokemon that literally shouldn't take the field until it's time to check 1 pokemon (while still being entirely unreliable considering Counter is known as a move and very easy to play around).

The comparison is made even worse by the fact that Ice, for example, isn't at a disadvantage vs. steel and bug because of one pokemon (that pokemon being Mega Scizor), it's at a disadvantage because of the fact all 6 pokemon your opponent are running are major threats, and banning the one pokemon (Mega Scizor) literally wouldn't flip the matchup. In contrast, if you get rid of Gouging Fire the bug v. dragon turns from an autoloss into a very neutral and playable mu where bug will win on many occasion. That's the difference. Ice finds it's checks intuitively at no cost to any other matchups to check a pokemon that is a major threat on 2 types which threaten Ice. Bug on the other hand, has to completely undermine the utility of it's backbone, to find 2 checks (one of which is completely unreliable), to prevent an otherwise neutral mu from being completely autolost because of one pokemon, only for it to still be a lost game.

With this in mind, it's pretty apparent that the effects of Mega Scizor on Ice/Fairy/Dragon are far less warping than you make it out to be, because even though Mega Sciz may be a threat, all three types have very intuitive answers that can be used without undermining much at all. The "Fairy loses to Mega Sciz" claim also seems outdated if I'm not mistaken, considering the multiple strong steel neutrals present and ability to use Psy Terrain for example making Mega Sciz far easier to answer Gen 7 onward - something I think we can see pretty clearly in MWP for example where Fairy beat Steel on multiple occasions. We do, after all, have a meta where both Gouging Fire and Mega Scizor coexisted and the pokemon that ended up banned WAS GOUGING FIRE.

Also, while you have stated before your perspective is as a Dragon Master who wants Dragon to be as overpowered as possible, you definitely seem to undermine GF's effect in the meta, which I think is pointed out by the many who have called GF overtly centralizing whether it be Stories or LBN. Mega Scizor may be good, but it never forced the meta to answer to it the same way Gouging Fire has. I used bug as an example, since you made the claim that it's a 1:1 of Bug's GF "checks" and Ice using Hidden power Fire for Mega Sciz, but this is not the case. GF's effect isn't only with Bug, but I used it as the example here since you brought it up and decided to seriously undermine it.
 
I think we should re center the debate around gen9 and not Mega-Scizor/Walrein HP-Fire gen6and7 !

I would also like to put the old Gouging Fire thread here so the laziests of us can look back at what has already been said. It is clear that we are all repeating arguments for the ban and some for non-ban (if we are excluding ego, feeling and old gens arguments), including the order of suspects and agenda of flying (at this time it was more dark). Gouging Fire is not healthy and even Iron Valiant according to its set and GF's one can also not check it at all, meaning Fairy struggles and even Fighting to a certain point.
Also Frol1 developed more his opinion there even if I disagree with him.
To quote Mushamu "A Pokemon doesn't have to be straight up broken to be banworthy, it could simply be simply unhealthy, like in Gouging Fire's case making Dragon too powerful and being a restricting presence for the rest of the metagame."

Also I think a better bullet into mono dragon would be to target Archaludon to also talk about something else than Gouging Fire even if it is not really allowed. Gouging is boring but Archa offers too much even in Gouging-less, while Archa-less means bring back TankChomp and it is a very different game. But in my opinion, both should go.
 
They're not saying hp fire is garbage, they're pointing out that HP Fire isn't really a limitation to use by any means. You're not really sacrificing other matchups, overriding otherwise better coverage options, or filling a moveslot with something you'd frankly not want to use. That's their point. HP Fire on a Walrein is an easy fit for example, and as a result even if Mega Scizor is a difficult mon to answer, the answer's we're pointing out are pretty intuitive ones to find that are largely no cost.

If you contrast it with Bug, you're talking about taking arguably Bug's best sticky webber (Araquanid), and completely undermining it's utility to run a set that *checks* 1 pokemon, which is made further ridiculous by the fact that unless you're op is a noob you often only would succeed in forcing their GF out and not actually seriously damaging it or defeating it. If you opt for Counter Forretress, you're putting a move on forre that also replaces very useful utility options that Forre would want to run such as Thunder Wave or Spikes, or if you want to replace an attacking move that'd mean in this case Forre will be forced into becoming setup fodder for mons such as Dragapult. The item in this case also would need to be Heavy Duty boots, otherwise Counter as a set wouldn't work here, and you're effectively turning your spinner and important part of your backbone into a pokemon that literally shouldn't take the field until it's time to check 1 pokemon (while still being entirely unreliable considering Counter is known as a move and very easy to play around).

The comparison is made even worse by the fact that Ice, for example, isn't at a disadvantage vs. steel and bug because of one pokemon (that pokemon being Mega Scizor), it's at a disadvantage because of the fact all 6 pokemon your opponent are running are major threats, and banning the one pokemon (Mega Scizor) literally wouldn't flip the matchup. In contrast, if you get rid of Gouging Fire the bug v. dragon turns from an autoloss into a very neutral and playable mu where bug will win on many occasion. That's the difference. Ice finds it's checks intuitively at no cost to any other matchups to check a pokemon that is a major threat on 2 types which threaten Ice. Bug on the other hand, has to completely undermine the utility of it's backbone, to find 2 checks (one of which is completely unreliable), to prevent an otherwise neutral mu from being completely autolost because of one pokemon, only for it to still be a lost game.

With this in mind, it's pretty apparent that the effects of Mega Scizor on Ice/Fairy/Dragon are far less warping than you make it out to be, because even though Mega Sciz may be a threat, all three types have very intuitive answers that can be used without undermining much at all. The "Fairy loses to Mega Sciz" claim also seems outdated if I'm not mistaken, considering the multiple strong steel neutrals present and ability to use Psy Terrain for example making Mega Sciz far easier to answer Gen 7 onward - something I think we can see pretty clearly in MWP for example where Fairy beat Steel on multiple occasions. We do, after all, have a meta where both Gouging Fire and Mega Scizor coexisted and the pokemon that ended up banned WAS GOUGING FIRE.

Also, while you have stated before your perspective is as a Dragon Master who wants Dragon to be as overpowered as possible, you definitely seem to undermine GF's effect in the meta, which I think is pointed out by the many who have called GF overtly centralizing whether it be Stories or LBN. Mega Scizor may be good, but it never forced the meta to answer to it the same way Gouging Fire has. I used bug as an example, since you made the claim that it's a 1:1 of Bug's GF "checks" and Ice using Hidden power Fire for Mega Sciz, but this is not the case. GF's effect isn't only with Bug, but I used it as the example here since you brought it up and decided to seriously undermine it.

You said my claim is outdated about Mega Scizor vs fairy and you pointed out that with Psy Terrain could be easier for fairy to check mega scizor Gen 7 onward however you failed to remember that on gen 7 fairy only Mr.Mime and Mime jr could use it and tapu lele is banned on monotype gen 7.In gen 8,ok,you could use and abuse tapu lele ability but then you once again failed to remember that melmetal was right there to crush fairies like pancakes with double iron bash,and with aegislash,celes,heatran to back it up in mono steel.And yet no melmetal nor aegislash nor celesteela was suspected back then,but let's further discuss it another time,i just brought it up to further strenghtening my claim,of the community persecution of the dragon type across the generations.The people fully knows that gouging fire is not broken at all,nor it really impact the metagame enough to justify a ban,as the metagame easily check it,unlike earlier suspects.Gouging fire will continue to be what it is,a very strong mon but not broken nor unbearable to the meta at all.And please stay on the subject of the suspect and not go on personal mentioning my nature as a dragon user or what i would vote to back up your arguments.Thank you.
 
You said my claim is outdated about Mega Scizor vs fairy and you pointed out that with Psy Terrain could be easier for fairy to check mega scizor Gen 7 onward however you failed to remember that on gen 7 fairy only Mr.Mime and Mime jr could use it and tapu lele is banned on monotype gen 7.In gen 8,ok,you could use and abuse tapu lele ability but then you once again failed to remember that melmetal was right there to crush fairies like pancakes with double iron bash,and with aegislash,celes,heatran to back it up in mono steel.And yet no melmetal nor aegislash nor celesteela was suspected back then,but let's further discuss it another time,i just brought it up to further strenghtening my claim,of the community persecution of the dragon type across the generations.The people fully knows that gouging fire is not broken at all,nor it really impact the metagame enough to justify a ban,as the metagame easily check it,unlike earlier suspects.Gouging fire will continue to be what it is,a very strong mon but not broken nor unbearable to the meta at all.And please stay on the subject of the suspect and not go on personal mentioning my nature as a dragon user or what i would vote to back up your arguments.Thank you.
Whoops I was thinking of the NDM game where splash cooked steel with fairy. Thanks for furthering my point though, that Steel has a team of 6 that are threats to ice or fairy, and with mons like Aegislash and Melmetal it's not just one pokemon flipping the matchup like Gouging does this gen.
You also don't refute anything I said really, after bringing up Bug as a 1:1 situation with Gouging with Ice-Mega Sciz, I think we can at the very least bury that claim.
 
I wasn't intending to post on this suspect thread, although I'm qualified I didn't see much of a reason to. However, the thread has unfortunately filled up with plenty of bad-faith arguments from both the ban and DNB side, so I want to attempt to explain my reasoning for voting to not ban Gouging Fire in hopefully good faith.

hex/Sasha (who is a player I have the utmost respect for and can attribute a lot of gratefulness for getting me into this tier and where I am) already criticized Showl for being shortsided in his DNB take, so before I proceed I will say I do not think banning Gouging Fire would be inherently bad for the meta. It's undeniable that it would open up the builder not only to perhaps more type viability, but also allow more flexibility in steel/flying builds, and also force dragon builders to get creative. However, I tier based on my experience with the tier both in the builder, ladder, and in tours and I don't think Gouging is an unhealthy presence in the builder and every type can viably beat it.

First and foremost, to address the recent posts discussing ORAS/SM Mono and HP Fire Walrein, I think it's ridiculous. As Wyvern already mentioned, you're not giving up a valuable moveslot running HP Fire. Secondly, in the case of ID Araq, and Counter Forretress, Bug is unviable. I'm sorry to break the hearts of the 1300 bug ladder players, but it's unfortunately simply not good. A part of Monotype however and why I love this tier is to find a way to circumvent these bad type matchups, and the best types are the types that don't need to do this as often. However, I don't think Bug teams being "forced" to run these sets is a reason to ban Gouging. If you're loading Bug, you're doing it for the sake of getting a matchup fish from my perspective, and that's a part of the tier. The Fire type beats the Bug type, and it's very interesting to see how builders circumvent these bad matchups, it's done for every type and in my opinion it's healthy, and what makes Monotype such a great tier. It rewards the better builder and team, and also rewards how the player uses these techs in-game. The sake of tiering is to purely ban Pokemon that are broken, uncompetitive, or unhealthy, without regard for how it affects type viability and Gouging is d. none of the above.

Based on my experience with the tier, Gouging is not banworthy for how it actually plays in practice. It is very easy to identify the set on preview (Band on Fire, Defensive DD with Flare/EQ on Dragon) (99% of the time, except for the rare Burning Bulwark or Scale Shot), it is extremely knock weak, easy to phase out, and has a tough time breaking fat walls. I don't really believe Gouging is centralizing for this reason, I don't run it on all my dragons nor do I want to. Dragon has a tough time absorbing knock, Pult and the Lati twins both aren't switching into it, Gouging can't lose it's boots, Moon often times won't want it's boots/scarf gone, and Arch/Hoodra most of the time really can't afford to lose its lefties. This can make matchups against fat extremely difficult, as oftentimes it's hard to force progress while they get their hazards up and spam status knock phasing moves. There are of course ways to alleviate this which require you to consider dropping Gouging Fire. Spikes Chomp with Rocky Helmet is a great knock absorber, another phaser with DTail, and can still hit Skarmory with Fire Blast. This is all to say that running Gouging Fire is not all sunshine and rainbows and when I load the builder to build Dragon, Gouging is never an autoinclude. As Royal already said, every team should have a reasonable answer (without sacrificing matchups much at all, unless you're running Bug) to Gouging or you should probably rethink the team you're using. This is all to say, I think the idea that Gouging is overcentralizing is extremely wrong, and people are misplacing their anger at what is truly centralizing, Archaludon.

The order of bans matter, and we're not going to see Archaludon become any less centralizing in the tragic event Gouging gets banned, a large reason why Gouging is so powerful in the first place is Archaludon is there to basically be the perfect support mon for Gouging. TWave, rocks, absorb hits and break teams for Gouging to clean on. There's plenty of sweepers on Dragon teams to go around and Archaludon supports all of them well, while being a blanket check to a lot of physical attackers in the tier. This isn't to get off the topic of Gouging, this is a suspect about Gouging, not Archaludon and I don't like when folks talk about other pokemon extensively in suspect threads. But if we're talking about "overcentralizing" and "unhealthy," Archaludon meets your criteria way more and is a part of the reason Gouging is a good threat, and in other peoples views "broken." With all due respect I feel like banning Gouging Fire is not a broken element and doesn't fix the issue with the tier currently, which is Archaludon and perhaps others.

Thank you for reading, I hope at the very least this gets the topic of this thread on a better topic, and that my position makes sense. I will be voting Do Not Ban on Gouging Fire.
 
Whoops I was thinking of the NDM game where splash cooked steel with fairy. Thanks for furthering my point though, that Steel has a team of 6 that are threats to ice or fairy, and with mons like Aegislash and Melmetal it's not just one pokemon flipping the matchup like Gouging does this gen.
You also don't refute anything I said really, after bringing up Bug as a 1:1 situation with Gouging with Ice-Mega Sciz, I think we can at the very least bury that claim.

Whoops I was thinking of the NDM game where splash cooked steel with fairy. Thanks for furthering my point though, that Steel has a team of 6 that are threats to ice or fairy, and with mons like Aegislash and Melmetal it's not just one pokemon flipping the matchup like Gouging does this gen.
You also don't refute anything I said really, after bringing up Bug as a 1:1 situation with Gouging with Ice-Mega Sciz, I think we can at the very least bury that claim.

I'm not refuting anything because i already explained all my arguments up in this thread and it is really tiring to repeat it.Like i said before,Gouging fire is not broken,nor it bring the whole meta to the abyss,nor it is restrictive but you have all right to disagree with me and if you wish to vote ban it is up to you too,the only thing that i don't tolerate is when people use sarcasm with intention of ridiculize me like elvira did,but you treated me with respect so i thank you.Returning to the subject,gouging fire also suffers from 4 moves syndrome on dragon,where if it forgo a move it will be hugely stopped by a certain mu,resuming,this suspect is only there to weaken dragon for several reasons.1: people dislike dragon 2: People tend to favour some types in detriment of others,for example,steel and flying especially where they had many pokemon that were worthy of a ban and they were not even suspected,celesteela in both gen 7 and gen 8,moltres galar,melmetal and aegislash in gen 8 and gliscor this gen.This is the last time i'm gonna post in this thread even if someone quote me.And again thanks for discussing respectfully with me TheWyvernKing.
 
The order of bans matter, and we're not going to see Archaludon become any less centralizing in the tragic event Gouging gets banned, a large reason why Gouging is so powerful in the first place is Archaludon is there to basically be the perfect support mon for Gouging. TWave, rocks, absorb hits and break teams for Gouging to clean on. There's plenty of sweepers on Dragon teams to go around and Archaludon supports all of them well, while being a blanket check to a lot of physical attackers in the tier. This isn't to get off the topic of Gouging, this is a suspect about Gouging, not Archaludon and I don't like when folks talk about other pokemon extensively in suspect threads. But if we're talking about "overcentralizing" and "unhealthy," Archaludon meets your criteria way more and is a part of the reason Gouging is a good threat, and in other peoples views "broken." With all due respect I feel like banning Gouging Fire is not a broken element and doesn't fix the issue with the tier currently, which is Archaludon and perhaps others.
"Arch should be suspected" isn't a real argument, I made clear from my first posts that it's not either. It's a deflection away from Gouging Fire that acknowledges the problem of Dragon in the current meta, but doesn't actually solve anything and will never be suspected.

To be frank, people neither care nor are threatened by Arch enough to actually suspect the mon. People brought it up at the last Gouging suspect, they did a whole "the actual issue is Archaludon uwuuu I'm just an innocent dnber (Leafium Z)" and then not only never brought it up again since, never pushed for it after, and they didn't even recognize it as in issue on the Survey - literally to the point that it got removed as a question the council cared about asking. Even though Arch may be a solid part of Dragon's backbone, Gouging's defensive utility and ability to shut down so many pokemon that otherwise would break Dragon's core is part of what makes Dragon so strong. No GF, and suddenly types like fairy have a way easier time breaking through. Bug suddenly goes to a neutral if not winning mu (I think it was Silveruby who I beat bug v. dragon team the other day after they claimed they made a gougingless drag team that beats bug"), types like dark are far less threatened across multiple builds - with Gouging's insane threat in the lategame being one of the key issues that alot of dark builds struggle with. Gouging going isn't just helping the bug type or getting rid of some limitations, it gives Dragon actual bad mus. Sure some Dragon builds right now you can cook with Stall, sure some types like fighting handle Drag better, but this is just assuming Dragon users are lazy and stick with a static 6 - as it is right now Dragon is fully capable of changing it's builder to beat ANY type it wants.

I will also include this small comment I saw by Leafium Z
Screen Shot 2025-03-05 at 4.43.21 PM.png


So even though I disagree fundamentally that it's better to limit the amount of teams possible for the purpose of making prep easier, this perspective of Leaf is another one that simultaneously validates the concerns many Banners have with GF and acknowledging the Ban argument while trying to deflect from saying it should be banned. Leaf is effectively openly recognizing here that Gouging fire IS a limitation - contrary to what all the dnbers have been saying so far. He effectively is saying that there is a line that should not be crossed in trying to balance the metagame, and Gouging Fire is that line. I think this perspective largely comes from the post gen SM playerbase, who find that prep is extremely overbearing with so much to account for. That being said, nothing SV does could ever get it close to what SM is in terms of viability across the board. We will never be able to achieve tour viability of all 18 types, we moreover will never be able to achieve tour viability of even 15 types even with a GF ban. Not only that, but this worry of Leaf is more of a post-gen tour meta problem, where frankly speaking I hold the opposite perspective of Leaf in this regard. To look at MWP real quick, Vodoom and some others recognized that post-Zama ban Bug was actually a phenomenal anti-meta that could've been used, and moreover than that, some say that even now bug is a solid tour choice - however the existence of Gouging Fire alone was enough to completely scare away any and all bug use despite the winning mus it would've had. It seems, in my opinion, far worse to have a tour meta where the overt dominance of one type completely negates the entire possibility of anti meta types taking part.
 
Hi everyone!

I think Tuff Tuff made an excellent post and I will piggyback on some of the things he said to wrap up my thoughts. According to the Tiering Policy Framework, a Pokémon can be deemed as either Uncompetitive, Broken or Unhealthy. So, my intention on this post is to explain my opinions as to why I think Gouging fits (or don't fit) in any of these definitions.

By the Policy, something is uncompetitive if it "took the battling skill aspect out of the player's hands and made it an overwhelming issue where even the best moves made each time by a standard team often were not enough."

Gouging Fire never took the battling skill aspect out of a players hands, in my opinion.

The Policy states that something broken "almost dictate / require usage, and a standard team without one of them facing a standard team with one of them would be at a drastic disadvantage; these also include elements whose only counters or checks are extraordinarily niche Pokemon that would put the team at a large disadvantage elsewhere."

This is somewhat tied to the Teambuilding restriction argument and it is certainly a bit more compelling than the uncompetitive one. But still, I don't see Gouging Fire dictating usage on Dragon (in fact, it is not even the most used pokémon on Dragon). It is on Fire, tho, but Fire always are using five "fixed" slots. I also don't see any extraordinarily niche Pokemon being used to counter Gouging, so that argument also falls flat.

It is undeniably true that Gouging Fire is a top threat in the metagame and should be taken into account by any competent builder when creating a competitive team from scratch. Although we can all agree and shake hands that it is, indeed, centralizing, it is more centralizing than any other top threats in the meta? Does it exert more pressure on the builder than Flutter Mane, for example? I don't think so. Another issue I have is that, from my experience, I don't see any types having to resort to "subpar" sets in order to keep Gouging Fire at bay. Of course, we have Heatran practically obliged to run Air Balloon but it is already one of the best items to use on Heatran anyway, so I particulary don't see it as much as a hindrance (Lefties being the only other good one, its too slow for scarf and specs is just a funny tech).

Unhealthy - elements that are neither uncompetitive nor broken yet are deemed undesirable for the metagame such that they inhibit "skillful play" to a large extent. These are elements that may not limit either team building or battling skill enough individually but combine to cause an effect that is undesirable for the metagame.

I believe we can all agree that the Dragon defensive core indeed is causing an undesirable effect on the metagame. However, the policy also says:

When trying to argue a particular element's suspect status, please avoid this category unless absolutely necessary. This is a last-ditch, subjective catch-all, and tiering arguments should focus on uncompetitive or broken first.

Are we in a last-ditch situation on the meta? In the latest Tiering survey we held, Enjoyment values were 6.71 (General) and 6.75 (Qualified), while Competitiveness values were 6.42 (General) and 6.31 (Qualified). I don't think those are bad values at all, so are we really in such a desperate meta in which we will have to resort on last-ditch actions to try to fix it? I don't think so and the most recent numbers also point towards a negative answer.

Personally, Gouging Fire is not either broken or uncompetitive by definition. I agree that the Dragon core is unhealthy, but the current enjoyment and competitiveness of the metagame does not make this a last-ditch effort needed, as if the metagame is in a horrible state and needs to be immediately saved by a drastic action. Hence, I will be voting Do Not Ban. Love love, peace peace!
 

Why Should You Vote No Ban

1. Gouging Fire and its teammates are prone to Knock Off.
  • A few posts has spoken about the difficulty to make progress against Gouging Fire, and Dragon in general. Knock Off is the stepping stone towards that progress. Dragon, as a whole, is largely dependent on their items; mainly HDB (:gouging-fire:) and Leftovers (:archaludon: :goodra-hisui:). GF using HDB to ignore hazards and the metal dragons sometimes even using Protect to get the most out of Leftovers and have more staying power.

  • Every type has some kind of prominent Knock Off user to remove these items to ensure some permanent damage against the Dragon Neutrality Core, as well as hinder the supporting offensive mons as well. Think of :gliscor: whose prominent SD set has switched from Facade to Knock Off. This switch wasn't strictly for Dragon, but it definitely helps Flying chip away with the hazard stack archetypes. Other types such as Ground's :mamoswine:, Water's :empoleon: and :samurott-hisui:, and Steel's :iron-treads: are a few other examples that help their teammates and themselves wear down Gouging Fire's supportive cast. These examples lead me to my second reason.
2. Gouging Fire and its teammates are prone to Hazards.
  • Though the aforementioned HDB on Gouging Fire keeps the hazard damage off, its teammates aren't so fond of the hazards. Viable Dragon teams do not run hazard removal. Pair hazards with Knock Off, now you've got Dragon trying to manage health bars to stay even.

  • The most prominent Hazard Stacker :ting-lu: helps Dark immensely make progress against Dragon to help its teammates (:greninja: :meowscarada:* :darkrai: :bisharp: :samurott-hisui:) inflict some permanent damage. *Meowscarada utilizing Knock Off with :sableye: to improve the effectiveness of Hazard Stacking. There are other types that utilize some combination of Knock Off + Hazards but I chose Dark as the most prominent example.
3. Gouging Fire is not individually broken or uncompetitive.
  • Gouging Fire is an honest mon. It has two sets it runs and runs them well. The Bulky Dragon Dance set on Dragon and the Protosynthesis Choice Band set on Sun Fire. The DD spread has variance to it, but for the most part plays out the same depending on the Dragon team composition.

  • However, focusing on the DD set, this set isn't outright taking games out of the opposing player's hands, nor is it impossible to play around or phaze out. On the opposite end, the player using Gouging Fire is not an instant win button as well. Positioning and effective, skillful play allows Gouging Fire to really shine in games. Knowing what hits Gouging Fire and its teammates can tank separates high caliber players from the low caliber players. This ties into #2 in knowing how to manage health bars is something good players task themselves with.

4. Dragon's defensive core is not unhealthy with Gouging Fire.
  • This the probably the biggest point here. The defensive core is strong, not Immunity Core strong, but it's still amazingly strong.

  • Dragon's defensive core appears unhealthy for a few reasons:
    • If you're trying to brute force your way through :archaludon: :gouging-fire: :goodra-hisui:, you're going to drive yourself insane. The only mon that comes close to brute forcing through this core is mixed :iron-valiant:.
    • Another reason is lopsided attackers on a team. Too many/only physical attackers will have :archaludon: standing in their way. Similar to facing :skarmory: :toxapex: :pecharunt:, too many/only special attackers will have :goodra-hisui: standing in their way. Similar to facing :articuno: :blissey: :slowking-galar:.

  • Dragon's defensive core can be a marathon when playing slow, or a race if you make the right predictions. This is extremely game dependent, games against Dragon do not play out the same way every game and that's okay.

Conclusion
Dragon is the best type in the meta and playing against it is volatile. Gouging Fire needs its teammates to thrive, while the teammate do not need Gouging Fire to thrive. While the defensive core is powerful, it isn't warping the meta to a point where every type needs to run something that effectively cripples their matchup spread. This type can bleed and the most efficient players bleeds it out.

Cheers.
 
"Arch should be suspected" isn't a real argument, I made clear from my first posts that it's not either. It's a deflection away from Gouging Fire that acknowledges the problem of Dragon in the current meta, but doesn't actually solve anything and will never be suspected.

To be frank, people neither care nor are threatened by Arch enough to actually suspect the mon. People brought it up at the last Gouging suspect, they did a whole "the actual issue is Archaludon uwuuu I'm just an innocent dnber (Leafium Z)" and then not only never brought it up again since, never pushed for it after, and they didn't even recognize it as in issue on the Survey - literally to the point that it got removed as a question the council cared about asking. Even though Arch may be a solid part of Dragon's backbone, Gouging's defensive utility and ability to shut down so many pokemon that otherwise would break Dragon's core is part of what makes Dragon so strong. No GF, and suddenly types like fairy have a way easier time breaking through. Bug suddenly goes to a neutral if not winning mu (I think it was Silveruby who I beat bug v. dragon team the other day after they claimed they made a gougingless drag team that beats bug"), types like dark are far less threatened across multiple builds - with Gouging's insane threat in the lategame being one of the key issues that alot of dark builds struggle with. Gouging going isn't just helping the bug type or getting rid of some limitations, it gives Dragon actual bad mus. Sure some Dragon builds right now you can cook with Stall, sure some types like fighting handle Drag better, but this is just assuming Dragon users are lazy and stick with a static 6 - as it is right now Dragon is fully capable of changing it's builder to beat ANY type it wants.

I will also include this small comment I saw by Leafium Z
View attachment 719426

So even though I disagree fundamentally that it's better to limit the amount of teams possible for the purpose of making prep easier, this perspective of Leaf is another one that simultaneously validates the concerns many Banners have with GF and acknowledging the Ban argument while trying to deflect from saying it should be banned. Leaf is effectively openly recognizing here that Gouging fire IS a limitation - contrary to what all the dnbers have been saying so far. He effectively is saying that there is a line that should not be crossed in trying to balance the metagame, and Gouging Fire is that line. I think this perspective largely comes from the post gen SM playerbase, who find that prep is extremely overbearing with so much to account for. That being said, nothing SV does could ever get it close to what SM is in terms of viability across the board. We will never be able to achieve tour viability of all 18 types, we moreover will never be able to achieve tour viability of even 15 types even with a GF ban. Not only that, but this worry of Leaf is more of a post-gen tour meta problem, where frankly speaking I hold the opposite perspective of Leaf in this regard. To look at MWP real quick, Vodoom and some others recognized that post-Zama ban Bug was actually a phenomenal anti-meta that could've been used, and moreover than that, some say that even now bug is a solid tour choice - however the existence of Gouging Fire alone was enough to completely scare away any and all bug use despite the winning mus it would've had. It seems, in my opinion, far worse to have a tour meta where the overt dominance of one type completely negates the entire possibility of anti meta types taking part.

It is a phenomenal anti-meta type after zama ban, but people not using because of gouging is kinda headass, just scout brother shit aint hard (this is tour wise), anti meta types never did good on ladder like grass in SM, ngl i dont think u even autolose vs dragon with bug, its unfavored but very possible to win.
 
Hey again ! Because I played and tried to build a lot, and a lot of structures too with ALL of the types and structures. I'll share my gouging experience and MU chart here (just remember, I also have to actually prep the other types).
It's informative (I mean each of banners and dnbanners are convinced and we're going in circles anw, but it's good) and just to tell what I actually see in the builder each type I play one of these types. I'm not a good builder for sure, but I actually tried to build a lot so here's what I have to tell :
Before reviewing the types :
- I'll talk about underground types or less common/not that played. I think we all know steel, water, ground, fly MUs etc and that's not my point here. I'll mainly talk about utterly trash/not common only.
- I'll assume it's the classic dragon set (DD/Heal/Fire + Ground coverage).
I'll mention the Dragon move option if it can have an impact but it's quite on the rare side anw.
- Each types will be divised in 3 categories :
-> Defensively : What options do we have defensively vs Gouging ?
-> Offensively : What options do we have offensively vs Gouging ?
-> In practice : In reality, the type have to work vs the rest of the meta too, so I'll talk about the room each type can work with to help vs Gouging, and sacrifices you have to make (if you're willing too) to improve the Gouging MU.
-> Conclusion : A rapid review of what I said, and I can sometimes tell what I think about the MU too.
DISCLAIMERS :
- It's normal for me that we have type that struggles vs others, so we have to have a lot of weird adaptations. But I want to aknowledge when a MU is actually dire and try to think about it a lot (so not minimize the Gouging impact). It's normal to target prep a top tier anyway.
- It is NOT a post to tell you if you're wrong or right about Gouging, and if you should ban it or not. For me it's mainly a question about how each one of us see a tier, and how we interpret how to play it. My definition of unbalanced, broken or uncompetitive (very interesting points mentionned in the discussion, thx a lot for that. That was hella interesting) is not the same as any of you and it's fine and normal I think. The objective is to talk about my experience as a builder and a player you have vs the mon, and I'm in any case not telling you "that's not normal to build vs that", "that's normal to build vs that", and it's cool because it's opinions. Each type have their issues, and that's why I find the tier interesting. If I say : "a MU is difficult vs Gouging (or if you have to actually have to work for it)", it's not for telling any of you to ban it. As I said, it's informative because I actually theorycrafted a lot all the types I'll mention (loving playing with trash here).
- For those who don't know, I'm on the Ban side. However, that doesn't mean that I discount the DNB side. I actually think we're both right on a lot of points : the discussion just go in circles because it's about how each one of us have a different definition about what is a good tier.

Good reading !

For the two following types, I'll go more in detail because they were by far the most mentionned in the thread (+ bug is actually the type I spammed the most on ladd I think, and grass is defo in my top 5 spammed types too) :

- Defensively :
Sinistcha :
Double Stab + Recovery + CM doesn't win because Gouging can just spam DD vs SSap.
Solutions :
- Dropping the grass stab and playing Iron Defense. Stab is a very good move so it's not always cool (because the stab can burn LOL) to drop it but IDef actually have pros too, for example vs Steel or Dragon or even Fight at moments in a vaccuum.
- Dropping the grass stab and playing stun spore to try to win turns in the DD/SSap war. Actually worse because not a 100% outcome + Gouging can try to play the long run and wasting SSap turns on other dragon mons.
- Keeping the set but play RH + Encore priority Whimsicott and try to hard the mon on a DD turn (when you're looping the opponant). You have to OHKO it afterwards or just staying in with whismi and encore loop win. The opponant can switch out so the interaction come multiple times.
- Dropping CM for nasty plot : +2 0 SpA Sinistcha Shadow Ball vs. 248 HP / 156+ SpD Gouging Fire: 168-198 (40.6 - 47.9%). With a little investement on sinitscha + RH, you can kill with 2 SBall + RH. Dropping CM is quite worse too in a lot of other MUs.

Hydrapple : Phys def + Nasty Plot is actually good vs the Gouging, because they don't run Dclaw.
Solutions :
- Playing Draco is overall the safest option to OHKO Gouging at +2 (0 SpA Hydrapple Fickle Beam vs. 248 HP / 156+ SpD Gouging Fire: 168-198 (40.6 - 47.9%)), because the mon can otherwise overun you if you hard Hydrapple on a DD (+1 0 Atk Gouging Fire Heat Crash (120 BP) vs. 244 HP / 252+ Def Hydrapple), it's a 3HKO.
- Playing Recover and dropping the grass stab.
Hydrapple is however not an easy feat in grass : Sinistcha overall is the better Fire neutrality because of their typing. But it's possible to build around that, but you just can't play both (or at least phys defensive) because you lose too much ground vs other types.

You can try Appletun and Exeg-A but both are cringes mons ngl.

- Offensively :
Ogerpon-Corner :
The best damage dealer but you don't switch in on rocks : +1 0 Atk Gouging Fire Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Ogerpon-Cornerstone: 252-297 (83.7 - 98.6%) and you don't ohko neither : 252 Atk Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon-Cornerstone Ivy Cudgel vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Gouging Fire: 314-372 (76 - 90%)
Solutions : Good positionning , or play a spread that can tank a +1 move after rocks if you have a reliable way to spin (Toedscruel or bramble, so Toed because Bramble just lose its duel vs Archa) so more like on the good positionning.
The issue is that while good vs Flying too (not easy vs Skarm or Glis) for example, Ogerpon-Heartflame is generally a prefered option in grass for Steel and Corv/Skarm for example.

Band Meowscarada : Only Drawback is to not play the scarf version (very very good in grass because of Pult for this MU for example). Keep in mind that the rase phys def variant can be not 2HKOed (252 Atk Choice Band Protean Meowscarada Triple Axel (120 BP) (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 104+ Def Gouging Fire: 189-225 (45.6 - 54.3%)). I mentionning band meow in particular because the mon in mandatory in grass.

All the Fighters : Can 2HKO Gouging with a item boosting (or Hustle) :
- Breloom Mach Punch can be good vs RM + Rock tomb rocks (LO or band).
- Band Deci-H sounds like a meme but Close Combat Scrappy is a good breaker if well positionned vs Dragon.
- Lilli-H in its classic set (Victory + CC + Ice move + Sleep) can just win on its own, but it's not easy to set up (forcing a switch generally but it's doable tbf).

- In pratice :
- 5 slots : Meowscarada, Ogerpon (Corner or Heart), a Fighter, a sort of a special sponge (for fairies for example), and a spinner/hazard setter (bramble or toed, toed can compress for the sponge but it's worse than mons like guss or whatever else more specialized) are quite mandatory.
- You have in fact very little room to check defensively Gouging : you usually have to choose between one of the two defensive checks, and sinistcha is in general a more popular/better option. You can sacrifice one of your slots ofc, but it would affect you very much vs the rest of the meta (Ghold, Fairies, even flying, all teams with sort of special mons really). Offensively : it's choosing Cornerstone, struggle on that point or sacrifice the spinner or the special sponge (not recommended) for like a second fighter maybe but it's dire. You have no room and go with band Meow or nothing. Tough choices.
- Finally, you can't really HO with grass, not consistant at all. So talking about "not checking it and just pressure" isn't an option. BO is the only option at the moment.

- Conclusion :
Overall, it's a lot of positionning because offensively we don't have that much + we can't hard Meow, any fighter or Oger-Corner freely on any of Dragon mons and any less on Gouging. Nothing can OHKO Gouging (except cringe things like Band Torterra, Flapple or Specs Hydrapple).
Defensively it's DIRE : we have 2 mons and both of them have to do more or less adaptations (+ one if on the assuption no drag move is runned but it's a safe one). The adaptations are not that unviable by any means but that means you actually have to adapt the rest of the team around it, and around the rest of the tier too, and it's hard because grass is already not a top tier type. Hydrapple is the worst option at the moment.

Gouging is just very hard for Grass. It's by no means easely checkable, you have to actually do a whole LOT in order to beat it. it's okay because we're talking about a Bulky fire vs Grass but it'll be dishonnest from me to tell "it's easy" when it's clearly dire and barely manageable.

- Defensively :
Araquanid :

0 Atk Gouging Fire Heat Crash (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Water Bubble Araquanid: 78-93 (22.9 - 27.3%)
0 SpA Water Bubble Araquanid Surf vs. 248 HP / 156+ SpD Gouging Fire: 93-109 (22.5 - 26.3%)
So these calcs shows us that we need to have solutions, I'll explain :
- Iron Defense (or Stockpile if you want to be more flexible but it's meme territory). I mean yeah it works. If you're not running any defensive EVs you have to play rest, and if you're rest talk you're dropping Sticky, Infestation or Endeavor. If you're not stalk you're pretty abusable in general.
- If you have a lot of Def Investments, you have 2 options : 1/being liquidation (assuming no swipe). 2/ If you're surf, you have to be stalk, Infestation or Endeavor or else you're PP stalled without SpA investments. I mean in the case of Infestation you can run sticky but you lose long term vs gouging who can just always click 2 times its stab before switching out, if you're Stalk you're either passive or Dropping an actual important move on nid.
- On the item choice, Archa actually wins vs all the removers in Bug so Leftovers is not an option. So you're locked on boots and on those kind of sets that's bot ideal.
Araquanid works in most of the cases and in the 1v1 if you're prepping it specifically. Both in moves and Investments. It's actually pretty hard to just do that in Bug.

- Offensively :
Kleavor :

252 Atk Sharpness Kleavor Stone Axe vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Gouging Fire: 278-330 (67.3 - 79.9%)
The best revenge killer we have for that mon. You have to cheap beforehand if you want to kill it, and after 2 DDance you're just cooked anyway. You can at least put this in range of Lokix.

The Fighters :
Heracross and Slither are the 2 only mons that can 2Hko this thing on a switch in (lose both the 1v1 situation. You'll often need an item booster (LO, Plate, F-orb...).
Both (especially hera) are not easy fit in bug too, already cramped with a lot of mandatory mons.

- In practice :
- Scizor, Forretress, Kleavor and Lokix are mandatory. You have to choose either a special mon or a Fighting at least (generally, a special mon like Volc or even Yanmega are preferred).
- You have at least the best RKiller you have access to anw because it's its best set and one of the best bug scarf. You have room for Araquanid with all the issues I mentionned before if you want to specifically 100% counter it, so sacrificing your MU vs litteraly almost all the tier, and the 5 others Dragon too. If you're not willing to do that, you have to have a VERY pro-active build because the last thing you want to do is letting this thing having free entries. Btw, you don't 2Hko Gouging (252+ nature) in both phys or special variant without a boosting item.

- Conclusion :
Bug have quite nothing for Gouging. You already have a fixed 4 (tbf, Araquanid can be considered at mandatory too, so maybe 5) and unless targeting prep with Araquanid or Rking with Kleavor and throw away all the remaining MUs you can't do that much.
It's subjective here, but I think that the bug vs dragon MU is straight up unwinnable for bug. Each time I won that : it's because either I played like a crackhead, or my opponant did very gross mistakes. You just can't pass at all and you're submerged offensively, even fire feels more easy and that's a crazy thing to say because your plan vs Fire Goufing is SR + RH chip + Bullet Scizor + Band Ada Lokix, or have the roll on FImpression after 2 layers of SRs (tales can't hwish because you lose, cinde can't court change because you lose too).

I'll be at least quicker for the following types :

- Defensively :
Rotom-W :
You have to be Nasty Plot + Pump + Pain split if you want to pass longterm. Sub lose long run because it's litteraly a fodder to all the type, and subless Nasty Rotom feels really not good on Elec (worse vs Water, Ground, even vs Poison etc).
You can be Nasty Twave if you want to not be a fodder to like too absurd threats like Tios or Pult, but remember you're not winning the longrun either.
Nasty Less Rotom-W just loses the 1v1.

Iron Hands :
You have to be : Boosting Move (SD or BU, SD is better overall) + Drain punch + with a more PhysDef bulk to beat it 1v1. You're cutting your AV option, but at least Setup (or more physdef Hands) is actually pretty good in Elec I feel like, especially with Shuca. Oh and ofc on the longrun you lose, you can't hard repetitively (neither to drag to be honest) and have to keep the hands pretty much really high life all the game.

(Bellibolt :)
+1 0 Atk Gouging Fire Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Bellibolt: 186-220 (44 - 52.1%)
(not that reliable but hey that's not always to 3HKO on switch, and at least you have toxic so it's not that bad for 1v1 scenarios).

- Offensively :
Sandy Shocks :
You at least take a hit at full at +1, or after sr if you're balloon (eq have a roll to kill you otherwise).
252 SpA Sandy Shocks Earth Power vs. 248 HP / 156+ SpD Gouging Fire: 230-272 (55.6 - 65.8%)
You do respectable damages (it's a 121 SPA BS) but that means Gouging can setup in front of you if you're in range of Fire move/EQ at +1.

Raging Bolt :
252 SpA Raging Bolt Draco Meteor vs. 248 HP / 156+ SpD Gouging Fire: 362-428 (87.6 - 103.6%)
It's either timid + Dfang (good for gliscor too) or Modest to have a roll largely in your favor. You tank at +1 and you can afford to hard one time because you're faster in general.

Pawmot :
Can 2HKO with LO most of the time (the full Hp version), or be band to guarantee the range. Gouging can't just spam setup or hard freely.

- In practice :
- Mandatory : Shocks, at least a Fighting (generally Hands), a flutter sponge (flutter destroys the type tbf it's awful), some way to manages hazards (regieleki or mono boots frankly), at least 2 Eq responses, and a Revenge killer mon because Elec actually is pretty slow this gen, the speedy mons are just not very good frankly.
Slotting Hands is not hard at all because it's just a stupid mon overall for the type, but sacrificing actively your Rotom or slotting Belli feels both quite awful because you're worse vs all the tier my doing that. Bolt and Shocks are always here too anw because they're just too god for Elec (hazards access, and Bolt is Bolt, priority is just too important for Elec too).

- Conclusion :
Hey that's not easy but not as bad as Bug or Grass. The mons you want to have vs Gouging are mons you are already willing to play anyway. NOt playing AV Hands can feel bad but it's anyway not the best or more common set in Elec now anyway, setup is in general superior. But to put it frankly it's always a hard time because Gouging sponges all the rest of your team and can even setup on like 5 mores out of 6. And you have no room for more because Elec have issues vs the rest of the tier to say the least (all special attackers are like GOD vs Elec it's so hard, flutter feels way worse that Gouging for the type).

I play a psy a lot too, and even used it on the Kingambit suspect.
- Defensively :
Slowbro : Iron def + Body press wins. For the rest of Dragon, you prefer Ice beam because being a fodder is not good, but dropping scald feels bad in certain MUs (ceruledge for example) or just to fish burn.

Hatterene :
We saw the Nuzzle + Pnoise + Dkiss + CM and I mean you need at least THAT lmaooo, without those 4 slots you're pretty much cooked. At least it's good overall (you prefer Leftovers ofc).*

Necrozma :
Idef + Earth Power wins. If you're Heat Wave, you're pp stalled (psychic is not enough damages too but can manage if you run the RH or a specific spread for Gouging).

All the Twave + Pnoise are good support overall but are not enough of their own (oh and Reuni can have some cool stuff but Reuni is like not good in the meta atm, it's too hard to slot)

- Offensively :
Lati@s : You don't kill if you don't have an item boosting move + DM. At least they're good switch-ins vs dragonless moves Gouging.

Iron Flop Boulder :
It's a good scarf, but remember : you die at +1 after rocks, and Cleave is 71% max roll vs a full hp.

PsySpam Based teams + Expanding force : Tanks a hit but def can't in on these.

Meteor Beam Lures (none of the user can OHKO but that's damage).

Hoopa-U : with an item boost only in order to 2HKO.

In practice :
- I'm not considering PsySpam (can have pros in the tier but unrealiable) because it just lose vs dragon let's be honest. Anw Gouging can easely sponge a hit and can try to setup in the late late game to clean, and it's actually a very common scenario.
- In BO : Your 6 is heavily influenced by Ghost (flutter, ghold) and even steel already.
Mandatory : A normal type, a special sponge if your normal type is indeedee and not AV melo (or you just plan to win the 50/50s vs flutter ingame I suppose), Hatterene, a levitate/flying mon (lati@s), Boulder in most cases for the Rking mon, + a sr setter.
As you can see, the last slot can be free and you can slot Slowbro pretty confortably because you can have a lot of different structures and compressions here (except of Lati, Hatte and Normal type Mandatory). For example, if you're playing scarf lati, you can drop Boulder for something else : that just means certains MU will be worse (Dark and Bug for example) but you can work with that. Vs Gouging, Hatt is already here anw so it's not bad midterm, but you really want to have an other specified check because you'll just lose long run, both of your scarf just can't OHKO it at all (unless absolute max roll on lati) and have both pretty safe switch in on dragon so you just can't go with only hatterene defensively vs Gouging reasonnably. It's easier to slot the specified counter if you're casting away boulder for example, but that's a sacrifice. You have to think about Ghold and Flutter a lot anw already, idem for Steel. Anw it's really limitating in this type, it feels pretty awful to have to choose between the second check and literally anything else.

From here, I'll just talk about the mandatory mons and Strategies first, and talk in a more quick fashion about how the type is handling things. We're starting to be in more known territory anyway.

- Mandatory : Flutter, Ghold, Pult, (and probably Froslass or Bramble, depending on your structure).
Pult is a good check, and defensively we have pecharunt, skele (not that viable at all at the moment), and Palossand if you're a madman (you better be full life, you're losing otherwise).
In your last slots, you have the choice between mimikyu, spectrier, Ceruledge, Zoro-H or even the rare Basculegion (or just play screens with sab). Sinistcha Weakness, especially in screens, is actually not that bad of an option too, I saw that once in a while.
Anw, you have to work vs Gouging in your last slots : Pult without a boosting item doesn't kill and you're 2HKOEd at +1 so it's not easy. Especially when nothing can OHKO him, only a specs flutter or spectrier can (BAND GOLURK BROOOOOS).
In the HO structures (Lass + stuff), you actually don't want to play any of the more defensive options so Gouging is just an very good mon vs that. You can setup at the good time, or just click the fire move because HO can't in vs that very well.

It'll be quicker here :

Fairy is just locked away on screens + prima for good reasons. I tried screenless Fairy, it have things going but Gouging is a HUGE issue for the type without playing HO Screens. Like you have to at least have Prima or Azu + Hatte : only one of them just lose longterm, Hatte is mandatory but not enough so you have to go prima, or Band azu to have some kind of pressure while be able to check the mon midterm. Flutter and Valiant are mandatory anyway. Gouging can setup on both but no hard as they want because of specs, or good LO CC prediction. At last you have to have a stee type + a Zor plan if you're just not dropping this hope to fiction (it's actually a good way of thinking too tbf, without screens zor is so hard to counter).

And Rock is bad but just wins vs Gouging : you however can't ohko the mon so careful on the eq or dd in in retalation

Sorry if I was way more fast at the end, I mainly wanted to be precise about Grass and Bug because they were the more recurring types.
As I said, it's just my opinion with my knowledge and not at all a post to convince you. It's informative mainly on Grass and Bug.
See ya and thx for reading !
 
Yo ! Like it's pretty hard to really give a detailled thought in a few lines, I'll develop my reasonning in this post. I'm gonna probably quote or talk about things I saw on this thread, ofc they are nothing personal, it's just to supports my reasonning.

I saw some people support the idea we should not taking account dragon ovarall but only gouging fire, due to the tiering policy. That's in fact what we have to think in first. Now, I think the case of gouging fire is complex and required more than just a quick individual analysis.

First I will use the statistic of mwp to support what I say

1741231774054.png

Usage of dragon during the mwp VI, thx to Ethereal Sword
I will not say again what said Gelbel3c, but this statistic show how dominant are dragon. It's not something normal, dragon win 2/3 of there game and are the type the most used. Flying in gen 8 never had this statistic and we already saw some people get tired about the omnipresence of the type. So yeah they are a problem with dragon, it's too dominent.

This statistic also show, that if u don't play gouging u have less chance to won than if u play him. Same thing for goodra. I know we talk about like 2 or 3 games, but the difference exist and it shows that to maximise ur chance of winning u have to play the defensive core of archaludon + hoodra + gouging fire.

Because in fact I think the main role of gouging is the defensive one, u play him for his bulk, for his typing and his ability to heal. It gives longevity to the core. Just playing archa + hoodra is too easy to pressure, they can't afford hazard + all the threat of the opponent. To prove that point I played the bulking bulkward set of gouging. The idea is to don't have this 2nd role of cleaner/breaker to see if it makes a difference. I made the suspect with that team: https://pokepast.es/8960372b728b3dfe. I also went to 1700 elo, to test it more. And that doesn't change that much, it's a real confort against mon like meow/weavile/gallade/valient/hand/sneasler/and a lot of more, it's a free burn or at least it creates 50/50 generally in ur favor. Now whithout dd it's more harder to reverse game who are not at ur advantage and ovarall to clean.

The secund was also to see if in fact u only had 1 set viable on gouging, and no that's not true. U have advantage to play another set than the classic dd, against fight for exemple it's really hard to win against the bulking set, it forces u to play shifu sd water or scrafty but it's clearly at the advantage of the dragon.

Now the dd set exist, and that's the set u will see the most. To manage it u have mon like toxapex/greatusk/gliscor/gyarados/ sinistcha/archaludon/etc . BUT, all of this mon are abusable about the real strengh of dragon, his armarda of offensive threat. U will have ofc dragapult, latios but also latias/roaring/kyurem/bolt/wake/hydrei/chomp (in an hydrid role). And that's here it starts to be difficult.

Against dragon u have to at the same time manage multiple threat (that means being really in big trouble if ur opponent make a succesful double) AND be carefull to don't let ur gouging answer being too weaken for do not let him sweep ur team AND having enough offensive presence to break the core. That's a lot of thing u have to do, and ngl in practice u have to play fat or stall to manage that optimally. Dragon kills offense so easely. And when not every type have easely access to spikes + sr or even a good koff u understand also know why they are only 9 types who really exist at high lvl:

1741277958057.png


Yeah having less than 40% of winrate ovarall mean ur type doesn't work in the meta, or need to be theory craft at least


And if we analyse more specifically what are these type who are not played or just lose too much u will have all these type (normal/fire/poison/psychic/bug/electric/grass), who really struggle against the presence of gouging. At this u can add (flying/steel/dark/fighting/fairy/ghost and even drag) who also struggle against gouging, glad in general they have better answer against dragon ovarall so that's why they are played.
By struggle, I mean running specific option/type of team just for not being sweep. And we still talking about a mon who are mainly played for his defensive aspect.

When I said the case of gouging is complex, and also why I talk that much about dragon and not more specifically about gouging it's because they are a context.

Tuff tuff use the tiering policy to explain why he thinks we should do not ban gouging, in the tiering policy it said we have to focus on how broken/uncompetitive are a pokemon. Ngl I think it's clearly show why the case of gouging isn't obvious and difficult to be treat, if u take him individually I'm not sure the mon is broken, it's borderline and then exposed to lot of subjectivity.
Now for me that does not make sense to treat a pokemon independently, especially in monotype. It's not something u want, the domination about 1 type in a current metagame, it's generally an alarm to say "yo council do something to rebalanced the tier please". And clearly it's gouging the mon at the heart of why dragon is so centralizing. Of course I don't deny others strengh of dragon, I mean it's also a part of why gouging can shine that much.

All that take in account, I think we are at least in a case u have to take in account the dominence of dragon.

I also doesn't really talk about gouging in fire, but for me u have to also consider it exist and prep this is really hard. We don't see it that much because gouging check gouging, gouging check also ogerpon, well ovarall gouging just win against fire. And when the top type counter u easely, it's hard to exist in the metagame. But I still have the memory of mpl where facing a fire was pretty unfair, u have the mu and then it will be easy, u don't have the mu and then it will start to be really weird.
And saying it doesn't really count when u know the usage and the winrate of the type, would be a good argument if only we didn't ban espathra for the exact reason of "yeah it's rare, but it's uncompetitive/unhealthy".

I could also remember that, a good part of how u check gouging are mainly to prevent a sweep. It's not a mon u can really revenge kill, cuz yeah gouging doesn't afford a specs dm/band outrage but it's able to afford all the scarf of the meta.

Conclusion: So yeah, for me gouging fire is in fact broken and uncompetitive. It's a mon who centralize too much the metagame, by that I mean it littarally kills diversity, ho are almost always unviable and type who doesn't have the chance to have decent option against dragon struggle too much for being viable. The ban of gouging will really help in that sense, and that's why I'm gonna vote ban.


I knew I would write a lot but huh.... Gtz to all the people who will read it, and yeah even if I tried to be the most objective possible it's ofc an opinion so don't hesitate to debate about it, etc !
 
Last edited:
ngl all stats being posted cool and shit but isnt it better to post post zama ban data? sorry for the one liner but we just banned one of the most meta wrapping mon and we are using data of when it was legal
 
ngl all stats being posted cool and shit but isnt it better to post post zama ban data? sorry for the one liner but we just banned one of the most meta wrapping mon and we are using data of when it was legal
Statistical principles apply here. Sample size is an important factor in reducing variation and increasing confidence in the data. Unfortunately, there aren't that many games post-Zama unfort. However, imo. I don't think the environment has changed so much that dragon is suddenly unviable and the data roughly reflects the meta.
 
Statistical principles apply here. Sample size is an important factor in reducing variation and increasing confidence in the data. Unfortunately, there aren't that many games post-Zama unfort. However, imo. I don't think the environment has changed so much that dragon is suddenly unviable and the data roughly reflects the meta.
Sample size matters, but relevance matters more. The meta fundamentally changed with Zama’s ban, affecting teambuilding and matchups. Pre-ban data doesn’t reflect the current meta, so even with fewer games, post-ban stats are way more meaningful.
 
Sample size matters, but relevance matters more. The meta fundamentally changed with Zama’s ban, affecting teambuilding and matchups. Pre-ban data doesn’t reflect the current meta, so even with fewer games, post-ban stats are way more meaningful.
That's objectively un-true, sorry. Unless the sample size is similar enough games, then the data will be affected much more by variance, which can lead to higher type-alpha or type-beta error margins here. Unless you can prove the meta changed significantly enough (p<0..05) on the average winrate of all of the types, then this is the best data we got. I still believe that we should at least use the data we have and try to get a rough feel.

Further, if you believe fighting is such an outlier with zama, you can simply remove it from the data set.
 
That's objectively un-true, sorry. Unless the sample size is similar enough games, then the data will be affected much more by variance, which can lead to higher type-alpha or type-beta error margins here. Unless you can prove the meta changed significantly enough (p<0..05) on the average winrate of all of the types, then this is the best data we got. I still believe that we should at least use the data we have and try to get a rough feel.

Further, if you believe fighting is such an outlier with zama, you can simply remove it from the data set.
Vod got the reply from Chat GPT

Also,
Sample size matters, but relevance matters more. The meta fundamentally changed with Zama’s ban, affecting teambuilding and matchups. Pre-ban data doesn’t reflect the current meta, so even with fewer games, post-ban stats are way more meaningful.
If this is Vod's perspective then other shit Vods said before would kinda imply that all MWP data wouldn't count - not just Pre Zama data...I mean Vod himself said the meta is still shifting. If that's the case then obviously the meta post Zama ban wouldn't be a good indicator - Look at the Flying Dieu brought finals and Frol Semis. That shit loses on preview to everything that's current in the meta. Even when it was used at the time it was outdated lmao. You're telling me that post Zama ban sample size is more relevant than the pre zama ban sample? The Yabais recycled their like outdated Week 2 teams man, come on
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top