Today, it deigned to create this Suspect Test.
Reaching its long hand into the sky.
It coursed its will into its claws.
And made.
Well, it's been a little bit over a week since the Roaring Moon suspect test, and it's about time I publish my thoughts on this Pokemon. Let me start by saying that I do not think Roaring Moon is too much for National Dex to handle. On paper, it looks incredibly potent, and in many ways it is. It has egregious stats, great coverage along with utility, and the ability to set up with Dragon Dance. However, Moon does have some significant downsides that you can't just overlook. First of all, it's typing leaves it quad weak to Fairy, which is one of the most common offensive
and defensive types in the game. A lotta things like Fini, Clefable, Booster Iron Valiant, and Tapu Koko will simply force an unboosted Roaring Moon out of the field, the former two can also threaten boosted Moons quite easily with their great defenses. With such an abundance of Fairies in the format, it may struggle to find setup opportunities with Dragon Dance. As if that wasn't enough, Moon's typing also leaves it weak to the most common pivot move in the game, U-Turn. Being weak to U-Turn is not a quality you want on any attacker, much less a sweeper. Good sweepers will want to force defensive Pokemon out with next to no repercussions as they try to set up. If Roaring Moon were to attempt to set up on an enemy with U-Turn, it might lose a hefty 40% of its HP or more, leaving it prone to priority or the opponent's other attackers. Against good players, a setup opportunity with Moon will be scarce with the prevalence of U-Turn. That's not even counting the fact that many other defensive Pokemon like Alomomola, Toxapex, and Slowbro also carry status moves like Paralysis, Poison, or Burn. Unfortunately for Roaring Moon, it hates all 3 of these. If Moon doesn't Dragon Dance, it'll likely be threatened by the opponent's scarfer or some other Pokemon that naturally outspeeds it, and if Moon does Dragon Dance, it risks getting statused or taking a good amount of chip from something like U-Turn. This leaves very few truly safe setup opportunities for Roaring Moon during a battle.
Its status as a physical attacker leaves it constantly being menaced by Intimidate, Burns, etc., and its typing leaves it laced with terrible weaknesses that make it difficult to set up without significant trade offs.
You also get jabbed by all sorts of hazards, so that sucks.
What if you just, didn't try to set up? So what about choiced sets? I've seen a few people complain about Choiced Moon sets, but I think that they are seriously exaggerating the strength of them in practice. I believe Choice Band Roaring Moon will be the premier physical attacker in many Sun teams next to Tusk. It can strike really hard and can either get a Speed or Attack boost when under Sun, and Sun already has a disgustingly strong wallbreaker in Charizard Y. Many people say that Moon might tip Sun teams over the edge if paired with Tusk (or Terapagos), Bolt, and Charizard Y. I think that this is wrong because the fact that you're adding at least two Pokemon that are weak to fairy types into a team just invites something like Lele or Koko to wreck your team's face. Against faster teams, you may not find a chance to remove hazards to send your Sun setter out and give Moon the Speed boost needed to deal with common Fairy types like Scarf Lele or Koko. A team with Tusk, Bolt, and Moon will find it hard to switch into Fairy types in general, I'd expect someone building a Sun team to pick one of the two Paradox Dragons instead of going with both. I also think Choiced Moon on its own is extremely overblown as well. It'll likely be hitting U-Turn or Knock off a bunch of times. a U-Turn spamming attacker is not too difficult to punish by going into something like Moltres to burn it, or Ferrothorn/Garchomp to jab it for a good 12% (even more if they are holding Rocky Helmet). Banded Knock Off seems great on paper, but if the opponent can just heal off the initial hit, then you'll suffer from a sizable damage drop-off against that target as Knock Off only does extra damage if the opponent has an item. Pokemon like Corviknight, Alomomola, or Toxapex will be inconvenienced by having their item Knocked, but if it means being able to wall your next Knock Offs with ease, I'm sure they won't mind. Choiced Moon's big damage button comes in the form of Outrage, which is a huge commitment of a move. The second you lock into Outrage and take out the opponent's first Pokemon, you give them the chance to do whatever they want to you on the next turn. They might send in their Fairy type and finish you off then and now, or go to their Ferrothorn or something and Thunder Wave you, leaving you crippled for the rest of the match.
Choiced Roaring Moon sets force you to get so many turns right to be truly devastating, skilled opponents may attempt to call your U-Turns, and in reality there's a chance you just get bricked by Knock Off's damage drop-off or get forced to make a trade or two with Outrage.
It also really sucks for Roaring Moon that it cannot pack all the moves it wants. If we're going with the standard Dragon Dance set then DD and Knock off are a given, but those last two move slots hold so much value. You'd want Earthquake for Kingambit, Iron Head for Valiant and Clefable, Acrobatics for Tusk & Zamazenta (You don't even OHKO Zamazenta with Proto Acro), Roost to heal, Taunt to block Toxic and T-Wave, and probably some other moves that I'm forgetting.
Much like Volcarona and Iron Valiant, Roaring Moon struggles to slot all the moves it wants to have, and with reasonable scouting you can figure out a way to handle whatever combination of moves the opponent brought with them.
I want to finish by saying that I don't think Roaring Moon is bad. Far from it, in fact. If it gets unbanned, Roaring Moon will be a strong but not overwhelming presence in National Dex, serving as a Dragon Dance sweeper or a choiced attacker, both of which act as a great boon and a great foil to Sun teams. It has enough weaknesses to keep it in check, and if you position it correctly, I think you should be rewarded for your play by being able to hit the opponent really hard with whatever your Roaring Moon has up its sleeve.
For these reasons I will be voting to UNBAN Roaring Moon. So, if you do think that Roaring Moon is fine to keep in NDOU, then I urge you to do the suspect test and cast your vote. Seriously, please, get requirements. I know a couple guys who are voting ban just to be chaotic trolls
(if one of you guys are reading this, I hope Roaring Moon Knocks Off your Leftovers IRL).
Free the Roaring Knight!