If you mean Quagsire, it's likely due to being used on a Stall team to great effect by SupaG Money, which demonstrated Quag's usefulnessWait. Explain Quagmire. Wtf?
My main man Quagsire is an Unaware wall with good typing that has access to Recover and Toxic/Stab EQ combo. With access to hazards he becomes much less of a progress drain when enemy Gliscor switches in. Recover instead of Rest (his competition Dozo's option) generates way less free turns for the enemy.Wait. Explain Quagmire. Wtf?
with that being said i do have to wonder why hatterene rose to A- rank. is sun more viable now because of or in due part to hatt, or can her rise be attributed to something else?
I'm still very surprised Lokix is as highly ranked as it is. How is a one-trick pony that good? I'm also assuming Irons Moth and Crown are rising largely due to Kyurem, since it's Kyurem is...what it is...Lastly, what is Jirachi doing to rise to D? I've faced it less than even some ZU mons. What kind of niche does it bring to the table?
Wait. Explain Quagmire. Wtf?
Why did Chesnaught drop? Mon is still a big annoyance whenever I see it due its decent gambit + ogerpon MU, recovery. Spikes, Knock, etc. I don't see why it was unranked given it's decent general match-ups into the higher ranks.
Probably kyurem being really annoying for it to deal withWhy did Prima drop?I feel like its still very strong mon..
One day more people will start waking up to Chesnaught's role compression qualities. Until then I'll leave you with a very lazy edit to get your minds rattling.
View attachment 671462
Haven't tried it this Gen, but I see 3 uses based on movepool and abilities alone, not even factoring in the tera types:C+ still very low, but I'm surprised to see Reuniclus on the VR at all. What does it do?
Haven't tried it this Gen, but I see 3 uses based on movepool and abilities alone, not even factoring in the tera types:
1. CM sweeper with Magic Guard. Can use Stored Power to break Unaware Mons, though vs everything else regular Stabs are better.
2. Offensive TR setter, both abilities work for this.
3. Regenerator AV Mon. Unlike Glowking, has Knock Off, which is a broken move.
Just wanted to make sure this is seen. Free Weavile from the shadow realm please.Not a question, but Weavile seems to have been deleted from the OP. Kind request to put my boy back on there
It is a decent pokemon on the hazard stacking boots spam styles that aim to minimize passive damage with Pokemon like Skarmory, Clefable, and Boots Ting-Lu. To my knowledge, it is mainly known for its use on one common team, but that team is quite good. It is also a good progress maker itself with Psychic Noise and Knock Off and has decent 1v1 MUs into several defensive Pokemon.C+ still very low, but I'm surprised to see Reuniclus on the VR at all. What does it do?
yep, just did. thanks!well seeing how kyurem is now officially banned from ou it should be removed from the rankings right?
Seconding this. However, with how favorable the post-Kyurem ban meta is for , I think Meowscarada should rise further than B+ Rank, to at least A- or A Rank. The kyurem ban unsurprisingly saw a rise to ice-weak or freeze dry-weak pokemon, as well as greedy builds stacking up to 4 of them at once, which easily takes advantage of thanks to Protean and its coverage hitting most of those Pokemon for STAB super-effective damage. At the same time, Meowscarada fits perfectly into the style of passive balance teams that Kyurem has been holding back thanks to being one of the most reliable progress-makers in OU. It is shaping up to be a mainstay of the OU meta, so I believe its rank should reflect that.B -> B+
Meowscarada is one of the tiers most reliable balance breakers in the tier, and that's mostly due to a few key traits. First off balance as a playstyle as it is right now doesn't use much immediate speed, and Meowscarada's speed tier usually allows it to outspeed everything on the field barring Choice Scarfed Pokemon, Booster Energy Speed paradox's, or Dragapult/Zamazenta. There is HDB Darkrai too but this option is more seen on Bulky Offense as traditional balance and fat balance is pressed for slots. The point though is Meowscarada is basically never going to get outsped unless either Dragapult is revenge killing Meowscarada or somehow gets pivotted in, OR Zamazenta comes in which is leveraging it's 1 time Dauntless Shield Boost and it really likes to keep it's time / Flower Trick Damage which is non-negligable for the dog as seen here
252 Atk Meowscarada Flower Trick vs. 252 HP / 88 Def Zamazenta on a critical hit: 127-150 (32.7 - 38.6%) -- 99.4% chance to 3HKO
This means to deal with Meowscarada for almost all Balance Comps is going to be defensively. Which, uh, there aren't many ways of doing so without taking several risk. First Choice Band Meowscarada doesn't have answers besides Corviknight, and Moltres who can't afford knock off. In terms of the former Corviknight is a bit more complicated specifically with the Rocky Helmet variants. Corviknight is always 2 hit KO'd to Triple Axel after Stealth Rocks, so it's moreso baiting in the Corviknight to Knock it Off first which isn't too difficult since there aren't other natural switch ins to Choice Band Meowscarada.
252 Atk Choice Band Protean Meowscarada Triple Axel (120 BP) (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 185-219 (46.2 - 54.7%) -- approx. 2HKO after Stealth Rock
At this point you can see how a well played Banded Meowscarada can get in and spread Knock Off before committing to very strong Protean boosted Triple Axels, breaking through Stalls, Balance and some Bulky Offenses.
There's still other Meowscarada sets, for example Choice Scarf who while not able to break reliably on it's own, it can threaten very well with Trick Scarf. However this does work against the idea of Knock Off spam so you'd have to first spread Knock Off to all of the relevant Pokemon you think you can Knock Off before you want to time your Trick, so that you won't have to knock off afterwards and risk knocking the opposing scarfer. It's important to mention that this set is particularly better against offensive teams due to Meowscarada's base speed tier, along with Trick being a key anti Setup option against Pokemon like Kingambit. You can genuinely rely on Trick Meowscarada as a late game kingambit check without risking any Sucker Punch 50/50 nonsense, and that's such a valuable trait to have atm.
Lastly there is the HDB Meowscarada sets and while I think these are the currently most underwhelming since the role for HDB pivot is so competitive, it's worth stating. There's a lot of value in having a long term U-Turn + Knock Spreader, and combing Meowscarada's coverage of Triple Axel this long term staying power is something a lot of fatter team's can't handle. The HDB aspect negates the previous issue of the other 2 sets hazards. See the main problem is without proper hazard control you cannot properly abuse Meowscarada's fast or strong U-Turn depending on whatever Choice Item you choose. HDB gives Meowscarada the freedom to be used on a lot more team compositions which I do think adds value to the Pokemon. Against Bulky Offense teams especially I think HDB Meowscarada does very well as a common problem with Choiced Meow is after getting the kill it lets in Pokemon like Kingambit for free which can be a pretty big problem depending on the situation. However HDB Meowscarada lets you get kills while being able to U-Turn still on whatever comes after, there's also the aspect of having all coverage at once furthering it's offensive potential in certain matchups.
Now in comparison to the rest of the B tier list, a lot of these Pokemon are either super specific to an archetype like Manaphy on HO, Ribombee for webs, Pelipper and Barraskewda for rain. I feel like Meowscarada doesn't fit into this idea. While yes those Pokemon define small niche subsets, Meowscarada has the versatility to be used on several Bulky Offenses, and less often but still seen on Offense or Balance archetypes. Meowscarada has enough unique options in moveset to be used for whatever is necessary of the team / teammates needs, and it routinely does well against Balance and Bulky Offense both playstyles which are pretty meta defining as of now. This is all to say Meowscarada isn't niche, it's not a hyperfocused mon specifically for 1 playstyle, it has the variety in possible options/sets to be personalized to what the team needs, and it has routinely an exceptional matchup against 2 very prominent playstyles. This is stuff I cannot say about....barraskewda...or Ninetales-alola
some 1800/1900 games of Meowscara doing well into stalls/Balances/BO
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2208696426-t1o85yxz9aes71310imzc93y8emb74vpw Stall game where I got a big triple axel into clef, proceeded to pressure everything else with Knock Off and they didn't really have an option against it
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2208684928-6g4qa7knh2crop5xzr15tdlkyphqmnqpw?p2 Similar idea above but first I baited in Corv with Meow to get the knock, later forced a similar situation with corv coming into meow but I triple axel to threaten 2 hit ko. Get up rocks and force damage on corv to where it can't roost and from there meow flower trick + Knock is pretty much un-answerable
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2209377915-u0gm1svsx8yy2phw5odbvtup4dlf765pw Here I was able to track Meowscarada's damage output for Moltres by forcing it in and getting the 2 hit KO with Knock Off, this later down the line really helped my Great Tusk who got some major value.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2207895867-2gm93dsqrx4oiiae273k54wketsalhspw?p2 Literally everytime it came in something was heavily pressured by knock Off, and even though they did tera fairy the garg but knocking off garg leftovers is still insanely valuable.
Just wanted to point out the love for Assault Vest Ursaluna that was being passed around here fairly recently. It's a pretty heat set, and wears the vest very well. Trades the ability to be a cheesy one shot gimmick to bring able to turn the tables on many sp.attackers.B+ -> B
This one is a bit surprising to me as Ursaluna neither completely defines a niche, or is above average on it's own. I'll be going over how Ursaluna fits neither of these categories but I'll explain the former first.
Is Ursaluna that valuable to Trick Room to warrant B+ / Is Trick Room that valuable to begin with in the current meta?:
We see in the B+ tier that it's Pokemon like Ninetales, Torkoal, stall Pokemon like Clodsire as well that are there because they define a niche that are pretty metagame relevant. Those niches being weather and stall along with other less common and impactful niches of rain, webs, and arguably Trick Room via Hoopa-Unbounds placement being farther down. In my opinion Trick Room isn't central or super relevant to the metagame and people rarely think of it when building as is. While Ursaluna is important to the Trick Room niche as a progress maker, ultimately it's over-reliance on Healing Wish from other Pokemon gives it significant enough drawbacks to where I wouldn't say it's the main star of the show. I think pokemon like Hatterene, Slowking-Galar, Cresselia the major setters and healers for progress makers are the central driving force to why Trick Room is even Possible. Ursaluna while valuable could be easily replaced, requires a lot of support from other allies to even be functional, and it's not the most important Progress maker of the archetype either. You could argue Hoopa-Unbound is more important since it functions as a setter + pivoter + progress maker for the playstyle. Yet Hoopa-Unbound is in B rank, and Hoopa-Unbound has even more options outside of Trick Room than Ursaluna has? This isn't to say Hoopa-Unbound should be higher but in terms of contributions to the playstyle of Trick Room I don't see how Ursaluna does much better than Hoopa-Unbound, if it does the job any better to begin with. You could also argue Iron Hands is more important than Ursaluna as it has self healing with Drain Punch while, while dealing similar damage after a Swords Dance, and is one of the few Pokémon on the playstyle capable of defending against Kingambit. . Also I just don't think a Trick Room abuser let alone setter is that important in the metagame to warrant a placement along the same tier as a Sun Setter, a much more potent playstyle atm.
Is Ursaluna on it's own merits, a good enough Pokémon to warrant B+ especially compared to the Pokémon of that rank?
lol a resounding no. You can literally argue Ursaluna needs the most support of all viable Pokémon in OU, and not because it sucks but because it loses so much HP over time. For one you take 6% every turn since it uses the Guts ability, which makes it's long term potential immediately very limited. Even outside of that so much Pokemon have ways to stall, whether it's Gliscor Protect or Iron Moth Substitute that you are likely to take even more damage overall. Another issue is Ursaluna is extremely slow so unless you have Trick Room up you are taking a hit, which admittedly it has great bulk but this problem tacked with the 6% damage every turn means you'll rack up damage very quickly. The defensive typing of Ursaluna is also pretty shit so the hits you do take when you're attacking are likely to be pretty big hits. It gets even worse when you realize hazard stack strategies are at an all time high, moreso for balance teams which Ursaluna is supposed to do best against. In fact the only other team comp that Ursaluna is usable on besides Trick Room are those semi-stall Alomomola+Ursaluna teams, but those have been getting less and less usage as the metagame evolves. Because Ursaluna takes so much damage whenever it tries to do anything it requires Healing Wish support or Wish support every time it's used, even on Trick Room teams where it's supposed to move first before getting hit. Wish and Healing Wish support isn't plentiful when it comes to options either as it's just Alomomola, Hatterene, and Cresselia currently. A Pokémon that needs THIS much support that can only be done by three Pokémon, shouldn't be and quite frankly isn't on the same level of viability of other Pokémon like Rillaboom, or Ogerpon-Cornerstone.
: C -> UR
C -> UR
Gonna rant here, so apologies but it needs to be said.
Why the fuck is this goofy ahh geometrical head ahh still in the UR?
Genuinely, what does this shit do?
Meteor Beam + Stealth Rock?
We have a mon like that with the same SpA as Necrozma but with a better speed tier and STAB on Meteor Beam.
Calm Mind?
Its not like we have a billion Calm Minders in the tier that have better stats/defensive typings/movepools.
Trick Room?
Trick Room is not ideal in this meta, plus you’d much rather run these guys, including Diancie who also has SR + Meteor Beam.
Dragon Dance?
There’s no instance where I’d use DD Necrozma over these two unless I was making a full DD team.
Necrozma offers no offensive or defensive niche that can’t be accommodated by much better mons in the tier. Pure Psychic does Necrozma no favors. Even with Prism Armor it’s getting destroyed by the mirage of Dark and Ghost types. Even just random U-Turns are a major issue. It has Heatran-levels of bulk but feels frail as shit. The only thing it can switch into is Zama which isn’t unique to Necrozma at all.
Throughout the whole year from SPL to WCOP to OLT to SCL, Necrozma hasn’t done anything of note.
To give a perspective on how bad Necrozma is, I believe Ampibom has a more legit niche than Necrozma. Too outclassed, too slow, bad typing, and a slog of other mediocre traits.
I propose that we finally get Necrozma out of the VR.
i know what you're trying to do here. caught in 4k. exposedthis thing is so unfathomably bad that ZU benchwarmer BELLOSOM has had more competitive success then it this Gen. Let that sink in. This thing is a legendary and has less usage then BELLOSSOM.