So I'm gonna make a case for why Gholdengo is not broken and instead an extremely welcoming mon in the meta.
1: Hazard Stacking is good for the meta. Sure it promotes some HO but I'd say as soon as the truly broken stuff is gone (Palafin, Bundle, D-Nite etc) that, that will stop being the normal. It instead promotes offense to be much better than in S@S which like it or hate it was one of the more slow and defensive metas of all time. A change from previous metas is a good thing and keeps playing competitive pokemon fresh. Also it reminds me more of DPP/BW with actual spin blockers. I think it's great to not just be able to send in a Corviknight and instantly get rid of all hazards all the time and it makes you think more.
2: Air Balloon is not busted. Here's the problem with people saying the Airbaloon set makes it impossible to spin. On 99% of these teams Gholdengo is the only Ghost and more importantly the only Steel type. That means it regularly needs to switch in to take hits being one of the few defensive mons on a team, which means that Air balloon is gone usually on the first or second turn it comes in and then nearly every spinner in the game can beat it, it's also weak to spikes after Air balloon is popped which destroys the amount of things it can switch in on. And most defogger carry U-Turn which again pops Air-Baloon easily and makes it easy to take out.
3: 3 You can't run every set at once. People are saying Air Baloon is busted or that Specs beats its checks or that Scarf allowes it to things that outspeed it, or that nasty plot makes it a great sweeper and pull all the calcs out but it can't run all the sets at once. And it's relatively easy to beat all it's sets.
Air Baloon NP, it's easy to pop the baloon and then any ground type move/Dark or ghost type move will kill and universe Gholdengo.
Specs, it's slow even with max speed and is easily killed by a lot of mons. while 120 power Stab move is strong steel is a pretty terrible offensive type and it gets locked into a move that lowers its SPA. While shadow ball is spammable, there are a lot of great dark types in the tier and even normal types that can switch in and then use it as setup fodder.
Scarf: It lacks the power that the other two have. It's still outsped by nearly every booster energy mon. It stills has the choice problems of specs meaning lots of stuff can switch in on it. And it's still even outsped even after scarf by the likes of Pao. It also becomes complete setup/switch in fodder for Chi-Yu which is one of the scariest things in the game to let in for free.
Gholdengo is not broken via stats, movepool nor ability. It's an amazing pokemon both offensively, defensively and the best spinblocker pokemon has ever seen but it is not broken and the playstyke it enables is not broken either, rather some of the mons in it are and it eccentuates there brokenness. But it is completely beatable by spinners and by teams and should absolutely remain in the tier.
1: Hazard Stacking is good for the meta. Sure it promotes some HO but I'd say as soon as the truly broken stuff is gone (Palafin, Bundle, D-Nite etc) that, that will stop being the normal. It instead promotes offense to be much better than in S@S which like it or hate it was one of the more slow and defensive metas of all time. A change from previous metas is a good thing and keeps playing competitive pokemon fresh. Also it reminds me more of DPP/BW with actual spin blockers. I think it's great to not just be able to send in a Corviknight and instantly get rid of all hazards all the time and it makes you think more.
2: Air Balloon is not busted. Here's the problem with people saying the Airbaloon set makes it impossible to spin. On 99% of these teams Gholdengo is the only Ghost and more importantly the only Steel type. That means it regularly needs to switch in to take hits being one of the few defensive mons on a team, which means that Air balloon is gone usually on the first or second turn it comes in and then nearly every spinner in the game can beat it, it's also weak to spikes after Air balloon is popped which destroys the amount of things it can switch in on. And most defogger carry U-Turn which again pops Air-Baloon easily and makes it easy to take out.
3: 3 You can't run every set at once. People are saying Air Baloon is busted or that Specs beats its checks or that Scarf allowes it to things that outspeed it, or that nasty plot makes it a great sweeper and pull all the calcs out but it can't run all the sets at once. And it's relatively easy to beat all it's sets.
Air Baloon NP, it's easy to pop the baloon and then any ground type move/Dark or ghost type move will kill and universe Gholdengo.
Specs, it's slow even with max speed and is easily killed by a lot of mons. while 120 power Stab move is strong steel is a pretty terrible offensive type and it gets locked into a move that lowers its SPA. While shadow ball is spammable, there are a lot of great dark types in the tier and even normal types that can switch in and then use it as setup fodder.
Scarf: It lacks the power that the other two have. It's still outsped by nearly every booster energy mon. It stills has the choice problems of specs meaning lots of stuff can switch in on it. And it's still even outsped even after scarf by the likes of Pao. It also becomes complete setup/switch in fodder for Chi-Yu which is one of the scariest things in the game to let in for free.
Gholdengo is not broken via stats, movepool nor ability. It's an amazing pokemon both offensively, defensively and the best spinblocker pokemon has ever seen but it is not broken and the playstyke it enables is not broken either, rather some of the mons in it are and it eccentuates there brokenness. But it is completely beatable by spinners and by teams and should absolutely remain in the tier.
+4
