Suspect SV Pokébilities Suspect: Kingambit and Yanmega

[Ivy]

Pokébilities is suspect testing Kingambit and Yanmega!

Past the series of quickbans helping settle the meta back into late gen 9, it's time for a more interesting suspect! Kingambit has been a massive fixture of the meta since its transition to gen 9. With Defiant AND Supreme Overlord catapulting its power, it's a no-brainer glue pick that can be equipped to blanket check threats for almost any archetype of team. This has also led it to be one of the most popular picks to check other possible broken Pokémon like our friend Yanmega. Besides Supreme Overlord giving it free damage, the looming presence of Defiant on this powerful of a Pokémon leaves some functions and archetypes almost unusable, from simple Defogging to Sticky Webs as a whole. Fortunately, even if it were to go, Bisharp can still rock Eviolite and fill a similar niche as the King in a more reasonable fashion.

Yanmega, on the other hand, is a staple of the format, perhaps as iconic as Clefable. With newer tools under its belt like Psychic Noise and Throat Spray, its breaking capabilities became all the more unstoppable, rendering typical checks unable to heal after sponging some damage (which is almost never resisted due to Tinted Lens). To some extent, this is checked by Gambit, with that being one of the strongest priority users. But with that also potentially out of the picture, this insect is even more challenging to revenge kill. Some Pokémon like Kommo-O enjoy Soundproof nullifying most Yanmega moves, but a stray Air Slash can make short work of that. One could see themselves resorting to Accelerock just to remove this guy specifically. Does this dragonfly deserve the fate of others who had incredible ability synergy like P-Z? That's up to you.

SUSPECT REQUIREMENTS

The instructions to participate in this suspect are as follows:

• Create a new account on PS. You do not have to follow any specific naming convention, but your suspect account must have never played a game in SV Pokébilities before this suspect test went up or you will not receive valid requirements (resetting W-L does not count for this—the account you use must never have played Pokébilities before the test, full stop.)
  • You can use /rank to check if your alt is allowed to get requirements. Whenever in doubt, type /rank and it will tell confirm if you are eligible or not
• At any point on your new account, use the command /linksmogon on Pokemon Showdown! You will receive instructions on what to do once you run this command.
• Double check that you're listed as a voter here! If you aren't listed as a voter despite having valid reqs, please contact dhelmise, Giagantic, April or any other OM Staff member.
• If you have any questions about this new process, feel free to PM dhelmise!

The requirement to vote in this suspect test is a COIL value of 2850 (with a B value of 2). The deadline for getting requirements will be October 31, 2025 at 23:59 EDT.

Voting:
Once the suspect period is over, everyone who has obtained reqs will be tagged. The post will contain the link for blind voting. For now, follow the above "Suspect Requirements" subheading to ensure that you have achieved requirements and linked your account.

A majority of 60% ban votes is required to ban either Pokémon in Pokébilities!

TL;DR:
- Kingambit and Yanmega are being suspect tested
- The needed COIL value is 2850, with a B value of 2
- You can ladder on any name, as long as you have never laddered Pokébilities with it.
- You must link your suspect alt with your Smogon account using /linksmogon
- You have until October 31, 2025 at 23:59 EDT (GMT-4) to get qualified

 

[Betticus IV]

Been using this for the monthly ladder, been a really great anti-cheese balance especially with all the random offensive guys.

Personally leaning ban on gambit and dnb on yanmega.

Gambit as a wincon is already very strong in OU, but it feels cranked up to 11 here. Defiant punishing intim and any other form of stat drop is crazy, while pressure is very annoying for mons it can defensively switch into, such as Gholdengo MiR. This alongside with tera just make it too strong of a wincon that leaves very little in terms of actual counterplay. The above team is 6 gambit soft checks, but even in endgames when everything is chipped and it has ally boosts it can get shaky, with lines having to be played well as to not let a +2 gambit from winning on the spot. It doesn't help that this mon has great bulk and a good defensive profile pre and post tera. Essentially, Defiant + Supreme Overload coupled with its bulk is just too much for the tier, as it locks out multiple types of structures and forces limited linear counter play.


Yanmega has felt strong but like at the same time it needs so much to go right for it, if it isn't boots it takes 50 from rocks, can get phased out, and folds to priority. What sets it apart for me from gambit is the lack of defensive utility the mon brings to a team, and stats that don't let it live too many hits. It is a glass cannon that can snowball, but with proper anti-offense tools most teams should be able to handle the mon. At the same time I say this I realize I have been spamming Dragonite, probably its hardest counter, the whole month, which could be part of the reason I find it fine.