Metagame Sword and Shield Data and Speculation

[Manaphy]

been having fun on the ladder and some pretty good success with my alt boogus croogus, got into top 20 or so just messing around for 3 hours

some sets that I think are notable:
Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin

Nothing new here but I want to put focus on Air Balloon since people seem to love life orb. Air Balloon is particularly good atm since it allows you to bypass webs, Dragapult or Aegislash can't block Exca too well and you'll likely have the offensive momentum due to being in sand without a speed drop. It also works wonders vs. ditto or opposing Excadrill, they at least would have to sack a mon that could get a hit on Excadrill first before they could attempt to kill Exca. Rock Slide is also mandatory over Iron Head IMO because you can use the Dynamax rock attack and reset the sand at any point, and with Air Balloon this is more feasible as well. Pulled off a lot of sweeps out of my ass doing this.

replays to demonstrate: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ubers-1013802964
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ubers-1013866036

Eternatus @ Black Sludge
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spe (possibly a bulkier or more special attack investment possible?)
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Wave
- Flamethrower
- Cosmic Power
- Recover
Someone mentioned this earlier in the thread and it's actually really nasty to deal with most of the time. With Cosmic Power and the Speed this thing has he can get a ton of set-up opportunities, and being Poison he can't be toxic'd, and being special he doesn't care about burns. It's, of course, pretty weak but thats not the point, remember back in the day when Deoxys-D or Giratina could just exist in front of your pokemon and your pokemon would die eventually due to Pressure? This is like that, but you have some offensive presence, and both of your attacking moves can either poison or burn if you need some status in order to stall better. A lot of opponents simply had no way to deal with this thing and had to rely on crits to get any sort of work done against him. clearly not meant for all teams but with the offensive nature of the metagame atm this thing is pretty nasty, you can often make your opponent waste their dynamax on trying to take this mon down. it's also ditto proof AF. probably will be trash once necrozma-dm comes out so use it while you can!

replays to demonstrate: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ubers-1013729125
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ubers-1013877097

Choice Band Zamazenta is also dumb good, crazy how good he can break holes in the opposing team, probably the best set. hippo and aegi are good as expected

Overall the metagame is more fun than I expected, I thought Zacian would be a lot more overcentralizing than it already is, but we'll see how that plays out over time. haven't played against one yet but gothitelle also looks extremely dumb in theory

 

[Jaajgko]

I tried a balance with ditto, with my defensive backbone around ttar/quagsire/aegi. I wont really get deep into sets, one set that i enjoyed and can have a solid effect is the below one:

Eternatus @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Dynamax Cannon
- Sludge Wave
- Substitute

Sub lets you scout the potential Zacian switch, as well as set it vs other mons such as ferro,pex etc and has worked pretty well for me in ladder.

I used this team to go 54-0 and peak, although i think it has some flaws it was a fine ride. (evs and all are w/e)

Quagsire (i am using it with shed shell since gothi is spammed) is amazing in the meta, with stockpile making it able to handle all new ubers legends. Will try and post some more once i get a better view of the meta.

Cool team, but I don't think you need Stone Edge on Tyranitar and Sludge Wave on Eternatus. Instead you could run Twave on Ttar to punish Zamazenta, Zacian and Eternatus (otherwise it switches only once on Dynamax Cannon), and Recover on Eternatus for longevity. Maybe I'm missing some trends that are popular on the ladder so feel free to correct me if that's the case.

 

[Jhonx~]

Hey, I ve been playing Ubers lately, just found some sets that are already posted, but they are very effective, gonna share the stuff I built.

Sand Bulky Offense - Jhonx



This sand is based on Excadrill Sweep, Tyranitar set up rocks and its a solid answer to Gothitelle / Eternatus, also it can spread Thunder Wave to fast stuff that will commonly check it, mostly Zamazenta and stuff, I prefer this over Hippowdon because it dont get trapped and can set up Sandstorm a couple of time, also being able to hit Corsola its actually rly good, Excadrill Standard set to sweep under Sand, Zacian-Crowned its an offensive check to Eternatus and it can sweep almost any team unprepared, good speed and good atk paired of a strong movepool, Ditto Scarf to revenge kill Zacian or stop opposing set up, Rotom-Wash to avoid Gyarados and Excadrill from sweeping, this Rotom has enough spe to dont get outspeed by Gyarados while it maintain a bit of bulk, allowing Dynamax to check Zacian, lastly, Eternatus was a choice that im still not sure, Eternatus here works since it has access to Cosmic Power, allowing it to become harder to kill and it dont lose the powerful Special Attack capability, the spread its just to outspeed Dugtrio, with Max Special Attack as possible to bring down some threats, rest in bulk.
Actual Record: 22-0

Sand Semi Stall - Jhonx



Hippowdon is probably the best ground type mon in Ubers at the moment, it has good defense being able to stop Excadrill and some Zacian, it set up Stealth Rock in field, it has recovery access and Whirlwind to prevent opposing boosting, Excadrill here to sweep weakened teams under Sand weather, Rotom-H works as Zacian counter, and it has enough spe to outspeed Gyarados and KO him before he waterfall ur rotom, Toxapex here to set up Toxic Spikes and spread status, but I strongly recommend Quagsire Stockpile since it can take hits from Eternatus after Sp.Def boost, Ditto here to avoid being sweeped from an uncontrolable boost, and Gothitelle to trap Hippowdon or stall, helping Excadrill to sweep.
Record: 5-1


Sun Bulky Offense - Jhonx



This team idea was based on Ezaphs set posted in Sword and Shield Ubers Compendium, Ninetales can revenge kill Crowned forms of Zacian and Zamazenta, and thats actually good, Ninetales also can change weather and boost fire type moves, Dugtrio is here to trap Tyranitar and Excadrill, with Focus Sash it can have a shot to set up Stealth Rock but this isnt the best Stealth Rocks setter, Rotom-H loves sun since Overheat deals more damage to Crowned legends, and Water Moves are weakened, Toxapex spread Toxic and Toxic Spikes while Gothitelle traps Hippowdon, Bulky and Slow stuff, lastly, Zacian is just an sweeper that can switch into Eternatus, but be careful if Sun is active, Fire Fang in Zacian to dont lose to Shedinja.

 

[Rarycaris]

Fire Fang in Zacian to dont lose to Shedinja.

Wouldn't Crunch be better for this? More damage, and it also hits Aegislash and Gothitelle. I guess Fire Fang has the burn chance and hits other Zacian harder though.

 

[Jhonx~]

Wouldn't Crunch be better for this? More damage, and it also hits Aegislash and Gothitelle. I guess Fire Fang has the burn chance and hits other Zacian harder though.

Fire fang is boosted by Sun and it has % to flinch

 

[skullgaang]

Not sure if this has been brought up because the thread is super messy on mobile, but the original thread should be updated as Draco Meteor does exist - its move tutor is in Circhester by the Hero's Bath.

 

[Manaphy]

I think Stall is pretty viable in this gen, at least for the moment. You have to consider that there are basically only two mons in the whole tier for hazard management, Excadrill and Corviknight, both of which can be manageable. All of the cover legends are ground based and most things resist Stealth rock, which makes Spikes NASTY in this meta.

I think a core of Quagsire/Ferrothorn/Corsola is pretty solid, Quagsire covers Zacian/Zamazenta, Ferro gives you spikes and just is a generally bulky mon, and Corsola is your best bet for spinblocking against Excadrill and also gives you burn and stealth rock. Obviously you need some other mons to handle Gyarados or Choice Band Zamazenta or Eternatus, but it's a pretty solid start. Air Balloon Excadrill really shines here for being able to spin and clean up teams while ditto proof and ignoring webs/spikes, although I suppose you could also go with Corviknight as well.

here are some example replays against HO/webs/gothitelle:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ubers-1015198265
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ubers-1015210704
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ubers-1015202840


by the way: about the Eternatus set I posted above, you can swap Sludge Wave with Toxic to beat some things you normally can't beat in exchange for a bit less offensive presence. Nothing learns Toxic this gen so to have it on a fast mon that's also surprising for the opponent is pretty cool. Flamethrower will kill Steels so you only have to worry about opposing Eternatus or Toxapex.

 

[Nayrz]

Now that we're moving away from early speculation onto the metagame discussion thread, I'll be locking this thread.

Those with recent posts about the ladder metagame are welcome (and encouraged) to repost their post-release thoughts in the new thread.