The Top 10 Titans of the Gen 7 DOU Metagame

[MajorBowman]

OP largely taken from Jordy's OU version of this thread

The Top 10 Titans of the Gen 7 DOU Metagame

​

With new Pokemon like Thousand Arrows Zygarde, Incineroar, Kartana, and the Island Guardians, this generation has been very different from previous generations. The big question that we will try to answer with this thread is "Which of all the Pokemon were the 10 most influential throughout of Gen 7?"

From August 25th to September 8th, you will nominate Pokemon that will be voted on for the top 10 most influential Pokemon throughout Gen 7. After that, you will all evaluate all the nominations and individually rank the Pokemon from 1-10 by vote. Of course, all nominations will count as long as they're reasonable and fit the criteria. Please keep in mind that we're not ranking Pokemon based on how good they are, but we're ranking Pokemon based on how influential they've been.

Here's an example format of what your nomination can look like:

Example Nomination

Nominating Pokemon

Enter sprite here.

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Explain how the Pokemon effected the metagame as whole, and how the metagame adapted around it. A brief description of which Pokemon it countered and which Pokemon it did well against would be good here as well.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Explain why this Pokemon was used on a team more often then most other Pokemon, and what was it particularly used for? What made it so good at this role?

What caused it to have a significant impact?

What exactly made this Pokemon have such a large impact on the metagame? Was it its stats, ability, useful resistances, amazing synergy, or the ability to sweep most of the metagame very easily? Did a certain Pokemon cause it to become that much better when it was partnered with it?

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?

What are the best checks/counters to this Pokemon? How does the metagame adapt to this Pokemon?

Make sure they look EXACTLY like this, or else they won't be counted. Make sure they are also very informative, factual, accurate, and detailed.

Banned Pokemon can nominated, as they were often some of the most influential Pokemon during their time in the metagame. However Pokemon that were quickbanned soon after their release (like Magearna, Power Construct Zygarde, etc) are not eligible as they did not have much time to make an impact.

You're allowed to reserve nominations, but make sure to finish them in 24 hours, or the post will be deleted and the Pokemon will be back up for grabs! Also, you can only reserve one nomination at a time. This is to make sure that your reservation gets done before you finish another.

 

[MajorBowman]

Current nominations:

• Marshadow
• Incineroar
• Tapu Fini
• Tapu Koko
• Tapu Lele
• Snorlax
• Landorus-T
• Mega Gengar
• Zapdos
• Mega Camerupt
• Genesect
• Mega Metagross
• Kyurem-Black
• Kartana
• Zygarde
• Mega Kangaskhan
• Tapu Bulu

 

[MajorBowman]

RESULTS
(click on the sprite for a link to its nomination)

#1 #1

#2 #2

#3 #3

#5 #5

#6 #6

#7 #7

#8 #8

#9 #9

#10 #10

Remaining Nominations

Tapu Lele
Zapdos
Mega Camerupt
Genesect
Kyurem-Black
Kartana
Mega Kangaskhan
Tapu Bulu

 

[AuraRayquaza]

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Marshadow has been easily the most controversial pokemon of the generation, having been suspected 3 times over the course of its existence with varying results. DOU with Marshadow allowed was a totally different tier from other iterations with games being much faster-paced, and a far smaller pool of viable pokemon. What makes Marshadow so divisive is that there are very convincing arguments for both banning and unbanning it, something which has caused seemingly endless debates of where it should be since its release.

Marshadows great speed and attack stats gave it very few checks and no true counters with its almost perfect offensive typing, and it had favourable matchups vs top pokemon at the time. A couple of examples are, depending on the set; Mega Gengar, Mega Salamence, Tyranitar, Landorus-T and pretty much anything else that didn't resist Ghost. However, all 4 Tapus and Intimidate users could often help you to trade favourably with Marshadow, which is often the best you're going to get from facing it.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

There were two main sets used, both of which were equally amazing. Marshadium Z with Shadow Sneak gave Marshadow a super strong nuke with a typing that is already tough to switch into. Back when intimidate Incineroar wasn't released, this could often claim a guaranteed kill in games with a little chip and made it very hard to play around.

The second set was a Life Orb set with either HP Ice or Shadow Sneak. HP Ice allowed you to snipe the two most common Intimidate users at the time, Landorus-T and Mega Salamence, picking up OHKOs on both thanks to the technician boost. This freed up Marshadow in the late game to go crazy with LO boosted STAB attacks. Shadow Sneak gave Marshadow a way to OHKO Mega Gengar, one of the few pokemon that can outspeed and KO it first. With the technician, STAB and LO boost, it was a very strong priority move that could take out a lot of pokemon much earlier than they might expect. This set also caused issues in the Marshadow mirror, which I will touch on later.

Such speed and strength meant Marshadows unmatched breaking power was very tough to justify leaving out of most teams. It could open up even the sturdiest of teams since so little can switch into it safely. It was best used typically in the midgame, once you have chipped the opposing team a little. Here you can start throwing out heavy attacks with little risk - the opponent will struggle to trade sufficiently with Marshadow if it is able to take a knockout every time it attacks. This slight advantage gain every time Marshadow attacks is able to snowball quite nicely into a favourable lategame, either by a sweep with something like Mega Scizor or just by having the healthier team, as was mostly the case with Metagross teams.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Marshadow completely shifted how DOU was played during its time in the tier. Games became less about positioning well and more about trading damage favourably. Pokemon such as Snorlax, which have since been found to be broken were almost non-existent at the time, and setup pokemon were much less prevalent because of spectral thiefs ability to not only steal boosts but also bypass substitutes. DD Zygarde fell off the face of the earth in favour of the Band set, and currently amazing pokemon like Kartana which are great but are weak to one of Marshadows STABs, didn't see any use. Marshadow only served to make the good pokemon better, and remove any place for niche picks in the tier.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?

Marshadows main strength is that very little actually deals with it. Some examples of decent checks are: Scarf Lele, Electrium Z Koko, Bulu (needs to be Scarf if Marshadium) and Fini. Incineroar is also a good way to slow down Marshadow because it can actually switch into its STAB Ghost coverage and get an intimidate off. Notice how half of the pokemon don't actually deal with it safely, and none of them can switch in without very real drawbacks. The best way to stop Marshadow is to make sure you don't lose too much when it does get off and attack. If you can keep up with Marshadows damage output you can make it manageable.

 

[talkingtree]

Nominating Incineroar

What effect did Incineroar have on the metagame?

Incineroar ushered in a different template for balanced builds, enabling pivot-focused gameplay to completely dominate in many areas. While it's not primarily used to be offensively threatening, its splashability also made effectively using slower, more defensive Steel-types like Celesteela and Ferrothorn considerably more difficult.

Since Incineroar was generally used as a glue and almost never won games outright, it didn't really force the meta to adapt that much. Threats that matched up quite well against it like Diancie and Gastrodon saw this more as a perk than anything else, and generally saw their popularity rise due to larger offensive threats like Mega Charizard Y and Tapu Koko, respectively. However, the already increased popularity of Stealth Rock continued its rise into prominence largely due to Incineroar. Having a guaranteed 25% off a Pokemon so centered around board positioning throughout the game was crucial for many teams, especially when other threats like Kyurem-B and Zapdos were also popular at the time.

In what main roles was Incineroar used?

Incineroar really only ever had one set throughout its time in the meta, but it only ever needed that one set. Fake Out, U-turn, Knock Off, and Intimidate are a utility Pokemon's dream, and teams could use Incineroar to facilitate the perfect field positioning. Slight variations were tried throughout, with a general shift from Assault Vest to a pinch berry thanks to Stealth Rock's ubiquity, but aside from the item variation and variety of similar spreads, Incineroar's moveset and role almost never changed.

Specifically, Incineroar acted as a bulky pivot; coming in on dangerous attackers both for itself and its ally on the field, using a slow U-turn to set its team up for future turns, and often sticking around for a long time to help its teammates shine. Teams rarely *need* Incineroar, but it's the epitome of a low-risk, high-reward Pokemon in that it really has no deadweight matchups (rain being the only shaky one, though Fake Out and Intimidate can still help there) and often does its job without really anything needed from the rest of its team in return.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Incineroar was almost entirely irrelevant at the beginning of the generation, but the release of its hidden ability, Intimidate, made it shoot to the top of the usage rates and the VR quickly. Adding a second great Intimidate user made Intimidate shuffling incredibly easy, with having both Landorus-T and Incineroar being tricky to punish effectively. Additionally, Fake Out users after Mega Kangaskhan's ban were few and far between, and they were almost exclusively used for Fake Out, rarely providing much else to the team. So, introducing a much more popular Fake Out user changed the pace of many games.

Still, it was only really the combination of 1) access to Fake Out, U-turn, and Knock Off, 2) Intimidate being a fantastic ability, 3) decent all-around stats letting it pivot effectively, and 4) a solid offensive and defensive typing that made it so impactful. When teambuilding, you might not have to wonder how you can beat Incineroar, but its presence made building with other sets/frameworks (CM Fini balance, SubDD Zygarde, Mega Manectric) so much better.

Furthermore, in the game, positioning strategy evolved considerably thanks to Incineroar. Fake Out, Intimidate, and a slow U-turn make it much trickier to ensure correct board positioning to take out a threat, and Incineroar's presence requires careful planning due to how few Pokemon can truly take advantage of an opposing Incineroar being on the field.

It was this evolution in game positioning that really brought Mega Gengar's clear strengths to the forefront -- a fast, offensive trapper is already scary enough, but with Fake Out, Intimidate, and a slow pivot from U-turn on its side, setting your team up to deal with Mega Gengar and its ally became very tricky. Mega Gengar often didn't even need to attack until the situation was perfect; using Protect and Substitute, it could keep the desired foes on the board while Incineroar pivoted into a team member that took advantage of those enemies. Mega Gengar was already strong without Incineroar, and in fact also thrived on some builds that lacked Incineroar, but this adaptation in positioning led the community to vote Mega Gengar banworthy.

A similar phenomenon could also be attributed to Snorlax's rise in viability, but this was more closely linked to its synergy with Mega Manectric and Gothitelle than with Incineroar; especially because Incineroar using Knock Off on Snorlax before it could activate its berry was nearly a death sentence.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?

Landorus-T, Diancie, Volcanion, Zygarde, rain in general, Gastrodon, Mega Tyranitar, and Mega Camerupt are all popular threats that have strong matchups against Incineroar. Still, with pivoting and Fake Out on its side it can be difficult to land a hit on Incineroar, so one of the main ways Incineroar is often crippled is through Stealth Rock. Even so, rocks heal Incineroar careful positioning can use Stealth Rock being set as a way to activate Incineroar's pinch berry, so chipping it down until you can take it out with a strong move without activating the berry is the safest way to get it off the field.

Various Pokemon adapated their sets to take on Incineroar, with the most recently notable being Buginium Z Volcarona. Some other examples include Earth Power Landorus-T (somewhat popular before Incineroar, but quickly became the dominant set by far), Nature's Madness from threats like Tapu Fini and even Tapu Koko, and Fightinium Kartana or Tapu Lele. Also, Lurantis and Tornadus sought to take advantage of the ubiquity of Incineroar + Landorus-T teams by being Physical attackers that only get stronger with Intimidate, and both carry Superpower on the majority of their sets to take out Incineroar.

 

[GenOne]

Nominating Tapu Fini

What effect did Tapu Fini have on the metagame?

Compared to most of Gen 7's influential Pokemon, Tapu Fini is decidedly bland and subtle, but its effects on the metagame were anything but.

Tapu Fini brings some balance to the terrain wars induced by the Island Guardians, being the only one to summon a terrain that can’t be leveraged for offensive pressure. Misty Surge levels the playing field for all Pokemon (besides Dragons) in a metagame that would otherwise be comparable to Gen 5’s weather wars.

This pairs well with the fact that Tapu Fini has been one of the best and most versatile defensive backbones that a team could ask for. It became the Island Guardian you picked when you didn’t want to lose a terrain war but didn’t necessarily want an all-out-offense Fairy-type.

But this all pales in comparison to Tapu Fini’s ability to prevent status moves with Misty Surge. This marked a huge shift from how DOU was played in previous generations:

Thunder Wave	Thunder Wave (aka “Yellow Magic”) was a staple in Gen 6 because of its potency as a speed control tactic and last-ditch RNG wincon, but the mere possibility of facing a Tapu Fini makes it sketchy to bring Thunder Wave to a match in Gen 7.
Swagger	Swagger, interestingly, became an entirely re-purposed move. It shifted from being an RNG wincon in Gen 6 to being a means for Tapu Fini to give its partner free Attack boosts in Gen 7. This was so effective that we moved to ban it.
Spore	Spore still sees good use because it’s so damn good, even despite Tapu Fini and Tapu Koko both discouraging it, but we’ve still come along way since Gen 6 where you could have three Safety Goggles holders unironically.
Toxic	Toxic gained popularity at the tail end of Gen 7 as a countermeasure to hyper-bulky threats like Chansey and Mega Latias, but it was irrelevant for most of Gen 7. Misty Surge still makes this harder to use.
Will-o-wisp	Will-o-wisp had utility in Gen 6, but I can’t think of a single Gen 7 game where Will-o-wisp did something meaningful.

We also can’t ignore how Tapu Fini has made people more averse to using Dragon-type attacks due to Misty Surge nerfing them. Draco Meteors from strong Dragon-types like Mega Salamence and Kingdra can still be still powerful in Gen 7, but Tapu Fini makes them much harder to use and many people opt out of them altogether. Kommo-o’s Clangerous Soulblaze, which emerged in USUM, is a bit of an exception, but Misty Surge is still easily the best defense against a +1 Kommo-o.

In what main roles was Tapu Fini used?

Tapu Fini is most popularly used as bulky Pokemon that can switch in to attacks comfortably, set Misty Terrain, and still do its job. Its EV spreads typically prioritize bulk over speed, with just enough Special Attack to hit a benchmark, and it is a notably effective pinch berry user. Because of its Fairy coverage, Misty Surge ability, and adaptable movepool, Tapu Fini often provides more value to a team than comparable bulky Water-types such as Suicune and Milotic.

When running Calm Mind, Tapu Fini works well as a late-game wincon that punishes players for burning through their physical attackers and dedicated checks too early.

However, many teams prefer to opt out of Calm Mind to clear room for support moves, in which case Tapu Fini becomes more of a bulky utility Pokemon. Its support movepool has only aged like a fine wine as Gen 7 progressed, but Heal Pulse is probably the most popular staple. Swagger was very effective before it was banned, and USUM Move Tutors introduced new viable options like Icy Wind and Defog.

Regardless of whether Tapu Fini is played as a wincon or a support, it also offers a lot of passive role compression, most notably being a decent rain check and a Pokemon that can stand up to Incineroar.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Even without Misty Surge, Tapu Fini is just a good and reliable Pokemon that is easy to fit onto teams, and it shows. When you look at teams that use Tapu Fini, they aren’t purpose-built to abuse Misty Terrain. Even if the extra protection against Kommo-o and Kingdra is a bonus, Tapu Fini just happens to be a flexible pick that offers a lot of role compression.

And it’s Tapu Fini’s natural popularity that enables Misty Surge to be so impactful to Gen 7. You build around Misty surge because you expect it.

Misty Surge’s omnipresence in the game completely changes how we view status moves, Dragon-type attacks, and the terrain war dynamics. And yet, these changes are arguably bland and unremarkable. The rules are different, but nothing about it is broken. You can’t complain about Tapu Fini in the same way that you can complain about Marshadow, Kangaskhan, or Shadow Tag, because you know Tapu Fini isn’t doing anything other than leveling the playing field for all Pokemon (except Dragons) to thrive.

And yet, if you removed Tapu Fini from the metagame, you would end up with a completely different metagame. It’s actually a beautiful metaphor to how Tapu Fini operates on the battlefield; bland, safe, but highly effective at what it does. And perhaps that's why the changes Tapu Fini introduced are so influential; they've survived since the beginning of the meta because they were justified changes.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?

All three of the other Island Guardians can technically overwhelm Tapu Fini in a vacuum, if they’re able to flip the terrain war in their favour. But brute force alone usually doesn’t beat Tapu Fini, and you definitely want to keep strong Electric-types, Grass-types, and physical attackers in the back to deal with it in a late game scenario. Kartana has emerged as a particularly effective check to Tapu Fini, being a fast physical Grass-type that can also square up against Incineroar.

Unless you have a lot of offensive firepower on your team, it’s usually best to try to jab with Tapu Fini a bit before going for the knockout punch. If you go for it too early, Tapu Fini’s pinch berry will activate and you’ll lose a lot of momentum.

Attrition through Stealth Rocks and Sandstorm can help wear Tapu Fini down, which is especially good versus the Calm Mind sets, but Tapu Fini can also flip those around as a means of activating its pinch berry. If you are able to win a terrain war versus Tapu Fini, Toxic can be highly disruptive to Tapu Fini’s slow-and-steady style of fighting.

The thing about Tapu Fini though is that it’s often times not going to be the most imminent threat that you have to deal with. Before Calm Mind boosts, Tapu Fini’s damage output is pretty unremarkable when it doesn’t hit for super-effective damage. Respect it enough that you don’t let it run away on a Calm Mind spree, but otherwise just try to wear it down when you can and apply enough pressure that it can’t mindlessly chip away at your team.

 

[Demantoid]

Tapu Koko

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Tapu Koko has been a premier offensive Pokemon throughout all of generation 7 due to its high speed and offensive power. Tapu Koko is one of the largest factors preventing greater usage of slightly slower Pokemon such as Naganadel, Greninja, and Mega Salamence. Tapu Koko's strong Electric-type attacks are one of the best ways of taking down Tapu Fini while also providing neutral coverage against many common threats. Tapu Koko excels against frail Pokemon or those weak to Electric but is generally useful against anything slower than it.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

The main reason to use Tapu Koko is its high speed stat. The only Pokemon in tier 3 or higher on the VR that naturally outspeeds it is Manectric. Koko's fast Volt Switch also makes it safer than most offensive Pokemon. Compared to other Electric-types Tapu Koko offers much more power (when Electric Terrain is active), and offers a more useful secondary STAB. Tapu Koko can also use support sets which can utilize Nature's Madness to deal damage and its surprise value to set it apart.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Tapu Koko's high speed and power almost ensure it will have an impact on the game. Offensive sets can be Life Orb, Z-Move, or Choice Specs depending on the team. The extra power from a Gigavolt Havoc or Specs boosted attack can be game changing while Life Orb provides consistent damage. Support moves like Taunt, Electroweb, and Roar can surprise checks or negate opposing speed control. This allows it to be one of the most splashable Pokemon in the tier being top 5 in usage for 2/3 DPLs. Its ability helps the team by reducing the power of Tapu Lele and Bulu while also blocking Spore from Amoonguss.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?

Tapu Koko has few hard counters due to how powerful its attacks are. Gastrodon, Chansey, and Amoonguss are some of the most splashable, reliable defensive answers to Koko. Others like Kartana and Landorus-T can check it but can be taken down after being weakened. Trick Room teams are also a great answer to Tapu Koko since they take away its speed advantage and often naturally include good defensive answers like Tapu Bulu and Mega Camerupt. Taking away Electric Terrain can be helpful, but the other Tapus tend to be easily worn down.

Tapu Koko's attacks are some the most common ones used to make EV spreads. The most notable example was Mega Gengar's most common spread which avoided an OHKO from a Life Orb-boosted Thunderbolt. Before Mega Manectric became more popular Tapu Koko's speed tier was also important for Pokemon such as Dragon Dance Zygarde and some Choice Scarf users. Pokemon faster than Tapu Koko usually provide little defensive utility or take up the mega slot.

 

[fespy]

Nominating Tapu Lele

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Tapu Lele entered at the start of Generation 7 with a bang. It was immediately feared for its high offensive potential, with the ability to do massive amounts of damage with STAB, terrain-boosted Psychic-type attacks and a 130 base Special Attack stat. Its raw power was obvious and flashy, and it was all over the ladder soon after Sun and Moon were first released, mostly being used to break through teams with STAB attacks. The Psyspam archetype was born, with Lele turning already offensive teammates such as Mega-Metagross and Deoxys-A into OHKO machines. Lele was also immediately recognized as a priority blocker, which led to fewer uses of things like Prankster and Aqua Jet. As hard as it is to believe, Tapu Lele was initially believed to be better in DOU than Tapu Fini.
However, as time went on, Lele’s shortcomings were soon discovered. A base speed of 95 makes it slower than many common offensive threats, and its lackluster bulk and lack of resists made it very hard to preserve. And if psychic terrain was not on the field, Lele just didn’t do enough damage to be dangerous. Psychic/Fairy STAB is an underwhelming offensive combination, and, aside from the occasional Thunderbolt or Focus Blast, Lele doesn’t have any great coverage moves in its arsenal.
As Tapu Lele became less viable as a purely offensive threat, it was forced to adopt new roles. Lele began to run Taunt as one of its four moves, and its niche was found. Taunt, combined with psychic terrain, was a very effective way of shutting down teams that rely on non-damaging moves. Pokemon like Zapdos and Suicune can’t click Tailwind in front of Tapu Lele, not even when next to a partner with Fake Out (read: Incineroar). Taunt Lele is great at preventing Trick Room, and is arguably the only reliable stop to Fake Out + Trick Room. The existence of Lele lowered the viability of Fake Out + speed control, especially with respect to fullroom.

All of the above were, by my standards, pretty conservative arguments. Lele enabled psyspam as an archetype, was decent at preventing Tailwind, and was good at preventing Trick Room. Still, that’s not enough to justify Tapu Lele a spot on the list of the top 10 most influential Pokemon in SM DOU. Get ready for a PhD-level thesis though ---- … ------- ;; : Tapu Lele is the unsung hero of the DOU metagame because it disincentivized cheese strats, especially in the early stages of the metagame. Tapu Lele (Psychic Terrain + Taunt in particular) stops priority, and it stops setup moves. Strats such as, but not limited to, Terracott, Guard Split, Baton Pass, FEAR, Belly Drum + priority move, and Anger Point, are all very hard to pull off when the foe has a Tapu Lele. From the very beginning of the generation, Lele has been present at all levels of the ladder, and its huge initial popularity scared off many possible cheese teams.
So, you may ladder with a Kommo-O team, and directly observe how Pokemon like Tapu Fini have a big impact on the usefulness of Kommo in that game. You might try to set up for a dragon dance sweep with Zygarde in another game, and get intimidate shuffled to death by Landorus and Incineroar. You may be smacked in the face with the obvious effects of these mons on the doubles metagame. But, in all of these games, working behind the scenes, is Tapu Lele. You just had your fifth match in a row against Stax’s sample team? Well, still better than facing your fifth version of Shuckle and Blissey. Got beat by the broken stag mon Gothitelle again? At least you didn’t just have to face some whack-ass Meowstic + Linoone team. Every Thanksgiving, when my family goes around the table and says what they’re thankful for, I’m always most thankful for Tapu Lele for reducing the amount of cheese in the metagame, and for helping to push the metagame into the relatively healthy state that it is in today.


In what main roles was Pokemon used?

1. Psyspam. Tapu Lele is used to set up Psychic Terrain for other strong Psychic-type Pokemon on the the team, primarily Mega-Metagross and Deoxys-Attack. This boosts their power in some situations by 50%, allowing them to OHKO a high proportion of foes.
2. Hyper offense. This has some overlap with Psyspam, but is more focused on blocking priority moves for frail teammates. Deoxys-A is probably the most common partner, but Pheromosa has seen some success as well.
3. Trick Room check. Tapu Lele is very effective at shutting down Trick Room by itself, allowing for the rest of the team to be built with less of a fear of Trick Room.
4. Offensive Breaker. As mentioned previously, this role was very popular at the start of the generation, but has become much less popular over time.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Psychic Terrain.

I feel like I’ve touched on this a lot already, but boosting Psychic STABs by 50% and blocking priority are both very impactful. Things that definitely did NOT contribute to it having a significant impact: its typing, lack of physical bulk, and offensive movepool.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?

Tapu Lele isn’t the biggest offensive threat- most teams don’t need a dedicated Lele check in the same way that teams must have a Koko check or a Kartana check. Really the best way to deal with opposing Tapu Lele is to just not bring cheese in the first place. A team that relies on Fake Out + Belly Drum turn 1 every single game is going to lose every single time to a Tapu Lele with Taunt.
The main type of competitively viable team that needs to worry about its Lele matchup is fullroom. Many poorly-built fullroom teams struggle immensely against opposing Taunt Lele. Some common ways around this are Z-Trick Room (which works even when taunted), Pokemon that can OHKO Tapu Lele if it chooses to Taunt instead of Protecting (ie Stakataka), Mental Herb, not using Scrafty, and running Tapu Fini or Tapu Bulu to reset the terrain in your favor and permit a Fake Out.

 

[Jrenner]

Nominating Tapu Fini

What effect did Tapu Fini have on the metagame?

Compared to most of Gen 7's influential Pokemon, Tapu Fini is decidedly bland and subtle, but its effects on the metagame were anything but.

Tapu Fini brings some balance to the terrain wars induced by the Island Guardians, being the only one to summon a terrain that can’t be leveraged for offensive pressure. Misty Surge levels the playing field for all Pokemon (besides Dragons) in a metagame that would otherwise be comparable to Gen 5’s weather wars.

This pairs well with the fact that Tapu Fini has been one of the best and most versatile defensive backbones that a team could ask for. It became the Island Guardian you picked when you didn’t want to lose a terrain war but didn’t necessarily want an all-out-offense Fairy-type.

But this all pales in comparison to Tapu Fini’s ability to prevent status moves with Misty Surge. This marked a huge shift from how DOU was played in previous generations:

Thunder Wave	Thunder Wave (aka “Yellow Magic”) was a staple in Gen 6 because of its potency as a speed control tactic and last-ditch RNG wincon, but the mere possibility of facing a Tapu Fini makes it sketchy to bring Thunder Wave to a match in Gen 7.
Swagger	Swagger, interestingly, became an entirely re-purposed move. It shifted from being an RNG wincon in Gen 6 to being a means for Tapu Fini to give its partner free Attack boosts in Gen 7. This was so effective that we moved to ban it.
Spore	Spore still sees good use because it’s so damn good, even despite Tapu Fini and Tapu Koko both discouraging it, but we’ve still come along way since Gen 6 where you could have three Safety Goggles holders unironically.
Toxic	Toxic gained popularity at the tail end of Gen 7 as a countermeasure to hyper-bulky threats like Chansey and Mega Latias, but it was irrelevant for most of Gen 7. Misty Surge still makes this harder to use.
Will-o-wisp	Will-o-wisp had utility in Gen 6, but I can’t think of a single Gen 7 game where Will-o-wisp did something meaningful.

We also can’t ignore how Tapu Fini has made people more averse to using Dragon-type attacks due to Misty Surge nerfing them. Draco Meteors from strong Dragon-types like Mega Salamence and Kingdra can still be still powerful in Gen 7, but Tapu Fini makes them much harder to use and many people opt out of them altogether. Kommo-o’s Clangerous Soulblaze, which emerged in USUM, is a bit of an exception, but Misty Surge is still easily the best defense against a +1 Kommo-o.

In what main roles was Tapu Fini used?

Tapu Fini is most popularly used as bulky Pokemon that can switch in to attacks comfortably, set Misty Terrain, and still do its job. Its EV spreads typically prioritize bulk over speed, with just enough Special Attack to hit a benchmark, and it is a notably effective pinch berry user. Because of its Fairy coverage, Misty Surge ability, and adaptable movepool, Tapu Fini often provides more value to a team than comparable bulky Water-types such as Suicune and Milotic.

When running Calm Mind, Tapu Fini works well as a late-game wincon that punishes players for burning through their physical attackers and dedicated checks too early.

However, many teams prefer to opt out of Calm Mind to clear room for support moves, in which case Tapu Fini becomes more of a bulky utility Pokemon. Its support movepool has only aged like a fine wine as Gen 7 progressed, but Heal Pulse is probably the most popular staple. Swagger was very effective before it was banned, and USUM Move Tutors introduced new viable options like Icy Wind and Defog.

Regardless of whether Tapu Fini is played as a wincon or a support, it also offers a lot of passive role compression, most notably being a decent rain check and a Pokemon that can stand up to Incineroar.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Even without Misty Surge, Tapu Fini is just a good and reliable Pokemon that is easy to fit onto teams, and it shows. When you look at teams that use Tapu Fini, they aren’t purpose-built to abuse Misty Terrain. Even if the extra protection against Kommo-o and Kingdra is a bonus, Tapu Fini just happens to be a flexible pick that offers a lot of role compression.

And it’s Tapu Fini’s natural popularity that enables Misty Surge to be so impactful to Gen 7. You build around Misty surge because you expect it.

Misty Surge’s omnipresence in the game completely changes how we view status moves, Dragon-type attacks, and the terrain war dynamics. And yet, these changes are arguably bland and unremarkable. The rules are different, but nothing about it is broken. You can’t complain about Tapu Fini in the same way that you can complain about Marshadow, Kangaskhan, or Shadow Tag, because you know Tapu Fini isn’t doing anything other than leveling the playing field for all Pokemon (except Dragons) to thrive.

And yet, if you removed Tapu Fini from the metagame, you would end up with a completely different metagame. It’s actually a beautiful metaphor to how Tapu Fini operates on the battlefield; bland, safe, but highly effective at what it does. And perhaps that's why the changes Tapu Fini introduced are so influential; they've survived since the beginning of the meta because they were justified changes.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?

All three of the other Island Guardians can technically overwhelm Tapu Fini in a vacuum, if they’re able to flip the terrain war in their favour. But brute force alone usually doesn’t beat Tapu Fini, and you definitely want to keep strong Electric-types, Grass-types, and physical attackers in the back to deal with it in a late game scenario. Kartana has emerged as a particularly effective check to Tapu Fini, being a fast physical Grass-type that can also square up against Incineroar.

Unless you have a lot of offensive firepower on your team, it’s usually best to try to jab with Tapu Fini a bit before going for the knockout punch. If you go for it too early, Tapu Fini’s pinch berry will activate and you’ll lose a lot of momentum.

Attrition through Stealth Rocks and Sandstorm can help wear Tapu Fini down, which is especially good versus the Calm Mind sets, but Tapu Fini can also flip those around as a means of activating its pinch berry. If you are able to win a terrain war versus Tapu Fini, Toxic can be highly disruptive to Tapu Fini’s slow-and-steady style of fighting.

The thing about Tapu Fini though is that it’s often times not going to be the most imminent threat that you have to deal with. Before Calm Mind boosts, Tapu Fini’s damage output is pretty unremarkable when it doesn’t hit for super-effective damage. Respect it enough that you don’t let it run away on a Calm Mind spree, but otherwise just try to wear it down when you can and apply enough pressure that it can’t mindlessly chip away at your team.

Much better job then I would have done!

 

[MajorBowman]

Nominating Snorlax

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Snorlax very quickly asserted itself as a major threat thanks to its obscene bulk, serviceable attack, and (most importantly) access to two very strong setup moves in Belly Drum and Curse. The former quickly makes Snorlax capable of OHKOing a vast majority of the metagame at basically zero net cost thanks to pinch berries and Gluttony, while the latter is more forgiving and harder to break at the expense of being slower to get going. Snorlax didn't pick up steam thanks to its ability to check one or two of the most common Pokemon or archetypes, but because there were few Pokemon at the time that could stop the runaway train. Snorlax's bulk was close to unrivaled, and it could afford to invest almost entirely in bulk thanks to its setup moves. This meant that it could quite easily set up in front of many more Pokemon than other setup sweepers. Eventually, moves like Knock Off, Taunt, and Haze began to find their way onto more teams and more Pokemon that would otherwise choose to use other moves in most scenarios. Pokemon like Gothitelle and support Tapu Fini became very popular as Snorlax partners and stuck around even after Snorlax's ban. Additionally, Mega Manectric was "discovered" around the Snorlax era thanks to its ability to augment Snorlax's already crazy bulk with Intimidate and Snarl, not to mention its status as an excellent pivot.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Snorlax was almost exclusively used as a late game win condition. Once Snorlax found itself in a position to set up, it generally didn't want to leave the field unless absolutely necessary. It could function as a pseudo pivot thanks to its bulk and semi-reliable recovery, but often times preferred a free switch on either a KO or a pivot to maximize its potential to win the game.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

With the rework to pinch berries in Gen 7, Snorlax was able to make great use of Gluttony and Recycle to have what can be thought of as a better version of Recover. Once its berry was consumed, it could Recycle to get its berry back and either use it immediately (akin to Recover) or save it for a later turn (better than Recover). The only caveat is that Recycle couldn't help Snorlax if it was hovering just over half health. Additionally, the decline of Fighting type Pokemon as a whole and low number of viable Ghost types (really just Gengar and Aegislash) was a huge boon for Snorlax. The lack of Fighting type Pokemon meant that almost nothing was hitting Snorlax for super effective STAB damage, artificially increasing its bulk by a decent amount. The lack of Ghosts meant that Snorlax could easily run a mono attacking set with Return if desired, though most people still opted for High Horsepower to smack the Steel and Rock types (and coincidentally the two aforementioned ghosts) that resisted Return super effectively. Double-Edge eventually started to catch on, not only as a higher power alternative to Return but for the utility that knocking yourself into berry range with recoil that Double-Edge could provide. All of these factors together led to the meteoric rise and eventual fall of Snorlax in the Gen 7 metagame.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?

The best way to deal with Snorlax was to remove its recovery. Knock Off and Incinerate both started seeing way more use when Snorlax became popular, with the latter really never really being seen before this point. They both had utility outside of Snorlax as well, of course, but Snorlax began to necessitate options like these on teams that had trouble dealing a lot of damage to Snorlax at once. Haze, Roar, Whirlwind, and Dragon Tail popped up here and there to neutralize Snorlax's setup after it had already happened, but the first was limited by poor distribution among viable Pokemon and the last 3 were limited by their reliance on withstanding an attack from a boosted Snorlax. Taunt preventing Snorlax from setting up or reclaiming its berry, which made it much more manageable to face. Another effective method to deal with Snorlax was to chip it to just above 50% as to not activate its berry and then use one very strong attack to finish it off, such as a Z move. The problem here is that most teams usually only carried one or two (if any) Pokemon that could actually deal greater than 50% to Snorlax at once, and these Pokemon were generally too frail to carelessly switch in on Snorlax; as such, this method required effective and sometimes risky positioning from Snorlax's opponent. This was even further augmented by the Gothitelle + Snorlax pairing, which could very effectively force Snorlax into positions where it could recover off any damage it took before, during, or after its setup with the combination of Recycle+Berry and Heal Pulse.

 

[marilli]

Nominating Landorus-T

What effect did Landorus-T have on the metagame?

Landorus-T has silently been the most reliable Pokemon in the metagame throughout all its changes. It remained as one of the top Pokemon in every phase of the Gen 7 DOU metagame with its complete package of Intimidate, U-turn, general bulk, damage output, defensive typing, and Stealth Rock. It has never taken over the metagame or forcefully warped it around its existence, but Landorus-T has been the single most impactful Pokemon in the 3 years of Gen 7 DOU metagame development.

Landorus-T has been such an integral piece of Doubles since its development that it can be quite hard to discuss its impact on the metagame. Doubles as a whole is heavily developed around its existence to the point that knowing how to play doubles involves extensive knowledge of its use and counterplay. Most effective teams are not weak to Intimidate shuffling, have Ground-type resistances, have as few pokemon weak to Rock as possible, and have Intimidate users of their own. Most good teams already have Ice-type coverage moves. Pokemon such as Mega Metagross and Tapu Koko are pressured to carry Ice-type coverage in fear of getting countered by Landorus-T. Many sets are geared towards improving their Landorus-T matchup as much as possible - Zygarde uses Substitute because it denies Intimidate shuffling; Mew generally uses its valuable attacking moveslot on Ice Beam; Pokemon like Lurantis get used at all. These things we may take for granted as common Doubles knowledge are effects Landorus-T has on the metagame.

Landorus-T is highly versatile, meaning that it adapted to the metagame as much as the metagame adapted to it. In early SM, it was the best check to the highly centralizing Zygarde. In the Marshadow metagame, it was one of the better defensive tools at disposal to cushion hits from Marshadow, despite the use of Hidden Power Ice on Marshadow. In the Mega Gengar metagame, it provided a synergetic teammate and an offensive check, and Mega Gengar also similarly used Hidden Power Ice exclusively for Landorus-T. Every Pokemon that deserve to be in this very list heavily interacted with Landorus-T, which is a testament to its metagame relevance.

Ironically, some of the greatest metagame impacts of it can be seen in the common defensive Landorus-T. Due to a high amount of Intimidate in the tier, Landorus-T often uses Earth Power for higher damage output onto Pokemon such as Mega Metagross (and Mega Gengar, when it was allowed). It is common to adjust the Speed of Landorus-T such that it U-turns out after the opposing one, giving it a momentum advantage. It also is commonly seen with Hidden Power Ice, as it is one of the best Ground-type resistances one can find for their team.

In what main roles was Landorus-T used?

Initially, in the early SM Metagame, Landorus-T was the Intimidate-pivoting, damage-dealing offensive Pokemon we've grown to love and hate from the XY metagame. It was seen with Choice Scarf, Assault Vest, or with Groundium-Z to push OHKOs onto bulkier targets. It was often most teams' best option for Intimidate, an incredibly strong ability in the Doubles format that allows the team to trade favorably and pivot with tempo. The only real other options for Intimidate involved committing a Mega slot - a tough task with Kangaskhan having a dominant presence in the metagame, or using the momentum-sapping Scrafty. It was also a popular choice for filling many teams' defensive checklists. Landorus-T had a valuable defensive typing that gave teams a Ground-type resist and deterred Tapu Koko from blindly using Volt Switch. Despite most teams already having multiple solid Ground-type resists and and ways to outspeed and KO it, Landorus-T was great at applying offensive pressure, switching out with U-turn on forced switches or taking quick KOs with its Z-moves and smart double targetting.

However, discussion of Landorus-T's roles in the DOU metagame would not be complete without mentioning Stealth Rock. Once considered primarily as a niche anti-meta tech meant to deter Zapdos and Assault Vest Kyurem-B builds, Stealth Rock was eventually discovered to be a strong move in general. Stealth Rock becoming a prominent feature of the Metagame was such a ground-breaking revelation that it retroactively impacted how previous generations of Doubles OU were played. Initially, people were scrambling for their Stealth Rock users and experimenting with a variety of setters. However, it was quickly established that Landorus-T has been the most accessible user of Stealth Rock all along. Intimidate, strong uninvested attacks and general bulk backed up by a Yache Berry or a 50% Berry allows Landorus-T to have an easy time setting up an early Stealth Rock and act as the team's cushion, sacrificing its HP for the greater good. In fact, Stealth Rock achieved its metagame prominence primarily because Landorus-T set it up so easily. Putting a Landorus-T on your team and opening up a moveslot on it was not really something that could be classified as a teambuilding concession - especially compared to how much one loses by dedicating a moveslot to Stealth Rock on Pokemon such as Ferrothorn, Chansey, or Mega Metagross.

Landorus-T's role has evolved from a simple offensive pivot with Intimidate, to a supportive Pokemon capable of quickly spreading chip damage for your offensive win conditions, while remaining an offensive threat. It was this role as a supportive attacker that Landorus-T found its new niche, which resulted in it never relinquishing its metagame dominance when Incineroar finally gave it a competition as an Intimidate user. Not only did Incineroar's arrival mean yet another Rock-weak Pokemon, but also its kit forced switches and benefitted from Stealth Rock just as much as Landorus-T itself. For this reason, it was rarely a concern to use both on the same team.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Landorus-T compresses above listed utility into a single slot. Intimidate and Stealth Rock are such integral parts of the DOU metagame, that having a reliable Pokemon with both is valuable. Its access to U-turn allowed teams to gain an upper hand in Terrain and weather wars, and save its Intimidate in play on the bench. Attack drops caused by Intimidate force more switches, which give the Landorus-T user momentum with U-turn and further chip due to Stealth Rock. All of this meant that Landorus-T did not simply fill out a checklist of utility moves, but had a highly synergetic kit that came together as a whole, allowing the team to run smoother and achieve its win conditions more effectively. And we haven't even touched upon ways Landorus-T has of dealing direct damage. Earth Power is a move that has limited resists, cannot be weakened by Intimidate, and hits Pokemon such as Mega Metagross and Incineroar quite hard. Offensive sets can invest in either its physical or special offense to score some quick KOs. Furthermore, Knock Off was a popular tool to deny the metagame-dominating Pinch berries that recovered 50% of total HP once activated. If you wanted an offensive team player that would chip down the opponents' defensive cores for your win condition, Landorus-T was what you were looking for.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?

Landorus-T has remained such an integral part of the metagame. Many teams carry Ice-type coverage moves, including Hidden Power Ice on their own Landorus-T, to trade favorably with it. Pokemon such as Mega Metagross and Kyurem-Black are particularly great at threatening it offensively. Special powerhouses such as Mega Charizard Y and Tapu Lele trade favorably against it, and Pokemon such as Tapu Fini and Tapu Bulu are also great at handling it defensively. However, it is very important to realize that having ways to OHKO it and having a Ground-type resistance does not make a Landorus-T matchup. Landorus-T is an effective Pokemon despite the metagame having already fully adjusted to it. Even when you can switch into Landorus-T and absorb hits from it, Stealth Rock hits everything unless Defog is used, and U-turn still gives momentum. Landorus-T may be threatened offensively, but it has already used its Intimidate to support its teammates, who will be better equipped to deal with the board. Landorus-T got Stealth Rock in play so reliably to the point that many teams opted for Defog to effectively deal with its Stealth Rock. Certain Pokemon like Mega Gengar used lesser-seen Ice-type coverage to catch Landorus-T. But instead of trying to counterteam Landorus-T or catch it off-guard, most teams just opted to play solid Doubles against it, using their own Intimidate and U-turn to pivot around for favorable matchups and chipping down the opponent for KOs - because that is the type of gameplay Landorus-T facilitates for both parties.

 

[fespy]

Nominating Ralts

What effect did Ralts have on the metagame?
Literally none. I'm submitting this as a call to action to the DOU community to submit more nominations so Ralts doesn't end up on the Top 10 list.

In what main roles was Ralts used?
Offensive Breaker
Ralts @ Choice Band
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Double-Edge
- Fire Punch
- Ice Punch
- Shadow Sneak

Gen 3 Special
Ralts
Ability: Synchronize
- Growl

What caused it to have a significant impact?
The DOU community only nominating 7 Pokemon after several days of this post being active.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?
You don't deal with Ralts. Ralts deals with you.

 

[Qwello Lee]

Nominating Mega Gengar

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

The combination of Mega Gengar's great offensive stats and its ability to trap opponents on the field made it so that some pokemon, such as fairies and non-yache Lando-T, were almost dead weight in Gengar match ups and therefore saw their usage fall off until Gengarite was deemed broken enough to be banned. In order to not be as easily trapped and picked off by Gengar some pokemon that would normally have been Gengar bait started running fatter sets: Metagross, Lando-T, Kartana, Incineroar were EVd to better stomach Shadow Ball and Sludge Bomb.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Gengar often covered two roles on teams: it was both an offensive powerhouse and a setup enabler. Its largely unresisted STAB coverage and fantastic special attack, along with its great speed tier, gave it monstrous offensive presence, especially considering that a pokemon that matched up poorly against Gengar was most likely trapped in, while its ability made it easy to remove checks and counters to teammates and mantain a board position that, along with Intimidate cycling from the likes of Incineroar and Lando, allowed setup sweepers, most notably Kommo-o and Zygarde, to boost safely and clean up.
The typical Mega Gengar set would look something like this:

Gengar-Mega @ Gengarite
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Shadow Ball
- Substitute
- Protect

However EVs could be moved from speed/special attack and dumped into bulk in order to reach certain benchmarks (such as LO Koko's Thunderbolt) and the third moveslot was really flexible, ranging from coverage (HP Ice, Dazzling Gleam) to utility moves (Taunt, Disable, even Trick Room and Perish Song).

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Gengar went from a niche mega in the previous geration to a metagame staple mostly because it benefitted from the presence of most of the new pokemon: in USUM most teams are using at least one Tapu, and Gengar's ability to match up favorably agains them and remove them to help teammates was invaluable: it was one of the best checks to Fini, preventing it from sitting on the field 6 turns and spamming CM/Muddy Water, it hard countered Bulu, threatened Koko should it win the speed tie and obliterated non-scarf Lele.
In addition to this Gengar profited from the introduction of Intimidate Incineroar in two ways: on one hand the new metagame staple became the best Dark type in the tier, making counters to Gengar like Hoopa-U and Tyranitar drop in usage, on the other hand it provided Gengar with a powerful partner, able to cycle Intimidates and use Fake Out to allow it to stay on the field longer, and to pivot out with a slow U-Turn to bring Gengar in safely. Moreover the generally slower nature of games made Gengar's ability to create and mantain a lead in positioning more valuable than in more fast paced metas.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?

There are several pokemon able to beat Gengar 1v1 preying on its rather poor defenses: Lando and Zygarde can tank any hit barring HP Ice and OHKO back, most Dark types, such as the previously mentioned TYranitar and Hoopa-U hard counter it and most scarfers can outspeed it and hit it hard. However Gengar's ability to pickand choose what it's matched up against means that a smart player can avoid putting its Gengar in dangerous situations until it has done its job.

 

[Amaranth]

Nominating Zapdos



What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Zapdos remained relevant throughout the entirety of SM DOU's course as one of the premiere Tailwind users. His usage fluctuated based on the metagame around him but he remained a relatively stable presence throughout. He excelled in early SM, when Trick Room teams hadn't really been popularized yet and Tailwind was the speed control of choice for most teams. Things weren't so bright in the days of Mega Gengar + Zygarde cores and Snorlax teams, and after those were removed from the metagame Zapdos had to deal with the discovery of Kartana and popularization of a variety of Trick Room teams, so he never really recovered to his former glory given the extra competition and counterplay; nonetheless, he continued to skirt around the top 10-15 spots in the usage charts throughout all of the struggles, thanks to its access to Tailwind coupled with a few important positive match ups against popular pokemon such as Landorus-T and Tapu Bulu, as well as a somewhat rare resistance to Flying-type attacks. For a large portion of SM's lifetime wanting to run Tailwind pretty much implied Zapdos's presence, and even after months of relative decline he is a solid choice for the role.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

The scarce distribution of Tailwind meant that Zapdos had relatively little competition for the role, and although Kartana eventually emerged to give him just that, he remained above options such as Mew and Suicune due to their really lacking damage output, while other Tailwind users such as Mega Charizard Y, Mega Latias, and Mega Salamence often had too high of an opportunity cost since they take up a Mega slot, and also had issues such as defensive vulnerabilities and 4MSS. Zapdos established himself as the main Tailwinder mostly because all the other Tailwinders (bar Kartana) had multiple issues that need to be covered, and Zapdos doesn't struggle quite as much.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Tailwind is an incredibly potent move, especially so when used on a Pokemon with good bulk, sufficient damage output, and defensive typing to get free turns against Landorus-T, the most popular Pokemon in the tier. Zapdos had an especially easy time when paired with Tapu Fini: Heat Wave pressures the Grass-types that would scare Tapu Fini away, which in turn allowed it to set up Calm Minds relatively comfortably and quickly turn into a threat with SpAtk boosts and a Tailwind behind its back. Tapu Fini could in turn threaten the only strong Ice-type in the tier in Kyurem-Black as well as a few other Pokemon that normally threaten Zapdos such as Zygarde or any Rock-types. It also enabled the option of a Misty Seed + Roost set which made Zapdos even more durable and tougher to take down. However Tapu Fini is far from its only notable teammate, as Tailwind enables all sorts of relatively unpopular Pokemon to shine, some examples being Hoopa-Unbound, Volcanion, and Buzzwole.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?

Trick Room takes the opponent's Tailwind and turns it into an advantage, so teams with the option to use that move often end up turning Zapdos into a very mediocre Pokemon. This is especially aggravating because many common Trick Room setters typically run an Ice move (Porygon2, Cresselia) or even a Rock-type STAB in the case of Diancie. Another notable weakness is the inability to hit a select list of very threatening Pokemon: Electric-types such as Tapu Koko, Ground-types such as Mega Swampert or Zygarde, and Dragon-types such as Mega Latias or Kyurem-Black all have a relatively easy time switching in against any of Zapdos's attacks, which means there is a lot of pressure on Zapdos's teammate to be able to scare those away, as they are all Pokemon that can really change the game if given one too many turns - they have to fight an uphill battle against the speed control offered by Tailwind though, so it's not as severe of a weakness as it may seem. Zapdos is also quite vulnerable to Toxic, especially Roost sets, and he is not protected by Misty Terrain, so it is usually quite easy to land the move on it if you choose to. Snarl quickly turns its damage output into something absolutely pitiful, and will generally force Zapdos to switch out and gift some momentum back to the opposition. Shadow Tag deserves a special mention as something that loves playing against passive Pokemon such as Zapdos and can really turn its lack of direct offensive pressure into a real problem.

 

[GenOne]

Nominating Mega Camerupt

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Alternative Trick Room sweepers technically exist, but nobody ever said, “damn I’m too Abomasnow weak, I need a Roar Suicune on my team.” Mega Camerupt singlehandedly makes Trick Room preparedness mandatory in Gen 7 teambuilding, even if this Tier 4’ titan is far from the best Pokemon in DOU.

While it was held back in Gen 6 by its absolute cowardice towards Bulky Water-types, Mega Camerupt found new confidence in Gen 7 with a terrain-boosted Nature Power capable of OHKO’ing their newfound kryptonite, Tapu Fini. With bulky Water-types no longer being exempt from Mega Camerupt’s wrath, opponents who didn’t have the foresight to prepare for Trick Room were quickly caught with their pants down against unwavering onslaughts of strong Fire- and Ground-type attacks.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Mega Camerupt is a bulky all-out-attacker that punishes teams for failing to prevent Trick Room. Inside of Trick Room, Mega Camerupt is basically a hyper offense Pokemon with a 252 HP EV investment. Its STAB-boosted and Sheer Force-Boosted Fire/Ground attacks offer great offensive coverage and are very difficult for most Pokemon to switch into. The most popular variant of Mega Camerupt makes use of Nature Power (boosted by Grassy Terrain or Electric Terrain) to snipe threatening Water-types, but depending on the team’s needs Substitute or HP Ice are also viable options for its third moveslot.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Before Mega Camerupt was introduced to Gen 7, fully dedicated Trick Room teams were possible but not inherently viable. The closest thing we had to a dedicated Trick Room sweeper was Belly Drum Snorlax, and that required intricately executed setup to work effectively.

Soon after Mega Camerupt was introduced, a rigid but effective framework for “fullroom” teams emerged. The earliest formula involved:

• Mega Camerupt, the offensive breaker
• Tapu Bulu, the panic button versus water-types
• Bronzong, a Pokemon that set Z-Trick Room then fired off accurate Hypnosis attacks
• Another Trick Room setter like Diancie; and
• Scrafty, to Fake Out anything that could stop Trick Room from setting up

This framework has served to be a staple team in a DOU’ers teambuilder, even if the exact composition changed over time. For example, Bronzong is less popular now because Pokemon like Porygon2 are more consistent at setting Trick Room, which is the main priority for this type of team. But for the most part, Camerupt Trick Room is a linear archetype with few options to innovate yet it works because it is designed to punish opponents that didn’t respect Trick Room enough to build countermeasures to it. (People forget to respect Trick Room more often than you’d think.) The most relevant deviation from this statement, in my opinion, is SMB’s Camerupt + Tapu Koko semiroom team that can also function outside of Trick Room, but most people running Camerupt are gunning for fullroom strats.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?

Click x upon realizing you brought no Trick Room checks.

I’m not kidding.

I’m literally not kidding.

At all.

But this is the whole premise behind why Mega Camerupt teams are able to score wins. If you respect Trick Room enough to prepare for it, you can build a team that pressures Trick Room setters and can endure 5 turns of Trick Room sweepers like Mega Camerupt dictating the pace of the match.

Camelroom teams are more scared of you than you are of it; if they can’t get the Trick Room train rolling on in the early game, the team will spend the entire game floundering for an opening to set Trick Room without a promise of actually getting to set Trick Room.

Prioritize shutting down Trick Room at all costs, and you will keep yourself in a winning position.

But don’t underestimate what it takes to shut down a Mega Camerupt Trick Room team. The best Mega Camerupt users know that Trick Room is key to their success, so they will go to absolutely insane measures to ensure that Trick Room is set. (A level 1 Bruxish paired with a Choice Scarf + Final Gambit Victini isn’t off the table.) If you’re hoping that Fake Out Incineroar or Spore Amoonguss is enough to secure you vs. high-level Mega Camerupt Teams, you’re in for lots of disappointment.

The best defense against fullroom teams with Mega Camerupt is to incorporate bulky but strong attackers that don’t mind moving last. Tapu Fini and Zygarde are two notable examples of Pokemon that are adept at taking hits from strong Pokemon before retaliating. Substitute Volcanion also applies huge pressure to Camelroom teams if it can set sub at the right time.

The inherent concept of Mega Camerupt is to punish you for failing to prevent Trick Room from being set, but this Pokemon is not without exploitable weaknesses and it only has about five turns per match to apply pressure before the power dynamics reverse.

 

[Platinum God n1n1]

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?
Long before Incin was viable, Pyspam was a brand new arch-type, it was powerful for sometime. Scarf Genesect was one of the first best checks to that. It has maintained its viability even as pyspam has lost its. As trapping with mega-gengar and goth reach peak popularity genesect's popularity rose because of its Uturn. Big move pool, good typing, and powerful attack thanks it its ability makes it is the best scarf user in gen7. also not bad with Avest.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?
Its mainly a scarf mon

What caused it to have a significant impact?
As mentioned, it gave a good check to popular play styles and very splash able.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?
Usually Speed control like Tailwind and TR. Bulky mons with fire moves give it a hard time too

 

[Mako]

Nominating Metagross Mega

What effect did Metagross Mega have on the metagame?

Metagross Mega it's probably one of the most dominant Pokemon of the entire USM metagame. Its main role is being a offensive threat thanks to its ability Clear Body, which denies any stat change(besides Mold Breaker/Teravolt(...) Pokemon like Kyurem-Black, which can slow its speed no matter what) such as intimidate. It does pretty well against Tapu's as well, which are almost mandatory on every team. However, this Pokemon isn't unbeateable, after mega-evolving, it can be easily to be pivoted around common intimidaters like Landorus-T and Incineroar, which both cover their weaknesses very well from Metagross(Ice Punch-Stomping Tantrum).

In what main roles was Metagross Meta used?

Metagross Mega can adapt to almost every archetype besides fullroom. Hyperoffense and balance are its main team composition.

One of its virtues is having an almost perfect coverage movepool, while Iron head it's essential on it, can also run Ice Punch/Thunder Punch/Hammer Arm/Stomping Tantrum, which only a few Pokemon can wall. Tapu Lele is also one of its best teammates due to its ability to stop priority moves such as Sucker Punch, and boosting its Zen Headbutt.

With this threat messing around, every single team must have an answer to it if you don't want to autolose from there, with the necessary support, this Pokemon can easily smash a game.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

With the release of USM, Metagross obtained Stomping Tantrum as a move, while without it, can be easily walled by common treats of early USM such as Aegislash. Stomping Tantrum is almost a must on it if you don't want to be walled by Incineroar, unless it already has Hammer Arm, also having the speed 'boost' on the same turn when mega evolving helped it alot, since Heatran was one of the biggest threats in gen6.

As I said before, Tapus are almost essential on every team, which Metagross can take advantage of that, besides Tapu Koko that can pivot safely against it with Volt Switch, the rest of the Tapus can be hardly punished by Metagross.


How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?

Rain teams can easily make Metagross a dead weight, as its only answer to e.g Mega Swampert is Zen Headbutt, which is hard to hit due to its usually outspeeded by it.

Outside of rain, Pokemon like Gastrodon can deal with Metagross very decently, the only move it can touch it is Zen Headbutt, but if the Gastrodon user notices that Metagross isn't paired with Tapu Lele, the odds that it have Zen Headbutt are low.

Intimidating pivot: if you can force Metagross to mega evolve, it will way more easy to pivot against, mainly Incineroar, Landorus-T and Manectric Mega can take advantage of that.

 

[umbry]

Nominating Kyurem-Black

What effect did Kyurem-Black have on the metagame?

Its great offensive typing and overall bulk paired with a lot of utility made Kyurem-Black one of the most popular pokemon in the metagame. Being able to be both a defensive and offensive presence allows it to take at least one hit from almost any offensive threat and fire back with powerful attacks, its ice stab is one of the strongest since it's one of the easiest way to get rid of ground types like landorus-therian and zygarde and also flying types such as zapdos and salamence. Its coverage, supportive movepool and variety of sets makes it a very splashable pokemon, moreover poeple have to figure out what set kyurem is running when facing it in order to not get caught off guard. Due to its lack of recovery Kyurem doesn't enjoy long switching battles, so people try to use kyurem's offensive power to break in the early-mid game to enable his teammates to sweep after it gets worn down (and that's also why heal pulse users like chansey and tapu fini work well with it).

In what main roles was Kyurem-Black used?

Kyurem is mainly used to create holes in the enemy teams, looking for an opportunity to open the way for its teammates, running offensive sets as well as more defensive ones. It mostly runs 3 sets:

1. AV. Its typing and stats combined with Assault Vest allow Kyurem to answer specific threats more reliably with its stab and amazing coverage in fusion bolt and earth power, icy wind is for speed control which is always useful and can save you from late game cleaners in case of an awful positioning. Hp fire and dragon tail are also viable options over earth power, the first one to surprise X4 weak steels, the second one to mainly adjust the trickroom matchup, however it can also be crucial to force out setup sweepers.
2. Z-Move. Mainly Z-Freeze shock, making it able to surprise a good portion of the metagame if landed correctly
3. Life Orb. It's the other offensive set, used to provide sustained damage

What caused it to have a significant impact?

There has been an increase of bulky ground and water types and KyuB does a pretty good job in checking them due to its typing and natural bulk. Not to mention its versatility made it able to fit a wide variety of teams.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?

There are plenty of ways to deal with Kyurem, first of all, using stealth rocks as soon as possible helps you have a reliable way of wearing it down since the majority of teams lack a remover. Steel types (metagross, genesect, kartana), fairies (tapus and diancie) and powerhouses like Zard-Y can kill Kyurem after little damage, also intimidate shuffling can easily turn it into a setup fodder for cleaners such as volcarona, tapu fini and scizor.

 

[Tman]

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Kartana overcame it's pitiful special bulk to become one of the more threatening offensive threats of Gen 7 OU. Kartana snowballs harder than probably any other Pokemon in the tier because of Beast Boost. Kartana forces teams to position carefully because upon taking one KO, if not immediately answered, Kartana is able to steal an absurd amount of momentum, leading teams to quick and decisive wins.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Kartana has been used very commonly as a Z move user, which allows it to push for Beast Boosts far earlier than any of it's other sets. Usually paired with either Substitute to block intimidates and to make Kartana harder to KO, or Swords Dance to push it's Z move OHKO potentially even higher (as well as to threaten a KO on Incin with +1 Sacred Sword), Z move Kart has made waves as one of the most threatening burst damage options in the tier. The bulky berry set is also fairly common. Despite often seeing use when a Z move is already taken, it allows Kart to sit on the field and apply pressure longer than it's Z move counterpart. Being bulkier also allows it to utilize Tailwind more effectively, though Substitute still sees a decent amount of play on this set. Focus Sash and Assault Vest have also seen use in Gen 7, but have fallen off drastically in favor of the former two sets.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Despite just being an threatening offensive option on it's own, Kartana is one of the best checks to Tapu Fini in the tier, as only Tapu Koko and Tapu Bulu, really push for KOs on a similar level. Additionally, despite Incineroar being a fire type Intimidate user, Kartana's near universal usage of Sacred Sword forces some neat interactions in Kartana's favor the later you get into games. If Incin has to eat damage, say from Stealth Rocks, it can quickly get into the the range that allows Kartana to KO with Sacred Sword, even from -1.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?

Kartana's real weakness comes in the form of a 4x fire weakness, paired with an abysmal Special Defense stat. Stray HP Fires can really sweep the rug out from under Kart players. Otherwise, using Landorus-T and Incineroar to Intimidate it can slow it down, but isn't fool proof given that Bloom Doom still does a ton to Landorus-T, and Sacred Sword threatens Incin. Otherwise, fat resists with fire moves such as Heat Wave Zapdos are a good answer. Any special attacker can threaten Kart, often with a 2hko, they just need enough time to do so.

 

[talkingtree]

Nominating Zygarde



What effect did Zygarde have on the metagame?

The most notable effect Zygarde had was to severely limit the pool of what was considered a resistance to Ground. Pokemon like Zapdos, Celesteela, and Rotom-W that would otherwise be great answers to Ground-type attacks were no longer viable as your sole answer. Its bulk and the ability to hit every Pokemon in the tier with only one move that also deals spread damage made mono-attacking setup or Choice Banded sets viable, each of which few other Pokemon could boast the ability to run effectively. Ice-type attacks, which were already quite common due to Landorus-T's presence, became nearly mandatory on most teams, and defensive Steel-types were pressured to have some way to deal with Zygarde lest they risk giving it free setup.

In what main roles was Zygarde used?

Zygarde had two main sets that succeeded throughout the generation: Dragon Dance and Choice Band. The popularity of each varied a bit depending on the way the meta trended, but both had ways of adapting so that they never really fell out of favor. For example, Dragon Dance sets could run either Extreme Speed or Substitute; they sometimes (albeit rarely) even ran coverage moves boosted by a Z-Crystal like Iron Tail, Superpower, or Outrage to surprise specific threats. Choice Banded sets latched onto the use of Thousand Waves for some added team utility, but aside from Thousand Arrows and Extreme Speed, sets could vary significantly. Superpower, Dragon Tail, Stone Edge, Thousand Waves, and Stomping Tantrum all saw varying levels of use, letting Zygarde mold its set to best help its teammates.

The main constant between all of Zygarde's sets is the value of a boosted Thousand Arrows -- strong spread damage with no immunities was Zygarde's main draw, and many teams benefitted greatly from its ability to clean up at the end or punch holes in the early- or mid-game. Although it wasn't commonly used for its defensive prowess, its bulk and resistances to Fire-, Electric-, and Rock-type attacks let it switch in on various threats for its teammates and in turn punish them.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Thousand Arrows is almost entirely to only reason that Zygarde became a metagame staple in Generation 7. In XY, Zygarde was around, but with only Land's Wrath for a signature move, it was greatly overshadowed and outclassed by other Ground-types. Resistances to Ground-type attacks became relegated to Grass- and Bug-types, many of which like Amoonguss, Ferrothorn, and Volcarona had secondary types that made Thousand Arrows deal neutral damage. Even at the end of the generation, the only Pokemon on the VR that truly resist the move are Tapu Bulu, Lurantis, Araquanid, and Ludicolo. Zygarde's ability to rely on only one attack gave it and its team a lot of flexibility, especially with so many popular Pokemon in the meta suffering from a weakness to Ground -- including Mega Metagross, Tapu Koko, Incineroar, Volcanion, Diancie, Mega Camerupt, and Mega Gengar. With the right field conditions and board positioning, Zygarde can greatly threaten all of these.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?

Ice-type attacks were already popular thanks to the prevalence of Landorus-T, but they were doubly valuable thanks to Zygarde's presence. Intimidate helped curtail some of Zygarde's effectiveness, but most of the common Intimidate users couldn't do much to Zygarde, so it wasn't nearly as reliable as for other physical attackers. Defensively, physically bulky Pokemon like Tapu Fini, Tapu Bulu, and Porygon2 could take hits from Zygarde and threaten it, and with the proper speed control many threats could hurt Zygarde. However, thanks to its bulk, players often needed multiple decently strong attacks to take it down.

 

[Sasa]

Nominating Mega-Kangaskhan

Adding this sprite took 8 tries stg

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Mega-Kangaskhan centralized the metagame around itself. Due to its bulk and ability to chunk every Pokemon on a team, teams had to pack multiple answers to Mega-Kangaskhan, and even then it was difficult to beat. This could be seen in the SPL usage stat shortly before its ban, boasting an absurd 73% winrate, and creating a disincentive to use any other Mega Pokemon, essentially creating a Mega-Pokemon monopoly of Mega-Kangaskhan or Mega Gengar, one of its few effective counters. Kangaskhan was such a threat that otherwise unviable items such as Rocky Helmet started being utilized.

Additionally, it helped establish the first competitive fullroom team in SM, due to it being one of the few mega Pokemon that fits on Fullroom combined with its access to Fake Out. Mega-Kangaskhan helped establish a niche for fullroom in SM, and laid out the foundation for fullroom teams for later SM fullroom teams.

Finally, mega-Kangaskhan’s effect on the metagame was so profound that not only did it affect the SM meta, it affected the previous XY metagame. With the Seismic Toss set that was so successful in SM taking root in XY, it soon replaced the Power-Up Punch set as the main mega-Kangaskhan set.


In what main roles was Pokemon used?


Mega-Kangaskhan was used as reliable 200 damage on any field and a Fake Out support.
As a Fake Out support, it was able to either hit Ghost types pre-mega, or not worry about an opposing Fake Out via Inner Focus.

However, its main role was a reliable way to damage opposing Pokemon; being able to dish out 200 damage to any nonghost Pokemon and tanking hits was a role that any team appreciates.

Other uses for mega-Kangaskhan involved utility such as Icy Wind, Rock Tomb and Mud Slap.



What caused it to have a significant impact?

Mega-Kangaskhan had several factors in its favor which allowed it to make a significant impact on the DOU metagame.


-Typeless 200 damage
As previously mentioned, Seismic Toss allowed Kangaskhan to hit any Pokemon with a set 200 damage to any nonghost Pokemon. This meant that there if there was no ghost type on your team, there was resisted switch-in; your Pokemon was going to take 200 damage. Additionally, since Seismic Toss worked independently of the Atk Stat, former Kang “checks” such as Intimidate and Burn were not able to mitigate its damage output.


-Seismic Toss allowing for far Bulkier spreads.
If mega-Kangaskhan was dealing 200 damage but was frail as Deoxys-A or Tapu Lele, it would have never established itself in the metagame. Equally important was its significant bulk and taking multiple hits. The Seismic Toss set allowed mega-Kangaskhan to divert its EV investment from ATK into its bulk, such as HP/Def/SpDef. Combined with its stellar 105/100/100 stats, Kangaskhan not only dealt significant damage, it was a tank that required a high damage output from the opponent to take out.


-The lack of Fighting Types
The introduction of the Tapus and its terrain-setting ability caused almost every single team to have at least one Tapu. Combined with the return of Mega-Salamence, Skymin and Psyspam, it was natural for a team to have 3-4 Fighting type checks. Thus, Fighting types saw a rapid decline in usage, with the only notable Fighting type at the time being Terrakion. Thus, with its one natural weakness nearly eliminated from the game, mega-Kangaskhan was able to thrive with little competition.


-Lack of Marshadow



How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?

Due to the lack of Fighting types and Mega-Kangaskhan’s amazing bulk, counters for Mega-Kangaskhan were few and far between. I dealt with it by using Fightinium Tapu Lele and using a Mega-Gengar/Aegislash core.


Other counters included Ghost Porygon-Z, Terrakion, Rocky Helmet, Ferrothorn, and Fighting coverage such as Hammer Arm Megagross and Superpower Landorus-T.

However, by far the most effective counter to Mega-Kangaskhan was the banhammer.

 

[Yoda2798]

Nominating Tapu Bulu

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

About as much effect as Jon Snow had on the final season of Game of Thrones. Coincidentally, most player's first thought when considering adding Tapu Bulu to their team is "Ah dun want eet." Tapu Bulu puts the ass in Grass type. The only reason I'm actually doing this nomination is because I felt sorry for it. Wouldn't you feel bad if The Top 10 Titans of Gen 7 DOU, a metagame defined by the Island Guardians, included them all but you?

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

The main reason to use Tapu Bulu is when you've made a bad team that none of the other tapus fit on. This allowed Tapu Bulu to fit the important role of a "How did this end up on my team, I need to reconsider this build" Pokemon. I would say it fills the role of a physical tapu but honestly Koko does even that better.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

It didn't have a significant impact.

Tapu Bulu comes from the remarkably influential line of island guardians and was hyped up in early seasons, but is really the black sheep of the family. Despite wielding great strength and surviving as a prominent figure throughout the series, other tapus have greatly influenced the world while Tapu Bulu has been forced to take the role of a side character in its own story. Due to it laughably being a physical Fairy-type with only special Fairy-type moves, Tapu Bulu is ultimately known for stupidly standing in the face of a Dragon even though Bulu cannot touch it.

Here's a fun fact that will have a significant impact on you: Tapu Bulu, by virtue of being a Grass-type, is the only tapu (and furthermore nomination for this list) weak to both the Pokemon types mentioned in the title "A Song of Ice and Fire".

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?

Tapu Bulu is best dealt with by not dealing with it at all. Unless you have a Gastrodon then it's going to be doing minimal damage and Grassy Terrain will ensure you heal it back at the end of the turn anyways. Tapu Bulu has a fragile ego meaning it will burst into tears at any hint of Intimidation and is forced to run away powerless if its terrain is taken away. Take advantage of the opponent's error by leaving this momentum suck on the field, allowing you to follow the path to victory and serving as a reminder to the foe of their fatal mistake.

Serious Nomination

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Being one of the new Island Guardians, Tapu Bulu was introduced at the start of Generation 7 alongside Tapu Fini, Tapu Koko, and Tapu Lele. Despite not being as highly rated or widely used as its counterparts, Tapu Bulu was still an important part of terrain wars and influential in shaping the metagame over the generation. More recently, Tapu Bulu has struggled to find its way onto teams, due to the rise of Kartana largely replacing it and the epidemic of Incineroar serving as an omnipresent annoyance to it. Yet this doesn't erase Bulu's past influence, with its immensely strong Wood Hammer and distinct ability to deal with the other tapus (particularly Tapu Fini) leading Tapu Bulu to leave its mark on the meta.

For one example of Tapu Bulu's influence, look at the Doubles staple Landorus-T. Before the release of Intimidate Incineroar, Landorus-T was the premier Intimidate user and so was a primary component in being able to deal with Tapu Bulu defensively. However, Tapu Bulu resists Landorus's Ground-type attacks and can shrug off most of its other common attacks as well, leading to the usage of Sludge Bomb. This move was not used on every set, but a number of teams did appreciate the option for the ability to remove Tapu Bulu. As Sludge Bumb wasn't significantly useful for Landorus-T otherwise, which could still damage or disrupt the other tapus with its Ground type attacks and Knock Off, this move was used solely for the purpose of hitting Bulu. Tapu Bulu also had another influence on Lando-T, which was influencing the change from physical sets (using Earthquake) to specially-based ones (using Earth Power instead). While the release of Intimiroar and lack of good Ground-immune partners also played a part in this gradual shift, Tapu Bulu's ability to set Grassy Terrain, from which one effect is Earthquake being weakened by 50%, was an important factor. Tapu Bulu naturally resisting Ground made it even easier for it to switch in and weaken opponents' Earthquakes, further adding to its ability to discourage the use of EQ.

As discussed in Genone's post, Mega Camerupt Trick Room has been a staple since its introduction, and Tapu Bulu plays an integral part of this. Bulu is important for being able to check bulky Water-types, such as Tapu Fini and Suicune. These Pokemon are known for being issues to hard TR teams but Bulu helps level the playing field. Additionally, Grassy Terrain overrides Psychic Terrain meaning Fake Out can be used to help set TR, while the passive effects are quite beneficial on a team full of grounded Pokemon. Additionally, Grassy Terrain offers Camel the option to use Nature Power and take on Water-types itself, further improving this difficult matchup. Tapu Bulu's unique capacity to do all this is why it's an irreplaceable part of the fullroom framework, enabling one of the most solid and influential teams of the generation since its introduction, which forces players to be prepared for Trick Room.

Tapu Bulu also played an important role in the Mega Gengar + Zygarde / Kommo-O teams that used to dominate the meta. A big part of which is, again, being the dedicated Tapu Fini remover. Gengar can deal with Fini, but add Calm Mind into the equation and things can get tricky. Tapu Bulu makes removing Fini a lot simpler and easier, and it also has the ability to take care of Tapu Koko and Tapu Lele, even moreso if using Choice Scarf. Bulu's ability to reliably get rid of these threats greatly helps its teammates, paving the way for a Dragon to sweep by deleting any Fairies. Grassy Terrain's recovery is also useful, with Zygarde especially appreciating the extra health while setting up. What made Mega Gengar so great was its ability to select and remove threats to your team, which the anti-tapu powerhouse known as Tapu Bulu is a perfect partner for. Bulu was by no means what pushed Gengar over the edge, but it definitely did contribute to the effectiveness of these types of teams which ran rampant while Gengar was around.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Tapu Bulu's main role on a team is as an attacker, with the primary set being along the lines of Wood Hammer / Superpower / Swords Dance / Protect with either Grassium Z or a 50% berry, and EVs being flexible between bulk and Attack or Speed depending on personal preference or team needs. Wood Hammer is Bulu's primary attack, being able to obliterate most Pokemon which don't resist it, while Superpower helps cover some Pokemon which do, such as Incineroar, Kyurem-B, and Ferrothorn. After a Swords Dance Bulu can OHKO a wide number of Pokemon, and allows the user to take advantage of Protects (e.g. to stall Tailwind / Trick Room turns), as well as let Tapu Bulu not be completely neutered by Intimidate cycling. Rock-type moves and Horn Leech are other viable coverage moves that have seen usage, providing an option to hit Flying-types such as Zapdos and Mega Salamence or a valuable move option that heals on use, respectively.

Tapu Bulu's main job is to punch through the opponent's team with Wood Hammer, with its other moves used sparingly when needed. Oftentimes it can be best for Bulu to switch out after an attack or two, due to Intimidate / Superpower drops and so terrain can be reset if needed. Preserving and using Tapu Bulu to deal with the opponent's tapu effectively is a key element in using it properly. If facing a Tapu Fini, then Bulu's primary purpose in the match is usually to take care of that. Bulu functions best with Speed Control such as Tailwind or Trick Room, which allows it to take advantage of its power by moving first and KOing foes before they can react.

Offensive set aside, Tapu Bulu has seen some other sets used during its time in DOU. Early in the generation, a bulky Assault Vest pivot set was widely believed to be the best set, focused on Bulu's ability to switch in and deal with rain or other tapus. This set fell out of favour as it was realised that more offensive sets took better advantage of Tapu Bulu's unique stats and ability. As Wood Hammer is the attack Bulu will use 80+% of the time, additional coverage moves are not so valuable when compared to the ability to use Protect. The inability to use Protect or other status moves like Swords Dance, Taunt, and Bulk Up was also a major drawback of Assault Vest, leading to the use of 50% berries and other items instead.

The other set used was a Choice Scarf set, which peaked in popularity during the Mega Gengar meta. Tapu Bulu has a middling speed and so requires speed control (e.g. Tailwind / Trick Room) to function most effectively. Choice Scarf seeks to alleviate this issue by giving Bulu an immediate boost to Speed, no support needed. With max Speed and a Jolly nature Bulu could outspeed Pokemon as fast as Mega Manectric, meaning it could outspeed nearly any unboosted Pokemon. This set was most commonly used alongside Mega Gengar, for which it could help deal with pesky Mega Manectric and Tapu Koko with a speedy Wood Hammer, or take care of Mega Charizard Y with Stone Edge. However, with Mega Gengar removed from the equation, this set fell back into the realms of obscurity. Being locked into an unboosted Wood Hammer isn't that great, especially with Intimidate (namely Incineroar) being everywhere. Mega Gengar's unique trapping capability benefited from Tapu Bulu's boosted Speed, and allowed it to do more than freely invite Incineroar in. Outside of this setup, Choice Scarf becomes a hindrance, with the added Speed offering little utility for the greatly reduced offensive capacity.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Grassy Terrain. The combination of 130 base Attack backed by STAB and Grassy Terrain boosts makes Tapu Bulu's Wood Hammer a fearsome attack and a key selling point for putting it on your team. Without Grassy Terrain (or rather, Grassy Surge), Tapu Bulu would simply be another mediocre Grass-type, relegated to only seeing usage by the notorious bad-Grass-type user, Arcticblast. The main advantage of Grassy Terrain for Tapu Bulu is adding a punch to its Grass-type moves, but this is not the only way it can benefit your team. Overriding other terrains will weaken Tapu Koko and Tapu Lele's attacks, and allow you to freely use priority or status moves. Grassy Terrain is also beneficial for its passive effects of weakening Earthquake and providing passive recovery to all grounded Pokemon each turn. The former was useful in the days when Earthquake was more prominent, while the latter is a nice bonus to this very day for teams with many Pokemon able to receive the benefit, helping to boost their longevity.

Aside from Grassy Terrain per se, Tapu Bulu's most significant trait is its ability to deal with the other Island Guardians. Tapu Lele and Tapu Koko's unremarkable defences mean they don't take kindly to being on the receiving end of a Wood Hammer, while Tapu Fini's weakness to Grass also leaves it vulnerable spot against Tapu Bulu. Tapu Bulu's great matchup against Tapu Fini specifically is a big part of its niche, as Fini is an important threat to be able to deal with well. Few Pokemon can outright OHKO Tapu Fini, and Tapu Bulu is one of the few Pokemon capable of this achievement. Additionally, by virtue of being a physical attacker, it doesn't care how many Calm Minds are under Fini's belt, unlike other checks such as Tapu Koko. This means that Tapu Bulu is one of the most reliable means of countering Tapu Fini, an impressive statement to have on your CV.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?

If you can effectively resist or soften up Bulu's Grass-type attacks, then it's basically dealt with, as this is the meat of its offensive prowess. A wide variety of Pokemon can check Tapu Bulu, due to Grass-types having a disappointingly large number of Pokemon which can resist their attacks and/or attack them with super effective moves.

As a physical attacker, Tapu Bulu can be dealt with by using Intimidate users, such as Landorus-T and Incineroar, with Incineroar also being able to threaten it with Flare Blitz. Other Fire-type Pokemon such as Mega Charizard Y and Volcarona can also take on Tapu Bulu, but must be cautious about Rock-type coverage. Steel-types are excellent counters to Tapu Bulu, with Mega Metagross and Genesect both able to comfortably switch in and threaten Bulu. Zapdos and Mega Salamence resist Tapu Bulu's most common attacks due to their Flying-type, and can both retaliate with super effective attacks in return. Amoonguss is a great Bulu counter, while Kyurem-B can also take it on. If it's safe to do so, then even switching in your own tapu to change terrain can be a good idea, as removing Grassy Terrain takes the knock out of Bulu's punches.

Tapu Bulu is a Pokemon that most teams aren't going to struggle finding checks to, as most should have a couple Pokemon able to deal with it. Just try to avoid letting the wrong thing getting wacked by a Wood Hammer, otherwise it won't be too happy.

 

[MajorBowman]

Nominations are officially closed! We will now move on to the voting phase.

Here's how voting will work. We will start with voting for #1. In this thread, you will simply post your vote for what you believe is the top 1 titan of the gen 7 dou metagame. You don't need to justify your vote, a simple post with the name of the Pokemon will suffice. Every few days, the votes will be tallied and we will move on to the next spot in the top 10 until all 10 spots are filled. You may only vote for Pokemon on this list (votes for Ralts will be deleted).

Voting for #1 begins now.

 

[laptops]

mgar

 

[GenOne]

Tapu Fini