Project The Top 10 Titans of the Gen 8 OU Metagame

[Pietrym]

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Once HOME was released and Melmetal was allowed in SwSh, it quickly established itself as one of the most absurdly overpowered mons in OU. In fact, upon its release, it was banned from the tier almost immediately. After being unbanned at the inception of the Crown Tundra metagame, it's no longer the thoroughly broken beast it was back then, but it's still absolutely one of the tier's best mons thanks to its amazing combination of traits. To start, its offensive prowess is completely unmatched - Double Iron Bash is one of the most powerful moves in the game, effectively a 144 BP move when factoring in Iron Fist, tearing through anything that doesn't resist the move and/or have heavy defensive investment. It isn't entirely reliant on DIB, either, as it boasts phenomenal coverage in Earthquake, Superpower, Ice Punch, and Thunder Punch, which, alongside DIB, lets it threaten bulky mons like Ferrothorn, Slowking, and Tapu Fini. Melmetal also does well against offensive mons due to its massive bulk - bulk so massive, in fact, that its standard Protective Pads set is only OHKO'd by standard Victini's V-Create 6.3% of the time. This allows it to sponge attacks from offensive mons and threaten them back with its coverage, making it a good emergency check to mons like Dragapult, Bisharp, Tyranitar, Weavile, and several more of the tier's most dangerous offensive threats. Thunder Wave and Toxic can viably be used on Melmetal, which allows it to cripple mons that would otherwise check it such as Buzzwole and Slowbro. In short, Melmetal is a fierce offensive threat whose flexibility allows it to perform consistently.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Melmetal was most used on offensive teams, either as a typical slow but powerful threat on bulky offense teams or as a durable wincon on more fast-paced, frailer hyper offense teams. These teams highly value Melmetal's defensive profile with its massive bulk, Stealth Rock resistance, and Toxic immunity, which allows it to reliably threaten stall teams in combination with its support movepool.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

The combination of its monstrous offensive capabilities, defensive profile, and support utilities allowed Melmetal to consistently put in work against many of the tier's best mons. Very few of them could reliable stomach its attacks or had a difficult time breaking through Melmetal themselves, which only allowed it to further take advantage of its traits by forcing teams to utilize multiple mons to threaten it. In addition, its traits make it one of the few Steel types that has a winning matchup against Magnezone.

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

Toxapex is probably Melmetal's best check, as it can burn Melmetal with Scald, recover damage with Regenerator and Recover, isn't 2HKO'd by Thunder Punch, and is immune to Toxic. However, it does take quite a bit of damage from Earthquake if Melmetal decides to run it. Even still. Melmetal teams must have mons that can reliably deal with Toxapex. As mentioned before, mons like Buzzwole and Slowbro can check Melmetal if it lacks Toxic. Buzzwole can recover the damage it takes through Drain Punch and Slowbro is similar to Toxapex as can burn it with Scald, recovering damage it sustained with Regenerator. Air Balloon Heatran is a good emergency check as its standard specially defensive set is never OHKO'd by Superpower and can threaten Melmetal with Magma Storm. However, it can't directly switch into Melmetal since otherwise, its Air Balloon will pop.

 

[dex]

What effect did this Pokemon have on the metagame?

Tapu Fini is one of if not the top role compression options in the metagame. Due to the absolutely ridiculous variety in its sets and its incredibly useful defensive typing, it has become commonplace in the meta. It can provide Speed control with Choice Scarf, trap with Whirlpool, support with Defog and Knock Off, and sweep with Calm Mind. The question at this point isn’t what Tapu Fini can do, but it can’t. It is the one defensive option that resists both of Weavile’s STAB moves. Tapu Fini came in DLC 2 with the sole mission to make the meta playable.

In what main roles was this Pokemon used?

Choice Scarf is Tapu Fini’s most popular set, and for good reason. It provides immensely valuable role compression as a means of checking multiple dangerous offensive threats like Dragapult and Weavile in one slot. Choice Scarf Tapu Fini gives teams a perfect mix of defensive utility and offensive pressure that is quite important to many balance structures. Other sets include Whirlpool Trapper, Defog, and its infamous CM sweeper set, which is notable for beating many of its supposed checks like Slowking and Toxapex.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Tapu Fini’s typing is the name of the game here. Water / Fairy on a mon with as much bulk as Tapu Fini is almost cheating. Dealing with Dragapult, Landorus-T, and Weavile is pretty amazing for one mon to do. This, and its nice stat distribution, has enabled Tapu Fini to hang with the best of the best in OU.

How do you deal with this Pokemon?

Tapu Fini’s one downfall is its lack of reliable recovery. It can get overwhelmed by offensive pressure, and it doesn’t help that it is often forced into losing its item to Weavile. It doesn’t help that both Ferrothorn and Toxapex resist its STAB options, though neither like switching into Trick, making them shakier than you would think.

 

[658Greninja]

Da Buzz


What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Buzz came about in Gen 7. However in its debut generation, it was a UUBL mon with a very small niche on stall. The power of Z-moves from Kart, Lando, and Chomp were too much even for its massive physical bulk. Magearna, Gren, M-Zam, and M-Medi were frequent residents on USUM teams. Fast forward to Crown Tundra and Z-Moves are removed while all four mons that were previously hindrances to its gameplan are gone (or banned in Mag’s case). Buzz has been invaluable in scaving off numerous threats since its return to OU. Gen 8 brought a spew of new physical threats including now banned ones. Rilla, both Urshifus, and Melm. Buffed old ones like Weav, Chomp, and Zera. As well as old ones like Lando, Ttar, Mosa, Zygarde and Kart. It was a way to deal with multiple threats that stayed healthy with roost and provided some offense. It led to creative ways of getting past it like Mixed Chomp and Band Ace Kart. After the eventual bans of Zygarde, Mosa, and Darkfu lead to it falling out of favor due to being momentum fodder, but with Weav becoming the face of OU, it came back as a check to it.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

In the beginning of Crown Tundra it had always stuck with a defensive set using Roost/Toxic/Ice Punch/Fighting STAB and a lot of defense evs. In recent days, Buzz has adapted to a more offensive spread, ditching toxic for Leech Life to hit Lele/Slowtwins or EQ to dent Pex in order to avoid its maindraw back in losing momentum. We have also seen Band Buzz make appearances on ladder and tours paired with Future Sight support, turning Buzz from a wall to a wallbreaker. However, due to being less of a reliable check to Weavile and Chomp, it was paired with other mons like Flame Body Tran or Slowbro.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

When the meta was run down by broken ahh Darkfu, Zygarde, and Mosa, Buzzwole was there. Its massive physical bulk combined with its dual resistance to Darkfu’s stabs and Roost. In current day, Buzz is a solid offensive/defensive threat that must be accounted for in team preview. Its presence caused alot of popularity in Future Sight support just to break past it. Frail, slow physical threats fell out of favor like Conk, Bish, and Daunt cause Buzzwole was fast enough to avoid speed creep. Being able to check both Chomp, Kart, and Zera in one slot gave freedom to Lando who can now run SD since it doesn’t have to play the role of Zera check, or Slowking being splashed on teams.

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

The most common forms of counterplay were Future Sight and status. Future Sight from either of the Slowtwins easily one shotted it, making plays with Band Weav or Scarf Kart less prediction heavy. Buzz can be lured by Lando or opposing Buzzwole with Toxic. My favorite method is getting up, double into something that threatens it out (Lele, Volcanion, Clef, and Torn), and constantly pressure it into +2 T-Axel for example. Buzz is easily forced out and you get the benefit of pressing buttons with Lele and Blace to watch the world burn. Another less common method is to utilize an offensive lure like SD Ace Kart or Taunt Pads Shifu to break it down.

 

[blooclipse]

Spectrier: the Swift Horse Pokemon
What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?
After its release in the Crown Tundra DLC expansion, Spectrier was a huge force in the metagame. With its sky-high base 145 Special Attack and blazing 130 Speed, it was poised to become one of the best pokemon in the tier. It had the third-highest special attack of OU-allowed pokemon (behind Xurkitree and Blacephalon); but unlike them, it was more than just barely viable. Spectrier did well against anything that didn't resist ghost (not very much) and forced people to run bulky Dark- and Normal- types. If you tried to sack to it, you were punished by its ability Grim Neigh, boosting its special attack even higher, making it progressively harder and harder to deal with and potentially snowballing out of control.

Spectrier caused a lot of strain to the teambuilder. Every team needed a bulky dark- type or a normal- type. If you didn't have one of those, you were gone. Spectrier would come in on anything that didn't resist its STAB Shadow Ball, and it would start basting. Spectrier started by using a Choice Specs set, but started pivoting to sets like Taunt NP, Sub NP, Will-o-Wisp Hex, NP Hyper Beam, and more. These sets allowed it to break through mons it never would have been able to before. Pokemon like Mandibuzz and Hydreigon could check certain sets, but lost to other sets. Other mons could beat those sets, but then lost to others. Spectrier had a huge amount of sets compared to its very small movepool, making it a very versatile, very strong, and very good mon.


Eventually, Spectrier was banned with an 81.6% majority (102:23)

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Spectrier was one of the premier wallbreakers (with choice specs, nasty plot, or calm mind), or cleaner (choice scarf, nasty plot, calm mind). It could even be used as a status spreader, but it was a less impactful set.

Sample teams it was in:

DLC2 update 1:
Nasty Plot Spectrier + Swords Dance Kartana Sand Balance by Finchinator:
On this team, Spectrier was used as a strong wallbreaker, using Will-O-Wisp to cripple the opposition and then wallbreaking with a Nasty Plot- boosted and Status- boosted Hex. It could wallbreak very effectively because the best spectrier checks (Hydreigon, Mandibuzz, Blissey) didn't want to take either of Kartana's or Excadrill's attacks. Spectrier could also fall back on Moltres and Pex as defensive backbones that could pivot it back in.

Spectrier suspect:
Weakness Policy Magearna + Nasty Plot Spectrier Hyper Offense by Ausma:
This team was a hyper offensive team utilizing Regieleki's screens and Suicide Lead Lando's rocks to support 4 sweepers. Spectrier is one in but a line of powerful sweepers. It is a very strong mon that can soften up the opposition for the rest of the sweepers in the team.

What caused it to have a significant impact?
Spectrier had a huge impact on the metagame because of its stats, typing, and ability which came together to create a frightening sweeper, cleaner, and wallbreaker all in one. Because of its great STAB move in Shadow Ball, it could hit tons of the metagame in just one slot. Anything that didn't resist ghost would get blasted out of existence. Once Dark- and Normal- types were sufficiently weakened, Spectrier could just instantly win. If Mandibuzz was burned and lower than half HP, or if it took a couple rounds of Stealth Rock (after being Knocked), it would die to +2 hexes. If they tried to sacrifice a pokemon to bring in a scarfer, Spectrier would Substitute on the switch and then get a Special Attack boost from Grim Neigh.

Basically anything that could chip its checks would be very good teammates, such as Fighting- types. Fighting- types were some of the best partners to Spectrier because they could easily chip Spectrier's checks. Galarian Zapdos and Urshifu (either style) were very good teammates because they had U-Turn to capitalize on the switches they forced, and they would easily chip everything into Spectrier range.

A lot of teams that wanted a Cleaner or Wallbreaker could just slap on a Spectrier and be perfectly fine. Pure Ghost is an amazing typing that grants it a U-Turn resistance and Fighting immunity, great traits to have in addition to its insane offenses.

How did you deal with this Pokemon in OU?
The only things that could really deal with Spectrier in the long term were bulky Dark- types with reliable recovery, or Blissey. The problem is, they are Checks and not Counters. They can switch in, but all of Spectrier's checks are huge momentum drains that good players can easily capitalize off of. Offensive teams with checks to Spectrier's checks did great, because with the momentum they can grab the teams can easily put all of Spectrier's checks into Spectrier range.

The best checks were SpD Hydreigon, SpD Mandibuzz, and Blissey. Hydreigon is bulky and has Roost, but Will-O-Wisp chip, Stealth Rock damage, and repeatedly forcing it out with aggressive double switches can easily put it into +2 Hex range. Mandibuzz was a better check, but after being burned, it can struggle to actually beat Spectrier. Mandibuzz is also a very passive mon that can be abused by Spectrier's teammates. Blissey is almost a hard wall, but SubCM sets with Dark Pulse and Shadow Ball can make it into easy setup fodder, which can almost immediately lose the game. Blissey was forced to run Shadow Ball itself to even threaten Spectrier, but if it got up a Calm Mind or two, Blissey would struggle to even break the Substitute.

Really, all of Spectrier's checks could be played around easily with double switches and aggressive play. Since Spectrier mostly fit on these offensive teams anyway, it was easy enough to just play aggressively with it. If you did, the rewards it could bring were immense.

 

[Darkortex]

Cinderace

What effect did this pokemon have on the metagame?
Cinderace was one of the best offensive hazard removal options in the pre-DLC metagame, as its signature move Court Change allowed it to entirely reverse the momentum of hazards / screen setting set up by the opponent. Then, in June 2020, it was released its signature ability Libero, the clone ability of protean. This change enabled it to become one of if not THE best offensive threats in the tier, able to threaten all of its checks in the long run with its colorful coverage movepool and even a stab priority sucker punch for its previous best offensive check, Dragapult. It was also one of the best examples of how heavy-duty boots was able to enable rock-weak pokemon to operate at their full potential, as they enabled cinderace to be a fast offensive pivot throughout a game without regard for hazards.

Cinderace was quickbanned twice in the lifespan of SS, once in the DLC1 metagame after the suspect test of Magearna and again several months after the release of the Crown Tundra Metagame. Both times it was banned for similar reasons, its powerful stab Pyro ball in conjunction with stab U-turn, Heavy-Duty-Boots, and a laundry list of coverage from High Jump Kick to Gunk shot to Zen headbutt allowed it to overwhelm would-be counters over the course of a game, with even the sturdiest checks such as mandibuzz, hippowdon, or toxapex able to be either haxed through with poison, a relevant coverage move, or support from Future sight users like the slowtwins.

In what main roles was the Pokemon used?
In SS Cinderace was primarily ran with offensive pivot sets, with early sets running Pyro Ball, Court Change, U-turn, and a filler move like sucker punch. Upon the release of its hidden ability, it largely dropped court change in favor of focusing exclusively on coverage like gunk shot, HJK, Zen Headbutt, and even some niche options like electro ball. U-turn was sometimes dropped for Bulk up for immediate game-winning potential, but those sets became less common upon its re-release in the Crown Tundra Metagame.

Cinderace was also one of the premier abusers of two strategies in particular, future sight and sun. Future sight gave it the extra power boost to blow through its typical checks like toxapex and hippowdown, while it was a go-to option for the sun teams that became popular in SS due to the expanded access to weather ball for venusaur and Charizard.

What caused it to have a significant impact?
Its incredible speed and power combined with Heavy-Duty Boots, STAB U-Turn, and a bevy of stab-boosted coverage moves made it one of the best offensive threats around while it was legal, even before it got access to Libero. It was one of the best demonstrations of how Heavy-Duty Boots could transform threats that were otherwise weak to hazards into powerhouses that could control the pace of games with minimal support.

How did you deal with this pokemon in OU?
The two main ways it was dealt with were speed control and soft-checks. Pokemon like Tornadus, Tapu Koko, Zeraora, Dragapult (if lacking sucker punch) among others could outspeed and potentially OHKO it. Certain physically defensive walls like hippowdon, slowbro, toxapex, mandibuzz, and landorus-t could switch into its attacks in the short term, but if it got enough damage with u-turn it could overwhelm them in the long run, especially factoring things like gunk shot poison or future sight support.

 

[HydreigonTheChild]

What effect did this pokemon have on the metagame?

The effect that gyarados has in the meta was it caused dynamax to be banned as it was the main abuser. In the OU suspect coverage article it is written that

"Gyarados has been one of the biggest offensive Dynamax users since day one. Moxie helps it snowball into sweeping as is, proving to be devastating even without the improvements it gained. Despite this, it gained multiple new toys alongside the release of Generation 8 in Power Whip and the ability to use Heavy-Duty Boots; the former allows Gyarados to hit otherwise problematic Water-types such as Rotom-W, Seismitoad, and Quagsire, whereas the latter increases the longevity of Gyarados due to not having to worry about taking damage from Stealth Rock. While all of this is beneficial, the biggest buff Gyarados received has to be the secondary effect of Max Moves. Bounce is not only turned into a powerful, one-turn Max Airstream, but it also gives Gyarados +1 Speed each time it's used, making it nearly impossible to revenge kill. Waterfall also sets up rain after being used when Dynamaxed as Max Geyser, which makes the following uses even stronger thanks to the rain. For example, a Max Geyser under rain can overwhelm otherwise pesky defensive presences such as Bulk Up Corviknight. With the increased coverage, power, and potential secondary effects coupled with the ridiculous bulk Gyarados has when it gets double the HP, it should be no surprise that Gyarados is a top-tier sweeper thanks to Dynamax."

Gyarados basically had no awnsers due to moxie + airstream and could snowball out of control after one kill due to max geyser making its following water attacks nuclear in power and the only way to beat a gyarados was basically a ditto

In what main roles was the Pokemon used?

It was mainly a dynamax sweeper that would go out of control when it gets 1 kill and is unlikely to be stopped due to the 2x hp boost from dynamax. It used a DD set to boost before dynamaxing and sweep with a +1 +1 boost while in dynamax while racking up boost all the while.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

It had a significant impact due to its unstoppable nature while dynamaxed and the huge threat and strain it posed to teambuilding in general due to when getting a turn it can potentially 6-0 you.

How did you deal with this pokemon in OU?

you did not ... another awnser is to dynamax in return and beat it with the limited pokemon that could such as ditto, clefable, ferro, toxapex or dragapult in dynamax can potentially stop it but that is pretty much all there is

 

[StarFalcon555]

reserving funny monkey rillaboom

 

[Zneon]

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Galarian Darmanitan is without a doubt one of the most dangerous offensive threats OU has ever seen. It was a Pokemon that was so powerful and effective at what it did at the time it was allowed, that dealing with it both offensively and defensively was an absolute nightmare until you knew what set it actually was because of how small the pool of defensive and offensive counterplay there was. Galarian Darmanitan is the absolute perfect example of a broken Pokemon, being far too effective at breaking opposing teams and threatening a 2HKO or KO everytime it was on the field due to its brute strength, often resulting in 50/50s occuring when it was in. Do you stay in and get Icicle Crashed or do you switch into your Rotom-H and get abused while it U-turns into something that can deal with your Rotom-H switch, but also do you want to go into Toxapex to take the Icicle Crash while being at risk of being destroyed by Earthquake.

Against Galarian Darmanitan, unless they were using a very specific check like Rotom-H or even Jellicent, it would always threaten a KO on at least one Pokemon. Choice Scarf was able to 2HKO many Pokemon in the metagame, even some defensive ones because of how strong it was, and of course destroying literally every offensive Pokemon. This makes offensive counterplay very limited but then you wonder that there is more defensive counterplay. NOPE! If G-Darm switches to Choice Band instead it becomes basically unwallable, as no defensive Pokemon would be able to switch in at all. The conjuction of both Choice Band and Choice Scarf made Galarian Darmanitan into a Pokemon that was simply far too much to handle, and it was banned very early on as a result.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Galarian Darmanitan was often used as a breaker and a cleaner. With Choice Band, it was mainly just a wallbreaker, and a very viscous one because of how unwallable Choice Band is. With Choice Scarf however, it could function as both, since it was still absurdly powerful as it still technically had a CB boost from its ability so nothing could switch into it as they could die if the G-Darm predicted correctly, and it was still able to outspeed the entire metagame.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Galarian Darmanitan's road to fame is with its ability, Gorilla Tactics, which gives it a 1.5x boost in Attack but locks it into one move like a Choice Band. This huge boost in power allowed Galarian Darmanitan to comfortably run either a Choice Scarf set or Choice Band set without issues due to the Attack boost. Galarian Darmanitan also has amazing coverage, being able to hit everything in the tier at least neutrally which perfectly complements its spammable STAB move in Icicle Crash as well as being able to be as risk-free as possible with U-turn. All of this combined to make Galarian Darmanitan an offensive behemoth that was extremely hard to stop both in the builder and in practice.

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

Dealing with Galarian Darmanitan mostly depended on the Choice item it was using, as depending on it counterplay can be freed up. With CBCB Darm, while it was impossible to deal with defensively it was pretty easy to offensively check as losing the speed of Choice Scarf made a big difference in dealing with it as revenge killing and pressuring it through forcing it out with a faster Pokemon like Dragapult, especially with hazards up made it more likely for CBCB Darm to make much less of an impact compared to Choice Scarf.

Choice Scarf on the other hand is much harder to deal with as while it is weaker than CBCB by far, the strength is still absurd and pressuring it out is harder as it outsped everything. Jellicent and Rotom-H were the best answers to Choice Scarf, however Jellicent wasn't completely foolproof as with a bit of chip and hazard damage, Earthquake was a pretty easy 2HKO, and Rotom-H wasn't foolproof either as it was tasked with taking repeated hits from it, not even taking into account that G-Darm didn't need to commit at all due to U-turn.

 

[readytolose]

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Although largely forgotten now, for a time at the beginning of the generation, before the first DLC, Rotom-Heat was a staple threat and one of the most impactful Pokemon in the metagame. Before the distribution of moves like Knock Off and Toxic became more widespread, it was the perfect opportunity for Rotom-Heat to exert its influence as one of the best breakers and pivots you could use, and even once move transfers became legal Rotom-Heat remained a top mon, making great use of Toxic in its own right. DLC1 marked the beginning of Rotom-Heat's decline in OU, with Blissey being pretty annoying for it unless it runs Pain Split, thereby limiting its ability to dissuade other threats. The metagame's renewed interest in Tyranitar and Rhyperior and the banning of some threats it checked such as Melmetal along with some new threats resulted in Rotom-Heat being much less omnipresent than before. Rotom-Heat fell very far in DLC2, with new competition in Heatran, Tapu Koko and Zapdos that generally outperformed it, and new checks in Garchomp, Slowking-Galar, SpDef Landorus-T, and Heatran. As the metagame shifted to faster offensive threats like Tapu Lele, Tornadus-Therian, and Urshifu, Rotom-Heat's speed tier was just not enough to keep up, and it could make up for it in bulk, and its role as an offensive pivot was largely supplanted by Tapu Koko and Zeraora, who had much more competitive speed tiers. Rotom-Heat eventually found its home in UU, seeing fringe usage in OU at best, but it had a very solid run. While its impact is harder to remember with it having fallen so far out of the limelight, it had a peak that was hard to ignore.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

The flagship Rotom-Heat set used max HP and Speed with Nasty Plot, Overheat, Volt Switch, and one semi-flexible moveslot. This set did a bit of everything: it was an offensive pivot and check to some slower offensive threats (like Bisharp and Adamant Dracovish) that could also function as a breaker thanks to its respectable power when boosted. Nasty Plot and Volt Switch seemed like a counter-intuitive combo at first, but it was difficult to sacrifice Rotom-Heat's great ability to generate momentum, as the rest of its set enabled it to beat or threaten nearly every possible mon that would block its Volt Switch. Volt Switch also served to make it less prediction-reliant, especially when facing faster potential switch-ins like Hydreigon. The last moveslot often had a status-inflicting move or Discharge, with Pain Split being relatively common as well, Defog was also not unheard of. Lastly, Rotom-Heat was adept with Choice Specs or Scarf, largely due to the surprise factor and access to Trick, however taking Stealth Rock damage often could telegraph the set, neutering much of the surprise factor.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Rotom-Heat had a very favourable typing for the early metagame. Its set of resistances and ability let it potentially pivot in on threats like Darmanitan-Galar, Magearna, Melmetal, and Kyurem, and also let it beat defensive threats like Clefable and Hippowdon. Offensively, it was perhaps even better, being able to hit common defensive pokemon like Corviknight, Mandibuzz, Toxapex, and Ferrothorn hard. These factors combined let it switch in on and set up a Nasty Plot against much of the defensive metagame, or do whatever else it pleased. While some switch-ins did exist, they also ran the risk of being hindered by a status move; Rotom-Heat could often run a status move in last slot to debilitate checks, usually Will-o-Wisp or Toxic once that became legal. Thunder Wave and Discharge were not unheard of either.

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

Rotom-Heat's STAB moves were naturally resisted by Dragon-types, therefore, dragon-types like Dragapult or Hydreigon could pivot in on it and force it out, although they had to be wary of status. Rotom-Heat could generate momentum on these switch-ins, but Garchomp was even better at this due to blocking Volt Switch. It didn't really appreciate when the metagame became really focused around Dracovish and Seismitoad, as Seismitoad was a decent natural check to it as well, but not as much as Gastrodon, a niche Pokemon throughout SSOU. Rotom-Heat couldn't really handle some bulky threats like Tyranitar, Blissey, Rhyperior, and later Slowking-Galar, as even when boosted its moves just didn't do enough. Lastly, Rotom-Heat is just not all that fast, bulky, or powerful when unboosted. Faster offensive breakers can easily prey on it, especially if they are able to pivot in on its moves.

 

[JTD783]

What effect did Landorus-Therian 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. Be sure to consider their impact in previous iterations of SS OU as well if they weren't removed.

Landorus-Therian, upon its release in the Crown Tundra DLC, has been the most used pokemon in OU. It has served as a bulky pivot, a Stealth Rock user, a Defog user, and a reliable physically defensive or specially defensive tank. With Intimidate it helped check the tier's most powerful attackers, such as Garchomp, Melmetal, and Cinderace. Its ground-typing was also a boon when keeping Tapu Koko and Zeraora at bay. Specially defensive sets were able to survive powerful attacks from Heatran, Dragapult, Volcarona, and Zapdos.

In which main roles was Landorus-Therian used?

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

Landorus-Therian's all-around solid stats in conjunction with Intimidate and U-Turn made it OU's premier pivot for yet another generation. It reliably checked ground- and electric-types and could pivot out against forced switches, enabling powerful wallbreakers to enter the battle safely. Either Stealth Rock or Defog could be used to control entry hazards. In addition, bulky sets often used Toxic or Knock Off to cripple switch-ins, making Landorus-Therian a nuisance to switch into. As gen 8 progressed Landorus-Therian increasingly saw use with heavy Special Defense investment to act as a blanket check against threats such as Heatran and Dragapult. Some sets, though less common, took advantage of its colossal Attack for offensive sets. Choice Scarf Landorus-Therian was a powerful revenge-killer and harassed offensive teams with STAB Earthquakes while Swords Dance sets took this power to incredible heights at the cost of outspeeding the entire unboosted metagame. Focus Sash lead sets, which used Stealth Rock, Swords Dance, Earthquake, and Explosion to quickly set Stealth Rock and deal heavy damage, saw use on hyper offense teams. It was incredibly versatile and equally reliable, making it a viable choice for nearly every team archetype.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Landorus-Therian has been blessed with a high BST and well-distributed stats, a fantastic typing in Ground / Flying, and one of the best defensive abilities ever in Intimidate. In addition, its solid movepool has allowed it to excel in many different roles, from bulky pivot to hazard setter or remover to wallbreaker to fast cleaner. This combination of traits has made Landorus-Therian's versatility and effectiveness almost unparalleled in Gen 8 OU.

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

Landorus-Therian's best offensive checks exploited its only two weaknesses in Ice and Water. The tier's notable Ice types, which included Weavile, Kyurem, and Arctizolt, could OHKO any Landorus-Therian variant with their powerful STAB Ice moves. Similarly, Landorus-Therian was consistently defeated by Water types such as Urshifu-R, Barraskewda, Tapu Fini, and Dracovish. Its best defensive checks were Ground immunities that feared little from Knock Off and U-Turn. Corviknight and Skarmory were especially notable for being immune to Toxic and their ability to Defog away the Stealth Rock that Landorus-Therian set. For many teams the best switch in to an opposing Landorus-Therian was their own Landorus-Therian. Some prominent metagame adaptations against it included Hydro Pump on Choice Specs Dragapult, Air Balloon Heatran with Eruption, Heavy-Duty Boots Victini with Glaciate, and the pairing of Electric types with Future Sight support and/or Defiant users such as Galarian Zapdos and Bisharp. Ultimately these measures were insufficient to knock Landorus-Therian off its throne of #1 in usage.

 

[TailGlowVM]

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Tapu Koko has been one of the best pivots and speed control options throughout the Crown Tundra metagame - at least once people got over its lack of the new tutor move Rising Voltage. Initially many people saw it only useful as a dual screens setter or to provide terrain for unreliable Rising Voltage Regieleki-centric teams, but later its use from the previous generation was rediscovered once the dominance of threats like Urshifu-S and Tornadus-T in the metagame became apparent, and it was quickly clear it could still be threatening with a weakened Electric Terrain and the loss of Hidden Power. It has defined speed tiers, heavily influenced defensive structures and supported many prominent Pokemon in their roles.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

It mainly uses Heavy-Duty Boots pivoting sets, with the standard moveset being Thunderbolt, Dazzling Gleam, U-turn and Roost, though wallbreaking sets with Choice Specs and cleaning-focused sets with Calm Mind have been seen occasionally, and hyper offensive teams have often used it to set dual screens. Volt Switch is also notable, at the cost of prediction, to wear down certain switch-ins harder and be able to pivot out of Ferrothorn without taking Iron Barbs chip. Tapu Koko is one of the main Pokemon in the Crown Tundra to be able to take advantage of Heavy-Duty Boots, as it no longer needs such careful play to be able to avoid being worn down quickly by hazards as it switches in and pivots out frequently.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Despite Electric Terrain's nerf in Generation 8, Tapu Koko still barely has the power to threaten most of the metagame, and its speed is key against common Pokemon like Weavile and Tornadus-T. Only Dragapult, Zeraora and the rare Regieleki naturally outspeed it. It also has great defensive utility thanks to its typing and Roost, making it one of the best checks to Tornadus-T and Zapdos, as well as providing other entry points against common defensive Pokemon like Corviknight and Slowbro. While it is walled in the short term by common Pokemon like Landorus-T, specially defensive Heatran and Ferrothorn, it is still able to pivot out of them so that wallbreaking teammates can take advantage of them. Its most common checks all lack reliable recovery, meaning that they are easily worn down long term by switching in repeatedly with hazards up, chip damage from its attacks and support from teammates. Some teams have also been able to utilise Electric Terrain with Tapu Koko's teammates, such as Choice Specs Rising Voltage Magnezone (possibly the game's most busted nuke, as it is strong enough to 2HKO both Blissey and specially defensive Ferrothorn), Thunder Punch Urshifu-R, Unburden Hawlucha, and even Electro Ball Cinderace.

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

Tapu Koko is the primary reason for specially defensive Ground-types being so common in the Crown Tundra metagame, though it can also be checked by certain specially defensive Pokemon like Ferrothorn, Heatran, Clefable and Galarian Slowking. Many of them are vulnerable to being worn down in the long term due to their lack of recovery or to specific adaptations like Toxic or Calm Mind, however. It is a large part of the reason for the recent resurgence of Excadrill.

 

[LudwigFrog]

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Since day 1, Mandibuzz was an elite Pokémon in the OU tier. Mandibuzz from the beginning was a big factor in making Pokémon like Ferrothorn and Clefable run Knock Off, as it let them remove it's boots. Mandibuzz was also the anti physical pokemon in the early stages of the metagame. Pokémon were forced to Dynamax in order to break past, which can drain their win condition in the long game. Pokemon like Gyarados and Excadrill were hard walled, and could be Kod if they didn't dynamax, which can put them in an uncomfortable position where they can't setup, and have to either switch or blow away their win con. Into the Isle of Armour, not only did Mandibuzz stay good, but it got even better. It was an amazing check to one of the tier's most defining Pokémon at the time, being Cinderace. The newly released Rillaboom was also more prey, as it could wall it, and threaten SD. Mandibuzz was also still holding the tier together, being able to take Wicked Blows from Urshifu S. Into the Crown Tundra, Mandibuzz proved to be one of the few things to stand up to some of the dangerous new Pokémon. Spectrier had a hard handle on the tier, and Mandibuzz was one of the few mons able to hold it off. Mandibuzz also dealth with other dangerous threats that didn't stay in the tier very long, like Landorus I. Mandibuzz was also a key component for walling many new threats, such as Kartana, Garchomp, Dragonite, while still holding the metagame together against older threats like Urshifu and Cinderace.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Mandibuzz was used on a variety of teams, usually on balance and offense. Mandibuzz was an important Ghost resist, with instant recovery .Not only was it a ghost resist, but it was the anti physical Pokémon, due to having Foul Play, and having great physical bulk. Mandibuzz was often what held a team together, in order to handle the many threats that graced OU.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Mandibuzz had such a tight grip on all the offensive Pokémon, that almost every offensive mon it walls started packing something in order to deal with it. During the pre DLC metagame, Mandibuzz was a hard wall to the newly threatening Dragapult. Dragapult's Will O Wisp Hex set ran bulk, and Mandibuzz was one of the main reasons the set existed. Into the Isle of Armour. Cinderace had to pair itself with Fairy types, or Electric types in order for it to not be walled by Mandibuzz. Rillaboom always ran Knock Off so it can remove the boots and become harder to deal with. In the Crown Tundra, new threats such as Kartana, and Garchomp were released, along with newcomer Spectrier. Garchomp almost always ran Stone Edge, as it couldn't afford being walled by Mandibuzz. Kartana went the Rillaboom route, and ran Knock Off to help make it more difficult to check if stealth rocks are up. Mandibuzz was probably the entire driving force of checking, and getting Spectrier banned. People were originally running Scarf and Specs sets on Spectrier. Mandibuzz was being a huge hinderance to Spectrier making any progress, that they started running the bulky Subsitute Will O Wisp set. The latter being the set that drove Spectrier over the edge shows how much Mandibuzz had a grip on the tier. Mandibuzz was the single pokemon, that was always holding the metagame together against the most overpowered pokemon in the tier. I'm and time again, it was needed to check so many threats at once, and teams over relied on it. Every breaker had to consider Mandibuzz in team building, and use an objectively worse move option for a slot just to deal with Mandibuzz. This alone should prove how significant Mandibuzz was to the metagame.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in OU?
Knock Off was most common, so it would be forced to take Stealth Rock damage. Toxic made it difficult to continue its walling process. Strong Fairy, and Electric types gave it trouble, and forced it out.

 

[agslash23]

Reserving Magnezone

 

[cyberacc]

Reserving and nominating Blissey; She is nowhere near as flashy as the other heavy contenders but in this thread alone she has already showed up 28 times in passing mentions.

 

[ausma]

24 hours to get your posts wrapped up, then we're going to move onto the discussion phase!

Tagging Suckingmoreducks agslash23 StarFalcon555 to wrap up their nominations before then or they'll be omitted!

 

[ausma]

Hello everyone, after 2 weeks we're finally done with nominations. We have a lot of fantastic nominees to choose from here, so we'd like to open the floor for discussion regarding the list of nominees, and potentially remove any that people are against. Once we do that, we'll begin formally voting!

In discussion, consider the following:
1: Try making a personal top 10 list and justify your placements!
2: Which nominees stand out to you and why?
3: Which nominees are you against and why?

Here's the list of the nominees for your convenience:

All Nominees:

(Single Strike)

We'll leave discussion and personal rankings open until June 13th!

 

[myself12]

Note: I have only played the DLC-2 metagame, so I will not be focusing as much on DLC-1 and pre-DLC.

1. Easy #1. Lando has been a great defensive pivot. Setting rocks / defogging and checking many pokemon.
2. Spectrier shows how good offensively ghost is, wrecking pretty much everything by clicking shadow ball, and single handedly forcing a normal or dark into every team.
3. Heatran is a great wall, rocker, and stallbreaker. It is also a crucial part of sun, tearing apart teams with eruption, and the air balloon set has made waves recently.
4. Between earth power and freeze dry, it could hit many walls in OU super effectively. It also had a variety of sets that it could use to turn the tables on it's counters, by wearing them down and PP stalling them.
5. Weavile has two great stabs, access to swords dance, priority, and among other things, which has lead to some viewing it as broken. It can force progress with knock off and revenge kill with ice shard.
6. Slowbro is the face of future port. It allows breakers to come in safely and allows them to nab OHKOs or 2HKOs they otherwise couldn't have. It also has a great rain MU and can wall many prominent pokemon.
7. Tapu koko is a great pivot, being able to use u-turn to bring in pokemon such as weavile and urshifu to take advantage of its switch-ins. It has a great speed tier and is a reliable check to zapdos and tornadus.
8. Ferrothorn is a great wall and entry hazard setter. It's also very good at being annoying with leech seed and knock off.
9. Dragapult is the 3rd fastest pokemon in the metagame. It's a great pivot and has a very spammable stab move in shadow ball. It's last slot on it's choice specs set is also very customizable, with flamethrower, hydro pump, thunder, and hex all being viable.
10. Tapu lele is a great wallbreaker. Specs allows it to destroy opposing teams with good prediction. On the other hand, scarf makes it a great revenge killer and cleaner due to psychic terrain blocking priority.

Strong contenders for top 10 that I don't have enough knowledge to write about, as such I didn't include them: (single strike)

Honorable Mentions:

 

[Red Raven]

I feel like this list is kinda unfair because some mons straight up sucked until a pokemon was banned because that pokemon had such a huge chokehold on the metagame. Anyway, here's mine. I'm only gonna do all of the Crown Tundra because I wasn't here before that time

Personal top ten

From best to worst



I have never hated a pokemon more than I hate Magearna. This mon was straight up absolute bullshit. Even the Naganadel metagame was more bearable than this thing. You run six counters and it still finds a way to annoy you. From some sg wp to specs to whatever in between, Magearna straight up dominated the tier. The fact that it was quickbanned instead of suspected should be enough to tell the story of this damn robo bunny



The 'click one button = profit' mon. Urshifu single strike pretty much forced Buzzwall into many teams just to counter it and muscle bug couldn't even afford to use close combat otherwise it no longer becomes a wall. It wasn't as bullshit as Magearna but it was still a very strong mon once Pheromosa got banned and I'm glad it didn't take too long for it to get suspected. There really isn't much to say. All this thing had to do was spam wicked blow and reap the profits and because of how the move works, even resists had to be bulky enough to take three hits otherwise they just get deleted



If you think spamming wicked blow was bad, this mon was even worse. The only reason I don't think this was as good as Urshifu is because it literally has a non existent movepool. It's best coverage was mud shot of all things. Even with just dark pulse and shadow ball as its only viable moves, this mon straight up terrorized the tier. I remember a tournament with this thing in it and Hydreigon becamse the first or second in the usage stats and it was all because of this damn horse. There was even a replay where a burned Mandibuzz foul play couldn't break the sub like wtf was that nonsense and I seem to remember that even Exploud was ranked in the vr during ghost horse's reign. Specs, scarf, sub np or cm, any set was pretty much viable. Any team that didn't have a Mandibuzz, Tyranitar, Hydreigon or a normal type was an autolose to this one. It's both fast and strong and has the best typing in the game now that pursuit is gone



With the broken shit out of the way, I say Landorus is up next. This damn lion is really glad Gliscor isn't in the game. While I don't think its offensive sets are that good, just the sheer utility it offers makes this an easy to use pokemon. I personally don't use this as much these days but about every other team I build, the thought crosses my mind to add this thing in the first draft



Lava frog is probably the second or third best mon rn. Its horrendous ground, water and fighting weakness is offset by the fact that its typing resists nearly every other type there is. Whether its offensive balloon or magma trapper, this mon does in work. It was even discussed to be considered for a suspect test but nothing really came out of it



Probably the one pokemon that was very happy Magearna got banned. As of right now, it's probably the most threatening offensive pokemon out there because of its choice band sets or its sd set with the very balanced boots. Nothing much to say. Everyone already knows what this thing is



One of the most notorious mons ever made for always being a dangerous ou threat no matter what. While it is sad it didn't get dragon dance, scale shot was better than nothing and it completely turned the tables on how this thing plays. Garchomp isn't too much of a threat on its own but when you combine it with the other threats like Lele, Weavile or even Blacephalon, this mon can straight up cause problems in a battle. Even though in the early days it was overshadowed by Zygarde, it was still a threat because its fucking Garchomp and for months now, it has consistently maintained about seventh or higher in the suage stats



I'm more surprised by the fact that regular Kyurem got nommed instead of Black Kyurem but whatever. The reason I think this mon is great is simply because of how good ice type offensively and even though ice type sucks defensively, Kyurem's bulk made it quite the challenge to take out. The only reason I didn't rank this higher is because its wallbreaking sets had competition that were all just as good. However, its subroost and dragon dance set it apart and because boots is a very balanced item, Kyurem can stall out pp with pressure. Personally, I didn't think this needed to be banned but that's because I was a Kyurem spammer myself



Cinderace is the only pokemon that to this day, I still strongly disagree with its ban. I still think boots should have been the one banned but whatever. To me, this mon was really good with all its coverage move and it was nice to have an actual good fire type that isn't fucking Heatran for once. Even though it was incredibly obnoxious, it was never unbearable for me which is why it's this low despite being quickbanned. Part of me still thinks that Cinderace only became that oppressive because Magearna dominated the metagame and having to prepare for both was very challenging unless you were making a hardcore stall team with sticky hold Gastrodon or something



It would be just wrong to make a top ten list without Dragapult. I still remember the days after Magearna and Cinderace got banned. Half of the posts in the discussion thread was to suspect this thing because it was a weaker but faster version of Spectrier. While it didn't do it single handedly, I think that Dragapult's influence is what led to Weavile, Bisharp, Zeraora and spdef Hippowdon being considered as actually viable in the tier. Even without Spectrier, you still needed a ghost resist otherwise this thing spams shadow balls and two shots everything. Even mixed defense Toxapex can be ruined by spdef drops because pokemon is an absolutely competitive game with all its rng. However, as of right now, its no longer that dominant because the tier has adjusted to it but out of all the mons we have right now, I don't think anything comes even close to the amount of influence Dragapult has had

If we take out the banned pokemons, then in my top ten, everything that remains here gets moved up and add in in that order

Stand out

Only the first three in my top ten, Magearna, Urshifu and Spectrier. These three were so strong in the metagame that they straight up warped the tier to deal with them. Many of these are very notable threats but you never had to go out of your way to deal with them unlike those three

Against

Only Cloyster and because it relied on rng. Losing to a Cloyster that got a flinch was straight up infuriating and it just goes to show that gamefreak only cares about their games' competitive part when a Smeargle starts spamming dark void. I'm always gonna be against anything that relies on too much rng because that's no longer good play. That's just straight up luck

 

[clementinabroccolina]

1.) I think this is only fair, as it has been top dog for arguably all of DLC2, the longest era of the meta fwiw. Part of me actually considered not having this as #1 because "Landorus just always does Landorus things" but I think that in SSOU in particular Landorus-T's presence is actually quite unique. SpDef Lando is the representative set of the entire meta, and while a response to my #2 pick, it shapes how other teams try to position itself, whether it be trying to punish slow Lando or wear it down in unique ways. Basic Lando stuff can't be ignored though, two mandatory immunes for any team that's not a specific form of HO and an ability to still threaten things even when its offenses are uninvested are great things for a defensive pivot to have

2.) This is definitely the "flashier" pick for a titan of the metagame, but that's to be expected as it's been a threat to account for since day 1. Specs is its defining set and ALSO a pretty unique representative of the SSOU metagame, being the most influential example of how terrifying ghost STAB (especially when it's fast) is, even with an 80 BP move off of 100 base SpA. The meta has always been in a game of tug of war when it comes to adapting to it, seeing as how even just this month it's had a mini-resurgence (it never truly "fell off" but I myself was thinking the ultimate trend would be downward and the bad mom dragon had the last laugh).

3.) This is the offensive titan of current day DLC2, being the most influential threat and the biggest reason why the current metagame has become so much more offensive and fast-paced than was thought possible when gen 8 still has to fully shed off its "grr slow balance boots pivot pivot pivot" reputation a little. It shifted opinions of an entire typing's potential and it also boasts the scariest knock off in the entire tier to force progress (even in its less-than-stellar matchups ofc!), competing with only the very niche Crawdaunt really in that regard. It only really variates between like 6-7 moves but you could probably write paragraphs about each move on this thing anyway lol

4.) Futureport is another VERY gen 8 momentum+progress forcing tool, and of course its main abuser happens to be a bulky water with regenerator, almost lab created to be one of the faces of the meta in that regard lmao. Though Clef may have started it in its peak, Teleport remains one of the most controversial moves in the game, seeing as how it still warrants discussion and complaint in the main forum. The pairing with Future Sight of course makes it so much easier to enable scary wallbreakers ever before, especially dark or fighting ones that appreciate the way the move so insanely pressures their would-be switch-ins. Slowbro itself even adapted to the big predator Weavile, utilizing its popular ColburBro set with Body Press just to make its teleporting less potentially worrisome

5.) This thing's WishPort shenanigans in pre-dlc are more than enough to slot it firmly in the top 5, but even after that it continued to be top tier in DLC1 and still hovers in or out of the top 10 mons in general today. Pre-DLC you were gonna use Clefable whether you liked it or not, it was basically the most evil a pink blob has ever been, halting progress while allowing its own teammates to come in safely and try and make their OWN progress (until the opponent's Clef wished them back up to health wash rinse repeat). Clef is still the tier's most emblematic fairy to end all fairies, with that amazingly flexible gen 1 movepool and stats that while generally mediocre, grant it enough potential to check what it needs to check.

6.) Like Lando, this mon's presence is sometimes taken for granted but then stuff like Air Baloon with a resurgence in Eruption reminds people why this thing is so amazing. Tran has been both a terrifying offensive presence and progress forcer that always aims to take advantage of its would-be checks, or a potent defensive presence that stops many mons in their tracks and trolls them with taunt and status and its famous Magma Storm trapping.

7.) Darkshifu is probably the most talked-about and infamous wallbreakers of the crop of banned mons (among places that aren't like r/stunfisk cause everyone knows how outwardly broken Dracovish and Garmanitan are), and it's not hard to see why. Dark/Fighting is an incredibly coveted offensive pairing, but this thing's signature Wicked Blow was just absolutely absurd. It influenced teambuilding to a pretty wild extent, basically requiring that any somewhat bulky structure needed what's basically an Urshifu resist and a regen mon just to not get blown to bits when it's brought in for free via FuturePort. The fact that you can just allude to Urshifu and people know what you're talking about is reason enough to slot it firmly in the list

8.) While it's glory days are far behind it, this thing still spent a LOOOONG time being OU's emblematic pure defensive pivot and true bird. It pushed many other steels down to the now iron-infested UU tier because its great mixed bulk, obvious typing, and access to U-turn just gave so many teams from BO to stall the defensive backbone they needed and a way to not just fully give up on the idea of momentum.

9.) It was never splashable enough to reach the true top top tier of the meta when it was alive, but this mon always made it a mission to be an absolute infuriating menace to like 95% of the people it fought against. It was the scariest abuser of the amazing Freeze Dry and it used the traits that initially made it too weak to stay in ubers like other box legends to take advantage of OU, like its incredible bulk and fairly customizable EV potential. Its ban was a VERY pivotal moment for OU as well, essentially clearing way for the things we take advantage of now.

No idea what to put as #10 tbh, here are my main contenders

Against

Only Cloyster and because it relied on rng. Losing to a Cloyster that got a flinch was straight up infuriating and it just goes to show that gamefreak only cares about their games' competitive part when a Smeargle starts spamming dark void. I'm always gonna be against anything that relies on too much rng because that's no longer good play. That's just straight up luck

I don't think relying on RNG should be a deterrent in a mon being an influential titan, it was mainly a gimmick but it was a pretty damn iconic gimmick seeing as how it turned the tides on luck items. It wasn't a "good" mon in the same sense as the other ones but it's still a pretty considerable aspect of the tier's history

 

[Endrism]

Top 10 gang:

1. | It may seem bias because it's my nom, but this thing has been a constant worry for every part of this generation. Every time you teambuilt this gen you always worried about "Can I cover specs shadow ball" and the fact that it kept that presense through all the changes is insane.

2. | From its early days of defensive taunt to the more modern offensive balloon, Heatran has kept a strangehold on the top ranks since it arrived. Being considered possibly the most annoying mon this gen with Magma Storm chip being a big topic of discussion, along with its incredible rock setting abilities and raw power with 2 great abilities made it a constant threat as always.

3. | Specs Ice Beams everywhere, Substitutes flying like a flock of birds, and a giant ice dragon watching you suffer as you waste your precious Magma Storm pp as Kyurem laughs in your face. It was the most controversial of the bans and one of the longer lasting mons to get banned. DD Icicle Spear had its place as a neat wincon, and overall exerted insane pressure on the metagame.

4. | While still being incredible, it seemed to be less disgusting this gen. The only reason it showed up as much as it did was because covering electrics became really important. It ended up taking a really defensive role and was the backfoot to other more potent things this gen.

5. | the only reason this thing is so low is because of how late it came into the meta. If Weavile held this level of pressure through the entire gen it would be #1 EASILY. HDB gave it everything it needed to become an extremely potent sweeper. Using Knock Off not only as a strong STAB, but strong utility. Triple Axel tearing holes through people's lifeforce, Ice Shards and Low Kicks for everything else. Alternatively, it can decide to forgo the SD and slap a Choice Band and Beat Up to deliver an extremely strong attack that wasn't affected by contact nerfs like Rocky Helmet, Iron Barbs, or Flame Body.

6. | The #1 sponge this generation. Used to blanket check so much of the meta it's ridiculous. Good stealth rocker, amazing cleric, pivot with Teleport, Calm Mind user. Magic Guard being one of the best abilities allowed Life Orb to not affect it making it much more powerful. Amazing coverage in Thunderbolt/Thunder for Corv, and Flamethrower for Ferro. Amazing mon that kept its status and adapted with the times.

7. | This thing was an absolute MENACE. Weakness Policy Shift Geat sets were nearly unbeatable, only able to be beaten by a mon that would get banned with it. Steel/Fairy is literally the best typing in the game. Amazing ability and was such an annoying little monster that it got to be one of the last quickbans of the generation. Glad it's gone, but I can't ignore the impact it had.

8. | FuturePort. Regenerator is cracked. Can actually 1v1 Weavile as a psychic type.

9. | Chomp got a saving grace in the form of Scale Shot, letting it boost its speed while dealing massive damage after a SD made this thing a very threatening wincon throughout all of Gen 8. Fat SR has become more of a mainstay in the late gen, but SD Chomp is still very viable. Insane ability in the form of Rough Skin punishing all U-turners, and a solid ground type that can be slapped on an array of teams.

10 | Ferro is another mon that just stuck at the top no matter what people tried. People tried to start running Low Kick Weavile, but Ferro doesn't care as after eating one, giving juicy Barbs and maybe Helmet chip, proceeded to wipe it out with Body Press or Gyro Ball. Power Whips CM Finis into swapping, and uses Leech Seed to annoy anyone who thinks about swapping in. Can runs Rocks or Spikes in conjunction with Landos own Rocks to form a nasty combo. In a metagame that destroyed bulky grasses like Amoongus, Tangrowth, and Bulu, Ferro continued to shine through as a top tier threat, and at least deserves a mention.

I am against:
Good early gen, but very bleh late gen, just didn't keep with the times.
Same deal.
Was good for 2 seconds with Kings Rock, then once it was banned returned to being mid.
Came into his own way too late to be considered a generational titan.
Finally gave hail a use, but wasn't good enough to be a titan.

 

[Ruft]

I'm not gonna make my own list, but I urge people to consider the generation as a whole and avoid recency bias.

For instance, I think Clefable is the prime candidate for #1 by a decent margin. It dominated the tier from the beginning of the generation to the release of the 2nd DLC, with it being virtually mandatory on any team that wasn't HO prior to the 1st DLC. Its impact on the tier was huge, with the pre-DLC2 metagame successively revolving around Clefable running Life Orb 3 attacks, WishPort, Calm Mind, and Trick sets, to the point that people would call for its ban. Even after the release of the 2nd DLC, it has still been consistently top tier, being top 10 even now (in my opinion). Other candidates like Landorus haven't been in the tier for as long and/or have had as profound of an impact on the metagame as Clefable has had.

 

[Jaajgko]

The OP clearly states to rank the most influential pokemon throughout gen8 so I value consistency over time a lot more than a short period of dominance which is why I don't like including banned mons in here.

1. Clefable
2. Dragapult
3. Toxapex

Those 3 are clearly the best mons across gen 8. They have been there since day 1 and have never not been top tier. I put Clef the highest because of its dominance in the pre-dlc-2 metagames where it was easily the best mon and always had over 50% usage in tournament, sometimes being required in any serious non-ho team. Players even wanted it banned because of its Wish + Teleport set. No slouch either in the DLC-2 meta, especially in the Urshifu era. I put Dragapult over Pex as it almost never struggled and always stayed a threat whereas Pex did have some periods where it had competition with other bulky waters and feared future sight. Both were also considered ban candidates at some point.

4. Corviknight
5. Ferrothorn

The two best defensive steel types across gen8. I put Corviknight over Ferro because of how dominant it was in the pre-dlc metagames and overall was more impactful than Ferro which, has always been good but never reached Corviknight's peak. While Corviknight slowly fell in usage and viability during the second part of DLC-2, its dominance in the 3 other periods makes up for it.

6. Zeraora
7. Kyurem

Two big threats that dropped with HOME and that I wanted banned in pre-dlc. I put Zera over Kyurem as it was not only a threat but also provided lots of utility making it pretty splashable whereas Kyurem needed more support and thus was a bit harder to abuse. Kyurem is the only banned mon in this list as it stayed borderline broken in all 3 eras of SS OU before getting banned, and thus fits the criteria of being an influential threat throughout gen8.

8. Landorus
9. Heatran

Extremely good and dominant during DLC-2, which was SS OU's longest era, so they have to be included on this list. Not higher because the other mons have been there since at least HOME.

10. Hydreigon
Already talked about it in my nom, but I feel like it's more deserving than Slowbro, as Slowbro's viability shifted a lot, and was actually outclassed by Pex in most of DLC-2.

 

[Brown4Sides]

1. IIRC, this Pokemon never ever dropped below A+ despite being around for all of Pre-Home, Post-Home, IOA and CT. I feel like that alone is a great way to earn you the number 1 spot. Despite its weak Sp. Attack stat, Dragon/Ghost being difficult to find resists for both and its extremely high speed have made it a terrifying offensive presence. It was never suspected, but it was considered banworthy by some a while back.
2. This has also been very good throughout the entirety of SS, but especially before CT. WishPort was super obnoxious to deal with, but it still runs other effective sets nowadays.
3. It wasn't available before CT, but Lando is Lando, taking up half of the usage stats like it always does, the ultimate "S tier without being broken" mon. If it had been around the whole generation it would easily be number 1. That being said, it wasn't, so only number 3.
4. The only banned Pokemon to make my list. It was a menace for a very long time, only not being available for the first few months of Gen 8 before it entered the tier. Freeze-Dry/Earth Power is stupid good and it had a variety of sets.
5. This is what you would get if you took GameFreak's middle finger and turned it into a Pokemon. Pex does Pex things, it sits on everything and has incredible longevity, and has been very consistent throughout the entirety of the generation.
6. While not as good as it used to be, it has been very consistent throughout the entirety of the generation. It's a very good defensive Pokemon, between its good bulk and its excellent defensive typing in Flying/Steel.
7. The mon that never dies. Every time we think a major tier shift will bring down its viability, it comes back with a vengeance. Only in Pre-Home was it not available. It is the fastest unboosted mon in the tier, even above Dragapult, which is much appreciated. Before the tier had good Ground types like Landorus-Therian it was even harder to deal with.
8. It has been one of the best hazards setters since day 1. Early in SS, there was no Heatran around to bother it, and it was a better switch-in to Dracovish than most. Nowadays it is good against mons like Tapu Koko and Melmetal, oh and like a lot of mons here Knock Off makes it annoying.
9. It wasn't around until CT, which is why it's so low, but still is very dominant regardless. Magma Storm/Earth Power is great coverage, and the usefulness of a Steel type that is immune to Fire cannot be understated.
10. Deciding on Number 10 was tricky for me. I went with Mandibuzz, because while it's not particularly good currently, that was not the case earlier in the generation. Other Pokemon on this list have Knock Off, but this has the even better STAB Knock Off. Back in the day it was a great Defogger alongside Corviknight, and it really showed everyone just how impactful Heavy-Duty Boots is.

When making this list, I prioritized consistency over the entirety of the generation. I didn't want to go with "dummy mons go boom" if they weren't in the tier for a while, so I stayed clear of banned Pokemon like Dracovish, Magearna, Darmanitan-Galar, and Spectrier. The only exception was Kyurem, because it was actually in the tier for a pretty long time.

EDIT: looking back Weavile should've been number 10 instead of Mandibuzz, but what's done is done

 

[Dreadfury]

(I'm leaving out Urshifu-S because I myself made that nomination; I think it deserves to be on this list, but I won't be the one to put it on mine)

1. is the clear #1 in OU's modern history in my opinion. Lando-T is currently the best mon in the tier, but Clefable was not only one of the overall best mons in OU for all of Crown Tundra and the absolute top mon for the majority of pre-DLC2 OU, but during HOME it was outright not just the best mon in OU at the time but was so unbelievably dominant that it was the best mon to ever be a long-term OU presence in several generations. This thing is so clearly the mon that defined SS OU as a whole that I cannot in good conscience put it anywhere besides the top spot.

2. is #2 IMO. It's the best mon in DLC2 and has pretty much never really lost that status, but I cannot put it in #1 solely because of how dominant Clefable was prior to DLC2.

3. was an amazing mon for the entirety of SS OU. It never had Clefable's peak, but it was most certainly the next most consistent mon in the tier's history.

4. has been a defensive staple of the tier for the whole generation and has honestly never had too much of a slump.

5. was better than most of these mons at its peak, but metagame shifts in DLC2 have really knocked it down a peg.

6. is an amazing, dominant threat in DLC2 OU and is probably the closest we'll get to a mon as good as Lando-T in this iteration of the metagame.

7. has almost always been a top threat during its long stay in OU this generation, and IMO it's the banned mon that deserves to be on here above all others. I'd put Urshifu-S over this and everything below it, though.

8. does Pex things.

9. is the premiere offensive mon of the DLC2 metagame and definitely has the biggest constraint on teambuilding right now. I cannot put it much higher simply because it wasn't around as long nor was it ever the top dog of its metagame, although it's certainly pretty damn close.

10. started the trend of true "one-button mons" (over G-Darm, IMO, since G-Darm actually used its other moves somewhat) as its Fishious Rend is without a shadow of a doubt the most oppressive attack in SS OU's entire history. There were entire mons that saw enormous amounts of usage largely because they were the Dracovish checks capable of performing the largest number of other roles, and as such Dracovish was the most constraining mon in the tier during the teambuilding process simply because your team absolutely needed an answer to it, without question.

(if there was an 11th spot, Buzzwole would go there)

The nominees that stand out to me the most are Urshifu-S, Spectrier, G-Darm, and Dracovish. These mons all spearheaded the infamous "one-button mon" trend we saw throughout the tier's history, although they honestly had a bit more depth to them than just that. I think any of these mons deserves to be on the top 10 list, but I don't know if more than two of them should be.

I vehemently disagree with Magearna, Gyarados, and Cloyster being on here. Magearna was overtly broken both times it was allowed in OU and didn't even need to be suspected because it was such an easy quickban it wasn't even funny. Gyarados was decent, sure, but Dynamax was very short-lived and Gyarados never defined the tier quite the same way since the DMax ban. Cloyster has interesting tier policy surrounding it and it bounced back from the King's Rock ban, but it just isn't close to as meta-defining as these mons are.

I'm also very surprised that Kartana and Rillaboom weren't brought up at all. These mons established the terrifying Grass STAB+Dark/Fighting coverage that singlehandedly pushed a large number of defensive Grass-resists like DNite, Buzzwole, Zapdos, Volcarona, etc. to new heights. Rillaboom completely defined offense for all of DLC1 and a good portion of DLC2, and Kartana picked up where Rillaboom left off thereafter.

 

[Lori Omega]

1- By far the most versatile Pokémon throughout gen 8 OU. Really powerful and flexible staple of the meta.
2- One of the best defensive Pokémon out there. Wish-port really showed how powerful the teleport buff can be.
3- One of the most defining offensive presences in the meta game. Ridiculous speed, great offensive typing and ability to go physical, special or mixed make it a fearsome opponent.
4- One of the most ridiculous wallbreakers in OU recent history. Fishious rend terrorized OU to the point of becoming a Meme.
5- The king of Future-port, extremely difficult to deal with thanks to Regenerator, and one of the main faces of teleport abuse that defined early gen 8.
6- An extremely strong and versatile mon, that can both be defensive and destroy stall, and a crucial part of the dominant Bulky Offense team type.
7- A defining presence in the terrain wars, really fast and powerful pivot that can used really strong mixed sets that make it unpredictable.
8- The old reliable. A very strong defensive Pokémon that can compress roles wonderfully thanks to its access to entry hazards, body press and leech seed.
9- :Urshifu-Single strike: Darkshifu was one of the most insane wall breakers during its brief stint in OU. Really terrorized the meta game with its Dark/Fighting combo and unseen fist even bypassing protect.
10- This piece of garbage has been pretty much immovable since day one, being unkillable and slowly wearing down opponents like it was nothing.
Honorable mentions:
extremely versatile and dangerous. Once you figured its set out it’s too late.
Sucks right now, but this thing kept OU alive during the onslaughts of both Darkshifu and Spectrier
This thing proved that under the right circumstances, something with the movepool of a gen 2 crapmon can be deadly.
Abysmal right now, but single-handedly got King’s Rock banned from OU and I respect that.
In an era of pseudo legendaries of old dropping through the ranks, chomp reinvented itself in OU thanks to scale shot, becoming once more a defining threat