With that all said, It's just past the mid-point of this quarterly shift, so welcome to the very first edition of the Ubers UU Metagame Report! As hinted at in the OP, this edition will largely focus on just how much the October shifts shook up the tier. And of all the changes that happened, the rise of Landorus-T undoubtedly had the largest repercussions.
Just prior to October, Landorus-T was sitting at S rank on the VR - the highest it had every been - and defined many of the tier's dynamics. As such, its departure from Ubers UU was sorely felt during the weeks of October when Arceus-Dragon ran amok. However, in its place, Landorus-
Incarnate has popped up as the tier's new, centralizing, Ground-type. Currently, Landorus takes the previous Landorus-T vs Landorus-T interaction, and dials it up to 11. Due to the incredible power of Nasty Plot + Sheer Force + Life Orb, It's nearly impossible for anything that doesn't resist or hold an immunity to Landorus' Earth Power to switch in. Yet even the now-ubiquitous Landorus can't even reliably check itself, due to the fact that Landorus almost always carries Psychic to hit opposing Landorus. When teams who only carry Landorus as their Ground-immunity clash, it can very often become a battle to see who can position their Landorus first, given that Landorus cannot check itself, unlike how Landorus-T did. Even Arceus-Grass which has seen niche success in prior metas is not an ideal check to Landorus, since Sludge Wave deals a hefty amount of damage to Arceus-Grass. As such, many players have begun to frantically explore previously-unseen Pokemon who possess ground immunities. Throughout the ongoing UMPL IV and Ubers UU Swiss 2, Pokemon such as Tornadus-T, Latios, and SpD Moltres have been sporadically used to surprisingly decent success. Another method with which to handle Landorus that has seen occaisonal use is by abusing Landorus' reliance on Psychic in order to hit opposing Landorus. While there exist very few Pokemon that can swap into Earth Power, we have many Pokemon such as Mewtwo, Scarf Chi-Yu, and Arceus-Dark who can switch into Psychic and threaten Landorus out. Another big impact Landorus has had on the defensive meta of Ubers UU, is its involvement in the lowering of Arceus-Poison's viability. Sludge Bomb/Earth Power/Will-O-Wisp/Recover Arceus-Poison used to be an incredible defensive staple on balance teams, due to the fact that it was nearly impossible to switch into safely. However, Landorus does not terribly mind using this set as a switch-in opportunity, which has played a pivotal role in the falling off of this specific combination of moves. When defensive Arceus-Poison
is used however, it is now often seen with Fire Blast over Earth Power, which still accomplishes the job of hitting Steel-types while also being able to snipe a weakened Landorus. On the topic of changing moveslot preferences, Landorus’ newfound viability has caused people to begin experimenting with the options it has at its disposal. Previously, the standard set was Earth Power/Sludge Wave/Psychic/Nasty Plot, but we’ve also seen Focus Blast used over Sludge Wave due to the relative absence of Arceus-Grass and the high usage of Terapagos; 4 attack sets which forgo the sheer breaking power of Nasty Plot in favor of having all of the coverage it needs at once; and also offensive Stealth Rock sets in order to fill the vacuum of Stealth Rock setters left by Landorus-T's rise.
On that note, the rise of the most splashable user of Stealth Rock in Landorus-T has had some pretty big ramifications for the meta. Without the utter juggernaut of Landorus-T around to set Stealth Rock, the hazard has become slightly harder to come by. Landorus has since risen to replace its therian form as the tier's premier Ground-type, yet it has nowhere near the same amount of defensive presence, and thus has far fewer chances to come in and set Stealth Rock. Furthermore, some Landorus even forego Stealth Rock altogether in favor of Nasty Plot, which makes it unwallable by most conventional means. When it comes to other users of Stealth Rock, the tier is a little strapped for splashable options. Arceus is a notable exception, but the opportunity cost of using Stealth Rock Arceus is typically not worth it, given just how powerful of a teamslot Arceus is. When combined with the ban of the common Fire-resist in Arceus-Dragon, this new difficulty in setting Stealth Rock has led to a slight increase in the viability of Fire-types - especially those who don't want to or can't hold Heavy-Duty Boots.
Speaking of which, in the wake of Arceus-Dragon's ban, Gouging Fire has risen as one of the tier's best Dragon Dancers. Sporting similar physical bulk and strength to that of Arceus, and recovery in Morning Sun, Gouging Fire has the potential to be a terrifying setup sweeper very comparable to and in some ways even better than the likes of Arceus-Dragon. Gouging Fire's Fire/Dragon typing grants it better ease of setup compared to Arceus-Dragon due to its Faerie neutrality, and burn immunity without the use of Tera. Burning Bulwark amplifies Gouging Fire's ability to set up vs Pokemon that rely on contact moves such as Zacian, as well as crippling common revenge-killers who make use of priority. Furthermore, Protosynthesis Attack boosts Gouging Fire's damage output past that of Arceus-Dragon's. Gouging Fire's defensive counterplay can be said to be even more limited than Arceus-Dragon's, as the only Pokemon that can handle it without the use of Tera is Tickle/Chilling Water Alomomola. That's not to say that it's all upsides for Gouging Fire though. Its noticeably lower SpD and Ground-weakness means that it can't it can't recklessly set up in front of special wallbreakers such as Landorus and Deoxys like how Arceus-Dargon could. Furthermore, Gouging Fire's lower speed tier leaves it vulnurable to being picked off by Scarf Landorus even after a Dragon Dance boost. For now, those of us on the tiering council don't believe that this Pokemon is worthy of tiering action, but we are likely to continue monitoring this Pokemon as the months go bye.
During the lead up and beginning of the October quarterly shifts, some speculated that Pao's rising would allow for more metagame diversity, especially in regards to previously lesser-used bulky Steel-types, being able to once again get a chance to shine. And while that certainly wasn't false, Magearna has still continued to be one of the best Pokemon in the meta. From the UMPL IV usage statistics, Magearna has retained a usage rate of over 50% and a win rate of over 40% in every week thus far. However, that's not to say that that Magearna was totally unaffected by the shifts. Due to the absence of Chien-Pao, the ubiquity of physdef Magearna is no more. Nowadays, especially after the banning of Arceus-Dragon, we're beginning to see an uptick in specially defensive Magearna who is able to better take on threats such as Terapagos, Palkia-O, Kyurem-W, Deoxys, Mewtwo, and CM Arceus. Furthermore, we're also beginning to see a greater number of Magearna carrying Thunder Wave instead of Encore, as a means of supporting the newly-centralizing Landorus. Overall, Magearna's viability has trended downwards slightly, due to the lack of Chien-Pao necessitating a Magearna on every team, as well as due to how Magearna can act as an opportunity for Landorus to come in. But even so, Magearna still remains as one of the best support Pokemon in the tier, that almost any team archetype will appreciate.
On a related note, the rise of Chien-Pao did wonders for Solgaleo's viability. Despite how much the meta has shifted, Solgaleo's still up to its old tricks with it's SpD pivot set. Solgaleo does have some distinct advantages over Magearna, in that it possesses superior bulk alongside reliable recovery in Morning Sun. When it comes to Pokemon such as Terapagos and Kyurem-White, Solgaleo does perform better than Magearna. Knock off is yet another coveted progress-making tool in Solgaleo's disposal, that Magearna lacks. And when it comes to pivoting moves, Solgaleo takes win over Magearna, since the move not only has negative priority compared to Magearna's Volt-Switch, but also provides 0 chance for Landorus to come in for free. However, Solgaleo performs markedly worse than Magearna at answering Deoxys, especially the attack-invested Deoxys that are popping up more and more. Solgaleo's lack of entry hazard setting capability can also be sorely felt when it comes to dealing with Arceus formes. Solgaleo is nowhere near as close to standing at the forefront of the meta as Magearna is, but is still a very viable pick that may suit some teams more than Magearna will.
Giratina was yet another defensive staple on balance teams that greatly benefitted from the rise of Chien-Pao and subsequent ban of Arceus-Dragon. With less breakers in the tier that can hit Giratina with strong, super effective attacks, its incredible bulk is able to shine more than ever. Furthermore, while Landorus-T was never an amazing check to Giratina, it certainly appreciates one less Pokemon in the metagame that can Taunt away its attempts to use Defog. During this period of heightened Giratina viability, people have once again begun to use Leftovers Giratina. The decreased presence of Stealth Rock compared to previous metas has definitely had an impact on this choice of item, but people also began to realize that Leftovers makes Giratina extremely difficult to take down, since Leftovers can severely mitigate the amount of chip damage that sticks on Giratina over the course of a game. Furthermore, many have found that Leftovers on a Resting Giratina can make it significantly harder to take down during that period of vulnurability. Which is rather significant, especially when dealing with the newly-prominant Dragon Dance Arceus-Poison. Arceus-Poison has risen to become the best Dragon Dance Arceus forme, ever since Landorus-T and Arceus-Dragon exited the tier. Its STAB move of choice, Gunk Shot, shares the same effective base power as Arceus-Dragon's Outrage - a staggering 144 base power after factoring in the plate boost. However, it greatly struggles in breaking through Giratina, which has in part contributed to the rise in Giratina usage. Remarkably though, the other factor contributing to Giratina's heightened usage is that people have begun experimenting with physically offensive Giratina. CM Giratina has long existed, and is scary in its own right, yet we've never seen physically offensive Giratina being used until now. As it turns out, Griseous Orb-boosted Poltergeists hit incredibly hard, even when coming off of Giratina's mediocre base 100 attack. When it comes to Ghost-resists in the tier, our main two are Terapagos and Arceus-Dark, but they both take significant damage from or get crippled by the other moves this set runs, in Thunder Wave, Tera Blast Faerie, and Dragon Tail. The set has yet to see big success, but it's certainly gaining more traction as more and more people begin to use it.
When it comes to speed control in the tier, the use of Choice Scarf has actually been trending slightly downwards lately. The main users of Choice Scarf in the tier are Chi-Yu, Urshifu, Sneasler, and Landorus. While they all do an excellent job at stopping Zacian, the same can't be easily said of the tier's users of Dragon Dance. Generally, these Pokemon aren't strong enough, or aren't fast enough to deal with speed-boosting sweepers, and can even become setup fodder once locked into a move. As such, we've begun seeing an uptick in non-scarfers as speed control, with the notable picks being Regieleki and Deoxys. Regieleki's attacks tend to thud into resists, but its speed tier is unmatched, and can pose quite a pain for teams who don't have a SpD Pokemon capable of repeatedly taking Transistor-boosted Volt-Switches across the course of a game. Furthermore, Eleki occasionally carries Thunder Wave, allowing it to cripple Pokemon it would otherwise not be much of a threat to. While Regieleki can be thought of as a stubborn pest that doesn't easily buzz off, Deoxys is more like a rabid beast attacking everything in sight. While its speed tier isn't quite the monstrous base 200 that Eleki possesses, Deoxys' base 150 speed stat is still far more than enough to allow it to revenge-kill Zacian with ease. Furthermore, its Extreme Speed is very useful in sniping weakened scarfers/setup sweepers which would otherwise outspeed it. As a result, Deoxys has become very viable as not just a wallbreaker, but also as a team's dedicated form of speed control. Some have even begun to run more Atk investment than Spatk investment, in order to boost the power of Extreme Speed, and also deal more damage with Superpower against crucial targets such as Arceus-Dark and Terapagos. We've also seen developments in the kinds of Tera types Deoxys runs. In the past, people have used Tera Psychic and Fighting in order to boost the power of Psycho Boost and Superpower respectively, but these days we're seeing more and more Tera Normal and Stellar. The former acts as a dedicated boost to Extreme Speed, while the latter gives Deoxys crucial power boosts while still retaining teh flexibility that makes Deoxys so incredibly good. This shift towards less abusable forms of speed control reflects the overall meta trends of favoring active balance teams that don't provide opponents with the opportunities to bring in any of the various breakers and setup sweepers that reside in our tier.
Finally, here are some recent meta trends that do not warrant a full section each, but should still be mentioned nonetheless:
We're currently seeing a rise in the variety of Arceus formes being used right now. For the first time in a while, we've seen a slight shift in the viability order of Arceus formes, with Arceus-Electric overtaking Arceus-Grass for the number 3 spot. Arceus-Rock has seen more use too, with it occasionally opting for a Calm Mind Will-O-Wisp set instead of the typical Dragon Dance one. And while cheesy as they may be, Arceus-Fighting and Psychic have also seen more usage than previously seen before, as anti-offense Cosmic Power sweepers.
Sun has been seeing more and more usage, especially in the currently-ongoing Ubers UU Swiss 2. While it's mostly up to its old tricks, Reshiram stands out as a tool that many sun teams have used to mixed results. It has yet to achieve mainstream success, and still retains its weakness to the ever-present Landorus, but is still something one must prepare against when in the teambuilder.
Non-trick room Ursaluna has been seeing a lot of use on balance teams as of late. It's a fearsome wallbreaker that not only enjoys switching into Giratina and Arceus-Poison, but is also a terrifyingly bulky Pokemon that can't be easily OHKOed. Bulk Up Ursaluna can be extremely difficult for a team to take down, should they lack a strong special wallbreaker. However, some Ursalunas instead use Swords Dance over Bulk Up, due to the immediate power difference.
This concludes the first edition of the Ubers UU Metagame Report! We're currently in one of the best metas we've had yet, with a large diversity of unique options available for teams to bring, and we're excited to see how it all plays out. If you, the reader, have any feedback or feel that we have left out an important topic, please reach out to any of us on the tiering council, and we will do our best to try and address your concerns. Thank you for reading all the way to the end, and stay tuned for the next edition of the Ubers UU Metagame Report 3 months from now!
