Underrated Pokémon in OU

[EpicNikolai]

Hello, I am EpicNikolai, a user on Pokemon Showdown! and Smogon. I would like write an article for The Smog about Underrated Pokémon in OU. I have already written a good amount of what I think could be in this article, with 4 underrated Pokemon where I describe their usefulness and how they have a lot of potential and usefulness in OU. I go over set(s) for them and how it could work(with some of my own experiences told in there as well).

The article would start out with a brief summary of the OU metagame, and at the end I would like to just give a brief summary of how people who aren't already, could be more open-minded about using underrated Pokemon, because they have their uses, and some of them are really good, despite being in UU and lower tiers, like RU. I hope you take this suggestion into consideration. Thank you! :)

 

[Valmanway]

Hi there, EpicNikolai. Your article idea does sound interesting, but can we get a little more information, like which Pokemon you plan on writing about? Also, can we see the first paragraph or two of what you've written so far, so we can see your writing skill?

 

[EpicNikolai]

Alright. I want to write about Pokemon like Honchkrow (UU), Empoleon (UU), Crobat (UU) and Rhyperior (RU). I am willing to write about one or more Pokémon if needed. I don't know if its right, but I feel like the best thing would just be to post all I have so far on here. (I am aware that some of my language isn't excactly perfect as I am from Norway, and that some of the competetive arguments aren't quite as good as they should maybe, but that could be fixed if its being worked a bit on)

So here it is:

Underrated Pokémon in OU

OU is a tier with many versatile Pokémon, that all have some traits they could benefit from. From fast and strong offensive threats, to bulky and versatile Pokémon: OU is a competitive tier and also the most popular one on Smogon. Many people tend to use the same Pokémon over and over. How often don’t you see Greninjas, Rotom-Wash, Landorus-Therian, Azumarill, Talonflame and etc.? It can get pretty repetitive, and as a player I like to mix it up and try to run some underrated Pokémon to see how well they can do in the tier. Some of them can do surprisingly well, and therefore I wanted to give you some of my thoughts on some of the more underrated ones in my eyes. I will give an example set and explain as how I would use it, just to tell you a little bit about my experience with the specific Pokémon. So here it is!

Honchkrow

Honchkrow is a pretty underrated Pokémon in my eyes. It has a big sweeping potential in OU, with access to STAB Priority Sucker Punch and STAB Brave Bird. Coupled with a solid base 125 attack and Moxie, this thing can sheer through unprepared teams and be nearly unstoppable. The set I run for Honchkrow is:

Honchkrow @ Life Orb
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Sucker Punch
- Substitute
- Roost

This set has been doing what it needs to most of the battles I've had with it. The strategy is simple, try to get behind a Sub as they have a weakened Pokémon that switches out in fear of you getting the +1 attack boost from Moxie. From here you can Brave Bird to potentially do massive damage, and if it doesn’t OHKO them, you can usually just Sucker Punch them the next turn. Another good thing about getting up behind the Sub is that Prankster T-wave/Will-o-Wisp users can’t get you statused behind the Sub, which is really positive. It could be that they would send out a Roar-user and try to get you out off the field, but Honchkrow is faster than a good amount of the Roar-users, so it shouldn't be the biggest concern. Sending out Honchkrow late-game could be a good idea. A lot of weakened Pokémon could easily be OHKO'd by a Sucker Punch, or at least a +1 Sucker Punch/Brave Bird after you have got that Moxie boost into work.

The whole point of this set is to force them to switch and then finish off the Pokemon that switches in, and then continue on with a sweep. You could also Roost your health up, once the Life Orb damage/Brave Bird recoil makes its health go to crucial levels. The Sub forces the opponent to attack you unless they have Roar and etc., while Sucker Punch will grant you +1 priority to attack them before they get to do anything to you. Once you have taken out one Pokémon and got the Moxie-boost it is basically just to sweep the opponent. I would advice you to give this set a try, or at least the Big Boss Pokémon Honchkrow a shot in OU.

Note: Sticky Web-support could make this set even more reliable and make Honchkrow an even bigger threat. Also, you should take into consideration that Smogon recommend you to consider Pursuit as well when you expect switch to get the Moxie boost. That could work very well as well. Another solid and noteworthy option is Superpower to deal with the Rock- and steel types more easily. And a more mixed variant of Honchkrow with Heat Wave to deal with Ferrothorn, Skarmory and Scizor could be used, as well as Dark Pulse to deal better with Pokemon like M-Slowbro before it gets up its Calm Minds.

Empoleon

Empoleon is one the more underrated Pokémon for the OU meta. It has a big niche with access to Defog, and useful base 101 Special Defense and base 111 Special Attack. It works really well as a pivot, you can switch into many common OU threats such as Heatran and Azumarill. Further on it makes life hard for other common OU Pokémon such as Greninja and Clefable. You can Roar out Clefable before it gets to set up Calm Minds, and you can set up Toxic damage on incoming Pokémon to slowly wear down their health. Defog grants great team support, and with the addition of Scald with 30% chance to burn, Empoleon can make life hard for in-switching Landorus-Therians and etc.

Empoleon @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Toxic
- Roar
- Defog

Overall Empoleon is a Pokémon you shouldn't laugh at, it is a Pokémon that has many positive things going for it in the OU meta, and it works well as a team support. Furthermore it has 10 resistances, 2 quad resistances and an incredibly beneficial immunity to Toxic, which increases longevity and gives it more reasons to be used on OU teams.

Empoleon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Flash Cannon
- Grass Knot
- Hidden Power Fire

Alternatively you could run the Choice Specs-set that aims at taking out Pokémon such as Clefable with Flash Cannon before it gets to do anything. Further on it focuses on dealing with Ferrothorn and Scizor with HP Fire. Hydro Pump will just be there for STAB and will naturally do massive damage to anything that doesn't resist it. Grass Knot will deal with Pokémon such as Azumarill and Suicune that could show up.

Crobat

Crobat gained amazing buffs this gen. Crobat already had a great defensive typing, and with STAB Cross Poison being SE to new fairies such as Clefable, it is really viable. The resistance to Fairy-type moves can come in handy as well. Infiltrator is a solid ability and could be beneficial to deal with stallers and other Pokémon behind Subs. A Banded STAB Brave Bird will hit harder than a Talonflame. Despite not having the +1 Brave Bird as Talonflame gets from its Gale Wings-ability, it still pumps out more damage than it with base 90 attack. It should dash out a good amount of damage to anything that doesn’t resist it, and it could work really well late-game for instance, with weakened Pokémon.

Crobat also has an outstanding base 130 speed, so hitting first isn’t its main problem. In addition to this, Crobat also has a niche with access to Defog to get rid of hazards that come in the way, further increasing Crobats usefulness to OU teams. U-turn is there to deal some damage before switching out. All in all Crobat is a really underrated Pokemon that you should give a try in the OU meta. It can do massive damage to teams there, and it definitely isn’t easy to deal with in the right players hands. Here is a solid sample set of what you could run on Crobat:

Crobat @ Choice Band
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Cross Poison
- Defog

Rhyperior

Rhyperior is a part of the tier RU. That would make many people think it automatically has nothing to do in higher tiers than RU, but think again, because Rhyperior actually has quite a few niches going for it that you shouldn’t underestimate. Here is a good OU set for it:

Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 212 HP / 44 Atk / 252 Def
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge/Rock Blast
- Ice Punch/Dragon Tail/Fire Punch/Toxic

First things first: an outstanding 115/130 physical bulk. It can take physical hits really well, and can check a good amount of OU threats, including Garchomp, Dragonite, Charizard-X and etc. With a high base attack of 140 is well appreciated as well. A Ground/Rock typing to give it good resistances and immunity to electric type is not bad, especially with Pokémon such as Zapdos around in the OU tier, not being able to deal with Rhyperior, and it can check it with Stone Edge or Rock Blast eventually. Dragon Tail could be a good idea, after you have got Stealth Rock up, to grant hazard damage, and eventually to get rid of something like Chansey that could cause trouble for it with Toxic-damage.

Strong OU physical attackers that attempts to take out Rhyperior will have a hard time considering its solid physical defense. Couple that with Rhyperiors ability to dash out good damage back, potentially OHKO-ing or 2HKO-ing many of the lethal OU threats is what makes it an underrated Pokémon in my eyes. STAB Earthquake is always powerful, STAB Stone Edge or Rock Blast to give it a niche in OU, and Ice Punch to deal with the common threats that are 4x weak to Ice. Alernatively you could run Fire Punch to deal with Scizor and Ferrothorn. Toxic also is a noteworthy option to make the opposing Pokémon slowly wear down health. You should considering giving this Pokémon a chance, just like the other Pokémon that has usefulness in OU.

(And here I plan to write a short conclusion about how we could use more underrated Pokémon when we play)

I hope you like my idea :)

 

[Valmanway]

I gotta say, this looks pretty good so far. I'm not too sure about Honchkrow and Crobat being there though. The extra base Attack that Crobat has over Talonflame is meaningless, since Talonflame can run an Adamant nature to have more Attack than Jolly Crobat thanks to Gale Wings. Crobat does have the niche of being one of the fastest Defog user in the game, and its defensive set could get a mention, but that's probably a stretch. As for Honchkrow, I'm not too sure about it. I think choosing another Pokemon would be better, such as Crawdaunt, Chesnaught, or Weavile. Everything else checks out fine on my end, though. Valentine TGMD , what are your thoughts?

 

[Bummer]

Haven't read that sample yet, but do keep in mind that ORAS will be out when the next issue comes, so mons or sets that work in the current meta may not work as well in the future.

 

[EpicNikolai]

I'm not too sure about Honchkrow and Crobat being there though. The extra base Attack that Crobat has over Talonflame is meaningless, since Talonflame can run an Adamant nature to have more Attack than Jolly Crobat thanks to Gale Wings. Crobat does have the niche of being one of the fastest Defog user in the game, and its defensive set could get a mention, but that's probably a stretch. As for Honchkrow, I'm not too sure about it. I think choosing another Pokemon would be better, such as Crawdaunt, Chesnaught, or Weavile.Valentine TGMD , what are your thoughts?

I am willing to write about other mons instead, such as Crawdaunt, Weavile and etc.

Haven't read that sample yet, but do keep in mind that ORAS will be out when the next issue comes, so mons or sets that work in the current meta may not work as well in the future.

I could see it changing a bit with Empoleon and stuff, seeing as Greninja gets Low Kick and Drain Punch for example becoming Move Tutor-move in OR/AS. But I do think that it doesn't make a big difference to them on the most part. Eventually, at the end of the article I could mention the fact that the meta will be changing, and that there are certain things players should be aware of, and then I could mention some of them, and tell them about the fact that these Pokemon isn't neccesarily as useful as they are now, and might even be better once OR/AS comes out.

Maybe it could be a good idea to talk about Chesnaught as well, and give set for OR/AS and how it could be used once it comes out with Drain Punch and whatnot. The opportunities are there imo, and I believe this could work out. I am relatively flexible about what to do, and I really want to contribute with an article about this.