Metagame USM RU - Speculation & Discussion

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phantom

Banned deucer.
With USUM less than two weeks away and with most if not all of the relevant info datamined, I thought this would be a perfect time to open up another speculation thread while we wait out the time. Keep this thread related to RU only and discuss only known information. Make sure to also stay on topic!

New info:
 

Deleted User 400951

Banned deucer.
Kommo-o gets close combat. Well, RIP. This thing, alongside its z move, will be pretty busted.

Decidueye gets shadow sneak which will be super nice for it, not relying on sucker punch anymore. It'll be better for sure, tho not by much.

That's pretty much it from what I've seen. In a rush rn so likely skipped over stuff but yeah those are the biggest 2 for me.
 
Some stuff.

Goodbye Kommo-O - Close Combat makes Dragon Dance sets much more threatening, Clangorous Soulblaze is super broken.
Araquanid is way better, as it now gets Sticky Web.
Necrozma becomes much more threatening - Signal beam gives it a way to hit Dark types, and it gets a stronger STAB to boot. Probably ban worthy
Decidueye gets a nice buff
Bewear gets Drain Punch - maybe a SubSD set could work
Cloyster gets Liquidation, finally having a good Water STAB. Waterium Z lets it power through Registeel and Escavalier
Feraligatr gets a slightly stronger STAB
Accelgor is now the fastest Toxic Spikes setter around

UB Assembly is just as shit as I thought it would be. Rock / Steel with nonexistant Speed, godly defence, good Attack and shit everything else.
 

trace

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more stuff get webs sounds good at first then you remember the tier gets a fuckton of removal now

tsareena getting knock off / power whip probably makes it one of the best removal around
defog rotom-mow sounds great
sigi seems to be the best defogger rn though, i guess defog + 3 atk will be its best?
defog florges is kinda ehhh

hyped for the new meta though
 

termi

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Lycanroc-Dusk might actually have its use in RU, unlike its underwhelming counterparts (although at least Midday improves significantly in USUM). It learns Drill Run from tutors and that's a contact move, essentially giving Lycanroc-Dusk a stronger Earthquake thanks to Tough Claws. Accelerock also makes contact, so it gets an fairly powerful STAB priority move as well. Furthermore, with its signature z-move you get a base 190 Rock-type move, which, after an SD, is strong enough to have a chance at OHKOing Gligar after SR (+2 252 Atk Lycanroc Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Gligar: 264-312 (79 - 93.4%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock - Gligar often runs speed too).

On that note, Gligar's finally able to run Immunity + Defog which is big, it now beats pretty much every rocker bar Nidoqueen. Some other interesting Pokemon also gained access to Defog, Sigilyph for example might be cool since it doesn't take damage from hazards, shits on Chesnaught and Registeel (although Regi's probably soon-to-be obsolete with Mega Lix joining the tier and Mega Aggron following next month in all likelihood), and even checks stuff like Roserade. Some Rotom forms might be interesting with Defog, particularly Rotom-Mow (Heat suffers from Rocks weakness obviously).

Tsareena is looking decent right now, Power Whip gives it way more offensive presence and Knock Off gives it a means of actually threatening several spinblockers like Doublade and Decidueye. That being said, the influx of Defog users will probably make hazards less dominant anyway.

Vileplume might somehow become viable thanks to the dumbass move that is Strength Sap. Lives hits from shit like +1 Darkinium/Fightinium Durant and +1 Gatr from full and completely negates them by recovering all HP back and dropping their Attack stat. Will need some testing to determine how good it truly is but it definitely looks like it has some potential.

Necrozma becomes extremely potent with Earth Power, Heat Wave, and Signal Beam added to its arsenal. If Photon Geyser also works with regular Necrozma that's a nice buff as well, although its PP is very low.
 
Some stuff.

Goodbye Kommo-O - Close Combat makes Dragon Dance sets much more threatening, Clangorous Soulblaze is super broken.
Araquanid is way better, as it now gets Sticky Web.
Necrozma becomes much more threatening - Signal beam gives it a way to hit Dark types, and it gets a stronger STAB to boot. Probably ban worthy
Decidueye gets a nice buff
Bewear gets Drain Punch - maybe a SubSD set could work
Cloyster gets Liquidation, finally having a good Water STAB. Waterium Z lets it power through Registeel and Escavalier
Feraligatr gets a slightly stronger STAB
Accelgor is now the fastest Toxic Spikes setter around

UB Assembly is just as shit as I thought it would be. Rock / Steel with nonexistant Speed, godly defence, good Attack and shit everything else.
DD Kommo with CC would be super cool here if the z move gets banned in UU and it drops here.

Araq is a shit webber, won't run it here. You'd much rather run a faster webber like Galv.

Excuse me, but did you just say Necro will probably be banworthy? That seems like a huge overstatement. Getting access to EP/Heat Wave is obviously huge, but I don't see how this would make it broken. I also doubt it would ever use Signal Beam, as it simply won't be able to fit it. Between Toxic, EP, SR, Moonlight and Heat Wave the last three slots already have too many to pick between. Sr Necro will probably be one of the better offensive rockers now though.

I don't think Sneak makes much of a difference on Decid, as i expect sub to still be the better 4th move. I may be wrong though.

Drain Punch could be cool on Bewear i suppose, but I will probably stick to Superpower. Miss me with the Sub BU shit.

Cloyster getting Liquidation is certainly interesting. Maybe it'll be better than Hydro now as the 4th move? Seems hard to fit Waterium though, given how good Z Explosion is.

Personally I'm really hyped for all the new removal, such as Sigi, Mowtom and Cryo for instance.
 
Rotom-Heat gets a lot better with Defog, actually. The losing of health upon Rocks switch-in is kind of iffy for it, but it counters a lot of the decentish hazard setters (Galvantula, Chesnaught, Roserade, can switch in on Queen except for Sludge Wave, Mega Lix). It'd probably be mediocre in practice, but I'd still like to try it once USUM comes out and is programmed on Showdown.
 
DD Kommo with CC would be super cool here if the z move gets banned in UU and it drops here.

Araq is a shit webber, won't run it here. You'd much rather run a faster webber like Galv.

Excuse me, but did you just say Necro will probably be banworthy? That seems like a huge overstatement. Getting access to EP/Heat Wave is obviously huge, but I don't see how this would make it broken. I also doubt it would ever use Signal Beam, as it simply won't be able to fit it. Between Toxic, EP, SR, Moonlight and Heat Wave the last three slots already have too many to pick between. Sr Necro will probably be one of the better offensive rockers now though.

I don't think Sneak makes much of a difference on Decid, as i expect sub to still be the better 4th move. I may be wrong though.

Drain Punch could be cool on Bewear i suppose, but I will probably stick to Superpower. Miss me with the Sub BU shit.

Cloyster getting Liquidation is certainly interesting. Maybe it'll be better than Hydro now as the 4th move? Seems hard to fit Waterium though, given how good Z Explosion is.

Personally I'm really hyped for all the new removal, such as Sigi, Mowtom and Cryo for instance.
If it can run Photon Gyser in its base forme, that gives it a 100 power STAB that can be either physical or special and has no drawbacks other than low PP, and it can have a 200 BP STAB Z move with Light That Breaks The Sky (god that name is stupid) that again can be physical or special. The additions to its movepool let it run all kinds of new sets - Recovery + 3 attacks, Offensive Stealth Rock, Choice Specs, CM + 3 Attacks, Special Rock Polish even physical Rock Polish. It might not be broken, but right now it looks that way IMO.
 

Lord Death Man

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If it can run Photon Gyser in its base forme, that gives it a 100 power STAB that can be either physical or special and has no drawbacks other than low PP, and it can have a 200 BP STAB Z move with Light That Breaks The Sky (god that name is stupid) that again can be physical or special. The additions to its movepool let it run all kinds of new sets - Recovery + 3 attacks, Offensive Stealth Rock, Choice Specs, CM + 3 Attacks, Special Rock Polish even physical Rock Polish. It might not be broken, but right now it looks that way IMO.
It looks like Light That Breaks The Sky is probably going to be unique to a Necrozma Forme, which sucks because it has a 43.8% chance to ohko full defense Gligar if you're timid.

Rocks Necrozma looks like it'll be great, since it seems like it does fairly well versus most existing and most new hazard removers; the exception being Florges, which I don't think many of us expect to be good.
 
It looks like Light That Breaks The Sky is probably going to be unique to a Necrozma Forme, which sucks because it has a 43.8% chance to ohko full defense Gligar if you're timid.

Rocks Necrozma looks like it'll be great, since it seems like it does fairly well versus most existing and most new hazard removers; the exception being Florges, which I don't think many of us expect to be good.
It's the exclusive Z-Move for Ultra Necrozma. Requires Photon Geyser and Ultranecrozium Z
 

ScraftyIsTheBest

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Man Kommo-o is looking REALLY good with all the new moves it got in USUM. It gets Close Combat, which finally makes its physical sets stand out as it has a very strong Fighting STAB that will hit quite hard coming off of a DD Kommo-o. Outrage+Close Combat+Iron Head is looking really potent with Kommo's solid bulk and good power making it a very potent sweeper. Clangorous Soulblaze is also incredible and I could see mixed Kommo or special sets being really effective with Clangorous Soulblaze's power and stat boosts once you get Fairies out of the way (which frankly isn't too hard in RU). Stealth Rock is also pretty neat and Kommo has solid bulk and typing, along with Bulletproof (or Soundproof), to make it a good offensive Rocks user that can take on a few things in the tier quite well, kinda like Druddigon in previous gen RUs. Perhaps Drain Punch could be useful on some bulkier Kommo-o sets too though I don't really know if it'll stand out from the likes of Bewear in that regard. But yeah Kommo-o finally has some really good Fighting STAB and its Z-move and Stealth Rock, which means it improved A LOT for USUM. Wouldn't be surprised if Clangorous Soulblaze proves itself to be broken, but we'll see!

Tsareena will be a much better spinner now and possibly somewhat potently usable in RU now that it has Power Whip and Knock Off. It has a great matchup against the likes of Rhyperior and Gigalith and Knock Off gives it a means of overwhelming Doublade and Bronzong as well as annoying Escavalier and Registeel by removing their items. It hits pretty hard and I think it has potential. Perhaps offensive spinner sets with Knock Off, High Jump Kick, and Power Whip would prove usable...or something like that.

Shadow Sneak Decidueye looks cool, and Necrozma looks infinitely better with Signal Beam, Earth Power, and whatnot in its arsenal (finally has good coverage). Anyways, it looks like a lot has changed and I'm interested in seeing how things will ultimately shape up in USUM RU.
 
I'd like to post a few things I found notable. Many of these things are not enough to move pokemon up a tier, but hopefully some of them should improve them within their current tiers.

Zen Headbutt: Some new things now get decent physical psychic coverage. Notable mons include Tsareena, Minior, and Lycanroc. Minior might be able to hit some of the bulkier fighting types that give it trouble, even with acrobatics, Tsareena can predict the Salazzle switch in and also has a new reliable move for poison types, and Lycanroc also has something to hit fighting types with.

Elemental Punches: So Kommo-o gets these in addition to close combat and a z-move and more. I think its got enough to be considered a legitimate threat now.

Lurantis: This thing gets Superpower now plus contrary so that should make it at least a little better. It also gets knock off and everyone knows how useful that move is. I think this thing will at least come out of PU

Slurpuff: While it probably won't run it, the thought to Belly drum, Drain Punch, Play rough, Sticky Web Slurpuff is really funny.
 
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Stuff to note:

  • lol no way kommo o will stay ru. It getting CC, SR and the retarded new z move means it'll prob get banned here, and uu will steal/ban it anyway.
  • new removal options, tsereena, siligyph, rotom h/c, florges, whimiscott, comfey, immunity gligar. Faries lose to lix rose and queen which is aids, tsereena is looking clean ngl although it still loses to queen and rose, Rotom h has a good mu w/ lix chester and queen and gets volt switch so that's lit, rotom c could probably defog for some offenses as well. Siligyph looks cool as an offensive option, could also run flame orb+psychic shift for a pseudo burn, helps w/ lix in particular. Immunity gligar helps w/ stuff like lix giga and regi although regi is really an unmon rn bc it loses to so much and lix is better.
  • Gatr and cloyster both get a small buff bc they get liquidation
  • dusk lycanroc could be cool although it gets fucked by chesnaught, another lazzle check is appreciated tho.
  • Assembly will drop and be ass
  • Some shit gets rocks as well, mostly bad stuff tho
  • Stuff like mandi will drop to us in uu bc they have way better defoggers which will be cool
  • shadow sneak decid might be cool
  • strength sap vileplume s rank omwebs ribombee/araquanid prob won't be good
  • New moves will make necro actually good
USUM will be lit, ru will actually be good this gen

edit:this is all the new moves mons get in SM in one pastebin, s/o LL https://pastebin.com/raw/yy8wTD0G
 

MrAldo

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RU is good right now, smh.

Anyways, this defog craze doesnt make anything goddamn sense... and I love it! So much needed hazard control available at last!! I have dreamed of this day. Ofc not every pokemon will make the best of it in RU but some stand out as potentially neat, like:

Sigilyph:

- Magic guard is an excellent ability in general, put that on a pokemon with hazard control and reliable recovery and you have something beautiful. Ofc it doesnt become as threatening as something like calm mind, but it can run life orb safely so it can still retain respectable power while providing defog, which is nice. And it beat many hazard setters so thats great too!

Rotom-Cut:

- This one is really weird, like... really damn weird, but I guess we just roll with it, huh? Good stab combo to pressure most hazard setters (can afford to run z-move even), a lesser case of 4mss compared to the oven counterpart, and has levitate to just take rocks damage so it sounds functional on paper. Making a grassium z set with volt switch / leaf storm / defog / hp fire or pain split can work.

Immunity Defog Gligar:

- Finally! The dream has become a reality! Rejoice!! No more fearing registeel and bronzong 1v1ing you. It is beautiful.

The rest of the new moves are wild. Ribombee can have a niche being the fastest sticky web setter in the game now! Kommo-O looking like a solid versatile threat now, may go UU if the tier doesnt manage to adapt to it.

A lot of stuff to process but in general, this is looks pretty fun and promising for the plethora of options we could have when the game drops.

More speculation discussion soon! Maybe dropping some nice potential sets even.
 
Sneaky Pebbles. Discrete Debris. Subtle Sediment. Stealth Rock.

The move that has defined competitive play from the advent of DPP until now is dead ladies and gentlemen. Do not be mistaken, though it may cry from its deathbed that it lives yet, it casts but a deadman's shadow. What offensive pressure, what holy exertion, can prevent a Pranskter defog from Whimiscott? What positioning can account for Florges, Cryogonal, Rotom- Heat, and the inevitable Mandibuzz. Shall you outplay Xatu, only to have it remove the rocks immediately with its own defog. With the advent of OU's monstrous defoggers (lando-, torn-t) new deffogers yet will trickle down. In this new meta thus, one can only speculate the reigns will be handed to volt turn and two bulky cores, with volt turn's offensive momentum unchecked and bulky cores unable to be pressured. RU, freed from its hazard problem, will be stuck in a state oscillating between polarizing offense and defensive cores (probably).

In other news, bye Kommo-o + Necrozma, was fun while it lasted.
Liquidation makes gatr all the more threatening, as sheer force really amplifies the small power boost. (probably ban this)
Probably best not to suspect talonflame now
Tsareena looks scary as an attacker/ semi-offensive pivot thanks to knock + whip
Drill run alone might make Lycanrock a threat, since tough claws boost makes it pretty strong
LINOONE GETS STOMPING TANTRUM 0_0
 
Taking a look at things, I'm kind of disappointed in a lot of these being just generic tutor changes / regains for most mons just to have them in game in the current gen. Like my expectations were low for Move Tutors and moveset changes, but yeah GF somehow disappointed me further. There are some really cool things to note tho:

Kommo-O is their awesome dragon they always wanted so now they just gotta make it OP. Close Combat / Superpower, probably broken Z-Move, etc. Seeing as the Z-Move uses a special Kommo-O only item, we wouldn't even have to ban the mon if the Z-Move makes it busted, but there's like a 110% chance it'll rise anyway depending on what else gets super improved.

Something I'd like to point out on Tsareena besides getting Knock Off (take that Doublade) is that Tsareena also gets Low Kick as a move tutor move. While the damage is slightly less than HJK, you don't have to worry about missing against something like Registeel due to protect shenanigans. Bounce might be cool for Z-move shenanigans or something somewhere, but meme sets right?

Defog hype train, Gamefreak has heard our cries that the RU tier doesn't have enough hazard control, so what do they do? Give a bunch of things Defog that makes absolutely no sense. Cryogonal failing as a spinner against Doublade? Just use Defog. Need a Defogger who doesn't take any hazard damage? Give Sigilyph a trial! Need a defensive mon that has lasting power and isn't weak to SR? Well for some reason Florges, Whimsicott, and Comfey can now all use Defog! This is seriously going to be fun, rip hazards tier. Also lol Prankster Defog Whimsicott, that's gonna be so fun.

One thing I noticed that might find low-end niche viability somewhere on some teams could be Incineroar. Move Tutors give it a few things that it was sorely lacking from its movepool: Thunderpunch, Drain Punch, Superpower, and Knock Off. Now it can actually be annoying to Pokemon that could switch into it, as well as threaten Water types now while having a choice for a powerful fighting coverage / recovery move.

A bunch of random little odds and ends too, like Dhelmise getting synthesis which is cool beans among other mons just flat out getting at least one extra move they could use is always nice. Things will be pretty fun I think in the near future.
 

aVocado

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Stealth Rock isn't dead, it merely has more guaranteed counterplay now. I've been asking for this for literally years. Can't wait to play a tier where hazards and hazard removers are are both plentiful or a bit more in hazard remover's favour even. I can finally use offense with rocks-weak mons now. No longer forced and limited to run u-turn gligar or cryogonal on offense in order to have a chance at clearing hazards!! fucking amazing. Rotom-C and Sigilyph specifically are looking really good to me, life orb defog/roost/heat wave/psychic sigilyph is probably gonna be the set, with maybe roost or heat wave being replaceable with something but eh, too early to tell.

They're not released yet but I'm already excited because I FINALLY HAVE OPTIONS @_@ RU IS GREAT AGAIN

On the other hand Lycanroc midday is probably the one Pokemon I'm excited most about, mainly because its one of my fav mons and I really want it to be good :3 SD/Stone Edge/Accelerock/Drill Run looks like the best set it can run, but unfortunately it has to pick what mon it gets walled by. Without Drill Run its walled by Doublade and Steelix and with it its walled by Chesnaught. I feel like he has a bit of a 4mss and also it might be just a tad bit too weak w/o life orb (assuming running z-stone edge which is base 190). It's also walled/checked by quite a few mons including Flygon, zydog, and Bronzong which is honestly shit but oh well :( we'll see how it turns out. It *does* learn Crunch which might be a good neutral hit vs Flygon and it hurts Bronzong as well. Sucker Punch is another way it could bypass flygon and zydog but not bronzong

Kommo-o is obviously gonna be stolen by UU even if they end up banning the broken z-move. UU just has a hard-on for dragons with DD and psuedo-legendaries, and *especially* if they have good double stabs and fairy coverage. I don't see this being in ru at least not for a couple tier shifts.

Tsareena will probably end up staying ass because it's too late now. If she had knock off and all that shit from the beginning then yeah she'd probably have been decent in current RU but now that everything and their mother learns defog it might just not be enough, but who knows?

I'm not sure how Necrozma's tiering is gonna work whether it'll be considered like a mega or it might be tiered all as a whole but I can't wait to use vanilla necrozma this thing actually has a movepool now like holy shit.


DEFOG SIGILYPH THO YESSS
 
Incineroar could get a decent upgrade, but IMO it's main problem is the speed and that typing doesn't complement the bulk very well. But you outspeed all of the relevant Fighters aside from Virizion, Chester, and Kommo-o and kill them with Firium-Z Flare Blitz (maybe CB too but I can't be bothered to check right now). It'd be better if Intimidate was released giving you easier switch-ins, but alas.

Hopefully the increase in hazard removers means Blastoise can go fuck off to NU now. RIGHT?!

On a final note, pretty much all of the RU/NU/PU bunch is hyped as fuck about Lycancarrot, and it does look decently customizable. Zen Headbutt, Drill Run, Crunch all work for the coverage slot, and stuff like Steelix can get manhandled by teammates like Chesnaught.
 

aVocado

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Also another thing I forgot to mention but a fuckload of mons (araquanid, slurpuff, ribombee most notable) get sticky web now. I'm interested to know if the meta will develop in favour of sticky web but having stuff like defog rotom-c and sigilyph might hamper them though.

on another note I'm kinda worried UU will steal a couple of defoggers if they didnt get any good ones of their own Q.Q
 

Deleted User 400951

Banned deucer.
Also another thing I forgot to mention but a fuckload of mons (araquanid, slurpuff, ribombee most notable) get sticky web now. I'm interested to know if the meta will develop in favour of sticky web but having stuff like defog rotom-c and sigilyph might hamper them though.

on another note I'm kinda worried UU will steal a couple of defoggers if they didnt get any good ones of their own Q.Q
Well, Ribombee is faster than Galvantula and has sleep powder, so it'll be a great boon to the archetype. It also even gets u-turn if you want. That being said, Webs wasn't all that great to begin with and there are just too many defoggers out for it to work anymore. It's a real shame ;-;. TBH I see Ribombee taking Galvantula's place on the VR (which i predict will be subsequently unranked) and perhaps even moved up a bit.
 

Punchshroom

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Well, Ribombee is faster than Galvantula and has sleep powder, so it'll be a great boon to the archetype. It also even gets u-turn if you want. That being said, Webs wasn't all that great to begin with and there are just too many defoggers out for it to work anymore. It's a real shame ;-;. TBH I see Ribombee taking Galvantula's place on the VR (which i predict will be subsequently unranked) and perhaps even moved up a bit.
I don't see Sleep Powder in Ribombee's learnset nor in Cutiefly's egg movepool.
 
LINOONE GETS STOMPING TANTRUM 0_0
+6 252+ Atk Linoone Stomping Tantrum vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Registeel: 334-394 (91.7 - 108.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes
+6 252+ Atk Linoone Stomping Tantrum vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Tyrantrum: 410-484 (133.9 - 158.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+6 252+ Atk Linoone Stomping Tantrum vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Steelix-Mega: 226-268 (63.8 - 75.7%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and 3 layers of Spikes

Yeah, gaining Stomping Tantrum means that three of the most reliable ways to beat a boosted Linoone can now lose to it. Tyrantrum can still beat it if it's scarfed and either goes for Head Smash or if Linoone has prior damage, and Megalix can put a huge dent in Linoone or phaze it, but until now they were hard stops to Linoone. Additionally, it now gets Throat Chop which provides a slight damage increase over Shadow Claw, but ultimately that's only relevant for one thing. However, that one thing is Doublade.

+6 252+ Atk Linoone Throat Chop vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Doublade: 238-282 (73.9 - 87.5%) -- 50% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and 1 layer of Spikes
+6 252+ Atk Linoone Shadow Claw vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Doublade: 210-248 (65.2 - 77%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and 1 layer of Spikes

I'd say that replacing Shadow Claw with Stomping Tantrum is probably going to be the way to go, but Throat Chop is still nice to think about. Seed Bomb is too important for the likes of Quagsire, physically defensive / statused Milotic, and Bewear to give up, and losing Shadow Claw only really means Decidueye is a bit more annoying, but even that is 2HKOed by Seed Bomb. Even Mega Banette still loses, as you can just use Extreme Speed to activate Tantrum's bonus damage to OHKO through burn / dodge Destiny Bond. One thing to note though is that replacing Shadow Claw means you lose to Dhelmise, but I think that's a sacrifice worth making.

Ultimately, I'd say this set is probably going to be the most optimal going forward.

Linoone @ Figy Berry
Ability: Gluttony
EVs: 132 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 120 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Extreme Speed
- Seed Bomb
- Stomping Tantrum

120 Speed EVs creeps Jolly Tyrantrum by one point while also coincidentally beating +Speed Hoopa and Decidueye. 132 HP maximises health while keeping it an even number for Figy Berry, and the remaining EVs go into SpD just in case of Download Porygon2, even though it doesn't matter on account of P2 being a hard counter.

Will Linoone be that better going forward? Absolutely yes, but it won't be as big an improvement as one might think. Gaining these new tools to beat its previous checks and counters is fantastic, but the loss of a reliable Memento user in Zoroark is a huge blow considering how much trouble Linoone can have with setting up, and all the new ways to keep hazards off the field will make it that much harder to get sweeps off. Still, I think Linoone will see quite an improvement.
 
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Sneaky Pebbles. Discrete Debris. Subtle Sediment. Stealth Rock.

The move that has defined competitive play from the advent of DPP until now is dead ladies and gentlemen. Do not be mistaken, though it may cry from its deathbed that it lives yet, it casts but a deadman's shadow. What offensive pressure, what holy exertion, can prevent a Pranskter defog from Whimiscott? What positioning can account for Florges, Cryogonal, Rotom- Heat, and the inevitable Mandibuzz. Shall you outplay Xatu, only to have it remove the rocks immediately with its own defog. With the advent of OU's monstrous defoggers (lando-, torn-t) new deffogers yet will trickle down. In this new meta thus, one can only speculate the reigns will be handed to volt turn and two bulky cores, with volt turn's offensive momentum unchecked and bulky cores unable to be pressured. RU, freed from its hazard problem, will be stuck in a state oscillating between polarizing offense and defensive cores (probably).

In other news, bye Kommo-o + Necrozma, was fun while it lasted.
Liquidation makes gatr all the more threatening, as sheer force really amplifies the small power boost. (probably ban this)
Probably best not to suspect talonflame now
Tsareena looks scary as an attacker/ semi-offensive pivot thanks to knock + whip
Drill run alone might make Lycanrock a threat, since tough claws boost makes it pretty strong
LINOONE GETS STOMPING TANTRUM 0_0
252 Atk Life Orb Sheer Force Feraligatr Waterfall vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mew: 191-226 (56 - 66.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252 Atk Life Orb Sheer Force Feraligatr Liquidation vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mew: 204-242 (59.8 - 70.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

...am i somehow missing the "amplification" that makes a mon go from balanced to broken due to fucking five base power?

More importantly than any of that is in a bit of good news, this influx of defoggers is probably our best bet to get mantine back! Bad news is that at this rate we've got hazard removal out the ass and no longer really need it, but hey
 
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