So, Zeraora and Bisharp are UU now, and now with bisharp there are definately gonna be some changes, I think now that these changes are more settled, I'm gonna restate and share some of my own thoughts on what the upcoming meta will be like with Bisharp and Zeraora in it.
First of all, as Rose said above, Offense gets a boost for sure, whether it be straight Azelf HO, Spikes Offense, Webs, or more, Bisharp definately helps. A pokemon that can punish defog super well, which was only left to Tornadus-I before, a mon that was rarely used. It is a breaker, a sweeper with sucker punch, a typing thtat can check both Latias and Scizor, sucker resists are going to be very common on teams. Bisharp hasn't even been explored much either, with many options such as pursuit, rocks, low kick, and the ability to run a variety of items that could catch people by surprise. By no means is it like any pokemon we have in the metagame before Bisharp got unbanned. Bisharp could also fit on other team archetypes as well, but I see it fitting best onto more offense oriented teams, such as volt turn where it can get free switches, or the playstyle already called for aggresive doubles and playing where bisharp can get in, and then predict accordingly. Will Offense become the dominant playstyle? I'm not sure really, offense now has access to two great fat breakers in Bisharp and Zeraora. Zeraora can also act as an offensive pivot through the use of volt switch [If only it got u-turn, banded u-turn oof]. Balance and Bulkier teams in general will have to get creative by fitting in mons that can check these new threats [Will talk about some mons that have really gotten better from the drops] while not being unviable because it cant deal with everything. Overall, while I was first against having Bisharp in the tier, i'm curious to see what will happen in terms of trends and viability of different mons that were otherwise unseen before.
This, this guy right here. I have some things to say. Sucker Punch resist, coverage to hit everything it needs to, good attack, good abilities. We have a threat on our hands. Not only does Sharpedo add a lot of role compression onto offense teams, it can do SO MUCH. Shark was already a threat before it dropped, but due to the plethora of defoggers that Klefki couldn't spike on and deal with, Shark Spikes wasn't the most used things [at least in tourneys]. Now I see a different story, I feel this is going to be one of the biggest threats in the metagame due to being one of the best cleaners. With the right support, it has one hell of a time. It now has a friend in something that can punish and beat most defoggers in the tier, and while it does stack weaknesses, its worth it in sharks case. Because along with a defog punisher, Bisharp can also weaken the steel types that Sharpedo can't easy break through, beat the fairy types that usually counter sharpedo, and they just synergize so well together in my opinion. I may not be the most knowledgeable in hyper offense, but as I said in this and before, Bisharp gives the playstyle a HUGE boost, not only in spike stack but all forms of offense. I can see Shark making a huge boom and just wrecking its way through team after team.
I absolutely love this. Now you may be thinking: "Why use this over Nidoking?? Nidoking has more power, more speed, and is just better!!1!" The difference is the bulk, and because of said bulk, it can check so many things in the meta. Not only is it a ground type, which blocks volt switch. It walls Zera [Bar knock off, losing black sludge sucks] and manectric, two very prevelant electric types. Though personally I see manectric usage dropping off a bit, but thats another story. It's typingg also allows it to check one of the scariest breakers in the meta terrakion, resisting both stabs and only really being afriad of EQ [on band rak], which can be scouted for if you have another check of terrak. It does so much in terms of checing things, fairy type switch in, fighting resist, electric immunity, and it has a bunch of utility outside of this too. Stealth rocks, Toxic Spikes, SO MUCH COVERAGE, Sheer Force, lots of moves that abuse said ability. Earth Power is a must on nidoqueen, as it allows you to hit a plethora of relevant mons that it can check. The rest of the moves you can use are very customisable. Need a rocker? Put on Stealth rocks! Want to make sure you kill scizor? You got flamethrower! Want to kill fairies? Use Sludge wave! I think you get the idea. Nidoqueen really shines in the current meta when it was hidden under sheets of other ground types, namely hippowdon, that outshined it before. If you haven't tried Nidoqueen yet i'd give this mon a try because it is really good right now.
The Oven. The floating oven. From being outclassed by its lawnmower brother, it is now one of the best electric types, fire types, floating mons, this thing does too much to list. First off all: Let's talk about its typing Fire/Electric. This is amazing right now. Not only does it check flying types amazingly, it also checks scizor and mamoswine, the latter having very few switch ins that can come in without worry. Not only does it check a plethora of things, like nidoqueen, it also has so much utility. Defog, Pain Split, Toxic, Thunder Wave, Will-o-Wisp, Volt Switch, and probably more that I don't even know about. The role compression is insane. It's already been talked about quite a bit in VR, but i'm talking about it here anyways. It fits on a lot of playstyles too: Balance, Bulky Offense, even more offensive builds. It just can fit onto so much because of what it does, and how well it does it. Can pressure its checks through its utility in toxic, thunder wave, pain split, etc. Checks a plethora of mons. TLDR; use this floating oven.
After its evolution raised to OU, people didn't think much of this guy. Little did they know it would become one of the best defoggers in the tier. It's sheer bulk is incredible. Ground/Flying is a good typing rn, checks fighting types, electric types, you get the gist, and like its evolution, it fears ice type coverage which is becoming much more rare. Though it does fear knock off from the likes of zera and bish, it can check both of these very well. Oh, I did say it was one of the best defoggers, thats cause it can beat most rockers in the tier. It struggles vs. the water type rockers but besides that, it's pretty damn solid. Also with utility in u-turn to gain momentum, and cool tech like curse. I didn't go as into depth with this one but I really like this mon right now, works really well on balance and even a cool pick on bulky offense if it is running u-turn. Good utility, good bulk, I approve of you little Gliscor.
Fighting types became even better with bisharp being unbanned, but there are a few in particular I want to talk about here. First is Terrak, this w as already on the rise even before Bisharp dropped, and it keeps getting scarier, if it wasn't for scizor i'd see rock polish running rampant everywhere. Banded, SD, even Rocks Lead is getting better, just a really solid mon that takes advantage of a lot of trends. Next up, Lucario, another one of the scariest wall/stallbreakers in the tier. Nasty Plot, priority, strong stab combination, yeah, you get the gist. Not much can safely switch into and deal with this monster, and like terrak, usually has to be revenge killed to be dealt with. It deals with a lot of current threats like sharpedo, bisharp, terrak, etc, and the likes that are weak to vacuum wave. One again, just really hard to deal with once it gets going. Next is the one I mainly want to talk about, and I know this is probably going to be a shorter section but oh well. Chesnaught is one of the better defensive checks to things like bisharp, zeraora, and quite a bit of things. It provides spikes, can pressure water types, has recovery, and overall just, good pick. Fits on bulkier teams better and gives an interesting take on spikes that isn't just pure offense like most are, I've been playing around with a bulky spikes team and it''s been doing pretty well. This mon does have its downsides, letting in dragon types fairly freely [bar drei if you have drain punch] and it is quite passive so a lot of things can use it as setup bait. While it does have its downsides, its a cool choice. Oh, I also forgot its ability, Bulletproof is cool, Kommo-o has that too, rip special ability that only chesnaught used to have.
Um.. what else to say.. to be honest i'm not sure right now, I said what I wanted to so i'm gonna leave it here. Bisharp pushes the meta in an interesting direction and only time will tell once it begins to settle, because let's be honest, it is a bit chaotic right now. There are some mons that really rose to shine while others are beginning to cline, the very common hippoleon [hippowdon+empoleon] core is being beaten slowly by more things and people are finding ways around it, causing a decline of mainly hippo to other ground types such as nidoqueen and gligar spoken of before. By no means is Hippowdon bad though. Also Manectric may not be the favorable pick of electric type anymore, being prefered over the likes of zeraora or rotom heat, as both do not take up the mega slow and just have either better utility, or coverage, while manectric is in an odd midpoint of the two. There is a lot to explore and let's see what we can come up with. Once again thanks for reading the essays I write, I don't now why they end up this long
. Okay enough blabbering i'll go now bye
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