UU Pokemon of the Week

Status
Not open for further replies.
*Approved by Kokoloko, "stolen" from RU
.::UU Pokemon of the Week::.


So, I wanted to start up a resource for newer players, as well as give other players a chance to discuss each of the Pokemon that comprise the UU tier, one at a time. Essentially, I'll post up a new Pokemon every Sunday. For the rest of the week, everyone will get to weigh in on the Pokemon in question. Votes for new Pokemon will begin on Fridays 3:00pm EST, just PM me who you would like to see be the UU Pokemon of the Week. Whichever entry gets the most votes will take the cake!

General topics that I'd like to see discussed:
  • What sets are popular and effective?
  • What general roles and niches does this Pokemon fulfill?
  • What advantages does it have over the other Pokemon with these roles? Disadvantages?
  • What does this Pokemon effectively counter, check, and threaten?
  • What counters, checks, and threatens this Pokemon?
  • What are good teammates?
  • How does this Pokemon fit into the metagame in general, and how has the metagame adapted to its presence?

Goals of the Project:
  • To produce a great resource for newer players looking to get into UU. I'll keep a table of contents, so users will easily be able to find the specific Pokemon they want to learn more about, or simply read through the thread to get an idea of each Pokemon and it's effect on the metagame.
  • To give UU players a chance to discuss, dissect, and explain their experiences with each Pokemon, how it best functions, and what roles it plays in our metagame.
  • To create a more casual alternative to onsite analyses, driven by the experiences of everyone playing the metagame as opposed to just a singular, unified view. This should hopefully shed more light on the ups and downs of a Pokemon, and explain why various players would want to use or not use it.

As weeks progress, I'll keep a table of contents for which Pokemon have been featured, which will be found below. Quality posts will also help catch kokoloko's eye and may win you an Au Gratin award.

Table of Contents:
Week #1 - Blastoise and Heracross
Week #2 - Roserade and Ambipom
Week #3 - Chandelure and Cobalion
Week #4 - Mew, Cofagrigus, and Tornadus
 
This sounds cool! Should the focus be te metagame Pokemon like chandelure, flygon, etc. or on "underrated" sort of stuff?
 
This sounds cool! Should the focus be te metagame Pokemon like chandelure, flygon, etc. or on "underrated" sort of stuff?
Both. Of course, the goal is to feature the stars of the Underused tier, but it will also highlight the underrated threats in the tier.

Hell, there's like 52 Pokemon in the tier, and 52 weeks in a year. If my math is correct, I'm pretty sure everything can be used over the course of a year. The tier drops may make this a bit less exact, but that just means that things such as Ambipom are more likely to be pushed to the very end in place for new arrivals.
 

Nas

Banned deucer.
Is there a specific order for which pokemon is Pokemon of the Week? If not, how is it chosen?
Votes for new Pokemon will begin on Fridays 3:00pm EST, just PM me who you would like to see be the UU Pokemon of the Week. Whichever entry gets the most votes will take the cake!
I believe that is the answer to your question. However, I doubt that voting is the best way to choose the next potw. In all likeliness, you'll get 10 votes for 10 different pokemon. (Or however many people vote) Just use your own discretion.
 
I believe that is the answer to your question. However, I doubt that voting is the best way to choose the next potw. In all likeliness, you'll get 10 votes for 10 different pokemon. (Or however many people vote) Just use your own discretion.
I'll take that route then.
 
Both. Of course, the goal is to feature the stars of the Underused tier, but it will also highlight the underrated threats in the tier.

Hell, there's like 52 Pokemon in the tier, and 52 weeks in a year. If my math is correct, I'm pretty sure everything can be used over the course of a year. The tier drops may make this a bit less exact, but that just means that things such as Ambipom are more likely to be pushed to the very end in place for new arrivals.
It may be me but I think it'd probably be better to do a spotlight on two mons a week. There is no sense in restricting yourself so much when you consider RU is a much smaller tier and many RU viable mons can do some hefty damage up in UU too despite their usage.

It lets you get away with picking something less seen and something more regularly seen in the same week to spice up things. Because quite frankly if you go in with a say...Heracross week there honestly isn't much to discuss when it virtually runs only one set.

Just seems a good way of putting a spin on POTW, just throwing out suggestions.
 
It may be me but I think it'd probably be better to do a spotlight on two mons a week. There is no sense in restricting yourself so much when you consider RU is a much smaller tier and many RU viable mons can do some hefty damage up in UU too despite their usage.

It lets you get away with picking something less seen and something more regularly seen in the same week to spice up things. Because quite frankly if you go in with a say...Heracross week there honestly isn't much to discuss when it virtually runs only one set.

Just seems a good way of putting a spin on POTW, just throwing out suggestions.
I like that idea actually. I think I'll go with that.

This way, this isn't a carbon-copy of what RU's got.
 
It may be me but I think it'd probably be better to do a spotlight on two mons a week. There is no sense in restricting yourself so much when you consider RU is a much smaller tier and many RU viable mons can do some hefty damage up in UU too despite their usage.

It lets you get away with picking something less seen and something more regularly seen in the same week to spice up things. Because quite frankly if you go in with a say...Heracross week there honestly isn't much to discuss when it virtually runs only one set.

Just seems a good way of putting a spin on POTW, just throwing out suggestions.
Seems like it'd be kind of like a research group sort of thing then, with more focus on exploration than on laddering. By all means a good thing.

And honestly, the top Pokemon in UU, while commonly running 1 or 2 sets, are extremely versatile. I've seen Scarf (with both abilities), band, LO, orb, orb+SD, Lefties+SD (+Sub sometimes), subpunch, even bulky sets. Heracross has tons of versatility on its own. Flygon is usually scarfed or (more recently) banded, but that doesn't mean sets like LO mix or Draco Plate aren't just as powerful in a different way.

That's not to say I don't want to bring attention to some of my favorites like Shaymin and Rhyperior who are seeing lower usage these days, I just find everything in UU fascinating.
 
Week #1 - Blastoise and Heracross


Blastoise
Type: Water
Base Stats: 79 / 83 / 100 / 85 / 105 / 78
Abilitiy: Torrent / Rain Dish


Heracross
Type: Bug / Fighting
Base Stats: 80 / 125 / 75 / 40 / 95 / 85
Ability: Swarm / Guts / Moxie

The first of twenty-six pairings on the list, Blastoise and Heracross. Discuss their sets, roles they play the metagame, counters, teammates, etc. Any and all aspects of each Pokemon are up for discussion here.
 

ss234

bop.
Heracross-Heracross is arguably the most dangerous Pokemon in UU right now. The Moxie Scarf set has very few counters, and once they have been eliminated Heracross is incredibly difficult to stop. Close Combat / Megahorn / Stone Edge provide great coverage, and with Pursuit in the last slot you can trap weakened ghosts such as Mismagius or Chandelure, that can stop you're sweep later.

That's not all Heracross can do though. Guts is a brilliant ability as well, and the Swords Dance set breaks through the large majority of walls. Again, Close Combat / Megahorn / Stone Edge provide great coverage, and Swords Dance boosts his attack to dizzying levels. Guts allows him to switch in on Scald's with impunity, and then fire off powerful attacks afterwards. When statused, Heracross has the power of a Choice Band, but the ability to change moves, which makes a status orb set viable as well.

However, no Pokemon is perfect(although Heracross comes pretty damn close). Ghost types resist his two STAB moves, as do flying types and fire types. Furthermore, 85 speed isn't that great, allowing him to be out sped by Darmanitan, Flygon and Mismagius and revenged killed-Flygon and Darmanitan outspeed the Scarf set when they are running their most common set as well. Cofagrigus is also a great counter-not being 2HKO'd by anything apart from SD Heracross. However, even OTR Cofagrigus can take a hit from SD Heracross and neutralise Guts and 2HKO after SR with Shadow Ball. The defensive set is even better at countering Heracross, since it can burn him as well as neutralise Guts thanks to Mummy. Gligar is sort of a counter in that it can take a hit, but it can't do anything back unless it is running something like Aerial Ace.

Heracross has a number of teammates that it will benefit from depending on what set it is running. Scarf Heracross needs its counters out of the way, so using a wallbreaker is a good idea. Another idea is Weavile. Weavile has Ice Punch for Zapdos and Gligar, and Night Slash for Cofagrigus and possibly Pursuit for faster ghosts like Mismagius. Spikes can go a long way in getting Heracross easier kills such as on Arcanine with Close Combat and wearing down Suicune and the like. Qwilfish resists his fire weakness nicely and can set-up Spikes or Toxic Spikes which also help to eliminate his counters. However, Roserade and Nidoking are very common Pokes. If you are running SD or Status Orb Heracross, then a cleaner like Honchkrow or Sharpedo should be able to clean up the opponents team easily after Hera has left his mark. Again, Spikes support goes a long way in weakening walls, and Qwilfish or Roserade or Froslass(the big three spikers)are all good choices. Qwilfish resists fire, Roserade is a great special tank and sets up Spikes with ease while Froslass can set-up Spikes in the lead spot easily as well.

Blastoise is the premier spinner of UU(Hitmontop is terrible-don't use it). Thanks to it's typing and decent defenses, it can beat every ghost in the tier one-on-one apart from some forms of Rotom-but they are far too rare.

However, Blastoise has no reliable recovery, and can't switch into the most popular spiker in the tier, Roserade, at all. This means that outside of Rapid Spin, he is completely outclassed by Suicune who has better stats and a better movepool. He has the bulk necessary however to take on common ghost types and take powerful fire type hits from Darmanitan and Arcanine and Victini nicely.

Blastoise has a rather large number of counters unfortunately. Bulky grasses like Roserade and Shaymin make quick work of him, as do bulky electrics like Zapdos and Raikou. He take full damage from entry hazards and Toxic cripples him for the rest of the match, and no reliable recovery means he can be worn down very quickly. A well played Blastoise though can last an entire match, and thanks to his decent physical bulk, he still makes a great check to Arcanine and Kingdra and the like.

Blastoise really appreciates someone who can take out these bulky grass types. Powerful fires like Arcanine, Darmanitan and Victini all greatly benefit from not having a quarter of their health removed by SR and can easily threaten them out with their powerful fire type moves-although they still need to be careful from an offensive Roserade or Shaymin's Earth Power when switching in. On dedicated rain teams, he can make a great pivot thanks to his ability Rain Dish and Rapid Spin, allowing Focus Sash's of the likes of Omastar to stay intact.

Blastoise's best set would be the physically defensive spread-as it allows him to take some quite powerful physical attacks. 252 HP / 252 Def and a Bold nature is the optimal spread, and Scald / Rapid Spin / Toxic / Roar or Dragon Tail is the best moveset. He makes a good check to many of the tier's top physical sweepers like Kingdra and Darmanitan with this spread, which is what a bulky water type needs to do.
 
Blastoise is the best spinner in the tier but the problem with it is once you put it on your team it's hard to find place for other bulky waters like Suicune. Blastoise also has the option of phasing the opps poke and racking up the hazard damage on switch ins. Blastoise really suffers from its lack of reliable recovery and can't really pull off a ResTalk set that effectively. Even with the lack of recovery Blastoise can certainly tank a hit and be ready for more so he's not incapable of doing something else besides spinning and with the abundance of Fire in the meta having a bulky water isn't a bad idea but now I want to raise a question

Would people use Blastoise if it didnt get access to Rapid Spin, If yes then what would be your reason to use it over Suicune or Swampert?

I might talk about Heracross later if I get the time
 

ss234

bop.
No one would use Blastoise over Suicune if it didn't get Rapid Spin, since Suicune has better stats and a better movepool. The only reason why Blastoise is the premier bulky water is because of this one move, which is sad because Suicune is actually really good.
 

PK Gaming

Persona 5
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
The best spinner & the best cleaner.

Heracross: Moxie Cross wins games, it's been that way since Moxie became legal. I'd argue that's metagame defining, but definitely not broken. Most players are so fucking awful they end up a Pokemon down against this thing before the midgame and end up getting swept, which shouldn't be happening. No need to be creative when countering Heracross, just slap a Crobat, Physically Defensive Zapdos (keep them both healthy because of the obvious SR weak), Gligar or a Cofagrigus to deal with them. Players looking to use Moxie Heracross should preferably run a Spike-stacking team. Having counters to its counters is preferable, or you can run Pokemon that abuse the hell out of them (DD Kingdra for Gligar, etc, etc). It can run other sets, which are decent but if 9 times out of 10 you're better of running Moxie Scarf. If it's counters are down, and your opponents team has been weakened (30~50% hp on their Pokemon) you're in a position to sweep. The best set imo is CC / Megahorn / Stone Edge / EQ. Pursuit is unreliable and gimmick, I would never seriously use it over EQ. NEVER USE AN ADAMANT NATURE!!!

Blastoise: Blastoise is alright, but I really wish it's defenses were higher or that it at least had a reliable recovery move. It's unequivocally the best spinner in the tier, but that's not saying when much when spinning is so damn hard. Some say that it's usually limited stall teams, but I think it can be used on offensive teams if you're good at keeping it healthy. It gets some flack, but i've gotta hand it to it, because it can really spin if it wants to (foresight). It's typing lets it check some of the most annoying Pokemon in the game (Darmanitan, Flygon) which is also nice.
 
Heracross

At a Glance: A powerful end game physical sweeper with a unique typing which gives it multiple switch in and offensive options.

Common Sets: The Scarf set is the most regularly used with the final move slot usually being a toss up between Earthquake or Night Slash. It is capable of also running a decent Guts set which used to be it's old regular set before it gained Moxie as a ability.

Why is it used: Moxie Heracross has effectively won the game once it gets one kill in. It is virtually impossible to repel it's offense once it has the +1 attack boost under it's belt. Guts Heracross is a alternative for teams which have great difficulty dealing with status but is rarely used due to the game breaking nature of Moxie.

Counters/Checks: Bulky variations of Qwilfish, Zapdos, Arcanine, Sableye, Registeel, Crobat and Nidoqueen are capable of checking by slowing it down but require fairly situational prediction. However it can also be checked by revenge killing it with something faster like Sharpedo or Scarf Flygon. Cofagrigus, Dusclops and Gligar are considered the true counters of Heracross taking the least damage and able to cripple it.

Summary: Heracross has recently become the most used Pokemon upon Moxie's release in the whole of UU with good reason. It's possibly one of the easiest and most brain-dead sweepers to use due to it's raw power, decent speed and high coverage.


Blastoise

At a Glance: The premier Rapid Spinner of UU and a well rounded defensive bulky utility support pokemon.

Common Sets: The most common sets you'll see is that of Roar/Scald/Rapid Spin with the last moveslot ranging from anything between Toxic, Rest, Refresh, Dragon Tail, Ice Beam, Foresight, Counter and Mirror Coat.

Why is it used: Truthfully it would not be used at all if it did not learn Rapid Spin as it is one of the weakest bulky water types in UU with no reliable recovery. But as it stands it is the only Rapid Spinner available to UU that can break through ghosts attempting to block the spin without resorting to Foresight. It also becomes handy that it can multi-task as a phazer and lower end bulky water for sponging attacks.

Counters/Checks: There are many checks to Blastoise due to it's non-offensive nature like anything with a powerful attack which overwhelms it's decent defenses. However in terms of full counters it'd be anything which can prevent it from doing it's job. Therefore Bronzong, Froslass, Roserade tend to be the bane of it's existence with the abilities to re-lay entry hazards, taking little damage and take Blastoise out of the picture.

Summary: Blastoise faces competition from multitudes of superior bulky water type walls. But wins through due to it's monopoly on one of the most important anti-metagame moves of UU in Rapid Spin and it's multiple ways of preventing setups which is important for a defensive player. Blastoise isn't the best at any one thing it does but being a okay 3 in 1 solution to many problems is what defines it.
 

pokemonisfun

Banned deucer.
If you just use a random number generator to pick all of UU's Pokemon of the Week you won't really be giving any other lower tier Pokemon a chance here which, if you want to encompass the good stuff in UU, you really ought to.

Booooo I hate seeing Blastoise because it just shows what a dominance hazards have, to the point where you would rather be using this than the better in every aspect Suicune. But we all know this already right?!! People see Blastoise as a defensive tank but you could easily shift some of those defense and special defense EVs into special attack to hurt things that troubled you before, for instance you can actually OHKO Victini now with SR up if you use a max special attack surf. Even fully defensive variants of Blastoise could not reliably counter Flygon - it would just get u-Turn spammed and rack up hazard damage until Outrage could KO - so losing some of your defense doesn't seem like a terrible idea. Clearly you are no longer going to rely on Blastoise to be your Darmanitan counter anymore or anything like that so this Blastoise might not work for every team but there are obvious benefit to running a set with more special power. Whether that outweighs the drawbacks is up to your team.
 
Sorry this is a bit late, I had a really messed up night last night.

Week #2 - Roserade and Ambipom


Roserade
Type: Grass / Poison
Base Stats: 60 / 70 / 55 / 125 / 105 / 90
Ability: Natural Cure / Poison Point / Technician


Ambipom
Type: Normal
Base Stats: 75 / 100 / 66 / 60 / 66 / 115
Ability: Technician / Pick Up / Skill Link

Second pairings are now up. Discuss sets, roles in the metagame, counters, teammates, etc. Any and all aspects of the Pokemon are up for discussion.
 
Have to say, I really enjoy using roserade. Being able to shrug off status, lay down hazards and cripple a very large number of pokemon is fantastic. Mind you, when I say cripple a very large number, I run a slightly modified variant of the first listed roserade set in the strategy pokedex which uses toxic spikes and sleep powder over synthesis and spikes, just to annoy everyone with sleep mechanics and toxic...or I would if I didn't make so many daft decisions during my matches...

But anyway, I like the versatility Roserade CAN bring, even if its commonly seen running one of the supporting spike sets. Even if outclassed, powders, subseed, toxic are all useful moves to have when you can force the switch.

The SpA it has should get a mention, in that giga drain nets decent amounts of health back, or just to smash someone with leaf storm. Pity about move coverage and boosting but you can't have everything I suppose.

Natural cure is a godsend against common status users (especially sableye), and for full health restoration with rest while mitigating the penalty that normally comes with rest.

Still, grass is asking for trouble against aggressive pokemon, who usually pack a super-effective move (even though SpD investment can reduce this problem to an extent). Or worse, a super effective physical attack, which is generally an OHKO.

As for ambipom, I have nothing to say there really. I'm already providing a noobish analysis to roserade where someone could say it better, and I'd probably just go with the crowd in saying that there are better things you could use in its place, or use mienshao for the faketurn antics.
 
Roserade's pretty cool. Great defensive spikes and bulky water counter, and a pretty potent offensive force (once steels are gone). The spiker is very good on my stall team. Roserade has problems with certain counters regardless of set though, so it definitely needs some team support to beat things like Registeel, Bronzong, and all of the fire types in the tier.

Ambipom is bad. Don't use him. Mienshao does basically everything better while actually having force behind his attacks. Fake out isn't even good on Mienshao and it still works the hit and run attacker role better. Anything that beats Heracross or Mienshao beats Ambipom too. Don't use him.
 

pokemonisfun

Banned deucer.
Pity about move coverage and boosting but you can't have everything I suppose.


Still, grass is asking for trouble against aggressive pokemon, who usually pack a super-effective move (even though SpD investment can reduce this problem to an extent). Or worse, a super effective physical attack, which is generally an OHKO.
Actually grass is really a decent coverage option in UU especially if you pair it up with poison (Sludge Bomb). Basically only Fire/Steel/Rock/Grass/Bug/Flying resist grass. That sounds like a lot but Sludge Bomb really nails Darmanitan and other fires bar Chandelure (while even Chandelure won't like it if it has to eat SR damage too since it can be outsped and 2hkod) as well as grass mons (Shaymin and Roserade). Heracross and Yanmega don't like Sludge Bomb as well as most of the Flying types you will see in UU. And steel types generally are too weak to eat LO Leaf Storms more than once or actually are set up fodder for you. You won't get far boosting with Growth though I imagine.

I don't really think anyone outclasses Roserade since nothing gets Spikes and Toxic Spikes and can go so offensive at the same time. Everything else you said I can agree with, just remember to make sure you use 0 attack IVs to be one of the best Sableye counters!

Yeah I'm not going to defend Ambipom anymore apart from this, I used it and got to number four on the ladder under ambipif (only because i was number 3 under "loldusclops") but clearly everyone will just tell me the ladder is like playing a sack of rocks and is no indicator of skill. When I tried to replace it with Mienshao I started losing games to faster threats like for instance, opposing Mienshao and lost the ability to revenge kill Swift Swim Kingdra (generally I would get a hit off of it with my Froslass and then Fake Out it to death). But ok don't use Ambipom, its usage is curiously high in any case.
 

PK Gaming

Persona 5
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
Ambipom: It's really not that bad guys! In a metagame where speed is ridiculously important, Ambipom gets the jump on pretty much every relevant Pokemon in the tier and ties with Raikou. As an attacker, it's pretty freaking strong, and hard to wall in general since Rock & Steel-types (outside of Bronzong) get destroyed by Low Kick. It's only issue is that it's more or less outclassed by Cincinno. I mean sure, Ambipom's got the better Fake Out, Low Kick, Payback etc. But Skill Link Cincinno just hits so damn hard, and it's really hard to justify using Ambipom over it. (well Cincinno looks like a sissy so there's one reason to using Ambipom...)

This Is The Only Set Worth Using On Ambipom:

Ambipom @ Life Orb
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
-Fake Out
-Return
-Low Kick
-Payback

A stronger Fake Out, access to Low Kick & Payback are some of the main reasons to use Ambipom over Cincinno. Unfortunately, those advantages aren't as pronounced in practice, Cincinno's Bullet Seed lets it basically target everything that Low Kick / Payback gets (Slowbro, Rhyperior) but it's whatever, who cares. Ambipom's a strong attacker that can check offensive threats in a pinch, which is something Cincinno can't do as well.Threats such as: Choice Scarf users like Heracross, Flygon & Darmanitan, Dragon Dance Kingdra, Quiver Dance Liligant, etc. If you use Ambipom, then you have insurance against these threats by default.

Return's nowhere near as strong as "lol 5X tailslap" but it deals respectable damage. Don't hesitate to spam it! Don't use U-turn on Ambipom. It can't give up either of its coverage moves, and it's counter-intuitive to using this Ambipom in the first place; to cause as much damage as possible. Don't take the easy way out, ever! If you know your opponent is going to bring in Rhyperior, Low Kick. If they have Cofagrigus, Payback! There's no point in unnecessarily spamming U-turn against shit like Gligar because you're just damaging yourself (as if the opponent is going to double switch out of fucking Ambipom) which is another knock against U-turn. The point is, it's a crutch on the all-out attacker set, and Cincinno does the whole "attacking + u-turn" schtik a lot better. Play to it's strengths!

AMBIPOM RULEZ
 

meddle

boomer user
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Well, I'm surprised at how many people are just defaulting to their Ambipom as a lead when there are ghost Pokemon on the opposing team. Further surprised how many Ambipoms run U-turn just to get Mummy'd by Cofagrigus. Because it's so predictable I can only see it being useful mid-to-late game once things are worn down a little bit and ghosts are out of the picture.

I personally don't see the point in using Ambipom when Mienshao and even Cincinno exist, but if I did use it, I'd run the set mentioned in the other thread (two active threads discussing him /shrug?):

Ambipom @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Beat Up
- Low Kick
- Return

As for Roserade, I prefer offensive sets to defensive and/or spiking ones. My favorite right now:

Roserade (M) @ Life Orb
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SAtk / 216 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Sludge Bomb
- Leaf Storm
- Sleep Powder
- Rest

This thing hurts. A lot.
 

cim

happiness is such hard work
is a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
I've had trouble using Roserade well. I don't think it's a bad Pokemon and it's helped me a lot in specific situations but I think it might be overmetagamed. It can come in on any bulky Water and throw out Spikes, which is nice enough to make it work, but it's got an unfortunate combination of being just a touch too weak defensively and not extremely threatening offensively. Not that Roserade isn't the best Spiker in UU, but I guess I just have trouble with him?

I haven't used Roserade offensively simply because I can't come up with a replacement Spiker, but seriously, Sleep Powder and a huge STAB Leaf Storm should keep you up at night. I mean, unless you have an opposing Roserade.

Ambipom is okay once people stopped using U-Turn and started using Beat Up. Lead Ambipom isn't very smart in my opinion. Since a lot of people lead with Ambipom, I can throw out an obvious Fake Out target, bring in Rhyperior for free, and take ~40% from Low Kick and KO with Earthquake or get Rocks up and switch to something else.
 

TPO3

Never practice; Always perform.
Roserade might not be the most amazing pokemon in the world, but it's number one (or two, I don't remember offhand if Heracross passed it up) because it's better than the other options when it comes to spiking. On offensive teams, sure, Froslass is generally better because it's frail, it's fast, it can Taunt, and it can take something down with Destiny Bond. On more balanced and stall teams though, Roserade is superior because it is immune to toxic, absorbs toxic spikes, has natural cure (and rest), and isn't 25% weak to Stealth Rock. So while it loses any significant offensvie power, it's just the best option left. After these two you diminish into Omastar and Qwilfish, who are rarely better choices. (Although qwilfish is really cool, not gonna lie.) Not to mention Life Orb STAB Base 125 Special Attack Leaf Storm hits anything not resisting it like a truck. So these reasons (mainly the first one) is why Roserade's so ridiculously high up. Is it overmetagamed? No, but only because Roserade literally has to appear on almost every single full out stall team. If there were some other options, then maybe i could see it dropping in the near future.

I'm not gonna add to the "lol Ambipom sucks" bandwagon, it's been discussed sufficiently in the stats thread. I'd love to be that guy who comes up with a creative Ambipom set that's halfway decent, but I am not smart enough to come up with anything aside from Fake Out/Return/Low Kick/obligatory coverage move for ghosts, so I'll let other people discuss it.
 

PK Gaming

Persona 5
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
ok my bad, Shadow Claw or Beat up >>> Payback.

Anyway, I love how Ambipom can check Heracross / DD Kingdra lategame. So nice.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top