Diamond/Pearl NeverUsed Metagame Primer

Composition

NU (NeverUsed) is the third and lowest usage-based tier in DPP. All Pokémon that were not UU or higher by usage at the end of the 4th generation and are not banned to Ubers, UUBL, or NUBL can be used in NU. Although NU was not officially supported by Smogon during the 4th generation, it is now regularly included alongside other past generation NU tiers in annual tournaments such as NU Classic and NUPL.

A list of the current NU Pokémon and those with NU analyses for the NU era are found on the dex page.

Play Restrictions

Players cannot use Pokémon from the Uber tier, OU, UUBL, UU, or NUBL.

Players must abide by the standard Smogon-wide clauses:

  • Species Clause: A player's team cannot contain two Pokémon with the same National Pokédex number.
  • Sleep Clause: If a player has already put a Pokémon on his/her opponent's side to sleep and it is still sleeping, another one can't be put to sleep.
  • Evasion Clause: A Pokémon's moveset cannot contain the moves Double Team or Minimize.
  • OHKO Clause: A Pokémon's moveset cannot contain the moves Fissure, Guillotine, Horn Drill, or Sheer Cold.
  • Endless Battle Clause: A player cannot intentionally prevent an opponent from being able to end the game without forfeiting.

Resources