Pair it with lunar dance cresselia to restore iron head pp and HP aswell :)
Pair it with lunar dance cresselia to restore iron head pp and HP aswell :)
Agreed, the bicycle is cancerous to me, it just knocks and u-turns on everything, and is really annoying to deal with due to regen giving it suprising amounts of bulk.From using this Pokemon and facing it, the bicycle is just cancer. If there is one thing I hate about both UU and RU, its that a 121 speed Regen mon with Knock and U-turn sees a high amount of usage. That being said, Cyclizar's lack of a Stealth Rock weakness, access to Rapid Spin, and higher accuracy moves might make it more annoying to deal with in RU compared to Torn-T in UU. Very few Pokemon can match this Pokemon's progress making capabilities, and long-term, it is very difficult to answer. Its ridiculous speed tier also lets it revenge kill most of the metagame. I think the worst part is that the bike doesn't even answer itself well, since other bikes can tech Draco or deal a shitton of damage with double edge. I get that this Pokemon is very much needed in the metagame to handle hazards + act as speed control, but I do question how healthy it is (at least on initial impression). At the very least, Spikes aren't as easy to come by in this tier compared to OU, so the consequences of its Knock Off aren't as lethal.
Here's the current VR https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/scarlet-and-violet-ru-indigo-disk-viability-rankings.3732106/.I have an interest in the current RU tier because OU is such a crapfest the lower tiers seem to always be the place to be. However, I do not see an up-to-date viability rankings anywhere. Am I blind? If not, where can I find one?
You are very right on everything you just said. Thundurus-T is indeed the best pokemon in the metagame. Agility beats offensive counterplay, Nasty Plot beats any fat, Specs demolishes Balance. You can fish for any MU you want and even if you don't fight what you fished for, it always forces awkward plays for the opponent who was to juggle between its immunities and any misstep means you lose, especially against Tera Blast Flying Specs where it's a 50/50 between TBolt and Tera Blast, and if you guess wrong you lose a mon. I'm not even talking about how it can get past any answer just by switching its last move. Doesn't help that common answers like Scarf Gardevoir can't switch into Sludge Bomb variants, Cyclizar gets mopped by Focus Blast... Well, they both fold to Specs Tera Blast Flying anyway sooooI know it's not my place to say and they gotta build against the set posted, but I feel like it's very interesting that a very, VERY large majority of the so-called "checks and counters" in the Victim of the week thread suddenly get threatened by thundy-t if it decides to run any type of coverage other than electric stab and grass knot. Namely Tera Flying T-Blast, and for the clinically insane, Tera Ice T-Blast. There's also Dark Pulse, Sludge Bomb, Flash Cannon; Thundy-T honestly can just pull out whatever it needs out of it's moveset sometimes and the crazy thing is that you can't really predict it. like at +2 with tera Ice or tera Flying most of these supposed "checks" either get OHKO'd or 2HKO'd; If your check relies on not being mildly chipped or being switched in Thundy-T can just... kill you and there's nothing you can do about it sometimes. IDK, I just wanted to yap about this, I'm probably being stupid
100% completely agree with this and it perfectly sums up my feels on the builder side of things.As for general thoughts on the tier, I think it's in a weird spot. Cyclizar is often slapped on teams primarily for necessary role compression, not just for spinning, but because it barely staves off a LOT of threats. Gengar/H-Zoro, Thundurus-T, Volcanion, Yanmega and Basculegion-F are all incredibly threatening Pokémon which both are soft checked by Cyclizar, but also can easily break past Cyclizar with a smidgen of effort, and a lot of times, these Pokémon have minimal checks beyond this. This type of dynamic often leaves teambuilding to be a mess of half-measures, and this is pushed to the logical extreme by random tera types being used to both fill in gaps, and also abuse the gaps in the opponents team. I think the tiers future path should be to minimizing these type of half-measure forcing scenarios, and with RU Open on the horizon, I think it's the perfect time to push out a 2nd survey, or use the previous Survey for the first 3 mentioned and push a test out. Which, honestly I think could've been done 2 weeks ago.
Hey Elec,TW// gaming
Alrighty gamers. [...]
So TLDR for this point, too many things that you can lose to that you have to try and prepare for in 6 measly team slots. [...]
TLDR, too many threats, too few defensive answers, and a really aggressive metagame making it really hard to get a grasp on what exactly I'm doing wrong and where I need to improve, and what I need to prepare for. (i don't even know if it's aggressive tbh i'm that lost) [...]
Meloetta for RU.
Tier shifts happen once every 3 months from now on. No shifts tomorrow.right before the Tier Shifts
Tier shifts happen once every 3 months from now on. No shifts tomorrow.
Anyway, you know I love some 101 Sub action, and Meloetta certainly has the ability to pull it off. It just sucks that she's kinda helpless against HO since all their options are physical. Unlike...
Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Protect
- Substitute
Good ol' VinCune with its 101 Subs, I believe this is quite an underrated mon as it can out-PP other fat CM sweepers thanks to Pressure. I especially love pairing it with Lunar Dance Cresselia to restore PP and keep it going. The biggest issue of this set is that you kinda just lose to Water-immune mons but nothing prevents you from PP stalling them too (except Taunt Volcanion in particular). Toxic Spikes really help in that scneario but you need to remove HDB first. A good thing about this set is that it is not helpless against HO. There, Suicune can leverage its good natural bulk to tank something and threaten a Scald burn. In any case...
Meloetta for RU
i met Elec-ant1234 on a rooftop. he said, "i miss her, dude." i said, "i get it, but you don't have to jump." Elec-ant1234 sighed. he put one arm on my shoulder and the other firmly inside me. he swung me over the precipice and whispered, "i'm not going to jump because you're gonna jump for me."
Great post, but one option for terrakion with quick attack is tera normal. This is not actually a bad defensive option as it stuffs gengar and other ghost types that might threaten a weakened team while boosting the power of quick attack. I have found it best personally on sd sets that can sweep weakened teams outright. For example, it has a chance at +2 with tera normal quick attack to ohko gardevoir and can do solid damage to thundy-t with it doing minimum 75% hp.Fighting-type breakers in RUTook me an amqc for the physdef hippo analysis to realize just how many Fighting-type wallbreakers there is in RU, and I figured why not talk about it a little bit because I believe they are a driving force behind the metagame's evolution.
Balance teams usually run physical wall + Fighting resist that can recover (Hippo+Noivern, Hippo+Salamence for more offensive cores, or Hippo+Amoonguss and the tried and true HippoMolt for bulkier cores) specifically due to how many exceptionally strong Fighting-type wallbreakers you need to keep in check. This lets Balance teams play around their resistances to handle these offensive behemoths, as Hippo gets cleanly 2HKOed after a single layer of spikes by all of them, and that's the mon with the highest physical bulk in the tier. Let's see who these Fighting-type wallbreakers are, their most common set and how RU teams handle them (outside of "just be faster", because, yes, this is universal counterplay against anything not named Deoxys-Speed).
Okidogi @ Choice Band
Ability: Toxic Chain
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Gunk Shot
- Knock Off
- Psychic Fangs
Okidogi is the most popular one according to the most recent usage stats as well as RUPL usages, although it is very close between it and Gapdos. Fighting/Dark/Poison is a very tough coverage to handle defensively, and it even has access to Psychic Fangs to hit Fezan and other Poison types. The ability to spread poison even when clicking Koff or Close Combat is the cherry on top. It can even find opportunities to get on the field by itself thanks to the Fighting/Poison typing giving plenty resistances coupled with a very respectable 88/115/86 bulk for a wallbreaker that allows it to tank even strong hits from Pokemon such as non-Psychic Thundurus-T for example. Tera Dark allows it to transform its 4x Psychic weakness into an immunity as well as giving STAB on Knock Off, making it risky for Psychics to click their STAB if Oki's team hasn't burned Tera yet. The most common defensive plays against is having the physical wall + Fighting resist I talked about in the intro ; Usually sending out Hippo or Amoonguss to check what moves Oki locks itself into, and then switching into your resistance if your first answer cannot tank a second attack.
Overall, Okidogi's unique traits compared to other Fighting-type breakers is high bulk, poison spreading ability and last but certainly not least, Toxic Spikes absorbing.
Zapdos-Galar @ Choice Band
Ability: Defiant
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Brave Bird
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Zapdos-Galar is a Pokemon that always flies just right under the radar, but that doesn't take away its strenghts. After a single layer of Spikes, it cleanly 2HKOes Hippowdon, even with a Jolly nature. This allows it to tie with max speed Jirachi, and makes it the 2nd fastest Fighting-type wallbreaker in the tier. Close Combat + Brave Bird gives perfect coverage against the entirety or RU. This allows it to freely run Knock Off and U-turn to bring added item removal and pivoting support. Its Fighting/Flying typing grants it the all-important Ground-immunity coupled with a Rock neutrality, which makes it a very safe switch-in against Hippowdon and grants a Spikes immunity, which is especially important ever since Palossand Spikes teams started rising in popularity. Defiant is a niche ability but rest in peace Salamence. However, Brave Bird also comes with a nasty 33% recoil, which, when coupled with the popular Rocky Helmet and Hippo's Sand, often cuts its longevity short, which makes switching between resistances that much more effective when handling Gapdos defensively.
Galarian Zapdos's unique traits over other Fighting-type wallbreakers is an immunity to Ground and Spikes, the Defiant ability and access to U-turn and arguably the best STAB combination.
Terrakion @ Choice Band
Ability: Justified
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast / Quick Attack
or
Terrakion @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Justified
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Blast
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
Terrakion boasts the highest Speed stat among all Fighting-type wallbreakers, allowing it to outspeed Thundurus-T, Iron Leaves after it burns its Quark Drive boost, and Jirachi. Fighting/Rock coverage is a tried and true STAB combination ever since the BW days, and today is no exception, with the ability to cause major headaches to HippoMolt comps that have to play very carefully around Terrakion. Quick Attack brings priority, although a weak one especially when considering the next Fighting-type wallbreakers coming up next, while Rock Blast makes Terrakion the best anti Sash Kleavor lead bar none. Although less popular, Terrakion can also run a Swords Dance set that sacrifices some immediate power in exchange for leveraging its high Speed stat to attempt a sweep, or to make it even scarier to handle defensively if given a turn. However, despite respectable 91/90/90 bulk, Terrakion's defensive profile is very far from being even close to what Okidogi and Zapdos-Galar bring because of its part Rock typing, which makes it very difficult to bring it on the field without support from its team.
Terrakion's unique traits are being an anti sash Kleavor lead and being the fastest Fighting-type wallbreaker.
Conkeldurr @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 132 HP / 252 Atk / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Facade
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Mach Punch
Boasting the highest Attack stat coupled with Guts, Conkeldurr is incredibly difficult to handle defensively even when prepared for. It is also the one Fighting-type wallbreaker you will see in Trick Room. Close Combat + Facade is a shockingly difficult coverage to switch into, and Knock Off hits Ghost-types. Mach Punch brings a decently strong priority. Conkeldurr is held back by its abysmal Speed stat, which allows even the majority of walls to outspeed it and potentially threaten it before Conkeldurr can act, like Enamorus-T and Moltres. It is also vulnerable to both Spikes and Stealth Rock, and is quickly worn down passively through Flame Orb's burn, Rocky Helmet and Sand. Because of its low special bulk and poor defensive typing, it also struggles to find opportunities to participate against teams on the offensive side of the spectrum.
Conkeldurr's unique traits are having the highest damage output, an immunity to status and being a premier Trick Room abuser.
Breloom @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Close Combat
- Rock Tomb
Breloom's popularity is at an all-time low, recording a 3.95% usage during April, which would have spelt a demotion to NU had it happened a month ago. However, thanks to the quick shifts being discontinued, it is still a RU tier member so I will be covering it. Breloom brings the strongest Fighting-type priority in the form of Technician-boosted Mach Punch. Grass/Fighting typing and Bullet Seed+Close Combat coverage makes Breloom the best wallbreaker into Hippowdon thanks to a resistance to all of Stealth Rock, Earthquake and Stone Edge while hitting it for weakness. Rock Tomb allows Breloom to be the best of the Fighting-type wallbreakers at threatening HippoMolt by outright scoring an OHKO on both Hippowdon and Moltres depending on the move it picks. However, this niche is also a facet of one of Breloom's biggest issues: unreliability. Because of its low speed and bulk, it is one of the most frail Fighting-type wallbreakers. Because Moltres resists both of its STABs, it forces itself into 50/50 situations between picking a STAB move to break what is in front of it but bonking into Moltres and risking a Flame Body burn, or risking a Rock Tomb that would get it in trouble if the opponent doesn't let it happen due to its poor bulk. Breloom also has a very poor matchup against Amoonguss, who has seen a rise in popularity as of late. To top it all off, a lot of threats Breloom would want to revenge kill with Mach Punch either commonly run Tera Ghost (Cobalion, Maushold) or resist the move (Iron Leaves, Yanmega). All in all, Breloom is very reliant on getting the matchups it wants and will end up being deadweight into other matchups, and it ends up being an unreliable pick when compared to other wallbreakers.
Slither Wing @ Choice Band / Protective Pads
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Close Combat
- First Impression
- Wild Charge / Stun Spore
Slither Wing has had a very stable average usage rate for a while now, constanly hovering between 6.5% and 7.5% usage for the past 3 months. It boasts the 2nd highest Attack stat of our Fighting-type wallbreakers, at 135 base. STAB U-turn is great at pivoting around while putting out high damage numbers, especially when considering how many switches it forces thanks to its signature 90 base power STAB First Impression priority coming off of 135 base Attack, which makes it a reliable revenge killer against most setup sweepers, even those who resist the move. Close Combat is a clean 2HKO on Hippowdon from full, even without hazards. Wild Charge hits Moltres the hardest while Stun Spore allows Slither Wing to spread paralysis on forced switch-ins and is a riskless alternative to Wild Charge when trying to punish Moltres. But all is not sunshine and rainbows for the moth. Moltres stands up as its nemesis, resisting both of Slither Wing's STABs and threatening a Flame Body proc for even trying to pivot around with U-turn. First Impression is not an infaillible priority either, forcing Slither Wing to switch out after use, being resisted by Revavroom, and being impossible for it to revenge kill Yanmega because of Protect. Protective Pads sees usage to freely click U-turn against Moltres, but it effectively makes Slither Wing itemless against any team choosing not to run it and sacrifices a ton of power from Choice Band, making Slither Wing go from a fearsome wallbreaker capable to threatening 2HKOs on the vast majority of the tier to a run-of-the-mill offensive mon U-turn bot with revenge killing capabilities. It is still, however, a very threatening Pokemon to see in the enemy team if you don't run Moltres or one of the rare setup sweepers that bypass First Impression due to its strong U-turn and devastating Close Combat.
Honorable mention
Before ending this post, I would like to give an honorable mention to Cobalion, who, despite not being a "wallbreaker" to the same extent as the Pokemon I just talked about, is also a Fighting-type commonly running Swords Dance sets and being the most used Fighting-type, sitting at #5th place in last month's usage rates with 15% usage. It would be a disservice NOT to talk about it, especially when the point of my post is to show why Fighting-types shape up the metagame.
I have used choice band Araquanid in RU, and let me say it is amazing, so it is not a gimmick. I've used it on a semi trick room team (with sd necrozma) and it decimates everything. Araquanid usually has enough special defense to take a few hits and enough defense to take one neutral physical hit, and then precede to decemate everything. I'd recommend 252+ attack since you get the most damage (which is all it is doing) and go tera water, which makes calcs like this happen.now listen. i am a ladder goober, i'm completely mediocre at the game, and i have plenty of bad habits i consistently do while playing. HOWEVER, i am more than qualified to talk about a dumb set i've been using for a while now- choice band araquanid.
: @ Choice Band
Ability: Water Bubble
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Atk / 88 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Leech Life
- Crunch
- Sticky Web
HEAR ME OUT. this set is a gimmick, but it's a really freaking fun gimmick. Liquidation is your lifeline, your love, your everything. Its what you'll be clicking 80% of the time cause it's water bubble boosted and really strong. Leech life is for hp recovery and the ability to hit the odd grass type or maybe a slowbro on the switch. Crunch is specifically for volcanion, since he hard walls both liquid and leech, plus the defense drops help out a lot. He can't do much back to you though, unless he's running flare blitz for some terrible reason.
the thing has some honestly nasty calcs, doing things like this:
168+ Atk Choice Band Water Bubble Araquanid Liquidation vs. 140 HP / 0 Def Enamorus-Therian: 255-301 (78.7 - 92.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
168+ Atk Choice Band Water Bubble Araquanid Liquidation vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Cyclizar: 197-232 (57.2 - 67.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
168+ Atk Choice Band Water Bubble Araquanid Liquidation vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Thundurus-Therian: 372-438 (124.4 - 146.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
168+ Atk Choice Band Araquanid Crunch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Basculegion-F: 248-292 (65 - 76.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
168+ Atk Choice Band Water Bubble Araquanid Liquidation vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Okidogi: 246-291 (64.7 - 76.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
168+ Atk Choice Band Water Bubble Araquanid Liquidation vs. 0 HP / 252 Def Cobalion: 184-217 (56.9 - 67.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
168+ Atk Choice Band Water Bubble Araquanid Liquidation vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Cobalion: 184-217 (47.6 - 56.2%) -- 26.6% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
will add more as i continue playing, i mostly just took stuff off the top viability rankings and ran calcs on them! all calcs are done without stealth rock or spikes btw, so these calcs actually get better with even just 1 layer of spikes at play.
This set is definitely not good. Stealth rock keeps damage up against you, it can't really handle strong physical hits, and you REALLY need liquidation. Water bubble is the only reason the set works; but still, water is just such a good, spammable stab in this tier. The best water resists don't tend to be very physically bulky, bar slowbro.
And almost NOBODY expects their cyclizar to get cleanly 2hko'd, without even factoring in stealth rock on the switch. You don't even need full attack investment for this set, so it allows you to tap into that utterly excellent special defense stat araqua has. And if all else fails, you can still just use sticky web on a predicted switch!
Faking the set as a lead and absolutely obliterating whatever they tried to counter your sticky webs with, is inherently funny. Trick users don't even appreciate using the move against you since, guess what? most trick users don't exactly want a choice band! so you either cripple them for the game by threatening them out the turn after if you got a scarf, or you get your choice band back immediately. This thing in rain hits like an utter truck, making most of its would be 2hkos full out ohkos, but i can't see why you'd really use it there.. or anywhere. But dammit, we need more funny sets that are bad for the sake of humor.
Tldr; funny set does funny things, but i have no idea where or why you'd even use it, outside of a joke team.
i usually added the extra spdef so it could bait in thundurus-t and completely decimate it, while also still taking a thunderbolt. but good LORD those calcs make me want to change the set lmao, thanksI have used choice band Araquanid in RU, and let me say it is amazing, so it is not a gimmick. I've used it on a semi trick room team (with sd necrozma) and it decimates everything. Araquanid usually has enough special defense to take a few hits and enough defense to take one neutral physical hit, and then precede to decemate everything. I'd recommend 252+ attack since you get the most damage (which is all it is doing) and go tera water, which makes calcs like this happen.
252+ Atk Choice Band Water Bubble Tera Water Araquanid Liquidation vs. 252 HP / 172+ Def Amoonguss: 199-235 (46 - 54.3%) -- 55.1% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Water Bubble Tera Water Araquanid Liquidation vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Cyclizar: 289-340 (84 - 98.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Another fellow choice specs armarouge player, nice. I prefer a max hp with flash fire which helps a lot more defensively. Unless you get extremely unlucky, you can always survive a hippo e-quake after stealth rocks and of course, ko it back. Flash fire also means you don't always have to tera to get big numbers, as you can get something like this.Been playing more RU for the first time and I’m having fun with it. One of my favorite mons to use is this.
View attachment 630442
Armarouge @ Choice Specs
Ability: Weak Armor
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Armor Cannon
- Psyshock
- Energy Ball
- Trick
This needs rocks off at all times, but its so satisfying seeing shit drop to a Choice Specs Armor Cannon. Armor Cannon even 2HKOs bulky targets like View attachment 630443 and View attachment 630444 after Tera. Mixed Defense View attachment 630445 straight up drops to this as well.
252 SpA Choice Specs Tera Fire Armarouge Armor Cannon vs. 252 HP / 160 SpD Hippowdon: 408-482 (97.1 - 114.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
Psyshock hits specially bulky targets for huge damage or a KO like View attachment 630448 and View attachment 630449.
Energy Ball drops View attachment 630450 and does big numbers to View attachment 630452.
What does it for me is that Armarouge has solid 85/100/80 bulk for a wallbreaker and a typing that allows it to switch-in on View attachment 630453, View attachment 630454, View attachment 630455, and View attachment 630457.
Weak Armor allows Armarouge to punish U-Turns and possibly snowball offensive teams or defensive teams alike that lack priority. At +2, it outpaces Booster View attachment 630458 which gives you a tool to rkill Leaves if you can pivot into it safely.
I have a replay of Armarouge putting in work against the top player on the ladder at the time running Stall.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ru-2117418428