Other Tiers ADV UUBL Discussion

Ruft

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Also is D rank really necessary? All it has is a pre evo to a S rank mon, and I doubt any would use both on a team, so I dont see why we need a D rank at all. I think C- should be the lowest tier tbh
In a lot of VRs D rank is reserved for Pokémon that are technically part of the tier but are considered unviable, so Kadabra fits.
 
I forgot about Linoone, sorry about that. However, when it comes to Scyther, I don't think I would rank it if it was solely for Reversal set. I'm not saying it can't work, especially in a meta with no sandstorm and only few priority users, but Reversal / Flail strategies still have to come as a surprise if you don't want the opponent to play aroun it. If Scyther's only niche is as a 1HP sweeper, then it's a matter of your opponent not knowing about it. Furthermore, I'm not sure why you would use it over Pokemon with STAB on Reversal like Medicham and SD Blaziken, the second one being able to scare off Weezing and Venusaur with Blaze boosted Overheat / Fire Blast, the Speed doesn't make much of a difference even if these Fighters need to go max speed in order to outspeed Crobat. Scyther may indeed have some potential in UUBL, but in my opinion it wouldn't be worth using a Reversal set.

Now, here are the drops I wanted to talk about before updating the rankings:
A -> A- : Scizor suffers from being easily kept in check by a lot of Pokemon in the metagame. Fire-types are common and so is Fire coverage and Pokemon like Alakzam and to a lesser extent Venusaur. Most of these are frail but still outspeed and Quick Attack doesn't do much without several Swords Dance. Other metagame staple such as Weezing and sometimes Dragonite are also problematic for Scizor. With all that being said, Scizor can be a potentially difficult Pokemon to play around as it can lure in and hurt several Pokemon mentionned above with its coverage. It's probably the best Normal check available which also check Reversal / flail users if packing Quick Attack and most defensive Pokemon by virtue of its bulk and immunity to Toxic, which make setting up with it pretty easy. While BP team are now restricted, Scizor can still pass both SD and Agility boost to a teammate like Medicham, which can be enough to win games. Therefore, I think Scizor deserves to be ranked in A, but it still faces too much competition from the more splashable Registeel to bethis close to the iron Golem.

A- -> B+ : I'll admit that I kinda assume that Regice would end up in UUBL before making the rankings, which is part of why Enteifound its place in A- to begin with as it could use common answers to CM Sweepers such Registeel, Chansey, and Regice as set-up bait by virtue of its high HP Substitute and Fire-typing. Regice not being UUBL yet hurts Entei's viability and so does the fact that most Registeel pack Earthquake. It's important to note that Entei can 2HKO Vaporeon with HP Grass after two Calm Mind while avoiding the 2HKO from Surf, but it doesn't completely make up for the fact that it struggles a lot vs Dragonite and other Pokemon. Entei has other options like SubToxic that probably deserves more use, but right now it requires too much support to be worthy of A- in my opinion.

A- -> B+ : Another Pokemon that would have loved seeing Regice in UUBL. Thick Fat remains a great ability, but Guts is also very valuable as you would typically want to punish the likes of Registeel and Chansey to poison your Fighting-types, and Machamp is the most suited at taking advantage of this due to its higher base Attack. Hariyama's access to Knock Off and defensive merits make it a fairly splashable mon, but Entei dropping and Houndoom's tendency to carry WoW hinder it. Hariyama is still good, but I don't think it should be placed above Machamp as of now.

B -> B-: Lapras can be hard to justify over Vaporeon due to its secondary Ice-typing that hinders it quite a lot defensively. STABed Ice Beam is very useful against Venusaur and so are Thunder(bolt), Heal Bell, and even DD which can take advantage of Chansey with Substitute, but the lack of immediate power is bothersome as even a Max SpA Lapras can't 2HKO Vappy with Thunder. Lapras offers a unique amount of desirable features, but it misses some important merits of being a bulky Water-type which make it harder to use than most of its competitors.

B- -> C+ : As a spinner Armaldo doesn't benefit from STAB EQ and is slower than Omastar, which usually makes it inferior to Donphan in this regard. Knock Off is a very useful tool but is unfortunately illegal with Rapid Spin, and defensively Armaldo is mostly outclassed by Regirock, the better match-up against Normal-type due to its neutrality to Ground and higher attack doesn't really make up for the loss of bulk, Explosion, and the inability to check Dragonite and Fire-types as effectively. Armaldo has enough features to justify its use, but in my opinion it's outclassed in too many areas.

If you disagree with any of these nominations or want to make your own, feel free to let me know. Otherwise I'm going to update the VR with the above changes.
 
According to last month's statistics, the high ladder was comprised entirely of 2 different teams, so I thought I can post them here for whoever wants to know what a good team looks like or wants to prepare for similar teams in the future. I don't know where the teams came from or why everyone used them, so please tell me if you happen to know.
:raikou::umbreon::entei::omastar::venusaur::dragonite:
Raikou @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roar

Umbreon @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Atk / 196 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Toxic
- Wish
- Protect
- Shadow Ball

Entei @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 132 HP / 156 SpA / 220 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
- Flamethrower
- Hidden Power [Grass]

rock star (Omastar) @ Leftovers
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Def / 56 SpA / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Surf
- Protect
- Ice Beam

Venusaur @ Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 148 SpD / 24 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Leech Seed
- Sleep Powder
- Sludge Bomb
- Giga Drain

Dragonite @ Choice Band
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 40 HP / 228 Atk / 60 SpD / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Earthquake
- Sleep Talk
- Brick Break
:omastar::chansey::donphan::dusclops::venusaur::dragonite:
rock star (Omastar) @ Leftovers
Ability: Shell Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Def / 56 SpA / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Surf
- Protect
- Toxic

Chansey (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
- Soft-Boiled
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic
- Wish

Donphan @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Atk / 192 Def / 8 SpD / 48 Spe
Impish Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Roar
- Hidden Power [Rock]

Dusclops @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 36 Atk / 16 Def / 200 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shadow Ball
- Rest
- Seismic Toss

Venusaur @ Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP / 208 Def / 48 Spe
Impish Nature
- Leech Seed
- Sleep Powder
- Sludge Bomb
- Synthesis

Dragonite @ Leftovers
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 192 SpD / 48 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roar
- Heal Bell
- Ice Beam
- Rest
Again, please tell me if you know where the teams came from.
 
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yes I realize this is a double post
My first move is declaring that the speed tiers are, as of now, officially mostly complete and can be found in the fourth post in this thread. Please give it a look.

I also ranked what I thought were the top 35 Pokemon based on Wenderz's rankings, my own laddering experience, and the usage stats (specifically this file). The OU viability rankings puts only 26 Pokemon above C, so these 35 rankings are already kind of iffy, and I don't trust myself to rank any more.

S
:dragonite:
A+
:raikou::vaporeon::venusaur:
A
:alakazam::chansey::houndoom::registeel::weezing:
A-
:medicham::scizor::tauros:
B+
:blaziken::breloom::crobat::entei::hariyama::kingdra::machamp::omastar::regirock::sceptile::slowbro::steelix::umbreon:
B
:charizard::donphan::dusclops::espeon::marowak::qwilfish:

Here I'll try to explain the big differences between my rankings and Wenderz's. (most of the small differences are simply "ladder players used this a bit more/less")
Omastar B to B+, 44.9% usage
Compared to Qwilfish, Omastar does have less speed and more weaknesses. Compared to Qwilfish, Omastar is still the better spiker. Just because Omastar is rock type doesn't mean every opponent can exploit its weaknesses. Against the opponents that can't, Omastar's better HP and defenses let it use more spikes. Protect Omastar is also great at taking advantage of normal or flying band users, such as Dodrio, Tauros, Crobat, and Slaking. Its stronger surf and ice beam makes Omastar better at forcing switches and not becoming setup fodder for just about anything that resists poison or is weak to ice. (including Donphan, damaging Donphan is a big deal for spikers) The single biggest contributor to Omastar's viability most likely comes from Venusaur, which wants to punish opponents that switch out when asleep or seeded. Omastar offers not only spikes and type diversity, but it also resists 3 of Venusaur's 4 weaknesses. In return, Venusaur counters Pokemon that use electric, grass, or fighting attacks against Omastar. So most teams that benefit from Venusaur (which there are a lot of) can also benefit from Omastar.

Marowak B- to B, 7.8% usage
I'm pretty sure Marowak has the best unboosted unbanded physical attack in the game, and it turned out to be a decent wallbreaker last month. It can outspeed and (sometimes) one-shot common walls, including mixed Venusaur, Vaporeon, Umbreon, Donphan, Scizor, Hariyama, and Dusclops after one swords dance. Extremely high physical attack and workable speed also makes Marowak a good baton receiver for Scizor and Ninjask.

Dusclops B- to B, 21% usage
I want Dusclops to move up for many of the same reasons GlitchrE and Arthur C Paes already mentioned on the previous page, such as the fact that spikes is good. Yes, Dusclops is worse than Chansey at countering Alakazam and Raikou, but teams that have Chansey still want a spin blocker. Yes, Donphan can hit Dusclops, but that's what will-O-wisp is for. Compared to Misdreavus, Dusclops has better stats and seismic toss. Levitate doesn't automatically make Misdreavus better than Dusclops. Rest is reliable enough for a Pokemon with 40/130/130 bulk and will-O-wisp in such a defensive metagame; not even a max SpA Vaporeon can 3HKO a specially defensive Dusclops. One additional thing Dusclops brings to defensive teams is pressure. Stall versus stall matchups are rather common in this metagame, so a Pokemon with both pressure and rest is crucial to winning those matchups.
Alakazam S to A, 11.8% usage
I think Alakazam was just not metagame-dominating last month like Vaporeon or Raikou. One reason is 4MSS. Alakazam needs fire punch to beat Scizor and Steelix, ice punch to beat Dragonite, water hidden power to beat Houndoom, and recover and calm mind to beat Vaporeon and Raikou. Some Pokemon check Alakazam regardless of the moveset, such as Chansey, Dusclops, Registeel, and just about every fast physical attacker. I'm aware that trick exists, but I'm pretty sure choice band Chansey still wins the 1v1 against leftovers Alakazam.

Espeon A- to B, 1.6% usage
Scizor is a better baton passer because its resistances make it safer to set up, and Scizor can pass speed. Alakazam outclasses Espeon at just about everything else. There are simply not enough good reasons to use Espeon.

Quagsire B+ to B-, or whatever's below B-, 0.9% usage
BL is not the same as OU, so you can't expect Quagsire to be the same as Swampert. There's no Aerodactyl or Tyranitar in this game. The best rock STAB user is Regirock, which is pretty easy to check without a rock resist. Starmie and Gengar are also banned, and countering the one remaining thunderbolt user does not require fire or water resistances. Chansey and Steelix counter Raikou just fine. Other than having not-so-useful resistances to electric and rock, Quagsire is pretty much just a worse Vaporeon.
Finally, I'm apologizing for the fact that my S rank doesn't contain Pokemon whose initials spell "ADV".

Edit: I moved a bunch of stuff from A- to B+, because I thought Medicham, Scizor, and Tauros were probably better than all the Pokemon I just put in B+. I know B+ is a lot bigger now, but I'm really not sure whether any of those 13 Pokemon are better than any other of them. Also I moved Donphan down to B. Its usage in September was likely caused by one person who laddered high with a Donphan and shared that Donphan team with a bunch of other ladderers. (see above post)
 
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Thank you for providing all of this. I'm not going to make another VR update just now, but I'll discuss your nominations nonetheless. I'm sure you already know this, but usage doesn't translate to viability (for instance, Kadabra has been used more than Lanturn, among other things). With that in mind:

Alakazam is indeed likely to drop. I don't think it is on par with Dragonite and Vaporeon in S or better than Raikou anymore. However, I don't think that the standard CM + 3 attacks is that big of a 4MSS. It 2HKOes most Vaporeon after a CM and does a lot to Dragonite as well, I personnally didn't feel like I needed Ice Punch or Recover most of the time. CB Trcik can work, but Taunt+Recover can also mess with Chansey and some Registeel. It also has other unexplored tools like Knock Off and Encore to make it harder to play around. Raikou may have an overall better typing and more opportunities with its better bulk, but Alakazam isn't as one dimensional, and can be deadly with its stats and movepool.

I still think that Qwilfish is a better Spiker than Omastar. Qwilfish doesn't have to sacrifice as much health against Vaporeon and various Toxic users, it isn't forced out by Venusaur, and I think that its defensive utility is more valuable than Omastar's, as its usually easier to reliably check Normal and Flying types than Fighting-types. While Qwilfish also remains outclassed for the most part as a defensive Pokemon, the threat of a relatively fast Self-Destruct allows it to retain some utility once Spikes are up, whereas Omastar is in my opinion a straight up worse defensive Pokemon than Regirock or Vaporeon that is mostly useless once it has done its main job. The "VOD balance" team you posted is a good example of why you shouldn't except Omastar to act as your typical bulky Water Pokemon: the team relies on it to check standard DD Dragonite which can sweep if Omastar is below 65%, has trouble dealing with Blaziken (as well as Medicham because Venusaur needs more physical bulk to reliably switch on CB), Kingdra is scary despite SpDef Venu... All weaknesses that could be more or less patched by replacing Omastar with Vaporeon or even Slowbro, which I think is more beneficial than having Spikes. Despite the synergy, Vaporeon is better at handling Dragonite and most Fire-Pokemon and thus makes for a better teammate alongside Venusaur. I could still understand if you want me to put Omastar alongside Qwilsfish in B+, but I'm not going to rise it within the A ranks anytime soon due to its glaring flaws.

I could see Marowak in B rank, prior Raikou drop it lacked any defensive utility and was hard to bring into the field. Now it can potentially act as an offensive check with Bonemerang (although it remains a shaky answer since it needs to be healthy and avoid CM or HP when swithcing in). It can also break through Weezing by using Substite to prevent it from using WoW and Pain Split. Its abysmal Speed remains detrimental as staples like Vappy and Venu can outspeed it without too much EVs in Speed, but Marowak can still be difficult to switch into and could share Rhydon's rank.

I still think that Dusclops is overrated for the reasons I mentionned earlier. Some Donphan can invest in Attack and do a lot to SpDef Dusclops, which can have trouble recovering. Dusclops has its use on stall teams but I think that if the opponent doesn't have a spinner you would be better off using something else, and outside of stall it doesn't provide a reliable enough defensive utility and therefore could end up being a waste of a team slot, espcillay if the team doesn't pack a cleric. I didn't want to make it sound like Misdreavus was better (if that was the case then they would swap places in the VR), but I don't think Dusclops is that much more consistent given how outclassed it is by Weezing a physical wall and by Chansey as a Spdef one (although checking Blaziken is certainly nice, but don't except to reliably deal with Alakazam and Normal-types at the same time with it).

Espeon can escape Pursuit with Baton Pass without wasting its accumulated Calm Mind if an answer shows up, which is a significant perk over Alakazam. I'm not sure if it should be compared with Scizor given they don't share the same recipients, and while Scizor's typing is helful, Espeon's natural Speed and power that lets it threaten some phazers like Steelix is something to keep in mind. It can also be used alongside Alakazam, as they can help each other by weakening opposing answers to Psychic-types. Nonetheless, it may indeed not be enough to keep Espeon within the A ranks, as Alakazam remains the superior choice most of the time.

Miltank isn't moving though. I remember on the first RoA spotlight ladder that it was pretty common and dangerous with its Curse set. It can also serve as a pretty good overall wall with reliable recovery and utility in Heal Bell. I wouldn't compare it to Chansey or Dragonite, Miltank fulfills different criterias.

I may have overvalued Quagsire when making the rankings, so it will probably drop. Still, countering most Raikou is pretty big, and stopping Lanturn and Tentacruel can be helpful too, all things that Vaporeon fails to do. Quagsire's unique amount of features secures it a place on some teams, but I agree it is not as good as other B+ Pokemon.
 
I played this format a while ago. I thought it would be an opportunity to play more fringe monsters but I got beat pretty bad in all my games. The format is pretty strong. Couldn't get excited to play the meta monsters, I don't know why. I guess I'm too hooked on playing stuff like salamence and tyranitar.
 
I don't find Dodrio very good personally, but it's still alright. It faces some stiff competition as a Normal-Type, essentialy because it doesn't glearn Earthquake and has a much harder time getting past Regirock, Registeel, Steelix, and the likes. Tauros in particular tends to overshadow Dodrio thanks to its access to Earthquake, better Speed that lets it outspeed other Pokemon sitting at 100 such as Entei and Charizard, as well as Intimidate and better bulk which make it easy to bring onto the field. Dodrio can make use of the Endure + Flail, but then it is mostly outclassed by Zangoose which has a better Attack, Swords Dance, and Immunity to prevent the opposing Pokemon to invalidate it with Toxic.

However, Dodrio still has a couple of features that make it worth using. It can be an intermediate between Tauros and Zangoose in term of Speed / raw power balance. Its secondary STAB in Drill Peck does a lot of damage to Scizor, which is probably one of the biggest counter of most Normal-type in the metagame. It also gets Quick Attack which can be handy against opposing EndFlail or frail opposing Pokemon, Baton Pass to pivot, and Early Bird which is a neat ability in a metagame filled with sleep inducers such as Venusaur. In spite of all this, I would still use Tauros in mosyt cases, but Dodrio can certainly be considered.
 
Love this post. I’d love to play some folks in ADV BL sometime.

Just an observation, but I notice that the big 3 rain sweepers are all in BL, making me think that a rain team might be a fun/viable option. Any perspectives on how true or untrue that is?

Edit: I made 2 sample rain teams for ADV BL.

https://pokepast.es/3698300a7b5ebb78

https://pokepast.es/e9a3cfccf7fc106b

Note: Not necessarily suggesting Umbreon be the lead on either team here (probably not a great lead considering its' speed and key role on these teams), but its' role is to bait in Special Walls that completely wall Rain-based offensive teams, mean look to keep them in, and either perish trap them or baton pass to a physical attacker like Machamp/Breloom/Slaking/etc. which can take them out.

I made these very quickly so I'm sure there are plenty of flaws to them. If anyone has any comments/suggestions would love that!
 
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Rain sweepers are certainly viable, and Arthur C Paes once brought a dedicated rain team and had some decent results with it if I remember correctly.

However, Kingdra and Ludicolo's success can be very matchup reliant. Rain as an team archetype has some issues in this metagame where Vaporeon is everywhere, especially since HP Grass from Ludicolo doesn't even come close of 2HKOing it. Nonetheless, both Kingdra and Ludicolo can stall out Vaporeon with Toxic (which is a good option for Kingdra in particular) as long as Vappy doesn't pack the move itself, which is the case more often than not and both of these sweepers take rain-boosted Surf and Ice Beam without much trouble. Still, going by his process is contradictory with the rather fast nature or rain teams which want to make full use of the few turns of rain they can get. It also doesn't help that Damp Rock doesn't exist in ADV and that other special walls such as Registeel, Chansey, and Umbreon are not only common but also often carry Protect to stall out rain turns.
With all this, I don't think rain is a fully establish archetype in UUBL yet, but Kingdra and Ludicolo are certainly viable as self-sufficient sweepers.

Regarding your teams, I think you're a bit too optimistic with your Umbreon as a mean to eliminate walls via trap pass. This Pokemon is very passive and I think that most players will send something dangerous that can take advantage of it instead of a passive wall of their own. If you want to keep Umbreon though (which doesn't learn Perish Song by the way), I think you could consider adding Shadow Ball or even Puruit in the last slot due to your huge Alakazam weakness on both of your teams without some attacking moves on your sole answer to it. Swords Dance Blaziken is extremely dangerous as it 2HKOes Weezing with Fire Blast and OHKOes everything else on your teams after a boost, and so is Psychic Medicham (which is admitelly not too common).

As a side note, even if I think that Weezing is the best physical wall overall in UUBL, I'd advise considering other Pokemon to switch on things such as HP Flying and Double-Edge from the likes of CB Dragonite and Tauros from time to time. Weezing's physical still holds but it can be overpowered if has too take too many powerful neutral hits, not to mention the reliabilty of Pain Split which can be played around.

I don't think I have accurate changes to suggest for your teams, but maybe Arthur C Paes still has the team I was referring to at the beginning of my post and could share it here if he feels like it ?

Besides, SPL is almost over and Regice hasn't seen a single use so far. Therefore, it could potentially follow Raikou in UUBl which dropped for the very same reason. If this eventually happens, you can except a Viability Ranking update in the near future.
 
The UUBL ladder is on once again. To help players getting into the tier, I updated the rankings. Here are the changes:

S -> A+
B -> B+
A- -> B
B- -> B
B+ -> B-

Already touched on these in one of my previous posts, but there are some other:

A+ -> A: Still very scary, but in my opinion it's not on the same level as everything else in A+. It's less splashable, and even though it's firepower allows it to hit very hard with its coverage moves, it doesn't hit as hard as Machamp with its STAB (I'd advice against using HJK on CB Cham because of the popularity of Protect on defensive staples such as Vappy and Registeel, Cross Chop from Machamp remains stronger anyway). STAB on Psychic can punish the overeliance on Weezing and Venusaur to deal with it, but it's not something you want to be locked into, and dropping CB to use Psychic more effectively makes a significant difference in terms of raw power. Medicham is versatile and remains a very dangerous threat, but I don't think it's that much better than other Fighting-types. Machamp gives a stronger STAB, better bulk, and Guts which is very useful to take advantage of the special sponges Fighing-types want to scare off, whereas Medicham offers a better Speed (albeit a crowded one), versatility, and better coverage moves enhanced by a secondary STAB and better Attack stat.

A -> A-: f I drop Medicham, which in my opinion is a stronger Pokemon as of now, I think Blaziken should drop as well. A lot of teams that I've seen aren't well prepared to face it, but it's best bet at getting past Vaporeon, arguably the best overall defensive Pokemon in the tier, is Endure + Reversal, which is essentially a high-risk high-reward kind of set. Just like Medicham, it sits at a crowed Speed tier and can be very match up reliant due to its bulk and nasty weaknesses. Blaziken can dismantle some defensive cores and has a few interesting tricks, though, but I don't think it's enough to sit in the same rank as Weezing.

B -> B+: Nothing really new since the first time it rose, but I think its role compression is enough to push it further. It's not the best physical wall, the best check to Raikou, or even the best spinner in my opinion, but due to how customizable Donphan is, I think another rise is warranted.

B -> B-: had good results with it, but the inability to scratch Registeel and extreme susceptibility to Houndoom is a major problem. Eggy can ideally kill or at least heavily cripple two Pokemon with Sleep Powder and Explosion, but it is still kept in check by so many metagame defining threats that it can be difficult to achieve much with it sometimes. It's also unfortunate that Eggy is such a shaky way to deal with Vaporeon.
 
I made what I would kind of describe as a semi-balanced team by mixing and matching the sets/EVs from the 3 sample teams which have been posted on this thread so far (so to clarify, the sets/EVs on my team were taken from the teams labeled "VOD Balance" and "VOD Defense" posted by sumwun and from "DD Dnite Balance" posted by Wenderz). The team is at the link below:

https://pokepast.es/ca27730c0bc8e0eb

I did modify a few of the sets a tiny bit:
  • I altered Chansey so that it carried both Thunder Wave AND Toxic. That way I was able to have some form of speed control. I dropped Wish on Blissey in order to add T-Wave, since Vaporeon already carried Wish.
  • I got rid of Roar and added Crunch to Raikou. The reason I did this was to help my team deal with Dusclops and Alakazam better. I figured this would be especially useful when facing opposing Lead Alakazams, as it was the 6th most common lead back in September 2019. In terms of Dusclops, I saw that it was the 7th most used Pokemon last time the tier was playable, and figured it was important to have a way to deal super effective damage to it. This felt especially important since over 70% of sets had Rest back then, which made status feel like an iffy way to counter it.
Any thoughts/comments on the team and how it can be improved? I am open to any and all suggestions.

Oh and thanks again for the awesome tier idea Wenderz!!!
 
Okay so I made 2 versions of the team with the suggestions Wenderz and Arthur C Paes gave me (via the Discord chat):
  • One version uses a CB Rhydon set, and the other includes 1 of the offensive Registeel sets which is linked within the tier list found in this thread.
  • In order to add Rhydon or Registeel, I dropped Venasaur instead of Weezing.
    • My thinking for doing this was that with Weezing, I can more easily play around an EQ from CB Tauros if my opponent starts predicting switches to Rhydon/Registeel, knowing that they help my team resist Normal moves.
  • I also fixed Blissey to have a +Def Nature (Bold) as well as moving the 252 EVs that were in SpD to HP, as one of you suggested.
Here are some damage calcs for how Rhydon and Registeel do v.s. Adamant CB Tauros with 252 Attack EVs (I used the 4 most common moves it carried the last time the tier was playable):
Tauros v.s. Registeel
Frustration —> 21.9% to 26%
Earthquake —> 58.2% to 68.6%
HP Ghost —> 10.1% to 12%
Double-Edge —> 25.8% - 30.4%

Tauros v.s. Rhydon
Frustration —> 23.4 - 27.7%
Earthquake —> 61.8 - 72.9%
HP Ghost —> 21.7 - 25.6%
Double-Edge —> 27.5 - 32.6%​

Here are the 2 full sets I was considering for Registeel and Rhydon:
Registeel @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 212 Atk / 44 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Rock Slide / Hidden Power Ghost
- Toxic / Thunder Wave

Rhydon @ Choice Band
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Megahorn
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Focus Punch

Finally, here's the full versions of the 2 updated versions of the team based on each of your suggestions:
Let me know if you have any thoughts about these sets for Rhydon/Registeel, which of the two you’d recommend if you think there's a clear better fit for the team, and if you have other comments if you have them. Thanks again for the help by the way, it is very much appreciated. Hope to see you guys on the ladder before it ends for the month.
 
So previously Wenderz mentioned that I used to have a rain team. While this is true it's kind of old and bad so I don't really feel like sharing it however I did make a new Rain team and its having a lot of success. It has a been dominating on ladder and I'm having a lot of fun with it
Qwilfish @ Leftovers
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Impish Nature
- Self-Destruct
- Haze
- Spikes
- Toxic
Haunter @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 60 HP / 156 Atk / 12 Def / 64 SpA / 216 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Explosion
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
Kingdra @ Lum Berry
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Rain Dance
- Toxic
Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Baton Pass
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
Raikou @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Roar
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Calm Mind
Registeel @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe Adamant Nature
- Explosion
- Thunder Wave
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
Qwilfish is great at setting up spikes. In the over 10 games I've played with this team there has only been one where it didnt set up at least one spike, it is incredibly consistent. This is due to its ability to switch in and set up spikes on many Pokemon such as Vaporeon, Venusaur, Houndoom, Registeel, Weezing, Chansey, Blaziken, Breloom, Crobat, Entei, Hariyama, and many others. The rest of its moveset is just it trying to be as effective as possible after setting up spikes with Haze trying to limit set up opportunities, toxic being able to Cripple walls, and self-destruct being able to do a lot of damage

Haunter is our spin blocker because without spikes on the field it's really tough to wear down spdef walls like Chansey and Registeel so keeping them up is crucial for this teams success. Its a great spikes blocker cus it's immune to earthquake and Rapid Spin and the most common spinner Donphan usually uses earthquake as its main move so if you haven't revealed Haunter it's basically a free switch cus it will probably go for either Rapid Spin or earthquake. After that Hunter can burn it with will o wisp if it stays in to cripple it or it can burn a wall coming in. The biggest risk is if a Houndoom comes in and traps it but if you don't want to take that risk you can switch out into a water type after blocking the spin which deals with donphan if it stays in and a possible Houndoom coming in. Apart from that it can also do some decent damage with bolt beam coverage and can explode on chansey or whatever you want it to. A final bonus is it's a really good mind game against Choice banded normal types because it's main two moves are going to be its normal stab to hit Vaporeon and earthquake to hit Registeel and Haunter is of course immune to both of them.

Vaporeon is a very crucial defensive Pokemon as it stops the team from losing to Dragonite, fire types and it can just in general switch into a lot of things. You might notice I have zero speed IVs and that is so vaporeon can be slower than the base 50s like Chansey and the Reggie's as well as opposing Vaporeons. This is so I can use Baton pass slower then them allowing you to bp in another Pokemon without risking it getting hit. Toxic is used to damage special walls that can be troublesome to chip down mainly opposing water types along with things like dusclops and is just in general a good move

Registeel is there so you don't lose to special attackers, mainly Raikou and Alakazam. I run a more offensive set in order for it to be able to do some damage with earthquake and rock slide and it allows its explosions to do huge amounts of damage. Thunder wave is very good to cripple opposing Pokemon.

Kingdra is the rain sweeper. It is very powerful under rain and it's boosted water moves do significant damage while Ice Beam covers the ones that resist it excluding water types which it can cripple with toxic and which I hope spikes + Raikou + Vaporeon's toxic deals with. It has a surprising amount of Bulk allowing it to almost never be one hit KOed and usually live 2 hits partly due to its great typing meaning it has effectively no weaknesses. You can use Surf or Hydro with Hydro being considerably more powerful however you might lose some game due to missing them which might be bad if you think you can win enough games without the extra power.
The most important thing for this team is setting up spikes and keeping spikes on the field, even one layer is okay though obviously 3 is preferable and 2 is also fine. Excluding the explosions and self-destructs there are no physical moves on this team and thus without spikes special walls are tough to wear down, however with spikes, poison or burn and the use of explosions if necessary you are able to wear them down pretty effectively especially if you play correctly and take advantage of roar Raikou and blow up if necessary. Kingdra can be used mid-game to switch into certain attacks like fire moves if your Vaporeon is weakened or something but I usually prefer to keep it at full health for late-game to 100% guarantee that I'm going to get a rain dance up and probably even live a hit after that. This team has the worst matchup against stall with a spinner cuz when it's just one special wall to wear down it's pretty easy to do like if it's just a chansey you can roar it and explode on it, registeel doesn't have reliable recovery, it's not that difficult however once you have teams with 2 or more specially defensive mons and a rapid spinner that takes away your spikes it's just really rough to wear them down and you got to play really well, getting spikes ASAP, utilizing Haunter to block the rapid spins, explode on the right mons and take advantage of the Power of Kingdra in rain and calm mind Raikou.
Feel free to add this team to the sample teams if you want to wenderz and I hope this helped people learn the tier and possibly gave them a new team to try out.
 
Hello. Update time.

https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/adv-ou-tiering-changes.3652636/



After almost two years of wishful thinking, Regice is finally UUBL! Unlike other special walls like Chansey and Registeel, Regice is an offensively threatening Pokemon that can keep both Raikou and Alakazam in check, which is a huge addition for offensive teams in particular, because they previously lacked reliable answers to Alakazam in particular that weren't momentum killers. Another perk of Regice is its STABed Ice Beam, which allows it to discourage Venusaur from staying in and spread Leech Seed and Dragon Dance Dragonite, both of which could take advantage of the aforementioned competiting special walls this way. In spite of its abysmal Attack stat, Regice can make a good use of Explosion to lure out and heavily dent Pokemon like Chansey, or simply to outright eliminate the special attackers Regice is supposed to check. Overall, an healthy addition to the tier!



The loss of Breloom shouldn't be too detrimental for the tier. Those who don't like sleep might even rejoice. Breloom distinguished itself from other sleep inducers with its 100% accurate Spore and Fighting-STAB that made Houndoom wary of switching into it, which otherwise tends to absorb sleep due to its ability Early Bird and typing advantage over sleepers like Venusaur, Jynx, Exeggutor, and Jumpluff. Breloom was also an effective lead due to Spore and its priority in Mach Punch that invalidates opposing Smeargle and helps in some other matchups. While Breloom was kept in check by a number of top tiers, Leech Seed, Stun Spore, and once again Spore could make it tricky to deal with. Breloom had its place in UUBL, but its departure shouldn't affect the tier too much.

I'm not going to update the viability ranking just now aside from removing Breloom, as I'd like to test Regice out, among other things. However, I'm going to make some comments about how the above tier shifts could impact other Pokemon in UUBL.

: Alakazam strikes me as the least splashable Pokemon in A+, and I was already wondering if it should still be ranked alongside Raikou, which has an easier time setting up and remains the best Electric-type in the tier, something very important considering how hard it can be to break through Vaporeon. One of its biggest asset is that it is faster and more powerful, and overall more difficult to handle for offensive teams. Now that Regice is in the tier, Alakazam might not be as big of an issue for these teams. The Pokemon itself is still pretty underexplored though. Calm Mind + 3 attacks is the most popular set, but Alakazam is versatile and can make use of moves like Recover, Knock Off, Taunt, Encore, and Trick. Alakazam might drop a rank in the future, but will surely remain a threat to take into account.

: Those two can make further use of their ability Thick Fat with Regice in the tier, which could also make Fire-types more popular. Hariyama also loses a possible competitor in Breloom, while Miltank has one less Fighting-type to worry about, and arguably one of the most threatening in this regard. Alongside its high HP stat that lets Hariyama take Seismic Toss from Registeel and Chansey, two Pokemon you want to check with your Fighting-type, Knock Off, and its improved defensive utility, I could see Hariyama lurking within the A ranks once again. Thick Fat Hariyama is still hurt by the popularity of Will-O-Wisp on Houndoom though. As for Miltank, it didn't see much use past the first UUBL ladder years ago, but from what I've seen it can be very dangerous and difficult to deal with the Curse set in particular. Perhaps Regice drop will be another incentive to use it.

: As a Calm Mind sweeper, Entei distinguishes itself from Raikou and Alakazam with its ability to get past traditional answers like Chansey and Registeel much more easily, and the introduction of Regice will further accentuate this trait. I myself had quite some success with a Calm Mind spam team featuring Entei. Nonetheless, Regice's introduction may also make Entei's checks like Hariyama, Miltank, and to a lesser extent Lanturn more popular, and might not be enough to overlook the fact that Entei struggles against top tiers like Dragonite and Vaporeon depending on its set. However, there is also room for exploration beyond the standard SubCM set, as I'm pretty sure SubToxic and Sunny Day + CM in particular could be used to great effect.

: Lanturn probably deserves a rise because of its ability to handle Raikou and being the best initial switch in to Vaporeon overall. While it isn't very suited to deal with Regice on its own due to its lack of power, its resistance to BoltBeam means that relying solely on Regice to check Lanturn isn't wise seeing that what could be the standard Regice set (Ice Beam, Thunderbolt/Thunder, Explosion/Protect, Psych Up/Thunder Wave) would at least lose most of its health in the process. While Lanturn can struggle to get past defensive Pokemon that don't fear its coverage, it canbe very difficult to handle for some offensive teams.

Other Pokemon which could rise regardless of the tier shifts influence include Tentacruel, Jynx, Arcanine, Regirock, Steelix, and maybe a few other. We'll see how they fare in the metagame from now on.
 
(Yes double post I know)

Tested a lot of stuff with IT Kam, and I've also been writing some set dumps linked in the VR. I think the current metagame is very fun and balanced, and I'm hoping OU won't steal stuff like Hariyama anytime soon. Anyway, it's VR update time.

New Pokemon rank -> A+
B -> A-
B+ -> A-
B+ -> A-
B+ -> A-
A+ -> A

Those were already discussed in the above post and theorymoning proved to be true for the most part. Now, for the rest:

B+ -> A-:
Qwilfish pretty much cemented itself as the most consistent Spiker the tier has to offer. It finds opportunities on staples such as Vaporeon and non EQ Venusaur due to its immunity to Toxic and Water-typing that gives it a STAB that keeps Donphan, the most common spinner, on its toes. The Fighting resistance is also a welcome addition as it allows it to check the likes of Blaziken and Hariyama, while serving as a potential pivot against CB Medicham and Machamp. Its Speed tier that exceeds base 80, coupled with Self-Destruct, makes Qwilfish offensively threatening and able to save the day in clutch situations. This is further complemented by its access to Haze allowing it to temporarily stop sweepers like Entei and Miltank, and Thunder Wave is also something to take into account.

B -> B+
Nothing really changed for Tentacruel since the last time it rose, but imo it stands out among the other Pokemon in B. Still arguably the best spinner available when it comes to dealing with the main spikers Omastar and Qwilfish. It's possibly the best answer to Entei all around and is a very solid answer to other Fire-types like Houndoom and Blaziken. Liquid Ooze is a neat ability as it deters Venusaur and Sceptile from sapping the health of your entire team. Tentacruel is a solid lead due to its match up against spikers, Venusaur, Houndoom, and even threats like CB Dragonite that it can outspeed and threaten to OHKO with Ice Beam. Druidcruel is nowhere near as threatening as it is in UU, but still retains some merits since it abuses most Vaporeon and Venusaur. Being a Wtaer-type with poor physical bulk and a weakness to EQ is certainly unfortunate against Dragonite, Donphan, Steelix, Regirock, etc. though.

B- -> B+
Regice drop didn't make Jynx much favor but her low ranking was a result of severly underrating her. A fast Lovely Kiss and the ability to threaten common Sleep talk users such as CB Dragonite and Crobat makes Jynx an excellent lead tricky to play around, which is further enhanced by her favorable matchups against leads like Qwilfish, CB Dragonite, etc. STAB Psychic is also helpful at detering Thick Fat Hariyama. However, meeting Houndoom in the lead position can result in going 5-6 right from the start of the game. Hidden Power Water can possibly circumvent this a bit, but dropping Calm Mind means Jynx cannot get past defensive Vaporeon by herself, on top of already struggling against other staples such as Registeel, Rehice, Slowbro, Chansey, Miltank, etc. and once again Houndoom at any point of the game.

B- -> B
CB Extreme Speed has a chance of OHKOing Alakazam and Jynx while dealing a noticable amount to Houndoom, Crobat, and Raikou and covering Flail/Reversal users. Fire STAB also makes common Normal switch ins like Steelix and Scizor wary of taking Entei's Double-Edge. In spite of its admitelly mediocre typing, Arcanine can be used as a pivot to threats such as Medicham, Blaziken, Machamp thanks to Intimidate and its solid natural bulk. Flash Fire can also be considered on CB to better check Entei offensively. Arcanine is still easy to keep in check and can be dead weight against some bulky teams.

B- -> B
Swellow competes with Crobat due to its defensive utility, but Swellow's stronger STAB in Double-Edge and Guts ability can make a difference when trying to kill Raikou and having an impact against bulky teams. Baton Pass to pivot and Quick attack against Flail/Reversal users are also noteworthy differences. SubEndevear Swellow in the lead position might be worth further testing too.

C- -> B-
Huge rise and Haunter could reach even greater heights. Standard Registeel and Chansey are unable to damage Haunter, thanks to its typing and Levitate ability that also allow it to pivot into CB Fighting- and Normal-types, spinblock Donphan, and abuse some Pokemon like Venusaur, Weezing, and Qwilfish. Haunter's offensive movepool is pretty large and includes Thunderbolt to pressure Vaporeon and other Water-types. Will-O-Wisp is great at detering switch in like Regice and Explosion makes it a great lure that Houndoom has to watch out for, even though it remains a big issue for Haunter.

C- -> C+
Hypno is very passive and susceptible to Houndoom and Toxic, but it somewhat makes up for it by supporting its team with Wish, keeping the likes of Alakazam and Fighting-types in check, and its ability Insomnia is very helpful in a metagame where Venusaur and even Jynx are very relevant. Its special bulk is also good enough to withstand hits from Regice, Vaporeon, and other special attackers.

Unranked -> C
Mostly outclassed by Steelix, but Camerupt still does a good job at checking Raikou while also checking Entei and being quite noticeably good against Weezing thanks to its immunity to Will-O-Wisp. The two best Pokemon in the tier, Dragonite and Vaporen, are factors of huge troubles but they have to respect Explosion.

Unranked -> C
Blastoise is sort of a middle ground between Vaporeon and Tentacruel. Unlike Vaporeon it can spin and unlike Tentacruel it can check Dragonite with Ice Beam and other Earthquake users better than Tentacruel does, so it can be considered if those two traits in particular are needed.

A- -> B+
Regice drop technically was favorable for Scizor, but it doesn't change the fact that Scizor is pretty easy to keep in check and most build can manage to keep it in control without even worrying about it. While Scizor's typing is very good and makes it especially great against Normal-types, the resistance to Flying offered by Registeel and Steelix is typically preferred. Scizor can absolutely put work, but usually needs quite a fair bit of support.

B -> B-
Regice can check Dragonite fine with an appropriate spread, and while Articuno is still much more reliable in that regard, it is still for the most part overshadowed by its fellow Ice-type that brings overall more both offensively and defensively. Heal Bell, Pressure, and Ground-immunty are certainly useful traits, but Articuno doesn't really stand out in the current metagame and it's rare to consider it when building in my experience, since beyond the aforementioned perks there isn't much that Articuno can do that Regice cannot.

B -> B-
Ground immunity is certainly useful when trying to switch into Registeel and even Venusaur with your Fire-type, but it's not as precious as it is in OU since Dugtrio is not a concern and neither is Metagross, to an extent. Charizard suffers from its competition with the more powerful Blaziken which benefits from a Fighting STAB to pressure Miltank, Regirock, Umbreon, and even Vaporeon to an extent, something that Charizard fails to do as effectively, while also struggling more against Dragonite than its fellow Fire starter. Regice dropping makes the competition even stiffer for Charizard since it doesn't resist Ice Beam and is weak to Thunderbolt, unlike Blaziken, Houndoom, and Entei. i've seen BellyZard being used successfully and perhaps SubPetaya Sunny Day could be worth testing, but those are risky businesses and Charizard is still kept in check by too many Pokemon in my opinion.

B -> B-
Barely used or seen Zangoose so I could be underselling it. Immunity, Swords Dance, and Quick Attack can make it scary since it can use the likes of Registeel as set-up fodders, but against offensive teams the opportunities to set up are rare due to Zangoose's lack of bulk and resistances. It also falls short of getting the kills it wants to get, as needs Double-Edge, Silk Scarf (unironically), and Adamant nature to have a chance of OHKOing most Vaporeon after a Swords Dance, but it also wants Jolly nature to outspeed Modest Houndoom (Quick Attack doesn't OHKO) and + Speed nature Blaziken, Dragonite, Qwilfish, etc. The lack of Earthquake also hurts Zangoose against Steelix and Regirock. Endure + Flail can be a big threat if the opponent doesn't see it coming and can't be played around with Toxic due to Immunity, but it stills requires support against the aforementioned Pokemon.

That's it for now. Other rise that were discussed were Donphan, Steelix, Regirock, and even Raikou. Feel free to discuss those changes and anything else related to ADV UUBL.
 
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Unranked -> C
Mostly outclassed by Steelix, but Camerupt still does a good job at checking Raikou while also checking Entei and being quite noticeably good against Weezing thanks to its immunity to Will-O-Wisp. The two best Pokemon in the tier, Dragonite and Vaporen, are factors of huge troubles but they have to respect Explosion.
Camerupt would actually be better in this hypothetical meta than it currently is in OU, so I don't see how in the world it's C tier when there are many people marking it C/D tier in OU. Without Skarm and Gengar, explosion threatens literally everything. (Not to mention its boom is significantly stronger than Steelix's boom). Most of the pokemon at the top of this tier list would not want to switch into its STABs (Raikou, Entei, Blaziken, Houndoom, etc.). It wouldn't even have to deal with Dugtrio, which is Camerupt's worst nightmare in OU.
 
First of all, I'd like to point out that part of this VR is theoritical as I didn't test or even see in action every single Pokemon ranked, so i could very well be underrating some of them. That applies to most of the C ranks including Camerupt, which I might have seen like once and it was in a UU team because the player using it probably had no UUBL teams. However, I still played a fair amount of game to know what the metagame looks like overall. With that out of the way...

"This Pokemon sits at this spot in the above tier so it should be higher in this lower tier VR" isn't a good reasoning to have. The metagame is entirely different and what makes a Pokemon good or bad doesn't follow the same criterias. First and foremost, the ranking method of this VR is different than most of the ones you'd find in the ADV OU VR thread. The majority of them, from what I've seen, are divided into 6 ranks (S, A, B, C, D, F, and sometimes more) to define viability, where even the Pokemon in F retain some semblance of viability, whereas my VR has essentially 4 ranks (D stands for "Don't use" since Kadabra is listed among BL Pokemon but there is obviously no reason to use it). In a lot of OU VRs I've seen, Pokemon such as Flygon, Cloyster, Gyarados, and Moltres are ranked in C tier, but they are relatively much better in OU that the Pokemon in C rank of this VR are in UUBL. Perhaps my ranking method will change in the future, but for now that's how it works. Besides, ranking Pokemon by using their placement in the OU VR as a basis would mean that Camerupt should be higher than unranked Pokemon in the OU VR such as Chansey, Entei, or even simply higher than Dragonite by comparison. Most UUBLs are ranked close to each other in the OU VR anyway, between D and F most of the time save for a few that stand out such as Vaporeon, Venusaur, Hariyama, and Charizard, the latter of which I'd argue is relatively worse in UUBL that it is in OU.

As for Camerupt itself, I don't think the lack of Skarmory and Gengar makes Camerupt better, even when it comes to just exploding on something. Skarmory obviously needs to watch out for its Fire STAB and so does Gengar which most of the time can't do much to Camerupt beyond Hypnosis if it even has it. Same roughly applies in UUBL. Camerupt can effectively keep Normal resistances like Registeel, Steelix, and Regirock on their toes due to its STAB, since pivoting on Camerupt with them is risky. If anything, the lack of Skarmory and Gengar would be detrimental to Camerupt imo because that means there is two less common Pokemon on which Camel can come in, Gengar being a notable example and the Normal resistances I mentioned are more threatening to Camerupt than Skarmory is since they (almost) always carry Earthquake.

This leads me to the next point: Camerupt could be harder to bring onto the field that in it is in OU, without Zapdos, Gengar, Jolteon, Magneton, some Jirachi, etc. Out of the top Pokemon, it can effectively switch onto Raikou, Weezing, Entei (granted it's not SubToxic), and possibly variants of Venusaur and Qwilfish lacking Earthquake or Hydro Pump, respectively. Otherwise, it is difficult to bring onto the field and super slow so on some matchups you can't get anything out of it. It is also pretty prediction reliant because unlike, say, Metagross in OU, Camerupt can hardly afford to stay in on the Pokemon it wants to boom on such as Vaporeon, Dragonite, Donphan, etc. In this regard, Steelix has more chance on blowing up n its targets and even though it's weaker, it takes Earthquake much more effectively and can afford to stay in on Dragonite and Donphan before booming, so having to predict the switch in isn't its only way to get the kill it wants. It also has more occasion to come onto the field overall due to its typing, bulk, and Toxic immunity. Another problem with having to predict the switch ins to Explosion target due to the popularity of Protect on Pokemon like Registeel or even Substitute on Raikou and Entei which can scout Camerupt's next move, including Explosion to the anticipated switch in. This makes Camerupt more limited in terms of opportunities.

I'm not going to ask for replays since the metagame playerbase is small and the scene still underdevelopped, but if you have those, feel free to share.
 
It's been a while. As many of you probably know already, two rather recent tier shifts happened, so I will go over them. I won't do any VR update just now aside from scratching Charizard but I'll discuss things noentheless.


I have yet to do any testing, but I don't think Porygon2's introduction is going to shake the metagame all that much. Beyond copying Water Absorb from Vaporeon, Volt Absorb from Lanturn, and Flash Fire from Houndoom variants that use this ability, there is not much that Trace does for P2 here, since it sadly does not reflect Intimidate back in this generation. Porygon2 does check Dragonite nicely as long as it avoids banded Focus Punch, which is certainly a nice trait to have. P2 has an overall solid bulk and can check a certain amount of Pokemon depending on its spread, but its lack of resistances, general passivity, and vulnerability to Toxic (compared to Chansey and Miltank, for instance) means its generally not the best at handling the various offensive threats in the metagame. Perhaps it'll be decent enough to warrant a slot on a team still.


Charizard might have been the only UUBL which performed relatively better in OU than in UUBL, mainly since Milotic is not as big of a concern in OU compared to Vaporeon in UUBL. While the immunity to Ground is certainly an important thing to take into account when choosing Charizard over other Fire-types since it typically makes for a safer switch in to metagame staples such as Venusaur and Registeel, the absence of Dugtrio and to an extent Metagross as well as the ubiquity of Regice which can hit Charizard harder than other Fire-types with Boltbeam is a big factor as well. While much slower, Zard's biggest competitor in Blaziken typically does a better job at breaking bulky teams since its higher attack stats and Fighting-STAB allow to pick Miltank, Regirock, Hariyama, Lanturn, Chansey, and Umbreon with much more ease. I've seen BellyZard pull off a sweep once but the nature of the set and inability to OHKO some important targets such as Vaporeon, something that EndRev Blaziken can accomplish after an SD boost, hurt its consistency. Overall, Charizard was a nice option to have but should not be too detrimental of a loss.

There's a few other Pokemon I theorymoned about a bit and might be worth looking at in the future:


It's no secret that Venusaur is one of the best Pokemon in the metagame, but one potentially relevant set I haven't seen is SD/Sludge Bomb/EQ/Synthesis with a usual specially defensive spread. Such a set would retain Venusaur's defensive prowness while making it a potential win condition that can set up on most Registeel, Vaporeon, Chansey, etc. It might even improve th matchup against Vaporeon which could sometimes manage to PP stall Synthesis or fish for a freeze with Ice Beam against standard Venusaur. If this set proves to be successful, perhaps it'll push Venusaur to S rank. Who knows.


I dismissed Kangaskhan a bit since UUBL has a fair share of competing Normal-types and Kanga is on the weaker side in terms of raw power, but I believe that its bulk coupled with Rest + Early Bird could turn Kangaskhan into a solid stallbreaker as it could 1V1 some typical Normal checks such as Registeel and other bulky Pokemon that fail to break through its Rest loop. Early Bird can also make Kangaskhan a fitting Pokemon to play around sleeping moves from the likes of Venusaur and Jynx. It should also be noted that unlike Tauros, Kanga survives a +1 Psychic from Alakazam, among other strong moves. Once again I'll have to test but Kanga could use a potentially very big rise.


Currently unranked, but perhaps not for long as unlike the main Spikers Qwilfish and Omastar Glalie is not weak to Earthquake and still retains a STAB that hits Donphan super effectively. It could also run Earthquake to get a better matchup than the other spikers against the other main spinner in the tier in Tentacruel. Glalie also has an easier time getting Spikes up against some notable targets like Regice, and of course Explosion and to an extent Taunt are other important factors. Glalie is another one likely to get a rank, and possibly a generous one, soon as well.

On another note, the state of ADV UU is currently getting discussed, and one proposition that is notbeing voted on as I'm writing this post but was brought up nonetheless was to turn ADV UUBL into ADV UU, essentially nuking the current category known as "ADV UUBL" entirely. This might sound insignificant but it implies is that, if it was to happen, the current ADV UUBL list is likely going to get frozen and will remain unaffected by future tier shifts. There would not be any Pokemon lost due to a rise to OU but no Pokemon dropping from OU to UUBl either.

Personally, I would be in favor of this for the sake of the metagame since I think ADV UUBL is a very good state at this moment in terms of balance, and while I would be interested in potentially getting Pokemon such as Cloyster or Jolteon, I don't want to risk losing Vaporeon, Hariyama, or Venusaur as I think that all of them are healthy for the tier and not worth trading. In this matter, I'm also willing to hear about any opinion regarding the current state of the metagame and whether or not further tier shifts between OU or UUBl are desirable or not.
 
Another year, another VR update. There has been a tournament organized recently (that I sadly didn't learn about in time) but I still got to see stuff in action and had opportunity to test things on my own. So, here are the changes:

Rises:
B+ -> A
A- -> A
B+ -> A

B- -> B+
UR -> B

Just like in most, if not all, ADV metas, Spikes are huge, and the VR should reflect that. I somewhat dismissed Omastar in the past as an inferior Regirock with Spikes, but even beyond that the strong Water STAB to scare off grounds, most notably the main spinner Donphan, and the ability to OHKO Dragonite with Ice Beam are certainly significant perks that Regirock doesn't have. Omastar is very splashable and does the job as a Flying and Normal resist, and pairs well enough with Weezing on defensive teams to handle most physical threats. I now think Qwilfish and Omastar are about equal, but maybe that'll change in the future. Donphan is not the best spinner in my opinion, since Tentacruel has an easier time taking hits from the spikers, but kinda like Claydol in OU it makes for a such a nice backup and secondary check to a plethora of Pokemon in the metagame on top of spinning that it's usually the default choice for a spinner a lot of the time. Smeargle proves to be surprisingly influencial in the lead metagame especially since it can offer so much momentum for offensive teams with Spore + Spikes and still retains tricks such as Endure + Salac Berry to still keep its utility even in seemingly unfavorable matchups. Glalie is just what I described in the above post, the ability to set up Spikes on Regice and lack of Ground and Electric weakness can be very key in matchups against some offensive teams that usually manage to scare off the other spikers from getting opportunities, and could rise even further in the future. The tier doesn't have that many good Ground immune Pokemon and Spikes do a ton of work when it comes to making progress against common metagame staples such as the regis, Venusaur, Vaporeon, and Chansey, so being able to lay them down or keeping them off the field when teammates tend to give too many opportunities to the common spikers are naturally good arguments to be included in a team.

B -> B+
Ground types are among the big winners of the metagame trend to use EQ weak Water-types like Omastar and Qwilfish over Vaporeon, and as a purely offensive one I think Marowak is better than Rhydon and should be a rank above. The signature Bonemerang makes Marowak an interesting, albeit shaky, check to Raikou as it negates Substitute. I used to think that Marowak lacked any appealing defensive presence beyond this interaction against Raikou since STAB Rock Slide is nowhere near as common as tit is in OU, but the lack of EQ weakness, compared to Rhydon who trades this for an ability to pivot into Dnite and Tauros, proves to be quite huge when pivoting into Venusaur, which uses EQ more often than its Grass STAB, Registeel, Steelix, and Regirock. Thanks to this, Marowak can even potentially1v1 physically defensive Donphan with the right balance of bulk and speed investment, something quite unique for a purely physical attacker. As already mentioned, the tier doesn't have that many great ground immunities, the best one at dealing with Ground types being arguably Weezing which might be unable to touch Marowak with Substitute up depending on its set.

B- -> B+
I just described how impactful spikes and spin are, so it would not come as a surprise that spinblocking is relevant as a consequence. Haunter is quite fit for the job given its immunity to the premier metagame spinner's STAB and access to Will-O-Wisp to cripple it. Besides, Haunter's typing and ability provides a ton of appealing utility for a team, including the possibility of completely shutting down standard variants of Registeel and Chansey as well as Donphan and Steelix lacking HP Rock, to switch easily on most variants of Weezing and Venusaur, to pivot on banders such as Medicham, Tauros, and Machamp locking onto their STABs and some coverage moves. Both WoW + Taunt and WoW + Explosion with coverage can shake usual defensive structures and help offensive teams tremendously. However, the weakness to Houndoom which is commonly paired with a lot of the aforementioned Pokemon should be kept in mind when using Haunter and relying on it to achieve the described goals.

C -> B
Described in the above post, the rise of Haunter doesn't do Kanga much favor since fitting Shadow Ball can be difficult. Still, tested it a bit and can say it's very likely better than anything else in C. Could be toyed with further especially when it comes to EV spreads.

New Pokemon -> B-
Barely seen or tested P2 much so could very well be underestimating it, but beyond hard checking DDnite and blanking most Vaporeon with Trace I don't see much incentive to play P2, which must like in OU is quite a big momentum sink that this time around also suffers from a 4MSS. On top of Recover, Ice Beam, and a status effect, it has to choose between Return to better retaliate against SubCM Raikou, Alakazam (statuing it can be bothersome due to Synchronize + the potential Lum Berry), Entei, Houndoom, Regice, Lanturn, etc. and Thunderbolt to not be complete Spikes bait for Omastar and Qwilfish. Porygon2 could be difficult to break through at times but it feels like it isn't suited to be used a check to anything bar Dragonite and Vaporeon (though admittely, these are important to check). There is probably some room for exploration still. Who knows, perhaps Conversion or Starf Berry Recycle are the keys to unlock P2's potential.

C+ -> B-
Still a worse spinner than Donphan due to the lack of STAB on EQ and inferior speed (outspeeding Omastar with Armaldo requires too much investment for my tastes), but figured it was stillmore relevant than most of the stuff in C+. One of the best Normal checks in the meta, arguably better than Regirock against DDnite due to the lack of EQ weakness, strong offensive presence, possibility to Knock Off stuff like Weezing and Vaporeon, etc. are all valid traits that would make Armaldo not-so-niche. Probably some room for customization in terms of sets here as well so could reach higher ranks.

C+ -> B-
Kinda like Armaldo where I felt it was better than most of C+. Dodrio's lack of EQ and frailty compared to Tauros hurt a lot, but STAB Drill Peck is quite interesting to get through the arguably most reliable Normal checks like Scizor and Armaldo, and it can be occasionally quite relevant fro physical spam teams. Quick Attack to pick up EndRev and EndFlail, Baton Pass to pivot, and Early Bird to mitigate Venusaur's Sleep Powder can also be good reasons to consider Dodrio over something else.

C -> C+
Been talked about in this thread a bit. Can trap Registeel, Modest Houndoom is the Diglett is Jolly, as well as other relevant targets such as Chansey when weakened, Blaziken, and Lanturn. Some people have experimented with Endure + Salac to target non Sub Raikou. By nature of its ability, Diglett can flip some games completely by trapping the one Pokemon that prevented a sweep from your Raikou, for instance, and that's big enough to warrant a rise.

UR -> C+
Good matchup spread as a lead with its fast Taunt and Electric STABs that scare off the Spikers. Has no problem setting up Rain Dance most of the time and provide momentum for its teammates Kingdra and Ludicolo right from the start. Can also potentially come in clutch by enabling RKs from these swift swimmers later in the game or by exploding itself too.

UR -> C
Inferior physical bulk, lack of Explosion, and even more pronounced weakness to Houndoom blow, but the decently strong Ice Beam to take care of Dnite and stronger Psychic to better handle SD Venusaur and scare off Weezing and Qwilfish, which could be tempted to Haze its Calm Mind are good enough traits to justify using Lunatone over Solrock as a defensive backbone that can pass CMs. Hypnosis can also be considered to prevent phazers from ruining the strategy, something that the main CM passer Espeon cannot replicate.

Drops
S -> A+
The age of Vaporeon completely stopping (most) offensive momentum is over. The introduction of Raikou, Regice, and to an extent P2 in the tier all nerfed Vaporeon quite a bit, but even beyond that the metagame has adaptated to a point where Vaporeon is much easier to break through and actually competes for a team slot as a bulky Water, namely the spikers Omastar and Qwilfish. Qwilfish in particular typically uses Vaporeon as a Spikes bait , Lanturn became better with the aforementioned drops, Venusaur has even more incentive to run a lot of special defense ever since Raikou's drop and can possibly take advantage of even Ice Beam variants of Vaporeon, Regice has even more incentive to run a statut effect due to the prominence of Roar Raikou and therefore has an easier time getting through Vaporeon, etc. I used to say that Vaporeon checks half of the metagame, if not more, all by itself, but if you look at the upper ranks of the VR you might notice that quite a good share of Pokemon can deal with Vaporeon in their own ways. I still think that Vaporeon is the best Water-type and is amazing both with defensive and offensive sets, but not to the same extent as before in my opinion. This could mean that the Pokemon that Vaporeon used to gatekeep, such as the Ground-types and the rain sweepers, could rise (further) in the future.

A- -> B+
Pretty much what I described before in this thread: most of the time it feels like unless you run the perfect combination of moves with Entei's CM sets for the team you're facing, Entei is going to struggle at making progress, and sometimes this combination might simply not exist. This makes Entei quite inconsistent and in need of a lot of support. Most teams will pack several potential checks to Entei without even accounting for it when teambuilding, and that includes what is probably the least matchup reliant Entei's set in SubTectToxic, which doesn't have a good time against Omastar and especially Qwilfish which can get their hazards easily.

A- -> B+
Arguably an even bigger victim of the drops from OU than Vaporeon, Slowbro hates Regice in particular due to Psych Up being the standard and shutting down the CM variant as a result. Much like Vap, Slowbro also competes for a teamslot with the spikers, and even more in this regard since it's argubaly not that much better against most Medicham and Blaziken than Qwilfish. The lack of Speed is also quite an issue when it comes to dealing with Marowak and Rhydon, something you would want from a non EQ weak Water-type. The resistances and STAB offered by the Psychic type are certainly noteworhty though as it makes a difference against Venusaur and especially Qwilfish compared to Vaporeon, but even Psychic has to compete for a teamslot and it doesn't make up for the susceptibility to Houndoom, lower special bulk, lack of recovery moves, etc.

B+ -> B
In spite of the chance of inducing Poison, Sludge Bomb feels like a move you never want to be locked into, given how many metagame staples resist or are immune to it, including Qwilfsih and Omastar which can lay up Spikes for free, and even when they're not on the other team Crobat is just too easy to handle and doesn't hit hard enough even when it comes to revenge kill anything that isn't Alakazam or Sceptile, most notably Raikou and DDnite. Crobat retains some defensive merits and there is potentially some potential with moves such as Thief, Taunt, or even Haze on a non banded set, but at firs glance I don't think I could justify running anything like that over Weezing.

That's it for the updates. Feel free to discuss those if you want to or suggest new ones. You can also except some more "mini-analysis" linked to the ranked Pokemon and maybe more sample teams in the future.
 
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Lead Metagame in ADV UUBL
Just like most old gen tiers without team preview, UUBL has a lead metagame of its own and some Pokemon are more suited to bring you an early favorable position than others. This post will give a rundown of what said Pokemon tend to accomplish as leads and how they fare against other common leads.

Spikers:

Unsurprisingly, getting as many Spikes as early as possible usually benefits your team, be it offensive or defensive. There is a good amount of available spikers in UUBL, most of which have good merits when it comes to lead off.


Smeargle @ Lum Berry / Salac Berry
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Def / 72 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spore
- Spikes
- Destiny Bond / Explosion
- Will-O-Wisp / Mirror Coat / Encore / Endure
If there is one lead that shines with a positive matchup, it's Smeargle. The access to both Spore and Spikes can make so much progress in early game that it justifies giving up a moveslot for Smeargle on a lot of offense oriented teams. Therefore, you should have a gameplan against Smeargle on the back of your mind when your choosing your lead. Smeargle can choose to Spore the opposing Pokemon on the first turn to lay Spikes down without being under fire or try to condition the opponent to play around the move. Destiny Bond can take a Pokemon down and potentially condition the opponent who may not want to kill Smeargle under the effect of the move, giving it additional turns to use Spikes. Explosion is an alternative that do tons of damage in spite of Smeargle abysmal Attack stat, with its main merit over Destiny Bond being that it prevents Donphan and Tentacruel from trying to spin away Spikes laid down on the same turn if Smeargle moves first, which can come very handy if Smeargle is not backed up by a spinblocker. It also ends the turn right after Smeargle uses the move, if you ever end up in a scenario where you can't afford to give the opponent a free turn to set up on Smeargle or something similar.

The last slot is reserved for more matchup dependant tools. Will-O-Wisp can cripple something after (or before) Spore has been used, including some strong Pokemon that would be used to kill Smeargle as quickly as possible. Among the common leads that are faster than Smeargle, most of them attack on the special side, so Smeargle can use Mirror Coat to get a surprise kill on the likes of Raikou and Jynx. Encore is mostly a way to get additional opportunities mid game to lock the opposing Pokemon onto a non attacking move and lay Spikes down afterwards. It can also have some gambling value against lead Raikou by locking it onto a predicted Substitute turn 1 and against some BP users like Espeon which tend to use the move and other forms of setup as well. If Smeargle is holding a Salac Berry, then it can consider Endure to survive hits from faster threats such as Houndoom and Tauros that would otherwise OHKO and get to move first on the next turn. There are plenty of other options to consider beyond those, such as Rapid Spin, Endeavor, Taunt, Thunder Wave, etc.

The EV spread is customizable depending on your needs, the current one allows Smeargle to live a STAB attack from Timd Raikou and Jynx as well as an uninvested EQ from Donphan 100% of the time while being as fast as possible to speed tie with other Smeargle and outspeed the likes of Alakzam after a Salac Berry boost. Lum Berry allows Smeargle to not get shut down by other sleepers such as Jynx, Venusaur, and opposing Venusaur, while Salac Berry allows Smeargle to outspeed the aforementioned Raikou and Jynx, among other threats, after getting in range.


Qwilfish @ Leftovers / Lum Berry
Ability: Poison Point / Swift Swim
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spikes
- Self-Destruct
- Sludge Bomb
- Hydro Pump / Haze / Thunder Wave
Qwilfish is the fastest of all the spikers, enough to outspeed the crowded 80 speed tier which include relevant leads such as Dragonite and Glalie. It also gets a strong Self-Destruct that can be pressed after laying down a few Spikes or right from the start if deemed useful depending of the threat of the opposing lead. Unfortunately, Qwilfish suffers from exploitable weaknesses among leads, but has still quite a few relevant matchups such as EQ less Vensuur and to a certain extent physically defensive Donphan which is 2HKOed by even Jolly Hydro Pump. Unlike Smeargle, an appealing defensive profile which gives it more opportunities to lay down Spikes later in the game in case it cannot do so right from the start. Qwilfish EV spread can also be toyed with depending on your preferences, and while getting the jump over 80 base speed Pokemon is advised, it can choose to run for a more bulky approach, and possibly go full special defense to tank hits better from Houndoom, Omastar, and Vaporeon, while surviving a Thunderblot from Lanturn.


Glalie @ Leftovers / Lum Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 156 HP / 100 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid / Jolly Nature
- Spikes
- Explosion
- Ice Beam / Earthquake
- Taunt / Earthquake
The second fastest Spiker, which can also boom, but doesn't suffer from the same weaknesses as Qwilfish and Omastar without being ridiculously frail like Smeargle. This means Glalie has a better matchup against the likes of Raikou, Lanturn, Donphan, Jynx, and, in mid game scenarios, Regice. It also gets Taunt which allows it to completely shut down Smeargle and prevent Omastar from getting Spikes of its own. If Timid, Glalie's Ice Beam OHKOes standard variants of Dragonite while pressuring Donphan which might get tempted to spin against it. Earthquake improves Glalie's matchup against the other tier main spinner, Tentacruel, and hits other targets like Qwilfish and Raikou harder. The given EV spread allows Glalie to outspeed Smeargle and speed tie with all the Pokemon sitting at base 80 while surviving two Thunderbolt from Timid Raiku and two EQ from uninvested Donphan after Leftovers recovery.


Omastar @ Leftovers
Ability: Shell Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect / Toxic / Thief
- Spikes
- Surf
- Ice Beam
Bulkier teams usually choose Omastar as their spiker and possibly as their lead as well. Standard Omastar invests all in physical bulk, and with Protect it can survives two EQ from Jolly banded Tauros, while taking the same hit from Drgonite as well as it can before OHKOing with Ice Beam. As the bulkiest spiker UUBL has to offer, Omastar can also get additional layers against univested Donphan, Houndoom, Grass STAB less Venusaur, and plenty of other Pokemon mid game such as Registeel. It can also potentially cripple somthing early with Thief. Omastar also has the added benefit of resisting Explosion and Self-Destruct so Qwilfish and Glalie can't prevent the risk of Spikes of their field later on by booming. Omastar can also choose to go more on the offensive side of thing, since with investment its Water STAB can remove a Donphan that would be tempted to challenge it and pose a bigger threat to opposing Spikers that would otherwise lay their Spikes down alongside Omastar freely.

Sleepers:

Keeping the sleep inducing move for late game is a possible strategy since sleep might be more impactful when the counterplay has been revealed or taken care of already. Nonetheless, getting an early sleep can still be a huge factor of momentum that can be difficult to recover from for the rest of the game considering ADV sleep mechanics. Smeargle has already been introduced but there are other relevant sleepers.

RIP UUBL Breloom


Jynx (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA
- Lovely Kiss
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Water] / Calm Mind
UUBL most immediately threatening sleeper is Jynx, which sits at an above average speed tier, faster than Qwilfish or Glalie. This, its Special Attack, and STABs give it a strong matchup against Dragonite, Qwilfish, Venusaur, and Donphan without having to risk a miss on Lovely Kiss. Jynx's offensive prowness tends to discourage typical Sleep Talk users such as banded Dragonite, Crobat, Machamp, and Tauros from trying to switch in and absorb Lovely Kiss, so compared to other sleepers Jynx has a better shot at crippling something more susceptible to sleep. The main downside of using Jynx as a lead is that a match can very easily go 5-6 turn 1 if Houndoom is on the opposing side, even with HP Water to retaliate as a wrong prediction can get Jynx killed.


Venusaur @ Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Atk / 180 SpD
Careful Nature
- Sleep Powder / Leech Seed
- Synthesis / Leech Seed
- Sludge Bomb / Hidden Power [Grass]
- Earthquake / Leech Seed / Hidden Power [Grass]

Venusaur @ Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 128 HP / 128 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Sleep Powder
- Giga Drain / Razor Leaf
- Leech Seed
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Hidden Power [Fire]
Venusaur is a bulkier sleeper with a good set of resistances, which by comparison makes it less commital than Jynx to click on an inaccurate sleep inducing move as it likely will have more chance to use Sleep Powder again even if it misses. It can even potentially afford to stay in on something like Tauros to get the sleep off. Other than that, Leech Seed is another good tool to make some progress early in the game and ease switches. Venusaur with Earthquake has a good matchup against Raikou and Tentacruel and can limit most Qwilfish to one layer of Spikes, but aGrass STAB can also be considered to fare better against Donphan and remove any Omastar which would try to get their Spikes. Venusaur can also choose to give up bulk in favor of Speed to get the jump over Smeargle and speed tier with Dragonite and Glalie, although those matchups are not Venusaur favoured anyway so a speedy set might be best for later in the game.


Jumpluff @ Leftovers
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sleep Powder
- Encore
- Leech Seed
- Stun Spore / Substitute / Hidden Power [Flying]
Jumpluff is the fastest sleeper available aside from the irrelevant Hypnosis Persian. However, its negative offensive presence and set of weaknesses that leave it vulnerable to pretty much the entirety of UUBL lead metagame make it a very subpar lead and overall Pokemon, arguably even more commital than Jynx as it can't really afford to miss Sleep Powder. Beyond that, Jumpluff serves as an overall disruptor with Encore, Leech Seed, and Stun Spore that can start to spread everything from the beginning onwards, but it only takes the opponent to have a Venusaur to prevent it from doing any percent to the opposing team unless it has HP Flying.

Special threats:
Most UUBL speedy Pokemon attack on the special side, and a lot of them can pose a threat early, sometimes by luring something out or get a gameplan going, on top of having appealing lead matchup spreads.


Raikou @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Substitute / Roar / Toxic
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
The two best Spikers, Qwilfish and Omastar, are both weak to Electric, so using the fastest and overall best Electric-type in the tier has a lead gives some insurance against early Spikes. Leading with Raikou can ruin the late game potential of the Pokemon as it will take damage early and the opponent will be extra careful with their Raikou counterplay, but it can also make some early game scouting that can allow some teammates to clear more easily afterwards, especially in special offense. Substitute is very useful for an whole game, but even moreso as a lead as it blocks sleep inducing moves, scouts for switch in and what CBers like Tauros would lock themselves into, and blanks Explosion from a too trigger happy Glalie. Roar is another scouting move that allows Raikou to get the upper hand in the ditto by phazing away opposing Raikou after it gets Calm Mind boosts, and it also can help against Psych Up Regice. Toxic is another way of checking the opposing Raikou with your own and is a good option if your team benefits from crippling the likes of Regice and Lanturn, which is usually the case in (special) offense. Timid nature is recommended especially if you intend to check other Raikou with your own by using Roaror Toxic, but Modest can be considered as it gives a high chance of OHKOing bulkless Dnite and Pokemon such as Smeargle which would EV themselves specifically to take hits from Raikou.


Houndoom @ Leftovers
Ability: Early Bird
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid / Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast / Flamethrower
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Taunt / Will-O-Wisp / Toxic
By virtue of its ability Early Bird and its other good traits, Houndoom is the first pick ro consider if you wish to circumvent the impact of sleep inducing moves, so it's not surprising that it would work as a lead. Houndoom naturally has a good matchup against all sleepers, and its strong Pursuit can shift the momentum in your favor immediately against the likes of Jynx and Alakazam. Its strong Fire STAB is also very relevant against Glalie, as is is fast Taunt which allows it to prevent Smeargle from trying anything smart against it. Houndoom can also make the risky choice of taunting on a predicted Spikes from Omastar or even Qwilfish. Alternatively, Houndoom has a plethora of options for its last slot: Will-O-Wisp and Toxic can be used to cripple switch ins such as Hariyama, Regirock, Vaporeon, etc. HP Grass is viable if you really want Omastar dead and get some additional oomph against other Water- and Rock- types, as is HP Ice if you want Dragonite dead, etc. Houndoom can usually go Modest with 236 EVs in Speed to outspeed base 80 Pokemon, but Timid should be considered as a lead since the speed tie with Jynx and outspeeding Qwilfish matter a lot. Flash Fire is also an alternative, especially if you need your own Houndoom to check others'.


Alakazam @ Lum Berry / Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA
- Taunt / Ice Punch / Knock Off / Encore
- Psychic
- Fire Punch / Ice Punch / Hidden Power [Water]
- Hidden Power [Water] / Recover / Ice Punch / Knock Off
Some offensive teams choose to not use a sturdy Alakazam check and try to limit its opportunities to get in to make up for it. Facing Alakazam as a lead, especially in a losing matchup, can be dreadful for them. Alakazam superior power compared to other special threats such as Raikou and Jynx also make a difference here since it can get OHKOs on the likes of Dragonite, Smeargle, and Machamp that those two usually miss, respectively. The higher speed is also a big factor when facing Houndoom with HP Water and Raikou. Alakazam suffers from 4MSS big time in the lead position but still offers a lot with Taunt to be as safe as possible against Smeargle and prevent Spikes and sleepers from doing there thing. Knock Off is a good alternative if your team benefits from crippling special walls such as Regice, Registeel, and Chansey early. Encore is there for some added mid game utility to soft check any slower setup sweepers and abuse some Pokemon clicking moves like Protect, while Recover gives Alakazam some longevity and can be useful in tandem with Taunt to 1v1 some usual answers such as Chansey.


Lanturn @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 108 SpD / 108 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave / Toxic
A slower special threat which finds a place in the lead metagame thanks to its solid matchup spread against all of Qwilfish, Omastar, Raikou, Houndoom, and Tentacruel. Besides, Lanturn preys on some offensive teams that rely on stuff like Regice, Steelix, or Donphan to take Electric attacks, and can put a lot of work against those very early on. The threat of a statut effect when facing Lanturn with a losing matchup is real as well.


Espeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Baton Pass
- Psychic
- Calm Mind
- Substitute / Hidden Power [Fire] / Hidden Power [Water]
Espeon is a good option on special offense to pass Calm Mind via Baton Pass, which also allows it to escape Pursuit safely on therefore make it less susceptibel to Houndoom than Jynx and Alakazam. Beyond that it still retain a good lead matchup chart thanks to its strong and fast Psychic that deal tons of damage to Qwilfish, Venusaur, and Tentacruel. Substitute is useful to have against sleep moves, among other statut effects, and Explosion, that could hit Espeon or the recipient of Baton Pass.

Choice Banders:

Choice Band users are the most immediate source of firepower, and can be tough to safely switch onto since they tend to do massive damage if they predict correctly. The Choice Band boost also allow them to kill some of the opposing lead before they get the chance to do anything.


Tauros (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ghost]
- Return / Sleep Talk
Tauros offers one of the balance of speed and physical power in the tier, and this proves handy in the lead metagame as it can outspeed and remove all of Smeargle, Houndoom, Jynx, Tentacruel, and most Qwilfish variants. It also survives unboosted hits from Raikou and Alakazam before killing them, and also has the upper hand against Dragonite partially thanks to Intimidate. Tauros can also afford to run Adamant since it still outspeeds Jynx and Houndoom and only misses the mark on Modest Raikou and other Tauros. This can make a difference against Glalie which has an higher chance of getting OHKOed by Double-Edge and against Omastar which could fail to take two EQ after Protect and lefties.


Dragonite @ Choice Band
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 40 SpD / 216 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Earthquake
- Focus Punch / Brick Break
- Sleep Talk / Double-Edge / Brick Break

Dragonite @ Leftovers
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 104 Atk / 252 SpA / 152 Spe
Quiet Nature
- Focus Punch
- Hidden Power [Flying] / Earthquake / Substitute
- Ice Beam
- Thunder / Thunderbolt
Kinda like Qwilfish, lead Dragonite is comparatively worse than it was when Breloom was still in the tier, but still relevant nonetheless, especially against Venusaur and Machamp. Besides, a correct predict with Focus Punch turn 1 can be extremely rewarding. With a little bit of bulk investment, it can survive an HP Ice from Timid Raikou 100% of the time. Adamant is usually preferred on CB Dnite, but Jolly can be considered in the lead slot to outspeed Smeargle and speed tie with Glalie and max speed Venusaur, which can be especially useful if you're not running Sleep Talk. Adamant retainsan higher chance to OHKO Glalie with Brick Break and and Omastar with Focus Punch if risking to stay in against those is something you'd do. Alternatively, Dragonite can lead with a mixed set and risk the 56% of trying to get the OHKO on max HP Omastar with Thunder while getting a better matchup against Donphan and Dragonite, but loses the important OHKO on Raikou, Lanturn and Machamp.


Medicham @ Choice Band
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Brick Break
- Shadow Ball
- Rock Slide
- Focus Punch / Double-Edge / Fake Out

Machamp @ Choice Band
Ability: Guts
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 60 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Cross Chop
- Rock Slide
- Hidden Power [Ghost] / Hidden Power [Flying] / Earthquake
- Sleep Talk / Focus Punch / Earthquake / Brick Break
Aside from Ursaring and the unreliable Slaking, the most powerful CBers in UUBL are the fighting types, specifically Medicham and Machamp. A strong fighting STAB means a chance to OHKO standard Omastar without having to gamble on Focus Punch, and said Focus Punch is still a present threat that is even more dangerous than Dragonite's. When it comes to choosing between the two, Medicham outspeeds Smeargle if Jolly and speed ties with Glalie and Dragonite, both of which can be OHKOed most of the time. It is also neutral to Psychic so Alakazam and Espeon cannot go for the potential OHKO that they have on Machamp. On the other hand, Machamp survives a Double-Edge from Jolly Tauros and Fire Blast from Modest Houndoom, among other things, and can take advantage of sleep inducing moves with Guts and Sleep Talk. Its Cross Chop is also slightly more powerful than Medicham's Brick Break, which can matter against Omastar.

Spinners:

Spikes are great and used by common leads, so leading with spinner can be a good way to deal with it or simply discourage them from attempting to lay down Spikes.


Tentacruel @ Leftovers / Lum Berry
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 20 HP / 252 SpA / 236 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Hydro Pump / Surf
- Ice Beam
- Toxic / Giga Drain
Out of the two best spinners in the tier, Tentacruel has the best matchup spread against the spikers due to its spread and typing, and can sit on Qwilfish, Glalie, and Omastar, the former two don't get the chance to explode on Tenta before it clears the Spikes they laid down. With Modest, Tentacruel can get the OHKO on most variants of Smeargle, Dragonite, and Donphan. It also has a good matchup against Houndoom and any Venusaur lacking Earthquake, Leech Seed variants in particular despise Tentacruel due to Liquid Ooze. The resistance to Fighting can also come in handy against Medicham and Machamp, if they are not carrying Double-Edge or Earthquake, respectively.



Donphan @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 224 HP / 128 Atk / 88 SpD / 52 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Protect / Toxic
- Rock Slide
Bulkier teams can lead with standard physically or specially defensive variants of Donphan, but Donphan can choose to go for a slightly more offensive approach to ensure a 2HKO on Omastar after two round of Leftovers (factoring a round of Protect). While it's not as consistent as Tentacruel against the spikers, Donphan can still get the matchup in its favor with the right spread and also gets a better matchup against all of Alakazam, Raikou, and Tauros. It also naturally scares away Houndoom and with the given spread survive a Surf from Modest Lanturn.

There are other noteworthy leads such as Electrode, BPers such as Ninjask, Swellow, and Vaporeon, and some other anti-leads like Slaking, but this post cover the most common ones. Hopefully, this should also give you a better understanding of how the metagame revolves around Spikes, among other things.
 
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Role Compendium

This compendium aims to help players when teambuilding by giving a visually appealing list of which Pokemon to use and/or to take into account. Everything listed behind a "/" for each role is regarded as not very reliable in said role, set specific, or just as a fairly niche Pokemon in general.

Physical attackers:
/

/

Special attackers:
/

Mixed attackers:
/


Physical walls/tanks:

/

Special walls/tanks:

/

Mixed walls/tanks:
/


Spikes:
/

Rapid Spin:
/

Spinblockers:
/


Dragon Dance:
/

Calm Mind:
/

Swords Dance:
/

Curse:
/

Swift Swim:
/

Bulk Up:

Belly Drum:

Reversal/Flail:
/


Heal Bell:
/

Wish:
/


Haze/Roar/Whirlwind:
/

Baton Pass:

/


Toxic:
/

Paralysis:

/

Will-O-Wisp:
/

Sleep:
/


Will probably edit in the future regardless of metagame shifts.
 

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