AAA Almost Any Ability

I want to talk about the absolute state of entry hazard control in this metagame, and what that means for teambuilding.

Defog
Here is a screenshot of every fully evolved Defogger currently in SV:
View attachment 469651

Outside of Corviknight, that list is dire. Noivern is obviously a good mon, but does not have the bulk to be a passable Defogger. Scizor would have been passible last gen, but the loss of Roost and Knock Off is devastating for it, and Talonflame's famed MGLO sets do not keep up with the higher power level (or dumb new Speed tiers) in SV. In short, outside of Corviknight, we arguably have zero other viable Defoggers.

Rapid Spin
Here is the same screenshot for spinners:
View attachment 469652

On the Rapid Spin front we are doing a little better; Great Tusk and Iron Treads are great mons, but lack native recovery so have to compete for coveted Regenerator and Poison Heal slots. Cyclizar has amazing utility in general, but is likely limited to more offensive teams and again, competes for a Regen slot. Avalugg either desperately wants to take the Tera slot or is hindered by an awful typing, while Quaquaval seems fine on offensive teams ig? But still, very little sustainability. Everything past that is fairy niche.

Other Removal (Mortal Spin and Tidy Up)
Tidy Up is a hilariously broken move, but only on Maushold, which certainly does not have the bulk or recovery to be a reliable hazard remover. Mortal Spin is similarly relegated to Glimmora which has a...suspect...typing and no native recovery. Neither of these should be considered consistent removal options.

Entry Hazard Prevention (Magic Bounce)
Magic Bounce is the other semi-reliable way to control hazards, but has two key drawbacks. First, it needs to be able to actively switch into the entry hazard setters, and if you are aware of a Magic Bounce user that can come in on every Rocks/Spikes/Toxic Spikes user, please let me know. Secondly, it requires giving up the ability slot, which in the FurScales meta, is a big ask. This is also unreliable into Moldy users, which are much more relevant this generation thanks to bypassing FurScales as well.

What does this all mean?
Realistically, most teams will be relying on one of Corviknight, Great Tusk, or Iron Treads for hazard removal. This creates a problem, as all of them can be blanked by either Good as Gold or Ghost-types, making hazard stack a potent option. The decline of Magic Guard and Regenerator, plus the more limited PP of recovery moves, all amplify the effect of entry hazards. Heavy-Duty Boots has a higher cost as well, as it means you have to forgo the passive recovery of Leftovers for walls and are more likely to struggle against Poison Heal, Fur Coat, and Ice Scales as an attacker.

:sv/Skeledirge:

Skeledirge @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Good as Gold
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Torch Song
- Hex
- Will-O-Wisp
- Slack Off

Meet Corviknight's worst nightmare. Good as Gold blocks any Defog attempts, Wisp punishes incoming attackers, and Torch Song can snowball against more passive teams. Wisp can also potentially beat non-Poison Heal variants of Iron Threads and Great Tusks. Slack Off provides excellent longevity, allowing it generally outlast Corviknight and common spinners.

:sv/palossand:
Palossand @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Leftovers
Ability: Good as Gold
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shore Up
- Shadow Ball / Earth Power
- Stealth Rock / Earth Power
- Skill Swap

A more passive but more dedicated spinblocker. It has more favorable matchup into Iron Threads and can punish Poison Heal Great Tusk with Skill Swap, but is much more passive, especially against Corv. If you want hazards up though, it is a great removal denial option.

Is this a problem?
Short answer, remains to be seen. Magic Bounce will always make hazard stacking risky, and Poison Heal mons are able to sit on hazard stackers all day long; however, both abilities have been banned before and might be again. FurScales is also high on the watch list, and if it is removed, perhaps hazard stackers will even more easily overpower opposing walls. Or, maybe we will just all cope and run Mold Breaker Defog. It's way too early to tell, but I definitely have my eye on how overpowering hazard stacking can be; it's certainly not at the top of the watchlist, but I am very curious to see how the hazard metagame revolves.
You have some very nice formatting. I do though have some differing views.

Defog

Talon Flame and Noivern and Hawlucha are actually great defoggers. A reason Noivern can get annoying is because aside from hitting hard, it can actually afford to run roost and when it gets it, it can only really be forced out by something it cannot damage like a blissey. Bulkier setters cannot really pack enough of a punch to threaten it.

Stone edge is a rare sight on treads and tusk due to them running rapid spin. Even then, without counting abilities, Great tusk who is probably the most offensive of the setters with maximum attack EVs and nature is just barely ohkoing a 2x weak Noivern with 0 EVs in HP and Defense using stone edge 62% chance 80% to 110% damage. Being a Flying type that has some form of recovery in general makes some a viable defogger and it's the hazard setter who has to account for that.

Rapid Spin

Rapid Spinners in general lack natural recovery as the move has one of the highest pp. I don't really see competing for ability slots as a substantial argument for this case, especially when considering nearly all of the abilities are available this gen. Competition for ability slots is part of aaa's nature in general, majority of rapid Spinners can make good use Regen since Regen is normally run as a means of recovery for mons with no natural recovery. Both corv and Avalugg compete for well baked but both make good use of it either was. Same with -ate abilities for offensive mons. 50% of the rapid Spinners are also hazard setters themselves. Cyclizar is great utility because it has Regen. Majority of ghost types would also be heavily damaged by the rapid spinner going for any other move they aren't immune to, the plan being to little the rapid spinner down so they don't have to worry about it anymore, something regenerator would mitigate quite well. Alot of ghost types also do not get knock off while rapid Spinners do.

Avalugg ... does not desperately want the terra slot. It is ice type to nerf it due to its incredible defensive stats that allows it to tank even super effective moves with comfort. Despite its typing, it is typically one of the last mons to fall as well as one of the most frequently switched in. Ting-lu, aggron, and such monsters with high defensive capabilities are given their typings because they can tank things so well.

Other Removal

In this OM maushold can indeed be made into a reliable hazard remover. Tidy Up is indeed an op move in that its hazard removal capabilities can only be negated by taunt.

Glimmora ... does indeed have a suspect type.


Magic Bounce

... Every ability requires you to sacrifice an ability slot and magic bounce is not a bad ability. It's actually in the same tier as good as gold. What's beging overlooked hazard setters aren't running mold breaking abilities right now. The presence of magic bounce is what usually forces that. With this being a new gen people are still experimenting. Slither wing is actually an excellent magic bouncer that is able to switch in and even set up on majority of hazard setters, even coming with its own natural recovery. Bug/Fighting is an excellent combo considering majority of hazard setters are walled by it and take either neutral or super effective damage from it. The same "takes up an ability slots" argument serves as a double edged sword. If they run mold breaker on their hazard setters, they take it away from a Mon that could use it to bypass a type immunity ability or damage reduction ability. It also means they need to dedicate a second ability slot to good as gold if they wanted to stop defoggers and is not accounting for the opponents team. You'd be dedicating two pokemon to keep hazards up. Saying magic bounce "takes up and ability slots" sounds like downplaying it and makes it sound like a c tier ability despite being a great ability that gets distributed to sub par mons on purpose due to its power of "no u".

What does it all mean?

Corviknight, Great Tusk, and Treads aren't blanketed by good as gold or ghost types. Those mons are switched in as a prediction that you are going to choose to attempt to remove hazards on a given turn rather than click any other move that'll likely nuke the incoming mon's hp. Corviknight in particular tends to force both good as gold and ghost types out alike. Good as good as also likely to be placed on a ghost type as well, meaning once again corviknight or the other two would kill it or force it out.

There does seem to be a contradiction as well near the end of this section. You say it stat that it helps take down walls but then immediately 180 in the same sentence and say it makes it harder to take down walls. Heavy duty boots always meant forgoing something else, it's why boots are mandatory on virtually every blissey. And they are definitely not a bad item, heck teams with full heavy duty boots are quite difficult to take down or feasible to make survive and serve other purposes than making walls ignore hazards. Cinderace with boots got sent to Ubers as it could keep coming in and eventually get a bulk up off.

Both ghost types you showed are definitely not Corviknight's worst nightmare. The Skeledirge actually gets 100% walled and forced out by Corv. Please do not forget brave bird corv is just as common as body press Corv.

If palosand ever used skill swap ... the hazards can then be defogged. It's also relying on tusk having poison heal and itself being capable of tanking hits from the rapid spinner who may also be a hazard setters their self.

Most of the issues here seem to be more team building oriented rather than hazard related.


I forgot how to use spoiler tags (animated and shiny sprites too). Will shorten this when I figure out how.
 
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Isaiah

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Talon Flame and Noivern and Hawlucha are actually great defoggers. A reason Noivern can get annoying is because aside from hitting hard, it can actually afford to run roost and when it gets it, it can only really be forced out by something it cannot damage like a blissey. Bulkier setters cannot really pack enough of a punch to threaten it.

Stone edge is a rare sight on treads and tusk due to them running rapid spin. Even then, without counting abilities, Great tusk who is probably the most offensive of the setters with maximum attack EVs and nature is just barely ohkoing a 2x weak Noivern with 0 EVs in HP and Defense using stone edge 62% chance 80% to 110% damage. Being a Flying type that has some form of recovery in general makes some a viable defogger and it's the hazard setter who has to account for that.
All of those Pokemon having access to Defog doesn't necessarily make them reliable at doing the job.

Starting with Noivern, its Choice Specs sets take Stealth Rock damage every time it switches in, and every turn you waste clicking Defog is a turn you could've used Aerilate Boomburst instead. Heavy-Duty Boots Noivern often doesn't even have room for Defog Either, because without the combination of Super Fang + Taunt + Roost, it's pretty much never breaking Pokemon like Ice Scales Corviknight and Blissey/Chansey. A set like Boomburst / Defog / Roost / Filler is hardly a threat in a metagame with as much potential bulk as we have. This isn't even considering the fact that a lot of common setters destroy Noivern: Garganacl is self-explanatory, Glimmora is self-explanatory, Garchomp threatens super effective Dragon STAB, Clodsire can launch off a Toxic and easily eats if it's Ice Scales, Iron Treads isn't threatened by Boomburst at all and can Knock Off, and Great Tusk often has one or both of Knock Off and Ice Spinner.

Talonflame...is already not a great Pokemon right now, but focusing primarily on its merits as a Defogger: it has a bad matchup into any of the Rock-type setters and doesn't really want to take Knock Off from either of the Paradox Donphans. Giving up options like Swords Dance, Taunt, Will-O-Wisp, and U-turn to Defog with a Pokemon that loses to good setters is just a no-go more often than not.

Aside from w/e its matchups into entry hazard setters are, Hawlucha is by no means what I would consider a viable Pokemon right now. It has mediocre offensive stats (Adamant is slower than EVERYTHING, Jolly is to weak to kill anything), has loads of weaknesses to common coverage (Fairy/Electric/Ice/Flying), and even on a niche set, definitely can't afford to be clicking Defog on any of the setters in the tier. If it's Defog, it also just becomes setup fodder for just about everything; after all, it's not as though it's strong enough to beat Fur Coat Pokemon.
 
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Kilowattrel @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Primordial Sea
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunder
- Hurricane
- Weather Ball
- U-turn/Volt Switch

Basically Zapdos from the last gen.
Like cereludge being a budget Azelf, this budget zapdos.

252 SpA Kilowattrel Weather Ball (100 BP Water) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Ting-Lu in Heavy Rain: 340-402 (66.1 - 78.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Poison Heal
With Tera Water
252 SpA Kilowattrel Weather Ball (100 BP Water) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Ting-Lu in Heavy Rain: 510-602 (99.2 - 117.1%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
 
Kilowattrel @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Primordial Sea
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunder
- Hurricane
- Weather Ball
- U-turn/Volt Switch

Basically Zapdos from the last gen.
Like cereludge being a budget Azelf, this budget zapdos.

252 SpA Kilowattrel Weather Ball (100 BP Water) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Ting-Lu in Heavy Rain: 340-402 (66.1 - 78.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Poison Heal
With Tera Water
252 SpA Kilowattrel Weather Ball (100 BP Water) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Ting-Lu in Heavy Rain: 510-602 (99.2 - 117.1%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
probably gets nuked by iron moth sludge wave on the switchin, yes I understand people like offense, I just am annoyed they took away my zapdos and at the awful bulk they gave kilowattrel

All of those Pokemon having access to Defog doesn't necessarily make them reliable at doing the job.

Talonflame...is already not a great Pokemon right now, but focusing primarily on its merits as a Defogger: it has a bad matchup into any of the Rock-type setters and doesn't really want to take Knock Off from either of the Paradox Donphans. Giving up options like Swords Dance, Taunt, Will-O-Wisp, and U-turn to Defog with a Pokemon that loses to good setters is just a no-go more often than not.
I could see tflizzy being viable, they all run magic guard so the problem really isn't coming in, just like roost defog sd/wisp brave bird

or wind rider roost defog tailwind bravebird if you want to meme on them

walls nonlick skeledirge which is inferior to the superior licking skeledirge I might add


overall I think good as gold is very unexplored, the good as gold mon doesn't need to be a ghost type, the good as gold should be good against defoggers, but mainly corviknight maybe gargnacl, maybe a steel type, skeledirge can get bogged down can be walled with the right sets, salt cure can't be walled and relies on switching to counter it, what goes best with good as gold, hazards that prevent switching, gargnacl has the bulk to take unboosted body press, and many corvs don't even run it
 
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Since im sad i lost tour r1 because im bad (such a skill issue) heres the teams i used anyways because i think theyre actually really good and the first one is the actual first team i genuinely like/think is good in this tier.
https://pokepast.es/15127c9df3da3a9d
All the mons are really good, really good volt-turn esq pressure sequences with the volc and dragapult. Team puts on a lot more pressure than it seems, especially vs fat mons which this team just eats. Just play good (which i cannot)
https://pokepast.es/ff0ac2f7ce948964
Then the random HO i used, pretty neat things going on but nothing special. In theory and ig in practice it baits and blows the holes pretty well for an endgame bax cleanup
 
Something I'd like to bring up...

Florges-White @ Choice Scarf/Leftovers
Ability: Fur Coat
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Chilling Water/Psychic
- Trick/Psychic
- Moonblast
- Synthesis/Wish

Normally, Florges would be considered trash and unviable due to having no good abilities and a somewhat shallow movepool. AAA changes all that. With the new generation also came the unbanning of Fur Coat, which was previously banned in Gen 8 due to reasons i'm too lazy to look up. Fur Coat not only makes Florges bulky on its weaker defensive side, but also helps it fill the role of being the physically defensive Fairy type we've all been wanting. Florges still lacks a decent movepool though. Personally, Chilling Water is the most exchangeable move on this Florges set, it does, however help it with Ground types like Iron Treads who resists its other options in Psychic and Moonblast. Psychic is also another option to hit mons like Iron Moth, which quad resists Fairy, and given Chilling Water's measly BP of 50, Psychic is definitely the better option for hitting Iron Moth. Trick can somewhat cripple leads like Forretress and Toxic Debris users. Moonblast is Florges's STAB attack, and its main way of hitting Dragon types and Dark types. Synthesis is one of Florges's main ways of recovery, the other being Wish, which has a notable benefit in its 16 PP. Steel terastallization lets Florges absorb Iron Heads from DD setup sweepers like Baxcalibur and Roaring Moon. It also lets Florges absorb Aerialite boosted ESpeeds from Dragonite (WHO SHOULD BE EFFIN QUICKBANNED). It also lets Florges eat a Sludge Wave from Iron Moth, which is very nice if you're able to get the 2hko off with Psychic.

Thank you for hearing me out on Florges, I like this thing and I think it should be used more
 
All of those Pokemon having access to Defog doesn't necessarily make them reliable at doing the job.

Starting with Noivern, its Choice Specs sets take Stealth Rock damage every time it switches in, and every turn you waste clicking Defog is a turn you could've used Aerilate Boomburst instead. Heavy-Duty Boots Noivern often doesn't even have room for Defog Either, because without the combination of Super Fang + Taunt + Roost, it's pretty much never breaking Pokemon like Ice Scales Corviknight and Blissey/Chansey. A set like Boomburst / Defog / Roost / Filler is hardly a threat in a metagame with as much potential bulk as we have. This isn't even considering the fact that a lot of common setters destroy Noivern: Garganacl is self-explanatory, Glimmora is self-explanatory, Garchomp threatens super effective Dragon STAB, Clodsire can launch off a Toxic and easily eats if it's Ice Scales, Iron Treads isn't threatened by Boomburst at all and can Knock Off, and Great Tusk often has one or both of Knock Off and Ice Spinner.

Talonflame...is already not a great Pokemon right now, but focusing primarily on its merits as a Defogger: it has a bad matchup into any of the Rock-type setters and doesn't really want to take Knock Off from either of the Paradox Donphans. Giving up options like Swords Dance, Taunt, Will-O-Wisp, and U-turn to Defog with a Pokemon that loses to good setters is just a no-go more often than not.

Aside from w/e its matchups into entry hazard setters are, Hawlucha is by no means what I would consider a viable Pokemon right now. It has mediocre offensive stats (Adamant is slower than EVERYTHING, Jolly is to weak to kill anything), has loads of weaknesses to common coverage (Fairy/Electric/Ice/Flying), and even on a niche set, definitely can't afford to be clicking Defog on any of the setters in the tier. If it's Defog, it also just becomes setup fodder for just about everything; after all, it's not as though it's strong enough to beat Fur Coat Pokemon.

.... But Noivern doesn't have to run specs. ... It can run other items. The calc for offensive Noivern was to show that with minimal defensive invest meant it's still living a super effective move from the arguably strongest and most common physical setter ... so if you actually add defensive investment. "Waste clicking defog" ... we are talking about using Noivern as a defogger here are we not? The whole point is that hazards are said to be an issue, the point is clicking defog. You list thing you believe it cannot break, but we are not talking about Noivern as an offensive threat, we are talking about Noivern as a defogger. You listed a bunch of Pokemon with abilities that aren't good as gold ...and guess what move you can click on that? Defog. Also ... Noivern is never ran to explicitly to break Chansey and in this meta it's not breaking Corviknight either anyways since they like to run a fire immunity. Glimmora has a ... suspect typing ... It also would have been an issue for most defoggers last gen anyways due to its rock. One of you is saying glimmora is unreliable due to its typing while the other says it is. Iron treads is a steel type and is threatened by flamethrower. Tusk gets ice spinner but is in the same situation as TTar and fireblast, when will it bring it? If it is a hazard setters then it only has one free slot for a move that isn't ground or fighting. It cannot run 8 moves on one set. One pokemon cannot counter everything in the entire game, that is the point of you bringing 6. Clod would also get walled if something with magic bounce so much as glanced in its direction. Noivern itself can also use abilities you know? Nor does it need boomburst.


You seem to be stuck on the mindset that talon Flame needs to be hyper offensive. We once again are focusing on talonflame as a defogger. Why would it need to give up willow wisp or taunt? That is typically what defog sets have a long side roost. None of the hazard setters like willow wisp in particular. The moves you listed are not ran on the sets anys. Talon Flame is also a very notorious user of magic guard in this meta.

Hawlucha is a defogger that can come in on even rock type setters. Again, we are looking at Hawlucha as a defogger. Those common coverage are not used by hazard setters, why would u switch anything in on something it is weak to. And yes, it definitely can afford to click defog if that is its purpose for being on your team. Again, Hawlucha too can run different abilities just like every other Mon. Hawlucha itself ... can also set up, it doesn't just have swords dance.

You keep saying everything needs to be offensive because that is what you are use to yet each of these 3 are great defoggers due to their ability to switch into common hazard setters.

And then there is still corviknight who serves as a fourth as well as rapid spinners, magic bouncers, boots users. Majority of the things that you said would come in on these 3 are not good as gold users, an ability ran explicitly on fragile ghost types. The mentioned hazard setters also do not run mold breaker. There's also knock off distribution being heavily reduced, making it likely that great tusk or and Treads are the only things on any given team that have it.
 
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LordBox

you should love yourself... NOW!
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You seem to be stuck on the mindset that talon Flame needs to be hyper offensive. We once again are focusing on talonflame as a defogger. Why would it need to give up willow wisp or taunt? That is typically what defog sets have a long side roost. None of the hazard setters like willow wisp in particular. The moves you listed are not ran on the sets anys. Talon Flame is also a very notorious user of magic guard in this meta.

Hawlucha is a defogger that can come in on even rock type setters. Again, we are looking at Hawlucha as a defogger. Those common coverage are not used by hazard setters, why would u switch anything in on something it is weak to. And yes, it definitely can afford to click defog if that is its purpose for being on your team. Again, Hawlucha too can run different abilities just like every other Mon. Hawlucha itself ... can also set up, it doesn't just have swords dance.

You keep saying everything needs to be offensive because that is what you are use to yet each of these 3 are great defoggers due to their ability to switch into common hazard setters.

And then there is still corviknight who serves as a fourth as well as rapid spinners, magic bouncers, boots users. Majority of the things that you said would come in on these 3 are not good as gold users, an ability ran explicitly on fragile ghost types. The mentioned hazard setters also do not run mold breaker. There's also knock off distribution being heavily reduced, making it likely that great tusk or and Treads are the only things on any given team that have it.
Just because something can Defog to a decent degree I don't think by any means make them reliable Defoggers either. Both the Talonflame and Hawlucha sets you mention would be pretty useless outside of defogging which isn't great. Talonflame isn't a notorious user of MG in this meta since well no one uses Talonflame in this meta. It can technically run Wisp and U-turn for some utility but there are many better mons and it can't hit anything for good damage excluding frail mons that could most likely outspeed and kill in return. Hawlucha is just completely useless, there is no reason to run Hawlucha except to be a dedicated Defog bot and having a mon that can only Defog, well at that point just run a dedicated MBounce mon. Noivern also, what other item or set can afford to run Defog? If you're running Noivern as a pure Defog bot then I'm sorry to say but you've crippled how useful Noivern can actually be as it can now never break any special wall and again otherwise running a pure Defog bot just to get rid of hazards isn't great for a team. Listed examples also really lack bulk themselves to be great defoggers over the game, except Noivern which is a bit sus and again being a really dedicated Defogger with bulk investment and Defog isn't great.

Knock isn't too common true, but it's still there and Tusk is a great mon that can spam Knock well. Also I wouldn't say the prime Good as Gold abusers which I've really only noticed to be Skeleridge is frail at all. 104/100/75 bulk is fine and can be nice physically if invested into, which it usually is and Palossand also isn't frail at all, which I've seen. I've been building balance a lot recently and really... if you want a mon that actually that has use and can actually defog well, then yeah, Corviknight is really your only option. I've played only a few matches against GaG spam but yeah it is super annoying to play against, whether it's super problematic? Idk, there are definitely a lot of things that need to be suspected, im not too sure if it is suspect worthy at all but right there are probably more pressing matters.
 
Wouldn't Scrappy be good on Great Tusk to guarantee that it can always get a Rapid Spin off, while also invalidating Ghosts as CC sponges and blocking the admittedly now rare Intimidate?
Great idea, but I think the main killer here is Knock Off. All the best ghosts take a really solid chunk from one of Knock Off or Headlong Rush, if not just outright die. Definitely a cool concept, though!
 
Tinkaton (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Tinted Lens
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Gigaton Hammer
- Play Rough
- Substitute

This has got to be my favorite set. It DISMANTLES stall with its eyes closed and takes advantage of mons like Corv Florges Blissey and Pex. Very short post but I really just wanted to bring this thing to light.
 
Wouldn't Scrappy be good on Great Tusk to guarantee that it can always get a Rapid Spin off, while also invalidating Ghosts as CC sponges and blocking the admittedly now rare Intimidate?
how do your get your health back then having to switch in multiple times a match


ok last night I was 1 point away from the top spot and I encountered something so sinister it could perhaps ruin the whole meta, so now I'm going to share it, roar skeledirge, that is all
 
Tinkaton (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Tinted Lens
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Gigaton Hammer
- Play Rough
- Substitute

This has got to be my favorite set. It DISMANTLES stall with its eyes closed and takes advantage of mons like Corv Florges Blissey and Pex. Very short post but I really just wanted to bring this thing to light.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9almostanyability-1727689358

A replay of this thing doing some WORK, it gets started real quick too
 
I guess this is the best HO webs lead huh

Spidops @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sticky Web
- Spikes
- Memento
- Taunt
 

Isaiah

Here today, gone tomorrow
is a Site Content Manageris an official Team Rateris a Battle Simulator Administratoris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Member of Senior Staffis a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributor
UM/OM Leader
I guess this is the best HO webs lead huh

Spidops @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sticky Web
- Spikes
- Memento
- Taunt
Generally you don't want your dedicated lead to be hard walled by Magic Bounce (and new to gen 9, Good as Gold for memento/taunt) if you can help it, so on sets like this Mold Breaker is generally preferred
 
I guess this is the best HO webs lead huh

Spidops @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sticky Web
- Spikes
- Memento
- Taunt
Magic Bounce says hi

You might want to use Mycelium Might instead, Spidops is already slow and Mycelium Might lets you bypass abilities like Magic Bounce.
 

UT

Old habits die SCREAMING
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Appeals + C&C Lead
Revival Blessing seems to be freed on PS! now. Rejoice! Or despair...whichever it ends up being.
1669935966488.png

So this looks like kind of an unmon, especially for a support role. 70/70/60 bulk isn't impressive, the set of resistances isn't great, 115/105 offenses aren't bad per se, but not very good by AAA standards. So what can we do with this?

:sv/Pawmot:
Pawmot @ Leppa Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Revival Blessing
- Wish
- Volt Switch / Protect
- Nuzzle / Protect

This thing's support movepool is insane, and might be enough to give it a niche. On top of Revival Blessing, it also gets Wish (with its unnerfed 16 PP), Nuzzle, and Volt Switch, letting it potentially spread status, keep itself and/or teammates healthy, and/or provide pivoting on top of reviving teammates. What's more, Harvest + an Orichalcum Pulse teammate (maybe Ceruledge? Skeledirge? Tauros?) allows for 100% activation of Leppa Berry recovery, on paper offering infinite revives.

Is this good enough to justify? What teammate(s) take especially good advantage of being revived? Is a conventional ability like Fur Coat more valuable to more consistently get off 1-2 revives instead of theoretically unlimited? I don't know, you tell me!
 
View attachment 469933
So this looks like kind of an unmon, especially for a support role. 70/70/60 bulk isn't impressive, the set of resistances isn't great, 115/105 offenses aren't bad per se, but not very good by AAA standards. So what can we do with this?

:sv/Pawmot:
Pawmot @ Leppa Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Revival Blessing
- Wish
- Volt Switch / Protect
- Nuzzle / Protect

This thing's support movepool is insane, and might be enough to give it a niche. On top of Revival Blessing, it also gets Wish (with its unnerfed 16 PP), Nuzzle, and Volt Switch, letting it potentially spread status, keep itself and/or teammates healthy, and/or provide pivoting on top of reviving teammates. What's more, Harvest + an Orichalcum Pulse teammate (maybe Ceruledge? Skeledirge? Tauros?) allows for 100% activation of Leppa Berry recovery, on paper offering infinite revives.

Is this good enough to justify? What teammate(s) take especially good advantage of being revived? Is a conventional ability like Fur Coat more valuable to more consistently get off 1-2 revives instead of theoretically unlimited? I don't know, you tell me!
drought shed tail cyclizar into weather abuser, memento into pawmot, revive everyone, pivot into corviknight, slow uturn into cyclizar again

do as many times as needed, also add iron hands bdrum

hmmm I just realized how spicy final gambit strats might be
 
View attachment 469933
So this looks like kind of an unmon, especially for a support role. 70/70/60 bulk isn't impressive, the set of resistances isn't great, 115/105 offenses aren't bad per se, but not very good by AAA standards. So what can we do with this?

:sv/Pawmot:
Pawmot @ Leppa Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Revival Blessing
- Wish
- Volt Switch / Protect
- Nuzzle / Protect

This thing's support movepool is insane, and might be enough to give it a niche. On top of Revival Blessing, it also gets Wish (with its unnerfed 16 PP), Nuzzle, and Volt Switch, letting it potentially spread status, keep itself and/or teammates healthy, and/or provide pivoting on top of reviving teammates. What's more, Harvest + an Orichalcum Pulse teammate (maybe Ceruledge? Skeledirge? Tauros?) allows for 100% activation of Leppa Berry recovery, on paper offering infinite revives.

Is this good enough to justify? What teammate(s) take especially good advantage of being revived? Is a conventional ability like Fur Coat more valuable to more consistently get off 1-2 revives instead of theoretically unlimited? I don't know, you tell me!
Ok I fought this thing once: I want it gone. ASAP. Being able to revive a Pokemon without using a Revive or Max Revive is very uncompetitive; it usually puts you in a 6v7 situation, sometimes 6v8. Not to mention how Leppa Berry lets this thing do it multiple times.

Just think of it like this; playing custom battles but your opponent has more than 24 Pokemon.
 
View attachment 469933
So this looks like kind of an unmon, especially for a support role. 70/70/60 bulk isn't impressive, the set of resistances isn't great, 115/105 offenses aren't bad per se, but not very good by AAA standards. So what can we do with this?

:sv/Pawmot:
Pawmot @ Leppa Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Revival Blessing
- Wish
- Volt Switch / Protect
- Nuzzle / Protect

This thing's support movepool is insane, and might be enough to give it a niche. On top of Revival Blessing, it also gets Wish (with its unnerfed 16 PP), Nuzzle, and Volt Switch, letting it potentially spread status, keep itself and/or teammates healthy, and/or provide pivoting on top of reviving teammates. What's more, Harvest + an Orichalcum Pulse teammate (maybe Ceruledge? Skeledirge? Tauros?) allows for 100% activation of Leppa Berry recovery, on paper offering infinite revives.

Is this good enough to justify? What teammate(s) take especially good advantage of being revived? Is a conventional ability like Fur Coat more valuable to more consistently get off 1-2 revives instead of theoretically unlimited? I don't know, you tell me!
pls ban revival blessing, im begging
 
No NO NO! This is not debatable, ban revival blessing.

LOL I HAD TO GET PAST THIS DRAGONITE 3 TIMES. Poké Wars 3: Revenge of the Dragon

I didn't even know the move released yet, let alone have more than 1 pp. Gonna play around with it .-.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9almostanyability-1728397707-1sd4hwvkcoi83g874s9poj4f1jna4gepw

I expect to see the results after I finish studying.

Walks away pompously with books in hand.


On another note can someone show me how to post animated pokemon sprites or shiny sprites.
 
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