All Gens Ask a Simple Question, Get a Simple Answer Mark II (RoA edition)

[Oglemi]

Question for competitive-ish gen 5: Which rotom form is most helpful for sandstorm triples, or should I not use it at all? I was thinking that wash would be good for both coverage and when weather gets overwritten, mostly by hail or drought. I’ve heard that Heat was also good, and I suppose mow or even fridge could help offensively. Current team consists of definite Excadrill and Garchomp sweepers and Tyranitar setter, with pending support/ walls of Forretress and Gliscor.

Triples was pretty heavily under-explored here, especially competitive pvp speaking, largely because no official format supported it (VGC remained doubles).

At best there might be a thread somewhere in Orange Islands for the Battle Subway which might give you some help if you go digging, but don't expect any recent discussion or help... I can only think of a handful of users that may have ever delved deeper than a cursory level to help you out team-wise.

Theormonning, you're probably best off with Mow or Wash; of what I know of Triples is that mons that can target/protect cross-field and are immune to spread moves are highly valuable, so either will fit in well with your team. That said, Rotom offers neither cross-field targeting with any Flying moves (apart from Air Slash) or something like Aura Sphere, or protection with the likes of Wide Guard, (it is at least Earthquake-immune) so you may be better off with a generic supporter in that regard.

 

[Fusion Flare]

How's Infernape in gen 4 nowadays? I know that the Dugtrio ban was an obviously good thing, but where is it now? and what set does it most commonly run?

 

[Gamer1234556]

Latios also lacks of good coverage and has relevant counters such as Tyranitar, Steel type pokemon such as Jirachi and Excadrill (Which Hydreigon can actually counter again)

Latios doesn't need coverage. None of the Steel-Types in OU would want to switch into Latios thanks to Surf, especially under Rain. The only Steels that can stand up against Latios consistently would have to be Ferro and Specially Defensive Rachi, and neither mon enjoys dealing with Trick. This means that the only consistent answer to Latios is Tyranitar, who can only pivot into Latios in full health (Unless if it gets critted by DM on the switch).

Latios is also countered by revenge killers and priority.

And you are saying that Hydreigon doesn't get countered by Revenge Killers and Priority? Hydreigon gets outspeed by many non scarfers in the tier (especially Keldeo and Terrakion) and the fact that stopped by even slower Scarfers such as Scizor and Tyranitar doesn't help matters much either.

The closest things to a counter unto Hydreigon are Keldeo and Brelloom, which Latios is "supposed" to counter right?

To clarify, Hydreigon doesn't have any 'counters' especially when none of them can safely switch into it. However, the fact that it gets easily forced out by Keldeo, Terrakion, Latios and other Scarfers doesn't help its case. Latios doesn't 'counter' Keldeo or Breloom, but with careful play, it can check Keldeo and Breloom, which is enough.

Well, not really, while being a psychic type psyshock in Latios, is not even mentioned once in any of its relevant sets.

You probably already know this, but Psyshock hasn't even been used cuz it leads Latios to be easily trapped by Tar. The reason why it checks Keldeo and Breloom isn't because of coverage, but because it can outspeed and revenge kill both.

Latios is only able to kill Keldeo with Specs Draco Meteor: 252 SpA Choice Specs Latios Draco Meteor vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Keldeo: 373-441 (115.1 - 136.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO. Nevertheless, Keldeo usually packs HP Ice and HP Ghost: 252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Hidden Power Ghost vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Latios: 210-248 (69.7 - 82.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO, 252 SpA Keldeo Hidden Power Ice vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Latios: 140-166 (46.5 - 55.1%) -- 65.2% chance to 2HKO.

And that is assuming that Keldeo would be at full health during that matchup, which wouldn't make sense since you also disregard other stuff such as Spikes, Stealth Rock, and Sandstorm Chip.

 

[apesh!t]

How's Infernape in gen 4 nowadays? I know that the Dugtrio ban was an obviously good thing, but where is it now? and what set does it most commonly run?

It’s good. Still the same strengths and weaknesses but it lost dug to revenge kill it, so it’s better in that regard. People have been opting for different breakers a lot so it’s usage is down (at least in spl I don’t really look much at the ladder usage). I think CB is the best set followed by mixed. Problem with CB is that it kills itself with blitz and lets a lot of threats in after it nets a kill, but obviously with good team structure and good playing this can be worked around. Lack of defensive utility is obviously painful so fits best on offensive teams. As a side I’ve been playing around with a sash 4 attack lead and it’s pretty good. Checks off most every box as a lead but azelf is still better tbh, though it is fun.

 

[Ast0rga]

https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/old-gen-tournaments-calendar.3641598/

For all the pretty tourneys listed there, is it as simple as checking this forum once in a while to see if the signups topic is up?

 

[FriendOfMrGolem120]

https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/old-gen-tournaments-calendar.3641598/

For all the pretty tourneys listed there, is it as simple as checking this forum once in a while to see if the signups topic is up?

The signup threads will be split over various tournament subforums. You can access them from the forum main page in the Tournaments category. Major tournaments like SPL and Smogon Classic have their own subforum there, others you will find in Old Gen Metagames Circuits, Unofficial Team Tournaments or Live Tournaments.
If you use discord I would recommend joining the ROA Discord and asking a staff member for the @Majorer role which gets tagged whenever the signups for an old gen tournament are up.

 

[Nokocchi]

Is there such a thing as a Virtual-Console version of the Gen II metagame? Many Pokemon in the normal one seem to rely heavily on Event Moves(Rapid Spin Golem, Growth Espeon, all of those mons that got Lovely Kiss, ect.), and it would also do things like cut off Celebi from both Leech Seed and Recover, since it is found at level 30 and the move relearner is exclusive to Stadium 2.

 

[MZ]

I'm sure this has been answered to death but what happens in the case of a last mon double explosion KO in ADV? Specifically on Showdown, I've been told it causes a tie but since I might have just thrown a tour I want to double check that. As a side thing this might be a very useful fact to put in some ADV resources unless I'm blind and it already is.

 

[Oglemi]

I'm sure this has been answered to death but what happens in the case of a last mon double explosion KO in ADV? Specifically on Showdown, I've been told it causes a tie but since I might

You were not playing with Self-KO Clause so it would have resulted in a tie (iirc). Self-KO clause exists/existed to speed up live tourneys, when playing without it ties are possible, though my memory is murky as to what exactly in which gens can do it, although I'm strongly confident Exploding on last mon will tie in gen 3.

(This was one of the things mr.e always complains about all of our rule sets not being in one cohesive place lol)

 

[GuardianZy]

In RB, why is the cleric clause used? Would there be a reason to bring a damaged or status-ed pokemon to battle?

 

[spookysocialist]

In RB, why is the cleric clause used? Would there be a reason to bring a damaged or status-ed pokemon to battle?

Basically, because sleep and freeze are pretty much KOs in gen1, bringing a burned or paralyzed mon to battle to prevent sleep and freeze would be a legit strategy

 

[GuardianZy]

Basically, because sleep and freeze are pretty much KOs in gen1, bringing a burned or paralyzed mon to battle to prevent sleep and freeze would be a legit strategy

That makes sense, thank you!

 

[LittleHarryBrother]

Hi!

I am new on this forum, and pretty new to competitive Pokémon in general. I have understood that RBY OU is pretty popular on Pokémon Showdown!, but it seems like UU and NU isn't played there. Is there any other site where these tiers are active? Or am I just acting like a boomer, not getting how Showdown! works? Thanks in advance for any input. Would love to start battling you other guys who are into RBY.

Peace, and catch em' all!

 

[FNH]

Hi,

I'm very sure if you linger in the Ruins of Alph on Ps! and ask for games you will be able to find games! I do believe as well that both tiers make common appearences on RBY Mondays (part of the regular tournaments hosted in the room) as well.

 

[LittleHarryBrother]

Hi,

I'm very sure if you linger in the Ruins of Alph on Ps! and ask for games you will be able to find games! I do believe as well that both tiers make common appearences on RBY Mondays (part of the regular tournaments hosted in the room) as well.

Thx for the reply! I did manage to find my way to a discord server, so hopefully I will get some cool battles soon. ^_^Cheers!

 

[Gamer1234556]

So when are the BW Sample Teams going to be updated exactly now that the SPL Season is finished? Like, since there is so much Smurf HO and Gastrodon/Milotic Sand Balance running around in the SPL threads it would be nice for the sample teams to have a bit of a redux.

 

[Caetano93]

So when are the BW Sample Teams going to be updated exactly now that the SPL Season is finished? Like, since there is so much Smurf HO and Gastrodon/Milotic Sand Balance running around in the SPL threads it would be nice for the sample teams to have a bit of a redux.

These were being discussed in the BW community server. Probs until the end of this week they will be updated as well.

 

[Livio ElTito]

How is decided in wich tier is each pokemon in past gens (if it is ou,uu,pu, etc)? Same as in current gen?

 

[Colteor]

How is decided in wich tier is each pokemon in past gens (if it is ou,uu,pu, etc)? Same as in current gen?

For dpp onward it's decided the same way as current gen is (pokemon above a certain usage percentage are OU, below the percentage they drop to UU and so on), just that tiers in past generations don't have shifts. So even if Electivire sees 0% usage in OU, it won't drop to UU because it was in OU at the time dpp stopped being the current gen. As for gens 1-3, I'm not entirely sure but I believe they used a pokemon's perceived viability in a tier to determine it's placing instead of usage stats. There's probably more to it than that but someone will have to correct me. There's also old gen lower tiers that weren't established when the generation ended (things like dpp zu or gsc pu) that use the above tiers viability rankings to decide what's in the tier and what isn't.

 

[the winking dol]

In adv, if a low health tyranitar switches in and immediately dies to spikes, does it still set up sand?

 

[Colteor]

In adv, if a low health tyranitar switches in and immediately dies to spikes, does it still set up sand?

No, it just dies before Sand Stream activates.

 

[Feelingmo]

How can i build a bulky offencive team in gen 4 (for OU)
Im sorry if there is a forum about it already or article (im new here)

Regards mo

 

[PonStefon]

Is there a reason why some older tiers still have tier shifts while others don't? For example, why is RBY Golem in NU now when it was previously OU, while BW Gothitelle and Venusaur can't drop into UU despite new clauses hindering their viability?

 

[sumwun]

Is there a reason why some older tiers still have tier shifts while others don't? For example, why is RBY Golem in NU now when it was previously OU, while BW Gothitelle and Venusaur can't drop into UU despite new clauses hindering their viability?

Gen 1 NU is newer than gen 2, so Pokemon can drop into it anytime. Gen 5 UU is older than gen 6, so it was locked when gen 6 was released, and nothing can become banned or unbanned in gen 5 UU. You can read more about this policy here.

 

[Gamer1234556]

Is there a reason why some older tiers still have tier shifts while others don't? For example, why is RBY Golem in NU now when it was previously OU, while BW Gothitelle and Venusaur can't drop into UU despite new clauses hindering their viability?

That is because prior to Gen 3, the ranking of mons was Viability based, after Gen 3, they have been ranked based on usage. And every tier has been frozen once the Gen is no longer active for ranking.