I felt this was needed. Discuss anything 4th gen OU including stats, trends, movesets, cores, etc. What are you noticing about the metagame? What's doing good in it right now? What can possibly make an impact if given the chance?
4th Gen is often seen as a balanced game (at least one of them), where all sorts of playstyles are viable and not one of them bowls over all the rest. In reality, that can still be said today, but you'd have to also mention it's a highly focused, fast paced, and often-times brutal environment which requires a likewise mindset and high level of play to actually succeed in. What I love about the metagame is how out of all generations, it's in that perfect spot where there are a lot of threats to prepare for, yet you are still given room for creativity when building your teams. There is still a decent amount of stuff to discover and rediscover.
Where to start? Why not the usage stats for the past few months?
These are all 1760 stats, so take that into account.
February
March
April
Apart from the weird stuff getting spammed on the ladder, you can see the changes between the months, obviously reactions to stuff getting increased usage. Flygon taking number one in March resulting in the increase of Gliscor and Skarmory the following month. Not only that, oddities are everywhere. Heatran, the "king of DPP" not in the top five in February. Scizor apparently holds strong in top level play, appearing in the top five each month (I've always thought it be lower).
A big one that caught my eye was Hippowdon. One of the faces of stall in DPP, incredibly difficult to kill, provides Sandstorm, is a reliable user of Stealth Rock, heals instantly, PHazes like nothing, hits with a decent Earthquake, the whole defensive package. Yet it's hovering in the mid to upper 30s in usage. I've realized that I have been seeing it less and it's just bizarre such that a good Pokemon is getting so little use.
It brings to mind one of the big topics of DPP OU, the state of Stall. It's hard to deny that the playstyle's not as good as it was in the past. It's by no means dead however. It's just difficult to slap on six defensive Mons and expect to wall everything for eternity. You need to play smart and build your cores with care. I've ran into a couple good Stall teams, so people are still interested in the playstyle (I'm still for Balance or Offense myself). Personally, I think Balanced teams (with a preference for offense) are still the way to go right now. You get the offensive pressure you need to keep your team from getting eventually overpowered, but still have the utility and defense to keep your team on its feet and take attacks when needed.
I also want to bring up the matter of how it's really noticeable here how some Pokemon continue to get better and better as the time goes on. Flygon is getting used on most teams because it's that near-perfect scarfer (or at least as good as it can get in DPP OU) with its typing, ability, and physical moves, including U-Turn. Starmie, no matter what changes come about in the metagame, comes out as one of the best Pokemon with its speed, Special moves, and the fastest Rapid Spin available. Pokemon like Dragonite or Zapdos can bust holes in teams with their offensive sets and can generally be extremely hard to switch in to.
These are just some initial thoughts I wanted to bring up. Regardless, DPP OU, have a go at it.
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