Metagame Free-For-All

[cheesesir]

I've been playing around with a couple of different options recently, they're not amazing but just neat ideas I was throwing around.
First off, there's Alolan Persian as a pivot
Persian-Alola @ Leftovers
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Fake Out
- Parting Shot
- Knock Off
- Protect

It's pretty one-dimensional, switching in, maybe using fake out to cause some confusion, protect to heal with leftovers, then parting shot to something else. It can take surprisingly strong physical hits in my experience, which gives it quite a bit of versatility. Fur Coat is a really good ability.
The on disadvantage is that special attacks absolutely destroy it.

Next, a variation on physical Tangrowth
Tangrowth @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Grassy Terrain
- Grassy Glide
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab

This thing can surprise the heck out of anyone not expecting it. Leading with a Grassy Terrain tends to make people think of it as a passive mon, but it really isn't. Grassy Glide catches people off-guard, while knock off and poison jab can hit most other pokemon on the field at least neutrally. Probably not the most optimal set, but fun to use and can help set up other grassy terrain mons.

And third, we have one of my favourites
Eldegoss @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Cotton Down
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Leech Seed
- Aromatherapy
- Energy Ball

Eldegoss has been talked about a few times for it's ability to run rapid spin and recovery, but running both of those cuts into its utility IMO. Leech seed helps with that problem, giving some recovery while not being entirely passive. Aromatherapy can be replaced if you aren't worried about status or have another cleric, but I find it quite useful. As well, energy ball can be replaced by another attacking move if you're worried about coverage, but it's not like Eldegoss gets much. The item can be leftovers as well, heavy duty boots just give slight longevity if you need to spin/aromatherapy multiple times in a match. Finally, the ability. Regenerator is probably the better ability overall, but Cotton Down is just so much fun, especially when you can nerf 3 people at once. Not running regenerator or a recovery move cuts into the longevity of this set, but let's face it, you aren't tanking too many hits anyways. As well, cotton down can help set up for a average-speed offensive threat to come in after Eldegoss inevitably faints. All in all, this isn't the best or most reliable hazard-remover, but it is a funny one.

 

[Darvin]

Persian-Alola @ Leftovers
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Fake Out
- Parting Shot
- Knock Off
- Protect

A pivot that has no form of recovery just isn't a good pivot in this format. You're slowly wearing yourself down, while your opponents who have reliable recovery on the field can use the passivity of Persian for a free turn to recover. This set doesn't really offer anything over Incineroar, and Incineroar itself isn't very good. If you are going to run this, the one thing I would stress is that you absolutely 100% need Taunt. With Taunt you can shut down recovery and prevent opponents from taking advantage of Persian's passivity to recover health, which keeps them under pressure and lets it actually do its job as a pivot. It's still a very questionable choice due to its lack of recovery, but Taunt you can actually use it to maintain pressure.

Next, a variation on physical Tangrowth
Tangrowth @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Grassy Terrain
- Grassy Glide
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab

I do like the idea of offensive Regenerator Pokemon, but I'm very doubtful of manual Grassy Terrain. Even Kartana struggles to find Swords Dance opportunities and often just has to attack unboosted, and Tangrowth has only a fraction of the offensive power of the origami Pokemon while having a special defense that's almost as bad. Too much of the meta resists Grass to rely on its STAB alone, and its coverage won't be boosted by Grassy Terrain.

I still like the idea of offensive Regenerator Tangrowth, and the ability to come in repeated throughout the match to attack again sounds great, but I think it would work better with mixed 4 attacks. A nice alternative to the more conventional Assault Vest set.

Eldegoss @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Cotton Down
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Leech Seed
- Aromatherapy
- Energy Ball

This is a Pokemon that I've had my eye on for a while. It's definitely not good enough that it's going to be a star of the meta, but it's something that I could totally see getting onto the viability rankings. With Regenerator (Cotton Guard may be "fun", but Regenerator is what makes Eldegoss even arguably viable) it stays healthy throughout the match to keep spinning, and can provide good support with Leech Seed + Aromatherapy. I would also say Giga Drain over Energy Ball, but with Regenerator plus Leech Seed that's probably not strictly necessary.

This format is starved for any half-decent spinners. There are only two Pokemon on the viability rankings that even get Rapid Spin on their movepool, both of them are in B- and one of them isn't even particularly good as a spinner (Regieleki is ranked for its more destructive qualities). If you want to run Rapid Spin over Defog, you have vanishingly few options. Meanwhile, in a format where there are 3 opposing Pokemon on the field at any given time and virtually any of them could be carrying a random Toxic, Heal Bell support is outright necessary for many teams. You just aren't going to be able to proactively avoid Toxic when there are so many angles it can come from, and if your team relies on a defensive backbone that can be poisoned, it will be poisoned so you'd be better be ready to fix that. Being able to compress Aromatherapy onto your hazard control is incredible value since Heal Bell and Aromatherapy have very limited distribution and are hard to fit on your team at all. All of this is enough to make Eldegoss look very attractive in Free-For-All. However, every time I've gone to build around it, I've found a Grass-type spinner just hasn't fit the team, and I haven't really seen anyone build a strong team around it either. So at present it's something that looks great on paper but I've yet to see it really shine in practice.

 

[cheesesir]

Before I talk about some sets, I just want to add my two cents on the current state of free-for-all in random matchmaking. While I can't really talk about more competitive matches that are set up between players, I've played my fair share of "ladder" battles. With that in mind, I feel like a lot of the highly competitive mons that are mentioned here play very differently in theory than they do against regular matchmaking. While some mons can be very useful, they tend to not do much in a regular game because 50% of the people immediately turn around and target high tiers if they see them. Examples of this include Toxapex, Ferrothorn, sometimes Lando-T, most fast OU attackers, and other theoretically good pokemon. It's one thing to have an amazing set that functions perfectly in a vacuum, but once other players in a game start to realize how much work a mon is putting in, a target is immediately painted on it's back. For that reason, I've found that lower-tier, and technically less-viable pokemon can sometimes have a greater chance of winning, just because people aren't as likely to target them. Of course, all of what I've just said is subjective and only relevant in my experience, so don't take it as fact. Every game you play in Free-For-All will likely be different, so have fun! With all that being said, here are some sets I've been using recently.

First, there's defensive Weezing

Weezing @ Black Sludge
Ability: Neutralizing Gas
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp / Pain Split
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Wave / Sludge Bomb

This thing puts in surprising amounts of work. Neutralizing gas can be a very useful tool in Free-For-All, with several gimmicky mons being completely denied, and causing some general chaos beyond that (Prankster pokemon are quite common in my experience, and neutralizing gas+taunt can shut them down quite well). Taunt is always good to have on a defensive pokemon, helping check defensive pokemon and support mons at the same time. Will-O-Wisp can be used to help guard against physical attackers, which fit quite well on the team I was using this Weezing with, but Pain Split could be used for better longevity throughout a match. The last two slots can be used for whatever coverage you deem necessary. Sludge Wave deals fairly low damage with the .5x damage multiplier of spread moves, but the chance to poison anything on the field makes up for that in my eyes. Weezing isn't the best at racking up damage even at the best of times, so the spread damage and poison chance made more sense in my eyes. However, Sludge Bomb can be used for better damage output and a higher poison chance on one target. Finally, Flamethrower helps with basic coverage against Steel types that Weezing would otherwise be walled by. Black Sludge gives some passive recovery which is always appreciated.

Exeggutor-Alola @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Hammer
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
- Seed Bomb

Another Pokemon that isn't the greatest, and there are probably better options for its role of physical wallbreaker. However, people tend to treat Exeggutor-A as much less of a threat, which can give it some good opportunities to snatch a K.O.. Harvest+Sitrus Berry can give some RNG dependant recovery that tends to stick throughout a game, but is not always consistent. That can limit Exeggutor-A in terms of lasting a whole game, but with careful switches it doesn't tend to be a massive issue. Dragon Hammer offers solid damage to most neutral targets, while Iron Head bops fairy types that think they get to switch in or target anything else on the field. Swords Dance offers a chance to become very dangerous if given a free turn, which you can often find in the middle of a Free-For-All. Seed Bomb works as a general STAB-coverage move, dishing out solid damage on most neutral targets. Again, there are probably much better options in team-bulding than this pokemon, but it's not bad considering what it is.

 

[Darvin]

While some mons can be very useful, they tend to not do much in a regular game because 50% of the people immediately turn around and target high tiers if they see them. Examples of this include Toxapex, Ferrothorn, sometimes Lando-T, most fast OU attackers, and other theoretically good pokemon.

While I'd agree with you in principle, I'd disagree with a lot of your specific examples. Toxapex and Ferrothorn have the survivability to put in work despite the outright hatred they can receive. People can attack Toxapex all they like, it's getting up those T-Spikes and it's going to heal off the damage that was dealt. Ferrothorn is only slightly less of a survivor, being reliant on Leech Seed rather than the more reliable Regenerator/Recover combo. These are some of the most reliable Pokemon both in theory and in practice. The one thing I would mention, though, is that both of them are vulnerable to trapping strategies which are criminally underused on the general ladder, but see quite a bit of use when you get to high-level play (challenge matches with council members). If I see Altaria on ladder I'm not worried, when I see it on a council team I'm never leaving my Toxapex or Ferrothorn in against it.

Lando-T, however, is just bad both in theory and in practice. It just doesn't have a good STAB move option. Earthquake is spread, Fly is 2-turn, and every other STAB it gets is just a weaker version of one of these two. This leaves Knock Off as its best general purpose move. It also struggles to fit the hazard and pivot meta in FFA, which is very hostile towards Pokemon that lack reliable recovery.

In terms of fast attackers, this is an interesting topic in FFA. They tend to do poorly in this format, and this can be evidenced by the fact that many Pokemon that are banned in OU are legal in FFA and are quite balanced in this format. Most of them aren't even particularly amazing (on the viability rankings, Naganadel is A, Spectrier and Landorus-Incarnate are A-, Genesect is B+, Cinderace is B, and Darm-G is C). Big threats tend to paint a target on their back, and if they're naturally frail they can struggle to survive. However, while they may be more difficult to use the are very powerful and are great tools to have on your team. You just can't build a full team of frail offensive powerhouses and expect to survive to see the late-game.

The two big Pokemon that I feel are inconsistent due to the behavior of other players are Clefable and Kyurem-Black. These are absolutely devastating game-winners, and everyone down to the most casual FFA regulars knows it. As a result they often get triple-targeted the turn they hit the field. With the threat level they pose, they deserve it. This was discussed by the FFA council with regards to our viability rankings, and we agreed that if a Pokemon is so good that causes other people to target it relentlessly that's indicative of being a huge threat and they deserve to be at the top of the threat list. This creates a paradox where our S rank viability Pokemon is not necessarily easy to fit on teams. Clefable is an amazing game-winner and can be the glue in a variety of compositions, but its tendency to get triple-targeted is a huge liability in practice.

Weezing @ Black Sludge
Ability: Neutralizing Gas
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp / Pain Split
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Wave / Sludge Bomb

I would recommend Weezing-G due to its superior defensive typing, but Weezing also works. Personally I prefer T-Spikes/Will-o-Wisp/Pain Split/Flamethrower, but a Taunt set has merit too. Always use Sludge Bomb over Sludge Wave; as a spread move it deals almost no damage, and the 30% poison chance of bomb is very solid.

Exeggutor-Alola @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Hammer
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
- Seed Bomb

Unless you're really worried about Togekiss (which isn't exactly common in FFA) you're probably better off with Stomping Tantrum over Iron Head so you have a way to hit Steel-types. Your Grass-STAB will deal with most fairies just fine. That still leaves you walled by Corv and Skarmory, but short of going mixed with Flamethrower (which wouldn't even 2HKO Corv anyways) Exeggutor can't touch them anyways. You also might consider Power Whip over Seed Bomb for maximum power.

While I'm here, I may as well share a few sets I'm currently experimenting with:

Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Block
- Imprison
- Transform
- Roost

This set is downright evil. You could also run Physical Defense or Speed on this, but the main point is to trap a target with Block, Imprison, then Transform. This means the target cannot use any of its moves. If you can find 3 turns to do the full setup, it pretty much guarantees whatever you transform into is done for, while you get to benefit from whatever it does. You can trap a Toxapex while setting up your own T-Spikes, steal someone's boosts and counter-sweep them, or all kinds of such nonsense. It's not consistent against more offensive targets that can put on a lot of pressure in a few turns, but against more passive enemies that lack strong attacking moves there's little that can be done if they don't see it coming.

Necrozma @ Choice Specs
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Prismatic Laser
- Future Sight
- Psyshock/Photon Geyser
- Earth Power

Recharge moves like Hyper Beam and its clones are surprisingly good in FFA. Due to the presence of two other players the recharge turn isn't exploitable, and oftentimes you end up surviving to fire off another attack because the other players serve as distractions that prevent others from finishing you off. However, you don't need to use this as a one-trick pony, you also have Future Sight which hits like a truck coming off of Necrozma's special attack stat. I'm really not sure what the best coverage option is, Necrozma just sucks versus Dark-types anyways, but I went with Earth Power since it covers Steel while hitting Dark neutrally.

 

[Critical Failure]

FFA SPEED TIERS:

SPEED	POKEMON	BASE	EVS	IVS	NATURE	BOOSTS
750	Naganadel	121	252	31	Positive	+2
652	Genesect	99	252	31	Positive	+2
632	Kyurem-B	95	252	31	Positive	+2
632	Zygarde	95	252	31	Positive	+2
590	Kingdra	85	252	31	Positive	+2
578	Kyurem-B	95	252	31	Neutral	+2
578	Zygarde	95	252	31	Neutral	+2
562	Naganadel	121	252	31	Positive	+1
548	Regieleki	200	252	31	Positive	+0
546	Dracozolt	75	252	31	Positive	+2
538	Kingdra	85	252	31	Neutral	+2
528	Kyurem-B	95	152	31	Neutral	+2
528	Zygarde	95	152	31	Neutral	+2
525	Latios	110	252	31	Positive	+1
525	Latias	110	252	31	Positive	+1
525	Gengar	110	252	31	Positive	+1
522	Kartana	109	252	31	Positive	+1
516	Blacephalon	107	252	31	Positive	+1
499	Regieleki	200	252	31	Neutral	+0
498	Dracozolt	75	252	31	Neutral	+2
492	Jirachi	100	252	31	Positive	+1
492	Victini	100	252	31	Positive	+1
478	Latios	110	252	31	Neutral	+1
478	Latias	110	252	31	Neutral	+1
478	Gengar	110	252	31	Neutral	+1
475	Kyurem-B	95	252	31	Positive	+1
475	Zygarde	95	252	31	Positive	+1
475	Darmanitan-G	95	252	31	Positive	+1
469	Blacephalon	107	252	31	Neutral	+1
459	Porygon-Z	90	252	31	Positive	+1
448	Jirachi	100	252	31	Neutral	+1
448	Victini	100	252	31	Neutral	+1
436	Regieleki	200	0	31	Neutral	+0
433	Kyurem-B	95	252	31	Neutral	+1
433	Zygarde	95	252	31	Neutral	+1
433	Darmanitan-G	95	252	31	Neutral	+1
423	Zeraora	143	252	31	Positive	+0
421	Dragapult	142	252	31	Positive	+0
418	Porygon-Z	90	252	31	Neutral	+1
396	Kyurem-B	95	152	31	Neutral	+1
396	Zygarde	95	152	31	Neutral	+1
394	Tapu Koko	130	252	31	Positive	+0
394	Spectrier	130	252	31	Positive	+0
385	Zeraora	143	252	31	Neutral	+0
383	Dragapult	142	252	31	Neutral	+0
375	Naganadel	121	252	31	Positive	+0
375	Tornadus-T	121	252	31	Positive	+0
372	Alakazam	120	252	31	Positive	+0
372	Dugtrio	120	252	31	Positive	+0
370	Cinderace	119	252	31	Positive	+0
353	Naganadel	121	172	31	Positive	+0
350	Latios	110	252	31	Positive	+0
350	Latias	110	252	31	Positive	+0
350	Gengar	110	252	31	Positive	+0
348	Kartana	109	252	31	Positive	+0
344	Blacephalon	107	252	31	Positive	+0
339	Zarude	105	252	31	Positive	+0
335	Nihilego	103	252	31	Positive	+0
333	Garchomp	102	252	31	Positive	+0
331	Landorus	101	252	31	Positive	+0
331	Thundurus-T	101	252	31	Positive	+0
328	Zapdos-G	100	252	31	Positive	+0
328	Mew	100	252	31	Positive	+0
328	Jirachi	100	252	32	Positive	+0
328	Victini	100	252	31	Positive	+0
326	Genesect	99	252	31	Positive	+0
324	Hydreigon	98	252	31	Positive	+0
322	Urshifu-Rapid	97	252	31	Positive	+0
319	Latios	110	252	31	Neutral	+0
319	Latias	110	252	31	Neutral	+0
319	Gengar	110	252	31	Neutral	+0
317	Kyurem-B	95	252	31	Positive	+0
317	Zygarde	95	252	31	Positive	+0
317	Darm-G	95	252	31	Positive	+0
317	Tapu Lele	95	252	31	Positive	+0
317	Obstagoon	95	252	31	Positive	+0
313	Blacephalon	95	252	31	Neutral	+0
306	Porygon-Z	90	252	31	Positive	+0
306	Roserade	90	252	31	Positive	+0
301	Landorus	101	252	31	Neutral	+0
301	Thundurus-T	101	252	31	Neutral	+0
299	Mew	100	252	31	Neutral	+0
299	Zapdos-G	100	252	31	Neutral	+0
299	Jirachi	100	252	31	Neutral	+0
299	Victini	100	252	31	Neutral	+0
295	Hydreigon	98	252	31	Neutral	+0
295	Rillaboom	85	252	31	Positive	+0
295	Nidoking	85	252	31	Positive	+0
295	Kingdra	85	252	31	Positive	+0
289	Kyurem-B	95	252	31	Neutral	+0
289	Zygarde	95	252	31	Neutral	+0
289	Darmanitan-G	95	252	31	Neutral	+0
289	Tapu Lele	95	252	31	Neutral	+0
289	Obstagoon	95	252	31	Neutral	+0
282	Necrozma	79	252	31	Positive	+0
279	Porygon-Z	90	252	31	Neutral	+0
278	Heatran	77	252	31	Positive	+0
273	Dracozolt	75	252	31	Positive	+0
269	Nidoking	85	252	31	Neutral	+0
269	Rillaboom	85	252	31	Neutral	+0
269	Kingdra	85	252	31	Neutral	+0
266	Starmie	115	0	31	Neutral	+0
264	Kyurem-B	95	152	31	Neutral	+0
257	Necrozma	79	252	31	Neutral	+0
254	Mew	100	72	31	Neutral	+0
254	Zapdos	100	72	31	Neutral	+0
254	Flygon	100	72	31	Neutral	+0
254	Salamence	100	72	31	Neutral	+0
254	Hydreigon	98	88	31	Neutral	+0
253	Heatran	77	252	31	Neutral	+0
249	Dracozolt	75	252	31	Neutral	+0
236	Mew	100	0	31	Neutral	+0
236	Zapdos	100	0	31	Neutral	+0
236	Flygon	100	0	31	Neutral	+0
236	Salamence	100	0	31	Neutral	+0
226	Zygarde	95	0	31	Neutral	+0
226	Arcanine	95	0	31	Neutral	+0
216	Moltres	90	0	31	Neutral	+0
216	Roserade	90	0	31	Neutral	+0
208	Rotom-H	86	0	31	Neutral	+0
208	Rotom-W	86	0	31	Neutral	+0
206	Suicune	85	0	31	Neutral	+0
199	Azumarill	50	252	31	Neutral	+0
196	Altaria	80	0	31	Neutral	+0
196	Dragonite	80	0	31	Neutral	+0
196	Togekiss	80	0	31	Neutral	+0
196	Mandibuzz	80	0	31	Neutral	+0
195	Dragonite	80	0	30	Neutral	+0
195	Mandibuzz	80	0	30	Neutral	+0
194	Necrozma	79	0	31	Neutral	+0
194	Buzzwole	79	0	31	Neutral	+0
190	Heatran	77	0	31	Neutral	+0
186	Tapu Bulu	75	0	31	Neutral	+0
184	Jirachi	100	0	0	Negative	+0
176	Mantine	70	0	31	Neutral	+0
176	Skarmory	70	0	31	Neutral	+0
176	Decidueye	70	0	31	Neutral	+0
171	Magnezone	60	60	31	Neutral	+0
170	Corviknight	67	0	31	Neutral	+0
167	Melmetal	34	252	31	Neutral	+0
166	Umbreon	65	0	31	Neutral	+0
166	Pelipper	65	0	31	Neutral	+0
166	Scizor	65	0	31	Neutral	+0
158	Tyranitar	61	0	31	Neutral	+0
158	Celesteela	61	0	31	Neutral	+0
156	Porygon	60	0	31	Neutral	+0
156	Clefable	60	0	31	Neutral	+0
156	Weezing-G	60	0	31	Neutral	+0
156	Aegislash	60	0	31	Neutral	+0
156	Jellicent	60	0	31	Neutral	+0
156	Lapras	60	0	31	Neutral	+0
156	Magnezone	60	0	31	Neutral	+0
146	Blissey	55	0	31	Neutral	+0
137	Melmetal	34	132	31	Neutral	+0
136	Chansey	50	0	31	Neutral	+0
136	Azumarill	50	0	31	Neutral	+0
136	Registeel	50	0	31	Neutral	+0
136	Vileplume	50	0	31	Neutral	+0
131	Melmetal	34	108	31	Neutral	+0
130	Hippowdon	47	0	31	Neutral	+0
122	Tangrowth	50	0	31	Negative	+0
121	Vaporeon	65	0	0	Negative	+0
117	Melmetal	34	52	31	Neutral
116	Dhelmise	40	0	31	Neutral	+0
114	Gastrodon	39	0	31	Neutral	+0
107	Reuniclus	30	44	31	Neutral	+0
107	Melmetal	34	12	31	Neutral	+0
106	Toxapex	35	0	31	Neutral	+0
106	Quagsire	35	0	31	Neutral	+0
104	Melmetal	34	0	31	Neutral	+0
96	Amoongus	30	0	31	Neutral	+0
96	Cursola	30	0	31	Neutral	+0
96	Reuniclus	30	0	31	Neutral	+0
96	Slowbro	30	0	31	Neutral	+0
96	Slowking	30	0	31	Neutral	+0
96	Slowking-G	30	0	31	Neutral	+0
76	Ferrothorn	20	0	31	Neutral	+0
62	Stakataka	13	0	31	Neutral	+0
58	Slowbro	30	0	0	Negative	+0
58	Slowking	30	0	0	Negative	+0
40	Ferrothorn	20	0	0	Negative	+0
31	Stakataka	13	0	0	Neutral	+0
27	Stakataka	13	0	0	Negative	+0

 

[cheesesir]

While I'd agree with you in principle, I'd disagree with a lot of your specific examples. Toxapex and Ferrothorn have the survivability to put in work despite the outright hatred they can receive. People can attack Toxapex all they like, it's getting up those T-Spikes and it's going to heal off the damage that was dealt. Ferrothorn is only slightly less of a survivor, being reliant on Leech Seed rather than the more reliable Regenerator/Recover combo.

That's fair. I only play on ladder, so most of the Toxapex's and Ferrothorn's I play against aren't being piloted at a top-level, so they get beaten quite quickly in my experience. Ferrothorn especially, given it's lack of quick/reliable recovery. I agree with you about them being able to do what they are trying to do, be it T-Spikes or Stealth Rock, but I feel like the target on their backs impedes their progress in many games. This is definitely something that changes based on the exact set, the other players, and how it's played though.

Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Block
- Imprison
- Transform
- Roost

This set is downright evil. You could also run Physical Defense or Speed on this, but the main point is to trap a target with Block, Imprison, then Transform. This means the target cannot use any of its moves. If you can find 3 turns to do the full setup, it pretty much guarantees whatever you transform into is done for, while you get to benefit from whatever it does. You can trap a Toxapex while setting up your own T-Spikes, steal someone's boosts and counter-sweep them, or all kinds of such nonsense. It's not consistent against more offensive targets that can put on a lot of pressure in a few turns, but against more passive enemies that lack strong attacking moves there's little that can be done if they don't see it coming.

I say this in the nicest possible way, but I hate this set. Having been trapped by it once, I now live in fear of every Mew I see. I feel like this plays into Mew's main advantage, it's unpredictability. Mew can do a lot of things, from cleric to hazard setting to hazard removing, sweeping on both sides of the spectrum, and much more. This set needs to be played around or you just lose a pokemon, which means you aren't necessarily countering any of the other sets that Mew could be running. Very good, and very annoying.

Necrozma @ Choice Specs
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Prismatic Laser
- Future Sight
- Psyshock/Photon Geyser
- Earth Power

Recharge moves like Hyper Beam and its clones are surprisingly good in FFA. Due to the presence of two other players the recharge turn isn't exploitable, and oftentimes you end up surviving to fire off another attack because the other players serve as distractions that prevent others from finishing you off. However, you don't need to use this as a one-trick pony, you also have Future Sight which hits like a truck coming off of Necrozma's special attack stat. I'm really not sure what the best coverage option is, Necrozma just sucks versus Dark-types anyways, but I went with Earth Power since it covers Steel while hitting Dark neutrally.

I was inspired by this one to try a couple more sets with Hyper Beam clones, and they really are good. I haven't tried this Necrozma, but I used a Specs Porygon-Z with Adaptability Hyper Beam, and not much was taking those hits.
Porygon-Z @ Choice Specs
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Beam
- Trick
- Thunderbolt
- Psyshock
Fairly standard Pory-Z, but now you can sometimes get free turns after using Hyper beam, so that's fun. Trick can cripple anything that tries to wall this, Thunderbolt and Psyshock can be replaced for coverage of whatever kind you want. Hits like a tank on anything not rock, steel or ghost.

As well, I tried a version of this with Inteleon, and got some mixed results
Inteleon @ Scope Lens
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Focus Energy
- Hydro Cannon
- Ice Beam
- Shadow Ball
This was on a rain team, for context, and Hydro Cannon is absolutely nuclear under proper conditions. If you can set up a focus energy, you're guaranteed to crit, which activates Sniper. Under rain, Hydro Cannon proceeds to annihilate anything that doesn't double resist. Ice Beam and Shadow Ball work as coverage to hit almost anything neutrally, and pack quite a punch with a crit. This isn't the most consistent set, given how frail Inteleon is, but when it works it really works. 10/10 would OHKO a Blissey again.

And finally, I have two sets that work in tandem with each other, from the aforementioned rain team.
Pelipper @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
- Hurricane
- Roost
- Scald
- U-turn
First is a generic rain setting Pelipper. you could run heavy duty boots, or defog, or some type of other coverage, but that's mainly personal preference. Pelipper's main goal, however, is to bait electric attacks for the next pokemon.

Seaking @ Wise Glasses / Choice Specs
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Beam
- Mud Shot
- Scald
- Ice Beam
Imagine this. You see a Seaking, with potential ability Swift Swim, in teambuilder right beside a Pelipper, with ability Drizzle. You would generally assume that the Seaking is a fast attacker, probably physical, and that you can attack the Pelipper with an electric attack. Both of these assumptions are proven to be incorrect when Seaking gobbles up a thunderbolt and unleashes a rain-boosted +1 Scald. When this combo works, you can get Seaking up to +2 and being an absolute terror. Hyper Beam hits hard, Scald hits hard, even Mud Shot hits hard with enough boosts. As well, a bunch of people don't realize how redirection works and unintentionally feed the beast with electric attacks directed at something else. Outside of it's one niche as an electric immunity, Seaking doesn't do much, which is an issue, but it is a really good electric immunity. I love it.

 

[Darvin]

I say this in the nicest possible way, but I hate this set. Having been trapped by it once, I now live in fear of every Mew I see. I feel like this plays into Mew's main advantage, it's unpredictability. Mew can do a lot of things, from cleric to hazard setting to hazard removing, sweeping on both sides of the spectrum, and much more. This set needs to be played around or you just lose a pokemon, which means you aren't necessarily countering any of the other sets that Mew could be running. Very good, and very annoying.

That is an entirely rational response. That Mew set is evil. Mew is a Pokemon you absolutely must respect because even though its most popular sets are pretty passive, it does have absolutely brutal ones like these.

I was inspired by this one to try a couple more sets with Hyper Beam clones, and they really are good. I haven't tried this Necrozma, but I used a Specs Porygon-Z with Adaptability Hyper Beam, and not much was taking those hits.
Porygon-Z @ Choice Specs
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Beam
- Trick
- Thunderbolt
- Psyshock
Fairly standard Pory-Z, but now you can sometimes get free turns after using Hyper beam, so that's fun. Trick can cripple anything that tries to wall this, Thunderbolt and Psyshock can be replaced for coverage of whatever kind you want. Hits like a tank on anything not rock, steel or ghost.

I haven't yet run it (P-Z is very fragile and not that fast, so it's hard to fit on a team comp) but I have run the calcs:
252 SpA Choice Specs Adaptability Porygon-Z Hyper Beam vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Eviolite Chansey: 320-378 (45.5 - 53.7%) -- 41% chance to 2HKO

That's some nice power there.

I would recommend going with Hyper Beam/Trick/Tri-Attack/Dark Pulse. Specs Psyshock is only a 4HKO against Chansey so there's no point in carrying it, and Tri-Attack is a much better move on Adaptability P-Z to give you an option that doesn't require recharge turns. The only thing you won't be using Normal moves against are quad resistances (Aggron and Stakataka) and immunities (ghosts) and Dark Pulse covers that just fine. Thunderbolt is only better against Corviknight and Skarmory, and both are rather uncommon in the current meta (they definitely deserve more usage than they get, they're still really good)

As well, I tried a version of this with Inteleon, and got some mixed results
Inteleon @ Scope Lens
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Focus Energy
- Hydro Cannon
- Ice Beam
- Shadow Ball
This was on a rain team, for context, and Hydro Cannon is absolutely nuclear under proper conditions. If you can set up a focus energy, you're guaranteed to crit, which activates Sniper. Under rain, Hydro Cannon proceeds to annihilate anything that doesn't double resist. Ice Beam and Shadow Ball work as coverage to hit almost anything neutrally, and pack quite a punch with a crit. This isn't the most consistent set, given how frail Inteleon is, but when it works it really works. 10/10 would OHKO a Blissey again.

Inteleon is a Pokemon that I've seen function as a late-game cleaner, although not a very consistent one. Its speed tier is pretty good and outspeeds a lot of other late-game cleaners like Kartana and SpA-boost Naganadel, although it falls short of Cinderace, Dragapult, Zeraora, and Spectrier. It has the power to mop up weakened teams, but it relies on a turn of setup to get that power and even then it still struggles to break through many defensive walls which can live a hit and cripple it or just avoid 2HKO outright. Using Rain and Hydro Cannon will give it a power option to break more things, but then you're dependent on setting Rain which adds more setup turns you need before you can bring it in, and you completely lose the main niche that made it attractive in the first place: the ability to clean in the end-game. With the Hydro Cannon recharge turn, it can't do that.

 

[cheesesir]

That is an entirely rational response. That Mew set is evil. Mew is a Pokemon you absolutely must respect because even though its most popular sets are pretty passive, it does have absolutely brutal ones like these.

Update on this set, I have been trapped by it a couple more times and Mew is now on my least favourite pokemon list right beside Toxapex and Ferrothorn. Mews make me switch to something with a pivoting move now.

I haven't yet run it (P-Z is very fragile and not that fast, so it's hard to fit on a team comp) but I have run the calcs:
252 SpA Choice Specs Adaptability Porygon-Z Hyper Beam vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Eviolite Chansey: 320-378 (45.5 - 53.7%) -- 41% chance to 2HKO

That's some nice power there.

I would recommend going with Hyper Beam/Trick/Tri-Attack/Dark Pulse. Specs Psyshock is only a 4HKO against Chansey so there's no point in carrying it, and Tri-Attack is a much better move on Adaptability P-Z to give you an option that doesn't require recharge turns. The only thing you won't be using Normal moves against are quad resistances (Aggron and Stakataka) and immunities (ghosts) and Dark Pulse covers that just fine. Thunderbolt is only better against Corviknight and Skarmory, and both are rather uncommon in the current meta (they definitely deserve more usage than they get, they're still really good)

I've been playing around with this and I've found that scarf works better than specs a lot of the time. The extra power is nice with specs, especially when you need to ohko a really bulky target, but I haven't found many cases where you need that extra 1.5x damage. The speed is very nice for tricking the scarf onto things and nullifying them. As well, Tri-Attack and Dark Pulse work much better in the other move slots, thanks for the suggestion.

Inteleon is a Pokemon that I've seen function as a late-game cleaner, although not a very consistent one. Its speed tier is pretty good and outspeeds a lot of other late-game cleaners like Kartana and SpA-boost Naganadel, although it falls short of Cinderace, Dragapult, Zeraora, and Spectrier. It has the power to mop up weakened teams, but it relies on a turn of setup to get that power and even then it still struggles to break through many defensive walls which can live a hit and cripple it or just avoid 2HKO outright. Using Rain and Hydro Cannon will give it a power option to break more things, but then you're dependent on setting Rain which adds more setup turns you need before you can bring it in, and you completely lose the main niche that made it attractive in the first place: the ability to clean in the end-game. With the Hydro Cannon recharge turn, it can't do that.

I was mainly using Inteleon to function as a midgame wallbreaker, with the ability to nuke a target of your choosing. It can't always come in multiple times, so it's not a great pokemon for FFA. For sheer power though, it is very hard to match, and taking out a target regardless of their boosts (thanks to crits) is always nice.

As well, I want to talk about support teams in this format. While most direct supporting moves are banned (Coaching, Decorate, Heal Pulse etc), I've found a handful of players using other forms of support. Fling+Berry combos (such as Starf or Sitrus) can either boost stats or heal the target. As well, Cosmic Power+ Guard Swap can be used to boost the defence of the target. I'm honestly not sure if this is something that needs to be addressed in the same way that other support moves were earlier, as it's not as game breaking and also very rare to find someone actually running it. However, when you actually do run into someone using one of these sets, it can take a ton of fun out of the game. I'm not really expecting anything to happen on this issue, because fling can see legitimate (if very limited) use and cosmic power is a good move in this meta. I just wanted to bring it up and see what other people thought of it.

 

[Nuclearstomp]

Update on this set, I have been trapped by it a couple more times and Mew is now on my least favourite pokemon list right beside Toxapex and Ferrothorn. Mews make me switch to something with a pivoting move now.


I've been playing around with this and I've found that scarf works better than specs a lot of the time. The extra power is nice with specs, especially when you need to ohko a really bulky target, but I haven't found many cases where you need that extra 1.5x damage. The speed is very nice for tricking the scarf onto things and nullifying them. As well, Tri-Attack and Dark Pulse work much better in the other move slots, thanks for the suggestion.



I was mainly using Inteleon to function as a midgame wallbreaker, with the ability to nuke a target of your choosing. It can't always come in multiple times, so it's not a great pokemon for FFA. For sheer power though, it is very hard to match, and taking out a target regardless of their boosts (thanks to crits) is always nice.

As well, I want to talk about support teams in this format. While most direct supporting moves are banned (Coaching, Decorate, Heal Pulse etc), I've found a handful of players using other forms of support. Fling+Berry combos (such as Starf or Sitrus) can either boost stats or heal the target. As well, Cosmic Power+ Guard Swap can be used to boost the defence of the target. I'm honestly not sure if this is something that needs to be addressed in the same way that other support moves were earlier, as it's not as game breaking and also very rare to find someone actually running it. However, when you actually do run into someone using one of these sets, it can take a ton of fun out of the game. I'm not really expecting anything to happen on this issue, because fling can see legitimate (if very limited) use and cosmic power is a good move in this meta. I just wanted to bring it up and see what other people thought of it.

If this was looked at I'd assume Guard Swap would probably be looked at over Cosmic Power as it's the move that actually swaps the boosts.

 

[CaioXLive12]

Really nice metagaming, i'm only dissapointed because it's on Generation 8, and in this generation Game Freak cuts ~30% of moves, pokémons and strategys. Is possible to convert it on a National Dex Metagaming? I think that change will make FFA better, since New Pokémons will enter and change the metagaming, making him more variable each time that a new gen are released and etc...

 

[Darvin]

We've discussed the issue of National Dex over on the Discord (another popular discussion is moving FFA to be an Ubers-based format). My feeling is that Pursuit, Hidden Power, and Z-moves would add a bit too much volatility to the format. With three opposing teams, that's a lot of random hidden powers and Z-moves you have to watch out for. I'd be concerned that these might make our Stall problem worse. While on paper more offensive options might seem good against Stall, it's important to remember that what makes Stall hard to crack in FFA is the other offensive teams that are threatening you while you try to do it.

Megas would be quite fascinating and there are several that would be great additions to the format. Charizard-Y would make sun a viable playstyle in FFA (neither Torkoal nor Ninetales is viable). Sableye would give us a good Magic Bounce user and put a damper on hazard stack. Medicham, Heracross, and Mawile would be amazing wallbreakers. It would also give us a slew of fast late-game cleaners like Lucario, Blaziken, or Alakazam. Salamence could give us a nice alternative to Kyurem-B for Dragon Dance win-con. Overall these look like a bunch of powerful tools that could bring

Alomomola, Gliscor, and Breloom are all Pokemon that aren't available in gen 8 that have gotten much discussion for what they could potentially offer to the FFA meta. We are desperate for more options for Wish support (which is necessary for more offensive teams) and Alomomola looks like it would be an incredible addition. Poison Heal is an option that we could really use in this format. Too many teams straight up need Heal Bell support because there just aren't enough options to play around Toxic, and adding a couple of strong Poison Heal Pokemon to our roster would give more options to play without Heal Bell.

However, with all that said I don't see us making any further changes to Generation 8 Free-For-All, and certainly not huge and sweeping ones. I haven't even talked to anyone about how we'll be proceeding with Generation 9 Free-For-All yet, since Scarlet and Violet are still mostly unknown with little in the way of confirmed information (and I'm not following leaks or rumors, and wouldn't act on them even if I were). Definitely will be fun to look forward to, but as of right now there's not too much to discuss.

 

[CaioXLive12]

We've discussed the issue of National Dex over on the Discord (another popular discussion is moving FFA to be an Ubers-based format). My feeling is that Pursuit, Hidden Power, and Z-moves would add a bit too much volatility to the format. With three opposing teams, that's a lot of random hidden powers and Z-moves you have to watch out for. I'd be concerned that these might make our Stall problem worse. While on paper more offensive options might seem good against Stall, it's important to remember that what makes Stall hard to crack in FFA is the other offensive teams that are threatening you while you try to do it.

Megas would be quite fascinating and there are several that would be great additions to the format. Charizard-Y would make sun a viable playstyle in FFA (neither Torkoal nor Ninetales is viable). Sableye would give us a good Magic Bounce user and put a damper on hazard stack. Medicham, Heracross, and Mawile would be amazing wallbreakers. It would also give us a slew of fast late-game cleaners like Lucario, Blaziken, or Alakazam. Salamence could give us a nice alternative to Kyurem-B for Dragon Dance win-con. Overall these look like a bunch of powerful tools that could bring

Alomomola, Gliscor, and Breloom are all Pokemon that aren't available in gen 8 that have gotten much discussion for what they could potentially offer to the FFA meta. We are desperate for more options for Wish support (which is necessary for more offensive teams) and Alomomola looks like it would be an incredible addition. Poison Heal is an option that we could really use in this format. Too many teams straight up need Heal Bell support because there just aren't enough options to play around Toxic, and adding a couple of strong Poison Heal Pokemon to our roster would give more options to play without Heal Bell.

However, with all that said I don't see us making any further changes to Generation 8 Free-For-All, and certainly not huge and sweeping ones. I haven't even talked to anyone about how we'll be proceeding with Generation 9 Free-For-All yet, since Scarlet and Violet are still mostly unknown with little in the way of confirmed information (and I'm not following leaks or rumors, and wouldn't act on them even if I were). Definitely will be fun to look forward to, but as of right now there's not too much to discuss.

We need to remember, have the part when we based on theoric arguments. Example: We can say that Melmetal is broken for this format., but the other part is the real battle, when we see, for example, if Melmetal is really broken for this format. I suggest a FFA separate metagaming, that runs on National Dex(The starter banlist would be the same for National dex Banlist.) to evaluate it, or at least leave a FFA custom game format, so we can play with friends in FFA with National dex mons.

 

[UT]

Hey, I just wanted to clarify that Other Metagames are based on the main cartridge games for that generation. That means all OMs are based in Sword/Shield, except for Pure Hackmons being moved to BDSP due to the extreme circumstance of it being actually unplayable in Sword/Shield. It is not possible for Free-For-All to be moved to NatDex and still be considered an OM.

 

[Darvin]

Hey, I just wanted to clarify that Other Metagames are based on the main cartridge games for that generation. That means all OMs are based in Sword/Shield, except for Pure Hackmons being moved to BDSP due to the extreme circumstance of it being actually unplayable in Sword/Shield. It is not possible for Free-For-All to be moved to NatDex and still be considered an OM.

Yeah, I didn't mean to say that this was something actually being considered, just it was a popular "what if" discussion that comes up on Discord

 

[GW8]

I mostly play Free-For-Alls with my friends from a competitive Discord server. This one guy keeps bringing this Pokémon and this set, and most of the time, he won with it. I think it's been long overdue to share it on here.

DEFIANT STATEMENT (Registeel) @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- Body Press
- Curse
- Rest

This thing is an absolute late-game monster. It easily pairs well with Landorus-Therian, Milotic, Swampert, Suicune, and most notably Slowking, who can wear down and punish its checks with Psyshock and Future Sight, and Scald deterring Fire-types, Ground-types, and Fighting-types, disposing Pokémon such as Tentacruel, Toxapex, Weezing-Galar, and Jellicent, all of whom have Haze and/or the typing to stay in on Registeel. Play your cards right and you will laugh off any and all attacks and rack up several Curses like GSC Snorlax, and break through any and all opposition with +6 Iron Head and Body Press. This set is nothing to sleep on.

 

[Darvin]

There was a lot of experimentation with Registeel in the early days of the meta. It's actually a pretty good win-condition, and the only reason it's rated so lowly on the viability rankings is because it's totally useless if your opponent still has a counter in the back. However, there's a better set than this one that can still beat Toxapex in particular:

Registeel @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Rest
- Amnesia
- Defense Curl
- Rollout

The Defense Curl/Rollout combo means that this Registeel does not rely on boosts for its offensive power so Haze and Unaware are not countermeasures to its offensive rampage. In addition, it needs only one turn of setup to start attacking so it becomes threatening much more quickly. The real power of this set, however, is the vast number of PP it has. Defense Curl has 64 PP, Rollout and Amnesia have 32 PP, and Rest has 16 PP. Given that a single use of Rollout and Rest will last for multiple turns, this Registeel set can stay on the field for around 250-300 turns, enough to PP stall an entire team.

It's still not perfect, as there are many Pokemon that can beat it anyways and it can struggle to set up Defense boosts quickly, but this set is deceptively deadly.

 

[Darvin]

I've decided to do a viability ranking update, since it's been quite a while since we've addressed it and there are a few Pokemon whose ratings have been bugging me.

Melmetal from A to A+: wallbreakers are very important in Free-For-All, and Melmetal is our premier wallbreaker. Originally we placed it a little lower because its offensive typing and speed are very bad while its special bulk leaves much to be desired. It also has severe PP issues, as it's often called upon to break walls on multiple opposing teams in this format. There's also the issue that an offensive Steel-type is often a bad fit for teams that really want to use more defensive Steel-types and want a wallbreaker with complementary typing. However, for all those downsides its raw offensive power has made it an undeniable top threat and is as defining to the metagame as Toxapex or Chansey are.

Dragonite from A to A-: although a stellar support Pokemon that can help check some very nasty threats, Dragonite does have some shortcomings that are simply not shared by other A rank Pokemon. It's very exploitable due to being a mono-attacker, and aside from the specific threats it is designed to check it struggles to contribute to the fight directly. Its quadruple Ice weakness is a serious problem in a metagame where your Steel and Water-types are often defensively overloaded as it stands. However, this is still a metagame that has very few good hazard control options, and appreciates the role compression Dragonite brings while simultaneously checking Heatran and Kartana.

Zapdos from A- to A: did I mention that Free-For-All has very few good hazard control options? In particular, our choices for more offensive hazard control options are vanishingly small, basically consisting of just Zapdos and Rotom-Heat. Having Volt Switch means it cannot be trapped (or at least, not easily) which is an excellent trait for hazard control to have. It's very splashable, and is a tenable inclusion on almost any team composition. Overall, Zapdos is such an integral Pokemon to the metagame that it's deserving of moving up.

Slowbro from A- to B+: on paper, Slowbro is superb. In practice, it often falls short. It has serious 4MSS. Its entire niche revolves around the Teleport/Future Sight combo, but it really wants all of Slack Off, Scald, Flamethrower, and Psyshock and can struggle with different threats depending on what you're missing. It struggle with its special bulk as it does rely on maximum physical bulk investment to check threats like Melmetal, and it has terrible type synergy with a lot of the Wish pivots you want to pair it with. It is deeply conflicted between wanting Boots to avoid hazard damage or Leftovers to help it with chip. It's still a good Pokemon, but more in line with the B+ rank due to its flaws.

Vaporeon from B+ to A: if there's one thing that's become apparent over the past year, it's that Vaporeon is by far the most reliable wish passer in the format. Its slow Flip Turns allow for safe Wish delivery, its HP stat gives sufficiently big Wishes, its bulk and defensive typing are great, and it has a lot of flexibility in its final move slot to fit your team's needs. While Vaporeon isn't as omnipresent as it was when Dracovish was legal, it's still a very splashable Pokemon that is integral support to more offensive playstyles. Other Wish passers really haven't been able to dislodge it from its place in the meta.

Reuniclus from B+ to B-: this is a Pokemon that has really fallen off since the early days of the meta. Pretty much all good teams are prepared for its defensive win condition sets, and none of its more offensive sets are amazing. Overall this just doesn't fit with the B+ Pokemon and belongs more with the B- Pokemon that are harder to fit on a team and may be more situational.

Victini from B to B+: this is a Pokemon that the FFA community is sleeping on. When I brought up the VR update in Discord one of the more knowledgeable members of the community just remarked that he didn't know what it did. Victini is Choice Specs user, and is very difficult to wall with its powerful Fire-type attacks and coverage options along with Trick to cripple defensive switch-ins like Chansey. The only thing keeping it out of A- is its 4MSS, as it really wants all of Blue Flare, Psyshock, Scorching Sands, Energy Ball, and Trick. It has to drop something from that list, but even with four of its five moves it's still very difficult to handle.

Flygon from B to C+: while Flygon is an interesting defogger option, it ultimately suffers from passivity and its quadruple Ice weakness. Overall it's a viable but niche option, which puts it more in line with the C rank.

Zygarde from B- to C+: this Pokemon has been slowly migrating down the viability rankings. Similar to Reuniclus, good teams are just naturally prepared for defensive setup and Zygarde's Thousand Arrows is very weak without a significant number of boosts. It needs Rest and Sleep talk to stay healthy for protracted periods of time, it needs Substitute to avoid being revenge-killed, and it wants Toxic as a secondary offensive option to deal with things that can stall out Thousand Arrows, and it can't run all of those on top of Thousand Arrows plus Coil. Overall its just really hard to fit on a team and quite inconsistent. However, its ability to sweep 3 opposing teams simultaneously is legitimately scary as a win-condition.

 

[ihbst]

I've been playing FFA for a while and its really easy. The way to always win is to go full defense and spam protect and regenerator, and reliable recovery. Nothing can beat this combo in a free for all with randoms.

 

[Darvin]

Nothing can beat this combo in a free for all with randoms.

Yeah, most players just come into FFA with hyper-offense so all you need to do is focus on not dying. Hyper offense will crumple on its own after a few dozen turns, and will usually do all the work for you of softening up the other teams.

Personally I find Protect spam to be overkill. You don't need Protect to beat the random hyper-offense teams, and carrying too many Pokemon with Protect leaves you without other move options to deal with well-built teams. While it's rare to run into players who know what they're doing, good teams in FFA don't get worn down passively. They pretty much all carry Wish and Heal Bell, so you can't just rely on passively outlasting them and do need to have tools to actively exert some pressure when you need to.

 

[Haxxlim]

Just wanted to ask, once scarlet and violet come out, will Free for all update to bring in and remove pokemon that are added and cut respectively?

 

[Darvin]

Just wanted to ask, once scarlet and violet come out, will Free for all update to bring in and remove pokemon that are added and cut respectively?

Yes, FFA will follow the current generation. We are not a National Dex format.

 

[ScicleX]

Yes, FFA will follow the current generation. We are not a National Dex format.

Do we have an ETA when the format will be updated from Gen 8 to Gen 9?

 

[Darvin]

Do we have an ETA when the format will be updated from Gen 8 to Gen 9?

No, we do not have an ETA. The devs are swamped with the release of the new generation, and I don't have any information to relay at this time.

 

[Darvin]

Although we do not yet have an ETA on generation 9 Free-For-All, I have assembled a new council to address the new generation. I'd like to welcome AbandonedSamurai, Imbion, Opacous, and TheStorm64 to the Free-For-All council, and thank them for contributing to making generation 9 Free-For-All the best format it can be. Not all of these people are active on the Smogon forum, but they have all been regular and productive contributors to discussion in the FFA Discord.

We've done some preliminary discussions, and we'd like to share with our players exactly where our starting point is going to be and where we stand on these issues.

Pokemon Bans
The initial generation 9 Free-For-All banlist will be based on the OU banlist at the time our format is created. This means that Flutter Mane and Gravehound will be banned, along with anything else OU quickbans between then and now. While it is true that OU and FFA are different formats, and what's broken in OU is not necessarily broken in FFA, we feel that anything so egregious as to be quickbanned in the first week of OU is probably going to be too much for FFA.

Ability Bans
We have no intention of changing any of our ability bans going into generation 9. Although Gothitelle has lost Cosmic Power, we still feel there are still too many abusable tricks to allow Shadow Tag to return. Arena Trap has always been on the knife's edge of a ban and only avoided it due to Dugtrio being absolutely terrible in our format. We will continue to watch this Pokemon and Arena Trap may come up for a vote at a later point in time if it proves to be more problematic this generation.

Move Bans
We will be retaining all our move bans from generation 8, and adding the move Spicy Extract to the list. Nothing has changed from generation 8 in this respect, moves that allow one player to boost the stats of another player are inherently disruptive and degrade both the enjoyability and competitiveness of the format.

Sleep
Some of you may recall that the generation 8 Free-For-All council held a vote on the issue of Sleep, which resulted in a tie and the status quo prevailed. The generation 9 council has expressed interest in revisiting this issue, especially in light of there being more viable Spore users in this generation, most notably Breloom, Brute Bonnet and Toedscruel. This may be included on one of our early voting slates, to ban sleep entirely and eliminate sleep clause.

Sleep is inherently problematic in Free-For-All, since it's already a slow-paced format it can easily result in situations where multiple people are just sitting on the field burning sleep turns and nothing happening. Some of the council, myself included, feel the negative impacts it has on the format outweigh the positives. I personally feel that rules mods should be avoided wherever possible (I'm aware of the irony; Free-For-All in its entirety is a rules mod) and I personally favor a ban on Sleep moves. This is something that may come up for voting early in Generation 9 Free-For-All.

Heal Bell/Aromatherapy
We've been poring over movepools and analyzing what impact they will have on our format, and the most alarming discovery is that Aromatherapy is a cut move, and the distribution of Heal Bell has been reduced precariously. The Blissey family is now the only user of the move. This is a problem.

Veteran FFA players know that proactively avoiding status is just not feasible in our format, with three opponents there's three times as many opportunities to get hit by status. Without Heal Bell support, you are forced to play very passively because you cannot afford to compromise key wallbreakers or sweepers early in the match. Even more problematically, both Toxic Spikes and phasing moves are quite prevalent, which means that poisoning is often unavoidable with no realistic proactive counterplay. Most team compositions in FFA are just resigned to requiring a Heal Bell user to reactively fix the problem after it happens.

We do not feel it is healthy for Chansey/Blissey to be essentially mandatory on serious FFA teams, and will be following this issue very closely. It may require more extreme action to address.

Wish
FFA has been spared a terrible fate, as the move Wish was not hit with the nerf hammer along with the other healing moves. It still has 16 PP, unlike Recover and other similar moves that are down to 8. This is very important, since offensive teams in FFA rely heavily on Wish to keep their offensive pieces healthy when they need to wallbreak through three opposing teams. Wish users still have the PP to keep their teams healthy over the course of longer matches, which is good news for more offensive teams. We have also gained Alomomola as an excellent Wish user; even with the loss of Toxic and Scald its ability to keep your team healthy will make it a top Pokemon.

However, not everything is good on this front as we have lost all of our Wish pivots. Jirachi and Clefable are not in the dex (and Clefable would have lost Teleport even if it was in the dex), and Vaporeon has lost Flip Turn. Without the safe wish passing these Pokemon provided, offensive teams will have trouble bringing back injured wallbreakers to continue keeping up pressure throughout the match. This could seriously hurt more aggressive FFA team archetypes.

At this junction we are not ready to take any actions, but we are concerned about what this means for the viability of more offensive team archetypes. We may need to address this hole in other ways.

Hazard Control
Defog has much less distribution this generation, leaving far fewer hazard control options. Meanwhile, Spikes and Toxic Spikes have excellent distribution so the needs for hazard control are as great as ever. Corviknight stands as the most obvious form of hazard control, and beyond that the pickings are slim. Altaria? Braviary? Cyclizar? We're concerned that there may not be a very good selection here. While the situation is not as dire as it is for Heal Bell, it is still on our radar.

Terrastalization
It is our intention at this time to follow OU's lead on Terrastalization. If OU declines to take tiering action, then we will do the same. If OU decides to limit or ban Terrastalization then we will follow. We do not have any reason to believe this mechanic will be fundamentally different for us, and it is better to stay in sync with the rules of the main Smogon format.

King's Rock
We are aware of the new Pokemon Maushold and its 10-hit multi-hit move and the potential problems that may cause with King's Rock. The Free-For-All format never banned King's Rock like OU did, which means we will be paying very close attention to this issue. If need be, we will ban King's Rock as we do not see it as having any benefit to the format.

 

[YoungUnified]

In Pokémon showdown, not a lot of people use the Gen 8 free for all setting. Though if you are looking to stall. NOW is the chance. Since there are 4 players you are able to have a chance to not be attacked. This means you can get a chance to set up the stall, like leech seed, toxic spikes, substitute, etc. In other settings you will get attacked/targeted, so most likely it won't be easy setting the stall up, With this being said here is a 2 Pokémon for gen 8 free for all stall Pokémon.
1. Dedenne the cute but deadly stall mon
I really think Dedenne is very unused. You can really do some damage with this Pika clone. Though it may be chubby it's really fast. I recommend having the ability Cheek pouch and having the move recycle while holding a sitrus berry will really stall out the opponents. You might want to either add protect/substitute Quick attack and add discharge/draining kiss. Though the only down part is if your opponents use knockoff or fling on your Dedenne this trick will not work.
2. The grassy Harvest trick.
Harvest is the ability to pick up your berries after your mon eats them. Only some Pokémon know this ability.
For reference, these are the Pokémon that can have the harvest ability:

• Exeggcute
• Exeggutor
• Exeggutor(Alolan Form)
• Phantump
• Trevenant