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Here goes, I tried to make a VR even though I know little, duns got banned earlier today and I'm not sure if ladder removed it yet. I probably missed something, but what I see the meta being is Missy + Giraffe being the best offensive presences with respectable bulk, and Pawniard being by far their best answers in spite of Terablast. Rufflet is prone to bad rng but is nuclear, and trappers do trap things, with Dig being better early game and scarf Goth being better insurance for tera fight mons. The rest is what I consider good support, speed, secondary offense, bulky mons, and reliable 1f1, until B and B- which often lack flexibility or power, and often need specific support. Many of them I have not used but have heard of people succeeding with them, even though a lot of the B- I'm 90% sure are memes.
I'm pretty sure this will immediately become obsolete lmao, and its likely terrible as a threat list so don't use it as that.
This set is an entire meme and a half, functions the same as your basic Jirachi set. you can trade out body slam for headbutt if you think that glare is enough paralysis or you can use hyper drill for maximum damage.
calc-ium:
-116 Atk Dunsparce Body Slam vs. 36 HP / 76 Def Girafarig: 10-13 (41.6 - 54.1%) -- 56.3% chance to 2HKO
-116 Atk Dunsparce Zen Headbutt vs. 44 HP / 156+ Def Eviolite Foongus: 10-12 (41.6 - 50%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO
116 Atk Dunsparce Headbutt vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Houndour: 12-15 (63.1 - 78.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
you might be able to get some use out of life orb if you want more damage
This set is an entire meme and a half, functions the same as your basic Jirachi set. you can trade out body slam for headbutt if you think that glare is enough paralysis or you can use hyper drill for maximum damage.
calc-ium:
-116 Atk Dunsparce Body Slam vs. 36 HP / 76 Def Girafarig: 10-13 (41.6 - 54.1%) -- 56.3% chance to 2HKO
-116 Atk Dunsparce Zen Headbutt vs. 44 HP / 156+ Def Eviolite Foongus: 10-12 (41.6 - 50%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO
116 Atk Dunsparce Headbutt vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Houndour: 12-15 (63.1 - 78.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
you might be able to get some use out of life orb if you want more damage
Sup, I thought I should post another team because dunsparce got banned. Click on mons for paste
The main concept of this team is using a volt turn core of voltorb and larvesta. Voltorb and larvesta can generate momentum in your favor, especially with the option of voltorbs tera ice to threaten ground types, to bring in one of the hardest hitting pokemon in the current meta, rufflet. Misdreavus is a nasty plot tera fighting set to beat pawniard and misdreavus is just currently the most broken pokemon allowed in the tier. Pawniard is then here for rocks alongside with priority, and quaxly is here to give rufflet spin support.
Good luck to all in the kickoff tour as well to those who are just simply just sticking to ladder!
So ive been playing a bit after completing the game. Im not gonna talk about mons or sets but rather the cufant in the room: teras.
For starters, pre release i was under the impression that this mechanic would be crazy broken and i wanted nothing to do with it. Playing the game made me realise it was worse than i thought, since you keep your terastalization even after switching out. But, of course, before creating an actual opinion you have to actually play the metagame.
In my experience, teras arent as overwhelming as i thought theyd be, or at least they are overwhelming in a different way that i had expected. I thought it would be a complete guessing game when playing, since maybe you thought you were gonna stop whatevermon from sweeping, then theyd tera and actually sweep you. That happens of course, and playing feels like a guessing game on what and when is gonna terastalize, but i think the biggest problem lies when building a team. How am i supposed to check all these threats in one team if they just as easily can ohko me?
I know you can say “sure, but many mons are broken regardless of tera so they might be altering your view”, and while that might be true, the problem lies in that it happens for every single mon. It is too unhealthy imo to keep a mechanic that makes all mons uncounterable, while creating 50/50s every game.
I know i came biased, but my pov changed from broken for one reason to broken for multiple, so id say my point is justified and i think we should just get rid of terastalization
PROS + Best Shell Smasher in the tier, since Shellder lost Icicle Spear.
+ Crunch even unboosted does a ludicrous amount of damage, and with Tera becomes an instakill machine
+ Eviolite and reasonable enough bulk mean it's easy to get a Smash off against unboosted enemies
+ Dark typing means Prankster Impidimp and Doodler suffer for their existence
+ Water/Dark covers just about everything in the tier, meaning there's no significant need to run coverage
+ It's adorable.
CONS - BST sucks massive ass.
- 14 Speed with Adamant is barely enough to get by most things, but Scarfed 19 speed mons (Girafarig and Misdreavus) give it problems. Running Jolly just to handle them means a drop in precious power.
- Tera Dark means that Tera Fighting Girafarig and Misdreavus score automatic wins against you if you guess wrong and Crunch into them.
- Can suffer from 4MSS between wanting Stomping Tantrum for Tinatink and Croagunk, Ice Fang for Foongus and Toedscool, and Substitute for Pawniard, Fuecoco, and baiting.
- Croagunk just deletes your existence
- Being adorable doesn't save you in a competitive setting.
Because GameFreak is based as hell, Chewtle received the greatest gift from Arceus: Shell Smash. As the de facto best Shell Smasher, as Shellder lost Icicle Spear, Chewtle makes a name for itself as the premier wincon and instakill button which benefits immensely from Terastalliizing arguably more than most meta mons right now.
Crunch and Waterfall are great coverage on their own, with Crunch being the general use spam button, particularly against the meta mons of Misdreavus and Girafarig. Ice Fang helps with consistency on non Tera fights against Toedscool and Foongus. Substitute avoids Sucker Punch from Pawniard, Will-o from Fuecoco, Thunder Wave from Pawniard, and Will-o from Misdreavus while also offering an easy out against standard Tera types which beat it, able to check for what tera Girafarig and Misdreavus are. You could choose to slot in Poison Jab, but there are virtually no pure Fairy types roaming around, the best Fairy is also a Steel type, and even against Tera Fairies you're better off just running Sub for protection. Stomping Tantrum helps you beat Croagunk and gives a stronger move against Tinkatink, but it doesn't really do anything else.
The biggest problems with Chewtle are its BST and speed; With its horrendous base speed, Chewtle relies on having the maximum amount of effort put in to ensure it doesn't just get outsped and dies. Dual Screens support is mandatory if you don't want to drop instantly to Vacuum Wave Croagunk or Extreme Speed Dratini. Status, particularly from non-Prankster users, is absolutely detrimental and two of the best mons in the tier rn, Misdreavus and Pawniard, will frequently run them. In addition, while the power of Terastalizing is incredibly useful for Chewtle, opponents Terastalizing defensively can completely stop it in its tracks, as Misdreavus and Girafarig both survive a Crunch at full HP if they resist it. Croagunk is the best defensive answer to Chewtle, naturally being immune to Waterfall and resisting Crunch, and being able to OHKO in return with Vacuum Wave or Fake Out+Vacuum Wave. Roar Fuecoco also is a massive stopgap, especially if it runs Water Tera, but risks dying to a Crunch followed up by another mon's attack.
Chewtle's best partners are Mons who can handle its weaknesses. Dual Screens support from Impidimp or support Girafarig help ease the burden of setting up Shell Smash, and also are strong in general in a meta of hyper offense. Wallbreakers like Larvesta, Banded Rufflet, and NP Misdreavus help out in chipping the few resists to Crunch. Quaxly is one of the few viable Spinners who can help keep Toxic Spikes off the field and has a strong Liquidation to help chip down water resists. Lastly, Toxic Spikes help wear down the most prevalent wall against Chewtle's progres in Fuecoco, as well as make Girafarig less likely to survive any hit thrown at it.
also he's the best boy, and I do, in fact, sing Free Bird every time I click Shell Smash.
Scarf Larvesta punishes people for not carrying proper Water resists, or Water resists that WILL get beaten up early on, by OHKOing just about everything. You NEED a resist to survive a Tera-boosted Flare Blitz, and U-turn also benefits from the immense pressure Larv puts up. Being SR weak in a tier with basically 0 removal and a top tier mon setting toxic spikes and stealth rock isn't exactly a great look, but with how HO-oriented everything is, Larv's job really is just to nuke and make way (for me) for Chewtle.
It's a given that this thing is stupid given it's fun past, but I love SubWisp Hex sets so much.
Flinch moves are still cheesy as hell, and Pawniard in particular gets a lot of benefit from flinching 15 speed mons. It goes without saying that this applies to Chewtle, too, since a +2 Waterfall, if it doesn't kill, has a 30% chance of making you regret living.
And something I'm looking forward to:
This thing looks both great and awful, triple recoilless strong moves with incredible coverage but with what might be the worst defensive typing around. SR weak, Tspikes weak, ground weak, fighting weak in a meta of fighting Tera. I really hope this thing winds up good.
I've been playing a lot since the release of the gen and i've been having probably the most fun i ever have had playing ladder, however there are still some things that concern me and thus I would like to get my point of view on such things.
Terastalyze
When they announced the new mechanic i thought it would be okey maybe even healthy; i want to say my opinion shifted back and forth a lot since then but i entered the gen with a positive mindgame of it being on the edge of brokeness but actually fine. Once the gen officially started, I've waited a bit to test the waters with and without brokens to see if, being unbiased, i could make myself with a solid opinion on wether it deserves the ban or not. And now i can totally say teras are unhealthy and by that banworhy.
I thought it would be a complete guessing game when playing, since maybe you thought you were gonna stop whatevermon from sweeping, then theyd tera and actually sweep you. That happens of course, and playing feels like a guessing game on what and when is gonna terastalize, but i think the biggest problem lies when building a team. How am i supposed to check all these threats in one team if they just as easily can ohko me?
As Eric says here, it creates some crazy 50/50 even in the builder where W pokemon have to X tera to beat Y pokemon but Y pokemon can use Z tera to countercheck their countercheck, but this negated if W pokemon uses V tera... and that keeps rolling to the point which is total randomness and a complete guessing game with no skill at all.
To expand further on the mechanic, is something unpredictable as to when it gets used and what new type on which pokemon are you going to have to check. Another strong point is that people can argue that what makes tera look broken are pokemon such as Misdreavus (i'm going to speak about this one later) or Girafarig but reality is that it makes pokemon have so many issues, for example poison/steel types can avoid being trapped by Diglett by terastylizing to Grass/Flying; pokemon that would be average at best to not say mediocre like bronzor get niches by being able to terastylize and make himself have no weakness or pokemon that would hardly never sweep entire teams like Azurill can do it now by getting better typings. To resume and not say many things that have been already said, teras aren't a single inch close to how broken dynamax was but this doesn't mean that is an absurd mechanic that makes games coinflips.
Misdreavus & Gastly
Missy has proven to be far too good for this metagame enough, and i want to say i see this as an absolute busted mon. It has so many possibilities in the kit. Wisp to burn all the pokemon that would want to abuse it's more frail physical defenses, tera blast for pawniard, tbolt to hit for SE damage the flying- and water- types, Dgleam for overall damage on the dark- types, Dpulse for other missys and girafarig and the list keeps going. Having also access to Nasty Plot and a 19 speed 18 SpA which makes it very hard to be checked by a vast majority of the metagame and a more than decent bulk makes a broken pokemon with no real checks bar terastal mindgames and super centralizing.
On the other hand we have Gastly who has been historically always a top mon if not banned, let's all be honest when saying that the only reason we aren't seeing it on almost every team is because it's outclassed by Misdreavus. When that goes (hopefully soon), this mon will be unbelievably good. It has the same qualities as Misdreavus do, it can hit whatever pokemons it pleases since it has as much coverage as the latter does, however it has an 18 speed which can be threated easier by 19 speed pokemon which compile Girafarig and meowth (?) if you want to count that or the 20 speed pokemon, wiglett (lol), diglett and voltorb. Without teras you could say Pawniard can keep it in check (not really since it can Wisp it and then just Thunderbolt/Substitute or outplay it in the more desired way) but reality is that after MIssy ban, Gastly will be on the very edge of the ban too, and, if Girafarig goes too then it's a sealed case to me.
I don't know still how to feel about the giraf since it's been a weird case to me of it being very good but not yet busted, altho that could be because of other things being more broken. it's a bit to early to pronounce myself about this matter so i'll wait on it for a future. On rufflet case i think that even tho it's obviusly very good, it's very easily checked by a big plethora of pokemons right now so there's no point in giving it enough attention to be voted.
This finishes my post, i've been having an insane amount of fun despite this little things and i hope it stays this way. I invite people to try out a lot of the new mons because i beleive after gen5 this is the gen that added the biggest amount of viable lc mons which makes it super exciting to me (this is also probably beacuse an insane amount of the gen5 mons got dexcutted lol). Anyways, thanks for reading.
Been playing some games with this and I'd like to add a twist to Glimmet.
Glimmet @ Life Orb
Ability: Toxic Debris
Level: 5
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 20 Def / 236 SpA / 36 SpD / 196 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk
- Tera Blast
- Power Gem
- Sludge Wave
- Rock Polish
I've been using this set alongside screens Impidimp and it's put in a lot of work for me. With it's Abra level special attack and access to rock polish it can pull off some clean late game sweeps under screens. It's worth noting I've been using tera fighting for Pawnaird and to resist sucker punch from Diglett, but there could be a more optimal tera type I haven't found yet.
I've had a lot of fun using this against people expecting the standard hazard stack Glimmet so I think it's worth experimenting with some more.
I've been running a scarf glimmet with terra normal explosion, it suprises a lot, usually deletes anything that doesn't resist, isn't ghost, and isn't girafe, outside of explosion, the high special attack with stabs can dig holes in the ennemy team
pretty solid mon, a decent fighting type that deletes anything that doesn't resist, run liquidation to stomp glimmet, iron head to bully the few impidimp and other rock types.
180+ Atk Choice Band Crabrawler Liquidation vs. 0 HP / 20 Def Glimmet: 30-36 (142.8 - 171.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
180+ Atk Crabrawler Liquidation vs. 0 HP / 20 Def Glimmet: 22-26 (104.7 - 123.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
180+ Atk Crabrawler Iron Head vs. 0 HP / 112 Def Impidimp: 22-26 (104.7 - 123.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
it does enough damage on its own so you could run scarf to get 19 speed, out scuttling bulky girafirig and being the same speed as misdreavus
Rufflet is without a doubt one of the hardest Pokemon to prepare for, as it can run Scarf sets able to outspeed most faster Pokemon such as Girafarig and Misdreavus, thanks to Brave Bird + Close Combat combo it has powered by Hustle, and trying to offensively check it is dangerous since it can just U-turn and either trap your answer to it or switch out to a Pokemon that can handle it better. Choice Band sets are also very dangerous, though not as oppressing at the prize of not being able to outspeed certain threats, but in return being able to 2HKO resists. It can also run Bulk Up sets able to use Pawniard as setup fodder and snowball sweep the opposing team if the important threats Rufflet fears are removed such as certain Tera Electric Pokemon like Misdreavus, Glimmet or the rare Fuecoco. However, the reason I am mentioning Rufflet is because of the set I am about to introduce:
I took inspiration on Merritt's Round 1 matches at the LC Kickoff tournament (Game 1 & Game 2) by seeing it use the combination of Agility + Bulk Up against Pokemon that can't virtually hinder Rufflet, such as Pawniard, non-Thunderbolt Misdreavus, Quaxly and Diglett, which thanks to Rufflet's bulk, none can scratch it or beat it properly. After an Agility boost Rufflet sits at 26 Speed, outspeeding every important threat in the metagame and being ready to stack Bulk Up boosts, in order to finally start cleaning thanks to Tera Flying Aerial Ace and dishing out strong unavoidable 120 BP hits that can leave most Pokemon either defeated or in a critical condition (for reference, Eviolite Pawniard is 2HKOed by +2 Tera Aerial Ace after Stealth Rock damage!). This set is really hard to counterreact to properly too, since if Rufflet gets an Agility boost, not even coverage like Thunderbolt from the likes of Misdreavus and Girafarig can OHKO it, and it can play around said coverage by using the Roost property of losing its Flying typing prior to Terastallizing. That said, most teams can really lose from Team Preview if they do not carry any proper answer such as Glimmet or the aforementioned threats. This sets appreciates the help provided by Glimmet to set hazards up so the opposing Pokemon get chipped easier, but it can handle many teams by itself. However, it requires hazard removal from the likes of Quaxly or Toedscool to work properly and avoid certain calcs that can knock it out. Better watch out for this set if you see a Rufflet on Team Preview, it is quite dangerous and can easily win if let loose.
Glimmet's niche is really appreciated in hazard stacking as it has the ability to run Stealth Rock and Spikes, and set them up quickly thanks to its decent Speed tier. On top of that, it can also run sets with a little more bulk due to its ability Toxic Debris, which allows Glimmet to put Toxic Spikes if hit by physical Pokemon. As such, it appreciates forcing Rufflet out to keep doing its job, and it does not stop there, as it can simply decide to run Protect if it needs to scout for certain Scarf users in the opposing team, or just run Berry Juice to handle stuff such as unboosted Twin Beam from Girafarig or Shadow Ball from Misdreavus. Defensively, it does not possess a great typing since it means that, if read, the opposing team can trap it with Diglett by gaining momentum. Offensively though, it is another story, as the Rock/Poison typing allows it to hit very strong with a whooping 105 base Special Attack to anything that does not resist it, and it can choose to run Earth Power, though it has no relevancy for the role it serves.
This Pokemon at first sight looks troubled by the presence of Tera and hazards, but very far from that. Since Pawniard lost Knock Off at the beginning of this generation, it can easily lead against it and force it to switch or cripple it with Will-O-Wisp, making it harder to function correctly throughout the game. Thanks to its really good bulk, it can handle both Girafarig and Misdreavus and pivot against them thanks to slow U-turn, regaining momentum for its team, and it can also beat Toedscool without a glance of a problem, but it has to watch out for Knock Off, since it wants to keep the bulk Eviolite provides. Of course, due to its typing, hazard removal is mandatory to avoid being chipped away quickly which is why it makes a great pair for Quaxly.
Quaxly might not be the greatest thing to use for hazard removal due to its average stats, but thanks to its access to botht Rapid Spin and Moxie as well as Roost, it can choose to run a bulky set where it can keep hazards at bay thanks to its passable bulk and handle Pawniard and Glimmet. If needed, it can also Terastallize into Flying-type to better handle Toedscool which gives it hell and stack Moxie boosts, making it a valuable partner removing hazards in early-to-mid game or cleaning weakened Pokemon on late-game.
This Pokemon's best set right now is Analytic Scarf, and thanks to the lack of Ground-types to keep it at bay it can force switches to fire off Analytic-boosted STABs in Thunderbolt and Flash Cannon 2HKOing important threats. However, with the addition of Tera Blast, it can finally run a proper coverage option and Tera typing to tailor its team's needs, being able to run a plethora of typings that let it avoid getting trapped by Diglett such as Grass, Water and Flying, or it can choose typings such as Fire and Ice if there are certain threats that Magnemite wants gone like Toedscool and Pawniard. Also, the need for a decent source of momentum is really convenient in this state of the metagame, and Magnemite does its job like it has always been doing.
Finally, I would like to speak a little bit about Fuecoco since I brought it up while speaking about Rufflet. This Pokemon has taken the legacy that Whirlwind Munchlax (may it rest in peace) left as a phazer thanks to its decent bulk of 25/14/14 and access to Unaware, which makes this Pokemon really valuable to answer most common setup sweepers like Nasty Plot Girafarig and Misdreavus, Bulk Up Rufflet and non-Ground Tera Cetoddle. Fuecoco possesses access to both Slack Off as a mean of recovery to keep itself healthy, and Will-O-Wisp to cripple Pokemon that cannot harm it like Pawniard. If a setup sweeper has managed to setup, Fuecoco can Roar to force them out and clear all their boosts; however, it can be a double-edged tool if the opponent has a Ground-type or Diglett, which can be very problematic for Fuecoco. It also has the problem of being weak to Stealth Rock due to its Fire typing, so it means that hazards can cripple it fast. On top of that, there is one Pokemon that, given the chance to setup, Fuecoco can lose against it, which is Flittle. It means that Fuecoco is forced to switch in and stop it before Stored Power has enough potency to knock it out. Using this Pokemon requires a lot of patience and good predicting game, so be careful.
Couple notes on Rufflet since I probably can't bring this specific set anymore
Strongly recommend 14 speed instead of 13, outpacing scarf Gastly is incredibly important. This also means you get to tie stuff like +1 19 Spe mons, less common but it means you have a potential out rather than just being outsped.
Main thing that's annoying about Rufflet is that this set has fairly different checks compared to the more common straight attacker sets - most of those sets having fighting coverage means that the steels or rocks that can potentially take this set on are incredibly wary of switching in. Another note is that while flying tera helps a lot with managing KOs, you can 100% choose a different tera type and build a team that focuses on removing specific threats to whatever tera type you chose.
On the subject of removing threats, Scarf Gothita is theoretically very scary. In exchange for losing out on your option to tera a different offensive breaker, you can instead choose to customize your Gothita to remove literally any type you need besides Ghost. While it's not making too much of a splash right now, it's something to keep in mind for the future as the metagame settles a bit more.
Shroodle @ Eviolite
Ability: Prankster
Level: 5
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 36 HP / 236 Atk / 236 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Taunt
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Encore
This punishes alot, especially if you are doing things like pivoting in to it. Great answer to a lot of HO getting greedy. Prio encore gets work done, great lead. Tera bug + U-turn lets you get out of gothita and digletts as well as bait the psychic spam in the tier.
Mudbray @ Berry Juice
Ability: Stamina
Level: 5
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 36 HP / 196 Atk / 36 Def / 236 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Tera Blast
- Iron Head / Stone Edge
My missy check while also being able to deal with a lot 1 on 1. This is my rocker atm, but would also really like to be fitting Roar, Sub, or Superpower
Among other things I like Physical Girafarig. EQ access is great. I feel like scarfed Missy is also a really good answer to the metagame right now. There's probably a place for Tera Normal Dratini to outpace and ko some of the set up threats.
Rufflet is about the only thing I am ever scared of in this metagame because of the variety of options and how hard it hits.
While initial assessments of Dunsparce would not indicate it being so high on the ban docket, Dunsparce has become intolerably strong. As soon as Meditite was no longer around to OHKO the stateline and its handful of ways to flinch through your checks became not only frustrating but absurdly difficult to deal with. With boosting in Coil, paralysis with Glare or Serene Grace Body Slam, frankly insane bulk, and just enough coverage in Bite or Earthquake Dunsparce would often run away with games despite facing the best (though limited) counterplay available.
Recently, there's been an upsurge of rain teams both in tournament and on ladder, and I'd like to share my thoughts on the strategy and some of the individual mons. In short: It's good, folks.
When not sweeping people with swords dance and unburden, this guy finds the time to be a pretty great rain setter with prankster. priority rain dance is really nice in such a fast-paced metagame, and priority parting shot allows him to save himself against any surprise mole attacks. knock off is a pretty great move to soften up annoying defensive mons like quaxly and the rarer mareanie and slowpoke, and U-turn is exclusively for Pawniard.
A secondary rain setter. A pretty great speed tier and crucial flying resist allows them to set rain against most of the tier and be independently threatening with 100% accurate thunder, and has good pivoting abilities with volt switch. One drawback of this mon is it's inability to threaten diglett without tera, which you probably shouldn't use on a voltorb.
Riolu @ Damp Rock
Ability: Prankster
Level: 5
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 36 HP / 196 Atk / 196 Def / 36 SpD / 36 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rain Dance
- Copycat
- High Jump Kick
- Earthquake
Another potential rain setter. Although another prankster rain dance user sounds good at first glance, Riolu tends to disappoint in comparison. having no pivoting potential, it tends to waste rain turns with abandon. If you're feeling agressive, you can try the copycat-high jump kick trick, which will work about as well as it did in SS. Yeah I don't like this one.
Your main man. Your golden boy. Let him in, and see your enemies driven before you. With a +1 boost on top of rain through either tera or bulk up (or both), there's very little that doesn't get dropped by wave crash. Running berry juice and bulk up allows him to set up on physical attackers that might give him trouble otherwise like Pawniard and Quaxly. Ice spinner is a good move to take out rufflet and Toedscool without recoil, and the same with brick break and Pawniard. You could also use Aqua Jet, if you're a fan of losing. Otherwise, enjoy your well-earned 6-0.
Psyduck (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Swift Swim
Level: 5 :
No, but seriously. 15 speed is just enough to outspeed everything relevant in rain, and after a nasty plot (which it can get easily against almost anything), things just start dropping. Missy? out to sea. Giraffe? surf & turf. the Toed had better say their prayers, because damn if they don't drop to an ice beam. The main caveat is that outside of rain, she's pretty useless, so it's best to have at least 5 turns of rain left on the switch-in.
Arrokuda @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
Level: 5
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 228 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 16 HP
- Close Combat
- Liquidation
- Ice Fang
- Crunch
Oh look, it's worse Buizel. Having been unfortunately robbed of both flip turn and the new wave crash and ice spinner, Kuda has very little reason to exist. The one thing it has over buizel is close combat, so you might as well lean into that? I guess?? Man just use Buizel.
Man, I want Wattrel to be good. I want him to be good so, so bad. He's got 100% accurate Thunder, Hurricane, AND Weather Ball! He was supposed to be a mini-Zapdos! But he just isn't. He isn't strong enough, or fast enough, or sturdy enough. This set tries to fix these problems with Tailwind charging up thunder and doubling speed, but, unfortunately, I can't recommend you use this guy.
Overall, I believe rain can be a very powerful strategy in the right hands and against the right team. Problem mons to face include slowpoke (who completely blanks both psyduck and buizel, but is otherwise unviable), Quaxly (who is annoying, like, in general, but can't actually do much), and focus sash users, who put a stop to likely only one of two chances to win. Those who want to try out a rain team can see the one I built below, which carried me to 1500 on ladder and has already seen tournament success thanks to Surfy.
View attachment 467644
Here goes, I tried to make a VR even though I know little, duns got banned earlier today and I'm not sure if ladder removed it yet. I probably missed something, but what I see the meta being is Missy + Giraffe being the best offensive presences with respectable bulk, and Pawniard being by far their best answers in spite of Terablast. Rufflet is prone to bad rng but is nuclear, and trappers do trap things, with Dig being better early game and scarf Goth being better insurance for tera fight mons. The rest is what I consider good support, speed, secondary offense, bulky mons, and reliable 1f1, until B and B- which often lack flexibility or power, and often need specific support. Many of them I have not used but have heard of people succeeding with them, even though a lot of the B- I'm 90% sure are memes.
I'm pretty sure this will immediately become obsolete lmao, and its likely terrible as a threat list so don't use it as that.
Now that I feel like I've got a decent handle on things rn, I can give more thoughts on the current contentions
Terastalizing feels like it's more problematic than it is because the best mons right now make extremely good use of it? Iunno, it also doesn't help that in the current low playerbase size and new meta that people are trying to counterteam individuals. Girafarig, Misdreavus, Flittle and Swift Swimmers make the best use out of it, but after that many other cases felt more defensive in nature and weren't terrible. Flying Pawniard is a solid check to Fighting Girafarig, but if they do that against another typed Girafarig they REALLY won't be happy.
*note: I think that, if we want to ban Terastalizing, ban first the few mons who make the WAY best use of it (Misdreavus, Flittle, potentially rain abusers) and then see if the meta stabilizes around the mechanic or not. I would not be in support of getting rid of this mechanic, especially this early, and especially while it looks like there's more broken things on the horizon.
Girafarig is fine. I thought it would be way more terrifying than it actually was; because of its bulk, I found myself using it defensively more than offensively, and many other players also used it as a defensive stopgap than as a raw offense mon, although there were a few really cool Agility Calm Mind giraffes among us. ඞ The popularity of Misdreavus and Pawniard naturally keep it from getting too out of control, especially Pawniard who forces a Fighting Tera or an immediate switch out. I'm sure Substitute Double Kick Girafarig could be funny on the ladder. Perhaps the best use I saw of the Giraffe was as a Dual Screen setter, as it is much less telegraphed than Impidimp is.
Misdreavus is really strong but, likewise to Girafarig, pretty reasonably stuffed out by common Girafarig and Pawniard variants, forcing a Tera. I've been enjoying Electric Misdreavus to tank Pawniard Iron Head and Scarf Rufflet Brave Bird, using a NP Will-o set after realizing Wisp Hex was too passive. Tera definitely pushes this thing into unreasonably strong territory for me - being able to click Electric, Fighting or Dark to immediately negate one of the better answers to Misdreavus for free is unfair, especially with Missy having the ideal speed tier, Nasty Plot, and a bevy of support moves to make use of if it so wishes. If there was an argument that would fully convince me for Tera being banned, it would be Misdreavus. (And Gastly.)
Flittle is terrifying as long as we leave Terastalize legal. I would 100% be in favor of banning this thing immediately, as from experience teams built around enabling Flittle will either fold immediately to pressure (ex. an overreliance on Prankster Impidimp), or will get one lucky paralysis or burn and just instawin from that point. It's ridiculous enough to have to compensate for everything else, but Flittle forces you to be wary of its Tera Fighting hits 'lest it decide to not let you play the game. If this thing is banned, then if Tera gets banned after, this thing can totes be unbanned as it's a mediocre at best pure Psychic.
Other things that are tiny:
Shroodle is funny but it also enable some extremely stupid setups thanks to Prankster. It's also way less predictable than Impidimp, but loses Screens.
Rain as a whole is preeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeety strong without any consistent resistances to it and with Tera making Buizel, as niled noted above, REALLY hard to wall and forcing a lot of bad mons to stop it or to pray you have a good answer to it. I've been lucky to be spared too much of a wrath against them thanks to Chewtle being a funny option to stop Parting Shot.
Glimmet is annoying as hell. I don't like it. It isn't overpowered but god do I hate it. I hate having to play around a stupid rock thing that constantly spreads every hazard in the game and always runs a focus sash. I wanted to go hazardless on my team, but after Glimmet failed a few clean sweeps, I've now shifted to Rocks Pawniard just to stop that.
And, since it got me this far, the Pokepaste.
This team is honestly hot garbage, but hey any excuse to use Chewtle is a good one. This team relies on repeatedly clicking buttons in the face of your opponent's walls until they fold or you fold, and getting Chewtle into position as soon as possible. Dark Chewtle forces rain teams' setters to think before pressing buttons, particularly Shroodle, as they can't press status or Parting Shot for free. If an edit had to be made, a way to stop Rain through a Sashed mon would likely be a good idea.
I want to talk about the Giraffe and Misdreavus, cause I'm sure that they're broken.
First, let's go over the giraffe.
Its set diversity is astronomical. You can run Physical Attacker with Trailblaze to mow through an enemy team. It has access to both Calm Mind and Nasty Plot to boost its special attack, with the Calm Mind set working well with Rest, which is only 1 turn due to Early Bird. You can run screens, and be practically uncontested due to your speed tier. With the lack of Defog in the tier and most reliable way to remove screens being Pawniard's Brick Break, Screens are exceedingly hard to stop. In addition, the best stop to Giraf is... Missy or other Giraf. The specially offensive sets have a hard time breaking past each other due to their typing resisting Twin Beam/Psychic and being hard to hit super effectively. Missy takes hits really well and can use Dark Pulse to be able to hit back with a really strong hit without using Tera. In addition, you can use Dazzling Gleam to hit Tera Fighting Giraf. Its really hard to tell which Tera type and which set a Giraffe is running from preview. Its also got a 19 speed tier and has 70/65/65 bulk meaning that you're going to have a hell of a time trying to deal with it defensively. If it gets a trailblaze up, you can't even outpace it with a common scarfer, such as Mankey, Pawniard, Rufflet, Gastly or Sprigatito. You can use Thymble, but its got practically no defensive utility and is very easily a liability due to its low BST and sole bug typing.
Secondly, we have Missy
Its also got good set diversity, but its not anywhere near as good as Girafarig's. Will-o Hex, Will-o Nasty Plot, Sub Nasty Plot, Nasty Plot 3 attacks, and Calm Mind with 3 attacks or Sub, are all examples of what you can use. They're all about attacking into your opponent on the Special Side though, so you don't have to worry about whether your Toedscool or Fuecoco will just die to Physical Moves they aren't meant to take. With that being said, its already a monster on baseline. We have another base 19 speed tier, as well as 60/60/85 defenses. The best stops to Missy are almost the same as Giraf, as we have Toedscool which takes attacks really well from it, but otherwise you gotta use your own Missy and Tera, use the Giraffe, or Pawniard. Giraf's base typing stuffs Shadow Ball and takes other neutral hits quite well. It also doesn't help that if your Pawniard gets burned that its significantly worse off in handling any of your other threats, such as Girafarig, Flittle, Drifloon and Magnemite. Worst of all, you can't even trap it. Pursuit is gone, and because of Levitate + Ghost Type, neither of Diglett or Gothita can keep it in check.
Thirdly, the BSTs.
Perhaps the most important reason why I dislike both of these mons is because they have the stats of fully evolved pokemon. The giraffe has 455 BST and Missy has 430 BST. They were made as single stage pokemon and as such have a significant advantage over the rest of the metagame. The next closest mons (not counting Hisui forms) are Mudbray with 385 , Litleo with 369 , and Larvesta with 360 . Mudbray is significantly slower, making it much more manageable. Litleo has very little coverage outside of its stabs, as well as being a moxie sweeper with a higher special attack stat. Larvesta has an obvious weakness to rocks and its main defensive niche from the last gen, flame body burns and a fighting resist, are worthless against special Giraf, Misdreavus, and Glimmet. All of these mons have a water weakness, making them much worse at dealing with Rain Teams.
Fourthly, lack of Knock Distribution.
The removal of Knock Off from a large amount of mons who got it beforehand makes these Dark weak pokemon even more threatening. In previous gen, there were 44 knock off users. Now we have 7. Functionally, there's only 5 because nobody wants to use Makuhita and Ralts, both with less than 250 BST. These mons would be significantly easier to deal with if they couldn't get as many free switchins as they would like. Knock off being nonexistent means that their massive bulk is even harder to wear them down. Barring Toedscool, which is the best Knock Off user, you have Shroodle who is exceedingly frail and doesn't outspeed either of Giraf or Missy. You also have Tinkatink who is pretty slow and doesn't resist Missy's stab Shadow Ball and takes massive Damage from a Giraf EQ. Otherwise you got Wingull who is terribly frail and you got Zorua, which is the best after Toedscool due to matching up well versus both Giraf and Missy. It'll just die to the fighting Tera though. Because of this lack of distribution, you have to deal with these mon's offensively. They both have set up moves and great bulk, so good luck trying to break through them.
In conclusion, please ban these two mons. Their BST, move pools, and limited counterplay outside of themselves makes them really unbearable to play against. They are exceedingly overcentralizing and would very much like if they were gone from the meta.
Ive been playing this metagame a lot lately and I like a lot things about it eventho I am not that much of an LC guy. I am really enjoying seen Misdreavous not being broken and having a nice dynamic with Girafarig especially. This metagame also seems to be more open to multiple team-structures compared to last gen. That is because of the lack of Mienfoo, Vullaby etc. We are in an early state so we cant tell for sure whats broken or not. I have some Pokemon on my radar which could be banworthy but as for now everythings fine.
BUT I see Terastalizing as a big problem. You see Little cup always has been a really snowbally metagame in any generation. While you can play around most stuff in OU by having multiple pivots and generally many naturally bulky pokemon you defenetly cant in LC. If you do one crutial mistake then some games can be already desided. With the omni-present Tera type change you can be thrown of for a second and this is one of the things that can deside the game as I already mentioned. Of course its not like that every Pokemon has 18 different tera types it wants to use. Most are going to have 2-3 but the problem is that every pokemon is going to use that tool to beat its counters and checks.
So practically you can lose your pokemon at any point of the game. In OU you wont be killing opposing mons with tera blast because of the low bp but in lc its defenetly enough to 2-hit-KO or since many mons got access to good boosting moves even 1-hit-KO most mons. With that there wont be any safe natural counter to any given pokemon you have to play around its newly gained teratype. By that point you might be 1 mon down already and offensive teams tend to roll over opposing teams with that advantage. So basically you are always playing a switching game to not risk losing your pokemon but switching in LC is hard with the overall general lack of bulk on the pokemon.
I think terastalasation should be giving a suspect soly for this metagame. It being limited to only stabs goes fine for me.
Here are my opinions on every new mon that I personally feel to be worth talking about
Toedscool is a much talked up new addition and rightfully so. There is not one single pokemon that wants to switch into it, as everything that switches into spore (foongus and other toedscool) hate knock off. Knock off in this meta on a pokemon with good bulk is a rarity pretty much exclusive to Toedscool and teams generally can't afford to designate one pokemon to switch into it, this being exasperated by toed's good base 17 speed. It's not infallible tho - lacking reliable recovery besides giga drain can leave it worn down pretty easily, especially if glimmet can somehow get up toxic spikes against it. It also suffers a good deal from four moveslot syndrome. To fit both earth power and giga drain you have to drop a utility option, so typically it will opt not to do that. This can leave you passive into Misdreavus or sap sipper Giraf or Pawniard, depending on which you elect to drop, although this is a mild issue given the presence of knock off in its arsenal.
With terrastalising in the tier this thing is not okay and forces such a ridiculous amount of mind games. It's definitely not unstoppable (forcing your opponent to terrastalise early or running either fuecoco or rain can pretty much halt it in its tracks) but the mind games it forces and the fact that it becomes more powerful every turn regardless of if you get those mind games correct leave it an unhealthy presence in the meta. Either get this or terrastalising gone.
I feel like this pokemon would be terrible in literally any past gen little cup meta but this meta's limited knock off distribution, dex cuts and newly introduced pokemon have combined to make this pokemon (imo) one of the best in the tier. Its ability to 1v1 pawniard, pretty much any misdreavus set, flittle and non EQ girafarig combined with its ability to punish switchins with will o wisp give it an immense amount of utility in this meta
I honestly really dont rate the utility sets too highly but the scarf sets are demonic against weakened teams given the lack of good water resists in this meta. Does suffer from being slower than any other scarfer though.
Yeah it enables Buizel but it's really useful as a defensive pivot even outside of that. Prankster not hitting dark types works in your favour as pawniard isn't getting boosted to +3 if you parting shot and even just luring it in to knock it off can be great for enabling something like a scarf gastly sweep. Also great for flipping the script on opposing misdreavus and forcing a mind game of whether you will parting shot or knock, although these mind games are risky for the shroodle user
God this mon is so hit or miss bc yeah it hits hard as fuck but it's never exactly ohkoing anything and, similar to shroodle, the mind games are of at least equal risk to yourself as your opponent; usually they'll be riskier. It's for sure devastating against unprepared teams tho.
Never run focus sash on this bc giraf just comes in and twin beams. Very matchup fishy mon bc it feels like around 30% of teams have a Toedscool and this thing is useless into it unless you poison with sludge bomb. It's hardly helped by the fact that its slower than it either, and the fact that your tspikes are set before rapid spin is just insult to injury. This mon is the opposite of fuecoco tho in that I feel it would be great in pretty much any past gen meta but in this one it feels inconsistent as hell given that spinblocking is just not a thing.
I've yet to use this myself personally but I've lost once to it. Feel like it's probably pretty good since nobody runs grass resists that want to switch into u turn with hazards up.
Belly drum ice shard is good but you can't slap it on teams willy nilly with relatively little support as you could if it got slush rush. Not as broken as magby because it simply doesn't have the speed tier to sweep effectively vs ice resists but its bulk is not to be scoffed at and - with diglett support - this will sweep unprepared players.
God this thing is so scary to see in team preview. Personally i've yet to make it work but doing like 33% to a switching in pawniard with crunch is scary and doing 76 with fire fang is something else (just one shot berry juice pawn btw)
I'm not too fond of either of these but i feel like people smarter than i am can make them work.
Hello, I've been playing some more since the Dunsparce ban, and I'd like to share my opinion about Terastallization in Little Cup.
When I started playing in the hours after Gen 9 lauched on Pokemon Showdown, my very first impression was that Terastallization was broken and really unhealthy, for its unpredictability and power. Within a day, I had already given up on Terastal being a healthy or fun mechanic. However, jumping to conclusions is not good, and I had to give it more time to come to a more rational, informed decision. Now, the meta has somewhat settled a little bit. I've been playing a bunch since the Dunsparce ban, and I now think that Terastal might not be as unhealthy as I initially thought.
First, I'll admit that Tera can be very annoying. I think that everyone had to take some time to get used to the mechanic, which is a mechanic different from anything before. First, having to think about adding a random tera typing to every Pokemon on each team can feel very futile at times but nevertheless necessary, which makes the mechanic mildly annoying, but nothing we can't get used to. More importantly, teambuilding can be hard, partly because of Tera making hard checks more difficult to find. This might be destabilizing compared to the SS metagame we just had, but I don't think it's a problem by itself. It can allow for more flexible gameplay, and I think the issue might be mostly because of the meta being very new than the Tera mechanic itself anyway. On the gameplay side, the unpredictability of Tera can be annoying too, since sometimes, the game might feel out of your control if you get surprised by a random Tera.
However, I think that with some more time to experiment with it, I no longer think that Tera is broken nor unhealthy in LC. This is mostly due to getting used to the mechanic, and to the meta settling down a bit so that the Teras are much more predictable. I think that with time, players will be able to find the best Pokemon to use Tera with, and as such, they will lose part of their surprise factor. Players have also already started to adapt, and to be able to predict Teras, to either diminish its effectiveness, or even make it useless if the opponent uses it. Of course, the fact that every Pokemon can use Tera at any point during the game (unlike Z-moves when the Pokemon that can use it is pre-determined in the builder and has the drawback of running a Z crystal) can still be problematic ingame. However, I think that those Teras being less predictable can be balanced by them not being as rewarding when using them. For a very extreme example, Surskit can use Tera-Ghost to beat a spinner such as Quaxly while setting webs, and it would probably be very effective and unpredictable, but the reward would be arguably lesser than using Tera on another Pokemon like Tera-Fighting Misdreavus to remove Pawniard, especially on a Webs team.
Furthermore, I think that offensive Teras are more common than defensive Teras right now (and most defensive Teras are mostly to take individual hits), maybe because LC is such an offensive metagame, and many offensive Teras require the Pokemon to run Tera Blast to be the most effective and rewarding. Running Tera Blast means that it takes a moveslot, giving a real drawback to running more than one offensive Tera user on a team, and to using Tera on something other than your offensive Tera user (in addition to opportunity cost of not being able to Tera). There are exceptions to this, of course, like same type Tera users like Rufflet, or Tera-Electric Misdreavus with Thunderbolt, but those don't provide additional surprise coverage, and are therefore somewhat less unpredictable.
Therefore, I think Terastallization is currently fine in Little Cup, and with time to adapt to it and to let the meta settle down, it might not be broken nor unhealthy, contrary to my initial impression. Building in this meta is kind of a pain, but I think that the gameplay is fine, and that we should give the mechanic some time, not act too quickly on it, and judge it based on its role in a more mature and more stable Little Cup meta that we will get. The mechanic is becoming more and more manageable, and I have good hopes of it continuing on that trend.
I think this is a key aspect to keep in mind as we are early into the meta of this game. Already now, since release, the variety of tera types on certain mons I run into on the ladder have very much settled from a chaotic gamble, into a somewhat predictable state. Every pokemon has one or two tera types that you can expect it to have, and that really benefit it in battle, either offensively or defensively.
I think with time (and this is already happening), you will be able to predict the tera type an opposing mon has more and more, very similar to how you can predict their moveset/stat pool just based on how the player utilizes the pokemon, where it seems to fit into their team, etc.
While there always will be the prospect of a surprise/unique tera typing catching you off guard, that should realistically happen less and less as the meta settles, and we learn more about what is popular. And being surprised isn't necessarily a bad thing, either! It can keep things fresh and interesting, in my opinion.
imma list a bunch of random pokemon with interesting niches or just funny crap i've thought abt/ used (so take these with a grain of NaCl)
- serene grace and headbutt on any pokemon is a recipe for memes. deerling delivers with a stab headbutt and zen headbutt for those pesky ghost types. use scarf to outrun anything that isn't boosted.
the duck himself. probably the only solid spinner in this meta 'till sv is home compatible, pretty interesting, especially if you can get a moxie + rapid spin boost
- not too strong but being one of the few mons left with knock off definitely gets it some brownie points
-same as makuhita but with a better type combo to not get deleted by misdrevus and girafirig
- knock plus U-turn with stab hydro pumps and hurricanes could do some damage
- doubt that it'll get banned with our all mighty overlord misdreavus but berry juice, unburden, and calm mind could wreak some havoc
- another rain team user, choice band swift swim would stomp anything that doesn't outspeed
This meta is shaping up to be really intresting, last gen offence was structured around momentum and durable hard checks such as Foongus and Mareanie, this gen there's quite less momentum (also because there is less hazard removal) and hard checks are very rare to find since many mons have lot's of movesets and tera exists.
Either you see people running the big 3 of the tier or HO with double screens and the two things do not exclude each other.
1) Girafarig +Misdreavus +Pawniard
This core is really durableeven if the 3 dont run defensive sets and if they do its really hard to break. Girafarig's weakness to dark is resisted by Pawniard, the latter's weaknesses are immunities for Misdreavus and well at this point you know right? The intresting thing is the dinamic this core has against itself:
- Pawniard has a 50/50 against himself with break break and against the other two thanks to sucker punch and tera flying.
- Misdreavus can kill another one on a speed tie with shadow ball, predict Girafarig with an either way super effective dark pulse or even tera fighting/electric to lose weaknesses andhit hard with new found coverage. Pawniard, if not running night slash, cant safely check it while its weak to will o wisp.
- Girafarig can do literally anything from setting up offensively or defensively with screens, Misdreavus fears it on the speed tie and Pawniard is vulnerable to tera fighting andsucker punch mind games.
I feel like a team without at least two of these is on a major disadvantage from well these 3. Toedscool can deal and soft check most of them while threatening with knock off or spore but without good recovery it isnt a consistant answer.
2) Screens + Set up Sweeper
Either Girafarig, Impidimp or Shroodle are reliable screen setters each one offering higher utility (twave, parting shot or knock off), after screens are set up they will stay up as Pawniard's break break is the only removal and it isnt that easy to throw out with Misdreavus being around, even if he pulls it off many set up sweepers dont really care about him thanks to tera and resisting fighting to begin with.
- Fittle is just op with tera fighting.
- Azumaril can set up belly drum with ease to then spam tera water aqua jet that's almost uncontested since the only other priority is Pawn sucker punch, occasional ice shards and the unreliable Nymble.
- Rufflet got pretty popular with agility and bulk up and it doesnt even need screens usually to set up.
On top of these the big 3 also have set up oppurtunity and there are many others I wont mention now such as Drifloon and Shroodle.
This are my week 2 impressions after continuously playing ladder, this meta is imo on a strange balance since there are very strong pokemons around, to me Toedscool and Pawniard are the glue holding all of this together. As soon as something gets banned (probably Girafarig, Misdreavus or Tera) many pokemon will have a chance to shine when nowthey only have a niche.
I think we should ban tera.
That is an uncompetitive and unpredictable mechanic. How can you describe that healthy for the meta? Tera makes all mons annoying. I can’t imagine a shit mon like azurill can have a chance to create problems only because of its tera type water ajet move. If we ban tera, we can avoid banning mons that are broken only thanks to tera (like flittle or girafarig).
The only advantage of keeping tera is to reduce the power of pawn which is so good in the current meta. Without it, pawn would probably be broken because compared to ss we have less fight moves and less fight mons.
I definitely prefer banning tera instead of banning multiple unbroken mons.
Missy should probably be banned anyway because it is broken also without tera, while I don’t think gira is broken enough to be banned and flittle is only broken because of tera.
giraf since it's been a weird case to me of it being very good but not yet busted, altho that could be because of other things being more broken. it's a bit to early to pronounce myself about this matter so i'll wait on it for a future. On 
, Litleo with 369 
, and Larvesta with 360 
- serene grace and headbutt on any pokemon is a recipe for memes. deerling delivers with a stab headbutt and zen headbutt for those pesky ghost types. use scarf to outrun anything that isn't boosted.
- not too strong but being one of the few mons left with knock off definitely gets it some brownie points
-same as makuhita but with a better type combo to not get deleted by misdrevus and girafirig
- knock plus U-turn with stab hydro pumps and hurricanes could do some damage
- doubt that it'll get banned with our all mighty overlord misdreavus but berry juice, unburden, and calm mind could wreak some havoc
spiddamin, shoots webs everywhere
