It's strange. If I select Power Construct directly Zydog is not valid for this meta, since it is banned from OU.
But if I select Aura Break Zydog is valid and will use Power Construct.
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Metagame Pokébilities
- Thread starter pyuk
- Start date
But if I select Aura Break Zydog is valid and will use Power Construct.
I've been playing a few games and I want to share some Mons that I feel are decently good in the meta but which I haven't seen much on opposing teams.
Staraptor @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Brave Bird
- Double-Edge
- Close Combat
Most people expect Staraptor to be scarfed which means that you can use the Banded set to bluff a Scarf and force some switches. More importantly, Banded Reckless Brave Bird devastates Pokemon like Pelipper (allowing to limit a rain team's rain turns) and Clefable (against unboosted Clefable I've been doing at least 87% per hit). The added bonus of throwing around intimidates and U-Turns with the added power of Reckless Bird spam behind it is valuable.
Sigilyph @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Wonder Skin
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shock Wave
- Trick
- Heat Wave
- Psyshock
I feel like Sigilyph is a Pokemon doomed to fly under radars due to its low tiering and traditionally sub optimal usage (for example, people eskewing offensive sets for a fancier will o wisp). While using Life Orb is appealing due to Magic Guard, Base 97 speed is an amazing scarfer. You out speed Gyarados at plus one, Garchomp at neutral, Kartana at neutral, and Psyshock lets you KO weakened Conkeldurrs with little trouble while your typing easily lets you survive mach punches. On top of this, all its abilities are amazing. Wonder Guard makes status moves automatically have 50% accuracy, Magic Guard prevents hazard and other indirect damage, and tinted lens makes it more difficult to switch an opposing Pokemon in. Meanwhile, its large movepool lets you customize which threats you want it to beat.
Those two aside, priority is definitely king: Specifically Breloom and Conkeldurr. Both provide strong mach punches that give you a way of threatening Porygon-Z which is probably the most important threat to beat. Azumaril is a good check to both. Mamoswine is also decent, getting both stealth rocks and ice shard.
Talking about hazards, Toxapex performs absurdly well in the meta. Being able to both take hits well, and dish out tons of damage thanks to Merciless really makes it less passive and funner to play.
And that's all I have to say about the meta so far. The meta is clearly an extremely offensive one at the moment and I'm interested in seeing how its future develops.
Staraptor @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Brave Bird
- Double-Edge
- Close Combat
Most people expect Staraptor to be scarfed which means that you can use the Banded set to bluff a Scarf and force some switches. More importantly, Banded Reckless Brave Bird devastates Pokemon like Pelipper (allowing to limit a rain team's rain turns) and Clefable (against unboosted Clefable I've been doing at least 87% per hit). The added bonus of throwing around intimidates and U-Turns with the added power of Reckless Bird spam behind it is valuable.
Sigilyph @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Wonder Skin
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shock Wave
- Trick
- Heat Wave
- Psyshock
I feel like Sigilyph is a Pokemon doomed to fly under radars due to its low tiering and traditionally sub optimal usage (for example, people eskewing offensive sets for a fancier will o wisp). While using Life Orb is appealing due to Magic Guard, Base 97 speed is an amazing scarfer. You out speed Gyarados at plus one, Garchomp at neutral, Kartana at neutral, and Psyshock lets you KO weakened Conkeldurrs with little trouble while your typing easily lets you survive mach punches. On top of this, all its abilities are amazing. Wonder Guard makes status moves automatically have 50% accuracy, Magic Guard prevents hazard and other indirect damage, and tinted lens makes it more difficult to switch an opposing Pokemon in. Meanwhile, its large movepool lets you customize which threats you want it to beat.
Those two aside, priority is definitely king: Specifically Breloom and Conkeldurr. Both provide strong mach punches that give you a way of threatening Porygon-Z which is probably the most important threat to beat. Azumaril is a good check to both. Mamoswine is also decent, getting both stealth rocks and ice shard.
Talking about hazards, Toxapex performs absurdly well in the meta. Being able to both take hits well, and dish out tons of damage thanks to Merciless really makes it less passive and funner to play.
And that's all I have to say about the meta so far. The meta is clearly an extremely offensive one at the moment and I'm interested in seeing how its future develops.
I pointed this situation out because Clefable is generally regarded as a tough special wall, especially if it has Unaware, which it always will in this meta by definition. Pory-Z just has that much power to it. It's definitely not banworthy, though, IMO. It's perfectly possible to handle it with commonly used Pokemon.
Excadrill , Mienshao, and Yanmega are going to be so good here!
Excadrill was already banned - and yes it was amazing. Mienshao is decent, but I feel Conkeldurr is superior. Yanmega is solid if you can keep the Stealth Rock away.
Alola Nintales with aurora veil and leftovers could be annoying if you made it specially defensive
Can we ban Porygon-Z? If you let it get a free turn, you lose. There's no real counterplay. If you let your Koko or whatever KO a threat, there's a good chance it can't also deal with an omniboosted Ghost-type monstrosity. Clef is hardly an answer: you have to hope for low rolls, no SpDef drops, no crits, all while boosting with Cosmic Power and slowly tanking hits until your Stored Power can be a 2HKO. At which point your answer to the myriad other threats is sufficiently worn down to the point of uselessness; or, you have enough boosts to Charge Beam and Stored Power your way to victory. I got to the high 1200s (top 100 on this ladder) before the strategy of Aurora Veil+Snow Veil Ninetales (which is its own brand of shit) into P-Z was getting used against me, with equal effectiveness and equal brainlessness. I'm not good at battling, so I know that when I'm getting up in points, it's probably because something is fucky. P-Z is too easy and too centralizing and should be banned.
Not sure on Clef, but also leaning towards a ban. The Cosmic Power set is almost always a win button. But feel free to tell me I'm wrong and why. The only decent answers I've seen are random sweepers with Poison or Steel coverage, just for Clef (even that isn't consistent unless it's from a Choiced attack).
Not sure on Clef, but also leaning towards a ban. The Cosmic Power set is almost always a win button. But feel free to tell me I'm wrong and why. The only decent answers I've seen are random sweepers with Poison or Steel coverage, just for Clef (even that isn't consistent unless it's from a Choiced attack).
Beyond Porygon-Z, I want to make a potentially more controversial suspect nomination: Conkeldurr. This monster dominates the meta and every team needs a way to beat it. It's triple ability threat makes it exceedingly tough to switch into and STAB priority means its slow speed isn't much of an issue.
Its presence is also meta defining in another way. There is a stunning lack of dark types and fighting types spread through out the meta. The only dark type I've regularly seen is Greninja and the only other fighting types I've regularly seen are Hawlucha and Heracross (and one guy running a surprisingly effective Mega Medicham).
In my experience this excludes the use of Pokemon like Krookodile that is a decently effective Pokemon in the meta excepting the weakness to Conkeldurr. I'm certain I can think of more potential threats if I gave myself the time to test more. The point being that I think there are two bottlenecks on teams: The oft talked about Porygon Z and the omnipresent Conkeldurr and I'm not sure Conkeldurr's centralization should be ignored just because Porygon-Z is more immediately threatening.
Its presence is also meta defining in another way. There is a stunning lack of dark types and fighting types spread through out the meta. The only dark type I've regularly seen is Greninja and the only other fighting types I've regularly seen are Hawlucha and Heracross (and one guy running a surprisingly effective Mega Medicham).
In my experience this excludes the use of Pokemon like Krookodile that is a decently effective Pokemon in the meta excepting the weakness to Conkeldurr. I'm certain I can think of more potential threats if I gave myself the time to test more. The point being that I think there are two bottlenecks on teams: The oft talked about Porygon Z and the omnipresent Conkeldurr and I'm not sure Conkeldurr's centralization should be ignored just because Porygon-Z is more immediately threatening.
not anymore
I think you're far overestimating the presence of Ghost Z-Conversion on Pory-Z. Bulky Specs is just as viable a set, on account of being able to switch out without penalizing its damage output, but it remains Normal type and dies in a snap to Mach Punch Breloom thanks to Technician. If you're struggling with Ghost Z-Conversion, your best bet is to use slow bulk to go second (rendering Analytic null which will save you a lot of pain) and hit back with supereffective coverage of some kind. Remember, Z-Conversion cannot switch without ganking damage output, and boosted or not, Pory-Z doesn't take hits too hot.
Hey, I've been playing this meta a fair bit recently and it's a lot of fun. I'll probably leave a more detailed post later but I just wanted to give some quick thoughts on some mons in this meta.
This Pokemon is absolutely insane. Great bulk, and Magic Guard / Unaware is just an amazing defensive ability in general (plus Cute Charm for some general annoyance). Clefable is even better considering the amount of common threats it can check right now such as Kommo-o, non-Poison Jap Conkeldurr, Breloom, etc. I find that having something else as a rocker and using Thunder Wave to better check offensive threats like Porygon-Z to be helpful, especially because SR setters like Hippowdon or Gliscor form really good defensive cores with this. Definitely a top 3 mon in my opinion, and something that can fit on the vast majority of teams.
Another really good mon. Drain Punch / Poison Jab/ Knock Off / Elemental Punch is extremely threatening to most Pokemon in the tier after a Guts boost, and Conkeldurr's decent bulk allow it to usually take a hit as well. Similar to Clefable in that it can fit on the vast majority of teams and can form a good core with Clefable as well, pressuring Steel-types that like to switch into it. Its main flaws are slow speed and 4MSS because it's also really nice to put Mach Punch on there.
Reuniclus is actually kind of slept on in this game tbh, because I barely see anyone use it (on ladder, anyway) But basically Reuniclus does its thing, but Regenerator just gives it even more longevity as well as making it more safe to set up even if the other team has a Dark-type. Overcoat can be useful versus Breloom but that's about it. Reuniclus benefits in the same way that Clefable does in that it is really good against a Fighting-heavy meta. Use this mon more imo
M-Altaria is a really good anti-meta Pokemon. I think megas kind of turn people off because they can only have one ability once they mega but that doesn't make them any less potent. I started using this mon because Cloud Nine + Dragon / Fairy typing makes this the best rain check I could think of, and it does its job very well in that regard. This also can get free Dragon Dances against mons like Kommo-o or Gliscor, and this is generally very scary after one or two boosts. Natural Cure is also nice against a surprise Toxic or other status. Same opinion as with Reuniclus in that you should use this mon more
This Pokemon is absolutely insane. Great bulk, and Magic Guard / Unaware is just an amazing defensive ability in general (plus Cute Charm for some general annoyance). Clefable is even better considering the amount of common threats it can check right now such as Kommo-o, non-Poison Jap Conkeldurr, Breloom, etc. I find that having something else as a rocker and using Thunder Wave to better check offensive threats like Porygon-Z to be helpful, especially because SR setters like Hippowdon or Gliscor form really good defensive cores with this. Definitely a top 3 mon in my opinion, and something that can fit on the vast majority of teams.
Another really good mon. Drain Punch / Poison Jab/ Knock Off / Elemental Punch is extremely threatening to most Pokemon in the tier after a Guts boost, and Conkeldurr's decent bulk allow it to usually take a hit as well. Similar to Clefable in that it can fit on the vast majority of teams and can form a good core with Clefable as well, pressuring Steel-types that like to switch into it. Its main flaws are slow speed and 4MSS because it's also really nice to put Mach Punch on there.
Reuniclus is actually kind of slept on in this game tbh, because I barely see anyone use it (on ladder, anyway) But basically Reuniclus does its thing, but Regenerator just gives it even more longevity as well as making it more safe to set up even if the other team has a Dark-type. Overcoat can be useful versus Breloom but that's about it. Reuniclus benefits in the same way that Clefable does in that it is really good against a Fighting-heavy meta. Use this mon more imo
M-Altaria is a really good anti-meta Pokemon. I think megas kind of turn people off because they can only have one ability once they mega but that doesn't make them any less potent. I started using this mon because Cloud Nine + Dragon / Fairy typing makes this the best rain check I could think of, and it does its job very well in that regard. This also can get free Dragon Dances against mons like Kommo-o or Gliscor, and this is generally very scary after one or two boosts. Natural Cure is also nice against a surprise Toxic or other status. Same opinion as with Reuniclus in that you should use this mon more
I make this team,i think she's pretty interesting but if someone could rate it or improve in order to make the ultimate trick room team,that's would be very nice ! thank you
Araquanid @ Choice Band
Ability: Water Bubble
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Liquidation
- Leech Life
- Sleep Talk
- Toxic
Conkeldurr @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 240 HP / 16 Atk / 252 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Poison Jab
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Mach Punch
Cresselia @ Mental Herb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Ice Beam
- Lunar Dance
- Rain Dance
- Trick Room
Uxie @ Red Card
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 140 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Stealth Rock
- Magic Coat
- Memento
Magearna @ Electrium Z
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Fleur Cannon
- Focus Blast
- Thunderbolt
- Trick Room
Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Flare Blitz
- Shadow Bone
- Bonemerang
- Substitute
Araquanid @ Choice Band
Ability: Water Bubble
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Liquidation
- Leech Life
- Sleep Talk
- Toxic
Conkeldurr @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 240 HP / 16 Atk / 252 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Poison Jab
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Mach Punch
Cresselia @ Mental Herb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Ice Beam
- Lunar Dance
- Rain Dance
- Trick Room
Uxie @ Red Card
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 140 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Stealth Rock
- Magic Coat
- Memento
Magearna @ Electrium Z
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Fleur Cannon
- Focus Blast
- Thunderbolt
- Trick Room
Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Flare Blitz
- Shadow Bone
- Bonemerang
- Substitute
Not a fan of Araquanid personally, it’s not bad but it struggles do do much to anything that resists Water. Personally I’d suggest replacing it with Mega Mawile. Why do you have such little investment on Conkeldurr? You don’t have long to take advantage of trick room, so you’re better off just running max attack and Max HP. Cresselia looks fine, although I’d run moonlight over rain dance so you can set up trick room throughout the match. Uxie is just plain bad, I would suggest replacing it with Reuniclus - in this meta It has magic guard, regenerator and overcoat. If you need something that can also set up Stealth Rock, Bronzong can do that too - it also gets both Levitate and Heatproof. Marowak is great But I think you’re better off running swords dance instead of substitute. Hope that helps!
thank you kindly i post this team for improving her but also to let peoples have some samples *sorry for my english* by the way there is the Version 2 of my team
Conkeldurr @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Poison Jab
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Mach Punch
Cresselia @ Mental Herb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Ice Beam
- Lunar Dance
- Rain Dance
- Trick Room
Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Psyshock
- Trick Room
Bronzong @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Explosion
- Gyro Ball
- Stealth Rock
- Trick Room
Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance
Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Flare Blitz
- Shadow Bone
- Bonemerang
- Substitute
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1) Please, give me a case for keeping Ninetales-A. http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebilities-860034270
2) Porygon-Z needs to go. It's on the cusp with Z-Conversion, which is hilarious because Conversion is probably its weakest set.
Porygon-Z @ Choice Specs
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tri Attack
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Trick
This is the only set I've run besides a few different Conversions, none of which impressed me THAT much. Absolutely nothing switches in besides 4/252 Chansey, which you can Trick. I saw Scarf once, and I bet NP or Agility are also viable.
2) Porygon-Z needs to go. It's on the cusp with Z-Conversion, which is hilarious because Conversion is probably its weakest set.
Porygon-Z @ Choice Specs
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tri Attack
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Trick
This is the only set I've run besides a few different Conversions, none of which impressed me THAT much. Absolutely nothing switches in besides 4/252 Chansey, which you can Trick. I saw Scarf once, and I bet NP or Agility are also viable.
Don’t get why people hating on Porygon-Z when I think it’s kind of overrated just because it hits harder. It still has all the issues it have in OU. Idk what makes it a better wallbreaker than Tapu Lele, which is still very excellent even if it doesn’t benefit from the meta. It also got an ability that shuts down Conk and Azu’s priorities where these two mons are rampant.
The Stored Power Clefable set is literally the worst one available, as its a Fairy type that can't beat Dark types. And Clef needs alot of turns before it starts walling everything, so the list of powerful wallbreakers that the meta provides should be able to handle it well. If your consistently losing to CP Clefable, your building wrong.
As to PZ, I dont have that big of an issue with it. I run priority, and its outsped by every viable Scarfer, so it shouldn't be that hard to deal with offensively.
You should be careful which Scarfers/priority you're using to deal with a Pory, though, as if you're outspeeding you are running the risk of eating Analytic boosted damage, and with how much Tri Attack can hit neutrally it's likely Adaptability boosted too. Add in the possibility of Specs and a SpAtk boost from Download and it's nightmarish damage that means if you're moving first you're moving to kill.
Deoxys D, when legal, made spikes offense absurdly strong. How would unbanning it make the meta any less offensive? If anything it would skew it further towards offensive due to having such a potent and reliable setter.
I seem to be having a bit of trouble with the abilities in this game being active at the same time. Like for instance, I'm trying out a raticate, which should have both hustle AND guts, but whenever I look at it's stats, it either has + attack (361 attack) and reduced accuracy when I select hustle as the main ability, and when I'm burned it says it has negative attack, or I select guts, and I don't have reduced accuracy from hustle. A similar glitch occurs with hawlucha, if unburden is not the ability selected in the teambuilder, it won't get it's speed boost from unburnden
That's just a quirk with how it's coded, and is purely visual. Rest assured it works fine in game!
Hammerhead96 implies that neither mon works fine in-game under conditions where they should (with the statements "when I'm burned it says it has negative attack" and "won't get it's speed boost from unburnden"), although replays would be nice and absurd luck with Hustle is possible.
tapu lele is weaker than porygon z and is pivoted into by reunicles. The only thing that actually can withstand specs porygon z is spedef chansey and porygon z rarely has to predict anything and is usually free to just fire off a tri attack and kill something whereas lele might have to decide between hp fire moonblast and psyshock. porygon z is way better and if you like tapu lele better thats fine but you should recognize that porygon z is objectively superior at wallbreaking.