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So, weather wars have shaken up a fair amount. Weather will always be one of the more common playstyles in pokebilities with some of the really cool weather abusing ability combinations there are, so thought this would be a good starting point. Anyway, hope this was an enjoyable read. I've been sitting on some fried chicken I made for about ten minutes to finish writing this and I finally need to eat it, so I'll be back on the forums sometime soon
Great analysis, glad to see mons like sandslash and mammoswine getting some use, and a crawdaunt meta looks intimidating, even if part of me wishes it appeared more outside of rain. Can’t wait to see how DLC2 shapes things!
I know this technically thematically wouldn’t fit in the thread, but as a fellow fried chicken enjoyer, would you post your recipe? I’d like to try it :)
Been a while, but I'm back again to talk about another pokemon. One that hasn't got looked at much since release at that. Mamoswine. One of the most terrifying ice types and a mon that actually resists bolt beam, let's talk about how it abuses the meta gimmick.
Firstly, we have to mention how Mamo is obviously a frontrunner on snow teams. Base 110 HP and base 80 defense with the 1.5x defense multiplier in snow makes Mamoswine shockingly bulky, even without investment, which can even be extended to the special side if you want to run Assault Vest.
Of course, snow's defense boost isn't the only new thing Mamoswine got. Now let's take a look offensively. One of the most underrated buffs that Mamoswine got was Smack Down. This allows you to smack mons like all Rotom forms, Bronzong, and Corviknight to the ground, making them weak to Earthquake. This makes it significantly more difficult to switch into Mamoswine then it already was, especially with both Rotom and Bronzong being completely reliant on Leftovers or Rest for recovery. And even on top of that, there is more to love offensively. If you don't like missing Icicle Crash, but want big damage, Loaded Dice works amazing with Icicle Spear and Rock Blast. Even that isn't all Mamo got, though. While snow assist in covering a weaker area for Mamoswine and Loaded Dice covers the reliable power area (no more 10% miss on Icicle Crash or 20% miss on Stone Edge), there still remains one important thing.
Mamoswine's speed still is sub par. Even this, though, has a solid remedy that simultaneously hits Rotom Wash for super effective damage, Trailblaze. Trailblaze allowing Mamo to patch up it's lower speed is amazing to make it a potential wincon for many games.
So, defensively, it is much better due to snow, offensively it is more consistent due to Loaded Dice, and speed wise it is more threatening thanks to Trailblaze.
Now since we finished tackling buffs from this generation, let's see how they work with the meta gimmick.
Ok, I mentioned resisting bolt beam earlier, and this is due to Thick Fat. Unfortunately, while resisting ice and electric is amazing, the only other thing you resist is poison. However, if you are willing to use the extremely valuable resource that is tera on Mamoswine, you can easily make it's defensive profile better, simultaneously giving it more options to hit the field. Pairing terastalization with Thick Fat can often lead to crazy results. For instance, if you tera fairy, Mamo hits the poison and ground types that fairy fears super effectively (and Corviknight doesn't run steel stab).
So, we've gotten across that Thick Fat is amazing. What about Oblivious? Oblivious isn't such a massive deal on paper, but when you look more at the amount of pokemon with Intimidate that get common usage, you start to understand how good it can be. Lando T, Gyarados, Salamence, the Arcanines, the Tauros forms, Krookodile, Overqwil, Staraptor, all at least have a place in the meta and all except Lando T take advantage of multiple abilities. To compound this, the immunity to Taunt, while not the most important thing ever, can still be helpful on Substitute sets so you don't have to worry about your Sub being randomly stopped, easing prediction and allowing you to easier wreak havoc afterwards.
Finally, Snow Cloak. I don't think anyone has to mention how dumb this can be at this point. Snow now boosts your defense AND you have a chance to dodge any attack? Dodged a Wisp from a Rotom? Now Rotom is smacked down and ready for Earthquake or High Horsepower. Now you have a speed boost from Trailblaze. Now you have a sub up and they need to switch. Now you got an extra 28% from an Icicle Crash. The amount of really ridiculous things that can happen because of one missed turn is already crazy, but compounding that with a speed boost makes Mamoswine a really underlooked winner from the DLC.
Overall, with things like Snow, Smack Down, Trailblaze, and tera (even though tera counteracts snow), Mamo has potential to be a huge threat, even despite having many scary matchups. Likely won't be too common, but don't sleep on it
I really like this OM and it’s sad that it doesn’t get that much attention (leader’s choice when) but uhhhhh… (i can’t come up with another way to end the sentence, sorry)
The Porygons and Reuniclus are appearantly coming back in dlc 2 and I’m really exited to see how they will perform with both having 1 great/excellent ability and 2 good ones
bye
(sorry for the low quality post, I just wanted to share that i really like this OM and then it turned into this, I’ve already tried more than i should to salvage this post so I’ll just leave it as it is)
Been a while, but I'm back again to talk about another pokemon. One that hasn't got looked at much since release at that. Mamoswine. One of the most terrifying ice types and a mon that actually resists bolt beam, let's talk about how it abuses the meta gimmick.
Firstly, we have to mention how Mamo is obviously a frontrunner on snow teams. Base 110 HP and base 80 defense with the 1.5x defense multiplier in snow makes Mamoswine shockingly bulky, even without investment, which can even be extended to the special side if you want to run Assault Vest.
Of course, snow's defense boost isn't the only new thing Mamoswine got. Now let's take a look offensively. One of the most underrated buffs that Mamoswine got was Smack Down. This allows you to smack mons like all Rotom forms, Bronzong, and Corviknight to the ground, making them weak to Earthquake. This makes it significantly more difficult to switch into Mamoswine then it already was, especially with both Rotom and Bronzong being completely reliant on Leftovers or Rest for recovery. And even on top of that, there is more to love offensively. If you don't like missing Icicle Crash, but want big damage, Loaded Dice works amazing with Icicle Spear and Rock Blast. Even that isn't all Mamo got, though. While snow assist in covering a weaker area for Mamoswine and Loaded Dice covers the reliable power area (no more 10% miss on Icicle Crash or 20% miss on Stone Edge), there still remains one important thing.
Mamoswine's speed still is sub par. Even this, though, has a solid remedy that simultaneously hits Rotom Wash for super effective damage, Trailblaze. Trailblaze allowing Mamo to patch up it's lower speed is amazing to make it a potential wincon for many games.
So, defensively, it is much better due to snow, offensively it is more consistent due to Loaded Dice, and speed wise it is more threatening thanks to Trailblaze.
Now since we finished tackling buffs from this generation, let's see how they work with the meta gimmick.
Ok, I mentioned resisting bolt beam earlier, and this is due to Thick Fat. Unfortunately, while resisting ice and electric is amazing, the only other thing you resist is poison. However, if you are willing to use the extremely valuable resource that is tera on Mamoswine, you can easily make it's defensive profile better, simultaneously giving it more options to hit the field. Pairing terastalization with Thick Fat can often lead to crazy results. For instance, if you tera fairy, Mamo hits the poison and ground types that fairy fears super effectively (and Corviknight doesn't run steel stab).
So, we've gotten across that Thick Fat is amazing. What about Oblivious? Oblivious isn't such a massive deal on paper, but when you look more at the amount of pokemon with Intimidate that get common usage, you start to understand how good it can be. Lando T, Gyarados, Salamence, the Arcanines, the Tauros forms, Krookodile, Overqwil, Staraptor, all at least have a place in the meta and all except Lando T take advantage of multiple abilities. To compound this, the immunity to Taunt, while not the most important thing ever, can still be helpful on Substitute sets so you don't have to worry about your Sub being randomly stopped, easing prediction and allowing you to easier wreak havoc afterwards.
Finally, Snow Cloak. I don't think anyone has to mention how dumb this can be at this point. Snow now boosts your defense AND you have a chance to dodge any attack? Dodged a Wisp from a Rotom? Now Rotom is smacked down and ready for Earthquake or High Horsepower. Now you have a speed boost from Trailblaze. Now you have a sub up and they need to switch. Now you got an extra 28% from an Icicle Crash. The amount of really ridiculous things that can happen because of one missed turn is already crazy, but compounding that with a speed boost makes Mamoswine a really underlooked winner from the DLC.
Overall, with things like Snow, Smack Down, Trailblaze, and tera (even though tera counteracts snow), Mamo has potential to be a huge threat, even despite having many scary matchups. Likely won't be too common, but don't sleep on it
i’m so hyped for mamoswine in pokebilities. I’ve been having a ton of fun with it over in STABmons (loaded dice bone rush go brrr) and i’ve found that tera grass works really well for a few reasons. first and foremost, thick fat makes it work really well defensively. secondly, giving it stab on trailblaze is a nice bonus that can get some surprise kills. this thing is gonna be a MONSTER in snow. watch out people, the ice age is back :)
The Porygons and Reuniclus are appearantly coming back in dlc 2 and I’m really exited to see how they will perform with both having 1 great/excellent ability and 2 good ones
PZ has been banned since gen 7 pokebilities, so it's unlikely we'll get to see it in action. The only thing that walled it before was Blissey, which got crippled by Trick, and even though Garg exists now, it's also vulnerable to Trick as as tera fighting Tera Blast. However, the other two will definitely be relevant.
P2 is going to be one of the most reliable Trick Room setters as well as just e really good bulky utility mon, even despite the tragic loss of Teleport and Toxic as well as the Recover PP nerf. Even on a bulky Mon, the Download boost if they have lower SpDef is still nice. Trace can also be really nice to copy things like Neutralizing Gas from a Geezing or Flash Fire from a Heatran. Finally, Analytic is always nice for slower mons for a solid power boost, which, again, is helpful even on bulky mons. P2 was nerfed incredibly hard, yes, but it does still retain some great qualities that I do believe will let it retain some role, especially with terastalization.
Finally, Reuniclus. We thought it'd lose Knock, but that may not end up being the case with the return of the move. It did lose Toxic, but it rarely used Toxic anyway. The Recover nerf is rather unfortunate, but it is far from a nail in any coffin, let alone the one Reuniclus will never enter in this meta. Stored Power, Calm Mind, Assault Vest, status spreader, general utility, 3 attacks, Knock spammer (if it keeps Knock), Future Sight, Encore. The only thing it guaranteed lost and can't do anymore is trap through Infestation. Even without trapping, though, Reun has so many different roles it fits into and has great success with. Probably going to best in the meta when everything settles down.
Even in a post DLC meta, this thing will be crazy good. I'm not going to go on another rant about it, but rather just explain the set. Moveset is pretty typical, just with Substitute instead of Taunt or Rest. I used to always have Lum Berry as item, but I've found Punching Glove is more helpful because the help against contact punishment. Clod and Amoongus were already common switchins, but Zapdos, Moltres, and Heatran. This also helps against Rough Skin/Iron Barbs and Rocky Helmet punishment. Of course, the downside is that you don't have the one get out of jail free card, but I do think Glove is overall better because of avoiding contact punishment. The boost to Drain Punch and Rage Fist may only be 10%, but it is still noteworthy, even if a lesser reason for Punching Glove compared to blanking contact punishment. The tera type could be several different things, but I've narrowed it down to four choices... Which is still a lot.
Firstly, fire to prevent burns. Now, I know Substitute helps this a ton, but there are a handful of Infiltrator users, and most have Will-O-Wisp. Most notably, Dragapult, but in the pre-home pokebilities meta, Spiritomb ended up being seen pretty commonly, mostly to Wisp Ape behind a Sub. Other than these two, Brambleghast was almost never seen pre-home, but with the addition of Poltergeist and it's ability to completely blank Zapdos often times, it could definitely rise to be an offensive utility mon which could Wisp Ape. Finally, Chandelure. This thing is terrifying for any and all Ape sets if your Ape isn't faster. It's unlikely that Chandelure will go for Wisp instead of Shadow Ball against Ape, but there's always the chance another player predicts a different tera type.
Fairy and water are basic amazing defensive types that give you many switchin opportunities.
So is steel chopped liver? Of course not, steel is even better than water and fairy defensively, but the reason I have it as an option is for one specific thing, not being crippled by Toxic. If you can't be poisoned before you set up Sub, you don't have to worry about healing it off with Rest or Lum Berry.
Of course, all of these types will have their benefits, but just go with whatever fits best on your team.
So, what are the EVs for? Well, I kind of just took the suggested spread and modified it, trading out SpDef EVs for speed EVs in order to outspeed max speed Adamant Breloom. It can be optimized further to outspeed things like Adamant Rillaboom, but you do have to make a tough decision for what's enough bulk and what's enough speed that, again, depends on team.
Finally, there's one thing that made me want to do this more, a certain pokemon rising through the tiering ranks; Ribombee. Not only does Ape benefit from the opposing team being slower, but Ape also gets +2 attack from entering on Sticky Web. This meta shift can help Ape become even more scary than it already was, even if we ignore that Ape can Spin block before it uses tera.
So, felt like building a team using a more unique mon, but had no clue what to do. Then I decided it doesn't have to be a unique mon exactly, maybe just a unique set. That's where I decided to make a team based around offensive Bronzong. So, let's get into the roles each pokemon provide.
Bronzong- A typically defensive Mon that I'm using offensively. Max attack, max defense, Brave nature, 0 speed IVs. No, I'm not using Gyro Ball, but rather Heavy Slam because Heavy Metal (just watch out for Low Kick Gambit if you've already used your tera). Along with that, the obvious Body Press because it takes advantage of Bronzong's good defense. Zen Headbutt for obvious psychic stab. Then is where I got conflicted. There was the choice between a few moves, but I chose Payback over the likes of Earthquake and Trick Room. The reason for this was because every single pokemon that resists all of Zen Headbutt, Body Press, and Heavy Slam is either a psychic type or a ghost type, both of which Payback hit super effectively, and with Bronzong's low speed, it can smack something like a Gholdengo or Slowking hard on the switchin. Tera steel to boost Heavy Slam even further and remove the tragic ghost and dark weaknesses.
Hisuian Qwilfish- Another really weird pick, but I thought it would pair well with Bronzong. Qwil H soaks up the dark and ghost type moves Bronzong hates while Bronzong absorbs the ground moves Qwil H doesn't want to take. Along with that, Qwil can sets hazards, spread Toxic to weaken opponents into Bronzong range, and even Taunt opponents so they can't set up on Bronzong's switchin or burn it with Will-O-Wisp. Max HP max SpDef because it already has Intimidate and Shadow Ball is more common than Crunch. Tera grass for ground resist instead of a weaknes.There is one big problem with both of these mons, though, and that's a lack of reliable recovery. That is where the next Mon comes in
Alomomola- So, while Bronzong is mostly supposed to be an offensive mon, it does obviously still have defensive utility as a steel type that isn't weak to fire and is immune to ground, so I wanted some way to help intake hits other than just Leftovers. Enter Alomomola. Basic set, Scald+Flip Turn+Protect+Wish+Boots+fairy tera. Heals itself and teammates, provides momentum, can spread burn with Scald. Not much to say about it other than I built a couple of the other members around this already existing core.
Tusk- Not quite obligatory, but always a great pick. This went through several variants from defensive utility to Assault Vest, but I finally landed on offensive Rocks. I knew I needed a Rocks setter and Tusk is always one of the better ones. Rapid Spin to remove opposing hazards, Earthquake for stab, and Ice Spinner to deal with flying and grass types that have a resistance/immunity to Earthquake. Doesn't require the support from Mola, but having a way other than only Leftovers to recover will always be incredibly helpful. Tera water to resist ice and water type moves
Azumarill- At this point, I wanted to focus more on offense. Bronzong and Tusk may be offensive sets, but they also have a ton of defensive use and then there's Qwil H and Mola which are mostly defense with some way to apply pressure. Because of this, I went with one of the top Pokebilities mons since the meta first dropped in any meta years back, Azu. Tera ground for the insane defensive profile, resisting poison, fire, and rock while being immune to both grass and electric with its ability combination. I went for Vest to not be restricted to one move each time I attack and bolster my defenses at the same time. Basic stabs, priority, and then Knock to hit all of Amoongus, Toxapez, and Clodsire neutrally and remove their items instead of having to choose between Ice Spinner and ground tera Blast.
Dragapult- And after so long, the last mon. Not much to say here, just using Pult as my special attacker. Specs to give it nuke capability once normal and dark types are removed, Flamethrower to hit Gambit, U-Turn for momentum, and stabs. Tera ghost is to bolster Shadow Ball's strength and make it even harder to switch into.
So, we've ran through the roles of the team members, what about the goal of the team? What's it supposed to do?
My idea for what the team's goal would be is to force switches with Dragapult and Azumarill and give switchin opportunities for Tusk and Qwil H to come in and set hazards, eventually putting everything in a range for a Bronzong cleanup while Alomomola is in the back to play medic if the team gets too battered.
Hope the team analysis was helpful. As always, any questions or criticisms are welcome
Now that DLC2 is out, I think it's time to temporarily revive the thread with a discussion of some returning or new mons. Let's just get right into this. I will only be doing a few each time I make a forum post to not have one gigantic post of 30+ pokemon, so it will take a few weeks, but might as well start right here.
Porygon-Z: This thing has always done the same thing in this meta and will likely continue its rampage if reallowed (thankfully, we didn't have to go through that with PZ or the next mon during last gen), but exactly what was its rampage and why was it so terrifying? PZ's ability combination makes it one of the most nuclear threats in the meta. It didn't have a ton of bulk and its speed wasn't the best, only base 90, but the offensive capability would make Batman terrified. Adaptability is already scary on a mon with base 135 special attack, but it gets even scarier. If it switches in on a mon that just so happens to have worse SpDef than PhysDef, it gets a free special attack boost, and we're not even done yet. You can't even switch out on it because its moves do 30% more damage if it moves last in a turn, and that includes if you switch. And it just got even better this gen. Normal isn't the best offensive type, but with terastalization, you get Adaptability on whatever type you want. As a bonus, you can run Tera Blast as a stab in any situation. If you haven't used your tera, its still normal type, but if you do use your tera on PZ, Tera Blast changes to your tera type. The main argument in the past was that Blissey still walled it, and this gen, some may try to say Garg and Gholdy are walls, but there are some key factors to keep in mind. Many PZ sets are Choice Scarf+Trick for this reason, which will completely cripple Blissey and Garg, nullifying them as checks. Another important thing to keep in mind is that PZ is faster than Gholdy and can run Shadow Ball or Dark Pulse to get an easy 2HKO before tera is even taken into account. PZ is definitely going to either wreck the meta or get banned before it gets the chance
Excadrill: In terms of Excadrill, it didn't gain much unlike PZ, but it didn't really need to gain much. Tera is nice to boost your already strong stabs or, if you go with tera rock, give a stab boost to Rock Slide and a free 50% SpDef boost, but it is far from necessary in any scenario. There is an argument for Corviknight being a counter, but that status as a counter fades pretty quickly if Drill gets an SD in sand. +2 252+ Atk Life Orb Excadrill Rock Slide vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 168-198 (42.1 - 49.6%) -- 24.2% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery. +2 252+ Atk Life Orb Tera Rock Excadrill Rock Slide vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 251-296 (62.9 - 74.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery. Other than Corv, some may argue that Kanto Weezing is a counter with tera steel, but if the only counter to one specific mon that is already used as a check for multiple other pokemon and has trouble with longevity is your only check AND it's forced to expend one of your most valuable resources in any battle in order to successfully check the given threat, it just isn't realistic or healthy for a metagame.
Reuniclus: This thing was already the uncontested number two last gen and it just got better this gen. It did lose Toxic and Infestation, but it also gained tera and a potentially terrifying new move in Psychic Voice, which has a mediocre base power of 75, but a petrifying secondary effect of disabling any recovery from the opponent. Let's say something like a Zapdos switches in on Psychic Noise from an offensive 4 attacks Reun (specifically max SpAtk Modest Life Orb), it can't Roost and is forced to either eat another hit and try to fire back, being left at under 40%, or switch out, which potentially lets the Reun get a massive hit on something, for instance, a Psychic from the same set hitting Clef hard when Zap switches out. Tera is amazing to allow Reun to change its typing from the defensively mediocre psychic to a much better defensive type such as water, fairy, or steel. I'm not sure if this will push Reun over the edge or if it will even be used that much, but it is definitely a huge deal. Even without Psychic Noise, though, Reun is always going to be top 10 in the meta after everything settles. Even with the Recover nerf, Reun still has versatility better than the heavy majority of other pokemon while simultaneously excelling at each role if played properly. Trick Room abuser, para spreader, Knock spam, wallbreaker, crit me not sweeper, impenetrable wall, Future Sight, Calm Mind setup, there is so much that Reun can do, but isn't forced to do, making it an undeniable top tier in any pokebilities meta.
Cinccino: Originally, we thought this would lose Triple Axel and Knock Off. However, not only did it maintain both, it also got one of the best setup moves ever put into competitive singles, Tidy Up. I've seen many people online talk about how scary this would be with Loaded Dice+Technician, but in pokebilities, you don't have to run Loaded Dice. Now, last gen, I was quite vocal with my thoughts on Cinccino, calling it a noob bait pokemon. It looks like a clear top tier pokemon in the meta due to raw strength of its moves, but in all actuality, it was held back by a lot and required a ton of support to get good results. Has Tidy Up changed this? I'd say yes, but only ever so slightly. If you don't want to be left wanting more power, Tidy Up is an amazing option, but you also lose one coverage move, which isn't the end of the world, but can make it hard to pick and choose. Cinccino still has its issues with contact punishment, of course, but with one of its biggest counters, Ferrothorn, being gone, it makes it much less of an issue. Compounding on top of that, Rocky Helmet isn't as common of an item as it once was. It does have its users such as Lando T, Tusk, Amoongus, and Corviknight, but for all of the given examples except Amoongus, other items are far more common. However, Helmet wasn't the only contact punisher. You still have to worry about a Garcohmp switching in on Tail Slap if you don't have Triple Axel as well as contact punishing abilities such as Amoongus's Effect Spore, Zapdos's Static, Clodire's Poison Point, or Moltres and Heatran's Flame Body. However, although contact punishment is still a big issue, it's not as insurmountable as it was last generation for Cinccino considering the lower amount of pokemon that can punish contact moves. As for getting crippled by hazards, Tidy Up straight gets rid of them, so you can clear them for Cinccino itself later in the game and your other pokemon all at the same time, which is huge in the hazard dominated meta we have. Lastly, the status issue. Cinccino still has issues with mostly paralysis and burn, but even other status such as confusion or poison is always a big hindrance. With Cinccino not being forced into Pads or Boots as much as it was last gen, it has an easier time slotting in Lum Berry to help with status or it can burn a tera fire or tera electric to stop the status and continue pumping out damage. Speaking of tera, not only is it great for status prevention, it can also help Cinccino in situations where it's vying for some extra power. Need a bit more Bullet Seed damage on Dondozo? Tera grass. Need that extra push against Tusk, Gliscor, Chomp, and Landorus? Tera ice. Want to make that chance to 2HKO Heatran after Rocks guaranteed? Tera rock for the assistance. Is Cinccino the best mon in the meta? Absolutely not, and I don't even think it is top 5 if we're being completely honest. However, with the few buffs it got, it became far better and much less of a noob bait pokemon.
And that ends it for tonight. it's 4:48 AM for me and I have to be at work at 3 PM tomorrow, so it's probably best I end it here. I'll be continuing on with some other mons in these next few weeks, but if anyone has anything to add or input on their own thoughts, please discuss. I'd love to see life breathed into this glorious meta again.
As we're continuing on with the mons, how about we tackle one of the new ones? My personal favorite from the new pokemon that came with the DLC, Hydrapple.
So, what exactly makes Hydrapple noteworthy? Well, it may not seem like much at first, but its ability combination is shockingly great.
Everyone knows how great Regen is, I don't think I need to mention it at that point. However what do it's other abilities do to supplement that? Well, a few things.
First, the less helpful of the two abilities, Supersweet Syrup, is still shockingly helpful sometimes, even if not the most widely applicable. A good example is coming in on a Heatran that thinks it can wall you, and after Supersweet Syrup activates, its evasion is low enough for Hydro Pump to be a guaranteed hit. It also assists with Draco Meteor and Leaf Storm accuracy issues. So, a mildly useful ability to assist an amazing ability, is the last ability really THAT helpful?
Shockingly, yes. With the return of Knock Off in DLC1, Sticky Hold has become really helpful on any Mon that can run it, and with Hydrapple having the option, its items can do so much for it. The fact that Hydrapple can run so many different items just makes Sticky Hold even more helpful as well. Rocky Helmet, Leftovers, Assault Vest, and Boots for defensive sets are there to stay and if you choose to go offensive, you don't have to worry about losing your Life Orb or Choice item that would make a ton of progress in the game.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Hydrapple will be the best thing ever, all I'm saying is that I definitely think it has its own merit. One thing that was easy to notice in both pokebilities and base OU is that ice coverage isn't close to as common as it was in prior generations, meaning that your biggest weakness isn't going to be as much of a big deal. Of course, grass/dragon still has a lot of other big weaknesses. Fairy, dragon, flying, poison, bug, it isn't just something that can switch in on anything. However, it does have some nice resistances. A 4x resistance to all of grass, electric, and water, and a ground resistance is all Incredibly helpful. Yes, dragon doesn't add any resistances, but while it does give you two more weaknesses and amplify another, it also turns the fire weakness into a neutrality. One huge thing for Hydrapple is that all of its weaknesses are resisted by a single type, that being steel, so if you want to cover for your own weaknesses, you don't even have to worry about becoming a terrible type like bug.
So, we've covered abilities and defense, what about offense? Of course, dragon isn't the best offensively, but it's still scary. Only two types that resist it, one of them being immune to it, means it hits a lot neutrally. The extra ability to smack bulky waters and bulky grounds in the same fell swoop with a stab move is also a huge benefit for any pokemon. Even for the mons it only hits neutrally, you want to be careful about giving it free turns as it has a base special attack of 120, Nasty Plot, and high base power stabs with Draco Meteor and Leaf Storm. Shockingly, its coverage is fairly solid as well. Other than stabs and Tera Blast, it still has Earthquake, Earth Power, Body Press, Gyro Ball, and Hydro Pump. Not the most varied, but the amount of options is still nice, especially considering how much those coverage moves hit neutrally or super effectively.
So, how do I think Hydrapple will do in pokebilities? I can't be too sure at the moment because we haven't seen this meta actually play out since pre-home, but I definitely think it has potential. It definitely won't be the best, but I think it absolutely is viable and solid
This meta is borked after HOME + DLCs. Weather reigns supreme and will probably need some degree of addressing when this OM comes around again. I'm super into sand in particular so here's some buffs it got with the new mons
This thing is criminal but I shouldn't have to say it.
Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush/Sand Force/Mold Breaker
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin/Rock Slide
- Iron Head
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
Has speed control, immediate power, set up potential, Spins, and mold breaker just in case Unaware mons get uppity when you set up. I imagine this eats a ban? Regardless it's nice to have a mon that goes bar for bar with Basculegion in Rain, Bax in snow, and every past paradox in sun.
(Pretend this is arch)
Archaludon @ Assault Vest/Leftovers
Ability: Stamina
Tera Type: Fairy/Flying (Tera Steel is a genuinely defensible option here to stonewall bax even harder)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Body Press
- Draco Meteor
- Flash Cannon
- Electro Shot/Thunderbolt
The new kid on the block doesn't get anything huge from the OM but will likely still be an invaluable fixture on both Rain and Sand. It provides an invaluable set of resists and is suitably bulky on both sides of the spectrum to sponge attacks from key threats. Electro Shot is devastating on rain but on other weathers it helps playing into rain by blowing up things that aren't immune and even if it gets absorbed your follow up +1 draco or flash cannon will hurt.
Dura's stats are edited to match arch and Thunderbolt to Electro Shot
+1 252+ Atk Baxcalibur Icicle Spear (4 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Stamina Duraludon: 117-140 (30.4 - 36.4%) -- approx. 38.3% chance to 3HKO
+4 252+ Def Duraludon Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Baxcalibur in Snow with an ally's Aurora Veil: 205-242 (55.2 - 65.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Ice Body recovery
v Basc
252+ Atk Choice Band Adaptability Basculegion Wave Crash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Duraludon in Rain: 175-207 (45.5 - 53.9%) -- 2.3% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 0 SpA Duraludon Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Basculegion: 428-504 (112.3 - 132.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Adaptability Basculegion-F Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Duraludon: 156-184 (40.6 - 47.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
(Pretend it's Iron Boulder)
Iron Boulder @ Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat/Throat Chop
- Mighty Cleave
- Psycho Cut
This guy doesn't get anything from the OM but is still a notable pick for Sand due to Booster Speed allowing unprecedented speed control (it outruns max speed Basculegion in Rain!!!) and being a good rock type to take advantage of Sand's SpDef boost. Normal Terrakion is probably usable but it's honestly a dollar store version of Boulder. It mainly has to worry about big Aqua Jets from Azu and Legion but a tera can patch that up.
This guy is a bastard
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal/Hyper Cutter/Sand Veil
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Earthquake
- Knock Off/Sub/Wingbeat/Rocks/Spikes/Crabhammer/Swords Dance/Taunt/Toxic/U-turn/Facade/Literally anything
- Just go wild honestly
A notorious set in ye olden gen 4 OU is Sub Veil Glisc in perma sand. Now imagine that except you ALSO have Poison Heal on top of that and tera to shore up it's ice and water weakness. Glisc is already on Paldea's most wanted for it's crimes in OU and it gets markedly better in this OM by being able to blow past any conceived check if lucky enough. Tons of build variety because it learns like basically every move you could wish for but I think offensive sub or SD sets might be the call for Sand Offense but bulky variants can fit onto less aggressive teams too.
p. s. don't use this outside of sand or I might cry
Feel like gen 5 never ended with this set. Three absurdly good abilities allow Reun to be a potent defensive mon in sand. Magic Guard lets it eat status and hazards all day and regenerator enables it to come in and out as it pleases. Notable to this OM, Overcoat is very solid for playing into Breloom's spore who'll likely continue to stink up the ladder even post DLCs. There's other options for the set like stored power or eschewing recover entirely and relying on regenerator for healing to free up a moveslot.
Lightning Round Some mons that I feel have some merit but don't feel like typing too much on
I have no idea why it's doing this, pretend he's in the other spoiler tag
Intim + Flashfire + Spdef boost from sand gives the dog some solid defensive utility that it lacks in standard formats. It has a surprisingly good set of utility moves such as wisp, morning sun, and rocks to help it in this role. Hard hitting STAB + Espeed means it isn't a slouch offensively either. Big issue is that Gambit exists and Defiant triggering is disastrous even if you can wisp it in an ideal scenario.
Again this cute lil creature gets a solid spdef boost from sand which coupled with embody aspect allows it to be quite a solid defensive mon on top of it's strong offenses. Utility sets are probably decent but using it as a sweeper with defensive utility seems like the best option. Big problem here is that Sand really likes it's teras so it mildly conflicts with Ogerpon
THE BEARS are a neat couple on sand. Bloodmoon does more or less the same thing it did during its stint in OU being a bulky juggernaut that threatens to KO everything in the tier if allowed an opportunity to boost. It's immune to sand and sand itself helps it snag some KOs where it otherwise wouldn't but losing moonlight might be too big of a hurdle (And respectively this might make it a massive pain on Sun). Vanilla Luna is a but more interesting due to having 3 okayish abilities at once now. Guts is obviously very good, giving extra breaking power to the bear and turning it into a status and knock absorber. Bulletproof insulates it from a handful of niche attacks (most notable of which is bullet seed meaning it can shut down some Breloom sets with good predicts). Unnerve is even more niche but it allows you throttle Belly Drummers (eat your heart out Azu). I think both might have some place on bulkier sand teams or on some mythical Trick Room Reun/Hippo/Bear/Gambit core.
Magic Guard user in the same vein as Reuniclus but also packs unaware which is quite the tool in this format. It does more or less what it does in OU at current but even better with the addition of unaware allowing it to stonewall some of the various pesky set up sweepers in the meta. Strong glue mon but fights with Clodsire as the 'Sand Immune bulky Unaware mon' on Sand Teams. Clod makes your life easier into Rain, Clef makes your life easier into weatherless and Snow.
Okay this guy is just really funny for the Snow matchup. Thick Fat + Tera + their own snow is already a headache to deal with and snow cloak cheese is just another layer of pain. Roar/Haze + Knock allow it kill the momentum of any perspective snow sweep and it still packs a fairly decent offensive punch.
Closing Remarks: Please don't use Belly Drum Azu
Gambit is still top 1 or 2 mon in the tier
Breloom is WASHED now
This guy gets defog? Top mon in the tier and liable to get banned
This meta is borked after HOME + DLCs. Weather reigns supreme and will probably need some degree of addressing when this OM comes around again. I'm super into sand in particular so here's some buffs it got with the new mons
This thing is criminal but I shouldn't have to say it.
Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush/Sand Force/Mold Breaker
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin/Rock Slide
- Iron Head
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
Has speed control, immediate power, set up potential, Spins, and mold breaker just in case Unaware mons get uppity when you set up. I imagine this eats a ban? Regardless it's nice to have a mon that goes bar for bar with Basculegion in Rain, Bax in snow, and every past paradox in sun.
(Pretend this is arch)
Archaludon @ Assault Vest/Leftovers
Ability: Stamina
Tera Type: Fairy/Flying (Tera Steel is a genuinely defensible option here to stonewall bax even harder)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Body Press
- Draco Meteor
- Flash Cannon
- Electro Shot/Thunderbolt
The new kid on the block doesn't get anything huge from the OM but will likely still be an invaluable fixture on both Rain and Sand. It provides an invaluable set of resists and is suitably bulky on both sides of the spectrum to sponge attacks from key threats. Electro Shot is devastating on rain but on other weathers it helps playing into rain by blowing up things that aren't immune and even if it gets absorbed your follow up +1 draco or flash cannon will hurt.
Dura's stats are edited to match arch and Thunderbolt to Electro Shot
+1 252+ Atk Baxcalibur Icicle Spear (4 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Stamina Duraludon: 117-140 (30.4 - 36.4%) -- approx. 38.3% chance to 3HKO
+4 252+ Def Duraludon Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Baxcalibur in Snow with an ally's Aurora Veil: 205-242 (55.2 - 65.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Ice Body recovery
v Basc
252+ Atk Choice Band Adaptability Basculegion Wave Crash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Duraludon in Rain: 175-207 (45.5 - 53.9%) -- 2.3% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 0 SpA Duraludon Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Basculegion: 428-504 (112.3 - 132.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Adaptability Basculegion-F Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Duraludon: 156-184 (40.6 - 47.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
(Pretend it's Iron Boulder)
Iron Boulder @ Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat/Throat Chop
- Mighty Cleave
- Psycho Cut
This guy doesn't get anything from the OM but is still a notable pick for Sand due to Booster Speed allowing unprecedented speed control (it outruns max speed Basculegion in Rain!!!) and being a good rock type to take advantage of Sand's SpDef boost. Normal Terrakion is probably usable but it's honestly a dollar store version of Boulder. It mainly has to worry about big Aqua Jets from Azu and Legion but a tera can patch that up.
This guy is a bastard
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal/Hyper Cutter/Sand Veil
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Earthquake
- Knock Off/Sub/Wingbeat/Rocks/Spikes/Crabhammer/Swords Dance/Taunt/Toxic/U-turn/Facade/Literally anything
- Just go wild honestly
A notorious set in ye olden gen 4 OU is Sub Veil Glisc in perma sand. Now imagine that except you ALSO have Poison Heal on top of that and tera to shore up it's ice and water weakness. Glisc is already on Paldea's most wanted for it's crimes in OU and it gets markedly better in this OM by being able to blow past any conceived check if lucky enough. Tons of build variety because it learns like basically every move you could wish for but I think offensive sub or SD sets might be the call for Sand Offense but bulky variants can fit onto less aggressive teams too.
p. s. don't use this outside of sand or I might cry
Feel like gen 5 never ended with this set. Three absurdly good abilities allow Reun to be a potent defensive mon in sand. Magic Guard lets it eat status and hazards all day and regenerator enables it to come in and out as it pleases. Notable to this OM, Overcoat is very solid for playing into Breloom's spore who'll likely continue to stink up the ladder even post DLCs. There's other options for the set like stored power or eschewing recover entirely and relying on regenerator for healing to free up a moveslot.
Lightning Round Some mons that I feel have some merit but don't feel like typing too much on
I have no idea why it's doing this, pretend he's in the other spoiler tag
Intim + Flashfire + Spdef boost from sand gives the dog some solid defensive utility that it lacks in standard formats. It has a surprisingly good set of utility moves such as wisp, morning sun, and rocks to help it in this role. Hard hitting STAB + Espeed means it isn't a slouch offensively either. Big issue is that Gambit exists and Defiant triggering is disastrous even if you can wisp it in an ideal scenario.
Again this cute lil creature gets a solid spdef boost from sand which coupled with embody aspect allows it to be quite a solid defensive mon on top of it's strong offenses. Utility sets are probably decent but using it as a sweeper with defensive utility seems like the best option. Big problem here is that Sand really likes it's teras so it mildly conflicts with Ogerpon
THE BEARS are a neat couple on sand. Bloodmoon does more or less the same thing it did during its stint in OU being a bulky juggernaut that threatens to KO everything in the tier if allowed an opportunity to boost. It's immune to sand and sand itself helps it snag some KOs where it otherwise wouldn't but losing moonlight might be too big of a hurdle (And respectively this might make it a massive pain on Sun). Vanilla Luna is a but more interesting due to having 3 okayish abilities at once now. Guts is obviously very good, giving extra breaking power to the bear and turning it into a status and knock absorber. Bulletproof insulates it from a handful of niche attacks (most notable of which is bullet seed meaning it can shut down some Breloom sets with good predicts). Unnerve is even more niche but it allows you throttle Belly Drummers (eat your heart out Azu). I think both might have some place on bulkier sand teams or on some mythical Trick Room Reun/Hippo/Bear/Gambit core.
Magic Guard user in the same vein as Reuniclus but also packs unaware which is quite the tool in this format. It does more or less what it does in OU at current but even better with the addition of unaware allowing it to stonewall some of the various pesky set up sweepers in the meta. Strong glue mon but fights with Clodsire as the 'Sand Immune bulky Unaware mon' on Sand Teams. Clod makes your life easier into Rain, Clef makes your life easier into weatherless and Snow.
Okay this guy is just really funny for the Snow matchup. Thick Fat + Tera + their own snow is already a headache to deal with and snow cloak cheese is just another layer of pain. Roar/Haze + Knock allow it kill the momentum of any perspective snow sweep and it still packs a fairly decent offensive punch.
Closing Remarks: Please don't use Belly Drum Azu
Gambit is still top 1 or 2 mon in the tier
Breloom is WASHED now
This guy gets defog? Top mon in the tier and liable to get banned
So for one, great analysis, and two, wanted to add a few points to your post.
Exca- You already mentioned Unaware being broken by Mold Breaker and how important it is if you're up against something like a Quag or Dozo. However, a benefit that can be argued to have just as much importance is breaking through Levitate pokemon such as Bronzong or tera steel Washtom, Latis, and Hydreigon. These mons now can't even switch in reliably, let alone repeatedly tank hits from Exca.
Arch- Its ability combination isn't the best because Sturdy does contradict Stamina a bit, but even with the abilities not complimenting each other the best, Arch is still going to have a big role on rain teams at the minimum, and a solid roll in the meta even without weather at best. It also gets Rocks, Roar,.and T Wave for utility options as well as Swords Dance for possible set up that doesn't rely on weather.
Iron Crown- It has the crit me not Stored Power as well as just being scarily strong and bulky with ok speed, managing to be scary even without any support, even if not as good as the others imo.
Iron Boulder- This terrifying beast obviously has the sand SpDef boost you already mentioned, more helpful than sand is for Crown due to the boost, while keeping its blistering speed and high attack. Its coverage is really solid and
Raging Bolt- Just gonna say it right here, and it applies for Gouging Fire as well, these mons don't require the sun support at all and are still great without it, but they make sun even more potentially problematic than it already was. For Bolt specifics, though, it isn't fast, but even as a bulky sun attacker, this thing is terrifying. Momentum with Volt Switch, priority to make up for it's lower speed with Thunderclap, potential setup with Calm Mind, the ever terrifying Draco Meteor, phasing with Dragon Tail, and even some solid coverage in Weather Ball, Solar Beam, and Earthquake. Going to be crazy good
Gouging Fire- A Protosynthesis mon that is a fire type... This thing is terrifyingly strong. Dragon Dance for possible setup, Morning Sun for recovery, the fire+dragon combination which was already hard to wall being backed up by Earthquake and Stone Edge as possibilities (even Thunder Fang for Azumarill), even Burning Bulwark for Will-O-Wisp and Protect slapped in the same slot if the opposing Mon uses a contact move. I'll make another post about sun as a while in a few days probably, but for now, I will say the new mons just supplement the already insane playstyle
Gliscor- While it will definitely be annoying as always, I don't think it will be too much unless it becomes a meta where hazards rule everything. Sand Veil is undoubtedly uncompetitive and incredibly annoying, but on sand teams, it probably won't see much usage due to limited turns making you want more mons that are generally geared towards offense. Its utility and moveset variety is still crazy, tho.
Reun- I already made an entire post covering this Mon, so I'll skip here.
Hisuian Arcanine- Combining no recoil blitzing offensive with solid defensive utility is already nice, but when you have tera as an option, it just gets even scarier and more difficult to deal with.
Cornerstone- So, with all the Ogres still being allowed as of now, Cornerstone will likely only be seen on sand, but that doesn't necessarily make Cornerstone bad. It has the same great stats as every other Ogerpon form with a 50% SpDef boost in sand while keeping the same utility and having a 100% accurate rock move, which is always nice not having to rely on Stone Edge. If Hearthflame eventually gets banned in pokebilities, though, Cornerstone just gets even better with less competition outside of weather.
Luna (regular)- As terrifyingly strong as normal, but with some nice extra immunities to moves like Aura Sphere, Bullet Seed, Energy Ball, Focus Blast, Seed Bomb, Weather Ball, and even Pyro Ball. Being able to turn moves like these that are normally super effective or neutral into immunities just provides you even more opportunities to switch in and wreak havoc... Still not as good as regular Ursaring in pokebilities, though.
Luna (Bloodmoon)- Ok, this thing is just like it was when it was allowed in OU except it's common teammates (Heatran, Rillaboom, Sneasler, Kingambit) were all buffed in a notable way. Still broken by itself, but on terrain, it becomes a complete nightmare and nigh impossible to deal with consistently
Clef- I already made a post a while ago about Clef, but to reiterate since it has been a while unlike the Reun post which was recent, Clef is still great, but losing Softboiled and Teleport brought it down from broken to simply really damn solid. You now have to either use two move slots on recovery (Wish+Protect) or use Moonlight, which while the same PP as other recovery moves now, is also nerfed heavily by the meta because it is so weather centered right now. Still a great mon, but not overbearing anymore.
Mamoswine- Mamo got a shocking amount this gen. Loaded Dice for Rock Blast and Icicle Spear, hail being changed to snow and giving ice types a 50% PhysDef boost, tera now letting you abuse Thick Fat even more, and lastly, Trailblaze and Smack Down. Again, I've touched on Mamo prior, but it was a few months back, so I'll reiterate a bit. The loss of Superpower is definitely notable, but overall, Mamo has gotten so many small buffs that have added up to make it a great choice.
Belly Drum Azu- This thing regaining Knock and having a way outside of Tera Blast, Double Edge, and Trailblaze to hit Pex is huge already, but item removal just makes it even better. There are definitely checks like Clef, Dozo, and the Weezings, but overall, Azu is absolutely insane and even better after the return of Knock.
Gambit- Yeah, this thing is broken. I don't know if I'd call it top 3 with Ursa, Azu, Clodsire, Conk, and now even additions like PZ, Excadrill, and Reuniclus, but even if not top 3, it's absolutely insane and top 10 at minimum.
Breloom- Still a terrifying mon with it's great ability combination, but it's starting to get power crept even despite all that as it's stats just aren't keeping up. It still has its solid roles, but it's no longer a guaranteed top 5 mon like it once was
Conk- Another mon I made a post on a while ago. TL:DR of that post: Conk was already crazy overbearing last gen with only one "counter," and now that "counter" can't even fill the same roll anymore. It was banned last gen and should stay banned this gen imo
There's a lot of new mons and a meta that hasn't even had the chance to settle down, so let's calm it down and talk about an old classic and how both DLCs have effected it. Azumarill has been a top 10 pokemon every single pokebilities generation and that continues even in to the DLC. It's natural typing already offers so many natural resistances with an immunity even before we take into account its abilities. Its incredibly strong combination of traits has always lead Azumarill to always being in the castle, just quietly. Maybe not the same levels as Queen Clef and King Reun, but one of their butlers perhaps. Always among the top, but in a more quiet way. So, how did the DLC change this up? Well, if anything, I believe Azu has actually gotten better. While some new and returning mons beat or wall Azu, many have trouble with it as well. I haven't gathered calcs in a while, so here's a lot of them that goes over Teal Mask and Indigo Disk returning mons as well as some mons that were buffed by receiving new moves.
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Freeze-Dry vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Thick Fat Azumarill: 138-164 (34.1 - 40.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Gouging Fire Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Azumarill: 131-155 (32.4 - 38.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Choice Band Meowscarada Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Azumarill: 126-149 (31.1 - 36.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Wellspring Mask Ogerpon-Wellspring Ivy Cudgel vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Azumarill: 111-131 (27.4 - 32.4%) -- 79% chance to 3HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Choice Band Rillaboom Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Azumarill: 101-119 (25 - 29.4%) -- 84.2% chance to 4HKO after Stealth Rock and Grassy Terrain recovery
252 Atk Mystic Water Sharpness Samurott-Hisui Aqua Cutter vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Azumarill: 108-128 (26.7 - 31.6%) -- 51.2% chance to 3HKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 SpA Serperior Tera Blast (80 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Azumarill: 97-115 (24 - 28.4%) -- 97% chance to 4HKO (even after I edited the BP in the calc, it still didn't let me do the 100 BP)
+2 252 Atk Weavile Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Azumarill: 179-211 (44.3 - 52.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock (Knock would lose power after the first hit due to the item already having been removed, making the second hit not KO)
252+ Atk Blaziken Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Azumarill: 122-144 (30.1 - 35.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock
56+ SpA Hydrapple Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Azumarill: 71-84 (17.5 - 20.7%) -- guaranteed 5HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Secret Sword vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Azumarill: 123-146 (30.4 - 36.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Choice Specs Kingdra Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Azumarill on a critical hit: 131-155 (32.4 - 38.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock (2HKO requires rain to be up)
252 SpA Tera Normal Kommo-o Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Azumarill: 153-181 (37.8 - 44.8%) -- 5.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock (chance is so astronomically low it doesn't make a difference the extreme majority of the time)
+3 252 SpA Manaphy Dazzling Gleam vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Azumarill: 146-172 (36.1 - 42.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Life Orb Scrafty Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Azumarill: 105-125 (25.9 - 30.9%) -- 17.8% chance to 3HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Heatran Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Azumarill: 79-94 (19.5 - 23.2%) -- 21.5% chance to 4HKO after Stealth Rock
And in return, Azu didn't get many bad matchups. Raging Bolt, Archaludon, Tentacruel, and Suicune from Indigo Disk, Clef (which, even then, only checks Belly Drum sets), Empoleon, the Weezings, and Milotic from Teal Mask, and Zapdos back during the Home meta are the only big ones that come to mind. Yes, Azu does still have its losing matchups, but overall, the meta has added so many pokemon that Azu excels against due to its traits and it's just gotten better with time. I'm not going to complain about the presence of Azu, in fact, I think it's incredibly healthy for the meta. Azumarill has proven to be a mon that's an easy, slappable check for so many pokemon in the meta, but also has a handful of pokemon that check it or force it out, making Azu really balanced overall. It has its fair share of set variability from Band to AV to Sitrus+Drum to now even Protective Pads, as well as a movepool that allows you to choose between multiple options like Ice Spinner, Knock Off, Superpower, Tera Blast, Trailblaze, it even runs Encore on some sets to stop setup mons from going too crazy.
While Azumarill isn't the best Mon in the meta, especially at the moment with the influx of new mons, it's an old dog that has undoubtedly learned the new tricks and even performs them better than a lot of new dogs.
Here we are again to talk about how the shifting meta has effected yet another prominent pokemon in pokebilities. This time, dethroned queen, Clefable. In terms of matchups, Clef got a more mixed bag. It does great against things like Raging Bolt and Darkrai, and Kyurem, but got a few bad matchups as well with mons such as Archaludon, Iron Crown, and offensive Gouging Fire. Overall, it's about a net neutral in terms of meta relevant matchups. The big thing I want to talk about with Clef, though, isn't the new matchups, but rather how it's fallen in viability by a decent amount and now is still a great pokemon, but not nearly the overbearing queen ruling with an iron fist that it was last gen. There are a handful of things that have caused this.
The first reason is because of the loss of Softboiled. Safe to say Softboiled being only 8 PP would've been a hefty nerf already, but that has gotten amplified even further by the fact that Clef no longer has Softboiled because it was a transfer move it could only learn from a move tutor in Fire Red and Leaf Green. Now Clef is forced onto Wish+Protect or Moonlight for recovery, which is a big nerf compared to being able to pop Softboiled 16 times in gens 7 and 8 pokebilities.
The second reason is much moreso a continuation from the first, how inconsistent both its forms of recovery are. Wish+Protect is notorious because it not only limits your moveset by forcing two moves to take care of one issue, but now you also gotta remember that you can't Wish in front of Iron Boulder because Mighty Cleave goes through Protect. So, Wish+Protect is inconsistent, what about Moonlight? Well, Moonlight has one small issue, it's weather dependent. With weather being such a huge part of the current pokebilities meta, Moonlight has become incredibly inconsistent in every way. So many of the teams you'll face will cut that Moonlight recovery in half. Yes, you can also just run into sun and have a nice 16.6 repeated% boost to Moonlight, but while sun is the most common weather, the others are still popular, even sand and snow at the moment. This is a tragic setback for Clefable because it can't just repeatedly take chip, recover it off consistently and reliably, and still be in a good position afterwards like it used to do.
The final reason is one I didn't even remember until about half way through writing the second reason, but the loss of Teleport is big. Wish pass became increasingly uncommon in last gen's pokebilities as the meta progressed because people realized just how perfectly Clefable did do many other things, but that doesn't mean it never used Teleport without Wish. On balance or bulky offense teams, Clef used to have the option to guaranteed move last, take a hit, and switch out into a teammate. Now, though, you are forced to directly switch into a teammate, bringing them in on a potentially hard hitting attack. While Teleport wasn't the most common move from Clef, it was still a really useful move to have and it is a big loss nonetheless.
So, overall, what are my thoughts of Clef as of now? In my opinion, Clefable is still a great mon. I mean, it still has its spectacular ability combination, decent overall stats, phenomenal movepool, great type, and solid utility. Clefable may not be able to completely sit on and cripple or set up and effortlessly blast through 90% of teams like it did last gen, but that doesn't mean it's useless. It still can set Rocks, it still can be annoying by spamming Encore, Knock, and T Wave, it still has stab Moonblast with a 30% chance to lower special attack, it still has Calm Mind sets, it still has its Cosmic Clef sets, it can still pull Trick+Sticky Barb/status orb shenanigans, it can still Healing Wish a teammate, and now it can even change its type to whatever it needs to do even better in these roles. However, while it does still have a ton of versatility and can excel in all of its roles, it's not nearly so much the combination of immovable object plus unstoppable force it was last gen, but much more along the lines of incredibly frustrating, but not overpowered.
So, here I am back again. I've talked about the meta, I've talked about specific mons, now I think it's time I talk about a playstyle, specifically one that could prove to be problematic. Sun right now is clearly the best weather. With everything that's currently allowed in pokebilities, threat stacking becomes terrifying. Of course, there's returning fire types and returning Chlorophyll users, but none of those are the big issue right now. I don't think most threats on sun are unbeatable or impossible to play around, but when stacked, it can start to cause issues, mostly due to one specific culprit. Which pokemon is that culprit? Well, it's not any of the paradox pokemon, new or old, nor is it any chlorophyll user, but rather a mon that has already been banned in base OU, that being Ogerpon Hearthflame. Now don't misunderstand me, there are a few things that can check Oger. Skeledirge, Toxapex, Moltres, and Archaludon are great examples. However, Arch is the only one of those that is really common now due to the others being mostly outclassed. Even things like Azumarill and Heatran aren't able to check Hearthflame due to Mold Breaker existing. Even after terastalizing, while it gives up the ability to hit Azumarill with grass moves and Heatran with fire moves, it gets a free terrifying +1 to its attack which is augmented by its stellar coverage. Play Rough for dragons, Zen Headbutt for Toxapex (2HKOs if Pex chooses not to switch out to regain health), Superpower, Stomping Tantrum, Knock Off, and even if its in against a mon it is threatened by, it can just U-Turn out. On top of that, this thing gets both Swords Dance and Trailblaze for setup, even Horn Leech so you can't just chip it to death with hazards. It even has solid utility if you want to use it off of sun teams. Leech Seed, Spiky Shield, Taunt, Spikes, Synthesis for recovery. Of course, the main selling point is still its effectiveness on sun teams with its nuclear power level and utility sets won't be too common, but the fact that they can be used in the first place or just one of the moves slotted onto an offensive Oger makes the prospect scarier. Now, I'm not going to make a final verdict on my thoughts of this mon quite yet. We haven't gotten to see its effect on the meta as of now, so we really just have base OU+meta mons in pokebilities to go off of with theorycraft. For all we know, Oger could end up being perfectly fine. That's why earlier, I made sure to specify it could prove to be problematic instead of directly stating it was or wasn't. Just keep an eye out for this thing and sun as a whole when the meta returns because the amount of scary things on sun is something you NEED to be prepared for.
Looking to sync this back up with last gen's bans and maybe some more—seems like Conk, Excadrill, and Porygon-Z are still a nuisance. Also missing quite a few OU bans over the past few months; which among those need to go? Seems like Annihilape should finally bite the bullet, and Smeargle needs to be in the Moody bans. Is Dire Claw Sneasler problematic? How about sleep as a whole? New legendaries as well, with Deoxys, Ho-Oh, Kyurem fusions, Lugia, Lunala, Mewtwo, Reshiram, Shaymin-sky(is this one broken here..?), Solgaleo, Terapagos, Urshifu, and Zekrom all immediately removable.
Looking to sync this back up with last gen's bans and maybe some more—seems like Conk, Excadrill, and Porygon-Z are still a nuisance. Also missing quite a few OU bans over the past few months; which among those need to go? Seems like Annihilape should finally bite the bullet, and Smeargle needs to be in the Moody bans. Is Dire Claw Sneasler problematic? How about sleep as a whole? New legendaries as well, with Deoxys, Ho-Oh, Kyurem fusions, Lugia, Lunala, Mewtwo, Reshiram, Shaymin-sky(is this one broken here..?), Solgaleo, Terapagos, Urshifu, and Zekrom all immediately removable.
For right now, my personal opinion is that we should match base OU's bans plus the current big three (PZ, Drill, and Conk). It just removes a lot of chaos from the tier initially to not immediately test things and gives the meta time to settle to see if there's anything problematic without adding more that has the potential to be problematic in the tier
Removing annihilape, conkeldurr, deoxys-base, deoxys-attack, excadrill, ho-oh, kyurem-black, kyurem-white, lugia, lunala, mewtwo, necrozma-dawnwings, necrozma-duskmane, ogerpon-hearthflame, porygonz, reshiram, shaymin-sky, smeargle, sneasler, solgaleo, terapagos, zamazenta-crowned, and zekrom. Thought I might be able to let sleep moves remain due to previously niche abilities like vital spirit being more readily available, but all the mons with those abilities are horrible besides annihilape (RIP), so that clause is coming too. Let me know if I've missed anything.
Removing annihilape, conkeldurr, deoxys-base, deoxys-attack, excadrill, ho-oh, kyurem-black, kyurem-white, lugia, lunala, mewtwo, necrozma-dawnwings, necrozma-duskmane, ogerpon-hearthflame, porygonz, reshiram, shaymin-sky, smeargle, sneasler, solgaleo, terapagos, zamazenta-crowned, and zekrom. Thought I might be able to let sleep moves remain due to previously niche abilities like vital spirit being more readily available, but all the mons with those abilities are horrible besides annihilape (RIP), so that clause is coming too. Let me know if I've missed anything.
Reading this, it looks like some mons that were forgotten were Baxcalibur, Chien-Pao, Magearna, Ursaluna Bloodmoon, and the Urshifus. Other than that, it looks like everything is up to date because the only mons that weren't mentioned were mons that were obvious bans and haven't been unbanned because of it (such as Dialga and Palkia in both forms). If the community wants to discuss on other mons that should be banned or unbanned, that's up to the conglomerate as a whole, but looking at it right now, that seems to be everything that hasn't already been banned that's likely too much
So, I thought I'd make my own personal viability rank for the meta because of how much it has shaken up and as a general guideline to help newer players to the meta. However, one thing that I noticed incredibly quickly was how many weather abusers there were in the metagame. This made it a bit more difficult, so I decided to make this entirely separate weather abuser vr first. Before going into the vr, I do want to state that specifically for sand and snow, I had to do many pokemon that were just rock or ice type because the amount of Sand/Slush Rush pokemon is very few, so I decided the 50% boost to SpDef/PhysDef would be ok to consider as abusing weather. Also, one thing to keep in mind, some of these pokemon will also appear on my general pokebilities viability ranking and rankings will be different. This vr is judging how well they abuse their weather, not just how good they are in the meta overall.
S- The absolute best weather abusers. These pokemon are a staple for a reason
Lilligant Hisui
Raging Bolt
Walking Wake
Great Tusk
Roaring Moon
Gouging Fire
Urshifu Rapid Strike
Kyurem
Barraskewda
A- Incredible abusers, but face some competition from the mons in the above tier for a team slot
Volcarona
Iron Boulder
Ogerpon Wellspring
Zapdos
Azumarill
B- More specialized in their roles and harder to fit compared to the mons in the above tiers, but can be solid
Anyone will remember that Ability Shield protects the holder's ability from being ignored by Mold Breaker, Turboblaze, Teravolt and Mycellum Might.
Basulegion (Both Male & Female), Excadrill, Hawlucha, Veluza and Rampardos are some examples in this tier. (Veluza be good thanks to having access to Fillet Away, but its quite frail and weak to both Sucker Punch and Thunderclap, however it can bypass that with Aqua Jet.)
For pokemon that rely on their immunity abilities such as Levitate users or Water Absorb users and even Purifying Salt, which it can be easily bypassed by Mold Breaker and Mycellum Might. A held Ability Shield prevents ability-ignoring effects even from Photon Geyser.
Anyone will remember that Ability Shield protects the holder's ability from being ignored by Mold Breaker, Turboblaze, Teravolt and Mycellum Might.
Basulegion (Both Male & Female), Excadrill, Hawlucha, Veluza and Rampardos are some examples in this tier. (Veluza be good thanks to having access to Fillet Away, but its quite frail and weak to both Sucker Punch and Thunderclap, however it can bypass that with Aqua Jet.)
For pokemon that rely on their immunity abilities such as Levitate users or Water Absorb users and even Purifying Salt, which it can be easily bypassed by Mold Breaker and Mycellum Might. A held Ability Shield prevents ability-ignoring effects even from Photon Geyser.
Ability Shield started getting more usage near the end of the month last time pokebilities was OMotM (mostly on Clod because Basculin), so people will probably experiment with it more now.
Clod isn't going to be nearly as great as it was last time, but it can still abuse the item and other pokemon can still definitely take advantage of Ability Shield as well.
Exca being banned and Rampardos being unviable as well as Haxorus being incredibly inconsistent due to Rivalry means that Mold Breaker isn't nearly as common as you'd think, but specifically Hawlucha and Basculegion F are huge threats that make Ability Shield appealing to a handful of mons.
For instance, Clef using Ability Shield on a PhysDef set against a +2 Hawlucha in grassy terrain. Now the +2 doesn't matter because the Ability Shield and it needs tera flying to do significant damage, but tera flying also means you give up on the burn immunity, fairy resist, and boost to Fire Punch that tera fire grants.
Definitely an underrated item that I think will get more usage whenever the meta returns.
Sample team time while I work on my vr in between posts!
It was found last gen that for Toxtricity, Technician activates before Punk Rock when using Snarl. Then with the recently discovered terastalization mechanic that boosts all sub 60 BP moves of your tera type up to 60 BP once you've used your tera, it gives quite a nice boost to Tox once you take stab into account. 60x1.5=90x1.3=117x1.5=175.5 rounded down to 175 BP Snarl. Seemed fun to use, so I decided to build around it.
First, Tox itself. I could've made it a Throat Spray+Shift Gear set, but I decided Scarf to patch up its speed without being forced to take a turn to do so. Psychic Noise is a neat option, but either Boomburst or Sludge Bomb hit everything that Psychic Noise would at least neutrally. You could also use Overdrive for strong stab, but Boomburst is stronger even then and hits ground types.
Gambit is an obvious mon on most teams. Win con, comeback mon, cleaner, sweeper, resist to many common attacks, it just does so much and when you also get boosted by mons such as Landorus Therian, Krookodile, Salamance, Gyarados, Tauros forms, and Arcanine forms, and that's not even including things like Sticky Web or random drops from moves such as Shadow Ball. It gets scarier and harder to deal with as the game goes on and appreciates the chip the other teammates apply. Tera flying for the ground immunity and fighting resist
Azumarill is basically the Great Tusk if this meta. It does so much, all amazing, and there's a damn good reason it's on so many teams. I went with AV because while it doesn't hit as hard, it's an incredible check to so many pokemon already, and this just adds many special attackers to the list. It can clean up with Aqua Jet or get rid of a scary mon in range, remove items to make progress with Knock, and just generally hits really hard with its stabs
Speaking of Great Tusk, still chose to add one to the team. You need hazards and hazard removal and Tusk does both great. It's a basic utility set for hazard setting, hazard removal, and item removal while still hitting hard when it attacks. It may not have a second ability, but it's still amazing nonetheless.
I wanted a backup rocker that wasn't a suicide rocker like Skarm nor a rocker that is incredibly passive like Clod, so I decided to go with Clef. A third Knock user makes it to where item reliant pokemon and teams get really screwed over. Clef also just provides me with a great special wall that doesn't need Boots to not get worn down by hazards. You could very easily go with Thunder Wave over Knock Off to support Azumarill and Gambit, letting them outspeed more, and just be a general nuisance.
After all this, my team was fairly weak to ground and fairy (Tox is too frail to be used as a resist), so I needed a flying type/Levitate mon that resisted fairy, and I chose Geezing over Corviknight and Bronzong because Geezing is a great check to offensive Tusk, Moon, Valiant, and Meowscarada. It doesn't shut down Proto or Quark, but it does resist their dual stab, and while getting Knocked will always suck, that doesn't impede its ability to check these threats, even if not a bonified counter. Just an incredibly solid glue on many teams
Edit: If you want to change the team or give any advice/constructive criticism, feel free! The big thing I didn't like was the lack of momentum making it hard to get Tox out, but the rest of the team just works so well with it on paper, which is really all we have to go off of for pokebilities at the moment
(Pretend this is arch)
(Pretend it's Iron Boulder)
Please don't use Belly Drum Azu
Gambit is still top 1 or 2 mon in the tier
Breloom is WASHED now
This guy gets defog? Top mon in the tier and liable to get banned
