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Before I said that Aerodactyl seemed useless, but I think I found a fun set for it. I don't know how this compares to the reflect set that used to be on the smogon dex, but I think rest works fine, just like how jolteon uses it against zapdos.
Aerodactyl's unique typing allows it to wall Snorlax's physical sets. Fire Blast enables potential burns. Rest heals to full and removes paralysis (be aware that the speed drop remains). Sky Attack is a 140 base power STAB option. Charging Sky Attack on Snorlax can prevent a switch as other mons aside from rock and electric types will not want to take it head on. You get many opportunities to use it against Snorlax because of your resistances, or when Lax rests. It's safer to use than Double Edge as you take no recoil and you do not have to fear Counter. Double Edge is there as a non-charging move to deal damage.
So basically, you keep wailing on Snorlax till it dies from a crit, which is a 25.39% chance.
On a similar note, I think Pidgeot could be an interesting counter to Snorlax as well. It doesn't resist Normal like Aerodactyl but it is protected from Body Slam paralysis and has better bulk if you remove types from the equation. It also has normal stabs (and it can still use Sky Attack but it won't sting as much as Aero's). Pidgeot has a few interesting moves such as Mirror Move to use Body Slam or a status/recovery move and Sand Attack to be a collossal asshole to Snorlax if it tries to stay in.
Honestly the lack of being Rock and thus needing Reflect to stay in for an extended period of time really sucks. At least Sand Attack can't make Chansey immune to paralysis though
Just based on what I've experienced so far. D and lower I'm a lot more iffy on. But I put so many mons, cause I still want to try a bunch of them. Below are just some of my random thoughts:
I wasn't going to talk about these, but there are some things I can say. Snorlax amnesia sets actually do seem unreliable, but can be very annoying to deal with. Reflect sets are a pain if you cannot wall them, or find other ways to force a switch. I've seen Reflect+BodySlam+Rest+IceBeam which was probably meant to fish for freezes and hit Rhydon. The only thing I want to say about Chansey is that I'm pretty sure Fire Blast is a reasonable option. It un freezes mons but, I'm unsure how often you'd expect freeze to happen. If you get an average number of ice beams fired against non-statused and non-ice mons over a bunch of games you can probably calc it, but still. Though, burning a mon like starmie is very unfortunate. I like having it as an option to hit ice types and exeggutor while having a decent chance to burn mons like Rhydon
Also, I'm not convinced that the big three are all required, but they are really good
I have Exeggutor over Starmie just because it can sleep something, blow up, and deal a bunch of damage with psychic. Starmie adds an ice and psychic resist, has good coverage, while also paralyzing stuff and is tough to kill because of recover. I just find sleeping stuff and blowing up more useful
I have Jynx so high, just because it can put things to sleep, has resistance to ice and psychic, and hits decently hard. Cloyster is really good. It can switch in to Tauros, it hits hard with blizzard, it can cheese KO's with Clamp, and it can act as a sort of pivot. Cloyster vs Cloyster matchups are very awkward. I'm starting to run toxic over rest in hopes to not let the other cloyster Clamp as much. I was originally going to have Zapdos lower just because of how it gets walled by Jolteon and Rhydon. It was going to be next to Articuno and Moltres, because they also get walled by mons, Moltres can at least fire spin then switch. But, it seems that Drill Peck really helps it deal damage, so I kept it high like other VR's I've seen. Rhydon walls some stuff and seems like it's guaranteed to deal damage right after. It's decent. Substitute seems pretty situational. Really hates water and grass moves, but those moves seem pretty rare. Can survive some non-STAB blizzards
Gengar is good. I hate using it, because I don't like missing Hypnosis on a frail mon. Makes exploding a lot harder cause it can switch in and ignore it. It can blow up itself and really hurt Chansey and other mons. Articuno hits hard and uses agility, doesn't have much overage. Moltres is a bit more interesting b/c it has a higher chance to burn than Articuno has to freeze, and it can do pivot things with Fire Spin. But Ice is arguably a better offensive typing. They both hit hard, can survive some hits, and have agility I guess. Slowbro is scary, ran into lead Slowbro, reflect + amnesia, and amnesia + substitute. Mostly used Jolteon as a lead. tried it on a Gyrados team. It's crit rate is scary, pin missile is sort of iffy. I don't like that it gets stopped by the rocks. Seems a little on the frail side.
Dragonite can be scary, but is also inconsistent. Golem isn't as strong as Rhydon, but it can still blow up. Aerodactyl and Porygon function as walls against Snorlax. Not sure which is better, one aims to some times crit and sometimes burn, while the other aims to paralyze and sometimes freeze. Aerodactyl probably has more damage output. Porygon probably survives ice beams from Snorlax while Aerodactyl just dies. Aerodactyl takes normal moves fairly easily, but it has to rest for recovery, and the speed drop from paralysis is unfortunate. Sky Attack is a fun move, and Aerodactyl can freely charge Sky Attack against Snorlax if it stays in. It's not the safest move ever. Switch ins have to worry about being crit.
I don't really find the SD users all that great. Kingler is probably the best.
Metronome is the strongest move in RBY. Think about it - it lets you use literally every move (including naughty OHKO moves and evasion moves). Set up your pokemon with reflect and just keep clicking metronome until you inevitably get something useful:
Metronome is the strongest move in RBY. Think about it - it lets you use literally every move (including naughty OHKO moves and evasion moves). Set up your pokemon with reflect and just keep clicking metronome until you inevitably get something useful:
Jynx is the lead. Apart from Metronome it also has a sleep move, so it gets more chances to use Metronome, especially vs bad match-ups like Starmie and Slowbro.
Chansey is the special wall and para absorber. It uses Boltbeam to have the maximum possible offensivity, hopefully with Metronome it gets Reflect or Amnesia.
Snorlax is another stable. Typical Reflectlax here that is the best check to... Reflelax. Usually its walled forever by opposing Reflectlax, or Gengar, Rhydon and even Chansey, depending on the last Move. However, with Metronome, all of those can die if the right move is triggered.
Golem is the Zapdos counter. Metronome is one extra advantage it has over Rhydon.
Alakazam is the fastest Metronome user, its Fissures and Guillotines hit the largest number of Mons. Its also the only natural para spreader.
Finally, Tauros. If you want to go with a full Metronome team, probably Gengar is the right choice in this slot. However, since we are meant to maximize the number of wins, Tauros is better in this slot, doing what it always does, being the supreme revenge killer and crit machine.
In my opinion your Chansey needs reflect. Metronome is an investment, and you're going to need to 'fish' repeatedly for the moves you want. So I think you need to set up with reflect before even using metronome (I'd reccomend this for Zam too).
The great thing about Chan (and to a lesser extent Zam and Hypno) is that it's already a special wall, so it just needs reflect and metronome to become a tank.
I'm not keen on metronome Jynx lead because even with reflect it's so frail.
So those of you who have seen my handful of recent tournament performances will know that I've been truly immersing myself in garbage, bringing the worst of the worst to games to see what happens. I can assure you, my ladder ventures have been no different and I think it's time I reported on some of the pokemon I've used. I might do a full post on them later if I ever maybe start a blog, but I'll burn that bridge when I get to it
When you're using the worst pokemon in the game, the first question is whether or not the pokemon is so bad as to be basically useless. Most pokemon aren't useless, even many that are considered terrible. The second question is whether or not I feel like a fucking clown for bringing it to tournament matches
Also does pokepaste not support PO importables? Images don't seem to load, smh
I started testing Magneton first, because I had no idea how I would justify it in the context of literally every other mono-Electric being better than it. Magneton doesn't really have any cool options, but I figured with a decent Defense stat it could maybe get value out of Reflect, being less exploitable physically than Jolt. It turns out that although Magneton is only a little bit bulkier than other mono-Electrics, the difference is extremely significant
Snorlax Body Slam vs. Jolteon through Reflect: 67-79 (20.1 - 23.7%) -- guaranteed 5HKO
Snorlax Body Slam vs. Magneton through Reflect: 51-61 (16.8 - 20.1%) -- possible 5HKO
Snorlax Earthquake vs. Jolteon through Reflect: 105-124 (31.5 - 37.2%) -- 85% chance to 3HKO
Snorlax Earthquake vs. Magneton through Reflect: 81-96 (26.7 - 31.6%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
This meant that Magneton actually had a niche, at which point its excellent power and typing shines through. It also helps that Chansey cannot break it, only freeze it- 303 HP means it can Rest loop SToss. This means it can fill similar defensive roles to Rest Jolt while not being as susceptible to physical attackers (aside from Grounds), and even going so far as to wall Lax if necessary.
Of course it does have significant flaws. It's special bulk is decent but not great, a problem for anything relying on Rest as strong special attacks will overwhelm it. The bigger issue though, is its lack of coverage (unsurprisingly). Although its STAB attacks are good, it still drops pressure against Egg and Chansey, which can be frustrating.
Overall, Magneton isn't a good pokemon but it's definitely usable. Not trash.
https://pokepast.es/96d04b58b2ef5a6c
Tour replays: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-641016
Tough matchup for Mag- got a little bit of value out of it but not much. Not much more that it could've done, however any Electric would've struggled in that matchup https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-644391
Mag actually helped carry my team, walling and beating Lax before eventually beating Star through luck. Not only did it perform well, it perfectly played into its niche. The game ended with a Tauros ditto, which is obviously a coinflip rather than a winning position, so maybe I could've played better
I decided to test Golbat next, as it was my personal choice to rival Ditto in terms of uselessness, prior to me actually using Ditto. Obviously it has no strengths so finding something for it to do was tough. I think Screech/CRay/DEdge/MD is its best moveset. I was originally envisaging it setting up "checkmate" endgame scenarios by forcing switches or getting hax/Def drops.
I was actually surprised by Bat, as it finds little ways to provide value. Still not nearly enough to be worth mentioning, but when the bar is on the floor, achieving anything feels good. Its ground immunity coupled with MD lets it impersonate a Don check- even though it loses 1v1, Don loses most of its HP in the process which generally isn't worth it and will often switch out after exchanging attacks. Screech is an underappreciated move that can help lategame, disrupt defensive play and keep Amnesia sweepers in check. CRay is garbage, but by its very nature can bullshit you into a position of advantage.
The downside to those scarce positives is that if Golbat accomplishes anything, it's usually dying in the process, thanks to its mediocre bulk and atrocious typing. The other big flaw is its total lack of offensive tools. Golbat is great at forcing switches, but that means almost nothing because it poses no threat, which means literally anything can switch into it. There's no point in forcing switches if you have no way to exploit them.
I found winning on ladder to be challenging but reasonably so, however in my 1 tournament match with it I got eviscerated. It's trash and mostly useless, but not quite contending for the worst, surprisingly.
Hitmonchan is the other trendy pick as a buddy for Ditto and frankly, I have no idea why. Anyway, the first goal was to find some way of differentiating it from other Fighting types. Fortunately, Hitmonchan is the only Fighting type with access to Agility. Now that's not a great niche at the best of times, and it's made even worse by the fact that almost all relevant pokemon that are faster than Hitmonchan hard counter it regardless. Almost being the key term there, because Jolteon and more importantly Tauros don't exactly counter it, which is enough that there are scenarios where it can outperform other Fighting types.
Once Hitmonchan is on your team, having a STAB that's super effective against the 3 most important pokemon in the game is fantastic, coupled with a solid attack stat mean it can provide definitely provide value. The trouble is that it's really difficult to pull off. Chan needs a lot of support to clear out Psychics, as well as the likes of Zap and Gar, as its only usable coverage is Body Slam and Seismic Toss, which just doesn't cut it.
Its defenses are non-existent, being 2HKO'd by almost everything, and having to worry about OHKOs from some attacks. This makes it tough to bring into play, but also feeds into the fact that Agility is really hard to make use of. If it somehow manages to secure an opening and gain a free turn, it's almost always better off attacking, especially since most of the targets it's effective against are slower than it
Despite all these gargantuan flaws, I would still consider Hitmonchan usable, were it not for Submission. 80% accuracy on your STAB is awful and often causes Chan to fall flat even in ideal scenarios, however by far the biggest issue is recoil. Hitmonchan's HP stat is terrible, and it's targeting 2 pokemon with the highest HP stats in the game and mediocre to non-existent defense stats. This means that Hitmonchan's best case scenario sees it nearly killing itself with recoil. I once had a fresh Hitmonchan die to the opponent switching in their frozen Chansey as fodder, which dealt so much recoil that they could immediately revenge with Tauros
Hitmonchan is far from worthless, however its flaws are just too extreme for it to be taken seriously. It's significantly worse than Magneton, but significantly better than everything else in this post. Not even close to Ditto tier
Ladder: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen1ou-1643219737-zi3ueoj85op8g30637nztgx0qoauvjjpw
Switched Chan in early on a predicted Softboiled from the opposing Chansey- idea was to just pressure and scout for a response. Turns out I had a favourable matchup and Hitmonchan left my opponent's core in tatters https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen1ou-1649355109-yjou0rap3rlsvalwtvnl7vf5eaittp4pw
Won against someone with a respectable elo. I don't think they played all that well so perhaps an off game for them, though in fairness they couldn't buy a crit with Tauros/Jolteon as I closed out the game. As for Hitmonchan, it was a disappointment- failed to KO Lax, resulting in it blowing up on me, having already taken down my Tauros.
And then there's Butterfree. Butterfree is a bit of a weird one in that I don't think there's any way of justifying using it, but it at least trades with something by clicking Sleep Powder. It has no significant strengths that can elevate it over other dual powder users- I even went as far as testing String Shot in a quest to find a point of differentiation, which predictably didn't achieve anything. The best selling point it has is that it's Psychic-neutral and outspeeds most slow pokemon, though the former doesn't mean much with how awful its bulk is
The first thing to note with Butterfree is that it has no attacking power at all. Its options are non-STAB Psychic and non-STAB Mega Drain, both from a poor 80 SPC. This means that literally any statused pokemon will block its sleep. This means that your early game is severely limited by the need to refrain from spreading status. Landing sleep with Butterfree is also rough as its terrible bulk and typing make it difficult to bring in safely, and misses are extremely costly (it even gets 2HKO'd by Chansey IB). Thankfully, 70 SPE helps in that it outpaces most slow pokemon.
Once you've clicked Sleep Powder, that is more than likely the extent of Butterfree's usefulness. It rarely gets to click Stun Spore because it cannot deal any damage itself, therefore whatever it put to sleep can immediately threaten to wake, rather than switching. You can of course go to Tauros, but that's still not achieving anything with Butterfree. With no offensive or defensive potential, Butterfree is now cannon fodder.
Running Butterfree only makes your team worse by warping your status plan, and being a dead slot aside from the one turn it clicks Sleep Powder. This mon is trash, and totally useless. I consider it worse than Golbat since I found Golbat more versatile and unique, whereas Butterfree does just one thing, and does it worse than its comparables.
https://pokepast.es/dea3f399e41db120 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen1ou-1687045143-qag9dpdumruejsuvwo449tqjxpm5ywxpw
This was an insanely tight and enjoyable battle that I was super hyped to win. There's really nothing quite like winning the game with a correct pseudo 50-50 choice (turn 73 felt like a 50-50, but in reality it wasn't remotely close to one. Is there a term for that kind of thing?). As for Butterfree, it slept Starmie and paralysed Chansey, but otherwise was a major part of the reason I was behind most of the match. It being generally useless meant I couldn't absorb sleep because Chansey was free to just kill it instead, which lead to my Lax and Starmie absorbing sleep at various points https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen1ou-1697759728-apbaf0ytjiyzuplo98vkeg28zcu67w2pw
Win against someone 1600+, which is a pretty good elo. The game was fairly evenly matched until I managed to land some timely hax with Tauros. Butterfree was characteristically useless beyond the single turn I spent clicking Sleep Powder https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen1ou-1698368832-s4nf1vq4doa3j6ni4l81rxyz5n4d0rmpw
A battle where the standard of play was pretty average but winning felt good, as taking risks with Tauros and bad luck for my Lax put me well behind. My opponent shouldn't have lost but I think their strategic choices were suboptimal (letting Don get worn down), and even then I needed to play well to come out on top. As for Butterfree, it was mostly useless, got sleep off and I used it for a couple cute chain switches vs Don. Chain switching isn't something Butterfree does well, since it's not a threat, you still take decent damage and a misplay means death, but it's not like it's doing much else
Coming soon... but probably not to a tournament lol, Seaking may be the worst of the 5 pokemon noted in this post, still testing though
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I started testing Magneton first, because I had no idea how I would justify it in the context of literally every other mono-Electric being better than it. Magneton doesn't really have any cool options, but I figured with a decent Defense stat it could maybe get value out of Reflect, being less exploitable physically than Jolt. It turns out that although Magneton is only a little bit bulkier than other mono-Electrics, the difference is extremely significant
Snorlax Body Slam vs. Jolteon through Reflect: 67-79 (20.1 - 23.7%) -- guaranteed 5HKO
Snorlax Body Slam vs. Magneton through Reflect: 51-61 (16.8 - 20.1%) -- possible 5HKO
Snorlax Earthquake vs. Jolteon through Reflect: 105-124 (31.5 - 37.2%) -- 85% chance to 3HKO
Snorlax Earthquake vs. Magneton through Reflect: 81-96 (26.7 - 31.6%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
Screech is a cool option on Ton, combined with Hyperbeam it can kill a damaged Chansey switching into an expected thunderbolt. Two screeches make hyper beam a OHKO for Chan/Zam - plus the reapplied para speed drop mean it'll win a 1v1. Even Eggy's HP is cut in half by screech+HB.
Screech is a cool option on Ton, combined with Hyperbeam it can kill a damaged Chansey switching into an expected thunderbolt. Two screeches make hyper beam a OHKO for Chan/Zam - plus the reapplied para speed drop mean it'll win a 1v1. Even Eggy's HP is cut in half by screech+HB.
I really disagree regarding Screech. Although I think Screech is under-appreciated, if you're relying on it primarily for damage boosting you're going to have a bad time because it's so easily negated. Screech is better used for its ability to force switches on the part of stalling pokemon or Amnesia sweepers
I also think Mag isn't the best user of it since its attack stat is so bad. This means that on top of depending on an easily negated support move, it still requires extensive chip damage and/or status support to achieve the KOs you mention. I also think if you're running Screech your set will kinda just be a random assortment of moves, rather than fitting together for a coherent purpose
I really disagree regarding Screech. Although I think Screech is under-appreciated, if you're relying on it primarily for damage boosting you're going to have a bad time because it's so easily negated. Screech is better used for its ability to force switches on the part of stalling pokemon or Amnesia sweepers
I also think Mag isn't the best user of it since its attack stat is so bad. This means that on top of depending on an easily negated support move, it still requires extensive chip damage and/or status support to achieve the KOs you mention. I also think if you're running Screech your set will kinda just be a random assortment of moves, rather than fitting together for a coherent purpose
Good points. But I don't think a defensive magneton is viable. A 'rest loop' sound like something you want to avoid, not a niche. When it's asleep other pokemon will switch in and kill it. That means that without screech Magneton is just a poor man's jolteon.
Obviously switching out negates the effect of screech. But you can predict when your opponent is going to do this and use thunderbolt after the screech, damaging whatever switches in.
My Mag has bolt, rest, hyper beam and screech. I don't feel like it's missing anything other pokemon can't provide i.e. T Wave.
Good points. But I don't think a defensive magneton is viable. A 'rest loop' sound like something you want to avoid, not a niche. When it's asleep other pokemon will switch in and kill it. That means that without screech Magneton is just a poor man's jolteon.
Obviously switching out negates the effect of screech. But you can predict when your opponent is going to do this and use thunderbolt after the screech, damaging whatever switches in.
My Mag has bolt, rest, hyper beam and screech. I don't feel like it's missing anything other pokemon can't provide i.e. T Wave.
It really isn't a poor man's Jolt though- the superior matchup vs phys attackers is enough to differentiate it. My point about Rest loops only applies to Chansey, and it isn't really that bad when an eventual fp will let you act. There's also the fact that Reflect already limits the opponent's options for exploiting Resting Mag- strong special attackers will still force it out but that's better than letting in physical attackers
My issue with the scenario you describe is that even after a Screech a switch isn't guaranteed due to Mag's poor attack. Meanwhile landing a tbolt on whatever the opponent's second option for that kind of thing is, imo isn't worth the moveslot, turn spent clicking Screech rather than doing something more useful and risk associated with guessing a switch. Also Electrode and Electabuzz both learn Screech and can better exploit it, limiting Mag's niche in that space
It really isn't a poor man's Jolt though- the superior matchup vs phys attackers is enough to differentiate it. My point about Rest loops only applies to Chansey, and it isn't really that bad when an eventual fp will let you act. There's also the fact that Reflect already limits the opponent's options for exploiting Resting Mag- strong special attackers will still force it out but that's better than letting in physical attackers
My issue with the scenario you describe is that even after a Screech a switch isn't guaranteed due to Mag's poor attack. Meanwhile landing a tbolt on whatever the opponent's second option for that kind of thing is, imo isn't worth the moveslot, turn spent clicking Screech rather than doing something more useful and risk associated with guessing a switch. Also Electrode and Electabuzz both learn Screech and can better exploit it, limiting Mag's niche in that space
Because your magneton lacks any physical attacks it's too easy to wall with Chansey/Zam/Egg.
Neither Electrode or Buzz need screech. Electrode's niche is that he's really fast, using screech before exploding just gives your opponent a heads up. Buzz learns submission and psychic, he still can't OHKO chansey with screech.
I'm confident that my magneton set is the best. If you want to put it to the test chal me, magneton to magneton, bo3, and we'll settle this once and for all.
Ok, here's the mons I used in my <UUBL ladder run.
Raichu is unfortunately, basically the only lead. There is Dodrio, but on ladder it just seemed a bit too unreliable, too many godawful matchups. You cant afford to be switching into Starmie T1. My sets mostly relied on the trap of body slamming Chansey until Raichu's health is low enough that I can use submission and Knock myself out before Chansey can softboiled. This trap was very effective and got me a lot of wins. A lot of Alakazams would attempt to psychic Raichu rather than Twaving it, which basically guaranteed they would be par and at no more than 70% health when they knocked out Raichu, which is not quite enough, but with crits and fps, this was a scenario that I was reasonably happy playing into. The worst is when your opponent just switches to Eggy. You could put SToss on for that I guess.
Anyway, I started out dropping surf, because I assumed everyone knew Raichu learns surf and wouldnt just go straight to Rhydon. But it turns out that is not true, so you kinda have to carry surf, and mostly dropped Tbolt instead.
Hypno is 100% necessary, you need the psychic resistance. I gave up on hypnosis on Hypno, it is just far too risky to click hypnosis against Alakazam, which is the main thing Hypno is there to stop. The meditate set worked wonders for me tbh. That is: Twave, Psychic, Meditate, Headbutt. I considered dropping Psychic for Hypnosis, but you do have to fight Laxes reasonably often.
Lapras is 100% necessary. Jynx will absolutely tear UU teams apart singlehandedly if you drop it. I used a lot of sets, I ran Blizzard on everything, and then some combination of slam, bolt, sing, hyperbeam, and dropped each move at least once. I think dropping Hyperbeam is tough. Quite often you have to trade a Pokemon for Paralysis and a bit of chip, so when you do that, you need to make sure that you are as likely as possible to pick up the KO with the incoming Pokemon. Putting Hyperbeam on pretty much everything is a good idea.
Clefable is not necessary, but it is very good at paralysing something and leaving it chipped. Sucks against Snorlax, but you do threaten counter and sing. I think Body Slam and Hyperbeam are both important, so I did run some mono normal sets, or tbolt + normals. But people are pretty happy to just throw Rhydon in front of Clefable it seems. I also ran psychic a lot, because Gengar is a real PITA.
Machamp is so useful. I think it is helped by the fact that the set in the damage calc lists low kick, so people will calc and then decide to stay in to counter with Chansey, and end up eating a Submission for 90% damage. Also giving it counter is vital. But Machamp is great at pushing paralysis onto Starmie, which is very important. You also need to carry something to actually knock out a sleeping Chansey.
Persian is very good, though I think Machamp might be better. Cleaners arent really super useful because usually the best you can hope for is to trade down, to a favourable endgame and Persian isnt really favourable against anything. But it does paralyse Starmies, and KO sleeping Chansey (and reflect Chansey), and, importantly, it outspeeds Cloyster. It also can go toe to toe with Alakazam sort of. I like the Growl set for at least having a favourable 1v1 against Tauros, provided your opponent doesnt know about the growl set (which, I think it would have worked every time). Maybe drop bubblebeam though, because you need to bolt Cloyster (and maximise your damage against Gengar).
Victreebel is so powerful and so unreliable. My god. It absolutely won me games singlehandedly, and it absolutely lost me games that looked like an absolute lock. I mean, we all know about Victreebel.
Articuno has good synergy with Lapras, and has a favourable endgame against Tauros, so if you can trade its golden. Except favourable only means favourable. I lost so many damn games because Tauros just decided it was going to beat the living shit out of Articuno. Or, you know, sometimes this bullshit happens: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen1ou-1694250691 (I only saved one log, and this is the only one someone else uploaded).
Moltres I used because people (I think Nicole?) knew I was running Articuno in my 6th slot, so were keeping their Cloyster healthy for the endgame. Moltres is the only pokemon even less reliable than Victreebel. Moltres choked basically every single game it could. It would hit exactly the number of moves it needed to to get as close to winning without actually winning. OR, if there was absolutely no reason to think that you had any chance of winning, Moltres would just win the game. Like, the wins I got with Moltres, honestly were so embarrassing I think I would have preferred to have lost them. Fuck you Moltres.
Dragonite was ass. Its just utterly the wrong Pokemon for this kind of challenge. I had no success with it whatsoever.
Anyway, use Hypno, Raichu and Clefable, to trade off all the psychics and Chansey, and then sweep with Articuno, Lapras, and Victreebel, and maybe Moltres if you hate yourself and your opponent.
Psychics and Chansey are in for a surprise when they switch in and Slamchan pulls out the tail whip, reapplies the para speed drop and slams them to death.
feels like the strongest birb to me right now. Idk. I like using on the Double birb sample team. feels like bait fora lot of the time. I haven't had too much success with . I might have to copy someone's team.
I've tried , it's alright, but I think is better as a water/rock b/c of its access to slash and SD+Beam. seems not very good to me atm. seems like a worse . is ok.
I've tried and on a mono normal team for the memes, they are alright.
It feels like, when I slap together a bunch of OU mons, it doesn't work out to well, but it's possible that I'm just not practicing with them enough.
I've seen someone running around with a wrap team that I think included some of these guys: . It's cool to see these mons get usuage, but also it's very painful to go up against.
How is Omastar? It has a lot of defense and Special and resists Ice/Normal. It is also weak to Electric and Ground and slow and has somewhat lacking coverage
I considered it as a check to both normal and amnesia Snorlaxes, thing is Snorlax wants to run EQ
How is Omastar? It has a lot of defense and Special and resists Ice/Normal. It is also weak to Electric and Ground and slow and has somewhat lacking coverage
I considered it as a check to both normal and amnesia Snorlaxes, thing is Snorlax wants to run EQ
It felt defensive, when I used it would try to Body Slam Starmie as it switched in. I'd probably have to use it more to be more in depth. It don't think it can hit Snorlax very hard when it has Amnesia boosts up.
Chansey (F)
Ability: No Ability
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Serious Nature
- Substitute
- Soft-Boiled
- Sing
- Ice Beam
From what I can tell, the best usage of Substitute is to take slightly less damage sometimes, as protection from some status, and for scouting.
I feel that Sub can give you an edge in freeze wars, Chansey's sub is pretty hard to break on the special side so it will have protection from freeze while firing off ice beams against other mons. I believe it also protects against Psychic special drops. Sub lets Chansey use Sing against mons it would otherwise take a lot of damage from. I've had people give up on trying to freeze Chansey and just paralyze it through Sub.
Here's a team I was using:
I saw someone use Reflect Sub Chansey and I thought it was interesting, so I came back to test Substitute out, I go on break from RBY for reals now (maybe).
Also, I tried Zapdos again, I don't think I like Zapdos or Jolteon while Rhydon is running around.
I agree. Sub Chansey is an idea that I think definitely has merit. I also think I saw someone experimenting with it (or posting about it) but I can't remember who.
Also that Starmie seems like it wouldn't achieve its goal. Sub makes sense if you're getting into a freeze war, but Starmie often isn't because paralysing it is so valuable, which Sub obviously does nothing for.
Also I want to advise against running mono-IB Star, and I say this as someone who has used it in serious matches. Admittedly this was a looooong time ago, I'm talking 7 years or so, give or take, also I used Light Screen rather than Sub, with the idea being that Starmie could then beat Chansey in a freeze war by absorbing para and tanking tbolt (even then it wasn't very good at it). The lack of coverage with mono-IB is obviously an issue based on type matchups, but the real problem with the set is that the lack of power means it really struggles with Normals, in particular being food for Lax, even more so than Chansey because at least Chansey is immune to paraslam.
You're right about Starmie, at the time, I just figured Starmie was mostly sleep fodder.
Been using Raichu, mostly as a way to patch up a horrible weakness to Zapdos, but also as a way to deal with Rhydon, and for paralysis support. It is able to put Chanseys into KO range for other mon's Hyber Beams with Submission. Being walled by Exeggutor is better than being walled by Rhydon imo. It also has the added benefit of being cute.
I've been doing decently well with this team:
The idea was to use Chansey to hopefully freeze and sleep things, then set up on them when they are used as death fodder.
Substitute seems to help Chansey PP stall since it reduces the likelihood of special drops and freeze hax. It also reduces the amount of damage taken, especially from crits.
It takes 3 Ice Beams from opposing Chansey to take down your Sub, about 2 Psychics from Alakazam. 2 Seismic tosses. etc.
Cloyster is a bit of a problem b/c it's hard for Kingler to break through. I don't sweep with Kingler as much as I would like, but it does happen. I got to 1474 then started dropping a bit.
I'm adding this to my teams list.
I've seen a couple people do well with . (Both got to 1500) One player is using parafusion to help get Swords Dances up. It has decent speed, Fire STAB, and access to Earthquake. Though it is weak to a lot of common moves. I'm not sure if it's really "completely unviable in RBY OU". Maybe in tournaments?
Main reason why I'm thinking about it, is b/c I'm just wondering which mons are the best for sweeps. A lot of set up sweepers seem to be weak to Zapdos. Edit:
One more team to add. I wanted to try triple birds. It's not the most powerful team, but it's alright. It feels different to play.
Onix can help pivot around Snorlax, Rhydon, and Electric types. It is still incredibly frail, but it can help to provide safer switch ins to your birbs. Tauros isn't missed as much as a sweeper (I feel), since you already have 3 sweepers.
on the Double birb sample team. 
a lot of the time. I haven't had too much success with 
. I might have to copy someone's team.
, it's alright, but I think 
seems not very good to me atm. 
seems like a worse 
is ok.
and 
on a mono normal team for the memes, they are alright.
. It's cool to see these mons get usuage, but also it's very painful to go up against.
. (Both got to 1500) One player is using parafusion to help get Swords Dances up. It has decent speed, Fire STAB, and access to Earthquake. Though it is weak to a lot of common moves. I'm not sure if it's really "completely unviable in RBY OU". Maybe in tournaments?
