Project SS OU Research Week: post-Arena Trap

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SS OU Weekly Research

Hello everyone, welcome to the SS OU Research Week. Participants will research given Pokemon every week and share their experiences with these Pokemon in this thread. While having competitive experience with the Pokemon is encouraged, it's not required to post ladder peaks; though you may use it to support your post.

Participants should keep the following things in mind:
  • Every round will, obviously, take a week. During this week, you will get the opportunity to research one or multiple Pokemon given by the host at the start of the week. If you want to participate, it would be useful to let me know, though it's not required. It doesn't really matter when you finish your post, as long as it gets done in the given timeframe.
  • To give you an idea of what you can put in your post, I've compiled some things you could talk about: sets, teambuilding with the Pokemon, the Pokemon's strengths and flaws, its place in the current metagame, and cores the Pokemon may fit well into. Of course, there's many more things you could talk about as well, but I'll leave that to you.
Here are the current subjects:

All the Pokemon that have been affected by the Arena Trap ban.
 
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Round 1: Clefable and Jirachi.

:sm/Clefable:
Clefable is easily one of, if not the most defining Pokemon in SS OU. With its incredible movepool, useful ability, and all-around solid stats, Clefable is a very versatile Pokemon in SS OU.

:sm/Jirachi:
Jirachi is one of the newly-released Pokemon from Pokemon Home. As a result, it has not been explored to a large extent yet.

I look forward to reading about your thoughts on Clefable and Jirachi this week! The deadline is Monday the 9th.
 

zbr

less than 99% acc = never hit
is a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
:bw/clefable:
anyway Clef is a huge metagame defining presence. Simply because it is consistent at what it does and it does it well. It's plethora of moves, pairing with magic guard and it's invaluable mono fairy typing, allows it to take techs and niches and perform them well. Combined with the fact that due to recent updates as well as gained access to Teleport, it has becomes an excellent pivot that is able to fit itself onto any teams. Keep in mind that Teleport and Softboiled is illegal!

Some of such examples are as follows:

1. Standard Sets
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind / Stealth Rock
- Moonblast
- Softboiled
- Thunder Wave

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind / Stealth Rock
- Moonblast
- Teleport
- Wish
There really isnt much to say for this section. Clef's ability to utilise Calm Mind + Softboiled and accompanied with access to Stored Power, Thunder Wave and other friendly moves that you can tailor based on your team is what rlly made Clef strong to begin with. On top of which, with access to Teleport allows it to provide slow momentum for HO / Balanced teams alike. For the record, Teleport + Wish clef is probably my favorite set on balance. It's so incredibly fun to use and allows me to bring in certain mons in unharmed and wish into teleport also allows me to heal up damaged mons in the team to maintain it's longevity.

2. Babiri + Counter
Clefable @ Babiri Berry
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Counter
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Softboiled
252 Atk Life Orb Excadrill Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 160 Def Babiri Berry Clefable: 187-220 (47.4 - 55.8%) -- 78.1% chance to 2HKO

252 Atk Life Orb Zeraora Plasma Fists vs. 252 HP / 160 Def Clefable: 204-242 (51.7 - 61.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 Atk Choice Band Dugtrio Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 160 Def Clefable: 217-256 (55 - 64.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
This set was more popular in Gen 6 / 7 where common threats such as Scizor and friends existed. Even in our current meta, this set is good as it allows Clef to take on friends like Excadrill and chunk off a sizable amount of Drill's health without the use of Flamethrower. Counter in itself is also a good tech that allows you to help chunk out fat physical mons that like to stay in on Clef. The calcs show things that like stay in on Clef cause Clef can't set up safely / kill them and so want to weaken them but Counter nukes that thought process. Although Counter isn't as useful now as it was in previous gens because of the ubiquity of ghost types in this meta.

3. Trick
Clefable @ Sticky Barb / Black Sludge
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Calm Mind

Clefable @ Iron Ball / Ring Target
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 98 Def / 158 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Moonblast
- Trick
- Protect
Trick is actually a very interesting tech option that allows you to cripple opposing team comps without letting them know you're going to do so. This is because Clef is naturally slow and Clef's access to magic guard allows it to negate effect damage.

This unique combination of traits has allowed players to test and have fun with all sorts of items on Trick Clef. Sticky Barb and Black Sludge has allowed players to pass trade damaging items onto foes, allowing them to be crippled over time and taking 12.5% damage every turn instead of healing up. Sticky Barb is the more preferred option as the latter can benefit poison types if played incorrectly. Iron Ball and Ring Target has seen niche successes, with Iron Ball being able to nullify Levitate and flying mons, giving more leeway to your team by not only cutting their speed but also grounding them such that they are affected by ground moves / terrain effects.

4. Life Orb / Choiced
Clefable @ Life Orb / Choice Specs
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Softboiled
- Moonblast
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt / Calm Mind / Stealth Rocks
Now, Clef isn't just a purely defensive option on teams. Since it is capable of acting as a strong pivot solely because of it's mono fairy typing. Magic Guard negating Life Orb recoil makes it very very strong when it comes to wearing down threats / walls for your other offensive mons to clean up. Life Orb gives you a much needed power boost which allows you to muscle past walls. The rationale for max speed is that you dont want to be outpaced by min speed offensive threats and also that you want to catch people off their guard because of the nature of the ability which allows you to negate effect damage. Choice Specs is super rare and normally less opted for because Calm Mind is naturally more superior as it gives you output and flexibility together but I am mentioning this because Choice Specs flamethrower and moonblast are stupid hard hitting and it's just fun to catch people off guard.

5. Unaware
Clefable @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Heal Bell
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Protect
Now, Magic Guard may be the more premier option because of it's flexibility and insane consistency, Unaware is actually a super dope options for balance / semi-stall teams who need a check / counter to set up mons (i.e belly drum kommo-o and friends). Unaware isn't as commonly used as Magic Guard because it's not as comfortable to find a place for it in standard teams and the opportunity costs for using it is pretty steep since you are forgoing a more flexible variant of clef for a more streamlined version of Clef. What is interesting though is the ability to bluff by using the item Heavy Duty Boots. Since Unaware means that you are going to be taking passive damage upon switch in when there are hazards on the field, Heavy Duty Boots allows the Unaware Clef to give a false impression to it's opponent that it is a Magic Guard variant. There may be some merit to this play based on the matchups you are playing against and how you want to condition your opponent such that you win the game, however do keep in mind that running Heavy Duty Boots still leaves you susceptible to weather damage (i.e - Sandstorm / Hail ) so always take that into account if you're planning to bluff.

These are the more commonly seen niches that Clef is able to play to it's advantage. Overall, Clef is such a flexible monster and if you're curious, just look through it's moveset and slap a few moves that looks cool onto it. I promise you, you will have a lot of fun.

e: should be done. I'll add more if I can come up with it.
 
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Just because I'm hosting doesn't mean I don't want to participate, I'd like to talk about Clefable.

:sm/clefable:
Synopsis

Some things change over time, and other things don't; Clefable's relative viability is an example of something that doesn't. Ever since it gained its Fairy typing in Pokemon X and Y, Clefable has been one of the best Pokemon in the various OU metagames, and that has not changed at all with SS. Clefable is almost universally accepted to be the best Pokemon in SS OU; it's incredibly versatile and can check many Pokemon like Terrakion, Dragapult, and Conkeldurr. Some people have even argued that it's unhealthy or outright broken in the past month.


Calm Mind
Clefable @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Calm Mind
- Flamethrower / Thunderbolt

Calm Mind Clefable is one of the strongest wincons in SS OU. It retains most of the utility you expect from Clefable in checking Pokemon like Terrakion, Conkeldurr, and Kommo-o, while quickly being able to overwhelm its checks. Clefable can really only be consistently checked by Toxapex or Steel-types like Excadrill and Aegislash. However, it can overwhelm these quite easily thanks to its vast coverage options, which makes Clefable ridiculously difficult to deal with and an amazing potential wincondition.

Sample Team


Clefable @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Calm Mind
- Flamethrower

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- U-turn
- Trick
- Healing Wish

Rotom-Heat @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 52 SpA / 208 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Overheat
- Nasty Plot
- Pain Split

Mandibuzz (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 160 SpD / 96 Spe
Careful Nature
- Foul Play
- Roost
- Defog
- U-turn

Dugtrio @ Choice Band
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 12 HP / 156 Atk / 92 Def / 248 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Toxic
- Sucker Punch

Kommo-o @ Leftovers
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 252 HP / 96 Def / 160 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 13 Spe
- Body Press
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Punch
- Protect



Utility
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Wish / Thunder Wave
- Knock Off / Stealth Rock / Heal Bell

Clefable can also provide teams with a lot of utility. It's one of the few viable Wish users, making it a great teammate to Pokemon that lack recovery such as Kommo-o, Seismitoad, Rotom-H, and Excadrill. Clefable is also one of the best Knock Off users, capable of crippling Pokemon that are quite reliant on their item such as Rotom-H, Corviknight, and Toxapex. Beyond that, Clefable can also cripple checks with Thunder Wave, compress roles with Stealth Rock, or even keep teammates such as Hydreigon from being crippled too heavily with Heal Bell.

Sample Team


Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 228 SpD / 28 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Encore
- Wish

Zeraora @ Metronome
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Play Rough
- Close Combat
- Grass Knot

Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Draco Meteor
- Flash Cannon
- Nasty Plot

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- Knock Off
- Thunder Wave
- Spikes

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Atk / 248 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Whirlwind
- Stealth Rock

Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 172 Atk / 80 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Swords Dance



Teleport
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Spe
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Protect
- Teleport

In addition to all its other options, Clefable's an incredible pivot with Teleport as well. Teleport Clefable can enable strong wallbreakers such as Kyurem, Aegislash, and Hydreigon really well and can also keep them healthy with Wish.

Sample Team


Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Spe
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Protect
- Teleport

Kyurem @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Draco Meteor
- Earth Power
- Freeze-Dry

Mandibuzz (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 160 SpD / 96 Spe
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Roost
- Defog
- U-turn

Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP / 172 Atk / 80 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Swords Dance

Seismitoad @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Earth Power
- Knock Off

Zeraora @ Metronome
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Close Combat
- Grass Knot
- Play Rough



Life Orb
Clefable @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt
- Soft-Boiled

Since the start of the generation, the typical Life Orb Clefable set has fallen off quite heavily, but it is still quite potent in the current metagame. Though you miss out on a lot of defensive utility, Clefable's a very good wallbreaker that doesn't really have any consistent checks. It eventually fell off because of how prominent specially defensive Clefable was on balance teams, but most Clefable's have opted to run a more physically defensive spread these days, making Life Orb Clefable a great wallbreaker in this metagame.

Sample Team


Clefable @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt
- Soft-Boiled

Mandibuzz (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 160 SpD / 96 Spe
Careful Nature
- Foul Play
- Roost
- Defog
- U-turn

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Recover
- Haze
- Baneful Bunker

Seismitoad @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Scald
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic

Zeraora @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Bulk Up

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- U-turn
- Trick
- Healing Wish


Something that's worth noting about the EV spreads I've provided is that they're definitely not the only ones there are to use; Clefable is super customizable and you can really EV it for whatever you desire from it, I've just went with physically defensive spreads because they're the easiest to use right now.
 
Unfortunately, there were no posts on Jirachi, but that's fine. zbr I appreciate the in-depth post and hope to see more!

So what we've gathered from week 1 is that Clefable is one of the most versatile Pokemon; it can really achieve whatever it wants. It's really customizable in what it can check, and has a very wide movepool which allows for many tech options, such as Counter and Trick, as well as more standard sets with Calm Mind and Teleport, ofcourse. Life Orb + 3 Attacks Clefable also seems to be potent right now, as specially defensive Clefable, the reason it fell off, has been dropping in usage in favor of more physically defensive Clefable.

These will be the subjects for the following week:

Week 2: Aegislash and Terrakion

:sm/aegislash:
Aegislash has been banned the past two generations, but finally found its way back into OU this generation. Since its introduction to SS OU, it's proven to be a very prominent Pokemon that, despite being rather straight-forward, still has a lot of versatility to it.

:sm/terrakion:
Since its introduction with Pokemon Home, Terrakion's shown itself to be a very strong Pokemon in SS OU, but it doesn't seem to be a popular pick among SPL players.

Aegislash and Terrakion should be interesting; I look forward to what you think about them! The deadline is Monday the 16th.
 
1583975540069.png

Aegislash:
Aegislash is a pretty good mon in gen 8 OU. He can run basically 4 archetypes, all of which serve different purposes. Within each archetype there is some smaller degrees of variation. This variability allows aegislash to pick its checks/counters, making it a really scary beast to play against. It does have blanket checks but there aren't many and if you play like a beast you can definitely get your bang for your buck with aegislash.

Band:
Brute force stuff, pray you get them flinches/crits, dont be afraid to do some predictions, and abuse that 140 base special attack banded shadow sneak to kill weak mons or clean. You can do 4 attacks, 3 attacks+toxic, opt into headsmash, etc.

Specs:
Hits stuff hard, a bit more conservative than band. 3 attacks+toxic, or 2 attacks+ shadow sneak+toxic, opt into steelbeam, etc. It cant abuse hax like band can nor can it clean as well but doesnt care about burn and has a higher BP neutral coverage move.

Neither of these sets are really gonna love pivoting in and out constantly over the course of the game despite a SR resist and no fear of being trapped. Both however are perfectly capable of abusing their typing and bulk to come in at critical periods and start blowing games open, shifting the momentum entirely in your favor, or wiping the slate.

Substitute:
You chill behind a sub, abuse king shield, give corona virus to your checks and laugh at them, and click shadow ball. It has less variety (i have seen phys with gyro ball instead of shadow ball but I think its just experimentation) but its not as brain dead as it sounds. Having the balls to use toxic aggressively can allow you to both gain a nice advantage and hide your set.

Swords Dance:
Priority spam setup sweeper. With hazards up/chip you can wipe lots of teams at +2, and at +3 there's almost nothing that can stop you. Air balloon is generally used, but weakness policy and lum berry both bring something to the table. Lefties is used too but imo its overrated. Generally the movepool is a bit static, but you can tech kings shield to surprise people and cheese free wins. What sets SD aegi apart from a lot of swords dance sweepers is its bulk and typing. This makes it not as reliant on protecting moves like screens or veil. Weakness policy+autonomize is sort of an offshoot of this, but its less consistent imo.
 
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shocker me doing terrakion.


terrakion has been a pokemon that has been hyped a lot before home being released, however it has never quite it the mark as it was expected to be as its really hard for it to get kills as it is easily revenged and trapped by the omnipresent dugtrio, which prevents banded sets from wrecking the havoc it was predicted to. nevertheless, with proper support and playing around, terrakion can still be quite the menace to deal with due to an incredible offensive typing and high speed and attack stats.


Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake / Quick Attack

shed shell patches up a huge hole in terrakion's flaws, as being trapped by dugtrio is no longer a looming threat. with swords dance boosts, it still hits pretty hard and can pressure a lot of defensive pokemon. pokemon like thunder wave clefable, and rotom formes make great partners as they are able to spread paralysis to pokemon like dragapult which naturally outspeeds terrakion. terrakion also greatly appreciates hazards being put out which makes clef an even more exceptional support partner. wallbreakers also pair well such as kyurem as terrakion wouldn't always have to worry about getting a swords dance in to effectively pressure bulky waters such as seismitoad and toxapex as kyurem does massive amounts of damage with freeze dry. the reason i slashed in quick attack in with earthquake is the rarity that you actually want to kill dugtrio instead of being forced out by it, if dugtrio is in range to die to a QA, but the coverage that eq provides hitting aegislash is far too valuable.


Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Quick Attack / Toxic

choiced terrakion sets are still really good, but in some matchups can be a lot harder to pull off. for example, its really hard for banded terrakion to comfortably ko pokemon with a dugtrio in play, and the case for scarf terrakion, its really hard for it to be a threat for more defensively inclined teams due to that lack of power from either band or sd. however, these sets are still very much effective on certain teams and has some favorable matchups. quick attack should be ran on band sets for priority to revenge threats that may be faster than it while toxic should be ran on scarf sets to be able to cripple pokemon it would never have a chance to dent such as hippowdon and seismitoad.

i might edit some teams i build later today onto the post
 
rak.png

Rak Wack Stack & Sack -- suicide lead

This was created by someone else and has already been posted at least once in the main discussion threads.
I'm sorry I can't remember right now who & where to give credit to.
But I thought it'd be appropriate to add to this research thread:

Terrakion @ Focus Sash
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stealth Rock
- Bulldoze
- Swords Dance / Stone Edge

The primary reason for this is to be an alternative to suicide-lead Excadrill, and is also designed to beat said 'mon reliably.
One of the main issues with lead drill, is facing other drill, and relying on speed ties related to Rapid Spin --> +1 Spe --> EQ --> set SR.

With Bulldoze & CC on Rak, you should always beat Drill if you Bulldoze turn 1, since it will reverse Drill's speed boost from RS and you'll break it's Sash in the same turn. After Drill dies, if you're still healthy then you can set up SR if whatever next doesn't both outspeed and OHKO Rak.

Swords Dance is slashed here first by me, because a priority for me is to have the chance to prevent Corviknight from Defogging (which Drill does with Steel Beam). But Stone Edge is an equally good if not better overall option because you can damage Fairies & Pult well, chip Pex, and break a balloon if Aegi carries it (among other reasons).

Calcs vs Corv:
+2 252 Atk Terrakion Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Corviknight: 373-439 (93.2 - 109.7%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252 Atk Terrakion Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 48 Def Corviknight: 357-420 (89.2 - 105%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252 Atk Terrakion Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 271-321 (67.7 - 80.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252 Atk Terrakion Close Combat vs. +2 252 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 136-162 (34 - 40.5%) -- 40.9% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
 
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Zneon

uh oh
is a Community Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
Oh new week, new Pokemon, gonna be doing Aegi



Even though it is much less absurd than it was in the last 2 previous gens, Aegislash is an absolutely fantastic Pokemon in the SS OU metagame. It's pretty versatile with its ability to go Choice Band, Choice Specs, Sub + Toxic and, and it is incredibly consistent at these roles because of its incredible typing and ability in Stance Change, making it pretty unpredictable. There is generally very little counters if not none to Aegislash overall as the checks and counters really depend on which set it's running, allowing it to pick and choose them accordingly.

:aegislash:

Aegislash @ Choice Band
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Claw
- Iron Head
- Shadow Sneak
- Close Combat

Choice Band Aegislash is an incredibly effective wallbreaker as it can remain a completely threatening presence while also retaining the ability to check Pokemon such as Clefable and Kommo-o and consistently pressure them with its great STAB combination and coverage options and has a severe lack of switch ins, the only Pokemon that can consistently check CB Aegislash are Mandibuzz and Toxapex, whilst it can furthermore act as a late-game cleaner with Shadow Sneak by killing off weakened mons while also revenge killing fast ghosts such as Dragapult, this overall makes it incredibly dangerous as a physical wallbreaker.

:aegislash:

Aegislash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Toxic
- Shadow Sneak

The Choice Specs set pretty much accomplishes what the Choice Band set did, which is being a pretty dangerous wallbreaker but on the special side instead. Which allows it to now threaten Pokemon such as Sesimitoad and Corviknight, since Aegislash is so good defensively with its typing alone it can easily fit Toxic into this set, which allows it to beat some of its checks such as Mandibuzz and Gastrodon effectively.

:aegislash:

Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Substitute
- Toxic
- King's Shield
- Shadow Ball

On top of having an incredible offensive prowess, Aegislash's phenomenal typing and bulk in Shield Form allows it to force switches and along with access to Toxic allows it to beat its checks such as Mandibuzz and Kommo-o through stalling them out with the combination of Substitute + King's Shield, allowing it to overwhelm its checks most of the time.

:aegislash:

Aegislash @ Air Balloon
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Sneak
- Iron Head
- Shadow Claw

Aegislash can work well as a late-game sweeper with its checks gone, as after a Swords Dance it can usually just pick off weakened Pokemon or just outright kill them with its access to priority and great STAB combination, allowing it to threaten Pokemon like Dragapult and Gengar late game while also threatening the omnipresent Clefable and hitting extremely hard which makes it really threatening as a sweeper late game when Pokemon like Toxapex and Mandibuzz are taken care of.

Overall, Aegislash is an excellent Pokemon that can fit on many offence and balance teams alike and you can really fit any of these sets onto your team, personally the SubTox set is the most splashable set in my personal opinion.
 
Hey everyone, unfortunately this fell to the back of my mind, but I'll get to it now.

From the many posts, we've established that Aegislash is incredibly versatile; it can function as a physical wallbreaker, special wallbreaker, late-game cleaner, and even deal with its checks with Toxic + King's Shield. Because of Aegislash's versatility, there's barely any consistent counterplay to it. Terrakion seems to be a prime wallbreaker with its variety in sets; it can be immediately threatening with Choice Band, or elect to run a Swords Dance set to break teams even better, after a turn of setup. It's also an interesting Choice Scarf user, and can make for a decent lead on hyper offensive teams as well. Unfortunately, Terrakion's variability is held back by the prominence of Dugtrio.

These will be the subjects for the following week:

Week 3:

:sm/zeraora::sm/kyurem:

The deadline is Sunday the 29th.
 
Zeroara is a beast. With its high attack and ungodly speed it is a premier offensive threat in the meta. Arguably as important though is it’s diverse and powerful movepool. With coverage moves like Close Combat, Knock Off, Play Rough, and Grass Knot it has the tools to being down many electric resists. Predicting switches allows you to seriously cripple the opponent with Knock Off, and there aren’t many Pokémon who can take two hits in a row from Zoara anyways.

I feel like there are flexible options more than different sets for Zeroara. Most Zeroara run one of the aforementioned moves, accompanied byLife Orb / Expert Belt / Leftovers / Metronome depending on the bulk/power trade off you’re comfortable with.

Bulk Up used to be popular, but they seem to have fallen out of fashion in favor of immediate power and an additional coverage move. Crucially, if you’re able to predict a switch you’re typically not dealing much more damage using Bulk Up. For example, Knock Off + SE Plasma Fists does 69.6-81.8 to Toxapex while Bulk Up + Plasma Fists does 77.6-91.4 if both hold leftovers. Once you take into account the lost healing due to having it’s item knocked off, Zeroara actually deals more damage in the former example than the latter. You are punished far less on incorrect predictions, and access to a third coverage move is big game. Plus your defenses are very poor, even with +1 Def.

Popular options against Zeroara are priority users like Bisharp and defensive Pokémon that can exploit Zeroara’s 4MSS. Ones lacking Grass Knot can be walled by Hippo and Seismeitoad and are beat by Gastrodon, ones lacking Knock Off can’t touch Aegislash and are beat by defensive Jirachi, and ones lacking Play Rough are walled by defensive Kommo-O and beaten by Virizon. One other Pokémon I’ve been surprised at how well it checks Zeroara is Venusaur, who resist every move other than Knock Off and even that is beat by the healing of Giga Drain.

Zeroara can go on any offensive team, and it’s exact coverage moves are typically tuned based on its teammates.
 
It's a shame there was only one submission this week, but that's fine. I'd like to thank StellaAthena for the time they put into their post.

With the banning of Arena Trap, I figure that this is a good team to do things a little different. For this week, the subjects will be all the Pokemon that have been affected by the Arena Trap ban in one way or the other, be it Keldeo that's gotten worse without the option to consistently trap Dugtrio, or Toxtricity as it lost one of the main factors holding it back.

The deadline is Sunday the 5th.
 
A lot of mons were highlighted in TPP's post in metagame discussion but the one people seem to be talking about the most is Kyurem. Even with duggy in the picture Kyurem shot up from 24th in usage(7.9%) in February to 11th(18.2%) in March. With duggy gone it can't be reliably trapped after a KO and out of the like 5-6 mons that can switch into the specs set reliably, the most used one is Snorlax in 35th place with 4.1% usage. With the exception of Snorlax and Sylveon most of the other mons that are not 2HKO'd are pretty mediocre: Bronzong, Dusclops, Umbreon or they need an assault vest so they're not 2HKO'd and lose a lot of value from losing heavy-duty boots: incineroar, centiskorch. Between kyurem and dracovish teambuilding will be super restricted unless ur playing HO.

Secondly Zeraora has risen above dragapult in usage to 4th place and the 3 mon core above it(clef, pex, corvi)doesn't give it much trouble. There isn't much in the top 20 that really gives it problems except seis and hippowdon who have to be wary of grass knot. We might see a rise in arcanine as switch in perhaps(currently 82nd at less than 1% usage).
 
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