Suspect SV AAA Suspect #7: Annihilape

[LordBox]

Suspect test...	Ivar57	Isaiah	Atha	DFW	QT	Tranquility	LordBox	Result
Annihilape	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	6-1 Suspect

WHY:
Following a 6-1 council vote, the AAA council has decided to suspect test Annihilape back into the metagame! Originally Annihilape was very quickly banned from the meta due to a combination of extremely potent factors that helped it immensely. Rage Fist was a unique move that provided an extremely powerful move that could accumulate power to tear through most defensive structures even without offensive investment or boosts. Combined with Ice Scales/Regen/Poison Heal which gave it great bulk and longevity in order to build up power, Terastallization which let it transform into a far better defensive type and flip the table on revenge-killers and a dual Fighting STAB which provided perfect coverage to demolish any Dark and Normal types that thought they could switch into powerful Rage Fists, Annihilape earned itself an extremely quick and well earned ban for how easily it could demolish enemys team with setup or even RegenVest/Scarf sets.

However, now many of the factors that previously contributed to Annihilape's power have been removed. Ice Scales and Poison Heal are both banned removing some of Annihilape's most potent sets and extent it could abuse bulk to abuse Rage Fist. Terastallization is removed meaning revenge-killers can more easily and reliably prey on Annihilapes Fairy/Flying/Psychic weakness in comparison to when it was banned, with many popular pokemon like Azelf and Dragonite amply able to take advantage of these weaknesses. Old Regen sets can still be taken advantage of but neither is it so easy to give up a Regenerator slot with Ice Scales removed as well as well lacking much defensive utility without Terallization.

Despite this, Annihilape still has an extremely powerful move in Rage Fist that it can take ample advantage with old RegenVest/Scarf sets or Bulk Up sets with immunities/Fluffy to tear through enemy teams if they're not careful enough to avoid carelessly triggering the boosts too quickly as well as still inheriting its fantastic offensive typing and solid bulk and attack. As such, we've left it up to the community to decide the fate of this raging ape!

How (Suspect Details):
During a Suspect test, each player must climb the ladder until they've acquired the GXE necessary to participate in the voting. Primarily, everyone that participates needs to make an alt account following these guidelines:

• Every game must be played on the official Pokemon Showdown! site and on a new account (creation date no earlier than today, Friday, November 3rd) with "AAAPE "--for example, I could create one called "AAAPE Angry" to ladder with. Having the prefix at the beginning of your alt name is mandatory, AKA not in the middle (e.g. The AAAPE Man) and not at the end (e.g. The AAAPE).
• To qualify for voting, your alt must meet the required GXE and games played threshold; it starts at 78% GXE at 25 games, down to 75% GXE at 40+ games.
  
  Table of Reqs

  
• Annihilape will be allowed on the ladder during the suspect.​
• The suspect test will go for two weeks and end on Sunday, 19th November at 10:00pm GMT -5
• When posting proof of meeting reqs, feel free to use this thread as a means to disseminate topical opinions regarding whether or not Annihilape should be unbanned (Optional)
• It is mandatory to provide proof of ownership of the alt account as well. (Post a picture of your reqs with your smogon name featured)

With that all of that being said, it's suspect time! As usual, the actual voting will take place in the Blind Voting Forum, so posting anything other than proof of reqs and discussion isn't necessary.

Tagging Kris for implementation

 

[Cyril tbh]

Im gonna be honest, Ill need to think about this one. I think is a very good mon, and it would most probably be in the upper echelon of pokemon in this meta. I think the main reason I have a hard time deciding onban or no ban is just that, for most of my games, I ended up relying on Dnite and Wake so much that I really didnt get to try it. I know it has a lot of viable sets, such as Scarf SOR, Regenvest or the one I ended up using, triage bulk up. I think I'm leaning toward ban but it could swing either way depending on how I feel on the day of the vote.

Team: https://pokepast.es/1b6eddf702bfd118


Funny priospam team is funny, ogerpon with surge over desolate landfor azelfs and shit.

 

[Quantum Tesseract]

Reqs achieved in the nick of time

 

[LordBox]

Messed around for a while with a RegenScarf Ape on balance and standard HO for a longer while. Came very close but never close enough after tons of games with the HO account so I decidede to rework and put more effort into the team and I managed to get a clean run on the 3rd attempt after a bit of pain.

In terms of my vote, if it isn't obvious already my council vote, this is an easy KEEP BANNED, in fact I think this is easiest decision I've ever come to regarding a suspect ever. Annihilape is frankly hilariously broken and playing on ladder has reinforced my thoughts on this mon being ultra-dumb.
Extra note: Fluffy Roaring Moon is still the GOAT stop the hate.

1. Building a proper balance team becomes extremely difficult when you have to factor in Annihilape, there are very little proper defensive Annihilape answers outside of dumb Unaware/PSalt shit which has no other use. The only true ways I've found to beat Annihilape outside of unmons is basically just winning faster and never letting in Annihilape for too free. It makes every move you click extremely precarious, a balance team I fought on ladder performed quite well against me and won once with very careful positioning to not trigger Rage Fist, but the next time they clicked U-turn once and then Annihilape switched in and then immediately 6-0 sweeped. You want to keep momentum up against Annihilape so you can have revenge killers amply in but it's hard to do so when they can rarely switch-in, not even being able to pivoted in as oops you trigger Rage Fist even further. I think at least half my games have come down or been large part determined by Annihilape doing really dumb shit on both sides.

2. Annihilape is like Gholdengo, but on steroids. It is extremely flexible in deciding what answers actually answer it or fall flat. Oh you went Gengar/Ghold to revenge? It's Purifying Salt, and now your Toxic Mandibuzz or Wisp mon can't do anything as well. You can viably run Wind Rider (not a joke) as like half the teams I see are barely coping against Annihilape with Zapdos (which isn't even that good, since Annihilape can gather Rage Fist power or just tank a Hurricane with SpD invest and kill). You can run random immunities to just gain momentum whenever you want and snowball into an endgame sweep as you please. Water Absorb to block the Barra Flip Turn and troll the Primsea Manaphy/Moon in front of you and kill it back or setup. WBB punishes Iron Moth severely and nullifies Wisp. You could run Fluffy to make sure those annoying Banded RMoons everywhere (for some reason) do 0 to you or maybe you want to run RegenVest/Scarf and nullify chip at ease and accumulate Rage Fist PP throughout

The ease of which Annihilape can setup and roll over teams all willy-nilly and then force totally fun mindgames or extremely aggressive gameplay as you have no clue what the hell it is and can't afford to let it setup is unparalleled. I've already seen multiple people on ladder complaining about how toxic it is and it has no place in a healthy meta unless we want to re-enact Planet of the Apes.

 

[Betticus IV]

First time participating in reqs, super fun! Had a losing streak but what can you do, still ended up getting there.

At the beginning I was more optimistic about ape but after losing almost exclusively to other annihilapes, I can say that I am not a fan of it. Ape has multiple abilities it can run to facilitate its set-up, and each ability has to be played differently so if you don't have a way to beat it, too bad. It doesn't even matter if ape invests in attack or not, between rage fist boosts and/or bulk-up, it is going to be hitting super hard with ease. Apes typing + natural bulk is also ridiculous, further compounding the set-up sweeper and rage fist issues.

It's a fun mon to use, but I'm gonna vote keep banned unless the meta is somehow able to solve this thing within the suspect time-frame.

 

[Clas]

I don't know how this was ever deemed as sustest-worthy. I'm not writing a three-paragraph mini-essay, this is just flat out broken lmao.

 

[Kinetic]

voting BAN, this mon is super busted. it punishes you for clicking u-turn and has basically 0 longterm counterplay. around 1/3 of my wins have just been due to triage annihilape getting rage fist boosts to break down everything then cleaning with drain punch.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9almostanyability-1983302300-3vln5nar6daf3mbav3lpz9qwfkeq5z0pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9almostanyability-1983083461-cct2zgwsssq1021whij82jsgjfchgudpw

team used

 

[Giagantic]

Ban it, burn it, get rid of it, if it wasn't for Rage Fist it'd be good but not excessive, but rage fist + Fluffy or Regen is just obscene...

Team is here, it won't be legal for long, however...

This being said, Toxic Debris is super busted as well, Toxic Debris + Tanky Mon is just stupid which can be seen in my following team.


The key players are Roaring Moon with Band and SoR to burst down most things, it was originally lash out but I kept running into this one bad MU 3 times and lost each due to lacking the ability to hit a Florges. Garganacl is Toxic Debris and may be one of the best abusers bar none from this experience, it differs from other common Debris mons with it's access to reliable recovery unlike Chomp or Tusk, this combined with its ability to scare away Corviknights with Salt Cure, and further punish Roost heals with Body Press is just deadly together. Team is stupid good and Annihilape is just stupid on it, no attack investments needed to do work after you accrue 200bp or more on Rage Fist and it is able to tank 1 azelf (scarf only) expanding among many other special attacks.

 

[Magiquaza]

I have not hit reqs yet and I'm not sure if I will at all, but if I hit reqs, I'm definitely voting ban. This mon is very broken, this is the easiest choice out of all the aaa suspect tests this gen.
It can flex between lots of abilities, although regen and triage seem to be the best. I personally prefer regen because it allows you to just click drain punch a lot in early game and just uturn out when at half hp or so. Its type combination is basically unresisted except for purifying salt, but psalt mons can still be killed. Annihilape can't be trapped, so that leaves toxic poison and burns as the only way to actually fully deal with annihilape, but the first won't help if ape just oneshots everything and the latter won't prevent rage fist from doing ridiculous damage at max stacks. Imo toxic debris is doing very well, it applies a lot of pressure and lots of teams don't have poison types. Let me know if I said anything that's wrong, but I don't see any reason to vote dnb anyways.

paid actor

 

[Slither Wing]

Had some cursed runs, but we finally got it
(A bit of a boring team, but its works pretty nicely)

Uhh, im not sure why we decided to try and free this shit when the meta already unstable as is. Annihilape punishes U-turns really well, which in idea sounds good since it forces players to think more thoroughly before they make their moves, however, Rage Fist is a stupid move and what happens in practice is that over the course of a game you're kinda forced to create an unstoppable late-game breaker, as there arent a lot of good defensive answers to Rage Fist + Drain Punch. Its also really easy for Annihilape to recover HP with either Regen or something like Lefties + Protect, and thanks to its great bulk you can rarely ever OHKO it. Overall, the only way to prep for it is with stuff like Gliscor + Toxic or hazards to chip it down, but as it is I think its way too oppressive to face, so I'm voting Keep Banned.

(Btw ban Dragonite its really fucking broken aswell I swept like 50 games after getting a single dd)

 

[clerica]

 

[ghostlike]

What? You are telling me that the minimum GXE is 75% instead of 78%? Crazy.
Edit: Since I've just found out that Anni won't be allowed for OMWC, this is the team that I used: https://pokepast.es/6433264df47652e2
Final gambit anni is pretty underrated right now and using offensive team with it just feels so good. You basically have a nice defensive piece that can trade with anything when you want. (Also good for cheese strats like stamina cress)

 

[Don Bork]

 

[Magiquaza]

Hit reqs

 

[Murphy Lawden]

Team used:I know stall is not good in the current meta.

Voting for Ban. Ape is busted, rage fist is hilariously broken. Ape can abuse several different abilities regen, triage, fluffy, etc. Rage fist+ bulk up can destroy entire teams, drain punch keeps it healthy alongside regen, it has taunt to shut walls down.

name inspiration:

 

[cat]

https://pokepast.es/e2e2f3e36a3a154e lazy webs i built after i was sick of using balance because ladder is a wonderful place
^^ Lifeismyth Daki free team for you guys

https://pokepast.es/9af80f727f4ae7aa balance i laddered wih for a good 2/3 of ladder, use this song if you want to use it + this was inspiration for my name

 

[RoFnA]

The combination of Rage Fist and Regenerator in the Pokémon metagame is overpowered because it allows a Pokémon to continuously boost its power with each hit taken while also healing a significant portion of its HP when switching out. This creates an unbalanced situation where the Pokémon can rapidly increase its offensive capabilities while maintaining its durability, making it exceedingly difficult for opponents to handle effectively.

Another reason why this combination is considered too broken for AAA is its flexibility. Annihilape can fit into a wide range of team compositions and roles. It can be a bulky tank, an offensive sweeper, or a utility pivot, all while maintaining its ability to regenerate health. This versatility puts an enormous strain on team-building in AAA, as players must account for the threat of Annihilape in almost every match.

Furthermore, Annihilape's dominance in AAA can often lead to a "centralizing" effect, where a single Pokémon's presence heavily influences the meta. This can make the format feel monotonous, as teams revolve around countering or utilizing Annihilape, limiting the variety of strategies that players can employ. The almost universal requirement of including a countermeasure for Annihilape can stifle creativity and diversity in team-building.

Additionally, the sheer difficulty of countering Annihilape, especially when equipped with Regenerator, makes it a significant challenge to address. While there are some checks and counters available, many of them can be circumvented through clever play, further emphasizing the Pokémon's dominance.

In conclusion, Annihilape with the combination of Regenerator and Rage Fist is a force to be reckoned with in the Almost Any Ability format. Its versatility, power, and ability to regenerate health make it a centralizing presence that has raised concerns among competitive Pokémon players. The dominance of Annihilape can limit the variety of strategies and make team-building less dynamic, ultimately raising questions about whether it is too good for the format.

 

[dreepy]

fun tier

 

[eavo]

Fun suspect test, was first time playing this tier.
s/o to Pokemon Trainer 596 for helping me out with this :)

Requirements

 

[Miyoko]

Miyoko sapphire here o/
Maya sato is the best. One more thing that is the best is stall ;)
S/o my good friend Pokemon Trainer 596 for the stall team. Though I hate stall but I love people hating stall teams :)

 

[DeepFriedMagikarp]

Used variations of this (its not good). Probably vote ban even though i sabotaged my experience by bringing mandibuzz

 

[Hera]

the table broke its leg midway through suspect so it called its weird paldean third cousin called gholdengo to finish the job. kinda looks weird imo but hey it did pretty well.

the fact that the best ape check might actually be a version of ape tailored to beat itself is way more broken than anything else i could say about the mon. when a mon's best check is itself you know that shit is unhealthy. was fun to lead ape t1 and win vs ladder teams though.

 

[BoingK]

I'm on my phone so I'll try to make this snappy

Possibly the cleanest run I've had ever, got rolled by a rain team (courtesy of RoFnA) and a webs counter team.

Ban Toxic Debris. Punishes you for ever clicking U-Turn or other physical moves and puts fairly big strain in teambuilder. Makes hazard stacking obnoxiously easy and our best hazard removal consists of Tusk, Corv and Treads. I don't think it belongs in the tier, especially if a certain leaked ability Ive heard about actually manifests in reality in DLC2

 

[cjw405]

Managed to do reqs with a pretty fun team in general

 

[Nashrock]

First time playing this tier seriously. It was fun but the monkey has 0 reason to stay.