Project The Top 10 Titans of the Gen 7 Ubers Metagame

[Ropalme1914]

OP largely taken from here and here
Approved by Nayrz

The Top 10 Titans of the Gen 7 Ubers Metagame

​

The 7th Generation brought to Ubers many new toys: Z-Moves allowed for many Pokémon that could easily check others something to actually, Marshadow kept many slower setup sweepers in check, we got new solid Xerneas's checks with Magearna and Necrozma-DM, and that's not to mention the other changes that we got: Darkrai's signature move, Dark Void, suffered a massive nerf to its accuracy and completely removed one of the main threats of the last generation, the Megas Speed buff made it so that Gengar can now reach its great Speed tier of 130 on the first turn and removed the necessity of Protect to safely Mega Evolve, the Soul Dew nerf made the Eon Duo, some of the main defoggers of the tier, almost irrelevant (with the exception of the more niche Mega Latias), among many other things. Now, we can ask this question: which 10 Pokémon were the most influentional throughout of Gen 7? That's what this thread will try to answer.

From August 19th to August 31st , you will nominate Pokemon that will be voted on for the top 10 most influential Pokemon throughout Gen 7. After that, we will all evaluate all the nominations and individually rank the Pokemon from 1-10 by vote. Of course, all the nominations will count as long as they're reasonable and fit the criteria. However, keep in mind that this is not a ranking of how strong or good a Pokémon is, but how influentional it was and how much it impacted the metagame.

Just for clarification: we will follow the viability ranking for the separation of the Pokémon. That means that each Arceus forme can receive a separate nomination, and so can Necrozma-DM, Necrozma-DW, and Ultra Necrozma, BUT you can talk about how the guessing game of Ultra affected the viability of Dusk Mane and vice-versa on their own nomination. Also, even if some Pokémon only became relevant on the USUM half of the meta, you still can vote for it if you think it was influentional enough, but please keep in mind that this is for all of the meta of Gen 7, not just USUM.

Finally, please follow the format below, or else I won't be able to count it.

Format

Nominating [Pokemon]

Enter sprite here.

What effect did [Pokemon] have on the metagame?

Explain how the Pokemon effected the metagame as whole, and how the metagame adapted around it. A brief description of which Pokemon it countered and which Pokemon it did well against would be good here as well.

In what main roles was [Pokemon] used?

Explain why this Pokemon was used on a team more often then most other Pokemon, and what was it particularly used for? What made it so good at this role?

What caused it to have a significant impact?

What exactly made this Pokemon have such a large impact on the metagame? Was it its stats, ability, useful resistances, amazing synergy, or the ability to sweep most of the metagame very easily? Did a certain Pokemon cause it to become that much better when it was partnered with it?

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in Ubers?

What are the best checks/counters to this Pokemon? How does the metagame adapt to this Pokemon?

Finally, you can make reservations, but please complete them in 12 hours, or else anyone will be able to take it. You also can make multiple nominations, but only if you already completed your last nomination.

Current Nominees

Tip: you can click on the Pokémon to see the post for their nomination!

The Ranking
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. ( )
10. ​

 

[Ropalme1914]

Nominating Zygarde

What effect did Zygarde have on the metagame?

Zygarde forced many teams to start to prepare to it. Considering its defensive set, many Pokémon started giving a lot more preference to special Ice coverage, like the rise of Mixed RP Groudon, Marshadow, and even Pokémon like Extreme Killer Arceus and Ho-Oh used it sometimes. On the offensive side, Zygarde-C makes it so almost any bulkier team needs to have a Arceus with Ice Beam to stop it from sweeping. Gothitelle builds were popular with Zygarde for some time since it could trap most of its checks, and it also was the star of many Toxic Spikes teams. It also is part of the reason why Scarf Xerneas is so popular now.

In what main roles was Zygarde used?

Zygarde was mainly used as a sweeper with Dragon Dance or a physical wall. As a sweeper, Zygarde set it apart from the others by being bulkier than any Pokémon that used setup moves, allowing it to use Dragon Dance multiple times, and its amazing STAB move in Thousand Arrows covering almost all of the tier in just one slot. On the defensive side, Zygarde is one of the most physically bulky Pokémon in the entire game with great resistance, allowing it to deal with Pokémon like Primal Groudon and Ho-Oh.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

The main reason why Zygarde is so dangerous is it capability to adapt to the metagame: Xerneas is a problem? +1 Tectonic Rage can OHKO standard Geomancy variants. Dragon-types like Giratina-O and bulkier Arceus formes are giving you trouble? Well, we have Dragonium Z for you. Want to stall Toxic Spikes turns and gain more Leftovers recovery? Why don't you try Substitute + Protect. Phazers like Lugia are being used to remove you from the field after you used a setup move? Dragon Tail can take care of that. That is mainly due to its absurd bulk and the move Thousand Arrows, a Ground-type move that also hits Pokémon that do not touch the ground, making it hit all of the most common Pokémon in the tier with at least neutral damage with just that move. The defensive set also has some room for creativity, like with the move Coil, which not only allow it to beat almost every physical attacker in the game on the 1v1, but also make it a threat to the other team on the long run. The last thing that made Zygarde have a huge impact is Glare: this move makes it so that no Pokémon in the game likes to switch on Zygarde between Thousand Arrows and Glare, with the possible exception of Aromatherapy Xerneas.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in Ubers?

Zygarde's main weakness is its low Attack: this makes the offensive set to no be as powerful as you would expect from a offensive Pokémon when unboosted, while the defensive set becomes very passive. Scarf Xerneas always outspeeds +1 Zygarde, doesn't take much damage from unboosted Thousand Arrows, has access to Aromatherapy if it uses Glare on the switch and can OHKO it with Moonblast. Support Arceus formes can take any move from Zygarde easily outside of boosted Z-Moves, outspeed it before a Dragon Dance, recover any damage it took and deal huge damage with Ice Beam or Judgment. The defensive set can't take on most special attackers, especially if they Ice coverage, but it can cripple them with Glare. Arceus in particular can use Zygarde as setup bait if it has Substitute, since one Dragon Tail won't be enough to break it, but it won't be able to win against a Coil set.

 

[Katy]

Nominating: Marshadow



What effect did Marshadow have on the Metagame?

Marshadow is a really good offensive threat in the Ubers Metagame, as its high Speed and its good Attack-stat allows it to revenge kill a multitude of Pokémon in the Ubers Metagame.
This Pokémon is a powerhouse with 125 Attack and 125 Speed and has a decent bulk as well with 90 HP, 80 Defense and 90 Special Defense. Its typing is also very excellent and unique with Fighting/Ghost.
Foremost its typing in Fighting/Ghost allows it to scare out a good portion of mons in the Ubers Metagame such as specific Arceus variants being Arceus-Normal, Arceus-Dark, Arceus-Ghost and Arceus-Steel.
It forces a good amount of other offensive and defensive Pokémon out: Ferrothorn, Dusk Mane Necrozma, Lunala, Dawn Wings Necrozma and Giratina-O.
Its effect left a big Impact with Arceus-Normal trending from the Max-Att and Max-Speed spread to almost Max-HP and Max-Att with 16 Speed and the Item Chople Berry to have a better time against Marshadow,
Furthermore it made that Arceus-Fairy and also Arceus-Flying having a good spot in the Ubers Metagame, as they can defensively check Marshadow pretty well with their typing.
They both resist the Fighting STAB of Marshadow pretty well - and with their good bulk - they even can tank a Spectral Thief and revenge it with their super effective Judgments.
Furthermore, Mega-Salamance proved to be a threat to Marshadow. Prior to Salamance mega evolving, it has intimidate to lower Marshadow’s attack significantly.
This can cause a switch-out at that point because Marshadow has to fear a Return/Frustration or Double Edge on the offensive Mega Salamence set,
and Body Slam on the defensive set. Body Slam is not only super effective, but it can cause paralysis as well
Marshadow also caused a more defensive approach on the teambuilding, when it was new to the Ubers Metagame, and it still proves to be a threat for unprepared teams.
In overall Marshadows impact was pretty high as it caused either a complete set-change (In case of Arceus-Normal) or a change in the team structure with being a more defensive approach.

In what main roles was Marshadow used?

Life Orb All-Out-Attacker

Hide

Marshadow @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spectral Thief
- Close Combat
- Shadow Sneak
- Hidden Power Ice / Rock Tomb
The 4th Moveslot can change between HP Ice to hit Zygarde Complete and Mega-Salamence or Rock Tomb to hit Ho-Oh

Bulk Up + Z-Move

Hide

Marshadow @ Marshadium Z
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bulk Up
- Spectral Thief
- Close Combat
- Shadow Sneak
This set especially offers a high damage output with Bulk Up not only giving a +1 in Attack but also its Defense. The key-point here is the Z-Move (Soul-Stealing 7-Star Strike), which allows it
to Wallbreak easily and threaten everything

Other but lesser seen Options are: Choice-Sets such as Choice Band and Choice Scarf, but both sets are easily checkable making these sets less attractive.
Sub‌itute + Drain Punch is also used but only very rarely so the chances to run into this set are really slim. Same mention goes to a Force Palm Set to have the chance to paralysis the opposing target.
Hidden Power Flying is a nice option for hitting Buzzwole but this Hidden Power typing is very rarely on Marshadow.

In overall the Life Orb and the Z-Move Sets are superior to the other Options - which also is reflected by the usage of other Sets - compared to the Life Orb or Bulk Up + Z-Move-Set.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Its impact is caused by its signature move in Spectral Thief because this Attack is able to steal the opposing Pokémon boost such as a Swords Dance, a Calm Mind or another Bulk Up boost.
Also Marshadow is capable of using these boosts to its own advantage without having the need to boost itself up with its own Bulk Up.
Its typing in Fighting/Ghost makes it also capable of dealing with threats which a pure Fighting or a pure Ghost-typing can't do. It can threaten Arceus-Dark and threaten different Psychic-type Pokémon.
Even tho there are multiple ways to deal with Marshadow it still poses a huge threat in the Uber Metagame as it can steal boosts thus using the stolen boosts to its own advantage.
Having a high Speed-tier and a high Attack-stat as well as a good typing adds further to the reason that Marshadow is a huge threat in the Ubers Metagame.

How do/did you deal with this Pokémon in Ubers?

Fairy-types are a good way to deal with Marshadow the best one here is Arceus-Fairy as it can check it reliably with Recover and Judgment and it also resists its STAB in Close Combat and can - with its natural good bulk -
tank a Spectral Thief into a Shadow Sneak. Same mention goes to Xerneas as both these Fairy-types can only get OHKOed by a boosted Z-Move. Marshadow would like to have them weakened first.
Yveltal is another good check here with its good typing in Dark/Flying, it can come in on both of Marshadows STABs and can revenge-kill it with its STAB Oblivion Wing.

Zygarde-Complete is nearly unbypassable for Marshadow as its sky-high HP-stat and Defensive-stats allows it to tank a lot of physical moves and even boosted physical moves of Marshadow. and Hidden Power Ice
isn't a OHKO due to Zygarde-Completes superb bulk and Zygarde threatens a Glare on Marshadow and Marshadow doesn't wanna get glared.

Flying-types such as Ho-Oh and Arceus-Flying can force it out due to their STAB Options, Mega-Salamence gets a special mention due to its Ability prior to Mega and its good bulk and typing.
Faster Attackers: Choice Scarf Users mostly take little from Shadow Sneak but are capable of revenge killing Marshadow in Return.

Physically Bulky Pokémon such as Toxapex, Primal Groudon and Landorus-Therian are capable of taking on Marshadow and having a chance to scare it out either with a strong Move or a Scald Burn (In Toxapex' case).
Mega-Sableye can threaten it out with a possible Will-o-Wisp burn thus making Marshadow incapable of breaking in the later game. Faster Attackers can also force out Marshadow or are able to OHKO it.​

 

[Dreadfury]

This thread's a little quiet; nominating Primal Groudon even though anyone with a brain knows that Primal Groudon should not only be on here but should also be #1 on this list by an absolute landslide.

Primal Groudon needs little introduction, for anyone who is even remotely familiar with the Ubers tier as of the release of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire roughly five years ago knows all too well how centralizing a force this behemoth is.

Part I: Primal Groudon's Effect on the Metagame

To put it bluntly, Primal Groudon is the Ubers metagame. Many of the impressive qualities that allowed Primal Groudon to immediately flip the Ubers metagame upside-down - its incredible defensive and offensive typing granting it immunities to Thunder Wave and Will-o-Wisp, its vast movepool consisting of support, setup, and status moves alike, its respectable bulk, its Desolate Land ability which singlehandedly invalidates former top-tier threat Kyogre by granting it a pseudo-immunity to Water moves, and much more - have continued to allow Primal Groudon to unconditionally dominate the Ubers tier the following generation.

Primal Groudon is in a rank of its own (S+, or a cut above even the S-rank threats) on the Ubers Viability Rankings, and has maintained this rank all generation. Its very existence makes the otherwise decent offensive Water typing extremely poor, and its raw power and set diversity makes countering it a nigh-impossible task unless its set is properly discerned. Primal Groudon is responsible for the ubiquity of Ground-type attacks in many senses: Primal Groudon will almost always run its Precipice Blades - a powerful, spammable Ground-type attack that demolishes most targets - and Ground is its only weakness unless Primal Kyogre, Golduck, or a Rayquaza packing either Surf or Waterfall exists. With the addition of the Steel-type Dusk-Mane Necrozma as the second-in-command of the Ubers tier, it is mandatory to pack some sort of a Ground-type move. As such, the new and immensely bulky Zygarde-Complete with its spammable Thousand Arrows and the incredibly bulky Arceus-Ground with its powerful Ground-type Judgment have seen a surprising amount of usage to deal with Primal Groudon defensively, while Arceus-Water can defensively check Primal Groudon and cripple it with Toxic though much of its offensive presence is greatly limited by Desolate Land.

Its usage in tournament play and on the ladder alike reflect just how centralizing a force Primal Groudon is: at no point does its usage drop below 50%, and at the higher rungs of the Showdown ladder it receives over 70% usage. This is actually somewhat lower than it has been in earlier parts of the generation, at which time its usage on the ladder exceeded 80% and at some points even zeroed in on 90%. The sheer ubiquity of Primal Groudon therefore mandates running several checks to it - checks that admittedly aren't particularly hard to fit on a typical Ubers team - in order to cover its many, many viable sets.

Part II: Primal Groudon's MANY Viable Roles in the Ubers Tier

Primal Groudon doesn't see too much usage on the Stall archetype as it lacks access to reliable recovery and as a result can be worn down eventually, but due to the playstyle's inconsistency in the face of a tier in which base 150 offenses are decidedly average this is hardly a blow to this titan's viability. On virtually any other archetype, however, Primal Groudon fits like a glove and can function on Balanced, Bulky Offensive, and even Hyper Offensive teams with several potential sets. It provides crucial support for most of the tier, and most of the tier supports it very well in return.

While many Ubers staples have the stats to run a plethora of different sets, Primal Groudon takes this to a whole different level. Primal Groudon's Smogon analysis recommends six different sets, and while many overlap to some degree each set fulfills a vastly different role that other sets cannot fill to the same degree. Countering Primal Groudon as a whole is therefore completely impossible, as each set boasts wildly different defensive and offensive answers; Groudon can pick and choose its counters even on individual sets and giving Primal Groudon a free turn with a bold prediction can immediately end a game.

Primal Groudon's many sets

Stealth Rock+Swords Dance gives Primal Groudon a great deal of role compression: it can act as a team's entry hazard setter, a wallbreaker with access to powerful Speed control in Rock Tomb, and a team's secondary Fairy check all with one set. Primal Groudon's ability to consistently force switches and keep the opponent guessing gives it plenty of opportunities to set up Stealth Rock, boost its Attack, or just hit extremely hard.

Primal Groudon's bulky Stealth Rock set lets it check even more threats by further bolstering its titanic bulk. It, too, can set up Stealth Rock reliably but it notably runs Toxic and Overheat to punish traditional SR+SD switchins like Giratina-Origin or Defog Yveltal. Despite no investment, its Overheat absolutely obliterates most Yveltal sets without cutting into Precipice Blades's damage output. Toxic can swing the tide of a game in one's favor, as putting Giratina-Origin on a timer and thus limiting or outright removing its ability to check Primal Groudon can set one's team up for a slow but assured victory.

Primal Groudon can run the exact same four moves as the aforementioned bulky support set but completely redistribute its stats to go on the offensive; this set can also potentially drop Toxic for Hidden Power Ice or Rock Tomb to cover Zygarde-Complete or Ho-oh. The offensive investment also lets it obliterate even bulkier Yveltal variants with Overheat.

The mixed Rock Polish set is one of the most terrifying offensive threats in the tier: while maintaining enough bulk to check Xerneas and outpace it if both have equal Speed boosts, its Precipice Blades can still shatter many of the things it needs to hit while its incredibly strong Fire Blasts demolish Yveltal and many Arceus formes. Its coverage options include Dragon Pulse to maximize damage against Giratina-Origin and Hidden Power Ice to invalidate pre-transformation Zygarde and Mega Salamence. Many of these Groudon variants opt to run Eruption over Fire Blast, and Eruption as a whole has seen a great deal of usage despite its inherent inconsistency of depending on Groudon's remaining HP stat. It rains armageddon upon all who dare to switch in, and its raw power can OHKO a shocking amount of threats Fire Blast would narrowly miss out on OHKOing as well as 2HKOing just about everything in the Ubers tier. This is perhaps Primal Groudon's most difficult-to-check set.

Primal Groudon's double-dance set, consisting of Swords Dance and Rock Polish and rounding out its coverage with either Stone Edge for Ho-oh and Giratina-Origin or Fire Punch for brute force, is another incredibly powerful offensive threat that is extremely difficult to counter without utilizing Zygarde-Complete's titanic physical bulk to survive a boosted Precipice Blades. Against bulkier teams it can wallbreak after a Swords Dance, and against more offensive teams it can use Rock Polish to outrun its competition. If it picks up both a Swords Dance and a Rock Polish boost, your best option is to either attempt to win a terrifying series of mindgames against the boosted Primal Groudon, to attempt to steal its boosts with Choice Scarf Marshadow, or to forfeit right then and there.

It is especially important to note that Primal Groudon can run phazing sets with Roar or Dragon Tail, Lava Plume to spread Burns, Thunder Wave to spread Paralysis, and a wide array of potential IV spreads to get the speed or power jump on a specific threat. Primal Groudon is incredibly customizable and it'll probably do just fine regardless of what set one opts to run on it.

Part III: The Reasons Behind Primal Groudon's Influence

Everything about Primal Groudon is important. Its movepool is diverse to the point where several checks to it must be run to better attempt to cover every single Primal Groudon set. Its physical bulk is high enough that it can survive shockingly powerful attacks and hit back even harder in return. Its typing is good enough that it can give its otherwise-mediocre Special Defense stat a lot of mileage with some investment, letting it function as a team's secondary check to Xerneas. Its Ability shuts down an entire type that was in previous generations considered to be the absolute best in Ubers. Its powerful Ground-type attacks are a product of their ubiquity, as more countermeasures to the type must be run to deal with its Precipice Blades and due to the typing being its only true weakness lots of things, including Primal Groudon itself, can offensively threaten Primal Groudon with irreparable damage. Its role compression is unparalleled by anything barring maybe Dusk-Mane Necrozma as it can take on several roles at once and perform them all well. Its support is universal and it can better enable a plethora of top-tier threats that are already fearsome on their own, and its splashability makes it incredibly easy to insert onto almost any Ubers-viable team, as reflected by its enormous usage stats.

Simply put, Primal Groudon can do almost anything and it has the stats, typing, and movepool to do it well. It just can't do everything all at once. Primal Groudon is an exceptional case: the metagame is a product of its existence instead of its existence being a product of the metagame.

Part IV: The Metagame's Adaptations to Primal Groudon

Primal Kyogre is arguably the single largest threat to any team lacking Primal Groudon - whether because Primal Groudon is not being run or because it was simply eliminated - but its complete inability to spam its powerful Origin Pulses, Water Spouts, or Scalds while Primal Groudon is alive and well forces Primal Kyogre to adapt. Fortunately, Primal Kyogre boasts stats that are equally well-distributed, albeit with a Special focus instead of a physical focus, and as a result it has a whopping base 150 Attack stat as a counterpart to Primal Groudon's base 150 Special Attack as well as access to a powerful Earthquake to 2HKO a gutsy Primal Groudon itching to switch into a predicted Water-type attack. The very existence of a mixed-attacking Primal Kyogre is enough to deter Primal Groudon from switching into Primal Kyogre without properly scouting its moveset. Kyogre itself, however, is 2HKOed if it switches into a Precipice Blades from any offensively-inclined Groudon set and as such it is not a counter so much as it is an offensive check that can potentially revenge kill something.

Zygarde-Complete will counter any physically-inclined Primal Groudon variant, threatening to KO with Thousand Arrows and stomaching even a boosted Precipice Blades if it's healthy enough. However, a pre-transformation Zygarde can very easily get destroyed by a Hidden Power Ice from a mixed variant.

Giratina-Origin can come in on most Groudon variants a limited number of times and threaten it by Defogging its hazards away or irreparably damaging it with a Draco Meteor, but due to its lack of reliable recovery it can be chipped away at to the point of being incapable of checking Primal Groudon anymore. It must be wary of Toxic from support sets, Dragon Pulse from mixed sets, boosted Stone Edges from Swords Dance sets, the extremely uncommon Dragon Claw, and two full-power Eruptions. Giratina-Altered can defensively check it better than Giratina-Origin can but cannot even hope to hit it back.

Defensive Mega Salamence can check Groudon variants lacking a Rock, Dragon, or Ice type move. However, it is demolished by Hidden Power Ice regardless of its set.

Defensive Lunala, if Shadow Shield is intact, can stall out a mixed Primal Groudon and beat it 1v1. If its Shadow Shield is broken by any means this becomes a far more cumbersome task, as Primal Groudon can then outdamage it or potentially even OHKO it. It must be wary of Toxic, and hazards must be kept off the field whenever possible. The same is largely true of Multiscale Lugia except Lunala has a far greater offensive presence.

Choice Scarf Marshadow has no hope of switching into anything Primal Groudon can dish out, but as an absolute last resort it can steal a boosted Primal Groudon's boosts as insurance against a Primal Groudon that isn't running an astronomical amount of Speed alongside Rock Polish.

Defensive Yveltal can handle some Primal Groudon variants but it can seldom afford to switch in now that Groudon users have adapted to its presence.

Defensive Ho-oh can deal with most Primal Groudon variants that lack a Rock-type attack as long as Stealth Rock is kept off the field. It is promptly deleted from the game if it does run a Rock-type attack, though.

Arceus-Ground and Arceus-Water can check Primal Groudon but must be extremely cautious when attempting to do so: Arceus-Ground wants nothing to do with Groudon's strongest Fire-type attacks, and Arceus-Water cannot reliably check Primal Groudon if it is running Swords Dance or Toxic. Solar Beam is almost never seen but can deal with both.

Not a single one of these Pokemon can be considered a true "counter" to Primal Groudon. With careful prediction, Toxic, or the correct coverage move(s) any of these can fall. Toxic is probably the most universal answer to Primal Groudon as every Groudon set is vulnerable to it, but Rest sets could very easily come to the forefront to laugh in the face of these adversaries too.

Primal Groudon is almost inarguably the best thing in Ubers. It doesn't just deserve to make this list; it'll almost certainly be at the absolute top of the list.

 

[Ropalme1914]

This thread's a little quiet; nominating Primal Groudon even though anyone with a brain knows that Primal Groudon should not only be on here but should also be #1 on this list by an absolute landslide.

Just don't forget to complete the nomination so that I can count it.
Btw, reserving Ultra Necrozma

 

[Jhonx~]

Nominating Xerneas

What effect did Xerneas have on the metagame?

From ORAS, Xerneas been forcing all the teams to bring at least 2 checks that usually are 1 Fat Steel + SpDef Groudon-Primal, sometimes 2 Steel types, or full priority in offensive teams, Xerneas with its strong Special Attack can dismantle every team thats not prepared for it, the movepool it has its limited, but enough to give lot of variants, the main offensive threat its Geomancy set, which can sweep teams with hazzards support, it has access to Defog and Aromatherapy which becomes useful on Defensive / Choice Scarf sets, it has access to Fairium Z + Geomancy, which gives 1 aditional boost, it can be used Choice Specs to abuse from its own Special Attack, and even Life Orb set which carry Rock Slide to lure Ho-Oh, Xerneas forces the meta to be bulky and force HO teams to run 1 Bulky set or many priority moves in order to stop Xerneas from sweep.

In what main roles was Xerneas used?

Xerneas set changes depending the build it is used, for example in Hyper Offense it carries most of the times Geomancy, because Hyper Offense teams must carry Stealth Rock, Spikes sometimes and these teams aim to sweep fast setting up boosts, Xerneas can overpower many walls with Geomancy boost and a set consisting of Moonblast, Thunder, Focus Blast and sometimes Hidden Power Fire or Ground, can sweep entire teams, Hazzards support from Deoxys-Speed or Cloyster make this sweeper role much easier, for Bulky Offense and HO the Choice Scarf set fits very good, as it can prevent Zygarde-C sweep when it Dragon Dance one time, it can outspeed fast Dragons like Ultra-Necrozma, Yveltal, and stuff like that, brings a fast Defog when you need desperately the field clean, and Aromatherapy is optional to maintain your team healthy from Status, Choice Scarf set can fit in Stall sometimes, but for Stall works much better Z Geomancy / Leftovers Rest Sleep Talk, because Z Geomancy brings a potent sweeper with enough bulk to survive lot of stuff, and it always carry Rest to maintain these boosts, becoming a hard thing to bring down.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in Ubers?

Xerneas actually have some 1 very good counter, but it must be used carefully because it can be overpowered after chip damage, this pokemon is Magearna, for this I usually use 2 sets:

Magearna @

Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heart Swap
- Fleur Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Heal Bell

and

Magearna @

Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Heart Swap
- Fleur Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Pain Split / Heal Bell

These two sets are a hard counter to Xerneas from sweeping, but there are other options that work as a Xerneas stop, I dont consider them counter since they just live 1 hit after Geomancy, this is the list:

• 
  Groudon-Primal
• 
  Necrozma-Dusk Mane (Special Defensive Set is counter).
• 
  Gengar-Mega (You can run Psych Up with Sdef Bulk, Perish Song another option and Offensive works before Geomancy).
• 
  Ho-Oh (Sdef one is soft-counter)
• 
  Scizor-Mega (Can be counter depending on Xerneas set)
• 
  Chansey (Confide set or Toxic Seismic Toss)
• 
  Arceus-Poison (Psych Up set or Z Poison)
• 
  Muk-Alola (Assault Vest Clear Smog)
• 
  Aegislash (No one uses it but it counter excellent Xerneas)

Sets Xerneas is frecuently used:

Power Herb Geomancy

Xerneas @

Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 168 Def / 252 SpA / 88 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Geomancy
- Moonblast
- Thunder
- Focus Blast

Z Geomancy

Xerneas @

Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Geomancy
- Moonblast
- Rest
- Ingrain / Sleep Talk

Choice Scarf

Xerneas @

Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Aromatherapy
- Defog

Choice Specs

Xerneas @

Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 1 Atk
- Moonblast
- Grass Knot
- Hidden Power [Fire] / Focus Blast / Sleep Talk
- Aromatherapy

Life Orb

Xerneas @

Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 30 Atk
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Rock Slide
- Thunder

 

[Ropalme1914]

We didn't get enough submissions, so I'm extending this (probably for around one week more). If you guys want ideias for which mons to nominate, here are some recommendations that I think are worthy

Suggestions

Yveltal
Necrozma-DM
Ultra Necrozma
Mega Gengar
Lunala
Primal Kyogre
Arceus-Ground
Arceus-Fairy
Mega Salamence

 

[Katy]

Nominating: Arceus-Ground



What effect did Arceus-Ground have on the metagame?

Arceus-Grounds impact in the Uber tier is clearly sween, as it is one of the best Arceus-formes there, which rarely disappoints in its performance on different archetypes but it is mainly seen
on offensive or bulky offensive oriented teams. But due to its good typing it can be seen on pretty much every archetype as it can be fit easily on every team as a glue.
It has good utility in Stealth Rocks, Defog, Calm Mind and Recover. It can also run ice Beam as a coverage option for opposing Arceus-Ground, different flying-types such as Mega Salamence, Yveltal and
Foremost Stealth Rocks is a good utility option as it can whittle down Lugia, which is quite annyoing with its Multiscale, same goes to Lunalas Shadow Shield as it acts like Multiscale.
Furthermore is it able to whittle down Ho-Oh and other flying-types as via switch-in those are getting worn down quite easily, when they do not run recover or roost in their movepool.
On top of that it provides itself as a good check to one of the most threatening pokémon in the tier Primal Groundon. Primal Groundon has sruggle breaking through Arceus-Ground
when it doesn't run coverage options like Hidden Power Ice or a strong fire-stab in the harsh sun. Also Priaml Groundon needs to be at +2 to be able to have a high damage output on Arceus-Ground as its
Stat-Distribution with 120 across the board is in general brilliant.
Dusk Mane and other steel-types like the lesser used Arceus-Steel and Mega metagross also have to fear its strong STAB in Judgement, which is a ground type move in this case.
While the support set is threatening enough it can also provide itself as an offensive pokémon due to its access to really good moves: Calm Mind, Ice Beam, Swords Dance, Stone Edge.
The Calm Mind set is able to break easily through an opposing team as it boosts both SpAtt and SpDef simultaniously to attempt to get a sweep. The same mention goes to the physical set
which is rather trheatening even without Ice Beam for flying-types as it has Stone Edge to bypass those.
In pverall Arceus-Ground had a really strong impact in the Uber tier due to its good typing, the many roles it can fullfill and also the good ultility it offers as well as being able to get a sweep for itself with its offensive pressure.

In what main roles was Arceus-Ground used?

It can fullfill due to its versatility and access to many moves different roles, and on top of that all of them are threatening in a different way, either offensively or defensively.
The main roles it used in this generation of the Ubers metagame are:

Calm Mind:

Hide

Arceus-Ground @ Earth Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Judgment
- Ice Beam
- Recover
this set attempts to get a sweep for itself, with being fster than mega Salamence, Zygarde-Complete and also Primal groundon it can shut them down easily
and has a high chance of getting KOs especially after a Calm Mind boost.

Support:

Hide

Arceus-Ground @ Earth Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 64 Def / 192 Spe
Timid Nature
- Judgment
- Recover
- Ice Beam
- Defog / Stealth Rock
this set is more oriented around its good bulk and utility, while being able to set Stealth Rocks it is also able to fullfill the complete opposite role as a defensive defog-support.
Judgement and Ice Beam are necessary on this set and Recover guarantees it longevity to be able to set Stealth Rocks up in the long run or just being able to Defog multiple times throughout a game.

Swords Dance:

Hide

Arceus-Ground @ Groundium Z / Earth Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Substitute / Recover
this set is based around Arceus-Grounds physical attacking capabaility. With Swords Dance it can set-up and get to +2, which gives it a really threatening appareance.
Earthquake is its STAB option and Stone Edge is there to hit flying-types to be able to bypass them. The last slot can be reserved for either Substitute, if you want a safe set-up position
or Recover to give this dangerous physical sweeper some longevity and keep it healthy during the game.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Foremost its good typing and Stat-distribution made it that it has a huge impact on the tier, with being able to perform well in all given roles,
It is a really splashable pokémon, kinda comparable to Landorus-Therian at the OverUsed tier. When Arceus-Ground is on the field you never know its set in first place
because it can perform many different roles.
Also its appareance on the opposing team can be quite annyoing for the opposing team as its bulk allows it to withstand many moves coming from the opposing team.
Furthermore it is only really weak to 2 typings, which one of them isn't used that much in the Uber tier, which is the grass-typing the other typing is the water-type meaning
it can switch-in safely into many pokémon in the Uber tier.

How do/did you deal with this pokémon in Ubers?

Even tho it is clearly a threat in the Ubers metagame it has quite a lot of checks with being either offensive or defensive

Hide

Lugia is able to survive even boosted attacks of Arceus-Ground and can Whirlwind it out, resulting into the lost of the boost from eitehr Swords Dance or Calm Mind.

Celesteela and Skarmory are really annoying for Arceus-Ground as it can only hit them with its coverage options and they can status it of phaze it out in Skarmorys case.

Arceus-Water another very common Arceus-type can threaten it too. Its Judgment can threaten and heavily damage it in the process.

Giratina-Origin and Giratina they are bulky enough to take a hit, furthermore Giratina-origin is immune to its Ground-STAB. Both can also use helpful status moves on Arceus-Ground or use Roar/Dragon-Tail in case of Giratina.

Gothitelle can trap it and wear it down until it struggles because it has the moves to lower its stat which Arceus-ground can get via Calm Mind.

Marshadow can take the boóst from the Swords Dance variant and can heavily damage it afterwards with Spectral Thief.

Ho-Oh only has to fear Stone Edge from it, meanwhile the Support and Calm Mind vrsion has troublesome times against Ho-Oh.

Chansey and Blissey are tanky enough to annoy completly Support variants and the Calm Mind version and whittle it down slowly with Toxic and Seismic Toss.

Grass-Types ain#t that common in the Ubers tier but they can still provide themseles as a threat to Arceus-Ground.

Buzzwole only has to worry about a +2 Stone Edge and packs Ice Punch to hit it super effectively.

Primal Kyogre is one of the biggest threats especially to support variants and Calm Mind Arceus-ground, as it can take its moves due to its high special bulk but
Origin Pulse / Water Spout / Scald will do a ton back, if not OHKO Arceus-Ground.

Faster Revenge Killers can also cause problems for Aceus-Ground when it is weakened or has a boost to steal (in Marshadows case because of the SD-variant).
Furthermore Choice Scarf Yveltal is immune to its Judgment and can eitehr use Dark Pulse or Oblivion Wing to revenge kill weakened Arceus-Ground.
Other fast revenge killers such as Ultra Necrozma can be problematic for it.[/hide}

 

[astralydia]

Nominating Lunala



What effect did Lunala have on the metagame?

Lunala's presence in the metagame is as an extremely powerful wallbreaker with excellent coverage options such as Moonblast, Ice Beam, and Focus Blast that can take down many bulky offense and balance teams. With its signature Z-move, Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom, coupled with a Calm Mind boost, it is capable of forcing Ghost resistances onto teams simply to stomach the incoming Z move maelstrom that Lunala is capable of outputting. Its utilities go on further than this - whereas most wallbreakers may need to rely on pivoting or double switches to get into battle, Lunala's Shadow Shield allows it to take any one hit that doesn't hit its 4x weaknesses, meaning that Lunala has plenty of roles to fulfill even as a wallbreaker, such as checking the Primals. It can even be attuned to a defensive Defogging role, being the strongest Ultra Necrozma / Dusk Mane Necrozma check in the metagame, as well as having an excellent niche in being able to stave off Dual Primal archetypes, as long as Lunala is well supported in defogging.

In what main roles was [Pokemon] used?

Lunala's original introduction in Sun and Moon was as a role compressing Choice Scarf user that was able to take on many of the offensive threats in the metagame such as Extreme Killer Arceus and Primal Groudon, stopping them from sweeping. Lunala was also capable of a powerful Psychium Z + Hypnosis set that was capable of boosting Speed and potentially incapacitating a check to it, allowing it to plow through a team and potentially sweep with its solid two move coverage in Moongeist Beam and Focus Blast. To top things off further, Lunala was also capable of a blisteringly powerful Choice Specs set, which with the correct move prediction, could even incapacitate Yveltal in a single blow. This set did however suffer from support Arceus forms, which were capable of tanking Moongeist Beams and stalling the PP out of them if they were fast enough. These sets of niches landed Lunala an A ranking in that time period. However, when Marshadow dropped, Lunala's viability and its main niches became challenged, thus causing a significant drop to B+ in Sun and Moon, as Marshadow was capable of outright OHKOing Arceus-Normal without a Chople Berry, and it didn't even need a speed boosting item to pull it off. This left Lunala in an awkward spot until it was discovered that its pure wallbreaking power was notable, and thus, with the dawn of Ultra Sun and Moon, its Lunalium Z Calm Mind set became notorious for being extremely difficult to switch into without a dedicated resistance. As such, this leads to the present day, where Lunala can be seen most as a very strong Ultra Necrozma check + wallbreaker slotted into one Pokemon. The sets it runs today are:

Lunalium Z Calm Mind

Lunala @ Lunalium Z
Ability: Shadow Shield
EVs: 16 HP / 28 Def / 212 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Moongeist Beam
- Psyshock / Focus Blast
- Moonblast / Focus Blast
- Calm Mind

Choice Specs

Lunala @ Choice Specs
Ability: Shadow Shield
EVs: 16 HP / 240 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Moongeist Beam
- Psyshock
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast

Defensive

Lunala @ Leftovers
Ability: Shadow Shield
EVs: 164 HP / 144 Def / 200 Spe
Timid Nature
- Moongeist Beam
- Toxic
- Defog
- Roost

Choice Scarf

Lunala @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Shadow Shield
EVs: 16 HP / 240 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Moongeist Beam
- Focus Blast / Psyshock / Toxic
- Ice Beam
- Thunder / Focus Blast

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Lunala's varied coverage and powerful STAB makes it very hard to switch into, and the addition of Shadow Shield allows Lunala to further cement its role as a wallbreaker by being difficult to revenge kill. These two aspects, whilst giving it some serious competition with Ultra Necrozma and Dusk Mane Necrozma as a wallbreaker, made Lunala a worthwhile pick on Bulky Offense and Balance teams, forcing unfavourable resists like Arceus-Normal and Yveltal onto teams, which allowed Lunala's teammates to capitalize on the Dark types with a Fighting type of their own, usually Marshadow. This stacking of threats forced teams to adapt with more offensive counterplay like utilizing Pursuit Marshadow and Mega Gengar to prevent Lunala from switching in too often.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in Ubers?

Lunala lacks counters on paper, but the best ways to deal with it usually involve resisting its STABs. For example:

• Yveltal is splashed on teams commonly as it is one of the few Pokemon capable of not only adequately pressuring Lunala and the Psychic-types of the metagame but also punishing their attempts to break through it with its strong STABs and stallbreaking power. All of these things considered, it managed to hit 51% usage in UPL 7, showing character to just how influential these Pokemon are.
• Arceus-Dark was quite bad in the last generation, but as balance builds picked up a bit more in SM, Arceus-Dark also picked up a bit as a good counter to the aforementioned Lunala and Ultra Necrozma.
• Arceus-Normal is a more commonly utilized offensive resist that whilst it doesn't like threat stacking from Lunala, it is capable of being a consistent check to it, so long as it doesn't carry Focus Blast, which variants may opt not to choose because of Yveltal.
• Tyranitar and Muk-Alola have small niches on balance teams that allow them to not only resist Lunala entirely (outside of Focus Blast for Tyranitar) but also Pursuit trap Lunala so that it can't come back later on in the game to attempt to break through these teams once the resist has been worn down.

Outside of these options, there's not much to do other than throw a Pokemon to Lunala's Z move, but even then, this can leave teams wide open to Choice Specs if they cannot pressure it hard enough.

• Marshadow and Mega Gengar are both capable revenge killers against Lunala, with Marshadow in particular being able to KO it even whilst Shadow Shield is up, and Marshadow can even utilize priority to take out Lunala.
• Ho-oh needs to watch out somewhat for Toxic coming from Defensive Lunala, but aside from this, defensive Ho-oh is capable of dealing with Lunala either by Whirlwinding it out or breaking its Shadow Shield for a revenge killer.
• Magearna is also capable of checking Lunala if a Xerneas resist is not in demand. However, it is fairly situational at this job.
• Miscellaneous specially bulky Pokemon such as Primal Kyogre can also attempt to damage Lunala after its Z move is gone, although they will struggle versus Calm Mind variants with Psyshock.

 

[Katy]

Nominating: Primal-Kyogre



What effect did Primal-Kyogre have on the metagame?

Primal-Kyogre is one of the best Wallbreakers in the tier thanks due to its power to target the opposing Pokémon either specially or physically. Its access to boosting moves such as
Calm Mind underlines the sheer power it is able to offer for the team and it is able to wear the opposing team down really quickly and it is able to force switches.
Its typing in pure Water is also really helpful for it, as it has only 2 weaknesses with being electric and grass.
Primal-Kyogre can also use a defensive set if the team needs to have a defensive counterplay to certain Pokémon, which Primal-Kyogre is good at performing this role as well.
Despite its disadavantage to the most prominent Pokémon at Ubers, Primal-Groudon, it is still able to blanket check a good amount of Support Arceus Forms, such as Arceus-Water,
Arceus-Ground, Arceus-Flying and Arceus-Fairy.
Despite the fact it has a weakness to Primal-Groudon due to the activation of Desolate Land while entering the battlefield, and the lack of speed and physical Defense it still made a
huge impact during this Generation of the Ubers Metagame. Its raw power, versatility and the sheer power of breaking through unprepared teams with no real check makes
Primal-Kyogre a threat already at teampreview. When building a team it is oftentimes suggested to keep threats like Primal-Kyogre in mind and having a good check to it.

In what main roles was Primal-Kyogre used?

Primal-Kyogre offers a good amount of sets, in fact it is one of the most versatile Pokémon in the Uber tier.

The Sets:
Calm Mind and Water Spout:

Hide

Kyogre @ Blue Orb
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Water Spout
- Calm Mind
- Origin Pulse
- Ice Beam
this set aims to break with its most powerful move in Water Spout, when Primal-Kyogre is at full health, it does a good chunk to everything.
You can also use Calm Mind to boost the special attack and special defense when the one of the most common switchins to Primal-Kyogre which is Ferrothorn uses
protect. Then Water Spout has a much higher damage output on Ferrothorn. Origin Pulse is the second Water-type STAB, and can be used instead of Water Spout,
when Primal-Kyogre is weakened in its HP and Ice Beam a necessary coverage option.

Physical Attacker (Liquidation):

Hide

Kyogre @ Blue Orb
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Thunder
this set takes advantage of Primal-Kyogres new move gained in Gen7 due to the move tutor, Liqidation. Liquidation is a powerful physical STAB and is able to drop the defense of the opposing
Pokémon thus Primal-Kyogre has an easier time to break through the enemies team. Earthquake is used to hit primal-Groudon as its Desolte Land negates Primal-Kyogres Water-type STAB.
Ice Beam and Thunder are good coverage options, hitting a large portion of the Uber tier still pretty hard

Physically Defensive Primal-Kyogre:

Hide

Kyogre @ Blue Orb
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 236 Def / 24 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Toxic / Ice Beam
Scald is the best move on this set because it is STAB and has a chance to burn the opposing Pokémon therefore this Pokémon can get crippled and in the case its a physical attacker its
Attack is halved. Rest is to keep Primal-Kyogre healthy and Sleep Talk allowes it to always get a move in the process. Toxic / Ice Beam is there to hit Primal-Groudon.

Special Attacker:

Hide

Kyogre @ Blue Orb
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Mild Nature / Hasty Nature
- Origin Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Thunder / Substitute
- Liquidation / Calm Mind
Origin Pulse is here the best STAB of Primal-Kyogre and can damage a multitude of Pokémon in the Uber tier pretty hard. Ice Beam deals with Primal-Groudon and also OHKOs Mega Salamence.
Thunder can deal with Arceus-Water and opposing Primal-Kyogre as its maximum investment into its high Special Attack makes it so it can deal a hefty damage to these two Pokémon.
Liquidation can be used to get past special walls like Chansey and Blissey, which use Confide to cripple the special Attack of Primal-Kyogre.

What caused it to have a significant Impact?

Its impact was caused by a multitude of reasons:
-Foremost its versatility enables it to fullfill a good amount of different roles, depending what the team needs, therefore Primal-Kyogre is a good choice in the Uber Metagame
for a Pokémon to be used on a different variety of teams.
-Its pure Water-typing allows Primal-Kyogre to have only two real weaknesses thus making it that Primal-Kyogre is not that easy to check throughout a game. Especially if the opponent
lacks a good check to Primal-Kyogre or its blanket check in Primal-Groudon is already weakened heavily due to the earlier game or when primal-Groudon is completly gone alreeady.
-Its SpAtt isnt something to underestimate so it deals a hefty damage to almost every Pokémon, which tries to switch into Primal-Kyogre, same mention goes to its good special bulk
as specially oriented Pokémon can't just OHKO it thus having to deal damage in that process of KOing Primal-Kyogre.


How do/did you deal with Primal-Kyogre in the Ubers Metagame?

Hide

Primal-Groudon is the most used and the most versatile Pokémon in the Uber tier and acts like a good blanket check to Primal-Kyogre allowing it to completely nullifying
Primal-Kyogres Water STABs in Water Spout, Origin Pulse, Scald and Liquidation due to the harsh sun, which gets summoned by Desolate Land.

Grass types such as Ferrothorn, Mega-Venusaur and Arceus-Grass are good options do deal with Primal-Kyogre the former two don't even have to worry
about an Ice Beam / Earthquake as their typing or ability allowes both of them to completly counteract against Primal-Kyogre. The latter has to fear ice Beam but still warrants
as a solid niche option to check primal-Kyogre during a game.

Arceus-Water can act as pivot to Primal-Kyogre as it can take its Water STABs and Ice Beams pretty well, but it risdks switchin into a Thunder due to a predict
from the Primal-Kyogre user.

Dragon-types like Mega Salamence, Arceus-Dragon and Rayquaza are capable of checking Primal-Kyogre but they all have to fear Ice beam. The latter of these three Pokémon
has the ability Air Lock, which means it can negate the ability from Primal-Kyogre and also the ability from Primal-Groudon.

Faster Pokémon: due to the lack of speed, Primal-Kyogre is very vulnerable to faster threats, which can OHKO it or heavily damaging it due to their sheer strength especially
when it comes to strong physical attackers.

Water-type checks such as both Giratina forms, Mega Slowbro and Toxapex can serve as a switch into Primal-Kyogres Water-type moves. Zekrom can also act as Watermove switch-in and can
threaten Primal-Kyogre due to its Electric-type STAB in Bolt Strike.

Palkia won't take too much damage from all Attacks Primal-Kyogre can go for but it still struggles to check an already Calm Mind boosted Primal-Kyogre
when Primal-kyogre goes for Ice Beam /Thunder. Earthquake can also do a decent chunk to the niceh Dragon in Palkia.

Defensive Pokémon: Lunala and Lugia can check this Pokémon due to their ability in Multiscale / Shadow Shield. Various Arceus-formes
can all threaten to whittle it down with Toxic thus poisoning it heavily.

Special Tanks: Chansey and Blissey can check special attacking variants of Primal-Kyogre, however they have to watch out for physical moves like Liquidation, which can drop their Defense.

 

[64 Squares]

Reserving Smeargle

 

[Cynara]

Nominating Mega Gengar

What effect did Mega Gengar have on the metagame?

Mega Gengar is probably one of the most difficult Pokemon to deal with in the metagame, due to its sheer versatility and its ability to adapt to the metagame trends, able to trap and remove almost every Pokemon in the tier that is not faster than it, with a huge movepool full of vast utility options at its disposal, which makes Mega Gengar very hard to prepare for, it is simply one of the best Pokemon at the highest skill ceiling. Mega Gengar is able to adjust its coverage to best suit its team needs, an example would be Icy wind on All-Out-Attacking for Mega Salamence and Zygarde-C or Thunder for Primal Kyogre and Ho-Oh. It also has access to taunt which denies setup and Destiny Bond which would allow it to force a trade to what would otherwise be very threatening to the team.

It forces stall teams to make most of their defensive options as safe vs Mega Gengar as possible, such as using Shed Shell Blissey instead of Chansey, Arceus Formes that are not weak to its STAB moves such as Arceus-Dark or Arceus-Ground, Psychic on Lugia and occasionally running special defensive investment, however regardless of these counter measures, stall is always going to have Pokemon that are very prone to Mega Gengar such as Toxapex, which is one example of a Pokemon it is able to take full advantage of and completely remove. Offense teams are forced to run Pokemon faster than it such as Choice Scarf users like Yveltal or Shadow Sneak Marshadow or sturdy answers such as Calm Mind Arceus-Ground.

In what main roles was Mega Gengar used?

Mega Gengar is mainly used as a revenge killer on offense teams, but is able to function as a staple on stall teams to trap and remove otherwise threatening stallbreakers such as Ultra Necrozma. Due to its ability Shadow Tag, it is guaranteed to trap and remove weakened threats that are slower than it, while being able to take advantage of defensive Pokemon and remove them such as Support Arceus-Water / Arceus-Fairy, which opens up paths for other winning conditions in your team. Most Mega Gengar will use an All-Out-Attacking set in order to achieve this, however Mega Gengar is also commonly found with utility moves such as Taunt, Will-O-Wisp + Hex, Substitute, Disable, Perish Song, Destiny Bond etc. In order to carry out its goals.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Due to its high speed and offensive stats, along with its ability Shadow Tag it is able to guarantee at least one kill a game. But most importantly, due to its vast viable moveslot options makes Mega Gengar very difficult to prepare due to the sheer nature of unpredictability and options to consider. It takes what it wants and is a teams most dangerous weapon at the highest level of play. There is in theory no true counter to Mega Gengar and its checks have to sometimes be cautious about switching in.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in Ubers?

Mega Gengar constantly adapts to its checks / counters, So the most effective way is revenge killing. Pokemon such as Mega Mewtwo-Y and Deoxys-A are naturally faster than Mega Gengar and threaten them with moves capable of OHKOing Mega Gengar. Marshadow is also another reliable to consider, due to its access to technician boosted priority move, Shadow Sneak able to OHKO Mega Gengar, Pursuit trapping with Marshadow is also slightly feasible, however this is game state dependent, and is kind of ambiguous as a mega gengar user may decide to stay in.

Arceus-Dark and Arceus-Ground are also capable of sufficiently checking Gengar, Arceus-Ground is capable of almost all common Mega Gengar sets except for Hex after being statused, Arceus-Dark has to be cautious of the uncommon Focus Blast coverage, Mega gengar could force a trade with Destiny Bond against both however.

Lastly, players could also resort to Choice Scarf users that are able to outspeed Mega Gengar and OHKO it with strong STAB Moves or Super-Effective Moves. Good reliable scarfers include Yveltal, Ho-Oh or Rayquaza. Xerneas could also be considered, however Gengar requires some initial chip damage such as from hazards to risk being 2HKO’d by Scarf Xerneas moonblast, so the former 3 options are considered much more reliable.

 

[Ropalme1914]

Ok, this took WAY too long and i'm very sorry for my absence. As SwSh are being close to release, the final submiting day is going to be on this Sunday. Voting is going to start on Monday (if I didn't make the post starting the voting yet on Monday's morning, you can still submit that I'll accept it).

 

[Ropalme1914]

Nominating Ultra Necrozma



What effect did Ultra Necrozma have on the metagame?

Ultra Necrozma is one of the Pokémon that changed the meta by forcing it to adapt to it: with its amazing mixed offenses, good coverage and setup moves, exclusive Z-Move, base 129 Speed and the ability to change its typing at the same time that it can bluff being another Pokémon, Ultra Necrozma became almost impossible to solidly deal with. Today, we see Yveltal as one of the absolute best Pokémon in the game, part of the reason being that it is one of the few solid checks to it (especially its Scarf one), stall took an extremely big hit to the point that some people thought that it could be considered unviable, with it turning into Mega Gengar to trap and revenge kill it, and other Pokémon like Rayquaza being less used due to them being mostly outclassed by it.

In what main roles was Ultra Necrozma used?

Ultra Necrozma quickly became a great sweeper due to its high Speed and good coverage; however, it's also very versatile. Due to its potential of a Steel STAB before Ultra Burst and being a special threat, it can also be a great wallbreaker, as even Dark-types struggle to take a +2 STAB Outrage, while Pokémon like Ferrothorn, Scizor, and Zygarde can't take a Heat Wave or a Dragon Pulse at all. More recently people also saw that it can be a nice Stealth Rock user, as it forces switches and can take its checks offguard. Its good Speed can also make it a decent revenge killer, although that's not the main role of Ultra Necrozma.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

The fact that it can be both Necrozma-DM, an already great Pokémon, and Ultra Necrozma, already is a big one, as it changes its Speed, bulk, and mostly importantly, its typing, as Fairy-type that could be used to check Ultra Necrozma can't do much to it before it Ultra Bursts. It's good coverage options in Earthquake, Stone Edge, Sunsteel Strike, Heat Wave, Outrage, Dragon Pulse, Earth Power, and Photon Geyser with Swords Dance or Calm Mind make it fearsome both on early- and late-game. Necrozma-DM can also be used to check Fairy-types early on. Its high Speed also makes it very hard to revenge kill, as only Pokémon with 130 base Speed and Choice Scarf users are going to be able to do it in a reliable way, with priority users also doing it once it's weakened.

How do/did you deal with this Pokémon in Ubers?

The best way to do it is with Dark-types: Arceus-Dark and Yveltal can take at least one hit from most of its sets, aren't weak to Necrozma-DM like Fairy-types, can hit both formes hard with their STABs, and have a key immunity to its Psychic-type, especially for its Z-Move Light That Burns The Sky. Pokémon with great physical bulk, like Zygarde-C, can generally take its physical sets that lack Outrage, although it must be careful around its Z-Move. Choice Scarf users like Xerneas and Yveltal can outspeed and OHKO it with their STABs, although Xerneas can't do much to it before it Ultra Bursts. Priority users like Yveltal, Marshadow, and Arceus can revenge kill it once it's weakened. Mega Gengar is one of the most feared opponents for Ultra Necrozma, as it outspeeds merely by two points in Speed, traps it with Shadow Tag, and can OHKO it with its Ghost-type STAB, making it a great choice for more passive teams, like stall.

 

[Dreadfury]

Reserving Yveltal.

 

[Ropalme1914]

Nominating Necrozma-DM



What effect did Necrozma-DM have on the metagame?

Necrozma-DM, just as it released, estabilished itself as the second best Pokémon on the tier, and never left that place, being S rank on the viability ranking ever since it was created. The combination of a very solid typing in Steel / Psychic and its ability Prism Armor made it a great check to Fairy-types like Xerneas and other passive Pokémon, like Lugia. Almost 50% of the teams began using it, and it made the matchup against Steel-types that much more important to a Pokémon success: Xerneas finally dropped out of the S ranks, Yveltal's usage rose up to sky-high levels, Mega Mewtwo Y finally is having its time on the spotlight due to its access to Fire Blast, Deoxys-A is forced to run Dark Pulse on most of its sets, among other things. It's also a great user of Stealth Rock, which frees up a slot on Primal Groudon's set, making more offensive sets like Double Dance and Mixed Rock Polish even more powerful.

In what main roles was Necrozma-DM used?

Necrozma-DM could be used both offensively and defensively. On the offensive side, it mostly used a Double Dance set, with Swords Dance and Rock Polish early on, and later changing Rock Polish for Trick Room, which allowed it to have a much better bulk. It's a good user of Z-Moves, as its signature Searing Sunraze Smash allows it to break Pokémon like Zygarde-C and even Ho-Oh, but due to its high bulk and ability, Weakness Policy also made for a great choice.

Defensively, it was mostly used as a check to Pokémon like Xerneas and Deoxys-A, as with Sp. Def investment, it could easily take hits from them throughout the match due to its access to Morning Sun as a reliable recovery and decent offensive presence with Sunsteel Strike. This set also used Stealth Rock to support its team and Toxic to cripple its possible answers, like Primal Groudon, and other bulky Pokémon, like Lugia, Arceus-Water, and even support Arceus-Ground.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Great typing, recovery, access to hazards, good coverage, multiple setup moves, a signature Z-Move, and the fact that it forces 50/50 due to the possibility of it being Ultra Necrozma all contributed to it. Being the best check to Xerneas that's easy to slap on a team and the fact that it fits both offensive and defensive teams makes it super versatile. Its only weakness would be its slow Speed, which can deal with via Rock Polish or Swords
Dance. It also makes a very good core with Primal Groudon, as with one being the Stealth Rock user opens the path of a sweeping set for the other. Although not on the same level as Primal Groudon, it also comes close to being a Pokémon that "there's almost no reason to not use it".

How do/did you deal with this Pokémon in Ubers?

Although it's checks were from Ultra Necrozma, which made it hard to find a solid answer, Dark-types once again do a great job at that. Yveltal, especially, is one of the few Pokémon in the game that could OHKO it with its STAB Dark Pulse boosted by a Life Orb, while Foul Play dealt huge amounts of damage if it's using a defensive or even a Scarf set. Defensive Zygarde-C could phaze out / damage with Thousand Arrows offensive variants, but it could be overwhelmed by its Z-Move, while DD Zygarde-C could setup a Substitute and start boosting before KOing the specially defensive variant. Ho-Oh is one of the most solid answers to Necrozma-DM, as its STAB Sacred Fire deals great damage to it and can cause burn, it resists its Steel STAB while being immune to Earthquake, is faster than it, and has access both to reliable recovery and Regenerator, but it needs to be careful around the rare Photon Geyser or the possibility of it being Ultra Necrozma, and it also can't do its nearly as well if Stealth Rock is on the field. Primal Groudon can OHKO it with Eruption / Overheat / Fire Blast or do great damage with Precipice Blades, but it doesn't wish to come into Earthquake. Marshadow can revenge kill it once it's weakened and makes Necrozma not want to setup a Swords Dance before a Rock Polish, while Mega Gengar can trap and cripple it with Will-O-Wisp or revenge kill it with Hex or Shadow Ball. Giratina-O also can take a hit most of the time and status it, dealing high damage with its boosted Hex.

 

[Ropalme1914]

Reserving Yveltal.

Do you think you can complete this today? I was going to start the voting yesterday, but I didn't want to leave Yveltal out.

 

[Ropalme1914]

Nominating Yveltal



What effect did Yveltal have on the metagame?

Yveltal is one of the main reasons why the Ubers strong Psychic-types aren't as dominating as one would expect. Alongside that, its extremely powerful Dark moves boosted by its ability Dark Aura (which gives it a boost equivalent of Adaptability) makes it the single most important reason why a Dark resist is mandatory for any team, especially boosting Arceus-Fairy' and Magearna's usage. Being a Flying-type with access to Defog also makes it a huge obstacle for Sticky Web teams, which aren't as high on usage as they once were. With its Scarf set having one of the greatest role compressions on the tier, it can free up a slot for some Pokémon to use more useful sets, like Xerneas and Arceus not needing to run Defog.

In what main roles was Yveltal used?

Yveltal might as well be the most versatile Pokémon on Ubers, with only Primal Groudon being able to even dispute that claim.
Its Life Orb set can do many roles at once. With its STABs giving it an amazing neutral coverage that's only resisted by Magearna, it already becomes a great candidate for a wallbreaker. Taunt makes it even better at that role by not giving the opposing Pokémon the opportunity to recover while also making it a possible stallbreaker. Sucker Punch, when combined with Dark Aura, gives it the strongest priority move in the entire game, making it a revenge killer too. With Metronome over Life Orb, it trades immediate power for the ability to eventually snowball by spamming one of its moves (most of the time, Oblivion Wing, as it also allows it to stay healthy) if the opponent isn't careful, as fully boosted Oblivion Wing makes it so that even Arceus can't use Recover on it.
Both Scarf sets can be used as speed control and as defoggers, especially for offensive teams. It also is even better than the other sets as a revenge killer, as the boosted Speed combined with Foul Play makes it super easy to deal with Pokémon like Ultra Necrozma, Mega Mewtwo Y, Primal Groudon, and others without mind games.
The other role that it can serve is as wall with its defensive set, being a great switch-in to physical Primal Groudon, Marshadow, both Necrozma's formes, and others. Finally, U-turn makes it the most popular pivot on Ubers.
The other sets, like Specs and stallbreaker, can also do those functions with varying degrees with success, as some are more specialized than others and, of course, being a Flying-type, it's used as the mandatory Ground immunity to many teams.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

As it probably was already made clear, Yveltal's versatility is its greatest triumph. Although its movepool is mostly consisted of Dark and Flying moves, those are more than enough, as they give it both great coverage and utility moves, like Taunt, Roost, Sucker Punch, U-turn, Toxic, and Heat Wave. Its stats distribution is among the best in the game too, allowing it to hit hard from both side, be bulky, and still have a solid Speed tier by Uber standards with 99 base Speed. Dark Aura makes its Dark moves hit extremely hard, and Heat Wave covers the only Pokémon that resists both, making it among the hardest Pokémon to switch into. The Choice Scarf set role compression also make it easy to fit on most teams, as it brings a pivot, hazard control, a Ground immunity, and a revenge killer on the same set.

How do/did you deal with this Pokémon on Ubers?

Fairy-types like Arceus-Fairy, Magearna, and Xerneas are the best way to deal with Yveltal, with the first two being especially good at that. Arceus-Fairy naturally outspeeds Yveltal, is bulky enough to not be 2HKOed by Oblivion Wing, can recover all the damage that it takes when it switches in, and can KO Yveltal with a STAB Judgment, while Magearna resists both of its STABs and has an incredibly high special bulk, taking almost no damage from them, can use Fleur Cannon to threaten it or Volt Switch to give its team momentum, and it only really fears the rare Heat Wave from the Specs set. Other support and Calm Mind Arceus formes can take on Yveltal with varying degrees of success, as most of them don't like taking a Toxic or a Metronome boosted Oblivion Wing. Primal Kyogre can take a hit and KO Yveltal with Thunder or a Water-type move, but it doesn't appreciate switching directly into it. Tyranitar takes most of Yveltal's common moves, but it lacks a reliable recovery option and takes super effective damage from U-turn and the rare Focus Blast. Ho-Oh has a massive special bulk that makes it able to tank most of Yveltal's moves while sporting Recover and Regenerator, but it can't take most of Yveltal's physical moves and is massively affected by Stealth Rock being on the field. Although not ideal, faster attackers can also defeat Yveltal, like Mega Salamence and Ultra Necrozma, but they struggle against some sets and can't switch into it all.

 

[Ropalme1914]

And the voting is officially open! These are our candidates (you can click on them to see their nominations and why you should vote for them):

Remember, those ranking are for the most influentional Pokémon on the meta, not the best, so, if you think that Primal Kyogre changes the Teambuilding more than Zygarde, but Zygarde is a better Pokémon, then you should vote for Kyogre. This rank also keeps in mind all of gen 7, not just USUM. So, while this doesn't make Pokémon the Necrozma formes and Marshadow unable to compete with the others, do keep in mind that they weren't here from the start.

We're going to start by voting the number #1 until we get to the number #10, with each voting stage lasting for 4 days. To vote, you simply needs to say the name of the Pokémon you're voting for; you don't need to provide a motive, but that would be appreciated. Discussion during the voting stages also is encouraged.

I'm going to start with Primal Groudon. Although I do think its influence decreased a bit to the point that I don't feel Pdon is mandatory on every team, this thing still is king and has been from the start, it keeps Kyogre from dominating the tier, it keeps all of the Fairy- and Steel-types in check, fill many roles for most teams, making you needing to prepare for not just this Pokémon, but to all of its sets (you don't prepare to Primal Groudon: you prepare to Double Dance Groudon, then you deal with Mixed RP, defensive, and all of its other sets, as no Pokémon can check all of them, and most sets require more than one Pokémon to be fully dealt with), etc.

 

[astralydia]

Primal Groudon

Why would you not vote this smh

 

[MegaUltra]

Xerneas

This shit can just setup and destroy your team if you don't have a check, and even if you do, you're still not safe. You never are.

 

[SiTuM]

primal groudon

 

[Funbot28]

 

[GotCookies]

Groudon-Primal

 

[Tapo Collino]

Primal Udon